Ludmilla Groenner

University of Tennessee, Haslam College of Business

“Life explorer whose journey brought sensitivity to clarify problems and empathy to develop collaborative solvers.”

Hometown: Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais

Fun fact about yourself: I have a passion for discovering new cultures and I’ve traveled to about 60 countries. In 2016 I fulfilled a lifelong dream by traveling around the world backpacking, experiencing different cultures, exchanging experiences, and acquiring new knowledge, complementary to those acquired in books.

Undergraduate School and Degree:

–    Graduate Certificate in Business Administration, 2011 (GPA 3.8)

Brazilian Institute of Capital Markets – IBMEC, Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil

–    B.S. in Accounting, 2009 (GPA 3.6)

Federal University of Minas Gerais – UFMG, Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil

–    B.S. in Advertising and Marketing, 2006 (GPA 3.8)

University Center of Belo Horizonte – UNIBH, Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil

Where was the last place you worked before enrolling in business school? PwC – PricewaterhouseCoopers, Senior Manager

Where did you intern during the summer of 2023? Eastman Chemical Company, Kingsport

Where will you be working after graduation? Eastman Chemical Company as a Corporate Strategy Manager

Community Work and Leadership Roles in Business School:

–    Golden Cord in recognition of my high performance and top GPA in MBA Program

–    2nd place on case competition promoted by Haslam College of Business

–    Volunteer work at 2nd Harvest Food Bank

–    Volunteer work at Beardsley Community Farm in Knoxville

–    Volunteer work at Children’s Advocacy Center at Kingsport.

–    Member of Mosaic – Eastman Resource Group for Diversity and Inclusion (I was also a member of a Committee of Diversity and Inclusion at PwC).

Which academic or extracurricular achievement are you most proud of during business school? It was earning the Golden Cord because it symbolizes all the dedication, commitment, resilience and constancy during the program. For me, this recognition not only symbolizes the high performance maintained throughout the program, but the achievement of overcoming challenges (especially in a different culture, education system and language). Even more, it represents the extreme importance of family, professors, graduate center team, friends and the genuine network developed to support the academic journey and make the achievements possible.

What achievement are you most proud of in your professional career? It was the supportive network I created during the almost 15 years I worked in business consultancy, whether with leaders, co-workers, peers, teams, and clients. I’m not a person who creates connections right away (I’m quite shy and reserved), but I establish genuine relationships based on the consistency of my actions, trust-based relationships, and permanent focus on developing people. My consolidated network allows me to share my values, build bridges to achieve better results, support the community, and establish deeper transparent relationships. Even more, it provides the support of “professional mentors” that keep guiding me with honesty and admiration to overcome the challenges and constant changes that life imposes on us.

Why did you choose this business school? All my work experience certainly has taught me I still have much more to learn. Thus, I chose the UTK mainly because the Vols alumni who were proud and honored to be part of this community. They convinced me that Haslam College of Business was an ideal environment. I could not only develop my cross-disciplinary interests by absorbing its faculties’ capabilities, but also promote a great opportunity to transform all knowledge acquired in something applicable and useful for society – positively impacting the community, companies, and public in general.

Who was your favorite MBA professor? David Maslar: I admire Dr. Maslar because he exercises his profession in an exemplary and committed way. He shares relevant content, giving space for students to express their ideas, and impeccably structuring their classes. Moreover, David is an inspiration and the personification of how a genuine work passion and outstanding performance generates recognition and spread-out good examples. He was the teacher honored by the students and, at the end of the program, he assumed a new position as Academic Director at UTK.

What was your favorite course as an MBA? There were so many essential lessons learned during the program that it is very difficult to choose just one. However, I want to highlight Business Skills Development. I believe that self-knowledge improves the way we see the world and allows us to expand our relationships. This discipline enabled a deeper reflection of my goals and the strengths I could use to achieve them. Moreover, knowing ourselves is an essential step to understanding others’ behaviors and motivations to support team development, extract the best out of other people, act as a motivated manager who believes in the company’s purpose and values to engage teams, and establish trust-based relationships to positively influence people.

What was your favorite MBA event or tradition at your business school? It is the tradition of helping with volunteer work, honoring the Torchbearer’s values and the Vols spirits. By choosing a cause, this tradition allows us to feel productive and able to make a positive impact and give back to the community! Moreover, it develops relevant business skills like building teamwork (dealing with different personalities and backgrounds), focusing on results, engagement, and respecting different cultures.

Looking back over your MBA experience, what is the one thing you’d do differently and why? I should have believed more in my power to positively impact people by sharing my professional experience and my personal journey. For example, I would have participated more in seminars, congresses, and case competitions. In the process, I could better represent the MBA Program at UTK by sharing the knowledge acquired and creating solid networking to expand the experience.

