MOORE
DARLA MOORE SCHOOL OF BUSINESS / UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA / FALL 2021
FINDING ‘HEALING AND PEACE’ IN THE WILDERNESS ALSO
CHANGING LIVES THROUGH EDUCATION A REMARKABLE IMPACT
CONTENTS 3 / Changing lives through education / and challenges over his tenure
Dean Brews reflects on triumphs
10 / Finding ‘healing and peace’ in the wilderness / Alumna and her family create outdoor camping experience company for African American individuals
14 / A world of alumni / With successful U.S. alumni hubs, Moore School building an international alumni network
16 / Building a network / Alumni spearhead formation of Moore School Black Alumni Alliance
18 / A remarkable impact / International business professor earns top 50 designation in Poets & Quants
20 / Thriving resources / Moore School enhancing diversity and inclusion
FALL 2021 Peter Brews / Dean Mary Ruffin Childs / Senior Director of Alumni Engagement Leigh-Anne Lawrence / Director of Marketing and Communications Editors: Marjorie Riddle Duffie, Leigh-Anne Lawrence Contributing writers: Marjorie Riddle Duffie, Claire McGrath, Megan Sexton Photographers: Jeff Blake, Alex Cone, Michelle Rashid, Rick Smoak Designer: Gracie Newton
23 / ‘Seeing that spark’ / Accounting alumna transitions to faculty lecturer
Office of Alumni Engagement Darla Moore School of Business University of South Carolina 1014 Greene Street Columbia, SC 29208 sc.edu/moore
24 / ‘Passion, care and determination’ / Beloved management science
On the cover: Shequeita Orr Frazier
with multiple new initiatives
22 / Making history / Alumna is first female business dean for Benedict College
professor awarded top UofSC professor of the year designation
26 / Cultivating work relationships / International business faculty research focuses on context and culture’s influence on communication
27 / Following the money / U.S. aid packages during COVID-19 pandemic prevent widespread economic catastrophes
28 / Finding her way back / After tragedy, economics student finds new beginning at UofSC
30 / A sustainable solution / Marketing research finds plastic packaging sizes can greatly impact environmental waste
32 / Among an elite group / Four faculty among top 1 percent of worldwide researchers
34 / The power of AI / Associate professor and colleagues examine artificial intelligence’s impact on marketing
37 / Executive Education offerings 38 / Supporting future Gamecocks / Undergraduate and her family fund a scholarship
39 / Young Alumni Scholarship 40 / Moore News 46 / Faculty, Staff and Student Achievements 50 / Alumni Events and News 2 DARLA MOORE SCHOOL OF BUSINESS | 2021
The University of South Carolina does not discriminate in educational or employment opportunities on the basis of race, sex, gender, age, color, religion, national origin, disability, sexual orientation, genetics, veteran status, pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions. 19-11150 9/19
While we tried our best to connect with our community, including you, our beloved alumni, during the pandemic, we dearly missed having opportunities to gather and network in person. We all made the best of the dire situation by learning to virtually connect in a whole new way. Many of us had never been on Microsoft Teams or Zoom until COVID-19 struck. We’re all old pros now. We give our sincere thanks to all of our alumni who have stayed in touch, who volunteered to do virtual lectures or virtually mentor our students and who have continued to provide support so our students can flourish and become tomorrow’s business leaders. Please do not hesitate to reach out to me, our Office of Alumni Engagement staff and other leaders of the Moore School if you would like to get involved. We have numerous opportunities available for our alumni to be active and engaged with us.
DEAN PETER BREWS DEAR ALUMNI: The past year has been an amazing rollercoaster ride to say the least. Many of us couldn’t have imagined a pandemic with such a wide-reaching impact of COVID-19 before March 2020. Seeing the world literally shut down in places due to a public health crisis was something our generation had never seen. Like the rest of the world, we sheltered in place and did our jobs from home.
Thank you for all that you do to stay connected with the Moore School and for all that you give back to our community! Best,
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RETROSPECTIVE
CHANGING LIVES THROUGH EDUCATION Brews reflects on triumphs and challenges over his tenure
Dean Peter Brews built on existing and new excellence to transform UofSC’s second largest school and premier academic brand. A key focus over his tenure has been the undergraduate program, comprising more than 85 percent of the student body. Upon his arrival in 2014, undergraduates completed business courses in their junior and senior years, whereas accounting, economics and statistics are now taken by freshmen who complete four rather than two years of business study. This permits greater depth in majors and allows better preparation for those key internships between junior and senior year. Launched in fall 2016, Brews’ Undergraduate Excellence Initiative also placed business analytics front and center at the school, adding a second quantitative course to the business core and then offering a four-course business analytics concentration in spring 2017, following the graduate certificate formalized in 2016. Even if they don’t do formal analytics concentrations or certificates, Brews wants every student to leave “data proficient, analytically capable and functionally based,” armed with skills hiring managers now urgently seek. The school is also offering a new Master of Science in Business Analytics in fall 2021, primarily so UofSC STEM undergraduates may acquire advanced business analytics training before starting their first jobs or advancing their careers. Undergraduates are now held to higher expectations and performance, and these together with changes to the full-time MBA program introduced in 2017 have produced record outcomes for undergraduate and graduate students alike. Read on as Brews reflects upon his eight years as dean and what he hopes to do over the remainder of his tenure.
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RETROSPECTIVE
What are you most proud of in your tenure so far? BREWS: Before my arrival, the focus had mostly been on the graduate programs versus the undergraduate programs. Today we have many more high-quality undergraduate applicants than seats available, and students acquire an education comparable to any and are being placed around our country at Top 25 business school rates and salaries. Further, 730 students started the analytics concentration in spring 2020, up from seven in spring 2017, and we expect more than 1,000 graduate and undergraduate students to start next year. And we’ve not just improved the academic experience of average students, which was needed, we’ve also raised the bar for top students. In addition to the analytics concentration, which many complete, we now have Finance and Marketing Scholars and specialized sales training programs open to them, in addition to the nine majors already offered. These explain why our top 15 percent’s average salary exceeds $83,000, while other top business schools in our region aren’t even close.
We have also improved our full-time MBA program and our No. 1-in-South Carolina-ranked Professional MBA, and our Master of Human Resources and Accountancy programs remain top performers. The Ph.D. program is also producing graduates ready to compete with the best, and our faculty continue to do world-class research and provide world-class teaching. As dean, I’ve supported excellence in research, teaching, student services and student performance. Taken together, the school has never been stronger. The Moore School also has a benefactor who is very proud of the school that carries her name. The school would certainly not be where it is today without Darla Moore’s contribution, both financial and otherwise. She placed her name and considerable capital behind our school, most tangibly seen in the striking world-class building we now call home. We also gained a powerful, enlightened force that for over the past 23 years has shaped the school’s culture, values and standards. She demands excellence from all, and we would not have accomplished what we have these past seven years without Darla Moore’s support, guidance and intervention, at times at levels above me as dean.
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RETROSPECTIVE
What are some of your favorite moments as dean? BREWS: I meet with students routinely to learn of their experiences, successes and challenges, and these have produced countless “moments” for me. I began keeping records of student meetings in fall 2016 as a reminder what I told each student, each reminding me why I am an educator and how the Moore School changes lives. Meeting alumni has also produced some great moments, as did the May 2019 Gala when we celebrated our school’s centennial and awarded Darla Moore a Centennial Distinguished Service Award for her unmatched contribution to our school. Governor Henry and First Lady Peggy McMaster, Senator Hugh Leatherman, Columbia Mayor Steve Benjamin, President Harris Pastides and First Lady Patricia Moore-Pastides, several UofSC Trustees and more than 400 alumni, faculty, staff and close friends of the school attended, along with 50 carefully selected students.
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It was a night for the ages, appropriate only once a century. Attendees also received a stunning 208-page coffee table book chronicling our first 100 years. An excellent gift for those who love our school. I have also had many memorable moments watching faculty talk about their research, teaching, our programs or centers, just as I have had learning of staff successes, most memorable for me being in May 2019 when our Office of Career Management told me undergraduate placement had reached 84 percent, a record then, up from 67 percent the year before. I knew at that moment the Undergraduate Excellence Initiative was on the right track after years of hard work. Close behind this news was when our Office of Alumni Engagement reported we had 453 registered for our May 2019 annual alumni event at Quail Hollow in Charlotte. This was the largest non-sporting event held outside of Columbia in UofSC history, in a region where more than 4,500 alumni now live and work. We have naturally renamed the city to Charlotte, South Carolina.
RETROSPECTIVE
What have been some of your greatest challenges? BREWS: When I arrived, some areas were receiving too much attention and others too little. I understand all want the best for their areas or interests, but a key leadership role in academic institutions is ensuring all interests (and not just a select few) are served well. I am proud to have done some rebalancing, which wasn’t always popular with those on the downside. However, these interests have been sustained while being moved from being over-weighted to a more balanced level, given our resources and the demands of other important needs. The COVID-19 pandemic was a challenge we surmounted. Because of incredible work from our College of Pharmacy, the Arnold School of Public Health, University Health Services and others, we were free to worry about our educational mission
while they kept us healthy and protected. After we went remote in March 2020, our faculty stepped up over the summer and learned to livestream. Invaluable assistance from Moore School faculty and staff helped us build the livestreaming capability that enabled us to navigate COVID-19. I’m especially proud that in fall 2020 and spring 2021, only 8 percent and 5 percent, respectively, of our more than 400 undergraduate sections delivered each semester were traditional asynchronous online courses. I did speculate in my first post-lockdown communication on March 23, 2020 that we’d emerge stronger after the pandemic. We did!
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What are some of your goals for the Moore School in the coming years?
How would you describe your career if you were in an interview with Craig Melvin?
BREWS: There’s still much to do — we have some center naming opportunities and are thinking of establishing a named innovation hub in our building that brings many important school activities together in one place.
BREWS: I would start by emphasizing an attitude of gratitude. We should all be thankful for being in the U.S. with the choices open to us, and I’ve had incredible opportunities since immigrating here in 1989.
What happens with Carolina Online is also vital as this may permit us to offer a quality asynchronous online Bachelor of Arts in business to serve many South Carolinians we do not yet reach. If this occurs, we have no offices for the additional faculty we will undoubtedly need, and we may have to move our School of Accounting to another location, giving us the opportunity to name accounting, too.
I arrived with my suitcase and a few thousand dollars to start again after leaving South Africa, and I cannot believe where I am now.
Livestreaming our traditional B.S. in business to students attending remotely live (like our Professional MBA program) Tuesdays and Thursdays from 6 – 9 p.m. and on Saturdays is one choice we might explore. I’d also want to continue building out the alumni hubs we have created across the country and around the world. One positive outcome of our collective Zoom mastery is it has enhanced our ability to communicate with international alumni significantly. Finally, and following recent developments across our country, we also must do more in diversity and inclusion. As undergraduates are recruited centrally, I look forward to working with UofSC Office of Undergraduate Admissions to further diversify our student body.
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But I wouldn’t want students to think success is due only to the steps we take alone. We all stand on the shoulders of others, and success is also due to luck and being in the right place at the right time. For example, I know for certain I would not be here if I hadn’t attended a cocktail party in Johannesburg at the insistence of a family member to meet the dean of Wits Business School, among the best business schools in Africa at the time. Being an investment banker with a law degree, Dean Andy Andrews asked me then to teach his MBAs business law part time, and unbeknownst to me, I’d reached a key inflection point in my life. More specifically, had I chosen not to go that night I probably wouldn’t be here today. It was not on my radar to join a business school, teach or become an academic. When I ask young people what they learn from these events in my life, I reject when they jest ‘never miss a party’ and more seriously emphasize don’t miss an opportunity to network. You don’t know which conversation may lead to a future that you will look back upon with thanks and humility, as I do now. Success typically occurs when talent, hard work and luck converge. Invest in your talent, do the hard work but stay open to random events that may lead to unimaginable outcomes.
RETROSPECTIVE
What else do you hope to accomplish in your career before you retire? BREWS: During the rest of my time as dean I want to make sure the school continues to grow from strong to stronger, and I’m not sure there is another position for me after this one. We all have a season, and I suspect mine is drawing to a close. But don’t count me out yet — I’m still serving the Moore School and UofSC, if only to ensure I leave the next dean a well-placed, balanced, vibrant school. Stronger than it has ever been, we’ve changed the school’s academic profile and culture and have empowered
excellence in every corner. Along the way I’ve enjoyed support from a wide range of people, from faculty and staff performing above the call of duty, to Darla Moore and our hardworking students, to alumni, other donors and friends who have sustained us over the exciting journey these past seven years. I am so thankful to all for their support — it takes a village! Some of our success was intentional and from old-fashioned hard work, some was serendipitous, and some was delivered by creative people thinking even further outside the box than we did when we started. We’ve reached far beyond where I imagined we’d go, and I am convinced the best is yet to come. Just watch, but please stay engaged.
WHERE WE STARTED
WHERE WE ARE TODAY
Undergraduate student cohort size
5137
5233
Graduate student cohort size
854
826
Total students
5991
6059
Average undergraduate SATs
1223
1269*
Undergraduate placement**
62.3%
90%
$52,382
$58,605
72.7%
98%
$85,138
$91,226
Full-time Faculty
148
176
Full-time Staff
84
106
Faculty/student ratio (< 35 ideal)
39.9
34.0
Staff/student ratio (< 55 ideal)
71.3
57.2
2014–15
Undergraduate average salary** Full-time MBA placement** Full-time MBA average salary**
2020–21
*Average SATs in academic years 2019–20 and 2018–19 were 1299 and 1298 respectively; the drop in 2020–21 is due to a proportional increase in in-state students over the pandemic year. **Employment and placement data for academic year 2020–21 is based on data available as of Sept. 7, 2021, 90 days after graduation. Placement is percentage of graduates who report holding full-time jobs when they graduated in May.
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ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT
FINDING ‘HEALING AND PEACE’ IN THE WILDERNESS Alumna and her family create outdoor camping experience company for African American individuals
Alumna Shequeita Orr Frazier (’04 management and marketing) recently launched her own entrepreneurial outdoor adventure initiative with her husband. As the primary marketer for the initiative, Frazier is well-equipped for this new role after close to two decades of buying, planning and business development for top brands, including Target, Nike, Vera Bradley and Saks Off 5th. Focusing on outdoor adventures, Shequeita, her husband, Rashad, and her brother-in-law, Ron, created Camp Yoshi in 2020. Shequeita and Rashad Frazier are parents of two small children, Ellis, 6, and Zora, 2. During the pandemic and in the wake of everything happening with racial injustice in the U.S., they decided to go camping as a family in Glacier National Park in Montana. Rashad’s brother and children joined the fun, and they were all able to peacefully unplug.
