Today’s business landscape is littered with billion-dollar companies that have fallen short and clearly missed the mark in terms of meeting the expectations of consumers, shareholders and the public. According to a recent 60 Minutes broadcast, Facebook has experienced “a cascade of disturbing revelations” that include allowing an outside company “to surreptitiously gain access to personal data mined from as many as 87 million Facebook users.”
Wells Fargo, the United States’ fourth largest bank with nearly $2 trillion in assets, became the target of a Senate investigation and paid a $185 million fine after illegally creating millions of savings and checking accounts on behalf of clients without their consent. And Volkswagen Group, ranked #16 on Forbes’ list of the world’s largest public companies, was caught falsifying emissions data on 11 million diesel vehicles worldwide from 2009 to 2015. The scandal included the arrest of the CEO of Audi, a subsidiary of Volkswagen, in June of this year.
Regent University’s founder, chancellor and CEO, Dr. M.G. “Pat” Robertson points to a lack of strong, moral and ethical leadership as a reason behind these and other recent corporate failings. “Look at what’s happening in the business community alone,” he says. “People on Wall Street are going to jail for cheating and breaking the rules. We teach ethics at Regent. Ethics are part of the Christian ethos. So our students learn ethical standards from the Ten Commandments, the Sermon on the Mount, the Biblical Mandate … I believe Regent can be a light that leads people forward.”
Dr. Doris Gomez and Martha Smith
Regent University’s School of Business & Leadership (SBL) serves as a beacon of strong biblical leadership, training men and women for fulfilling careers and life-changing impact. Established in 1982, four years after the university’s founding, SBL understands that today’s professionals need entrepreneurial vision and agility to steer businesses and organizations with confidence, innovation and expertise. As students earn their leadership or business degree, they learn time-tested theories and strategies, while gaining practical, immediately applicable workplace skills — all from a biblical and global perspective.
According to U.S. News & World Report’s 2018 rankings, SBL offers students the third-best online business program in Virginia and the fourth-ranked online MBA program in the state. SBL’s M.A. and MBA programs offer a convenient eight-week format with up to eight start dates per year. The Ph.D. in Organizational Leadership and Doctor of Strategic Leadership programs are designed to provide effective solutions for today’s complex organizational and leadership challenges. SBL’s doctoral programs are rooted in Christian ethics and a biblical worldview, and offered in a flexible online format with three required on-campus residencies that last four days each.
“Coastal Virginia is an amazing region, and … it is truly a great honor to be able to show our community what a jewel we have in Regent’s SBL and the MBA program in particular.”
Dr. Doris Gomez
Recently, SBL also earned Coastal Virginia Magazine’s Best Higher Education: Gold Award in its Best of Business awards in the areas of Best Business School and Best MBA program. “It is a tremendous honor to be recognized in our own community that we love and appreciate so very much,” says SBL Dean, Dr. Doris Gomez. “Coastal Virginia is an amazing region, and … it is truly a great honor to be able to show our community what a jewel we have in Regent’s SBL and the MBA program in particular.”
Gomez credits “God’s glory” and the school’s faculty, staff, students and alumni for the regional magazine’s award: “It’s an amazing seal of approval for the quality we are striving for, the curriculum, our caliber of students and alumni, as well as the mentorship, coaching and care they receive from our faculty — it’s bar none! This is something we’re incredibly grateful for and we’re very proud of.”
Cindy Arocho ’12
SBL’s more than 3,000 alumni currently work in 49 states and 49 nations. One of the school’s most accomplished recent graduates is Cindy Arocho ’12. A financial advisor at Northwestern Mutual, she earned an M.A. in Organization Leadership (as well as an M.A. in Divinity) at Regent. Arocho considers herself a “generational change agent,” who loves her current role and “has found a convergence of all things she is great at.” She has traveled to more than 25 countries to serve orphans, widows, local organizations and schools.
Born in Puerto Rico and raised mostly in New Jersey, she earned her bachelor’s degree at Princeton University and worked for three years at Goldman Sachs & Co., one of the top investment banking firms in the world. Following her heart, she left Wall Street and spent three months sitting in the dirt with the street children of Mozambique, Africa. Those children taught her Portuguese and, more importantly, “to see the world through new lenses.” Arocho arrived at Regent University in 2008 to become equipped as a Christian leader.
“Regent provided a very hands-on experience that I could implement in my life right away,” she said. “You can’t come out of this program without becoming a better leader. It proves itself of worth and value time and again.”
“You can’t come out of this program without becoming a better leader. It proves itself of worth and value time and again.”
Cindy Arocho ’12
Another notable SBL graduate is Dr. Jason Carthen ’09, who was named the school’s 2018 Alumnus of the Year for his contributions to entrepreneurship and business. “The Leadership Linebacker” is a former professional football player with the world champion New England Patriots, a best-selling author, international speaker, avid blogger, media personality and philanthropist, who earned his Ph.D. in Organizational Leadership at Regent.
Carthen insists that we are living in “very uneasy times” due to the current examples of leadership on both a domestic and foreign level: “Regent University holds the pivotal and unique opportunity to shape the leadership narrative for many generations to come, as it equips current and future leaders who serve at the highest levels of corporate, nonprofit or government office.”
Dr. Jason Carthen ’09
He continues, “Personally, Regent’s SBL program offered one of the greatest experiences of my life as it stretched and shaped my thinking during the doctoral transformation. This transformation informs my worldview, attitudes, intentions and behavior as I seek to model, encourage and demonstrate Christian leadership to change the world — one relationship at a time.”
SBL believes in a multidisciplinary and entrepreneurial approach that encourages servant leadership and social responsibility. Equipped to inspire and influence, graduates like Arocho and Carthen are blazing trails in industries, nonprofit organizations, universities, colleges and churches worldwide. As a top military-friendly university, SBL is helping active-duty military, veterans and their families retool for promising second careers.
Distinguished scholars, who are devoted followers of Christ, serve as student mentors, providing a global perspective on business and leadership, as they teach SBL’s regionally and nationally accredited programs. Perhaps the school’s website best describes the selfless, servant leadership taught and learned at Regent University: “Through biblical integration and our caring faculty, we equip students to strive toward inspired influence in business and leadership as they discover the destiny God has created for them and the impact they will make on the world in His name.”
For information about applying to become an on-campus or online student at Regent University’s School of Business & Leadership, call 757.352.4400 or visit regent.edu/sbl.
