Kevin Smith knew if he didn’t go to business school soon he might never go. So Smith, a commercial leadership finance manager with The Coca-Cola Company, enrolled in the Executive MBA program at the Scheller College of Business.

While there, Smith put in extra hours and support to help him and other students succeed. Classmates nominated him for the college’s Executive Leadership Award.

These achievements helped Smith earn yet another honor. This week he was named one of 30 exceptional Executive MBA graduates by Poets & Quants, a blog and news site about graduate education.

The publication compiled the list based on students’ academic, extracurricular, professional and personal achievements.

Learn more about Smith and other honorees here.