Meet the new FMBA Vice-President for the Class of 2022: Alexander Pease
- SKKGSB
- Hit7007
- 2020-10-15
Alexander Pease, whose work experience before coming to SKK GSB includes the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympics, is now the newly elected vice-president for the Full-time MBA Class of 2022. He shares the exciting story of his life and talks about his plans as FMBA class vice-president.
Q)Where are you from, and where did you grow up?
I am from western New York. I grew up nearby Niagara Falls and Buffalo along Lake Ontario. My hometown is located close to the Canadian border, where you can see a great view of the Toronto skyline!
Q)Any interesting and fun facts you want to share with us?
My hometown is in a rural area, and I grew up on a small farm. Country life was all I knew until I moved to Seoul in 2016. Since then, I have lived in Korea for the majority of the last four years.
Q)What was your major in your undergraduate college? Did you always want to go to business school?
My undergraduate major was international business management, with a minor in international studies.
Going to business school was always in my mind. I had seen successful business people growing up, and I wanted to become like them one day. Pursuing an MBA felt like the next step to pursue that goal.
Q)Why did you choose to pursue an MBA degree in Korea?
I was an exchange student at Myongji University for about 14 months from 2016 to 2017. During my exchange program, I gained unforgettable experiences thanks to the people I met, the places I visited, and the things I did. After that, Korea felt like a second home, and Korean culture was, at times, more natural for me than American culture. After completing an internship at the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympics, I made up my mind to pursue Korean as my second language. In the years since then, I have felt that earning an MBA degree in Korea would be the best stepping stone for me to build a successful career here.
Q)What drew you to SKK GSB? What was the key part of the school’s MBA program that led you to choose this particular business school?
I had also considered pursuing a Master's degree in international studies. But after meeting successful alumni of SKK GSB, I became interested in the program. After doing some research, the rigorous curriculum schedule of separate modules and intensive weeks attracted me to the program. Ultimately, both seeing the results of an SKK GSB education from a respected colleague and reading about the curriculum led me to choose this business school.
Q)What excites you most about getting your MBA at SKK GSB?
I am most excited about participating in the Applied Business Projects (ABP) next year in the spring semester. I think it is an excellent opportunity to gain hands-on experience in real-world consulting projects and to find a direction for my job search.
Q)Please share your first month of SKK GSB experience.
My first month have been great! It’s a challenging and demanding program, but I can feel the rewards already. I will continue to work hard every day and meet the challenge of the program.
Q)Why did you want to join the Student Government?
I wanted to join the Student Government to become a bridge to connect international students and Korean students. I hope to be able to inspire each of us so that we can all come together to work not as individuals but as a 36-person team. I believe that creating the type of atmosphere where we care about our own goals as well as our collective goals is extremely important for an MBA since networking and cooperating are critical to our future success and ventures.
Q)What would you like to accomplish as FMBA vice president? Your goals and objectives?
As vice-president, my goals and objectives are to help our classmates reach their goals both in and outside the classroom. Fostering an atmosphere of comradery within our class and forging lifelong friendships and memories for all of us is my end goal.
Q)Can you share your plans for the year?
Given the challenges under the COVID-19 pandemic, I would like to hold small meetings as frequently as possible. As we all have designated teams for the semester from SKK GSB, we have been able to become close to team members. I think that having small meetings with people in different teams and having lunch or coffee together will also help us get to know everyone in the class.
I will also closely work with the president to try and plan any events where all classmates can attend either online or offline.
COVID-19 has certainly created a lot of limitations and barriers for our SKK GSB class. I believe that if we work together, we can overcome all of the problems and can find a way to succeed!
Q)Where can people get in touch with you?
People can find me in the SKK GSB study room in the basement or on LinkedIn. Feel free to reach out!
Irene So and Bomi Kim, SKK GSB PR Committee, Class of 2022