Meet Yale SOM’s MBA Class Of 2020

Wyatt Wolfram

Yale School of Management

Curious mind, cultural explorer, music aficionado, and aspiring entrepreneur.”

Hometown: Hillsdale, MI

Fun Fact About Yourself: I’ve been a songwriter and guitarist in several touring bands and am credited on a dozen commercially released albums.

Undergraduate School and Major: Syracuse University, B.S. Economics

Most Recent Employer and Job Title: Downtown Records, Vice President of A&R and Business Development

Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: At Downtown Records I helped navigate the company’s transition from an independent label into a venture with Universal Music Group and subsequently into a partnership with Kobalt Music. The experience of going through a corporate restructuring was extremely challenging, but taught me an enormous amount about operations, financing, team management, and client relations.

What quality best describes the MBA classmates you’ve met so far and why? Authenticity. Through the admissions process, social events, and unofficial networking, I’ve had the pleasure of interacting with many of the students in my incoming MBA class, and each one is authentic in his or her story, self-assessment, and reasons for earning an MBA. At Yale, there’s an overwhelming sense that you’re surrounded by incredibly smart, self-aware individuals, all of whom have an authentic desire to grow their own capacity as leaders and to improve the world around them.

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? Yale SOM places enormous value on diversity and taking a multidisciplinary approach to the MBA education. The program emphasizes approaching problems from a wide array of perspectives and viewpoints. This is embodied not only in their unique Integrated Curriculum, but also in the class composition, which draws from a wide range of industries and backgrounds, and not only from the traditional MBA industry pool.

What club or activity are you looking most forward to in business school? I’m looking forward to joining the Technology Club at SOM. I’ve always had an interest in the tech space but have not had the opportunity to immerse myself in that community and spend time with professionals in the field. Plus, my favorite show right now is Silicon Valley.

What led you to pursue an MBA at this point in your career? I had reached a place in my career that was sustainable and fed my immediate appetite for challenge, but I had the overarching feeling that I was capable of doing more and doing it better. The decision was the result of a lot of career and personal self-reflection, and ultimately came down to a desire to do more out in the world.

How did you decide if an MBA was worth the investment? I literally did the math, looking at the expected upside in lifetime earnings and weighing the tuition and opportunity costs. The result was a net positive. But arguably more influential were my conversations with colleagues, mentors, and other professionals who had earned their MBA or worked closely with other MBAs. Every one of them resoundingly advocated for investing in a top MBA education, because it opens doors you don’t even know exist. I’m already finding that to be true.

What other MBA programs did you apply to? Harvard, Berkeley-Haas, Columbia, Wharton

How did you determine your fit at various schools? There is no better way to get a sense of a program’s culture than to have conversations with students and alumni from that program. I used publications like Poets & Quants to learn about programs and target schools, but when it came to dissecting my top choices, nothing could replace the on-campus visits and conversations that I had with alumni and students. Data and ranking information are helpful to guide your program search, but at the end of the day you have to give weight to personal interactions and gauge your gut feeling about where you see yourself.

What was your defining moment and how did it shape who you are? My defining moment (to date) took place a few years after graduating from college. I had been trying to make it as a musician in Nashville, but after two years with limited success, I concluded (admitted) that rock-and-roll stardom was not likely in the cards. It could have been a time of defeat in my life, but I took what I had learned from those experiences and spun it into a job at a major music publisher in New York, thus kicking off a career in the music industry. It was a defining moment that taught me about how and when to pivot, as well as how to leverage experiences from one area and apply them to another.

What do you plan to do after you graduate? I still have an interest in music and entertainment, but I’d like to gain experience at a large, multinational organization working in business strategy and acquisitions. I plan to explore opportunities in the tech space as well as at investment firms that have a focus on media and entertainment.

Where do you see yourself in five years?  In five years, I’ll be living in a hip, coastal city in the U.S. or Europe with my wife, dog, and possibly a few kids! I’ll be running an innovative, global media company, driving the next generation of entertainment, technology, and communications. I’ll also have the time to take on leadership roles in my community, visit family, travel, get my pilot’s license, and maybe even put the band back together.

Meet the Class of 2020 Series

London Business School

University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School

University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business

MIT Sloan School of Management

Columbia Business School

Dartmouth College Tuck School of Business

Yale School of Mnnagement

University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business

Cornell University’s Johnson Graduate School of Management

UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School

New York University’s Stern School of Business

Emory’s Goizueta School of Business

Washington University’s Olin Business School

Questions about this article? Email us or leave a comment below.