Georgetown Business Spring/Summer 2004
description
Transcript of Georgetown Business Spring/Summer 2004
McDonoughBusiness
Spring/Summer 2004
Competitive EdgeCase Competitions Enhance Skills
LeadershipReena AggarwalInterim Dean
J. Keith OrdDean of Faculty
David L. GarrisonAssociate Dean and Director Undergraduate Programs
Marilyn A. Morgan Associate Dean and Director MBA Program
Lisa A. Kaminski Assistant Dean and Director International Executive MBA and Executive Education
Virginia N. Flavin Chief of Staff
Michael T. Boyd Director of Development
Linn Donaldson (IEMBA’98) Chief Financial Officer
John H. Carpenter Chief Technology Officer
Robert P. Johnson Director of MBA and IEMBA Alumni Programs and Volunteer Board Relations
Board of Advisors
chairJohn J. (Hap) Fauth, IV (B’67)President & CEO, The Churchill Companies
vice chairRobert H. Steers, (B’75)Chairman, Cohen & Steers Capital
Joseph Amato (B’84)Head of Global Equity Sales, Lehman Brothers
Doreen Amorosa (B’79)Director, Talent Acquisition, Avaya Inc.
Robert L. Andrews (B’68, L’71)Partner, Vincent Andrews Management Corp.
James Atwater (B’85)Senior Vice President/Branch Manager,McDonald Investments
Thomas L. Bindley (B’65)President, Bindley Capital Corporation
Alison Lohrfink Blood (B’81)
John D. Bowlin (B’72)Former CEO, Miller Brewing Company
James J. BuckleyPractice Leader, Technology & Communications,Spencer Stuart Consulting
Marilouise Burns (B’80)General Zone Manager, Lincoln MercuryDivision, Ford Motor Company
Gerald T. Cameron (B’77)Former COO, Ibis Technology Corp.
Emily Chen Carrara (B’88)
Michael L. Chasen (MBA’95)CEO & Co-Founder, Blackboard Inc.
Jerome J. Claeys III (B’65)CEO & Chairman, Heitman CapitalManagement
Michael J. Connelly (B’74)Managing Director, The Carlyle Group
Peter Crnkovich (B’78)Managing Director, Morgan Stanley
Peter S. Croncota (B’83)Senior Managing Director, Bear, Stearns,& Company, Inc.
Alberto de la Cruz (B’89)President, Coca-Cola Bottlers, Puerto Rico
William H. Diamond, Jr. (MBA’83)President, Technology Growth Partners
William T. Divane (B’64)Chairman & CEO, Divane BrothersElectric Company
Donn Dolce (B’67)Senior Vice President–Investments,Paine Webber Investments
James Eisenstein (B’80)Chairman and CEO, Optasite, Inc.
Alfred J. Fisher, III (B’70)President, Fisher and Company
Lawrence P. Fisher, II (B’82)Senior Vice President, US Trust Company
Michael R. Fisher (B’80)President, Fisher Dynamics Corporation
Kristin M. Fletcher (MBA’84)Chairman and CEO, ABN-AMRO, Inc.
Theodore Francavilla (B’74)Senior Vice President, JPMorgan Chase Bank
Christopher P. Franco (B’81)President, Rock Point Investment Partners
Mark G. Frantz (B’69)Chairman, Frantz Medical Group
J. Richard Fredericks (B’68)Chairman, Dionise Capital, Inc.
Jacques P. Gelardin (B’69)Principal, Gelardin & Co., LLC
Bernardo A. Giacometti (B’77)President, Kipany Brazil
Michael J. Gibbons (C’60)Managing Director, JPMorgan Chase & Co.
Carol A. Grefenstette (B’78)Managing Director, Strategic Investment Group
Saadadeen R. Hariri (B’92)CEO, Saudi Oger, Ltd.
Michael E. Heisley, Jr. (B’86)Executive Vice President, Heico Companies
Peter W. Henderson, Jr. (B’81)Vice President, Fleet-Meehan Specialists
James F. Higgins (B’70)Senior Advisor, Morgan Stanley
Paul J. Hill (B’67)President, Harvard Development Inc.
William HoeflingCEO & Managing Partner, Chrystal PondCapital Partners, LLC
A. Lincoln Hoffman, III (B’65)Former Executive Managing Director,Global Relationship Banking, Citibank
George R. Houston (B’61)President Emeritus, Mount Saint Mary’s Collegeand Seminary
Lee C. Howley (B’70)Owner & President, Howley Bread Group
Richard E. Joyce, Jr. (B’74)Managing Director, Merrill Lynch
Arlen Kantarian (B’75)Chief Executive–Professional Tennis,U.S. Tennis Association
Kenneth J. Kencel (B’81)Head of Leveraged Finance, Royal Bankof Canada
Gerard M. Kenny (B’71)President, Kenny Construction Company
Lisa S. Kleinknecht (MBA’99)Principal/Corporate, Kleinknecht ElectricCompany
Daniel K. Lahart, S.J. (B’83)President, Strake Jesuit College PreparatorySchool
Catherine Lawton (B’79)Principal & General Counsel, Sandler O’Neill& Partners L.P.
Jonathan R. Lynch (B’88)Partner, JPMorgan Partners
John Maier (B’86)Managing Director, Legacy Partners Group,LLC
Philip A. Marineau (C’68)President & CEO, Levi Strauss & Co.
Robert E. McDonough (F’49)Founder & Vice Chair, Remedy IntelligentStaffing
William I. McInnes, S.J.Chaplain, Boston College
C. Allen Merritt, Jr. (B’62)Partner, Boston International CapitalPartners, LLC
Lorraine A. Montero (F’68)Managing Director, Emerging Market RegionHead–Latin America, Citibank N.A.
Ellen Morrell (B’66)Vice President & Principal Broker,WashingtonFine Properties, Sotheby’s International Realty
Patricia Mulvaney-Pignataro (B’81)Partner, PricewaterhouseCoopers, LLP
Robert B. Nolan (B’74)CEO and Managing Partner, Hayward Capital Fund
Daniel J. O’ConnorPresident & CEO, Paragon Computer Professionals, Inc.
Warren Olsen (B’78)Chairman and CEO, First Western Investment Management
Gregory PalmerCEO, Remedy Temp
Charles Palmer (B’64)Managing General Partner, North AmericanCompany, LLLP
Elaine Pochtar (B’79)Executive Director–Institutional FixedIncome Sales, Morgan Stanley
David Reyes (L’82)President, Harbor Distributing, LLC
Andrew Sachs (MBA’96)President, Bethany Partners, LLC
Charles F. Sarkis (B’62)Chairman & President, Back Bay RestaurantGroup, Inc.
Ann Misiaszek Sarnoff (B’83)Chief Operating Officer, WNBA
Raymond SchuvilleManaging Director–JPMorgan Private Bank,JPMorgan Securities Inc.
John Spirtos (L’92, IEMBA’00)General Partner, OCG Ventures, LLC
Thomas T. StallkampVice Chairman & CEO, MSX International
Timothy P. Tassopoulos (MBA’83)Senior Vice President, Chick-fil-A, Inc.
Michael A. Todman (B’79)Executive Vice President,Whirlpool Corporation,and President,Whirlpool Europe
Charles M. Trunz, Jr. (B’75)Chief Administrative Officer, North ShoreHealth Systems
Edmond D. Villani (C’68)Vice Chairman, Deutsche Asset Management
Stanley WoodPresident, Integrated Business Information Systems, Inc.
Parents Advisory Council
co-chairsRonald W. TysoeVice Chairman, Federated Department Stores, Inc.Arleigh Tysoe
Joseph F. BerardinoFormer CEO, Andersen WorldwideGail HamiltonVice President of Advertising, Promotion &Publishing, McCall Butterick & Vogue Patterns
Lloyd R. CunninghamPresident, Cunningham & Associates, P.C.Susie Cunningham
Donald J. Dawson, Jr.Cofounder & Chairman, Payroll 1 Inc.Mary Jo DawsonDirector of College Placement, Academy ofthe Sacred Heart
Dan A. EnglishExecutive Vice President & Director,Puffer-Sweiven, Inc.Kay English
James HackettChairman & CEO, Ocean Energy, Inc.Maureen Hackett
Bruce HallExecutive Vice President & COO, PETCOSusan Hall
Robert KushnerManaging Partner, Kushner, Smith, Joanou& Gregson, LLPKaren Kushner
Max L. LukensPresident and Chief Executive Officer,Stewart & StevensonChris S. Lukens
Sanford MillerChairman & CEO, Budget Group, Inc.Mary Kelly Miller
Greg PalmerPresident & CEO, Remedy TempSally Palmer
Thomas SiebertAttorney, Patton Boggs, LLPDebbie SiebertDirector of Business Development, NEWgameCommunications
Thompson M. SwayneExecutive Vice President, JPMorgan ChaseSusan Swayne
Robert F. WoodsTreasurer & Vice PresidentˆFinance,IBM CorporationMary Gene Woods
Martin E. ZweigZweig CompaniesBarbara Zweig
Mollie Zweig
Volume 16 Number 1
EditorJessica A. BottaDirector of Communications
Contributing WritersDanielle V. Bernstein (IEMBA’04),Elizabeth Franzino, Peter P. Gasca (MBA’03),Tom Price, Eman Quotah
Editorial AssistanceMichelle K. Adams (G’04),Anne M. Glenzer
PhotographyLisa Helfert, Jon Golden, Phil Humnicky,Cable Risdon, Lars Tray
DesignerNancy Van Meter
PrintingDeLancey Printing
McDonoughBusiness welcomes inquiries,opinions and comments from its readers.Correspondence should be addressed to:
The EditorMcDonough BusinessThe Robert Emmett McDonough School of BusinessGeorgetown UniversityBox 571147Washington, DC 20057-1147
phone (202) 687-4080fax (202) 687-2017email [email protected] www.msb.georgetown.edu
Alumni should send address changes/additions/deletions [email protected],contact Alumni Records at (202) 687-1994, or update atwww.georgetown.edu/alumni
DepartmentsUpfront 3
In the Media 10Faculty, Students and Alumni
Cited in the News
Intellectual Capital 13Faculty News
Faculty in Focus 15Robin L. Dillon-Merrill
Prospectus 16The European Prayer of St. Augustine
Features
Competitive Edge 17Case Competitions Enhance Skills
Reaching Out, Giving Back 20IEMBAs Launch New Initiatives to Increase Engagement
Cover art by Art Valero©Images.com/CORBIS
McDonough Business is published twice a year.The magazine is distributed free of charge to more than 17,000 students, alumni,parents, faculty, staff and other friends. The diverse views in the magazine do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editor or official policies of Georgetown University or the McDonough School of Business.
Corporate Profile 22America Online, Inc.
Dividends 24Building for the Future
Alumni Notes 25Alumni News, Profiles and a Special Report
on MBAs in the Middle East
BellwetherRobert H. Steers (B’75)
McDonoughBusiness
Spring/ Summer 2004
Dear Friends:
The future of the McDonough School of Business remains
bright. Fund-raising for a new building dedicated to the school
on the Georgetown campus is making excellent progress.
When completed, that building will make possible a broad
variety of new programs and opportunities for growth for the
school. As we go to press, the search for a new dean for the
McDonough School continues. In a hotly competitive market,
we are committed to identifying the person who will best
embody the spirit of responsible engagement for which the
McDonough School and Georgetown stand. In the meantime,
the school continues to move forward with undiminished
energy. I am grateful to John Mayo and his colleagues for the
work we have accomplished in these last years.
James J. O’Donnell, Ph.D.
Provost
2 McDonough Business
welcome
McDonough Schoolcalendar2004
September1 First Day of Classes
10 MBA Careers Extravaganza (MBA Career Management)
14 Careers Serving Others Information Session
(MBNA Career Education Center)
October1 CareerQuest 2004 (MBA Career Management)
7 Women’s Leadership Initiative
Academic Research Forum
7–10 Hoya Homecoming
8 Board of Advisors Meeting
15 Career Fair 2004 (MBNA Career Education Center)
20–23 International Business Challenge Case Competition
(Austin, Tex.)
21–22 National Society of Hispanic MBAs Conference
(Fort Worth, Tex.)
22 Parents Advisory Council Meeting
22–24 Undergraduate Business Day/Parents Weekend
25–29 MBA Fall Career Week/Treks
November4–6 Global MBA Conference (Orlando, Fla.)
5–6 Graduate Women in Business National Conference
(University of Virginia)
11–14 Net Impact Annual Conference (Columbia University)
December13–21 Exams
January3–7 MBA Winter Career Week/Treks
12 First Day of Classes
February24 Government and Nonprofit Career Expo
(MBNA Career Education Center)
See pages 8–9 for a listing of MBA and IEMBA admissions events
around the world. Check the school’s online calendar of events at
http://msb.georgetown.edu/news_events for daily event listings.
Provost Names Interim Dean,Reconstitutes Dean Search Process
Provost James J. O’Donnell
is working with faculty
create a new search
process to find a permanent
leader for the McDonough School of
Business. Last year’s search process did not
result in a new dean and former dean John
W. Mayo is returning to the faculty this fall.
Until a permanent leader is named, Profes-
sor Reena Aggarwal will serve in an interim
capacity as dean of the school. “I am confi-
dent that we will be able to secure a new
leader for the school who will be dedicated
to recruiting and retaining superb members
of the faculty, creating an outstanding new
home for the school,
ensuring the excellence of our educational
programs, and establishing Georgetown as
a premier institution for business education
in our changing and competitive global
business environment,” said O’Donnell
in an email to business school faculty earlier
this summer.
McDonough School Delivers Custom Insights to U.S. Chamber of Commerce Executives
The Office of Executive Education
has delivered a three-month custom
executive leadership program to sen-
ior staff of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce
from January to March 2004, garnering an
overwhelmingly positive response from the
Chamber, according to Lisa A. Kaminski,
assistant dean and director of executive edu-
cation. Associate Professor Paul Almeida,
Professor Robert J. Bies, Assistant Professor
Brooks C. Holtom, and Assistant Professor
Edward Soule delivered sessions on strategic
analysis and planning, marketing and mem-
ber relations, leadership and project finance
and budgeting, management communica-
tions and negotiations.
McDonough Forges New Alliancewith ESADE
McDonough’s Office of Executive
Education and Spain’s ESADE
Business School are offering a
joint open-enrollment, non-degree program,
the Georgetown-ESADE Executive Educa-
tion Series on Global Management. The
series began with a three-day Global Strat-
egy Program offered in ESADE’s Madrid
and Barcelona campuses in May and June.
Associate Professor Paul Almeida directed
the program, along with faculty members
from ESADE.
“This alliance represents a confluence of the
unique and mutual strengths of Georgetown
and ESADE,” said former dean John W.
Mayo. “We believe our ‘joint venture’ pro-
vides a model for the kind of international
partnership that can exist between business
schools to provide a rich educational experi-
ence for students and productive exchanges
for faculty.”
The schools formalized their alliance with a
signing ceremony in March when the deans
of ESADE and the McDonough School
met in Barcelona. The schools are discussing
ways to broaden the partnership, including
offering a Washington, D.C. residency for
ESADE’s EMBA students during the sum-
mer.
AACSB Extends McDonough School Accreditation
The Association to Advance Collegiate
Schools of Business (AACSB) has
extended business accreditation to
the McDonough School and its undergraduate
and master’s programs for another six years.
As part of the process, the school hosted the
deans of the University of Chicago Graduate
School of Business and Washington Univer-
sity in St. Louis’ Olin School of Business,
who commended the McDonough School
for a variety of accomplishments, including
its strong sense of community, the quality of
its students and their level of engagement with
the school, the efforts toward penetrating
the Washington, D.C. market, the effective-
ness of the Technology Center, and the
global mobility of graduates.
The McDonough School’s undergraduate
program was first accredited by the AACSB
in 1983 and the full-time MBA program
in 1987. The AACSB is
a not-for-profit organi-
zation made up of
educational institu-
tions, corporations and
other entities devoted
to the promotion and
improvement of higher education in business
administration and management.
MBA Program Falls in U.S. NewsRanking
The April 12 issue of U.S.News &
World Report ranked the Georgetown
MBA program 33rd, a drop from last
year’s 24th. The U.S. News ranking is based
on a number of factors, including quality
assessments by deans, program directors
and corporate recruiters, placement success,
and student selectivity.
The program’s student selectivity measures,
such as GMAT scores and GPA, were
comparable to the previous year, but the
acceptance rate increased by slightly more
than four percent. Additionally, while the
peer assessment remained flat, the recruiter
assessment dropped. The unsurpassed job
placement rates of a number of smaller
programs, which exceeded 90 percent at
McDonough Business 3
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Mayo and Mendoza
graduation, coupled with a decrease of nearly
$8,500 in the average starting salary of McDo-
nough graduates, were largely responsible for
the drop in Georgetown’s ranking.
Former dean John W. Mayo said that
despite the drop in this particular ranking,
the school made some significant progress.
The percentage of graduates employed at
three months after graduation
increased from 77.3 percent for
the class of 2002 to 83.2 per-
cent for the class of 2003.
This placement success at
three months after gradua-
tion ranked 11th compared
to U.S. News’ top 20 schools,
and put the Georgetown MBA
ahead of Northwestern (5), Berkeley (8),
Duke (11), Michigan (10), UCLA (12),
Darden (12), Carnegie Mellon (17),
Yale (14), NYU (14) and Emory (19).
The U.S. News ranking came just a few
months after the MBA program achieved
the highest ranking in its history, at 12th in
the United States and 17th in the world in
the January 20 Financial Times.
Tech Center Takes Leadership Rolein New Roundtable
McDonough School Chief Tech-
nology Officer John Carpenter is
leading the school’s participation
in a new organization affiliated with the
Association to Advance Collegiate Schools
of Business and Educause, a nonprofit asso-
ciation that promotes the intelligent use of
information technology in higher education.
Carpenter serves on the board of Technol-
ogy in Business Schools, a roundtable of
technology officers from leading U.S. busi-
ness schools. The roundtable held the first of
two meetings this year in June in Minneapolis.
“Participation in this group should have
advantages for all McDonough School tech-
nology users,” said Carpenter, who in addi-
tion to serving on the board, heads TBS
working groups on new construction and
ubiquitous computing. “Rather than gener-
ate our own experience through trial and
error, we will be able to learn from other
schools who are traveling the same path.
TBS is a cooperative organization designed
to share experience.”
The roundtable has projects supporting a
knowledge base for student computing,
hardware support and other current issues.
Participation at Record High in Mentor Program
The Mentor Program for undergradu-
ates, launched 15 years ago by former
associate dean Ann-Mary Kapusta,
reached a new milestone in participation
during academic year 2003–2004. The pro-
gram served 210 students, its highest num-
ber ever, and enlisted 45 local alumni. The
Mentor Program links current students with
practicing business leaders in the Washing-
ton, D.C., area, providing them with expo-
sure to the day-to-day responsibilities and
challenges presented in many different
fields. Board of Advisors member Ellen
Morrell (B’66) hosts the mentors and stu-
dents for a program kick-off dinner at her
home each spring.
In addition to the alumni mentors, Kapusta
says, 80 student advisers are also assigned
over the summer to incoming first-year stu-
dents. “The student advisers help incoming
students get plugged in to Georgetown both
academically and socially,” Kapusta said.
