The desire to improve his business expertise and Greater Rochester Enterprise’s scholarship program were the key factors in David Thiel’s decision to pursue an Executive M.B.A. at the Simon Graduate School of Business. Thiel is co-founder of Auragen Communications, the largest interactive agency in Rochester. Auragen was recently purchased by Catalyst Direct, Inc., a direct marketing agency.
“A lot of people pursue an M.B.A. for a raise or a promotion,” Thiel says. “But, as a business owner, those reasons didn’t apply to me. What I needed was the information to run my business more effectively—and I needed it quickly, from a reliable source.”
Auragen, founded in 1995, started life in a spare bedroom as a collaboration between Thiel, Damir Saracevic and Fred Beer when the trio were just out of college. The small firm put some of Rochester’s most notable companies on the Web for the first time, including Parkleigh, Eastman Kodak Company and Wegmans Food Markets.
As the firm grew, Auragen opted to stay in Rochester, moving out spare room and into professional office space, adding online branding and large-scale Internet, intranet and extranet development services to its portfolio of products. Staff numbers grew from the original trio to nearly three dozen employees. In 2001, Auragen was named to Inc. magazine’s list of the nation's top 500 fastest-growing private companies.
Of course, tending a burgeoning business requires all kinds of entrepreneurial skills. Armed with a bachelor’s degree in biology and English from University of Rochester, Thiel learned the field of business by doing, honing skills in sales, marketing, accounting and business management through trial and error.
But, in order to help Auragen manage its growth, Thiel knew he needed more skills. But the time and money required to earn an M.B.A. seemed out of the question.
“I still needed to continue as CEO at Auragen,” Thiel says. “And with two toddlers at home, my free time was limited. Plus, the tuition costs seemed prohibitive for our small company.”
Then Thiel heard about the GRE Scholarship program. The scholarships, available to applicants for the Simon School's Executive M.B.A. Program, offer 50 percent tuition grants to 15 qualified individuals who live and work in the greater Rochester area. Scholarship recipients must meet Simon School standard admissions criteria as well as GRE guidelines and requirements. The program targets managers of small- to mid-size local firms and nonprofit organizations who can benefit from a business education.
One of the benefits of the Simon School’s E.M.B.A. Program is that it is designed for working professionals. Students in the program meet on Friday and Saturday every other week, reducing the number of workdays lost by students and their employers. The standard program length is 22 months.
“The GRE scholarship made my M.B.A. a possibility,” Thiel says.
Thiel applied and began his E.M.B.A. studies in fall 2005. He began reaping benefits from the program almost as soon as he enrolled. He was able to apply what he learned in the classroom to issues he was grappling with at work. And he brought examples from Auragen into the classroom for help and group discussion.
“I treated my studies as part of my work life,” he says. “And I didn’t have to put my life on hold.”
Thiel earned his M.B.A. in spring 2007. And now his colleague Damir Saracevic is enrolled in the program, also thanks to the GRE Scholarship program.
“The Executive M.B.A. Program at the Simon School is proud to be a contributing factor to Auragen’s continued success. The GRE scholarship exists to benefit small to mid-sized companies in the Rochester area that might not otherwise be able to participate, said Kathleen Harris, Director of Executive MBA Program Administration at the Simon School.
As a result of his Simon School experience, Thiel can point to a number of positive changes he made to his organization, including a redesign of both his product pricing and management accounting systems.
“In additional to the operational knowledge I gained, I’ve noticed that I discuss projects with clients, I understand their needs at a much deeper level,” Thiel says “I didn’t expect that.”
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