Summer 2014 - Hardin

NEWSLETTER
SUMMER 2014
KELLEY COLLEGE
ofBUSINESS
HARDIN - SIMMONS UNIVERSITY
CHARLES WALTS
OFF ON HIS NEXT
ADVENTURE
On Thursday morning, May 8, accounting professor Charles
Walts gave his last final. His colleague Jodie McGaughey bought his
lunch at Jason’s Deli. His submitted his last set of grades and drove the
familiar route between Hardin-Simmons University and his home. He
had put another career behind him.
He started his working life in the oil fields, working as a
roustabout for Bass Brothers Engineering, where his father was a
petroleum engineer. In 1973, after graduating from the University of
Texas with two degrees in accounting, he went to work in the Fort Worth
office of Arthur Young, one of the big-8 accounting firms, where he rose
through the ranks to audit manager. “It kills me how they evaluated you,”
he said. “Once I was rated an excellent-plus-plus, which was evidently
just short of superior-minus-minus, so I didn’t get the raise I deserved.”
One of his audit clients was Merchants Trucking Co., which
was based in Abilene. In 1979, Walts went to work for them as their
chief financial officer, a post he held until 1992. He kicked around for a
few years before landing at Hardin-Simmons University, working as an
adjunct instructor, then visiting assistant professor, and, by the time he
retired, as an associate professor of accounting and finance holding the
Johnson Endowed Chair of Business.
“One thing I like about teaching,” he has said on more than one
occasion, “you never wake up dreading to go to work.” He was a common
fixture at the various entrances of the Johnson Building, where he would
smoke a cigarette, chat with people coming and going, and watch the
campus activity. He knew who drove every car in the parking lot.
“I was going down in the elevator with him once,” recounts Mike
Monhollon, dean of the Kelley College of Business. “I told him there was a
lot to be said for getting up from your desk every hour or so to relax a bit
and stretch your legs. It would be really healthy but for the smoking thing.”
“There wouldn’t be much point, but for the smoking thing,”
Walts replied. After a heart attack in 2006, Walts gave up the cigarettes
in favor of coffee stirrers, which he chews into mangled strips of plastic.
He hasn’t lost his reputation as the business school curmudgeon, though
with him it is a label affectionately given.
Though he won’t be coming up to the business school every
day, he will continue to maintain the books for Hands-On Outreach at
the Church of the Heavenly Rest, where he and his wife Gay Ann are
active members. He’s also a history buff. His Kindle was loaded with
books for the two-week cruise they began the week after his last final.
ROADBLOCKS & WEBSITES
March 21st, 2014 By Action
Roadblocks
The stories that truly inspire us to think,
act, and see things differently—what are
they? They take many forms, but the most
recognizable feature of these stories is
that the protagonist is faced with a massive
challenge and must overcome that challenge
in order to succeed.
Take Andy Morley, founder of The Web Design
Group, for instance. Having been brought up
Photo by E. Dronkert https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/
in an entrepreneurial family, Morley knew he
wanted to start his own business after finishing college, so he did. The business was growing,
but something else was growing at the same time—Morley’s family. Morley became the father
of a son with epilepsy, a horrible condition that causes the victim to suffer from daily seizures.
So Morley shutdown his business, but he didn’t shutdown his entrepreneurial nature. To find
out Morley’s next steps, check out this article: “Entrepreneurial inspiration: I never gave up, not
even after my son’s diagnosis.”
Website
Are you starting a business? If so, you need to start growing your web presence from day one.
In a recent article for Entrepreneur, “Put the Right Foot Forward When You Step Online,” Anca
Bradley offers a few tips for launching an online profile.
•
Get an Expert: We all know there are a lot of website “do-it-yourself” programs out there, but when it comes to starting your business’s website, it’s generally a good idea to call an expert. A professional web designer will help turn your vision
into a reality while also making sure the coding and behind-the-scenes work is
present and working.