McDonough School Receives $1.7 Million Software Grant
SAP America Inc., a subsidiary of German
software giant SAP, has agreed to donate
nearly $1.7 million in software and support
services to the school over a two-year period
as part of its Education Alliance Program.
SAP’s software packages help manage
various business functions—including
human resources, production, sales and
marketing—under one system.
“SAP is one of the most important software
programs used by corporations today,” said
Professor Ricardo Ernst, who will use the
program in his graduate global logistics course
this fall. SAP’s widespread use means that
understanding the software will give McDo-
nough School students an edge when they
enter the job market, said Visiting Assistant
Professor Betsy Page Sigman, who is the
faculty adviser for the undergraduate opera-
tions and information management major.
Sigman, Ernst and Professor Robert J. Thomas
say they will use the SAP software to teach
business fundamentals such as understanding
how companies operate, using and building
databases, and managing relationships with
customers.
4 McDonough Business
The Georgetown MBA Auction in Copley Formal Lounge
MBA Nonprofit Internship AuctionRaises $12,000
On February 20, the McDonough
School inaugurated a new
tradition—the Georgetown MBA
Auction—organized by rising second-year
MBA students Tania Galarza and Andy
Furrows. The $12,000 raised from the auction
benefited the Nonprofit Internship Fund,
which provides stipends of $3,000 to MBA
students who conduct summer internships
with nonprofit organizations.
“Georgetown, because of its commitment to
social justice, attracts MBA students with a
strong sense of business ethics, corporate
social responsibility and community involve-
ment,” said Marilyn A. Morgan, associate
dean and director of the MBA program.
“The Nonprofit Internship Fund is one way
we can help students bring their business
leadership skills to benefit the nonprofit and
public sectors. It speaks to the essence of
what Georgetown stands for.”
Held in Copley Formal Lounge, the auction
offered 65 donated items for bid that ranged
from a haircut to a week’s stay at a beach
house near Puerto Vallarta. Professor
Ricardo Ernst and Assistant Professor Lee
F. Pinkowitz served as auctioneers for the
event, which featured both live and silent
bidding formats. Contributions were made
by 15 local businesses, nearly 30 students, two
McDonough School departments, six student
clubs, and more than a dozen faculty members,
including a generous matching contribution
from Executive Professorial Lecturer Kenneth
E. Homa and his wife, Kathy.
While the Nonprofit Internship Fund is in
its fourth year, the auction is the school’s first
attempt to increase the fund’s endowment.
Women’s Leadership InitiativeHosts First Distinguished Speakers Series
The Georgetown University Women’s
Leadership Initiative held its first
Distinguished Speaker Series panel,
sponsored by the Citigroup Foundation,
on April 19 in Riggs Library. The three
panelists, Lisa Caputo, president and CEO
of Women and Company, and managing
director of business operations and
planning for Global Consumer Group,
Citigroup, Inc.; Barbara Landes, CFO of
the Public Broadcasting Service; and Lana
Marks, founder and CEO of Lana Marks,
Inc.; shared their varied experiences in the
workplace with the 100 students, faculty,
staff, alumni and friends in attendance.
“The Women’s Leadership Initiative, and
particularly this panel, taught me how impor-
tant it is for women to have role models,”
said Kristen Farren (B’04).
In addition to another panel in November,
Executive Director and Associate Professor
Catherine H. Tinsley is planning a new
academic research forum as a complement
to the speaker series. Tentatively scheduled
for October, the forum will bring together
academic and professional knowledge
regarding women in the workplace.
Aspiring Entrepreneurs Visit Campus for Memorial Summit
More than a dozen Georgetown
MBA students and alumni col-
laborated with the Walter Benson
Foundation and the National Foundation for
Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE) on
February 13 to host the 6th Annual Walter
Benson Memorial Summit in Entrepreneur-
ship. The summit brought 30 students from
three high schools in Prince George’s County,
Md., to the Georgetown campus for presen-
tations and workshops conducted by MBA
students and professional entrepreneurs,
including Rod DeVar, manager of advertising
at the U.S. Postal Service; Michael Brown,
managing partner at Alcade & Fay; Steve
Goldenberg, president of Interfolio; and
Michelle Campbell-Evans, assistant director of
academic services at Georgetown’s Center for
Minority Educational Affairs.
The summit memorializes former Georgetown
professor and international entrepreneur
Walter Benson, who, before his death in 1997,
became passionately involved in NFTE’s
service program in the District. Robert M.
Coppedge (C’97) and Christopher P. Caudill
(B’97), launched the Walter Benson Foun-
dation in 1998 to underwrite on-campus
summits devoted to teaching young people
business skills. Coppedge and Caudill part-
nered with Eric Wright (F’01) and volunteers
from the Georgetown MBA program, led by
rising second-year MBA student Candice U.
Wu and Jennifer R. Blackmon (MBA’04),
to organize this year’s summit.
MBAs Launch Nonprofit Board Fellows Program
Rising second-year MBA students
Krista L. Van Tassel, Tiffany A.
Tomaszewski and Paul J. Zurawski
founded the Georgetown Board Fellows
program, an apprenticeship program in which
Georgetown MBA students are matched with
Washington, D.C. area nonprofit boards.
Each fellow serves for one year as a non-
voting member of a nonprofit board and
actively contributes to its work by conducting
a real business project, participating on a
working committee or leading an ad hoc
study. Each fellow is assigned a mentor to
assist them in orienting to the board. Fellows
and boards are selected and matched
through a careful and competitive process.
“Our goal is to provide students with ways
to continue life-long service in the nonprofit
sector,” Van Tassel said. The program is part
of the Net Impact organization in the
McDonough School.
Students and boards applied in the spring
for the 2004 Board Fellows Program, and
the founders assigned the fellows to boards
at a variety of nonprofits, including those
involved in peace and human rights, com-
munity-supported agriculture, women’s
prison and post-prison support programs,
and multicultural child and family education
and development.
“We are very proud of the program and are
looking forward to a successful first year,”
Zurawski said.
McDonough Business 5
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Heather D. Wallerson (B’04), Kathryn-Ann Bloomfield (B’04) and Kristen Farren (B’04) meetfashion entrepreneur Lana Marks.
Georgetown MBA volunteers and NFTE participants
McDonough School Supports New Safety Award
The Center for Business and Public
Policy is a global partner supporting
the Robert W. Campbell Award for
Business Excellence through Safety, Health
and Environmental Management, which is
sponsored by the National Safety Council and
underwritten by ExxonMobil Corporation.
According to the Center’s director, Professor
N. Lamar Reinsch, Jr., McDonough School
faculty members will serve on the interna-
tional review panel of experts who will eval-
uate award applicants for measurable safety
and health achievements linked to productiv-
ity, profitability and other important business
indicators.
“Our participation as a supporter of this
award is one of the ways in which the Center
can work cooperatively with industry to
facilitate an active dialogue on safety and
health issues,” Reinsch said. “The Campbell
Award will help us identify best practices
and make the business case for safety in the
workplace.”
Robert W. Campbell was an executive of
one of the nation’s largest steel manufacturers
in the early 20th century. An advocate for
accident prevention, he served as the first
president of the National Safety Council.
The first award recipient is expected to be
announced in September.
Undergraduates Honored for Community Service
Sean Garrett (B’04), rising senior Sab-
rina-Phuong Nguyen and Kirk Syme,
Jr. (B’04) are among the 20 recipients
of the University’s Lena Landegger Com-
munity Service Awards, in the amount of
$2,500 each, for their distinguished contri-
butions to community service. The awards
were announced in April.
Garrett, an accounting major, served as pres-
ident of Georgetown’s service fraternity,
Alpha Phi Omega, site leader for community
service day, and coordinator of Georgetown’s
community outreach clean-up project.
Nguyen, a finance major, is co-founder and
executive director of the William Gaston
Foundation for Behavioral Healthcare,
which provides financial medical subsidies
and mentoring services to Washington, D.C.,
families whose children are diagnosed with
mental health disorders. She also tutors local
high school students.
Syme, an accounting major, served as grand
knight of Georgetown’s Knights of Columbus
council and helped launch the Catholic
Schools Initiative, in which Knights volun-
teer their time at urban Catholic schools.
He also volunteered at the Northwest
Pregnancy Center, a nonprofit organization
founded by Georgetown students and alumni
to provide assistance to D.C. women in
crisis pregnancies.
Business Students Honored at BetaGamma Sigma Ceremony
Thirty-eight undergraduates, 55
MBAs, 10 IEMBA students and one
faculty member were honored in
May at the annual Beta Gamma Sigma ini-
tiation ceremony in the Bunn Intercultural
Center auditorium. The inducting officer
was John R. Mitchell, chief executive officer
of fine clothier Mitchells and Richards, and
author of the bestseller Hug Your Customers,
The Proven Way to Personalize Sales and
Achieve Astounding Results.
Beta Gamma Sigma is the national scholastic
honor society in the field of business and
administration. The society’s mission is to
encourage and honor academic achievement
in the study of business, and personal and
professional excellence in the practice of
business.
To be eligible for membership, undergraduate
students must place in the upper 7 percent
of the junior class or upper 10 percent of
the senior class, and graduate students must
place in the upper 20 percent of the master’s
degree class.
Corporate Recruiting VeteranAppointed to Lead MBA CareerManagement Center
New MBA Career Management
Director John R. Flato joined the
school in December 2003 after
spending more than 20 years in the private
sector. Flato led campus recruiting programs
for CapGemini Ernst & Young, CIGNA and
AlliedSignal (now Honeywell).
“John brings exceptional insight and leader-
ship skills to the Georgetown MBA program,”
said Marilyn A. Morgan, associate dean and
MBA program director. “He has the experi-
ence, the contacts, and the professional respect
required to strengthen and expand the school’s
relationships with the corporate world.”
Flato holds a MBA in marketing from
Loyola College, a master’s degree in higher
education administration from the Catholic
University of America, and a bachelor’s
degree in sociology from Washington
College.
During the 2003–2004 academic year, the
MBA Career Management Office also
welcomed former IBM Global Services
executive Randy Cramer as an executive-
in-residence and Colleen C. McClusker
as career adviser.
6 McDonough Business
John R. Flato
John R. Mitchell
Executive Education WelcomesNew Staff Members
Heidi Faill, who joined the Office of
Executive Education in November
2003 as a program manager of cus-
tom executive education programs, has been
named associate direc-
tor of the IEMBA
program. Prior to join-
ing Georgetown,
Faill was the MBA
administrative dean for
IAE Aix Graduate
School of Business at
the University of Aix-
Marseille, in France. At Aix she helped
launch a new MBA program, coordinated a
European Distance Learning MBA Program
and conducted the EQUIS accreditation
procedure.
Aliz Agoston has been named
program manager for Executive
Education. Agoston was a program
coordinator for the office from 2000 to
2003, and in her new
position she will be
responsible for the
maintenance and
delivery of all executive
programs, courses and
partnerships. Prior to
joining Georgetown,
Agoston was a teacher
and department head at the Budavari Lan-
guage School in Budapest, Hungary. She has
also served as a professional translator/inter-
preter and designed distance learning
preparatory courses for high school students.
She is multilingual in Hungarian, English,
Spanish, Russian and Latin.
Corporate Governance ResearchHonored with Finance Award
Associate Professor Rohan G.
Williamson and Assistant Professor
Lee F. Pinkowitz received the Journal
of Financial and Quantitative Analysis’ 2004
William F. Sharpe Award for Scholarship in
Financial Research. The award was given in
honor of Williamson and Pinkowitz’ paper,
“Corporate Governance and the Home Bias”
(March 2003), which they co-authored with
colleagues from the Stockholm Institute for
Financial Research and Ohio State University.
the paper shows how the prevalence of closely-
held firms in most countries helps explain why
these countries exhibit a home bias in share
holdings and why U.S. investors underweigh
foreign countries in their portfolios.
Business Ethics Journal Earns Emerald Award
Business Ethics Quarterly, the journal
of the Society for Business Ethics, has
been honored with a 2004 Golden
Page Award from Emerald Management
Reviews, a UK-based publisher and manage-
ment abstracting service. BEQ, which is edited
by Professor George G. Brenkert, received the
award for Originality in the General Manage-
ment category. Other journals cited in the
same category include the Strategic Manage-
ment Journal, Academy of Management Journal
and Harvard Business Review.
New Associate Dean and Directorfor Undergraduate Programs
Georgetown University Provost
James J. O’Donnell announced the
appointment of David L. Garrison
as the McDonough School of Business asso-
ciate dean and director of undergraduate pro-
grams, effective September 1. Garrison will
succeed Ann-Mary Kapusta, who in April
announced her decision to retire after more
than 20 years at the university. Garrison
comes to Georgetown from the University of
Tennessee at Chattanooga, where he served
as professor and head of the English depart-
ment since 2001.
“David brings to his new position a ready-
made appreciation for integrating the spirit
and substance of the liberal arts into prepa-
ration for professional responsibility in
business—a hallmark of the Georgetown
education,” O’Donnell said in a statement.
In his new position, Garrison will be respon-
sible for the management and delivery of all
undergraduate programs at the McDonough
School. He will provide leadership on admis-
sions, curricular development, student advis-
ing and mentoring, and academic standards.
“I am very pleased at this opportunity to
contribute to the work of the university and
especially the work on the McDonough
School of Business,” Garrison said. “I look
forward to participating in the ongoing well-
grounded, well-respected and adventurous
projects within the undergraduate programs
and in the bigger projects of the George-
town University community.”
McDonough Business 7
upfront
Hiring? Think Georgetown.
If you are recruiting for internships or full-time positions, hire a Hoya.For MBA students contact John Flato
in the MBA Career Management Center, at (202) 687-3745 [email protected].
For undergraduates, contact J. Michael Schaub in the MBNA Career Education Center at (202) 687-6288 or
mba/iemba class of 2007 recruiting schedule
NORTH AMERICA
Atlanta, Georgia: September 28, November 15Austin, Texas: October 6Boston, Massachusetts: September 21, November 11, December 7Charlotte, North Carolina: November 29Chicago, Illinois: September 23, December 6Cleveland, Ohio: November 3Dallas, Texas: October 4Denver, Colorado: October 28Detroit, Michigan: October 21Houston, Texas: October 7Indianapolis, Indiana: November 1Kansas City, Missouri: September 13, October 13Los Angeles, California: September 12, January 17, January 20Miami, Florida: September 17, December 2Milwaukee, Wisconsin: October 20Minneapolis, Minnesota: October 18New York, New York: September 19 (with IEMBA), November 13, December 8, January 12Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: September 20, November 18, December 5Phoenix, Arizona: October 25Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: November 4Raleigh, North Carolina: November 16Salt Lake City, Utah: October 27San Diego, California: November 11San Francisco, California: September 14, November 9, January 18, January 19Seattle, Washington: November 8St. Louis, Missouri: September 12, October 12Tampa, Florida: December 1Toronto, Canada: September 26Washington, D.C.: September 30 (with IEMBA), November 17, January 10
8 McDonough Business
MBA
Recruiting for the
MBA class of 2007
is underway.
If you are a
Georgetown MBA
alumnus interested
in helping shape the
next class, we hope
you will choose to
attend one of our
recruiting events
around the world.
For more information,
please contact the
MBA Admissions Office at
IEMBA
Information sessions for the
International Executive MBA
program are held twice a
month in the Car Barn.
September 21
October 6, 19
November 10, 18
December 1, 14
January 6, 19, 2005
IEMBA alumni are welcome to
help host our evenings with
prospective students. For those
alumni working for companies
interested in sponsoring
employees for this highly-
ranked program, IEMBA
recruiting staff also make pre-
sentations on-site. For more
information, call (202) 687-2691
or email [email protected].
See a full list of IEMBA
information sessions and
recruiting events at
LATIN AMERICA
Buenos Aires, Argentina: September 3, October 21Caracas, Venezuela: September 8Lima, Peru: September 6Mexico City, Mexico: September 10, October 14Monterrey, Mexico: August 28Rio de Janeiro, Brazil: October 27Santiago, Chile: September 1, October 20São Paulo, Brazil: August 30, October 25
http://msb.georgetown.edu/exec_ed/executive_mba/info_sessions.htm
WESTERN EUROPE
Brussels, Belgium: October 7Frankfurt, Germany: October 16London, United Kingdom: October 18Madrid, Spain: October 5Milan, Italy: October 12Munich, Germany: October 14Paris, France: October 9
McDonough Business 9
CENTRAL EUROPE
Athens, Greece: October 22Budapest, Hungary: October 26Istanbul, Turkey: October 24, February 5Moscow, Russia: October 30Warsaw, Poland: October 28Zurich, Switzerland: October 20
INDIA AND THE MIDDLE EAST
Bangalore, India: November 23, January 29Cairo, Egypt: December 2Dubai, United Arab Emirates: November 30, February 3Mumbai, India: November 25, January 31New Delhi, India: November 27
ASIA PACIFIC
Bangkok, Thailand: September 27, November 16Beijing, People’s Republic of China: September 20, November 7Guangzhou, People’s Republic of China: November 11Hong Kong, People’s Republic of China: November 13Kuala Lumpur, Indonesia: November 18Seoul, South Korea: September 18, November 2Shanghai, People’s Republic of China: September 23, November 9Singapore: September 29Taipei, Taiwan: September 25Tokyo, Japan: September 16, November 4
AMERICAN ELEGIES
Adjunct Lecturer James P.
Moore, Jr. contributed an op-ed
in the Washington Post (6/6/04)
on the subject of D-Day and
American prayer. As assistant
secretary of commerce under
President Ronald Reagan,
Moore provided commentary
on CNBC during Reagan’s
funeral and appeared on
CNBC’s “Squawk Box”
(6/11/04) to discuss Reagan’s
economic policies and interna-
tional economic relations and
U.S. policies during the 1980s.
Additionally, Moore partici-
pated in a series of nationally-
syndicated radio programs on
ABC, CBS and CNN
(6/13/04) discussing Reagan’s
economic policies.
HIGHER LEARNING
Assistant Professor Patricia F.
Hewlin was featured in the July
issue of Black Enterprise maga-
zine in an article on the bene-
fits of pursuing a career in
academe.
BAGHDAD BOURSE
Professor Reena Aggarwal was
quoted in a Philadelphia Inquirer
article (2/25/04) examining the
challenges facing Ann Exline
Starr, the woman charged with
reinstating the Iraq Stock
Exchange. The article also ran
in the Seattle Times (3/26/04)
and the Miami Herald (3/30/04).
PAYDAY LENDING
Bankrate.com (5/21/04) cited
the Credit Research Center’s
2001 study on payday lending
in a story on concerns over the
business practices of payday
lenders. The article also
appeared in the Pittsburgh Post
Gazette (5/31/04), Seattle Post
Intelligencer (5/29/04) and on
Scripps Howard News Service
(5/24/04). The same study was
cited in a Washington Times
article (3/12/04) about new leg-
islation in the state of Georgia
that represents one of the
nation’s toughest laws against
the cash-advance lending
industry. The San Diego Union
Tribune (3/25/04) also refer-
enced the study in an opinion
article arguing the merits of the
lending practice.
TRADE THROUGH
Associate Professor James J.
