Meet the 2012-2013 Fritzky Leadership Fellows

Get to know the 2012-2013 Fritzky Leadership Fellows below.

Chris Fryday

Chris Fryday is a second year MBA candidate at the Foster School of Business. He is focusing on entrepreneurship and general management within the MBA program, as well as pursuing an Environmental Management Certificate in the UW Program on the Environment. He completed his internship providing financial modeling and budget forecasting for the NPS in Yellowstone National Park. Chris’s prior leadership experience included working as a Branch Manager for a major bank in San Francisco and later as a co-founder of a small business. He is honored for the opportunity to be a Fritzky Leadership Fellow to further develop his leadership skills and to mentor first year teams as they navigate their first year at Foster.

Yuki Igarashi

Yuki chose to become a Leadership Fellow to further develop her leadership skills specifically in the business environment. Her previous formal leadership experience includes captaining her NCAA division I gymnastics team and performing in a leadership position on the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee during her undergraduate athletic career. She is continuing to develop her leadership skills in the athletic arena in her second season as the volunteer assistant coach for the University of Washington women’s gymnastics team. Originally from Knoxville, Tennessee, Yuki attended Oregon State University for her undergraduate studies, where she majored in business administration. Prior to starting the MBA program at Foster, she worked in Seattle as a management consultant for a mid-sized consulting firm. This summer, Yuki completed her internship at Starbucks Coffee Company, where she supported the Americas Retail Single Serve team in a product management role, assessing international expansion opportunities for the VIA product line.

Vinay Sayala

Vinay Sayala has a Master’s degree in Electrical & Computer Engineering. He worked mostly as a consultant for seventeen years in various industries that include telecommunication, energy and insurance. He worked as a software development/analyst for eight years and then moved to project management roles leading several teams. Before joining Foster, he worked for a small reinsurance company in New York. His main role there was to improve their operational efficiency by strategically redesigning and rebuilding their critical applications. His main focus at Foster is to improve his overall leadership skills and explore corporate finance. Vinay lives with his wife and two kids in Kenmore, WA.As a Leadership Fellow, Vinay would like to be a resource for first year Foster MBA students and to develop and encourage their leadership skills. He would also like to take this opportunity to enhance his leadership skills particularly in the areas of coaching skills and conflict resolution.

Ed Chinevere

Ed Chinevere worked for a Detroit-area credit union prior to coming to Foster, where he applied his background in accounting and economics to identify and advocate for opportunities for service improvement. At Foster, he focuses on marketing and strategy and has had the opportunity to apply himself to that end via an internship working on a business plan, product design, and go-to-market strategy for a start-up in the field of evidence-based medicine. In the roller coaster of the first year of the program, he experienced for the first time the full extent to which a team of diverse individuals can pull together to generate innovative, creative, and high-quality work the likes of which none could do alone. His teams were greatly aided in this by their two Leadership Fellows, leading Ed to pay it forward by applying himself as a Fritzky Leadership Fellow for his second year in the program. Fun fact: he hopes to find time to work on his web comic where he draws pictures of birds suffering from unfortunate economic circumstances called “Birds in Hard Times.”

Genevieve Cohen

Genevieve Cohen is a former teacher who is focusing on marketing and strategy at Foster. She studied psychology and early childhood education at Duke University, and was awarded a fellowship to teach for a year in Brussels, Belgium after college. After returning to her home town of Boston, Genevieve spent some time working at a public relations firm before returning to the world of education at Tufts University, where she earned a Master of Arts in Teaching. This degree led to teaching stints in public and private schools in Boston and San Diego.Genevieve’s favorite memory is of her solo cross-country trip which led her to the West Coast. She fell in love with the beach lifestyle and stayed in San Diego for six years before moving to Seattle. It was the constant urge to change schools for the better that finally pushed her to apply to business school. Genevieve realized her propensity for leadership and wanted to equip herself with the tools to be a successful agent of change. She hopes to be in a management position one day, where she can help her employees feel fulfilled and valued as members of a team. Genevieve sees the Leadership Fellows program as the perfect opportunity to test her wings and grow as a leader. When she is not hanging out in Paccar Hall, Genevieve enjoys running, exploring the city, hiking, and just generally being outdoors.

