Taking the Path of Service

On September 11, 2001, Chris Payne was a ninth-grade student. Although his father was a pilot in the US Army and Payne had lived on a military base at Fort Knox, Kentucky, during his childhood, he had never envisioned following in his father’s footsteps.

“I always thought I was too hard-headed for the military,” said Payne, now a second-year MBA student at Chicago Booth. “When I was a kid in middle school, that was how felt.” But as a high-schooler, as he and a good friend watched on TV as the World Trade Center towers fell on 9/11, Payne’s perspective changed. “We were both rocked to the core,” he said. “That really motivated me to serve. I didn’t know how I wanted to do it yet, but I knew I wanted to.”

That momentous decision led Payne to a 10-year career in the US Army, where he ultimately became a Special Forces Green Beret officer and deployed five times. “That decision has radically impacted every aspect of my life today,” Payne said. Now, as he works on his MBA at Booth and prepares for his transition to the private sector, Payne is also putting his energy toward helping other veterans and active-duty military service members better understand the options available to them in their career paths.

He’s a member of Booth’s Armed Forces Group, which provides MBA application mentorship and various resources to veterans of all countries who are interested in applying to Booth’s MBA programs. He’s also just launched a podcast, “Pivot Points with Chris Payne,” in which he will interview veterans about the critical decisions that brought them to where they are today. The podcast is now available on platforms such as Apple Podcasts and Spotify, and coming soon to Google Podcasts. Payne hopes his subject’s stories, and their candor, will equip other members of the military—and any listeners facing difficult choices about their future—with guidance, inspiration, and insight.

“I’m fascinated by people’s decision-making processes,” said Payne, who is headed for a job as a management consultant with Boston Consulting Group after he graduates from Booth next June. “You typically hear a narrative from people about how they currently are on their path toward success. It all seems so smooth, because humans understand stories and we remember what makes sense.” But through his experience in the military, Payne knows decision-making is rarely so neat or clear-cut. “I want to dive into those individual decisions and look at moments when there was ambiguity or uncertainty, and then discuss how each individual made the big decisions that directed the course of their life.”

In one episode of his forthcoming podcast, Payne interviews St. Louis–based private equity professional Kevin Kerr, a fellow Army veteran who Payne served with in the Seventh Special Forces Group. “At that time, Kevin was getting ready to transition out of the military, so we talked about his decision to serve, his decision to go to West Point, some decisions he made as a platoon leader in combat in Afghanistan, and of course his decision to leave the military,” Payne said. “At each of those points, he references the frameworks that he used and the lessons he learned along the way. I think you can apply that to your own decision-making processes.”

Pivoting from the Military to Booth

For Payne, the critical decision to serve initially directed him to ROTC while at Centre College in Danville, Kentucky, where he earned his degree in economics in 2009. “I ended up choosing the Army, because I felt like specifically, I wanted to join the Infantry, where it’s a people business,” Payne said. “You are a leader in the pure sense of the word.” He led over 150 combat patrols in Afghanistan for a team of 48 soldiers. He also earned a Ranger Tab, a distinction achieved by less than 1 percent of Army service members. “For a 23-year-old thrust into that level of leadership, you’re leaning on all of your teammates. Your non-commissioned officers, who have much more experience than you, are super capable and are mentoring you as you learn how to lead,” Payne said. “I made tons of mistakes. As a result, humility and a sense of humor were necessary attributes and something I think veterans all share. Because of the mentorship of those around me, I think I grew as a leader more from 22 to 25 than I have at any other period of my life.”

After two years of Special Forces training, Payne became a Special Forces detachment commander in 7^th Special Forces Group (Airborne), leading a team of Green Berets and working with US Embassy officials in Central and South America to advise the premier counter-terrorism forces in multiple countries. He next deployed to Kuwait and Syria in 2017 where he coordinated operations to uproot and destroy ISIS forces and liberate populations from ISIS rule. He joined the Full-Time MBA program at Booth in September 2019 and spent his summer internship as a consultant with Boston Consulting Group, in its Dallas office.

In making the decision to pursue an MBA and ultimately to come to Booth, Payne leaned on the resources provided by Service to School, a nonprofit that focuses on introducing veterans to colleges or graduate schools. “Through that program, I was connected with Booth when I was applying to my MBA, and my Booth mentor was instrumental in guiding me through the process. They helped me understand how to structure my resume and how to communicate my experience through the application process,” Payne said. Payne also found support from Booth resources, such as the Armed Forces Group he later joined.

“The Armed Forces Group at Booth was great, even before I showed up on campus, explaining what the different pre-MBA opportunities were and getting me in the right head space to make decisions once I got on campus,” Payne said.