Raising goats and making cheese represent important slices of Glenn Diana Sherman ’26MBA’s life, but going back to school for a Masters in Business Administration (MBA) from Bryant is an important step toward separating herself from the herd as a community organizer and advocate for local food.
Sherman, who graduated from Tufts University in 2009 with a bachelor’s degree in art history and chemistry, took an interest in farming as an undergraduate. “I volunteered on farms in exchange for room and board, and it got me interested in farming,” she recalls.
Instead of pursuing a career in her degree fields, Sherman ended up working on vegetable and dairy farms. That path then led her to a Jewish retreat center, where she ran a goat dairy farm and ended up meeting her husband. "We eventually settled in Rhode Island, where I started working at Sweet and Salty Farm in Little Compton and became their Head Cheesemaker in 2018," she says.
A volunteering stint with a local political group got Sherman thinking about other career paths and, when her husband, Steven Sherman ’19 MSPAS, PA-C, took a job in the university’s Physician Assistant Studies program (he recently became Associate Program Director), she began considering a return to school to pursue an MBA in general management, with a focus on corporate social responsibility and supply chain management.
"I thought it was a way I could update my skills and see what work I might be interested in next,” she recalls.
Going from farming and community activism to Bryant’s Two-Year Part-Time MBA program might seem like a jarring transition, but Sherman says it was important for her to get out of her comfort zone.
"It was good for me to be around a lot of people with different perspectives and learn to work with them,” she says. "The skills that I learned, whether in the nonprofit world or not, are important — not only the financial part, but the organizational leadership part. In nonprofits, you have people who are really mission driven but maybe need some help structuring their organization to be more effective.”
For Sherman, highlights of the MBA program included Bryant’s “Corporate Social Responsibility” course taught by Management Professor John Visich, Ph.D., and having the opportunity to collaborate with Senior Lecturer of Finance Maura Dowling on a directed-study project.
“Professor Dowling has such a fresh take on values-based finance, and she had this project in mind that we tailored to my interests in regenerative economics and community grassroots organizing,” says Sherman, whose research delved into the value to developers and communities of a slower, more community-focused approach to commercial development. The study will be submitted to the Global Jesuit Case Series and Journal of Case Studies this fall to be considered for publication.
Like many adults who get advanced degrees, Sherman had life changes to work around — including having her third child while in the middle of her MBA studies.
“Bryant was really accommodating to help me navigate that,” she says, noting that this involved creating a flexible schedule that included both day and night classes.
Sherman connected with a group of peers over age 30 — Jennifer Brousseau ’25MBA, Ewelina Leja ’25MBA, and Caitlin Sweeney ’25MBA — who dubbed themselves the “Golden Grrls” and served as project collaborators, study group members, and a support network for one another. The group stayed together for almost the entire MBA program, although Sherman took a bit longer to finish her degree on account of expanding her family.
“We got each other through the program, and even though we came from different backgrounds, we were a good team,” she says. “They were a huge part of my Bryant experience, and I feel so grateful to them.”
With an MBA now in hand, Sherman is turning her attention to what’s next in what has been an unorthodox career journey.
“I'm really interested in procurement and operations for a food business,” she says. “Procurement is a fascinating way to think about sustainability: how we're buying things, who we're buying them from, and what the producers’ practices are.”
Sherman also found her operations classes inspiring.
“As a mom of three, I live in operations land a lot of the time,” Sherman says with a smile. “Production is a part of operations, so I think there’s a way I can apply my MBA and my production work history to a more behind-the-scenes role.”