Participants

 

Tusar Patel
Born in Jersey City, New Jersey, but spent most of my life in Clayton County, Georgia. I will get my B.B.A in Entrepreneurship & Accounting from Georgia State University in Spring 2008. My purpose in life is to help others on a massive scale. I am going to use business, and particularly money as a tool to accomplish this goal. I look forward to this trip because I plan to return to India to begin my mission. I would like to begin in India because it is home to 40% of the world’s poorest people. I want to open every kind of business imaginable, and make them superior to my competitors. I believe strongly in continual improvement and efficiency. I have been in the business environment all of my life because my parents are business owners. I have traveled almost everywhere in the United States, except the Pacific-Northwest. I have also visited Ontario, Canada. I am an athletic person because in high school I have been involved with track, baseball, & cross-country. I love philosophy and try to view things from every point of view. I try to approach everything in life using the Socratic Method. I am very thrilled & I hope this trip will set me up for future success.

 

Joi Faison
I was born in Cincinnati, Ohio and raised in Atlanta, Georgia. I plan to complete my undergraduate coursework with the trip to India and receive a B.A. in Economics from Georgia State University. Presently, I work as a legal assistant for an immigration law firm. My main interests include photography, film, environment, and health. Also, my family and friends add the very best to my life, as to be shown by the picture of me and my lovely two year old niece. I am positively thrilled about the trip to India and interested in the entire learning and cultural experience.

 

 

Laurie Efman
I was born and raised in New York in a suburb just outside of NYC.  I received my B.A. in Information Systems at SUNY College @ Oswego in upstate NY, and moved down to Georgia right after graduation to work in IT (which was booming at the time).  After the tech bubble burst, I went back to the company that hired me right out of school, InterContinental Hotels Group.  I was lucky enough to get a job in the loyalty marketing department, where I've been for 4 years now.  I am an Associate Manager of Member Communications for Priority Club Rewards (IHG's loyalty program); working in a job I love.   It is a global position, so this trip is very exciting for me - I can actually apply what we learn on this trip to my job.  I will finish my MBA in December 2007 with a major in International Business.  In my spare time I enjoy throwing pottery and have been doing so for about 10 years. 

Jamila Yancy
Hello, I am Jamila S. Yancy.  I was born in Minneapolis, MN; raised in Plano, TX; and have lived in Tallahasse, Somerset, and Louisville.  I am a current resident of Smyrna, GA.   I am a Compensation Applications Analyst at the new AT&T.  (formerly BellSouth) This trip is a great hands on opportunity to acquire knowlege about and understand a different world economy.  I am truly excited about the chance to go on this trip and I hope that I can use what I learn upon my return to work. I am a  graduate of GSU's J.Mack Robison College of Business;  I received my M.B.A. with a concentration in International Business in May of 2005.  My love for international studies started with my first international business class when I was an undergrad at FAMU.  In this class we were given a project to explore all aspects of a country and how that country's economy compared to others.  This was a great class, and thus begun my quest to know more about other cultures and countries. The desire to understand and the excitement about learning more aspects of international studies continued as I begun my program at GSU.   The opportunity to do an in-depth analysis of how well an international business would survive was presented several semsters into my curriculm when I took Professor Beach's Introduction to International Business.  Again, my idea of what the world look like changed. One of the things that I remember about the class is what we were told on the first day of class.  'Please remember: for everything you know and believe - there is someone around the world that believes the complete opposite.  Every moral and value you have - there is someone around the world that does the complete opposite.'

 

Erik Rostad
I was born in Minnesota and have lived in Atlanta for the last 13 years.  I completed my undergraduate degree in International Business at the University of Georgia and am now earning a Master's of International Business degree at GSU.  I just finished a four and a half year job working in the International Division of Russell Corporation, an athletic apparel company.  I traveled extensively to Latin America with Russell Corp.  I love to travel and learn about new cultures and ways of thinking.  My other passion is music.  I started playing the violin at an early age and have recently recorded for a Grammy-nominated Soul/R&B artist in the Atlanta area.  After this India study abroad trip, I will finish the MIB degree requirements by working abroad.

