Alexander Porte

University of Wisconsin – Madison (Wisconsin School of Business)

“Committed and kind leader that sets high but achievable expectations for himself and others.”

Hometown: Medford, MA

Fun fact about yourself: I’ve lived in three different countries: Ghana, Uganda, and Tanzania.

Undergraduate School and Degree: Georgetown University, B.S. International Health

Where was the last place you worked before enrolling in business school? Spectrum Nonprofit Services, Client Engagement Manager

Where did you intern during the summer of 2025? UnitedHealth Group; UHG Leadership Experience Intern

Where will you be working after graduation? UnitedHealth Group; UHG Leadership Experience Associate

Community Work and Leadership Roles in Business School:

• Student Co-Liaison, The Consortium for Graduate Study Management
• 1st Year Representative; Graduate Business Association Board Member
• 2nd Year Representative; Graduate Business Association Board Member

Which academic or extracurricular achievement are you most proud of during business school? I won the 2025 AM Best Student Challenge at the end of my first year alongside my classmate Hernan Burgos. Organized by the most important dedicated insurance rating agency in the US, the AM Best Student Challenge asks RMI student teams to propose an idea that uses insurance to address a societal issue. Hernan and I both have strong ties to the Caribbean, with him hailing from Puerto Rico and my father from Barbados. Despite producing very low greenhouse gas emissions, the Caribbean is particularly exposed to the consequences of anthropogenic climate change as tropical storm patterns become more erratic and severe.

Further complicating matters is the low penetration of property and casualty insurance across the region, which is approximately 3% as a function of GDP, due to challenges of affordability and lack of exposure. To address these issues, we proposed a tropical storm microinsurance product for low-income individuals living within coastal areas of the Caribbean and Latin America. While the challenge didn’t involve creating the product, we had to discuss the issue we were addressing at length and detail how our solution would help rectify it.

I felt very confident in our proposal and was happy to just have a chance to participate in the competition. However, winning the challenge was a vote of confidence for a solution to an issue near and dear to my heart. Climate change is a threat to the global community, with some geographies expected to bear the brunt of the hardship. It won’t fix climate change, of course, but I do see affordable, attainable insurance as an important variable in the climate resiliency equation. To me, Hernan and my solution to winning the AM Best Challenge is a vote of confidence in this belief and a source of personal pride.

What achievement are you most proud of in your professional career? I’d say it was crafting my last role before starting my MBA. I joined Spectrum Nonprofit Services as an Associate, working under the firm’s principal and two consultants. The natural progression would’ve been to become a consultant; however, I realized about a year and a half into my tenure that I wasn’t really interested in that path. I really enjoyed the business development side of my varied role and started thinking about ways I could lean further into that. To that end, during my mid-year review with the principal, I proposed carving out a new role for me and the firm based on this interest. After a few conversations, role ideation, and troubleshooting with the larger team, I started my third year as the firm’s first Client Engagement Manager, a role that still exists since my departure for the MBA.

I consider this an achievement because of the way I advocated for myself and my interests. By no means was consulting forced upon me, but it wasn’t obviously clear what route would exist for me within the firm beyond that of an Associate if I did not endeavor to become a consultant. I wanted to get promoted and take on more of a management role, so I knew that I had to figure something out. Doing so not only required being open and honest with the principal, but it also necessitated coming prepared with tangible ideas and solutions. It was a great lesson in advocating for myself, and I am proud that I was able to do so successfully.

Why did you choose this business school? The specialization model was the biggest selling point for me. I believe myself to be a naturally curious person and can find intrigue in a number of different areas. My career has reflected this, where I’ve had the opportunity to wear several different hats within several fields. These included health and benefits consulting, working with a few organizations in Uganda and Tanzania, and a few roles in nonprofit strategy consulting. While this has given me a breadth of experience, it has come at the cost of specificity and deep expertise. I wanted to pursue an MBA to refine my business and management acumen, but I was concerned that a generalized, choose-your-own-adventure-style program wouldn’t provide the deep expertise I wanted.

WSB’s specialization model addressed this issue in a few ways. First, it encouraged me to narrow down what I want to do post-graduation during the application process by providing a semi-fixed set of classes and a career path. This helped me better visualize different post-graduation scenarios and helped me filter out career pathways early on, rather than allocating credit hours to figure out what I don’t like. Secondly, I felt that the specialization model would get me closer to becoming a subject-matter expert (as much as possible within a two-year program) than a general program would have, given my at-times wandering interests. I’ve been very satisfied with the Risk Management and Insurance (RMI) specialization and find it hard to imagine doing anything else!

