“I knew I was going to be a pilot,” says Chad Schweinzger. “When I stepped foot on campus – knowing I would be flying airplanes within weeks – it was hard to think about anything else.”
Schweinzger credits the faculty and staff in the School of Aviation and Transportation Technology for his lifelong success.
“The professional flight curriculum teaches much more than flying. I learned critical problem-solving skills, important analytical skills, and how to identify trends and change course quickly. As a flight instructor, I learned how others learn and how to craft my teaching and communication style to best suit my students – skills that are directly transferable to managing a team.”
As a manager at strategy consulting firm, A.T. Kearney, Schweinzger applies the critical thinking he learned at Purdue to solve his clients’ challenges.
“Our teams are tasked to understand client problems and advocate for what we believe is the right thing to do, regardless of its popularity. We have a unique opportunity to look within an industry at different problems, and across industries at the same problems. This unique perspective puts consultants in a position to truly help drive high-quality solutions and propagate best practices.”
Schweinzger wants to continue having influence and driving positive change at the highest level possible. He and his Boilermaker wife, Morgan (BS ’09, Professional Flight Technology), live in Dallas, Texas.