Olivia Petric

Ivey School of Business, Western University

“My wardrobe includes scrubs, suits, and hiking boots.”

Hometown: Hamilton, Ontario, Canada

Fun fact about yourself: I am the first person with Slovenian citizenship to complete an MBA at Ivey Business School.

Undergraduate School and Degree:

• McGill University, Bachelor of Science, Minor in Langue et littérature françaises
• University of Toronto, Master of Health Science (Speech-Language Pathology)

Where was the last place you worked before enrolling in business school? Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, Veterans Centre, Speech-Language Pathologist

Where did you intern during the summer of 2023? Ivey is an intensive one-year MBA program. Internships are not part of the curriculum.

Where will you be working after graduation? KPMG, Healthcare and Life Sciences Practice, Senior Consultant

Community Work and Leadership Roles in Business School:

• Forte Fellowship, Recipient
• Speech-Language Pathology Mentorship Program, Mentor
• Women in Business Podcast, Co-host
• Ivey Student Ambassador Program, Ambassador
• Ivey Olympics, Team Captain
• Ivey Alumni Technical Prep Program, Contractor
• London Health Sciences Centre, Movement Disorders Clinic, Speech-Language Pathologist

Which academic or extracurricular achievement are you most proud of during business school? The extracurricular achievement that I am most proud of during my time at Ivey is launching a Women in Business podcast with one of my classmates. As a Forte Fellowship recipient, I started the podcast to reach out to women and inspire them to consider pursing a business degree. The goal was to showcase women from different educational and professional backgrounds, to encourage other women to consider their own future possibilities. As a woman from a non-traditional background pursuing a business degree, I felt very connected to this project. My hope is that the next cohort of Forte Fellows can continue to grow the podcast to share the stories of other incredible women from Ivey.

What achievement are you most proud of in your professional career? One of my roles as a clinical speech-language pathologist is to ensure that patients can eat and drink safely. This entails completing detailed assessments of their chewing and swallowing function to reduce the risk of choking incidents. The achievement that I am most proud of in my professional career is the development of a curriculum for hospital staff centered on safe-feeding practices. As many patients need assistance eating and drinking, staff are required to help with these tasks despite some staff receiving no education on how to assist a patient safely and effectively at mealtimes. The development of this curriculum was made possible through a collaboration with nurses, managers, and nurses’ aides. Once implemented, the curriculum allowed staff to feed patients with confidence and led to a reduction in safety incidents within the facility.

Why did you choose this business school? I was motivated to pursue an MBA because of the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the healthcare system. During this period, I felt inspired to leverage my clinical experiences and pursue a role as a decision-maker within the public healthcare sector. I recognized that I lacked the business acumen necessary to make this transition and decided to pursue an MBA. I was first attracted to the Ivey MBA program because of its one-year curriculum, as my goal was to return to the workforce as quickly as possible. Once I began to further research Ivey’s program, there were many other attractive qualities about the program such as its use of the case method, brand recognition within Canada, and an excellent recruitment team! All of these factors made Ivey my first choice for business school.

Who was your favorite MBA professor? I have great respect for all of the MBA professors at Ivey. In particular, Dr. Nadine de Gannes stood out while teaching Responsible Governance. She was able to maximize class discussion by leveraging the Socratic method. Specifically, she elaborated on comments made by students and shaped case facts into thought-provoking questions. She also held a wealth of knowledge on specific topics that students would reference during discussions. As a result, classes were always engaging and informative. Furthermore, she showed up with a friendly attitude and was very approachable outside of class.

What was your favorite course as an MBA? Responsible Governance was my favourite MBA course at Ivey. I found the subject matter incredibly interesting because corporate governance structures and principles were novel subjects to me. Given my professional background, I had no exposure to the practice of responsible governance. I appreciated the structure of the course as we had three separate professors address the topic from an accounting, finance, and strategy perspective. Each professor was able to elicit rich discussion among the students in the class because of the ethical dilemmas held within each case study. This course was offered as an elective, but I strongly believe this course should be included within the core curriculum because of the relevance of this topic for anyone working in a business capacity.

