A year at Acton was a challenge, but made me a stronger person.
Andrew Hull '06
Credentials:
- Currently Director of Support Services with Optical Electronics Corporation
- MBA, Acton MBA in Entrepreneurship; BS, Industrial and Systems Engineering, Georgia Tech
When Andrew Hull graduated with his MBA from Acton in May 2006, he returned to his former company armed with skills and tools that have enabled him to make a significant impact.
After graduating with an engineering degree from Georgia Tech, Andrew took a position in Austin with Optimal Electronics, a small software company who makes a product that improves the process of manufacturing circuit boards. At the time, the company was struggling even though the product would be extremely beneficial to potential customers. Andrew wanted to have the knowledge and ability to propel a company in this position forward. He found Acton.
Though the intensity of the schedule and coursework was exhausting, Andrew thrived and grew. After Acton commencement, Andrew chose to return to Optimal Electronics. He considered shifting his career path during the Life of Meaning course at Acton, yet when a new group of experienced leaders joined Optimal Electronics, returning became another option. “I approached it as an opportunity for me to apply everything I had just learned at Acton in an environment with which I was already familiar. I would also be working on the same level as an experienced group of entrepreneurs from whom I have much to learn.”
The skills and ways of thinking that Andrew developed at Acton constantly come into play with his position as Director of Support Services. As an engineer, Andrew had learned to look at a problem on paper and solve it on paper. “Once I got out into the real world, the problems became much more complex. They involved real people, but I was still hashing out the answer on an Excel sheet. After Acton, I now know that in order to make real improvements, I need to establish a connection to the people involved and keep the answers simple.”
