Jeffrey McNerney

Georgetown University, McDonough School of Business

“Leading teams and solving problems while exploring the world through art, travel, and food.”

Hometown: Seattle, Washington

Fun Fact About Yourself: I love art and music of all kinds, and this year my choir premiered an opera about an Arctic explorer which included a few songs in Inuit.

Undergraduate School and Major: University of Washington, Economics

Most Recent Employer and Job Title: Senior AI Operations Manager at Zillow

What excites you most about studying in Washington, DC? I love the diverse intellectual thrum of the city, where policy wonks, museum scholars, global dignitaries, and business leaders all mingle together. Ideas and influences can come from anywhere, so there’s always a chance that the next person you meet is involved with an organization, leader, or cause that will genuinely change the world. I’m also excited to explore the international cuisine and author events at Politics and Prose!

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? The Jesuit value of cura personalis—care for the whole person—perfectly encapsulated what I was looking for in a business school. Georgetown is an institution that sees beyond career and academic results to understand its students at an individual level and support their development into well-rounded leaders and people. Those are the type of professors, staff members, and classmates I want to be surrounded by.

What course, club or activity excites you the most at Georgetown McDonough? In addition to the more standard curriculum, I’m excited for two of the non-traditional academic opportunities at Georgetown: First, there is the Intensive Learning Experiences, sprint-like courses over a few days which can be project-based or experiential in a wide range of subjects. Second, there is the ability to take a few courses in other Georgetown schools—I hope to be able to fit in a constitutional law class at the Law Center and some international studies at the Walsh School of Foreign Service.

Georgetown McDonough programming focuses heavily on instilling a global mindset. Why is exposure to global diversity so critical to business success? Much of my career has involved finding international solutions to problems facing even domestic companies with domestic customers, whether gathering valuable global data overlooked by other sources or building teams abroad. It’s safe and easy to focus only on the familiar, but expanding to a global mindset reveals a huge array of companies and individuals who will help create new perspectives, markets, and innovations.

Looking at your recruitment, what was the moment when you realized Georgetown McDonough was the right program for you? During my first event on campus, it was moving to see deans, professors, and career counselors be genuinely engaged and transparent with each and every student across all programs. It drove the point home that this place is truly different and gave me confidence I’d be joining a tight-knit community of faculty, students, and alumni.

Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: In my previous role, I successfully transitioned a complex, labor-intensive data annotation process to a new international team, then renegotiated the contract a year later to create even more efficiency. The new structure saved millions of dollars and enabled cutting-edge innovations in computer vision while maintaining a positive, collaborative relationship between employees new and old. The time I was able to spend building and training teams abroad was incredibly fun and rewarding.

Looking ahead two years, what would make your MBA experience successful? Over the next two years, I hope the MBA experience will expand my toolset for solving business problems, build a richly diverse community with my fellow students, and unlock new professional opportunities to help grow exciting companies and teams around the world.

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

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