The August 5 announcement that the Oregon Executive MBA (OEMBA) program will expand its services and move to downtown Portland is good news for both the business community and the University of Oregon's Lundquist College of Business, according to Dean James C. Bean.

"This allows us to interact more easily with the primary business community in the state," Bean said. "It provides businesses with greater access to first-rate resources while enhancing the education and research components of the college's mission."

The executive M.B.A. degree program, operated by the Lundquist college along with Oregon State University and Portland State University, will move to the 200 Market Place Building this fall. The program will join the Oregon Business Institute, a new initiative among the three state business schools to better serve the Portland business community.

The changes represent a renewed commitment to the program, to the needs of the business community, and to economic development in the state, said Kirby Dyess, a member of the Board of Advisers for the Lundquist College of Business. Dyess, a retired Intel executive and principal of Austin Capital Management LLC in Beaverton, Oregon, is also a director of the Oregon State Board of Higher Education and a member of the Board of Trustees for Linfield College in McMinnville, Oregon.

"I'm excited about the collaboration between the state's top universities," Dyess said, explaining that each has it own unique "spires of excellence," or programs that stand out as areas of expertise.

"The OEMBA program and the Oregon Business Institute provide businesses with an opportunity to access the best faculty and spires of excellence at each university to assist in their development of business leaders and strategies necessary to win in this globally competitive environment," Dyess continued.

The Oregon Business Institute will include the existing OEMBA program, as well as offer short courses in executive education. Eventually a new commercialization office is envisioned, including an innovation ombudsman to help entrepreneurs find the most appropriate and helpful support from each of the three business schools.

Currently located in Beaverton, the OEMBA program offers a two-year executive M.B.A. degree program that allows senior managers to complete an advanced degree without interrupting their careers. The degree is granted by the Lundquist College of Business.