Marnie Harris

Emory University, Goizueta Business School

“I am an innovative engineer focused on advancing progressive workplaces inclusive of people with disabilities.”

Hometown: Roswell, GA

Fun Fact About Yourself: I skipped first grade.

Undergraduate School and Major: Georgia Institute of Technology, Biomedical Engineering

Most Recent Employer and Job Title: Excel at Georgia Tech; Mentor Program Coordinator

Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: I was on the founding team to launch Excel at Georgia Tech, a four year Certificate program for college students with intellectual disabilities. Excel is a landmark program that provides opportunities for young adults with intellectual disabilities to have a college experience that equips students for meaningful careers, allows them to expand their social network, and empowers graduates to live independently. In my time with Excel, the program grew from 8 to 28 students and will graduate its first cohort in May 2018.

What quality best describes the MBA classmates you’ve met so far and why? I’ve been surprised with how many of my Goizueta classmates have been in pursuit of nontraditional paths, whether that is using business skills in education systems, to run social enterprises, or to found their own companies.

Aside from your classmates, what was the key factor that led you to choose this program for your full-time MBA and why was it so important to you? As a student with a nontraditional path both into school and hopefully after the MBA, I wanted a program that had the resources to invest in me to develop my path rather than fit me to an already prescribed one. Throughout the application and decision process, Emory students, faculty, and staff overtly demonstrated their investment in my goals. They showed me not only how I would be personally and professionally developed, but also how my unique fit would add to my cohort and to the school itself.

What club or activity are you looking most forward to in business school?Social Enterprise @ Goizueta. SE@G is doing some awesome work related to empowering small business owners. I am very excited to learn from and contribute to their initiatives.

What led you to pursue an MBA at this point in your career? I would like to create workforces inclusive of people with disabilities. I had an engineering background and then worked in the higher education sector. I thought if I wanted to be on the workforce/workplace development side, I needed a better understanding of business and to expand my network of people who were making business decisions. Both of those were aspects I could develop through an MBA.

How did you decide if an MBA was worth the investment? I thought that for the impact I hope to have, an MBA from a top school, a supportive network, and a strong understanding of business was crucial. I wanted to accelerate my growth in order to jump into the work that I wanted to do, and an MBA seemed like an appropriate path to that.

What other MBA programs did you apply to? University of North Carolina, Harvard, Stanford, MIT, University of Virginia, Duke

How did you determine your fit at various schools? I made it a goal to talk to at least three students, three alumni, faculty faculty and two staff for every school that I was considering. The different perspectives were extremely insightful in determining school culture, opportunities graduates pursued, the level of investment I would receive from faculty/staff, and the ways that I could contribute to the schools. I knew that I wanted a school that had a pathway or focus on social/sustainable enterprise and considered more than just environmental factors in determining a sustainable enterprise.

Financial aid opportunities were also a huge factor. When I was making my decision between schools, I made a list of my priorities (Location, culture fit, opportunities related to my specific goals, etc.), ranked them high/medium/low, and then ranked each school on priorities. Emory scored the highest on my ranking system, which helped confirm it was the right school for me and my family.

What was your defining moment and how did it shape who you are?

My dad always told me “Remember who you and who(m) you represent”. I have used this piece of advice to evaluate most decisions I make, including pursuing an MBA and which school would be the best fit. Following my dad’s advice helped me take the leap of faith to jump into a role in higher education after graduation instead of using my engineering degree in a lucrative field. It has helped me evaluate my path to an MBA. Much of my motivation to pursue an MBA is rooted in who I believe that I am and the skills I hope to develop to best serve the people I will to represent.

What do you plan to do after you graduate? I want to create workforces inclusive of people with disabilities.

Where do you see yourself in five years? On the leadership team for an initiative or a small business that delivers a useful product or service and employs people with disabilities working in a range of positions with opportunities for growth.