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ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT
The camping trip “was everything I didn’t know I needed,” she said. “I truly understood on day one what my husband and his brother had tapped into — a true sense of healing and peace in such a time of unrest and chaos all around us.” When the families later shared their photos from their camping adventures, their family and friends on social media voiced concerns about safety, especially for African Americans in the outdoors. “We knew what our family and friends were referring to… the generations of trauma and fear associated with the ‘woods’ in the Black community, the chaos happening in real time all around us with the police killings of Black people,” Frazier said. “However, we found our rhythm, our healing, our place of release, and we wanted to help others discover theirs. So, Camp Yoshi was born.” Camp Yoshi is an adventure tour company focused on getting African American people and their allies outside. Their multi-day adventures pair gourmet cooking with wilderness experiences and excursions. Frazier’s husband is a gourmet chef and prepares all the meals during the trips with elaborate camp stoves. “Our goal is to encourage Black people to get outside, off the grid and feel a sense of belonging and comfort with getting out to remote places,” she said. “We want
“The camping trip was everything I didn’t know I needed. I truly understood on day one what my husband and his brother had tapped into — a true sense of healing and peace in such a time of unrest and chaos all around us.” - SHEQUEITA ORR FRAZIER
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to equip them with the tools to make this a lifelong endeavor for themselves and their families.” The Fraziers took in 2020 one test run for Camp Yoshi, which she described as “wildly successful.” Despite the uncertainty of the continued pandemic in 2021, they offered five wilderness excursions when they officially launched their brand in November 2020. She said they sold out all the spots within eight weeks. Looking ahead to 2022, they are planning to offer 22 Camp Yoshi trips, including their current adventures to Moab, Utah, Telluride, Colorado, and central Oregon. The new routes include the California desert and northern Arizona. While Frazier is a co-founder of Camp Yoshi with her husband and brother-in-law, she says her primary focus is on Camp Yoshi marketing, branding and partnerships; soon, they’ll also launch a commemorative capsule collection of apparel items to honor Camp Yoshi’s inaugural year. She balances Camp Yoshi with her family and a demanding career of her own. Frazier is the senior director of enterprise space for Target Corporation and a part-time instructor for the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising’s merchandising and marketing department. Previously, she has held director-level positions with Nike, Vera Bradley and Saks Off 5th. Her current team with Target uses data and analytics to define program and assortment space decisions, which drive multi-billion dollars of incremental growth for the company. “In leading the enterprise space team at Target, the main objective is to build an industry-leading store experience for our guests, leveraging data and insights to bring Target’s products to life,” Frazier said. Frazier credits the Moore School with teaching her how to do “the art of storytelling with data.” In one of her marketing classes her junior year, she had to create and
present a marketing proposal for an existing product or service to her class. Working at a makeup counter for a department store at the time, Frazier was passionate about makeup and skin care, so she decided to focus her presentation on Clinique’s three-step skincare system. Noting that many of her peers in her residence halls had the popular “unforgettable bottle of yellow face lotion,” Frazier said the project “helped me appreciate how to use data to tell compelling, persuasive stories…It was one of the most exciting classes during my time at the Moore School, and unanimously, the class voted my presentation as the most compelling…In the days following the project, a few classmates stopped by the makeup counter asking for Clinique products!” As a team leader for multiple brands, Frazier also points to learning leadership skills and how to successfully work in teams as major skills she acquired at the Moore School during group projects. “I learned the value of motivating, leading and influencing a team. I learned invaluable skills within time management and being able to quickly identify people’s passions and skills so that I could delegate in an effective manner,” she said.
ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT
“Our goal is to encourage Black people to get outside, off the grid and feel a sense of belonging and comfort with getting out to remote places. We want to equip them with the tools to make this a lifelong endeavor for themselves and their families.” - SHEQUEITA ORR FRAZIER
“I cannot think of one time in my career where I haven’t had to lead a team through a project or strategy. Gaining the experience to do this at the Moore School really helped me establish some fundamental knowledge about the roles we play within teams and how those roles play a part in establishing our leadership voice.” While Frazier is a force in her professional roles, she also has her young family and Camp Yoshi to keep her busy. Like the lessons she’s learned in teamwork, she said she also has come to understand that finding time “to balance it all” is a myth. “The times in which I tried to incorporate a balanced professional and personal life left me feeling overwhelmed and honestly unaccomplished,” she admits. “I remember coming across a quote many years ago that serves as a reminder for me to schedule my priorities, rather than prioritizing my schedule. I quickly aligned myself to focus on my priorities. My priorities look different daily, weekly, monthly.” Her sense of harmony in making time for the things that matter illustrate how she is able to continue building momentum in her career while also caring for her family and promoting the burgeoning Camp Yoshi vision.
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ALUMNI HUBS
A WORLD OF ALUMNI
With successful U.S. alumni hubs, the Moore School begins building an international alumni network
As a leader of international business, the Moore School already has a major presence around the globe. To encourage networking and support of Gamecocks abroad, a handful of alumni are building international alumni groups in countries with a high number of alumni to complement the U.S. cities’ networks.
Hub leader Mauricio Villafrade Torres Bogota, Columbia
The Moore School’s Office of Alumni Engagement is working with alumni leaders in Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Colombia and Canada to formalize their international networks. “These areas are home to large numbers of alumni and also represent areas that the Moore School is either currently traveling to or had collaborated with in the past through a variety of academic programs,” said Corey Mikels, a Moore School assistant director of alumni engagement. The strategic goals for the international alumni initiative include finding opportunities overseas for students via internships and jobs, partnering with other institutions and universities abroad and expanding the alumni network through virtual and in-person engagement. In 2020-21 during the COVID-19 pandemic, the international alumni participated in a variety of events, including a virtual beer tasting (see next page for more info on that event), virtual trivia nights, Moore School staff and faculty discussions, among other events. “We would like to have several other cities and countries added to our list and be able to identify hub leader volunteers in these areas,” Mikels said. “As our world begins to open again as pandemic restrictions lessen, our hub leaders will be able to host in-person, local networking events. Our alumni team looks forward to traveling and hopes to visit many of our hub areas by summer 2022.”
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Hub leader Daniel Peach London/United Kingdom
COLOMBIA, SOUTH AMERICA HUB LEADER: Mauricio Villafrade Torres (’98 finance)
CURRENTLY RESIDING IN: Bogotá, Colombia EMAIL: mvillafrade@gmail.com
UNITED KINGDOM AND IRELAND
HUB LEADER: Daniel Peach (’10 international business, accounting and UofSC French and Spanish)
CURRENTLY RESIDING IN: London, England EMAIL: danielpeach10@gmail.com
FRANCE
HUB LEADER: Gilles Lachkar (’88 MIBS) CURRENTLY RESIDING IN: Brittany, France
EMAIL: gilles.lachkar@gmail.com
VIRTUAL TASTING EVENT Alumnus Travis Heneveld (’97 MIBS French track) facilitated a virtual beer tasting for international alumni living in France and Germany in December 2020. “Since graduating from MIBS, I have actively participated in the UofSC alumni network, having attended several reunions across Europe and even organized reunions in Paris, France, in 1999 to celebrate 25 years of MIBS, and Berlin, Germany, in 2010,” he said. “I always enjoy connecting with fellow alumni wherever I may be.” As a host for the December virtual beer tasting, Heneveld is one of a handful of investors who supported the opening in 2018 of Vagabund brewery in a former lightbulb factory in the center of Berlin, Germany. Heneveld has 25 years’ experience in wireless technology markets, including with Motorola, Ericcson, Vodafone, Nestle, IKEA and the United Nations family of organizations.
GERMANY
HUB LEADER: Patrick McManus (’11 IMBA) CURRENTLY RESIDING IN: Stuttgart, Germany EMAIL: mcmanus.patrick.b@gmail.com Vagabund Beergarden
CANADA
HUB LEADER: Abhinav Syal (’17 IMBA) CURRENTLY RESIDING IN: Toronto, Canada
EMAIL: abhisyal23@gmail.com
The December 2020 virtual beer tasting UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA | 15
ALUMNI
BUILDING A NETWORK Alumni spearhead formation of Moore School Black Alumni Alliance Alumni Wilson Johnson III (’89 finance and marketing) and Clay Douglass (’76 accounting) are launching an African American alumni group at the Moore School. “I was sitting at home during the COVID-19 pandemic and saw that UofSC was initiating diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives,” Wilson Johnson said. “I decided I wanted to create
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a group specifically in the Moore School that focuses on mentoring for minority business students, jobs and internships for recent graduates and scholarships for minority students. Our focus is to align with the Moore School’s diversity and inclusion initiatives.” When he was enrolled at UofSC, Wilson Johnson said he received support from the TRIO office through the Upward Bound and Opportunity Scholars programs before and while he was a student that ultimately helped him succeed and go on to have a fulfilling career. Before he was a UofSC student, Wilson Johnson’s family once lived in Ward One in Columbia, South Carolina. Ward One was a predominantly African American neighborhood that once stood where the Moore School, UofSC Coliseum and the surrounding buildings are now.
ALUMNI
“As a Ward One descendant, I know the value of community and how the bond of those relationships are lifelong, even though the once thriving neighborhood was replaced with urban renewal in the 1960s,” he said. “My mother, Beverly Bell Johnson, and my aunts Carrie Bell Tucker, Deloris Bell English and Joanne Bell Burns were instrumental, along with others, to keep the memories of Ward One, their bond and spirit of togetherness alive.”
significantly more business relationships and have had more business opportunities because of my affiliation with the Moore School.” Wilson Johnson said he hopes that when the Black Alumni Alliance officially launches, it will help develop minority students and African American alumni into great and impactful business leaders where they can improve and enhance their communities. The group launched in fall 2021.
Wilson Johnson wants to honor the memory of the neighborhood by creating this new African American alumni group within the Moore School. Wilson Johnson and Douglass have been working closely with Moore School faculty and staff and UofSC administrators over the past year to further develop the program. Those individuals include Moore School Dean Peter Brews; Bobby Donaldson, director for the Center for Civil Rights History and Research at UofSC and a history associate professor whose research focuses on Southern history and African American life and culture in the 19th and 20th centuries; Julian Williams, UofSC’s vice president for diversity, equity and inclusion; and the group’s steering committee. Wilson Johnson said the main goal of the organization is to mentor minority students during their time in the Moore School and assist them in finding different jobs, internships and scholarships that are available to them. “I want to implement a program where Black students and Black alumni can communicate and help each other by sharing information through webinars, seminars and business forums and panelist discussions,” Wilson Johnson said. The alliance also wants to assist the Moore School with recruiting more African American faculty members and students. Another major goal of the new group is to mobilize the alumni network to support funding of Moore School initiatives and scholarships for underrepresented students, steering committee member Lloyd Johnson said. As the steering committee continues to finalize the details of the Black Alumni Alliance, Wilson Johnson said his main reason for pursuing this idea is because of the invaluable skills and knowledge that he gained from the Moore School.
In addition to Wilson Johnson and Clay Douglass, the group’s steering committee includes: •
Janae Bowman, ’20 accounting and UofSC retailing;
•
Mary Ruffin Childs, ’80 management, Moore School Office of Alumni Engagement senior director;
•
Danielle Gleaton, ’06 international business and management science, former chair for the Young Alumni Board;
•
Cedric Green, ’97 UofSC mechanical engineering, ’02 MBA, ’08 UofSC master’s ME, ’15 Ph.D. ME;
•
Deborah Hazzard, Moore School associate dean of diversity and inclusion;
•
Johnathan Jacobs, ‘23 marketing student;
•
Lloyd Johnson, ’81 accounting and finance, ’81 MACC;
•
Donald Murphy, ’78 accounting;
•
Edwin Neal, ’83 accounting, ’84 MACC;
•
Maranda Williams, ’04 UofSC public relations and African American studies, Moore School community engagement and social media manager
“The Moore School allowed me to get hired as an insurance consultant and hone my skills on the job,” he said. “My return on investment was exponentially rewarding. I have
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FACULTY
A REMARKABLE IMPACT IB professor earns top 50 designation in Poets & Quants
International business faculty Daniel Ostergaard was named among the 2020 Top 50 Undergraduate Business Professors by Poets & Quants.
A clinical professor of international business since 2010, Ostergaard’s superiors and peers describe him as “authentic, genuine, inspiring, engaged, passionate and dedicated.” Many recount numerous instances when Ostergaard went above and beyond for students. Stipulations for the 2020 Top 50 Undergraduate Business Professors candidates are that they have a remarkable impact on students through quality and quantity of nominations; have a noteworthy influence on business practices, public policy, business trends, etc.; make impactful contributions to their respective fields; reach notable career milestones; have a unique
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teaching style or techniques; and have a noteworthy and highly recognized public profile or reputation. Ostergaard received more than 20 nominations from his current and former students. “He is simply a gifted master teacher, with capabilities beyond any other teacher I have evaluated or observed” in more than 30 years at the Moore School, said Kendall Roth, senior associate dean of international programs and partnerships.. “And this performance is uniform across his 10 years of teaching at [UofSC].” Ostergaard is part of a respected program that includes many students with SAT scores around the 1,500 range who are part of the UofSC Honors College. Admissions are highly selective
and limited to just 150 students from locations throughout the U.S. and the world. The undergraduate international business program has been ranked No. 1 for more than 20 consecutive years, according to U.S. News & World Report. Roth noted that this reputation of the IB program shows that faculty have extremely high expectations for all students in the classroom. At least a dozen of Ostergaard’s students in their recommendation letters for the Poets & Quants designation acknowledged that while Ostergaard is one of their most supportive and passionate instructors, his courses are also the most challenging in the curriculum. “Ostergaard demands the absolute best from [his students] day in and day out. I would not hesitate to credit him with a large part of the prestige of the No. 1 ranking of our international business program,” said Nancy Jones, a 2021 graduate who majored in international business and economics. “Any student who passes through one of his classes comes out on the other side changed: with an incredible sense of self-possession, a belief in their capability to do the hardest things out there that they did not have before, and their eyes open to the challenging subtleties of the business world.” Jones and several of her peers raved in their nomination letters about the practical real-world examples Ostergaard provides in his lectures. “His teaching was unique and engaging because it was relevant. I knew why I was learning what I was learning and could see why I needed this knowledge through events that were happening in the world every day,” said Avery Venetta, a senior majoring in finance and international business. “Ostergaard deserves this award because he had what I consider to be a superhuman ability in sensing what needs to be taught and how it needs to be taught.”
