Meet Notre Dame Mendoza’s MBA Class Of 2027

What do I want to do?

For many MBA applicants, that’s the big question. What job do I want? What industry is best? The company. The location. The pay too.

Reality is, all that changes over time.

That first job? It’s just a starting point. The network? You’re better off with people who open minds over opening doors. The coursework? In three years, you’ll be tapping into ChatGPT to jog your memory. In the end, what you do won’t really matter if you haven’t answered the more fundamental question:

Who do I want to be?

A SPECIFIC WAY OF LEADING AND LIVING

That’s the selling point behind the University of Notre Dame’s Mendoza College of Business. To borrow a famous quote from football coach Lou Holtz: “You don’t go to Notre Dame to learn something; you go to Notre Dame to be somebody.” For many, this means heeding a call, to be a steward and a servant focused on the well-being and dignity of others. It means embracing faith and optimism, committing to excellence so you can effectively pursue the common good. Most of all, the Mendoza mission involves taking ownership, understanding results mean far more than intention.

The Notre Dame philosophy is embodied in action – the resilience to continue and the willingness to fight. Or, to borrow another quote from Coach Holtz: “Do the right thing, do the best you can, and always show people you care.”

Three years ago, Katie Wiggin was wrestling with what kind of leader she wanted to become. A 2026 graduate and a Best & Brightest MBA, Wiggin still remembers the “sense of belonging” she felt during her visit to Mendoza. Here, she found that “faith was not separate from ambition; it informed it.”

“Every conversation I had with Notre Dame alumni reinforced that feeling,” Wiggin continues. “Each spoke about their careers with drive, but also with social conscience. They talked about integrity, responsibility, and community not as buzzwords, but as lived commitments. That sincerity stayed with me.”

And it was that heartfelt way of being – that mission imbued with service – that Wiggin witnessed during her time at Mendoza. And it was the model that she absorbed as her own.

“Mendoza’s commitment to “Grow the Good in Business” was not just a motto: it was visible in how students supported one another; how professors challenged us to think about long-term impact; and how leadership was defined by both excellence and empathy. I chose Notre Dame because I wanted to become that kind of leader.”

“A DEBT YOU OWE WHEN YOU COME”

Among the MBA Class of 2027, Joe Santoro, a U.S. Army Captain, describes the school as a place where “everyone is rowing in the same direction.” That starts with imprinting a set of values in its students, ones that refresh the spirit as much as sharpen the mind.

“Notre Dame understands that being a leader is more than just having the right numbers and executing, says Ryan Anderson, a technology consultant and Georgetown alum. “You need to be a well-rounded person and bring a human touch to the work you do. Therefore, the programming is centered around becoming a tender, strong, and true leader: someone who is able to connect with people and perform at a high level around a shared purpose.”

That purpose continues long after graduation says Devon Halliday, who is called “Unc” by his Notre Dame Lacrosse teammates for being the only graduate student on the team. Halliday points out that, from one day, “it is made clear that there is a debt you owe when you come to Notre Dame.” For many, that obligation becomes the vocation that drove them to Notre Dame in the first place. For Eric Choong, an Accenture Strategy analyst, that means boosting educational access and outcomes. His classmate, Sia-Linda Lebbie, is also looking to expand access…just through a multimedia medium.

“My mission is to foster global empathy by creating multimedia content that humanizes diverse experiences,” writes Lebbie, most recently a global manager at Google. “Mendoza’s commitment to ‘Grow the Good’ has been pivotal in this journey. By integrating ethical frameworks into every core business function, the program has challenged me to see strategy as a force for social progress. I am learning to leverage these high-level business tools to eventually build a media empire that amplifies underrepresented voices and scales positive storytelling.”

By the same token, Sibonisiwe Ngubeni hopes to make a difference through social impact and sustainability consulting. It is a mission, she says, that has been heavily informed by the Mendoza coursework.

“Through a curriculum that blends analytics, finance, ethics, and leadership, I am learning how to think rigorously about impact, how to evaluate trade-offs, design financially viable models, and make decisions that consider both people and performance. Courses in strategy and analytics have strengthened my ability to ask the right questions, while the program’s emphasis on values-based leadership continually grounds those decisions in purpose.”

WEST POINT GRADS AND FINANCIAL PHENOMS

Before business school, Ngubeni worked for the U.S. Forest Service International Programs and Trade, where she brought together Jordan and Zimbabwe to learn from each other on forest restoration. Eric Choong made the transition from being a teacher to working in strategy consulting for both KPMG and Accenture. Kelvin L. White, a West Point grad, comes to South Bend after serving as a Special Operations Officer. He joins Joe Santoro, another West Point alum, who has led infantry and reconnaissance platoons with 45 soldiers or more.

“Having the ability to impact soldiers’ lives while learning about the importance of maintaining competence and character in real time is an accomplishment I will always cherish,” Santoro continues. “Knowing what it feels like to have even one soldier personally tell you how much your leadership meant to them is my biggest accomplishment. I wouldn’t trade that experience for anything.”

The Class of 2027 also brings financial acumen to the DeBartolo Quad. Working as a controller, Craig Shellenberger has led two operational turnarounds. Lauren Suga has led M&A workstreams and presented her work in front of the c-suite and the board. At the same time, Juan Jose Pascual handled a lender audit of a renewable energy project that he says “unlock(ed) roughly $300-million in debt financing.” In fact, Zachary Harber even founded his own firm, Quantis Investment Group, and served as its senior portfolio manager.

