Aaron
Consultant, Princeton Office
Education
STANFORD UNIVERSITY
Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering, 2001
M.S. in Mechanical Engineering, 1995
Activities at Stanford: I served as the student representative to the faculty meetings of the design division, and also taught a class (Introduction to Sensors) three times.
Memories of Stanford: The people (both nice and thoughtful), the physical place (great running and biking), and the entrepreneurial culture.
MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
B.S. in Course 2 (Mechanical Engineering), 1993
Activities at MIT: Pi Tau Sigma, Mechanical Engineering Honor Society; UROP in the Newman Lab for Biomechanics
Memories of MIT: I played Varsity basketball at MIT and was captain my senior year, even though I was not that good.
Hometown
Chicago, IL
ZS Career Path
Associate Consultant, 2004
Consultant, 2007
On the work
"For one project, I led a team that redesigned the sales force of a division of a global pharmaceutical company. With another associate consultant and an associate, we redesigned the territories of each sales representative as the sales force changed in size. After that, we identified which representative was the best match for each territory. The sales force implemented the new design in early 2006.
"On another project, I worked on a team that was conducting qualitative market research. I helped develop the discussion guide for the 15-20 minute phone interviews, conducted a few of the interviews, and helped our team synthesize the information to reach our conclusions. I also helped draft the final client presentation. While I wasn't managing this project, the team really gave me the opportunity to show I could contribute to all phases of the project."
On ZS values
Get It Right: "Countless times, we check and recheck our results to ensure that we are delivering accurate information and analysis. I think it's valuable that our model has us compare the work of two people to ensure they've reached the same result. It's a process I've used at other companies, and is really the best way to ensure complete accuracy."
On life outside work
"I value my life outside of the office. Spending time with my wife is the most important thing I do when I'm not in the office. My interests include socializing with friends, biking, running, playing basketball, watching Stanford basketball, and reading the newspaper."
On the Princeton office
"The thing that's unique about Princeton is how you can get the rural, suburban, or urban experience within a couple of hours. Princeton itself is rather suburban, but it's easy to get to Philadelphia or New York City when you need a taste of city life. At the same time, Princeton is surrounded by a rural setting with small towns and farms only about 15 minutes away."