MBA students from La Salle Barcelona tour "American Business"
Each summer for the past seven years, Saint Mary’s College hosts a large group of Executive MBA students from La Salle Barcelona for a two-week “Seminar on American Business.” La Salle Barcelona is a private university focused on international business for both undergraduate and graduate programs. Students come to Saint Mary’s to learn first-hand about doing business in the United States. Visits were arranged for students to speak to top company executives from some of the largest companies in Northern California including Cisco, the Fairmont Hotel and Bank of the West. The two weeks also included activities such as lunch with CEO Mike Fox of Goodwill Industries of Silicon Valley, a two and a half hour visit to Chevron's headquarters, a meeting with senior economist Gary Zimmerman at the Federal Reserve Board in San Francisco, and a trip to Benziger Winery, where students were personally greeted by Kathy Benziger and given a private tour followed by a reception later that night. Catherine Barbagallo, Global Programs Manager in Graduate Business Programs explains, “They are exposed to presentations from a variety of business leaders including company executives, lectures from our graduate business faculty and luminaries such as Russ Harrison from the SMC Board of Regents and former CEO of GameReady. Saint Mary’s own associate dean of Graduate Business and Global Programs Shyam Kamath, also spoke to the students, giving a lecture on “21st Century Leadership.”
Not only do these Executive MBA students learn about U.S. business, they are also immersed in the Saint Mary’s College learning environment; from living in dorms for two weeks to dining at Oliver Hall. For fun, students booked weekend trips to Las Vegas or rode Harley Davidsons down the coast. La Salle Barcelona students also had the opportunity to mingle with Trans-Global Executive MBA participants at a mixer held on Saint Mary's campus. The culmination of their two weeks of intensive learning ended with team presentations. Students presented business plans to Saint Mary’s MBA alumni and graduate business faculty, who provided feedback and comments on the business plans, adding enrichment for both the students and alumni through this experience.