Berk Atillasoy

Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth

“A driven, thoughtful, community-focused leader who loves to laugh.”

Hometown: Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania

Fun fact about yourself: I actively track new menu items launched at fast food chains and casual dining restaurants, and try to taste-test them all. In case you were wondering, the new Nashville Hot Mozz sticks at Chili’s are exquisite.

Undergraduate School and Degree: Bachelor of Business Administration in Risk Management and Insurance, The Fox School of Business at Temple University

Where was the last place you worked before enrolling in business school? Deloitte Consulting LLP, Senior Consultant

Where did you intern during the summer of 2024? Boston Consulting Group, Philadelphia

Where will you be working after graduation? Boston Consulting Group, Philadelphia; Consultant

Community Work and Leadership Roles in Business School:

• Reaching Out MBA (ROMBA) Fellow
• Consortium for Graduate Study in Management Fellow
• Consulting Club Co-Chair
• Tuck Pride Co-Chair
• Member, Ski and Snowboarding Club

Which academic or extracurricular achievement are you most proud of during business school? Being selected as a Consulting Club co-chair by my peers was a tremendous honor. With the support of the fabulous co-chair team, I led the creation and launch of two new case preparation workshops designed to build first-year student skills in structuring and brainstorming (two core aspects of consulting interview cases). The workshops received overwhelmingly positive feedback and were highlighted as a valuable addition to their preparation and confidence in the early stages of their case preparation journey.

Perhaps my proudest contribution was leading the “Second-Year Case Match” process, where I managed the complex logistics of pairing of second-year volunteers with first-year students to conduct cases. Over a busy four-week period, the effort rallied second-year students to generously deliver over 550 cases, or 550 hours of their own time, to support first-year students in their consulting recruitment preparation – a true reflection of Tuck’s unique “pay-it-forward” culture. Noting the generosity of our peers, the co-chair team and I consciously tightened our club budget to fund and host the Consulting Club’s first-ever appreciation event for second-year supporters to contribute to the tradition of Tuckies helping Tuckies. At the end of recruiting season, we hosted a well-attended event at Sawtooth Kitchen where we celebrated their hard work and generosity over chicken fingers, sliders, and beer.

What achievement are you most proud of in your professional career? Earlier in my tenure at Deloitte, I volunteered to support one of the Philadelphia office’s many annual pro bono efforts as a member of the delivery team. The 12-week project involved conducting an in-depth review of a well-known charter school’s donor funding and developing a strategy to grow donations in the wake of COVID which significantly impacted the school’s financial resources. Up until this point, most of my consulting efforts had revolved around cost reduction efforts, process improvement, and organizational structures, so I was excited to do more “revenue facing” work. The charter school was also attended by a student I had the pleasure of mentoring for two years through Big Brothers Big Sisters of Philadelphia, so I was extra motivated to make an impact.

Two weeks before the engagement’s kick off, the to-be manager had to step away for personal reasons. Despite being more junior in my tenure, I stepped out of my comfort zone and offered to lead the project. For the first time in my career, I was responsible for finalizing the project scope, defining the delivery milestones, delegating and reviewing work, and leading client meetings.

The team and I dove deep into historical donation data, collaborated closely with Deloitte’s education practice experts, and developed actionable recommendations tailored to the school’s limited resources. We ultimately delivered a revamped fundraising strategy that included a series of “quick hit” actions to improve donor engagement with a high-potential alumni population.

A year later, the school updated us on their progress and identified a substantial donorship increase from some of the actions we recommended. It was extremely rewarding to learn our efforts helped make an impact on the school and their students.

Why did you choose this business school? I chose Tuck because of its rural setting. I’m someone who loves cities and gets a ton of energy from the morning commute hustle-and-bustle and twinkling skylines, but the opportunity to spend two years in the woods offered me an experience I might never have again. There’s something special about the Upper Valley that encourages you to slow down, reflect on your goals, envision the impact you want to have on business and the world—it has been transformative for me, and I left Tuck with a true understanding of who I am and what I want to achieve.

The rural setting of the Upper Valley naturally fosters Tuck’s tight-knit community, too. Everyone buys into living here fully (no college buddies or colleagues to hang with) and I’ve formed some incredible new relationships with classmates and professors as a result.

Who was your favorite MBA professor? Lauren Xiaoyuan Lu. I was lucky to take two elective courses with her. The first was Supply Chain Management, where we covered the key concepts and techniques that managers use to analyze and improve supply chain processes, performance, and competitiveness in different industries and markets. The second, Digital Operations, dove into the strategies, tools, and technologies that underpin core operations, improve customer experience, and create competitive advantages for businesses.

Dr. Lu is brilliant—anyone who has sat in on a lecture of hers can tell you that. But what makes her a special professor is her commitment to teaching through practical applications of theory and quantitative concepts and her ability to act like a tough manager, thoughtfully and respectfully challenging your model assumptions, analysis, output, and recommendations. She’s also extremely well-connected to alums and business leaders in the operations realm and regularly brings interesting guest speakers to classes throughout the term to let us engage, ask questions, and learn from their expertise.

