Nexus spring 2001

Drake University COLLEGE OF BUSINESS & P U B L I C A D M I N I S T R AT I O N ALUMNI NEWSLETTER

NEXUS C O N N E C T I N G W I T H O U R A L U M N I & F R I E N D S A RO U N D T H E WO R L D

Around the World The CBPA Way

INSIDE THIS ISSUE: Skydiving Dean . . . page 2 Regional Scoop . . . page 8 Alumni Profile . . . page 10

Spring 2001 • Volume 12 • Number 1

A Note

from Dean Joe Alber

I had an interesting challenge from a fraternity earlier this semester. They invited me to give a speech at an evening event

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Nexus, the College of Business and Public Administration newsletter, is published for alumni and friends of the CBPA Drake University Marketing and Communications 316 Old Main Drake University Des Moines, Iowa 50311-4505 Joe Alber dean joe.alber@drake.edu 515-271-2871 Todd Behrends development officer todd.behrends@drake.edu 515-271-2502 Casey L. Gradischnig editor casey.gradischnig@drake.edu 515-271-3779 Eric Flynn art director eric.flynn@drake.edu

on campus on any topic of my choosing provided I make the speech both interesting and entertaining.Their “entertainment” requirement eliminated the possibility of my discussing the twelve steps for designing and implementing a computer system or the relative merits of cable versus DSL for delivering broadband network services to the home. While I find both topics entertaining, I had to concede that bandwidth banter might possibly bore my audience.

After reflecting on my assignment, I decided to talk about a personal interest in my life that’s a bit more extreme – skydiving. Yes, skydiving. I’ve enjoyed the thrill of jumping out of airplanes for 37 years and have amassed more than 1,800 jumps. So I compiled some “entertaining stories” and, with the aid of some great video clips, set out to share my skydiving experiences.

The audience seemed to like my presentation, but many of the young faces bore a somewhat stunned expression. I wasn’t sure why. Perhaps they found it hard to imagine that someone who wore a suit with a white handkerchief in the breast pocket to work every day would jump out of a perfectly good airplane. Or perhaps the theme of the speech, that students should try to apply the same level of intensity found in skydiving to their work habits, was too big a stretch for them.

Whatever the reason, I was reminded once again how often students are introduced to novel ideas and experiences in college. Students have a weekly smorgasbord of plays, musical performances, speakers, athletic events and other activities from which to choose.

This is on top of an already full schedule of academic-related activities.

In the College of Business and Public Administration, professors employ many forms of pedagogy in their courses. In addition to lectures, there are case studies, guest speakers, field trips and various forms of experiential learning. Many students supplement these with internships and study abroad.

All of these experiences, whether they occur inside or outside the classroom, are intended to educate students. Wherever the learning occurs, students leave Drake He glides through the air – CBPA Dean exposed to many more ideas and experiences Joe Alber skydiving. than when they entered. With this accumulated knowledge they are prepared to confront the challenges that lie ahead.

The job placement rate for students from this College who graduated in May 2000 was 99%. These students will have successful careers because of what they learned at Drake – whether they acquired that knowledge in class, at an internship, or from someone like me who happens to adorn his suits with white handkerchiefs and jumps out of airplanes on weekends.

NEXUS SPRING 2001 • DRAKE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF BUSINESS AND PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION

HOT TOPIC

The Economic Forecast: Not Too Bad

by David Lawrence

he idea that there is a “new economy” does not imply that there is a “new economics.” This is apparent with the reemergence of a very old economic phenomenon, the business cycle downturn.

We are probably in an industrial recession right now, and the more general economy stands on the precipice of its first recession in 10 years. Fortunately, there are a couple of factors, often overlooked, that lead to the belief that any downturn will not be notably deep or long-lived.

There is no question that there has been a bursting of a speculative bubble in the information technology (IT) sector. This was not a classic bubble (like tulips or Florida swamp land) because it was based upon real and permanent productivity-enhancing technological progress. The fundamental mistake that many investors made was not recognizing that IT infrastructure, equipment and software are capital goods, akin to machine tools, and like all capital goods, the industry is subject to both overbuilding and swift postponement of demand. The absolute drop-off in orders for these commodities over the past few months and the industry’s complete lack of visibility – the currently popular business-speak for “we have no idea what will happen next” – are classic business-cycle phenomena in the capital goods industry.

