Will Alston
*** ******** ******, **********, ** *6605 203-***-**** **************@*****.***
Education
MASTER OF INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS ECONOMICS AND MANAGEMENT SEPTEMBER, 2016 KU LEUVEN
Brussels, Belgium
ECONOMICS AUGUST 2012 KEAN UNIVERSITY
Union, New Jersey
Skills & Abilities
MARKET RESEARCH
Trained with a master’s in business management at a leading European school (KU Leuven), I have collecting, analyzing, and interpreting data, and then writing practical reports. I have created several reports with teams that included thorough market analyses, controls, risk assessment and forecasting. I am a critical thinker and can be creative and forward thinking when appropriate. My training emphasized evidence based management, giving me a strong scientific approach for rational decision making. My classes gave me experience using multiple real-world simulations and business models, a significant amount of quantitative analysis applications, and provided a well-rounded view of business.
AUTONOMOUS STRATEGIC CAPACITY
With a keen interest in meeting objectives, I make excellence a priority in the endeavors I undertake. I have experience staying organized have been trained in project planning and interdepartmental operations. My intern work at the US Department of State involved extensive list creating, database management, and professional email design for events
COMMUNICATION
Clear. Illustrative. Useful.
TECHNOLOGY
Google Analytics, WordPress, SPSS, R, basic HTML and SQL, basic Illustrator, Excel, Word, Access, Outlook. An able learner with plenty of initiative
Experience
CHESS TEACHER SUCCESS ACADEMY CHARTER SCHOOLS MARCH 2013 JANUARY 2014
Students went on to win 1st place as a team for 6th grade at the national scholastic chess championship
Managed and motivated classes of children to think critically and learn the game of chess
Implemented leadership suggestions and contributed to team and chess program growth
Planned and practiced giving excellent lessons and activities to optimize learning
INTERN UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF STATE MARCH 2011 JUNE 2011
Designed promotional materials and information kits
Administered phone screens for potential interviews and gave recommendations for strategic connections
Monitored and assisted in the updating office’s social networking and .gov websites
Summarized meetings and events in written form to inform our office personnel
Assisted in brainstorming and developing office strategy and tactics, leading to several initiatives
Wrote first drafts and edited media notes, emails, speeches, and promotional materials
Created daily summary of latest press and sent this to myriad offices, including Hillary Clinton’s
Example of Research Projects
“Books and Choices: The Impact of Electronic Word of Mouth on Willingness to Pay” Purpose: To investigate the role of electronic word of mouth in online book selling. Included: abstract, extensive literature review, variables explained, hypotheses formed, methodology (experiment designed and implemented), section on validity and reliability, explanation of mathematic techniques, data analysis, results, conclusions drawn
“A Marketing Plan for Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group: Entrance into Vancouver” Purpose: To propose the entrance of a company into a foreign market. Included: market situation, situational analysis, marketing strategy, marketing mix, introducing Canada and Vancouver, Mandarin Oriental Introspection (SWOT and confrontation matrix), marketing objectives and strategies (target segments, consumer behavior, language analysis, direct and indirect competitors, product positioning, location and size, financial aims, after sales service, marketing control)
“Chipotle into Brussels: Expanding Integrity” Purpose: To propose the entrance of a company into a foreign market. Included: executive summary, company history, current snapshot, global market opportunity assessment, internal ability to internationalize, potential market to enter, understanding consumers, challengers and conclusion, internationally transferable firm specific advantages, strengths relative to rivals*, weakness *, home-base competitiveness, Porter’s diamond, expected costs and difficulties of Brussel entry, VRIO framework, international activity risk profile, foreign entry mode, entry mode dynamics, in-house vs. external party resource development, distance dimensions (CAGE)
“Food Price and Low-income in Developing Countries” Purpose: To examine the relationship between food price and income in developing countries. Included: mind-maps of information concerning approaches to research, an analysis of data in SPSS and Excel including categories of food prices and low-income country GDPs
“Critique on Shattered Economies” Purpose: To investigate the causes of economic failures and market inefficiencies. Regression analysis was done in Excel to study the relationship between excess supply and demand of unskilled labor and a country’s GDP
“Troubles of a National Debt” Purpose: To use historical data to perform a cross-country analysis of national debt, and to understand the impact of fiscal policy. Excel was used to plot data and generate charts representing correlations and trends
“Porter’s Five Forces Model Applied to The Bluestone Industry” Purpose: to gain experience in market entry analysis
Accomplishments
1st Place: continental class chess tournament, 10/10/11, U2000, Washington, DC, winning $2000
1st Place: 43rd Atlantic Open chess tournament, 08/28/11, U1900, Washington, DC, winning $1500
1st Place 42nd Atlantic Open chess tournament, 08/29/10, U1700, Washington, DC, winning $1200