Crummer Community News by Rollins College

SUMMER 2009

C R U M M E R G R A D U AT E S C H O O L

CRUMMER COMMUNITY NEWS

WHAT’S INSIDE Making The Best Plan For A Worst-Case Scenario

Letter From The Dean

Developing Potential, Not Just Résumés

Leading By Example

A Charitable View Of The Recession

The Secrets Of His Success

Keeping Companies In The Green

Tupperware: Building Connections And Transforming Leaders

Faculty Spotlight

Q & MBA

15-16

Editor: Lisa Junkerman LJunkerman@Rollins.edu Contributing writer: Susan Frith

CRUMMER COMMUNITY NEWS SUMMER 2009

Student Consulting Project

Making the Best Plan for a Worst-Case Scenario Industrial espionage, gas explosions, and crash landings may not seem like typical fare at a British school. Nevertheless, they’re all part of a Disaster Recovery and Response Plan (DRRP) that three Rollins MBA students crafted for Djanogly City Academy in Nottingham. The goal was to draft a document that would minimize damage to business and educational operations (as well as harm to people) in the event of an emergency. “You have to think of pretty much every kind of disaster that could happen to an institution,” explains Dr. James P. Johnson, who helped oversee the project through his Global Practicum class. “Having that hands-on experience in a foreign country seems to be the most valuable type of international businesseducation experience.” - Aaron Fisher Johnson, a professor of international business at the Crummer Graduate School of Business, worked with the

business school at Nottingham Trent University to arrange the project. A 10-year-old partnership between the schools has provided Rollins MBA students with a host of consulting opportunities. Project participant Aaron Fisher says that neither he nor his teammates had any background in risk management. As a result, they faced an intense week of learning while they also “tried to get a hold of what academy officials were looking for and what their operations were.” Fortunately, he says, the academy had reasonable expectations. In addition, “Dr. Johnson was extremely helpful and accommodating to us to help make sure we succeeded.” Fisher, a Professional MBA student and structural engineer says he enjoyed learning about the operating environment in a school system that’s different from the United States. “Having that hands-on experience in a foreign country seems to be the most valuable type of international business-education experience,” he adds.

Rollins MBA students helped Djanogly City Academy in Nottingham prepare a disaster recovery plan.

Academy officials also were pleased with the outcome. “We were delighted to get involved in the Nottingham Trent University MBA programme and were very impressed with the students from Rollins,” writes Hazel Dickinson, the Academy’s Finance Director. “Their contribution to the development of our Disaster Response Recovery Plan was extremely valuable and quite an achievement in the time available to them.”

in information and technology systems.

communications

Compared to the projects his students typically take on, the disaster plan was “a little bit out of the box,” Johnson notes. “But it was the kind of project that consulting companies face all the time and it gave the students some real experience in what it is like working for a consulting company.”

During their week in Nottingham, the Rollins MBA team toured school facilities, studied plans used by other institutions, and did additional research to develop a document that covered every contingency. The spectrum ranged from a highly unlikely plane crash to a more commonplace — but potentially very disruptive — breakdown

Over the past few years, students have participated in over 50 consulting projects for organizations around the globe.

CRUMMER COMMUNITY NEWS SUMMER 2009

Letter from the Dean Talk to any of Dr. Mark Johnston’s students and you will hear about how much they’ve learned outside the classroom, working with Second Harvest Food Bank to distribute food for the needy, building houses with Habitat for Humanity, or teaching elementary school children about economic principles through Junior Achievement. As part of the course requirements in Johnston’s class on Legal, Ethical, and Social Issues of Business, students are required to volunteer for a nonprofit for 8 to 10 hours. The ethics course, a requirement for all students enrolled at the Crummer Graduate School of Business, is just one way the Rollins MBA program seeks to instill ethics and social responsibility in all of its graduates. Ethics is doing the right thing for the right reasons when no one else is watching. In the past several years, however, because some executives across a number of professions apparently believed nobody was watching, they let greed overtake them. Now we find ourselves in the middle of an economic meltdown that, in part, resulted from a failure of ethical leadership. For 25 years, the Rollins MBA has taken pride in providing its graduates with the leadership skills to succeed in a global business world. Those skills include the ability to think strategically, the ability to motivate people, but also, the ability to be an ethical leader. Ethics and social responsibility, as well as required community service, are parts of the curriculum from the minute students arrive on campus until the minute they leave as alumni. As recent world events have taught us, a culture of leaders who eschew ethical action in favor of quick profit can have dire consequences not only for a few companies or countries, but also for the entire global economy. Today’s leaders must step out of the pack and call for greater industry regulation to avoid catastrophe, and the next generation of business leaders must follow their lead to ensure the long-term stability of our nation and the world.

