Dr. Joyce Kurpiers and Brian Mahoney of the Percept Research team attended the Executive MBA Council 2017 annual conference in Seattle, Washington from October 22-25. The conference theme of Exploring the Next Frontier focused on important trends and approaches that are transforming how the workforce of the future is being educated.

The conference included sessions such as “Deepening Student Engagement on International Residency Trips,” “How to Create Futurists as An Outcome of Your Program,” “The Value of Formative Leadership Instruction in Executive Education,” and “Going the Distance with Working Professionals and Alumni” among others.

We wanted to share some of the interesting insights we heard at the conference:

Dr. Joyce Kurpiers of Percept Research attended the 2017 Executive MBA Council Midwest regional meeting July 17-19. Case Western Reserve’s Weatherhead School of Management hosted about 50 attendees at the event.

After a welcome and opening remarks from Weatherhead Assistant Dean Deborah Bibb, EMBAC Board Chair Elmer Almachar (Northwestern Kellogg) reported on the Council’s recent achievements, upcoming events, and the state of the Executive MBA industry.

Dr. Joyce Kurpiers and Brian Mahoney of Percept Research, attended the 2017 Executive MBA Council Western regional meeting from June 25-27. The University of Las Vegas Lee Business School hosted over 50 attendees at the event.

The theme of the meeting was, “Best Practices Across the Executive MBA Experience” and included sessions covering topics such as “Cultivating Leaders Who Transform Business,“ “EMBA Recruitment Trends and Best Practices,“ “Maximizing the Orientation Week Experience,“ “Best Practices in Online/Hybrid Course Design,“ “Unique Opportunities for Student Engagement,“ “Understanding the Millennial EMBA Student,“ as well as several other sessions.              

Dr. Joyce Kurpiers of Percept Research, attended the 2017 Executive MBA Council Southwest regional meeting from June 13-14. The Southern Methodist University Cox School of Business hosted about 50 attendees at the event.

Dr. Joyce Kurpiers and Brian Mahoney of Percept Research, attended the 2017 Executive MBA Council Northeast regional meeting from June 5-6. The Cornell SC Johnson College of Business hosted over 50 attendees at the event.

The regional meeting included sessions covering topics such as “High Demand Courses,” “The Value of Coaching,” “Being Agile in Times of Disruption,” “Evaluating ROI using KPIs in Career Management,” “Integrating Entrepreneurship and New Venture Creation into the EMBA Curriculum,” and “What Will the Landscape be in 2025” for discussing best practices.    

We wanted to share some of the interesting insights we heard at the meeting...

• Alex Baranpuria (Ivy Exec) suggested three potential funding sources for EMBA students including SoFi, Common Bond, and Prodigy.
• Marissa Hairston (Cornell) pointed out that some companies will not offer financial support to employees with terminal degrees while Geoff Miskinis (MIT) indicated that his university considers his students full-time and eligible to compete for fellowships. EMBA students can have an advantage over other students that do not have real-world experience to demonstrate impact in their fellowship applications.
• Bill Schmidt (Cornell) provided an insightful presentation referencing the story of Ignaz Semmelweis and his hypothesis of ‘death particles’ illustrating resistance to data-driven insights. The ‘Semmelweis reflex’ is a metaphor for the reflex-like tendency to reject new evidence or new knowledge because it contradicts established norms, beliefs or paradigms.

Jerry Provost and Brian Mahoney of Percept Research, attended the UNICON Team Development Conference held November 30 – December 2, 2016 at the Luskin Conference Center, hosted by UCLA Anderson Executive Education.

This year's theme was "Transforming Others, Inspiring Ourselves." Part inspirational and part operational, the interactive three-day experience leveraged attendees’ expertise and provided a platform for rich dialogue and collaboration.

Panel discussions, exercises and break-out sessions facilitated an exploration of the individual’s changing relationship with organizations that increasingly push decision making onto a flattening hierarchy.

Session group worksheets on enhancing UNICON benchmarking research

Jerry Helisek and Brian Mahoney of the Percept Research team attended the Executive MBA Council 2016 annual conference in New Orleans, Louisiana from October 22-25. 

The conference theme of Redesign & Renewal, focused on innovative perspectives on the global shifts that are shaking the foundation of the graduate MBA education worldwide and explored the ways EMBA programs can maximize their efforts to meet the needs of business leaders in a swiftly changing environment.

 Jerry Helisek (Percept Research) greeting attendees at our table

New Orleans is a colorful and vibrant city embodying the conference theme of redesign and renewal. The city has rebounded and recreated itself following the events of hurricane Katrina. Over 300 delegates attended the conference from 114 business schools representing 30 countries.

Time to Talk Research!

Executive MBA Toolkit Session

Brian Mahoney (Percept Research) co-presented a session called “Future of the EMBA: What the data say” with Tanya van Lill, (University of Pretoria) during the EMBA Toolkit, a one-day program held before conference sessions begin. Toolkit attendees learned the must-knows of the Executive MBA industry, tuition concerns, including admissions, marketing, program delivery, budgeting, student expectations, and more from industry veterans.

Brian Mahoney, Managing Partner of Percept Research, attended the 2016 Executive MBA Council Midwest regional meeting from July 11-13. The Chicago Booth School of Business hosted over 65 attendees at the event.

EMBA Council attendees learn more about social capital

The regional meeting included several sessions covering topics such as “Competitive Advantage of Social Capital”, “Change Pro Simulation”, and “Beyond the Ropes Course” for sharing insights and best practices.

Brian Mahoney, Managing Partner of Percept Research, attended the UNICON Team Development Conference held December 2-4, 2015 at the Rizzo Conference Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.  

This year's theme was "Driving and Managing Growth by Building High-Performing Teams." UNICON’s annual team conference provides a great opportunity for members to network, share ideas, explore industry trends and discuss best-practices in executive education. 

Plenary and concurrent sessions featured speakers and panelists from a variety of UNICON member schools. The conference sessions were relevant for anyone working in executive education, with specific concurrent sessions designed for those working in marketing, sales, strategy, program management and operations. 

Brian Mahoney, Managing Partner of Percept Research, attended the Executive MBA Council Southeast regional meeting. 

The Rollins Cummer Graduate School of Business and University of Central Florida Executive Development Center hosted over 90 attendees at the meeting from February 28 to March 1, 2016. The meeting had the largest attendance ever for an EMBA Council regional meeting.

Sarah Perez (University of North Carolina) discusses Doing More with Less

The regional meeting presented several sessions covering topics such as “Trends in Digital Engagement”, “EMBA Transformation”, “Selecting for Quality”, "Doing More with Less", and “Data Driven Results.” During the "EMBA Council Update" session, Michael Desiderio, Executive Director of the Executive MBA Council, presented summary metrics for the region from the 2015 Membership Program Survey.