As far as the length and severity of the slowdown are concerned, it is helpful

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David Lawrence is the Thomas F. Sheehan distinguished professor of finance. This editorial condenses the remarks made by Professor Lawrence during the meeting of the Iowa Economic Forecasting Council on March 9, 2001.

that the burst bubble was primarily equityfinanced rather than debt-financed. It is true that nearly $4 trillion dollars of equity has been destroyed the past year on the NASDAQ alone, and that many people who thought they were going to be rich are not going to be. Financial institutions during this period did a fairly good job of avoiding so-called “air-ball” financing; with the exception of debt-financed overbuilding in the telecommunications industry, financial institutions should come out of this situation without a huge overhang of bad debt.

People familiar with the farm depression of the 1980s and the real estate market after the S&L debacle understand how the financial hangover of bad debt can deepen and prolong a downturn. In the current environment, when confidence returns, the banking system should be poised to finance business expansion using reasonable credit standards.

A second characteristic that bodes well is the absolute soundness of federal fiscal and monetary policy over the past 10 years, leaving the government with a full array of strong weapons to fight any downturn. With large surpluses, there is plenty of room for a meaningful and permanent tax cut.

Likewise, if need be, the Fed has room to cut several hundred basis points from short-term interest rates. It is important to understand that the Fed’s goal is not to sup-

port the stock market; it is to keep longterm interest rates low, thereby stimulating capital investment. This is best accomplished by keeping inflationary expectations down.

Mr. Greenspan, perhaps alone, has the credibility to achieve this.

Japan is a textbook example of the consequences of financial hangover from bad investments, and is the wildcard in the world economic situation. When the finance minister of the world’s second largest economy states that his country is on the verge of collapse, this is a statement to be taken seriously. Further decline in Japan hurts us not only via a reduction in exports, but also through the possibility of U.S. plant closings and other efforts to bring money back home.

The business cycle has not been repealed by the new technology—in fact, the repeated assertions to the contrary were one of the signs of the top. Recessions happen, but they always sew the seeds for renewed prosperity. Caution, not panic, is a good watchword in today’s environment.

YOUR OPINION WANTED: If you have an industry-related opinion you’d like to write and submit for consideration as a future Hot Topic, or if you want to respond to this editorial, send an e-mail to Nexus editor casey.gradischnig@drake.edu.

DRAKE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF BUSINESS AND PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION • NEXUS SPRING 2001

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IN BRIEF

The Drake Small Business Development Center and the John Pappajohn Entrepreneurial Center Assistant Director Wendy DeVries with Director Sherry Shafer.

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DIRECTOR NAMED FOR SMALL BUSINESS CENTER

mother-daughter program; and Quick Book Pro training.

The state wide Targeted Small Business Marketing program is now located at the center. This new service promotes women, minority and handicapped entrepreneurs.

The center also has an extensive small business library available for use by Drake students, faculty and entrepreneurs and contains tapes, magazines, research material, books, best sellers and other resources. A new Web site will be on the Internet in May. The Pappajohn Center offers $10,000 seed grants to Drake students seeking to start a new innovative/technology business in a twice-a-year competition. The center provides loan packaging, feasibility, strategic planning and other services to businesses.

New programs are being planned, and collaboration and partnering with the other colleges at Drake as well as community organizations and businesses are growing.

As part of the CBPA, the SBDC and Pappajohn centers held an open house on May11. For information, contact the SBDC at 515-271-2655.

