Meet Duke Fuqua’s MBA Class Of 2024

P&Q: How does the MBA program leverage the resources of the larger Duke University and Durham? How does that create more opportunities for your students?

RM: “We are fortunate to be part of one of the most dynamic research universities in the world. We have direct access to top talent outside the business school in areas like health, engineering and environmental science, to name a few. Likewise, the rest of the university benefits from the business talent we have at Fuqua. There are many ways we reap the mutual benefits, such as our Health Sector Management program or dual degrees in business and environmental issues. However, I will also point to entrepreneurship as an example. Duke’s Innovation and Entrepreneurship initiative recently physically moved to Fuqua. This will allow an even greater mix of talent from different parts of the university to gather at Fuqua for classes or networking. Our goal has always been for talent across the university to intersect and mingle to innovate – as the business specialist will need the engineering specialist to design a product, but the engineering specialist will need the business specialist to scale to market, and so on. We believe having entrepreneurship efforts centered at Fuqua will foster even more of those connections across Duke.”

P&Q: Where are some of your students’ favorite hang-outs? What do they do and why do they gravitate there?

RM: “Durham is a spectacular place to live and there are so many popular hangouts from coffee shops, to art venues, to restaurants to the sporting events, both at Duke and outside of Duke. I am going to let you read some of the blogs from our students for specific shout outs to their favorite go-to spots. I will call out a few perennial favorite sports venues that include Durham Bulls’ baseball games, Carolina Hurricanes hockey games in nearby Raleigh, and Duke basketball games in Cameron Indoor Stadium. I think our students are continually surprised at how much there is to do in Durham—it has the amenities of a big city without the traffic.”

P&Q: Who is a standout in your faculty or administration – the kind of person who graduates talk about a decade after they leave? How does he or she personify your school culture and the best of your MBA program?

RM: “Mary Beck White-Sutton immediately comes to mind as someone who many of our graduates form a close relationship with while at Fuqua and stay in close touch with after they graduate. Mary Beck is sector director for consulting in our Career Management Center. She is someone who quickly builds trust with our students and not only sees them through their journey as a student at Fuqua, but continues to guide, coach, and counsel them throughout their careers.

Mary Beck is Fuqua – she is our culture embodied. She represents the Team Fuqua way of working in how she invests in relationships and builds trust in order to draw out the strengths of every student and alum she works with. At Fuqua, we embrace a concept called “Supportive Ambition,” which essentially means “your success is my success.” Mary Beck embodies that concept in understanding that the success of each of our graduates individually translates into the collective success of our community and the impact we make in the world.  Finally, I think about our goal of bringing people together who possess what we call “triple-threat leadership” ability: high IQ, EQ, and DQ (decency quotient). Mary Beck demonstrates that type of leadership through her relationships with students, which is centered on deep expertise, empathy, care and respect –and genuinely trying to do what is right for each person.

5 REASONS TO CHOOSE FUQUA

1) Finance: “The ability to get a Finance Certificate for excellence in finance-related courses is what intrigued me the most about Fuqua’s curriculum. As a former bank branch manager, I developed a lot of the leadership and persuasion skills that will make me a strong finance executive. With that being said, my past role was not as quantitative as I would have liked and I only received a surface-level education in accounting principles and corporate finance. When I learned about the strength of Fuqua’s finance classes and the ability to get a certificate in the field, I saw that as a way to improve my hard skills in financial services and signal to employers that I can handle the mathematical aspect of any finance role I may have.”
Al Corvah (’24)  

2) Social Entrepreneurship: “I’m deeply interested in the intersection of social impact and entrepreneurship, using business as a force for good to innovatively solve our most-pressing problems. Fuqua has an entire Social Entrepreneurship concentration and center – CASE (Center for the Advancement of Social Entrepreneurship) – dedicated to just that. The resources for and long-standing commitment to social impact at Fuqua blew me away.”
Annie Forrest (’24)

“I am excited to participate in CASE i3, the impact investing practicum, and engaging with the CASE Center as a whole. Coming from a project management and operational background, I’m eager to understand how the investment side of impact work happens in a practical and experiential way. I’ve been frustrated to see incredible solutions that lack the funding they need to scale. CASE i3 will enable me to change those funding streams in the future.”
Kandasi Griffiths (’24)

3) Healthcare: “The certificate in Health Sector Management includes interdisciplinary study, extracurricular events, and programs. Students can take 7 different health care electives beyond the 3 required courses – HSM “Bootcamp” (officially known as Health Institutions, Systems and Policy), Seminars in Health Care, and Health Care Markets. My most interesting courses will be biotechnology and Pharmaceutical Strategy, where I could combine my past working experience to examine a drug’s life cycle. I would like to explore how to manage scientists, finance clinical trials, and select molecules in the research and development stage.

