2019-2020 DEAN’S REPORT
OUR MISSION To develop business leaders who embrace the values and virtues of Jesus.
Purposeful
Bold
Creative
Credible
Servant
“And David shepherded them with integrity of the heart; with skillful hands he led them.� PSALMS 78:72
Three Pillars of LIPSCOMB UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF BUSINESS Lipscomb University College of Business provides the “skill of the hand” necessary for business graduates to be successful with the distinction of also having “integrity of the heart.” We believe every student’s potential is God-given and their life vocation is a calling, whether it be with a global corporation or a local missional entrepreneurial start-up.
PRACTICE
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The College of Business instills the skills of PRACTICE through a collaborative learning environment that engages students and faculty in forward-thinking professional education evidenced by a strategic portfolio of faculty-directed applied research, teaching excellence, and academic and co-curricular programs that equip students for success.
PURPOSE
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The College of Business helps students find their PURPOSE and to understand the potential of business to be a positive voice in today’s world through the integration of faith and solid business practices, as well as professional immersion opportunities with a global perspective.
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PARTNERS The College of Business cultivates PARTNERS to increase engagement, provide greater opportunities and allow our students to reach new levels of excellence through faculty research and collaboration with other colleges, businesses, the community and the world around us.
A MESSAGE from the Dean
CREATING THE NEXT GENERATION OF CHRISTIAN BUSINESS LEADERS “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward.” Col. 3:23 The College of Business in 2020—a year none of us will forget. We have selfisolated; we have not been on campus; we have pivoted from the classroom to remote teaching; we have made changes and improvements to ensure a safe return to campus, but most importantly, we have continued to advance our leadership in Christian business education. You will see an abundance of evidence illustrating our progress in this report. Our values have informed college decisions and guided our steps every day as we build upon a successful legacy. Striving to be purposeful, bold, creative, credible and dedicated to serving others has proven to be a powerful force in our commitment to teaching, sharing and guiding students as they immerse themselves in academic programs that are ranked among the finest in the state and country. We are proud to make an impact and see our graduates embark on careers to change the world—in corporate life, in entrepreneurship and in innovative social enterprises that are improving lives globally. Every business school aspires to produce future leaders of ethical behavior and a commitment to deal with emerging social responsibility issues. So do we. But we are seeking more. Our desire is to create a comprehensive approach to higher education based on the full integration of faith and business throughout curricula, co-curricular activities, research and community outreach within the Kingdom of God.
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We are proud to be engaged with Middle Tennessee and the global economy in many ways through our volunteer executives-in-residence who are C-Level leaders and have displayed both character and competence in their business success; the Dean’s Board, charged to advance the vision of the College of Business; the Alumni Board, serving as champions who are actively connected; several key advisory boards consisting of leaders in the fields of business as mission, health care and capital markets; and hundreds of business partners who train our students through internships and directed-work experiences. We are proud of the accomplishments and the passion of our dedicated staff and faculty. They are creative and purposeful. They are a diverse group with a variety of credible academic credentials, research and teaching skills, and professional experience, but what all have in common is a passion to serve our students, a belief that business can be a force for good and a bold love for God. Someone must create the next generation of Christian business leaders. This is the aspiration and the inspiration of the College of Business at Lipscomb University.
Ray Eldridge Dean, College of Business
A MESSAGE from the President
COLLEGE OF BUSINESS DELIVERS ON ITS PROMISE IN A YEAR OF UNCERTAINTY Recently at a board meeting, I had the opportunity to hear author Andy Crouch describe the difference between the ability to predict and the ability to promise. Predictions are complicated, and perhaps never more so than during the pandemic and unrest of today. Yet, no matter the circumstance and challenges, we can be confident in what we promise and be sure of its delivery. The College of Business promises much and delivers on that promise. It promises to deliver Lipscomb’s central mission to integrate academic excellence with Christian faith. That is what the College of Business calls providing “skills of the hand” with the distinction of “integrity of the heart.” Whether this mission is carried out in the classroom, online or in the numerous services provided to the larger community, it is devoted to equipping our students with both competence and character. It promises opportunities to develop a sense of integrity integrated with solid business practices. Students are mentored, challenged and trained with technology and programs that prepare them for success in their academic and professional careers. It promises experiences with professional immersion with programs like the Aspire Fellows Program, which places students within a company for a directed work experience. Students routinely engage with C-level alumni and local business and health care leaders, and practical experiences are offered through the Career Connection office and the Center for Business as Mission, which were recently highlighted by Poets&Quants, the leading online publication for undergraduate business education. Others are noticing the promises we make and the promises we keep. Poets&Quants named the College of Business one of the 10 Undergraduate Business Schools in the Nation to Watch for its rise in rankings and for setting the standard for what schools can achieve and what students can expect. This high honor puts the college in the rankings with Carnegie Mellon, the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and other top tier schools. This year is uncertain, but the promises we make are not. We know our gifts, our God and our direction, and from this solid foundation, others expect of us as we expect of ourselves.
L. Randolph Lowry President, Lipscomb University 2019-2020 DEAN’S REPORT
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END OF YEAR GIVING
Gifts Raised
$5.07 M Five-year growth rate
539%
Number of Donors
429
LIPSCOMBLEADS A FAITH-DRIVEN, FORWARD-THINKING CAMPAIGN Lipscomb University has a rich history that includes recent tremendous growth coupled with notable success and numerous accolades. That only matters, however, if those things result in the raising up of students to learn differently and lead uniquely through knowing Christ. As we continue on our journey to make Lipscomb a premier national Christian university, we hope you will join us because we can’t make it happen without people like you. lipscomb.edu/gift
Five-year growth rate
104%
Number of Gifts
587
Five-year growth rate
100%
DAY OF GIVING
$117,627 Day of Giving one-day total
522 Total contributors on Day of Giving
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NEW COMPUTER LAB ADVANCES COLLEGE’S LEADERSHIP IN DATA ANALYTICS The College of Business completed a new data analytics lab for students in the Swang Center this fall. Envisioned as a hub for the study of and collaborative projects in data analytics, the lab includes ample connectivity to specialized data analytics apps and furniture designed to promote collaboration in a multi-device environment. This is the second technology-rich, program-specific lab the College of Business has established for students. The Financial Markets Lab featuring access to the Bloomberg Terminal software was opened in 2017. “The data analytics lab, just off the Swang lobby, is designed to facilitate student learning in a smallgroup setting by encouraging brainstorming and group communication,” said Jacob Arthur (BS ’08, MAcc ’08), assistant professor of information technology. “Students will be able to dig deeper into concepts they learn in class using the lab’s technology and potentially conduct projects for industry out of the space.”
The latest news… Faculty have created a built-in minor in business analytics for all business undergraduate students. The minor is comprised of five courses and has launched this fall. It instills students with data literacy and the skills to apply data to solve real-world problems.
LIPSCOMBLEADS
BUILDING A PURPOSE-DRIVEN CORPORATE CULTURE The College of Business partnered with Coca-Cola Consolidated, the largest CocaCola bottler in the U.S., to host a September 2019 edition of the company’s t-factor Leadership Initiative on the Lipscomb campus. t-factor brings together leadership at Coca-Cola Consolidated to share their approach to building a God-honoring, purpose-driven corporate culture with other companies whose leaders have a desire to follow suit. The Lipscomb t-factor event not only involved local business leaders in a growing collective movement of companies with a commitment to building God’s kingdom, but also linked the t-factor mindset with Lipscomb’s Business as Mission program as it was held the day after Lipscomb’s BAM323 conference, a day-long educational event to share best practices in missional business operations and practices (see page 28 for more information on BAM323).
Looking ahead…
To further highlight the shared approach, Lipscomb alumnus and Tennessee Commissioner of Tourist Development Mark Ezell (’82) hosted a dinner of Lipscomb, t-factor and BAM leaders on the night between the two events. The “bridge” dinner was attended by various local leaders including the late Ty Osman (’87), president of Solomon Builders, and Pat Martin (’96), owner of Martin’s Bar-B-Que Joint.
In addition, Lipscomb and Coca-Cola Consolidated are partnering to develop a research component for t-factor and for Snider Fleet Solutions to show the return on investment to corporations who are considering implementing a God-honoring management approach for their business.
Attendees at the t-factor/BAM323 “bridge” dinner included (l to r) Josh Dorminy, senior vice president, Coca-Cola Consolidated; Mark Ezell, Tennessee commissioner of tourist development; Ray Eldridge, dean of the College of Business; Tennessee Governor Bill Lee; Frank Harrison, CEO of Coca-Cola Consolidated, and Burton Williams, associate dean of the College of Business.
LOOK WHO’S CHANGING THE WORLD Frank Harrison, CEO of Coca-Cola Consolidated, not only runs the largest Coca-Cola bottler in the U.S. but also runs that company with a daily mission to grow the Kingdom of God.
At Coca-Cola Consolidated, our purpose is why we are here on earth. It’s really to honor God in all that we do, to serve others, to pursue excellence and to grow profitably. Today, he makes the change he wants to see in the world through partnering with the College of Business to transform Tennessee’s companies into faith-f riendly, servant-based and purpose-driven work environments.
You too can be a change agent by supporting faith-friendly corporate culture through the College of Business.
Give now at lipscomb.edu/givecob.
LIPSCOMBLEADS
LEADING CONFIDENTLY IN TIMES OF CRISIS The 2019-2020 academic year turned into a year like none other. As the global outbreak of COVID-19 changed life worldwide, Lipscomb leadership responded quickly to ensure the success of its students in every aspect of their academic and professional journey during a pandemic.
ACADEMIC On March 12, Lipscomb University announced that it would provide instruction for the rest of the spring semester remotely, using digital tools. Zoom, a video and audioconferencing web platform, was used throughout the college to allow students to make presentations, discuss case studies in breakout groups, collaborate on projects and attend class lectures. Professors used computer simulations, such as those developed by Harvard University, and brought industry experts and guest speakers into the classrooms through videoconferencing. In August, students returned to on-campus learning with physically distanced classrooms and LipscombFLEX, a new teaching approach that uses videoconferencing, newly purchased cameras and microphones, and asynchronous/synchronous online platforms to allow faculty to teach in-classroom students and remote students at the same time.
CAREER PREPARATION With COVID-19 came a corresponding drop in available jobs and summer internships as companies and students found themselves restricted by quarantine policies nationwide. Career Connection immediately moved its spring slate of professional development workshops for students to an online format, offering 36 between March 29 and April 24 and developing a new workshop on how to use Zoom. To boost students’ marketability to employers during this time of remote job searching, the college created an information hub of more than 25 online certifications students could access through organizations such as Hubspot, Hootsuite, the American Institute for CPAs, Microsoft, Facebook and Tableau. The listed certifications provide training in SSGI Six Sigma, web development, email marketing, Google analytics and more. In addition, college officials began actively working the Lipscomb alumni network to help students replace lost summer internships with new temporary opportunities, resulting in several summer internship placements and job offers.
