Meet the MBA Class of 2023: Zachary Green, Rice University (Jones)

Zachary Green

Rice University, Jones Graduate School of Business

“Always hungry for good food, beer and music…oh and learning too.”

Hometown: San Francisco, CA

Fun Fact About Yourself: I used to be a professional bassist! I’ve been on TV in Japan, and pictures of me have been on posters in New York’s Lincoln Center.

Undergraduate School and Major: Northwestern University – B.A. in Economics and B.M. in Music Performance

Graduate School: The Juilliard School – Master of Music in Double Bass

Most Recent Employer and Job Title:

Spiraledge – Customer Service Representative

What has been your favorite part of Houston so far? What has made it such a great place to earn an MBA?

Houston is such an easy place to live! I’ve lived in many places from Manhattan to the suburbs of Osaka, and my living situation in Houston is probably the most convenient so far. Even though traffic can be a pain, it is great to be close to so many things here: good food and entertainment, an airport, and many great companies which recruit from Rice.

Aside from your classmates and location, what was the key part of the Rice University MBA programming that led you to choose this business school and why was it so important to you? As someone with an unconventional background, I was looking for a school which offered ways to get more business and industry exposure. Rice has many opportunities for students to get hands-on experience outside of the classroom, and our small class size means we all have reasonable access to those resources.

What course, club or activity have you enjoyed the most so far at Rice Business? Beer Club! Earlier in the year we held Rice Business’ first-ever beer mile, and I won! Almost every activity or interaction at school has some direct tie to career development, so the beer club is a much-needed break from all of that.

Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: I stepped up to run a small non-profit business, which was struggling during the coronavirus pandemic. It was my local swim team in California, and the pandemic made it seem impossible to reopen the club, even when pools were allowed to operate again. The combination of a major financial deficit and the state’s harsh restrictions had the board thinking it would be better to stay shut down indefinitely, even though the coaches and swimmers wanted to get back to working out.

I worked on all the operational logistics to keep workouts safe and compliant with restrictions, did the financial planning necessary to achieve financial stability by the end of 2020, and performed nearly all the ongoing administrative work to keep things operating. Even though I was an unpaid volunteer, this was essentially a full-time workload. However, I enjoyed fighting for a sport that I love, and the business leadership experience was so valuable.

Describe your biggest accomplishment as an MBA student so far? My friends and I got 2ndn place in the Rice Business Energy Cleantech Case Competition. It turned out to be more of an engineering case rather than a business case, so we were tempted to drop out when we saw how technical the case prompt was. However, we powered through, and it turned out to be a great opportunity for us to do a deep dive into one specific aspect of energy transition.

What has been the most surprising thing that you’ve learned as an MBA student so far? There’s so much homework!

What advice would you give to help potential applicants gain admission into the Rice University MBA program? When applying anywhere, I think it is crucial to determine whether that program’s resources are the best fit for your career goals. Even though most schools try to cater to students with a wide variety of backgrounds and aspirations, they ultimately have different strengths. To be successful as an applicant and eventually as a student here, it is crucial to identify how Rice Business can support your career goals and how you can contribute to other students’ experiences here.

DON’T MISS: MEET THE RICE JONES MBA CLASS OF 2023

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