Becoming the Bridge Between Executives and Technologists

Shane Burke spent nearly a decade at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) before taking classes in Northwestern Engineering's Master of Science in Information Technology (MSIT) program. He held multiple management roles during that time, including manager of the CME's global command center, and led multiple development and deployment projects for CME products . 

He understood business fundamentals, but he wasn't a technologist, the person who could speak in-depth about software development and the information technology (IT) framework that enables modern businesses to thrive.  

Burke turned to the MSIT program to help him become more of what he wasn’t, and accentuate what he was.  Shane Burke

“The lines between business and IT are getting blurred every single day,” Burke (MSIT '19) said. “I wanted to be the bridge between the business side and the technical side. I wanted to be just dangerous enough to where, if I were in the room with someone who was very technically based, I wouldn’t sound like an ignorant business executive.”  

Buoyed by his MSIT experience, Burke left the Chicago Mercantile Exchange less than two years after graduation and joined a highly technical startup called FairX, a futures trading exchange. In early 2022, FairX was purchased by cryptocurrency giant Coinbase in a move seen as the company’s entrance into the U.S. crypto derivatives market. 

Burke is now Coinbase’s manager of institutional operations, working toward centralizing the company’s operations team. He said his time in the MSIT program helped spark his career growth. 

“I looked at where my knowledge was lacking that I couldn’t pick up from on-the-job experience and looked for a program that could fill that gap, and MSIT was it,” he said. “Having MSIT on my resume really helped me land my job at FairX.”  

One of the biggest skills Burke gained from the MSIT program involved communication. Business executives are often focused on different details of an organization than the technologists who are ingrained in the day-to-day work of the business. His MSIT experience gave him the ability to work well with both.  

"It was fortunate for me to be around so many technical students for such a long duration in MSIT," Burke said. "That allowed me to change some of my speech to communicate with more technologically sensitive individuals.” 

In learning to do that, Burke became a bridge builder between the two worlds, first for FairX and now for Coinbase. One common thread for Burke with both companies is Cristian Cueva (MSIT '19), whom Burke hired at FairX and who now works with him at Coinbase.  

“I convinced him somehow that this was a startup that had legs,” Burke said. “I’m hopeful his career will continue to advance.”  

That kind of networking is a big part of why Burke recommends the MSIT program to anyone looking for a more IT-focused alternative to a traditional MBA program. 

“It’s not easy, but in the end, it’s worth it,” he said. “Some of the relationships I made are going to be lifelong friendships.” 

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