DOLAN UPDATEDolan School of Business

Winter 2016

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Message from the Dean 1

Dolan School Fast Facts 2

Introducing Two New Academic Programs 3

Entrepreneur-in-Residence 4

Meet Our New Professors 5

Real Estate Club 6

Dolan School Internships 7

Spotlight on Accounting 8

Faculty Newsbreakers 10

New Advisory Board Members 12

New Advisory Board Chair 13

Dolan School Highlights 14

Business Plan Competition 16

Ethical Business Leaders For A Global Future

Dean Donald E. Gibson, PhD

Associate Dean and Director of Graduate Programs Mark Ligas, PhD

Assistant Dean and Director of Undergraduate Programs Dawn DeBiase, LCSW

WINTER 2016DOLAN UPDATE

Integrated Marketing Manager Alison Wade

Designer Roberta Reynolds

Send Inquiries to: Dolan School of Business Fairfield University 1073 North Benson Broad Fairfield, CT 06824-5195 203-254-4070 fairfield.edu/dsb

1

This is my fifth year serving as dean of the Dolan School

of Business, and it has been quite a ride. I began with

a strategic focus on building student career readiness,

assuring a caring learning community, and increasing

our recognition in the marketplace. This newsletter will

provide a glimpse of the ways we’ve made progress on

all three of these fronts in the last year, and our plans for

continuing our upward trajectory.

The Fast Facts on the next page capture some of the

highlights, illustrating a key aspect of the last four

years: strong growth, especially in our undergraduate

programs. In spring 2012, we had 1,088 business majors;

by spring 2015, we had 1,565, a 44% increase. Business

minors grew from 191 to 328 in the same time period,

a 72% increase. Why are we growing? There are many

factors, but certainly this growth is a reflection of the

word getting out about the quality of our faculty, our

programs, and our students.

The Fast Facts also reveal some recent positive rankings

and excellent student job-related outcomes, such as the

percentage of students completing internships and our

coveted 99.5% of students who have full time jobs or

are in graduate school six months following graduation.

In an environment where the value of college is being

questioned, it’s important to demonstrate our ROI, and

these strong measures tell a great story.

While the news on the following pages will give you

insight into some of the activities of our busy school,

you really have to be here to get a feel for what’s going

on. I invite you to see the students in action making

professional-level class presentations and engaging

with industry guest speakers; catch a business start-up

idea at our elevator pitch competition, attend a faculty

research presentation or join one of our alumni events

which bring students and alumni business leaders

together.

Thanks for being part of our family, and for keeping up

with our progress. I encourage you to take a moment to

send me a note at dgibson@fairfield.edu – I would enjoy

hearing from you.

Sincerely,

Donald E. Gibson, PhD

Dean and Professor

Message from the Dean

Friends,

“Why are we growing?

...word getting out about the quality of our

faculty, our programs, and our students.”

2

Dolan School Fast Facts

Ranked #7 by LinkedIn, the Best Undergraduate Accounting Programs, 2014.

73% of the Class of 2015 Internships are paid

99.5% of DSB graduates have a job or are accepted to graduate or professional school within six months of graduation

A+Quality of Teaching grade from

Majors Minors

93% of graduating seniors completed at least one internship (Class of 2015)

YEAR 2012 2013 2014 2015

2000

1500

1000

500

ENROLLED

Undergraduate Enrollment is Growing

The average salary of Class of 2015 graduates is $56,225

Nationally ranked by

3

This year the Dolan School introduced two new academic programs:

The MS in Business Analytics (MSBA) and the Graduate Business

Essentials Certificate. These programs are designed to offer students

the cutting-edge skills and professional business knowledge needed in

today’s workforce and economy. To learn more about these programs

we sat down with the professors who have been instrumental in piloting

them.

DR. JIE TAOAssistant Professor of Information Systems and Operations Management

The M.S. in Business Analytics is designed to provide students with

the skillsets, knowledge and confidence to effectively use, and make

strategic sense of, a wealth of data.

Q. Dr. Tao, are you currently working on any special projects as

part of the program?

A. I’m working with local businesses to develop course projects

from real-world business problems. The idea is to give students

first-hand exposure to challenges that real companies face, and have

them use analytics to determine a solution.

Q. Why would you recommend an MSBA degree?

A. Data analytics is the most popular and cutting-edge topic in the

business world today. Data has turned out to be at the core of all

business applications for decision making. When students possess

the analytical skills to use big data they will be better positioned to

succeed in the business world.

Q. What can students expect to get out of the program?

A. Students will walk away with a comprehensive understanding

of data analytics including contexts and techniques. They’ll gain

hands-on experiences, critical thinking skills, and problem solving

capabilities.

