With camping gear in hand, Julian Lopez sets off into the wilderness. An Eagle Scout, Lopez has hiked through the Appalachians, backpacked through the forests and developed a love for nature and the world around him. He is passionate about environmental conservation, fighting inequality, and creating opportunities for others to thrive. Lopez is committed to devote his life to a greater cause.
A member of Georgia College’s class of 2020, Lopez studied business management, graduating with honors. An alumnus of both the Georgia Education Mentorship and Leadership Certificate Programs, he used his years at GC to cultivate and shape his practices of servant-leadership.
As an alumnus, Lopez found the access and opportunities he’s had at Georgia College significantly developed his passions. Lopez interned with Amnesty International in the Netherlands when he studied abroad in the Netherlands with Jehan El-Jourbagy, assistant professor of business law and ethics. According to El-Jourbagy, Lopez was essential to the core of the study abroad experience. He brought people together with his kind heart and wit. Through this program, he interviewed several refugees who discussed their first-hand experience with oppression.
“Julian got to work directly with the chair of Maastricht's chapter of Amnesty International, and through his meetings with him, he got to learn about the organization's mission as a whole and how that mission was carried out on a local level,” says Jehan El-Jourbagy. “Julian conducted research for the organization to assist them in reaching additional volunteers, retaining volunteers, and determining the best communications to reach a wider audience.”
Julian conducted research for the organization to assist them in reaching additional volunteers, retaining volunteers, and determining the best communications to reach a wider audience.
Professor Jehan El-Jourbagy
Lopez recognizes that impact, like a drop in the ocean, starts small before sending ripples through oceans. He hopes to create efforts to better his community and reach a global scale. Through every facet of his life, Lopez aspires to leave the world a better place than how he found it, a lesson he learned from his grandmother.
Lopez’s grandmother knew education was the path out of poverty. After her death in 2016, Lopez discovered she saved thousands of dollars for him and his cousins to acquire higher degrees. Her actions imprinted a timeless lesson in Lopez: to act selflessly and to do so without asking for recognition.
Lopez currently works as a strategist for Brighthouse Business Consulting, a subsidiary company of Boston Consulting Group. Brighthouse focuses on purpose consulting where they, “help clients around the world [to] transform their culture, align their people, accelerate their growth, and infuse true meaning into their brands.” As a strategist, Lopez works with companies to revamp their personal mission and connect them to a deeper cause.
“Through employee interviews, and analyzing businesses’ leadership, we uncover a greater purpose that a business can serve in society,” said Lopez.
From helping Mercedes-Benz achieve a goal of becoming CO2 neutral by 2039, to creating a movement to support Anganwadi workers, who are responsible for early child care in rural cities in India: Brighthouse works to change the business world into one that uplifts communities around them.
Before he went into consulting, Lopez was an AmeriCorps volunteer where he worked on youth violence prevention initiatives with the Dekalb Board of Health. Through his position, he worked to tackle the deep-rooted, cyclical issues which cause youth to engage in gang-related violence in Atlanta. The initiative aimed to look at youth violence through a public health lens, by addressing youth violence through community policing and connecting youths to social and public health services.
Lopez credits his successes to his time at Georgia College, where he found many faculty mentors, gained an abundance of leadership experiences, and developed his personal belief system.
