Caroline Kern

Georgia Institute of Technology, Scheller College of Business

“Red hair, operations brain, law school bound, and contagious enthusiasm.”

Fun fact about yourself:

I have styled hair semi-professionally since high school, assisting with weddings and photoshoots!

Hometown: Smyrna, GA

High School: Whitefield Academy

Major: Business Administration with a Concentration in Operations and Supply Chain Management

Minor: Certificate in Business Analytics

Favorite Business Course: Operations Strategy with Dr. Vinod Singhal

Extracurricular Activities, Community Work and Leadership Roles During College:

Scheller Business Ambassador (2023-2026); New Member Chair (2024-2025)
Scheller Mentor (2023-2025); Team Leader of the Year Nominee (2023)
Alpha Gamma Delta, Gamma Phi Chapter (2022-2026); Vice President of New Member Experience (2024), Director of Community Service (2023)
Georgia Tech New Student & Transition Program Office: Wreck Camp Counselor (2024-2025)
Mobilizing Opportunities for Volunteer Experiences (2022-2024)
Epic Intentions Consulting (2023-2024); Director of Membership Expansion (2023-2024), Consultant (2023)
Georgia Tech Europe Study Abroad (2023)
Campus Outreach Ministry (2022-2026)
Atlanta Westside Presbyterian Church: Sunday School Leader (2025-2026)
Walter F. Blaine Scholarship Recipient (2022-2026)
Zell Miller Scholarship Recipient (2022-2026)
6x Faculty Honors Distinction (4.0 semester)
3x Deans List (3.0+ semester)
Lean Six Sigma Yellow Belt Certification (2024)

Where have you interned during your college career?

Delta Air Lines (Atlanta, GA): Intelligence, Risk Mitigation, and Internal Security Programs
NCR Voyix (Atlanta, GA): Operations Analytics

Where will you be working after graduation? I will be attending law school in the fall!

Who is your favorite business professor? My favorite professor from time at Scheller has been Tim Martin. I have been lucky enough to take four classes with him over the past few years, and his structured, discussion-based teaching approach gives students unique insight into the high-level thinking behind operational decision-making. Professor Martin ties each lesson to the real world by walking students through cases with valuable perspective from his decade of supply chain industry experience. To make learning more meaningful, he often promotes group work and collaboration both inside and outside of class. In addition, Professor Martin is the type of instructor whose love for the subject is evident in how he shows up to class each day. His passion for operations and desire to see each student succeed, not only in his classes but in their careers and lives, are unmatched. I am grateful for the opportunity to have worked with and learned from him during my time at Scheller.

What is the biggest lesson you gained from studying business? Over the past four years, the biggest lesson I have learned is that the business field is so incredibly vast. When I first began my time at Georgia Tech, I was overwhelmed by the caliber of success that surrounded me. It was easy to fall into the trap of believing the narrow narrative that a Big Four career is the sole benchmark of professional achievement.

However, through experiential learning and the multidisciplinary approach of Scheller classes, I have come to understand that business skills are essential to obtaining a core understanding of any field – and this extends far beyond the world of finance and technology. As I prepare to graduate from Scheller, I’ve found my niche at the intersection of law and operations. The career possibilities that arise from a business degree are truly endless, and I feel grateful to have been encouraged to keep searching until I found the convergence of my skills and passions.

What advice would you give to a student looking to major in a business-related field? The piece of advice I would give to an incoming business student is to learn to embrace failure. Like many other freshmen, I spent my first fall at Georgia Tech trying everything, from clubs to intramural sports to professional organizations. One club I was particularly excited about focused on cultivating a more positive and inclusive campus culture. My entire personality hinges on my bubbly, enthusiastic attitude, so I walked out of the club interview feeling more confident than ever. When I got the email to try again next semester, I was shocked and humiliated.

After a few days of reflection, I reframed the rejection – not as a reason to stop trying, but as motivation to continue seeking new opportunities. As the years of college passed by, this experience became the first of many failures. Given the varying facets of business, there were some classes I loved with curriculums and syllabi that felt they were crafted just for me, and others where I struggled. I entered business school with a plan to study Leadership and Organizational Change, and left focused on Operations, Supply Chain, and Analytics – oh, and I’m also pre-law! What I didn’t know freshman year was that failure is what paves the way for finding your “happy path,” best fit, and ultimately, success.

In time, I learned to view failure not as personal inadequacy, but as a natural step to learning. Learning comes from failure, and failure comes from trying. And the key is – never stop trying!

Looking back over your experience, what is the one thing you’d do differently in business school and why? If I could go back, I would work to gain a certificate in Business Law and Ethics. At the time I chose my certificate in Business Analytics, I was still very uncertain which career trajectory I wanted to follow. I have always loved school, and narrowing down on one path to focus on was difficult: I could visualize myself as not only a lawyer, but also a business analyst, a banker, or a consultant. My business analytics certificate has given me an incredibly valuable perspective into the changing landscape of business and technology, which I am grateful to carry with me going forward.

However, as I have gone through college, my passion for the law has grown deeper, especially after I interned at Delta Air Lines and was able to gain a firsthand glance into the legal and criminal justice field through my counterterrorism work. Looking back, it would have been valuable to gain preemptive experience in this field through Scheller’s Business Law and Ethics Certificate. Nonetheless, even if analytics did not end up being my ultimate career goal, I remain grateful for the breadth of experiences I took advantage of while at Scheller and look forward to diving deeper into law following graduation.