Angel commented on the cur-
rent trade-through practice on
Nightly Business Report
(2/24/04), discussing the SEC’s
recent efforts to ensure that
trade-through rules correspond
with what actually transpires as
computerized trades are made.
In a related article in the Wall
Street Journal and on Dow Jones
Newswires, Angel commented,
“This is probably the most
important [market-structure]
regulation that the SEC is
working on. The nuances of
this regulation are going to
have a profound impact on the
structure of the U.S. equities
market.”
DUAL LISTING
Associate Professor James J.
Angel was quoted in Dow Jones
Newswire
(1/8/04,
4/14/04),
Business
Week
(1/14/04),
the Los
Angeles
Times
(1/13/04),
Newsday (1/13/04), TheStreet.com
(1/13/04), Bloomberg (4/13/04),
and interviewed on the Nightly
Business Report (1/8/04) about
competition in the trading envi-
ronment between NASDAQ
and the New York Stock
Exchange due to the dual listing
program, and the long-term
effect of the listings and the
growth of electronic communi-
cations networks.
DISCRIMINATORY LENDING
A 2002 study by Assistant Pro-
fessor Ken S. Cavalluzzo and a
colleague from the Federal
Reserve, which found that
African-American business
owners were denied credit at
more than two and a half times
the rate of whites, was cited in
a Wall Street Journal (5/20/04)
article on a Justice Department
settlement with a Detroit area
bank accused of discriminatory
lending practices.
SHORT SELLING
Forbes Magazine (2/2/04) refer-
enced a Financial Analysts Jour-
nal study conducted by
Associate Professor James J.
Angel and colleagues from
George Mason University in a
story about how short-selling
can yield big returns.
HIGH FLYER
Professor Reena Aggarwal was
quoted in a Washington Post
article (5/17/04) on Dulles-
based Atlantic Coast Airlines,
which is now operating as low-
cost carrier Independence Air
amid fierce competition.
OVERSEAS IPOS
Professor Reena Aggarwal was
quoted in an article in China
Daily’s Business Weekly (3/23/04)
on China’s growing economic
power, which is increasing
demand for equity funds from
overseas and spurring an over-
seas IPO rush. “There are very
few U.S. companies doing IPOs
and so the focus is on interna-
tional companies, particularly
Chinese companies,” said
Aggarwal.
TRADING FLOOR TRIALS
Associate Professor James J.
Angel was quoted in the Wall
Street Journal (3/30/04) and
Newsday (3/31/04) about the
charges—and subsequent settle-
ment—against the New York
Stock Exchange by the Securi-
ties and Exchange Commission
for failing to adequately police
its specialist firms.
RX QUALITY
Assistant Professor Jeffrey
T. Macher was quoted in a
Business Week (5/3/04) article
on pharmaceutical companies’
efforts to improve manufac-
turing processes and quality.
Macher and a colleague at
Washington University in St.
Louis are doing research to
find and correct flaws in drug
manufacturing practices and in
FDA regulations.
YOU’RE FIRED
In a Boston Globe article (4/15/04)
examining how the reality tele-
vision show, “The Apprentice,”
is perceived by business schools
across the country, Georgetown’s
accounting and finance faculty are
reported to be “eagerly rehashing
‘Apprentice’ episodes in the hall-
ways and have even formed a
pool to guess the winner.” In a
related story in Crain’s New York
Business (2/23/04), Assistant
Professor Lee F. Pinkowitz says
10 McDonough Business
inthemedia highlights
the show “offers tremendous
insight into certain intangibles
in business that we really can’t
teach, like team dynamics
and ethics.”
MBA JOB FRONT
Director of MBA Career Man-
agement John R. Flato was
interviewed in a Baltimore Sun
article (3/14/04) about the
McDonough School’s strategy
to leverage alumni to conduct
mock interviews as opposed to
using an executive search firm.
In an article on job prospects for
college graduates, Flato told
USA Today (4/14/04) that the
number of firms recruiting at
the McDonough School of
Business is up 24 percent from
last year. Flato was also quoted
in a BusinessWeek Online article
(2/3/04) about the importance
of internships as a vehicle by
which to ensure employment
post-graduation.
NEW BREED OF MBA
Rising second-year MBA stu-
dent Stephani K. Stevenson was
featured in an Associated Press
story
(4/12/04)
about the
“new breed
of MBA
student”;
one who is
interested
in helping
others and
contribut-
ing to society rather than con-
centrating solely on money.
Stevenson said her experience in
the Peace Corps prior to coming
to business school “changed
[her] life to see the devastating
effects of globalization, as well
as the ramifications of poor
business decisions.” The article
ran in a dozen newspapers
around the county and on at
least 100 news web sites.
Appeals in the District to
declare illegal key parts of the
Federal Communications Com-
mission’s unbundling rules for
telecommunications network
services. Mayo was one of 12
economists that authored a
letter urging the Bush adminis-
tration to support an appeal of
the ruling, arguing that it would
harm competition.
ABOUT ETHICS
In a New York Times article
(3/21/04) on the curriculum
changes being made at business
schools in order to incorporate
ethics materials as scandals ripple
through the corporate world,
Christopher W. Andrews
(MBA’04) was quoted regarding
the difficult transition between
profit-oriented classes on share-
holder maximization and free
markets and mandatory courses
on ethics. “It’s an abrupt transi-
tion, a tough way to learn about
ethics,” Andrews said.
Assistant Professor Edward
Soule was a panelist on CNN’s
“The Flipside” (1/12/04) about
the extent and impact of corpo-
rate and political corruption and
greed on American society.
Acknowledging the recent wave
of extremely large corporate
failures that impacted millions,
Soule still urged a “sober diag-
nosis” and argued that public
trust in U.S. business institu-
tions has diminished but not
completely eroded.
ESADE PARTNERSHIP
Coverage of the recently
announced alliance between
the McDonough School and
ESADE Business School to
offer a joint global strategy pro-
gram for managers at ESADE’s
Madrid and Barcelona campuses
was featured in La Gaceta de los
Negocios (1/22/04, 3/15/04),
El Pais (2/8/04), Expansion &
Empleo (2/7/04) and Cinco
Dias (1/26/04).
OF MOUSE AND MEN
In an article in Germany’s busi-
ness daily, Handelsblatt (3/3/04),
which cited criticism of Disney’s
Michael Eisner as leading the
company landlord-style, Associ-
ate Professor James J. Angel
commented that “the company
was traditionally not exactly a
shining example of good com-
pany leadership.”
ORGANIZING VICTORY
Professor Douglas M. McCabe
was quoted in a Washington Post
article (2/23/04) about the
Hotel and Restaurant Employees
Union Local 25 and its recent
success in unionizing workers at
the State Plaza Hotel.
DRIVING FORCE
Associate Professor of Market-
ing Ronald C. Goodstein was
quoted in a Newsday (2/15/04)
article about marketing strate-
gies among automakers
designed specifically to appeal
to minority groups. Goodstein
identified the potential difficulty
of this strategy. “There is no
Hispanic marketplace,” he said.
“It’s made up of different sub-
groups that happen to have the
same language and religion.”
LITIGATION FINANCE
Adjunct Professor of Business
Marc B. Sherman was quoted in
a Dow Jones Newswires article
(2/12/04) about the class action
suit recently filed by certain
Mail Boxes Etc., franchise
owners against Mail Boxes Etc.,
and its parent company, United
Parcel Service Inc. A specialist
in litigation finance, Sherman
observed, “It may be difficult
to get a class certified if the
businesses are so different that
each requires a separate calcu-
lation of damages.”
McDonough Business 11
OUTSOURCING
In a USA Today article (4/8/04)
outlining IBM’s decision to buy
an Indian outsourcing firm and
the effect this will have on jobs
in the United States, Heisley
Family Professor of Global Man-
ufacturing Kasra Ferdows said,
“It’s almost inevitable that some
of the work is going overseas.”
He said that “IBM is realizing
that it wants to participate” in
the “trend of moving jobs to
areas in which labor is cheaper.”
CUSTOMER DISSERVICE
In a Washington Post article
(3/28/04) about the decline of
customer service, Associate Pro-
fessor Ronald C. Goodstein
cited poor customer service as
the number one reason cus-
tomer’s switch brands. Good-
stein faulted call centers that
have no stake in the company
they represent. “A sure sign of
problems,” said Goodstein, “is
when a customer service agent
refers to the company as ‘they’
and not ‘we.’ ” The article also
appeared in the Milwaukee Jour-
nal Sentinel (4/5/04).
EU EXPANSION
In an op-ed piece in the Japan
Times (4/4/04), Associate Profes-
sor Michael R. Czinkota addressed
the tensions caused by European
Union expansion. Czinkota
argues that the expansion of the
EU will provide more mobility to
“the young and not-so-well-off.”
He said, “There emerges a
tremendous opportunity to enrich
the quality of life of regions as
well as of individuals through
these newly possible moves… and
perhaps create a new generation
of innovators and risk takers.”
TELECOM APPEAL
Professor John W. Mayo was
cited in Communications Daily
(3/18/04), Telecom Web (3/22/04),
and Telecommunications Report
Daily (3/17/04) on the March
decision by the U.S. Court of
12 McDonough Business
FACE OFF
Adjunct Professor Craig Tar-
tasky was quoted in a Reuters
article (2/12/04) about Comcast
Corporation’s attempt to buy
the Walt Disney Company for
$50 billion and the underlying
implications for the Philadel-
phia Flyers and the Anaheim
Mighty Ducks hockey teams,
which are owned by Comcast
and Disney respectively.
MARKETING MISSIVE
Professor Alan R. Andreasen
penned a letter to the editor of
The Chronicle of Philanthropy
(2/5/04) in response to an article
entitled “Gaining Success by
Degrees.” In his letter, Andreasen
disputed the article’s conflation
of fund raising and marketing
and proposed that “a broader,
more enriching view of marketing
as drawn from business schools
is that it is any effort to influ-
ence the voluntary behavior of
target audiences to meet organi-
zational goals.”
FALLING DOLLAR
Associate Professor Michael R.
Czinkota wrote a Washington
Times op-ed article (1/5/04) in
which he stated that “the dollar
avalanche predictors should
know that there may be ups and
downs, but at the end, we’ll be
on firm territory again.” This
op-ed also appeared in the
Japan Times on the same day.
DISCRIMINATION AT WORK
Assistant Professor Patricia F.
Hewlin was quoted in a Gannett
Online article about discrimina-
tion in the workplace and what
organizations should do to fos-
ter a healthy working environ-
ment. The article ran in the
careers section of at least four
Gannett online properties,
including the Detroit Free Press,
the Indianapolis Star, the Ari-
zona Republic, and the Des
Moines Register.
GOOGLE IPO
Research on allocations of initial
public offerings and flipping
activity by Professor Reena
Aggarwal was cited in a
Financial Times article (5/4/04)
on the Google IPO. In a Chicago
Tribune article (5/1/04) on the
competition between NASDAQ
and the NYSE for listing
Google Inc., Associate Professor
James J. Angel was quoted on
the impact of losing the listing.
Angel also was quoted in similar
articles in the Associated Press
(4/30/04) and Dow Jones
Newswires (4/29/04).
MBA MARKETING
Director of MBA Admissions
Monica Gray was interviewed on
BusinessWeek online (12/23/04)
about admission selection
criteria for the full-time MBA
program. Gray said she looks
for the right fit, among other
attributes, as well as applicants
who “have narrowed their list and
focused on Georgetown.” Gray,
and three McDonough School
alumni, Sam Chawla (MBA’02),
Carrie Kurtz (MBA’02), and
Kim Kwiatkowski (MBA’00),
also appeared in BusinessWeek
online streaming video inter-
views (1/30/04) demonstrating
what to do—and not to do—
to ace an MBA admissions
interview at Georgetown. Rising
second-year MBA Heidi Jackson
and Deborah Reyes (MBA’04)
discussed academic and career
options for Hispanic and black
MBAs at the McDonough
School in a BusinessWeek online
forum (1/19/04) for prospective
students.
DAY TRADING
Associate Professor of Finance
James J. Angel discussed what
makes a good day trader in an
article on the resurgence of the
industry in Kiplinger’s Personal
Finance (4/1/04). Angel quipped,
“Being a good trader is like
being a good baseball player.
If you’re one of the top 1,000
players, you can make a really
good living. If you’re like me,
you’re going to drop the ball
and strike out a lot.”
TOUGH LOVE
Executive Professorial Lecturer
Kenneth E. Homa’s MBA mar-
keting elective, Applied Market-
ing Management, was featured
in a New York Times (1/18/04)
article on tough (but popular)
courses at universities. Accord-
ing to Homa, “Everything they
do in my classes will help them
land the best possible job and,
most important, succeed at that
job when they get it.” The story
also quoted Brent E. McGoldrick
(MBA’04).
For a monthly archive of the McDonough School’s media coverage
visit McDonough In the News on the News & Events section
of the school Web site at
msb.georgetown.edu/news/in_the_news.htm
Wanted: Writers
McDonough Business
seeks freelance writers.
We are interested in
a broad spectrum of
activity in and beyond
Georgetown, including
stories that focus on
the research, scholarship
and professional
development activities
of faculty and students
in the McDonough
School as well as the
business ventures,
philanthropy and
success stories of our
distinguished alumni.
If you have a story to
pitch, please send a
brief query to
Tell us who you are
and what kind of article
you’d like to write.
McDonough Business 13
Professor Reena Aggarwal completed her sab-batical as a visiting scholar at the InternationalMonetary Fund in fall 2003 and returned toGeorgetown in spring 2004. She was also a pan-elist at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commis-sion’s International Institute on Legal Frameworksfor Capital Market Development in April 2004.Aggarwal presented her papers, “Portfolio Pref-erences of Foreign Institutional Investors” (withL. Klapper of the World Bank and P. Wysocki ofMIT) and “ADR Holdings of U.S. Mutual Funds”(with Assistant Professor Sandeep Dahiya
and Klapper), at the Darden School, the Univer-sity of Buffalo, and Tulane University.
Executive Professorial Lecturer Richard F.
America received a grant from the KelloggFoundation for the African Professional School Ini-tiative. He visited business schools in the SouthernAfrican development community this summer, andspoke on graduate management education inAfrica at a conference at the International Schoolof Management in Dakar, Senegal.
Professor Alan R. Andreasen has been activeon the lecture circuit. He presented “Reposition-ing Social Marketing” at the Innovations inSocial Marketing Conference in January; “SocialMarketing Concepts and Tools” at the WorldBank program on Water and Sanitation inMarch; “Branding and Positioning” at the U.S.Chamber of Commerce in March; and “Com-munications Challenges for Nonprofit Organiza-tions” at the Nonprofit CommunicationsNetwork in January. He spoke on a panel at theNational Conference on Nonprofit Enterprise inJanuary. Andreasen also delivered presentationson “Nonprofit Marketing” at the Rapides Foun-dation in December 2003; “Social ChangeThrough Marketing” at the Association for Uni-versity Centers on Disabilities in November;“Communications Planning” at Habitat forHumanity International in October; “Introductionto Social Marketing” at the American Red Crossin September 2003 and February 2004; “Devel-oping Memberships” at the Association of Uni-versity Educators in Washington in September;and “Selling Marketing Internally—BuildingConsensus” at the American Marketing Associa-tion Conference for Nonprofit Marketing Man-agers in July 2003.
Associate Professor James J. Angel partici-pated in the Institute for Mathematics and itsApplications program in genomics, networks,and financial engineering in Minnesota in May.He presented a paper on short selling at theCenter for Financial Studies at Frankfurt, Ger-many, and he spent three months as the visitingeconomist at the Shanghai Stock Exchange.
Professor George G. Brenkert was selected asan academic adviser to the Business RoundtableInstitute for Corporate Ethics, housed at the Uni-versity of Virginia’s Darden Graduate School ofBusiness Administration. The institute will con-duct research, create a business ethics curricu-lum, lead executive seminars on business ethics,and develop best practices in the area of corpo-rate and business ethics. The academic adviserswill have direct access to and interaction withthe 150 Business Roundtable CEOs in order todevelop curricula and best practices for use bycompanies and business schools.
Associate Professor Thomas L. Brewer hadthe first of two companion articles on the inter-actions of the international trade regime and theemerging international climate change regimepublished in the refereed journal, Climate Policy.The first article, “The Trade Regime and the Climate Regime: Institutional Evolution andAdaptation,” was published in December. Thesecond, “The WTO and the Kyoto Protocol:Interaction Issues,” will be published in 2004.Brewer also has published a chapter on a relatedtopic, “Multinationals, the Environment, and the WTO: Issues in the Environment Goods andServices Industry and in Climate Change Mitiga-tion,” in Multinationals, the Environmentand Global Competition (Elsevier, 2004). In
addition, he has a chapter in an upcoming bookon research frontiers in international business-government relations, International Business-Government Relations (Grosse, ed.), called “GlobalWarming/Climate Change in the 21st Century:New Issues for Firms, Governments and Researchon Business-Government Relations.” He is currentlyworking on several journal articles and a book onbusiness and government responses to issuesassociated with global warming/climate change.
Adjunct Professor Michael G. Carberry
received the Vicennial Medal from GeorgetownUniversity for his 20 years of service.
Associate Professor Allan C. Eberhart
has two papers being published this year. “A Comparison of Merton’s Option Pricing Modelof Corporate Debt Valuation to the Use of Book Values” will be published in the Journal ofCorporate Finance, and “Equity Valuation UsingMultiples: A Comparison of Alternative Compa-rable Firm Classifications” will be published inthe Journal of Investing.
Heisley Family Professor of Global Manufac-
turing Kasra Ferdows was voted president-elect of the Production and Operations
Management Society(POMS) beginning inMay. This position willrevert to presidentfrom May 2005–May2006. POMS incorpo-rates all academics inthis field internationally,and the position has
been previously held by distinguished academicsfrom Harvard, MIT and many other prestigiousuniversities.
Associate Professor Ronald C. Goodstein
received the Hall of Fame Award from the Wash-ington, D.C. chapter of the American MarketingAssociation at its M Awards ceremony in May.The M Awards recognize the top marketers inthe Washington metropolitan area, and Good-stein was selected for his distinguished contribu-tions to the marketing field and for hisleadership in the local marketing community.
Visiting Instructor Jacqueline F. Hoell wasappointed the new director of the SummerUndergraduate Oxford Program. She will collab-orate with Associate Dean David L. Garrison dur-ing the 2004–2005 transition year and willassume the role of director at Oxford in thesummer of 2005.
Executive Professorial Lecturer Kenneth E.
Homa spoke at the Consumer Electronics Asso-ciation’s conference on small business strategiesand trends in May.
McCrane/Shaker Professor of International
Marketing Johny K.
Johansson published In Your Face: How Ameri-can Marketing Excess FuelsAnti-Americanism (FT/Pren-tice Hall, March 2004),which explores how globalpolitics is reshaping the play-ing field for U.S. companies.
Associate Professor Bardia Kamrad published“Supply Contracts, Profit Sharing and SwitchingOptions” (with A. Siddique) in Management Science in January, and will publish “InnovationDiffusion Uncertainty, Advertising and PricingPolicies” (with A. Siddique, S. Lele and R. Thomas)in the European Journal of Operational Research.Kamrad presented “A Prefatory Perspective on Optimal Control Theory” at the Army ResourceManagers’ Conference at Georgetown in September 2003.
intellectualcapital
14 McDonough Business
Associate Professor Catherine M. Langlois
co-authored an article with Jean-Pierre Langloisentitled “Provisions for Noncompliance andTreaty Value: A Game Theoretic Perspective,”which was accepted for publication in Interna-tional Studies Quarterly in June.
