How Kellogg-HKUST EMBA programme fast-tracked Nike’s Angela Dong

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One year stands out in the career story of Angela Dong, Nike’s global vice-president and general manager of Greater China. That year was 2008, when the Olympic Games were held in Beijing, and Dong was studying on the Kellogg-HKUST EMBA programme. “That was an amazing year,” she recalls.

Dong was drawn to the programme’s global mindset and scope, and its sharp focus  on Asia. Once her studies had begun, the relationships she developed with the other members of the KH10  cohort stood out as  particular highlights.

“I got to know my classmates very well during the programme, both through working and socialising with them,” Dong says. The way in which she  and her classmates collaborated  on projects demonstrated what could be achieved when people with different areas of expertise work together as a team,  she adds.

“I’ll also never forget the time I spent with my classmates during our overseas elective,” Dong says. She chose the course at Evanston in Chicago, which she describes as “unforgettable”. The programme was “a sort of melting pot, where people from different cultural, educational and professional backgrounds all got together to achieve common goals”, Dong says. “It was inspirational to see how the intersection of these different perspectives generates the most innovative ideas.”

The long-term friendships and partnerships formed on the programme have been maintained over the years. Dong says that although work pressures often restrict opportunities to chat, her classmates try to meet whenever they are in the same city. They always look forward to these opportunities to find out about each others’ progress and thoughts, Dong explains.

“I occasionally attend alumni events, and I find them a very useful way to meet old classmates, and see how we can form new partnerships,” she says. “I have met more and more alumni, and I am always impressed by how large the alumni network is.”