Ethan Everett Boswell

Yale School of Management

“Mindful of the wonder that arises from being-in-the-world.”

Hometown: East Cobb, GA

Fun Fact About Yourself: Hope to visit all of the U.S. National Parks and halfway there so far!

Undergraduate School and Major:

University of Southern California, BA in International Relations & Art History;

Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, MA in International Economics & International Relations

Most Recent Employer and Job Title: International Monetary Fund; Research Analyst

The Yale School of Management is regarded as a purpose-driven program. What is your mission? How will your MBA at Yale SOM help you fulfill that mission? When I reflect upon the arc of my life, I hope to leave a legacy that improves the welfare of others while concomitantly nurturing my own mind, body, and soul. Yale SOM constitutes the ideal incubator for the actualization of my dreams due to its emphasis on stakeholders, analytical rigor, and supportive community.

Aside from your classmates, what was the key part of the school’s MBA programming that led you to choose this business school and why was it so important to you? Yale SOM’s integration with the broader Yale community was a critical selling point for me. As a person with interdisciplinary interests, the ability to take electives ranging from creative writing to computer science really excites me. Also, the copious amounts of apizza (New Haven-style pizza) are pretty compelling as well!

What quality best describes your MBA classmates and why? Generous. With their time. With their knowledge. With their words of encouragement.

What club or activity excites you most at this school? The Food, Agribusiness, and Beverage Club excites me due to the wine classes. For one must indulge in the Dionysian elements of life every now and then! I also hear the Hockey Club is pretty fun.

Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: Undoubtedly, it was working with Christine Lagarde on her Global Policy Agenda presentations to finance ministers and central bank governors such as Jerome Powell. It was cool just to be in the room with the world’s economic policymakers and help shape the dialogue on the global economy. In fact, Mario Draghi, the former president of the European Central Bank, called the presentations “fantastic” and “done with a professionalism I’ve never seen in any other institution,” so it feels good to know they were memorable. I am also proudly coauthoring an empirical paper with colleagues from the Fund on drivers behind reserve currency configurations and the future of dollar dominance in the international monetary system.

What led you to pursue an MBA at this point in your career? I actually did some research for the Argentine G20 Presidency on the future of work, and what I learned is that I need to continuously expand my horizons and enhance my skillset in order to grow personally and professionally. I also consider myself a life-long student, so the decision to formally enroll in an institution of higher learning again was not difficult.

What other MBA programs did you apply to? Wharton, Stanford, Columbia, Harvard, Berkeley, & USC

What was the most challenging question you were asked during the admissions process? Probably the question about which quote has a special meaning for me. There are just so many words of wisdom out there! I ended up picking the following quote by Fredrick Douglass, “If there is no struggle, there is no progress… Power concedes nothing without a demand.” I find this sentiment particularly powerful as people of goodwill pursue racial justice in the wake of the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery.

How did you determine your fit at various schools? Having worked in the public sector my entire career, the mission of the Yale SOM to educate leaders for business and society really resonates with me. I found talking with current students extremely helpful as they are really receptive to sharing their experiences.

What was your defining moment and how did it prepare you for business school? I started running marathons a few years back to help deal with the inexorable vicissitudes of life. Running now constitutes an essential component of my life and has taught me to keep moving forward despite pain, self-doubt, and fear. I’ll always be grateful for the mental toughness and resilience that running has imparted to me, and this ethos of endurance has indubitably prepared me to face the future.

What is your favorite company and what could business students learn from them? I’m going to use this opportunity to give a shout-out to my former roommate, Mike Dyer. He just founded a company called Carbon Undone that helps small businesses reduce their carbon impact. In this vein, it’s critical that business students don’t lose sight of secular trends such as climate change and adjust accordingly.

What is the most important attribute that you are seeking in an MBA employer? Empathy

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