Why executive education matters

In a rapidly changing and complex business world, executive education for your leaders is of increasing importance.

College of DuPage (COD), Innovation DuPage (ID) and regional colleges and universities provide short-term executive education programs as alternatives to traditional MBA programs. Gone are the times when the only option is investing inordinate amounts of money, time and energy in formal advanced education. This is not an either/or situation, but rather a both/and. Both longer-term and short-term programs have their advantages.

COD's Career and Professional Training unit offers customized, cost-effective executive training to meet workforce goals for all levels of employees. Flexible delivery options include online in-person (your site or a COD campus) or a hybrid of both. Some popular topics include Building a Culture of Excellence, Change Management, Data Driven Decision Making and New Supervisor Fundamentals.

Industry-recognized skills can be acquired in Project Management, Lean Six Sigma, Certified ScrumMaster and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion training. COD Career and Professional Training also offers executive training for municipality leadership through its Public Service Institute.

COD's Homeland Security Training Institute (HSTI) offers professional development for executives in the fields of safety and security. HSTI partners with corporations like Navistar and Ace Hardware in the areas of executive security, campus safety and cyber security while working with nonprofits and government agencies like the Regional Office of Education to prevent violence on campus.

HSTI connects local, state and federal first responders with private sector companies to provide executive education for your leaders in state-of-the art situation simulators and labs that take safety tabletop exercises to an entirely new level. Public safety initiatives continue with Argonne National Laboratory, FEMA Region Five and first responder agencies from across the country.

Innovation DuPage, the business incubator and accelerator founded by COD and housed in the Glen Ellyn Civic Center provides training and mentoring for small business founders and executives. The Owner-to-CEO cohort program offered supports small business owners in scaling and growing their companies and supporting them from moving from owner or founder to functioning as an executive officer.

This is achieved by not only studying the topics of finance, law, HR, sales, marketing and business planning, but by applying each to the executive's actual business. In addition to expert instructors, each participant receives one-on-one mentoring and membership within the ID business incubator, which connects them to other small business owners, startups and a powerful network of industry partners.

This program is funded by grants and corporate partners like Wintrust, US Bank and the College of DuPage Foundation. ID has completed seven cohorts to date, two focused on the construction industry in partnership with the Hispanic American Construction Industry Association. ID is exploring additional cohorts for women, minorities and niche industries such as insurance and health care. ID is seeking additional industry partners, sponsors and instructors for future cohorts.

Whether an existing industry credential appeals to you or customized training is a better fit, ongoing executive education is the perfect way to stay current, to expand your skillset and to build your resume.

COD Career and Professional Training, the Homeland Security Training Institute and Innovation DuPage are committed to the businesses that drive our regional economy and hire our graduates. To this end, we leverage grants and a large network of partners to offer high quality, low-cost training options to ensure your executives continue to drive your organization's success.

Collectively, we see this investment in your executives as an investment in our combined future and prosperity.

• Joseph Cassidy, MBA, is Assistant Vice President, Economic Development Dean, Continuing Education and Public Services at College of DuPage. For more information, please visit: https://www.cod.edu/academics/continuing-education/career-professional-training/

https://www.innovationdupage.org/

https://www.cod.edu/hsti/