Haslam College of Business - Haslam MBA Student Pursues Full Slate of Opportunities in Program

With a lawn-mowing business he’s run for 15 years, a bachelor’s in music business and a two-year stint as a performer at Dollywood, Nathan Fink could have gone several career directions after earning his undergraduate degree. After considering his options, Fink decided to pursue an MBA from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Haslam College of Business.

With his graduation set for December, Fink describes “Prioritize Your Time” as the defining theme of his experience in Haslam’s Full-Time MBA program so far. Fortunately, time management has long been a one of Fink’s strengths, and he has successfully balanced self-employment ventures with academic priorities throughout his scholastic career.

“I’ve had a habit of filling time as much as I could my entire life, so that’s a skill I’ve benefited from,” he says.

Making the Most of Every Minute

That mindset explains how, in addition to completing coursework toward his MBA, Fink has also served as president of Haslam’s Big Orange Consulting Club, participated as a member of Haslam’s highly successful MBA case competition team and earned a 3.97 GPA, all while maintaining his lawncare business.

“My rationale is that consultants and investment bankers often work 60 to 80 hours a week,” Fink explains. “I’m practicing for that.”

This spring, Haslam’s case competition team won both the SEC MBA Case Competition and Ivy Mind to Market Competition, and Fink took home individual honors for Best Presenter at the Ivy and Best Individual Q&A for the SEC. He attributes his success in the competitions to his time in the consulting club, through which he learned about case interviews and how to improve his performance in them.

“I always thought of those meetings as going to the gym for my brain,” Fink says, adding that he would be happy to speak with upcoming MBA students interested in learning more about the Big Orange Consulting Club.

Becoming a Team Player

While self-employment sharpened Fink’s time management skills, it offered few opportunities to collaborate with others. He credits the team-based structure of Haslam’s MBA program — from competitions to group projects — with helping him develop as a teammate. A self-described introvert, Fink worked with a rotating mix of cohort members each semester, gaining experience across dynamic teams and challenges.

“Collaboration was something I was nervous about, especially knowing how teamwork-heavy MBA programs are,” he shares. “It’s gone so much better than I would have ever imagined. I owe a lot of that to great teammates. It’s been really neat and something I hadn’t experienced much.”

Finding a Focus in Supply Chain

Fink will graduate from Haslam’s MBA program with a specialization in supply chain management, but he didn’t enter the program planning to focus on this discipline. Coursework and faculty mentorship, however, shaped his interest.

Faculty like Sean Willems, Haslam Chair in Supply Chain Analytics, Lance Saunders, Jerry and Suzanne Ratledge Professor of Supply Chain Management, and Randy V. Bradley, associate professor of supply chain and information systems, played a significant role in guiding Fink toward the discipline.

“There are a lot of brilliant people here in supply chain who care about what they’re teaching, and it’s been great to learn from them and learn more about this world that, frankly, I didn’t really know existed before I came here,” he says.

Saunders says Fink’s drive to learn was the first thing he noticed about him, a trait he believes will be put to good use in Fink’s chosen specialty.

“Nathan has a genuine interest in grasping concepts instead of just completing assignments, which leads him to ask thought-provoking questions and challenge the status quo,” Saunders says. “This attribute will serve him well in his career and position him as a leader that challenges existing assumptions about managing supply chains to meet the needs of 2025 and beyond.”

Having steered onto the supply chain career path at Haslam, Fink is now following it to Massachusetts, where he will work as a global sourcing intern at Boston Scientific this summer.

“I’ve really enjoyed grad school,” Fink says. “I would have never guessed a year ago that I’d get to move up to Massachusetts to be a global sourcing intern. The program has set my life on a completely different path than I expected. I’m excited to see where it goes.”

A Vibrant MBA Program

Fink encourages those interested in pursuing an MBA to go for it, believing now is the perfect time to earn the degree, considering the rapid development of new business tools and AI applications. He describes Haslam’s Full-Time MBA program as having a dynamism that makes the experience both relevant and stimulating.

“There’s an energy to it,” he shares. “You’re completing classes, participating in case competitions, examining business problems and thinking about business in a way that is fun. I’ve even enjoyed the late nights and busy days. It’s exciting.”

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CONTACT:

Scott McNutt, senior business writer/publicist, rmcnutt4@utk.edu