Executive M.B.A.

EMBA Program

The EMBA in Digital Transformation is designed to prepare experienced students with the requisite leadership skills to excel in a rapidly changing digital landscape. Students will focus on learning how to manage digital systems and how to use those systems to make data-driven decisions, lead complex and diverse teams in digital environments, and recruit exciting new talent.

The program is made up of four residential modules, each 8-13 days in length, held in Burlington and Toronto, Ontario, and in Silicon Valley, California. Students learn from faculty instructors in the classroom and from industry experts on site, including senior executives from the program’s corporate sponsors, IBM, SAS, CIBC, theScore and Hamilton Tiger-cats. Between modules, students will collaborate and learn online through a variety of lectures, projects and exercises, roughly 5-10 hours per week. For a full breakdown of each module including introductions from module lead faculty members, prospective students can visit http://emba.mcmaster.ca/about-the-program.

Over 13 months, students will cover core topics such as finance, marketing and strategy, while also gaining exposure to technical content more often associated with master-level courses in data science and business analytics. This technical content will better inform them in making strategic decisions, mitigating risk and driving business innovation. The program is aimed at candidates looking to advance their professional career in any industry that values digitally-driven innovation and “big data” insight.

Though there is no thesis requirement for graduation in the EMBA program, all students will complete a capstone project that begins in the first module and, developing through topics studied throughout the program’s 13 months, will culminate in a formal presentation and report in module four.