Michael Kelly is a Pittsburgh, PA native that has spent a good deal of his professional career in other cities including Newark (DE), New York City metro area, Chicago and Charlotte. He completed his undergraduate studies at Susquehanna University (Selinsgrove, PA) with a B.S. in Business Administration with a Focus in Finance. After 15 years of working for a few large financial and healthcare organizations in different markets, Michael settled down in Charlotte. He graduated from UNC Charlotte in December 2018 with an MBA (with a Concentration in Marketing). For the past 10+ years, he has been employed in the healthcare industry in various non-clinical, administrative roles. In his current position, he provides analytical support to the Atrium Health medical group which consists of 2000+ providers and 500+ practices. Specifically, his team is involved in the assessment and evaluation of the strategic growth plan for providers and for corporate real estate. The team also provides analytical and technical support (using data housed in a variety of systems including Business Objects, Power BI, and Crimson) to the medical group accounting and operations teams. In his free time, he is an avid runner. He typically runs 5-8 miles daily and has completed 8 full marathons as well as several other races. Besides running, he is a proud parent of 3 rescue dogs, Manuel, Benito and Gustavo. Michael also recently got involved with volunteering at the Humane Society of Charlotte on the weekends.
Michael’s interest in the Doctorate of Business Administration program began in a Market Research Analysis & Design class that he took at UNC Charlotte in the Spring of 2018. He enjoyed the process behind the cumulative end of semester project so much that he explored the DBA program in more detail and decided to apply. Having just finished his MBA, he had never felt more energized and passionate about the opportunity to grow through learning. After years of working at different companies, in different markets, and in different industries, what he now knows to be true of himself is that he is most motivated by learning coupled with a component of social interaction. As he envisions the next 20+ years of his career, Michael saw the DBA program as a great way to open several doors professionally so that he could remain flexible and marketable as society continues to navigate into a world where knowledge is power.
Michael’s research interest is to show how a business-related field of study can be used to help address a societal related issue. Preliminarily, he would like to examine how the field of Marketing can be utilized to help reposition the brand of mental health so that a higher percentage of those who suffer with a mental health disorder seek out the resources available to them. Preliminary research on the topic shows that resources are available both nationally and locally (often free of charge); yet, a significant proportion of those who suffer symptoms from a mental health disorder go untreated, or worse go undiagnosed. In his opinion, it is the brand of mental health that persuades its consumers to not use its treatment options; therefore, he would like to investigate how a rebranding exercise might or might not persuade more individuals to take advantage of its treatment options.
Dissertation
Guilt, Pride, and Persuasion: Rethinking the Pathway to Charitable Contributions