Full-time MBA |

Jigar Patel, a student in the Doctoral Program’s Operations Management department, was first attracted to Stern because it is “one of the few business schools that imparts rigorous theoretical training, along with a real world business perspective in the field of Operations Management.”

Lai Jiang decided to pursue her doctorate immediately after receiving her B.A. in Economics from Peking University in China. Several of her undergraduate classmates had selected NYU Stern for their PhD studies, so she was familiar with the School and was attracted to the diverse and international student body.

What drives Tatiana Iliczewa is not unusual among professionals: an ambition to do her job superbly and to be rewarded appropriately with growing responsibilities, compensation, and respect. She is well on her way to progress and advance professionally as Director and Senior Credit Officer in Institutional Clients Group, which is part of Citigroup’s risk management organization.

For many years, Stephen Hanson has brought stylish, popular and distinctive restaurants to New York as President of B.R. Guest Inc. B.R. Guest includes twelve dining destinations, with more on the way. Currently, the group includes Isabella’s, Park Avalon, Atlantic Grill, Ocean Grill, Blue Water Grill, Ruby Foo’s Dim Sum and Sushi Palace, Blue Fin, Dos Caminos, Dos Caminos SoHo, Fiamma Osteria, and most recently, Fiamma Trattoria in Las Vegas. Mr. Hanson’s dining rooms have earned a collective thirty-one stars from New York’s top newspapers and publications.

Liz Elting, Founder and CEO of the Elizabeth Elting Foundation, is a New York-based philanthropist and businesswoman, recognized for her outstanding entrepreneurship and focus on developing women business leaders.

Profiled in the December 7, 2010 issue of the NYU Stern Opportunity.

John Paulson is the President and Portfolio Manager of Paulson & Co. Inc., which he founded in 1994. Prior to that, Mr. Paulson was a General Partner of Gruss Partners and a Managing Director in mergers and acquisitions at Bear Stearns.

He manages approximately $34 billion in merger, event, and distressed strategies.

Mr. Paulson graduated summa cum laude in Finance from NYU Stern in 1978, and received his MBA with high distinction, as a Baker Scholar, from Harvard Business School in 1980.

Mike Nash, senior managing director and chief investment officer for real estate debt strategies at The Blackstone Group, joined that firm in 2007 to launch its high-yield real estate debt investment business. As the markets were melting down, it was a fortuitous moment for his debut, he said: “The crisis created an unprecedented investment environment, which is all you can ever ask for as you launch a new business.”

Kelly Kennedy Mack’s immediate goal when she was earning her MBA at Stern was to pass accounting. “I barely made it!” she confessed. That deficit hasn’t held her back.