LIANA LOGIURATO – MBA Class of 1997 – Global Head of M&A, Syngenta International AG
IMD: Why did you decide to do an MBA at IMD?
LIANA LOGIURATO: Because I wanted to take a deep dive into more technical aspects of finance and general management. I wanted to get great exposure to not only the professors but also to classmates. I’ve always thought that actually the class participation was absolutely vital to enhance the learning, and I got great exposure to a great class of people.
So then, in doing the MBA, taking a refresher on technique but also different ways of looking at the world and challenges, I took the chance really to pick up a very international career and really drive it forward for a number of years.
IMD: What did you appreciate most about the MBA program?
LIANA LOGIURATO: Exposure to the faculty and to the class. I had an outstanding variety of colleagues and professors, and the interaction was actually very, very enriching and really vital to reshape me and allow me really to take the plunge into the real world immediately after.
IMD: What has been the impact of your MBA on your life and on your career?
LIANA LOGIURATO: Doing the MBA really reshaped me in the way I was looking at corporate life, personal life, interactions with people. And I felt it was a sort of “school of life,” to the point that actually when I went into investment banking, the hours were absolutely long but not dissimilar to the hours that we were actually working here at IMD in my MBA classes. The end-of-module exercises in the MBA kept perpetuating what it was in investment banking, but due to the fact that I’d had a wide exposure to very smart people here and challenging situations, that really allowed me to be effective in my role and also be effective not only in the role that I took immediately after the MBA, but also thereafter, in switching to even more challenging roles in different cultures, in different environments, in different industries.
Because at the end of the day, investment banking in M&A is very much linked to the clients that we’re covering. In reality, IMD I think gave me a lot of mental and technical and interpersonal flexibility in being able to be effective.
IMD: What is it like to come back to IMD?
LIANA LOGIURATO: It’s an opportunity to reconnect with former colleagues or former schoolmates, and faculty; to get the chance to look, through their eyes and through their careers and their personal lives, what they’re actually doing, what I might have done, what I could do, and see and be inspired by others’ lives and views. It’s a Great opportunity.
