Originally posted by Scott A.E. Smith.

Sean Sinclair is on exchange at Copenhagen Business School in Denmark, but he managed to have a chat across the pond with Christie Lang, who recently returned to campus from her Corporate Residency with Nova Scotia Business Inc. (NSBI).

Christie was elected by her peers as the Dalhousie MBA Society President for 2012-2013, a role in which she is thriving today. Just last week, she spoke at a special ceremony announcing the christening of the former School of Business Administration as the Kenneth C. Rowe School of Business, modelling a brand-new Rowe School of Business sweater and presenting Mr. Rowe with a gift signed by many of the school’s students.

Christie Lang, the Dalhousie MBA Society 2012-2013 President, noted curling fanatic, and recent NSBI Corporate Analyst. Can you start off by telling us something that we don’t know about you?

A fun fact about me that very few people know is that I can play the drums on Rock Band like it’s no one’s business! However, my musicality is definitely limited to rhythm as I am, quite probably, the most tone-deaf singer you will ever meet. And unfortunately for me (or them, depending on your perspective), there are quite a few of my classmates who would attest to that fact!

Describe the path that led you to pursue a Corporate Residency MBA degree from Dalhousie.

I grew up in Regina, Saskatchewan, and then moved to the big city of Montreal to pursue an undergrad degree at McGill University. I started off in sciences, with the intention of applying for medical school. However, I began to realize during my studies how much I really did not care for the sciences and could not imagine performing the day-to-day tasks required for being a doctor. Much to my parents’ delight, I switched majors halfway through my second year to pursue an incredibly practical and employable degree in Anthropology.

In my last semester at McGill, I was waitressing three days a week for a business lunch crowd. One of my regular customers was the CEO of a company called Resonant Medical, which I knew produced really cool-sounding technology used in cancer treatment. One day, I overheard a VP tell this CEO, “I really wish McGill could have given us a student immediately.” My ears perked up and I proceeded to subtly listen in on their conversation. After I had established that they were looking for a marketing intern to help with an urgent project, I approached the table and said, “Gentlemen, I couldn’t help but overhear your conversation; I’m a McGill student, I’m extremely interested in your company and I’m available immediately 3 days a week.” Somehow, despite my non-existent knowledge of business or marketing, I managed to pass the interview and began working right away. I ended up staying with Resonant Medical for 2.5 years in increasingly responsible positions. I was exposed to a wide array of business concepts, including marketing, sales, project management, budgeting and operations planning to name a few. While I loved the company, I knew that I would need more than a B.A. in Anthropology to reach executive levels in any organization, and so I made the decision to return to school.

Working in medical technology had piqued my interest in healthcare and so I completed a Diploma in Health Services Administration through Dalhousie. I hadn’t seriously considered pursuing an MBA primarily because I was turned off by the stereotypes associated with the degree. I didn’t want to become an arrogant businessperson who used ‘B-school’ buzzwords and only cared about the bottom line. I went to an info session for the Dalhousie MBA nonetheless and was completely sold on the program by the end of the session. At that session, I learned from faculty and current students how this was a new kind of business program that emphasized corporate social responsibility, personal development and ethical leadership. I was extremely excited to enter a program that would enable me to develop the hard business skills that I knew I was lacking, in an environment that aligned with my own personal values.

I’ve heard that each cohort of the Dal MBA program has its own distinct personality. Expand on this and tell us a little bit about what the Class of 2013 represents and how it differs from its predecessors.

I’ve had the pleasure of getting to know many students not only from our own class, but also the graduated classes of 2011, 2012 and the upcoming class of 2014. It’s fascinating how each group has its own dynamic that seems to be shaped not only by the personalities of the individual members of the group, but also by their shared experiences. We are a relatively small class of 34 students, each of whom has his or her own very distinctive personality, but we also share certain characteristics. Our class is very ambitious and full of energy, but we share the values that the Corporate Residency MBA program emphasizes: humility, empathy, compassion and integrity. I believe that the administration purposely screens for those qualities in order to ensure that the school produces high-quality graduates that implicitly embody the values that are so integral to our education. I think the camaraderie we have developed as a group has turned us into a sort of tight-knit family; sure, we’ve had our share of personality clashes, but at the end of the day we all get along so well and maintain the highest respect for one another.

