One for All

By Meleah Maynard 

On his website (timhuebsch.com), Tim Huebsch invites young professionals to peruse what he (after five years of investigation) considers to be a list of the best organizations to join if they want to network and give back to their communities. Though the list is quite long, it doesn’t include all of the many groups to which Huebsch has belonged since moving to the Twin Cities in 2002. “I made the site because I think getting involved with the community is a neat way to get a lot of wonderful experience and differentiate yourself from your peers,” he explains.

Huebsch has always excelled at standing out in a crowd. As a kindergartner on his family’s farm in Good Thunder, Minn., he immediately started trying to figure out how to operate the first computer they bought in 1986. By the time he was in high school, he was the kid who always helped teachers experiencing technical problems with any sort of equipment. After earning a bachelor’s degree in computer science, Huebsch was hired at General Mills, one of three companies he interned with during school. Today he is a project manager on the company’s consumer Internet team.

Looking to advance his skill set, Huebsch went back to school in 2007, earning his MBA from the Carlson School. One of the things he enjoyed most about his time at the school was the shared knowledge other professionals brought to the classroom. “All of the students were, for the most part, working professionals and the best classes were the ones in which the professor would facilitate discussions among everyone.”

While on campus, Huebsch was one of about a dozen students on the Part-Time MBA Leadership Advisory Board, which acts as a liaison between students and administrators. He was also chosen as Part-Time MBA Student of the Year and participated in the Humphrey Institute Policy Fellows program, which is designed to build leadership skills and an understanding of policy issues.

After graduation, Huebsch joined the Carlson School’s mentor program and began making financial donations to support scholarship programs. General Mills matches his support dollar for dollar. “I benefited a great deal as an undergrad from scholarships, so this is one way I can help the next generation,” he notes.