Vanderbilt Business

Category: Departments

  • A Word from the Sponsored

    McSurdy earned his Executive MBA while working at Oasis Center, a nonprofit that helps Nashville youth overcome challenges such as homelessness, violence and depression.
    McSurdy earned his Executive MBA while working at Oasis Center, a nonprofit that helps Nashville youth overcome challenges such as homelessness, violence and depression.

    When I first learned about the possibility of earning a sponsorship to the Vanderbilt Executive MBA program, I was intrigued. The Owen School and the Center for Nonprofit Management in Nashville had just launched an initiative offering full tuition for one nonprofit executive a year. As Vice President for Programs at Oasis Center—a nonprofit that helps Nashville youth overcome challenges such as homelessness, violence and depression—I was eligible for the sponsorship but wondered whether I’d be a better administrator with those letters following my name. I already had a graduate degree and was doing just fine, I thought. However, my wife—an MBA herself—and my boss both encouraged me to give it a shot.

    I took the first step and completed the online application. I then had a follow-up interview with Tami Fassinger, Associate Dean of Executive Education at Owen. Although Tami was charming, she was not one to sugarcoat the process. I quickly realized that if I were going to make even a halfhearted attempt at this, I actually would have to study for the GMAT—something I hadn’t done since taking the GRE years before when No. 2 pencils were still used.

    I always introduced myself as the “nonprofit guy” somehow separating myself from the “real” businesspeople. Now I know I am a real businessperson. I’m just in a different kind of business.

    —Michael McSurdy

    I started giving up my evenings and weekends to pour over The Official Guide for GMAT Review. I also attended an open house for nonprofit candidates and then ventured into the deep waters at a preview day for general candidates—people with “real” business experience. It was a little intimidating, but I left feeling confident that I could succeed at Owen. I went back to my studies, and finally the day of the test arrived. Then came the waiting.

    Several weeks later I received a call from Tami saying I had been accepted to the Executive MBA program. It was a great feeling to know that I had made the cut, but for me that was not enough. I had to get the sponsorship before I could even consider attending Owen. Unlike other students I would not see large raises in my future even with an MBA, and my employer had no funds to offset the expense of my tuition. Finally in May 2007 I got another call from Tami. I had been awarded the sponsorship! I accepted, of course, and soon hit the ground running.

    The first hurdle, called Math Camp, came during the middle of that summer. Designed as a refresher course for those of us who were a little rusty with basic computations, Math Camp was a sobering prelude to first semester. I started to wonder what I had committed myself to, but with the gracious support and guidance of Rita Sowell, the instructor, I made it through.

    From Math Camp it was on to the Week-in-Residence at New Harmony, Ind., where I was introduced to my group—Jason Gunderson, Jarod Scott, Navin Karwande and Kenn Gindin (all EMBA’09)—four classmates who would be my lifelines, my colleagues and my friends over the next two years (and beyond). New Harmony also marked the beginning of the first semester, which placed an emphasis on quantitative coursework.

    That first semester I spent night after precious night trying to bend my mind around stats, economics, finance and accounting. For someone used to offering support to others, I was unaccustomed to relying continually on the assistance of the members of my group and Isaac Rogers, BA’02, MBA’08, a gifted stats tutor. I began to wonder if I’d ever get past the first semester. And of course I did.

    During the second semester I found the qualitative classes to be more in my comfort zone. I was able to offer the members of my group a little wisdom, and I felt like I was carrying my weight more than I had before. The coursework was tiring nonetheless, and by the end of two semesters, I wondered if May would ever arrive. And of course it did.

    Over the summer I reconnected with my family and dug back into work. There was no Math Camp or Week-in-Residence in New Harmony to worry about. I only had to look forward to the second year, which I anticipated with much less trepidation as I knew what to expect. Just like the summer before, I wondered if fall would ever come. And of course it did.

    oasiscenterUpon returning to Owen as a second-year student, I found myself giving advice to Mark McCaw, the new recipient of the Executive MBA/Center for Nonprofit Management sponsorship. “You will get through this,” I told him. Meanwhile I was as busy as ever. My strategy and finance classes were all-consuming, and the changing economy and a relocation for Oasis Center were making my job more demanding. At this point, though, I had my feet solidly beneath me. Somehow I had survived accounting, economics, finance and statistics, and was actually putting what I had learned to work. In my third finance class it became clear that concepts and theory were of greater importance to me, and I was able to track what we were discussing and actively participate. Had I actually learned something about finance?