Assistant Professor Jeffrey T. Macher
co-authored “Organizational Responses to Dis-continuous Innovation: A Case Study Approach”in the International Journal of Innovation Management in March. He also co-authored“Vertical Specialization and Industry Structure inHigh Technology Industries” in Business StrategyOver the Industry Lifecycle—Advances in StrategicManagement (June 2004).
Professor Douglas M. McCabe served as co-editor of “Business Ethics in TransitionalEconomies: Special Issue from the InternationalConference” for the Journal of Business Ethics(November 2003). He also presented a papertitled “The Ethics of Peer Review Panels andInternal Corporate Tribunals” at the 2004 Inter-national Business Conference of the Society forthe Advancement of Management in Baltimore,Md. McCabe served on the editorial board ofResearch in Ethical Issues in Organizations, Volume5 (2004), and was the academic coordinator forthe 2004 International Security Management Asso-ciation/Georgetown Leadership Program held inWashington, D.C. He also presented a seminaron managerial ethics as part of the UniversityTraining and Development Professional ManagerCertificate Program. Additionally, he presentedan executive education course on masteringemployee relations for the MedStar Health Lead-ership Development Institute through George-town’s Center for Professional Development, and presented seminars for CPD on the subjectsof negotiations and leadership.
Adjunct Lecturer James P. Moore, Jr. is theauthor of American Prayer: The Spiritual Historyof Our Nation, to be published in February2005, which tells the story of the United Statesthrough the prayers offered by its populace overthe centuries.
Professor J. Keith Ord was named HonoraryGeographer of 2004by the Association ofAmerican Geographers.The AAG cited Ord forhis seminal contribu-tions to spatial statisticsand to geographicinformation systemsand analyses.
Adjunct Professor Marc B. Sherman delivereda speech on corporate fraud and the loan/syndi-cation markets at the 7th Annual Loan Marketsand Syndication Symposium in December 2003.
Sullivan/Dean Professor of International
Finance Richard J. Sweeney spent his sabbati-cal term pursuing research for a book on designinga constitution for the European Union. Sweeneymade presentations at universities and businessschools throughout Europe, including the Copen-hagen Business School, Gothenburg University, the Norwegian School of Management and theUniversity of Trento. He presented “Designing an International Bankruptcy System for SovereignDebtors” at the Financial Management Associa-tion’s Europe Meetings in Dublin in June. He alsodelivered the keynote address on “U.S. Historyand its Implications for an EU Constitution,” at the Annual Conference on ScandinavianEconomies and Policies. Sweeney gave workshopson Advanced Techniques in Valuing Foreign Firmsand Projects at Skovde University and PoznanSchool of Economics, and he taught interna-tional finance and applied international econo-metrics at the Copenhagen Business School and Gothenburg University.
Assistant Professor Jeanine W. Turner,
Professor Robert J.
Thomas, and Profes-
sor N. Lamar Rein-
sch, Jr. published“Willingness to Try aNew CommunicationTechnology,” in theJournal of BusinessCommunication (Janu-ary 2004). Theirresearch supports the
assertion that perceived attributes of new med-ical communication technology significantlyaffect patients’ willingness to try the technology.
Visiting Assistant Professor Sezer Ulku
and Assistant Professor Glen M. Schmidt
presented “Matching Product Architecture and Supply Chain Design” at the second WorldProduction and Operations Management Conference in late April.
Faculty Earn Awards for Teaching and Service
The following faculty members
were recognized at the 2004 Tropaia
Exercises, the MBA awards and
diploma ceremony, and the IEMBA
graduation ceremony:
Faculty Research Award
Associate Professor Paul Almeida
Joseph F. Le Moine Award for
Undergraduate and Graduate Teaching
Excellence
Professor Robert J. Bies
Dean’s Distinguished Service Award
Associate Dean Ann-Mary Kapusta
Dean’s Award for Excellence in
Adjunct Faculty Teaching
Adjunct Lecturer James P. Moore, Jr.
The Ronald L. Smith Distinguished
Service Award
Executive Professorial Lecturer
Kenneth E. Homa
The Distinguished MBA Teaching Award
Executive Professorial Lecturer
Kenneth E. Homa
IEMBA Outstanding Teacher Award
Associate Professor
Teri L. Yohn
Yohn and Benoit Simon (IEMBA’04)
Risk analysis has more than academic interest for McDonough SchoolAssistant Professor Robin L. Dillon-Mer-rill. Her husband, Tom Merrill, is an Amer-ican Airlines pilot.
Fallout from the 9/11 terrorist attackshas heightened interest in her specialty—decision and risk analysis, Dillon-Merrillsaid. She is participating in a series of workshops, sponsored by LawrenceLivermore National Laboratory, that isattempting to “gauge the decision-makingcapability of decision makers in complexenvironments,” including judgments about terrorism threats.
Dillon-Merrill formulates mathemati-cal models to help decision makers assesscomplex problems that involve uncer-tainty, multiple objectives and tradeoffs.
The tradeoffs make the decisions espe-cially difficult, she said.
“A lot of people are interested indefense for commercial airplanes againstshoulder-held missile attack,” for example,she noted. “This is a huge technologychallenge and would cost enormousamounts of money to do. It makes youwonder if that money would be betterspent some other way that would generateprotection of more people.”
Decision makers must consider manykinds of risk, Dillon-Merrill said, “andyou can’t do away with all of it.”
In addition to the risk of physicalinjury, she pointed out, there’s the risk offailing to accomplish the primary mission.
“What if Metro can’t operate becauseso many [risk-reduction] burdens areplaced on it?” she asked.
When NASA analyzes risks in aplanned space mission, she said, the scopeof the mission has to be balanced againstthe likelihood of success. Sending redun-dant versions of the equipment needed fora single scientific task increases the likeli-hood the task will be completed, but itreduces the number of tasks that can beattempted. Sending one set of equipmentfor each of several tasks increases the riskthat some tasks will fail, she explained.
Closer to earth, one of Dillon-Merrill’searly research projects involved studyingrisks to workers posed by electromagneticfields surrounding high-voltage power lines.
“Linemen who hook onto high-voltagelines are probably getting exposure thatwould not be healthy over a long period oftime,” she said. But alternatives for reducingthat threat aren’t risk-free.
One proposal, to de-energize linesbefore they’re worked on, would increasethe amount of driving workers have to dobetween worksites and control points, shesaid. Unfortunately, “the risk of auto acci-dents is one of the most significant risksto worker safety.”
Another proposal, for linemen to uselong “hot sticks” to work on the lines—which would allow them to stay away fromthe electromagnetic field—could increasethe time it takes to do the job and increasethe probability of falls, she said.
McDonough Business 15
“People perceive risks they want
to mitigate. But, in mitigating them,
they might be increasing very real
risks that they aren’t as aware of.”
Faculty in Focus Robin L. Dillon-MerrillBy Tom Price
“So, if we want to do something toimprove safety,” she said, “we have to bevery careful not to increase some othervery real risk.”
That is especially important to keep inmind when assessing risks from terrorism,she added.
“People perceive risks they want tomitigate,” she said. “But in mitigatingthem, they might be increasing very realrisks that they aren’t as aware of.”
Dillon-Merrill was attracted to herfield when, as an undergraduate at theUniversity of Virginia, she attended apresentation by Stanford University profes-sor Elisabeth Paté-Cornell, who was analyz-ing the potential risks associated with debrishits on the tiles of the Space Shuttle.
“I was so impressed by how you couldhave a very formal thought process thatcould have a lot of benefit to solving realproblems,” Dillon-Merrill explained.
At Virginia, she earned B.S. and M.S.degrees in systems engineering with aconcentration in risk analysis. She earnedher Ph.D. in engineering risk analysis atStanford, where Paté-Cornell became heradviser. They have collaborated on severalpapers.
At McDonough’s Center for Businessand Public Policy, Dillon-Merrill is bring-ing a risk-management perspective toworker health and safety issues. She’s amember of a National Academies commit-tee on accelerating waste cleanup at EnergyDepartment nuclear weapons facilities. Sheis a fellow in a National Science Founda-tion-sponsored program on social scienceresearch into hazards, natural disasters and other “extreme events.”
She is principal investigator of NASA-sponsored research to develop a risk-analysisframework for use in preparing for humanmissions to the moon or Mars. She andAssociate Professor Catherine H. Tinsleyalso have a NASA-sponsored research proj-ect to examine how near-miss events influ-ence a person’s beliefs about the reliability ofa technical system and why the risks associ-ated with prior foam debris hits were over-looked in the space shuttle program beforethe Space Shuttle Columbia accident.
year 2020 in the old EU. Even largeincreases in mobility would only representa small population flow (which is now lessthan one half of one percent). Peopledeserve to explore new options. Newmoves may well become an action signalfor the European economy and way ofthinking. This is a key opportunity toenrich the quality of life of regions andindividuals.
A long-term view is necessary. Migrationmay not result in permanent relocation.Individuals who go back home stimulateinvestment by setting up businesses andemploying others. Many immigrants, ratherthan looking for a handout, want to develop
their own base: home owner-ship, better educational oppor-tunities, as well as health andeconomic security.
All these moves willchange cultures. After all,
culture is the result of learned behaviorand adjustment to new conditions. Open-ing up to others should bring the rewardof growing flexibility, better understand-ing, and rising tolerance levels. Mobilityhas brought the power of improvisationand adjustment to the United States.Today’s world needs a Europe of courage,innovation and a willingness to take risks,with citizens that want new members tobe part of, rather than apart, from them.It is time for traditionalists to discard theremaining barriers to mobility and toembrace with pride and happiness thenew Europeans.
Professors Czinkota and Ronkainen teachinternational business and marketing at theMcDonough School.
16 McDonough Business
Prospectus The European Prayer of Saint AugustineBy Michael R. Czinkota and Ilkka A. Ronkainen
he European Union grew from 15 to 25 members on May 1. For 480 million Europeans, borders should have opened for free move-
ment of people, ideas and commerce.But politics and politicians have sharplyrestrained that movement.
Many in the old Europe fear disasterfrom a rapid influx of people. Workers fromlow-income nations within the expandedEuropean Union could come to steal thefew menial jobs still held precariously bylocals. Immigrants may take advantage ofgenerous health care, unemployment orwelfare systems. And they’ll never go homeonce they discover theburial benefits.
The new EU mem-bers disagree. They pointto a long history in whichthey have been occupied,exploited, and oppressed. Yet, they havenever left their countries. Quite telling isthe comment of a Hungarian who pointsout that “we live in brick houses” toexplain that families have stayed in placefor centuries. Perhaps a few excursionsabroad, but never a move!
Right now, fear has the political upperhand. The old European nations haveimplemented special escape clauses tosafeguard their systems. An abundance ofregulations are aimed against the newEuropeans. For up to seven years, theywill need special work permits, will berestricted in their unemployment andhealth care benefits, and constrained intheir retirement programs. The currentEuropean expansion is remindful of theprayer of Saint Augustine: “Lord make mechaste—but not yet!”
There are key drawbacks to such anarrangement. Delay introduces uncertainty,discontent and suffering. Those seekingbenefits are disappointed. Their hopes ofrapid improvement and dreams of equalityare shattered. After a century of misery dueto accidents of history and geography, hereis another painful setback. It was, after all,EU proximity that enabled the new mem-ber countries to reform their economiesand political systems in the short timeperiod since the downfall of Communism.
Those seeking to postpone the effectsof expansion only weaken their station.Jobs will continue to move to locationswhere they are performed better and at alower price. There will be no inflow ofnew enthusiasm and elasticity. Ratherthan welcoming a shift to a new produc-tive era, there is now a stultifying wait forthe “inevitable,” discouraging the old butnot encouraging the new.
Europe is different from the UnitedStates, but some post World War II U.S.experience can offer insights. Each year,on average, every seventh American moves.Most moves are within the same county,or within the same state. But year after
year, U.S. movers to a different state almostreach three percent of the population.That is the equivalent of the entire U.S.population transitioning to a new homestate in little more than one generation.
Not everybody moves equally. Thewealthy and well-entrenched have very lowmigration patterns. Those with low house-hold incomes are the most avid movers,seeking new opportunities. Young adultsmove frequently to broaden their views.
All this mobility has maintained asense of adventure in America. It hasretained a spirit of flexibility and explo-ration. If there are no new jobs in Illinoisbut lots of new opportunities in Arizona,then that’s where many people go. Therehas been the creation of entirely newregional industry and service clusters, theabsorption of many immigrants into theeconomy and relatively low long termunemployment. There remains stronglocal pride of place yet there is little xeno-phobic fear from out-of-state migrants.Vermonters don’t fear Virginians!
What does all this mean for the newEurope? The opportunities to pick up andmove are there, and those ready to movewould fill a vital need. The decline in fer-tility and aging of the population willreduce the workforce by 5.5 percent by the
T
“The current European expansion is
remindful of the prayer of Saint Augustine:
‘Lord make me chaste—but not yet!’”
McDonough Business 17
Competitive Edge: Case Competitions Enhance SkillsA McDonough team’s case competition
presentation turned into a consulting
relationship with National Public Radio
that might help shape NPR’s management
of a $200-million endowment.
That achievement, by five first-year MBA
candidates, is the most dramatic of the
successful performances staged by
a half-dozen McDonough School case
competition teams during the 2003–04
academic year.
by Tom Price
Four juniors won a trip to NewYork for finishing third in acompetition sponsored byBanc of America Securities,and all were offered summer
internships as a result, although they endedup accepting internships with other firms.Two teams of seniors won preliminaryrounds then finished second in internationalcompetitions held in Austin and Seattle.McDonough first-year MBAs performedon the first-, second- and third-place teamsat a University of Rochester competition inwhich each team comprised students fromseveral schools. And five MBA candidateswon the wildcard round of the VentureCapital Investment Competition at Van-derbilt University.
The Georgetown teams’ growing suc-cess should lead to greater future success,according to Associate Professor WillisEmmons, who coached the teams thatcompeted in Austin and Seattle.
“You kind of need to build your repu-tation in the competition circuit,”Emmons explained, “because these arepretty much invitation-only events. It’s achicken-and-egg problem. If you’re notknown, it’s hard to get invited. If you’renot invited, it’s hard to get known.”
These recent achievements are “begin-ning to build Georgetown’s reputation,not only nationally but internationally”
because some of the competitions includeschools from the around the world,Emmons said. He’s optimistic thatMcDonough students will be invited tocompetitions overseas in the near future.
Performing well in the competitionsalso boosts the school’s overall reputationand enhances the competitors’ resumes,Emmons said, because major organiza-tions sponsor competitions, are case sub-jects, and send executives to judge andobserve—as the McDonough students’NPR experience demonstrates.
Philanthropist and McDonald’s heirJoan B. Kroc’s $200-million bequest toNPR in late 2003 was the subject of theGeorge Washington University/KPMGcase competition at the Washington Mar-riott in March. Twenty teams—from theUnited States, Canada, Hong Kong, Italyand Spain—were challenged to create afive-year strategic plan for the nonprofitproducer of programming for 750 publicradio stations.
Most teams assumed the bequestwould be invested as a traditional endow-ment and would generate $10 millionannually for NPR projects. The McDo-nough students — Anuvrat Joshi, ZacharyGast, Jaseung Coue, Richard Russo andTamar Migdal — proposed investing thebequest in member stations’ equipmentand program development. NPR would
earn interest on loansor share in program revenues.
“The thought wasthat, if you can putsome capital behindmember stations,NPR could achievefinancial returns andat same time havesocial impact towardachieving its mis-sion,” Gast explained.
The entire $200million could be put towork in public radio,and the total wouldgrow over time.The Global Challenge Case Competition team, from left to right:
David J. Gold (B’04), Daniel M. Moreira (B’04), Kevin A. Tucker (B’04), Jennifer L. Paragallo (B’04), and faculty adviser Willis Emmons.
18 McDonough Business
NPR Executive Vice President KenStern, a first-round judge in the competi-tion, described the McDonough team’spresentation as “fabulous.”
“We heard a lot of presentations duringthe case competition, many of which werequite good,” he said. “But the Georgetownone really stood out for creativity, and Isaid ‘we want to follow up on this.’”
Although the McDonough studentsfinished second to host GW’s team, Sternasked them to refine their proposal andpresent it to top NPR executives.
“Everyone (at NPR) has been very favor-ably disposed to the idea,” Stern said. “It’sone of those ideas that, when you hear it,you say: ‘Why didn’t I think of that?’
“What made it great was that everyoneelse took the terms of the case as sort offixed: You have this endowment; you can’tspend the endowment. [The McDonoughteam] said: How can we leverage theentire endowment for the benefit of publicradio? And that was the creative thoughtthat really grabbed us.”
The proposal now is being discussedby NPR executives, board members, NPRFoundation trustees and local stationexecutives.
“I hope some of it becomes reality,”Stern said. And that might give theGeorgetown team some more consultingwork in the future.
Like Stern, David Williamson, a McDo-nough adjunct and the team’s coach, wasimpressed with the students’ creativity.
“They didn’t stop with what was safe,”Williamson said. “They kept coming at itfrom different perspectives.
“Their final proposal was significantlydifferent from what it was at the outset.It was nice to see it evolve was they gotmore into it.”
Also impressive, he said, was the waythe students worked effectively underextreme time pressure. They received thecase three weeks before the presentations,and that period included spring break andthe week of intensive study for the inter-national integrative coursework.
“We were staying up late into thenight,” Joshi recalled. “I hardly slept. Wewere quite scared about exactly how wecould do all of this.”
“The Georgetown [presentation] really stood out for
McDonough Business 19
T ime pressure is an important part ofmany competitions, Emmons said.In Austin and Seattle, the teams had
about 48 hours to research and preparetheir presentations. It’s all part of replicat-ing real business challenges, he explained.
“The cases involve real companies,” hesaid. “Some of the judges are from thecompanies. The students are not talkingabout some abstract business issue. They’retalking about a very concrete companyissue, with company executives there.
“I tell them its like you’ve walked intoa board meeting or a senior managementmeeting. They want to hear what you haveto offer, and they’re going to want to findany weakness there.
“That’s what they’re going to face intheir careers.”
The competitions often include addi-tional educational activities, Emmons said.The Seattle contestants toured a Boeingplant, socialized with their competitors,whom Emmons described as “some of thebrightest students from these programs,”and participated in a roundtable discussionof global sourcing and logistics.
David Gold, a member of the Seattleteam, agreed it was “a very practical experience.”
“The competition opened our minds todifferent factors [in business decision-making] that I wasn’t totally aware of
before,” Gold explained. “It kind of pre-pared you for [job] interviews in terms ofbeing on the spot and being able toanswer questions while thinking on yourfeet. I’m sure I’ll see the fruits of this formany years to come.”
Gold and his teammates in the GlobalBusiness Challenge — Daniel Moreira,Jennifer Paragallo and Kevin Tucker —trained with Mary Clare Haskins, AmolLuhadia, Jason Reid and Sharon Sweeney,who competed in the similar InternationalBusiness Challenge in Austin.
