PAMPLINFA L L 2 0 0 5

GE’s DavidCalhoun on globalbusiness,leadership

Gainsharingboosts bottom line

Tyco VP:restoring trust

C O L L E G E O F B U S I N E S S

Pamplin’s executive MBA programwas featured on Apple’s web site asa Profile in Success. The company’s

education profiles series discusses howspecific schools and universities useApple technology to enhance learning.

The story discusses how Pamplin’sexecutive MBA students use the iBook

laptop, iPod, iSight videocamera, andiChat AV videoconferencing software. TheMBA students work full-time while takingcourses in the intensive, 18-month pro-gram at Virginia Tech’s National CapitalRegion center in Falls Church.

Students Russ Adamchak and SoniaSchmitt are pleased with how the text,audio, and video tools enhance study-group collaboration and student-facultycommunication.

Adamchak, who has a computer sci-ence degree from Boston College and isthe programs and business developmentdirector at Mercury Computer Systems,says his study group conducts weeklyiChat videoconferences from home. “I’vekept pace with our coursework whiletraveling on business by videoconferenc-ing from hotel rooms in Germany, the

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U.S. News ranks Pamplin nationally

NOTABLEExecutive MBA program featured on Apple.com

The Pamplin College of Business isranked 40th overall among thecountry’s undergraduate business

programs, along with six other schools,and 24th among public universities, inU.S. News and World Report’s 2006 annualcollege guide.

Its overall ranking puts the college in

the top 10 percent of the 458 U.S. under-graduate programs accredited by theAssociation to Advance Collegiate Schoolsof Business International.

The business rankings are solely basedon a U.S. News and World Report survey ofdeans and senior faculty at schoolsaccredited by the AACSB International.

U.K., and Italy ... We have been able toreview critical lectures by videotapingthem and transcribing them to DVD withiMovie and iDVD. We even podcast someof our class lectures for review whilecommuting during the week.”

Schmitt, who has an M.S. in systemsengineering and a Ph.D. in technologymarketing and is principal business devel-opment manager of Lockheed Martin,says the video quality “makes havinglong-distance meetings seem like the per-son is right in front of you.”

She appreciates the ease of saving andretrieving files. “I do not have to lookthrough directories trying to rememberwhere I saved my class assignments.” Asfor the wireless network, she says, “I caneasily connect at Virginia Tech or at homesimply by turning on my computer. I donot have to change any configuration ornetwork settings—it just understands mylocal router and I can start working. TheMac is light enough to carry around withme while on travel.”

Executive MBA director Charles Jacobi-na, a longtime Mac user, is delighted withthe publicity. To keep students even moreconnected with the program, Jacobinacreated a podcast on Apple’s iTunes sitethis fall devoted to faculty presentations,announcements, and program updates.

The executive MBA feature aside, theApple site also included a blurb aboutPamplin’s 2005 Distinguished AlumnaBridget Ryan Berman (BAD ’82), who wasvice president and chief operating officerof Apple’s retail stores before leaving thecompany in August (see page 19). Theblurb linked to the college’s news releaseon the award.

See: “Mac Supports the Business ofLearning” http://www.apple.com/educa-tion/profiles/vatech/

PAMPLIN magazine is published twice ayear by the Pamplin College of Business(0209), Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24061;phone: (540) 231-6601; fax: (540) 231-4487;web: www.cob.vt.edu. E-mail addresschanges to cdjones@vt.edu. Email inquiriesto sookhan@vt.edu. In this magazine, alum-ni, with some exceptions, are identified bydegree and year it was received.

Dean: Richard E. SorensenEditor and Writer: Sookhan HoArt Director: Eileen BaumannContributing Writer: Barbara Micale (p. 16)

Philanthropy Report Contributors:Sam Albimino, O.T. Crowther, Heidi KoehlerPhotographers: Rick Griffiths, MichaelKiernan, John McCormick, Bob VeltriPhoto Librarian: Jane TalbotPhoto Courtesies: Jen DeSaegher, TomoNaito, Barbara Micale, Access NationalBank, Siemens Corporation

Virginia Tech’s nationally ranked PamplinCollege of Business offers undergraduateand graduate programs in accounting andinformation systems, business informationtechnology, economics, finance, hospitalityand tourism management, management,and marketing. The college emphasizes thedevelopment of ethical values and leader-ship, technology, and international businessskills. A member of its marketing faculty di-rects the interdisciplinary Sloan FoundationForest Industries Center at Virginia Tech.Thecollege’s other centers focus on businessleadership, electronic commerce, and orga-nizational performance. The college is com-mitted to serving business and societythrough the expertise of its faculty, alumni,and students. It is named in honor of RobertB. Pamplin (BAD ’33), the former CEO ofGeorgia-Pacific, and his son, businessmanand philanthropist Robert B. Pamplin Jr.(BAD ’64).

Virginia Tech does not discriminate against employees, stu-dents, or applicants for admission or employment on the basis ofrace, gender, disability, age, veteran status, national origin, religion,sexual orientation, or political affiliation. For more information,contact the Office for Equal Opportunity: eooffice@vt.edu.

Pamplin College Dean Richard E.Sorensen was named chair of theboard of directors of the Association

to Advance Collegiate Schools of BusinessInternational in July. AACSB Internationalis a nonprofit corporation that seeks topromote and improve higher education inbusiness administration and management.Organized in 1916, it is the premieragency for accrediting bachelor’s, mas-ter’s, and doctoral degree programs inbusiness administration and accounting.

Sorensen has a long record of serviceto the association, beginning in 1982 as amember of its government relations com-mittee. He has also served on committeesfor standards, government relations, andinitial, business, and continuing accredita-tion. As chair of the business accreditationcommittee, he led efforts to accredit morethan 30 non-U.S. business programs.

In a message to AACSB Internationalmembers, Sorensen said the organizationaims to be a “thought leader” for businesseducation worldwide. During the pastthree years, he said, AACSB Internationalhas made an extensive commitment toproject its message on key issues andexpand its advocacy role. It has spokenout in support of members’ interests andto influence public perceptions on keymanagement education issues.

AACSB’s accreditation service, based

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James Carville and Mary Matalin,perhaps America’s best known politi-cally polarized couple, presented,

“All’s Fair: Love, War, and Politics,” for theCutchins Distinguished Lecture last March.The lecture is sponsored by the VirginiaTech Corps of Cadets Rice Center forLeader Development, which is based inthe college. The center aims to educatestudents about leadership and preparethem to be leaders of integrity and ability.The center is named in honor of W.Thomas Rice (CE ’34), a retired railroadindustry executive and former rector ofthe board of visitors. The Cutchins Distin-

Dean chairs AACSB International

Look who’s talking

Mary Matalin James Carville Alfred Defago David L. Calhoun Randy H. Thurman Marta Brito Perez

Richard E. Sorensen

on an established peer review process,has long enhanced the quality of colle-giate business education, Sorensen said.Over the years, it has expanded servicesto include accrediting professional devel-opment programs. Business schoolsaround the world, he said, benefit fromhigh quality research data through reportsand surveys, and other member services.

“While we will never lose sight of ourcore competency—accreditation—we willexpand our reach by launching a morerobust public communications program.The goal is to let a wider audience knowabout our work, our successes, our advo-cacy positions, and how business educa-tion contributes to the betterment ofsociety as a whole.”

A native of Staten Island, N.Y., Sor-ensen received a bachelor of science inelectrical engineering from BrooklynPolytechnic Institute (now PolytechnicUniversity) and an MBA and a Ph.D. inmanagement from New York University’sStern Graduate School of Business. SinceJuly 1982, he has served as dean of thePamplin College. His achievements in-clude a $70 million fund-raising programand a comprehensive strategic planningeffort.

Sorensen was dean of the John WalkerCollege of Business at Appalachian StateUniversity for nine years before he joined

Virginia Tech. He served as an airborne-ranger qualified officer with the U.S. ArmyCorps of Engineers in Vietnam, where hereceived the Bronze Star and the Republicof Vietnam Gallantry Cross. He has pro-vided consulting services to a number ofcorporations and served on many boardsof directors, governmental committees,and task forces.

AACSB International, based in Tampa,Fla., has 968 educational institutionsamong its members that also comprisecorporations and government and non-profit organizations.

guished Lecture series is named for thelate Clifford A. Cutchins III (ACCT ’44), aformer bank chairman and rector of theboard of visitors.

Former Swiss ambassador to the Unit-ed States Alfred Defago discussed thedifficult partnership between the UnitedStates and Europe. His talk last spring waspart of the college’s International Businessand Culture guest lecture series.

The college hosted three WachoviaDistinguished Speakers last spring: GEvice chairman David L. Calhoun (ACCT’79), spoke on “Leadership in Today’sGlobal Business Environment;” Randy H.

