Executive MBA Program
Preparing top business leaders for 40 years
Now preparing for its 40th class of midcareer managers, the Executive MBA Program at MSU – the second oldest of its kind in the world – continues to prepare top leaders for whatever is on the business horizon.
Filling a need
In the early ’60s, Detroit’s auto industry was booming, cranking out classics like the GTO and the Mustang based on buyer preferences for smaller, sportier vehicles. But, there was also an emerging interest in safety and pollution control, and leaders of the Big Three (GM, Ford and Chrysler) felt their top employees needed a new form of continuing education to stay abreast of the changing times.Headed by Ed Cole, then a vice president at GM who later became the company’s president, the group approached MSU Business School Dean Alfred L. Seelye and Associate Dean William Crissy about the possibility of creating an education program for its executives similar to the successful program at the University of Chicago. Desiring to give the Big Three what they wanted, and knowing that it could only boost the intellectual reputation of his business school, Seelye charged Crissy with building a program that would help mid- to high-level managers hone their business skills.
The program filled up quickly thanks to Cole and his friends. The Big Three were asked to recommend and sponsor as many rising executives as possible to fill up the 46 slots in the new program – General Motors sent 11, Ford sent four and Chrysler sent two. In return, Crissy and the 11 faculty members who traveled to the Detroit area each week promised, “shortterm, intermediate and long-term benefits for each individual and his employer.” The rest of the slots were mostly filled with upand- comers from auto industry suppliers whose managers heard about the program from a Big Three contact.
Making history
Beginning in the fall of 1964, 46 men met in a room at Michigan Bell two nights per week. After working a full day, they were working to earn an MBA degree in the new Advanced Management Program (AMP) which was renamed the Executive MBA Program just in the last few years. Many had families, but all of them were willing to invest 20 to 30 hours each week to class and study time. “This bespeaks a rare combination of grit and intellect; the faculty and administration are proud to be associated with such an elite student group,” said Seelye. The students were encouraged to come before classes for a buffet-style dinner with their classmates, which fostered relationships and learning between people with diverse backgrounds. The first class, which came to be known as the “Million Dollar Class” because all 46 of them together made $1 million, was full of people who were willing to see where the program would lead them. Class of ’66 graduate David Williams, although younger than many of his peers at 28, remembers an atmosphere of both learning and fun. “The professors were nice, and it was a lot of fun. It was sort of like summer camp,” he said. “But we learned a lot too. We all knew it was an experiment, and everyone wanted it to be successful.” Williams was an account manager at Kelsey-Hayes Company who discontinued law school classes to join the AMP program after his boss strongly recommended he try it out. “It ended up being a great way to get an MBA,” he said. He spent 15 years with Kelsey-Hayes, five years with ITT in New York and 25 years as president of The Budd Company before retiring with his wife in Grosse Pointe, Mich. “I wouldn’t have been able to do what I did without my MBA,” Williams said. He has also nominated many past employees, further emphasizing his faith in the program.
1967: Students attend a three hour
class session after dining together.
Building leaders
Williams wasn’t the only successful person in his class. Professor of Accounting Harold Sollenberger, who has been teaching accounting courses in the AMP program for 30 years, recalls a man who single-handedly changed automobile industry accounting practices. Archie Long, also a member of the Class of ’66, learned about the benefits of discounted cash flow analysis as a student in the AMP program and brought his knowledge back to GM where he was the assistant Cadillac division comptroller. In the ’70s, Long convinced GM leaders to change the way they kept the books, and the method is still being used today with much success.As the program continued and prospered, it moved to Mercy College in Detroit until it found a permanent home at the MSU Management Education Center in Troy, which was built in 1975 specifically to house the AMP. But no matter where classes were held, the program helped leaders prepare for the real world. Over the years, these Executive MBA alumni have achieved success in top leadership roles during their careers: Ford Motor Company Chairman and CEO Alexander Trotman (’72), Lear Corporation Chairman and CEO Kenneth Way (’71), General Motors Chairman and CEO Robert Stempel (’70) and Chrysler CEO James Holden (’90).
