Mackenzie Mumey, '08

May 18, 2016
The Richmond MBA assists MBA student in moving from non-profit sector to consulting.

Mackenzie Mumey, ’08, has spent his career thus far working for various non-profits. He began his career as a marketing administrator for a large international relief and development organization. From there, he transitioned to a small grassroots community development organization. In 2013, Mumey joined a branding and marketing agency where he received the opportunity to develop client management, operations and human resources skills. By 2015, he knew he was ready for a new challenge. 

He looked to the leaders of organizations he admired and noticed a common trend. Almost all of them had a strong corporate background. This solidified his new career goal and motivated his search for an MBA program. Although Mumey is a University of Richmond graduate, he had never stepped foot in the Robins School of Business until he began exploring The Richmond MBA program in early 2015. Despite being a Spider, Mumey had alternative reasons for choosing the program—academics, career guidance and networking. “I am a strong believer in lifelong learning. I knew Richmond would help prepare me to contribute to the best-in-class organizations for which I wanted to work. Working in small non-profits and start-ups gives you a breadth of experiences and opportunities, but I found myself lacking a strong career direction. Dr. Coughlan, former director of The Richmond MBA, assured me that the opportunity to explore various fields in the classroom, paired with the guidance from faculty and staff, would be a great environment for me to discern the best path. The ability to meet and develop relationships with a cohort of driven MBA peers was very appealing. Most of my professional network was within the non-profit sector, so I was eager to cultivate a wider network of business professionals,” he shared.

Over the course of the year that Mumey was in the program, he made the jump from the non-profit sector to consulting. Mumey recently accepted a position at The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) in New York City. He will leave the program to start his new role in May.

Prior to submitting his resume to BCG, Debbie Fisher, associate director of The Richmond MBA, introduced Mumey to several individuals within the Richmond community who assisted him with improving his resume and re-positioning himself. “I am confident that the changes I made to my resume in light of their feedback were an important part of getting noticed from a cold submission,” Mumey explains. 

His time in the program was short, but the impact has been monumental. Mumey has received the context and language to translate his non-profit experience to corporate experience. He praises the great counsel he received from various faculty and staff that increased his confidence in the ability to be a strong performer.

As he prepares to make the move, Mumey believes the Opening Residency experience will benefit him most in his new position. “It was an excellent opportunity to strengthen my skills in project management, problem solving and providing actionable recommendations,” he says. Mumey’s team took first place in the 2015 Opening Residency Case Competition. 

This Spider is prepared for consulting in the Big Apple! 

Photo: Mackenzie Mumey is pictured far right with fellow MBA students.