Kellan Roybal

Washington University, Olin Business School

“Somedays I’m a donut and others I’m a coffee. Either way, I’ll make you smile.”                 

Hometown: Denver, Colorado

Fun Fact About Yourself: I get really into foreign soap operas. I live for drama I can’t understand.

Undergraduate School and Major: Regis University, B.A. Communication. Washington University in St. Louis, Master of Social Work Candidate, 2020.

Most Recent Employer and Job Title: Regis University, Student Disability Services & Testing Coordinator

Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: When I worked for my alma mater, I was nominated to take part in an executive leadership training that included a 9-month capstone project. For my project, I worked with the leadership of the health professions school to draft a new experiential learning project as the final credential for their graduate program for healthcare administration.

What quality best describes the MBA classmates you’ve met so far and why? Narrowing down the many qualities my colleagues possess is close to impossible. Besides awe-inspiring, committed, kind and myriad other innate talents, I’d be remiss not to mention my classmates’ ingenuity. Not only do they come to the program with a wealth of broad experiences, their ideas and how they approach the business world is unmatched by anything I’ve ever seen. Just over a month since I first met them, and I feel confident in saying I’m in the company of many future world thinkers and enterprise leaders.

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? WashU Olin Business School is not like other schools I’d researched. What really made Olin stand out was its values-based pedagogy. We don’t just work with bottom lines and profit margins. Here, we work both in and out of the classroom testing business principles, questioning process ethics and reflecting on our impact. We’re asking big questions and working for even bigger answers. As a soon-to-be social worker/businessman, I care deeply for the footprint I leave in the work I do. I’ve found that Olin believes the same, and I couldn’t be more excited to grow further throughout this program.

What club or activity are you looking most forward to in business school? I’m already doing it! Olin kicks off its full-time MBA program with an integrated, intensive global immersion program where my colleagues and I travel the world learning and doing business where it happens. We’ve already completed consulting projects for wineries in Barcelona, Spain and are currently in China for our next big gig. Out of all the things I was expecting from an MBA program, this was not one of them.

I’m also thrilled to be a Reaching Out Fellow for Olin. I can’t wait to start working with my LGBTQIA+ colleagues and allies on campus to build community, drive innovation and live life in the Olin Business School.

What was the most challenging question you were asked during the admissions process? There was an admissions question that asked about my top five most influential moments on social media. This threw me for quite a loop because I rarely accrue more than 50 likes on anything—without my dog, I’d get 0 likes on virtually (ha) everything.

What led you to pursue an MBA at this point in your career? I’m headed for a career in healthcare administration. To achieve that end, I felt I could have the most impact through a social work degree, but I still needed the business and financial acumen to make my work sustainable. WashU Olin Business School offered me the chance to bridge my social work education with a business degree in such a seamless way that it would almost be foolish not to pursue an MBA.

What other MBA programs did you apply to? In assessing my options for potential business schools, I essentially did the opposite of what everyone recommends in life—I put all my eggs in one basket. Olin was the only suitable option for me, and I tried my best to get in the door. It is truly a blessing to be here (I’m honestly still in shock) and I am very thankful for this opportunity.

How did you determine your fit at various schools? I wanted rigor in tandem with exposure to real-time experiential learning. In retrospect, I sure did get what I asked for and then some!

Olin checked every box—from the global immersion to the Center for Experiential Learning to integrated career development. I also wanted to be sure that what I have to offer mattered. In conversations with faculty and staff, I could see that the Olin community was about more than just business. They cared about social impact. They drive their students to create change. I knew almost immediately that I wanted to do my MBA here.

As for my career trajectory, I was actually a bit intimidated by the prospect of an MBA. My background is in social services, and I had almost no idea how I wanted to augment those skills with a business degree. However, Olin allows me several avenues to build my education as I see fit. I’m particularly interested in strategy consulting and healthcare management, both of which are readily available in the diverse coursework portfolio. I think that this Olin MBA will help me grow my capabilities both as a social worker and a leader.

Most importantly, however, I feel comfortable in knowing that I have the Olin community so invested in my success. I feel confident that, through whatever triumphs and tribulations come my way over the next few semesters, I will be fully supported as I grow as a community-engaged leader.

What was your defining moment and how did it shape who you are? I don’t know that I have one single defining moment, but I have a collection of memories that make me want to continuously grow as a servant and friend to this world. Most recently, a number of these memories come from what I’ve seen as a patient advocate in the emergency room of an urban Denver hospital. I’d seen many things from broken discharge processes to broken families after losing a loved one. In many of these situations, I felt that there was very little I could acutely do. I want to do more. If nothing else, I’d say the work I’ve done in the social services sector has shown me just how privileged I really am. It’s high time I put that privilege to use for some good in this world. I’m not done learning and I have a long way to go; I hope to take these experiences with me as I grow as a servant leader both here at Olin and beyond.           

Where do you see yourself in ten years? I’d like to see myself in a formal position of authority over community benefit in the acute healthcare setting. I think our hospitals are well aligned to build out innovative community programs and partnerships to address community needs. In my mind, the next big break in healthcare won’t come from treatment advancement alone. I think there is much work to be done in smoothing out the Continuum of Care and in holistically integrating care for our communities. I can’t wait to be at the forefront of that work.