ALUMNI SUCCESSES

Baylor University
Ethan Jones experienced a very important delivery during his Executive MBA Program at Baylor University: He became the father of quintuplets – four girls and one boy. Born at almost 30 weeks, the babies are healthy.

“The babies are great,” says Jones. “They’re developing just fine. As long as we can keep up with their feeding, they should catch up to normal babies, developmental wise, within about a year.”

Feeding the five babies requires a coordinated effort and volunteers. “Because the babies feed every three hours, even during the night, it would be physically impossible for us to feed the babies on our own,” he says. "So the biggest thing we’ve worked on is the volunteer effort.”

Finding volunteers means completing background checks and interviews and making sure volunteers receive appropriate training. “Right now, I think we have about 75 or 80 people who have signed up, which is awesome. It’s been really fantastic to see the outpouring.” The family also has received donations of diapers, clothes, and furniture.

Baylor also contributed to the family by awarding Jones a scholarship. “They’ve been incredible through the whole deal, from day one.”

With his own construction and remodeling company, five new babies, and school, Jones has more than the average load to juggle. Despite the demands, he intends to finish his degree.

“I was on track to graduate in May, but I had to drop an accounting class,” he says. “And in the Executive MBA Program, they only offer the class once a year, so that likely puts me off a year. But that’s a small price to pay.”

University of Melbourne
When Jan Begg wanted to pursue a broader business management role, she turned to the Executive MBA Program at the University of Melbourne.

The program met her criteria, and its international module was a key differentiator.

“I was under no illusion that graduate studies at this stage of my career would be easy; however the Executive MBA structure, with its recognition of the personal, financial, and work balance made it feasible,” says Begg, who previously worked in senior roles for information technology organizations in Australia, the United States, the United Kingdom, and New Zealand.

After her acceptance into the program Begg changed companies and moved into a project and change management position. A non-IT role coupled with employer support resulted in an ideal opportunity for her to apply the learning from each Executive MBA module.

After completing her degree, Begg was approached to help establish a new project governance team for a major financial institution. “The skills I had acquired during the Executive MBA Program helped me to navigate this significantly larger organization and provided much more strategic focus to my work,” she says.

In January 2008 she launched her own consultancy company, Azulin. Assisting others to implement strategy, it provides an alternative approach to project governance through constructive assessment, intervention, and coaching.

“My career journey continues, and the skills learned and the friendships established during the long hours of study are a continuing source of strength and inspiration,” she says.

For more information, visit www.mbs.edu/emba.

MIP
MIP reported on the success of the following alumni.

• Luigi Maria Di Corato recently has been appointed CEO of the Azione Musei Senesi, one of the leading European museum management institutions, due in part to his Executive MBA training. He served as the general director of the Fondazione Musei Senesi, which was founded in 2003 with the aim of creating, consolidating, and developing a comprehensive museum system that includes most local museums. He also worked as a curator for leading institutions in Italy and abroad, was appointed professor of museum management, and served as a director for renowned institutions such as the Complesso Museale del Forte di Bard, in Valle d’Aosta, and the new Museo e Tesoro del Duomo di Monza.
  
  
• Paolo Andreotti joined Microsoft as executive producer in charge of MSN Italy after receiving his Executive MBA at MIP in 2008. His began his career at IBM as project leader in cd-rom publishing. In 1996, he built the first online website of the economic newspaper Il Sole 24 ORE www.ilsole24ore.com, and in 1999 he left the publishing world to work as director of projects and services at Yahoo! Italy. During his tenure at Yahoo, he launched the Italian version of Yahoo! and was in charge of business development, editorial partnerships, and product strategy. In 2006 he left Yahoo! for RCS Mediagroup, the biggest European publishing group, where he became marketing director of Corriere della Sera Online, the main Italian newspaper. At Microsoft, Andreotti is now in charge of implementing the local strategy of the main Italian portal.
  
  
• Maurizio Savioli is CEO of Minteos, which supports a project for monitoring environmental events that involves integrating innovative technologies into a new-generation monitoring product. After three years of research and development, Minteos has begun to offer its innovative solutions for environmental monitoring in Italy, Greece, Spain, Portugal, and Southeast Asia. It also is collaborating with the University of California at Los Angeles on a business plan to venture capitalists. Savioli began his career at Ferrero Company as junior product manager. He then spent three years in research and development and marketing as a group manager for new product development and international launches.

