5 Questions With: Boston Questrom’s Leadership Team

5 Questions With: Boston Questrom’s Leadership Team

Meghan Marrin

Tue, September 22, 2026 at 4:58 PM GMT+3 20 min read

BU, Boston University, Questrom, Questrom School of Business

Admissions: 5 Questions With Nick SanAngelo, Director of Residential MBA Admissions & Graduate Financial Aid at Boston Questrom

Nick SanAngelo leads recruitment, admissions strategy, and financial aid for Boston Questrom's residential MBA programs, overseeing both the enrollment pipeline and the financial pathways that help students access graduate education. His work spans everything from developing data‑driven recruitment plans to managing scholarship budgets and guiding applicants through the financial realities of pursuing an MBA.

Before stepping into his current role, SanAngelo spent about a decade working across Questrom's graduate admissions ecosystem. He's supported specialized master's programs, evaluating thousands of applicants annually crafting outreach strategies for both domestic and international candidates.

P&Q: What is the biggest misconception prospective students have about your school or about business education more broadly?

SanAngelo: One of the biggest misconceptions is that you need a traditional business background to pursue an MBA, or that an MBA is only for someone who already knows exactly what they want to do next. In reality, a business degree can be designed for people with a wide range of professional and educational backgrounds. At Questrom, we see students come to the MBA with experience in technology, healthcare, the nonprofit sector, education, the military, the arts, and many other fields. They bring different perspectives and expertise into the classroom, while developing the business knowledge, leadership skills, and network to take the next step in their careers. An MBA can give you the tools to build on your previous experiences and expand where it can take you.

P&Q: What changes do you see in students applying to business school compared to five or 10 years ago, and how is it changing the way you recruit and evaluate?

SanAngelo: One of the changes we've seen is that prospective students are increasingly intentional about how an MBA fits into their career journey. Five or 10 years ago, more candidates pursued an MBA as a traditional next step. Today, we see more students using the degree to make a career pivot, whether that means moving into a new industry, changing functions, transitioning into leadership, or exploring entrepreneurship.

I also think the way applicants define the return on investment of an MBA has evolved. Financial outcomes are still important, but we're hearing more students talk about wanting to do work that feels meaningful to them. They are thinking about the impact they want to have and whether their career aligns with their personal values.

That has changed how we recruit and evaluate candidates. We spend more time understanding not just what someone has accomplished, but where they want to go and why an MBA is the right tool to get them there. We want to understand what they are trying to accomplish, what skills they hope to develop, and what they will bring to the classroom. That makes the process more holistic and personalized while giving students the opportunity to make the experience their own.

P&Q: With the ROI of an MBA under more scrutiny than ever, how do you make the case to a hesitant applicant?

SanAngelo: Start with their individual goals. An MBA is a significant investment, and applicants should think about what they want to accomplish and whether the degree can meaningfully help them get there.

Financial outcomes certainly matter, but the value of an MBA can go beyond salary growth in the short term. It can provide access to new career paths, a network that continues after graduation, stronger leadership capabilities, and opportunities to develop skills that can be applied throughout a career.

We've made a significant investment in our career services team because helping students achieve their career goals is a critical part of the MBA experience. It's not enough to provide a great education and then expect students to figure out how to translate that experience into their next opportunity. Through career support and practical learning opportunities, we want to help students build the skills, experience, and confidence to take that next step.

Ultimately, I would ask: What are you trying to accomplish, and what is preventing you from getting there today? Then ask whether an MBA can meaningfully help close that gap. An MBA shouldn't be something you pursue simply because it feels like the next step. It should be an intentional investment in your career and your future.

P&Q: How is AI changing what you look for in an applicant, or how you're preparing students for the job market?

SanAngelo: I'm not sure that AI has fundamentally changed what we look for in an applicant. We still want to understand a candidate's experiences, what they have learned from them, what they hope to gain from an MBA, and how they see the degree fitting into their goals. Qualities like intellectual curiosity, adaptability, taking responsibility, and emotional intelligence have always been important to us. If anything, I think AI has made those qualities even more important.

