Celebrating Veterans Day with Members of the Armed Forces Group

Alexandra was born in Metro-Detroit. She followed in the footsteps of her parents and graduated from West Point, and after graduation she was stationed at the MacDill Air Force base in Tampa, FL with the Joint Communications Support Element. During her time in the military, she worked with outstanding teams around the world. Her military career abruptly came to an end when she sustained brain and spinal cord injuries during an airborne operation (learn more about airborne school). It was during polytrauma rehabilitation with the Tampa VA that she began to pursue a new career and decided business school would be her next step.

To this day, Alexandra has the utmost gratitude to the medical personnel at the James Haley VA for preparing her for her MBA journey as she stated, “I really wouldn’t be here without them.” After graduating from rehab, Alexandra moved to NYC to do a pre-MBA summer internship at Blackstone. Later that summer, she got a summer internship offer with Boston Consulting Group in their NYC office.

Almost a year ago, Alexandra stepped on campus feeling nothing but gratitude for the opportunities already presented to her and continues to be thankful for having Booth in her corner as she works towards achieving her professional goals.

Jack grew up in Plymouth, Minnesota and attended the United States Military Academy for undergrad. After graduating from West Point and commissioning as an Army aviation officer, Jack went to flight school, was trained to fly Apache attack helicopters, and met his future wife Catherine. He then went to his first unit in Savannah, GA, and deployed to combat in Afghanistan, where he flew attack and security missions for nine months. Jack proposed to Catherine the day after he returned from combat and they were married later that year.

The Egans then moved to Bavaria, Germany, where Jack took command of an Apache helicopter company, and he led his unit in various training exercises across Europe. Everything quickly changed on the morning of the invasion of Ukraine when Jack was tasked to lead his company’s eight helicopters in flight near the Russian border and into the Baltic States for immediate deterrence. Unexpectedly gone from home for nearly four months, he would miss his second son’s first steps and first words. It was then that he decided to pursue other professional interests outside of the Army for the future of his family.

After much reflection, Jack realized that his Army experiences always consisted of working in highly skilled teams solving complex problems in unfamiliar environments to affect positive change. This sounded very similar to the overall concept of strategy consulting, which immediately became his next career goal. Jack believed he would need an MBA from an elite business school to successfully navigate this career transition, which is ultimately what led him to Chicago Booth.

Travis is from Vero Beach, Florida, and attended the United States Military Academy at West Point, where he studied operations research and competed on the collegiate pistol team. After graduating and commissioning as an Infantry Officer, he completed Infantry Basic Officer Leader Course and Ranger School before embarking on a cross-continent road trip from Fort Benning, Georgia, to Fort Richardson, Alaska. There, he began his Army career in the 4th Brigade Combat Team of the 25th Infantry Division.

After extensive experience in Alaska, Washington, and Thailand, Travis decided to transition to civilian life to build a future with his wife, Dr. Minhee Moody, an active duty Army surgeon. He realized that an MBA would perfectly complement the leadership experience he had developed in the Army.

Before starting at Booth, Travis had the opportunity to intern at Blackstone through their MINT program, which exposed him to various aspects of finance and ultimately led him to pursue a career in asset management. Travis has loved his Chicago adventure and looks forward to the future as he plans on joining PIMCO's institutional client management division after graduation and reuniting with Minhee and his cat (daughter) Juno!