Thomas Cloyd

My Story

I am a full-time MBA student in the class of 2018. I graduated from the University of Colorado with a degree in creative advertising. After a brief stint at an ad firm, I moved down to Buenos Aires, Argentina for a year to work odd jobs and teach English. Upon returning to the United States I started working at Epic, an electronic medical records company, and quite enjoyed the positive impact on patient care. In 2012 I suffered a spinal cord injury (SCI) which forced me to stop working and concentrate on relearning a whole lot of stuff. Since then, I helped found and run a nonprofit focused on increasing adaptive fitness access and legislative advocacy supporting SCI research. Besides all that, I spend my time playing wheelchair rugby, biking, eating tacos, and supporting mediocre science fiction movie franchises. I plan to re-enter the healthcare tech field with a long-term goal of delivering an intervention to restore function for people with spinal cord injuries.

Why Carlson?

I chose Carlson because of its deep and active network amongst healthcare technology companies. I appreciate the smaller class size and integration with other flagship colleges at the University of Minnesota, but my goal is to work in med-tech, therefore Carlson was the only place to be. Carlson continues to develop their med-tech network by providing students ample opportunity to learn and gain experience in the particular areas employers desire, such as in the MILI valuation lab. Then, following graduation, Carlson alumni provide extraordinary access and insight to current students, further strengthening the network. So far, I am quite happy with my choice.

Team Collaboration as a Carlson MBA Student

One of the unexpected delights of the Carlson MBA has been working in a variety of different groups on projects. All have been valuable, but participating in case competitions has been the most captivating and fun. I don’t know if it is the spirit of competition, the quick turnaround time, or the ever-compelling motivation of a cash prize, but case competition group work has been fantastic. These competitions not only provide an opportunity to apply your knowledge obtained during school, but an active opportunity to hone your strengths and weaknesses when working with a team of darn smart people. This soft skills engagement cannot be mimicked in a classroom but is crucial in getting and maintaining a job. I appreciate these groups and without Carlson’s substantial support for case competitions I would never have had these experiences.