As more of the application process can potentially be supported by AI, we want to make sure we are still getting to know the person behind the application. That is one reason our interview process is so important. We want to hear candidates talk about their experiences in their own words and get a better sense of who they are beyond what can be captured on a resume/CV or in an application.

I also think AI makes the personalized side of the admissions process even more important. There is a lot that technology can help us do, but it shouldn't replace getting to know the individual.

P&Q: What's one thing about your program that doesn't show up in the rankings or brochure but you wish more applicants knew?

SanAngelo: One thing I wish more applicants knew is how much of the Questrom experience is focused on making students "day-one ready." A lot of what you see in a brochure/website or ranking focuses on the curriculum, faculty, rankings, or career outcomes, but I think it can be harder to see how intentionally we connect what students learn in the classroom to the work they will actually be doing after graduation.

Experiential learning is a big part of that. Through opportunities like Questrom Consulting, the Center for Action Learning, and our industry tracks, students can apply what they are learning to real business challenges and work through problems with others. They are building skills they can take directly into the workplace.

At the same time, so much of the learning happens through the people around you. Our students come from different industries, backgrounds, and experiences, and they bring those perspectives into the classroom and into their teams. That creates an environment where students learn as much from each other as they do from the curriculum.

We want students to leave Questrom with more than a degree. We want them to feel prepared to contribute from day one and to have a community they can continue to lean on long after graduation.

Next page: Career services: A Q&A with Monica Parker-James, Associate Dean of the Feld Center for Career and Alumni Engagement

Monica Parker-James, associate dean of the Feld Center for Career and Alumni Engagement at Boston Questrom

Career Services: 5 Questions With Monica Parker-James, Associate Dean of the Feld Center for Career & Alumni Engagement

Monica Parker-James is the Associate Dean of the Feld Center for Career & Alumni Engagement at Questrom. She leads efforts across career services, industry partnerships, career operations, and alumni engagement. She has more than 30 years of experience in education and organizational leadership, and she's focused much of her career on improving the student experience, building impactful programs, and helping organizations plan and grow.

Before joining Questrom, Parker-James held leadership positions at Boston University, Harvard University, and the Museum of Science in Boston. She earned her Doctor of Education in Organizational Leadership from Northeastern University. She is also a three-time Boston University graduate, holding a BS and MS in Mass Communication as well as a graduate certificate in Fundraising Management.

P&Q: What do graduates say from student and alumni surveys gave them the biggest return?

Parker-James: Students and alumni consistently point to the personalized, human elements of the Questrom experience as providing the greatest return. They value having career advisors, faculty, alumni, and industry professionals who understand their goals, challenge their thinking, and help them navigate important decisions. That individualized guidance gives students greater clarity, confidence, and intentionality in how they approach their careers.

The alumni data show that this value is durable. Five years after graduation, 87% of both Full-Time MBA and Part-Time MBA alumni were satisfied with their educational experience. 87-95% of alumni reported that their degree helped them to gain skills in critical thinking, communication, teamwork, negotiation, and decision-making. These are some of the skills that employers say they need most from business graduates. At ten years, 75% of Full-Time MBA alumni and 84% of Part-Time MBA alumni had reached middle or senior management, while 87% and 95%, respectively, were satisfied with their careers. For our graduates, the return is not limited to their first post-MBA role; it is reflected in sustained advancement and long-term career satisfaction.

Recent surveys show that perceptions of career support are strengthening across both MBA populations, reinforcing what we hear qualitatively: students value career support that is personalized, practical, and sustained throughout their Questrom experience.

P&Q: How does your school help students identify, pursue, and land the right career opportunities in today's ever-changing job market?

Parker-James: Questrom begins by helping students identify where their strengths, experience, interests, and values intersect with market demand. Career advisors use that foundation to help each student develop a focused strategy, including target functions, industries, organizations, skill gaps, networking priorities, and recruiting timelines. The objective is not simply to find an available job, but to help students make an informed and intentional career decision.

