University of Virginia: Darden

Established in 1955, the Darden School of Business is the University of Virginia’s graduate business school, both located in Charlottesville, Virginia. The business school is named after Colgate Whitehead Darden, Jr, a former Democratic congressman, governor of Virginia, and former president of the University of Virginia.

Darden has over 900 MBA, EMBA, GEMBA and PhD students. Meanwhile, over a million people have studied its MOOC (Massive Open Online Courses) across 220 countries.

Its two-year MBA is ranked number 1 for "educational experience" by The Economist and gives a wide choice of elective study options including: asset management/sales and trading; consumer marketing; corporate finance/investment banking; business to business marketing; entrepreneurship; market analytics; corporate innovation; supply chain management; business development and growth and sustainability strategy consulting. The course also offers the chance to study abroad. Darden has partnerships in 58 locations across 34 countries.

Meanwhile, Darden’s PhD programme covers management, ethics, entrepreneurship, leadership and organisational skills.

Not only is Charlottesville noted for its natural attractions, such as the Rivanna Trail and for its foodie culture, it is also a vibrant hub for small businesses and has been cited by The National Venture Capital Association as the fastest-growing venture-capital ecosystem in the US with Entrepreneur magazine ranking it fourth out of 50 best cities for innovation.

Notable Darden alumni include: John H. Bryan, CEO and chairman of Sara Lee 1976 - 2001; Robert Citrone, billionaire hedge fund manager and co-founder of Discovery Capital Management; George David, CEO and chairman of United Technologies Corporation; John D. Shafer Jr., President of Dunkin' Donuts; John Strangfeld, chairman and CEO, Prudential Financial; Steven Reinemund, former CEO and chairman of PepsiCo; Mark B. Templeton, president and CEO, Citrix Systems Inc; Doug Scovanner, former executive vice president and CFO of the Target Corporation and Steve Voorhees, CEO of WestRock.