A co-founder of Atlanta-based private equity firm Southern Equity Partners, Robert Heller wanted to broaden and deepen his working knowledge and also further his learning for learning’s sake. A certified financial analyst with an MBA from the University of Southern California, he found what he was looking for in Georgia State’s new Executive Doctorate in Business.

The 18-course, three-year program, for those with an MBA or equivalent degree and at least 10 years of management experience, has allowed Heller to explore topics such as globalization and leadership, while drilling deeper into research methodology and conducting research, including a dissertation.

By targeting working professionals who intend to continue work in corporations, the EDB program—started in 2009 and headquartered in Georgia State’s J. Mack Robinson College of Business—seeks to fill a market niche it believes hasn’t been fully met in the United States. Program Director Maury C. Kalnitz calls the executive doctorate a “practitioner doctorate,” targeting students “who want to bring research methodology into their work environment so that they can use it to solve existing problems.”

Doctoral-level Demands

Although there are a handful of other US executive doctorate programs, including the Executive Doctor of Management at Case Western Reserve University, the Executive Doctoral Program in Business at Pace University, and a new Doctor in Business Administration at Kennesaw State, such programs are much more common in Europe, where they exist side by side with business PhD programs. European executives regularly seek the executive doctorate as a credential that can help them advance their careers in business.