Alumni Spotlight & Testimonials

Steve FOUHAL
MSECE 2004
EPF

McKinsey
United Kingdom

I first met the previous director of GTL while on a Summer internship at Georgia Tech in Atlanta. At the time I was still doing my undergrad in Electrical Engineering with EPF, an engineering school near Paris. The summer internship was a way for me to get to know Tech (and Tech to know me!) before I apply. When he explained to me what GTL was, I immediately loved the idea of splitting my studies between Atlanta and Metz. This was going to help me stay close to my family for another semester, while getting the education that only Georgia Tech can offer. I remember the Americans had a blast travelling around Europe whenever we had free time. The "human size" of the program makes GTL a close-knit, multi-cultural and fun group.

I have found that employers in Europe and the US consistently love the international nature of the program. Ever since I graduated 4 years ago, I have been moving. First England, and now Chicago where I work with McKinsey as an operations consultant. My job makes me work with people from different cultures and takes me many different places; I truly feel that my experience at GTL prepared me to work not only with diverse teams, but also in very different cultural settings.

Jason GALLOWAY
BS EE /
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I chose GTL because I have always wanted to study abroad and there is no better way to see Europe and get credit for classes than being there for four months. This experience has helped me grow as an individual. You just sort of have to figure things out sometimes on your own.

When there are no phones and no one speaks your native language fluently and you are completely lost in a city that you have never been in, you grow as an individual in using the senses to get you around and to resolve the issues. Any future students should definitely give it a shot because I did and it has turned out to be a once in a lifetime experince. The education plus traveling experiences I had were absolutely amazing. Not to mention, there is just something sexy about the foreign accents and the way the women dress and present themselves. It's a must-see and must-do adventure to partake in the journey at GTL.

Cedric GRIGNARD
MSMGT 1997
Ecole de Management - Grenoble

International Investment Manager
Aderly - Lyon
France

My Business School in Grenoble [Grenoble Ecole de Management, www.grenoble-em.com] gives the opportunity to its students to carry out their 3rd year abroad. After passing the exams and with a good ranking, I succeeded to choose and register for a MSM degree at the Georgia Institute of Technology (Atlanta, GA). One of the main reasons I selected the GTech was to acquire knowledge and skills in technology, complementary to my management education.

The GTech experience provided me with another way to study, to assess and analyze situations, and to interact in a different socio-political and cultural environment. It opened and broadened my academic and professional vision. Collaborating with senior and experienced managers already involved in the professional world, provided me with a lot of inputs to on the global business environment.

This double degree supported my applications to the different organizations and firms I worked with, showing the recruiters my ability to perform in various contexts and to work with multicultural teams. It opened doors to my career and completed my address book. Moreover, working in a different language, i.e. writing and reading in English, gave me high-added value in language skills.

Finally, my double degree MSM (Georgia Tech., Atlanta) and MBA (GEM, Grenoble) widened my scope of understanding on cultural, social, and above all, business levels, and gave me access to opportunities, possibilities and networks of skilled, motivated and high-profile alumni community.

Today, I am still using all what I have learned during my higher education when I am advising and assisting international companies. As International Investment Manager with the Lyon Area Economic Development Agency [Aderly, www.aderly.com], my daily mission is to support and to provide advice to CEOs and other executives in their project of setting up an office, opening a subsidiary, transferring their headquarters in Lyon. As such, I need to adapt constantly to our international and multicultural clients, understanding their needs, proving empathy to match perfectly with their expectations, and filling their needs. That where my year at GTech and the experience I acquired during my missions abroad after my MSM is very helpful.

Olivier GUERREAU LAMBERT
PhD ECE 2005
SUPELEC

Trading Systems Manager
Total
United Kingdom

I chose the GTL double degree, because I felt that having an international master's degree was a requirement for the carrier path I wanted to follow. I was so interested by this double degree, that I pursue a double doctoral degree with a French Doctorat and a Georgia Tech Ph.D.

This experience was a great benefit for me, not only about meeting people from different contries, different cultures, but also about learning different ways of working, different solutions to adapt to the same problem. All these differences pile up together to craft the perfect start of my carrier, which I know will be a journey through an international environment.

The GT double degree was the master key to enter a large group, truly international as Total. I have been offered to worked in Paris, London, Houston, every time within the same company, and have always benefit from this very experience I had at Tech, learning to work with so many different sharp people.

Alexis HERVE
MSECE 2005
ENSEA

Corporate Audit Staff associate
General Electric
USA

During the final year at the ENSEA (French engineer school in Electronics), I was attracted by the double degree program of GTL as it allowed me to transition smoothly from the French universitary system to graduate school of Georgiatech. Studying with a small group of students from all European countries and US in Metz is the perfect transition prior to go to the large campus of Gatech.

At GTL, I connected with fellow students who helped me then to integrate in the US campus. It represents also a very safe environment to attend American style classes with the security of having French speaking resources onsite in Metz in case you get lost !

The model of double diploma with European university is also more and more known in the US and the diploma of Gatech definitely helped me to get my first job offer in Atlanta. This is also the quickest way to be on the job market with a US diploma when coming for a french engineering school.

After joining General Electric via the Information Management Leadership Program with 4 six months assignements at GE Energy sites in Belfort (France), Atlanta and Florence (Italy) as IT project leader, I joined the company broad internal audit at GE Corporate called Corporate Audit Staff. In a 2 year period, this leadership program for GE top talent provides exposure to Finance, Compliance and the largest IT projects of the company.
I can conclude confirming that learning adaptability and flexibility between Paris, Metz and Atlanta early at the university definitely helped me to succeed in the various international assignments and teams I have worked with.