Brian K. Oglesby, MSOD ’05, MPhil ’09

Brian K. Oglesby (MSOD ’05, MPhil ’09) has long had a flare for economics. “Two years into my pre-med biology major,” he begins, “I started making decisions based on financial forecasting.” After analyzing his future earning potential—and future debt—the forecast looked unfavorable. He pivoted toward other community-focused careers instead. Today, Brian wears several hats in business consulting and global trade, focusing on minority-owned companies. Along the arc of his career, Penn’s Organizational Dynamics Programs helped him carry forward his business acumen and interests, expand his professional options, and become part of the Organizational Dynamics (OD) network.

After graduating from college pre-law, Brian aspired to return to his hometown of Philadelphia to work in human services and social work. His first few years in the workforce included helping kids in underserved parts of the city and working in economic development with public housing residents in New Jersey. A move to the New Jersey Department of State introduced Brian to a national network of economic development authorities aiding distressed communities.

Amidst his growing professional experience, Brian decided to start his own consulting company, now called SPiRgroup, specializing in business and economic development, planning, and policy. “SPiR stands for smartest people in the room. It’s the juxtaposition of the old saying, ‘If you're the smartest person in the room, get a new room,’” he explains. “My company represents an effort to find a new room with other smart people.”

As his consulting business grew alongside full-time work, Brian wanted to add a formal, advanced-degree credential to his resume. He was also interested in theoretical approaches to organizational structures that would help his small business and nonprofit clients thrive. The Penn Master of Science in Organizational Dynamics offered that insight, and he enrolled in 2001.

“The degree allowed me to validate the work that I was already doing and enhance and expand upon it,” he says. “It gave me a lot of best practices that work and taught me to approach things in a more structured, academic way that made clients more comfortable.” For example, Brian was able to reference case studies and analogies from class when communicating with clients and leverage professional tools like Gantt charting to better visualize and organize project timelines.

For his curriculum development, Brian recalls being very intentional, targeting certificates in executive coaching, global organizations, and leadership development, and steering his course selections toward economics. “I think that’s when the economist in me came to full bloom.”

The degree, he says, helped him move his career forward in the economic development, forecasting, strategic planning, and global commerce spaces.

Brian returned to Penn for his Master of Philosophy (MPhil) in Organization Dynamics just ahead of the 2007-2009 Great Recession—a fortuitous time to refocus on academics: Brian was one of the millions laid off from his full-time job during the economic crisis and his consulting portfolio shrunk significantly as well. As the economy started to recover, however, Brian was ready and reinvigorated. “I had this tremendous toolbox available to me from my MSOD and my studies with the MPhil I was finishing up that allowed me to expand my brand for my consulting practice, which I always kept on the back burner,” he recalls. “The MPhil gave me an opportunity to utilize and stretch myself in a way that I don't think a lot of graduate programs are able to,” he adds, “and now I have a lot of options in terms of my professional work.”

While Brian found the OD coursework directly applicable to his career development and goals, another element of the programs proved invaluable.

“The most important part of this program is the students,” Brian declares, “how we connect and how we maintain a collegial and almost familial relationship of information sharing and networking and professional development. My smartest people in the room were my Penn classmates.”

And the benefit of that network of classmates continues. Brian has professional contacts he can draw from across the globe, thanks to his time at Penn. And OD alumni and students reach out to him for advice, mentorship, and insights. “We’re in strong positions where people can be relatively influential. The program provides a level of access,” he says.

Brian also returns to campus when he can, to stay connected. This fall, he presented at the Organizational Dynamics alumni brunch, sharing with current OD students the consulting work he is doing with several of his former classmates.

Reflecting on his career so far, Brian says, “I've done everything from devaluations for Fortune 100 companies to helping people open a beauty salon. The Penn Organizational Dynamics Programs have given me that level of versatility and also insulated me from all the economic changes and the undulation of business.”

In addition to SPiR, Brian currently serves as president of the World Trade Center of Pittsburgh and the president and CEO of Eastern Minority Supplier Development Council, which certifies minority business enterprises and connects them to corporate members seeking a more diversified supply chain. “My goal is to elevate minority businesses within my sphere of influence to be level competitors in the marketplace,” he says. “It’s not just me walking in as the smartest person in the room now. It’s me coming in with the collective knowledge of those other smart people from Organizational Dynamics to help your company solve problems and grow.”