foster
Michael G. Foster school of business
University of washington
SPRING 2013
The
Networker’s Effect Catalyst of ventures and connector of people, Artie Buerk has financed the future of entrepreneurship at the University of Washington page 10
Also: Global gold page 14 Transformers page 18
Tracie Ziegler, BA 2013 Concentration: Human Resources Management Hometown: Tacoma, WA (Stadium High School) What fund did you support? I supported the Undergraduate Women In Business Scholarship Fund this year as part of my Senior Class Gift donation.
Count me in!
Why? My best Foster experience is definitely being part of the Undergraduate Women in Business student organization. This past year, I served as president—an experience that was extremely challenging, yet very rewarding. It allowed me to meet many people while honing some of my business skills. It also taught me how to be a better leader! What will you miss about Foster? My favorite thing about Foster is all the opportunities to be involved outside of the classroom. I think we are pretty lucky to have so many student organizations, case competitions, and other Foster events that allow students to network and meet professionals in the Seattle business community on a regular basis. It was my pleasure to give back to something that gave so much to me!
Seniors like Tracie aren’t the only ones supporting the Foster School these days. Can we count you in? The University of Washington relies on the private support of alumni, friends and business leaders to make these great experiences possible for students. Please join Tracie in giving back to your business school to create transformational experiences and endless opportunities for our future business leaders. To enhance education at Foster, simply mail your donation back in the enclosed envelope or visit foster.washington.edu/countmein.
contents
On the cover
10 The Networker’s Effect Catalyst of ventures and connector of people, Artie Buerk has financed the future of entrepreneurship at the University of Washington
14 Global GOLD For these graduates of the last decade, all business is international business
18 Transformers
Students enter the Foster MBA Program from every conceivable background and exit ready to lead in any organization
SP RING 2013 1
contents
$
8
Dean
$
$
James Jiambalvo
$
Associate Dean of Advancement
Steven Hatting Managing Director Marketing & Communications
Eric Nobis Managing Editor
Renate Kroll Contributing Writers
24
32
Ed Kromer, Andrew Krueger, Eric Nobis, L.A. Smith Photography
Matt Hagen (principal), Paul Gibson
Departments
Design
a.k.a. design
4 In the News
Economic Engines, How Do We Rank, Form Follows Function, Getting Real, Critical Condition, xACTing Victory, Global Business = Global Good, Economic Expansion, Dedicating Dempsey, Mark Your Calendar
23 Faculty
Academic Decathlete, Research Briefs, Great Reads, And One More...,
28 Alumni
Jeff Chen, Ken Denman, Events Calendar, Kate Kingen
Foster School of Business Marketing & Communications University of Washington
Box 353200 Seattle, WA 98195-3200 206.543.5102 On the Web
foster.washington.edu
Foster Business is published twice a year by the University of Washington Foster School of Business. The publication is made possible by donations from alumni and friends. No state funds are used in its production. Change of Address?
fans@uw.edu Comments?
bizmag@uw.edu Think differently. Make a difference.
2
fos ter BU S IN E S S
Fostering Futures When Natalia Perez (MBA 2012) was looking to move into market analytics, Foster grad Danny Finan (MBA 2009) told her of an opening where he works at Starbucks. That’s where Perez is now employed. As an MBA student, Sara Weaver (BA 1991, MBA 2001) was working on a plan for a real estate venture she was going to pitch at the School’s business plan competition. She asked Artie Buerk (BA 1958) for advice. “He gave our team feedback and also put us in touch with one of his high-profile friends in the real estate business,” says Weaver. And then he hired Weaver to oversee fundraising for his private equity firm, Buerk Craig Victor. As our cover story indicates, Artie not only helps Huskies find jobs, but he helps them become “job creators” through the entrepreneurship center now proudly carrying his name. These are just two of many instances of Foster alumni hiring, connecting and empowering our graduates with new opportunities. These connections play a large part in making Foster’s job placement rate one of the highest in the nation. In fact, our 3-month placement rate is higher than any school in the top 25! That’s one of the keys to Foster’s significant rise in recent business school rankings. In this spring’s US News & World Report Best Grad Schools rankings, the Foster School’s Full-Time MBA Program rose 12 spots to #23, placing us in the top 10 among public schools in the US. The Evening MBA Program remained among the best at #15 overall, and #8 relative to public universities. And in US News’ Undergrad rankings for 2013, the Foster School also stands in the top 25, at #14 among public universities and #24 nationwide. In the methodology of these rankings, job placement rate and/or employer satisfaction play a major role, and this is where our alumni can make a significant difference. While upward mobility in the rankings hinges on a lot of variables aligning at the right time, there’s no denying the significance of being able to place our graduates in the jobs they’re looking for. The staff members in Foster MBA Career Services and in the Ernst & Young Center for Undergraduate Career Advancement deserve special recognition for the exceptional job they do in connecting students with employers and recruiters. But this is one area we don’t want to leave strictly to the professionals. Without the connections that you—our alumni and supporters—provide, we would not be where we are today. You recognize the stellar education provided at Foster, and you communicate that to the broader business community every time you recommend a Foster alum or future graduate. Thank you for all that you do for your Foster School. Sincerely,
James Jiambalvo Dean, Michael G. Foster School of Business Kirby L. Cramer Chair in Business Administration
SP RING 2013 3
in the news Howard Behar
DON ROOT
Dean Jim Jiambalvo and Dorrit bern
Economic Engines Business Leadership Celebration honors remarkable builders of the economy Keynote speaker Alan Mulally, president and CEO of the Ford Motor Company, kicked off the 2012 UW Business Leadership Celebration with an inside look at his successful efforts to modernize and revive the ailing American manufacturing icon without a penny of government bailout. It was a fitting prologue to the three recipients of the school’s 2012 Distinguished Leadership Award, all builders of the economy in their own way. Leading with values Alan Mulally
4
fos ter BU S IN E S S
As president of Starbucks North America and founding president of Starbucks Inter-
national, Howard Behar led the company’s exponential growth from 28 stores to over 15,000 on five continents. Since retiring, he has chaired the UW Foundation Board and served as the 2008-09 Fritzky Chair in Leadership at the Foster School. He’s also the author of It’s Not About the Coffee, a book that espouses his belief that great leadership begins with personal values. “Values matter in our lives,” said Behar. “We have a great opportunity to rebuild trust in this country, but we have to do it right here, at the University of Washington. We’ve got to help our students understand
it isn’t about leadership with a capital L, it isn’t about leading others. It’s about leading yourself and living your life full of your values. That’s how we’re going to change the world.”
How Do We Rank?
Happy reunion
Foster moves up in recent rankings
Values have guided Dorrit Bern (BA 1972) to remarkable success. After leading Sears to its breakthrough “Softer Side of Sears” campaign, she joined a struggling company called Charming Shoppes as president, CEO and vice chairman. In short order, Bern transformed Charming into the nation’s leader in women’s specialty plus apparel. After retiring as chairman of the board in 2008, she reconnected with her alma mater, joined the Foster School’s advisory board, and served as the 2009-10 Fritzky Chair in Leadership. “What a pleasure it was coming back from the other side of the US and finding this incredible school,” she said. “I was struck by the quality of the program, the passion and commitment of the professors and the board… I know that this country is going in the right direction, not because of me, but because of you.” Quality jobs
Don Root (BA 1961), the CEO and chairman of GM Nameplate, has never really left the Foster School. “My degree gave me the keys to my successful business career,” said the longtime advisor and supporter. “That education made my dream possible.” He got his first job as a salesman for a small company that created aluminum nameplates for well-known firms such as IBM and HP. In 1977, Root and three partners purchased GM Nameplate. And he’s kept it growing ever since. Today, Root’s labor of love produces
Roger Levesque (MBA 2014) and Denise Bowen (MBA 2013) had fun co-hosting the event.
state-of-the-art instrument panels, electronic assemblies and molded components for a huge range of companies. His four sons have joined him in running a family business on an international scale, employing 1,200. “These are quality jobs,” Root reflected. “It makes me feel really good that we built something that could provide that many people a good job.” Builders of Our Future
The Foster School honored Amazon.com with this year’s Builders of Our Future Award. The world’s definitive online retail company employs nearly 300 Foster School alumni and more than 1,000 UW alumni. Last year, Amazon hired 17 percent of the graduating class of full-time Foster MBAs, and more than 50 Foster undergraduates are participating in the company’s coveted internship program. “Amazon is a place where builders are revered,” noted Craig Berman, the company’s vice-president of global communications. “For quite a long time, graduates of the UW and the Foster School have been making huge contributions in helping us build the future at Amazon.”n
The Foster School Full-Time MBA Program was ranked 23rd in the nation in the 2014 edition of US News & World Report’s survey of Best Graduate Schools—making it the 8th highest ranked public business school. The Evening MBA Program held its ranking of 15th overall, 7th relative to public universities. Foster is the only business school in the Northwest to be in the full-time or part-time top 50. Dean Jim Jiambalvo points to the high placement numbers for full-time MBA graduates as a strong driver in the ranking. The school had the highest placement rate, 96.8%, of any school in the top 25. “We have talented students, an outstanding program, and a great employer base,” says Jiambalvo. “This combination, along with a top-notch MBA career services center, ensures that our students get terrific job opportunities.” US News & World Report’s rankings are calculated by combining evaluations from business school deans and MBA program directors, recruiter assessment, admissions data, and salary and job placement figures. n
#
23
Full-Time MBA
96.8% placement rate
15
#
Save the date! The 2013 Business Leadership Celebration will be held on November 7th, and feature keynote speaker Bob McDonald, president, CEO and chairman of Proctor & Gamble. Watch our website for registration and updates. Potential sponsors should contact Mina Mercer at amercer@uw.edu or 206.221.6725.
evening MBA
SP RING 2013 5
IN the news
Form Follows Function PACCAR Hall architects receive major industry award for interior design In January, the American Institute of Architects (AIA) announced the 2013 recipients of the Institute Honor Awards, the profession’s highest recognition of works that exemplify excellence in architecture, interior architecture and urban design. More than 700 projects located throughout the world were submitted, but only 28 were recognized—PACCAR Hall was one of them. In its description of PACCAR Hall’s interior, the AIA website includes the following: “The design responds to the business school program’s strong emphasis on social connectivity and its active central campus site with a high degree of porosity—in terms of both visual and functional relationships. The 4-story central atrium works as a collector of community activity and social heart of the school, spilling into a vibrant daylit cafe. Common areas throughout the school are organized as a series of interconnected spaces that function in many different combinations— creating opportunities to cross paths, casually encounter, interact and engage outside of instructional rooms and offices.” The award for excellence in interior architecture will be formally presented to LMN Architects, the firm behind the design of PACCAR and Dempsey Halls, at the AIA National Convention in June. n
Getting Real Ben Andersen’s PatientStream receives inaugural investment of the W Fund PatientStream, the cloud-based electronic patient-tracking system for hospitals founded by Ben Andersen (TMMBA 2012), has secured the first $500,000 investment from the W Fund. The newly formed fund is a public-private partnership created to fuel promising start-ups spinning out of the UW and other research institutions across the state.
