A Non-Traditional Career Path

Ahmet Eryaman (MPM '96) knows his career trajectory is nontraditional.  

Eryaman graduated from Northwestern Engineering's Master of Science in Project Management (MPM) program and briefly explored the built environment sector as a financial analyst focused on corporate real estate with BMO Harris. From there he transitioned to consulting, then eventually system integration and implementation, risk management, and supply chain management. He's also served as interim CEO and chief financial officer along his career journey.  

Eryaman points to his career progression as an example of the flexibility an MPM degree provides its graduates.  

“Project management is not only for construction,” he said. “Every manager today should be a project manager in order to grow and become part of the C level. Even a CEO is a project manager who constantly prioritizes new initiatives.”  

Eryaman didn't plan for such a professional evolution. A native of Turkey with a degree in engineering, he thought he would travel to the US for an advanced degree, work for a year or two, and then return to his homeland. 

Instead, it was more than a decade before Eryaman went back to work in Turkey. After MPM, he landed a job focused on corporate real estate with BMO Harris. While there he developed an interest in finance and credit underwriting that built on his MPM experience. While at Northwestern, Eryaman programmed a database that kept track of construction spending at different sites using elemental classification for building specifications. The database allowed for quick and easy project cost comparisons.  

That project, along with his work at BMO Harris, inspired Eryaman's pivot to consulting. 

Eryaman spent eight years consulting at KPMG in Chicago and Accenture in London. When the 2007-2008 financial crisis hit, he moved back to Turkey, where he became the head of supply chain management for Şişecam, one of the top five global glass manufacturing companies.  

"They hired me because of my Northwestern education and MPM education," he said. 

One of the MPM program’s strongest attributes is that it prepares students for a wide range of career possibilities, Eryaman said. The mix of MPM classes greatly influenced his non-traditional journey, and the skills he learned are easily transferable. 

In much of his professional work, Eryaman routinely calculated the number of days an IT project required and how long the work would take before a system could go live. The estimations resembled lessons from MPM focused on project scheduling and resource leveling. Learning how to determine how many feet of concrete to pour for a new office building and what it would cost was directly applicable to calculating time for implementing a new IT or management reporting system.  

“MPM is a little bit engineering, a little bit MBA," he said. "That’s why I liked it. I continue to build things, just not brick and mortar, but instead through databases, system integrations, workflows, and reports.” 

The finance lessons he learned in the program were the foundation for his career and prepared him to serve as chief financial officer at Poleks Food in Turkey and later as head of North American finance for Fulton Market Group in Chicago.  

Beyond his academic experience, Eryaman remains deeply appreciative of how the MPM program supported his transition from a non-English speaker from Turkey to someone who is now raising a family in the United States.  

"Being in Evanston, being part of the wonderful Northwestern community really helped me," he said. "I felt I could achieve anything I put my mind to. That confidence, and the knowledge I bring to my work, started with the MPM program."