Vanderbilt Business

Category: Corporate Spotlight

World of Good

Fraser, pictured here at Band-e Amir Lake in Afghanistan, spent five years in the country managing the World Bank’s energy program and leading donor coordination efforts for the energy sector.

When Julie Fraser arrived in Kabul, Afghanistan, in January 2002, it was clear that the mission at hand would be unlike any she’d had before. The Kabul airport had been one of the primary targets of the U.S. invasion three months earlier, and the widespread destruction was evident as soon as she stepped off the plane.

“There were parts of bombed-out aircraft littering the tarmac—a fuselage here, a tail piece there—and all the windows in the airport had been blown out,” Fraser says. “We also were advised not to wander off the tarmac since the airport was heavily mined.”

At the time, Fraser was a 10-year veteran with the World Bank, an international financial organization dedicated to fighting poverty in developing countries worldwide. She was used to challenging assignments in faraway places, but the mission to Afghanistan was her first in a war-torn area. As part of the initial joint World Bank and International Monetary Fund mission to help the country rebuild, she and her colleagues operated under the tight security umbrella of the United Nations. In the early going, there were only 83 UN international staff, including Fraser, allowed in the country at any one time—because 83 was the maximum number of passengers the plane could hold if they had to be evacuated at a moment’s notice.

All risks aside, Fraser looks back with fondness on the five years she ended up spending in Afghanistan. And she feels similarly about her other assignments as well, including her current stint as Senior Financial Analyst with the Southeast Asia Sustainable Development Unit in Bangkok. Her 20-year career with the World Bank—the only employer she has had since graduating from Owen in 1991—is a testament to the pleasure she takes in her job.

“I’m proudest of my time in Afghanistan. One thing I liked about it is that I could feel the immediate effects of what we were doing.”

—Julie Fraser

Fraser attributes this long tenure to the solid finance education she received at Vanderbilt. She says it has enabled her to enjoy a variety of assignments and grow as an employee. “Some positions at the World Bank are sector-specific, like being a road engineer or an agricultural economist,” she says. “But with a finance background, you can work across a wide spectrum and have an interesting career.”

Fraser also credits her colleagues for making the World Bank such a fascinating place to work. “They are smart, intellectually curious and deeply committed to the bank’s mission—all of which makes it a stimulating environment,” she says. “They also come from all over the world. It’s not unusual to have a team dinner and for each person to be from a different country.”

Today’s World Bank, comprising the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the International Development Association, is much larger in size and scope than the original institution, which was established in 1944 to assist with post-World War II reconstruction. In all, there are approximately 10,000 employees in more than 100 offices worldwide. These offices work primarily with governments to provide low-interest loans, interest-free credits and grants for investments in education, health, public administration, infrastructure, agriculture, financial and private sector development, and environmental and natural resource management.

Fraser’s earliest World Bank assignments were with the Central Transport Unit working on railway projects in China and then Pakistan. During the early ’90s, the governments of both countries were considering reforming their respective railway systems, and she had the task of creating financial models showing the benefits of introducing private sector participation. The reform movements in both countries, however, made little headway. In the case of Pakistan, then Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif ultimately decided to appoint an army general to run the railway instead—a disappointing result after years of effort by Fraser and her colleagues.

Such experiences are not uncommon in World Bank work, Fraser explains. Projects often can be slowed to a standstill by tangles of red tape and weak government capacity. “Dealing with the weak capacity in some of these foreign governments is probably the toughest part of my job,” she says. “Many times when you’re trying to get something done that should be relatively easy, you end up going from pillar to post.”

Fraser, however, is quick to add that a successful mission more than makes up for the frustrating moments along the way. “The best part of all,” she says, “is being able to go into the field and see the people who are benefiting from our projects.” As evidence, she points to her recent work with rural electrification in Cambodia and Laos. In the case of the latter, a project financed by the World Bank has dramatically increased Laotians’ access to electricity—from 16 percent of the population in 1995 to approximately 70 percent today.

“It’s so rewarding to go into a rural village and see families who have electricity for the first time in their lives,” she says. “They no longer have to read by kerosene, and their kids are able to study at night.”

Yet of all the missions Fraser has undertaken, she says none has been as edifying as the one to Afghanistan. The devastation caused by generations of conflict meant that the World Bank was able to have that much more of an impact upon its arrival in 2002. Even the tiniest steps of progress could be appreciated on a wide scale.

“I’m proudest of my time in Afghanistan,” she says. “One thing I liked about it is that I could feel the immediate effects of what we were doing. In other places it’s not so easy. You may not see the benefit of your work until a couple of years after the project closes.”

In Afghanistan, Fraser managed the World Bank’s energy program and led donor coordination efforts for the energy sector. Among her more memorable experiences was working closely with Ismail Khan, a former mujahedeen commander whom President Hamid Karzai appointed as Minister of Energy. Khan had made a name for himself as a fierce and sometimes ruthless leader during the war against the Soviets, and yet there he was, a conservative Muslim working shoulder-to-shoulder with Fraser—a Westerner and a woman, no less—to spur rebuilding efforts.

