Dwayne L. Thornton OneMBA® Class of 2004 Regional Portfolio Manager, Caribbean Stansfield Scott Inc. "OneMBA helped me learn how to successfully work across different cultures."

Career highlights

• Received a degree in pharmacy
• Worked as a pharmacist, pharmacy manager and consultant at drug and grocery stores, health care providers and a hospital
• Hired in 2003 by Stansfield Scott Inc., Caribbean Product Management Company, his chief responsibility is Seven Seas Healthcare Ltd., a subsidiary of Merck and a leading over the counter vitamin brand in the UK and Caribbean

What he does

Thornton manages the Seven Seas' health-supplement brand in the Caribbean. The brand is a household name, found in drugstores, grocery and health food stores.

He is responsible for distribution, inventory management, marketing and PR and:

• Manages distributors that reach target markets in 17 countries
• Developed a U.S. Web site that markets the brand to ex-patriots from the UK, Caribbean, Greece and Asia
• Developed an inventory management system that improved inventory management efficiencies throughout the Caribbean
• Did work with distributors that resulted in buying patterns that better supported sound inventory management

What attending UNC Kenan-Flagler helped me achieve

"OneMBA helped me learn how to successfully work across different cultures," he says. I spent my third trimester at EGADE, the OneMBA partner school in Mexico. It gave me exposure to Mexico that my company wanted me to have.

"It also helped me to develop a method to sell culturally sensitive, mutually beneficial solutions to my business partners.

"At the same time, I met a group of truly incredible people on four continents," he adds. "They are priceless business connections and friendships that will last a lifetime. That's one of the reasons I was inspired to lead efforts for our class gift. That gift of $25,000, donated through the Foundation for Global Understanding will help to build a computer lab that helps recent tsunami victims find a new means of livelihood."

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