In the 2013 global MBA survey by the Financial Times, Owen climbed five spots to No. 25 among U.S. MBA programs and eight spots to No. 53 globally.
In addition, Financial Times ranked Owen No. 35 globally for job placement and No. 37 globally for academic research.
This continues a strong showing in popular rankings. Bloomberg BusinessWeek just ranked the Vanderbilt MBA program No. 25 overall and No. 9 in leadership. And Vanderbilt once again made it into the top- 30 MBA programs as ranked this year by U.S. News & World Report. Regardless of ranking publication, Vanderbilt can always be found among the top 10 percent of the AACSB-accredited B-schools in the world.
Timothy J. Vogus has been promoted to associate professor of management and organization studies, with tenure, effective fall 2013. Vogus, who joined Owen in 2004, teaches in the MBA core curriculum on leading teams and organizations as well as an elective MBA course on negotiation.
Vogus’ area of research involves the mechanisms through which organizations create and sustain a culture of safety. Currently, he is interested in these dynamics in health care settings and their effects on the incidence of medical error at the point of care delivery.
Vogus was recently named one of the 50 most influential business professors of 2013 and earlier named one of the Top 40 Business School Professors Under 40 by poetsandquants.com.
Vanderbilt Owen Graduate School of Management’s New Dean, Eric Johnson
M. Eric Johnson, current associate dean at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College and former Owen faculty member, has been named dean of the Vanderbilt Owen Graduate School of Management effective July 1. He succeeds Dean Jim Bradford, who announced his retirement in December.
Johnson said that Owen is a true gem among the world’s best business schools.
“I am honored to be given the opportunity to lead the school to even higher achievement,” he said.
At Dartmouth, Johnson oversaw Tuck’s top-rated MBA program and its nine centers and initiatives. He was responsible for launching several of those centers in the areas of digital strategies, energy, entrepreneurship and health care, and also held a named chair.
Johnson taught at Owen from 1991- 99, first as assistant professor of management, then as a tenured associate professor of operations management. He twice won awards for teaching excellence.
Johnson’s teaching and research concentrate on the impact of information technology on the extended enterprise. His latest book, The Economics of Financial and Medical Identity Theft, examines the security failures and economic incentives that drive identity theft. He holds patents on interface design and has testified before Congress on information security. Additionally, he has held positions with Systems Modeling Corp. and Hewlett-Packard and has consulted for top companies around the world.
An expert in information technology as well as supply chain management, Johnson holds bachelor degrees in engineering and economics and a master’s in engineering and operations research from Pennsylvania State University. He received his doctorate in industrial engineering and engineering management from Stanford University.
A performance of Nashville’s Grand Ole Opry is entertainment unlike any other. The Opry broadcasts as a radio show, so the action on stage is geared to a radio audience first, then to the people in the auditorium. The live audience sees announcers reading from behind a podium and performers bustling on stage, plugging in equipment and launching into song or a story. If equipment needs to be moved or adjusted, the audience sees that, too. The transitions are part of the fabric of the evening.
The subject of our cover story knows all about the Grand Ole Opry and transitions. As president of Opry Entertainment and executive vice president at Ryman Hospitality Properties, Steve Buchanan, BS’80, MBA’85, handles the business and entertainment sides of the Grand Ole Opry, celebrated Ryman Auditorium and legendary WSM radio. He was also instrumental in the development of the hit ABC television show, Nashville, for which he serves as an executive producer. As you’ll read, Steve was also responsible for transitioning the historic Ryman Auditorium from a candidate for demolition to an acclaimed performance venue.
Owen itself is going through some transitions. In this issue, we reacquaint (or introduce) you to Christie St-John, MA’94, PhD’99, the new head of admissions. Christie has returned to Vanderbilt from Dartmouth and she has some wonderful ideas for recruiting future Owen students.
The big transition we’re facing, of course, is that Jim Bradford is stepping down as dean of Owen and a new dean, M. Eric Johnson, will soon be at work. Fortunately, Jim is leaving the school in a strong position and Eric will have a powerful foundation on which to build.
We asked Jim to talk about what’s next. What we got instead was a manifesto that every business leader should follow: Jim’s wisdom about how leaders should spend their last 100 days in office is profound and visionary.
Speaking of changes, you’ve probably noticed a new author of this column. Seth Robertson, who edited Vanderbilt Business for more than five years, has joined Vanderbilt Magazine and passed the editorship to me. I’m enjoying learning about Owen and discovering all its wonderful people and stories.
