Firefighter, doctor, and teacher are common answers to the elementary classroom question: What do you want to be when you grow up? But in Hershey, Pennsylvania, global chocolatier might get a few votes—especially from Andrea Thomas' kids.

Thomas, Marriott School alumna, mother of three, and possessor of what may be the sweetest corporate title to date, was recently highlighted as one of BusinessWeek's twenty-five Champions of Innovation. As Hershey's Vice President of Global Chocolate, Thomas is responsible for purveying the company's products into untapped global markets.

"I help the organization figure out how to do things they're not comfortable doing," Thomas says. "The easy answers are rarely the most innovative."

Formerly with Frito-Lay, Thomas created new product platforms that resulted in more than $1 billion in sales for the salty snack giant. Her success made her a great candidate as someone to help expand Hershey's reach into new markets like China and India. Historically, 90 percent of Hershey's sales came from U.S. consumers, but Thomas is helping change the company's customer recipe to include more international ingredients.

"I spend much of my time in meetings with the Hershey executive team," Thomas says. "Innovation requires courage—it requires taking risks and thinking of things differently."

Not surprisingly, Thomas' innovation extends past the professional world, contributing to creative ways that she and her husband balance career and family. "We didn't start with the plan of Andrea being the primary breadwinner and me as the stay-at-home parent," says Kyle Thomas. "But, it became clear that she had a gift in the business world, and I was better suited to being with the kids."

The Thomas' kids, ages eleven, eight, and four, have also offered their expert services as Hershey's prototype product testers—an important responsibility. "It's awesome," says Anna Thomas, the oldest of the candy-tasting team. "We try stuff before it launches and tell our mom if it's good or bad and if we think other kids will like it. It's fun to try stuff before anyone else." Thomas says she is honored to be featured as one of BusinessWeek's Champions of Innovation and suggests her business success is a product of hard work throughout her BYU MBA and career.

"My two years in the MBA program were a turning point in my life," she says. "I had never been challenged like that, and I committed to myself that I would always do my best. I continue to make that commitment at this point in my life, and it has helped me to exceed the goals I make for myself."


Part of the MBA education is learning to apply predictable textbook business principles to an often unpredictable life situation. And for Joel R. Christensen, learning to take the unpredictability of life in stride has applied to more than just his Marriott School education.

Christensen and his wife, Tracey, are the proud parents of three children, two boys and a girl. When their daughter, Colby, was born, she was diagnosed with cerebral palsy on her right side.

"We wanted to give our daughter every opportunity to be independent and do all the things she wants to do," says Christensen, who earned his MBA from the Marriott School in 1996.

The family began looking into possible treatments and therapies for cerebral palsy. What they found were innovative, intensive therapy clinics where treatments lasted three to four weeks at a time. Only adding to the complicated process of scheduling time for such a long trip was the location; these clinics did not exist in the Western United States, and the Christensen family had to travel as far as Mielno, Poland, to attend them. "Traveling to those clinics was difficult on the whole family," he says.

Instead of giving up the benefits of the intensive therapy, Christensen and his wife decided to open their own clinic in Orem, Utah. They started by gleaning as much information as they could from already operational clinics and then entered their idea into several business plan competitions. After receiving positive feedback from the competitions, they started the process of taking their business from the drawing board to reality.

"Because of the speed of the whole project, we initially weren't able to focus on individual obstacles one at a time," Christensen says. "We had to try to address them all at the same time."

Since opening the clinic last spring, families from Utah, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and South Carolina have attended the Now I Can Center for Intensive Therapy. Others from as far away as Portugal and Trinidad have contacted Christensen. "We're still working to finalize the visas for our Polish therapists," he says. "We have already seen some of the clients make amazing progress in a short period of time. We hope the clinic will give other families similar opportunities."


Dow Wilson exudes an enthusiasm for life, something he attributes to family, friends, and what he considers to be an especially fulfilling career.

Also a member of the National Advisory Council, Wilson serves as head of Oncology Systems for Varian Medical Systems, one of the leaders in cancer radiation therapy. The father of seven says that spending his career in the healthcare industry has provided a way to take advantage of many opportunities while significantly impacting health improvement and general quality of life.

Wilson graduated from BYU in 1982 with a degree in English literature and decided to pursue his MBA at Dartmouth's prestigious Tuck School of Business. It was in the months following graduation that Wilson says he became drawn to the field of health care.

