James came to Wharton from The Dow Chemical Company, where he spent six years in commercial functions—starting in sales, then moving into market development in which he led cross-functional teams to develop and commercialize new packaging technologies. James spent this past summer as a Summer Associate at Bain & Company in Mexico City, where he created a strategy for his team’s client—a leading beverage company—to develop best-in-class shopper marketing capabilities. A long-time US expatriate, James has lived overseas for 17 years in France, Mexico, Poland, and Argentina. James holds a BS in Chemical Engineering from Brigham Young University.
Liya is a member of the Wharton MBA Class of 2010, majoring in Management and Marketing. Prior to Wharton, Liya worked at NERA Economic Consulting in the Securities practice. Her primary focus was business valuation and accounting disputes. During this time, she worked on and initiated a business plan to service expatriates in Shanghai, China. This past summer, Liya worked at BabyCare, a baby nutritional products startup, in Beijing, where she conducted an operation performance review of the sales force. Liya holds a BA degree in Economics and Communication from University of Pennsylvania. She was born in China and grew up in Hawaii and Hong Kong.
Prior to Wharton, Neeraj worked as a General Manager with The Coca-Cola Company in emerging markets. His interests include turnaround leadership development and corporate governance. Neeraj also heads the Wharton Leadership Lecture Committee and active in many studies on developing solutions to intercultural challenges in global expansion. Intending to major in Strategy and Finance, he is focused on international expansion of the club.
Previously at American Airlines, Michelle has been active in the General Management Club since arriving at Wharton. She served as Marketing Director for the 2008 Conference and as Director of Internal Relations, planning educational programming for club members. Also during her first year at Wharton, Michelle advised an Israeli company on U.S. expansion through the Global Consulting Practicum. She interned with McKinsey & Company and LearnVest, a start-up aimed at assisting women with their personal finances. She intends to major in Operations and Multinational Management and earned her bachelor's degree from Duke University.
Bibiana is a second year MBA student majoring in finance and management. Beside leading and managing the team of panel directors at the General Management Conference at Wharton, Bibiana also started and leads the Wharton Chocolate Club, participates in the Wharton Latin American Student Association board, and is a Venture Fellow for the sailing expedition. Bibiana interned as a Summer Consultant at the Boston Consulting Group this year and prior to Wharton, she worked at Kimberly-Clark where she held different positions including strategic analyst at the world headquarters and cost analyst at two of their manufacturing facilities. Bibiana is originally from Colombia and holds a B.S. from the University of Central Florida where she studied Finance.
Amrita is a Management and Finance major at Wharton. Prior to joining Wharton Amrita worked at the U.S. Defense Department and on Capitol Hill. This summer she held a Corporate Strategy role at the Vanguard Group as an MBA Development Program intern. In addition to her role with the conference, Amrita serves as Vice President of Internal Affairs for the General Management Club, Vice President of Events for the Wharton Sports Business Club, and Cohort Academic Representative. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Economics and Political Science from George Washington University. In her spare time, Amrita loves to cheer for the Philadelphia Phillies and Philadelphia Eagles, and discuss politics.
Prior to Wharton, Sounak Banerji spent six years at DuPont in various business development roles, including marketing, sales and application engineering where he was intimately involved with bringing a number of innovations to market. Sounak has an engineering background from the Indian Institute of Technology – Roorkee, and GaTech.
Veronica is a first-year MBA student majoring in General Management and Marketing. In addition to her involvement in the General Management Club, Veronica is an active member of Wharton's Marketing and Luxury Clubs. Veronica previously worked at Christie's Auction House in New York as an Art Specialist focusing on emerging art markets, specifically South Asia, and lead business development and art management initiatives in the region for several companies. She holds a B.A. from New York University, where she graduated with an Honors Major in Art History and a minor in Politics.
Jorge is a second-year student majoring in finance and management. Prior to Wharton, he graduated from Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile with a BS in Engineering. Upon graduation, Jorge held leadership roles in corporate finance in manufacturing companies in Chile and the US.This summer Jorge Jorge Interned as Sr. Financial Analyst at Apple. In addition to his work on General Management Conference, Jorge is an active member of the General Management club, where he held the Treasury position in 2008-2009, and contributes in several other clubs. He’s also a member of the Ethics Committee of the Wharton School.