“Building the firm from the ground up — designing investment strategies, managing client portfolios, and driving measurable performance — has been both professionally and personally transformative,” he tells P&Q. “Delivering strong, consistent results for clients has strengthened my confidence as a strategic leader and disciplined investor, and reinforced my commitment to creating value through rigorous analysis, disciplined risk management, and principled decision-making.”

A TWO-YEAR VACATION? HARDLY

Zarber wasn’t alone in building a success from scratch. Just ask Devon Halliday, who was the co-founder and captain of the Union College Club Lacrosse team. “In our first year, we had 40 players and went on to win the NCLL National Championship with an undefeated record of (10-0). Since then, the team has impacted over 150 students and we have gone on to win two more National Championships.”

Speaking of performing at the highest level, Sia-Linda Lebbie’s impact is still being felt at Google. “My most significant achievement was orchestrating seven major Nest, Pixel, and Fitbit hardware launches across 19 countries. Balancing complex logistics with localized strategy, I successfully navigated these products from initial concept to global execution.”

Coach Holtz was also fond of saying, “No one has ever drowned in sweat.” That was a major takeaway during the first year for the MBA Class of 2027.  Returning to business school, Ryan Anderson would hear his friends joke that he was heading to “a two-year vacation.” Reality is, he says, “You work a lot, but you also learn a lot.”  And not just academically either, adds Sibonisiwe Ngubeni, who points to transitioning back to school after a six-year absence being her biggest accomplishment.

“[I was] also adjusting to a new country, a new academic system, and the intensity of the first semester. Learning how to be a student again, keeping up with demanding coursework, maintaining strong grades, and at the same time showing up for recruiting, coffee chats, club activities, and community events has pushed me to grow quickly and intentionally. The ability to stay grounded, engaged, and present through it all and still finding joy in the experience is my biggest accomplishment so far.”

THE FOOTBALL EXPERIENCE

Among the biggest joys, says students and alumni alike, is the fall football culture. For Kelvin L. White, falls bring to mind images of Lou Holtz riding officials and “Rocket” Ismail racing down the field for touchdowns. There are the iconic sayings of “Play Like a Champion Today” and “Win one for the Gipper” – not to mention the unforgettable game day traditions of the Player Walk and the Band March Out. In the end, Notre Dame football is a morality play, a ritual and reminder that the school’s shared values of teamwork, hard work, fair play, and all-out run blocking will ultimately carry the day.

For Joe Santoro, football games have been his best memories of Mendoza…so far. “I understand everyone probably feels the same way, but it’s such an awesome aspect of the program,” he contends. “In the fall, it is a focal point of the social experience. With the rigors of recruiting and schoolwork taking up the week, everyone looks forward to getting together on Saturdays for the game, be it home inside Notre Dame Stadium, or away and watching it at a bar with your classmates. It is truly incredible to see how much South Bend and specifically Notre Dame transforms on gamedays.”

For Diab “Dody” Eid, a ’26 grad and P&Q Best & Brightest MBA, the Mendoza Rallies rank among his favorite memories. Here, he could connect with classmates, faculty, and alumni before everyone streamed off to the game. In the stadium, he was struck by another tradition.

“After every Notre Dame football game—win or lose—the team joins the fans to sing the Alma Mater. To me, this tradition symbolizes that, no matter the outcome of any worldly pursuit, we stand by each other as Notre Dame family, confidently entrusting ourselves to the prayers of Our Lady.”

Football even brings students when they arrive on campus. “I think the best single moment memory I have was taking a picture of our whole class on the football field during orientation,” says Lena Pawlek, an engineer from Epic Solutions. “It was when being in the MBA program really hit me and made me realize how happy I was to have the ability to spend the next few years with such an amazing group of people!”

GIVING BACK THROUGH A GALA

That spirit was bookended by another favorite Mendoza tradition: The Grow the Good Gala. “[It] serves as both an embodiment of the mission of Notre Dame and an exciting year-end event,” explains Ryan Anderson. “During the charity gala, we learned more about Mercy Works, a service program within Campus Ministry dedicated to homeless outreach, and how to get more involved in their efforts. We also raised over $20,000 to support their service through a silent auction that featured a signed football from Notre Dame Running Back Jeremiyah Love, a painting of campus centered around the Golden Dome, and dinner with a professor. Also, getting dressed up for a black-tie event with new friends and their significant others to celebrate the end of the semester was a great capstone to the start of the program.”

Outside of their career paths, Craig Shellenberger, an accountant by trade, once played a concert at Disney Land. Sia-Linda Lebbie hosted two podcasts for Google, while Eric Choong built a YouTube channel that boasted 80,000 subscribers and 5-million views. In college, Kelvin L. White explored modeling (sort of): He served as a Nike Uniform model when he played in the Army vs. Navy football game. Speaking of Army vs. Navy, let’s just say Joe Santoro can take a joke after serving up a home run to a Navy batter in Fenway Park.

“I told my soldiers about it after I graduated West Point, and their going away gift for me was a signed “Go Navy, Beat Army” flag by the guy that hit the homerun. Apparently, they direct messaged him on Instagram four years after the fact and made it happen. That flag hangs proudly in a shut closet back in my parent’s house.”

Next Page: An Interview with Gianna Bern, Associate Dean for the MBA Programs

Page 3: Profiles of 12 Members of the MBA Class of 2027

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