The 12 Week MBA with Bjorn Billhardt

This episode of "Austin Tech Connect" is a trip down memory lane to the early days of Austin tech. Bjorn Billhardt came to Austin as a 15 year old foreign exchange student at Pflugerville High School. He enjoyed his year here so much that he called his mom in Germany and asked to stay to finish his education. He remained in Pflugerville, then went to the University of Texas at Austin. After finishing his MBA at Harvard the came right back to Austin to launch his first company. This was in 2001 and the tech economy was the beginning of a three year slow down, so he had to bootstrap his new startup. But he looks back as that era as the best times in his career. Today he is the CEO of Abilitie, a fast growing company that is making an impact around the world. About Bjorn BIllhardt

Bjorn Billhardt is co-author of The 12-Week MBA and the CEO of Abilitie, a leadership development company focused on teaching business acumen and management skills with team-based business simulations.  Abilitie’s leadership programs have educated 100,000 learners in 50 countries, including rising leaders at many Fortune 500 companies such as Coca-Cola, Dell, GE, Marriott, Pfizer, and Southwest.

Prior to founding Abilitie in 2015, Bjorn was the CEO of Enspire Learning, a custom e-learning development company he co-founded in 2001 while studying at Harvard Business School. Before business school, Bjorn worked as a consultant and corporate trainer for a Dutch software company and McKinsey & Company. Bjorn holds a BA from the University of Texas and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Bjorn has served on the boards of The Magellan International School, Spa Partisan (the parent company of the milk + honey spa), and the Advisory Board of the University of Texas at Austin School for Undergraduate Studies and the UT-HDO Program.  He lives in Austin, TX with his wife and three boys. A native of Hamburg, Germany, Bjorn came to the United States as an exchange student, attending Pflugerville High School outside of Austin, TX.

About Abilitie Abilitie has reimagined business education by creating hands-on leadership development programs, including The 12-Week MBA, for rising leaders and executives around the world. With 500+ global clients – including Dell, Coca-Cola, Garmin, Marriott, and Southwest Airlines – and 100,000+ learners, Abilitie is a rapidly growing innovator in the leadership development and edtech markets. You can buy his new book (that was just released) anywhere books can be purchased. Order your copy today (or walk into a Barnes & Noble and get a copy the old fashioned way).