Executive MBA

Hartwick knew little of the world outside El Salvador when she arrived in the United States at the start of a civil war that tore apart her country in the 1980s. She was 17, fresh out of high school and alone in a foreign place. "I had $200 in my pocket, and I didn't know any English," she says. "Needless to say, I experienced culture shock when I got to New York to study."

Conversation mixes with music as the lunch crowd fills Busboys and Poets on a recent weekday. Books by local authors fill store shelves near the entrance. Paintings by local artists cover the walls. On tap is a full lineup of weekend entertainment: A poetry slam on Friday, the DC Funk Parade on Saturday, and a screening of “Served Like a Girl” on Sunday with guests from the documentary about homeless women veterans.

Marine conservationist Johanna Polsenberg, EMBA ’07, never stays in one place for long. She has traveled through Asia and lived in the Bahamas, Alaska and Gabon on the Atlantic Coast of Central Africa. She now raises sheep with her family in Vermont, where she teaches skiing and middle school science. She also runs a consulting firm focused on corporate governance.

Ryan D. McCarthy, an executive MBA alumnus at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business, never thought he would be the chief executive officer of the U.S. Army. But his passion for the military’s mission and his mix of experience in service and industry prepared him to be a natural choice for the job of Secretary of the Army.