Student Outcomes

Martin Ezemma

Graduate 2012

Online Healthcare MBA Program

The George Washington University

Tell us about yourself.

My name is Martin Ezemma.  The program I’ve taken at the George Washington University is the Healthcare MBA.  I am graduating from the program this May 2012.  My educational background, I got my undergrad from criminal justice.  I also studied Cisco Certified Networking, just to get some technical knowledge ‘cause I realize that understanding technology is just critical these days.

And then after that I pretty much, kind of, decided to work in the field a little bit, in the criminal justice field.  And then I transitioned into the financial insurance services business.  Worked little bit, few years, and then I decided that I needed to focus on health insurance.  And then I was health insurance agent and finally became a general manager, managed at a point, up to sixty agents, different states.  And that’s how I developed with passion along with other life activities, like the healthcare issues in this country, motivated me to get into the Healthcare MBA program.

Why did you take the Healthcare MBA online program?

The reason why I took the Healthcare MBA program was because I really needed a career path that I felt had the future.  It was you know, just where we are as a nation, healthcare has become probably one of the most debated issue of the generation today and the generation in the next ten, fifteen, twenty, fifty years to come, when you look at the aging population, where this country is going in general.  So it was really a no-brainer for me.

What surprised you most about online learning?

One of the things that surprised me when you hear about online program, the first thing that comes to mind is, oh, boy, I’m going to be isolated from the rest of the world, I’m going to probably not have an easy time finding people to study with and interact with.  But I tell you, when I look back in retrospect, from beginning 2010 in January, this program, with the support of the staff, have been very, very supportive, they’ve been able to even connect me.  And then I went out on my own, as we were paired up in groups, developed relationships that came across naturally.

How did you manage your time with school, work, and other obligations?

How I was able to manage my time and balance life and work, those three components, life, school, work, you know, I really had to perfect it.  When I started this program, of course, like everybody else, you just never know precisely what you’re getting into.  So one of the things that I did was to really utilize the support, family support.  My wife has been there.  She completely supports me and we talk about what is going on.  And also discipline, that didn’t come easy.  But over time I got better at it.

And I think one of the most critical components is probably time management, eight hours a day for work and then you to try to allocate some weeks, two, four, five hours and then family time.  You know, I really believe that one of the things that I’ve learned has been able to manage my time very well.  And also to constantly remind myself why I’m doing this program, to be able to build that motivation was very critical.

How has this program impacted your career?

The program has opened up doors that I probably did not know existed, in the sense that when I speak with employers, at least during the time I was job searching, I realized that there was just a natural confidence and understanding of the work environment, understanding of what employers were looking for, critical analysis, to be able to make a good connection with organizations by simply letting them know that you’re coming with a lot of values.  At the end of the day no organization would hire you just because they have an empty spot to fill.  You are competing against qualified sometimes more qualified individuals.  But this program, just personally, gave me all the tools that I could probably ask for, from anywhere for that matter.  And so consequently, going forward today, I feel very confident, I feel like I’m very well equipped.  I feel like I have the tools that I need to be competitive.

What was your favorite course in the program?

My entrepreneurship class was very good in the sense that when I think about MBA, I think about how I create new ideas.  We called it then creative destruction, how do I take an opportunity and turn it into something tangible.  The program, that course particularly involved going through the whole top to bottom of starting a business, the feasibility studies, and the business plan.  And what is really amazing about that class is people now ask me if I’m ready to start business, I said no to them so many times.  Why, I said, well, I just realized how unprepared I was to start a business.  That class made me realizes how much work, how much due diligence and how many resources that was required to be able to start a new business and not fall into that bucket of the 95 percent or whatever that fails within the first five years.  So that class definitely will forever be a very critical class that I took.