Worthy Recognition

WORTHY RECOGNITION

Ingrained in the VSB culture is the importance of recognizing those who advance the mission and uphold our values in various ways. Following are those who received awards this year: Stephen Liedtka, PhD Associate Professor, Accounting & Information Systems The Lafferty Award

Presented by the Provost, the Lafferty Award recognizes faculty members who have made a distinctive and lasting contribution to enhancing the quality of the student experience by engaging with students in significant ways outside a traditional teaching or research relationship and beyond their formal advising duties.

VSB FACULTY AWARDS

Steve Andriole, PhD Thomas G. Labrecque Professor of Business Technology, Accounting & Information Systems The McDonough Family Faculty Award for Research Excellence

Michelle Casario, PhD Co-Faculty Director for The Elenore and Robert F. Moran Sr. Center for Global Leadership; Assistant Professor, Economics Media Relations Rising Star Award

Yoon-Na Cho, PhD Associate Professor, Marketing & Business Law The McDonough Family Faculty Award for Research Excellence

Q Chung, PhD Professor, Accounting & Information Systems Gerald A. Dougherty Endowed School of Business Faculty Award

David Fiorenza Assistant Professor of the Practice, Economics Media Relations Gold Star Award

Denise Hanes Downey, PhD Kevin Tedeschi ’71 Associate Professor, Accounting & Information Systems Research to Practice Award

Laura Iacona Adjunct Faculty, Accounting & Information Systems William J. O’Neill Award for Undergraduate/Graduate Teaching Excellence

Beth Vallen, PhD Associate Professor, Marketing & Business Law Thomas J. Carmody, Jr. Faculty Award

Jerome Heppelmann Instructor, Finance & Real Estate External Engagement Award

Steve Padovano, Executive-in-Residence; Director, Applied Quantitative Finance Program, Finance & Real Estate External Engagement Award

Michael Licata, PhD Associate Professor, Accounting & Information Systems The Daniel J. O’Mara Villanova School of Business Faculty Award

Gerard Olson, PhD Professor, Finance & Real Estate The Daniel J. O’Mara Villanova School of Business Faculty Award Gloria Angel Program Administrator, The Elenore and Robert F. Moran Sr. Center for Global Leadership VSB Diversity and Inclusion Award

Nancy Carpenter Coordinator, Accounting & Information Systems Department VSB Veritas, Caritas, Unitas Award

Scott Hansen Coordinator, Information Technology VSB Innovation Award

Brenda Stover Assistant Dean, O’Donnell Center for Professional Development VSB Ambassador Award

Chesley Turner Director, Center for Church Management VSB Rookie Award

Marie Witman Associate Director, Program Operations, Graduate Business Programs VSB Student Champion Award

BUILDING ENHANCEMENT SUPPORTS TEACHING AND RESEARCH INITIATIVES

The new Victoria and Justin Gmelich ’90 Lab for Financial Markets opened in February 2020. This state-of-the art facility—where students and faculty can study and research in an environment parallel to a Wall Street trading floor with greater exposure to real estate, analytics, management information systems and other fields—was made possible through a $3 million commitment from alumnus Justin Gmelich ’90 VSB and his wife, Victoria, making it one of the largest named gifts for a financial markets lab in the country.

Over 50% larger than the prior Applied Finance Lab, the Gmelich Lab for Financial Markets establishes an even stronger connection between the classroom and the business world, improves experiential learning opportunities with alumni and employers, and increases the technological proficiency of all students.

The Gmelich Lab for Financial Markets includes a large classroom with 28 workstations and seating capacity for 56, nine 75” LED screens, and fully integrated video conferencing software allowing alumni and business leaders to seamlessly enter the academic setting. It also contains a smaller lab with 13 additional workstations designed for group projects and research. Throughout the Gmelich Lab, students can access high processing computers equipped with Bloomberg access and other market data, including:

• High-power equipment capable of handling complex, data-intensive computations necessary for curricula involving machine learning and artificial intelligence

• Access to research and real-time data through Bloomberg, FactSet, Wharton Research

Data Services, TraderEx, SDC Platinum (M&W/New Issues), Morningstar Direct,

SNL Financial/IW Financial and other financial databases

• Access to ArcGIS, a powerful geographic mapping system used extensively in real estate

• Virtual reality (VR) capabilities for 3D data visualization for advanced analytics

EXPANDING STUDENT EXPERIENCES

VSB launched the Davis Fund for Student Experiences, which will fund learning opportunities beyond the classroom for both undergraduate and graduate students. Thanks to the generosity of Jim C. Davis ’81 VSB and Kim Davis, the Davis Fund advances VSB’s long-standing commitment to experiential learning by providing resources that enable students to pursue opportunities that push their academic and professional growth to a much higher level.

