Mark Loughridge (Nantes 1975-76) spent his entire career with IBM Corporation, most recently serving as Chief Financial Officer from May 2004 until his retirement in December 2013. As an engineering student at Stanford University in the 1970s, Mark was an unlikely candidate to study abroad for an entire year in France. That experience, however, would plant the seeds of cross-cultural understanding and problem solving success that he drew upon throughout his career managing a large multinational business.

IES Abroad: As a student at Stanford University, how did you choose the IES Abroad Nantes program?

Mark Loughridge: As an engineering student, it was difficult just getting through the requirements for the major. So, generally, people would go to an English-speaking science and engineering school if they studied abroad. Nantes was listed as an alternative, and I thought, “I'm only going to be a kid once. I should do something like this.” I never studied French, so I went into crash course mode and enrolled in a course d'etranger in Montpelier that was primarily for the immigrant population. It was six hours a day, and I lived alone behind this little tailor shop. My friends were all from the University there. In Nantes, I studied at the École National Supérieure de Mécanique. The head of the school was very nice and said, "I want our students to have the opportunity to learn English from a technical standpoint.” So, they gave me a job teaching English in the language lab, and that turned out to be a great way to meet everybody. 

IES Abroad: What the biggest challenge you faced studying abroad and how did you overcome it?

ML: I felt quite confident in my engineering and scientific basis of knowledge. I thought my challenge was going to be French. My French was fine. My challenge was math. If I had known this, I would have been studying more math. The French kids spent a lot more time on advanced math before they applied it to engineering. My ‘ah ha’ moment came in a class on advanced mechanics. We were using problem solving techniques that I wasn't familiar with so I couldn't get the work done. I was using these French textbooks, and I could not figure it out. The French terminology that I was trying to understand was called the vecteur propre. In the textbook, there was a footnote in German. So, I had to get the German textbook, and in that book it said the eigenwert. From there, I went back to English, and it was an eigenvalue, or eigenvector. This was enormous! Once I completed that loop, I knew I had to refresh all my studies on matrix mathematics and then get back to French! Now, I understood what the base techniques were and how to attack that knowledge base. This was critical for me. I needed these credits back at Stanford, and I had to stay on pace and maintain my GPA. I had to learn how to learn that subject matter much more comprehensively than I originally had thought.

IES Abroad: Was there a ‘cultural moment’ while in Nantes that has left an impression on you?

ML: One of the funny stories that happened in Nantes was when I taught this course in English. I was teaching the French students the same things that I needed to know in French, but in English. I needed to know that a vecteur propre was an eigenvector. They needed to know that same cultural translation. So, we worked on scientific terminology. We had a language lab that we did with headphones and tapes once or twice a week. My boss would come in and sit in on the classes. As a break, I found this old Arlo Guthrie tape and put it on instead of playing the educational tape, and the students loved this. I was in the front of the class with my headphones on, and in walks my boss and I thought, “Oh man, I'm going to lose this job!" But every one of these kids started going into their work as if they were listening to a language tape and practicing phrases even though they were listening to Arlo Guthrie. They totally covered for me! And the guy never had any inkling that we weren't doing the English language lesson. The minute he left the room, they were all going, “yaaaa!”

IES Abroad: What skills did you take away from studying abroad that have impacted your career?

ML: If there is a skill that I rely on a lot, it is collaborative problem solving and having a comprehensive view of the problem. That is where I made my mark in my career, and I think I picked a fair amount of that up from my time studying abroad in Nantes. It was the challenge of learning subject matter that was a lot broader and more complex than I had anticipated. Although I worked diligently to prepare myself, I had to be adaptive and flexible. Initially, I didn't know the other students and didn’t have any friends. I couldn't go to them and say, “How do you do this?” They're looking at me like, "Who's this guy, the American?" The professors thought I should know this already, but I didn't know the terminology and the wiring diagrams. I didn’t know how you fit the stuff together. I can't tell you how impressed I was with French education and the student body. They were terrific. That immersive challenge involved backing the truck up to take a larger perspective on the problem and trying to figure out where your real deficiencies were and how to put those in a broader context. How do you find out the elements you are missing? Nobody knows everything. You've got to figure out where your limitations are. Often times, in problem solving, the fundamental challenge to begin with is figuring out where those deficiencies and limitations are and how to isolate them in order to solve them in a broader perspective.

IES Abroad: Does any particular situation come to mind that came along in your career where you used the same strategy?

ML: There are an enormous number of times in international business situations in my career at IBM where I had to look at broad collections of problems in many different countries and languages. That approach and technique of broader problem solving was quite valuable – looking at a problem statement and trying to figure out where you were not as equipped as you needed to be, and pulling people into those teams with the diverse perspectives and embracing that diversity of thought. Sometimes people look at diversity of thought and say, “Well, it would be good to be more inclusive.” More accurately, I would say, is if you don't have that diversity of thought, you are going to miss something. You're not going to have that skill group and ability to completely study and comprehensively analyze an issue. That's going to be the ultimate flaw.

IES Abroad: How important has having an international perspective been for you in your role at IBM? Can you share any specific examples?

ML: I had quite a big responsibility for a manufacturing site in Japan. It was an IBM plant, but it was a joint venture between a Japanese corporation and IBM at the time. To run through these meetings was pretty challenging for both sides of the table. Challenging for me because I’m trying to understand how the program is advancing and performing as well as trying to figure out how these two cultures are getting along and dealing with each other. They're trying to understand me and how I'm perceiving the progress and what my objectives are. Both sides had to take a step back and take a broader view of the objectives, and we had to not get trapped in literal translations of the language. I had a translator and they had a translator. Translators won't pick up the real intent. It was a similar kind of a challenge.

In the context that the big international global companies are working in today, you have to be able to see the other cultural perspective and viewpoints at the table. Having had the experience of being the foreigner at the table and grappling with that improves your ability to understand and collaborate with groups. You are better able to put yourself in their shoes. You may think you are communicating well, but you probably are not expressing yourself as broadly as you need to. It takes a really broad-based collaborative perspective at the table to work through these situations and maintain a level of trust and confidence so that everybody is understanding the true meaning underneath the discussion.

I do think those skills you get early on in your education process play an important role as you go through your career. You learn to better understand those challenges in those cultural perspectives. I don't think I ever would have appreciated how difficult it was to go to a foreign country and study at a university in a different language had I not faced that challenge myself. It’s not so easy. There are a lot of challenges within that context that you don't anticipate and expect. And some of those things can be huge roadblocks. If you get to that point where, “What does a vecteur propre mean?” You're done! You’re going to fail the class!

IES Abroad: What advice would you give today's college student about study abroad?

ML: I often feel that students in the U.S. are in that mindset that we have the best university system. And we do have a great university system here. But going to a university system in another country has tremendous value, as you will see things that you would not have seen if you just stayed within the U.S. structure. You are selling yourself short if you don't find some avenue to experience that. For the student in the U.S. that has that experience abroad, it is easy to say you gain a global appreciation, but it’s a lot deeper than that. Look at how they systematically manage that – how they acquire skills, how they collaborate across their cultures, how they interface with different cultures. And it’s not just the language, it’s a lot deeper than the language – there are many layers behind that. The language is kind of the door that you have to go through, but you really have to work the other layers. It’s of huge value!

From a small town in Pennsylvania to Beijing in 1993, then with a population of nearly 12 million, Christy Rupert Shibata studied abroad to learn Mandarin Chinese, high adventure, and something about her family heritage. After graduating from Bucknell University with a degree in Computer Science, Christy went on to work for General Electric where she spent five years in Tokyo as CFO of GE Healthcare. Now, as CFO of Cable Entertainment at NBCUniversal, her career aspirations have remained razor focused, and the skills she took away from study abroad have impacted her personal and professional life all along the way.

