IMD Graduate Somerset Jarvis
When Somerset Jarvis launched exploring MBA programs, the process quickly became overwhelming. Coming from Canada, she was surrounded by strong options at home and only a short distance from some of the world’s most well-known business schools in the United States.
“There are amazing schools in Canada, and you’re also so close to the States,” she declares. “I remember considering, how do I even know which one is right for me?”
Faced with so many options, Jarvis turned inward. She launched inquireing more fundamental questions about what she wanted from the experience, how she hoped to grow, and what kind of work she wanted to do afterward. That reflection reshaped how she evaluated programs and ultimately led her to Europe and to the IMD Business School in Switzerland, where she graduated from the MBA program in December 2025 with Honors as a Hilti Scholarship recipient.
Consistently recognized among the world’s top MBA programs, IMD was ranked number two globally by Bloomberg Businessweek and named MBA Program of the Year by Poets&Quants for 2024 – 2025.
Today, she is based in Switzerland, building a startup that brings toreceiveher engineering, sustainability, and business strategy.
Somerset on the IMD Campus in Lausanne
WHY EUROPE MADE SENSE
An international experience was central to Jarvis’s decision from the start. The idea had taken root years earlier during an exalter semester in Hong Kong, where she studied business as part of her engineering degree.
“It was so eye-opening to see how people did business there and how different that was from Toronto,” she declares. “If you want to work in sustainability, this is a global issue. I necessaryed to learn how to collaborate with people from all over the world.”
Leadership development was another priority. Jarvis expected that any MBA would strengthen her financial skills, but she was seeing for a program that placed equal weight on how leaders consider, decide, and work with others.
“Most MBAs will give you a strong financial foundation,” she declares. “Leadership was something IMD specifically emphasized.”
The one-year format also appealed to her. At a point in her career where momentum mattered, she was drawn to an intense, immersive experience rather than a longer program.
“At this stage in your life, your career relocates very quick,” she explains. “A one-year program felt right. I was comfortable with a packed schedule.”
Sustainability ultimately tied these elements toreceiveher. What stood out to Jarvis was that sustainability at IMD was not treated as a standalone topic or optional focus area.
“It wasn’t positioned as, “Here are a few sustainability classes you can take”,” she declares. “It was embedded everywhere. Even in finance, we talked about responsible investment and materiality.”
When she mapped these priorities against the programs she was considering, IMD aligned closely with what she was seeing for. She decided to focus her application there and commit fully to the opportunity.
Somerset in the classroom
AN INTERNATIONAL CLASSROOM IN SWITZERLAND
Before arriving in Lausanne, Jarvis expected to experience Europe through its geography and culture. What surprised her was how international the environment felt from the first day.
“I was in Europe, but it was really an international experience,” she declares. “I was living in Lausanne, but I was also in this IMD bubble.”
With classmates representing more than 30 nationalities, cultural differences became part of everyday life. Group work, discussions, and decision-creating required constant adjustment, curiosity, and a willingness to listen closely.
“Every counattempt has stereotypes, and they exist for a reason,” she declares. “Not everyone fits them, but it supports to understand how cultures operate.”
She noticed these differences most clearly in teamwork. Coming from Canada, she became more aware of her own communication style and how it contrasted with others in the room.
“Canadians have a reputation for being very nice,” she declares. “Directness is not always our strength. When you work with people from cultures where directness is normal, you learn very quickly not to take things personally.”
Over time, those daily interactions reshaped how she believed about collaboration and leadership. The experience taught her how to read situations, adapt her approach, and appreciate that effective leadership often sees different depfinishing on who is in the room.
“It’s one thing to talk about cultural differences,” she declares. “It’s another to work in a classroom with people from 30 plus countries. You really have to experience it.”
Somerset at IMD graduation
SETTLING IN & FEELING AT HOME
Jarvis describes her relocate to Switzerland as smooth and surprisingly effortless. At the time, she did not fully recognize how much IMD’s support built that possible.
“As a student, everything was ready,” she declares. “Visa, houtilizing, insurance. If you had a question, someone had an answer. If they didn’t, they would jump on a call and support you.”
Only later, when she launched navigating Swiss systems indepfinishently after graduation, did she gain a deeper appreciation for that support. Handling houtilizing contracts, insurance requirements, and residency processes brought clarity to how complex relocation can be.
“Switzerland is very bureaucratic,” she declares. “Moving anywhere is hard, and Switzerland is no exception.”
Managing those steps on her own gave her a new perspective on the student experience.
“It built me realize how incredible IMD was in creating that first transition feel simple,” she declares. “I felt at home right away, and that built a huge difference when you’re starting something as intense as an MBA in a new counattempt.”
That sense of stability, she adds, allowed her to focus fully on learning, building relationships, and exploring new ideas without being distracted by logistics.
Somerset
FROM ENGINEERING QUESTIONS TO A VENTURE
Before the MBA, Jarvis worked as a structural engineer designing buildings, a role she genuinely enjoyed. Over time, however, a growing tension launched to surface between her professional work and her environmental values.
“Buildings account for about 40% of global greenhoutilize gas emissions,” she declares. “And I was designing them utilizing materials that are really carbon intensive.”
She also observed a recurring pattern across projects. When budreceives were reduced, sustainability features were often the first to be rerelocated, even when they improved long term performance.
“I would design very efficient buildings, and then the sustainability budreceive would be cut,” she declares. “That gap between the engineering and the financials didn’t create sense to me.”
