The McCombs Schools of Business created a new executive education program called the Sustainability Leadership Program to educate business professionals on integrating sustainability into their work. 

The online program starts on Sept. 14 and allows students to choose a 9-month or 12-month duration at the cost of about $18,000.

“It’s an exciting time for business, but it’s also a challenging time because it’s requiring a number of new skills from the CEO down to the individual contributors,” said Meeta Kothare, Sustainability Leadership Program faculty director. “We envision a regenerative global economy and society. That means that we have to figure out how businesses can innovate and support solutions to these big systemic and global problems.”

According to the Sustainability Leadership Program website, applicants are required to be fluent in English with a minimum of 10 years of work experience. The program is best suited for executives wanting to incorporate sustainability into their businesses, executives aspiring to become chief sustainability officers and nonprofit professionals aiming to improve their executive skills.

“Executive education is important because there are only so many things you can learn while you’re on campus,” said Jeffrey Hales, Global Sustainability Leadership Institute executive director. “In times where the world around us is in a lot of change, it’s particularly important to offer executive education. There’s a lot of things that are on the horizon that if you’re not getting some exposure to, then it can catch you by surprise.”

The website features a multi-disciplinary approach, employing professors from various schools and subjects. It aims to teach several skills related to sustainability in business, from climate action to board communication.

“Our state’s prominence in the entire energy sector has given us a front-row seat to a changing industry,” McCombs Dean Lillian Mills said on the program’s website. “McCombs faculty and the Global Sustainability Leadership Institute prepare students to adapt to new markets and stay on the cutting edge, innovating sustainability solutions that benefit everyone.”

While the program is self-paced, participants can also enroll their teams to learn alongside them. The program culminates in a capstone project where participants apply their learnings to their organization.

“It’s a very timely program,” Kothare said. “I encourage business leaders to be students of sustainability throughout their careers because this is one of the biggest challenges business leaders of the 21st century are going to face. This is an opportunity to not just develop these skills but to apply it right away in your jobs.”