Friday’s Headlines: Soldiers Warmly Welcomed to MBAs

It makes sense if you think about it: Ambitious leaders are attracted to high-demanding, risky endeavors. Endeavors like war. And business. So it is of little surprise that many military veterans go on to enroll in MBA programs. The news is that now this career trajectory is becoming more formalized, according to a Wall Street Journal story.

One group, called Military MBA, matches U.S. military students with B-schools. London Business School is one such program and encourages applicants with military experience. This year, 30 of the program's 800 current students came straight from the military, while others are from countries with mandatory national service and had experience earlier in their careers. Those numbers are growing.

HEC Paris is another institute keen on military experience, so much so that it requires all its students to spend two days training at a French military academy. Canada’s McGill University's Desautels Faculty of Management, as retired Lt. Gen. Romeo Dallaire – who headed a United Nation mission in Rwanda in the mid-1990s – speaks to students about leading under difficult circumstances.

The benefits of connecting military and business are manifold, school administrators say. The story:

While current and former service members immerse themselves in the details of finance, accounting and other business basics, their schools and classmates gain a lot by having them on campus, administrators say.

Students from military backgrounds often become leaders of the small study groups that are a key part of the B-school classroom, they tend to be very active in campus life, and their well-developed abilities to head teams and work effectively make them natural role models for fellow students.

 

Other News:

BofA will focus less on retail and more on trading. [NY Times]

CapitalOne’s Q1 profit rose 37 percent on an accounting gain related to its ING unit buy. [Bloomberg]

Wall Street banks reported their best quarter for trading fixed income in two years. [Financial Times]

MetLife swung to a Q1 loss after inadvertently posting financial data on its Web site ahead of the scheduled release. [WSJ]

Northern Mariana Islands is the first public pension plan to file for bankruptcy. [Investment News]

CVC Capital Partners is nearing a deal to buy consulting firm AlixPartners from Hellman & Friedman for $1 billion. [DealBook]

Hedge fund assets reached a record high on bigger returns. [WSJ]

A judge ordered a Fletcher Asset Management hedge fund to close after pension funds were unable to withdraw their money. [WSJ]

Hong Kong regulators are weighing new guidelines for banks that help companies go public. [Dow Jones]

Former BofA wealth management head Sallie Krawcheck is reinventing herself through Twitter. [DealBook]