Meet the trailblazing minds of the future as John Byrne, Maria Wich-Vila, and Caroline Diarte Edwards delve into an exciting roster of the Best & Brightest MBAs of 2025. As MBA programs across the globe wrap up another academic year, this trio sheds light on standout graduates who are poised to make waves in the business world. Not only do these individuals excel academically, but they bring compelling personal stories, leadership qualities, and a passion for transformative impact.

Drawing from a comprehensive selection process, this year’s Best & Brightest list features 100 exceptional graduates from 78 business schools, with a majority having international roots—a reflection of the global nature of business education. These future leaders are heading to prestigious firms like McKinsey, Bain, and Amazon, showcasing the diverse career paths and ambitions these graduates hold. John highlights the inspiring motivations and dreams captured in their profiles, emphasizing the youthful idealism and energy they’ll inject into the workforce.

Caroline spotlights Mark O’Neill, an exemplary military veteran turned MBA graduate, whose leadership transformed the Marines’ training curriculum and whose influence continues at business school. Mark’s story exemplifies how an MBA can be a platform for remarkable people to further their impact, combining analytical prowess with genuine humility. For MBA applicants, stories like Mark’s illuminate the power of an MBA to not only expand career opportunities but also to broaden horizons and foster significant personal growth.

Episode Transcript

Note: This transcript was generated by AI and may contain minor inaccuracies.

[00:00:06] – John

Well, hello, everyone. This is John Byrne with Poets & Quants. Welcome to business Casual, our weekly podcast with my co-host, Caroline D. R. D. Edwards and Maria Wigvilla. Maria, of course, is the founder of Application Lab and a Harvard MBA. Caroline got her MBA at NCI and she’s the former Managing Director of Admissions at NCI and is a co-founder of Fortuna Admissions. Okay, you know what May is, right? May is a time when MBAs more or less graduate. Sure, there’s some graduations that are in June, but this is time when people walk across the stage and grab their diploma and with mixed feelings, more often than not, leave the campus that was home for two years, perhaps one. Every May, what we do is take a chance to identify who we would consider to be the best and brightest MBA grads of the year. This year is no exception. How this works is we basically go to a number of business schools. This year, we went to 82 of the world’s top MBA programs to ask their participation. We asked them to nominate students based on both their academic ability, their extracurricular achievements, their innate intangibles and potential and unusual personal stories.

[00:01:31] – John

We received 220 nominations from 78 business schools this year. Then we narrow that down to 100 people. We do that based on the quality of the nominations, and we literally assess these different characteristics that I had just mentioned. We also ask for recommendations from faculty or the directors of the programs to single the people that they nominate and why, in fact, they’re nominating them. This year, out of the 100 people, we have the majority from outside the US. 54 of the 100 are originally come from outside the United States. That’s pretty unusual. And 79 of them attended American business schools arrest from schools all over the world. Now, I know that Caroline and Maria have been looking at some of these profiles because they are pretty fascinating. What I like about this is it puts a face on who is getting an MBA. And yeah, these are probably the best because they’re nominated by their schools, and then they’re vetted by us as well. And if you even see where they’re going, McKinsey, Bain, Amazon, Nike, AT Carny are getting a good number of these folks, but they’re headed in all different kinds of directions.

[00:03:02] – John

You hear about their motivations, what their experience was in the MBA program, what they liked the most, and what their dreams are for their careers and their lives, which make it really interesting reading. I also always tell Jeff Schmidt, who handles this project for us, that what this does for me is always give me hope in the new generation. No matter how uncertain, no matter how chaotic the world is, I read these profiles and it makes me smile because it tells me that there are so many young people with big dreams wanting to change the world for the better. And whether they get the chance to do that, who knows? But I love the idealism. I love the passion. I love the enthusiasm that they’re going to bring to the world of work. Caroline, did you find a few that really appealed to you?

[00:03:54] – Caroline

Yes, I did. And so I’ll start with Mark O’Neill. Mark jumped out to me because I spoke with him a few months back and we did a video together. So he’s a military vet, and we did a video about how to apply to business school as a military vet and his advice for other candidates. And it’s actually one of our most popular videos this year. He’s a wonderful guy, so I was thrilled to see him in your list. So a bit of background about Mark. So he’s a Marine Corps officer. He rewrote the Marines’ combat training curriculum. So it was a program hadn’t changed in 50 years. And so he completely revamped it very successfully, apparently. And of course, it’s a program that is not for the faint of heart. So it involves things like 130 km hikes and 2 AM gunfire simulations. So it’s really a testament to his toughness and transformational leadership that he did such a wonderful job with that. And he has continued to Excel while at business school. So he’s been a student leader. He was executive VP of the MBA Student Council, executive producer of Ross’s podcast. He’s a wonderful storyteller, actually.