IES Abroad: Why did you choose to study abroad in Beijing?

Christy Rupert Shibata: I was born in Hong Kong and my family moved to the United States when I was a toddler. I wanted to learn more about my Chinese heritage and decided originally to study in Hong Kong. But at the urging of my East Asian Studies professor at Bucknell University, I decided to study in Beijing so that I could learn language skills that would reach a broader audience. My mother, who had never been to mainland China, was horrified that I decided to study in Beijing and told me I would have to wash my own clothes on a riverbank! That did not turn out to be true, but I was shocked when I came face to face with the biggest cockroach I’d ever seen in my life while making my first phone call home from the shared phone booth in the foreign student dorm. 

IES Abroad: What were some of the biggest challenges you faced?

CRS: I had never studied Chinese and my mother had spoken very little to me, so I arrived six weeks early to take an intensive Chinese language class. Beijing was a quaint and somewhat primitive city back then, and the university campus resembled nothing of my cozy liberal arts university in Pennsylvania. I was homesick and miserable for the first month, and then I came down with food poisoning and was in the hospital for a week. It was later on when I visited students in the Chinese dormitories (separate and apart from where the foreign students lived) that was my wake up call to how good we had it! Chinese students were packed six to a dorm room in half space I shared with one roommate.

IES Abroad: What are some of your most influential memories from your time in Beijing?

CRS:  My most influential memories were from times spent with other foreign students in Beijing. Not only did I befriend American and Chinese students, but Beijing was filled at that time with students from Japan, Korea, Europe, and even Africa. I learned about all of these cultures and made friendships that will last a lifetime. In fact, I met my husband, who was a Japanese student, in Beijing, and that’s the most influential relationship from my study abroad experience!

IES Abroad: In what ways did study abroad impact your career path?

CRS: Beijing showed me how to become adaptable and find ways to fit in. It taught me to persevere through adversity, play to my strengths, and come out stronger on the other side. In order to advance, I’ve moved a lot in my career, living all around the world and moving across companies and industries. In addition to my career, I’ve helped my entrepreneurial husband create and grow a number of new businesses. The skills I gained in Beijing have helped me to successfully adapt to change in my career and my marriage.

IES Abroad: How did you get started in your career and what led you to join General Electric at the outset?

CRS:  I was lucky to graduate college at a time when the job market was really hot, and I was recruited into one of General Electric’s entry-level training programs. GE attracted me because of its global presence, and I knew that one day I wanted to work abroad. I was given that opportunity on multiple occasions, working with GE in locations throughout Asia and Europe.

IES Abroad: After 10 years at GE, you joined NBCUniversal where you now serve as CFO of Cable Entertainment. What motivated you to change industries and what you love most about your job?

CRS:  When I joined NBCUniversal over 10 years ago, the company was actually owned by GE at the time. While the media industry is vastly different from most of GE’s other businesses, I was still part of the same company, and the transition was seamless. Five years ago, GE sold NBCUniversal to its current owner, Comcast. Despite that ownership change, the heart of the business remains the same, and I’ve continued to love being part of an industry that is so dynamic and engaging. It’s fulfilling when I hear a friend or family member talk about one of our TV networks or shows and to know that I had some part in bringing it to life.

IES Abroad: What advice do you have for students seeking to study or intern abroad today?

CRS: Just go for it! I remember ruminating for so long about my decision to study abroad – wondering if I could afford it, wondering if it would detract from my studies. In retrospect, my study abroad experience was a very short period of time in my life, but it was one of the best decisions I ever made. I did have to manage my savings account more closely, and I did have to study a little harder when I returned home, but I’ve never regretted it.

On his study abroad application, Sam McQuade explained his top two motivations for going: to purchase a Porsche at the factory in Germany and to attend the 24 Hours of Le Mans race. But studying abroad in Nantes proved far deeper than cars – it was a truly life-changing adventure. What he came back with was a French fiancée, a 3.9 GPA, and a Porsche 912 – experiences detailed in his memoir, There is a Road in North Dakota. After graduating, Sam fulfilled his childhood dream of becoming an English professor, but left soon after to join Xerox. When tragedy struck at home, Sam returned to North Dakota to help his father with the family beer distributorship. Now retired as President of McQuade Distributing Co. Inc, Sam reflects on his experiences and shares the inspiration behind his creation of an endowed scholarship for IES Abroad students in Nantes.

IES Abroad: How did you hear about IES Abroad and what motivated you to study in Nantes?

Sam McQuade: I am sorry to say that I never heard of IES Abroad or Nantes before studying there in 1967-68. It was during my sophomore year at St. John’s University, an all-male college connected to a Benedictine Abbey in central Minnesota where my mother insisted that I spend my college years, that I decided to study in Europe my junior year. The school had hired an old life-long bachelorette to oversee the French department and the study abroad program. She took an instant disliking to me when I submitted my study abroad application. Her first question: “State two reasons why you want to study in Europe.” I wrote: 1) Purchase a Porsche at the factory in Stuttgart, Germany; 2) Attend the 24 Hours of Le Mans. She insisted those were not valid reasons, but she couldn’t stop me because I had the requisite GPA and the letters of recommendation. She told me the only way she would sign off on my application was if I agreed to attend IES Abroad in Nantes, so I wouldn’t waste the two years I had already spent studying French. I thought, “What the heck? The 24 Hours of Le Mans is in France.” The rest is history. A year later, I returned with a French fiancée, a 3.9 GPA in French studies, and a Porsche 912 that I purchased at the factory for $4,125 USD.

IES Abroad: How did you change most during your time in Nantes?

SM: Quite simply: I grew up. Intellectually; socially; practically (as in how to make my way on my own); in maturity (I was engaged to a beautiful French girl). The hardest part in spending a year in Europe, mostly France, was the return to complete my final year at St. John’s University where my buddies only cared about watching the sports teams and getting drunk on weekends. I wanted better because I had known better and had lived more.

IES Abroad: After graduating, you taught English and Humanities at the collegiate level and worked for Xerox before embarking on a career with McQuade Distributing Co Inc., the beer distribution company started by your father. Why did you decide to join the family company?

SM: I am the eldest of seven. Two of my brothers were killed in separate car accidents, the first in 1966 when I was a sophomore in college, the second in 1975 when I was working at Xerox Corp in Denver. My father asked me to return to Bismarck, North Dakota, where I was born and raised, to learn the family business and eventually take it over.

Throughout late grade school, high school, and college, all I ever aspired to be was a college English professor. After three years of being an English professor, I decided I didn’t much like fellow professors, who struck me as sheep. I left my dream job to work for Xerox, where in one year I tripled my salary.

IES Abroad: Were there skills developed in Nantes that helped you to step into your role at McQuade Distributing Co., Inc. and grow the business?

SM: I have always been self-motivated, but in Nantes, I found I was completely on my own to make the very best out of my year abroad, which I was determined to do, and feel I succeeded quite well.

IES Abroad: You have had a successful career that culminated in transferring leadership of McQuade Distributing Co., Inc. to the next generation. As you look back on your career, what are you most proud of?

SM: I am very proud of what I accomplished with my education, which included my year at IES Abroad in Nantes, which was the very best, most influential year of my life. I am proud of my family and our two daughters, who are motivated, successful businesswomen. I am proud of how I transformed the business I inherited from my father to what it is today, now being managed by our older daughter.

IES Abroad: You have written and published five books, three of which detail your experiences traveling both abroad and throughout the U.S. What has writing about travel done to help you more fully understand the impact of those experiences?

SM: More than anything, travel has broadened my understanding of the many cultures I have encountered and their positive differences. We hear so much these days about “American Exceptionalism.” But we can learn a lot from other countries and how their citizens view the world. And we should. Everything is globalized. The sooner Americans accept the truth that we need to get along with others in a globalized world, the better off we all will be.

