Executive MBA Blog
RSS Sponsor Profiles: Kaiser Associates
When Alison Banks began the Wharton MBA Program for Executives, she planned to integrate her studies with her work as vice president at Kaiser Associates, a strategy consulting firm. She was surprised to make an impact right out of the gate.
During her very first term, Alison’s learning team addressed a challenge Kaiser was facing for a field application project in the course, Managing People at Work. “We dug into that problem and brought back a set of solutions to Kaiser’s leadership,” says Alison, who runs Kaiser’s consumer packaged goods practice. “Those solutions are being implemented today.”
At Kaiser, sponsoring students in the Wharton MBA Program for Executives is a tradition. The Washington, DC-based company has sponsored nine students since 1993.
Lilith Christiansen, Kaiser vice president for human resources, is a 2001 MBA for Executives graduate who’s paying it forward as the sponsor of Alison and Genta Itoh, a Kaiser vice president in the aerospace and defense practice. She had similar success integrating Wharton and Kaiser when she was a student herself. “Each of us applied what we learned in individual ways to support our client delivery. The knowledge that I gained from the financial management class enabled me to more accurately model the financial analysis that was needed for a specific assignment. Without that class, I could not have done the work myself.”
Kaiser sees sponsoring students as a way to retain strong associates since many would otherwise leave to pursue a traditional full-time program. But its long record of sponsorship is also helpful during recruiting, as Alison and Genta both attest.
Says Genta, “I always had it in the back of my mind that I would need an MBA. Kaiser is a smaller consulting firm that does not have a formalized track system for its graduates, so the association with the MBA for Executives was appealing.”
Genta has found managing the program is a balancing act. “I have to budget my time everyday,” he says. “In the business, we always have to put together five-year plans, but my plan while working with Wharton has to be more tactical and detailed in order to manage both work and school.”
One of the biggest benefits of the program is that his personal five-year plan starts now, not two years from now.
Alison concurs. “I know exactly what I want to get out of the program – which particular classes. For me, it made no sense to step off, lose momentum, lose client relationships. I’m meeting new people across lots of industries and don’t have to start from zero.”
Both students agree that Kaiser’s long relationship with Wharton is a particular advantage. Says Genta, “I’m in a good position because my employers know how much work the program takes. Many of them have been through it themselves. They knew better than I did how much work it would entail.”
Today Genta and Alison are recruiting the next generation of Wharton executive MBA students. The two of them organized their own brown-bag lunch, attracting 15 associates who wanted to learn more about the Wharton program.
“Kaiser values promoting from within and building long-term careers,” says Genta. “We both like the program, so we’re encouraging another coworker to come next year.”
Alison sums up, “Wharton is an accelerator. It helps me do what I’m doing better and faster, and move through Kaiser more quickly.”
Alison Banks, WG’10
Vice President
Genta Itoh, WG’10
Vice President
Lilith Christiansen, WG’01
Vice President
