Brandeis International Business School

Alex Pickett ’24, MA’25 was a freshman at Brandeis University when she discovered her passion inside the Linsey Sports Center.

Five years — and two degrees in business, finance and economics — later, Pickett stood proudly before her Brandeis International Business School classmates, reflecting on her journey as a student athlete and aspiring Wall Street analyst.

“Swimming taught me invaluable lessons about teamwork, perseverance, leadership and supporting those around me,” Pickett told fellow members of the Class of 2025. “These lessons will resonate deeply in the business world, where showing up, working collaboratively and cheering on your team make all the difference.”

Pickett addressed her classmates, professors, family and friends at the International Business School’s annual graduation ceremony. Two days later, 148 business school graduates from 28 countries received their diplomas at Brandeis University’s 74th Commencement Exercises.

“This is our moment!” said Pickett. “You are all amazing, intellectual, ambitious individuals who are going to shape the future and solve the world’s problems.”

After commending their academic and career accomplishments, Dean Kathryn Graddy officially welcomed the Class of 2025 to the Brandeis alumni community.

“To the newest graduates of Brandeis International Business School: you made it to the finish line!” said Graddy. “You now possess the knowledge, skills and experience required to launch successful careers — and to become principled, data-driven and effective business leaders.”

Five International Business School students were honored with academic and community awards during the graduation ceremony.

Zeyu He, MA’25 and Ben Chait-Walter, MA’25 received the Master of Arts in International Economics and Finance (MA) Program Awards for Academic Excellence, while Kathryn Messenger, MBA’25 and Sana Ijaz, MBA’25 received the Master of Business Administration (MBA) Program Prizes for Excellence in Business Leadership. Akanksha Majumder, MBA’25 received the Kate Goldfield Community Leadership Award.

Graddy also presented the 2025 Dean’s Medal to Peter Petri, founding dean of the International Business School.

“It is impossible to overstate Peter’s central role in the founding and growth of the International Business School,” said Graddy. “What Peter did was truly entrepreneurial. … He built something new and exciting and vital for our fast-changing, globalized world. And Brandeis University has been the beneficiary of that entrepreneurial spirit and that bold vision ever since.”

Graduates urged to dream big, embrace diversity

Competing on the varsity women’s swimming and diving team was just one of Pickett’s many accomplishments at Brandeis.

She helped manage stock portfolios on behalf of the Brandeis Investment Club and Global Markets Investment Club, serving as treasurer for both organizations.

She built up her resume on Wall Street, completing internships at Wells Fargo, CitiBank and BNY — and in February published a book about her experience.

After earning a bachelor’s degree from Brandeis last spring, Pickett enrolled in the Accelerated MA program at the International Business School. Eager to stay active, she even co-founded a new club swimming team for Brandeis graduate students.

“Coming to Brandeis, one thing united us all: the desire to do something phenomenal,” Pickett told her classmates. “We each brought dreams and ambitions to the table which are being honored here today as we graduate. What will we bring with us from Brandeis going forward? Brandeis has taught us about creating a collaborative and harmonious community coming together for the good of all people.”

Pickett said being immersed in a diverse environment like the International Business School will prove valuable as the Class of 2025 sets out to launch their careers.

“We’ve studied alongside future business leaders from Israel, Afghanistan, Pakistan, China, India, Fiji, Uganda and across the globe, all bringing new ideas and perspectives to business,” said Pickett, who will start a full-time role this summer in BNY’s Markets and Wealth Services division.

Pickett urged her fellow graduates to stay resilient in the face of adversity and to be bold no matter what they choose to do in their careers.

“This is not the end of our story — it’s just the beginning of what’s to come,” said Pickett. “Want to start a company? Do it. Want to take a chance on a new job? Go for it. Let ‘Yes, I can’ be your motivation.”

Petri, Gomes-Casseres honored: ‘A mentor and a model’

Dean Kathryn Graddy and Dean’s Medal recipient Peter Petri.

It was a full circle moment when Petri received the Dean’s Medal, the highest honor bestowed by the school he helped found in the mid 1980s.

So naturally, Petri reflected on the earliest days of the Lemberg Program in International Economics and Finance while addressing the Class of 2025.

In a moment marked by unprecedented economic turbulence, Petri urged graduates to embrace the changes that lie ahead.

“You’re stepping into the real world,” said Petri. “No more exams — except for life itself. We applaud you and know you’re ready.”

An expert in international trade, finance, investment and technological competition, Petri taught at Brandeis for 50 years before retiring in 2024. He served as founding director of the Lemberg Program, founding dean of the Graduate School of International Economics and Finance (renamed Brandeis International Business School), and later interim dean of the International Business School from 2016 to 2018.

When the first ever Lemberg Program graduates received their diplomas in 1989, Petri said the Berlin Wall was months away from falling and a new era of global economic cooperation was just beginning. “Hope was in the air,” said Petri.

Now, with that same system under threat, Petri urged graduates to embrace and defend the values of diversity, global partnership and the pursuit of knowledge.

“I believe that our values are shared not just by us in this room, but widely by your peers and others,” said Petri. “So as you enter your careers around the world, I am optimistic that the vision of 1989 is still alive and will still lead us, sooner or later, to a better, more sensible world based on cooperation and shared prosperity.”

In 2018, the university formally recognized Petri’s contributions to Brandeis by announcing the establishment of the Peter A. Petri Chair in Business and Society. The inaugural holder of the Petri Chair, Ben Gomes-Casseres ’76, was also honored at the graduation ceremony ahead of his retirement this summer.

A Brandeis graduate, Gomes-Casseres is an expert on alliance strategy and management. He previously served as the director of both the Asper Center for Global Entrepreneurship and the International Business School’s MBA program, and played a central role in the development of the university’s undergraduate Business program.

“To me personally, Ben has been more than a colleague,” said professor Andy Molinsky, the current holder of the Petri Chair. “He’s been a mentor and a model for how an academic can make an impact simultaneously in a scholarly world and in the world of practice. … I know that Ben’s approach to finding unexpected connections has deeply influenced me. And honestly, I think it lives in all of us.”