IE Brown MBA holds its first commencement

Brown University and Spain’s IE Business School celebrated the graduation of the inaugural class of the IE Brown Executive MBA program with a ceremony on Friday, June 8, 2012, in Segovia, Spain.

Several senior members of the Brown administration traveled to Spain to participate. David Suarez, an alumnus of both Brown University and IE Business School, and vice president of Booz & Company, delivered the ceremony’s keynote address and urged graduates to chase their dreams. “Be honest. Be authentic. Tell it like it is. Don't be afraid of the truth," he said.

Santiago Iñiguez, dean of IE Business School, delivered opening remarks. “It is with great pride that I congratulate this first group of graduates from the IE Brown Executive MBA program,” Iñiguez said. “The business world of the 21st century is a complex, ever-changing environment and these 23 graduating students are uniquely prepared address those economic, social, and political forces shaping our world.”

“You are called to become the architects of future global society.  But, you are not alone in this task; you have the full support of the IE and Brown communities," Iñiguez told the newly minted graduates.

The inaugural class represents a wide range of industries and more than a dozen nationalities. The average participant is 36 years old with 14 years of work experience. Fifty-five percent hold senior management positions; 45 percent are middle managers. Forty percent are women, representing one of the highest percentages among all executive MBA programs. The participants work in a variety of industries including banking, construction, cosmetics, education, finance, insurance, legal services, pharmaceuticals, real estate, recruitment, technology, and tourism. They are currently living Spain, Peru, Holland, Slovenia, Germany, Singapore, the U.K. and the United States. The class includes four alumni of Brown University.

Over the course of the 15-month program, the class took part in five face-to-face learning sessions that alternated between Brown and IE Madrid, with the remainder of the learning conducted online.

“I applaud the first graduating class of the IE Brown Executive MBA program,” said Brown Provost Mark Schlissel. “Twenty-three participants in this first cohort rose to the challenge of integrating business and liberal arts learning, which provided them with a broad, global view. They leave as business leaders with new skills, prepared to tackle the challenges of today’s global economy within their own professional pursuits.”

Launched in the spring of 2011, the IE Brown Executive MBA program integrates the innovative approach to management education at IE Business School with Brown University’s excellence in the humanities, social, biological, and physical sciences. The program is designed for senior managers with more than 10 years of experience who want to develop their entrepreneurial mindset and gain a deeper and richer understanding of the global business environment. Participants graduate with a degree from IE Business School.

The IE Brown Executive MBA program is part of a University initiative to develop programs in executive and professional education. It is one element of a wider partnership between Brown and IE to explore areas of mutual interest in research, joint program initiatives, and exchanges. That partnership includes faculty exchanges, internships, and a pre-college summer program at IE’s Segovia campus.