Natalie Doppelt

UCLA, Anderson School of Management

“I always run my own race and try to do so wearing other people’s shoes.”

Hometown: Deerfield, Illinois (a small suburb north of Chicago)

Fun Fact About Yourself: I made my Broadway stage debut in 2018! I represented the state of Illinois in the Jimmy Awards, which brings students from around the country to perform on the Minskoff stage. It is one of my proudest accomplishments, and theatrical skills like improvisation and storytelling continue to serve me well to this day in the corporate sector.

Undergraduate School and Major: University of Pennsylvania, Health & Societies Major

Most Recent Employer and Job Title: I was most recently a Senior Consultant on the Healthcare Business Transformation team at FTI Consulting. In this role, I specialized in Provider Operations, specifically supporting healthcare systems in their efforts to provide more efficient, more accessible, and more innovative care.

UCLA Anderson is founded on the Three Pillars: Share Success, Think Fearlessly, and Drive Change. Which pillar resonates most with you and why? The pillar with which I resonate most deeply is “Share Success.” I am inspired by leaders who don’t just pursue their own best interests, but who invite others into the conversation, amplify their teammates’ skills, and celebrate collective wins. Not only does this lend itself to inclusive leadership, but it also bolsters higher quality work. Some of my best managers have modeled this behavior by recognizing contributions and making space for others to shine, exemplifying that, when a team is fully invested in their shared pursuit, we work harder and more thoughtfully. I believe that success is contagious, and it often takes someone willing to champion others to help them realize their full potential.

What makes Los Angeles such a great place to earn an MBA? Few cities offer MBA students the chance to grow professionally, academically, and personally as seamlessly as Los Angeles. In a world that is becoming increasingly globalized by the day, LA embodies the value of being internationally connected; I consistently find myself learning from the diverse people and perspectives I have encountered both in and out of the classroom. Moreover, MBA students in LA have the unique opportunity to explore the natural world in all its forms. Where else can I start my week with a sunrise hike, take a beach yoga lesson with my classmates after an exam, and end the week in the mountains, all within driving distance?

As a professional, LA brings value as a dynamic hub for countless industries. I was immediately interested in receiving my MBA in LA because its proximity to a wide variety of industry leaders lends itself to real hands-on learning opportunities and a broad professional network that couldn’t be accessed elsewhere. The value of receiving an MBA in LA transcends a physical degree; the ambitious and conscientious nature of the city fosters generations of fearless thinkers and change agents who will use their MBA to make the world a better place.

Aside from your classmates and location, what was the key part of UCLA Anderson’s MBA programming that led you to choose this business school and why was it so important to you? Anderson places a notable emphasis on cross-disciplinary learning in our curriculum, which I see as essential to any future business leader. As the lines between industries and functions increasingly blur, expanding one’s horizons is no longer optional, but rather, a key component of business strategy. Although I entered my MBA experience with a clear industry in mind, Anderson has already begun to push me to engage with epistemologies beyond my own through our cross-functional classwork. Anderson challenges its students to apply insights from other fields to their own fields, ultimately sharpening our ability to think critically and collaboratively. Cross-functional experience is key to developing transformative leaders because it reflects how real-world organizations actually operate: as complex, interconnected microcosms that require strong communication, shared problem-solving, and compassion.

What course, club or activity excites you the most at UCLA Anderson? I am most excited to partake in Anderson’s Days-on-the-Job (“DOJ”) Treks. Anderson’s professional clubs, with oversight from the Parker Career Center, lead industry-specific treks to visit companies and learn more about the day-to-day experiences of working in various roles. These treks offer Anderson students a unique glimpse into what our futures might look like, going beyond the traditional informational coffee chats. As an experiential learner, I find it invaluable to directly engage with professionals and witness how their skills are deployed. Moreover, the DOJs position us to be more intentional and well-informed when we approach the recruiting process and provide a fantastic opportunity to connect with businesses and like-minded professionals, bolstering a robust professional network.

What is your unique quality that will enable you to make a big contribution to the Class of 2027? I have a long-suffering love for sparkling water, not just for its refreshing taste, but for what it represents. Like a good dose of carbonation, I like to bring levity and energy into every room I enter. The ability to uplift and energize has helped me to cultivate stronger senses of community and resiliency for both me and my peers. This will be particularly valuable in business school because, while these next two years hold some incredible experiences, there will also be some tough moments: long nights studying, club leadership setbacks, and, of course, recruiting rejections. I hope to be someone who can lift the mood, offer perspective, and help others reset. I don’t only see the glass as half full, I see it as ready to be topped off.

Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: There is nothing more rewarding as a consultant than watching your client achieve their full potential. As a healthcare consultant, observing health systems achieve innovative patient care strategies and strive towards a more equitable healthcare marketplace was a unique privilege and an honor. Therefore, my greatest accomplishment in my career has been successfully supporting the integration of two prominent health centers. The engagement was cross-functional: our core team of analysts had the opportunity to touch healthcare marketing, provider operations, revenue cycle, and healthcare quality assurance. We successfully implemented multiple initiatives that made the delivery of care more cost-efficient and leveraged the economies of scale between both institutions. To this day, the merged entity is successfully up and running under its new brand, providing high quality care for the patients in their region.

What do you hope to do after graduation (at this point)? After graduation, I hope to pursue a career in healthcare strategy, partnering with healthcare systems to reimagine how care is delivered to be more resourceful and more humane. My passion for this work stems not only from academic interest and my experience as a healthcare consultant, but also from real, personal moments I have experienced volunteering at nursing homes and rehab centers, where I sing with residents. Some of the most powerful experiences I’ve had involve memory-care residents, many of whom struggle to remember names or places, yet somehow light up and sing along to familiar songs from decades past. It is in these moments that I am reminded that healthcare is not only about clinical treatments, but about our responsibility to recognize the full spectrum of wellness. As an aspiring healthcare executive, I want to design strategies and programs that treat people as people, not just as patients, by better aligning existing resources with emotional, social, and cognitive care needs.

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