Foster Business Magazine Fall 2008

foster

Michael G. Foster school of business

University of washington

The books are closed on the historic campaign for the Foster School of Business, but the transformation has only begun page 8

FALL 2008

We put the “I� in T-E-A-M. Because a team of leaders wins.

As part of the Foster MBA team that captured first place at the East-West MBA All Star Challenge in Beijing, Carrie Pederson knows that collaboration works best alongside individual initiative.

In 2008, Foster students won case competitions on topics ranging from marketing Tsingtao Beer in the U.S. to expanding the market for Alltel Wireless.

Carrie Pederson | Foster MBA '08 Product Manager, Microsoft

Read more about Carrie Pederson, competition wins and the Foster School of Business.

Visit foster.washington.edu/difference Think differently. Make a difference.

contents

Cover story

FUtures Created The books are closed on the historic campaign for the Foster School of Business, but the transformation has only begun

10 Our Great Good Fortune

20 Thought Leader

16 Prime Movers

21 The Bottom Line

How the Foster School of Business community raised $181 million during the eight years of Campaign UW

Foster School campaign co-chairs discuss success as both cause for celebration and call to action

Campaign momentum brings renowned leadership expert to the Foster School faculty

What Creating Futures, at the end of the day, is all about

19 Insiders’ View

The braintrust behind PACCAR Hall on the process and product to come

FALL 2008

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contents

Dean

22

James Jiambalvo Executive Director Marketing & Communications

Pamela McCoy Managing Editor

Ed Kromer Contributing Writers

Andrea Bowers, Steven Hatting, Kevin Kirn, Renate Kroll, Andrew Krueger, Eric Nobis

4

26

Departments

4 In the News

Ground Breaking, Leadership Banquet, National Campaign, Higher Stakes Start-ups, Liquid Assets, the Financial Fix, Best in Best Practices, Hard Tech, CPAce, Fostering Olympians

Photography

Matt Hagen (principal), Steve Bangs, Paul Gibson, Gavin Sisk, studio/216, UW Photography Design

a.k.a. design Foster School of Business Marketing & Communications

University of Washington Box 353200 Seattle, WA 98195-3200 206.685.2933 206.221.7247 (fax)

22 Faculty

On the Web

26 Alumni

Foster Business is published three times a year by the Foster School of Business at the University of Washington. The publication is made possible by donations from alumni and friends. No state funds are used in its production.

Class of ’08, Intellectual Capital, Teaching Excellence, Research Briefs

Michelle Gass, Keith Vernon, Kristen Dwyer-O’Connor, Kyle Polanski, Michael Anderson, Fostering Innovation speaker series, Back to Business School/Reunion Weekend

32 First Person

Kevin 2.0: The (nearly) complete evolution of one Foster MBA

foster.washington.edu

Change of Address?

uwbsalum@u.washington.edu Comments?

bizmag@u.washington.edu Think differently. Make a difference.

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Foreword: Forward At a recent University of Washington alumni gathering in New York (hosted by Foster School of Business Advisory Board Chairman Lex Gamble (BA 1959)), guest speaker David Bonderman (BA 1963), founding partner of the global private equity investment firm Texas Pacific Group, started his presentation with a quote from a notable New Yorker, Yogi Berra: “The future ain’t what it used to be.”

Fitting words for Wall Street, and just as appropriate here in Seattle where we’ve witnessed the demise of WaMu and where we are facing a major state budget deficit. That said, I believe the Foster School will continue to contribute to the economic vitality of our state and make a major difference in the lives of students from around the world, thanks to the support of our alumni and friends. Our cover story on the historic Campaign UW: Creating Futures begins on page 8.

On September 30th, hundreds of Foster students, faculty, staff, alumni and supporters gathered to attend a truly momentous event—groundbreaking for PACCAR Hall. For those of you who were unable to attend, please take time to read the inspiring message that was delivered by one of the Foster School’s major supporters, Mark Pigott, chairman and CEO of PACCAR Inc (page 4). If you’d like a sneak peek into the future PACCAR Hall, a video “fly through” is available on the Foster School website: foster.washington.edu. You’ll see that the building is going to be spectacular.

You will also see that our website has been completely revamped as part of a branding initiative and in recognition of the vital role our Internet presence plays in connecting with prospective students, faculty and business partners.

Also featured on the website is video from our standing-room-only forum on the current financial crisis (page 6). I served as the moderator and panelists were Foster School finance professors Ali Tarhouni and Alan Hess and Advisory Board member John Rindlaub. We’re now working on a University-wide initiative to deliver a series of lectures on this subject.

The new school year is also seeing an injection of intellectual horsepower with eight new faculty members representing a wide cross-section of business expertise (page 22). All are dedicated to excellence in teaching and research. In terms of scholarship, the August issue of the Journal of Management included three Foster School professors among the 150 most cited researchers in business education: Terry Mitchell (35th), Charles Hill (40th) and newcomer Bruce Avolio (133rd) helped Foster to a #23 ranking worldwide (page 23). Further, three Foster School PhD alumni made the list.

Finally, note that this magazine—now called Foster Business—has a new look and feel to reflect our recent branding efforts and responses to our readers’ survey. I hope you’ll find it engaging. We’re also increasing the frequency of publication to three times a year which will allow us to share news in a more timely fashion.

The promise of a world-class facility and success in hiring outstanding faculty make me optimistic for the future—in spite of the financial crisis. This optimism wouldn’t be possible without your support of the Foster Difference!

Sincerely,

James Jiambalvo Dean, Michael G. Foster School of Business Kirby L. Cramer Chair in Business Administration

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in the news

Ground Breaking

Construction on PACCAR Hall has officially commenced, as of 1:00 p.m. September 26, 2008. Hundreds of students, faculty, staff, alumni, donors and friends joined in the gala groundbreaking for this new worldclass home of the Foster School of Business—135,000 square feet of classrooms, breakout rooms, offices, labs, auditoriums, café and atrium when completed in 2010.

PACCAR Chairman and CEO Mark Pigott (above), the project’s chief benefactor, closed the event with the following words:

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“For over 100 years, PACCAR, the Pigott family and the University of Washington have been beacons of light that shine brightly in all phases of the business cycle. In today’s turbulent world, our focus on education is refreshingly long-term in outlook, decisive in action, and beneficial to the community and graduates who will lead us in the future.

“I would like to thank Jim Jiambalvo and his team who have done an excellent job of exceeding their capital campaign target—now the fun begins.

“PACCAR Hall will establish a physical presence that will clearly articulate the Business School’s creed of quality, innovation and entrepreneurship. It is a wonderful juxtaposition that it sits on the shoulder of Denny Hall, the first building constructed on the campus—two iconic symbols of the longevity and far-reaching vision of the UW. “It is also very special that PACCAR is being recognized along with my good friend from high school, Bill Gates III, and The Foster Foundation as donors of the three

largest private gifts to the University. Within my family and amongst PACCAR employees, there is a feeling of pride that the decades of dedication to quality, hard work and technology leadership has enabled this transformational event to occur.

“Besides the new building, it is also important to highlight the benefit to the UW Business School of the PACCAR Award for Teaching Excellence. I am very pleased that we were able to convince the administration of the long-term value of having students recognize the best teachers in our Business School community. For 11 years, these outstanding professors have earned the most prestigious graduate school teaching award in the nation, and it is gratifying that every one of them is flourishing at the University of Washington. That is an unparalleled record of accomplishment.

“We look forward to the Business School continuing to gain in national and international stature and sharing with its students and faculty the PACCAR model of quality and conservative business practices.”

Leadership Banquet Foster School honors three distinguished leaders

© iStockphoto.com/Todd Harrison

At the 2008 University of Washington Business Leadership Banquet, October 30, the Foster School honored three of its most accomplished advisors with 2008 Distinguished Leadership Awards.

Gerald Grinstein (JD 1957, Foster School Advisory Board) is a strategic director at Madrona Ventures Group and CEO emeritus of Delta Airlines. He has served as non-executive chairman of Agilent Technologies and chairman and CEO of Burlington Northern, Inc. He was a partner in the law firm of Preston, Thorgrimson, Ellis & Holman, chief counsel to the US Senate Commerce Committee and assistant to US Senator Warren G. Magnuson.

Eileen O’Neill Odum (BA 1977, Foster School Advisory Board) is executive vice president and group CEO at NiSource, a natural gas and electric company.

She has served in a variety of senior leadership roles with GTE Corp., Verizon

Communications and Commonwealth Telephone Enterprises.

Mark C. Pigott is chairman and CEO of PACCAR Inc, a Fortune 150 technology company. PACCAR has received the National Medal of Technology, the nation’s highest science award. Mr. Pigott has been honored with the prestigious Officer of the British Empire (UK), the Commander of the Order of the Crown (Belgium), and the Officer of the Orange-Nassau (Netherlands) for his efforts in strengthening international business relations. A passionate philanthropist, Mr. Pigott and PACCAR have made numerous contributions to the Foster School, including the lead gift to construct PACCAR Hall and the PACCAR Award for Teaching Excellence.

Delivering the banquet’s keynote address was Reginald Fils-Aime, president and chief operating officer of Nintendo of America, Inc.

Left to right: Gerald Grinstein, Eileen O’Neill Odum, Mark C. Pigott

national campaign

Higher Stakes Start-ups

Inside the cover of this magazine, you’ll find two in a series of Foster School of Business advertisements that have recently graced The Wall Street Journal.

The ads highlight the School’s emphasis on thinking differently and making a difference, exemplified by Robert Khoo (BA 2000), president of Penny Arcade; case competitor Carrie Pederson (MBA 2008); Foster leadership expert Morela Hernandez; and Howard Behar, retired Starbucks president and Edward V. Fritzky Visiting Chair in Leadership. To view the full series, go to foster.washington.edu/ difference.

It was a good week for the 2008 UW Business Plan Competition’s top two. Impel NeuroPharma, a UW direct-to-brain drug-delivery technology commercialized by pharmaceutics PhD student John Hoekman and Foster Evening MBAs Michael Hite and Peter Olagunju, won the $25,000 RealNetworks Grand Prize. Athleon, a web-based team sports management tool launched by Foster undergrad Brent Lamphier (BA 2008) in the Creating a Company course, took home the $10,000 Herbert B. Jones Foundation Second Prize.

