Favorite MBA Professors Of The Class Of 2024

“My favorite MBA professor is Siddharth Chandramouli. He is the managing director of the Carlson Consulting Enterprise (CCE) and has played an important role in my MBA experience. He taught me important problem-solving concepts such as problem definition, issue trees, and the art of storytelling. More than just delivering lectures, he shows us how to apply these concepts to real client-facing projects. He also dedicates at least 90 minutes every week to each of his teams to review work and provide constructive feedback; this showed me what true mentorship and teaching look like. Moreover, students can tell that he truly cares about their well-being beyond academics. His office door is always open. Whether it’s about course material, career advice, or just life in general, students can connect with him about anything. His approachability creates a sense of trust and community that helped me and many others learn how to tackle complex problems confidently and communicate solutions in clear and impactful ways.”
Ernie Srimaneekulroj, University of Minnesota (Carlson)

“Virginia Tangney-Healy, a senior lecturer in Managerial Communication. Virginia expertly balances gathering and synthesizing student insights with her communications expertise from a decades-long career as the director of communication at State Street. It looks like magic on the surface. After serving as her teaching assistant for two classes, I’ve seen the preparation, passion, and hard work behind the scenes that enable her success. She even rewatches all of her lectures after every class to continually improve! Furthermore, Virginia is as compassionate as she is prepared – her actions demonstrating a singular and genuine purpose of helping students achieve their goals. I am grateful for my time with Virginia – Sloan is a better place because of her.”
Stefan Sayre, MIT (Sloan)

“Arathi Mehrotra, a Senior Lecturer in Managerial Communication in my Communication for Leaders course, stood out for her deep knowledge, approachability, and care for students. She memorized everyone’s names and backgrounds from the first class and provided very thoughtful feedback on our presentations. Arathi made learning enjoyable, even creating a very funny bloopers video to conclude the course. She went beyond teaching by striving to meet each student individually, showing genuine interest in our lives. Her dedication and availability not only taught us how to communicate effectively but also made her a mentor to many at Sloan.”
Sid Agrawal, MIT (Sloan)

“This is a tough one! There really are so many talented professors at UNC Kenan-Flagler. If forced to pick, I’d have to say Professor Daniel Ringel – he’s one of those professors whose enthusiasm and passions for data science and teaching rubs off on you.

Data Science and Artificial Intelligence in Business was one of the most challenging courses I’ve taken at UNC Kenan-Flagler, but it was the most rewarding specifically because of Professor Ringel’s teaching style. It was a class with a steep learning curve, but if you were willing to step up to the challenge and immerse yourself in the course material, it provided an immensely valuable learning experience. Professor Ringel threw us into the deep end with dense Python code from the get-go, but thanks to the extra help he provided during the course, I feel much more comfortable working with large and messy datasets. At the same time, I have a better understanding of some of the challenges firms encounter while working with data. Plus, if you’d told me a year ago that I’d be using k-means clustering and natural language processing techniques on Amazon product reviews to create behavioral customer segmentations, I wouldn’t have believed it!”
Oliver Jones, North Carolina (Kenan-Flagler)

“Professor Kevin McTigue has been my most impactful professor at Kellogg. I took Advertising Strategy with Professor McTigue, and he was my faculty sponsor for my marketing field study. Three things make Professor McTigue the paragon of a Kellogg professor:

1) His approach to advertising strategy reflects exactly why I chose Kellogg to study marketing. Professor McTigue’s Advertising Strategy course rejects the conventional wisdom that marketers just make flashy campaigns; rather, McTigue asserts that good marketers are strategists who leverage advertising as a mechanism for business growth.

2) He innovates class content to reflect market trends. In addition to teaching the fundamentals, Professor McTigue demonstrated technology’s impact on advertising, explained how privacy regulations complicate advertising, and dissected his favorite new ads each week.

3) He’s dedicated to our success beyond the classroom. Countless alums reach out to Professor McTigue because he is eager to support his students’ career growth and share his insights. I was particularly impressed when one of his former students, Mauricio O’Connell ’08, visited our class to talk about his award-winning campaigns for Old Spice at P&G (O’Connell’s work has turned into a marketing case studied at many MBA programs).”
Dorian J. Allen, Northwestern University (Kellogg)

“My favorite MBA professor is Kelly Rubey. She pours herself into every class and every student she teaches. She is one of the most generous and compassionate people I’ve ever met, and cares deeply about her students. She teaches some of the Meyer Business on the Frontlines courses and helps students confront difficult questions and really encourages thoughtful conversations that you might not have in the typical business school setting. She takes the time to get to get to know her students as individuals and makes it clear that she is learning alongside us. Most of the problems that we tackle in her classes don’t have a clear or “correct” answer. Kelly works through the problem-solving process with her students as a partner and not someone who has the answer. Through this approach, she ensures that we feel ownership of the work that we are delivering and that at the end of the class, we are proud of our work and learned something about business and problem solving, but also about ourselves and our classmates.”
Josephine (Josie) Emanuelli, Notre Dame (Mendoza)

