Academies
Get experience in your field through our Academies.
In addition to a major, all Kelley MBA students choose a first year Academy. Through your Academy, you’ll develop marketable skills through professional experience, all designed to position you for long-term success.
Each of our Academies is unique, and which one you select depends on your career goals. You might select an Academy closely related to your major, or you might choose to add a complementary industry focus.
No matter which Academy you choose, you’ll gain experience, a career network, and benefit from:
- Academy activities: With company-based consulting projects, leadership opportunities, nationwide corporate visits, and networking with industry veterans—your Academy will give you the career-related experience recruiters look for.
- Your Academy director: More than merely academic, your director is an expert in the field and your one-on-one mentor.
- Your career coach: With industry experience and a recruiter’s perspective, your Academy career coach will work with you to perfect your personal brand and career trajectory.
- Your peer coach: These top second-year students provide feedback and motivation based upon their experiences at school and beyond. And, in your second year, you can become a peer coach—further developing your own leadership and career focus.
We offer six career-focused first year Academies, designed to prepare you for a successful internship and prepare you for long-term success. If you have an entrepreneurial bent or want to advance your leadership skills, you can also select an optional second year Academy to further develop those specific skills.
First Year Academies
Kelley is the only top business school to offer an extensive focus in B2B marketing—a big draw to recruiters from big companies including 3M, Cummins, DuPont, Eaton, Ecolab, GE, and more. As a member of the Business Marketing Academy, you’ll gain insight into the marketing strategies and buying decisions of governments, nonprofits, institutions, and businesses.
You’ll get insider knowledge from B2B leaders on our corporate advisory board and our network of senior managers, company executives, marketing professionals and alumni; visit leading B2B focused firms; participate in case presentations with company reps; work on a team consulting project; and meet with recruiters prior to interviewing. In short, you’ll be ready to contend for strategic marketing positions within the world's most-admired B2B companies.
Academy Director
Clinical Associate Professor of Marketing Fred W. Roedl has 30 years of experience in the B2B industry, having served as product manager, national sales manager, director of marketing, and vice president of marketing and sales for global corporations.
Career Coach
Eric Johnson brings a recruiter’s perspective with more than a decade of industry know-how, including extensive domestic and international experience with Eli Lilly and Company.
Your career in investment management, investment banking, or principal investing begins in the Capital Markets Academy. As part of the management team of the multi-asset, multi-strategy IU Capital fund, you'll work in a variety of roles that occur in financial services firms—making investment decisions that impact the performance of the fund. You will also learn about all of the areas within capital markets, allowing you to refine your area of focus.
Through your Academy directors, you’ll meet alumni in financial firms ranging from national to middle-market to boutique on location in Chicago and New York—valuable connections that will help you put your technical and practical understanding of global capital markets to work.
Academy Directors
Former portfolio manager and senior equity analyst with Voyageur Asset Management, Rebecca Cook brings more than 13 years of industry experience.
Clinical Associate Professor David Haeberle is the Peterson Faculty Fellow in Investment Banking at Kelley with 20 years of experience as an entrepreneur/financier.
John Succo is a former hedge fund manager and principal of Vicis Capital.
Career Coach
As associate director of Kelley’s Graduate Career Services, Rebecca Cook also serves as the Capital Market Academy’s career coach.
In the Consulting Academy, our board of advisors includes names from some of the world’s leading consulting firms including Accenture, AT Kearney, Deloitte, Ernst & Young, and McKinsey & Company. They ensure our curriculum and experiences match market demand—ensuring you will be client ready on day one.
You’ll sharpen your analytical skills through case analysis and competitions and by working with clients on location on a seven-week consulting project. Along the way you’ll network with firms, be mentored by a board member and your Academy directors, and join Consulting Academy alumni who boast a more than 95 percent full-time placement rate in both the consulting industry as well as with world class companies including Cummins, IBM, Johnson & Johnson, Microsoft, and Procter & Gamble.
Academy Directors
John Wisneski has 13 years of experience as a management consultant advising a range of Fortune 100 companies.
Christopher Cook specializes in accounting and financial management solutions, with 15 years of experience as a consultant to a range of industries.
In the Consumer Marketing Academy, you’ll tackle real challenges working closely with our corporate partners—from marketing leaders in Fortune 500 corporations including Procter & Gamble, Whirlpool, and Target, to smaller companies that will depend upon your marketing expertise.
You’ll develop marketing acumen by building your brand, putting your knowledge into practice, and immersing yourself in consumer marketing. And, as a graduate of one of the top marketing programs in the world with a network of marketing alumni at levels from assistant brand managers to CEO, you’ll get career advice from industry insiders.
You can also pursue the opportunity to manage Osmocote® Plant Food, a best-selling brand for the Scotts Miracle-Gro Company while a Kelley student through Bloomington Brands (B2) brand management team.