Sherry Shafer, LA’63, was named the new LONGFIELD FEATURED SPEAKER AT director of the the Drake Small Business ANNUAL BUSINESS DAYS Development Center and the John William H. Longfield, chairman and chief Pappajohn Entrepreneurial Center. The executive officer of C. R. Bard Inc., a busiUniversity’s West Des Moines office and the ness that develops, manufactures and supcampus office have been combined into one plies health care products that focus on vaslocation at 2429 University along cular, urology and oncology diswith the Pappajohn Center. Wendy ease states, was the keynote DeVries, MBA’94, was selected to speaker at Drake University’s be the assistant director. annual Business Days Awards The center offers new services Banquet on April 5. and opportunities for entrepreneurs Longfield, who received in a four-county area of Polk, his bachelor’s degree in business Jasper, Warren and Marion as well administration from Drake in as businesses from other counties 1960, discussed many challenges William H. Longfield that require certain special programs. he’s faced during his 40-year The SBDC provides free, one-on-one conficareer. Longfield joined C. R. Bard in dential counseling to existing businesses and Murray Hill, N.J., in 1989 as executive vice start-ups. It offers workshops, conferences president and chief operating officer. He and special programs. Other services providbecame president in 1991 and CEO in 1994. ed by SBDC include a Web lab to help small He recently was elected chairman of the businesses develop Web sites; international Board of Directors of the Advanced Medical trade business assistance; “Made It,” a Technology Association, the world’s largest trade association for innovators and manu-

facturers of medical devices, diagnostic products and medical information systems.

Other highlights of Business Days included a forum by Carl Williams, chief information officer of The Principal Financial Group, entitled “Information Systems in the Real World”; an ice cream social sponsored by Alpha Kappa Psi; and a banquet where more than 80 CBPA students received scholarships and honors.

Drake’s Business Days is made possible by Arthur Andersen LLP.

CBPA STUDENTS LEARN ABOUT ADVERSITIES FIRST-HAND Tuesday, March 6, 2001, 50 CBPA students entered a world that most never had to face before. It was a world that illustrated the challenges of the disabled. Sponsored by the Drake Chapter of SHRM, two members of the Central Iowa Center for Independent Living (CICIL) came to Drake to speak about their jobs and to share information about people with disabilities.

Bob Jeppesen and Frank Strong presented activities designed to give a better understanding of what it is like to live with a disability. Students were asked to form teams of two or three and help each other out at the various stops.

Some of the students started at the “Blindness” station. Here students wore darkened sunglasses and used a walking stick to find their way up and down the stairs.

“Fine Motor Skills Improvement” was another station that allowed students to realize how hard it is to be confined to a wheelchair. The students then had to navigate their way through the hallways to the bathroom and water fountain.

“Learning Disabilities” was a more challenging activity where students had to read a paragraph written backwards in order to experience what it would mean to have a learning disability. Students realized how hard and frustraiting having a disability can be.

Finally students who thought that they had weathered the harder activities had one

NEXUS SPRING 2001 • DRAKE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF BUSINESS AND PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION

ize that we do take things for granted and, more to go through – “Speech Impediment.” until placed in that situation, cannot underHere students faced the difficulty of trying stand how hard it is to live with a disability. to communicate clearly while three marshThis sensitivity training will be very benefimallows were placed in their mouths. Their cial to Drake students in working in the partners during this time asked them inter“real world.” view questions which they could not answer just yes or no. One student commented on

By Debbie Broneck this exercise expressing “how frustrating it President, Drake SHRM Student Chapter was and I just wanted to get out the fastest answer possible without explaining, going BEHRENDS JOINS DRAKE into detail or spitting out one of my DEVELOPMENT OFFICE marshmallows.”

Todd Behrends has joined Drake After students had completed University as the CBPA alumni all the activities, they asked quesand development director. tions and discussed their reactions Behrends has spent 17 years to each activity. Overall, the stuworking in marketing and comdents had fun and found the presenmunications roles primarily withtation very educational. Each of in the insurance and financial these activities allowed them to realservices industries. He joined Todd Behrends

Drake from the NCMIC Group, where he worked in public relations, marketing and community relations for more than five years. Behrends has degrees from Northwest Missouri State and from Simpson College.

He is accredited in public relations by the Public Relations Society of America and holds the APR designation. Behrends can be reached at 515-271-2502.

