Full-time MBA |

On any given day, Mick Cornett works on a variety of different initiatives. As Mayor of Oklahoma City, he works to provide direction and vision to the nation’s 29th largest city with over 4,300 employees. He is also an executive vice president at advertising agency Ackerman McQueen, where he is involved in emerging forms of communication technology. With such a wide range of responsibilities, and wanting to be prepared for future professional endeavors, Mick believes he will benefit from a better understanding of all aspects of business management.

The EIRs are founders of or formers senior executives from successful entrepreneurial ventures who provide ad-hoc consulting, coaching and mentoring designed to help entrepreneurs progress their venture concepts to the next level.

As a business school graduate who ultimately pursued a career in law, Habert offers insights that apply to all fields. “Networking, researching new trends and laws, keeping on top of what’s happening in the market, and continually preparing yourself for the next phases of your practice are always essential to successfully positioning yourself.” He says the strong business background and marketing and communication skills gleaned at Stern and throughout his career helped him adapt to his changing legal practice.

Armed with a bachelor’s degree in Finance and a law degree, Richard was well-prepared for his role as a CFO Consulting Manager for Kiwi Partners, Inc. Kiwi provides accounting and CFO level consulting services to small to medium sized nonprofits in the New York area. His job responsibilities include presenting financial information to his clients’ senior management and Board of Directors.

After 16 years at Novartis and responsibility for a portfolio generating $1B annually in gross sales, Lisa Deschamps wondered if she still had anything to gain from an MBA. “I had contemplated the decision a number of times over the last five years,” says Lisa, “and there never seemed to be the right time.” She was ready to apply a few years ago but instead chose to accept an assignment in Switzerland that provided amazing global business experience but again delayed her pursuit of the degree.

After more than ten years working in the Netherlands, Ireland and the UK, Harjan Kuiper found himself in New York, serving as Head of Portfolio Management-Americas at Rabobank International. Working for a bank located in one of the world’s financial capitals helped Harjan recognize the value of an MBA in his industry; pursuing the degree at NYU gave him the opportunity to broaden his academic experience outside his home country of the Netherlands. He explains, “I obtained a Masters of Engineering degree at the University of Technology in Delft, the Netherlands.

Brian serves as Vice President of Mobile Advertising Sales and Strategy at Pandora, the largest internet radio provider in the United States. In this role he helps the company make the shift from driving advertising revenue from its desktop website to mobile devices, a category that is still evolving. Brian felt it was time to expand on his marketing and sales background with more strategy and finance. But there was also a personal goal in pursuing the NYU Stern Executive MBA program, as Brian says “it was about becoming smarter and improving my business acumen.”

After ten years in alternative asset management specializing in investment and lifestyle needs of ultra-high-net-worth families and running the day-to-day operations of a family office, Asel decided to transition her career and broaden her perspective by enrolling in NYU Stern’s Executive MBA Program. According to Asel, the knowledge she has gained at Stern has given her the confidence to explore other career paths. Today she is developing a business strategy for a leading auction house and a marketing strategy for a major auto importer in Russia.

For the last eight years Nerissa served as a management consultant for Accenture in London. Ready for a change, she decided to make a move to New York and shift from consulting to the corporate world. “In order to facilitate a smoother transition into this domain, I pursued an Executive MBA to give myself a well-rounded view,” says Nerissa. The NYU Stern Executive MBA program offered a mix of strong courses in finance with general management and leadership.

When Patrick Hynes finished law school, he vowed that he was finally finished with being in a classroom. Twenty years later, after more than 15 years at Prudential, he was prepared to break that vow. Pat took on his current role as a Vice-President overseeing compliance, operations and business quality across the U.S. in 2009. This role provides more exposure to senior leaders at Prudential and Pat felt he needed to transform his ways of thinking about business. As he says, “I learned a lot from law school and my early days of practicing law but it was mostly focused on analytical training.