MBA Blog

Student Experience in the Executive MBA | Kimberly Mallek

Anonymous — Mon, 04 Mar 2024 22:00:21 +0000

Student Experience in the Executive MBA | Kimberly Mallek Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 03/04/2024 - 15:00

“I Came to Leeds to Expand my Leadership Opportunities.”

Kimberly Mallek on the far right of the front row pictured with her EMBA cohort in Vail.

Kimberly Mallek is a design director, consumer packaged goods (CPG) guru, business leader, and second-year Executive MBA (EMBA) student at CU Boulder’s Leeds School of Business. Before starting the EMBA program, Mallek spent years working with leading CPG brands and retailers managing retail promotions and up to 600 SKUs a year for organizations like Walmart, GoGo Squeez, Celestial Seasonings, Harmons Grocery, Wild Oats Markets, and Whole Foods to name a few.

Mallek, who graduates this May, is exploring leadership opportunities that connect her entrepreneurial passion for CPG and natural and organic foods with her client-side experience of working in-house for corporate art departments.

Tell us why you started the EMBA program?

My initial motivation for getting an Executive MBA was to focus on rebuilding our design and consulting practice after Covid. We got hit really hard with the pandemic and lost some of our key accounts. Interestingly, we were in grocery and CPG, which was in extremely high demand at that time.

But the stores couldn't even keep stuff in stock. Everyone was shopping and there wasn't enough bandwidth. Our clients were dealing with supply chain issues and didn’t have time to think about branding. Many of the new accounts we had picked up prior to the pandemic were very small and didn't make it. We couldn't go out and replace them. So I decided to diversify to explore going back to the client side.

When I started to research MBA programs I knew I wanted to stay in Boulder and felt the EMBA degree would be the right degree. For me it was the solution to bridge this gap from being a business owner and self employed for 15 years to being back client side and leading in a corporate structure.

What aspects of the program have stood out to you?

The residencies, with their combination of working and studying in a social environment, are by far the most exciting part of the Executive MBA Program.

In the fall we traveled to Vail for our residency. It is such a special place to go to learn and there is a ton of excitement from the students. During the first year residency, you complete a leadership simulation. It is both physically and mentally intense. Even though it is completely simulated you still felt the pressure. First year is a really great time to do it. You're in your first term, your first residency, and you're really just getting to know this inner cohort. You have to work together, and personalities really shine through. It was a great way to bond for this two year process of working together.

Leeds does a fantastic job of having a few events during the EMBA residencies including opportunities to connect with peers. One night I went to dinner with a group from my cohort and then the next night, I ventured out and met up with students at a sports bar where the CU game was on, so that was super special. It was a great night even with CU losing. Go Buffs!

How has the combination of residencies and remote learning benefited your experience in the Executive MBA Program?

The flexibility of remote work allows working professionals like myself to juggle their studies with their existing schedules. Then when you meet with your team someone will often say, “Hey, I'll take the lead on this one,” and then just kind of rotate from a leadership perspective.

The in-person learning during the residencies is intense but creates a dynamic setting that makes it easier to apply the information and knowledge. While there is a lot of content to absorb; the discussion and high level of engagement by the other students and passionate faculty, makes the course work more enjoyable to learn.

The remote work and studying is offset by the sense of community and connection created through the week-long residencies. When you're in the room with everyone sharing ideas, you get to learn through other students' experiences. You get to see these interesting things about people that you didn't know. And that's really cool.

Now That You’ve Nearly Completed the Program, What Piece of Advice do you Offer to Future EMBAs?

Mallek’s experience during the week-long residencies mirrors what other students and graduates have gained from the program:Time invested in community building and networking is a critical part of the EMBA and is an important feature of what makes it unique.

Having participated in several residencies, along with a variety of events and activities, Mallek advised that it is helpful to have a plan for networking. Having goals and purpose are simple ways to get more out of the experience.

Additionally, Mallek was adamant that you must go to office hours. “I have been very diligent in carving out the time in my schedule to go to office hours, and it has made me understand the material a lot better.”

We invite you to learn more about Kim Mallek on LinkedIn. You can also learn more about the Leeds Executive MBA Program here.

Executive MBA student Kimberly Mallek came to Leeds to expand her leadership opportunities.

