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FALL 2008
U N I VE RSITY O F M I A M I S C H O O L O F B U S I N E S S ADMINISTRATION
Executive Programs
Jump-Start Careers
Donors Who Make
A Difference
Renowned Scholars
Join Our Faculty
Picture of
Health
When it comes
to health care,
the School means
business
A Messagefrom theDean
BusinessMiami
DEAN
Barbara E. Kahn
VICE DEANS
Anuj Mehrotra, Linda L. Neider,
A. Parasuraman, Arun Sharma
DIRECTOR, COMMUNICATIONS
Contents
volume XII, number 2
Jeff Heebner
Global Outreach
EDITORIAL DIRECTOR
Robert S. Benchley
MANAGING EDITOR
Sue Khodarahmi
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS
Carole Bodger, Lauren Firtel,
Catherine O’Neill Grace,
Michael J. McDermott, Jennifer Pellet,
Eric Schoeniger, Tracy Simon,
Stacey Weitz, Bob Woods
P
— Barbara E. Kahn
[email protected]
12
30
FEATURES
DESIGN DIRECTOR
12 / PICTURE OF HEALTH
Mitch Shostak
Shostak Studios, Inc.
When it comes to health care, the School means business
ART DIRECTOR
20 / SHANKEN … NOT STIRRED
Susana Soares
Wine, cigars and golf — with the rich and famous, of course —
make for just a day at the office for Marvin Shanken
PHOTOGRAPHERS
Mark Alcarez, Daria Amato,
Marguerite Beaty, George Bender,
Kevin Burke, Maria Castro, Tom Cherrey,
Robert Klemm, Lenisse Komatsu,
Todd Mansfield, Ross Martens,
Rodolfo Martinez, Ellen McPhillip,
Paul Morris, Rod Payne, Joseph Rodriguez,
Jeffery Salter, Tom Salyer, Andrew Skinner,
Derek Smith, Tom Stepp, Stephen Sullivan
24 / CAREERS ON THE MOVE
Students in the School’s executive programs find themselves on the fast track
to promotions even before they graduate
28 / DONORS MAKE THE DIFFERENCE
Giving is an investment in the future that also raises the value of your degree
30 / PLANS OF ACTION
Megan Tice
The School’s Entrepreneurship Competition gives winners a head start
on making their dreams a reality
PRINTING
DEPARTMENTS
COMMUNICATIONS COORDINATOR
The Lane Press, Inc.
DARIA AMATO
ART OF TRANSFORMING THE SCHOOL OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION INTO A
globally preeminent institution involves connecting with alumni and parents, calling on corporate employers and establishing partnerships with top business schools — all over the world. You can’t do that from your
office, and the fall semester has been a whirlwind of travel punctuated by some very exciting meetings and
events. It began in San Diego in August, when Dominick Di Paolo (MBA ’97), president of Blackline Systems, agreed
to be one of the corporate sponsors of our upcoming Global Business Forum (story, page 4). The next day, just up the
freeway, Karl Schulze (BBA ’74) hosted a luncheon for Los Angeles alumni.
In September, I joined UM President Donna Shalala and other UM administrators on a trip to São Paulo, Brazil,
and Buenos Aires, Argentina. We held very successful alumni events in both cities, and we spoke to companies about
recruiting our students and developing customized executive education programs. We
also began exploring academic partnerships
with top business schools there, as well as in
Monterrey, Mexico, a few weeks later.
I just returned from four days in New
York City with other School administrators, faculty from our Department of
Finance, and nearly 40 graduate and
undergraduate finance students. In addition to tours of financial firms and presentations at local high schools, there were
three evening receptions — one for parents
held at the home of Lauren and Steven
Witkoff, parents of a current student; a
mentor event at UBS Financial Services,
hosted by Al Marsicano (BBA ’76), senior vice president–investments; and an alumni event at CBS, hosted by Fred Reynolds (BBA ’72) executive vice president and CFO (photo, above).
In early November, I will travel to London, Barcelona and Madrid for a series of alumni receptions,
media interviews, partnership discussions with business schools, and meetings with prospective students
and their parents.
Back in Coral Gables, I had a very successful breakfast meeting with a dozen CEOs of Latin American
companies. They were impressed with our goals, and we formed some rewarding new alliances. We still
have much to do, but we’re on track, and I look forward to meeting more of you next semester.
2 / DEAN’S MESSAGE
EDITORIAL OFFICE
University of Miami
School of Business
337 Aresty Graduate Building
Coral Gables, FL 33124-6537
(305) 284-3141
[email protected]
BusinessMiami is published by the University of Miami
School of Business, Office of Communications. No portion
of this magazine may be reproduced in any form without
prior permission from the publisher. Nonprofit postage
paid at Burlington,VT, and other locations;
Permit #175. © 2008 by the University of Miami,
An Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action University.
All rights reserved.
Dean Barbara E. Kahn reports on international outreach to alumni and partnerships
with top business schools in other countries
4 / IN THE NEWS
School hosts UM’s first Global Business Forum; new leaders named for key posts;
scholarship donors recognized; students aid Jamaican entrepreneurs; and more
39 / FACULTY NEWS & RESEARCH
$2 million gift supports top faculty recruitment; Kahn, Luo and Abril garner special
recognition; new research on lobbying, product labels and hurricane preparedness
44 / ALUMNI NEWS
Catch up on the activities of your friends and classmates
Plus: Profiles of alumni achievers in sporting goods, government, e-commerce,
private banking, franchising and more
Cover (left to right): Health care MBA student Katarzyna Puto; Steven G. Ullmann, director of
the School’s Programs in Health Sector and Management and Policy; and alumni
Yolangel Hernandez Suarez and Andrew Ta. Photo by Tom Salyer
44
InTheNews
School to Host Inaugural
Global Business Forum
ON JANUARY 15 AND 16, 2009, the School of
tioned — structurally, culturally and geographi-
Business Administration will host the University of
cally — to address issues of the connected world,”
Miami’s inaugural Global Business Forum. Entitled
says Arun Sharma, vice dean for strategic initia-
“Harnessing the Power of the Connected World,”
tives. “Miami is an international gateway for busi-
this unique event will bring together approximately
ness, and UM’s cross-disciplinary approach to
600 business leaders for two days of knowledge
research and education creates an environment in
sharing about the connected world and its implica-
of Music, School of Communication, School of
tions for businesses, governments and individuals.
Architecture, School of Law and Graduate School.
The key sponsor for the Global Business
The forum, which will take place in Storer
These sessions will focus on the challenges and op-
Forum is Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida.
Auditorium and other venues on UM’s Coral
portunities presented by the intersection of global
Corporate sponsors include Bank of America,
Gables campus, will feature prominent thought
business with such areas as health care, biotechnol-
Blackline Systems, FedEx Express and TotalBank.
leaders who will share strategies for harnessing
ogy, new media, sustainability, journalism and in-
Additional sponsorship opportunities are available.
enhanced global connectivity to benefit business
tellectual property. Among the panel discussion
Alumni and members of the UM community
and humankind. The scheduled keynote speakers
participants are a number of School of Business
(faculty, staff and students) are encouraged to attend
include Muhtar Kent, president and CEO of The
alumni, including Matthew Rubel (MBA ’80),
the conference. Seating is limited, and registration
Coca-Cola Co.; Frances Aldrich Sevilla-Sacasa
president and CEO of Payless ShoeSource, and
will be confirmed on a first-come, first-served basis.
(AB ’77), president of U.S. Trust, Bank of Amer-
Jose Armario (MSPM ’03), group president for
ica Private Wealth Management; Arun Sarin,
McDonald’s Canada and Latin America.
former CEO of Vodafone Group; Donna E.
“The University of Miami is uniquely posi-
ELLEN MCPHILLIP
LAURA PADRON
which innovative thinking flourishes.”
leadership team. “We want to inspire momen-
undergrad, PhD recipient in electrical and com-
tum in the School’s alumni community by get-
puter engineering, assistant professor of com-
For more information and to access the conference
ELLEN MCPHILLIP
Assistant Dean, Undergraduate Business
Programs
ting people more involved,” she says. “We want
puter information systems at the School from
schedule and full speaker lineup, as well as to
Promoted from director of outreach programs and
to engage our key stakeholders in supporting
1998 to 2007. He left to consult but returned to
register online, visit www.bus.miami.edu/gbf. ■
the freshman experience, Ellen McPhillip is ex-
our strategic initiatives.”
take on the challenges of his new position.
former U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Ser-
graduate curriculum. One of her big projects is
“As a leader in global business education and
research, the UM School of Business is committed
to providing the international business community
with unique knowledge-sharing opportunities such
as the Global Business Forum,” says Dean Barbara
E. Kahn. “The forum’s remarkable lineup of visionary
speakers, along with the participation of schools
from across the university, presents an unprecedented opportunity for our alumni and members of
the wider business community to exchange ideas.”
In addition to the plenary sessions featuring the
keynote addresses, there will be a number of concurrent panel sessions hosted by the School of
Business and schools across the university. They include the Miller School of Medicine, Frost School
4 | BusinessMiami | Fall 2008
Adam E. Carlin (left) and
Richard Bermont, principals
of the Bermont/Carlin Group
at SmithBarney in Coral
Gables, with Dean Barbara E.
Kahn at a reception at the
School on August 26 to
celebrate the creation of the
Bermont/Carlin Group
Scholars program. Carlin
(MBA ’94) and Bermont
have made a three-year
commitment to support
internships for outstanding
finance majors. Joining them
at the reception were other
local financial industry
professionals, Finance
Department faculty and
finance students.
“Alumni, students and employers all rely on each
other to succeed, and it’s my job to facilitate
the importance of ethical decision making. “My
DAVID LECÓN
Director, Business Development and
Executive Education
job is really about the student experience,” she
David Lecón has been with UM since 2004 and
Center to a level of excellence admired by stu-
says. “They can’t get those four years back, so I
comes to the School from the Division of Contin-
dents, employers and recruiters.”
want to make sure that all of them can look back
ued and International Education. His primary
and say, ‘That was an amazing time of my life.’”
focus is expanding relationships with local busi-
coordinating FIRST Step, a new class focusing on
their relationships,” Pons says. He is instituting
a results-oriented culture “to move the Ziff
LAURA PADRON
Assistant Dean, Development and
Stewardship
cially those with connections in Latin America
CRISTINA RAECKE
Director, Graduate Business Recruiting
and Admissions
and the Caribbean — to build UM brand recogni-
With nearly 1,200 applicants to the School’s vari-
tion, conduct outreach and establish key relation-
ous graduate programs each year, “there’s never a
Formerly with Florida International University,
ships. “In today’s economy, where top companies
dull moment,” Cristina Raecke says. Her diverse
Laura Padron says her new job is to create
are struggling to retain their best talent, our pro-
role includes developing strategic plans to recruit
awareness of the School’s programs and raise
grams are timely,” Lecón explains. “We have the
students and promote a variety of MBA programs.
the level of financial support locally, regionally,
expertise these companies need.”
It’s often hectic, but she is enjoying her transition
ness leaders and Fortune 500 companies — espe-
nationally and globally. She will be developing
MARGUERITE BEATY
former CEO of General Electric Co.
ALUMNUS
CO-SPONSORS
FINANCE STUDENT
INTERNSHIPS
ROBERT KLEMM
International, of FedEx Express; and Jack Welch,
CRISTINA RAECKE
The School of Business Administration announces several significant promotions and
new hires for leadership positions
cited about her role in the School’s new under-
McDonald’s Corp.; Michael L. Ducker, president,
ALEXANDER PONS
New Leadership Team
Advances Programs
Shalala, president of the University of Miami and
vices; Jim Skinner, vice chairman and CEO of
DAVID LECÓN
from the private sector to academia. “I’m confident
that we can accomplish our goals because we have
ties, nurturing alumni and business relation-
ALEXANDER PONS
Director, Ziff Graduate Career Services
Center
ships, and working with other members of the
Alexander Pons is no stranger to UM: Hurricane
they can be.” ■
marketing strategies, identifying prospective
partnerships, maximizing existing opportuni-
a great team here,” she says, “and we all work together to make our graduate programs the best
Fall 2008 | BusinessMiami | 5
InTheNews
LUNCHEON HONORS SCHOLARSHIP DONORS
Larry Birger Endowed Business Scholarship
SEVERAL DOZEN SCHOLARSHIP DONORS AND RECIPIENTS attended the 28th annual School
of Business Scholarship Donor Recognition Program & Luncheon on April 18. Many of the donors
present had the opportunity to meet and dine with the students who are the beneficiaries of their
generosity.
Dean Barbara E. Kahn thanked the donors for their continued support of the School and its
students. Vice Deans Anuj Mehrotra and Linda Neider also spoke, reinforcing the need for scholarships to help the School attract and retain top students.
For information about funding scholarships, contact Laura Padron, assistant dean of development and stewardship, at 305-284-4052 or [email protected]. ■
Donor Arlyne Birger with recipient Mallory Lukes.
Edward J. Fox Endowed Scholarship
Patricia McBride Herbert and Allan M. Herbert
Endowed Scholarship
Sylvia Frank Freed Endowed Scholarship in Accounting
Panelists included (left to right): Matthew Greer, Carlisle Development Group; John Dellagloria, City of Palm Bay, Fla.; Manuel Lasaga, Strategic Information Analysis; Julian Perez,
senior program manager and urban planner; Rafael Sanchez, Ponce Circle Developers; Matthew Shore, DRA Advisors; Richard Swerdlow, Condo.com; and Clay Wilson, BankUnited.
Real Estate Forum Examines South Florida
THE FUNDAMENTALS look good in many areas
maintains a competitive edge in
gram at the University of Miami School of
international business, and will continue to do so
Architecture; John Dellagloria, general counsel
term from issues ranging from unemployment to
with its expertise in moving goods to and from
for the Community Development Agency of the
tight credit markets and developer impact fees.
Latin America and with Asia becoming a key link
City of Palm Bay, Fla.; Matthew Greer, CEO of
in the trading pattern.
the Carlisle Development Group; Andrea
That was the consensus of many of the indus-
Arthur H. Hertz Endowed Business Scholarship
Donor Nancy Pastroff (Med ’66) with recipient
Bethany Rapinchuk.
Dr. William G. Heuson/Mortgage Bankers Scholarship
Recipients Daniel Lazaro (left) and Ryan Welter with donors
Allan (BBA ’55, MBA ’58) and Patricia (BBA ’57) Herbert.
School of Business Golf Tournament Endowed Scholarship
Recipient Brandon Coffey with donor Arthur Hertz
(BBA ’55).
Professor of Finance Andrea Heuson with recipient
Erin Redoutey.
Recipient Alison Cifrese with tournament sponsor
Camilo Lopez III (MBA ’82).
Martin E. Segal Business Law Department Donor
Scholarship
Lloyd and Ruth Straits Scholarship
Rick and Margarita Tonkinson MPA Scholarship Fund
try leaders participating in the April 30 forum
• In some parts of the South Florida commer-
Heuson, professor of finance at the University of
“South Florida Real Estate: Boom and Bust —
cial sector, buyers “knock your door down,” pan-
Miami School of Business; Manuel Lasaga, pres-
Reflections on the Past and Realistic Perspectives
elists said, to get space, and are willing to pay $750
ident and co-founder of Strategic Information
for the Future.” Sponsored by the School of Busi-
per square foot.
Analysis Inc.; Julian Perez, a senior program
ness, the forum provided a candid assessment of
“This dialogue among such distinguished lead-
manager and urban planner; Rafael “Ralph”
the state of the South Florida real estate market by
ers in the South Florida real estate market pro-
Sanchez, president of Ponce Circle Developers
many of the industry’s key players.
vides valuable insight that can help us all learn
LLC; Matthew Shore, director of acquisitions at
Rene Sacasas, the School’s director of real
from the past, better meet today’s challenges and
DRA Advisors; Scott Sime, then managing
estate programs, moderated the forum, which
find new opportunities for the future,” says Dean
director at CB Richard Ellis; Richard Swerdlow,
brought together 12 leaders from the region’s de-
Barbara E. Kahn. “We look forward to continuing
founder and CEO of Condo.com; and Clay
velopment, banking, government and education
our work with members of the region’s business
Wilson, executive vice president of commercial
sectors, representing such firms as The Related
community to find opportunities to share our own
real estate at BankUnited.
Group, Carlisle Development Group, Ponce
knowledge and to learn from them.”
Participants included Matthew Allen, execu-
sion, along with transcript excerpts and slide pre-
United and Condo.com. Assessments made
tive vice president and COO of The Related
sentations, is available at www.bus.miami.edu/
during the forum include:
Group; Charles Bohl, director of the Masters in
realestate. ■
• Although the fundamentals are strong in
commercial real estate and new development continues, the rise in unemployment and downsizing
SCHOOL OFFERS REAL ESTATE MAJOR, MBA CONCENTRATION
in banking and other industries will pose chal-
As part of its strategy to strengthen its programs in the business of real estate, the School of Business is offer-
lenges for the office sector in South Florida.
ing a new undergraduate major and a new MBA concentration.
The weak dollar will have an impact on for-
The undergraduate major — which is open to freshmen, sophomores and juniors — consists of finance and
eign investment in South Florida’s commercial,
business law courses and one business elective. Students also must take a course in new urbanism and devel-
residential and vacation real estate sectors. In ad-
opment at the UM School of Architecture.
dition, the growth rate of foreign investment is
beginning to slow.
JEFF HEEBNER
Recipient Janice Williams (center) with Margarita
(MPA ’86) and Rick (MBA ’84, MPA ’85) Tonkinson.
TOM STEPP/PYRAMID PHOTOGRAPHICS
Recipients Brian Weise (center left) and Justin Bilotti
with donors Ruth and Lloyd (BBA ’65) Straits.
An executive summary detailing the discus-
Circle Developers, CB Richard Ellis, Bank-
•
Recipient Bryan Davis with Martin Segal, lecturer in
business law.
• Miami
Real Estate Development and Urbanism pro-
sectors will continue to feel pressure in the near
of the South Florida real estate market, but some
Recipient Jessica Gillman with donor Gary Fox.
South Florida real estate market.
