Executive MBA Alumni Profile Marco DeBenedictis, ’20
An Executive MBA graduate shares how his degree helped advance his career and influence his firm’s corporate strategy.
- By
- March 20, 2024
- Career Impact
Marco DeBenedictis, ’20, enrolled in Chicago Booth’s Executive MBA Program with the primary goal of moving his career forward. What he didn’t anticipate was the positive impact his degree would have on his employer.
“The EMBA experience enabled me to consider the corporate banking strategy with respect to sustainability,” says DeBenedictis, who leveraged his Booth MBA to shift from a role in portfolio distribution at Barclays Investment Bank to one that focused on sustainability. “I used specific lessons that I had learned from competitive strategy and from marketing to drive our strategy and where we wanted to position our business going forward.”
After several promotions within the firm, DeBenedictis now works as head of structuring and sustainable finance at Barclays. “The idea of coming back with something better, bringing something new to the party, was certainly a positive for my financial institution, but also for me and my career,” he says.
“The ROI for my EMBA is not just financial; it’s personal growth.”
I’ve gone through such a period of personal growth. I actually feel that across all dimensions.
So the ROI for my EMBA is not just financial; it’s personal growth.
I’m really focused on continual development and personal betterment. So the main drivers for me to pursue an MBA were really about advancing my career. What did I need to do? What did I need to push my career forward?
I currently work as the head of structuring and sustainable finance at Barclays Corporate and Investment Bank.
The EMBA experience really impacted my career quite materially for me. It enabled me to consider the corporate banking strategy with respect to sustainability. I used specific lessons that I had learned from Competitive Strategy and from Marketing and actually even a little bit of Micro in there too, to really help drive our strategy and where we wanted to position our business going forward.
The EMBA program impacted the way that I lead and the way that I want to lead in the future. It’s helped me identify the things that I’m good at and the things that I need to work on.
There is a big time commitment that I found was difficult to manage, but certainly the idea of coming back with something better, bringing something new to the party, was certainly a positive for both my financial institution, but also me and my career too.