Arti Toshniwal
MAief, 2nd year
India

Originally from Kolkata, India, Arti Toshniwal is a second year MAief student at Brandeis IBS. Arti received her Bachelors degree from the Shri Ram College of Commerce, India’s top commerce institution, where she majored in Accounting and graduated in the top 2% of her class. Following her undergraduate studies, Arti attended ICFAI Business School in Hyderabad, where she received her MBA. Prior to coming to Brandeis, Arti worked at UBS as an analyst in the Investment Banking Department and as an Assistant Manager at Toshniwal Enterprise Controls. 

While at Brandeis, Arti has taken courses in Financial Theory, International Corporate Finance, and Corporate Fraud: Detection and Prevention. She is an active participant in many clubs including the IBS Global Markets Investments Club while also serving as the Vice President of the Asian Business Association. This past year, Arti also managed to participate in the 3 Day Start Up Challenge, an intensive entrepreneurial boot camp in which student teams brainstormed, assembled and pitched new tech-based companies over the course of a weekend. This Summer, Arti is interning at Cougar Capital, a real estate and private equity firm based in Waltham, Massachusetts.

A native of Lvov, Ukraine, Alexei Ponomarov earned his MBA from Brandeis IBS. At Brandeis, Alexei excelled in courses such as Financial Theory, Marketing Management, Management Communication, and Operations Management. He also participated in an internship with RISI, a bioenergy consulting firm, and a part-time internship at the Clean Energy States Alliance with Warren Leon, a professor at Brandeis IBS. Outside of his in-class work, Alexei was involved with the Marketing Club, Consulting Club, and Men’s Volleyball Club.

After graduating from Brandeis IBS, Alexei took a job with Transammonia, an international merchandising and trading company that markets, trades, distributes, and transports fertilizers and commodities. As a trader, Alexei’s job involves running the domestic operations of the ammonia business, as well as trading ammonia internationally. In Alexei’s opinion, the best thing about Brandeis IBS is that it prepares you well to adjust to the business world. Regardless of background or concentration, Brandeis IBS graduates can adapt, learn quickly, improve, and impress their supervisors along the way.

Thomas hit the ground running after coming to Brandeis IBS. He was a finalist in the annual Stock Pitch Challenge, a panelist during a discussion on global financial regulation, interned at one of the most profitable hedge funds in the world, and became Co-President of the Global Markets Investment Club (GMIC). Prior to beginning his Summer internship, he was selected as a Hassenfeld Fellow, traveled to Istanbul and represented Brandeis IBS as he met with Turkey’s business leaders.

An accomplished academic scholar, Yubing Cui represents the diversity of experiences and talents typical of many Brandeis IBS students. A very strong student, Yubing graduated near the top of her class in the Economics department at Shanghai International Studies University in China. She has interned at a number of reputable institutions including General Electric, Bank of China, and Boston Merchant Financial. More recently, she has been involved with the World Bank as a Research Assistant performing research on anti-dumping cases and global trade dispute trends.

A 2010 graduate of the MAief program at Brandeis IBS, in Fall 2010 Yubing was admitted to the highly selective PhD in International Economics and Finance program at Brandeis IBS, where she intends to focus on finance and possibly risk management. Yubing also works part-time in the Admissions Office at Brandeis IBS assisting the staff on numerous projects. We are fortunate to have Yubing at Brandeis IBS for another three years!

Jessica Stanford came to Brandeis IBS with an outstanding experience at the major international film studio Twentieth Century Fox. At Brandeis IBS, Jessica applied her skills in the areas of Marketing and Public Relations. She gained some valuable hands-on experience at The Boston Beer Company as a Public Relations intern, where she coordinated with non-profit organizations to sponsor and support charitable events with Samuel Adams beer and merchandise and where she collaborated with brand development and finance teams to execute marketing and public relations projects. Jessica was very active at Brandeis IBS. She was elected President of the Marketing Club and served as a Senator in the Graduate Student Association. She also kept busy as a member of the International Business Women Organization, International Business School Student Association, Soccer Club, and Photography Club.

