International MBA student Sean Maurice decided to enroll in the IMBA program after the COVID-19 pandemic struck. Already entertaining the idea of going back to school, Maurice was tired of the “knitty, gritty work” in his sales career.

In spring 2020 when the pandemic began impacting the U.S., Maurice was an account executive for Gather, a technological event management platform.

“Ultimately, because Gather was a product primarily used by the hospitality industry, I decided to leave a company which would likely be hit extremely hard by the pandemic,” he said.

Maurice credits Gather with helping him develop his interpersonal skills that serve him well in the IMBA program.

“I had never worked as part of such a closely knit team before, and it brought new challenges and opportunities for me to grow as a professional,” he added. “I learned how to conduct myself professionally as part of a team and to be accountable for my part in a larger body of work.”

Before his role with Gather, Maurice had worked with KaBOOM! and had been a legislative intern with the U.S. House of Representatives.

Considering his professional background in sales and account management, Maurice decided to pursue the marketing specialization within the International MBA program.

In the marketing specialization, “I'm hoping to learn what strategies companies use to successfully market their product and what elements are most critical to those strategies,” he said.

In summer 2021, Maurice is working with UPS’ product marketing team; he is a senior marketing analyst focusing specifically on the business in Europe. Working with UPS on their European accounts, Maurice has a solid background in international business with the completion of his first year of the IMBA and a bachelor’s in public and international affairs from the University of Georgia. He also spent a summer semester at St. John’s University’s Paris campus as an undergraduate.

For his second year of the IMBA program, Maurice is spending the bulk of the next year in Paris.

“I am a total Francophile, so I will go to Paris for my study abroad. I'm ready to go already!” he said.

He looks forward to continuing to network and build relationships with his cohort and International MBA alumni.

“I'm surrounded by some really smart and amazing colleagues here [in the International MBA program],” he said. “I feel like I learn just as much from my classmates as I do from the course materials.”

While Maurice doesn’t consider himself to be a planner, he hopes to someday live and work abroad. He said his dream job would be leading a marketing team for L'Oréal cosmetics company.