My Destination: ECG Management Consultants
My friends joke that my life decisions are based on where I find the best ocean views. They have a point—I’ve been spoiled for two years by the incredible views at the Rady School and am excited to be joining a firm with yet another killer ocean view post-MBA.
In July, I’ll begin my journey as a Senior Consultant at ECG Management Consultants, a leading healthcare management consulting firm that provides specialized consulting services in the areas of strategy, finance, technology, and operations. I’m excited to leverage my consulting background, my experience interning at a health system, and the broader business skillset I’ve developed at the Rady School to tackle problems ranging from improving an organization’s patient access processes to enhancing its ability to diagnose and treat cancer. I chose ECG for the fast-paced environment; the culture of learning and professional development; the community of hardworking, bright, and fun colleagues; and the ethos of working passionately to make a meaningful difference in people’s lives.
Although I haven’t officially started, I’ve already had a great time with ECG. The firm includes me in their Friday professional development seminars (plus lunch!) as well as various social activities—everything from opening week baseball games at Petco Park to bike rides to happy hours. I even recently ran into some colleagues at a conference!
Like many of the best things in life, this opportunity found me. I’m especially grateful to Terra Saltzman-Baker from Rady School Graduate Career Connections for flagging my resume in the resume book sent to ECG, April Papst from ECG for reaching out to me initially, and Dave Wofford and Mark Johnston (Rady Flex Evening ’15), also from ECG, for answering my early questions about the firm.
Looking Back: Why I am #RadyMade
I’m also thankful for the skills I honed at the Rady School that prepared me for my new role, as well as all of the memories I made along the way. There’s no doubt that the Rady School core classes, especially Professor Parsons’ Finance class, Professor Sprenger’s Strategy class, and Professor Shin’s Operations class, will help me do my job more effectively and efficiently. Elective courses such as Professor Pollock’s Economics of Healthcare Technologies class, which helped me pick up important industry-specific knowledge, and Professor Hansen’s Analytics in the Wild class, in which I led a team of students in analyzing data to inform decisions at Rady Children’s Hospital, gave me valuable practice applying my business knowledge in a healthcare setting.
Perhaps even more importantly, I’m grateful for the confidence, leadership skills, and friendships I gained at the Rady School. Memories like grabbing sushi with friends after class and making dumplings at Rady China Night will last a lifetime! Another highlight of my experience was being a team leader. I led the teams that won the Grand Prize at the BIOCOM Hackathon for Health, sold over 100 Thanksgiving pies to benefit people with cancer and AIDS, and put on the Rady[X] Technology & Analytics conference that brought together over 200 students and industry leaders. And to top it all off, last month, I travelled to Israel with a team of students to represent the USA in the semifinals of the Sofaer International Business Strategy Case Competition. We met teams from all over the world and experienced the rich history and culture of Israel (including, I might add, eating the best falafel I’ve ever had in my life)!
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(Left-to-right: Grand Prize winning team at the 2016 BIOCOM Hackathon for Health; Rady Net Impact Club leaders selling pies for social impact; Rady Technology Club leaders hard at work prepping for the Rady[X] conference)
Looking ahead
As the sun sets on my time at Rady (excuse the cheesy line, it’s my excuse for sharing my favorite Rady sunset photo), I look forward to the future. I’m excited for what the next few years at ECG Management Consultants will bring and I’m thrilled to be staying in San Diego. To my Rady School family, thanks for an awesome two years!
Allison Noel (MBA ’16) is a graduate of the Rady School of Management and specializes in business analytics, strategy, and healthcare administration. In her spare time, she enjoys triathlons, beach volleyball and cooking with her husband.