GLOBAL EFFORTS

Duke University
In September 2008, the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University began a campaign to lead the way in developing a global business school that is shaped and driven by the fundamental issues of the 21st century. The first part of the initiative called for the redesign of the school’s Cross Continent MBA Program, establishing teaching and research locations in the United Kingdom, the Middle East, China, India, and Russia.

In identifying these locations, Fuqua selected some of the world’s most important centers of commerce and culture. Fuqua’s aim is to educate globally sophisticated business leaders who are uniquely qualified to solve the problems that matter most in the world today.

Fuqua’s involvement with partner schools extends in more significant ways than the relationships that often define global partnerships. In addition to MBA activities, each of Fuqua’s global locations will include a research component; engagement from Duke’s schools of medicine, the environment, public policy, engineering and/or law; open enrollment and custom executive education; and service-based activities that focus on regional issues of immediate significance. This collaborative approach and close link to the community reinforce the deeply embedded relationships that Fuqua has established with corporate, government, and academic institutions in each of the regions.

Fuqua’s international endeavors enhance and inform the curriculum of all Duke MBA programs, with all students benefiting from the teaching and learning at its locations throughout the world.

IAE
Students in the Executive MBA Program at IAE test their skills and make a contribution during the course, Analysis of Business Situations.

Students perform business analyses on several NGOs that fight malnutrition in Argentina as part of that course. Students also work with the social sector in other MBA courses. The win-win situation offers students the opportunity to interact with real business situations that stress key corporate social responsibility issues. It also offers NGOs the benefit of free business expertise.

NGOs often apply student work to their benefit. Among others, a renowned NGO, CONIN, adopted one of the students’ business plans and reported highly positive results in its performance the following year.

In other news, the IAE alumni network, which will reach 10.000 next year, now has a new resource for professional development in the Master's Business Advisory Board (CAEM in Spanish).

Composed of 12 top executives from some of the most relevant companies in the region, the board seeks to assist and empower MBA graduates in their relationship with companies and colleagues. It also contributes to regionalization of IAE Business School by outlining actions, identifying the next challenges, and proposing innovative research subjects. The board meets twice a year but interacts informally in a more periodic basis.

Saint Louis University
In June 2009 the Boeing Institute of International Business in the John Cook School of Business at Saint Louis University hosted its annual Distinguished Guest Lecture. Guest lecturer Ban Ki-moon, secretary-general of the United Nations, spoke on solving the world's food and security problems.

In his first visit to the Midwest since becoming secretary-general, Ban quickly put a sobering spotlight on the world’s food crisis and the plight of one third of the world’s population.  Despite the mounting crises, solutions are within reach if the world's nations work together, he says. "No one country can address these challenges on its own. We need global responsibility, global leadership, and a new multilateralism."

It was fitting that Ban brought his message to Saint Louis University, which is driven by a Jesuit mission to make the world a better place, says Lawrence Biondi, president. "Here at Saint Louis University, we share his commitment to solving the international food crisis," he says. "We deeply admire his noble pursuit of social justice for all of the world's citizens."

MILESTONES

Benedictine College
In July, Dave Geenens, former president and CEO of AVP, Inc. in Overland Park, Kansas, joined Benedictine College as the new executive director for its graduate business programs, which include the one-year Executive MBA and traditional MBA. 

“I went through an Executive MBA Program, and I know what that’s all about,” says Greenens.  “For me, it was career changing, but it was also life changing.  The combination of faith and work is important to me, and often times the dots are not easily connected between those two things.  Benedictine’s focus on faith, scholarship, and community indicates it is the way to go.”

The college looks forward to Greenens’ contributions.

“We are excited about bringing Dave on board in the School of Business,” said Stephen D. Minnis, president of Benedictine College.  “His background in business management, combined with his leadership coaching ability, makes him the ideal person to direct our popular graduate business programs.”

Concordia University
By September 2009, the John Molson School of Business in Montreal, Canada, will have a building of its own on the corner of Guy and de Maisonneuve.

