Coogan Perrin, military and consulting industry leader, has been named the new assistant dean of non-degree education at the Georgia Tech Scheller College of Business. She will begin her tenure on June 30, 2023.
Perrin comes to Scheller prepared to use her vast and varied leadership experience from her time as a NCAA Division I student athlete, an Air Force Cyberspace Engineering Officer, and a certified advanced Deloitte facilitator. Each experience has uniquely prepared Perrin to build business leaders capable of tackling challenges with resilience.
“I am incredibly excited to join the leadership team at Georgia Tech. It offers a perfectly balanced combination of faculty and leaders with expertise in technology, engineering, and business and has a strong focus on innovation,” said Perrin. “Having been at the cross-section of business and technology for most of my career, I have seen first-hand the missed opportunities that can come with business leaders who lack the understanding or knowledge of how technology can be a force multiplier to optimize outcomes. What an amazing opportunity to develop business leaders who not only know how to navigate traditional business needs but also understand how technology plays into every single aspect of today’s business strategy and operations.”
Originally from Seattle, Washington, Perrin was a distinguished graduate in her major (top 5%) from the U.S. Air Force Academy with a Bachelor of Science in business management. She held spots on both the dean’s list for academic excellence and the starting lineup for the NCAA Division I women’s soccer team. Off the soccer field, Perrin held leadership roles culminating in her senior year as a group director of operations, charged to lead and set policy for 1,000 cadets. She learned how to rise to the physical and intellectual challenges of college life and found herself guiding her teammates on how to balance the workload.
During her four years at the Academy, she learned intimately the value of hard work, discipline, and time management. Most importantly, Perrin learned how all of these principles contribute to building capable leaders. She began to foster her own leadership style centered on helping others succeed. This ability to prioritize what is most important to find long-term success helped Perrin through the rigors of the Academy and carried over into her professional career.
Perrin served as a captain in the U.S. Air Force, deploying to Afghanistan in November of 2009. As a junior officer, Perrin learned from the leadership above her and from the international military presence that gathered in the headquarters. Through her work alongside Afghanis and other military personnel from around the world, she began to think about how motivation drives behavior. She discovered a key to leadership is understanding what motivates others.
Focused prioritization and decoding motivations are leadership tools that can lift individuals, organizations, and initiatives to greater heights. Each is inherent to Perrin’s personal leadership style and an integral part of her work in the evolving higher education space at Scheller. At Scheller, Perrin’s approach will begin and end with people in mind.
“I plan to first get to know my team at Scheller,” Perrin said. She continued, “Overall, my focus will be to help the non-degree side of the business school to grow and expand current operations. There is a lot of disruption right now in higher ed and we need to be deliberate about our strategy. I plan to focus on attracting new customers and retaining existing customers through innovation in marketing, branding, targeting critical customer segments, as well as growing existing partnerships.
Enhancing the delivery experience is another focus area, through improving delivery flexibility, focusing on specialization, and enhancing the experience across the full student lifecycle. Lastly, I plan to focus on prioritizing digital innovation across the non-degree program.”
Perrin received a Master’s Degree in International Relations from the University of Oklahoma and her MBA from Emory University’s Goizueta Business School. She became familiar with Scheller students at Deloitte as a senior manager, and at Microsoft as a Director of technical delivery where she worked with government, corporate, and NGO clients.
“I am a lifelong learner, and to me, there is nothing more rewarding than being around others who have an appetite for learning and bettering themselves. What an exciting opportunity to be on campus and contribute to the positive energy and original thinking that occurs at Georgia Tech.”