Alumni Stories · Strategy

A family affair: Two generations of IMD MBAs

Lars Fritz and daughter Danielle say the IMD MBA launched their international careers
February 2015

“Even though we took our MBAs almost 30 years apart, my daughter Danielle and I were both looking for a unique top-level program with similar characteristics,” says Lars Fritz, an IMD MBA alumnus from 1984 who is now Vice-President of Sealed Air Corporation.

“We would both enthusiastically make the same choice again,” says Danielle, who did her IMD MBA in 2013 and is now Brand Manager at Spanish wine-maker Freixenet.

The main draws of the IMD MBA for both Lars and Danielle, who are Swedish and American citizens and whose careers have been based in the US and Europe, included the real-world curricula, and also participants and faculty from across the globe.

After Lars graduated with a master in engineering from the Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden, he worked at Accenture in Scandinavia before starting his MBA at IMD. Once he graduated from IMD, Lars worked for McKinsey & Co in Scandinavia and Boston before becoming General Manager and CEO of several mid-sized privately held businesses in the US.

Danielle graduated with an economics degree from the George Washington University in Washington DC. During her studies she spent time on projects in Chile, Singapore and France. Before beginning her MBA Danielle worked in the UK. After the program she took on her current role with Freixenet in New York.

Both Danielle and Lars were interested in an accelerated one-year program which offered more than the functional training of conventional MBAs. They also wanted great professional opportunities following the program to make the substantial investment worthwhile.

Danielle and Lars say their IMD MBAs not only springboarded their international careers; they also learned a great deal from their classmates, who had diverse personal and professional backgrounds.

“My IMD experience was transformative and helped boost my international career,” says Lars. “And what could be better than sharing such an experience between father and daughter?”

“IMD provided me with a foundation for further learning and dealing with complex managerial issues throughout life,” says Danielle. “I am very proud to be part of a family of IMD Alumni.”

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