The new 15-story building features digitally equipped teaching amphitheatres and classrooms, faculty and graduate student offices, the dean’s office, and student and faculty social space, as well as space for private programs, case study rooms for group work, and laboratories for consumer behavior research.

Highlights also include the atria of two stacked stories, a vertically interconnected ground floor concourse, and a tunnel that runs under Guy Street and connects to the metro and the new Engineering, Computer Science and Visual Arts Integrated Complex.

For more information about the new building and photos, visit www.buildings.concordia.ca/sgw/jmsb.php.

Fundação Dom Cabral
In August, Fundação Dom Cabral (FDC) hosted the Second Five Diamonds Conference Cycle to address the principal issues that emerging market firms face when transnationalizing.

FDC in Brazil, Vale Columbia Center on Sustainable International Investment in the United States, Indian School of Business in India, Moscow School of Management SKOLKOVO in Russia, and Fudan University in China organized the conference. Columbia University served as the host for the first conference in April 2008.

The 2009 event at FDC opened with a general discussion of the current state of the world and then shifted to a deeper reflection on the history and philosophy that underpins economic uncertainty. It then focused on the company perspective by presenting a new framework for understanding international business and incorporating components of this framework throughout the subsequent sessions. A series of roundtables explored managing people and processes abroad, and adding value to the firm’s international strategy through the use of technology. The final panel synthesized the previous discussions and built momentum for next year’s event in Russia.

The Five Diamonds Conference Cycle creates an environment for firms that are already involved in the transnationalization process to discuss relevant strategic issues. For information, e-mail andres@fdc.org.br or jase@fdc.org.br.

Georgetown University
In July, Georgetown University received a $20 million gift for the new 179,000 square-foot building that will house the McDonough School of Business.

Georgetown will name the building in memory of the late Rafik B. Hariri, the two-time prime minister of Lebanon, renowned philanthropist, and dedicated supporter of education. Saad Hariri, the new designated prime minister of Lebanon, Hariri’s son, and 1992 alumnus, donated the gift to honor his father.

The gift will help cover the final costs of constructing the new building, which opens for classes in September. In addition to supporting the Rafik B. Hariri Building, the funds also will create two endowed scholarships, one each for an undergraduate and graduate student.

“This gift will make a tremendous difference for our ongoing efforts to enhance Georgetown’s global business education programs,” says John J. DeGiola, Georgetown president. “I am deeply grateful to the Hariri family for their generosity in supporting two of our most important priorities – building and maintaining first-class facilities and providing financial aid for students to study at Georgetown.”

Georgia State University
V. Kumar, executive director of the Center for Excellence in Brand and Customer Marketing at Georgia State University Robinson College of Business, received the 2009 Churchill Award for lifetime achievement in advancing the theory and practice of marketing research from the American Marketing Association (AMA).

The AMA also recognized Kumar in 2007 with the Mahajan Award for Lifetime Contribution to Marketing Strategy and the Lifetime Achievement Award.

“Having received three lifetime achievement awards is truly an extraordinary accomplishment,” said Robinson Dean H. Fenwick Huss. “It demonstrates how his career has touched all facets of the marketing profession and how his revolutionary research has had an impact on the success of companies throughout the world.”

Kumar's contributions include his pioneering concept of customer lifetime value, which has created fundamental changes in the practice of marketing strategy by demonstrating the business case for managing customers instead of products, focusing on the most profitable–not the most loyal–customers, and basing marketing decisions on forward-looking metrics instead of backward-looking ones. He ranks among the world’s top five marketing scholars and has published more than 125 articles and books.

Jacksonville University
In July, Donald H. “Donnie” Horner, Jr., became the new director of the Davis Leadership Center and the new Davis Professor of Management at Jacksonville University.

Horner comes to Jacksonville University from his most recent position as the Distinguished Professor of Leadership Education in the Department of Leadership, Ethics, and Law at the United States Naval Academy (USNA) in Annapolis, Maryland. He also served as the USNA class of 1961 endowed chair.  

Horner graduated from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in 1981 with a bachelor of science in general engineering. He also received a master of science in transportation systems from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1985 and a master of art in 1990 and a Ph.D. in sociology from Stanford University in 1992. He previously was director of the Leadership Development Department and Program at Pennsylvania State University and also worked in the Department of Behavioral Science and Leadership at the U.S. Military Academy.