Academy Directors
Clinical Professor of Marketing Jonlee Andrews serves as the MBA Program chair, is a Nestlé Faculty Fellow, director of the Center for Brand Leadership, and honored with multiple MBA teaching excellence awards.
Ray Luther brings more than a decade of consumer marketing experience, including work for Procter & Gamble's healthcare division as their director of consumer and market knowledge.
Career Coach
Kendell Brown brings brand management and consumer packaged goods experience to her role as career coach. Prior to working in brand management, she earned an MBA from Kellogg and also has a CPA.
Through the Strategic Finance Academy, you'll learn skills that you can apply to almost any industry. Working on real-world business problems, you’ll travel to places such as the Silicon Valley, Minneapolis, or New York for an in-depth look at the role financial professionals play in Fortune 500 firms.
You’ll work on real business cases led by companies such as Broadcom, P&G, and Air Products. Along the way you’ll explore sales and marketing finance, investment analysis, planning and forecasting, and treasury operations while connecting with a network of strategic finance alumni.
Academy Director
Associate chair of the Full-time MBA Program, Scott Smart is also the Whirlpool Finance Faculty Fellow. A former mergers and acquisitions consultant, Smart has been recognized by Businessweek as an outstanding MBA professor and is considered an expert on initial public offerings.
Career Coach
Paul Binder is a former recruiter with 34 years of experience with the Bank of America where he served as a treasury services executive.
The global marketplace has redefined supply and demand. You will be prepared to meet today’s supply chain challenges through the Supply Chain Academy. An advisory board of executives in the industry not only keep the curriculum current, but each board member serves as a one-on-one mentor—providing you with an insider’s industry wisdom and the foundations of a strong professional network.
You’ll work on live case studies with sponsor companies, learn technological advances in the field, Six Sigma process improvement methods, and others. Your experience will culminate with a high-level corporate project for executive sponsors and the confidence and experience to transition into your new career.
Academy Director
Carl Briggs is a clinical assistant professor of Operations and Decision Technologies, recognized for his research on business intelligence, wireless applications, enterprise technology, and electronic commerce.
Second Year Academies
Whether you want to start your own venture, help a company grow, or join the expanding field of corporate innovation, you’ll gain unparalleled insight through the Entrepreneurial Innovation Academy—part of the top entrepreneurial program in the nation.
Learn how to raise capital, analyze company and industry gaps, and meet corporate innovators, venture capitalists, and angel investors from around the country through projects and Kelley’s annual Velocity Conference. Held in California, the strength of Kelley’s reputation attracts top entrepreneurs to this annual conference, dedicated to the acceleration of entrepreneurial careers.
Academy Director
Donald F. Kuratko, the Jack M. Gill Chair of Entrepreneurship, professor of entrepreneurship, and executive director of the Johnson Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation is considered the national leader in the entrepreneurial field.
The Kelley MBA Program is grounded in leadership tenets. Take that knowledge even further—building your reputation as a leader and ready to rapidly advance your career—in the Leadership Academy. Through our extremely experiential format, you’ll learn to effectively coach others, set an organizational vision, and create strategies for success—core leadership drivers.
Depending on your background and goals, you can choose one or both Leadership Academy tracks:
Coaching and Development Track
Develop coaching skills through study and individualized skill building with your Academy director, then mentor two groups as a peer coach—leading a group of underclassmen through their first year in the program, and coaching an MBA Core Team through group dynamics, feedback, and engagement.
GLOBASE/EME Visioning and Strategic Planning Track
If you participate in Kelley’s Global Business and Social Enterprise Program or Emerging Markets Experience during your first year, step and lead a global team deployments your second year through this track. You’ll be equipped with proven strategies and the confidence to guide your team to achieve a project vision you set for an international business project on location.
Academy Directors
Ray Luther’s leadership experience includes work for Procter & Gamble's healthcare division as their director of consumer and market knowledge and four years as an officer with the U.S. Army. He also serves as the director of recruiting and leadership for the MBA Program.
Eric Johnson brings an employer’s perspective with experience as the chief marketing officer for Eli Lilly and Company in the U.K. and as the former lead recruiter for Lilly USA marketing. He also serves as the associate director for professional development for Kelley’s Graduate Career Services.
Academy Experience Program
If you have an interest in life sciences, health care, or pharmaceuticals, supplement your Academy experience with our PLUS Life Sciences program. Not only will you expand your knowledge, you’ll expand your career options.
You’ll dive into the industry through two courses in the business of life sciences and learn firsthand from industry executives from firms including Abbott Labs, Cook Medical, Deloitte Consulting, Eli Lilly, Hil-Rom, Humana, Johnson & Johnson, and others. You’ll also expand your network through industry conferences and other events including Kelley’s annual Life Sciences Day.
PLUS Life Sciences Director George Telthorst offers more than 20 years of experience in the life sciences industry, including executive management roles at Boston Scientific, Johnson & Johnson, and Baxter.