A few days later, the UW Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship sent both founding teams to Silicon Valley to vie for $250,000 in the prestigious Draper Fisher Jurvetson Venture Challenge. Competing against the top student tech ventures from California universities, both UW entries reached the final round.

Another BPC award-winner, Voltan Biofuel, the $5,000 Heller Ehrman Best Clean Tech Idea for its commercialization of a UW algae-based biodiesel technology, received funding from Boston-based venture firm Allied Minds, which has re-named the company AXI.

FALL 2008

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IN the news

Liquid assets CIE floats new Environmental Innovation Challenge

The Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, living up to its name, is launching a new competition this fall—the UW Environmental Innovation Challenge.

Teams of UW students will vie for a grand prize of $10,000 with prototypes and executive summaries aimed at reducing environmental impacts and improving

ecological sustainability. The theme for 2008-09 is water. The final presentations will take place next March. The Environmental Innovation Challenge is being organized by CIE and the Applied Physics Laboratory, with support from the UW Colleges of Engineering and the Environment.

the financial fix Foster School panel discusses causes, consequences and cures of the nation’s economic crisis As Congress wrangled in late September over a massive intervention in the deeply troubled financial sector, the Foster School of Business turned the crisis into a real-time teaching moment via a quickly mobilized public forum, “From Wall Street to Main Street: Anatomy of a Financial Crisis.”

Hundreds of students, faculty and alumni jammed Kane Hall to hear the remarks of experts Ali Tarhouni, senior lecturer in business economics; Alan Hess, the Robert L. Stephenson Endowed Professor of Finance and Business Economics; and John Rindlaub, CEO of Wells Fargo’s Pacific Northwest region and a member of the Foster School Advisory Board. Dean Jim Jiambalvo moderated the panel.

Tarhouni retraced the crisis from its origin in the subprime mortgage lending debacle, but emphasized that this collapse quickly exposed the frailty of the larger financial sector which has become extremely complex, interconnected and, in recent years, unregulated.

The panelists agreed that a massive relief package from the federal government is necessary to stabilize the nation’s financial system—and the economy at large—but disputed that this action is a “bailout” of Wall Street. “The system is worth saving, but the investors will get wiped out,” Hess said. “And that’s the way it should be. It will encourage responsibility in the future.”

Hess, Professor Jonathan Karpoff, Principal Lecturer Karma Hadjimichalakis, and Visiting Professor Lew Mandell represented the Foster School faculty at three subsequent UW panel discussions on the crisis. To view any of these sessions, go to: washington.edu/insight/financialcrisis.

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“I love the idea of a challenge,” says Connie Bourassa-Shaw, CIE director. “At the UW, there are 75 different programs or centers that focus on the environment.

This new challenge will be a way to harness some of that creativity and see if we can move the bar forward by creating companies that provide solutions people want to buy.”

Best in Best Practices Foster School Beta Alpha Psi named model chapter Foster students in the Delta chapter of Beta Alpha Psi won two of three national “Best Practices” awards at the international accounting organization’s annual meeting.

Strategic Planning: BAP in 10 years – Andrew Alwood (BA 2008), Fanny Shellenberger, Bonnie Walter and Megan Yeung won for their long-range organizational plan for Beta Alpha Psi, which included social networking, videoconferencing speakers and a study abroad program.

Service: making a difference in an economically distressed community – Roya Labib (BA 2008) and Brad Williams (BA 2008) won for their program that made significant contributions to autistic youths in Seattle high schools.

Service: financial literacy of college students – Stephanie Chu (BA 2008), Vildana Kunduklija (BA 2008) and Whitney Langendorfer (BA 2008) finished second for their workshop series, with Washington Mutual, on financial issues facing young people.

Hard Tech Technology Management MBAs take on UW discovery challenge The UW vision and values statement proclaims, boldly, that “discovery is at the heart of our university.” In June, teams of Technology Management MBAs played their part in the discovery challenge, testing their mettle in a capstone project to build commercialization plans around four emerging UW technologies. Working closely with UW TechTransfer, each team created and presented a plan designed to bring one of four research-enabled innovations closer to commercial viability—an electro-optic scanner, a diagnostic test for coronary artery disease, lesion-estimating software and a multilingual keyword translation.

TMMBA teams were judged by an exacting panel of experts on criteria ranging from market applicability to industry analysis to risk mitigation to resource requirements—all with an emphasis on strategic thinking and presentation polish.

Sound like a formidable challenge? That was the idea.

“The students worked extremely hard, and their effort paid off—both for themselves and for the UW,” says Dan Turner, associate dean of Masters Programs and Executive Education. “Students learned firsthand about the complexities of applying management theory and tools in unstructured, turbulent real-world environments, and TechTransfer gained a rigorous and independent analysis of a significant portion of their discovery portfolio, as well as some great ideas about how to move these discoveries forward.”

CPAce Foster accounting grad receives top honor for CPA exam performance 2007, 66.7 percent passed on their first attempt—earning the Foster School of Business the 9th best passing rate in the nation, according to the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy, the organization that oversees the CPA exam.

Dean’s performance places him in the top 10 of some 26,000 candidates nationwide who attempted all four sections of the CPA exam last year, and more than 69,000 who tried at least one section.

Fostering Olympians Alumni compete in Beijing Olympic Games Brad Walker (BA 2003), the two-time NCAA and world pole vault champion, entered the 2008 Summer Olympics a favorite to medal in the daredevil sport, especially after launching himself 19 feet, 9 ¾ inches (6.04m) in June to set a new American record (and the highest mark by anyone on the planet in the past seven years). But his sport lived up to its capricious reputation; amid fickle weather conditions and equipment delays in Beijing, Walker fell short of making the final round.

Also narrowly missing the finals in his sport was rower Ante Kusurin (BA 2006), former captain of the powerful Husky varsity eight who represented his native Croatia at the Olympics in the double scull.

Kusurin finished fourth in his semifinal heat, less than a second outside the qualifying standard, just hours after he and his partner survived a fatal bus crash en route to the Shunyi Olympic Rowing Park.

© iStockphoto.com/Adam Borkwski, Pali Rao, Simon Spoon

The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) has honored Bryan Dean (BA 2007), an audit associate at Clark Nuber, with its Elijah Watt Sells Award, honoring outstanding performance on the Uniform CPA Examination. The award is granted annually to the ten candidates who pass all four sections of the rigorous licensing exam on their first attempt and post the highest cumulative scores.

Of the graduating class of Foster accountants who took the CPA exam in

Pole vaulter Brad Walker

FALL 2008

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FUTURES CREATED 8 fo s t e r B USI N ESS

The books are closed on the historic campaign for the Foster School of Business, but the transformation has only begun

10 Our Great Good Fortune

20 Thought Leader

16 Prime Movers

21 The Bottom Line

19 Insiders’ View

FALL 2008

9

Our Great Good Fortune How the Foster School of Business community raised $181 million during the eight years of Campaign UW

By Steven Hatting,

Assistant Dean for Advancement

I

t’s easy to get caught up in the numbers: $50 million to support programs. $28 million to support faculty. $25 million to support students. $78 million to build world-class facilities.

In total, $181 million raised in just eight years.

By any financial measure, the Foster School of Business campaign—a portion of the historic $2.7 billion Campaign UW: Creating Futures—was a roaring success.

But there is one more figure to consider, one of the most important of all: 13,000. That’s the number of contributors who joined in this effort to endow the Foster School with the resources to become the best public business school in the nation. I need to pause every time I consider the magnitude.

Gifts came in all shapes and sizes, from Advisory Board members and recent MBA grads, from multinational corporations and small businesses, from partnerships and family foundations, from accountants and entrepreneurs, from retired CEOs and juniors studying finance.

The growing result, already taking shape on campus, will be nothing short of the transformation of a business school. And that was no certainty when we set out on this campaign eight long years, many thousands of donors and many millions of dollars ago.

In the beginning

The original architect of the UW Business School campaign was former Dean Yash Gupta, who brought a necessary swagger to the office to propel his belief that no goal was beyond the School’s reach.

For almost 30 years, the notion of constructing new facilities to serve undergraduate and MBA students had been regularly

10 fo s t e r B USI N ESS

discussed, considered and, inevitably, abandoned by all manner of task forces. As Campaign UW commenced in 2000 to raise funds for virtually everything but bricks-and-mortar, Gupta leveraged his growing spheres of influence inside the University and out to ensure that new buildings would be the cornerstone of this campaign for the UW Business School.

He, along with many other new and long-time advisors, could no longer abide by classroom facilities that had been derided for decades by students and faculty alike—and once described in the national media as “decrepit.”

Gupta and Pete Lasher, then assistant dean for development, got things off to a great start by leveraging the School’s key stakeholders—especially the Advisory Board. An intrepid trio stepped up to serve as campaign co-chairs—Mike Garvey (BA 1961, JD 1964), Neal Dempsey (BA 1964) and Ed Fritzky.

They led a group of 20 strategic volunteers who would not only open doors and make introductions, but also personally contribute one of every six dollars to be raised in the campaign.

With inspirational and energized leadership in place, financial commitments began growing. But so did the School’s campaign goal as construction estimates skyrocketed on a project so many years from completion. Then, as the campaign approached its midpoint (and “public” phase), Dean Gupta received an offer he couldn’t refuse and left the UW. It would be more than a year before the hiring of a new dean.

If there’s one universal truth in fundraising, it’s that “people give to people.” At a critical point in the campaign, the UW Business School was without a long-term leader.

$50 million to support programs $28 million to support faculty $25 million to support students $78 million to build world-class facilities $181 million raised in just eight years

the most important number of all: 13,000. That’s the number of contributors who joined in this effort to endow the Foster School with the resources to become the best public business school in the nation.

FALL 2008 11

Interim heroes

Over the next thirteen months (April 2004-May 2005), Dempsey, Garvey and Fritzky worked tirelessly with a committed external relations team and two excellent interim deans—Vance Roley and David Burgstahler—to hang onto the early momentum. These were uncertain times for the School’s leadership, and many outsiders were beginning to question the reality of achieving the former dean’s ambitious goal. But at this critical moment, with success of the campaign hanging in the balance, the School received a $10 million pledge from The Foster Foundation, a long-time benefactor founded

by A.O. Foster (BA 1928), his wife Evelyn and their son Michael.

