Full-Time MBA Alumni Profiles
The Carlson School has nearly 53,000+ alumni in 95+ countries. Alumni enrich our educational environment - and your opportunities beyond our classrooms - because they know the rigor of our program first-hand and look to us for the most talented recruits. Wherever you desire to take your career, we have the alumni network that can help get you there.
Meet Our Full-Time MBA Alumni
Adam Rao
Chief Financial Officer / VP for Finance, Administration, and Strategy - United Theological
- Class of 2017
- Hometown: Dayton, OH
- Previous Industry/Company(s): Co-Founder & CEO: Lakeside Church and Founding Executive Director: Exodus Lending
- Enterprise: Ventures Enterprise
- Affinity Affiliations: Student of Color
"I believe that my purpose is to lead organizations that transform people's lives. In the midst of a successful career in non-profit entrepreneurship, an emerging belief drove me to reconsider my career journey: I believe that the future of social impact is in for-profit social enterprise. I knew that to achieve the long-term impact I want to make, I needed to gain a formal business education to complement my existing skills."
Anna Stonehouse
Senior LDRP Associate - Medtronic
- Class of 2021
- Hometown: Mahtomedi, MN
- Previous Industry/Company(s): Medical Device, Medtronic
- Enterprise: Brands Enterprise
- Affinity Affiliations: Female
"I chose Carlson because I was looking to further my career within the Medical Device industry here in Minneapolis. Carlson was uniquely positioned to give me opportunities in this space that other MBA programs couldn’t offer."
Ashley Ver Burg Soukup
Sr. Associate Brand Manager - General Mills
- Class of 2018
- Hometown: River Fall, WI
- Previous Industry/Company(s): Urban Planning Consulting
- Enterprise: Brand Enterprise
- Affinity Affiliations: Female
"Minnesota is where my heart is, and it is where I wanted my network and impact to be, too. Carlson's full-time MBA program affords a smaller class size with a larger Minnesota alumni community…and it's a great, powerful network to be a part of! I am driven to give back to a region of the world that has given me so much."
Bobby Paulus
Integrated Business Planning Manager, Nutra Blend - Land O’Lakes
- Class of 2015
- Hometown: Cleveland, OH
- Previous Industry/Company(s): Marine Infantry
- Enterprise: Brand Enterprise
- Affinity Affiliations: Military
"My wife and I were living in Washington D.C. when I had to make some decisions regarding my next steps in life. Given our plan as a family, I would transition out of the military in 2013, but I had to figure out what would work best with a move back to the Midwest. Instead of going right into the workforce, I saw an opportunity to develop a lot of skills that I needed by going to a full-time MBA program. I then applied to a few schools, and was fortunate to get a spot at Carlson!"
Caleb Murphy
Resident - Internal Medicine
- Class of 2018
- Hometown: Ramsey, MN
- Previous Industry/Company(s): Direct Transition from UG to Professional Education
- Affinity Affiliations: Dual Degree
"...This sparked my passion for health policy and other systems-level healthcare topics, including medical industry, healthcare operations, and medical education. Earning an MBA from the Carlson School of Management was necessary to better understand these fields and grow as a professional. After earning my MD and MBA degrees and completing an internal medicine residency, I hope to work at the intersection of clinical medicine and healthcare system improvement."
Catherine Wang
Global Product Manager - Medtronic
- Class of 2015
- Hometown: Toronto, Canada
- Previous Industry/Company(s): Johnson & Johnson, General Mills, ShopNBC/ShopHQ, and Target
- Enterprise: Brand Enterprise
- Affinity Affiliations: Student of Color & Female
"I decided to return to Carlson for my MBA because of several reasons. The most important ones to me were the experiential learning and the small class size. I love the sense of community and level of individualized support that come from our small class size. In addition, the Carlson Enterprise Program has been a great way to put the things we learned in the classrooms to practice through working on projects with companies."