“There was such a strong feeling of the need for everyone to work alongside one another to get things done, and the hardships we faced together made it that more meaningful,” she says.

In a way, this observation could describe not just her mission to Afghanistan, but every one of her stops around the globe. If Fraser has learned anything from logging all of those miles, it’s that no one can tackle the toughest humanitarian problems alone.

“You come out of business school thinking that you can solve any issue, but seeing the scope of these problems can be daunting,” she says. “I guess that just makes it all the more gratifying when you can come together to bring about some good in this world.”

November 17, 2011
Her Cup of Tea

A few years ago Karla Diehl started a nightly ritual of serving tea to her family. At the time it never would have crossed her mind that the drink would someday play an important role in her future. Yet today tea is more than just a beverage she enjoys; it is her livelihood. In January she became Chief Operating Officer and Financial Manager at Partners Tea Co., a Nashville-based company specializing in fair trade and organic artisanal teas. For Diehl, whose background was in an altogether different field, it was an opportunity steeped in possibilities.

Diehl pictured at home, where she often hosts tea-packing parties with fellow Partners Tea investors

Prior to Partners, Diehl was President of Edison Automation, an industrial automation firm that she and her husband, Matthew, MBA’87, had co-founded in 1991. When Edison merged with another company in 2007, she decided to start a new chapter in her career and apply her business skills elsewhere. She had spent the better part of two decades at Edison, making a move to someplace other than an industrial, technology-driven company unlikely. Diehl, however, was open-minded about her search.

“I spent a lot of time talking to startup companies and small entrepreneurs who were trying to write business plans, something that I seem to do more of than the average bear,” she says. “You get a good insight into companies when you work with the founder. I met a lot of folks, and I liked a lot of them, but nothing seemed to be a good spot for me.”

Then last fall Diehl took a call from a friend, Lisa Froeb, whose husband, Luke, is the William C. and Margaret W. Oehmig Associate Professor in Entrepreneurship and Free Enterprise. Lisa suggested that she look into a local tea company called Partners Tea.

“I told Lisa that tea sounds lovely and it was all organic and fair trade—things I believe in—but that it was a real stretch to go from selling industrial components to tea,” Diehl says. “But she was persistent and told me more about the company and that a group of women were meeting to learn more. I begrudgingly went to that meeting and almost everyone there ended up investing in the company, including me.”

Partners Tea was founded in 2006 by Nashville native Sarah Scarborough, who incidentally, is engaged to Owen alumnus Jeff Gowdy, MBA’06. During her extensive travels after college, Scarborough became aware of fair trade principles and started developing her own tea business adhering to those guidelines. She relocated to New Zealand to study for a master’s degree and became Co-developer of Scarborough Fair, Australia’s and New Zealand’s largest fair trade tea, coffee and chocolate company. She launched Partners Tea when she returned.

“After that initial meeting I agreed to write a business plan for Sarah,” Diehl says. “People were ready to invest, but they needed to see the plan on paper. We put it together in eight or nine days. All I really did was take Sarah’s extensive knowledge and put it in a format that was acceptable to the business community.”

When Diehl and Scarborough went back to the women investors with the plan, another issue was raised: Who was actually going to run the back office of the company? The investors noted that while Scarborough knew all about the growing, blending and marketing of tea, she was missing some essential business expertise.

Social entrepreneurism, fair trade, organic—all of these are growing trends and that means our company has great macroeconomics.
It’s like having a great bone structure for your business.

—Karla Diehl

It was only natural then that Diehl would step in and fill that void. At Sarah’s invitation, she became COO and Financial Manager, assuming responsibility for accounting, shipping, receiving and inventory management.

“Sarah’s not at all enamored with operations, and I love it,” Diehl says. “I live for spreadsheets. I can’t plan a vacation without one. I can’t think without one. Excel is how I get through life, which frightens most of my friends.”

Partners Tea offers six blends and two pure teas—a Ceylon grown in Sri Lanka and an Assam, which is a malty black tea grown in northeastern India. The teas are shipped to a tea blender in California, who sends them to a co-packer in Pennsylvania, who then sends the finished product to Nashville where the custom-designed canisters are packed for delivery.

“The packing of teas for shipping is done by our group of investors at tea-packing parties at my house,” Diehl says. “It makes your investment ‘more real’ when you’re physically working with the product. We’ll pack hundreds and hundreds of canisters into cases and master cases several times during the year.”

Teas are available online at www.partnerstea.com, at select Whole Foods stores in the Southeast, at the Williams-Sonoma–owned chain West Elm during the holidays, and in cafes across the country. They recently added a sales representative in California and also picked up several new accounts thanks to their participation in industry trade shows earlier this year.

“We’re kind of a gift- and gourmet-type product because our price point is around $10–$12. It’s a great, lovely little package that’s perfect for a wide range of people—almost everyone drinks tea,” Diehl says.

