Graduate / Why our MBA program ? Why Now ? [4]

When I got on the plane to London in 2003, I was on my way to an interview with Shell, having recently completed my Master's degree in Sweden. Siemens' marketing director, Goran Vilademir, was sitting next to me. When I told him that I was in the process of choosing between a water treatment opportunity in California and a process engineering position with Shell UK, to my great surprise, he leaned over and whispered two words that forever changed the way I viewed my career: "THINK BIG!" I could either play it safe and stay close to my home and friends by taking a more predictable, stable path, or take a huge risk, leave my family and friends behind and THINK BIG. My decision to follow Vilademir's advice has set the tone for my career since that moment.

Now, nearly six years later, I find myself at the heart of an industry that requires me to think not just "big," but quite literally on a global scale. Water-related issues, including waste water treatment and water recycling, have gradually become one of the world's most critical problems. International water rights have become a diplomatic "hot button," and here in the US, there is an ongoing debate about how best to conserve, protect and utilize the nation's precious water supply. In the years to come, I hope to have a significant positive impact as one of the major corporate participants in this dialogue.

Over the past few years, while moving rapidly upward through the ranks of the world's leading water technologies firm, I have developed valuable MBA technical and sales skills. Since taking over the deeply-troubled central California territory in 2003, I have increased sales threefold, from less than $300,000 to nearly $1 million within three years. I have created an extensive network, received outstanding evaluations, and become the youngest Area Manager on the west coast. Our regional vice president, Thomas Sawyer, has introduced me to our executives as the "rising star" of ABC; as a reflection of the company's confidence in me, ABC has agreed to sponsor my permanent visa and reimburse my MBA education. In the coming months, contingent on my matriculation into business school, I will be promoted to the position of District Manager for Southern California, a move that will increase my responsibilities tremendously. This promotion is just the first step towards what I truly hope to achieve in my career; now, I look to the CRAIGS FEMBA program to help me prepare myself for everything that will follow.

My experiences have been precious, and have set me well on the way towards this short-term goal, but they have also left me with one humbling self-assessment: I do not yet possess the tools that I need to achieve my long-term aspirations. After completing my MBA studies, I hope to take on a strategic role in the Business Development and Marketing department at ABC, making the most of what I learn at CRAIGS to handle complex and sensitive team environments, evaluate key industry trends, identify new markets, and create effective global marketing strategies.

Over the following three to five years post-MBA, I hope to attain the position of Vice President of SALES & Marketing, leading our sales team to maintain and improve our strategic position in the global market. Currently, the challenge for water treatment companies is to decide whether to get more involved in the non-chemical aspects of the industry (reverse osmosis system, filters, etc..) or to remain strictly a chemical company; ABC is taking more care than ever before to consider its impact on the world carefully, and with this in mind, I look forward to developing a flexible, regionally-based approach to such decisions. In the longer term, I hope to attain a position as Vice President of ABC in the Euro-Asia region, based in our headquarters in the Germany, thus bringing my life-and my career-full circle back to Europe. Ultimately, within seven to ten years after graduation, I would like to honor my strong entrepreneurial streak, setting up a consultancy to address water treatment issues on a global scale.

The CRAIGS FEMBA experience will be central to my success, first as an executive, and later, as an entrepreneur. I am impressed that it offers essentially the same curriculum as Anderson's full-time MBA program, and intrigued by the opportunity to select electives from CRAIGS's other schools; policy and law-related classes from the Environmental Health Sciences Department, for example, could be extremely relevant to my comprehensive understanding of the issues surrounding the way water is treated around the world. I am especially interested in the offerings of the Price Center for entrepreneurship, which will offer me opportunities to develop my entrepreneurial and leadership skills in a variety of academic and extracurricular contexts. Another unique and appealing element of the FEMBA program-one which is actually not available to full-time students-is the Global Access Program (GAP), which in itself clearly makes CRAIGS's FEMBA my first choice. Water-related issues are not local but global challenges, and this experience will become the backbone of my future plans. I also look forward to benefiting from and contributing to the Center for International Business Education and Research (CIBER), which works closely with GAP.

