Engineering to Entrepreneurship: Brian DeJean’s Notre Dame Executive MBA Journey

Taking a Leap

Pursuing an Executive MBA was a natural next step in Brian’s career, which had already taken him from engineering into entrepreneurship, real estate, and investment.

An engineer by training and owner of an engineering company, Brian had also built a real estate business and found himself increasingly involved in evaluating potential acquisitions and investments. As those opportunities grew, so did the need for a stronger foundation in finance and a broader network of people who shared his entrepreneurial mindset.

“The Notre Dame Executive MBA was an avenue for me to shore up the finance side as well as the networking ability with meeting other like-minded individuals who were trying to grow either in a career or grow their own business,” he said.

That combination: practical business knowledge combined with meaningful connections, ultimately led Brian to the Notre Dame Executive MBA.

A Longstanding Connection to Notre Dame

Based in New Orleans, Brian was looking for an MBA program that could strengthen his understanding of finance while also connecting him with people outside his immediate professional environment. But his decision to attend Notre Dame was about more than academics.

As a high school student, Brian had applied to Notre Dame with hopes of playing baseball. When a baseball scholarship did not work out, he attended Christian Brothers University instead. Years later, the opportunity to return to Notre Dame through the Executive MBA program gave him a chance to finally become part of the University community.

“Notre Dame was a place that always just had a calling to me that, hey, I really wanted to be there,” he said. “And so when the opportunity presented itself, I took advantage.”

Since arriving at Notre Dame, the sense of family has become a defining part of his Executive MBA experience. “As part of the MBA program now, I feel like I have 50 new best friends along this journey,” he said.

A Network That Is Already Creating Opportunities

For Brian, the relationships he’s building are more than close friendships. They are already translating into potential business opportunities. Within his cohort, he has connected with several classmates who share his interests, particularly in renewable energy. Together, they have been exploring potential sites for renewable energy projects in the United States.

The network has also extended beyond his classmates. During the program’s Singapore immersion, Brian connected with a Notre Dame EMBA alumnus. That conversation has since opened the door to a potential renewable energy project involving waste from a coconut farm.

After only a year, the experience demonstrates how quickly the relationships built through the Executive MBA can extend beyond the classroom. “There’s probably five or six other cohort members that have pretty similar interests,” he said. “And so we’ve been pushing through trying to find sites in the US.”

As he enters the second half of the program, Brian hopes those early conversations can develop into something tangible. “The second year is really about trying to work with some of the people that we’ve met and networked with and try to get some of these projects off the ground,” he said.

His goal is to look back a year from now and see what those relationships have produced. “A year from now we can say, ‘Look, there was a team that we put together, we have a business, and it’s moving forward,’” he said.

Taking the Classroom Into the Business World

While the connections have already created new possibilities, Brian has also seen a direct impact from the academic side of the program. After his first year, he had already begun restructuring and changing the way he approaches financial investing and acquisitions. “I’ve already restructured the real estate business and its growth strategy based on what we’ve learned through the first year,” he said.

He has also taken on a larger role in financial decision-making and due diligence, including evaluating potential acquisitions across different types of assets. “I’ve been able to go from, hey, I know a little bit about it to being an expert in the room,” Brian said.

That immediate application is one of the most valuable aspects of pursuing an Executive MBA at Notre Dame while continuing to lead his businesses. “All of the skills I’ve learned have transitioned from the classroom into the business day-to-day operations,” he said.

Rather than waiting until graduation to put his MBA knowledge to work, Brian is applying what he learns as he continues to make decisions in his businesses every day.

Looking at Next Year 

Balancing the demands of an Executive MBA with entrepreneurship and family requires commitment. Brian owns his own business, leads an engineering team and is married with four daughters.

Coming from New Orleans also means traveling to Notre Dame for class, adding another layer to the experience. Still, Brian says the commitment is manageable — and definitely worthwhile. “It’s definitely been worth it,” he said. “I’m a year into a program, excited for what I’ve accomplished over the last year and maybe even more excited of what we’re going to learn in the upcoming year.”

For Brian, the next year is about continuing to develop his financial and acquisition expertise while turning the relationships he has built into new opportunities. He sees the Executive MBA as an ongoing process: learn something in the classroom, bring it back to his businesses, and use it to make better decisions.

And for someone whose career has evolved from engineering into entrepreneurship, investment and renewable energy, the possibilities are continuing to expand.

“It’s been life-changing for me, and it’d be life-changing for them,” Brian said when asked what he would tell someone considering the Notre Dame Executive MBA. “Don’t pass up the opportunity if you get it.”