Master of Business Administration in Executive Management

John Fernandes. MBA Executive Management (Management Consulting), 2025.

The Royal Roads MBA offered me a range of learning experiences, in‑person residencies, online coursework, team-based projects, and individual assignments, that strengthened dimensions of my leadership. The program deepened my critical thinking and problem‑solving abilities through foundational frameworks and real-world application. Working in diverse teams across each course pushed me to evolve how I collaborate and communicate. The interactive written and live discussions expanded my written and interpersonal communication skills in ways I use daily.

Choosing the Management Consulting specialization directly accelerated my career. The tools, methodologies, and client‑focused approaches I learned are now foundational to my coaching and consulting practice. I use them with executives and organizations, and they have shaped how I diagnose challenges and support leaders through change.

Both residencies were great experiences. They brought the entire program together—the pressure of real client-facing work, the integration of strategy, leadership, and consulting skills, and the challenge of performing in diverse teams under tight timelines. Those experiences mirrored the realities of executive life and gave me confidence in my ability to deliver at a high level.

My RRU MBA has contributed significantly to my success. It challenged me, expanded my toolkit, and helped me build on the strengths I developed over 30 years in industry. It also connected me to a global community of alumni and lifelong friends who continue to amaze and support me. Receiving the RRU Founder’s Award was an honour made possible by the encouragement and guidance of the faculty.

The faculty played a central role in shaping my learning. Their practical experience, coaching mindset, and commitment to student growth created an environment where I could stretch and evolve. They helped me integrate my professional background with new insights and capabilities, ultimately strengthening my identity as a leader, consultant, and coach.

Graduated in 2025, specialization in Management Consulting.

When I entered the Executive MBA at Royal Roads, I was already serving as a Senior Vice President within a national organization. I expected a valuable academic experience, but what I found was something far more meaningful. The program became a turning point that reshaped how I think, lead, and continue to grow.

Stepping back into a learning environment after years in executive leadership required humility and openness, pushing me to move beyond instinct and experience, and enhancing my critical thinking, clarity in communication, and structured, evidence-based approach to complex business challenges. The cohort model was one of the most impactful parts of the journey, offering a rich environment for dialogue, reflection, and shared growth with accomplished professionals from diverse industries.

My specialization in Management Consulting directly supported my work through my own firm. Applying frameworks and tools in real time with clients elevated the quality of my advisory work and created an immediate connection between theory and practice.

The residencies were defining experiences. Residency 1 required discipline and adaptability, while Residency 2 brought an immersive, collaborative energy that reflected the pace and complexity of real executive environments.

The Organizational Management Project and final capstone brought everything together. They challenged me to integrate experience with academic rigor and translate that into clear, strategic, and actionable outcomes. The capstone faculty’s real-world strategic experience enhanced learning, connecting theory to practice, challenging assumptions, and adding measurable value to client work.

What began as a late career goal became a catalyst for continued growth. The Royal Roads MBA has expanded the value I bring to clients and opened new opportunities, reinforcing that leadership development is continuous and deeply rewarding at every stage of a career.

Graduated in July 2025, specialization in Strategic Human Resources Management.

My RRU MBA journey began in January 2024 with a Graduate Certificate in Strategic Human Resources Management. This certificate was impactful and highly practical – the faculty were knowledgeable, engaging, and genuinely cared about each of us. I was able to immediately apply the coaching and change management content in my role, leading to the successful implementation of several key initiatives. It also gave me the confidence to balance full-time work while pursuing graduate studies and encouraged me to continue into the 18-month MBA program.

My MBA experience at RRU was both transformative and practical, strengthening my communication, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills. The program also emphasized collaboration, helping me work effectively with diverse perspectives to achieve meaningful outcomes. The residencies were a highlight of my RRU MBA experience, offering immersive learning and strong connections with peers and faculty. Working with real clients on business challenges helped sharpen my critical thinking, communication, and collaboration skills.  

Faculty were key to my learning experience, connecting theory to real-world application while creating a supportive yet challenging environment. They encouraged curiosity and growth, and their ongoing support beyond graduation has been invaluable.

