The Minnesota Executive Program broadened Mike Dunn’s executive skill set and led to new systems for managing staffing and tracking client profitability at I.C. System.

Operations executive Mike Dunn has built a successful career with I.C. System, one of the top receivables management companies in the country. The family-owned, privately held company has more than 1,100 employees working at its headquarters in St. Paul, Minn., and in branch offices in four states and field offices nationwide. Dunn, who started with the company in an entry-level job in operations, has been promoted numerous times to operations positions with increased management responsibilities. He also furthered his leadership abilities during four years running I.C. System’s National Business Division, where he had full P&L responsibility. Dunn is now Senior Vice President of Operations and serves on the organization’s six-person executive team.

"I leverage my depth of experience and knowledge in operations management in my organizational role,” he says. “However, when making strategic decisions and plans, I need to go beyond my silo of operational expertise and draw on a broader business perspective. I wanted to continue enhancing my skills and education in this area and began looking at executive development programs."

Dunn reviewed a number of programs before deciding to attend the Minnesota Executive Program (MEP) at the Carlson School. A deciding factor was that John Erickson, Jr., one of I.C. System’s owners, had attended the program and highly recommended it.

Much more than a classroom experience

Dunn, who attended MEP in Fall 2008, says he is putting what he learned to work. “The program goes beyond the traditional classroom experiences. I learned from the diverse backgrounds of my classmates and teachers, as well as from the case studies, presentations, debates, discussions, collaboration, and critiques.”

Dunn says he particularly liked the case studies which simulated real-world experiences and allowed participants to explore successful and unsuccessful approaches to addressing difficult issues in a non-threatening environment. “Working alongside executives in finance, IT, marketing, and sales broadened my perspective. I really enjoyed the marketing simulation exercise that challenged us to create marketing and advertising campaigns for an organization over a six-year period.”

An immediate return on investment

Dunn has already realized results from the MEP program. “I went back to the office and jump-started the implementation of several key initiatives including just-in-time staffing. We are in a labor-intensive industry and staffing is our biggest expense. By applying operations management principles to our staffing processes, we achieved gains in productivity and efficiency. New methods for allocating expenses and activity-based cost accounting allowed us to more accurately track client profitability. An unexpected benefit of the MEP program was building an additional professional network with fellow classmates. We keep in touch via email and phone, and will get together at a summer golf outing."

“I knew that the ‘school of hard knocks’ had gotten me to where I am today,” he says. “MEP offered the executive development experience I needed to get me where I want to be tomorrow.”

For more information on MEP, visit the MEP website
http://www.carlsonschool.umn.edu/execed/MEP.