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Energetic Edge: Leeds MBA Team Earns Second Place Award in Prestigious Duke Clean Energy Case Competition

Anonymous — Tue, 28 Nov 2023 07:00:00 +0000

Energetic Edge: Leeds MBA Team Earns Second Place Award in Prestigious Duke Clean Energy Case Competition Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 11/28/2023 - 00:00

It was important to create a solution that would benefit people, not just make a profit.

So, when four Leeds School of Business MBA students began creating a model for a prestigious case competition, they started with the true need: how to work collaboratively with farmers and community members to provide consistent, affordable energy sources and cold storage to communities in Nigeria.

“We realized early on that if we did not create community buy-in from the ground up that no matter how good the tech was, the business will fail,” said Erik Coler, one of the team members. “We decided to create a model that would work with local community leaders to run a cold storage business and provide consistent, affordable electricity to people's homes all being run entirely off a solar grid. The model also gives local farmers the ability to store their food and increase their incomes while providing affordable, better-quality food to their communities.”

Their model, and work to promote it, won the team a second place award in the annual International Duke University Energy in Emerging Markets Case competition on November 7, 2023. All students in the Clean Energy Pathway in the Center for Ethics and Social Responsibility (CESR) at Leeds, Mary Boling, Richard Swistara, Nathaniel Reynolds and Coler beat more than 60 teams to get to second place.

“Participating in this competition was exhilarating, offering us the chance to engage with and learn from other top MBA programs while tackling a case that realistically modeled renewable energy implementation in emerging markets,”

said Swistara.

In the final round, they competed with the best MBA programs in the world: IESE, third highest ranked global MBA according to FT; Northwestern, the second highest ranked MBA program in the United States; York University, the highest ranked MBA program in Canada; and Cambridge University.

“We loved how this competition allowed us to use our creativity and business acumen to address a real-world problem,” said Boling. “We are very grateful to Duke University for creating this opportunity to not only develop a solution but also get feedback on that solution from industry leaders.”

Clean Energy Pathway prepares students

“CESR offers an MBA pathway in clean energy linked to recommended courses, experiential learning opportunities, networks and jobs,” said Kathryn Wendell, executive director of CESR. “We are proud of our students for competing among many highly regarded business school programs and landing in second place. This demonstrates not only the high caliber of our MBA students, but also the significance of our pathway in preparing students to drive business solutions to environmental and social challenges.”

Back in September, Julie Waggoner, director of operations at CESR, introduced the MBA students to each other. She suggested they’d make a great team for the highly competitive Duke competition that features three rounds of competition to find the most innovative business-based solutions to a real problem faced by Okra Solar, a company that makes mesh-grid products to bring affordable and reliable energy access to all.

“I’m not aware that a Leeds team has ever participated in this competition before, so it’s very exciting to see them go so far,” said Waggoner.

And according to Coler “it came down to the razor wire for the judges who extended the original time for scoring.”

Wendell said it’s clear that sustainability is an important focus at Leeds today. More students are interested in sustainability. More faculty are integrating sustainability themes into their research and teaching, and there is increasing collaboration on sustainability initiatives across CU Boulder and with the private sector.

She said CESR would like to support more students in participating in case competitions like this and, to the extent possible, help offset costs so financial constraints aren’t a barrier to students’ participation.

“Each team brought innovative and unique perspectives in solving impactful real-world energy issues,” said Reynolds. “What a great opportunity to think deeply about complex problems and meet amazing people.”

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Leeds’ MBA Ranks No. 12 of Top MBA Public Programs for Career Growth

Anonymous — Thu, 16 Nov 2023 16:29:04 +0000

Leeds’ MBA Ranks No. 12 of Top MBA Public Programs for Career Growth Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 11/16/2023 - 09:29

LinkedIn’s inaugural ranking recognizes Leeds as one of the best MBA programs for alumni career success.

Return on investment, otherwise known as ROI: it’s one of the top reasons students pursue a Master of Business Administration. For most, that means new career opportunities resulting in professional connections, promotions and higher wages—results that MBA graduates have come to expect from Leeds, one of the nation’s best programs for setting up their alumni for career success. Others are taking notice too.