The concentration for full-time MBA students includes courses in real estate law, real estate finance, real
estate investment and appraisal, and project management and development. Students also work on a long-term
• Although there are positive signs from buyers
project that focuses on the development of vacant land in the Miami area. They are required to complete an
in the residential sector, as indicated by the Web
economic market analysis, feasibility study and loan application package for the project. Students may also take
traffic on Condo.com, the difficulty in obtaining fi-
prescribed courses offered by the School of Architecture as part of the concentration.
nancing is hampering that side of the Miami and
InTheNews
AUTHOR, CAREER COACH
SPEAKS TO WOMEN’S GROUP
The Commonwealth Institute
South Florida, which provides
peer mentoring for women senior
executives, held its first Business
Rhythms luncheon on April 24 at
the School of Business. Jeannette
Kraar, president of Performance
Management International, a
career coach, business consultant
and author, was the guest
speaker. She discussed her book,
Breakthrough: The Hate My Job,
Need a Life, Got Laid Off, Can’t
Get No Satisfaction Solution,
which lays out a formula whereby
her readers learn how to attract
the career opportunities they want
without compromising their
lifestyles. Kraar (second from
right) is shown with (left to right)
Linda Neider, vice dean of
undergraduate business
programs; Lisa Landy, outgoing
president, Commonwealth
Institute; and Jodi Cross,
executive director, Commonwealth Institute.
Students in Jamaica (left to right): Brett Brown, Itziar Diez-Canedo, Nicholas Gavronsky, Henry Holaday, Brittany Birnbaum and Aubrey Swanson.
Students Aid Women Entrepreneurs in Jamaica
RIGHT AFTER SPRING COMMENCEMENT, six
mester-long venture of the School’s Hyperion
School of Business undergraduates — some of
Council, part of Students in Free Enterprise, under
It was “a true transfer of knowledge,” says
whom had just picked up their diplomas — got
the leadership of Ellen McPhillip, assistant dean of
McPhillip, who supervised the trip with Senior
back to work and spent 13 days in Jamaica assist-
undergraduate business programs. The Council
Undergraduate Academic Advisor Priscilla Rivera.
ing 40 local women entrepreneurs with their busi-
worked in collaboration with the ScotiaBank Foun-
“If we can get funding, we’ll definitely keep
nesses. The project involved providing training
dation, the MSME Alliance and the University of
the project going this year,” says junior Aubrey
and technical aid to women who were agro-
Technology, Jamaica. Students conducted pre- and
Swanson. “There are so many things that we can’t
processors, craftswomen and hairdressers. The
post-trip evaluations; created a series of customized
change for these women, such as sales taxes and
goal was for participants to immediately apply
lesson plans about finances, marketing, customer
government policies, but we found things that we
what they learned from their student-teachers to
service and Web site development; produced in-
could change, and they were so grateful for the
their individual businesses.
structive PowerPoint presentations and prepared
help. This was such a rewarding project, even
educational videos. Students helped the women
more than we expected.” ■
THE SCHOOL of Business has launched a re-
the site. “Our Web site is one of our best market-
designed Web site with an updated look and many
ing tools,” he says. “We can illustrate the mo-
new sections to showcase its innovative programs,
mentum happening at the School for students,
the strengths of its faculty and research, alumni
prospective students, parents and alumni. It’s a
profiles and student activities. The redesigned
top priority for us to keep the Web site up to date.”
home page aims to be informational and engaging
The School is also looking for alumni testi-
for visitors, featuring photos, news articles and
monials to add to the site. Check it out at
event notices that are updated frequently. Jeff
www.bus.miami.edu, and e-mail your comments
Heebner, director of communications, anticipates
about the site or your student experience to
adding more interactive videos and multimedia to
[email protected]. ■
TOP: ELLEN McPHILLIP
SCHOOL’S NEW WEB SITE WANTS YOUR STORY!
TOP: MARGUERITE BEATY; BOTTOM LEFT: ROBERT KLEMM; BOTTOM RIGHT: TOM STEPP/PYRAMID PHOTOGRAPHICS
The Jamaica trip was the culmination of a se-
identify needs and worked with them on solutions.
STUDENT LAUNCHES KIDS’ CAMP
USING BUSINESS TRAINING
This past summer, business student Heather Block
and several other UM students helped bring Camp
Kesem — a national five-day, sleep-away camp
program for children of cancer patients — to South
Florida. “The main purpose was to give them a week
of fun. That’s the objective. It’s to take away that
stress and let the kids be kids,” says Block, a junior
majoring in finance and biology who is in UM’s
seven-year Medical Scholars Program. She adds that
her business education helped her organize the
camp. “The intention was to help people and put on
a good thing for kids,” she explains, “but what I took
from the experience was how to integrate my
business knowledge into my love for medicine.”
LESSONS IN LEADERSHIP
On April 28, former Florida Governor Jeb Bush spoke on “Lessons Learned from Public Leadership through
Trial and Error” to an audience of more than 200 UM students, faculty, staff and alumni. His presentation,
which was part of the School’s Cobb Leadership Lecture Series, outlined what Bush sees as essential
elements of leadership, reflected on his time in office and touched on this year’s presidential election.
Bush (left in photo) is shown with (left to right) former Ambassador Sue Cobb, Dean Barbara E. Kahn and
former Ambassador Chuck Cobb, who is also a UM trustee.
InTheNews
EXECUTIVE MBA
PROGRAM RANKED
NO. 1 IN FLORIDA
Two Business Students
Shine in Honors Summer
Research Program
THE SCHOOL’S Executive MBA (EMBA) program has been ranked No. 1 among those of
Florida business schools in the Financial Times’
latest annual EMBA rankings. The program is
THIS SUMMER, two School of Business un-
ulty mentor, the outcome being that the students
ranked No. 33 among programs in the Americas
dergraduates were chosen to participate in the
will learn how to conduct their own research in
and No. 76 among EMBA programs worldwide.
Provost’s annual Honors Summer Research Pro-
the future,” says Director of Undergraduate Re-
The School’s research ranking, which is a measure
gram. “The main purpose of the program is for
search and Student Support Services Elisah
of the caliber of its faculty, is No. 31 among all
the students to hone their research skills and
Lewis. Each student was required to work six to
programs worldwide, up from No. 47 in 2007.
learn about research under the guidance of a fac-
eight weeks during the summer and received a
“The research ranking earned by the School is
$1,500 stipend upon completion of
particularly noteworthy,” says Dean Barbara E.
SUMMER ASSIGNMENT: MAKE A DIFFERENCE
The MBA Consultant to Nonprofit Business Summer Project had two eager participants for the program’s third
year. Each student was matched with a Miami-area nonprofit organization for a 10-week internship, becoming a
professional business consultant using knowledge gained in the classroom. Alexis Alvarez worked with the
Family Counseling Services of Greater Miami Inc., researching grants and analyzing program costs; her main
focus was a program dealing with adult survivors of domestic abuse. Michael Nakash (above, with Alvarez)
consulted for the Coconut Grove Collaborative, an organization established to develop affordable housing in
areas recognized by the government as being home to many low-income or unemployed individuals. He helped
CGC petition a development company designing a $300 million complex to rethink its original plan. The
program has been sponsored each year by Adam E. Carlin (MBA ’94), a principal of the Bermont/Carlin Group
at SmithBarney, and by the School’s Business Ethics Program, with past support from the UM Citizens Board.
the project.
Kahn. “As part of our vision to achieve global pre-
Cassandre Davilmar worked
eminence, the School has been enhancing its
with Anita Cava, associate profes-
world-class faculty with aggressive recruitment.
sor of business law, on research
That shows up not only in the rankings but also
into the honest services fraud
in the classroom, where our students benefit by
statute, which is being used to
learning from and collaborating with some of the
prosecute unethical behavior in the
best minds in their fields.”
workplace. “Cassandre not only
The School’s research ranking is based on the
read, analyzed and understood the
number of faculty publications in leading acade-
statute and recent relevant cases,
mic and practitioner journals. The influential
but also asked questions reflecting
Financial Times EMBA rankings are also based
superior critical thinking ability,”
on the diversity of the School’s faculty, students
Cava says. For Davilmar, the
and advisory boards, as well as the results of a
benefits stretch far beyond the
career-success-and-satisfaction survey of the
classroom. “Dr. Cava asked me
EMBA class that graduated three years ago.
important questions about life in
■
general that I would have never
thought to ask myself. She encour-
MIAMI CEO OFFERS
INTERNSHIP
PROGRAM TO
BUSINESS STUDENTS
aged me to tackle all of my
dreams,” she says.
Hayley Donaldson worked
with Royce Burnett, assistant professor of accounting, to investigate
the value relevance of the nation’s
top 100 nonprofit organizations.
“One of the things that we want to
do to attract young researchers is to
be able to provide a framework for
them so they understand how to
plan, organize, direct and control a
research process,” Burnett says. “My
objective was to expose Hayley to
all different aspects of those four
variables.” Donaldson notes that
“this project not only taught me
ROBERT KLEMM
TOP: MARGUERITE BEATY; BOTTOM: MEGAN TICE
This summer, Miami-based
TigerDirect gave nine MBA
students and one undergraduate student a firsthand look at the inner
workings of the $3 billion
global manufacturing and
importing company. Each
student selected three
departments to explore;
they gained additional
insight by attending Friday
lunch workshops led by
senior managers. The
program was the brainchild
of TigerDirect founder and
CEO Gilbert Fiorentino
(back row, third from left),
an adjunct professor in the
School’s Department of
Business Law.
Cassandre Davilmar (right) with Anita Cava.
how to approach research in general
but also improved my communica-
Hayley Donaldson (left) with Royce Burnett.
tion skills.” ■
COVER STORY
Picture f
Health
With innovative programs and alumni in leadership roles,
the School seeks to become a global force in the business of health care
By Robert S. Benchley
‘W
HIGH-FLYING CAREER
E SPEND MORE ON HEALTH CARE THAN ANY OTHER COUNTRY BY FAR,”
DAN GREENLEAF ENTERED THE U.S.AIR FORCE WITH AN UNDER-
coming from, the average American
family spends more on health care than
on food and housing combined. Estimates are that by 2015, one dollar in five
will be spent on health care in the U.S.
“But for all that we spend,” continues Ullmann, “we sure don’t have
a lot to show for it. The American
Human Development Index ranks
the U.S. 34th in infant mortality and
42nd in average life expectancy.
Even within the U.S., there is a 30year difference in life expectancy between Mississippi, at the low end,
and Connecticut, at the high end.”
What’s wrong with this picture?
Ullmann (front cover, second from left)
calls the U.S. health care system
“broken,” and there is lots of support
for his conclusion. Costs spiraling out
of control. An aging population. 䊳
TOM CHERREY
says Steven G. Ullmann, the UM School of Business Administration’s director of Programs in Health Sector Management and
Policy. “We spend 80 percent more per capita than Canada and three
times as much as the United Kingdom, both of which have universal
health care. At a time when people are trying to figure out where the next dollar is
graduate economics degree and no particular career direction.
Military service — which he says was “transformational” — and a
safe landing stateside following Desert Storm led him to a sales and
marketing position at drug maker Schering-Plough. “I doubt many
fields would have fit me as well as health care,” he says. “It offered an
ongoing learning experience and an opportunity for personal growth,
and it was a growing industry. The feeling of contributing to other
people’s well-being was also very important to me.”
But the mid-level manager had his career sights set on the
corporate stratosphere, and the School’s health care MBA program — which he also calls “transformational” — put the necessary wind beneath his wings. “My experience in human resources,
finance, IT and other cross-functional disciplines was very limited,” Greenleaf admits. “I felt an MBA was the way to broaden
my thinking. I was stationed in Florida and traveling five days a
week. The program offered me flexibility, and the UM brand was
important to me.”
Daniel Greenleaf
MBA ’97
President
Coram Specialty
Infusion Services
Greenleaf ’s career took off, and his
current position as president of Denverbased Coram Specialty Infusion Services is the third top spot he has held
since earning his degree. The $700 million company, which has 2,300
employees, provides infusion therapy to patients in their homes or at
ambulatory treatment centers, which Greenleaf says are more efficient, less expensive options to hospitals and physicians’ offices.
Greenleaf doesn’t see universal health care coming anytime soon,
despite all the campaign promises. Bottom line, he says, “we can’t
afford it” — an analysis that includes the cost of dealing with the
uninsured. What makes more sense to him is a system like California’s state employee program, which is based on individuals. “Consumers have become conditioned to think that the cost of health
care is a $10 co-pay, and the answer to every ailment is a pill,” he
says. “They need to be more in control of the cost of their health
care, but that requires more transparency, as well as accountability
for lifestyle choices that affect that cost.”
COVER STORY
RISING TO THE CHALLENGE
RIGOROUS CURRICULUM
For more than 30 years, the School has offered its highly respected Executive MBA
in Health Sector Management and Policy, a
fast-track weekend program for health care
professionals. It is one of only about a
dozen MBA programs in the country that
are dually accredited in both business and
health care. The rigorous curriculum includes courses in finance, management,
leadership, health law, team building and
administration. The goal is to provide skills
students can put into use when they return
to their jobs on Monday morning.
“One thing we hear a lot from our students is that they are able to apply the management and leadership concepts they are
learning in the program into their work environment immediately,” says Ullmann. “They
MAYDA ANTUN ALWAYS LIKED A CHALLENGE. SCIENCE WAS FULL
Mayda Antun, MD
of challenges, she says —“investigating things that were unknown or uncertain.” As a teenager she decided on a career in
MBA ’93
CEO
health care and became a physician. After completing her speCAC-Florida
cialty training in 1985, she began her medical career as a staff
Medical Centers
physician at what was then known as CAC-Ramsey/United
HealthCare of Florida. Her first promotion was being put in
charge of a group of physicians handling hospital admissions, and over the next 11 years
Antun held a number of increasingly important clinical and leadership roles, ultimately becoming chief medical officer.
But being an administrator presented new challenges. “As my roles began to grow, there
came a point where I couldn’t be a doctor and an administrator and do both well,” says Antun.
“As an administrator, I saw an opportunity to do things better and still be able to make a difference in patients’ lives.” Luis Lamela (MBA ’83), CAC-Ramsey’s CEO at the time, became
Antun’s mentor, and he steered her toward the School’s health care MBA program. “What I
liked most about the program was the group work,” says Antun. “It was a wonderful networking opportunity. It also gave me a different perspective on the business of health care — what
goes on in the back room. I really don’t think I’d be where I am if it wasn’t for the MBA.”
Antun’s career path led her to executive positions at other organizations, but she returned
don’t have to wait until they graduate.”
A good example is Katarzyna Puto (front
cover, far left), an oncology pharmacist at
Miami’s Jackson Health System who is currently a student in the health care MBA program. “I chose to get my MBA to enhance
my ability to pursue future career paths,” she
says. “I wanted to explore an administrative
position with a pharmacy department with
the focus on improved cancer drug utilization
and cost-saving initiatives. I also wanted to
obtain the necessary credentials to consider
an administrative position in an oncology/
hematology inpatient unit or ambulatory
clinic.” Puto was recently promoted to team
leader for a pilot program for oncology pharmacy reimbursement initiatives.
Puto also personifies another trend —
registration in the MBA program by health
care professionals who want to supplement
their training with business skills. “In the
early days, the MBA program was more administrator-focused, with low-to-mid-level
people,” says Ullmann. “Now we’re getting
more mid- to upper-level administrators,
people from the pharmaceutical field, people
from the nursing field, people from long-
term care and from mental-health care, and a
growing number of physicians. About onethird to one-half of our students now are
physicians. That’s a dramatic change from 20
years ago, when if we had one physician a
year, it was a lot.”
Two recent graduates of the program are
prime examples. Yolangel Hernandez Suarez
(MBA ’07), a physician who was a medical
director at Jackson Health System, was promoted to chief administrative officer and associate chief medical officer for ambulatory
services and community health after graduating from the program. Suarez (front cover,
second from right) reports that she “anticipates
further leadership opportunities.”
“Medicine is a business,” adds Andrew Ta
(MBA ’07), also of Jackson Health System.
“The physician must learn a whole new set of
skills to be competitive in the job market. I
believe that my MBA helped me secure the
promotion to interim chief of service and
medical director of emergency medicine,”
says Ta (front cover, far right).
“As the health care industry evolves,”
Ullmann says, “physicians are not only joining large, multimillion-dollar practices, 䊳
PAYMENT REFORMER
Richard L.
Clarke
TOP: JEFFERY SALTER; BOTTOM: JOSEPH RODRIGUEZ
Overutilization of services. Too many people
who are uninsured or underinsured. Inefficient public and private bureaucracies. A
payment structure in need of reform.
At their core, however, these aren’t
medical problems; they’re business problems, and they need business solutions.
Under Ullmann’s leadership, the School is
answering the challenge, drawing on its
own strengths as well as on other resources
throughout UM, to become a global player
in the business of health care. “Health care
has become a major industry,” Ullmann
says. “It’s now 16 percent of the gross domestic product. But how do you compete
in a global economy when you’re spending
$7,000 a year in health care costs for every
man, woman and child in America?”
Ullmann — a health care economist who
holds academic appointments in the School’s
Management and Economics departments,
as well as in two departments at UM’s Miller
School of Medicine — has a three-part
strategy for achieving the School’s global
goal. That strategy is to make the School of
Business internationally recognized in the
business of health care as a resource for education, training and research.
to what today is CAC-Florida Medical
Centers — a multi-specialty medical group
with 10 locations in Dade County — in
2006 as CEO. The challenge she faces now
is competition. “In many ways, the playing
field has been leveled,” she says. “What
really starts to differentiate you from your
competitors is what service you can offer
over and above the basic benefit. We have
developed programs to help patients
manage chronic diseases and other health
issues, and improve the quality of their lives.
I believe that is our competitive advantage.”
In the larger national health care debate, she
is a staunch supporter of both continued
government funding of Medicare and consumer education. “Health care is one of the
few industries where patients make a choice
and they don’t always feel it in their wallet,”
she says. “We need to teach patients how to
make better choices.”
