Now more than ever, an MBA is a way to move forward. Many professionals are hesitant to leave the workforce to attend an MBA program. Whether they have familial responsibilities, do not want to assume more debt or want to keep momentum in their careers, currently employed professionals who want a comprehensive MBA education to help them advance, pivot to a career change or pursue their own entrepreneurial ventures are looking for a flexible program that fits their needs.

For Dr. Guillaume Dumont (’19 MBA), he wanted to continue working full time as a USC School of Medicine orthopedic surgeon and faculty member while pursuing his MBA. During his time in the Moore School’s Professional MBA program, Dumont made sure to maintain balance between the rigors of the program and his job by always putting his growing family first.

“Thankfully all of the courses through the Professional MBA program meet in the evening and on Saturdays, so for the most part, and after rearranging my on-call schedule at the hospital just a bit, my family and I pulled it off,” Dumont said. “My wife, Ashley, was the real star here. When I was in the PMBA program, we had three children aged 6 and under and another on the way. She’s the one who kept the wheels turning while I went back to school and worked.”

While completing the program quickly was a priority, Dumont appreciated the interaction with his classmates and the wide-reaching real-world experience faculty and instructors shared in their courses.

“With so many of my classmates at different stages of their careers and coming from different industries, we all learned from each other,” Dumont said. “The professors, in addition to teaching us their particular specialties, facilitated discussion and interaction in every course. This was far from the traditional approach of learning from a textbook — we learned from real-world projects and scenarios.”

For his personal goals, Dumont wanted to gain an overarching view of business within the health care field but also was interested in exploring different ways he could contribute in areas outside of clinical care.

“I feel the Professional MBA program helped me improve skills needed to develop relationships with other segments of the health care industry but also provided me the tools to diversify my professional life by working with various entrepreneurs to help grow and solidify their businesses,” he said.

Since graduating with his MBA in 2019, Dumont has worked as a strategic advisor teaming up with early- and growth-stage companies in sectors ranging from digital health management and consumer packaged goods to finance and blockchain platforms, all while maintaining a busy orthopedic surgery practice.