During the Internet boom of the late 1990s, Xander Uyleman joined Cisco Systems, Inc. in their outpost of Amsterdam in the Netherlands, where he was responsible for eBusiness integration between the company and partners across Europe.

He has since moved to California's Silicon Valley and continues to flourish at Cisco where he manages business development opportunities amongst price-sensitive markets. To assist his career growth, Cisco encouraged Uyleman to continue his education through the Stanford Center for Professional Development.

“A key driver to be part of Stanford is the leadership and influence Stanford has in the high tech world,” says Uyleman.

A mixture of working with a diverse pool of engineers, the competitive global economy, and a passion for professional development spurred Uyleman to pursue further education. "In taking courses at Stanford, I wanted to get a better understanding of the way engineers think," explained Uyleman, who interfaces daily with technically fluent customers and colleagues.

Uyleman has completed a variety of graduate courses in management science and engineering as well as the Stanford Advanced Project Management and the Strategic Decision and Risk Management professional certificates.

"After finishing Advanced Project Management, I wanted to continue to be part of challenging the norm as many of my professors have done. Stanford opened my mind to a new way of thinking that made a significant impact on me personally."

His most recent challenge, the Strategic Decision and Risk management certificate, provides key decision-makers with a framework to manage risk, adapt to difficult situations, and generate quality decisions that reinforce organizational goals.

The tools and concepts Uyleman learned from the certificate program allowed him to develop “a clear thought process on how to analyze decisions” as well as launch a successful business pilot of penetrating emerging and existing markets for refurbished communications equipment.

“The coursework strongly influenced me to use new methodologies and apply them in many business decisions on whether to invest in a project or initiative,” says Uyleman.

In addition to the implementation of the pilot into a full-fledged business development strategy for Cisco, Uyleman received a promotion from Project Manager to Business Development Manager. He credits his coursework in the Strategic Decision and Risk Management certificate for quickly fulfilling his long-term goal of managing a team of project managers. "The power of the program at Stanford is being able to apply it immediately," says Uyleman.