Michael Schindler
Class of 2017
Hometown: Greenwood, IN
Undergraduate University: American Military University
Major/Minor: Intelligence Analysis
Employer: Booz Allen Hamilton
Position: Senior Advanced Conventional Weapons Subject Matter Expert
Why did you decide to pursue an MBA at William & Mary?
The impetus of going for my MBA was the clock was ticking on using the remaining two years of my GI Bill. I was also at a point in my career where I was reaching the next step of senior-level management in government service. An MBA seemed really attractive. My bachelor's degree is from an online university, and William & Mary's Executive MBA could give me the brick-and-mortar experience that I didn't have. The every-other-week format was fantastic for me. I could arrange my work schedule so I could take off every other Friday to be in class.
How have you applied the information from the program to your professional roles?
At first glance, it seemed to me that quite a few of the classes had a very low threshold of application to the work I was doing with the military and government. But what I found was much of the analysis work and decision-making processes I did in classes like marketing, for example, was similar to what I was doing in my military operations role every day. In my newest role, I'm demonstrating the leadership skills I learned in the program, and I'm able to actively participate in things like proposal writing.
