Poets&Quants™ Names Best & Brightest MBAs of 2026

Annual feature celebrates graduating business students for campus impact and professional achievement

SAN FRANCISCO, May 5, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Poets&Quants, the leading news source for graduate business education, has released its 12th annual Best & Brightest MBAs feature, which honors 100 of the most accomplished full-time MBAs from the Class of 2026.

"I call them the most indispensable members of their classes," says Jeff Schmitt, Poets&Quants senior editor. "They are the driving forces, the ones who always go above-and-beyond and find a way. When I think of the Best & Brightest, two words come to mind: elevate and embody. Often, their peers are asking themselves, "How can they possibly maintain that workload and that pace?""

This year's graduates include Michael Autery from MIT's Sloan School. A U.S. Navy veteran, Autery devised his Autonomous Rescue Swimmer (ARS) solution in an entrepreneurship. Several months later, he became the first founder to win 1st Prize in both the MIT $100K Pitch

Autery wasn't alone in achieving major milestones in business school. Daina Mandewo, a student at the Saïd Business School, was tapped to debate at the Oxford Union, where her counterparts were a former Commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the current Chief Medical Officer of Pfizer. At the end, the audience selected her as the winner. Federico E. Alatorre had to leave IESE Business School for a few days to pitch his startup on Shark Tank Mexico.

To compile this year's Best & Brightest MBAs, Poets&Quants reached out to 89 top graduate business schools worldwide to nominate their best candidates for the honor. Responses were judged by P&Q editorial according to four criteria: extracurricular involvement, academic and professional achievements, insightful responses, and faculty recommendations. Ultimately, P&Q received 216 nominations, including submissions from elite institutions ranging from the Indian School of Business to INSEAD to the Wharton School. Overall, the Best & Brightest maintained a 50-50 between men and women, with 55 graduates hailing from outside the United States. As a whole, McKinsey & Company has hired 5 members of the class, followed by Amazon and the Boston Consulting Group recruiting 4 members each.

The "Best & Brightest MBAs" is the second of a four-part series recognizing the world's top business students. In April, Poets&Quants For Undergrads unveiled its 100 Best & Brightest Undergraduate Business Majors of 2026.

To read about the "100 Best & Brightest MBAs: Class of 2026", CLICK HERE.

Poets&Quants, a part of Times Higher Education, is the leading resource for complete coverage of graduate business education. We feature multiple tools and authoritative content, including business school rankings, news and in-depth features, videos, podcasts, two searchable directories, and events, empowering our community with information needed to make decisions along their journey from pre- to post-MBA.

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SOURCE Poets&Quants