Alumni Profiles
William W. Towns, MBA '09
Regional Vice President, Mercy Portfolio Services
Chicago, IL
In the height of a historic economic downturn, with foreclosures skyrocketing and an extremely unstable housing market, it’s not easy being a real estate executive, to say the least. And for Will Towns, it’s an opportunity to put all aspects of his Notre Dame EMBA education to work.
As Regional Vice President of Mercy Portfolio Services, a subsidiary of Mercy Housing Inc., part of Towns’ responsibility is to address the economic and housing crisis in Chicago. Implementing a $169 million grant from the Housing Emergency Recovery Act of 2008 and American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, he understands the importance of what he’s doing.
“In the neighborhoods where we work, it’s not just about empty buildings,” says Will. “Our work includes issues like loss of community, crime, job creation and education. We’ve recognized that to help so many people in financial trouble, we need a different strategy. We’re dealing with people’s lives and for that there is no one size fits all solution.”
Will feels what he learned while attending Notre Dame’s Executive MBA program in Chicago helped him to face such a big issue.
“The professors really showed me that ethics and business can coexist…The values-based education was important to me. It was a big part of why I chose Notre Dame in the first place. And having the program here in Chicago, was important as it allowed me to stay abreast to the City’s rapidly changing responses to the real estate market due to collapse of subprime mortgages.
“I’ve found that the challenge comes in the gray areas. I often have to make a choice between two bad options. When you have $169 million for a $3 billion problem, someone always gets left out. At Notre Dame, I felt like I was equipped with the tools to do the analysis. And that’s given me the courage to make the hard decisions.”
Even beyond the skills Will sharpened in the classroom, his affiliation with Notre Dame has been an asset. “With an issue as massive as the housing crisis, when you can easily reach out to a large network of alumni, it’s a huge help.”
When reflecting back on his experiences in the EMBA program, Will feels that it was a perfect precursor for his current responsibilities.
“The program helped me understand myself and taught me how to become a better leader. It showed me that what I always believed in was true —that you can operate a successful business while not neglecting society.”
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Mike Mathile, MBA '04
CEO of DoubleDay Holdings, LLC
Dayton, Ohio
When Mike Mathile stepped into Notre Dame's Cincinnati classroom to begin the Executive MBA program, he knew how fortunate he was. "From day one, I was excited to be part of a top-tier business school," says Mathile. "Having a top-notch faculty enlightening me a short distance from home, being part of an executive-level learning team, and looking at business concepts from different angles—these were all aspects of the program that were important to me."
Mathile, a native of Dayton, Ohio, never had any intention of making a career in business. Instead, he had his sights set on something quite different, though no less competitive: the sports world. Even at the age of six, Mathile knew he wanted to play professional baseball. His boyhood dreams were fulfilled in 1990, when he was drafted by the Montreal Expos. After playing professional ball for six years, however, he was forced to retire with an elbow injury.
"When my baseball career was over, I didn't have a back-up plan. For the next couple of years, I coached high school sports and was involved in the family business and philanthropic work," he says. The family business he is referring to is the wealth building and sustaining effort that accompanied the success his father and mother, Clay and Mary Mathile, had achieved in building The Iams Company into a world-leading producer of pet food and supplies before selling it to Procter & Gamble for $2.3 billion in 1999. With a sizeable asset base, Mathile soon found he needed more education.
After completing his undergraduate degree in marketing from Wright State University, Mathile enrolled in the Notre Dame MBA program in the spring of 2002. "The business foundation that the Notre Dame program creates is invaluable, and the classes I found most engaging were the ones that allowed us to apply our business experience to the task at hand. It was almost as though I had blinders on previously; the program widened the lens of my perspective, helping me to move beyond a focus on marketing and branding to develop a global view."
Along with his studies, Mathile credits the alumni, faculty, and fellow students for their influence in his life. As Mathile puts it, "A mentor is someone who makes an impact on your life, whether it's for a couple of hours or a couple of years." His mentors range from Lou Nanni, Vice President for University Relations and former director of the Center for the Homeless in South Bend, Indiana, to two fellow students who were project team members. "Years later, it's a comfort to know that, when I need them, I can still pick up the phone and call those people who have had such an impact on my life," he says.
Today Mike Mathile, CEO of DoubleDay Holdings, LLC and 2006 recipient of Notre Dame's Distinguished Alumni Award, continues to work in the family business, while also serving on the Business Advisory Council at Notre Dame. Looks like plan B is paying off after all.
