Connecting the dots between your MBA and career ambition
Emily Strack ’23, a student in the Evening & Weekend MBA Program, is an experienced healthcare consultant at Alvarez & Marsal. Her current focus areas include IT strategy and technology implementation, transaction support, and performance improvement. She has also worked on value-based care reporting initiatives and has a passion for health equity. Currently residing in Chicago with her spouse (Connor) and dog (Luna), Emily enjoys spending time outdoors (hiking and camping), baking and drawing.
Learn more about her academic journey in the part-time MBA program including some of the courses and faculty who’ve impressed her the most and how the school’s supportive community is inspiring a “pay it forward” mindset.
Tell us a little bit about your professional background and what motivated you to get an MBA at this point in your career.
I consider myself a lifelong learner, so when I started my career in healthcare payor consulting, I knew eventually I would find my way back to the classroom. After a few years focused on value-based care reporting for accountable care organizations, I moved to a healthcare data and analytics startup. Here, I partnered with clients to develop boutique analytic solutions to address their data challenges.
Now, I am at Alvarez & Marsal in their healthcare digital technology practice and serve healthcare organizations across the spectrum (insurance, specialty services, providers) on growing their business, improving processes and optimizing costs.
Getting an MBA was as much about expanding my knowledge in my field as it was developing my skills as a leader. I was motivated to seek higher education because I wanted to cultivate strong relationships across industries, explore different career growth trajectories and hone my leadership skills.
Why was Kellogg your ultimate choice?
The staff, student and alumni community and program flexibility at Kellogg played vital roles in my decision to attend. The opportunity to learn from world-class professors with proven track records of success combined with the welcoming students and alumni I met throughout the application process solidified my enthusiasm for Kellogg.
The Healthcare @ Kellogg programming (academic pathway, clubs, ”Deep Dive” curriculum and cross-program connections) piqued my interest because I am passionate about the healthcare industry and further building my healthcare network. The program flexibility enables me to design my own MBA journey – specifically within the Evening & Weekend program — ramping up on credits or taking a quarter off if needed allowed me to fit it around my life.
How has the Kellogg community supported you since starting your MBA journey?
Notably, Kellogg promotes building networks through creating diverse opportunities to connect. From the Healthcare at Kellogg Deep Dive Program (which offers networking across the Executive, part-time and full-time Kellogg MBA programs, alumni chats and various speaker events), to student-run conferences that facilitate meeting folks who share similar passions (e.g. technology, sustainability), I believe support in crafting one’s network at Kellogg is unmatched.
Network building is a core tenet of one of the first classes everyone takes as well (MORS-430) and is underscored throughout the school’s offerings. Further, I have found the professors engaging (making learning both fun and applied), willing and open to connecting and providing mentorship. There were several professors whose coursework and key lessons I have been able to leverage and apply them to my professional role, and I am so grateful! For example, Professor Shana Carroll’s “Strategic Communications” course included research and evaluation of leadership styles that I was able to share with my colleagues and prompt a broader team reflection on how we show up to our team and clients.
Flexibility and convenience make balancing job and family commitments with education possible. What have you appreciated the most when it comes to the school’s part-time MBA program?
I have appreciated not being “boxed in” to a lock-step order of classes and having a choice to sign up for what is meaningful to me, and because of this I have felt inspired by my coursework because I truly “chose” each class. As someone who enjoys learning about a broad set of ideas and being exposed to diverse perspectives, industries and challenges, the flexibility and choice offered in the part-time program felt like a perfect fit.
Kellogg has a strong “pay it forward” business mindset. How have you seen this in action or how have you lived this out yourself?
A few instances come to mind: serving as a TA for a course I had previously enjoyed taking, showing potential students around on class visits and a professor whose determination to pay it forward shines through in every class.
I was fortunate enough to take a healthcare delivery systems course taught by Professor Jim Weinstein, a Microsoft executive. His course focuses on value-based care, the impacts of policy on daily experiences and innovations to consider in modeling for the future of healthcare delivery. After taking the course, I was asked to be a TA the following year and excitedly agreed. The class discussions were rich due to the diverse healthcare experience and mix of students and being able to facilitate learning in this manner felt like an honor.