Thurman (ECON ’71), chairman, presi-dent, and CEO of VIASYS Healthcare Inc.,addressed “What Fighter Pilots and Entre-preneurs Have in Common;” and MartaBrito Pérez, associate director for humancapital leadership and merit system ac-countability in the federal Office of Per-sonnel Management, who discussed“Working for America: Diversity Matters.”

The Wachovia lecture series is fundedby a grant from Wachovia Bank.

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Management programs designed to solicit and implementemployees’ productivity enhancing suggestions reallycan improve bottom-line performance, new research by

management assistant professor Jeff Arthur shows. Suchprograms, Arthur says, do this by providing a mechanism to helporganizations learn.

Arthur’s study is based on nearly five years of monthly dataon implemented employee suggestions and plant productivity ata Midwest auto parts plant following the launching of a gainshar-ing program. Gainsharing refers to group incentive compensa-tion plans in which employees are encouraged to suggest waysto improve performance, and both management and employeesshare in the savings generated by these improvements.

Based on statistical analyses using an organizational learningcurve formula, Arthur found that increases in the cumulativenumber of implemented employee suggestions were significant-ly associated with lower costs per unit at the plant. “Overall, unitcosts decreased by an average of eight percent in the four-yearperiod following the introduction of gainsharing, representing anet savings of more than $9 million for the company and signif-icant bonus payments for plant employees.”

Gainsharing programs, he says, “may be especially promisingas organizational learning mechanisms as they have the poten-tial to address both ability (i.e., formal employee suggestionsystems) and motivational aspects of learning in organizations.”

One caveat for managers, however: Arthur finds the stock ofcumulative employee suggestions generated with gainsharingalso depreciates over time. This finding, he says, suggests thatfor managers to continue to reap the benefits of employee sug-gestions over time, they need to find ways to motivate employ-ees to continue to develop and share their ideas at work. “Unless

Gainsharing boosts bottom line through organizational learning

RESEARCH

the pool of employee knowledge generated by these programsis continuously fed by a stream of new suggestions, it willbecome dried out fairly quickly and lose its potency.”

Arthur’s co-authored article, “Ramping up the organizationallearning curve: Assessing the impact of deliberate learning on or-ganizational performance under gainsharing,” is scheduled to bepublished in the Academy of Management Journal in December.

The “January effect,” a stock marketanomaly that has been known formany years, refers to large gains in

prices of certain stocks at the beginning ofthe year. During the preceding December,investors sell stocks that have performedpoorly during the year, in order to realizecapital losses that can offset gains made onother stocks. If their net capital gains werereduced, their tax obligation would becorrespondingly reduced.The selling pres-sure eases in the following month, oftenresulting in large price appreciations forthese stocks.

New research by finance assistant pro-fessor Alexei Ovtchinnikov demonstratesthat the month of January also has signifi-cant predictive ability for the stock mar-

ket’s direction over the rest of the year. Hisstudy shows that when the change in valueof the market’s entire portfolio of assetsavailable to investors—otherwise knownas market return—in January was positive,the market return over the next 11 monthsaveraged 14.8 percent.

“When the market return in Januarywas negative, the market return over thenext 11 months averaged 2.9 percent, giv-ing rise to an economically significantspread of almost 12 percent.”

Ovtchinnikov says that although gener-al public awareness of this effect goes backto at least 1973 (the earliest reference toit that he was able to find in popular pressdiscussions), his work provides “systematicevidence of what appears to be a very

powerful predictor of stock market re-turns.”

He will present a paper discussing hisresults at the 2006 annual meeting of theAmerican Finance Association in Boston(appropriately in January) and will publisha co-authored article in a forthcomingJournal of Financial Economics.

His research, Ovtchinnikov says, showsthat January’s predictive ability “is evidentacross various assets and over various timeperiods.” He focused on market returnsfor the 1940–2003 period but also exam-ined data for the 1929–39 Great Depres-sion decade and for an earlier,century-longperiod, 1825–1928. “Except for the GreatDepression period, the ‘other Januaryeffect’ is clearly at work, showing up for

The other January Effect

Jeff Arthur

the pre- and post-Depression period andfor the overall 1825-2003 period.” Duringthe Great Depression period, however, theeffect is reversed.

He adds that other months, previouslyfound to have predictive ability, only“work” over the 1929-1939 time period.

Seeking explanations, he says the otherJanuary effect does not appear to bedriven by investor sentiment or changes inmacroeconomic fundamentals. “Thus, weare left with a puzzle—why does the effectexist? Answering this question can help usunderstand what drives security returns.”

Some investors have sought to profitfrom the original January effect by waitinguntil that month, when prices are pre-dictably higher, to sell losers instead of

selling in December, if they expect thestocks’ price gains to be more than thecost of paying taxes a year earlier.

Are there also opportunities to profitfrom the other January effect? Ovtchinni-kov is wary about issuing any recommen-dations for investors at large. His research,he says, shows the effect worked in thepast, but he would “stop short of arguingthat it will work in the future.”

Still, he adds, he would not totally ruleout practical implications. “Many anom-alies have been documented in the assetpricing literature with enormous practicalimplications as well as questions for futureresearch.” For the other January effect,he says, “the historical evidence is quitesuggestive.”

Multicultural mindfulness critical to personal, corporate success

Mary Connerley, associate professor ofmanagement, has co-authored a newbook, Leadership in a Diverse and MulticulturalEnvironment. She and her new book are fea-tured in a longer story in the winter 2006Virginia Tech Research magazine.

Alexei Ovtchinnikov

Multicultural competence, saysmanagement associate professorMary Connerley, is essential for

individual effectiveness and corporatecompetitiveness in today’s diverse work-places.

“No matter how highly skilled, welltrained, or intelligent you are—if youare making culturally inappropriate as-sumptions, you will not be accurate inyour assessment, meaningful in yourunderstanding, or appropriate in your in-teractions in the workplace,” she says.

Connerley, who has co-authored anew book, Leadership in a Diverse andMulticultural Environment (Sage, 2005),says culture influences our thoughts,words, and actions in ways that are oftenunrecognized and that can lead to misun-derstandings, missed opportunities, andless than ideal outcomes.”

Being multiculturally competent, shesays, means being aware of the impactof different personal, organizational, ornational cultures and having the skills andknowledge to work well with culturallydifferent people.

Though multicultural competence isparticularly important for leaders in an or-ganization, Connerley says, all employeescan “get more out of workplace relation-

ships by being more culturally mindful.” Itcan improve “a person’s decision-makingability by accounting for the many waysthat culture influences different percep-tions of the same solution.”

Her new book, co-authored withmulticultural counseling psychologist PaulPedersen, advocates a culture-centeredapproach to leadership and trainingprograms to develop multicultural aware-ness, knowledge, and skills, in that order.Counseling psychology, she says, is farahead of the management field in theknowledge it has developed about multi-cultural training.

Her book discusses the three-steptraining model and such topics as whiteprivilege, learning styles, identity models,and constructive conflict. Each chapteroffers questions, exercises, and a “criticalincident” for group discussion.

“Culture is a topic that is very difficultfor leaders, or anyone for that matter, todeal with,” Connerley says. “It is ofteneasier to ignore it than to deal with itscomplexity.” But doing so, she says, islike “driving down the highway and tak-ing your hands off the steering wheel.You may have started out in the rightdirection, but the vehicle will quickly veeroff in unintended directions.”

David Calhoun

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When you graduated, you had the opportunityto go into public accounting with one of theBig Eight accounting firms. Why did you signup with GE?

The accounting department had emphasizedBig Eight as the way to go and all the recruitingwas focused on the accounting profession. I hadalways wanted to go into a more diverse, indus-try application of accounting. I had to travel toSchenectady, New York, to find GE, because Iknew they had one of the better industry train-ing programs.

You started out as a member of GE’s corporateaudit staff, became manager of programs and

planning five years later, and later moved intopositions with increasing responsibility. Whathelped you move up the ranks?

It has been an amazing ride. For one, youknow luck always has some part to play inthings like this. The first lucky break was that Istarted with a GE business that was in danger ofgoing away, and, as a result, got responsibilityand jobs I don’t think I would’ve gotten. Whenyou’re in situations that are sort of in dire straits,people give you more responsibility—they’retrying to cut back on costs—and so the youngpeople just get lots to do. That’s what happenedto me—and it took great advantage of the factthat I like cost accounting. I ended up being the

GE’s Calhounon leadership,global business,role of alumni

GE vice chairman David L. Calhoun (ACCT ’79) returnedto campus last spring as Virginia Tech’s commencementspeaker. Calhoun, who started work at GE right after he

was graduated, joined senior management when he becamepresident and CEO of GE Transportation Systems in 1995.

