Becky Blankenship

Kelley Direct Online MBA Program, Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business

“Construction leader, innovator, and connector building better systems, stronger teams, and impact that outlasts me.”

Age: 53

Hometown: Spokane, Washington

Fun fact about yourself: While stationed in England, I had an unusually diplomatic year: I met Queen Elizabeth II, British Prime Minister John Major, and U.S. President Bill Clinton. At the time, I also lived just minutes from Major’s home in Huntingdon, so national politics felt surprisingly local.

Undergraduate School and Degree:

Undergraduate: DeVry University, B.S. in Technical Management

Graduate: Montana Tech of the University of Montana, Master of Project Engineering and Management

Where are you currently working? Progressive Design-Build Consulting, LLC (PDBC), Partner

What achievement are you most proud of in your professional career? The achievement I am most proud of is becoming someone people trust enough to come to when they are trying to grow. Earlier in my career, I measured success by advancement, qualifications, and recognition. Those milestones mattered, and I am still proud of them, but somewhere along the way my definition of success started to change. People began coming to me for guidance, encouragement, and perspective. I realized that my greatest impact was not always going to be something I accomplished alone. Sometimes, it was helping someone else find confidence, direction, or momentum. I am proud of that shift because it changed the kind of leader I wanted to be.

Why did you choose this school’s online MBA program? I chose Kelley Direct because I wanted an online MBA that did not feel like a compromise. I was not looking for a credential that simply checked a box; I wanted a program known for academic rigor, exceptional faculty, and a learning experience that would hold me to the same standard I would expect from a top residential MBA. Kelley stood out because its online MBA is built around live engagement, full-time Kelley faculty, in-person experiences, and a level of customization that allowed me to shape the degree around my goals.

For me, Kelley offered the rare combination I was looking for: flexibility without dilution. I could continue growing in my career while learning from professors and classmates who brought real-world business challenges into every discussion. The program gave me more than convenience; it gave me a demanding, credible, and deeply connected MBA experience. That was exactly what I was seeking.

What was your favorite part of being in an online MBA program? My favorite part of being in an online MBA program was realizing that a strong team does not have to be built around proximity. Kelley connected me with people I never would have met if the classroom had been limited by geography: professionals from different industries, states, countries, and stages of life. What I valued most was not that my classmates thought like me. It was that they brought completely different experiences, but the same level of commitment.

That made the learning feel very real. A case discussion rarely stayed theoretical for long because someone in the room was usually living a version of it that week. The online format removed geography as the gatekeeper, and Kelley’s live classes and in-person experiences helped turn those connections into real relationships.

How did your online MBA experience compare with your in-the-classroom experience as an undergraduate student? My online MBA experience was more interactive than I expected, especially compared with my undergraduate classroom experience. In a traditional classroom, it is easy to assume community is happening just because everyone is physically in the same room. But many of my undergraduate classes followed a familiar pattern: sit down, listen to a lecture, take notes, and leave.

Kelley’s online MBA felt different because connection had to be created on purpose. Live classes, breakout rooms, group projects, peer discussions, and conversations between sessions all required us to participate rather than simply attend. I expected an online program to feel more distant, but I found the opposite. It pushed me to be more engaged, more prepared, and more intentional about how I showed up for my classmates.

How has your online MBA education helped you in your current job? My online MBA has given me tools I could use almost immediately in my current role. When I joined my two business partners, each of us brought deep industry expertise, but we were also evolving from a successful consulting practice into a more strategically managed enterprise. Kelley helped me think more clearly about opportunity evaluation, negotiation, risk, financial decision-making, and long-term positioning.

That has been especially valuable in a small business environment, where strategy is not abstract. It affects how we price our work, choose clients, structure partnerships, negotiate opportunities, and position the company for growth. The MBA has helped me contribute not only as an industry professional, but as a business leader who can help guide the company toward sustainable success.

Did you earn a promotion while in the program or immediately after graduation? I did not move one rung up a corporate ladder; I stepped off the ladder and into partner-level responsibility. About one year into the MBA program, I left the relative security of a corporate management role to become a partner in a consulting firm alongside two highly-respected industry experts. The firm had begun as a one-person practice, and together we worked to grow it into a more structured, strategic, and commercially successful advisory business.

That transition moved me from managing inside an established company to helping shape the direction of a growing firm. It was exciting, uncomfortable, and exactly the kind of challenge my MBA was preparing me to take on. The program helped me think more strategically about operations, negotiation, client value, positioning, and sustainable growth. In many ways, it was more meaningful than a promotion because it required me to bet on myself.

Why did you pursue an online MBA program instead of a full-time residential or executive MBA program? I chose an online MBA because I wanted the education to intersect with my career, not interrupt it. A full-time residential MBA would have required me to step away from the professional momentum I was building, including my eventual transition from a corporate management role into partner-level responsibility at a consulting firm. I did not want to pause that growth; I wanted an MBA that would help me navigate it more effectively.

An executive MBA was also not quite the right fit for what I was seeking. I wanted the rigor, breadth, and customization of a comprehensive MBA experience, but in a format that allowed me to keep leading, serving clients, and applying what I learned immediately. Kelley’s online MBA gave me that balance. The program allowed me to bring real business challenges into the classroom and take new frameworks back into strategy, operations, negotiation, and growth decisions almost immediately.

The online format was not a compromise. It was the format that best matched the way I wanted to learn: actively, immediately, and in direct connection with the work I was already doing.

What is one way that your business school has integrated AI into your programming? What insights did you gain from using AI? Kelley integrated AI into the program by treating it as a leadership tool rather than a shortcut. In several classes, we were encouraged to explore how AI could support brainstorming, research, scenario development, and strategic analysis. However, it always came with the expectation that we remained accountable for the thinking behind the work. The lesson was not simply how to use AI, but how to use it without surrendering judgment.

My biggest insight was that AI is helpful only when I stay in charge of the thinking. It can help me get unstuck, surface options, organize information, and challenge assumptions. Still, it does not know my judgment, my values, or the context behind a decision. Kelley helped me become more comfortable using AI, but also more cautious about using it well. The tool can make me faster, but I still have to be responsible for the question, the ethics, and the final decision.

Number of Hours Per Week Spent on an Online MBA: Typically, it was 15-20 hours per week, though some weeks required more when major projects, exams, or team deliverables overlapped.

What is your ultimate long-term professional goal? My ultimate long-term professional goal is to help transform the construction industry in a way that outlasts my own career. I have spent enough time in this industry to know how often people fall back on “this is just the way construction has always been done.” I want to be part of changing that: how teams collaborate, how risks are managed, how decisions are made, how innovation is adopted, and how people push for better ways of working.

Over time, that goal has evolved. I don’t want transformation to depend on me being in the room. I want to help build the systems, relationships, and next generation of leaders who will continue pushing the industry forward after I step away. Long term, I want my impact to show up not only in better projects or stronger companies, but in people who are equipped and motivated to keep raising the standard for how the industry delivers, innovates, and leads.

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