Beyond the classroom, students lauded Ostergaard’s seemingly tireless ability to create networking opportunities for students and even alumni to build community. He hosts regular barbecues at his home for more than 100 students and knows all of the attendees by name, said Andrew Spicer, international business associate professor. Ostergaard leads the IB Student Engagement Office, which is dedicated to building a strong sense of community among current IB undergraduates, Master of International Business students and IB alumni. The office hosts events that include camping trips, national park clean-ups, pizza and movie nights and networking functions, among others. “I have never had a professor as talented as Ostergaard, who could engage students to the level at which he does, inside and outside the classroom,” said Taylor Bilardello, a 2018 alumna who majored in international business and operations and supply chain. “Ostergaard successfully weaved his real-world experiences into his curriculum and went to great lengths to extend valuable advice for our future careers,” said Sekani Adebimpe, a senior majoring in international business and marketing. Regarding the award, Ostergaard said he appreciates the Top 50 Undergraduate Business Professors recognition. “One of the interesting aspects of being a professor is that we do not necessarily see the influence we are making on students,” he said. “We hope that the life lessons we are imparting are being absorbed, but the challenge of creating leaders for the future is that the future is where the impacts will oftentimes be found. To have so many current and former students nominate me for this award is absolutely humbling.”
To learn about the IB Student Engagement Office’s upcoming events or join private IB outreach social media accounts, email ib.engage@moore.sc.edu
Read the full version of Ostergaard’s feature by visiting bit.ly/ostergaard20.
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DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION
THRIVING RESOURCES
Moore School enhancing diversity and inclusion with multiple new initiatives
The Moore School’s Office of Diversity and Inclusion is committed to helping students succeed and seeks to accomplish this commitment by working in a diverse and inclusive community. The Moore School strives to create an environment where all are equally valued and have opportunities to succeed. The Office of Diversity and Inclusion is actively working on a number of initiatives to enhance the Moore School’s diverse and inclusive community — both on and off campus. Learn more about the initiatives by visiting sc.edu/moore/diversity.
Dominion Energy Power Forward Launched in fall 2021, this partnership between Richland County School District One, Richland County School District Two, Dominion Energy and the Moore School provides career mentoring, field studies, conferences and other programming for high school students. The program seeks to pique students’ interest in business careers while linking them to the unmatched resources at the world-renowned Moore School. Learn more at sc.edu/moore/powerforward.
Rising Scholars Launched in 2018, the Rising Scholars program connects underserved South Carolina students pursuing degrees within the Moore School with enhanced opportunities and resources on campus. With the generous support of community partners and dedicated stakeholders, the Rising Scholars program increased its incoming cohort size for fall 2021 to 40 students from 19 in fall 2020. The first cohort for the program will graduate in 2021-22. Learn more about the Rising Scholars by visiting sc.edu/moore/risingscholars.
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Historically Black Colleges and Universities Partnerships The Moore School will partner with South Carolina’s HBCUs to provide specialized, accelerated master’s programs that are not available at the HBCU institutions. Projected launch aimed for fall 2022.
DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION
Courageous Conversations New Team Members Join D&I Office The Office of Diversity and Inclusion expanded their team in 2021 with two new full-time hires. Tiara Dungy began in June 2021 as the inaugural director of inclusive engagement for the Moore School’s Office of Diversity and Inclusion. Highly skilled in diversity and inclusion, stakeholder engagement and program development, Dungy has a bachelor’s in sociology from Spelman College and a master’s in international relations from the University of Witwatersrand in South Africa; she is finishing her Ph.D. in philanthropic studies with Indiana University. Dungy will spearhead coordination of external initiatives like the Dominion Energy Power Forward Program and the HBCU partnerships. Ashley Elliott began in September 2021 as the inaugural manager of scholar engagement for the Moore School’s Office of Diversity and Inclusion. Having spent close to 17 years developing strategic marketing and public relations plans for three institutions of higher learning in South Carolina, two of which are HBCUs, Elliott is well-versed in developing programming and initiatives to support diverse groups of students. She earned her bachelor’s degree in mass communications from Claflin University and an integrated marketing communications degree from Eastern Michigan University. Elliott will manage a robust set of intellectual, learning and social initiatives designed to enhance student engagement through programs such as Rising Scholars.
The Moore School held five Courageous Conversations virtual events in 2020-21 for students, faculty, staff and alumni. The series allows for open and truthful engagement about matters of diversity and inclusion across identities and dimensions of difference. The goal is for all participants to gain deeper insights into the perspectives and experiences of their peers while creating a forum for meaningful interaction across difference. Plans are underway to extend the series for 2022.
Diversity and Inclusion Student Council Inclusive Excellence Training The inclusive excellence training is an interactive and engaging training of diversity, equity and inclusion concepts that allows students to personally reflect on their own experiences and evaluate student organizations to ensure they are inclusive. During COVID-19, the trainings consisted of two half-day modules; the Office of Diversity and Inclusion reconstructed the training in fall 2021 to include shorter segments to fit more easily into students’ schedules.
Intercultural Development Assessment Pilot The Intercultural Development Inventory assesses cultural competencies when interacting across different cultures. Students in the pilot program in the MGMT 408: Diversity and Inclusion course took assessments at the beginning and end of the semester to test their understanding and how it changed. Rising Scholars were added to the test group in fall 2021. The program will add more students in additional phases.
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ALUMNI
MAKING HISTORY
Alumna is first female business dean for Benedict College well. I knew that I could not remain an effective administrator while balancing the care of my parents and young children.” In 2017, Dunn returned to administration when she was named interim dean of the business department. In 2021, she was named the permanent dean and the first woman in the role. “I am honored to hold this place in Benedict’s history,” she said. “The responsibility of this honor is not lost on me. I recognize that I have the opportunity to influence how others may think about female leadership at a business school.” In each position she has held, Dunn said she has utilized the skills she gained at the Moore School to best perform her duties and responsibilities. “My experiences at the Darla Moore School of Business have certainly influenced my career focus,” she said. “They have served as important sources of inspiration for me as an administrator. It was at the Moore School that I learned the power of curriculum innovation.” Dunn said she uses these skills to further develop Benedict College’s business school. Alumna Tracy Harrell Dunn (’96 MBA, ’03 Ph.D., business administration) was promoted earlier this year to dean of the Benedict College Tyrone Adam Burroughs School of Business and Entrepreneurship. Dunn is the first woman to hold this position at their business school. Before becoming the dean of the business school, Dunn held various positions at Benedict College, a historically black college and university in Columbia, South Carolina. Dunn began in 2003 as a business assistant professor and then became in 2008 the school’s assistant dean. However, in 2013, Dunn took a step back and returned to the classroom as an associate professor. “When both of my parents experienced a significant decline in their health, I simply needed more flexibility in my schedule and less responsibility,” Dunn said. “I have always held the mindset that if you are going to do something, do it
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“A business student at Benedict today benefits from the major curriculum update that we completed two years ago under my leadership,” she said. “The updates addressed the feedback that we were receiving from our corporate partners; employers want our graduates to have well-developed hard skills and soft skills.” She said Benedict also emphasizes service learning in their curriculum so their students can be “powers for good” in their communities. As Dunn continues to enhance Benedict College’s business school curriculum as their dean, she said the Moore School made her career trajectory possible. “I am so appreciative of my time at the University of South Carolina, and I want to applaud my alma mater for being a forward-looking institution committed to diversity before many others were,” she said. “The university’s support of the Grace Jordan McFadden Professor Program, [formerly the African American Professor Program], was critical to my development as an academician but, more importantly, to the successful completion of my doctoral studies.”
FACULTY PROFILE
SEEING THAT SPARK
Accounting alumna transitions to faculty lecturer Alumna and accounting lecturer Laura Self (’08 MACC) took a “leap of faith” when she transitioned from a public accounting audit manager to Moore School lecturer several years ago. Having worked for the Elliott Davis accounting firm for eight years, Self was first hired as an audit staffer and was later promoted to audit senior and audit manager. She made the decision to leave Elliott Davis to teach full time at the Moore School so she could combine her passions. “I love that I get to combine the technical knowledge of accounting with my love for people,” she said. “At my core, I am an accounting nerd, and I love seeing that spark for accounting come alive in my students.”
While Self is enjoying her teaching role at the Moore School, she is also an involved alumna. “My [MACC] graduate degree from the Moore School gave me so many skills that carried over into my career, and a big part of that was the exposure to accounting professionals in addition to my wonderful professors,” she said. “The Moore School staff in both the Office of Alumni Engagement and the Office of Career Management do such an incredible job of developing relationships for the benefit of our students, so I feel honored that I get to be a small part of that process.” Self has been on the committee for the Shuck and Shag annual alumni event for the past three years.
With Elliott Davis, Self helped with recruiting new interns and staff and teaching continuing education to existing staff — those are skills that have served her well in her role as a faculty member.
While she touts the faculty in the Moore School, Self said “active and engaged alums enrich the school experience greatly in a way that professors alone cannot do. I also think that, as an alum, if you stay active with your alma mater, you get the first pick of the best students to hire.”
“I am so thankful for the opportunity to be in a job I love and to see that I am making a difference for my students,” she added.
Self relishes hearing of her previous students’ successes in their careers. She encourages alumni to reach out to faculty who impacted their professional trajectories.
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FACULTY
‘PASSION, CARE AND DETERMINATION’ Beloved management science professor awarded top UofSC professor of the year designation
One of the co-founders of the UofSC operations and supply chain undergraduate program in 2007-08, Ahire is said in his award announcement to have “played a prominent leadership role in designing, implementing, growing and propelling the program within just 12 years to rank No. 5 in North America” in the Gartner Top 25 Supply Chain University Programs for 2020. While he holds his students to high expectations, Ahire takes pride in instilling a passion for the operations and supply chain field in each of his students. “Ahire definitely deserves this award — it’s remarkable how much he cares about this program,” said Julia “Lane” Herlong, a 2021 operations and supply chain graduate who went to work in summer 2021 with Deposco, a supply chain software company in Atlanta. “When I was looking for a job, he sent me 10 alumni to contact. He gives his cell phone number out and means it.”
Moore School management science professor Sanjay Ahire was awarded the Michael J. Mungo Distinguished Professor of the Year award in 2021 by UofSC. Ahire received numerous recommendations for the award from Moore School senior leadership, students, alumni and industry partners. Also the co-director for the Operations and Supply Chain Center, Ahire is the first business professor since 1995 to earn the distinction.
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Another graduating operations and supply chain 2021 graduate, Amelia Leahy, said Ahire has made her confident in her abilities to be a leader in her field and has continuously motivated her to excel. Leahy, also a marketing major who has completed the Business Analytics Undergraduate Concentration, is working with Amazon as an associate account executive. “The operations and supply chain program has given me invaluable professional and personal skills — one of those skills I have proudly developed is the ability to collect, analyze and interpret data,” Leahy said.
FACULTY
INDUSTRY IMPACTS Over the years, Ahire has developed close working relationships with industry partners who participate in the Industry Summits, the twice annual event where operations and supply chain students spend a semester working with an organization and make recommendations for more efficient or better processes and share their findings at the end of the semester. One such connection began when Ahire first came to South Carolina; Leslie Pemberton (‘89 MBA) and Ahire worked to create the Sonoco Products Company/Operations and Supply Chain Center Lean-Six Sigma Green Belt initiative. Pemberton, who was at the time working for the Sonoco Products Company, co-wrote the curriculum with Ahire for the renowned initiative, which is highly regarded by prospective employers. In 2008, UofSC was only one of three institutions in the U.S. who implemented the green belt offering. Today, UofSC is the only academic program that has had more than 1,400 graduates with this industry-validated qualification. Ahire “is tirelessly developing his students, spending time with them, helping them do their projects,” Pemberton said. “He’s a perfectionist — if a company hires his students to do a project, it will be done to perfection.”
A MENTOR, CAREER ADVISOR TO ALUMNI Oftentimes, today’s industry partners are alumni of the operations and supply chain program. Operations and supply chain alumni keep in regular touch with Ahire years after graduation for career advancement advice and to share career opportunities for current students. Alumnus turned industry partner, Rony Ruiz (’08 global supply chain and operations management) was among the inaugural class of Ahire’s. Currently a manufacturing unit manager for ABB automation company, Ruiz still stresses the importance Ahire has had on his career. “Ahire’s passion, care and determination for the success of his students is what impacted me,” Ruiz said. “In my career, I have incorporated those mentioned attributes to my leadership style, and it is a recipe for building high-performing teams.” When Ahire joined UofSC in 2007, there were less than 50 students enrolled in the operations and supply chain program. Today, there are more than 700. As his students, former students and colleagues can attest, Ahire’s passion for teaching, caring nature and his ability to challenge students to be their best while also providing unwavering support exemplify why the UofSC’s Michael J. Mungo Distinguished Professor of the Year award is welldeserved for Ahire.
Read the full version of Ahire’s feature by visiting bit.ly/ahire21.
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FACULTY RESEARCH
CULTIVATING WORK RELATIONSHIPS
IB faculty research focuses on context and culture’s influence on communication International business associate professor Nancy Buchan researches how context and culture influence the way people communicate and how, in turn, that impacts the effectiveness of their interactions. Buchan, who has been with the Moore School for the past 15 years, discusses some of her recent research on how the large swing to remote work over the past 18 months because of the COVID-19 pandemic may have impacted communication styles and hence the effectiveness of work relationships and teams. She wrote about this research in a piece for The Conversation entitled “Zoom work relationships are a lot harder to build — unless you can pick up on colleagues’ nonverbal cues” with Wendi Adair, a professor of industrialorganizational psychology from the University of Waterloo, and Xiao-Ping Chen, a professor in business administration from the University of Washington. Based on their research, Buchan said relationship building is even more important when communicating by video. “Relationship building is always crucial; it is the mediator — the lynchpin — to building attributes such as trust, team effectiveness, team efficiency and cohesion,” she said. “Team building is much more important in a virtual setting rather than when communicating face-to-face precisely because it is so much harder to do.” Buchan and her research team focused on ways to improve relationship building during video conferencing.