On November 14, social media platform LinkedIn released their inaugural list of the top 50 business schools to grow students’ careers and ranked CU Boulder’s Leeds School of Business the 36th best MBA among all AACSB-accredited, full-time programs in the United States, and the 12th best public program in the country. To compile the ranking, LinkedIn used aggregated public member data from active LinkedIn profiles and alumni profiles associated with the programs to evaluate hiring and demand; ability to advance; network strength; leadership potential; and gender diversity.

“We are very proud of our alumni and the professional success that they continue to experience after graduating from Leeds,” said Kristi Ryujin, associate dean of graduate programs at the Leeds School. “Our faculty and staff work incredibly hard to support our students and help them succeed during the program so that they continue to thrive after walking across the commencement stage.”

For Amy Link (MBA’16), the decision to attend graduate school at Leeds was influenced by the school’s close relationships with the Boulder business community. After graduating from the program, she started as a product manager with Zayo Group, a privately-held company specializing in communications infrastructure, rising to the level of vice president after multiple promotions over the years.

“I wouldn’t have been considered by Zayo without my MBA,” Link said. “Leeds was an introduction to a new network of close friends and professionals.”

Over the last several years, Leeds’ MBA program has grown significantly by adding new MBA formats, including the Hybrid and Executive MBA programs, and has also diversified the student body including the percentage of women across cohorts.

In April 2023, the full-time Leeds MBA was ranked No. 60 overall by U.S. News and World Report. Among public schools, it has steadily improved, going from No. 39 in 2022 to No. 36 last year, and to No. 32 in the most recent rankings. It remains the best full-time MBA in Colorado.

“It’s an honor that our MBA program continues to be recognized,” Ryujin said. “Leeds continues to invest in student success and it shows.”

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First Class of Graduates Reflect on EMBA's Leadership Lessons

Anonymous — Thu, 11 May 2023 15:12:56 +0000

First Class of Graduates Reflect on EMBA's Leadership Lessons Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 05/11/2023 - 09:12

Global experiences, a thoughtful program design and emphasis on DEI helped students forge tight bonds while reflecting on their aspirations as leaders.

Students in the Executive MBA program pose for a group shot during their retreat to Vail. Graduates completed six one-week residences during their two years at Leeds, including visits to campus, the mountains, London and Lisbon. Pictured below are Max Perez Maryel Barron.

Ask the students, and they’ll tell you it’s more than the convenience of a hybrid structure, the high level of support or the picturesque retreat locations.

Graduation 2023

Complete coverage of the commencement ceremonies for the Class of 2023 at Leeds.
Teamwork, tomorrows the themes at graduation ceremonies.
When it comes to impact, the Class of 2023 is just getting started.
David Drake honored as a top teacher with Frascona Award.
New award recognizes professor whose innovations tamed one of Leeds' most difficult courses.

What stands out most to the first graduating class of the Executive MBA program at the Leeds School of Business are the people.

“I did not expect my relationships to develop to such depths,” said Max Perez (EMBA’23), who is graduating this spring. “The relationships I built with my team, my cohort and the faculty are something I expect to carry with me for the rest of my career.”

Making meaningful connections with an accomplished group of leaders is a hallmark of the EMBA at Leeds. In designing the program, Lori Seward, professor and faculty director of MBA programs, felt strongly that it provide “rich opportunities for exceptional professionals—from a variety of industries, functions and fields—to make lifelong relationships.” She understood that these powerful contacts would help advance careers, launch new endeavors and facilitate impact at organizations.

Perez agreed. Now vice president of strategic initiatives at a cutting-edge quantum technology company, he directly attributed his current role to his EMBA experience.

“I had classmates working in finance, energy, mining, sales, operations, medicine, small business and so on,” he said. “Everyone brings a distinct perspective to the coursework and discussions. This will be my network beyond my core tech industry for the next phase of my career, and I hope it will enable the kind of cross-collaborations that I really enjoy.

“Ultimately, business is about people—and that is at the heart of the Leeds EMBA.”

Maryel Barron (EMBA’23) valued her cohort’s rich diversity, as well. “The program's emphasis on global perspectives and diverse industry experiences provided exposure to different viewpoints,” she said. “It was precious in broadening my understanding of various business practices and cultures, which is essential in developing effective strategies for managing diverse teams and addressing systemic gaps.”

