How Notre Dame’s Executive MBA Helped Colin Raymond Advance His Career

For Colin Raymond, the decision to pursue an Executive MBA at Notre Dame was about more than earning another degree. It was about returning to a place that had already shaped some of the most important parts of his life.

“Notre Dame holds sort of a unique spot in my history,” Raymond said. “There were four very weighty influences on my life that all came together in a really powerful way.”As a Notre Dame undergraduate, Raymond deepened his Catholic faith, met his wife, discovered a passion for business and began his military career through Army ROTC. So when the time came to consider graduate school, Notre Dame was a top choice.

At the same time, Raymond knew he wanted an MBA experience that would allow him to continue growing professionally while immediately applying what he learned in the classroom, without having to leave his job. The Executive MBA format offered exactly that opportunity. “I wasn’t necessarily looking for just a degree,” he said. “I was looking for an experience that would help me be better in my role.”

At the time, Raymond was early in his leadership career and balancing the demands of a growing family. He explored several programs throughout the Midwest before ultimately deciding that Notre Dame offered the right combination of academic quality, leadership development and culture.

“I really wanted to absorb the content,” he said. “And if you want to absorb and apply learning in a really quick way, you need to be in the right environment.”

Learning Alongside Experienced Leaders

When Raymond entered the Executive MBA program, he had recently stepped into a director-level leadership role. Walking into a classroom filled with highly accomplished professionals and C-suite executives was initially intimidating.

“You do a little bit of sizing up when you enter that room for the first time,” he said. “Every person in a new environment faces at least a little bit of imposter syndrome.”

That feeling quickly faded as he got to know the cohort around him. “The cohort was great,” he said. “It was very easy to fit in right away.”

Looking back, Raymond says one of the defining strengths of the Executive MBA was the caliber of the cohort. Learning and traveling alongside experienced professionals who inspired him pushed him to grow as a leader and naturally sharpened the way he approached communication and decision-making.

“You’ve got very capable people to your left and your right,” he said. “The ability to communicate with and to very capable people consistently helps elevate your general ability to do so at work.”

That environment, combined with Notre Dame’s collaborative culture, created an experience that Raymond still values years later. “There’s a kinship between Notre Dame grads,” he said. “If someone reaches out for advice or mentorship, I immediately say yes.”

Applying Lessons in Real Time

One of the biggest advantages of the Executive MBA format was the ability for Raymond to immediately apply classroom learning to real business challenges.

During the program, he was promoted into a director role and began taking on larger operational responsibilities. The analytical tools and leadership lessons from class became part of his day-to-day work almost immediately. “I still reference my notes from several classes,” Raymond said.

“The concepts repeat themselves over and over again in different experiences I’ve had,” Raymond said. Frameworks he learned in strategy and financial analysis courses became tools he continued using throughout his career, first as a director and later as a CEO leading executive retreats and evaluating organizational priorities. He credits that coursework with strengthening his ability to quickly identify business drivers and make stronger operational decisions. “For me, that became a distinguishing feature,” he said. “The ability to do the hard analysis on a financial statement and identify different value drivers quickly.”

Raymond credits the program not only with helping him deliver stronger business results, but also with improving his communication skills and leadership presence. “The coursework helped me deliver better results as a professional,” he said. “And when you’re able to deliver better results and have a better track record, you have more upward mobility.”

That upward trajectory accelerated quickly. During and after the program, Raymond advanced through several increasingly senior leadership positions, eventually leading larger business units and broader operational responsibilities. Today, he serves as CEO of Accra.

He sees a direct connection between that career growth and the development he experienced at Notre Dame. “I would definitely attribute a lot of the success and growing responsibility to the things I learned at Notre Dame,” he said.

A Network Built on Shared Values

The Notre Dame network remains one of the lasting strengths of the Executive MBA experience. Whether through mentorship conversations, reconnecting with fellow alumni or evaluating talent, he sees the network as a reflection of the amazing people Notre Dame attracts and develops. When he learns that someone is also from Notre Dame, he said, “it would immediately tell me something about the caliber of that individual.”

Beyond the classroom learning, Raymond says the Executive MBA strengthened the way he thinks about leadership. He described the experience as “holistic,” pointing to Notre Dame’s emphasis on developing both the person and the professional.

“There is an approach to the practice of being a professional that covers all the bases,” he said. “At Notre Dame, it really is all of the factors that make someone successful as a person and a professional,” and that perspective continues to shape how he leads today.

Are you ready for your next step?

Learn more about Notre Dame’s Executive MBA program