How is the MBA Society organized? Who do you work with? And what kind of influence do you have with the future direction of the program?

The MBA Society is a collection of elected representatives of the class who aid the process of making this program the best experience possible for the students, both within and beyond the context of academics. We continue to organize a series of social and athletic events, such as the Class of 2014 welcome festivities and the 1st annual DodgeBRAWL competition. Additionally, we collect information on the various extracurricular opportunities available, such as case competitions and the inter-university MBA Games, and support participation in these activities. From an academic perspective, we aim to ease a bit of the stress inherent in a fast-paced, rigorous program such as ours and ensure that administrative academic decisions are made with the students’ best interests in mind. We maintain a close relationship with the professors and administrators of the program and work together on various initiatives to continuously improve the students’ academic experience.

The MBA Society has a very flat organizational structure. While it is my role as President to set the direction of the group and coordinate the various initiatives, members are encouraged to act independently and take charge of their own projects. I also encourage participation from all classmates, regardless of their interaction with the Society, to step up and lead their own initiatives. For example, a student in the first-year class recently organized a series of fundraising events for Dress For Success, an organization that helps women in challenging situations find fulfilling employment. The Society supported the initiative by providing guidance on how to organize the events and issued a series of communications to encourage involvement. With our help, the student was able to step up and raise money for this great cause.

The Dalhousie Corporate Residency MBA program is still in its infancy. What do you feel are the advantages of this program relative to other MBA programs? What direction do you see this program going in the next few years?

I can’t speak about the experience offered by other MBA programs, but I am very familiar with the concepts that each program markets as its key differentiators. As I mentioned earlier, I was attracted to Dalhousie’s program for the values that it emphasized and for the so-called soft-skill development. This concept of developing ethical, socially-conscious leaders who know how to balance the personalities of a team as well as they know how to balance the incoming and outgoing expenses on a financial statement will remain the cornerstone of this program. Growth of the program is evidenced by the increase from 34 students in the 2013 cohort to 58 students in the 2014 cohort. This incoming class has access to even more corporate residency positions with high-quality employers than we did. The expansion of the school’s employer partnerships is a great example of how the program is continuously establishing its reputation as a producer of highly knowledgeable and hard-working young professionals that organizations from many different industries want to hire.

What has your Corporate Residency MBA program experience been like to date? What are you expecting from this, your last year?

I can say without any doubt that the first six months of the program, in which I was enrolled in classes ranging from Accounting and Finance to Marketing and Corporate Social Responsibility, were the busiest, most challenging and most exciting six months of my life. They were also among the happiest six months of my life. While the workload was crazy, I met so many fantastic people that I know I will be friends with for the rest of my life.  I had so much fun both in and outside the classroom, and learned more about myself and the world than I ever had before.

From January to August, I completed my Corporate Residency as a Corporate Analyst for Nova Scotia Business Inc. It was an incredible work experience in which I was given a great deal of responsibility and independence, yet also had the opportunity to work under very accomplished individuals, from whom I learned a lot. At NSBI, I produced a number of market research reports and developed market expansion strategies for Nova Scotia businesses, while contributing to the Province’s strategic plans for growing certain industries. I was also given the opportunity to act as project manager for a huge investment attraction event surrounding Nova Scotia’s Tall Ships Festival. For this event, we welcomed executive business leaders from 15 companies from around the world to Halifax and showcased our province through a series of social and business events centred on the Tall Ships Festival. This was an incredible experience as I was entrusted to take charge of NSBI’s project team and managed to produce an absolutely incredible experience for our esteemed international guests. I had the privilege of getting to know these individuals well and am now extremely proud to consider them a part of my own professional network. Each corporate residency experience is different, but I can say that mine was very fulfilling and is a great addition to my résumé.

I’m extremely excited for the next 8 months, in which I will complete the academic portion of the program. I am majoring in Finance and I have a sneaking suspicion that the next 8 months won’t exactly be a walk in the park, but I can’t wait to get started nonetheless! The MBA Society has big plans to make the next year amazing and I know that by being surrounded by my awesome classmates and learning from the program’s incredible professors the next year will be an unforgettable experience. Now if only I can convince everyone to come to my karaoke party…