Pamela Jordan, EMTM'03

A Springboard for Advancement

With an undergraduate degree in electrical engineering, Pamela pursued a career in technical sales and marketing at Texas Instruments, where she held a variety of positions over 13 years. Pamela started the EMTM program in 2001, when she realized that she wanted to leverage her technical experience and advance to a managerial role in the company. "I always wanted to stay with a tech company, but I was ready to take on more of a business focus and I knew that I would need more education to move up that ladder." After completing the program in 2003, she was promoted to worldwide manager for two high-profile products at Texas Instruments. Recruited to a senior manager position at Motorola in 2006, Pamela currently oversees the marketing of Motorola's CPE products for cable companies in North America.

Why EMTM?

Pamela felt comfortable with her technical knowledge but she wanted to augment her business skills. "I was initially looking to get an MBA when I discovered EMTM. This offered the best of both the tech and business worlds and was a nice complement to my undergraduate degree."

She was drawn to the format of the program, which fit into her fulltime work schedule. "I'm married, and at the time my husband was in graduate school and we had a four-year-old at home, so for me the every-other weekend schedule was perfect." She was also impressed with the caliber of students EMTM attracted, a widely varied group of people from different industries — many with MBAs, PhDs and law degrees.

Career Impact

Pamela came away from EMTM with specific skill sets that she says enabled her promotion at Texas Instruments, increased her earning potential and opened up other possibilities for her in the company. "Once it was widely known at TI that I was attending the EMTM program, various marketing managers contacted me with a variety of interesting positions at TI's headquarters in Dallas, Texas." While in technical sales at TI, she negotiated and won several top programs working with one of the company's largest communications customers, applying newly acquired negotiations skills.

Many of her EMTM lessons also serve her well in her current position. "A lot of my skills and strategies — such as project management, price-setting and coordinating supplies and schedules — come straight from my EMTM courses. We're always introducing new products and I can make those products more competitive from a feature and pricing standpoint. I'm able to focus on what the customer needs and make sure they have it on time." Supply chain management and finance principles such as risk, return and opportunity cost analysis are examples of other EMTM takeaways she uses on a regular basis.

A major turning point for Pamela was the Global Immersion Trip to China and Hong Kong that gave her critical exposure to global supply chain management. "That experience was incredibly valuable in regards to what I do today on a daily basis, and it was not something I could have learned on the job."

Since graduation, Pamela has stayed in touch with her classmates and she has found these relationships to be extremely beneficial, both personally and professionally. "You spend two years working on projects in groups so when you come away you have a rich network of people in industries as diverse as investment banking and pharmaceuticals. The EMTM network is invaluable and growing!"

Pamela's long-term vision is to move up to the executive or VP level and she believes that EMTM has helped make that goal attainable. "EMTM has opened many doors for me already. Based on what I've gotten out of this program, it's only going to be a benefit going forward. This program is a wonderful springboard for people who want to fine tune their skills and move to the next level of their career."

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