MBA Program Introduces Leadership Fellows

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The Georgetown McDonough Full-time MBA program has developed a Leadership Fellows program for select students to gain practical and personal leadership development experience. The program, which is open to second-year MBA students and will take place over the course of two modules, will begin in January 2018. The first cohort comprises 26 students who were chosen through a highly selective process.

Leadership Fellows are required to take two classes, Coaching High Performance Teams and Advanced Coaching for Leadership Fellows, and coach teams of first-year MBA students through their required Leadership Communications course, including the Executive Challenge final exam.

The mentorship aspect serves as an important lesson in servant leadership. “The program encapsulates the Jesuit principles of leadership and service to others. Fellows will be responsible for the development and maximizing the learning of their first-year student teams,” said Evelyn Williams, teaching professor of management, who leads the program.

“In terms of emotional intelligence skills, fellows will be able to hone their insight into potential outcomes, particularly within any team dynamic, and move the group toward becoming a high-performing team,” she added. “Expectations will start to rise because on one side, fellows have your best interests at heart as fellow students, and on the other side they have been trained to give really comprehensive feedback.”

Fellows also will receive coaching from executive coaches to advance their skills and develop their own expertise. They will receive up to 4.5 course credits as well as recognition at graduation.

Erin McDowell Morton (MBA’18), who has been accepted into the Leadership Fellows program, is particularly excited about the opportunity to participate in experiential learning. “The structure allows us to practice the concepts we’re learning in class and build leadership skills that will make us better employees, managers, and members of the community,” Morton said. “I like the opportunity to work together closely with people who are also interested in giving back to the McDonough community.”

Williams hopes that the effects of this program will be felt beyond the fellows and first-year students they coach. “Think of it as infusing the culture with 26 highly trained executive coaches, and they’re now going to be let loose,” she said. “The sky’s the limit in terms of the impact they’ll have.”

2018 Leadership Fellows

• Greg Baesa
• Erin McDowell Morton
• Kelly Bies
• Chris Musser
• Andy Bird
• Jeanne Paradis
• Mary Fay
• Daniel Samson
• Joshua Geilhufe
• Anjali Shahani
• Tiffany Huang
• Aly Sherali
• Christine Hwang
• Maddy Stokes
• Daniel Jenks
• Naphon Suebsatchavat
• Lauren John
• Katharine Tymcio
• Manasi Kapoor
• Bryan Vodicka
• Robert Kolton
• Max Weintraub
• Iolani Lightbourne
• Yola Yu
• Chrissy Malamis