David Otero
Global Customer Experience Manager - 3M
- Class of 2017
- Hometown: Brooklyn, NY
- Previous Industry/Company(s): Digital Marketer: Three Deep Marketing, 360i, Fashion Planner: Ralph Lauren, and Ad Sales & Marketing: Conde Nast Publishing
- Enterprise: Brand Enterprise
- Affinity Affiliations: Student of Color & LGBTQIA+
"As a career accelerator, I was seeking foundational academic experiences to compliment my years of practical work experience. Through conversations (and eventually through my personal experience), I realized the enduring value Carlson’s Enterprise program would provide. It not only affords students the opportunity to apply academic frameworks towards real business problems, but gives students a chance to make meaningful connections with business leaders."
Emily Hennig
Senior Product Director - Optum
- Class of 2016
- Hometown: St.Paul, MN
- Previous Industry/Company(s): High School Softball Coach, Portico Benefit Services, and VerticalXchange
- Enterprise: MILI & Consulting Enterprise
- Affinity Affiliations: Female
"In 2013, I found myself at a crossroads... I knew I wanted to be in a more strategic healthcare role, and I knew a business education would help get me there faster. After networking with a diverse group of professionals, I decided that B-school was my ideal way to build a strong business foundation, build on my leadership skills, and propel my career forward in a meaningful way."
Erik Fagerstrom
Optum Advisory Services, Senior Consultant - UnitedHealth Group, Optum
- Class of 2021
- Hometown: Eden Prairie, MN
- Previous Industry/Company(s): Healthcare
- Enterprise: Consulting Enterprise
"I hope to improve patient care and outcomes while also providing economic value to businesses and shareholders via healthcare strategy, consulting, or business development opportunities."
Harsha Reddy
Associate Marketing Manager - Ecolab
- Class of 2021
- Hometown: Bangalore, India
- Previous Industry/Company(s): Consulting
- Enterprise: Consulting Enterprise
- Affinity Affiliations: Student of Color & International
"I chose Carlson for its focus on experiential learning, its small class size that fosters close interaction, its relationship with large fortune 500 companies in the Twin Cities, and most importantly its ethos of business being a force for good."
Jamie Glover
Director of Client Success - OptiMine Software, Inc.
- Class of 2017
- Hometown: Minneapolis, MN
- Previous Industry/Company(s): Marketing and Advertising
- Enterprise: Ventures Enterprise
- Affinity Affiliations: Female
"I spoke with several alumni before making my decision, and they all had great things to say about the program--so that was very telling. The second reason was because Carlson is unmatched in it's incredible network within the Twin Cities. I knew I would be pursuing employment in Minnesota upon graduation, and saw the value in both building my own network here and leveraging the connections that Carlson has created over the years."
Jeremy Hemsworth
Product Marketing for Microsoft Azure Data & AI - Microsoft
- Class of 2017
- Hometown: Minneapolis, MN
- Previous Industry/Company(s): Integra Telecom and Zayo Enterprise Networks
- Enterprise: Consulting Enterprise
- Affinity Affiliations: Military
"As a career switcher, I knew that I needed the type of experience that Carlson's Enterprise Program offers. No other school that I looked at provided the same type of in-depth experience working for a big company on a real project. Besides that, the strength of the Carlson Community was something else that drew me to Carlson."
Joseph Alexander
Product Manager - EarlySalary
- Class of 2018
- Hometown: Kottayam, India
- Previous Industry/Company(s): Social Worth Technologies, Altisource Business Solutions, and Wipro
- Enterprise: Ventures Enterprise
- Affinity Affiliations: Student of Color & International
"I traveled from India and visited 6 of my top schools. Visiting Carlson, learning more about the experiences students had working in consulting projects for 3 semesters made me decide to matriculate at Carlson. Being an international student, learning nuances of American business culture is essential for my success in the US. Carlson's enterprise program gives me a safe space to learn, make mistakes and grow."
