In his 20s, Michael Roberto was living a Master of Business Administration (MBA) program graduate’s dream. He had turned an internship at Staples, then an up-and-coming retailer, into a professional role complete with stock options and advancement opportunities.
“I was going to help grow the company,” Roberto says of his career plans. “Then, when I was like 40, I was going to step away from the private sector and teach.”
It was a solid plan, but there was one major problem: Roberto got a taste of teaching as a graduate student—and loved it. Still, despite being encouraged by a faculty mentor to pursue becoming a professor, Roberto had a plan and he was going to stick to it.
Then his fiancee at the time, now his wife, chimed in.
“My wife, Kristin, said, ‘You can’t stop talking about how much you love teaching. Just go do it now,’” he says. Eventually, Roberto relented and headed back to Harvard Business School to earn his doctorate.
Thirty years and three children later, Roberto doesn’t regret his decision. The creative, impactful ways he is able to help rising business leaders prepare for the next step of their careers in his work at Bryant University is proof that his passion for business education has only grown.
Finding His Home at Bryant University
Roberto spent the first six years of his teaching career at his alma mater. But as much as he loved the experience, he knew Harvard Business School wouldn’t be his long-term home.
“My brother is a Bryant alum, and he said there were some really exciting things going on there,” Roberto says. “I came and met with the faculty and leaders and just got a sense that I could actually make a big impact here. This is not a bureaucratic place. It’s nimble.”
Since that time almost 20 years ago, Roberto has played a central role in Bryant University’s MBA programs. As Bryant’s Trustee Professor of Management, he primarily teaches classes on strategy, decision-making, and leadership in Bryant’s Two-Year MBA program and Online MBA program.
“I teach a lot by the case method,” Roberto says, noting that he continuously writes case studies to satisfy his own curiosity and to keep his curriculum fresh and engaging.
A Library of Intriguing Case Studies
While Roberto’s case studies are integral to his own curriculum, his work also has wide reach and appeal. His analyses of companies such as Trader Joe’s, Tractor Supply, and the Savannah Bananas are some of Harvard Business Publishing’s best-selling case studies.
One of Roberto’s most popular studies wasn’t on a business at all, but on a 1996 Mount Everest tragedy. In May of that year, eight mountaineers lost their lives descending the world-famous summit.
“I wrote the article from a leadership and team dynamics lens on what went wrong,” Roberto says of his 2002 piece in the California Management Review. “The article resonated, so I decided I should create a teaching case study. I did that next, and that was very popular and became a bestseller.”
The Creation of a Groundbreaking Simulation
Years later, that work opened another door. In 2008, he and his frequent collaborator Amy Edmondson, PhD, of Harvard Business School published a team dynamics-focused leadership simulation that puts participants on the face of Mount Everest.
“We give each person a role on these five-person teams trying to climb the mountain,” Roberto says. “Then we give them conflicting goals, and we disperse the data they need to solve tough problems as they’re climbing.”
Seventeen years later, the Mount Everest simulation is in its third edition, has been translated into 12 languages, and is still one of the most popular simulation training tools on the market. Given how quickly the business landscape changes, Roberto is proud of, and pleasantly surprised by, the simulation’s staying power.
Promoting Students’ Success Through Networking and Online Learning
Roberto feels fortunate to have had so many mentors and collaborators throughout his career. Helping Bryant’s MBA students make those connections as well is an important part of his approach.
“I have 19 years’ worth of former students,” he says. “So one of the things I try to do in every MBA class is bring back former students so current students can network with them. It’s a real value add, and a lot of my colleagues try to do the same thing.”
Additionally, Roberto leverages his connections to bring interesting speakers with unique perspectives to campus. In 2025, he brought in astronaut Charles J. Camarda to a leadership seminar to speak about his experiences changing NASA policy following the 2003 disaster when the space shuttle Columbia broke apart as it reentered Earth’s atmosphere.
Making Online Education Personal
As evidenced by his close connections with his colleagues and students, one of Roberto’s favorite things about Bryant’s MBA programming is its personal touch. So when Bryant was considering creating an online MBA program, Roberto and some of his colleagues were concerned that the online classes wouldn’t retain that quality.
“My hesitancy was that I loved my part-time MBA students with whom I spent my Monday evenings. I got to know them so well. I was a skeptic,” he says. “I must admit I was wrong. I found the [online] students were incredibly conscientious and diligent. They were signing up for the Online MBA because they needed the flexibility in their lives.”
Roberto gained confidence that the program would provide robust support to students as he and Bryant’s technology team brought his MBA-level strategy course online. The discussion boards, hands-on analysis activities, high-quality instructional videos, and opportunities to meet with students via video chat helped him realize the Online MBA experience would be a lot more personal than he initially thought.
“With the right tools, we created a really high-quality program,” he says. “We had an amazing team.”
Roberto’s online students aren’t the only ones getting the unique chance to build their networks virtually. He loves getting the opportunity to meet an even wider range of business students through the program, many of whom are working professionals with their own insights to share.
Find an MBA Program That Fits Your Needs and Goals
Throughout his career, Michael Roberto has leveraged his creative approach to business to help countless professionals advance in their careers. He says none of that would have been possible without the ongoing support of his colleagues at Bryant University.
“I'm given the freedom and the time to do some of those things here,” he says of the webinars, case studies, and other projects on which he works. Bryant University strives to extend that flexibility to the rising leaders in the school’s MBA programs as well.
To help students meet their goals, Bryant University offers One-Year MBA, Two-Year MBA, and Online MBA programs. Options vary by program, but students can specialize in international business, fintech, or business analytics, among other options. Professionals looking to build their skills quickly can earn a Mini-MBA Graduate Certificate in as little as six months.
To find out more about the curriculum and hands-on learning opportunities at Bryant, request more information today.