Recently, we had an incredible opportunity to learn and build our professional networks in a setting beyond what’s possible in the classroom. On a brisk October morning, we bundled up and made our way across Detroit’s riverfront to attend the 2019 Net Impact Conference, representing the DePaul Net Impact chapter as proud chapter leaders.
Net Impact, a nonprofit based in Oakland, Calif., has more than 400 professional and university chapters around the globe. The organization’s mission aims to equip, inspire and build the professional networks of the next generation of change-makers and social impact leaders. A Net Impact chapter has been operating at DePaul for several years, and in 2019, we hoped to make the presence of the DePaul Net Impact chapter felt in Detroit. This year’s conference theme was dubbed, “Widening the Lens” – in other words, how can students and industry professionals expand their ideas about sustainability and social impact.
On Friday, we were lucky enough to present at the first-ever Net Impact poster presentation session, where we had the opportunity to raise awareness around the issues of food loss and global climate change – issues that drove us both to pursue degrees in the field of sustainable management at DePaul. It was an informal setting where we could see how our tech-based idea for reducing food loss in supply chains would be received by others, mostly students and working professionals also attending the conference. We received plenty of encouragement from other conference attendees during that afternoon session. We both came out thinking, “This public speaking thing isn’t too bad, right?”
On Saturday, we attended a career-building session sponsored by LinkedIn. We served as mentors to scholarship students attending universities in Detroit. Our goal was to assist these students as they advance their professional networks and build their LinkedIn profiles for future job hunting. It was an amazing chance to learn about the life experiences and journeys of others, and we left the session having learned a lot more than we gave.
All the final presentations and papers we have endured as students, and the concepts we have learned in the classroom, put us in the position to not just enter the conference as participants but seize the opportunity to be change-makers and storytellers. We both felt clarity and direction in our careers; a situation you dream of when you first decide to take the initial step in pursuing an advanced degree. Based on the feedback we had from visitors at the poster presentation, it seems like we are on track for graduation next year with the skills required in today’s competitive landscape: attention to detail, creativity, and critical thinking, which were some of the comments we heard.
Martin Holzmann (left) and Ryan Henderson at the Net Impact conference in Detroit.
For students interested in a similar experience, Net Impact hosts ongoing challenges, where you can submit a proposal and test your entrepreneurial spirit in a professional environment. Earlier this year, we submitted a proposal to the Net Impact 2019 Food Solutions Challenge. As finalists, we received an all-expenses-paid trip to New York City in June and had the opportunity to pitch our idea to a panel of investors and sustainability experts. We placed second overall, and it was one of the reasons Net Impact invited us to present at this October conference.
A strong finish to our last year at DePaul has never been more motivating. We are excited to get back in the classroom and leverage what we have learned about building networks that inspire change in the world. We challenge students at DePaul to get involved around campus – whether it’s a study abroad program or a student organization. There are plenty of opportunities to take your classroom concepts out into the world. Don’t wait until you graduate.
We would like to thank DePaul University for making these opportunities possible for us.
Learn more and join DePaul Net Impact by visiting the website or emailing depaulnetimpact@gmail.com.
Ryan Henderson and Martin Holzmann are graduate students in the MS in Sustainable Management Program at the Kellstadt Graduate School of Business. They currently lead DePaul Net Impact as the chapter leaders.
By Jaclyn Lansbery | Photo by Kathy Hillegonds
Managers make decisions every day – decisions that influence the organization, the people they manage and overall business outcomes. So how can managers become better decision-makers?
For the past 10 years, the Kellstadt Graduate School of Business has offered the MBA in Business Strategy and Decision Making. One of 14 MBA concentrations offered by Kellstadt, the Business Strategy and Decision Making program teaches students how to diagnose strategic positions, evaluate alternative courses of action, and make the best possible decisions. The program is a fast-track career development option for managers who want the skills and abilities to make strategic economic decisions in a business environment.
Professor of Economics Rafael Tenorio, who oversees the program, says it gives students skills they can use in several different industries. Below, he shares three reasons an MBA in Business Strategy and Decision Making may be right for you.
Transferable Skills
More than 1,200 alumni have taken the business strategy classes, and collectively they work in all kinds of sectors– from finance and manufacturing to nonprofit and management consulting. One of the most popular classes, “ECO 525 – Strategic Decision Making and Game Theory,” teaches students how to use game theory insights to problems in business, economics, and other disciplines.
