Jennifer Marchi-Guzmán
Rutgers Business School Executive MBA
Age: 45
“Passionate, Driven, Energetic, Change-Agent, Inspiring, Motivational, Empathetic, Authentic, Compassionate.”
Hometown: Bronx, New York
Family Members: Juan Luis (husband) and kids: Madelyn, Catalina, Javier, Juan Luis Jr., Taniuska, Dalitza, Cloudtail (ragdoll cat), Theoden (golden retriever)
Fun fact about yourself: I ran the 2023 TCS NYC marathon, which is the largest marathon in the world.
Undergraduate School and Degree: Baruch College, Zicklin School of Business, Bachelor of Business Administration, Finance and Investments
Where are you currently working? BASF Corp, Global Key Account Management
Extracurricular Activities, Community Work and Leadership Roles:
BASF ALLchemie ERG Leadership Team, Communications Chair
Rutgers EMBA Leadership Team, Communications and Career Development Co-Chair
Mercy University – Advisor to the board for Women in Leadership Certificate Program
Which academic or extracurricular achievement are you most proud of during business school? I am proud of having organized a visit to my company’s headquarters in Ho Chi Minh City during our class trip to Vietnam. My company, BASF, welcomed the entire Rutgers EMBA cohort to visit our office and followed it up with a tour to our customer’s sneaker facility, where we got to see the production of Adidas using the BASF polyurethane UltraBoost technology on 4D printers. This achievement has earned me the prestigious Rutgers EMBA Ted Marousas Award, which is presented at graduation to the student who has done the most to increase the footprint of the Rutgers EMBA program.
What achievement are you most proud of in your professional career? I am mostly proud of building a career and having found success in the male dominated chemical industry. There are more women in the industry than when I started, but currently not enough of us in leadership positions. As a Rutgers Executive MBA, I am now better equipped to bridge that divide and attain gender equity as a future woman CEO.
Who was your favorite MBA professor? Although it is hard to choose just one professor from the vast talent of skilled professors at Rutgers Business School, I must say Farrokh Langdana has earned the honor of being the favorite among most of us and remains the main reason we will all keep coming back.
Why did you choose this school’s executive MBA program? I really liked the structure of the program with on-site learning versus the virtual classrooms so many other schools have moved towards. I found the curriculum to be current with the market and the academic credentials of the professors in the program to be exceptional.
What is the biggest lesson you gained during your MBA and how did you apply it at work? The biggest lesson I gained was how to sharpen my comparative advantages and use them to leverage myself in the corporate world. My ability to lead teams strategically and use my networks to build relationships has earned me the respect and trust of senior leadership and positively impacted my organization.
Give us a story during your time as an executive MBA on how you were able to juggle work, family and education? At the start of my third semester, I got promoted to the global key account sales team as the key account manager and network lead responsible for one of the top three global strategic customers at BASF. Just before finals, I ran the TCS NYC Marathon for the first time. It was probably the most challenging semester in my Rutgers EMBA journey. Undoubtedly, I was able to get through it all because I had such unwavering support from the whole Rutgers EMBA organization who motivated me straight through the finish line of all my challenges.
What advice would you give to a student looking to enter an executive MBA program? My best advice is to assure any student that there is no perfect time to enter such a program, but the time spent in the program is guaranteed to be the experience of a lifetime.
What was your biggest regret in business school? My biggest regret is not having had the time to take more courses during earlier semesters. I enrolled in 8 courses during my last semester, only because time would not allow me to take more. I will really miss my life as a Rutgers EMBA student.
Which MBA classmate do you most admire? I would be remiss if I only mentioned one of the classmates that had a profound impact on me during my Rutgers EMBA journey. The colleagues I most revere and respect are those who worked hard alongside me and greatly contributed to my success and the success of our team. I want to say a heartfelt thank you to those who I proudly served with, under the premise of no one left behind. They include the following: Anam Chaudhry, Camilo Bedoya Castaño, Eshan Patel, Ramya Sheshadri Ramesh, Sandeep Kumar, Sunil Panditrao, and Vijay Dayalan.
What was the main reason you chose an executive MBA program over part-time or online alternatives? I chose an Executive MBA program over a traditional or part-time MBA program because I wanted to leverage the breadth of experience the cohort would bring. I also preferred a program that would be flexible given my tendency to travel for work.
What is your ultimate long-term professional goal? My ultimate long-term professional goal is to ascend to a C-Suite position within a global organization, where I aim to significantly impact and improve diversity and gender equity.
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