Who was your favorite MBA professor? Professor Ty Leverty. I was fortunate enough to take two classes with him in the fall semester of my second year: The Management of the Insurance Enterprise and Risk Finance. An economist and mathematician by training, Professor Leverty’s research has focused on the economics of insurance markets, insurance company operations, and public policy issues concerning insurance. One thing I appreciate is his ability to infuse his experience in both classes, which not only helped from a pedagogical standpoint, but also made the material feel more real (e.g., anecdotes about his time serving as an expert witness in insurance cases).

Beyond his expertise, I really appreciated the standards that he set. From day one, Professor Leverty made it clear that not only does he take himself and the material seriously, but he also expected us to do so if we were to succeed. I tend to set high standards for myself, so I really vibed with his approach. It made me even more willing and eager to engage with the content.

What was your favorite course as an MBA? While I’ve enjoyed the majority of my courses, my Risk Finance course is my favorite. Coming into the program, I enjoyed the strategy components of enterprise risk management (after all, risk is an integral part of corporate strategy), but I quickly found myself gravitating more to the financial side of this field. The idea that risk, something so seemingly nebulous, can not only be quantified but also assigned a dollar value was a fascinating concept to me.

Professor Leverty’s Risk Finance course dove into some of the methods we use to do so. Starting from the high-level rationale for why enterprise risk management is important, we explored different instruments for quantifying volatility and methods for hedging, from standard insurance contracts to commodity-based derivatives, among others. My favorite part of the course was the final project, where we had to build a Monte Carlo simulation model from the ground up to determine the best course of action for a fictional steel widget company. The project did a great job of incorporating nearly every concept we discussed in the course into a single package and was a great way for us to apply our new knowledge to a theoretical business case. It was a challenging class, but it underscored my interest in risk finance, something I don’t see changing any time soon!

What was your favorite MBA event or tradition at your business school? I’ve been able to participate in several WSB On Wisconsin! Weekends, an annual accepted-student event for MBAs. On, Wisconsin! Weekend was my first in-person exposure to the business school. I was already certain I’d attend UW-Madison, but I decided to hold out until this weekend before making my final decision – just to make sure the vibe aligned with my expectations. Besides programming, the thing I liked most about the weekend was meeting current and prospective Business Badgers, the vast majority of whom blended approachable humility with clear intellect. I think I’m smart and put out good work, but I try not to take myself too seriously, and I like to keep the proverbial shirt collar unbuttoned. The school spirit infused within On Wisconsin! Weekend was great, but it was the people that made the event so awesome and memorable.

Looking back over your MBA experience, what is the one thing you’d do differently and why? I’m confident that I would’ve still chosen to attend WSB, but a part of me wishes that I had looked at other programs a bit more closely. The Wisconsin School of Business was the only MBA program that I applied to, partly because the application process moved so fast after I initially connected with admissions for an informational conversation. Candidly, I didn’t even intend to apply to any MBA programs until the 2025 recruitment cycle, but life moves fast! I maintain that the specialization model was the right fit for me, and the handful of other programs I looked at didn’t have anything like this. Moreover, I really like risk management and insurance, and I don’t know of any programs off the top of my head that would’ve given me exposure to this field as my program has. Still, I’m usually the type to carefully explore multiple options before making big commitments, so a part of me wishes I did more homework, even if the outcome would’ve been the same.

What was the most impactful case study you had in business school and what was the biggest lesson you learned from it? While it technically isn’t a case study, the 2026 applied learning project for the RMI (Risk Management and Insurance) specialization has been one of my favorite real-life projects. WSB makes an effort to infuse practical learning opportunities across the curriculum. This year’s RMI applied learning project is very similar to much of the content I covered in my Risk Finance course. Specifically, the five RMI MBAs and I are developing a stochastic model for a Fortune 500 company to assess the frequency and severity of their top seven key risk exposures.

The project not only gives me an opportunity to continue honing my knowledge of risk finance, but also provides a great chance to practice my management and delegation skills as one of the project’s co-leads. Part of my motivation for pursuing an MBA was to improve my managerial acumen, with the ultimate goal of reaching the sub-executive or executive level in my career. Engaging with this applied learning project as one of the leaders has taught me several valuable lessons in how I lead and delegate tasks, highlighting areas where I’m doing well and others that need refinement. I’ve enjoyed nearly every class in my MBA, but the academic and practical lessons from this engagement will have a lasting impact.