Facul ty Expertise in Demand As the COVID-19 pandemic brought shock waves to the U.S. economy, Lipscomb’s business professors were called on by media to put the nation’s economic status in perspective. Professor Joe Ivey (pictured here) was featured in a 20-minute live segment on NewsChannel5+ Morning Line about the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and what it will take to recover financially. Andy Borchers, associate dean for research and faculty excellence, was featured on WZTV-FOX, WSMV-NBC and in a Proctor & Gamble publication discussing global supply chains and the airline industry. Marcy Binkley, instructor in accounting, discussed how teaching will change going forward for the Journal of Accountancy.
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UNDERGRADUATE RECRUITMENT Recognizing that the nation’s high school senior class of 2020 was not only having many school traditions eliminated in spring 2020, but that they also faced a great deal of uncertainty about the launch of their college career in fall, college leaders enacted a plan to have faculty, administrators and student workers make close to 600 personal contacts with prospective business students.
LIPSCOMBLEADS
Led by Rick Holaway, chair of management, entrepreneurship and marketing, director of graduate programs and former vice president of enrollment management for Lipscomb, the team came together to reach out to every prospect by phone, with postcards, by email or with videos on social media during April. Visiting Professor of Marketing Joseph Bamber enacted a HubSpot customer relationship management system to keep track of the effort’s progress and outcomes.
“We tried to help students and parents understand what college might look like in the fall by describing remote learning and explaining that it doesn’t mean students will be alone,” said Holaway. The college started April with 49 confirmed business students for fall 2020 and increased to 91 by the time the school year ended, he said. The university re-opened in August with a record-setting 4,729 students enrolled.
Virtual Commencement 2020 The College of Business made its virtual 2020 commencement a festive occasion with its own virtual reception and awards ceremony on April 30, in addition to the university’s virtual ceremony on May 2. A special gift box, assembled by Nashville company BATCH, was mailed to each member of the Class of 2020. Students received various Nashville-based goodies such as Goo Goo Clusters, hot sauce and TruBee chapstick and the College of Business challenge coin (a tradition borrowed from the U.S. military). The coin is to be carried by graduates at all times or they may find themselves having to buy a fellow alumnus a drink (from The Well Coffeehouse).
Bold Bisons Making a Mark in Business ADAM SUTTLE From its beginning, Adam Suttle’s (’17) business, Freedom Company, was about doing good. It’s tagline even spells it out: Wear Great, Do Good™. So it’s no surprise that when the world went into crisis mode, he shifted his business to address the crucial need for face masks.
As an apparel company that works closely with American companies to make small-batch runs of premium cotton T-shirts, sweatshirts and hoodies, Freedom Company, based in Nashville, was well-positioned to begin making washable, non-medical cotton masks for the community.
When customers purchase Freedom Company apparel, they are empowered to choose where to donate a portion of the sale: to provide clean water around the world, job training in Uganda or to fight human trafficking.
Using the same model, Suttle empowered customers to do good themselves by purchasing the cotton masks and donating them either to health care workers in Tennessee or to deliver the masks themselves to the site of their choice. Completing his MBA at Lipscomb; meeting Rob Touchstone, director of the Center for Business as Mission; and becoming familiar with Touchstone’s The Well social enterprise, helped Suttle crystalize his business-as-mission concept and to maximize his leadership skills to make Freedom Company a reality, he said.
CHRIS MARKGRAF Who ever thought that fake fog could become a hero?
That is exactly what Lipscomb alumnus Chris Markgraf is making happen at his plant in Columbia, Tennessee. Froggy’s Fog, which produces the chemicals needed to create fog used in theatrical special effects, switched over to produce hand sanitizer as well. As Markgraf, a student majoring in business at Lipscomb from 1992 to 1994, watched the supplies of hand sanitizer fly off store shelves, he came up with the idea to use some of the same chemicals he uses in the fog to make hand sanitizer.
Froggy’s Fog produces an 80% alcohol formula for hand sanitizer that can be used in medical facilities and by first responders, as well as the public. The company set up partnerships with local distilleries to obtain the alcohol.
On its first weekend of public sales in March, the company set up a distribution station in its parking lot and sold jugs to the public, providing a free gallon to any first responders who came by that day. “We care. We try to take care of people,” said Markgraf, who became a Christian as a young adult and then transferred to Lipscomb in 1992. 2019-2020 DEAN’S REPORT
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Practice builds the foundation Practice makes perfect. It’s a rule we all know. Why? Because to practice a skill builds the foundation for applying that skill not only effectively today, but in new and creative ways tomorrow. The concept is so proven that Malcolm Gladwell even made it a tentpole point in his book Outliers. The “10,000-hour rule,” based on a study by Anders Ericsson, claims that to attain mastery of any particular skill, one must practice it for at least 10,000 hours over many years. Practice achieves proficiency; so says the dictionary. But it is also defined as being professionally engaged, and Lipscomb’s College of Business is committed to its graduates meeting both those definitions on the first day they step into a new job. Lipscomb business students learn to practice their skills in collaboration with others, much as our four Stanford Innovation Fellows have done over the past year as they reviewed ways to enhance innovative thinking on campus.
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They apply their skills to new challenges predicted for the future, as our MHA graduate students are striving to do by learning about how today’s health care leaders navigate the complex and ever-changing industry. Practicing is about doing, more than knowing, and that’s why Lipscomb’s business students are crafting entrepreneurial business plans and making elevator pitches from almost the moment they step on campus. With new programs, practical learning experiences, faculty and approaches to curriculum, 2019-20 has brought Lipscomb new praise and its students new opportunities to achieve mastery through professional PRACTICE in ways not seen before.
#46
79%
national rank by Poets&Quants for Undergrads
Class of 2019 CPA exam first-time pass rate
6+ 2019 seniors outperformed students at comparable business schools on the Peregrine Academic Services exam by more than 6 percentage points
PRACTICE
COACHING HELPS STUDENTS ASPIRE EVEN HIGHER As was recently noted in the national publication Poets&Quants for Undergrads, Lipscomb business students accomplish hands-on practice in a variety of ways from starting their own on-campus companies as freshmen to participating in elevator pitch competitions. One of the hands-on programs that has proven most valuable to both students and the Nashville business community is the Aspire Fellows program, where students are placed within a company for 11 months for a directed work experience. In 2019, the second cohort of 14 students completed the Aspire program with 13,514 hours at partner employers. The fellows also participated in two service days at Safe Haven Family Shelter and Learn Days at three of Nashville’s top companies: Bridgestone, Barge Design Solutions and GS&F advertising agency. Now, Lipscomb is working to deepen the Aspire Fellows program for students and employers even more by pairing it with aspects of executive and performance coaching, a relatively new, but quickly emerging tool within companies to allow individuals to reach their full potential in the workplace and in all aspects of life. Throughout 2020, the College of Business’s newly appointed Executive Director of Coaching and Leadership Development Nina Morel (’84) is investigating ways to incorporate professional coaching into both the Aspire Fellows program for undergraduates and the Fast Track MBA in the Pfeffer Graduate School of Business. Previously, Morel oversaw Lipscomb’s performance coaching program as dean of the College of Professional Studies. During that time, Lipscomb became the only four-year university in the Southeast to receive accreditation from the International Coach Federation’s Accredited Coach Training Program.
4 Students qualified for the national Collegiate Entrepreneurs Organization pitch competition— the most of any school that participated
Now Morel is working on strategies to bring that high level of quality in coaching to improve competencies in business students and to enhance leadership practices in local businesspeople. Initially, coaching will come to the College of Business through a collaboration with Results Coaching Global to develop training tailored for alumni and other senior leaders, said Morel. A pilot project is running this fall, with plans to offer the three-day training more widely in 2021. “Coaching helps clients and students think for themselves and develop their own leadership. Mentoring helps students build networks and take advantage of deep institutional and field knowledge that is developed over time,” said Morel. “Both of these developmental relationships are key to a successful career in business.”
2019-2020 DEAN’S REPORT
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PRACTICE Equipping For Success
RECORD HIGH CPA EXAM PASS RATE Lipscomb’s Master of Accountancy Class of 2019 experienced historic success on the CPA exam. The overall CPA exam pass rate was 79 percent. According to Brian Masterson (’95), director of the MAcc program in the Pfeffer Graduate School of Business, this pass rate is the highest first-time pass rate in many years. “At all levels of the Lipscomb accounting program, our students are buying into the amount of time it takes to be successful in accounting courses and we are seeing that effort reflected in the high pass rates on the CPA exam,” he said. During the 30-hour MAcc program, graduate students are required to sit for at least three of the four parts of the CPA exam. Masterson attributed the success of MAcc students on the CPA exam to two factors. First, the accounting faculty modified the sequence of the MAcc courses to match when students are studying for the corresponding part of the CPA exam. MAcc students sit for a part of the CPA exam shortly after completing the relevant academic courses.
and each part of the CPA exam. MAcc students are provided with clear goals regarding the number of hours they should be spending each week preparing for class and the CPA exam.
The latest news… Lipscomb undergraduate accounting majors now have a unique opportunity to pursue dual certification. New undergraduate accounting courses have been added to the curriculum to prepare students to sit for the two parts of the Certified Management Accountant exam. Undergraduate students also seeking the CPA certification Lipscomb’s recommended will continue to work toward number of hours to study that certification during graduate school. for each portion of the
150 CPA exam.
The other factor that Masterson cited was that the MAcc program tracks the number of hours that each student studies for each academic course
LOOK WHO’S CHANGING THE WORLD For 35 years, Kevin Monroe was responsible for the quality and professionalism of audit practices at national accounting firm Deloitte.
To be a successful CPA, you have to have great relationship skills... Particularly in public accounting, there are times when you have to stand up for what’s right, even when it is a costly decision.
Today, he makes the change he wants to see in the world through the College of Business, impacting students’ journeys as a partner-in-residence on the faculty.
You too can be a change agent by supporting students’ transformations into ethical, proactive and trustworthy business leaders in the marketplace.
Give now at lipscomb.edu/givecob. 12
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PRACTICE Equipping For Success
LIPSCOMB NAMED ONE OF THE 10 TO WATCH IN 2020 Poets&Quants for Undergrads, the leading online publication for undergraduate business education news, named Lipscomb one of the 10 undergraduate business schools in the nation to watch in 2020 due to its jump from 86th to 46th on its annual national rankings list. In addition, in the Poets&Quants alumni survey of 2017 graduates, one factor in the overall rankings by the organization, Lipscomb was the No. 1 scorer on the question “Would you recommend the business program to a close friend or colleague?” “In the alumni survey, business graduates also ranked Lipscomb among the 10 best for networking opportunities, faculty availability, overall experience and being worth the cost,” wrote Poets&Quants, considered the most comprehensive assessment of undergraduate business programs in the country. The organization quoted Lipscomb’s Andy Borchers, associate dean for research and faculty excellence, that “In the end… it comes down to the program’s ‘high touch’ philosophy, as exemplified by the work of Tonya Jernigan and Olivia Lusk in the Office of Student Services.” Poets&Quants “10 to watch” list also included the likes of: Carnegie Mellon University, Tepper School of Business; New York University, Stern School of Business; University of Michigan, Ross School of Business; and University of Pennsylvania, Wharton School. “Now in its fourth year, this feature honors the trendsetters that are increasing, inventing, innovating and investing. From rising in rankings to rolling out new resources, these programs are setting the standard for what students can expect and schools can achieve,” stated the Poets&Quants article, released in February. The work of the college’s Career Connection office and the Center for Business as Mission were both highlighted in the Poets&Quants article. On the alumni survey, Lipscomb graduates’ scores on both career advising and achieving their dream career came in fourth highest in the survey. To read the complete article in Poets&Quants go to: http://bit.ly/BusSchooltoWatch.