[00:05:11] – Caroline

And so great that he’s been using his skills there. And he was He’s a lead planner for VetX 2024, which is a fed-style event to give veterans a platform to share their personal stories. And so he’s really a community builder and someone who has had tremendous impact on his school community. And professors describe him as the prototype MBA because he’s analytical, collaborative, and curious. So he did an internship at Deloitte working on AI strategy tools, and he had a great time there, and he’s heading back there post-MBA. What I think makes him exceptional, it’s not just what he’s done, it’s how he’s done things. And various people talk about that. He’s someone who’s very humble, very purposeful, and he’s always got an eye towards how he can pay it forward. I’m thrilled to read about that.

[00:06:06] – John

I mean, he accomplished so much in so little time. I mean, it’s bewildering almost in terms of all the things that he contributed to and was involved in. Then also what’s interesting to me is his internship, and that led to a job offer by Deloitte. He’s working in an area that is extremely hot in artificial intelligence and how you deploy AI for strategic purposes. I mean, wow, that’s perfect, really.

[00:06:34] – Caroline

It’s a great story.

[00:06:36] – John

Amazing. Now, Maria, do you have anyone who resonates with you?

[00:06:41] – Maria

Yeah, I had a few, and this was a tough assignment I’m it, John. I know. I’m not going to lie. Okay, but one of the first people that jumped out at me was Robert Rickard at Owen, Vanderbilt Owen. He jumped out at me for a couple of reasons. Number one, his pre-MBA experience really resonated originated with me. So similar to me, he used to work in a strategic role. And also similar to me, in the course of that role, he was sent to India to work on a project. So he was working for Emerson, so a different industry for me. But he had that experience of being sent to another country to try to work with a diverse international team to solve a problem. And so I thought that that element, I thought, well, that’s really neat that there are people out there who are pursuing these international experiences and learning, contributing, and also growing from them. But the thing that really jumped out at me in terms of why I selected him as one of my top ones is that he was able to get a job at McKinsey, which may Making a career switch into consulting can be a challenge.

[00:07:48] – Maria

And not only did he get the job, but then once he did get the job, he then really went out of his way to make sure that the next batch of students behind him would benefit from all that he had learned in the course of that recruiting experience. So he created a slide deck with 200 slides on how to prepare for case interviews. I believe he led seven workshops to prepare for that consulting recruiting journey. And I think it’s been very, very successful. And so that element of giving back, especially because I think one of the things that I think a lot of us have been seeing is that maybe 15, 20 years ago, the top management consulting firms would recruit perhaps a slightly more limited list of schools. And something I’ve been very happy to see in the past few years is that there has been definitely an expansion. I think perhaps, I don’t know if COVID was part of it. Once they moved to online virtual interviews, maybe they realized that they could cast a wider net in terms of the schools that they recruit from. So I think it’s really great that he’s helping establish this educational resource for his fellow classmates, for the next generation of classmates.

[00:08:57] – Maria

And something that I thought was lovely Caroline just mentioned that for the person that she was talking about, that it’s not just what he does, but how he does it. And something that I thought was lovely was that this person’s recommender said, His impact isn’t measured in decibels, but in-depth, and that he has a quiet influence. I really liked, Isn’t measured in decibels, but in-depth, because I think that there are so many different ways to lead, and you don’t necessarily have to be the loudest person in the room to really drive positive change. I just thought that that turn of phrase was really lovely. And so that’s why he was one of the people that stood out to me.

[00:09:33] – John

Yeah. Same for me, too. There’s a person who also had an incredible achievement before going to business school, and then really accomplished herself in the MBA program This person is from Tehran, Iran. So you might not expect Iran to be sending many MBAs to American schools, but she’s a real standout. Her name is El Ham Shamshti, and she went to Johns Hopkins Carry Business School. She actually had a degree in pharmacy. She was a doctor of pharmacy at one of Iran’s top medical schools. She founded and was CEO of her own digital health startup in Iran. In fact, the first digital health startup ever in that country. And what it did was focus on creating AI models for managing COVID-19 and would predict the risk given the health records of people catching COVID. Sure enough, after her Hopkins MBA, she’s going to join AstraZeneca as a Commercial Leadership Associate. But at the school, she was co-president of the Consulting Club. She created a unified policy document for the six Johns Hopkins hospitals in the Baltimore, Washington region. As a student, clearly, she chose Johns Hopkins because of its focus on healthcare technology. She was leveraging that university’s great reputation in the area of medical care.

[00:11:12] – John

She just hits the bullseye on what that school is about and its mission to serve the business of health. An incredibly impressive young woman who obviously will go on to do great things. Caroline, you have another one you want to cite?

[00:11:29] – Caroline

I I do. Of course, I scrolled through the list to see who you had there from INSEED.

[00:11:34] – John

I knew you would do that.