Even with this incredible boost, many prospective supporters were taking a wait-and-see approach to the campaign. The Business School was attracting record support. But with nearly two-thirds of the campaign’s eight years exhausted, it had raised only one-third of its lofty—and rising—goal.

Then in May 2005, the year-plus international search for a new dean led right back to the UW Business School.

Turning point

UW President Mark Emmert named Jim Jiambalvo the School’s new dean. Jiambalvo had served 27 years as a distinguished teacher and researcher at the UW, and brought considerable administration experience from leading the Accounting Department, the former Program in E-Business and numerous task forces and search committees. He came to the top job with a deep knowledge of the School, its people and its possibilities to provide a sense of stability and continuity. And he brought a keen mind for strategy, quickly crafting a compelling vision for the School which would be essential if he hoped to galvanize the vast community around him for the hard work of the campaign’s final three years and beyond.

Dean Jiambalvo was immediately connected to external stakeholders by leading benefactors and volunteers like Artie (BA 1958) and Sue Buerk, Kirby (MBA 1962) and Ellery Cramer, and Herb (BA 1956) and Sharon Mead. Combining his inside perspective with the potential he saw in supporters, Jiambalvo soon declared the ultimate goal: become the best public business school in America.

He recognized that success in the ongoing capital campaign was critical to all of his top priorities leading to this goal. The buildings had to get built.

2001

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2002

On December 9, 2005, Jiambalvo and the campaign co-chairs met with the UW leadership in Gerberding Hall to forge an agreement that would ensure the success of the School’s new facilities initiative. Since projected inflation was pushing the cost of new construction faster than the money could be raised, unrealistic early plans were cast aside. A two-phased public-private partnership was forged. It would mean some additional bonding through the University, and retention of the Business School’s current administrative building. But the project would meet the School’s needs and, most significantly, become attainable.

From there, finally, the pieces started falling into place.

Good to great

Not long into Jiambalvo’s tenure as dean, supporters began to demonstrate their confidence in his new vision. Gary Shansby (BA 1959), one of the great branding gurus, has launched or turned around scores of successful products and companies. But I’ll always think of him as the School’s “Six Million Dollar Man,” stepping forward at the end of year six with $5 million for the building and $1 million to endow a faculty chair in strategic marketing.

Shansby’s commitment kicked off a string of major gifts the likes of which I have never seen in my 17 years in higher education development. Agnes Griffin completed a $4 million estate gift on behalf of herself and her late husband, Walter. Orin Smith (BA 1965), former CEO of Starbucks, added another $4.5 million pledge to an earlier $1.5 million. These gifts, alongside others from alumni and friends like Dan Baty, Arnie Prentice and Bob Herbold, and companies like Holland America and Silver Cloud Inns & Hotels, totaled more than $15 million in new commitments.

What would have been a strong year of fundraising historically had been achieved in just a few short weeks.

As participation in the School’s Annual Fund continued to grow year-by-year, even more high-impact gifts arrived from many quarters. Leonard Lavin, who attended the UW before founding the

April-September, 2003 Co-Chairs Neal Dempsey, Mike Garvey and Ed Fritzky contribute the first of their combined $13 million to jump-start the campaign.

2003

2004

January 17, 2008 UW Regents approve naming of PACCAR Hall in recognition of $18 million in giving from the PACCAR Foundation and the Mark C. Pigott family.

Alberto-Culver Company in the 1950s, contributed first $2 million then $1 million more to endow a new initiative to foster aspiring entrepreneurs straight out of high school. The Pacific Coast Banking School committed $2 million to new facilities to reinforce a 70-year partnership with the UW, which houses its annual residency program. Our partnerships with numerous companies were reinforced with substantial investments in our campaign priorities, including major support from leading accounting firms Ernst & Young, Deloitte, KPMG and Moss Adams.

The momentum that restarted in 2006 doubled in 2007.

Still, we were close to $20 million short of our financial goal at the start of the campaign’s final year. Fortunately, the best was yet to come.

September 20, 2007

$200

UW Regents approve renaming the School after Michael G. Foster in honor of $50 million in philanthropy from The Foster Foundation. $180

Hugs all around

$160

Just as we began the homestretch of Campaign UW, the trustees of The Foster Foundation joined me for a visit to LMN Architects to see how plans were progressing for phase one of the School’s new facilities. As we looked at the foam core models and computer rendering, we talked about how we might recognize the $10 million commitment made three years prior. The discussion wended its way to the transformation occurring, as a result of the campaign, beyond the School’s physical space—in its impact on faculty, programs and, ultimately, students.

It became clear that our guests were looking at the big picture in a new light. And then the question was floated: “What would be involved in naming the School?”

$140

July 5, 2006 Gary Shansby’s $6 million gift kicks off a $15 million month.

$120

$100

December 9, 2005 May 1, 2005 Jim Jiambalvo named dean after year-long search.

Meeting with UW President Emmert re-scopes the School’s facilities project as an attainable public-private partnership.

$80

December 1, 2004 The Foster Foundation pledges $10 million to the new building during search for new dean.

$60

$40

(millions)

$20

2005

2006

2007

2008

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Foster Campaign Committee

Million Dollar+ Donors

Russell D. Amick (BA 1963) Charles K. Barbo (BA 1963) Joseph L. Brotherton (BA 1976, JD 1982) Arthur W. Buerk (BA 1958) Kirby L. Cramer (MBA 1962) Neal Dempsey (BA 1964) Anne V. Farrell (BA 1960) William A. Fowler (BA 1966) Edward V. Fritzky Lex N. Gamble (BA 1959) Michael Garvey (BA 1961, JD 1964) Lawrence P. Hughes (BA 1957) Herb T. Mead (BA 1956) Donald P. Nielsen (BA 1960) Wayne Perry (BA 1972) Jack Rhodes (BA 1961) Bruce C. Richards (BA 1965) John Rinlaub Orin Smith (BA 1965) Nick N. Westlund (BA 1962)

Have you ever dreamed about winning $1 million? Imagine the feeling of being able to give away $1 million (or more), to foster tomorrow’s leaders. These generous donors know the feeling.

Alaska Air Group Anthony’s Restaurants/ Budd Gould Batelle Memorial Institute The Boeing Company Artie and Sue Buerk Kirby and Ellery Cramer Deloitte Neal and Jan Dempsey Ernst & Young The Foster Foundation Ed and Karen Fritzky

Lex and Diane Gamble Mike and Lynn Garvey Walter and Agnes Griffin Robert J. and Patricia Herbold Richard and Nora Hinton Estate of Marion B. Ingersoll JD Edwards & Company Leonard and Bernice Lavin Robert and Marilyn Lemman Charles and Gwen Lillis Estate of Mary K. Mackenzie Paul MacMichael Bruce and Jeannie Nordstrom

PACCAR Inc Pacific Coast Banking School Wayne and Christine Perry Mark C. Pigott Family Guy and Nancy Pinkerton Safeco Insurance Company J. Gary Shansby Orin C. Smith SSA Marine, Inc. T-Mobile United Way of King County Washington Mutual, Inc.

*Six additional million-dollar donors chose to remain anonymous

Breakdown of budget priorities

Facilities 43%

Students 14%

Faculty 15%

Programs 28%

Endowed Funds growth

Year 2000 # Endowments: 79 Cost Value: $25,936,941 Market Value: $51,532,242 Year 2008 # Endowments: 155 Cost Value: $61,720,133 Market Value: $104,530,434 Additional pledges made during the campaign will add another 24 funds and $26,691,000 to the Foster School’s overall endowment.

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Just days later, Dean Jiambalvo sat down with these same trustees and made a compelling case for how The Foster Foundation could advance the School’s mission—and why the School would embrace the Foster name.

At the end of the meeting, one of the trustees indicated that it would take a bit of time to review some items and run some numbers, but it was entirely possible that things could be worked out. He extended his hand to shake the Dean’s, and I’ll never forget Jim Jiambalvo’s reaction. He sprang to his feet and, quick as a flash, had the trustee in a bear hug.

It was such an honest, authentic moment. And it underscores why the Dean has not only become a successful leader for our School, but also a phenomenal fundraiser. People give to people like Jim Jiambalvo (and his wife, Cheryl, who must be acknowledged as a truly great partner who contributes to our outreach efforts in so many meaningful ways).

The result, in this case, was $50 million in support to the students, faculty and facilities of the Michael G. Foster School of Business.

Bringing it home

A few months following the historic meetings with The Foster Foundation, I accompanied the Dean on a visit with the PACCAR Foundation Board that began in similar territory. PACCAR had been among the first companies to make a major philanthropic investment in our building—committing $2 million during the early phase of the campaign. On this day, Mark Pigott, PACCAR’s chairman and CEO, asked for an update on progress. As we talked about his organization’s partnership with the Foster School of Business—hiring, mentoring, classroom speakers, custom executive education, its acclaimed teaching excellence award, etc.—it became apparent that PACCAR was willing to do more.

They already had a great track record of supporting education across the UW and at universities around the world. Dean Jiambalvo proposed a gift worthy of the UW Regents’ consideration of our most significant remaining naming opportunity: a building.

The response was an awe-inspiring $18 million commitment from PACCAR and the Mark Pigott family to support the future PACCAR Hall and endow two new faculty chairs.

I didn’t have the pleasure of witnessing it, but I’m assured by the Dean that the follow-up meeting with Mr. Pigott included another spontaneous, enthusiastic Jiambalvo bear hug.

Beyond the numbers

For donors at every level—from annual gift to naming gift—what matters is impact, not amount. To this end, there’s so much for which to be grateful.

The Foster School’s endowment has more than doubled over the last eight years to $104 million (and additional pledges made during the campaign will add another $26 million). Today there are 49 endowments supporting faculty, 20 supporting programs, 80 supporting students and 6 providing unrestricted support.

