Wharton Executive Education's Chief Technology Officer Program Emeritus Institute of Management

Manage disruption and drive technological change

The rise of enterprise technology has accelerated, giving businesses a competitive edge as they embrace the latest developments in their quest to leverage organizational change. While focusing on scalable technology solutions, a chief technology officer (CTO) also must be cognizant of the company’s overriding business goals. As technology’s importance increases, so too does the CTO’s role. They must champion the benefits of emerging technologies to customers, vendors, and partners.

The Chief Technology Officer (CTO) Program has been designed by Wharton Executive Education’s prominent faculty and specialists in topics, including innovation management, information technology, strategy, digital transformation, and entrepreneurship. The core modules are organized into three phases: technology strategy; trends in technology; and the tools, techniques, and execution. The electives are designed to provide you with the opportunity to specialize in areas that aid your career growth.

• 77% of executives state that technology architecture is becoming critical to the overall success of their organization. (Source: Technology Vision 2021 — Accenture)
• 86% of executives agree their organization must train its people to think like technologists. (Source: Technology Vision 2021 — Accenture)

Customized design for your success

The CTO Program is designed with the needs of busy executives in mind. You will learn through online and interactive sessions and guest lectures from global industry leaders. The flexible nature of the program allows you to customize your learning journey for maximum career and business impact.

• Flexible. The self-paced modules provide the flexibility to accommodate learning around your busy work schedule. The program can be completed in 9 to 12 months as your schedule and program selections demand.
• Interactive. A community learning experience with a limited cohort size facilitates interactive discussions with peers, program coaches, faculty, industry speakers, and career advisors — allowing you to implement program learnings in real-world scenarios.
• Transformative. The multimodular learning journey experience, including the executive reflection, allows you to learn and grow as an executive while enabling you to develop business strategies to improve your personal and organizational goals.

“The robust curriculum from Wharton Executive Education, designed specifically for global technology leaders, will empower you to learn from one of the world’s leading institutions and equip you with the tools you need to drive organizational growth through technology.”



— Lori Rosenkopf
Academic Director for the CTO Program, Wharton Executive Education; Simon and Midge Palley Professor; Professor of Management; Vice Dean of Entrepreneurship, The Wharton School

Who is it for?

The CTO Program is ideal for:

• CTOs, aspiring CTOs, and senior executives with experience in technology management who aim to lead the technology strategy of a company
• VPs of engineering, software architects, or those responsible for evaluating and implementing new systems
• Senior technology executives tasked with developing strategy or identifying and implementing new technologies

Program eligibility criteria include:

• A minimum of 10 years of work experience
• International exposure (preferred)
• Fluency in written and spoken English

What you will learn

The multimodular program will enable you to:

• Explore strategy, adaptation, and renewal in organizations
• Investigate ideation and entry strategies for organizations and ecosystems
• Examine implications of technology trends: blockchain, artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), and talent clusters and migration
• Survey organizational privacy policies and environmental, social, and governance practices
• Relate risk and uncertainty in innovation
• Consider effective frameworks and metrics of an organization’s readiness to scale
• Investigate new product domains, acquisitions, and strategic partnerships

Program highlights

• Customize your learning journey with a choice of electives in topics aligned with your career goals.
• Learn at your own pace with a weekly commitment of three to five hours of sessions and activities.
• Glean insights from renowned faculty and industry experts who are at the cutting edge of innovation.
• Network with accomplished peers from around the globe and gain new approaches to leadership.
• Engage with your success coach to craft your learning journey through regular check-in sessions.
• Benefit from experiential sessions combining theory with real-world case studies and apply learnings.
• Meet multiple cohort peers, industry experts, and faculty during two days of on-campus networking.
• Following successful completion of the program and subsequent open-enrollment programs, subject to further qualification criteria and additional tuition, you have a pathway to apply for Wharton alumni status.

The CTO Program will enable forward-thinking executives like you to learn from a cutting-edge curriculum that reflects current industry trends. The program is organized into two components — 18 weeks of core modules followed by three online electives of six weeks each.

Core modules

• CTO Strategic Mindset: Responding to Change and Creating Change
• Frameworks and Building Blocks
• Generating and Evaluating Commercial Ideas
• Entry Strategies
• Strategic Adaptation and Renewal
• Ecosystems
• Machine Learning
• The AI Stack and Competitive Implications
• Blockchain and Cryptocurrencies
• Technology Policy
• Global Technology Trends
• Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Essentials for a New Business Era
• Scaling
• Metrics
• Leading Innovation
• Process View of Innovation and Innovation Tournaments
• The CTO Perspective: Balancing External and Internal Modes of Innovation
• Accessing New Technologies and Platforms through Acquisition

Note: Session topics are subject to change.

Online electives (online | six weeks each | choose any three)

• Scaling a Business: How to Build a USD 1 Billion+ Unicorn
• Technology Acceleration
• Business Analytics
• Corporate Governance
• Executive Presence and Influence
• Managing and Implementing Complex Projects
• Product Management and Strategy
• Leading the Technology Driven Firm

Note: Final list of electives is subject to change.

Networking and graduation event (two days | on campus)

Meet your cohort peers and faculty in person on the Wharton campus in Philadelphia during a two-day networking and graduation event. This event takes place once every four cohorts, providing an opportunity to network with your peers and professionals from other cohorts to create a lifelong community of global executives.