[00:11:37] – Caroline

I’m so predictable. You have a wonderful candidate from INSEED, so I’m going to talk about her. Simran Raman. She’s a young woman from Texas with family heritage from Bangladesh. She really embodies the cross-border spirit of INSEAD. She’s worked in Silicon Valley, South She’s studying in Europe and Singapore, and, of course, originally grew up in the US, so a very much a global profile. She’s also a trailblazer at the intersection of artificial intelligence, ethics, and global business. She started an AI consultancy called Eruption right as the generative AI wave was starting. She’s built a reputation for herself in that space. And her longer term goal is to launch an AI venture studio, but focused on scaling solutions for underserved regions in South and Southeast Asia. So very interesting professional track that she’s on. And so while at INSEAD, she has been a student leader, she was Academic Rep for her section, and she really earned the respect of her classmates and professors who commented on her inclusive leadership and her intellectual debt. She also authored a case study for the organizational behavior team on Emerging Markets, which is quite unusual, especially in a one year It’s a very intense experience during the INSEAD MBA, and so I have great admiration that she somehow found the time to do that.

[00:13:24] – Caroline

She’s someone who is really regarded as a very thoughtful and inclusive leader. Classmates and professors commented on her ability to challenge thinking, to synthesize complex ideas, and to build bridges across perspectives. She’s also a recipient of a women’s scholarship at INCIED. So definitely someone to watch, I think. I’m looking forward to following her career in the future.

[00:13:52] – John

Totally. Maria, you have another one?

[00:13:55] – Maria

Yes, indeed. My second person that really stood out to me was Rocio Julicia García Quinteros from the University of Rochester.

[00:14:02] – John

I love that pronunciation. I love it.

[00:14:07] – Maria

De nada, señor. She is from the University of Rochester, Simon Business School. Just an incredible story. She is from El Salvador. Prior to going to business school, she worked for a bank in El Salvador. During the pandemic, she was working with businesses to try to keep them afloat during this incredibly stressful time. And as part of that, she was not only helping them with currency hedging, but she also had to develop strong relationships with them to guide them through this difficult time. And in the course of it, she expanded her division’s revenues by 20 %. So she not only exhibited technical excellence in terms of really understanding currency hedging and serving her clients that way, but just building these strong relationships with them to show that she also has the EQ to match the IQ. And as At Simon, she was the VP of the Finance and Investment Club and also the Pricing Club, but she was also the VP of Events for the Latin American Students Association. And in her role, she doubled the membership of that club, and this is the part that I thought was so noteworthy, and I’m actually a little jealous.

[00:15:20] – Maria

She expanded it such that a third of the membership of the Latin American Students Club is actually non-Latino. They identify as non-Latino. I’m like, I wish I could have done that when I was involved with the Latino Student’s Organization, when I was in business school. So I just love the fact that she was able to not just grow the club, but to expand it, to really welcome people from different backgrounds to learn more about our culture and our heritage. And so I was like, I love it. And then also career-wise, she was able to use the MBA to make a pivot from working at this bank to now she’s going to go work at ServiceNow, which is one of these emerging darlings in the AI space. She was able to go from a somewhat traditional banking environment to now working in the tech industry. Really someone who made the most of that MBA experience making making a huge and impressive career pivot and having made a huge and impressive impact at Simon and also beforehand.

[00:16:23] – John

Yeah, that’s a great story. Maria, you recently visited UCLA as part of the AGAC conference. Agac, of course, is the Trade Association of MBA Admission Consultants. I think you have a UCLA grad that got your notice.

[00:16:42] – Maria

Yeah. It’s funny because We had chosen these people before I went to visit Anderson yesterday. I promise it’s a coincidence. But the third person that had stood out to me prior to visiting Anderson was Sebastian Esselins. He’s from Belgium. He had previously worked for Live Nation. The reason he stood out as me is because he was the President of the Anderson Tech Club, and he was also a peer counselor, career counselor. He was able to combine both of those interests together to help his classmates get amazing jobs this year, jobs and internships. I thought that that was really interesting. But what was funny is that, first of all, yesterday, as I was visiting Anderson, they have an entire hallway where on either side of the hallway, they’ve got pictures of all of the different clubs, and the officers of the clubs get their head shots on these pictures. I was walking down the hallway yesterday, and coincidentally, I turned around and I see Sebastian’s face on some of these because he was really involved. I’m like, Oh, my gosh, that’s the guy I’m going to talk about on tomorrow’s podcast. I thought that was a funny little moment.

[00:17:51] – Maria

And then also I thought one thing that was interesting about him is that he only applied to Anderson because he had identified it as the place that offered a combination of the location and the curriculum and the culture that he was looking for. And coincidentally, yesterday during my visit, there was a student panel of some other students who were graduating, and there was someone on that panel who also had only applied to Anderson. And in fact, he had applied three times, and third time was the charm, and he finally got accepted. But I think that’s also a testament to Anderson. So many of these schools, not only Anderson, but Anderson in particular, has such a great culture. And so when you are an applicant applying to business schools, really look at that culture and try to find that fit. And when you find that fit, you’re going to know that this is the program for you. I thought that was a great little part of the story.

