The ExecMBA Podcast

In this episode of the podcast, we catch up with Lauren Lopez-Maurer. Lauren is the Assistant Director, Academic Advising and Student Affairs for UVA Darden’s Professional Degree Programs, and we talk with her about her background, what led her to Darden and what she enjoys about supporting working professional students. Lauren is the advisor for students in the Part-Time MBA Class of 2026, and we...

We’re excited to re-share one of our favorite conversations from earlier in the year – our Office Hours interview with Dean Emeritus Bob Bruner. As a financial economist, Bruner is best known for his research on mergers and acquisitions, corporate finance and financial panics. He served as dean of the Darden School from 2005 to 2015, and, this May, he retired from the Darden School in May after 41...

The Executive MBA and Part-Time MBA applications are now live! During this episode, Brett Twitty and Ali Torres highlight the new applications and share tips and insights for applicants targeting our classes enrolling August 2024.

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 Tim Laseter (MBA ’94, PhD ’03). Laseter is a member of the Technology and Operations Management faculty, and he teaches courses in operations strategy, innovation and emerging technology at Darden. He maintains his connections...

In this episode of the podcast, we catch up with Ali Torres. Ali recently joined our Admissions team as an Assistant Director, Professional Degree Programs, and we talk with her about her background, what she enjoys about working with students, why she’s so passionate about Darden, her advice for Executive MBA and Part-Time MBA applicants and more.

In this episode, we catch up with two members of Darden’s Center for Global Initiatives (CGI) team, Ladi Carr and Maggie Nelsen. We talk with Ladi and Maggie about recent global residencies, upcoming locations, plans for the Executive MBA Class of 2025 and more. Did you know? The only difference between Darden’s EMBA and GEMBA formats is the number of required global residencies. EMBA format stude...

In this episode of the podcast, we catch up with Andrew Moore. Andrew is a graduate in UVA Darden’s Executive MBA Class of 2020 and a repeat guest on The ExecMBA Podcast. We talk with Andrew about his MBA journey, what he enjoyed about his time at Darden, how his Darden experience continues to impact his life and career after business school and more. We also discuss Narrative Public Affairs, a st...

During this episode, we share the audio from a recent webinar featuring several Executive MBA alumni – Meghan Azevedo (EMBA ’18), Skip Calvert (EMBA ’19), Emma Kinnucan (EMBA ’20), Sean Spence (GEMBA ’18) and David Waidelich (EMBA ’20). The panelists reflect upon their decision to pursue an MBA, what led them to Darden, how their career goals evolved during their time at Darden, how they continue...

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 Yiorgos Allayannis. Allayannis is member of the Finance faculty and an expert in corporate finance, risk management, financial institutions and international finance. His work has examined the impact of derivatives on risk and...

During this episode, we share an admissions update for applicants interested in joining our Executive MBA class enrolling this August. We talk with two members of our Executive MBA Admissions Committee, Katherine Alford and Ali Torres, about our Executive MBA application process, where things stand with our incoming Executive MBA class, tips for Executive MBA applicants, where to get started if yo...

In this special edition of the Darden Admissions podcasts, we catch up with Professor Raj Venkatesan. Raj is a member of the Darden Marketing faculty, and he is also a co-Academic Director for UVA’s MS in Business Analytics, a partner program between the Darden School of Business and the McIntire School of Commerce. In this wide-ranging conversation, we talk with Raj about his background, what he...

In this episode of the podcast, we continue our ongoing spotlight on entrepreneurship at Darden with a conversation with Matthew Boyd, a recent graduate in our Executive MBA Class of 2023, and his wife Jon’ll Boyd. Matthew and Jon’ll discuss Boyd Cru Wines , their wine venture featuring wines that are locally grown with sustainable practices in Maryland, with a niche focus on creativity and blends...

In this episode of the podcast, we continue our ongoing series on the learning experience at Darden with a conversation with six students in the Part-Time MBA Class of 2025 who comprise Learning Team 5 – Zoe Chan, Kory Kiesel, Hieu Le, Falin Patel, Katherine Lee and JP Pitarque. The team discusses how they work together, how the Learning Team has helped them manage their coursework, the surprising...

