Become a Strategic Finance Leader
Build dynamic skills to lead finance in any industry. Learn to shape companies from a financial perspective and transform business with strategic know-how and creative insights.
Select one of three in-demand career pathways to meet your exact career goals
Consult with real companies to gain applied skills and corporate connections
Immerse yourself in the Nicholas Center’s network of finance leaders
Customize Your Path to Meet Your Career Goals
Choose from three specialized paths to create your ideal finance MBA.
Strategic Corporate Finance
Understand the complexities of corporate finance. Use finance tools and skills to play a key role in strategic business decisions.
Investment Banking
Prepare for a career at a leading investment bank. Learn how to analyze and manage complex financial deals and communicate with corporate clients and investors.
New Venture Finance
Become enmeshed in the entrepreneurial and startup investor worlds. Gain a set of tools to successfully launch and evaluate new ventures.
Benefit From a Pipeline to Top Employers
Grow Your Skills With Specialized Curriculum
Start by gaining a strong foundation in general management and finance. In year two, deepen your expertise and gain a competitive advantage by selecting one of our three pathways.
Finance MBA Core
- Business Valuation
- Corporate Finance Theory and Practice
- Applied Corporate Finance (Projects with top-level firms)
- Mergers & Acquisitions
- Multinational Business Finance
- Credit Analysis and Trading
Courses
- Financial Reporting
- Advanced Risk Management
- Financial Statement Analysis
Recommended electives*
- Project Management
- Real Estate Finance & Investment
- Change Management
- Strategic Management of Innovation
- Corporate Governance
- Fixed Income or Derivatives
- Negotiations
- Pricing Strategies
Courses
- Financial Reporting
- Financial Statement Analysis
- Investment Banking
- Fixed Income or Derivatives
Recommended electives*
- Project Management
- Corporate Governance
- Advanced Risk Management
- Negotiations
Courses
- Financial Reporting
- Applied Ventures Entrepreneurship
- Tech Entrepreneurship
- Entrepreneurial Finance
Recommended electives*
- Project Management
- Change Management
- Strategic Management of Innovation
- Negotiations
- Pricing Strategies
Hear from Our Students
Learn about events, classroom experiences, and what it’s like to be a CFIB student.
MBA Students Find Success in Investment Banking
Nicholas Center Spring Newsletter
Fall Semester Newsletter
Be Supported by Finance Experts
Benefit from the guidance of the Nicholas Center for Corporate Finance and Investment Banking—WSB’s knowledge center dedicated to the advancement of the finance field.
Authentic connections with people who will change your life
- Work with experts who open up doors to vital professional networks and give you resources to grow your career
- Learn from luminary advisory board members who are currently shaping the finance industry
- Be mentored by visionary alumni and guest speakers who provide an insider’s look at finance
Advisory Board spotlights
Kristi Peterson
Peterson is the Executive Director and Corporate Controller for SC Johnson. In her role, Kristi leads global financial reporting processes, business planning and analysis, and technical accounting.
Adam Trigg
Trigg is the Head of Chemical Investment Banking at Royal Bank of Canada Capital Markets. He was previously an Executive Director in the Natural Resources Group at UBS Investment Bank, and focused on providing financial advisory services to clients in the chemicals sector globally.
Faculty and leadership spotlights
Brad Chandler
Teaching Faculty, Finance
Chandler applies broad experience as an investment banker and former managing director at Morgan Stanley.
Barbara Bolens
Director, Nicholas Center for Corporate Finance and Investment Banking
Bolens has extensive experience using her strategy, finance, risk management, and governance expertise to help organizations expand. As a former vice president and chief strategy officer, she is passionate about mentoring students in finance and connecting students to applied learning opportunities, internships, and employment at graduation.
Gain Career-Ready Experiences
Consult with top companies
Consult on real-world projects for Fortune 500 companies and entrepreneurs and engage with key business leaders. Students deliver recommendations directly to the client’s senior-level management.
Use cutting-edge technology
Make WSB’s Finance and Analytics Lab your MBA home: 45 computers loaded with business tech like Bloomberg Terminal, Capital IQ, FactSet, and a host of research databases.
Meet Our Alumni
Your MBA. Your Career Success.
High staff-to-student ratio means you get unlimited support—and exceptional connections—as you step into your ideal career.
Learn more about our career-launching resultsDiscover the Wisconsin Difference
Earn a finance MBA with impressive career outcomes
Hear how this customizable program’s rigor, career support, and high return on investment make it a compelling choice.
Connect with us.
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