Overall, my RRU MBA has significantly contributed to my growth as an intentional, thoughtful, and capable leader. The MBA provided not only the skills and frameworks to navigate complexity, but also the self-awareness and confidence to pursue meaningful and aligned career opportunities. Through the Career Design for Business Leaders course, I gained the tools and perspective to more intentionally design the second half of my career, aligning my career with what matters most to me. Numerous opportunities have opened up as a result of my RRU MBA experience, and I am deeply grateful for the experience.

As a proud Wet’suwet’en and Sto:lo woman, I was raised with a deep understanding of the responsibility we carry to our families, our communities, and our people. Throughout my career, I have remained committed to supporting Indigenous communities in building strong, sustainable, and prosperous futures. My work as a professional planner is consistently grounded in community well-being and economic development.

Pursuing an MBA was a natural progression in my academic and professional journey. Royal Roads University (RRU) stood out as my institution of choice due to the flexibility of its programs, the expertise of its faculty, and its inspiring campus environment. Positive feedback from past MBA students further reinforced my decision to enroll in the program.

One of the most valuable aspects of my experience at RRU was the opportunity to collaborate with business executives on real-world challenges. Applying the knowledge, tools, and business processes gained throughout the program, we developed practical and effective solutions to support organizational success.

My experience at RRU has significantly enhanced my career opportunities and equipped me with the skills and confidence to continue advancing community development initiatives.

My name is Mark Stokes. I graduated with my MBA from Royal Roads University in 2024 with a specialization in leadership. I can say, without hesitation, that my RRU MBA experience has been one of the highlights of my learning, career, and life journeys— an experience that I’d recommend to others who, like me, want to expand their perspectives, challenge their minds, and reignite their passion for lifelong learning.

Like many of my fellow students with years (even decades) of experience behind them, I entered the program in 2022 with confidence in my communication, critical thinking, and problem solving skills. However, the MBA program challenged me to take all of these skills to a higher level — to organize my thoughts by applying critical thinking frameworks, to evaluate the effectiveness of my written and verbal communication in a rigorous environment, and to solve problems in ways that focus on creating and delivering customer/stakeholder value. The learning outcomes in the MBA program are aligned to the real-world challenges of professionals like me, whether we work in for-profit, not-for-profit, or public enterprises; it’s that alignment that kept me focused on improving my skills and pursuing excellence throughout the program. I've often said that there was almost never a lecture, team activity, or project during my 31 months in the program that didn’t inspire me to apply my learnings at work the very next day.

My RRU MBA has helped me to advance my career, even in the year-and-a-half since I graduated. I’ve stepped into a new, more strategic role in my organization and the MBA credential through RRU was an important factor in that success. More importantly, though, the global perspective, focus on customer value, and understanding of strategy that I gained in the program have enabled me to contribute effectively in my new role. Plus, the deeper understanding of leadership that I gained in my specialization has made me a better coach, mentor, and leader, and that’s the most satisfying outcome of all.

Two features of the RRU MBA program made it a great fit for me. Firstly, the blended format allowed me to engage fully in my learning while maintaining my work and family obligations, and the two residencies at the beginning and end of the program provided an intensive and unforgettable team experience at the beautiful Colwood campus. However, the most important feature for me is the people — faculty who challenged me to think differently and who understood how to help me, as a mature student, to make the most of my learning journey and fellow students who became teammates and friends. I’m grateful for those important connections, several of which have extended well past graduation.

The most impactful learning outcome that I received from my RRU MBA program is the ability to think critically. I remember how, at the start of the program, it was so challenging for me to understand how best to write in the academic style of the program. While I was fairly confident in my ability to communicate in a corporate environment, it was clear I was initially out of my depth within this program.

But with practice, eventually I was able to produce high-quality academic work that my instructors came to expect. This ability to think critically and produce academic work impacts me today. The way I think about things is different, and my search for evidence to back up my claims is a skill that will never leave me.

Choosing Leadership as my specialization was a deliberate bet on myself. I was in an operations leadership role in a corporate environment when I enrolled, and I had a clear sense of where I wanted to go — I just needed the framework and the confidence to get there.

