Melanie Zairis, EMTM'06

Speaking Both Languages

As Melanie's job demanded a greater degree of expertise in both business and technology, she realized she needed to supplement her liberal arts degree with graduate education. Melanie's career began in Atlanta, where she worked in financial services and private wealth management after getting a bachelor's in political science from the University of Georgia. At Morgan Stanley, she served as a program manager for a group of IT projects and was relocated to New York. "Very early in my career, I was able to see that the toughest questions on the table were at the convergence of technology, operations and business strategy. My coworkers would tell me I knew enough about technology to be dangerous, but I wanted to know enough to be helpful and find solutions."

Why EMTM?

Melanie initially began looking at traditional MBA programs, but came to the conclusion that a business education alone wasn't going to provide her with what she deemed most critical at work. "From the moment I started looking deeper into EMTM, I got this sense of urgency about my career and where I could take it, a feeling that I was on the verge of something big. It happened the first time I stepped on campus and it hasn't gone away since."

EMTM's relevance to today's business climate was another factor in her decision. "There simply aren't a lot of other programs like EMTM, which is surprising, given the compression of margins in business now. With so many cost-cutting measures we've lost the luxury of having business people and technology people — if you can't speak both languages, your company may replace you with someone who can." When Melanie began the program she was living in New York City. Later, based in Atlanta, she found the hour and a half flight to Philadelphia relatively easy and inexpensive. She also stayed closely involved in the program's activities, serving as co-director of EMTM's student organization, the Executive Education Society (EES).

Career Impact

EMTM has been an "incubator" for Melanie's management skills, allowing her to develop her teamwork and leadership style in group projects. "It's given me the confidence to expand my horizons and ask new questions," she says.

Melanie used her electives to focus on information technology and operations, where she developed a new appreciation for problems like supply chain management, vendor management and decision modeling. Inspired by a class on outsourcing, Melanie created a strategic proposal that she submitted to senior executives at Morgan Stanley. As a result, she was named vice president and subsequently charged with the mission of creating and implementing a global outsourcing strategy for the company's retail operations division.

Melanie's career has had a rapid trajectory since joining the program; all told, she's been promoted through four levels in four years. "EMTM wasn't responsible for these promotions in the sense that I got them because people knew I was enrolled. EMTM was responsible because the program made me into a different kind of employee. Every weekend at school I came away with a deeper understanding of problems at work and a new resolve to approach them with the skills I've acquired. I learned more in a trimester at EMTM than I would in a year on the job. The program has been transformational for me both personally and professionally."

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