Colorado Tech Online Students and Alumni
Meet CAPT Richard Haberberger
Executive Master's of Business Administration
Pleasantly Surprised by his Online Education
CAPT Richard Haberberger isn't a stranger to educations—after all he has a B.S. in Biology, an M.S. in Microbiology and a PhD in Community Health, all earned well before he enrolled at Colorado Tech Online. Still, he says there were a few things that surprised him during the 15-months he spent in Colorado Tech Online's Executive MBA program. CAPT Haberberger graduated with his MBA in February.
"It was a much more rigorous program than I thought it was going to be," he says. It wasn't just the program itself that got CAPT Haberberger's attention though. He says several of his professors were very, very impressive…as were some of his fellow students.
It seems CAPT Haberberger is mighty impressive himself too. Since graduating with his MBA he was nominated—by the Deputy Surgeon General of the Navy, nonetheless—and accepted a position as Information Manager for Population Health for the military's Tricare Management Activity. CAPT Haberberger starts this executive-level position in two weeks.
Earning an Executive MBA
While there was no requirement that nominees for the Tricare Management Information Manager job have an MBA, CAPT Haberberger thinks the fact he now does have an MBA, as well as all his medical-related schooling, is what helped him get the new job. "Because this job involves information management and business process reengineering, I just assumed my MBA was instrumental."
He does expect to use much of what he learned during his MBA as an Information Manager. "I feel I learned a lot during the course of the program. I haven't been able to use much of it in my current position, but think I will benefit from it tremendously in the new job."
This new job isn't CAPT Haberberger's first executive position within the Navy. Currently he is the military equivalent of a COO at a medical research and development lab. He has 340 people under him and is the center's second-in-command.
Although CAPT Haberberger's MBA already seems to be paying off, when enrolling at Colorado Tech Online he was more interested in what it could do for him when he retires from the Navy in the near future. "I thought an MBA would make me more competitive for other jobs outside of the military."
CAPT Haberberger was able to get a sense of the sorts of civilian jobs he might be able to get from his Colorado Tech Online professors. "I was pleasantly surprised by the instructors. I hadn't expected the level of professionalism and experience I received from many of them. My Information Technology professor owned his own company and had lots of fresh ideas and was well read and up-to-date on the field. This was the case with my three or four favorite teachers."
CAPT Haberberger says he was even able to learn from fellow students. "I was a diligent student, but there were some people even more motivated than me. They were impressive with their skills at Power Point and spreadsheets. And some had really interesting backgrounds that actually added new perspective to the class that I found to be very good."
It was the dedication of his classmates and professors that made CAPT Haberberger's Colorado Tech Online experience a pleasant one. "Like I said before, it was a much more rigorous program than I was expecting (CAPT Haberberger estimates he spent about 20 hours a week on class work), but the enthusiasm of people around me helped make it better."
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