Outside the classroom, I hope to join the International Business, Strategic Operations Management and Marketing Associations-I am sure my experiences on three continents will make me a strong contributor to these organizations. I also hope to find opportunities to maintain my dedication to community service involvement during my time in the FEMBA program. I will extend my community involvement (which includes volunteer work with Habitat for Humanity and Junior Achievement, among other organizations) at the Anderson School, where I hope to start a FEMBA Humanity Association, providing a dynamic forum for like-minded students who share a passion for helping others. Now, as I prepare to enter the next stage of my career, I am more confident than ever that I made the right decision when I took Vilademir's advice so many years ago. "Thinking big" has become much more than something I do-it has become part of who I am, and I look forward to further developing my ability to turn these thoughts and dreams into real achievements, working alongside my classmates and future colleagues at Craigs.

Graduate / How have people, events, and/or situations in your life influenced .... [7]

Among friends, I sometimes jokingly refer to myself as "your friendly neighborhood Spiderman"-in part because I'm involved in so many activities that I could really use some web-shooting skills to get around! I'm no superhero, of course (though I will gladly apply if there is a job opening in that field!), but I'm proud of the person I've become and the contributions I've made, and thankful for the influences that have shaped my character.

I was born in Kars, in the North-Eastern region of Turkey (the part closest to Russia), in 1976. During my childhood and teen years, my father was the best role model I could have hoped for. A well-respected local judge and member of parliament who had brought himself and his family out of poverty through pure hard work, he taught me how to swim, fish, and play chess, spent endless hours helping me work through difficult math problems, and shared his strong sense of ethics and empathy with me. Best of all, he never treated me as "just" a kid-I got to sit in on many of his important meetings, and stood alongside him during his political campaigns. He gave me so much; he also expected a lot from me. I remember trying for years to win just one game of chess against him. When I finally did, I asked my mom if he had lost that last game on purpose and she told me that there was no way he would have let me win. He wanted me to understand the exhilaration and satisfaction of having won in a fair match-and I did.

Meanwhile, I got my emotional, artistic and caring qualities from my Mom, who has always been the "adoptive mother" of all my friends in Turkey, perhaps because of her uncanny ability to make just about any challenging situation come out all right. My mother was only 18 when she got married, and just 36 when my dad passed away suddenly in 1994. She raised three kids on a tight budget while working as a fashion designer-even now, I joke with her that she should become Turkey's economics minister. My mother has spent the bulk of her life helping those in need-old people, children, the poor and homeless, and even animals-and I have looked to her as a role model for that very important aspect of my life.

I was in my first year at Bogazici University when my father passed away, and I was shaken deeply by the loss. To deal with the grief-and to act as I knew my father would have wanted me to-I poured all my energy into my studies and extracurricular activities, as well as working hard to care for my mother and siblings both financially and emotionally. This was also the period of my life when I started to make the most of my genuine interest in helping

others succeed. I began volunteering for Junior Achievement (JA) as a private tutor, promoting career success skills and advocating educational advancement to students in the economically-depressed suburbs of Istanbul. These students were often disillusioned and convinced that they were powerless to shape their futures. I wanted to be a role model for these students and help them become agents of change in their own lives, and so I shared my own story with them, showing how I overcame personal and academic obstacles through hard work and determination. For one student, Ali Kemal Pamuk, my mentoring transformed his approach to the university entrance exam. Instead of perceiving it purely as a necessary evil, he soon began to view it as a challenge and an opportunity for positive change in his life, an opportunity that led him to have his own law firm. (He went to law school and partnered with his friends and started up a law firm!) Another student, Ayca Unlu, confided that she initially did not feel smart enough to consider medicine as a potential career, but our daily conversations inspired her to remove her self-imposed limitations and aim higher. Now she is a successful doctor at Florence Nightingale hospital in Istanbul!

My college years were also when I learned to make the most of my very limited time-while most of my classmates in the Chemical Engineering Department did nothing but study, I was determined to "have a life." I played for the college soccer team for four years (and was MVP two years in a row!), organized spring break vacations for my group of friends, and even worked as a part-time vacuum-cleaner salesman (this helped me to finance my studies). During the school year, I worked as a private tutor for high-school kids who were dreaming of getting into Bogazici, and during summer vacations, I worked as a rafting guide in Southern Turkey, with tourists from all over the world.