 

 

 

Chris Wassenaar
I was born in Toronto, Canada and moved down south in August of 1994 to attend law school. After graduating a semester early from law school in December of 1996, I moved to Atlanta to begin work with NationsBank (Bank of America) while I studied for the Georgia Bar Exam. After several years in litigation, I joined WorldCom and worked for them as a corporate counsel. After surviving multiple rounds of pre and post-bankruptcy layoffs at WorldCom, I decided to accept a similar position with SunTrust Bank in 2002. In January of 2006, and shortly after being accepted into Georgia State’s dual-concentration M.B.A. program in International Business and Information Technology Systems, I was promoted out of SunTrust’s Corporate Legal Group and into SunTrust’s Corporate Strategies Group where I am currently employed. My wife, Deborah, and I, live beside Atlanta Memorial Park and she currently works with Earthlink. I am really excited about the opportunity to travel throughout India; especially for the portions of the trip where we visit various Outsourcing facilities and meet with Indian businesspersons. I am extremely hopeful that this trip will help me understand more about the cultural nuances that have affected some of my previous negotiations with Indian Outsourcing firms.

 

Lauren Martin
I was born and raised in Marietta, GA., where I still live today. I am an accounting major at Georgia State University, starting my senior year. In August 2006 I finished a four year accounting internship at CDH Partners, Inc., an architectural, engineering, and interior design firm. Currently, I spend most my time outside of school with my precious nine month old daughter, Riley Grace. I am also the office manager for haulingfreight.com. I am really looking forward to traveling to India and the learning experience that this trip will bring. I think I this is a great way to start my business career.

 

Jon Gordon
Born in Ogden, UT, which usually requires an immediate answer to two questions: Are you Mormon? Are you into polygamy? No, and no. I went to undergrad at Weber State Univerisity and got a Communications degree in broadcasting. I interned at an NBC affiliate in SLC and turned that into a job editing for the news. I turned that into a photojournalist position at ABC in Grand Junction, CO and got to be a reporter, a weatherman, a producer, and many other things during that time. I got burned out on news and joined 4 friends backpacking Europe for 3 months. Soon after, I moved here and I ended up at Georgia Power as a multimedia producer. I spent 3.5 years there and left to take a Producer job in Georgia Tech’s communication department. I spent another 3 years there. It was during this time that I started thinking about getting my MBA. In the last year, I have been freelancing and running my own production business. I mostly do work for corporate and broadcast. What comes next could be a return to the corporate world, perhaps a media company, or further development of my business. I still like to snowboard, golf, ride my bike, play Poker, read, follow the market, and when I can, play video games. I tend to be flexible, autonomous, friendly, quick-learning, and intuitive. I maintain a good sense of humor, a love of travel, a sense of reason and logic, and an interest in many subjects. This trip to India will rock!




Barron Jones
Born and raised in Atlanta, GA.  I’m an accounting major at Georgia State University and am finishing up my junior year.  I started off at UGA but transferred after two years.  When I came to state I discovered that I really liked studying business.  I’ve got about a year to a year and a half until I graduate at which point I really want to take some time off from school and do some traveling.

Chris Knight
My name is Chris Knight, I am 20 years old, and I am a third-year and a Sigma Nu at Georgia State. I was born and have lived in the Atlanta area my entire life. I am currently a double major of finance and entrepreneurship at GSU. I have been working in radio in Atlanta for the past two years as an on-site producer/engineer for several stations including the Braves Radio Network. Music is my passion and community service is a big hobby of mine. I will do everything I can to bring my guitar with me because I don't think I could go a whole 2 weeks without playing it but I promise I won't be "that guy". I look forward to traveling with and meeting all of you!







Sean Cauffiel
The 1980s was the decade of Knight Rider, the Reagan Administration, the first home CD player, and the worldly ingress of Sean. Come 2005 and cloyed with routine back in Michigan, I moved to Atlanta to finish school and live closer to family. Although I work in diabetes research at Emory University, I enrolled at Georgia State this past autumn to study business economics. After graduation, I plan to teach English in China for a few years to see that part of the world and study China as a potential channel for business. While there, I plan to introduce and popularize disc golf, rock music, and dark Belgian ale. As shown in the photo, I sometimes don my niece Katie as a hat.