DICK CLARKE BELIEVES THERE’S A LOT ABOUT
the U.S. health care system that needs to be
fixed, but he also believes that it doesn’t
MBA ’72
always deserve the bad rap that it gets. “I
President & CEO
think the dynamics of the way in which the
Healthcare
system has evolved is part of what is going
Financial
on,” he says. “If you
Management
stand and watch a
Association
high-functioning
emergency room, the amount of effort and
care that happens is superb. In many cases, it
is the best in the world. It’s just that the coordination beyond the acute episode is often
not very good, nor is the method of communication of medical information among the
various providers. It’s a fragmented system
that is driven by a dysfunctional payment
system that is part of the reason we have the
kinds of results that we have.”
Clarke’s focus on the payment system isn’t a
whim. As head of the Healthcare Financial
Management Association for the past 22 years,
he represents 35,000 members who are “at the
intersection of the money and the care” — typ-
ically executives at provider organizations. Clarke graduated from the
School’s MBA program before the current health care specialization
had been developed, but he was recruited for a “rookie job” at Jackson
Memorial Hospital in Miami by another MBA alum “and never looked
back.” He stayed in Miami until 1980, when he went to work at
Swedish Health Systems in Englewood, Colo., rising to senior vice
president for finance and CFO. He was tapped
for his present position in 1986.
From his vantage point, where does Clarke
stand on health care reform? “Health care is not
a commodity to be bought and sold,” he says.
“A certain level of care is everybody’s right. We
need to acknowledge that as a society. We did
it with education — every child can go to
school — and we need to do it with health care
too.” As for the payment system, HFMA has
issued a white paper calling for a five-step
process based on quality, alignment, fairness
and sustainability, simplification and societal
benefits. “We identified what we think the national health goals are, how the current payment system presents barriers to achieving
those goals, and how we might redo the payment system. It’s a work in progress.”
COVER STORY
BANKING ON HOSPITALS
ADDITIONAL PROGRAMS
To help meet the needs of physicians, nurses
and other medical professionals, the School
is developing additional programs in the
business of health care:
• A five-year MD/MBA program was
launched in partnership with UM’s Miller
School of Medicine this fall. The MBA curriculum — which ranges from financial reporting and corporate strategy to the legal
aspects of health administration — is designed to prepare future physicians for the
business complexities related to running a
private medical practice, heading a group
practice, and careers in health-sector management, leadership and policy.
• The School is providing the business
component for the new Doctor in Nurse
Practice program at the UM School
of Nursing.
• An undergraduate minor, designed to
help students better understand the management, economic, legal, ethical and governmental issues related to the health care
industry, is also being offered by the School
for the first time this fall. The minor is expected to attract nursing, pre-med and prelaw students, as well as those interested in
pursuing careers in health care administration. It also includes a course in U.S. health
care policy taught by UM President Donna
E. Shalala. That course, taught to juniors
and seniors, has the largest registration of
any course at UM.
“Today, more than ever, the health care
industry demands professionals who are attuned to business concepts ranging from
marketing and finance to general administration,” says Barbara Kahn, dean of the
School of Business. “These new health care
programs, along with the School’s existing
and future health care initiatives, will position us as a leader in meeting the business
education needs of the health care industry.”
Kahn’s strategy for the School — which
includes focusing on areas in which it can
be globally preeminent, such as health care
— complements Shalala’s strategy for
making UM one of the world’s great research universities. “Medicine and health
care are among the university’s greatest
strengths,” Shalala says. “The interdisciplinary programs being developed by our
schools of business, medicine and nursing
are perfect examples of how we can harness
our collective strengths not only to build
the university, but also to have a significant,
positive impact on the quality of health care
here in the U.S. and around the world.”
Expanding the School’s educational
role in the business of health care leads
logically to the second part of the strategy
— training. “We are working now to develop training programs that enable our
expertise to be taken into health care
organizations or into the community,” says
Ullmann. An example: the School is coventuring (and may co-brand) with the
Health Care Financial Management Association to develop programming for clinical
managers on subjects like budgeting and finance. “These programs are for nurses,
therapists or technicians who have been
promoted to managerial positions in health
care organizations, and who require business knowledge in order to manage effectively,” Ullmann explains. Similar programs
are in development with a number of other
private and governmental organizations in
both the U.S. and Latin America.
The third strategic element is establishing
the School as a resource for thought leadership in the business of health care. Tied to 䊳
Michael Joseph
MICHAEL JOSEPH THOUGHT HE WAS GOING TO BE AN INVESTMENT
banker, but fate had other plans. “Wall Street firms were sending out
letters with job offers,” he said. “Then Black Monday occurred
[October 19, 1987, the largest one-day percentage decline in stock
market history], and they sent out letters rescinding the offers.” Joseph
learned about a finance opening at the Miami Heart Institute, took
the interview, got the job and found a new career path. Since then he
has held C-suite positions at a variety of hospitals in South Florida, but due to industry consolidation his entire career has been with a single entity, Hospital Corporation of America. “That’s
pretty unusual in health care,” admits the Miami native. Today, he heads HCA’s East Florida
Division, a group of 13 hospitals stretching along 140 miles of the state’s Atlantic coastline.
But despite the locality of Joseph’s career, Florida is often a microcosm of everything else happening in the country, and two decades in the business have shown him a lot. “Health care is broken,”
he says. “You have four entities — the patient, the hospital, the physician and the insurance company. Often the goals of the four are not the same. You’d almost think it was designed that way, to
push the risk onto everyone else.” Joseph calls himself a “privatized type of individual,” but laughs
when he says the whole system really needs “divine intervention.”
Joseph says his career has also taught him a lot about the necessity of adapting your management
style as you move up the ladder. “As your span of control broadens, your ability to get something specific done lessens,” he explains. “You have to make sure you work through your teams. When you’re
at a hospital, it’s very hands-on. Here at a division corporate office, you can walk around the halls,
but you can’t really touch anything. Your reliance on your people becomes ever more important as
you rise through the ranks. You have to learn to navigate through layers of more people and structures. That’s why communication is critical. The MBA program gave me good grounding in fundamentals, but the most important thing I learned was how to communicate.”
BBA ’85, MBA ’87
President,
East Florida Division
Hospital Corporation
of America
TAKING CARE
OF BUSINESS
Michael
Goldberg, MD
“AFTER
BEING
IN
the health care industry for 30 years I
MBA student
got tired of people
Section Chief,
telling me, ‘Doctor,
Gastroenterology
you take care of
Northshore
the patients. We’re
University
businessmen — we
Healthcare Systems
know how the
business should run.’” Michael Goldberg,
head of an academic GI department at
Northshore University Healthcare Systems in Illinois, is explaining why he decided to get an MBA. “When I was
recruited in 1999, there was one full-time
gastroenterologist. Now I have 13 full-
THIS PAGE: ROSS MARTENS; OPPOSITE: JEFFERY SALTER
they’re running these organizations. Today’s
doctors must understand how to negotiate
contracts with pharmaceutical companies
and medical suppliers, navigate through the
Medicare and Medicaid systems, negotiate
with managed care companies and hospitals, understand pricing and financing, and
develop effective marketing programs for
their services. The physicians who enroll in
and graduate from our MBA program
belong to a rapidly growing new cadre of
physician-executives.”
time gastroenterologists working with me, as well as 20 private doctors, and we perform
29,000 procedures a year. We have an active research department with numerous study
coordinators, basic science researchers and clinician researchers. You obviously need management skills to run a section this big.”
Goldberg, who has family in Miami, chose to sharpen those skills through the School’s
health care MBA program. He admits that the first few months have been an eye-opener.
“You know what?” he asks. “Even with my experience, it turned out there are a lot of things
that I didn’t know after all. For instance, I looked at our labs and found out that although
they are very profitable, they aren’t highly efficient. They could be improved. What I’m
learning in the program is helping me highlight areas of improvement.”
But program management is only one reason Goldberg saw the need to add business
skills to his medical expertise. The other is that he has become an entrepreneur. He and
some colleagues have been developing a new method to screen for colon cancer using an
inexpensive, minimally invasive optical test that can be performed in a physician’s office
without any patient preparation. Now the group has formed a company, American
BioOptics LLC, to conduct research trials, explore a variety of other medical uses for
the technology and ultimately bring the product to market. Goldberg is the company’s
clinical relations director. “We have received $24 million in federal funding and studied
approximately 1,000 patients, so things are moving,” he notes. “It’s a broad-based,
disruptive technology.”
COVER STORY
TEAM PLAYER
implemented several large-scale projects: 1.) A
dashboard operating system to provide process
guidelines and key metrics for processes
throughout the organization. 2.) A facility advisory board structure to replace the traditional
regional operating model and create greater
communication and teamwork between the
home office and facilities. 3.) An overhaul of
human resource management practices to better
attract, utilize and retain the best employees. 4.)
Creation of an Institute for Long-Term Care
Studies — a stand-alone nonprofit learning organization focusing on education and training,
with a focus on adult learning strategies.
Steier says such classroom-to-workplace
shifts present a huge return on investment for
the company. “By having multiple executives in
the MBA program exploring the issues our
company faces, we solve two or three global
problems a year that we never would have recognized otherwise,” he explains. “When you do
a knowledge transfer with a cohesive group at
the same time, they’re going to respond.”
IF YOU KNOW JOE STEIER , IT ’ S NO SURPRISE THAT THE
E. Joseph Steier, III
walls of his office are covered with sports memorabilia. The
6-foot-5-inch CEO of Signature HealthCARE played high
MBA ’06
President & CEO
school basketball and college golf, and he is a lifelong sports
Signature HealthCARE LLC
fan. But just as he admires teamwork in the athletic arena, he
believes it’s a critical element in the business arena too. That
philosophy carries over to executive education, and Steier has teamed up with the School of
Business to make its health care MBA the degree of choice for his senior management. To date,
14 of Signature HealthCARE’s top executives, including Steier, have earned an MBA, and
several more are currently enrolled in the program. Steier calls it a competitive advantage. “As a
CEO, if you invest your education dollars in one great institution, the curriculum is more consistent, and your team walks away with a more meaningful experience,” he says.
Signature HealthCARE, headquartered in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., is a family-based
organization on a mission to revolutionize the long-term care industry through a culture of
resident-centered health care services, personalized spirituality, quality-of-life initiatives,
and employee development and empowerment. Currently, Signature HealthCARE has
more than 10,000 employees and operates 65 long-term care facilities in seven states in the
southeastern U.S. “We consider ourselves one organization trying to change how society
perceives nursing homes,” says Steier. “We don’t want to be labeled with the traditional
stigma associated with nursing homes. Our core business has been changing the image of
those types of facilities through our innovative quality-of-life programs, education, product
development and a culture change for our residents.”
As a result of its partnership with the School of Business, Signature HealthCARE has
QUICK ON HER FEET
Laura (Callis)
Klein
THIS PAGE: JEFFERY SALTER; OPPOSITE: LENISSE KOMATSU
this is the establishment of a Center for
Health Sector Management and Policy that
will be located in the Miguel B. Fernandez
Family Entrepreneurship Building, which
will break ground next year. The School is
currently seeking a naming donation for the
Center. Right now, says Ullmann, the School
is focusing on three functions for the Center:
1. Researching and publishing white
papers dealing with health policy issues at
state and regional levels.
2. Developing health policy certificate
programs for governmental and legislative
departments and commissions.
3. Acting as a resource for health care
organizations seeking insights and advice
regarding management issues.
The School’s reputation for education in
the business of health care extends far
beyond U.S. borders. Ullmann notes that
there is a need for training and education
throughout much of Latin America, Europe
and the Middle East, where privatization of
health care is the trend and there is not an
educational infrastructure to provide managers with the necessary business skills to
perform at a high level. He is currently in
discussions with representatives from countries in these regions.
To assist with all of these efforts, Ullmann is assembling a high-powered advisory board made up of leaders from different
segments of the health care community.
“This is a huge opportunity for the
School of Business,” says Ullmann. “Health
care has been a very hot topic in this election year, and it will be a major agenda item
in the next presidential administration. It’s
not something we can turn away from, and
finding the appropriate solutions will be an
extremely complex undertaking. Our expertise, combined with the strength of
other resources at UM, will enable us to
play an exciting role in that process.” I
For more information on the School’s Programs
in Health Sector Management and Policy, contact Steven Ullmann at sullmann@miami
.edu or call 305-284-9920.
RECENTLY, A GROUP OF EXECUTIVES AT
eDiets, the Internet-based health information company, was discussing trans fats
MBA ’05
and hydrogenated oils, when one asked if
Chief Information
they weren’t really the same thing. A
Officer
woman sitting at the table quickly, preeDiets
cisely, explained the difference. “All eyes
then turned to me,” she recalls, laughing. “They were wondering why
the heck the CIO knows so much about trans fats!”
Laura (Callis) Klein is full of surprises, as the women running
against her in NCAA Division 1 races in college often found out.
Highly competitive, Klein was also an ace researcher with an interest
in sciences who studied how proper nutrition might enhance her performance. Undergraduate and graduate degrees in nutrition followed.
In 1991, she accepted a pharmaceutical sales rep position at Merck,
where she stayed for six years and which brought her to south Florida.
“I saw that the Internet was taking off, and I didn’t want to be
left behind,” Klein says. “I was not good with computers, so I started
researching about Web sites and how to build them.” That led to a
job teaching Java coding — an object-oriented language for the
Web — at Sun Microsystems. The dot-com crash in 2001 brought
her back to health care as director of IT at Sheridan Healthcare, a
specialty provider in anesthesiology, children’s services, emergency
medicine and radiology. The knowledge that she was being promoted to CIO led her to the School’s health care MBA program.
“The CIO’s role has evolved to being central to strategy and business decisions,” she says, “and the executive MBA program gave me
the well-rounded perspective I needed. The real-life health care
issues discussed in the classes were invaluable.”
Several months ago, Klein took a “dream job” that married her
nutrition and technology backgrounds as CIO of eDiets, a provider
of customized health-oriented Web sites to pharmaceutical and insurance companies, and an information site for consumers about
weight loss, nutrition and exercise. In her spare time, she formulates
her own version of a new national health policy — mandatory recess
and PE classes, no junk-food vending machines in schools, and a
reform of Medicare payment tables to shift focus away from procedures toward education and prevention. “Some researchers believe
that 70 percent of all diseases are preventable,” Klein says. “Diet and
exercise are the first things doctors should be pushing on patients.”
LEADERSHIP
Shanken …
Not Stirred
Wine, cigars and golf — with the rich and famous, of course —
make for just a day at the office for Marvin Shanken
By Jennifer Pellet
ARVIN SHANKEN (BBA
’65) HAS THE ENVIABLE POSITION OF HAVING TURNED LIVING
well into a vocation, and an immensely successful one at that. The founder and chairman of M. Shanken Communications Inc. regularly golfs the world’s most prestigious
greens and samples its most celebrated — and, in many cases, least accessible — wines
and cigars. Often, he does one or more of the above with folks like Tiger Woods,
Michael Jordan, Francis Ford Coppola or
Fidel Castro. Best of all, each round, sip
and smoke is in the name of work, feeding
the wealth of knowledge about life’s luxuries that Shanken parlays into compelling
content for his company’s flagship publications, Wine Spectator and Cigar Aficionado.
“I’ve got a good shtick,” the 65-yearold admits. “But I created it. It’s not as if
anyone gave it to me.”
In fact, Shanken was on a very different
path when he decided to chuck it all and get
into publishing. After graduating from the
School of Business, he worked in real estate
appraisal and pursued an MBA at American
University. That led to financing real estate
deals at a Wall Street firm, a job that offered
financial stability and the promise of a rosy
future. Then he fell in love … with wine.
“I went out to California to do some vineyard deals and became fascinated with wine,”
STEPHEN SULLIVAN
M
Marvin Shanken
savors wine
— and life.
University of Miami Global Business Forum
SHIP
LEADER
bible with about 400,000 subscribers (2.4
million readers) by letting his own interests
dictate the editorial that filled its pages —
a practice he continues to this day. “The
souls of these magazines were paramount,”
he says. “If I didn’t like an idea that’s being
pushed by one of my editors, I’d say, ‘If you
want that story published, start your own
magazine, because it’s not going in mine.’”
It was while writing about cigars for
Wine Spectator — subject matter that some
editors and readers protested as unsuitable
PERSONAL PASSIONS
In hindsight, the media moves that followed
— including buying Wine Spectator, a floundering tabloid-size wine newspaper, and
launching Cigar Aficionado — look like the
calculated and logical structuring of a niche
publishing house. But the business Shanken
built was actually shaped entirely by personal passions, and remains so today.
“I bought Wine Spectator in 1979 because
I didn’t want it to die,” he says. “It only had
a small following at the time, but it was the
only wine publication out there that didn’t
approach wine in an intimidating way. It
was about educating people — consumers,
retailers and restaurateurs — about wine in
an open and friendly way.” With funds
scarce to nonexistent, Shanken paid the
owner — a friend who offered to give him
the magazine for free — $40,000 (one times
annual revenues), spread out over five years.
Over the years, Shanken set about
growing Wine Spectator into an industry
Golf is just
one pleasure for
Marvin Shanken.
for a wine publication — that Shanken got
the inspiration for his next risk-defying
move — launching Cigar Aficionado in
1992. “I went to Cuba to do a cover story
on the allure of Cuban cigars, and while
there I decided I didn’t want to die without
having a cigar magazine,” he says, noting
that friends and employees advised him
that a cigar magazine was a bad idea.
“Everyone I knew begged me not to do it,
which just got me obsessed with proving
them all wrong.”
Prove them wrong he did. With more
than 250,000 subscribers (1.7 million readers), Cigar Aficionado is today one of the
most successful and widely read men’s
lifestyle magazines. “It was an overnight
success,” says Shanken.
Two thought–provoking days.
Hundreds of professionals focused on
international business. A remarkable
line-up of visionary speakers. A pivotal event
at the University of Miami. Where knowledge
is shared and strategies are developed
on the economic, social and political
implications of global connectivity.
IGNITING A LIFELONG INTEREST
Such a varied and sumptuous livelihood has
surely yielded a vast repertoire of pleasant
memories, yet it’s the time Shanken spent
as a business student at UM that he ranks
as the “four greatest years” of his life. An indifferent student, he devoted far more time
to socializing with his frat brothers at TEP
and to sports like jai alai, tennis and even
Ping Pong than to academic endeavors. But
that mix proved fortuitous. Looking back,
Shanken credits his business coursework at
UM as the launching point for his career —
and his social life while there for cementing
his devotion to sports and igniting a lifelong interest in cigars.
