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Leadership Development Rotational Program—Marketing/Business Development, Medtronic
How does studying to become a minister mesh with pursuing an MBA? It's a question Ravyn Miller says she was often asked as she simultaneously pursued degrees in business and divinity.
"I want to de-mystify the idea that one field is mutually exclusive from the other," she answers. In fact, she views them as complementary. Ravyn feels called to both the business and the religious worlds because she wants to promote ethical leadership in corporations—reinforced by a strong sense that business can positively affect the lives of people.
Owen, says the Arkansas native, gave her the business knowledge to build on her previous career in medical device sales and her undergraduate degree in biomedical sciences. She credits the Owen Leadership Development Program with building the critical skills—people management, communication, feedback—that she says CEOs often find lacking among MBAs.
Now working in the Leadership Development Rotational Program at Medtronic in Minneapolis, Ravyn still seeks to be "bi-vocational," with a goal of also using the skills she sharpened at Owen in ministerial settings. If it all seems rather ambitious, Ravyn feels prepared. Thanks to Owen, she says, "I am ready to take on the world."
Ravyn Miller
Vanderbilt MBA and Master of Divinity 2009Leadership Development Rotational Program—Marketing/Business Development, Medtronic
Answering Her Call
Miller Merged Divinity and BusinessHow does studying to become a minister mesh with pursuing an MBA? It's a question Ravyn Miller says she was often asked as she simultaneously pursued degrees in business and divinity.
"I want to de-mystify the idea that one field is mutually exclusive from the other," she answers. In fact, she views them as complementary. Ravyn feels called to both the business and the religious worlds because she wants to promote ethical leadership in corporations—reinforced by a strong sense that business can positively affect the lives of people.
Owen, says the Arkansas native, gave her the business knowledge to build on her previous career in medical device sales and her undergraduate degree in biomedical sciences. She credits the Owen Leadership Development Program with building the critical skills—people management, communication, feedback—that she says CEOs often find lacking among MBAs.
Now working in the Leadership Development Rotational Program at Medtronic in Minneapolis, Ravyn still seeks to be "bi-vocational," with a goal of also using the skills she sharpened at Owen in ministerial settings. If it all seems rather ambitious, Ravyn feels prepared. Thanks to Owen, she says, "I am ready to take on the world."
