With his deep background in the field, Nick Tazik knows that marketing involves more than websites, brochures and logos. It builds on the innovative market research and data collection techniques he’s applying on behalf of Vanderbilt’s new integrated health care network.

First and foremost, he says, “it’s about developing a thoughtful understanding of the needs, desires and beliefs of the customers you want to serve. From there, it’s clarifying how the product or service (such as the Vanderbilt Center for Integrative Health he supports) meets those criteria and then articulating those attributes to your preferred customers through right communications channels to prompt action.”

Because he recognized that what most people perceive as marketing is only the tip of the iceberg, Nick also recognized the limits of his expertise when it came to higher level business decisions. “I knew I needed a foundation of business education to really pursue my goal of bringing new ideas to market,” he says, “and I also wanted some health care-specific management training.”

Fortunately for Nick, the solution was just down the street. “At Owen,” he says, “I got access to authentic expertise, which is hard to find. Every professor is incredibly experienced and brings that experience to bear in the classroom.”

But he’s quick to point out that not everything he learned came from faculty. As an example, he cites a weekend when former Tennessee governor (and health care entrepreneur) Phil Bredesen and Congressman Jim Cooper — both experts on health care policy — came to class for a discussion with students. “That’s something I would never have been able to do in another setting. The level of candor and insight was incredible,” Nick says.

“Owen will give you exposure to people, ideas and industries you’d have never encountered otherwise. It’s a special place and I’m fortunate to be part of that community.”