Now more than ever, an MBA is a way to move forward. Whether you are seeking advancement within your company, a career change or the opportunity to launch your own business, a comprehensive MBA education is one of the best ways to get there.
For Moore School MBA and USC alumna Caroline Brown (’11 USC public relations, ’19 MBA) it was a no brainer to go back to school to get her MBA.
Before getting her MBA, Brown was the director of external affairs and special assistant to the president at Medical University of South Carolina. However, Brown knew that she had hit a ceiling in her career and the only way to advance was to obtain her MBA.
Brown said, “Without the MBA, it would have been difficult to continue to progress in my career and especially to earn a role in the c-suite (chief suite).”
Since getting her MBA, Brown has been promoted to chief external affairs officer at MUSC. In this position, Brown oversees MUSC’s partnership strategy for the university and health system, from industry partnerships with companies like Siemens Healthineers and Medtronic and collaborations with other universities to economic development and business engagement at the local, state and regional levels.
Even in the health care sector, Brown says that she uses the leadership and negotiation skills that she learned from the Professional MBA program in all of her daily tasks. The knowledge that she took away from the program has given her the tools to influence decisions and create partnerships, affiliations and joint ventures with outside groups.
“The Professional MBA program helped round out my business acumen and ensured that I can speak the language of colleagues and external partners who work in essential functional areas including finance, operations, marketing and quality,” Brown said.
Fellow Moore School MBA alumnus Marcelo Guimaraes (’19 MBA) also said that he was able to further develop his leadership and managerial skills while in the Professional MBA program to assist him in his position in the health care field.
As the director of MUSC’s Division of Vascular & Interventional Radiology and a professor of surgery and radiology, Guimaraes has been a practicing physician for the past 20 years.
“As a director and leader, I serve a group of 38 staff members which offers 52 different procedures for 7,000 patients a year,” Guimaraes said. “My work is focused on building and keeping an effective and cohesive team in addition to overseeing the medical procedures being performed.”
Guimaraes said that he decided to pursue his MBA so that he could be better equipped for his position and to understand the business side of the health care system. He said he uses the skills and knowledge that he gained from the program every day, especially since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The MBA taught me to see opportunities in times of crisis,” he said. “The soft skills learned during the Professional MBA program have helped me to unite people behind a vision, empower people to succeed, negotiate in a time of constrained resources, have a strategic, compelling, evidence-based, data-driven vision that we could be successful despite all the odds.”
Brown and Guimaraes are grateful for the soft skills that they learned while in the Professional MBA program including managing personnel, handling conflict, marketing, budgeting and negotiating.
Both alumni recommend other health professionals who are interested in the program to enroll now because the skills developed through the Professional MBA program are invaluable.
“If you’re considering an MBA and think it will help advance your career or personal goals, start now,” Brown said. “The time is going to pass regardless, and you will be so glad you didn’t wait any longer to begin your journey.”
-Claire McGrath