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E [email protected] P 518.956.8330 F 518.442.4042 @UAlbanyMBA facebook.com/weekendmba UAlbany Weekend MBA Stories – Tim Dunn, MBA President, Dunn Strategy Group Elected Councilman, Town of Malta, New York First and foremost, Tim Dunn is a husband and father. Family always comes first,” he shares. “When people say, ‘Tell me about yourself’, I think they expect to hear about my job but I lead with family. And when the time comes, I hope there’s absolutely nothing on my tombstone about marketing.” Tim grew up the youngest of four with three older sisters. “My youngest sister was 11 years old when I was born,” he tells. “My Mom said the doctor told her it was the first time he had ever delivered a child to four mothers. From experience, that has certainly been the case, for better or worse.” Tim and his wife Liz live in the heart of Tech Valley’s growth, Malta, New York, with their two daughters, six-year old Evelyn, three-year old Maureen, and their lab mix Seamus. For the past 15 years, Tim has served as a strategic marketing communications advisor to Fortune 50 companies, non-profits, energy and economic development leaders, academia, and public and government affairs. “I had some really cool experiences at a young age,” says Tim. “I feel like it really made a difference in the direction of my career. You can be given any number of opportunities; it’s what you do with them that matters.” In 2001, Tim Dunn earned his Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the University at Albany with a Minor in American History. With degree in hand, he went to work as a Legislative Assistant with the New York State Senate. Two University at Albany School of Business | 1400 Washington Avenue | Massry Center for Business 203 | Albany, New York 12222 | www.albany.edu/weekendMBA › COHORT STRUCTURE › 48 CREDITS IN 22 MONTHS › INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS RESIDENCY › VALUE LEADER › ALL-INCLUSIVE › INCREDIBLE STUDENT DIVERSITY

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E › [email protected] › 518.956.8330F › 518.442.4042

› @UAlbanyMBA › facebook.com/weekendmba

UAlbany Weekend MBA Stories – Tim Dunn, MBAPresident, Dunn Strategy GroupElected Councilman, Town of Malta, New York

First and foremost, Tim Dunn is a husband and father. “Family always comes first,” he shares. “When people say, ‘Tell me about yourself’, I think they expect to hear about my job but I lead with family. And when the time comes, I hope there’s absolutely nothing on my tombstone about marketing.”

Tim grew up the youngest of four with three older sisters. “My youngest sister was 11 years old when I was born,” he tells. “My Mom said the doctor told her it was the first time he had ever delivered a child to four mothers. From experience, that has certainly been the case, for better or worse.”

Tim and his wife Liz live in the heart of Tech Valley’s growth, Malta, New York, with their two daughters, six-year old Evelyn, three-year old Maureen, and their lab mix Seamus.

For the past 15 years, Tim has served as a strategic marketing communications advisor to Fortune 50 companies, non-profits, energy and economic development leaders, academia, and public and government affairs. “I had some really cool experiences at a young age,” says Tim. “I feel like it really made a difference in the direction of my career. You can be given any number of opportunities; it’s what you do with them that matters.”

In 2001, Tim Dunn earned his Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the University at Albany with a Minor in American History. With degree in hand, he went to work as a Legislative Assistant with the New York State Senate. Two days after his 24th birthday, he joined the staff of Governor George E. Pataki’s Office as Director of Health and Human Service Policy. “Thank God for labor laws preventing any inquiry about my age,” he laughs. “I was the youngest policy staff member and had a lot of fun.”

Tim equates the experience to pledging a fraternity noting, “It’s the most fun you never want to have again. It was really hard work with lots of very demanding hours. Really, it was all-consuming but well worth it to be in a senior role and learn as much as I did.”

In his late twenties, Tim recognized, “I’ve got some great political experience but don’t want to be a lobbyist.” He knew his time at the Governor’s Office was drawing to a close because Governor Pataki was not going to run for a fourth term. Wondering how his government experience would apply to the real world, he asked himself, “What do I want to be when I grow up?”

University at Albany School of Business | 1400 Washington Avenue | Massry Center for Business 203 | Albany, New York 12222 | www.albany.edu/weekendMBA

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Tim considered law school. “I even took the LSATs,” he remembers. “I credit my sister, who is an attorney, for asking me – do you really want to be a lawyer? I did not. Law school didn’t make sense for me.”

After doing his research and weighing his options, Tim decided to pursue his education and attend UAlbany’s Weekend MBA Program. “I was so happy to find something that would align my goals with reality and help equip me with the right business skills and confidence,” explains Tim. “Prior to the program, I had a very political, non-business background. I knew I wanted to transition from government and public affairs to marketing and operations. This was the perfect entree.”

From an academic standpoint, Tim describes the Weekend MBA Program as top notch and the cohort structure as fantastic. “For one thing,” he continues, “that’s how business works in the real world. Most major projects are not about one person coming up with something remarkable but rather, teams working together.”

“It’s about practicality, relationships, networks, and opportunity,” Tim advises the professional considering UAlbany’s Weekend MBA Program. “If you want to understand business as a whole and gain exposure to experiences you otherwise wouldn’t, this program is ideal, affordable, and offers incredible value.”

Just as he was beginning the Weekend MBA Program, he met his wife-to-be, Elizabeth, through a mutual friend. “For a solid year, I could not dupe Liz into going out on a date with me,” he discloses with a smirk. “Though what I lacked in good looks and charm, I made up for in perseverance. It paid off.”

