It's a homecoming for Angela Schwartz, the new associate dean of Executive Education at the Georgia Tech Scheller College of Business, who begins her tenure on June 30, 2023.
Schwartz is a Georgia Tech alumna and joins Scheller after an accomplished corporate career that includes time at Microsoft, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and The Boston Consulting Group (BCG). She is a strategic servant leader with a unique blend of product innovation, organizational strategy, business development, talent development, and operational execution experience.
“It’s thrilling to be back at Georgia Tech! I owe a lot of success in my career and life skills to Georgia Tech,” said Schwartz. “The ability to return to my alma mater in this leadership position and give back to the Tech community is an honor. There is nothing as stimulating as being at the center of original thought in a constant learning mindset, so I’m looking forward to being in a learning environment full time.”
Schwartz received her Bachelor of Science in Industrial Management from Georgia Tech and earned her MBA in International Business from Mercer University. In addition, she is Azure Fundamentals certified, a Prosci Certified Change Management practitioner, and a Design Thinking practitioner. She has received innovation awards from BCG, the CDC, and the Department of Homeland Security. She is currently pursuing her Ph.D. in Business at Oklahoma State University with a specialty in Organizational Behavior.
Her corporate career includes Microsoft, where she spent 19 years, starting as a founder and operations manager for Microsoft Expedia. She was the chief designer of the operational infrastructure that is now considered the de facto operation model for commerce on the internet. After serving as the operations manager, she spent time in sales, business development, partner alliances, consulting, and strategy. For the last seven years, she served as the consulting Services Practice Leader for federal government accounts.
At the CDC, she was the associate director for policy and the strategy and innovation officer for the Office of Public Health Preparedness & Response. There, she led organizations for policy formulation, budget management, performance management science, partner development, and disaster preparedness strategy. She led large-scale programmatic implementation around critical infrastructure, sustainability projects, and disaster science innovation. In this capacity, she founded the National Health Preparedness Security Index in partnership with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and Johns Hopkins University, and over 100 critical stakeholders. Because of the success of the Index, she was asked to work with the Department of Homeland Security as the senior strategy and policy adviser to the assistant secretary for policy.
Schwartz is an Atlanta native who is ready to be back on campus and to connect with the Atlanta community.
“I want to do a lot of listening – listening to existing and prospective students, staff, faculty, employers, alumni, and others in the Atlanta community,” she said. “There are a lot of external factors affecting executive education right now, and our team will need to acutely understand the disintermediation and disruption going on in the sector. Once we synthesize all these forces, we can design a strategy that will drive growth long term, one that starts with ideation and ends with continuous improvement.”
Her goals as the new associate dean include creating online and hybrid classes, expanding the offerings portfolio, adding additional Executive MBA specializations, and reaching a broader market for both degree and non-degree programs.
“In today’s market, technology permeates every industry, and senior leaders need to be tech-savvy. They need to articulate an understanding of technology and how to exploit it to create a strategic advantage for their organizations. Scheller and Georgia Tech fuel this through incubators and research. Our reputation, rankings, faculty, and global reach are world-renowned assets for the program to leverage,” Schwartz said.
As she prepares to join Scheller, Schwartz is looking forward to getting to know the students, hearing their stories, and becoming part of the Executive Education team. She says she can relate to the students and connect with them since she is working full-time while pursuing her Ph.D.
“I put a lot of thought into my career change, set a goal, executed my goal, and with this opportunity, have achieved it. I am our customer, so to speak, and want to demonstrate that obstacles can be overcome, it can be accomplished, and help others to do it too. That insight will be very tangible and helpful in my new role,” she said.
More Information
Learn more about the Executive MBA and Executive Education Programs.