Category: Class Acts

When asked about his role as Global Brand Strategist at Intel Corporation, the world’s leading manufacturer of microprocessors, Bryan Deaner, MBA’93, cannot help but talk about the future. His job, after all, is to look ahead from 18 months to 2018 and decide, in conjunction with Intel’s other strategists and planners, how best to manage its $35 billion brand portfolio.

This farsightedness, however, is not unique to Deaner and those he works with. If anything, the company as a whole has its sights set squarely on the horizon, as evidenced by its latest marketing and branding campaign, which Deaner had a hand in crafting. Known as “Sponsors of Tomorrow,” it illustrates in a humorous, “geek­-chic” way how Intel’s technological breakthroughs will impact everyone’s future.

“One of the things I enjoy most about working here is that we’re creating technology that moves society forward. We’re changing the course of human discovery and endeavor,” he says. “I know that sounds really high-­minded, but when you consider the fields that depend on our technology to advance—health care, applied sciences, communications—we’re enabling fascinating leaps ahead.”

Even though Intel currently enjoys an 80 percent market share in the microchip business, Deaner’s job is not without its challenges. He notes that brand management is sometimes more about the shifting mood of the consumer landscape than the competition.

“A major challenge right now is apathy. In many cases the conversation has moved beyond the chip—how fast it is or how small we can make it. It’s now about the user experience,” he explains. “Figuring out how to remain part of that conversation is difficult, especially when you’re not a product for the end­-user, like a laptop or phone, but rather something inside one of those products.”

Deaner, who majored in electrical engineering as an undergrad, credits the Owen School with giving him the marketing tools to make sure Intel’s voice is heard in spite of these challenges. “I often hearken back to my experience at Owen,” he says. “My engineering degree helps me understand the products we sell, but my marketing background is what translates that information for the wider audience.”

The EMBA Class of 2010 made history by raising more than $140,000 toward its class gift. Not only is it the largest amount ever raised by an EMBA class, but it is also the first time in Owen history that a class—EMBA or otherwise—has reached 100 percent participation. The gift established the EMBA 2010 Strategy Department Fund, which will be used to enhance offerings within the strategy department at Owen.

The CityOwen program is led by alumni around the country and provides value through networking opportunities, updates on the school and featured faculty or staff presentations. The program also helps strengthen the relationship between Owen and local communities in areas such as recruitment.

Atlanta

March 30
CityOwen Atlanta welcomed Nick Bollen, the E. Bronson Ingram Professor of Finance, who spoke to the group about hedge funds. The casual kegs and hors d’oeuvres event was held at the Capital City Club in Brookhaven.

California

June 8
CityOwen California, in conjunction with the Vanderbilt Alumni Association, welcomed T.J. Stiles, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The First Tycoon: The Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt. The event was hosted by Kimberly Jackson, MBA’01, at JAX Vineyards in San Francisco.

Charlotte

Sept. 16
Libba and Brett Rule, both MBA’88, hosted the inaugural CityOwen Charlotte event at their home.

Dallas/Fort Worth

May 26
CityOwen Dallas/Fort Worth held their third event at Trece Restaurant.

Denver

Aug. 24
CityOwen Denver held a casual summertime social at George Schock Photography Gallery.

Washington, D.C.

June 5
CityOwen Washington, D.C. was launched at a kickoff barbecue.

If you’re interested in launching a CityOwen group where you live, please contact Alumni Relations at (615) 322-7409.

When Margaret and Jim Brunstad, both MBM’75, arrived at Owen in fall 1973, little did they know that their paths would soon merge, sending them in a direction that has been unpredictable at times but enjoyable all the same. “We met on the first day of orientation when I borrowed money for a soft drink,” Margaret recalls. “We were very good classroom buddies for about the first day or so, then we were a couple.”

Graduating from Owen during a recession, they had to look hard for job opportunities. Jim landed a post in banking “by default,” he says, and they moved to Winston-Salem, N.C. Margaret found a position there as the Assistant Budget Director for the city. “It was a time in our lives when we still thought we could do anything,” Margaret says. “My advice to graduates in today’s economy is to be creative and meet the challenge head-on.”

Jim’s career led them to Birmingham, Ala., with AmSouth (now Regions). Using what he learned at Owen, he then helped start First Commercial Bank, now part of Synovus Financial Corp. “Owen talked a lot about entrepreneurism back when it wasn’t fashionable. That stayed with me,” he says.