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“Two key ways to keep the negative aspects of virtual communication at bay are to first, be an engaged listener; put down your phone and stop looking at your other screens, truly try to listen to what the other person is saying and ask questions of them to confirm or clarify,” Buchan said. “Second, pay attention to and try to understand nonverbal cues — things like body language, tone of voice, expressiveness and eye gaze. Researchers say that possibly 70 percent or more of what people communicate is contained in nonverbal language.” Buchan said building trust in relationships is always a difficult task, whether colleagues are meeting in person or online. From her perspective as an international business faculty member, Buchan said building trust with cross-cultural differences is even harder. “In my International Negotiations course, we do a series of negotiations that demonstrate precisely that — students negotiate with someone from their own culture and then with someone from a different culture, and we find that joint outcomes drop significantly in the second scenario,” she said. “Now with adding on the layer of differences in technology — in going from face-to-face interactions to virtual — we see that communication becomes more difficult yet again. The keys, though, remain the same; you must remain committed and motivated to truly listen to your counterpart and endeavor to understand the nonverbal cues that are being sent.” Buchan and her research team encourage individuals to be intentional listeners and mindful participants when meeting with their colleagues — in person or in a virtual setting.
FACULTY RESEARCH
FOLLOWING THE MONEY U.S. aid packages during COVID-19 pandemic prevent widespread economic catastrophes Moore School economics associate professor William Hauk has kept a close eye on the unemployment rates and the stimulus and relief packages passed by the federal government over the past year. Hauk focuses his research on international political economy issues, and since the U.S. is such a powerhouse in the world economy, domestic economic policy has a major impact globally as well. For example, Hauk says, had the U.S. gone into a severe recession at the beginning of the pandemic, it certainly would have dragged down the rest of the world’s economy with it. At the beginning of the pandemic, the decline was very sharp, but there has also been a rapid recovery in some — but not all — sectors of the economy. To continue to stabilize the U.S. economy, President Joe Biden rolled out a program to help combat child poverty rates by offering monthly payments for most families with children. One estimate from researchers at Columbia University’s Center on Poverty and Social Policy predicts that the payments could reduce child poverty by almost one-half, Hauk noted.
The national unemployment rate in February 2020 was 3.5 percent; by April 2020, it rose to 14.8 percent, the highest number the U.S. has seen since the Great Depression of the 1930s. Thankfully, the unemployment rate has steadied at around 6 percent, Hauk said. “Unfortunately, that number varied across diverse groups of people — the economic slump hit blue-collar service workers the hardest, and it also disproportionately affected racial minorities and women,” he added. The unemployment rates didn’t include parents who were forced to stay home with their children for remote learning or discouraged workers who had left the workforce entirely over the past year. Hauk adds that a return to “normal” will hopefully draw some of these discouraged workers back into the labor force. He notes that a similar phenomenon happened after the 2007-09 recession but that it took several years of recovery before labor-force participation completely rebounded.
With a close eye on the economic impact of COVID-19, Hauk and his students have been discussing throughout the past year the effectiveness of the U.S.’s relief or stimulus packages. The federal packages staved off poverty for many families who lost jobs or parts of their income because of the major shutdown tied to the pandemic, Hauk said. “As an economic matter, putting money into the hands of people with the stimulus or relief programs increased consumer spending at a time of high uncertainty — that keeps more people employed,” he said. “As hard as COVID-19 hit the economy, it could have been much worse. When we had to go in lockdowns in spring 2020, some were predicting that we could be facing a new depression.” Hauk credits the federal government’s programs for helping the U.S. avoid a major depression despite increasing and fluctuating unemployment numbers during the peak of the pandemic.
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STUDENT PROFILE
FINDING HER WAY BACK
After tragedy, economics student finds new beginning at UofSC
Antonia Adams’ story is filled with tragedy. It’s about devastating phone calls, vigils in hospital rooms and more sorrow and gut-wrenching decisions than a college student should ever face. But above all, it is a story of perseverance, about fighting through the uncertainty and sadness with a belief that education can restore confidence and hope.
That changed with a visit home during Thanksgiving break during her sophomore year. Her mother, looking sick and thin, revealed that she had been diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer. Adams had just turned 20, and her mother convinced her to return to college for the spring semester, wanting nothing to get in the way of her daughter’s education.
It’s a story that starts in Edgefield County, where Adams grew up “in the middle of absolutely nowhere. Peach trees and cow pastures, that was my backyard. Literally,” she says.
But the cancer quickly spread and stopped responding to chemotherapy. A phone call in February told Adams she needed to come home, immediately. Her mother was given only a few months to live; she died a couple weeks later, on March 5, 2017, at age 64. The morning after the funeral, her father became very sick. She drove him to the hospital, where doctors found he was bleeding internally, and discovered a tumor on his colon.
She had what she calls a normal, middle-class upbringing, born when her mother was 44 and her father was 47. Her parents instilled in her the value of hard work and the importance of education, with her mother earning her college degree with honors at age 60. Adams thrived in the public schools in her hometown. She was the high school valedictorian and a delegate to Palmetto Girls State. She was involved in band, public speaking competitions and leadership roles. After graduation, she attended a private college, where she considered herself a typical student.
He was hospitalized in April, and Adams quickly took responsibility for his care, spending days and nights at the hospital, holding his hand, singing Happy Birthday to him as he turned 68, doing everything to make him comfortable. After consulting with doctors, Adams made the decision to remove her father from life support. He died on May 26, 2017. “After that, I was absolutely hopeless,” she says. “My mom and dad were my best friends. When I was at college, I called them all the time. We were always together. When they passed away, it was the hardest thing I could ever imagine dealing with.” She didn’t return to school, and spent the next year managing the estate, figuring out bills and trying to see her way through the chaos. Eventually, she enrolled at Piedmont Technical College in Greenwood, South Carolina, and she went to work rebuilding her confidence and dealing with the grief of losing her parents.
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STUDENT PROFILE “A lot of people there reminded me, ‘You absolutely have potential. You will get through this. You have to remember what your mom and dad said.’ They knew they were dying. My mom said, ‘You will go back to school.’ My father said the same thing, ‘You’re going to be successful.’” She eased back into her studies and saw she had the strength to continue. She found her path again, finding work at Piedmont Tech as a student employee and a presidential ambassador. She got involved in diversity issues and eventually was elected president of the student body. She worked at a car dealership to earn money. She started thinking about her next steps, with her eye on the University of South Carolina. After earning a 3.95 GPA at Piedmont Tech, she was accepted into the Darla Moore School of Business and the South Carolina Honors College in the fall of 2020. Her experiences handling her parents’ estate, dealing with probate court and medical bills, inspired her interest in business and law. She jumped right into campus life at South Carolina, becoming a peer leader at the Leadership and Service Center. And while she presented at the regional Student Leadership and Diversity Conference on the Columbia campus while she attended Piedmont Tech, this year she helped to plan the conference as a UofSC student. She is a Gamecock Guide, helping to tell the university’s story on social media channels. She also is part of the Civic Leadership Education and Action Team, involved in voter registration initiatives and sharing election information on campus and online.
“I’m doing well in my courses, and I love the business program here and the opportunities for diversity and leadership. There’s so much opportunity for students to have a voice here,” she says. Now 24, she expects to earn her degree in economics with a minor in political science in two years. She then hopes to attend law school at Georgetown University, focusing on public policy law. She thinks a run for public office may even be in her future. “I want to help people like me, who are dealing with unfortunate circumstances. I know how I felt most of the time, trying to figure out the world. It’s hard. And I understand that. All it takes is a little bit of hope. Even if you haven’t put yourself completely together, you can continue to move and continue to progress,” she says. “Losing my mom and dad opened my eyes. Something like that, it changes everything. I love the idea of going to Washington and helping make those laws for people who are struggling. I want to use my story; to let someone see if you let people have a chance, if they have access to education and resources, they can recover from anything. “I love being involved. I still grieve for my mom and dad. But I’m finding my way back again,” she said. In summer 2021, Adams interned with the Southern Education Foundation as a Southern Education Leadership Initiative Fellow and worked with the Commission on Higher Education in South Carolina to further post-secondary education across the state of South Carolina for low-income and at-risk communities.
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A SUSTAINABLE SOLUTION
Marketing research finds plastic packaging sizes greatly impact environmental waste Marketing assistant professor Rafael Becerril Arreola published research in spring 2021 focusing on opportunities businesses can capitalize on to reduce the generation of plastic waste. Becerril Arreola wrote the scholarly paper with Randolph E. Bucklin, a marketing professor and the Peter W. Mullin Chair at UCLA’s Anderson School of Management. Their piece “Beverage Bottle Capacity, Packing Efficiency, and the Potential for Plastic Waste Reduction” was published in Scientific Reports. In their research, Becerril Arreola and Bucklin emphasized the importance of plastic waste reduction — of all plastic packaging waste generated worldwide, 14 percent is recycled, 14 percent is incinerated, 40 percent goes in landfills and 32 percent goes uncollected, Becerril Arreola said. “Consumer products account for 70 percent of the entire market for plastic packaging and impose a cost to the environment, society and economy that was estimated to total $75 billion in 2014,” he said. “Disposed plastic packaging releases toxic solids that pollute water and soil, generate harmful emissions that pollute the air and produce pervasive litter that threatens the lives and health of plants, animals and humans.” For their study, Becerril Arreola and Bucklin collected data on PET container attributes for a series of leading beverage brands’ product lines. PET, or polyethylene terephthalate, is molded into common plastic bottles and containers. The data they collected accounts for a large proportion of the U.S. market’s plastic containers.
FACULTY RESEARCH
“We hope the results of our study will raise awareness among both manufacturers and consumers about the consequences of their choices. The findings suggest an opportunity for manufacturers to reduce their environmental impact and mitigate the potential consequences of the plastic problem on their reputation.” - RAFAEL BECERRIL ARREOLA
For example, consumers may prefer smaller sizes, especially if the product contains sugar or processed ingredients; smaller sizes can help limit serving sizes and thus caloric intake. If a company stops producing a smaller package, consumers may switch to a competitor who offers the size they want. Nonetheless, making consumers aware of the environmental impact of smaller containers may steer them to other brands who are more sustainably focused. “We hope the results of our study will raise awareness among both manufacturers and consumers about the consequences of their choices,” Becerril Arreola said. “The findings suggest an opportunity for manufacturers to reduce their environmental impact and mitigate the potential consequences of the plastic problem on their reputation.” As climate change and global warming continue to raise environmental concerns, more research is warranted to develop actionable solutions to manufacturing and consumer waste, Becerril Arreola said.
They zeroed in on Minnesota as a specific case study because the state reliably reports PET waste collection figures for most of its counties; its patterns of non-alcoholic beverage consumption are close to the national average; and the state collects a dominant share of PET — about 68 percent — from residential sources. Residential waste is tightly connected to retail sales, Becerril Arreola added. The research team found that if 20 percent of beverage product sales switched to midsize containers from smaller ones, PET use would be reduced by more than 1 percent. The potential reduction equates to close to 10,000 tons of PET waste in 2013, just in the U.S. Becerril Arreola noted that PET waste has actually grown rapidly in the past eight years and even more so in developing countries, so the reduction would be even greater in 2021. “To put that number in perspective, the Eiffel Tower weighs around 10,000 tons,” Becerril Arreola said. “10,000 tons of plastic would cover one fourth of the surface of the state of Texas.” While their study addresses new avenues for manufacturers to reduce plastic waste, Becerril Arreola said their research explores just one aspect of the plastic problem. Many factors play into consumer packaging sizes.
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FACULTY RESEARCH
AMONG AN ELITE GROUP Four faculty among top 1 percent of worldwide researchers
Moore School faculty members Paul Bliese, Tatiana Kostova, Robert Ployhart and Patrick Wright are included in the top 1 percent of all management professors worldwide in terms of their scholarly impact, according to a comprehensive database of 100,000 top scientists. Using a standardized citation index, a professor from Stanford University and his colleagues have developed a comprehensive database of 100,000 top scientists across 22 scientific fields and 176 subfields. The Moore School is distinguished by having four non-emeritus faculty members within the top 1 percent of scientists in the business and management subfield in the database. Out of 475 institutions identified in the database, only 65 institutions have four or more top scientists on the faculty, which positions the Moore School among an elite group of researchers. Read on as Bliese, Kostova, Ployhart and Wright discuss what drew them to their specific research topics and why their research matters from a big-picture perspective.
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PATRICK WRIGHT Thomas C. Vandiver Bicentennial Chair, director of the Center for Executive Succession, and management and Master of Human Resources professor
What drew you to your specific research field/topic? I got interested in human resource management because it was a field that fit with my worldview of seeing the imago dei in all people, meaning they have inherent value and dignity. Given that view, it seemed to make sense to me that organizations that treat people with dignity and respect would probably be more effective than those that treat people as simply a form of capital to be used toward some financial end. So, much of my research focuses on how firms could use people as a source of competitive advantage, particularly through using HR practices that reinforce their value and dignity.
Why is your research valuable/critical big picture? We see a more visible debate today regarding whether firms should take a “stakeholder” versus “stockholder” view of how they manage their business. I’ve hoped to show in my research that investing in employees through creating positive work and work environments, training them and treating them as partners in the organization elevates their psychological, social and economic wellbeing while also resulting in increased customer and shareholder outcomes.
FACULTY RESEARCH
TATIANA KOSTOVA Carolina Distinguished Professor, the Moore School’s Buck Mickel Endowed Chair and a professor of international business; she also works with the Center for International Business for Education and Research
PAUL BLIESE The Moore School’s Jeff B. Bates Professor of Management
What drew you to your specific research field/topic? A lot of my work focuses on ways organizations can use statistics to make better decisions and support employees. I was drawn to this type of research because my experience was that organizations spend considerable time and effort collecting data, but these efforts often produced limited insights.
Why is your research valuable/critical big picture? Researchers in academic settings have opportunities to see best practices in terms of data analytics and in applying analytic results across firms. Because we have this broad perspective, I think we are in a rather unique position to help spread ideas through teaching and in working with partner firms.
