McGowan Fellow Excited About New Opportunities

Will Gomez (MMM '25) shares what it means to be recognized with the prestigious fellowship and how the opportunity supplements his MBA + MS Design Innovation (MMM) program experience.

Will Gomez (MMM '25) found himself riding a wave of emotions.

There was joy.

There was excitement.

More than anything, there was disbelief.

Gomez, a second-year student in Northwestern's MBA + MS Design Innovation (MMM) program — a dual-degree program between Northwestern Engineering and the Kellogg School of Management — was reacting to the news that he was Kellogg's 2025 McGowan Fellowship.

The fellowship is based on academic excellence and demonstrated leadership. It is given to one student with a grade point average in the top 5 percent of their class at the end of their first year. Kellogg is one of 10 business schools to award the McGowan Fellowship.

Gomez received a full-tuition scholarship and an industry coach as part of the recognition. He also will participate in three national retreats, receive monthly coaching, and collaborate on a social impact project with the other fellows.

"I love how the fellowship focuses on the impact of principled leadership, this idea that individual character shapes the trajectory of organizations," he said. "The program is an invitation to reflect, define, and develop these values through initiatives like the social impact project and coaching. To me, it feels like both a workshop and a journey of personal growth."

Growth is what Gomez looked for when he first applied to MMM. Prior to joining the program, he was a finance and strategy associate at real estate technology company Opendoor. Before that, he spent four years at investment bank KBW.

"Coming from a quantitative background in investment banking and strategy, I wanted to complement my skill set with a focus on the customer’s voice and the qualitative side of business," Gomez said. "The MMM program felt like the perfect place to do that — balancing the numbers with a human-centered approach."

Gomez put that approach to practice during Research Design Build (RDB), the program's signature first-year course that emphasizes human-centered design. Conducting customer interviews and diving into their pain points was an eye-opening experience.

Gomez enjoyed crafting questions for those interviews. Creating space for genuine conversations taught him about the need for empathy when it comes to customer challenges.

"The program reinforces that businesses and products exist to fulfill fundamental needs," he said. "However, understanding those needs often requires engaging deeply with customers where they are. This perspective has been invaluable."

Moving forward, Gomez hopes to take the frameworks and lessons learned in MMM and apply them to a career in venture capital (VC).

He's gotten a taste of the VC space during his time in MMM by working as an associate at OCA Ventures, an early-stage VC firm. In that role, he's helped source deals, researched investment opportunities, presented to the investment committee, and supported the firm's portfolio companies.

That experience, along with his time in MMM and the McGowan Fellowship, has Gomez excited to identify untapped opportunities and customer segments in the future.

"I’m passionate about supporting startups and early-stage companies that tackle underserved markets and unmet needs," he said. "There’s something noble about building solutions from the ground up to resolve meaningful challenges, and I aim to provide as much support as I can to those enterprises."