“Six Sigma Principles’ professor, Dr. Mi Kyong Newsom, was my favorite MBA professor. She is fierce without creating fear. Not only is she brilliant, but she has the ability to communicate in a way that everyone can understand. Dr. Newsome broke down each topic so well that after every class, I wondered how she made it so easy. These were concepts that I had vague ideas about but was never able to strongly grasp – and she made them clear in one session. During our projects throughout the semester, Dr. Newsome would give us very clear, concise, and thorough feedback. Then she would encourage us to redo the project until we had it right. It was the first class where I repeatedly revisited material even after we had “finished” it so that I could fully and deeply learn every part.

She was not easy on us but allowed us to make our own choices. It was too much material to successfully procrastinate, yet she did not get worried about deadlines. If someone procrastinated, she would wisely smile and let us know we are creating problems for ourselves. Dr. Newsome clearly wanted to see us succeed and made us all feel that she believed in us. She is so wise and has so much life experience that the depth she can draw upon seems endless. She is an amazing person and without a doubt my favorite professor.”
Jaimie Lea Santmyer, Ohio State (Foster)

“Ravi Mantena. A common statement heard at Simon is “Ravi is the man,” and I wholeheartedly agree. Ravi is one of the first professors we meet at Simon—taking the time to spend most of orientation with us. Ravi’s teaching style meets students where they are, teaching one of the more complex classes successfully by breaking it into understandable building blocks. His genuine commitment to our learning was palpable as he dedicated extensive time to guide us through a pivotal class.

What truly sets Ravi apart, however, is his unwavering accessibility and genuine interest in our success. Whether during office hours or during an intense class, Ravi consistently demonstrates an unparalleled level of active listening and support. This approachability fosters an environment of trust and collaboration, making him not just a professor, but a mentor and ally in our academic journey.”
Missy Keesler, University of Rochester (Simon)

“Sharon Hellman, who taught me Organizational Behavior, had a great impact on me as both a professor and as a mentor. Her class was dynamic. She used case studies, simulations, individual papers, and group projects and presentations to teach us the intricacies of human behavior within organizational settings. Her class provided insights on how aspects like motivations, perception, and personality impact leadership styles, communication strategies, and power dynamics. Through topics like culture and organizational structure her class prepared me for leadership opportunities in the future.

Professor Hellman also candidly shared both the successes and challenges she had during her career in order to provide a full picture of the path to being a great leader.  However, her greatest impact on me was as a mentor. When she found out that I was president of one of the major student clubs, she came to my aid on multiple occasions. She helped me market my events to the larger Rutgers community. She gave me advice on how to tackle common conflicts that occur when in leadership roles. Professor Hellman gave me unwavering support throughout my MBA experience during challenging times and helped bolster my resilience and confidence. I see Professor Hellman as someone who exemplifies the qualities of someone who is compassionate, selfless, and wise and a great guide in the professional realm.”
Daphni Sawyer, Rutgers Business School

“Arthur Selender, Finance – I don’t have a finance background, and I was incredibly intimidated by the material. Professor Selender operates from a belief that “anyone can learn this stuff.” He jokes, he learns every student’s name, and he sets up shop in the Commons just to let students come ask questions and get into discussion about hedging strategies and the Fed. He teaches the Intuition of Trading, Portfolio Theory, and Capital Structure. A few months ago, I found myself carrying on a conversation with a veteran wealth manager as if I’d always known “this stuff.” That’s when I knew his teaching had rubbed off.
Melissa Cunningham, Southern Methodist University (Cox)

“Helmuth Ludwig was my favorite professor at Cox. I had the privilege of Taking Technology Strategy, Advanced Strategy, and the Global Leadership Program with Professor Ludwig. His teaching style consistently pushed me beyond my comfort zone, fostering a deeper understanding and encouraging me to expand my way of thinking. What truly sets Professor Ludwig apart is his dedication to crafting a curriculum that not only broadens but also deepens students’ knowledge. Professor Ludwig takes pride in his curriculum and each class is meticulously designed to intellectually stimulate and engage students in meaningful strategy discussions.

One aspect that truly sets Professor Ludwig apart is his pursuit of cutting-edge industry insights. He seamlessly weaves in current case studies, drawing upon the latest trends and innovations to keep us on the pulse of the business world. Additionally, class speakers from his expansive network of C-suite executives and startup founders ignite the classroom environment with real-world wisdom and inspiration. Overall, Professor Ludwig’s passion for teaching, partnered with his ability to challenge and inspire, has left a lasting impression on me. Through his lessons, I have gained not only a global understanding of strategic management but also the confidence to tackle complex business challenges head-on.”
William Harris, Southern Methodist University (Cox)

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