IES Abroad: We are grateful to you and your wife, Maryvonne, for your generous support in creating The Sam McQuade Nantes Endowed Scholarship in Memory of Mme Suzanne Hugues, that enables IES Abroad students to study in Nantes. What motivated you to establish this fund?

SM: My year with IES Abroad in Nantes, 1967-68, was the defining year of my life. Although I left education for our family business, education remains one of the most important things in my life. I am still studying and reading voraciously, mostly history now. I consider the Nantes scholarship to be my life’s legacy. I hope it will enable students to have the opportunity to live even a little of what I lived during that defining year.

IES Abroad: What is the one thing you learned while studying abroad in Nantes that remains a constant in your life?

SM: Be as open-minded as possible. Consider before deciding.

Sam’s books are available on amazon.com and Kindle. All proceeds go to a local summer camp for people with special needs.

Upon graduating from California State University, Beverly O’Neill studied abroad with her husband, Bill O’Neill, who was working on his Ph.D. For the young newlyweds, their first trip outside of the U.S. – to post-WWII Allied-occupied Vienna – was eye-opening and expanded their worldview immensely. After a 31-year career at Long Beach City College, Beverly went on to become the only three-term, city-wide elected mayor of Long Beach, California from 1994-2006, leading the city successfully through economically turbulent times created by the closing of the Long Beach Naval Shipyard in 1997. In our interview, Beverly fondly remembers her year-long experience in Vienna, including a short hospital stay where her brightly colored bathrobe made quite an impression.

IES Abroad: How did you choose to live and study in Vienna?  

Beverly O’Neill: My husband, Bill, had returned from the Korean War and was working on his doctorate at the University of Southern California. At that time, one of the requirements was that you had to know a foreign language well enough to speak, read, and write it. We chose Vienna and were able to attend through the GI Bill.

IES Abroad: What are the special memories you hold from that time? 

BO: Bill and I were both from Long Beach, California, and had never seen a coal stove before. Our house Frau in Vienna thought we were so dumb. Also, our shoes were not nearly heavy nor warm enough. But through it all, it was the most marvelous experience, and it solidified our marriage. We had only been married about two years, and it was the first time either one of us had left the U.S. My family questioned why we were even doing this, but it expanded our world and opened our eyes together. Every school vacation, we traveled together. We explored Greece, France, and England. Once back in California, Bill got his Ph.D. and he was a professor at the University of Southern California for 32 years. He was recognized as having had the most outstanding dissertation that year among his peers.

IES Abroad: What do you remember about Vienna in the mid-1950s?  

BO: It wasn’t too long after the war, and Vienna was still very poor. We lived out in the 19^th district near Grinzing, the grape growing region. The place where our group met to eat was nearby, and we walked to it. But we took the trolley down to our classes located in the Ring. At that time, Vienna was occupied by four different countries – France, Great Britain, the Soviet Union, and the U.S. Every month, it changed to a different country with oversight. So, every month there was a changing of the guard and the flags and bands playing by the outgoing country and the incoming one. When the Soviets were in control and the Americans were coming in, the Soviets often played very strong, pompous music as they left. When the Americans came in, they played a much lighter, jazzy piece. The difference between the two was striking. The center of the city was open to everyone; however, we were barred from going into districts occupied by Great Britain, the French, and the Russians. We stayed in the U.S.-controlled area.

IES Abroad: What were some of the challenges you faced?

BO: Neither Bill nor I had studied German before arriving in Austria. Living outside of the Ring, very few people spoke English there, and so that made it difficult for us in the beginning as we were learning German. I learned the basics for being able to shop and get around very quickly. Thankfully, most people were very patient with me! At one point during the year, I was hospitalized for three nights. It wasn’t anything serious, but what I remember is that everyone was fascinated with the bathrobe I wore. It was brightly colored and no one had seen one like that. They all wanted to model it!

IES Abroad: In what ways did study abroad change the way you think? 

BO: For me, the art history and appreciation classes I took were eye opening. I remember distinctly one incident while examining a large work of art at one of the museums in Vienna with my class. One of our fellow classmates commented to the professor that he thought the painting was too dark. I thought the professor was going to faint. He was clearly shocked that a student would say that out loud. I realized in that moment that we Americans came across as boorish, coarse, and plain rude. The professor definitely did not appreciate that kind of openness while examining a masterpiece. I also remember a lot about one of our professors, Dr. Wächtler. He lived with his mother and from time to time we would bring them a piece of Sachertorte and visit with her. A prior IES Abroad student from Texas had sent Dr. Wächtler a live Texas Horned Toad (lizard). He kept it in a glass enclosure, and because it was nocturnal, he turned on a small light bulb at night for it. This was special since electricity was very expensive. Our time abroad gave me a broader background and appreciation for the different cultures of the countries we lived in and visited. Overall, the scope of the world came alive for Bill and me. Without the kind of media presence we all now take for granted, our world previously was limited to the town Bill and I grew up in. The vision of the world and the knowledge we gained studying and living abroad impacted us enormously. So much has changed in 60 years!

IES Abroad: In what ways did study abroad impact your career path upon returning to the U.S.?

BO: I had a much better understanding of the world – people have the same needs.

IES Abroad: After a 31-year career at Long Beach City College, what prompted you to run for mayor of Long Beach, California?

BO: I was born in Long Beach and had an opportunity to lead us through many positive changes.

IES Abroad: What are you most proud of from your time as mayor?

BO: Transferring Long Beach from a Navy town to a town with a glowing future with pride.

As a competitive ski racer, Dexter Paine had been to Europe before but had never explored further afield than the ski venues where he was competing. Coming from a small town in New Hampshire, and attending college in a small town in Massachusetts, studying abroad in London was the first time Dexter set foot in a big city. From finding his own housing to traveling independently, Dexter became adept at navigating life abroad and grew comfortable interacting with people from different countries with new perspectives – a skill that has proven valuable in his career as Chairman and CEO of Paine & Partners, which invests in agricultural companies worldwide. Dexter also serves as Chairman of the U.S. Ski Association and Vice President and Council Member of the International Ski Federation (FIS). Read on to find out how an injury became an opportunity and why he believes study abroad is an essential component for all college students today.

IES Abroad: As a student at Williams College, what led to study abroad in London?

Dexter Paine: I spent all of my years growing up in a small town in New Hampshire and went to college in a small town in Massachusetts. I had never seen a big city, let alone lived in one. Living in a large, multicultural city like London opened my eyes to so many new things. I had to figure out where to live, who my roommates would be, where to buy food, and where to eat. As a competitive ski racer, I had been to Europe before for competitions, but I never got out of the skiing venues. We were in and out of locations without really having experienced them in any sort of immersive way.

Like many small liberal arts colleges, Williams encourages all of their students to study abroad. It was assumed that everyone would study abroad sometime during college. As a competitive ski racer, I didn’t think I would be able to study abroad for a semester. But then I tore a muscle in my leg and my ski racing days were over. It was then that I realized I could spend a semester in London. As an economics major, the IES Abroad program was a perfect fit.

IES Abroad: What are some of your greatest memories from your time in London?

DP: Having to find housing and figure out how eat were two new experiences for me. Of course, there was no internet, so we had to get the newspaper, circle listings for flats, call them up, and go see them. The flat we rented was heated through a system by which you had to feed it tokens for the heat to turn on. I had never seen that before! There was no food service or cafeteria as part of the program, so I had to figure out how to feed myself, too. We wound up at the pub down the street quite a bit; we were regulars!

IES Abroad: How did you change the most during your time in London? Did the experience shape the way you think in a profound way today?