Ruth Lin is pursuing a dual-major in Finance and Strategic Management at the Wharton School, where she is a Pratt Fellowship recipient. Prior to Wharton, Ruth gained extensive strategic and leadership experience in the technology industry at companies such as Oracle and NICE (NSDQ: NICE), in addition to Israel’s FBI and a technological family startup. Ruth started her engineering studies at the age of 16, and earned her degree in Electricity and Electric Engineering and Computer Science from the Tel Aviv University. Ruth enjoys cycling, running, scuba diving, snow-boarding and scotch, as well as spending quality time with her husband, a Wharton grad himself.
Jesse Seidman is a second-year MBA student majoring in finance. During his time at Wharton, Jesse has been involved in a variety of Cohort and Club activities. As a first-year, he served as Treasurer of his Cohort and was a Cohort House Manager for Wharton’s “Rebuilding Together” community service project. In addition to being an active member of the General Management Club, he is a member of the Sports Business Club, serves as Treasurer of the Media & Entertainment Club, and will co-head “Rebuilding Together” in 2010. Jesse interned in the Wireless Business Development Group of Comcast Corporation last summer. Prior to attending Wharton, Jesse worked for the economic consulting firm of Charles River Associates in Washington, D.C. Jesse holds a B.A. in Economics from Northwestern University.
Paola is a second-year MBA student majoring in Finance and Strategy. During her time at Wharton, she led new initiatives focused on general management as Director of Admissions of the Wharton’s General Management Club. In addition to being a leader of the General Management Club, Paola is Cultural Chair of the Wharton Latin America Students Association and active member of Wharton's Consulting club. She is also Co founder of the Wharton Chocolate Club and participated in cultural shows at Wharton. Paola interned as Summer Associate in Enfoca Safi, one of the largest Private Equity Firm in Peru, last summer. Prior to Wharton, she was Project Manager at LAN Peru Airlines, member of Lan Airlines one of the most important airlines in South America. Paola holds a B.S. from the Universidad del Pacifico, where she studied Economics.
Teresa is an undergraduate second year at the University of Pennsylvania. As a student in the Roy and Diana Vagelos Life Science and Management Dual Degree Program, she hopes to major in Economics with a concentration in healthcare management as well as Biology. In addition to helping with the Conference, Teresa is an active member of the undergraduate Wharton Management Club, Alpha Kappa Psi Professional Business Fraternity, Wharton Women, and Synapse: Penn Undergraduate Medical Connection.
Leonardo Navarro holds a B.A. in International Relations from Monterrey Tech. After graduation Leonardo moved to Taiwan in order to work at the Mexican Trade Commission in Taipei, promoting Mexican exports and investment opportunities before Taiwanese companies. Afterwards, he joined Grupo Bimbo, the largest baking company in the world. At Grupo Bimbo, Leonardo was part of the Asia Market Entry Team, a cross – functional group in charge of developing and executing strategies to enter Asian markets. In 2006, he was part of the M&A team in charge of integrating Beijing Panrico, a local food company in Beijing. From 2007 to 2009, Leonardo was Director of the Asia Pacific Section of the Mexican Business Council for Foreign Trade, Investment, and Technology, the organization in charge of the international relations of the Mexican private sector. Leonardo organized and headed business delegations accompanying the President of Mexico to China and India. Leonardo Navarro currently is part of the Wharton / Lauder MBA MA joint degree program, Chinese Track.
Previously a Program Manager at Microsoft, John coordinated marketing efforts for the 2009 General Management conference. He is also active in the Consulting, Marketing, and Tech clubs, and was elected Social Chair of his cohort.
Outside of school, John advises healthcare clients as a Senior Consultant of Wharton’s Small Business Development Center (SBDC).
John intends to major in Marketing and Strategic Management. He earned his bachelor’s degree in Computer Engineering at Duke.
