Courtney Meeks is a young business professional on her way up. After graduating from the Master of Business Administration program at Clemson University, Meeks found her dream job as a senior human resources manager with Milliken & Co., one of the region’s top employers and a global leader in textiles.
Meeks, a Greenville native, also earned her undergraduate degree from the Upstate university.
“I loved (Clemson) so much I went twice,” she said while discussing her career.
When it came time to think about where she wanted to do her graduate studies, Meeks said it was important to her to earn an MBA that would appeal to companies with an international reach.
“When I went to look at grad school, I actually looked at a lot of programs,” she said. “I knew that I wanted to have some kind of international-business aspect to my degree, and I saw that Clemson offered a couple of study abroad opportunities to be able to interact with global businesses. That was super attractive to me, and one of the factors that really led me to that program.”
Although she spent her undergraduate years on the Clemson campus, the MBA program was even closer to home for Meeks. While the degree is offered through Clemson’s Wilbur O. and Ann Powers College of Business, the program is housed in downtown Greenville at Greenville ONE, a business complex located on Main Street in the heart of Greenville’s thriving business district.
While the Greenville location offers world-class facilities, Meeks was thinking globally, so she packed her bags.
“I had the chance to study abroad in England at Oxford University, and that was amazing,” she recalled excitedly.
“I saw that Clemson offered a couple of study abroad opportunities to be able to interact with global businesses. That was super attractive to me, and one of the factors that really led me to that program.” — Courtney Meeks, senior human resources manager, Milliken & Co.
The university also provides its MBA students with comprehensive information regarding work and internship opportunities, from which Meeks learned of the opportunity with Milliken.
“So I interned (at Milliken) for seven months while I was still in the MBA program,” she explained. “I was doing strategy development for the textile business and that’s how I was introduced to Milliken.”
The Clemson connection paid off again for Meeks, as one of her professors also worked at Milliken.
“There’s a professor in the program who actually works at Milliken, so that’s how that connection was made,” she explained. “I actually got to intern for that professor who also worked (at Milliken) in strategy development within textiles, so that was a supercool experience.”
In the relatively few years since graduating with her MBA, Meeks has explored various career paths with Milliken, settling on human resources, where the scholarship and experience she gained through Clemson’s MBA program have enabled her to rise to her current senior HR manager position.
It’s a position Meeks described as her dream job. She said that when she started on her journey in the Clemson MBA program, she had no idea what her dream job would be.
“It didn’t start off as my dream. I didn’t know what I wanted to be when I grew up,” she said with a laugh. “And I really have hit my stride: I really enjoy what I do. I get to interact with all our associates here at Milliken, so I get to associate with everybody from our production workers to our senior leadership team. I get to really help them shape their careers.”