CBPA GRADS ELECTED TO DRAKE BOARD OF TRUSTEES Three of the four new members elected to the Drake University Board of Trustees are CBPA grads. They are: • James Bruner, BN’60, LW’63, executive vice president and division manager of National Bank of Arizona in Scottsdale; • Steven Chapman, BN’73, president and CEO of ITA Group Inc. West Des Moines; • Ronald Roark, BN’72, chairman and CEO of Crown NorthCorp in Columbus, Ohio.

The new members will serve three-year terms on the Board of Trustees, which meets four times yearly and serves as the University’s policy-making and governing body.

NEW NEXUS HOT OFF THE PRESS

Drake Historical Moment

The spring 2001 printing marks the first edition of the newly redesigned Nexus. The newsletter has been reworked by Drake’s Office of Marketing and Communications to give the publication a more reader-friendly, contemporary feel. In addition to the visual enhancements, the content of Nexus has been updated to include more Drake CBPA students, faculty and graduates in new and unique ways. If you have a comment on the newsletter or would like to contribute to Nexus, e-mail Editor Casey Gradischnig at casey.gradischnig@drake.edu or call 515271-3779.

DRAKE’S CBPA HAD ITS BEGINNING IN 1916 as the School of Commerce, Finance and Journalism within the College of Liberal Arts. It was given separate status as a degree-granting college in 1919. Between 1923 and 1950 the school was known as the College of Commerce and Finance and then became the College of Business Administration. Herbert W. Bohlman (seen here with students in 1958) served as dean of the College from 1954 until 1965.

DRAKE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF BUSINESS AND PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION • NEXUS SPRING 2001

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Go Global

International Business Flies High at Drake IT’S A BIG WORLD OUT THERE AND DOING BUSINESS ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE GLOBE HAS NOT ONLY BECOME EASIER, IT’S BECOME NECESSARY. FUELED BY MULTI-NATIONAL CORPORATIONS AND THE EMERGENCE AND EASE OF THE INTERNET, E-MAIL AND AIRLINE TICKETS ARE QUICKLY BECOMING THE TOOLS OF TRADE IN AN INCREASINGLY GLOBAL BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT.

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n the past, a business could choose not to do business internationally,” says CBPA Assistant Professor of Management Vinitia Mathews. “Now, smart businesses don’t have much choice because whether a business participates in international business or not, that business will be impacted by international business issues and influencers. Traditional job descriptions have not changed, however, how one executes his or her job . . . interacting with diverse people, dealing with rapidly changing technology, and the increased amount of travel all have changed remarkably in recent years.”

A FOUNDATION FOR SUCCESS

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One way Drake prepares business students for the increasingly diverse workplace and the influx of global business practices is the international business major.

This major equips Drake students for the challenging tasks of leading and coordinating people, activities and

systems for global operations. The curriculum provides a broad-based program of language and culture, history, geography and political science with a solid foundation of business and economics to enhance students’ abilities to be valuable and contributing members of a global society.

GLOBE-TROTTING STUDENTS AND GRADUATES “My daily tasks are affected directly each day by economic, environmental and political events,” says CBPA graduate Carla Rajkowski, who travels the world as an international trade analyst and pricing authority for Maersk Sealand. “Recently I attended a training seminar where employees representing more than 40 countries prepared economic presentations. Seven days before the presentation, many revised their forecasts due to the news regarding the U.S. economic outlook and possible recession. In order for businesses to survive through theses fluctuations, businesses must be aware and react to the international events in a manner that is appropriate and timely.”

Rajkowski graduated from Drake in 2000 with international business, economics and finance majors and a Spanish minor, and she

biggest project, managing a $2.5 million point-ofsale design roll-out, was honored in an international competition in Dusseldorf, Germany.

Student Profile Minna Hamalainen Major: Master of Business Administration, anticipated completion in December 2001.

Hometown: Helsinki, Finland Notable Achievement: Before attending Drake, Hamalainen worked for Finland's largest cosmetic brand, where she planned and executed product launches and marketing strategies for both domestic and international markets. Her

Off-campus Interests: Hamalainen embraces international education and loves traveling and getting to know different cultures and people.

After graduating from high school in Helsinki, she was an exchange student in the U.S. for a year.

