About Tara: Tara Kezic (’24) grew up in San Diego before heading off to Texas to get her degrees in Electrical Engineering and Applied Mathematics from Southern Methodist University. After graduation, she made a hard pivot and became a consultant at EY-Parthenon where she focused on doing growth strategy assessments for consumer retail companies. She loves working at EY-Parthenon so much, she’s already committed to returning after graduation! In her free time, Tara enjoys traveling, watching tennis, and trying new restaurants. Wow, what a year! Feels like just yesterday that I packed up my lif ..read more

About Gina: Gina Leggio (’24) is originally from Cincinnati, OH. She graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration in Finance and Marketing from the University of Georgia. After graduation, she relocated to Los Angeles and worked for J.P. Morgan across various industries and roles. At Anderson, she seeks to pivot her career from banking to Private Equity. There are many reasons why I chose to come to Anderson, but one of the main reasons was the sense of community and camaraderie among students. It’s clear that everyone is working hard to achieve their personal and professional ..read more

About Alex: Alex Liu (‘24) is a native Californian who migrated from NorCal down to SoCal to attend Anderson. He graduated from Santa Clara University with a Bachelor’s in Finance and has experience working at a tech startup and in the defense industry. He hopes to find a job he is passionate about, whether that be as a consultant, in entertainment, or in another industry. In his free time, Alex enjoys watching classic movies, trying new cocktails, and spending time with those closest to him. When deciding where I wanted to attend business school, the location was always further back in m ..read more

About Franklin: Frank Swann ('24) grew up in Denver, CO, and attended NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. At NYU, he majored in Production & Design and Politics. After graduation, Frank lived a childhood dream and worked on Broadway. He worked in a variety of roles, eventually rising to become a production manager for many shows and projects, including Hamilton (Global), The Inheritance (B’way), CAMP (Metropolitan Museum of Art), The Time’s Square New Year’s Eve Ball, and more. At Anderson, Frank is focused on strategy & operations within the entertainment, media, events/sports, and hospit ..read more

About Cassassandra: Cassandra Ronquillo (’24) is originally from Los Angeles County. She graduated from Whittier College with a B.A. in Mathematics. After graduation, Cassandra stayed in Southern California and worked in higher education development where she focused on raising funds and managing key relationships on behalf of the schools she worked for. Most recently, Cassandra worked as the Director of Major Gifts at UCLA Anderson. Now, as a student at Anderson, she seeks to pivot her career from higher education development to big tech. I always knew I wanted to go back to school and get a ..read more

About Austin: Austin Weatherholt (’24) is originally from San Jose, California. He graduated from the University of the Pacific with a Bachelor's Degree in Biology and a Minor in Economics. After graduation, Austin worked for HP and Micron in Sales Operations and Finance roles. In his free time, he enjoys playing golf and a variety of other sports, cooking, and being outdoors. Several years removed from my biology and economics undergraduate coursework, I was excited to see how the ever-more digital world had impacted the school experience. UCLA Anderson has successfully leveraged improved tec ..read more

As we create the next MBA class with our admits this time of year, another great international mix is forming. Our mission in Admissions is to create a kind of miniature United Nations here, where our MBA students learn about global culture from each other while gaining management understanding together too. Los Angeles is a gateway to the world which opens both ways, so this is the perfect place to mix the best of America with the best from 40+ countries around the world. International students (and their families) find that they fit well in our multi-lingual city with every cuisine availab ..read more

About Sai: Sai Anirudh Grandhi (‘24) is originally from Hyderabad, India. He graduated from the Birla Institute of Technology & Science Pilani, Hyderabad Campus with a Bachelor's Degree in Electronics and Communication Engineering. After graduation, he worked as an engineer at Nvidia Corporation designing chips that are used in self-driving cars and data-center processors. Additionally, he briefly worked in business development roles for a few early-stage startups. At Anderson, he seeks to pivot his career from engineering to product management. Sai is an outdoorsy person and loves both wa ..read more

About Patrick: Patrick Macias (’24) is originally from Sacramento, CA. He graduated from the University of Southern California (USC) with a Bachelor’s in Industrial & Systems Engineering. After USC, Patrick went to Orange County to work at Applied Medical as an Operations Team Leader and later, a Project Manager. At Anderson, he seeks to pivot into consulting and will be interning at Bain & Co. over the summer in San Francisco. Patrick is incredibly interested in both the CPG & Gaming industries as potential consulting exit routes. Most people at Anderson don’t even think about rec ..read more

About Eleanor: Eleanor McGee is from Richmond, Virginia and graduated from UVA. After college, she began a full-time position for National Geographic. Through this job, she worked on everything from analyzing the greenlight workflow to launching the National Geographic Media Scholarship. Eleanor hopes to continue working in the entertainment sector upon graduation. As all first-year Anderson students know, navigating the highs and lows of the core curriculum can be quite a challenge. Luckily, we have our learning teams to help us through it. When classes start in the summer, first-year student ..read more