Our approach is holistic, involving faculty, staff, alumni, and robust programming that starts before the students even set foot on campus with a required summer Career Management course and Industry Summer Camps. Because the job market is constantly shifting, we don't rely on static offerings. Our programming and tools are regularly updated to address shifting job market conditions, insights and reporting, ensuring students have the most accurate and timely information as they move through their career journeys and refine their goals.

Students receive individualized support throughout the search from positioning and relationship-building to interviewing, offer evaluation, and negotiation. Questrom's distinctive ExecConnect program adds another level of expertise by connecting students with former C-suite executives and experienced industry professionals who provide sector-specific guidance, targeted networking support, and specialized interview preparation.

We also believe career readiness is enhanced by practical application. Through experiential learning opportunities including case competitions, company treks, action learning courses, and the Questrom Consulting Lab, students gain real-world, hands-on experience by working directly with employers on real problems.

Because our faculty, staff, and alumni operate as an interconnected network, students are consistently guided toward opportunities and supported throughout their journey, ensuring engagement stays high and no one slips through the cracks between declaring a major and landing a career.

That early focus on career fit carries forward: five years after graduation, 81% of FTMBA alumni and 75% of PTMBA alumni said their position was related to their career goal; at ten years, those figures increased to 85% and 81%, respectively.

P&Q: What do employers say they need from MBA or business graduates now? How does that differ from a few years ago?

Parker-James: Employers continue to prioritize problem-solving, strategic thinking, communication, collaboration, and leadership. What has changed is the expectation that graduates combine those capabilities with fluency in data, AI, and emerging technology. Technical skills that once differentiated a candidate are increasingly expected; the differentiator now is the ability to use technology with sound judgment and solid analytical skills, frame the right business problem, and influence people through change.

Employers also want evidence that graduates can operate in real organizational environments. Questrom's focus on experiential learning enables students to solve current business challenges for real clients. Students must navigate ambiguity, analyze the problem, manage stakeholders, and present actionable recommendations to company leaders, demonstrating the integrated technical, strategic, and interpersonal capabilities employers now seek. Alumni outcomes suggest that these capabilities endure beyond graduation. Five years after completing the program, 87% to 95% of FTMBA alumni and 87% to 91% of PTMBA alumni said their degree helped them develop skills including critical thinking, communication, teamwork, negotiation, and decision-making.

P&Q: How does career services get involved once students arrive/declare: What types of tutoring, tech tools and other support do they receive from the outset? In a nutshell, what does the school do to ensure that students don't fall through the cracks and are successful?

Parker-James: Candidates begin to interact with our career services center during their application process. Career coaches, industry relations managers, and our Exec Connect career consultants participate in the admissions process, attending events and meeting 1:1 with applicants.

Career readiness becomes an integral part of a student's Questrom experience as soon as they are admitted and commit to the program. All full-time MBA students complete a required pre-matriculation summer curriculum that is offered through virtual live, synchronous sessions led by our MBA coaching team. This course is also offered to our part-time MBA students who opt in. The course covers career exploration, professional positioning, networking, and recruiting readiness. Once students arrive on campus, the career management course continues throughout their first year through in-person classes led by our career coaching team.

During "Launch," which is our orientation week, students interact heavily with the career services center. Every student completes a Clifton Strengths assessment and attends an associated class with a certified Clifton Strengths coach. Students participate in company treks accompanied by faculty and industry relations managers, and participate in teamwork and leadership sessions.

As the academic year starts, every student is assigned a dedicated career advisor who works closely with the student's academic advisor, ensuring that academic decisions and career goals reinforce one another. Students may schedule unlimited 1:1 virtual or in-person appointments with their career coach throughout their time at Questrom.

Each career advisor manages a comprehensive student-progress system that captures career targets, stage of preparation, recent engagement, and the faculty or staff member with whom the student most recently met. This shared visibility allows advisors to coordinate support, recognize when progress has stalled, and conduct proactive outreach. Students do not have to reach a crisis or know exactly whom to ask before Questrom faculty and staff intervene.

