Vanderbilt Business

Author: Nancy Wise

  • Podcast and Videos from the Owen School

    Special Topics and Speakers

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    Charles Holliday, Chairman of the Board at DuPont (video)
    Holliday addresses the Class of 2009 at Commencement.

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    Debora Guthrie, MBA’79, President and CEO of Capital Health Management Corporation (video)
    Guthrie speaks at the annual barbecue during Alumni Weekend.

    Tami Fassinger, Associate Dean of Executive Programs at the Owen School (audio)
    Fassinger talks about Owen’s decision to transition its Executive MBA program from an alternating Friday-Saturday schedule to an alternating Saturday-only format.

    Featured Research

    Lobbying expenditures yield big returns (audio)
    When it comes to lobbying, more firms are getting into the game. Recent research by David Parsley, E. Bronson Ingram Professor in Economics and Finance, provides a picture of just how profitable such activities can be.

    Thinking like a CEO (audio)
    Leading a company often involves a paradox. The skills that propel a person to the top—whether an entrepreneur building a new business or someone rising through an established program—may not be the skills most essential for guiding the entire enterprise as a chief executive. Michael Burcham, Professor for the Practice of Management, David Furse, Adjunct Professor of Management, and Kimberly Pace, Clinical Assistant Professor of Management, reflect on qualities that characterize how CEOs think and behave.

    Hiring advice for employers (audio)
    Even in a tight job market, high-pressure recruitment tactics can poison the employer-employee relationship. Research by Ray Friedman, Brownlee O. Currey Professor of Management, shows that a perceived mistreatment during the recruitment process can prove costly for the employer months or even years down the road.

    Owen on YouTube

    Watch Owen’s faculty discuss their areas of expertise:

    • Innovation – David Owens, Clinical Professor of Business Strategy and Innovation
    • Process design and improvement – Nancy Lea Hyer, Associate Professor of Operations Management
    • Health care – Larry Van Horn, Associate Professor of Health Care Management
    • Leadership – Dick Daft, Brownlee O. Currey Jr. Professor of Management
    • Marketing – Dawn Iacobucci, E. Bronson Ingram Professor in Marketing

    For more videos check out Owen’s channel on YouTube: www.youtube.com/VanderbiltOwen

  • New Owen recruiting Web site unveiled

    RecruitAtOwen.com allows recruiters to post jobs and order student resumes.
    RecruitAtOwen.com allows recruiters to post jobs and order student resumes.

    In this day and age, searching for the right job entails a lot more than just sending out resumes. And in this tight economy, it is not always possible for companies to send out recruiters. In light of this, the Owen School is taking a new approach to promoting its students and enticing recruiters through a new Web site: RecruitAtOwen.com.

    The site highlights some of Owen’s best and brightest in the Student Spotlight section. It also links to more information about Owen’s graduate degrees, including the MBA, MS Finance, Master of Accountancy and Health Care MBA.

    RecruitAtOwen.com allows recruiters to post jobs and order student resumes easily. The site also offers a Recruiter’s Toolkit section, featuring an on-campus recruiting checklist, recruiting calendar, guidelines for job offers, information on hiring international students, employment reports, ways to connect with student organizations, contact information for the Owen Career Management Center team and more.

    “Our goal was to create a Web site that would answer all of the recruiter’s questions in a well-organized format,” says Joyce Rothenberg, Director of Owen’s Career Management Center. “Business recruiters I’ve talked to love that everything they need is just one or two clicks away.”

    Rothenberg says the site is also helping Owen to be more environmentally responsible by dramatically cutting the amount of paper the school prints and mails out. Recruiters say it is much easier to find information on-line in-stead of having to store and file printed materials.

