So in 1996, he, along with 38 other Western New York executives with similar goals, enrolled in the Executive MBA (EMBA) program in the School of Management-an intensive, 22-month program designed for executives with the potential to assume top managerial positions within their organizations.

Today, Elsinghorst is close to completing his MBA degree, and his employer, Niagara Frontier Consulting Services, has developed new strategies for marketing its services to the residential-home market, in addition to its traditional industrial and municipal clientele. "As CFO, I have expertise in a certain set of skills, but I needed a larger set of skills to be of greater value to my company," Elsinghorst says. "The Executive MBA program helped me become far more analytical and understand issues outside of my comfort zone. "

Like Elsinghorst, more executives today are feeling the need to upgrade or develop new skills so that they can have a greater impact on the success of their organizations and move up the corporate ladder.

And with the economy in good health, more companies are willing to foot the bill for executive training programs because they now feel compelled to restock with top talent after years of downsizing. It's more cost-efficient to groom existing executives than to hire new talent.

In a recent Business Week magazine survey of corporate human-resource executives, 42 percent said they were sending more people to business-school executive programs than five years ago. Sixty-two percent cited a new emphasis on management development as a main reason.

In Western New York, this trend has resulted in more than 100 executives enrolling in the UB program since it was established in 1994. Praxair, Allied Signal, American Brass, Rich Products, Marine Midland, Fisher-Price and M&T Bank are just some of the area firms that have enrolled their best managers in the program at a tuition cost of $30,000 per student, which includes books, tutoring and meals.

But it's not just executives from big-name companies that have participated; execs from smaller organizations like Rosina Food Products, Tzetzo Bros., Mills Welding Supply, Fiberite, Bennett Electrical Contractors and the United Way of Buffalo & Erie County have enrolled.

"The average student has 13 years of management experience and earns an annual salary of between $50,000 and $150,000," says Courtney Walsh, EMBA executive director.

The curriculum is designed to go beyond theory and into strategic business applications and complex management issues that confront executives and employers. Faculty with the highest level of real-world management expertise teach the courses. "Our students expect to be challenged and they expect to add substantial value to their employers as a result of their coursework," says EMBA Faculty Director Frank Krzystofiak, an associate professor of organization and human resources.

For marketing manager Mary Jean Bush, the commitment of her employer, Fisher-Price, to the program was evident right from the start. Fisher-Price even has paid for flights from out-of-town meetings so that Bush would not miss classes, held once a week on alternating Fridays and Saturdays. "The program has mirrored very closely some important issues within my workplace," says Bush. "When Fisher-Price was setting its strategic plan for the year 2000, I was able to lead strategy-decision seminars because of my experience in the managerial-strategy course."

As the only Executive MBA program in Western New York, and one of just 110 accredited programs nationwide, the EMBA program is developing plans to market itself more aggressively to a greater number of Western New York firms and expand into the Rochester market. Walsh says, "The challenge of the best EMBA programs is to keep pace with changes in the business world and offer a curriculum that arms executives with the tools to handle not only the issues that confront them today, but also those that will confront them 10 years from now."