Students also receive access to tutoring, workshops, interview preparation, Handshake, AI-enabled resume and interview tools, and labor-market information from the outset. Every student has access to various support platforms, including Interstride, VMock, and CaseCoach for Case Interview prep, among others.

We also host a program that enables student organization leaders to apply for funding for events that have demonstrated career value. We award tens of thousands of dollars to student organizations each year. These events bring in alumni and industry professionals and also provide robust opportunities for students to build leadership, project management, event management, and relationship development skills.

Our early investment in career support is showing measurable progress: the career-course rating among continuing full-time MBA students increased from 2.63 in 2024 to 3.44 in 2026, the largest two-year improvement among the measures included in the survey.

P&Q: Alongside alumni, how does career services connect students with employers? What types of programs support outreach to employers?

Parker-James: Questrom's career office includes both a dedicated Industry Relations team and a dedicated Alumni Engagement team.

Our Industry Engagement Team is comprised of 10 industry relations managers (IRMs) led by an Executive Director. Each IRM covers a particular industry sector or function: health sector, technology, start-ups, consulting, finance, CPG/retail, quantitative finance, business analytics. These IRMs manage our relationships with employer partners, organize all on-campus recruiting activity, work with industry partners to create treks and other experiential learning opportunities, and do business development to engage new companies. Questrom manages relationships with more than 900 employers and partnered with 100 companies for action learning last academic year.

Distinct from Boston University's broader alumni-relations unit, Questrom also has a dedicated career-based alumni team that creates structured ways for alumni to contribute directly to current students' professional development. Through mentorship, alumni councils, networking events, classroom and club engagement, and industry-focused programming, alumni serve as advisors, connectors, speakers, hiring managers, and advocates within their organizations.

Together, these teams create a robust industry and alumni support network for Questrom students.

Next page: A Q&A with Catherine Fazio, Associate Dean of Residential MBA Programs

Catherine Fazio, associate dean of residential MBA programs at Boston Questrom

Bonus: 5 Questions with Catherine Fazio, Associate Dean of Residential MBA Programs

Catherine Fazio is a Clinical Assistant Professor and Associate Dean of MBA Programs at Boston University Questrom School of Business. Much of her work is an intersection of law, business strategy, and innovation. Before joining Questrom, she served as Managing Director of the MIT Lab for Innovation Science and Policy. In the past, she's been a partner at Kirkland & Ellis – advising clients on complex business issues including mergers and acquisitions, antitrust matters, arbitration, and risk management.

Fazio has also served in leadership roles with organizations including the Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture and the Atrium School in Watertown, Massachusetts. She holds a J.D. from Stanford University, an MBA from MIT's Sloan Fellows Program in Innovation and Global Leadership, and a B.A. from the University of California, Berkeley.

P&Q: What is one thing your school does differently today than three years ago because of shifts in the economy, technology, or other forces?

Fazio: A lot has changed in three years, and at Questrom we are constantly innovating in response. One development that stands out is the launch and rapid growth of the Questrom Consulting Lab. Rather than simply asking students to solve hypothetical business problems, we are increasingly creating opportunities for them to work on consequential problems for real organizations, with real clients, deliverables, and expectations.

The model brings together talented graduate students, experienced faculty advisors, and professional project management. For example, our partnership with SharkNinja created a dedicated AI & Analytics Lab in which students work on AI-driven and data-powered solutions aligned with the company's strategic priorities. Other teams have developed a private-LLM intelligence engine for Sikich, conducted market analysis for Terumo BCT in Africa, used predictive modeling to improve margins for Movado, and applied digital marketing analytics to help LG improve online conversion.

What excites me most is the combination of student talent and professional accountability. Students are not merely demonstrating what they know; they are learning to manage ambiguity, clients, teams, deadlines, and deliverables.

P&Q: How is AI woven into your curriculum? Please cite specific courses so readers can see how students learn to use the tools and apply best practices.

