Thunderbird School of Global Management 15249 N 59th Avenue Glendale, AZ 85306-6000 USA T: +1 (602) 978-7100 E: admissions@thunderbird.edu W: www.thunderbird.edu/hobsons Beth Howell Full-time program Country of origin United States "Having grown up with Mexican and Venezuelan exchange students in my home since age 10, I was exposed early to places far and wide through living with these students and later visiting them in their home countries," says Beth Howell. "In my mind, international affairs was a natural selection for academic studies, and I haven't looked back since," she explains, referring to her undergraduate degree from George Washington University and a travel list that includes visits to 21 countries. Since her formative childhood years, Howell has taken full advantage of a growing global passion. Most recently employed as an analyst with Constella Futures International, she served as a project manager and provided support for marketing programs in The Gambia, Uganda, and Afghanistan. In the same position, she developed behavior change communication programs in Ecuador and the Philippines. "I was exposed to a variety of cultural and business settings and got to work with inspiring individuals from each country," explains Howell. "In the morning I'd be on the phone with someone in the Philippines or Afghanistan--followed by a call with The Gambia and Uganda, and then Ecuador." The energetic Howell also spent four years working for a boutique consulting firm that included staff working in both Brazil and Washington, DC. "I began working there in college and was completely inspired by the CEO's commitment to increasing investments in infrastructure throughout Latin America," she says. "We worked closely with governments, private investors, multilateral financial institutions, and engineering firms all interested in infrastructure projects at different levels," explains Howell, who researched project opportunities, conducted interviews with stakeholders, and synthesized data to help clients make decisions. The experience, she says, exposed her to the complexities of global business and public-private partnerships. Even though she's only 26, Howell's global accomplishments don't end there. She also lived in Madrid and Sevilla, Spain, for a year during college and worked with the Small Enterprise Assistance Fund, where she completed a market analysis of the U.S. pasta market and the wood flooring market for two separate Bolivian enterprises. The ancillary benefits of Howell's work experiences are two-fold. Not only has she gained proficiency in the Spanish language and has become conversant in Portuguese, but she also has learned more about her intended career path. "A consistent theme throughout all of my experiences prior to Thunderbird was my sincere interest in the training and development of the people that I worked with," explains Howell. "It was extremely clear to me how critical it is to have the best people working with you, as to utilize their skills. Therefore, human resource management, which I'm studying at Thunderbird, is a natural trajectory for my career." When she graduates in 2008, Howell says she hopes to land a position with a Fortune 500 company in the San Francisco Bay area. "Some human resources firms are very progressive and have adopted the perspective that human capital is a strategic part of business," she explains. "I hope to work for a company that has that mentality so I can actively contribute to their growth and success." In the meantime, though, Howell is doing what she does best: soaking up the cultural opportunities afforded at Thunderbird. When she's not participating in Thunderbird's overseas experiences, she is involved in multiple campus clubs, among them HR Club, Thunderbird Student Government, and Africa Club. And when she can find the time, the avid tennis player is often on the courts--a place, ironically, where she recalls one of her most memorable experiences at Thunderbird. "One day I was on the tennis courts on campus playing tennis with a South African friend and closed my eyes. At that one time I could hear German, Hindi, Chinese, French, and Spanish being spoken," she recalls. "This was all within 200 feet of me." That experience, she says, left an impression much like the one made by her foreign exchange students years earlier.