MALVERN, Pa. — A few years into Mary Zuccato’s career at Vanguard, she reflected on her aspiration to become a leader, and she noticed something: many of her mentors had gone to business school and earned masters of business administration (MBAs).
“I wanted to have that experience and the exposure to the broad business curriculum across a bunch of different areas, rather than being specialized in one area,” she said.
Zuccato explored a few different programs and settled on Penn State Great Valley’s MBA. The campus was just a few minutes away from her office at Vanguard in Malvern, and the company offered tuition reimbursement.
Zuccato was already familiar with Penn State, as she had earned her undergraduate degree at the University and has family members who are also alumni.
“I loved the idea of a dual degree, two-time Penn Stater, from a family of Penn Staters,” she said. She even enrolled in the MBA program at the same time as her mom, who worked in finance at Penn State’s Great Valley and Brandywine campuses at the time.
As Zuccato began her program, she said she found it to be "a really engaging experience.”
“I got to form relationships with people from other firms, expand my network and learn the business challenges their companies face,” Zuccato said.
Zuccato said she enjoyed the range of coursework, from technical skills in accounting to leadership skills in managing teams, understanding interpersonal dynamics and setting goals. She called the curriculum “very relevant,” adding that she thinks she has applied something from every one of her courses to her job.
Zuccato also said she valued class projects, such as a simulation in which she and a group of classmates worked together to manage a manufacturing plant.
“You needed to make various operational decisions and then see the impact of how it played out,” she said. “When you’re junior, you don't have the chance at your day job to have ownership of decisions like that and to learn the impact.”
After completing her MBA, Zuccato spent six more years at Vanguard in various roles, leading teams across different business lines, as well as shared service functions, including marketing, finance, information technologies and human resources.
“I intentionally made my career path one that would give me exposure to all those areas,” she said, comparing the wide-ranging MBA curriculum to the wide-ranging experience she sought in her career path at Vanguard. “I intentionally took myself out of my comfort zone and went into areas I didn’t know.”
This experience prepared Zuccato for the generalist role she took on last year, becoming chief operating officer (COO) of Every Cure, a nonprofit biotech organization that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to identify and evaluate repurposing opportunities for existing medicines that could be used to treat other diseases.
“I think we’re going to help a lot of people,” Zuccato said. “Being part of a startup is so motivating, to have so many tangible ways to see your impact.”
As COO, Zuccato has helped to build Every Cure’s team, finding researchers, data scientists and engineers who are passionate about the organization’s mission.
“I enjoy setting strategy and setting big goals, then bringing teams together to work toward those outcomes,” she said. “The individuals on our team have such brilliant minds. … It’s truly my honor to support them from an operational standpoint and let them ensure the magic happens, between the medical and the technical team.”
Zuccato said her work at Every Cure has challenged her to grow and rise to the occasion as she takes on new responsibilities, similar to the growth she experienced in the MBA program and in her varied roles at Vanguard.
“I’ve always found a lot of value from the more experienced professionals in my network,” she said. “I quickly learned not to be in a vacuum by myself trying to solve challenges, but to bring other people in and ask for help.”
Zuccato said the MBA connected her with a wider network and acted as “a ticket to entry” for leadership positions.
“It’s paying dividends still,” Zuccato said.