DR. MARK LIGASAssociate Dean and Director of Graduate Programs

Q. Dr. Ligas, what influenced the Dolan School to offer a program

such as the Graduate Business Essentials Certificate?

A. This certificate is a great way to launch a business career. Most

people, regardless of whether their undergraduate major was English

or Biology, will end up working in business. In order to succeed, they

need the language and skills of accounting, organizational behavior,

marketing management, and finance. That’s what we offer. This

certificate also provides a solid alternative for those who desire

advanced business knowledge but are not yet ready to commit to an

MBA program.

Q. Who should apply to the Business Essentials Certificate program?

A. The certificate is available to anyone with an undergraduate

degree. If you believe that having foundational business skills will

enhance your ability to compete for and obtain a desirable position,

or if you would like to gain experience with graduate-level business

coursework as a way to see if you’re ready for graduate study, then

this certificate program is an excellent choice.

Q. What can students expect to get out of the program?

A. Students in the program can expect to gain by increasing their

understanding of how business works. And a benefit of the program

is that students will be able to take these courses in flexible, conve-

nient formats, both online and in-class, over a short period of time

—potentially one summer.

Introducing Two New Academic Programs

“Give us one year,we’ll give you a career”

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This year the Dolan School of Business welcomed Chris Hamer, a

highly experienced digital executive, founder and CEO of CrowdFlik,

Inc. as the School’s fourth Entrepreneur-in-Residence (EIR). “Having

Chris here as our EIR is significant for the Dolan School,” said Dr. Don

Gibson, dean of the School. “He’s working directly with students and

providing a vivid example of how high motivation, clever ideas, and

a good business sense can lead to a very successful start-up. Having

him here is an amazing opportunity for us.”

Hamer will be engaging with students in a variety of ways, including

involvement with Dr. Carl Scheraga’s Technology Ventures course,

mentoring “StagUp” Business Plan Competition teams, and coaching

new businesses in the Fairfield University Accelerator and Mentor-

ing Enterprise (FAME). Hamer explained he decided to take the role

as EIR because of his experience with students. “When I attended a

Business Plan Competition event two years ago I was so impressed

with how dialed in the students were. They were there at 9:30 a.m.,

wearing business attire, eager to network and engage.”

In the fall, Hamer spent much of his time working with students in

the classroom. He kicked off the school year by pitching real business

ideas — he’s prepared to fund — that students could work on during

the semester. The idea is to stimulate research, discussion and work

that students would be doing if they were employees of CrowdFlik.

“The students are working on ideas I’ve brought to them that I’m

prepared to take to market. It’s really exciting to be able to offer

students the chance to be a part of my business and give them expe-

riences that will set them apart from other candidates when they go

on their first job interview,” said Hamer.

“To continue the fall semester momentum into spring I’ll be moving

my company CrowdFlik into the FAME building in downtown Fair-

field,” explained Hamer. “Here I’ll conduct my business and will offer

internships to Fairfield University students to continue their work

from this semester at FAME. Interns will also get the chance to work

on various CrowdFlik projects. Through these efforts my goal is to es-

tablish the Dolan School as a center of entrepreneurship excellence

for the University and the surrounding community.”

Hamer has a background in marketing, entertainment, digital media

and technology and has held senior roles with category-leading

brands including Sony-BMG Music, Cadillac and OnStar. His compa-

ny, CrowdFlik, Inc, is a patented and transformational mobile video

platform that uniquely harnesses the power of the crowd by synchro-

nizing multiple video feeds to give users the ability to create unique

edits from crowd sourced video.

The EIR program was made possible from generous seed funding

from Robert and Laura Coleman P ’13.

Dynamic Entrepreneur-in-Residence: Chris Hamer

“The students are working on ideas I’ve brought

to them that I’m prepared to take to market. It’s

really exciting to be able to offer students the

chance to be a part of my business and give them

experiences that will set them apart ...”Chris Hamer, Entrepreneur-in-Residence

5

DR. MICHAEL SCIANDRA, Assistant

Professor of Marketing

Michael Sciandra joined Fairfield University as

an assistant professor of marketing this fall.

Prior to joining Fairfield, Professor Sciandra was

a visiting assistant professor of marketing at New

York University’s Stern School of Business. His teaching interests

include Introduction to Marketing, Social Media Marketing, Marketing

Research and Brand Management. Professor Sciandra received his

MBA from the Boler School of Business, John Carroll University and

his PhD in Marketing from the Katz Graduate School of Business,

University of Pittsburgh in December, 2014. Professor Sciandra’s

research focuses on consumer and marketer communications

and includes topics such as consumer advice utilization, word-of-

mouth, social media and in-store mobile device use. During his free

time, Professor Sciandra enjoys traveling, playing guitar, golfing and

reading.