During the next decade, he served in a series of CEO positionsat the company’s lighting, reinsurance, aircraft engines, andtransportation businesses. In July, he was named vice chairman,responsible for the company’s Infrastructure unit, as part of areorganization that regrouped GE’s 11 businesses into six units.

During his May visit, Calhoun talked to Pamplin magazineabout his career, leadership in a multicultural workplace, andbeing an involved alumnus.

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go-to guy where, in my first two years, Iotherwise wouldn’t have been. So what Ilearned here at Virginia Tech and what Iimmediately applied there was perfect.

Once I did that, I found myself part ofa system that always moved me before Iwas ready to move. It is a system thattakes great interest in leadership develop-

ment. Fortunately, Ifound myself in theright position earlyto benefit from it.

What other devel-opments advancedyour career?

Every now andthen, I had to makea career decision. Inone case, I realized Ihad no real experi-ence with customers,a shortcoming thatcaused me great per-sonal anxiety, partic-ularly in light of myboss’s desire to pro-mote me quicklyinto business leader-ship. So, against theadvice of my boss, Itook a job—and ademotion—to workin sales. Never madea better career movein my life. My confi-dence grew and myanxiety abated.

At another peri-od, I wanted to ex-

perience life in the developing world. Ifound myself envious of the resourceful-ness and courage of GE executives whospent years in the developing areas—Southeast Asia or South America—withstrange languages and business practices,different timelines and ways of gettingthings done. So I uprooted my family and

You’re a member of the Pamplin Ad-visory Council, and you have re-turned to Virginia Tech several timesduring the past eight years to speak toour students on career and leadershipissues. Why is this important to you?

With just about every issue ofsignificance in the world—whether it isdiversity, a geopolitical issue, outsourc-ing, the future of aerospace—it alwayscomes down to education. Education isthe key to unlocking all the innovationand productivity that exists in a di-verse, inclusive workforce.

It’s very natural for people like meto go back to their alma maters andmake sure that we’re all working onthis together and that we’re beingheard. As you progress in your career,you take higher-level views and havemore contacts that you can connectwith on some of these issues.

Interaction with students, at leastfrom my perspective, is pure therapy.The problem with gaining more andmore experience is that you ask fewerand fewer questions. When you talk tostudents, they ask the real simple ques-tions. Like “why do you do business inChina?” and “what’s in it for me if wedo business in China?” They are notafraid to ask these questions, and theygenuinely want to know the answers.

That’s the therapy and that’s theperspective that business leadershiphas to have. If we let our accumulatedexperiences narrow our perspectives—meaning, we think we already knowthe answers—then we are not as effec-tive as we should be.

How else would you like to becomeinvolved with Virginia Tech?

The more time I can spend withstudent groups, the better. In terms ofinfluence, I will continue to pursue thisdiscussion on diversity and its impor-tance to the success of Tech. It has tobe good at this—it has to be great atit—and, hopefully, it is a subject I canhelp with, in terms of both influenceand support and commitment. At thesame time, I offer a great “laboratory”that I reside in at GE. As they continueto advance the business curriculum, Iwould love for them to continue totake advantage of the GE laboratory.And I think Dean Sorensen does a ter-rific job of leveraging that.

What advice do you have for our stu-dents?

Self-confidence is everything, and itis not something anybody can teachyou. Everybody has anxieties; trying toovercome them by virtue of experienceor learning—that is the secret. Becausewhen you are confident, everybodyknows it. When you are comfortablewith yourself, people are comfortablewith you. When you are confident, youare free to make the career decisionsyou want to make, as opposed to otherpeople making them for you or feelingpressured to hang around when youdo not really want to. So my advice is,always know where your sources ofself-confidence are; know that you’vegot to make them better. Know wherethose anxieties are that get in the way,and make sure you’re doing somethingto repair them.

nately quickly in markets I am familiarwith.

What do you enjoy most about your job?I learn something new every day. Been

that way since the first day I joined. A daydoes not go by where I don’t have a lotmore questions than I have answers.

Like least?It’s the time away from family. I travel

nonstop. Our customers are everywherein the world. When they buy what wesell, it’s usually the biggest decision oftheir lives, and so it requires me to bethere, representing our entire business to

years. That was just as exciting a time as Ican ever imagine

What do you see is next for you at GE?I am going to do more at GE. We, as

a company have an opportunity with ourgreat infrastructure businesses—energy,oil and gas, water, transportation. Webring fundamental infrastructure productsto the developing world. With the popu-lation growth that we forsee for the nextcentury, this would be one of the greatopportunities of anybody’s lifetime: tohelp these developing countries movefaster, and help the company grow inordi-

An involved alumnus

took a job in Asia. I faced the unknown,made more than a few mistakes, and ambetter for it—and so is my family.

Both those situations gave me hugedoses of confidence. That’s when mycareer really took off, and I started mov-ing to CEO jobs.

Where were you in Asia, and how longdid you stay?

I was in Southeast Asia back in theearly ’90s. I moved my family—my wifeand four kids—to Singapore. I traveled toChina, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand…asfar north as Japan, as far south as Australiaand New Zealand. We were there for two

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In what ways did Virginia Tech edu-cate you well?

I have always believed I graduatedas a well-trained accountant and, if Ihad wanted to do public accounting, Icould have. I wanted to work on theindustry side and proved to myself thatI could do the job based on what Ilearned at Tech. So I feel that, techni-cally, I was very well prepared.

Were there ways in which we couldhave prepared you better, things youwish you had known?

I would not necessarily single outVirginia Tech, but the times did notprepare people for the importance ofinclusion and diversity. And in myview, there is no better environment topromote inclusion and diversity thanon a college campus. To me, that’s justa subject that ought to be front andcenter for everybody—faculty, schoolleadership, students.

That subject is one where I was notas prepared as I would have liked tohave been. I don’t think I walked outinto industry with a thirst or a hunger togo seek out diverse people and to learnabout them. I allowed myself to beisolated in that sense, and that turnedout to be a big mistake. It really wasnot until I moved to Asia that this allcame home for me. Once you under-stand just how big a deal it is and howimportant it is to the world and to ourbusinesses and to our own personaldevelopment—that’s when the lights goon. I wish I had started that process 10years earlier.

We are increasingly working in globalorganizations and multicultural work-places, which demand multiculturalknowledge and skills. How do youdevelop this expertise?

The academic community and othershave built some wonderful tools to helpfolks of diverse orientations learn abouteach other’s backgrounds and what theybring to a situation. Practicing those toolsis very important, because I haven’t metanybody yet who’s great right out of thechute.

How do you practice multiculturalskills as a leader at GE?

We are always launching new initia-tives in the company. The first day of anylaunch, you assemble team members. Ifyou’re smart, you’ll have a diverse groupof people—diverse in terms of discipline,

geographic origin, diverse in everyrespect. And on that first day, we useteam-building exercises, tools that areused to explain what we’re bringing tothe table. We try to do that on the firstday because, in my view, if you do iteven a week late, everybody’s alreadytried to figure out the other teammembers. They’ve already prescribedtheir behaviors, and eventually, itbecomes a hurdle you have to over-come. And that’s hard to do.

If, on day one, you let everybodyknow that diversity and inclusion areimportant to the way we’re going toexecute our jobs—everyone has achance to talk about why they come atthis the way they do—all of a sudden,the barriers are way down and thesetting is right to really develop aninitiative the right way, with every-body’s oar in the water. So, yeah, wepractice it and practice it, literallyevery day.

Here on campus, we have had someincidents and developments in re-cent years that have been counter tothe university’s desire to be a diverseand inclusive place. What have beenyour thoughts and responses?

I have had fairly extensive discus-sions with university administrators onthis subject. And I am convinced thatthey are serious about the subject andserious about improving. But I amconvinced that this administrationknows exactly what the issue is, andthey’re very serious about doingsomething about it and are.

Education and multicultural skills

convince them that we’re behind them.Job and family—it’s becoming a

tougher and tougher balancing act. It’sone that I work on and I think I do fairlywell. But it’s hard; you have to stay on it.

You’ve been at GE for 26 years now.Why have you chosen to stay? Is it un-usual to remain with one company forso long?

Yes, it is—very unusual. I really be-lieve I’m fortunate. This “laboratory” thatI happen to work in—who else has it?I have now participated in the materialsindustry, financial services industry, rail,

aviation, consumer products. And inevery one of those positions, I did it froma leadership perspective. If I were in oneindustry, in one company, working in amonolithic approach, I’m certain I wouldhave made more than one career move.I’m fortunate that I’m in a company thatlets me experience and lead diverse busi-nesses without having to make that move.

