{"id":16546,"date":"2025-12-01T00:50:00","date_gmt":"2025-12-01T08:50:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/business.wsu.edu\/edividend\/?p=16546"},"modified":"2026-03-04T13:12:06","modified_gmt":"2026-03-04T21:12:06","slug":"sally-abohanna","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/business.wsu.edu\/edividend\/2025\/12\/01\/sally-abohanna\/","title":{"rendered":"How an MBA Helped Sally AboHana Lead AI Transformation"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\"Hands<\/figure><\/div>\n\n
\n
\"ally
AboHana and her husband, Abed Nahhas, celebrate after she earned her MBA.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Although Sally AboHana\u2019s<\/a> (\u201923 MBA) work is rooted in artificial intelligence (AI), much of her focus is on people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Already a successful AI professional, AboHana wanted to expand her leadership skills through an MBA program. During her search, the Carson College of Business Online MBA<\/a>, offered through WSU Global Campus, stood out for its flexibility, strong alumni network, and emphasis on leadership and innovation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI wanted a program that wasn\u2019t just about theory but about preparing leaders to tackle real-world challenges\u2014and Carson delivered on that,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Building an AI career<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

AboHana has built an impressive r\u00e9sum\u00e9 working for some of the most well-known and innovative companies in the tech industry. At Amazon, she worked on Alexa, one of the most recognizable and utilized AI products in the world. Her role was to make Alexa better at understanding everyday speech so it could respond more accurately and naturally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Later, AboHana joined Google, where she led conversational AI projects, designing virtual agents to improve customer service quality and efficiency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In her current role as AI solutions architect – manager at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), she leads programs that modernize customer service contact centers. Her team uses advanced AI and analytics to identify opportunities to improve customer self-service support and leverage insights to enhance efficiency and reduce friction in the customer experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While her work revolves around advanced technology, AboHana says it\u2019s always about people in the end.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat excites me most about this field is how fast it’s evolving,\u201d she says. \u201cThe chance to turn cutting-edge ideas into real solutions that change how people interact with technology and make everyday experiences simpler, faster, and more human is incredibly rewarding.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Seeing the bigger picture<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The knowledge she gained earning a Carson College MBA helped AboHana step back from the technical side of AI to understand it within a broader business context. By expanding her knowledge across different functional areas, she can now connect innovation to return on investment, customer satisfaction, and organizational change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, while managing an AI contact center initiative for PwC, AboHana applied data analysis and strategic decision-making skills she developed while earning her MBA to translate technical improvements to the customer self-service experience into measurable outcomes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBy analyzing data, I was able to demonstrate how AI-driven self-service could reduce call volumes, improve efficiency, and enhance customer satisfaction,\u201d she says. \u201cThe MBA equipped me with the ability to connect data insights to business value, which has been critical in making the case for large-scale AI initiatives.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

AboHana says she also found courses that touched on leadership and organizational behavior to be surprisingly relevant to her work. These tools help her lead teams, manage change, and communicate with stakeholders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn AI, the hardest issues aren\u2019t always technical\u2014they\u2019re about people, culture, and change,\u201d she says. \u201cThe skills gained in those courses have been invaluable in driving adoption of more AI-driven solutions.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Advice for future leaders<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

AboHana encourages aspiring AI professionals to cultivate their curiosity, adaptability, and most importantly, their confidence. She believes growth happens when you take on projects that step beyond your comfort zone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat\u2019s where innovation happens,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

AboHana credits her MBA experience with helping her develop confidence and leadership abilities that allow her to champion new ideas and make a lasting impact in her field.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEarning my MBA represents a turning point in my career,\u201d she says. \u201cPersonally, it gave me confidence in my ability to lead at a higher level. Professionally, it gave me the tools to connect my technical expertise in AI with strategy and operations\u2014skills that are critical in driving transformation at scale.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Although Sally AboHana\u2019s (\u201923 MBA) work is rooted in artificial intelligence (AI), much of her focus is on people. Already a successful AI professional, AboHana wanted to expand her leadership skills through an MBA program. During her search, the Carson College of Business Online MBA, offered through WSU\u2019s Global Campus, stood out for its flexibility, strong alumni network, and emphasis on leadership and innovation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":[635],"featured_media":16625,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[627,425,625],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/business.wsu.edu\/edividend\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16546"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/business.wsu.edu\/edividend\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/business.wsu.edu\/edividend\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/business.wsu.edu\/edividend\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/635"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/business.wsu.edu\/edividend\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16546"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/business.wsu.edu\/edividend\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16546\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18392,"href":"https:\/\/business.wsu.edu\/edividend\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16546\/revisions\/18392"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/business.wsu.edu\/edividend\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16625"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/business.wsu.edu\/edividend\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16546"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/business.wsu.edu\/edividend\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16546"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/business.wsu.edu\/edividend\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16546"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/business.wsu.edu\/edividend\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/author?post=16546"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}