In the wake of the worldwide financial meltdown, when the urgency for a new breed of business leader has never been greater, the Johns Hopkins Carey Business School’s Global MBA class arrives with impeccable timing. In August 2010, the charter class got to work at the school’s new waterfront campus in the Harbor East area of Baltimore.
Enterprising, creative, opinionated, and adventurous, the men and women of the charter class are strikingly diverse in personal and professional experience, represent about a dozen nations, and range in age from early 20s to late 30s. Meet a few of these individuals who are charting the course of the first class of the Johns Hopkins Carey Business School Global MBA:
 | Bret Victor comes to the Johns Hopkins Carey Business School after holding various positions in the commercial real estate finance industry. He also co-founded a sports marketing and endorsement company, executing deals between professional athletes and start-up, e-commerce, and Fortune 500 companies. In addition, he has worked in the nonprofit sector, heading the board of directors of the Los Angeles chapter of the Israel Sports Center for the Disabled. |
 | Matthew Eversman, with a bachelor's degree in biology and minors in environmental affairs and political science, has worked as an environmental engineer and, most recently, consulted with Fortune 500 companies to help manage the environmental impact of their manufacturing operations. Matt has traveled extensively and is fluent in Spanish and French, as well as English. |
 | Anita Okoh, with a bachelor's in biology and health sciences and a master of public health from Emory University, has contributed to the public health and policy sectors as a research analyst in both the U.S. and her home country of Ghana. |
 | Alice (Cheuk) Chan, a native of Hong Kong, studied business and economics at the State University of New York, Binghamton. Her areas of expertise are marketing and social media. She has actively volunteered with the New York Aquarium and the American Red Cross and loves languages, swimming and snowboarding. |
 | Sheun Ogunsunlade, who graduated from Carnegie Mellon University with a double major in chemical and biomedical engineering, decided to spend his first year after graduation tutoring and mentoring sixth graders in a Washington, DC, elementary school as part of the Amicorps City Year program. Through this experience he developed the desire to use his MBA to "have a positive impact on young people, approach business with people in mind, and help the overall community by inspiring collaboration and building dreams together." |
 | Jack Hirsch, who was born in Israel and has lived in Africa and the U.S. Befitting someone so well traveled, he says he is drawn to the international orientation and trailblazing status of the Global MBA program. His professional career has been marked by experiences with start-up ventures whose “dynamic environments” have proved excellent laboratories of learning, he explains, adding that he sees this same “enterprising spirit” in the Johns Hopkins Carey Business School. |
 | Shahd AlShehail from Saudi Arabia, educated in Bahrain and the U.S. She has directed operations at a Saudi fashion business and initiated a project to promote the work of local women artisans. She sees herself working as a “social entrepreneur” challenging the accepted wisdom in her native land that women belong strictly in the household. |
 | David Snead, an American with a degree in sociology from Harvard University has worked as an interpreter in Buenos Aires, a manager of a sub shop near Washington D.C., an associate in an accounting firm, and a VP of sales and marketing at a software company in Cambridge, Mass. He envisions a career in the health care field. |
 | Trevor Kuchar, an American with a degree in East Asian studies and experience as an entrepreneur in China. Like the Johns Hopkins Carey Business School, he believes in the global marketplace, and in the ties that link the workings of commerce and society. He says he looks forward not just to enhancing his knowledge at the Carey Business School but also to sharing insights from his Chinese experiences with his teachers and classmates in the Global MBA program. |
 | Stephanie Dudek, who has academic and professional experience in international relations, says the Innovation for Humanity Project is primarily what convinced her to come to the Carey Business School. The project’s application of the school’s philosophy to hands-on work in a developing country, she explains, illustrates a new and sorely needed approach to business education. Carey Business School students, she says, “get to see the whole package rather than just words in a book.” |
 | Deasy Priadi of Indonesia, who has a bachelor’s degree in psychology and works for the World Bank in Jakarta. She says, “Growing up in Indonesia, where many people live on less than $2 per day, has informed my future goals” – namely, work that improves the lives of the poor. She has a goal of turning some family-owned land in West Java into a model farm that would demonstrate the best agricultural methods and best treatment of farm workers in a nation that often lacks these elements. “Business can create jobs and reduce poverty in the long run,” she says, adding, “The Carey School shares my concern regarding issues of humanity.” |
 | Bob Koppes, a Netherlands native who is completing a master’s degree at the London School of Economics and Political Science. “As a true ‘Dutchy,’” he says, “I am not afraid to express, as well as defend, my opinion. I like to challenge myself and others." |
