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Distance Learning MBA Alumni, Maureen Leber '08

Maureen Leber '08
United States
“I wanted to be a Thunderbird from the time I graduated from UW Oshkosh. But I didn’t want to move. When I learned about the Distance Learning Global MBA program, I couldn’t believe I’d have the chance.”


Maureen Leber '08

From foods and fertilizers to pharmaceuticals, Maureen Leber ’08 has played just about every role conceivable in the import business – an interest that developed as a result of a high school summer job with an international freight forwarder.

“I worked with a truly amazing entrepreneur who gave me lots of opportunities to try out different jobs,” explains Leber of her first job that ultimately led to a double major in international business and French at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh.

After working full-time in freight forwarding as a broker who cleared imports through U.S. Customs, Leber moved to the trade side of customs, working for a Fortune 500 conglomerate. In that role, she ensured that major importers were complying with U.S. laws and regulations.

“I love not only what I do, but, moreover, where I landed,” explains the 38-year old who is now the customs and trade compliance manager with Japan’s largest and oldest pharmaceutical company, Takeda. She works to ensure that daily imports aren’t hung up at the border with U.S. Customs and government agencies and to guarantee import/export law compliance.

“My day-to-day work involves many different areas of the company,” says Leber. She also works with the security department on supply chain security issues related to the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (C-TPAT), with operations and with the purchasing department.

Currently, she’s playing a key role in the opening of a new office in Canada. She’s also working with colleagues in Japan and Ireland – as well as with Japan’s Animal Quarantine Service and Ireland’s Department of Agriculture – to interpret a U.S. Department of Agriculture guideline associated with imports containing lactose or gelatin. The guideline pertains to risks associated with diseases such as foot-and-mouth, rinderpest and mad cow.

“I love that my job is truly global and that it’s different every day,” says Leber, who also praises her Thunderbird education. “I wanted to be a Thunderbird from the time I graduated from UW Oshkosh. But I didn’t want to move. When I learned about the Distance Learning Global MBA program, I couldn’t believe I’d have the chance.”

Thunderbird, she says, didn’t disappoint. “About half-way through the program, I’d be in a cross-functional meeting, and I’d want to jump up and say, ‘I totally know what all of you are talking about! I get it!’,” Leber explains. “I feel like my vocabulary and understanding of how business works quadrupled.” She was also able to immediately apply accounting principles to her daily job, as well as data analysis skills.

Leber says the flexibility of the program was one of the greatest gifts she could ever have received. During her studies, Leber spent much of her time next to her mother’s hospital bed, laptop in hand as she simultaneously studied. “The program allowed me to continue working full-time, but also to be a fully-present mom – and most importantly – to spend time with my mother while she was, in effect, dying. This flexibility is a gift for which I’ll forever be grateful.”