Ami takes aim at Accenture
If determination is a pointer to future success, Ami Price-Gagnon can expect a fruitful career, beginning with Accenture – where she secured her job just before completing her MBA at Melbourne Business School in 2017.
Tempted by a generous scholarship offer, Ami came to us after working on a major digital transformation project at state-owned ATB Financial, the largest financial institution in Alberta, Canada.
“Being from the other side of the world, it was tough to figure out which schools to really learn more about and have on my radar,” Ami says. “Because of the scholarship, a new door opened for me in Australia, and I was able to talk about it seriously as an option.”
When first speaking with our admissions teams about studying here, Ami made clear her intention to return to Canada after graduation. But that was before living in Melbourne, her MBA internship work on an award-winning project at airline Jetstar and her Accenture job united to keep her here.
Ami started thinking about getting her MBA when dealing with the challenges she faced on the digital transformation project in Canada.
“I wanted to develop a more holistic approach to business. I was working in one department at the time and found collaborating across departments created most of the challenges. I felt studying for my MBA would give me that holistic mindset.”
The happy outcome from having digital experience, an MBA and a new job at Accenture suggests the planets have aligned for Ami. However, that view overlooks a fierce determination behind her sunny disposition.
Raised in foster care from the age of 12 after her mother passed away, Ami seems to view every challenge as an opportunity to succeed. Her work at Jetstar, for example, didn’t just help the airline identify the customer appetite for new routes but won a 2017 Asia Pacific Visionary Award for her team.
It was just the kind of opportunity to gain practical business experience that attracted her to our MBA.
“Melbourne Business School promised a different, world-class MBA experience, and it absolutely lived up to that. The Innovation Boot camp pushed me into real-world entrepreneurial business, and travelling to Shanghai and Beijing allowed me to learn about a different form of business culture.”
Ami also valued the syndicate groups, case method of learning about multiple industries, and operations and strategy classes because they all helped her gain the holistic mindset she was after. She loved the diversity of her cohort too.
“It’s incredible how diverse everybody is, not just by country but by background. My first syndicate group, I believe, was the only one without any Australians in it. It was that diverse. We had so much fun, even when we were furious with each other.”
Ami is excited about her new role as a management consultant in Accenture’s Melbourne office.
“I’ll be working across different industries in strategy, which is my strength. And I’m grateful that I got this opportunity because of my MBA.”
Learn more about our Full-time MBA program.