As an avid fan of the Hurricanes — especially football — he keeps close tabs on
university goings-on. He first met Dean
Barbara Kahn in March 2007 in New York
over lunch in his private dining room. The
two met again this past July to discuss him
co-teaching one of Kahn’s marketing
classes in February 2009, when he will be
on campus as the UM Alumni Association’s
Alumnus in Residence. The visit will be
something of a departure for Shanken, who
rarely agrees to be interviewed or to take
part in public speaking engagements other
than those for his own publications.
“I will probably say two things: ‘Nothing is impossible, and follow your passion,’”
he says. “That’s what I did. I had this dream
and I just kept my head down, stayed focused and made whatever sacrifices I had to
in order to survive. It wasn’t about building
a big business, it was about surviving.”
Today, his life no longer requires much
in the way of sacrifices for the sake of business. In fact, quite the opposite. “I don’t
ever plan to retire, because I love my life, I
love what I do, and I love my magazines,”
says Shanken. “As long as there’s a good
cigar, a good golf course and a good bottle
of wine, I’m your man.” I
Don’t miss this unparalleled opportunity
for knowledge sharing, idea generation,
and professional networking in one of the
world’s most dynamic business environments.
Register at www.bus.miami.edu/gbf or
e–mail us at [email protected].
Seating is limited. Make your
reservation today.
TITLE SPONSOR
KEYNOTE SPEAKERS
COURTESY MARVIN SHANKEN
he says. “I’d never taken a journalism class
or even done well in an English class, but I
decided that what I really wanted in life was
to be a wine writer. At the time, that was
roughly the equivalent of wanting to be a
dentist who specialized in one tooth.”
Shanken quickly surmised that, given
his lack of credentials or experience, the
fastest and surest path to wine writing
would be to own a wine publication. So he
snapped one up, buying a small wine trade
newsletter, Impact, in 1973 for just $5,000.
Impact would eventually prove the foundation of a multimillion-dollar publishing
empire centered on wine, cigars and fine
food (Food Arts magazine) that today employs 175 people worldwide. But at the
time, as Shanken toiled on text in his apartment to save on office rent, that future was
far from clear. “I starved for the first 10
years,” he says bluntly, recalling running
copy to be typeset in the middle of the
night when rates were lower. “Every penny
that came in went back into the business.”
Harnessing the Power of the Connected World
January 15 –16, 2009
Michael L. Ducker
President, International
FedEx Express
Donna E. Shalala
President
University of Miami
Muhtar Kent
President and CEO
The Coca-Cola Company
Jim Skinner
Vice Chairman and CEO
McDonald’s Corporation
Frances Aldrich Sevilla-Sacasa
President
U.S. Trust, Bank of America
Private Wealth Management
Jack Welch
Former CEO
General Electric Company
SPONSORS
University of Miami Citizens Board
Arun Sarin
Former CEO
Vodafone Group
© 2008 University of Miami. All Rights Reserved.
GETTING AHEAD
Careers
ON
THE
Move
Students in the School’s executive programs find themselves
on the fast track to promotions even before they graduate
BY
TAKING OFF
Jennifer Pellet
PEDRO FABREGAS
A
Fabregas should know. His new role leading American Eagle’s business in Florida,
Puerto Rico, the Bahamas and the Caribbean came just a month after he finished the
program, timing that he is quick to point out
was far from coincidental. “Big companies
like American Airlines take your educational
background into consideration,” he says.
“You often need a master’s degree to grow.”
Not everyone, though, has the luxury of
leaving his or her job and going back to
school full time. That’s the rationale behind
the School’s executive programs. Taught on
weekends, nights or in intense two-week
sessions, they enable already successful executives like Fabregas to benefit from the
knowledge and expertise an advanced
degree offers without taking a timeout from
their careers. What’s more, students enrich
discussions by bringing their work and in-
dustry experiences into the classroom, notes
Anuj Mehrotra, vice dean of Graduate
Business Programs, who also teaches classes
in management science. “Executives learn
from each other, and I enjoy facilitating that
discussion and identifying ways to solve the
challenges they face in the workplace,” he
says. “Students can then apply what they
learned on Saturday the following Monday
when they are back in the office.”
Each executive program participant
brings a unique skill set and work experience to his or her coursework. Likewise,
their reasons for pursuing an advanced
degree vary greatly. To get a sense of the aspirations that drive participants to seek a
graduate degree and the executive program
experience, we talked to Fabregas and two
other executives — one who was promoted
even before he had completed the executive
MBA program in Tampa, and another who
recently began in Tampa.
P
MARIA CASTRO
nyone wondering about the value of a graduate
degree in business need only ask Pedro Fabregas
(MS ’08), the newly appointed president of
American Eagle. “Everyone who is thinking about
this should do it,” says the 43-year-old, who just
completed the School’s Master of Science in Professional
Management program. “This program isn’t an expense; it’s an
investment. You see the return in the end.”
President,
American Eagle
Puerto Rico, Caribbean, Bahamas, Florida
EDRO FABREGAS WAS SO EAGER
to launch a career in the airline
industry that he applied to
American Airlines while still attending high school in Puerto
Rico. When the airline told him he needed
to graduate first, Fabregas did — and was
back at American’s doorstep two days later.
He worked his way through an undergraduate business degree at Puerto Rico’s University of the Sacred Heart checking in
travelers at American Eagle’s ticket counter,
and was named a manager of administration at just 21.
From there Fabregas quickly progressed
through a number of management positions
at the airline. By the time he entered the
School’s MSPM program, he had 25 years
of industry experience and was vice presi-
dent of finance and planning. Clearly, his
career was far from stalled, but Fabregas felt
that a graduate degree was critical to his
future. “I researched the industry, and from
what I saw at American and other companies, I felt I would need a master’s to continue to grow,” he says. “I chose UM
because the program is so well respected.”
Geared to senior executives from Latin
America, the MSPM program is taught entirely in Spanish by bilingual faculty in twoweek on-campus sessions held five times in
the course of a year. While the intense
schedule often means executives are participating in work-related conference calls in
the evening and on weekends, it also enables
them to immediately put into practice what
they learn. Fabregas, for example, was able
to slash his operation’s monthly longdistance phone bill from $3,000 to $30
by implementing an Internet protocol he
learned about in class.
Because MSPM participants all work in
Latin America and live, dine and study together during the classroom sessions, strong
bonds often develop between executives.
“You meet talented people from every part of
Latin America and discuss their corporate,
cultural, political and economic issues,” says
Fabregas, who is based in San Juan but oversees American Eagle’s business in 50 cities.
“The network we formed was amazing.”
But the biggest benefit of the program is
a broader base of business knowledge and
leadership expertise. “You leave with a better
understanding of management and with
skills that will help you to grow and develop,”
Fabregas says. “I came here as a VP and left
as a president of a big operation. I came here
as one person and left as another.”
Charged with overseeing one of the country’s largest regional airlines, Fabregas is
focused on running his division “safely, dependably and reliably,” rather than on predicting his next career move. But he is firm
about one plan for the future: “Now that I
have my master’s, my next goal is a doctorate
in business administration,” he says. “I will
find the time to continue to study. Someday,
you will call me Dr. Fabregas.”
GETTING AHEAD
DRIVING DEVELOPMENT
R
AISED IN THE DETROIT AREA BY A
General Motors veteran, Jose
Alfredo Garza, 33, easily landed
a job at the automaker and has
been “a car guy” ever since. He
was still studying business management at
Davenport University when he joined the
assembly line at GM. After graduating with
a business management degree in 1997,
he moved quickly into management at
Chrysler, where he was promoted to production manager shortly after turning 24.
Three years later, Garza left the Motor
City for Florida, lured by a job at Lear Corp.,
a manufacturer of automotive electronic parts
and interiors, as well as by the lifestyle he saw
while interviewing at its Tampa facility. “I
saw a promising company with tremendous
growth opportunities — not to mention
“From layout and
process setup to
hiring and leading
new teams, I used
every facet of
what I learned.”
to find one with a great reputation so close to
home — the School’s Executive MBA Program in Tampa. “It was perfect, a great program, terrific faculty and right here in
Tampa,” he says. “I also liked the fact that
you sign up for two years with no break. It
forces you to make the commitment.”
Garza says the eight-hour Saturday sessions gave him a solid grounding in accounting and broadened his leadership and
strategic planning capabilities, as well as
helped to fine-tune practical skills like creating spreadsheet models and multicolor
presentations. Most of all, he credits his
coursework for a promotion to operations
manager received even before he finished
the program. “Our company values education beyond a four-year bachelor’s degree,”
says Garza. “So it absolutely contributed.”
The promotion involved moving to
Monterrey, Mexico — where his parents
were born — to build and run a manufacturing plant. The move could have been
logistically problematic for his studies, but
both Lear and Garza’s professors worked
with him to overcome the challenge. “For
the first month and a half in Mexico the
company permitted me to fly back and forth
to Tampa for classes, and my professors
were very supportive,” he says. “But most of
all, the program primed and prepared me
for my new role managing a green-field
project. From layout and process setup to
hiring and leading new teams, I essentially
used every facet of what I learned in the
program straight out of the gate.”
Like Fabregas, Garza is now focusing on
excelling in his new role. “It’s not often that
you have an opportunity to create a factory
from scratch,” he says. “We are going to
create a world-class manufacturing facility
here in Monterrey. I have the industry experience, a toolbox of knowledge from my studies at UM, and a dedicated and talented team
to turn our dream into reality.”
AIR APPARENT
KEVIN DILLON
Director of Maintenance, Avantair Inc.
Clearwater, Fla.
F
GEORGE BENDER
Operations Manager, Lear Corp.
Monterrey, Mexico
palm trees, beaches and golf courses — and
took a leap of faith,” he says. “The only opening they had was a supervisor position, so it
was a step back. I believed in the company
and the leaders at Lear, and within two years
I was back to where I’d been.”
A year into his tenure at Lear, Garza decided it was time to go back to school to hone
his management skills and round out his experience with coursework in accounting,
strategy and information technology. He researched several programs, and was thrilled
RODOLFO MARTINEZ
JOSE ALFREDO GARZA
OR KEVIN DILLON, CURRENTLY
in his first semester of UM’s
Executive MBA Program in
Tampa, a graduate degree represents the blue skies of opportunity.
As director of maintenance for Avantair, a
provider of fractional aircraft ownerships,
Dillon, 31, is charged with overseeing a
fleet of 49 fuel-efficient Piaggio Avanti
P180 aircraft whose usage may be divided
among as many as 16 fractional shares.
“I’ve moved up steadily in the business
and am happy where I am, but in the aviation industry it’s easy to get locked into a
particular area,” says Dillon, who joined
Avantair in 2006 but has been in the fractional jet industry since graduating from
Purdue University with a BS in aeronautical technology in 2001. “I believe a gradu-
ate degree will help keep other paths open
in the event I want to move into other areas
or roles in the industry.”
Fractional jet ownership is a fast-paced
business — and maintenance is one of the
most time-intensive areas of that business.
“Once companies or individuals buy into
the program they can fly any time, so I’m
on call 24/7, 365 days of the year,” says
Dillon, who knew weeknight classes would
Dillon recently finished his first graduate
course — financial accounting — and already feels it has helped him better follow
financial matters discussed in meetings with
his company’s CEO and CFO, as well as
with his responsibilities managing payroll,
invoicing and budgeting for his department.
Moreover, he is realizing a personal goal.
“No one in my family has a graduate degree,”
says Dillon, who has two daughters, ages 5
“I believe a graduate degree will help
keep other paths open in case I want to
move into other areas in the industry.”
not be an option. “I chose UM because it
has a great international reputation and a
lot of my work is international [Piaggio
Avantis are made in Italy], but the Saturday
program was a big plus.”
and 3. “So it’s something I want to accomplish for myself and for my kids. I want them
to see that education is important, and I want
to set the example that if you work hard, you
can make it happen.”
Laura Padron says donors are vital
to the School’s success.
GIVING
Donors
ever, as a major gift donor to programs, construction
or endowment, you’ll receive an annual stewardship
report explaining the use, impact and financial position of your invested funds.
The School is going to break ground on
another building next year. Are there
donor opportunities?
make the
Difference
provide direct support to our students, programs, curriculum development and strategic initiatives, and to further our goal of becoming a globally preeminent business school. Just log on to
www.miami.edu/makeagift. In the Gift Designation area, select
School of Business Administration from the drop-down menu. We
ask all alumni, parents and friends to make an Annual Fund gift to
the School each year. We also ask that they consider a major gift to
a specific area of interest, and include a planned gift to the School
in their estate plans.
Giving is an investment in the future that also
raises the value of your degree
By Robert S. Benchley
T
HE FALL SEMESTER IS IN FULL SWING AT THE SCHOOL OF BUSINESS, WITH NEARLY 3,000
students rushing to and from classes, discussing assignments, writing papers and studying for exams. Faculty, meanwhile, are teaching those classes, grading the papers and
exams, and conducting the research that is vital to the growth of knowledge. This
nonstop activity could not possibly take place without the generosity of donors who have funded
the buildings, classrooms and other facilities, or who have endowed scholarships for students or
How does giving benefit the School of Business?
When you look at our aspirational peer institutions — top-tier business schools throughout the world — philanthropic support, in many
ways, is the defining factor in the margin of excellence or status.
Business has evolved rapidly into a truly global community, and our
curriculum needs have changed dramatically, but tuition barely covers
We want to be a major global player in business education, and it’s that
competitive spirit that drives us. Where do students want to go to college? Where do parents want to send their children? Where do corporations want to hire graduates? To, and from, the best. But being the best
requires support, and giving back to the School should be seen as an
investment in the future and a very exciting, satisfying activity. There
is an extraordinary amount of pride in knowing that you are contributing to the School’s growth and progress. You are one reason it is
flourishing and relevant. Because of you, it is serving students and the
community in stronger ways. For alumni, helping the School rise in
the rankings has an additional, personal benefit — it adds to the value
of your degree.
the basics. Our students need an enhanced curriculum and an international perspective to compete in today’s global marketplace.
Support at every level is critical to the School’s success. Worldclass faculty members raise our academic research profile and offer
extraordinary learning opportunities for students; we need endowed
chairs to attract them. Scholarships help us recruit outstanding students. Building and facility funds are key to ensuring state-of-the-art
technology and learning environments. Annual giving and alumni
participation — gifts large and small — help in so many ways.
Can I just make a donation to UM?
A gift to the University of Miami supports us all. We do, however,
ask you to direct your gift specifically to the School of Business to
How do I pursue planned giving through my estate?
There are a number of vehicles to support the School through your
financial and estate planning. Many are more feasible than you may
realize. We have seasoned professionals who will work with you to
ensure that your interests and desires are met. ■
For more information on how you can make a difference, contact Laura
Padron at [email protected] or call 305-284-4052.
Why does the School of Business continue to need funding?
LEAVING A LEGACY
Two recent — and extraordinary — gifts from alumni
who remembered the School in their estates demonstrate the
long-term benefits that are possible when a donor
believes in the School and its mission.
䊳 Warren
Johnson (BBA ’50) $2 million
Johnson, who owned a real estate firm in Miami, made his first donation —
$5 — the year he graduated, and he contributed a total of $20,000 during
his lifetime. His estate gift is being used to create the Warren Johnson Chair
to help the School attract outstanding faculty. The first holder of the chair is
Robert Meyer, professor of marketing, who joined the School this fall from
MARGUERITE BEATY
academic chairs for research faculty. What are the School’s needs
moving forward, what are the opportunities for potential donors, and
what are some of the ways, both large and small, that alumni and
others can help? BusinessMiami asked Laura Padron, the School’s new
assistant dean for development and stewardship (story, page 5), to explain the difference that donors really can make.
We are thrilled with the plans for the Miguel B.
Fernandez Family Entrepreneurship Building. It
will be a stunning state-of-the-art facility designed
by renowned architect Michael Graves. A new
building always creates naming opportunities for
donors. It is rare, however, to have an opportunity to
participate in a Michael Graves design. This building will house our executive education programs as
well as academic centers, classrooms, a signature
high-tech auditorium and other important facilities.
What happens after I have made a donation?
Wharton (story, page 39).
The School of Business strives to provide donors with an engaging and
meaningful giving experience. We want to provide the acknowledgment and recognition appropriate to your giving and comfort levels.
You will enjoy many of the distinctive opportunities made available to
our valued supporters, including invitations to distinguished lectures;
special athletic, arts and cultural events; groundbreaking and naming
dedications; and many other special programs. More important, how-
䊳
David Kimmelman (BBA ’49) $2 million
Kimmelman was inspired by his wife’s love of accounting, and he honored
her by endowing the Eloise Kimmelman Scholarship in Accounting. It was not
Kimmelman’s first gift to the School; the Eloise and David Kimmelman
Bridge, connecting the third floors of the Jenkins and Stubblefield buildings,
is named for his generosity.
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
Plans
of
ACTION
The School’s Entrepreneurship
Competition gives winners a head start
on making their dreams a reality
By Bob Woods • Photographs by Robert Klemm
‘S
IX CONSECUTIVE YEARS OF CONTINUOUS, OUTSTANDING GROWTH” IS A DESCRIPTION
any business would embrace. Applied to the School’s Rothschild Entrepreneurship Competition, the line is evidence that preparing tomorrow’s creative business leaders and innovators is becoming a
tradition at UM. ¶ The 2008 competition garnered 91 outlines from
individuals and teams, 22 of which were accepted and formalized into detailed
business plans. Ultimately, 16 finalists, representing the efforts of 26 students, were presented to the judges. Four
major winners — two each in the High-Potential Ventures
and Small Business categories — were honored and
awarded prize money at an April 18 luncheon in the
School’s James W. McLamore Executive Education
Center; the other finalists received Honorable Mention
prizes. Three special awards were conferred as well. The
total prize money was $34,000.