DP: While I don’t see a linear connection between what I experienced in London and what I am doing professionally today, my experience studying abroad certainly opened my eyes to a much bigger world I never could have imagined if I had just spent four years in Williamstown, Massachusetts. London opened up for me what could be and what was out there potentially. The area of London I lived in had a large Muslim population even back then. Coming from a small town in New Hampshire, I don’t think I’d ever met someone who wasn’t of Judeo-Christian heritage. After all of the travel I did during my study abroad in London, I was comfortable traveling internationally and professionally working with people from different countries who have different perspectives. Our company invests in companies worldwide, and I can't imagine what it would have been like to create this company without the foothold I got that began in London.

IES Abroad: You have had a remarkable career as an investor in agricultural-related businesses worldwide, co-founding the first of two companies dedicated to this in 1997. What inspired you to become an international agricultural investor?

DP: I was very fortunate to have a wonderful mentor during my first job out of college at Bankers Trust.  She gave me the opportunity to get involved in investment banking out in California, and I have never looked back. From there, I found a partner and we started a private equity firm. Back then, everyone was a generalist, but I realized early on that it made sense to specialize. Agriculture and food are of special interest to me, and that is the shape and direction our company took.

IES Abroad: Were there lessons learned in London that helped you in the early days of your career?

DP: The skills of living and assimilating to big city life have been critical for me. I had never lived in a city before living in London, and since college graduation I have ONLY lived in big cities including San Francisco, New York, and Geneva, Switzerland. This has had a huge impact on me personally and professionally as well as on my family. Our family had an extraordinary opportunity to live in Switzerland for four years, and we all enjoy traveling all over the world.

IES Abroad: The global food industry is changing remarkably fast, with food preferences shifting as people are exposed to foods from other geographies, focusing more on healthy food, reacting to the benefits and concerns of genetically modified foods, and other forces. How do you and your colleagues anticipate these changes?

DP: Our company is primarily focused on investing in companies that feed people all over the world – companies that are focused on ensuring a stable, global food supply to those who need it. For example, our companies are involved with seed production, drip irrigation systems, and pest control. Here in the U.S., our food interests are dramatically different from most of the rest of world where the concern is having enough food to eat. I’m pleased to be able to play a role in ensuring that millions around the world have safe food to eat through research, technology, and sustainable practices in the agricultural sector.

IES Abroad: You also serve as Board Chair of the U.S. Ski Association and are Vice President and Council Member of the International Ski Federation. Tell us about your roles with these two organizations.

DP: As an athlete and former competitive ski racer, it is a real privilege to serve as Chairman of the U.S. Ski Association and as a member of the International Ski Federation, two organizations that are close to my heart. Skiing has been a lifelong passion for me.

IES Abroad: What advice do you have for students who are considering studying or interning abroad?

DP: Study abroad is an essential component of getting a college education today. I encourage every student, to the extent they can, to study abroad, get outside of the United States, and see our country the way people see it from other countries. The perspective that today’s students can gain from study abroad is a requirement to compete in today’s global job market. I can’t think of anyone who works at our company who does not enjoy and have a passion for traveling internationally, as well as understanding people from other cultures and backgrounds. That is essential for anyone who works here.

Eager to learn about the world, Michael Isikoff left the U.S. for the first time to study abroad in Durham, England. Traveling extensively throughout Europe – including seeing first-hand the contrasts between East and West Germany – put the Cold War into context for the budding journalist, who would later receive critical acclaim for his coverage of breaking stories from the Monica Lewinsky scandal to the war on terror. Today, after spending his career with The Washington Post, Newsweek, and NBC News, Michael is Chief Investigative Correspondent for Yahoo News. Learn how study abroad deepened his interest in international relations and politics and how it has influenced his career as a journalist ever since.

IES Abroad: As a student at Washington University, what led you to study abroad in Durham?

Michael Isikoff: First and foremost, I was looking for an adventure and excitement and to learn about the world. I had never been to Europe, and study abroad seemed like a great opportunity. I was a history major at Washington University in St. Louis, and what really intrigued me about IES Abroad was the ability to use the opportunity as a springboard to travel throughout Europe. I wanted to take full advantage of that. In Durham, I lived in Castle College and ate my meals in the college, which was built by Normans who came over with William the Conqueror in the eleventh century, just opposite one of the truly magnificent cathedrals in the British Isles. I was steeped in British history, and the opportunity to see the world – to see Europe from both East and West – is something I cherish.

IES Abroad: What are some of your greatest memories from your time in Durham?

MI: I loved it. First of all, it was a great group in 1972-73. We bonded right away, and many of us have stayed friends throughout the decades since. There were even a few marriages that resulted from that group. Our leader, Professor Scooner, was a somewhat eccentric guy and an economic historian with all kinds of insights. He took us all around the U.K, and the most exciting part for me was traveling in Europe. We went literally everywhere in Western Europe for about a week each trip. It became the springboard for further travel, and I had some incredible adventures on those trips. After the first trip in December, I and a whole bunch of others hitchhiked in Germany. We all ended up with the same family in Germany and celebrated Christmas with them. They were the warmest family. We were sitting around the Christmas tree and went to Christmas services. It was one of those experiences that sticks with you. 

From there, a couple of buddies and I went to Berlin. We went to the Berlin Wall, hitchhiking through East Germany and through Checkpoint Charlie. We were in hardline, communist-controlled Germany. The contrast between East and West Berlin could not have been starker. The East Germans, still under communist control, had not rebuilt. We walked past the bombed out Reichstag near the Berlin Wall, and talking with the East Germans was just unbelievable for a kid who had grown up in the Cold War era. Someone pointed out where Hitler’s bunker had been. We went over there, and an East German tank rolled up with machine gun wielding soldiers barking at us to get away. For me, intellectually, that was the highlight of the trip and maybe my whole time there. I had never experienced anything like that.

IES Abroad: What inspired you to become a journalist? Did your experience in Durham influence your career path or type of journalism you wanted to pursue?

MI: The Brits are great writers. I probably knew that I wanted to be a journalist when I was in Durham, but I hadn’t made a definitive decision about career choice. I was editor of my school paper at Washington University during my sophomore year and was always a political junkie, so I knew that I was interested in journalism. For me, it was the speakers who would come, hanging out at the Shakespeare Pub where we’d gather, and just the whole experience of being there. It was a big growth year for me, becoming cosmopolitan with all of the travel. One of the countries that I hadn’t visited with the program was Spain. After the term ended, a British buddy and I went to Spain. We went to Pamplona and ran with the bulls. I came pretty close to being gored. I was determined to run with the bulls, having been steeped in Hemmingway. After the run, I made it to a small side street, which is on the way to the big stadium. I leapt up onto a railing to let the bulls pass and then jumped down when I thought the last bull had passed. My jumping down had distracted a bull, and we were eye to eye, me and the bull, and I could see my life flashing before my eyes. Mercifully, a Spaniard nearby had a rolled up newspaper and whacked the bull, and he ran off. My life was saved by a newspaper, and this inspired me to become a newspaper person.

IES Abroad: Were there lessons learned in Durham that helped you in the early days of your career?

MI: Studying abroad was certainly a formative experience for me. It incited my interest in the world, world travel, international relations, and politics, all of which factored into my career choice as a journalist and all I have done since.

IES Abroad: You are now the Chief Investigative Correspondent for Yahoo News after a career at NBC News, The Washington Post, and Newsweek. What motivated your move to a digital media outlet?

MI: The media has changed so rapidly and so much. The distinctions among the outlets have become less and less. We are all multi-platformed actors these days. I write. I go on TV. I do videos. I go deep into stories. At Yahoo, I do all of the above. More and more, at other news outlets, people are doing the same thing. Everybody writes for online. The world has changed. Yahoo is a great platform. Having come from network TV, I still enjoy doing news videos.

IES Abroad: Looking back at the stories you have broken and reported on over the course of your career, what are you most proud of?

