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Katz Marketing Mind Not Your Average Success
The defining moment for Tom Higgins (MBA '09) came in the remote villages of Tanzania, not in a conference room.
Higgins, a volunteer at an orphanage, was awestruck by the impoverished children, some of whom carried parasites that were visible to the naked eye. Higgins decided then that he'd apply his education from the Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business to business ventures that foster international development opportunities.
"The world needs MBAs to better the lives of the less fortunate. I'm not saying everybody needs to go to Africa to do that. You can find ways in your local community to give back," Higgins said.
Higgins, a Pittsburgh native, is the marketing director for Global Playground, a nonprofit that builds schools in Third World countries. The students use social media to interact with students in other countries and with students in the United States. The program has built schools and technology centers in Cambodia, Honduras, Thailand, and Uganda. For more information about Global Playground, visit www.theglobalplayground.org.
The 28-year-old Higgins began his career in finance. As an internal wholesaler at Federated Investors, Inc. in Pittsburgh, he sold the company's financial products to major brokerage firms. But Higgins said he wanted to expand his career options, which is why he enrolled in the Katz School, where he earned a master's degree focused on strategy and marketing.
"Just about two-thirds of the world's population don't have the opportunities or support that we have. They need our help. The world needs more people with creative, strategic business minds," Higgins said.
After graduation, Higgins lived in the south-central African country of Angola for about a year and a half. He worked as the head of marketing and industry relations for CAE- Apoio Empresarial, an organization that encourages foreign oil and gas drilling companies to hire local businesses for support jobs such as general maintenance, information technology support, supply parts, transportation, and security.
Higgins got the job through a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit, Citizens Development Solutions (CDS). CDS runs the program MBA Enterprise Corps, which Higgins says selects between five to 10 MBA graduates from the top programs in the United States to work in developing countries. "It's like the Peace Corps for MBA's," Higgins said.
Following his stint in Angola, Higgins worked as a strategy consultant for Bayer Corporation in the Office of the President. Now he hopes to break into the business end of advertising. Higgins has experience in the field, as he interned at ABARTA, Inc., a Pittsburgh-based holding company, during which Higgins created www.thirstmonger.com, a Web site that delivers niche beverages directly to consumers' homes.
Higgins said he is proud of his unusual career path, which includes the summer he spent as a ranch hand in Wyoming, for the road he's taken is entirely his own.
"Certainly my bank account doesn't scream success. But success comes in a lot of different forms. What's more important than your personal happiness?" Higgins said.
