By Nathaniel Luce
Eric Johnson, Ralph Owen Dean and Bruce D. Henderson Professor of Strategy, announced the appointment of Cherrie Wilkerson as Assistant Dean for Young Professional Programs at Vanderbilt’s Owen Graduate School of Management.
In this new role, Wilkerson will oversee the school’s one-year residential Masters programs: Master of Accountancy (MAcc), Master of Science in Finance (MSF), and Master of Marketing. She will continue serving as a Professor of the Practice of Management and Program Director for the Master of Science in Finance.
“I am very pleased to announce the appointment of Cherrie Wilkerson as Assistant Dean for Young Professional Programs,” said Dean Johnson. “She has successfully overseen the MSF program, teaches a successful MSF core class, and has developed popular Executive Education programs. Her experience leading the undergraduate department of Managerial Studies gives her a unique perspective of early career graduate programming.“
“I think we have a tremendous opportunity in the one-year programs,” Wilkerson said. “It’s vitally important for students coming out of undergrad to get on the right run of their career, and our programs help them do that. I like being a part of it.”
Cherrie Wilkerson
A graduate of Vanderbilt University (BA) and Dartmouth College (MBA), Wilkerson started her career in the consulting field at Bain & Company. She spent 13 years at Executive Perspectives, a company offering computer-based simulations for executive training, before returning to Vanderbilt in 2005.
At Vanderbilt, she taught undergraduate business courses in finance, marketing, and entrepreneurship before taking the position of Director of the Managerial Studies program. Wilkerson later moved to Owen as a Program Director for the MSF program. She also teaches the course “Leading Millennials” in Vanderbilt’s Executive Education program.
Wilkerson is excited by the prospects of a unified voice for the one-year Masters programs, which she believes will help tell Vanderbilt’s story more effectively to undergraduate career centers and prospective students.
“Owen does what other schools don’t do, which is provide career services resources to help students identify, fine-tune their skills around, and get their desired job,” she explains. “The faculty understand that students are here to get an education and a job.
“We’re really geared up to offer that one-year degree population a great, fun, and memorable experience, but one that’s really about jumpstarting their career, and that’s the fun part for me.”
To request information about the MAcc program, please click here.
To request information about the Master of Marketing program, please click here.
To request information about the MSF program, please click here.