MI: I’ve written a couple of books that have been best-sellers, so I’m very proud of the books I’ve written – Uncovering Clinton: A Reporter's Story, about my experiences during the Clinton era, and Hubris: The Inside Story of Spin, Scandal, and the Selling of the Iraq War, about the Bush Administration’s decision to go to war in Iraq. The thing that I am most proud of this past year is a documentary I did that has gotten a lot of attention, Uniquely Nasty: The U.S. Government’s War on Gays. It is an historical documentary about the persecution of gays by the federal government. It has some really fascinating material, documents that have not been seen before, and I was able to use my investigative talents.

Obviously, I have broken a lot of stories from the Monica Lewinsky story to stories on the war on terror, stories on the use of torture and “enhanced interrogation techniques.” I don’t know that I would pick any one of these as the most rewarding. You know, I’m an old newspaper guy. The thrill of the scoop is what always got my adrenalin going. I remember my first real newspaper job was with the Washington Star, the afternoon paper. I was a young reporter covering Prince George County, one of the suburbs here [in the D.C. area], and I had the scoop on a sleazy land deal that the county executive from Prince George County was involved in. It was my first big story at the Washington Star. It didn’t count, though, unless the Washington Post then chased the story. That would be when it was ratified as a totally worthy scoop. I was sitting at a dive bar with a group of buddies, and the early morning edition of the Washington Post was slapped onto the bar. I grabbed it, and there on the front page, they were chasing my scoop. It was my most thrilling moment in journalism.

IES Abroad: How important is cross cultural competency in today’s world?

MI: It is one world. We are all connected. In a bizarre way, look at ISIS, which on one hand has this ideology and practices out of the Middle Ages, the most barbaric imaginable. Yet, how do they communicate? On Twitter and social media. How do they recruit? Using the most up-to-date encryption to avoid detection, the most up-to-date technology. People all of the world are using the same technology. It is a reminder that no matter the geographical or ideological barriers, we are all interconnected. It shatters all paradigms of only twenty years ago. When I do a story for Yahoo, the first thing I do is Tweet it. Within seconds, I get a ping that someone has read my story and is retweeting it. People are commenting on it. It is not anything that I could have imagined when I first started.

IES Abroad: What is one thing you learned while abroad that remains a constant in your life today?

MI: Talking and listening to others to get their perspectives is important to understand the world.

IES Abroad: What advice do you have for the students who are considering studying abroad today?

MI: Do it. Get out there. Travel. See the world. My advice is to take advantage of what is likely to be a rare opportunity, one that will stick with you for many, many years. It was a great year.

Always up for an adventure, when Kit Neacy had the opportunity to study in Vienna, she jumped on it. Recalling the “old world charm” that was so different from southern California where she grew up, Kit took advantage of every chance she had to travel throughout Europe. But every weekend she was in Vienna she spent at the Spanish Riding School, mesmerized by the artistic and historic style of riding so different from what she was accustomed to. Going on to become a periodontist while giving in to her passion for polo, Kit continued to travel the world in pursuit of adventures that incorporated her life’s work and her passion for horse riding. Having been to every continent, and well over one hundred countries, Kit learned to always say “yes” to a new opportunity to explore. An avid traveler, she only takes a carry-on with her anywhere in the world she goes, a lesson in traveling light that she learned during her semester in Vienna.

IES Abroad: As a student at University of Southern California, what led you to study abroad in Vienna?

Kit Neacy: A number of my friends were international relations majors. I did a lot of things with that group, and there was chatter on campus about studying abroad. I knew others who had done the year in Vienna. Since I had already finished my pre-requisites for dental hygiene, I figured I ought to go. There was a group of at least 25 students from USC. We got on the Maasdam and took it across the ocean for ten days. It was the probably the smallest ship there could have been for that kind of voyage. It was about as far from the types of luxury yachts that make that type of journey today. It was full of students who ran wild for ten days. I remember we hit three days of gales. That in itself was a great adventure. Then, landing in France before making our way across Europe to Vienna – that was another adventure.

IES Abroad: What are some of your favorite memories from your time in Vienna?

KN: The biggest impact for me coming from Southern California was being in Vienna and experiencing its old world charm – the wonderful things to see, all the music to hear, and all the great food. It was a whole new world. Then, there was living at 2 Rembrandtstrasse with a family in the former Soviet corridor. That area still had not recovered from Soviet occupation. I also remember standing in line all night to get tickets to hear Birgitt Nielsen sing Wagner, and then falling asleep during the second act.

When it got to be spring time, a friend and I would go out horseback riding in the Prater. And every Sunday I was in Vienna, I went to see the Spanish Riding School and got stehplätze (standing room only) tickets, of course. That was one of the biggest highlights. It was a whole different riding experience for me to see. It was not the world I had grown up in. I had grown up with horses and started riding around six years old, but this was different. The sheer beauty and the artistry was mesmerizing. And that wonderful old riding hall. I couldn’t get enough of it. A lot of weekends, we would take off for other parts of Europe, but when I was there in Vienna, I was always at the Riding School.

IES Abroad: What were the most formative experiences or classes you took while studying abroad?

KN: The art history class that I took had the biggest impact on me. Every week, our professor would bring us to the Kunsthistorisches (Art History) Museum, and we would have lectures there right in front of the amazing art. It blew me away.

I also remember taking a class from Dr. Ernst Florian Winter. He invited the entire class out to his schloss (château) for the entire weekend. He would lecture while we were there, and we stayed at his home in the countryside for the weekend. He was married to Johanna von Trapp, one of the daughters of the famous Baron Georg Ludwig von Trapp, the family after which The Sound of Music was made. It was just a marvelous country weekend.

It was also the time when they were filming The Sound of Music in and around Salzburg. One Friday night, we hitchhiked over to Salzburg because I had friends from school there. Needless to say, it was where and when I got hooked on The Sound of Music. It is my favorite movie!

IES Abroad: You have had a remarkable career as a periodontist. How did you become interested in this field?

KN: I started off at USC when I was an undergrad. I was a biology major. All these smart girls were going into dental hygiene, so that is what I decided to do. After graduating, I worked for a couple of years and then I decided to return to dental school. I figured I was just as smart as the dentists I was working for, so why not? There were 120 students in our class but only four women. Now, the dental school classes are at least half women. After I graduated from dental school, I worked as a general dentist for a few years before I went to UCLA and specialized in periodontics. I finally quit school when I was in my thirties. I think I made the right choice! I practiced for 30 years. I taught part-time and dabbled in dental politics. Now, I am in another phase of my career working as a consultant for several insurance companies. I meet people from all different cultures, and I get to see how they practice dentistry.

IES Abroad: Were there lessons learned in Vienna that have remained vital throughout your life?

KN: When someone gives you the idea to do something, and you get an opportunity to do it, you say “yes!” This independence I learned in Vienna was important. You can get things done. You don’t have to ponder on things too long, just do it. After I graduated, I wanted to go to the Far East, and my parents said, “No.” They said I had a job to do – “go out and work!” Well, I didn’t like that answer, so I went down to the local bank and asked for and got a loan for $1,200 because I wanted to go to the Far East. I went and had a wonderful experience. That was in 1966. I’m pretty sure the banks don’t do that nowadays! We went to Japan, Taiwan, Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines, Hong Kong, and Kuala Lumpur. It was eye opening. I still have that in me – that sense of adventure. I’ve probably been to well over one hundred countries. (I’ve never actually counted, but I should someday!) I have been on every continent. I went to Antarctica a few years ago. I am a good traveler and a good travel companion, no stress. I learned to bring just one carry-on bag with me anywhere I go in the world. I learned that, to travel light, in Vienna.

IES Abroad: You’ve gone on several service tours performing dentistry in underserved regions throughout the world. What are some international dentistry adventures that standout?

