Helping a Nonprofit Profit

The Ross EMBA is helping Kim Cumming, MBA '12, figure out the bottom line in the nonprofit world.

Before embarking on the Ross Executive MBA Program, Kimberli Cumming, MBA '12, wasn't sure business school was the place for a social worker-turned-executive director of a nonprofit. But the Ross EMBA’s focus on leadership and personal development turned out to be a perfect fit for her career goals.

Kim has served as executive director of The Women's Center of Southeastern Michigan for more than five years, and as associate director for five years before that. The Women's Center is a nonprofit resource center dedicated to emotional and economic self-determination for women, girls, and families. The center offers personal counseling, job coaching, divorce support, legal clinics, financial counseling, and tax preparation to more than 500 people each year, and takes calls from some 3,000 people who need help accessing community resources.

In the following Q&A, Kim talks about her experience as a nonprofit employee attending business school, the supportive environment at Ross, and how she applies what she's learning in unexpected ways.

Why did you decide to pursue your EMBA?

Since I've been in my organization for ten years, I was just starting to crave a learning curve. I felt like I needed a new intellectual challenge. There are all kinds of challenges and all kinds of learning associated with being executive director of a nonprofit, but I was starting to feel a need to stretch my brain cells in different ways. When I started thinking about what might be next for me, I realized the career goals I have are very much related to organizational well-being and organizational development. But when I looked at organizational development degrees I thought, "I'm not sure that's really where I want to be."

I'm interested in the interplay between nonprofit businesses, for-profit businesses, and the philanthropic community. How can they all work together to create healthy systems and a better world? I think an MBA can help me develop the skills needed to act as a diplomat and liaison between those sectors. I think we can do a better job of facilitating the nonprofit, for-profit, and philanthropic communities working together for mutual benefit. I'm really excited about that prospect. I want to help shape healthy organizations and healthy communities by bringing together all kinds of organizations.

What drew you to Ross?

What drew me to Ross was its focus on leadership. When I initially looked at MBA programs, I wasn't all that excited because I was pretty sure I didn't want to be in corporate finance. I don't thrive in the world of accounting. A lot of traditional MBA programs don't support careers that I want to pursue.

But I got really excited about the leadership focus at Ross. It felt like something that would push and stretch me beyond my comfort zone just as much as learning finance would. When I looked at the curriculum on the Ross website, I saw there were big chunks of personal and professional development, which impressed me. I thought, "This is a school that speaks my language." I also was really intrigued about what I would learn from those experiences. And so far, those pieces of the program have been really thrilling.

When I took a tour of Ross, I fell in love with the school and the people in it. Interacting with current students; seeing how faculty, students, and staff interact with each other; and observing the sense of community surprised me. I come from a different background that is a bit skeptical of how business schools operate and who's contained within those walls, but I was really glad to have that assumption shattered.

A program like this is ripe with potential for big egos and undue competition, and that hasn't been my experience at all. The school does a great job of fostering a supportive environment. We who are interested in cooperation and collaboration are drawn to the Ross EMBA Program.

Tell me more about the scholarship you received to attend Ross.

It's the nonprofit and public sector scholarship offered to EMBA candidates. The goal of the scholarship is to help people in the nonprofit and public sector afford the Ross EMBA Program. EMBAs are often funded by corporations, and obviously a place like The Women's Center can't afford to send me to school. The fact that Ross offers a scholarship like that is another reason I really respect and value the program. It would have been financially out of reach for me if I hadn't been able to get the scholarship. I was honored to receive it.

What is your impression of the faculty thus far?

I've been stunned by the quality of the professors and how engaging, excited, entertaining, and brilliant they are. Anyone who can keep me wide awake and leaning forward in my chair while they're talking about accounting or corporate finance is a really good professor. I can't get over the quality of the education and how much thought goes into the student experience. The faculty and staff put in enormous effort and energy to make sure the students learn.

You came to the EMBA Program in part because of the leadership development opportunities. Since you've been a student, how has Ross addressed that?

One example is my leadership development plan. We did a 360-degree survey before entering the program, which consisted of a self-assessment and assessment from people in your peer group, direct report group, and supervisors. Those people all rated me on leadership skills across different categories. From those responses, the faculty put together a personal leadership profile. Then I met with Paula Caproni [lecturer of management and organizations and director of the executive skills program]. She put together a personalized leadership development plan that formed my goals for the coming term. It was focused on my career at The Women's Center, and I have been able to work with my own professional coach on implementing the goals. It was an amazing experience, and Paula has followed up with me to see how everything is going.

Tell me about working with your cohort.

We're in a lock-step program with a cohort of 42. We go through all of our classes together. Within that cohort, we're put into project teams of five or six people. My team made a commitment on the second night of working together that we're all in this together. We thrive together and we fail together. Nobody will be left behind. Here I am, a social worker, sitting in a group with engineers, financiers, and researchers, and I wasn't the one who came up with that! It made a huge impact on me. I knew that my team was committed to each other, and I was committed to the team within a very short period of time. There's an enormous amount of mutual support. To have that spirit of commitment to one another has been profound.

The rest of the cohort is engaged, active, thoughtful, energetic, and fun. I've been able to interact with almost everyone in the program, and happily so. We're all pretty connected.

In my cohort, I'm proud to be representing women in business and women as leaders. One of the other major driving forces for my decision to get an MBA was my desire to encourage more women in business leadership, and leadership in general. I want to model the kind of career path and options that I hope all women can have, both to empower individuals and also to improve the business climate for all women. I believe this also empowers all people — leading to all families and all communities.

What do you think is the most valuable aspect of the once-a-month residency?

Although I live in Ann Arbor, the residency is another world. Those of us who thought we would go home end up staying because the accommodations are so nice and time is so precious. Between classes, having meals together, and meeting with our teams, there's really not time to leave. Instead, I spend that time studying, working on a project, or otherwise connecting with these really cool people I hope to know the rest of my life.

Although you recently started the program, do you already have takeaways?

I can already see how I'll be able to make use of the things I've learned in my core classes. Right now, I am and will continue to be using the professional development pieces, like the 360 review and consultation.

There's been a shift in my thinking and approach. I'm looking at things with different eyes. Even though I'm at a nonprofit, I'm looking at the bottom line a lot more — either for our mission, revenue generation, or use of staff time and energy. I think I'm bringing a more thoughtful approach to how we're doing, what we're doing, and why. If it's not helping us meet our mission in a deep way, not helping us generate crucial funds, or not a good use of our time, then we're starting to ask hard questions about why we're doing it that way. I'm looking at the opportunity costs — an unexpected translation from finance. What are we not doing because we're investing our time and energy someplace else? I'm also more aware of my own time usage and time constraints. I've gotten much more focused.

Additionally, I'm learning to enjoy the experience of being totally out of my comfort zone. There's a lot of personal growth that's coming from that. I'm finding reserves of courage and resilience that I haven't had to tap into in awhile. It's uncomfortable sometimes, but it's cool.

Any other thoughts?

I've often approached education as a hoop to jump through or a credential to earn so I can go on and do what I want to do. I even may have started this program with that perspective. But that has changed. I'm enjoying this educational process more than I ever have before. I'm enjoying being part of an academic community. I'm enjoying being challenged, and that has a lot to do with the program itself. There is no passing time in this program. It's all well-spent.