As a 17-year-old high school graduate, Jonathan (Jon) Razack was faced with the universal life decision of what to do next. He had a goal of joining the military; however, his parents encouraged him to take a different direction. Below, he tells the compelling story of how he was able to make both paths work for his future, eventually landing at Texas McCombs.
Jon Razack, MBA 2021
The American Dream
Jon was born in Fort Worth to immigrant parents who came to Texas hoping to find new opportunities. Eventually they became naturalized U.S. citizens and started a business where Jon worked as a teenager. Upon graduating high school, he was at a crossroads: should he follow the route of heading to a traditional college, as his parents always wanted, or follow his dream to go into military service?
I learned the meaning of a strong work ethic from my parents who bootstrapped capital to start their own business. I gained a big appreciation for how much work it takes to own your own business. My parents are my heroes, and while I always wanted to be in the U.S. Army, college was really important to them, especially as immigrants.
Jon eventually chose to attend college at the Virginia Military Institute, where he studied economics and business. He didn’t give up on his military dream, but instead put it on hold just a little while, deciding to prepare himself for business success with a degree before enlisting in the military. After graduation he became an infantry officer, fulfilling his dream and starting a new chapter of his life in the U.S. Army.
Military Life
In 2011 Jon became a Ranger qualified Infantry Officer, leading specialized teams of Paratroopers, from groups of less than 10 up to 200.
Jon Razack’s team during his time in the military.
After spending five years in this role, Jon retooled his skill set and spent his last two years in the Army as a Battalion Senior Intelligence Officer at Fort Lewis, Washington. From there he began to look at industry options outside of the military where his problem-solving and leadership skills would transfer. This eventually led to his career transition back in Dallas.
Transition was surprisingly easier and harder in some respects. I was away from home for 12 years doing a lot of traveling, so I was ready to come back home.
As soon as he got out of the military, he was recruited for the Leadership Development Program at CoreLogic, where he worked in Product Management and did internal consulting for company process optimization. Eventually, he was leading his own sales team.
I liked sales because it was similar to the leadership skills I used in the infantry for over five years. I had the right mentorship, and it made my industry transition so much easier.
To Jon, one of the biggest reasons why he enjoyed his time at CoreLogic was because of the mentorship. He says his mentors took time to help him apply his military skills towards both the training program and his current job as Director of Operations for CoreLogic’s mortgage business. After two years of working there, however, Jon knew that his transition still needed an extra push.
I’ve always known that I’d be needing an MBA to bridge the seven year gap I didn’t spend in an industry. I had developed leadership and problem solving skills from my time in the Army, but I needed to learn how to apply that conceptually in the business world and accelerate my learning curve.