DR. JIE TAO, Assistant Professor of

Information Systems and Operations

Management

Dr. Jie Tao is an assistant professor

of information systems and operations

management at the Dolan School of Business

and holds a doctoral degree in information systems from Dakota

State University. Dr. Tao’s recent research interests include business

process management and business analytics, and he is actively

involved in shaping the curriculum for the Dolan School’s new master

of science degree in business analytics (MSBA). He has published

several papers in prestigious information systems journals and

has presented research at premier academic conferences such

as Americas Conference on Information Systems (AMCIS), Hawaii

International Conferences on System Sciences (HICSS), International

Conference on Information Systems (ICIS), and the Workshop on

Information Technology and Systems (WITS). Dr. Tao is also a member

of the AIS technology committee and received the AIS ATLAS award

for his services in 2013.

DR. PAUL DAULERIO, Visiting Assistant

Professor of Management

Dr. Daulerio is currently a visiting assistant

professor at the Dolan School of Business

where he teaches undergraduate business

management courses. Dr. Daulerio is a graduate

of the United States Naval Academy (USNA), where he received

a bachelor of science degree in naval science. After graduating

from USNA, Dr. Daulerio served 9 years as a naval officer in the

United States Navy, with assignments both at sea and ashore.

Thereafter, he joined Texaco Inc., where his career spanned some

28 years, including 10 years as President of Texaco Global Aviation

Marketing. Professor Daulerio holds a master’s degree in business

administration from Drexel University, and two master’s degrees

from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dr. Daulerio recently

completed his doctoral degree in business management from Pace

University’s Lubin School of Business.

DR. KATHY DHANDA, Visiting Professor

of Information Systems and Operations

Management

Dr. Kathy Dhanda is a visiting professor at

the Dolan School of Business. She is also a

professor in the Dreihaus College of Business at

DePaul University in Chicago. Her academic scholarship focuses on

sustainability issues with an emphasis in the areas of environmental

modelling, carbon markets, and sustainable supply chains. She

received her doctorate degree from the University of Massachusetts

at Amherst and resides in Wilton, CT with her husband, Adrian, and

her two children, Arman and Ariana.

Meet Our New Professors

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The newly established Real Estate Club had its first official field trip,

planned by students with the help of faculty advisors, to New York

City in November. Members visited four firms: Howard Hughes Corpo-

ration, Thomson Reuters, Related Companies, and Structure Tone.

During the early stages of planning, Dr. Katsiaryna Salavei Bardos,

associate professor of Finance, introduced John Freel, ’85, to the

president and vice president of the Real Estate Club — Joseph Pisano

‘18 and Anthony Crasto ’18. With John’s experience in the real estate

industry Pisano and Crasto were able to make connections with

many other alumni in the field in order to make the trip a reality. The

Club was also able to develop vital relationships through connections

that Dr. Walter Hlawitschka, associate professor of Finance, has in the

finance world.

At Howard Hughes, George Giaquinto, vice president of Develop-

ment, presented the company’s projected 3-D model of their Seaport

District project. Club members were very engaged by the project and

the details behind it. At Thomson Reuters, Jaime Fuertes ’88, global

head of Portfolio Management and Workplace Strategy, gave

an informative presentation on how the company operates

its office locations globally.

At Related Companies, students learned from vice president

Steve Winter about Hudson Yards, one of the biggest and

most expensive developments in Manhattan’s history. At

Structure Tone, Vice President of Estimating Paul Crilly and

Account Executive Lou Ottrando presented an overview of

Structure Tone’s mission and work process. A reception fol-

lowed, hosted by Eugene White ‘96, principal client liaison,

and fellow Fairfield alumni working in New York real estate

came for a meet and greet with Club members.

“The trip to NYC was an excellent opportunity for students

to learn firsthand about some of the most exciting real es-

tate projects in the industry,” said Club advisor Dr. Bardos. “It

helped translate what students learn in the classroom to a

real world experience. And it also broadened their under-

standing of the many potential career paths they will have after they

graduate from Fairfield. We were especially grateful to the Fairfield

alumni we met who generously shared their time and knowledge

with us.”

Written by Joseph Pisano ’18, president of the Real Estate Club

Real Estate Club Spends the Day in NYC Learning from Alumni

“...an excellent opportunity for students to learn firsthand about some of the most exciting real estate projects in the industry”Dr. Bardos, Club advisor and associate professor of Finance

7

Marketing major Victoria Asmus ’18 worked at Vineyard Vines this

fall as an Outlet Merchandising and Product Development intern.

On the job she generated design cards, came up with ideas for on-

brand outlet styles, and created “LookBooks” and assortment sheets.

“Working at a company, I was thrown into the ‘real world’ and I

learned a lot about myself in the process,” said Victoria. As a soph-

omore Victoria recommends that students start early and get out of

their comfort zone. “I decided to apply, thinking I would never even

have a shot, and look what happened — you never know until you

try, and it could turn into something great.”

