Kevin O'Connor
MBA, Stuart School of BusinessKevin O'Connor has been on a successful career path since graduating with a B.S. in Computer Science from ISU--Bloomington/Normal in 1994. He applied his IT training at Caremark's Prescription Service Division and then for ten years at the Chicago Tribune newspaper and Tribune Company--working with enterprise reporting systems--until 2007. Along the way, he added two masters degrees, earning an MBA from IIT Stuart in Fall 1999 and an information management masters in Spring 2005 from Loyola University.
"I looked at DePaul, UIC and Stuart for my MBA," says Kevin. "A friend who had attended IIT for engineering spoke well of the school's reputation. Then I attended an open house at the Downtown Campus and knew that Stuart was the choice. I was especially attracted by the smaller school environment along with the convenience of a downtown location."
A good selling point for Stuart, he says, is that students with technical backgrounds can expand their knowledge base--adding marketing, management and business skill sets. He praises Stuart's strong marketing curriculum, classes in organizational behavior and the opportunity to do more writing as especially beneficial. He's putting it all to good use today as a managing consultant in the business intelligence practice of Project Leadership Associates, a Chicago-based firm delivering solutions that bridge its clients' business and technology needs.
For the future, he hopes to expand on the business development aspects of his work, possibly add a teaching role, and he looks forward to getting more involved with IIT and Stuart alumni activities.
