MBA transformers: Stacie Johnson

Once: Personnel Officer, US Army

Now: Senior Consultant, PwC Consulting

Oh, the places she’s gone.

In the years leading to her Foster MBA, Stacie Gowdy Johnson (MBA 2012) studied chemistry and nuclear engineering at the US Military Academy, served as postal platoon leader in Korea and executive officer to the commanding general at Fort Bliss, founded the first medical school on the US-Mexico border (for Texas Tech), and led a strategic overhaul of Washington state’s Employment Security Department.

Such a varied suite of formative experiences gave Johnson reason to think that consulting might be a good fit. “But I wasn’t qualified,” she says. “They all wanted 10 years of experience or an MBA.”

So she came to Foster. Johnson made the most of her classmate collaborations and coursework, especially in strategy, project management, market research and quantitative analysis. Plus an internship in customer strategy and operations at PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Now in her first full-time assignment at PwC Consulting, Johnson is mapping processes for a new organization within Microsoft.

Where to next? Johnson says that consulting is a great place to learn, the nexus of many possibilities. “I’m not sure if I see myself in consulting forever,” she says. “But who knows?”

Find out about the other alumni who transformed their careers via the MBA Program.