Alexander Hutton

Smith School of Business, Queen’s University

“An engineer in the business world. Avid runner, coffee and beer aficionado, hockey fanatic.”

Hometown: Ottawa, Ontario

Fun Fact About Yourself: My grandfather, also a Queen’s alum, passed down the class ring he bought when he graduated in 1948.

Undergraduate School and Major: Queen’s University, Chemical Engineering (Biochemical & Biomedical)

Most Recent Employer and Job Title: Consultant (Upper Canada Equity Fund) and Junior Project Engineer (Nylene Canada), simultaneously

Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: Being a small, niche player in a multi-billion dollar industry can be incredibly challenging, especially when the product is as well-known as nylon-6. Cost reduction and efficiencies are vital to survival, but capital for these projects can be hard to come by. Even highly beneficial ideas are discarded by a breakeven slightly too far in the future. Despite challenges and setbacks, through a combination of researching and applying for government grants, highlighting the financial benefits to management, and showing the significant costs of inaction, I was able to get several emission- and utility-reducing projects forward during my time at Nylene Canada.

Aside from your classmates, what was the key factor that led you to choose this program for your full-time MBA and why was it so important to you? The key factor about the Smith MBA is the heavy emphasis placed on team-based learning. At Smith, teams are assembled with members each bringing a unique background and skillset, which gives students continuous opportunities to consider different viewpoints and new solutions to challenges. These teams allow us to learn from each other, explore the many facets of leadership in a controlled environment, and understand team dynamics that closely resemble those in industry. The rotating ‘leader and team’ structure to assignments also gives us the opportunity to appreciate how to work more efficiently with future managers and colleagues, emphasizing the importance of strong and lasting professional relationships over transactional personal victories.

What club or activity are you looking most forward to in business school? I am very excited about the chance to rejoin the Queen’s University Alternative Assets Fund (QUAAF). As a previous junior member of the fund, I had the opportunity to learn the internal operations of a hedge fund, including trading strategies, industry and company research, and effective recommendations and pitches. QUAAF is an incredible learning vehicle, and I feel that there is still a vast amount that I have yet to experience as a potential member.

What was the most challenging question you were asked during the admissions process? “What was the most valuable feedback or constructive criticism you have received, and how did you adapt?”

While I found this question challenging, I also saw it as the best question I was asked in the admissions process. Feedback has always been an important part of my professional development, as I try to make corrections to my work while they are small before they become significant.

The answer to the question was when my manager and mentor told me to ‘Come with solutions, not questions’, encouraging me to think of possible solutions and present my train of thought rather than simply trying to get the end answer. By presenting my thought process, I can work with my mentor to identify what needs to be changed or where I deviated from the correct steps. This has also made me less wary of making mistakes when learning something new, framing them instead of learning and development opportunities.

What led you to pursue an MBA at this point in your career? In a way, pursuing an MBA has always been a part of my career plan. During my undergraduate degree and my time as an engineer, I knew that I wanted to move into the management or corporate side of the business and my time in the field felt like a stepping stone in the pursuit of that goal. I had the opportunity to realize that goal faster than I had anticipated when I enrolled in the Graduate Diploma in Business program at Smith. Through the program, I found that what truly interested me was not the business side of an engineering company, but a career in the financial sector. After working in commercial banking for a couple of years, I found myself wanting to pursue larger transactions and deeper analysis of underlying financial results; I could not find a clear path to that goal staying where I was. Returning to Queen’s to complete my MBA at Smith and transition into the career I dreamed of became a natural choice.

What other MBA programs did you apply to? How did you determine your fit at various schools? I am in a somewhat uncommon situation, as I have first-hand experience of the culture at Smith through my time in its Graduate Diploma in Business program. I witnessed the dedication of professors to help students both inside and outside the classroom on coursework and professional development. I interacted and even worked with some of the MBA candidates, and saw the effectiveness of the team-based structure of the program and the collaborative environment it fosters. I saw the same passion from alumni, in their enduring enthusiasm to contribute to MBA candidates and even the school itself. In the end, Queen’s was the only school I applied to because I knew from my own experience that it was the best choice for me.

What was your defining moment and how did it shape who you are? The moment that stands out in my mind was a cross country race in Quebec City in my third year of university. It was the first time that my training had gone well for an entire fall season and I found myself competing for the last spot on the roster, an opportunity to represent the university at the provincial and national championships. The field had been narrowed to me and one other teammate and it all came down to this one last race. I wish I could say it was a nailbiter, neck-and-neck to the last sprint, but it wasn’t even close.

Losing to him in that race taught me that substantial, meaningful goals cannot be accomplished in a single night, week, month, or season. They take planning, dedication and a lot of hard work over months, if not years, to achieve. In the end, I did crack the championship roster. It just took me a year longer than I thought.

Where do you see yourself in ten years? In terms of industry, I know that I want to continue my career in banking and finance. There are many areas that interest me at the moment, including investment banking, corporate finance, and private equity, but it is hard to say which will draw me in the most.

I do know that in ten years’ time, I want to be in a leadership position in whichever field I pursue. I also want to seek out mentoring and coaching opportunities, to try to be an effective and patient teacher like those I have had the good fortune of working with throughout the early years of my career.