“The Rutgers MBA gave me the foundational tools to grow and flourish,” Shanta Brown, MBA ‘18

Shanta Brown, graduated 2018, Rutgers Business School – New Brunswick

Job: Vice president – Claim Operations,  Everest Re Group, Ltd.

What she does: Brown leads an operations group which supports a team of claim handlers at a prominent international reinsurance company. Reinsurance is an arrangement in which an insurance company, the reinsurer, agrees to indemnify another insurance or reinsurance company, the ceding company, against all or a portion of the insurance risks underwritten by the ceding company under one or more insurance contracts.

Graduate degree: Part-Time MBA in Strategy & Leadership, taking the Leadership track that prepares students to manage people, teams, and organizations.

A seasoned professional, Brown had 28 years of service with Everest Re Group, Ltd. when she began the Rutgers Part-Time MBA.  She started in an entry-level position at the company and worked her way up to a vice president role.

“I needed to do this for me.” Brown said.  "I learned the reinsurance business from the ground up, but set my sights on pursuing the Rutgers MBA for the personal accomplishment and validation. I’m the first in my family to attend college. Being a first-generation college student represents progress for my family.”

“I also understand the adage: ‘You don’t know what you don’t know.'  Business continually evolves:  technology advances, processes change, how business gets done develops,” said Brown.  "However, what I did know was that the Rutgers MBA would give me the tools to continue to grow and flourish in my career."

"Throughout the program we worked in teams which promoted different perspectives and leadership styles," Brown said. "A team working well together and incorporating different ways of thinking, different ways of approaching problems, yields a better end product than an individual working alone. This is directly applicable to the business world.”

“Being older than my classmates and having worked in the business world for 28 years had its advantages,” Brown continued.  “I have experience to impart." 

The Rutgers MBA is challenging, with the added pressure of managing family and the responsibilities of a full-time career.  Brown overcame all challenges to graduate in December, 2018, demonstrating the qualities that have become a Rutgers Business School brand: resilience, resourcefulness & responsibility.