What does this mean? More than one-fifth of all full-time students at the Foster School receive financial support. The School’s

centers and programs have the resources to innovate, expand and enhance the educational experience for all students. And the Foster School has the means to retain its finest incumbent faculty, and hire outstanding new scholars (including 13 in the past two years alone).

The true impact of this unprecedented campaign on facilities, programs, faculty and students will only be fully realized in years to come. But let’s look at just one example of what’s already happening.

Leadership and strategic thinking have been identified as hallmarks of the Foster School moving forward. As a result of recent philanthropy and considerable expert input, we will soon launch a center for leadership and strategic thinking that will draw together all resources of the School and interact across disciplines, across campus, and across the community. The center will reside in our new world-class building, PACCAR Hall. It will be led by Bruce Avolio, an internationally renowned expert in the field who was drawn by the Foster School’s reputation, entrepreneurial spirit and campaign-fueled momentum (and, not insignificantly, by a professorship endowed by Marion B. Ingersoll in 2004). It will be promoted, by the School’s new marketing and communications team, to reach in-state students we wouldn’t have kept and outof-state students who would never have known about us. And by the time those students graduate, they will have developed into effective, ethical, authentic leaders and strategic thinkers. That’s the power of giving to the Foster School, compounded daily.

The next stage

As Dean Jiambalvo often says these days, for all the progress that’s been made, need still exists. Competing to be the best public business school in the nation, the Foster School is going up against the likes of UCLA, UC-Berkeley, Texas, Michigan and others whose endowments dwarf the Foster School’s, and whose annual operating budgets range from $70 million to $120 million compared to our $48 million. Despite the amazing progress over the past eight years, we’re still playing catch-up financially. And make no mistake: the market for top faculty and students is brutally competitive. Hard work and entrepreneurial resourcefulness can only get a school so far.

Fortunately, post-campaign development at the Foster School is already off to a great start, with the recent receipt of a multimillion-dollar estate gift from Gordon Kloft, a gentleman who was neither an alumnus nor involved in the School in any formal way.

He was simply an individual who believed that a strong business school is the key to the region’s economic vitality, and that great education transforms young persons’ lives. And he may never have known of the opportunities to make a difference at the Foster School had it not been for the campaign.

Kloft is building upon the unshakeable foundation of 13,000 donors before him—a rock-solid community of individuals, companies and foundations that chose to make supporting the School a priority. Of that number, exactly zero had to give during Campaign UW. But, in the profound beauty and mystery of philanthropy, they did give. And the difference they are making is evident everywhere and in everyone at the Michael G. Foster School of Business. n

FALL 2008 15

prime movers Foster School campaign co-chairs discuss success as both cause for celebration and call to action

Ed Fritzky

When Campaign UW: Creating Futures quietly launched in 2000, a triumvirate of Advisory Board members signed on to cochair the Foster School’s capital campaign: Neal Dempsey (BA 1964), managing general partner of Bay Partners; Mike Garvey (BA 1961, JD 1964), chairman of Saltchuk Resources, Inc.; and Ed Fritzky, retired chairman, CEO and president of Immunex Corporation. It would prove an epic ascent of a mountainous goal. At the beginning they could scarcely see the summit.

But by investing nearly $14 million of their own dollars early on and advocating tirelessly for the Foster School, they catalyzed an unprecedented $181 million in giving over the past eight years to support world-class facilities, students, faculty and programs. Foster Business caught up with the co-chairs to find out how they did it, what it means and what comes next.

What was the original impetus for the Foster campaign?

How did you get involved in leading the campaign?

Fritzky: It rose out of the crisis of the building.

Dempsey: I went to school here and have a long history on the Advisory Board. So I have a vested interest in making the School better. This board was always filled with fabulous leaders in this community, but it was never energized to the point it should have been until Deans Gupta (1999-2004) and Jiambalvo came along.

Once Mike and Ed joined the Board, I saw that, if we drove hard enough, we could make this successful.

Dempsey: I was an undergrad in Balmer Hall in the mid 1960s, when it was fairly new, and there haven’t been any major improvements since. The need for a modern facility was overwhelming.

Fritzky: There was a strong feeling that the Foster School could improve, not just in terms of facilities, but across the board. The School had the potential, given the quality of people there and the quality of the University of Washington, to be a really spectacular business school. But one of the missing pieces was a quality facility that people felt good about teaching in, researching in and learning in. There were other issues to be addressed. But the thinking was that a world-class facility would become the foundation of a larger plan to improve the School in every aspect—to the point where it would be a star at the UW.

16 fo s t e r B USI N ESS

Fritzky: I had recently moved to Seattle from the East Coast to be the chairman and CEO of Immunex, and wanted to get involved in the community in a way that would provide a positive legacy for future generations.

Garvey: I started a law firm in 1966, but I needed to make a living, so I got a job as a part-time instructor at the UW Business School for a course on business, government and society. I taught for seven years. And at that time, I was disappointed with the

Neal Dempsey

School. You could see these students were bright, idealistic, energetic. They were going to get out and accomplish a lot.

But the system didn’t support them. It was a little disappointing.

And I carried that notion all those years afterward. It was my friend Kirby Cramer (MBA 1962) who convinced me that things were going to be different this time.

Did you think you could accomplish the campaign goal?

Dempsey: The donor base was pretty slim; there hadn’t been a great history of giving from alumni over the years. We held some social networking functions to motivate people to write checks, and attendance was pretty sparse early on. But the dean at the time, Yash Gupta, energized the core group of advisors to raise funds for this endeavor. I don’t think we ever dreamed that we’d actually raise nearly $200 million.

Progress slowed at times, especially during the lengthy interim between deans. What was the turning point?

Fritzky: It wasn’t a mountain that was easy to climb. Construction costs kept getting higher and higher. A lot of Advisory Board members—really smart people who appreciate business and business schools—began to ask whether there were alternatives to building a new facility. But the strong leadership of Yash and now Jim kept us focused on the new facility and making the vision happen rather than defaulting to an easier alternative.

Dempsey: The new leadership of UW, especially President Mark Emmert, became really engaged with the Foster School. And hiring

mike garvey

Jim Jiambalvo in the middle of the campaign was critical. He was absolutely the right person, perfect for the time. And he’s proven to all of us that he’s a superior dean. The best in the world.

Garvey: If I had had absolute power to find the best dean in the world to take us to the elite level, I would have chosen Jim. For him to come on for the last three years of the campaign was an incredibly positive boost.

“...the thinking was that a world-class facility would become the foundation of a larger plan to improve the School in every aspect—to the point where it would be a star at the UW.” ED FRITZKY

Fritzky: Unless people sensed great leadership and great quality, they would not have invested in a facility. But they have come to realize that it is the foundation of a long-term transformation.

They sense there’s greatness to be enabled by PACCAR Hall, and the phase two facility to follow.

What is the significance of this campaign?

Dempsey: There’s tremendous benefit to our community and region in having a world-class business school. It’s hard to overemphasize that. It acts as a magnet to all kinds of positive events.

FALL 2008 17

The campaign kicked into gear after Dean Jim Jiambalvo (left) joined the cochairs in 2005.

Fritzky: The community at large is importantly impacted by the University of Washington. And the Foster School can have a huge impact both on the University’s reputation and also on the community through its programs, research and infusion of talent.

Why was the campaign successful?

Dempsey: I’m in the venture capital business, where we start companies from ideas and people. This campaign is really analogous to the path of any successful start-up. We had great ideas and attracted great people. We got great leadership, got focused and got a little lucky to have massive gifts from The Foster Foundation, PACCAR and the Mark Pigott family, Orin Smith (BA 1965), Gary Shansby (BA 1959) and many others. The puzzle came together.

So what’s next?

Garvey: Private money comes with strings. And the strings are an expectation of excellence. Having the community invest in the Foster School is doubly positive in that people expect great things to happen with the resources they have provided. You get a virtuous cycle. Right now we’re poised to join the elite group of business schools in the world, and we need to keep our focus squarely on that.

“Right now we’re poised to join the elite group of business schools in the world, and we need to keep our focus squarely on that.”

MIKE GARVEY

18 fo s t e r B USI N ESS

“The campaign was just the first step of a multi-tiered project. We’re never finished, never satisfied. In the end, we’re building something that’s going to help the planet.

There’s lots to do. Lots to do.”

NEAL DEMPSEY

Dempsey: The bar is high—and getting higher. Jim has to continually improve, and so does the faculty and staff. We’ve got to recruit great faculty, keep raising the bar on our students. We’ve got to have a great admissions program, great academic program, great placement program, great centers. The campaign was just the first step of a multi-tiered project. We’re never finished, never satisfied. In the end, we’re building something that’s going to help the planet. There’s lots to do. Lots to do.

Fritzky: We’re always looking for that next horizon. But I do think that Jim and the staff and everyone who contributed to the Foster School during this campaign should have tremendous gratification when they see students walking into PACCAR Hall two years from now. That should be uplifting for many years to come, that feeling of success to build on. Because we all made it happen. n

The Foster School of Business 2007-08 Report to Investors is available online. To view, please visit www.foster.washington.edu/invest.

Insiders’ View The braintrust behind PACCAR Hall on the process and product to come On the eve of groundbreaking for construction of PACCAR Hall, Foster Business checked in with some of the key players in transforming the dream into reality: Pete Dukes, professor of accounting and chair of the Foster Building Committee since 2001; Steve Tatge, senior project manager of UW Capital Projects; Todd Lee, senior vice president of Sellen Construction; Kurt Winje, vice president of Sellen Construction; and Mark Reddington, lead designer, FAIA and LMN Architects.

What was the key concept that shaped the design of PACCAR Hall?

Dukes: From the start, we focused on the notion of collaboration… of creating a space that would promote a strong sense of community within the Foster School of Business, and optimize the environment for the kind of team interaction that is the School’s hallmark. The final design elegantly brings together classrooms of varying sizes, small group breakout rooms, student commons, a café and covered terrace around a central, naturally lit atrium that will become a bustling hub for students, faculty, staff and visitors—as well as a great place to sip coffee and explore ideas.

Winje: I’ve been impressed that the process of designing a space to foster collaboration was itself so collaborative. Everyone involved had to embrace a spirit of collaboration in order to address design challenges, funding challenges, timing challenges, etc. This team didn’t just go to the Washington State Legislature and ask for the funding. Together we designed a building that could be built for an amount that could be raised.

