Richard W. Rodriguez
For some, career success follows a straight line. For others, it’s a winding road that leads back to the classroom.
Across industries, professionals are stepping away from the workforce — if they need to — to sharpen their skills, expand their networks, and open new doors through graduate education.
The motivations vary: career pivot or growth, eyeing a promotion, or a lifelong ambition to learn.
Whatever the reason, they all share the belief that learning doesn’t end with a diploma and that the right education can be a springboard to something greater.
These are their stories, and they didn’t have to look far. With options aplenty in Fort Worth, Arlington, Dallas, and Denton, opportunities were well within reach.
Hunter Wilson’s road to senior project manager at Con-Real, a construction company founded by Gerald Alley more than 40 years ago, took him through the smaller, smarter classrooms at Texas Wesleyan University.
It was there that he earned an MBA.
He had moved down here from Arkansas with his job in insurance sales and had moved into another job as a project manager for a telecom company that built towers in Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma.
“I saw what was needed ahead of me, what my manager had, what my manager's manager had. Not a lot of MBAs, which I was actually shocked about, but I saw people with some certifications, there were a couple of PMPs [Project Management Professionals certification], a couple of other project management certifications that I'm not as familiar with, but they had master’s in engineering.
“That's what I kept seeing a lot of, and so I was, like, ‘Well, OK, fine, I'll look into it. I guess a few months went by, and I saw a commercial for Texas Wesleyan. I said to myself, ‘Let’s try it.’ I was accepted and started in October of 2022. It was the best decision that I've made, by far.”
Wilson, 29, and his team are tasked with the installment and maintenance of JP Morgan Chase signage in the West Region. It’s close to 1,800 branches, he says.
“Probably a little more than that,” he clarifies. “Every retail location in 11 states. Anything that goes wrong with their signage, which they do — wildfires, storms, mudslides, which are occurring now. People hitting a sign. People hit signs weekly. It's never a dull moment.”
Wilson is originally from Memphis, Tennessee. He went to University of Arkansas for undergrad, earning a bachelor’s in finance.
“My biggest regret for undergrad was not studying supply logistics.”
He fixed that. Wilson earned his MBA, with a focus in supply chain logistics, in a year.
“It was intense,” he says, adding that he was spending as much as 50 hours a week studying or in class. He was able to handle that because the company he was working for went under.
In addition to supply chain management, Wesleyan’s MBA concentrations include data analytics, health care administration, and accounting.
Wilson says one critical aid in his earning an MBA was previous work experience. Graduate with a bachelor’s, go to work, go back to school, he says.
“I recommend probably three or four years of work experience minimum, and then pursue a masters of any sort, because, I mean, you don't know what you're doing, right?”
Right.
First in the Series: "From the Shores of Haiti to the Halls of UTA."
Third in the Series: "From the Gridiron to TCU's Neeley School of Business."
Fourth in the Series: "Gaining a Wealth of Knowledge at Texas A&M-Fort Worth."