Hola!
Óla!
Ni Hão (你好)!
Namaste!
Привет!
Salam aleikum (السلام عليكم)!

Hello, my name is Ben Izaguirre.

I will start the Fuqua School of Business’ Cross Continent MBA and be a part of the class of 2011.  I am originally from Atlanta, Georgia, but now I live in Charleston, SC.  I work for Varian Medical Systems as the Latin American Sales Manager.  My father is from Guatemala and came to the US when he was 18 with $US200 in his pocket.   Without my mother and my father’s hard work in raising my sister and me, I wouldn’t be who I am today.  So before I write anymore, I have to say thank you and I love you both very much.

I am very excited to start a dream experience at Duke’s Fuqua School of Business.  When I applied for undergraduate I had wanted to apply to Duke, but didn’t.  Honestly, I would probably be a totally different person had I gone to Duke.  I had amazing experiences in undergrad: learned from my mistakes, learned to manage my time,  met great friends, had wonderful leadership opportunities, traveled to 15 countries and had an internship that lead me to my dream job.

When deciding on a MBA program I looked at many things.  First I evaluated my personal goals, and then I looked at similar programs with international exposure, and finally determined which program was the best fit.  In the end, the Fuqua program came out on top.  And speaking of amazing experiences, this next year and a half will be a hard fought wonderful one for my classmates and me.  A world class MBA from an incredible school, and the Cross Continent MBA program to boot!  Anyone reading this who is not familiar with the program, in short, it is comprised of working professionals who will complete an MBA program while attending 6 residencies in China, England, UAE, India, Russia, and the USA to learn from a World Class Faculty, Top Global Business Leaders, and share our thoughts and own experiences in business to come out as World Class Global Business Leaders.

I have already had several conversations with future classmates in the program even meeting some of them in person.  I have to say, I am excited to meet the rest of my classmates considering the drive and knowledge of the six I have talked with.   Everyone’s experiences are sure to make a big difference in this program considering the diversity of this truly global program.  I will have classmates from across the USA, Latin America, Europe, Asia, and many others.  As these different cultures converge, it will be interesting to see how people’s perspectives changed or not based on our next year and a half together.

This being said, I look forward to meeting everyone in Shanghai in August!

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