The things I love about GE are itsdiversity and its commitment to leader-ship development. I think there’s more forme to do at GE and I think GE sees it thatway. So I’m just not done. And yes, I havehad opportunities to pursue some great

leadership positions in other companiesand I hope that opportunity never, nevergoes away. But you know, when I thinkabout what motivates me every morning,I’m no less motivated today than the dayI started. If I thought for a minute that waswaning, I’d go do one of those things.

You never say never. But for now,life’s good. My family’s happy. I’ve gotexactly the right balance in my life, andthat’s the way we’re going to keep it.

Read Calhoun’s commencement addressat: http://www.unirel.vt.edu/news/

commencement05.html

Chris Barker works for the Washing-ton Metropolitan Area Transit Au-thority. Her job, as director of rail

reliability and technical services, is to im-prove rail transit services for area com-muters who make about a million bus andsubway trips daily.

Barker has an M.S. in environmentalscience and engineering from VirginiaTech and 20-plus years of work experi-ence in the public and private sectors. Shewas ready to complete the MBA that shehad started years ago at Virginia Tech’sBlacksburg campus but did not want tointerrupt her thriving career at the transitauthority. So she began researchingschools in the metro D.C. area.

Bob Enright, also a seasoned profes-sional, has more than two decades insales and marketing managing large, com-plex technology-based projects. A salesdirector at Mercury Computer Systems, hepreviously worked at Motorola and Sun

Microsystems. Enright, who has an under-graduate business degree, felt he neededmore formal education to advance profes-sionally.

David Filiatrault, a director of financeand portfolio technologies at Fannie Mae,had worked at AMS and a tech startupbefore founding a business and technolo-gy consulting firm. A computer sciencegraduate of the Rochester Institute ofTechnology, Filiatrault felt he had strongtechnical and leadership skills, but want-ed to “fill out my business and manage-ment skills to continue my career growth.”

All three Washington-area profession-als chose to enroll in Pamplin’s executiveMBA program, offered at Virginia Tech’scenter in Falls Church. Barker, who, withEnright, was in the inaugural class thatgraduated in June, admits feeling “cau-tiously optimistic” at first about the brand-new program (launched in February2004). But, “after attending the informa-

tion session and meeting my prospectiveclassmates and faculty, I knew I had amatch. My instincts were accurate: thecurriculum was timely, innovative, and di-rectly applicable to my work.”

Barker is particularly articulate aboutthe program’s learning opportunities andits impact on her career. The courses havenot only enhanced the way she approach-es job situations and makes decisions, shedeclares, they have also broadened herperspective and boosted her self-confi-dence.

“I really can’t say enough about theexchange of ideas among the students—we really learned from each other. Theprogram exceeded my expectations.”

Filiatrault feels that some of the coursematerial has already paid off in the weeksafter he began classes with the second co-hort this February.

“In March, an opportunity came up tointerview for a director position in my

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The first cohort of executive MBA students was graduated last spring. Students and faculty posed with graduation speaker Walter Mondale.

EXECUTIVE MBA

Exceeding Expectations

clock on a Friday evening, and theyalready had a three-hour class after a half-day of work,” recalls Yardley.

But the class got under way—and “thegroup came alive, the weariness replacedwith a spark ... The students displayed adesire to learn, a humor, a willingness toshare, and an enthusiasm that createdthe right atmos-phere for a greatteaching experi-ence.”

He and Kumaragree: the learningwas two-way. Whileseveral students toldKumar at courseend that they coulduse their new skillsand knowledge intheir jobs immedi-ately, he himself, asa result of the class-room discussions,had “gained insightsinto the financialpractices of some ofthese firms.”

Yardley says: “Ionly hope the classmembers learned asmuch as I did.”

more typical 15 weeks for an undergrad-uate or regular MBA course.

He likes to pace the introduction ofincreasingly complex topics, Kumar adds,but “the executive MBA students wantedto discuss each issue in its full complexityright from the beginning!”

Teaching them was enormously satis-fying and enjoyable, he says. “Given theirexperience and maturity, discussions onsuch current issues as China’s exchangerate policy and its implications were on asignificantly higher plane than in classeswith younger students.”

Yardley regretted his decision as soonas he agreed to teach in the executiveMBA program. “What was I thinking?Teach accounting for seven hours overtwo days to ambitious executives for threeweekends? What shape would the groupbe in after spending all week working inhigh-pressure jobs?”

Would they insist on information thatthey could use Monday morning, he fur-ther wondered. “Would their minds beon their families and the time they weregiving up? What could I do to make thatsacrifice worthwhile?”

When he stepped into the classroomfor the first time, he couldnt help noticinghow tired everyone looked. “It was six o’-

everyone. It is a rigorous program that de-mands not only a single-minded commit-ment from those who sign up, Jacobinasays, but also the strong support of theiremployers and families. “Managing full-time work and study along with familyand social responsibilities can be daunt-ing.”

Students are expected to attend classesregularly, complete all required course-work and assignments, exchange ideaswith faculty and classmates, and keepconstantly in touch with each other forgroup projects and other team activities.

It was tough, Barker recalls, “particu-larly when most of us routinely worked

11

company’s finance group, which was ina different division. During my interviews,I used my new knowledge of financeand accounting to show what I hadalready learned, as well as my ability tolearn quickly—which was important asthe position was responsible for account-ing applications, and I had never workedon these before.”

The program moved at such a briskpace, he says, that he started and finishedthe accounting course before starting hisnew job. “I was able to ask the professorlots of questions about internal controls,knowledge of which I’ve already used onthe job.”

Enright has similar happy news: sincecompleting the program, he has beenpromoted and assigned specific projectsthat leverage the knowledge attained inthe program.

All this is music to Charles Jacobina’sears. As the program’s executive director,Jacobina is keenly aware of the impor-tance of making the venture a success.“The Washington metro area is full ofgood executive MBA schools with a vari-ety of academic ‘flavors,’” he says. “Wecame in years after other schools hadestablished a solid presence in this area.”

The Pamplin College, he says, did theright thing by choosing to focus its exec-utive MBA curriculum on high-growthindustries, leadership, and globalization,and leveraging Virginia Tech’s reputationas a leader in technology. “We are alreadybecoming known as an innovative andcreative program.”

A demanding bunchExecutive MBA students, he says, are

a demanding bunch. “They’re successful,experienced professionals who are readyto move up in their careers and are seek-ing qualifications that will differentiatethem.”

Many “techies,” he says, aspire to sen-ior management positions but feel con-strained by their narrowly technicalbackgrounds. “Those in the military whoare transitioning to the private sector mayneed to translate their current skills set fora different organizational culture. If theystay in the military, an executive MBAallows them to feel better equipped towork with private contractors. A directorof a non-profit benefits tremendouslyfrom a for-profit corporate perspective.”

Jacobina carefully reviews applicationsto ensure that students in a cohort findthemselves in “a well-connected, accom-plished group of peers.”

The executive MBA, however, is not

“I really can’t say enoughabout the exchange ofideas among the students—we really learned fromeach other.”

—Chris Barker

Lee Allentuck celebrates graduation with his son.

more than 10 hours daily at our jobs.Completing the coursework and assign-ments was a major stretch!”

Filiatrault, dad to nearly two-year oldtwins, confesses, “I don’t sleep much any-more.” He watches “no more than a hourof TV a week” and has “a very supportivewife.”

Faculty fansThe program’s fans are not only its

students and alumni. Those who teach thecourses—whom students like Barkerpraise for being “outstanding teachers”who made a “conscious effort to ensurethat assignments were pertinent andvalue-adding”—are also bowled over bytheir experience.

Veteran faculty members like financeprofessor Raman Kumar—an award-win-ning teacher—and accounting and infor-mation systems associate professor JimYardley—who has worked at length inEthiopia, helping to develop a decentral-ized tax accounting system—discovered afew surprises in teaching this new groupof students.

Kumar found that students in his “Fi-nancial Modeling and Corporate Finance”class were aware of the importance andnature of corporate financial decisions.But the non-financial background of mostof them required him to cover the funda-mentals in sufficient detail before assign-ing decision-making exercises—all in aperiod of 5-6 weeks compared to the

Make sure you have a firm grasp onyour personal values,” the man inthe dark gray suit advised Pamplin

students last spring. “What are the valuesand principles that are not negotiable inyour life? Write them down.

“In exploring career opportunities, askrecruiters: ‘What are your organization’svalues? How does your company leader-ship live those values?’ Then ask yourself,‘how do these answers compare with mypersonal values?’”

The speaker was Tyco International’ssenior vice president of corporate gover-nance Eric Pillmore; the event was thecollege’s 15th annual Conference on Busi-ness Ethics; the subject—“Tyco: restoringtrust in the corporate world and relatedlessons learned.”