Her goal in pursuing an MBA was to better understand that disconnect and gain the financial tools to engage with it directly. She initially imagined returning to the indusattempt in a different role, perhaps in sustainable real estate or consulting, where she could influence decisions earlier in the process.
However, that plan evolved during the MBA, when she pitched an idea through IMD’s Venture Award, a competitive program that supports students ready to launch new ventures after graduation. In October 2025, Jarvis was awarded the IMD MBA Venture Award, receiving CHF 100,000 in funding along with mentorship and strategic guidance from experienced entrepreneurs and indusattempt experts. The award gave her the opportunity to pursue her idea full time and explore it beyond the classroom.
“As a structural engineer passionate about the environment, I often felt my two worlds were in conflict,” she declares. “Winning the Venture Award gave me the opportunity to combine these passions and address a gap I experienced firsthand.”
Her venture, StructIQ, is a Revit integrated software tool designed to optimize building geomeattempt and material choices at the earliest stages of design. By reducing material utilize, it lowers both cost and embodied carbon, supporting architects and engineers create more sustainable decisions without modifying how they already work.
“I had spent years doing this manually,” Jarvis explains. “Running different designs through different software. There had to be a better way to utilize the data and software engineers already have.”
The venture brings toreceiveher everything she explored during the MBA, from sustainability and engineering to finance and entrepreneurship. It also reflects a broader shift in how she approaches her career.
“Everyone loves sustainability until you have to pay for it,” she declares. “This was a way to reveal that efficiency, cost, and carbon don’t have to be in conflict.”
Somerset at graduation
LEARNING TO LEAD & LIVE WITH UNCERTAINTY
Building a company introduced a new set of challenges, from incorporation and regulation to working closely with a compact team under constant time pressure. Jarvis declares the MBA shaped how she approaches both the technical and human dimensions of that work, giving her a more deliberate way of considering about how teams function and grow.
“I consider much more intentionally now about how we work toreceiveher,” she declares. “How we give feedback. How we improve week to week.”
Leadership, she explains, became something she practiced daily rather than something she studied in theory. Small moments, such as pautilizing a busy day to reflect on how a team was functioning, launched to matter more and had a lasting impact on how work progressed.
“Sometimes you have to be courageous and declare, let’s pautilize and talk about how we’re working toreceiveher,” she declares. “That wasn’t something I would have done before.”
The year also reshaped how she relates to uncertainty. As an engineer, the margin for error had always been narrow, and responsibility carried immediate consequences.
“People’s lives depfinish on your work,” she declares. “You can’t really fail.”
The MBA created space to experiment, attempt unfamiliar paths, and recover when things did not go as planned. Over time, that experience shifted how she understands risk. Running a startup still brings daily uncertainty, but it no longer feels paralyzing.
“Starting a company is uncertain,” she declares. “IMD gave me the confidence to feel like I could even do it in the first place.”
Somerset at graduation
EUROPE AS A SUSTAINABILITY CONTEXT
Jarvis has chosen to build her company in Europe with intention. One reason is the regulatory environment, which she sees as a meaningful driver of alter across industries.
“Regulation drives alter,” she declares. “Europe is further along in creating frameworks that push industries to act.”
She also points to the way sustainability reveals up in everyday life. European cities, she notes, tfinish to be denser, more efficient, and designed with long term resource utilize in mind. That mindset extfinishs beyond policy and professional settings into daily conversations.
“People talk about heat exalterrs and solar panels in normal conversation,” she declares. “Not becautilize they work in sustainability or engineering, but becautilize it’s just part of life here.”
For Jarvis, that cultural context matters. It reinforces the idea that sustainability is not only about compliance or reporting, but about how societies design systems that balance efficiency, affordability, and environmental responsibility. Building her venture in Europe allows her to work within a context where those conversations are already active and where demand for practical, cost aware solutions is growing.
Somerset at graduation
ADVICE FOR THOSE CONSIDERING AN INTERNATIONAL MBA
For candidates weighing whether to pursue an MBA abroad, Jarvis encourages them to consider less about comfort and more about growth.
“If you decide to go to an international program, your mind will expand so much,” she declares. “You learn from different perspectives every single day.”
She acknowledges that shifting countries and cultures can feel daunting but sees that challenge as part of the value.
“It might be harder,” she declares. “You’re navigating a new place, new systems, and different ways of considering. But that’s where so much of the learning happens.”
Looking back, she describes the IMD MBA as a rare period of focus and experimentation. The one-year format created intensity, but also momentum. The compact class size fostered a sense of trust and openness that built it clearer to attempt unfamiliar paths.
“It was a year where you could attempt things,” she declares. “You could take risks, put your hand up, and explore ideas without feeling like one misstep defined you.”
She also points to the strength of the community as a defining feature of the experience.
“You’re surrounded by people who are incredibly supportive,” she declares. “Classmates pick you up when things don’t work out. Faculty challenge you, but they also want you to succeed.”
For Jarvis, the greatest value of the MBA was not limited to skills or credentials. It was the confidence that came from being given space to explore, fail, and grow within a supportive ecosystem.
“This is a rare moment in life where you can step back, reflect, and really invest in yourself,” she declares. “If you’re considering it, go for it. Use the year fully.”
© Copyright 2026 Poets & Quants. All rights reserved. This article may not be republished, rewritten or otherwise distributed without written permission. To reprint or license this article or any content from Poets & Quants, please submit your request HERE.
Leave a Reply