With 18 years experience working in advertising and marketing, I'd served as a marketing manager for Frito-Lay and Timberland, and as global marketing director for a division of Reebok. When I started my Wharton MBA program, I was president of a small division of Sunbeam Corp., which made Packs & Travel Gear under licensed agreement for Timberland. Today, I am general manager of the world's largest footwear franchise, Chuck Taylor, a business group of Converse, which is a division of Nike. Wharton has afforded me the opportunity to think broadly about all of the issues of running a global brand and have an understanding of all disciplines within the business.

Worth the challenge
I think a great education pays for itself in the long run, and that's why I decided to sponsor myself. Two previous bosses were Wharton alums and I knew the school's reputation, especially in finance, so I decided to apply. Having a young and large family (with 2 sets of twins) made the program a challenge, but I absolutely loved it. My family was very supportive, and the commute from Boston was surprisingly easy. I'd take a 7:30 flight down and be in class by 9:30.

On becoming a world-class executive
I've always wanted to be a world-class executive. But while I was strong on the warm and fuzzy side of business with 18 years in advertising and marketing, I didn't have the harder skills. I didn't want to be a guy who knew about product and marketing, but couldn't bring anything to finance or operations discussions. I wanted to broaden my perspective, and gain a better understanding of finance and operations, to become a true enterprise thinker, and be able to make an impact on a larger scale. Wharton gave me the opportunity to do that.