Scott Landers G'00: Receiving a business education with heart

Even before the Flex MBA began at Saint Rose, Scott Landers G’00, found the MBA program workable as a working father of two young children. Today, he’s the CEO of Monotype, an on-demand font service, and has found his experience at Saint Rose not only provided him a solid business education but instilled confidence and empathy, which have served him well in the C-suite.

We asked Landers to describe what Saint Rose means to him:

I always like to think about things in terms of impact. A place like Saint Rose develops the person and the student – and doing that for 100 years – what a wonderful achievement.

Saint Rose is a local gem. It is a community, where you always have a feeling that the school cares. I think that translates in an important way: People don’t forget that as they go and become leaders themselves.

In my mind, Saint Rose provides value on many fronts: quality of education, affordability, community. The personal relationship that the school and faculty have with the student is really impactful for the right type of student.

When I was working on my MBA at Saint Rose, I had two young children. I attended school nights and part time. It was a wonderful program, and probably the only program I could have pulled off, based on how flexible it was.

It also came at a time when I was six years or seven years into my professional career. I think that was the best time in my career to get a master’s, because I had a business foundation, but I was also embarking on that next level of management.

The experience had a huge impact on me, first and foremost on confidence building. In addition, I found the instructors very good, and I found my peers very engaged.
And, going back to the community issue, it did not feel as competitive as it did collaborative. I think that is exactly what you need out of a master’s program, especially in business, because it’s all about sharing your experiences and learning from each other.

If you were looking for the building blocks of not only knowledge, but also confidence, Saint Rose nailed it. My undergraduate major was accounting, and I joined Monotype, the world’s leader in fonts, as CFO. I became CEO when the founder retired. People usually think of accountants as the people in the back room who just crunch the numbers, but your influence can far exceed what you may glean from a textbook.

Saint Rose helped me in my career in terms leading with empathy. I think it’s critical, especially today when there’s so much technology, or when we’re working remotely. For younger generations, defining and leading with purpose is key. Leading with those human elements is really essential to being successful and Saint Rose played a key role in my leadership ability.