Diehl is also very excited about the company’s membership in 1% for the Planet, a global movement of nearly 1,400 companies that donate 1 percent of their total sales to worthy causes. Partners Tea gives in support of increasing opportunities for women.

“Ours goes back to the tea estate in Sri Lanka where our Ceylon tea is grown,” she says. “Picking tea is primarily a woman’s job, and they’re pretty much on the lowest end of the totem pole in their society. We’re helping to improve their standard of living with our donation.”

Women helping women is an ongoing theme surrounding Partners Tea and its investors.

“There’s been research into what’s called ‘the girl effect,’” Diehl says. “This study shows that when women are educated and given opportunities, it raises the whole economic and social level of their community. When women earn income, they reinvest 90 percent of it back into their families.”

If women helping women is a primary theme, the Owen connection is certainly a close second. Of the 11 women involved in Partners Tea, six either are alumni or have close family members who are. Aside from Diehl, Luke Froeb and Jeff Gowdy, Owen connections to Partners Tea include Fleming Wilt, BS’91, EMBA’00; Cathy Brown, BA’86, MBA’90; and Michael Lindley, MBA’88.

Diehl credits her own business savvy to her Owen education. “Owen taught me to look at a business’ macroeconomics, and tea is a hot growth market right now,” she says. “Social entrepreneurism, fair trade, organic—all of these are growing trends and that means our company has great macroeconomics. It’s like having a great bone structure for your business.”

Making the transition from engineering and electronics to organic tea has been an interesting switch for Diehl. “What I’m most satisfied with at the end of the day is building something,” she says. “It’s satisfying to watch the market acceptance and the growth. The sales are showing me that it’s a good, fundamental business.”

Diehl also jokes that tea is certainly easier for people to relate to than her previous business. “I used to say that my husband and I had the No. 1 cocktail party buzz killer,” she says. “People would ask what I did, and I’d tell them I ran an industrial automation firm that works with communications in the utilities market. You could see their eyes glaze over.

“Tea is a lot easier to talk about.”

November 9, 2010
Passport to Africa

Picture this: A man, wearing aviator sunglasses and a pilot headset, is behind the controls of a single-engine prop plane flying just below the clouds in the East African country of Uganda. Only an occasional muddy river or dirt road punctuates the thickly wooded countryside unfurling beneath him. And in the passenger seat next to him are duffel bags full of money—thousands of dollars in Ugandan currency that an untold number of bandits would like to get their hands on.

While this may read like a scene out of a Hollywood script, the circumstances were, in fact, very real. The man in the cockpit was Dan Proctor, MBA’83, who was making a cash run for an air charter business he is in discussions with in Uganda. The money he was transporting was payroll for employees at isolated tea farms scattered throughout the country.

Despite the potential dangers involved with such a business, Proctor has embraced the adventure of it. He may not be a thrill seeker in the conventional sense, but he is an entrepreneur. And some might argue that takes just as much courage as any movie hero can muster—especially in the wilds of Africa.

Proctor earned his pilot’s license last year in anticipation of starting an air charter business in Uganda.

Technological Breakthrough

As a student at the Owen School in the early ’80s, Proctor probably wouldn’t have been mistaken for the person described above; at the time he was neither a pilot nor a seasoned traveler to Africa. Yet one trait had already taken root in his life: He had come to Vanderbilt with a taste for entrepreneurship.

When the first generation of microcomputers hit the market in the 1970s, Proctor became fascinated with their potential. He studied software engineering in college and soon found an opportunity to apply his newfound skills at his father’s medical practice. Like many physicians, his father struggled to keep up with the process of billing patients. To Proctor, software seemed like a natural solution.

“I wrote software to do the billing and then started selling it to other doctors,” he says. “Eventually I got interested in the communications side of health care and started handling claims over the phone. That’s when I got the itch to do a startup.”

But before taking that next step, Proctor decided to enroll at Owen and round out his education with an MBA. He admits having some ambivalence about the decision to return to school since he was already having success writing software. The experience at Vanderbilt, however, proved invaluable.

“Owen gave me the tools to look at problems differently,” he says. “The school took me beyond my perspective as an engineer and made me think about building sustainable business models. In other words, I learned to consider not only what people need, but also what they’re willing to pay for.”

Armed with that knowledge, Proctor continued selling his billing software to health care providers over the next few years, all the while looking for the next big opportunity. In the mid-’90s that opportunity came with the advent of the Internet. It was the technological breakthrough he’d been waiting for.

“The Internet removed all of the communication barriers in health care that I dealt with. Everybody could use the same medium. Now it’s taken for granted, but that was a big concept at the time,” he says.

Proctor leaned on his Vanderbilt degree to raise the funding for the startup he envisioned. Not only did Owen’s alumni network prove useful, but the reputation of the school itself opened doors that might have been closed otherwise. “Having the credibility of having been at Owen was very helpful to me in terms of approaching venture capitalists and angel investors,” he says. “They knew I’d been through a rigorous program, and that gave them confidence.”