What’s the most interesting architectural aspect of PACCAR Hall?

Reddington: As Pete said, the vision from the start was to create a collaborative environment

for learning. This involved creating a design that would not only connect layers of communities to each other, but to the larger campus as well. While specific areas have been created for these communities (undergrads, MBAs, Foster faculty and staff, visiting businesses, community speakers, etc.) the extensive use of glass and shared spaces (the atrium, café, fireplace) actually links these different groups to each other. For instance, the centrally located open staircase connects the various levels and facilitates contact between these communities as they move throughout PACCAR Hall. Another challenge was to ensure PACCAR Hall fit within the larger campus, given that it is both a contemporary design and a much larger building than many on campus. By breaking the building into smaller pieces connected via common areas, and using glass extensively, PACCAR Hall has fewer hard boundaries and actually appears to blur with the rest of campus. For instance, when looking east from the café you look through the window to the Bank of America Executive Education Center; looking west you’ll see Denny Hall and to the south, Denny Yard. So it’s the porous nature of PACCAR Hall that both sets it apart from other projects yet integrates it with both the Foster School and the UW campus at large.

If you had to use one word to describe PACCAR Hall, what would it be?

Dukes: Cool.

Lee: Collaborative.

Winje: Welcoming.

Reddington: Dynamic.

Tatge: Game-changer. (I know, that’s two!)

— Pam McCoy

Tour PACCAR Hall online Construction on PACCAR Hall won’t be complete until 2010, but your tour of the Foster School’s future state-of-the-art home is only a click away. Via virtual video “fly-through,” you can check out the auditoriums, classrooms, atrium and café at any time. To embark on your two-minute tour, visit: www.foster.washington.edu/ PACCARHall.

FALL 2008 19

Thought Leader Renowned leadership expert Bruce Avolio joins the Foster School faculty

Bruce Avolio is a dreamer. He’s also a doer. And a person of extreme due diligence.

After becoming one of the planet’s top scholars on transformational leadership, Avolio has spent the past seven years devising evidence-based models and methods to accelerate the development of authentic, ethical and effective leadership. Most recently directing the University of Nebraska’s Global Leadership Institute, he has supported the launch and validation of development programs the world over, shaping leaders of schools and corporations, non-profits and governments, hospitals and military units.

Now, drawn by the momentum of Campaign UW, he’s joined the Foster School of Business as the Marion B. Ingersoll Professor of Management (an endowment established during the campaign). At Foster, Avolio will channel his expertise and entrepreneurial focus into creating a new center for leadership and strategic thinking. The opportunity, he says, was irresistible.

“I’m excited about the Foster School becoming the number one public business school in the country,” Avolio says. “I’m energized by that mission because I want Foster to be a role

20 fo s t e r B USI N ESS

model for other schools on how best to advance and—most importantly—integrate the science and practice of leadership.

My goal is for the new center to drive a research agenda that can impact curriculum throughout the School. I have a number of ideas about how we can be a force to integrate leadership and strategic thinking across departments and schools at the UW, as well as with our important stakeholders in the community at large.”

On the research side, for instance, Avolio hopes to partner with accounting, economics and finance faculty to develop tools for calculating the return on leadership development, a metric that is often overlooked despite the enormous impact of leadership on every kind of organization.

On the community and student side, he’ll work hard to build ten strategic relationships with innovative organizations in the area—Boeing, Microsoft, Starbucks, Amazon, for instance—and create what he refers to as “cases without borders.” Teams of MBA students (and eventually undergrads) would tackle real-world challenges in real time, interacting in parallel with the people who are solving them for their organizations. “We want to put leadership in context,” Avolio says. “Think of the medical school model which pushes residents to touch live patients for the first time— an experience that no pre-med text book or class exercise can describe. We need to have those kinds of opportunities for every management student to connect with real challenges and opportunities. Everything we do around leadership and strategic thinking should be borderless, and just-in-time.”

Avolio’s recent studies have demonstrated that there are tremendous opportunities—frequently missed—to support genuine leadership development that occurs early in one’s career, often at the whim of serendipity. He has also found that dramatic change can occur midway to late in one’s career, but the dynamics are different and so should be the support provided. His ultimate aim for the center is to promote and synthesize multidisciplinary research to support a “Foster Way” of advancing and accelerating leadership development, ultimately including the best suite of learning strategies and experiences that develop authentic, effective, ethical leaders.

“My hope is that, in five years, you will be able to identify a Foster graduate by the way they go about leadership and strategic thinking—whatever field or discipline they’re in.”

“My hope is that, in five years, you will be able to identify a Foster graduate by the way they go about leadership and strategic thinking—whatever field or discipline they’re in,” he says. “We want to make the Foster grad different. Because, given equal or greater quality, different trumps everything else in the market.” n

The Bottom Line What Creating Futures, at the end of the day, is all about

Wonder whether the Foster campaign has made a difference?

Just ask Patricia Dixon, a senior studying finance at the Foster School, about the profound impact of private support on her life.

Dixon was born in the Philippines but raised around the United States as her father’s Air Force career dictated. Though her parents were of modest means and schooling, they instilled in their children a deep respect for the transformative power of education.

And they squirreled away a little money to help Patricia become the first in either family to attend college.

Though Dixon was accepted by the UW, the small savings were going to fall far short of the cost of tuition, fees and housing for even one year. That is, until a Costco Diversity Scholarship—and many more to follow—allowed her to not only attend the Foster School, but also to take advantage of many opportunities afforded by the UW. She has studied architecture in Rome and international business in South Africa. She has interned at Boeing, Ernst & Young and Washington Mutual. And she has attended the prestigious Harvard Business School Summer Ventures in Management program. While working in the Foster Undergraduate Programs Office, she still finds time to serve as president of the Association of Black Business Students, teach ESL at Seattle’s Asian Counseling and Referral Service and mentor high school students through the Young Executives of Color program of the UW Business and Economic Development Center. And she keeps a 3.6 GPA. Dixon says that a network of scholarship support gave her a chance. In addition to the Costco scholarship, she has received the Lothrop Endowed Scholarship Fund, the Association of Black Business Students Endowed Scholarship and the BEDC Fellowship, among several others.

This year, Foster School scholarships support nearly 400 undergraduate, MBA, MPAcc and doctoral students—more than $2 million in assistance from 75 scholarship endowments.

“I’m proud to say that I’ve never had to use any of the money that my parents saved for me,” Dixon says. “I have paid for college on my own, with enormous help from scholarships.”

Patricia Dixon is not every student. Her transformation story may be more dramatic than most. But she—as all students to come after her—represents the Foster School’s real bottom line,

To offer a transformative education from inspiring professors in a state-of-theart facility is a gift. To create opportunity through scholarship support, innovative programs and responsive curricula is a gift. the ultimate reason for Campaign UW. To offer a transformative education from inspiring professors in a state-of-the-art facility is a gift. To create opportunity through scholarship support, innovative programs and responsive curricula is a gift.

And students like Dixon are proof that a gift can be a powerful renewable resource.

In addition to her volunteer service, Dixon has begun providing financial support to her extended family who live in bamboo huts on a remote island in the Philippines, without electricity, running water, telephone, stores or educational opportunity.

“When I visited with my mom last winter, they asked how I’m able to go to school, so I explained what scholarships are,” she says. “And they were surprised that there could be people out there giving away more money than they could ever make in a lifetime. I’ve learned to appreciate everything that I have in my life—especially my access to education.

“I’m able to give back because of the generosity and kindness that I have received.” n

FALL 2008 21

faculty

Bruce J. Avolio Christopher W. Bauman Fabio Caldieraro Thomas Gilbert Shailendra Pratap Jain Alan Muller Hamed Mamani

Lloyd John D. Tanlu

Class of ’08 Foster School adds eight stellar new faculty members The Foster School entered the 2008-09 academic year with eight new full-time faculty members, representing a cross-section of expertise. “Each of our new faculty are stars—or have star potential—in their fields,” says Dean Jim Jiambalvo. “From their research to their teaching skills, they exemplify the kind of faculty we want at the Foster School of Business.”

Bruce J. Avolio Professor, Management & Organization PhD, University of Akron, 1981 MA, University of Akron, 1978 BA, State University of New York at Oneonta, 1975

Avolio joins the Foster School from the University of NebraskaLincoln where he served as the Clifton Chair in Leadership at the College of Business Administration and Director of the Global Leadership Institute. Prior to his service at UNL, Avolio was co-director of the Center for Leadership Studies at the State University of New York at Binghamton. A world renowned

22 fo s t e r B USI N ESS

scholar in the field of leadership, Avolio has worked with private and public organizations ranging from United States Military Academy at West Point to Toyota. He has published eight books and more than 100 articles on leadership.

His latest book is Psychological Capital: Developing the Human Capital Edge with Fred Luthans and Carolyn Youssef.

Christopher W. Bauman Assistant Professor, Management & Organization PhD, University of Illinois at Chicago, 2006 MA, University of Illinois at Chicago, 2002 BS, University of Wisconsin at Madison, 1997

Bauman joins the Foster School from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management, where he was a visiting assistant professor and post-doctoral fellow in the Dispute Resolution Research Center. He won the Lavengood Outstanding Professor of the Year Teaching Award in 2007. His research interests include ethical judgment and behavior, organizational justice, power and status, and negotiations. Recent work has appeared in the Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology and Political Psychology.

Fabio Caldieraro

Hamed Mamani

Assistant Professor, Marketing PhD, Northwestern University, 2003 MS, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, 1996 BS, Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul, 1990

Assistant Professor, Information Systems & Operations Management PhD, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, 2008 BS, Sharif University of Technology, 2003

Caldieraro joins the Foster School from the Leavey School of Business at Santa Clara University. Before earning his PhD at Northwestern, Caldieraro spent nine years working for Unisys Corporation in South America.

His research interests include management of distribution channels and sales force, and the interplay of buyer learning and brand reputation.

Recent research was published in Marketing Science.

Mamani recently received his doctorate in operations research from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

His research interests include operations and supply chain management, health care delivery, public health policy, applications of mathematical programming and game theory. Mamani has been published recently in Operations Research.

