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Professor Profiles: Michael C. Feiner, Columbia Business School

Many MBA applicants feel that they are purchasing a brand, but the educational experience itself is crucial to your future, and no one will affect your education more than your professors. Each Wednesday, we profile a standout professor as identified by students. Today, we focus on Michael C. Feiner from Columbia Business School.

Michael C. Feiner (“High Performance Leadership”) is the former chief people officer of PepsiCo Europe and president/founder of Michael C. Feiner Consulting, Inc. At Columbia Business School, he teaches one of the most popular courses each year—judging from the number of bidding points students typically need to spend to get a spot in the class (students often use more than half their allotted points for all courses just on this one class)—which attracts students of all backgrounds and interests. First years initially meet Feiner during orientation when he presents an ethics case to all incoming students. His teaching style combines case studies, lectures and recent news and journal articles, and he places great emphasis on class participation. Several anecdotes from alumni indicate that Feiner is a stickler for participation and attendance—one recent alumna with whom mbaMission spoke said he even made one of his past students return to take the course’s final class a year after he had graduated because that student had missed the class when he was enrolled. Still, we learned that many students have been known to take Feiner up on his “lifetime guarantee” of professional support.

For more information about CBS and 13 other top-ranked business schools, check out the mbaMission Insider’s Guides.


Jeremy Shinewald

Jeremy Shinewald  

In addition to being Founder and President of mbaMission, Jeremy Shinewald is a Darden MBA, published author, and the recipient of Poets&Quants’ Lifetime Achievement Award in MBA Admissions Consulting. With more than 20 years of experience and a background as a professional speechwriter, he combines deep industry insight and exceptional storytelling skills to help applicants create powerful, distinctive MBA applications.

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