6
fos ter BU S IN E S S
PatientStream also received one of eight Jones Milestones/ Foster Accelerator awards from the Buerk Center for Entrepreneurship. Other start-ups earning a piece of the $170,000 pie included Haiti Babi, LumiSands, JoeyBra, Microryza, Strideline, SuperCritical Technologies and Urban Harvest. Foster Business featured Andersen and PatientStream in our Fall 2012 issue. n
Critical Condition EMBA symposium explores healthcare crisis from every angle
© iStockphoto.com / ABDESIGN
Does the American healthcare industry require reform or revolution? According to Brereton “Gubby” Barlow, CEO of Premera Blue Cross, it’s going to take a radical economic disruption to stem the runaway costs of an industry that threatens to swamp the US economy. Barlow was the keynote speaker of the inaugural Symposium on Creating a Sustainable Healthcare System, co-hosted by Premera and the Foster School Executive MBA Program. The October event approached the overarching theme of “Economic Disruption in Healthcare” from every possible angle. Barlow called for a transparent healthcare marketplace where costs of coverage are clarified and consumers have both the power and responsibility to make their own choices. Other sessions delved into the many forces at work in the healthcare system—from Medicare to network integration to innovations in healthcare delivery—culminating in a panel focused on reconciling the issues. The symposium was devised and driven by current Foster EMBA student Dr. John Henson, a neurologist and associate chief medical director at the Swedish Neuroscience Institute. Sparked by the numerous healthcare industry questions of his EMBA classmates, Henson saw an opportunity to organize a panel rich in knowledge and experience and found a willing partner in Premera, which helped draw more than 350 participants to the event. n
xACTing Victory Foster team wins national PricewaterhouseCoopers xACT Case Competition
Nabil Manji, Tasha Tieu, Tina Chen, Suzanne Scharlock, and Daniel Beasley were victorious with their unconventional recommendation.
In January, the Foster School brought home a national championship. The sport? Accounting. The contest? The PricewaterhouseCoopers xACT Case Competition. The undergraduate team of Daniel Beasley, Tina Chen, Nabil Manji, Suzanne Scharlock and Tasha Tieu won this premier national accounting contest at PwC’s headquarters in New York City. In doing so, the Foster five topped 494 teams from 46 schools across the US, among them UC-Berkeley, UCLA, Arizona, Texas, Indiana, Illinois, Emory and NYU. This year’s case involved a fictional family entertainment conglomerate (think Disney) that has recently acquired a theme park company (think Universal Studios) that carries a small, underperforming subsidiary developing a violent video game using an innovative technology. What to do about the gaming subsidiary? The “client” asked for direction on whether to leave it as is, sell it, or invest further to bring the game to market. The winning Foster team picked none of the above. Instead, they advised scrapping the game but further developing the company’s motion-sensing camera technology for eventual licensing to smart TV manufacturers. “Always thinking outside of the box,” says Patricia Angell, a Foster School lecturer who coached the team with help from partners at PwC’s Seattle office, including Dan Niles (BA 1984). The team’s rock-solid analysis and strategy, seamless collaboration, and outstanding individual presentation skills left the judges convinced, the client well satisfied. “When the winner was announced, I had this incredible urge to shout out ‘Bow Down to Washington,’” admits Niles. “It was a very proud moment.”n
SP RING 2013 7
IN the news Global business = Global good Increasing protein-based food in Nigeria, reducing indoor air pollution from cooking in Bangladesh, building a wheelchair out of bamboo—these are a few of the ideas presented in the 2013 UW Global Social Entrepreneurship Competition. Hosted by Foster’s Global Business Center, 14 semi-finalist teams from around the world competed for over $30,000 in prizes. The winners were announced at a celebration dinner on February 28, 2013. Grand Prize $12,500 = Jorsey Ashbel Farms
Representing three Nigerian universities, this team impressed judges with its approach to tackling the problem of protein-energy malnutrition affecting millions of disadvantaged children and women. Jorsey Ashbel Farms produces Nigeria’s cheapest livestock products with an innovative, low-cost livestock feed production technique using mango seeds. Information & Communication Technology Prize $10,000 = Social Cops
Prukalpa Sankar and Varun Banka from Nanyang Technological University launched Social Cops so ordinary Indian citizens could easily report civic issues such as uncollected trash, leaking water pipes, etc. to local government officials with their mobile phone. The civic reporting platform will begin a pilot this summer in Delhi. Global Health Prize $10,000 = LifeChair
LifeChair produces a wheelchair made of bamboo and rickshaw wheels. It is significantly less expensive than the wheelchairs currently available in Bangladesh and is designed and built to be used in rural areas. Makame Mahmud and Naseef Us Sakib from University of Dhaka created this company to help handicapped Bangladeshis become active members of society. An additional $6,500 in prizes were awarded to Coffee Promo Co. (installing washing stations at coffee farms, thus enabling farmers to sell sorted and processed beans and get a much higher price) and Disease Diagnostic Group (producing a Rapid Assessment of Malaria device to provide a handheld diagnosis for malaria in one minute at very low cost). n
Ashbel Ngalabak Ayuba explains Jorsey Ashbel Farms’ concept.
8
fos ter BU S IN E S S
Economic Expansion Center challenged to replicate success Through a pipeline of educational programs linking students, faculty and corporate partners with small businesses, the Foster School’s Business and Economic Development Center (BEDC) has built a model for success, helping grow businesses from early post start-ups to multi-million dollar firms. In Washington, the result is more than $90 million in new revenue generated and more than 6,000 jobs created and retained across the state. Can the model be replicated? The JP Morgan Chase Foundation thinks so. In December, they awarded the center with a $600K leadership grant, recognizing its positive impact on low-income communities in Washington state and challenging the center’s staff to expand programs there, while replicating its model on a national level. “Small business growth is key to economic growth. They are core to job creation and the health of our communities,” said Curt Fraser, Chase market president, middle markets. In 2004, the center’s staff began working with other institutions of higher education to replicate their model. Using the grant monies from the Chase Foundation, the center now plans to extend its reach. In 2013, the BEDC will launch the Northwest Business School Network to benefit low- and moderate-income communities in Washington and Oregon, and the Network for Economic Development Education and Research with a similar goal on a national level. Part of this plan includes a national conference to take place in Seattle this summer, aimed at gathering higher-education administrators and educators to discuss best practices and opportunities for job growth in underserved communities. n
Dedicating Dempsey Foster’s newest building receives a fitting name In the previous issue of Foster Business, it was announced that “Business Hall,” the utterly generic, temporary name chosen for the Balmer Hall replacement, was open for the start of the new academic year. The name didn’t last for long. On November 8, the UW Board of Regents approved a permanent and distinctive name—Dempsey Hall—to recognize a recent $10 million gift and two decades of service and philanthropic support from UW alumnus Neal Dempsey and his wife, Jan. A venture capitalist and Foster alumnus (BA 1964), Neal Dempsey’s involvement includes co-founding what is today the Buerk Center for Entrepreneurship, and co-chairing Foster’s capital campaign, “Creating Futures,” which resulted in $181 million to advance the school. On November 16, it was time for some pomp and circumstance as faculty, staff, and students joined the Foster School Advisory Board and UW leaders to dedicate the building. At the ceremony, Dean Jim Jiambalvo referred to Dempsey as “action-oriented and unwavering in principle.” Living up to the description when he took the podium, Dempsey called upon those in the room to give their time, energy and money to the Foster School. Asking everyone in the crowd to raise their hand if they agreed to give back, the entire room responded. He then smiled as he captured the promise on video with his phone. Dempsey closed by saying it’s been a “fantastic road to the finish line.” n
Mark Your Calendar
5th Annual PACCAR Hall Picnic For Foster Alumni, Friends and Families
Saturday, July 13 at 12 p.m. Enjoy a summer day full of food, fun and connections with your fellow alumni! More information and registration at foster.washington.edu/picnic.
and
MBA Reunion Weekend
For the classes of 1988, 1993, 1998, 2003 and 2008
July 12-14 Reconnect with faculty and classmates, share your memories and successes! More information and registration at foster.washington.edu/MBAreunion
SP RING 2013 9
Catalyst of ventures and connector of people, Artie Buerk has financed the future of entrepreneurship at the University of Washington
The
Networker’s Effect I t began with a gift. An investment, really, in an idea that had yet to be so much as scribbled on a cocktail napkin. In 1990, Artie Buerk (BA 1958) and his wife Sue (BA 1974) pledged $100,000 to support entrepreneurship at the UW Business School. The problem? There was no entrepreneurship to support. No center, no program, no business plan competition, not even a single class. A vigorous catalyst of new ventures, Buerk insisted that this deficiency be addressed. Immediately. “My whole life has revolved around start-ups and small businesses, the engines of the Northwest economy,” he says. “I felt the UW should have a program to educate future entrepreneurs.” Buerk found a small cabal of faculty with similar leanings. Most prominent among them was Borje “Bud” Saxberg, then chair of the Department of Management, who had noted the region’s uptick in entrepreneurial activity. “The answer was there,” recalls Saxberg, “waiting for action.” Artie equaled action. He helped Saxberg’s task force sketch out the original Program in Entrepreneurship and Innovation, and taught them how to raise the capital to launch it. That was the seed. From it has grown a veritable dynamo of entrepreneurial education and activity, centered at the Foster School but increasingly reaching across the University of Washington. Now that dynamo has been renamed the Arthur W. Buerk Center for Entrepreneurship, in honor of the Buerks’ recent $5.2 million gift to finance its future. “Artie always says that there’s no shortage of ideas. But we need leaders who can take those ideas and turn them into something valuable,” says Jim Jiambalvo, dean of the Foster School. “With the Buerks’ support of our entrepreneurship
10 f os ter BU S IN E S S
center—the Buerk Center—we’ll create more entrepreneurial leaders, and we’ll extend our reach to discover those young people who don’t yet realize they have the entrepreneurial DNA.”
Start-up Buerk realized it early on. His first business was a Seattle Times paper route in his childhood neighborhood north of Matthews Beach. He studied business at the UW, served as a supply officer on a destroyer in the US Navy, then earned an MBA at the Harvard Business School. Several years with big corporations convinced him that he was meant to build from the ground up. One of Buerk’s first entrepreneurial challenges came, ironically, back at the UW. In 1968, he was hired to direct its fledgling alumni fund and development office. The bare-bones operation was raising a paltry $40,000 a year. “We were 25 years behind other public universities and 200 years behind the Ivy League Schools,” he says. “To me, it was a real opportunity.” Buerk studied the field’s best practices, modernized the alumni database and department infrastructure, and increased the donor base exponentially—on his own and with a crackerjack staff. His early hires included Marilynn Dunn, the UW’s influential first vice-president of development, and Robb Weller, the legendary King of the Yell Squad, who could singlehandedly light up a crowd of 70,000. Buerk’s team of strivers got the private support flowing. By 1977, his operation was raising nearly $20 million a year (a legacy that has climbed to an annual $320 million today). “It was entrepreneurial, something I had a real passion for,” Buerk says. “I’ve never had a job that was more fun.”