Aaron Shumaker, Michael Catts, RyanMooney and Abhyuday Prashad — allactive in Georgetown’s alumni and studentcredit union — faced a different task inthe Banc of America Securities Challenge.Teams were sent one case each week forthree weeks and had to answer multiple-choice questions. The top three teamsreceived a celebratory dinner and a nightin New York’s renowned Plaza Hotel.
In Rochester’s Marketing Case Com-petition, Gregor Gentschev was a memberof the winning team. Jennifer Wharton-Balint was a member of the second-placeteam and Frederico Almeida the third-place team.
Entering the venture capital competi-tion were Alp Bagriacik, Eugene Mizin,Fergus Mellon, Graham Williams andSam Sezak.
Acing the Case Interview
No longer limited to the consulting
field, hiring managers in the finance,
marketing and operations industries
are increasingly using case-style inter-
views to screen job applicants. Accord-
ing to Assistant Professor Sandeep
Dahiya, case interviews are the
“weapon of choice” for hiring in any
industry or function that involves
client service.
“Case interviews allow hiring compa-
nies to evaluate candidates on their
ability to identify the business prob-
lem, provide a solution, and then com-
municate the solution back to the
interviewer,” says Dahiya, who was a
consultant for McKinsey & Company.
“A person who performs well in a
case interview demonstrates an ability
to listen, ask good questions, make
good assumptions, use deductive rea-
soning, and think on his feet.”
The framework and techniques used
for analysis for a case interview is
similar to that in a case competition,
but the main difference, says Dahiya,
is that in the case interview “the solu-
tion is not the most important issue.
What they are looking for is the think-
ing process and the quality of the
interaction.”
In conjunction with the MBA Career
Management Office and the MBA
Consulting Club, Dahiya conducted a
case interview workshop for more
than 100 students in the fall of 2003.
The workshop was shaped by Dahiya’s
personal experience working in the
corporate finance and strategy prac-
tice of McKinsey & Company.
The Venture Capital Investment Competition case team, from left to right: second-year MBAs Fergus D. Mellon, Samuel T. Sezak, Graham S. Williams, Alp Bagriacik and Eugene Mizin.
creativity, and I said ‘we want to follow up on this.’”
Reaching Out, Giving BackIEMBAs Launch New Initiatives to Increase Engagement
In his strategic plan for
the McDonough School,
former dean John W. Mayo
articulated the goal
of increasing the level of
engagement among all
McDonough School
constituents, including
students, faculty, administra-
tors, and alumni in order to
leverage our significant
non-financial resources to
advance the school.
Members of the IEMBA
program took this to heart,
and in fact, were already
engaged in two new initiatives
to accomplish this goal.
Reaching OutIn the fall of 2003, members of the IEMBAClass of 2004 held a series of meetings withfaculty and staff members to discuss ways inwhich students could positively contributeto the program with the goal of advancingit to one of the top five executive MBAprograms in the world.
As a result of those meetings, theIEMBA candidates established an initia-tive to identify the most important issuesand goals for the program from a studentperspective and then assign studentresources to help own these initiatives andrepresent each stakeholder group.
Graduates from the class of 2004Larry Bradley, Myleeta Aga and Benoit J. Simon presented their plans, whichincluded seven specific initiatives, at theApril meeting of the school’s ExecutiveCouncil. The students were received withapplause.
“The initiatives run the gamut fromincreasing our engagement with alumni,raising the profile of the program bothinternally and externally, sharing knowl-edge, leveraging change through fundrais-ing, and creating a formal IEMBAstudent and alumni body,” said Bradley.“In all cases, the idea is that as IEMBAstudents we want to continue to build thevalue of the program and of the school.”
“As a graduate student and a teacher atfive different institutions, I have neverseen a group as enthusiastic and commit-ted,” said Assistant Professor Brooks C.Holtom. “Our core mission as an institu-tion is to develop new knowledge, and bycreating knowledge-sharing mechanismsbetween faculty and alumni, the organiza-tions employing our students have thepotential to gain a competitive advantage.”
Giving BackIn the same spirit of engagement, alumniof the IEMBA program came together inNovember 2002 to discuss ways to connectalumni across classes, facilitate interactionbetween IEMBAs and other McDonoughSchool programs, and ultimately increasethe value of the school and the IEMBAdegree.
“It takes about six months to realize whatyou’ve been through [with IEMBA], andonce you do, you have a profound respect forthe level of education you are receiving,” saidGeff Woodward (IEMBA’02). “Then yourealize what an asset you can be as an alum-nus to the help the school.”
IEMBA alumni have created an organi-zational body to facilitate their interactionand involvement with the school. RobertFragola (IEMBA’98) was elected by fellowalumni to serve as the group’s president,and he is supported by a governing boardthat includes Woodward, StephanieCinocco (IEMBA’03), Larry Bradley(IEMBA’04) and Chris Cather(IEMBA’01), which meets once a month inthe Car Barn. Associate Professor PaulAlmeida serves as the faculty liaison to theboard. IEMBA alumni plan to host severalevents each year, including an inductionceremony in the spring for new graduates,and various social and networking events,and they will work with Director of Gradu-ate Alumni Programs Robert P. Johnson toincrease IEMBA attendance at reunions.
Suzanne P. Clark (IEMBA’03), U.S.Chamber of Commerce executive vicepresident and chief operating officer,hosted IEMBA alumni for a networkingevent at the Chamber in May. IEMBAalumni and Chamber members and staffturned out for the event, which Fragolahopes will become a yearly event that“epitomizes what we are trying to do as anIEMBA alumni organization.”
“Our goal is to get people engagedwith the school and increase the cross-class communication,” Fragola said. “Theevent at the Chamber combines the thingsthat make Washington, D.C., great—Georgetown University, business and gov-ernment—and they were all represented.”
20 McDonough Business
By Jessica Botta
IEMBA candidates Eric J. Kessler and Ajay K. Gupta
Lawrence Hannifan, Robert L. Fragola (IEMBA’98),and Kelsey Regen (IEMBA’00) at the October 2003IEMBA alumni event.
Reunion ReduxEighteen percent of the MBA and IEMBA reunion classes returned for Reunions Week-end, June 4-6, 2004, which included a dean’s reception in the Car Barn, Saturday semi-nars with Georgetown faculty, an MBA/IEMBA golf tournament and the French EmbassyDinner Dance, in addition to Main Campus reunion activities. The MBA Class of 1984,under reunion chair James Schroer, received the class attendance award with 32 percentof its members returning. The MBA Class of 1999, under the leadership of reunion chairLisa S. Kleinknecht, followed closely behind with 28 percent attendance.
Planning for Reunion 2005 is already underway. For more information or to volunteer,MBA and IEMBA alumni should contact Robert P. Johnson, director of graduate alumniprograms, at (202) 687-3738 or [email protected].
Regional MBA/IEMBA Events and Career DevelopmentMore than 800 MBA and IEMBA alumni attended 13 regional events throughout theyear, including a series of five career development seminars in Washington, D.C., co-hosted with the Wharton Club of D.C. The April seminar on “Career Transition andthe Art of Personal Transformational Change” featured Alan Berson, an executive coachwho earned his certification from Georgetown’s Center for Professional Development.The June seminar, entitled “It’s About Me!,” featured Thomas J. Arnsperger (IEMBA’96),director of strategic consulting services at MorganFranklin. For more information onalumni career services programs, contact Robert P. Johnson.
MBA Fund ChairsWilliam H. Diamond, Jr. (MBA’83) and John Spirtos (L’92, IEMBA’00) are the new chairs ofthe MBA Fund, which includes MBA and IEMBA divisions. As fund chairs, they will helpincrease participation in the fund, which received an average gift of $490 from approxi-mately 14 percent of the MBA and IEMBA alumni population in fiscal year 2004.
Collaborative Spirit“The IEMBA program has alreadybecome one of the best executive MBAprograms in the world,” said Heisley Fam-ily Professor of Global ManufacturingKasra Ferdows. “It is precisely because weare a top program and a leading businessschool that these initiatives are so impor-tant to maintain and advance that status.”
The student and alumni initiatives are inextricably linked and are mutuallysupportive.
“Our students and alumni are motivatedby pride in the school and a commitment to its ongoing success,” said Assistant Deanand IEMBA Program Director Lisa A.Kaminski. “These are important activitiesthat will go a long way to ensure that theschool remains competitive and constantlysets higher standards for the educationalexperience as well as the services it providesto its stakeholders.”
McDonough Business 21
Greg Hamilton (IEMBA’03), Associate ProfessorTeri L. Yohn, and Associate Professor Paul Almeidaat an IEMBA alumni event in October 2003.
IEMBA candidate Melanie El-Sabaawi
IEMBA candidate Deena E. Gift at the2003 Opening Residency
Robert F. Piacesi (IEMBA’02) and Arturo Oliver (IEMBA’03)
America Online, Inc., a division of Time Warner, is a world
leader in interactive services—providing consumers with online
experiences available through its flagship AOL service. With its focus
on consumers, AOL seeks to become an essential part of the way people
live by connecting, informing, and entertaining its members however
they connect to the Internet. The 30 million AOL members around the world operate nearly
170,000 chat rooms, and send 450 million emails and 1.5 billion instant messages every day.
AOL supports philanthropic strategies with schools and nonprofit organizations and
encourages active citizenship and community involvement on the part of its employees and its
members—particularly focused on those areas where its employees live and work. In much the
same way, community service and volunteerism have long been defining characteristics of students’
education at the McDonough School of Business, as well as Georgetown University’s mission.
As a prominent corporate leader in the Washington, D.C., community, AOL is an ideal
partner for the McDonough School and supports its mission of educating business leaders
who can improve the management of organizations and the societies in which they operate.
connections■ AOL provides educational enrichment
opportunities to McDonough School students
through its Partnerships in Excellence
Program, which creates consulting projects
for students on real business issues at the
company. The McDonough School students’
performance in the program in 2003–2004
resulted in two full-time job offers and two
summer internships for undergraduates
at AOL.
■ AOL supports the Operations and
Information Management major in the
McDonough School’s undergraduate program,
including sponsoring an award for student
scholarship and service.
■ AOL hires McDonough School under-
graduates and MBAs for full-time positions
and summer internships and is a regular par-
ticipant in the MBA Careers Extravaganza,
including providing alumni panelists to serve
on marketing, technology and telecommu-
nications panels.
■ AOL provides panelists and speakers for
McDonough School events, such as the
MBA Distinguished Speakers Series and the
Emerging Markets Network conference.
■ AOL has sponsored employees for the
IEMBA program since 2000 and has partic-
ipated in the IEMBA Opening Residency.
There are two AOL employees in the current
IEMBA class.
22 McDonough Business
corporateprofileSecond in a series of articles highlighting significant collaboration between the McDonough School of Business and its corporate partners.
perspectives“My experience at Georgetown has played an
absolutely central role in my career at AOL,
even though the Internet was merely a gleam in
the eye of a few Defense Department computer
geeks when I attended in the 1970s. George-
town provided a world-class education, but
more important, I was encouraged, cajoled,
pushed and driven to develop my inner gifts of
character and leadership that are so critical to
success. I learned of the importance of mentoring
and investing in others from an extraordinary
educator, the late Father Durkin, who invested
everything he had in me. I had my first entre-
preneurial experience — selling red-white-and-
blue snow cones during the Bicentennial
(always an eye on what the consumer wants).
And I learned that the impossible is possible:
that with the help of
many wonderful people,
the son of a waiter and a
secretary from a work-
ing-class town — told
that he was “not college
material” — could finish
at the top of his class and
go on from there.”
Ted Leonsis (C’77)
Vice Chairman and President, AOL Core Services
“The strategic skills I learned while doing my
MBA at Georgetown have proven to be invalu-
able, especially when dealing with the diverse
challenges I face in AOL’s dynamic business
environment.”
Philip Dunne (IEMBA’98)
Director, Market and Member Development,
AOL Broadband
“Georgetown’s undergraduate programs in
business, with their strong focus on peer project
teams, provide invaluable experience prior to
entering the workforce. This has been especially
helpful here at AOL, where managing cross
functional groups is an essential part of a
manager’s role and a key to success.”
Jonathan Ricard (B’97)
Senior Marketing Analysis Manager
“My experience at Georgetown has been inspir-
ing and memorable—it has helped make me
who I am today! Through my work at AOL, I
have been fortunate enough to be able to give
back to Georgetown. I go back and give guest
lectures, work on fundraising, sit on the Board
of International Initiatives, and was even able
to set up a scholarship fund for students wishing
to study abroad. Georgetown and AOL share
the same backyard — I want to see more
Georgetown students
pursuing a career at
AOL! Georgetown opens
up our youths’ minds to
the world. At AOL, we
further that effort in
promoting an Internet
that is accessible to all,
regardless of age or geo-
graphic location.”
Tatiana Gau (I’89)
Chief Trust Officer and Senior Vice President,
Integrity Assurance
“At Georgetown, I made great friendships,
learned the value of effective teamwork, and
gained the ability to multitask among various
subject matters. Georgetown’s MBA experience
prepared me for the fast-paced, dynamic
environment at AOL, where I am consistently
challenged.”
Carolyn Levy (MBA’00)
Senior Business Development Manager
“My MBA experience at Georgetown has
proven to be invaluable. Working on merger
and acquisition transactions requires the ability
not only to work closely with various cross
functional, operating and deal teams, but also
to understand the nuances of each discipline.
Georgetown’s emphasis on teamwork and their
array of course offerings have prepared me
extremely well to succeed here at AOL.”
Jeffrey Sunshine (MBA’99)
Executive Director, Strategic Planning
McDonough Business 23
First OPIM Majors Graduate
This May, nine students were
the first to graduate from
Georgetown University with
a major in Operations and
Information Management. The McDo-
nough School launched the major in
the fall of 2002 to meet the demand
for professionals that understand busi-
ness processes and how to enhance
them using information systems.
“It’s a big deal for our business school
to develop this competency,” said
Visiting Assistant Professor Betsy Page
Sigman, who serves as the OPIM faculty
adviser. “So many of today’s hiring
companies, especially here in the Washington, D.C. area, are high-tech, they are looking for
students with technical skills as well as a solid business background. When I tell high-tech
executives about our program, they are extremely encouraging, and often volunteer to come
speak to classes.”
The OPIM faculty has developed strategic relationships with technology companies SAP and
America Online to create opportunities for collaboration in the classroom. Both SAP and AOL
provided cash awards to outstanding graduating seniors in the OPIM major based on their
service and scholarship.
“The curriculum for the OPIM major, together with the caliber of the faculty and students,
inspired AOL to sponsor an award,” said Carmel Hazard, associate director of AOL university
relations. “We hope that this sponsorship demonstrates our support for the program and pro-
vides an incentive for students to target a major that is in demand by industry. Collaboration
between Georgetown and America Online has resulted in very positive results for both sides—
definitely a win-win!”
In February, Sigman took her e-commerce class, many of whom are OPIM majors, to AOL to par-
ticipate in its Partnership in Excellence Program (PEP), which generally is a graduate-level program.
AOL asked the students, working in teams, to develop a strategy for marketing its products to
college students. The teams then presented their ideas to a board of AOL executives.
“OPIM has given us a competitive advantage in the job market by providing us with skills such
as Excel modeling and database development and management,” said Kristin N. Campbell
(B’04), who graduated in May with an OPIM major and will be working at Marriott Interna-
tional in its management development program. “OPIM is an excellent compliment to the
other disciplines in the school,” she said. Other OPIM majors have taken positions at AOL,
Liberty Mutual, Oak Brook Bank, Bearing Point and JP Morgan. For more information on the
OPIM major, go to http://msb.georgetown.edu/prog/opim.
McDonough School undergraduates present their collegiate marketing strategy to AOL executives as part of the company’s PEP program.
Georgetown is planning and raising
money for a project that will give the
McDonough School of Business
something it has never had: one building to
house all its programs.
Having a central location “is going to infuse
this program with identity—that is hard to
get when we’re scattered all over,” said Associ-
ate Professor Elaine Romanelli. Offices and
classrooms are now located in the Car Barn,
Old North, Maguire Hall and other areas.
The new building’s design, by Boston archi-
tects Goody Clancy, is guided by the busi-
ness school’s strategic plan, said Romanelli, a
member of the building committee and chair
of the committee that authored the strategic
plan last year.
Linking the school’s programmatic goals to
its building plan was a key element in get-
ting board approval to move forward, she
said. In addition to bringing the school’s
programs under one roof, the building will
accommodate curricular changes called for
by the strategic plan, such as a new intro-
ductory seminar for first-year undergraduate
students, Romanelli said.
The building also will give the school space
to house more executive education offerings,
said Virginia Flavin, chief of staff for the
dean of the business school.
“We feel we can grow [executive education],
but we need facilities for it,” she said. “A lot
of our conference programs we do off campus
—or in the Leavey Center, Flavin added.
“We’d like to be able to bring a lot of that on
campus in the McDonough School building.”
The new facility is also key to addressing
other programmatic goals, such as attracting
and retaining top-notch faculty members
and providing space to strengthen the
school’s career services and job placement,
Flavin and Romanelli said.
The 188,000 square-foot building would
include 30,000 square feet of instructional
space, compared to 6,500 square feet that
the McDonough School has today, said
Alice Boyer (IEMBA’04), director of plan-
ning in university facilities. In addition, she
said, faculty office space would double, and
the school’s common areas and other
“unprogrammed” space would increase more
than six-fold.
This space isn’t just measured in square feet
—Flavin and others say it has symbolic
value as well. “What we’d like to have is a
signature structure for the business school,”
Flavin said.
Proposed for construction on the western
half of Lot T, the facility is part of a long-
term plan to develop Georgetown’s mid-
campus area. Building plans call for outdoor
patios and a vital new cross-campus walkway
linking the Southwest Quadrangle to the
Leavey Center, planners said.
In September 2003, Georgetown’s board of
directors approved $5.7 million for the
design and regulatory phase of the facility.
The board’s vote of confidence has helped
spur fund raising for the project, said
Michael Boyd, director of development for
the McDonough School. As of July 30, the
school has raised more than $56 million for
a new building, with $11.5 million raised
so far in fiscal year 2004.
If fund raising reaches $62 million by Sep-
tember, the university could seek board
approval to start infrastructure work.
Realigning West Road and relocating under-
ground utilities, which may take a year to
complete, could start as soon as this Decem-
ber, pending necessary approvals and permits,
officials said. Building construction would
begin after authorization from all necessary
agencies dealing with issues such as zoning,
design, and permits.
Projected costs for the project, including
infrastructure, total $120 million. More than
$82.5 million is expected to be raised
through philanthropy to pay for building
costs, Boyd said.
Building Features
While plans are subject to revisions, pending zoning approval, fund raising and other details,the building’s current design includes:
■ Seminar-sized classrooms
■ More faculty office space
■ Tiered classrooms
■ Larger facilities for career management and student services
■ Common areas and space for studying and small group meetings
■ An auditorium that would serve the entire Main Campus
■ An outdoor terrace connecting the new building to the Leavey Center
■ Wireless computing access.
24 McDonough Business
dividends BUILDING FOR THE FUTUREBy Eman Quotah
As of July 30, pledges to the new
McDonough School building
total more than $56 million.