When the program started, Barron worked at Boulder County Public Health. Thanks to her Leeds EMBA, she was able to transition into a financial controller role at Salud Family Health, where she’s working to create equitable access for vulnerable populations.

A special format

Soon after Leeds launched the EMBA in 2021, Executive MBA—the global trade magazine for EMBA programs—celebrated the program for its innovative, hybrid structure.

Even more importantly, that structure has been a hit with students.

“The Leeds EMBA is ready-made for a working professional,” said Dr. Brad Fehrenbach (EMBA’23), a radiologist who is graduating this May. “They’ve got all the logistics down. And I like our class size, because you get to know each other very well.”

“Ultimately, business is about people—and that is at the heart of the Leeds EMBA.”

Max Perez (EMBA’23)

Those logistics include three one-week, in-person residencies each year—in the mountains, on the Boulder campus and abroad—that allow professionals to escape outside distractions while applying new skills, working in teams, and building relationships with their classmates and instructors. Between residencies, they build their business knowledge through high-quality online instruction, which provides the flexibility needed to continue meeting the demands of their careers and personal lives.

Over the course of the two-year program, the EMBA Class of 2023 visited international destinations, including Lisbon and London, that featured visits to innovative companies like the Techstars London Accelerator and Disney. The trip also allowed time for absorbing the culture—whether at Lisbon’s oldest winery or London’s historic theater district.

“The international residency brought together all the relationships built over the course of two years through teamwork and local residencies, and extended that engagement to the wider international community,” Perez said. “It was truly life-changing.”

Emily Ryan (EMBA’23), chief client officer for Valuize and the winner of Leeds’ first Executive MBA Student Excellence Award, also said the bonds between students are a crucial feature of the program.

“The thing that stands out to me the most, beyond the stellar faculty and care that was taken in developing our cohort, is the thoughtful design of the program itself,” she said.

A hallmark

That design includes special emphasis on diversity, equity and inclusion—crucial leadership skills that are nonetheless nascent concepts in most business curricula. One year after the program began, Executive Connections again praised Leeds’ EMBA program, this time for its emphasis on DEI. The publication extolled Leeds for the intentional curriculum of the program, which is based on three interwoven pillars considered critical for leadership: inclusion, innovation and leadership. The program’s emphasis ensures DEI goes further than ensuring student teams are adequately represented—it emphasizes that each team member feels heard and appreciated.

In addition to business fundamentals, leadership and innovation, the curriculum focuses on inclusive leadership, which challenges students to explore their unconscious biases around gender, race, class and sexual orientation. Given Leeds' expertise in this area, program designers decided DEI was just as important to integrate into the curriculum as fundamental business disciplines.

The emphasis on DEI is what motivated Barron, a self-described Latina leader, to apply.

“As someone who has faced systemic barriers and discrimination in my career, I appreciated the program's focus on understanding and addressing issues of diversity and inclusion in the workplace,” she said, “and developing leaders equipped to lead diverse teams.”

Why Leeds Executive MBA Program Graduate Business Programs

As they head to new roles and promotions, graduates explain why the Leeds program was the right fit for them.

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From Patient Care to Healthcare: How Data-Driven Students Can Help Heal Both

Anonymous — Mon, 28 Nov 2022 22:37:47 +0000

From Patient Care to Healthcare: How Data-Driven Students Can Help Heal Both Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 11/28/2022 - 15:37

Leeds School of Business and the University of Colorado College of Nursing roll out a new Healthcare track within the MS Business Analytics degree.

Nurses, facing challenges to providing high-quality care to their patients, will now be able to improve outcomes by using data to inform pivotal decisions. The Leeds School of Business at the University of Colorado Boulder and the University of Colorado College of Nursing on the Anschutz Medical Campus have come together to offer a Master’s Degree in Business Analytics (MSBA), with a specialized track in healthcare.

For Kristi Ryujin, associate dean of Graduate Programs at Leeds, the partnership provides an exciting opportunity for both Leeds and College of Nursing students to enter a burgeoning field and make a difference. “Data helps inform decisions that save lives,” she says, speaking to students’ passion for patients.

The new MSBA Healthcare track prepares both nurses and non-healthcare students for careers in healthcare analytics, where they will turn big data into actionable insights that can improve outcomes for more patients.

