The compounding interest of Wayne State: Tena Latona leads with purpose and impact, shaped by her time at the Mike Ilitch School of Business

Tena Latona '03, M.B.A. '06 never planned on coming to Wayne State or even staying in Detroit. Looking back on her time at the Mike Ilitch School of Business and Wayne State, she now sees it as the start of her journey to a successful career, and to her current role as C.E.O. of Working in the Schools (WITS), the largest provider of literacy programming and corporate engagement in Chicago Public Schools, serving 4,300 students, 100 teachers, and activating 537 weekly mentors each year.

"Wayne State has worked like compounding interest in my life. It was the thing that was most significant in making me who I am," said Latona. "Wayne State was so quintessential in getting me to the seat that I'm sitting in right now. WSU prepared me to be in rooms and add value to the conversation around building an engaged literate ecosystem in Chicago with partners such as the Chicago Public Library and Chicago Public Schools."

When Latona began her college search in high school, she settled on Michigan State University, for the scholarship they offered her, and the chance to start her own path. Her time at Michigan State was cut short, when her mother passed away a week before her first semester finals freshman year.

"Dealing with my own grief started to become much more difficult," said Latona. "What was going on at home became a lot more challenging for my brother and my father; managing a home was not easy for them. I had to go home."

Latona transferred to Wayne State, to finish her Bachelor of Arts in Public Relations, Advertising and Applied Communication. She was commuting to campus daily from Clinton Township for classes and serving as a caregiver for her father and brother. While Wayne State was not her original plan, Latona found something there that she did not expect.

"I feel so fortunate that I was going to Wayne State when it was having this renaissance. The resurgence in the late 90s and early 2000s," said Latona. "What I most appreciate about Wayne State is that this is a university of first-generation college students in the middle of a city with a massive minority population. There's just some grit and resilience that comes when you are not a person whose entire family has been going to college for generations."

Latona remembers watching new dorms going up while Irvin D. Reid was president of the university. After finishing her undergraduate degree, she took the GMAT intending to move to Chicago. At her father's request, she sent her scores to Wayne State too, just to see what would happen.

"He said you had such a good experience for your undergrad, and Wayne State ended up offering me a scholarship, and then I ended up getting a job at Wayne State," said Latona. "So I stayed for my M.B.A."

Latona worked for Wayne State's Office of Development, raising funds for university projects, notably working with the Office of President Irvin D. Reid to plan and deliver the naming event for the Martin I. Danto Engineering Development Center in 2007, and a multiday media and fundraising event to recognize the $400 million PACE grant to the engineering school. While launching this project, she was enrolled in classes, worked full-time, and stayed on campus for an additional four hours a night for classes.

Looking back, Latona sees this as growing her abilities and contributing to the interest compounding at Wayne State, in particular her business classes that encouraged collaboration between students.

"I was in a marketing class where we had to develop a marketing plan and presentation about Boeing," said Latona. "The two other people on my team were engineers, but I think what was so interesting about this project was that they were really able to understand the data and use that to create a marketing plan, and my skills in creating narrative, project management, and aligning data to the story and strategy. We complimented each other well. What I appreciated the most about this particular class was that I had to work with people that were very different from me and thought very differently than me."

Latona took the initiative during this class, to reach out to Boeing directly while she was in Chicago and met with them at their headquarters.

"I set up a meeting with the marketing department at Boeing and just said hey, I'm doing a class project on your company, can you help us out," said Latona. "We talked about the project we had developed and they offered real feedback, and at the end of our conversation they gave me enough Boeing swag for the entire class."

In the last semester of her master's program, Latona accepted a position at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business as Assistant Director of Corporate Development. This required her to figure out how to remotely finish her degree before online classes were common.

"I ended up having to figure out how to take two semesters of online classes, which were not as much of a thing then," said Latona. "I remember I had to get videos of class recorded and watch them, and I had to take an in-person exam proctored by my supervisor at Booth to finish the class. What I appreciated was the willingness and flexibility the school offered me to take on this new role. It showed that the business school understood me not only as a student, but as someone building their career.

This resilience paid off. Latona completed her M.B.A., and continued to build her career in Chicago eventually joining Working in the Schools (WITS), where she has been for the last 11 years eventually becoming C.E.O. She has also returned to the Ilitch School, to serve on the Board of Visitors and shape the direction of the Ilitch School into the future.

"It is incredibly rewarding to see leaders like Tena Latona reflect on the lasting impact of her Ilitch School experience," said Virginia Franke Kleist, Dean of the Mike Ilitch School of Business. "Her journey speaks to the resilience, determination, and sense of purpose that define our students and alumni. Tena's continued engagement with the school as she joins our Board of Visitors is especially meaningful, as she brings her insight and leadership back to our community to help shape opportunities for the next generation of Ilitch School graduates."

In her role, she interacts with people daily from the business schools she once dreamed of attending. However, she never feels out of place.

"If I hadn't had all of those Wayne State experiences, if I hadn't transferred to Wayne State, I probably would have never gotten that job in development, and then I would never have gone back to business school, and you look back and see the effect of Wayne State compounding over the years."

-Patrick Bernas, Information Officer III