Heather Shipp

Arizona State University, W. P. Carey School of Business

“Tenaciously pursuing adventure by investing in community relationships and exploration of the natural world.”

Hometown: Chandler, AZ

Fun Fact About Yourself: I know all the best cliff jumping spots in Arizona.

Undergraduate School and Major: Arizona State University, Supply Chain

Most Recent Employer and Job Title: Management Sciences for Health, Senior Procurement Specialist

Aside from your classmates, what was the key part of the school’s MBA programming that led you to choose this business school and why was it so important to you? The piece of the MBA programming that led me to choose the W.P. Carey School of Business was the ability to declare an emphasis and a specialization. My future career goals made a generic MBA, one that did not provide a high level of customization, useless. With W.P. Carey, I can focus on several different areas like Supply Chain and Health Care.

Arizona State is renowned for its innovation. How have you seen innovation in the philosophy, curriculum, or researches at W. P. Carey? With its rapid transformation, the business of health care needs new ideas and fresh perspectives, and W.P. Carey, with its innovative approach to career coaching, equips me to make a difference in the sector. The career support offered is highly customized. Quantitative assessments and qualitative meetings are used to identify the individual’s career goals and, out of this data, the coaches work with students to devise a plan to achieve them. This innovative approach has helped me identify interests I did not even know I had.

What club or activity excites you most at this school? While W.P. Carey offers a wealth of extracurricular activities, I am most excited about getting involved with the Student Health Outreach for Wellness. This a free clinic located in downtown Phoenix that provides holistic, client-centered health care to vulnerable populations in the community. Being involved in this organization will give me an opportunity to apply the skills I learn in the classroom immediately to practical health care situations.

Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: My greatest accomplishment is that, through my work, I have enhanced the healthcare supply chains of over 20 countries by purchasing and delivering goods not available in local markets.

What led you to pursue an MBA at this point in your career? I have worked in the Health Care sector full-time professionally for three years and was looking to move into management positions. However, I kept being overlooked for these positions because many required an MBA. Professionally, I have always been well thought of by colleagues and bosses and only the degree was inhibiting me from reaching my full potential. It was time to remove this roadblock so that I could move forward.

What other MBA programs did you apply to? None.

What was the most challenging question you were asked during the admissions process? The most challenging question I was asked during the admissions process was, “How would you enhance the profit of a store given the number of items sold at said store are the same as other stores in the chain that are not underperforming?”

What was your defining moment and how did it prepare you for business school? After being in my first Health Care job for 6 months, the director of the logistics department left. Because of limited funding, my company was unable to hire a director for the next six months. During the interim, I lead the logistics department of the organization and improved performance of the warehouses we managed and the lead-time of air and sea shipments to remote international locations. In that situation I realized I was a strong leader. People were willing to follow my direction and I enjoyed adapting to the evolving role. This moment in my career gave me the confidence to peruse skill enhancement through business school.

What is the most important attribute that you are seeking in an MBA employer? The most important attribute I seek in an employer is its commitment to its stated values. To prove this commitment, the employer must have a clear management plan that encourages staff to live out these values and a missions statement that unambiguously defines what good the organization is working to accomplish.

DON’T MISS: Meet Arizona State’s MBA Class of 2022