Jessica
Manager, Los Angeles Office
Education
PRINCETON UNIVERSITY
B.S.E. in Chemical Engineering, 2001
Activities at Princeton: Varsity women's water polo, President of AIChE (American Institutate of Chemical Engineers), Quadrangle eating club
Memories of Princeton: As a Chemical Engineering major I was constantly working with a small class of about 26 people. We would spend endless nights in the Chemical Engineering lounge agonizing over problem sets, MatLab, and differential equations. When our semester was coming to an end, we decided that we wanted the lounge to hold more for us than memories of long nights studying so we organized the ChemE Semi—a semiformal dance that took place in the Chemical Engineering lounge. Yes, some people on campus laughed at us as we traipsed into the lounge wearing skirts and suits and carrying a boom box instead of a backpack, but it was one of my fondest memories of college.
Hometown
Baltimore, MD
ZS Career Path
Operations Research Analyst (Princeton office), 2001
Operations Research Associate Consultant, 2003
Consultant, 2005
- Moved to the New York office, 2005
- Moved to the Los Angeles office, November 2006
Manager, 2007
On the work
"One of my recent projects involved the integration of two healthcare companies that decided to merge. I had the opportunity to participate in meetings with the CEO of one of the companies and the head of all US pharmaceutical operations for the joint company. Interacting with those executives and participating in high level strategy meetings to determine the best structure for the newly-merged company was one of the most challenging and interesting projects I have completed."
On ZS values
Treat People Right: "Although it sounds cheesy, I value the experience of working with really great people. In consulting we sometimes work under a lot of pressure, and the friendship of my colleagues has made it manageable. My friends outside of work joke that I spend all day in the office and then go out with 'work people' at night, but that is only because my 'work people' are truly really great friends. When we are not working on a presentation together in the office, they are great people to go out with for a beer or go shopping with on a Saturday afternoon."
On life outside work
"I am what some call a social organizer. I love planning parties, weekend road trips, and other fun things for my friends and me to do. I also love running and was able to run in the Los Angeles marathon this past spring with my project manager!"