The ExecMBA Podcast

In this episode of the podcast, we catch up with friend of the podcast, Zoe Mayfield Boykin. Zoe is the Associate Director of Admissions, Professional Degree Programs, at the Darden School of Business, and we talk with her about the importance of engaging your manager in your plans to participate in a Part-Time MBA or Executive MBA program. Creating a support network at work is essential for success in any working professional prog...

In this special edition of the Darden Admissions podcast, we share a recent installment in our ongoing ‘Office Hours’ faculty spotlight series, a conversation with Professors June West and Steve Soltis. West and Soltis teach classes across Darden's MBA formats, including Leadership Communication, and they are also co-founders of the Darden Leadership Communication Council. Their podcast series, CEO Voices: Leading with Communicatio...

In this special episode of the Darden Admissions podcast, we are excited to share a recent conversation with Jennifer Hulvey and Reece Meares, two members of the Darden Financial Aid team. We talk with Jennifer and Reece about what they enjoy about financial aid, what students should be thinking about as they prepare financially for business school, upcoming federal loan changes resulting from the passage of the One Big Beautiful B...

In this special edition of the Darden Admissions podcast, we share audio from a recent webinar with Interim Dean Mike Lenox. In addition to serving as the Interim Dean of the Darden School of Business, Lenox is a member of the Strategy, Ethics and Entrepreneurship faculty, and he teaches the core MBA strategy course and an MBA elective on Strategy in the Digital Age, among other offerings. In this conversation facilitated by Managi...

In this special edition of the Darden Admissions podcast, we share a recent installment in our ongoing ‘Office Hours’ faculty spotlight series, a conversation with Doug Thomas. Thomas is the Academic Director of the Sands Institute for Lifelong Learning, and a member of the Technology and Operations Management faculty at the Darden School of Business. We talk with Thomas about his background, what led him to Darden, AI in the class...

In this episode of the podcast, we catch up with Caroline Holt. Caroline is a second year student in UVA Darden’s Executive MBA Class of 2026, and we recently connected to talk more about her decision to pursue an MBA, what led her to Darden, how she’s leveraged Darden’s entrepreneurial resources, her advice for prospective students and more. For more insights, tips, and stories about the Darden experience, be sure to check out the...

In this episode of the podcast, we catch up with Associate Director of Admissions, Professional Degree Programs, Zoe Mayfield Boykin. Zoe shares her tips for researching working professional MBA programs, including how to get started, key considerations, common myths and more. For more insights, tips, and stories about the Darden experience, be sure to check out the Discover Darden Admissions blog and follow us on Instagram @darden...

In this special episode of the podcast, we catch up with Professor Raj Venkatesan. Venkatesan is a member of the Marketing faculty at the Darden School of Business as well as the co-Academic Director for UVA’s MS in Business Analytics (MSBA) program and Darden’s LaCross Institute for Ethical Artificial Intelligence in Business. We talk with Venkatesan about his background, what led him to Darden, what drew him to the MSBA program, ...

In this episode of the podcast, we catch up with Elizabeth Berry and Jackie Jacobson. Elizabeth and Jackie are leaders of Darden’s Network of Executive Women (NEW) student organization, an organization dedicated to the professional development and advancement of females in Darden's Executive MBA and Part-Time MBA programs. We talk with Elizabeth and Jackie about their respective backgrounds, their decision to pursue an MBA, how the...

In this special edition of the Darden Admissions podcast, we share a recent installment in our ongoing ‘Office Hours’ faculty spotlight series, a conversation with Pnina Feldman. Feldman is a member of the Technology and Operations Management faculty at Darden, and her research focuses on how digital technologies affects operations strategy with emphasis on services, platforms, pricing, and consumer engagement. We talk with Feldman...

In this episode of the podcast, we catch up with Laura Bordoni. Laura is a member of the Darden faculty, and she currently leads the Experiential Learning, a 6.0 credit course sequence that gives Executive MBA students a dedicated opportunity to explore their professional and personal goals. We talk with Laura about the Experiential Learning course, what she enjoys about leading this course, why she’s so passionate about helping st...

In this episode of the podcast, we catch up with Keith McCormick. Keith is the Bodily Bicentennial Professor in Analytics at the Darden School of Business. The Bodily Bicentennial Professor in Analytics position was created to honor the contributions of Sam Bodily, the John Tyler Professor Emeritus of Business Administration to the field of decision analysis, and this visiting position allows a leader in the field of analytics to s...

In this special edition of the Darden Admissions podcast, we share a recent installment in our ongoing ‘Office Hours’ faculty spotlight series, a conversation with Professor Alex Cowan. Cowan teaches several courses in the area of design and digital innovation, and with Darden, he also created the Coursera specialization,  'Digital Product Management', one of the top 15 specializations on Coursera.  His...

In this episode of the podcast, we catch up with Associate Director of Admissions, Professional Degree Programs, Zoe Mayfield Boykin. We talk with Zoe about application timing, what can slow an application down in the admissions review process, how to discuss a work disruption when applying to business school, how to choose between a working professional program and a Full-Time MBA program and more. For more insights, tips, and sto...

In this episode of the podcast, we catch up with David Carver and Shafile Rashid. David and Shafile are second year students in UVA Darden’s Executive MBA Class of 2026, and they are also leaders in the Executive MBA Student Association (ESA). We talk with David and Shafile about their respective backgrounds, what attracted them to the Executive MBA program, what the ESA is all about, what the ESA has planned for the months ahead a...

In this special edition of the Darden Admissions podcast, we share a recent installment in our ongoing ‘Office Hours’ faculty spotlight series, a conversation with Professor Michael Albert. Albert’s research focuses on combining machine learning and algorithmic techniques to automate the design of markets. In this wide-ranging conversation, we talk with him about his background, what led him to Darden, his Machine Learning and AI f...

In this episode of the podcast we catch up with Joel Flesher. Joel is a second year student in UVA Darden’s Executive MBA Class of 2026, and he is also one of the leaders of the Entrepreneurship and Venture Capital Club, Professional Degree Programs. We chat with Joel about his decision to pursue an MBA, what led him to Darden, how he’s balanced work, life and school, what he’s looking forward to in his second year and more. For mo...

In episode of the podcast, we catch up with Gavin Aydelotte and Mike McHugh. Gavin and Mike are second year students in UVA Darden’s Executive MBA Class of 2026, and they are also leaders of the Darden Military Association (DMA) Professional Formats student organization. We talk with Gavin and Mike about their decisions to pursue an MBA, what led them to Darden, what they’ve enjoyed about the program so far, how the DMA Professiona...

In this episode of the podcast, we catch up with Cedric Thomas and D’Auria Henry Brown. Cedric and D’Auria are students in UVA Darden’s Part-Time MBA program, and they are also leaders of the Black Professional MBA (BPMBA) student organization, a club open to all Executive MBA and Part-Time MBA students at Darden. We talk with Cedric and D’Auria about their respective backgrounds, their decision to pursue an MBA, what they’ve enjoy...