There are other changes ahead for Vanderbilt Business. We are beginning work on a redesign of the magazine. That means a fresh look as well as new features and departments. Are there regular features you like? Never read? Would like to see expanded or changed? Should we do more alumni profiles? More stories about students? Email me at owen.magazine@vanderbilt.edu. I look forward to your feedback.
President Franklin Roosevelt pioneered the notion of a leader’s first 100 days—the idea that new executives use the strength and goodwill of their position to push through a flurry of bold strategic plans.
Yet, it’s just as important —if not more—for leaders to be guided by what they want the last 100 days in office to look like. Jack Welch at GE and Meg Whitman at eBay offer two examples of extraordinary leadership exits, passing on an organization that was both stronger than when they found it, and primed for a new period of growth. Compare that to someone like Kenneth Lay, whose Enron career ended in scandal and disgrace.
That’s not to say one should attempt to cram all the work of a meaningful and enduring legacy into little more than three months. Rather, thinking about your last 100 days is a state of mind that should pervade the everyday actions, as well as the major decisions, of anyone heading an organization. Leaders need to ask themselves how their actions today will help build upon a solid foundation that any successor could add to starting in the next 100 days, if not the next week.
Dean Jim Bradford
As I consider the Owen Graduate School of Management, I’m pleased to see that many of the initiatives we started with a community effort are now thriving. We have expanded our suite of programs to meet the needs of a wide range of backgrounds and experience. Along with Vanderbilt University as a whole, Owen continues to attract some of the brightest minds in the world, both among faculty and incoming students. We have also worked closely with industry and employers to ensure that our graduates are fully equipped to compete in a complex global business landscape.
Owen’s next dean, Eric Johnson, will have his own priorities, of course, but I feel fully confident that together we have set the stage for a new era of growth in several different areas, which I reflect upon elsewhere in this issue.
While this will be my last letter in Vanderbilt Business as dean, it is not goodbye. I plan on taking a yearlong sabbatical to spend time with my family, ride my bike, shoot pictures, teach at Escade in Barcelona, and continue to work with the Graduate Management Admissions Council before returning to Owen in 2014.
I’ve often said that this has been the hardest—yet most rewarding—job I’ve ever had. Please know that I will forever be indebted to the entire Owen community for all your hard work, support and wise counsel to help make my tenure as dean a success. I hope you feel confident, as I do, that this very special institution stands well positioned not only to endure, but also to embark on an exciting new phase of its journey.
Please join me in supporting this great school and Dean Eric Johnson in the coming years.
Sincerely yours,
James W. Bradford
Dean, Vanderbilt Owen Graduate School of Management
Ralph Owen Professor of Management
You never know where a blind ad will lead you. It led Tim Murray from Knoxville, Tenn., to the Kingdom of Bahrain in the Middle East.
Murray is CEO of Aluminium Bahrain (Alba), one of the world’s top 10 aluminium producers. He joined Alba in 2007 as general manager of finance after applying to an ad in the Economist.
Then things moved fast. Murray served as Alba’s chief finance and supply officer, chief financial officer and chief marketing officer before being appointed CEO in October 2012.
In 2010, Murray was instrumental in launching Alba’s initial public offering on the London and Bahrain stock exchanges. “I was responsible for running the Alba team as well as working with the army of advisers to develop the prospectus. When it came to the roadshows, I was the one who did all the presenting,” he says. “The skills I gained at Owen were very helpful, as the IPO Information Memorandum was like doing a case study on steroids.”
Murray says people thought he was crazy to move from Middle Tennessee to the island nation of Bahrain, which he calls the one of the most welcoming places he’s ever been.
“I had a nice life in Knoxville and both my kids were born there,” says Murray, who had spent 10 years at Knoxville’s ARC Automotive, the last as vice president and CFO. “However it was a great opportunity and my wife was very supportive.”
The adjustment to life in Bahrain was easier than Murray expected, he says. “What surprised me the most is how western Bahrain is. I find it easy to relate to most people,” he says. “I have learned how little we in the U.S. understand the world. I have also learned that people outside the U.S. are much more tolerant than we are.”
He’s continuing to learn as CEO. “In my career, I have handled just about every function there is, but when you are the guy at the top, it is a different feeling of responsibility,” he says. “Alba and the aluminium industry contribute around 10 percent of the GDP of Bahrain. It is a humbling experience knowing you are running a company that is so important to the country and the families of Bahrain.”
Owen itself is going through some transitions. In this issue, we reacquaint (or introduce) you to Christie St-John, MA’94, PhD’99, the new head of admissions. Christie has returned to Vanderbilt from Dartmouth and she has some wonderful ideas for recruiting future Owen students.