That bet paid off. Since completing the program, I have launched Brightpoint Operations, my own fractional COO and operational turnaround practice serving founders and CEOs of mid-market manufacturing and retail companies across Canada and the United States. Going out on my own is not a small thing. The MBA gave me the language, the analytical tools, and the executive credibility to make that move with confidence.

The residencies were unlike anything I had encountered in a professional development context before. They compressed learning, relationship-building, and real problem-solving into an intensity that is difficult to replicate in a traditional classroom.

The second residency stands out. It brought everything together — the frameworks, the research methods, the strategic thinking — and applied it in a live consultative engagement with a client. Working through that process as a cohort, with real stakes and real deliverables, mirrored exactly what I now do in my practice.

The faculty were incredibly supportive throughout this process and throughout the entire program.

My name is Michelle Dolan and I completed my Masters of Business Administration on November 9, 2017. I had wanted to complete the program as I was motivated to learn about business and to use my learning to obtain a bigger and better job. 

Meeting my classmates prior to the program start helped to ensure everyone was on the same page prior to completing the majority of the program online. I loved the blended learning program. The experience of learning in an online environment actually helped me prepare my current team to work effectively from home.

As part of an MBA class project, I redesigned my organization's recruiting strategy to develop more robust recruiting practices to align with the operational requirements for the business. I used Lean concepts of continuous improvement to develop a value stream map (VSM) on how to build efficient and effective bidding processes. For my MBA OMP project, I examined barriers, factors and best practices on how to motivate employees to return to work and stay at work after being on short or long-term disability. The findings will assist my organization on how to prevent injuries, reduce costs and align policies with the Canadian Labour Relation laws. 

Finally, as an RRU MBA student, I worked with a small business from Victoria to redesign its corporate structure as they entered into a period of rapid growth. Along with designing a new corporate structure, I developed a Human Resource tool kit and a Public Relations plan to encourage corporate profitability and growth. 

The MBA has made me a more succinct writer, I have the ability to learn about anything and the program has opened so many more possibilities I never had without it.

When I graduated from high school, I went directly into a professional career and never had the opportunity to attend University. Over 30 years later, going back to school and attending a prestigious university had become a bucket list goal for me, so when I was presented with the opportunity, I immediately jumped at it. Royal Roads accepted me into the Master’s program based on my successful global professional career history via their flexible admission.

After my first residence, I quickly realized that I was extremely underprepared for the expectations of university life and with the help of the Royal Roads writing center, I was paired with a writing coach in order to build the skills that I was missing. I am extremely proud of my academic accomplishment as I went from having no post-secondary education, to finishing my Master’s program with a 3.81 GPA and an A+ grade on my OMP. This experience was one of my greatest accomplishments and one that I am so proud of.

What I liked about the blended delivery model is that it both allowed me to complete assignments at my own pace, work with other highly talented learners, and gave me a taste of the university dorm life which was an amazing experience. Also, although I was one of the oldest students in my program, at 50 years old I felt I completely welcome and respected.

Although my interest in attending the program was entirely for personal reasons, it ended up leading to a new career opportunity leading a global organization as the Vice President. Today I utilize the skills learned to create and execute strategies in manufacturing and innovation and at the same time position our products as a global market differentiator. These are skills that I would not have had or been able to execute without successfully completing this program.

Lastly, one of the skills that I learned during my Master’s program is how to write an academic paper. Today, I mentor my three daughters in their university programs and guide them with their papers. Although they now say that their dad is a nerd for being able to help them, I know they are so proud of me and would not want it any other way.

Organizational Management Project

My OMP project was based on the automotive collision industry and focussed on employee attrition issues as well as recruitment and attraction strategies. This is clearly a North American issue in many trade sectors today. I chose to complete this project for BCIT who were very appreciative of the recommendations and perspective.

The process of completing the OMP project with an external organization gave me a very strong foundation in which to approach future opportunities. It also made me realize that although I may have opinions of things from the start, exploring as many possible perspectives as possible before making a decision helps to strengthen the outcome and possible solution.

