Education:
MBA Fellows- Loyola College in Maryland
BBA – University of Wisconsin–Eau Claire

Employment: President, Old Coach Company; General Manager, Fisher’s Bakery

Personally Speaking: "The MBA Fellows program changed my life. It gave me the confidence to do something new and it helped me develop relational skills that I use in every aspect of my life."

Professionally Speaking: "The program provides a great knowledge base that students can expand upon to continue their education in areas that are specifically relevant to their own businesses."

Spotlight
Loyola’s MBA Fellows program gave Chris Sikora the confidence he needed to take on the challenge of owning a business and helped him realize that he had a lot more potential than his former position required.

“When I entered the Fellows program, I had been working for over 15 years and figured that an advanced degree would help me professionally in a general sense,” he explains. “I quickly discovered how much I didn’t know about business and how much more I was interested in learning.”

Shortly after finishing the program Sikora put his newly honed skills to the test, seeking out and eventually buying a business of his own to manage and grow. He is now president of Old Coach Company and the general manager of Fisher’s Bakery in historic Ellicott City, Maryland, a bakery with long-standing community roots, a strong brand and good reputation (especially for wedding cakes). Sikora considers his involvement more of a business opportunity than a baking opportunity.

“I realized during my coursework that I was developing new knowledge that wouldn’t be utilized fully working in my former position,” he says. “So I began seeking out business ventures that would engage all of my new skills.”

Sikora researched opportunities online, networked with fellow classmates about possibly joining forces in business and investigated ideas of his own. He found Loyola’s faculty to be dedicated to educating their students and to helping them realize their individual goals. As important, the different educational and professional backgrounds of his classmates exposed him to a diverse set of opinions and experiences that he found particularly motivating.

“I looked forward to going to class every Saturday and having stimulating conversations with intelligent people,” he says. “I developed a lot of contacts and friendships through the program and consider the faculty and fellow graduates to be important resources I wouldn’t hesitate to call upon for input and advice.”