In other milestones, Jacksonville University’s most recent graduating classes performed particularly well in competition rounds while playing the CAPSIM simulation game and also in the graduated Educational Testing Service (ETS) exams.  In the latter, they averaged 271 and 263, respectively placing them in the top 90 percent and then 80 percent of all MBA graduate students taking the test in the nation.

In addition, Jacksonville University is redesigning its current Executive MBA Program to incorporate several new features, such as a Leadership Development Portfolio, Leadership Challenge exercises in six of the core classes, and an executive health component with a well-known local medical clinic and hospital.

Rollins College
Rollins College recently named Cari Haught Coats executive director of the school’s Center for Entrepreneurship. She has served as interim director for the center since January 2009.

Rollins College also reported the following news:

• The Rollins Philanthropy and Nonprofit Leadership Center announced the findings of its 2009 Nonprofit Compensation and Benefits Report, which found that male CEOs and executive directors earn significantly higher pay than their female counterparts on average.
  
  
• Jennifer Rider of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Florida received this year’s Martin Bell Scholarship. The college awards the Martin Bell Scholarship, a full scholarship to the Rollins Corporate MBA Program, annually to a senior nonprofit professional who demonstrates exemplary leadership in their field.

Thunderbird School of Global Management
Thunderbird School of Global Management recently launched a new entrepreneurship blog on the Thunderbird Knowledge Network, an interactive, multimedia forum that gives open access to the expertise and insights of Thunderbird’s network of faculty, alumni, and corporate partners throughout the world on the latest, most relevant global business issues and trends.

The new Walker Center for Global Entrepreneurship Blog includes stories, videos, podcasts, and profiles of Walker Center faculty, alumni entrepreneurs, and guest speakers. Readers can participate by posting comments on any post. Thunderbird instructor Melissa Beran Samuelson helped the Walker Center launch the blog with her first report from a global Islamic women’s conference in Malaysia.

In other news, Thunderbird Professor Christine Pearson and Christine Porath, assistant professor of management at the University of Southern California, co-authored a recently published book – The Cost of Bad Behavior: How Incivility Is Damaging Your Business and What to Do About It.

Whether it’s a standoffish coworker or an arrogant boss, incivility at the office hurts the entire company and is costing U.S. companies an estimated $300 billion annually, according to the research of the two professors.

The Cost of Bad Behavior combines personal research with stories from fields as diverse as criminology, education, and psychology, and shows how to spot the roots of incivility and what companies can do about it. The book also showcases five corporations that have tackled incivility in the workplace and saved millions in doing so: Cisco Systems, Starbucks, DaVita Inc., Microsoft, and O’Melveny & Myers.

University of California, Berkeley
Katherine Lilygren, an experienced higher education administrator with extensive private sector experience, has been appointed executive director of the Berkeley-Columbia Executive MBA Program at University of California Berkeley’s Haas School of Business. She started her new job in May.

Lilygren comes to Haas after working as director of admissions and associate director of the Executive MBA Program at UCLA’s Anderson School of Management. In that position, she ran admissions, managed all aspects of student affairs, handled internal operating and budget issues, coordinated with faculty on curriculum, and took responsibility for web content and alumni e-newsletters.

Her previous positions include chief financial officer, treasurer, and vice president at a series of top banks and financial services companies, including Bank of America, Union Bank, Unihealth, and Long Term Care Group. She received her MBA from UCLA and her undergraduate business degree from the University of Southern California.

In other news, a group of Berkeley-Columbia Executive MBA graduates took part in a grueling test of endurance May 30 as they participated in Hawaii's Ironman 70.3.

Eleven members of the Berkeley-Columbia class of 2009 and one member of the class of 2010 finished the Ironman’s 1.2-mile open ocean swim, 56-mile bike ride, and 13.1-mile run.

The accomplishment was the culmination of 22 weeks of serious training. Patrick Dempsey, MBA 09, who organized the team effort with classmate Damon Krytzer, MBA 09, estimates that he logged in more than 2,300 miles of cycling, 400 miles of running, and 80 miles of swimming to prepare for the event.

The team hired a training coach after graduating in December and had been swimming, bicycling, and running ever since. “What better activity to replace the daily efforts we have been devoting to the MBA,” says Dempsey.