Using data for good

“Healthcare analytics is really starting to explode. We need people who can look at big data across healthcare, manipulate it, and use it to make systematic changes that improve population health,” says Sharon Giarrizzo-Wilson, PhD, RN-BC, CNOR; specialty director of the healthcare informatics program and assistant professor at the College of Nursing; and a practicing nurse herself.

She adds that with the MSBA Healthcare track, students can rise to leadership roles, improve the quality of care for many more patients, build better infrastructures, and influence government decision-making through advocacy and working on related contracts and grants. She points out that people with these abilities are hard to find and thus, in high demand.

“It’s a complex specialty,” acknowledges Kelly Stamp, PhD, NP-C, RN, CHFN, FAHA, FAAN; associate dean of academic programs and associate professor at the College of Nursing. But it allows students to lead positive change and help more patients than they ever could before, she says.

“With this new track in the MSBA, graduates will become pioneers in healthcare analytics.”

Sharon Giarrizzo-Wilson, director, Anschutz College of Nursing

Swapping skills

The degree was designed so that business and nursing students could essentially take each other’s classes. Business students interested in the healthcare field can learn about healthcare technology and the environment by taking two of the College of Nursing courses; while nurses can learn business analytics through Leeds’ 10-month master’s program.

“With data analysts from both nursing and business, it’s going to introduce a whole other level of collaborators that will help us see the vision of what is needed in healthcare. Together, they can solve great problems,” says Giarrizzo-Wilson.

Courses are taught by top faculty from both schools. The “online+” format, built with high-quality video content and remote synchronous lab time, allows students to engage with faculty and peers, cover technical skills, and learn from each other while receiving immediate faculty feedback and support. For nurses, the remote format means they can continue caring for patients, while also applying their new insights on the job.

This isn’t the first time Leeds and the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus have partnered on education. In 2019, the University of Colorado School of Medicine and Leeds rolled out the MD/MBA degree for physicians. By teaching medical students business foundations, they’re empowered to positively impact patient care and health care delivery—a shared goal with the new MSBA in healthcare.

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MBA vs. Executive MBA: Which One is Right for Me?

Anonymous — Wed, 09 Nov 2022 21:01:17 +0000

MBA vs. Executive MBA: Which One is Right for Me? Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 11/09/2022 - 14:01

A graduate degree is a fantastic investment in yourself and your career. Here’s how to pick the right program.

When it comes to furthering your career through earning your MBA vs Executive MBA, you will never regret the investment in yourself. The knowledge, experience, mentorship, and network you build make an MBA the most worthwhile career investment you’ll ever complete.

But there are many kinds of MBAs out there. How do you choose the right MBA program for you?

At Leeds, we offer a Full-Time MBA, Evening MBA, Hybrid MBA and an Executive MBA that are designed for ambitious professionals eager to advance their careers, improve their marketability, increase their salaries and challenge themselves to be more effective leaders. Yet despite those similarities, these programs are built for professionals in very different stages of their careers. Here are some questions you should ask yourself as you think about the best Leeds program for you.

1: What kind of network do I want?

One of the best reasons to go to grad school is the peer network you’ll develop. Your classmates will come from every industry, giving you a broad perspective on different kinds of work and on your own career path. Your classmates in an MBA program are likely to be younger, in their 20s or early 30s, with less work experience, but their professional diversity will be an asset as you learn to work alongside and lead teams of people who have different roles and approach problems differently. Executive MBA students have much more experience—at least 8 years is required at Leeds—and so are older, from their late 30s to early 50s. Typically, these students are looking to leverage their experience to change careers, or take the final leap into top leadership, so you’ll graduate with a network of movers and shakers that can help you as you figure out your own path.

2: How long does the program take to complete?

At Leeds, both programs take two years to finish—but that doesn’t mean they have the same time commitment. A full-time MBA is an immersive environment where you’re in class, or working on group projects, with the other students in your cohort. In the executive MBA, you’re only taking classes two night a week, to balance your busy professional and personal schedule. Instead of the full-time community, you’ll take part in residencies—both in Colorado and globally—where you further hone your leadership skills with your classmates.

3: What’s my path as a leader?

