Connection + Insight
The goal of the MBAA is to enhance the student experience by providing a platform to learn from experienced professionals and connect with students, alumni and community leaders.
MBAA Executive Committee
Jennifer Dye - President
Jennifer is a member of the Leadership MBA class of 2016. She received her BFA from Cornish College of Arts. Currently she works full-time as a Certified Business Advisor with the SBDC at Highline College. Previously, she owned and operated a martial arts school in Kent, WA. Seeing a need for self-defense training scholarships she founded a non-profit in 2009 whose purpose was to mentor and inspire at-risk youth, victims of violence, LEOs and anyone seeking empowerment and confidence. In 2013, she received the Kiwanis International Everyday Hero Award for her work in the community. Jennifer is also the 2016 Class Liaison for Leadership Eastside, a two year mentoring program dedicated to solving adaptive challenges on the Eastside. She hopes to leverage her MBA and her positive interaction with her cohort, faculty and the other members of the MBAA Executive Committee to further improve her management skills and expand her career opportunities with a socially-conscious, industry-leading organization. In her free time, she enjoys teaching self-defense workshops, dancing and attending her kids’ events and performances.
Nick Evans - Executive Vice President/Treasurer
Nick Evans is a member of the Leadership MBA Class of 2016. He has two bachelors in Mechanical and Manufacturing engineering from Oregon Institute of Technology which jump-started his professional career. He has helped bring power to homes while working at Portland General Electric, and making aircraft engine parts at Precision Cast Parts. Today, Nick is an electrical design engineer with work impacting all commercial airplanes at Boeing. He has paved the way for innovation and collaboration at Boeing resulting in several pending patents. In his free time, Nick likes to kayak the unexplored, crash remote control airplanes, and dabble in wood working, long exposure photography, and 3D print toys for his family.
Monisha Monikantarajan – Vice President of Marketing
Monisha is a member of Leadership MBA, class of 2016. Graduated as a Computer Science Engineer from Anna University, India, Monisha worked as a Systems Engineer in the software industry for two years. To hone her leadership skills, she was drawn towards Toastmasters International where she served as the Vice President – Public Relations for another couple of years. Monisha joined the LMBA program to refine her leadership skills while reaping the benefits of the professionally diverse cohort model. As the Vice President Marketing of MBAA, Monisha looks forward to creating a brand image and gaining more visibility for the organization through promotions on social media. During her free time, she can be found holding a paint brush ready to color almost any surface – ceramics to a pebble! Monisha also enjoys blogging, gardening and exploring the Northwest region with her husband when she’s not studying.
Russell Mahoney - Vice President of Networking
A native of southern California, and a non-traditional UW Bothell MBA student, Russ has nearly 25 years of aerospace experience at various companies including General Dynamics, Boeing and IBM in progressive roles including design, technical software sales, consulting, IT architecture and management. Russ is an alumni of the Leadership Eastside (LE), volunteers as, Director of Education at COE University, the Special Olympics, and an emergency/disaster responder for the Kirkland ARES and Boeing BEARS. Russ has been married since 1996 and has a daughter born in 2001.
William Colley - Vice President of Community Relations
As a member of the TMBA class of 2016 Will Colley’s outgoing personality is matched by his diverse and unique background. Born and raised in Houston, Texas, he received his undergraduate degree in Mass Communications: Radio/Television and Sociology in December 2003 from Stephen F. Austin State University. In July 2012 he moved to the Seattle area, trading in hurricanes and humidity for earthquakes and showers. Will’s business background includes positions in mass-media broadcasting, IP security, public education and various sales channels. Through the TMBA he hopes to acquire tools and perspectives needed to improve resource efficiency in new and existing businesses. After the TMBA program he is looking forward to applying his prior experiences, TMBA knowledge, and new social connections to launch socially-conscious businesses in the region. As Vice President of Community Relations for the MBAA he intends to facilitate new and extend existing business relationships with a particular emphasis on improving the university’s brand image and MBA graduates’ value to the greater community. In his free time Will enjoys multi-state road trips with his wife, Carolyn, and their two Schnauzers, Edison and Maggie.
Poonam Singh - Vice President of Professional Development
Poonam is a Technology MBA candidate at the University of Washington, Bothell School of Business. She has six years of work experience in national and international Fortune Top 100 companies. She recently participated in an MBA Summer Internship at Qualcomm (Forbes Top 20 Best Place to Work in 2015) in San Diego, California as a Product Manager which allowed her to put her MBA skills to work in a real-time scenario. Poonam holds an undergraduate degree in Electronic Engineering and Communications from Kurukshetra University, India. She has presented several technical research papers for the prestigious Indian Society of Technical Education (ISTE). Additionally, Poonam enjoys spending time working for nonprofit organizations. She has worked under the guidance of “Sakshi”, to investigate Indian employees’ sexual and mental harassment cases reported at Nokia Siemens Networks. Recently during her stay in San Diego, she worked for Digital Gym, a non-profit organization whose mission is to take back the alleys from crime by cleaning up and painting the walls to make them cleaner and more beautiful for the neighborhood to enjoy.
Leo Kim – LMBA First Year Representative
Leo is currently a first year student for LMBA Class of 2017. Before joining the MBA, Leo enjoyed both western and eastern experiences by living and attending schools. Leo was born as a Korean native in Seoul, Korea, then moved out to the States for middle and high school. Leo then came back to Korea to serve as a Korean Augmentation to the US Army, a 74 Bravo Sergeant in a signal battalion. During his times at the US Army, he received various medals and awards including Army Achievement Medal and Soldier of the Quarter award. After his service, he attended Sophia University in Japan as a Liberal Arts major and got his BA there. Leo’s first job was at Goldman Sachs, where he worked as an Equities and IBD analyst to oversee transactions and clients. After a few years, he moved over to a gaming distribution company in Korea to pursue as a business development manager, where he signed major game distribution deals in retail, digital, peripherals and cloud worldwide. Lastly, during his times in life, he helped with his family garment trading business as a sales manager located in China, Korea and Indonesia. Leo’s core strength lies on diversity of both culture and industry backgrounds with fluency in English, Korean, Japanese and minor fluency in Chinese and Spanish. Outside of his work and education, he is known as an electronic gadget guru, an early adopter and an influential of a new technology.
Ashwini Koppal Manjunatha - TMBA First Year Representative
(Ash) is a member of the TMBA Class of 2017. She holds an undergraduate degree in Engineering and worked for two years as a Software Engineer at Robert Bosch Business and Engineering Solutions in Bangalore, the Silicon Valley of India before moving to Redmond, WA in December 2013. After relocating, Ash decided to explore unchartered waters and moved from the familiar and comfortable software industry into the challenging and unfamiliar automotive sales industry. Six months into the job and she realized that she loved selling. She is currently working in Technical Sales and Marketing at a security software distribution firm in Bothell, WA. Through her MBA, she aspires to grow into leadership positions responsible for making game-changing decisions. As a member of the MBAA, she is looking forward to contribute the learnings from her diverse experience, learn from others’ experiences and provide opportunities for collaboration and growth of the cohort by sharing engaging content and developing mind-churning activities. In her free time, she likes to paint, sing, dance and cook.
Jessica Cermak - TMBA First Year Representative
Jessica is a member of the Technology MBA Class of 2017. She is currently a Project Team Specialist for PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP in the Assurance Asset Management practice. She has a strong leadership background in Retail Management, Retail Operations and Professional Services. Her passion is in working with Human Capital and hopes to use her MBA to further her career in the Tech Sector People and Change practice. When not in class, Jessica enjoys spending time cooking, exploring Seattle and all forms of dance- especially Ballroom.