Pillmore discussed Tyco’s swift effortsto clean house three years ago followingthe resignation of ex-CEO Dennis Koz-lowski (who was convicted in June, withTyco’s former chief financial officer, onmultiple counts of looting the company ofhundreds of millions of dollars).

Wide-ranging reforms were made inpersonnel, governance structure, and cor-porate compliance. The company’s for-mer board of directors appointed a newCEO, Ed Breen, who, over the course of a

year, replaced the entire corporate seniormanagement team and secured the resig-nation of the board of directors, enablinga completely new board to be elected.

Among the personnel changes werenewly created governance positions, in-cluding Pillmore’s. Pillmore helped designTyco’s corporate compliance and ethicsprogram, and he co-chairs a committeethat oversees it.

His position reports to the chair of theboard’s nominating and governance com-mittee and, secondarily, on a “dottedline,” to the CEO. Two other new posi-tions, corporate ombudsman and vicepresident of corporate audit, were also

made direct reports to the board. “Thisunique structure,” he said, “where thehead of internal auditing, the ombuds-man, and I report directly to the board,creates a web of accountability aroundEd.” These and other reforms in gover-

nance structure, he said, were aimed atcreating a strong system of checks andbalances.

CEO Breen also realigned reportingresponsibilities in the finance and legaldepartments. “For example, all businesssegment CFOs report directly to the cor-porate CFO instead of the segment presi-dents, and all segment general counselsreport directly to Tyco’s general counselinstead of the segment presidents.”

These changes, Pillmore said, “permitthe corporate leadership to have greaterinsight into the operations of the businessunits and increase the likelihood thataccountants and lawyers across the com-pany will act as ethical leaders and dis-close any behavior they perceive toviolate law or sound business practices.”

Tyco identified four overarching val-ues—integrity, excellence, teamwork, andaccountability; redefined expectations ofperformance; and developed evaluationand compensation programs that supportthese values. The values were “mapped,”or linked, to nine desired employee“behaviors.” Job-specific behavior expec-tations were created and incorporatedinto performance goals, and performancereviews focused on behaviors as well asfinancial results. New policies, manuals,

12

TRUSTTyco:Rebuilding

“There’s such a wealth ofinformation in this livingcase study to share ...People can learn from us...”

“

and training programs were developed,including the Guide to Ethical Conduct,printed in nine languages and distributedworldwide.

“Behaviors help to define performanceexpectations for employees by reinforcingthe importance of how we get results,”Pillmore said. “They create a commonlanguage and measurement system be-cause whatever is emphasized, measured,and rewarded—that’s what people do,and that’s what they keep getting better atdoing. Behaviors ultimately help us todifferentiate performance, as we havefound that people who use these behav-iors tend to produce better results.”

The behavior expectations vary ac-cording to job position, Pillmore said,with senior leaders accountable to higherstandards. Looking at “integrity,” for ex-ample, an employee at the “individualcontributor” level exemplifies this valueby behaving as “a direct, truthful individ-

ual.” The employee “keeps confidences,admits mistakes, and doesn’t misrepresenthimself or herself for personal gain.”

Higher up, the behavior expectationsof a manager with respect to integrity are:“models the behaviors that are expectedof others, presents the unvarnished truthin an appropriate and helpful manner,keeps commitments.” And at the top level,the behavior expectations of an executiveare: “widely trusted in the organization,demands integrity in others, and takesdecisive action when integrity is compro-mised.”

Headquartered in Princeton, N.J.,Tycois a global diversified manufacturing andservice company and a leading providerof electronic components, fire and securi-ty products, medical devices, packagingplastics and adhesives, and industrialvalves and controls.

Tyco’s five major business segmentsare currently “pretty healthy,” Pillmore

13

Eric Pillmore describes Tyco’s experiences in restoring trust. He was the featured speakerat Pamplin’s 15th annual Conference on Business Ethics, co-sponsored by the college, theDepartment of Management, and the Business Leadership Center.

said. “We were able to move fast enough.If we hadn’t moved at the pace we did inthe first few months, we would’ve gonebankrupt—it was a company that couldvery easily have gone under. Today, itis thriving, with $41 billion in total netrevenues. This is a significant opportunityto learn from the past.”

During his campus visit, Pillmore alsomet with management faculty to discussTyco and how its experience can be usedin classroom teaching. As part of confer-ence activities, faculty members whoteach ethics or business strategy used acase study on the company and a Har-vard Business Review article that Pillmorewrote (“How We’re Fixing Up Tyco”) intheir class discussions before or after thelecture.

Asked about the continuing debateover whether and how ethics should betaught in business schools, Pillmore said:“I’m a strong proponent of teaching ethicsin business schools, but it has to be inte-grated into the courses. I don’t favor‘ethics classes.’ I’m a strong believer thatpeople’s ethical outlook can be changedby an ethics infused curriculum—becausewhile there are always people bent onevil, there are also people in the middle,people on the bubble, who can beswayed, who can be tempted.”

In his view, the major issue for univer-sities is that “accounting graduates don’tunderstand how to evaluate internal con-trols in a company. They understand ac-counting. They can’t tell you whatcontrols are there so a fraud can’t occur.We need to teach leadership, not justfinancials.”

Pillmore earned a bachelor’s degree inbusiness administration in 1975 from theUniversity of New Mexico (his wife Pamand son Brian earned degrees at VirginiaTech). He previously worked in seniormanagement positions at Multilink Tech-nology Corporation, General InstrumentCorporation, and GE. He also served inthe U.S. Navy as an officer in the WesternPacific and as an auditor with the NavalAudit Service in Washington, D.C.

“I have never made a better decision inmy career,” he says, in reference to hisdecision to join Tyco. Going on the roadto talk to the company’s employees andto high school and college students aboutTyco’s renewed attention to governanceand ethics is something he greatly enjoys.

“There’s such a wealth of informationin this living case study to share. Sharingwhat we’ve seen and learned can onlyhelp Tyco’s image. People can learn fromus—that’s why I’m doing this.”

Jen DeSaegher (MBA ’01) has bor-rowed a vacuum cleaner and a phonefrom Eli Manning and loaned him ice

and sugar. The New York Giants quarter-back became her next-door neighbor lastfall when DeSaegher moved to Hoboken,N.J., after receiving a promotion at theNational Basketball Association.

DeSaegher, who had been working inRoanoke at the NBA’s minor league,the National Basketball DevelopmentLeague, was appointed as one of theNBA’s national finance directors. Sheworked in the league’s corporate financeoffices in Secaucus, N.J.

“My job entailed a vast array of duties.Some of the highlights were being able towork on the collective bargaining agree-ment, having a central role in the expan-sion of the NBDL, sending weekly gameattendance reports to CommissionerDavid Stern, and developing and directingthe reporting system for the entire NBDL.”

The job also offered plenty of perks:free tickets to games, free merchandise,opportunities to work at the All-Star gameand attend the draft. But the best part,she says, “was playing a key role in creat-

ing a business unit of the NBA andwatching it grow.”

Nevertheless, DeSaegher,who describes herself as

“much more of a designerand builder than a main-tainer,” left the positionin June to direct financialoperations at SouthwestBasketball in Fort Worth,

Texas. “The NBA is fran-chising its minor leagueteams to other private own-

ers rather than wholly own-ing and operating them. So, I

am now directing the finan-cial operations of four

new teams. It is ex-citing becausethese teamsare startingfrom scratch.I did this for

the NBA four years ago, so being ableto lead the group this time around is veryrewarding.”

It is all a long way from GoldmanSachs, where DeSaegher had landed acoveted and hard-won financial analystjob in 1998, after earning a finance degreefrom Palm Beach Atlantic College.

But DeSaegher and Wall Street partedways after just six months. “I was not agood fit for such a buttoned-up world.I found life there to be a little too struc-tured for my liking, and I was not crazyabout working at such a huge corpora-tion.”

Deciding that she wanted to teach ata community college, DeSaegher came toPamplin to earn an MBA. She taughtfinance as an adjunct instructor at NewRiver Community College during herstudies, but, she says, as graduation drewnear, the state was cutting back on highereducation funding.

While reevaluating her plans, shelearned that the NBA would be launchinga minor league team in Roanoke. De-Saegher, who had played basketball ona full scholarship as an undergraduate,had met some WNBA finance officersduring her short-lived stay at GoldmanSachs. She sent off a resumé to one of hercontacts and received “an offer to startwork the very next week.”

She was with the NBA for most of thepast four years. Her current job at South-west Basketball, DeSaegher says, has a“huge” teaching aspect.

“I’m working with teams to help themunderstand their arena contracts, revenuegeneration, ticket sales, and profit/lossreporting. I’m helping to guide them to abreak-even and potentially profitablebusiness model.

“The reward is seeing the hard workcome to fruition. The down side is thatsports is a super-specialized market, and itis extremely tedious to teach the minorleague basketball business to former pro-sports professionals.”