Also, the Duke University Hospital Experiential Learning Practicum provides me with the opportunity to work directly with hospital leaders, applying my business skills to tackle the real cases in hospitals, such as how to help the emergency department improve security and the waiting room experience.”
Ruoxi Shi (’24)

4) Energy: “What sets Fuqua apart is the established and formalized Energy curriculum through energy concentrations and an array of energy and sustainability-focused extra-curricular supported by the EDGE (Energy Development and the Global Environment) center. The center’s big picture, interdisciplinary outlook and approach to energy and sustainability independent of a specific industry perspective are fundamental to me, as I want to pivot from traditional oil and gas. At Fuqua, I intend to pursue the Energy and Environment concentration. I am pretty excited about this because it allows me to pursue my interests in a structured manner and take classes relevant to my career goals across Duke University’s other schools.”
Chisom “CJ” Obikile (’24)

5) Flexibility: “I applied to business school knowing that I wanted to pursue a brand management role upon graduation. I knew Fuqua had strong marketing professors and courses and that made the program appealing. Additionally, Fuqua’s core curriculum and 6-week course length allow for experiential experiences such as GATE (Global Academic Travel Experience) which is something I was looking for in an MBA program.”
Jessi Aguilar (’24)

“What attracted me most to Fuqua’s curriculum was the abundant experiential opportunities it provides. I’m excited to participate in the Mentored Study Program (MSP) to get sector-specific experience and strengthen functional skills by undertaking a mentored study with an organization in a space that matches with my career interests, specifically product and marketing.”
Keerthana Rao Balusu (’24)

Student studying at Breeden Hall Terrace at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business Durham, North Carolina, Wednesday, September 21, 2022 (Justin Cook for Audubon)ADVICE TO PROSPECTIVE APPLICANTS

“Fuqua strives to create students who rank high on each of the three quotients we recognize: IQ, EQ, and DQ: the “Decency Quotient,” which in plain terms can be described as the intention to do good and foster a just world. To that end, I recommend all potential applicants use their essays to highlight ways in which they possess the three quotients: that is, demonstrate a high level of competence and knowledge in a particular field of work, an interest in learning about people and their backgrounds, and the will to serve others.”
Al Corvah (’24)

“I took advantage of Fuqua’s Open Season Interviews, which allowed me to “opt-in” for an early interview during a campus visit before I had even submitted my application. Rather than waiting for an invitation (or lack thereof) and deferring that decision to the Admissions Committee, I was proactive and demonstrated my interest and investment in Fuqua. I knew my test scores were perhaps not the most competitive, but I also knew that my personality and ability to interview are assets that could help me sell myself. By interviewing early, I presented a face and personality to my “25-Fun Facts” essay and the woman the Admissions Committee would read about on paper. I genuinely expressed my love of Fuqua and desire to join this community, before they could have the chance to say “no”. Be proactive with any chance you have to set yourself apart!”
Helen Elizabeth Old (’24)

“Go granular. Admissions want to hear about the detail of how you’re going to get involved at Fuqua. Think about when you’re going to arrive on campus and how you will create and strengthen the communities here. Try to suggest some interactions that most candidates might not. How might you build relationships before you are allocated into Sections? What role will you play after your class is divided into Sections? Then, apply proof: when have you worked to create and strengthen teams in a professional capacity, or in your spare time outside work? These elements can help to create an unusually strong application.”
Sean Perkins (’24)

MBA Student	Hometown	Undergraduate Alma Mater	Last Employer
Jessi Aguilar	Waukegan, IL	Bucknell University	Univision Communication
Al Corvah	Baltimore, MD	Harvard University	M&T Bank
Trevor Fabian	Wales, WI	University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee	United States Air Force
Annie Forrest	Richlands, VA	University of Virginia	One Love Foundation
Kandasi Griffiths	Atlanta, GA	Princeton Universit	SR Collaborative
Chisom “CJ” Obikile	Lagos, Nigeria	Texas A&M University	NNPC Limited
Sean Perkins	Atlanta, GA	University of Warwick	Holtzbrinck Publishing Group
Keerthana Rao Balusu	Visakhapatnam, India	Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur	Wiingy Pvt Ltd
Clara Rigou	Buenos Aires, Argentina	Universidad de San Andrés	Kigal S.A.
Ruoxi Shi	Shenzhen, China	Beijing International Studies University	Shenzhen Mairuipu Technology Co.
Brandon Yip	Holmdel, NJ	Northeastern University	Thrive Church Taipei
Vann Emmanuel Vicente	Manila, Philippines	De La Salle University	Winery.ph

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