Tiered classroom
View of the east facade, connected by steps and awalkway to the Leavey Center
McDonough Business 25
alumniconnections*Benefits and Services for McDonough School of Business Alumni
Online Community
hoyasonline
Visit hoyasonline and update your contact
information, access email forwarding, search
the alumni career network and more!
www.georgetown.edu/alumni
Alumni Career Services
Career Advice From hoyasonline Career
Network Members
Search all Georgetown University alumni
and talk with alumni who have agreed to
offer advice in selected career fields. You
may also do an Advanced Search by class
and employer.
www.georgetown.edu/alumni
Career Tools
Available to Career Network members
(All MBA/IEMBA alumni are members)
Access premium research databases, an
exclusive Web search engine covering more
than 100,000 company job sites and useful
tips on conducting an effective job search.
Enjoy a special relationship between
Georgetown alumni and Lee Hecht Harri-
son, located in 50 states and 20 countries.
To join, go to hoyasonline and select
Alumni Career Services.
www.georgetown.edu/alumni
Global Workplace
An international career management and
development platform for alumni of the
world’s top 50 business schools. Join and
search a database of international jobs, access
salary surveys and discover tips on finding a
job in the world’s key employment markets.
msb.georgetown.edu/mba/alumni
Online Job Postings
The MBA/IEMBA alumni job board is for
McDonough MBA and IEMBA alumni.
For more information, visit the MBA and
IEMBA Alumni Web site.
msb.georgetown.edu/mba/alumni
Other online job postings are also available
through Monstertrak, Monster.com’s
executive site, 6FigureJobs.com, ExecuNet
and Degree Hunter.
msb.georgetown.edu/mba/alumni
Individual Career Counseling
For MBA & IEMBA Alumni
Schedule up to two one-hour sessions with
a career counselor and discuss issues such as
career transitions, job search strategies and
resume development.
msb.georgetown.edu/mba/alumni
Wall Street Alliance
Create and participate in networking
opportunities for financial professionals
and graduating students. Contact the
Wall Street Alliance at (212) 704-0884.
Entertainment and Media Alliance
Foster and support career development
for alumni and current students within the
media and entertainment communities.
www.gema-hoyas.org
Alumni Clubs Career Programs
The Georgetown University alumni clubs
offer career-related programs, such as work-
shops and panel discussions featuring alumni
who have made career transitions.
www.georgetown.edu/alumni
MBA & IEMBA Class Programs
Class officers prepare electronic newsletters
and help in reunion organizing and the
school’s fundraising efforts. Volunteers are
being sought for all classes. Contact Robert
P. Johnson at (202) 687-3738 or
Class Reunions
Reunion Weekend was established to cele-
brate the 5-year anniversary of classes each
June. Reunion 2005 runs from June 3–5,
2005. Undergraduate alumni should contact
Matthew T. Lambert at (202) 687-4336 or
[email protected]. MBA and IEMBA
alumni should contact Robert Johnson at
(202) 687-3738 or [email protected].
MBA & IEMBA Alumni Groups
McDonough MBA and IEMBA alumni
groups have been established across the
United States and overseas with a focus on
networking functions, including relation-
ships with alumni from other business
schools.
msb.georgetown.edu/mba/alumni
University Alumni Clubs
Forty-seven Georgetown University alumni
clubs exist worldwide. The clubs serve as an
excellent way to meet other university
alumni and offer a variety of activities of
particular interest to McDonough School
alumni.
www.georgetown.edu/alumni
University Alumni Special Services
The University Alumni Association’s special
services include an alumni credit card
through MBNA, alumni travel opportunities
worldwide, and low-cost life and medical
insurance.
www.georgetown.edu/alumni
*http://msb.georgetown.edu/alumni
*http://www.georgetown.edu/alumni
26 McDonough Business
undergraduatealumninotes
‘68Robert L. Andrews (B’68, L’71) isa 2004 recipient of the John Car-roll Award from Georgetown Uni-versity. See profile this page.
‘72John D. Bowlin, former presidentand CEO of Miller Brewing Com-pany, was elected to the Board ofDirectors of global consumer prod-ucts company Rayovac Corp.
‘77Kevin M. Lasater was namedvice president of operations in themanufacturing business unit ofAlberici Constructors, where hewill be responsible for the manu-facturing and food-and-beveragemarket segments as well as con-tributing to business developmentand marketing.
‘79Smiti Kumar started work atAmerica Online, Inc. in September2003 as director of creative strat-
egy for the broadband group. Shewas previously a senior promotionsmanager at The Coca-Cola Com-pany in Atlanta.
The lives, careers and generosity of V. Neils Agather and his wife,Elaine, are the subject of a profilein the Fort Worth Business Press(2/27/04). In December 2003,Agather was appointed executivedirector of the Burnett Foundation,where he manages more than$250 million in assets.
‘80Thomas J. De Rosa wasappointed an independent directorof Health Care REIT, Inc., a realestate investment trust that investsin health care facilities, where hewill serve on the audit, investment,nominating and planning commit-tees. De Rosa is the vice chairmanand chief financial officer of TheRouse Company.
‘83Ann Misaszek Sarnoff has takena new position as chief operatingofficer of the Women’s NationalBasketball Association, where she
will oversee the business functionsof the league, including its adver-tising, broadcasting, marketing,merchandising, player programsand communications activities.Sarnoff was previously chief oper-ating officer at VH1 and CMT.
‘86Joseph Carbonara III and wifeLaurie announce the birth of theirsecond child, Caroline Allyn, inMarch 2004. Joe and Laurie live inJacksonville, Fla., where Joe is con-troller for LandMar Group, LLC, aregional real estate developer, andLaurie is a full-time mom to Caro-line and 3-year-old brother Joseph.
‘88Dominic P. Morandi started thelegal search firm of Morandi, Taub& Sarnoff LLC in October 2003.The firm, located in Manhattan,focuses on attorney placement atlaw firms and corporations bothnationally and internationally. Pre-viously Dominic was an attorney atNew York Life Insurance Company.Dominic and his wife, Danielle,have a 2-year-old son, Dominic.
‘90Brian L. Collins has joined HarborCapital Advisors, Inc. as executivevice president and chief invest-ment officer. He will be responsi-ble for researching andrecommending prospective invest-
Alumni Notes are accepted on a first-come, first-served basis because ofspace constraints. MBA and IEMBAalumni should send notes via email to the class correspondent indicated. Otherwise, email your notes to [email protected], or send them to Editor, McDonoughBusiness, Georgetown University, 206 Old North, Washington, D.C.,20057, or fax them to (202) 687-2017. We do not accept engagement or pre-birth announcements. Posting notes on hoyasonline isanother option. Go to www.georgetown.edu/alumniand click on “My Information” in the upper left corner.
Alumnus Honored for Distinguished Service
Robert L. Andrews (B’68, L’71) received Georgetown University’s 2004 John Carroll Award for distinguished lifetime achievement and service to theuniversity. Named after Georgetown’s founder, the John Carroll Awards aregiven annually to Georgetown University alumni who have honored their alma mater and contributed significantly to the betterment of society and the nation through community service efforts and career accomplishments.
Andrews is vice president of Private Capital Advisors, a registered investmentadviser in Darien, Conn. From 1995 to 2001, he served two terms on George-town’s Board of Governors. He has served as the Governors’ ambassador to the McDonough School of Business since 1999. He also has served as thefund chair for the Class of 1968 every year since 1993. He is chair of the AlumniHouse Renovation Founding Members Wall Program, spearheading fund raising to renovate Georgetown’s Alumni House. His other charitable work
includes supporting the National Kidney Foundation and Chaminade High School in Mineola, N.Y.
McDonough Business 27
ment managers as well as analyz-ing managers and investment per-formance of Harbor Fund and thedefined benefit pension plan assetsadvised by Harbor Capital Advisors.He was previously director of U.S.investment manager research forMercer Investment Consulting.
James Quick and wife Melindaannounce the birth of their daugh-ter, Holly Fiona, born in February2004. James is a software engineerand project manager for CACI, Inc.,where he works on a project for theNavy’s SPAWAR division. James,Melinda, daughter Elise, and babyHolly reside in Virginia Beach.
‘91Irina Sturan Shea (B’91, L’95) andTimothy S. Shea (L’94) announcethe birth of their first child, AidanLuis, in July 2003. They are livinghappily in Saddle River, N.J.
Jay O. Wright was namedofficer/secretary of Miami-basedGlobal Triad, Inc., a digital commu-nications holding company. Wrightis president and chief executiveofficer of MobilePro Corp., a wire-less technology and broadbandInternet services company based inBethesda, Md.
‘92William J. Gaus joined the invest-ment banking firm of LeerinkSwann & Company as director ofNASDAQ trading. He was previ-ously a NASDAQ trader at Pruden-tial Securities.
‘94Richard R. Heitzmann (B’94) hasrejoined Pequot Capital Manage-ment, Inc. as senior vice president,where he will focus on investing inthe software and services sector.
Brian Tramontozzi and wife Jen-nifer live in Bedford, N.Y. with theirnewborn son, Luke Christopher,and Black Labrador Shelby. Brian isa managing director in JPMorgan’sHigh Yield Capital Markets group in New York.
‘96Michael G. Rand was named man-aging director at Gordon BrothersGroup, LLC, a retail finance and assetmanagement firm. Rand is a principalof GB Palladin Capital, a provider ofcreative debt financing to middle-market consumer product companies.
Jeff C. Settembrino was promotedto the position of director at TrivestPartners, L.P., a Miami-based privateinvestment firm.
Mark Vlasic (B’96, L’00) returnedfrom three years in the Netherlands,where he was studying on a Nether-land-America Foundation fellowshipand working as a prosecution lawyerat the UN War Crimes Tribunal in TheHague (where he served on the Milo-sevic trial team). He is now in Wash-ington, D.C. working as an associateat Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP,where he supports the firm’s publicpolicy, litigation and internationaltrade groups.
‘97Kelley M. Sullivan married BrianA. Bolten in December 2003 inShort Hills, N.J. Kelley is a market-ing manager at Chelsea PropertyGroup in Roseland, N.J. The coupleresides in Englewood, N.J.
‘99Benjamin K. Smith is a producerwith Metropolis Entertainment inNew York. See profile this page.
‘01Khary P. Robinson has started twonew ventures back home in Jamaica.International Data Processors providesoutsourcing solutions to U.S.-basedcorporations, and TropicalPhones is a provider of cellular services toJamaicans traveling abroad as wellas foreigners visiting the island.Robinson was previously an analystin the General Industrial Group at Banc of America Securities in New York.
Life After Georgetown
For Benjamin K. Smith (B’99), life after Georgetownmeans “Life After Skippy.”
“Skippy” is a televisioncomedy that Smith helpedto create and now is help-ing to pitch as a producerwith Metropolis Entertain-ment in Manhattan.
Metropolis, a young pro-duction company, hopes“Skippy” will become partof “the next wave of pro-gramming,” Smith said.He described the genre as“hybrid TV, a marriage between reality show and situationcomedy.” “Skippy” is about the former child star of the short-lived sitcom “Life with Skippy,” who makes cold calls from atelemarketing boiler room while trying to resurrect his actingcareer. It evokes the feel of a documentary by having actorsimprovise from the script.
Metropolis created “Skippy” as an alternative to sitcoms,which seem to be dying, and reality shows, which are beingoverdone, Smith said. Inspired by the British show “TheOffice,” “Skippy” is inexpensive to produce, a selling point forcable networks.
Metropolis sold one stop-motion show, “The Wrong Coast,” to the American Movie Classics cable network, but it has notyet been aired. Another “hybrid,” depicting a small-town tele-vision news operation, is in early stages of development.
In his spare time, Smith, a marketing major, sells comic bookartwork through his gothamcityart.com Web site.
Three Alumni Receive Gaston Awards
Melissa L. Bradley (B’89), Peter W. Mellen (C’89, MBA’98), and John K.
Reagan (B’84) were honored by the Georgetown University Alumni Associ-ation with the university’s 2004 William Gaston Awards. The William Gas-ton Award recognizes outstanding service by graduates of the schools onGeorgetown’s Main Campus. It is named for Georgetown’s first student.
Bradley, Mellen and Reagan have exhibited leadership in many ways.Bradley has served as chair and cofounder of the Georgetown UniversityAfrican-American Advisory Board, as a board member of the GeorgetownWomen’s Center, as a volunteer speaker for the MBNA Career Center, andas an alumni admissions interviewer. Mellen has served as chair of the Classof 1989, as co-president of the Georgetown Club of Metro Washington,D.C., as an active member of the Board of Governors, and as a drivingforce behind hoyasonline. Reagan has been an active member of HoyasUnlimited, the Board of Governors, the Alumni Admissions Program, theCareer Network, an avid supporter of Georgetown athletics through HoyaSaxa.com, and a leader in the Georgetown Club of North Texas.
28 McDonough Business
headed to China and were inShanghai at the same time as DavidGee, who they met for a drink andto catch up on old times.
Jane and Paul F. Murphy hadtheir third daughter, Emily, in Sep-tember 2003. Emily joins big sistersKathryn and Margaret, ages 5 and3. Paul is enjoying his harem.
David E. Goldberg was promotedto vice president of corporate andbrand strategy and treasurer ofChoice Hotels. This means he over-sees strategic planning, brandmanagement and some financefunctions. Family is also doing great:Sam is in first grade, Zoey justturned 4, and Marni is doing well.
Alona B. Ponomareva and hus-band Steve Smith are now proudparents of twins! Lilia Alexandraand Sabina Marie were born inAugust 2003 and have since beenkeeping mom and dad very busy.Alona reports: “It is amazing howyour life changes with the arrival ofkids, especially if it is two at once—it is a constant juggling act.Don’t know how we managed tofill our time before. In other news(much less important), I was pro-moted last year, to senior invest-ment officer in the TreasuryDepartment of the World Bank,investing the Staff Pension Plan($11 billion) in private equity andreal estate.”
Kristen Fossgreen Staples hasgone back to work full-time atSprint Government Systems Divi-sion in marketing. She likes thework and is very busy, but stillworking on how to balance workand kids/home.
Robert Wade Speir reports thathe bumped into Marc S. Gross
and family in London earlier thisyear. Robert saw pictures and plansfor their fabulous renovatedmonastery in Umbria. Perhaps wecan rent it for the 20th Reunion?
mba‘84James Schroer served as the Classof 1984 reunion chair.
‘89Class Correspondent:
Volunteer Needed
Jeanne S. Jennings served as theClass of 1989 reunion chair.
‘90Class Correspondent:
Lorraine Herr
J. Richard Carlson was appointedpresident and chief executive offi-cer of Wireless Matrix Corporation,a Canadian-based developer andprovider of wireless data servicesfor mobile workforces and remoteassets.
‘91Class Correspondent:
Mary Pat Blaylock
Hello from your missing-in-actionclass agent. Everyone please note my new email address:[email protected]. Please send news to me and I willforward it to the McDonough Busi-ness magazine editors. The maga-zine is only published twice a year,so news travels slowly.
Layla S. Kashani married Nick vander Heyden, and the couple residesin Monte Carlo. Georgetown MBAsin attendance at the wedding inclu-ded Christine M. Szuszkiewicz
(MBA’90), Mohab T. Khattab
(MBA’90), Mary Jean Duran
(MBA’91), Lisa M. Ball Ghezzi
(MBA’91), and Robert W. Torres
(MBA’90).
‘93Class Correspondent:
J. Jordan O’Neill
Genevieve Needham Roberts
was awarded the 2003 Tri-CitiesWoman of the Year Award fromthe River City Express Network ofthe American Business WomanAssociation. Genevieve wasselected for this award on thebasis of her notable contributionsand outstanding achievements inthe areas of participation, educa-tion, career accomplishments andcommunity involvement. The RiverCity Express Network representsthe cities of Richmond, Petersburgand Glen Allen, Va. Genevieve isone of three founders and manag-ing principal of The Titan GroupLLC, a Richmond-based humanresources consulting firm.
J. Jordan O’Neill joined FirstHorizon Bank as senior vice presi-dent and commercial lender andwill be responsible for building aportfolio of loan participations tar-geting publicly traded REITs.O’Neill previously worked forChevy Chase Bank as a vice presi-dent where he underwrote, nego-tiated and closed structured realestate loans.
‘94Class Correspondent:
David N. Gee
Paul F. and Jane Dawkins Murphy
served as Class of 1994 reunionchairs.
Michael A. Harman proudlyannounces the arrival of Hailey Vir-ginia, born in November 2003.Brother William is proud of hisnew title of “big brother,” anddaddy is saving for the wedding!Michael is manager of globalalliances in the Structured FinanceGroup at Daimler Chrysler Services.
Christopher J. Hewitt
(JD/MBA’94) was promoted topartner in the Cleveland office ofthe international law firm JonesDay. Hewitt, whose practicefocuses on mergers and acquisi-tions, joined the firm in 1997.
Andrew D. Dyer was recentlyappointed chief operating officerof SMS Management and Technol-ogy, an Australian company withoperations in Australia, Asia andEurope. He and wife, Theresa,have just completed their third vin-tage at their vineyard and winery,Jallukar Ridge, located in westernVictoria. He recently caught upwith David Gee during Gee’squick trip Down Under.
Anita and Andrew F. “Drew”
Schwartz are traveling the world(lucky them!) for a few months.They stopped in India and stayedwith Manish Agrawal and Anees
R. Sultan in Cairo. They then
alumninotes
McDonough Business 29
Karen Chmar London gave birthto Sidney Reese London in October2003. Both Karen and her hus-band, Steve, are absolutely nutsover their little girl. Karen took afew months off but is still workingat Nextel Communications.
Bella Wong Konstantinidis isworking as manager of marketingand analysis at Safeway (the For-tune 50 grocery chain). She is cur-rently on maternity leave withdaughter, Taia Ji-Lik, who was bornin March 2004. Bella married DenoKonstantinidis in September 2002.
Stephen Jordan reported that hissecond daughter, Alexandra Crich-ton, was born in January 2004. Hermother, father and sister are alldoing fine.
Melissa Gilliland Frank and herhusband, Gary, are pleased toannounce the birth of their son,Brendan, in October 2003. Big Sister Caitlin, who turned 4 in May,is very protective of her “LittleBrother.” Upon returning to work,Melissa moved from developingTanqueray Gin to marketing theChampagnes portfolio of Moet &Chandon and Dom Perignon.Needless to say, the Franks havefound many new occasions to cele-brate with a bottle of bubbly!
Tony Corsello and his wife, Lau-rra, welcomed their daughter,Helena Jane, in December 2003.She is doing great as are Mom,Dad and big brother Marek. Theylive in Seattle, Wash.
Adrian Aguilera is at SocieteGenerale as head of the commodi-ties group in Mexico.
Manuel Gonzalez continues towork in Rabobank, where he beganright after graduation. He is secondin command for the Mexico office.
Scott Geltz resigned from AmericaOnline, Inc. (where he workedfrom the day he graduated in May1995 until summer 2002) and relo-cated his family to Hilton HeadIsland, S.C. He and his wife, Kim,have two daughters, Jessica (6)and Samantha (3), and a son,Coulson (9 months). They are reno-vating a home in Sea Pines on thesouth end of Hilton Head Island.Scott bumped into Jennifer John-
son (maiden name) on the tennis
Robert sees Ryuta Sato andRonald A. Drozd quite frequentlyin Princeton. He is living in the areaand back doing pharmaceuticalconsulting for Kepner-Tregoe afterstints at Booz-Allen and a dot com.Robert asks classmates to call hiscell phone if they are in town, (646) 229-2997.