  • Other Appointments

    Jim Bradford, Dean and Ralph Owen Professor of Management, has been appointed to the board of directors of the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC), the association of leading graduate business schools worldwide.
    William (Bill) Frist, former U.S. Senate Majority Leader, has been named University Distinguished Professor in Health Care. At Owen he is leading a first-of-its-kind academic experience for Health Care MBA students, having created a unique class that combines business students with fourth-year medical students to examine the financing, delivery and quality of health care.
    Chad Holliday, a nationally renowned business leader who has been championing the business case for sustainable development and corporate responsibility, has been named Executive in Residence. Holliday serves on the boards of directors at DuPont (Chairman) and Deere & Co., and has led numerous collaborations focused on harnessing business for social good.
    Dawn Iacobucci, E. Bronson Ingram Professor of Marketing, has been named Associate Dean for Faculty Development. In this role she is responsible for all faculty evaluation, promotion and tenure recommendations and collaborates with directors of the school’s degree programs on curriculum development.
    Brian McCann has been named Visiting Lecturer in Strategy after serving as Adjunct Professor of Management at Owen since 2005. His areas of expertise span strategic management and entrepreneurship. He is the co-author (with Luke Froeb, William C. Oehmig Associate Professor in Entrepreneurship and Free Enterprise) of the leading textbook Managerial Economics: A Problem-Solving Approach.
    David Owens, Clinical Professor of Business Strategy and Innovation, has been named Faculty Director of the Vanderbilt Executive Development Institute. In this role Owens oversees the curriculum for and delivery of all nondegree professional development offerings and works to expand Owen’s portfolio of programs in key industry sectors such as health care, law and sustainability.

  • Bradford appointed to GMAC board of directors

    Dean Jim Bradford has been named to the board of directors of the Graduate Management Admission Council, the association of leading graduate business schools worldwide. Bradford is serving a one-year term on the board of the nonprofit organization, which is dedicated to creating access to and advancing graduate management education. Representing academia and industry, GMAC also owns the GMAT exam, which is used by more than 4,600 business programs worldwide as a key part of the admissions process.

    Bradford-IO
    “I am honored by this appointment and look forward to working with my colleagues to underscore the essential role of business education, particularly in periods of great economic flux as we’re experiencing now,” says Bradford, who is also the Ralph Owen Professor of Management. “As business school educators, we are charged with grounding tomorrow’s industry leaders with sound management practices, judgment and values, and fostering a sense of responsibility to contribute to the greater good of society.”

    Since his appointment as Dean in 2005, Bradford has spearheaded the launch of several market-driven and immersion-based programs, including a Health Care MBA, master’s degrees in finance and accounting, and Accelerator, a month-long summer intensive program for high-performing undergraduates. Previously Bradford served as President and CEO of United Glass Corporation and AFG Industries Inc., North America’s largest vertically integrated glass manufacturing and fabrication company. He currently serves on the boards of Clarcor Corporation, Genesco and Granite Construction, and the Harpeth Capital Investment Banking Advisory Board. He is a graduate of the University of Florida and Vanderbilt Law School, and has completed the Advanced Management Program at Harvard Business School.

    “Jim’s role as Dean and his significant corporate experience give him an unusual perspective and make him a most welcome addition to our accomplished board,” says David A. Wilson, President and CEO of GMAC. “We look forward to tapping his expertise in the months ahead amid a continually changing landscape for management education.”

  • New Appointments for Endowed Chairs

    Bruce Barry
         Brownlee O. Currey Jr. Professor of Management
    Barry has conducted vast research and written extensively on social issues in management. He is the author of Speechless: The Erosion of Free Expression in the American Workplace, which examines free expression and workplace rights from legal, managerial and ethical perspectives.

    		Paul Chaney
         E. Bronson Ingram Professor in Accounting
    An expert in financial accounting and financial statement analysis, Chaney recently co-authored a landmark study that found a direct correlation between the public perception of an auditor’s reputation and a company’s market value.
    David Parsley
         E. Bronson Ingram Professor in Economics and Finance
    Parsley’s current research focuses on exchange rates and the integration of goods and services markets, financial markets and labor markets. He has also measured the effects of political connections on firm financial performance.
    Steve Posavac
         E. Bronson Ingram Associate Professor in Marketing
    Posavac is an expert in the field of consumer judgment and decision processes, including perceptions of value, and advertising and persuasion.
    Jacob S. Sagi
         Vanderbilt Financial Markets Research Center Associate Professor of Finance
    Sagi, an expert on financial economics and decision theory, has conducted extensive research on asset pricing and decision making under risk and uncertainty.
    Gary Scudder
         Justin Potter Professor of Operations Management
    Scudder’s research interests include business strategy and operations management. He has consulted with a number of large corporations, primarily in the areas of managing new product development and strategic planning.
    Richard H. Willis
         Anne Marie and Thomas B. Walker Jr. Associate Professor of Accounting
    Willis has studied the effect of security analysts’ earnings forecasts on analysts’ performance evaluation, the determinants of persistence in analysts’ stock picking ability, and the effect of investor sophistication in interpreting analysts’ stock recommendations, among other topics.