Dr. Craig McAllaster, Dean

Career development center

Developing Potential, Not Just Résumés As its new name suggests, the Career Development Center at the Crummer Graduate School of Business offers more than résumé polishing to Rollins MBA students. “Our purpose is to help our students as well as our alumni not only in planning their career and managing it, but also to help with their overall development, both personally and professionally,” says Jacqueline Brito, the Center’s director. The Center also serves area businesses by linking them with an outstanding pool of potential employees. Brito took the helm of what was formerly known as the Career Management Center one year ago and has been working to bring its offerings — which range from networking events to one-on-one sessions with priority-management coaches — a step ahead of the increasingly competitive job market. “Having an MBA alone isn’t enough,” she says. A few of the Center’s new initiatives include: • Creating an advisory board of business leaders from different industries “to make sure the services we are providing our students are in line with what companies are looking for. •

Assigning writing coaches with business experience to Rollins MBA students who need help with assignments, enhancing skills that can be transferred to the workplace.

•

onducting exit interviews with graduating MBAs to track their job-search C progress and to gather feedback on their Rollins experience.

Petamber Pahuja EAMBA ’08 is one alumnus who wouldn’t hesitate to use the Center’s services again. “They have super-nice people working there, and they have a lot of good connections, as well,” Pahuja says. While he was a student, the Center helped him line up a summer internship with Smart City. The company’s CEO went on to serve as a key reference and Pahuja landed a job at Disney as a financial analyst for domestic business development. He also gained helpful feedback from the Center’s mock interviews.

The Career Development Center is located at the Crummer Graduate School of Business at Rollins College, 1000 Holt Avenue-2722, Winter Park, FL 32789. For more information, contact Center director Jacqueline Brito at 407.628.6320 or jbrito@rollins.edu. CRUMMER COMMUNITY NEWS SUMMER 2009

center for leadership development Leading by Example The small group of Rollins MBA students who joined Thomas McEvoy, PresidentEmbarq Business, at breakfast one morning had plenty of questions for him about technology, finding one’s dream job, and even navigating companies through a downturn. They were interested in “how you make tough decisions about cost structure and how you keep your employees motivated during those tough economic times,” recalls McEvoy ’80 ’85 MBA, who serves on the Leadership Advisory Board and the Board of Overseers for the Crummer Graduate School of Business. Through Bagels with the Board, “I had the opportunity to share some of the learning I have had in leadership and listen to the students’ perspectives … and how they would approach challenges in today’s business world and in society,” he says. Bagels with the Board is just one way Leadership Advisory Board members interact with and inspire students. In addition to attending meetings, board members take part in various school events and make themselves available to students for networking or informal mentoring, explains Dr. Susan Bach, executive director of the Center for Leadership Development. “We want

them to have a connection to the students and I think that is the most influential aspect of their service on the board.” The Center is currently looking for additional business leaders to join the board. For Marna Killian ’03 MBA, board service is “really a way for me to reach out and give back as an alumna.” As vice president of human resources for Margaritaville Management Group, she has a “passion for leadership development.” She has enlisted her own staff to take part in joint community-service projects with the school and has enjoyed getting to know the students this way. Several advisory board members also serve on the selection committee for the SunTrust Distinguished Leader of Merit Recognition Program. Each year they do an “amazing” job, thoughtfully reviewing portfolios and presentations to single out students who best exemplify the qualities of leadership, Bach says. Through all of these interactions, “they are really energized by the students who are very bright and so open to learning and to growing,” Bach adds. “I think it gives a strong feeling that our world will be in good hands.”

Board members include: Kenneth Arredondo, CA; Dr. Susan Bach (center staff); Lauri Duda Buckley, A. Duda & Sons; Gregory L. Hess, chair, Merrill Lynch Global Private Client; Marna Killian, Margaritaville Management Group; Jordan Lomas, Darden; Tom McEvoy, Embarq; “Trey” Rex V. McPherson III, R.D. Keene Trust; Dorothy Nieto, Smart City; Dr. Ron Skeddle, CEO (retired); Darren Sparks, Siemens Corporation; and Pamela Woodley (center staff).

