MBA Alumni Profile: Joanna DeBiase, Cranfield School of Management

An Executive MBA graduate from Cranfield, DeBiase talks to Ann Graham about the value of a business school education. "Try to involve your partner in the social side of your EMBA, but resist boring them with details," advises Joanna DeBiase. 

“The EMBA is a tough course,” says Joanna DeBiase. “In order to succeed you need to really want to do it.” DeBiase, an alumna of the Cranfield School of Management in the UK, is one who succeeded. A qualified solicitor, DeBiase spent the early years of her career in private practice as a civil litigator.

Today, after starting her Executive MBA degree in January 2007, she is a partner and the operations director at IBB Solicitors in West London, a 30 partner Top 150 law firm. “My role changed to operations director and my span of control increased immediately after I received my EMBA,” DeBiase says. “About 18 months after I finished the course, I was promoted to the partnership.”

DeBiase initially pursued her EMBA because she wanted to broaden her knowledge in key areas. “My role was moving in a general management direction and I was motivated to seek a general business qualification,” she says. “I wanted the opportunity to study on a program with other experienced managers, rather than recent graduates.”

The EMBA network

It is that network of managers that DeBiase has maintained contact with since graduating with her EMBA, although time is of the essence. “I have become very busy and have not gone to as many networking events as I would have liked. However, I have stayed in contact with my friends and I have used the network for advice on several issues.”

As operations director of IBB Solicitors, DeBiase is working as part of the senior management team on delivering the next three year business strategy for the firm. Her role focuses on making the best use of the firm’s resources with an emphasis on ensuring that investment projects are properly planned, resourced and executed. “I may have been part of the team had I not done my EMBA, but I would not have had the confidence, or skills, to contribute in the way I have done,” she says.

“The advantage of having an EMBA is the confidence it gives me. On a day-to-day basis, this enables me to communicate with the finance, operations and marketing functions (and external suppliers) with a greater depth of knowledge and understanding. I feel better equipped to analyse business issues and apply solutions.

Time for reflection

DeBiase would encourage others to pursue an EMBA if ‘they are genuinely interested in learning about themselves and learning new skills’. “The best part of my program was the opportunity to reflect on my career, my achievements and the direction I wanted to take,” she says. “The course has real ly helped me understand my motivations and aspirations.”

Getting support from family, friends and colleagues is an integral part to studying for an Executive MBA. “Try to involve your partner in the social side of the course, but resist boring them with the details of your lectures when you return home,” she says. “Instead, tell your employer about your experiences – they are usually much more interested in what you are studying than your partner, especially if they are making a financial contribution.

Finally, DeBiase says to succeed, EMBA candidates will need all the help they can get from friends, colleagues and family. “They will need to understand that for the duration of the course you will have very little spare time.”