Joe Fetcho

Joe Fetcho Vice President, Treasury Controllership, American Express

Our Man at AMEX

Outside of Rutgers the word “executive” may often times be associated with the words stodgy and arrogant. “Executive” may even intimidate some individuals.  The “E” in the RBS EMBA culture does not have any of those connotations.  The culture is casual and helpful.  As executive students, we spend our time and energy learning from one another rather than competing against each other. 

The teaching style is a good balance of academic and pragmatic approaches to the subject matter.   While some teaching methods have a theoretical or academic approach when the area is first introduced, the faculty relate the subject matter to real world experiences through business case studies, group projects or term papers tied the student’s own real-world experiences, or through exams directly related to current events.  I believe the professors understand the importance of relating the theoretical knowledge to empirical data and business world experiences. 

Many of the classes build on each other and are related.  The concepts you learn in one class are introduced in another class but not in a repetitive sense.  Another class will build upon what you learn in a previous class.  Although the students move through the program very quickly, the retention rate is very high because of this building process that occurs throughout the program. 

I apply many of the classroom learning experiences to my day-to-day responsibilities.  Specifically, I have used aspects from our finance class to review discounted cash flow models for various purposes such as analyzing potential mergers and acquisitions and valuing intangible assets post acquisition.  In addition, I have applied macroeconomics, particularly the calculation of expected inflation rates, when supporting an insurance recovery claim of anticipated future costs.  I have educated other employees during a continuing professional education session on the various types of hedge funds and how they may impact our company’s stock price.   The statistics classes have helped me understand statistical data provided by our treasury group related to potential loss exposures from foreign currency hedge positions.  Finally, our executive leadership class has not only helped form a leadership style or structure for my immediate group, but also allows me to reflect on the overall leadership style and initiatives of the entire company.

Classroom learning also goes beyond day-to-day job responsibilities.  For example, while many of the principles of macroeconomics do not apply directly to my immediate responsibilities, understanding macroeconomic theory allows me understand pertinent content of The Wall Street Journal on a daily basis and hold intelligent conversations with senior executives and others in casual settings as they present themselves. 

I absolutely recommend the program to others looking to get a broad business experience.  There are other programs in the area that allow for deeper concentrations in a particular area of study.  However, the RBS EMBA program educates the students in a wide array of business areas.  It does not allow the students to fall back into their comfort zones.  Today’s senior executives must be knowledgeable in all aspects of business from marketing to strategy to finance to leadership. RBS EMBA program ensures the students are exposed to all areas.