Race highlights included a swim with enough visibility to take in views of the fish and the reefs and seven miles downhill with a tailwind during the bike ride. The low: a run through "the pit," in which "you run down into a wasteland that seems to get hotter and hotter as you go, only to turn around and run back up out of it," says Dempsey.

Alumni are looking forward to a repeat performance.

"We are doing this again!" says Dempsey. "We learned that we could transform ourselves into endurance athletes in five months using the same dedication we brought to the Berkeley-Columbia program. I fully expect this to become an annual event organized by the graduating Berkeley-Columbia class, each taking on the challenge of getting more finishers to the line than any of the previous years.”

University of Michigan
The University of Michigan welcomed Joyce Mueller as the new managing director for its Executive MBA Program.

“Joyce is an alumna of the Ross School of Business MBA Program, and comes to us with a diverse background of marketing experiences in industries such as forest products, automotive, and financial services,” says Sue Ashford, associate dean of the University of Michigan Ross School of Business.

“She has spent the majority of her career on the client side in various marketing functions, including advertising, strategy, and product development. Most recently, Joyce held a leadership role in a digital advertising agency. She brings great leadership skills, marketing expertise, and a passion for the Ross School to her new position. I feel very fortunate to have attracted her to our school.”

In other news, the University of Michigan Executive MBA Program moved back to the main campus after the much anticipated $100 million Ross School of Business opened in January 2009. The Executive MBA Program was housed off-campus for the four years it took to construct the facility.

“We are very excited about our return to campus,” says Ashford. “Being in Wyly Hall and back at the business school will support the action–based learning that is a hallmark of the Ross education by integrating within a single location all aspects of Executive MBA residencies: lodging, classroom learning, group study, socializing, and networking.”

To view photos of the Ross building, visit www.bus.umich.edu/newhome.

University of Missouri–Kansas City
In August, Teng-Kee Tan began his duties as new dean of the Bloch School at the University of Missouri–Kansas City. 

Tan most recently served as director of the Nanyang Technopreneurship Center at the Nanyang Technological University in the Republic of Singapore. He received his bachelor of commerce degree from Nanyang University, his MBA from Northwestern University, and Ph.D. from University of Cambridge.  In addition to his many academic achievements, Tan spent 18 years at multinational corporations in Asia and North America in senior corporate positions. This fall, Tan also will teach the strategy course in the Bloch Executive MBA Program, which has a strong focus on innovation and entrepreneurship. 

In other news, Joan Gallos, academic director of the Bloch Executive MBA Program, received the 2009 Distinguished Service Award from the Organizational Behavior Teaching Society (OBTS) at the national conference this June.  She was also named to the first class of the OBTS Fellows: Sages of the Society for contributions to excellence in management education.

University of Oregon
The Oregon Executive MBA, a University of Oregon degree program in partnership with Oregon State University and Portland State University, will begin its 25th class this September. During the year, special silver anniversary celebrations are scheduled for faculty and more than 1000 alumni.

University of Tennessee
The University of Tennessee reported the following milestones:

• Aerospace and defense MBA students spent a two-week, international residence period in Japan, which included industry, government, and educational visits in Tokyo and Nagoya. Highlights included visits with JAL, Mitsubishi, and Toyota.
  
  
• Students in the Executive MBA two-week international seminar will travel to Warsaw, Poland, Vienna, Austria, and Budapest, Hungary.  In addition to attending lectures at the Central European University Business School in Budapest, the class will meet with representatives from Caterpillar, Mercedes Benz, the National Bank of Poland, Proctor & Gamble, TriGranit Development Corporation, KPMG, IKEA, GE, and Grundfos.  
    
  • After earning his Executive MBA from the University of Tennessee in 2008 at the age of 64, Bill F. Breeding, Jr., former mayor of Johnson City, Tennessee, donated a gift to support the Executive MBA Program and the technology in the new James A. Haslam II Business Building. The program named a team room, which students in all four of the college’s executive MBA programs use, in his honor.
    
  • John T. (Tom) Mentzer, Chancellor’s Professor and the Harry J. and Vivienne R. Bruce Chair of Excellence in Business, was the key speaker for a Journal of Commerce webinar, New Efficiencies in Retail Supply Chains: Putting Productivity to Work in the Downturn, available at www.joc.com/supplychain.
  
