How Kent Corporation Helped Me Pursue My MBA

When Assistant Brand Manager Brooke Tjaden decided she wanted to get her MBA she knew she could rely on the support of her colleagues at Kent Pet Group and the Continued Education program offered by parent company Kent Corporation.

Tjaden, who’s been with Kent Pet Group since 2018, said she’s always wanted to get her MBA since graduating college, but took the advice of a former manager who told her to get a few years experience under her belt before going back to school.

After researching MBA programs to fit her learning objectives, which included in-class learning and networking opportunities, Tjaden decided she was going to follow in the footsteps of some of her fellow Kent Corporation employees.

“I have met a lot of people throughout Kent who received their MBA from the University of Iowa, including our KPG President, Steve Gordon, and they provided great feedback on courses and professors,” said Tjaden. “The University of Iowa provided the well-rounded education I wanted with the opportunity to travel to either Davenport or Cedar Rapids for my in-person learning experience.”

And making the decision that much easier was the fact that she could harness Kent Corporation’s Continued Education program to start earning her MBA. Kent Corporation, named a 2020 US Best Managed Company, supports its employees with tuition reimbursement as a way to encourage lifelong learning.

“I was very fortunate that Kent Corporation offers an unbelievable Continued Education program,” she said. “I wanted to make sure the program was mutually beneficial for myself and to the company so I met with my manager and our VP of Marketing to truly understand what courses would help me continue my education in business and marketing, but that can also be used to help our business grow.”

Some of the courses she participated in ranged from Strategic Brand Positioning to Product & Pricing Management, but the one Tjaden said she enjoyed most of all was a capstone class called Business Integration that took all the materials she learned throughout the program and created an entrepreneurial business simulation where she and her classmates formed teams and started running a business in a global environment using a completely new product.

Tjaden said overall the experience has been incredibly eye-opening and she is grateful for getting the chance to further her education.

“Thank you to Kent Corporation and Kent Pet Group for being a great support system throughout this process and I’m very thankful for this opportunity”