SP RING 2013 11
Back in business Buerk’s expertise in raising money became a valuable asset. In the late 70s a couple of old friends, Chuck Barbo and Don Daniels, recruited him away to help finance their odd-lot portfolio of small businesses—among them Christmas tree farms, raw land, horse arenas, and a self-storage business. With Buerk as president—and an investor—the three decided to focus on the storage business, to be renamed Shurgard. And then they methodically built a nationwide brand, raising $750,000,000 for the expansion through a vast constellation of brokered deals. Buerk spun off a successful records management company called Intermation and helped take Shurgard public in 1994 before moving on. His investment had grown exponentially. And now the money was liquid. So Buerk put it to new work. With a group of partners— “A who’s who of the Foster School’s Advisory Board”—he turned a division of Washington Mutual into Northwestern Trust (acquired by Harris Trust). He also founded the Seattle School Fund for Excellence (now the Alliance for Education).
Advice From Artie Get involved – “As much as possible, get involved in the life of the university. Get out of the classroom and get into clubs, organizations, athletics, campus politics, competitions. There’s a huge value to experiential learning and networking. Carry it into your business life and it will become an invaluable asset.” Stay involved – “The UW has an incredible network— especially if you’re living in the state of Washington. But most people don’t have a clue how to use it. Get to know the people who are involved. The ones who make things happen while they’re in school are the ones who will make things happen throughout life. The education changes; your network grows with you.” Set goals – “If there’s anything I’ve learned in the world, it is that people who have goals that are quantified, written and dated are way more successful than people who don’t have goals that are quantified, written and dated. I think it’s the most powerful thing that anyone in the world can learn.” Build a real network – “I think of the modern notion of social networking as plastic, in a way. There’s simply no substitution for face-to-face relationships. Pay attention to people and you will be far more successful.”
12 f os ter BU S IN E S S
In 1997, he co-founded the private equity firm of Buerk Craig Victor, now Montlake Capital. It was the heyday of the Internet boom, when capitol gushed toward anything with a .com suffix. But Buerk was a skeptic. He chose to invest in firms that demonstrated solid fundamentals—proven products/services, realistic projections and genuine leadership. Over the next decade-plus, he continued to add to his legacy, molding companies and mentoring their leaders—from Door to Door Storage to Blue Dog Bakery, from HaloSource to SOG Knives. People person Whatever the business, Buerk’s true business has always been people. His vast personal network is legendary, and ever-growing. “Artie knows everyone, and everyone knows Artie,” says venture capitalist Neal Dempsey (BA 1964), a fellow founding champion of entrepreneurship at the UW. It is, perhaps, because Buerk takes networking more personally than most. He had to. “My father died when I was 11, and it was just my mom and me,” he says. “If I was going to have a family, I knew I was going to have to build it out of friends and relationships. “And that’s the way I look at it: not just a network, but my extended family.” It’s a philosophy with a long-term perspective. “Some people think of networking in terms of what they can get out of it,” says Kris Lindquist (MBA 2011), the director of strategic business development at Amazon.com who met Buerk through Foster’s MBA Mentorship Program. “But Artie gives twice as much as he takes. He pays it forward.” He’s the consummate connector of people who show intelligence and initiative. “If you want to know who to talk to in an industry or about a specific topic, Artie will typically know someone off the top of his head,” adds Sara Weaver (BA 1991, MBA 2001), a Buerk Center advisor who once worked at Buerk Craig Victor. “And he is very generous with his contacts and resources. He takes a real interest in helping people grow and succeed.” “Building and maintaining relationships makes your life a lot more successful and valuable,” adds Buerk. “The greatest thing, to me, is to see the success of someone you’ve helped.” Bow Down to Washington Most of Buerk’s connections seem to triangulate with the UW. He splits allegiances with the Harvard Business School (he’s been a dedicated class secretary for 50 years). “But my blood is purple and gold,” he confirms. It’s a loyalty forged during busy, happy days as an undergrad. Bussing in to Roosevelt High School from Seattle’s northern frontier left little time for involvement. So Buerk resolved to engage in the life of the UW in every possible way. He studied business in the classroom, but learned to lead all over campus. Managing the Husky football and basketball teams. Training with Naval ROTC. Running the campaigns of the student body president and vice president. Serving as senior class officer, president of the Oval Club and member of Fir Tree.
Buerk was named “Outstanding Senior Man.” He graduated, but never really left. After his decade as the UW’s first professional fundraiser, Buerk was a trustee of the UW Foundation and chair of the UW Development Fund. He taught personal finance through UW Extension for years. He’s a past president and board chair of the UW Alumni Association. He serves on the advisory boards of the I-School and the Foster School, having chaired the Foster board through the final years of the last capital campaign. He’s also mentored for years at Foster, and is on the board of the UW Angel Fund. For these many decades of service—multiplied by the thousands he inspired to do the same—the UW honored Buerk with its 2007 Gates Volunteer Service Award. The recipient claims he has got more than he’s given: “I’ve never had any association with the U that hasn’t been fun and successful,” Buerk says. “It’s hard to replicate that record in any other element of life.”
The Buerk Center (So Far) Founded in 1991 Ranked 10th by Entrepreneur, 14th by US News & World Report Activities / Resources The Business Plan Competition has drawn 992 start-up teams (3,135 students) from across the UW and around the state to vie for $1.3 million in seed funding between 1998 and 2012. The Jones Milestone Awards/Foster Accelerator provides serious start-up teams work space and expert mentorship as well as an opportunity to earn a portion of $170,000 in funding annually if they make progress against key early milestones. The Environmental Innovation Challenge (founded in 2009), a partnership with the Colleges of Engineering and the Environment, drew 32 multidisciplinary teams competing for $22,500 in prizes in 2013.
Center of attention And few UW touchpoints have been as satisfying or successful as the mature, innovative center that has grown from Buerk’s somewhat speculative investment two decades ago. To a brand building expert, “Buerk Center” has a nice ring to it. It certainly says something about the institution. “There’s no one more deserving to have his name atop the center than Artie,” says Neal Dempsey, whose own name graces the building that houses it. “It’s a hugely meaningful gift, and a hugely meaningful name. Artie is the best there is.” True to form, Buerk wants the center—already in the Entrepreneur top ten—to be the best there is. He applauds the work of director Connie Bourassa-Shaw and her staff to elevate the original vision to an incredible vibrancy of practical activity and education. And he hopes this new infusion of resources from the naming gift fuels the center’s ongoing expansion throughout the UW system. “The UW brings 45,000 brilliant people to a 640-acre spot to work every day,” Buerk says. “Our job is to turn that brain power into businesses that will be good for their founders, good for the university, and good for the Northwest economy. “If we can integrate entrepreneurship into the fabric of the university, engage all kinds of students and faculty in the process, get them thinking of great ideas as potential businesses, we will have something that’s very powerful.” Power is what the Buerks have provided the Buerk Center for Entrepreneurship. “A naming gift is the best endorsement,” says Bourassa-Shaw. “It’s an amazing vote of confidence. It says, I so believe in you that I’m proud to have my name associated with you for decades to come. It says, I’m betting money on your future. It says, I trust the center to do the right thing for students, for the UW, for Seattle. This is Artie’s legacy.” The latest and greatest of many. n
The new MentorConnect website allows students to find and reach a mentor 24/7. Other programs include the Entrepreneurial Law Clinic, EntreWeek UW, Program in Technology Commercialization (with CoENG and BioEngineering), EAT Lunches, BYOB breakfasts, summer internships and fellowships. Education Twenty-two percent of all Foster School undergrads take at least one course in entrepreneurship, including 128 enrolled in the ENTRE option. Classes include Creating A Company and Venture Investing. New this year is an Entrepreneurship Minor for non-business UW students. The Lavin Entrepreneurial Action Program provides an accelerated education for a group of especially motivated young entrepreneurs admitted as freshmen. Ninety percent of all Foster MBAs take at least one course in entrepreneurship. Also available are New Venture Internships to help commercialize UW technologies, and the Technology Entrepreneurship Certificate for grad students in non-business disciplines. The bottom line Seventy-five companies that started through the Business Plan Competition are still in business. According to a 2011 survey of Buerk Center start-ups, the 28 respondents employed 641 and posted estimated 2011 revenues of $92,749,000.
SP RING 2013 13
Global Gold For these graduates of the last decade, all business is international business
A
birthday. The final exam of a college career. Moving abroad. Foster alumna Jenepher Schulte (BA 2010) celebrated all three of these momentous occasions at one big party on March 19th, 2010. Weeks before, she accepted a job offer as a financial analyst with Unifund, located in Geneva, Switzerland. Excited by the opportunity to work abroad, she decided to skip graduation ceremonies. The day after the party, she boarded a plane. While not all graduates who work outside the US take flight with such speed, Schulte is one of nearly 1,500 Foster School alumni currently working abroad. The exact number, based on the University of Washington’s alumni database is 1,363, representing 75 countries, from Argentina to Yugoslavia (see sidebar). According to that data, there are 11 Foster alumni working in the Netherlands—Lauren Okada (BA 2004) is one of them.
14 f os ter BU S IN E S S
Game on
Okada spent a summer abroad during high school in Salamanca, Spain. She returned to the country, this time in Grenada, for a 6-month study-abroad program as a sophomore at the Foster School. It was then, according to Okada, that she knew she wanted to work abroad. The opportunity presented itself in August of 2008 when her employer, adidas, decided to locate its supply planning department in Amsterdam. Okada had been working for the sporting goods giant in her hometown of Portland since graduating from Foster in 2004. She jumped at the chance to move. Looking back, she considers it a pivotal moment in her career. “I think moving abroad is one of my greatest accomplishments. It wasn’t so much a difficult task as it was a personal move that’s changed my life enormously.”
Though she graduated with a concentration in marketing, it didn’t take long for Okada to realize her strengths in other areas. In her current role as a supply chain planning manager, she oversees the supply of adidas accessory and gear products—more than 50 million pieces—from creation through to production and sales. The product line includes everything from balls to bags. “It’s all about delivery performance, making sure the right product is in the right place at the right time,” says Okada. When it comes to those measures, Okada’s accessories and gear team boasts a delivery performance of 99 percent, adidas’ highest. To maintain that performance level during the year ahead will be a challenge. For the 2014 FIFA World Cup, arguably the world’s largest sports event, Okada expects adidas’ accessory and gear volume to double, upwards of 100 million. Among other items, they will produce the official match ball. While Okada has achieved great success in her role, there are unique challenges for the American in Amsterdam. “The supply planning department, with just over 45 people, is represented by 25 different nationalities. Working directly with so many people from different cultures always provides new perspectives, approaches and ways of working. Obvi-
ously, this also presents some problems,” says Okada. “Words, gestures, demeanor and intonation can all easily be misinterpreted. Managing people of different cultures or in remote locations can also be challenging as communication is further strained.” Jeitinho Brasileiro
“Jeitinho brasileiro,” explains Aysa Miller (BA 2004), “is an expression every American with an interest in visiting or doing business in Brazil should know. It means, ‘the Brazilian way of doing things.’” Miller learned the phrase early in his term as a Foreign Service officer for the US Consulate in São Paulo, Brazil. While his primary responsibility is facilitating visas for business travelers, tourists, and students wanting to visit the US, he is also immersed in building bilateral relationships, especially with the business community in São José dos Campos, one of the most important industrial and research centers in Latin America. While Miller’s post in São Paulo is his first term abroad for the US Foreign Service, it didn’t take him long to realize the importance of his role as a diplomat. The day after a visit to
SP RING 2013 15
tional Studies in Business (CISB) and honed his language skills in Spanish, French, Arabic and Hindi. With a love for international relations, language, and business, becoming an economic officer in the Foreign Service was a perfect fit. Miller’s post and challenges will change every two to three years, the length of a Foreign Service assignment. Next up for Miller is a term in Sudan. “I’m not sure what to expect yet. In my post, I’ll be in charge of commerce, anything related to economy— and their economy is driven by politics. I have lots of questions already. What are Chinese doing there? What are Arabs doing there? What does the north and south separation mean for economy? What’s the role of the Port of Sudan?” Aysa Miller answers Brazilians’ questions about US business practices.
