Drawing on Experience

PROVO, Utah – Mar 09, 2022 – In a drawer in Mike Bond’s office are all the notes he took in training meetings during his 11 years as a marketing professional. Bond, an associate teaching professor of marketing at the BYU Marriott School of Business, uses this two-foot-deep pile of notes to plan lessons for his students, whom he hopes to prepare for success in the marketing industry.

Upon starting his undergrad, Bond knew he wanted to do something in business, but he didn’t initially focus on marketing. He took various classes at BYU Marriott but was unsure of which program to choose. “I liked all of my classes, I truly did,” he says. A professor suggested that Bond try marketing because the field incorporates all aspects of business. “I found that his advice was sound,” Bond adds. “From all my experiences in the industry, I learned that marketing is business. I’m grateful for the chance to learn as much as I can about a field I love so much.”

After graduating from BYU Marriott in 1998 with his marketing degree, Bond began taking notes when he worked for wellness company Melaleuca for three years. He then went to the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University Bloomington to earn an MBA, finishing in 2003. Drawing on his MBA experience, Bond worked through the brand management ranks for eight years, working on brands such as Chef Boyardee and Marie Callender’s. While he worked for various companies, Bond compiled more notes from trainings—notes that captured vital pieces of information that he referred to often during his work in the business world and continues to use as a professor.

While he loved working as a brand manager, Bond had always hoped to teach college students later in his career. His dad was a professor, and Bond saw how much his father enjoyed that position. Although Bond served as a member of BYU Marriott’s Marketing Program Advisory Board and had opportunities to interact with several faculty and staff members at the school, he thought being a professor was out of reach because he did not have a PhD.

“I gave a guest lecture at BYU Marriott through my role with the advisory board,” Bond says. “After, the chair of the Department of Marketing and Global Supply Chain called and asked if I would teach full-time. I explained that I didn’t have a PhD, and he said, ‘That’s okay, because our department is opening a professional teaching slot. We want your experience in the classroom.’”

After accepting the position, Bond was thrilled to put his industry experience to work. While preparing his first lessons, he turned to his collection of notes for inspiration. He still references those notes when planning lessons, enabling him to share real examples with his students. Bond teaches undergraduate and MBA marketing courses.

When teaching MBA courses, Bond focuses on what his MBA experience did not teach him. “When I was working as a professional, I always said to myself, ‘Man, I wish I had learned this in my MBA program,’” he explains. “So when I’m developing my curriculum for MBA students, I sit back and think, ‘What are all the useful things I could have been taught, and how can I incorporate those concepts to fill gaps in my students’ learning?’”

In addition to teaching, Bond is the associate director of the MBA program, where he helps to design all aspects of the MBA experience. Along with other MBA leadership, he analyzes the program’s success— whether that success is measured in job offers or in alumni connections.

Helping students to have positive experiences and to succeed as they move forward in their schooling and careers is what Bond loves most about being at BYU Marriott. “I’m so grateful to be in this position,” he says. “I want to make sure our students are prepared and treated as world-class students, because that’s what they are.”