With the backing of investors, Proctor founded Passport Health Communications Inc., a health care information technology and services company, in Franklin, Tenn., in 1996. The company, which originally built websites for health care providers, eventually found its niche selling administrative, clinical and financial tools to help those providers determine eligibility and get paid faster. As Chief Technology Officer, Proctor oversaw remarkable growth in the number of transactions Passport processed annually: from 92 in 1997 to approximately 130 million a decade later.

With this growth came interest from potential buyers. In 2008 Proctor and his partners agreed to sell Passport to a private equity firm for a nice sum. While many in his shoes would have taken the opportunity to retire to a quieter, more comfortable life, Proctor had no desire to slow down. And yet he didn’t want to continue working within the familiar confines of the health care industry either. He had bigger plans afoot—a second, altogether different career on the other side of the world.

Taking Flight

Africa has had a hold on Proctor ever since he first visited the continent in 1998. That initial trip was to Kenya, a place where his father had done missionary work. Uganda didn’t enter the picture until a few years later, when Proctor’s brother, a missionary himself, settled there. After traveling to visit him, Proctor was hooked.

“Uganda has a lot going for it. It’s a beautiful country,” he says. “And it’s fertile. It’s probably one of the most fertile countries in the world.”

While Proctor is talking about the land itself, he could just as easily be describing its people. He says a general spirit of entrepreneurship pervades the country. “The people are very resourceful there,” he explains. “Entrepreneurs identify unmet needs and then find a product or service to fill them. And if you look at Uganda, there are plenty of unmet needs.”

Many of those needs stem from the political turmoil that has afflicted the country in recent decades. Mention Uganda to most Americans, and the first thing that comes to mind is Idi Amin and his ruthless dictatorship of the 1970s. Yet, as Proctor points out, the country has rebuilt considerably since then, and the government is on much more stable footing now. Under current President Yoweri Museveni, there has been an effort to restore the rights that Amin revoked. Uganda is, in many ways, one of the true success stories of Africa.

Proctor is hard pressed to say anything negative about the country that he and his wife, Dee Anne, someday plan to call home for six months out of the year. Yes, he admits, there’s corruption in Uganda. And yes, there’s risk, too. However, he says, “When you get into areas where there’s some risk, that’s usually where the opportunities are.”

In fact the main thing that gave Proctor pause about moving to Uganda is the same thing that gave him a reason to stay: the poor roadway system. Most of the roads are unpaved, he says, and some are treacherous—not only because of the difficult terrain but also because of the likelihood of encountering bandits along isolated stretches. “It’s very unpleasant to drive on the roads,” he says. “I was concerned that, when I brought my wife over for the first time, she was going to like everything except the roads.”

While pondering different business ideas that might work in Uganda, it occurred to him that there was an unmet need for the safe transportation of goods, such as cash, which is by far the payment method of choice there. Why not bypass the roads altogether, he thought, and just fly over them instead? Starting an air charter business seemed like a simple enough solution. The only problem was he didn’t know how to fly a plane.

Not to be deterred, Proctor began taking flying lessons back in Nashville and earned his pilot’s license soon thereafter. The experience confirmed for him that he had chosen the right business concept. “I had no idea flying would be so much fun,” he says. “It’s beautiful being up there in the sky.” Meanwhile Proctor also began research into the aviation industry in Uganda and the requirements to live and work there. The business concept, as it has since taken shape, will provide safe transport for people, including tourists visiting the country, and cargo, like the payroll he delivered on that cash run.

In the case of the latter, the irony is not lost on Proctor that he’s now exploring, in some sense, what he used to specialize in at Passport: helping people get paid faster. Only this time around, the process is not nearly so technical, nor quite as fast. Unlike an instantaneous transaction over the Internet, each delivery by plane requires more effort and personal attention. And that’s perhaps why it’s all the more gratifying for him. As in his earlier days, Proctor is still stretching his entrepreneurial skills and filling unmet needs, but now he gets to see firsthand how he is making a difference.

“Time spent in Uganda is rewarding because I’m helping make people’s lives easier,” he says. “That’s what I enjoy about it the most.”

May 3, 2010
Running the Show

Ilabaca serves as the Executive Director of Premios Fox Sports, a pan-regional, Spanish-language sports awards program.

Not long after starting in the media business in 2002, Patrick Ilabaca found out just how creative he was expected to be. As a new Marketing and Communications Manager at Fox Sports International (FSI)—a Los Angeles-based sports programming company owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation—he was caught off guard when his boss walked in one day and placed a blank piece of paper on his desk.

When Ilabaca asked what it was, his boss replied, “That’s going to be an awards show.” FSI was looking to create a pan-regional, Spanish-language program in the same vein as the ESPYs, the annual sports awards event broadcast by ESPN. Ilabaca was charged with the task.