Scott Turner
"I'm not dead yet!" While attending a recent performance of Spamalot, I realized this hysterical Monty Python line also epitomizes my outlook on life. To better understand me now, a little history -- I was raised in North Carolina in the 50's with most of what that implies. Somehow I survived to adulthood despite the absence of seatbelts, bicycle helmets, gun laws, safety labels, nutritional labels, air conditioning, most modern vaccines, color tv, VCRs, computers and the Internet. And despite the presence of DDT, the KKK, race riots, second hand smoke and the Viet Nam draft. Shortly thereafter, I married, graduated with a Psychology degree from UNC Chapel Hill, started a career in computer programming, moved to Atlanta, put my wife through grad school, and had a wonderful baby girl. Frustrated with corporate life, I started Insight Systems, a software consulting practice with a spare bedroom and $1000 of savings. The company almost died when I divorced in '88 but eventually I got my act back together, remarried, acquired three great step kids and helped the company grow through the 90's to the point where it had 26 employees and $2.3M in revenue. The end of the dot com era, the rise of offshore development and a failed alliance with a major telecom supplier ended the glory days and removed all the fun from Insight. So in 2002, I sold the remnants of Insight to a partner and took a corporate job with Earthlink, a client for whom I'd laid the foundation of their business systems. Laying off most of my friends and leaving Insight left me feeling old and defeated but fortunately I came to my senses fairly quickly and realized that I might not be 30-something anymore but I certainly wasn't dead yet. I'll graduate with my MBA in Entrepreneurship 1 week before our departure for India and can't wait to all of the experiences that will surely be ours. Upon our return, I look forward to applying all my new knowledge, contacts and experiences in ventures to come -- for the best is yet to come.


Austin Miles
Hey guys, I’m an Atlanta native with southern blood.  I’m a senior and a Managerial Sciences major with concentration in operations management (I’m a sucker for efficiency). I love racing, in fact it’s the only sport I ever watch. I prefer motorcycle racing such as MotoGP, FIA, or AMA but I also love Formula One, CART, and Le mans. if you know anything about these then we’ll have plenty to talk about. I’ll pretty much have fun being a part of any type of racing (except NASCAR). I’d like to start a business teaching kids how to race because this is what I wish I had had when I was growing up. My biggest fear is having to work in a cubicle.  I love to learn how things work. Once I graduate from Ga State I want to become a certified mechanic, just for fun. When I’m not busy with schoolwork, you can find me working at any WERA race (Amateur Motorcycle Road-racing Association), Red Door Tavern, or Mood Lounge.

Joey Tomarchio
I was born in Gainesville Georgia where I have spent all of my life. I have attended college in Athens and in Atlanta, Georgia and both have been a good learning experience. This is my last semester at Georgia State University and I am obtaining my B.B.A. in Risk Management and Insurance. I plan on working in either the financial or risk management field after I graduate and then pursuing my MBA. I enjoy both water and snow skiing, basketball and I try to take pleasure in golf. I look forward to traveling with everyone.






Kenn Taylor
I know this should be about my accomplishments, but what do they really matter. I have owned my own businesses, hung out with celebrities, been on television in Japan, made money, lost money, laughed way more than I cried and I have been hit in the head a lot. So far it has been a really good ride and I can't wait for the next chapter and I think it will begin in India.










Joseph Vahaba
I was born and in Atlanta, and I have lived here for all of my life. I am currently pursuing an undergraduate degree in marketing, and plan to graduate in May of ’08. I have traveled to Mexico, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, The Dominican Republic, and Jamaica. I studied abroad in Israel my senior year of high school at Alexander Muss High School. For several years, I worked as a camp counselor with children who have developmental disabilities. I have also coached recreational sports teams with many of these same children. Recently, I have worked as a server and bartender at several restaurants in the Atlanta area. I am looking forward to India because I have never been in an Asian country before. I believe that by coming in contact with as many different cultures as possible I may better my communication skills in an ever globalizing business environment.

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