Meet Washington Foster’s MBA Class of 2019

Tamara Geiger 

University of Washington, Foster School of Business 

Describe yourself in 15 words or less: Tenacious.

Hometown: Glen Ellen, CA

Fun Fact About Yourself: I am the youngest of nine, and 30 years separate me from my oldest brother.

Undergraduate School and Major: University of California, San Diego – B.A. Urban Studies and Planning

Employers and Job Titles Since Graduation:

Metal Toad – Portland, OR – Product Manager, Agile Project Manager

Aequitas Capital Management – Lake Oswego, OR – PMO Practitioner, PMO Specialist

Central Oregon Intergovernmental Council – Bend, OR – Program Coordinator, Program Assistant

Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: I joined Metal Toad at the impetus of their renewed commitment to Scrum/Agile development. Agile transformations are fraught with challenges. A successful transformation requires buy-in from the top to decentralize power, and it separates individuals from their managers as they join cross-functional, self-organizing teams. The driving force behind this structural shift is the goal to exceed client or end user expectations by delivering high quality software fast. However, getting there requires the entire company to commit. Metal Toad knew from experience that without this commitment, the transformation would fail – resulting in projects exceeding budgets and timelines by 200-400%, poor code quality, and employee exodus.

My first day, Scrum development teams had been formed and I was assigned as Project Manager for one of those teams. There was an innate conflict with my title and Scrum methodology – which explicitly excludes the role of Project Manager. The role is viewed as too dogmatic and authoritative to fit within an Agile team. An Agile team does not take direction from a Project Manager (or any manager for that matter), but organizes itself to get the work done as efficiently as possible. I took this as an opportunity to define Agile Project Management and applied lessons from my previous experience, certifications, books and podcasts about the development of high performing teams to add value to both the team and the company. Scope, timeline and budget management over a project portfolio remained critical to the success of the company. As a result, I challenged myself to find a way to manage those outcomes and the expectations of leadership without directing work. I was still able to report up to leadership successes and challenges or issues, as well as their solutions – which were determined collaboratively with the team. The role is now seen as a complement to Agile, not a contradiction, and I feel in my departure that I’ve set future teams up for success.

Looking back on your experience, what one piece of advice would you give to future business school applicants?  The piece of advice I would give to anyone thinking about applying to business school is to build close working relationships now – not just with bosses, but also with peers and other managers or directors who you do not report to. Simultaneously, if you have the opportunity to work with or for any of these people, do your best. This may seem obvious, but if you show up for them, they will show up for you. Requesting letters of reference was the easiest part of my application process. I was so relieved that I didn’t even have to think about who to ask, what they may say about me, or whether they would turn down the opportunity. The application process requires so much attention;

it’s a great feeling to have one of the requirements essentially taken care of.

What was the key factor that led you to choose this program for your full-time MBA and why was it so important to you? Foster offered the best understanding and acknowledgment of the personal financial commitment that comes with a full-time MBA. They emphasized ROI and job placement – two stats that I consider crucial indicators of the quality of education, value and real-life utility of skills taught.

I had considered pursuing an MBA for a few years, but until I found Foster, I couldn’t get past my anxiety surrounding the finances. I graduated with my B.A. in Urban Studies and Planning in 2009, one of the worst years in recent history to graduate from college, and spent the next three years charting a course (living in South America for a year, working in food service, interning for a local government organization) that finally culminated in a fulltime career position in 2012. I am proud of my perseverance to get there, but leaving the job market that I had worked so tirelessly to enter and climb was a daunting decision, particularly when looking at potentially accumulating over $100k in student debt in two years. However, Foster’s commitment to ROI was clear, with year-over-year improvement in the debt to salary ratio, and average student debt less than one-third of many other top programs. To me, that was the best indicator of Foster’s commitment to setting its students up for success.

What would success look like to you after your first year of business school? I began looking at MBA programs because I want to be a leader who understands every level of the organization, and recognized that I needed additional education in the foundations of business, particularly finance and analysis for that to be possible. At the end of year one, I hope to have the tools to assess business problems with rich quantitative analysis, so that I can utilize data in decision making rather than just qualitative observation. Success also looks like positive working relationships with my cohort and the teams that we will work in throughout our coursework. Foster emphasizes collaboration, and I’m looking forward to meeting my classmates and building relationships with each of them. Finally, success will be finding at least one new thing that I haven’t done before that I love. It may not be something that I will pursue in my career, but a new challenge that I willingly immerse myself in will fuel my continued passion for my education.