Given the circumstances, it would be forgivable if Ilabaca had thrown in the towel before even getting started. He had no media experience, after all, and there were no guidelines to follow. When Ilabaca asked his boss a series of follow-up questions, he got the same response each time: “That’s your job to figure out.” He literally was starting from square one.

Ilabaca, however, was not that easily deterred. Drawing upon the skills he had learned at Owen, he researched the market and assembled a detailed business plan and PowerPoint presentation—the “whole nine yards” as he puts it. If anything, he probably overdid it. “After the presentation they told me, ‘Next time just make it a nice memo,’” he laughs. The business plan and presentation had their intended effect, though. FSI gave his idea the greenlight, and the show soon became a reality.

When Ilabaca came on board at FSI, the company had just merged with private equity firm HM Capital Partners to form Fox Pan American Sports (FPAS)—the leading Spanish language sports pay-TV business serving North, South and Central America. Premios Fox Sports, as the awards show is called, has since become an integral part of FPAS’s programming.

Now in its seventh year, the show is watched by millions of viewers throughout the Western Hemisphere, and Ilabaca, the Vice President of Event Marketing & Business Development for FPAS, continues to play a role in its success, serving as the Executive Director.

Rolling up his sleeves

If ever there were an industry made for Ilabaca, it is the one he is in now. The son of Chilean immigrants, he has had an interest in international business—particularly within the Spanish-speaking world—ever since graduating from Vanderbilt with a bachelor’s degree in economics and Spanish in 1997. He also is an avid fan of tennis, soccer, golf and baseball—sports that are the bedrock of FPAS’s three television channels.

Yet if someone had told Ilabaca in early 2002 that he would soon work for an international sports media company, he probably would not have believed it. At the time he was paying the rent by cleaning out a storage facility on UCLA’s campus in Los Angeles—about as far removed from his dream job as he could get.

How Ilabaca went from earning an MBA to earning barely more than minimum wage is a story in itself. Much of it can be explained as simple bad luck. When he graduated from Owen with a concentration in marketing and e-commerce in 2001, he faced a tough job market. The dot-com bubble had just burst, and Internet startups were disappearing fast. Then came 9/11. Ilabaca happened to be just outside of New York City interviewing for a job when the Twin Towers were attacked. The interview was cut short, and Ilabaca was left stranded in Bridgewater, N.J. “I had no idea what I was going to do at that point. Nothing was panning out,” he says.

Ilabaca’s luck, however, soon took a turn for the better. After moving to Los Angeles, where his sister was living, he got lost on UCLA’s campus and stumbled upon the office of the Southern California Tennis Association (SCTA). Ilabaca introduced himself to the Executive Director and explained that he was looking for employment. The Executive Director, in turn, told him about the tennis stadium storage facility and offered him minimum wage plus a dollar to organize it.

“My ego definitely came into play. I said to myself, ‘What am I doing here? I went to Vanderbilt, I have an MBA, and I’m fluent in Spanish,’” he says. “But I took the job and literally rolled up my sleeves and cleaned it.”

As unglamorous as the job was, it did give him an opportunity to network within the SCTA and learn in advance about any job openings. It also gave Ilabaca the chance to familiarize himself with the organization’s outdated Web site and put together a compelling argument for improving it. When a low-level position opened up at the SCTA, he seized the opportunity to make his case. “They told me I was overqualified at the interview, but I gave them my analysis of the Web site anyway. It turns out that USTA headquarters was interested in revamping each regional Web site, so they hired me for a completely different position,” he says.

Soon after he took the job, fate smiled on Ilabaca once again. While working on the Web site, he saw a list of sponsors for an ATP-sanctioned tennis tournament that the SCTA was hosting. One in particular piqued his interest—Fox Sports International. Ilabaca had a connection to Raúl de Quesada, the Senior Vice President of Marketing at FSI, through a family friend, but it had never materialized beyond an initial phone call several months back. When he asked the Director of Marketing at the SCTA if she knew de Quesada, she told him that indeed she did and that she would be happy to pass along his resume.

During the tennis tournament he met with de Quesada and learned that a marketing position had just opened up at FSI. Ilabaca remembers thinking, “That’s my job,” when he heard the details. The two talked the following week, and de Quesada invited him in for a formal interview. Despite Ilabaca’s lack of experience, de Quesada decided to take a chance and hire him. A year after graduating from Owen, Ilabaca finally had the job he had been looking for. “I was very fortunate to get it, especially since the HR department at FSI wanted someone with more of a media background, but that made me all the more determined to prove myself,” he says.

A few weeks later when de Quesada put that blank piece of paper on his desk, the newly hired Ilabaca would have an opportunity to do just that.

