BAL22-BizEd

Better by Degrees: MBA Alumni are Adapting in a Fast-Changing World

Anonymous — Fri, 04 Nov 2022 10:48:11 +0000

Better by Degrees: MBA Alumni are Adapting in a Fast-Changing World Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 11/04/2022 - 04:48

From Business at Leeds 2022 | Full issue

When it came to building networks that could launch their careers, Harrison GreenMaki, left, and Michael Mendoza both felt the Leeds MBA was the way to go. The two veterans met through the program and are now both in real estate—and hoping to find ways to work together, exploring career paths the way they love to explore hiking trails.

The skills and perspective needed to lead in business keep changing. Leeds continues to evolve its MBA portfolio to stay on the cutting edge.

Colette Crouse has worn a lot of hats in the world of sustainability, including director-level roles in the technology and real estate sectors.

Prior to her MBA from Leeds, her roles were mainly in communications and engagement, including with the City of Boulder’s climate initiatives department. At Leeds, she sought to expand her skillset and perspective, with the goal of repositioning herself as a change agent and leader in the corporate sector.

“For me, the Leeds MBA was the ticket to working in a more strategic, analytical role in the private sector,” Crouse (MBA’18) said. “I wanted to bring more quantitative rigor to what I was doing, to be able to understand the data and use it to make better decisions.”

Crouse is now director of carbon services at Stok, which offers integrated sustainability and high-performance building services.

“My role draws heavily on both my communications and business skills, which I love,” she said. “For many clients, we quantify climate impacts while also supporting communications and reporting, stakeholder engagement and financial planning.”

Faces of Leeds: Meet Colette Crouse

She’s using the skills she gained from her MBA to advise companies globally recognized as corporate climate leaders, as well as those “that understand the value of climate work, but are relatively new to it,” she said. “Among other services, we provide value to clients by offering guidance in a complex space that’s quickly evolving.”

And it’s not just sustainability that’s changing. Work across industries is quickly evolving, as advances in technology, changes wrought by the pandemic, geopolitical instability and other forces require agility, flexibility and creativity, as well as leadership skills and business acumen.

That’s true of MBA programs, as well.

Confronting the challenges of change

In the digital age, the MBA has found itself challenged by competing offerings—from MOOCs (massive open online courses) like EdX and Coursera, to LinkedIn Learning and even YouTube. At Leeds, however, faculty have leveraged their close connections to industry to offer a more versatile credential that’s designed to encourage success throughout a career. That’s taken the form of heightened emphasis on guest lectures as well as aggressively updated course content.

MORE: How graduate scholarships create career-defining opportunities

“Organizations have such a need for thinkers who have both breadth and depth in business expertise,” said Kristi Ryujin, associate dean for graduate programs at Leeds and special assistant to the dean for faculty diversity, equity and inclusion. “In redesigning our curricula, we met with 60-plus corporate partners, who told us about their long-term needs and how we could help meet them. The overarching theme was one of wanting students who are able to flex—who are experienced enough to be confident when they’re pushed in a new direction.”

“In redesigning our curricula, we met with 60-plus corporate partners ... the overarching theme was one of wanting students who are able to flex.”

Kristi Ryujin, associate dean for graduate programs and special assistant to the dean for faculty DEI

Learning how to think critically about problems, faculty and alumni said, is a major advantage of the MBA. Whereas online programs focus mainly on skill development, Leeds classes—and the co-curricular components, like guest lectures, cases, networking events, consulting opportunities and competitions—emphasize the combination of skills and knowledge in ways that mimic the challenges students will face as leaders.

MORE: Which MBA is the best fit for me?

“Leeds is known for entrepreneurship, so a lot of people who want to start businesses flock to our programs,” Ryujin said. “But whether you become an entrepreneur or not, there’s so much value in being able to look at a problem and figure out how to solve it in a creative and open-ended way, where you’re not constrained by the limits of a big organization. That kind of direction is just as important to a Fortune 100 as it is to a startup.”

From Marines to MBA

Why an MBA?