While both the MBA and executive MBA at Leeds will test your leadership mettle, they do so in different ways. In the MBA, you are encouraged to take part in MBA student clubs and organizations—from discipline-specific organizations, like marketing and finance, to social impact consulting and entrepreneurship—and competitions that will give you opportunities to apply your lessons and help you develop your voice as a leader. Classroom time in the executive MBA focuses on applied leadership skills, so you can use it at night and lead with it in the morning. The offsite residencies also show you how to earn trust, communicate a plan, and support teammates, with time for reflection as well as discussion of how to apply these techniques in professional settings.

Gain Real World Experience through MBA Student Clubs and Organizations

Club Name	Focuses on?	Good for students who…
Leeds Social Impact Consultants	Provides consulting services to Colorado non-profits by recruiting CU graduate students with diverse skills and backgrounds.	Want to graduate and pursue a career building stronger and more successful nonprofit and social enterprises.
Deming Center Venture Fund (DCVF)	The Deming Center Venture Fund (DCVF) supports emerging companies in Boulder and surrounding communities. The Fund is managed by Leeds MBA and Colorado Law School students. Student team members benefit from the guidance of an experienced advisory board that includes University faculty and local leaders in venture capital and angel investing.	Are interested in exploring opportunities in the venture capital, angel investing and start-up space.
The MBA Finance Club	The MBA Finance Club is a student-led organization designed to serve as a link between the MBA program and the finance community. It is a great opportunity to learn more about potential career paths in finance and network with finance professionals, alumni, and fellow students.	Are interested in exploring opportunities in Finance

Visit the Leeds MBA Student Clubs and Organizations page to see a full list.

4: How much career support do I need?

Mentorship and career development are hallmarks of a Leeds education. MBA students benefit from all the career advising services our career team offers—from basics, like résumé reviews and mock interviews, to career chats, industry panels, networking events and more. In the executive MBA, you’re more likely to benefit from our faculty and their networks, which are honed through their extensive professional and consulting careers. You will also make new connections with, and through, your classmates as you seek opportunities at the highest levels.

No matter which program you select, at Leeds, an MBA is a powerful asset to your career and a useful tool to better understand yourself, your leadership style, and what you need to be successful. If you’re still looking for help choosing a program, check out our online program comparison or have our admissions team contact you to learn more.

MORE READING:
The Biggest Myths 91��Ƭ�� Executive MBA Programs (Poets&Quants)

Why People Still Want an MBA Degree (Forbes)

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Leeds Applauded for Integrating DEI into EMBA Curriculum

Anonymous — Sat, 05 Nov 2022 19:39:05 +0000

Leeds Applauded for Integrating DEI into EMBA Curriculum Anonymous (not verified) Sat, 11/05/2022 - 13:39

Leeds School of Business’ Executive MBA program was recently recognized for its emphasis on DEI in the Executive MBA Council’s (EMBAC) magazine, Executive Connections—the global voice of the Executive MBA industry.

They lauded Leeds for the intentional design of its EMBA program, based on three interwoven pillars considered critical for successful leaders: inclusion, innovation and leadership. The program takes its DEI education further than just ensuring teams are adequately represented; it emphasizes that each team member must feel heard and appreciated.

Part of the curriculum is the Inclusive Leadership course, which helps students evolve into inclusive leaders by exploring their unconscious biases around gender, race, class and sexual orientation. Given Leeds’ expertise in this area, program directors decided DEI was just as important to integrate into the curriculum as fundamental business disciplines.

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Financing an MBA Program for Working Professionals

Anonymous — Wed, 10 Aug 2022 20:46:45 +0000

Financing an MBA Program for Working Professionals Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 08/10/2022 - 14:46

If you’re currently working, you may wonder how you can manage going back to school on top of your workload and how you’re going to pay for it. Most MBA programs have a part-time option to allow working professionals to also attend school. Some businesses will even help pay for an employee's education if that education will apply to the work at their current company and other MBA financing options exist.

Leeds Evening MBA Program

Here at the CU Leeds School of Business, we offer a part time or Evening (part-time) MBA program for full-time professionals at our CU Boulder locations The two-year program, beginning in May each year, provides a variety of core courses in areas like finance, marketing, operations and management. We also have electives courses which allow specialization in a specific functional area such as finance, entrepreneurship, marketing or real estate. Our part-time program was designed with flexibility to allow professionals who are already working and have gained real-world business knowledge to complete their degree in a way that fits their schedule. Learn about the MBA admissions process.