Meanwhile Margaret took time off to raise the couple’s two daughters and then led Youth Leadership Birmingham, a community leadership program for high school students. Soon after, she became President of Portrait Brokers of America, now Portraits Inc., a national portrait-consulting firm.

The Brunstads, both now retired, find that their path keeps leading back to Vanderbilt. Their sons-in-law recently graduated from the university: one from the School of Medicine in 2007, the other from Owen just this spring. And the Brunstads are now leading CityOwen efforts in Birmingham, putting them at the center of alumni activity in their city. Both express excitement about being involved with the school all these years later.

“While we were on campus this year, it was just so neat to feel all the energy at Owen,” Margaret says. “To see it where it is today is very exciting and gratifying.”

When Todd Jackson, BA’96, EMBA’08, joined Cumberland Consulting Group as Director of Operations this past spring, it signaled a new chapter in the company’s growth. The Brentwood, Tenn.-based firm, which assists health care providers in choosing and implementing electronic medical record systems, has more than doubled in size in the last year. The partners recognized a significant strategic opportunity thanks to a key component of the U.S. government’s stimulus plan that encourages health care providers to adopt electronic medical record systems.

“Cumberland started with five people in 2004, and we’re now closing in on 100 employees,” Jackson says. “My role is to put processes and systems in place so that we can continue scaling up.”

One of Jackson’s challenges is ensuring that Cumberland’s unique culture is not lost in the rapid expansion. When the firm was younger and smaller, it was easier for the partners to pick the right people, he explains, in part because they had worked directly with those individuals in previous jobs. Now, though, it is more complicated.

“We’re in phase 2.0. We’re turning to circles of circles of contacts to find employees,” he says. “Once onboard, they have to be trained according to the ‘Cumberland way,’ and that’s not something we can do ad hoc.”

In some sense phase 2.0 could also be an apt description for this stage of Jackson’s own health care career. Prior to Cumberland he served as Senior Director of Annual Giving at Vanderbilt University Medical Center for nine years. While at Vanderbilt, he earned an Executive MBA, which he says taught him, among other things, “how to work well with others—especially those you don’t agree with.” Together, the experiences at the Medical Center and at Owen provided Jackson with a building block for the logical next step in his career—an opportunity to grow alongside a dynamic firm in a dynamic field.

“My career is evolving,” he says. “I’m someone who likes to create and build, and Cumberland has presented me with an amazing opportunity to do just that.”

Virginia “Gigi” Banks Lazenby, BA’67, MBA’73, graduated from Vanderbilt with a degree in European history and fine arts—and few job prospects. When family friend Henry Hooker, BA’54, said that he would hire her as his assistant if she learned to type and take dictation, she was more than willing to oblige.

The job would turn out to be a window to some of the most exciting entrepreneurial ventures Nashville has ever seen. In the late ’60s Hooker helped launch the ill-fated Minnie Pearl Fried Chicken restaurant chain. He also helped found Hospital Corporation of America, which is today the largest private provider of health care facilities in the world.

As Lazenby witnessed these ventures take shape, her interest in business grew. At Hooker’s encouragement she decided to enroll at the Owen School. “What I really learned at Owen was the ability to work with people and deal with them,” she says. “There’s a lot more to running a business than crunching numbers.”

After graduation she joined up again with Hooker, who was then in the oil business. It was in this industry that Lazenby found her calling, and she struck out on her own in 1988 to form Bretagne LLC, an oil and gas explor-ation and production company with 40 employees in Eastern Kentucky.

As CEO Lazenby has successfully navigated the ups and downs of the oil and gas business for two decades. She also has served on the board of directors of the Independent Petroleum Association of America and on the National Petroleum Council. She credits her husband, Ted Lazenby, BA’54, former President of National Life & Accident Insurance Co. and Founder of Southlife Holding Co., with urging her to become involved in industry associations.

She may have come a long way since those days of few job prospects, but Lazenby has not forgotten the lessons she learned. For today’s students who find themselves in a similar position, she offers this advice: “Don’t worry so much about where your job is or how much you’ll be paid. Just find a job and do it well. Appreciate all the people you work with, and go from there.”

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.”

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!”