Central Bank Partnering With UK-UofL Executive MBA
LEXINGTON, Ky. (Jan. 14, 2015) — Central Bank has committed to enriching the experience of University of Kentucky - University of Louisville Executive MBA (EMBA) Program participants by sponsoring special events in 2015 that will bring in C-suite executives to speak with students in small group settings. C-suite refers to a corporation's most senior level executives.
Central Bank's $20,000 commitment for the coming year includes sponsoring two series of events:
Four-Part Friday Dinner Series
This dinner speaker series will introduce C-suite executives selected by the universities to EMBA program participants across four select Friday nights in 2015. The speaker series will alternate between local restaurants in Louisville and Lexington.
Kickoff Dinner and Graduation Reception
The Graduation Reception celebrates the 2014-15 program participants' degree completion. The reception will include EMBA participants and their spouses, and will be held in Lexington in December 2015. Central Bank will also sponsor the EMBA Kickoff Dinner for the 2015-16 cohort, which is currently being recruited to begin in August 2015, in Louisville. The first kickoff dinner was held at Papa John's Cardinal Stadium and featured Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer as guest speaker.
"Central Bank is delighted to partner with these two great universities to provide these enhanced opportunities for participants in this exciting, top-quality program," said James Clay Smith, president of Central Bank of Jefferson County.
The EMBA program, aimed at rising executives from regional organizations, draws upon the experience and expertise of outstanding faculty from both UK's Gatton College of Business and Economics and UofL's College of Business. It features Friday and Saturday classes on every other weekend, with sessions split between the UK campus in Lexington and the UofL campus in Louisville. The program's 46-credit-hour curriculum includes 22 hours on management, six on current business issues, four each on accounting, economics, finance and marketing, and two on quantitative methods. This first group of executives will graduate from the 17-month program in December 2015.
While the initial agreement is for one year, Central Bank officials said they will evaluate the speaker series and other special events with EMBA program leadership on an ongoing basis, with the possibility that the arrangement could be extended into the future.
"We are grateful for Central Bank’s wonderful support in further enhancing our EMBA,” said Joe Labianca, Gatton Endowed Chair in Management, director of the Don and Cathy Jacobs Executive Education Center, and co-director of the Executive MBA Program. "The ability to bring in highly accomplished speakers to engage with the students adds another layer of quality and depth to our program both by exposing our program participants to the executives, while affording executives from important regional organizations an up-close view of our program’s quality."
U of L's Executive Director of MBA Programs, Career Management, and Public Relations Vernon Foster added, "Our students already are setting a very high standard for this program. Central Bank's generosity will enable us to build upon our strong start."
UofL and UK officials have said the program will boost Kentucky’s business climate by providing an advanced education to emerging leaders who might otherwise leave the area.
As mentioned earlier, the recruiting process is underway for the next EMBA group. For more details, see http://execmba.biz/ or contact Joe Labianca at 859-257-3741, or, Vernon Foster at 502-852-2855.
MEDIA CONTACTS: Carl Nathe, 859-257-3200/carl.nathe@uky.edu; Michelle Lowe, 859-257-1838/michelle.lowe1@uky.edu.