Wharton Online and Wall Street Prep Announce Collaboration, Launch Joint Private Equity Certificate Program

Unique collaboration will focus on early and mid-career finance professionals

BOSTON, Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Wall Street Prep, the world's leading financial training company, and Wharton Online announced today a collaboration to create finance-specific certificate programs for early- to midcareer professionals, beginning with the launch of the Private Equity Certificate Program. 

"Our finance-specific certificate programs offer a flexible learning pathway for early and mid-career professionals," said David Musto, Faculty Director of the Stevens Center for Innovation in Finance at the Wharton School. "Through these programs, learners have the opportunity to build their knowledge, skills, and resume alongside existing careers."

The Certificate Program combines the practical skill-building approach Wall Street Prep uses inside four of the top five largest private equity firms with Wharton's commitment to making the highest quality education available worldwide.

"As the $4.7 trillion private equity industry has grown, the bar for sophisticated investment analysis, due diligence, deal structure, and portfolio management has steadily gone up," said Burcu Esmer, Ph.D., Academic Director at Wharton-AltFinance Institute. "We see a growing demand for qualified talent directly and indirectly involved in the investment process. Our program caters to learning and development goals at investment firms and institutions of all sizes, including related support or professional services teams." 

Currently enrolling for the May 2023 cohort, the Private Equity Certificate Program is an 8-week, intensive, online course that covers the foundational concepts and practical techniques deployed in investment analysis and deal execution. Course content draws from case studies and investment approaches shared directly by prestigious faculty and the industry's leading practitioners.

Each cohort learns from self-paced video modules with live instruction from senior Wharton and Wall Street Prep faculty during weekly office hours. Additionally, the guest speaker series features senior private equity executives sharing current market trends and best practices. Upon completion of the program, learners receive a shareable digital certificate from Wharton Online and Wall Street Prep.

The program helps to fill a growing need for skill building. According to McKinsey, 89 percent of financial services organizations are currently or expecting to experience skill gaps within the next five years.

"We're excited to address industry skill gaps by expanding global access to our private equity training. Until now, we've only offered that elite training inside the top mega and middle-market PE funds," said Scott Roman, Program Director of Wall Street Prep. "Combined with Wharton's thought leadership and seasoned faculty, the program will provide professionals with desk-ready skills to help them make an immediate impact in the market."

The Private Equity Certificate Program is the first in a series of specialized, career-specific online finance certificate programs co-designed and taught by Wharton and Wall Street Prep.

"The value of the career-focused certificates is in taking employee training and workforce skills to the next level, all without requiring a career break," said Matan Feldman, Founder and CEO of Wall Street Prep. "Our courses give businesses and individual learners the flexibility to customize the learning journey and acquire skill sets aligned with their goals. By joining forces with Wharton, we look forward to creating tangible outcomes and developing the next generation of elite finance leaders."

For more information on the certificate collaboration between Wall Street Prep and Wharton Online and to enroll in the Private Equity Certificate Program, visit our website.

About Wall Street Prep

Established in 2004 by investment bankers, Wall Street Prep is the leading provider of corporate training to the world's most recognized private equity firms, investment banks, and financial institutions. Trusted by thousands of students and finance professionals, the instructor-led and online training programs help students bridge the gap between academia and practical, real-world skills needed to succeed on the job. Programs currently serve 130+ blue-chip corporates, 125+ universities, and 12,000+ individual learners. Since its founding, Wall Street Prep has helped over 300,000 finance professionals build critical job skills.

About Wharton Online

Wharton Online, the Wharton School's digital learning platform, makes high-quality business education available to learners anytime and anywhere. From certificate programs that issue Continuing Education Units to specializations across a variety of business and management topics, Wharton Online's offerings equip learners to advance their careers. And with 100K certificate-earning learners and more than one million total learners who have accessed courses, Wharton Online boasts an impressive network of business leaders around the globe.

About the Wharton School

Founded in 1881 as the first collegiate business school, the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania is recognized globally for intellectual leadership and ongoing innovation across every major discipline of business education. With a broad global community and one of the most published business school faculties, Wharton creates economic and social value around the world. Wharton has 5,000 undergraduate, MBA, executive MBA, and doctoral students; more than 13,000 participants in executive education programs annually; and a powerful alumni network of 104,000 graduates. With more than 50 online courses to choose from, more than 3 million learners worldwide have accessed Wharton Online programs taught by Wharton's world-class faculty.

SOURCE Wall Street Prep