Ted Mekianov (EMBA ’22) came into Darden’s Executive MBA program knowing he wanted to up the ante and expand his career options through an advanced degree. With a background in automotive and retail, Mekianov knew he had a unique opportunity to leverage the wide experience of his classmates and narrow his options. He is currently a Senior Associate at PWC’s Strategy&, based in New York City. Mekianov was the recipient of a scholarship from the Darden School Foundation powered by the Darden Annual Fund. He shared his challenging journey as an immigrant, and heartfelt gratitude for the opportunity to pursue his MBA during the 2022 scholarship celebration.
Mekianov shared insights about his Darden experience, including his ROI analysis on an MBA degree.
Q: What led you to Darden?
A: I was looking for ways to expand my career options through higher education. It made sense for me to attend a business school, but I wasn’t excited about many MBA programs. After reading through dozens of admission blogs and Reddit threads, I narrowed it to Darden – which is actually the only program I applied to.
Q: You made a career change through the program. Tell us about your role.
A: I transitioned into strategy consulting. As a consultant, I assist clients in transforming their operations from the way they engage their customers to how they execute strategic programs.
Q: How did you find this opportunity?
A: I started at Darden fully committed to switching careers, although I wasn’t sure what job role or industry I was interested in pursuing. As soon as I started the program, I reached out to classmates and set up informational interviews.
By Quarter 2 (about 2 months into the program) I had interviewed over 17 classmates who worked in various industries (consulting, banking, operations, real estate, etc.) By Quarter 4 (about 8 months into the program), I’d determined that consulting was, perhaps, my best career path. Once I narrowed it to consulting, I worked with Darden Career Center coaches and prepped for recruiting season. I spent two months preparing for case interviews and finetuning my resume and cover letters.
Q: What resonated with you about consulting?
A: There were two main factors that drew me to consulting. Several of the career guidance tests that the Darden Career Center provides indicated that consulting might be a good fit for me. In addition, I was fascinated by the work my Darden classmates were doing in consulting.
I also decided to explore consulting through some of the elective courses I took at Darden. I took consulting courses with Professor Vivian Riefberg and Dean Scott Beardsley and loved everything about them.
Q: What was the impact of your Darden experience?
A: My Darden experience was impactful in two key ways: Professional advancement and personal fulfillment. When it comes to professional advancement, I recently published a short ROI analysis of obtaining my MBA. It was a quick way to quantify whether a Darden MBA was worth the investment (spoiler alert – it was). However, the Darden experience was also incredibly fulfilling on a personal level. The entire journey was full of self-reflection, personal growth and relationship-building.
Q: Any advice you would like to share with prospective students?
A: I urge everyone to do their due diligence before deciding what business school to attend. Business is changing and some schools are better positioned to teach intricacies of leadership, ethics, business strategy and corporate responsibility. In my opinion, these areas are a real strength for Darden. As just one example, Professor Ed Freeman is reknowned for his work on stakeholder theory and has been a thought leader of corporate responsibility since the 1980s.
