In business, experience matters. Sharing experiences can yield insights that are hard to acquire otherwise. Fortunately, MBA students in the Donahue Graduate School of Business can learn from some of the most successful business leaders anywhere through a distinctive course, Executive Insights into Contemporary Global Issues.

The course brings a senior leader into the classroom every week for a presentation and conversation. Last fall, Executive-in-Residence Steven Greenberg hosted 15 CEOs, presidents, directors and other high-profile leaders from some of the nation’s most notable companies, nonprofits and NGOs.

Two prominent Duquesne business alumni—Anthony (Tony) Carfang, B’73, and Thomas A. Tribone, MBA’81, JD’85—were in that lineup of seasoned executives. As cofounder, partner and director of Treasury Strategies, a global management services company for banking and securities, Carfang helps organizations improve their position in the marketplace. He offered lessons to Executive Insights students from his international business experiences and how they contributed to his firm’s success.

“A lesson I learned from Tony Carfang is how success is contagious,” reflects MBA student Elizabeth Abbott. “Believing in yourself or a project that you are working towards has a better chance at survival when it is supported by positive reinforcement.”

Tribone is founder and CEO of GGIC, Ltd., a firm dedicated to developing, owning and operating energy and infrastructure projects. One of the first to recognize opportunities emerging from the global deregulation and privatization of the energy sector, Tribone executed many ground-breaking transactions in the United States and emerging markets such as Mexico, Brazil, India and China.

“Tom Tribone advised us to always be an informed opportunist,” says MBA student Tim LaVigne. “Be proactive and look for new and improved ways to do things throughout your career and in life.”