Beau Gresham, Director of Strategic Initiatives at Mastercard and NYU Stern MBA '20, shares his journey as an applicant, student, and alumni of NYU Stern. How did Beau transition from the military to consulting through the MBA? How was the NYU Stern Full-time MBA experience? How did Beau break into mergers & acquisitions consulting at Deloitte, and then land his current job at Mastercard? And how does Beau view the MBA three years after graduating?

Topics

• Introduction (0:00)
• Beau's Background (4:00)
• Beau's MBA Application Journey & Lessons: School Selection, GMAT, Career Goals (6:30)
• MBA Application Resources for Military Veterans (20:30)
• Beau's #1 Tip: Finding "Champions" (23:30)
• Beau's NYU Stern MBA Experience (33:30)
• Breaking into Consulting- How Beau Landed his Internship & Job with Deloitte (39:00) 
• The NYU Stern Network in NYC & Study Abroad Trips (53:00)
• Beau's Post-MBA Career with Amazon & Deloitte (1:00:00)
• Advancing at Deloitte & Transitioning to Mastercard (1:07:00)
• Beau's Last Tips for Applicants (1:21:00)

About Our Guest

Beau Gresham is Director of Strategic Initiatives in Cybersecurity at Mastercard. Previously, Beau worked as a Senior Consultant & Manager in M&A Strategy for Deloitte. Prior to his MBA, Beau served in the US Army in a variety of leadership, operational and combat roles, including as a Company Commander in Afghanistan.

Beau got his MBA from the NYU Stern School of Business with specializations in Finance, Strategy & Management, his Masters in Management and Leadership from Webster University and his Bachelors in Political Science & Government from the University of South Florida. He currently serves on the Stern Alumni Council.

Show Notes

• Beau Gresham on LinkedIn
• Avanti Prep Admissions Consulting Team (mention Touch MBA + Beau Gresham)
• NYU Stern MBA Programs
• Hiring Our Heroes - Connecting Military to American Business
• Service to School - Helping Veterans Apply to Best College or Graduate School
• What's Next? A Military Veteran's Guide to Maximizing Your MBA by Matthew Cowsert
• Deloitte's CORE Leadership Program
• American Corporate Partners (ACP) Mentorship
• MBA Veterans Career Conference & Expo
• GMAT Club Panel on Breaking into Consulting, featuring Beau Gresham
• #136 Military to MBA to Management Consulting with Alex Tuininga, Harvard MBA ’18
• Touch MBA's Admissions Edge Online Course

Get free, personalized school selection help at Touch MBA: https://touchmba.com

Tony Ngo, Harvard Business School '08, shares how he used the MBA to pivot to Vietnam, first in finance, and then as an edtech entrepreneur with Everest Education.

Questions

• Introducing Tony (0:00)
• Tony's Pre-MBA Career & MBA Application Journey (5:00)
• Tony Pivots Towards Asia - Post-MBA Careers & Relationships (7:15)
• Networking Your Way to Jobs vs. Resume Drops (13:10)
• Having a Focus / One Question in Mind During Your MBA (21:00)
• Succeeding in Private Equity & Hedge Funds (24:40)
• Sponsors for Educational Opportunity - Vietnam (32:00)
• Tony's Pivot from Finance to EdTech (36:30)
• What MBAs Need to Know About Working in EdTech (47:10)

About Tony

Tony Ngo is co-founder and Executive Chairman of Everest Education (E2), which offers live small classes online and operates a network of premium learning centers offering a variety of subjects, including math, English Language Arts, college admissions consulting, test prep, and tutoring. Since 2014, he also has been a board member at Nam Long, a publicly-traded real estate developer. In 2009, he founded Sponsors for Educational Opportunity - Vietnam, a non-profit developing leadership capacity among young professionals in Vietnam.

Tony graduated from Harvard Business School in 2008 and received his Bachelors (Economics) and Masters (Industrial Engineering) from Stanford University. After getting his MBA, Tony was an investor for Bridger Capital, a long-short equities hedge fund, where he covered Asian and Technology, Media and Telecom investments from 2008-2015.

Tony frequently speaks and writes about leadership, community building, parenting, and career development. Tony lives in Los Angeles, California, with his wife and two children.

Episode write-up and show notes: https://touchmba.com/pivoting-to-vietnam-breaking-into-edtech-tony-ngo

Connect with Tony online: https://linktr.ee/thaytonyoi

Get free, personalized school selection help at Touch MBA: https://touchmba.com