What is the biggest myth about your school? The biggest myth about Haslam College of Business is that the school has relevant academic recognition only in Supply Chain. Besides the fact that UTK is a top-ranked in Supply Chain Management, there are great opportunities in many areas, such as Business Analytics, Finance, Innovation and Entrepreneurship. The MBA Program at Haslam is structured in a way that allows students to develop numerous skills, including academic ones, to be applied in different industries, and soft skills to allow continuous improvement, accelerated learning, adaptability, and courage to overcome professional challenges.

What did you love most about your business school’s town? I loved the people and friends I made at Knoxville. I always felt very well received and welcomed in all communities (university, church, work, etc.). The people in this city are very proud of their origins. They value their families, proud of their traditions, extremely supportive, and proud of their community’s achievements. In this sense, I highlight the local sport fans (which also unites generations), when the city always turns orange to support their team (Go Vols! Go Big Orange!)

What surprised you the most about business school? In addition to academic excellence, what surprised me most were all the tools offered to help students achieve their best. In addition to having highly qualified professors, academically active and committed to teaching, the Haslam College of Business offers a wide range of opportunities that go beyond academic excellence. These include providing access to online courses, apps and platforms; organizaing seminars, workshops and fairs; offering a career center management developed to support and guide all professional demands; including international travel to experience business globally; and even offering golf classes as a way of opening doors, expanding individual abilities and gender balance in leadership.

Which MBA classmate do you most admire? Sima Khalilifard. I was lucky to sit next to Sima on the very first day and I was impressed by her powerful personality, commitment, determination, focus and courage. Sima is from Iran, and I admire how she overcame any potential prejudice, longing for her family and friends (and had only a single-entry visa into the USA), and language barriers to achieve impressive results.

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

1) Support Women in Leadership: At PwC, I led several projects at PwC in which I interacted with clients and teams made up of different personalities. Having worked in different sectors, my biggest goal is to continue to represent and promote actions that highlight Women in Leadership. This topic has gained focus over the years, but there is still a lot to improve to promote greater gender equity in leadership positions, salary equality, greater balance, and quality of life (especially related to motherhood).

 2) Keep Participating and Leading Diversity and Inclusion Groups: I want to promote actions to contribute to a more global and sustainable world. I will do this by developing daily and continuous actions that promote results (on any scale) capable of reducing barriers, generating impacts holistically, improving knowledge exchange, and promoting better recognition, dissemination and expansion of the diversity and inclusion’s cause.

What made Ludmilla such an invaluable addition to the Class of 2024?

“I would like to recommend Ludmilla Groenner, an MBA student who concentrated in Business Analytics in the Haslam College of Business at the University of Tennessee Knoxville. Ludmilla was a student in two of the courses I taught Fall 2023, Decision Optimization and Visualizing Business Data. Ludmilla embodies the true spirit of the UT MBA program arriving with 13 years of international business experience through PWC in Brazil. Ludmilla not only exceled academically in two very quantitatively rigorous analytics courses, but consistently demonstrated outstanding leadership, interpersonal, and organizational skills through her interactions with classmates on team projects, assignments, and through classroom activities.

From day one, it was evident to me that Ludmilla’s leadership style was that of a servant leader, and her leadership skills were outstanding. She was the “glue that held the team together,” and “the calm in the midst of the storm.” Enrolled in numerous analytics courses, each with several team projects and countless individual deliverables oftentimes with overlapping due dates throughout the semester, the analytics students face a significant academic challenge. Ludmilla was always the first to reach out to extend a helping hand to a fellow student during classroom activities and assignments. On team projects, her calm presence and quiet leadership skills communicated patience, clear direction, and confidence. When facing extremely challenging quantitative problems, Ludmilla exhibited a very methodical, analytical approach that started with a strategic examination from the big picture perspective and ended with a practical, implementable, detailed analytical solution that was right on target.

In all her interactions with students, peers, staff, and professors, Ludmilla led by example. She demonstrated integrity, respect for all, a strong work ethic, a willingness to listen, understand, and help, a keen intellect, determination, humility, and a positive attitude in all her endeavors. Ludmilla served as a Corporate Strategy Intern for Eastman Chemical Company during the summer of 2023. It is obvious to me that Eastman Chemical also recognized Ludmilla’s extraordinary leadership, quantitative, and interpersonal skills as she now has a permanent position with them as a Strategy Manager doing internal consulting.

Ludmilla is truly a remarkable individual. As further testimony, I note that she completed her MBA degree while holding down a second, extremely demanding full-time job as mother to her elementary school-aged daughter.”

Melissa R. Bowers
Haslam College of Business

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