“It was fantastic to be in an area that is at the forefront of just about everything. It's the global hub of innovation," said Paul Butler, JD/MBA '16, describing the Oregon MBA program's recent trip to San Francisco.
During the first week of spring term, first-year MBA students spent several days in the San Francisco Bay Area, touring a variety of high-profile organizations and connecting with alumni and friends of the program.
MBA students in the sports business track made the most of the Warsaw Sports Marketing Center's strong network with visits to a wide range of sports-related organizations. Stops included AT&T Park for a visit with the San Francisco Giants, as well as insider tours of VISA, Marmot, communications agency FleishmanHillard, and many others.
Meanwhile, students from the Oregon MBA's sustainability, finance, and entrepreneurship tracks spent two days pursuing an agenda tailored to their own professional interests, visiting a roster of companies that included Salesforce, Google, and impact investment firm Equilibrium Capital, to name a few.
For Nick Neill-Jones, MBA '15, a student pursuing the one-year/accelerated degree who had just started in the program that week, the trip was a chance to dive right in to the Oregon MBA experience.
A visit to asset management firm BlackRock left a strong impression on both Neill-Jones and Butler.
“To spend four hours at BlackRock, with the talent they brought to talk to us—it was really incredible, " said Butler.
Also memorable was the dinner hosted by Mark (MBA '80) and Martha Greenough at San Francisco's prestigious Century Club.
In the end, even more than the caliber of companies visited, it was the generosity of the people they met that resonated with the students.
“I was really impressed by how willing these high-level executives were to speak with us and give us their time," said Neill-Jones. “They're paying it forward for the next generation coming in."