By Lauren Lesmeister
Hannah Botsford (’23 MBA) first heard about the Carson College of Business Online MBA through a coworker at PACCAR who spoke highly about their time in the program. After learning the program was offered entirely online through WSU Global Campus, Botsford was sold.
“I was working full time and traveling some for work,” she says. “An online program makes it easier to juggle school, work, and a social life.”
Botsford also found it helpful to apply what she was learning to her work in real time.
“Clear communication and leadership have been really important, especially when working on a large team project in school or with different departments from several locations at work.”
In addition to the rigorous academic content, one of the most challenging aspects of the program for Botsford was working on group projects, specifically, navigating each team member’s schedule. Not only were some team members in different time zones, Botsford was moving between time zones herself, working in Bellevue, Washington, and traveling to Montreal, Canada, for a work project.
Botsford traveled to Montreal three times as her PACCAR team implemented SAP, an HR software system. The old HR system her company used was sunsetting, and her team had less than a year to complete the transition to SAP.
Through these challenges, Botsford developed strong time management, communication, and leadership skills as well as broader global perspective—valuable takeaways from the MBA program that she often applies to her job.
“Time management helps with prioritizing tasks, meeting deadlines, staying organized, and being more efficient,” she says. “Good communication leads to great teamwork and clear understanding, and it builds relationships.”
Her career at PACCAR
Effective communication has been a defining theme throughout Botsford’s career at PACCAR.
She joined PACCAR in 2020 as part of the accounting department for PACCAR Leasing. In 2021, she transitioned to the human resources department, where she steadily advanced through various roles. Today, she serves as a senior analyst on the Human Resources Information System (HRIS) team. In her HR roles, Botsford has combined her passions for numbers, problem-solving, and people into a dynamic career. The HRIS team acts as a bridge between human resources and IT, requiring Botsford to frequently collaborate with both teams. Her HR background helps Botsford understand project needs and requirements, and she puts those insights to work to help the IT department implement, configure, and update HR systems.
Currently, Botsford is leading projects to implement a learning management system in Australia and a time and leave system across the US.
“It’s exciting to implement a new system that will save employees time and improve efficiency,” she says. “I also enjoy working with people across the world and seeing how their HR teams operate.”
The challenges of working with teams that have different priorities, knowledge sets, and even languages make Botsford’s communication skills essential.
“I act as a translator for IT and HR,” she says. “I’m able to understand and clearly communicate what both teams need for a system to work properly. This leads to successful implementation or process improvement and a good user experience.”
Building lasting connections
After graduation, Botsford maintained connections with the Online MBA program team and the Carson College of Business. As a proud PACCAR employee, she has helped facilitate company visits for WSU undergraduates and MBA students. Botsford views these tours as a great way for students to apply what they are learning to the real world. It gives students an opportunity not only to see how the world’s largest medium- and heavy-duty trucks get assembled but also how different departments connect in pursuit of the same goal.
PACCAR and the Carson College have a strong relationship, and people like Botsford, and the connections they build, are the driving force behind this important partnership. Today, 12 PACCAR employees are current students in the Carson College Online MBA and Executive MBA Online programs.
“PACCAR’s relationship with Carson College creates a great opportunity for people to get a quality education from a well-known school,” she says. “Someone can learn about all the possible career paths in the industry. Someone already in the industry can continue to grow their career by furthering their education.”
Looking ahead, Botsford aspires to grow into a project manager or project owner role within HR. Her advice to future MBA students?
“Take advantage of networking opportunities,” she says. “It’s a great opportunity to build relationships with people in the same industry or in an industry you want to learn about.”