Asked whether she considered her ca-reer path nontraditional, DeSaegher says“finance is finance is finance—but doing it

against the backdrop of a coliseumwith Sponge Bob Square-pants

performing at half-time isdefinitely more my stylethan in an environmentwhere suits and the WallStreet Journal are thedaily norm.”

George Nolen (MKTG ’78), presidentand chief executive officer ofSiemens Corporation, was appoint-

ed to Tech’s board of visitors by GovernorMark Warner, effective July 1.

Nolen, of Centreville, heads a 70,000-employee company with $16.6 billion insales that represents more than 20 percentof the firm’s global revenues. Its U.S. cor-porate headquarters are in New YorkCity. Siemens has businesses in healthcaretechnology, automation and controls,power generation and transmission, light-ing, information and communications,transportation, and building and watertechnologies.

Joining Siemens in 1982 as a memberof the sales force, Nolen went on to serveas a senior vice president of SiemensBusiness Communications Systems andthen as president and CEO of the enter-prise networks and information and com-munication networks units before beingappointed to lead the corporation.

He is a member of The BusinessRoundtable and serves on its SecurityTask Force in Washington, D.C. He is aboard member of the U.S. Chamber ofCommerce and represents Siemens withthe Partnership for New York City. Nolenand his wife, Michele, support variouschildren’s organizations and youth sportsprograms.

An MBA at the NBAALUMNI

Jen DeSaegher

George Nolen

Siemens CEO joins Tech board

Businessman and philanthropistRobert B. Pamplin Jr. (BAD ’64) hasreceived the 2005 Woodrow Wilson

Award for Corporate Citizenship. The award, given by the Woodrow

Wilson International Center for Scholarsin Washington, D.C., is conferred on“executives who, by their examples andtheir business practices, have shown adeep concern for the common good be-yond the bottom line.

Recipients recognize the role they canplay in improving society in general,while at the same time advancing thelong-term interests of their firms, employ-ees, and shareholders.” Previous hon-orees include AOL Time Warner’s TedTurner and Steve Case.

Pamplin Jr. is the chairman, president,and CEO of the R.B. Pamplin Corporationof Portland, Ore., a family owned compa-ny with annual sales of nearly $700 mil-lion. He and his father, Robert B. Pamplin(BAD ’33) are the namesakes of the col-

As international sales director of Sun-Maid, Tomo Naito (MBA ’96) workswith the company’s overseas busi-

ness customers to promote sales of itsraisins. “That may mean meeting im-porters’ clients—our end users— workingwith them on new product concepts, andcoming up with effective marketingplans,” he says.

A native of Japan, Naito had originallyplanned to take over his parents’ lan-guage-school business after graduatingfrom Virginia Tech. But, he changed hismind after working for a few years in theUnited States and growing accustomed tolife and work in his adopted country.“The fun thing about the job is meetingpeople and learning how various compa-nies market our products—each companytakes a different approach. I have foundthat business is more of an art than ascience.”

He travels abroad six-to-eight times ayear, for about two weeks at a time. Sincejoining Sun-Maid in February, he has beento China, Japan, the Philippines, Hong

15

Selling raisins around the world

Robert B. Pamplin Jr. receives Wilson Award

Tomo Naito’s new job is promoting world-wide sales of SunMaid raisins. He enjoysworking with overseas importers and theirdifferent approaches to marketing thesame product in different regions.

Robert B. Pamplin Jr. has been awardedthe prestigious 2005 Woodrow WilsonAward for Corporate Citizenship.

lege, which has received more than $22million in gifts and pledges from them.

A minister and author of 13 books,including two book-of-the-month clubselections, Pamplin Jr. has earned eightdegrees, including two doctorates. Hefounded the Portland Tribune newspa-per and Columbia Empire Farms, andhas served on presidential and statecommissions and as chairman of theboard of trustees for three colleges.

He has received numerous honorarydegrees and national awards for hisphilanthropy and business leadership,including the Distinguished LeadershipMedal from the Freedoms Foundation atValley Forge, the National Caring Awardfrom the Caring Institute, the Herman W.Lay Memorial Award for being theoutstanding entrepreneur of the year,and America’s Outstanding IndividualPhilanthropist by the Association ofFundraising Professionals.

Kong, Singapore, and Malaysia. The com-pany is headquartered in Kingsburg,Calif., just south of Fresno, where Naitoand his wife live.

Naito, who spent the previous eightyears at a Maryland company that exportsingredients to confectionery and beveragecompanies in East Asia, says he is stilladjusting to his new surroundings.

“I used to work in downtown Balti-more, and now I work in a small town. Itis hot! The temperature sometimes ex-ceeds 105 degrees in the summer, which,I’m told, continues on until September.But we can escape the heat by drivinga few hours to the coast or to nearbynational parks.”

His favorite Sun-Maid product is Gold-en raisins. They’re made from the sameThompson seedless grapes as regularraisins, but are dried with a sulfite preser-vative that prevents darkening.

“Compared to regular raisins, theGoldens are a little tart,” he says. “Trythem sometime. Of course, I expect youto buy only Sun-Maid.”

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Asix-year, joint initiative of Pamplin’sMBA program in the NationalCapital Region and the Alexandria

Small Business Development Center(SBDC) has teamed MBA students andentrepreneurs with winning results.

“This partnership is practical and awinner for everyone involved—individualbusinesses, our MBA students, and theuniversity. It is a great way for VirginiaTech to reach out to the communityand put its motto, ‘that I may serve,’ intoaction,” said Barbara Hoopes, an associateprofessor of business information technol-ogy who pioneered the program with BillReagan, executive director of AlexandriaSBDC.

Teams of two to four students tackleissues that include operations strategyand competitiveness, quality concepts,product and service design, process plan-ning and technology, facility location andlayout, forecasting, capacity planning, in-ventory and project management, andmarketing. Hoopes said that while manystudents come to the MBA programfocused on big business, “the experienceof working with entrepreneurs often hasthem looking at other career options.”

About 18 businesses have participated

in the program, fromrestaurants to retail,publishing, education,and professional serv-ice firms. Partnershipslast 10-12 weeks dur-ing a semester andpartially fulfill studentrequirements for anMBA course.

“The students func-tion as consultants,”said Reagan. “And thebusiness owners really like the idea ofhaving them on board to offer a new,fresh perspective to their business opera-tions.”

Alexandria Guide Mike Geissinger, editor and publisher

of Alexandria Guide, charged one teamwith developing an expanded distributionplan for the magazine. The initial ideawas to employ a web-based marketingchannel. However, after discussion andresearch, the students suggested that anexpanded and more aggressive distribu-tion of the printed copy would be muchmore valuable. “I am continuing to imple-ment their plan as funds and personnelpermit,” he said.

St. Elmo’s Coffee PubAnother team helped Nora Partlow,

owner of St. Elmo’s Coffee Pub, to devel-op and implement an inventory system,using a newly purchased point-of-salesystem. “The students’ knowledge basewas extremely valuable; they were able toprovide great insight as to how the systemcould maximize our capability,” Partlowsaid. “The result was a considerable costsavings for St. Elmo’s.”

Christie Kaefer, who worked withPartlow, said she enjoyed having a realbusiness to work on. “It is so much morebeneficial to have access to the owner,”she said, pointing out that in a case

Alexandria businesses WINNING

Nora Partlow (inset), owner of St. Elmo’s Coffee Pub, enjoyedconsiderable cost savings from an inventory systems devel-oped by MBA students.

(Left to right) Wendy Costello (MBA ’04);Adela Skenderasi, current student; KenLopez, president and CEO, Animators atLaw; and Aamod Bhave (MBA ’04) discussmarketing strategies for the firm.

study, “you usually cannot get through toanyone at that company to get answers toquestions or get additional data you needfor analysis.”

Animators at LawAnimators at Law, which provides trial

exhibits, animation, graphics, and juryresearch for three-quarters of the coun-try’s largest law firms, has benefited fromthe partnership for a number of years.Pres-ident and CEO Ken Lopez said he’sfound that “looking at problems througha different, unbiased lens allows thestudents to come up with new, thoughtprovoking ideas and recommendations.”

Students have helped Lopez improvevarious aspects of the business, includingoffice space use, marketing and growthstrategies, and technology use.

“Working with Animators gave me abetter perspective on how companiesreally use the type of structure analysis welearn in MBA classes,” said David Smiley.“I also learned that the business climatechanges quickly, and a good business hasto keep an eye on the horizon to adaptand profit from those changes.”

Hoopes and Reagan hope to expandthe partnership program. “Being on thisteam means a little extra effort from allparticipants,” said Hoopes, “but the op-portunities for innovation and the positiveresults are definitely worth it.”

