Black And Gold To Pure Gold: Fenby No. 1 In Company
For 2008 marketing graduate Bobby Fenby, the values he learned as a Husky are instilled in his work as a regional marketing director for the second oldest mutual life insurance company in the US, Penn Mutual. “My football coach would tell me, ‘If you are going to make a mistake, make it at 120 mph,’” says Fenby.
Those interactions and personal attention from coaches and professors are what he holds onto most from his time on campus. The experiences have led to successes such as becoming the youngest person ever to earn the Penn Mutual Gold Award for Regional Marketing Director of the Year in 2018.
“I approach my career just like I approached football,” says Fenby. “There were always people smarter, bigger, and faster, but I always tried to outwork them, which is something my dad taught me. The same goes for my career. I work hard by executing what I promise while trying to be as efficient as possible.”
Fenby remains in close contact with fellow graduates. “We talk often and get together whenever family and work allows,” he says. “These guys are some of the most successful people I know and I think it’s because of Michigan Tech that we are all wired this way. We’re always happy for each other and always striving for the next goal. At Tech, we were on an island and there was no other option but to work hard.”
Fenby’s younger brother, Zack Stone, is also poised to follow in his brother’s Husky footsteps.
As for Fenby, the next big goal looks like the C-suite. “I’m still identifying my next move,” he explains. “But advancing into senior leadership positions within the company is now in my sights."
The Business Side Of Medicine
Pursuing the Tech MBA® after achieving her bachelor’s degree in biological sciences with an emphasis in medicine and biochemistry might seem like an unlikely turn for graduate student Mariel Leibovitz of New Lenox, Illinois.
And if she’s being honest, it wasn’t her first path at all.
“Knowing I was coming to Michigan Tech, my dad encouraged me to pursue an engineering degree. But once I got into biomedical engineering, I realized it wasn’t for me,” says the former volleyball Husky who has always been interested in health professions.
Still homing in on her destination, Leibovitz shadowed various professionals including physicians. “I found myself being less focused on the clinical side and being incredibly curious about the medical equipment. I wanted to know how it was made, what purpose it serves, and how it helps people.”
Helping people was at the core of her passion. And when she discovered she could pair her undergraduate skills with business thinking achieved in an MBA to help people from the business side, her path in medical equipment sales and marketing became crystal clear.
“Sales alone isn’t me, but merging business and medicine is really exciting to me,” she says.
Leibovitz dives deeper into her graduate studies this fall, but has already been intrigued by her economics and statistics courses. “I leave class excited to share what I’m learning.”
Tech MBA® Key Ingredient to Blecke's Success
Where can the Tech MBA® take your career? MBA grad Scott Blecke ‘13, vice president
of engineering at Great Lakes Energy, is leading construction efforts of a 1,000-mile
fiber-optic network, bringing high-speed internet to 15,000 rural Michigan residents.
Great Lakes Energy is a rural electric cooperative. There is a desperate need for
internet and voice services giving rural residents and businesses access to its many
opportunities, including working remotely, online education, and telemedicine, as
well as streaming and gaming. Additionally, as the traditional utility business model
evolves, costs will be reduced for advancing technologies like distributed energy
resources, renewables, battery storage, and electric vehicles.
Scott credits the MBA for his ability to make the business decisions necessary throughout
the eight- to 10-year build-out process.
Michigan Technological University is a public research university founded in 1885 in Houghton, Michigan, and is home to nearly 7,500 students from more than 60 countries around the world. Consistently ranked among the best universities in the country for return on investment, Michigan’s flagship technological university offers more than 120 undergraduate and graduate degree programs in science and technology, engineering, computing, forestry, business, health professions, humanities, mathematics, social sciences, and the arts. The rural campus is situated just miles from Lake Superior in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, offering year-round opportunities for outdoor adventure.
