Every time Tim Keane would complete a course as part of his MIT Sloan Executive Certificate, he would review the copious notes he took and make a list of the top three insights he garnered from the experience. Then he would share that information one-on-one with members of the management team at Legg Mason, where he served as a senior marketing and client services executive. Whether it was wisdom from the Marketing Innovation course with Distinguished Professor of Management Catherine Tucker or a new sense of understanding from Neuroscience for Leadership with Senior Lecturer Tara Swart, Keane always walked away with an impressive amount of applicable knowledge that he was excited to share with others and implement as soon as possible.
“The information helped me navigate working with both our sales team and our technology team because both of those teams are very different, and it helped me make that connection better. And from a marketing standpoint, I saw how valuable data and analytics can be in terms of driving engagement and growth with customers,” says Keane, who is a 20-year veteran of the financial world with expertise in improving strategies and teams across marketing, product management, technology and client services groups. He also is a self-described lifelong learner who has earned an array of certifications and financial designations over the years. In 2019, he wanted to see what else he could learn about the business world in general, as well as the intersection between finance and technology.
“The financial world is impacted so greatly by technology, and you can either run away from it or you can try to embrace it and learn as much as you can. And that’s where I am. I’m really motivated to keep learning,” Keane observes. “I wanted to learn how to use data and analytics for customer engagement and growth, and I wanted to get some exposure to technology solutions such as AI [Artificial Intelligence]. I learned that I could have access to all of that at MIT. And what better school am I going to learn from?”
Better Than Expected
When Keane began his pursuit of an Executive Certificate in Strategy and Innovation, he signed up for four courses in both in-person and online formats. As a resident of Fairfield, Connecticut, he was able to get to Cambridge in a mere two hours for the on-campus courses, and Legg Mason supported his time away for professional development. While he was excited to learn about the topics he initially had on his radar, he soon realized that the MIT experience would be even better than expected.
“I’ve worked in the financial world for my whole career, and now I’m in a room with 30 other people from all different industries,” he recalls. “Participants are flying in from around the globe, and I’m teaming up with the heads of companies from the tech world, pharmaceuticals, and other industries. And as we’re working through case studies together, you realize how your strengths can be pivoted into a different industry. I think a lot of times we lose sight of what our strengths are. We’re just so focused on our position, our company, and our industry.”
What’s more, Keane found himself learning from some of the top professors in the world who were asking him to stretch himself in new ways. He recalls an exercise in the Marketing Innovation course that required teams to act as the CEO of a company that created motors used in orthopedic surgeries. They had to design the company’s marketing strategy and all aspects of a go-to-market approach, which included establishing a budget, creating a distribution channel strategy, and then entering the information into a live simulation program. He explains, “You hit ‘go’ and could then see how the revenue did for that quarter, based on your decisions. At the end of 13 quarters, after tweaking our strategy and variables based on each quarter’s output in the live simulation, we could see the results of our decisions and learn what the key drivers were for revenue. It was just a really fun exercise that I had never done before.” Experiences like these gave Tim a new perspective on business—and also encouraged him to take some bold steps when it came to his own professional future.
"I wanted to learn how to use data and analytics for customer engagement and growth, and I wanted to get some exposure to technology solutions... I learned that I could have access to all of that at MIT. And what better school am I going to learn from?"
A New Frontier
After 14 years with Legg Mason in all areas of asset management, including marketing and product management, Keane has decided to take an entrepreneurial leap and is exploring new options in the fintech space with a focus on individual investors. He is armed with all the tools associated with his MIT Sloan Executive Certificate, which he officially received during Dr. Peter Hirst’s first virtual graduation ceremony for certificate holders in mid-2020. He also looks forward to continuing his MIT journey and plans to start a new round of courses, including Strategy for Startups: From Idea to Impact. And he recently became a member of the MIT Technology Review Global Panel, which he says will help him “stay abreast of current trends and technologies while having the opportunity to share my ideas and experiences with others.”
Keane also will continue to bring the knowledge he already has gained, as well as new information, to the Joseph Keane Fund at Yale New Haven Health’s Bridgeport Hospital, a nonprofit organization he founded with his wife, Jessica, nine years ago to support those dealing with stillborn and perinatal bereavement. The couple used their personal experience to create a way to provide resources to other grieving parents and hospital staff while raising awareness of stillborn and newborn loss. As the organization has grown over the years, Keane has been able to apply many of the teachings from MIT to the management of the nonprofit. “The education is not only good for the financial world—you can similarly apply it to the nonprofit world as you scale and build engagement with potential donors,” he notes.
No matter where his professional path takes him now, Keane knows that he has the entire MIT Sloan community behind him. In fact, he considers the long-term relationships that he has built while pursuing his Strategy and Innovation Certificate to be some of the program’s best benefits. From collaborating with classmates who were venture capitalists, fintech founders, and data scientists to learning from some of the most prolific and influential professors in the world, Keane recognizes the importance of fostering the relationships he was able to build. “You can keep in touch with your professors and classmates for the long term,” he concludes. “The experience really allows you to build relationships if you put yourself out there.”
Learn more about MIT Sloan Executive Certificates.