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Brian Lavery

Brian Lavery New York, New York

Brian Lavery spent most of his life in Connecticut – growing up in Greenwich, and going to college in New Haven. But after graduating from Yale, he used his dual citizenship to move to Ireland. He surprised everyone, especially himself, by staying for eight years, mostly thanks to his position as a newspaper reporter. Brian edited an Irish technology magazine during as the peak of the dot-com bubble – and left just in time, landing a job with the New York Times.

Brian’s reporting at the Times brought him from Belfast and Belmullet to Warsaw and Zurich, covering issues such as economic development, European integration, global migration patterns, and travel section specials like week-long bicycle tours in the pouring rain. On the side, he contributed to the BBC and Time magazine, and wrote a weekly theater column that meant going to more than 50 plays a year. Before joining Manhattan GMAT, the highlights of his teaching experience were coaching a kids’ ultimate frisbee team, and volunteering as a literacy tutor for disadvantaged adults.

It’s hard to give up a job that pays you to learn how to snowboard in the Swiss Alps, and then write about it. Still, after spending most of a decade overseas, Brian was ready to come home and change direction. In 2005, he started taking practice GMATs over lunch in his local pub, rewarding himself with a pint of Guinness when the stopwatch ran out. His 780 score helped win him a spot at Columbia Business School, where he will graduate with an MBA in May. When he’s not studying, which is often, he’s hanging out in Brooklyn with his wife and baby daughter.

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