Name and graduation year: Brian Via, BA 2014
Job Title: Account Executive
Organization: Dropbox

Tell us about what you do in your job?

I’m responsible for Dropbox Business & Dropbox Enterprise corporate sales to organizations with 100-1000 employees in the Dallas Fort-Worth metroplex, Kansas, New Mexico, one-half of Washington, D.C., Maryland, West Virginia and southern Alabama. The majority of my day is centered towards client interaction – creating strategic outreach campaigns, phone calls with potential clients, product demos, onsite meetings and understanding the needs of various organizations.

My goal is to bring Dropbox Business to customers who would benefit from its services, and educate them on ways we can help them transform their businesses for the better. We equip them with a solution that provides employees the easiest way to collaborate and share files, with the security measures required to protect corporate data.

Are there any courses or experiences at Batten that prepared you for your role?

A Batten course that had direct connections to my current role was Intro to Social Entrepreneurship. During the course, we worked as consultants for foreign entrepreneurs, developing an understanding of their business and helping them identify and pitch the best solution.

As an Account Executive for Dropbox, we take a very consultative approach to corporate sales, first understanding a prospective customer’s business and needs, and then helping them identify the best solution for their needs, whether Dropbox or not, and is the best fit for them.

What is it like to use a policy degree in the tech sector?

Personally, I find a policy degree to be an advantage in the tech sector. Incredibly similar to the Batten motto, “Policy is everywhere, Lead from anywhere,” technology is everywhere. Across all industries, organizations rely on technology to share information, enable productivity, collaborate, and increase efficiency.

The Batten degree does a great job of providing a diverse exposure across different areas of focus, from intelligence and counter-terrorism with Professor Frederick Hitz, to Healthcare with Professor Raymond Scheppach, and the leadership skills that are essential in every organization.

With that experience, I’ve found that the Batten degree uniquely equips you with the information needed to be effective working with a variety of organizations – when I talk to prospective customers in healthcare, defense, finance, software and more, I rely on that diverse course history to relate to different individuals, understand the key issues in different industries, and lead organizations to finding solutions to their specific challenges.

What advice would you give prospective or current students about the Batten experience?

First, I’d advise prospective and current students not to underestimate the value of a diverse degree that provides skills and insight that are applicable across a variety of industries. Many degrees at UVA, while valuable, focus narrowly on one area of expertise. The Batten School does a phenomenal job of providing an education across policy, the economics and data that drive policy decisions, and the psychological factors that influence decision makers – all valuable elements of decisions made across the public and private sector everyday. These aspects come into play daily as I work to understand the factors that influence the decisions made by the CIOs, COOs and even CEOs I work with in my role.

The other piece of advice I’d give current and future Batten students is to maximize the opportunity of being a part of the Batten school. Because the Batten school is relatively new to some of its peer programs at UVA, much like a startup, there’s a great deal of autonomy and opportunity to help shape the experience you and your fellow future leaders share at Batten. Being able to build or guide organizations like the Batten Undergraduate Council, bring in influential speakers you’d like to have, and start leading before you’ve graduated and entered your career are all great opportunities that add to the value of the Batten experience.