What business leader do you admire most? Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase. Under his leadership, JPMorgan has grown into arguably the most important financial institution in the United States, one that seems to successfully balance multiple facets of finance (consumer banking, SME banking, M&A, trading) within a single entity. Spearheading an organization that accomplishes this balancing act requires the ability to understand the many facets of the market at large while also keeping dozens of balls in the air at once. Additionally, as someone who tries to be direct but respectful, I really admire his candor. He’s not perfect – and there are certainly times when he can be a bit brash – but generally, I think his ability to get to the point is a breath of fresh air in the jargon and fluff-riddled world of business.

What is one way that your business school has integrated AI into your programming? What insights did you gain from using AI? The Wisconsin School of Business has been transparent about its goal of becoming a leading institution in AI programming among our Big Ten peers. To that end, there’s a directive that 20% of courses incorporate AI into their material, whether by using it to help with coding or as a learning tool. One of my classes this semester has us plug our assigned readings and accompanying notes into an approved LLM and engage with it as a study partner. I’ve used it to assess the quality of my notes and to create reading quizzes. While not necessarily the most sophisticated exercise, it has helped turn my opinion of AI in academia from a detriment to critical thinking to a neutral tool that can improve learning outcomes (when used appropriately, that is!).

Which MBA classmate do you most admire? I really admire my classmate and fellow Consortium Fellow Naomi Bell. While we did not have much overlap in our gen eds, and we are in different specializations, I’ve been really impressed with her sharpness every time we’ve chatted. Naomi clearly takes her work very seriously and literally always shares great insights when she participates in our mutual classes. I feel like I always learn something when I chat with her, and I don’t doubt that she will go far after graduation!

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

1. Become an executive or sub-executive within a firm. Beyond setting high standards for myself, I really enjoy the idea of being a part of a group of individuals steering the strategy of a large enterprise while also learning from my peers.

2. Be a mentor for dozens of professionals, Black males in particular. I think mentorship is a powerful way to give back, and it would be an honor to play a role in supporting the success of people with backgrounds similar to mine.

What made Alexander such an invaluable addition to the Class of 2026? (

“Alexander is highly talented and one of top MBA students I have worked with over my many years at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Risk Management and Insurance (RMI) MBA.

Ty Leverty, faculty director of the RMI MBA, describes the attributes of Alexander as follows:

“Alexander Porte is the strongest MBA student I have seen in the last ten years, a distinction he earns through his relentless work ethic and strong communication skills. In the two advanced courses he completed under my instruction, he consistently demonstrated a thoughtful approach and a strong work ethic that elevated the entire classroom discourse. He is currently leading a team to create a risk optimization model for a Fortune 100 client. His leadership style is defined by exceptional organization and clarity. He delegates effectively, synthesizes complex information into high-quality deliverables, and ensures the project maintains momentum with clear, actionable weekly goals. Alexander does not just ‘manage’ a team—he elevates the output of every person around him while contributing a disproportionate share of the technical labor himself.”

As Professor Leverty indicated, Alexander is natural leader knowing when to lead and when to follow for the overall benefit of fellow classmates. He has participated in two applied leadership projects and has shown creativity in coming up with solutions to various risk management issues impacting our applied learning companies. He has helped to leverage the strengths of both graduate and undergraduates to produce considerable value for our project sponsors.

Another example of Alexander’s strategic out-of-the-box thinking and creativity is his participation and success in the highly prestigious AM Best Student Challenge. He and his teammate came up with a parametric insurance solution for the storm-ridden Latin America and Caribbean area, where insurance is not readily available at an affordable price. AM Best judged the work of him and his teammate to be highly innovative, earning the top honor in the Challenge.

Alexander is an enthusiastic student, and he is a pleasure to have in class. He is always available to help others when they need assistance as was evidenced when he helped train his fellow students on @Risk during one of the applied learning projects. He is a respectful role model, mentor, and friend to his classmates.

In closing, there are few people like Alexander. His personality, resilience, humility, and positive outlook will continue to positively lift himself and everyone who is fortunate enough to be in his orbit. His future is incredibly bright, and his new employer, UnitedHealth Group, will soon agree with us.”

Jim Swanke, MBA, CPCU, ALCM, ARM
Director, Risk Management and Insurance MBA

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