I was recently featured in an article by the University of Illinois, Gies College of Business, highlighting what I learned as a student in the school’s Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree program and while attending global immersions in Germany and Brazil with my fellow MBA students. Here’s an excerpt from the article titled “Blanchard Uses MBA Experience to Explore near-Shore Tech Options.” 1, 2, 3
Gies College of Business MBA student Wylie Blanchard’s love of technology runs deep. The founder of Chicago-based Great Tech Pros grew up taking apart everything from toasters to his first word processor to see how they worked. His company advises clients primarily in the healthcare and insurance services industries how to design tech solutions that create value for their customers.
Blanchard said the iMBA experience has also taught him to think more globally about how to grow Great Tech Pros, founded in 2013.
Blanchard is exploring setting up near-shore database operations with fellow iMBA student Paul Taylor in his Jamaica home base. He turned to Taylor to create a solution that had a US-friendly time zone when Great Tech Pros couldn’t meet a client’s price point with a US-based solution.
The Gies iMBA program isn’t Blanchard’s first experience with online learning. He received a BS degree in business administration and management from Walden University. Blanchard said interacting with more marketing, strategy and finance decision makers is what prompted him to consider getting a master’s degree.
“Blanchard Uses MBA Experience to Explore Near-Shore Tech Options.” Gies College of Business, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 9 Oct. 2020, https://giesbusiness.illinois.edu/news/2020/10/09/blanchard-uses-mba-experience-to-explore-near-shore-tech-options.
“Blanchard Uses MBA Experience to Explore Near-Shore Tech Options.” IMBA, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 18 May 2021, https://onlinemba.illinois.edu/blanchard-uses-mba-experience-to-explore-near-shore-tech-options/.
“Blanchard Uses MBA Experience To Explore Near-Shore Tech Options.” Poets&Quants. 24 Feb. 2021, https://poetsandquants.com/2021/02/04/blanchard-uses-mba-experience-to-explore-near-shore-tech-options/