Martina Di Gioacchino  

Ivey Business School at Western University

“Linguistics enthusiast, amateur baker, and health care leader focused on innovation within the field.”

Hometown: Vaughan, Ontario

Fun Fact About Yourself: My grandparents lived on a farm in northern Ontario, so I learned to drive a tractor at a very young age – much, much earlier than I learned to drive a car!

Undergraduate School and Major: Queen’s University (Kingston, ON), Special Field Concentration in Language and Linguistics; Western University (London, ON), Master of Clinical Science, Speech-Language Pathology.

Most Recent Employer and Job Title: Project Manager at the Ministry of Health & Long-Term Care, Government of Ontario.

Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: While practicing as a speech-language pathologist, I developed and implemented a customized and comprehensive in-house speech-language pathology (SLP) program for long-term care homes. The program minimized wait times and streamlined policies and procedures to improve the quality and timeliness of service delivery to seniors living in long-term care. This program introduced a new way to deliver much-needed health services to an underserved population and improving the care that they were receiving.

Describe your biggest accomplishment at Ivey so far: My biggest accomplishment at Ivey has been taking on the position of Clubs Senator for our class. The role of this position is to work with the administrative teams of the various industry and special interest clubs on campus and help them plan, organize, and execute their strategic plans for the year. I was very excited to take on this role because I truly believe that the clubs have the ability to make a huge impact on our MBA experience and help shape the paths that people take once we graduate. It’s also a great way to be involved with the program outside of class and to help make sure that our year is memorable.

What quality best describes the MBA classmates you’ve met so far and why? I would best describe my MBA classmates as enthusiastic! This class is a group of people who are passionate about the educational material, energetic in their approach, and engaged in all aspects of the program. Every one of my peers is not only focused on the school work, but is highly engaged in clubs, career development activities, socials, and in getting to know their classmates.

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? I chose Ivey because I believed that the teaching and learning style was more compatible with my personal learning style. I knew that I did not want to sit through lecture-style classes, so the case method of learning seemed perfect for me. It allows students to learn through real-world scenarios. It’s also extremely engaging and gives students an opportunity to draw on their own work experiences. I have learned so much from the professors at Ivey, but I have learned equally as much by listening to and responding to the contribution of my classmates. Being able to draw on their experiences, as well as my own, provides a huge benefit and makes the cases so much richer and more memorable. There are lessons that I take away from each class that I feel I would be able to apply in the real world.

What club or activity have you enjoyed the most at Ivey so far? As part of our Marketing course, we were able to participate in a two-day simulation activity called SABRE. The idea is that each team competes in a simulated environment to launch, market, and sell products, with the end goal of maximizing contribution (which is a portion of your sales revenue). The simulation was not only a great way to apply the concepts we had been learning in class, but it gave teams a chance to develop and apply strategy and brought out the teams’ competitive spirits. We all learned a lot and it was a really fun couple of days!

What led you to pursue an MBA at this point in your career? I had been working in the health care sector for a number of years, first as a health care practitioner and business owner. Over time, I was increasingly moving into the business side of the industry into areas such as service delivery and infrastructure. I began to realize that if I wanted to be more effective in these new roles and effectively use my clinical knowledge and experience in management, I would need a stronger knowledge of core business and management concepts. I felt as though completing my MBA would help strengthen my skill set and put me in a stronger position to take on new and exciting roles within the industry.

What other MBA programs did you apply to? Ivey was my first choice! I was very focused on what I wanted to accomplish in doing the MBA and Ivey met all of the criteria.

How did you determine your fit at various schools? I spent a lot of time researching different MBA programs at schools across Canada. Some of the factors I prioritized were the length of the program and the teaching method, as well as looking at what schools offered outside of course work. These included, for example, career management services, international opportunities, and clubs.

I spoke to students who were currently enrolled in the programs or who had recently completed their MBA at different schools. I talked to them about what they enjoyed about the program, what they felt gave them a lot of value, and what they would look for in a program if they had to do it again.

What was your defining moment and how did it shape who you are? Several years ago, I made the decision to move away from clinical practice as a Speech-Language Pathologist (SLP) and pursue my interests in other areas of health care. Making that decision was very difficult because I had worked so hard and spent so many years training to become an SLP. However, through my clinical practice and experience working in the health care industry, I realized that I wanted to be able to have a larger impact on the overall health care system – and I had the capabilities to do so. There were definitely risks associated with leaving a stable and comfortable career. However, I have since had several unique and rewarding experiences that I would have missed out on had I not made the decision to pursue my interests. It was a difficult decision to make, but it has made me less averse to taking calculated risks in the future and made me eager to take on new, challenging opportunities where I believe my experience and education can have a significant impact.

Where do you see yourself in five years? In five years, I plan to be working in the health care industry on projects that will improve service delivery. I am very interested in improving the way patients access health services and move through the health care system. I hope to be able to apply my clinical experience and my business education to health care problems so that patients can achieve the best possible outcomes. I am also very interested in working to integrate tech solutions into existing health systems to improve patient outcomes and experiences. This is a growing area of health care and one that I believe can have a significant impact on patients and on the efficacy of the overall system.