AJ Kramer Looks to Build Bridges with Jenkins MBA
From a career as a startup co-founder to an analyst for one of the most innovative investment banks in the South, it’s that love of finding the gaps and bridging them that led Kramer to return to school at NC State College of Management’s Jenkins Graduate School of Management.
Upon graduation from the University of Miami (Ohio) with a degree in finance, Kramer became a co-founder of Driveway Games. Inspired by the regional success of the popular tailgating game cornhole, Driveway’s mission was to find other popular regional party games, commercialize them, and sell them nationwide.
Following his stint at Driveway, Kramer moved to the Triangle where he worked for Square 1, a venture-lending bank. As a venture capitalist, Kramer managed portfolios and frequently interacted with CIOs and CEOs as he negotiated partnerships. However, even though he was involved with deals of up to $100 million, Kramer realized that in the world of entrepreneurship and investing, the real underlying currency was in relationships built through solid interaction.
Several years into his career at Square 1, Kramer wanted additional education to help him build on his entrepreneurial interests and also gain more technical and business skills to let him talk to senior level corporate leadership. He began looking for an MBA program in the Triangle that would give him both of these skill sets but was also a strong return on investment. “I wanted to gain the skills and knowledge I would need to be a decision maker in whatever organization I’m a part of,” he said.
Said Kramer, “Jenkins fit all my criteria and it also has the benefit of a unique culture where business students get to interact with engineers and scientists through the TEC (Technology Entrepreneurship Commercialization) program.”
The TEC concentration partners MBA students with graduate level scientists and engineers and lets them develop and commercialize technology in the classroom and beyond. “It’s a huge launching pad,” said Kramer. “Over the years they’ve refined the program to a science. I have a team of serial entrepreneurs, engineers, professors, and all of NC State’s resources at my fingertips. I’m only in my second semester in it, and I can already tell that TEC is a world class program you can’t get anywhere else.”
While the TEC concentration is primarily geared towards entrepreneurship, Kramer sees it, and his finance concentration as an equally great foundation for a career in the corporate world. “My experiences at Jenkins have equipped me to interact with everyone from engineers to CEOs. I’ll be able to build bridges and I feel like that is the best job security you can have.
