A Decade of MBA Achievements
Dale Carl can still remember the day that the late Ted Rogers and his wife, Loretta, attended his MBA strategy class in 2006.
“My students were terrified, but he put the students at ease immediately,” he recalled. The students were asked to develop a strategy on whether the New York Times should go digital and discuss their ideas in class. At the time, Mr. Rogers and his team were going through a process with the university to finalize details to rename the business school to Ted Rogers School of Management in May 2007.
A decade later, it seems fitting that the program will be celebrating its 10th successful year with a new name: the Ted Rogers MBA.
“Ted Rogers was a visionary, an extraordinary entrepreneur, and a good friend of the Ted Rogers School of Management (TRSM),” says Carl, who is director of graduate students. “This new name suggests to people that we are innovative, non-traditional and successful. I believe these traits that Mr. Rogers embodied are reflected in our students and programs.”
Over the past ten years, the Ted Rogers MBA program has experienced a meteoric rise in success on many fronts, from the increase in student numbers to its strong performance in case competitions. Since launching its two flagship programs in March 2006 – MBA Global and MBA Technology & Innovation – the program has increased the number of graduates tenfold, from about 50 to over 500, with 95 per cent being successfully employed within six months. The program has consistently ranked among the top 10 Canadian MBA schools and for the first time in 2015, ranked among the top 100 best MBA schools worldwide by The Economist Which MBA. Some 80 students are involved in national and international MBA case competitions with top tier schools each year, often winning first place; and in the case of the Rotman CSR case competition, sweeping the podium in 2015.
The program allows students to specialize in areas that are growing in the marketplace such as international business, real estate as well as technology and innovation. Students can also take professional masters diplomas in emerging fields of data security and social innovation for non-profits (launching in January 2017).
So, what is the secret to the Ted Rogers MBA success? According to program director Kim Bates, it comes down to three main factors: excellent program delivery that is flexible, admitting talented students with strong work experience and having strong career placements. “This has enabled us to have a shot among the top-tiered schools not only in Canada, but worldwide,” says Bates.
Bates also says the program’s emphasis on collegiality, inclusion and diversity helps students push their creative boundaries, whether they are completing group assignments, working on case competitions or participating in MBA Integrative Week. This is a unique case competition held during the fall and winter semesters where students work in teams to solve a business problem for a company and present in front of a panel of industry experts. In addition, students also write a major research paper at the end of their program on a topic of their choice, which is unique to MBA schools.
Competitions are also a large part of the program’s success. Within six months of launching the program, Ryerson finished third in the MBA Games. “That was like ‘wow’, we can compete with the best,” says Carl, who often selects and coaches the students during their competitions. “The biggest benefit students get from these competitions is boosting their confidence and learning to work effectively with other people on a team to accomplish a goal.”
Having a strong relationship with professors has been a big draw as well for students. Professor Kenneth Grant can attest to this. He has taught various courses in the MBA program since its launch including strategy, consulting skills and will be teaching research methods for business startups this fall.
“It’s one of our differentiating factors,” says Grant, associate professor and chair of TRSM’s Department of Entrepreneurship and Strategy. “Our programs are small, which allows students and faculty to form close bonds and build those connections.”
Grant also attributes much of the program’s case competition successes to the MBA family bond, which is something he says is uncommon in MBA programs. “It’s a spirit that combines cooperation and competition, and that combination is very important. They’re happy to compete against one another, but they’re also happy to help each other.”
Grant says developing the program was a “labour of love” by various faculty, especially Professor Wendy Cukier, who will be Brock University’s newest president starting in September. “She was the driving force behind the launch of the MBA. She and other business faculty worked together tirelessly to make this program happen at Ryerson.”
“It was very clear that as part of our evolution [as a business school], graduate programming was critical,” recalled Cukier, who was the associate director of the information technology program at the time. She started to work with colleagues in 2004 to develop and eventually launch the two MBA programs as well as the Master of Science in Management graduate program in 2006. She also says that the program was designed to place a great emphasis on developing the soft skills – communications, presentations, team work – that are critical to being a successful business leader.
For 2008 MBA Global graduate Ilan Jacobson, his case competition experience and the connections he made with his professors were invaluable in helping him launch his career in venture capital. “You learn to work with many different personalities in a team,” says Jacobson, who is now the founder of Firepower Capital, an investment bank for entrepreneurs and mid-sized businesses based in Canada.
Mina Mohammadi chose the MBA-MTI degree program because it was the only program that offers a MBA in management and technology. A software engineer by training, Mohammadi, who graduated this year, has worked as a project manager in the banking industry for the past 17 years and felt she needed to add an MBA degree to enhance her management skills. She says the program taught her how be a creative leader when coming up with business strategies to improve customer retention and loyalty. She also valued the industry insights professors and guest speakers imparted onto the students.
“If you are passionate about what you do and want to pursue your MBA, you should choose Ted Rogers School of Management. At the end of the day, you’re coming out of the program as a strong leader because they teach you how to fish, not catch the fish for you.”