The Business of Writing - Lundquist College of Business - University ...

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f a C e of the fU t U re
From snorkeling for salmon to microloans for
small business, Monica Thilges brings a plethora
of experiences to her M.B.A.
StUdENt WEavES thE
PlaNEt INto hEr M.B.a.
When Monica Thilges left her small hometown in Minnesota,
she went with a vengeance.
the Peace Corps in Jamaica, a month in Mozambique, snorkeling California creeks,
and sailing from the Virgin Islands to Nova Scotia—those are just a few highlights from
Thilges’s past. Now 29, she is at the Lundquist College of Business for two years building
a career in sustainability, finance, and entrepreneurship. Her travels have made her want
to make a global impact. Her Oregon M.B.A. will give her the tools to do it.
“I decided I needed to gain more skills, so I decided to come to Oregon,” she said.
Her journey to Eugene wasn’t direct. After leaving Fairmont, Minnesota, with a B.A.
in biology from Carleton College, Thilges did environmental work in Jamaica and then
counted salmon by snorkeling the creeks of the redwood forest. When she injured her
back, she began work as a management trainee in the electrical wholesale industry. This
whetted her appetite for business.
Then, during a month in Mozambique, she was inspired by Bangladesh’s Muhammad
Yunus, the Nobel Prize winner who gave millions in small loans to the poor. So Thilges
went to work for ACCION Chicago, a nonprofit microlender to small businesses, but she
wanted to do more.
“When Monica applied to the Oregon M.B.A. program, what stood out most about
her—aside from her obvious intelligence and academic achievements—was her
commitment to socially responsible and sustainable business practices,” said Andrew
Verner, assistant dean of graduate programs at Lundquist College of Business. “She’s not
pursuing an M.B.A. in order to increase her earning potential. She’s looking for the tools
to do a better job at making the world a better place.”
Thilges just completed a New Venture Planning course, in which her team developed a
business idea around a company that makes bras and underwear out of organic cotton
and bamboo. The team won its first competition at UO’s Venture Quest.
She’s done an internship in Portland with ShoreBank Pacific, lending to businesses with
a commitment to sustainability. She explored business in China last summer on a trip
with the M.B.A. program.
Although she misses biology fieldwork, her interest in sustainability has woven the birds
and the trees into her business education. Her attraction to the burgeoning carbon trading
industry might mean a career that impacts the planet for years to come.
“You can go to developing countries and find projects that wouldn’t have been done
otherwise,” Thilges said. “A possible project would be funding a wind farm in China to
prevent the building of a coal plant.”