Student Stories

Eric Black

Director, Production & Technical Operation at Scholastic Entertainment and Co-Owner of Lyla Tov Monsters

In my job at a publicly traded corporation, I have been able to change my viewpoint of daily goals and accomplishments. Instead of just completing tasks to achieve an end goal, I now look at that end goal and consider how it affects the company as a whole and if there are financial goals and benefits that will increase the value of the company.

Emer Moloney

Emer Moloney, Research Associate at the Harvard Business School European Research Center

I now feel that I have a broad overview of finance and can approach topics with a strong, integrated framework instead of approaching them in isolation.

Praveen Jayakumar

Doctor, Medical Director & Co-Chief Medical Officer

Leading with Finance offered the perfect opportunity to refresh my core finance skills and interact with a global group of colleagues in an online format that was ideal for my schedule.

Lisa Arpey

Executive Board Member, Chair of Committee for Education and Leadership at Ford's Theatre

The program expertly leads you through progressively more complex theories and analysis with a pace that keeps you challenged and engaged.

Jason Bender

President at Lomont Molding, LLC

I decided to sign up for Leading with Finance because I not only wanted a refresher on the principles of finance, but also wanted to take a more proactive and deeper approach to my company's financial positioning.

The content and approach to Finance offered by Professor Desai is a unique, engaging and powerful way to not only look at numbers, but more importantly, understand the story they tell.

T. Gerald O'Daniel

Plastic Surgeon, T. Gerald O'Daniel, MD, FACS, PLLC and Medical Director and Founder at Louisville Surgery Center

This part of the course was exceptionally entertaining, and by putting this human element in place, it enhanced the real life importance of understanding finance at a high level.

Mihir Desai was able to bring a relatively dry and inscrutable page of numbers to life in a highly engaging and interactive way. He has a great teaching style: clear, sharp, entertaining, and challenging. Mihir was able to truly engage our leaders of all levels of financial experience on the key levers of performance and how this applies to their own businesses.

No matter the size, depth, or reach of any organization or your role in that organization, a foundational understanding of the finances that drive performance is essential. Mihir’s style is one that is inviting, energetic, and thought-enhancing. He really instills the fundamental belief that in our careers we are really only there to complete one task and that is ‘think.’ He makes you ‘think’ about what we are viewing, turn it over, and makes you ‘think’ about what falls apart and how to put it back together.

Doug Kinsey

Meet Doug, a Leading with Finance participant who took the course to advance his career and deepen his understanding of essential financial concepts.

Paul Accornero

Paul Accornero, International Commercial Director (MD) Asia Pacific & Americas

I use what I learned on a daily basis. Even though I'm not in a finance role and operating in a general management position, I need to make decisions utilizing the principles we learned on a daily basis. The course empowered me to do that with confidence.

Emilie Billaud

Emilie Billaud, Research Associate at Harvard Business School

The program gave me a framework and a great toolbox for the cases that I am currently developing.

Neeti Mathur

Assistant Professor of Management and Assistant Registrar (Placement) at National Law University in Jodhpur, India

The program is beautifully designed and has so much to offer. Professor Desai explains the concepts effortlessly and it’s easy to grasp and absorb them.

Thank you for explaining concepts that I thought were impossible for me to ever grasp in such simple terms. The examples that Professor Desai chose to illustrate these concepts and the industry experts who give their thoughts and opinions has me eagerly looking forward to the time I spend on the course every day.

Saad Hashmi

Associate Corporate Relationship Manager at HSBC Bank Middle East Limited

In an ever fast-changing world, it is important to keep abreast with how people around the world tackle finance-related issues and the experiences they go through.

Jingning Ao

Jingning Ao, Space Tourism researcher and PhD student at Middle Tennessee State University

After summarizing what I learned from this program, I introduced finance in a 90-minute class to junior and senior college students in order to show them different ways of doing business plans in the leisure and sport domains.

Having a deep understanding of finance is crucial to effectively lead a business, and Mihir Desai’s engaging delivery of rich content through the case study method has given me the confidence to clearly message important financial updates and decisions to our key stakeholders.