Success Stories

After graduating from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1997 with a BS in biology, Mark Holoman (MBA '03) accepted a position with Alcon Pharmaceuticals. Two and one-half years later, Holoman – a medical sales associate in Alcon's ophthalmic division – came to a career crossroad. "I reached a point professionally where I felt I had two options," he recalled. "I could keep chugging along the same path, slowly advancing my career at the conservative pace that was characteristic of the pharmaceutical industry. Or I could choose another direction that would accelerate my career development. The former didn't really fit in with my professional aspirations."

In researching the backgrounds of Alcon's top executives looking for clues to their success, Holoman discovered a common ingredient. "Every single senior-level executive had earned an MBA," he noted. "So I began to survey the MBA landscape to find the best program for me."

After looking at UNC Chapel Hill and The University of Texas at Austin, Holoman attended Sneak Preview weekend at the Cox School. The experience made his decision an easy one. "I came to Dallas after visiting Austin and was blown away by the friendliness of the Cox faculty and staff," he commented. "While the American Airlines Global Leadership Program, the Associate Board Executive Mentor Program, and the Business Leadership Center were all strong selling points, I also liked the small-school feel. I knew I wanted more structured attention in my graduate experience than I'd had at the undergraduate level."

Early on in his MBA career, Holoman had a formative experience that was indicative of what would follow. On the third day of program, he and a number of his first-year classmates participated in the High Ropes course at Brinker Ranch. "The instructors organized us into groups with people we didn't know," he recalled, "and we spent the whole day trying to conquer the high-ropes course as a team. In one of the exercises, I was tethered to a partner with a four-foot rope, and we scaled a 20-foot wall. I learned pretty early on that every one of my actions had an immediate and dramatic impact on my partner and vice versa."

The Cox School offers the High Ropes course to prepare students for the team-oriented work required throughout the MBA Program. "Thus far, the group work has been the aspect of the program that will help me the most professionally," Holoman commented. "As a sales associate at Alcon, I operated on my own to a large extent. At the Cox School, the volume and intensity of the group work has really changed the way I approach projects on a daily basis. There's no doubt that when people work together, the end results are far greater than what you can produce on your own."

This summer, Holoman is broadening his perspective of the professional world through an internship with CaseBauer, a biomedical consulting firm that provides business development and market research consulting services in the In-Vitro Diagnostics sector. "Working at CaseBauer allows me to explore the consulting world while drawing upon my graduate and undergraduate education," he noted. "Thus far, I've learned far more than I expected, and I'm really happy with my choice for summer employment."