Brett Weinstein

Georgetown University, McDonough School of Business

“An empathetic, results-focused, and analytical D.C. metro local looking to pivot into real estate development.”

Hometown: Annapolis, Maryland

Fun Fact About Yourself: In high school, I built a ‘tiny house’ with a friend for a school project because we were interested in architecture and housing in the United States.

Undergraduate School and Major: Bachelor of Business Administration from Emory University

Most Recent Employer and Job Title: Senior Business Analyst at Capital One

What excites you most about studying in Washington, DC? I’m most excited to connect with the business community here more deeply and understand how it interacts with the policy that’s set in the Capitol.

Aside from your classmates and location, what was the key part of Georgetown McDonough’s MBA programming that led you to choose this business school and why was it so important to you? I really connected with the resources, curriculum, and network of the Steers Center for Global Real Estate. I felt as though the real estate curriculum reinforced theoretical concepts with practical application through classes on valuations and funding and the experiential learning provided by the two offered clinics. This made me confident that I’ll be well prepared for the workforce upon graduation. When I spoke with members of the Class of 2024, I came to appreciate the support that Georgetown McDonough alumni provide to current students in the real estate industry, especially in the D.C. metro area. That strong community was really important to me as I was deciding where to continue my education.

What course, club or activity excites you the most at Georgetown McDonough? I’m most excited about the Intensive Learning Experience course focused on Real Estate Development. The experiential learning from that course will help students to better understand the development process within the D.C. metro area.

Georgetown McDonough programming focuses heavily on instilling a global mindset. Why is exposure to global diversity so critical to business success? I’ve had the opportunity to work with people from a range of diverse backgrounds. I’ve found that exposure to global diversity is so important because we never know who we’ll work with throughout our careers. Learning to understand and appreciate another person’s perspective and experience can help lead to improved collaboration and ultimately the best possible outcome for whatever business problems we’ll face.

Looking at your recruitment, what was the moment when you realized Georgetown McDonough was the right program for you? Why? I realized that McDonough was the right program for me when I understood how attending would align my personal and professional goals. As a native of the broader D.C. metro area, I knew that I wanted to be here for the long haul. When I was recruiting for my MBA, I looked at people locally in the positions that I want to hold in 5, 10, or 20 years. I found that a lot of those folks had some connection to Georgetown through the MBA program at McDonough or through another program at the university.

Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: My biggest accomplishment of my career would be working to help launch and improve the Capital One Partnerships Credit Line Decrease strategy to reduce exposure by $1B+ and expected credit losses by around $75M. We achieved this by identifying risky accounts prior to their delinquency on our card and reducing their credit line before they could increase their balance. The team worked with internal stakeholders to ensure that we were sharing the right messages with affected customers and with external card partners to align on the strategy.

My prior roles were focused on product analytics so I was proud of myself for quickly adapting to a new-to-me set of concepts and skills. I was also proud to help reduce risk during a period of increasing credit risk across the industry, underscoring the need for the strategy. I’m excited to bring this adaptability to McDonough and learn from the diverse experiences of my peers.

Looking ahead two years, what would make your MBA experience successful? Aside from the start of a new and exciting path for my career, the key things that would make my MBA experience successful would be a greater intuition for approaches that differ from my own, leadership opportunities both inside and outside of the classroom, and strong connections with classmates, professors, and the broader D.C. metro business community.

DON’T MISS: MEET GEORGETOWN MCDONOUGH’S MBA CLASS OF 2026