In this episode of the podcast, we continue our ongoing spotlight on the learning experience at the Darden School of Business with a conversation with three Darden faculty members – Robert Carraway, Lynn Isabella and Marc Lipson. We talk with Robert, Lynn and Marc about how they prepare for class, what it’s like to lead a case discussion, the developmental impact of Darden’s pedagogical approach,...

In this episode of the podcast, we catch up with Omar Garriott, Executive Director for UVA Darden’s Batten Institute for Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Technology. We talk with Omar about his background in education-focused technology, what led him to Darden, his plans for the Batten Institute, what he’s looking forward to in the months ahead and more. He also discusses his book, Linked, a step-...

During this episode, we continue our spotlight on learning through the case method with a conversation with three first year students in our Executive MBA Class of 2024 – Tessa Grubb, Eboni Brown and Salah Al-Chanati. In this conversation, Tessa, Eboni and Salah talk about their reasons for pursuing an MBA, their approach to time management, the role their respective Learning Teams has played in t...

During this episode, we continue our spotlight on learning through the case method with a conversation with three second year students in our Executive MBA Class of 2023 – Allan Barmak, Aly Searles and John Forbes. In this conversation, Allan, Aly and John reflect upon their MBA journeys, the impact of their Darden experience, what a weekend residency is really like, how their approach to case pre...

In this episode of the podcast, we catch up with Rachel Smolkin and Matthew Vann. Rachel and Matthew are second year students in UVA Darden’s Executive MBA Class of 2025, and they are both journalists. Rachel is Senior Vice President of Global News for CNN Digital and Matthew is a Senior Producer for ABC News. In this conversation, we talk with Rachel and Matthew about how they decided to pursue a...

In this episode of the podcast, we catch up with Jeff McNish and Gopika Spaenle to discuss recent career-related updates in our Part-Time MBA and Executive MBA programs. Jeff is the Assistant Dean for UVA Darden’s Career Center and Gopika is the Career Center’s Managing Director for Professional Degree Programs. In this conversation, Jeff and Gopika discuss the recent Employment Report for the Exe...

In this episode of the podcast, we catch up with Jon Dengel. Jon is a second year student in UVA Darden’s Executive MBA Class of 2023, and he is based in Michigan, where he works for a healthcare company. We talk with Jon about his MBA journey, what led him to Darden, why he thinks students should do as many global residencies as possible, the impact of his Darden experience and more.

In this very special edition of the Darden Admissions podcast, we share a recent installment in our ongoing ‘Office Hours’ faculty spotlight series, a conversation with dean emeritus Bob Bruner. As a financial economist, Bruner is best known for his research on mergers and acquisitions, corporate finance and financial panics. He served as dean of the Darden School from 2005 to 2015, and, this May,...

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 Anthony Palomba. Palomba is a member of the Communication faculty at the University of Virginia Darden School of Business, and his teaching interests are focused on how business professionals can present data results and actio...

During this episode, we continue our spotlight on learning through the case method with a conversation with three first year students from our Part-Time MBA Class of 2025 - Zoe Chan, Aman Dar and Zach Gore. In this conversation, Zoe, Aman and Zach reflect upon their MBA journeys, what they enjoy about learning through the case method, what it’s like to participate in a case discussion, how they pr...

Have you ever wondered how a Darden case comes together? In this episode of the podcast, we catch up with Gerry Yemen. Gerry is Senior Research and Executive Director of the Darden Case Writing Research Group at the Darden School of Business, and she has interviewed protagonists and written or co-authored over 400 cases, teaching notes and technical notes featuring leading business executives nati...

In this episode of the podcast, we talk with Hayden Wilson. Hayden is a first year student in UVA Darden’s Executive MBA Class of 2024, and in this wide ranging conversation, Hayden reflects upon his decision to pursue an MBA, adjusting to life as an Executive MBA student, the role his Learning Team has played in his learning experience, his favorite memory from the program so far and more. Hayden...