... Executive MBA programs have kept their popularity among high-ranking businesspeople in Russia, despite the economic crisis. ... The Chicago School of Business created the first EMBA program in 1943, and more than 300 programs now exist worldwide, according to the Executive MBA Council, an international business education association. ... Even when the EMBA program uses the same business cases as the MBA offering, Boltrukevich said, the education s different because the group of students is different...