dos Campos, one of the businessmen he met with wrote and to ask Miller if he would give a presentation on doing business in the US. “He asked if I would visit his church, a mega church, where he runs a business council that meets twice a month to talk about entrepreneurship, business practices, etc.,” says Miller. Miller was shocked when he arrived. “I saw my face on a billboard. They had arranged two radio interviews. There were 250 people gathered to hear my presentation and they asked serious questions about US business practices, visas—nothing gets done without them….” Helping Brazilian and American businesspeople to understand one another can be a challenge, but it is one that Miller enjoys. For Brazilians, it sometimes involves addressing ‘the Brazilian way,’ the idea that regardless of the rules or systems in place, where there is a will there has to be a way around it, a concept that can produce unease for their American counterparts. For Americans wanting to do business in Brazil, Miller has a different challenge. “Every time I meet with businesspeople in dos Campos, the message they always want me to deliver to US businesses is one of patience,” says Miller. “Many Brazilians aren’t used to the American idea that an important decision can be made after a single day of meeting. Brazilians like to develop relationships that are more personal and take their time to build trust.” This approach to relationships unfolds every day Miller arrives at work, a reminder of cultural differences. It’s a scene he describes as being similar to walking into a house for Thanksgiving dinner. “The Brazilians that work in the consulate make it interesting. Every morning they great everyone individually, they all kiss, they chat for a few minutes. It’s very friendly, very jovial, definitely a contrast from the typical American office.” Experiencing other cultures was a large part of Miller’s choice in careers and education. At Kentridge High School, in Kent, WA, Miller studied abroad, first in Egypt, then in Chile. When he arrived at the Foster School, he earned a Certificate in Interna-
16 f os ter BU S IN E S S
There, and back again
Unlike the unknowns facing Aysa Miller, when Jenepher Schulte moved to Geneva the night after celebrating her birthday and taking her last final exam, she knew what to expect. Schulte was returning to an office and city where she had interned as part of her Foster School experience. Schulte’s desire to work abroad formed early in her childhood. “As a kid, I always wanted to spend time with kids from different backgrounds and cultures,” she says. It was reinforced by her grandmother, an ex-pat from New Zealand, who took her on her first trip to Italy when Schulte was in high school. It planted the seed of things to come. At the Foster School, Schulte earned her Certificate in International Studies in Business, along with her concentration in finance. When it came time to choose a language as part of the CISB requirements, she chose Italian. She credits the program as a large part of landing her job with Unifund. “For my employer, it was a big factor that I was intentional about studying abroad and using my language skills.” Schulte’s responsibilities at Unifund include management of a large public market portfolio of $30M as well as a private equity portfolio valued at several hundred million dollars. Both portfolios are diversified globally; much of her time is spent analyzing investments in companies from around the world in a variety of sectors and stages. She’s also been very involved in building a start-up in the secondary alternative asset market, PEX Global Inc., a rewarding endeavor and a professional success for Schulte. “Helping to start a business that draws on my international business background is really rewarding. For me, it reinforces what it means to do business across cultures,” says Schulte. “We’ve been able to make it profitable and build up a sizeable transaction volume in a very difficult market.” Outside of the office, Schulte is equally driven. She devotes a good deal of time as a volunteer with the Brighter Vision Foundation, an organization focused on women and children in the Middle East and North Africa. She’s worked on issues ranging from
efforts to defend the human rights of children, to programs that educate girls in Egypt. “I interact with programs and help them develop their proposals to the foundation. It’s a great way to build my cross-cultural skills and make an impact,” says Schulte.
Where in the world are Foster alumni? Krista Peterson, associate director of alumni engagement at the Foster School, just returned from a trip to Asia as the staff lead for an MBA study tour. While visiting the cities of Shanghai, Beijing and Taipei, Peterson also made it a point to host gatherings for Foster alumni. “It’s always fun to connect with alums working and living abroad,” says Peterson. “And on every trip, I’m guaranteed to see someone at an event who we didn’t know was in the area.”
What’s next for Schulte?
“Professionally, having gone abroad, I’ve learned a lot and I’ve experienced being adaptive and open minded. I’ve come to treasure the experience because of that and know it will help me as I pursue a JD/MBA,” says Schulte. Schulte will begin the dual degree this fall. In the long term, she’s open to continued work abroad, but hopes to practice in the States at a large firm before looking abroad. “Maybe China. Maybe South America. I’ll have to wait and see what the global finance sector looks like at that point.” Maybe Schulte will end up in Peru. The Foster School is lacking a presence there. n
Far-Flung Foster The number of Foster School alumni working abroad, according to the UW’s alumni database, is 1,353. Here’s a look at where they are:
Krista Peterson and two Foster program alumni in Tokyo, Japan.
While an unexpected face is always welcome at such events, it’s a great example of the inherent issues with keeping track of more than 50,000 Foster alumni, something even more difficult when alumni move abroad. Many choose to keep a permanent US mailing address, email addresses often lack any indicators, and the same is true of employer information. Consider Foster alumna, Melanie Sharpe. Sharpe (Evening MBA 2010), business manager for greater China region HR at Microsoft, transferred to Beijing in the summer of 2012. With a permanent address in the states and a local employer, the Foster School’s alumni engagement team might have expected her to turn out for a Foster Trivia Night, not an alumni gathering in China. “For some people, they might not want to keep a connection to their alma mater, but for most, it’s just a matter of forgetting to take the time to write or call,” says Peterson. Knowing where our alumni are located allows us to invite them to events, connect them with students interested in working abroad, and help us paint a better picture of Foster’s global reach to media. Working and living abroad? Send the Foster School’s alumni engagement team an email at fans@uw.edu. They’d love to hear from you.
59% 11%
2%
8% 2%
1%
• • • • • • • • •
3% 1%
13% Asia: East Europe Asia: South North America (not US) Central / South America / Caribbean Australia / Oceania Middle East / North Africa Sub-Saharan Africa Asia: Southeast
SP RING 2013 17
Transformers Students enter the Foster MBA Program from every conceivable background and exit ready to lead in any organization
They come from every walk of life. From business, yes. But also from teaching and science, athletics and non-profit management, engineering and government, architecture and law enforcement. Just about any background you can imagine has been represented in the Foster School’s Full-Time MBA Program. “The probability that someone in our program has a nontraditional background or plans to put their degree to a non-traditional use is a lot higher than at other world-class business schools,” says Dan Turner, associate dean of masters and executive education. “That has everything to do with our inclusive culture, our ethic of collaboration, our intimate size and our ability to customize. “But our diversity never comes at the expense of quality—in our students or in the rigor of their education. They graduate ready to lead.” These are just a few Foster MBAs who arrived in Seattle from every walk of life, but for a single purpose:
transformation.
18 f os ter BU S IN E S S
© iStockphoto.com / Flory, hansslegers, Eraxion, nazarethman
Charlie Berg
Teresa Demel
Todd Dennett
Once: pro skier, the Rockies, Alps, Sierra Nevadas, Cascades
Once: traveling science teacher, Pacific Science Center
Once: advance man, The White House
Now: associate product line merchandiser, Eddie Bauer
Now: product marketing manager, Adobe Systems
Charlie Berg (MBA 2011) downplays his characterization as a former professional skier. “Aspiring,” he qualifies. Sure, he worked seasonal jobs and as a mortgage broker to pay the bills. But for eight years he lived to ski, in the mountains of Washington, Colorado, California and Switzerland. He notched several first descents in the Cascades, competed in extreme skiing competitions across North America, was featured in several skiing films. But the dream was unsustainable. Berg needed a career, preferably within a business that shared his passions. Entering the Foster MBA Program, he identified outdoor apparel as a potential target. “Foster is a jumping off point,” he says. “It gives you time to plan, puts you in a great position to try new things. And the internships are totally designed for that purpose.” Berg fit right in at Eddie Bauer, an apparel company reconnecting with its roots as an outfitter for extreme endeavors. He manages the firm’s technical product line, deciding what clothes and accessories to make and how to market them to people like him. Good work. And he still skis, “every chance I get.”
Teresa Demel (MBA 2011) rocks. Literally. She plays guitar and sings with “Another Perfect Crime,” a band that formed shortly after she moved to Seattle seven years ago. Not that she’s quit her day job(s). At first, Demel put her biology degree to work as a traveling educator in the Pacific Science Center’s renowned Science on Wheels Program, followed by a gig managing heart health outreach through UW Bioengineering. Then her destiny turned on a reading of What Color is your Parachute. “I realized that what I had been doing—and loving— was really product development and marketing,” she says. She wanted to learn more. The Foster MBA provided “a combination of great professors who gave me strategic frameworks that I use every day, and fabulous career counselors who shaped my transformation.” Unsure of where she’d fit in the for-profit world, Demel embraced their advice to view a first job like a medical residence—a skills-building step toward a dream career. “As an avid user of Photoshop, I had always had a crush on Adobe,” she says. “Now here I am, product marketing manager for Adobe Digital Publishing Suite.” And rocking it.
Now: consultant, Tiller/Dennett & Company
Todd Dennett (MBA 2004) has always made things happen. So it was no coincidence when the go-to guy landed an internship in the White House press room while studying international affairs and communications at George Washington University. This kicked off a dizzying five years orchestrating events and travel for Vice President Al Gore, followed by a job as protocol officer at the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics and, later, heading operations for Howard Dean’s meteoric presidential campaign. But Dennett felt he needed to strengthen his management skills. So, home to the Puget Sound and the Foster School he went. His unique organizational experience and expanded management portfolio got the attention of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which hired him to organize its founders’ activities and maximize their influence. It was a job that took him around the world. Still globetrotting today, Dennett runs a niche consulting firm, with clients that include the Gateses, the Obamas and the Olympic Games. As ever, he’s the consummate organizer, making things happen to perfection. “It’s always been my passion,” he says. “The work is not so different, but the Foster MBA helped me do it on my own.”
SP RING 2013 19
Seth Eisner
Lisa Henke
Stacie Johnson
Once: chef, Etta’s, Dahlia, Harvest Vine
Once: philanthropy director, The Nature Conservancy
Once: personnel officer, US Army
Now: general manager, Microsoft Financing
Food to finance. This odd trajectory is the story of Seth Eisner’s (MBA 2001) professional life. His epicurean nature activated by a stint teaching English in Paris, Eisner returned to the States to attend the New England Culinary Institute. Then, in the late 90s, he worked at the newly opened Etta’s Seafood, Dahlia Lounge, and Harvest Vine, cooking alongside some of Seattle’s top young chefs. But Eisner, who studied history at Washington University, also harbored feelings for financial markets. Faculty in the Foster MBA Program helped him explore this growing interest, and an internship at Microsoft proved that his perfect job exists in the corporate world. In fact, it exists at Microsoft. So out of the frying pan and into the fire. In his decade-plus at Microsoft, Eisner has directed foreign exchange, capital markets, and investments and acquisitions units. Today he leads the complex enterprise of Microsoft Financing. He still cooks whenever possible, and carves out a few weekends to make duck confit, cure meats or pickle vegetables. And lessons from the professional kitchen are seared in his psyche. “That experience helped me find order in chaos, develop productive working relationships under pressure,” he says. “The parallels to what I do now are striking.”
