About two years ago, I was driving back from the Tomlinson’s on Airport (I was buying cat litter) and I heard a radio ad on KUT & KUTX Public Media for the Executive MBA program at the Texas McCombs School of Business. I had just started a new role at Apple and I felt woefully out of my comfort zone. Everyone said I was doing great, but it sure didn’t feel that way. I was being exposed to decision, leadership, and budget challenges that I’d never really had to face. I drove home, hopped online, and discovered the application deadline was in 70 hours and made a decision to “apply now, decide later.”
Fast forward two years, and I’m proud to tell you that I’m a #longhornforlife with an MBA from the University of Texas. Two years of balancing school, home, and work had its fair share of professional and personal challenges, including the birth of our first son - Soren Thompson (he doesn’t have a LinkedIn yet, and he wouldn’t be interested in your company anyways). And, I would do it all again without hesitation.
A huge thank you to the leadership and program staff for the EMBA program. Wow - y'all never missed a beat, and it felt like we were on track from day one - Joe Stephens, Rebecca Gutierrez, Veronica Molina, Rienne Hammett.
The McCombs faculty are second to no school - not to say your MBA from another school is somehow worth less - I’m sure you learned a ton and it looks great on you. Tom Sager, Luis Martins, J. Eric Bickel, Angie McDermott, Britt Freund, PK Toh, Xavier Sztejnberg, Maytal Saar-Tsechansky. Y'all killed it.
My schoolmates - I am so grateful that it was _you_ that I went through this journey with. Special shoutouts to Team Ocho, the Manatees, and the Cortado Crew, and everyone else who took this journey. I hope to have many opportunities to collaborate with y’all in the future. If you figure out what it is that I actually do, let me know, and I will contribute that in a second to whatever you're cooking up.
My co-workers ... thank you / you're great. This post is getting really long and I've got a warning at the bottom that says I've exceeded the maximum mention limit. Spammers have ruined the internet, and I'm sorry. With this MBA, maybe I can finally solve that problem.
Lastly, but not least, my wife, Anastacia Uriegas, put up with this for two years, which I’m pretty sure was harder than my schoolwork. That has to be worth at least an honorary doctorate. Can someone look into that?
#HELLLLLOOOOOEMMMMBAAAAAAA #hookem
Michael McInerney, Jim Sewell, CIMA®, Vipul Gupta, Chad Upchurch, Matt Carswell, Doug Lo Pinto, Andrew Sheluhovsky, William Markito Oliveira, Aaron McGarry, Heather Laurence, MBA, Daniel Jordan, Joe T., Ashley Bruno, Hugo E Mena, P.E., Kathleen Ball, Carl Ford, Kevin Sarran, Jackson Blacklock, Francis Heil III, Ann Dragovits, Bret Britton, Jonathan Moore, Mano Paul, MBA, CISSP, CSSLP, Stefan Surpitski
