Forging future executives.

• Position: Executive education special advertising section

Current and future business leaders nationwide look to executive-level education as a major tool to help them excel in today's competitive environment, and in turn to boost corporate bottom lines.

An MBA makes a difference for senior leaders and midlevel managers with an eye on advancement, educators and experts agree. "There are challenges to getting into executive leadership without that MBA," says Darren W. Adamson, Ph.D., vice president/director of Colorado campuses for the University of Phoenix. "And, so many are, in fact, coming back for an education."

Coloradans are no exception. Last year thousands of businesspeople looked to the state's public and private colleges and universities for all kinds of executive educational needs. Those needs range from earning a traditional master's degree in business administration or a more hands-on executive MBA to taking non-degree executive leadership courses, often paid for by an individual's employer. The latter--like the Executive Development Program at the Leeds School of Business at the University of Colorado-Boulder--usually involves short seminars with highly concentrated content that provide executives practical managerial skills and help them solve specific problems. Most don't require academic prerequisites.

Interdenominational Colorado Christian University, through its School of Business & Leadership, even offers an MBA program that emphasizes integrating Christian ethical concepts and leadership principles with proven business practices. "We are in the business of developing Christian business leaders," says Dr. Larry Donnithorne, President of CCU.

The CCU program graduated its first class of MBA students in 2003, and generally enrolls about 75 students a year. Executives who are interested in a special focus in their program may choose to pursue CCU's MBA with a leadership emphasis.

Whatever type of executive education an individual chooses, delivery options abound. It's about providing busy business people with convenience and education. Classes are taught on-site, on-campus, online, or in a combination of venues. They're pre-packaged or tailor-made to individual or corporate needs. CCU's MBA program, for example, is available all online, in a traditional classroom setting, or in a hybrid setting that combines the contact and connection of the classroom with the flexibility of an online program.

Prices are competitive, and range from hundreds of dollars for individual seminars...