Leading by example

A balancing act

Kyle Hecker (MBA ’26) started the MBA program at the “wrong” time.

He had just moved to Florida from Houston ahead of his wife and 10-month-old son to start a new job in the defense industry after serving as a project manager in the military.

“I remember thinking I probably had a little bit of imposter syndrome,” he shared, looking for work that could both challenge him and earn enough money to “pay the bills.”

He joined Northrop Grumman, a global aerospace, defense and security company, as a program planning and scheduling analyst.

Shortly before his official move, he and his wife learned that they were expecting their second child.  

“I thought to myself: I am busy, life is hectic and crazy, my pregnant wife lives 1200 miles away and is raising our 10-month-old alone, so what should I do to help take the edge off? What should I do to really make sure I didn’t add too much more to my plate? You guessed it: I applied to do my MBA at the University of Florida.”

Taking the next step

The decision wasn’t impulsive or easy.

Prior to joining the military, Hecker earned a Bachelor of Science in Nutrition at the University of Houston while on the pre-med track. He was a part of the Air Force ROTC detachment at UH, which contributed to his decision to pursue the military after undergrad. 

While his role at Northrop Grumman was aligned with his military experience, it incorporated more finance and business than his previous role.

“I knew I needed to have some kind of background in business knowledge to be able to succeed at the level that I wanted to succeed,” he explained. “That’s when I started looking.”

One of the directors at Northrop Grumman encouraged him to pursue a higher education.

At his office, a few of his colleagues earned an MBA at the University of Florida, and his older brother is an alumnus. 

“I wanted to go to a more challenging, higher ranked program,” he said. “[UF] was the only school in Florida that I considered.”

With the prospect of upward mobility in mind, and the support of his wife, Hecker began his journey as an MBA student.

Putting in the work

“I remember thinking at the opening banquet during orientation, that by the time that graduation date rolled around, I was going to have an almost 3-year-old son and would have already met the second baby my wife was carrying,” Hecker said. 

But before Hecker could reach that point, he still had some learning to do.

“Accounting was a really rude awakening,” he said. “When I got into the weeds of doing the homework every week and weekend, I started getting the hang of it.”

But not before thinking: “What did I get myself into?”

For Hecker, that intense start helped him understand the rigor of the program.

But the deeper he dove into the program, the stronger his business acumen became.

“There was a time when I was at Northrop when they would release our financial statements,” he explained, for employees to look over. “If you had released that to me before the MBA, I would have laughed at you.”

Over time, those concepts began to click. He could go through the financial statements, and not just understand them, but see how his company was leveraged.

“You notice things like that, how you grow professionally in almost small, nuanced ways.”

Beyond the classroom

The well-rounded nature of the program, including the courses in professional writing, marketing, economics and accounting, equipped Hecker with the traditional business knowledge he was seeking.

The program also gave Hecker opportunities to connect with the university beyond the virtual classroom.

Across two Veterans Days, Hecker stood on the Ben Hill Griffin Stadium field, holding the flag at a football game during the national anthem.

“That was really cool,” he said.

That wasn’t the only game Hecker attended. During last year’s NCAA men’s basketball national championship between UF and UH, Hecker attended the game with his brother.

“It was a cool, full circle [moment],” he said.

Hecker also engaged in an experiential learning opportunity that offered four weeks of remote learning and one week of an on-campus capstone event.

During the experiential learning opportunity, Hecker and his team developed a financial technology concept tailored to their mentor’s industry.

His team’s mentor was Clinton Portis, Director of Madden Football.

During the capstone event, Hecker met his cohort in person and give a presentation on his team’s pitch.

“The whole experience was a lot of fun,” he said. “All the courses that we took really give you everything that you need to know to go into any corporate structure and understand it at a high level.”

The bigger picture

For Hecker, walking across the stage with one son in hand and a degree in the other was more than just an accomplishment.

As a father, Hecker chooses to lead by example and sees his experience across the MBA program as a chance to show his children the power of resilience.

“I remember being a kid and seeing moments of my parents being resilient,” he said. “Your kids are going to see you being resilient and remember that. That is going to positively impact their life.”

Hecker also celebrates this accomplishment alongside his wife. 

“The greatest treasure I have by far, is a wife who, when I suggested going back to school, was nothing but supportive,” Hecker shared. From diaper changes to dinners and bedtimes, he expresses gratitude toward his wife for the extra love and care she poured into both him and their children throughout his time in the program.

“I have to give her way more credit than I give myself.”

For people looking to take that next step, Hecker encourages them to not wait for the perfect time.

“I am a perfect example to many people who hesitate when submitting an application, enrolling, or seeing through and completing this program, that you don’t have to have it all together, and have it easy to make it work,” Hecker shared. “There is no right time to do your MBA; the time is now. I started my MBA at probably the absolute WRONG time, but here I am, with a pretty decent GPA, [and] my master’s degree from the greatest university in the state.”