---
title: Five razors from the July 2026 alumni panel
author: IBEAR alumni panel (as published by USC Marshall)
cohort: IBEAR 31, 37, 40, 47 + Marshall MBA '12
language: en
date: 2026-07-29
source: USC Marshall One-Year Full-Time MBA, LinkedIn, July 2026
paths: [stayer, returner, pivoteer, climber]
---

# Five Razors from the Alumni Panel (July 2026)

Five alumni came back to campus for IBEAR 49's first career panel. USC Marshall published the takeaways; they're reproduced here with credit, so they outlive the feed.

## On credibility — Jose Cortes Madrid (PwC), IBEAR 40

> The loud, straight-shooting person often reads as the winner, but the best consultants wait, say less, and land harder. You're no better than anyone in the room and no less than anyone in it.

## On knowing your base — Szu-Ching (Janet) Fang (goodr), IBEAR 47

> After twelve years of optical supply chain expertise in Taiwan, her first opportunity in the US was back through the industry she already knew best. Build forward from your base rather than around it.

*The returner's and pivoteer's razor in one line: your past isn't what you're escaping — it's the door.*

## On trade-offs — Dong Zhang (pivoting to AI-healthcare), IBEAR 37

> While classmates chased big names, he chose a small gaming studio for leadership he admired and proximity to high performers. The pay was less, but the learning was immense. The outsized responsibilities there propelled him to far bigger opportunities later.

## On knowing what good looks like — Alfred Fung (FUN-GI Games), IBEAR 31

> He kept unpacking what the program gave him for years after graduation, and then went and founded a company. His standard: you have to know what good looks like before you can make something great.

## On picking the harder problem — Jarumon Sajjachaiyanont (Credit One Bank), Marshall MBA '12

> She's building a way for credit history to cross borders, so that people who move countries don't have to start at zero. If you're going to start something, start with the harder problems. They are most impactful.

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## The line that closed the post

> The most critical resource none of them planned on was the same: every single person credited their cohort. **The network inside this program is what opened the network outside it.**

That sentence — written by the program, about five alumni across four decades — is the entire thesis of this toolkit, stated by the source.

---

**Source:** USC Marshall One-Year Full-Time MBA official LinkedIn page, July 2026 panel recap. Quotes reproduced with attribution as published.

**Why this lives here:** a panel is one afternoon; a page is permanent. Every future panel, guest talk, and alumni answer worth keeping gets captured the same way — credited, in one place, findable by the next cohort. Want to add one? Email jlcortes@gmail.com with the quote, who said it, and where it was said publicly.