Thomas Gilbert Assistant Professor, Finance PhD, University of California Berkeley, Haas School of Business, 2008 MSBA, University of California Berkeley, Haas School of Business, 2005 MS, Imperial College London, 2002

While earning his PhD at UC-Berkeley’s Haas School of Business, Gilbert received five awards for outstanding instruction from students in the undergraduate and MBA programs. Prior to his arrival in the US, he served as CFO of Lidar Technologies, an aerospace start-up that won the 2002 Imperial College New Business Challenge. Gilbert’s research interests include empirical asset pricing, asset pricing under asymmetric information and market microstructure.

Shailendra Pratap Jain

© iStockphoto.com/edge69

Associate Professor, Marketing PhD, New York University, Stern School of Business, 1995 MPhil, New York University, Stern School of Business, 1992 MBA, Indian Institute of Management, 1984 BE, Birla Institute of Technology & Science, 1982

Jain joins the Foster School after earning multiple teaching awards during his time on faculty at Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business, Cornell University and the Simon School of Business at the University of Rochester.

He also brings several years of experience in corporate marketing and communications. His research interests range from branding and categorization to comparative advertising and consumer cultures across the globe. Recent research has appeared in the Journal of Consumer Research and the Journal of Marketing Research.

Alan Muller Senior Lecturer, Marketing & International Business PhD, Erasmus University, Rotterdam School of Management, 2004 MA, University of Amsterdam, 1998 BA, University of Washington, 1989

Most recently at the University of Amsterdam’s Department of Business Studies and the Netherlands-based Expert Center for Sustainable Business and Development Cooperation, Muller has taught and studied in Europe for the past 15 years, earning international acclaim—and several prestigious awards—for his research. Interests include international strategy, corporate social action, business-government relations and bargaining, institutional theory and supranational governance. Recent research has appeared in European Management Journal and the Journal of Business Ethics

Lloyd John D. Tanlu Assistant Professor, Accounting PhD, Harvard Business School, 2008 MA, Brandeis University, 1999 BA, Ateneo de Manila University, 1995 BS, Ateneo de Manila University, 1994

Tanlu joins the Foster School after seven years as an adjunct professor in the International Business School at Brandeis University and three years as the University’s assistant director for budget and planning.

His research interests include budgeting, performance measurement, control systems and conflicts of interest in accounting. Recent research has appeared in Financial Management and the Academy of Management Review.

Intellectual Capital A sampling of recent achievements and honors earned by Foster faculty Terry Mitchell, the Edward E. Carlson Distinguished Professor in Business Administration, Charles Hill, the Hughes M. and Katherine G. Blake Endowed Professor in Business Administration, and Bruce Avolio, the Marion B. Ingersoll Professor of Management, were named among the world’s 150 most influential management scholars in the Journal of Management.

Among the most-cited researchers in the area of management, Mitchell ranked 35th, Hill 40th and Avolio 133rd. Overall, the Foster School management faculty was found to be the 23rd most cited in the world.

Sonali Shah, assistant professor of management, received the Academy of Management’s Thought Leader Award for her paper, “The Accidental Entrepreneur: The Emergent and Collective Process of User Entrepreneurship,” with Mary Tripsas of the Harvard Business School.

Richard Nolan, the Philip M. Condit Endowed Chair in Business Administration at the Foster School, was awarded the 2008 Richard Beckhard Memorial Prize from the MIT Sloan Management Review for his paper, “Bridging the Gap Between Stewards and Creators,” co-authored by Rob Austin of the Harvard Business School.

Vandra Huber, a professor of human resources management, is spending this fall teaching and researching in Bangkok, Thailand, as a Fulbright Fellow at Chulalongkorn University.

Debabrata Dey, professor of information systems, Evert McCabe Faculty Fellow and chair of the department of Information Systems and Operations Management, has been named senior editor of Information Systems Research, a leading international journal focused on information systems in organizations, institutions and society.

Tom Lee, the Hughes M. Blake Endowed Professor of Management and associate dean for academic and faculty affairs, recently completed presidency of the Academy of Management.

FALL 2008 23

faculty

Teaching Excellence Jennifer Koski named first two-time PACCAR Award winner The cans of Spam and Spam Lite nestled among the serious academic tomes on Jennifer Koski’s bookshelf beg a question or two. It’s difficult to imagine that this eloquent, elegant associate professor of finance, educated at Brown, Harvard and Stanford, is planning to lunch on salty tinned pork.

It turns out the Spam, in these cans, is a teaching tool, the visual aid behind an indelible lesson in capital budgeting that Koski covers in her MBA core finance class.

She also runs students through the financial calculations of her own life to personalize the notion of risk versus reward, drops them via vivid case studies into the teeth of historic financial crises to shed light on a current one, and frequently employs particularly insightful panels of Dilbert, Doonesbury and the Far Side to launch classroom discussions on weighty topics of investing and corporate finance.

About the only thing Koski won’t do in the classroom is complacency.

And her students appreciate it. This June

24 fo s t e r B USI N ESS

she was selected by a panel of first- and second-year MBAs to receive the PACCAR Award for Teaching Excellence. She’s the first to receive this highest faculty honor for a second time. The PACCAR Award, given annually since 1998, is the most prestigious graduate school of business teaching award in the United States. It includes a $35,000 stipend from PACCAR Inc, the Seattle-based global technology leader in the capital goods and financial services markets.

“Jennifer somehow discovered a balance that ensured learning for everyone,” noted one MBA student in nominating Koski. “Not only does she demonstrate an incredible passion and expertise of her subject matter, but she knows how to TEACH well.”

Her inspiration to teach well—and deeply—came directly from her own academic epiphany.

After graduating from Brown with a BA in applied mathematics, Koski happened upon a job in investment banking. But she only went through the motions, figuring a bond price

by following directions on a cheat sheet she kept by her calculator. “Somebody told me how to do it but not why,” she says. “Then I went to get my MBA, and the light went on.”

Since joining the Foster School of Business in 1991, her unrelenting goal has been to turn on the finance light inside every student.

“At the beginning of every quarter,” Koski says, “I tell my students, ‘Even if you’re not planning to go into finance, this is material you need to know as part of any organization, and this is material you need to know for your life.’ ” In her own life, this encore PACCAR Award is a great honor, but also a great challenge. “I look at it backwards,” Koski says.

“You’d think someone would work hard to try and get this award, and I do. But there’s also a reverse effect. Having won the award twice, I’m feeling a particular responsibility when I walk into the classroom to teach my core class and electives, because the student expectations are so high. I don’t want to let them down. I want to deliver.”

RESEARCH BRIEFS Shifting Gears

User Entrepreneurs

Too much information?

The key to migrating—effectively—from manufacturing to service

Personal necessity is the mother of invention—and new ventures

In an era of increased product commoditization and global competition, academics and industry experts have promoted the benefits of shifting from a product-centric to a service-centric business model as a strategy for generating shareholder value.

The success of companies such as IBM and

What does Yahoo! founder Jerry Yang have in common with the sleep-deprived parents who invented the bedside bassinette? According to Sonali K. Shah, assistant professor of management, they are both examples of “user entrepreneurs,” people who develop innovative solutions to their own day-to-day (or night-to-night!) problems, then turn those solutions into new companies.

Shah’s paper, “The Accidental Entrepreneur: The Emergent and Collective Process of User Entrepreneurship,” with co-author Mary Tripsas of the Harvard Business School, documents the prevalence of user entrepreneurship in the modern economy.

Shah and Tripsas found that user entrepreneurship is likely to prevail over new ventures developed at universities or in existing companies under the following conditions: when use of the product provides enjoyment, as opposed to pure economic benefit; when users have relatively low opportunity costs; when the industry is characterized by small-scale, peripheral, niche markets with high variety in demand; and when the market for the product is turbulent.

Overreliance on ‘unfiltered’ financial reports reduces inexperienced investors’

returns

Product line sales

20% service

© iStockphoto.com/Michal Rozanski, ayzek

General Electric highlights the attractiveness of this strategy.

But when does shifting to a service strategy really work to increase firm value?

Robert Palmatier, assistant professor of marketing at the Foster School, and two colleagues evaluated data from 477 publicly traded manufacturing firms during the period from 1990 to 2005 to shed light on the conditions that lead to a successful shift to service. Key points, according to the study, include achieving a critical mass of overall company sales from service—between 20-30 percent is the tipping point for a positive effect on a firm’s value—and “sticking to what you know,” creating synergy between product line and service offering.

The study was published in the Journal of Marketing.

Inexperienced investors can negatively affect their investment results by using “unfiltered” information from Securities and Exchange Commission filings, according to research conducted by Frank Hodge, an associate professor of accounting at the Foster School of Business.

Hodge and colleagues at the University of Illinois surveyed 414 non-professional investors to examine their relative use of unfiltered information (such as balance sheets or SEC filings) versus analystfiltered information (such as Value Line reports). One of the first studies to examine the relationship between investors’ information choices and their returns, the results linked investors’ portfolio returns to their years of investing experience.

According to Hodge, study results emphasized the negative impact of using unfiltered financial information without sufficient investment experience. “We discovered that less experienced investors did not have the savvy to recognize which financial information was relevant to making good financial decisions,” he said.

“Is it credible? Has it been audited?

If you don’t understand or you don’t know where to look, then you may be misled by the information that is presented in very aggregated form on the financial statements.”

The study also shows that access to unfiltered information is increasingly valuable for investors who know how to interpret it.

Hodge’s findings were published in Contemporary Accounting Research.

— Andrea Bowers and Andrew Krueger

FALL 2008 25

alumni

Passion Play Michelle Gass serves up innovation with a double shot of soul To Michelle Gass (MBA 1999), Starbucks Anniversary Blend is much more than a piquant brew of Indonesian coffee beans that appears in stores each September to mark the company’s founding. Its annual return evokes vivid memories of her own first week with Starbucks, back in 1996, when the blend debuted at an unforgettable company tasting party, complete with dancing and high-profile house band (she’s not naming names).

More significantly, since that day, Anniversary Blend has also become for her the Starbucks quintessence-in-a-cup, a sensuous key to the long-stirring passion that has fueled the company’s 37-year rise from Seattle coffee house to world café.

