Raymond Kusch

University of Notre Dame, Mendoza College of Business

“I’m a passionate leader with years of experience, both in combat and the boardroom.”

Hometown: Clio, Michigan

Fun Fact About Yourself: I am a member of Team USA’s National Standing Amputee Hockey Team.

Undergraduate School and Major: The University of Michigan – Flint, Entrepreneurship and Innovation Management

Most Recent Employer and Job Title: Kinvesting, LLC – Founder and CEO

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? I chose Notre Dame for two reasons. First, I believe that the dual MBA/MSBA program is a unique fit for my interests and will allow me to position myself for the future of business. I am excited to learn how to use business analytics to help companies that I work with, like fit20 USA, use their data to its fullest potential.

The second and probably more important reason is that Notre Dame focuses on finding great people and helping them use business as a force for good. Because of that, I do not think any other program could align so perfectly with my values.

What quality best describes your MBA classmates and why? That’s a hard question because my classmates have so many great qualities. I would say the best quality to describe my classmates would be their sense of service. We are an incredibly diverse group from all over the world, but one thing that I hear over and over is an intrinsic drive to make the world a better place.

What club or activity excites you most at this school? I am really excited to participate in the Consulting Club. They provide incredible resources to prepare an MBA student for the life of a consultant, and I’m excited to use those resources to grow as a professional and as a person.

Mendoza is known as a purpose-driven MBA program that asks students to “Ask More of Business.” What is your mission and how will Mendoza help you realize it? My mission is to help others live better lives through business. I intend to do that by consulting for and investing in businesses that will have a positive impact on their stakeholders and mentoring others whenever possible. I believe that Mendoza will provide me with the network and skills required to accomplish that mission.

Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: The biggest accomplishment in my career so far was when I successfully exited my first entrepreneurial endeavor.

What led you to pursue an MBA at this point in your career? I wanted to grow my network and gain additional technical skills that would help me in the world of consulting and angel investing. That is why I chose Notre Dame’s MBA/MSBA program.

What was the most challenging question you were asked during the admissions process?

The most challenging question was, “Where do you see yourself in ten years”. The power of the Notre Dame’s network combined with the speed at which the environment changes around us makes a ten-year prediction hard to make.

How did you determine your fit at various schools? I wanted to attend an MBA program that would provide a diverse group of amazing professionals so we can help each other increase our impact on the world. I knew that Notre Dame would be the perfect place to find value-driven leaders to learn from and work with.

What was your defining moment and how did it prepare you for business school? I was a career soldier who was wounded in combat and had to medically retire before I intended. This caused me to perform a hard pivot and reevaluate my purpose in life. My defining moment was when I realized the power that business has to help people live better lives. That realization shifted my focus from the career I had lost to a new purpose: using business as a force for good.

What is your favorite company and what could business students learn from them? My favorite company is fit20. fit20 is a rapidly-expanding franchise that is taking a simple, science-backed concept and using it to help people across all demographics and ability levels live a better life. It does this by providing a safe, effective, and time-efficient way to work out, eliminating many of the barriers associated with a traditional gym environment. fit20 is a prime example of a business using innovation to help people live better lives and aggressively pursuing the goal of making the world a better place.

DON’T MISS: MEET NOTRE DAME MENDOA’S CLASS OF 2022