The ExecMBA Podcast

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...

In this episode of the podcast, we catch up with Chris Mai. Chris is a second year student in UVA Darden’s Executive MBA Class of 2025, and we recently caught up with him to talk about his background in the performing arts, his decision to pursue an MBA, what led him to Darden, the impact of his time at Darden, his advice for prospective students and more. For more insights, tips, and stories abou...

In this episode of the podcast, we catch up with Samantha Karp. Samantha is a second year student in Darden’s Part-Time MBA Class of 2026, and she also serves as VP, Academics for the Part-Time MBA Student Association (PSA). We talk with her about her background, her decision to pursue an MBA, what she’s enjoyed about the Part-Time MBA program so far and more. For more insights, tips, and stories...

In this episode of the podcast, we catch up with Stew Neifert. Stew is a second year student in UVA Darden’s Executive MBA Class of 2025, and in this wide-ranging conversation, Stew reflects upon his decision to pursue an MBA, what led him to Darden, the impact of his time at Darden, his experience as a Batten scholar and more. For more insights, tips, and stories about the Darden experience, be s...

In this episode of the podcast, we catch up with J.R. Rodrigo. J.R. is a student in UVA Darden’s Part-Time MBA Class of 2025, and we recently connected with him to talk about this decision to pursue an MBA, being part of Darden’s first class of Part-Time MBA students, what he’s enjoyed about the elective portion of the program, his advice for prospective students and more. For more insights, tips,...

In this episode of the podcast, we take a deep dive into the structure and design of UVA Darden’s Part-Time MBA program. We are joined for this conversation by Lauren Lopez-Maurer. Lauren serves as the advisor for Darden’s Part-Time MBA students, and in this conversation, she shares isnights about the Part-Time MBA student experience as well as tips for incoming students. For more insights, tips,...

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 Michael Ho. We talk with Ho about his background, what led him to Darden, his mergers and acquisitions elective, how his work at Fifth Third Bank informs his classes at Darden and more. For more insights, tips, and stories abo...

In this episode of the podcast, we take a deep dive into the structure and design of UVA Darden’s Executive MBA program. We are joined for this conversation by Erin Colwell. Erin serves as the advisor for Darden’s Executive MBA students, and in this conversation, she shares insights about the Executive MBA student experience as well as tips for incoming Executive MBA students.  For more insights,...

In this episode of the podcast, we catch up with two leaders of the Healthcare Alliance, Uma Subramanian and Louis Chapman. Uma is a recent graduate in the Executive MBA Class of 2024, and Louis is a second year student in the Part-Time MBA Class of 2025. We talk with Uma and Louis about their backgrounds, their decision to pursue an MBA and what led them to Darden. They also reflect upon the heal...

In this episode of the podcast, we catch up with Liza Ketcham. Liza is a recent graduate in UVA Darden’s Executive MBA Class of 2024, and in this wide-ranging conversation, we talk with her about her decision to pursue an MBA, adjusting to life as an Executive MBA student, her role on the Executive MBA wellness committee, the impact of her time at Darden and more. For more insights, tips, and stor...