“The quality of the students’ business plans is amazing,”
said Dean Barbara E. Kahn while presiding over the festivities. Marveling at winning ideas ranging from aquaculture to
corporate communications, from laundry services to online
therapy, Kahn concluded, “This competition rivals none.”
Ron Hoenig (left)
and Aaron Welch
hatched a winning
plan with Bait King
(story, next page).
1ST PRIZE
HIGH-POTENTIAL VENTURE $8,000
HONORABLE MENTION
The following teams received honorable
mention awards of $500 each
for their business concepts.
“We want to make
people’s lives better,” says Rodolfo
Saccoman of My
TherapyJournal.com.
HIGH-POTENTIAL VENTURE CATEGORY
Go Fish
The duo behind Bait King is angling to corner the
market on a bug-eyed, highly prized aquatic species
G
ENERALLY, WHEN TWO GUYS
go fishing, tales grow ever
taller about the ones that
got away. But when the guys
are a couple of graduate students at the University of
Miami’s Rosenstiel School of Marine and
Atmospheric Sciences, the talk can be a bit
headier. Thus it was early last year when
Ron Hoenig and Aaron Welch (pictured on
previous page) hatched their award-winning
idea for an aquaculture venture to mass
produce a pricey bait fish well sought-after
by South Florida saltwater anglers.
“Ron was telling me that he’d paid $100
for a dozen goggle-eyes,” Welch recalls of
their conversation on Hoenig’s boat, aboard
on- or offshore and from private or chartered vessels. Catching goggle-eyes, however, is a labor-intensive practice best
undertaken at night, typically by commercial bait purveyors, which helps explain the
fish’s extreme appeal and price.
The confluence of supply and demand,
plus Hoenig and Welch’s joint research in
aquaculture, hooked the pair on the notion
of Bait King. Their mentor and advisor at
Rosenstiel, Daniel Benetti, chair of the
Division of Marine Affairs and Policy,
“preaches that you’ve got to find a highvalue species to work with,” Hoenig says,
“and pound for pound, the goggle-eye is
the most expensive.”
Coincidentally, the pair was enrolled in
“RON WAS TELLING ME THAT HE’D PAID
$100 FOR A DOZEN GOGGLE-EYES. I
COULDN’T BELIEVE THOSE LITTLE BAIT
FISH WERE IN SUCH HIGH DEMAND.”
which they often share their passions for
catching and researching fish. “I couldn’t
believe that those little bait fish were in
such high demand.”
Indeed, the small, pelagic species Selar
crumenophthalmus is the bait of choice for
luring sailfish, dolphin, wahoo, kingfish,
grouper, snapper and other desirable fish
that roam off Florida’s southeast coast. According to data cited in the Bait King business plan, more than 6 million people
participate in recreational saltwater fishing
each year in the Sunshine State, whether
a business course taught by Philip Needles
(BBA ’91), who oversees both the School’s
entrepreneurship curriculum and the competition. “At the end of the course, he
thought we were onto something and encouraged us to enter,” Hoenig says.
Scheduled to graduate in December,
Hoenig and Welch have already collected
their breeding stock and are acclimating
them before they can spawn. “Ron and I are
really serious about this plan,” Welch insists. “It’s a labor of love for us, because we
both love to fish.” And that’s no fish story.
IDEAL ENERGY
Jennifer Hochstadt
Benjamin Lewis
David Savir
Alessandra Stivelman
PACHEALTH INC.
Kevin Toh
SPORTIVO PRESS
Alexander Timlin
THE LUXURY INDEX LLC
Matt Sinnreich
RUNNER-UP
HIGH-POTENTIAL VENTURE
$4,000
URANIUM BIOREMEDIATION SOLUTIONS
Jennifer Hochstadt
Benjamin Lewis
David Savir
Alessandra Stivelman
SMALL BUSINESS CATEGORY
IMMENSE MUSIC MARKETING & GRAPHICS
LLC
Sebastian Mourra
KIDTOPIA PARTY PRODUCTIONS
Margaret Drayton
Caitlin Henke
Bryan Holmes
ONEWEDDING
Bettina Vergara
OPEN HOUSE HUNTING PARTIES
Nicolette Staehle
ORIENTAL OASIS TEAHOUSE
Qianqian Lee
Man Luo
SLICK-IT GOOD!
Brett Maveragames
Diaset Cabrera
Christina Villegas
YOGURT PERSA®
Husseyn Mansouri
The Doctor Is in … Online
MyTherapyJournal.com prescribes gaining personal well-being via the Internet
T
HE ACT OF REGULARLY WRITING
thoughts, feelings, memories,
ideas, dreams and other personal expressions in a diary or journal is an age-old concept. More
recently, journal keeping has
been endorsed for its therapeutic benefits,
often in conjunction with professional, faceto-face counseling. Rodolfo Saccoman
(MBA ’07) believes that now is the time to
migrate journaling and therapy from the
notebook to the Internet.
That’s the premise behind MyTherapy
Journal.com, the live Web site that Saccoman, his brother Alexis (a clinical psychology
trainee), and two business partners launched
in August 2007 at the annual American Psychological Association convention. As well,
it’s the basis of the award-winning business
plan that Saccoman presented at this year’s
Rothschild Competition.
“According to the U.S. Surgeon General,
there are nearly 58 million Americans who
are diagnosable with a mental or substanceabuse disorder,” says Saccoman, who also is a
graduate of the Cornell University School of
Hotel Administration. “Only 8 percent of
them receive any type of therapeutic services.
That’s an addressable market of 4.6 million.
So there’s a problem, and we have a solution.”
The solution, he contends, is for individuals to register for paid membership on
MyTherapyJournal.com, where they can
maintain a journal and track the progress of
personally set goals, using proprietary online
tools based on cognitive behavioral therapy.
“At the end of the day, we want to make
people’s lives better, to help them achieve
greater well-being,” Saccoman says.
The four partners have invested more
than $100,000 of their own money into the
first phase of the Web-based enterprise,
which has attracted several thousand subscribers. Their business plan calls for additional funding to develop more advanced
online tools and services. “We have some
revenues coming from existing members,
but we need to take it to the next step,” Saccoman explains. “We are revolutionizing
therapy via the online medium.”
As important as raising venture capital
is, Saccoman recognizes that gaining acceptance for MyTherapyJournal.com among
the professional therapy community is critical too. “That the APA allowed us to launch
our site during their conference was a soft
but important validation,” he says.
“Our dream is to become full-time entrepreneurs,” Saccoman says, speaking for
his partners while also sounding appropriately introspective. “Life is about never
giving up, pushing forward and helping
people along the way.”
RUNNER-UP SMALL BUSINESS $4,000
Big Brother is Listening
But with CorpSpeak, this time it’s a good thing
B
ACK IN THE DAY, COMPANY
An aversion to doing laundry led Matt Sinnreich to an idea that could clean up on campuses everywhere.
A New Spin
WeWash makes doing the laundry a dirty job — for someone else
T
O ALL BUT THE MOST COMPULsive neatniks, a pile of dirty
clothes is a mountain of trouble.
To a college student, make that
Mount Everest. To budding
entrepreneur Matt Sinnreich
(BBA ’08), though, it’s a heap of opportunity.
“I never wanted to do my own laundry,”
says the recently graduated marketing major,
echoing a universal campus complaint. His
initial solution? “I used to have girls do it for
me.” But that was before his business instincts took over: “I thought, Why don’t I just
charge people for this type of service?”
Today, WeWash is a burgeoning local enterprise, located off-campus in Kendall, and
operating well enough to earn Sinnreich first
prize in the Rothschild Competition’s Small
Business category. (In case you’re wondering,
paid employees, not coeds, do the work.)
Of course, there’s nothing revolutionary
about sending out laundry. The novelty of
WeWash is its new spin on an old idea.
“We’ve utilized various technologies to
offer better, more efficient service,” Sinnreich claims.
WeWash combines low and high tech.
After registering for the service online, student customers receive one or more WeWash
1ST PRIZE
SMALL BUSINESS $8,000
laundry bags and can drop their bagged dirty
laundry into any of several boxes located on
campus. A WeWash truck picks up the bags
and brings them to the site in Kendall, where
everything’s washed, dried, folded and packaged for pick-up, usually within 48 hours.
Students are alerted by e-mail when their
laundry can be picked up. “The beauty of the
operation is the use of bar codes on bags to
track the laundry,” he says.
Sinnreich, with the aid of friend and
partner Rasheed Ali, currently a junior at
the School, introduced WeWash to the
general public in late 2007. A beta version
began testing at two UM dorms this fall,
with drop boxes located in the laundry
rooms. Sinnreich ultimately envisions
WeWash on campuses everywhere.
Meanwhile, Sinnreich is busy tending
to his other enterprise, TheLuxuryIndex.com, an upscale travel, rental and sales
Web site that won an Honorable Mention
award in the High-Potential Venture category. Obviously a go-getter, he offers
advice to like-minded student entrepreneurs: “While in college, either start a
company or get involved with a start-up.
Combined with what you learn in the
classroom, the experience will make you a
smarter, better businessperson.”
bosses solicited their employees’ feedback with the quaint
suggestion box. Then came
human resources departments and managementemployee relations councils. Nowadays,
computer software is the preferred conduit
for linking the two sides. Convinced that
current connections need improvement
and should include customers and other
stakeholders, Nick Gavronsky (BBA ’08)
and Brett Brown (BBA ’08) developed
CorpSpeak.
“CorpSpeak is an enterprise software
application that integrates seamlessly with
corporations’ existing systems,” says
Gavronsky, paraphrasing the elevator
pitch that ultimately impressed the Rothschild competition judges during the students’ presentations. “The application
allows management to collect, centralize,
manage and act upon feedback that they
receive from all their stakeholders — not
only employees but also customers, suppliers and partners.”
The software includes a separate channel “to monitor any feedback that involves
corporate integrity and compliance, such
as Sarbanes-Oxley reporting, fraud or
other sensitive issues,” Brown adds. It’s a
sort of whistle-blower tool, he explains,
though designed to encourage use by not
identifying the source. “If an employee
cites an issue within the corporation, he
can do so anonymously.”
Gavronsky and Brown, both finance
majors, started working on the idea
during the summer of 2007. “We realized
that we both have an entrepreneurial 䊳
Nick Gavronsky
(left) and Brett
Brown are taking
employee feedback
to new levels with
CorpSpeak.
䊳 spirit and are interested in things like
this,” Gavronsky says.
Besides their collective ambition, the
partners tapped into knowledge gleaned
from their coursework at the School.
“That was especially helpful in preparing
the financials,” Brown says. “We took a
course on Excel and its financial uses,
which was a huge help in developing
income statements, balance sheets, cash
flows, setting up graphs for the business
plan and the presentation.”
Another valuable source was their assigned mentor, Steven Witkoff, a New
York City-based real estate executive. “He
was very willing to meet with us, and we
talked to him on the phone all the time,”
Gavronsky says. “Not necessarily a software expert, he gave us a lot of insight on
how to run a business effectively.”
Following graduation in May, roommates Gavronsky and Brown have both
landed jobs in the banking industry.
Nonetheless, they are committed to
making CorpSpeak a reality. “Having
heard what the judges — all prominent
businesspeople — think of our idea, we
want to continue developing the software,
get a model running and eventually
launch it full time,” Gavronsky says. Considering how far they’ve already come,
that seems like a wise suggestion.
ENTREPRENEURIAL WOMAN OF THE YEAR $1,500
PANEL OF JUDGES
BETTY G. AMOS (BBA ’73, MBA ’75)
Everything in Place
The Abkey Companies
CYNTHIA R. COHEN
Strategic Mindshare
It’s all coming together for the Entrepreneurial Woman of the Year
SCOTT DEUTSCH (BBA ’89)
‘I
Orange Clothing Co.
the right time,” says Christina
Villegas (BBA ’08), crediting a bit of
fate in addition to hard work and
determination. That more accurately
describes how Villegas and her
teammates in the Rothschild Competition
developed a business plan to install “Slickit Good!” hair-straightening irons in
women’s public restrooms. Actually, the
plan proposes licensing the concept from
an existing enterprise in the U.K.
Villegas crunched the numbers, aided
not only by her accounting degree but also
a full-time job at her father’s accounting
firm in Coral Gables since 2005. “I’ll be a
DAVID EPSTEIN
Presidential Capital Partners
SANDY GOLDSTEIN (BBA ’81, MBA ’84)
Capsicum Group
WHERE ARE THEY NOW?
GENE GOMBERG (BEd ’70)
They’re Cleaning Up in 15 Cities
FirstManagement Partners
“Our vision is to become a national household name, and I think we are well on our way,” Omar Soliman (BBA
’04) says. His company, College Hunks Hauling Junk, which won first prize as a concept in the 2004 Rothschild
WILLIAM HEFFNER (BBA ’77)
Competition, has come far since its real-world Washington, D.C.-area launch in 2005. “We started with a beat-
Agg Rok Materials Co.
up cargo van, and now we’re running a $4 million annual operation.”
In January 2007, former classmate Faisal Ansari (BBA ’04) opened the first College Hunks franchise in
Central Florida. Earlier this year, Soliman (below, left) and his partner, Nick Friedman (below, right), moved their
are 36 franchises in 15 cities all over the U.S. and more in the works. Trucks are painted UM orange and green.
Alcon Technology Consulting
PAUL SUGRUE ENTREPRENEURIAL SPIRIT AWARD $2,500
DR. ROBERT C. NEWMAN
Greenwood Gulch Ventures
“We’re hoping to be in all metropolitan cities by the end of 2009,” says Soliman. He notes that the Miami fran-
Goodwill Greetings
chise is still available. Interested? Check out www.1800junkusa.com, or call 1-800-JUNK-USA.
— Lauren Firtel
Cynthia Cohen (center) and Leigh Rothschild present
future CPA and Entrepreneurial Woman of the Year
Christina Villegas with her $1,500 check.
CPA by March 2009,” she says, “and hopefully one day the firm will be mine.”
Villegas’ personal efforts aligned when
she made a show-stopping elevator pitch
to open the team’s presentation to the
judges. Together with the business plan’s
merits, it earned Villegas the competition’s
Entrepreneurial Woman of the Year
Award, sponsored by one of the judges,
Miami-based Cynthia Cohen. “Christina
demonstrated incredible poise, demeanor,
authority and commitment,” says Cohen,
the founder of Strategic Mindshare. “And
she had one snappy elevator pitch.”
Villegas, it would seem, is steadily determining her own fate.
ANDREW HEITNER
company’s headquarters to Tampa, Fla. As Soliman explains, “Tampa seemed like the right place to open a call
center, which we knew we needed to keep growing. The location was a good real estate decision too.” Now there
GUESS I WAS IN THE RIGHT PLACE AT
PHILIP OSBORNE (BBA ’06)
StraightLine Logistics
Sportivo Press cards keep on giving
LEIGH M. ROTHSCHILD (AB ’73)
I
Rothschild Trust Holdings
N THE INTRODUCTION TO HIS BUSINESS
ROBERT RUBIN (JD ’84)
Topp Group
ROBERT RUWITCH (BBA ’87)
The Marlin Group
Sunrock Ventures
The Witkoff Group
ANDREW SKINNER
STEVEN C. WITKOFF
MATTHEW W. SHAW (BBA ’91, MPrAcc ’92)
plan for a line of greeting cards,
Alexander Timlin cites the old Rod
Stewart hit, “Every Picture Tells a
Story.” In fact, the business plan tells
several stories. The first is of Sportivo
Press, an entrepreneurial endeavor to create a line of greeting cards that feature
sports photos. The second is about how a
portion of each card’s proceeds go to a
charitable organization.
Just a sophomore last year in a competition that historically attracts upperclassmen, Timlin used the experience to further
his ideals toward social entrepreneurialism.
“There’s no reason why everyone can’t
propagate their own dreams and get themselves somewhere, while at the same time
not taking from others,” he muses. “You
can help other people while helping yourself.” His attitude made him the first
winner of the Paul Sugrue Entrepreneurial
Spirit Award, named for the School’s
former dean who launched the Rothschild
Competition; Sportivo won an Honorable
Mention award.
Timlin recalls taking a political science
class in which he learned about the synergy
between making money and doing good
things. “Capitalism doesn’t have to be cutthroat. It should be more collective,” he says.
By example, Timlin mentions the phil-
Lecturer Phil Needles (left) and Dean Barbara Kahn
present Alexander Timlin, winner of the Paul Sugrue
Entrepreneurial Spirit Award, with a check for $2,500.
anthropic deeds of Bill Gates and Warren
Buffett, then makes another musical allusion: “I believe in what the Beatles sang: ‘It’s
Getting Better All the Time.’”
Faculty
SUMMER SESSIONS
News &Research
Competition judge funds “life-changing”internships
lthough their summer internships
Panama and importing them to the U.S., where
took place 2,000 miles apart and
they are rare. Quintero set up a meeting
in very different environments —
between Aidman and the Panamanian repre-
one with a real estate developer
sentative to the U.S. Food and Drug
in Panama and the other at Goldman Sachs
Administration. “The experience gave me the
in New York City — two School of Business
realization that the ability to get the ball rolling
undergraduates report “life-changing” expe-
and actually start my own business is not
riences. Andrew Aidman and Christopher
something out of my reach,” Aidman says.
A
Gleason were this year’s Heffner Entrepre-
Christopher Gleason’s summer internship
neurship Intern Fellows, and their summer
in New York City was bearing fruit in many dif-
adventures took place thanks to the generosity
ferent ways. “I had the good fortune to be
of alumnus William Heffner (BBA ’77), CEO of
accepted into the Goldman Sachs Summer
Agg Rok Materials Company in Columbus,
Analyst program,” he says. “I spent 10 weeks
Ohio. Heffner, who is a perennial judge in the
in the Interest Rate Derivatives division. They
School’s annual entrepreneurship competition,
were the most fast-paced and challenging
endowed the fellowship — which reimburses
Andrew Aidman (left) and Christopher Gleason plan to capitalize
on the knowledge they gained during their summer internships.
