Hi, I am a nurse manager who is looking to start on my MBA program. My long term goal is to become a COO. What programs or schools would you suggest. I am located in Massachusetts.

I searched in LinkedIn for MBAs who work in hospitals/healthcare within a 50 mile radius of Worcester, MA. The schools they are most likely to be alumni are, in declining order:
Boston University
Northeastern University
Suffolk University
Babson College
Northeastern
Harvard Business School
Boston College
UMass Boston
UMass Amherst
Simmons College

When I look for MBAs with the word 'operations' in their job titles, then the top four schools on that list are the outstanding ones. So, assuming that you want to stay in MA I think those are the places to focus on.

These are all good programs. Within these, there are some good specialized ones that might be attractive:

Boston University's got a good "Health Sector" MBA program.
Northeastern has an online MBA in health care.
And Suffolk has a range of options, including electives and a specialized MBA in healthcare.

Also, there's Harvard of course - they have a healthcare initiative, which has added some healthcare aspects, like specialized case studies, to the general MBA curriculum.

By coincidence I just has this note from HKS:

"I wanted to draw your attention to some content we have posted to our Admissions Blog recently that relates to the MC-MPA program.

As you may already know, the MC-MPA program lasts one year and starts in the summer. The class of 2013 recently arrived on campus and Amy Davies, the Director of MC-MPA program, composed an Admissions Blog entry highlighting some information about the class. In the past few months we have also featured a number of interviews with alumni of the MC-MPA program:
Peter C.R. Clunie - Class of 2007
Morra Aarons Mele - Class of 2008
Deanne A. Titus - Class of 2010
Desiree Flores - Class of 2011

We also recently opened registration for our fall Open House events. If your schedule allows, we would enjoy the opportunity to have you on campus.

Admissions representatives will also be engaging in travel this fall and we will update the Admissions Blog and our recruitment calender as we confirm our schedule. To stay up-to-date regarding matters pertaining to admissions and financial aid, I highly recommend subscribing to the Admissions Blog if you have not already done so. All you need to do to subscribe is enter your email address in the "Subscribe" box in the right-hand menu.

http://hksadmissionblog.tumblr.com/

Another project we are engaged in right now is finalizing the admissions application and we will send out a message when the application goes live.

Thank you again for your interest in Harvard Kennedy School and my staff and I look forward to assisting you.

Sincerely,

Matt Clemons
Director of Admissions
Harvard Kennedy School"

Interesting - I hadn't heard about that MC-MPA program. Looks like it's geared for those who want to end up in the public sector or NGOs - but a really interesting mix of curriculum, with a focus on both quantitative aspects and policy.

Exactly! Heavy quant and analytical element, all the benefits of Harvard - including cross-registration for classes in MIT and Harvard schools, a high quality cohort (much more interesting than at HBS) and great value.