    This third semester was also the proving ground for my group. By this point we had formed a good team. Each member knew the others’ strengths and needs, and we respected and supported each other. We began to think ahead to our strategy project in semester four. We had moved from focusing on our classes to focusing on how we could use the total of what we had learned to accomplish a more complex goal—creating a viable strategy for a real company. At times my group and I wondered if we would get it all done. And of course we did.

    During the final semester everything really came together. Each of my classes relied on what I had learned in all the others. The whole was becoming greater than the sum of its parts. The journey ended with a successful strategy presentation and the international residency, and much celebration. That final semester is still a blur.

    Since receiving my diploma from Dean Bradford under the tent on Magnolia Lawn, I have had some time to think and reflect, and I have even used a few things I learned at Owen—like strategies for depreciation and maximizing human capital. Who knew this stuff was really applicable to the nonprofit world? After four semesters and some reflection, I realize I made the right decision to pursue an MBA. Up to this point I always introduced myself as the “nonprofit guy” somehow separating myself from the “real” businesspeople. Now I know I am a real businessperson. I’m just in a different kind of business.

    As I look back with great pride and accomplishment, I am immensely grateful. I am grateful for my classmates who grew with me and supported my growth. I am thankful for the staff and professors who saw the potential in me. I owe a huge debt of gratitude to my employer, staff and board who have all supported me and cheered me on through the past two years. And I appreciate so much the great opportunity that Owen and the Center for Nonprofit Management gave me in awarding me the sponsorship.

    Lastly and most important, this journey was made all the richer because of my family. To my wife, Cecily, and my children, Michael, Harriet and Eloise, I say thank you. I appreciate so much the sacrifices you have made and the love and support you have given me over the past two years.

  • Everything That Rises Must Converge

    Willis has studied the effect of investor sophistication in interpreting analysts’ stock recommendations, among other topics.
    Willis has studied the effect of investor sophistication in interpreting analysts’ stock recommendations, among other topics.

    If accounting is the language of business, then it might come as a surprise just how much is lost in translation from one country to the next. For years countries have been following their own reporting standards, making it difficult for accountants and investors in one part of the world to understand the financial statements of companies in another.

    All of that is changing, though. There is a movement underway called the Global Convergence of Accounting Standards, which aims to unify reporting standards under one set of rules—the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). Richard Willis, Anne Marie and Thomas B. Walker Jr. Associate Professor of Accounting, is making sure that his students are prepared for these coming changes.

    “It’s an interesting time to be in this field,” Willis says. “I see accountants becoming more mobile geographically. To think that we can teach someone the principles of accounting here at Owen, and then that person can practice elsewhere in the world is really exciting.”

    Since companies are afforded more discretion under IFRS, Willis expects there to be a rise in accounting scandals—and, consequently, an increased need for capable ac-countants. “Accounting discretion helps managers provide information to investors in the most meaningful way, but the flip side is that managers can misuse discretion to obscure the truth,” he says. “Auditing and enforcement will continue to play an important role, and I expect accountants to be even more in demand.”

  • Volcker and Kohn discuss economic crisis

    Leading economic thinkers, including President Obama’s Senior Economic Advisor Paul Volcker and Vice Chairman of the Federal Reserve Donald Kohn, came together this spring at the Owen School to talk about the current financial crisis for the 22nd annual Financial Markets Research Center Conference.

    Volcker (back row, center) and other economic and political heavyweights came to Owen for the 22nd annual Financial Markets Research Center Conference.
    Volcker (back row, center) and other economic and political heavyweights came to Owen for the 22nd annual Financial Markets Research Center Conference.

