The MIT Leaders for Global Operations (MIT LGO) program has gotten a major boost to its roster of partner companies with the addition of three new firms — Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC), Nike Inc., and Verizon Wireless — which will benefit from intensive hands-on research by MIT LGO students.
MIT LGO is an elite dual-degree graduate program in engineering and management innovation for students aiming for careers in operations and manufacturing. The program benefits from the wealth of resources, world-renowned faculty, and connections offered by MIT, the world's top-ranked institution focused on science and technology, as well as real-world industry training and knowledge from leading global manufacturing and operations companies.
The addition of Nike, BIDMC and Verizon Wireless reflects MIT LGO's strategy to expand its reach into operations-focused sectors beyond its historic base in advanced manufacturing companies, represented among its industry partners by such global leaders as Boeing, Caterpillar, Dell, General Motors, Novartis and United Technologies.
Partner companies have access to MIT faculty and research as well as best practices of other partners, with the potential for joint operations projects. They host in-depth site visits and six-month student internships with MIT faculty support, and have priority in recruiting MIT LGO graduates. MIT LGO interns gain real-world experience while addressing companies' critical business needs through projects addressing production network strategy, energy waste reduction, and supply chain optimization.
“These new partners complement and reinforce MIT LGO's traditional focus on advanced manufacturing,” said Don Rosenfield, MIT LGO Program Director and Senior Lecturer, MIT Sloan School. “Leaders of industrial or automotive firms can learn from the issues faced by health care, retail and telecommunications organizations — and our students and faculty look forward to working on our newest partners' management and technical challenges.”
“Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center is delighted to partner with MIT LGO,” said Brett A. Simon, M.D., Ph.D., Chairman of the Department of Anesthesia, Critical Care and Pain Medicine. “The opportunity to work with MIT LGO fellows who bring both a business and engineering background offers a rare and valued new perspective to our efforts to optimize our systems and processes as well as provide innovative, quantitative support for critical decision-making.”
“MIT's Leaders for Global Operations graduate program will add another high-level initiative to our leadership development and recruitment programs,” said Viju Menon, Vice President of Supply Chain Management for Verizon Wireless and a 1994 MIT LGO graduate. “We view these students as future innovators who can help us continue to lead the way with the next generation of wireless connectivity and revolutionize the way customers communicate.”
About MIT LGO
Founded in 1988 as Leaders for Manufacturing, MIT LGO was created to develop technically oriented leaders who would help strengthen the U.S. manufacturing industry in the face of emerging global competition. Approximately 50 students graduate from the program each year with both a Master of Business Administration from the MIT Sloan School of Management and a Master of Science from one of seven areas within the MIT School of Engineering: http://lgo.mit.edu/proseminar.html
Because they are “fluent” in both engineering and management, MIT LGO graduates are highly sought after by partner companies as well as other manufacturing and global operations enterprises. LGO alumni include Camilla Denison (MBA '92, SM '92), President of Champion Laboratories; Patrick M. Shanahan (MBA '91, SM '91), Vice President and General Manager of Airplane Programs at The Boeing Company; and Jeff Wilke (MBA '93, SM '93), Senior Vice President at Amazon.com.
About the new partners
Verizon Wireless operates the nation's largest 4G LTE network and largest, most reliable 3G network. The company serves 107.7 million total wireless connections, including 90.7 million retail customers. Headquartered in Basking Ridge, N.J., with nearly 83,000 employees nationwide, Verizon Wireless is a joint venture of Verizon Communications and Vodafone.
Nike, Inc., based near Beaverton, Ore., is the world's leading designer, marketer and distributor of authentic athletic footwear, apparel, equipment and accessories for a wide variety of sports and fitness activities. Wholly owned Nike subsidiaries include Cole Haan, Converse Inc., Hurley International LLC, and Umbro Ltd.
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, a teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School, is renowned for excellence in patient care, biomedical research, teaching and community service. With 642 beds and more than 6,000 employees, BIDMC logged 750,000 inpatient and outpatient visits in 2010. BIDMC is the second Boston health care organization to become an LGO partner (Massachusetts General Hospital joined earlier this year).
