Jewel D. Montgomery Smay

"I am certainly more excited about leadership now that I have learned what my leadership strengths and weaknesses are. My leadership style doesn’t have to look like anyone else’s, and no matter what my weaknesses are, there are always other individuals that I can engage to compensate for them while still being an effective leader. Overall, I am much more confident, and much humbler.”
Weekend Executive MBA
Industry:
Prior Education:
University of Illinois,
College of Medicine MD, 2007
Reflections
I have an incredible husband and two young daughters (2 and 4 currently), the oldest of which we discovered was autistic during my first year in the program. I managed to balance my life mostly because my husband carried the load on the weekends with our girls. My husband and I prioritized taking mini-vacations together during the first year at the term breaks so that we could connect with each other. Finally, I took lots of power naps and meditation breaks whenever I had to shift gears from work to school work, and they helped me to stay in the moment and perhaps push through fatigue. Overall, I kept my priorities in line with our family priorities and set boundaries around study time.
I served as the medical director of an anesthesia group at a community hospital for NorthStar Anesthesia. At the start of my second year at Fuqua, I was promoted to Regional Medical Director, responsible for all of the Anesthesia groups NorthStar manages in Oklahoma, Kansas and Missouri.
I am not exactly sure what my plans are, except to be open to pursue leadership positions that expand the scope of my responsibilities so that I can continue to grow and hopefully have impact on a national scale.
Five Tips for Working in Teams
- Try to be flexible
- Approach each individual relationship from the standpoint of learning from them
- Stay connected using several modalities – text, teams, email, social media
- Try not to let your team members down
- Promise only what you can deliver
Global Executive MBA
Top Areas of Career Focus
Financial Services (20%)
Consulting (5%)
Sales/Business Development (5%)
Energy/Chemical/Gas (9%)
Marketing/PR/Advertising (6%)
Consumer Goods (3%)
Average Age
Average Work Experience
Countries Represented
Women
Non-US Citizenship
Master of Management Studies: Duke Kunshan University
Undergraduate Majors
Business/Accounting (51%)
Economics (22%)
Liberal Arts (14%)
Engineering/Natural Sciences (10%)
Other (4%)
Average Age
Average Work Experience
Countries Represented
Women
Non-US Citizenship
Master of Management Studies: Foundations of Business
Undergraduate Majors
Liberal Arts (33%)
Business/Accounting (24%)
Engineering/Natural Sciences (18%)
Economics (17%)
Other (8%)
Average Age
Average Work Experience
Countries Represented
Women
Non-US Citizenship
Weekend Executive MBA
Top Areas of Career Focus
IT (16%)
Financial Services (14%)
Health Care/Health Services (10%)
Manufacturing/Operations (9%)
Sales/Business Development (8%)
Consulting (8%)