Early Career Alumni
For years, Chicago Booth has been admitting candidates in the early stages of their career. What they all have in common is demonstrated leadership potential, academic achievement, and a diversity of thought and experiences. Below are just a few of our most notable early career students.
- Karan Goel, ’06, founder and CEO of Prepme.com, started his business when he was still an undergraduate student. Just before he enrolled at the Chicago Booth in 2004, Karan won the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award. During his tenure at Chicago Booth he won the third annual Fortune Small Business business plan competition and the Edward L. Kaplan New Venture Challenge.
- Julie A. Roehm, ‘95, headed up marketing teams at Ford and Chrysler that grabbed the public’s attention with edgy campaigns. In the automotive industry, Roehm found herself promoted to team leader over peers with 20 years experience.
- Kateryna Yushchenko, ‘86, is a humanitarian who began her career after Chicago Booth working for human rights for the Secretary of State. Later she worked closely with President Reagan and ethnic groups in the US on foreign policy. She currently splits her time between promoting Ukraine internationally, as the first lady of Ukraine, and traveling throughout the country to develop the tradition of charitable giving through Ukraine 3000.
- Andy Alper, ’81, former head of the Economic Development Corporation (EDC) in New York, was asked by NY Mayor Michael Bloomberg to serve as head of the EDC. Prior to this, he spent the first 21 years of his career at Goldman Sachs, as managing director, partner, chief operating officer of the Investment banking division and finally co-head of the financial institutions group. Alper took the EDC job for a salary of only $1 per year. He was described by Mayor Bloomberg as having “restructured and professionalized EDC, staffing it with dedicated professionals of the highest caliber and improving the City’s relationship with the private sector. He brought a return-on-investment mentality to the agency’s activities, and adopted several policy changes that made EDC’s activities more transparent …”.
- Joe Mansueto,’80, the founder and CEO of Morningstar, Inc., started the nearly $200 million per year company out of his Chicago apartment. With operations worldwide, Joe was recognized by SmartMoney magazine as one of 30 power brokers. He received the Distinguished Entrepreneurial Alumnus Award from Chicago Booth in 2000. In 1993, he was given the KPMG Peat Marwick High Tech Entrepreneur of the Year Award, and in 1992 won the Rosenthal Award for Excellence in Investment Research from the University of Chicago. Expanding his entrepreneurial interests, Joe purchased Inc. and Fast Company magazines in Spring 2005. His other interests include part ownership of a popular pizza joint in Chicago called Piece and a publishing stake in Time Out Chicago.