•
Hire an Expert Who Understands SEO: If you want customers to actually find
your website, you need to make sure your SEO is working. Google, and other
search engines for that matter, need to be able to crawl your website. As Bradley
notes, media-rich websites might look cool, but search engines can’t crawl that
data, thereby making it useless to your SEO.
Roadblocks and Websites was originally published in the blog of the Acton MBA, Austin, Texas. Acton and
Hardin-Simmons University partner to offer an MBA in Entrepreneurship from Hardin-Simmons. Visit the blog
at www.actonmba.org.
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GIANTS, TRUST, &
MANAGING GROWTH
March 28th, 2014 By Action
Giants
Big news this week, social media giant Facebook recently acquired, Oculus, a virtual reality
startup, for a $2 billion dollar price tag. So why should this news matter to the everyday
entrepreneur? First, this big buy shows the potential of a unique startup on the marketplace.
If you have dreams of growing multiple businesses, it’s likely that you’ll have to part with a few.
Learning to break standards and upset the status quo might just make your company appealing
to the giants. And let’s not forget, Facebook was basically started in a college kid’s dorm room.
If you have a great idea and the knowledge to make something out of it, the possibilities are
endless. Check out the full story on Forbes.
Trust
What makes a brand trustworthy? According to
a recent survey performed by Emotographics of
Princeton, N.J., on behalf of Entrepreneur Media Inc.,
a number of factors are at play. Of course, on one side,
you have things like brand loyalty and disengagement.
On the other, you have factors like region, age, etc.
Either way, if you’re interested in startup life, check
out the list of “The 120 Most Trusted Brands” and see
if you can find a correlation between some of their Photo by Artem Potoy https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/
business models and the way customers view their products or services. At Acton, you know by
now that we love studying business cases, tackle this list and see if you can learn anything new.
Managing Growth
As you’re startup grows, it’s bound to become more complex. That complexity will inevitably
lead to what is called “Cognitive Load.” Cognitive Load may hinder growth and stagnate your
processes. Even as your business expands, you should focus on keeping teams small and
connected. A recent article for Fast Company, “How to Manage Your Startup’s Fast Growth,”
covered these ideas and more. Another major factor this article pointed out was the startup’s
“mindset.” The idea behind mindset is that as your startup grows, you need to be willing to
change the way you think about the business, your place in it, and the direction it’s heading.
Giants, Trust, and Managing Growth was originally published in the blog of the Acton MBA, Austin, Texas.
Acton and Hardin-Simmons University partner to offer an MBA in Entrepreneurship from Hardin-Simmons. Visit
the blog at www.actonmbga.org.
Summer 2014 | Kelley College of Business | 3
A LETTER FROM THE DEAN
Michael L. Monhollon
Dean, Kelley College of Business
Michael Monhollon received
a BA in mathematics from
Baylor University and both
an MA in economics and a JD
from the University of Virginia.
He began his legal career in
commercial litigation before
moving into administrative law
and estate planning. His two
published books are a legal
thriller, Criminal Intent (Signet
1992), and a novel based on the
life of Christ, Divine Invasion
(Reflection Publishing 1998).
He joined the faculty of the
Kelley College of Business in
1998 and has served as dean
since 2003.
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In April I watched the movie
Moneyball with a group of
business students. The event
was sponsored by the business
school’s social fraternity, Kappa
Gamma Beta, commonly called
the KGB for short. The movie is
the story of Billy Beane’s efforts
to put together a competitive
baseball team on a shoestring
budget. He succeeded by
following the dictates of a
statistical model rather than
the advice of his scouts and his
coach. The World Series win by
the Boston Red Sox a couple of
years later is often credited to its
adoption of the same methods.
Accounting professor Jodie
McGaughey, the former CFO
of Skinny’s, Inc., introduced the
movie with a discussion of the
importance of data and statistics
in business decision-making. I
followed up with a discussion of
the importance of using models,
even for experts in a field.
