PUBLISHED IN ,

Duke’s Own International Man of Mystery

Keith O’Hare may have a family connection to the creation of James Bond

Keith O’Hare, back row with sunglasses, senior program manager with the Fuqua School of Business Cross Continent MBA Program, poses with MBA students during a trip to South Africa. Photo courtesy of Keith O’Hare.
Keith O’Hare, back row with sunglasses, senior program manager with the Fuqua School of Business Cross Continent MBA Program, poses with MBA students during a trip to South Africa. Photo courtesy of Keith O’Hare.
Interviewed by Bryan Roth

Name: Keith O’HarePosition: Senior program manager, Fuqua School of Business Cross Continent MBA ProgramYears at Duke: 4

What I do at Duke: I help coordinate academic residencies and learning experiences for students in our Cross Continent MBA Program. Our students work full-time in addition to being full-time in school, so I work with hotels on logistics, plan academic and cultural experiences and I’m the main point of contact for the students. I’m able to travel all over the world to assist them. This year, I’ve been to China, Chile and India. 

Read More

If I had $5 million, I would: I’m a big saver, so I’d end up saving a lot and investing. Obviously, I love to travel, so I’d want to do a big trip to Australia or New Zealand. I haven’t been to either country before and I love doing outdoor activities. Both of those seem like great spots to do a lot of hiking or outdoor adventure activities.

My first ever job: When I was in high school, I worked at the Food Lion in Cary as a bagger, although it was more of a jack-of-a-trades position. I spent time cleaning bathrooms, too. It wasn’t the most glamorous thing, but I just did whatever was needed.

My dream job: To be a game show host. One of my lifelong goals is to get on a game show. I’ve tried a couple times to get on Jeopardy and Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. I think hosting would be fun because you get to meet different people, hear interesting stories and give away money. What wouldn’t there be to like?

If someone wanted to start a conversation with me they should ask me about: I make my own geography jokes, so they could ask to hear one of those. What state is named after a small beverage? “Minne-soda.” What country do you go to where you never win or lose? “Tie-land.” 

What I love about Duke: The opportunity to travel and create meaningful experiences for our students. We describe our program as a transformational experience and I think that’s true. Getting the chance to go around the world with a cohort of people creates connections and bonds that are really special. 

Something most people don’t know about me: According to family folklore, we think that James Bond is inspired by our great-grandfather’s brother. My Uncle is a bit of a historian and found a relative, Rodney Bond, served with Ian Fleming’s brother. The book, For Your Eyes Only: Ian Fleming and James Bond, references that connection. We don’t have hard proof of it, but it’s fun to speculate. 

An interesting/memorable day at work for me: I’ve got to see a lot of cool sites by traveling for Duke, but I once went to South Africa and we spent a day traveling extensively. We went to see ‘where the two oceans meet’ – the Atlantic and Indian oceans – and went up Table Mountain to see a view of Cape Town.