26 fo s t e r B USI N ESS

This keen perception has proved invaluable. When talismanic chairman Howard Schultz returned to the CEO office in January to transform Starbucks by first strengthening its core, he tabbed Gass to serve at his right hand.

She was a long way from Worcester Polytechnic Institute, where she studied chemical engineering. A technical career in research and development seemed likely until an internship at Procter & Gamble opened her eyes to an alternate future. Though analytical by nature, Gass has always been too creative to fit neatly in any one professional categorization. That internship introduced her to a world of product design driven by customer insight, the place where the analytical and the creative commingle to profitable effect. “P&G really sparked my curiosity—that there are real people who create real insights around better laundry detergent and toothpaste and products that people interact with every day,” she says. “It took my engineer’s analytical bent and problem-solving mind and applied that to the customer. That’s where I found my passion. And there was no turning back.”

A cool new adventure During her six years with P&G, Gass grew into more traditional marketing roles. Then in 1996, a quarter-life adventure with her husband, Scott, brought her to Seattle. Her familiarity with Starbucks, just beginning its global expansion, was only glancing. She certainly never considered it as a potential career until she met, in her early days in the Foster School’s Evening MBA Program, a classmate who worked at Starbucks and encouraged her to apply for a job.

After her orientation-by-anniversaryparty, Gass went to work as marketing manager of a new beverage called Frappuccino. To build on the early success of the company’s first departure from coffeeas-usual, she set out to learn who was drinking Frappuccinos, when and why. “The big insight,” she says, “was that people were not just drinking it for the coffee. They were drinking it as an indulgence.”

With her small team, Gass introduced a sumptuous palate of new flavors, a signature green straw, a clear-domed cap

to divulge crests of whipped cream and drizzles of caramel. Frappuccino became a blockbuster, a genuine enticement for customers during a coffee company’s typical downtimes of summer and mid-afternoon.

And in so doing, she also unveiled a new, fun facet to the Starbucks personality.

In the ensuing years, Gass launched Tazo teas, Ethos water, Black Apron Exclusives coffees and many other popular offerings that complemented the core business. As her career rose steadily, Starbucks grew dramatically around her, from fewer than 1,000 stores when she started to 16,000 in 44 countries and $10 billion in sales by the beginning of 2008.

Trouble brewing But the recent economic slow-down exposed some side-effects of such dramatic expansion. Soon after returning to the fold, Schultz admitted that overreaching growth had led to a “watering down” of the Starbucks experience. The brand was in danger of becoming a commodity, he warned.

He responded aggressively. In a top-level reorganization, Gass was named senior vice president of global strategy, and began working with Schultz and the leadership team to articulate a transformation plan for the company, then convince the world.

“Howard set the agenda, drove the vision,” she says. “I was there to shape the narrative, bring the entire organization around it. It was an exhilarating challenge.”

And a bold campaign of action. Job cuts and store closures became an immediate necessity. But rather than cut back, the company began investing. The transformation plan took the form of three interwoven initiatives: strengthening the core, reigniting the emotional connection and building for the future.

Some enhancements received tremendous fanfare, like the all-store barista training last spring, acquisitions of the state-of-theart Clover brewing system and Mastrena espresso machine, and the introduction of Pike Place Roast. Others were more subtle, like the return to grinding beans in every store and the strengthening of environmental standards and ethical sourcing. All were created with the singular intent of height-

ening the customer experience, making a trip to Starbucks well worth the price.

The action figure Now that the transformation is in progress, Gass has moved to a central role in its implementation. Recently deployed as senior vice president of marketing and category, she’s working to integrate marketing, innovation and customer experience throughout the organization. While doing more to improve upon the core coffee business, she’s also launching the company’s next marketdriven offering, Vivanno Nourishing Blends.

“We’ve got to continue to evolve,” she says.

“Frappuccino came on the radar 12 years ago. What are the next big things? I’m a big believer that health and wellness is a big piece of that picture going forward. But we only have permission to sell Vivanno if our espresso beverages and brewed coffees are the best in the world. We often say that our innovations have to be worthy of our coffee.”

Gass is held to that standard by 50 million customers a week, many of whom take a vested interest in the company’s fortunes. She recently met a Los Angeles police officer who frequents a Starbucks in his precinct. Gass says, “He told me, ‘I don’t make a lot of money and I’m feeling the pressure to cut back. But every penny I spend at Starbucks is worth it. It’s rough out there.

But I come in here, they know my name, they know my drink. We just celebrated the going-away of one of the baristas to college.

It’s like family. This isn’t just where I fill up my cup of coffee. It’s where I fill up my soul.’

“When you hear stories like this, you feel a huge responsibility to these people,” Gass continues. “At its essence, our business is about meeting fundamental needs.

It’s coffee, it’s people, it’s that third place, that neighborhood gathering spot. What defined us when we were one store in the beginning is as relevant—if not more relevant—in the world today.”

So for Gass, Starbucks’ transformation is more of a mission than a job.

“Every business goes through tough times,” she says. “But we’re going to be fine, because we’re making human connections every day. And we’ll be smarter and stronger coming out of it.” n

FALL 2008 27

alumni

Family Man Business is personal for Keith Vernon Keith Vernon (MBA 1998) has never really cared for networking. He doesn’t much like selling, either. He carries himself with neither bluster nor swagger, loses no sleep fretting over exit strategies and measures success in terms of people over profits. And he’s developed a peculiar habit of reciting children’s books during speaking engagements.

Scarcely sound like an entrepreneur?

Guess again.

Vernon is the founding partner of Bristlecone Advisors, a family financial

28 fo s t e r B USI N ESS

services firm with more than $600 million under management. He’s also the driver of Aristata, a commercial version of Bristlecone’s proprietary information management system. And he’s a founding father of the UW Business Plan Competition.

“I’m not exactly cut from that classic high-tech start-up mold,” admits Vernon, more dad than dude. “But entrepreneurship is so much broader than that.”

He began to test that notion while in the Foster School’s MBA Program. Along with Thatcher Davis (MBA 1998) and Scott

Bishop (MBA 1998), Vernon helped plan and launch the UW’s first student venture competition in 1998. “The Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (then PEI) had gained just enough momentum and, with what was happening in the late 1990s, there was an explosion of interest,” he recalls. “We were just there at the perfect time to jump in and create something.”

Operating on adrenaline and blissful ignorance, Vernon & Co. drew 23 student ventures from four local universities, judges from around the venture

community, and the event went off without a hitch.

Shortly after graduation Vernon, the organizer, got his chance to seize a market opportunity of his own. A childhood friend introduced him to a prominent local venture capitalist looking for the right person to manage his family’s finances. Vernon was 28, with the ink still drying on his MBA and a short resume of finance experience.

But the VC was accustomed to investing in young people of great promise, and he put his trust in Vernon and the nascent Bristlecone Advisors. As now, Bristlecone handled all things financial for its client family—from bill paying to banking, insurance to philanthropy, investing to tax preparation. Vernon found it to be a most personal form of finance work, and he loved it.

“In most investment work, you might celebrate, at the end of the year, beating the S&P 500 by a percent,” he says.

acquisitions activity around financial advisory firms; we’ve been approached several times,” he says. “But to me, it just feels like it goes counter to why our clients hire us. If they wanted to work with UBS, they’d sign with UBS.” His reluctance is not purely business-related. “You see many firms that become successful, grow, splinter and then they’re gone. I’d love for that not to happen to us, so we’re trying to be judicious in managing our growth,” Vernon says. “I define success—and this is embarrassingly soft—as loving the people you work with and loving the people you work for.”

He feels the same way about his first start-up. Vernon has served on the CIE advisory board since graduation, co-founded the Friends of CIE, and supports the Business Plan Competition financially through the Bristlecone -Selamat Challenge. He also speaks annually at the awards banquet,

“Here the payoff is much deeper. In working with families to meet their goals, we build truly meaningful relationships.”

“Here the payoff is much deeper. In working with families to meet their goals, we build truly meaningful relationships.”

Vernon grew Bristlecone, but very carefully. He soon brought on Matt Talbot (MBA 2003), an associate from a past job, to lead investment research.

Building positive word-of-mouth, they gradually added a few clients, and developed the Aristata application that would enable them to scale. Today, Bristlecone’s team of 12 serves 34 families. Vernon has a bit more growth in mind. He wants the firm to be large enough to offer institutional capabilities but small enough to continue providing a boutique experience.

And then he plans to grow no further. “There is a healthy mergers-and-

recently introducing a favorite story from his children’s bookshelf that might serve as a parable on some aspect of entrepreneurship.

This charming tradition began on the competition’s 10th anniversary, when he hushed the boisterous ballroom of student entrepreneurs with “The Carrot Seed,” a simple tale packing a profound message.

It’s about a small boy who plants a seed, then weeds and waters and nurtures it day after day, despite the gathering skepticism of his parents and brother. In a way, it’s about Vernon, too.

That night at the banquet, his voice quavered and tears welled around his eyes as he read the final page: “And then, one day, a carrot came up just as the little boy had known it would.” n

Head Start Kristen Dwyer-O’Connor takes the business case competition to high school Call her a “virtuous cycle-ist.”

Kristen DwyerO’Connor (BA 2008) got so much out of her case competition experiences through the Foster School that she decided to pay it forward. And backward.

She knew from experience that the Seattle Public Schools’ Academy of Finance curriculum was giving students a solid preview of management education. But she also knew how case competitions could make intro classes come alive.

In 2007, Dwyer-O’Connor and Uyjien Ung (BA 2007) piloted a small competition at Ballard High School, then expanded it to three schools this year with help from Colin Trovato (BA 2006). Being co-chair of Foster’s Global Business Case Competition, Dwyer-O’Connor connected visiting business students with local high schoolers in a presentation workshop. Being deeply engaged in the Certificate in International Studies in Business (CISB) program, she deployed 29 classmates and alumni as mentors.

Then in May, she challenged 120 juniors and seniors from Ballard, Franklin and Chief Sealth high schools to a Harvard Business School case on the continuing cola wars.

Everyone learned. Most will go on to college. Some will go to the Foster School.

