The Executive MBA class: a diverse, experienced cohort
With an average of 16 years work experience before they begin the Executive MBA, ESMT’s EMBA class are among the top performers in their organizations. They are leading diverse groups of people, overseeing large budgets, and making a difference within and outside of their organizations.
During the Executive MBA these people become your peers: a network of executives and senior business leaders who you can rely on, throughout your studies and after graduation.
Class profile: key statistics
Executive MBA class profile
Our Executive MBA class is made up of participants from all over the globe, with many different industry backgrounds, functional roles, and life experiences.
On average, our cohort fit the following criteria:
- Age at program start: 40
- Work experience at program start (in years): 16
- Women: 44%
- International participants: 56%
It becomes impossible to cling to your own default way of thinking, because there are too many intelligent alternatives in the room.
Nobody has great answers all the time. People have perspectives. They have patterns they recognize. They ask better questions. They disagree in ways that move the thinking forward rather than just winning an argument.
And the cohort diversity makes that happen naturally. Different industries, different cultures, different leadership styles, different assumptions about what “good” looks like. It becomes impossible to cling to your own default way of thinking, because there are too many intelligent alternatives in the room.
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Class profile: a global cohort
The Executive MBA: a global cohort
Participants join the Executive MBA from all over the world.
We have an average of 12 unique nationalities in the program.
In our most recent cohort, the regions represented include:
- Western Europe: 46%
- Eastern Europe: 25%
- Asia/Pacific: 18%
- Middle East/Africa: 11%
Executive MBA industries & functions
Career backgrounds of our Executive MBAs
Our Executive MBA participants come from a wide range of leadership roles, functions and industries.
In our most recent cohort, participants came from healthcare and technology, financial services, transportation, energy, and more. The most common function was general management, but participants came from many different backgrounds.
No matter the background, they were united by a solid leadership foundation and desire for the executive phase of their careers.
Executive MBA background: industries
- Technology: 22%
- Financial services: 19%
- Transportation/logistics: 11!
- Manufacturing: 11%
- Energy: 11%
- Consulting: 7%
- Healthcare: 7%
- Other: 11%
Executive MBA background: functions
- General management: 37%
- Finance/accounting: 15%
- Consulting: 11%
- HR: 7%
- Management info systems: 7%
- Marketing/sales: 4%
- R&D: 4%
- Other: 15%
There were leaders with teams of over 3,000 people, and you could immediately see how much they brought to the table as peers
There were leaders with teams of over 3,000 people, and you could immediately see how much they brought to the table as peers from a leadership perspective. I fundamentally changed my way of thinking about leadership responsibility, as well as sustainability and diversity.