James Smart

University of Notre Dame, Mendoza School of Business

Hometown: Morristown, NJ

Fun fact about yourself: I am the third oldest of nine. 

Undergraduate School and Degree: University of Notre Dame; Bachelor of Business Administration

Where was the last place you worked before enrolling in business school? 84.51° (Retail Data Science Consulting Firm Owned by Kroger), Senior Customer Strategy and Insights Executive Consultant

Where did you intern during the summer of 2025? PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PwC), New York City

Where will you be working after graduation? I will be working at PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PwC) in New York City as a Senior Associate Consultant.

Community Work and Leadership Roles in Business School: MBA Association President

Which academic or extracurricular achievement are you most proud of during business school? Serving as MBA President during a period of change for the Notre Dame MBA program is the achievement I’m most proud of. I approached the role with a partnership mindset, focused on building sustained and productive dialogue between students and faculty.

My team and I created a structured feedback process that transformed student engagement from post-decision reaction to pre-decision collaboration, allowing students to communicate priorities before policies were finalized. When the MOD Away experience was redesigned, we worked directly with faculty to address student concerns. By coming to the table with openness and creativity, and a willingness to meet in the middle, we helped shape a solution that ensured all students retained the opportunity to travel abroad and develop a global business perspective. The result was not a compromise driven by resistance, but a shared solution built on trust.

While I am proud of the community traditions we delivered, including MBA Tailgates, the Grow the Good Gala, and Prom, the most meaningful impact was institutional. We helped students earn a consistent seat at the table during a defining moment for the program. That culture of partnership will carry forward as the program continues to adapt and evolve.

What achievement are you most proud of in your professional career? While working at 84.51°, the data science and retail insights subsidiary of Kroger, I became the strategic lead focused on SNAP households within the Office of Customer Strategy team. At the time, discussions around this segment were fragmented. SNAP benefits were fluctuating, inflation was rising, and there was no centralized ownership of how we were serving this customer base.

Recognizing the gap, I created a cross-functional working group across merchandising, analytics, and marketing to bring structure and accountability to the conversation. We established recurring strategy sessions to align on insights, promotional planning, and communication priorities. By consolidating ownership and introducing a shared framework, we developed more targeted initiatives aimed at helping SNAP households better manage their grocery budgets during a period of financial strain.

This achievement stands out because it extended beyond analysis into organizational change. It clarified responsibility for a financially vulnerable customer segment and ensured that strategic conversations were proactive rather than reactive. I am proud of it because it began with noticing ambiguity and choosing to lead without being asked.

Why did you choose this business school? When I decided to pursue my MBA, I wasn’t just evaluating programs based on rankings or brand strength. I was thinking about the kind of leader I wanted to become. Notre Dame Mendoza’s mission to “Grow the Good in Business” stood out because it explicitly connects business success with moral responsibility.

I wanted to develop in an environment that expects leaders to consider not only performance, but purpose. Mendoza’s culture reinforces that expectation in the classroom, in leadership roles, and in the way the community shows up for one another. I was especially drawn to courses like Business on the Frontlines, where students apply business strategy in practice both abroad and within local communities. The opportunity to use analytical tools to create tangible social impact reflected exactly how I wanted to grow.

Who was your favorite MBA professor? Professor Kelly Rubey has had the most lasting impact on my MBA experience. Through Business on the Frontlines and Business on the Frontlines: Local Impact, she challenged us to approach complex problems with both analytical rigor and empathy.

She consistently emphasized that our role as consultants was not simply to deliver answers, but to build trust and truly understand the context in which our clients operate. One idea that has stayed with me is her belief that our goal is often to “shift trajectories.” In many of the environments we worked in, systemic challenges could not be solved in a semester. But if we helped clients see their problems differently, ask better questions, or consider new strategic paths, we were creating meaningful impact.

She reinforced that business can and should be a force for good. More importantly, she modeled what that looks like in practice.

What was your favorite course as an MBA? Business on the Frontlines was my favorite course because it brought strategy out of the classroom and into the real world. My team partnered with Accelerate Prosperity in Kyrgyzstan to explore how female entrepreneurs could gain better access to capital and grow their businesses.

We spent two weeks traveling across the country interviewing entrepreneurs, banks, and ecosystem leaders. The experience required us to navigate ambiguity, cultural differences, and incomplete information. Before proposing solutions, we had to define the right problem. We ultimately structured our analysis around three pillars of financial inclusion: access, usage, and quality. That framework helped us move beyond surface-level symptoms to identify structural barriers.

The course was both personally and professionally transformative. It demonstrated that business skills are not abstract tools; they are mechanisms for creating opportunity and expanding access. It remains the clearest example of how strategy and social impact can intersect in practice.

What was your favorite MBA event or tradition at your business school? It is hard to attend Notre Dame and not say football Saturdays. MBA tailgates are more than game days; they reflect the school’s deep sense of community. Students, alumni, faculty, and families gather with a shared pride that extends far beyond athletics.

Looking back over your MBA experience, what is the one thing you’d do differently and why? If I could do one thing differently, I would have been more intentional about documenting and reflecting on my growth outside the classroom while it was happening. I leaned heavily into finance during my MBA to expand beyond my marketing undergraduate background, but some of my most meaningful development came through leadership experiences, particularly serving as MBA President.