KN: I’ve done dentistry in Guatemala and other places. Guatemala was my first venture. I go to Guatemala with an organization called Faith in Practice to provide healthcare every year. This group provides one-third of the public health for the entire country. I started going over ten years ago, and it has become part of my routine. We go out way out into the countryside where people don’t have access to care. All we can really do is pull teeth, and there are more people than we can ever see. It is a whole team of maybe 30 of us including physicians, dentists, and translators. It’s an adventure. One year, we were stopped by protesters with machetes, but in the end, one of the protesters recognized a team member and let our bus go through.

I’ve also done a few tours with the U.S. Navy (USNS). There was one on the USNS Comfort in Nicaragua. One of my high school friends lived in Chinandega, and that’s where we went and did our dentistry. I got to fly from Chinandega to Managua in a Black Hawk with the doors open. That’s better than a roller coaster ride! I did Timor Leste and got helicoptered up into mountains and dropped for a week at a school, and we did our dentistry. I’ve also gone to Rwanda to teach dentistry.

IES Abroad: In addition to your work as a periodontist, you are an avid horsewoman and competitive polo player. Tell us about these interests and your recent horseback safari to Botswana.

KN: I have been playing polo for over 30 years. I could hit a tennis ball and I could ride a horse and I liked to compete, so I said I could do this [play polo]. It got to be more than a hobby. It is a passion. It’s basically a nomadic tribe of people, people from all over the world. I might be the oldest woman in the country playing (maybe not the world, though), and I have played some of the best women in the business – Sunny Hale, Caroline Anier, Kate Weber. Kate is also an IES Abroad Vienna, Fall 1984 alumna. I keep my horses at her ranch. She is a fabulous horsewoman!

My recent trip to Botswana was one of life’s great experiences. I went to Okavango Delta in Botswana for this safari where there are lots of animals. I was there for a week, staying in tents, though really we were “glamping” (glamorous camping). I rode 40 hours that week on horseback, going on both morning and evening rides, and there were two standout experiences. One afternoon, we were riding and came across a family of lions and the babies scattered off, and our guide’s horse reared and fell over backwards on him. He was able to hold onto the reigns and grab his rifle. The mama lion started to charge us, and our guide, Bongwe, shouted, “Don’t move!” We froze. Mama came close, within 100 yards, then decided we weren’t interesting and left. Then the next afternoon, we were out riding and all of the sudden a bull elephant charged us. At that point, Bongwe yelled, “’Run!” and we ran like hell as far and as fast as we could. Bongwe, he was an amazing rider and guide who knew everything about the animals. So, what I learned: when an elephant charges you, run like hell; when a lion attacks, don’t move.

IES Abroad: What advice do you have for students who are considering studying or interning abroad?

KN: You have to just go for it. If the opportunity is there, it’s an adventure. Go, do, see – and only take a carry on. Several years ago, a patient of mine was getting married in Kerala, and I was invited to the wedding. Of course, I said yes and went to India for four of the most amazing days. When Notre Dame played Navy in football in Dublin, of course, I went and wore my USC cap. Always say “yes” to a new experience!

When Louise Cord embarked on her semester in Paris, she didn’t anticipate that her host mother – a nun who ran an NGO out of her home helping orphanages in Vietnam – would change the course of her life. But seeing the inner-workings of the office and meeting people committed to the postwar relief effort sparked an interest in development that turned into a career dedicated to poverty alleviation. After securing an internship with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) with the help of IES Abroad, Louise went on to earn a Ph.D. from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. Since joining The World Bank in 1991, Louise has worked in Africa, Latin America, and Eastern and Central Europe in a variety of positions in the poverty reduction and sustainable development departments. Today, Louise is based in Dakar and serves as the Bank’s Country Director for Senegal, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Guinea Bissau, and Mauritania. Read on to learn how her study abroad experience helped launch her career in international development.

IES Abroad: Why did you choose to study in Paris?

Louise Cord: I always loved France. When I was ten, I studied in Nice with my family. My parents were professors and had taken a sabbatical year. I grew up in rural Pennsylvania and very much enjoyed the year I spent in Nice and attending 6^th grade in a French school. Almost ten years later, I wasn’t loving college and I was looking for another experience and opted to try Paris. 

IES Abroad: What are some of your greatest memories from your time in Paris?

LC: I loved living in the 7^th arrondissement near metro Duroc. I could walk everywhere and was in the heart of Paris. We were not worried about security in those days and would stay out late at night walking the streets of Paris, the banks of the Seine and exploring cafes. I made great friends and have wonderful memories of hopping on a train at the last minute to travel to the October Fest in Munich or take the hovercraft for a budget weekend in London. We would often study at the museum library in the Centre Pompidou where I would look out the window and see Sacré-Cœur and Montmartre and be inspired by the view. Perhaps most importantly, what I appreciated was the chance to experience life outside the classroom, outside the college library and outside small town USA. While I worked relatively hard that year in Paris – I also took time to explore the city, travel, meet people and play more – which ultimately helped me figure out much more who I was than all the time spent studying back at home.

IES Abroad: You have devoted yourself to improving the lives of poor people in Latin America, the Caribbean, Mexico, Eastern Europe, Central Asia and Africa. How did you become interested in poverty alleviation?

LC: I owe a tremendous amount to IES Abroad because that experience really changed my direction. I started out as pre-law and worked in a law library for our county judge in Indiana, Pennsylvania. I looked at all of the books and thought, “Really, I don’t want to study law.” The next summer, I took an economics class and discovered that I loved economics. I didn’t know what I wanted to do with economics. I knew that I didn’t want to go into business and make widgets. I had no idea where I was going. Going to France was a fantastic turning point in my life. 

I was assigned to live with a nun. I had wanted to be independent as I already spoke French and initially was worried that this would be a restrictive environment. However, Soeur Francoise changed by life. This was 1979, and she was working on orphanages mainly in Vietnam dealing with the aftermath of the war. She was running an NGO and raising money for these orphanages and engaging in the post-war international aid effort to help the country recover. The room that I had was part of her living room. It was partitioned with a plastic wall, and on the other side was her office. People were going in and out of the house, including many Vietnamese and public officials. She introduced me to many people who worked on Vietnam, on development and on humanitarian aid. I ate with her twice a week and the dinner conversations with her and her guests got me very motivated about development and Vietnam. This was particularly interesting to me because my sister was dating a Vietnamese guy at the time and was about to marry him, so I also felt that I had a personal stake in Vietnam. I had always known I wanted to do something that would contribute to making the world a better place, and that year I started to understand how I could shape my career to contribute to that goal.  

IES Abroad: Were there any other experiences abroad that impacted your career path?

LC: IES Abroad got me a fantastic internship at the OECD. One of the IES Abroad professors was able to place two students as interns with the OECD each year. At the end of the internship, I stayed on for the summer in a paid position. I worked with the Development Assistance Committee at the OECD. It was an incredible experience learning about aid and aid issues. I remember I wrote a paper about technical assistance and the challenges of building national capacity through aid – an issue that remains core to my work today. One of my bosses was from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, and I became interested in Fletcher and ultimately went to graduate school there. I remained in contact with Soeur Francoise for many years until she passed away. She came to the US for my wedding! I married a French man who was raised Catholic, and Soeur Francoise was the Catholic representative.

IES Abroad: You joined The World Bank in 1991 and have worked in Africa, Latin America, and Eastern and Central Europe. How did you prepare for each post and what are some of your most memorable experiences?