What drew you to your specific research field/topic? My research agenda and scholarly identity were shaped by the opportunity to closely study several high-level multinational companies (MNCs) in my early career, including 3M, Cargill, Nissan, Novartis and others; train in strategic management and organization, plus a cognate in sociology and psychology, in one of the most rigorous Ph.D. programs in business administration in the U.S.; and obtain a rich and extremely diverse personal background and experiences having lived in numerous countries.
Why is your research valuable/critical big picture? In a nutshell, my research provides insights on a range of relevant issues, from the distinctions between domestic and multinational companies (MNC) and the MNC’s ability to overcome their differences to the competitive advantages of MNCs and how they’re shaped by their external environments.
ROBERT PLOYHART Bank of America Professor of Business Administration, and management and Master of Human Resources professor
What drew you to your specific research field/topic? My research interests have been largely shaped by practical experiences working with organizations and trying to solve their problems and challenges. But my interests have also been shaped by personal experiences, good and bad, relating to job search, hiring and development. If I see something that is problematic, I have to try to improve it.
Why is your research valuable/critical big picture? I do research that empirically demonstrates the business value of talent. Every leader says talent is their most important resource; but in my research I try to put substance behind such claims. My research uses advanced analytics to show how, when, why and where talent drives key business metrics such as productivity, profit and growth. UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA | 33
FACULTY RESEARCH
THE POWER OF AI Associate professor and colleagues examine artificial intelligence’s impact on marketing Moore School marketing associate professor Abhijit Guha explores in his research the impact artificial intelligence will have on marketing and retailing, due to AI’s ability to deliver real-time and personalized recommendations, both significant drivers for retailing. Guha and his colleagues published “How artificial intelligence will change the future of marketing” in the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science in 2020. His co-authors include Thomas Davenport, President’s Distinguished Professor of Information Technology and Management at Babson College; Dhruv Grewal, Toyota Professor of Commerce and Electronic Business at Babson College; and Timna Bressgott, a Ph.D. candidate at Maastricht University in the Netherlands. Guha, Davenport, Grewal and Bressgott’s paper was the runner-up in 2020 for the Sheth award, which is given to the best paper published in the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science. Focusing on three areas, their research examined how AI may impact marketing strategies. First, AI will impact online sales. For example, e-commerce websites use AI to segment prospective customers in specific ways to determine which group of prospective customers should be the focus of future marketing efforts. Next, AI will also impact in-store sales. Stores can use AI to identify customers
and also decide which customers should receive in-store promotions. Finally, AI will impact marketing operations. Some stores use AI-powered in-store robots to ensure there is enough of a product on a shelf and that products are on the correct shelf. “These activities have a substantial profit impact,” Guha said. “Beyond how firms can use AI, AI is also expected to impact customer behaviors.” While AI is supposed to help customers, sometimes they can be uncomfortable with the role AI plays in making their decisions for them. “Customers may perceive a loss of autonomy if AI can substantially predict their preferences,” Guha said. “In theory, because AI facilitates targeted offerings and reduced search costs, customers should view the AI offerings more favorably. Yet, it could also undermine customers’ perceived autonomy with implications for their evaluations and choices. It is possible that customers may then deliberately choose a non-preferred option, to reaffirm their own autonomy.” One major factor marketers and companies have to consider with increased AI adoption is data privacy, and more generally, the ethics of using AI. Since AI can create deep insights from existing data — like when an organization uses a customer’s transaction data to generate specific recommendations — these uses
FACULTY RESEARCH
heighten privacy concerns because customers may not realize AI can extract potentially sensitive information to make these recommendations. “The concern here is that, to the extent customers may not be aware of such data extractions, they may perceive such data
collection as intrusive and inappropriate, which can heighten privacy concerns,” Guha said. “On the one hand, AI will open up possibilities for better products. On the other hand, it may also have negative consequences, with firms able to probe deep into customers’ lives — in ways customers may not seek.”
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FACULTY RESEARCH
In 2021, Guha and his colleagues published a follow-up paper “How artificial intelligence will impact the future of retailing” in the Journal of Retailing. This paper builds on the prior paper and focuses specifically on retailing. Beyond looking at the impact of artificial intelligence on retailing, this paper also looks at how to actually implement artificial intelligence applications in retailing contexts. Beyond researching artificial intelligence, Guha examines other marketing topics. In the paper “Are Low Price and Price Matching Guarantees Equivalent? The Effects of Different Price Guarantees on Consumers’ Evaluations,” Guha, Grewal and their colleagues examined the consequences when retailers used either “low-price guarantees” or “price-matching guarantees.” The paper was published last year in the Journal of Retailing and was the runner-up in 2019 for the journal’s 2020 Davidson Award, given to the best paper published. Apart from Guha and Grewal, the research team included Swati Verma, a marketing assistant professor at Lawrence Technological University, and Abhijit Biswas, the Kmart
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Endowed Chair and marketing professor at Wayne State University. The authors overwhelmingly found that customers associated “low-price guarantees,” as opposed to the equivalent “price-match guarantees,” with a stronger promise of overall lower prices. So, customers’ initial purchase intentions were higher when retailers used “low-price guarantees.” However, if customers discovered lower prices after their purchase, customers could return to the store, and — regardless of whether the retailer offered a “low-price guarantee” or an equivalent “price-match guarantee” — would get a refund of the price difference, exactly as promised. Thereafter for subsequent purchases, if that customer wanted to buy that same item again, they preferred to buy from the store which offered a “price-match guarantee.” With two more papers on AI potentially forthcoming in the next year, Guha and his colleagues are continuing to investigate the impact of artificial intelligence on marketing.
REJUVENATE. REIGNITE. RISE. An exclusive Executive Education offer for Darla Moore School of Business graduates
ALUMNI PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT SERIES • Making Sense of Data Analytics • Executing Strategy: Making it Happen • Becoming the Best Leader You Can Be • Remote Work Management Success
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The virtual classes are 1.5 hours each, a format that fits your busy life and schedule. Choose one for $100 or two or more for $200.
It’s time to take your career to the next level. For information about all spring 2022 offerings and to register for our alumni series of courses, visit mooreexeced.com/alumni.
sc.edu/moore/execed
1-800-EXEC-DMC (1-800-393-2362) 803-777-2231 UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA | 37
DEVELOPMENT
SUPPORTING FUTURE GAMECOCKS Undergraduate student and her family create new scholarship Sophomore Rebecca Mason is continuing a family tradition in her first year at South Carolina — but it’s a step beyond just rooting for the Gamecocks. From Clemson, South Carolina, Mason and her family have chosen to support an endowed scholarship within the Moore School. Each of the Mason family members have created endowed scholarships at their individual higher education institutions and alma maters. Within the Moore School, Mason is an accounting and operations and supply chain student; she is minoring in psychology and is pursuing the Business Analytics Undergraduate Concentration. Rebecca was inspired by her parents, who after receiving scholarships to study engineering and textiles and apparel at the University of Texas at Austin, established their own endowments at their respective departments. Along with Mason’s scholarship implemented at the Moore School this year, the family also established an endowment at her brother’s institution, Texas A&M University, in the chemical engineering department.
“Throughout our lives, we have been incredibly blessed and worked incredibly hard to get to the point we are today,” Mason said. “Along the way, there have been people who have supported us and encouraged us to continue moving forward, even when times are tough and when things get difficult. Because of this, we want to give back.” Mason specifically chose to fund an endowed scholarship at the Moore School because she wants to encourage more women to choose business majors. “It is the premier business school in the state of South Carolina, and the scholarship will create future thought leaders that will help the South Carolina economy and beyond,” she said. “I established my endowment because I noticed that women were underrepresented in my Moore School classes. Creating this endowment, I plan to provide funds to help support students who are underrepresented in the business school.” Mason has already overcome challenges herself in her first year as a Moore School pre-business student. She said when the COVID-19 pandemic interrupted her senior year of high school, she was able to coast through her final months ahead of graduation. She realized when she got to the Moore School that she needed a “studying wake-up call,” which she experienced in her introductory accounting course. “I had to relearn how to study for exams and learn material to apply it, rather than just memorize it,” Mason said. “After failing early exams, I worked with my professor in office hours, learning the material and relearning how to study. My efforts paid off, and I received the grade I worked for.” Her first year at UofSC taught her that she was allowed and encouraged to make mistakes and learn from them; her first major lesson further developed her resiliency and showed her how to persevere when she was struggling. She hopes future recipients of her scholarship will learn those same lessons in the Moore School as they work toward their goals.
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DEVELOPMENT
YOUNG ALUMNI BOARD SPONSORING AN ENDOWED SCHOLARSHIP Each academic year, the Young Alumni Board undertakes a special project to focus on an area of need for the Moore School. The board decided in 2020–21 to invest in a project that will have a long-term impact on Moore School students by establishing the Young Alumni Scholarship. “The Young Alumni Scholarship allows Moore School alumni to make a monetary contribution strictly for Moore School students who are in academic financial need. One unique quality about our scholarship is that it is a continuing
effort which will allow future alumni to give monetary contributions as well,” said Yogini Intwala (’12 HR management and marketing), 2020–21 chair of the Young Alumni Board. In order for the Moore School to award the first scholarship, $25,000 must be raised. Since the start of the initiative, the Young Alumni Board has raised more than $14,000. Consider giving to this campaign by visiting bit.ly/YABendowment.
Want to learn more about the ways students, faculty and staff are impacted by the generosity of Moore School alumni? Read our Impact donor publication: bit.ly/mooreimpact21.
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MOORE NEWS
MOORENEWS NO. 1 INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS RANKINGS The Moore School was honored with its 23rd consecutive top undergraduate international business program ranking in the U.S. News & World Report’s 2022 Best Colleges publication released in September 2020. Also ranked No. 1 by U.S. News & World Report, the International MBA program has been ranked in the top three for 32 consecutive years and has been No. 1 for the past eight years.
FOURTH LARGEST RISK MANAGEMENT AND INSURANCE SCHOOL The Moore School’s risk management and insurance program was named in 2020 the fourth largest risk management and insurance school in the U.S. by Business Insurance. Named the fifth largest in 2019, the Moore School’s program has doubled in size since 2015. Dating back to the 1970s, the risk management and insurance major being named the fourth largest “means the program’s success has been universally recognized by employers, students, faculty, as well as the Moore School’s and university’s administration,” said Robert Hartwig, director for the Moore School’s Risk and Uncertainty Management Center and a clinical associate professor.
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SCHOLARSHIP MEMORIALIZES STUDENT The Sam Laundon Memorial Scholarship was established in remembrance of Sam Laundon, who unexpectedly passed away in October 2020. Sam was a sophomore international business major who was part of the International Business of the Americas (IBA) cohort program. The Moore School offers its heartfelt prayers and condolences to Sam’s family, friends and loved ones. To contribute to Laundon’s scholarship, please visit bit.ly/samlaundonfund.
MOORE NEWS
MARKETING SCHOLARS CONTINUE WORK FOR LIONSGATE The Marketing Scholars program recognizes high-performing junior and senior marketing majors with an opportunity to work on a semester-long, real-world marketing project. For the past six years, teams of Marketing Scholars have worked with Lionsgate Entertainment on projects that have included The Hunger Games and John Wick franchises. Each of the Lionsgate projects the Marketing Scholars have undertaken have a research component, the meeting at the studio with key executives and delivery of an integrated marketing plan with a final presentation to executives. Many of the details about their projects are under wraps due to a non-disclosure agreement, but Lionsgate executives have continually praised the students’ performance. “Year after year, you, Moore School students and this Marketing Scholars program continue to be one of the most invigorating and eye-opening partnerships that we have the privilege of engaging with,” said David G. Edwards, senior vice president for global marketing strategy for the Lionsgate Motion Picture Group.
FINANCE SCHOLARS PROGRAM The Finance Scholars program provides a small group of finance majors advanced coursework, data source instruction, live case studies with industry partners and career management training. The goal is to prepare undergraduate students for top finance careers. The 22 Finance Scholar students who graduated in May 2021 will be working full-time jobs with employers that include Piper Jaffrey (3 people), Credit Suisse, the Division of International Finance at the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, Societe Generale, PEAK6 Investments, FIS, Ernst & Young (2 people), HarborView, William Blair, Natixis, Bank of America, Fortna, Lincoln International, Hamilton Lane, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp and Truist. Two graduating scholars are heading to master’s programs, one at Duke and the other at Oxford.
Most of the 29 students who are scheduled to graduate in May 2022 had internships in summer 2021. The internships include Credit Suisse (3 people), William Blair, Goldman Sachs (2 people), Baird, UBS, Bowspring, Cargill, Jefferies, Baker Tilly, Barings, JP Morgan (2 people), Ernst & Young (2 people), Foundations Financial Partners, Bank of America (2 people), Fifth Third, Societe Generale, Piper Jafffrey (2 people), McKinsey, U.S. Department of State and Truist. Students now apply during the fall of their sophomore year and begin the program in January of their sophomore year. This aligns better with the recruiting activity of many banks and consulting firms, which keep moving their recruiting earlier. Moore School students will now be better prepared for these opportunities.
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MOORE NEWS
40TH ANNUAL ECONOMIC OUTLOOK SERIES FOCUSED ON COVID-19
EXECUTIVE EDUCATION SIGNS MOA WITH THE U.S. ARMY
The Moore School hosted two virtual events in fall 2020 for the 40th Annual Economic Outlook. The first session featured experts on the political and economic outlook for fall 2020, and the second session was dedicated to post-election economic impact. The events featured UofSC economists Joey Von Nessen and Doug Woodward, UofSC political science professor Robert Oldendick and Thomas I. Barkin, president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond.
The Moore School’s Executive Education department signed in fall 2020 a memorandum of agreement with the U.S. Army Finance and Comptroller School to continue offering professional development opportunities for soldiers.
Oldendick focused on the U.S. and South Carolina election outlook and how November’s election impacted policy. Woodward, Moore School Division of Research director and professor of economics, discussed the U.S. economic outlook and examined why the stock market was booming in fall 2020 while the rest of the economy was struggling. Von Nessen, Moore School research economist, presented the 2020 South Carolina economic outlook. Barkin presented his views on the state of the national economy, discussed recent federal actions and outlined prospects and challenges for recovery in 2021.
The memorandum of agreement creates a formal collaboration between the two entities with the Executive Education department offering the school professional courses in data analytics, leadership, diversity and other topics. The Executive Education department provides advanced business training for busy executives to acquire new skills or enhance their leadership abilities. They offer open enrollment and certificate programs and can customize programs for individual organizations. Learn more by visiting bit.ly/execed21.