Jessica is currently working for RSA, the Security Division of EMC Corporation, as a Product Marketing Manager. As new products come to market, Jessica works as the bridge between product development and sales. This includes being the voice of the customer as various features are being implemented in the design of the product, as well as training sales and producing marketing materials for the new job. It’s a challenging job, but fun and exciting and no doubt Jessica is up for the task.

Ingvar Sigurjonsson
MAief '12, Alumnus
Iceland

Ingvar Sigurjonsson received his Bachelor's degree from the University of Iceland, where he studied Business Administration and was the valedictorian of his graduating class. Following his undergraduate studies, Ingvar attended Cornell University as the recipient of a Fulbright Fellowship, where he received his Master’s degree in Mathematics. Prior to coming to Brandeis, Ingvar worked at Risk Management LTD as a Quantitative Analyst in Research and Development and taught theoretical calculus courses at Reykjavik University.

While at Brandeis, Ingvar took courses in Applied International Macroeconomics, Corporate Finance, and Fixed Income Securities.  He has also interned as a Quantitative Research Analyst in the Advanced Research Center at State Street Global Advisors. Now that he has graduated from Brandeis IBS, Ingvar is back at State Street, where he is employed full-time in the Enterprise Risk Management Department. His group is responsible for risk reporting and analytics for Securities Finance. He deals mainly with investment and liquidity risk stemming from collateral management. Invgar says of his Brandeis IBS experience, “besides making, what I believe will be, lifelong friendships at IBS and acquiring a solid foundation in both economics and finance, I also managed to hone my leadership, presentation and teamwork skills, all of which are absolutely vital for success in the modern business world.”

Lorena Cano Cuadra
MBA, 2nd Year
Peru

Lorena Cano Cuadra joined Brandeis IBS with outstanding experiences within the banking, retail, and telecommunications industries in her native Peru. A graduate of the University of Lima with a Bachelors in Systems Engineering, Lorena has worked at the Peruvian Telecommunication Regulatory Agency, at ASSENDA Peru, and most recently as a Senior Analyst at Scotiabank Peru and as an Information Systems Consultant at METIS GAIA. Her eight years of professional experience make Lorena a great resource for her fellow classmates at Brandeis IBS.

At Brandeis, Lorena’s focus is on business strategy and marketing and her interests are in consulting, information system, and e-commerce. This Summer, Lorena is interning at Accenture in Boston, where she is working at the Accenture Institute of High Performance on numerous projects including projects on the future of IT, Silicon Valley Enterprise IT, and analytics. Outside of her academics, Lorena keeps very busy at Brandeis IBS as an active member of various clubs including the Consulting Club, the National Society of Hispanic MBA Brandeis Chapter, the Technology Club, and the IBS Latin club.

Raya Milkovska
MAief, 2nd year  Bulgaria

Raya Milkovska arrived at the Brandeis International Business School with some exciting practical experiences and a strong academic record. Originally from Bulgaria, Raya attended Gettyburg College in Gettyburg, Pennsylvania, where she excelled as an Economics major graduating Summa Cum Laude. While at college, she interned at Open Minds, a Behavioral and Public Health Consulting company, and then later worked for one year at Liberty Mutual Insurance in their claims department.

Currently, Raya is in the second year of her MAief studies at Brandeis IBS and serves as a Leadership Fellow, a selected group of second year students that act as peer counselors, advisors and mentors to first year students. She is also very involved with the Global Markets Investment Club and the Consulting Club at Brandeis IBS. Raya also works part-time in the Admissions Office, where she meets with many prospective students during their visit to Brandeis IBS. At Brandeis, Raya has taken a number of finance courses including Financial Theory, Financial Accounting, and International Corporate Finance. This Summer, Raya will be adding to her professional experiences by interning at PricewaterhouseCoopers in Transfer Pricing at their Boston Office.