ATLANTA — This Veterans Day, Emory University is highlighting a graduate program designed to help military veterans transition into successful careers in business and nonprofit organizations.
The Master of Business for Veterans (MBV) program at Emory’s Goizueta Business School combines veterans’ military leadership and management experience with the business skills needed to pursue civilian careers.
Retired Army Maj. Gen. Matt Smith, who leads the program, says it is designed specifically for veterans who have spent years serving in the military.
“The program is specifically designed for these folks who have served many, many years, to harness their leadership and management skills, teach them the language of business, and then enable their transition back into the rest of our society that they’ve been serving for so many years,” Smith said.
The 11-month program helps veterans develop a civilian career plan while learning how to communicate their military experience to potential employers.
“We teach the veterans how to talk about their experiences and their strengths in ways that resonate with somebody who speaks English, not military,” Smith said.
Smith says the program has already seen positive career outcomes, with graduates securing positions in the business community. The program’s third group of students is scheduled to graduate in May.
Georgia has the fastest-growing veteran population in the country, and Smith says the Atlanta business community has been supportive of the program.
“The corporate environment, the citizenry of our great city and our great state are very supportive of this idea of enabling veterans,” Smith said.
Meanwhile, improving health care and access to benefits remains a priority for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
VA Secretary and former Georgia Congressman Doug Collins says the department has worked to reduce delays in processing veterans’ claims since he took office in January 2025.
“When we got here there were 260,000 backlog of claims over 125 days. We’ve been able to lower that by 75-80%, so there’s a lot of things that we’ve done to make it easier to access the benefits that the veterans earned,” Collins said.
According to Collins, billions of dollars are being directed toward VA facility upgrades, while 46 new care clinics have opened since the beginning of 2025. Nearly 300,000 people have also enrolled in VA health care this year.
Collins is also encouraging veterans who may be struggling after leaving military service to seek support.
“There’re too many of our veterans that feel isolated and lonely once they get out of the military, they lost that identity. I would just encourage each of them to know that they can come to our facility anytime to find someone to listen, someone who will be there, and that they don’t have to do it alone,” Collins said.
WSB Radio’s Ashley Simmons & Veronica Waters contributed to this story.