“Game theory can be applied to just about any industry or policy scenario,” Tenorio says. “It’s about making decisions in situations in which your outcomes depend on what other people do. Think about problems like optimal pricing, how to bid in auctions, how to negotiate a new contract, or how to position your product or service in the presence of competition.”
Classroom Experience
MBA alumna Admira Ibisevic
The MBA concentration consists of two required core classes and one elective that best matches your personal and professionals goals. Since the frameworks and applications discussed in the strategy classes are also of interest to applied economists, MBA students in this concentration often take classes with students enrolled in DePaul’s MS in Economics and Policy Analysis program.
“One of the things that really enriches the experience in the strategy classes is the fact that we get students from both programs,” Tenorio says. “Since these classes blend theory with a more analytical way of thinking about real-world business decisions, the interactions we have in our classes are just phenomenal.”
MBA alumna Admira Ibisevic says the classroom environment is what drew her to the program. “It can be difficult to find settings that are both useful and fun, yet that was exactly the atmosphere in these classrooms,” says Ibisevic, who is a Managing Partner at Illumia Consulting Group, an organizational effectiveness firm focused on driving performance through people.
Alumni Network
With a growing and diverse alumni network, Tenorio considers it very important to nurture relationships with students after they graduate. He organizes quarterly alumni events and manages a LinkedIn group that connects alumni and current students. There is also a mentoring program, where experienced alumni provide guidance to those just starting their careers. “To me, my students and alumni are my lifelines,” he says.
Learn more about the MBA in Business Strategy and Decision Making
When I first began to consider pursuing a master’s degree in marketing, I knew I wanted to gain two things out of the experience: a great education and the opportunity to get to know and network with other students. I did not want my graduate school experience to involve just going to class, taking notes and going home. Instead, I wanted a school that offered opportunities to interact with other marketing students outside of the classroom.
The Marketing Leaders Community has enhanced my experience at the Kellstadt Graduate School of Business. It helped me find my place at DePaul. I’m not lost in a mass of students. I have a community of people I can turn to who make my education a holistic experience.
Since we all will be graduating within a few years of each other and will be heavily involved with the marketing world in and outside of Chicago, I could think of no better group of people to get to know than those of us pursuing marketing at a higher level. I felt that meeting each other could be a good opportunity to engage with people who I might work with in the future or who I might be able to talk to while looking for positions. I would also be interacting with people with whom I shared a common thread: a love for marketing.
Becoming a part of the Marketing Leaders Community has done just that. It has provided me with a community to interact with, people to go to when I need help with class or advice for work, and individuals who are familiar with the experiences I’m going through, because we’re going through those experiences together.
The Marketing Leaders Community hosts networking events, symposiums and other social events to bring together MS Marketing students, alumni, recruiters, and staff to get to know each other and create a community within the MS in Marketing program at the Kellstadt Graduate School of Business.
I chose to join the Marketing Leader’s Community because I wanted just that—a community. The Marketing Leaders Community has enhanced my experience at the Kellstadt Graduate School of Business. It helped me find my place at DePaul. I’m not lost in a mass of students. I have a community of people I can turn to who make my education a holistic experience.
It is also comforting to know that my connections to the Marketing Leader’s Community and its members do not have to stop when I graduate. I can continue to network and strengthen my bonds as I go further in life, which helps ensure that this experience is not limited to my two years at DePaul.
At DePaul, I already know I will get a great education; but with the Marketing Leaders Community, I am gaining a community that will last a lifetime.
Margaret Wolfe graduated from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with a bachelor’s degree in advertising. She is currently pursuing a master’s degree in marketing at DePaul, with a focus on digital marketing. She serves as vice president of membership for the Marketing Leaders Community.
When I first started my journey with DePaul last September, I did not envy my fellow classmates who were continuing to work while pursuing their MBA’s. To me it did not seem possible to get the full graduate school experience while simultaneously holding a job. Yes, I was aware that this was a feat that many students accomplish every year; however, I never envisioned myself as one of those students. Fast forward to today, and it is clear that I underestimated myself at the time, as I am sure many first-year graduate students do. Since January, I have been participating in a part-time internship at Millennium Properties R/E, a boutique commercial real estate firm, and will be switching to a full-time role starting this summer. As an intern, I’ve had the opportunity to assist and shadow brokers in the company and learn about the functions of property listings. During this summer, I will transition to an associate broker, and will be responsible for showing properties and negotiating leases and sales contracts. I won’t lie – at times the work seems like a lot, especially around finals, but the experiences that I have had with both school and work thus far are something that I wouldn’t trade for anything
“To be able to find a new career that I love, and find it within my first year of school, is something that I never imagined to be possible.”
