Benay Sager believes his participation in the Technological Innovation: Generating Economic Results (TI:GER® program) was key to helping him land a strategic consulting position with McKinsey & Company.
 
“TI:GER came up in every interview I had with the company,” Sager says. “They really liked my experience in the program. Without TI:GER, I’m not sure I’d have gotten the job.”
 
Sager actually participated in the two-year TI:GER program twice – first as a PhD student in mechanical engineering from 2002-04 (working to commercialize his research on micro-scale manufacturing technology), then again from 2005-07 as an MBA student.
 
“One of the main reasons I decided to get my MBA was my exposure in TI:GER to the business challenges involved in commercializing lab research,” he says.
 
Sager would eventually like to be involved in developing a high-tech startup, but for now, he loves his consulting job helping many types of companies solve difficult business challenges. Exposure to legal business issues through TI:GER has helped him serve his clients better, he says.
 
Sager adds that his TI:GER training was great preparation for the teamwork involved in every project he works on for McKinsey. “It’s a very entrepreneurial environment,” he says. “There’s a can-do attitude our teams that I associate with startups. We all wear many hats. We have the flexibility to change as business needs change.”