Jim Simons founded Renaissance
Technologies, widely considered
to be the world’s most successful
hedge fund. In a video he did for
MIT, he discussed the importance
of systematic decision-making:
If you do fundamental [securities]
trading, one morning you feel like
a genius, the next day you feel
like an idiot….by 1998 I decided
we would go 100% models…we
slavishly follow the model. You
do whatever the model says no
matter how smart or dumb you
think it is. And that turned out to
be a wonderful business.
Models
beat
experts
in
investments as well as in baseball.
In fact, according to a
Psychological Assessment article
published in 2000, there have
been 136 studies that analyze the
performance of computer-run
models against expert judgment
in military training, diagnosis
of
appendicitis,
magazine
advertising sales, and a host of
other areas. The models beat
the experts 47.8% of the time;
the experts beat the models only
5.9% of the time; and 46.3% of
the time, experts and models
ended in a tie.
We need experts. After all,
someone has to develop the
algorithms and models for the
computers to run. In implementing
the decision-making models,
though, experts suffer from
all sorts of problems explored
in the literature of behavioral
economics:
overconfidence,
anchoring bias, availability bias,
representative bias…sometimes
something as simple as hunger
and fatigue.
In business schools nationwide
there is a growing interest in
business analytics. Stories like
Moneyball help us to see why.
KELLEY COLLEGE FACULTY
RECOGNIZE OUTSTANDING
STUDENTS OF 2014
DEAN’s ADVISORY
COUNCIL 2013
Mr. Gene Adams ’54
Baylor Bankshares, Inc.
Mr. Lawrence Bertsch
Citizen’s Bank
Mr. Gray Bridwell ’91
Lydick-Hooks Roofing
Mrs. Connie Davis
Texas Dept. of Family & Protective Services
Mr. Tim Dickenson
Briercroft Fire and Water Restoration
Mr. Michael Dickie ’82
Raymond James Financial Services
On April 24, 2014 Dean Michael Monhollon and the faculty of the
Kelley College of Business hosted the twenty-fifth annual Lowell
W. and Mildred C. Queen Awards dinner for students in business.
Honorees were nominated and selected by the Kelley College
faculty based on selection criteria that included scholarship,
attitude, and the spiritual and leadership traits important
to future success in business. Following dinner members of
Delta Mu Delta Business Honorary Society and Kelley-Tucker
Endowed Business Scholars were recognized, including KelleyTucker Medal recipients Corinn Burgess, Michael Hursh, and
David Tappert.
The Texas Society of CPA’s Outstanding Junior Scholarship in
Accounting was presented to Grant Stine. He is an Accounting
major from Burkburnett, Texas and member of Delta Mu Delta
Business Honor Society.
April Bravenec received The Texas Society of CPA’s Accounting
Excellence Award. Ms. Bravenec is an Accounting major from
Flower Mound, Texas, a member of Delta Mu Delta Business
Honor Society and Gamma Beta Phi, a recipient of President’s
and Kelley College scholarships, and has been honored on the
President’s and Dean’s Lists.
The Outstanding Accounting Student Award and Ruby A. and
Jesse N. Fletcher Award for Outstanding School of Business
Student were presented to Devon Howard from Abilene. The
Ruby A. and Jesse N. Fletcher Award for the Outstanding School
of Business Student is presented to the outstanding student in
Mr. Corby Flanagan ’93
Condley and Company, LLP
Mr. Eric Gillis
Wisteria Place Retirement Living
Mr. Gary Gragg
First Financial Bank of Abilene
Mr. Chad Hoes ‘02
Parkway Advisors
Mr. Theron Holiday Sr. ‘93
Parkway Advisors
Mr. Paxton Hurst ‘02
Denton County Texas Farm Bureau
Ms. Mark Layton
Layton & Gage, CPAs LLP
Mr. Jordan Maxwell
Embark
Mr. Jim Newcomb ’86
Merrill Lynchwell
Mr. Jud Powell ’86
Edward Jones Investments
Summer 2014 | Kelley College of Business | 5
KELLEY COLLEGE FACULTY RECOGNIZE
OUTSTANDING STUDENTS OF 2014 CONT.
the Kelley College of Business in memory of Ruby
A. and Jesse N. Fletcher, and is named for the
parents of HSU President Emeritus Jesse Fletcher.
