1. Hometown: Irish but moved to the U.S. when young and primarily grew up in Richmond, VA
2. Current city: Washington, DC
3. Other degrees: Harvard Business School PLD, 2022
4. Current role: Director of Commercial Strategy at Fluence Energy
5. How did your career start?: I started interning at a solar start-up company, Sol Systems, while still an undergrad at Georgetown my senior year. Post graduation, I stayed at Sol systems full-time and helped lead multiple business units within Sol Systems for the next 11 years, learning a lot about project finance, project development, launching new business ventures, negotiations, and leadership. For me, starting in a growing industry (solar) and at a small but growing company was a great way to start my career as I got a lot of responsibility early in my career and could immediately apply what I learned in IBD to make a real impact.
6. What is your favorite IBD memory?: Learning project finance in Professor Moran's class - we went through hypothetical deals by roleplaying actors (I still remember the specific examples).
7. How did your experience in IBD prepare you for your career? Learning project finance in Professor Moran's class inspired me to focus on a career utilizing project finance to deploy renewable energy, and several other IBD courses taught me a more commercial and deeper level of thinking about opportunities, which was key to be able to succeed in my career. Just as critically as all of that though, working with Rosie as part of the IBD program gave me the right mindset and guidance for how to think about post college-life and be prepared as a young professional.
8. What was your most memorable IBD course? Professor Busch's class on WTO Dispute Settlement (GBUS 463) - such a fun and engaging way to learn not just about WTO disputes, but how to make arguments and all the layers and considerations to international disputes.