This was the first time I realized the importance of understanding and working with different cultures. On a small scale, this experience became the foundation of my "global" perspective. I learned how disciplined the Swedish people are, and how very different they are in temperament compared to people from the Mediterranean region. All the German people I worked with helped me to understand why German cars are so detailed and perfectly crafted! In return for the cultural insights I gained, I taught these visitors about Turkish hospitality and customs. Somehow, in spite of our differences, we invariably managed to work in harmony. This experience alone sparked my interest in working in a global environment, where I could learn to understand the differences among cultures and find ways to combine all these different ideas and paradigms into my own approach to life.

In spite of all this "multitasking," I still managed to complete my degree within four years and line up great internships, even though this often meant sleeping only two or three hours per day. I often came to the classroom in my pajamas to take a test, and then fell asleep outside on the grass with my classmates afterwards! This period of my life was challenging, but it was exciting as well, and it helped me to prepare myself for everything that would come after, from my mandatory military service to my studies in Sweden and career in the US.

After donating my car to Habitat for Humanity Fresno last year, I got interested in what they have been doing for the community-building on the lessons my father taught me about the importance of helping the community in which I live, I started to volunteer at the construction site at Cross Road Fresno. I am also coaching the Bullard Talent High School soccer team-this gives me the opportunity to share my passion for soccer with kids and teach them how the world's most popular sport can help them bond with people from literally hundreds of different nations; this, in turn, increases the kids' curiosity about the world they live in, both on and off the soccer field. I am also an active member of the Jack Russell rescue network, dedicated to placing unwanted, displaced or abandoned Jack Russell Terriers into permanent homes. Hoping to help others learn from my own tribulations with the GMAT, I am also one of the moderators at the beatthegmat online GMAT and MBA community. The executive director of Test Prep New York (Bara Saphir) and the founder of the website nominated me as the "ambassador" of GMAT-test-takers on this forum; I even have my own "tip of the day thread" in which I offer suggestions and support to test takers from all over the world.

As Peter Parker's aunt May said in the Spiderman movie, "I believe there's a hero in all of us, that keeps us honest, gives us strength, and makes us noble." I am trying my best to make the most of my "inner hero." After all, I am committed to being a citizen of the world, setting a strong example for others and making a positive contribution to the community-yes, your friendly neighborhood Spiderman!

Graduate / Achievements Essay [4]

Fulfilling my Academic Potential

My acceptance into Turkey's top-ranked Bogazici University stands as one of my greatest accomplishments, as it shaped my understanding of hard work and showed me how much I can achieve when I test my own limits. Bogazici accepts only the top 0.2% of all students who take the nationwide university entrance exam, and was the first American College outside of the United States.

Even though I was at the top of my high-school class, I was aware that my competition was from students attending the most prestigious high schools in Istanbul. Many students prepared for the exam with expensive study materials and private tutoring which I could not afford. I commuted four hours from Tekirdag to Istanbul by bus to prep classes in Istanbul every weekend for three years in order to prepare for the test. I slept on the buses, studied at the stations, and lived on a tight budget because I knew I needed to make up for the advantages my competition would have.

I applied only to Bogazici, and I was accepted to its Chemical Engineering department in 1994. I cherish this experience, which taught me that with determination and commitment, I can overcome the greatest of challenges.

Single-handedly Recruiting a Turkish Student Body for Chalmers University

The next significant achievement I would like to discuss came during my graduate studies at Chalmers University in Sweden, when I went over and above my role as the Vice President of the university's international student network, not just acting as an "ambassador" for Turkish culture but actually recruiting many Turkish applicants to the school, in effect creating a Turkish student body at Chalmers where none had existed previously. When I joined their Production Management Master's program, I was their first-ever student from Bogazici University.

My role within the international student network was both challenging and rewarding, as I frequently assumed the role of diplomat and intermediary for 100+ international students. Reaching out to the larger Swedish student population, I organized inclusive events and marketed our group as an accessible, welcoming global network.

