When Haley Massey (ProMBA, ’21) entered the University of Tennessee, Knoxville’s Haslam College of Business Professional MBA program, she was a client relationship manager for the Nashville office of Cardinal Health, a multinational healthcare services company. Upon graduating less than two years later, she had been promoted twice. Massey credits both Cardinal and Haslam’s ProMBA with helping her achieve those advancements.

“Cardinal was a huge encourager and advocate for me to pursue this,” Massey says of her leap to senior client relationship manager and then to manager of Cardinal’s client relations team in Nashville’s third-party logistics division. “It was something I earned, but I am thankful that my organization was seeing the added benefit and the development in me from ProMBA, which was awesome.”

Massey did, indeed, earn her MBA. She worked doggedly, driving from Nashville to Knoxville each Saturday for the in-person sessions while continuing to work full time for the 16-month duration of the program. And she did it amid a global pandemic. Committing to such a grueling schedule took both self-assessment and self-discipline, she says, but an onsite visit when she was considering her options convinced Massey the Haslam ProMBA was for her.

“It was a program unlike any other I had toured.” she says. “It was clear that every member of the faculty really wanted students to succeed – they wanted every person to graduate. I felt the genuineness from each person I interacted with in the visit that day, and really felt that Haslam – and specifically, ProMBA – was where I wanted to be.”

Molly Kinard, ProMBA’s program director, said the Haslam team couldn’t be more pleased that Massey achieved such success. “We always work to provide a dynamic educational experience for students like Haley,” Kinard said. “Her promotions reflect both her contributions in class and her growth in ProMBA.”

Massey praises all the faculty and staff members for their expertise and hard work, especially professors Timothy Munyon and Jim Reeve for pushing their students to learn and grasp the concepts presented.

“They would break things down into very digestible, interactive nuggets,” she said. “They made us think.” She also singled out Kinard for her diligence in crafting a MBA experience during the COVID era.

Massey found herself learning from her classmates and growing close to them, noting that she expects the relationships she built during her time in the program to be long-lasting.

Another element of the program that stood out for Massey was the international project, in which the class worked with an organization in another country.  Learning about doing business in a different culture, she says, is highly applicable in her job working in a large global organization where she constantly interacts with international partners.

Massey wants the faculty and staff to know that she is grateful for her experience.

“This was truly one of the toughest, yet most rewarding, 16 months of my life,” she says. “It brought tremendous growth and reward. The intentional ways the faculty poured into, challenged and invested in our cohort is unlike any other MBA experience and speaks volumes of the caliber of a degree you obtain from the Haslam College of Business.”

About the Haslam ProMBA

The Haslam ProMBA accounts for students’ need for balance between work and school. The 16-month program’s flexible pacing and structure fits with the schedule of full-time professionals, allowing them to gain career momentum with a top-ranked MBA.

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CONTACT:

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