AI for Business Strategy
Build the judgment to lead AI strategy
- Learn from a curriculum designed and delivered by UVA Darden faculty
- Distinguish real AI opportunity from trends using strategic frameworks
- Lead AI adoption while navigating governance, risk, and decision rights
- Develop a 90-Day AI Strategy Brief for one organizational AI initiative
Talk to an advisor :
+1-844-532-7688
Talk to an advisor :
+1-844-532-7688- Admission closesOctober 2, 2026
- Program Duration10 weeks
- Learning FormatLive, Online, Interactive
Key Features
UVA Darden Advantage
Certificate and digital badge from UVA Darden Executive Education & Lifelong Learning
Faculty of the Darden School of Business, ranked #1 by The Princeton Review
Strategy Before Technology
Distinguish real AI opportunity from technology trends using a strategic framework
Focus investment where it matters, and build the case to earn executive buy-in
Growth, Not Just Efficiency
Build a 90-Day AI Strategy Brief connecting business value, governance, and adoption
Assess how AI can create value across strategy, operations, growth, and risk
Need to know more?
Need to know more?
Talk to an Advisor
Toll Free : +1-844-532-7688
Corporate Training
Enroll your employees into this program, NOW.
Talk to an Advisor
Toll Free : +1-844-532-7688
Career Opportunities
- AI Strategy Manager
- AI Strategy Manager
- Head of AI Strategy
AI Strategy Manager
Defines where AI investments should be made, builds business cases, prioritizes initiatives, and establishes metrics to measure impact. Aligns AI opportunities with business goals, growth priorities, and organizational capabilities.
Source: Axial Search, Glassdoor
Essential Skills You Will Develop
- AI Business Model Design
- AI Governance Design
- AI Investment Prioritization
- AI Opportunity Identification
- Business Case Development
- Customer Lifetime Value Analysis
- Deployment and Scaling Strategy
- Human AI Collaboration
- ROI Evaluation
- Generative AI Fluency
- Workforce Transformation
- Responsible and Ethical AI
- AI Readiness and Risk Assessment
- AI Portfolio Prioritization
- AI Strategy for Executives
Earn Professional Certifications
Upon successful completion of the program, you will earn a digital, non-credit certificate and digital badge from UVA Darden Executive Education & Lifelong Learning.
- Self-paced content and three 90-minute live online sessions
- Cohort-based learning, peer review, and faculty interaction
- Ranked #1 U.S. Public MBA program, US News & World Report, 2025
- 33 Brandon Hall Awards Since 2021
Program Curriculum
The program moves from strategic perspective and technical fluency to growth, investment, workforce transformation, and responsible AI leadership. Each module contributes to the development of a 90-Day AI Strategy Brief that will be reviewed and discussed between peers and Darden faculty.
- Program Induction - AI for Business StrategyKick off your learning journey with a comprehensive overview of the program, its objectives, learning outcomes.
- Academic Orientation - AI for Business StrategyGet introduced to the program structure, learning journey, academic expectations, and key resources to help you make the most of your learning experience.
- AI Strategy for ExecutivesStep into the room where AI decisions get made. You'll learn to spot where AI creates real value, tell genuine opportunity from passing hype, and align every AI bet with the goals that move your business forward.
- Technical Fluency for AI Strategy Part 1Lead AI conversations with confidence, no engineering degree required. You'll gain a working command of what modern AI can do, and the judgment to match the right approach to the right business challenge.
- Technical Fluency for AI Strategy Part 2Build the foundation that turns AI ambition into results. You'll learn to assess what your organization needs to deploy and manage AI, surface the risks before they scale, and judge when you're truly ready to go enterprise-wide.
- AI-Enabled Business Models, Products, and Growth StrategyLearn how AI, personalization, and data-driven strategies can unlock new growth opportunities and transform products, services, and customer experiences. Apply strategic frameworks to identify sources of value, build competitive advantage, evaluate AI-enabled business models, and guide disciplined experimentation.
- The Psychology of AI: Overcoming the Barriers of TrustUnderstand why people hesitate to trust AI through seven realistic scenarios and science-based barriers, from black-box concerns and lack of personalization to autonomy and consequential decisions. Learn practical, research-backed ways to build trust and apply these insights to your own AI projects.
- Live Online Session 1 - AI Opportunity and Architecture LabExplore high-value AI opportunities and translate them into practical solution concepts, while understanding the architecture required to bring them to life.
