Walton MBA - Finance Career Track

Undergraduate: Marketing and Finance, University of Arkansas
Hometown: Little Rock, Arkansas

Given the strong retail industry exposure of Northwest Arkansas, moving back to Fayetteville to pursue his MBA was an easy decision for Billy Ruck. Originally from Little Rock, Billy completed his undergraduate degree at the University of Arkansas. After spending two years with the investments industry in both Arkansas and Texas, he made the decision to return to Fayetteville to pursue an MBA at the Walton College. "Northwest Arkansas is God's country." said Ruck jokingly. "It is also a utopia for business people working for the development of sustainable and efficient business practices, which are becoming the next mega-trend for U.S. businesses."

Northwest Arkansas is home to Wal-Mart, the largest company in the world. Consequently, over 1,300 of the company's vendors have corporate branches or offices in the area. Many students in the Sam M. Walton College Graduate School of Business are given the opportunity to work with these companies during their time in the program. Billy is one of those students. He interviewed for and was offered a marketing internship with one of Wal-Mart's largest vendors, which also calls this area home, Tyson Foods.

As an undergraduate double major in Finance and Marketing, Billy is fascinated with how these two core components of business interact on a daily basis. Throughout the course of a typical day in the MBA program," Billy added, "I am exposed to no less than 3 business disciplines and/or fields of study. In the long run, I would like a career in which I can utilize my quantitative/analytical skills as well as my ability to communicate and sell effectively to others."

Billy was particularly impressed with the faculty's role in his career placement. Speaking of two professors that were extremely helpful - Dr. Craig Rennie and Dr. Tom Jensen - Billy said, "They are professors who not only teach, but are also actively engaged in the job-search processes with students and are an invaluable resource to the MBA program." The personal attention he received from the Graduate School of Business office also surprised him. Speaking of the staff, he commended, "Their general willingness to make each student's experience top-notch cannot be matched by any other college on campus, or perhaps in the nation for that matter."

When asked to sum up his experience in the program so far, Billy reminisced, "Just as in the days of Sam Walton, the entrepreneurial spirit of Northwest Arkansas is still alive and well here. The possibilities and opportunities provided by this program are limitless, and the value of this exposure in the MBA program is immeasurable."