Michelle Russomano ’16, a Business Management major with a

minor in Human Resources, has been interning at Nestlé Waters

North America in Stamford. Michelle has been able to gain hands-

on experience and exposure in Human Resources, specifically in

Organizational Development. “I think every day in the office has been

a valuable experience,” said Michelle. “My advice to students looking

for an internship is to use their resources and network. Get out there

and tell people what you want to do; be proactive, and hopefully you

will find your dream internship.”

Students Grow Professionally Through Internships

Hire a Dolan InternPost your Internship opportunities on Stags4Hire

FAIRFIELD UNIVERSITY by contacting Sarah Bollinger,

director of internships and professional development, sbollinger@fairfield.edu.

Vineyard Vines: (left to right) Patrick O’Keefe ’09, Alicia Ciancimino ’10, Kelly George ’10,Lizzy Monaghan ’07, Taylor Wilkes ’13, Neil Regan, Dan Williamson ’02 (bottom left to right) Bailey Moran ’15, Kelsey McGettigan ’14, Victoria Asmus ’18, Shannon Flynn ’17, Devan DeLaus ’17 and Lauren Wierzel ’16

Nestlé Waters: Michelle Russomano ’16 and Jessica Cooper ’05

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Spotlight on Accounting

The Accounting Department Receives Recognition

This year the Dolan School’s accounting programs continued to

receive recognition from prominent accounting field experts for

both undergraduate and graduate programs. Already named #7 on

LinkedIn’s national “Best Schools in Accounting” list, that accolade

was followed by The Accounting Path naming the Master of Science

in Accounting as one of the Top 5 AACSB accredited programs in New

England. With the program’s small class sizes, The Accounting Path

recognized Fairfield as a University that allows for close relationships

with professors and classmates, prepares students for success on the

CPA exam and targets the “Big 4 employers” for graduates.

“Fairfield’s MSA program uniquely contributes to students’ comple-

tion of the three ‘E’s’ needed for certification as a CPA: Education,

Exam and Experience,” noted Dr. Dawn Massey, coordinator of

Graduate Accounting Programs and professor of Accounting. Stu-

dents’ education includes instruction in both technical material and

soft-skills development, delivered by faculty members who have both

academic and professional CPA certification.”

Additionally, Accounting Degree Review ranked the graduate pro-

gram #16 nationally among 50 other schools in the country and

ranked the undergraduate program #1 on its top 10 list of under-

graduate accounting programs in Connecticut.

These rankings are testament to the accounting department’s dedica-

tion to academic excellence. One of the most important distinguishing

factors that sets Dolan’s undergraduate accounting department apart

from other programs is the use of Jesuit Ignation pedagogy in the

classroom.

“Fairfield’s undergraduate Accounting program incorporates Ignatian

pedagogy in a challenging program that prepares students to suc-

ceed in graduate accounting studies, the accounting profession and

beyond,” explained Dr. Joan Lee, chair of the Accounting Department

and professor of Accounting. “The program builds on the solid base

in the liberal arts the students receive from Fairfield’s core curric-

ulum by developing the students’ competency in technical writing

and presentations. The department’s award-winning faculty use

active learning and reflection, two hallmarks of Ignatian pedagogy, in

many of the upper level courses which include options to engage in

service learning in the study of individual taxation and accounting for

non-profit organizations.”

The Dolan School congratulates the Accounting Department for its

earned distinctions.

“We have captured something special that is reflected in the engagement of our professors, their connection with the students, and the success of our graduates.”

Kathi Mettler, CPA, Instructor of the Practice of Accounting

9

Award-Winning Research

This year accounting professors Dr. Ahmed Ebrahim, Dr. Bruce

Bradford, and Dr. Rebecca Bloch were the recipients of the

2015 “Best Paper” award at the Northeast Regional Meeting of the

American Accounting Association. Their paper, “Market Reaction to

ADRs Quarterly Earnings: The GAAP Effect,” was born in the class-

room during a discussion with students on some subtle differences

between accounting standards in the United States (U.S. GAAP) and

international accounting standards (IFRS). A student asked Professor

Ebrahim whether these subtle differences have any substantive im-

pact on financial reporting or on ways that financial statement users

may interpret the information. This spurred Ebrahim, Bradford and

Bloch to dig deeper.

The paper examines whether there are any systematic differences

in the market reaction to the announcement of quarterly earnings

for a sample of ADRs (foreign firms listed and trading on a U.S. stock

exchange and filing with the SEC) depending upon whether the

firm uses either the integral approach (U.S. GAAP) or the discrete

approach (IFRS) for their interim reporting.

