Sean Brodner, Online MBA ’23
Sean Brodner grew up with a lifelong affinity for math and science, leading him to complete his undergraduate degree in engineering from Cornell University. He started his career in the oil and gas industry, moving around the country, and even living in the Netherlands for four years after marrying his wife. After over a decade of tackling technical problems for large project teams with ExxonMobil, Sean craved more complete solutions to his engineering-based questions. Three children later, Sean was excited to accept a role near family and settle down.
Why a Michigan Ross Online MBA
With a growing family, work obligations, and the potential of moving again for his job, Sean couldn’t be tied down to one location, and learning on a dedicated schedule did not seem feasible. Sean needed a program that was flexible but with the prestige that would bring in students from different backgrounds to help broaden his perspective. He felt that the Michigan Ross Online MBA would best satisfy these needs and give him the challenge he needed.
“I've done a few terms where I haven't taken any classes or done just a partial class, and that's enabled me to be flexible with my family needs, be flexible with my work needs, and still meet my education goals,” Sean said.
Being able to recruit on-site with full-time MBA students impressed Sean. “Even though that wasn't something I was planning on using at the time, to me, that spoke volumes about how Michigan Ross viewed the quality of their Online MBA program,” Sean said. “It showed that Ross was going to provide the same quality MBA education, just delivered differently."
Experience in the Program
Sean’s experience with his Multidisciplinary Action Project, the Career Development Office, and the connections with classmates and alumni opened his eyes to new career opportunities.
As an avid gamer in his personal life, Sean was thrilled to discover that his background had a place in the gaming industry. He was excited to get matched with Riot Games for his MAP, where he met with leadership across all areas of the company and worked with four “fantastic” classmates.
“One of the core experiences of getting an MBA is getting to learn from and work with incredibly high-quality classmates from different industries, different backgrounds, different walks of life, and learning about their unique perspectives,” Sean said. “I had high expectations from my classmates, and they exceeded them.”
A self-proclaimed introvert, Sean felt that his networking skills were not up to par and knew he had a tendency to shy away from putting himself out there. Through support from the Michigan Ross Career Development Office, Sean was motivated to step outside of his comfort zone to pursue his found passion.
“The Career Development Office was instrumental in helping me understand where my interests were and in making sure that I focus on select roles that fit with my background. And that was really helpful rather than just sending out random applications — I had a lot of success once I started doing that,” Sean said.
Throughout the program, Sean has also taken advantage of the vast Michigan Ross alumni network. He has reached out to various professionals working at different companies in the industry and has been surprised by the overwhelming support he received.
I've been absolutely astonished by the amount of responses I received from alumni. They were so willing to talk to me about their background and their experience and share their insight with me. It has impacted me in a very unexpected way.
Today, Sean is a senior manager of sales planning and analytics for Take-Two Interactive Software, the third-largest independent video game publisher.
“The MBA program provides you with a very strong set of core fundamentals in broad-ranging topics — strategy, marketing, accounting, finance, everything you need to succeed,” Sean said. “And really, what the program has done is given me a level of confidence to know I can tackle almost any type of business problem and succeed in my career.”
Advice for Future Wolverines
“I think Michigan Ross can provide any student, whether they're a more recent graduate who just wants to charge through the program and switch industries or job switch, or whether it's someone like me who is a little bit more entrenched in an industry with kids, you can still manage to get through a very high-quality program due to the flexibility that Michigan offers,” Sean said. “And you just never know the value of a strong network and the value of Michigan until you go through the program. It was a wonderful experience for me.”