LC: The World Bank has been an incredible and rewarding place to work. I have had the opportunity to work with the Mexican government as they prepared for NAFTA and sought to remove agricultural subsidies and find instruments that they could help the farmers adapt to the new trading environment, to work with countries in Africa to support them to develop their own national poverty reduction strategies, to be one of the first international aid practitioners to go into Albania and work on agricultural development, etc. As a manager for the poverty team in Latin America for many years, we helped countries use data on household welfare to better craft fiscal policy and social investments to benefit the poor – it was an exciting and optimistic period of relatively strong growth in Latin America, coupled with falling poverty and inequality in the early 2010s and there was a lot to learn from the poverty programs of the countries. I learned Spanish early on during my career at the Bank taking an intensive course. However, the most important learning for me has come around management and leadership skills mainly developing an ability to empower teams to innovate and achieve results. 

IES Abroad: Tell us about your current role as Country Director for Senegal, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Guinea Bissau, and Mauritania. What are some of the most important projects are you working on?

LC: The five countries that I cover are incredibly diverse. Senegal has a long tradition of democracy and relatively strong institutions, but has struggled to achieve strong economic growth, with limited natural resources and low productivity in agriculture. The government has set its sights on achieving the high growth rates similar to the Ivory Coast. The challenge we face is understanding the political economy to be an effective partner to help the Government adopt the structural reforms in energy, agriculture, land, and transport that will help it achieve these higher rates. The Gambia and Guinea Bissau are both fragile states, with very weak institutions. Here the challenge is find how we can improve the living conditions of the poor – the majority of the population – and create the conditions for more inclusive growth, in the face of a political instability and a weak public sector. In Cape Verde, we are accompanying a small island economy address its high debt issues and explore a new development paradigm with a larger role for the private sector to help the country restore the higher growth rates and poverty gains of the decade before the 2009 global financial crisis. 

IES Abroad: Were there other ways study abroad also impacted your outlook?

LC: My experiences as a student in France with IES Abroad put a very human face on development. I learned a great deal about what was going on in Vietnam. It gave me a real concept about the challenges and made it very real. At that time, people didn’t travel as much as they do now. My experiences gave me a real appreciation for the challenges and the importance of tolerance. It was very important to me!  

IES Abroad: Having an international perspective obviously is critical in your role at the World Bank. What advantages do you see in study abroad for people who want to maximize their potential?

LC: Learning the language is critical. Knowing the culture is critical. You need to build the human connection. My experience as a student in France helped me develop that flexibility and create the ability to understand and respect other cultures and engage earnestly with people who have a different background – which is essential to my work today. We can’t help catalyze the policy changes I talked about above, unless we listen and seek to understand the issues from the countries’ perspective. I work in the public sector, but I would think this skill is equally as critical in the private sector. Also, it is so critical today to have an international perspective. It is a real plus as an individual and as a professional to have this in your toolkit in today’s world.

IES Abroad: What advice to you have students today regarding studying abroad or otherwise developing cross cultural competencies?

LC: Study abroad! It is such an incredible experience to get to know other cultures, to travel when you are young and on a budget, and to know and appreciate another country and people. Take risks – don’t only spend time with you fellow students – make an effort to integrate and to try understand the culture, the political situation and the socio-economic challenges facing the country and region where you are studying.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Defense and others have called him the most influential, important and “anonymous” Native American lawyer in America. Les Lo Baugh assisted in developing the first drafts of many environmental bills including the Endangered Species Act, Water Act, the Clean Air Act, the Federal Noise Abatement Act, and the Offshore Drilling Act. While working as a staffer in the U.S. Senate, he also worked on the National Environmental Policy Act and supported the formation of the Environmental Protection Agency, as well as other legislation. Decades ahead of the now imminent dangers of global warming, Les has spent his decades-long legal career focused on environmental and energy matters with several major firms and served as general counsel and chief environmental officer for two Fortune 500 companies where he developed their corporate environmental policies.

Read on to see how Les’s experience studying abroad in Vienna grounded him in a life philosophy that has guided his life and career for the past 50 years.

IES Abroad: Did anything happen in Vienna that shaped the way you think in a profound way?

Les Lo Baugh:  I came to Vienna to study under Professor Edward Mowatt and complete my Santa Clara University senior thesis on the work of Austrian-British philosopher, Ludwig Wittgenstein. Professor Mowatt challenged us to be responsible for our own value systems and made us internalize and wrestle with our choices. I took this to heart in my family life and my work. I believe you become what you do, my actions are my legacy, and I have chosen them carefully. I have been fortunate to be able to play what some people describe as an important role and have a significant impact on matters of the environment in this country and abroad.  

IES Abroad: How did you change the most during your time in Vienna?

LLB:  My father was a special assignment, military serviceman. Before college, my family moved around the world in several countries almost every year, and I had already attended 17 different schools by 8^th grade and 20 before college. I was brought up to be self-reliant and was somewhat of a loner. Vienna allowed me to reach out and make lasting friends and develop socially. In Vienna I became close friends with my roommates and enjoyed the unsheltered environment of Vienna where I was free to explore everything the city had to offer. Vienna also impacted my faith through my studies and life there. Before Vienna, I was a devout conservative Christian believer. I emerged as an agnostic, and eventually, I became compelled by Catholic mysticism.

IES Abroad: Early on in your career, you worked in government and came up with the idea of giving federal protection to all endangered species through federal legislation that was later signed into law. What drew you to this cause, and were there lessons learned in Vienna that helped you advocate more effectively?

LLB: The near extinction of the Bald Eagle and other birds of prey…Early in law school at Georgetown, I happened to be in a lobby waiting room and reading a “coffee table book” about these magnificent creatures. Someone walked up behind me and asked why I was so upset, and I told him. He replied by telling me that when you believe strongly that something needs to change, you have an ethical responsibility to work for that change. He happened to be a U.S. Senator, and our continued discussions led to an offer to work for him as his Legislative Aide and with the offices of four other Senators. One job responsibility was to draft any environmental legislation I thought made sense and give it to the Senator for his review. Ultimately, this led to a number of environmental laws in the late 60s and early 70s. In 2010, the U.S. EPA asked me to speak to its headquarters staff in D.C. on 40 Years of Environmental Progress: (1) why there was so much legislative progress on environmental matters back then when it seems little or nothing can be done now; and (2) how Native American culture and ideas have influenced the environmental movement. The 1960s and early 1970s was a highly contentious time in U.S. history; anti-Vietnam demonstrations; riots; march on Washington over the cost of foods; Cuban Missile Crisis and the risks of nuclear war; the murder of John Kennedy, Bobby Kennedy & King; etc. But concerns for the environment and safeguarding our only planet for our descendants was not a divisive, partisan political issue at that time. The Endangered Species Act was perhaps the most challenging from a process sense, but ultimately, it was passed almost unanimously by both the House and Senate.

IES Abroad: An expert in regulation and compliance relating to energy and environmental issues, you have served as the Chief Environmental Officer and general counsel for several Fortune 500 companies. Is there a specific role or project that has been particularly important to advancing sustainability on a national or global scale? 

LLB: During the period I mentioned above, the backbone of environmental legislation was enacted: NEPA; Clean Air; Off Shore Drilling; Water; Noise Abatement; EPA; etc. It was my privilege to be able to play a small role as a staffer to help others bring environmental stewardship into our legal system.

IES Abroad: What are some of your professional accomplishments you are most proud of?

LLB: Professional accomplishments would include the environmental legislation mentioned above, as well as restructuring several companies, almost 100 M&A transactions, various regulatory victories that made a difference, helping Boards of Directors and senior corporate management to fulfill their duties, the merger that created Sempra Energy, the restructuring of Niagara Mohawk Power and its acquisition by National Grid and mentoring some remarkable younger people. But my greatest accomplishment has been my wife and our family.

IES Abroad: What words of wisdom do you have for students considering studying abroad, particularly those from diverse backgrounds?

LLB: It is helpful to approach different cultures and people without the belief that the way you and those close to you know the best way to live, learn, act, and believe. Embrace the wonderful diversity the world provides and learn from that. It will enrich you as a person, release your creativity, and help ground you as an individual. None of us has all the answers, but everyone has some.