#1 in Tennessee for four consecutive years, as ranked by Poets&Quants for Undergrads
Up and Coming Bison in Business Nathan Morgan (’19, MAcc ’20) found his stride when he discovered accounting at Lipscomb. The alumnus from the Lipscomb track and field team had already secured a position with EY’s assurance division upon completion of his MAcc degree from Lipscomb this fall. While still a student, Morgan made contacts with EY through the Lipscombsponsored networking event Meet the Firm, which led to a summer internship. His college career was studded with honors such as the Institute of Internal Auditors Award for the top junior in Lipscomb’s auditing course and the ASUN All-Academic Award for athletes. Upon graduation, he won the Delta Mu Delta Rosemary Frey Scholarship to apply to his master’s tuition at Lipscomb.
2019-2020 DEAN’S REPORT
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PRACTICE Equipping For Success
NEW MHA INTEGRATES EXPERTS’ WISDOM AND STUDENTS’ PASSION In November, Lipscomb’s first Master of Health Administration students had the opportunity to ask questions of a CEO engaged in a challenging niche in health care: David Dill, CEO of Lifepoint Health, a company that is the sole community health care provider in the majority of the non-urban communities it serves. The 10 students took a deep dive into the issues of rural health care, as Dill answered their questions on how to support quality nursing, how to attract the top medical talent and other challenges of providing care in rural areas. That was just one way that Nashville’s top health care providers are bringing their expertise to the next generation of health care leaders in Lipscomb’s program, which launched courses in August 2019. The program attracted mid-career professionals from sectors such as clinical care settings, pharmacy, human resources and information technology by offering a strong slate of experienced executives to guide the program. In addition to the nearly 40 years of combined experience that the program’s leaders (Donita Brown, director, and Bart Liddle (’94), associate dean) have, an advisory board comprised of 21 industry senior executives and experts in information technology, data science, finance, operations, human resources and clinical services helped develop the program. The MHA, housed in the Pfeffer Graduate School of Business, builds on that foundation with “integration weekends,” held once a semester, where students gather face-to-face for an on-site visit or a talk by an industry professional that reinforces how all class topics fit together, Liddle said. The fall 2019 integration weekend featured Dill as speaker and a networking session with members of the MHA advisory council, who also serve as mentors for students during their time in the program.
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“This program puts integrity and faith at the forefront,” said Paul Rein, the retired CFO of Sarah Cannon and a member of the MHA advisory board. He sees his role on the board as a way to “give back some of the wisdom I received” throughout his career, he said. “I like the culture and the values (at Lipscomb), and I like them meeting a need,” said Bill Wright, senior director of the IT group at HCA. The shortage of health administration programs in Middle Tennessee was “a huge void,” he said. Daphne Palakie, director of clinical sourcing and HCA professional services at CereCore, and Bruce Bradley, a pharmacy manager in regulatory compliance at HCA, both members of the first MHA cohort, said that working with and hearing perspectives from fellow health care professionals in both their own company and other companies has proven valuable for their studies. “We took very relevant classes for my current job, but the networking opportunities will certainly broaden my career opportunities within HCA,” said Bradley. “Studying health care in (the Nashville) area has advantages, so this program has great networking opportunities,” he said.
Looking ahead… Leaders of the MHA program are preparing for an expected visit by the Commission of Accreditation of Healthcare Management Education accreditation board in fall 2020. Lipscomb’s program was designed from its beginning to meet CAHME standards, and upon successful completion of that process, could become the only such accredited MHA program in Middle Tennessee. The College of Business would like to express its thanks to the Health Care Advisory Board members. To see a list of the entire membership, go to page 42.
PRACTICE Equipping For Success
“...the program was rich with industry experts who bring a wealth of experience and knowledge into the curriculum and ultimately further my development as a health care leader.” DAPHNE PALAKIE MHA cohort member, director of clinical sourcing and HCA professional services at CereCore
David Dill, CEO of Lifepoint Health, speaks to the first MHA cohort in November.
LOOK WHO’S CHANGING THE WORLD Linda Meador (’65) led the organizational development efforts at HCA in the 1980s and was a senior executive at six other health care companies for more than 30 years. She notes that one of the fastest growing human resource trends in America in the 2000s was that employees were having a difficult time distinguishing right f rom wrong.
In my experience in health care in Nashville, I know how important it is to have people of faith and ethics in the workplace... In HR and organizational development, that is a major factor in building culture in organizations.
Today, she makes the change she wants to see in the world through the College of Business, with active involvement on the Dean’s Board and the MHA Advisory Board.
You too can be a change agent by supporting positive workplace culture through Lipscomb’s academic and community programs.
Give now at lipscomb.edu/givecob. 2019-2020 DEAN’S REPORT 15
PRACTICE Real-World Experience
Real-World Experience
8 Student clubs and organizations including the newest: The American Marketing Association inaugural student chapter
WORKING HANDS-ON TO SELL HANDMADE PRODUCTS FROM HAITI Students in Joseph Bamber’s social media course got a taste of the real world this spring when they were tasked to create a social media campaign for HaitiMade, a handmade leather goods store and social enterprise established by Will McGinnis, a founding member of the band Audio Adrenaline. HaitiMade’s employees are women rescued from human trafficking and young men and women who grew up as orphans. It employs an average of 65 people at any one time making various leather and knitted products. McGinnis came to the class to tell the students about HaitiMade and met with each student group to discuss the needs and goals of the enterprise. Lipscomb students divided into three teams to create an Instagram channel, a strategy for social media posts over two months and a strategy to sell to large purchasers like conferences and trade shows. The teams used a suitcase full of HaitiMade samples to take photos of products and create ideas for various social media venues over a three-week time span. Students applied different theories of using social media and used storytelling for the videos, said Bamber, visiting professor of marketing. Lessons were reinforced with a presentation of their plan to all the students and McGinnis’ wife, a partner in the HaitiMade venture. “The students really put their heart into it,” Bamber said. “When they realized that what they can do will actually have an impact for this business, the quality of their work went up and it became real to them.” 16
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PRACTICE Real-World Experience
WOMEN AND LEADERSHIP With nearly 75 million women comprising almost 47% of the nation’s workforce, according to the U.S. Department of Labor, the conversation about gender differences in the workplace and women in leadership is growing, especially as those numbers are projected to continue to climb over the next few years. Former Google and Facebook employee and author of Lean Out Marissa Orr (pictured above), who spent 15 years working at the tech giants, shared her thoughts on leadership, gender and teamwork at Lipscomb in October 2019. The event was sponsored in part by the college’s Women In Business special topics course taught by faculty Leanne Smith (’89, MBA ’09) and Marcy Binkley.
“One of the biggest things you can do that is in your control is to define success on your own terms, not just using the definitions that the system spits out as a reward. So the thing I talk about in the book is using well-being as the metric to orient around instead of winning. “That starts with being really honest with yourself, about who you are, what you want and owning it. It’s recognizing that institutions as they are designed today are not designed to meet a lot of our needs. So it is up to us as individuals to figure out what it is we need and to figure out how to fill those needs ourselves without always relying on an external structure.”
MARISSA ORR Author of Lean Out: The Truth About Women, Power and the Workplace
Up and Coming Bison in Business “I’ve had internships before, but they have always seemed so short. When I saw the Aspire program with the chance to do an internship for a whole year, and international experience, and get paid, it seemed like the perfect opportunity,” said Ahmed Amaar (’20), an international business major who made the most of his Aspire Fellows experience. As he approached the completion of his BBA, he received three job offers, including one from Compass East, the company where he carried out his year-long Aspire directed work experience. “As soon as I came in (to the work experience), I had an immediate role. I met a tangible need,” said Amaar, who was writing proposals and preparing marketing content for the operations and sales department of Compass East, a finance and accounting company for growing businesses. “The Aspire staff were so instrumental in helping us. They set us up for success,” said Amaar. “I thought I had a grasp of what it looked like to be in a workplace before Aspire, but the program completely changed my perspective and set me up to succeed in the work world.”
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PRACTICE Improvement Culture
NEW FACES IN 2019-2020 Rebecca Burcham Instructor in Health Care Management Ph.D. (Candidate in Marketing), Kennesaw State University
MBA (Health Care), Belmont University BS (Microbiology), Mississippi State University
Han-Sheng Chen Associate Professor of Finance Ph.D. (Finance), University of Texas at Arlington
MBA (Finance), Tamkang University BBA (Statistics), National Taipei University
Tim Creel (’02) Assistant Professor of Accounting DBA (Accounting), Nova Southeastern University
SELECTED SCHOLARLY RESEARCH Publications Borchers, A. S., & Foust, K. (2019). “Going Beyond Student Exercises: Writing Engaging Case Studies.” Business Case Journal.
Chen, H., & Sabherwal, S. (2019). “Overconfidence among Option Traders.” Review of Financial Economics. Cornwall, J., & Ivey, J. M. (2019). “Nisolo: The Tension between Business Performance and Social Impact.” Sage Business Cases.
Jewell, J. J., Rivas, J. A., & Mankin, J. A. (2019). “Tesla: Is the Market Efficiently Pricing or Efficiently Excited?” Journal of Critical Incidents. Jewell, J. J., Rivas, J. A., & Mankin, J. A. (2019). “The
Effectiveness of College Football Recruiting Ratings In Predicting Team Success: A Longitudinal Study.” Research in Business and Economics Journal, 14.
Jewell, J. J., Rivas, J. A., & Mankin, J. A. (2019).
MBA, Lipscomb University
“Spreadsheets at 40: Is it Time for Early Retirement?” Institute for Global Business Research.
BBA (Accounting), Harding University
Masterson, B.S. Tucker on Tax Planning for Real Estate Transactions. Published by Thomas Reuters.
Nina Morel (’84)
Masterson, B. S., Lencz, N., & Davidson, C. S. (2019). “Taking Advantage of Code Sec. 199A - Is it Time to Convert to a REIT?” Journal of Passthrough Entities.
MSAC, Strayer University
Professor and Executive Director of Leadership Development and Coaching Ed.D. (Administration and Supervision), Tennessee State University
M.Ed. (Administration and Supervision), Tennessee State University
Moore, P. G. (2019). “A Lesson in Ethics.” Internal Auditor, LXXVI (IV), 64. Smith, L. W., & Liddle, B. (2019). “Tesla in the Driver’s Seat.” Journal of Critical Incidents.