  • Cutting Edge

    John Peterson Jr.
    John Peterson Jr.

    Inserted form tools may not be a familiar concept to most, but the products they help manufacture are integral to our everyday lives. Inexpensive turned metal parts for everything from spark plugs to bullets to bearings would not be possible were it not for the technology pioneered by Nashville businessman John Peterson Sr. in the 1950s. Today John Peterson Jr., BA’78, EMBA’82, carries on his father’s legacy as President of Peterson Tool Company, the world’s largest designer and manufacturer of inserted form tools.

    In the past, cutting blades for metal lathes, shapers and other equipment had to be sharpened by hand—a time-consuming process that held up production. Peterson Tool, however, discovered a way to use electricity to machine accurate, repeatable blades that are easily removed and replaced by the manufacturer.

    “Envision a razor,” Peterson says. “We sell you the holder, and then we sell you the repetitive parts—the blades—with free engineering in the box.”

    Peterson admits that he may never have gone into the family business had his father not passed away unexpectedly in 1979. At the time John Jr. had some sales experience under his belt, but the thought of helping his newly widowed mother, Nancy, run Peterson Tool was daunting. So he enrolled in the then-new Executive MBA program at Owen.

    “I learned more from the other students at Owen than anything else. They taught me some basic things that I was able to apply right away,” he says.

    Over time Peterson has grown to love the business he is in. He is passionate about the innovation that goes into his products and cares deeply about the customer relationships that he has built over the years. More than anything else, though, he enjoys his employees.

    “I love the people I work with,” he says. “I’ve grown up with most of them. That’s one thing you get to have in a family business.”

  • Accelerator teams up with Kix Brooks

    Country music singer and entrepreneur Kix Brooks of Brooks & Dunn has an issue most businesses would love to have. His Nashville-area winery, Arrington Vineyards and Winery, is so popular that it is considering growing to accommodate more events.

    Brooks took a unique approach to this expansion. He turned to students from the Vanderbilt Accelerator Summer Business Institute to create a physical space plan and operating plan that would produce new earnings streams without jeopardizing the integrity and mission of the vineyard and winery.

    Kix Brooks (inset) turned to Accelerator to help him expand his Nashville-area winery.
    Kix Brooks (inset) turned to Accelerator to help him expand his Nashville-area winery.

    The Accelerator Summer Business Institute is an intense monthlong business boot camp run by the Owen School. In the program, college students and recent graduates from across the country are immersed in a competitive business environment, working to create the winning solution to real challenges from top local and national companies. The students hone essential skills in marketing, sales, finance, real estate, research and corporate strategy, while participating companies receive the brain power, creativity and proposals of at least eight teams of highly motivated millennials.

    Other 2009 Accelerator projects included:

    • Sony Music Nashville: aiding Sony Music to further develop the 360-degree concept of building artists’ brands
    • Coca-Cola Enterprises: creating marketing ideas to help promote Coca-Cola’s corporate responsibility and sustainability (CRS) goals
    • BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee: creating a social network for BCBST and its subsidiary Gordian that links people with similar illnesses, interests and wellness goals
    • Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce: helping rebrand the city as an entrepreneurial hotbed, while respecting the “music city” brand
    • Cisco & Presidio: creating a marketing message and go-to-market program on the intersection of WebEx and TelePresence technology.