After spending a summer in France in high school, Mary Ann Peters knew she had to return. Immersing herself in France as a junior at Santa Clara University, Mary Ann developed a sense of adventure as well as cross-cultural communication skills that impacted her decision to join the U.S. State Department. Today, following 30 years as a career diplomat, including serving as U.S. Ambassador to Bangladesh from 2000-2003, Mary Ann is still making a difference. As CEO of The Carter Center, Mary Ann oversees health and peace initiatives in Africa, the Middle East, Latin America, and South Asia. Read on to see how study abroad impacted Mary Ann’s career path and why she believes study abroad is more important than ever.

IES Abroad: As a student at Santa Clara University, what led you to study abroad in Paris?

Ambassador Mary Ann Peters: One of the nice things about Santa Clara was that such a large percentage of every class studied abroad – about 17% or 18%, as I recall. So, it was something that everybody thought about. In high school, I had the opportunity – made possible by a wonderful nun who taught me French, and then got me a partial scholarship – to study one summer in France. I was in the Loire Valley for three weeks and in Brittany for three weeks. It was heaven, and I was sold! Then Santa Clara University made it so easy for me to go back.

IES Abroad: What one-on-one conversations, either with your Paris homestay family, IES professors, or with other French nationals in 1970-71 have left the biggest impression on you?

MAP: I remember one dinner with our family in the 16^th arrondissement. My roommate and I lived with a couple, M and Mme de Cenival. Monsieur de Cenival had roots in Normandy and his wife was studying to be a dentist. They had a dog – a real “chien mechant” who never seemed to remember that I lived there! During one dinner, either Laura or I used the word degueulasse – disgusting or revolting. Monsieur gave us a lecture about the fact that that word should not be used in polite conversation. We learned that the word for revolting was itself revolting! I also remember a conversation with a German student at the Institut d’Études Politiques, or “Sciences Po,” where I took courses. He spoke no English and at that time I spoke no German. The only way we could converse was in French. So, over coffee, he told me what it was like to travel around Europe as a German in the aftermath of WWII. He was regularly insulted and not welcomed anywhere. As an American, we were welcomed almost everywhere. This was a shock to me and gave me such insight into what it must have been like to walk in his shoes.

IES Abroad: You spent more than 30 years as a career diplomat with the U.S. Department of State, including serving as U.S. Ambassador to Bangladesh from 2000-2003. How did study abroad influence your career path?

MAP: For those of us at Santa Clara who decided to study abroad, the decision to go and the experience itself gave us unbelievable confidence. We were the ones who took the step into the unfamiliar. Simply by getting on the plane you differentiated yourself and made yourself the confident person you wanted to become. There was a great sense of adventure that colored that entire year. Immersion in another culture gave me a taste for what they now call cross-cultural communication. It gave me a taste for the daily excitement of noticing differences—big and small—as you walked down the street, ordered a meal, conversed with people, or visited their homes. The art and culture I learned were eye-opening, and I began to understand how influential art can be. And then there was the language, the sheer joy of being able to speak to people in their native language and read their literature without a filter. It is a huge privilege to be able to do that.

IES Abroad: How did you decide to take the U.S. State Department test?

MAP: After my year in Paris, I chose a graduate school program that allowed me to study a year in Italy through the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. I returned to Washington for the second year of the program, where it was more or less expected that SAIS students would take the Foreign Service exam—and most of us did. I was one of the lucky ones who passed and that would seal my fate.

IES Abroad: IES Abroad’s newest marketing tag line is “Save the World | Study Abroad.” At this volatile time in history and with today’s complexity of international relations, in what ways can U.S. college students studying abroad improve our diplomatic relationships? 

MAP: I love that slogan! I couldn’t feel more strongly about this. Study abroad is an eye-opening experience on both an individual and cultural level. On the individual level, you gain the confidence from losing the fear of the strange. Fear of the strange, the “other,” is plaguing our world right now. Anything students can do to prepare themselves to act not out of fear, but rather from confidence, vision, and strength can indeed help save the world. Study abroad is one of the best things students can do to allow themselves to live an empowered life, rather than one filled with fear of the unknown.

IES Abroad: Having perceived the world from so many vistas, in what fields would you most like to see U.S. college graduates apply their skills?

MAP: I would like to see more students going into economics. Although it is not a hard science like physics, there are some basic mechanisms that govern how economies function that are opaque to people who haven’t taken the time to learn them. I would like to see many more young people educated in economics working to help solve the problems of poverty in the developing world. And I think as voters we all need to understand economics. Our current affluent standard of living is based on trade, but not many people realize that. There is so much ignorance around trade. I worry that people who are against free trade because they believe that trade costs jobs will create a wave of anti-trade sentiment that could result in another depression. Of course trade is an economic, not a moral, imperative. Trade creates wealth, but it is up to our society to make sure that wealth benefits all of us.

Another area where I would like to see more students studying is foreign languages. Computers may be able to tell you how to say “I want a beer” in Japanese, but computers cannot create in you the understanding that learning and communicating in a foreign language gives you. Being abroad, whether it be around the dinner table with your host family or in the classroom, makes you bring your A-game as a communicator. When you speak a foreign language, you are working hard at getting people to understand what you mean, so therefore, you look for analogies and the comparisons. This becomes a habit in your communication skills, and it really does boost your game.

IES Abroad: In your newest leadership role as CEO of The Carter Center, where do you see you and your team having the biggest impact internationally?

MAP: I am so happy to see that students have such a wide range of study abroad options today. When I was a student, study abroad in Africa, for instance, was not an option. But Africa is where The Carter Center has its biggest impact. We work in both the peace and health fields; in the peace field on conflict resolution, human rights and democracy and in the health field on neglected tropical diseases and mental health, especially in post-conflict areas. The Carter Center also has programs in Latin America, the Middle East and South Asia, but we are most engaged in Africa. For instance, in Liberia, President Jimmy Carter played an important role in the post-civil war peace process and the election that brought Ellen Johnson Sirleaf to power and since then we have we have several projects to try to cement the fragile democracy there, and to bring much needed mental health services to people who have suffered both civil war and the Ebola outbreak. 

One thing we do is work with traditional or customary tribal leaders to mediate disputes and bring some justice to people with grievances from the civil war. When Ebola broke out in Liberia, The Carter Center was able to play a vital role using our network of local leaders to mobilize and communicate to their tribal members the best practices for keeping Ebola from spreading. We are also working in Mali, Chad, Ethiopia, and South Sudan on the last phase of Guinea worm disease eradication. This effort is spearheaded by the Carter Center’s recently retired Vice President for Health, Dr. Donald Hopkins, IES Abroad Vienna 1957-58. Both our health and peace programs work at the community level and empower local people. Those networks of trust were invaluable during the Ebola outbreak.

IES Abroad: Why do you feel study abroad continues to be as important for college students today as it was when you studied abroad?

MAP: Study abroad is even more important today that it was back in the 1970s. The wave of globalization which has transformed our world had not begun in the 70s. Globalization is not something you do or don’t believe in. It is a fact – just like the economy. It is not a moral fact. People have to put the ethics into the reality. Students need to understand more about that reality, how other people live, and what the options are for living in a globalized world and making it sustainable. We do some things here in the U.S. very well, but we don’t do everything as well as it can be done. I’d like to see students go abroad, learn, and bring back the best of everything. Whether it is a way of saving water in your household or a way of moving away from using wood fires in Africa. These are the kinds of things that will energize students who study abroad.

IES Abroad: What advice do you have for students interested in studying or interning abroad today? 

MAP: Stay as long as you possibly can. Talk to your college about this. Maybe they can make an exception. De-enroll, re-enroll. Do whatever you have to do to get out there and study abroad for as long as possible.