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Helen Murray, MBA '95
President and COO of Indiana Michigan Power (I&M)
Ft. Wayne, IN
In business, tunnel vision is the kiss of death. Executives who don't manage the operations end or who fail to engage in strategic planning, whatever their business, simply don't achieve the level of success of which they are capable. For Helen Murray, who earned her MBA from Notre Dame in 1995, that's never been a problem. Early in life, she learned from her mother, an English war bride, to look at the big picture rather than take a parochial view. That instruction has stood her in good stead through the years, along with the financial prudence and love of family and friends that she learned from her father.
Currently the President and Chief Operating Officer of Indiana Michigan Power (I&M), Helen began her career with I&M, a subsidiary of American Electric Power (AEP), in 1977. She began her career as a junior programmer, eventually working her way up to systems analyst. In the early 1990s, she moved to the operations side of the utility business and became the administrative assistant for I&M's South Bend, Indiana, division manager. While in South Bend, she became acquainted with the Executive MBA program at Notre Dame through a friend who highly recommended it. With her company's support, she decided to enroll.
"The Executive MBA program at Notre Dame is highly rated, and it benchmarks well," says Helen. "The education I received was extremely beneficial and came at a time when I was moving into management. The finance, statistics, and economics courses taught me to understand and interpret financial and operational reports."
Helen credits not only the professors, who "made the courses interesting and challenging," but her fellow students as well. "My classmates were productive, successful individuals, already working in their careers. I worked closely with bank vice presidents, company controllers, and others who were experts in their fields while I was in the MBA program. I probably learned as much from my fellow students and their business experience as I did in my classes."
The vicarious learning from classmates, top-rated education from Notre Dame, and varied experience Helen gained from "leap-frogging" through AEP (from programming to accounting to operations to corporate services) have all provided her with the ability to view Indiana Michigan Power's business with the wide-angle lens necessary to achieve optimum results.
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David Olivencia, MBA '04
Executive Insight Program Director for Oracle
Troy, MI
Born in a disadvantaged area on the outskirts of Chicago, David Olivencia knew early that education was his ticket to open doors and a better life. With great parental support and quality role models who encouraged him, David began to set academic goals and take advantage of the educational opportunities that came his way. And David's father worked two jobs, carpenter by day and janitor by night, to put David through school. With his help, David became the first person in his extended family to attend college.
When he decided to further his education and pursue an MBA, David visited several leading business schools. He immediately noticed a difference at Notre Dame. He felt at home, comfortable in the classes, and connected with the other students. "The Notre Dame program rose to the very top, and I appreciated the culture and values that were evident on the campus," he says.
Now the Executive Insight Program Director for Oracle, the world's leading enterprise software company, David helps clients align their business goals and strategies to technology solutions. He credits Notre Dame for laying the groundwork for his success, saying, "My Notre Dame MBA prepared me for my job by giving me a world-class education in the relevant areas of leadership, information technology, entrepreneurship, ethics, economy, finance, innovation, accounting, and business strategy."
Always one to exercise the gifts he has been given, David was recognized by Crain's Detroit Business as one of Detroit's 40 Under 40 in 2007 because of his business success and was presented with the 2006 Alumnus of the Year Award by Notre Dame. Proud of his Puerto Rican heritage, David has a passion for education and seeks to give back to the Hispanic community. In his current role as President of the Hispanic IT Executive Council and former President of the National Society of Hispanic MBAs, David focuses on preparing Hispanics for leadership roles and increasing the number of Hispanic IT executives in corporate America. Recognized nationally as one of the top 30 young corporate leaders by the Hispanic Association on Corporate Responsibility, David is making that happen not only in his position but also by his example.
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Bill Morgan, MBA '07
President of Johnsonville Sausage
Sheboygan Falls, WI
In the Morgan family, if you wanted something, you were responsible for making it happen. Whether it was a car, a college education, or a master's degree, you were expected to earn your own money and make your own way. This push toward independence at a young age struck a chord: all four Morgan children are now successful professionals, with three of them having earned graduate degrees and one having become an airline pilot.
Notre Dame EMBA graduate Bill Morgan grew up in his Milwaukee home knowing that he was responsible for his own success. When it came time for his undergraduate education, he researched his options, found a job, took out loans, and earned a degree in business marketing. After graduating from college and working his way up through the ranks of Johnsonville Sausage, Bill decided to pursue an MBA. In the same methodical way he approached life, Bill researched a half a dozen schools in the Midwest.
Three factors were paramount as Bill contemplated MBA programs: the quality of the business school, the school's reputation, and the program possibilities. He says, "While looking at the options, I was also intrigued by the idea of values-based leadership. In all of these areas, Notre Dame was head and shoulders above the rest."
