Tyler Hardy was one day away from finishing his mission in Veracruz, Mexico, when he got an unexpected phone call. His older brother, Greg, had been seriously injured in a work accident and was hovering between life and death. That pivotal moment in Hardy’s young life reaffirmed to him the importance of family. Later when Hardy attended the BYU Marriott School of Business and then pursued his career, that value of family never changed.
“I remember receiving the call from my dad about Greg,” Hardy recalls. “I took the next available flight to Salt Lake City and then drove north with my other brother to Ogden, Utah, where Greg was hospitalized.”
After several weeks, Greg was finally well enough to be discharged. He was sent home to finish recovering. Originally Hardy had plans to attend BYU after returning home from Mexico, but he decided to do a year of school at a local community college in Idaho to be around his family and help where he could.
During his time home, Hardy not only enjoyed creating memories with his family but also reconnecting with his high school girlfriend, Whitney. They were married after just under a year of dating and headed to BYU together in January 2009.
Once Hardy attended BYU, his education and career began to take off. During his undergrad, Hardy discovered that he loved the analytical and creative aspect of marketing—more specifically, data analytics and consulting. This passion led Hardy, who graduated in marketing in 2011, to become a business analyst and associate for four years at Cicero Group, a business consulting company.
“During my time at Cicero, I was part of a growing social impact practice within the company,” Hardy says. “This practice focuses on designing programs and developing strategies for nonprofit and mission-driven organizations. The work included collaborating with former US presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton to translate their experiences into helping leaders develop in the nonprofit sector.”
Working in the social impact practice at Cicero reminded Hardy of the importance of serving others and striving to make a difference. From that point forward, he felt driven to positively impact his community everywhere he went.
After working for Cicero, Hardy attended the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, and received his MBA in 2017. During that time, he landed an internship at Nike headquarters in Beaverton, Oregon, as a business strategist and analytics manager.
Hardy loved the atmosphere of Nike and the team he worked on. However, he never forgot his time at Cicero in the social impact practice and how much he loved being part of an organization that directly impacted people’s lives. As much as he enjoyed Nike, Hardy turned down a full-time offer and returned to Cicero as an engagement manager for the social impact practice.
Throughout Hardy’s career in consulting, he continues to act on the priorities he set for himself after returning home from his mission. As each new opportunity and position has been offered to him, Hardy continues to keep making a difference in the lives around him as his top priority—especially when those lives were those of his wife and four children. Just recently, he resigned from his position at Cicero and accepted a position at software company Qualtrics, giving him more flexibility to be present at home.
“Years of grinding in the consulting industry can pull you away from your family quite a bit,” says Hardy. “My ability to be present in my kids’ lives is important to me. I’m looking forward to being home more and watching them grow up. That said, I am still enjoying my time at Qualtrics, weaving in social impact when I can and making a difference in the lives of those I work with.”
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Writer: Sophia Shafkalis
