May 31, 2012
Contact: Michele Sparks, Director of Communications (859) 257-0040
For Immediate Release

Gatton One Year MBA Students Graduate June 1

Graduation week arrived for the University of Kentucky's Gatton College of Business and Economics One Year MBA (Masters of Business Administration) Program. The commencement for the seventh class to go through the program was held Friday, June 1, in Memorial Hall.

In addition to 60 students graduating with an MBA, this ceremony also marked the graduation of 41 students completing their master's degrees in accounting and 15 students completing their doctoral degrees in economics and management. Ten graduating Greek MBA students also participated in the graduation ceremony this year. These students represented 31 graduates who completed a 36-credit-hour American-style MBA program presented by Gatton College in Athens, Greece, at the Technological Educational Institute of Piraeus.

This year's commencement speaker was UK finance alumnus and investment banker Michael McMahon, '91. McMahon has more than 20 years of Wall Street experience in investment banking and fixed income capital markets and currently serves as managing director and head of the Financial Institutions Group within Houlihan Lokey’s Corporate Finance business. Prior to joining Houlihan Lokey, he was a managing director and co-head of diversified financials within the Financial Institutions Group at Morgan Stanley, where he provided financial advisory and corporate finance-related services to global mid- and large-cap financial service companies, governments and hedge funds

During his career, McMahon has been involved in several industry leading transactions, including acting as adviser on the largest prepackaged bankruptcy and first successful bankruptcy restructuring of a U.S. bank holding company (CIT), as well as adviser on the largest global conservatorships by a government institution (Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac).

Gatton College's One Year MBA Program began in June of 2005 and has become a cutting edge program for both business and nonbusiness graduates. This immersive program takes place over 43 weeks and focuses on three key business practices: new product development, supply chain management, and mergers and acquisitions. No prerequisites are required for admittance, but are instead built into the program.

In addition to the well-respected one-year MBA program, the Gatton College also offers a nationally ranked evening MBA program. Graduates of the evening program were recognized at UK's May commencement ceremony.

For more information on UK's MBA programs, visit http://gatton.uky.edu/MBA or call 859-257-1306.