  • Faculty Awards and Recognition

    Nick Bollen, E. Bronson Ingram Professor in Finance, received the Faculty Research Impact Award. One of his early papers, an analysis of the impact of decimal pricing on mutual fund trading costs, proved especially groundbreaking. His most recent work showed that mounting restrictions on hedge fund withdrawals can erode investor value by as much as 15 percent.
    Michael Burcham, Clinical Professor of Entrepreneurship, was selected by the Executive MBA Class of 2009 to receive the Executive MBA Outstanding Professor Award.
    Dewey Daane, the Frank K. Houston Professor of Finance, Emeritus, has been honored for more than three decades of service to Owen. He was appointed by President John F. Kennedy to the Federal Reserve Board and represented the United States from 1963 to 1974 as one of the two U.S. Deputies of the Group of Ten in their frequent meetings related to the international monetary crises.
    Michael Lapré, E. Bronson Ingram Associate Professor in Operations Management, received a 2008 Manufacturing & Service Operations and Management (M&SOM) Meritorious Service Award for providing timely, unbiased and thoughtful reviews of manuscripts submitted to the journal.
    Craig Lewis, Madison S. Wigginton Professor of Management in Finance, was selected by the MBA Class of 2009 to receive the James A. Webb Excellence in Teaching Award. Lewis teaches Corporate Valuation, one of the most beloved (and feared) classes in the MBA program.
    Richard Oliver, Professor of Marketing at Owen since 1990, has been named Professor, Emeritus. A renowned researcher and pioneer in the field of consumer psychology, Oliver received the prestigious 2008 Sheth Foundation/Journal of Marketing Award for his work, titled “Whence Consumer Loyalty.”
    Jacob Sagi, Financial Markets Research Center Associate Professor of Finance, received the Faculty Research Productivity Award for his extensive analyses on financial economics and decision theory.

  • Good Timing

    Doug Howard
    Doug Howard

    Like a lot of record label veterans, Doug Howard, EMBA’85, has a good sense of timing—not just in terms of having an ear for music, that is, but in understanding the business trends as well. As the Senior Vice President of Artist & Repertoire for Disney’s Lyric Street Records and Disney Music Publishing, he has helped launch and develop the careers of some of country music’s biggest talents, including Rascal Flatts, all while navigating an increasingly competitive marketplace.

    “When I first started out, a new artist could release four singles a year and build a fan base that way. But today we can spend up to $250,000 making a first album and another $500,000–$750,000 on marketing, promotion and a radio tour. Then it may take 25 weeks just to find out if we’ve got a hit on our hands,” he says. “In this business you have to know when to keep fighting and when to let go and try something else.”

    In many ways Howard’s own career has benefited from this line of thinking. After graduating from the music business program at Belmont University, he tried his hand at different jobs in the industry. However, it was at the Welk Music Group—one of the major independent publishing companies at the time—where he found his true direction.

    “Bill Hall, my boss at Welk, saw where the industry was heading with the mergers and acquisitions on the creative side and consolidation on the radio side. He knew that strictly creative guys like me would get killed if we didn’t bring anything else to the table. That’s why he encouraged me to enroll at Owen,” he explains.

    Earning an Executive MBA at Vanderbilt proved to be “the turning point of my career,” Howard says. His degree helped him succeed as the Vice President/General Manager of Polygram Music in Nashville. It also served him well when fellow music executive Randy Goodman picked him to help start Lyric Street in 1997.

    “My education and overall experience at Owen have opened a lot of doors for me,” he says. “I gained the confidence that I could ask the right questions, focus on the real issues and compete in both good and bad times. It allowed me to follow my bliss . . . and that is great music!”

  • Remembering Chancellor Alexander Heard

    HeardAAlexander Heard, an adviser to three U.S. presidents who, as Vanderbilt’s fifth Chancellor, guided the university smoothly through the stormy period of the 1960s and 1970s without the unrest and violence that afflicted many college campuses, died July 24 at his home after a long illness. He was 92.

    “For more than 40 years, Alex Heard was a powerful presence at Vanderbilt University,” Chancellor Nicholas S. Zeppos says. “Through his intellect and calm demeanor, he raised Vanderbilt’s stature on the national stage during his 20-year administration. And even after he stepped down as Chancellor he graciously made himself available to his successors for advice and guidance. I was gratefully one of the beneficiaries of his wisdom, and his loss is one I feel deeply.”

    Under Heard’s direction, Vanderbilt grew and prospered, adding three schools to the seven it already contained, including the Owen School. “Chancellor Heard was a builder, someone who understood the value of all of the elements of a great university,” says Dean Jim Bradford. “Under his leadership, the Owen Graduate School was founded and took its early steps toward becoming one of America’s leading graduate schools of business. We strive to perpetuate and improve the legacy of his vision and wisdom.”