For many, the MBA experience is far preferred to online alternatives or self-guided upskilling programs. Alumni share their top reasons for choosing an MBA.

New directions are why Michael Mendoza (MBA’22) chose an MBA instead of a different upskilling opportunity. Mendoza separated from the U.S. Marine Corps after nearly six years, ending his time as a captain stationed in Savannah, Georgia. He relocated to Colorado and began the Leeds MBA while transitioning out of the military.

“For me, the MBA represented a way to transition back into civilian life while also polishing my business skills,” said Mendoza, who won a nationwide case competition as a student and now serves as a partner at Philadelphia-based Forterra Investment Partners, founded by Daniel Markee (Fin’80). “My MBA has made me more confident in starting this next chapter with the new skills learned and projects worked on, first tested at my internship as a student. It’s refreshing to see that a lot of what I’ve learned in the classroom, I’ve been able to apply in the real world.”

Crouse and Mendoza both completed the full-time MBA program, but as digital alternatives have sprung up and virtual work has become more mainstream, Leeds has added to its MBA portfolio. The school added hybrid and executive versions of the program last year to go with its full-time and evening programs.

While the hybrid MBA is designed to offer the ultimate in flexibility, it still includes on-campus components, including in-person sessions on select Saturdays.

“Going to classes in person helps me create that network ... those Saturday sessions are pivotal in building lasting relationships. ”

Jennifer Jamieson (MBA’23), co-owner, Personal Touch Landscape & Gardening

“An important part of the experience is the relationships you develop—not only your business network, but friendships,” Ryujin said. “We see students who share career opportunities with one another, but who are also in each other’s weddings. You can’t build relationships of such depth and meaning if you’re just watching a how-to video.”

That’s exactly what brought Jennifer Jamieson (MBA’23) to the hybrid program. She started at Leeds after her husband, a former military pilot, completed his own MBA. She didn’t want the fully virtual experience he had after COVID moved all his classes online, but when the couple bought a landscaping business—with an eye on future acquisitions—Jamieson wanted the perspectives and network that only an MBA can offer.

The hybrid MBA was the perfect solution, especially as the couple live in Colorado Springs with their four children, making regular commutes to Boulder impractical.

“It’s easier to maintain relationships online than it is to start them,” she said. “Going to classes in person helps me create that network, and even though 99% of our interactions are online or over the phone, those Saturday sessions are pivotal in building lasting relationships.”

Colette Crouse stands on the roof of Stok’s downtown Denver office. ‘The Leeds MBA was the ticket to working in a more strategic, analytical role in the private sector,’ she says.

Beyond relationships between peers, an MBA affords students relationships with mentors who offer invaluable guidance about how to leverage their academic work in securing jobs, but also in how to advocate for a promotion or negotiate salary at a new job. Crouse has stayed in touch with her mentor—in fact, they were residential and professional neighbors who often rode the bus to Denver together.

“I continue to reach out to her when I’m struggling with difficult decisions, or looking for strategic input,” said Crouse, now an MBA mentor herself. “I want to be that person for others—someone who can offer practical career or industry advice. It’s also important to me that I leverage my experience and position to support individuals from traditionally underrepresented backgrounds in advancing their careers in the corporate sustainability space, which hasn’t traditionally been diverse or inclusive.”

Business at Leeds magazine Leeds MBA programs Engage with Leeds

Breadth Meets Depth

Part of the MBA’s versatility comes from the breadth of business knowledge the program covers—from accounting and strategy, to marketing and finance—but Leeds students also often seek industry depth to give them a head start on either a career transition or greater leadership responsibilities in their chosen field when they graduate.

The Leeds MBA offers a series of concentrations—called pathways—that combine coursework with co-curricular programs, clubs and other exploratory avenues, ensuring that graduates speak the language of the industry they’re entering and have a strong network of professionals they can tap in seeking opportunities and advice on the job.

At Leeds, MBA students can choose from pathways in clean energy and natural and organic products—both Boulder-area mainstays—as well as high-growth ventures and real estate.