The paper provides evidence of significantly lower earnings forecast

errors for ADRs using the integral approach under the U.S. GAAP

compared to those using the discrete approach under IFRS, while

also controlling for the analysts’ following factor and other firm-spe-

cific and country-specific factors (i.e., the legal system and the level

of enforcement). The results provide evidence that the integral

approach for interim reporting under the U.S. GAAP helps to smooth

out the forecasting process for interim and annual earnings, which,

in turn, leads to better market expectations and analysts’ forecasts.

These reduce the surprise element of announced earnings and,

ultimately, measures of market response coefficients.

This work contributes to the current debate in the U.S. market

regarding IFRS adoption, and provides a response to a very insightful

question from one of Fairfield’s excellent students.

on the top 10 list of undergraduate

accounting programs

in Connecticut.

Accounting Degree Review

#1

10

Faculty Newsbreakers

DR. NAZLI SILA ALAN, assistant professor of Finance, published “A

Liquidity Program to Stabilize Equity Markets” with John S. Mask and

Robert A. Schwartz in The Journal of Portfolio Management. In this arti-

cle, they consider a program that, by bringing additional liquidity to the

equity markets, would benefit market participants, listed companies,

an exchange, and the broader economy. She also published an invited

editorial on this topic in JPM on “Combating Turbulence in the Equity

Market: Get the Listed Companies on Board” with Robert A. Schwartz

and Tim Mahoney. Dr. Alan was also invited to give talks at the Finan-

cial Markets Conference, “Panel: Has NMS-Induced Competition Deliv-

ered?” and the Twentieth Annual Global Equity and Derivatives Markets

Seminar in London, “Turbulence in the Equity Markets.”

DR. MOUSUMI BOSE GODBOLE, associate professor of Marketing,

and Lei Ye, were published in the Journal of Retailing and Consumer

Services for their work titled “A Cross-cultural Exploration of Situated

Learning and Coping.” This research discusses the link between situat-

ed learning or “learning on the go” and coping. Through a cross-cultural

exploratory study, they demonstrate that situated learning helps con-

sumers gain knowledge that assists them in coping better when faced

with stressful service episodes.

Dr. Bose Godbole also co-authored a chapter in the Handbook on Re-

search in Relationship Marketing, titled “Gratitude in Relationship Mar-

keting” with Randle Raggio, Anna Green Walz and Judith Anne Garret-

son Folse. This book chapter serves as an easy reference to research

related to gratitude in the context of managing consumer relationships.

Bose Godbole’s work also received attention in The Baltimore Sun and

Luxury Daily.

DR. DAWN MASSEY, coordinator of Graduate Accounting Programs

and professor of Accounting, was a discussant at the University of

Waterloo’s 2nd biennial Symposium on Accounting Ethics, an invi-

tation-only conference bringing together top scholars in the field of

Students at the Dolan School

learn firsthand from faculty who

are industry experts engaged in

cutting-edge research.

10

11

accounting ethics. Dr. Massey discussed a paper entitled “Recognizing

Ethical Issues: An Examination of Practicing Industry Accountants and

Accounting Students.”

DR. SHARLENE MCEVOY, professor of Business Law, published

the following works on the anticipated impact that driverless cars

will have on the economy and environment: “A Brave New World:

The Environmental and Economic Impact of Autonomous Cars,” in

Modern Environmental Science and Engineering, and book chapter

“The Economic Impact of the Autonomous Car: A Vision of the Future

or Just a Mirage?“ in Global Perspectives on Sustainable Regional

Development. She also published an article titled “Creating an Ethical

Classroom,” in The Business Education Innovation Journal on rules

that instructors can put in place to aid in student deportment in the

classroom.

DR. CAMELIA MICU, associate professor of Marketing, was

published in Psychology & Marketing for her work titled “What

to Get and What to Give Up: How Different Decision Tasks and

Product Types Affect the Persuasiveness of Promotion-Focused

Versus Prevention-Focused Messages.” This work, co-authored

with Arjun Chowdhury, Tilottama Ghosh, S. Ratneshwar and Eunjin

(Anna) Kim shows that the effectiveness of these two different

promotional messages depends on the type of product being

promoted and the consumer’s decision task.

JOHN NEAL, visiting instructor of Marketing, was recently inter-

viewed by News 12 Connecticut on the subject of Tesla Motors

Company and their desire to penetrate the Connecticut market. Neal

spoke about the marketing implications of Tesla offering their cars for

sale in Connecticut without going through the traditional dealership

format, and how local car dealers see this as a potential change in the

way consumers buy cars, as this non-dealer effort might lead to the

elimination of car franchises.