20 f os ter BU S IN E S S
Now: senior consultant, PwC Consulting
Now: senior product manager, Amazon.com
Experiencing the fragile natural splendor of Ecuador and Costa Rica during her college years, Lisa Henke (MBA 2010) couldn’t help but become an environmental advocate. She joined the Nature Conservancy’s Latin American programs, initially handling marketing, fundraising and business development. Eventually, Henke rose to associate director of philanthropy, forging relationships with wealthy individuals and corporations with a conscience. “I was inspired by the people I met on the advisory board,” Henke says. “I began to see the power of combining business and environmental management.” She came to Foster to learn how to harness the market to do good. She says her classes and classmates really helped. And now that free-market education continues at Amazon, where Henke began as a senior product manager on the books team and now oversees vendor management on the home improvement team. “I’ve learned so much here, working with smart people from so many different backgrounds,” she says. “It’s like an extension of the Foster School.” Henke also remains active on the board of EarthCorps, a Seattle-based organization she first served through the Foster Board Fellows Program. “That’s how I get my environmental fix,” she says.
Oh, the places she’s gone. In the years leading to her Foster MBA, Stacie Gowdy Johnson (MBA 2012) studied chemistry and nuclear engineering at the US Military Academy, served as postal platoon leader in Korea and executive officer to the commanding general at Fort Bliss, founded the first medical school on the US-Mexico border (for Texas Tech), and led a strategic overhaul of Washington state’s Employment Security Department. Such a varied suite of formative experiences gave Johnson reason to think that consulting might be a good fit. “But I wasn’t qualified,” she says. “They all wanted 10 years of experience or an MBA.” So she came to Foster. Johnson made the most of her classmate collaborations and coursework, especially in strategy, project management, market research and quantitative analysis. Plus an internship in customer strategy and operations at PricewaterhouseCoopers. Now in her first full-time assignment at PwC Consulting, Johnson is mapping processes for a new organization within Microsoft. Where to next? Johnson says that consulting is a great place to learn, the nexus of many possibilities. “I’m not sure if I see myself in consulting forever,” she says. “But who knows?”
Stacy Lissandrello
Natalia Perez
Benjamin Pierson
Once: math teacher/ski instructor, Jackson Hole
Once: economist, US Bureau of Labor Statistics
Once: emergency management planner, Pierce County
Now: senior financial analyst, Amazon.com
Now: category development analyst, Starbucks
Now: director, Alvarez & Marsal
For a while, Stacy Lissandrello (MBA 2011) didn’t really care to have a career at all. “I wanted to be a ski bum,” she admits. After studying mathematics at Colby College, Lissandrello moved to Wyoming to ski. She gave ski lessons and did math tutoring to fund her skiing. Tutoring led to a job teaching calculus and statistics and, eventually, heading the math department at a private school in Jackson Hole. But eventually Lissandrello’s vagabond existence wore thin. She wanted a career both challenging and rewarding, and thought finance might make a good transition. “I figured an MBA would be the quickest way to jumpstart my career,” she says. It was a comfort to find that she was not alone in her non-traditional path to the MBA. And from her first finance course, she knew she had made the right choice. So did Amazon, which hired Lissandrello as a senior financial analyst. She began working on the company’s fulfillment supply chain and now covers retail health and beauty products. It’s a dream position for someone who, like her employer, tends to be data-driven. “I have this great job in the city,” she says, “and the mountains in my backyard.”
Natalia Perez’s (MBA 2012) first job after college was conducting market research and analysis focused on the trucking industry for a transportation consulting firm.“ I didn’t even know how my car worked,” admits the Chilean expat. But she did know how to analyze complex economies. And she soon found employment as an industry analyst at the Bureau of Labor Statistics, helping produce the monthly jobs report and the Producer Price Index. But she didn’t see herself in government long term, and decided an MBA was the most versatile degree to get. Her coursework at Foster helped her self-identify with market analytics. Even before graduation she began working at Starbucks, first as a workforce strategist and now as a category development analyst for emerging Starbucks brands including Evolution Fresh and the Verismo home brewing system. Her time at Starbucks has revealed an under-heralded value of the program. “Every piece is important,” she says. “And it may sound like a small thing, but learning to work in teams has been critical. At Starbucks, I don’t do anything on my own. Everything is accomplished in teams. It’s such a vital element of the Foster MBA.”
Emergency management may not be the most obvious prelude to an MBA. But Ben Pierson (MBA 2009) found the complexity of his work with Pierce County Emergency Management to be growing rapidly beyond his skill set. After four years, he was leading the agency’s countywide planning for disaster response and economic recovery, an endeavor that demanded system-wide coordination of public and private sector. Pierson sought a Foster MBA to understand the business end of such partnerships. “I just came to learn,” he says. “And I trusted that something good would come from it.” He emerged a fixer of the highest order. His first contribution was to develop a green economy jobs strategy for Seattle/ King County with its Workforce Development Council. Now he’s with the consulting firm of Alvarez & Marsal, advising philanthropic clients on their efforts to solve wide-scale social, economic and health ills. “To solve these complicated, systemic problems, we ultimately need to find market-based solutions that don’t rely solely on public funding or philanthropy,” Pierson says. “I have to know all the levers to pull, understand how to coax stakeholders out of their comfort zones. I wouldn’t have been in this position without the Foster School.”
SP RING 2013 21
Shrenik Shah
Carrie Stearns
Crystal Wu
Once: engineer, DuPont
Once: research scientist, Cornell
Once: environmental scientist, SWAPE
Now: director of site merchandising & operations, Walmart eCommerce
Now: senior marketing manager, Philips Healthcare
Now: senior analyst, Expedia
Shrenik Shah (MBA 2010) chose a career track early. He studied science and math at the Indian High School of Dubai, majored in engineering at Virginia Tech, and began his career as an engineer at DuPont, ensuring the safety and efficiency of new product facilities. But Shah wanted to do more than execute on a firm’s strategic decisions. He wanted to make those decisions. He needed an MBA to move to the management side. On first impression, he says, “the Foster School blew my mind. The people, the environment, how collaborative the whole place is.” Shah absorbed every course, every classmate, every case competition, every mentor, every opportunity to work and learn. After assisting in several start-ups and a brief stint in strategy consulting with Alvarez & Marsal, Shah joined Walmart eCommerce, where he helps manage the sprawling Internet operation of the world’s largest retailer. His engineering background has helped him navigate the analytics and interactions with technical teams. But it’s his management skills that are making the difference. “My engineering work was never customerfacing,” he says. “At Walmart, however, I’m exposed to the entire US market—actual people spending their hard-earned money with us in this tight economy.”
After defending her doctoral thesis in chemical biology at Cornell, Carrie Stearns (MBA 2008) climbed into her car and drove four days straight across the USA to begin orientation for the Foster MBA Program. She wasn’t keen to prolong the transition from cancer research to management development. “I loved the science,” she says. “Just not doing the science. I wanted a little more control over my destiny, a way to make a more immediate impact on healthcare.” Foster was the ticket. She loved the diversity of students, dove into the coursework and entered the UW Business Plan Competition (her team’s plan for an algaebased biofuel won Best Clean Tech). She also turned an internship at Philips into a job managing the healthcare company’s cardiovascular and surgery device service portfolios. She helped launch the prostate cancer drug Provenge at Dendreon before returning to Philips to lead its women’s healthcare ultrasound business in North America. “It’s the rare opportunity in marketing to both set the strategy and drive implementation,” she says. And no looking back. “I don’t think I would have been happy doing research,” she admits. “I’m passionate about marketing and heathcare. And improving patients’ lives.”
Collecting dust from old attics. Sampling oil field air in the middle of the night. Ah, the romance of environmental science. Crystal Wu (MBA 2011) knows it well. After graduating from UCLA with a degree in molecular, cell and developmental biology, she began her career managing environmental consulting projects for SWAPE. But eventually, Wu decided to come in out of this niche field. The Foster School helped her identify—and achieve—a broader role. “I didn’t know I wanted to move into finance,” she says, “but it was a natural step given my background in modeling and analysis.” Wu found finance at Foster. She also founded the Seattle chapter of the National Association of Women MBAs. But it was her internship at Mike’s Hard Lemonade, of all places, that activated her transformation to business finance. “It was the stepping stone I needed to connect my two careers,” Wu says. Her re-launch has begun at Expedia, where she applies her modeling and financial analysis skills to its affiliate network. The company recently transferred her to London where, it is presumed, she’s able to avoid dusty attics and stinky oil fields. n
22 f os ter BU S IN E S S
Learn more about Foster MBA programs at foster.washington.edu/MBAprograms.
faculty
Academic Decathlete Paper cites professor Tom Lee as the epitome of the multidimensional business professor Tom Lee has published volumes of academic papers and book chapters. But last year, the Foster School’s Hughes M. Blake Endowed Professor of Management had the rare experience of being the subject of another author’s work. In Sarah Kovoor-Misra’s “Academic Decathletes: Insights from the Metaphor and an Exemplar,” published in the Journal of Management Inquiry, the “exemplar” is Lee. “Business school professors are facing increasing pressure to excel in diverse academic roles that require different knowledge and skills,” writes Kovoor-Misra in the paper’s abstract. “The multiplicity and diversity of roles evoke the image of the professor as an academic decathlete.”
To illustrate the metaphor, she chose Lee. His curriculum vitae is loaded: associate dean for academic and faculty affairs. Teacher of undergraduates, MBAs and Executive MBAs in his 30 years at Foster. Mentor of PhDs. Author of more than 80 peer-reviewed papers. Co-creator of landmark theories on why people choose to leave or stay in their jobs. Recent editor of the Academy of Management Journal. Editorial board member of eight other journals. Past president of the Academy of Management. Private sector consultant. Fellow of the AOM and the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology.
Here is an excerpt from Kovoor-Misra’s Q&A with Lee: Kovoor: Why did you choose to be an academic? Lee: I was working for the Southern California Edison Company, in Rosemead, California in human resources. I happened to work on two projects: a study on attitudes towards nuclear power and validation of employee selection tests. These two projects made it quite salient that I should be an academic. Kovoor: Why did you get involved in administration? Lee: Once upon a time, I thought I would never get involved in administration. In 2004, however, I was on the AOM presidential track, AMJ Editor, and invited to be an Academy Fellow. I remember sitting in London with my wife and thinking—“My life is going pretty darn well!” Then, in the following month, I was diagnosed with a brain tumor. I needed surgery and radiation. At that time, I needed a job with a series of unchallenging tasks. The School responded very supportively and gave me the position of associate dean. At the end of one year I continued because of loyalty and commitment to the Foster School.
