The Georgetown University McDonough School of Business (MSB) Master in Business Administration (MBA) Program selected 50 students to participate in the 2022 Leadership Fellows Program. 

The selective program chooses students who hope to coach and develop their peers in leadership positions. Fellows are chosen through a competitive process each fall and then trained through a rigorous coaching program, so they can challenge first-year MBA students to do their best work. 

Fellows participate in three experimental coaching programs during the 2022 spring semester, taking classes on topics like leadership communications, coaching high performance teams and individuals and advanced coaching skills. Fellows also have the opportunity to work alongside faculty. 

Leadership fellows work to coach first-year MBA students through a required “Leadership Communications” course which culminates in a final challenge — a day-long competition which simulates the day in the life of a senior leader testing students on their leadership, communication and relationship-building skills. The class began on March 21. 

Nicholas Mastas (GRD ’22), a fellow in the program, said “Leadership Communications” was one of the most impactful classes he took as a first-year MBA student. 

“Despite being virtual, my leadership coach pushed me and my team to be better communicators and improve ourselves during our weekly speeches and case challenges. By the end of the course, our team had made so much growth on both an individual and group level and finished strong during the capstone executive challenge,” Mastas wrote to The Hoya. 

The class is a valuable part of the MBA program’s curriculum due to its group focus, according to Bridget Greaney (GRD ’22), a leadership fellow who took the Leadership Communications course last year as a first year MBA student.  

“That class is such a valuable aspect of the core curriculum because it focuses on group dynamics as well as individual learning objectives within presentations and cases. I really enjoyed taking Leadership Communications last year and hope to add to the first years’ experience as they gear up for the Executive Challenge!” Greaney wrote to The Hoya. 

Mastas hopes his first year students will be able to use the skills they gain from the program after they graduate. 

“I knew I wanted to apply to the leadership fellows program and be able to give the first years a similar experience to my own in hopes that they can take these skills into their internships and beyond,” Mastas wrote. 

The opportunity to create a community within a group of first year MBA students is rewarding, Martin Winter (GRD ’22), a leadership fellow said.  

“What I’m really, really excited about is actually the ability to go into a completely blank canvas with no really pre-installed culture in this group,” Winter said in an interview with The Hoya. “We’ll all be starting this journey right at the exact same time and so it’s a really unique opportunity to have.”  

Christine Peters (MBA ’23), a first-year MBA student in the leadership class, said that she hopes the class allows her to learn how to approach management in job settings post-graduation.

“I am hoping for practice in identifying strengths and weaknesses in a new group and learning how to approach each person in a way that will help them improve,” Peters wrote in an email to The Hoya. “This is especially relevant to me because I will immediately be managing people in my role after MSB.”

MSB Professor Evelyn Williams said the program represents Georgetown’s Jesuit values.  

“The Leadership Fellows definitely represent our Jesuit tradition of women and men serving others. They give tirelessly to the development of the first-year MBA class during the last six weeks of the Spring semester,” Williams wrote to The Hoya. 

Williams appreciates the opportunity to work with students selected for the fellowship program who often stay involved in the MSB.   

“I feel very blessed and honored to get to work with such a tremendously talented group of some of our very best McDonough students every year in the Leadership Fellow program,” Williams wrote. “What’s particularly wonderful is I don’t really have to say goodbye at graduation because they tend to stay very involved with the School even after graduation.” 

Mastas hopes he can use the experience to grow his leadership skills outside of the classroom. 

“I will be joining Capital One in a leadership program after graduation and feel that these skills will help me transition smoothly into my new role,” Mastas wrote. “I would love to build an alumni network around the fellowship program that can connect alumni and continue their leadership development beyond the MBA program.”