Through business, vacation, or academic enrichment, Hamalainen has visited approximately 20 countries so far and has learned six languages along the way. She also enjoys concerts, art exhibitions, design, movies, hiking and skiing.

Career Aspirations: "A position where I can use my international professional experience in strategic marketing along with interpersonal and

linguistics skills. My dream job would include a fair amount of responsibility and lots of traveling, meeting new people and brainstorming.

Marketing management, consulting and competitive market analysis would be interesting fields to work in."

“The Drake MBA and the offered electives create a great foundation for future business positions, and what I have learned will enable me to successfully further my career ambitions. Team performance is vital no matter what activities you engage in, and at Drake I've learned a lot about American group dynamics in particular. I feel that this will be a valuable asset in my future business interactions.”

NEXUS SPRING 2001 • DRAKE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF BUSINESS AND PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION

credits Drake for preparing her for the fast-paced global marketplace where she now works. “My international business classes gave me the tools I needed to evaluate international business opportunities while increasing my understanding of cultural issues and customs.

Secondly, my study abroad experience in Spain taught me a lot about myself. I realized how truly open to other cultures a person must be in order to actually live or work abroad for long periods of time.”

(Right) Sophomore finance major Hannah Zbornik is studying in Prague for the spring semester.

DRAKE IS INCREASINGLY INTERNATIONAL According to Mathews, the number of CBPA students traveling abroad has risen dramatically in recent years. Even prospective students are asking about travel abroad opportunities as they shop – for colleges. From 1997-98 to 1998-99, the number of students from the United States studying abroad increased by 13.9 percent. The increase among Drake students was 15.5 percent. From 1993-94 to 1998-99, the increase in the U.S. was 70 percent, while the increase in study-abroad participation at Drake was 88.7 percent.

While international students have long contributed important perspectives to the Drake community, there are more of them to do so these days. From 1998-99 to 1999-2000, the number of international students studying in the United States increased by 4.8 percent; the comparable increase at Drake was 6.2 percent. If you compare 1994-95 and 1999-2000, the increase for the U.S. was 13.7 percent while the growth at Drake was 48.3 percent.

“Oh my word! I have learned so much,” says sophomore finance major Hannah Zbornik, who is spending the spring semester in Prague. Zbornik is participating in a program at the University of Economics, called CESP – Central and East European Studies

Digital Drake Great global business resources for international businesses can be found at the Center for International Business & Travel @

(Left) CBPA graduate Carla Rajkowski, on a recent business-related trip to Copenhagen, is an international trade analyst and pricing authority for Maersk Sealand.

Program. “Even though I am not in a classroom all the time, I think I am learning much more than I would in a semester.”

WORLDWIDE RESULTS Opportunities like studying abroad, visiting with one of the international business experts frequently speaking on campus, and the development of Drake’s International Business Society by Mathews and CBPA students two years ago, are paying off in measurable ways for Drake graduates.

“We continue to see phenomenal growth in the area of international business, and our students are doing very well in placement,” says Mathews. “I hear raves from employers about how wonderful our students are. Huge international companies like Pioneer Hi-Bred constantly comment on how knowledgeable and how professional Drake students and graduates are.”

www.internationalist.com

DRAKE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF BUSINESS AND PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION • NEXUS SPRING 2001

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REGIONAL SCOOP: DALLAS From a small settlement on the banks of the Trinity River, Dallas has evolved into a major metropolis that Fortune magazine called the “best place in the nation to do business.”

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BUSINESS

CULTURE

Dallas is headquarters to more oil firms than any other U.S. city, and headquarters to more insurance companies than any other city in the south. The city ranks seventh in the nation on the Fortune 500 list, with eight of the nation’s largest public firms headquartered in the city of Dallas, Dubbed the "Silicon Prairie," Dallas is among the largest high technology employment centers in the U.S. Dallas is the distribution center of the Southwest, with wholesale and retail trade being the second largest employment sector in the Dallas economy.

The Dallas arts district is the largest urban arts district in the country and is anchored by the Dallas Museum of Art and the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center.

