Salman Kazrooni

Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College

“Curious, focused, and competitive. F.C. Barcelona enthusiast.”

Hometown: Manama, Bahrain

Fun Fact About Yourself: I’ve never owned a car, but I have driver’s licenses from four different countries.

Undergraduate School and Major: Concordia University, Finance and Economics

Most Recent Employer and Job Title: Awad Capital Limited, investment banking associate

What has been your first impression of the Tuck MBA students and alumni you’ve met so far. Tell us your best Tuck story so far. Everyone is very accessible. The MBA class is fairly small, with just about 300 people—it’s not that hard to connect with most people over time, and everyone seeks out those connections. You also see this accessibility stretching to the alumni. Tuck has a wide reach when it comes to alumni—there’s always a Tuckie who’s doing something you’re excited about and, for the most part, they’re always ready to help. The response rate for any outreach I’ve done so far has been close to 100 percent.

Aside from your classmates, what was the key part of Dartmouth Tuck’s MBA programming that led you to choose this business school and why was it so important to you? Everything about Tuck is very, very intentional and that’s evident from day one. Tuck has one MBA program, and it invests a wealth of resources toward that. The first-year curriculum is very intense and focused on getting the fundamentals across, so that students are ready for recruiting season. This intentionality goes all the way to how the clubs, centers, and academics interact, with clear synergies between all three that flow very well.

I felt very comfortable that by coming to Tuck, I’ll have an MBA experience that’s full and very focused on providing me with the skills, tools, and connections I need to succeed both in the classroom and in the recruiting process.

What excites you the most about coming to live in Hanover? What is the one activity you can’t wait to do? It’s exciting to have access to so many outdoor activities in a relatively small area. One of my favorite activities I have done so far is renting a canoe from the Ledyard Canoe Club right behind Tuck and enjoying the Connecticut River. I haven’t had a chance to hike any mountains yet, but that’s definitely on my list!

What course, club or activity excites you the most at Dartmouth Tuck? I really enjoy being part of the Small Group Dinners (SGD) Club.

Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: I joined my last firm in November 2020, when COVID-19 was still going strong. Within the first month, the entire office tested positive for COVID, and most of my team members were out very sick. Despite being a new and fresh member of an already small team, I completely took over two live transactions that were at their critical points. For the next couple of weeks, I worked very closely with one of the managing directors at my firm in steering these transactions to the finish line. As tough as that experience was, I gained a lot of confidence in doing the job well and established strong trust with the rest of my team.

What do you hope to do after graduation (at this point)? I was working as an investment banking associate in Dubai prior to Tuck. The thing I enjoyed most about my role was the clear visibility I had of the market. By talking to different clients and stakeholders every day, I was able to see how founders and operators were thinking, the decisions they made to fuel growth, and the key drivers that impacted economies in the MENA region.

I want to leverage the skills I gained in my time in Dubai and land a role within investment banking here in the U.S. In such a role I can get an even clearer view of a much bigger market, and work with very impactful clients that are shaping their respective industries.

What advice would you give to help potential applicants gain admission into Dartmouth Tuck’s MBA program? It really isn’t for everyone. It takes a certain type of person to want to come to Tuck and live for two years in the Upper Valley. For myself and for a lot of my cohort, we were “looking for a Tuck” in our MBA application process. For most of us, coming to Tuck is a very intentional decision—we see how engaged students are, how “all-in” everyone is with the experience of doing an MBA in an environment like Hanover.

I’d advise anyone thinking about Tuck to really reflect on this point, and to understand that one must seek out Tuck to be able to succeed here. The admissions team also does a very good job identifying applicants who show that commitment early on. For applicants in the coming cycle, my advice would be to reach out to as many people as possible from Tuck. Be very intentional about your questions and look for a “why Tuck” in everyone you connect with. If it’s for you, you’ll find a pull that’s very strong and very telling.

DON’T MISS: MEET DARTMOUTH TUCK’S MBA CLASS OF 2026