Kyle Richardville

University of North Carolina, Kenan-Flagler Business School

“Lifelong learner, curious by nature, and committed to building healthcare that leaves no one behind.”

Age: 34 years old

Hometown: Toledo, Ohio

Fun fact about yourself: I placed second in a Harry Potter look-alike contest as a kid

Undergraduate School and Degree: UNC Kenan-Flagler, Bachelor of Science in Business Administration

Where are you currently working? Mid-Atlantic Permanente Medical Group

What achievement are you most proud of in your professional career? Being recognized with two teaching awards at the Kaiser Permanente San Francisco Medical Center – one voted on by the internal medicine residents and the other voted on by my faculty colleagues. Those residents will spend decades caring for patients I’ll never meet, and knowing I played a role in shaping the physicians they are becoming is the most meaningful thing I’ve accomplished in my career.

Why did you choose this school’s online MBA program? UNC Kenan-Flagler’s reputation spoke for itself, but what sealed it was the program’s genuine emphasis on tailoring the curriculum to your interests and goals. The courses are designed to build practical knowledge you can put to use immediately.

What was your favorite part of being in an online MBA program? It was the diversity of perspectives in every discussion. My classmates were working professionals from every industry imaginable – entrepreneurs, aerospace engineers, consumer goods executives, military officers, and the list goes on. Each person brought something unique to the table and getting to explore those perspectives together was something I didn’t expect and couldn’t get enough of.

How did your online MBA experience compare with your in-the-classroom experience as an undergraduate student? As an undergrad, I was absorbing frameworks and concepts in the abstract. In the online MBA, everything landed differently because I had real-world experience to attach it to. I’d finish a week of material and walk into work on Monday morning able to see the exact concepts we’d just studied playing out in real time. The online format amplified that connection by keeping me fully embedded in my professional life throughout.

What is your best piece of advice to an applicant for thriving in an online MBA program? Be intentional with your time, engage actively, and apply what you learn immediately at work. There is a temptation to treat the program as something you squeeze in around the edges of life – resist that. Protect the time and show up fully to every discussion. When you learn something new, go find the problem at your job that it solves and fix it.

How has your online MBA education helped you in your current job? It gave me a language and a toolkit that clinical training simply does not provide. I can now walk into a room where the conversation is about cost structures, care model design, or organizational strategy and hold my own.

Did you earn a promotion while in the program or immediately after graduation? During the program, I was promoted to Assistant Chief of Hospital-Based Specialists, a role that put me at the intersection of clinical leadership and operations. Then, I made a deliberate move back to the East coast for family, joining the Mid-Atlantic Permanente Medical Group to provide team-based, holistic care to the highest-need and most complex patients. Both changes, in their own way, reflected exactly what the MBA was helping me build toward.

Why did you pursue an online MBA program instead of a full-time residential or executive MBA program? Leaving medicine for two years wasn’t an option I was willing to take. The online format let me keep practicing while I learned, which meant every concept was immediately put to use against real clinical and operational challenges. UNC Kenan-Flagler’s online program provided the same academic rigor as its full-time counterpart, with a cohort of driven working professionals who brought real-world experience and a genuine investment in learning.

What is one way that your business school has integrated AI into your programming? What insights did you gain from using AI? AI was woven into the coursework across classes, whether as part of an assignment or as a lens for analyzing real business challenges. I leaned into it as a learning tool – using AI to deepen my understanding of complex concepts, accelerate research, and surface primary sources for papers. What I took away was a much more nuanced view of both the potential and the risks of AI.

Number of Hours Per Week Spent on an Online MBA: 10-15 hours

What is your ultimate long-term professional goal? My ultimate goal is to help redesign how healthcare is delivered – for the average patient and especially for the most complex and vulnerable. The current system too often fails the people who need it, and I want to be someone who helps change that from the inside.

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