The most of every opportunity

It is fitting that Ilabaca and Premios Fox Sports, the project he was tasked with developing, have enjoyed similar trajectories of success. As the show has grown in stature over the past seven years, so too has Ilabaca’s career. Aside from the third year, when FPAS decided to move Premios Fox Sports’ executive position to Miami, he has been responsible for the planning and production of every show. Ilabaca was offered the chance to move to Miami and remain in charge, but he declined. His presence was sorely missed at that show, and FPAS approached him again about moving East and resuming his responsibilities. This time he agreed, but only after they granted him VP status and expanded his role within the company.

“I love being in Miami. In California I always felt like I was trying to catch up with our offices on the East Coast and Buenos Aires, which at certain times of the year is six hours ahead,” he says. “Being on the East Coast, I feel like I’m the one setting the pace.”

Ilabaca’s broader role within the organization has allowed him to be involved in business development and rebranding efforts. “I always find new projects. That’s what’s so wonderful about media. It’s always changing,” he says. In 2008–2009 Ilabaca oversaw the launch of the new on-air, off-air and online image packages for each of FPAS’s three television channels: Fox Sports en Español, which serves the U.S. Hispanic market, and the two Fox Sports Latin America channels that serve Mexico, Central and South America. The three channels have more than 26 million subscribers combined.

Premios Fox Sports, however, continues to be Ilabaca’s primary focus. “I’m proud that it remains the only awards show of its kind. There are no other programs around that specifically recognize and celebrate the achievements of Latino athletes the way we do,” he says. The show comprises several different categories that honor Latino athletes in soccer, baseball, tennis, basketball, boxing and motor sports. Each year the scope of the show grows, and new wrinkles are added. In 2008 Premios Fox Sports was held outside the United States for the first time—both in Mexico City and Buenos Aires within a three-week period. This December the show will be produced at Hard Rock Live in Hollywood, Fla.

Yet as the spotlight grows, Ilabaca is careful not to be blinded by it. He has not forgotten how far he has come and what got him there.

“I have an MBA, but it wasn’t beneath me to clean out a storage facility. No matter how entitled you may feel because of your degree or your past experience, you sometimes have to assume a lesser role,” he says. “From there you just have to make the most of every opportunity.”

November 6, 2009
Heeding the Call

Reid has found her true calling as the owner of a women’s adventure travel company.

When Kate Reid graduated from Owen in 2006, her path was laid out before her. She had an MBA in hand and a job in the financial industry waiting for her on the East Coast at the end of the summer. But as is often the case, life has a funny way of intervening. Before reporting to her new job, she took a trip to California, which was supposed to last three months. It’s now been three years, and she still hasn’t boarded that return flight.

Today Reid is far removed from the corporate path she had envisioned for herself and blazing a trail of her own as an entrepreneur in Northern California. In 2008 she purchased Call of the Wild, the longest-running women’s adventure travel company in the world. Reid’s journey from Owen to entrepreneurism has been, appropriately enough, much like one of the hiking trips her company specializes in. At times it’s taken her out of her comfort zone and challenged her perceptions, but it’s also rewarded her with a profound sense of accomplishment.

The Fire Inside

What prompted Reid to stay in California? You could say that she heard “the call”—or more precisely, the phone call. Reid explains: “I had every intention of going back to the East Coast, but four days before I was supposed to return I got a phone call.” On the other end was an HR representative, with whom she had submitted her resume nine months earlier. Another financial services company had decided to offer her a position there in California within its marketing division.

After much soul searching she did the unthinkable—at least in the eyes of career counselors—and reneged on the original offer back East to accept the new one in California. As difficult as that decision was, she says she’s never looked back: “Lo and behold, it was the sun and moon and stars all aligning, and it’s really been something that I’ve never regretted once.”

Reid’s decision was influenced by the fact that her boyfriend (now fiance), fellow Owen alum Chris Tulley, MBA’05, was already living in Northern California at the time. But something else stirred within her when she considered the possibility of remaining out West. She and Tulley had spent the summer exploring the natural wonders of California, and deep down she longed to be closer to the great outdoors. What better place to settle, she thought, than the San Francisco area, where the ocean and mountains are both at her doorstep?

Reid’s interest in the outdoors had taken root years earlier while growing up in Richmond, Va. As a Girl Scout she had been exposed to hiking and camping, but it wasn’t until she was an undergrad at Hollins University in Roanoke, Va., that she really began to embrace the outdoors. “I put the backpack on my back and started spending my days trekking around the wilderness. That’s when I really felt the fire inside burn and knew that I had found something that I’d connected with,” she says.

Once settled out West, Reid began seeking new backpacking adventures on the weekends. While planning a trek to Big Sur, she stumbled upon a piece of information that would forever change her life, although she didn’t realize it at the time. A Google search of trail information pulled up a Web site for a company called Call of the Wild, which was located in nearby Mountain View, Calif. The company was offering women guided wilderness trips in California and other western states, as well as overseas. Reid took a closer look and noticed that the owner, Carole Latimer, who had started the company in 1978, was interested in selling it.

“I didn’t do much with the information other than think it was interesting. I had it in my head for about five or six months, and it sort of just chewed on me. I kept thinking to myself that I should give that woman a call,” she says.