Kovoor: Do you think the metaphor of an athlete can be used to describe an academic? Lee: Yes, it is very broadly applicable. What comes to mind (never having been a professional athlete) is that, like an athlete, you spend a long time training. Early on, your performance is based on ability but later on it is less raw athleticism and more on learning. For instance, as an assistant professor, you work ungodly long hours, and it is driven by physical energy. Later on, performance is more based on learned skills. When you are younger, you can sit and concentrate for long hours, and you have more mental acuity. As you get older, the ability to focus goes down, but you have learned how to take more breaks, and you become more efficient at thinking and writing. Kovoor: Do you think academics who excel in multiple roles in research, administration, and teaching are similar to decathletes? Lee: Yes, (the metaphor) makes sense to me because they require different skills. Most management faculty do research/ writing, teaching, and service year round. The pressure to publish remains as high or
higher now than before. As public schools move toward revenue-generating programs (to pay our bills), the demand for highquality teaching has gone way up as well … And demand for service to maintain these programs has increased. Kovoor: Do you think you are a decathlete? Lee: That is a difficult question, but yes… I am doing a lot of different roles concurrently, most people do it sequentially. n
SP RING 2013 23
faculty RESEARCH BRIEFS Old News?
Cheater’s High
The Uncertainty Tax
Inattentive investors create opportunity for savvy arbitrageurs
A force that can be more powerful than gain or guilt
Indecisive economic policy takes a lasting toll on financial markets
After committing an ethical breach, you should experience grief or anxiety, not joy. Right? Not quite. Nicole Ruedy, a postdoctorate research associate at the Foster School’s Center for Leadership and Strategic Thinking, conducted a series of experiments to test the conventional wisdom on cheater’s guilt. The first established that participants predicted they would feel guilty if they cheated. But when put to the test in subsequent experiments, not only did cheaters feel an absence of guilt, they felt… good. Cheaters were happier than noncheaters. They felt smarter and more accomplished. Confident and in control. Even when somebody else cheated on their behalf, subjects reported positive feelings, a kind of “contact high.” “We know now that cheating can feel pretty good, at least in the short term,” Ruedy says. “But our findings should serve as a warning to think about the long-term effect of ethical decisions, reflect on what they mean to your concept of self. In those moments, try to be a bit more introspective.” n
Politicians like to champion the enactment of decisive economic policy—so long as it’s their party that gets to decide. Partisan squabbling aside, there is a real cost to government dithering. According to a new study by Jonathan Brogaard and Andrew Detzel, excessive debate and/or ambiguity on federal tax, spending, regulation and debt decisions creates an environment of uncertainty that has an ill effect on financial markets. And this malaise can outlast the uncertainty itself.
Economic news drives the financial markets up or down. But what if the news is not actually new? A study by Thomas Gilbert, an assistant professor of finance at Foster, demonstrates that many investors react to old macroeconomic information when it’s newly presented. This lack of attention creates an opportunity for savvier investors—known as arbitrageurs—to turn a quick profit at their expense. Gilbert and his co-authors analyzed market reactions to the Leading Economic Indicator (LEI), a monthly summary statistic that is compiled from a variety of key macroeconomic activities. Because its composition is public, informed investors calculate the LEI’s components ahead of its release, trading accordingly. When the index is released, prices move again as inattentive investors react to old news. Then the arbitrageurs sell or buy those inflated or underinflated stocks, bringing the market back to fundamental equilibrium. “Importantly,” says Gilbert, “we find that this deviation gets corrected fairly quickly.” For their vigilance and service to an efficient market, these prescient investors achieved an 8 percent annual return during the 13 years of the study—simply off the inattention of less-sophisticated investors. n
24 f os ter BU S IN E S S
$
$
$
$
Brogaard, an assistant professor of finance, and Detzel, a doctoral student, built a web crawler that monitored the frequency of economic policy uncertainty reported in prominent magazines and newspapers of 21 geographically dispersed nations—including the United States—over the past 20 years. The verdict? When economic policy uncertainty increases—as it has dramatically in the US over the past few years—asset prices fall concurrently, and market volatility jumps significantly. What’s more, the negative effect of governmentinduced uncertainty persists. “We’re finding,” says Brogaard, “that the lack of a decision can be just as bad as a bad decision.” n
© iStockphoto.com / MBCheatham, malerapaso, ChrisGorgio, frentusha, Pashalgnatov, aluxum
Shame v. Guilt
The Upside of Piracy
Ratchet Job
Misaligning message and emotion can make public health campaigns backfire
Counterfeiting of digital content can drive greater investment in quality
Delaying introduction of innovations can yield market gain, revenue loss
Know your customer. This venerable maxim of marketing rings truer than ever now that there’s so much more to know. A new study by Nidhi Agrawal confirms its relevance in the realm of public service announcements—the marketing end of public health campaigns—which can backfire when the message does not fit the emotional state of its target audience. Agrawal, an associate professor of marketing, and her co-authors discovered that PSAs aimed at curbing binge drinking need to offer different solutions depending on whether they evoke guilt or shame. Guilt is a negative emotional response to a particular incident of regrettable behavior; shame is associated with one’s deeper identity. When the appeal elicits guilt, the most effective message is positive: how to engage in responsible social drinking. But when the appeal elicits shame, the most effective message is negative: how to avoid the destructive situation entirely. Agrawal warns that evoking shame without offering a viable solution risks leading vulnerable populations to become defensive and drink even more. “Public health messages tend to evoke negative emotions,” she says. “If we don’t design PSAs precisely, then those messages will have a counterproductive effect.” n
Among the myriad debates concerning life in the Internet Age, there is at least one thing we can all agree on: digital piracy is bad. Well, not all of us. There are the pirates, of course. And perhaps the consumers of those counterfeit information goods. And then there’s Atanu Lahiri and Debabrata Dey. Lahiri, an assistant professor of information systems, and Dey, the Marion B. Ingersoll Professor of Information Systems, acknowledge that digital piracy is a serious societal ill. But the rigorous economic model they built from a deep study of software, gaming and entertainment producers reveals that a certain level of piracy actually has a positive effect on consumers and society. Specifically, piracy introduces a kind of “shadow” competition that drives manufacturers of information goods to invest in quality to stay in—and ahead of—the game. The result? Greater innovation and better products at moderated prices. “Even though piracy is bad, it still does the job of injecting competition into the market,” says Lahiri. “And competition is good for consumers.” n
Wait to innovate? A new study by Natalie Mizik, the J. Gary Shansby Endowed Professor of Marketing, finds that some public companies artificially time the introduction of innovations to convince investors of the firm’s continual improvement. This “innovation ratchet” strategy is rewarded by the capital markets, though at the expense of revenue growth in product markets. Mizik’s analysis of “new and improved” products in the consumer packaged goods industry over the past 13 years indicates that public firms strategically withhold innovations more often than their private counterparts. The reason? Public
HO N O
LD
firm managers are evaluated on stock market performance. Ratcheting innovations—temporarily withholding them from consumers—is a way of gaming the market, trying to exceed its expectations. “These firms are trying to mimic the natural acceleration of innovations displayed by firms with improved innovation capabilities,” says Mizik. “And the stock market doesn’t have enough information to know better.” There is a downside. The analysis reveals that firms that delay the introduction of innovations see significantly lower sales growth—a loss in potential revenue for every day that a new product sits idle. n
SP RING 2013 25
faculty
Great Reads Foster faculty recommend their favorite management books from the popular press Amazon.com carries more than 50,000 different books on management and leadership. How to decide which are worth your precious time? We asked a few Foster faculty experts to recommend a classic and contemporary management book of real value. Jim Jiambalvo
Classic:
Current:
Dean, Kirby L. Cramer Chair in Business Administration
On Leadership (Gardner) “This book provides a very thoughtful overview of what constitutes successful leadership.”
The Happiness Hypothesis: Finding Modern Truth in Ancient Wisdom (Haidt) “I’m just working through it, but if you’re interested in the ‘big questions’ of life, this is one place to look.”
Classic:
Strategy and Structure: Chapters in the History of the Industrial Enterprise (Chandler) “This is a classic work that explicates the evolution of the modern business organization.” Current:
Understanding Michael Porter: The Essential Guide to Competition and Strategy (Magretta) “Porter’s disciple offers a clear and concise summary of the master’s work!” Dan Turner
Associate Dean for Masters Programs and Executive Education Senior Lecturer in Marketing Peter and Noydena Brix Endowed Faculty Fellow Classic:
The Leadership Challenge (Kouzes & Posner) “The simple truth is that very little of interest happens in organizations that isn’t performed by and inspired by people. For me, this book takes an incredibly complex set of issues and boils it down to an accessible, insightful framework for action that can make each of us a more effective leader.” Current:
To Sell is Human: The Surprising Truth About Motivating Others (Pink) “I find Pink’s books engaging, entertaining, and insightful with just the right blend of social science evidence and story-telling. Some might argue that the ideas offered are not as novel as those in some other management books, but I like the way Mr. Pink focuses our attention on things that are important.” Bruce Avolio
Executive Director, Center for Leadership and Strategic Thinking Marion B. Ingersoll Professor, Professor of Management 26 f os ter BU S IN E S S
Current:
Where Good Ideas Come From: The Natural History of Innovation (Johnson) “A great book on the importance of co-location and how collaboration can spontaneously result. (May be the reason why Yahoo CEO recently told employees no more working from home).” Morela Hernandez
Assistant Professor of Management Classic:
The Leadership Challenge (Kouzes & Posner) “It’s sort of a “how-to” book on the fundamentals of good leadership. Very practical, very applicable—and it’s grounded in research, which tells us that these practices actually work!” Current:
On Thinking Institutionally (Heclo) “Written by a political scientist, this book offers a paradigm shift on how we conceptualize organizations. He embeds and develops the notion of responsibility as a primary component of all institutions. Given my own research focus on stewardship and considering the long-term effects of corporate action on stakeholders, I found this book to be incredibly thought-provoking.” Scott Reynolds
Associate Professor of Business Ethics Helen Moore Gerhardt Faculty Fellow Classic:
Moral Mazes (Jackall) “Imagine that a sociologist with no work experience walked into a modern corporation. How would he explain the lives we lead? With a very different and enlightening perspective on our everyday work experiences.”