Jorgen Lervick
Associate Attorney - DeWitt LLP
- Class of 2017
- Hometown: Bismarck, ND and Minnetonka, MN
- Previous Industry/Company(s): Legal Assistant; Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom
- Enterprise: Consulting Enterprise
- Affinity Affiliations: Dual Degree and Female
"Another reason why I chose Carlson was due to the enterprise program. As a dual degree student, I wanted to ensure I had the opportunity to get hand-on practical experience while in school. The enterprise program does just that - it allows a group of 5-6 students to work for real clients in the community on projects that have a high impact on the organization. By the end of your first year, you'll already have a meaningful and relevant experience to put on your resume!"
Kaizen Yang
Senior Product Operations Manager - Cognizant
- Class of 2015
- Hometown: Northfield, MN
- Previous Industry/Company(s): Loram, Inc., Imation, Inc.
- Enterprise: Venture Enterprise
- Affinity Affiliations: Student of Color
"When considering MBA programs, my main prerogative was to enter a nationally-ranked program out of Minnesota. However, the more I learned and interacted with the school and its staff/students/faculty, the more I wanted to attend Carlson. Also, I wanted to attend the same MBA program as my fiancée. Reflecting back on my experiences, I have no regrets about choosing Carlson over other institutions; all of my successes, during the past two-years, are attributed to Carlson."
Kevin Deese
Executive Associate - Corporate Procurement - M&T Bank
- Class of 2020
- Hometown: Winter Spring, FL
- Previous Industry/Company(s): Justus Health, SIB Fixed Cost Reduction, and Amazon.com
- Enterprise: Venture Enterprise & Consulting Enterprise
- Affinity Affiliations: Dual Degree & LGBTQIA+
"I came to Carlson to take some space in a supportive environment to think deliberatively about – and even experiment a little bit with – what I see my career becoming longer-term, whether or not that will include naval service. I have relished the opportunities I have had to reflect on my passion for service and other ways in which I can live out that passion in a variety of careers."
Kevin Vargas
Senior Associate Leadership Development Rotation Program - Medtronic
- Class of 2021
- Hometown: Round Lake Beach, IL
- Previous Industry/Company(s): Healthcare & Medical Devices
- Enterprise: Consulting Enterprise
- Affinity Affiliations: Student of Color & LGBTQIA+
"I chose Carlson to leverage my experiences in medical device engineering and transition my career into management and strategy in the healthcare industry."
Mitch Doering
Manager, Enterprise Strategy & Insights - Amazon
- Class of 2017
- Hometown: Glencoe, MN
- Previous Industry/Company(s): Target Corporation
- Enterprise: Consulting Enterprise
- Affinity Affiliations: LGBTQIA+
"Discovering that the attention I would receive as a student was better than what I found at the larger schools I was comparing it to is what made the decision easy for me. In addition to Carlson's resources and culture, I knew that I wanted to broaden my professional experience as I planned to transition from a merchandising role to a more strategic role in consulting. I knew that in order to achieve this goal, I needed to immerse myself in a program that would give me real-world experience managing client projects and helping me to develop the skills I needed to succeed."
Olawale Ojo-Fati
Senior Instock Manager (RLD) - Amazon
- Class of 2019
- Hometown: Lagos, Nigeria
- Previous Industry/Company(s): Thomson Reuters and Sky Bank PLC
- Enterprise: Consulting Enterprise
- Affinity Affiliations: International & Student of Color
"I decided to get my MBA in a different country to gain international experience and learn different cultures, and it has been a great ride... Also, I wanted a school that provided great opportunities post-MBA; Minneapolis is home to seventeen Fortune 500 companies and there are great opportunities. Having a strong career center is also a huge plus."
Shiva Shivakumaran
Senior Consultant - Deloitte
- Class of 2019
- Hometown: Chennai, India
- Previous Industry/Company(s): Data Analytics
- Enterprise: Consulting Enterprise
- Affinity Affiliations: Student of Color & International
"I realized that I would love to do the same kind of work on a bigger scale and formal education in business seemed to be the right step to get me there...My interactions with the admissions team and student ambassadors during the application process reflected the culture of the school and I knew I wanted to be a part of this community"