Written by Sachin Waikal
As the application of artificial intelligence accelerates across industries, the Kellogg School of Management’s open executive education program is equipping a rapidly growing number of leaders with the strategies and competencies needed to derive real business value from AI.
Unprecedented demand for AI leadership
The numbers tell a compelling story. Last year alone, more than 2,500 business leaders enrolled in Kellogg’s flagship online AI Strategy for Business Transformation online program, making it the largest open enrollment program in Kellogg Executive Education’s recent history. This surge in demand reflects something more than curiosity. Executives and senior leaders recognize that AI fluency is no longer optional.
At the heart of Kellogg’s comprehensive and integrated approach to AI is Mohan Sawhney, McCormick Foundation Technical Chair and Clinical Professor of Marketing. Sawhney, an authority on AI for business growth and an early pioneer of online executive learning, sums up his mission succinctly: “My goal in providing AI programs to business leaders is not to teach them the ‘what’ of AI, but to teach them the ‘so what’ and the ‘now what’.”
From awareness to change
Sawhney’s journey in AI executive education began in 2019 when he partnered with the following companies to develop AI applications for growth. Varun Poddar ’13 MBA. Five years and several generations of technology later, he realized that things had fundamentally changed. As a result, the curriculum was reimagined and an AI strategy for business transformation was born. This is an 8-week online program that combines asynchronous learning with live interactive sessions, industry case studies, and capstone projects. Participants, including senior technology leaders, department heads, and functional leaders, complete the program over six annual cohorts.
“I tell my students, ‘I’m not teaching technology. I’m teaching language,'” Sawhney explains. “We talk about the capabilities of AI, but the key is translating it into business value. What are the use cases? How do you map AI across the enterprise value chain?”
As generative AI rapidly emerged, Sawhney acted quickly. He partnered with Jim Lesinski, clinical professor of marketing, and Birju Shah, clinical assistant professor of marketing, to build a live virtual program focused on generative AI. The program debuted in July 2023, just a few months after the launch of ChatGPT. However, the field was evolving faster than any curriculum could keep up with. “Then we had to pivot, because the problem was no longer about generative AI, but about deriving real business value from AI at scale,” Sawhney says.
Facing challenges of scale
Based on that insight, Sawhney and Shah worked to develop AI at Scale, a new open enrollment program that debuted in February 2025. Delivered in a live virtual format that blends the flexibility of remote learning with real-time peer engagement and networking, this program tackles the challenges facing most organizations head-on.
“Fundamentally the challenge is that AI is not delivering the goods,” Sawhney said. “Companies have billions of dollars in AI investments and budgets, but are stuck running pilots and proofs of concept. With a few exceptions like Amazon, they are unable to scale to a level that has meaningful impact.”
AI leadership programs of all kinds
Kellogg’s commitment to preparing leaders for an AI-driven world goes far beyond a single choice. The school now offers a complete portfolio of open-enrollment AI programs, each targeting distinct leadership needs.
- An AI strategy for business transformation provides executives with a comprehensive framework to identify, prioritize, and implement AI use cases across the enterprise value chain.
- AI at Scale helps leaders move beyond pilots and proofs of concept to build the organizational capabilities, governance structures, and operating models needed to realize the full potential of AI.
- An AI-driven product strategy enables product leaders to leverage AI throughout the product lifecycle, from discovery and design to launch and iteration.
- AI Marketing Leadership (released Summer 2026) provides CMOs and senior marketing leaders with an operational architecture for marketing enabled by generative and agent AI.
- Kellogg Professors Eric Andersson and Florian Zettelmeyer’s AI instruction imparts practical knowledge of data science to help leaders apply AI and analytics to large-scale strategic challenges.
- Mastering Sales: The Digital and AI Toolkit for Success, in collaboration with clinical professor of marketing Craig Wortman, is the latest evolution of Kellogg Executive Education’s top-enrolled online program (relaunching in February 2026) with updated content and a set of proven, practical AI applications for sales leaders.
Kellogg Executive Education will continue to expand its AI-related services in 2026 and beyond.
From programs to partnerships
“Executives can think of these AI programs as an entry point, a way to set the stage and build critical skill sets,” Sawhney says. “Beyond these options is Kellogg’s Custom Program, where we bring in your team and ask, ‘How do we design something bespoke?’ It’s BYOBP. Bring your business problems to us, and we’ll dig deeper to solve your most pressing problems in context.”
“We were very focused on striking a balance between highlighting opportunities such as increased productivity, new hybrid roles, and AI-powered collaboration, while recognizing challenges such as equity, responsible adoption, and continuous upskilling,” said Shashi Kumar Singh, Enterprise Architect at AWS. “The AI Strategy for Business Transformation provides clarity on what the future of AI-powered work looks like and how we can prepare for it.”
