{"668614":{"#nid":"668614","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Meet the Alumni of TI:GER: An Interview with Paige Cruver, MBA \u201822 and Senior Strategy Consultant at Accenture","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EThis story originally appeared on the Scheller College of Business \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.scheller.gatech.edu\/news\/2023\/meet-the-alumni-of-tiger-an-interview-with-paige-cruver-mba22-and-senior-strategy-consultant-at-accenture.html\u0022\u003Enews website\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EIt\u2019s rare to find a program that matches MBA and Ph.D. students together to help bring business ideas to life while offering credit towards a degree.\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.scheller.gatech.edu\/centers-and-initiatives\/tiger-and-cdl-atl\/index.html\u0022\u003ETI:GER\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;(Technology Innovation Generating Economic Results) is just such a program, providing hands-on experience in innovation and entrepreneurship, including work with actual ventures.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe program, housed within the Georgia Tech \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.scheller.gatech.edu\/index.html\u0022\u003EScheller College of Business\u003C\/a\u003E, allows Full-time and Evening MBA students to earn a STEM concentration and allows Georgia Tech Ph.D. students from the Colleges of Computing, Engineering, and Sciences to apply their credit hours towards their minor.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EWe sat down with\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/mpspierer\/\u0022\u003EPaige\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/pcruver\/\u0022 rel=\u0022noopener\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003ECruver\u003C\/a\u003E, MBA \u201922, senior strategy consultant at\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.accenture.com\/us-en\u0022 rel=\u0022noopener\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EAccenture\u003C\/a\u003E, and former TI:GER student to hear how her experience in the program changed the trajectory of her career.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhat was your concentration\/degree?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ETI:GER was my only \u0027concentration,\u0027 if you will. Scheller offers a great range of concentrations for focused learning, but I was only interested in the TI:GER program.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EHow did you find out about the TI:GER program?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EI found out about the TI:GER program through an alumnus. When I was still weighing my options for business school, I connected with at least one alum and one current student who mentioned the TI:GER program and all of the cool things they were doing. When I decided to attend Georgia Tech, the TI:GER program was one of the first things I looked into as I planned my workload.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003Cstrong\u003EWhat made you decide to enroll in the program?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EI enrolled in the program because I was interested in pivoting industries and functions, and I purposely sought out experiences that were uniquely different from the ones I\u0027d had in my professional career.\u0026nbsp;The TI:GER curriculum was new to me and seemed like it would offer hands-on experience with emerging products and companies. I also appreciated that the classes within the program were limited to those of us in the program.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EDid you already have an idea\/product\/invention you wanted to work on within the program? If so, what was it?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EWhile I was open to working with various companies and products, my specific interest was in healthcare and life sciences. Having previously earned my master\u2019s in public health, but with work experience in an unrelated industry, I was keen to find my way back into that space. During my first semester in the TI:GER program, I was matched with a medical device company, which was a great match for my interests. I later worked with a retail technology company, which was a great experience as well.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhen you finished the program, did you have a product ready to go to market?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EMy experience with the retail technology company did have a product ready to go to market. They\u0027d been working with smaller companies on smaller contracts and were looking for ways to scale. It was fascinating to be able to see their previous success and help them translate that into insights to pursue their next opportunity.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EIf you were an MBA, what were your major responsibilities?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EMy major responsibilities as an\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.scheller.gatech.edu\/explore-programs\/mba-programs\/evening-mba\/index.html\u0022 rel=\u0022noopener\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EEvening MBA\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;student in TI:GER was conducting market research to build a competitive landscape; analyzing the data gathered from the research to provide insights to the client; helping with the pitch deck, if requested; and keeping an impartial mind when evaluating the various options the company could pursue.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EIf you were an MBA, what would be your major takeaways from being in the program?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EMy major takeaway as an MBA student in TI:GER is that things can change instantly. Companies are well served to keep some level of nimbleness in their approach to their business. Additionally, making sure the voice of the customer is reflected within and throughout the decision-making process can help mitigate the risk of a poor product-market fit in the future.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ECan you describe how your experience enhanced your career after graduating?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ETI:GER was a great way to build my resume with practical experience, and many of my experiences with TI:GER were woven throughout how I answered those common behavioral interview questions a potential employer asks. Oftentimes, the interviewer has never heard of a program like TI:GER, so I use it as a way to demonstrate that I\u0027m not afraid to try new things and to take calculated risks.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWould you recommend the program to others? If so, why?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EI\u0027d ABSOLUTELY recommend the TI:GER program to others. If, like me, you\u0027re looking to do something different from what you were doing previously, or if the program\u2019s curriculum piques your interest, let me be the one to help you make the decision!\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EI had a positive experience with the faculty, curriculum, and member organizations (Hello, CDL-Atlanta!), and the program\u2019s structure is unlike most other programs at Scheller. I\u0027d venture that anyone attending an MBA program is an overachiever - you may as well keep the trend going and apply for the TI:GER program.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003ELearn more about the TI:GER program \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.scheller.gatech.edu\/centers-and-initiatives\/tiger-and-cdl-atl\/index.html\u0022\u003Ehere\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"An alumna of the program that blends the best of STEM and entrepreneurship guidance for MBA and Ph.D. students tells how it shaped her success."}],"field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EAn alumna of the program that blends the best of STEM and entrepreneurship guidance for both MBA students in the Scheller College of Business and Ph.D. students in the Colleges of Computing, Engineering, and Sciences tells how it shaped her success.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"An alumna of the program that blends the best of STEM and entrepreneurship guidance for MBA and Ph.D. students tells how it shaped her success."}],"uid":"34434","created_gmt":"2023-07-26 20:05:59","changed_gmt":"2023-07-28 16:09:30","author":"Renay San Miguel","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2023-07-13T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2023-07-13T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"671259":{"id":"671259","type":"image","title":"Paige Cruver.png","body":"\u003Cp\u003EPaige Cruver\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","created":"1690401971","gmt_created":"2023-07-26 20:06:11","changed":"1690401971","gmt_changed":"2023-07-26 20:06:11","alt":"Paige Cruver","file":{"fid":"254283","name":"Paige Cruver.png","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2023\/07\/26\/Paige%20Cruver.png","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2023\/07\/26\/Paige%20Cruver.png","mime":"image\/png","size":1155303,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2023\/07\/26\/Paige%20Cruver.png?itok=KkrPITa-"}}},"media_ids":["671259"],"related_links":[{"url":"https:\/\/www.scheller.gatech.edu\/centers-and-initiatives\/tiger-and-cdl-atl\/index.html","title":"TI:GER Program"}],"groups":[{"id":"1278","name":"College of Sciences"}],"categories":[{"id":"130","name":"Alumni"},{"id":"134","name":"Student and Faculty"}],"keywords":[{"id":"4896","name":"College of Sciences"},{"id":"11797","name":"TI:GER Program"},{"id":"192905","name":"Paige Cruver"},{"id":"43101","name":"Georgia Tech Scheller College of Business"},{"id":"3472","name":"entrepreneurship"},{"id":"192259","name":"cos-students"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39501","name":"People and Technology"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ERenay San Miguel\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nCommunications Officer II\/Science Writer\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nCollege of Sciences\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\n404-894-5209\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["renay.san@cos.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}