As far as career progression, at the time of the MBA, I was the General Manager of one division of the organization. This past January, after completing my MBA program, I was given the opportunity to become the Vice President of another division of our company and am now the Vice President of two companies.

I completed my Master of Business Administration in Executive Management with a specialization in International Business & Innovation - Europe from Royal Roads University in 2020. During my 31 months in the MBA program, I had the chance to dive deeply into areas of leadership, strategy and human behaviour, work with clients, travel to France and form lifelong friendships with so many incredible people from within my diverse cohort.

The blended format allowed us to form deep bonds in real life through the shared (and intense!) experience of the campus residencies while the distance portion supported the integration of business concepts into our day-to-day work. For instance, some of my classmates flew to Calgary from parts of B.C. and Alberta to help facilitate a Kaizen event at my workplace during our process improvement course. Although this course was a distance offering, the level of excitement and engagement displayed by my peers was infectious and served as a catalyst for change that lasted well beyond the single event.

The insights, experiences and relationships I gained during the program have positively impacted my life, both professionally and personally ever since the very first moment! As a healthcare leader, I appreciated the balance of academic rigour, critical thinking and creative problem-solving with experiential discussion, storytelling and reflection. Specifically, I was able to apply principles to practice with a brilliant mastermind of business leaders from a variety of industries, backgrounds and experiences supporting and workshopping ideas with me along the way. As a cohort representative, I had the opportunity to connect with the MBA program administration and leadership in the spirit of advocacy, knowledge sharing and celebration.

One of the greatest gifts of the MBA program truly was the depth of relationships and investment of energy in each other. Each member of our cohort was vulnerable and allowed themselves to be seen and heard as well as passed the microphone to other classmates. I was delighted to be honoured with the Founders’ Award for leadership, community focus and personal development by the program as well as recognized as a member of the best client presentation team, awarded by the instructors.

The MBA program has given me the courage, confidence and skills to push boundaries beyond what I ever thought could be possible. Next, I am entering the entrepreneurial space to serve emerging and aspiring healthcare leaders along their own journey through coaching, advising, facilitating and speaking engagements. 

Organizational Management Project

I had the privilege of working with a pair of dynamic, young entrepreneurs who cofounded and operate HustleCo, a coworking space located in Calgary, Alberta. The topic of my OMP was the examination of strategic alliances as an expansion strategy in the coworking industry. Unfortunately, due to the circumstances around COVID-19, the business priorities for HustleCo shifted in order to keep their members safe, healthy and prevent the spread of disease. Personally, working with a small startup in an emerging industry and creative space was completely transformative. The experience offered opportunities to engage with the community of content creators, remote workers, consultants and entrepreneurs that were drawn to the HustleCo model and community as well as deepen my understanding of entrepreneurial practices through conversations with the cofounders. Working on addressing a business challenge and growth strategy infused a desire and passion to expand my own professional energy in creating an independent venture of my own. One that is aimed at supporting emerging and aspiring healthcare leaders to be the best they can be and, ultimately, to enhance the delivery of care for patients and the public.

I am so grateful for my time at Royal Roads, every moment, experience, conversation and relationship – I am confident that it will not be the last! 

I decided to apply to the MBA program at Royal Roads because I wanted to augment my extensive work experience with postgraduate education as I considered a late-career transition. The dynamic learning experience, blended delivery model and specialization choices made the MBA in Executive Management an easy choice.

My primary job is coaching entrepreneurs in strengthening their businesses to create better top and bottom-line results. Every day I use tools from the program in diagnosing their challenges and recommending action plans, with a lot of emphasis on strategy, change management, and customer value. My education has given me tremendous confidence in my ability to perform my work and create better results.

I gained a lot from the diversity of the cohort, with people from the non-profit sector, government, large public companies, and small to medium-sized enterprises participating in the program. I also greatly enjoyed my specialization in Innovation and International Business - Europe, which culminated in a two-week residency in Grenoble. It was one of the highlights of the program.

The program challenged, and rewarded, me in ways I did not expect. The support I received from professors, our coach, and my cohort helped me tremendously.

I am very happy with the choice I made. This program amplified my thirty years of work experience; helping me make an even more positive contribution to my work and community.