Celebrating a Momentous Achievement

A graduate of the Full-Time MBA Program, Alex Brewer will move to Los Angeles after graduation to work as an associate brand manager for Johnson & Johnson on their skincare and beauty brands.

• I’d like to be remembered as someone who embodied Booth’s “pay it forward” culture. The success I’ve had here wouldn’t have been possible if it weren’t for the support from my network and peers, and I just hope that I’ve been able to make a similar difference in some of their lives. (Also, my affinity for color blocking, for example, my signature bright green coat.)

• My fellow classmates probably had the most formative impact on me. In every group I’ve been a part of, I learned so much from the diversity of thought and perspectives. Special shout out to my fellow OUTreach co-chairs who helped shape the vision for our community during an extremely tough year.

• I’ll miss having such a fun sandbox to play in—the opportunity to explore and experiment the different facets of my passions, and the ability to learn and grow alongside such a dynamic and thoughtful peer group.

John and William Swee graduated from the Evening and Full-Time MBA programs, respectively, as Wallman Scholars, Booth’s high honors distinction. John also received the part-time programs’ Award for Finance. The brothers are both partners at boutique investment firms and aspire to continue building their respective firms using the skills they honed at Booth.

• Taking courses together and joining the same study groups has put us in situations where we can’t just “agree to disagree”—we’ve had to keep engaging with each other in a constructive way and arrive at a mutually agreeable resolution. Because we’re both pretty headstrong and opinionated, achieving a consensus can be especially challenging. Fortunately at Booth, the best consensus is achieved through rigorous debate, so we felt right at home!

• After lectures ended at 9 p.m., we often would walk along the riverfront near Gleacher, discussing and digesting the class material. During the pandemic, we were often the only people on the Riverwalk. That quiet companionship, in a world of forced isolation, resonates on an emotional level that is hard to describe.

• We’ll miss the intellectual vitality and diversity of the UChicago community, the challenges that Booth presented us, and the opportunity to overcome them. And of course, we’ll miss those post-lecture walks along the river, trying to reconcile the co-existence of Dogecoin and the Efficient Market Hypothesis!

Anne Tong is graduating from the Full-Time MBA Program. After graduation, she plans to move to Seattle, where she’ll serve as an associate brand manager for Nestle’s Starbucks and Chameleon Cold Brew brands.

• I feel very lucky to have landed a brand management job in a fun category thanks to opportunities provided by Marketing Group, the Kilts Center, and Booth's unique approach to marketing. As a Marketing Group co-chair, I hope I’ve inspired incoming Boothies to pursue marketing roles and aspiring marketers to land their dream internships.
• Lisa Stefanac, who was my Interpersonal Dynamics professor, had a transformative impact on me. Her class taught me how to overcome my fears and insecurities when it comes to building deeper relationships, and it helped me realize certain blind spots I had. The self-awareness I built through her class was extremely empowering and I hope to use the tools she taught me for the rest of my life.
• I’m grateful for the incredibly talented, diverse, and amazing friendships that I've made here. I have never been in an environment with such a wide range of professional backgrounds, personal achievements, and countries of origin. I have learned just as much (if not more) from my peers as I have in the classroom.