    Heard had been serving as Dean of the Graduate School at the University of North Carolina when Vanderbilt tapped him for its top job in 1963, succeeding Harvie Branscomb. A giant in the field of political science, Heard was the recipient of 27 honorary degrees from various colleges and universities over the years and published numerous books on the presidential election process.

    Heard is survived by his wife, Jean Keller Heard, and four children: Stephen, a Nashville attorney; Christopher, an acknowledgements coordinator for Vanderbilt’s development office; Frank, BA’75, MBA’80, a Florida businessman; and Cornelia Heard, Valere Blair Potter Professor of Violin at Vanderbilt’s Blair School of Music; and two grandchildren: Alexander Michael Heard of Boca Raton, Fla., and George Alexander Meyer of Nashville.

    A memorial service was held on July 29 in Benton Chapel on Vanderbilt’s campus. Donations may be made to the Alexander Heard Memorial Fund at Vanderbilt. By arrangement with the university, Heard’s ashes were interred at Benton Chapel.

  • Worth It

    Lucy Haynes
    Lucy Haynes

    Lucy Davis Haynes, MBA’88, meant for her sales job to be something of a timeout, a way to keep her hand in the business game as she relocated to Nashville while pregnant with twins. Seventeen years later she is still with the same company.

    “I never did go get that real job,” she laughs.

    Haynes is a Sales Associate and National Trainer for The Worth Collection, a leading women’s luxury fashion company that brings in $95 million annually through private, invitation-only sales. She ranks at the top of its 750 sales associates and conducts national training sessions for other associates several times a year.

    Why is Worth so successful? Haynes believes many women find shopping in department stores to be time-consuming and frustrating. “With Worth you can shop for the season in 15 minutes,” she says. Haynes has a customer base of about 700 women, and about 200 clients attend each of her four annual sales.

    Before joining Worth, Haynes loved her career as a Brand Manager for Schering-Plough, an international health care company, and The Promus Cos., a hospitality company. But when her mother, Caroline Davis, started Worth in 1991, she jumped at the opportunity to be a part of the sales team in Tennessee. Haynes was successful from the start. “The beauty of sales is the harder you work, the more you make. That appeals to me,” she says. The flexible, work-at-home nature of the company has been a bonus as well.

    Haynes’ favorite class at Owen was a leadership seminar her last semester. That’s where she learned that the best way to manage people is to listen. She puts that knowledge to use every day: “The customer will always tell you what she needs and wants, if you listen.”

  • Students to test elevator pitches

    As any successful sales or marketing professional knows, first impressions make all the difference in business relationships. Having a clear, concise elevator pitch that encapsulates one’s resume and goals is often the key to securing a job. Not everyone, though, is capable of articulating that message and delivering it in the right way.

    That is why CEO and Owen alumnus Tom Truitt, EMBA’97, decided to start YourElevatorPitch Inc., an innovative career management company based in Nashville. YourElevatorPitch works one-on-one with clients to create and execute a high-definition video presentation that best represents their accomplishments and helps them stand out in a crowd. Truitt and his team assist with scriptwriting, presentation coaching and image consulting. The clients then are filmed in a professional green-screen studio, and the video is deployed to a targeted audience via a proprietary software platform.

    The Owen School is currently working with YourElevatorPitch on a pilot program to develop a new approach to the online resume book. Students participating in the school’s Board of Visitors mentorship program are the initial test group. Joyce Rothenberg, Director of the Career Management Center, says, “Tom is committed to helping students put their strongest presentation in front of hiring managers. We’re excited to see how recruiters react to this new technology.”

    YourElevatorPitch is also offering special pricing for all Owen alumni. For more information about the company and the different packages available, visit www.yourelevatorpitch.net.

  • Social Media 101

    Owen-related groups are growing rapidly on social media sites like Facebook and LinkedIn.
    Owen-related groups are growing rapidly on social media sites like Facebook and LinkedIn.

    In fall 2008 the economic crisis seemed to fuel a need for connection. At Owen we noticed a large spike in the number of people asking to join the school’s group on LinkedIn, a networking Web site for professionals. This got us thinking about Owen’s presence on other social media sites, like Facebook and Twitter, and how we might help alumni stay in touch with each other and the school.

