LT. STEPHANIE MEYER ’07
NIC RAGLAND ’07
San Antonio • Physician at Joint Base San Antonio
Austin • Analytics Manager at JPMorgan Chase
For helping members of the military and their families get and stay healthy Lt. Stephanie Meyer ’07 remembers with crystal clarity the moment she decided to become a doctor. In September 2001, she was a young mom with two kids and a husband. She was ready to return to a college career she’d put on hiatus when she’d had her children. And she was debating whether to become a doctor or a veterinarian. September 11 put everything in perspective for her: She came from a military family, and she immediately knew she wanted to help. A Veterans Day event not long after the attack nudged her to take action. “A general gave a talk on the steps of the Texas Capitol, and he talked about the dire need for doctors to take care of veterans and active-duty military,” she says. “It was as though he was telling me what I was supposed to do.”
She got focused: She enrolled at St. Edward’s, earned a degree in Biology and headed to the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston for medical school. Now she works with active-duty military patients and their families, treating them for common medical maladies as well as some of the more specialized issues common among service members, including musculoskeletal problems, depression and traumatic brain injuries. “Being in the military is hard on the body, and there are a lot of unique injuries that come from being in a war zone,” she says. For Meyer, the joy of her career comes not simply from helping individual patients who appreciate her care, but from the larger effort the work represents. “It’s a privilege to support the defense of my country,” she says.
KRISTIN OWEN DMBA ’08 Austin • Director of Market Development for DoStuff Media For helping make connections When Kristin Owen DMBA ’08 joined a pair of friends in 2008 on their tiny passion project, Do512, she was mainly interested in learning. She figured that even if the project didn’t pan out, she’d still have a wealth of experience to take to her next job. Do512 is designed to help young Austinites answer the question, What am I going to do tonight? The company makes it easy to find fun, often music-themed things to do on any night of the week, while simultaneously giving brands such as Anheuser-Busch and Google a way to connect with an audience in the local scene. “Our mission is to help people go out and have great experiences with people they care about,” Owen says. Before long, other cities were clamoring to create similar ventures. DoStuff Media was created in 2010 to license the
organization across North America, and there are now 20 sites creating a robust network. Fun-seekers discover new events through the company’s popular emails and social media presence, and brands sponsor events and provide their products. Owen, who started out as an all-hands-on-deck general manager, has since moved into market development. She’s helping find and train the company’s partners in cities across the nation — and in Canadian and Mexican markets, including Tijuana. In the eight years since she joined the team, it’s grown from three people in Austin to 100 people in 20 cities. But for Owen, it still feels like the very beginning of the journey. “Our ultimate goal is to be in 150 cities across the globe,” she says. “It’s a whole new puzzle to figure out, but I can’t wait to tackle it.”
For using data to give banking an upgrade
THE BIG IDEA:
As banks work to upgrade their online services to offer features their customers want, determining the best next move requires digging deep into reams of data to find patterns. “Our job is to understand what customers want and how we can serve different segments of these customers to suit their specific needs,” says Nic Ragland ’07.
CONVENIENCE IN A CLICK:
Giving customers what they want looks different for everyone: Some want mobile deposit so they can deposit their paychecks by snapping a photo of a check from a smartphone. Others want to redeem credit card reward points on the fly at Starbucks. Ragland’s data analysis helps the company pinpoint the features that customers are craving. Ragland and his team also use data to identify specific areas where customers might encounter problems — perhaps struggling to use a too-complex payment service — and recommend ways the company can simplify or overhaul features that aren’t as intuitive as they need to be.
THE ST. EDWARD’S ADVANTAGE:
While Ragland’s role demands plenty of tech expertise, he says his real edge at the job came from the liberal arts approach of St. Edward’s: “It’s important to be able to write a computer program and query for data in our systems, but it’s also important to be able to think critically, to solve problems, and to write and speak effectively with our business partners,” he says. “Everything blends together in today’s world. What makes some technical people stand out in their field is their ability to communicate and think critically.”
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