DC Immersion Widens EMBA’s Policy Perspective
A cornerstone of the Leavey Executive MBA (EMBA) has long been its tradition of providing students with high-level domestic and global immersion experiences. Last month, second-year EMBA students spent three full days in Washington, D.C., meeting with US Congressional staff, global sustainability leaders, financial industry policy influencers, and public policy experts, broadening their understanding of how business influences policy and how policy influences business.
“The Washington, D.C., trip really brought it together for me from the policy, communications, and influence standpoint and how they all jive together,” said EMBA student Oksana Komarova, who works as the Lymphoma Launch Lead, U.S. Marketing for Genentech. “I was especially inspired by the Bechtel offsite trip and how they embed their sustainability practices into how they do business.”
Starting their second year of Leavey’s EMBA program, this cohort had the opportunity to meet with the following:
- Stacy Leavandosky, chief of staff to Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) who represents the 18th District of California, which serves communities in Monterey, San Benito, Santa Clara, and Santa Cruz counties;
- Catherine McKalip-Thompson, manager of sustainability for the infrastructure business unit of Bechtel, a global engineering, construction, and project management organization;
- Mark Lindsay, director of the health care and pharmaceuticals practice at The Livingston Group lobbying and government relations organization, who also served on President Barack Obama’s Transition Team and in President Bill Clinton’s White House as assistant to the president for the Office of Management and Administration;
- Chris Ullman, former managing director, global partner, and director of global communications for The Carlyle Group, which is a multinational private equity, alternative asset management and financial services corporation;
- Robert Pepper, head of global connectivity policy and planning at Meta
- Chryssa Zizos, president of Live Wire Strategic Communications who worked with the students to understand how the media report on business and how to conduct a successful media interview.
“This is our second year conducting the DC immersion trip,” said Jo-Ellen Pozner, faculty director of Leavey’s EMBA program and an associate professor of management and entrepreneurship. “Our immersion experiences broaden what our students learn in the classroom. We expose them to how the organizations where we work fit into the bigger picture of our society. So as they move up the corporate ladder, they gain access to the numerous ways to contribute. It really opens their eyes.”
For EMBA student Manickababu Muthu, co-founder and chief technology officer for AI company Faro, the trip enlightened him as to how businesses work with the government. “This national immersion trip has been very useful in that I gained an understanding of how to work with policy makers and how we can make an impact,” said Muthu, who had only been to DC before as a tourist. “After meeting with Meta’s legal team, I realized that if I want to impact policy, I need to start thinking about having a legal presence in Washington, D.C.”
Gaining a greater understanding of US policy is especially relevant to Shari Yamaguchi, who travels twice a month from Tokyo to participate in Leavey’s EMBA program. Yamaguchi works in Japan for real estate company APAMAN, Inc., as deputy director of its global division.
“This trip gave me a different perspective of the geopolitical side of businesses,” said Yamaguchi. “I compare coming from Japan, where we do things differently. It’s informative to see how politics affects business.”
In addition to better understanding policy and business, Yamaguchi said she was inspired by the session with Live Wire Strategic Communications President Chryssa Zizos. “I gained a good perspective of business in the media that I will take back to Tokyo and to my work going forward.”
The EMBAs have two more immersion experiences before they graduate in June. The first will take place in January in Santa Rosa, Calif., during which the students will engage with local businesses on their sustainability efforts. Then, shortly before graduation, the students will fly to Bavaria, Germany to learn about global business challenges and do a deep dive into the Bavarian innovation ecosystem.
“As our students move through the program, they are asking questions they wouldn’t have known to ask before they came to Leavey,” says Pozner. “Through what they learned in the classroom and through the immersion experiences, they can walk into any business ready to bring a global perspective and feel confident in what they can offer.”