Decrease font Decrease font
Decrease font Decrease font
Enlarge font Enlarge font
Enlarge font Enlarge font

Mohamed Abouahmed '10, Kuwait/Egypt
“I was looking for an online-distance learning program that was reputable. With the Thunderbird-IUKD program, both were ranked #1 – IUKD for its professors, and Thunderbird for its global business. It was the perfect fit.”


Mohamed Abouahmed '10

For more than five years, Mohamed Abouahmed ’10 led the life of a road warrior, living out of his luggage as he hopped from one country to another as an engineer for a host of multinational corporations.

“One time I traveled in nine days to four or five countries,” he remembers. “On one leg of the trip, we landed when there was little sunshine. I didn’t know if it was sunrise or sunset and couldn’t remember if I was in Dubai or Manila.”

Those cultural exposures – working in network operations for Pepsico Middle East, Emirates Telecom, ZAKSat and Nile Online – Abouahmed says, shaped his interest in the global world. He also was exposed to various cultures at a young age. Born in Kuwait, where he lived for his first 17 years, he is a citizen of his parents’ home country of Egypt. Soon, he also hopes to become a naturalized U.S. citizen, following his past ten years living and working in the United States.

“As I have advanced in my career, I’ve realized that technical skills aren’t enough to conduct business,” says Abouahmed, who already holds an MS degree in computer networking from U.K.-based Stafford University. “I knew I needed to combine technical know-how with business knowledge so that I can speak the same language as managers.”

As a network consultant engineer with Cisco Systems Inc. in California, Abouahmed is responsible for putting the “smarts” into technology. “I write intellectual rules for new products,” he explains. “Basically, a device will only do what you tell it to do.” The intelligence that is designed into the product to do those things is called an intellectual rule.

Looking to add hard domestic and international business skills to his hard-coding skills while continuing to work, Abouahmed found the perfect academic solution in Thunderbird and Indiana University's Distance Learning Dual Degree.

Already, Abouahmed says he’s using skills from his Global Negotiations class at Thunderbird as he works with a team in India, as well as with his own direct reports. “When I learn something new in class, I can generally apply it directly to the work environment. I use negotiation skills daily.”

While he’s enjoyed his technical career, the husband and father of three – two daughters, 12 and 2, and a son, 8 – Abouahmed has decided it's time for a change. When he graduates from the dual-degree program, he says he wouldn’t mind staying in the same industry or company, but perhaps with a shift in focus. “At Cisco, we have marketing engineers who have a unique skill set. They know management, marketing and business, and at the same time, they know technology.” This, he says, could be the perfect fit.

But he’s keeping his options open. Over the years, he’s received multiple offers of employment in Egypt, where he attended university and also worked for a year as director of operations with Nile Online. “If I choose that option, I’d look for an executive position.”

The 39-year-old believes he’s prepared for both scenarios, given his business education. “With the world shrinking every day, I think a manager without a global outlook simply won’t have the skills to do business. There’s no other business school than Thunderbird that can give that global perspective.”