Kaitlyn Falcone

At Blue Cross Blue Shield of Rhode Island (BCBSRI), Kaitlyn (Falcone) Perron is leading cross-functional teams and breaking down silos to solve complex business problems. She credits many of her M&O concentration classes and lecturers for not only teaching her how to lead a high-performing team, but also for going beyond the textbook, enabling her to put those lessons into practice.

“From establishing core values, building trust, and managing conflict to inspiring commitment, giving feedback, and driving towards shared goals, the team-based learning environment at Questrom strengthened my inter-personal and leadership skillsets that I leverage in my career today,” says Kaitlyn, who also minored in Public Health. She later returned to Questrom to earn a Health Sector MBA.

Kaitlyn’s career got its start at an undergraduate job fair, where she met a recruiter from Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts (BCBSMA). The recruiter was impressed with the leadership and people skills she was learning in the M&O program and, despite her sophomore status, encouraged her to apply for their summer internship. Kaitlyn landed the internship and held the role for two years. Following graduation, the organization hired Kaitlyn as a full-time program manager. She worked at BSBSMA for six years before joining BCBSRI.

Kaitlyn also credits the M&O concentration for preparing her to handle her team’s unprecedented transition to remote work during the COVID-19 pandemic. As a junior at Questrom, she completed a directed study with Lecturers Hutch Hutchinson and Sandra Deacon Carr, researching virtual teams, ultimately building a comprehensive guide for how to achieve high-performing teams in a virtual environment. Thanks to that experience, she was able to transition her team nearly seamlessly to a remote environment, leveraging a tool-kit she had built six years earlier.

“We’ve all heard the platitude ‘It’s not personal; it’s just business.’ While the trope may achieve the intended dramatic effect in Hollywood, I don’t think that’s how it works in the real world,” says Kaitlyn. “I believe wholeheartedly that business is personal. Powerful organizations are built by people, with people, for people. The M&O concentration builds a foundational skillset that is transferable for any career because it teaches how to work with people—all people, with different learning styles, conflict tendencies, belief systems, core values and life experiences.”