Michael Davidson followed what many call the traditional path: He received a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from The University of Tulsa in 1995 and started work within a week of graduation, “in part because of companies that hired directly from TU,” he said.
Fast forward almost three decades when Davidson earned his second degree: a master’s of science in business analytics. “I felt like TU’s business analytics program was well-suited to what I wanted to achieve,” he said. “It was also very accommodating, with night classes and a combination of online versus in person. It just worked well with my schedule.”
He is now senior director of network infrastructure supply planning for Microsoft’s Cloud and Artificial Intelligence division. “I lead the organization that plans out all of our network infrastructure to connect our data centers to each other around the world,” he said. “It’s a supply chain role where we look at our demand. We also look at our inventory and future forecasts.”
Davidson believes strongly in the power of education and has spoken to UTulsa classes about his journey.
Meanwhile, Davidson’s daughter Emily received her bachelor’s degree in accounting from UTulsa in 2024, and the two have commemorative engraved bricks beside each other on campus. “That was a special moment for us,” he added.