WINTER
w i l l i a m
d a v i d s o n
i n s t i t u t e
12
Business Knowledge for Emerging Economies
Three Join Board WDI is pleased to announce the appointment of three new members to its board of directors. Alonzo Fulgham, vice president of International Relief & Development (IRD), Bill Lanen, associate dean for global initiatives and the KPMG Professor of Accounting at the Ross School of Business, and Wallace (Wally) Hopp, associate dean for faculty and research and the Alessi Professor of Business Administration at Ross, are the new board members. They join Alison Davis-Blake, who became the Ross School’s new dean on July 1, and was appointed president of WDI at that time. All four attended the WDI board meeting in December. Fulgham has more than 20 years of development experience around the world. He directs IRD’s strategic business activities across the non-profit’s program operations, program development, and emerging business divisions. IRD is a leading non-profit development organization specializing in conflict and postconflict environments. Before joining IRD, he was appointed Acting Administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) by President Obama in January 2009. He managed more than $15 billion of foreign assistance programs in more than 88 countries and a staff of more than 7,000. He previously served as Chief Operating Officer at USAID from 2006-09. Fulgham joined USAID in 1989, working in Swaziland. He has served as USAID Mission Director to Afghanistan and USAID Director for South Asian Affairs. He has also worked in Jordan, Serbia, Montenegro, Georgia, and Azerbaijan. While at USAID, he advocated for using international development as an essential foreign policy tool in support of U.S. national security interests. Fulgham visited WDI in 2008 to host a career session for students interested in international development, and to give a talk as part of the WDI Global Impact Speaker Series. He also Co n t i n u e d o n pag e 9 >
Bearing Fruit Unique Set of Capabilities Attracts Funders
F
or the past several years, WDI has done a lot of research and consulting work for government funding agencies such as the U.S. State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). For example, the State Department’s Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI) contracted WDI to deliver some training and SME development for entrepreneurs in Morocco. USAID gave WDI a grant to compare the BoP approach to poverty alleviation to the value chain approach favored by development agencies. “But those were mostly targets of opportunity where we utilized our capabilities to react to USAID’s or the State Department’s needs,” said WDI Executive Director Robert Kennedy. Six years ago, WDI’s strategy was revised. The Institute continued its research activities and its practical approach to development consulting. The revised vision drew on WDI’s unique capabilities with a focus to: ◗ Deliver high quality, in-country research, training, and consulting services
◗ D evelop strong relationships with partner organizations that can help us deliver programs and provide funding to extend our reach ◗ C reate opportunities for the U-M community in ways that complement WDI’s core activities and solidify our partnerships ◗ D isseminate our intellectual capital via books, articles, op-eds, teaching materials, speeches, conferences, and the Web “We emphasized what makes WDI unique –thought leadership in our research focus areas, being a bridge between theory and practice, and our capability to deploy intelligent, high-energy student teams,” Kennedy said. “We put the right management team in place and developed complementary activities across the initiatives. “We are now seeing strong results.” Development agencies and global foundations are now seeking WDI out, aware of the interesting, productive, and high impact work the Institute is doing. Over the past year, leading development organizations such as the Rockefeller Foundation, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, UNITAID, the World Health Organization, Goldman Sachs, Co n t i n u e d o n pag e 9 >