Capstone Time Machine

Strategic Management for Engineers is a capstone class taught by Don McNeeley in Northwestern's Master of Engineering Management (MEM) program designed to give engineers a peek inside the world of upper management. The goal is to provide students with a management perspective as a complement to the engineering framework they possessed when they entered the MEM program.  

For Bharath Yedla (MEM ‘25), it did just that.  

“The specialty of this course is that the lessons will be applicable for a lifetime,” he said. “Through conversations with entrepreneurs, CFOs, and some general managers, the class reignited our imagination and inspired us to look toward the horizon with purpose and confidence.”  

The course’s sixth session was the most memorable for Yedla. McNeeley, president and chief operating officer at Chicago Tube and Iron, welcomed two guest speakers for that class: Rick Blake, founder of Michigan-based Edgewater Automation; and Robert Brady, vice president of finance at Chicago Tube and Iron.  

Blake’s presentation focused on how a meaningful idea backed by hard work and perseverance helped him grow Edgewater from five employees to more than 250. Brady’s talk, “A Day in the Life of a CFO,” delved into his day-to-day responsibilities at the steel service center and fabricator. 

“The content was fascinating,” Yedla said. “In just 10 minutes, we got a glimpse into the daily routine of a C-suite executive and how the interconnected efforts of various departments come together to produce the contents of reports that ultimately land on the CEO’s desk.”  

Both presenters said they wouldn’t have been successful without the support of their loved ones. That message resonated deeply with Yedla.  

“It was a powerful, relatable reminder for us students that true success isn’t just about career milestones,” he said. “It’s about maintaining balance and finding fulfillment in all aspects of life.”  

The career Yedla envisioned is a work in progress. He currently is an intern in technology project and program management at Wolters Kluwer, a global information and software solutions provider. There, he is responsible for driving internal process optimization with state-of-the-art technologies, including agentic AI, machine learning, and advanced statistical modeling. His current project focuses on cost optimization for the internal development of five different vertical. The mission is to identify bottlenecks and automate processes that alleviate them. 

McNeeley’s class helped him find success in that mission.  

“This course taught me how to strategize for solving critical problems,” he said. “It genuinely exemplifies what distinguishes Northwestern as exceptional – the opportunity to learn directly from individuals who shape industries and inspire transformative change.”