Upholding the Mission of the Intelligence Community

Mike Stahala F25 has worked across sectors and across the world. After earning his master’s degree in nuclear engineering from North Carolina State University, he worked as a nuclear weapons analyst for the CIA for four years before moving to the FBI as a special agent. As he progressed in his career, he felt himself looking for a novel challenge.

Thanks to the flexibility and focused curriculum of Fletcher’s online Master of Global Business Administration (GBA) degree program, Stahala has pivoted in his career while bringing with him the experience of his 17 years in intelligence and national security. Today, he serves as a regional vice president at Salesforce, where he implements the company’s programs across the intelligence community.

Transitioning from the Public to the Private Sector

Flexibility was key to Stahala’s search for graduate programs in global business. He was serving as an assistant legal attaché (FBI Liaison) at the U.S. embassy in Ankara, Turkey.

“Because of where I was physically in the world and within the intelligence and diplomatic community, I understood Fletcher’s renowned global reputation, and so I thought, ‘This is the perfect program for me,’” he said. “I needed something I could do remotely, and the idea of a business program in a school that's focused so heavily on international relations, I thought, was a great combination.”

Stahala’s role at the embassy in Turkey was the culmination of a 15-year career in the public sector – previously, he’d worked at CIA Headquarters, the FBI San Francisco Field Office, and FBI Headquarters as a supervisory special agent. With his new role, he felt he was beginning on the path to management.

“Looking at business from a global perspective led me to decide to apply to the Fletcher program,” he added.

Data and Psychology to Understand Human Behavior

Stahala’s background in engineering and intelligence acquainted him with the power of data in understanding human behavior. His classes in the GBA program helped him leverage this skillset against private sector problems.

“The GBA taught me how to apply my background and experience to business,” said Stahala. “Relearning the math wasn't the hard part – I needed to understand some of the business concepts.”

One of his first classes caused him to pivot into the private sector. Stahala had planned to work for the FBI until he became retirement eligible, but upon completing the Leadership Development Program course, combined with GBA-offered career coaching, he decided to explore new professional opportunities. With a young family at home, he was looking for a job where he could put down deeper roots. Thanks to the program’s push, he applied for a job at Amazon Web Services National Security, where he translated his experience with engineering and intelligence into the private sector as a senior account executive.

GBA coursework continued to inspire him along his path. While taking Asheesh Advani’s Starting New Ventures class, Stahala worked for a startup.

“Every week I was living out class lessons in real life,” Stahala said. “We were a series B startup, working with Venture Capital investors. Week in and week out, everything we went through in that class was directly applicable.”

The coursework always seemed to find Stahala at the right time, perhaps in part due to his deep interest in understanding the concepts they studied.

“I enjoy the intellectual challenge of approaching critical thinking from an academic first-principles perspective,” said Stahala. “All my professors have been very engaging and passionate about what they're teaching, which is contagious. Their passion makes you passionate about it too.”

A Global Business Degree Fit for a Regional Vice President

After his second daughter was born, he took a leave of absence from the program. His family was moving back to the U.S. from overseas and he was beginning a new job. Stahala speaks with gratitude about the program’s flexibility. Today, he is in his final semester of coursework, which he gets to directly implement in his work at Salesforce.

“The GBA has been very applicable to daily professional challenges,” said Stahala. “During a recent discussion on pricing, I created a discount cash flow model to analyze pricing options, then separately brought up the impact of double marginalization. Before the GBA, these concepts were foreign to me. When I applied for this program, I had no idea I would be applying concepts from the GBA program on a near daily basis.”

“If there's something my employees are frustrated about, I push them to approach it from a data-driven perspective,” he added. “To look at solving problems through data and using that data for business justification to implement change – I'm able to do a lot of that because of the classes I've taken – and classmates I’ve had the privilege to learn from – at Fletcher.”

As for his management goals, which initially motivated him to consider business programs, he now leads a team and draws insight from the Leadership Development Program.

“I'm leading a team and still involved in furthering U.S. national security,” he said. “I'm still very mission driven – it was what I did for 15 years directly for the government. Now I am better able to support my family, support the mission and apply all of my GBA work.”

Read more about Fletcher’s Master of Global Business Administration degree program.