Meet Ivey’s MBA Class Of 2023

P&Q: How does the MBA program leverage the resources of the large university? How does that create more opportunities for your students?

Fremeth: “Western is one of the largest residential-based universities in Canada and offers a lot of opportunities and resources for our students. The Morissette Institute for Entrepreneurship is a great example that has grown out of Ivey and now has a cross-campus mandate to engage the entire university to promote and support entrepreneurial endeavors. For our students, this means they get to work with Propel, the Morissette Institute’s new venture accelerator, to help them build an entrepreneurial mindset that that prepares them for enterprising careers.”

P&Q: What has been the most successful new course introduced by faculty in the past two years? What has made it so popular with students and how does it give them an advantage in the workplace?

Fremeth: “Just last year, Professor Bob Andersen introduced “Inequality, Diversity in Business”, which was a wildly successful course that delves into the opportunities – both within organizations and across society – that are created and constrained by social stratification. This course takes a fundamentally different approach. Using empirical findings as its driving force, it explores the extent to which societies and organizations are meritocratic and the role that economic inequality plays. Students remarked on how the course provided a transformational journey that allowed them to open the aperture on this critical issue and understand what it means for the business leaders of tomorrow.”

P&Q: Ivey’s committed alumni and career services are considered two of your program’s biggest strengths. How do you leverage these resources to enhance the opportunities and learning experience available to MBAs?

Fremeth: “Ivey’s MBA Program integrates our award-winning Career Management team with our dedicated alumni base in many touch points throughout the 12-month program. A great example is our series of Get Connected networking events in Toronto. These events begin in May with a multi-day program designed by the Career Management team, which draws its inspiration from both student applications and career design programming to curate an alumni-laden event that is customized to our students’ interests. This year the event kicked off with a fireside chat with an Ivey alumnus who described the challenges that he faced when he had assumed the role of CEO at a major Canadian retailer the week that the World Health Organization declared the start of the pandemic in March 2020. That illuminating session was followed by small group meetings, coffee chats, and networking events with Ivey alumni from across those sectors that were of greatest interest to our students.”

5 REASONS TO CONSIDER THE IVEY MBA

1) Case Method Learning: “Reading and analyzing cases help you think critically and use the limited information to decide and act – simulating the real business world. The case methodology not only taught me business principles experientially but also communication skills – how to articulate my thoughts persuasively and listen to others. Through case discussions in class, I understood how, in a boardroom environment, I can participate proactively and disagree gracefully, basing my analysis on the available data.”
Gurnoor Singh Gandhi (’23)

2) One-Year Program: “For me, the length of the program is a crucial aspect that affected my decisions. Being in the technology industry, where changes happen every day, being out of the workforce for two years is very costly for me. In addition, being a non-commuter school means that the people of Ivey spend a lot more time together and develop deeper and hopefully longer-lasting relationships.”
Tuan Nguyen (’23)

“I think one of the biggest myths about Ivey is that the one-year program isn’t enough for students to make a career pivot. From personal experience, I can say that this is simply not true. I came into this MBA program with concentrated experience in one industry and function, with the hopes of transitioning into management consulting. Despite my background, I was able to see myself pursuing a career in consulting. The school equips you with so many tools through coursework, career management resources, and networking opportunities. You just need to put in the work to get there!”
Jenny Zhang (‘22)

3) 24-Hour Reports: “We have 24-hour reports for each of our core subjects at Ivey. Accounting & Control for Managers has historically intimidated fresh MBA candidates. While my group had decided on a direction to go in, we quickly learned that we were headed down the wrong path. While I’m not an accountant by trade, I am familiar with financial statement analysis and was of the more financially inclined members of my team. Given that, I asked my team if I could lead the new direction of the project and directed the bulk of the work from that point on. While it took us the better part of the night to redraft our paper, we were ultimately successful in securing the highest grades for that paper…As a result of my efforts on the ACM 24-hour report, I was able to build better rapport with my learning team and classmates and really felt the support system that exists at Ivey.”
Neetish (Nicky) Bijayananda (’22)

4) Alumni Network: “Ivey’s strong and huge alumni network was one of the reasons for choosing Ivey over other major schools. I can personally vouch for the responsiveness and supportiveness of the network. Ivey Career Management, which has been ranked among the best in Canada and all over the world, makes sure that current students utilize this gift from Ivey to the fullest. Through Get Connected events, we get the chance to network with such high-achieving individuals and learn from their experiences.”
Saurabh Mishra (’23)

5) Ivey Olympics: “My favourite MBA event this year was the Ivey Olympics, which is an annual student-run event that puts teams of Ivey MBA students together to participate in a fun and competitive day of physical and mental challenges. What made this year extra special was the timing of the event. The event happened shortly after another set of pandemic restrictions were lifted and the entire class was able to come together to engage in a full day of fun activities and bonding. The event turnout as well as the level of energy and engagement seen throughout the day reflects the amount of enthusiasm and passion that our class for spending time with each other, which helps build out our unique Class of 2022 community.”
Jenny Zhang (’22)

ADVICE TO PROSPECTIVE APPLICANTS

“From very early on, Ivey pairs you with a recruiter who guides you through the process. I was fortunate enough to have an amazing recruiter who kept in regular communication with me. She encouraged me to go to different events, meet and greets with past alumni, and a virtual case-based class with one of the Ivey profs. I think asking questions and attending these events really helped me understand Ivey’s core values and strengths, which helped me authentically articulate why I wanted to do my MBA at Ivey and what value I believed I could bring to my classmates if I was accepted.”
Giustin MacLean (’23)

“One step I took that contributed to my success was speaking with alumni. Before I even applied to Ivey, I connected with alumni that had pursued careers in my area of interest. By having candid conversations with alumni, it gave me a good understanding of what Ivey is all about and what makes candidates successful. This not only solidified my conviction that Ivey was the right school for me but helped me position my application to highlight my strengths that best aligned with Ivey’s values.”
Reilly Baggs (’23)

MBA Student	Hometown	Undergrad Alma Mater	Last Employer
Kunle Adesoji, CFA	Lagos, Nigeria	University of Ilorin	Àrgentil Capital Partners
Reilly Baggs	Kingston, ON	McMaster University	Sage Engineering Services
Shivali Barot	Vaughan, ON	University of Toronto	University Health Network
Jennifer (Ye Won) Kim	Daegu, South Korea	Western Ontario University	Real Matters
Giustin MacLean	Halifax, NS	University of Toronto	Self-Employed
Yzah Macalintal	Philippines	University of British Columbia	Copperleaf
Saurabh Mishra	Prayagraj, India	National Institute of Technology, Jamshedpur	Standard Chartered
Tuan Nguyen	Hanoi, Vietnam	SolBridge International School of Business	Joon Solutions
Gurnoor Singh Gandhi	Karnal, India	Indira Gandhi National Open University	Centre for Advanced Research and Development (CARD)
Funmilayo Smart	Nigeria	University of Ibadan	Chapel Hill Denham Advisory Limited
Jeff Smith	Oakville, ON	Western Ontario University	A10K Inc.
Beatriz Mariano Vasconcellos	Piracicaba, Brazil	Universidade Presbiteriana Mackenzie	KPMG Brazil