DR. RAJASREE K. RAJAMMA, associate professor of Marketing,

along with Drs. Jeffrey Lewin and Audhesh Paswan, was published in

Journal of Business Research for her work, titled “Customer Loyalty in

Entertainment Venues: The Reality TV Genre.“ Her study contributes

to a better understanding of the drivers of consumer loyalty in service

contexts through investigation of the $750 billion U.S. entertainment

industry. Dr. Rajamma also published a research article in the Journal

of Service Marketing, co-authored with Derrick D’Souza and Audhesh

K. Paswan, which proposes a knowledge-exchange framework for

value co-creation in a franchise network.

DR. MICHAEL TUCKER, professor of Finance, participated in Al

Gore’s Climate Reality Leadership Training in Miami in September.

Coming out of the training, Dr. Tucker presented to Dr. David Down-

ie’s politics and environmental classes in November, and also gave a

public speech at The Greens at Cannondale in Wilton, CT. Dr. Tucker is

scheduled to deliver another speech at The Ferguson Library in Stam-

ford, CT on February 1, 2016.

DR. YING ZHANG, assistant professor of Finance, recently had a

paper accepted by the Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics

(SSCI), titled “An Investigation into the Substitutability of Equity and

Mortgage REITs in Real Estate Portfolios.” Co-authored with Andrew

Hansz and Tingyu (Rhea) Zhou, the study reconciles the controversy

regarding the substitutability between equity REITs (EREITs) and mort-

gage REITs (MREITs).

12

LOUIS ALBANESE ‘76 President and Managing Partner, Catamount

Lou has over 35 years of investment management experience in the

securities industry. Prior to founding Catamount, Lou was senior vice

president and founder of Constitution Capital Corp., an investment

advisory firm. Prior to founding Constitution, Lou was a senior vice

president with Prudential Securities in its Portfolio Management Ser-

vices Program and a senior vice president with Paine Webber.

RICHARD CERRONE ‘76 Founding Partner & Senior Advisor, CM Advisors

Prior to founding CM Advisors, LLC, Richard was a corporate officer

at Xerox Corporation and senior vice president. During his 40 year

tenure with Xerox, he held senior executive management positions

in sales, marketing, operations and strategy. Richard led a variety of

businesses in North America, Europe and developing markets. He

was part of the core leadership team during Xerox’s turnaround in

the early 2000s.

FRANK CHECHILE ‘85 Former Chief Executive Officer, Parallel Infrastructure

Frank is a former CEO and business leader who has served in a vari-

ety of roles in multiple industries around the world. Most recently, he

was the CEO of Parallel Infrastructure, a national leader in right-of-

way real estate management and infrastructure development. Prior,

Frank served in roles in the information technology services industry,

with both Hewlett Packard’s Enterprise Services unit and Electronic

Data Systems (EDS).

THOMAS N. KUSHNER ‘86 Managing Director, Senior Relationship Manager Global Institutional Capital Group, Wells Fargo Securities

As Managing Director, Tom covers key clients in Boston and New

York. Prior to joining Wells Fargo, Tom was an MD and senior rela-

tionship manager with UBS. Tom was also deputy head of Foreign Ex-

change Distribution and a trustee of UBS’ Political Action Board. Prior,

Tom was with AIG Financial Products as an MD in Investor Marketing

and held positions at Chase Manhattan Bank and TIAA-CREF.

SCOTT C. NEVINS ‘80

Senior Investment Advisor, Bernstein Private Wealth Management

Scott provides asset allocation and wealth planning advice to individ-

uals, families, endowments and foundations and entrepreneurs. He

began his career at GE Capital in their Information Systems Man-

agement Training Program. For the next nearly 20 years Scott was a

successful entrepreneur and CEO, running seven early-to-mid stage

angel-backed/VC-backed financial service and technology service

companies.

TOM SCIAMETTA, ‘96 Partner, Ernst & Young LLP

Tom is an assurance partner with 18 years of auditing, accounting

and business advisory experience. He has served high-growth

public and private audit clients, primarily in the media and

entertainment and professional services sectors. Tom has assisted

clients in stock and debt offerings and has advised clients on

business, accounting and regulatory issues. He has worked with

start-up and entrepreneurial companies as well as global firms.

Introducing New Advisory Board Members

The Dolan School Advisory Board convenes a group of business leaders and supporters who serve an essential role by advising the Dean and

faculty on current business trends, helping to advance the School’s vision and values in the lives of undergraduate and graduate students

and connecting with the business community. Here are the members who have joined in the last year:

13

Announcing New Advisory Board Chair: Thomas J. Fanning, Sr. ’78, P’10, ’06

In January 2015, Thomas J. Fanning, Sr. ’78, P’10, ’06, founding and

co-managing partner of Heritage Strategies LLC, agreed to serve as

Chairman of the Dolan School Advisory Board. In his role as chair,

Tom works with the Dean on setting Board agendas, serving as

facilitator of Board meetings and helping to identify potential new

Board members. “It has been terrific working with Tom in his role as

chair of the Advisory Board,” said Dr. Don Gibson, dean of the Dolan

School. “Tom brings his highly successful business experience, his

deep Board expertise and a strong motivation to help move Fair-

field University and the Dolan School of Business to new heights of

accomplishment and recognition. I welcome his energy and passion

as Board chair.”

