The ExecMBA Podcast

During this episode of the podcast, we catch up with Matt Bartles. Matt is a second year student in our Executive MBA Class of 2025, and we talk with him about his decision to pursue an MBA, what led him to Darden, how the program has helped him as he launched his business, his advice for prospective students and more. For more insights, tips, and stories about the Darden experience, be sure to ch...

In this special edition of the podcast, we are excited to share another installment from our ongoing Women@Darden event series featuring Mandy Lozano (MBA ’09). Lozano is a Darden Foundation Board of Trustees member, and, in this wide-ranging conversation, she offers insights about her experience at Darden as well as lessons learned from her over 15 years working in large manufacturing, consumer g...

In this episode of the podcast, we catch up with Andrew Rater. Andrew is our first guest on The ExecMBA Podcast to have completed UVA Darden’s Part-Time MBA program, wrapping up his studies in December 2024. We talk with Andrew about his decision to pursue an MBA, what attracted him to being in Darden’s first class of Part-Time MBA students, how his career goals evolved over the course of the prog...

In this special edition of the Darden Admissions podcast, we share a recent installment in our ongoing ‘Office Hours’ faculty spotlight series. This episode features a conversation with Professors Christoph Herpfer and Marc Ruggiano, two faculty members involved with the Darden’s Health Care Initiative, hosted by the Institute for Business in Society. We talk with Chris and Marc about healthcare-r...

In this special edition of the Darden Admissions podcast, we share a recent installment in our ongoing ‘Office Hours’ faculty spotlight series. This episode features a conversation with Vice Dean Yael Grushka-Cockayne and Professor Raj Venkatesan, Academic Directors for the LaCross Institute for Ethical AI at the Darden School of Business. We talk with Yael and Raj about their interest in AI, what...

In this special edition of the Darden Admissions podcast, we share a recent installment in our ongoing ‘Office Hours’ faculty spotlight series. This episode features a conversation with Rodney Sullivan and Caitlin Boyer with Darden’s Richard A. Mayo Center for Asset Management. The Mayo Center advances the study and practice of responsible asset management globally through developing and deliverin...

In this episode of the podcast, we catch up with Sherri Norman. Sherri is Assistant Dean for Student Engagement, Professional Degree Programs and Managing Director of Strategic D.C. Initiatives at the Darden School of Business. We talk with Sherri about what her team is doing to build awareness about Darden in the Washington, D.C. metro area, as well as events and programming they have planned for...

In this episode of the podcast, we catch up with Zoe Mayfield Boykin. Zoe joined our Professional Degree Program Admissions team as an Associate Director of Admissions a few months ago, and we talk with her about her background, what attracted her to the Darden role, what she enjoys about working with applicants and more. We also share an update about the application process and provide a few tips...

In this episode of the podcast, we catch up with Alessio Mencarelli. Alessio is a second year student in the UVA Darden Part-Time MBA Class of 2026, and we chat with him about his decision to pursue an MBA, what led him to Darden, what he’s enjoyed about the core curriculum, how he’s been able to apply lessons from class at work and more. For more insights, tips, and stories about the Darden exper...

In this episode of the podcast, we spotlight one of the clubs serving Darden’s Executive MBA and Part-Time MBA students – the Entrepreneurship and Venture Capital Club, Professional Degree Programs. We chat with the leaders of the club – Maxwell Godwin, Eugene Cho and Holden Hershey, all students in Darden’s Part-Time MBA program – about what led them to Darden, the impact of their Darden experien...

In this episode of the podcast, we catch up with leaders of the Darden Military Association, Professional Formats, Shane Bowling, Scott Timmester and David Kim. Shane, Scott, and David reflect upon their MBA journeys, the impact of their time at Darden, their advice for prospective students and more. The Darden Military Association, Professional Formats serves the Professional Degree community as...

In this special edition of the podcast, we are excited to share another installment from our ongoing Women@Darden event series featuring Professor Melanie Prengler. Prengler is an Assistant Professor in the Leadership and Organizational Behavior area, and her research focuses on the future of work, specifically alternative work arrangements and diversity, equity, and inclusion. She has studied thi...

In this episode of the podcast, we catch up with Shilpa Kyarla. Shilpa is a second year student in UVA Darden’s Executive MBA Class of 2025, and in this wide-ranging conversation, we talk with her about her background, why now is the right time to pursue your MBA, the impact of her Darden experience, how she’s balanced the demands of work, school, and family and more. For more insights, tips, and...