    In his remarks, Volcker, who was Chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve from 1979 to 1987, said that the United States’ economic recovery would be a “long slog” but that the rate of decline should slow. He added that the country was not in another depression, but “in a great recession for sure.” He also talked about the outlook for the Federal Reserve’s role as a regulator of financial markets and accounting standards. (You can watch Volcker’s full speech at www.youtube.com/Vanderbilt.)

    Kohn said that the federal government’s heavy financial bailout of banks and other businesses would help the stock market and was “necessary, safe and effective.” Kohn also talked about the impact of the central bank’s emergency lending programs on taxpayers, credit market capital allocation, the stress tests of U.S. banks and the outlook for the U.S. economy.

    Kohn and Volcker had a lively back-and-forth following Kohn’s speech when Volcker questioned statements he made about a 2 percent inflation rate being appropriate for the economy in the long term. (The exchange and Kohn’s full speech are on Vanderbilt’s YouTube page.)

    Volcker, Kohn and dozens of current and former members of the Federal Reserve, along with other economic and political heavyweights, came to Owen to honor Dewey Daane, Frank K. Houston Professor of Finance, Emeritus, and former Governor of the Federal Reserve Board, for his 90th birthday. Many of the economic leaders have lectured in Daane’s seminar on monetary and fiscal policy. The seminar has been in continuous operation since Daane joined the Owen faculty in 1974.

  • ‘Great’ Expectations

    greatblvdIn seventh grade I learned to avoid using the word “great” whenever possible in writing. My English teacher argued that it was a trite adjective. Of course she was thinking more of its popular usage (as in “he’s great at tennis”), but even in its formal sense the word has lost some luster through the years. In a way it’s ironic: A word, which by its very definition should be reserved only for the rarest of occasions, has been used so often that its meaning is now diluted.

    Why the English lesson, you may ask? When the recession struck in 2008 and references to our so-called “Great Recession” became commonplace, I began to wonder about the implications of tacking that word onto the front of our economic problems. I’ll grant that it’s a clever turn of phrase—one that stands out in this age of sound bites by recalling the Great Depression. Yet I can’t help but feel as though we’re being premature, as well as a bit presumptuous, in likening this downturn to what happened 80 years ago.

    As unprecedented as this recession is in terms of its scope and complexity, the Great Depression stands alone in severity. No turn of phrase, regardless of how catchy it is, should imply otherwise. During the Depression the Dow dropped almost 90 percent over a three-year period, and unemployment reached an astonishing 25 percent. By comparison our downturn has resulted in a 50 percent drop in the stock market (which has since rebounded considerably) and just under 10 percent unemployment.

    Numbers tell just one part of the story, though. To get an idea of how difficult it was then, I only have to look to my own family. During the 1930s my great-grandparents were among the hundreds of thousands who migrated to California in search of work. For the better part of a decade they went from one backbreaking job to another, and their home was often a dirt-floor tent. My grandfather’s stories about his childhood were like something straight out of The Grapes of Wrath.

    It’s little wonder why we refer to these individuals as the Greatest Generation. Even if you disregard World War II, the Depression was more than enough to earn them that nickname. Perhaps our desire for a similar distinction explains why we’ve latched on to calling this the Great Recession. Whether we admit to it or not, we all have high expectations for our lives and wish to be part of something historic, even if it comes about through hardship.

    Ralph Waldo Emerson once wrote, “To be great is to be misunderstood.” Those words still ring true today, but not just in the way he intended them. Somehow we have misinterpreted the true meaning of greatness. Applying that label correctly requires perspective—something we are in short supply of these days. We ourselves can’t say if we’re living in great times. That’s for a future generation to decide.

  • New Faculty Appointments

    Jeff Dotson
    Jeff Dotson

    Jeff Dotson
    Assistant Professor of Marketing

    Jeff Dotson is an expert on marketing research and theory. His research focuses on the development and application of Bayesian statistics to a variety of marketing problems, including linking customer satisfaction to firm financial performance and developing more accurate models of consumer decision making. He joined Owen after completing his Ph.D. in marketing at the Fisher College of Business at The Ohio State University, where he taught marketing research and served as a Teaching Assistant for courses in Bayesian statistics and marketing.

