Over the course of half a dozen years in the defense/aerospace industry, Jonathan Osborne came to a realization about his job as a project manager. “I didn’t have the skill set to be doing what I was already being asked to do,” he says.

“I didn’t really understand business strategy or have a background to understand overhead rates, competitive placement for profit margins, or managing work flows. I work in a manufacturing environment, but I had never looked at capacity management or any of the fine-point business details supporting the infrastructure. I had to grow so I could understand.”

Jonathan found what he was looking for, and more, at Owen. “The program,” he says, “is designed to walk you through everything you need to get a very well-rounded understanding of the business world.”

He noticed that he was “learning things on the weekend and then bringing it back to work on Monday and applying ways to improve profit margins.” Senior management noticed, too. “They saw I had skills I didn’t have before and an ambition that comes from being in a program like Vanderbilt,” Jonathan says.

Even before graduation, he received a promotion to serve as Director of Programs. Now, Jonathan isn’t just managing projects. He’s developing an entire new business segment for the company.