Joseph Cicero
Our “Global Campus Legends” series celebrates the 30th anniversary of WSU Global Campus by putting a spotlight on the unique experiences and journeys of Global Campus students throughout the years. Each legend features a quote from student who graduated from Global Campus since it was founded as WSU Extended Degree Programs in 1992.
“I began WSU’s Online MBA program in 2019 after completing my first year at Microsoft as a technical seller on the Microsoft Education team. I had a Master’s in Education, but WSU was my first formal education in business. After the first couple of classes, I awakened a new passion and began using the language of business – value creation.
I went from making decisions based on feelings to decisions based on math and strategy. This upgraded version of myself quickly earned an invite to leave sales and join Microsoft’s engineering discipline. I became a Sr. Program Manager in August of 2019 and became focused on worldwide EDU partner enablement and insights. What I learned from my courses in the evening, I applied to my work during the day. The result has been not only an expanded role, but increased visibility and responsibility in the company.
Because of the MBA program I am confident in explaining value propositions, differential value, and even switch dynamics to executive leadership at Microsoft. Since graduating in 2021 with my MBA from WSU, I have become a people manager at Microsoft with 20+ direct reports.”
-Joseph Cicero, ‘21