Fazio: AI is woven into our MBA curriculum at multiple levels. Faculty are integrating generative AI into courses across marketing, analytics, strategy, management, communications, and career development, not simply teaching students how to use a tool, but asking how AI changes the work managers do.

For example, our Management and Organizations core class uses dynamic cases that allow students to engage with evolving managerial situations. In Leadership Communications, students leverage GenAI tools to practice presenting themselves, delivering executive briefings, and responding to questions. We have also launched an MBA faculty collaborative to help faculty push this kind of curricular experimentation further.

At the same time, students can take courses specifically centered on AI. AS one example, Integration of Generative AI in Business Practice examines how organizations identify high-value applications, develop implementation roadmaps, manage AI projects, and navigate legal, intellectual-property, ethical, organizational, and operational challenges. This year we are also introducing two courses that teach students how to build AI agents and leverage agentic AI.

Our goal is to empower students to create value using AI through leveraging their judgment, creativity, context, and leadership.

P&Q: What does your school offer that isn't available elsewhere on campus or at other schools?

Fazio: One distinctive feature of our MBA is the way we use residency-format courses. Students can take a complete course in an intensive format spanning one or two weekends. But the residency is more than compressed scheduling. We design groups of residency courses around shared themes and intentionally create connections among them.

Students from different classes come together for integrated discussions and panels with alumni, executives, and other experts. We connect residency programming to Questrom's institutes and centers and, where possible, to industry and academic events taking place around the School. The result is an experience that crosses the boundaries of an individual course: students might explore a problem through the lenses of leadership, negotiation, law, strategy, or technology and then come together to hear how practitioners confront those same tensions in the real world.

The format creates something else that is equally important: concentrated time to build community across our full time and part-time programs. Part time students who are balancing demanding careers with an MBA can immerse themselves for a weekend—not only in a subject, but in the intellectual and professional life of the School. For both full time and part-time students, the format combines academic intensity, interdisciplinary learning, practitioner engagement, and relationship-building in a way we think is particularly powerful.

P&Q: What's one of the most important things students learn at your school that can't be found in the curriculum?

Fazio: A strong community is something you build rather than something you simply join.

MBA students arrive focused on their own goals: what they want to learn, where they want their careers to go, and whom they need to meet. We welcome that determination and drive. Over their time here, I think many many discover something even more powerful. Your own opportunities expand when you invest in other people's success. Celebrate the classmate who lands the job. Make the introduction that helps someone else. Share what you know. Ask for help when you need it, and be generous when someone asks the same of you.

There is another lesson embedded in that: you have to allow yourself to be known. People cannot advocate for you, connect you to opportunities, or recognize where you might contribute if they do not know what excites you, what you are good at, and what you hope to do.

Those lessons do not appear on a syllabus. They emerge through teams, student organizations, conversations with faculty and alumni, and friendships. But they may ultimately be among the most enduring things students take from an MBA.

P&Q: What skill is becoming dramatically more valuable for business students, and what's becoming less valuable?

Fazio: Constructive critical thinking, and the ability to communicate that thinking, is becoming dramatically more valuable.

Generative AI can quickly produce a summary, analysis, presentation, or recommendation. That means the premium is shifting from simply producing an answer to knowing whether it is the right answer: What assumptions underlie it? What is missing? Which evidence matters? How would someone with a different perspective challenge it? And, most importantly, what should we actually do?

I use the word "constructive" deliberately. Critique alone is not enough. Business leaders have to take imperfect information, competing perspectives, and increasingly AI-generated analysis and move from "here is what is wrong" to "here is what we should do next." Then they have to communicate that judgment in a way that brings other people along.

What is becoming less valuable, therefore, is the ability to produce a polished first-pass answer as an end in itself. AI has made that easier. The differentiator is increasingly framing the right question, interrogating the output, applying context and judgment, making a decision, and communicating it persuasively.

The post 5 Questions With: Boston Questrom's Leadership Team appeared first on Poets&Quants.