Emerging Chief Product Officer Program
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Lead with strategy. Rise as a product leader. Drive business impact.
Product leadership is evolving into a strategic enterprise function. As organizations push for innovation, growth, and cross-functional alignment, the chief product officer (CPO) is expected to lead with vision, drive measurable outcomes, and influence decisions at the highest level.
In this landscape of rising expectations:
- What empowers product leaders to operate with enterprise clarity?
- How can strategy, innovation, and influence combine to scale product impact and steer business direction?
- What frameworks or mindsets enable alignment across teams while driving strategic outcomes?
The six- to eight-month Emerging Chief Product Officer Program from Wharton Executive Education equips experienced product professionals to meet these demands. Through applied frameworks, strategic tools, and a personalized leadership pathway, you gain the capabilities to align product with business priorities, deliver impact across functions, and accelerate your long-term career growth in product leadership.
70%
70%
2x
Source: PRODUCTS THAT COUNT and CAPGEMINI
What you will learn
Today’s product leaders are responsible for aligning product decisions with business strategy, influencing at the executive level, and delivering measurable return on investment (ROI) across the product life cycle. This program equips you with the strategic, organizational, and leadership skills required to scale your impact as a current or future product executive.
To meet the demands of product leadership, the program enables you to:
Build and execute product strategies that align portfolios with business goals, market needs, and global demands
Influence stakeholders to drive change and enable product-led decisions through trust, persuasion, and cross-functional alignment
Leverage evidence-based frameworks, lateral thinking, and options thinking to anticipate trends and navigate uncertainty in product contexts
Lead ethical decision making across teams and improve performance using the group performance model
Build senior alliances and shape purpose-driven strategies that integrate product, operations, and culture
Develop a personalized plan to strengthen product leadership and chart a clear path to the CPO role
Curriculum
The Emerging Chief Product Officer Program is designed to prepare you for the responsibilities of a future product leader. Through a strategic blend of leadership, product innovation, and organizational insight, you will build the skills and mindset required to drive cross-functional impact while cultivating a network that supports your continued growth toward the C-suite.
Live online sessions
The program features a variety of weekly live, interactive sessions designed to support applied learning and professional growth. These include faculty-led* discussions to deepen understanding of key concepts, success coach sessions focused on application and reflection, and peer networking sessions that foster collaboration across cohorts. In addition, executive development sessions, led by senior industry practitioners, provide exposure to real-world leadership insights and experiences. Together, these sessions create a dynamic and engaging learning environment that blends strategic insight with practical learning.
*The number of faculty-led sessions may vary.
Executive networking
Networking is a defining element of the Emerging Chief Product Officer Program. During the core modules, participants engage in cross-cohort peer networking through group sessions, faculty-led discussions, and collaborative exchanges that broaden perspectives across industries and functions. This engagement continues in the specialized modules through curated cross-cohort activities, while program-specific interactions foster deeper connections within each functional area. In addition to the recognition and networking event held on campus, these touchpoints create a powerful, diverse network of senior executives that endures well beyond the program.
Note: The networking opportunities includes cross-cohort participant interactions between the Emerging Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Program, Emerging Chief Operating Officer (COO) Program, Emerging Chief Product Officer (CPO) Program, and other programs to be announced in the future.
Learning journey
The six- to eight-month online journey blends core leadership development with specialized product-focused modules to prepare you for enterprise-level product leadership. It includes 14 weeks of foundational executive learning, followed by 10 weeks of advanced CPO-specific modules.
You also have the option to attend a two-day on-campus networking and recognition event* at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia that offers direct engagement with faculty and the opportunity to build lasting peer connections.
*Note: A registration fee of US$250 is applicable for the on-campus networking event.
**Note: The last two weeks of the core executive modules will be held after the 10 weeks of specialized CPO modules.
Strategic product leadership capstone project
The capstone project allows you to apply core learnings from across the program to a curated portfolio of product strategy deliverables. Based on a real or hypothetical focal product, this hands-on experience simulates the decision-making and strategic communication responsibilities of a modern CPO.
Final outputs include a product vision statement, competitive positioning, connection architecture, unit economics analysis, and product road map. Each output reflects your ability to translate strategic thinking into outcomes that align with business priorities and product leadership expectations.
Key frameworks and tools
Throughout the program, you engage with industry-recognized frameworks and models that sharpen product thinking and support executive decision making. These tools are integrated into assignments and discussions to build strategic fluency across product, team, and organizational dimensions.
Innovation tournaments: Apply a systematic approach to evaluate, filter, and prioritize early-stage product ideas
Three horizons model: Use a time-based framework to balance core business execution with long-term innovation planning
Connected strategy matrix: Map customer relationships to delivery and monetization models, with a focus on creating sustained engagement and value
Product road mapping: Build scalable, time-based product road maps that account for trade-offs, differentiation, and resource planning
Case studies
Strengthen your product leadership acumen through real-world case studies that translate strategy into practice. Each case is selected to deepen your understanding of value creation, innovation, and cross-functional alignment across the product life cycle.
Oura Ring
Explore how Oura Ring’s hardware–software hybrid addresses a key customer job to be done and examine how insights from customer behavior shape the end-to-end product strategy.
Xootr
Examine iterative product design through the lens of the Xootr, and learn how innovation and go-to-market strategy are refined through continuous testing and user feedback.
Candy bars
Learn to create an advantage thesis using a deceptively simple product. Through this case, focus on differentiation, competitive positioning, and the mechanics of building sustainable product advantage.