The 41st annual Economic Outlook Conference is scheduled for Dec. 7, 2021 featuring keynote speaker Mick Mulvaney. Learn more at sc.edu/moore/eoc.
FOLKS CENTER FEATURES U.S.-CHINA RELATIONS TALK The Moore School’s Folks Center for International Business hosted a virtual forum with David Firestein, the President and CEO of the George H. W. Bush Foundation for U.S.-China Relations. More than 450 people from 15 countries registered for the virtual discussion. Firestein said that there are certain political actions that the U.S. needs to agree to in order to gain a better foothold in the relationship with China.
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MOORE NEWS
MIBS ALUMNA ON PANDEMIC IN EUROPE The Folks Center for International Business facilitated an event with alumna Eleanor Beardsley (‘91 MIBS), who is now an NPR correspondent in Paris. Beardsley shared during the virtual event how Europe dealt with and is still dealing with the pandemic — its successes and failures; how different countries approached the pandemic; and how life in Europe might change after COVID-19. Learn more about Beardsley’s career trajectory by visiting bit.ly/uofscbeardsley.
CIBER PROVIDES MINORITY SUPPORT The Moore School’s Center for International Business Education and Research provides professional development opportunities for Minority Serving Institutions and community colleges in the southeast and across the nation to promote and expand international business education.
CENTERS HOST FINANCIAL RISK FORUM The Folks Center for International Business and Risk and Uncertainty Management Center hosted in fall 2020 an online forum featuring financial and risk expert Preston Keat, who discussed the biggest global financial risks for 2021. Close to 500 registrants from a cross-section of business, government and academia attended the event.
Created under the Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act of 1988 to increase and promote the nation’s capacity for international business education and economic enterprise, the CIBERs are located on 15 distinct U.S. major research university campuses, including UofSC since 1989. The federal government provides the CIBERs with unique opportunities for international business funding and outreach, including offering competitive grants earmarked for Minority Serving Institutions and community colleges.
Keat is a managing director and head of political and country risk for UBS, which is one of the largest and most influential global financial services firms in the world.
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MOORE NEWS
THE PROVING GROUND ASSISTS YOUNG ENTREPRENEURS Four teams competed in spring 2021 in the Moore School’s virtual The Proving Ground entrepreneurial competition and won more than $40,000 in total seed money for their innovative business concepts. The teams were comprised of UofSC undergraduates, graduate students and recent alumni who presented their concepts to a panel of seasoned entrepreneurs in a “Shark Tank”-like event.
MOORE SCHOOL’S ACCREDITATION RENEWED The Darla Moore School of Business received in 2021 confirmation of accreditation renewal by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business. The accrediting body, AACSB International, is the world’s largest business education network connecting students, academia and industry professionals to advance business education worldwide. The recent renewal was the third accreditation for the Moore School. When the Moore School was first accredited by AACSB in 1999, the re-accreditation process occurred every 10 years. Now each institution goes through the process every 5 years.
Moore School alumna Sowmya Pelluru (’16 operations and supply chain and marketing) won first place in the Caliber Discovery category with her business, manakii, an online, socially and sustainably conscious women’s underwear company that includes a philanthropic mission. Moore School alumna Brecken Hobbs (’19 management and marketing) won second place in the Caliber Discovery category with her business idea, Just in Time Prevention, a widespread preventative drug misuse program. For the current student Maxient Innovation category, Moore School student Mariclare McEntire (’21 finance and management) placed first overall for her business concept, Cheffie, which she said is simply a modified ghost kitchen business model that utilizes commercial kitchens for food preparation, but it does not have the same overhead, wait staff or seating area for customers as regular restaurants. Winning second place in the Maxient Innovation category was senior Ashlea Brown (’21 UofSC chemical engineering) and Alexis Lewis (’21 UofSC chemical engineering) and their business Enviro, which looks to make personal protective equipment out of recycled materials.
5TH CHIEF MARKETING OFFICER SUMMIT The Moore School hosted the 5th annual Chief Marketing Officer Summit in October 2021 online over three days and featured more than 20 marketing professionals from some of the nation’s top brands. In partnership with Forbes and the American Marketing Association’s UofSC student chapter, the summit explored marketing’s critical role in an era of disruption. In 2020 for the 4th annual CMO Summit, a similar lineup of high-profile marketing executives focused their discussions on the topic “Inspiring, Transforming and Thriving in a Digital and Diverse World, Personally and Professionally.”
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MOORE NEWS
BANKING EXECUTIVE HONORED WITH LEADERSHIP AWARD The Center for Executive Succession recognized Ellen R. Alemany with the 2020 Leadership Legacy Award. Alemany, chairwoman and CEO of CIT Group Inc., has more than 40 years of banking experience. Alemany was recognized as one of the Most Powerful Women in Banking by American Banker.
DISCUSSION ADDRESSES POST-PANDEMIC MANUFACTURING STRATEGY The Folks Center for International Business hosted in 2021 a virtual forum entitled “Post-Pandemic Strategic: How to Reconcile Resiliency and Efficiency in Your Company.” The forum was led by John Paul MacDuffie, a professor of management at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and director of the Program on Vehicle and Mobility Innovation at Wharton’s Mack Institute for Innovation Management. MacDuffie discussed his innovative approach to resolving apparent contradictions between risk management and core strategy.
MacDuffie was joined by corporate executives and Folks Center Global Advisory Board members Al Lanctot, executive director, global accounts North America at Lenovo, and Romaine Seguin, president, global freight forwarding at UPS, for an audience Q&A following his talk. International business professor and faculty director for the Folks Center Gerald McDermott moderated the Q&A panel.
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ACHIEVEMENTS
FACULTY, STAFF AND STUDENT
ACHIEVEMENTS LECTURER WINS INTERNATIONAL CASE WRITING COMPETITION Moore School marketing lecturer Doug Quackenbos (‘92 MIBS) was the winner in 2021 of the European Foundation for Management Development international case writing competition in the Bringing Technology to Market category for “SAM 100: Will Construction Robotics Disrupt the US Bricklaying Industry?” This case explores the marketing challenges that a robotics and automation technology start-up faces in the construction industry.
ACCOUNTING STUDENT SCHOLARSHIPS A number of accounting undergraduate and graduate students received scholarships and fellowships from the South Carolina Association of Certified Public Accountants for the 2020-21 academic year. Award recipients included: Joshua Leinheiser, Taylor Lewis, Georgia Modla, Garrett Jones, Taylor Dunkley, Catherine Musselman, Molly Niermann, Hannah Smith, William Haigler, Samantha Brink, Peyton Elmore, Sophia Gerstenberger, Christine Sturm, Patrick Hoan, Andrew Chang, Jackson Nietert, William Simpson, Sydney Torbett and Lanett Washington.
Ph.D. ALUMNUS WINS AWARD FOR DISSERTATION Moore School alumnus Noman Shaheer (’19 Ph.D., international business) received the Peter J. Buckley and Mark Casson AIB Dissertation Award during the Academy of International Business Conference 2020. This award recognizes the importance of the international business environment and multinational enterprise. Shaheer utilized his background, connections and understanding of modern digital technology to draft and defend his Ph.D. dissertation entitled “Reappraising international business in a digital area: Barriers, strategies, and context for internationalization of digital innovations.”
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ACHIEVEMENTS
Ph.D. AWARDS
Two doctoral students and an accounting professor were honored with Ph.D. awards from the Moore School in 2020. Each year, the Moore School’s doctoral program recognizes outstanding students and faculty in the program. Christina Hymer, who is studying business management, was recognized with the Promising Researcher Award; economics student Foteini Tzachrista received the W. Pierce Liles Outstanding Doctoral Student Award; and accounting professor Drew Newman was awarded the DSA Professor of the Year Award.
STUDENT JOINS MAYOR’S FELLOWS Moore School junior Madison Buckles was named one of the Mayor’s Fellows for the spring 2021 semester. Buckles is an international business and economics student with concentrations in Chinese business and business analytics. City of Columbia Mayor Steve Benjamin launched a Mayor’s Fellows program, which is open to undergraduate, graduate and professional students and provides an opportunity to actively participate in the municipal government and gain firsthand knowledge of how a high-energy local government office operates.
PROFESSOR RECEIVES SOCIETY AWARD Management science associate professor Sriram Venkataraman won the Production and Operations Management Society College of Service Operations’ Emerging Scholar Award in 2020.
STUDENT EARNS FIRST PRIZE IN WRITING COMPETITION Moore School accounting and economics sophomore John Boyar won first place in the Association for Business Communication’s 2020 national writing competition. Inspired by management clinical assistant professor Barbara Bolt’s Professional Communication course, Boyar was the first-ever student to represent the Moore School at the competition.
STAFF MEMBER ADDED TO SC BOARD South Carolina Humanities welcomed Dollie Newhouse to their Board of Directors. Newhouse is the director of graduate career services in the Moore School’s Office of Career Management.
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ACHIEVEMENTS
SOUTHEASTERN COLLEGIAN OF THE YEAR Moore School finance and real estate May 2021 graduate Antoine Kahaleh was recognized as the 2021 Southeastern Regional Collegian of the Year. Since his freshman year, Kahaleh has been involved in multiple organizations on campus including Young Life of Columbia, Delta Fund, housing resident mentors and Delta Sigma Pi Professional Business Fraternity. Kahaleh received the Collegian of the Year award through the Delta Sigma Pi Professional Business Fraternity. Winners are chosen based on multiple criteria, including inter-chapter fraternity events, degree of leadership exhibited in Delta Sigma Pi, scholastic aptitude and more.
IB HONORS OXFORD SCHOLARS Griffin Allen (’21 finance and international business) and Ivan Harjehausen (’21 finance and international business, UofSC Chinese studies) were named this year’s International Business Honors Oxford Scholars — the highest distinction in the international business program. The two students will study at Lady Margaret Hall at the University of Oxford for 2021-22 after graduating from the Moore School. This fifth year of undergraduate study at Oxford will allow Allen and Harjehausen to deepen their knowledge in different areas of business. The scholarships for this program are provided through the cooperation of the Sonoco International Business Department, the Moore School and the South Carolina Honors College; they cover the great majority of expenses to study at Lady Margaret Hall College at Oxford University.
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ECONOMIST RECOGNIZED BY THE STATE Moore School research economist Joseph Von Nessen won a Notable State Document Award from the South Carolina State Library for his research study for the South Carolina Department of Agriculture. Winners of the South Carolina Notable State Documents awards are announced in honor of Freedom of Information Day, which occurs annually on March 16. These noteworthy publications call attention to the most informative documents released by state agencies in 2020. Von Nessen specializes in regional economics, regional economic forecasting and housing economics. He regularly conducts a wide variety of economic impact analyses, feasibility studies and independent market research projects for clients in both the private and public sector. This study in particular focused on the economic impact of agribusiness in South Carolina and the certified South Carolina Grown Campaign, a branding campaign to encourage residents to buy more of their produce from South Carolina entities.
ACHIEVEMENTS
CRITICAL LANGUAGE SCHOLARSHIP National Fellowships and Scholar Programs announced that UofSC produced four finalists and four alternates in the 2021 Critical Language Scholarship (CLS) competition. The finalists include two Moore School students, Ashley Labrie (Portuguese) and Timothy Fritts (Russian). The Critical Language Scholarship (CLS) provides an intensive language study program for U.S. students, funded by the U.S. Department of State. Participants study one of 15 critical languages for approximately 12 weeks over the summer. Ashley Labrie ‘21 is a UPS Global Scholar and a Sims Scholarship and Freeman Scholarship recipient studying international business, finance and management from Cincinnati, Ohio. She is the first UofSC student to receive the Critical Language Scholarship to study Portuguese. Timothy Fritts ‘23 is a South Carolina Honors College student majoring in international business and operations and supply chain with minors in Spanish and Russian from Dalton, Ohio. He received the Critical Language Scholarship to study Russian.
PROFESSOR WINS EMERGING SCHOLAR AWARD International business assistant professor Michael Murphree received the Emerging Scholar in Innovation and Entrepreneurship Award at the Industry Studies Association’s 2020 annual conference. Recognizing outstanding industryfocused research in the area of innovation and entrepreneurship, the award acknowledges Murphree and his co-author John Anderson, a management assistant professor at the University of Northern Iowa, for their research on “Nothing to our names: Dynamic capabilities in small and medium-sized enterprises.” The scholarly paper focuses on fieldwork Murphree and Anderson did in Dongguan, China, from 2015 to 2018 and the growth and performance of small manufacturing firms since the 2008 financial crisis.
STUDENT EARNS STUDY ABROAD SCHOLARSHIP Moore School student Stella Strength was awarded in 2021 the Gilman Scholarship Program study abroad scholarship and traveled to Cadiz, Spain, in summer 2021. From Signal Mountain, Tennessee, Strength is a sophomore Honors College student at UofSC majoring in international business and economics. Strength is also a UPS Global Scholar.
