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Lee Forsythe: Transitioned Out
Twelve years is a long time to spend in the 3x4-foot cockpit of a F/A-18A fighter jet. By the time U.S. Navy Lieutenant Commander Lee Forsythe (MBA/MS-MIS '03) decided to stretch his legs and pursue the MBA degree, he had been deployed three times to the Persian Gulf in support of Operation Southern Watch.
For Forsythe the decision to pursue the MBA had little to do with his immediate job prospects, but rather with the jobs he would vie for years down the road. "My concern was for when I would be competing for executive positions against people who had MBAs," he explained.
Forsythe opted to dovetail his management education with cutting-edge instruction in information technology through the Katz School's MBA/Master of Science in Management of Information Systems Dual Degree Program. The transition from the military ranks to the rank of full-time graduate student was not difficult at all he recalled. And while discipline and attention to detail are certainly advantages for military veterans pursuing graduate degrees, Forsythe found that it was the direct leadership and management experience he gained while in the Navy that aided him most when it came to interacting with a diverse class of talented MBA students.
"After a few months in school, I realized that Katz had the same sort of built-in social network and camaraderie that I had become accustomed to in the Navy," Forsythe said.
Today, Forsythe is the vice president of operations for a technology market research firm in Dallas. He credits the MBA/MS-MIS for giving him the ability to understand a broad range of technologies and effectively translate business terms into technical terms and vice versa, a key component of his current occupation.
