How This Gordon Fellow Found Career Growth Through Leadership and Technical Skills
Mark Andersson, MS’24, advanced and intelligent manufacturing, credits his career success at Bose Corporation to the Gordon Engineering Leadership program. This allowed him to step into his current managerial role with a combination of technical knowledge and leadership abilities.
Mark Andersson, a Northeastern University Gordon Fellow, exemplifies integrating advanced technical knowledge with leadership excellence. Currently serving as a Process Engineer and Manager at Bose Corporation, Andersson’s journey is a testament to the transformative power of a combined technical and leadership education.
The power of combining a master’s degree and engineering leadership certificate
During his time at Northeastern, Andersson pursued a Master’s in Advanced and Intelligent Manufacturing (AIM) and enhanced his expertise with The Graduate Certificate in Engineering Leadership. Reflecting on this powerful combination, Andersson shared that “combining my MS in AIM with The Graduate Certificate in Engineering Leadership gave me the core fundamentals in both the technical side of bringing products to market and the ability to manage the teams and people making it happen.”
Xiaoning (Sarah) Jin, one of Andersson’s professors, highlights the comprehensive nature of the AIM curriculum. “The AIM curriculum focuses on three core areas: advanced manufacturing, smart manufacturing, and digital manufacturing. It encompasses cyber-physical systems, the industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), machine learning, and AI-assisted manufacturing,” she explains. “This program equips students with the skills needed to excel in modern manufacturing environments.”
Career advancement and leadership
Andersson’s education at Northeastern has significantly impacted his career trajectory. Recently promoted at Bose, he now leads the process and assembly portion of the Test and Process Engineering group, directly managing three engineers and supporting updates to the business model for interfacing with external partners. “The skills I developed through the MS and Gordon curriculum have been instrumental in this advancement,” he says. “They have equipped me to lead effectively and implement strategic improvements in our operations.”
Challenge project: Evaluating competitors’ products
A highlight of Andersson’s time at Northeastern was his Challenge Project. Andersson’s project objective was to define and create a sustainable model for evaluating competitors’ products and sharing the findings with Bose’s internal engineering community. “This project focused on the technical side with performance and key component evaluation,” Andersson notes. He attributes much of the project’s success to the support from his Gordon Leadership mentor, faculty advisor, and industry sponsor. “Their guidance in planning and working through each phase of the project helped me to manage existing challenges and to both foresee and mitigate risks.”
Jin emphasizes the practical benefits of such projects. “By applying theoretical knowledge to real-world problems, students gain a deeper understanding of how these concepts translate to practical operations within a manufacturing environment,” she says. “This hands-on experience not only sharpens their problem-solving skills and demonstrates the tangible value of their education in addressing industry-specific challenges.”
Leadership development
Significant growth in innovation, project management, and team collaboration were central to Andersson’s leadership journey. Jin, professor and co-director of the AIM program, noted that Andersson “leveraged his work experience as a manufacturing engineer to enrich his coursework, effectively bridging theory with practical applications. These experiences equipped him with the essential leadership qualities needed to excel in the dynamic field of manufacturing engineering.”
The value of becoming a Gordon Fellow
Andersson emphasizes the value of the Gordon Institute’s cohort model, which fosters a supportive learning environment. “The cohort model made an intense program manageable and created opportunities to evaluate some of the tools we were learning about in class,” he shares.
Andersson’s journey from Northeastern University to a leadership role at Bose Corporation illustrates the profound impact of combining technical expertise with leadership training. His story highlights how a holistic educational approach prepares engineers to lead and innovate in their fields successfully.
Original Article Source: The Gordon Institute of Engineering Leadership