Looking back over your MBA experience, what is the one thing you’d do differently and why? Reflecting on my MBA experience, one thing that I would have done differently, if I had been given the opportunity to, is start the program earlier. Before accepting my offer to Ivey in December 2022, I had been considering applying to an MBA program for about two years. My hesitation was that I would not be a good fit for an MBA because of my academic and professional background. In my professional career, I had never met an allied health professional with an MBA, and I was concerned that I would not be able to succeed academically. Once I expressed interest in Ivey’s program, I was connected with a handful of clinicians, including a former speech-language pathologist! These interactions gave me confidence that the Ivey MBA was designed for all students, including those with non-traditional backgrounds. Fortunately, despite starting my journey one year later, I am leaving the program with a great group of friends, a diploma, and a promising career path!

What is the biggest myth about your school? While researching the Ivey MBA program, a comment I regularly encountered from alumni was that the cohort was very tight knit because the vast majority of students relocate for the program. In essence, Ivey is not a commuter school; students are typically separated from their family and friends. I found this to be true, as students relocated from Toronto, Eastern and Western Canada, as well as internationally to join the program. As a result, the cohort relied on one another for support and socialization. There were regular events sponsored by the MBA Council and individual students that were always an open invitation to everyone in the cohort. In my opinion, the “biggest myth” held true—the Ivey cohort is a tight knit community because of the location of the campus and because of the attitudes of the students selected for the program.

What did you love most about your business school’s town? The best part about London, Ontario is the Thames River Walk Loop. The loop is a paved path that runs along the Thames River. I used to walk along the trail throughout the year to take a break from studying. The trail is even accessible during the winter as snow is regularly cleared from the path. Taking walks along the trail was reminiscent of my home in Hamilton, which also has a walking trail along Lake Ontario.

What surprised you the most about business school? At Ivey, I was most pleasantly surprised by the camaraderie fostered within the cohort. I was anticipating business school to be very competitive because the majority of students are vying for a very limited number of positions available through campus recruiting. Although I did find the cohort to be driven toward academic success, I did not feel a competitive air among students. My peers were incredibly supportive and kind to one another. The positive interactions I had with my classmates allowed me to enjoy the program even more.

Which MBA classmate do you most admire? Pranav Rao is the MBA classmate that I most admire. I spent the first few months working with Pranav as we were assigned to the same study team. I was struck by Pranav’s dedication to help out his fellow classmates—myself included—with various core subjects. Pranav helped run group tutoring sessions for Operations and Decision Making with Analytics courses and provided one-on-one guidance. Most admirably, he never seemed to say no; he always made time to help anyone who needed it. Aside from providing academic support, Pranav also presented himself with a positive and open-minded attitude. He was considerate of students from diverse backgrounds and sought to learn more about his classmates. I am grateful to have Pranav as a classmate and friend.

What are the top two items on your professional bucket list?

1. Meaningfully contribute to public healthcare within Canada. Specifically, I would like to leverage my niche as a frontline clinician to inform C-Suite level decisions.

2. Volunteer with Speech Therapy Cambodia to aid in the development of speech-language pathology education within their healthcare system.

What made Olivia such an invaluable addition to the Class of 2024?

“Oliva has served as an exemplary role model for women in the MBA program. It is no surprise that she was selected as a Forte Fellowship recipient, given that she cares deeply about helping women create a space for themselves as leaders in the business sphere. Along with her co-host, Olivia launched a podcast (Women in Business) to inspire women, even those with non-traditional educational backgrounds, to pursue business degrees.

Academically, Olivia has performed well in all of her classes. Her peers have recognized her as a strong contributor who participates in a thoughtful and informed manner to class discussions. She is very deserving of this nomination as an outstanding member of the MBA class of 2024 and the Ivey community.”

Kate Palmer-Gryp
Director, Full-Time Programs
Ivey Business School

DON’T MISS: MBAS TO WATCH: CLASS OF 2024