WYNNE
masters of business administration '17

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WHY WEBER STATE?

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I moved to Utah from Louisiana in the early 2000s. Talk about a culture shock! A few years later, I graduated from Bountiful High and decided I wanted to pursue nursing. I enrolled at Dixie State College (yes, it was a college then) as a biology student, and pretty quickly realized that anatomy would get the best of me. As someone who had always loved school, realizing I was failing a class was super demoralizing. I started to look for different avenues and realized that Weber offered a much larger variety of options for someone who was essentially trying to decide what to do with their life. I transferred there in early 2009 and never looked back. I took an introduction to accounting class my first or second semester, changed my program declaration to accounting, and here I am today.

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WHY MBA?

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I attended Weber for my undergraduate and first master’s program, so I might even bleed purple. All joking aside, I knew the significant quality of the business program at Weber firsthand. I knew that I would continue to learn if I attended the MBA program as well. My boss and career mentors encouraged me to consider pursuing an MBA degree. I realized very quickly the MBA provided a different type of experience from the MAcc program. The MAcc program was focused more so on technical skills, while the MBA focused on people; relationships, management skills, and leadership skills. Just as important, the professors and advisors at Weber are amazing. They act as conduits of information, but also as mentors. They have helped me grow into the person (and accountant) I am today.

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INCREDIBLE ACCESS

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You’re treated as an individual and a person. My professors, instructors, and advisors knew who I was. I made friends with my co-students, who were incredibly supportive. They all tried to understand what drove me as a student and a professional. Because of this, they were able to give me specific and helpful advice. They truly care about their students. If I had to sum it up in one sentence, Goddard is unique because, as a student, you’re not just a statistic. I used the tutoring services, and eventually volunteered as an accounting tutor. I loved participating in Beta Alpha Psi, which offered me a ridiculous number of networking opportunities. The business school’s career center literally got me my first professional job. My professors have acted as professional references. The resources were quite literally priceless to me and my career.

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FACULTY IMPACT

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Matthew Mouritsen taught my first MBA class. During that class, I realized my career needed to be about more than just making money. It was about loving what you do and helping the people you have the benefit of knowing. Shaun Hansen taught me similar concepts. The Stakeholder Trust model gave me a good way, a good tool, to explain how I try to live my life, with character and compassion.

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ADVICE

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Can I just say “Do it”? It’s not easy. It takes a few years of dedicated work, beyond your day job. But the relationships you build and the focus you hone during your studies will help you immensely.

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HOW HAS THE MBA PROGRAM IMPACTED YOU?

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I was young when I graduated with my undergrad, just barely 20,and I was the youngest manager to be hired at my organization. The MBA shows that I can be taken seriously, that I have grit and dedication, despite being younger than most of my peers. I also think the MBA has helped me become more well-rounded. I can focus on more than the strict finance numbers or analytics of the situation, because I’ve been exposed to topics such as organizational behavior, supply chain, marketing, etc. I’m not an expert in all these fields, but I know enough to offer some insight or make reasonable decisions as needed.

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WHERE ARE YOU NOW?

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I’m an accounting manager at WECC, a non-profit in Salt Lake City. My significant duties include managing the budget preparation, external reporting, enterprise risk management, as well as oversee the monthly, quarterly, and annual financial processes. I love my job because of the people I get to work with, and the organization’s mission means we’re doing our best for the public good. I started out in an internship (that I managed to find and interview for via the Goddard career center) and worked my way through the public accounting firm life. I left public accounting as an audit senior and joined my current organization. It’s been a bit of a winding road, but I have loved accounting because it generally means that you interact with all facets of the organization. You get to see how companies are made and broken. You get to interact with people from all backgrounds, educations, and places.

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