  
• Alex Miller, William B. Stokely Chair in Management and associate dean of executive education, was recognized by DC Velocity magazine as one of 14 industry rainmakers in 2009.

University of Texas
The Executive MBA Program at the University of Texas welcomes John Burrows as its new director starting this 2009-10 academic year.  A faculty member in the management department since 2006, Burrows has taught in the Executive MBA Program.

In addition, Sarah Trombly joins the Executive MBA staff as the new student affairs associate.

The Executive MBA Program also hosted the 2009 Executive MBA Council USA/Southwest Regional Meeting with the Mexico City Executive MBA Program in its new AT&T Executive Education and Conference Center. The LEED certified facility opened in August 2008 and boasts 40,000 square feet of dedicated meeting space. Meeting topics included Using Web 2.0 in Higher Education, which was facilitated by Jason Molin, and 10 Myths About the U.S. Global Economy, which was presented by Michael Brandl.

Xavier University
Xavier University named Hema Krishnan as associate dean of the Williams College of Business.

Krishnan replaces Raghu Tadepalli, who is leaving Xavier to become the Murata Dean of the F.W. Olin Graduate School of Business at Babson College in Massachusetts. A nationally known scholar with an outstanding portfolio of teaching, research, and service, Krishnan received her Ph.D. in strategic management from the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. She joined Xavier in 1993 and became a full professor in 2005.  She has several years of business experience and was the first woman in India to be appointed to a sales position in the petroleum industry.
 
“She has served her department well,” says Ali Malekzadeh, dean of the Williams College of Business. "Now she'll have the opportunity to take her vision, knowledge, and skills to the next level as associate dean.”  
 
Krishnan conducts research in the areas of mergers and acquisitions, top management teams, and corporate restructuring. She has published more than 25 articles in the top business journals and teaches international management, strategic management, strategic leadership, and global strategic thinking at the undergraduate, MBA, and executive levels.

PROGRAM INNOVATIONS

Cornell University and Queen’s University
With the class starting in 2009, the Cornell-Queen’s Executive MBA Program expanded its reach within the United States to now include a Boardroom Learning Center in Salem, New Hampshire.

The program also offers Boardroom Learning Centers in New York city, Ithaca, Seattle, Portland, Dallas, Houston, Atlanta, Washington D.C., Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, and Ottawa. This year’s class totals 126 members, 18 percent growth from last year, with 73 participants based in the United States, 30 percent growth from last year, and 53 based in Canada.

The Cornell-Queen's Executive MBA Program is a partnership program between the Johnson School at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, and Queen's School of Business at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario. The program organizes participants into Boardroom Learning Teams of six to eight students in selected cities throughout the United States and Canada. A portion of the program is delivered in a technology-facilitated manner by using multi-point, real-time, interactive videoconferencing to connect Boardroom Learning Centers in these cites. For information, visit www.cqemba.org.

ESADE
Integrated into the core curriculum, the entrepreneurship program at ESADE helps participants consolidate and apply the knowledge acquired during the ESADE MBA in the development of innovative business plans.

The course consists of three parts:

• A conceptual introduction to entrepreneurship and the key tools to apply
  
  
• An optional feasibility study during the summer break in which participants analyze the viability of a business idea
  
  
• Development of a business plan

Throughout the course, participants receive guidance from the Entrepreneurship Centre’s (CINEM) lecturers and tutors. The course is an excellent opportunity for students who want to launch their own businesses to take full advantage of a wide variety of resources and experiences at ESADE.

BSP - Business School São Paulo
BSP - Business School São Paulo recently launched its Executive MBA with a specialization in IT management for professionals at the managerial level.

The course is aimed to help technology leaders reach higher positions in companies. The program includes disciplines such as finance, marketing, IT governance, and information security.

"Many CIOs are invited to take higher positions in the corporate control, and their success is only possible when the professional has an overall business strategic vision,” says Armando Dal Colletto, project director, professor, and dean of BSP.

The program uses business and technology modules for a total of 528 hours. The first module includes disciplines such as finance, marketing, operations management, human resources, and entrepreneurship. The second module includes subjects such as IT governance, information security, sourcing, and systems architecture strategy. "Two thirds of the classes are devoted to business issues and the remaining, specifically to technology," says Dal Colletto.

