From Tech Founder to ‘G-Man’: How Cambridge Judge’s Executive MBA Opened The World For Matt Wunderli

Author: Marc Ethier, Editor-in-Chief at Poets&Quants

A Utah tech founder finds a global stage – and a new career in government – through Cambridge Judge’s Executive MBA. 

Matt Wunderli wanted the world, and Cambridge delivered it. A tech startup co-founder with a political science degree from the University of Utah, Wunderli set his sights on the United Kingdom and found his match at Cambridge Judge Business School, where he graduated from the Executive MBA program in 2025. 

He looked at Oxford and LSE, too, but Cambridge stood out. Plenty of American business schools promise a diverse, international cohort, Wunderli says, but living abroad is another experience entirely. Cambridge’s strength in innovation was a natural fit for a working entrepreneur, and so was the way British universities weigh the individual and what each student brings to the cohort and to society, rather than a statistic on paper. “I wanted to live internationally,” he says. “I wanted to experience different cultures.” 

Getting to campus takes a 10-hour flight plus a two-hour trip from Heathrow, and Wunderli made the journey monthly while balancing a demanding job, four kids at home and a wife who is an entrepreneur herself and a steady source of support. Every mile paid off. 

A PLACE TO BELONG 

“When I got to Cambridge, I felt every single time like I belonged there,” Wunderli says. “And I miss it every day very dearly.” 

The magic was everywhere, from the classical music playing in the cab from the train station to his college to a late dinner at a Mexican restaurant the night before lectures, where Cambridge undergraduates filed in and started talking macroeconomics and monetary policy. “I was intellectually stimulated everywhere I went,” he says. 

The classroom delivered just as much. Macroeconomics, behavioral organization and strategy stand out for Wunderli, who says the Judge paints a broad macro picture and then lets students dive deep into whatever interests them most. It also helped him lock down the hard skills he wanted – finance, accounting and data science. Today he puts it all to work in senior leadership at the Utah Governor’s Office of Economic Development, where his work spans foreign direct investment, economic development, diplomacy and geopolitics. 

THE PAYOFF 

“I never thought I’d be a G-man, if you will,” Wunderli says. “But I’m enjoying it because I get to see how international business is done.” 

Wunderli graduated as AI was reshaping academia, and he says Cambridge met the moment by encouraging students to use it. “They want you to use it like a tool to strengthen your brain as a muscle rather than replace your brain,” he says. In the age of AI, he values the soft skills the Judge sharpened more than ever. 

A year out, the return on investment is clear. He is earning more, and his social mobility and global reach have grown dramatically. “I talk to people all over the world now,” Wunderli says. “It opens doors for me like I never had before.” 

Wunderli now gives back as an adjunct professor and preceptor in the master’s in business creation program at the Eccles School, where he teaches innovation and how government, international business and politics intersect with it. Cambridge remains on his calendar – he hopes to return for alumni week in February – and he has a standing recommendation for anyone who asks. “I really think you should get there as soon as possible,” he says. “There’s an immediate real-world impact that I’ve seen in my current role.”