Alumni Profiles

Dominican MBA Launched CEO Career: Heather Kernahan

Heather Kernahan’s journey to recently being named the CEO of a global communications agency began about a decade ago as an MBA student at Dominican, when her finance professor in the Barowsky School of Business challenged her to think big. “One day my professor was talking me through a financial spreadsheet,” Kernahan recalls. “He said ‘If you were a CEO, here is what you would look for in this document.’” “I replied, ‘What do you mean if I were a CEO? Do you think I could be a CEO?’” The professor’s reply became Kernahan’s ah-ha moment. “He said `Yes, of course you can be a CEO. Why else are you here?’ “This professor helped me set my sights on a CEO title.” That goal became a reality in December, when Kernahan was promoted from her three-year role as president of Hotwire North America and Australia to CEO, with some of the biggest names in the tech industry as clients. Kernahan enrolled in Dominican’s MBA program in 2006, shortly after moving to Marin from Canada with her husband and young daughter, when the Toronto firm she was working for was acquired by Autodesk. Autodesk hired Heather to join its global communications team in San Rafael. “I felt inferior in terms of what was going on with U.S. business,” Kernahan said. “I knew that I needed to gain more marketing skills and to do that, I would need an MBA.” The key selling point for Kernahan choosing Dominican was its curriculum focused on practical skills that would prepare her to work in more strategic business areas.

Your education will serve you the rest of your life, and that every day you will use some of the tools you learned. It’s worth it.

Raising a young family, working in a demanding industry, and studying for an MBA was challenging, she admits, but well worth the effort. “I always felt welcomed and supported with my decision to take some time off [to raise my family] and then come back at my own pace. I ended up taking one course per semester and Dominican made it work for me.” After several promotions at Autodesk, Kernahan joined Eastwick Communications in 2013 and moved to Hotwire in 2016 after it acquired Eastwick. Over the years Kernahan developed a reputation as a global marketing tech expert and business leader. She’s been featured in top business magazines and was named one of B2B News Network’s Top Influencers. Heather continues to draw on the skills she learned in her MBA course. “Dominican provided an understanding of different leadership frameworks to apply in different situations. I learned about the four styles of leadership to use in times of stress and crisis — and often make sure that I am responding in the way I need to respond.” Her advice for incoming MBA students? “Be very clear about what you want to get out of your degree and want you want in your career to make sure that earning a degree will help you meet your longterm career goals.” And, be realistic. “Whatever you think it will take in terms of time, double it. Be prepared to say no to a lot of things and to miss out on some things. But, also realize that your education will serve you the rest of your life, and that every day you will use some of the tools you learned. It’s worth it.”

The Perfect Pairing: Chase Goulart

Originally from Granite Bay, CA, Chase Goulart ’18 was looking for a college that checked every box: a convenient location, quality programs, and an opportunity to continue his career as a soccer player. To his pleasant surprise, Dominican University of California exceeded his expectations. With the support and guidance of campus leaders including Chris Leeds and Phillip Billeci-Gard, Goulart was able to thrive as a person and professional in the world of corporate finance and accounting. “The most important thing I learned while at Dominican was how to have a work/life balance,” said Goulart. “Before college, I was the type of student who relied heavily on others to get me through. Once I arrived in San Rafael, I learned how to embrace life and make the most out of every experience.” While climbing the ladder to his current role as associate financial consultant at Charles Schwab, Goulart was introduced to his mentor, Wade Cheatham, through Dominican’s mentorship program. Cheatham was instrumental in Goulart’s career path by helping him identify finance as the field he wanted to pursue, and their relationship opened granted opportunities for Chase that he never knew existed. In reflecting on his career path, Goulart said, “I was lucky enough to be paired with Cheatham after a few conversations with him I learned about a program called the Financial Consultant Academy. I picked up my entire life in 2018 and drove out to Dallas, Texas for a developmental rotational program that prepares individuals for a career as a Financial Consultant in one of Schwab’s branches. It was an offer I couldn’t refuse.” Cheatham, too, found his professional relationship with Goulart to be extremely rewarding. “The benefit of mentorship was the fulfillment of working so closely with someone, and being there every step of the way as Chase reached his career milestones,” said Cheatham. “It was awesome to be a small part of his journey.” Today, Goulart has transitioned back to the Bay Area, and works in his first-choice branch in San Francisco with Cheatham’s office 10 floors above him. Speaking about their continued relationship, Cheatham said, “We were able to transition and continue the relationship well beyond its lifespan as designed. Dominican has the perfect recipe for a mentorship program because it offers the right balance of direction and autonomy.” Cheatham is hopeful that Goulart will have the opportunity to become a mentor to someone someday.

Seizing Opportunity: Chris O’Mara

In high school, Chris O’Mara ’10, MS ’18 knew he wanted to pursue a career in health sciences and research, but didn’t know which school would help him achieve this goal. One evening while delivering pizzas in his hometown of Vallejo, CA, he received a call that would set the course for his professional career: his acceptance into Dominican University of California. During O'Mara’s first summer as an undergraduate student majoring in Biological Sciences, he traveled to South Africa and studied international field biology with Dr. Sibdas Ghosh and Dr. Vania Coelho. Upon returning, O'Mara immediately hopped back on a plane to complete a breast cancer research internship at the University of Skövde in Sweden. These opportunities laid a solid foundation for O'Mara’s career in health sciences and research, and were key to landing his next breakthrough, an 18-month internship at BioMarin Pharmaceuticals. While seizing each and every opportunity at Dominican, he realized his friends who were attending larger, well-known schools weren’t developing the same connections with their faculty. O'Mara said, “My college experience taught me that it’s not the name of your school that is most important for success, but the opportunities and networking you pursue while you’re there.” O'Mara went on to describe his career path as opportunistic. He took advantage of his proximity to one of the largest biotech hubs in the world, the San Francisco Bay Area. His research experience in academia and industry, coupled with his experience supporting families impacted by childhood cancer with a local non-profit, the Okizu Foundation, led O'Mara to become a clinical research coordinator (CRC) at UCSF's Helen Diller Cancer Center. As the primary CRC for Merck's KEYTRUDA clinical trial, O'Mara was invited to attend the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) conference for his contributions to melanoma and lung cancer research, which led to a publication in the New England Journal of Medicine. O'Mara is extremely proud of this accomplishment, saying,“Many people work their entire lives and never have an opportunity like this. Since it happened so early in my career, I knew I was on the right path.” Since his time as a CRC, O'Mara continued his career in the biotech industry and obtained his MS in Biology at Dominican under the mentorship of Dr. Maggie Louie. O'Mara is now living in Salem, Massachusetts with his fiancé, Ashley, and their rescue dog, Emma, and working as a senior clinical operations manager and consultant for biotech startups focused on rare dermatological diseases. O'Mara fondly reflects on his time at Dominican, and said, “Dominican means so much to me. It put me on the path to success and was the best experience I could have imagined.”