The Top MBAs Name Their Favorite Business School Professors

Fisher's Tony Ricci

Fisher’s Tony Rucci

Role Models

“Professor Tony Rucci has been a phenomenal professor and role model for me during my time at business school. He is my favorite professor because of his philosophy that business is not about money; it is about successfully working with people. He also breaks down complicated concepts, like strategic implementation, into manageable steps and provided me with the opportunity to put these lessons into practice with a consulting project for Catholic Social Services this year. He also taught my favorite class, Leadership Legacy. The course asks students to prepare and share a 3-minute speech about their story and the legacy they hope to leave. These 3-minute speeches had a strong effect on me, and I loved hearing about my classmates’ challenges and triumphs. It was a class that made me feel like I had learned something critical about myself and the type of business leader I could be.” -Katherine Beaulieu / Ohio State Ohio State, Fisher College of Business

Professor Carl Voigt. Among the many brilliant, dynamic, and accomplished professors at Marshall Professor Voigt is something extraordinary. He has unconquerable heart: more than anyone I have ever met. After 30 years in academia, he remains certain that he can make the world a better place. And his optimism is infectious.

No one works harder nor inspires hard work more than Professor Voigt. He takes on more than any human can possibly accomplish. He is in his office from 5 am until well into the evening. He is there even on his days off. He lives and dies by his students’ success. I know that if I am ever in trouble any where in the world I can call him for advice (as can any of his students).” – Jennifer Dare / University of Southern California, Marshall School of Business

Open-Minded

Professor Bart Hamilton, who teaches several economics courses at Olin, challenged me to think differently and always treated me as an equal. Bart wants people to disagree and encourages passionate discussion. I think his classes best reflect the types of real-world conversations that occur in board rooms across the country. One time, Bart and I got into a disagreement over compensation strategies for sales associates. Although we didn’t come to an agreement, I was incredibly impressed with how he debated with me as a peer and greatly valued my perspective.” Geoff Nykin / Washington University, Olin Business School

Students Come First 

Timothy Vogus of Vanderbilt's Owen School is among the best 40 business school profs under 40.

Timothy Vogus of Vanderbilt’s Owen School is among the best 40 business school profs under 40.

“Tim Vogus has been an advisor and mentor since I first met him in August 2013. The classroom comes alive when Tim is at the podium (and not just because he starts class with old school jams). As my faculty advisor, Tim provided the creative license and academic rigor to pursue an independent study on palliative care and caregiver decision-making. The students are his top priority, and he has spent countless hours advising and coaching my classmates and me.” Gina Bruno / Vanderbilt University, Owen Graduate School of Management

“Honestly, I have loved virtually every single professor I’ve had here at HBS. They have all contributed greatly to my education, been there to answer every single question, and taught with incredible enthusiasm and energy. Senior Lecturer Shikhar Ghosh, who was my Entrepreneurial Manager professor (required first-year course), [was one of them]. I knew literally nothing about entrepreneurship before taking his course, but he brought everything to life for us. At the end of the semester, I asked him if he’d be willing to write a case with me. He trusted my idea, and my ability to execute on it, and we wound up writing a case together that was taught to the entire first-year class (the aforementioned CrossFit case). He was an incredible teacher, co-author, and mentor throughout the process.” – Ali Huberlie / Harvard Business School

Barry Thomas. He tried to incorporate a lot of things outside formal academia into his presentations and coursework. Professor Thomas was very personable and made an effort to get to know people outside of class. He’s very in tune with all of the students, even if they weren’t in his classes.” – Scott Schmidt / University of Iowa, Tippie School College of Business

Carlson's Seth Werner

Carlson’s Seth Werner

 

“Senior Lecturer Seth Werner was terrific at both drawing from long-standing convention and presenting it in a relevant and contemporary context.

Below is an excerpt of an email I wrote to the heads of the Marketing Department at Carlson one particular week I felt Werner went out his way to help incorporate our classwork with some external consulting I was doing through the school’s experiential learning program:

I am currently enrolled in Seth Werner’s daytime Pricing Strategy (MKTG 6075) class and was recently taken aback on how far above and beyond he went with helping me answer a particular and complex problem I was facing. For my time this year in the ventures enterprise, I am working on the Universities’ newly started Discovery Capital fund and a significant portion of my time revolves around conducting due diligence on potential investments. I was assigned to evaluate a company late last week as it became known that they were going to pitch. The company in question, had what I perceived as a difficult if not incorrect pricing strategy…with only a week to prepare my findings and present them to the advisory board I reached out to Seth.

As an appreciation of timeline, Seth and I exchanged emails throughout the day on Tuesday and well into the night, until he better understood the context of the industry and firm. He then incorporated the specific situation that I was working on into an in class example/case the very next morning in class, facilitating discussion and learning points around the topic, not just for myself but for the entire class.  Then at the conclusion of class he spent another hour or so with me one-on-one making sure I fully understand all the complexities involved, only once I was satisfied did we conclude the meeting.

Personally, I feel that this amount of engagement, flexibility and responsiveness far exceeded what I would expect and that is not even mentioning the terrific insights and advice that he delivered or pulled out of me in discussion, hence me reaching out tonight. I think Seth is known in general as a good/great instructor in the classroom but it is clear, to me, that his commitment and willingness to help does not stop at the classroom door.

Professor Werner went out of his way to make sure his lessons were applicable to what we were doing and did not limit his efforts to time in the classroom. The above story is only meant as one example, but I could share several more just like it.” -Tim O’Neil / University of Minnesota, Carlson School of Management

DON’T MISS: 

2015: The 40 Best B-School Profs Under 40

2014: The 40 Best Business Profs Under 40

2011: The 40 Best Business Professors Under 40

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