[00:18:41] – John

I love that story. I want to also step back and say, some of the questions that we ask of these nominees really are things that are fun to read and tell you a lot about the schools. For example, we’ll ask, why did you choose the business school? We’ll ask, who’s your favorite MBA professor and why? Or looking back over your MBA experience, what’s the one thing you do differently and why? Which would be a good thing for applicants who are going into a school to learn. What’s the biggest myth about your school? What movie or television show best reflects the realities of business and what did you learn from it? Which I think is a fun question. What is one way that your business goal has integrated AI into the curriculum? And what insights did you gain from using AI? Which MBA classmate that you most admire? What are the two top items on your professional bucket list? Here’s one that I find interesting as well. What did you love most about your business school’s town? I was curious to see what a Darden grad on the list would say about Charlottesville because that’s where I live.

[00:19:53] – John

I want to read this because I so agree with this. Charlottesville perfectly blends natural beauty with a vibrant community. There’s so much to enjoy. Great food, local vineyards and breweries, stunning hiking trails and walking paths. It’s a place that feels both accessible and special, with the convenience of being close to a major city, but still remote enough to maintain a unique small town charm. I’m definitely biased since I even got married here, but it’s truly a wonderful place to live during school. That’s a comment from someone who came from Google, went to UVA Darden, and is now going to a PE firm. Her name is Amanda Golden. I think the great thing about this is all the information you get and all the different opinions and perspectives from the students. What I also love about the project is that you’re not only getting the Whartons, the MITs, or the Harvard or Stanford, you’re getting a really nice blend of schools in the US and in Europe in particular, schools that may not immediately be in the top 10 or 15. It’s a really wide view of MBAs and what they achieved in the program and Their overall impressions, which to me underline the value of the degree and the value of the experience, despite the number of naysayers out there and the questions about the cost of the MBA and whether it’s worth it, which is a perennial question we get and you get all the time.

[00:21:34] – John

You read these profiles and you say, You know what? I would love to sit in a classroom with people like this. I mean, Caroline, if you’re just stepping away from the individual profiles, what’s your overall take on this feature and what it says about MBA education today?

[00:21:51] – Caroline

Well, I love the tremendous diversity of profiles that you have in there. As you said, not just the diversity of schools, which is great to see because I personally work mostly with candidates applying to in Seattle on a business school or the M7 schools. And so it’s wonderful to see the diversity of schools that you highlight. But just the tremendous range of backgrounds that these people are from and the wealth of experience that they’ve gained pre-MBA, the amount of impact that they’re having during the program. It’s very impressive how much some of these people are juggling because, of course, an MBA program is very demanding. They’re probably working on a job as well, and many of them have leadership roles, not just in one club or association, but many of them across multiple different activities. It’s wonderful to see how engaged they are. Also, it’s exciting to read about their visions for what they want to do post-MBA. With the tremendous wealth of backgrounds that they have, there’s also a tremendous range of different goals that they have. You can imagine the impact that they’re going to have across a wide range of industries. As you said, I think these stories are really inspiring.

[00:23:04] – John

Yes, totally. Maria, you have a view of what these profiles and these people say about the degree itself today?

[00:23:13] – Maria

I think one of the things that stood out to me, and I think you guys have touched upon this, is just how much time they spent to giving back to their campus communities. I think especially, we’ve been hearing all of these headlines the difficulties with recruiting in the past year. It’s easy to imagine a world, especially given the negative stereotypes, the unfair negative stereotypes that sometimes surround MBA students. It would be very easy to imagine students taking a, I’m just looking out for myself, attitude. Why would I help train these other management consultants? Why would I help train the third person that I chose that we can get to in a minute, also did a tremendous amount with helping recruiting at his school the next the younger generation. So that is really heartwarming for me to see how even in more challenging times, so many of these students are helping others. And a rising tide lifts all boats, and they are really making sure that they are not the only ones benefiting from their MBA experience, but they’re making the MBA experience better for their classmates as well.

[00:24:24] – John

So true. So check it out. It’s called the 100 Best and Brightest MBAs Class of 2025. 24,000 people have already checked out this story, and I’m sure many more will. It’s one of our most popular features of the year. It’s a massive project, as you can imagine, to contact that many schools, get these colonies in, and then evaluate every single one of them to determine who the 100 should be. Incidentally, we don’t ignore the other colonies. We will come out with another feature in probably another month, and that’s our MBAs to watch. Believe me, the people on that story are just as impressive, if not even more so in some cases, than the 100 best and brightest. This is John Byrne with Poets of Quants. Thanks for listening.