MBA Alumni Profile: John Catlett, Tuck School of Business

TopMBA.com talks to Johan Catlett about his decision to do an MBA in the 1960s, choosing Tuck School of Business, and how his career has been affected by his decision. 

Why did you decide to attend Tuck?

My options in 1964 were graduate school or the Vietnam War. I was also considering Harvard Business School, but they told me I'd have to work a year before admission, and that would have landed me in the military service. Since Dartmouth had a much better radio station than Harvard and Tuck wasn't asking me to wait a year, it was easy to decide to come to Tuck.      

What research did you undertake in selecting Tuck?

I read the catalogs and that was about it. We had no Internet then!      

Did you consider an executive MBA? If so why did (or did you not) decide to take an Executive MBA?

No. The military draft made going into business before getting my MBA a non-starter.

What were your career objectives after your MBA? What were you doing before your MBA?

Before my MBA I was an undergraduate at Princeton. I'd already become involved with what became my career by volunteering at the undergraduate radio station at Princeton, and I continued to work with the student station at Dartmouth. After my MBA I joined a broadcasting company (in the US) and eighteen years later I began to manage broadcasting stations outside the US. Since 1984 I have only worked overseas.      

How has your MBA helped your career?

Early on, it allowed me to bring analytical skills to an industry that ran by the seat of its pants. As radio station management became more sophisticated, I always felt that the industry was catching up to me rather than my having to work to keep up with it.     

What has been your financial impact on MBA career?

When I left Tuck I remember that I and the classmate I roomed with for a few years (since we were both taking jobs in Portland, Oregon) started with the lowest salaries of anybody in the class: $8,400. But Portland was a very inexpensive city to live in in 1966. Now I earn about fifty times that with lots of expatriate perks. In a media career there are usually dislocations along the way, but having a Tuck MBA always seemed to be a helpful credential whenever I was between employers.