Jennifer Spade ‘08 Jennifer Spade ’08 likes to think of herself more as a creator than a survivor — even though she experienced the telecommunications infrastructure boom of the '80s and '90s and watched the industry’s demise shortly thereafter.
Employed by MCI Communications Inc. for 14 years, Spade rose from an account management position to branch manager, executive manager and ultimately managing director. When the telecom industry began to lose steam, however, she didn’t have to wait long before being hand-picked by the CEO of CrossCom National Inc., a provider of in-store voice, data, point-of-sale and wireless systems and services. Organic growth strategies and complementary acquisitions were the tools the new chief business development officer used to take CrossCom National to the next level, despite the telecom industry’s failing landscape. “I was responsible for day-to-day operations, new business development, sales and marketing, plus the firm's overall profit and loss,” explains Spade, who also worked with merchant clients to customize retail point-of-sale implementations, transaction processing for credit cards and corporate payment systems. After a successful multi-year stint, however, the entrepreneurial bug bit. “Like many of my colleagues, I had a desire to live the entrepreneur's dream of starting and operating my own company,” admits Spade. “After establishing so many new relationships with prospective clients and creating strategic business partnerships and alliances in a Fortune 50 company, I felt as though I could be rewarded handsomely for doing this same kind of work on my own.” Spade’s instinct was correct. As the managing director and principal of Refinne International LLC, which she established in 2004, the business maven assembled a team of management consultants who regularly work for mid-market to Fortune 1000 technology, IT and telecommunications firms. Spade and her team perform preliminary M&A due diligence, market analyses and post-merger integration on behalf of their clients. In addition, they help clients address business intelligence needs and provide customer and market insight. “Since I began the EMBA program, Refinne International has reached its revenue and profitability targets, so we are in a position to take on prospective international clients,” explains Spade. “We are currently in negotiations with two companies that want us to help them expand their presence internationally.” Her goal in attending Thunderbird, despite already possessing broad management and business experience, she says, was to make a global transition. And although Spade is no newcomer to international business—having traveled extensively to Japan, Hong Kong, China, Singapore and South Korea when employed by MCI — she felt something was missing. “I was convinced that having a traditional MBA would not position me for the global opportunities that would emerge in the short- and long-term,” explains the eighth generation German-Swedish American of her choice to attend Thunderbird. “My professional goals after graduating are to either expand my existing management consulting business so that 20 percent of my revenues and profit come from outside of the United States, or sell my company and work with a larger firm to expand its business development capabilities both domestically and internationally.” The soft and hard skills she’s gaining at Thunderbird, Spade feels, are already making a difference. “It’s amazing how effective I have become by learning in the classroom one day and applying that knowledge the next,” she says. “I’ve been able to integrate material, cases and experiences into my consulting practice.” Always the calculated risk-taker, Spade says the decision to study Chinese language through Thunderbird’s program was wrapped in strategy. “Beyond the obvious global opportunities that will continue to emerge in China, I have always had a fascination about the Asian culture,” she says. “Who knows — some day, I may even live and or work again in China — so it can’t hurt to have developed some language and cultural skills.” |  |
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