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When Joshua Mace (MBA’26) first sat down at his Leeds orientation, he didn’t know a single person at his table. After 23 years in the Air Force, he was stepping into a brand-new world with classmates half his age and unfamiliar academic pressures—but he was excited about a promising future unfolding. As he looked around the room, he was struck by a feeling of certainty. “I remember thinking, the four of us at this table—we’re going to stick together until the end.”

Now, as Mace approaches the halfway point of his second year, his prediction has proven true. “And sure enough,” he said, “the connection we formed that very first day has carried us all the way through.”

Questioning family tradition

Born in Los Angeles and raised in Oregon, Mace initially was unsure of the military life he had grown up around. Although his father served in the Army National Guard, Mace wanted to try college first. He found that going to school, however, only left him searching for direction. “I got to the point where I wasn’t going anywhere,” he said.

Unsure of what to do, Mace’s father suggested that he speak to a military recruiter. That conversation changed his path. The recruiter “laid it all out as far as going to school, being able to go overseas and many other details.” The opportunity to leave Oregon sealed the deal, as Mace felt ready for a change.

Then 9/11 happened. At that point, Mace had been serving in the military for a couple of months. Seeing the military in action “opened my eyes,” he said. He realized he had the chance to make a real difference. “This is real stuff we do in the Air Force," he said.

For the next 23 years, Mace served as a weather forecaster. A crucial role for the safety of pilots around him, he integrated meteorology and weather pattern recognition for military decision making. He was deployed multiple times to Southwest Asia while also being stationed in Germany and Korea, getting the chance to visit more than 30 countries during the course of his career. His crowning achievement was being named the senior enlisted leader for one of his deployed units and working together with the Qatari Air Force. His favorite memory during that time? During the World Cup 2022, Mace was able to “Get a spot on Fox NFL Sunday, and get my guys into the shot when they came out there in November."

Building a sense of community is something Mace appreciates, and he knows it doesn’t happen by chance. But after two decades, he sensed something was missing. “I knew it was coming to an end. I did not want to be on active duty or in the military past the age of 45. It was time to make a change.”

With encouragement from his wife, who at the time worked in the military Transition Assistance Program, Mace decided it was time to go back to school. “I had already earned my undergrad degree through tuition assistance in the military, so I thought an MBA seemed like an interesting path to pursue.” He chose Leeds for the same reason he joined the Air Force years ago: the drive for something new and different. Having already traveled extensively, he was eager to try someplace new. Acceptance letter in hand, he was happy to declare: “Sweet, we’re moving to Boulder!”

Beyond the classroom

Now in his second year of the MBA program, Mace is as active a member of the Leeds community as he was in the Air Force. He strives to lead by example as president of both the MBA Marketing Club and the MBA Veterans Group. He is also the chapter co-leader of the Adam Smith Society, a group that brings students and professionals together to discuss and debate the free market’s contributions to human flourishing.

“I really enjoy learning other people’s stories, why they’re here, and then getting to work with them,” said Mace. Each club offers him a unique perspective and valuable benefits. The marketing club fulfills his love of ideas and people coming together to brainstorm concepts that make them come alive. In the Veterans Group, he gets to relive old stories and connect with people who share his military experience. Within the Adam Smith Society, he gets to do what he “loves to do most, which is get out there, travel, meet new people and hear what they have to say."

Leading by example

Mace admitted that the transition from active service to academia wasn’t easy. “It certainly was a whirlwind,” he said. “We have to do 18-and-a-half credits, and especially for me, coming out of the military and not being in a school environment for over a decade, it has been a lot,” he laughed. But through his community, Mace has found a strategy for coping, helping him create clear goals.

What he has enjoyed the most is seeing that he can make friends with anyone. This past September, he met with the first-year MBA students at their post-ceremony orientation. He told them: “Look to your left; look to your right. These are the people that you are going to meet in the coming days and weeks, and they’re going to be with you throughout everything.”

Building on his personal experience, Mace advised his peers: “You are going to build friendships, and some of these people are going to be a part of your life forever. It is staggering, it is scary, it is exciting all at the same time. But it is true.”