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ALUMNI NEWS
2020–21 YOUNG ALUMNI BOARD MEMBERS Nick Annan ('08 accounting, '14 MBA) Elliott Davis Lexington, South Carolina
Marin Duby ('10 economics and marketing) The Boston Consulting Group Plano, Texas
Sarah Hazelton ('13 accounting, '14 MACC) Wells Fargo Securities Charlotte, North Carolina
Brendan Nagle ('15 finance) Wells Fargo Securities Charlotte, North Carolina
Paige Bachety ('12 accounting and economics) Bloomberg LP New York City, New York
Ryan Everett ('05 finance and real estate) Modern Woodmen of America Columbia, South Carolina
Yogini Intwala ('12 management and marketing) Equus Workforce Solutions Columbia, South Carolina
Amber Neville ('08 finance and real estate) Deloitte Consulting Washington, District of Columbia
Adrianne Beasley ('05 finance) SC Council on Competitiveness Columbia, South Carolina
Anthony Fontana ('17 management science) Vantage Point Acquisitions Atlanta, Georgia
Justin Jensen ('13 finance and international business) MBA candidate Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Kyle Ritter ('13 finance and management) Colonial Life Columbia, South Carolina
Jason Blanco ('16 management science) Tableau Software Washington, District of Columbia Benjamin Bowles ('15 IMBA) Prysmain Group Cincinnati, Ohio Dillon Chewning ('15 accounting and finance) Northwestern Mutual Columbia, South Carolina Nicholas Cottrill ('17 finance, '19 MBA) PricewaterhouseCoopers Charlotte, North Carolina Rhett Craig ('09 UofSC mathematics, '15 MBA) Avison Young Greenville, South Carolina
Danielle Gleaton ('06 international business and management) Equifax Atlanta, Georgia
Jessica Sharp ('11 marketing) Sharp Brain Consulting Greenville, South Carolina
Devon McGee ('10 economics and finance) Kennedy & Company Asheville, North Carolina
Jamesha Gore-Coggin (‘13 finance and marketing) State Farm Myrtle Beach, South Carolina John Gregory ('09 UofSC engineering, '17 MBA) NAI Columbia Columbia, South Carolina Ali Groves ('16 finance) Cintas Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Daniel Spieler ('16 accounting and management science) Merck New York City, New York
Catherine Mubarak ('08 accounting and management, '13 UofSC J.D.) Richland County Public Defender Office Columbia, South Carolina
Shelton Wilkerson ('14 management) Microsoft Seattle, Washington
Kevin Murphy ('10 management and real estate) Northwood Ravin Charlotte, North Carolina
Joe Wright ('12 finance and marketing) Ernst & Young Charlotte, North Carolina
Laura Musselman ('11 international business and marketing) K&L Gates Charleston, South Carolina
Clay Hammond ('12 management science) Printpack Columbia, South Carolina
You studied together. Now grow together. MooreConnect is the exclusive digital platform for alumni, faculty, staff and students of the Darla Moore School of Business. Members enjoy a direct connection to more than 55,000 alumni and 300 faculty and staff in nearly 100 countries in countless organizations and businesses worldwide. This free service helps alumni find or share job opportunities, connect with classmates and fellow alumni, explore other network-building tools that can move your career forward and mentor current students.
REGISTER at mooreconnect.com Use your LinkedIn profile (or another account) to sign up.
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Give back with time and talent.
Free app available.
ALREADY A MEMBER? Make sure to keep your profile up to date so you can continue to grow your network. For questions, contact Corey Mikels at corey.mikels@moore.sc.edu.
Get ahead with career opportunities.
ALUMNIEVENTS GET INVOLVED: VOLUNTEER The Mentor Program connects alumni with students looking for advice on career planning, networking and transferring skills. To become a mentor, register on mooreconnect.com. For questions, contact Corey Mikels at corey.mikels@moore.sc.edu. BADM 301: Business Careers in a Global Economy class includes a personal branding speaker series where alumni share professional advice. To volunteer, contact Amy Dawson at dawson@moore.sc.edu. At the annual Women’s Leadership Summit hosted by the Graduate Women in Business student organization, attendees hear from speakers on issues facing women in business. To speak at the summit, contact Mary Ruffin Childs at maryruffinchilds@moore.sc.edu. As a Research and Partnership Center board member, alumni help with everything from boosting students’ sales success to contributing insight on international business curriculum. To consider serving as a board member, contact: ■ ■ ■ ■
Beverly Wright, Center for Applied Business Analytics, beverly.wright@moore.sc.edu Patrick Wright, Center for Executive Succession, patrick.wright@moore.sc.edu Mike Shealy, Center for International Business Education and Research, shealy@moore.sc.edu Jeff Rehling, Center for Marketing Solutions, jeffrey.rehling@moore.sc.edu
■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■
Beth Renninger, Center for Sales Success, beth.renninger@moore.sc.edu Dean Kress, Faber Entrepreneurship Center, kressd@moore.sc.edu Karen Brosius, Folks Center for International Business, karen.brosius@moore.sc.edu Sanjay Ahire, Operations and Supply Chain Center, ahire@moore.sc.edu Pearse Gaffney, Operations and Supply Chain Center, pearse.gaffney@moore.sc.edu Audrey Korsgaard, Riegel & Emory Human Resources Center, korsgaard@moore.sc.edu Robert Hartwig, Risk and Uncertainty Management Center, robert.hartwig@moore.sc.edu Stephen Martin, South Carolina Center for Real Estate, stephen.martin@moore.sc.edu
As recent graduates, the Young Alumni Board is a great way to stay engaged and make a difference at the Moore School through mentorship and meaningful initiatives. To learn more or join the board, contact Corey Mikels at corey.mikels@moore.sc.edu. The Alumni Hub Network represents a collection of cities and countries from around the world. Alumni hub leaders in these areas work directly with the Moore School to host networking and other engagement opportunities by connecting alumni and students. For information, contact Bo Hart at bo.hart@moore.edu.
Network with Moore events have been scheduled for 2021–22. Visit sc.edu/moore/alumni for upcoming events and more information.
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA | 51
ALUMNINEWS 1960 Kae Harper Childs (‘63 business administration) was invited to shoot a video from her kitchen teaching the South Carolina state dance, the shag; she has taught shag classes at UofSC Columbia for 18 years at the Blatt PE Center.
1970 D. Neil Ashworth (‘79 MBA, ‘79 Ph.D.) retired from the University of Richmond Robins School of Business in June 2020 as Professor of Management Emeritus.
was listed in the 2021 edition of The Best Lawyers in America for the Charleston, South Carolina, metro market.
1980 Anne Wilkins Brooks
(‘84 management, ‘93 MBA) is the co-founder of Indigo Ridge Hemp Company (IRH), a South Carolinabased family- and farmer-owned company, which has received USDA Organic Certification for their newest line of CBD products.
Erika Marshall (‘84 marketing) is a South Carolina financial literacy master teacher, a Palmetto environmental educator and a South Carolina master naturalist.
Chrissy Martino-Lambert (‘85 UofSC experimental psychology, ‘86 MHR) was promoted in February 2021 to senior special projects officer: finance/ HR for Charleston County Government.
Tim Robert Helms (‘70 marketing) was reelected to a 4-year term as mayor of Montreat, North Carolina, after completing a previous 5-year term as mayor. Mark Khalil (‘78 marketing) was appointed senior vice president of Sony Group Corporation (Tokyo) and will maintain his roles at Sony Corporation of America (New York) and Sony Electronics Inc. (San Diego).
Peachtree Planning, which is an agency of Guardian Life Insurance Company of America.
Andrea Dockery (‘86 finance) was just awarded the RE/MAX Hall of Fame Award and a 2020 Diamond Club Team Leader Award at the 2021 RE/MAX R4 Convention held in Orlando, Florida. Kevin Mundy (‘87 MIBS) was sworn in Dec. 7, 2020 as a member of the Winston-Salem, North Carolina, City Council.
B.C. Killough (‘79 MBA and UofSC J.D.)
Wilson Johnson III (‘89 finance) has taken a broker position with
52 DARLA MOORE SCHOOL OF BUSINESS | 2021
Tony Pope (‘86 insurance and risk management) is a 30-year State Farm agent located in Summerville, South Carolina; he and his team recently obtained licenses to write insurance in North Carolina and Georgia in addition to South Carolina. Pope was the first agent in South Carolina to open a second office in Mt. Pleasant in 2012 and in 2021, was the second agent in the country to open a third office, which will be in North Charleston. His agency was recently awarded the 2020 Small Business of the Year award by the Greater Summerville/Dorchester Chamber of Commerce.
José Salibi Neto (‘82 finance and marketing, ‘86 MIBS) published in Brazil his sixth book: Estratégia Adaptativa (Adaptive Strategy), which is becoming a bestseller in the U.S.
Dan Train (‘84 management) retired from Greece Athena High School in Rochester, New York, as a 31-year-career economics and U.S. History teacher who coached 78 seasons in football, basketball and softball. His youngest daughter, Stephanie, is currently a senior journalism major at UofSC! Tom Waye (‘85 marketing) has been appointed as the chief human resources officer (CHRO) for the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority (MBTA), the oldest transit system in the United States. Waye has more than 25 years of human resource management and chief operating officer experience.
Margo W. Williams (‘85 insurance and risk management) wrote a book, Petty Pain: Understanding the Assignment of Offense, a Christian self-help book about how to deal with being offended or being an offender.
ALUMNI NEWS
1990
Mary Alexander (‘92 finance, ‘16 UofSC MPA, ‘21 UofSC Ph.D.) recently completed the doctoral program in Educational Administration in the UofSC College of Education. Alexander has worked at her alma mater in the Office of the Provost for 11 years and is currently an assistant provost for academic administration and chief of staff.
Kent H. Anderson (’97 MIBS) and James Blair (‘75 UofSC foreign languages and literature, ‘83 MIBS) reunited at the Indianapolis Grand Prix in May 2021. Anderson is currently serving as the president of TSUNE America LLC; Blair, who served as a director of foreign direct investment for the state of Georgia for 25 years, is currently the founding partner of Navigator Consulting.
Jerel Arceneaux (‘96 management science) will be celebrating his 25th year as a UofSC employee in September 2021; he worked nine years in various positions in the Office of Student Financial Aid and Scholarships and the last 16 as assistant director of student services at the UofSC School of Medicine. Lisa Burgess (‘99 marketing, ‘01 MBA) was promoted to senior vice president for South Carolina commercial banking for Wells Fargo Bank.
J. Michelle Childs (‘91 MHR, UofSC J.D.), judge of the U.S. District Court in Columbia, South Carolina, has been named chair of the American Bar Association’s Judicial Division.
Julie Hayne (‘96 MACC) started Coral’s Edge Bed & Breakfast in St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands, in 2020 with her husband, Adams. She credits the Master of Accountancy program with
providing her the skills to write a business plan, build financial projections and establish financing mechanisms to open the new B&B.
Mark E. McMurtrey (‘97 Ph.D.), professor of management information systems and MBA program director at the University of Central Arkansas, received in 2020 the Southwest Decision Sciences Institute (SWDSI) Outstanding Educator Award. Tracy Minter (‘96 MIBS) has recently joined the National Recruitment Division in U.S. Customs and Border Protection, focusing on finding the best targeted advertising, webinars and engagement events to attract and hire a diverse workforce of officers, agents and supporting team members for the agency.
Phil Mobley (‘99 UofSC political science, ‘01 MBA) joined Avison Young in November 2020 as director of U.S. Occupier Research; he leads the firm’s approach to analyzing trends that impact clients’ dynamic need for commercial real estate in the post-pandemic world.
Michael Oana (‘93 management) qualified in 2019 for the Summit Financial Network’s Circle of Excellence Conference, which aims to bring together financial advisors from across the country to celebrate the accomplishments of 2019.
Lisa Tisdale (‘93 finance, ‘95 MBA) has volunteered for nonprofit Slice Out Hunger for five years; during the pandemic, they shifted online and raised more than $750K in sales and sponsorships to send to local pizzerias struggling to stay in business for frontline workers, including hospitals, EMS stations, police precincts, nursing homes and homeless shelters. Their efforts were featured on the Today Show.
John Waid (‘93 MIBS) published in 2018 his first book, Reinventing Ralph, which explores supercharging business results by focusing on aligning values and behaviors in teams or companies.
Lori Mack Padgett (‘97 marketing) married Matthew Monroe Padgett in August 2020.
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA | 53
ALUMNI NEWS Danielle S. Brady (‘09 finance) earned the second quarter Top Performer Award at Synter Resource Group; she is in accounts receivable and achieved 121 percent of her cash goal for that quarter. Derek White (‘93 MIBS) is now living in central London with his wife, Annica, who is the Swedish Consul General, and their two teenage kids; he is working as the commercial lead for global supply chains at the Department for International Trade.
2000
Dennis Bailey (‘00 MBA) has been named senior director of IT Winchester Solutions with Olin Corporation in St. Louis.
Mallory Baldwin (‘05 management and marketing) was promoted to vice president for M. B. Kahn Construction Co., Inc.
Kathleen Hoover (‘07 management and marketing) is celebrating 10 years in business with her company, PAG Marketing, a full-service marketing agency based in Columbia, South Carolina. Francisco de Barros (‘03 business administration and finance) has been appointed assistant treasurer for Ingersoll Rand Inc. Katherine Devine (‘05 international business and marketing), as director of business case development at World Wildlife Fund (WWF), recently published an Op-Ed in the Washington Post entitled “The U.S. Postal Service should be Instacart for farm-fresh food.”
Eric Friedman (‘06 management and real estate, ‘10 IMBA) was promoted to assistant vice president, expense modeling & analytics at Unum/Colonial Life.
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Dan Houck (‘08 IMBA) was hired as senior director, head of software finance by Diebold Nixdorf of North Canton, Ohio; he will be working from Austin, Texas.
Ashley Keene (‘05 management and marketing, ‘11 MBA) was named the existing industry manager for the Greenville Area Development Corporation, an economic development organization in Greenville, South Carolina.
Angela Jones Lewis (‘00 finance) completed the Basic Mediation Skills and Clinical Practicum Course sponsored by the Justice Center of Atlanta, Inc. William A Long Jr. (‘03 finance and real estate) was elected a North Carolina Superior Court judge (District 22 A) in November 2020.
Darlene Jones-Jack (‘03 management and marketing, ‘13 UofSC Master of Social Work) released her children’s book, God’s Six Day Creation: You and Me, which introduces preschoolers to diversity and how God made individuals unique and special.
Kori Brett McKeithan (‘04 MIBS and UofSC J.D.) opened the Liberty Oak Law Firm, LLC, in 2018 in Hilton Head, South Carolina. She expanded their services in 2020. Learn more by visiting libertyoaklaw.com.
Katrina Sorensen Stoneking (‘06 management and marketing) was appointed VP of Sales and Marketing - East Division for Summerland Wine Brands; she was also named a Woman of Impact nominee for the American Heart Association South Florida Chapter.
Ashley Cole Story (‘09 international business and marketing, ‘12 UofSC J.D.) was elected president of the Richland County Bar Association for 2021; for 2020, she served on the RCBA Executive Committee as president-elect. Story owns and manages White & Story, LLC, a law firm in Columbia, South Carolina, that represents and defends school districts, state agencies, nonprofits and employers.
R. Warren Thomas III (’08 finance) was an Academic All-American on the University of South Carolina golf team and is currently head of Orthopedic Sales in the Fort Worth/Dallas Region
ALUMNI NEWS for DJO Global; he received the National Strategic Account Manager of the Year award in 2020.
