Wharton Launches Executive Education Program for Top Leaders of
FirstCaribbean International Bank
Modular Design and Focus on Current Initiatives Increase Program
Impact
PHILADELPHIA (Business Wire EON/PRWEB ) March 8, 2007 --
The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania launched a new executive
education program for senior leaders of FirstCaribbean International
Bank, the largest, regionally-listed bank in the English-speaking
Caribbean. The first cohort of 20 executives from FirstCaribbean’s
senior leadership and executive leadership teams came to Wharton’s
campus for The FirstCaribbean Leadership Program in November and
January. They will return for sessions in May and August as part of the
18-month program.
The Wharton program is the flagship leadership development program of a
broad learning and development initiative at the bank. To provide
education to its 3,500 employees, the company launched FirstCaribbean
University, which offers training in areas such as banking, finance, and
management. For its top leaders, however, the bank turned to Wharton to
build the personal leadership skills and strategic management
capabilities needed in this competitive region. With the success of this
first cohort, the bank expects to put its entire leadership team through
the Wharton program in the next three years.
“The Wharton program represents a significant
investment by our bank in further developing our senior leadership team,”
said FirstCaribbean CEO Charles Pink. “In
total, over three years, we will invest some US$2.5M in our senior
leadership. The purpose of this program is to equip them with the skills
to keep them, and FirstCaribbean, at the cutting edge of performance in
our pursuit of our ‘Best Bank in the Caribbean’
vision.”
Increasing Impact
To maximize the impact
of the program, a series of modules allow executives to bring specific
business initiatives into the classroom, create and test solutions, and
then apply the ideas at work. The January module, for example, centered
on a “blueprinting”
process for “The Helpful Partner”
customer service initiative, designed to achieve a quantum leap in
service for a company that is already receiving high marks in customer
satisfaction.
After the January session at Wharton, participants presented the results
from blueprinting “Helpful Partner”
to the senior team leading the initiative in Barbados. “They
incorporated quite a few of the suggestions,”
said Debra Johnson, the bank’s head of
Corporate and Internal Communications and a participant in the program.
The unique program design was based on in-depth interviews by a Wharton
design team, working with Peter Hall and Monique Straughan of
FirstCaribbean. The team met with executives of the company to clarify
business objectives and key development areas for the senior executives. “FirstCaribbean
was created four years ago when CIBC and Barclays merged their Caribbean
operations. Both of these firms had been in the region for 100 years or
more,” said program director Eric Weiner. “The
complexity of the business is quite significant, with a mix of
nationalities, cultures, and regulatory regimes across the 17 regional
markets.”
With about 20 days of education spanning more than 12 months, the
Wharton program offers a continuity that is not seen in a typical
one-time executive program. “I teach in the
Wharton Executive MBA program, and it has that feel to it, since the
participants are experienced and savvy, and it is not a one-shot program,”
said Wharton Adjunct Professor Joseph Ryan, academic director. “Working
with people over a longer period, you get to know them better and get
the harder issues on the table.”
Johnson said she was impressed with the quality of the experience. “I
was never involved in something quite so interesting, insightful, and
entertaining. The Wharton School has a reputation bar none, and I am
extremely grateful to be given the opportunity to be a part of something
like that. It was an incredible experience, and the professors are in a
class by themselves.”
About the Wharton School
The Wharton School of the
University of Pennsylvania — founded in 1881
as the first collegiate business school — is
recognized globally for intellectual leadership and ongoing innovation
across every major discipline of business education. The most
comprehensive source of business knowledge in the world, Wharton bridges
research and practice through its broad engagement with the global
business community. The school has more than 4,600 undergraduate,
MBA, executive
MBA, and doctoral
students; more than 8,000 annual participants in executive
education programs; and an alumni
network of more than 81,000 graduates.
Each year, Wharton works with more than 8,000 business leaders on its
campus in Philadelphia, at Wharton West in San Francisco, and at sites
around the world. The Wharton Learning Continuum is Wharton Executive
Education’s model for delivering Impact
Through Education™ -- supporting companies
and individuals in a 9- to 12-month learning process that is designed
collaboratively with clients, delivered by Wharton faculty, and
monitored to produce specific outcomes.
Wharton at 125
About FirstCaribbean
FirstCaribbean is a major Caribbean bank offering a full range of
market-leading financial services in Corporate
Banking, Retail
Banking, Wealth
Management, Credit Cards, Treasury and Capital
Markets. It is the largest, regionally-listed bank in the
English-speaking Caribbean, with assets of over US$12 billion and market
capitalization of US$2.8 billion. The Bank has over 3,500 staff; over
100 branches, banking centers, and offices in 17 regional markets,
serving 800,000 active accounts.
See the original story at: http://eon.businesswire.com/releases/wharton/program/prweb510002.htm
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