During the first week of his EMBA Program, Brian Goff faced the challenge of making a five-minute presentation. It didn’t go well. “I froze up, stumbled, didn’t really prepare,” he says.

By program’s end, it was a totally different story. As part of a trip abroad to Estonia, he and his team tackled a project for a local company. He took a lead role in working on the project and presenting the results.

“I think we knocked it out of the park,” says Goff, account manager with UPS. 

The company agreed and made some suggested changes to its operations. Goff entered the EMBA Program at the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) to experience exactly that kind of growth. 

At 28, on the younger side for an EMBA student, Goff viewed EMBA as a way to stand out from others.

“I really just wanted to continue learning,” he says. “It was time for me to put more tools in the toolbox, as well as develop a bigger perspective.”

And in this case, being perhaps the youngest paid off, as he developed invaluable relationships with senior leaders in the program. “I think it helped me mature, as well as expose me to different management styles. I was able to learn so much from my fellow students and better know the tricks of the trade.”

The predominately online program also had another perhaps more unexpected benefit during the time of COVID-19.

“Being able to adjust on the fly and go completely virtual really helps us. It’s just second nature to us.”

He initially weighed a full-time versus EMBA option and is more than happy with his choice. 

“I think the return to me is high, especially at a younger age. I think my ROI is going to be exponentially bigger. It just puts me on a different level.”

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