Last year alone, alumnus Scott Krouse ’03 flew 250,000 miles and spent more than 300 nights at hotels. “Think Up in the Air, but with more interesting work, people and places,“ he says.
Scott Krouse lives in Dublin, Ireland.
As a senior associate with the Manufacturing, Transportation and Energy practice of the global consulting firm Oliver Wyman, Krouse has worked on three continents and visited more than 50 countries. He lives in Dublin, has offices in London and is working on a project in Doha, Qatar, in the Middle East. “Doha is a stepping stone to Europe, Asia and Africa,” he says.
Krouse, who majored in financial consulting and minored in Spanish and economics at SMU, has had to learn how to work with different clients from many cultures.
“No two projects are the same, and each one has its own challenges,” he says. “One minute you are working for a nonprofit to determine funding for a malaria vaccine in Seattle, the next minute you are estimating the financial impact of maintenance delays for a utility company in Mexico or determining a commercial strategy for a global airline in the Middle East.”
The son of a British mother and an American father, Krouse grew up in Garland, Texas. At first he hesitated to consider SMU because it was so close to home, and cost was an issue. However, the University’s offer of a Hunt Leadership Scholarship sealed the deal because it gave him the financial ability to attend SMU. “It also gave me something else that I desired – a chance to travel and experience the world,” he says.
Krouse attended SMU-in-Spain in Madrid. “The experience was as much about learning outside the classroom as learning in the classroom – the trips around Spain, living with a host family, day-to-day life.”
He continued to use his Spanish on a summer job with a Miami firm and while working one summer in Mexico City with his current employer.
Even though he lives and works more than 5,000 miles away, Krouse continues to maintain ties with his alma mater by serving on the National Outreach Committee of the Young Alumni Board. “SMU gave me experiences and friends for a lifetime and enabled me to improve my leadership skills and prepared me for a job,” he says. “Although I cannot be on campus very often given my location, it doesn’t mean that I cannot give back to the University.”
– Susan White
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