Alumni Profiles

Scott J. Cameron, MBA ’79 Scott Cameron is drawing on four decades of experience in public and private natural resource, energy, and environment management — and his proficiency in building bridges across diverse constituencies — to implement an ambitious change agenda at the U.S. Department of the Interior. As principal deputy assistant secretary for policy, […]

Amane Nakashima, MBA ’89 Amane Nakashima remembers feeling shocked when he arrived at Johnson and began taking classes in the summer of 1987, after spending five years working at the former Industrial Bank of Japan. “It was very eye-opening,” says Nakashima, who is president of Nakashimato Co., a food distribution company based in Tokyo, and […]

A catalyst for regional champions in East Africa When terrorists attacked the high-end Westgate Mall in Nairobi, Kenya, in September 2013, businessman Chris Getonga was just driving away. He had gone to the mall that Saturday morning to buy a present for his friend’s daughter on the way to her graduation party. As he did […]

Sandra Persing, MBA ’10 Sandra Persing fights as a champion for diversity, inclusion, and advancement in the Web developer community. Persing is the senior program manager for developer relations at Mozilla, the Internet nonprofit and Firefox browser creator. In her role, Persing connects developers, designers, and Web creators with Mozilla technology through engagement platforms that […]

Jaydeep “Jay” Anand, MBA ’05 Jay Anand attributes his remarkable record of success in business to a relentless focus on bottom-line results and a commitment to treating every customer as if each were a guest in his home. Anand has spent over two decades managing diverse businesses, including a $100 million consumer electronics division, a […]

Val Tsanev, MBA ’13: SponsorShipped by Dick Anderson Corporate sponsorship is big business, and it’s getting bigger. According to IEG Sponsorship Report projections, sponsorship spending will reach $23.2 billion this year in the United States alone and $62.8 billion worldwide. But what do sponsors get for their money? That’s the question driving SponsorShipped, a SaaS […]

Grace Han Wolf ’86, MBA ’91 Grace Han Wolf’s professional career has included five distinct phases. “I tend to reinvent myself about every decade,” Wolf says. “I tell young people you can’t be afraid of taking risks.” Wolf worked on Wall Street prior to earning her Johnson MBA, then spent much of the 1990s in […]

Thomas A. Russo, MBA ’69, JD ’69, author of The 2008 Financial Crisis and Its Aftermath: Addressing the Next Debt Challenge Thomas A. Russo, MBA ’69, JD ’69, is perhaps best known for the time he spent, in his words, “strapped into one of the lead cars during the great economic rollercoaster ride of 2008–15.” […]

Morgan Alexander Jones, MBA ’15, COO of US-China Strong In a subtle but powerful way, Morgan Jones was exposed to Chinese culture even before he went to school. He was enthralled by “Journey to the West,” a popular Chinese TV show that aired on American television. The series was subtitled, but ran completely in Mandarin, […]