Student Spotlight: Jillian Wilson

STUDENT SPOTLIGHT: Jillian Wilson (Walton Executive MBA ’23)

Jillian Wilson is a co-managing partner at Wilson & Associates and a member of the 2023 Walton Executive MBA cohort. In her role, Jillian oversees all aspects of the business including finance tracking and forecasting, managing the Executive Committee, client recruitment and retention, and the development and implementation of the firm’s strategic vision. She also maintains a caseload of civil actions comprised of title curative and judicial foreclosures.

Jillian decided to pursue an MBA to increase her familiarity and knowledge of diverse management topics in a structured environment. “This new role (which focuses on management and firm oversight) requires me to engage in sophisticated conversations with our financial, administrative, technology, and compliance officers. This necessitated me developing a new vocabulary and new methods of analysis,” says Wilson.

The convenience of the Walton MBA program peaked Jillian’s interest initially: “I started the program when my son, Harry, was nine months old, and while I knew I needed to get my MBA to push my career forward, I also needed to be realistic about my family’s needs.” Jillian continues, “The Executive MBA structure also was able to fit in my schedule, and I knew I’d be challenged by some of the brightest business minds in the country, being so tied in to Walmart.”

The most transformative part of the program for Jillian has been the confidence boost it offered her: “This program has increased my confidence across the board. I have a better grasp of how the business world works,” says Jillian. “The program had immediate impact on my work because of the focus on both production and people management,” shares Wilson. “I was instantly able to start implementing some of the skills and strategies I was exposed to during my classes.”

Jillian enjoys exploring and learning about cooking, baking, different cultures, and systems of all kinds. She highly recommends Dr. Adam Stoverink’s book, Unbreakable.

Thank you for sharing, Jillian!