This new fund supports initiatives that extend beyond the curriculum including but not limited to global opportunities, research, independent studies, nonprofit service, conferences, case studies and other experiences that reflect the University’s mission and values. The Davis Fund is one of numerous initiatives established as a result of the historic $50 million gift made through the Davis Family Foundation in 2017, which will ensure that VSB students will have access to the most up-to-date resources and opportunities for generations to come.

Manuel Nuñez ’03 MBA Jeffrey D. Kudisch, PhD

NEW LEADERSHIP FOR GRADUATE AND EXECUTIVE EDUCATION PROGRAMS

This past year, VSB announced an expanded leadership team to support our growing presence in graduate and executive education. A national search led to the hiring of Manuel (Manny) Nuñez ’03 MBA as the new associate dean of Graduate Programs and Jeffrey D. Kudisch, PhD, as the new associate dean of Corporate Relations and Executive Education. Nuñez now oversees the Part-Time MBA, Online MBA and specialty masters programs as well as enrollment and career strategy services for graduate business students, while Dr. Kudisch focuses on our Executive MBA (EMBA) Program and expanding VSB’s executive education efforts.

SIGNATURE EVENTS

Many of the VSB Signature Events for 2019-20 were scheduled for spring 2020 and subsequently impacted by the COVID-19 closures. In fall 2019, we again partnered with PA Conference for Women where Dean Russell presented two sessions on “Getting Paid What You Are Worth: Tips for Salary Negotiation” in the Career Pavilion Stage.

We held a well-received virtual Commencement Celebration the day after the University’s Online Degree Conferral, during which we shared a compilation of special messages from fellow students as well as faculty and administrators.

STRONG CONNECTIONS

Financial support enables VSB to enhance our learning environment, elevate our profile as a producer of groundbreaking research, and enrich the overall educational experience. VSB raised a collective $4.1 million across endowments, restricted gifts and unrestricted funds that helped fund strategic efforts to grow technology, enhance our physical space and provide fiscal support to graduate students. VSB’s most significant gifts were a $1M gift from the Lilly Foundation to support the Center for Church Management, a $200,000 gift to support the construction of the finance lab and another $200,000 gift to support scholarships for VSB students.

EXTERNAL RELATIONS

Dean Russell has started three new VSB initiatives that also engage our employers and alumni. External partners have offered time, talent and investment to support the business school.

Health Care Strategic Initiative A University-wide partnership to develop research, curriculum and professional development opportunities for students at all levels. Highly qualified industry advisors are collaborating with the VSB committee to further this initiative from conception to completion. Business of Sports Initiative A University-wide partnership leveraging Villanova’s athletics pedigree to develop an innovative curriculum and professional development opportunities for current and aspiring professionals and students at all levels. Sustainability Initiative A collaboration with VU’s College of Engineering and College of Professional Studies, the SEED (Sustainable Enterprise Executive Education & Development) Program is geared toward professionals interested in learning how to design and implement sustainability practices to create value.

TOP EMPLOYMENT PARTNERS

The top employer partners for VSB are those who recruited the greatest number of students from the class of 2019, are O’Donnell Center Corporate Sponsors, and are key employer partners for future pipeline development.

The employers are: 3M, Accenture, Bank of America, Barclays, BASF, Bank of Montreal, BlackRock, Boston Consulting Group, Citi, Comcast/NBCUniversal, Crowe LLP, Deloitte Consulting, Digitas, EY, FTI Consulting, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, Johnson & Johnson, KPMG, L3Harris, Mercer Consulting, MUFG, News America Marketing, PwC, Quest Diagnostics, Reckitt Benckiser, SAP and Wells Fargo.