The Rollins MBA Center for Leadership Development is located at the Crummer Graduate School of Business, 1000 Holt Avenue-2722, Winter Park, FL 32789. For more information, contact executive director Dr. Susan Bach at 407.646.2336 or sbach@rollins.edu. 6

Margaret Linnane, of the Philanthropy and Nonprofit Leadership Center, addresses leaders at a conference on “coping and thriving” in a recession.

philant hropy & Nonprofit leadership center A Charitable View of the Recession: Nonprofits discuss downturn strategies David Odahowski, the president and chair of the Edyth Bush Charitable Foundation, looked out at the dozens of nonprofit leaders gathered before him at Rollins College and said, “This is the most important meeting you all and I will be in for the entire year. We’re not going to solve our problems here with more money,” he added. “We’re going to solve our problems with the brainpower in this room.” The meeting was a workshop held by the Philanthropy & Nonprofit Leadership Center in December to address challenges faced by the nonprofit sector during the recession. As the center’s executive director Margaret Linnane explained, “We have no silver bullets today, but we come together as a Central Florida nonprofit community to learn some strategies for coping and thriving.” The recession’s effects are rippling through the philanthropic community, as Odahowski showed the results of an economic survey of 20 charitable

foundations in Central Florida. At least 40 percent reported their anticipated level of giving would drop in 2009. Odahowski was quick to shore up hope, saying, “We may not be able to help everyone with a grant, but we can help in many ways,” such as advocacy. Marty Rubin, president and CEO of Smart City, said that nonprofits need to engage their board members who work for companies. “They’re having conversations [about the recession] that could be months ahead of your conversations,” he said. Several participants suggested that now is the time to focus on stewardship, cultivating relationships with existing donors. Additional strategies include leveraging volunteers and trimming budgets creatively. At BETA Center, for example, staff members now clean their own building, saving money, says Hope Kramer MBA ’06, the center’s president and CEO. “We looked at what we can do in every line item.”

The Philanthropy and Nonprofit Leadership Center, part of the Crummer Graduate School of Business at Rollins College, is located at 200 E. New England Avenue, Winter Park, FL 32789. For more information, contact executive director Margaret Linnane at mlinnane@rollins.edu or 407.975.6414.

CRUMMER COMMUNITY NEWS SUMMER 2009

Luke Brown uses leadership lessons from the Crummer School on the job at NASDAQ.

Alumni relations & development The Secrets of His Success Long before a tumbling U.S. economy shook nations around the globe, Luke Brown studied this possibility in his Rollins MBA classes. “Gone are the days of one country being impacted only by a few others,” notes Brown, now a director of investor analytics for NASDAQ. His intimate knowledge of how the global economy works has helped Brown succeed in his current position, using proprietary research to make educated purchases for the stock portfolios of major investors. “As the market has declined rapidly, our area of expertise has been in much higher demand, and we’ve seen our base grow from zero clients to 60 in just 11 months, with a spike around the downturn,” he says. “I would not have been able to handle this rapid growth in a troubling economic environment without the valuable skills I gained in my education.” Brown chose the Rollins MBA based on the reputation of the school, its faculty, and the opportunity to gain further realworld experience in business through practicum and consulting projects.

After graduation, he joined Thomson Reuters as an analyst and was actively pursued and hired by NASDAQ to help start a group that provides special surveillance and trading analysis to its customers. Among other things, the Rollins MBA taught Luke how to successfully work on a team. Students work with a team from day one of the program through graduation. “Working closely with my classmates taught me how to communicate in a way that was straightforward and productive,” he says. Through his Rollins MBA experience, Brown also learned to be a “hub” instead of a “spoke.” “As an analyst, there’s nothing more important than to be able to put the right executives together with the right opportunity, and my Rollins MBA helped me develop the confidence in my own qualities as a leader,” he says. “This has been absolutely necessary to the successful execution of my responsibilities at NASDAQ.”

The Rollins MBA Alumni Relations & Development office is located at the Crummer Graduate School of Business, 1000 Holt Avenue-2722, Winter Park, FL 32789. For more information, contact director Donald Hale at 407.691.1220 or dhale@rollins.edu. 8

CRUMMER COMMUNITY NEWS SUMMER 2009

Center for Entrepreneurship Keeping Companies in the Green Chantel Huddleston dreams in green. The second-year EAMBA student wants to work as a sustainability director after graduation, helping companies protect the environment without neglecting the bottom line. “Saving the environment is huge for me, but I’ve also come to realize that there has to be more than a world-saving benefit for businesses to change their practices,” she says. Huddleston has found support for her social entrepreneurship goals through her Entrepreneurship concentration in the Rollins MBA program and her contact with the Center for Entrepreneurship at the Crummer Graduate School of Business. She already is sharing ideas with the business and nonprofit worlds. Recently, for example, she advised Smart City CEO, Marty Rubin on ways the communications provider could help save the environment while cutting costs. Her suggestions included: • Replacing disposable water bottles with water coolers for an annual savings of $2,700; •

Switching from inflating company vehicles’ tires with regular air to inflating them with a nitrogen product for better wear, improved gas mileage, and a first-year cost savings of about $8,000 ;

•

Composing food waste, organizing employee carpools, and more.

