BusinessBecause spoke to two dual degree Executive MBA students about the value of learning from a diverse cohort and faculty, and how their dual degree EMBA is helping advance their careers.
Maximizing your EMBA experience—Pavan Kammila
Pavan Kammila started his career as an IT consultant in his home country of India, before moving to Mexico. He now works in the Mexican capital as a senior manager for Fiserv, a global fintech company.
Although he was happy with his job before he applied to the EGADE – W.P. Carey Executive MBA, he felt stuck in his comfort zone.
“I wanted a challenge, to learn something new,” he says. “I thought, ‘Let me take this opportunity and see how I can use this time to upgrade myself.’”
For Pavan, an important selling point of the dual degree EMBA, offered by EGADE Business School and Arizona State University’s W. P. Carey School of Business, was the opportunity to access high-quality business education from two prestigious schools for an affordable price compared with US tuition fees.
W.P Carey is ranked among the best EMBA programs in the world by the Economist and EGADE is the best business school in Latin America according to QS. By bringing together their expertise, the two schools have curated a unique learning experience for high-level professionals looking to enhance their skill set.
“When you combine the best of both universities, you get much more out of the curriculum,” Pavan says. “You also get to know different cultural perspectives, because you have professors from both Mexico and the US.
“You get the best of both worlds,” he adds.
After he graduates in April 2022, Pavan would like to launch his own manufacturing business, something he hadn’t considered before his EMBA.
“At the start of the program, my goal was to go up the corporate ladder within my own company, but now I feel that I have the confidence to start my own business,” he says. “I think the way the program is structured, it really gives you that push.”
Get a global business perspective from your EMBA—Leslie Crespi
When Leslie Crespi was a child, she wanted to be a doctor. But she couldn’t bear the idea of having to announce bad news to patients, so instead she turned towards a career in the pharmaceutical industry to help people in a different way.
After graduating with an oncology degree, she joined global pharmaceutical firm Eli Lilly as a sales representative, progressively climbing the ladder to achieve a senior director position. “I love medicine, and I found a way to help people through explaining to doctors the benefits of the products we sell,” she says.
To rise even higher through the ranks, Leslie wanted to develop the business skills that she didn’t get through her STEM degree. She looked into her options, and decided on the EGADE- W.P. Carey EMBA, which she thought would give her the global business outlook she needed.
“I'm working in a multinational company, so my peers are also my competitors,” she says. “I wanted to be prepared to compete with my peers across the globe.”
For Leslie, the diversity of the EMBA cohort, with people coming from across Latin America and beyond and a wide variety of industry backgrounds, is one of the program’s highlights.
“The program is a great opportunity to learn from your cohort and start to create contacts that can help you in the future,” she says.
Delivered primarily online with asynchronous classes and occasional face-to-face teaching, the EMBA also enabled Leslie to find the right balance between her academic commitments and raising her three children.
“For executives like me who are super busy at work, the program allows you to plan ahead and to make time for family,” she says.
Even though Leslie was at first quite apprehensive about remote learning, she was pleasantly surprised by this flexible digital format.
“Once you receive the syllabus, it’s very easy to follow the different assignments, readings, challenges, deliverables, everything is very clear. And with the quality of the videos, you feel like you’re in the classroom,” she says.
For both Pavan and Leslie, pursuing a dual degree EMBA has enabled them to develop the global network and perspective they’ll need as they embark on the next step of their professional journey.
