Meet Vanderbilt Owen’s MBA Class Of 2024

BIG PAY AND A NEW DEAN

The 2022-2023 school year has been particularly noteworthy. When the Class of 2022 reported its average starting pay, base pay rose from $125,130 to $139,711 in one year. Just as impressive, average signing bonus climbed from $27,651 to $34,636 over the same period. This also corresponds with the percentage of Owen graduates who chose consulting jumping from 20% to 34% — big news considering Owen notched the 5th-best score for its consulting programming in The Princeton Review survey. Better yet, 97% of the 2022 Class had landed job offers within 3 months of graduation, while 100% of first-years received internship offers before the summer of 2022.

While Owen is sometimes regarded as a ‘Southern School’, just 40% of the class stayed in the South after graduation. “Because Vanderbilt is such a prominent university in the Southern US, everyone thinks that recruitment is primarily focused in the American South and probably not competitive enough for larger cities,” says Vedanti Shah, a ’22 grad who joined Jefferies as an investment banking associate. “But Vanderbilt has a stellar reputation in organizations throughout the country. I am heading to New York after school, and so many of my peers are headed to San Francisco, Chicago, Boston, Los Angeles, Seattle, Oregon, and more! So even though the school is in Nashville, its footprint is all around the country.”

The past school year also represents the end of an era. In October, Dean M. Eric Johnson announced that he would step down as dean this month. The news comes on the heels of the school’s $55 million dollar renovation and expansion of Management Hall. Along with adding several Master’s degrees during his 10 years at the helm, Johnson also launched three research centers: Turner Family Center for Social Ventures, Center for Health Care Market Innovation, and the Center for Entrepreneurship. Filling his shoes will be Thomas J. Steenburgh, previously the senior associate dean at the University of Virginia’s Darden School.

AN INTERVIEW WITH THE ASSOCIATE DEAN

Steenburgh is stepping into a great situation. Just ask Sue Oldham, Associate Dean, MBA Operations at Owen. Earlier this year, P&Q sought Oldham’s thoughts on everything from the school’s vaunted Leadership Development Program to the class’ favorite hangouts around campus and Nashville in general. Here are her thoughts…

P&Q: What are the two most exciting developments at your program in the past year and how will they enrich the MBA experience for current and future MBAs?

SO: “We are thrilled to have access to our newly renovated and expanded Management Hall. The largest building project in Owen history, the $55 million dollar project enlarged our space by 50 percent. That expansion has really allowed us to rethink how we use space to collaborate, learn and gather. Our building sits right in the heart of Midtown Nashville, and the new building represents a bright and inviting light right in the middle of the city.

The updated space gives us the opportunity to lean into the things that are important to the Owen community like innovation, connection, and learning. Driven largely in part by alumni donations, we see the world-class space as a chance to create a connection space for students and alumni. We have only begun to scratch the surface of the new opportunities we have to accommodate the Nashville business community. To date, we’ve been able to host prospective students, Nashville community members, alumni, and executives in the space this fall, and we are committed to continuing to use the expanded building to make an impact moving forward.

As we embarked on the expansion, our community also took the opportunity to take a step back, reimagine our culture, and be intentional about setting guiding principles that define and shape our culture. Starting in the summer of 2021, we gathered data from students, faculty and staff through focus groups, surveys, and 1:1 conversation. The results were analyzed, and we created central themes and organizational behaviors that represent the very best of Owen and drive how we interact. The Owen Essentials – Trust, Accountability, Transparency, Inclusiveness, Collaborative Community, and Innovation & Learning – are our guiding principles and define how we expect and hope our community interacts. Moreover, they align with our mission to deliver world class business education on a personal scale. Identifying these operating principles has allowed us to really be intentional about programming and how we interact in and out of the classroom.

With both the completion of the expansion project and the deployment of our Owen Essentials, we were able to focus on community building in a brand-new space specifically designed to strengthen our unique culture.”

P&Q: If you were giving a campus tour, what is the first place you’d take an MBA applicant? Why is that so important to the MBA experience?