David Gee met up with Stan
Beraznik at a local Bay area fund-raiser for the first time in nearly tenyears in early May 2004. Stan is aprivate banker with Citigroup in itsPalo Alto office.
‘95Class Correspondents:
Scott A. Shore and
Alison Daly Van Dyke
[email protected] and [email protected]
Meaghan Mikos Gorski and herhusband, Paul, welcomed a son,Ryan, in December 2003.
Pam Caldwell Nootbaar and herhusband Joe welcomed a daughter,Taylor, in January 2004.
After a two year stint in New York,Kathleen Bauersfeld moved backto San Francisco in May to joinWundermann.
Faysal Hamza and his wife, Roula,had a son.
Kerri Olson and family movedback to Washington, D.C. in the fall.They are living in Bethesda, Md.
Stephanie Scherr Olson (C’90, L’95,MBA’95) is living in New York Citywith her husband, David, and daugh-ter, Juliet. Stephanie is senior vicepresident and assistant general coun-sel of National Financial PartnersCorp., a financial services firm. Steph-anie started at NFP in 2000 acquiringindependent financial services com-panies, and in 2003 shifted her focusfrom mergers and acquisitions to tak-ing the firm public and affecting asecondary follow-on offering.
courts in Hilton Head a couplemonths ago. Small world!
Brian Porto and his wife, Cathy,welcomed their first child, HaleyAnne, into the world in March2004. Brian, Cathy and Haley livein Bethesda, Md. Brian is vice presi-dent of Tri-State Stone & BuildingSupply, Inc. Tri-State recently quar-ried and supplied the Carderockstone that was used on the South-west Quadrangle project atGeorgetown University. CarderockStone is also being considered forGeorgetown University’s proposedboathouse project.
Erich Meyer is a high-level execu-tive at Alfa Alimentos in Mexico.
Eduardo Torres lives in MexicoCity and is an entrepreneur. He hasbeen married for two years.
‘96Class Correspondent:
Volunteer Needed
Beth Swaggart Dearing andJohn Dearing had their first child,Alexander, in June 2003. The Dear-ings reside in Arlington, Va. Bethworks for PricewaterhouseCoopersand John works for Virtual Strate-gies, Inc.
Matteo Recagni got married in2002 to a Japanese woman namedJunko. They live near Ocean Beachin San Francisco.
Adrienne Kuehneman launcheda new marketing communicationsfirm, Idea Promotions, in February.The Washington, D.C.-based busi-ness provides strategic advertisingsolutions for companies, nonprofitsand political campaigns. Adrienneand her husband, Gene, live inBethesda, Md., not far from his-toric Glen Echo Park, and can bereached at [email protected].
Michael Schmeltzer recently joinedCarlson Wagonlit Travel as directorof industry relations for the UnitedStates and Latin America. He’ll beworking out of his home in Philadel-phia but going back and forth quitea bit to the Minneapolis headquar-ters. There also will be a good bit oftravel throughout Latin America,and Michael hopes to see some for-mer classmates there as well.
From Ken Cruse: “In January, bas-ketball fans expecting to see a con-test between the top ranked DukeBlue Devils and the GeorgetownHoyas were surprised to hear thatthe Hoyas pulled out at the lastminute. Former Georgetown coachCraig Esherick cited a scheduling
Alumni Gather in Mexico City
Georgetown’s Provost, James J. O’Donnell and Professor Dennis Quinn, whois now directing the Latin America Initiative, visited Mexico the first week ofMarch 2004. Several McDonough School alumni, including Manuel Gonzalez(MBA’95), Samuel Robfogel (MBA’02) and Adrian Aguilera (MBA’95), wereinvited to a dinner at the home of Lola and Luiz Aziz (LLM’93).
Manuel Gonzalez (MBA’95), Samuel Robfogel (MBA’02), Jorge Cervantes (R’68),Adrian Aguilera (MBA’95), Professor Dennis Quinn, Provost James J. O’Donnell,Lola and Luis Aziz (LLM’93), Jorge Ortega (MPP’93), Luis Gonzalez Nieves (L’93)and Ernesto Rubio (L’92).
30 McDonough Business
“Rusty” Heffner III, Martin
Riezebeek and Sebastian von
Stauffenberg. He invites anyoneto visit him in the District whenthey are in town.
‘98Class Correspondent:
Brian R. Knox
Cindy and Robert Walley are theproud parents of a beautiful baby
girl, Alexis Gayle, born in February2004. Through an open adoptionCindy and Robert took placementof Alexis five days later. Robert,Cindy, Alexis and their three dogslive in Charlotte, N.C., whereRobert is a manager with Deloitte& Touche. After 10 years withBank of America, Cindy hasstarted her new career as a full-time mommy.
conflict: We promised the teamthat if they beat the Citadel wewould take them out for a swimparty, and unfortunately, January24 was the only day we couldbook the pool. . .” Thankfully, thegame went on as planned whenfive MBAs—Clay Buckley, Carter
Austin, John Dearing, Mike
Bress and Ken Cruse—agreed tostep up against the Duke starters.The contest ended in a victory forthe Hoyas after Duke coach MikeKrzyzewski, in a typical understate-ment of opposing talent, directedChris Duhon to inbound the balldirectly to Mike Bress, who dartedthe length of the court for asmooth tomahawk dunk to thecheers of the roaring sold-out MCICenter crowd.”
Colleen Parent Zarate and herhusband, Al, welcomed their secondchild, Andrew Simpson, to theirfamily in September 2003. He joinedbig sister Katie, who is now 4.Colleen continues to work in prod-uct development at British Telecomin Reston, Va.
Pankaj Gupta and his wife had adaughter, Aashna, in November2002. Pankaj is still at the WorldBank in the project finance andguarantees unit. He is working onprojects in Laos and West Africa.His wife is practicing endocrinologyin Maryland.
‘97Class Correspondent:
Andrea H. Alexander
Grant Pickering was promoted tosenior vice president of operationsat Dendreon in August. He nowhas responsibility for manufactur-ing along with his other duties.The company is preparing for thelaunch of their lead product,Provenge, a therapeutic vaccine forprostrate cancer. Grant, Kristi, Benand Claire are all doing well.
Andrea Alexander has recentlychanged companies. She is nowbased in New York City and is work-
ing at Pfizer, Inc. Andrea is workingon the US Cox-2 team on both theCelebrex and Bextra products.
Adlai Hardin III married ElisabethAnn Besio of Alexandria, Va., inApril 2004. Adlai is still practicinglaw with the corporate restructur-ing group at Skadden Arps.
Abby Weinstock and ShawnSefret were married in New Jerseyin February 2004. Abby and Shawnare now living in Pikesville, Md.and would love to hear fromGeorgetown friends. Abby can bereached at [email protected].
Michele Joseph is CEO and presi-dent of Klick Consultants LLC, aSilver Spring, Md.-based marketingconsulting group (www.klickcon-sultants.com). Michele serves onthe Board of Directors of theWomen Business Owners of Mont-gomery County. She is a memberof the Economic DevelopmentCommittee and the InformationTechnology Working Group for theInnovation Center for the GreaterSilver Spring Chamber of Com-merce and the American Market-ing Association. She is an adjunctprofessor with the graduate andundergraduate programs at theUniversity of Phoenix (Marylandcampuses), where she facilitatesclass sessions in marketing, publicrelations and strategy. She and herhusband live in Silver Spring, Md.,with their son.
Andreas Suma left consulting andcommuting to Brazil and is nowworking at Fannie Mae again inWashington, D.C. He resides in theDistrict with his wife, Patricia.Andreas recently attended Jeremy
Akel’s wedding in Merida, Mexico.Also in attendance wereDemetrios Diavatis, Reid
mbaalumninotes Continental Drifter
People might be surprised tohear a California girl speakfondly of Siberia. But that’sjust one remarkable fact aboutMichele E. Konrad(MSFS/MBA’02), who left high-school early, speaks four lan-guages, co-authored aneconomics book with a formerGeorgetown adjunct, and nowhelps BP evaluate businessopportunities in Russia.
“It is really cold in the winter,”Konrad said of Siberia. “Butthe people are extremelyfriendly. The natural resources are incredible. A lot of it is stillunspoiled. And there’s kind of a simple pace to life, maybethe way America used to be on the frontier.”
Konrad, who grew up in the San Francisco area, does missCalifornia’s mild climate, especially when she is in London,where she works at BP headquarters, and in Russia, whereshe travels frequently on business. But she finds her work inthose places “exciting.”
“The quality of people who work for BP is great,” she said.“It’s an environment where you can make things happen.You’re not locked into one niche for your whole working life.People are willing to listen to your ideas.”
Konrad joined the Army Reserves at age 17 and served eightyears, two on active duty, including a stint at the U.S.Embassy in Ukraine. She earned a GED credential, thenlearned Russian at the Defense Language Institute. She alsospeaks French and Mandarin Chinese.
Konrad earned a B.A. in English at the University of Virginia.She also studied at Oxford and Beijing universities. While atGeorgetown, she co-authored, with Daniel R. Kazmer, Eco-nomic Lessons from the Transition: The Basic Theory Re-examined, published by M.E. Sharpe in January. The bookargues the transition from communism to capitalism didn’tgo well in the former Soviet Bloc, not because mainstreameconomists’ advice wasn’t followed, but because “it was thewrong advice,” Konrad said.
More than Skin Deep
Ada S. Polla (MBA’04) alwaysknew she wanted to be in thefamily business—the medicalskin care business. The eldestdaughter of Swiss/Italian doc-tors that transformed their der-matology practice into abeauty institute and a line of skin care products, Ada usedher post-college job experience working for a Barcelona-based technology consulting firm to develop some businessskills. She forged key relationships with dermatologists byworking as a product manager for one of the largest lasermanufacturers for dermatology applications. Then, seeking toboost her finance acumen and build a solid base of knowl-edge from which to launch a business, she enrolled inGeorgetown’s MBA program.
Knowing exactly what she wanted to do made her MBAexperience all the more useful. She leveraged the resourcesand brainpower of her entrepreneurship project team todevelop and refine the business plan, financial model andsales strategy for Alchimie Forever, LLC, the U.S. distributor ofthe Alchimie Forever skin care line developed by her parents,who also own the Forever Laser Institut spa in Switzerland.
“People always told me that one of the best things aboutbusiness school is the people you meet,” Polla said. “I agree.My teammates were absolutely amazing.”
Now that she’s graduated, Ada is working on expanding herbusiness along the East Coast and to the West Coast, distrib-uting the products through medical channels.
“The challenge for me now will be to grow,” she said, but shehas a strong support network in her family. “I’m very fortunatethat if I don’t know what to do, or I need to bounce ideas offof someone, I can use my parents as a resource. They areabsolutely key.”
For more information about Alchimie Forever, go towww.alchimie-forever.com.
‘99Class Correspondent:
Michael J. Pastore
Thanks to several blue chip con-tracts that Hispanic TeleservicesCorporation (HTC) was awarded in2004, Kit Cooper reports that heexpects the company will growfrom 600 employees in January2004 to more than 1,000 employ-ees by 2004. HTC providesinbound customer service supportsolutions to U.S. clients serving theHispanic market. The companywas ranked #16 in the top 50International category for out-sourced contact center companiesin Customer Interaction Solutions.
Lisa Kleinknecht served as theClass of 1999 reunion chair.
‘00Class Correspondent:
Volunteer Needed
Christian H. Chang is one ofthree partners in Amadeus Corp.,a Peruvian company that producesVortex, a new energy drink madefrom the coca leaf. Vortex hasbeen featured in the New YorkTimes, Reuters and the Economist.
Monique V. Sinmao joined Crite-rion Research Group, LLC, an inde-pendent research firm coveringequities and bonds. Monique wasmost recently a senior associatewith Lehman Brothers, where sheled coverage on select small-capbank stocks.
Michael Dupee (JD/MBA’00) isleaving Goldman Sachs and hasaccepted a senior level position atGreen Mountain Coffee Roastersin Waterbury Center, Vt., providingleadership, direction, and execu-tion for company practice, policy,and strategy in the areas of corpo-rate citizenship and corporatesocial responsibility.
‘01Class Correspondent:
Volunteer Needed
José MarÌa Nogueira RamÌrez
was appointed economic adviser
to the housing minister in the newgovernment of Spain. He and hiswife, Sonsoles Gallego, are theproud parents of daughter Blanca,born in May 2004.
‘02Class Correspondent:
Volunteer Needed
John G. Polevoy was appointedassociate, investment sales andfinancial services at GVA Williams,a full-service real estate firm in Par-sippany, N.J. He previously workedin the diversified asset and corpo-rate real estate groups at LehmanBros. in New York.
Michele E. Konrad (MSFS/MBA) isthe co-author of a new book, Eco-nomic Lessons From the Transition:The Basic Theory Re-Examined (M.E.Sharpe, February 2004). See profile previous page.
‘03Class Correspondent:
Peter P. Gasca
Read Pete’s report on classmatesserving in the Middle East, on thenext page.
Stacy and Todd Ries are pleased toannounce the birth of their daugh-ter, Ashley, in August 2003. Thefamily lives in Wisconsin whereTodd works in brand marketing forKimberly-Clark Corporation, andappropriately enough, has beenassigned to the Huggies diapersbrand.
‘04Class Correspondent:
Volunteer Needed
Ada S. Polla has expanded herfamily’s medical skincare business,Alchimie Forever. See profile this page.
McDonough Business 31
HoyaJobLink
The MBNA Career Education Center has a newonline system for job and internship listings and
the on-campus recruiting program for undergradu-ate students. HoyaJobLink was created to connectGeorgetown students and alumni with current job
openings and internship opportunities.http://careerweb.georgetown.edu/hoyajoblink/
32 McDonough Business
S P E C I A L R E P O R T :
MBAs in the Middle EastBy Peter P. Gasca (MBA’03)
While most classmates armed themselves
with leather briefcases and Mont Blanc
fountain pens when preparing to do battle in
corporate offices around the world, Alberto
Abadia (MBA’03) and Ryung Suh (M’98,
G’98, MBA’03) took up helmets and cam-
ouflage flack jackets and chose a different
battleground. Both worked abroad in the
freedom and reconstruction efforts in the
Middle East.
Before the excitement of graduation could
set in, Ryung Suh had business to attend
to. In July 2003, shortly after the start of
Operation Enduring Freedom, he left
Washington, D.C. for the battlefields of
Kandahar, Afghanistan to support the U.S.
efforts. Armed with his M.D. and M.P.P
degrees from Georgetown, he has been serv-
ing as a flight surgeon in the U.S. Army.
Ryung’s service, however, was not limited to
the borders of Kandahar. “As a flight surgeon
here, I have participated in many combat
aerial flights in support of multiple military
operations - often in Blackhawk or Chinook
helicopters with Apaches pulling security,”
he said. “We often do combat medical oper-
ations, which includes traveling out to local
villages and providing humanitarian medical
assistance.”
Although the assignment in
Afghanistan has proven to
be extremely dangerous, he
has found the experience to
be rewarding. “While it has
been a sad experience in
dealing with the casualties
and accident victims that
come through our medical
facilities,” Ryung says, “the
children are always excited
and happy to see us, and we
do seem to be winning the
‘hearts and minds’ of many.”
When asked about his
future plans after his service
to his country, which ended
this summer, Ryung states,
“I am hoping to return stateside and to
resume my career like the rest of my class-
mates. After this past year’s experiences,
however, I definitely have a greater apprecia-
tion for the joys of any job back home, close
to family and friends.”
Unlike Ryung, Alberto Abadia chose to pur-
sue a position in corporate America after
graduation as a senior business development
and support adviser at Bearing Point. He
has, however, recently volunteered to work
in support of the recovery efforts in Bagh-
dad, Iraq alongside several other consultants
from around the globe. He worked to
develop comprehensive business plans and
sound financial strategies for companies try-
ing simply to survive the instability and
uncertainty that has gripped Iraq. Alberto
also worked closely with business entrepre-
neurs to apply for soft business loans from
the new Iraqi Government and the U.S.
Agency for International Development.
The working conditions are much different
from what Alberto expected after business
school. “In Baghdad, business attire means a
helmet and armored vest,” Alberto said. He
left for Baghdad in April 2004 for his four-
month assignment. “We always move by
armored car,” Alberto reports. “My office is
surrounded by two lines of sandbags, and I
heard five explosions in my first seven days.
I eat at Saddam’s Presidential Palace, in the
most luxurious auditoriums that I have ever
been in my life, but in strange and weird
contrast. My plastic knife is always softer
than my steak and my Coke is hot.”
When asked if his assignment in Iraq was
something he expected to do after graduation,
Alberto stated, “When I was flying back from
[my Global Experience in] Ho Chi Minh
City, the same day of Bush’s deadline to
Hussein, I could not even imagine that, just
one year later, I would be working at Saddam’s
Presidential Palace.”
Amidst the difficult working conditions in
Iraq and the country’s uncertain future,
Alberto has found the work fulfilling and
has remained optimistic. “I hope that we will
be able to really provide some in-depth sup-
port to Iraqi entrepreneurial ventures, which
may result in a more long-term prosperity
for this country,” he said. “That’s the reason
why I came here.”
Alberto and Ryung are appreciative of the
support of their families, friends and col-
leagues, as assignments like this are difficult
to pursue alone. Ryung said, “The supportive
emails from classmates, in some cases unex-
pected, have been very valuable to me, and I
am thankful. I send my warmest wishes to all.”Abadia at the former Presidential Palace of Saddam Hussein. Baghdad, Iraq.
Suh and an Afghan patient in combat medical operations. Ghabi Kalacha, Afghanistan.
‘96Class Correspondent: Thomas
J. Arnsperger
It’s confirmed: Heidi Biggs marriedCharles Fuller Brock in November2003 in Seattle, Wash. If that isn’tenough news, Heidi has been pro-moted to vice president of federaland international affairs for Wey-erhaeuser Company. By the timethis is published the Brocks willhave moved back to the Washing-ton, D.C. area. Welcome backHeidi, and congratulations.
There is more news of promotionsand relocations for the class. Greg
Spierkel has been promoted andrelocated to Ingram Micro’s worldwide headquarters in OrangeCounty, Calif. Greg reports thatthey bought a home in LagunaHills, so for the first time sincegraduating from Georgetown theSpierkels are returning to theUnited States. Oh, about Greg’spromotion: In March, Ingram Microannounced that it had promotedGreg to corporate president,reporting to Chairman and ChiefExecutive Officer Kent B. Foster.Greg has joint responsibility for theoverall operating performance ofthe company. In addition to com-pany-wide responsibilities, Greg willfocus on the European and Asia-Pacific regions. Previously he waspresident of Ingram Micro’s NorthAmerican and European regions.
