Management Leaders for Tomorrow Prospective MBA students gather on Purdue’s West Wafayette campus for the MLT seminar hosted by Krannert in July. (Photo by Brian Powell)

Krannert highlights diversity as MLT host

Hundreds of prospective MBA students attend prep seminar

Hundreds of high-achieving, prequalified prospective MBA students came to the Krannert School of Management July 28-30 as part of a pre-MBA prep seminar designed for African-Americans, Latinos and Native Americans.

Management Leadership for Tomorrow (MLT) organizes the Pre-Application Seminar annually as part of its MBA Prep Program. MLT is a nonprofit dedicated to equipping underrepresented minority students with the skills, coaching and connections needed to lead organizations and communities worldwide.

An estimated 30 percent of the United States population is African-American, Latino and Native American, yet only 3 percent of the senior leadership within the country comes from those ethnic groups.

“We cannot afford to leave diverse talent on the sidelines,” says John Rice, founder and CEO of MLT. “Increasing diverse leadership throughout our corporate and social sectors is a powerful lever for driving innovation and ensuring our nation can continue to compete and thrive globally.”

MLT helps partner schools, including Purdue’s Krannert School, better reflect the diversity of the global business community and society by providing unique insights, actionable strategies and efficient access to the best pool of diverse MBA candidates. Since its founding in 2002, MLT has transformed the careers and lives of more than 6,000 African-American, Latino and Native American women and men.

“It was a great opportunity to highlight Purdue’s diverse academic community,” says David Hummels, dean of Krannert and professor of economics. “We were especially honored to host this event as we prepare to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Dr. Cornell A. Bell Business Opportunity Program.”

Krannert faculty members established the Business Opportunity Program in 1968 to increase diversity and give all students access to a world-class management education. The program was one of the first and continues to be the most successful of its kind at a major business school, and the first at Purdue. It was renamed in honor of its longtime director, the late Dr. Cornell A. Bell, in 1996.

The MLT fellows came from throughout the U.S. MLT provides all MBA prep fellows with one-on-one coaching and the social networks needed to gain admittance and succeed in a top fulltime MBA program. The goal is simple: Success in an MBA program means they can develop business and leadership skills to lead in organizations worldwide.

During the Pre-Application Seminar at Purdue, the MLT fellows interacted directly with admissions officers from all of the organization’s partner schools, helping the fellows learn more about each school and gain a better understanding of the admissions process.

In addition to Purdue, top MLT program participants include the Harvard Business School, University of Chicago Booth School of Business, Stanford Graduate School of Business, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Sloan School of Management, Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, and Tepper School of Business at Carnegie Mellon University.

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