The opportunity at Smart City stemmed from her involvement with the Entrepreneurship Center. As president of the student entrepreneurs club, CEO, Huddleston has worked closely with the Center, planning roundtables and networking panels that bring inspiring entrepreneurs to campus. (This year’s lineup included Urban Flatbread Co. founder and CEO, Suzanne Bonham, and uBid.com CEO, Jeffrey Hoffman, among others.) Huddleston, too, dreams of launching her own business — a retail design center for environmentally friendly home-finishing products. In an Entrepreneurship class taught by Dr. Michael Bowers, she pitched her plan to a panel of judges, gaining valuable feedback. She has also seen how entrepreneurship can mesh with the nonprofit realm. Huddleston is consulting for BETA Center, a nonprofit that provides supportive programs to pregnant and parenting teens. “I think it’s important to give back to the community in any way you can,” she says.

The Center for Entrepreneurship is located at the Crummer Graduate School of Business at Rollins College, 1000 Holt Avenue-2722, Winter Park, FL 32789. For more information, contact executive director Cari Coats at 407.646.2067 or ccoats@rollins.edu. 10

Management & executive education Tupperware: Building connections and transforming leaders In times of economic uncertainty, companies can be tempted to skimp on the expense of training, but Tupperware Brands has maintained its commitment to leadership development. For this effort the company has found a partner in the Management & Executive Education Center at the Crummer Graduate School of Business. The company holds a place on the board of the Rollins College Corporate University and helps to shape its core curricula. Tupperware Brands Executive Vice President and Chief HR Officer Lillian Garcia and her team worked closely with the Center to customize a Transformational Leadership Program (TLP) for its up-and-coming managers, which they call “a great success.” They matched the ideas and resources that Rollins could provide with the competencies that Tupperware Brands wanted to develop within those leaders. “It certainly helped me in my career,” says program participant Nikola Milivojevic ’04 MBA. In his current position, as Vice President of Sales for the Northeast U.S., Milivojevic guides and motivates 105 sales directors; they work, in turn,

with teams of sales managers and consultants. Because he has no strict authority over his sales people, one of the most important things Milivojevic can do is make a connection with them so they will take his suggestions seriously. The TLP course “was all about empathy and really being able to see a situation through other people’s eyes and put yourself in their shoes,” he says. Tony Mendiola, Vice President, Global Talent Identification and Development at Tupperware Brands, says the “strong connection” between the facilitators and participants enhanced the program. It was important for the facilitator to “have the ability to read the audience and shift any dimension of the program based on immediate feedback,” he says. In the end, Mendiola says, “I think the greatest sign of success came from people walking away from these five days of training with greater self awareness to achieve new results in their roles.”

The Management & Executive Education Center is located at the Crummer Graduate School of Business at Rollins College, 1000 Holt Avenue-2722, Winter Park, FL 32789. For more information, contact executive director Erica Bader Sorrell at 407.647.1252 or 800.494.4253.

CRUMMER COMMUNITY NEWS SUMMER 2009

faculty spotlight ON DR. KEITH WHITTINGHAM Beyond Beans: Marketing Sustainability at a Costa Rican Coffee Farm At the Vargas family’s coffee farm in Monteverde, Costa Rica, even the pulp around the beans gets saved; it’s processed into paper that is used to create decorative journals through an arrangement with a fair-trade cooperative. “It’s a way for local craftspeople to generate some income to support their families out of what would have been wasted material,” explains Dr. Keith Whittingham, an associate professor of management science at the Crummer Graduate School of Business. With its environmentally sound and community-friendly practices, the 42-acre farm has a compelling story to tell, and Whittingham’s students have been working with its owners on a strategic vision for sharing it. “As farmers, we have the challenge to co-exist with the tourism economy that dominates Monteverde,” says Guillermo Vargas, one of the farm’s owners. “This means not only to participate in the economic benefits … but also to offer the visitor a cultural and educational experience.” Among other groups, their enterprise would target university students studying sustainable agriculture. Students in Whittingham’s global consulting course researched that market before taking a trip to see the farm in action this semester. “One of the biggest things that came out of the trip was the realization that what this family and farm had to offer was way more than a product or package,” Whittingham says. “Really we began thinking of it as an experience in a way of life that could be very instructive from the standpoint of living in harmony with nature [and] developing a business that’s serving the needs of the community.” The farm is diversifying its crops to include medicinal and other plants. It also plans to develop workshops on topics ranging from bio-health to leadership. “We have the natural resources,” Vargas says. “We also have a rich variety of skills and knowledge among the members of our family group.” The participation of Rollins MBAs “provides new and necessary expertise in marketing strategies. The students visiting our farm also give us opportunities to practice our educational and operational skills.” Whittingham and his students “were able to balance the inspiration we provide with the professional care the project demands.”

