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Julien Villa-Massone '08/'09, France
“When I decided to transition from engineering to a more strategic position, I knew I needed a management degree. Because of my lack of work experience, the MS was the only program allowing me to transition. But my ultimate goal was Thunderbird's MBA. This is why I started it right after the MS.”


Julien Villa-Massone '08/'09

Julien Villa-Massone ‘08/’09 put a lot of energy into plotting out a professional career in energy.

Already holding an MS degree in engineering, Villa-Massone says he wasn’t content with simply building things. “I knew I wanted to have a global impact in terms of making the world a better place by focusing on environmental sustainability through energy,” explains the 24-year-old. “As an engineer, I could only design exciting technologies and products, but not influence industries in any way. The only way to have a real impact is to work in business.”

That’s why, in 2007, Villa-Massone enrolled in Thunderbird’s MS in Global Management program. “I soon discovered that my work experience of about one year did not meet the requirements for most schools’ MBA programs,” he says. “Only Thunderbird’s MS program allowed me to transition to management. I also knew that after earning my MS degree, I would be able to enter Thunderbird’s MBA program.”

And that’s precisely what the native of France did, taking advantage of the school’s Master’s to MBA option that adds only two additional trimesters of study for Thunderbird MS and MA graduates who want to earn an MBA. “The two MBA trimesters were made up of 30 elective credits since I had already taken the core courses. That meant I could pick and choose what I felt was important to me.”

Villa-Massone’s passion was, of course, energy. During the MBA program, he attended multiple U.S. renewable energy conferences focusing on wind, solar and smart-grid technology. “I also completed an internship with PowerWind, a German wind turbine manufacturer based in Hamburg,” he explains. “I stayed there for three months, focusing on market research and analysis.” Today, he’s in discussions with the company about full-time employment.

Villa-Massone says that Thunderbird’s Summerim and Winterim experiences provided further invaluable hands-on lessons. “Summerims and Winterims are not just a visit as a tourist; we actually learn about the business environments in these countries,” he explains of the trips he took to Costa Rica, Argentina/Chile and China.

Even though he’d previously studied and lived in Spain, Germany and Italy, Villa-Massone says Thunderbird greatly changed his global outlook. “After two and a half years at Thunderbird, I now better understand other parts of the world. This is due to interaction with fellow students who are from and have had experiences in every country, and also because of classes with a strong international focus.”

Villa-Massone’s hobbies share a similar international focus. In his spare time, he enjoys learning languages. In addition to speaking his native French, he speaks fluent English, and learned conversational Spanish and German through exchange programs in Spain and Germany. An engineering internship in Italy and subsequent month-long work trips for four years taught him conversational Italian, as well. “I even took two trimesters of Russian at Thunderbird, which is one of the three languages I would like to learn next, along with Chinese and Arabic.”

When looking back at his education, Villa-Massone says that his fascination with languages and cultures made Thunderbird the perfect fit for his global aspirations in the energy field. “Being surrounded by students from different countries taught me, over time, how to behave and interact, and what to expect. It will help me in the future, because my workplace is international.”