Never one to shy away from challenges, Kenneth Hettler, a first-year Scheller College of Business Full-time MBA student, is also an Eagle Scout, a West Point graduate with a B.S. in Information Management (’11), and an Army veteran. He was also recently named by Poets and Quants to their “MBA Class of 2021: The Go-Getters” roster, chosen for his unique life experiences.
As former Company Commander of the Foxtrot Company, 6-101 Aviation Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division’s only Air Traffic Control (ATC) company, Hettler states that two of his biggest accomplishments were leading his ATC unit while serving in Afghanistan, and being recognized as the number one ATC unit in the U.S. Army.
A native of New Jersey and the youngest of three children, Hettler decided to enter West Point after losing an uncle on 9/11 in the World Trade Center attack. He has lived an exciting aviator life obtaining an FAA commercial rotary-wing certificate, in addition to flying helicopters for the Army where he was an UH060M Blackhawk pilot and an Army Aviator.
He attributes one of his defining moments as “the day I told my battalion commander that I wanted to transition out of the Army. I knew that I didn’t want to reinvent myself after 20 years in uniform and that the timing was right for me,” he said.
Hettler chose Scheller College of Business after looking at a number of schools with MBA programs. “My in-person interview was the deciding factor, for sure. Scheller felt like home because everyone was so welcoming and passionate about the program.”
Though initially intrigued by Georgia Tech’s Engineering programs, he became deeply interested in Scheller’s MBA program as he learned more about Tech Square and its innovative business opportunities. “As an IT graduate, I really value the importance of technology and I knew that an institution at the intersection of business and technology would be a perfect fit,” Hettler shared. “This is an amazing time in the school’s history as the MBA program at Scheller continues to expand. The college’s proximity and integration into Tech Square offers me opportunities no other business school can,” he relayed.
For his future, Hettler sees himself working at a financial institution in New York City in five years and knows he can count on Scheller’s MBA career services for assistance in achieving that goal, especially with their nationally recognized success in corporate placement. “As a veteran who recently left the services, I felt that I needed a program that would be customized to help me translate my military experiences to the corporate world. That’s why I chose Scheller College MBA.”