Michael Johnson
Associate Professor of Management GM Nameplate Fellow Classic:
Orbiting the Giant Hairball (Mackenzie) “As a creative type at the Hallmark company, Mackenzie flouted, circumvented, and made fun of corporate America. This short and entertaining book is an interesting and insightful book on company culture.” Current
Thinking, Fast and Slow (Kahneman) “This book by the Nobel Prize-winning psychologist (the only psychologist ever to win the Nobel for economics) is outstanding at highlighting the various decision biases that result from flawed thinking.” Drive (Pink) “In a culture that is enamored with incentives, Pink demonstrates how intrinsic motivation is stronger and longer-lasting than extrinsic motivation. This book is a must for anyone responsible for motivating others.” Christina Fong
Senior Lecturer in Management Classic:
Influence: Science and Practice (Cialdini) “This is the book that I recommend to almost everyone—the principles of what makes someone want to help you or believe you remain modern and effective even after more than a decade. Once you learn these six principles of influence, you see them everywhere you turn.” Current:
Switch (Heath & Heath) “It does a great job of combining careful
And One More… Richard Nolan’s novel twist of the case study method has a sequel research and a practical way to think about getting people to change their habits and their organizations.” Richard Nolan
Professor Emeritus of Management & Organization Philip M. Condit Endowed Chair in Business Administration Classic:
Politics, Economics and Welfare (Dahl & Lindblom) “It has been revised several times, and I still keep the dog-eared edition that I first read in Professor Dwight Robinson’s Business and Society class that I took at the UW Business School in 1963. Current:
The Soul of Design: Harnessing the Power of Plot to Create Extraordinary Products (Austin & Devin) Elizabeth Umphress
Associate Professor of Management Classic
Getting to Yes (Fisher, Ury & Patton) “The basics of how to effectively negotiate. It was written a long time ago, but it is still very relevant today.” Current:
The Righteous Mind: Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion (Haidt) “Jonathan Haidt is a social psychologist studying ethical behavior. I really liked his other book, The Happiness Hypothesis.” John Castle
Lecturer in Entrepreneurship Undergraduate Faculty Advisor, Buerk Center Classic:
The E-Myth: Why Most Businesses Don’t Work and What To Do About It (Gerber) “Simple and practical advice for small business owners.” Current:
Fierce Conversations: Achieving Success at Work and in Life, One Conversation at a Time (Scott) “An excellent book on management behavior.” n
Jim Barton is back. The effective but fallible Everymanager who rose to the CIO office of a fictional financial services firm in Adventures of an IT Leader has now made the jump to CEO of an equally fictional aerospace giant in Harder Than I Thought. It’s the latest in a novel twist on the case method of management education developed by Richard Nolan, the Philip M. Condit Endowed Chair in Business Administration (Emeritus) at the Foster School. Nolan and longtime collaborator Rob Austin partnered with dramatist Shannon O’Donnell to address the changing mind of the modern student. “Digital natives demand to be, if not entertained, then engaged,” Nolan says. “It’s a different world.” So they developed the concept of integrative cases involving a central protagonist who faces a series of unfamiliar challenges in the 21st century corporation—a modern spin on the classic hero’s journey. The episodes became a powerful instrument of engagement, a way to get students to know the companies, care for the characters, feel the weight of decisions. And learn. The first set of serialized cases—delving into IT management—turned into a proven pedagogic technique (documented in the Academy of Management Learning and Education Journal). It also produced a leadership book disguised as a ripping novel, published by Harvard Business Press. Adventures was named to CIO Insight’s “Best IT Books of 2009.” As a follow-up, the authors decided to explore the increasingly complex challenges faced by the modern CEO. “How do you sustain innovation while maintaining profitable operations?” Nolan asks. “It’s the central question of 21st century leadership.” This became the context for Jim Barton’s new challenge. Nolan and Austin drew from their considerable research, case studies and corporate experience—Nolan has consulted Fortune 500 leadership and Austin served as CIO of Ford. And they built a new narrative around Barton’s fitful tenure leading Santa Monica Aerospace. “It looks like this book is taking off like the last one,” Nolan reports. So, no retirement for Barton—or his creator. Nolan & Co. are already working on a third. The forthcoming book will chronicle our hero’s trials, tribulations and triumphs serving on the boards of directors of a global firm, a family company and a non-profit organization. “Organizations everywhere are reinventing their boards,” Nolan says. “To prepare students for effective service, we need more than just war stories.
We need structure, a way to see how the episodes and issues fit together. “We’re hoping the book will meet that need.” n
SP RING 2013 27
alumni
Chen Master Foster MBA alumnus and benefactor, Jeff Chen balances an eclectic curriculum vitae the people were even better. I wanted to offer the same opportunity to others to experience what the MBA Program did for me.” Gave as well as got
Chen earned two degrees in mechanical engineering from Stanford and worked at a product design firm before enrolling in the Foster School MBA Program, as so many, to enhance his organizational impact. The engineer proved a quick study of management. “Simply the best of the best of our MBAs,” assesses Ed Rice, an associate professor of finance and business economics who has seen plenty in his four decades at Foster. What really distinguished Chen, Rice adds, was his generosity of intellect. When he saw some classmates struggling in Rice’s core finance course, Chen began offering free review and tutoring sessions. Pretty soon those classmates were sharing their own particular strengths with each other, creating a peer-to-peer dynamic that has since been institutionalized in the Student Support Network. “This ethic has become engrained in the program,” says Dan Poston, assistant dean for master’s programs. “It always existed, to some extent. But after Jeff established the model, it became the way it’s done at Foster.” Acucelerate
1) Foster MBA grad who constructs crossword puzzles worthy of the Sunday New York Times. Hmmm… Eight letters. Begins with J, ends with N. Let’s see. Has to be a bona fide polymath, well-read and widely experienced. Creative and analytical. A serious student of culture—both popular and passé—equally versed in history, commerce, literature, sport, art, film, science, architecture, medicine, warfare, language. A jack-of-all-topics. Got it! Jeff Chen (MBA 2002). And big-time crosswording is just a recent addition to the ever-expanding, 28 f os ter BU S IN E S S
endlessly fascinating curriculum vitae of this remarkable graduate of the Foster School. Chen is an entrepreneur, author, wealth manager, Big Brother, board member, game enthusiast, rock climber and world traveler. He’s also a philanthropist who directed a major gift to the Foster School from his family foundation last year. His generosity inspired many fellow alums from his MBA class of 2002 to mark their 10th year reunion by contributing to a record-setting annual gift—a combined $468,000 to endow an MBA scholarship fund. “I had a fantastic experience at Foster,” says Chen. “The education was great and
Poston would argue that Chen’s exhaustive job search should also stand as a model. After interning at Immunex and working in technology commercialization through the Buerk Center for Entrepreneurship, he targeted early stage bioscience as his chosen field. But rather than waiting for opportunity to find him, he created it. After conducting a comprehensive audit of potential firms, he connected with Dr. Ryo Kubota, a UW professor of ophthalmology who was developing a revolutionary treatment for blinding eye diseases such as glaucoma and macular degeneration. Chen helped Kubota
get Acucela off the ground, then headed business operations and helped raise more than $40 million in financing. After Acucela brokered a transformational partnership with a large Japanese pharmaceutical company in 2008, it was time for a new challenge. “After the partnership deal, I felt like Acucela had outgrown what I could bring to the company,” Chen says. “It was time to step away.” Cross worlds
Seven breakneck years with a start-up behind him, Chen decided to seek a modicum of balance, try his hand at a range of activities and “see what sticks.” In a word, lots. He has served on the boards of Big Brothers & Big Sisters and Passages Northwest, and on the finance committee of Treehouse. He manages the portfolios of friends and family. He has done field work with microfinance organizations Gambia Help and Global Partnerships. Alongside his brother and father, he manages the family’s Paramitas Foundation. He travels, climbs and plays games with perhaps a bit more brio than most. He recently got married. It was Chen’s wife, Jill, who introduced him to the joys of crossword puzzles. Working together and solo, he has published upwards of 50 in major newspapers and has become a regular contributor to the Los Angeles Times and the New York Times. On November 25th and again on January 27th, he landed the most prestigious spot in all of puzzledom: the New York Times Sunday crossword. Chen also just completed a book of 52 puzzles around a theme of bridge (the card game, another passion). “Doing crosswords about bridge is kind of the nexus of everything that’s good in the world,” he says, exaggerating just a bit. Or, to put it another way, as he did when announcing the project on Facebook: “I’m officially 80 years old.”
The writing life (and living)
Constructing crossword puzzles is a hobby for Chen. Writing books, on the other hand, is becoming much more. Since penning his first sentence of fiction in earnest just two years ago, he’s completed eight novels for middle-grade readers. Among them are tales of exceptional kids recruited to a remote island to construct monsters for the Greek gods, of flying pygmy elephants from Burma who plot the overthrow of Victorian-age Britain, and of an overworked Grim Reaper taking on a bumbling apprentice who screws up everything. Fanciful plots, but will they sell? Chen has a few advantages in the notoriously difficult-to-crack publishing industry. For one, an agent as active as his imagination. For another, a preternatural ability to fuse right and left brain at once, to approach writing as both an art and a business. His literary method borrows many principles from enterprise, including: Workflow management – Chen writes 6 or 7 days a week, for 3 to 4 hours a day, aiming for 1,500 words each day, actually keeping a timecard to stay on task. Research – He’s read, dissected and analyzed upwards of 300 middle-grade books in the past couple of years to discern what works (and what doesn’t). Development – He wrote off his first five manuscripts as, essentially, practice. Scaling – He’s outlining multiple book series from original tales, the overwhelming trend in kid lit today. Outsourcing – He has assembled a network of fellow writers and truth-tellers to assess ideas and drafts. Diversification – He keeps a running list of story ideas that currently numbers in the 300s. And one last entrepreneurial trait: ambition. “I don’t just want to get something published,” Chen says. “Ideally, I’d like to be
one of the most successful authors of all time.” Is he tempted to get back into business? “I get that inkling,” he admits. “But you know with the writing, it’s kind of like trying to get a start-up off the ground.” Could an entrepreneur see it any other way? n Try your hand at one of Chen’s crosswords—created just for the Foster School—on the back page.
Chen’s Best Favorite books for young readers 2nd and 3rd grade The BFG Bunnicula Cricket in Times Square The Great Brain Homer Price How to Train Your Dragon (series) The Mouse and the Motorcycle 4th and 5th grade Cheaper By the Dozen The Half-Moon Investigations Hatchet Holes The Invention of Hugo Cabret The King’s Fifth The Schwa was Here Teen The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian The Amulet of Samarkand (series) The Book Thief Ender’s Game The Scorpio Races A Single Shard Where the Red Fern Grows
SP RING 2013 29
alumni
One Step Ahead of the Innovation Curve The current Edward V. Fritzky Chair in Leadership, Ken Denman (MBA 1986), talks about his passion for leading-edge technology, adapting to business cultures abroad and computers that can detect emotions. You fly up regularly from San Diego to serve as the Foster School’s Fritzky Chair. How’s it going so far?
Great! I just gave a talk to Seattle Rotary (#4) at the request of Michael Verchot, director of Foster’s Business and Economic Development Center (BEDC). “Chasing the Inevitable” was my title for the talk, because that’s how I view the path I’ve been on for a number of years. I always wanted to be involved with technology emerging just over the horizon—the stuff that seems unlikely, but then you can’t imagine how you lived without it. (Denman holds up his phone by way of example.) You’ve led at a string of successful tech companies. How have you navigated your course?
Well, I got my MBA from the Foster School in 1986, and I know I should probably have a more quantitative answer at the ready. But the truth of it is that I followed my passion. I wanted to be in on developing and launching technologies that would impact the way we work, live and play. I thought, “I need proximity to those kinds of businesses, that’s where the opportunity lies.” It’s built in to all the old adages: Why do people rob banks? That’s where the money’s kept. Or, go west, young man! Essentially, all of these sayings are about aligning with opportunity. Can you talk about some of the plans you have as Fritzky Chair?
Absolutely—I want to make the Foster School an even hotter bed of innovation than it already is. I organized a conference at the end of April that focused on innovation and entrepreneurship. One of the sessions was called “Social 2018”
30 f os ter BU S IN E S S
(presented by Harvard Business Press author Nilofer Merchant—called “the female James Bond of innovation”). It’s a great example of my vision, which is to change the way we think about opportunity. We all know that the social era has changed the business landscape, and many of the old rules no longer apply. But the impacts are only starting to be realized. Corporate behemoths no longer have the advantage. Smaller, focused teams that are nimble and can conceive of an idea, make a plan and launch it from various points across the world, hold the edge. The more exposure Foster students and faculty have to the different pieces of the innovation engine, the more prepared the upcoming generation of business leaders will be.
