"After growing up in Southwest Virginia, attending H-SC, and living in Washington, D.C., this is the first time in my life I have had people turn and stare at me because of the color of my skin," he says. While being a stark minority was initially a challenge at first, he benefits from the perspective it affords him. US relations with Pakistan are naturally at the center of debate in India, and Schoenthal enjoys reading The Washington Post online and contrasting it to the non-American points of view in local newspapers.

MARSHALL SCHOENTAL '95 Business Networker, Mumbai, India (front left, with Indian friends)

It was his ability to see Netdecisions in this global perspective that impelled its CEO to ask Schoenthal if he would consider moving to India to take a leadership role at MSDC. "I said yes in about five seconds," Schoenthal says.After a short term in London and Geneva, Schoenthal moved to India in March 2003. He now leads the Project Management Office and Project Management Learning Center for MSDC, which focuses on developing and supporting cost-effective software solutions and online business initiatives for clients like McDonalds and Hewlett Packard.

Schoenthal's Mumbai office is the picture of interconnectedness. Employees in London, D.C., and India hold videoconference meetings, while the office's Business Information Group exchanges data about their Asian clients over Internet links. Five to twelve time zones between facilities causes obvious problems, says Schoenthal, but the ability to offer around-the-clock operation is one of their greatest advantages. And in a world where global business has more to do with changing information technology than with international borders, that is an advantage not to be taken lightly.