Looking back over your MBA experience, what is the one thing you’d do differently and why? I would have pursued part-time employment at a local fast-food restaurant during my MBA to intentionally learn the ins and outs of the business. In my second year at Tuck, I discovered the world of entrepreneurship-through-acquisition through a series of events held by the Entrepreneurship Club and quickly developed an interest in owning and operating fast food franchises at some point in my career. However, most franchise opportunities require hands-on restaurant industry experience to ensure you can meet their brand and operating standards. It’s possible, but not probable, to buy into an established franchise without it.

What is the biggest myth about your school? The biggest myth about Tuck is that you have to love the outdoors to enjoy your time here. The true enjoyment of Tuck (in my opinion) comes from the community, not just the surroundings. Many people, myself included, came to Tuck with limited outdoor interests. However, we were able to build meaningful relationships through the variety of social and professional activities the school offers, both indoors and out. The tight-knit culture and on-campus events ensure you’ll find your place and love it here, outdoor enthusiast or not.

What did you love most about your business school’s town? Location, location, location. Hanover lies between the Green and White Mountain ranges and sits on the Connecticut River. It’s basically a massive playground for outdoor adventures.

Before Tuck, I only “liked” the outdoors but since coming here, I’ve truly come to love them. My best memories were made kayaking the river, skiing at Killington, and playing board games with my Tuck Pride family in a remote cabin on Mount Moosilauke.

What movie or television show (e.g. The Big Short, The Founder, Mad Men, House of Lies) best reflects the realities of business and what did you learn from it? Slightly unconventional, because it’s about the illicit activities of a criminal organization, but I’d say Breaking Bad. I happened to watch the show in undergrad after taking my capstone business course that pulled together all the learnings from the core curriculum, and thought some parallels were uncanny. While dramatized, the series covers a lot of business fundamentals like the importance of differentiating your product, growing a supply chain, responding to competition, and expansion. It also shows how when trust breaks down between leadership, or your personal ambitions come in conflict with resources you have on hand to grow, a thriving business can quickly find itself in rough waters.

What is one way that your business school has integrated AI into your programming? What insights did you gain from using AI? Tuck recognizes that employers will expect Tuck graduates to be proficient in using AI tools to improve productivity. The school has made a variety of resources available to us to build our proficiency and understand AI’s limitations. The automation capabilities of AI are truly impressive, but I’ve improved my creativity and judgement by using AI in coursework here.

Last year, I attended the Tuck Center for Digital Strategies’ AI-competency clinic, where I learned some valuable tips on how to better use AI for brainstorming and new idea generation through thoughtful prompt engineering—things I frequently did at my internship.

One tactical learning I’d like to share is how useful it is to ask AI to craft prompts for itself, then pressure test the question it generates by asking the model to make it more specific, critique the question (are we missing anything?), and create several iterations. Using this refined process of prompting has drastically improved the output I receive when working with AI.

Which MBA classmate do you most admire? Erin Lee. As a close friend of mine, I can say she’s one of the most independent, kind, thoughtful, and hard-working people I’ve ever met. Erin has given so much of herself to the Tuck community during our two years together. She serves as a co-chair for the Asia Business Club, Safe Rides (our student-led version of Uber), Cheesemongers, and Small Group Dinners. Erin is extremely passionate about fostering an inclusive environment here and played a big role in organizing this year’s Diversity Conference—an annual initiative that brings over ninety prospective students to Hanover to experience Tuck—which she worked at tirelessly in tandem with her summer internship responsibilities. Erin’s contributions and commitment to the student body are something I deeply admire about her.

What are the top two items on your professional bucket list? My ultimate service goal is to sit on the board of Big Brothers Big Sisters Independence Region. I’ve been a mentor through their various programs for over nine years now and have seen the power of mentorship and its ability to make an individual a better student, sibling, colleague, and leader. A board position would give me a seat at the table to craft the next generation of strategy and fundraising for an organization that shapes the aspirations and opportunity access for youth in the Philadelphia region.

My fiancé and I have come to love spa culture over our relationship together, and have been so lucky to experience Japanese onsens, Korean spas, and Nordic baths throughout our travels. Our love of spa culture has inspired an entrepreneurial dream of one day owning and operating a Nordic or onsen-style spa in the foothills of the White or Green Mountains where nature lovers, skiers, and tourists can come together to plunge, relax, and build community.

What made Berk such an invaluable addition to the Class of 2025?

“It is my utmost pleasure to recommend Berk, whose reflective nature, intellectual curiosity, and collaborative spirit have consistently set him apart as a pillar of his classrooms and the Tuck Class of 2025. In my Supply Chain Management and Digital Operations courses, Berk consistently earned top marks through his rigorous work ethic. More importantly, his inquisitiveness and unique ability to spark thought-provoking discussions enriched Tuck’s classroom experience by pushing his classmates toward a deeper understanding of course material. During his summer internship, he made an intentional effort to translate concepts he’s learned in the classroom to real-world management applications. Beyond discussing course related topics, Berk has shared with me insights about distribution network pricing strategies based on his past consulting engagements, which I found interesting and informative.”

Dr. Lauren Xiaoyuan Lu
Professor of Business Administration

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