Treg Ogborn, MBA, Supply Chain and Services Management, Finance & International Management; MSIT; Graduate Certificate, Business Analytics; Class of 2015
When I returned home safely from a tour in Iraq at the end of 2010, I was faced with the reality of transitioning into a typical civilian life: being a husband, getting a job, and planning for the future. I had graduated from college into the Great Recession in 2008; with few jobs available I had focused on Active Duty opportunities in the Massachusetts Army National Guard prior to my deployment to pay the bills so I had only Military work experience. This was going to be a major change!
I was fortunate to find meaningful employment quickly and set to work as a functional manager with a research laboratory outside Boston, managing design schedules for a team of 40 engineers. This role also included a significant technology project management function as the department was in the middle of a major implementation. I had never done anything in tech so this was a major learning opportunity for me; I was fortunate to find a talent I’d never considered while in the Military.
After successfully delivering the project, I realized that I found operational work unfulfilling – I wanted to be in technology consulting delivering projects around the globe. Having only a BA in Psychology, I knew that I needed to develop my hard and soft skills to be appealing to the major firms. I needed to go to graduate school, but I already had family obligations that would require me to work full time. I did a lot of research and determined that UMASS Boston, with its evening schedule and several honors for being Veteran friendly was the place for me. I applied to the MBA program and was thankfully accepted to begin classes in September 2012 as one of the crazy ones that would work and go to school full-time.
I was immediately taken by the campus and the student body. The beautiful view looking out over the water while eating dinner in the Campus Center before class, the friendliness and diversity of my classmates, and the quality of the faculty quickly confirmed that I had made the right choice. With UMASS Boston as my happy academic home, I requested to add the MSIT program to my academic plan before the end of my first semester. I would spend two and a half fantastic years on campus for several hours 4-5 days a week. That time flew by!
During my final full semester in October 2014, I was finally in a position to realize my dream of going into consulting. I landed interviews with Accenture Strategy and Deloitte Digital; somewhat to my surprise I received great offers from both! After much deliberation I decided to go with Deloitte, starting in their Salesforce practice as a Senior Consultant in February 2015. In my three years with the firm, I have traveled several hundred thousand miles around the world working with some of the most extraordinary people I could have imagined. I get to build relationships with clients, guide organizational strategy, and play with cutting edge technology that is changing the way the world does pretty much everything. I love what I do, and UMASS Boston was the key for getting me to where I am today.
Choosing to go to UMASS Boston was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. The campus is great, the faculty is amazing, and the student body is a snapshot of humanity – people from all around the world in various stages of life. With the relatively small class sizes, especially in the MSIT program, I made meaningful friendships that have lasted well beyond graduation and got a significant amount of personal attention from faculty. The academic rigor of my coursework prepared me for the ever-changing challenges I face today in client service. I highly recommend UMASS Boston to everyone I meet, it’s a decision that you will not regret!