You seem pretty bullish on innovation —is there a downside of being on the cutting edge?
Recently, I’ve been thinking about how the things I’ve been involved in for the past 15-20 years have created jobs, but also contributed to the loss of existing jobs. How do we create enough work in the US? We’re going to be deeply challenged in this regard—the political talk about bringing jobs back isn’t likely to work. The economics aren’t pragmatic, and the kinds of skills needed will be very different. The need to reorient our economy and educational aspirations is paramount. We need more knowledge workers, yes, but we have to push certain kinds of vocational training. One kind of job is going away, but there are new jobs enabled by that very
EVENTS CALENDAR technology. For example, maybe we need fewer machinists now, but what about the programmers and technicians who enable the machines? We don’t need to push everyone toward college, but the newer paths aren’t as clearly defined. What’s a lesson you learned that can’t be taught in school?
Early in my career I had the chance to go to Europe with MediaOne and build cell companies as COO of the wireless business. We were investing in cable and wireless companies overseas in 1995-96, and a lot of countries had really poor wire-line infrastructure. So we’d create a multinational joint venture with partners, like Deutsche Telekom, that would give us some risk coverage. We’d buy licenses for wireless spectrum in these countries for $100-200 million. Finally, we’d hire people and start companies—some of the most successful telecoms in Russia, Ukraine, Hungary, Poland and the Czech Republic were our start-ups. Eventually what would happen is I would get asked to a visit with the secret police of these countries, and they’d basically tell me that they need the keys to the backdoor of the system so they could monitor traffic. I was naïve and started in on them about “freedom of speech.” They’d listen to that for a bit and then point out that the spectrum was granted upon several conditions, one of which was adhering to their laws and customs. It’s not the US. It sounds trite, but you do the things you need to do to meet obligations overseas. When you’re a multinational investor, you need to remember that and continue to do business—or leave. Leaving after making large investments would not have been pretty. You’re currently CEO of Machine Perception Technologies. Can you talk about what the company is working on?
MPT is a software-based company working to merge emotion detection and machine learning to take personal technology to a new level. Emotion recognition is a
logical progression toward the enhancement of applications like online education, e-commerce, gaming and market research. The ability of a device to discern your mood—are you confused, frustrated, angry?—will improve your experience by adapting to where you are. Think about the billions of dollars spent on market research. Empirical evidence shows that people don’t tell the truth. Not because they’re trying to “lie,” but because of social biases, internal confusion, difficulty articulating feelings, etc. Think about the ability of cognitive recognition systems to account for this! The power of this space is that the team we have for machine learning is a bunch of behavioral and cognitive scientists who are intent on getting machines to learn across a wide range of demographics. If you believe in this definition of artificial intelligence, you can say this is no longer science fiction. We’re working on how to extend the necessary processing power into the cloud so it can work on mobile devices. At Rotary, somebody asked me if this was HAL from 2001: A Space Odyssey. Can bad things come from technology? Sure. But the power of these technologies is that they can be helpful in making decisions. I don’t think it’s inevitable that machines will be “making” the decisions. The neurological, behavioral and a vast range of other human characteristics don’t perform on an algorithm...yet.. What do you think is next for you?
The way I’ll get to the next thing is by following this line of inquiry I’ve had about the concept of adjacencies—analyzing “where do good ideas come from?” (not incidentally, the title of Steven Johnson’s great book on the history of innovation). Great innovations often come from previous innovations applied in non-obvious directions. I’ve been applying this notion to the mobile space and some of the other areas in which I’ve played to see if I can see what’s next. It’s a process.
May 2013 20-24 Foster Business Week June 2013 3 EMBA, GEMBA, TMMBA Graduation Ceremonies McCaw Hall 9 Undergraduate Graduation Ceremony Hec Edmonson Pavilion 15 UW Commencement Ceremony CenturyLink Field Full-Time MBA, Evening MBA and PhD Graduation Ceremonies Meany Hall July 2013 12-14 MBA Reunions for Classes of 1988, 1993, 1998, 2003 & 2008 13 Foster All-Alumni Picnic PACCAR Hall Visit foster.washington.edu/events for details and more events.
Right now, this role (Fritzky Chair) is helping me focus, evaluate new ideas, and test my strategy. I’ve got a group of students flying down to my company to deliver the final readout of a field study focused on market entry strategy and competitive analysis. The students are absolutely amazing. I expect I’ll learn as much or more from them as they do from me. n
The Edward V. Fritzky Chair in Leadership serves an academic year at Foster in an advisory role. This faculty position was specifically designed to put a distinguished business leader on campus to share their expertise with students, staff and faculty. SP RING 2013 31
alumni
Educated Quest Sharpened on Wall Street, Kate Kingen is out to reform America’s schools and students to monitor academic progress. Going to state
With knowledge of their breakthrough work in Newark, the New Jersey Commissioner of Education hired Anagnostopoulos and Kingen to analyze the critical links between funding and performance across the state. They’re currently studying a cross-section of districts in search of the best practices that can be replicated elsewhere. “Most studies and reform efforts are focused on instruction—as it should be,” Kingen says. “But I believe that connecting finance and resource allocation to performance is going to be the next big step in education reform.” It is likely that no young finance prodigy has ever followed up a promising analyst program at a prestigious Wall Street firm such as Deutsche Bank by going to work for the Newark Public Schools. Until Kate Kingen (BA 2008). But then, Kingen has never followed a script. The daughter of Seattle restaurateurs (Red Robin, Salty’s) chose to study accounting at the Foster School, earning “Most Outstanding Accounting Graduate” at the top of a long ledger of accolades. But when an internship with Deutsche Bank’s Mergers & Acquisitions group turned into a job offer, she packed her bags for New York City. Finance phenom
The analyst program is Wall Street’s trial by fire for the elite young members of a testosterone-fueled fraternity of high finance—“mainly male, very aggressive,” asserts Kingen. Those who survive write their own ticket. Kingen thrived. She rocketed to the top of her class at Deutsche Bank, and was named lead analyst on a number of marquee deals, most notably the $9.7 billion announced merger of Deutsche Boerse and NYSE and the $8.8 billion sale of Bucyrus to Caterpillar. 32 f os ter BU S IN E S S
When she emerged triumphant from this two-year crucible, a gold-plated career at an investment bank or hedge fund or private equity firm was hers for the taking. But Kingen had something more in mind. “I really enjoyed the experience and learned a lot,” she says. “But I wanted to apply my finance skills where they could make the most impact.” Something more
Kingen had been raised to revere education. So when she was invited by the new chief operating and financial officer of the Newark School District—a Morgan Stanley veteran named Photeine Anagnostopoulos—to help implement sweeping reforms in finance, operations and strategy, Kingen jumped at the opportunity. “If I wanted to be part of the coming change in education,” she says, “there’s no better place to start than Newark.” After a 360-degree analysis of one of the nation’s poorest-performing districts, their team cleaned up the nearly $1 billion budget and closed under-enrolled schools. Kingen introduced a more equitable funding model that gives principals more autonomy and developed a graduation tracker that now allows parents, teachers,
Systems education
More than just some quixotic idealist tilting at academic dysfunction, Kingen may be onto something big. The past year’s efforts are revealing a possible new paradigm: an interdisciplinary “systems” approach to education management that marries the wisdom of pedagogy and social science with the insights of data analytics, organizational behavior, accounting and finance. Its potential to improve student performance is transformational. Once her work in New Jersey is complete, Kingen is planning to get an MBA. She’d also like to start a company in this new area of expertise. “When you’re in education reform, you’re working against the clock,” she says. “Because every day you don’t make progress is another day lost for a child. So we need to keep pushing to make these changes.” It will take some serious pushing. But Kingen—experienced, smart, energetic, ambitious, and appropriately impatient—is more than game. “I’ve learned that management and finance acumen are sorely missing in K-12 education,” she says. “There’s a huge opportunity. It’s exciting to be at the leading edge of something so important.” n
FOSTER THE PEOPLE
by Jeff Chen
Across 1. Criticize to no end 6. Territory divided into two states in 1889 12. AKA, in the business world 15. "Skyfall" singer 16. Key of Vivaldi's "Spring" 17. Bungle 18. It chose JOHN FOSTER DULLES as 1954's "Man of the Year" 20. Like accounts payable 21. Less taxing 22. ___-Wan Kenobi 23. Bluefin, e.g. 24. American classic by STEPHEN FOSTER 28. Drain away 31. Superstar Tarhouni who was a senior lecturer at 38across and an interim PM of Libya 32. South American rodent 33. Morningstar's term for barrier to entry 35. Big fat zero 37. Letters that lead to an F? 38. Institution named after MICHAEL G. FOSTER (whose full-time MBA program was ranked #23 nationwide by US News 2014)
67. Taxing (like the venerated Rocky Higgins's exams) 68. Pago Pago is its capital 69. Summertime letters 70. Jazz star of old
44. Prefix meaning "outer" 45. ___ gin fizz
71. Does without
46. Letter-shaped fastener 47. Real low lifes?
Down
12. They're less taxing
42. Paris accord?
13. Sultanate on the coast of Borneo
43. A CEO might dictate one 47. Crossword direction
14. Specialties (like Mark Hillier's quant methods and Jim Jiambalvo's managerial accounting, two of my favorites) 19. He's named in many suits
48. Egyptian god of the universe
23. Imparted wisdom, a la Jennifer "M&M" Koski
51. Richard Branson or MixA-Lot, e.g.
1. Discount ___ (area of research for Ed "The Philosopher King" Rice) 2. 1998 Sarah McLachlan hit
52. Pair owned by JODIE FOSTER 56. 2012 Ben Affleck thriller
3. "The Four Cs" subject (not to marketers extraordinaire Dan Turner or Mark Forehand though)
26. They have highs and lows 27. Campus military org.
57. Slippery figure 58. Wipes out a loss
4. Acid found in olive oil
50. Key on a PC
62. Sweetums
5. Site of a Herculean labor 6. MBA, e.g.
63. Lauded novel by DAVID FOSTER WALLACE 66. Taiwan or Japan finisher
7. GP's group 8. Producer of much buzz
25. Entry in an annual 38across competition
28. It's a bird in the bush 29. Bassist's option 30. Person causing many a swoon 34. C4C auction wear 36. Tons
9. "Song of Hiawatha" tribe
39. Brand bought by Pepsi in 2000
10. Firming up 11. Modern art?
40. Former Cubs slugger 41. Insider information, e.g.
49. Quite a sight 52. Reacted to PACCAR Hall (for those of us that suffered in Balmer), e.g. 53. O'Connor's successor 54. Get into a habit, perhaps 55. Overseer of spin control? 59. Rig 60. Program allotting workers stakes in their co. 61. RR depots 63. Big Blue 64. Palindromic girl's name 65. ___ de la CitĂŠ (Notre Dame's locale)
Check your answers at foster.washington.edu/crossword
足Nonprofit Organization U.S. Postage
PAI D Seattle, WA Permit No. 62 ADVANCEMENT Box 353200 Seattle , Wa 98195-3200
foster
SPRING 2013