Alumni

Brian Jones, ’00

Brian Jones graduated from Carthage College in 2000 with a major in biology and a minor in Entrepreneurial Studies in the Natural Sciences. He is now the Director of Planning and Marketing Strategy with the Henry Ford Health System's insurance subsidiary, Health Alliance Plan, in Detroit, Mich. He wrote these words to Carthage students in 2009, to share his experiences:

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Like many of you, I was a biology student with aspirations of going to medical school and becoming a family doctor. I studied hard, spent hours in the labs and did all the "right" things to prepare myself for medical school. But I quickly discovered that something was missing: How effective could I really be in a medical practice without understanding the business principles that would dictate how I ran my practice?

That's when I learned about ESNS and had several long conversations with Dr. Arion (during physics lab, no less) and my advisor, Dr. Seidel. It made a lot of sense: I had the science background, complete with the discipline to think critically and apply theory to practice, but I needed to figure out how to take that specialized knowledge into the real world to make a living. I was sold and enrolled for the ESNS Junior Symposium (which at the time was a three-course series over the course of my junior year).

I learned more about business during those three courses than many of my business major friends had learned in three years because of the depth of knowledge and practical experience from Dr. Arion and his colleagues, the application of critical thinking and the scientific method into business situations, and the hands-on, team-centered approach to solving business cases and writing business plans.

Science meets business: A business plan for a local hospital

Still interested in health care and medical school, but enthralled with what I had learned in ESNS, I continued the program into my senior year to truly solidify what I had learned and to feed my newfound interest for the complex intersection of "science" and business. President Campbell and Dr. Arion arranged for me to spend my senior year working with health care executives from St. Catherine's Hospital to plan for the building of a new St. Catherine's Medical Center on Highway 50 to replace a crippled, outdated building right off of Lake Michigan. After a year of routine "business meetings" with Dr. Arion and my fellow ESNS seniors, and completing projects for the hospital's executives, I presented my feasibility study for the new hospital to the ESNS board, members of the hospital's executive team, President Campbell, and my fellow ESNS students. (I understand that some of my work and research was actually used in their final business plans.)

During this time, my direction shifted from medical school to the business of health care. I quickly was hired by Accenture in Milwaukee and spent two years building my resume so that beginning in the fall of 2002, I could go to graduate school at the Medical University of South Carolina for my Master of Health Administration degree.

The rest is history. Based on my diverse background, my passion for health care, my strong and diverse academic performance, and practical real world experience (including a graduate internship at Kenosha Hospital and Medical Center), I was hired by the Henry Ford Health System and quickly escalated to a Director-level position at Health Alliance Plan.

And believe it or not, it all started because of some conversations during physics lab with Dr. Arion about what I wanted for myself in the future. I've never looked back, and I feel that there is no way my life and career would be what they are today without ESNS, and the unwavering support and encouragement of Dr. Arion throughout the journey.

Full circle: Using ESNS skills in his current position

After some reflection, I realized that my current scope of responsibilities has come full circle with the skills I first learned in ESNS. Here are some examples, just to name a few:

• Who knew that writing a mock business plan to start a water purification and bottling plant near the Ogallala Aquifer during my junior year would help me write the business strategy to expand Health Alliance Plan's Medicare Advantage product portfolio to increase market share among one of the only growing segments in Southeastern Michigan?

• Who knew that learning how to read a financial statement and write a budget during my first ESNS class, coupled with simple math I learned from my science classes, would give me the groundwork to develop automated predictive membership forecasting models for a 500,000 member health plan?

• Who knew that presenting my feasibility plan for building a new St. Catherine's Medical Center to a tough admissions committee would get me accepted to a premiere MHA program with a scholarship — and the opportunity to work on a healthcare information technology textbook with my professors?

• Who knew that the time I spent in ESNS, just over nine years ago, would help me become a young leader in one of the country's top 10 ranked health systems?

Dr. Arion knew. And he believed in me the same way he believes in all of you! There is a lot of power generated when science and business collide — that is, if you can learn how to capture and maximize those intersections in the real world. I know Dr. Arion is a tough professor (believe me, I got some nasty grades on papers from him, too), but in the end, he is going to help you to be wildly successful if you give him and ESNS the chance.

I would encourage all of you, no matter what you think your plans are for the future, to consider continuing with the ESNS program. Many other ESNS students I still network with are in similar positions in different industries including pharmaceutical sales/leadership, medical device sales/leadership, and practicing clinicians. No matter what you ultimately decide to do, ESNS will help prepare you for it and give you the extra boost above others who are competing for the same jobs. It's a tough job market, but having something unique like ESNS on your resume will get you to the top of the pile, and ultimately the job.

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Student Voices

"ScienceWorks has made me more professional in understanding the full aspects of planning the development of a business."

— Trevor Whately, '10, Fairbury, Ill.

Hear what students have to say about studying entrepreneurial studies/ScienceWorks at Carthage.