From Banking to an Advertising Career

Brian Slatterly ’10 admits he was somewhat of an atypical MBA student. “I had a double major in studio art design and religion... preparing me perfectly for the outside world,” he quipped. “I took zero business classes.”

After working in the mortgage industry for a few years, Slatterly was ready for a career change. He started digging into full-time MBA programs in Minnesota and liked what he saw at St. Thomas.

“The school addressed the elephant in the room around business ethics,” he said. “Ethics was literally part of the curriculum. I really appreciated that.”

Slatterly’s background was in risk management, but the curriculum’s 50/50 blend of core and elective courses helped him chart a new career path in advertising.

A required course in Marketing Management provided a foundation for further education in marketing, and elective courses in his second year helped fine-tune his path into advertising.

Slatterly also jumped head-first into the local thriving ad industry. He’d taken several advertising courses with people who worked in agencies downtown. Through one of his connections, he was paired up with a mentor at Periscope, an independent creative company in Minneapolis.

Slatterly’s specialized electives have helped him stay relevant in the fast-paced advertising industry. A course in emerging media spaces helped in his first gig right out of the MBA program. He now works as VP of Consumer Marketing in New York City.