Sage McAdams

The University of Texas at Dallas, Jindal School of Management

“Systems thinker who believes a better tomorrow is possible and feels responsible for creating it.”

Age: 28

Hometown: Plano, Texas

Fun fact about yourself: I’ve fostered 11 kittens over the past few years and spend my free time on creative hobbies like ballroom dancing and decorating sugar cookies.

Undergraduate School and Degree: Rice University, Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering

Where are you currently working? JPMorgan Chase, Vice President, Senior Product Manager

What achievement are you most proud of in your professional career? I’m most proud of the role I played in JPMorgan Chase’s first deployment of on-site battery storage and expansion of the on-site solar program. In my role, I educated senior executives on the importance of battery storage for promoting grid stability and enabling broader adoption of renewable energy, which ultimately led to two new corporate battery storage projects.

While battery storage was necessary to support the renewable transition, when I started the project there were no obvious incentives for the firm to deploy it. I identified both financial benefits that improved the firm’s bottom line and greenhouse gas reporting benefits that supported environmental targets, which ultimately enabled project approval. I’m proud not only of the environmental impact, but of how I approached the problem.

That role was also my first real exposure to how incentive structures shape what actually gets done in large organizations. Even with leaders who cared deeply about sustainability, projects still required clear, aligned incentives to move forward. While those incentives existed in this case, the experience exposed me to many situations where the most logical solution wasn’t the one the system encouraged.

That insight has shaped how I approach nearly every challenge since. I enjoy my work most when it helps organizations function better for the people they serve.

Why did you choose this school’s online MBA program? I chose UT Dallas because it offered multiple MBA formats and allowed me to continue building my career without stepping away from the workforce. Living in North Texas, I also valued being close to campus resources if I needed them.

I initially began the MBA in the in-person professional cohort. As I planned for starting a family (knowing that timelines aren’t always predictable), flexibility became a key factor. I wasn’t sure if full days at work followed by long evenings in class would be sustainable.

When my volunteer commitments and new child needed to take priority, UT Dallas made it seamless to transition to the online format. That flexibility allowed me to adapt my education alongside major life changes without losing momentum.

What was your favorite part of being in an online MBA program? My favorite part of the online MBA was the range of perspectives in the program. My classmates were in very different stages of life: some early in their careers and others building businesses, and others more established in corporate roles. Learning alongside people navigating such different paths helped me better understand what different directions could look like and have real conversations with people already living them.

I was also really inspired by my classmates. Many had interesting backgrounds, but what stood out most was seeing how much they accomplished during the program with many people earning promotions, launching new ventures, or making meaningful career changes. Seeing their growth made me think more intentionally about my own goals and options.

How did your online MBA experience compare with your in-the-classroom experience as an undergraduate student? I found expectations were much clearer in the online environment: whatever the syllabus said was final. In my undergraduate classes, assignments were often introduced in class or deadlines shifted based on progress, which created a level of uncertainty week-to-week.

At UT Dallas, assignment dates were clearly listed and consistently followed. That made it much easier to plan ahead for work travel, vacations, or busy periods without missing deadlines or needing extensions. I was even able to give birth during a summer term without missing any deadlines by working ahead and planning for recovery time.

I also found my MBA coursework directly relevant to my professional development. It often answered questions I didn’t know I had about how decisions are made within my company. My undergraduate engineering courses built strong analytical skills, but were more focused on how to think than on concepts I would apply day-to-day.

What is your best piece of advice to an applicant for thriving in an online MBA program? Create consistency rather than relying on motivation, and try to protect your weekends as much as possible.

Early in the program, I waited until I felt motivated to start assignments. While that sometimes led to work I’m very proud of, it also created long weekends spent catching up. Once I shifted to consistently working on school during the week, my weekends opened back up and I was able to have true days off again.

How has your online MBA education helped you in your current job? The MBA gave me a broader lens for understanding how strategy, product decisions, and customer outcomes connect. It strengthened my ability to evaluate problems. Not just from a business perspective, but from the standpoint of incentives, behavior, and long-term impact. It also changed how I communicate complex ideas to different audiences.

That perspective became especially valuable as I transitioned into a role focused on improving banking experiences for customers in unique life situations or with needs not always served by traditional products. It has changed how I think about product design, from what should work in theory to what will actually work for the people using it.

Did you earn a promotion while in the program or immediately after graduation? Yes. While in the program, I was promoted from Associate to Vice President and transitioned from an environmental sustainability role within Global Real Estate to a consumer banking product role focused on vulnerable and underserved customers.

While the roles seem very different, both align with my goal of creating a positive impact. I still care deeply about sustainability, but I wanted to move into a role that was more directly human-centered. In my current role, I spend most of my time thinking about the challenges people face in the financial system and how to make their lives easier through better products and experiences.

Why did you pursue an online MBA program instead of a full-time residential or executive MBA program? The commitments I had prior to pursuing an MBA meant relocating or stepping away from my career wasn’t a realistic option. During the program, I was volunteering as a CASA supporting children in the foster care system while also becoming a first-time parent and working full time.

I chose a program that allowed me to prioritize the things that matter most to me while still pursuing a high-quality education.

Initially, I was hesitant about an online MBA and questioned whether it would feel less valuable than a full-time residential MBA. Over time, I realized a full-time program wouldn’t align with my broader goals, and I still wanted the education. Once I started, the quality of the program and everything I was able to pursue alongside it only reinforced that it was the right decision.

What is one way that your business school has integrated AI into your programming? What insights did you gain from using AI? AI was integrated across several of my classes. In my Digital Marketing course, we used AI to build a Google Ads campaign, including drafting ad copy, testing variations, and exploring audience segments, along with receiving instruction on prompt engineering.

In another class, we reviewed research on AI’s impact on critical thinking. One key takeaway was that for those with strong domain expertise and healthy skepticism, AI can actually require more critical thinking – not less. That matches my experience using AI in the workplace, often it raises new questions and angles that require deeper evaluation and ultimately strengthen the final product.

Overall, I learned to use AI as a tool to enhance the thinking I am already doing, not as a replacement for deep thought.

Number of Hours Per Week Spent on an Online MBA: 10–12

What is your ultimate long-term professional goal? My long-term goal is to spend my career improving how large institutions work for the people they serve. I’m especially interested in how misaligned incentives can unintentionally create real-world impacts nobody actually wanted, even when individuals within those organizations have good intentions.

I want to work on designing strategies, products, and policies that better align incentives with real human experiences and help organizations function more effectively, fairly, and predictably. I’m also interested in helping people better understand how these dynamics work so they can make more informed decisions in their own lives. Through my foster care advocacy, I’ve seen firsthand how difficult it can be to navigate environments that aren’t designed with the end user in mind.

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