Tim and Liz dated for about a year before deciding to move together to the Mohawk Valley, near Utica, New York, where Liz was studying to become a Nurse Practitioner at SUNYIT (now SUNY Polytechnic Institute). Tim began work as Vice President of Marketing and Business Development at Mohawk Valley EDGE (Economic Development Growth Enterprises Corporation). About a year later, they got engaged and about a year after that, they married. In July 2016, the happy couple will celebrate their eighth wedding anniversary.

Tim devoted five years to Mohawk Valley EDGE with sole responsibility for their global strategic marketing and business development, focusing on technology industries. His job took him all over the world, including, Korea, Taiwan, China, Japan, and throughout Europe and the United States.

“I got to travel the world and use the core skills I learned in the Weekend MBA Program on a global business scale,” Tim describes. “I truly understood the moving parts from the inside out and from the ground, up. What a phenomenal opportunity.” Appropriately, Tim’s main MBA project was a global marketing plan.

“It’s funny,” he shares a story. “Because of the knowledge and experience I gained through my MBA, I was able to contribute to meetings with CEOs, COOs and CFOs, who would one day remark to me, ‘Are you an engineer?’ For a marketing-to-the-core guy, this was a huge compliment because it was based on my ability to handle and understand their issues.”

“A profound moment for me was when I was in Europe giving an important presentation to the CEO of a semiconductor company,” Tim imparts. “I was sitting in his conference room, explaining all the reasons why Upstate New York is a great site to locate his factory. I expounded on the great infrastructure, workforce, capability of the state government to be a partner and so on. When I flipped to the slide on ‘quality of life’ that showed the beauty of

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Page 3: UAlbany Weekend MBA Stories - Tim Dunn

the Adirondacks, I looked out his conference room window and realized the French Alps were directly outside. It was humbling to realize everyone says their community is the best place to live, work, and play.”

Tim credits six degrees of separation for he and Liz making the mutual decision to return to the Capital Region. Tim accepted the position of Marketing Communications Leader at GE Power & Water to help build a digital and marketing communications strategy for the Power Generation Products team. Liz was on board because at the time, her brother, Patrick Spooner, was starting his career in the region after attending RPI and she was happy to be closer to family.

Once Patrick earned his Masters as a Biochemist at Texas A&M University, he was looking for a broader business perspective as he pursued the next step in his career. “I told Patrick the Weekend MBA Program was one of the best things to happen to my career,” asserts Tim. “I’m proud to say Patrick graduated from the program in Summer 2015 and is already seeing the impact of the program in his career.”

At GE, Tim relished being on a team that was competing at the highest level of business with the best people in the world, each working within their expertise. “It was both humbling and empowering because there are no weak links,” Tim relates. “Working at GE is really like earning an MBA in and of itself. I experienced incredible things and was directly responsible for internal communications for the largest, oldest, and most profitable industrial team in GE Power & Water, the Thermal Products team.”

The next stepping stone in Tim Dunn’s career was as Vice President at Zone 5, the only full-service marketing communications firm with offices in both Silicon Valley and New York's Tech Valley. Leveraging his extensive health care policy background, Tim led Zone 5's Health Care portfolio of hospitals, non-profits, and insurers.

“As a senior member of the team, I was once again able to utilize my MBA,” he affirms. “It was a privilege to work directly with the CEO on business development decisions and how they affected employees and impacted strategy.”

Spring 2016 was a pivotal point for Tim Dunn as he readied for a big transformation in his career. “Now that I’ve made it through a few different career transitions, I’m looking for the next big step,” reveals Tim. “My favorite television show is The West Wing and I love Martin Sheen’s character’s ever present line, ‘What’s next?’”

That next step came when Tim launched his own firm, the Dunn Strategy Group. Currently, Tim is immersed in freelance writing for a major public relations firm in New York City, several economic development consulting projects, and PR consulting for several law firms. He also offers consulting services, specializing in strategic marketing communications, content development, organizational development and business management, and impactful story-telling.

“Probably the most prominent recent thing for me – other than launching my own company – is being elected to the Malta Town Council in November 2015,” Tim affirms. “It was my first time running for anything since junior high class officer.” Tim was sworn in in January 2016 and will serve a four-year term

Tim remembers well when his Mom instilled civic duty in him, taking him around as a child to get signatures for candidates. “It was great fun having the opportunity to involve my own children in my campaign last year,” he smiles. “They were upset when the campaign was over because they couldn’t wear their pins and t-shirts as much.” His six-year-old Evelyn even made up a song, Tim Dunn for Malta Town Board!

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Page 4: UAlbany Weekend MBA Stories - Tim Dunn

“My daughters will always remember this experience,” maintains Tim. “At an early age, they are learning that if they don’t like what they see, they can step up and do something about it. Liz and I are teaching them if they speak their minds loudly, clearly, fairly, and intelligently, they can affect positive change. They get that and it makes my father heart proud.”

It also falls directly in line with Tim Dunn’s mantra: if you don’t like what you see, do something about it.

Connect with Tim Dunn here:

LinkedInhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/timothy-dunn-3a9a474

Click here to learn more about UAlbany’s executive Weekend MBA Program.

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