Tag: EMBA

The theme today for the EMBA 45 class in Shanghai was “China is Big.” China has a big population, big cities, big opportunity. Everything in China is BIG. Class was held on the campus of Fudan University, Olin’s partner school in Shanghai – the second largest city in China with more than 27 million residents.

Mei Ye, a senior advisor at McKinsey & Company, emphasized China’s size as she talked about the country’s newest five year plan. The first leg of the plan is a directive for a healthier China—improvements in air, food, and water. By 2030, Ms. Ye says an additional 800 million Chinese will enter the middle class.

We finished our time at Fudan University with Bee Lan Tan, CEO of Columbia Health-China. She gave a comprehensive overview of the challenges and political structure of China’s Healthcare sector. Ms. Tan says with the demand for better healthcare increasing from the rapidly expanding middle class, healthcare is the sector to be in.

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Guest blogger: Cory Barron, Student Services Manager, EMBA team

Al Li, EMBA class 39, has been elected as the new president of the Asian American Chamber of Commerce of St. Louis. He is vice president of Global Trade Finance at Regions Bank for the Midwest area that includes Missouri, Illinois, Iowa, Indiana, Ohio, and Kentucky.

With nearly 20 years of corporate finance and banking experience including time at Monsanto and Bank of America, Li works with importers and exporters of all sizes to advise on export credit policies and provide solutions for export working capital using various insurance products and guarantee programs involving the Export-Import Bank of the United States (Ex-Im Bank), SBA, and Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC).

Native to the St. Louis area, Li holds a BA of Communications and MA of Economics from the University of Missouri in addition to his Executive MBA from Washington University.  He serves on the Advisory Board of the International Institute’s Community Development Corporation that provides micro-lending services to immigrant and refugee entrepreneurs residing in the St. Louis area, and is a passionate supporter and Ambassador of the Mosaic Project.

Dr. Ashley Jacob, a current Executive MBA student (Mumbai Class 1), presented at the Ahmedabad Management Association (AMA) 21st Innovation Conference on his successful hospital transformation which increased patient quality outcomes using innovative technology and processes to reduce overhead and patient wait times.

With a population of 1.2 billion people, India has extreme competition where medical facilities and doctors vie for customers who prioritize value, reputation, and quality. Though Dr. Jacob comes from 7 generations of Ayurveda doctors (version 7.0 as he states), he had to differentiate his system and practice in order to become the leading eye hospital since 2001.

Dr. Jacob instituted new policy and operational changes by implementing a new management system which put employees first and customers second. Realizing that 80% of patient interaction is outside of his control (average direct doctor interface is 7 minutes), he developed a training program to ensure his staff were certified and cross-trained to handle every task that would arise.

Additionally, he implemented a digital check-in process where patients used their thumbprint. The system would automatically alert the staff of the patient arrival, lead patients through the various treatment areas, and then send the bill and follow-on appointment reminders automatically.

Incredibly, he utilized YouTube to showcase his operation on a patient to remove the longest eye worm known which became the most downloaded medical video with over 1.2 million views, ( YouTube link ). This global reach allowed him to interact and provide honest and ethical feedback gaining a following.

The results are staggering:
• Reduction of staff (76 to 24)
• Reduction of patient wait times from 211 minutes to 48 minutes
• “Word of mouth” advertising increasing customer base from Indian subcontinent to worldwide

Innovations are not limited to just technological advances but rather a change to an existing action or process. Dr. Jacob applied innovation to mature hospital operations by daring to change the status quo. He has applied these principles, coupled with Olin’s EMBA program, to his other enterprises (financial services, education, entertainment) to continuously innovate and create value.

Shula Neuman, EMBA’07, has been named executive editor at St. Louis Public Radio. Neuman, who served as interim editor since the retirement of Margaret Freivogel in January of 2016, joined St. Louis Public Radio in 2013 as the editor of the organization’s health, science, education and race beats. (more…)

The ability to build and leverage relationships that matter is one of the most important skills for succeeding in business. The power of these relationships was the crux of Stuart Bunderson’s lecture on The Power Base Pyramid, presented to EMBA 46 on Tuesday, Feb. 9.

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The Executive MBA class 46 Leadership Residency literally kicked off on Super Bowl Sunday this year. The class, which includes cohorts from St. Louis and Kansas City, gathered for the first session of the week-long residency in the Knight Center. The popular “I-70 Connect” reception allows the Kansas City and St. Louis cohorts to get reacquainted and prepare for their next 10 months together. The first day’s capstone was a venture to the hip Malt House Cellar to watch the Denver Broncos hoist the Lombardi Trophy after a 24-10 Super Bowl victory.

After a little celebrating, it was back to class and courses on formal and informal leadership.

Special guest speaker Sharon Price John, CEO of Build-A-Bear Workshop, Inc. told the class, “The definition of responsible is the ability to respond.” It was a meaningful beginning to an intensive week of learning and exploring the meaning of leadership.

Leadership Residency marks the halfway point of the WashU Executive MBA curriculum and is a hallmark of the program. During the ten months prior to Leadership Residency, executive students studied the core business competencies and now understand how they work together to solve problems. Following the residency, the cohort will concentrate on three essential themes that develop 360-degree thinking and the courage to dismantle organizational silos: growth, globalization, and innovation and entrepreneurship.

WashU’s Executive MBA is about Business Without Blind Spots.