Lee Thompkins (‘01 accounting and management, ‘18 MBA) was promoted to key account manager at Michelin North America; Lee and his family live in Greer, South Carolina. Mustafa Ungan (‘02 Ph.D.) has been appointed a dean of the business school at Sakarya University, Turkey.
Sarah S. White (‘08 management and marketing) has been inducted into the prestigious Site Selectors Guild (SSG), the world’s foremost consortium of location advisory consultants; she is principal and vice president of site selection at Global Location Strategies. Nikki Zimmerman (‘04 IMBA), after the past 13 years at IBM, was promoted in February 2021 to global lead - Supply Chain Risk Management in IBM Services.
2010
Amanda Wemette (‘07 management and marketing), after launching her marketing career in industries that include automotive, health care and agriculture, traveling the world and starting a family, is moving home to Greenville, South Carolina, to take a position as a marketing communications manager at Michelin’s North America headquarters.
Megan Ananian (‘11 accounting) joined The Helm as a general partner in New York City; she is part of a team that is currently raising a $25 million investment fund to invest in early-stage female founders.
Korey Aukerman (‘18 finance) currently is a territory sales manager – northeastern U.S. & Canada for Textron Specialized Vehicles; he and his brother developed in 2020 the KA Brothers Homes LLC residential real estate firm.
Tylar Brannon (‘15 MBA and UofSC J.D.) became CEO in 2018 of Optimal Bio, which is a medical practice specializing in BioIdentical Hormone Replacement Therapy that has four locations throughout North Carolina. Ross Caldwell (‘18 management science) started a new job as a production planner at Samsung Electronics North America’s manufacturing plant in Newberry, South Carolina
Mackenzie Caldwell (‘14 international business and marketing) was awarded Sales & Training Executive of the Year for 2020. Despite a challenging year, she achieved 97 percent to sales plan and ran the No. 2 volume business in the country for Kiehl’s Since 1851.
March 2020 when she had to be evacuated because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Upon returning to the U.S., Cleveland became the CEO of Unity PPE, a womanowned and -operated startup that has supplied masks, face shields and related products during the pandemic. Carlos Cueto (‘18 MIBS) was promoted to small and medium business corporate strategy manager at UPS in September 2020.
Erika Carroll (‘17 marketing) was promoted in January 2020 to senior marketing analyst at UPS to support their North American Air Freight. In October 2020, Carroll got engaged to DeMarcus Marable (’17 accounting, ’18 MACC); DeMarcus was also promoted to senior associate at PricewaterhouseCoopers on the ITS team.
Savannah Cleveland (‘16 international business and management science) was in the Peace Corps in Colombia, South America, where she was working toward a master’s degree in international relations and social enterprise with American University until
Andrew Driver (‘19 MBA) started a new job as a staff accountant II at Arthrex. Trevor Edwards (‘17 management science) started a new job in April 2021 as a purchasing specialist with Samsung Electronics.
Caitlin Eversmann (‘14 management and marketing) married Will Eversmann (‘14 accounting) on Aug. 28, 2020, and they live in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. She is a senior talent acquisition advisor at TIAA supporting TIAA Bank; he is a senior financial analyst at Stanley Black & Decker. Cam Funk (‘19 operations and supply chain) accepted a job as an implementation consultant with Manhattan Associates.
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA | 55
ALUMNI NEWS Chris Hui (‘17 accounting)’s golden retriever, Archie, celebrated his first birthday and recently eclipsed 7,500 followers on Instagram @thegolden.archie.
Josh Gatewood (‘10 MIB) expanded his Yankee Doodle Dandy’s food truck business in 2020 in New York City with his first brickand-mortar location. Ashley Ginns (‘19 management) was promoted in January 2021 to club customer service supervisor at MUV Fitness in Columbia, South Carolina.
Aseem Gupta (‘14 IMBA) (on left) was featured in Yuva Bharat: The Heroes of Today published by Bloomsbury. In the book, Gupta is among 69 young leaders of India whose stories are meant to inspire the youth of the country.
Carl Hammond ('11 MBA) created AmeriCare Midlands Home Care in 2020 with his wife, Rachael, to provide more in-home caregiving for seniors in the Columbia, South Carolina, area.
Stephanie Hoyt (‘14 international business and marketing) organized a group of 100+ volunteers in New Jersey to help make COVID-19 vaccine appointments for the elderly, tech-challenged and those who do not speak English as their first language. Her group has made more than 700 appointments, and Hoyt personally made 120 appointments in five weeks.
Shacquerra Monyque Hamilton (‘17 accounting) was promoted to senior accountant for Vault Health, Inc.
56 DARLA MOORE SCHOOL OF BUSINESS | 2021
Joseph Kimball (‘18 management science) started a new job March 8, 2021 for KeHE Distributors as a demand replenishment planner.
Emilee Hunter (‘17 marketing) was promoted to senior accountant of global accounting operations at The Knot Worldwide.
Samantha Kear (‘17 international business and marketing) married Samuel Keeney (‘17 UofSC biomedical engineering) in a small, 15-person ceremony on April 17, 2021, after meeting in the Honors College residence hall during their first week on campus in 2013.
Carl M. Kenney (‘17 MBA) co-founded Phalanx (phalanx.io), an artificial intelligence security company, in late 2020. Phalanx became 1 of 10 companies selected for the 2021 Techstars NYC accelerator program, which began on March 22, 2021.
Brennan C. Lyles (‘16 finance) recently joined the Arthur State Bank trust department in Greenville, South Carolina. Harrison Kirschbaum (‘11 management and marketing) works as the marketing and brand manager for the 2020 Super Bowl Champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers; while they had to shift their focus because of the pandemic, they were still able to enjoy their win with a limited number of their fans. Ashlee Landreth (‘05 UofSC electrical engineering, ‘13 MBA) was selected as the top senior scientific technical manager for the Naval Information Warfare Center-Atlantic’s Expeditionary Warfare Department. In this role, her technical decision authority will help guide the engineering and business operations of more than 600 employees working in support of the U.S. Marine Corps and U.S. Special Operations Command.
Seth Henson McGaugh (‘19 finance) launched a blockchain company based out of Columbia, South Carolina. Learn more by visiting validide.com. Laurel McKay (‘18 accounting, ‘20 MACC) is now working for Grant Thornton LLP as a tax associate in Columbia, South Carolina; McKay passed all four parts of the CPA exam.
Kelsey Werder Monaghan (‘12 management and marketing) received the 2020 Government Innovation Awards Rising Star, which recognizes individuals who are early in their federal IT careers yet already are having a major impact. She is currently a federal account manager for the U.S. Department of Energy and NASA for Dell Technologies.
ALUMNI NEWS
Trace Neal (‘17 accounting) graduated May 15, 2021 with honors from the Medical University of South Carolina College of Medicine. In June 2021, he started as a resident physician in internal medicine at the Harvardaffiliated Massachusetts General Hospital.
Landry Phillips ('19 MBA) opened in 2020 Regal Lounge, a barber shop and spa specifically catering to men in Columbia, South Carolina. He attributes his ability to open a business during COVID-19 to the skills he gained during the Professional MBA program. Dustin Ramos (‘19 accounting, ‘20 MACC) passed his last section of the CPA exam and began working as a licensed CPA in Charlotte, North Carolina, with Cherry Bekaert.
Thorsten Reiter (‘14 MIB)’s third management book, Killing Innovation, will be published in 2021. The book deals with the question of how organizations can build a sustainable strategic innovation capability and how they can avoid to unknowingly “kill it”; it is initially going to be printed in German for the German, Austrian and Swiss markets.
Kyle Ritter (‘13 finance and management) married Taylor Bates (’13 UofSC biology) on June 20, 2020; they reside in Columbia, South Carolina, with their dog, Cooper.
Henry Roach (‘16 economics) accepted a role with Robinhood in March 2021.
Kasey Thomas Rosenhaus (‘10 marketing) relocated to Charlotte, North Carolina, with her husband, Rob, and dog, Kona, after spending the last 10 years in New York City.
Ashley Hannon Sherman (‘18 finance) married.
Erinn Rowe (‘19 MBA) was named chief executive officer of Harvest Hope Food Bank in 2021. Harvest Hope Food Bank is a nonprofit organization serving people in need in 20 counties across South Carolina. Blair Deckard Rubio (‘12 IMBA) was promoted to vice president of marketing at T1V, Inc., which creates visual collaboration software for enterprise and education markets, serving the Fortune 500 and leaders in higher education. Lucas Salada (‘18 economics) graduated in May 2021 with a J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania Law School and a Master of Bioethics degree from the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine. He is now working as an associate at Morgan, Lewis & Bockius. Hank Scurry (‘16 IMBA) was promoted to product manager at Salesforce.
Tyler Sherman (‘18 finance and operations and supply chain) in September 2020 with close friends and family as witnesses. She took on a new role in finance & compliance with Frontier Growth, a Charlotte, North Carolina,based private equity firm after working as a Deloitte consultant for two years; he is currently an associate in Bank of America’s corporate credit division. Alex Slifka (‘19 finance) was promoted to senior analyst at PricewaterhouseCoopers and has been working on Paycheck Protection Program loan forgiveness, helping thousands of small businesses stay afloat during the pandemic.
Kelsie Stanley (‘14 international business and management) is engaged to Justin Shutt (‘14 management and marketing); they are getting married in February 2022 in Costa Rica. They got engaged in Ireland in 2019.
John Steverson (‘18 accounting, ‘19 MACC) received his Certified Public Accountant license in January 2021 from the South Carolina Board of Accountancy.
Jaime Tyo (‘17 management) was promoted to be the first senior item data management - brand advocate analyst for Lowe’s Companies.
Bryant Kirk White (‘12 management and marketing) is the executive director of A.Bevy, an art and education nonprofit. The organization has officially kicked off their three pursuit programs: A.Bevy Academy —
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA | 57
CALLING ALL MOORE SCHOOL ALUMNI — Have you recently been promoted or received a professional award?
implementing selfawareness education in middle & high schools; A.Bevy Collegiate Group — assisting students on 10+ campuses in the discovery of their true path; and A.Bevy Stage Association — a mentoring base that promotes purpose, compassion and wellness to middle, high and collegiate members. Learn more by visiting abevy.org. Shelton Wilkerson (‘14 management) is now a business program manager with Microsoft.
Do you think a fellow alumnus or alumna has a compelling story the Moore School should share?
comprehensive financial planning and disciplined investment strategies. Leare more by visiting highlandswealthgroup.com
2020
Meghan Blaul (’21 marketing) was excited about her internship in summer 2021 with Northwestern Mutual. Nicole A. Leuth (‘20 operations and supply chain) accepted a full-time procurement position with IBM.
Brad Williams (‘11 finance and management) and his partner, Terrell Boone, have launched an independent financial planning and investment firm, Highlands Wealth Group, in Upstate South Carolina. Their mission is to help clients reach their ideal view through
a new position with Manhattan Associates as a software consultant; his start date was pushed back seven months because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Kayla Rawlings (’21 marketing) accepted a full-time position with Frito Lay in Dallas, Texas. Rob Viglione (’21 Ph.D.) is the co-founder and CEO of Horizen Labs, Inc., which recently closed a $6.6 million seed round led by Digital Currency Group, Kenetic Capital and Liberty City Ventures. Horizen Labs is a blockchain technology company; Viglione is also the co-founder of the public blockchain project, Horizen, with its popular cryptocurrency, ZEN.
Justin Morrell (‘20 finance and operations and supply chain) started
sc.edu/moore/alumni Submit your news items and feature story ideas so we can celebrate our alumni’s accomplishments.
58 DARLA MOORE SCHOOL OF BUSINESS | 2021
The Moore School extends sympathies to the families of our deceased alumni, faculty and staff. Visit the Moore School's In Memoriam page at sc.edu/moore/alumni/inmemoriam.
Our programs. Your future. The Darla Moore School of Business offers top-notch business education that prepares students to be data proficient, analytically capable and functionally grounded, so as graduates they can land competitive positions with premier companies worldwide. The undergraduate international business and international MBA programs are ranked No. 1 by U.S. News & World Report. The undergraduate program has been No. 1 for more than 20 years, while the international MBA has ranked in the top three for more than 30 years. South Carolina’s professional MBA is ranked No. 1 in South Carolina and No. 25 for part-time MBA programs in the country by U.S. News & World Report. The Moore School also has the No. 5 undergraduate and No. 22 graduate operations and supply chain programs in North America, has the fourth-largest risk management and insurance school in the U.S. and is a top 20 Global Center of Insurance Excellence. Moore School graduates join an international network of more than 55,000 alumni working in all 50 states and more than 95 countries on six continents.
UNDERGRADUATE MAJORS Accounting Economics Finance International Business Management Operations and Supply Chain Marketing Real Estate Risk Management and Insurance
UNDERGRADUATE MINORS AND CONCENTRATIONS Business Administration minor Economics minor Risk Management and Insurance minor Business Analytics undergraduate concentration
GRADUATE PROGRAMS MBA International MBA Professional MBA Master of Accountancy Master of Arts in Economics Master of Human Resources Master of International Business Master of Science in Business Analytics Ph.D. in Business Administration Ph.D. in Economics
GRADUATE CERTIFICATES Business Analytics Cybersecurity Management Enterprise Resource Planning Systems Global Strategy International Finance Strategic Innovation
CONNECT sc.edu/moore Facebook: @mooreschool Twitter: @mooreschool Instagram: @moore_school LinkedIn: bit.ly/linkedinmooreschool YouTube: bit.ly/youtubemooreschool
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1014 Greene St. Columbia, SC 29208
I am made of lifelong commitment. Lloyd Emerson Johnson said he was “an underprivileged and economically challenged student from a small South Carolina town with a passion for learning” when he attended the Moore School 40 years ago. After graduating, he expanded his accounting and finance foundation with experience in corporate strategy, governance, mergers and acquisitions and enterprise risk management. Later in his career, he went on to advise company boards and corporate executives and execute major financial deals with Fortune 100 companies. Now retired, Johnson serves on public company boards and is a member of the steering committee for the Moore School’s Black Alumni Alliance, an alumni affinity group launched in fall 2021. An active alumnus and donor, Johnson said he takes great pride in the Moore School’s continued ability to grow and deliver highly qualified graduates for the community and the workforce.
I AM SOUTH CAROLINA.
LLOYD EMERSON JOHNSON
’80 accounting and finance, ’81 Master of Accountancy Darla Moore School of Business