Owen’s Influence

Curiosity eventually got the better of Reid. In her spare time she started researching the travel industry and running the types of valuation models she had learned from working in finance. After doing her due diligence, she was satisfied with what the numbers were telling her: If the price were right, she could make this business work.

“I had a pretty good idea about what her margins were,” she explains. “I went in expecting to hear certain things. When I finally did give her a call, I found I wasn’t that far off the mark.”

Reid and Latimer continued talking over the ensuing weeks until a deal was reached. With a mix of funding from family, friends and her own savings, Reid agreed to purchase Call of the Wild in July 2008. She then assumed 100 percent ownership on Sept. 15—not the most auspicious time to be making a career change, she admits. Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy that very day, and the looming credit crisis was grabbing all of the headlines.

“Yes, there was a ton of excitement for me, but at the same time I was thinking, ‘What have I done? I’ve taken on this amazing amount of risk, and I’m watching the financial system of the United States come crashing down,’” she says.

As I transition into the world of business ownership, I pull from the Owen curriculum on a daily basis. It has really blown me away how much I’m finding myself thinking back to what I was learning in the classroom.

~ Kate Reid

Nevertheless Reid was not easily discouraged. Financial crisis or not, she is pursuing her passion, having fun and building her company for brighter days ahead. She credits her experience at Owen with giving her the knowledge and skills to succeed, even in these tough economic times.

“As I transition into the world of business ownership, I pull from the Owen curriculum on a daily basis,” she explains. “It has really blown me away how much I’m finding myself thinking back to what I was learning in the classroom.”

The Owen School has played a hand in Reid’s success in more ways than one. Last fall she enlisted two students—Margaret Foster and Sophia Xiao—to help her with marketing and business strategy. Foster and Xiao were both in Professor Michael Burcham’s Capstone Project course, which lets Owen students apply their management skills in real-world situations. Reid had reached out to Burcham about including Call of the Wild as one of the projects for the course, and both Foster and Xiao jumped at the chance to work with the company.

“I’m very interested in the travel industry, and the fact that Call of Wild focuses on travel specifically for women made it appealing to me,” Xiao says. Foster shares Xiao’s interest in travel, but she was also drawn to the excitement of being part of a new business venture—albeit at an older company. “Call of the Wild has a 30-year history, but with a new owner it was almost like it was in a startup phase,” Foster explains.

The project, which lasted two mods, gave Foster and Xiao an opportunity to tackle a variety of initiatives, from making the company’s pricing more competitive to launching a new Web site. Many of their recommendations were put into effect almost as soon as they suggested them. “Much of what Margaret and Sophia proposed was implemented real-time. They could say something on Monday, and it very well might happen by Friday,” Reid says. “Unlike other projects where you might leave the report on the desk and hope the company reads it, they were sharing ideas with me that I passed on to my marketing person or my Web person.”

The Right Path

Today Call of the Wild is continuing to evolve as a company. In the coming year Reid looks to add new destinations east of the Mississippi River, in places like the Blue Ridge Mountains and the Adirondacks. There are also plans to offer trips in urban areas for those clients who enjoy being active during the day but sleeping in a hotel at night.

However, she is careful not to get ahead of herself.

“I would love to flip the switch on the long-term plan tomorrow, but I know if I do that, I’m sacrificing many things,” she says. “Loyalty of our current clients and guides would likely be lost if I were to go straight to the end of the story rather than chapter by chapter.”

Reid also knows that skipping to the end would rob her of something even more important—all of the experiences and moments of accomplishment along the way. As she can attest, life is about the journey, not the destination. And it’s also about choosing the right path.

The writer Joseph Campbell perhaps says it best: “If you can see your path laid out in front of you step by step, you know it’s not your path. Your own path you make with every step you take.”

April 21, 2009
Honours Courses

Robert Barrett, left, and Rob Shults founded Honours Golf in 1998.

When the Scottish first pioneered the game of golf all those centuries ago, it’s safe to say that they had no idea what a worldwide phenomenon it would become. Of course the sport has changed considerably since then; some of the modern rules and conventions would be unrecognizable to those ancient Scots. Yet for all the changes, golf today remains rooted in sportsmanship and camaraderie, and it’s these ideals that help to explain its enduring popularity.

Certainly Rob Shults, MBA’96, can attest to this. As the President of Honours Golf, the leading golf course management company in the Southeastern United States, he’s built a business around the idea that the game is as much about instilling core values and forging friendships as it is about competition. This is reflected not just in the company’s name, which hearkens back to the origins of the sport with its British spelling. It’s an inherent part of everything that Honours Golf does to create memorable experiences for its members and guests. From course conditioning to customer service, Shults and his team go the extra mile to uphold the long and noble tradition of the game.

