Quite an impressive and diverse group of Wharton’s executive MBA students graduated at the School’s East and West Coast commencement ceremonies this month. Members of the graduating classes hailed from more than 20 countries such as Greece, Argentina, Finland, Russia, Korea and Nigeria.
A class of almost 200 students from both coasts, the new graduates work in key decision-making posts in finance, consulting, E-commerce and health care, not to mention all of the doctors, lawyers and heads of industry among them. Many are also wives, husbands and parents. One served as a British military officer and another was even named among the 25 stars of Asia by BusinessWeek. The classes have travelled far and wide, going back and forth from South Korea to India to Azerbaijan, and all the while attended classes in San Francisco and Philadelphia every other weekend. Congratulations to these amazing groups!
The East Coast ceremony, held May 18 at Franklin Field on the Philadelphia campus, featured Governor and Penn alumnus Jon M. Huntsman Jr., who appeared on behalf of his father, Wharton alumnus Jon M. Huntsman. The senior Huntsman, the namesake of Wharton’s main classroom building Jon M. Huntsman Hall, is a philanthropist as well as the founder and chairman of Huntsman Corp., a global manufacturer and marketer of differentiated and commodity chemicals.
The West Coast ceremony, held May 11 at the San Francisco War Memorial and Performing Arts Center ’s Herbst Theater, featured Penn alumnus, Art Bilger – a member of Wharton’s Board of Overseers. Bilger is the managing member of Shelter Capital Partners, LLC, an entity engaged in venture capital investment management, which he founded while acting as the vice chairman of Akamai Technologies, Inc. This marked the sixth Wharton West graduation ceremony since the program was launched in 2001. Since its founding, Wharton West has graduated more than 450 students.