The Authors

BLOGGING FROM BRAZIL: Chloe Chemla

Chloe

Chloe Chemla is a first year MBA student at the George Washington University concentrating in accounting.  After obtaining her undergraduate degree in Business Administration at UNC-Chapel Hill she worked for 3 years at North Carolina Hillel as the manager of operations and development. In 2011, before starting the MBA program she worked in Paris, France as an accounting manager for a real estate managing company.  She is currently the Fundraising chair for the GW Net Impact group and a project manager for the Graduate Consulting Club. In her spare time she enjoys traveling, learning new languages and knitting.

BLOGGING FROM INDIA: Troy Finnigan

Troy

Personal: I prefer reading fiction, but always feel guilty that I should be reading either nonfiction, the WSJ, or the Economist – it’s a never-ending struggle. I like sports, but have realized my body is at the age where I’m better suited watching them than playing. I enjoy running, but DC weather is a far cry from San Diego’s – where I’m hailing from. I love my huge family, but question its reciprocation: they’ve categorized me as a “liberal wacko hippy.” I like writing dual clause sentences with conjunctions, but usually stick to “but” rather than “and” or “or.” Oops, I used “or.”

Boring Professional stuff: Prior to completing undergraduate work in the field of Political Science, Mr. Finnigan interned for a nationally recognized team of financial advisors at Merrill Lynch. This spurned a desire to enter the financial services industry, and he sought a position in retail financial sales. Citibank effectively built upon an existing foundation in financial services, and more generally, sales. This position fine-tuned the relationship building and networking skills necessary to further his career ambitions.

Three successful years of client facing experience and many solid relationships later, Troy wanted to pursue a passion for a global experience. Having seen many before him enriched through travel, he became TEFL certified and set off on a 20 country trip across multiple continents. In August 2009, Troy returned from this year-long trip around the world teaching English for a semester in Prague, Czech Republic, then traveling and learning Spanish in South America. This experience was invaluable. It helped shape a more global perspective, which is crucial in such an increasingly connected, flat world.

Upon returning stateside, part-time tutoring work turned into an in-home tutoring small business. At the same time, moving to DC to pursue an MBA had become another goal to strive for. Mr. Finnigan is nearing the end of his first year in The George Washington School of Business’s Global MBA program. He recently started interning at Ashoka where he is currently building a strategic plan to maximize private partner engagement and helping to build hybrid value chains with social entrepreneurs in the field and partners such as IBM and Western Union.

BLOGGING FROM PERU: Tom Hirth

Tom

Tom Hirth I’m from San Jose California, I went to undergrad at Whittier College. I worked in real estate for a while before working at a non-profit that analyzed the effect of financial donations on political figures. I plan to work for the federal government after GW.

 

 

 

BLOGGING FROM RWANDA: Shashwat Gautam

Shashwat

I worked as a consultant for an agri-business public private partnership project in India before moving to DC to pursue my MBA at The George Washington University. I also consulted for MIT’s One Laptop per Child project in India for a change in pedagogy in K-12 education system. Prior to taking up consulting roles in socio economic projects I was working on a Global Trafficking in Persons (G/TIP) project of US Department of State in New Delhi, India. I have a Bachelor of Engineering degree in Information Technology and a graduate diploma in Public Relations.

I am passionate about socio-economic agribusiness initiatives and have a deep interest in agriculture.

My favorite past time includes cooking Indian cuisines and reading about charismatic leadership.

Currently I work as a Rural Innovation and Farming (RIF) Intern at Ashoka Innovators for the Public in their DC office.

BLOGGING FROM SWEDEN: Gregory C. Butler

Gregory C. Butler

Gregory C. Butler is a first-year MBA student with a concentration in finance and energy management, transitioning to a career in clean technology. Prior to arriving at George Washington, Greg spent five years as a consultant to local and state governments. He also received a Master of Public Administration from the University of Pennsylvania, and served as the first deputy press secretary for the New York City of Department of Health. In his spare time, Greg tries in vain to train two very adorable – but terribly stubborn – rescue beagles with his lovely wife, Monique.

BLOGGING FROM TURKEY: Jaydeep Thakkar

Jaydeep

Jaydeep Thakkar is a first year Global MBA Student at the George Washington University School of Business where he co-founded and serves as the Executive Vice President for the Africa Business Association. His focus areas are Decision Sciences and Finance. After obtaining a Bachelor’s degree in

Engineering in 2004 from the Mumbai University, he worked with Citigroup and Wipro Technologies in the Information/Database Security and Management domain. During his stint with Wipro in Mumbai, he managed a team of 23 engineers and was also involved with Client Relationship Management and Process Optimizations. He started working in the US in 2011 with Health Management Services

Organization in Virginia as a Business Analyst, improving businesses for HealthCare firms in the DC Metro Area. He is passionate about arts, history, sports and music as much as business. In his spare time, he likes to play outdoor sports like soccer and cricket.