BA (History and Communication), Lipscomb University
Presentations
Lauren Pinkston
Binkley, M. R., Best, E., & Rutherford, A. (2018-2019).
Assistant Professor of Business as Mission Ph.D. (International Family and Community Studies), Clemson University
BS (Elementary Education), FreedHardeman University
“Gender Impact on Signaling in Equity Funding.” International Joint Doctoral Workshop.
Crawford, J. E. (2019). “Enabling the Unethical Business: A
Marketing Ethics Case.” Society of Business, Industry, and Economics.
Cohu, J. (2019). “Developing an Innovative Entrepreneurship Curriculum for Residents of Youth Detention Centers in Tennessee.” USASBE National Conference.
Holaway, R. (2019). “Pricing Implications in Private Higher Ed.” Invited presentation at Ruffalo Noel Levitz National Conference.
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PRACTICE Improvement Culture
MANAGEMENT INSTRUCTOR HONORED AS RISING STAR AND WOMAN OF INFLUENCE Lipscomb Management Instructor Natasha Johnson loves students, teaching and developing new businesses. For bringing these three areas together, she was honored as a Rising Star by the Nashville Black Chamber of Commerce in 2019 and as a Woman of Influence by the Nashville Business Journal in 2020. The Rising Star Award recognizes Johnson’s leadership initiatives, service to the community and ongoing commitment to excellence in the academic and business arenas, especially her collaboration to coordinate a Skills Development Day at the Tennessee Children’s Home, sponsored by the students and faculty of the College of Business and Johnson’s own entrepreneurial venture, The Beignet Bar. The Skills Development Day provided 35 displaced young men instruction on personal and professional skills including graphic design, supply chain management, health and fitness, personal and professional grooming and money management. Johnson also has built a business over the past few years. Johnson identified a need in Nashville for good beignets (the fried doughnuts New Orleans is well known for) and used the same business methods she teaches her students to roll out her idea. The Nashville Business Journal labeled her a “trailblazer” in its annual awards honoring women who “make it a priority to give back, to encourage and to inspire.” According to the NBJ, its Women of Influence are “the female leaders making tomorrow’s history today.” As a professor, Johnson feels fortunate to use her real-life experiences in the classroom. The founder of a public relations firm, a former human relations manager and an entrepreneur, Johnson, now a doctoral candidate, has multiple layers of experience to share with
her students. Johnson said she will often give students examples and assignments she feels reflect real-world conditions; and of course, she always brings beignets. “Students love them,” Johnson said. “I would love it if one day people can get beignets anywhere, anytime. Even more than that, my goal is to positively impact the amount of awareness and support for widows and orphans.”
ACBSP ACCREDITATION RENEWED The Accreditation Council for Business Schools and Programs (ACBSP) awarded the Lipscomb College of Business a renewal of its accreditation, with no notes for required changes, in November 2019. The ACBSP is a global business education accrediting body that promotes continuous improvement and recognizes the excellence of business education programs around the world. It evaluates leadership, strategic planning, relationships with stakeholders, quality of academic programs, faculty credentials and educational support. The College of Business has been accredited by ACBSP since 1994 and was one of the first in the nation to achieve ACBSP accreditation for its accounting program in 2012. 2019-2020 DEAN’S REPORT
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PRACTICE Entrepreneurship
3DS ENTREPRENEURIAL BOOT CAMP HELD FOR STUDENTS In September 2019, Lipscomb hosted a 3 Day Startup weekend for 32 undergraduate and selected high school students from the community. 3 Day Startup, or 3DS, is a 72-hour learning-by-doing program to teach entrepreneurial skills to university students in an extreme hands-on environment. 3DS, an Austin-based nonprofit organization that is part of the world-renowned Capital Factory, works all over the globe presenting dynamic and fun training to aspiring entrepreneurs. Lipscomb students worked from ideation through to customer discovery and concluded with entrepreneurial pitches to a panel of entrepreneurs and investors at the end of the weekend. During the process, several entrepreneurial mentors from the Lipscomb community offered mentorship and advising during the intensely packed weekend. The purpose of the event was to help students develop an entrepreneurial mindset, to grow the Lipscomb entrepreneurial ecosystem and project pipeline, and to stimulate new ideas that can be further developed by students in Lipscomb’s Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation.
Up and Coming Bison in Business The Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation is a valuable resource not just for business majors but for students in any major who want to exercise their creative, innovative ideas. Abraham Jubran (’20), a senior political science major and finance minor from Hendersonville, Tennessee, wants to be a tax/corporate attorney, but a part-time job in his uncle’s muffler shop has blossomed into a promising way to fund his law school dream. Jubran created a YouTube channel called Exhaust Addicts, where customers who want to customize their car exhaust can hear car exhaust sounds on different cars with different customized pipes. Jubran’s videos also show the bottom of the car and specify details of what affects the sound of the car, so customers know exactly what to ask for and expect. “We are still a growing channel and are far from becoming a major source of revenue, but we have been growing continuously month over month in views, watch time and revenue,” said Jubran. “We were also profitable in our first year.” Jubran took this idea and has used it to compete in Lipscomb’s annual Kittrell Pitch Competition and to become a semifinalist at the Southeast Entrepreneurship Conference in Chattanooga.
Alexander McMeen (’13, MBA ’15), founder of ROOTED, provides guidance to students at the 3 Day Startup boot camp.
“In a highly competitive field of contestants that included several Ph.D. students from Vanderbilt University and the University of Tennessee, it was Abe’s pitch that advanced to the semi-finals at the Southeastern Conference,” said Jeff Cohu, director of the Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation. “My participation in these competitions helps me learn more about the nature of business and exposes me to people I would not normally associate with in my major,” said Jubran. “The competitions and my finance minor helped me cultivate my entrepreneurial spirit.”
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PRACTICE Entrepreneurship
UNIVERSITY INNOVATION FELLOWS NAMED Stanford University has awarded four business students University Innovation Fellows status, achieved through a rigorous application process that included a proposal to increase Lipscomb’s campus engagement in entrepreneurial and innovative thinking and activities. Lipscomb students Lydia Baker (’20) (pictured center), Matthew Stuart (left), Jeremy Beeman (right) and Josh Hayslett (not pictured) were among 360 students from 90 colleges and universities in 13 countries to be accepted by Stanford University’s Hasso Plattner Institute of Design University Innovation Fellows program. The fellows program empowers students to become agents of change at their schools by creating student innovation spaces, starting entrepreneurship organizations, facilitating experiential workshops and working with faculty to develop new courses. They serve as advocates for lasting institutional change with academic leaders.
Lipscomb’s fellows have the opportunity to participate in the program’s signature Silicon Valley Meetup held annually in California. This gathering includes immersive experiences at Stanford University and Google, and work with leaders in education and industry.
LIPSCOMB WINS AT LOCAL REVERSE PITCH COMPETITION Four Lipscomb students took first place in Belmont University’s inaugural Enactus Reverse Pitch Competition with six teams competing from universities in the Southeast. Teams in a reverse pitch competition start with a problem or opportunity and work toward a proposed solution. In this case, the opportunity involved the economic development of a piece of property in North
Nashville and a proposed solution that was both economically viable and had a positive social impact. The team of (pictured left to right) Aidan Miller, then-freshman finance major, Rebecca Ahlberg (’20) and AJ Powell (’20), both senior entrepreneurship majors; and Matthew Stuart, then-sophomore accounting major, won the $1,000 prize with their idea of Juice and Grow, an urban farm and juice shop that would partner with local restaurants to supply locally grown greens from sites and households in the community, providing people with a healthy source of food and an opportunity to sell their yields back to the company to meet market demands. Lipscomb’s team out-pitched Belmont, Western Kentucky University, Union University, Middle Tennessee State University and Tennessee State University. Events of this nature hone students’ skills in applying an entrepreneurial mindset to economic and social problems, a skill most employers are looking for, said Jeff Cohu, director of the Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation.
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Purpose is the power To be driven by a purpose, you must first discover that purpose. The College of Business exists to guide students to their particular purpose. How? By demonstrating the potential of business to be a positive voice in today’s world. We believe every student’s potential is God-given and their life vocation is a calling, whether it be with a global corporation or a local social enterprise. Looking to find that purpose, is advanced by looking to spirit-filled models and mentors. That’s why the college looks to the Bible’s description of King David—“…and David shepherded them with integrity of the heart; with skillful hands he led them.”(Psalms 78:72)—as inspiration for its driving purpose. And it’s why the college provides in-residence faculty and mentors who have demonstrated a lifelong commitment to not only “skill of the hand” but also “integrity of the heart.”
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Searching for a purpose involves exploring the world God has created and understanding the differences in values and behavior that different cultures carry out around the globe. That’s what hundreds of business students learn each year through professional immersion opportunities on an international scale. Searching for a purpose is advanced by intertwining faith and business practice through the Center for Business as Mission, which not only introduces students to entrepreneurial training and a global perspective, but also held its first conference in 2019 to advance the concept among the local business community. Practice builds the foundation for successful professional engagement, but purpose is the power behind that spirit-filled career and life. In 2019-20, the College of Business’ PURPOSE embraced more students and partners than ever before.
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Nations reached by the Center for Business as Mission since 2015
Businesses around the globe served by the Center for Business as Mission since 2015
95 Business majors enrolled in Servant Leadership, an interdisciplinary course with a service-learning project
PURPOSE
LIVING OUT THE MISSION STATEMENT The Lipscomb mission to develop business leaders who embrace the values and virtues of Jesus is deeply rooted and affects every aspect of the college’s work. The importance of integrating one’s faith and professional life is infused into the entire College of Business experience, including academics, student life, Career Connection and even athletics, from the very first semester when students are introduced to the concept of business as mission. In their first business course, freshmen work in groups to start a new business, and the proceeds—often as much as $5,000 per class—are then invested in entrepreneurial ventures in Nashville and the developing world. One group this year sold customized bracelets to benefit a Cookeville, Tennessee, family who lost their home and child in the March tornadoes. Chapel services, held several times each semester, feature business leaders or young business alums from diverse backgrounds who are selected because they love God and love business. Speakers have included Missy Wallace, founder and executive director of the Nashville Institute for Faith and Work and Winston Justice, a former NFL offensive lineman who is now vice president and financial advisor at Bernstein Private Wealth Management. But the mission goes well beyond chapel talks. The Center for Business as Mission not only holds courses within its own academic program, but also provides resources and consultations for all business faculty to help them incorporate the values and virtues of Jesus into their course curriculum. BAM faculty have partnered with those in other disciplines to carry out real-world projects such as a supply chain class that helped evaluate and design distribution solutions for a Jamaican entrepreneurial artist who was working with BAM. A popular course among business majors is Servant Leadership, an interdisciplinary course that looks to Jesus as the ultimate manager and servant leader who inverted the traditional pyramid of power. The course includes a service project, which in the past has involved food drives, developing social media campaigns or assisting churches.
