Business education need met with out of the box thinking thanks to graduate of MSCM program!

How do you deliver training to a group of people scattered over an entire state, structure the education to industry specific needs, and work with class participants who are extremely busy and cannot dedicate multiple days for a learning experience? How do you deliver this training when the instructor, who is a subject matter expert, is located on the east coast?

This was exactly the dilemma presented by a Kentucky corporation who wanted their regional representatives better prepared in the area of negotiations. The desire was to provide a long-lasting learning experience and implement the skills while the class took place. The criteria were met by Sullivan University’s Business initiative and with the expertise of Gary Boettcher.

Gary, a graduate of the Master of Science in Conflict Management program, lives in Fredericksburg, Virginia, so he delivered the majority of the training for this organization via online delivery. Gary worked with the organization’s management to design discussions that were industry specific and allowed for practical application as the class progressed. At the end of the training, he came to Louisville and facilitated face-to-face role play simulations so the participants could practice their new found skills.

Gary is no stranger to helping people hone their conflict management skills. Soon after graduating from Sullivan with his Master of Science in Conflict Management program, Gary started Conflict Management Strategies, Inc. which provides arbitration, facilitation, mediation, negotiation, and systems design services for organizations. Gary also has a passion for working with families and individuals as an intervention and dispute resolution specialist and helping them improve communications and relationship skills, manage conflict through principled negotiations, and sharpened problem-solving skills.

In addition to his formal education in the MSCM program, Gary learned a lot about conflict management in his job as a Captain for American Airlines. As an airline pilot, Gary was a member of the Allied Pilots Association (APA) board of directors, where he contributed to the American Airlines labour and management teams’ collaborative effort to avoid bankruptcy. In that capacity, he was directly and indirectly involved in negotiating a contract valued at about $2 billion. Currently, as a Captain for AA, Gary still flies the friendly skies of the Caribbean, Europe, and South American.

Sullivan University is proud that Gary is a graduate of and the MSCM program.