“What makes the pathways so valuable is how we’ve built them alongside our industry partners,” said Kristi Ryujin, associate dean for graduate programs. “This benefits our students no matter what they do, because it further challenges them to apply their classroom learning in new ways and helps them forge important relationships.

Leeds continues to evolve its MBA portfolio in response to dramatic changes in the way business gets done.

Traditional

White

In Their Words: Best Reasons to Get an MBA

Anonymous — Fri, 04 Nov 2022 06:00:00 +0000

In Their Words: Best Reasons to Get an MBA Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 11/04/2022 - 00:00

From Business at Leeds 2022 | Full issue

There’s no one reason Leeds students choose to pursue an MBA over an online alternative. Here are some of the reasons students and recent alumni felt an immersive grad program was the best fit for their professional goals.

“Part of it is commitment. I think committing to an MBA ensures you will follow through on your goals. It’s so easy to say you’ll complete an online course, but for me, I’m more likely to follow through when I’m part of a robust program.”
Amber Hughes (MBA’22), investment associate, RCLCO Fund Advisors

Harrison GreenMaki, right, hikes with fellow MBA alumnus Michael Mendoza at Chautauqua Park, in Boulder. The two veterans became friends through their Leeds experiences.

“Having been serving overseas, I was looking not only to develop my business and professional skills, but almost to get back into American culture and society. The network I got in my MBA helped me do that.”
Harrison GreenMaki (MBA’22), senior development analyst, NexCore Group

“If you get your MBA at Leeds, you’re not only pursuing a scholastic endeavor, you’re meeting many people that you’re potentially going to work with, because of how tightly the school is ingrained in the Boulder ecosystem.”
Shannon Flahive (MBA’21), senior venture associate, Ensemble Innovation Ventures

“Actively learning and working at the same time is immensely valuable, because I’m not just sitting on the sidelines learning this passively—I’m actively applying the principles I’ve learned in every single class that I’ve taken.”
Jennifer Jamieson (MBA’23), co-owner, Personal Touch Landscape & Gardening

Business at Leeds magazine Leeds MBA programs Engage with Leeds

For many reasons, MBAs remain preferred over online alternatives. Alumni share why they chose Leeds.

Traditional

White

Grad Scholarships: A Gift that Keeps on Giving

Anonymous — Fri, 04 Nov 2022 06:00:00 +0000

Grad Scholarships: A Gift that Keeps on Giving Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 11/04/2022 - 00:00

From Business at Leeds 2022 | Full issue

Financial aid plays a crucial role for aspiring leaders seeking a Leeds MBA.

Forget how she found the money. When it came to her MBA, how did Shay Cardenas find the time?

But the financials are important, too. When Cardenas enrolled, she was still paying off student loans from her undergraduate work at CU Denver, “and I was pretty much living paycheck to paycheck,” she said. “The idea of quitting my job and going back to school was scary.”

Consider: Cardenas (MBA’22) enrolled in the full-time program, but was actually working part-time for six months after a successful internship in Ford’s human resources division. She’s a busy mom to three kids who required extra attention when the pandemic closed their schools. And she was highly involved in extracurriculars—most notably serving as co-president of Women in Business and president of external relations for the Net Impact Case Competition.

“I stayed busy,” is how Cardenas, now an HR business associate for Ford, put it.

Faces of Leeds: Meet Shay Cardenas

Help, for Cardenas, came in the form of scholarships. While scholarships typically are associated with undergraduate programs, more supporters are stepping up as they realize the role aid plays in ensuring the best students enroll.

For Anne Dupont (MBA’78), supporting grad students is a way to pay back her own experiences at Leeds.

Improving diversity in grad programs

“I want more students to be able to take advantage of what CU offers,” said Dupont, whose MBA helped her rise to senior leadership roles at Accenture during more than 20 years with the company. “And I want to continue Leeds’ efforts, in terms of having a more diverse student body in its graduate programs. When you have differences in thoughts, opinions, ethnicities, lifestyles, whatever it may be, it adds to the richness of the experience and the richness of thought.”

It’s something she helped trailblaze as a female consultant in the professional services world of the late 1970s. She helped lead Accenture’s Women’s Initiative in Denver and, as a member of the Leeds Advisory Board, has made mentorship of graduate students a priority.