Second, I recall how important it was for me to “sit-in” (zoom-in at the time) on a class visit when I was making the decision to come to Kellogg. Therefore, when the opportunity arose to be a Kellogg Ambassador and show potential students to classes, I knew I wanted to contribute. Providing a “sneak-peek” of the Kellogg student experience and ensuring that it is reflective of reality was critically important to me, and I was so happy to share that with potential students as they are deciding their right fit.
Lastly, I want to highlight a professor who pays it forward, week after week. Professor Matt Littell teaches “Introduction to Entrepreneurship Through Acquisition” (ETA) and epitomizes paying it forward. From his time at Kellogg in the MMM program, he saw a gap in the opportunities to learn about ETA. After completing the search fund experience, purchasing, operating and selling a company, he is determined to provide more people the opportunity to learn about ETA. He does this through guest speakers each week and opening himself (and others in the ETA network) up to questions.
Each week, Matt flies from out of state and requests feedback that he implements the following week. He is committed to ensuring the next generation of searchers (folks pursuing the ETA career path) are better equipped with tools, frameworks, knowledge and a network than he was — paving the way for others to succeed.
Congratulations on receiving the Jane Robertson Memorial Award, a peer-created award. This means that you’ve completed your first 10 classes with a cumulative GPA of 4.0. What has helped you balance school, work and personal responsibilities in such a high-achieving manner?
Thank you – a few factors made this possible!
First, honing my time management skills and setting boundaries with commitments was key. Focusing on optimizing time and being purpose-driven with my activities let me lean into academics. Second, having an understanding network of folks from family and friends to colleagues and classmates — being surrounded by people who encourage and cheer me on has kept me motivated throughout even the longest days.
Finally, my biggest supporter and the one who keeps me grounded, my spouse, (known as JV in Kellogg terms) has been a key reason I have been able to “do it all.” From making sure I remember to eat when I go straight from “work from home” to homework to attending as many Kellogg events as I do, he has been critical to keeping me balanced!
What courses have deeply resonated with you, and can you give an example of how you put theory into practice? What kind of impact did this have?
Two of my favorite courses are “Marketing Strategies for Growth and Defense” with Professor Tim Calkins and “International Health and Human Rights” with Professor Juliet Sorenson. These courses were quite different and meaningfully integral to my Kellogg experience.
“Marketing Strategies for Growth and Defense” is a unique marketing course that forced me to think outside my day-to-day and understand the impact of my actions on competitor choices, as well as calculate the risk of inaction. This was done via a group-simulation, and I have taken lessons around simplicity into how I present and focus a client who has a plethora of ideas. Transferring the core teaching of simplifying marketing plans into guiding clients’ strategy on improvement initiatives has enabled me to concisely communicate their plans. This accelerated and mobilized teams around the “simple” and resulted in achieving the goals.
The International Health class is taught through the Pritzker School of Law and is an interdisciplinary experience which brings together graduate students across Northwestern to focus on a health-related project. The course utilizes academic partnerships seeking to improve health access around the globe. When I took the class, one of the countries of focus was Mauritania, the last country in the world to abolish slavery (1981). My peers were from the law and public health programs at Northwestern, and we worked alongside an anti-slavery activist in Mauritania and an NGO based out of Chicago (The Abolition Institute). We focused on developing a maternal health education program for women in Mauritania, and I am proud to share our research is published in the Social Science Research Network. Our program was rolled out to women in Mauritania earlier this year — meaning more women have educational resources for fighting malnutrition.
Anything else you would like to share?
A snippet of advice for anyone considering Kellogg or an MBA: One of the best things about Kellogg is that you get to design your own journey and take risks in a low-stakes environment. Do not be afraid to say, “Yes” — to courses, clubs, or experiences outside of your comfort zone, and do not be a stranger! Kellogg and the Northwestern community are open to connection.
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