Leeds Hybrid MBA Program

The Leeds Hybrid MBA presents an exceptional opportunity to gain a top-ranked education and powerful network—all while balancing your career and personal commitments.

Leeds Executive MBA Program

The Executive MBA program delivers the innovative business knowledge and skills you can immediately use to strengthen your company’s competitive advantage—and achieve leadership growth that will accelerate your own career trajectory.

Will Your Employer Pay for an MBA Degree?

Some employers will pay for part or all of an MBA program if it will help the business and there are positions that a business would hire with an MBA. Talk to your Human Resources department to see if there’s a tuition reimbursement policy, and if so, what’s necessary to meet the requirements. Some businesses may have conditions such as requiring an employee to stay at the company for a certain period of time after completing the MBA, paying back the company if the employee decides not to continue, what will and won’t be covered such as books, and other policies.

If your company doesn’t have a tuition reimbursement policy, you can develop a case to try to convince them that it’d be worth their investment, similar to what you might do when asking for a raise. Show them your value, what you’ve accomplished and how it has affected the company’s bottom line, how you plan to fit the program into your current schedule and what you can do for the business with an MBA.

Other Financial Possibilities

Other MBA financing options are possible, such as scholarships, financial aid and loans. At the CU Leeds School of Business, all applicants will automatically have the opportunity to receive merit-based fellowship awards. Other fellowship awards are available through the MBA admissions application process.

Learn more about MBA financing through the CU Leeds School of Business and contact us at cefinaid@colorado.edu with any questions.

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Making Sure MBAs R Prepared for Data-Focused Future

Anonymous — Tue, 02 Aug 2022 16:19:41 +0000

Making Sure MBAs R Prepared for Data-Focused Future Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 08/02/2022 - 10:19

Professor honored with teaching award for enthusiasm, engagement and his Advanced Analytics course.

‘I’m very fortunate that so many of my students enjoy the course, and say it’s valuable for their growth and career,’ Dan Zhang says. He was honored at commencement with a teaching award from MBA students, who appreciate the value of the Advanced Data Analytics course he teaches at Leeds.

91��Ƭ�� a decade ago, when Dan Zhang was first approached to create a business analytics course, conventional wisdom dictated that it should be built around Excel modeling.

But Zhang ultimately went in a different direction, instead focusing on teaching the R programming language.

“Programming was not something that was taught in a business school 10 years ago,” said Zhang, a professor and interim chair of the Strategy, Entrepreneurship and Operations Division at Leeds. “Today, of course, that’s a requirement of any program in this area.”

At commencement, Zhang was honored by the Leeds MBA Class of 2022 with a teaching award for the Advanced Data Analytics course—a testament not just to his teaching ability, but the work he’s done to keep the course current. R has gone from edgy to a staple in the data science world; over time, Leeds has added Python, SQL and other data technologies to master’s programs like its degree in business analytics.

“There’s always something new that comes up every year. Frankly, if you do not do updates, you can’t keep up to date with industry.”

Dan Zhang, professor and interim chair, strategy, entrepreneurship and operations division

“I’m very fortunate that so many of my students enjoy the course, and say it’s valuable for their growth and career,” Zhang said of his Advanced Data Analytics class. “That’s so rewarding to me as a teacher.”

Christina Uhlir (MSBA’21) said Zhang was among “the most-loved professors of anyone in the program.”

“He would make sure everything he taught was directly applicable to real-life situations,” said Uhlir, an analyst with Arrow Electronics who also earned a degree in neuroscience from CU Boulder in 2013. “Most of the cases he presented, because he worked as a consultant so long, were just right there.”

She also called him a great mentor who was “good at fomenting interest in alternative careers. He helped a couple of my peers get started in more niche industries that can be harder to break into.”

In the course, Zhang teaches practical programming skills that have immediate applicability at work. He includes both case studies and his own technical consulting work to ensure that “whatever technology I introduce, there is a real-world emphasis that supports the business case for these skills. That focus on business value is what sets the course apart.”

