Breaking into one of America's hottest tech hubs

Kimberley Zatlyn was already enjoying a successful advertising career that brought her from Toronto to Vancouver, but she had her eye on a different industry that was growing fast, right in her backyard.

With everything from video game companies to software startups flourishing, Vancouver was establishing itself as a tech hub. Recognizing the incredible opportunities of working in the industry, Kimberley started wondering how to pivot her career to enter that space.

After researching her options, Kimberley realized the UBC MBA would be the best opportunity to develop her skills through the lens of the technology industry. Not only would she learn in a program ranked among the top 45 Global Elite, but she would be able to do it while living and working in the very city that sparked her interest in the tech world.

Kimberley hit the ground running in the MBA program, drawing on her previous experience to manage projects and meet tough deadlines. Challenging courses like ​Technology and Entrepreneurship pushed her to grow even more, developing her ability to recognize viable market opportunities and make decisions in uncertain and unstructured environments—skills that would prove to be essential in her future career in tech.

Recognizing the value of a global business perspective, Kimberley chose to participate in an exchange program at Hautes Etudes Commerciales (EDHEC), one of UBC Sauder’s partner schools in Paris. “I relished the opportunity to learn from industry experts during my exchange in France,” she says. “It also made me realize that one semester abroad wasn’t long enough for me; I wanted to work internationally.”

The UBC MBA teaches you to work better, faster and smarter.

The connections I developed at UBC helped me break into the tech industry after I graduated.

Fresh from her experience in France, MBA in hand, Kimberley landed a role at eBay in London. After three successful years abroad, she transferred to the company’s headquarters in San Francisco—a move that opened the door for a position with Salesforce.

Kim quickly rose up the ranks of the cloud-based customer relationship platform to her current role as Director, Product Marketing on Community Cloud, a position that’s integral across the entire company. “The UBC MBA taught me how to take an idea and tailor it to the appropriate audience, which is critical in my role at Salesforce,” she says.

With an MBA from UBC Sauder, Kimberley Zatlyn went from managing national clients to launching multi-platform products on the world stage, proving she’s got what it takes to succeed on a global scale.