Liam, could you briefly introduce yourself and tell us how you ended up studying at ZHAW?

I turned 26 this year and I’m half American, half Swiss. I was born in New York but grew up in Zurich. In 2019, I started my Bachelor’s in International Management at ZHAW and finished three years later. I chose ZHAW partly because I attended some info sessions and was really interested in the program content. On the other hand—though it might sound simple—it was also a convenient choice since the campus is close to Zurich.

Where do you work now, and how did you get there?

I work at RepRisk, the world’s most respected Data as a Service (DaaS) company for reputational risks and responsible business conduct headquartered in Zurich with offices around the world—including New York. We provide business conduct and reputational risk data, mainly to financial institutions. Banks, asset managers, and large corporations use our data to assess the risks of their investments and make more sustainable decisions. My path there was quite spontaneous: after finishing my studies, I wanted to do something in the U.S. I saw the job opening at RepRisk, applied, and after an intense interview process, I got the position.

How did you experience your studies during the pandemic?

COVID-19 changed a lot during my time at university. I was actually supposed to spend my exchange year in Australia, but due to the pandemic, I wasn’t allowed to enter the country. Instead, I took the Australian university’s courses online and spent eight months traveling through South and Central America—Costa Rica, Ecuador, Colombia, Mexico. That became my personal exchange year. Even with the pandemic, our class stayed in touch. In the final year, when we returned to in-person classes, those friendships grew even stronger—and to this day, I still talk to some of my classmates almost every week.

Which experiences or skills from your studies help you in your job today?

In my sales role, it’s extremely important to work well with people—from different cultures, too. I collaborate with colleagues from Europe, the U.S., Asia, and Latin America, and you can definitely feel the cultural differences. The coursework and professors at ZHAW helped me understand these differences—not just in theory, but also through case studies, group projects, and a study trip.

Do you have any advice for current or future students?

Sometimes life turns out differently than you planned—and that’s okay. After finishing my Bachelor’s, I applied for the Master’s in International Business at ZHAW, but I wasn’t accepted because of my GPA. At the time, that was disappointing. But just a few weeks later, I landed my job in New York. If I had started the Master’s in Switzerland, I probably wouldn’t be living in the U.S. now or working at RepRisk. So if a plan doesn’t work out, it’s not the end—there’s always another path.