There are approximately 36 professional and community theaters, 12 symphony and chamber orchestras, three ballet groups, a world class opera association and over 160 museums, galleries, and artistic attractions.

Dallas is one of a few cities in the nation with seven major league sports teams including Cowboys football, Mavericks basketball, Rangers baseball, Stars hockey, Burn soccer, Sidekicks indoor soccer and Dragoons polo.

“Dallas is a vibrant city. It has a terrific business environment and is an exciting city to reside in.”

David N.Walthall, MBA’71, principal for Walthall Asset Management Corporation and a member of Drake’s Board of Trustees.

DALLAS BY THE NUMBERS (1999 data) Greater Dallas population Unemployment rate Median household income Median house sale price Avg. monthly apartment

3,366,618 4.1% $50,473 $121,498 $811

ALUMNI CHAPTER Thinking of visiting or moving to Dallas?

Connect with other Bulldogs in the area through Drake’s Dallas Alumni Chapter by contacting Drake grad Jesse Cox at 214-3689018, jesse.m.cox@pwcglobal.net.

Or you can connect in cyberspace by visiting Drake’s online alumni community at www.drakealumni.net.

“Dallas provides an entrepreneurial environment for advancing one's career. For those willing to invest their time and energies, the opportunities are significant.”

John R. Holzgraefe, BN’76, shareholder and co-leader of the Technology Practice Group at Jenkens & Gilchrist.

“Dallas is a virtual boomtown. Because it is located in the sunbelt and approximately in the middle of the United States, access to both coasts and the northern Midwest is possible by airplane for oneday meetings. This is truly an area where opportunity abounds and those moving into Dallas from other parts of the country are readily accepted.”

Douglas S. Lang, BN’69, attorney and partner with Gardere Wynne Sewell LLP, and vice president for programming on the Drake national Alumni Association Board.

NEXUS SPRING 2001 • DRAKE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF BUSINESS AND PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION

CBPA BUSINESS DAYS HONOREES DRAKE JOHN PAPPAJOHN ENTREPRENEURIAL CENTER GRANT John H. Brant Jr. received a Pappajohn New Venture Grant to assist with the marketing of his start-up venture, DSS Logic Inc. His enterprise will provide online manpower planning tools to the airline industry so that airlines can accurately staff their airports to meet their service and operational objectives.

The tools are similar to those Brant developed at Continental Airlines. He has already sold non-Internetenabled versions of these tools to Hawaiian Airlines and American Trans Air at the request of an industry consulting company.

Brant will receive his MBA degree from Drake University this May. He has a (Front row from left:) John H. Brant, Jr., BA in industrial engineering Sherry Shafer, director of Drake’s Small from Iowa State and is curBusiness Development Center; John rently employed at Automatic Pappajohn, president of Equity Dynamics Data Processing as a manager.

Inc.; Joe Alber, dean. (Back row) Matt He has more than 12 years of Kinley and Joseph Dunham II, employees engineering and engineering of Equity Dynamics Inc. management experience including positions at CSX Transportation, Continental Airlines and the Iowa Army Ammunition Plant.

The CBPA Annual Business Days took place April 4-5.

In addition to the outstanding students and faculty who were honored at the banquet and listed here, 81 CBPA students received scholarships at the event.

Delta Sigma Pi Undergraduate of the Year

Alpha Kappa Psi Graduating Senior of the Year

Kevin McLean

Pamela Stoffegren

Delta Sigma Pi Graduating Senior of the Year

Alpha Kappa Psi Scholarship Certificate and Key Award

Nicole Geisler

Mary Ellen Baird

Delta Sigma Pi Scholarship Key Award

CBPA Outstanding Underclassperson of the Year

Mary Ellen Baird

Grant Geyerman

Outstanding MPA Graduate of the Year

CBPA Outstanding Graduating Seniors of the Year

Christoffer Frantsvog

Mary Ellen Baird and Prithviraj Tanwar

Outstanding MBA Graduate of the Year Duane Putz

Alpha Kappa Psi Undergraduate of the Year Nick Maday

Outstanding Graduate Teaching Award James Dodd, associate professor of accounting

9 Outstanding Undergraduate Teaching Award John Rozycki, associate professor of finance

Faculty Profile Michael Murray Title: Distinguished Professor of Insurance. Murray has been at Drake since 1986 and currently teaches courses on topics including “Introduction to Insurance,” “Risk Management” and the First Year

Seminar “What Should We Do About Poverty?”

and Casualty Underwriters Society; International Insurance Society

Background: PhD from University of Oregon, two years in U. S. Army, two years at an insurance agency, 19 years teaching at University of Iowa.

