Timothy Chang

[Graduated May 2021]

My name is Tim Chang and I received my undergraduate degree from Tufts University, majoring in Economics. After graduating from Tufts, I started my career in the financial services industry as an accountant and eventually moved over to the buy side to work for a global hedge fund. I currently work at a large U.S. bank focused on hedge fund and private capital investing for our bank clients.

What drew you to the Global Business Administration program?

I was drawn to the GBA program after traveling and working in Asia and seeing how global our economy has become. I reached a point in my career where I wanted to go back to school to get my MBA and though I thought of going back to school full-time, I felt that the opportunity cost was too high. The GBA program caught my attention for the follow reasons: 1) as an undergraduate at Tufts, I knew of Fletcher’s reputation and the respect it garnered in the professional world; 2) the global nature of the program and courses I believe will be able to provide me a unique global perspective that other programs may not; 4) I can get my degree in 2 years while still working full-time; and 5) I really want to be a double Jumbo.

What is one course that you have taken thus far in the GBA program that has been instrumental in helping you to achieve your current professional goals?

Completing 3.5 semesters in the program, I have had so many great classes and professors. However, the course that has been the most beneficial to my professional career thus far has been Corporate Finance. It is a rigorous course, but the foundations that it provides are invaluable and speak directly to my line of work. The course has reinforced concepts to help me evaluate the financial health of a company as well as better understand the financial language required when talking with others in the investment community.

Is there a topic that you have learned about at Fletcher that has particularly resonated with you?

“Marketing is everywhere and…everyone is marketing” comes from Professor Simonin’s Global Marketing Management course. Not having taken a prior formal marketing course, the concepts we touched on in the class opened my eyes to new ways of thinking about and evaluating how marketing is indeed everywhere. We are not only consciously and subconsciously targets of marketing, but we are also everyday marketers of our own personal brand.

Seeing as the program is mostly online, do you have any advice on how to best foster relationships and increase collaboration with fellow students and faculty?

My best advice is to proactively reach out to and engage with your fellow classmates. The online course can feel lonesome, but I have found that establishing and setting up reoccurring weekly Zoom study groups is the best way to stay engaged with my classmates. Oftentimes in these study groups, we end up talking about our respective lives more than the week’s course material. It is in these Zoom study group sessions where I feel I have really gotten to know the amazingly smart and talented people in the program.

What is your biggest passion?

I love to travel internationally. Unfortunately, COVID-19 has likely put a halt on traveling for 2020, but I am actively updating my list of places to visit once it is safe to do so. Besides seeing the “tourist attractions,” my travels have allowed me to meet and engage with many interesting people, locals as well as fellow travelers. The stories shared and friendships created solidifies the realization that we are indeed a global community.