In 2022, after working three years at Cigna Healthcare, Darcie Wallace-Duckworth D.A, CPMP M’24 decided to go back to school for her MBA. Recently she became a certified Project Management Professional, thanks to her coursework in the MBA program at Barney.
Darcie’s journey began in 2019, when she joined Cigna Healthcare’s Medicare Pharmacy division. Within the first few months, she was asked to help lead a transition to a new operating model which included overseeing software access for more than 500 employees.
In 2021, when she joined Cigna’s newly formed Execution and Enablement team for Medical Network Contracting, she realized she wanted to learn more about business administration to keep expanding her role. She enrolled in Cigna’s virtual MBA program at Barney, deciding to pursue Project Management as a concentration because it can be applied to a wide variety of roles. She was able to juggle her job responsibilities with her MBA coursework even as she received another promotion in 2023.
In Darcie’s project management courses, her professors encouraged her to immerse herself in reading about Agile methodologies and to join the Project Management Institute. As part of her final course, Darcie reviewed the Project Management Body of Knowledge standards and took weekly quizzes designed to mimic the PMP certification. The final exam doubled as a practice certification exam, down to the amount of time allotted. “This 100% prepared me for the types of questions that you would see on the certification exam,” she says. After reviewing videos she was given in class, and taking a mock exam through the Project Management Institute, she passed the certification after receiving her MBA this spring.
For Darcie, this is the next step on what has already been a winding path. She holds a doctoral degree in chemistry and education, which has helped her improve processes everywhere she’s worked. “Early in my career,” she says, “I had the opportunity to work for a small laboratory science company that saw 10% annual revenue and employee growth throughout my tenure. During this time, I had the privilege to develop robust certification programs that not only provided career advancement, but also lowered operating costs for the business.” She also gained advanced skills as a Six Sigma Black Belt.
As a trained chemist with no undergraduate courses in economics or finance, Darcie says she didn’t follow economics closely before joining the MBA program. But she found herself diving deep into the subject, and now has a better understanding of how economics affects businesses on a macro and micro level.
Darcie Wallace-Duckworth M'24, Barney School of BusinessGetting to know other students was invaluable, and I still reach out to the group today. Even virtually, I had access to professors, library resources, and student subscriptions to various news outlets.