Participating in the Notre Dame EMBA program in Chicago, Bill was impressed with the quality of the faculty and students. "We were already successful in business, and the comparison between real-life business applications and textbook scenarios, the debates on philosophical approaches to business, and the examples from our own companies were invaluable," Bill says. "We built great friendships and all helped each other. In one particularly tough microeconomics class, one of the students made practice sheets and conducted training sessions, making sure no one was left behind."
For Bill, who was promoted from Chief Operating Officer to President of Johnsonville Sausage three weeks after graduating from Notre Dame's EMBA program in 2007, the education gave him increased confidence as a leader. In offering advice to future leaders, Bill says, "You are the key to the program. It's not just a degree; it's what you make of it." It is advice curiously reminiscent of his childhood.
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Bunmi Okanlami, MD, MBA '08
Medical Director, Pediatric ICU at Memorial Hospital
South Bend, IN
As Medical Director of the Pediatric ICU at Memorial Hospital in South Bend, Bunmi Okanlami, M.D. might seem an unlikely candidate for the Notre Dame Executive MBA program. After all, not only was she a successful physician in her native country of Nigeria, but she is, by all rights, a renowned physician in the U.S. as well. In her twenty-seven years of medical practice, she has learned the business side of practicing medicine "on the run," without legitimate training. Recognizing the challenge of operating in a hospital management role without sufficient business training, Bunmi set a goal: achieve an MBA before the age of 50. With that goal in mind and the support of her husband and two children, she enrolled in the Notre Dame Executive MBA program.
For a doctor on call for 24-hour shifts up to fifteen times per month, getting an MBA would mean sacrificing the precious little free time remaining in her schedule. Fortunately, her proximity to the Notre Dame campus and an accommodating class schedule offset some of the challenges. And for Bunmi, who wanted "to be qualified for whatever comes along, clinical or management," any sacrifice that she incurred along the way was worth it. Notre Dame's Executive MBA program would legitimize her business experience and provide her with the appropriate qualifications for any future challenge.
In addition to the long-range benefits of an MBA, Bunmi soon discovered the immediate impact of the instruction. "Going through the program, I would learn something, go back to the hospital or to my non-profit duties in the O'Hana Heritage Foundation, and apply my new knowledge immediately. The results were tangible and instantaneous. In addition to the quality training I received, one of the most valuable parts of the program was attending with people who entered the program with a wide variety of practical life and business experiences. I now have a network of friends and colleagues that I can consult with and receive an honest opinion – whatever the issue – at a moment's notice," she says.
In essence, Notre Dame's Executive MBA program met Bunmi's goal, broadening the scope of her experience. For a woman who attended college and medical school in Nigeria, immigrated to the United States with her husband, received additional training at Howard University and Johns Hopkins, served two years in a medically underserved area in Mississippi, practiced pediatric critical care medicine simultaneously at two hospitals within South Bend (currently serving on the board of directors at one), co-founded the non-profit O'Hana Heritage Foundation for medically fragile children, and raised two children of her own, her 2008 Executive MBA degree is another stepping stone in a life of service that has benefited so many along her path.
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Ken McMahon, MBA '07
Senior VP Sales and Marketing for Wisconsin Food Gift Company
Sun Prairie, WI
This holiday season, two strong brands will join forces thanks to two high-energy executives who met during their pursuit of the Notre Dame Executive MBA and shared an entrepreneurial spirit. For the first time, Johnsonville Sausage and Wisconsin Food Gift Company, LLC are teaming up to roll out their newest holiday gift promotion—high-end food gifts containing their signature products, cheese and sausage. The pairing of these complementary food items was cooked up by Notre Dame Executive MBA graduates Ken McMahon, Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Wisconsin Food Gift Company, and Bill Morgan, President of Johnsonville Sausage.
The two met during the Notre Dame Executive program in Chicago, became friends, and graduated together in May 2007. For Ken, who already had more than a decade of experience in the food and beverage business as well as a successful track record leading sales groups, a Notre Dame MBA served as a career catalyst: he joined Wisconsin Food Gift Company, a $40 million company, as part of a private equity buyout.
As a result, Ken received a significant compensation increase and the ability to be involved in his greatest passion—product development. Ken and his new company negotiated an exclusive food gift license with Johnsonville. He also leveraged his sales skills to secure several top retailers, including Wal-Mart. Wisconsin Food Gift Company has achieved double digit sales growth in its first year following the acquisition.
"This chain of events is a testament to Notre Dame's program and network," says Ken, "where good friends and a trusted business relationship can make stories of inspiration and success come true."
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