In addition, in June, Mr. Fanning announced an exciting leadership

gift of $250,000 to the University, to initially be directed to the Dolan

School Dean’s Strategic Initiatives fund, a resource for the School to

support a range of student and faculty programs. The Dean added,

“This is a game-changing gift that will help the School enhance its

current programs and explore new ones. The Chair has made a bold

investment in the Dolan School, emphasizing our rise in the field of

business education.

The Advisory Board was actively involved in a range of initiatives in

2015, including refining strategy for the School’s entrepreneurship

program and reviewing proposals for a new corporate partners

program and plans for forming an accounting advisory council. In ad-

dition, the Board supported Junior Career Night and a new mentoring

program.

Advisory Board Initiative: Junior Career Night

In October the Dolan School held an important professional develop-

ment event, Junior Career Night, where students had the opportunity

to speak one-on-one with upper level business professionals in a

casual setting. The goal of the evening is to allow students to learn

firsthand about potential career paths, job and internship search-

ing strategies and to practice their networking skills. This year 27

mentors, including Board members and a range of successful alumni,

met with students to share industry-specific advice and lessons for

success. The evening concluded with a roundtable discussion where

students broke into groups by major to gain more insight into specific

industries from the mentors.

Advisory Board Mentoring Program Launched

An innovative student mentoring program was launched by the

Advisory Board in the fall. The program is designed to provide Fair-

field undergraduate students the opportunity to develop a mentoring

relationship with a business leader to help students achieve greater

success in their academic and career pursuits. So far, 11 Board mem-

bers are each mentoring 1-2 students. “This is a great opportunity to

connect our students with active, experienced business leaders,” said

Dean Gibson.

“Working directly with a student mentee offered a wonderful oppor-

tunity to stay connected with the University,” said Hugh Davis ’95,

Advisory Board member. “Having the opportunity to share experienc-

es and provide one-on-one guidance with students during such an

influential part of their professional development has been extremely

rewarding and productive.”

Here Mr. Fanning is shown participating in Junior Career Night, just one of the events where Advisory Board members engage with students.

14

Students Learn from the Leaders at the 2015 Dean’s Lecture Series

This fall the Dolan School welcomed four business leaders to campus

to participate in the Dean’s Lecture Series, a series of talks from pro-

fessionals designed for students to learn about relevant topics in the

workplace. In October, Maria Martorello, partner at Deloitte Tax

LLP, spoke on the topic of global diversity. During her presentation

she discussed the importance of ‎global citizenship, competitiveness,

workforce preparedness and respecting global perspectives and

teamwork.

In November, the Dolan School hosted a CEO panel discussion on

the topic of entrepreneurial leadership. The panel was composed of

three accomplished CEOs: Michael MacDonald, chairman and CEO

of Medifast, Inc., Tim Portland, chairman & CEO of Yellowstone

Landscape, and Michael Shea, former executive chairman for

Global Imaging Systems.

Dean Gibson engaged the panel on topics including entrepreneurial

leadership skills and attributes, building high-performance manage-

ment teams, skills required as a new hire and unique challenges each

CEO has encountered. The conversation spurred insightful questions

from the audience and allowed students to consider their own appe-

tite for entrepreneurship.

“The Dean’s Lecture Series this fall featured a group of highly ac-

complished business leaders from the accounting world to the CEO

corner suite,” noted Richard Cerrone ’76, Dolan School Advisory

Board member. “It was a great learning opportunity for our students.

Feedback from the Dolan School community has been very positive

and plans have been finalized for another dynamic executive to

speak about sports marketing on March 1st, 2016.”

Two Visionary Leaders Visit the Dolan School to Participate in the Annual Dolan Lecture

Marked as one of the Dolan School’s signature events to expose

students to real-world business professionals, the Dolan Lecture is an

evening of engaging conversation and questions from the audience

with highly accomplished, internationally recognized business lead-

ers. This year Dean Gibson was joined on stage by two distinguished

CEOs: William McDermott, CEO and executive board member of SAP,

and Dinesh Paliwal, chairman, president and CEO of HARMAN.

Dolan School Highlights

“The Dean’s Lecture Series this fall featured

a group of highly accomplished business leaders from the

accounting world to the CEO corner suite.

