Lance Kelly, EMBA XXIV

EMBA Content
in Action

Lance Kelly, a manufacturing manager at Timken Aerospace, completed the Rensselaer EMBA program in May of 2012. During the program, he began to use what he was learning at his workplace. In fact, in just the second course of the program, Using Data to Structure and Solve Problems, Lance was thinking about a situation at work, and how to apply what he was learning in his statistics class directly to an issue that he was facing. He was able to apply the knowledge he had gained about statistical analysis immediately.

When the course was over, Lance told his professor about an idea he had and asked for advice on a project. The professor was very supportive and read and commented on Lance's eventual proposal. Lance took his knowledge of statistics and Excel to evaluate the probability of retirement of associates in critical roles in his organization. What he discovered was that there were retirements looming in the next one to two years and no associates were in the pipeline to fill the soon-to-be vacant positions. In addition, he knew that it would take up to a three year training period for new associates to be fully prepared to fill those positions. This could lead to a bad situation considering his company had a hiring freeze in effect.

Lance took a few weeks to gather the statistics quantitatively in an Excel spreadsheet and present the information to the leadership team at Timken Aerospace. Management was so impressed and pleased with Lance's work that they approved the hiring of three new associates as an exception to the freeze in place. After the immediate hires were onboard, Lance was able to use them in his department. Therefore, he not only improved his work environment, but he saved his company money, time, and frustration from what would have been a problem in the near future. Lance's application of his experience in Rensselaer's EMBA program made the difference in this success story.

Lance Kelly also contributes his comments about aspects of the EMBA Program in videos on THIS PAGE.

A Cadre of Exceptional Peers

Past Rensselaer Executive MBA participants have cited what they have learned from their peers as a valued take-away. Each cohort of working professionals moves through the curriculum as a unified group, which encourages students to collaborate and learn from each other over an extended period of time. The friendships made and the bonding experiences of the cohort can last a lifetime.

Rensselaer’s Executive MBA is designed to provide the education, knowledge, capabilities, perspectives, and learning necessary for dedicated executives who want to assume strategic leadership positions in a complex and turbulent business world of the 21st century.

The focus is on:

• Corporate Management
• Strategic Leadership
• Global Business
• Operational Integration
• Strategic Innovation
• Leading Change.

This highly specialized graduate degree program takes a global perspective on leading and managing in a global economy.

Rensselaer targets the needs of experienced working professionals who desire to make a quantum leap in their capabilities and knowledge in leading sophisticated business organizations.

Similar to Executive MBA candidates at all top-tier universities in the U.S. and abroad, our participants expect and demand new knowledge and high-level learning that includes sophisticated leadership and world-class practices that fit their current business situations and their needs to become more powerful and successful strategic leaders.