Five-Year Updates: Meet Ben Micheel F’07

Today, I’m launching a new feature on the blog:  Five-Year Updates.  Think of it as a conversation among alumni at their five-year reunion.  I started with the class of 2007, though graduates from that year are, in fact, soon approaching their six-year mark.  The alumni writers were asked to describe their path, starting before Fletcher, then through the Fletcher years, and finishing with their post-Fletcher lives.  The first Update comes from Ben Micheel.

Pre-Fletcher Experience

Prior to Fletcher, most of my professional experience was in the private sector at consumer packaged goods companies.  Eventually I made my way back over to Berlin, Germany where I had studied as an exchange student when I was an undergrad at the University of Washington.  In Berlin I worked as a marketer for Coca-Cola, as an intern for the German Bundestag, and finally (after my acceptance to Fletcher) as a bike tour guide.  Many of my American co-workers at the Bundestag were enthusiastically applying to APSIA grad schools, and I was curious to look into what they were so excited about.  My undergrad degree is in business, so I didn’t have any interest in going the pure MBA route.  Once I discovered the resources available to me at Fletcher, I knew it was my logical next step.  So the week before Labor Day in 2005, I moved to Boston (sight unseen – I’m from a suburb of Portland, Oregon) and started my MALD.

At Fletcher

At Fletcher I focused my studies mostly on economics, although I found time to take some great classes in the Southwest Asia concentration.  I also cross registered for a couple of classes at Harvard Business School.  Although all the classes were great, the paces that Professor Klein, Professor Simonin, and Professor Schaffner put my brain through proved to be most valuable.  I still use the skills I learned every week in my current job.  I was equally active outside of class.  There are many highlights, but the annual Africana Night step show really stands out.

Post-Fletcher

Directly out of Fletcher, I joined the strategy consulting firm Simon-Kucher & Partners – a terrific place for Fletcher grads to advance their careers in the private sector.  I spent four great years there helping Fortune 500 clients improve their strategy, marketing, and pricing initiatives.  Eventually I was recruited by Forrester Research (a former client), where I still work today as the Director of Pricing & Packaging.  Each day brings something new, and I enjoy working through the puzzles that Fletcher so adroitly equipped me to solve.  Also, on the social side of life, the post-Fletcher wedding circuit is the best!