It was a great learning opportunity for our

students.”Richard Cerrone ’76, Adjunct Professor of Management

15

SAP CEO, William McDermott

In the spring Bill McDermott took the stage to speak

about his journey from working in a small deli on Long

Island to his position as global CEO of SAP. The evening focused on

conversation around Bill’s road to leadership and success. He spoke

about how relentless optimism, hard work and disciplined execution

can embolden people and equip organizations to achieve audacious

goals.

“Bill McDermott is a great example for students of what it takes to

succeed in today’s major corporations,” said Dean Gibson. “As his

story shows, it’s not what you start out with — he had very little. It’s

how you leverage hard work and energy to inspire others that really

supercharges achievement in business.”

HARMAN CEO, Dinesh Paliwal

This fall the Dolan School welcomed Dinesh Paliwal,

President and CEO of HARMAN International, the pre-

mier connected technologies company for the automotive industry,

to discuss the challenges for companies trying to hire the most

talented employees, and from there, how to retain them. Paliwal

described his approach to staffing as not only finding the best em-

ployees in today’s market, but also putting an emphasis on mentor-

ing, employee development and entrepreneurship. Of note was the

employee development model he introduced at HARMAN where

potential rising stars are identified early on as a way to develop their

future at the company, and entrepreneurial ideas are awarded with

significant funding from the company. The idea is to ensure that a big

company can remain entrepreneurial.

“Mr. Paliwal is a great example of how deep international experience

and a knowledge of engineering and people can be combined into a

leadership strategy for a rapidly growing company,” said Dean Gibson.

“The students and faculty really benefited from hearing his intriguing

story.”

16

Eight teams competed in the 4th annual Dolan School Business Plan

Competition last spring, a program designed to offer students the

chance to develop and pitch their own business ideas for start-up

funding. The event took place in March after six months of prepara-

tion that included a semi-final round, an elevator pitch contest and

multiple meetings with mentors.

“Fantasy Squared,” an innovative idea for a web resource to empow-

er fantasy sports game players, won first place in the competition.

The undergraduate students behind the idea — Martin Gallagher ’15,

a mechanical engineering major and Eric Lannaccone ’15, a software

engineering major — received $12,000 in start-up funding. “This will

be a great addition to the fantasy sports market,” said Gallagher,

whose team was mentored by Matt Powers ’03 and Dan Leitao ’12.

The prize money served as start-up funds for new businesses. The

finalists included an imaginative group of self-starting undergraduate

and graduate students from the Dolan School, the School of Engi-

neering and the College of Arts & Sciences who pooled their knowl-

edge and skill sets to develop business plans. Each team had six

minutes to pitch their plans.

Ideas ranged from a pedicab service described as an “Uber” for

college campuses to an idea to help companies use Instagram data

analytics for marketing purposes. Each team presented the value

proposition, proposed partners, revenue stream and cost structure

for the business idea. A panel of five venture capital experts, entre-

preneurs and alumni judged the business plans and awarded the

teams they believed have the most viable plans.

Dean Gibson said the field of proposed companies showed great

promise and were all “worthy of investment.” “We hoped we would

have ideas for companies that are economically viable and led by stu-

dents who are going to make them a business, and we got them,” Dr.

Gibson told the audience of more than 200. “Each year the student

teams get more impressive. You should all be proud of your hard

work!”

“Fantasy Squared” Wins the 4th Annual Business Plan Competition

PLANS ARE AFOOT for the 2016 5th Annual StagUp Entrepreneurship Competition. Make plans to attend the Showcase of student teams, swimming in a “shark tank” of real investors. Be there on April 5th to catch the action.

Fairfield StagUp - Martin Gallagher ’15 and Eric Lannaccone ’15 received $12,000 in start-up funding for their business, Fantasy Squared.

DON’T JUST EARN MORE.BE MORE.

DOLAN SCHOOL OF BUSINESSGRADUATE PROGRAMS

MBA • MS Finance • MS Accounting • MS Business Analytics

Learn more and apply

fairfield.edu/gradbiz

The Dolan School of Business is a leader in Jesuit business education, creating a strong learning community, enlivened by a rigorous liberal arts and business core, that develops students’ potential to be ethical business leaders for a global future.

The Dolan School enrolls more than 1500 undergraduate students in accounting, finance, information systems & operations management, international business, management and marketing. Approximately 200 graduate students are enrolled in the School’s Master of Business Administration, Master of Science in Accounting and Master of Science in Finance degrees. A new master’s degree, the Master of Science in Business Analytics, launched in fall 2015. The learning environment is enhanced by the School’s topnotch faculty, building on real-world business experience and accomplishments in their academic disciplines.

The School is ranked among the best undergraduate and graduate business programs in Bloomberg BusinessWeek, U.S. News & World Report, and Princeton Review. The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB International) has accredited the Dolan School since 1997.