Hide CMD window after using START to run a network application

I have an application that is run over a network. I need to be able to run this application from a batch file, and had ended up using this:

pushd \\server\folder
start /wait program.exe

Aside from the message saying…

\\server\folder
CMD.EXE was started with the above path as the current directory. 
UNC paths are not supported. Defaulting to Windows directory.

…it works fine, but the CMD window lingers. I know that /wait is the cause, but it appears that I can only get the program to run successfully if I use /wait. If I remove /wait, then I get bizarre errors from the program about not being able to start successfully.

What else might there be that I can try?