Nathan Mechulan

The University of Florida, Warrington College of Business

“Persistently driven and empathetic, always seeking ways to positively impact the world around him.”

Hometown: Miami Beach, Florida

Fun fact about yourself: I have been playing the trombone since I was 12!

Undergraduate School and Degree: University of Florida, Bachelor of Science in Biological Engineering, Minor in Biomolecular Engineering

Where was the last place you worked before enrolling in business school?
Nielsen; Operations Delivery Lead

Where did you intern during the summer of 2022? Danone (White Plains, New York);
Brand Management Intern

Where will you be working after graduation? Procter and Gamble (Cincinnati, Ohio);
Senior Brand Manager

Community Work and Leadership Roles in Business School:

• Leadership Roles: Vice President of Professional Development; Marketing Club President; Cohort Representative; Graduate Career and Peer Mentor (for specialized masters); UF MBA Ambassador (liaison with prospective students)
• Honors: GCAP Excellence Award; SEC Case Competition Competitor

Which academic or extracurricular achievement are you most proud of during business school? I am most proud to have been Vice President of Professional Development for the UF MBA. In this role, I oversaw interview preparation and onboarding for multiple first-year mentees in the position. Being able to support the incoming 1st year and one-year full-time MBA students on job recruiting, and seeing them achieve their internship/full-time career goals is incredibly rewarding.

What achievement are you most proud of in your professional career? I am most proud of my growth through my promotions from Data Analyst to Operations Delivery Lead during my time at Nielsen. I actively sought new opportunities to take task responsibility on my team as well as learning more about the cross-functional teams around me. My manager saw my potential and dedication to the team and saw me fit to take on this leadership role.

Why did you choose this business school? I chose UF because of the incredible quality of Business Career Services. The personalized focus each student and I have received from Carly Escue and the BCS team has allowed each student to vocalize and strategically tailor their unique recruiting path. The career placement success of BCS speaks volumes to their passion and dedication to helping each student achieve their dreams.

Who was your favorite MBA professor? My favorite professor was Dr. Anthony Middlebrooks, our Developing Leadership Skills professor. His passion and energy for helping his students discover and understand their unique leadership styles equipped us with invaluable tools we could all leverage in our future pursuits to be managers. He structured his course profile to be incredibly engaging, promoting class discourse. This allowed students to customize their experience by tailoring lessons and student presentations to their respectively chosen topics. For example, I was able to present on the topic of Motivation within leadership, reviewing the roots of intrinsic motivation and self-determination theory and how it can be applied in the workplace.

What was your favorite course as an MBA? My favorite course was the Building and Managing Brand Equity course. Being able to apply real-time marketing concepts to thoughtful business cases was incredibly valuable to me as I pursued Brand Management going into my MBA, with my post-graduation career of being a Senior Brand Manager at Procter and Gamble. Dr. Lutz is the chair of the graduate marketing department at UF and ensures his course is actively engaging and reflects key examples of brand management success, especially in the consumer packaged goods space. This includes learning from the creator of the Fruit Loops “stolen colors” campaign and student groups completing a brand assessment (i.e. my group evaluating Moxy Hotels) with recommendations on how to further the brand in the future.

What was your favorite MBA event or tradition at your business school? I would have to choose our annual End Of Year Gala. Being able to celebrate and send-off our graduating full-time MBA students and reflect on the past year is bittersweet but emotionally fulfilling all the same. Our Internal Affairs team creates a “walk through memory lane” presentation and collects nominations for each graduating student to highlight what they’ll be most remembered for. I look forward to our upcoming gala where we’ll come together as a program and send off the graduating MBAs with a smile.

Looking back over your MBA experience, what is the one thing you’d do differently and why? There isn’t anything I would change – I absolutely loved my MBA program experience and am leaving with no regrets. I feel I have given my maximum effort and involvement possible.

