Guillermo Krovblit
IIT Institute of Design M.Des./M.B.A. ProgramGuillermo Krovblit can't come up with just one defining moment he has experienced as an IIT Institute of Design dual-degree student; rather, he can think of three.
For starters, he and two fellow classmates formed Peapod Labs, a business that redefines playful learning education in the new ecosystem of existing mobile devices. The company launched its first basic iPad and iPhone app—ABC Wildlife—in summer 2010. And in 2009, Krovblit worked on two memorable class projects—an exhibit on a new concept for entertaining youngsters at the Chicago Children’s Museum and a project that focused on developing a radio-frequency identification system to monitor the hand hygiene habits of health care workers. While Krovblit admits that the subject matter was immensely interesting, another factor common to all three of these events had an even stronger appeal for him.
"My most life-changing experience yet has been to surround myself with brilliant, highly competent people from many diverse backgrounds," says Krovblit. "By participating in ideation sessions, and analyzing and synthesizing processes with brilliant faculty and talented peers, I have broadened my vision beyond my wildest expectations. The most valuable lessons I have learned and the changes I have made came from interacting and working with my talented IIT colleagues."
A native of Caracas, Venezuela, Krovblit had many opportunities to collaborate with a variety of individuals during his tenure at Lucent Technologies/Alcatel-Lucent in Caracas and in Miramar, Fla. After obtaining an undergraduate degree in electrical engineering from Universidad Simon Bolivar, he rose up the administrative ranks at Lucent, where he was employed for 10 years. His continued interest, however, was in product development, which influenced his decision to enroll in ID.
"My professional career helped me to develop discipline and solid work ethics, and taught me how to run complex operations. But in that learning process, I lost my creative thinking hat, the capacity to deal with ambiguity, and the ability to take risks out of my comfort zone," Krovblit explains. "IIT's dual-degree program seemed like an excellent way to get those attributes back. Today, thus far in the program, I can say with certainty that I made the right decision."