730 Students have visited 17 nations on global learning opportunities since 2015
And every school year offers plenty of opportunities to serve, such as the campuswide Service Day and Lipscomb Athletics’ Fun Club program serving at-risk children at a local public school, which was featured in the ASUN Beam Video Series featuring student-athletes who connect to their community. “It is important to remind the youth in our community to stay in school and follow their dreams,” said Luke Wilson (’20), a senior business management and entrepreneurship major on the men’s soccer team. “Many times it allows us to see a different perspective than what we currently know.”
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PURPOSE Skill of the Hand
Students hear the perspectives of guest speakers on what today’s students need to be prepared for the workforce and what they might have done differently in their careers, if given the chance, said Deanie Pedigo (’20), an accounting major from Glasgow, Kentucky, and co-chair of the student advisory board.
STUDENTS TAKE OWNERSHIP OF EDUCATION QUALITY At Lipscomb’s College of Business the students themselves take an active role in ensuring a quality business education through the Dean’s Student Leadership Council, a group of 30 students who meet once a month to learn the ins and outs of business education and then meet with Dean Ray Eldridge to make meaningful improvements for student life.
Bold Bison Making a Mark in Business Back in 2013, escape rooms were still mostly undiscovered in America, located in only a handful of cities in the U.S. That didn’t stop James Murrell (’11) and his partners, his brother Johnny Murrell and Mark Flint, from creating their own escape room from scratch after Flint was blown away by the interactive experience in London.
The Murrell brothers and Flint were acquaintances through their church congregation. The three entrepreneurs got together and decided they had cracked the code to a successful new business.
Today The Escape Game has 132 stores in 18 U.S. cities and top rankings on consumer review websites nationwide. 2019 brought the opening of new sites in New Orleans, San Francisco and New York City. Murrell links his early entrepreneurial influences to his father, Steve Murrell, a missionary who built a large, successful church—Church of Victory Christian Fellowship—in the Philippines, where Murrell grew up. “It required a lot of practical and business knowledge,” he said of his father. “I learned all my business skills from watching him—organizational leadership and servant leadership.” His entrepreneurial spirit grew at Lipscomb, where he and his brother (who attended another university in Nashville) won second place
Then students provide feedback and suggestions to Eldridge, on topics ranging from specific course offerings to mechanical issues with a printer used by students. The group has weighed in on cost schedules, career readiness and extracurricular events, said Pedigo. Pedigo says she appreciates, “the willingness of Dean Eldridge to listen to our ideas about ways to make the COB better, being able to have a relationship with him and knowing he will be willing to listen.” “He really does try to make a relationship with all the student leaders on the council. I don’t think you get that at other colleges,” said Pedigo. The College of Business would like to express its thanks to the Deans’ Student Leadership Council members. To see a list of the entire membership, go to page 42.
in Lipscomb’s annual Kittrell Pitch Competition with the idea for a dorm food company. On opening day, the escape room concept was completely unknown in Music City, Murrell said. The first game at the Berry Hill site was the Nashville game, where participants search for a lost contract to gain their big break, which customers can still enjoy today. The corporate headquarters is still located in Nashville, with 100 employees stationed there and a large warehouse to test new game concepts. And at the same time, the escape room industry has also exploded in America. Many of those who later started escape rooms around the country got their first clues at Nashville’s Escape Game, Murrell said. “Besides God and family, I think vocation is one of the most important things to people. I want to create a job that gives them purpose and provides for their families, and to create an atmosphere that is healthy for them. To be able to do that for them is how I see my work impacting the kingdom,” Murrell told Charisma Leader in 2016. In similar spirit, Murrell is a frequent visitor to Lipscomb’s business classrooms, where Joe Ivey, professor in the College of Business, has invited him to reveal to his senior capstone business strategy students the secret key to success. “Among the business leaders I know, he is one who goes the deepest into knowing his brand, crafting customer experience and providing extreme hospitality,” Ivey said. “I like the students to hear how they continue doing that as they grow their business.” “He is very authentic and very real,” Ivey said. “He is a great example of someone with a passion for people and how that translates into a great workplace and a strong customer experience.”
PURPOSE Integrity of the Heart
Hike for the Homeless College of Business faculty, staff and students participated in the 15th annual Hike for the Homeless, a fundraiser for the Safe Haven Family Shelter, in November. Safe Haven is a shelter-to-housing program providing comprehensive services with a focus on affordable housing, employment and community resources. Pictured are (L to R) Alexandria Arnette (’17), Thabile Tshatedi (’19), Suzanne Sager, Anna Shell (’20), Kaitlin Stanfield (’20), Davis Brown (’17), Justin Cook (’18, MAcc ’19), Nicole Anderson (’17, MBA ’19), Rick Holaway (’01, MBA ’09) and John Tougher (’16, MBA ’18). Photo by Bethany Lomelino, Lavender Bea Photography.
“I don’t think I realized the value of servant leadership as a student at Lipscomb, but since joining the workforce I have developed a huge admiration for the emphasis that Dean Eldridge and his faculty and staff place on serving our communities. Being able to come back to Lipscomb in the fall alongside current students as well as alumni, faculty and staff and serving Safe Haven Family Shelter was a great experience and brought the concept of servant leadership full circle for me.” JOHN TOUGHER Assurance Staff at EY
Supporting the IDEAL Family College of Business faculty, staff and students participated in the 4th annual Bison Boogie as a part of Homecoming 2019 celebrations to honor IDEAL student worker Timothy Lawrence, who spends 12 hours each week working in the College of Business. Lawrence is a member of Lipscomb’s IDEAL (Igniting the Dream of Education and Access at Lipscomb) program for students with intellectual disabilities and has quickly become a part of the College of Business family. The proceeds from the Bison Boogie support scholarships for all IDEAL students. The next Bison Boogie will be held on Nov. 14. The team, (pictured L to R) Andy Borchers, Tammy Robertson, Lawrence, Lydia Baker (’20), Alexandria Arnette and Beth Mangrum (’93) had a wonderful morning supporting IDEAL and Timothy.
2019-2020 DEAN’S REPORT
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PURPOSE Integrity of the Heart
REAL-WORLD BUSINESS ACUMEN DELIVERED INSIDE THE CLASSROOM The newest generation of businesspeople today will have to tackle day-today challenges different and often more crucial, than any generation before them. One of the chief ways they gain the experience and confidence needed is through the insight and mentorship of Lipscomb’s five in-residence faculty, longtime business titans who bring their real-world solutions to students within the confines of the classroom. These business leaders each bring a unique perspective, earned through a lifetime of successful business practice, to students through guest lectures, involvement in global learning trips, mentorship and work on advisory committees. They bring decades of experience in IT, human resources, nonprofit management, corporate turn-arounds, supply chain management, accounting, trans-cultural learning, quality assurance and C-suite management into Lipscomb’s classrooms. “In today’s complex business environment, business education must embody the interaction of academic and professional engagement in a meaningful way,” said Ray Eldridge, dean of the College of Business. “Combining some of the best minds in business to interact with our faculty, staff and students is essential to reach our goal to be a national leader in Christian business education.”
KEVIN MONROE Partner-in-Residence Retired Deloitte Partner and Professional Practice Director and Chair of the Tennessee State Board of Accountancy
During his long career at Deloitte, Monroe was responsible for the quality and professionalism of audit practices. He says he often gets questions from students about real ethical situations they may face in the field.
“For me, (joining the in-residence faculty) was a way to pay it forward. A way to try and keep the profession strong and to encourage bright students to think about entering the profession.” SUE NOKES Executive-in-Residence Retired senior executive at Asurian, T-Mobile and Walmart.com. among others
Nokes, who is known for accomplishing company turnarounds, says she tells students, “Don’t chase the title, chase the job and the fit with the culture.”
“It’s when things aren’t going your way that you can really tell about your character. Do you lean in and look for solutions? That’s when you can tell what a person is made of.” 26
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PURPOSE Integrity of the Heart BURT NOWERS
(’79)
CEO-in-Residence for the Center for Business as Mission Former co-founder and CFO of AIM Healthcare and retired President of Healing Hands International
Nowers worked around the globe as part of Healing Hands, a humanitarian nonprofit that aids, equips and empowers those in need around the world. In 2017, he brought many of his connections in Nairobi, Croatia, Thailand and the Philippines to enhance programs at the BAM Center.
“We have to think about the impact... As Americans we have a huge impact everywhere we go. So we need to make sure it is a positive impact. Even with my business background, I probably didn’t appreciate all that until I went over to Healing Hands.” PHIL PFEFFER CEO-in-Residence President and CEO of Treemont Capital Inc. and retired CEO of the Ingram Distribution Group Inc. and Random House Inc.
Pfeffer, whose time at Ingram Book Company saw a complete evolution in the supply for books to handle the demand of online shopping, has accompanied students in the Pfeffer Graduate School of Business on five study abroad opportunities in Thailand, United Arab Emirates, China, Israel and South Korea.
“I’m glad I get to be a part of (global learning). I enjoy leading the discussion about what we learned and what we know now that we didn’t before. I like getting personally engaged with students… As the CEO-in-residence, I can be a resource for them, and they can have an open conversation with me.” ERNESTO SILVA Executive-in-Residence Retired CEO of Coca-Cola FEMSA, Mexico Division
Silva has been based in or worked in 70 nations throughout his long career. He strives to show students how ethical, profitable business can positively impact the world.
“(Students) have to change their mindset… and to know how to deal with persons of other countries and cultures and languages. They need to… learn new languages and to be ready to learn how to read body language. They have to be ready to interact with people who may not be very friendly.”
2019-2020 DEAN’S REPORT
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PURPOSE Global Perspective
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee
BAM323 CONFERENCE 2019 FUELS A MOVEMENT The Center for Business as Mission spread the word to more than 300 Nashville businesspeople in September 2019 with the first annual BAM323 Conference, a full day of speakers, pitch opportunities and awards designed to increase awareness, share best practices and promote the use of business as mission to grow the Kingdom. The title of the event, BAM323, is derived from Colossians 3:23, a verse noting that hard work on earth also serves God. The verse was written by the apostle Paul, a tentmaker who was perhaps one of the first true business as mission practitioners. Seminar tracks were designed for business leaders seeking to live out their faith in the workplace; entrepreneurs looking to turn a missional idea into reality; church leaders who want to think beyond short-term missions; and investors interested in learning how to invest their money in faith-based companies. “BAM is a movement that is more than ever relevant to our times, our society and to the church. It is impactful, and obviously popular based on our first conference response,” said Rob Touchstone, director of the Center for Business as Mission. The conference featured an opportunity for social enterprises to pitch their business plans; the presentation of the BAM323 2019 Award to Frank Harrison, chairman and CEO of Coca-Cola Consolidated, honoring his Christian influence and social impact; and closing remarks by Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee, who discussed how he incorporated the business as mission concept during his time as president of Nashville’s Lee Company, his family’s comprehensive mechanical construction service company, and incorporates it now as state governor. 28
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Mignon Francois, director of joy and founder of The Cupcake Collection, hosted the conference.