17

Michael W. Clarke (FIN ’83), ofVienna, has pledged a $1 million giftto establish the Access National

Bank Professorship in Finance.Clarke is president, CEO, and director

of Access National Bank, headquartered inReston. His commitment, he said, is in recogni-tion of the quality education he received andthe quality of graduates hired by his bank aswell as “to help ensure that quality faculty willalways be employed in finance for the benefitof future generations of students.”

Clarke said his pledge “represents a tokenof appreciation for the positive influence theuniversity has fostered in my development asa student, alumnus, and now employer of Vir-ginia Tech graduates.Virginia Tech helped me ata critical time in my development and hasbeen there for our employees who are alum-ni. I hope this gift will help enable the universi-ty to continue in its tradition of turning outskilled and motivated young men and womenfor dynamic employers like Access National.”

The pledge is an irrevocable, deferred giftin connection with Clarke’s estate plan. Nocorporate resources of Access National arebeing used in connection with the gift. In theevent that Access National Bank ceases toexist as a commercial bank operating inVir-ginia, the fund will be known as the MichaelW. Clarke Endowed Professorship in Finance.The gift qualifies for matching funds underapplicable public and private programs.

Clarke has been CEO of the bank since itsformation in 1999. He was previously a vicepresident at Crestar and chief credit officer at

Patriot National and United banks.He is active in civic and community

groups, including the Optimist Club of Reston,March of Dimes, Special Olympics, and theMcLean Lions Club. He is treasurer of theAdult Community Education Foundation,chairman of the Reston Business IncubatorAdvisory Board, and a past chairman anddirector of the Greater Reston Chamber ofCommerce.

Access National Corporation is the hold-ing company for Access National Bank. Accessis a $475 million business bank with threeoffices in Northern Virginia.With its subsidiary,Access National Mortgage, the companyemploys more than 240 finance professionals,the majority of whom are located in Virginia.

SunTrust Banks Inc. is contributing$250,000 to establish the Richard E.Sorensen Professorship in Finance in

honor of the college’s dean. “SunTrust hasalways enjoyed supporting the communities inwhich we work and live,” said C. T. Hill, chair-man, president, and CEO of SunTrust, Mid-Atlantic. “But we are especially pleased thatour Mid-Atlantic Foundation could contributethis grant to Virginia Tech’s Pamplin College ofBusiness.We see it as an investment in the fu-ture business leaders of the country and onethat will continually grow in value, as it helps torecruit or retain top-notch faculty memberswho can provide the best in education to

Virginia Tech students.”SunTrust and the Pamplin College have ties

that span 25 years, said Sorensen.Two profes-sorships in finance were established in the1980s by banks that were later acquired by ormerged with SunTrust.

Virginia Tech president Charles Steger saidthe dean’s strong leadership has enabled thecollege to continue progressing in the face ofmany challenges. SunTrust Banks Inc., head-quartered in Atlanta, Ga., is one of the nation’slargest commercial banking organizations.As of December 31, 2004, it had total assets of$159.1 billion and total deposits of $103.4billion.

James S. Goodwin (ACCT ’78), ofNew York City, has given a $120,000

gift to help establish the Konrad KubinEndowed Professorship in Accountingand Information Systems. The gift quali-fies for matching funds under applicablepublic and private programs. Goodwin’sgift, along with pledge fulfillments byothers, will permit the professorshipto be fully endowed in three years.Accounting and information systemsprofessor Konrad Kubin retired in spring2003 after a 31-year career at VirginiaTech. Early in his career, Kubin was thefaculty advisor to Beta Alpha Psi. Good-win was student president of the organi-zation during one of the years Kubinserved as faculty advisor. After gradua-tion, Goodwin took a position withArthur Andersen. He spent four yearswith Andersen before leaving to earnhis MBA at Stanford University. Afterreceiving his MBA, Goodwin worked as afinancial advisor on mergers and acquisi-tions for Morgan Stanley and, later, at asmaller firm of which he was a founder.

PHILANTHROPYClarke pledges $1 million for finance professorship

SunTrust establishes professorship

James E. Pearman Jr. (ACCT ’70)and his wife, Brenda K. Pearman, of

Salem, have included a bequest provisionin their estate plan to increase the fundingin the following accounts: the Cory J. Keel-ing Memorial Scholarship in Accountingand Information Systems (Keeling was anephew of the Pearmans and a VirginiaTech freshman), the Pearman FamilyFreshman Merit Scholarship in Account-ing, the James E. and Brenda K. PearmanJunior Faculty Fellowship in Accountingand Information Systems, and the Pear-man Family Dean’s Fund for Excellence.The increased funding qualifies for match-ing funds under applicable public and pri-vate programs. James Pearman is aprincipal with Fee-Only Financial Planningin Roanoke. A former banking executive,Pearman has provided comprehensivefinancial planning guidance since 1990.Specializing in estate, investment, andretirement planning, he has been selectedby Medical Economics magazine as one ofthe top financial advisors for doctors inthe country. He is a member of thePamplin Advisory Council, the PamplinCollege’s Accounting and InformationSystems Advisory Board, the Virginia TechAthletic Fund Executive Committee, andthe Virginia Tech Foundation board ofdirectors.

Michael W. Clarke

Belanger, an Alumni ResearchFellow and former director of thecollege’s Center for Global E-Commerce, will spend next sum-mer in Portugal, where she will

teach strategic information sys-tems and conduct doctoral semi-nars at the Technical University ofLisbon’s School of Business andEconomics.

Belanger’s research interestsfocus on the use of telecommuni-cation technologies in organiza-tions, in particular for distributedwork and electronic commerce.

Belanger is associate editor ofthe Journal of Electronic Com-merce in Organizations. She co-au-thored the books Evaluation andImplementation of Distance Learn-ing: Technologies, Tools, and Tech-niques (Idea Group Publishing,2000), and E-Business Technologies(Wiley, 2003).

Her work has been funded bythe National Science Foundation,the U.S. Department of Educa-tion, Boeing, Pricewaterhouse-Coopers, and various centers.

French and Khan both teach inthe MBA program at the universi-ty’s center in metro Washington,D.C. French will also be based in

18

PEOPLE

France Belanger, associate professor of accounting andinformation systems, has been awarded a Fulbright DistinguishedChair ; Larry French, associate professor of management,

and Mahmood A. Khan, professor of hospitality and tourismmanagement, have received Fulbright Scholar Awards.

The Distinguished Chairs are considered among the most presti-gious appointments in the Fulbright Scholar Program. Recipients aregenerally senior scholars and have a significant publication and teachingrecord.

Alexander J. Houlday, ofHockessin, Del., who is majoringin management and finance, hasbeen named a Sullivan Fellow.Mary L. Connerley, an associ-ate professor of management, hasbeen named a faculty adviser/mentor. The program, a partner-ship between General Motorsand the United Negro CollegeFund, is designed to educatestudents and faculty about theGlobal Sullivan Principles throughcampus courses and workshopsdeveloped by the participatinginstitutions and individuals.

Connerley, who participated

Christopher Neck,associate professorof management, was

one of 10 faculty members toreceive the 2005 Students’Choice Award.The recogni-tion ofteaching ex-cellence issponsoredby the Vir-ginia TechStudentAlumni As-sociates.Thisis Neck’s sixth such honor. Heteaches a course on manage-ment theory and leadershippractice to large numbers ofstudents each semester.

Fulbright Winners

GM Sullivan Award Winners

Students’ Choice

in the program last year, receives a$5,000 grant to develop andteach modules for a managementcourse, “Human Resource Man-agement,” and workshops basedon the Sullivan Principles forfaculty, staff, and students. Lastyear, she developed and taughtworkshops and a module for the“Ethical Leadership and Corpo-rate Responsibility” course.

Connerley specializes in diver-sity, cross-cultural and expatriateissues, and various aspects of thestaffing process. She is a memberof the college’s Diversity Commit-tee and was selected as a VirginiaTech Multicultural Fellow in 2000.Her first book, Leadership in aDiverse and Multicultural Environ-ment, is discussed on page 5.

Houlday received a $5,000scholarship and completed apaid summer internship at GMACFinancial Services, a GM sub-sidiary. He will assist Connerley indeveloping and delivering themodules and workshops.

Sullivan, who died in 2001, wasa Philadelphia minister and civilrights leader who became thefirst black member of GM’s boardof directors in 1971. He devel-oped the Sullivan Principles in1977 as a code of conduct forcompanies operating in SouthAfrica. The Sullivan Principles aregenerally acknowledged to havehelped end workplace discrimina-tion and apartheid there.

Honors

APamplin team is again participating in the GM Sullivan Fellow-ship Program that promotes principles of corporate socialresponsibility developed by the late Rev. Leon H. Sullivan.