From left: Correll Whiting (EAMBA), Juliana Acosta (EAMBA), Dan Harshbarger (PMBA), Keith Whittingham (faculty advisor), Whitney McDonald (EAMBA), Tracy Tytor (PMBA), Chantel Huddleston (EAMBA), Guillermo Vargas (client).

CRUMMER COMMUNITY NEWS SUMMER 2009

Q & MBA: STUDENTS’ THOUGHTS AND EXPERIENCES Rollins MBA Students Respond to Questions on Classroom, Life, and Career

Name: Jennifer Floyd Program: Corporate MBA Job Title: CEO/Executive Director, Healthy Start Coalition of Brevard County, Inc.

Q: How does this MBA program fit your needs? MBA: This program will equip me with additional skills to enhance my business knowledge, which will better enable me to lead the Coalition. Its goal is to reduce infant mortality through free services that decrease the number of low-birthweight babies born. Q: If there were 25 hours in a day, how would you spend that extra hour? MBA: I would spend my extra time with my family, especially my four-year-old son. Q: Name something people might find surprising about you? MBA: I grew up on a working horse farm; I began swimming competitively at three and started riding horses competitively at age five. Q: What is the most unusual food you’ve eaten? MBA: When spending a summer in Spain, I ate (unknowingly) a “delicacy,” fried bull testicles.

Name: Ashley George Program: Early Advantage MBA Professional Goal: Advertising Executive

Q: What is the best thing about the Rollins MBA program that wasn’t mentioned on a tour or in a brochure? MBA: The personal attention that you receive from the faculty and staff. Everyone here knows who you are and is willing to go above and beyond for you. Q: What’s your best habit? MBA: Giving people the benefit of the doubt. Q: Name something people might find surprising about you. MBA: I get sick to my stomach right before I give a speech or presentation, no matter how calm I seem. Q: What is the most helpful thing you’ve learned in a Rollins MBA classroom? MBA: The importance of understanding that we operate in a global economy. No one country or market is isolated; everything that we do affects others.

CRUMMER COMMUNITY NEWS SUMMER 2009

Name: James A. Decker, CMP Program: Saturday MBA Job Title: Sales Manager, Universal Orlando Resort

Q: Name something people might find surprising about you? MBA: I have struggled with dyslexia my whole life and was advised at one point that I should pick a trade, because I would never make it through a four-year college program. Today, as I pursue my MBA, I continue to understand that diversity makes every person special and that you must follow your dreams regardless of negative advice. Q: What’s the best out-of-classroom lesson you’ve received? MBA: I am amazed at the diversity, ideas and expertise my fellow students bring to Rollins College. Q: What is your favorite book? MBA: To Kill a Mockingbird Q: What is your favorite food? MBA: While working in London, I experienced English breakfast hot tea with milk, and now have four or five cups of hot tea per day.

Name: Monica Cameron Program: Professional MBA Job Title: Mortgage Default Specialist II, SunTrust

Q: What is the most helpful thing you’ve learned in a Rollins MBA classroom? MBA: As an undergraduate student, it was all about the grades. The most helpful thing that I have learned at Rollins is that it is all about the process. I feel that I am a better student now that I have learned to really embrace the learning experience. Q: What did you want to be when you grew up? MBA: Growing up I always wanted to be a mom. I haven’t achieved that goal yet. Q: Name something people might find surprising about you? MBA: I do not get an opportunity to do it often, but baking is something that I really enjoy. I find it relaxing. Q: What is the best piece of advice you’ve ever gotten? MBA: To not take myself too seriously.

Rollins College Crummer Graduate School of Business 1000 Holt Avenue-2722 | Winter Park, Florida 32789 | 800.866.2405 | 407.646.2405 | mba.rollins.edu