SO: “The Owen lobby is designed to represent Owen life and community. The minute you walk through one door, there are floor to ceiling windows where you can see into the courtyard and to the other side of the building. Our community wants to invest in students and students want to invest in each other, and that is represented in the Management Hall lobby. You walk in and you are seen, and that is such an essential part of our culture. There are areas set up specifically for socializing, group studying, quick meetings, community gatherings and conversations.

At any time of day from the lobby, you can see students connecting over lunch, working on a project in one of the team rooms or playing corn hole in the courtyard. You can even see the Dean grabbing coffee and conversing with students in the lobby on a Monday morning.”

P&Q: What is the most innovative thing you have introduced into the MBA program in recent years? How has it been a game-changer for your program?

SO: “Our small MBA class size really allows us to be nimble and react to marketplace demand. This ability to be flexible can be felt both in and out of the classroom. In the last year, our faculty have been instrumental in adding courses that are more aligned with the marketplace. An example of that is the new, more data-driven Marketing concentration, named Consumer Psychology and Marketing Analytics, which is STEM-certified. Jenny Escalas, Associate Dean of Academic Programs and Dean Samuel B. and Evelyn R. Richmond Chair in Marketing, notes, “This new concentration will provide our students with a solid foundation in marketing analytics, as well as a strong understanding of the psychology of their customers.”

Another example is the addition of the Health Valuation Lab course, run in partnership with the Nashville Entrepreneur Center and Vanderbilt School of Medicine Department of Health Policy. This interdisciplinary course is an independent study that allows students to have eyes into the investor side of business.

Outside of the classroom, we can easily add programming based on the interests of the student body. For example, the Women’s Business Association and Strategy & Consulting Club recently partnered to co-host a Women in Consulting panel on campus. Vanderbilt Business graduates from Bain, BCG, Deloitte, EY, and PwC reflected on their experience as women in consulting and their time at Owen.”

P&Q: What have MBAs told you is the most memorable, signature experience they’ve had in your program? Why did it resonate so much with them?

SO: “One of the most impactful experiences that Owen students talk about is participating in Humans of Owen. Humans of Owen was designed to be an opportunity to celebrate the diversity and similarities of humanity in Owen’s community through storytelling. Each mod, members of the community – students, faculty and staff – share a story or a thought from their lives, centered around a common theme. The intimate setting of Humans of Owen offers attendees a chance to connect with each other, the stories being shared, find new perspectives, or simply learn about a classmate. While members of the community spend a lot of time with each other, both in and outside the classroom, Humans of Owen gives an opportunity for our community to get to know each other in new ways and create new conversation and connections. Discussion and thoughts are welcome and encouraged. Every story is unique, and each event allows our community to gather and learn from one other.”

P&Q: Owen is often associated with its Leadership Development Program and Healthcare Concentration, both of which are considered among the best in the world. What does Owen do that makes these programs so unique and attractive to students?

SO: “Owen’s Leadership Development Program is almost always a part of a student’s story when they answer why they chose Owen. The two-year program, based on the best industry and academic research around leadership development, is both highly customizable and aligned and integrated into every aspect of the student experience. One of the most attractive aspects of the program is the dedicated executive coach each student works with. This passionate group of coaches, who otherwise are working with small groups of high potential industry clients, understand Owen’s unique culture and how to coach students to maximize their leadership potential. One of the most important things employers are looking for in MBA talent is someone who will quickly grow to become a leader in their company. One of the most valuable tools we can offer our students is a safe space and the resources to allow them to take a critical look at their leadership skills and exponentially grow them.