While technical courses like this one often are at the core of specialized master’s programs, they don’t always show up in an MBA curriculum. At Leeds, though, lessons in analytics and data’s ability to drive better decision making are a central part of an education. The newest academic building at the University of Colorado Boulder—the Rustandy Building—physically joins the business and engineering disciplines, a powerful symbol of the joint research and academic programs Leeds and the College of Engineering & Applied Science.

Teaching tech to not be intimidating

“It’s important that we remove the sense of intimidation students can feel about technology,” Zhang said. “We have students in the business analytics master’s program with degrees in history, or music, or 91��Ƭ��n—zero background in coding—and I would tell them that’s the value of these programs. They’re for people who want to change their careers, and we’ll work with you, starting slow and teaching you in a way that’s accessible, regardless of your technical acumen.”

His own curiosity about technology, unsurprisingly, drives his work.

“I’m very passionate about programming,” he said. “I code a lot in my research, consulting and teaching, but I want students to keep perspective of what we’re really doing. Being able to work with technical tools is great, but it’s more valuable to know how and when to apply them to real problems.”

That’s a theme of Zhang’s research interests, which he simply described as “always evolving”; data-driven decision making is a key focus, and insights in this and related areas have appeared in top research journals, including Management Science and Operations Research. His insights in areas like dynamic programming and revenue management and pricing help him keep the analytics course fresh amid so much change.

“There’s always something new that comes up every year,” he said. “Frankly, if you do not do updates, you can’t keep up to date with industry. It’s a necessity.”

For Uhlir, who completed her master’s during the pandemic, there was more to appreciate about the course than just how up to date it was.

“Making those connections, when it’s virtual, can be hard, but he made it not hard,” Uhlir said. “Every class, he would show up, turn on his camera and just ask how we were doing. He had the same enthusiasm for us that he did about his subject matter, and that just blew me away.”

Why Leeds Leeds MBA Programs Leeds Grad Programs

The Leeds Class of 2022 honored Dan Zhang for an analytics course that emphasizes applications of data to business problems.

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Students Recognized for Excellence in Real Estate at CUREC’s Awards Ceremony in Spring

Anonymous — Mon, 01 Aug 2022 21:04:49 +0000

Students Recognized for Excellence in Real Estate at CUREC’s Awards Ceremony in Spring Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 08/01/2022 - 15:04

Inaugural Tom Thibodeau award presented at special event honoring students in real estate.

Left to right: Maxwell Mashaal, Nicholas Macray and Julia Perry

As the summer winds down and we look ahead to a new fall semester, we’d be remiss if we didn’t take one last look back to spring semester and the fifth annual Student Awards Dinner hosted by the CU Real Estate Center (CUREC), where Leeds students were honored for their achievements in leadership and academics.

Awards were presented by Michael Kercheval, CUREC's executive director, and Kim and Gail Koehn, who sponsored one of the awards.

This was the first year of the Thibodeau Academic Achievement Award, in honor of real estate finance professor Tom Thibodeau’s recent retirement and also acknowledging a fund created in his honor. Based on their exceptional GPAs, the award went to Philippe Brady, an MBA student who is now an acquisition analyst at Real Capital Solutions; Maxwell Mashaal, an undergraduate student who graduated with the Real Estate area of emphasis and now works at Eastdil Secured as an analyst; and Connor Jones, who got his MS in real estate and is now an investment analyst at Brinkman Real Estate.

“We were so honored to bestow a new award named for Tom Thibodeau, who inspired students and made a huge impact on CUREC as academic director for 17 years,” said Kercheval.

The Real Estate Team Competition MVP Award went to Harrison Greenmaki, a graduate student in the MBA program and now a senior development analyst at NexCore Group, and Nicholas Macray, an undergraduate student pursuing the Real Estate area of emphasis and interning at Stout, a global investment bank.

The Kim and Gail Koehn Real Estate Leadership Award went to Amber Hughes, a graduate student in the MBA program, now working as an associate at RFA RCLCO Fund Advisors, and Julia Perry, an undergraduate student pursuing the Real Estate area of emphasis and now a commercial real estate analyst at Lowe Property Group. They were selected from nominations from real estate faculty, CUREC staff, and outside nominations received from internship employers and members of the CU Real Estate Council.

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