Meet Lee Moss

Lee is a first-year EMTM student, attending the program full-time (Friday and Saturday, alternate weekends).

Background

Lee graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy with a degree in Ocean Engineering. His service in the nuclear navy spanned 27 years, included a three-year command of a fast-attack submarine, and culminated in a position supporting the Joint Requirements Oversight Council of the Joint Chiefs of Staff as Chief of the Full Dimensional Protection Assessment Division, where he began his exposure to and work in homeland security. Lee was in this role from July of 2000 until January, 2003.

When Lee left the Navy, he joined Conquest, an independent firm that provided systems engineering to one of the national intelligence agencies. This firm was acquired by Boeing. Shortly after joining Boeing, Lee moved into the newly formed Homeland Security and Services business unit of Boeing's Integrated Defense Systems.

Why EMTM?

Before he left the military, Lee had decided that he needed to broaden his background, but knew that he wanted to stay "technically focused." He concluded that there were required elements in standard MBA programs that he did not need, based on the extent of his management experience and training in the military, but knew that he wanted to get the grounding in finance, economics and marketing that he would not find in a traditional technical masters program. He also felt that many of the technology management programs had a strong IT emphasis to the exclusion of other technologies, which was not what he wanted. He found Penn's EMTM program on his own, but later learned that a significant number of Boeing managers and engineers have been through the program.

Benefits to Boeing

Management of complex, high-budget, large-scale programs, along with Systems Engineering, are arguably the core competencies for Boeing. Beyond EMTM's ten-course technology management core, Lee has used his elective options to select a set of courses that he believes will continue to hone his management skills as a Program Manager at Boeing. These include:

• Introduction to Networking and Telecommunications
  
• Software Engineering
  
• Technology Entrepreneurship
  
• R&D Management
  
• Negotiations
  
• Real Options Analysis
  
• Strategic Management of Intellectual Property

Lee states that his management has already received concrete benefits from the program. As a result of his Networking and Telecommunications elective, he is able to steer the discussion with potential partners to ask pointed questions about their capabilities in specific emerging technologies. From the core course in Marketing, he has developed new insights about quantifying the benefits of proposed features in client proposals.

Lee's current role at Boeing requires more 'one to one' collaboration, versus the 'one to many' chain of command which characterized his time in the Navy. Learning to exert leadership in a peer-culture environment is another benefit of the EMTM program, where most courses involve team projects that develop the ability to lead and contribute effectively in diverse team situations.

On a personal note, Lee also finds the emphasis on group work and collaboration in EMTM very fulfilling. He believes that the interactive nature of the EMTM experience, inside and outside the classroom is "filling a void in camaraderie that I feel has been missing in my life since leaving the Navy. We're (my team) all in this together."

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