Through that role, I learned a great deal about my strengths in organization, communication, and partnership-building. I also identified areas where I could improve. Had I reflected more deliberately in real time, I could have experimented earlier with new approaches and been even more intentional about my development. The MBA experience extends far beyond coursework, and I would have given myself more structure in capturing that growth.

What was the most impactful case study you had in business school and what was the biggest lesson you learned from it? The most impactful case study I worked on was through Business on the Frontlines: Local Impact, where my team partnered with a South Bend nonprofit to better understand the root causes of food insecurity in the community and the organization’s role within that broader ecosystem.

As we developed our recommendations, we initially focused on larger structural ideas, such as expanding physical access points or exploring the feasibility of a community grocery model. However, through interviews with pantry leaders and community members, we discovered that food access was only part of the challenge. In many cases, individuals were receiving nutritious food, but did not have the knowledge or confidence to prepare it. This led to waste and missed opportunity. Recognizing this unmet need shifted our focus. Because our client was a small nonprofit just getting started – and its founders already operated culinary training programs and a catering business – food education was both realistic and aligned with their strengths. We refocused our recommendations on practical cooking education initiatives such as live cooking demonstrations at the local food pantry.

The biggest lesson I learned was that good strategy is not just about insight; it is about applicability. Impact requires meeting organizations where they are and building on what they already do well.

What did you love most about your business school’s town? What I loved most about South Bend was how accessible and invested the community is. Through Business on the Frontlines: Local Impact, my team worked closely with local leaders addressing food insecurity, and it quickly became clear that this is a city where relationships matter.

South Bend is a place where nonprofits, small businesses, and residents genuinely support one another. People are willing to show up, share their stories, and collaborate. That sense of neighborliness mirrors the culture at Notre Dame.

What business leader do you admire most? The business leader I admire most is my dad. He built his career in accounting within pharmaceutical companies, but what has always stood out is his sense of purpose. He understands that behind financial statements are patients relying on treatments. He showed me that even roles that seem technical or behind the scenes carry real responsibility and impact. His integrity and steady leadership shaped how I think about business.

From a broader perspective, I also admire Gary Erickson, founder of Clif Bar. As the company scaled, he remained anchored in sustainability, employee ownership, and long-term thinking. He demonstrated that growth does not require sacrificing values. That balance between performance and principle is the kind of leadership I aspire to model.

What is one way that your business school has integrated AI into your programming? What insights did you gain from using AI? Artificial intelligence is increasingly integrated across the Mendoza curriculum. I took courses in Generative AI and AI & Machine Learning in Marketing, where we applied these tools to customer research, segmentation, and strategic analysis.

One of the most valuable discussions in my AI and Marketing course centered on the ethics of AI and machine learning. We examined how models are trained, the risks of bias in data, and the responsibility leaders carry when deploying these systems in real-world settings.

Using AI in an academic setting also taught me that its value depends heavily on the user. The quality of output is directly tied to the clarity of the prompt and the ability to critically evaluate results. AI can accelerate insight generation and challenge assumptions, but it does not replace judgment. Learning how to use it responsibly has been just as important as learning how to use it effectively.

Which MBA classmate do you most admire? I most admire Natascha Puri, who served as Chief Communications Officer of the MBA Association. Natascha brings a rare combination of steadiness and candor to her leadership. Throughout my time as MBA President, she was a trusted sounding board who consistently provided thoughtful and constructive feedback.

She often challenged me to slow down rather than default to my instinct to move quickly toward action. Her ability to pause, ask better questions, and consider long-term implications strengthened both our decision-making and our approach to faculty engagement. She was a key player in helping us build a true partnership with faculty, ensuring our communication was clear, measured, and solution-oriented.

Her influence made me a better leader and made our impact as the MBA Association stronger. She embodies composure, accountability, and collaboration at the highest level.

What are the top two items on your professional bucket list? The first item on my professional bucket list is to build something of my own. Whether it is a full-scale venture or a meaningful side business, I have always been drawn to entrepreneurship and the responsibility that comes with creating value from the ground up. I want to experience the accountability, creativity, and resilience that come with building and sustaining something that reflects my values.

The second is to remain a continuous learner. I never want to become stagnant or complacent in my career. That may mean working across industries, taking on new roles, or surrounding myself with teams that challenge my thinking. Curiosity and adaptability are traits I want to carry with me long after my MBA.

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

“Over the past two years, James has demonstrated extraordinary leadership in our MBA program. James has led our MBA Association (MBAA) student organization with both grace and dignity. James has become a trusted and valued partner to both myself and many others in the administration. Always seeking ways to improve, James has helped us to navigate MBA program improvements.  James is a consummate advocate for his classmates.  The MBAA is at the core of Notre Dame MBA student events, Clubs, and community building.

As I look to the future, I know that James will make Notre Dame proud. An active member of Notre Dame’s alumni association, James will continue to generously give back and support the Notre Dame community. I am excited for James’ future. I know that wherever or whatever James does, he will do so guided by Notre Dame values and the heart of a servant leader. It has been an honor to see James grow into a very responsible leader. I am excited for what the future holds for James Smart.”

Gianna Bern
Associate Dean for the Notre Dame MBA Program
Teaching Professor of Finance
Mendoza College of Business
University of Notre Dame

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