06/03/2026
Two years into her first corporate job with Land O'Lakes, Inc., Corey Scott, ’23 MBA, decided she wanted an MBA. She believed it would help her shift from supply chain to marketing, expand her grasp of business, and prime her for leadership roles.
But when opportunity knocked to enroll in the Executive MBA program, Scott froze. She had recently switched jobs within the company, and the new position came with a steep learning curve. “I remember telling my executive coach, ‘It’s a terrible time right now. I have too many things going on. I don’t even know how I’d use the degree,’” she recalls. “He looked at me and said, ‘Are you crazy? You’re going to use this for the rest of your life.’”
Scott concedes that earning her MBA while working full-time was stressful. But she says she would do it again in a heartbeat. “No time is a good time to do an MBA,” she notes. “If you wait for the perfect time, it will never ever come. Now is the best time to do it.”
In 2024, Scott was named CEO of Midwest Dairy, a Twin Cities-based nonprofit organization that represents and promotes the interests of 3,600 dairy farms across 10 states. Since taking the reins of the association, Scott has slowly been updating its operations, replacing outdated technologies and introducing new processes and practices. Her chief priority, she says, has been on building a healthy culture where people want to work.
Lessons learned at Carlson have helped inform and shape that effort, she says: “I credit Carlson with making me brave enough to make change. And our success has been really gratifying.”