Real world curriculum
Program faculty attribute the accomplishments of their students in part to the ever changing, fresh and timely curriculum that is designed to meet the up-to-the-minute needs of business. For instance, Professor of Economics Bruce Allen, who has been teaching in the program since 1967, says that his class has undergone many changes over the years to accommodate the needs of his students. “My class underwent drastic revisions (over the years) and became theoretical in nature rather than empirical, based on what the students wanted to learn.” Allen will be teaching his last course in the fall, when he will be retiring after 36 years with the program. “In the end, I’ve just done my job, and it’s one that I’ve found really rewarding.”The overseas travel requirement was also started in response to student requests for more emphasis on international business. In addition to having a good general management curriculum, I enrolled in MSU’s Executive MBA program because of its strong international component,” says 02 graduate Martha Morrissey, network development and training manager, General Motors HUMMER division. She says she’ll always have fond memories of her trip to Spain, Switzerland and Sweden with her classmates.
Twenty-year program veteran Mike Moch, professor of Management, also has many fond memories of the numerous trips he led to international destinations. On one trip in particular, Moch and 55 students traveled to Tokyo and visited Nomura Securities. He recalls, “The speaker at Nomura roundly criticized us and Americans in general for our inability to produce good products and manage our economy in a sound way. He was particularly critical of U.S. business education, putting much of the blame for our inability to compete with Japanese auto manufacturers on our business school faculty. (It) offended many of us, but much of what he said rang true.” The group left the meeting and discussed how they could compete with a very aggressive and capable competitor. “We all pledged to do everything we could to counter what was a serious competitive threat,” Moch says. “I’m pleased to say that many of those (on the trip) since went on to fulfill their pledge.” Professor Sollenberger has also been on many of these trips and believes it’s an important part of the program. “Our travel requirement creates camaraderie, and that’s so important for our students,” he says.
Learning from each other
In fact, camaraderie is the cornerstone of the Broad Executive MBA Program, according to Executive Director Lucy Maillette. “What distinguishes our Executive MBA Program is its emphasis on teamwork; learning is strengthened through the team experience in addition to the faculty expertise in the classroom.” This teamwork is accomplished by assigning study groups of four to six students who come from diverse business backgrounds, which facilitates the development of professional relationships, builds esprit de corps, and offers a support structure for participants. Faculty typically assign work for the group instead of the individual. Each person can add his or her expertise to projects, since students hold jobs in various fields – from accounting and finance to communications, sales and government. “They end up learning as much from each other as they do from the professors,” says Associate Dean for MBA Programs John Delaney. “You simply can’t have this experience if you’re taking classes on the Web.”
2003: Students still dine together
before class, but the surroundings at
the Troy Center are much more suitable.
Unique people for a unique program
Students who enroll in the MSU Executive MBA Program are, according to Delaney, high flyers; future leaders who are willing to bring their knowledge and experience to the group setting.” Typically, this means people who have been in business for at least eight years and have a good amount of management experience under their belts. Many have also been sponsored by their companies thanks to the strong commitment of Southeast Michigan’s business community.Faculty enjoy teaching these executives as a change of pace from teaching traditional students. “They’re a different kind of student – more mature, more interested in learning,” says Allen. “They want more than just bullet points on a PowerPoint slide – they want to relate what they learn to something real.”
They know as much or more than I do,” says Sollenberger. “I’m able to learn from them and take real-world examples back to my undergraduate students. It keeps my stories from getting too old.”
Preparing leaders for tomorrow
The Class of 2005 will embark on the program’s newest academic venture, with a new curriculum focused on strategic management and new faculty teaching courses that will apply to their every-day work experience. “It’s important for us to focus on issues impacting people who will be running businesses over the next 25 years, which is exactly who our students are,” Delaney says.By focusing on how corporations must constantly adjust strategy, not only to consumer needs and technological changes but also to changing societal expectations, we expect our students to be able to manage the interface between business and the broader society,” Moch says. This vision has led us recently to add a course in strategic management and business ethics.”
Another new course for the upcoming academic year will focus on leadership and is being taught by Eli and Edythe L. Broad Dean Robert Duncan. “Teaching executives is so exciting for me, because I know what I’m teaching them will directly impact a company’s success,” he says.
Although the program’s courses are frequently changing, much of what has made the program successful remains the same. In 2003, students continue to meet twice per week for class, and they still enjoy a buffet-style dinner beforehand with their classmates and the faculty. They’re also just as prepared for leadership as they were 40 years ago.