Meet Washington Foster’s MBA Class of 2019

Derik Kumagai 

University of Washington, Foster School of Business

Describe yourself in 15 words or less: Just a basketball nerd, ukulele-playing, cat dad looking to make a social impact through sports.

Hometown: La Cañada Flintridge, CA

Fun Fact About Yourself:  I have sung karaoke in 5 different languages (although I’m definitely not fluent in all of them…).

Undergraduate School and Major: NYU, Economics

Employers and Job Titles Since Graduation: 

PwC – Senior Associate

PwC – Associate

Impact Sports Academy – CFO, Co-Founder

Pacific Search Associates – Business Manager

Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: One of the most complex assignments in my career as a consultant was creating a target operating model for a foreign national bank for a new line of business offering a US mortgage product to their high net worth individuals. As the client had never operated in the US home lending space, our team was brought in as subject matter experts. It was incredibly rewarding and challenging to create the final deliverable while educating the client on US business processes in this highly-regulated environment while navigating different cultural norms and business practices.

Looking back on your experience, what one piece of advice would you give to future business school applicants?  I would advise future applicants to hone in on the MBA program attributes that are most important to you. Don’t let other people’s criteria, or criteria that you think should be important to you, steer you from your preferences. There are hundreds of MBA programs, so without a few defined criteria, even the task of choosing which schools to apply to may be daunting. Consider carefully what industries and roles you want to pursue and what you hope your experience during business school will be like. I found this to be extremely helpful not only in selecting schools, but also in writing application essays. This will also help tailor questions during campus visits and MBA recruiting events. After sorting through the top programs using my specific criteria, I ended up with a very different list than I started with!

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? For me, one key factor that sets Foster apart is its location in the Pacific Northwest. Seattle is a hotbed for multiple industries which creates an advantage for Foster MBA students when recruiting. Within these industries are large multinational employers from the tech industry (Microsoft and Amazon), consumer products and retail (Nordstrom and Starbucks) and even large scale manufacturing (Boeing). Due to the global nature of these companies, I am looking forward to the potential for future domestic and global career mobility. Since the industry that intrigues me most is the sports and sports apparel industry, (Nike, REI, etc.) the opportunity to be in such close proximity to multiple sports apparel, outdoor recreational apparel and professional sports franchises is an opportunity that I could not pass up.

What would success look like to you after your first year of business school?  To me, success would be to develop meaningful relationships with my peers, professors and career counselors and acquire the additional industry knowledge and skills for my future full-time position. This would prepare me to complete my studies and be a useful resource for incoming MBA students.

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