Michigan Ross Finds A New MBA Director At Wake Forest

Michigan Ross MBA

Michigan Ross announced its new managing director of MBA programs via this Twitter post

After seven years at Wake Forest University’s School of Business, Matt Ganderson is moving to Ann Arbor to take on the role of managing director of full-time and global MBA programs for the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business.

Ganderson, who has been executive director for Wake Forest’s MBA programs for the past year and one-half, is a major hire for new Dean Sharon Matusik who began a five-year term in August of last year.

In assuming the MD job for Ross’ full-time MBA program, Ganderson succeeds Soojin Kwon who had that position as well as director of admissions. Kwon left Ross in May of 2022 for a talent acquisition role with McKinsey & Co.

A DUKE MBA FROM WAKE FOREST WILL HEAD UP MICHIGAN ROSS’ MBA PROGRAMS

Michigan Ross MBA

Matt Ganderson

Ganderson, who earned an MBA at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business in 2014, used his degree to transition from being a school counselor in Norfolk, VA., to joining PepsiCo’s Frito-Lay unit as an associate marketing manager. But after just a year, he left Frito-Lay to join Wake Forest University as an associate director of its MBA program in Charlotte. After spending nearly six years in administrative roles for the Charlotte program, he was named executive director of MBA programs in October of 2021.

The new job at Ross, effective March 13, represents a major new career challenge for Ganderson. Wake Forest decided to shut down its full-time MBA program in 2014. The school delivers in-person, online and hybrid part-time MBA programs. For its latest cohort of part-time students, 197 candidates applied for admission with 194 of them gaining acceptance for an admit rate of 98.5%. Some 121 of those accepted applicants enrolled, according to the latest numbers supplied by Wake Forest to U.S. News.

In contrast, Ganderson will be leading a highly-ranked, full-time MBA program, named the MBA Program of the Year by Poets&Quants in 2021. It is among the most highly selective MBA experiences in the world.  The acceptance rate for Ross’ full-time MBA is 20.2% and annually enrolls a class of about 400 students. Ross’ part-time MBA last enrolled 91 new students with an acceptance rate of 79.3%. Ross’ full-time MBA program is ranked 11th best in the U.S. by Poets&Quants. U.S. News ranks Ross’ part-time MBA as seventh best in the U.S., while Wake Forest’s part-time program is ranked 19th in a tie with three other schools. Santa Clara University, Washington University, and UT-Dallas.

The announcement of Ganderson’s new position was made via Twitter (see above graphic).

DON’T MISS: MICHIGAN ROSS FINDS A NEW DEAN IN COLORADO or MEET THE MICHIGAN ROSS MBA CLASS OF 2023

Questions about this article? Email us or leave a comment below.