UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School graduated 351 working professionals from its Evening and Weekend Executive MBA Programs and online MBA Program in Memorial Hall ceremonies on Oct. 28, 2018.
“Our graduates exemplify UNC Kenan-Flagler’s high standards and core values, and will be enormously successful as they apply the energy, creativity and commitment they brought to their programs to the next phases of their careers,” said Adam Mersereau, associate dean of MBA programs and professor of operations. “Now we welcome them to our alumni community of some 37,000 graduates living and working in 50 U.S. states and 86 countries.”
The 107 graduates of the Evening and Weekend MBA programs entered with an average of more than 12 years of significant work experience and travelled from across the U.S. to attend classes in Chapel Hill. They work for a diverse set of multinational and Triangle-area employers, including MetLife, Boeing, Red Hat, Biogen, Cisco, Bank of America, UNC Health Care, U.S. Army, U.S. Marines and U.S. Navy.
Ben Hartmere (MBA ’10), president and CEO of inMotionNow, gave the keynote address to the Executive MBA students. Class speakers were Bryan Perry, global strategic marketing manager at BASF Corporation, and Hadley Callaway, medical director at Raleigh Orthopaedic Surgery Center.
About 70 percent of the 244 MBA@UNC graduates came to Chapel Hill for the Memorial Hall ceremony. During their online studies they had logged into class from almost every U.S. state and several countries. They work in a variety of fields, including engineering, marketing, medicine and consulting, and represent many prestigious organizations and companies such as Boeing Company, General Electric, U.S. Navy and the U.S. Army.
David Casey, vice president of workforce strategies and chief diversity officer for CVS Heath, gave the keynote address at the MBA@UNC graduation. Sara Dettore, chief clinical officer at Mary Manning Walsh Home, part of ArchCare, and Hussam Laith Al-khudhairy, global procure-to-pay assurance/Western Hemisphere procure-to-pay sustain lead at BP America, were class speakers.
Teaching excellence awards were presented to Christopher Bingham, professor of strategy and entrepreneurship and Phillip Hettleman Distinguished Scholar, Mersereau, professor of operations and associate dean of MBA Programs, and Atul Nerkar, professor of strategy and entrepreneurship and Allred Distinguished Scholar.