$2 Million Gift Supports
Faculty Recruitment
Endowed chair and other appointments underscore
school’s commitment to research excellence
T
weeks I have ever spent.” Gleason was
encouraged to set up one-on-one meetings
up to $2,500 of a student’s travel and living
expenses — three years ago. Applicants must have a proven interest in entrepre-
with management to learn the business and was assigned nearly a dozen pro-
neurship and must find their own internship opportunity.
jects to be completed during the course of his internship.
Aidman worked with Juan Quintero, whose entrepreneurial ventures include two
In an unexpected turn of events, the student also became the teacher. “At the
Internet cafés in Panama City, a small bed and breakfast in Boquete and several real
end of my internship, newly hired first-year analysts came aboard, and I spent time
estate development projects across Panama. Aidman calls his experience with
helping them learn the software systems and the daily roles for which I had been
Quintero a “crash course” in real estate investment: “He showed what it takes to be a
responsible. It was a great transformation from coming into the internship 10
successful entrepreneur and how to overcome some of the obstacles along the way.”
weeks prior having barely any knowledge of interest rate derivatives. I was very
That may be why the most exciting part of his internship was discussing his own
proud to be able to confidently present to and teach the newly hired analysts.”
— Robert S. Benchley
entrepreneurial idea with Quintero — growing mangosteens, a tropical fruit, in
A FOCUS ON ENTREPRENEURSHIP
The School’s programs take an integrated approach
dent entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial thought leadership. “Through
Entrepreneurship Competition — an annual contest in which teams develop
ideas for new ventures, prepare business plans and pitch their concepts to a panel
our unique results-driven approach to entrepre-
of successful entrepreneurs, competing for more than
neurship education, the School offers a robust
$25,000 in prize money.
entrepreneurship curriculum, supports programs to nur-
Sunshine State Venture Challenge — Florida’s
ture student-run businesses and provides a research envi-
annual statewide collegiate business plan competi-
ronment in which entrepreneurial thinking flourishes,” says
tion, for which the School is a founding and organizing
Dean Barbara E. Kahn. “It’s an integrated, 360-degree
committee member.
strategy through which we are developing a global reputation for excellence.”
Student Mentorship — students interested in entre-
preneurship are paired with successful entrepreneurs in
Elements of the School’s “E-360˚” approach include:
an intensive, year-long engagement through the School’s
Entrepreneurship Major — an 18-
Mentor Program. Students also benefit from the realworld lessons and insights shared by highly successful
credit program with entrepreneurship-specific courses
as well as courses in management, finance and marketing.
Entrepreneurship Consulting Program — the capstone experience for entre-
preneurship majors. Students gain real-world experience with successful entrepreneurs and businesses.
entrepreneurs through the School’s Entrepreneurship Lecture Series.
Heffner Entrepreneurial Internship Fellowship — supports students with up
to $2,500 each for entrepreneurship-related summer internships (story above).
For more information, visit www.UMentrepreneurship.com.
MARGUERITE BEATY
Undergraduate
ROBERT KLEMM
T
he School of Business has a long history of commitment to fostering stu-
HE
UNIVERSITY
OF
MIAMI
School of Business Administration has announced eight new
faculty appointments, including
a new chaired professorship.
Robert Meyer joins the School
as the Warren Johnson Chair, professor of
marketing, after 18 years at the University
of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School. Meyer
will continue to serve as co-director of the
Risk Management and Decision Processes
Center at Wharton, where he was also the
Gayfryd Steinberg Professor and professor
of marketing. This new endowed professorship will be funded through a $2 million
estate gift provided by the late Warren
Johnson (BBA ’50). (For more on the Johnson
gift and how estate planning benefits the
School’s mission, see page 28.)
Also joining the School as full professors
are Dhananjay Nanda and Andrew Leone, both
professors of accounting. Nanda joins the
School after six years at Duke University’s
Fuqua School of Business, where he was an
associate professor of accounting. Leone
comes to UM from Penn State’s Smeal College of Business, where he was an associate
professor of accounting since 2005.
“These individuals are recognized as
among the best researchers and teachers in
their fields, and we are delighted that they
have decided to join the UM School of Business,” says Dean Barbara E. Kahn. “Endowed
chairs, such as the one established through
the Warren Johnson gift, are critical to our efforts to attract standout faculty and join the
ranks of the world’s top research institutions.”
Meyer, who earned his PhD from the
University of Iowa, is an internationally recognized expert in consumer decision analysis, decision making under uncertainty,
natural hazard perception and response
(story, page 43), dynamic decision making
and behavioral game theory. Nanda, who has
his PhD from the University of Rochester,
specializes in the use of accounting information in resolving incentive problems in organizations, corporate governance and board
structure, and earnings management. And
Leone, who earned his PhD from the University of Pittsburgh, focuses on economicsbased empirical research on the interplay
between management incentives, accounting
choice and capital markets.
Other recent appointments include
Scott Hoover, visiting associate professor in
finance; Chris Cotton, assistant professor
of economics; Marie Dasborough, assistant
professor of management; Juliano Laran,
assistant professor of marketing; and Sammi
Tang, assistant professor of management.
Hoover is the Lawrence Term Associate
Professor at Washington and Lee University,
where he has been on the faculty since 2000.
Cotton joins the School after earning his
PhD from Cornell University. Dasborough,
who earned her PhD from Australia’s University of Queensland, has been an assistant
professor of management at Oklahoma State
University since 2005. Laran comes to UM
after earning his PhD from the University of
Florida. And Tang joins the School after
earning her PhD from Washington University’s Olin Business School. — Jeff Heebner
ROBERT
MEYER
DHANANJAY
NANDA
ANDREW
LEONE
Faculty
News &Research
KAHN AMONG MARKETING’S MOST PUBLISHED RESEARCHERS
Dean Barbara E. Kahn has been named one of the
LUO NAMED MOST PROLIFIC
AUTHOR AND ELECTED AIB FELLOW
world’s most published authors of articles in the
Yadong Luo, Emery Findley Distinguished Chair,
leading academic journals in marketing. According
chair of the Management Department and profes-
to a new study, forthcoming in the Journal of Mar-
sor of international management, has been named
keting, Kahn was the world’s seventh-most-pub-
the world’s most prolific author of articles published
lished author of articles in the Journal of Marketing,
in six leading international business journals. That
Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of Consumer
honor is based on a study published in the June issue
Research and Marketing Science between 1982 and
of the Asia Pacific Journal of Management.
2006. The journals were selected, in part, because of
The study examined the number of articles
research that shows faculty tenure and promotion
published by worldwide scholars in the Journal
decisions are directly related to publication in this
of International Business Studies, Management
exclusive set of journals.
International Review, Journal of World Business, In-
Kahn had 23 articles published in these jour-
ternational Marketing Review, Journal of Interna-
nals during that time period. Since then, Kahn has
tional Marketing and International Business Review
had two other articles published or accepted for
between 1996 and 2006. Authors were ranked by
publication. Her article “Consumer Wait Manage-
the number of
ment Strategies for Negative Service Events: A
publications in
Coping Approach,” was published in the Journal of
Research reveals that companies with strong lobbying programs exhibit better
financial performance than do their competitors
each journal,
Barbara E. Kahn
adjusted by the
Consumer Research in February 2008. Another, “Is
Your Product on the Right Side? The ‘Location
search, Journal of Consumer Research, Marketing Sci-
number of co-
Effect’ on Perceived Product Heaviness and Pack-
ence, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science and
authors. Luo
age Evaluation,” is forthcoming in the Journal of
Journal of Retailing.
was ranked the
Marketing Research (story, page 42).
Lobbying Boosts the Bottom Line
The DocSIG study looked at articles pub-
leading author
Kahn has also been rated one of the world’s top
lished by more than 500 faculty members repre-
of articles in the
faculty in the marketing field by the Doctoral Stu-
senting 244 universities worldwide. Overall the
Journal of Inter-
dents Special Interest Group (DocSIG), an organi-
University of Miami is ranked No. 46 among the
national Busi-
zation that serves doctoral students in marketing.
244 universities with publications in the journals.
ness Studies and
According to a study conducted by the group, Kahn
DocSIG says the purpose of the study is to guide
Management International Review, and the
was among the top-50 most published authors from
doctoral students in their application process. The
second-most-published author in the Journal of
2000 through 2005 in six key marketing journals:
group says assistant professors can also use the
World Business.
the Journal of Marketing, Journal of Marketing Re-
study as a benchmark for promotion and review. ■
Yadong Luo
C
“I’m thrilled to see Yadong honored for his remarkable achievement. This recognition is well deserved,” says Dean Barbara Kahn. “The ranking
ABRIL ARTICLE JUDGED ONE OF YEAR’S BEST
illustrates the strength of the University’s business
An article about privacy issues
ogy. It explores the intersection
related to online social networks,
between privacy tort law and
The study ranked the University of Miami No.
authored by Patricia Sanchez
online social networking Web
9 in the world, and No. 4 in the U.S. among insti-
faculty, which we continue to build upon.”
Abril, assistant professor of busi-
sites, and sheds light on the inad-
tutions hosting the most prolific authors in the lead-
ness law, has been judged to be
equacies of current law. The arti-
ing international business journals. The study’s
one of the best law review articles
cle proposes a new framework for
authors suggest the ranking illustrates the influence
published within the past year in
analyzing disclosure-related pri-
of these universities on the advancement of interna-
the fields of entertainment, pub-
vacy harms on social networking
tional business knowledge.
lishing and the arts. The recogni-
sites and beyond.
The article will be repub-
International Business, the leading association of
Group of New York, which pub-
lished in the 2008 edition of the
scholars and specialists in the field of international
Handbook, which provides in-
business. John Daniels and Duane Kujawa, profes-
depth treatment and compre-
sors of management, are already AIB fellows. The
lishes the Entertainment, Pub-
Patricia
Sanchez Abril
lishing and the Arts Handbook.
Abril’s article, “Recasting Privacy Torts in a
hensive coverage of the latest issues, regulations,
School joins Harvard and NYU’s Stern School as
Spaceless World,” was published in the fall 2007
legislation and case law affecting the entertain-
the only business schools in the world with more
edition of the Harvard Journal of Law and Technol-
ment and publishing industries and the arts. ■
than two AIB fellows on their faculty.
■
DIETER SPEARS FOR INHAUS CREATIVE
tion comes from Thomas West
Luo also was elected a fellow of the Academy of
ORPORATE LOBBYING OFTEN
gets a bad rap — particularly
in an election year when the
American public frowns on
candidates being influenced
by anyone with special interests and deep pockets. But a new study
by Assistant Professor of Accounting
Ya-Wen Yang suggests that investors may
want to rethink any negative association
they have with corporate lobbying.
In comparing the direct lobbying expenditures of publicly traded companies,
using data from 1998 through 2005, the
study found that the average annual
return of intensely active companies was 8
percent higher than the returns of nonlobbying firms.
“We were surprised by the size of the
difference,” says Yang, who co-authored the
study with Hui Chen at the University of
Colorado and David Parsley at Vanderbilt
University. “This is information that you
can’t find anywhere in a company’s annual
report, and which investors basically
ignore, yet it turns out it significantly affects performance.”
Exploring the link between lobbying expenditures and performance is a relatively
new arena, adds Yang. While much research
has been done on corporate political influence, past studies have focused primarily on
requires firms to disclose lobbying activities
every six months. They then developed
separate portfolios of firms according to
whether and how much they lobbied. Study
findings showed that the benefits of lobbying were far more significant for those
firms that lobbied most intensively.
Yang, however, is quick to note that the
performance bump enjoyed by the most
active firms may be due in part to strong
performance boosting lobbying efforts
rather than the reverse. “We used regression
models to control for other variables that
might impact performance, such as company size, industry and past performance,”
she explains. “But there is still the question
of whether some firms performed well because they lobbied or lobbied because they
performed well. It’s a chicken-egg problem
that we’re working on refining.”
Yang is also intrigued by the fact that
while firms in sectors heavily affected by regulation, such as tobacco, biotechnology and
chemicals, would seem more likely to benefit
from lobbying, not all companies in those industries do so. “In our next project, we will
try to determine why firms lobby and why, if
lobbying leads to better performance, more
companies don’t do it,” she says.
“This is information that you can’t find
anywhere in a company’s annual report.”
the activities of political action committees,
entities that contribute to political campaigns and are often affiliated with corporations. Yet corporate lobbying efforts
outweigh PAC spending by far. In 2004, for
example, total lobbying expenditure was
roughly 15.7 times that of PAC spending.
In conducting the “Corporate Lobbying
and Financial Performance” study, the coauthors collected data made available by the
Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995, which
But companies may already be catching
on. According to the Center for Responsive
Politics, total lobbying expenditure grew
from $1.44 billion in 1998 to $2.41 billion in
2005 and company involvement is on an upswing. “In 1998, 6.5 percent of public companies were involved; by 2005 that number
had grown to nearly 12 percent,” says Yang.
“That trend is one of the reasons we became
curious about a link between lobbying activity and performance.”
— Jennifer Pellet
Faculty
News &Research
Stormy Weather’s Online Deluge
Picture This
Approaching hurricanes create a last-minute rush to the Web, but vigilance is
short-lived once skies clear
Where a product image is placed on a package can influence how consumers
perceive the product
their packaging. “For products for which
heaviness is considered as a positive attribute, packages with the product image
placed at heavy locations are preferred,” the
researchers write in a forthcoming article
in the Journal of Marketing Research,
“whereas for products for which heaviness
is considered negative, packages using light
locations are preferred.”
Kahn believes the results apply to any
product that comes in a package. “In general, we found that for food products, perceived heaviness was positive,” she notes.
“We hypothesize that that is because it is
associated with quality and taste.” But perceived heaviness wasn’t positive for every
product category, such as “consumer electronics products, where portability and
lightness are an asset,” she says.
Kahn and Deng’s research revealed additional subtleties in product-image placement.
online database firm Compete Inc., and
conducted in the same way that online retailers use Web visitation patterns to measure consumer preferences.) In particular,
they discovered that both men and women
visited weather-related Web sites (such as
weather.com) about equally in the calm
days prior to Katrina, but as the storm ap-
More men than women turn to the Web,
but “there is great inequality in terms
of who actively gathers information,
how much is gathered, and when.”
CHOICEGRAPHX/ISTOCKPHOTO
and you want to pick up some
chocolate-chip cookies. Think
you know just which package
you’re going to reach for? Not
so fast. Your choice may be
influenced by more than just taste, suggests
research by Dean and Professor of Marketing Barbara E. Kahn and Xiaoyan Deng at
the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton
School. Where the product image is placed
on the package affects how you perceive its
contents — and ultimately, which product
you buy.
In particular, if the product image appears
at the bottom, right or bottom right of the
package, the product is perceived as weighing
more. If the image appears at the top, left or
top left, the product is assumed to weigh less.
That has significant implications for
how consumer-products companies design
C
ONTRARY TO THE POPULAR
wisdom that people in
Florida and the Gulf states
are “hurricane mavens,” residents in those areas often
make limited use of the massive amount of information about approaching storms carried by the World Wide Web
in the days prior to the issuance of overt
warnings. That finding is one of several unexpected insights revealed in a recent study
conducted by Warren Johnson Professor of
Marketing Robert Meyer. The research, conducted with Eric Bradlow and Ka Lok Le,
both of the University of Pennsylvania’s
Wharton School, also found that men turn
to the Web disproportionately more than
women when a storm is approaching and
that the vigilance of people living in areas hit
by hurricanes in the past is short-lived.
“What we discovered is that there is great
inequality across residents in terms of who
actively gathers information about storms,
how much is gathered, and when,” says
Meyer. “We saw the problems this can cause
play out in Galveston, Texas, during Hurricane Ike — while the hurricane center was
repeatedly issuing dire warnings about the
need to evacuate, not all residents were
NOEL HENDRICKSON/GETTYIMAGES
L
ET ’S SAY YOU’RE AT THE STORE
For example, if a snack-food
package includes a health claim,
the consumer’s preference for the
heavy image location is weakened. That’s because attributes
associated with heaviness would
appear to be at odds with healthy
eating. “Emphasizing lightness
goals such as health claims mitigated the positive effect of perceived heaviness but did not
result in a preference for the light
locations,” Kahn explains.
Location on the store shelf is
also a factor, because the way
consumers perceive a package is
affected by the packages around
it. For example, if all the packages on a shelf feature product
images near the bottom, then all
the products will appear similarly
heavy. But if one package shows
an image near the bottom and
the other packages have images near the top,
then that one package will seem heavier.
Image placement doesn’t just drive
buying decisions. It can continue to influence consumer perception of the product
long after purchase. In fact, follow-up research is suggesting that image location can
even affect “evaluations of the taste of the
product,” Kahn says.
Interestingly, brand managers and
package designers report that the location
effect isn’t something they’re aware of —
at least not consciously. Kahn and Deng
ran a field study that “suggests that brand
managers were either aware of the effect
at some non-conscious processing level,”
Kahn says, “or their testing of various
package designs led them to the same
conclusions,” even though they didn’t
know why the packages were preferred.
— Eric Schoeniger
choosing to listen, or perhaps listening only
to what they wanted to hear.”
Meyer and his colleagues studied how
141,000 residents of five affected cities
changed their Web-surfing habits as they
lived through Hurricane Katrina in August
2005. (The study was supported by the
proached the number of men going online
for information grew significantly. The
study authors suggested that this might
have to do with a fundamental difference in
how men and women respond to threats
such as hurricanes.
In addition, while detailed information
about the storm and its potential impact on
the Gulf Coast was carried by all types of
media, residents turned to the Web for information only as landfall became imminent.
After Katrina passed, residents continued to check weather-related sites for information, suggesting heightened concerns
about follow-up storms, but only for a short
time. For example, residents of the Florida
Panhandle, which had been hit by Hurricane Dennis a month before Katrina, were
quick to go to the Web to learn about the
new storm, but residents of other cities that
had not endured such a storm so recently
were less likely to do so.
Concludes Meyer: “While over the
years there has been enormous growth in
the scientific knowledge of hurricanes that
has allowed us to make better forecasts,
we’ve known surprisingly little about how
people respond to these forecasts, and the
psychology of preparedness. Hopefully, ongoing work in this direction will continue
Arun Sharma
to provide some answers.” — Tracy Simon
AlumniNews
VincentVanderpool-Wallace,MBA ’80
keting services agency has grown from five employees to
17 and increased revenue by 400 percent.
