Phani (Phanindra) Yarlagadda, MBA ‘16

After working in the software industry for 15 years, Phani Yarlagadda, MBA ‘16, saw opportunities to expand his skillset. “I decided to pursue my Executive MBA to enhance my leadership skills and business knowledge. I was more of a technology manager; I didn’t have the operational or finance perspective.”

He considered a number of schools, but the diversity of students at Michigan Ross stood out. “I chose Ross because it had a greater diversity of backgrounds. I didn’t want to be in a sea of tech people. Some classmates were in tech, but we also had doctors and finance experts. There was a mix of peers. I had been at Visa for 17 years, so I needed to expose myself to different industries and backgrounds.” 

“After Ross, I look at things differently. I have new proficiencies; I’m not just skilled in tech. My experience at Ross has helped me a lot with presenting to senior management. Now I have good financial models and I can approach projects from a financial perspective.” 

Ross’ career coaches were also a great help to Phani. “I received offers from Snapchat and Amazon because of Ross’ career coaches, who helped me immensely with the interview process. Now I am very confident.” 

Networking was another benefit to the Ross Executive MBA. “I’ve gotten better at managing and talking to people. I learned I have a closed network, and I’m working on opening it up and talking with people outside my area.

“I came to Ross because I wanted to look at things differently. I wanted to learn how to save my company money. Now, I’m applying all the financial tools I learned at Ross. When I propose a project, I can show how much money we’re going to save.”