Disney and connected strategies
Analyze how Disney integrates connected experiences to create long-term customer value and apply the connected strategy framework to monetization through platform-based product ecosystems.
Smart value pricing in action
Apply a structured framework to assess your product’s economic value from the customer’s perspective. Through step-by-step evaluation of value drivers, cost comparisons, and perceived benefit, learn how to define and defend premium product pricing.
Program highlights
Immerse yourself in a comprehensive curriculum that gives you the momentum to transition to a C-level role.
Cultivate future-ready leadership skills through personalized assessments and evidence-based exercises.
Create a detailed strategy to evolve your leadership abilities that propel you toward your objective of becoming a CPO.
Experience real-time learning in live sessions that give depth to key leadership concepts.
Acquire rich, real-world insights into product and executive leadership through the expertise of renowned Wharton faculty.
Experience the power of modern product strategies and leadership practices as they come to life with real-world examples.
Expand your professional network through inter-cohort discussions, virtual meetups, and an on-campus event with a global community of peers.
Optimize your learning journey with the support of a success coach assigned to each cohort for the duration of the program.
Meet the faculty
CIBC Endowed Professor; Professor of Operations, Information and Decisions; Professor of Management; Advisor on Asia Strategy
Karl T. Ulrich’s research focuses on innovation, entrepreneurship, and product development. He is the co-author of Product Design and Development (fifth edition, McGraw Hill, ...
Andrew M. Heller Professor; Professor of Operations, Information and Decisions; Department Chair; Professor of Health Policy, Perelman School of Medicine; Co-Director, Mack Institute for Innovation Management
Christian Terwiesch’s research on operations and innovation management is widely published in journals, including Management Science and The New England Journal of Medicine. H...
David M. Knott Professor; Professor of Management; Co-Director, Mack Institute for Innovation Management; Vice Dean, MBA Program
Nicolaj Siggelkow’s research focuses on the strategic and organizational implications of how firms design, evolve, and align their activities and resources. His work explores ...
Ira A. Lipman Associate Professor of Marketing; Vice Dean, Wharton Executive Education
Patti Williams’ research explores how emotional responses shape consumer behavior and influence persuasion. Her current work examines how emotions impact decision making, how ...
Tsai Wan-Tsai Professor; Professor of Marketing; Founding Director, Penn Wharton China Center
Professor Z. John Zhang’s research focuses on pricing strategy, competitive dynamics, market entry, and channel and retail management. His recent work explores the nuanced imp...
Associate Professor of Marketing; Associate Professor of Economics
Pinar Yildirim’s research focuses on media, technology, and information economics, with particular emphasis on online platforms, AI, economic and social networks, media bias, ...
Alice Y. Hung President’s Distinguished Professor
Marissa King’s research focuses on deciphering the complexities of human interactions within the context of health care organizations, teams, and broader social structures. He...
Note: The faculty list is subject to change.
Guest speakers
Founder and General Partner, Refract Ventures; Former Chief Product Officer, Carbon Health
Analyst, General Atlantic
Director of Product Management, Meta; Former Chief Product Officer, Ramp Network
Faculty quotes
Who is this program for?
The Emerging Chief Product Officer Program will help experienced product professionals enhance their leadership and management skills, enabling them to leverage product-development expertise, strategic thinking, and data-driven decision making to elevate their impact and continue on their path to becoming a CPO.
The program is ideal for:
Vice presidents, directors, and heads of product seeking to develop the skills and mindset to lead enterprise-wide product strategy and accelerate their career growth
Product managers looking to leverage innovative frameworks and data-driven decision making to stay ahead of emerging trends and take on new leadership opportunities
Participants are required to have:
A minimum of 8 years of work experience
Fluency in written and spoken English
Note: This program is tailored for product professionals on the path to C-suite roles and is not intended for individuals currently serving as CPOs.
Leadership development action plan for aspiring product leaders
Through guided reflection and applied insights, you create a personalized action plan to support your growth as an enterprise product leader. This plan captures individual leadership styles and capabilities, mapping the key steps toward the CPO role.
You articulate a personal “why” statement and identify strategies to enhance decision making, strengthen team performance, expand informal networks, and leverage sources of influence. The action plan serves as a strategic foundation for long-term leadership development.
Certificate
Earn a Wharton Executive Education digital certificate upon successful completion of the program. Participants of this transformative program get exclusive access to a wide range of professionals, events, and networking opportunities.
Note: After successful completion of the program, your verified digital certificate will be emailed to you in the name you used when registering for the program. All certificate images are for illustrative purposes only and may be subject to change at the discretion of the Wharton School.
Please also note that participation in the Emerging Chief Product Officer Program (a) will not result in a degree from, alumni status, or earned credit at the University of Pennsylvania or the Wharton School (or, to Wharton’s knowledge, any other institution), (b) will not be recorded on a University of Pennsylvania or Wharton transcript, and (c) does not guarantee or suggest that a participant will be admitted to the University of Pennsylvania, the Wharton School, or any other university or institution.
FAQs
Connect with a program advisor for a 1:1 session
Our program advisors have helped senior executives across the world choose the right program for their career goals. Schedule a 1:1 to get a deeper understanding of why the Emerging Chief Product Officer Program is the right fit for you.
Email: learner.success@emeritus.org
Phone: +1 315 847 4592 (U.S.) / +44 782 202 6595 (U.K.) / +65 3138 6189 (S.G.)
Early applications are encouraged. Admissions are reviewed on a first-come, first-served basis.
Flexible payment options available.
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