What is one way that your business school has integrated AI into your programming? What is one insight you gained from using AI?

I feel grateful to be a student at a school that prioritizes innovation and cutting-edge technology as heavily as the Scheller College of Business at Georgia Tech. Since the start, I quickly learned that Scheller classes are the opposite of stagnant: whatever is at the frontier of business transformation, we learn how to handle efficiently and effectively. Last semester, I took Business Process Analysis and Design with Professor Adrian Gardiner, where I learned SAP and BPMN programming and explored business processes from architecture to data mining. Given the recent rise of Agentic AI, our class also spent considerable time on this topic, and each student even built their own ChatBot Customer Support Agent for a topic of their choice (I chose H&M product catalogs!). Through this experience, I learned not only about the mechanisms behind AI, but also that harnessing modern technology is critical to staying at the forefront of the business world. As the common saying around Scheller goes, if you do not innovate, you get left behind.

Which academic, extracurricular or personal achievement are you most proud of? As I have gone through business school, I’ve made it a priority to invest in personal growth alongside my academic and professional endeavors. A key part of this involves retaining and nurturing my hobbies: writing and traveling. For over a decade, I’ve kept a daily journal, and even amidst the busyness of school and extracurricular activities, writing has remained an essential tool for understanding myself, others, and the world around me.

Before I started out at Tech, I set a goal to enrich my education through experiences abroad. Fortunately, I was able to make this dream a reality through a 12-week study abroad program in France following my freshman year, as well as through an internship at Delta, which allowed me to travel around the world while gaining professional experience on a counterterrorism security team.

Following a trip to Iceland during my second year, I revived a passion project from the Covid-19 pandemic: a travel blog where I share trip itineraries, tips, and memorable stories from my adventures. Maintaining and growing this project throughout college has strengthened my authorial voice and confidence.

Looking back, I am most proud to leave Georgia Tech stronger, more confident, and more grounded than when I arrived. I love encouraging younger students to invest in themselves and their personal passions as they go through school. Everything else may slip through your fingers, but your integrity, character, and the things that make you unique will always matter. I am proud to graduate not only academically stronger, but also as a more mature, resilient, and fully realized version of myself.

Which classmate do you most admire? This one is easy, and goes out to one of my biggest role models, who also serves as my best friend: Ally Berry. Ally’s and my story extends back to our preschool days and follows us through middle school, high school, and now to the Scheller College of Business – always side by side. Ally has embodied the unique trait of wisdom since day one, and her cheerful sense of self will carry her far. She has always been passionate about the intersection of healthcare and business, and her determination to step off the beaten path and make her degree her own encouraged me, in turn, to explore both sides of my interests: business and law.

In addition to her academic and career endeavors, Ally’s strong sense of direction and candid style have carried her far, enabling her to lead well as President of our ministry, Campus Outreach, and as a Peer Coach. There are many things I admire about her, but the biggest has to be her quiet brilliance and compassion. Even though she is possibly the smartest person I know, her intelligence never overshadows her kindness and commitment to her values. If I contain even a piece of the leadership and joy she carries, I am bound to be radiant.

Who would you most want to thank for your success? Though there are many people I wish to thank who I could never have been the “best and brightest” without, my family comes first-and-foremost. To my parents, Chris and Rebekah Kern: you both gave me the world. I was raised with a sense of who I was and what I was worth from day one, as a daughter and as a human being. As time has passed, I’ve come to understand just how hard you worked for everything you gave me. Through you, I learned the importance of generosity, thoughtfulness in every action, discipline, and how to have fun while doing it all. Each time I fail, you remind me that adversity brings resilience, and that success means nothing if it costs you who you are. And each time I succeed, you are always there: steadfast as my support, encouraging as my cheerleaders, and wise as my confidantes.

I would finally like to thank my younger brother, Jonathan Kern. As a sophomore in college, you already possess a sense of unshakeable authenticity that I truly admire. Who you are inside governs how you lead and walk through each day, and I cannot wait to see where life takes you. I would not be me without you! Growing up alongside you will always be one of my greatest gifts.

What are the top two items on your professional bucket list?

1. Write a book. Writing has always been an integral part of my life, from keeping a paper planner to daily journal entries. I hope that one day I will have gained enough experience and insight to guide others in discovering their passions, sharing fascinating anecdotes along the way. I envision the book as a way to share lessons I’ve learned about personal growth, resilience, and purposeful living—stories that might inspire others to navigate their own journeys with intention.

2. Start my own nonprofit. I have always been passionate about reading and worldwide access to education and would be incredibly excited to make service the forefront of my career in this way. My dream is to merge my business background with legal training to make an impact in the nonprofit space. Developing a nonprofit from the ground up in order to serve a tangible need and maximize community impact would be incredibly fulfilling.

What made Caroline such an invaluable addition to the Class of 2026?

“Caroline has been an outstanding addition to my classroom through a combination of intellectual curiosity, consistent excellence, and group leadership. I have had the pleasure of teaching Caroline in four Operations Management classes throughout her time at Scheller in which she regularly elevates discussions with thoughtful questions and original insights. Prior to accepting a teaching position at Georgia Tech, I spent over a decade working in corporate America. That experience gave me the knowledge of what traits it takes to be successful in a business career. I can confidently say Caroline’s integrity, work ethic, and positivity will be a valuable addition to any firm. Although I am sad to lose her as a student, she will be an amazing representative of Scheller in the world!”

Tim Martin, P.E.
Senior Lecturer
Georgia Institute of Technology

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