Ed Fitzpatrick, financial controller for Motorola's broadband sector in Horsham, PA, had been at his company for nearly five years when he decided to apply to MBA programs. He was ready to advance his career but he didn't want to leave his job. "It was somewhat of a mutual thing because when I mentioned that I might want to pursue the degree my supervisor encouraged me to look into executive programs. I chose Wharton because it was a top school, and it was also nearby."

"Ed is an up-and-comer in the organization," says Deb Lauer, who was the company's VP of human resources at the time. "Around that time, his sector CFO Marc Rothman got transferred to another business in Motorola and Ed served as the acting CFO. Although Ed was a viable candidate for the CFO role, we believed he needed more outside exposure for that kind of step in his career. Part of the Wharton experience was to get him ready for his next big job at Motorola."

While Motorola offers only a small number of sponsorships for continuing education, both Fitzpatrick and Lauer felt that the opportunity to get an Executive MBA would boost Fitzpatrick's career and amplify his contributions to the company. "We saw that he was at a point where he needed to be exposed to other concepts, ideas, and tools that he could not get here. The decision to sponsor him was really about encouraging Ed's great talent, from both a retention and a growth perspective," says Lauer.

At Wharton, Fitzpatrick has learned some back-to-basics analysis tools he considers invaluable, and he has been able to apply the skills he's learned, such as utilizing NPV analyses on all capital decisions and matching supply and demand with mathematical forecasting models, on a regular basis at work. "I have been able to transfer some of what I have learned to our finance team which has helped augment the department's skill sets, and the Wharton MBA has better positioned me for a CFO or senior leadership role in the company. I have a much better understanding of the bigger picture and best practices in the industry."

"Ed has all the right skills but what Wharton has done for him is to take him out of the sphere of what he already knew," says Lauer, who has since moved to the company's headquarters in Schaumburg, IL, where she serves as VP of Global Talent Acquisition. "He's been able to integrate what he's learned and use it in a real world setting, proving that it's not just an academic endeavor but something you can translate into reality. I would absolutely send others to this program in the future."

Deb Lauer
VP of Staffing
Motorola Headquarters
Schaumberg, IL

Ed Fitzpatrick, WG’05
Financial Controller
Motorola Broadband Sector
Horsham, PA