Dana Jennings\u2019 new career with Bank of America has been nothing if not fast-tracked. After less than three years, she was promoted in January to vice president\/communications manager. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The backstory starts with Jennings\u2019 whirlwind experience with a bank representative at the National Black MBA Association conference as a student in NC State\u2019s Jenkins MBA program. She talked with the rep, had an interview and was offered an internship \u2014 all in less than a week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As soon as Jennings finished her consumer banking summer internship in 2018, the bank offered the 2019 Jenkins graduate the full-time position of strategy and management associate in its Leadership Development Program. Her experience in that program and at Jenkins prepared her for her new role.<\/p>\n\n\n
\n\n“I am able to elevate and move so fast because of my MBA,\u201d says Jennings, who is based in Charlotte at bank headquarters.”<\/p>\n <\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s no wonder she points to Jenkins\u2019 Career and Development Office as one of the most valuable parts of the MBA program. \u201cThe career development guidance I received at NC State has been integral to my success at Bank of America,\u201d Jennings says. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Her team supports internal communications for diversity and inclusion initiatives, including Black History Month events, and the bank\u2019s environmental, social, and governance unit, which promotes sustainable organizational growth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One bank priority her group supports is the $1.25 billion initiative, launched in 2020, to advance racial equality internally and externally, partnering with historically Black colleges and universities and other organizations. \u201cWhat I\u2019m most excited about is being closer to the work that I really care about, what I live and breathe every day. That\u2019s why I wanted to be on this team,\u201d Jennings says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For her, it goes beyond the personal. She hopes the bank will inspire other organizations to launch similar far-reaching diversity and inclusion initiatives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe may lay the foundation for other banks and organizations to make commitments like we have. We do a lot in the community. I hope that with the communications my team does, we elevate the work, so people see that Bank of America is doing a lot of great things,\u201d Jennings says. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jenkins\u2019 MBA program prepared her to do great things at Bank of America, starting with the presentation and networking skills she gained as a student.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jennings cites as especially helpful a product and brand management course, marketing classes, Excel instruction, and a semester-long research practicum she did with a student team. In a bank research project she was involved with about messaging for an investment product, \u201cI was able to lead that as someone new on the team because I had done the practicum at NC State,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One highlight of her Bank of America career is helping lead the bank\u2019s Leadership, Education, Advocacy and Development for Women (LEAD) program for the Charlotte chapter, an employee network. She\u2019s among the planners of an annual symposium that draws hundreds of people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWomen\u2019s initiatives are so important to me, having grown up in a woman-led household,\u201d Jennings says. <\/p>\n\n\n
\n\n\u201cThe connectivity among women \u2014 it doesn\u2019t get any better than that.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n <\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
Jennings has helped foster connections among women at NC State, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She was president of the Jenkins MBA Women\u2019s Club, which organizes the annual Innovative Women Conference that features business leaders. \u201cWe were able to not only elevate Jenkins, but we had that synergy of women,\u201d Jennings says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At an NC State Women\u2019s History Month event last year, she was among the speakers. And March 10, she\u2019ll be a panelist at a Jenkins \u201cindustry night\u201d event for prospective students. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThey ask me to be on panels because they know I really care and want to keep the pipeline open\u201d for Jenkins students at Bank of America, Jennings says. \u201cI believe in the Jenkins MBA program. Because of the lessons and opportunities I had at Jenkins, I\u2019m in the place where I am today.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She wants to build on her experience to get to the executive level at Bank of America. \u201cI want to be in charge of initiatives that help us keep top talent and communicate our values in terms of environmental, social and governance issues and diversity and inclusion,\u201d Jennings says. \u201cI want to be a leader who\u2019s known as a champion for doing good in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n