Global Challenges in Business Capstone (Coursera)
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Mar 11th 2024
Andrew Allen
Hi, I'm Andrew Allen and I'm excited to teach this capstone course on Global Business. When I was 15 years old, my family moved from Salt Lake City, Utah to Geneva, Switzerland. I learned French, played European Football (soccer), hiked in the Alps and ate lots of fresh bread and Swiss chocolate. This experience changed my perspective and in many ways changed my life. I spent five years in Europe – three in Switzerland and two in Spain, picking up Spanish along the way. I loved traveling across Europe, learning about the different people and cultures – everywhere from France to Romania to the Netherlands. Since then, I have traveled and worked in countries such as Brazil, China, El Salvador, Canada, South Africa and Mexico. I love experiencing new people and new places. These experiences led me to get an MBA at the Thunderbird School of Global Management. Prior to my MBA, I worked for KPMG and Opportunity Fund in the Silicon Valley. After Thunderbird, I started my own business, connecting companies that needed help to professors and students around the US who could carry out projects for them, as a way for students to get real-world experience. I love the idea of learning by doing. In my opinion, there is no better way to learn. My passion for experiential learning led me to the University of Illinois, where I have spent the last 5 years. Until recently, I was the Director of Illinois Business Consulting, the largest university consulting organization in the US. I am now the Director of Action Learning for the College of Business at the University of Illinois.