Andrew Novokhatny

Andrew Novokhatny, Adjunct Professor of Operations
Center for the Business of Health
MBA@UNC

 

What courses do you currently teach, and what do you love most about them?

MBA893B – Healthcare Analytics
I love being able to bring the rapidly changing world of advanced analytics into the classroom and provide students with a view of how to build these impactful data products to the clinical realm.

 

How do you bring real-world business challenges or trends into the classroom?

As a technology consultant for healthcare clients, I try to bring active real-time examples directly into the classroom. Often times I am repackaging real client requests and problems directly into case studies that we discuss inside of the classroom!

 

What’s one lesson or insight you hope every MBA student takes with them after your course?

I hope that at the conclusion of my course, students are equipped with a mental toolkit for how to approach complicated data problems and use contemporary methods to solve them. I hope that I provide a good grounded approach to derive insights into these data oriented problems and give them the confidence to know that they can apply them to any situation.

 

Can you share a moment or student success story that’s stuck with you?

I have numerous students write to me after they have begun working in their post MBA jobs about how relevant some of the techniques have been in the real world. The one that stuck out to me was students who reached out for some advice related to a new analytics startup they had founded and wanted to follow-up years later for how best to approach some specific tasks.

In what ways do you see our students standing out in the workplace or making an impact?

I think that Kenan-Flagler students bring a great academic foundation to their workplace in addition to tangible skills that are representative of the rapidly changing world of technology. Students are able to hit the ground running on day 1 and make a direct impact without much additional training.

What excites you most about the future of business education or your field?

How we are able to bring in industry experts to keep the education grounded in the current state. It’s especially critical when AI is beginning to act as a dramatic disrupter across all industries at a rapid pace.

What advice would you give to incoming MBA students?

Lean in to your specialties and unique experiences. These skills are usually the differentiators when companies are evaluating candidates.

Is there anything you’d like to highlight about your research, industry partnerships, or other projects?

In my role as a Director of Data & Analytics at a large national consulting firm, I try to focus on bringing previous and current clients in as guest speakers to provide the students important perspectives of what is actively happening in industry.

What’s something your students might be surprised to learn about you?

Off the clock, I’m an avid backpacker, drummer in a funk band, and whitewater enthusiast with an obsession for weather models.