Looking ahead… The College of Business is hosting the second BAM323 Conference in October as a virtual event with participation from global affiliates. In 2021, BAM323 will be held on campus in the fall as an official pre-conference event for the Christian Business Faculty Association Conference. The CBFA is a volunteer-led organization that works to empower business faculty to transform the world for the glory of God. The association’s annual event is an academic conference presenting scholarship exploring the intersection of faith and commerce. The College of Business would like to express its thanks to the BAM Advisory Board members. To see a list of the entire BAM board, go to page 42.
15 Start-ups BAM helped establish in Jamaica, Kenya, Uganda and Nashville since 2015 BAM323 speaker Mats Tunehag is a proactive BAM thought leader.
PURPOSE
Heard AT THE
CONFERENCE... “You are tapped into the real power that changes, and that’s how we change our workspace, our companies, our communities, our state and our nation.”
“People are the only piece of your business that’s eternal, and as leaders, we need to think about our people as eternal resources we’ve been entrusted with.”
“BAM is taking our Sunday talk into a Monday walk.”
BILL LEE
LARRY GRIFFITH
MATS TUNEHAG
Governor of Tennessee
CEO, Corporate Chaplains of America
author, speaker and consultant
LOOK WHO’S CHANGING THE WORLD Burt Nowers (’79), a former CFO, shifted gears in 2012 to become president of Healing Hands International and travelled the globe to ensure effective and efficient aid and advances in education, agriculture, business and disaster relief.
Business is often at the heart of communities. Intentionally integrating business with God’s mission can have a dramatic and positive impact on the world.
Today, he makes the change he wants to see in the world through the College of Business by supporting the Business as Mission program and as an executive-in-residence faculty member.
You too can be a change agent impacting lives around the world through the advancement of sustainable business.
Give now at lipscomb.edu/givebam. 2019-2020 DEAN’S REPORT 2020 DEAN’S REPORT
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PURPOSE Global Perspective
INAUGURAL BAM FELLOWS GRADUATE READY TO MAKE GLOBAL IMPACT Every student wants to change the world, and the four Business As Mission Fellows who celebrated their graduation in May actually have the skills to do it, thanks to the fellowship program’s strategic blend of experiential learning and intensified academic training in social entrepreneurship. The BAM Fellowship was established in 2018 to build on the existing program to provide highly experiential local and global opportunities for a select few. There were 12 BAM fellows in the 2019-20 school year, and the program graduated its inaugural four fellows in May: Rebecca Ahlberg, entrepreneurship major from Thompson’s Station, Tennessee; Lydia Baker, entrepreneurship and human resource double major from Lincoln, Nebraska; Aijalon Powell, entrepreneurship major from Gallatin, Tennessee; and Raina Turatsinze, international business major from Kigali, Rwanda. These seniors have started their own on-campus business with classmates as freshmen, traveled to Jamaica and Kenya to work with small business owners, taught good business practices to Hispanic entrepreneurs in Nashville and helped a home remodeling, nonprofit company achieve more effective marketing strategies.
Looking ahead… The Center for Business as Mission is working to launch a post-baccalaureate certificate offering either a domestic or international viewpoint. The micromasters will offer 6-12 hours of course content with the option to take these courses as non-credit, as MBA elective requirements or as a postbaccalaureate certificate in Business as Mission.
Up and Coming Bison in Business Aidan Miller, sophomore, has two great loves. The people of Rwanda and coffee. As the son of 20-year missionaries in East Africa, Miller is acutely aware of the effects of poverty and unemployment on the population. As an award-winning competitive barista and the founder of coffee shop Crema in Rwanda, he also has a vast knowledge of coffee. As a freshman in the College of Business, Miller brought together his two passions into one unique Nashville business, Kwizera Coffee, where the purchase of bags of coffee and booking the mobile espresso bar directly contributes to hope creation programs in Rwanda East Africa. He began booking his mobile espresso bar at Nashville corporations and events from December to February, but then bookings began to slow due to COVID-19 quarantine restrictions. He found himself having to learn a hard business lesson much sooner than expected: how to adapt to a severely curtailed market. However, instead of obstacles, Miller saw opportunity. He used his relationships with his coffee vendor and charities supporting his parents missionary work to create a way to use Kwizera coffee to raise funds for food packages for Rwandan families during the pandemic. They created a 10-day food package for one family that includes corn flour, rice, beans, cooking oil, salt, soap and two face masks. The purchase of one bag of Kwizera coffee ($16.50) provides the funds for half of the package.
Lydia Baker (’20), one of the four first BAM Fellows to graduate in May, worked with women entrepreneurs in Kenya during her required global experience.
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“I have always loved coffee’s ability to connect people,” Miller said. “It is something that everybody shares, no matter where you are in the world... I think we can leverage coffee to have an impact in the world.”
DONITA BROWN: LEADER, MENTOR AND AUTHOR Donita Brown, instructor and program director for health care programs, remembers her transition from corporate services at HCA to TriStar, which was the difference in managing 20 people and managing 100.
As a life coach, she understands the value of and promotes mentoring relationships, as she seeks them out in both her professional and her personal life.
At first, she would work all day, come home to her family, have family time and then work from 8 p.m. till midnight. Seeing that such a schedule was not sustainable, she sought help from a productivity coach and realized that the more you work, the more you worry and the less effective you become.
Brown’s favorite piece of wisdom came from her father several years ago. Armed with their phones and hiking boots, she and her father were planning to hike different trails on Mt. Le Conte and meet at the top for dinner.
Eventually, she turned that knowledge into a way to help others. Over the next three years she was able to not only manage the position she was in, but also to see where she wanted to go. She found a love for teaching, earned her doctorate, and got her certification to be a life coach. At Lipscomb, she has managed to combine her unique set of abilities—as an expert in health care innovation, author and life coach—perfectly. Brown says she learns from people every day, from her students to professors, co-teachers and fellow authors. And thus, in everything she does, she wants to pass what she has learned along to others to help them succeed. As the primary instructor for Lipscomb’s inaugural Master of Health Administration cohort and the Master of Management in Health Care program, Brown passes on her decades of experience at HCA, especially evaluating new technologies and trends, to a new generation. As the author of the Wisdom from Others book series, she passes on lessons in leadership and management drawn from her own childhood, family life and friends.
After hiking part of the way, Brown received a message from her father. Apparently he had accidentally dropped her off at the wrong trailhead, and it was going to add 3 or 4 miles to her already-5mile hike. Ever the Southern gentleman, his simple message was, “Just keep walking. I’ll see you at the top.” “I love that he said, ‘I’ll see you at the top.’ Some days are really hard,” she says of life for a successful business person. “You just have to keep walking to the top of the mountain. Sometimes that top of the mountain is a better version of you; sometimes you’ll have somebody waiting for you there. But you just have to keep walking.” Brown says Mt. Le Conte is still her favorite place to hike. Brown lives on seven acres in Springfield, Tennessee, with her husband of nearly 20 years Robert, daughters Amelia, 11, and Reagan, 9, and their standard poodle Chief.
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PURPOSE Global Perspective CANADA
UN
IT E D
GLOBAL LEARNING The globe is getting smaller, and future business leaders from Lipscomb will be ready to serve a global market thanks to a wealth of opportunities to immerse themselves in business cultures on five continents. “I stand in awe of the questions students ask (on these trips), and of the real searching to acquire knowledge of the business world that is evident (from these students). They pursue valuable lines of questioning.” PHIL PFEFFER CEO-in-residence who travels frequently with students on global learning opportunities
ARGENTINA
JAMAICA
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K IN GD
OM
PURPOSE Global Perspective GE RM A N Y
IRELAND CZECH REPUBLIC
ISRAEL ITALY UNITED ARAB EMIRATES SO
UTH KOREA
THAILAND
SINGAPORE KENYA
CH I N A
SINCE THE SUMMER OF 2015
479 graduate students
12 have visited
countries
251 and
undergraduate students
5 have visited
countries
2019-2020 DEAN’S REPORT
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Partners are the multipliers “(Teamwork) is the fuel that allows common people to attain uncommon results,” said Andrew Carnegie. At the College of Business, we understand that increased engagement with our partners provides greater opportunities for all. So we appreciate our partners on the Dean’s Board, the Alumni Advisory Board and the other college boards multiplying the power of a Lipscomb degree by spreading the word about the quality of Lipscomb students and enhancing curriculum and programs with their expertise, volunteer service and real-world perspective. It is Nashville’s employers who partner with Lipscomb to provide internships, mentorships, directed work experiences and eventually career opportunities to enhance the skills and careers of our business graduates. It is Nashville’s community organizations that provide eye-opening experiences for students on- and offcampus, teaching them how to have significant impact on the working world they will soon enter.
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Lipscomb is so blessed to be located in a community with no shortage of partners, from a wide range of bluechip firms to area health care companies that manage over half of all American hospital beds, according to Poets&Quants for Undergraduates. And for our alumni, it’s the networking opportunities and high job placement rate that rank among the top benefits of a Lipscomb College of Business degree. That’s what they told Poets&Quants, resulting in Lipscomb being listed among 10 business schools to watch nationwide in 2020. That’s the kind of results you get with outstanding PARTNERS.
132
6,395
550
Alumni, students and local business leaders who serve on College of Business boards
Lipscomb College of Business alumni living around the world
Employers, recruiters, hiring managers and alumni visited campus to connect with students
PARTNERS
GRADUATING WITH MORE THAN A DEGREE The College of Business makes it its mission to provide students with more than a degree upon graduation, by working to provide students with the professional development skills to land a job as well. That commitment was recognized in 2019 when Poets&Quants for Undergrads named Lipscomb’s College of Business one of 10 business schools to watch in 2020, noting that Lipscomb had the fourth-highest marks in an alumni survey for both career advising and achieving dream careers. As part of the announcement article for that honor, Andy Borchers, associate dean of research and faculty excellence, gave high marks to the Career Connection office for preparing Lipscomb’s students to be successful in the Nashville job market, named the No. 2 hottest job market in the U.S. by The Wall Street Journal in 2019. “The Career Connection group serves students from the day they arrive on campus to the end of their careers,” Borchers says in the Poets&Quants article. “They host an ongoing series of events ranging from resume review, interview skills, business etiquette dinners, networking and formal career fairs.” To shepherd students through the career prep process, Career Connection hosts an annual career fair that in 2019 drew almost 200 students, said Suzanne Sager, associate dean for professional development and engagement. Those students who do participate are required to go through one-on-one resume sessions and offered group prep sessions providing advice and guidance on professional dress, how to prepare an elevator pitch, the importance of eye contact and other related topics.
