The Dad Perspective: How Boothies Manage Career, MBA, and Family

Chris Ashbee, Evening MBA student
Co-founder, Chicago Booth FinTech Club and Admissions Committee member
Managing Director and Portfolio Manager in Fixed Income, Mesirow Financial, Chicago, IL

How has this quarter been different for you from the ones before?

It’s been a busy spring. My former firm decided to close its doors in March, and my team was lifted out by Mesirow Financial. During that time, we were managing client accounts and winding down the previous operation while also onboarding at Mesirow, so I was running five computer screens on our dinner table (which my wife was not particularly happy about). At the same time, I was taking three classes (all of which contained ‘Advanced’ in the course title) and both my wife, Hannah (who is an attorney), and I were teleworking and caring for two little boys at home because their preschool had shut down due to Covid-19…let’s just say it wasn’t typical.

Why did you decide to pursue an MBA and come to Booth?

I felt that taking the next step in my career would require an MBA, and Booth was at the top of the list for me. The combination of Booth’s unparalleled network and quantitative rigor attracted me. However, I’ve gotten more than I expected out of courses focused on the “softer” skills - Negotiations and Advanced Negotiations are two of the best classes I’ve had.

Have you been able to use those skills in your career?

It’s surprising, but whether dealing with bond traders, or shopping for a house or a car, Negotiations helped me become more comfortable advocating for a deal that better reflects my own interests.

What other classes have you enjoyed?

This quarter I’m taking Advanced Macroeconomics with Anil Kashyap and we’ve had some fantastic speakers, including Janet Yellen, Nate Silver, and Ken Griffin. Professor Kashyap redesigned the course around the economic impact of coronavirus and it’s been fascinating to hear how these important thinkers are expecting the economy and the world to change as a result of the global pandemic.

How do you juggle school, career, and family?

My oldest was born in October 2015 and my youngest was born in March 2017, so he was still very young when I started at Booth in January 2018. My wife has been extremely supportive, and I absolutely could not have done it without her. Once I started at Booth, we found that communication became even more important, especially when it came to managing our kids’ schedules.  We began writing our family’s schedules on a refrigerator whiteboard so she could see my upcoming exams and projects, and I could see when she had work functions.

What advice would you offer incoming students with families?

While it can be challenging at times, you absolutely can make it work. If your organizational skills need some tightening up, they’re definitely going to get tightened up. Booth offers numerous opportunities to get your family involved –my wife and I went on the ski trip to Whistler in 2019 (which has been one of the highlights of my time at Booth), we’ve been to Winter Formal twice, and our kids had a great time at the Lincoln Park Zoo Family Picnic.  As my boys have grown older, I’ve found that I need to be giving them my complete attention when we’re spending time together.  Not only is it inefficient to try to study and play with them at the same time, but they really don’t like it.  My advice would be to make sure that time with your family is solely devoted to them.

Ryan Lawler, Weekend MBA student
Senior Manager, Government Finance Officers Association, Chicago, IL

Why did you choose to return to Chicago for your MBA?

I had spent ten years working in government and the not-for-profit space and have a Masters in Public Administration, but I thought going back to school would be an opportunity to further refine my skills. My wife and I moved back to Chicago from Dallas five years ago and I was looking for a new challenge. I went through Booth’s application process three years ago and was not admitted, which was one of the first times in my career I felt stumped. A couple of years went by and I decided I was more motivated than before and applied again.

How has Booth impacted your career?

Booth has challenged me in ways that I could not have imagined. I definitely plan to stay in a career in the public sector. I work for a non-profit that supports local government officers  and has 20,000 members across the country. It’s been great to apply the lessons learned in class and to connect it with how our members are dealing with economic trends and managing their finances with these global events going on around them. 

Since I started I’ve seen a lot of changes in my thought process and how I evaluate the contributions I am making to our members. I can only imagine how different that’s going to be when I graduate. I believe this MBA will elevate my position, perspective, and the value that I can add to the organization. For one of my classes we even used my organization as our case study and provided recommendations to our Executive Director.

How has it been for your family as you made the transition back to school?

My wife’s mother and both my parents did not graduate from college, and now both my wife and I have master’s degrees. We’re pursuing opportunities that they didn’t have access to. Each time we step back and think, this is what they would have wanted us to do, and that’s why we keep pushing ourselves. My wife has been fully supportive of me going back to school and has helped push me along. The school reached out to her directly when I was admitted and let her know how much they were going to support her through the process. She felt like part of the Booth family right away. She also had candid conversations with spouses that helped her set a foundation for how much work the program was going to require of me. Setting that understanding from the start helped her.

In my first quarter, we found out we were expecting our first child and our mindset almost immediately changed. The Weekend Program has great flexibility, allowing me to go at my own pace. I was already planning to take the summer off, but now that we started our family, I have even more reason to. Even though I’m not at Booth this quarter, I monitor my LAUNCH (Booth’s orientation) group and the Coalition of Minorities in Business group chats to stay up to date with what is happening at Booth. I’m still engaged so I doesn’t feel like I’ve stepped away.

Do you have any parting thoughts on fatherhood?

The one thing I'll say with everything going on right now, there's a strange benefit that I've actually been home and not on the road for work. As a result I was able to be there for the last months of my wife's pregnancy and had no risk of being on the road when she went into labor. It changed our dynamic significantly. I am only a short time into fatherhood but I can definitely see my perspective changing a bit. I’m at a point in life where I’m being very deliberate and intentional on what I want to do. Booth is a significant part of that, and it is something that will hopefully allow my wife and I to provide opportunities to our son that we didn’t have growing up.