The Year in Listening: A Collection of Memorable Darden Podcasts

Podcasts at the University of Virginia Darden School of Business offer an opportunity for prospective students and other curious listeners to hear directly from Darden community members in a longform format.

As the calendar year draws to a close, Brett Twitty, managing director of admissions and strategic initiatives of professional degree programs and host of the Experience Darden podcast and The ExecMBA Podcast, offered some of the most illuminating conversations of 2021. This broad cross-section includes interviews with current students, professors and alumni discussing the Darden classroom, community and broader issues relevant to the world of business and MBA programs.

First up, Darden Professor Ed Freeman talks about his background in philosophy, his foundational work on stakeholder theory and why we need what he terms “a new story of business.”

Recent graduate Daniel Dickey (MBA ’21) talks about his passion to help young people learn to read and his MBA journey at Darden. His startup, the Million Word Challenge, stems from his experience as a Teach for America instructor.

Olivia Pavco-Giaccia (Class of 2022) came to Darden with a background in science and a passion for connecting young women with STEM fields. An accomplished cellist who previously worked at the White House, Pavco-Giaccia even pitched and sold a digital series to Facebook’s video-on-demand platform at one point. Now president of Community Consultants of Darden, Pavco-Giaccia talks about her path to Darden and plans for the club.

What a year to be leaders of the Darden Student Association. Shortly after being elected president and vice president, respectively, DeMario Moore (Class of 2022) and Jen Bundy (Class of 2022) discussed the unique moment in Darden history and why they felt drawn to lead.

The leaders of the Executive Student Association, Executive MBA students Catriona Stadtler-Ayer (Class of 2022) and Sean Taylor (Class of 2022), made concerted efforts to build community as the pandemic continued to significantly impact nearly all elements of personal and professional lives. They discussed plans for the year ahead and how they balanced work, an Executive MBA and extracurricular leadership tasks.

It has been a big year for Toast Senior Vice President and General Manager Jonathan Vassil (EMBA ’18), who saw the company go public in a $20 billion offering in 2021. Vassil talks about how Toast helped restaurants through the pandemic, and how his MBA journey informed his work.

Emily McMahan’s (EMBA ’10) professional career has focused on bridging the gap between members of the military and the business community. Her newest venture, the Academy Investor Network, brings the expertise of the five U.S. service academies to the venture capital world. She talks about the unique through line in her career and the enduring power of the Darden network.

One of the most popular collections of podcasts remains application tips. To make the listening experience as easy possible, Darden Admissions has compiled a playlist of 16 short episodes on Spotify. Darden Ideas to Action also produces a regular podcast spotlighting the latest faculty insights and research.