Ginger (Abblitt) Rondinelli

Emory University, Goizueta Business School

“An engineer turned marketer, building brands, people, and communities through connecting with those around you.”

Hometown: Atlanta, GA

Fun fact about yourself: I’m an avid traveler and have visited over 30 countries. From each place, I collect artwork from local or street artists, so my home has become a bit of a gallery from my travels. One of my favorite pieces is a drawing of a lion I watched a street artist create in South Africa after I went shark cage diving.

Undergraduate School and Degree: Southern Methodist University –B.S. Mechanical Engineering & B.S. Mathematics

Where was the last place you worked before enrolling in business school? Oldcastle APG, a CRH Company – Retail Marketing Manager

Where did you intern during the summer of 2025? One-Year MBA Program-no internship opportunity (started May 2025)

Where will you be working after graduation? Undecided

Community Work and Leadership Roles in Business School:

Sarah Beth Brown Scholarship for academic excellence

Forte Fellow

Dean’s List

Core Value Award for Rigor

Goizueta Consulting Association– Member

Goizueta Tech Association– Member

General Management & Operations Club– Member
Teaching Assistant, Multinational Firms & Strategy

Which academic or extracurricular achievement are you most proud of during business school? I am most proud of leading Oldcastle APG’s North America Board of Directors meeting for our parent company, CRH. I was selected by the president of our business to serve as project leader for a $5M, nine-month initiative that required aligning 10 senior vice presidents across divisions, managing site renovations at an active manufacturing facility, and delivering a cohesive strategic narrative to the board. What made this meaningful was not just the scale, but the ownership. I had to bring together leaders with different priorities and perspectives and align them around a clear story of where the business was going. That meant pushing back when ideas didn’t connect, asking difficult questions, and staying calm under pressure as timelines tightened.

We completed all plant upgrades on time, stayed within budget, and received direct praise from the CRH President and board for the clarity and execution of the event. The most impactful part for me was realizing I could operate at that level. I was no longer just executing within a function. I was shaping how the company presented its strategy at the highest level. That experience made me want a broader toolkit. I saw how powerful it is to understand finance, strategy, and operations at the enterprise level, not just within a single division. It pushed me to pursue my MBA so I could expand from leading major initiatives to influencing long-term business direction.

Why did you choose this business school? I didn’t grow up dreaming about a specific business school. I grew up seeing the Emory name everywhere. In Atlanta, Emory isn’t just a university. It’s hospitals, research, leadership, and the people who quietly shape this city. Friends, family members, community leaders — so many of the people I respected were connected to Emory in some way. The name carried weight long before I ever considered applying.

Coming from a mechanical engineering background, many people assumed I would go to a more technical school, and I understand why. But I already had that technical foundation. When I visited Emory and sat in on classes, I felt something different. The conversations were broader. Students weren’t just solving equations; they were debating leadership, strategy, ethics, and influence. I realized I didn’t need more engineering. I needed exposure to people who thought differently than I did. My brother had just completed his MBA at Goizueta and told me there was no better place in Atlanta to build a business network. That mattered. I knew I wanted to stay connected to this city long term. If Emory was shaping the business leaders of Atlanta, I wanted to be in that room.

The One-Year MBA program made the decision even clearer. There is something powerful about compressing two years into one. The rigor forces vulnerability and trust quickly. You bond through intensity. I can say with confidence that every person in my class is someone I would call years from now for advice or partnership. That network alone has been transformative. More importantly, Emory expanded how I see myself. Before business school, I was strong in execution and operations. At Goizueta, I developed confidence to think bigger. Emory has given me the skills to connect finance, strategy, and leadership into a cohesive view of how businesses create long-term impact. The professors challenged me. My classmates sharpened me. The environment forced reflection. It didn’t just give me academic training. It gave me awareness and confidence to step into leadership in a different way.

Who was your favorite MBA professor? My favorite MBA professor was Professor Usha in our core accounting course. Coming from a mechanical engineering background, I had never read an income statement with confidence, let alone understood valuation metrics like P/E ratios. Accounting felt like a foreign language. From the first day of class, Professor Usha made it accessible.

What stood out immediately was her presence. She brought energy, clarity, and complete command of the material every single day, but it wasn’t performative energy that really stuck with me. It was her conviction as well. She genuinely wanted every student to leave that classroom fluent in financial fundamentals, and she made that happen! Her ability to break down complex financial statements into clear, logical building blocks changed how I think about business. She didn’t just teach debits and credits. She taught how the income statement, balance sheet, and cash flow statement tell a story about strategic decisions. That foundation shaped how I approached every finance and strategy course afterward.

What impacted me most, though, was who she was as a leader. She showed up exactly as herself every day, in colorful suits and sparkling headbands, with complete confidence and no dilution of personality. Knowing that she had served as a CFO and held significant leadership roles while remaining unapologetically herself was powerful. She modeled that competence and authenticity are not opposites. She was also relentlessly available. Office hours stretched late into the evening and early into the morning. She met students where they were, whether they were accountants by background or engineers like me, starting from scratch. You could feel that she cared deeply about our long-term success, not just our exam grades.

Professor Usha gave me more than accounting knowledge. She gave me financial fluency and a model of leadership that blends rigor with authenticity. That class became the foundation for the rest of my MBA experience.

What was your favorite course as an MBA? My favorite course during my MBA was Entrepreneurial Private Equity, taught by Professor Baks and David Panton. On paper, it was outside my focus. My MBA concentration is in marketing operations and strategy, rather than finance. But I had heard how transformative the class was, and I’m glad I took the risk.

