For someone trained as a nurse, the choice to pursue an MBA may have seemed atypical. Instead of giving bedside care to hospital patients, Christina Bowen Peterson opted for two more years of school and a slightly different career. However, her medical training proved to be an asset as she entered the workplace and prepared for motherhood.
“I wanted a degree that could take me further than nursing—both professionally and financially—so I looked at the business school and ended up in the MBA program,” Peterson says. “I didn’t decide to stay in the health care industry until my second year, when I realized that my background would give me an advantage in interviewing with potential employers.”
After earning her MBA in 1984, Peterson went to work for Ernst & Young—a professional services firm with auditing, accounting, tax, and consulting divisions. She started out in Dallas as a staff consultant and later moved to San Francisco, where she became a senior manager. During the eight years Peterson spent with the company, her expertise came in handy because of major changes in the health care reimbursement system.
“I liked feeling I was making a difference,” she says. “Hospitals were losing money so fast they couldn’t restructure quickly enough to stay up with their declining revenues and patient days. I worked as part of a team to help them restructure their organizations to reflect the change in their volume and the bigger change in how health care was provided.”
When Peterson had her first child, she switched to a part-time schedule at Ernst & Young, working independently on numerous projects. In 1998, she decided to stay home full time because the travel and job requirements were too disruptive to her family. “I’m definitely done with consulting for money,” Peterson says. “Most of my efforts now are spent in volunteer activities.”
Four young boys and a plethora of activities keep Peterson busier now than her full-time job did before. She has served as PTA legislative vice president, Marriott School Alumni Board president, membership vice president for the Utah Association of Gifted Children, Holladay Baseball League president, and Granite School District advisory committee member. Her volunteer work has extended to Cub Scout leader, primary counselor, and classroom volunteer.
Peterson currently serves as Scout committee chair. In the future, she would like to get involved in local politics. She also enjoys biking and plans to complete three 100-mile bike rides this year.
“The biggest thing my MBA did for me was give me confidence that I could do anything,” Peterson says. “Working in operations, and specifically health care, I wasn’t exposed as a student to the skills and knowledge I later developed working for Ernst & Young, but I was confident I could learn whatever I needed to succeed. The organizational skills were also invaluable as I later tried to balance full-time motherhood with a part-time career.”
Peterson earned her BS in nursing in 1982 and her MBA in 1984, both from BYU. She and her husband, Scott, reside in Pleasanton, California, with their boys.
