Nicholas O'Connor

Nicholas O'Connor, MMA ‘23 Candidate, has been a life-long student, always looking for ways to boost his credentials and gain the relevant experience needed to advance in the world of finance. But when it came to upscaling his skills to work toward moving into an executive role, he decided Ivey’s Master of Management in Analytics was the best ways to reach his long-term goals.

“People ask was it difficult to go back to school, but I don't think I ever really left,” says O’Connor, Data Analyst at Canada Life, whose designations and courses include the Canadian Securities Course, and Certified Associate in Project Management certificate.

After graduating from Western with a degree in financial economics, O’Connor says he “tried to do something every year.”

“They're all stepping stones to a much larger goal.”

With his MMA, O’Connor is hoping he’ll be able to propel himself into a more of an executive role, perhaps eventually opening open his own business or consultancy.

For now, he’s enjoying learning from his courses and sharing in unique perspectives.

“Everyone has different insights and views, so I'm learning a lot from my classmates, and of course from the professors, whose experience in the field is reflected when they walk us through the cases,” he says.

“They're so highly versed in the material, and it’s comforting to be in the hands of a true expert.”

Since his work involves a lot of data analysis, much of the course content is immediately applicable, and it sometimes makes O’Connor rethink solutions or take a new approach.

“My role at Canada Life shifted from project management to data analyst, so getting more in-depth analytics knowledge drew me to Ivey, but a lot of what I’ve taken away is actually about the soft skills,” he says.

“The class that I have enjoyed the most is the leadership course, and if you want to be that senior leader, I think that could be the most important course of all. You have to know how to read people, understand where they're coming from, and adjust accordingly. You can't manage everyone the same way. We're all individuals and you need to adjust your leadership style for each person, have that level of empathy.”

His biggest piece of advice for anyone starting the MMA is to find your group and build connections with your classmates.

“You probably do most of your learning from each other. You have to build that network. It is a monumental task, trying to tackle all of this work by yourself and work full-time, and so you've got to build those connections and follow the guidelines that the professors lay out in terms of how to work with the cases,” he says.

“I'm still recalling information that I learned from the first semester and that's how I know it's really working.”