Roderick Odom

Vanderbilt University, Owen Graduate School of Management

“I am a global citizen that is intent on maximizing my potential.”

Hometown: Central Islip, New York

Fun Fact About Yourself: I have lived in 7 different countries in the past 6 years.

Undergraduate School and Major: Vanderbilt University – Major: Economics, Minor: Corporate Strategy

Most Recent Employer and Job Title: Keravnos Basketball Club – Professional Athlete

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? Vanderbilt’s Career Management Center really stood out to me when I was looking for an MBA program. As a career switcher, it was essential for me to find a program that had a strong Career Management Center that was willing to take a personalized approach to building out my next steps.

What attracted me to Owen is the close-knit community. I wanted an MBA experience that would allow me to build community with as many of my classmates as possible. Owen’s close-knit community is big enough that I interact with a diverse group of classmates and small enough for me to know everyone’s name.

At Owen, you are part of one of the most dynamic business environments in the country. What has made Nashville such a great place to live and learn for you? Nashville is an emerging city that has changed so much from six years ago when I was an undergraduate here. It has been incredible to see how rapidly the city has grown, and I look forward to seeing how it will continue to grow.

What quality best describes your MBA classmates you’ve met so far and why? Engaging. Even though our program has been a hybrid experience of in-person and virtual classes, my classmates have been consistently making sure that we find ways to stay engaged with each other. Whether it’s through Zoom or socially distanced gatherings, my classmates have done an excellent job of building meaningful relationships during these challenging times.

Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: Throughout my professional basketball career, I signed 6 different contracts with 6 different high-level professional basketball teams. Although each team was situated in a different part of the world, I consistently added value across different cultures both on the court and in the community through relying on my composed, versatile, and open-minded leadership style.

Describe your biggest accomplishment as an MBA student so far? I recently accepted a Summer Associate position at Morgan Stanley with their Fixed Income Sales and Trading desks. Morgan Stanley is an industry leading firm with an excellent culture. I am looking forward to learning as much as I possibly can.

What led you to pursue an MBA at this point in your career? As a professional athlete, I developed strong soft skills like adaptability, poise under pressure, and resilience. I was at a point where I was eager to take the lessons and skills that I learned from playing professional sports and apply them to a more sustainable space. I decided to pursue an MBA because I wanted an opportunity to combine those soft skills with some of the hard skills that an MBA program can help develop.  

What was your defining moment and how did it prepare you for business school? I cannot point to one moment that prepared me for business school. My professional basketball career was a collection of diverse experiences that involved working with and leading teams of people from a multitude of different cultural backgrounds. These experiences helped me grow my ability to learn quickly in new environments. Being a quick study has helped me effectively connect and work with classmates from a variety of different professional backgrounds.

DON’T MISS: Meet Vanderbilt Owen’s MBA Class Of 2022