HOWARD D. ROSEN (BBA ’69, JD ’74), shareholder
and attorney with Donlevy-Rosen & Rosen, PA, co-
THE DECISION MAKER
EUGENE BECK (BBA ’56) is retired from real estate
It has been said that if you want something done right, do it yourself. Vincent Vanderpool-Wallace might say
and politics and is living in Tampa, Fla. He was elect-
that it’s certainly one’s responsibility to try.
ed a supervisor of Hillsborough County Soil & Water
would…’ To which I have been asked in return, ‘Why don’t you do it?’”
served as an elected Democratic committeeman in
eign estates, trusts and beneficiaries, and a portfolio
nationwide, these books are used by lawyers and CPAs
for research.
Named to the Bahamian Senate as minister of tourism and aviation for the Commonwealth, Vander-
Miami-Dade, Broward and Hillsborough counties.
authored both a BNA tax management portfolio on foron asset protection planning. Found in law libraries
“Each time I have served in government has come as a result of my saying, ‘I wish the government
Conservation District in 1982. For many years, he
ROBERT A. SEMONIAN (BBA ’64) is treasurer, founding
pool-Wallace returns to a government he has previously served as director-general of tourism for the
director and principal at Improper Bostonian magazine.
West Palm Beach, Fla., is proud to be a graduate of
Bahamian Ministry of Tourism and as chairman of the Management Committee of the Bahamas Tourism
He was appointed by then-Governor Mitt Romney as a
our school, and writes to say he is “very impressed
Training Center. He also spent three years as secretary-general of the Barbados-based Caribbean Tourism
trustee of Massachusetts Bay Community College; he
with the current UM School of Business.” He notes
Organization and was co-CEO of the Caribbean Tourism Development Company, which he helped create.
was re-elected to be a Massachusetts Republican state
that it has progressed remarkably since 1955 and
Vanderpool-Wallace is praised for melding his private-sector experience — as director of the Central
committeeman. He has served as an elected Massa-
wishes everyone involved in making that happen a
Bank of the Bahamas and the Bank of the Bahamas, and chairman of the Hotel Corporation of the Bahamas
chusetts delegate to the past eight Republican Nation-
sincere congratulations!
— with public service. He takes his new position at a critical time, as the region’s tourism industry grapples
al Conventions.
JOHN W. HELM (BBA ’53) is retired and living in West
with the dampening effects of oil price increases.
RALPH R. DOWLING (BBA ’55), an insurance agent in
BOB E. SHERMAN (BBA ’69) has published Am I the
Hartford, Conn. He has been coaching diving for West
“Tourism is the business of the Bahamas,” he says. “It is the only business in the world in which all citi-
Hartford Public Schools for 21 years and has also
zens are involved, whether the managers like it or not. That has always been quite challenging. Fortunately,
coached diving at the college level. In addition, he
in that regard, we have some of the best citizens in the world.”
coaches masters diving around the world and is proud to
VICE PRESIDENT, GLOBAL SOURCING AND COMPLIANCE,
DICK’S SPORTING GOODS, HONG KONG
1960s
JOHN P. BENEVILLE (BBA ’67), of Mountain Center,
Only One That Signals?, a collection of comic essays
on a variety of subjects. He lives in Hallandale, Fla.
BRUCE E. TOLL (BBA ’65), vice chairman of Toll
Brothers Inc., a Phiadelphia-based luxury home builder,
Vanderpool-Wallace earned his degree through the School’s Executive MBA Program in Miami. “There
support the School each year.
WORLD TRAVELER
Marketing LLC in Lutz, Fla. Now in its fourth year, the mar-
MINISTER OF TOURISM AND AVIATION,
BAHAMAS MINISTRY OF TOURISM, NASSAU
1950s
Walter Archie, BBA ’70
ROBERT HOWARDS (BBA ’67) is CEO of Lighthouse
has been named to UM’s Board of Trustees.
has been a dramatic increase in entrepreneurship and business development over that period,” he told Busi-
KEN VAN DURAND (BBA ’66, MBA ’69) retired in 1998
nessMiami in 2000, two decades after receiving his degree. “There is no question that the MBA program has
as vice president of promotion for RCA Records. He
contributed to this through providing large numbers of Bahamians with a common language that we now use
enjoys coming to campus for women’s basketball games
in discussing how to shape our future.”
when Duke visits UM. He lives in Windermere, Fla.
HARVEY A. WAGNER (BBA ’63) was named president
Calif., is a Vietnam veteran who specializes in military
Vanderpool-Wallace continues to put his classroom training to use. “In many respects, my MBA degree
“The world is one big smorgasbord” for Walter Archie, whose career continues to pique his appetite for
war plans and works with quick-reaction airborne mobile
has always increased the degree to which I make recommendations with confidence,” he says. “The thorough,
and chief executive officer of Caregiver Services Inc., a
travel beyond the 50-plus countries in which he has already cultivated business opportunities.
communications teams. Semiretired from the U.S. Air
critical and analytical thinking required by the MBA program is precisely what is needed to make the kinds
Miami-based provider of in-home care options.
of judgments required in the face of the challenges that we need to address.”
“I was at the handover of Hong Kong to China, I saw the ‘Yellow Power’ revolution in the Philip-
Force, in which he rose to the rank of captain, he owns a
pines, I met Mother Theresa in Calcutta, I was in Vietnam when the U.S. government opened it for
swimming pool service and is caregiver for a person with
trade,” he remembers from his current home in Hong Kong, along with “many other fantastic experiences
HIV/AIDS. He’s also active in support of the Desert AIDS
too numerous to mention.”
Project and American Veterans for Equal Rights.
— Carole Bodger
1970s
ROBERT D. CLOBUS (BBA ’70) is president of Clobus RE
Brokerage & Valuation Inc., a new real estate brokerage
Archie gives the School of Business the credit for inspiring him to see the world, as well as escaping
MICHAEL Z. BRENAN (BBA ’60) was inducted into the
the eight feet of snow that fell each winter in his hometown. “My first roommates were students from
Court of Archons Levere Memorial Temple of Sigma Alpha
ed after 36 years in the appraisal industry. He is a licensed
Thailand; I was from a small town in upstate New York. They opened up the world to me. From the
Epsilon for 50 years of service and life membership.
real estate broker and Florida-certified general apprais-
moment I learned about Asia, I wanted to be involved in international business.”
ROBERT C. DENEHY (BBA ’60) is actively involved with
er, as well as a qualified real estate valuation expert wit-
His first stint in Hong Kong was as managing director of Claire’s Boutiques and culminated as gen-
the American Legion in Utah. He is presently the com-
ness in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties
eral manager of L.L. Bean Inc., Hong Kong. (His two sons, including Justin, who has UM undergradu-
mander of his district and has been awarded the
and the U.S. Bankruptcy Court’s Southern District.
ate and graduate degrees in engineering, attended the Hong Kong International School.)
2008 Pioneer Award. In 2007, he won American
CHARLES W. HOBART (BBA ’70) sold his second
Returning stateside in 2000, Archie was hired to start up the private label/sourcing division of Dick’s
Legionnaire of the Year, and both years was honored
office-furniture company in 1988 and went into home
Sporting Goods, a $4 billion company with more than 22,000 employees. His division contributed to a
with Recruiter of the Year and the Gold Brigade Mem-
repairs until March 2008, when he joined ASG
bership Award. He lives in Hurricane, Utah.
Furniture Inc., in Pompano Beach, Fla., as a salesman.
JEFFREY B. FLECK (BBA ’63) has retired after 40 years
He lives in Boca Raton, Fla.
as a lawyer in private practice in Ohio. He has come
DENNIS LINGLE (BBA ’73), president of Lingle
“home” to Orchid, Fla., and is certified as a mediator by
Investments LLC in Kenilworth, Ill., announces a Canes
the Florida Supreme Court. He notes that his class was
family wedding. His daughter, Erin, married Justin
the last to attend the “Cardboard College.”
Papuga (BA ’99) on September 20, 2008. Many of
DONALD RICHARD FRIIS (BBA ’67) lives in Stockton,
Justin’s family members are UM alumni as well; they
Not only has Archie directed the development of Dick’s own brands, but his group is also responsible
for making sure that the factories with which the company does business comply with its Code of Business Conduct and Ethics, covering corporate responsibilities from safety standards to child labor laws.
“The ability to meet people from all over the world is one of the key things that Miami offers,” says
Archie. “It gives you an opportunity to understand other cultures, other peoples, other points of view. To me,
that’s one of the solutions to what’s going on in the world.”
— Carole Bodger
Calif.
DEREK SMITH
magazine, he then returned to Hong Kong in 2007 to start Dick’s Sporting Goods International.
ROD PAYNE
significant increase in corporate profitability. Honored as “Best in Class” by Sporting Goods Business
and appraisal firm in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., that he found-
all say, “Go Canes!”
AlumniNews
Sonia Beckwith Lent, BBA ’93
MICHAEL WERNER (MBA ’77), CEO and publisher of
VICE PRESIDENT, CLIENT RELATIONS,
GLOBALWIDE MEDIA, LOS ANGELES
which just purchased two new headquarter buildings
Coral Gables, was recognized by Registered Rep mag-
Justin Hintlian, BBA ’94
InfoSource Inc., announces the 25th anniversary of
the company he co-founded in 1983. InfoSource,
azine as an “Outstanding Advisor” for 2008. The award
EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT, SUPERIOR NUT CO., CAMBRIDGE, MASS.
in Ovideo, Fla., near Orlando, develops and markets
LEADING BY
EXAMPLE
and educational institutions throughout the world.
Born in Los Angeles, raised in upstate New York and calling Miami her “home away from home,” Sonia
philanthropic activities and acknowledged peer recognition and respect.
online learning systems and curricula for corporations
CITIZEN OF CYBERSPACE
honors 10 advisors with substantial involvement in
ROBERT W. WOODBURY JR. (MBA ’79) joined GT
MARK SCHULMAN (BBA ’80) lives in Pinson, Ala.
1990s
More than a decade before
Solar Inc., a Merrimack, N.H.-based global provider of
Beckwith Lent traveled a long way to arrive at the e-commerce career that has transformed her into a true
equipment, services and technology solutions to the
“green” was anything more than
citizen of cyberspace.
solar power industry, as chief financial officer.
another color in the spectrum,
ager for Developers Diversified Realty. She lives and
The journey began as a UM undergrad with double 13-hour weekend shifts at a Miami Citibank call
THOMAS D. YEAROUT (MBA ’77) was named assis-
Superior Nut Co. began plant-
works in Atlanta.
center. “For me,” she says, “UM was love at first sight. The campus is so vibrant, the people are so cool. I had
tant director of field operations for U.S. Customs and
ing tropical farm forest planta-
JULIE (MCDONALD) D’ADAMO (BBA ’96) and her
never been anywhere like it, and I remember thinking, This is the place where I want to build my future.”
Border Protection in Tucson, Ariz. Previously, he spent
tions in Costa Rica to offset
husband, Dominic, are proud to announce the birth of
30 years in the U.S. Coast Guard, retiring in 2002 with
greenhouse gas emissions and
their son, Stephen Christopher, on December 4, 2007.
movers and shakers of Hollywood, so it was very, very exciting but also demanding — long hours and short
the rank of captain.
their global-warming effects.
The couple also has a 2-year-old son, Joseph Anthony.
lunches,” she says. “I was ready for a change and looking for a chance to expand my skill set.”
HOWARD ZUSMAN (BBA ’72) is a commercial lending
Justin Hintlian was there when
JEFFREY H. MORGAN (MBA ’97) is area finance officer
expert at CNLBank in Coral Gables. He lives in Miami.
the seeds of the idea were sown.
at Kaiser Permanente in San Jose, Calif.
After graduation, Lent had a stint as a Beverly Hills personal banker. “Many of my clients were the
Lent says her business education made it “an easy transition,” beginning in 2000 as director of implementation at SpeedyClick.com, an entertainment Web site. When the company succumbed to the dot-com
bust, Lent opted to “get on the roller coaster” of online marketing as a founding member of Hi-Speed Media
(later acquired by ValueClick Inc.), where she was director of client relations.
In 2007, Lent joined the online advertising world at GlobalWide Media, a performance-based marketing company in a billion-dollar industry that connects advertisers with consumer audiences through digital
1980s
HAMANT BHARADIA (MBA ’85) lives in Wallington,
ERIKA BARBER (BBA ’90) is a regional property man-
That was in 1997, the same
EDWARD H. NASH (MBA ’97, MS ’97) has been hired
year he became executive vice
as a senior biotechnology equity research analyst and
president of his family’s com-
managing director by Merriman Curhan Ford Group in
San Francisco. He will be based in the firm’s office in
pany, following four years sam-
Surrey, England.
New York City, where he currently lives.
pling “something different,
MICHAEL CIESLINSKI (BBA ’82) interned with the
AMY POWERS (BBA ’93, MBA ’97, MST ’00) was pro-
solutions from e-mail to search engines to those familiar banners and buttons that appear on most every
Florida Marlins’ marketing department and the Baltimore
career-wise” in Miami as a per-
Web site. As vice president of client relations, Lent develops, grows and maintains strategic partnerships by
Orioles’ public relations office while he was in college. In
sonal financial advisor at Pru-
She joined the university 10 years ago and has exten-
managing the many ways that GlobalWide and its partners distribute online traffic. “The volume of such
1985, he became a general partner of Pursue the
dential Securities and Citicorp
sive experience in building successful alumni programs.
transactions is routinely in the millions,” she says.
Pennant; later, he started its successor, Dynasty League
Investments.
JARED SMITH (BBA ’94, MST ’95) and his wife, Tracey,
What’s next? “The industry is constantly morphing and redefining itself, which makes for a lot of up-
Baseball. Both games revolutionized baseball simulation
“The passion I have for the
heaveal,” says Lent. “But the potential of the Internet remains limitless. It’s very likely that my job descrip-
using real-life statistics, including actual lefty-righty
business I grew up with is my
tion three years from now will be beyond anything I can conceive today. UM truly gave me the confidence
breakdowns, normalized to league average and adjusted
real calling,” says Hintlian, who
to succeed at anything I put my mind to.”
for the era. Pursue the Pennant and Dynasty were both
is poised to lead the firm his
named best new sports game by Games magazine.
grandfather started in 1929.
— Carole Bodger
CARL M. GADINSKY (BBA ’88) was promoted to tax
director of Kane & Co., an accounting and consulting
firm in Miami.
are proud to announce the birth of their son, Noah
Sloan, on April 3, 2008.
2000s
Today he puts the finance and marketing lessons he learned at the School to use by “wearing the
JOURDAN BALKANY (BBA ’00) is managing director at
proverbial lot of hats,” handling finance, purchasing, pricing and the sundry day-to-day concerns of the
Larkin Capital, a private equity and portfolio manage-
business — concerns that have changed significantly since his father’s and grandfather’s time.
GREGORY J. HICZEWSKI (MBA ’82) is president of
Growing worldwide demand for nuts is having a greater impact on the company than ever before, says
Magellan Advisory Services LLC in Buffalo, N.Y. His
management consulting firm was the sole financial
Hintlian. Market competition, shifts in the supply chain and the politics of global agriculture are chang-
advisor to Black Walnut Works Inc. in successfully
ing at a fast pace.
ment firm he launched in New York City in May 2008. He
previously worked for Goldman Sachs and Westridge
Capital Group.
CHRISTOPHER BLYTHE (BBA ’05) founded Skoobit
Inc., an online book rental company that he says
Trading in California walnuts and almonds; macadamias from Australia and South Africa; cashews
makes college life easier and less expensive. On the
purchase a franchise.
from India, Brazil and Vietnam, and more, and with a variety of customers “up and down the food chain,”
Web, you can find him at www.skoobit.com; in real life,
JESUS A. LAGO (BBA ’82) is partner-in-charge of
from mom-and-pop storefronts to major retailers, Hintlian describes a client base that has continued to
he’s in Weston, Fla.
Florida attest services in Argy, Wiltse & Robinson, PC’s
grow both domestically and internationally, from Europe to the Caribbean to the Far East.
ALESHIA AND ERIC BONILLA (both MBA ’01) are living
attaining Small Business Administration financing to
Boca Raton, Fla., office. The rapidly growing CPA firm
In 2003, the company opened its online store, www.superiornutstore.com, to grab its share of the grow-
in Austin, Texas. Aleshia launched a jewelry collection
provides an array of specialized tax, accounting and
ing e-commerce market. “When I graduated from UM, the Internet and e-mail were rarely used,” says
called Ally B Jewelry; visit the Barton Creek Square
business advisory services.
Hintlian. “Today, this is an important part of our business. It is very hard to ignore that sector.”
Mall in Austin or www.allyb.com. Eric works for FedEx
JAMES A. RYDER JR. (MBA ’88) has retired from the
Meanwhile, the rest of the world seems to be following Superior Nut’s lead. The company’s partner-
State of Arizona’s Department of Economic Security’s
Office of Procurement. He is now a part-time consultant in Valley Metro Light Rail’s Contracts and
MARK ALCAREZ
president for wealth management at SmithBarney in
KEVIN BURKE
STEPHEN S. SCHAEFER (BS ’80, MBA ’86), senior vice
Latin America.
ship with Reforest the Tropics has resulted in plantings that not only will offset carbon dioxide emissions
ALEX JOSEPH CARDELLA (BBA ’07) is director of mar-
from its production plant, but also are designed to provide food for endangered local wildlife, and to ben-
keting at Coretomic Inc., an interactive services com-
efit local farmers with economic diversification, incentives for planting, and free technical assistance to es-
Procurement unit. He lives in Phoenix.
moted to executive director of the Annual Fund at UM.
tablish and manage new growth.
“We’re proud of the sustainable forest we’ve planted for the farmers in Costa Rica,” says Hintlian. “We
hope our leadership sets a good example.”
pany that delivers Web sites, business productivity,
training, consulting and education. He lives and works
in Boynton Beach, Fla.