What is the biggest myth about your school? Most people assume UF is just a Football and Basketball school. However, we have multiple national championships in baseball, softball, swimming and diving, gymnastics, and more in the past decade!

What did you love most about your business school’s town? Gainesville is very much the “city of 1,000 hidden gems”. The food scene, immaculate native Florida ecosystems, and live music scene give plenty of entertainment for people of any background – you just have to know where to look!

What surprised you the most about business school? Each student’s openness to collaboration within the program. Whether that be volunteering time to tutor each other in subject improvement areas or actively conducting case interviews with one another, each student constantly asks one another: “How can I help you succeed?”

What is one thing you did during the application process that gave you an edge at the school you chose? I went to UF for undergraduate and was able to especially highlight my passion for the university by elaborating on my academic and extracurricular involvement from undergraduate and as an alumnus. In particular, this includes my lab research experience in conjunction with the engineering curriculum, and my involvement with the UF Band Program (marching band, concert band, symphonic band, jazz band, trombone studio, and alumni band).

Which MBA classmate do you most admire? Though I admire all my classmates, I would recognize Alithu Castro in particular. Her drive and dedication to those she works with is something to be modeled. She engages herself across the full-time MBA program as our Vice President of Communications, actively promoting a welcoming culture across all cohorts in the program. Her engagement also involves benefitting other specialized masters’ students as a Graduate Career and Peer mentor, including being an MBA Ambassador for prospective students. Throughout her life she has overcome countless challenges to benefit others while having adapted multiculturally in both Latin America and the United States. Having her undergraduate in Industrial Engineering and Human Resources, she exemplifies personal growth and being unafraid to further challenge her personal best – leading her to pursue her MBA at the University of Florida.

She will be working at Johnson and Johnson in their Experienced Human Resources Leadership Development Program where she will continue to make an impactful difference within the world around her.

What are the top two items on your professional bucket list?

1. Launch a new consumer packaged good product from concept to market.
2. Working on an international market project and learning about a new culture.

What made Nathan such an invaluable addition to the Class of 2023?

“Nathan Mechulan is a second year MBA student and Vice President of Professional Development for the student governing UF MBA Association (MBAA). After being appointed, he quickly assumed responsibility to oversee 7 clubs as they began developing programming and leadership opportunities for students. Nathan works diligently to make sure these clubs are running smoothly by ensuring they are regularly communicating with one another and keeping to their intended timelines. Nathan works seamlessly between these clubs and the UF MBA program office to not only keep everyone informed but also identify opportunities for collaboration.

Nathan is an advocate for his classmates in various ways. He is an active Career And Peer (CAP) Mentor who specializes in providing Warrington students with peer-to-peer career development assistance in their search for great internship and job opportunities. Nathan was recognized for his efforts by being the recipient of the Individual CAP Mentor Award that recognizes mentors who have gone above and beyond for their mentees. Nathan also led career programming for international students, helping them navigate through their unique challenges in career search.

Nathan is an active participant in case competitions and encourages his classmates to participate by regularly highlighting their benefits. In his first year, Nathan was a member of team representing multiple graduate programs at the Diamond Dollars Case Competition hosted by the Society for American Baseball Research. His ability to work across graduate programs resulted in a dynamic team that consisted of not only full-time MBAs, but also students from other program formats who bring additional skillsets. His efforts solidified our annual participation in this opportunity. Nathan also represented UF MBA in the 2022 SEC MBA Case Competition hosted by the University of Kentucky where his team was recognized for their excellent storytelling and presentation skills. This year, Nathan is working with a team of both first and second years to represent UF MBA at Texas Christian University’s Supply Chain Case Competition later this month. Go Gators!

Nathan interned at Danone last summer as a MBA Brand Marketing Intern and upon graduation, will join Procter & Gamble as a Senior Brand Manager.”

Meghan Blake
Assistant Director, Experiential Learning
UF MBA Programs

DON’T MISS: THE ENTIRE LIST OF MBAS TO WATCH IN 2023