    With help from the Marketing & Communications office at Owen, school-related groups are now growing rapidly and organically online. Alumni are reconnecting with classmates, discovering job opportunities and developing valuable business connections. They are also receiving the latest news from the school through Twitter feeds, a Facebook fan page, YouTube videos and iTunes lectures.

    If you haven’t done so already, we encourage you to explore the various social media sites out there. Signing up is easy and free. Here are a few ways to get started:

    facebookFacebook

    Facebook is a wildly popular and fun way to keep in touch or reconnect with classmates on a social basis. There are now more than 300 million people around the world who use the site. Facebook allows its users to customize their personal profiles by posting status updates, uploading photos, joining groups and becoming “fans” of just about anything under the sun, including the Owen School. Users receive updates regarding their friends, groups and fan pages through what is known as the News Feed, which appears on every user’s home page.

    The Owen Facebook alumni group has nearly tripled in size since October 2008. Here’s how to join:

    • Sign up for a Facebook account. Be sure to add Vanderbilt and the year you graduated when creating your profile. This will help you and other classmates find each other.
    • Visit the Newsroom page on Owen’s Web site and select “Social Media.”
    • Click “Owen on Facebook” and then “Become a Fan.” From time to time, you will receive valuable updates about Owen on your Facebook home page.
    • Click “Owen Alumni Group on Facebook” and then “Join Group.” By becoming a member, you can connect with other alumni.
    • Search for other Owen groups. Try typing “Vanderbilt Owen” in the search box. You will find several “Class of” groups, some of which are more active than others.
    • Search for your classmates. Try typing a name within quotes (“First Last”). If you get too many results, or don’t recognize your friend from the thumbnail photographs, select “My Networks” from the drop-down box. That may narrow the results enough to reveal a classmate.

    linkedinLinkedIn

    The LinkedIn networking site is to business what Facebook is to friendship. The site now boasts a membership of more than 43 million business professionals from more than 200 countries and territories. LinkedIn users create profiles summarizing their professional accomplishments and then invite “trusted contacts” to connect with them and their networks. These networks give users the opportunity to search for job openings, collaborate on projects, and gain business insights through discussions.

    The Owen LinkedIn group has more than doubled in size since October 2008: from 800 members to 1,900 members (as of early fall). Here’s how to join:

    • Visit LinkedIn and sign up for an account.
    • Visit the Social Media page on Owen’s site and click on “Owen on LinkedIn.”
    • Click the “Join this Group” button.
    • Start networking! LinkedIn can be invaluable for a job search. Try finding other Owen community members who work within your target industry or geographic location.
    • Do you have a business question? Post your problem to the discussion board and let other Owen members help you solve it.

    twitterTwitter

    Twitter is a way to stay in touch with the world through short messages limited to 140 characters. Users send messages (“tweets”) to others who have signed up to follow their updates. Owen uses Twitter to send out real-time information about alumni events, such as happy hours hosted by the school in various cities around the country. Alumni news, like promotions, career changes and new business ventures, are also posted to Twitter.

    Here’s how to follow Owen on Twitter:

    • Visit Twitter and sign up for an account.
    • Visit the Social Media page on Owen’s site and click on “Owen on Twitter.”
    • Click the “Follow” button.
    • Check your Twitter page regularly for updates from Owen. You can keep up with Twitter online or by using your mobile phone.
    • To find other people or organizations to follow on Twitter, click through Owen’s “Following” list.

    youtubeOther social media sites

    Owen also has a presence on YouTube and iTunes, with school-related videos and podcasts of lectures and campus speakers. To check out these sites, just visit Owen’s Social Media page.

    Dive in!

    These various social media sites may seem overwhelming, but don’t be afraid to give them a try. Keeping in touch with the Owen community has never been easier.

  • Nobel laureates discuss financial innovation

    Financial market leaders and researchers gathered this past fall for the first-ever Conference on Financial Innovation hosted by the Owen School. The forum focused on such timely topics as volatility, real estate, credit and stock index option markets, as well as real options and share-based compensation contracts. It also assessed the evolution of financial innovation over the past 35 years and explored what might lie ahead.

