CEO By 30: B-School Was The Key For These Young Professionals

Elsa Ebbersten, director of operations at Xtremepush and a Trinity MBA

Examples abound of young Europeans parlaying their B-school experiences into high leadership positions. Claudio Martay completed the MiM program at ESMT Berlin in 2017, then went to work in a number of roles at Uber and i2x before joining Gorillas, a grocery delivery service operating throughout Europe’s big cities. Martay, who only recently turned 30, has been chief of staff and chief financial officer at Gorillas since September 2021.

Nursultan Dyussebayev earned his MBA from Nazarbayev University in Kazakhstan and shortly afterward, at just 29, became vice-president of products for VEDOM, which creates products and applications using AI. Dyussebayev, now 30, has helped VEDOM develop an array of products, including an app that helps “sneaker lovers” find where to buy shoes based on photos, and compare prices to find the best deals.

Elsa Ebbersten, director of operations at Xtremepush, landed the role when she was 30 years old. Elsa studied an MBA at Trinity Business School in Ireland, graduating in 2021. She was already working at Xtremepush, a company focused on multichannel engagement and experience, and moved into the operations chief’s role as soon as she finished her degree.

“I wanted to get an MBA to challenge myself academically,” Ebbersten tells P&Q. “My motivation was mainly to prove to myself that I was able to perform at a high level in a setting outside of my comfort zone. I considered a couple of other great business schools here in Ireland, such as UCD Smurfit, but I strongly felt that the consultancy project structure of the Trinity MBA excited me the most and therefore I put all my energy into applying for Trinity alone.”

Q&A with Elsa Ebbersten, MBA from Trinity Business School

How did the Trinity MBA change the course of your career? Where do you think you would be right now if you had NOT gotten the degree?

As a professional, I have always been highly driven, with my sight set on becoming a senior leader within the technology industry. Completing the MBA did not change my ambitions, however, it gave me the perspective and skills to fully understand the path that will lead me to where I aim to go.

At Xtremepush, we have sustained very high growth for most of the company’s existence, and for us to fulfill our business needs we are reliant on bringing on and developing people who contribute significant value to the organization. Due to this high-growth technology environment, I would most likely have had the same opportunities available to me even without an MBA, solely based on the value I add to the business. But on a personal level, it would have been difficult for me to truly immerse myself in those opportunities without the huge confidence boost I gained from completing the MBA. So while I didn’t need the technical skills to progress in my current organization, I would not have had the right mindset without the MBA.

Have you ever encountered someone telling you that you are too young to go to graduate business school? Too young to be operations director? Too young for other things? What is your message to others who might be in a similar situation as yours?

Never to my face. I think the technology industry is generally quite welcoming to younger people as long as they add clear value, potentially more so than other industries. Being a young female in a technology leadership position you sometimes feel that you have to “prove yourself” to a higher degree than your male peers — however, some of that pressure might be self-imposed.

My advice to anyone feeling that they are not taken seriously because of their age, or gender, is to become hugely confident in the value they add — very few people can seriously argue age over quantitative results.

Finally, where do you think you will be in three, four, five years — still at Xtremepush? — and are you interested in getting another graduate degree?

In three years from now, I will be the proud operational leader of Xtremepush as we become the global leader of our MarTech segment (customer data and engagement platforms). It is a truly fantastic thing when you join an organization whose journey and ambition excite you as an employee. And as an ever-learning leader, it is a great environment to grow and strengthen our teams and culture.

I would not necessarily go back for another graduate degree — I don’t think I can top the challenge I faced with the Trinity MBA (!). I would however engage with executive education from business school. As a leader, it is important to never get stagnant and keep challenging our own perspectives.