Game On for MBA Student

Who says you can’t combine work and play? Certainly not Tracey Cannon. The Two Year MBA student is currently completing an internship with Electronic Arts (EA), a gaming manufacturer, where she serves as a web analyst for “Tiger Woods PGA Tour Online” (TWO).

“I have always wanted to work on the ‘business’ side of entertainment,” says Cannon, who is pursuing an MBA with concentrations in Entrepreneurship and Finance at LeBow. “As an industrial engineer with an MBA, I understand both the qualitative and quantitative sides of running a business. What I am doing at EA is actually what I want to do as a career—work on the operations side of the company.”

Cannon, who has undergraduate degrees in math and industrial engineering, chose her concentrations at LeBow to complement her undergraduate education.

“I chose Entrepreneurship because companies of all sizes need people who can innovate and create new business models,” Cannon explains. “I want to learn how to launch new products -- to build something from the ground up or radically transform the product to match market conditions. I also chose Finance because I believe in order to truly understand the business I must understand the complexities of the money. I want to make sure I have all my bases covered so I can help run an effective business.”

As a web analyst for the gaming manufacturer, Cannon studies the data of all the “clicks” that are recorded on Tiger Woods Online, and based on that data, management plans its strategy for improvements to the game.

On a typical day, Cannon arrives at 8 a.m. to work on metrics and then develops marketing banners and emails throughout the day. She works directly with TWO’s management which, she says, was the deciding factor when she accepted the position. The innovative product was also a major draw.

“Tiger Woods Online is the first ever console-quality game in a browser. This project is ground-breaking, so I couldn’t pass it up,” Cannon adds.

Interestingly, Cannon isn’t much of a gamer personally though she says she enjoys playing socially. As for her future plans, she will graduate from LeBow in Spring 2011 and has already applied for several permanent positions at EA.

“I worked a lot in music, but the gaming industry is way better.”