“Companies talk a lot about wanting more diversity in the C-suite. You do that through programs like the MBA.”

Kristi Ryujin, associate dean for graduate programs and special assistant to the dean for faculty DEI

“I have been so incredibly impressed with our graduate students—how they think, their risk-taking ability, their boldness, their confidence—and those are things an MBA can give you,” she said.

Cardenas certainly fits that mold. She saw the MBA as her ticket to greater challenges and more fulfilling opportunities.

“Making the decision to go to grad school and forgo income is a hurdle for a lot of people in my position, but I always looked at this as investment in myself,” she said, adding that for the first time, she’s making more money than she owes in loans. “Without this degree and the support I got from Leeds, there’s no way I would have been able to get this job at Ford.”

Rethinking aid

That kind of success story is why Kristi Ryujin, associate dean for graduate programs and special assistant to the dean for faculty diversity, equity and inclusion, is keen to rethink how graduate scholarships are awarded.

For an undergraduate, need-based aid is determined by family income, “but for a graduate program—even if you’re a 22-year-old straight out of undergraduate—you’re seen as an independent,” Ryujin said. “As a result, everyone looks like they have similar need, regardless of your family’s ability to contribute financially to your graduate degree.”

Ryujin is working to add factors like current debt load to Leeds’ formula for awarding aid, along with considerations like first-generation status and undergraduate Pell eligibility: “If you already have $50,000 in undergraduate debt, how do you manage to make grad school work?” she said.

And finding ways to help underrepresented or first-generation students get their graduate degree has practical value for businesses, too.

“Companies talk a lot about wanting more diversity in the C-suite,” Ryujin said. “You do that through programs like the MBA. For diversity to be reflected in the C-suite, we must ensure that graduate education is affordable for all talented students—or we’ll never see the changes at the top that we’re talking about.”

Business at Leeds magazine Leeds MBA programs Engage with Leeds

MBA Meets ROI

A 2021 analysis by Poets&Quants, a leader in business school reporting and rankings, found MBA graduates from the top 50 business schools in the U.S. will earn a median compensation of $5.7 million after graduating and working for 35 years—a premium of $2.3 million over those with just an undergraduate degree. That doesn’t factor in other benefits, like stock-based compensation or retirement benefits.

At Leeds, scholarships are playing a key role in attracting better and brighter MBA cohorts.

Traditional

White

Applying to the MBA: Why Now, in a Strong Job Market?

Anonymous — Fri, 04 Nov 2022 06:00:00 +0000

Applying to the MBA: Why Now, in a Strong Job Market? Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 11/04/2022 - 00:00

From Business at Leeds 2022 | Full issue

John Helmers, left, with Kristi Ryujin, associate dean for graduate programs, in the Rustandy Building. Helmers completed his MBA at Leeds during the financial crisis; then, as now, global events made his graduate studies ‘a bit of a petri dish, a live learning lab for leaders.’

A strong job market can be a deterrent to seeking an MBA—why go to school when work is plentiful?

As it turns out, a strong economy is an ideal time to upskill. When John Helmers (MBA’07) was telling his uncle he was thinking about grad school, “he said to me, ‘The timing isn’t important. You’ll never regret the investment in yourself.’”

Employers won’t be this aggressive in recruiting candidates forever, and when that stops, having the blend of skills, perspective and leadership training that an MBA offers will be that much more valuable.

Helmers, director of graduate career management at Leeds, compared the classroom climate to the end of the 2008 financial crisis, which he called “a bit of a petri dish, a live learning lab for leaders.”

“There’s still a lot of dust settling,” Helmers said. “For the next two years, there’s going to be a lot of lessons learned from the changing paradigm in work, in school and everything else. For employers, they want students who have those leadership skills, and who are learning from world-class experts who are equipping them for all the changes waiting for them after graduation.”

Business at Leeds magazine Leeds MBA programs Engage with Leeds

It's actually a smart time to invest in yourself. Here's why.

Traditional

White