One-Year MBA Graduate Starts Career with Scotts Miracle-Gro Company
Alexander Dixon, a recent graduate of the One-Year MBA program at the Richard A. Chaifetz School of Business, is now an Assistant Brand Manager at The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company.
“For me, I was already several years into my career and I didn’t want to take a lot of time away from my career. Being able to earn my MBA in a year instead of two years was an important selling point,” Dixon said.
The One-Year MBA program, which is the only of its kind in the St. Louis region, features holistic courses, data analytics education and real business experience. Even though Dixon experienced this program during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, he was still able to complete it within eleven months.
During the program, Dixon and his peers participated in a practicum with Nestle Purina, which gives MBA students the opportunity to earn valuable experience working in the company's St. Louis office. Dixon worked on a project that was data intensive.
Looking at data sets between Nestle and Amazon, the group went through thousands of numbers searching for various products, sifting through ratings and reviews and evaluating visual data. The team was able to accomplish the tasks given to them and Dixon felt the support from their faculty advisors, Abhimanyu Gupta.
“He was great throughout the whole thing and really helped us be able to do the best job we could with what we were given,” recalled Dixon. He says the project, while intensive, was an eye opening experience.
After graduating from the One-Year MBA program in May of 2021, Dixon earned a position at Nestle Purina as an MBA Intern. With only one MBA intern being hired for the summer of 2021, Dixon was excited to work for the company.
“They [Nestle Purina] have a great product mix. They also have really good industry knowledge and specialize in brand management. From a career standpoint, they’re an ideal company to work for.”
Dixon spent his summer at Nestle Purina researching the possibility of creating a dog food that promotes dental hygiene. The culmination of his work was presented to his supervisors at the end of the summer. The research methods used by Dixon were a combination of what he learned during the practicum, his SLU education and personal experience.
After finishing his internship with Nestle Purina, Dixon moved to Columbus, Ohio to work for The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company.
“I don’t feel as though I would have been as prepared for the position I have without the electives that the program offered,” Dixon explained.
Founded in 1910, the Richard A. Chaifetz School of Business at Saint Louis University has shaped the future of industry for more than a century as one of the oldest business schools west of the Mississippi. Today, SLU's business school continues to build on its reputation as a leader in business education through its commitment to inclusion, innovation and impact with undergraduate and graduate programs nationally recognized by U.S. News & World Report, Poets&Quants and The Princeton Review.