3,200+ Employers included on Lipscomb’s Handshake Platform
That’s just one of the ways that the Career Connection team, which also includes Nicole Anderson (’17, MBA ’19), makes sure Lipscomb’s graduates can obtain that first position and progress in their careers. Students also connect to business leaders in a variety of ways including executives-in-residence on faculty, guest speakers and chapel speakers. Such efforts put Lipscomb within the top 10 on the Poets&Quants alumni survey question on networking opportunities. It’s all designed to get students thinking about, and preparing for, a job search as early as possible in their college career, Sager said. “The more we get to know the students and what they are looking for, the more helpful we can be,” she said.
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PARTNERS Increased Engagement
DEAN’S BOARD There are few partners more valuable than the seasoned professionals on the Dean’s Board who provide expertise and insight on Lipscomb’s mission, goals and strategic plan. Each member brings a unique vision, set of values and lifelong experience to the work of the board to promote the mission of Lipscomb University and the College of Business.
A practical partner in making an impact Jody Venkatesan, the owner of Platinum Business Services in Maryland, brings the attitude of a boxer to his role on the Dean’s Board.
“My grandfather was a boxer during the Great Depression, and he found two kinds of people frustrating: people who throw in the towel and people who lose their ambition. I don’t believe in quitting or being less than ambitious.” And that’s the attitude Venkatesan brought to the board three years ago when he met Dean Ray Eldridge while his daughter Bethanne Venkatesan (’19) was attending Lipscomb on her path to medical school.
the government and private sector. “At the end of the day, Lipscomb’s business students have to be practical in the application of what they are going to do eventually. Hopefully, I bring intel into what happens when they hit the workforce. “The more practical you can make the experience, with internships and the like to show what to expect in the workplace, the more valuable it will be for student and employer,” he said. Venkatesan has more than 20 years’ experience in leading information technology service projects. In 1989, Venkatesan began his career in intelligence services in the U.S. Army at Fort Meade, Maryland. Since then, he has led numerous information technology and business support projects for large and small federal agencies, such as the Department of the Treasury, the Department of Justice, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and the Department of Homeland Security, as well as Fortune 500 commercial organizations. Each year Platinum Business Services contributes to an endowment fund that the members use to benefit students and those in need. So he keeps an eye out for ways he can touch people’s lives for the better, he said. “I appreciate an opportunity where we can engage with students and hopefully make a difference along the way,” he said of serving on the board. “If we are allowing God to lead us, He will present the opportunities. It’s not accidental. It’s deliberate. We should be intentional in serving others. ” The College of Business would like to express its thanks to the Dean’s Board members. To see a list of the entire membership, go to page 41.
“Hopefully, I bring practicality (to the board),” said Venkatesan, the head of a firm that provides information technology and business support to
Bold Bisons Making a Mark in Business College of Business alumni Ernie Clevenger and Jeffery W. McGruder II, both of Brentwood, were two of the three alumni honored at the fourth annual Lipscomb Honors ceremony during Homecoming in November. The Lipscomb Honors are the highest honor conferred upon university alumni, and they recognize the inspiring ways Lipscomb alumni are making a profound impact in the world. 36
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PARTNERS Increased Engagement
ALUMNI ADVISORY BOARD There are no greater champions for today’s College of Business students than alumni who have had the Lipscomb experience themselves. Members of the Alumni Advisory Board are actively involved each year to ensure the same positive experience for the upcoming generations of Lipscomb graduates. Students should always ‘go for it,’ says alumna
When Becci Bookner (’64) attended her 50th class reunion, she expected to develop new relationships with her former classmates, but she didn’t expect to create an entirely new relationship with the university itself. Reacquainting herself with Lipscomb graduates and seeing the revamped campus inspired her to get more involved with her alma mater, and today she is on her second term on the College of Business Alumni Advisory Board. “I’ve been thrilled to be on the business alumni board. I wish everyone could have these kinds of opportunities. It comes back to pay dividends in so many ways,” she said, noting the joy she feels that a scholarship at Lipscomb is endowed in her mother’s name.
Ernie Clevenger (’75) is president of CareHere LLC, which provides onsite medical, wellness and pharmacy management for public and private employers. It operates more than 200 clinics in 26 states. Clevenger also publishes MyHealthGuide Newsletter, a weekly newsletter with a distribution of more than 4,500 subscribers. He holds an MBA from Vanderbilt University and testified before the U.S. Congress Committee on Education and Labor regarding the “Managed Competition Act.”
It was her mother who inspired Bookner to take on a second career and establish a company to provide personal care for older family members. Bookner was originally an educator, with an elementary education degree from Lipscomb and advanced degrees from Memphis State University and Middle Tennessee State University. But after a season of life where she was caring for both her mother and her aunt, she came up with an idea for a business: home care for seniors. She opened her first company in Murfreesboro in 1993, started a new company in Texas in 1999 and then brought Family Staffing Solutions to Nashville in 2001, just a couple of blocks from Lipscomb’s campus. “It wouldn’t have worked if I did not believe that this is definitely why God put me on this earth,” Bookner said. “It is challenging to deal with people at the end of life with families who are very tired… but God has made such a difference.” Her college studies at Lipscomb “… made me appreciate more the standards Lipscomb demanded and what we demanded of ourselves,” she said. “(My time at Lipscomb) continues to guide our thinking on what we expect of our employees.” Completely changing her career midstream taught her “that you never say ‘No’ to life. You just go for it.” She hopes her experiences can benefit current students through her work on the board by fundraising and her interactions with students. “These young people have so many opportunities, so if I can say an encouraging word, that would be enough for me,” she said. The College of Business would like to express its thanks to the Alumni Board members. To see a list of the entire membership, go to page 41.
Jeffery McGruder was a student assistant coach under Lipscomb University basketball head coach Don Meyer. He also was a recruiting assistant and walk-on player at the University of Tennessee. McGruder’s career in financial services began with Wells Fargo Financial in Knoxville. He transitioned to Regions Bank in Franklin, where he worked in management for more than 10 years before joining Pinnacle.
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PARTNERS Career Connection
NEW WEB PLATFORM BRINGS FORTUNE 500 EMPLOYERS TO STUDENTS Handshake, an online job posting platform launched at Lipscomb in July 2019, has brought new employers to recruit Lipscomb graduates due to the ease of the new system. Students and existing employer partners have also provided positive feedback on the increased exposure they have gained through the platform, which is the No. 1 collegiate career search platform on the market today. The College of Business’ Career Connection office collaborated with the Lipscomb Career Development Center and the Lipscomb College of Engineering professional development program to introduce this system, which encompasses more than 420,000 total global employers and 100% of the Fortune 500.
2,200+
400+
100%
Participants, including students, faculty, alumni, employers and guests, at Career Connection events
Individual career discussions with students, including coaching, resume development and interview prep
Students placed in an Internship
95%
638
Career placement rate for graduates (within six months of graduation)
Lipscomb Business Connect members
Meet the Firm Then-junior accounting major Rebecca Bass networks with accounting professionals at the College of Business’ annual Meet the Firm “Lite” event, which connects current accounting students to job and internship opportunities in the accounting field. Meet the Firm is just one of many networking events the Career Connections office holds that draw more than 2,200 participants each year.
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1,200+
85+
Internship opportunities for students on Handshake
Opportunities for professional development for students on campus
PARTNERS Career Connection
Annual Involvement Fair The first annual College of Business Involvement Fair was attended by 250+ students and faculty and provided resources for students to boost their involvement in college programs offering opportunities for networking and leadership. These students enjoyed Padrino’s Pops on the Swang Center patio. Each College of Business club and organization had its own information booth telling potential members about meetings, events and how to join.
Up and Coming Bison in Business
Up and Coming Bison in Business
“Beginning my career, I wanted to further my expertise... as well as be challenged in other areas I hadn’t been exposed to. I knew that at a large New York-based firm I would get exposure to numerous opportunities that I desired and gain the skills and experience I was looking for.”
“The skills of staying in touch with someone, following up and showing people I really care through my actions and how I reach out to them was really instilled in me. I am trying to take that focus on relationships into my career.”
Taylor Phillips (’19) joined one of the hottest firms in Nashville immediately upon graduation: AllianceBernstein, the formerly Manhattan-based global asset management firm that is in the process of moving its headquarters to Nashville. Phillips is now a financial analyst at the company that he came to know through a Career Connection-hosted career fair on campus.
Carli Anderson (’18, MBA ’20), a Lipscomb volleyball athlete, came from a family filled with coaches and professional sports players, so it’s appropriate she landed her first job as an account executive for the Tennessee Titans. A tip about a networking website from Career Connection staff eventually led to a part-time job with the Titans in 2019. Now she’s selling season tickets and ticket packages full time, having also earned her MBA from Lipscomb.
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PARTNERS Increased Engagement
20% The number of student veterans and their dependents enrolled in the College of Business has increased by 20% since 2018. Many military veterans are drawn to the one-on-one student services and formal structure of the cohort system in the business college, said Jimmie Handley, Lipscomb’s coordinator of veteran services.
Black Professional Organizations Fair The College of Business co-hosted the fourth annual Black Professional Organizations Fair this past fall with the Office of Intercultural Development, welcoming local community organizations such as the Nashville Black Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of Black Accountants, the Nashville Women of Color in Communication and Urban League Young Professionals. The fair provides an opportunity for Nashville’s professional organizations, which often offer scholarships, internships and networking opportunities for diverse students, to connect with Lipscomb’s diverse student body.
Today Estep is senior vice president and enterprise chief compliance officer at E*TRADE Financial Corporation. His office is located at E*TRADE’s headquarters in the heart of New York City. He spends his days leading a team overseeing E*TRADE’s compliance management program focused on mitigating compliance and regulatory risk for the firm. “I spend a lot of time interacting with our various regulators such as the Federal Reserve, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority,” says Estep. “We provide advice to the business along with reporting information to senior management and the board.”
The lessons Estep learned as a catcher for the Bisons, and in the classrooms of accounting professors such as Charles Frasier, Perry Moore and Jeff Mankin, are never far from his mind.
“On the athletic field I learned a lot from Coach (Ken) Dugan about leadership and the importance of putting people in the right positions,” recalls Estep. “Sitting behind the plate, I was involved in every play. This taught me to look at the big picture and focus on how all the pieces fit together.”
Bold Bison Making a Mark in Business Chad Estep (’95) is a long way from the catcher’s box at Lipscomb’s Dugan Field where he spent countless hours as a member of the Bison baseball team more than two decades ago. 40
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Estep began his accounting career as an auditor at Deloitte in Nashville. His career path next led him to the role of financial and regulatory reporting manager at J.C. Bradford & Co., financial consultant at A.G. Edwards and controller at PowellJohnson. In 2005, he left Nashville and headed to St. Louis, Missouri, to eventually become the chief compliance officer for Stifel Financial Corp. Four years ago, Estep headed to New York City to become part of the E*TRADE team.
“The opportunity to graduate and to enter public accounting right away truly kick-started my career and put me on the right track,” Estep said of his Lipscomb experience.
THANK YOU TO ALL COB BOARD MEMBERS!