In this episode of the podcast, we spotlight UVA’s MS in Business Analytics (MSBA) program with a conversation with Jingjing Li. Li is the Andersen Alumni Associate Professor of Commerce at UVA’s McIntire School of Commerce, and she also serves as one of the Directors of the MSBA program. Li’s research interests are in artificial intelligence and big data analytics, with applications spanning sear...

In this episode of the podcast, we catch up with the co-Presidents of UVA Darden’s Black Professional MBA (BPMBA) student organization, Steven Daley, Cedric Thomas and Sean Webber. We talk with Steven, Cedric and Sean about their backgrounds, what led them to Darden, their plans for the BPMBA student organization in the months ahead and more. For more insights, tips, and stories about the Darden e...

In this special edition of the Darden Admissions podcast, we share a recent installment in our ongoing ‘Office Hours’ faculty spotlight series, a conversation with Professor Gabrielle “Gabe” Adams. Adams is a behavioral scientist, with a joint appointment as an associate professor of public policy (Batten) and business administration (Darden: Leadership and Organizational Behavior area). She studi...

In this episode of the podcast, we catch up with Gopika Spaenle. Gopika is the Managing Director, Career Center for UVA Darden’s Professional Degree Programs, and she is a repeat guest on the podcast. We talk with Gopika about the strategies for conducting a network-driven job search, and why this strategy pays dividends for Executive MBA and Part-Time MBA students seeking to make a career transit...

In this special edition of the podcast, we are excited to share another installment from our ongoing Women@Darden event series featuring Melissa Thomas-Hunt, Senior Associate Dean for the Residential Full-Time MBA program at the UVA Darden School of Business. In this conversation hosted by Senior Assistant Dean of Admissions Dawna Clarke, Thomas-Hunt reflects upon her personal story, her career jo...

In this episode of the podcast, we catch up with Darden faculty member and Dean and CEO of UVA Northern Virginia, Greg Fairchild. In this conversation, we talk with Greg about the inspiration for UVA Northern Virginia, where things stand with their current plans, their strategy and vision for the road ahead and more. This episode is highly recommended for anyone interested in learning more about U...

In this episode of the podcast, we catch up with Megan McGee. Megan is a repeat guest on the Experience Darden podcast, and a member of UVA Darden’s Full-Time MBA Class of 2021. Megan also recently joined Darden’s Batten Institute as the Director of Entrepreneurship Through Acquisition (ETA). We recently caught up with Megan to talk about her MBA journey, her interest in ETA, what attracted her to...

In this episode of the podcast we catch up with Jason Brewster. Jason is a repeat podcast guest, and he is the Director of Venture Programs for UVA Darden’s Batten Institute for Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Technology. In this wide-ranging conversation, we talk with Jason about his background, the entrepreneurial ecosystem at Darden, the recent iLab incubator cohort, and more. This episode is...

In this episode of the podcast, we catch up with Danny Holloway. Danny is a second year student in UVA Darden’s Executive MBA Class of 2025, and he is also a Batten Tech scholar. We talk with Danny about his background, his decision to pursue an MBA, what he’s enjoyed about learning through the case method, the benefits of being a Batten scholar and more. For more insights, tips, and stories about...

In this episode of the podcast, we catch up with Kathleen Morrison. Kathleen is a second year student in UVA Darden’s Executive MBA Class of 2025. We talk with Kathleen about her decision to pursue an MBA, what led her to Darden, balancing work, school and family, her favorite thing about the Executive MBA program so far and more. For more insights, tips, and stories about the Darden experience, b...

In this episode of the podcast, we catch up with Chris Ostwald. Chris is a second year student in UVA Darden’s Part-Time MBA Class of 2026. We recently caught up with him to talk about his background, his decision to pursue an MBA, relocating to DC from Boston to participate in Darden’s Part-Time MBA program, what he’s enjoyed about the program so far and more. For more insights, tips, and stories...

In this special edition of the Darden Admissions podcast, we share a recent installment in our ongoing ‘Office Hours’ faculty spotlight series, a conversation with Professor Sasa Zorc. Zorc studies incentives in multi-agent systems such as health care and decentralized matching markets. Methodically, his research relies on stochastic dynamic games, search theory, mechanism design, contract theory...