In the Morgan family, if you wanted something, you were responsible for making it happen. Whether it was a car, a college education, or a master’s degree, you were expected to earn your own money and make your own way. This push toward independence at a young age struck a chord: all four Morgan children are now successful professionals, with three of them having earned graduate degrees and one having become an airline pilot.

Notre Dame EMBA graduate Bill Morgan grew up in his Milwaukee home knowing that he was responsible for his own success. When it came time for his undergraduate education, he researched his options, found a job, took out loans, and earned a degree in business marketing. After graduating from college and working his way up through the ranks of Johnsonville Sausage, Bill decided to pursue an MBA. In the same methodical way he approached life, Bill researched a half a dozen schools in the Midwest.

Three factors were paramount as Bill contemplated MBA programs: the quality of the business school, the school’s reputation, and the program possibilities. He says, “While looking at the options, I was also intrigued by the idea of values-based leadership. In all of these areas, Notre Dame was head and shoulders above the rest.”

Participating in the Notre Dame EMBA program in Chicago, Bill was impressed with the quality of the faculty and students. “We were already successful in business, and the comparison between real-life business applications and textbook scenarios, the debates on philosophical approaches to business, and the examples from our own companies were invaluable,” Bill says. “We built great friendships and all helped each other. In one particularly tough microeconomics class, one of the students made practice sheets and conducted training sessions, making sure no one was left behind.”

For Bill, who was promoted from Chief Operating Officer to President of Johnsonville Sausage three weeks after graduating from Notre Dame’s EMBA program in 2007, the education gave him increased confidence as a leader. In offering advice to future leaders, Bill says, “You are the key to the program. It’s not just a degree; it’s what you make of it.” It is advice curiously reminiscent of his childhood.