Currently 10 percent of all BSP MBA students come from the IT sector, and the school hopes to have the first class of the new program with at least 30 participants, says Dal Colletto. "No other segment has such significant percentage in our Executive MBA," he says, emphasizing that this demonstrates the interest of these professionals in business development.

Southern Methodist University
Executive MBA students received recognition and awards for their business plans as part of the fifth annual Cox Business Plan Competition at Southern Methodist University.

Silver Creek Technology Investors choose Bill Chinn, Brad Myers, and Julian Ratneyeke, Executive MBA students from the class of 2009, as winners of the competition. The company also contributed $2,500 to the winners. In addition, an Executive MBA 2007 alumnus and another alumnus contributed $2,250 each for the remaining top four. 

The competition took place as part of the entrepreneurship course, which included guest speakers David Litman, founder of Hotels.com; Sam Wyly, entrepreneur, billionaire, and author of 1,000 Dollars & an Idea; and Mike Schreiber, Executive MBA 2006 alumnus and founder of VendorClear, a health care technology and access management company.

University of California at Los Angeles
The Executive MBA Strategic Management Research (SMR) Program provides organizations around the world an opportunity to engage a team of experienced professionals who are students in the Executive MBA Program at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA).

In turn, the SRM Program allows students to undertake real-world problems in a transforming global environment, helping them expand their skill sets and define their own professional interests and goals.

The SMR Program matches companies and organizations around the world with five to six Executive MBA students in their final year of study. The Executive MBA team represents a cross-section of business functions and specialties, such as marketing, finance, technology and operations, and collectively students contribute an estimated 2,000 hours to each SMR project.

Students and company representatives agree on a scope of work that will result in an in-depth strategic business plan. Examples of past SMR projects include leveraging existing intellectual property into new products or services and new markets, launching new products or services, exploring new geographical markets, and providing an in-depth analysis of an organization's restructuring, reorganization, or acquisition plans.

The completed SMR reports incorporate comprehensive financial, marketing, operational, and strategic recommendations based on extensive primary and secondary research that the team conducts. Companies such as Genentech, Nissan, Countrywide Financial, and Kodak have sponsored SMR projects.

University of Pennsylvania
The Wharton School of Management has expanded it Entrepreneur-In-Resident (EIR) program to its Wharton | San Francisco location. 

One of the most highly rated Wharton Entrepreneurial Programs in Philadelphia, the EIR series gives current students and Wharton | San Francisco alumni the opportunity to meet one-on-one with experienced entrepreneurial professionals. These sessions provide access for Executive MBA students to highly seasoned executives. 

A second initiative, a venture panel series, also focuses on entrepreneurship, and a recent panel featured a group of angel investors and business owners who shared their views on using angel funds to launch new companies.

University of Texas at Arlington
The Executive MBA Program at the University of Texas recently developed an ethics oath for its students.

After learning of the recent student-led ethics oath initiative at the Harvard graduate business program, Jim Ellis, executive director of the Executive MBA Program, decided to take the idea further and developed a school-mandated ethics oath for Executive MBA students.

An ethics oath is a public declaration to uphold integrity, honesty, dignity, and honor in one’s professional business career, much like the oaths that doctors and lawyers are required to take before they become licensed.

With the implementation of this oath, the University of Texas at Arlington will join the ranks of the Columbia School of Business, which adopted an “honor code” in 2007, as well as Harvard and the Thunderbird School of Global Management in Arizona. The University of Texas at Arlington will be the first Executive MBA graduate business program in Texas to adopt an ethics oath.

“This is a great step for our Executive MBA Program at the University of Texas at Arlington, and for business schools nationwide,” said Dan Himarios, dean of the Arlington College of Business.

“Because of the current issues on Wall Street, it’s essential that future business leaders understand the importance of ethics,” he says. “We want to be sure that our students will uphold standards of integrity and honesty in their careers and be able to serve the business community with their skills, rather than exploit it.”

The Executive MBA Program’s December 2009 graduates will be the first class to take the oath.

“The students are completely behind this,” says Ellis. “We couldn’t do this without them; I’m proud to see so much support on the part of our Executive MBA students.”