How Garrett Moyer ’26 MSF/MBA Took His Navy Career to the Business World
Before joining the Eller College of Management, Garrett Moyer ’26 MSF/MBA was flying off an Aircraft carrier, tracking aircraft. As a Naval Flight Officer operating the E-2D and E-2C Hawkeye, he spent years managing flight operations at sea and building situational awareness. Skills that now help him in business.
Garrett decided to leave the Navy in 2024 while on his last deployment. "During my final deployment, I realized that pursuing advanced education was the next step I wanted to take," he says. He also wanted to settle down near his family in Tucson, so he enrolled in the Eller MBA and Master of Science in Finance dual degree program and started his journey from service member to graduate student.
The switch was not always easy. One of Garrett’s first challenges was imposter syndrome, which showed up when he started writing his résumé. Turning his military experience into business terms made him realize just how much he had done. "When you're on station, you're not thinking about the monetary value of the assets you're responsible for as a mission commander," he says. "Seeing those responsibilities written out in a professional format made me stop and think: who is this guy?"
Eller did not make that feeling go away completely, but it helped Garrett manage it.
"The program exposes you to challenging and unfamiliar environments," he says. "In those moments, you can choose to grow and move forward or let that feeling take control."
He also credits mentors and peers outside the program for helping him keep things in perspective.
Faculty played a big role in Garrett’s experience. Gray Hunter, senior lecturer in Business Analytics’ course gave him the analytical foundation he needed. In finance, Department Head Alice Bonaimé, David Zynda, finance lecturer, and Diamond Professor Christopher Lamoureux each shared their unique expertise. Celine Lucas, graduate program coordinator and Anne Anderson, academic director, also encouraged him to step outside his comfort zone, both in and out of the classroom.
Garrett's thinks of his Eller experience as a tool belt. A set of frameworks and skills that build on one another. He connects this directly to his military background. "In the military, we talk a lot about situational awareness and how small factors can compound to create success or disaster," he says. "Eller approaches business in a similar way." Recognizing signals before they become bigger problems is a skill he uses in both settings.
This approach guided Garrett’s job search. Instead of applying everywhere, he used what he learned about macroeconomic trends and labor data to target industries that matched his background. He accepted a job as a Financial Analyst at Raytheon, which made sense for someone who started on aircraft carriers and gained business skills in graduate school.
Garrett’s advice to students embarking on their graduate careers is to think about emotional capital. "I believe every day you wake up with a limited amount of emotional capital," he says. "Throughout the day, you gradually spend it as you face challenges." He believes it is important to decide ahead of time what deserves your energy and to build habits that help you recharge. For him, that means prioritizing tasks, working out, and getting close to eight hours of sleep. It also means knowing the difference between being challenged and being truly worn out.
Garrett will use the frameworks he learned at Eller in his new job at Raytheon, but the most important thing he takes with him is a mindset: being willing to endure discomfort long enough to grow from it.