Each week, JWMI profiles students and alumni in its new featured series “Winning Voices.” Learn about our diverse community and what sets our program apart from those who have experienced it. For more great “Winning Voices” content, click here.
Sasha Rosenbaum
Senior Manager
Red Hat
Program/Concentration: Jack Welch MBA
TELL US ABOUT YOUR JOB RESPONSIBILITIES AT Red Hat.
I am a Senior Manager of a global technical sales team at Red Hat. My team is responsible for helping large enterprise customers around the globe successfully adopt Red Hat’s new SaaS product—Managed OpenShift—that is offered in partnership with four major Public Cloud providers.
My responsibilities include developing and implementing the global Go-To-Market strategy for Managed OpenShift products, coordinating cross-departmental and cross-company collaboration, monitoring and reporting on the team’s progress towards sales objectives, and hiring and coaching highly skilled talent in North America, EMEA, and APAC.
WHY WERE YOU LOOKING TO GET AN MBA?:
Ever since I finished my Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, I considered going to graduate school. The more time I spent in the workforce, the clearer it became that an MBA would be more beneficial to my career than a Master’s degree in engineering. However, I was still on the fence regarding how much ROI I would earn. Finally, I decided that learning to speak the language of Finance and Accounting would be worth it if I could find the right program.
I can confidently say that I’ve found the best possible program for me at JWMI, and I have learned so much more than I expected!
HOW HAS THE JWMI CURRICULUM HELPED YOU IN YOUR CAREER?
It took me over three years to complete the program since I had to balance it with work and life demands. I have gone through four job changes and received several promotions and raises during this time.
I recently earned a senior manager position at Red Hat, managing a global technical sales team, and my team is expanding rapidly. The career progression has been quite challenging but also quite exciting!
DID YOU FIND THE CURRICULUM WAS IMMEDIATELY APPLICABLE? PLEASE EXPLAIN.:
The JWMI program shines when it comes to making the learnings immediately applicable on the job. My initial primary goal for the MBA was to learn the language of Finance and Accounting because these were topics I was never exposed to previously. To my surprise, I learned a lot in every class, even classes that I thought were less applicable to my job or classes in which I had a lot of prior knowledge.
My favorite example is the Business Communications class. I have given countless presentations throughout my career, written many articles, and even published a book. I did not think that an MBA class could teach me to write a better email or give a better presentation! And yet, this is precisely what happened!
LOOKING BACK AT WHAT YOU THOUGHT ABOUT AN ONLINE PROGRAM WHEN YOU FIRST EMBARKED, WHAT WAS YOUR OVERALL IMPRESSION NOW?
The JWMI program exceeded my expectations. One of the biggest reasons I chose an online program is that my job requires frequent travel, and I knew that I could not commit to consistently attending classes in person, even on Saturdays. I was, however, worried that the online learning experience would not be as effective as an in-person degree.
To my surprise, the online learning experience was in some ways better than in-person! The JWMI faculty was more engaged and responsive than any of my B.Sc. professors. The relatively small cohort sizes allowed me to learn a lot from each professor, get to know my classmates, and learn from the diverse professional experiences of people all around the globe. And, of course, the online experience allowed me to study on the road, avoiding the need to switch jobs and compromise my career progression.
HOW DID YOU NAVIGATE JOB, FAMILY, AND WORK? WHAT STRATEGIES DID YOU IMPLEMENT TO GET IT DONE?:
Juggling all of the work, school, and family responsibilities was definitely challenging. My favorite strategy for tackling very long projects like the MBA is breaking them down into manageable parts and focusing on the current part. When you look at a 3-year degree plan, it is easy to get overwhelmed. When you zoom in on the current quarter or even the current week, you can easily see how you can accomplish what needs to get done.
During challenging moments, I remind myself of the Earl Nightingale quote—”Never give up on a dream just because of the time it will take to accomplish it. The time will pass anyway.”
WAS THERE A PARTICULAR PROFESSOR OR MEMBER OF THE STAFF WHO YOU FELT HELPED YOU TO EXCEL? PLEASE ELABORATE.:
All of the JWMI professors went above and beyond my expectations. They were always ready to answer questions and support my classmates and me through the learning journey.
In particular, I have learned a lot from Professor Bruce Smith, Dr. Alfred Sanders, and Dr. Jamie Chesler.
Connect with Sasha Rosenbaum on Linkedin
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