Notable Achievement: Publication of a book ". . .and Economic Justice for All."

Research Interests: Currently, guaranteed adequate income issues.

Professional Associations: American Risk and Insurance Association; Chartered Property

Off-campus Activities: Golf, gardening, tennis, grandchildren.

Nexus asked: How would you describe the evolution of the insurance industry and its impact on how you educate students?

“In the early years of my teaching, I focused on the exact wording of contracts because courts were holding buyers to the contractual wording. Now I am more concerned with the intent of the contract because courts are more likely to consider the buyer's reasonable expectations.”

DRAKE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF BUSINESS AND PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION • NEXUS SPRING 2001

Talk of the Town Welcome to Talk of the Town, the public forum for airing opinions, gripes and predictions regarding issues of interest to CBPA faculty, students and graduates.

In this round of Talk of the Town, CBPA faculty and students weigh in on how they believe the Bush administration will impact the economy.

“The best way to stimulate the economy is through investment.

Bush’s tax cut proposal will motivate the wealthy to increase their investments and, therefore, improve the condition of the economy. I think the new Bush administration will benefit the economy.” – Michael Welsch, finance and accounting major, St. Paul, MN

“The true impact of the executive branch on the economy is often overstated by the media, and therefore I believe that any impact of the new Bush administration will be minimal. Any administration is given credit for a robust economy and the blame for a poor performing economy.

However, the reality is that the forces that truly drive the economy on, in large part, are out of the control of the executive branch.”– Thomas Root, assistant professor of finance, CBPA

“I think the Bush administration will stimulate the economy. The tax cut plan will put money

back into the hands of the people and result in more spending.” – Chuck Schultz, sophomore finance and accounting major, Minneapolis, MN

“People are looking for someone to blame for the state of the economy, and now that Clinton is out of office, they will turn to Bush. In reality, Bush is not capable of having an immediate effect on the economy, and any current problems can not be attributed to him.”

– Jay Whiteside, sophomore information systems and accounting major, Rock Island, IL

Occupation: Adjunct faculty University of St.Thomas Graduate School of Business; sirector of three companies and an educational foundation; part time management consultant.

Alumni Profile John H. Flittie, BN’58

Background: Flittie is the retired president, CEO and director of ReliaStar Financial Corp., a Fortune 500 company and the 8th largest publicly held life insurance holding company in the United States. Prior to his career at ReliaStar, Flittie spent 20 years as a consulting actuary including founding and managing the actuarial and benefit consulting practice at Touche Ross & Co. – now Deloitte & Touche LLP.

“Every administration realizes they serve a limited role in the management of the economy.

However, an administration can and does make strategically crafted arguments that match current public opinion about things like the economy to implement their preferred policies. Take, for example, tax cuts.

To achieve this policy goal, an administration will wisely assess the current situation and match it to their policy. So, if the economy is thought to be in bad shape, tax cuts become a vital economic stimulus program. If the economy is good, then tax cuts are said to serve the public’s wish to rein in the excesses of government or to shift money back to the people, etc. Not to say these are not legitimate arguments, but they are strategically assessed and selected to support the policy. Policy researchers refer to this condition as a solution looking for a problem.”– Lance Noe, visiting assistant professor of public administration, CBPA

Notable Achievement: “Helping to raise three great kids.”

Off-the-Job Interests: Golf, outdoor activities, travel and six grandchildren.

“Any career success was due to the education and motivation I got at Drake, particularly from my adviser, Dr. Floyd Harper, who simply wouldn’t let his students fail to succeed.”