Whether students choose Owen because of our renowned healthcare program or end up adopting it as their chosen path after learning from one of Owen’s extraordinary healthcare professors, they quickly realize that learning about healthcare in a city that touches more patients through health service delivery than any other city in the country has incredible benefits. With the foundation of Owen’s core MBA courses, students concentrating in healthcare have the benefit of delving into pressing healthcare issues and topics with renowned experts and researchers like healthcare experts Larry Van Horn and Rangaraj “Ranga” Ramanujam. Outside the classroom, students get hands-on experience almost as soon as the program starts through Owen’s Healthcare “Immersion Week,” which gives the opportunity to sit in on surgeries and shadow practitioners at Vanderbilt University Medical Center across campus or through networking opportunities in Nashville’s prominent Leadership Healthcare program. The mix of classroom learning and experiential opportunities, with Nashville’s globally recognized healthcare ecosystem in Owen’s backyard, make the program an incredible place for MBAs to learn and launch their healthcare careers. 

P&Q: Where are some of your students’ favorite hangouts? What do they do and why do they gravitate there?

SO: “With one of the most famous downtowns in the world, one of the top five locations in the U.S. for green space per capita, and a nationally recognized food scene that expands far beyond Southern fare, “I’m bored” is not a phrase commonly spoken by an Owen student. While one of Owen student’s favorite hangouts is the Owen building’s lobby – you’ll find the majority of the community gathered there on Thursday evenings to connect and mark the end of the school week – you’ll find students just about everywhere in Nashville.

Many of Owen’s students choose to work and play around Owen, gathering in the bars and restaurants a short walk from campus or catching live music in renowned spots like the nearby “Listening Room” and “Honky Tonks” a few minutes away in downtown. Known for its barbeque, Nashville also has a growing scene as chefs from larger cities have chosen Nashville to launch new ventures. Student-led clubs are also a significant part of the Owen experience and there is no shortage of locations outside of the Owen building for gatherings, such as Arrington Vineyards, where the Owen Women’s Business Association hosted a recent weekend brunch. Students are naturally drawn to the games and festivities around Vanderbilt’s own sports teams but when interested in venturing out, have NFL, NHL, and MLS games to choose from. When looking to wind down or walk off their energy from studying, students have myriad outdoor locations to choose from, from dog parks a short walk from Owen to 60+ miles or trails at Percy and Edwin Warner Parks a short drive from campus.”

P&Q: How does the MBA program leverage the resources of the large university? How does that create more opportunities for your students

SO: “One of the greatest benefits for Owen students is having a “home base” and foundation at Owen, with the opportunities of one of the top universities in the country at their fingertips. Students not only have the ability to take classes at schools across Vanderbilt, but also the opportunity to get engaged in Vanderbilt’s innovation center, the Wond’ry, which offers workshops, training opportunities, and programs designed to support anyone interested in design, entrepreneurship and innovation. Two incredible resources are also run from within Owen’s walls, the Owen Center for Entrepreneurship and Turner Family Center for Social Ventures, which offer students numerous ways to apply what they learn in class to real work project and situations, and gain skills and experiences that align with their learning and career goals.”

To read in-depth profiles of Class of 2024 members, click on the link below. 

 

MBA Student	Hometown	Undergraduate Alma Mater	Last Employer
Ishan Desai	Mumbai, India	VIT University	Eli Lilly and Company
Samuel Ederle	Duxbury, MA	Wake Forest University	Actor
Olivia Espinoza	Bakersfield, CA	California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo	Deloitte Consulting
Avani Gangavelli	Aurora, CO	University of Connecticut	Cognizant Technology Solutions
Alex Jean	Nashville, TN	University of Tennessee	Brown-Forman (Woodford Reserve Distillery)
Olivier Kanicki	Ann Arbor, MI	University of Michigan	Hitachi Solutions
Campbell Liles, MD	Edmond, OK	Oklahoma State University	Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC)
Mackenzie (Mack) Murray	Amesbury, MA	Elon University	MERGE
Chi Okafor	Lagos, Nigeria	Obafemi Awolowo University	Hash App
Christian Sanders Aspillaga	Lima, Peru	Universidad Peruana de Ciencias Aplicadas (UPC)	Central Reserve Bank of Peru
Ngoc (Maya) Thi Duong	Nghe An, Vietnam	Banking Academy of Vietnam	GI Trade Co.
Sam Turner	Johnson City, TN	U.S. Military Academy	U.S. Army