The course walked through the full middle-market private equity lifecycle, from sourcing and structuring deals to value creation and exit. What made it powerful was the entrepreneurial lens. This wasn’t just about large funds. It explained how individuals can create smart deals and build wealth through ownership. Each class began with an industry speaker, from major private equity firms to recent graduates who had acquired businesses through search funds. Many did not come from traditional finance backgrounds. Seeing operators and engineers successfully buy and run companies made the path feel attainable rather than theoretical.

The most impactful takeaway was the practical framework for buying a business with limited personal capital. Before this class, I would have assumed that acquiring a company required significant wealth or a lifelong background in finance. Instead, we studied real examples that showed how structure, negotiation, and operational discipline drive returns. It demystified the process. The timing was meaningful as well. My family had recently sold our family business, so ownership already felt personal. This class gave me the tools and confidence to imagine following a similar path, but potentially through acquisition. It expanded how I think about my future and made ownership feel tangible rather than distant.

What was your favorite MBA event or tradition at your business school? My favorite MBA experience was our global immersion to Copenhagen as part of the Happiness Blueprint: Life Design for the Modern MBA course. It reflected something distinctive about Goizueta: the belief that leadership is not just about performance, but about designing a sustainable life. The trip focused on work-life balance as a structural reality. We met with leaders at Danish companies and institutions and explored how Denmark’s culture, policies, and business practices support both productivity and well-being. It challenged the assumption that long hours equal success.

As a student in an intense One-Year MBA program, the contrast was personal. Denmark showed a model where trust, intentional rest, and social responsibility fuel performance rather than compete with it. It made me reconsider how I want to lead in the future. Professor Cooley elevated the experience by blending company visits with structured reflection. She pushed us to define what success actually means to us. The fact that Emory prioritizes this kind of immersion signaled that the school values whole-person leadership, not just technical achievement.

Looking back over your MBA experience, what is the one thing you’d do differently and why?
I would have said yes to more shared experiences outside the classroom. The MBA year moves fast, and while classes and projects matter, the strongest relationships tend to form during longer stretches of time together. Travel, group trips, and even extended time working on projects create space for real conversations and connection in a way that short interactions between classes rarely do.

There were moments when I was tired and chose to stay in rather than join something with classmates. Looking back, those were missed opportunities. The relationships you build during an MBA are one of the most valuable parts of the experience, and those bonds tend to form when you spend meaningful time together, not just sitting next to each other in class. If I could do it again, I would prioritize more of those moments.

What was the most impactful case study you had in business school and what was the biggest lesson you learned from it? One of the most impactful cases for me was PharmaSim, a multi-year marketing simulation where we managed a cold medicine brand in a competitive over-the-counter market. Instead of analyzing a static case, we had to make real decisions each round on pricing, advertising, product positioning, and distribution while competing against other teams.

The biggest lesson was how interconnected every decision is. A pricing change affects demand, which impacts production, retailer relationships, and brand perception. Early on, it was easy to focus on one lever, like advertising or price, but the simulation made it clear that strong performance comes from aligning the entire strategy across product, promotion, price, and channel. It reinforced that marketing is not just creative messaging. It is a series of disciplined strategic choices, backed by data, where small misalignments across decisions compound quickly in a competitive market.

What did you love most about your business school’s town? Atlanta is home for me! I was born and raised here, so getting to experience my MBA Atlanta has been such a fantastic experience. This city has so many different neighborhoods, great restaurants, outdoor spaces like the Beltline, concerts, sports, and endless activities that make it easy to spend time with classmates outside of school. The only downside might be the traffic, but that comes with living in a big city.

What is one way that your business school has integrated AI into your programming? What insights did you gain from using AI? One way AI has been integrated into my MBA program is through encouraging its use across coursework to support analysis, research, and idea development. In several classes, we used AI tools to help synthesize information, explore market data, and test different strategic ideas while working on case studies and projects. The biggest insight I gained is that AI works best as a thinking partner rather than a replacement for judgment. It can help organize information quickly or generate different perspectives, but it still requires careful validation. I learned to question outputs, look for potential bias in the information, and combine AI-generated insights with my own analysis. Used this way, AI becomes a powerful tool for accelerating learning and problem-solving while still relying on human reasoning to make the final decisions.

Which MBA classmate do you most admire? One classmate I admire most is Caroline Parks. She is currently pursuing a law degree and took a year off from law school to complete the one-year MBA program. Watching her step into an entirely new field was incredibly impressive. She came into the program without a deep finance background but fully committed to learning it, pushing herself through the coursework and gaining the skills needed to pursue investment banking. By the end of the program, she had earned an investment banking internship in New York. What I admire most is her willingness to take a risk and dive headfirst into something unfamiliar. That level of curiosity, discipline, and confidence to pivot into a new area was inspiring to watch.

What are the top two items on your professional bucket list? First, I want to acquire and grow a business. I’m drawn to the idea of taking an existing company with strong fundamentals and helping it scale through better operations, product strategy, and market positioning. My background in engineering, product development, and marketing has shown me how much value can be created by improving how a business runs day to day, and I would love the opportunity to lead a company through that kind of transformation.

Second, I hope to build a career that allows me to work across borders and collaborate with teams around the world. Travel has always been a big passion of mine, and I’m energized by the opportunity to learn from different markets, cultures, and ways of doing business. Being able to work internationally and bring together perspectives from different regions to solve problems and grow businesses would be incredibly meaningful to me.

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

“Ginger Abblitt is a standout member of the One-Year MBA Class of 2026 and consistently brings an uplifting and positive presence to the program. As a Dean’s List student, she demonstrates strong academic dedication while also contributing meaningfully to the community around her. Ginger is truly a ray of sunshine. Her energy, kindness, and optimism make a lasting impression on classmates, faculty, and staff alike.”

Vernon Smith
Senior Associate Director of Student Life & Engagement
Emory University’s Goizueta Business School

DON’T MISS: MBAS TO WATCH: CLASS OF 2026

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