Lisbon, at the University Institutefor Labor and Business Studies,where he will teach MBA coursesin small business management andentrepreneurship.

French, whose research focus-es on child labor in developingareas and nontraditional forms ofwork organization, plans to partic-ipate in research projects at theinstitute and initiate a study onthe labor practices of family busi-nesses.

His studies of child labor inBrazil’s shoe manufacturing indus-try show that most of the childworkers are employed by theirparents in family businesses thatare subcontractors to the shoemanufacturers.

Khan will travel to Chennai,India, where he will teach MBAcourses and conduct research atthe Indian Institute of Technology.He will also visit other Indiancities to lecture on franchising,marketing, and international serv-ice management.

Khan is author of six books,including Restaurant Franchisingand Encyclopedia of Hospitalityand Tourism. He is on the board oftrustees of the International Insti-tute of Hospitality Management inSwitzerland.

The Fulbright Program, theU.S. government’s flagship inter-national educational program, isdesigned to “increase mutualunderstanding between the peo-ple of the United States and thepeople of other countries.” Morethan 250,000 participants haveparticipated in the program.

Student Alexander Houlday (left) andMary Connerley will be promotingthe principles of social responsibilitydeveloped by the late Rev. Leon H.Sullivan (right).

From left: France Belanger, Larry French, and Mahmood A. Khan.

19

The college has appointed three new administrators: CandiceE. Clemenz, associate dean for undergraduate programs;Richard R. Perdue, department head of hospitality and

tourism management; and Richard L. Daugherty, director of theBusiness Technology Center.

Clemenz was a faculty member in the hospi-tality and tourism management department atVirginia Tech for seven years, during which shereceived awards for teaching and advising. Duringthe past two years, she taught at the Universityof West Florida, where she established a newhospitality program.

Clemenz has 20 years of business experience,including serving as vice president of develop-ment at ClubCorp, the world’s largest owner ofprivate clubs. Her industry expertise focusedon revenue-generating strategies, new productdevelopment, and turning around troubled prop-erties. She plans to continue her research workon training and club management issues. Clemenzreceived a Ph.D. in hospitality and tourismmanagement from Virginia Tech in 2001.

Perdue was previously a professor in theLeeds School of Business at the University of Col-orado-Boulder, where his recent research focusedon sustainable tourism development and market-ing in Colorado mountain environments withspecific emphasis on the ski and recreational realestate industries.

He has conducted research and marketingprojects for local, state, and regional tourismoffices, the National Park Service, the U.S. ForestService, and other federal agencies. Perdue ispresident of the International Academy forthe Study of Tourism and editor of the Journal ofTravel Research, the premier scholarly journal ontourism. He received a Ph.D. in recreation resources developmentfrom Texas A&M University in 1981.

Daugherty has more than 25 years of industry experience leadingnew business and product development, technology management, andcorporate ventures. He was formerly director of Alcan Aluminum’sfabrication research and development center for North America,where he led a 100-person materials and product development effort.

Daugherty has worked at Alcan, Atlantic Richfield, and Exxon.He joined the college last year as an adjunct faculty member. Hereceived a Ph.D. in engineering mechanics from the University ofDelaware in 1971, where he also taught and served as an assistantdean for several years.

Bridget Ryan Berman (BAD ’82), a former executive atApple Computer and Polo Ralph Lauren, was honored asPamplin’s 2005 Distinguished Alumna during the spring com-

mencement ceremonies.Berman was Apple’s vice president and chief operating officer of

retail stores before she left the company in August. She was previouslygroup president of Polo Ralph Lauren’s retail business, where sheworked for 12 years. She was responsible for the strategic developmentand operations of the full-price and outlet store divisions in the UnitedStates and Europe and served on the executive leadership team and onthe board of directors for RL Media (Polo.com).

A 23-year veteran of department and designer store retailing,Berman has worked in executive positions in merchandising and storemanagement at the former Federated and May department storecompanies (which merged in August). A resident of Maplewood, N.J.,Berman serves on the Virginia Tech Foundation board and on theDean’s Council at New York University’s Wagner Graduate School forPublic Service.

Eddie F. Hearp (BAD ’65, M.S./BAD ’66) and Eugene E. Fife(BAD ’62) received the Alumni Association’s 2005 AlumniDistinguished Service Award.

Hearp, of Roanoke, is president of NationalFinancial Services Inc., an insurance and investmentplanning firm. He is a Lifetime Golden Hokie, anendowed scholarship contributor, and a member ofUt Prosim and the Legacy Society. He was a mem-ber of the Alumni Center National LeadershipCampaign, the Virginia Tech Foundation board,Bowman Society, Hokies for Higher Education, andthe board of the Virginia Tech Athletic Fund. He ispast president of the Alumni Association and co-chaired the Roanoke Valley Campaign Committee.

Fife, of Charlottesville, is a retired general part-ner of Goldman Sachs. He has served as a memberof the Virginia Tech Foundation board, the founda-tion’s executive committee, and the CampaignSteering Committee. An Ut Prosim member, Fifefunds scholarships for students from his hometownof Hinton, W.Va. He is a member of the VirginiaBusiness Higher Education Council.

Distinguished Alumna

New Administrators

MBA Award Winners

The MBA program honored graduating students Bill Ab-planalp (MBA ’05), Carla Wilhoit (MBA ’05), and currentstudent Howard Deskin last semester. Abplanalp received

the MBA Outstanding Full-Time Student Award for academic andprofessional leadership. He is a consultant with BearingPoint in Alexan-dria. Wilhoit, now an analyst at Accenture in Charlotte, N.C., receivedthe MBA Spirit Award, given to the student “who has done the most todevelop and promote social and other activities for MBA students thatreach beyond academics.” Deskin received the MBA Outstanding Part-Time Student Award, given for leadership in the classroom, at work, andon campus.

Distinguished Service

On the Move

From top: Eddie F. Hearp and Eugene E. Fife have been honored with theVirginia Tech Alumni Association’s 2005 Alumni Distinguished ServiceAward.

Candice E.Clemenz

Richard R. Purdue

Richard L.Daugherty

PAMPLIN

Addressing graduates of the inauguralclass of Pamplin’s executive MBAprogram this past June, former Vice

President Walter Mondale said the PamplinCollege’s mission to produce ethical, global-ly oriented business leaders is vital totoday’s workplace.

“I cannot think of two more critical ele-ments for American business today thanethical leadership and global vision,” Mon-dale told the 23 graduates, their families,and college and university faculty and ad-ministrators during a ceremony at MountVernon Estate and Gardens outside Washing-ton, D.C.

In addition to avoiding fraud and notstealing from the company, ethical businessleadership, he said, also means tackling theleading crises of the day.

On global vision, Mondale said, “Wecompete by innovating, by becoming theworld’s laboratory and think tank. We can-not go back in time and compete on wages.By creating new products, new strategies,new ideas, we will succeed as an economyand as a nation.”

America also competes by maintaininghonest markets with “sterling integrity,” hesaid. Foreign direct investment followsopen, transparent markets. By keeping ourmarkets open, and by defending the integri-ty of American business, we encourage theworld to invest in America.

“Finally,” Mondale said, “we compete bylearning more.”

He commended the graduates for com-pleting the intensive, 18-month program,

which included a study-abroad trip to visitSwiss and Italian businesses in Zurich andMilan. “In reading through the biographiesof this class, I was deeply impressed by thebreadth and depth of experiences.You havealready achieved great professional accom-plishments—but it is an additional credit toyou that you recognize the importance oflife-long learning.”

The graduates were managers, directors,and other professionals from organizationsthat included America Online, MorganStanley, BearingPoint, Deloitte Consulting,Booz Allen Hamilton, and the GAO.

Mondale, who has a bachelor of arts inpolitical science and a law degree from theUniversity of Minnesota, is currently seniorcounsel at the Minneapolis law firm ofDorsey and Whitney and chair of its Asia lawpractice group. He served as attorney gener-al for Minnesota and as U.S. senator beforebeing elected as Jimmy Carter’s vice presi-dent in 1976.He was the Democratic Party’snominee for presidentin 1984 and PresidentClinton’s ambassador toJapan from 1993 to1996.

The executive MBAprogram, offered at Vir-ginia Tech’s NationalCapital Region center,was established in 2004to provide executives continuing educationin accounting, economics, organizationalbehavior, and decision theory (see story onpage 10).

1030 Pamplin Hall (0209)Blacksburg, VA 24061(540) 231-6601www.cob.vt.edu

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Mondale encourages MBAs to develop ethical, global vision

Walter Mondale, former U.S. vice

president and ambassador to Japan,

addresses Virginia Tech’s first

executive MBA graduates.

“We compete by innovating ...We compete by learning more ...”

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