@DeanEricJohnson

With another Commencement in the books and summer winding down, changes once again surround the Owen community. Graduates have become alumni, first-year students are trying out new careers in their summer internships, and incoming students are in the throes of moving to Nashville.

Adena Friedman, MBA’93, spoke to the challenge of change in her Commencement address, calling it “constant and relentless.” In this issue, we take a look at how she charts the course of Nasdaq and her career.

This year, unique changes are taking place on campus. Our building is going through its most significant renovation to date, with the complete transformation of the Walker Management Library. The courtyard received an overhaul this spring, with an expansive patio, new seating and landscaping. Students arriving and returning in the fall will have a multitude of spaces in which to study, connect and collaborate, thanks to the generosity and support of our alumni. Read on for a look at the courtyard.

Students, always in constant pursuit of victory, brought a few changes to our trophy case this spring. Owen teams scored some big wins in a string of national case competitions: first in the Wharton People Analytics Competition, first in the Purdue Global Supply Chain Competition, first in the South by Southwest “Pitch Texas,” first in the Iowa MBA Business Analytics Competition, and third in the Denver Race and Case Competition.

Speaking of case competitions, we introduced some new ones at Management Hall this year. The Latin Business Association hosted a competition during the inaugural Latin Business Week in which two Owen teams placed. With some help from Sean Poe (MBA’17), I held the first Dean’s Case Competition, where Owen students utilize the case method to address matters of strategy for the school.

Off campus, alumni are changing Minneapolis into a new hub for the Owen community, as Twin Cities corporations in the consumer goods, manufacturing and health care industries draw from our talent pool. We spotlight a few of our alumi living and working in Minneapolis in this issue. Professor Tae-Youn Park also has a connection to Minneapolis — he earned his Ph.D. in organization studies there. His research on HR practices is profiled in this edition’s Intellectual Capital.

Of course, some things never change. In this issue, we also examine the deep roots that our finance and business economics faculty have in the world of international policy, from the late J. Dewey Daane to Luke Froeb and Craig Lewis.

Through all of these changes, I’m grateful for the support that every member of the Owen community shows to the school and to one another. Have a fantastic summer!

All the best,

M. Eric Johnson

Ralph Owen Dean
Bruce D. Henderson Professor of Strategy