I just heard from Rich Vinci. Heleft New York and is managingdirector at Newbury, Piret & Com-pany, Inc. in Boston. He and Jackieare now living on the AtlanticOcean on Boston’s North Shore inthe picturesque, historic town ofManchester by the Sea. Rich toldme he is keeping pretty busy. Inaddition to working on a numberof charitable endeavors, complet-ing his second year of a master’sdegree in financial management atthe University of London Business
School, being a member of theGeorgetown alumni admissionscommittee for Boston, and helpingclose a number of “significanttransactions” (FYI: his firm wasprofiled as the cover article in M&AToday’s June issue), Richard andJackie just welcomed their firstchild, Andrew Campbell, whoarrived last December. Congratula-tions to both Rich and Jackie.
Constantine Symeonides-Tsatsos
died in May after a five-year battlewith brain cancer.
‘97Class Correspondent:
Lynn A. Miller
‘98Class Correspondent:
Deborah Weil
Linn Donaldson was presentedwith a 2004 Service Award byGeorgetown University in recogni-tion of her 20 years of service.
‘99Class Correspondent:
Alphonse Iudicello
Alphonse Iudicello served as theClass of 1999 reunion chair.
‘00Class Correspondent:
Daniel I. Gallagher
James F. Barter is working as amedical consultant with a start-upbiotech company located inBethesda, Md., that has anapproach utilizing the serum pro-teome. Jim says the company’sapproach could lead to a break-through in cancer screening, particularly for ovarian cancer. Jimreports that he would never havebeen able to understand starting abusiness without the McDonoughSchool and all the great studentsand teachers in his class. ElaineRomanelli’s strategy course wasvery helpful!
Craig L. Collins has recentlymoved back to Washington, D.C.from Portland, Ore., where he wasappointed executive vice presidentof managed services at XO Com-munications. See profile next page.
‘01Class Correspondent:
Robert C. Wagoner
Elizabeth Aguirre moved to anew position as an analyst at thePension Benefit Guaranty Corpora-tion. PBGC is a federal govern-ment corporation established byTitle IV of the Employee Retire-ment Income Security Act of 1974(ERISA) to encourage the continu-ation and maintenance of definedbenefit pension plans, providetimely and uninterrupted paymentof pension benefits to participantsand beneficiaries in plans coveredby PBGC, and keep pension insur-ance premiums at the lowest levelnecessary to carry out the Corpo-ration’s objectives. The corporationprotects the retirement incomes ofnearly 44.3 million American work-ers in more than 31,000 privatedefined benefit pension plans.
Piers Bocock reported the arrivalof two future IEMBAs in Februarywhen his wife, Katie, gave birth toToby and Leo. The twins arrived afew weeks earlier than planned,
but Piers reports everyone is doingfine. He adds the Bocock house-hold is now completely out of con-trol with three boys within 18months of each other: “Stockhold-ers now control the show, andupper management is drowning,but it’s all lots of fun.”
Brian Knapp left the governmentafter 18 years of service in Sep-tember 2003 and joined theCohen Group, an internationalstrategic business consulting firmlocated in Washington, D.C., as anassociate vice president. Foundedin 2001 by former Secretary ofDefense William S. Cohen, thecompany helps Fortune 500 clientsdeal more effectively with the fed-eral bureaucracy, either by market-ing products or solving problemswith regulation. Brian is excited bythe opportunity to tackle subjectareas beyond defense and workwith numerous clients and compa-nies. He claims he’s putting hisMBA to good use facing the chal-lenges associated with the privatesector. The Cohen Group’s website is www.cohengroup.net,where you can see a good pictureof Brian and prominent mentionof the Georgetown MBA in hisbiography.
David Long joined the CommerceDepartment in a senior trade pol-icy position where he heads upthe Office of Services Industries.Dave reports he’s been very happysince February 2004 when hemade the move and enjoys themix of international trade policyissues and management. His officeplays a lead role in developing andnegotiating trade positions regard-ing the services industries (otherthan telecom, which was part ofthe attraction in coming back togovernment) for the WTO and FTAnegotiations. His office is alsodoing more domestic competitive-ness analyses for the services sec-tor in the United States.
Tom McCaffery resigned from hisformer company and reincorpo-rated as McCaffery & Associates.Tom reports all the employees andcontractors of the former com-pany came with him and he wasback in business within a matter
McDonough Business 33
iembaalumninotes
of days—no phones or computersbut a lot of excitement. Thingshave now settled down and hiscompany is back to doing researchfor law firms and Fortune 100companies. If things go well, hehopes to have more than $1 mil-lion in revenue for his first year,which isn’t bad for a companyoperating out of a basement andcommunicating by email. For Tomthe most important class fromGeorgetown was marketing—the4 Ps and “delight the customer”support a steady stream of cus-tomer referrals. His web site iswww.mccafferyassoc.com.
David Messina was recentlyappointed director of informationmanagement for the GeospatialSolutions business area in LockheedMartin. With this move Dave com-pleted a two-year assignment atLockheed Martin corporate head-quarters in Bethesda, Md., andreturns to an operating businessunit. In his new position, Dave isresponsible for more than $150million in contracts supporting theNational Geospatial-IntelligenceAgency and related customers. Hisoffice is in Reston, Va.
Bob Wagoner moved to a newposition within SAIC as vice presi-dent and director of maritime pro-grams in the advanced systems andtechnology division based in Arling-ton, Va. In his new role, Bob man-ages various classified underseawarfare programs and is responsi-ble for business development in abroad range of maritime areas.
E-mail updates:
Elizabeth Aguirre:
Brian Knapp:
David Long:
Tom McCaffery:
‘02Class Correspondent:
John H. Fitzgerald
‘03Class Correspondent:
Stephanie L. Cinocco
Tim Shannon and his wife, Paige Van Wirt (M’01), had twins,Bruno and Beatrice, at George-town University Medical Center in December 2003.
Mark A. Manning assumed therole of manager of the customerbusiness center for CaterpillarFinancial Services Corporation inNashville, Tenn., effective February2004. The position providesadministrative oversight to thebusiness origination and portfoliomaintenance processes serving theUnited States.
Robin Moore and husband KevinMacDonald joyfully announce the birth of their daughter, IreneInnisfree, in February 2004.
Ronaldo Ferreira moved toCuritiba, Brazil in July 2003 andwas named financial reportingmanager at ExxonMobil.
34 McDonough Business
Stephanie Cinocco was nameddirector of national service andrepair at Nextel Communications in April 2004.
S. Robert Landow and ArlynKatzen Landow are the proud par-ents of Blake Madison, born inDecember 2003.
Sudhakar Garlanka started atechnology-consulting firm, AllwynCorporation (pronounced “AllWin”), soon after graduation inApril 2003. Allwyn is located in thesuburbs of Washington, D.C., andfocuses on helping companiesachieve process efficiencies by tap-ping into global resources. Thecompany has created new jobs andposted net positive earnings andhealthy EBITDA in the first year ofexistence.
Arturo Oliver and his wife, Ale-jandra, are proud to announce thearrival of Nicolas Oliver, born inApril 2004.
Tom Utendorf, his wife, Dawn, and their daughters, Emily (6) andClaire (5), are proud to welcome to the family Grace Elizabeth, bornin March 2004.
Suzanne Clark has been instru-mental in facilitating continuedcollaboration between the McDo-nough School and the U.S. Cham-ber of Commerce, where sheserves as executive vice presidentand chief operating officer. Seeprofile next page.
‘04Class Correspondent:
Kathleen N. Wolf
After 10 years of service at theMcDonough School of BusinessTechnology Center, Larry Bradley
has taken a position providing ITStrategy and Advisory Services withGartner Inc.’s Federal Practice inWashington, D.C.
Kathy Brady has taken a positionas account supervisor at MindshareInteractive Campaigns in Washing-ton, D.C. Mindshare is one of thenation’s premier online communi-cations firms providing effectiveonline strategies and solutions forpublic affairs campaigns. Its clientsinclude many of the nation’s lead-ing associations, coalitions, non-
Slam Dunk
Craig L. Collins (IEMBA’00) is the “turn-around czar” of Reston, Va.-basedtelecommunications firm XO Communications.
The former professionalbasketball player-turned-telecom-executive has a talent for taking businessesto the hoop and getting aslam dunk. He was hired byXO’s COO to run XO Interactive in Portland, Ore., where hetripled earnings and brought the business to profitability.After that turnaround, Collins was asked to assume responsi-bility for another XO acquisition, in San Jose, Calif., this onein the hosting business. He ended up doubling earnings.
He’s now back from the West Coast and running XO’s newManaged Services business, which incorporates “pretty muchanything that’s going to be a managed or hosted solution,”says Collins.
He had been working for Bell Atlantic in the Washington,D.C. area when decided to get his MBA. “Georgetown had an allure to it,” he said, “and I really like the people and the curriculum.”
Collins’ ultimate goal is to run his own business, which iswhy he got his MBA in the first place. “I’m going to end uprunning my own company,” he says, “so I’m still learning and using the things that I got out of the curriculum to helpme get to that goal.”
If his free throw and business turnaround stats are any indication, he’ll do just fine.
profit organizations, corporationsand foundations working on abroad range of issues.
Phani “PK” Gundupundi joinedBooz Allen Hamilton’s Defense Sys-tems group in April. His primaryrole is to manage several servicedelivery groups. He is also responsi-ble in the marketing and businessdevelopment for enterprise systemsmodernization practice within theDefense Systems group.
Major Lea Kirkwood is movingto Los Angeles Air Force Base tobe a program manager in theGlobal Positioning Satellite SystemProgram Office, working on GPS3, the next generation of GPSsatellites. She would be terriblydisappointed if any IEMBA 9 cameto L.A. and didn’t stop by to go todinner, have a drink or at least callto say hello! (hint-hint)
In late May, Thomas Pablo
started a new position as wealthmanagement advisor for MerrillLynch in Washington, D.C. In addi-tion to developing investmentstrategies for high net worth indi-viduals, Thomas’ practice will alsofocus on the needs of businessowners in the area (business loans,401K and deferred compensationpackages, etc.)
Ron Meyers became a civil ser-vant last month as a program ana-lyst over at the Department ofState. He joins an office less thantwo years old responsible foraligning the department’sresources and goals, as well asevaluating its performance,toward the priorities of the Secre-tary. He’s settling in comfortably atthe Office of Strategic Planningand Performance, and is enjoyingthe back and forth that comesfrom being an outsider seeking toinfluence existing policies andprocesses, while also shaking upthe culture. His new work numberis (202) 647-1128 and email [email protected].
Michael ‘Buck’ Szymanski hasbeen working since February with
the Hilltop Group on site inPhiladelphia. Buck has been pro-viding business operations andproject management services tohis client, an HR consulting, pen-sion management and reinsurancecompany.
Stacey Dash Thiell is proud toannounce that Lauren Ann wasborn in January. Stacey success-fully managed her career, herclasses, and the new addition toher family with grace.
David Weinreich has taken theposition of vice president of med-ical affairs for Gene Logic, Inc., agenomic services company inGaithersburg, Md. Dr. Weinreichleaves the National Cancer Insti-tute, where he has been a physi-cian and cancer researcher for thepast five years. During that time,he brought several compoundsthrough bench research intohuman clinical trials to treatpatients with cancer.
Lawrence H. Williams wasrecently hired as vice president ofinternational and governmentaffairs for Space Exploration Tech-nologies Corporation. Also knownas SpaceX, the company is devel-oping a family of launch vehiclesintended to reduce the cost andincrease the reliability of access tospace. The company officiallybegan operations in June 2002and is located in the heart of theaerospace industry in southernCalifornia. The company wasfounded by entrepreneur ElonMusk, who previously started Pay-Pal and Zip2. Larry will be respon-sible for all international businessdevelopment activities as well asglobal government affairs.
Phillip Yin has accepted a short-term contract with CNBC Asia as ananchor/correspondent. He will ana-lyze macro and micro issues affect-ing business throughout Asia.
The IEMBA Class of 2004 wouldlike to extend big congratulationsto Larry, Kathy, PK, Lea, Thomas,Ron, Buck, Stacey, Dave, Larry andPhillip on their new endeavors!
McDonough Business 35
iembaalumninotes Continuing Education
Viewing her Georgetown edu-cation as key to her executivesuccess, Suzanne Clark(IEMBA’03) is helping others atthe U.S. Chamber of Commercetap the McDonough School’sexpertise.
Clark, chamber executive vicepresident and chief operatingofficer, worked with McDo-nough to create a continuingeducation program for “highpotential” Chamber employees.
Last year, about 20 such employees spent one day meetingwith McDonough teachers. Afterwards, they told Clark that“you should send us again for a whole week,” she recalled.This year, they spent five days on campus, meeting withteachers and working on Chamber-related projects.
“They learned from the professors, and we created this cross-divisional group of high-potential people who tackled divi-sion-wide programs they could not have come up with ontheir own,” Clark said.
The McDonough program, which will continue with a newgroup, aids Clark’s attempt to “figure out ways to retain ourmost talented staff,” she said.
Continuing education has been the story of Clark’s career.She earned a Georgetown B.A. while working her way up tochief of staff at the American Trucking Association. Whenassociation head Thomas Donohue became Chamber presi-dent and CEO in 1997, Clark followed as vice president andchief of staff. While nearing completion of her IEMBA, shewas promoted to her current position.
Keep in TouchWe encourage all business school alumni-under-graduate, MBA and IEMBA-to send your news
and photos to us or to your class correspondents.We do not accept engagement or pre-birth
announcements. Send your news to [email protected].
Moved? New job or promotion?Update your own profile or search thousands of undergraduate, MBA and IEMBA alumni by
geography, industry, program, year of graduation,position, or other criteria at
http://www.georgetown.edu/alumni
36 McDonough Business
Class of 2004 Graduates
Alma Mater
Hail, oh Georgetown, Alma Mater,
Swift Potomac’s lovely daughter,
Ever watching by the water,
Smile on us today;
Now her children gather ‘round her,
Lo, with garlands they have crowned her,
Reverent hands and fond enwound her,
With the Blue and Gray.
Wave her colors ever,
Furl her standard never,
But raise it high,
And proudly cry,
“May Georgetown live forever.”
Where Potomac’s tide is streaming,
From her spires and steeples beaming
See the grand old banner gleaming
Georgetown’s Blue and Gray.
Throned on hills beside the river,
Georgetown sees it flow forever,
Sees the ripples shine and shiver,
Watching night and day,
And each tender breeze upspringing,
Rarest woodland perfumes bringing,
All its fold to fullness flinging,
Flaunts the Blue and Gray.
— Robert Collier 1894
The Class of 2004 graduated from Georgetown University the weekend of
May 21–23, with 344 undergraduate and 264 full-time MBA students receiving
degrees during the school’s 205th annual commencement exercises on Healy
Lawn and McDonough Gymnasium, respectively.
Forty-seven IEMBA students received their degrees at a separate ceremony in Gaston Hall
on April 24, 2004.
Kalle M. Dahl (B’04), Marc B. Marlin (MBA’04) and Brett S. Jenks (IEMBA’04) were
chosen by their classmates to deliver student addresses at the ceremonies.
New York Stock Exchange president and Georgetown parent Catherine Kinney addressed
the undergraduates; founder and vice chairman of Remedy Intelligent Services Robert
Emmett McDonough (F’49) addressed the full-time MBA graduates; and Virgin Air
CEO Frederick W. Reid delivered the guest address at the IEMBA ceremony.
Bellwetherone who leads or initiates
Robert H. Steers
In 1986, Robert H. Steers (B’75)
and his partner, Martin Cohen,
started the first U.S. company to
focus exclusively on real estate
securities. A tax reform bill passed
that year had made it possible for real
estate investment trusts, known as REITs,
not only to own, but also to operate and
manage, most types of income-producing
commercial properties. Steers and Cohen
saw a coming revolution in real estate
investment. The only problem, Steers says:
“We were about five years too early.”
Steers and Cohen stuck it through the
1987 stock market crash and the worst
real estate market in decades, in 1990.
But in 1991 and 1992, things started to
change and REITs boomed. In 1992,
Cohen & Steers Capital Management, Inc.,
had about $200 million under management.
Today, that number is $15 billion, and the
company went public in August.
The keys to Cohen & Steers’ success,
according to Steers, are “sticking to the
strategic view and never wavering” and
“never believing your own B.S.” He adds:
“We don’t think we’re the next Google.”
But taking their company public, the two
partners hope, will let them have their
cake and eat it too by keeping intact the
company they’ve worked hard to build,
while grooming younger folks to succeed
them in a few years.
The newly appointed vice chair of the
McDonough School’s Board of Advisors,
Steers last fall made a significant pledge to
the planned business school building. He
also has funded faculty research and
development at the school. “It’s important
to give back,” he says, “and it’s also fun to
be on a winning team.”
Career highlights: Steers began his career
at Citibank in New York, where he worked
as a securities analyst and as vice president
and portfolio manager of the company’s
Emerging Growth Stock Fund. In 1982, he
became a senior vice president and chief
investment officer at National Securities and
Research Corporation in New York, where
he chaired the Investment Policy and Stock
Selection committees. While at National
Securities, he organized and launched, with
National Securities Senior Vice President
Martin Cohen, the first real estate securities
mutual fund in the United States. In 1986,
the two men formed the first U.S. company
to focus exclusively on real estate securities.
Education: Georgetown University, B.S. in
Business Administration, 1975; George
Washington University, M.B.A., 1977.
Alumni activities: McDonough School of
Business Board of Advisors (vice chair);
Georgetown University Board of Regents;
McDonough School of Business Major Gifts
Committee; Wall Street Alliance Advisory
Board.
Former alumni activities: McDonough
School of Business Third Century Campaign
Steering Committee; McDonough School of
Business Graduate Advisory Board; Alumni
Career Network.
Favorite Georgetown professor: William
G. Droms, the John J Powers, Jr., Professor
of Finance, who “made learning finance and
investment fun.” By not taking himself or
his subject too seriously, he taught students
by example, Steers says. For instance, Droms
told students they could stay awake in class
by putting pencils in their collars so they
would poke themselves if they nodded off.
Family: Steers and his wife, Lauren, live
in Rye, N.Y., his hometown. They have four
children: Macaulay (20), a junior in
the School of Nursing and Health Studies;
Julia (18), who will enter Georgetown
College this year; Andrew (16); and John
Phillip “J.P.” (11).
Hobbies: Steers enjoys intense outdoor
sports, particularly ice hockey, tennis and
skiing. As much as the activities themselves,
he says, he likes the socializing that follows
—going out for beers with the guys after a
game of hockey or reading and relaxing
with his family in their ski house.
Affiliations: Board of Directors, Canterbury
School, New Milford, Conn.
His view of business: “If you have a
strategic view, and it’s correct—that’s a
great way to run a business. If you believe
in your mission, then it’s not that hard.”
By Eman Quotah
“It’s important to give back,
and it’s also fun
to be on a winning team.”
Non Profit Organization
US Postage
P A I DWashington DC
Permit 3901
Georgetown University
Box 571147
Washington DC 20057-1147
Save the Date! June 3, 4 and 5, 2005For more information
Undergraduate AlumniMatthew T. Lambert
Director of Class Advancement and Parent Programs
(202) 687-4336
MBA and IEMBA AlumniRobert P. Johnson
Director of MBA & IEMBA Alumni Programs
(202) 687-3738
Reunions Planned
’55’60’65’70’75’80’85’90’95’00R E U N I O N S
2 0 0 5