2019-2020 Members of the Dean’s Board.
Whether it is strengthening the financial resources of the College of Business or mentoring students one-on-one, from major fundraising campaigns to pointing out a broken printer, from developing new programs to enhancing Lipscomb’s long-standing strengths, the members of the College of Business’ various volunteer boards made an impact in 2019-20. Dean Ray Eldridge and the faculty and staff of the College of Business say thank you to everyone who donates their time, their efforts and their heart to the mission of this university and college. DEAN’S BOARD ALFONZO ALEXANDER | Chief Ethics &
MARK EZELL | Commissioner, Tennessee Department of Tourist Development, State of Tennessee
Diversity Officer/President, NASBA Center for the Public Trust
Investments, Benjamin F. Edwards
JENNIFER BALDOCK | EVP & Chief
MIGNON FRANCOIS | Director of Joy &
Administrative Officer, Surgery Partners Inc.
DAVID FISHER | Managing Director,
Founder, The Cupcake Collection
BLAIR BRYAN | Co-Founder, Heritage 21
TONY GIARRATANA | President, Giarratana LLC
KEITH BULLUCK | Managing Partner,
MARTY HERNDON | President & COO, Snider
Transition Sports & Entertainment | Former Tennessee Titans football player
JACKIE CAVNAR | COO, Mental Health
Fleet Solutions
WINSTON JUSTICE | Financial Advisor,
America of the MidSouth
Bernstein Private Wealth Management | Former Philadelphia Eagles football player
PATRICK CHAFFIN | EVP & COO,
JENNIFER LITTLE | Community Volunteer,
Asset Management, Ryman Hospitality Properties
KENT CLEAVER PAST CHAIR | EVP & Manager of Client Advisory Group, Pinnacle Bank
ERNIE CLEVENGER | Co-founder, President & CTO, CareHere
BARRY DEAN | Partner, Cherry Bekaert LLP DALE DENNY | Chief Financial Officer, John Bouchard & Sons
DAVID DINGLER | Health Care Connector, Health Care Strategies
JOSH DORMINY | Senior Vice President, Assistant to the Chairman and CEO, Coca-Cola Consolidated BRIAN EVANS | Vice President, Human Resources, Tractor Supply Co.
Lipscomb Accounting Alumni
GLENN MCGEHEE CHAIR | Principal & President, SouthStar
JOHN RUTLEDGE | President & CEO, American Physician Partners DEWAYNE SCOTT | Co-founder, President & CEO, SRS Incorporated of Tennessee
FLOYD SHECHTER | President, SmartSpace LLC
ERNESTO SILVA | Retired, Coca-Cola FEMSA JOE SLAWEK | Chairman & CEO, FONA International Inc. DAVID SOLOMON | Founder and Managing Director, Meritage Funds
JODY VENKATESAN | President and CEO, Platinum Business Services LLC RANDY WOLCOTT | President, NorthStar Real Estate Advisors LLC
ALUMNI BOARD
LINDA MEADOR | President, Success Optics
MEG AUSTIN | Advanced Staff Accountant,
KEVIN MONROE | Former Audit Partner,
FMC CPAs
Deloitte | Chair, Tennessee State Board of Accountancy
SYDNEY BALL | Vice President, Business Development, NFP
SUSAN NOKES | Advisory Board Vice Chairman, Asurion
LUKE BENDA | CEO and Co-Founder, Healing
BURT NOWERS | Retired President, Healing Hands International | Retired CFO, AIM Healthcare PHILIP PFEFFER | CEO, Treemont Capital Inc. GLEASON ROGERS | Director of Diversity & Inclusion, Tractor Supply Co.
Innovations
BECCI BOOKNER | President, Family Staffing Solutions Inc.
JOEL CAMPBELL | Product Manager, axialHealthcare
JOSUE CHAVEZ | Nashville Sales Representative, Sage Products Division
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TAYLOR CONSTANTINE | Channel Lead,
Vanderbilt University Medical Center
Rain Inc.
TODD KAESTNER | Executive Vice President,
MIGUEL CORTEZ | Assurance Senior, EY
Corporate Development, Brookdale Senior Living
ALEX DAMPF | President, Oakmont Benefits
PAUL KECKLEY | Health Care Futurist and
JORDAN DOBBERSTEIN | Manager Competitive Insights, Jackson ZACH EVANS CHAIR | Chief Technology Officer, XSOLIS
ANDY FAUGHT | Managing Partner, Continuum Planning Partners
DON HULSEY JR. | Sr. Talent Consultant, Vanderbilt University Medical Center
BEN KILLION | Strategic Analytics Manager, Vanderbilt University Medical Center WILL LOGUE | Associate Vice President, Envision Healthcare
JIM LORDEMAN | Retired Senior Financial
Rebecca Ahlberg (’20), Management Viktoriya Akhmedova (’21), International Business
Executive, SpecialtyCare
Maria Arellano (’20), Accounting
TIM MANGRUM | Medical Director, Saint
Lydia Baker (’20), Management
Thomas Medical Group
America Burnette (’21), Marketing
JOHN MASON | Senior Vice President & CIO,
Mary Clark (’21), Management
Quorum Health
LINDA MEADOR | President, Success Optics OLIVIA PATTON | Director of Compliance, UnitedHealthcare
PAUL REIN | Retired CFO, Sarah Cannon
Pryce Daniels (’23), Marketing Grace Dotson (’21), Accounting Mallory Grant (’20), Marketing Bennie Harris (’20), Finance
Research Institute
Jessica Heffington (’21), Accounting
BRYCE SILLYMAN | COO, Pottstown Hospital
Heleena Kabtimer (’22), Business Management
DOUG SMITH | Retired CEO, Quorum Health
MaKayleigh Lackey (’20), Accounting
ERIC STEPHENS | Chief Analytics Officer,
Gracie Larkin (’20), Management
FMC CPAs
Nashville General Hospital
Mary Mancuso (’21), Accounting
FRANK OSTEEN | Director of Graduate
MAT WAITES | Information Technology
David Manthey (’21), Accounting
MATTHEW MCCALL | Chief Financial Officer, American Constructors Inc. MATTHEW MCCONNELL | Tax Supervisor,
Enrollment, Lipscomb University
Consultant, DeVita Kidney Care
HILLARY READER | Sales Enablement
JEFF WHITEHORN | Retired CEO, Summit
Manager, Philips
Medical Center
MEGAN SARGENT | Senior Product Manager, PrideSports
AmSurg
HEATHER SCONCE | Distribution Manager, Communication Components
BOB SIRCY | Executive Vice President, Southwestern Investment Group MARSHA SWADER | Former Director, Payor Contracting, Sound Physicians JOHN TOUGHER | Assurance Staff, EY
CINDY WINKER | Vice President, Operations, BILL WRIGHT | Senior Director, IT, HCA
BAM ADVISORY BOARD
HEALTH CARE ADVISORY BOARD JIM BLUE | Vice President, American Physician Partners RON CHARPENTIER | National Partner, The Advisory Board Company
PAULETTE FEWELL | Senior Vice President of Operations, Raiven Healthcare WES FOUNTAIN | CFO, HCA, TriStar Division PETER GIAMMALVO | Retired Vice President of Organizational Development, Ohio Health
MACK HOWELL | Chief Business Officer and Associate Operating Officer, Otolaryngology/ Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation and Emergency Medicine,
BUSINESS.LIPSCOMB.EDU
Caroline Miller (’20), Accounting Chelsea Millon (’21), Management
Maddie Oates (’20), Corporate Management
Performance Solutions
Deanie Pedigo (’20), Accounting
MATT HOGAN | Director of Partnerships, Q
Katherine Perry (’21), Marketing
Ideas Associate General Counsel, The Freeman Company
MARK WOMACK | Controller, Growthwright
McCalla Medvecky (’20), Marketing
JOSIAH HOLLAND | Consultant, TiER1
Data Analyst, Lipscomb University
Representative, Paycom
Aislinn McElhaney (’23), Supply Chain Management
James O’Callaghan (’21), Professional Relationships Marketing
ADELLE MIZE-CASEY | Vice President,
DREW WATSON | Executive Sales
Rebekah Martin (’20), Accounting
PETER DEMOS | President, Demos Brands
REBEKAH TRAN | Assessment Manager & AUDRA WAIT | President, Wait & Co.
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Consultant
DEAN’S STUDENT LEADERSHIP COUNCIL
Aijalon (AJ) Powell (’20), Management Amber Pupel (’23), International Business Anju Sharma (’20), Finance
BURT NOWERS CHAIR | Retired President,
Kaitlin Stanfield (’20), Accounting
Healing Hands International | Retired CFO, AIM Healthcare
Matthew Stuart (’22), Accounting
LIBBY PHILLIPS PETERSON VICE CHAIR |
Emily Tidwell (’23), Corporate Management
Managing Partner, Phillips Family Office
Cate Zenzen (’20), Marketing and Management
LAUREN PINKSTON | Founder, Wearthy
ENCORE DEAN’S BOARD
LEELLEN SMITH | Founder, OUTsideIN BARRETT WARD | Founder & CEO, ABLE
VIC ALEXANDER | Owner, KraftCPAs PLLC MIKE DUNCAN | CFO, HSD Holdings LLC
CAPITAL MARKETS ADVISORY COUNCIL
TOM GRAY | Founder, Employee Pooling
ANDREW FARMER CHAIR | Managing Partner,
Zander Insurance
Pratt & Company
DAN JORDAN | President, Jordan Properties
LOGAN POWELL | Chief Financial Officer/
Inc.
President, Puttshack Services, Puttshack
DOUG SMITH | Chairman, Healthcare
MATTHEW WRIGHT | Founder & President,
Management Directions
Disciplina Group
ANDREW YATES | U.S. Deputy Head of Surveillance, BNP Paribas
KELL HOLLAND | Executive Vice President,
THANK YOU
The faculty and staff of the College of Business.
for being a continued supporter of the College of Business and the Pfeffer Graduate School of Business. We could not build future business leaders who embrace the values and virtues of Jesus without the contributions of our entire community. COLLEGE OF BUSINESS LEADERSHIP TEAM RAY ELDRIDGE | Dean of the College of Business ALLISON DUKE | Senior Associate Dean for Strategic Initiatives and Innovation ANDY BORCHERS | Associate Dean for Research and Faculty Excellence BART LIDDLE | Associate Dean for Academic Excellence SUZANNE SAGER | Associate Dean for Professional Development and Engagement
TO FURTHER CONNECT WITH US WE INVITE YOU TO:
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SUPPORT STUDENTS FINANCIALLY
CONSIDER A GRADUATE DEGREE
HIRE AN INTERN OR ALUMNI
Beth Mangrum beth.mangrum@lipscomb.edu
Karen Risley karen.risley@lipscomb.edu
Suzanne Sager suzanne.sager@lipscomb.edu
College of Business One University Park Drive Nashville, TN 37204-3951 T 615.966.5950 business.lipscomb.edu