Kanika is a first year student at Wharton planning to major in Strategic Management. She is leading the Marketing efforts for the first Wharton conference of 2009- General Management conference. She is also a volunteer for operations in the conference. She is a part of the external affairs team of the GM club. She is also helping organize the Wharton Women in business conference for 2009. Apart from GM club, Kanika is an active member of the Marketing, Fashion & Luxury goods & Asia Clubs and also plays on the Wharton Ultimate Frisbee team. Prior to Wharton, Kanika was a General Field Engineer with Schlumberger Oilfield Services posted in Cairo, Egypt. She holds M.Tech (Information & Communication Engineering) & B.Tech (Electrical Engineering) from Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, India.
Moti is majoring at Wharton in Strategic Management and Marketing. During the summer he worked at NetSuite Inc as a Business Strategy intern in the international group. Prior to Wharton, Moti worked with Scepia, a leading web development company in Israel first as Senior Project Manager and last as their COO. In addition, he gave six and a half years of service in the Israeli Navy. Beside his immense passion for technology he is food and wine enthusiast as well as extensive world traveler. Moti is also a Senior Instructor in Yacht Sailing. Moti holds a B.Sc. in Industrial Engineering & Management, from the Technion- Israel institute of technology.
Lisa is a second year student majoring in Strategic Management and Finance. Prior to Wharton, Lisa was an associate at Centerbridge Partners, L.P., a hybrid private equity and distressed investment firm; and an analyst in Goldman Sach’s Real Estate, Lodging and Gaming Investment Banking group. During the summer, Lisa worked in iPhone Finance at Apple. Lisa first started working with the Wharton General Management Club last year as a Director of External relations, and currently serves as co-VP of External Relationships. She earned her bachelor’s degree from Harvard University in Social Studies.
Prior to Wharton, Scott was a management consultant in mergers & acquisitions at Deloitte Consulting where he worked on global integrations and divestitures across industries. Scott is currently Vice President of External Relations for the GM club. He intends to major in Real Estate and Strategic Management and earned his bachelor's degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Matthew Axelrod is a first year MBA candidate at Wharton and an MA in International Affairs student at the Lauder Institute. He served as the Country Director for Egypt and North Africa in the Office of the Secretary of Defense from 2005-2007. Before then he served as a Presidential Management Fellow in the Defense Threat Reduction Agency and the US Embassy in Egypt. Most recently, Matt spent a year and a half in Egypt as a Fulbright Fellow, researching the US-Egypt strategic and military relationship. He is interested in transitioning to the private sector, ideally working for a US firm with global operations. Matt is the social chair for his cohort, and a member of several clubs, inlcuding Arabia, Public Policy, General Management, Comedy, and Hockey.
Prior to Wharton, Jessica spent three years at McKinsey & Company, where she specialized in private equity and institutional investor strategy. In her first year at Wharton, Jessica has become active in the General Management and Marketing Clubs and intends to major in Marketing and Strategic Management.
Julia is a member of the Wharton MBA class of 2011 and is involved in a number of Wharton organizations, including the Marketing, Consulting, and General Management Clubs as well as Wharton Wildmen Hockey and the Wine Club. Julia was recently chosen as a Wharton representative to the University of Pennsylvania's Graduate and Professional Student Association (GAPSA).
Prior to Wharton, Julia was a Senior Consultant at Booz Allen Hamilton where she was awarded the "Absolute Personal Best" Performance and Team Award and two "High 5" Awards for her professional achievements in leadership and teamwork.
Julia graduated from Northwestern University in 2005 with a major in Public Policy and a minor in Gender Studies.
Patricia is involved in the Wharton community through her roles as volunteer for the Volunteer Admissions Committee, Chat-Session Coordinator for the 2009 WWIB Conference and Co-Director of Corporate Development – Latin America within the General Management Club. Before coming to Wharton Patricia was living in Montevideo, Uruguay and working as a Senior Auditor for KPMG. During the four years she spent at the firm she specialized on Financial Institutions’ audits and Central Bank of Uruguay’s regulations’ compliance. Patricia holds an undergraduate degree in Accounting from the University of Montevideo.