- AI Portfolio, ROI, Deployment, and ScalingInvest in AI like a leader who can prove the return. You'll learn to evaluate and prioritize AI initiatives, build business cases that win backing, and scale the solutions that work across your organization.
- From Efficiency to FlourishingLead people and AI to do their best work together. You'll learn to use AI as an augmentation tool rather than a replacement, navigate its impact on your teams, and protect the judgment, accountability, and trust that define great leadership.
- Live Online Session 2 - Workforce Transformation and Human-AI OrganizationsExamine how AI is reshaping roles, workflows, and organizational structures, and explore strategies for effective human-AI collaboration.
- Governance, Risk, Responsible AI, and Executive Decision RightsBecome the leader who makes AI safe to scale. You'll learn to establish governance structures, manage organizational risk, and define the executive decision rights that let innovation move fast and stay accountable.
- Live Online Session 3 - AI Investment Committee and 90-Day Roadmap ReviewEvaluate AI initiatives through a strategic and investment lens, and translate priorities into an actionable 90-day implementation roadmap.
- Program ConclusionConsolidate key takeaways and reflect on how to apply the concepts and strategies covered throughout the program.
Program Advisor
Bidhan L. Parmar
Associate Dean for Faculty DevelopmentA renowned expert in decision-making, ethics, and stakeholder management, helping leaders navigate ambiguity and create lasting value.
Michael Albert
Associate Professor of Business AdministrationExpert in data analytics, machine learning, and market design, with research at the intersection of AI, economics, and business decision-making.
Roshni Raveendhran
Assistant Professor of Business AdministrationA leading researcher exploring how AI and emerging technologies are reshaping work, organizations, and society.
Luca Cian
Killgallon Ohio Art Professor of Business AdministrationA distinguished marketing scholar and AI expert whose research explores consumer psychology, visual persuasion, and how people respond to AI.
Rajkumar Venkatesan
Ronald Trzcinski Professor of Business AdministrationAward-winning scholar in marketing strategy and analytics, helping global organizations harness data and AI for business growth.
Still have questions?
Our dedicated team is prepared to answer them.
Total Program Fee
Pay in Installments
You can pay monthly installments using our payment partners with low APR and no hidden fees.
Program Cohorts
- Limited seats Left
UVA Darden AI for Business Strategy Nov 2026
13 Nov, 2026 - 13 Feb, 2027
WeekdaySuMTuWTh
18:30 - 20:30 CST
Induction on 12 Nov, 2026
Who Is This Program For?
- Business leaders
- Strategy leaders
- Functional heads
- Transformation leads
- Consultants & Advisors
Eligibility Criteria
- 8+ years of leadership & business transformation experience
- Accountable for decisions that shape direction
- No prior AI or coding experience is required
How To Apply
- 1Submit Application
Apply for the program by completing a simple online application form.
- 2Reserve Your Seat
Secure your seat by completing the program fee payment
- 3Start Learning
Begin your learning journey on the designated cohort start date
Start Application
Demand For Program
AI has moved from a technology initiative to a business strategy decision. Leaders are now accountable for where AI is applied, what it costs, how it is governed, and whether it produces value the organization can measure. That accountability usually sits with people who are not the ones building the models.
The program helps leaders make informed AI decisions without needing to build AI systems or write code. It builds the technical fluency to distinguish generative from predictive AI, understand when retrieval makes more sense than fine-tuning, and challenge the assumptions behind an AI proposal. From there, the focus shifts to the decisions that matter: which initiatives merit funding, how to measure return on AI, what changes when a pilot moves into production, and who owns the decision when an AI system gets something wrong. You finish with a 90-Day AI Strategy Brief for one organizational workflow, developed module by module and refined through peer feedback.
Demand For Program
Program FAQs
This program consists of 10 weeks of self-paced learning, peer review, and three 90-minute live online application sessions.
About UVA Darden and Simplilearn Partnership
Darden’s Executive Education & Lifelong Learning programs provided by the University of Virginia Darden School Foundation set the stage for a lifetime of career advancement and impact.
Darden’s top-ranked faculty, renowned for teaching excellence, inspires and shapes modern business leadership worldwide through research, thought leadership and business publishing. Darden has Grounds in Charlottesville, Virginia, and the Washington, D.C., area and a global community that includes 19,500 alumni in 90 countries. Darden was established in 1955 at the University of Virginia, a top public university founded by Thomas Jefferson in 1819 in Charlottesville, Virginia.
In partnership with Simplilearn, this initiative empowers professionals with industry-relevant knowledge and practical learning experiences designed to drive career growth and business impact.