ALEXANDER CORREA (BA ’08, BSBA ’08) was select-
— Carole Bodger
AlumniNews
ed for the Scholars in the Nation’s Service Initiative at
Statistics Division of the U.S. Census Bureau.
more of the nation’s top students to pursue careers in
Jean-Pierre Bado, MBA ’03
the U.S. federal government, especially in internation-
VICE PRESIDENT, THE CITI PRIVATE BANK, CITIBANK, N.A., MIAMI
Princeton University. SINSI was created to encourage
MELODY JUNE MANNING (BBA ’05) is a products liability associate with Shook, Hardy & Bacon LLP in
al relations. Correa will begin his graduate studies at
ALBERTO G. MANRARA (MBA ’03) is executive vice
Princeton after he has completed two years in
named to the boards of directors of the Florida Grand
Treasury’s Office of International Affairs.
Jean-Pierre (“JP”) Bado’s journey from a childhood on Long Island, N.Y., to vice president of The Citi Pri-
CHARLES MURPHY CRAY JR., (BBA ’03, LLM ’07)
vate Bank with responsibility for offices in Miami, Boca Raton, Palm Beach and Atlanta has been filled with
has joined Joseph C. Kempe, PA, in Jupiter, Fla. He is
twists and turns. It has taken him through the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, army bases in Germany
GEORGE MAYER (MBA ’06) is a dealer principal at
an attorney with the firm’s tax and estate planning
and war-torn neighborhoods in the former Yugoslavia. It finally brought him to the sparkling shores of
Atlantic Motorcycles LLC in Pompano Beach, Fla. He and
practice group.
Miami, where, admittedly, he had no clear idea of what he wanted to do next.
his father recently bought two motorcycle dealerships in
Opera and the Amigos of the Cuban Heritage Collection
at UM’s Richter Library.
IGNACIO DE ARMAS (MBA ’02) is the practice devel-
But Bado credits his time at the School of Business, the teachers and classmates he met there, and the
Broward and Palm Beach counties. He says he is proud
opment manager for the Global Practice Group of
MBA he earned in finance and international business with answering that question in a way that has paid
to be putting all the skills he learned in his MBA program
Greenberg Traurig LLP in Miami.
off big. “It was a fantastic experience that happened at the perfect point in my life,” he says.
into practice selling Victory and Triumph motorcycles.
HENRY GARRIGO (MBA ’03) has been appointed
There is a kind of synergy between his military experience and the business education he received at
KEVIN MCKEE (MBA ’07) has been named chief finan-
executive director of the Council on Efficient Govern-
UM, Bado says. The military taught him how to win a fight, but also that doing so is really about figur-
cial officer at The Fontainebleau Miami Beach. He lives
ing out how to solve a problem.
in Dania Beach, Fla.
ment for the State of Florida. The council’s main role is
to review, evaluate and issue advisory reports about
business cases for outsourcing as specified by legislation. Henry, his wife, Elaine, and three teenage children
“At the end of the day, it’s about being a creative problem solver,” he says. “That type of thought
DAVID MULLINGS (BS ’00, MBA ’03) and ROBERT
process lends itself to any discipline, whether it’s finance or taking the steps necessary to educate yourself
MULLINGS (BBA ’01, MBA ’03) founded Realvibez,
an integrated media and entertainment company,
or starting a business.”
relocated to Tallahassee, Fla., from Portland, Ore.,
VICE PRESIDENT, HUMAN RESOURCES – NORTH AMERICA,
BEAM GLOBAL SPIRITS & WINE, CHICAGO
president and CFO at TotalBank in Miami. He was
PROBLEM SOLVER
Washington, D.C., with the Department of the
Jill A.Weitz, MBA ’96
Tampa, Fla.
As Bado’s military discharge neared in 2001, “I knew I wanted to do something different, but I wasn’t
where he previously served as worldwide channel pro-
during their graduate studies. In July 2008, Realvibez
and YouTube entered a relationship to form the first
grams manager for Intel Corp.
sure what,” he recalls. He says the “fabulous people” he met at UM helped him figure out what came next.
RACHEL (RIFENBURG) GINIEZ (BBA ’02) recently got
“My shining star was Anita Cava, who was teaching ethics,” he says. He also credits Linda Neider’s man-
www.youtube.com/realvibeztv. David is CEO and Robert
married. She lives in Paris, where she works for the
agement classes and the culturally diverse atmosphere at the School with preparing him to function in a
RAISING A GLASS TO CHANGE
is COO; the Jamaican brothers now live in Broward, Fla.
U.S. Department of Commerce, and would like to get
global community and economy.
BEATRICE M. NANNI (BBA ’05) lives in Pinecrest, Fla.
The liquor cabinet at Beam Global Spirits & Wine offers a heady mix — including Jim Beam and Maker’s
in contact with other UM alumni in the area.
Mark bourbon, Sauza tequila, Courvoisier cognac and Laphroaig scotch. The fourth-largest premium spir-
official Caribbean media channel; check it out at
Bado maintains close ties with the School, including participating in the Mentor Program and providing
BRENT M. REITMAN (BBA ’07) will graduate from
LEONARD J. GOULD (MBA ’03) was elected president of
internships to current students. Recently, he was honored by the Coral Gables Chamber of Commerce with
Nova Southeastern University’s Shepard Broad Law
its company in the world, it racked up $2.5 billion in sales in 2007. Jim Beam is the world’s No. 1 selling
Q.E.P. Co. Inc., a Boca Raton, Fla., manufacturer, marketer
its 2008 Rising Star Award. He donated the prize, $3,500 in professional coaching services, to be given to an
Center in 2010. He is living in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
bourbon. In February 2008, its distillers celebrated the most productive period in their 213-year history,
and distributor of flooring tools and accessories for the
entrepreneurship student. “I’ve had a lot of fabulous mentors in my life,” he says. “I feel giving back is the best
ERIC M. SATZ (MPrAcc ’04) lives in Plano, Texas.
sealing the millionth barrel filled in a three-year stretch.
home improvement and professional installer market.
way I can honor them.”
DALE W. SCHLEY, II (BBA ’05) is an associate attorney
JUSTIN HERTZBERG
— Michael J. McDermott
an adjunct faculty member covering civil trial law and
that students can use to increase concentration as a
private litigation at Nova Southeastern University’s
safe alternative to prescription or illegal drugs. Their
from NYU with a business degree in 1986. She then married and moved to Hong Kong. “Women were
Shepard Broad Law Center.
company, Joint Degree Labs, is based in Coral Gables.
not exactly recognized in the workforce there,” she says. “My tennis game was great, but it wasn’t reality.”
ZOE SCHWARTZ (BBA ’08) has joined TrashTalkFCM in
DAVID HOFFMANN (BBA ’08) turned his passion for
New York City as sales and marketing assistant. The
In Hong Kong, Weitz found employment at an international software consulting company. Later, after di-
travel into an innovative Web-based business. He
company specializes in promotion through nontradi-
vorcing, she transferred to Australia, and then came home.
launched www.DavidsBeenHere.com, a Miami-based
tional media.
“I got a job at Nordstrom in Seattle, on the corporate side,” she says. “My mom was moving to Florida,
Web site community that allows travelers to view and
JONATHAN SEREBRIN (BBA ’05) is customer relations
so I went there to visit — less than a week after Hurricane Andrew. I ended up volunteering down in Home-
share destinations, attractions, restaurants and
specialist at PlayON! Sports, a division of Turner Sports
stead and decided to stay. But I didn’t want to go back into accounting and finance. I had an interview at
nightlife all over the world.
in Atlanta.
Ryder Transportation Services and ended up managing their employee disaster fund. Six months later they
XAVIER HUGHES (BBA ’02) is senior manager at PRTM
JOSHUA L. SPOONT (BBA ’04) has joined law firm
offered me a job in HR.”
Management Consultants, a management consulting
Richman Greer, PA, as an associate in the West Palm
firm that helps executives restructure their organiza-
Beach, Fla., office. He received the highest score on
tions for market leadership and greater shareholder
the February 2008 Fourth District Florida Bar
value. He lives and works in Washington, D.C.
Examination and was honored for that accomplish-
ELAINE LASTRA (BBA ’05) became a safety and
ment with an invitation to speak at the induction cer-
environmental manager for Kelly Tractor Co., a CAT
its fresh bakery operations, with some 13,000 employees. But in 2007, the CEO she had been working with
emony for new attorneys that was held in May in the
dealership, following her graduation from UM. She
resigned. “I took two months and traveled. Then the opportunity with Beam came up.”
Florida Supreme Court in Tallahassee.
recently completed her MBA at Nova Southeastern
STEPHANIE STANFORD (MBA ’03) has launched
excited about the company even though she’s just starting to become a bourbon drinker.
Weitz took a very roundabout career path to get to Chicago. She grew up in New York and graduated
Weitz had found her vocational niche. “I like dealing with people and helping people,” she says. While
at Ryder, she earned her MBA through the School’s executive program. In 1999, she joined Frito-Lay as
human resources director for the New York region. From there, she moved to Purchase, N.Y., to work for
parent company PepsiCo, then transferred to Chicago in 2004. Recruited to Sara Lee in 2006, she oversaw
She sees herself as a long-term “Beamer” who will be along for the ride. “In my career, I’ve always been
University and is relocating to the Washington, D.C.,
a proponent and a part of change. I’ve never been around to see how the change has worked. I’d like to see
area to work as a statistician for the Service Sector
this through. We’re laying the foundations for greatness ahead.”
— Catherine O’Neill Grace
PAUL MORRIS/GPA
with Young & Adams, PA, in Boca Raton, Fla. He is also
JD/MBA ’07) created Focuset™, a nonprescription pill
Jill Weitz wasn’t around for that banner event — she didn’t start working at Beam until May. But she’s
TODD MANSFIELD
JASON NEUFELD (both
AND
Stanford Planet, a marketing, consulting and business
coaching firm based in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. She pre-
AlumniNews
UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI SCHOOL OF BUSINESS 2008-09
viously worked in product marketing and multicultural
marketing at Burger King Corp.
FACULTY
ADMINISTRATION
HENRY THOMPSON (MA ’00, MPA ’02) has relocated
Barbara E. Kahn, PhD
from Miami to New York to become chief administra-
Dean
tive officer at Brooklyn Plaza Medical Center.
GREGORY M. WEIGAND (JD ’03, MBA ’04) joined the
A. Parasuraman, PhD
Alternative Investments Group of Pricewaterhouse-
Vice Dean, Faculty
Coopers LLP in the firm’s New York City office.
Anuj Mehrotra, PhD
OBITUARIES
Vice Dean, Graduate Business Programs
GEORGE R. BASSETT (MBA ’76) passed away on
Linda L. Neider, PhD
June 11, 2008. He lived in Miami and began a long
Vice Dean, Undergraduate Business Programs
career in finance at Southeast Bank. He remained
involved with UM and with the School of Business,
Arun Sharma, PhD
where he oversaw the Southeast Banking Corporation
Vice Dean, Strategic Initiatives
Foundation Endowed Scholarship. Survivors include
Rene Sacasas, JD
his wife, Melissa L. Bassett (MS ’99).
Director, Real Estate Programs
JOSEPH A. BEVERIDGE (BBA ’56) passed away on May
ACCOUNTING
Kay W. Tatum, Chair
Royce D. Burnett
Shirley Dennis-Escoffier
Diana Falsetta
Mark E. Friedman
Elaine Henry
Oscar J. Holzmann
Andrew Leone
Dhananjay Nanda
Lawrence C. Phillips
Olga Quintana
Sundaresh Ramnath
Avi Rushinek
Ya-Wen Yang
Laura Giuliano
Linda L. Neider
Pedro Gomis-Porqueras
Terri A. Scandura
Shirley Liu
Luis Locay
Oscar Mitnik
Adrian Peralta-Alva
Joshua Wu
William B. Werther Jr.
FINANCE
Douglas R. Emery, Chair
MANAGEMENT SCIENCE
Sandro Andrade
Edward K. Baker III, Chair
W. Brian Barrett
Adam Blank, MBA ’07
Co. agent for 30 years and taught Dale Carnegie classes
Director, Health Sector Management
and Policy Programs
Thor W. Bruce
OWNER, FRANCHISEMART, BOCA RATON, FLA.
Mentor Program. Survivors include sons Mark Beveridge
Meredith (Buell) Blank, MBA ’07
KEY ACCOUNT SALES SUPERVISOR, OFFICE SUPPLIES DIVISION,
3M, DELRAY BEACH, FLA.
Mark A. Robinson
Chief Financial Officer
LLOYD A. BURAK (BBA ’65) passed away on May 12,
2005. He lived in Tampa, Fla.
EllenMarie McPhillip
WILLIAM E. BURKHART (BBA ’59) passed away on
Assistant Dean,
Undergraduate Business Programs
February 7, 2008. He lived in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
JOSEPH M. DETRIO, ESQ. (BBA ’44, JD ’49) passed
AN UNEXPECTED BONUS
Degree candidates in the School’s Executive MBA program choose to enroll for all kinds of reasons, most
MICHAEL HAMMERSCHMIDT (MPA ’96) passed
for career advancement. Such was the case for Meredith Buell and Adam Blank, who belonged to the
away August 19, 2008. He had been chief of the Coral
same study group during their two years there. However, they also received an unexpected bonus.
Gables Police Department since 2004. Previously, he
Blank, who was managing the financial planning and analysis department for Spectrum Brands’ Latin
America division when he started the program in April 2005, was looking to climb the corporate ladder
there. “I had my eye on a position such as vice president of business development at that time,” he says.
With a background in packaging science, Buell had recently transitioned from the technical side to sales
and marketing at 3M. “I felt I needed to develop some core business understandings to take my career to
the next level, and an MBA seemed the best way to do that,” she says.
Laura Padron
away in 2002. He lived in Apopka, Fla.
Assistant Dean, Development and Stewardship
George Corton
Director, Development
spent 32 years in the Miami-Dade Police Department,
where he rose to the rank of major. He leaves behind
Jeff Heebner
his wife, Wisty, two sons and many friends at UM.
Director, Communications
JEAN HUDSON (BBA ’56) passed away January 14,
2008. She lived in Greensboro, N.C.
Alexander P. Pons, PhD
LIEN P. LE (BBA ’94) passed away. She worked for
Director, Sanford L. Ziff
Graduate Career Services Center
Morgan Stanley in New York City.
Buell, who had worked all over the country during a decade with 3M, looked at numerous options. “No
FRANK MICHAEL SABO (BBA ’66) passed away on
one else seemed to offer the combination of a strong academic reputation and scheduling flexibility that this
February 13, 2008. He lived in Michigan, where he
program did,” she says. The combination of academic learning and the chance to benefit from the real-
worked for Daimler Chrysler Corp. He and Leanne, his
world experience of both faculty and fellow students “exceeded my expectations,” she adds. “What I
wife of 42 years, raised three children.
learned there has given me the opportunity to become more involved in the strategic aspects of my busi-
ABELARDO SOTO (BBA ’73) passed away on April 21,
Blanca I. Ripoll-Garcia
ness, and my clients are benefiting from that as well.”
2008. He lived in Hialeah, Fla., and was a comptroller
Executive Assistant to the Dean
For Blank, the program was such an eye-opening experience that he has completely changed direction
in his professional life. Since obtaining his MBA, he has become an entrepreneur, opening a retail-based
franchise matchmaking business called FranchiseMart. “I had always been in finance, and this allowed me
Cristina M. Raecke
Director of Recruiting and Admissions
Graduate Business Programs
merger. On March 29, 2008, Meredith Buell became Meredith Blank, with quite a few of their classmates in
attendance and several members of their study group serving in the wedding party. — Michael J. McDermott
Timothy R. Burch
Howard Seth Gitlow
Vichi Chhaochharia
Anito Joseph
Andrea J. Heuson
Anuj Mehrotra
Qiang Kang
Paul K. Sugrue
William Landsea
Huiliang Xie
Ricardo J. Rodriguez
Tallys Yunes
Tie Su
MANAGEMENT
Yadong Luo, Chair
MARKETING
Arun Sharma, Chair
Cecily Cooper
Joseph Johnson
John D. Daniels
Barbara E. Kahn
Marie Dasborough
Juliano Laran
Joseph Ganitsky
Howard Marmorstein
Haresh Gurnani
Robert Meyer
Vaidyanathan Jayaraman
Marc T. Junkunc
Jeffrey L. Kerr
Duane Kujawa
Schweta Oza
A. Parasuraman
Dan Sarel
Yadong Luo
Michael Tsiros
Marianna Makri
Joe Zhang
John M. Mezias
Shengui Zhao
—Compiled by Lauren Firtel
MISSION STATEMENT
DO YOU HAVE NEWS that
you would like
to share with your friends and classmates?
E-mail us at [email protected] or, if
you prefer, fax it to us at (305) 284-1569.
The mission of the University of Miami School of Business is to provide an environment
in which the creation and dissemination of business knowledge can flourish.
COMMENTS ON THE MISSION STATEMENT SHOULD BE ADDRESSED TO [email protected]
Hernan Awad
his wife, two children and two grandchildren.
PAUL MORRIS/GPA
As to that “unexpected bonus,” the two newly minted MBAs decided on what you might call a friendly
ECONOMICS
Manuel Santos, Chair
Serife Nuray Akin
Luca Bossi
Michael B. Connolly
Chris Cotton
Carlos Flores
James W. Foley
Ronny Aboudi
for Saxon Copystatics for 15 years. He is survived by
to expand into so many other areas,” he says. “I got to learn so much about services, marketing, advertising,
supply chain — it was fantastic!”
COMPUTER
INFORMATION SYSTEMS
Joel D. Stutz, Chair
Robert T. Grauer
Robert T. Plant
Sara F. Rushinek
Mario Yanez
Steven G. Ullmann
Philip K. Robins
Gennaro Bernile
(BBA ’84) and Brett Beveridge (BBA ’89).
Sammi Tang
Ling Wang
Steven G. Ullmann, PhD
BUSINESS LAW
Rene Sacasas, Chair
Patricia Abril
Anita Cava
Ann Morales Olazábal
Chester A. Schriesheim
Tracy Regan
22, 2008.A Miami resident, he was an Allstate Insurance
in the 1950s and 1960s. He also served in the School’s
Harihara Prasad Natarajan
David L. Kelly

Picture of - University of Miami School of Business

Transcription

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