"When I graduated from Tuck, I evaluated jobs in investment banking, consulting, and industrial marketing," he says. "There was one consistent theme. All opportunities were in health care, so I had identified that as a field of choice from the beginning."

Wilson and his wife, Lynne, eventually moved to Wisconsin, where he took a job at GE Healthcare. He quickly turned heads within the company, finally becoming CEO of GE's Information Technologies business, a $2.5 billion enterprise consisting of ten thousand employees.

Earlier in his career, Wilson took the opportunity to work overseas, an experience he calls unforgettable for himself and his family. "We lived abroad for six years in countries like France, Belgium, and Holland, and we absolutely loved it," he recalls. "We put our kids in local schools and that has been a great payoff for them as well, although it took them a while to adjust."

About two years ago, Wilson and his family relocated to Palo Alto, California, when he took his current position at Varian Medical Systems, a growing company whose sales have tripled during the last seven years. He says the weather is an upgrade from Wisconsin's and allows him to spend more time on his hobbies, which include golf and jogging. He also had the opportunity to serve and work with young adults in the area. In addition, Wilson recently took a board director position with Saba Human Capital Management, a productivity improvement company, which he calls a "classic Silicon Valley start-up."

Wilson says he enjoys his work with the Marriott School National Advisory Council and the interaction he has with students. "Being on the National Advisory Council gives me the terrific opportunity to catch up on both the school and university," Wilson says. "It's also a good opportunity to weigh in on some of the current business issues and make sure they are incorporated into the curriculum. I think the Marriott School has a very good pulse on what's happening in the business community as a result."


In business and personal life, Ilona Ushinsky tries to take the road less traveled—or in her case, the flight path less traveled.

As director of sales for digEcor, Digital Entertainment Solutions, Ushinsky oversees the marketing and sales of an innovative cure for "are-we-there-yet-itis." It's the digEplayer XT, a handheld personal entertainment system available to airline travelers. Using a single battery for short flights, and two for long ones, this portable gadget allows airline passengers to watch movies, listen to music, and play games from the comfort of their own flotation-device seat.

"We're the first ones who introduced the portable in-flight entertainment solution to airplanes," she says. These in-flight entertainment units are no fly-by-night idea; thirty-one airlines have signed with digEcor and twenty-nine of them are already offering the devices to passengers.

With business taking off, Ushinsky and digEcor are covering new ground as professionals and as a company. "Since we're a start-up company, we wear a lot of different hats," she says. "I do sales, but I also do shows and help with operations and translations. I like the dynamic environment."

Ushinsky first learned to love a dynamic work environment in the Marriott School Executive MBA program. "My experience in the EMBA program prepared me in every single possible way for this type of work," she says. "It was a huge step up for me, in terms of improving my personality and becoming a better person."

Not only did the EMBA casework and teamwork prepare her for the business world, it also increased her self-confidence. "I came to the EMBA program a very shy person," she says. "I just didn't have as much experience as everybody else in the program. By the time I finished, I realized in school or business, heart is what matters most."

Heart is what inspired Ushinsky to study business at BYU. After her native country, Lithuania, separated from the Soviet regime, she was one of the first students to attend an undergraduate business school where capitalism was being introduced. "Good principles were taught in school, but the practice was very, very different," she says. "There was double bookkeeping, accounting problems, and concealing things from the government," she says. "I wasn't happy, but when life hands you lemons, you make lemonade."

Now as digEcor's regional sales representative for several European countries, Ushinsky appreciates the experience she gained. "It helps me understand their practices and not to judge them but to deal with them," she says.

Ushinsky maintains close ties with Lithuania—her parents still live there. With the help of her community, she collects books for toddlers and mails them or hand delivers them when she visits.

So what else does a high-flying businesswoman like Ushinsky do in her spare time? "More than anything else, I love to travel," she says with a smile.

Photo courtesy of Flight Daily News.

Published by the Marriott School at Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah. Copyright 2012 by Brigham Young University. All rights reserved. All communications should be sent to Marriott Alumni Magazine, 490 Tanner Building, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah 84602. Email: marriottmag@byu.edu. Telephone: (801) 422-5083. Fax: (801) 422-0501. The views expressed are those of the various authors and not necessarily the Marriott School. Change your mailing address here.