Yet Another MBA G.O.A.T. Podcast

In this episode, host Lisa Shatz and Jack Liu, MBA’19, a senior product manager at Sabre Corporation, discuss how he transitioned from a career as an engineer — Liu earned his MS in Telecommunications Engineering degree from UT Dallas in 2010 — to a full-time MBA student and how that experience equipped him to change his mindset from the how’s of engineering product development to the why’s of a strategic, client-focused product manager.

In this episode, host Lisa Shatz and Tasha Okulate, MBA’19, sales strategy senior manager at PepsiCo, discuss how Okulate juggled family life with work and school while she and her husband both pursued MBA degrees at UT Dallas’ Naveen Jindal School of Management.

In this episode, host Lisa Shatz and Daniel Myers, MBA’15, global lead in developer relations with Snowflake, discuss how obtaining an MBA can benefit the career of an engineer, whether in a role as senior engineer or moving into management.

In the episode, host Lisa Shatz catches up with Mike Zamulinski, MBA’21, MS’21, a strategy consultant at Deloitte in its Finance Strategy & Transformation division. They discuss his non-traditional background and how it benefitted him in his career change once he earned two graduate degrees at UT Dallas’ Naveen Jindal School of Management.

In this episode, Melike Aslan Coskun, MBA’21, MS’21, joins host Lisa Shatz for a discussion about how she transitioned from careers in the defense and trade industries in her home country of Turkey to a graduate student at The University of Texas at Dallas Naveen Jindal School of Management, which helped launch her career as a global supply chain manager at Tesla.

In this episode, Sreenath (Sree) Janakiraman, MBA’19, and host Lisa Shatz discuss how Janakiraman leveraged an internship he obtained at AT&T while a student in the MBA Cohort Program into a full-time position as a senior strategy consultant. Janakiraman then was promoted to associate director of strategy in less than two years.

In this episode, host Lisa Shatz chats with Cameron Prince, MBA’20, a supply chain and operations leadership development program (LDP) Associate at Raytheon Technologies. Price discusses his military background and how that experience informed his decision to pursue a Full-Time MBA at The University of Texas at Dallas’ Naveen Jindal School of Management.

In this episode, host Lisa Shatz speaks with Valerie Ward, who graduated from the Naveen School of Management’s Full-Time MBA program in 2020 with a concentration in business analytics. They discuss how Ward successfully used the degree as a springboard to make a transition from being a stay-at-home mom to landing her current role as a lead experience manager at a major technology company.

In this edition of the Yet Another MBA G.O.A.T. Podcast, host Lisa Shatz, assistant dean of MBA Programs at the Naveen Jindal School of Management, speaks with Jordan Pedigo, MBA’16, MS’16. At the time their conversation was recorded, Pedigo was vice president and senior division controller at BOK Financial. Soon afterward, he took a position at U Bank as executive vice president and chief financial officer. They discuss how he selected The University of Texas at Dallas over the other universities in the region that offer MBA programs. He also explains how the program benefited him.

Travis Kemp, MBA’18, MS’18, joins host Lisa Shatz, assistant dean and director of MBA Programs ,to discuss the benefits and challenges of undertaking a double MS/MBA degree at the Naveen Jindal School of Management. Kemp attributes his success at AT&T (he was promoted to director, supply chain strategy after the episode was recorded) to the organizational and time-management skills he necessarily learned while juggling full-time work and graduate study. Photo by Zahira Kemp.

In this episode, host Lisa Shatz, assistant dean and director of the MBA Programs at the Naveen Jindal School of Management at The University of Texas at Dallas, welcomes Bonnie Hurst, MBA'20, senior project leader at Methodist Health System in Dallas-Fort Worth. Hurst discusses her role at Methodist as a data analyst and how the UT Dallas MBA degree prepared her for the role. She also discusses how she overcame adversity while a student in the program as well as the most valuable skills she learned in it.

In the episode, Tarun Tripathy, MBA’18, a consultant at Deloitte, joins host Lisa Shatz, assistant dean of MBA Programs at the Naveen Jindal School of Management. They discuss what brought him to his decision to enroll in an MBA program, why he chose UT Dallas and the highlights and challenges he experienced as an international student and what he learned from them.

In this episode, host Lisa Shatz, assistant dean of MBA programs at the Naveen Jindal School of Management, chats with Tristan Opie, MBA’19, an experienced consultant for the Healthcare and Life Sciences division of West Monroe Partners, a Chicago-based national consulting firm with offices throughout the U.S., including Dallas. Shatz and Opie discuss what life has been like in the year since he graduated from the Full-Time MBA program, during which he was in the consulting immersion program. Opie also explains why he selected UT Dallas from among other top MBA programs and recalls fond memories while he was getting his degree.

In this episode, host Dr. Monica Powell and guest Lisa Shatz, an assistant dean at the Naveen Jindal School of Management and director of its MBA programs, chat about their shared history as colleagues and friends. Shatz will take over as host of the Yet Another MBA G.O.A.T. Podcast beginning with Episode 14.

In this episode, host Dr. Monica Powell welcomes Janelle Manuel, MBA’17, MS’17,to the podcast. Manuel, who recently transitioned to a new position, was senior manager of digital experience at Mohawk Industries at the time the episode was recorded. They discuss how Manuel getting both an MBA and a master’s degree in business analytics at the Naveen Jindal School of Management positioned her for success in the marketing field, which is becoming increasingly oriented on big data.

Andrew Cyders, MBA’11, joins host Dr. Monica Powell for the 11th installment of the Yet Another MBA G.O.A.T. podcast. Cyders is director of special projects and chief of staff at The Everett Clinic in Everett, Wash. He and Powell discuss how the rigor of the MBA prepared him well for success in healthcare consulting and positioned him for the job he holds today. Andrew Cyders’ contact information: acyders@gmail.com

Kevin Winslow, MBA’15, joins Dr. Monica Powell to discuss how obtaining an MBA degree from the Naveen Jindal School of Management at The University of Texas at Dallas gave him a new skill set that allowed him to reimagine his career. The degree allowed Winslow to go from a career in clinical research to one as director of operations at Los Angeles-based Radiology Partners.

Newsha Mirzaie, MBA’16, a senior strategy and operations management consultant at Deloitte, joins Dr. Monica Powell for a chat about why she chose UT Dallas over other local universities to pursue her MBA degree. They also discuss how her education at the Naveen Jindal School of Management was a great return on her investment — not only in terms of recouping tuition costs but also for learning business, and life, lessons.

Elijah Metcalf, MBA’11, joins host Dr. Monica Powell for a discussion about nontraditional paths to an MBA and a business career. Metcalf, a vice president of internal audit at NexBank, discusses why a theater background such as his did not put pursuit of an MBA out of the realm of possibility. He explains that he parlayed his communications skills and creativity into a role as a contributing member of his fulltime MBA cohort and then used those skills again in his rise up the corporate ladder.

Laura Albright, MBA’16, is a management consulting lead analyst at RealFoundations, a professional services firm focused on the real estate industry. She joins host Dr. Monica Powell, senior associate dean and dean of graduate programs at the Naveen Jindal School of Management. The mother of two and former party-truck franchisee with 25 years of experience decided to reinvent herself mid-career. She discusses with Powell how a Jindal School MBA helped her do that.