Shifting Gears: ProfitPlus Planet - The Paul Merage School of ...

MBA PROGRAMS MBA PROGRAMS
36
experience INNOVATION
Strategic
Issues in
Management
Series
Engages Professionals
as it Sharpens
Business Skills
by James Lystra
For business professionals,
skill building goes hand-inhand
with career building.
That’s why today’s executives
pursue lifelong learning to
remain competitive and increase
their value within their organizations.
One way executives
accomplish this is through the
Strategic Issues in Management
Series (SIMS) offered by the public
Executive Education Program at UC
Irvine’s Paul Merage School of
Business.
Directed by Lynette Albovias, MBA,
associate director, SIMS consists
of a series of 10, four-hour seminars
offered throughout the year
on current business topics such
as Finance for Non-Financial
Managers, Global Negotiations,
and Critical Thinking & Decision
Making. SIMS also offers participants
a small glimpse into various
opportunities available to companies
for fully-customizable
corporate education programs
designed to address the business
needs unique to each organization.
“The Strategic Issues in
Management Series offers a
refreshing approach to relevant
business topics, and the dynamic
structure of the sessions provides
participants with a unique arena to
pool points of view and share
sound managerial experience in
various sectors,” said participant
Fernando Eiroa, president and CEO
of Palace Entertainment.
“Additionally, we were most impressed
with the excellent design
of a customized Executive
Education program for the Palace
Entertainment management team
that resulted in a well organized
and carefully conducted training
that addressed key issues perfectly
connected with the day-to-day
business situations within our
company.”
“The type of experience we are
striving for with this program is one
that will benefit an individual in
multiple ways, offering new knowledge
and new insights in dynamic
and highly interactive sessions,”
said Albovias.
Indeed, it is the interactive
nature of these seminars that
enables Executive Education to
achieve program goals successfully
and create a setting that lends
itself not only to learning, but also
provides a unique networking
opportunity where professionals
can share their experiences and
leverage the knowledge of the
expert faculty as well as the
knowledge of their fellow participants.
“Through our discussions,
participants benefit from a cross-
pollination of ideas where the
faculty’s input or another participant’s
experience may offer new
perspectives and possible solutions
to another’s issues or challenges,”
Albovias added.
Keeping the seminars both current
and relevant is of utmost
importance as each year’s offerings
are organized. “We review and
refresh the sessions always with an
eye towards what’s new. Even if we
repeat a particular topic, we’ll
update the content materials,” said
Albovias.
“The topics selected for SIMS
were interesting and very relevant
to the times and also to the needs
of my business. The subject matter
was presented in an interactive
manner by well prepared and upto-date
faculty, which resulted in
lively discussion. I looked forward
“Through our
discussions,
participants
benefit from
a cross-
pollination
of ideas.
”
to those special Thursday afternoons
of interacting with
professionals from other industry
segments and learning from their
different perspectives,” said Rahul
Vir, general manager, Marriott
International – Irvine Marriott
Hotel.
Visit merage.uci.edu/go/ExecEd
for more information on current
program offerings, registration
information, and to learn about
custom Executive Education
opportunities.
WHICH MBA
IS RIGHT
FOR YOU?
37
Merage | 2010 – 2011