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Jennifer Wright

Marco Milea (MBA and MSIT ’17) has been using technology to solve social problems for years.

Upon completing his undergraduate degree in business administration (BBA), he joined City Year and then the Peace Corps, where he used his business acumen to make a more impactful difference in the community he was serving.

“When I helped set-up a computer lab in a Nicaraguan school and saw how it made available information and resources the students wouldn't have had the opportunity to access before,” Milea explains, “I knew I wanted to focus my career in Information Technology.”

Motivated to learn more about this field, he arrived at Bentley University in 2015. He enrolled in a dual-degree program, pursuing both an MBA and a Master of Science in Information Technology.

A Passion for Business-Inspired Service

Just a few months after completing his BBA, Milea joined City Year as a corps member, where he harnessed the power of technology and data to better serve his students.

Like other corps members, he volunteered in a classroom in a high-poverty community, working one-on-one with students to provide them the support they needed to reach their potential.

As he tried to find ways to help his students succeed, Milea realized that the information his team was collecting could help.

He created and analyzed reports using the data they stored in Salesforce to measure students’ literacy and mathematics performance, behavior, and attendance. He then used his findings to coach his teammates in their work with students, suggesting data-driven ideas for improvement.

Less than a year later, in 2014, Milea was off to Nicaragua to join the Peace Corps. He spent eight months teaching entrepreneurship classes to 120 high school students, who in turn created 10 temporary, profitable micro-business. He also taught small business owners best practices in accounting, inventory management, customer service, and marketing.

It was in Nicaragua that Milea helped set up a computer lab and realized the power of technology in igniting social change. It was also where he decided to pursue a graduate degree.

Pursuing a Career in Information Technology

Milea returned to the U.S. and applied to Bentley, knowing that the school would be a good fit for him.

He had heard of its reputation for strong academics and career services, and was confident the school would be able to help him secure a full-time job upon graduation. In addition, thanks to a partnership between City Year and Bentley, he was awarded a Dean’s Leadership Scholarship to attend.

Bentley’s location was also a big draw. He wanted to be close to Boston for internships, which proved useful when he was hired as an intern in the Enterprise Technology team at athenahealth in the summer and fall of 2016.

Though a major reason Milea came to Bentley was for the academics, he knows he is learning just as much through his hands-on work in his internship and volunteering.

“I believe most skills can be learned on the job,” he says. “What is most important is your attitude. You have to be able to adapt on the fly and take the initiative.”

A Dual-Degree to Connect Business and Technology

Milea finds this same hands-on approach to learning in his classes. The project-heavy syllabus was a surprise for him at first, as his undergraduate classes were not structured that way. However, he has found that he’s able to grasp difficult concepts much quicker when practicing what he’ll actually do on the job in the classroom.

Now, armed with his new skillset, Milea is able to pursue the passion he discovered in Nicaragua: Using technology and business to solve social issues.

His goal is to be the connector between business and technology professionals, using knowledge gained in both his MSIT and MBA.

“I think there is a need for professionals to be able to take a technology and turn it into business value,” says Milea. “And to do this, you need to be an expert in both fields.”