Tepper School Couple Gives Back
Story by Ann Lyon Ritchie
Photography by Mary Catherine Photography
Zach and Swetha Arbuckle value their connection to the Tepper School and make it a priority to give back.
Swetha (MBA/MS 2009) and Zach (MBA 2010) are a Tepper School love story. They met at the Tepper School of Business and now have a family. The couple says it was the Tepper School community activities that brought them together.
Being a year ahead in the MBA program, Swetha welcomed prospective students, including her future husband, through her role on the Graduate Business Association (GBA) at an admissions event on campus. That summer, they stayed in touch as future classmates, then reconnected at his orientation back in Pittsburgh.
“All the first-year students were out on Walnut Street, as you do when you’re trying to get to know your new classmates,” she recalled. “I was trying to meet up with the group my first night back in town, and Zach ended up being the only one I could find. And then, the rest is history!”
“… I value returning to CMU and Pittsburgh as it feels like coming home.”
Zach Arbuckle (MBA 2010)
Zach and Swetha return to the Tepper School often from their home in northern Virginia to connect with their alma mater. These touch points, in addition to regional and virtual alumni activities, help maintain a vital link to a community unlike any other.
A Principal at Deloitte, Zach regularly visits campus to meet with and recruit Carnegie Mellon students, whom he described as “the brightest minds entering the workforce.”
“Most of all, I value returning to CMU and Pittsburgh as it feels like coming home,” he said.
The Arbuckle family’s first Christmas card pictured the pair in front of Posner Hall with their beloved bulldog. They now have a 2 1/2-year-old son and a Labrador retriever, both of whom have already been to campus.
Zach chose to study at CMU for its dominance in technology management and leadership. After an MBA internship in technology transfer at Los Alamos National Laboratory and earlier positions in digital strategy at M&T Bank, he joined Deloitte, where his career has advanced over the past 12 years.
“I’m especially proud of learning and growing at Deloitte by working alongside incredibly smart and passionate colleagues,” he said. “It’s rewarding to be part of a firm that values learning and collaboration.”
Swetha serves on the Tepper School Alumni Board and has been in leadership positions in both the Washington, D.C., and Seattle regional alumni chapters. She is the Director of Talent Experience for Amazon Entertainment.
“The entertainment organization is a place where Hollywood meets tech culture: a breeding ground for innovation,” she said. “Music, movies, live sports, film, television series, games, podcasts, audio content: All of it resides in one entertainment space. We took a scientific approach to investigate what it takes to inspire our professional creative employees and are using that research to inspect our processes and systems to help us unlock how creative employees do their best work.”
From her time at CMU, Swetha remembered GBA strengthening her ties to the Tepper School and allowing her to meet prominent, inspirational leaders, including an Amazon executive with whom she remains connected.
“It’s hard to quantify, but being on GBA introduced me to opportunities to create relationships with alumni who are very successful in their careers, who lead with humility, and who give back regularly to the school,” she said.
Both Zach and Swetha were on GBA, Zach as social chair and Swetha as admissions chair, and they remain in touch with their GBA classmates. “I have such fond memories of Pittsburgh, the Tepper School, my classmates, and all the incredible experiences we shared,” Zach said. “The Tepper School is truly a special place, and supporting it is important to me so future students can experience the same magic.”