The Fletcher School

Kevin McGeehan, MALD 2005, USA

For Kevin McGeehan, a MALD 2005 graduate, it didn’t take long for his degree to start paying dividends. With a concentration in international security studies, McGeehan quickly landed a job as a counterproliferation analyst with SAIC, a Fortune 500 company, and the largest employee-owned research and engineering firm in the United States.

But like many alumni of The Fletcher School, McGeehan’s current position reflects a variety of interests and a decidedly non-linear path in attaining it.

Before enrolling at Fletcher, McGeehan worked for two years as a marketing director with the Ireland Chamber of Commerce. The experience led him to complement his security studies at Fletcher with a concentration in international business, a field to which he would eventually like to return.

McGeehan said the business program at Fletcher improved upon his skills while security studies added some flexibility to his career aspirations, mainly the qualifications to attain management positions.

“The projects you’re given at Fletcher are like having a small job,” said McGeehan, speaking from his office in Crystal City, Va. In particular, he said he gave a presentation on entering the Islamic banking market to Bank One in Chicago as a part of a course on global consulting.

Traveling off campus under the auspices of Fletcher also greased the networking wheels for McGeehan, leading to his job with SAIC, which has about 42,000 employees. He said that during the annual DC Career Fair trip he spoke with a 2004 Fletcher graduate, who was working at SAIC, and she passed his resume along to her boss. All three now work in the same division.

“It’s a pretty fertile field for Fletcher graduates,” he said, adding that he works alongside other alums. "Our school is in demand here.”

McGeehan said he values his time at Fletcher because it helped build up his network and refocus his areas of study.

“It really does open your eyes to a lot of viewpoints and people you wouldn’t meet otherwise,” he said.

Education before Fletcher:

Bachelor of Arts in Political Science Vilanova, PA (2000)

Fields of Study:

International Business Relations

Experience before Fletcher:

Ireland Chamber of Commerce, Philadelphia, PA
McLaughlin and Morgan, Philadelphia, PA

Languages:

English
Spanish