Futures have been sparked, if not created.

“I’m passionate about financial education for young people,” says DwyerO’Connor, now working in New York City for Citigroup. “I love interacting with students and seeing what they are capable of. This Academy of Finance is life-changing for many students. It can take them, literally, from the inner city to Wall Street.” n FALL 2008 29

alumni

The Search is On Kyle Polanski is up to big things down at Halibut Flats His company’s name could be the setting for a blues song, or a hardscrabble Steinbeck tale. But the fact is, times are pretty good for Kyle Polanski (MBA 2008) and Halibut Flats Partners, LLC, the search fund he built by sheer force of ambition during his second year in the Foster School’s Full-Time MBA Program.

Polanski convinced 12 investors to finance his search for an established, profitable Northwest small business—with potential to grow. If he finds one and negotiates a favorable deal, his investors will bankroll the acquisition, eventually reaping a healthy return if Polanski can transform the business from good to great.

Some big ifs? Not really, asserts Polanski who, despite an admitted aversion to risk, likes his odds.

30 fo s t e r B USI N ESS

Short-order mastery of unfamiliar industries has become his stock-in-trade.

After graduating with a degree in biology from Colorado College, Polanski landed a research job with a Seattle mergers & acquisitions investment bank and ascended to vice president in less than five years, working on a wide range of deals. To experience the other side of the deal, he joined Intracorp Capital, a Seattle private equity firm.

He also launched a small wholesale birdseed business, but soon recognized its limits. “I realized I wasn’t going to service Fred Meyer and Home Depot out of my garage,” Polanski says. “That’s when I decided that maybe going to business school would help me start at a point further along the growth of a company.”

The Foster School completed his portfolio and emboldened him to become a kind of small-business-private-equity-entrepreneur.

He took further inspiration from his MBA internship with Saltchuk Resources, a holding company of un-sexy operating businesses owned by Foster School advisor Mike Garvey. “It turns out that there are a lot of interesting smaller companies whose owneroperators are no longer willing to take the risk of investing in further growth,” Polanski says. “Saltchuk invests in companies, treats people well, rolls up their sleeves as operators, and does a good job of growing them over time. By working hard and honestly in these tough, boring industries, they’ve done really well. It gave me an idea of where I could go with this.”

First Polanski had to win over some investors. Last winter he approached more than 100 contacts, business owners, advisors, past employers, friends and friends-of-friends.

By spring break, he raised $270,000 in seed capital. By graduation, he launched Halibut Flats Partners (named for the old Ballard micro-neighborhood where he lives).

A few months later, he had already identified a number of local companies that fit his investment parameters and was negotiating an acquisition. And then he really steps up to the plate.

But Polanski has studied the odds of a successful search fund, and has done everything in his power to improve his own.

“A lot of people have said, ‘Wow, you’re taking a big risk,’” he says. “I turned down a few really good job offers. So that’s risky.

But since I raised the start-up capital, it doesn’t feel that risky. The way I think about this search fund is that I have a distinct skill set—understanding how to find and evaluate companies, how to negotiate deals, and how to learn new industries. And I’m hedging my relative lack of management experience by finding a company that’s already doing well. I’m a lot more comfortable and confident in my ability to take on that kind of challenge than I would be to start a company that doesn’t exist.

“Now I get to apply the skills and experience I have developed over time and fine-tuned at the Foster School.” n

Our Man in Qatar

Fostering Innovation

Michael Anderson attempts to insure the Muslim world The unruly woolen thicket that has proliferated around Michael Anderson’s (BA 2004) chin began as a logical accessory to his May motorcycle trek across America, a epic that saw him run off the road in Virginia, buffeted by tornado in Arkansas and skid into a Texas farm field when a hairpin turned unexpectedly to gravel.

That same beard—advancing all summer long—may have come off as somewhat less appropriate in the decorous offices of Perkins Coie and McKinsey & Company, where Anderson split a summer internship following his second year at Penn Law School.

But the beard has been cultivated as neither fashion nor political statement.

It’s strategy.

Anderson, a star at Penn Law, was awarded a Fulbright fellowship to spend the 2008-09 academic year in Qatar studying the strictures of Sharia, the body of religious law that governs the Muslim world. In particular, he will be working to develop a viable system of insurance that complies with Sharia, which has a strict prohibition against interest, or shared risk.

“There are many different interpretations of the Islamic texts, and they can all be legitimate,” Anderson says. “The challenge is to find the interpretation that is the most favorable, and then back it up in a way that makes sense even to people who don’t necessarily subscribe to that theory.”

To give himself a chance of success, he’s approaching the subject—and the culture— with the utmost of respect. Thus the beard, along with intensive study of Arabic, the Koran and Sharia. One other advantage, curiously, is Anderson’s devout Christian faith.

“I’m a conservative Baptist, but I’ve done a lot of comparative religious studies,” he says. “Although my beliefs are very different, I can see the nuance of the issues maybe better than someone who’s not a ‘believer,’ so to speak. I hope that will lead to more willingness to work with me.”

The potential outcome of his Fulbright work could be the birth of an industry. But Anderson’s aim is higher still: “The more nations integrate financially, the more they will understand each other and the fewer tensions we will see in the world.” n

The Foster School will launch a new lunch-time speaker series in early 2009: “Fostering Innovation: Leaders Who Think Differently and Make a Difference.” The series will take place the first Tuesday in February, March, April and May, and feature some of the region’s most innovative business leaders— including Starbucks Senior VP Michelle Gass (MBA 1999) and Newsvine founder Mike Davidson (BA 1997)—in informally moderated conversations at the Columbia Tower Club in Seattle and the Harbor Club in Bellevue. For the full roster of speakers and more information, visit www.foster.washington.edu/alumni.

back to Business School Several hundred alumni came from around the United States and as far away as Greece to attend the fourth annual Foster School Back To Business School & Reunion Weekend, September 12-13. The honored MBA classes of 1983, 1988, 1993, 1998 and 2003 presented class gifts that totaled more than $109,000.

Highlights included a networking lunch, a gala reunion party, a brunch tailgater prior to the Huskies’ game, and seminars on the latest business topics: “Authentic Leadership in a Changing World,” by Bruce Avolio, the Marion B. Ingersoll Professor of Management; and William S. Ayer (MBA 1978), chairman, president and CEO of Alaska Air Group.

“Globalization: the Micro and Macro Aspects of Cultural Diversity in Business Today,” by Kevin Steensma, professor of management and the Helen Moore Gerhardt Faculty Fellow in Entrepreneurship; and Xiao-Ping Chen, professor of management and organization and Evert McCabe Fellow.

“Neuroscience & Business Productivity: How to use your brain for a competitive edge,” by John Medina, affiliate professor of bioengineering and author of “Brain Rules.”

FALL 2008 31

first person

Kevin 2.0 The (nearly) complete evolution of one Foster MBA By kevin Kirn (MBA 2008)

32 fo s t e r B USI N ESS

plan, and numerous case competitions. They were well worth the extra time.

Competitions turned out to be one of the keys to finding Kevin 2.0. The highlight was the Wake Forest case competition. With just 36 hours and a team of seven, we needed to find a new source of growth for Alltel Wireless, the competition’s sponsor. We found that source, put together a convincing 25 minute presentation, and went home with the 1st place trophy.

Each of the competitions provided an opportunity to integrate the entire MBA curriculum while working with a group of incredibly smart and assertive people in a pressure cooker environment.

I liked solving problems in this type of environment so much that when McKinsey & Company made me an offer, I knew I had found my new home.

Although I chose to give up my sketch comedy performances during the program, I couldn’t suppress the need to perform completely… During our first-year strategy class, my team presented an analysis that included the proverbial 800-pound gorilla entering the subject company’s market. Naturally, I wore my gorilla suit (yes, I own one) and scared my class half to death when I burst into the room halfway through the presentation. I’m certain that this will be the one thing my classmates remember about me in 20 years.

My experience in the Foster MBA program provided everything I hoped for and more: amazing classmates, great instructors, countless opportunities to test my new skills, and two of the most enjoyable years of my life. By the time you read this, my journey to Kevin 2.0 will be complete as I start my new career in October.

We’ll see what the folks at McKinsey think of my gorilla suit…

© iStockphoto.com/totallyjamie

My MBA experience started rather suddenly. I had been thinking about an MBA for a while, so when a surprise reorganization occurred at my company, I decided to go for it sooner rather than later. One problem: it was just weeks before the Foster School Full-Time MBA Program would start and I hadn’t even begun the application process! After a few weeks of intense GMAT study, essay writing, networking, and some luck (there was a spot open!), I was admitted to the Class of 2008. Three days later, with my head still spinning, I started the program, met my new classmates, and realized I was in for an amazing experience.

Like many MBA students, I came in with ambitious but ambiguous goals. I wanted to transform myself as I moved into a new career, but I didn’t know what I wanted to transform myself into, nor did I know what the new career would look like. Thus began my search for the new me: Kevin 2.0.

Within days of starting the Foster program I realized I had come to the right place. After years at one company, I knew I needed some new inputs to shake up my thinking. My new classmates came from all over the globe, and from an amazing variety of backgrounds including non-profits, military, tech, retail, Wall Street, etc. There was even a crab boat captain! This diversity provided me with so many new ideas, new ways of looking at things, and new reactions to my ideas that I never would have received in my previous job.

Prior to my MBA, there were all sorts of things I enjoyed doing with my free time including golf and performing with my sketch comedy troupe, Haiku Trout. Free time didn’t turn out to be something I had during the program. I filled up the holes in my schedule with competitions of every sort: venture capital, business

Your employees aren't ”assets.“ They’re people.

Howard BeHar Retired president, Starbucks Edward V. Fritzky Chair Foster School of Business

As former president of Starbucks International, Howard Behar built a culture focused on the human side of business.

Think of your staff as people, not labor costs. Think of your customers as humans, not revenue. It turns out this kind of thinking creates very successful organizations.

As the Fritzky Chair at the Foster School, Behar is at home in a place that teaches a focus on people as a key business strategy.

Read more about Howard Behar and the Foster School of Business.

Visit foster.washington.edu/difference Think differently. Make a difference.

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