Even before he joined the Executive MBA program at Vanderbilt, Scott Himes was accustomed to a schedule that took him away from home on certain weekends. Since 2004, Scott has spent one weekend a month plus two weeks each year serving in the Air Force National Guard. He enlisted as a mechanic, but beginning in 2014 he has served as an intelligence officer and flight commander, overseeing 22 enlisted intelligence analysts and earning a rank of captain.

He has stayed connected to the military in another way, too. Since 2016, Scott has served on the board of Centerstone Military, a national non-profit that provides free or reduced-cost mental health services to veterans and their families. 

Meanwhile, in his weekday job, Scott worked at Bridgestone’s Nashville headquarters. He spent four years in corporate finance, then moved into a role as a Senior Pricing Analyst — where among other things, he analyzed pricing data for the commercial and consumer tire divisions and provided insight to senior leadership on pricing strategy.

Based on interactions with Vanderbilt alumni at Bridgestone, Scott chose Owen for his MBA, which he believed would “position me for a formal leadership role” at the company. He also believed the program would strengthen him as a newly commissioned Air National Guard officer. “I knew I could immediately benefit from the formal and informal leadership experience that I’d earn from Owen,” he says. [My wife and I] knew that this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to study at Vanderbilt, and I needed to take advantage of it as much as possible.”

He made the most of it. After graduation, Scott accepted a position in New York City with UBS, starting with the company’s Veterans Associates Program that enables veterans to experience multiple dimensions of the organization and work directly with some of the most successful people in the financial services industry.

He credits Vanderbilt with helping him get there. “I feel more confident tackling a new problem or challenge, making a career transition, or taking on a new position or project in the future,” he says, “and I know I have an immense network of alumni that I can call (and already have called) upon to help me work through almost any problem.” 

“We knew that this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to study at Vanderbilt, and I needed to take advantage of it to the furthest extent possible.”