Sara Hagey: From recruitment to tech

What is your professional and educational background?

I graduated from Emory University in Atlanta, GA with a BA in Political Science. I entered the world of recruitment and joined Michael Page with a focus on Financial Services. After building my career there over 5 years, ultimately to Associate Director managing a team of 11 people, I ventured into the world of tech and joined Facebook as a Recruiter for Communications and Public Policy. While at Facebook, I moved into a Program Manager role to build Facebook’s strategy for hiring Veterans and transferred that experience into a Program Manager role on the External Affairs and Community team at Robinhood, where I just started in June of 2021.

What is the most exciting thing about your work?

It’s been really exciting to join a company at this stage in its growth. We IPO-ed a few weeks after I joined and learned a ton by watching an organization go through that transition. Additionally, my role now is entirely focused on the mission-driven work we do at Robinhood. It’s incredibly rewarding to work for an organization with a strong mission (to democratize finance for all) and to be directly involved in the work that serves that aim.

What made you decide to pursue an Executive MBA?

I applied when I was trying to transition out of recruiting and I felt that I needed a new set of skills in my toolbox to be able to make that move. I was lucky and shifted to programme management and a new company with more room for growth before the start of the programme, but I am still very grateful to be participating in the EMBA programme as I know it will help me build the skills to be even more effective as a PM and be set up to continue to grow in my career.

What attracted you to Cambridge Judge?

As someone who is based in the US, I was really attracted to the notion of getting an international education. I think the tech industry is going to change rapidly over the next few decades, and to ensure we do that in a way that is positive, we need more people in the industry who can see beyond the boundaries of where many of the companies are based.

What are your career ambitions in the long term?

I hope to work my way into operational leadership roles within the tech industry and am excited to see the ways my Cambridge EMBA will take me in a direction I am not expecting.