Galen Smith

Prior to the Foster MBA Program, Galen spent 5 years in the lumber industry. His role for the first 2 years was Production Supervisor, fulfilling duties such as personnel management, policy enforcement, and process improvement. He then transferred to a new start-up mill to become the Quality Control Supervisor. There he implemented a new QC system, created and maintained spreadsheet databases, tracked key performance indicators, and trained and held employees to high quality standards. At Foster Galen is focusing on Finance and Operations to improve his capability in future production management opportunities.He chose to become a Fritzky Leadership Fellow to give back to Foster by providing incoming students the same support that he received as a first-year. He looks forward to using this opportunity to practice and develop his own abilities as a leader of people and organizations.

Matt Van Osdol

Before Foster, Matt spent seven years living and working in China. Most recently he worked in the Beijing office of the US-China Business Council, a non-profit industry association, where he advised US companies on China business and regulatory matters including industrial policy, intellectual property rights, and government relations.As a second year student in the MBA program, Matt is focusing on marketing. He chose to participate in the Fritzky Leadership Fellows program in order to give back to the Foster School by helping first-year students navigate what he found to be an important, challenging, and formative period of time in the program. He is particularly interested in furthering his own leadership development as well as identifying and encouraging leadership qualities in others.Matt currently lives in Seattle with his wife Wang Ting. After graduation he will join PwC’s Consulting practice in Seattle.

Sarah Jeglum

Sarah Jeglum is a second-year MBA student at the Foster School of Business. Prior to joining Foster, Sarah finished her seventh season as a wildland firefighter with the U.S. Forest Service, where she was part of the management team on a Type II fire crew. Sarah graduated from the University of Washington in 2009 with a bachelor’s degree in journalism. She is pursuing her MBA with the hopes of either returning to the journalism industry or entering the field of sustainability. As a Leadership Fellow, Sarah hopes to provide support to other MBA students as they navigate their first year at Foster, as well as to learn, grow and be challenged in her personal leadership.

Ryan Loren

Ryan comes to us having worked in Tokyo, Japan for seven years at Citibank Japan and the law offices of Allen & Overy LLP. Here at Foster he has several leadership roles including the President of the Global Business Association and is actively involved with the International Affairs Committee, in charge of career development.He is excited to be a Fritzky Leadership Fellow and hopes that this program will allow yet another opportunity to make an impact on others’ lives within the class of 2014.  Ryan is looking to apply what he learns in a setting that is conducive for trial-and-error, feedback, and to continue to adjust his leadership style that is most effective for him and the teams in which he has been chosen to lead.

J. Sloan DuRoss

Before enrolling in the Foster MBA program, J. Sloan DuRoss spent three years as an economic consultant for SH Brooks Co. helping private educational institutions with their enrollment and revenue prediction needs through econometric modeling and financial forecasting. Prior to that, Sloan spent eight years competing for the United States Olympic Rowing team including representing his country at the 2004 Athens Olympics. He also served as an athlete representative and worked with winter sports athletes at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. He is looking to combine the quantitative and problem solving skills learned in his ScB. in Mechanical Engineering from Brown University and the knowledge gained at Foster to pursue a career in Operations, Logistics, and Management.During his first year in the Foster MBA program Sloan was a leader of the Operations Club, made the national finals of the NetImpact Case Competition, won 2nd place and made the final in the Environmental Innovation Challenge and the Washington Business Plan Competition, respectively, and made the Dean’s list. He spent his summer as a Business Manager Intern at Amazon.com. During his second year of the program he is a member of the Honor Council, MBAA VP of Academic Affairs, Student Ambassador, Coordinator of the Foster Cup, and a Fritzky Leadership Fellow.He’s looking forward to making the most of this year, imparting the first years with his knowledge, and traveling in Europe before starting his new career.

Ryan Scott

Ryan Scott earned a Bachelors of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Florida, and a Masters of Science in Acoustics from the Pennsylvania State University. Ryan worked as a design engineer in the hearing-aid and headphone industry, bringing products from the concept phase to full-scale production. Ryan is also the co-founder and Director of Operations of Barrels of Hope, a non-profit that has developed a safe, affordable, and sustainable home for deployment in post-disaster zones and developing countries. After graduating from the Foster School of Business, he plans to work in product development and marketing as a bridge between customers and engineers.

Kris Weum

Kris Weum is a second-year MBA student at the Foster School of Business. Prior to joining Foster, Kris spent several years in the non-profit industry and a few more years in the financial industry. Kris earned a Mathematics and Computer Science degree from Gettysburg College and currently pursuing an MBA with a focus on marketing and operations. Kris is very honored to be a Leadership Fellow. He is excited to be a resource to other first year MBA students and looking forward to learning from them as well as helping them develop their own leadership skills.

Learn more about the Leadership Fellows program here.