Cited for their “academic prowess” and a host of other qualities, three recent graduates of the Carroll School’s full-time MBA program have been spotlighted by Poets & Quants as “MBAs to Watch” from the Class of 2020. James Gethings, Anam Kaleem, and Katharine Sullivan were among 142 MBA graduates nationwide recognized by P&Q, which spotlighted 77 women and 65 men on this year’s list.
According to the popular business school website, these honorees are “distinctive and eclectic—and rarely conventional.” Their paths to business school “aren’t always perfectly linear and clear,” but “the MBAs to Watch are the students with the courage to bet on themselves,” P&Q explained.
Beyond this career drive, all three Carroll School graduates profiled on P&Q’s list also showed commitment to serving their communities, notably in line with the culture and broader mission of Boston College as a Jesuit institution.
James Gethings MBA ’20
Dublin-born James Gethings was a professional rugby player in the United Kingdom before finding his way to Chestnut Hill, but his contributions to the Carroll School community were of a much gentler variety. Gethings tutored middle-schoolers from underserved communities through Invest ‘N Kids (INK), a mentorship program run by Carroll School graduate students. Gethings is also a recipient of the O’Brien Fellowship. Named for Denis O’Brien, MBA ’82, the fellowship offers financial support to students of the Carroll School’s full-time MBA program who show interest in the economic advancement of Ireland. After retiring from rugby, Gethings worked at the Bank of Ireland UK for five years before pursuing his MBA. “I really liked the strong connection between Boston College and Ireland,” he told P&Q.
Anam Kaleem MBA ’20
Anam Kaleem also arrived at the Carroll School with several years of experience in banking, and aspires to senior leadership in finance. Kaleem made her mark at Boston College as a devoted admissions fellow and student ambassador for the Carroll School’s MBA program. “Anam has consistently and authentically spoken to the positive impact that the BC MBA has had on her career and life—and the BC MBA program is better for it,” said Associate Dean of Graduate Programs Marilyn Eckelman. Kaleem’s favorite Carroll School event? The BC MBA 5K—an annual race held on the Chestnut Hill campus that raises funds for Youth Enrichment Services (YES), a sports-based youth development nonprofit. “BC puts strong emphasis on giving back to the community and the MBA 5K is a great way to do so,” Kaleem said.
Katharine Sullivan MBA ’20
Katharine Sullivan’s dedication to the Boston College community dates back to her undergraduate days, when she sported the costume of Baldwin the Eagle for four years. Furthering her positive impact as a leader in the graduate student community, Sullivan co-founded the LGBTQ student organization “Stand Out at Carroll” during her first year back on the Heights. The Double Eagle (she earned her bachelor’s in English from Morrissey College of Arts and Sciences in 2011) told P&Q that she was “proud to have brought a club to BC’s campus that aligns with the school’s diversity and inclusion efforts.”
When asked by P&Q the biggest myth about their school, both Sullivan and Gethings called out the misconception that the Carroll School’s curriculum is heavily skewed toward finance, remarking on the diverse range of their graduate studies. Kaleem and Sullivan both cited the Carroll School’s emphasis on data analytics when explaining their choice of MBA program.
P&Q drew upon 242 nominations from 69 full-time MBA programs around the globe in determining its “MBAs to Watch: Class of 2020.” The publication noted that although it “left the selection process and criteria up to individual schools, we cited academic prowess, extracurricular achievement, and intangibles as potential factors to weigh.”
—Leslie Ganson, Carroll School News