Ben Coffman Among 2022 ‘Best and Brightest Executive MBAs’

Ben Coffman, an Executive MBA student in the Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business at Pitt, is among the Poets&Quants’ Top 101 Best and Brightest Executive MBAs across the globe.

The list celebrates students from the Class of 2022 who embody the excellence and voices of their schools. These students are considered to “personify excellence – be it academic performance, extracurricular involvement, or professional achievement.”

“Ben has all the traits of the ideal Executive MBA student and a future business leader,” notes Prakash Mirchandani, the academic director of the Katz Executive MBA. “He is bright, motivated, hard-working, disciplined, has exemplary leadership skills, and personifies the excellence that we look for in our Executive MBA students. Ben is truly deserving of the Poets&Quants honor.”

Experiential Learning, Dynamic Network

In the Katz Executive MBA program, students have 12+ years of experience and a track record of managing or leading others. To be completed one weekend per month for 19 months, the executive programs include experiential-based learning, a dynamic network of talented and experienced executives across industries, and cross-industry or healthcare focuses.

“The biggest myth is that it will take years to complete an MBA while working full-time. The executive program is intense, but it progresses quickly and efficiently,” Coffman said. “The EMBA program has filled in gaps in my business knowledge, particularly in areas of accounting and marketing, that has enabled me to have better conversations with my customers and helps me better communicate with my finance team on contractual issues, making me more effective in my role.”

Coffman has a wide range of experiences that led him to the Executive MBA program. He graduated with his Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the U.S. Military Academy before spending five years on active duty. Currently, he is the director of Customer Value Engagement at Coupa Software, a business spend-management company. In this role, he is responsible for customer experience and customer success management. Prior to this position, he was a senior director at LLamasoft, which Coupa acquired in 2020.

Many Executive MBA students want to know what the return on investment will be for their degree. For Coffman, his ROI is doing the best he can to value the education benefits he received as a veteran. To do so, his goal is to lead with integrity and develop other professional talents.

To read more about Coffman, click here. The Top 100 list for 2022 also includes Michael J. Singh, a student in the Katz Executive MBA-Healthcare program. Read about him here.