Devon is a member of the HSU women’s soccer
team, the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, and
Delta Mu Delta Business Honor Society. She has
received the Texas CPA Accounting Excellence
Award, the HSU Outstanding Economics Student
Award, is a Capital One Academic All-American,
Distinguished Scholar Athlete, and has been
recognized on the President’s List.
Mr. Patterson is a member of Delta Mu Delta
Business Honor Society and recipient of the
Outstanding Student Worker Award.
The Outstanding Computer Science Student
award was presented to David Tappert. Mr.
Tappert is a Computer Science major from
Montpellier, France, and President of the
International Student Fellowship. He is a Kelley
Tucker Scholar and has been named on three
occasions to the President’s List, and on two
occasions to the Dean’s List. The Outstanding
Economics Student Award was presented to
Randy Sullivan.
Kenneth Russo of Coldspring, Texas, and Joshua
Steed of Abilene shared the Outstanding Graduate
Student Award. Mr. Russo is Assistant Chief
Financial Officer for Abilene Regional Medical
Center and has received the Graduate Dean’s
Scholarship. Mr. Steed is a Resident Director for
Hardin-Simmons University.
Grayson Bunnell of Abilene received the
Outstanding Finance Student Award. Mr. Bunnell
is employed by First Financial Bank of Abilene,
and intends to continue his employment there,
pursuing a career in commercial lending.
The Outstanding Management Student Award
was presented to Isaac Patterson of Abilene.
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Mike Hursh of Salt Lake City, Utah received the
Outstanding Marketing Student Award. Mr. Hursh
is a member of the Cowboys Varsity football team
and chief photographer for the HSU Brand. He is a
member of Delta Mu Delta Business Honor Society,
a Kelley College Scholarship recipient, and has
been recognized in the President’s List.
The Manual Flores, Jr. Business Policy Award is
presented annually to the exceptional business
policy student in honor of the late Manuel Flores,
Jr., professor emeritus at Hardin-Simmons, who
taught business policy for many years. The Dean’s
Award, presented to the student who most took
ownership of their education, represents seizing the
day, initiataive, and being responsible. This year’s
recipient of both awards is Jerry Hernanadez of
Frisco, Texas. Mr. Hernandez is Editor-In-Chief of
the H SU Brand and has served as Sports Editor,
was a member of the Cowboys Varsity football
team, is an Academic All American and has been
recognized by the President’s and Dean’s Lists.
The John Wood Award in Business Ethics is given for
exemplary demonstration of Christian standards,
ethical principles, and integrity in the study of
business. For 2013 Candace Bunkley of Abilene
received the John Wood Award. Ms Bunkley is
Vice President of Delta Mu Delta Business Honor
Society, Business Editor for the HSU Brand, and
a member of and Pledge Master for Alpha Phi
Omega National Service Fraternity. She received
the Outstanding Marketing Student Award for
2013, was honored by the President’s and Dean’s
Lists, and is a recipient of the Abilene Association
of Insurance and Financial Advisors Outstanding
Business Student Scholarship.
The W. Willard Pratt Endowed Scholarship in
Business and Leadership benefits a deserving
s tudent in the Kelley College of Business who is
majoring in business and minoring in leadership.
The Pratt Scholarship was awarded to Peyton
Janssen, a Management major from Austin, Texas.
Ms. Janssen is a member of the Cowgirl soccer
team and is a recipient of the HSU Leadership
Scholarship and Presidential Scholarship.
of Development, the Board of Young Associates,
the Academic Foundation, and the Cowboy Band
Foundation. This year’s Hemphill Award recipients
are Carl Montegna III of Englewood, Colorado,
and Ryan Reagor of Lubbock, Texas. Mr. Montegna
is a Finance and Management double major,
President of Kappa Gama Beta Business Social
Fraternity, a Lunch Buddy at nearby Bonham
Elementary, a HERO Volunteer and works as a
Resident Assistant at Hardin-Simmons. Mr. Reagor
is a three-year letterman on the Cowboys baseball
team, President of Delta Mu Delta Business Honor
Society, a recipient of the Pratt Scholarship, and
an Academic All American.
