MBA Program Partners with Reaching Out MBA

Georgetown McDonough’s MBA Program has a new formal partnership with Reaching Out MBA (ROMBA), an association for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer MBA students, that will allow the program to name two ROMBA fellows in the next academic year.

ROMBA fellows will have access to networking opportunities through the organization, including at its annual conference, leadership summit, and they will serve as student representatives of both Georgetown and ROMBA.

‘Iolani L. Bullock, director of MBA admissions, was an important advocate in bringing the partnership to Georgetown McDonough, according to Tyler Deaton (MBA’19). Deaton went on a pre-MBA trek through ROMBA and worked at the ROMBA conference last summer at the LGBTQ People of Color Reception. While Georgetown has had a long standing relationship with the organization, Deaton and along with Bullock helped develop the formalized fellowship between Georgetown’s MBA program and ROMBA.

“I actually had a Reaching Out MBA Fellowship from another school, and I ended up turning it down to come to Georgetown,” Deaton said. “[ROMBA] was something I was really passionate about that I wanted to bring to the program.”

For Deaton, the networking opportunities and connections students can form through ROMBA are a key value of the partnership. “People stay connected even after they’re through their MBA and they’re in their career. They form lifelong friendships and networks,” he said.

The ROMBA conference is the most important networking event involved in the partnership. ROMBA fellows are the only students allowed to attend, so Deaton hopes that if companies are exposed to Georgetown students at the conference, they may be more likely to recruit on campus.

The partnership also is an effort by the university to strengthen its commitment to diversity, said Bullock.

“It reaffirms Georgetown’s and the MBA program’s commitment to diversity and commitment to the LGBTQ community, and I think that that will help to recruit more students,” added Deaton. “Offering a formal fellowship signals to students that diversity is something we value.”