Between his family at home and a successful career in retail, Michael Pixton (BSM/M, 2002; MM/HRM, 2007) was always moving — sometimes literally, given that his position with a major big box store had him traveling to locations up and down the Rockies region.

While this was exciting, it made other commitments — like going to school at a brick-and-mortar institution — a little challenging.

“Difficult” doesn’t always translate to “end of the road,” though. With tuition assistance from his employer, Pixton was able to complete his bachelor’s degree in business management at University of Phoenix. Next, with a big push from his wife, Kimberly, he took a look at the master’s degree options. “She pressured me and said, ‘Hey, get your master’s degree. Don’t stop now.’”

He earned his Master of Management and continued his career in retail for several more years. Then, he made another leap, this time from retail to healthcare, proving there’s no limit when your education provides you objective insights into how businesses operate.

“There’s real value in knowing that people are the most important piece of business,” says Pixton, “and having a keen understanding of how to manage those individuals has been key to my career.”

It was early in Pixton’s adulthood, while he was pursuing that elusive traditional degree, when his journey took a major turn and halted his academic work. His daughter was born prematurely.

“She was born 1 pound, 9 ounces. So, my wife stopped working and I became the breadwinner. The focus on career became more important than education,” Pixton says.

Pixton found success as a traveling manager for that retail chain, moving from store to store for 12 to 18 months at a time. But he never gave up on his degree, taking advantage of University of Phoenix’s online education.

“I maintained a full-time job from the start of my college career until present day,” Pixton says. “When I was finishing up my bachelor’s degree, I was working overnight, taking classes — all in an asynchronous world, which probably set me up very well to for the world we live in today.”

Those classes introduced Pixton to University of Phoenix’s diverse student body, which, in his case, meant interacting with students from all over the world. “I’m in a classroom with individuals [who] are in different areas [and] are working in different industries or working in different areas of the country that have different experiences,” he says.

Meanwhile, Pixton kept moving in a different way too. “I was involved with a lot of the community outreach [at my former company], where we’d participate in the heart walks, the kidney walks,” he says.

It was through these that he met an executive recruiter at DaVita, which had begun eyeing prospective employees from outside of healthcare. Pixton, who had experience managing upward of 250 people at a time, was an ideal candidate to transfer his skills from one field to another. After several months of vetting the position to ensure it was the right one for him and his family, Pixton moved into a new role as operations director for DaVita.

From there, Pixton made move after move: From operations to HR; from working for DaVita to its subsidiary, Lifeline Vascular; and, when Lifeline Vascular was sold to a private equity firm, Pixton went from working for a large established company to managing a much smaller startup.

“I had 65 centers in 26 states,” says Pixton. “So, during that divestiture, we were disentangling all of our systems from the larger company into our own.”

All of this was happening in May 2020, which meant that Pixton spent most of the COVID pandemic on a plane, traveling from city to city. “It gave me a different perspective on the COVID world, being out there in markets, making sure that our centers were up and running and taking care of patients.”

Finally, Pixton came home to DaVita, where today he serves as vice president of corporate development — and continues to impress his colleagues and peers with his dedication and innovative leadership.

Laird particularly values how Pixton marries his experience with his education: “Mike always comes to a discussion prepared and well informed. This is a trait that [I think] he picked up during his education. He also brings a wider perspective than just his current job, not only from past experience but also from the theories he learned at school. Mike is able to apply those theories to real-world situations we face.”

For his part, Pixton appreciated the real-world context his instructors brought to the lessons. “It was very refreshing to have [an instructor] say, ‘Here’s the theory, here’s why it’s important, here’s what works about it, here’s what doesn't. Let’s talk about that and get into a discussion,’” says Pixton.

The emphases on theory and reality continue to be a guiding light for Pixton, who embraces the uncertainty of life.

“Everybody says, ‘Life is going to go down this route,’” Pixton says. “And then God says, ‘No, let’s throw another bump or twist in there.’”

Whatever that next bump or twist might be, you can bet Pixton will take it in stride — and in new and exciting directions.

Find out if your employer is one of the more than 1,500 organizations University of Phoenix works with to offer education benefits.

Meet Phoenixes like Michael. Make connections, build relationships and be part of a growing community. Join a chapter!