Alumni
Lorenzo Gholston

Photo of Lorenzo Gholston

Lorenzo Gholston

Manager - Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois
Adjunct professor - Westwood College
MEM '09

Lorenzo Gholston earned a Bachelors of Science in Engineering from the University of Illinois in 1998 and immediately began working as a mechanical engineer for Xerox in Webster, New York. Within the first five years, he held positions as a mechanical engineer, an operations supervisor and a research design engineer while leading several projects using lean six sigma initiatives. The success of the projects earned him favor with his senior leaders and he started looking into MBA programs.

After further research, he found the MEM program available at the McCormick School of Engineering. Lorenzo went to one of the new student orientations to get a feel for the program, the professors, the culture, and he was immediately hooked. The decision between an MBA and an MEM degree was practically a no-brainer. Once classes started, he found the practical application of statistical tools, business plan development and case analysis to be particularly important; however, as his career took off and he continued to excel in his company, he learned that education does not stop when school ends. Much of what he learned at the MEM program became relevant to his work after he left campus, and he had to develop his own self-education because of the unique nature of his career.

After Lorenzo completed his MEM degree, he came to be regarded as one of the leaders in his organization. He moved from a project manager to a senior project manager, became co-chair of the Community of Practice and a mentor in the project management community, obtained his Green Belt certification from George Consulting Group and his Project Management Professional certification from the Project Management Institute (PMI). In spite of the success, he still had to face obstacles and overcome barriers.

Lorenzo feels the entire field of engineering has changed. In the past, engineering may have been considered a single specialty or discipline, but today’s engineer has to be flexible, well-rounded and capable of working cross-functionally. He believes the work place environments are always changing and it’s important to stay up-to-date. He stresses to current MEM students: no matter what field or area of concentration you venture into after you’ve left NU, you are our future leaders, and you will need to be able to lead, execute and deliver. That’s a promise!