Will
Associate Consultant, Evanston Office
Education
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
B.A. in Economics and Political Science, 2004
Activities at Michigan: Executive Director Michigan Journal of Economics, VP of the Michigan Economics Society, Community Coordinator for the Detroit Project—a community service organization, Social Chair for Mortar Board Senior Honor Society, various intramural sports
Memories of Michigan: There are so many memories from Michigan—football Saturdays, the Arboretum, the first warm day after winter when everyone would put on shorts, sandals and hang out in the Diag even though it was only ~60 degrees. Those are all great, but I think my favorite memory is of a class I took my junior year, Labor in the Maquilladora Zone. Maquilladora is a Spanish word for the factories which line the US/Mexico border, and whose number greatly increased post-NAFTA. The centerpiece of the class was a six-day trip to Nogales, Mexico to study and learn about different border issues between the US and Mexico. It was an eye-opening educational experience. We lived with some of the factory workers during the week, and I even learned a little Spanish. The class is a perfect example of what creative professors can accomplish with unorthodox learning approaches.
Hometown
Chicago, IL
ZS Career Path
Business Associate, 2004
Associate Consultant, 2006
On the work
"I helped an emerging biotech understand and benchmark when to start building their commercial operations group in preparation for their first product launch. In order to develop the correct needs assessment, a team of us spent many hours brainstorming the different tasks that a commercial organization does. We spent time organizing the commercial organization's responsibilities so that we covered all of the tasks without focusing too much on certain areas like sales/marketing. The final deliverable was a launch planning tool built in Excel. The tool not only incorporated our estimates, but also used the wide breath of knowledge from the client side. It was an important first lesson for a new associate; the client usually knows more than you do about their business—and as a consultant, a main task is to facilitate the dissemination of that knowledge.
"I worked with a large pharmaceutical firm to analyze their marketing expenditures in order to more optimally allocate resources to the most successful initiatives. A consultant and I interviewed over 30 sales and marketing directors/managers to better understand their allocation process and reasons for choosing certain tactics. It was a great opportunity to be exposed to the many different elements of marketing. In addition, due to the project design, I was given a tremendous amount of responsibility at a very early part of my career. That, combined with constant client interaction allowed me to more fully understand the client's issues."
On ZS values
Treat People Right: "During a project where a client kept changing demands, an associate and I were tired and riddled with anxiety. Another ZSer sent us an email saying that others were watching how well we were handling the increased demands/pressure and that they all were very impressed. She told us to hang in there and when the last deliverable was sent, she would buy the first round of celebratory beers. That email meant so much to me at the time. Not only was somebody noticing my hard work, but they cared enough to offer encouragement and help. At the time the email made me feel better, but it also created in me a desire to replicate the same type of email for another employee when they might be having a difficult time."
On life outside work
"I play softball with a ZS-based team. I am a huge Chicago White Sox fan, and had a great time celebrating the 2005 World Championship. I frequent many of the great restaurants and other night-life options in Chicago and love seeing live music."
On the Evanston office
"Evanston has everything you could ask for in a town, without the traffic and headaches that being downtown can bring. We have plenty of places to eat, parking is much cheaper if you choose to drive to work, and we can make it to work on a much less crowded el line in 25 minutes. We are also close to the lake and parks, so a walk in a fairly green area is only a couple of blocks away."