    His research has been published or accepted for publication by such journals as Quantitative Marketing and Economics and Marketing Science, and he has presented his work at leading academic institutions including Brigham Young University, Harvard Business School, University of Iowa, University of Southern California, and INSEAD. In addition Dotson is actively involved in the marketing research practitioner community. He presented papers at the American Marketing Association’s Advanced Research Techniques (ART) Forum in 2007 and 2009, where he was runner-up (2007) and winner (2009) of the award for best presentation.

    In 2007 and 2008 Dotson was honored as a Haring Symposium Fellow. He was also an INFORMS Doctoral Consortium Fellow in 2006. From 2005 to 2009 he was the recipient of the Davidson Doctoral Fellowship from the Fisher College of Business, and is currently a member of INFORMS, the American Marketing Association and the American Statistical Association.

    Prior to his academic career, Dotson worked as a Category Manager and Senior Analyst for a national consumer packaged goods firm. He also has extensive professional experience in retail banking and recently completed a three-year term as Vice Chairman of the board of directors for a regional credit union.

    Miguel Palacios
    Miguel Palacios

    Miguel Palacios
    Assistant Professor of Finance

    Miguel Palacios’ primary research interests are in the areas of asset pricing and labor economics, particularly as they relate to human capital. He joined Owen after completing his Ph.D. in finance at the University of California, Berkeley, where he served as a Graduate Instructor for several finance courses and received numerous fellowships and awards, including the Dean Witter Fellowship and the Outstanding Graduate Instructor Award.

    He is the author of Investing in Human Capital: A Capital Market’s Approach to Student Funding (Cambridge University Press) and co-author of the monograph Investing in Emerging Markets (Research Foundation of AIMR).

    Palacios has presented at conferences at universities and private and government organizations such as the World Bank, International Finance Corporation, University of Virginia, Libertad y Desarollo (Santiago, Chile) and the Korean Education Ministry. He has also served as a Referee for The Economic Journal and Management Science.

    In 2001 Palacios co-founded Lumni Inc., which structures and manages innovative investment vehicles for financing education in which students agree to pay a percentage of their future income in exchange for financing of their education costs. He has also worked as a Summer Associate at ValuePartners LLC and an Economic Studies Analyst at Sigma S.A. He began his academic career by teaching physics at Colegio Los Nogales in Bogotá, Colombia.

    Palacios is an instrument-rated pilot and has been a member of Colombia’s water-skiing team. He recently ranked third (2006) and fourth (2008) on the West Coast in Men’s II Trick Water Skiing.

    Mark Ratchford
    Mark Ratchford

    Mark Ratchford
    Assistant Professor of Marketing

    Mark Ratchford is an expert in consumer behavior and game-theory-based models of marketing strategy. He joined Owen after completing his Ph.D. in marketing at the Leeds School of Business at the University of Colorado, where he taught marketing research and consumer behavior and was awarded the Gerald Hart Research Fellowship and the University Fellowship.

    His primary research interests include the impact of social networks on coalitions among firms, perceptions of firm fairness and the optimal strategic marketing mix for branded input products. He has also conducted behavioral research on the impact of goal setting and self-regulatory resource depletion of subsequent task performance.

    Ratchford has presented his work at several major conferences, including the Association for Consumer Research Conference and INFORMS Marketing Science Conference. In 2006 he was an invited speaker at the Robert Mittelstaedt Marketing Doctoral Symposium in Lincoln, Neb., and was honored with the Best Paper Award at the American Marketing Association Winter Educators Conference. He is an AMA-Sheth Doctoral Consortium Fellow and serves as a Conference Referee for the Association for Consumer Research.

    Earlier in his career Ratchford held analyst roles for ATX Telecommunications, Boat America Corporation, Teligent Inc. and PacifiCorp. He also served as Director of Industry Affairs for the Wireless Communications Association International in Washington, D.C.

    Ratchford is affiliated with several other professional organizations, including the American Marketing Association, Association for Consumer Research, Society for Consumer Psychology and INFORMS, and is a member of the professional business fraternity Alpha Kappa Psi.

  • 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.