DePaul does an incredible job of giving its students the tools to not only narrow down a career path and find a job, but also to thrive in that job once you have it. The reason I wanted to pursue my MBA at DePaul in the first place was to seek out guidance in pivoting from my previous career in beverage sales. This past fall I spent a lot of time meeting with the incredibly helpful Kellstadt Career Management Center (CMC) staff to accomplish this goal. As we neared the end of our first quarter, I started to hone in on my interest in commercial real estate. The CMC staff provided me with a number of contacts within DePaul’s Real Estate Center and from there the momentum really started to pick up. Within a month of declaring my concentration in Real Estate Finance & Investment, I already had an interview for a potential internship, and within a week of that interview, I had a job offer. After the initial excitement of receiving and accepting the offer had worn off, the reality of what my next couple years might look like started to set in. I found myself reverting to the mindset that I had developed at the beginning of my DePaul journey: “This is something that other students are able to do, but not you.” I quickly realized that this could not have been further from the truth.
Since starting in my current role back in January, both teachers and fellow classmates have been supportive every step of the way when conflicts between work and school would arise. Additionally, the company that I am interning with expressed to me from the very beginning their understanding of me being a student first and an intern second. It is my understanding that this dual support shown from both school and work is a sentiment that many of my classmates, who are also full-time students with jobs, all share.
In closing, to be able to find a new career that I love, and find it within my first year of school, is something that I never imagined to be possible. Yet, if I had stuck with the original mindset I had last fall, it is something I would not have never experienced. For those first-year students who find themselves having a similar mindset, don’t be afraid to push the boundaries of your comfort zone—it could be the thing that answers the question of why you went to school in the first place.
Arthur Hailand is a first year full-time MBA student studying Real Estate & Investment, and interns at Millennium Properties R/E.
By Kelly Kester (MBA ’20)
After making the deliberate decision to pursue my MBA full-time at DePaul, a family member sent me a congratulations card. Enclosed were words of encouragement from former first lady and one of my professional role models Michelle Obama: “Just try new things. Don’t be afraid. Step out of your comfort zones and soar,” the card read. It was through this call-to-action that I stepped into DePaul’s MBA program with an open mind and heart, ready to embrace any challenge that came my way.
As we gear up for another quarter, it is easy to become overwhelmed by your to-do list. I recently attended a Women in Leadership Panel hosted by the MBA Association and the School of Hospitality Leadership, and was reminded by Michelle’s words of advice. The panel was the result of an event-planning project in the undergraduate course Event Production, taught by hospitality instructor Juan Mendez. As part of the project, students were challenged to work with the MBA Association – their “client” – and successfully plan the Women in Leadership Panel, preparing the selection of the panelists, invitations, registration and post-panel reception.
From left to right: Tiffany Kucharski, director, strategic partnerships at EvolveHer; Sara Kearney, former senior vice president of operations at Hyatt Hotels Corporation; and Terri Brax, co-founder & CEO at TeacherCare, Inc. and Women Tech Founders.
Three Chicago-based women in leadership shared their professional experiences for a group of 70-plus DePaul students and alumni:
- Terri Brax, co-founder & CEO at TeacherCare, Inc. & Women Tech Founders
- Sara Kearney, former senior vice president of operations at Hyatt Hotels Corporation
- Tiffany Kucharski, director of strategic partnerships at EvolveHer
When asked if the panelists have a professional role model, the vote was unanimous: Michelle Obama. Sitting in the audience, it was impossible not to be inspired by these women. I, among my fellow audience members, aspire to be in their chairs one day. Yet each panelist was so delightfully candid. Kurchaski shared lessons learned of simple freedoms from parenting: “Don’t limit yourself – why not have soup for breakfast?” Even in a crowded room, their words of wisdom felt personal.
As for professional advice, each panelist recommended a collaborative approach to ascending in the workplace. According to Brax, the need to embrace your true self and assist others in this mission rang true: “Help everyone to be a hero in their own story.” In addition, Kearney emphasized the importance of continuous learning and listening: “Keep your ears open often,” she said.
When it comes to future women-led events, Kearney said, “My hope that it is simply a panel of leadership.”
Kelly Kester is a full-time MBA student and works as a graduate assistant for the Kellstadt Graduate School of Business. Kester also serves as president of the MBA Association.
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