It felt good to share my own culture and heritage with my Swedish and international classmates, but I wanted to do something more for my own countrymen and women. I began contacting major universities in Turkey, offering to explain the opportunities available for graduate studies in Sweden. I worked with Chalmers International Reception Committee (CIRC) and created an online forum to answer questions from Turkish students and help them through the application process. Back in Turkey for vacations and school breaks, I gave numerous presentations about the education system and my own experiences in Sweden. By the time I graduated from Chalmers, the Turkish student population had increased from one person (me!) to more than 50 and it has continued to increase since that time, building on the foundation laid by my efforts-now, the Turkish student population at Chalmers is approaching 100. My professors at Bogazici still have their current students contact me for mentorship and assistance with their applications to Chalmers. This experience greatly improved my abilities as a motivator and a leader, and really helped me understand how best to reach out to others and turn my ideas into concrete results.

Building Synergies at Ashland

There are four divisions within Ashland, each of which operates independently, in spite of the fact that we all have the same "mother" company. As a result, people who work for the same company do not know each other, even within the same territories. Recently, I took the initiative to propose a collaborative effort between my division (Ashland Water Technologies) and another division, in the hope that we could help each other-and more importantly, our parent company-by utilizing a unified, synergistic approach.

Ashland is the world's third biggest water treatment company, and most of our clients-a list that includes Coca Cola and Ford-have corporate agreements with us. Our division's primary focus is "specialty chemicals," non-commodity products like polymers, coagulants, and sanitizers. Ashland's Distribution and Environmental Services division, on the other hand, deals with commodity chemicals, such as caustics, acid and salt.

Over the past 18 months I have been working on a project in Fresno, CA involving Foster Farms Company, which has two chicken processing plants in this city. Due to California's strict environmental regulations, Foster Farms was looking for more efficient and cost-effective ways to handle waste water treatment.

Looking beyond Fresno, I learned that Foster Farms has various plants all over the west coast, all of which were working with local water treatment companies or with our competitors, such as GE Betz and Nalco. Perceiving a major opportunity if I could offer a "one-stop shopping" solution to the company, I asked our vice president to introduce me to at Ashland Distribution and Environmental Services(ES); we started to work together.

I prepared a presentation illustrating the various ways that we could provide a synergistic, cost-effective package solution to our customers and also increase each other's network & territory sales volumes. Ashland Water Technology division has invaluable expertise, but our ability to get our foot in the door at such places as power plants, food-processing plants and refineries is often limited by their stringent confidentiality regulations. This is where Ashland Distribution and Environmental Services comes in-since they already have established customer relationships in various plants, they could easily bring us to the table. With this in mind, I planned to position us as one big water treatment company.

Both my boss, Galen, and our VP, Bob, liked my idea and introduced me to Eddie Addison at Ashland Distribution and Environmental Services (ES); we started to work together. I soon discovered that ES was providing commodity chemicals to Foster Farms in Washington state and in the Seattle area, and that they had an excellent relationship with Foster Farm's headquarters in Livingston, California.

Drawing on ES' in-depth knowledge of the specific problems faced by these plants, I crafted a presentation according to their needs and using their own preferred terminology. I gave my presentation at ES' annual account review meeting with Foster Farms; they were intrigued, and asked to hear more about what AWT had to offer them throughout the state of California. Next, I guided four other account managers in California to prepare a corporate proposal for a unified, customized solution for Foster Farms, combining product lines and technical services from AWT and ES.

This new approach met with some resistance from the plant managers, who were not eager to embrace such a radical change in processes. To counteract this negative response, I offered Foster Farms a free three-month trial of one of our products-this cost us $450,000, but gained us remarkable good will from Foster Farms' upper management. During this trial period, I spent nights and weekends at the Washington and Fresno plants to make sure that everything was running smoothly. My efforts impressed the managers and operators at Foster Farms and helped me build strong relationships with them both personally and professionally.

Within six months, My sales increased by more than $1.1 million USD, and as of September 2008, Foster Farms and Ashland signed a three-year contract. Thanks to my success with this project, and the strong relationships I built within our corporation with everyone from technical consultants and marketing folks to the regional vice president, I am now in line to become Southern California's next district manager. My actions have since inspired many other joint projects within Ashland worldwide, for companies such as Tronox, Georgia Gulf, and Akzo Nobel.

This experience gave me the opportunity to lead and others across business functions; it also helped me fine-tune my ability to take and quantify risk. Perhaps most importantly, it confirmed my already-strong belief that my ability and willingness to communicate and cooperate-along with my clear vision-are my most important business strengths.