    Robert Merton talks about the future of financial innovation during a panel discussion with Myron Scholes and Leo Melamed, far right.
    Robert Merton talks about the future of financial innovation during a panel discussion with Myron Scholes and Leo Melamed, far right.

    The conference, which took place Oct. 16–17, commemorated the 35th anniversary of the publication of two landmark financial studies: “The Pricing of Options and Corporate Liabilities” by Fischer Black and Myron Scholes, and “The Theory of Rational Option Pricing” by Robert C. Merton. Originally published in 1973 when options were considered specialized and economically insignificant financial instruments, these two seminal works had an unprecedented influence and came to underlie almost every facet of the theory and practice of modern-day finance. In 1997 Black, Scholes and Merton were awarded the Alfred Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics for their work. Today they are credited with sparking the growth of derivatives markets, whose value now exceeds $600 trillion.

    “More than three decades later, we are reminded of the critical relevancy of these pioneering works and how far the ripples of innovation can spread and influence future events,” says Robert E. Whaley, Valere Blair Potter Professor of Management and Co-director of the Financial Markets Research Center at the Owen School.

    Participating in the conference were finance and economics faculty from more than 40 universities worldwide, including the University of Chicago; the University of California, Los Angeles; New York University; Harvard University; the University of California, Berkeley; Columbia University; and Vanderbilt. Offering the event’s keynote address was CME Group Chairman Emeritus Leo Melamed, who is widely recognized as the founder of the financial futures markets. In addition, Scholes, Merton and Melamed participated in a special panel that focused on the direction of financial innovation in the next decade.

    “Given the unprecedented financial market volatility and its links to derivative instruments, this new forum and its focus on the derivatives markets couldn’t be more timely,” Whaley says. “The collective insights of academics and practitioners will prove invaluable as we seek to better understand the past, present and future of financial innovation and its impact on the global financial marketplace.”

    The 2008 Conference on Financial Innovation was sponsored by the Chicago Board Options Exchange, CME Group, Options Industry Council, Susquehanna International Group LLC, and the Vanderbilt University Law School, which provided facilities for the event. Susquehanna’s participation was prompted by Owen alumnus Eric Noll, MBA’90, who serves as the company’s Director of Research.

  • Spring 2009 Staff

    Dean—Jim Bradford

    Editor—Seth Robertson

    Contributors—Scott Addison, Nelson Bryan (BA’73), Daniel Dubois, Ray Friedman, Steve Green, Kristin Hodges, Randy Horick, Jennifer Johnston, Ruth Kinsey, Jenny Mandeville, Elena Olivo, Jamie Reeves, John Russell, Rob Simbeck, Cindy Thomsen, Amy Wolf

    Designer—Michael T. Smeltzer

    Art Director—Donna Pritchett

    Executive Director of Marketing and Communications—Yvonne Martin-Kidd

    Associate Dean of Development and Alumni Relations—Patricia M. Carswell

    Web Edition Design and Development—Lacy Tite

    Editorial Offices: Vanderbilt University, Office of Development and Alumni Relations Communications, PMB 407703, 2301 Vanderbilt Place, Nashville, TN 37240-7703, Telephone: 615/322-0817, Fax: 615/343-8547, owenmagazine@vanderbilt.edu.

    Please direct alumni inquiries to: Office of Development and Alumni Relations, Owen Graduate School of Management, PMB 407754, 2301 Vanderbilt Place, Nashville, TN 37240-7754, Telephone: 615/322-0815, alum@owen.vanderbilt.edu.

    Vanderbilt University is committed to principles of equal opportunity and affirmative action.

    Opinions expressed in Vanderbilt Business are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Owen School or Vanderbilt University.

    Vanderbilt Business magazine is published twice a year by the Owen Graduate School of Management at Vanderbilt University, 401 21st Avenue South, Nashville, TN 37203-9932, in cooperation with the Vanderbilt Office of Development and Alumni Relations Communications.

    Web version: www.vanderbilt.edu/magazines/vanderbilt-business

    © 2009 Vanderbilt University. “Vanderbilt” and the Vanderbilt logo are registered trademarks and service marks of Vanderbilt University.

    Visit Owen online: www.owen.vanderbilt.edu