In addition to the students recognized, the
members of Delta Mu Delta Business Honorary
Society recognized Jodie McGaughey, M.A.,
C.P.A., as Outstanding Educator of the Year. Mr.
McGaughey is an Assistant Professor of Accounting
in the Kelley College.
The Koreen and Lee Hemphill Outstanding Service
Award is presented annually to an individual who
has provided outstanding service to Kelley College.
Lee Hemphill was a teacher, a pastor, and for 16 years
Hardin-Simmons Vice President for Development.
He was instrumental in establishing the HSU Board
Summer 2014 | Kelley College of Business | 7
STUDENTS PROVIDE PACKAGING RESEARCH
FOR NEW CRACKER LINE
During the spring 2014 semester, Dr. Plantier’s Marketing Research class took on a research project to
assist Fehr Foods, Inc. with their new Lil’ Dutch Maid cracker line. The objective of the study was to explore
consumer purchase behaviors when given a choice of traditional (long sleeve) or the trendy fresh stack
(short sleeve) packaging for Saltines, Ritz, and Honey Graham crackers. The design of the study allowed for
multiple research techniques including focus groups, observation with interviews, and web surveys. With the
introduction of the new cracker product line to Fehr Foods, Inc., students were able to use the research to
assist the company with determining the type of automated machinery required to best meet the packaging
needs of the consumer market.
A special thank you to Brandon Heiser, Director of Operations and 2013 HSU MBA graduate, and Fehr
Foods, Inc. for the tour of the manufacturing plant and for allowing us to incorporate industry-based
projects into the learning environment at HSU.
From Left to right: Alex Martinez, Traci Tschirhart, Hannah Hornsby, Kacy Bartlett, Morgan Watts, Brandon
Heard , Josh Morales, Bob Crozier, Wyatt Walton, Dr. Jennifer Plantier
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KELLEY COLLEGE PROFESSOR DAVIS SPEAKS
Associate Professor of Management Dr. John N. Davis, P.E., presented a paper coauthored with Professor
of Communications Tim B. Chandler and the late Terry Minami, entitled Everyone’s Got an Opinion, at the
annual meeting of the Association for Business Communication – Southwestern United States, in Dallas,
Texas, March 14, 2014. This paper addressed using student op-eds, published in the student newspaper, The
Brand, as an innovating communication teaching tool.
Dr. Davis co-presented a symposium entitled Business Management of Environmental Issues for a Sustainable
Future: Multi-Sector Panel Discussion of Environmental Management System (EMS) Implementation and
Management – The Way Forward, at the 56th annual meeting of the Southwest Academy of Management,
Dallas, Texas, March 13, 2014. Co-presenters were Assistant Professor of Environmental Sciences Dr. Marla
Potess and Assistant Professor of Biology and Environmental Science Dr. Rick Hammer.
Summer 2014 | Kelley College of Business | 9
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IMPORTANT NUMBERS FOR THE KELLEY COLLEGE OF BUSINESS
Academic Programs
Accounting
Computer Science
Economics
Finance
Management
Marketing
Mr. Jodie McGaughey
Dr. Terry Sergeant
Dr. John Hill
Mr. William Curtis
Dr. Nancy Kucinski
Dr. Doug McIntyre
(325) 670-1508
(325) 670-1292
(325) 670-5871
(325) 670-1364
(325) 670-1503
(325) 670-5817
Career Management and Internships
Dean’s Office
Dr. Doug McIntyre, Director
Mr. Michael Monhollon, Dean
(325) 670-5817
(325) 670-5870
Development and Major Gifts
Graduate Programs
Leadership Studies Program
Mr. Mike Hammack, VP for
Institutional Advancement
Dr. Nancy Kucinski, Dean of Graduate Studies
Dr. Coleman Patterson, Director
(325) 670-1278
(325) 670-1503
(325) 671 -2172