At Darden, Executive Education Means Better Business.

Business Editors/Education Writers

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 28, 2001

As the son of two educators, Sylvester Formey didn't have to be convinced about the value of a good education while he was growing up in a small town in southeast Georgia. What he didn't know, however, was how to maximize that value in dollars and cents. He has a better idea now, having joined an explosive trend among business executives who attend graduate business schools for advanced management education.

Formey attributes a 600 percent increase in his company's revenues in part to a program he attended at the University of Virginia's Darden School last year. "It gave me the confidence and insight to reduce the risks from taking a much more aggressive strategic approach," Formey says of Darden's Minority Business Executive Program.

Formey is the President of Vanguard Distributors, Inc., a distributor of safety equipment and research laboratory supplies in Savannah, Ga. Vanguard's clients today include such Fortune 500 companies as Phillip Morris, Mercedes-Benz, and Michelin. He says his Darden professors--ranked among the best in the world by the Financial Times for the second, consecutive year--challenged him to ally his small business with bigger companies. "They helped me see that I could take on increased acquisitions in supply and commodity management," Formey says.

According to Brandt Allen, Associate Dean for Executive Education, nearly 4,800 executives used Darden's 120 executive education programs this year in Virginia and 11 countries in Europe, Asia, Latin America and the Mid-East, producing the highest revenue numbers in Darden's history. And, to accommodate the busy schedules of executives in the Northern Virginia area, Darden opened a new satellite office there and will present a series of new programs to begin early in 2002.

So, why are executives nationwide spending an estimated $700 million to attend advanced management education programs at universities? In a Business Week survey, executives specifically cited Darden's capabilities in leadership, marketing, e-business, and innovative custom programs.

"Executive education is so vital to corporations; they need lifelong learning at all levels," says Allen. This is a sentiment echoed by United Technologies' (UTC) CEO, George David, whose business philosophy is "never stop learning." In 1998, UTC convened a panel to decide the company's future with regard to education. The panel concluded that UTC should spend more money educating company executives and senior managers, partner with a leading business school, and appoint a chief learning officer.

UTC selected Darden to provide the custom program for its needs. In a partnership that may be one-of -a -kind in management education, Darden professor of business administration Robert Harris was chosen as UTC's chief learning officer, while concurrently maintaining his position at Darden. The arrangement has enabled Harris to work with both Darden and UTC in tailoring custom programs for company executives. In addition, it gives Darden the opportunity to write more global cases and allows UTC executives "to focus on priorities for the corporation and for their own individual development," says Lee Dailey, UTC Director of Education and Development.

In another trend for custom executive education, more and more companies are seeking what Allen calls "just in time" educational programs that require speedy preparation. Issues surface in organizations, and managers want business schools to create active learning programs to address these issues "right away."

Darden's custom program with Citibank--which has sent over 1,100 executives here over the past two years for e-learning-- is a good example. The bank recently requested a new, online educational product, for those who cannot come to Darden--and, the bank wanted it in six weeks. Faculty spent hours in Darden's studio videotaping portions of the program, while staff spent hundreds of hours editing tapes and testing the site with Citibank employees around the world. When Allen first saw the web-based program, he was surprised to see four different topic choices on one screen. "When I'm teaching students in the classroom, I want their undivided attention. I quickly realized, though, that this was the type product web users would be accustomed to seeing."

Before the six-week deadline had arrived, the Citibank program was ready for worldwide, online delivery. Allen says, "An online product allows a company to disseminate an educational product to a much wider audience; corporations can 'bring back' something for all the employees by having such a product." Darden is now working with other customers to adapt the program for their use.

Ann Cairns, a co-head of e-solutions at Citibank believes the Darden program she attended was particularly beneficial in helping the bank understand the Internet as a way to market its products. "This course, with the case studies and interactive discussions, affirms that the Internet is how businesses are getting ahead, and we need to look at ways to increase our returns," she says.

In the midst of many new adaptations of executive education, there seems to be one constant: People want lifelong learning programs. "For people who have never been here, I think they owe it to themselves to attend a program like this one," says Formey. "The professors are so knowledgeable about business, they can stimulate even the most business-savvy types. I would like to come every year."