Our Graduates are Out in Front

 

 

Executive MBA 2009
Instructor, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Roger Ervin now teaches at the Wisconsin School of Business and the LaFollette Institute. Roger served as Secretary of Revenue for the State of Wisconsin while he attended the program, overseeing a state agency with more than 1,100 employees. His current teaching assignment is his latest in a 25-year career in finance and banking in both the private and public sectors. During the administration of President Bill Clinton, Ervin was appointed U.S. Envoy to Africa, for Business and Trade and served as a Senior Advisor for Policy and Operations in the U.S. Department of State. He later served as Managing Director and Vice President for two different international management consulting firms. Most recently, he was a senior executive with the law firm of Foley and Lardner. Ervin’s path to Washington, Africa, and now Madison, has taken him a long way from his childhood home near New Orleans. Originally, he planned to spend his career in the private sector, but a belief in the importance of effective government and committed public servants continues to draw him back to the public side.

"There are skills you learn in business school that you can't get anywhere else.  You can get piecemeal skills development from on-the-job training programs, but the comprehensive training that you get in business school is irreplaceable. I really wanted to have those skills.  It's good for me as an individual, as a manager, as a parent, and as a citizen who serves on a number of non-profit boards."

 

 

Dan Checki

Executive MBA 2009
Director of Fossil Fuel Procurement
Alliant Energy

Dan Checki joined the Marines straight out of college as an officer candidate, eventually becoming a lieutenant in the artillery. Following his military service, he accepted a position with Mobil Oil. Since then, he has spent the majority of his career in the oil industry. He currently manages a team handling transportation, acquisition, and delivery of fuels; environmental assets; and chemicals for an energy company with more than 1.4 million customers in Iowa, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. Checki is pursuing his MBA in order to understand why businesses succeed or fail. He also wanted to learn the language of finance, and to hone the skills and strategies essential for developing his career.

“I wanted an impressive school. If I was going to do this, I wanted to get a degree from a school that had weight. I’m from New York, and the University of Wisconsin is considered on that prestigious level in all aspects of its educational program, so it was a very easy choice."

 

 

Zainabu Kooistra

Executive MBA 2009
Financial Analyst
Virchow Krause Company

Zai Kooistra moved to Madison 15 years ago from The Gambia. She met her husband there while he was working for the University of Wisconsin-Madison on The Gambia Agricultural and Research Development Program Project. Because opportunities for higher education in her country were limited, Kooistra was delighted when she moved to the United States with her spouse and had the opportunity to further her education, which she did first at Madison Area Technical College with an associate degree in finance, then at Upper Iowa University for her bachelor’s degree, and now at UW-Madison.

"I would not have gone anywhere other than Wisconsin for my MBA for a couple of reasons. The most important of all is the reputation of this school. If I were going to get my MBA, it was going to be from here. I know some people who have gone through the program and been transformed. It’s a top-notch program, which I’ve witnessed not just from an educational standpoint but in terms of the tremendous support from the faculty and administration."

 

Katie Porter

Executive MBA 2007
Development and Implementation Manager
W.W. Grainger, Inc.

Katie Porter joined W.W. Grainger, Inc. after graduating from UW-Madison with an undergraduate degree in business administration in 1999. She has had many roles in the organization since, and currently is the development and implementation manager for inclusion and diversity, accountable for embedding inclusion and diversity into business initiatives. Porter had always wanted to get an MBA, and decided the timing was right when her new role required more of a strategic perspective. She lives in Chicago and had several executive MBA programs available to her, but ultimately chose Wisconsin for its diversity and small class size. Porter serves on the Wisconsin Business Alumni Advisory Board, whose mission is to enhance esprit de corps among alumni and build strong connections with the Wisconsin School of Business.

“I expected that collaboration would be a strong component of the program, but I was taken aback at how our team pulled together for every project - not only to maximize our own strengths, but to develop in our own areas of opportunity or improvement as well. From time to time, each of us had urgent challenges at work, but we would all pinch hit when necessary.  It was really amazing to see that deep spirit of teamwork."

Vicky E. Myint

Executive MBA 2005
Director of Student Support & Global Initiatives
Evening and Executive MBA Programs
Wisconsin School of Business

Vicky Myint is a tried-and-true East Coaster. She grew up in a Washington, D.C., suburb and earned her bachelor’s degree in business administration from George Mason University. She moved to Madison in 1991, when her husband enrolled in graduate school. She has been here ever since, following a diverse career path that included financial roles at an engineering firm, a dot-com, a software design firm, a trademark protection agency, and a consumer goods manufacturer. Eventually Myint decided she needed an Executive MBA to broaden her business horizons. Today, she is an administrator in the very program from which she graduated, placing her in a unique position to provide the quality student support that Executive MBA students need and expect.

“Moving into this role seemed natural. Having been on the student side, I know the kind of student experience that is needed. I am very conscious about delivery, communications, and the care that people need while working toward their Wisconsin Executive MBA degree."