Practice Swings

Though Shults didn’t realize it at the time, the philosophy behind Honours Golf took shape when he was just a school kid growing up in Little Rock, Ark. His father taught him how to play golf at an early age, but it wasn’t only the rules that he learned. The game brought Shults happiness on so many different levels that he came to view it as a life pursuit rather than a simple diversion.

“Golf was a game that I had talent in, and I just fell in love with being outdoors, spending time with good friends and working on a skill over and over,” he says.

Shults’ talent for golf led him to play competitively in high school and at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, where he earned a B.S. in Management and Systems Engineering. After serving as an Officer in the U.S. Army for four years, he began looking for a way to transition from the military to the business world. The Owen School offered him just such an opportunity. While earning his MBA, he picked up basic business tools that continue to serve him well to this day.

“Owen gets you ready to handle a lot of different tasks simultaneously. It’s good preparation for getting out there in the real world and trying to figure out what direction you’re headed in life and how successful you’re going to be,” he says.

The Drive

Shults’ direction in life didn’t become entirely clear to him until a couple of years after Owen. While working for Wachovia Bank in Atlanta, he started to get the itch to do something that he’d always wanted to do—start his own company before he turned 30. The problem was, he didn’t know what that company would be. At the time, golf wasn’t on his radar screen, except as a hobby. “Frankly, I had never thought about making money or going to work in the golf business,” he admits. But a chance meeting with one of the sport’s premier developers changed all that.

That developer was Robert Barrett, a native of Augusta, Ga. who had been working in the golf industry since the ’70s. Barrett had made a name for himself planning and managing golf operations for a number of well-regarded clubs across the country, including La Quinta Country Club in California, the site of several Skins games during the ’90s.

Despite their different backgrounds, Shults and Barrett hit it off immediately. They found they shared not only similar personalities but also a similar appreciation for the game.

“He was a golf operations guy through and through, and I brought a financial perspective to the table. But we had the same vision for what we wanted to do,” says Shults.

That vision—creating courses that provide something more than just an ordinary round of golf—took root when they decided to form Honours Golf together in 1998. From the very beginning Shults and Barrett found that their partnership was all the more effective because of their different, yet complementary, skill sets. Their roles within the company point to this. As CEO, Barrett handles golf course development and operations out of the Birmingham, Ala. office. Shults, meanwhile, heads up strategic direction and business development in Atlanta.

The Approach

Shults and Barrett’s first business deal was with Highland Park Golf Course in Alabama—the oldest course in that state. Since then, the two have steadily added to their portfolio, which now includes a total of 12 courses located throughout Alabama, Florida, Georgia and Mississippi. Some of these properties were signed through golf course management contracts, as in the case of Highland Park, while others came about through development deals, in which Honours Golf assisted with the design and construction. Shults and Barrett have purchased several golf courses as well.

Whether through management, development or whole ownership, Honours Golf always takes the same disciplined approach. “Every one of our projects, by its nature, has its own unique brand,” says Shults. “That takes a whole host of disciplines. It takes leadership, of course, and it takes putting a good team in place, whether it’s the right team to build the golf course or the right team to run the golf course. And then it takes putting a culture of success in place with good systems and good training.”

Minding the Hazards

Good teams and good systems are especially needed in today’s business climate. The recent downturn in the economy poses a challenge to golf course owners since the sport is a discretionary expense for consumers. There’s also the added pressure of rising fuel costs, which affect everything from the transportation of fertilizer products to the price of food served in their clubs. And to make matters even worse, the industry is already dealing with growing pains brought about by overexpansion during the late ’90s and early ’00s. Today fewer golf courses are being built, and many are being closed.

And yet Honours Golf has reason to be optimistic. As Shults points out, there are an estimated 25 million people in the United States who play the game. Of those, 8.5 million are considered to be core golfers. They spend about 80 percent of the money in the sport and are not likely to give it up, even during times of recession or inflation.

Shults also sees an opportunity for his company in golf’s consolidating market. “Owners and financiers are realizing that golf course management companies are part of the necessary solution to get the golf industry back to health from a supply and demand standpoint, as well as from an operating standpoint. Existing golf courses that are undermanaged are our biggest opportunity,” he explains.

The Bottom of the Cup

Perhaps most importantly, though, Shults knows that the golf industry as a whole is in good hands. There’s a reason, he says, why you never hear of people being forced into his line of work by their fathers: It just doesn’t happen. “People are in the business because they want to be in it,” he says. “So everybody is passionate. It’s an industry that is competitive, but for the most part everyone takes the attitude of ‘Let’s grow this game together.’”

Serving as President of Honours Golf may be a job, but to hear Shults talk, you might just think otherwise. Every day at the office brings challenges, for sure, but there are plenty of rewards, too. Shults has found great satisfaction in sharing his goals and principles with like-minded people, such as Rob Barrett and others on his team, and in the process, he’s made friendships and memories that will last a lifetime.

As Shults puts it, “At the end of the day, pursue something you love. Because if you’re doing something you love, you’ll never feel like you had to work a day in your life.”

November 10, 2008