And the Best Executive M.B.A. Programs In 2008 Are...

The Wall Street Journal, September 30th, 2008 (Link)

Many working professionals hungry for world-class international management education commute from neighboring states and even the East Coast to participate in Thunderbird’s Executive MBA program, which was ranked No. 3 in a new global survey released Sept. 30 by the Wall Street Journal.
 

Thunderbird School of Global Management already is ranked No. 1 in the world for international business by the Wall Street Journal, Financial Times and U.S. News & World Report. The latest rankings focus on executive MBA programs, which cater to working professionals through formats such as concentrated weekend classes. The new Wall Street Journal report was based upon surveys with thousands of students and hundreds of companies.

Thunderbird’s Executive MBA program, led by Associate Vice President Barbara Carpenter, finished No. 2 overall in student satisfaction, and the school’s Executive MBA faculty finished in the top 5 in the world.
 

Annalisa Sheelar, a senior analyst who does threat assessments for the Department of Homeland Security and other Washington agencies, said she looked at executive MBA programs on the East Coast but chose Thunderbird because she liked the school’s focus on international business. Now she commutes about 2,300 miles to Thunderbird on alternating weekends.
 

“Thunderbird is the No. 1 school for international business,” said Sheelar, an Italian native who lived in Japan for three years before moving to the United States in 1998. “I’ve always focused on international relations, and I wanted to continue on that path.”

Barbara Zucker, president of Campaign Management in Coral Springs, Fla., said she didn’t need to look around when she decided to earn an MBA after 34 years of work experience. “The emphasis isn’t so much on getting an MBA,” she said. “It’s the fact that it’s an MBA from Thunderbird.”
 

Overall, 12 of 50 students in Thunderbird’s newest Executive MBA cohort commute from out of state. Others moved to Phoenix to avoid the long commute after Thunderbird accepted them into the 16-month program.

In addition to an initial 10-day immersion and the regular coursework on alternate weekends, the students will spend three weeks together overseas and then finish the program with one more week of intensive education in Arizona.

Among the 50 students in the newest Executive MBA cohort, 23 were born outside the United States, including an attorney from Russia, an international banker from Mexico and an engineer from Belgium.