Sean Perkins

Duke University, Fuqua School of Business

“British & American dual-national and eclectic lover of chess, rugby, and hip-hop dance.”

Hometown: Atlanta, Georgia. Based pre-MBA in London, UK for 20 years

Fun Fact About Yourself: I once represented the UK with my dance company at an international championship in Los Angeles (called the World of Dance finals).

Undergraduate School and Major:) University of Warwick, Ba (Hons) in English Literature.

Most Recent Employer and Job Title: Holtzbrinck Publishing Group, Senior Corp. Development Analyst

The MBA program is renowned for its “Team Fuqua” culture, which is predicated on six paired principles: Authentic Engagement, Supportive Ambition, Collective Diversity, Impactful Stewardship, Loyal Community, and Uncompromising Integrity. Which of these resonates most with you – and what does that principle demand of you as a Fuqua MBA? Fuqua students are ambitious people who want to succeed alongside their peers. Supportive Ambition is written into the fabric of the MBA program at Duke Fuqua and it’s likely to be something which prospective students will experience during the admissions process. Fuqua students are curious about the goals of others and genuinely driven to help them succeed. Supporting others might include advising prospective students, holding mock-interviews with peers, and discussing career plans with basically anyone. You’re expected to manage your time exceptionally well, so that you can balance these tasks alongside academics, extra-curriculars and career work. If a peer isn’t aware of a deadline, career (or social) event, or academic option, you make sure they’re informed. This is all reciprocal – you participate in the system, and you also benefit from it (a lot).

What has been your first impression of the Fuqua MBA students and alumni you’ve met so far. Tell us your best Fuqua story so far. Fuqua MBA students and alumni are brimming with drive, often take a leading role, and are incredibly fun to be around. Many of us received multiple MBA offers – sometimes at schools that may occupy a higher position on a ranking – but choosing Fuqua was a no-brainer. There is something special about the career prospects at Duke and the energy, loyalty and supportive ambition of students here that gives Fuqua an edge.

I started my MBA experience recently, but I’ve already collected many Fuqua stories. To choose one: I had just flown in from London and had arrived at Durham two weeks before Orientation. The day after I arrived, there was a pre-semester social for Fuqua people based at my apartment. I must have met 40 people and I had only just got off the plane! I was blown away by my cohort’s focus on community and network well before the semester would begin. It sets you up so well to prepare for the program’s (many) different timelines and begin establishing the communities that you will engage with during and long after the Fuqua program.

Aside from your classmates and school culture, what was the key part of Duke Fuqua’s MBA curriculum programming that led you to choose this business school and why was it so important to you? The flexibility of Fuqua’s curriculum and concentration structure always appealed to me. There aren’t many prescribed classes and, by demonstrating experience or testing, you can replace those prescribed courses with specialized electives. Ultimately, you can graduate with two concentrations listed on your transcript, and you have real flexibility over which you eventually choose. Fuqua provides you with the specific education and credentials that you feel will benefit your career in the long term.

What course, club or activity excites you the most at Duke Fuqua? I’m excited to get involved in different entrepreneurship activities at Fuqua. Drawing on the Research Triangle and the broader start-up network in North Carolina, the Duke ecosystem has a unique combination of ventures in tech, healthcare, and digital health (where the previous two areas intersect). I have a few ideas myself and with the incredible energy around entrepreneurship work, I’m already looking forward to collaborating to test and build new ideas.

Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: I created the business case for a significant growth investment aiming to generate ~$100m in additional revenues within a few years for a technology holding firm. To do this, I had to distil the viewpoints of a diverse cohort of executives into a single storyline, aligned to a bottom-up financial model, that explained what our position was today and what could be achieved from a competitive standpoint with the investment. It was a formative exercise in defending my own ideas while integrating key ideas from top-level stakeholders – all of which needed to be woven into the investment storyline without losing the central direction.

What led you to pursue an MBA at this point and what do you hope to do after graduation? The last two years have highlighted the critical need that we have for companies that are truly advancing society in core scientific industries such as Pharma, Biotech, and Healthcare AI. I wanted to set myself up long-term to become a leader at innovative tech companies, with a focus on Healthcare AI/Digital Health. I knew that the MBA would give me the education, credentials, and network to do that. I hope to continue working on both finance and strategy in my post-graduation role and I plan to focus on technology growth vectors such as (but not limited to) Healthcare.

What is one thing you have recently read, watched, or listened to that you would highly recommend to prospective MBAs? Why? This is a tough one; there is so much out there. I like the Air Street Capital newsletter by Nathan Benaich, a great publication that spans AI trends and news across industry and politics. It’s issued monthly, it’s London-based, what’s not to love?

What advice would you give to help potential applicants gain admission into Duke Fuqua’s MBA program? Go granular. Admissions want to hear about the detail of how you’re going to get involved at Fuqua. Think about when you’re going to arrive on campus and how you will create and strengthen the communities here. Try to suggest some interactions that most candidates might not. How might you build relationships before you are allocated into Sections? What role will you play after your class is divided into Sections? Then, apply proof: when have you worked to create and strengthen teams in a professional capacity, or in your spare time outside work? These elements can help to create an unusually strong application.

DON’T MISS: MEET DUKE FUQUA’S MBA CLASS OF 2024