Helping Hands for Christmas

Several Wake Forest Schools of Business students are finding an opportunity to not just do good, but do well, through Santa’s Helper – an organization founded by Chip Rives (MBA ’89) in 1986.

Rives, who created the organization as an undergraduate at Wake Forest, founded Santa’s Helper as a way to provide toys to underprivileged children in Winston-Salem. Santa’s Helper recruits student-athletes and other volunteers to wrap gifts and then deliver them, dressed as Santa and elves. Rives, a former Wake Forest fullback, was featured in Sports Illustrated in 1987 in the “Sportsmen of the Year” issue for his work.

More than 100 Wake Forest student-athletes volunteered for this year’s Santa’s Helper – among those, Ryan Britt (’11), a Business and Enterprise Management major with a nonprofit concentration. Britt has been a volunteer for the past four years. Britt, who volunteered as a Santa, hopes to one day join a company that serves underprivileged children. He says Santa’s Helper is a good fit for him in his career pursuits.

“I had a professor tell me that it is important to make a difference in even one person’s life. I believe this and want to help others any way I can,” Britt said. “In any company I join in the future, I want that company to have a mission of doing ‘good’ in the community.”

Caitlin Crawford (’11), an Accountancy major, and a track and cross country runner, volunteered as an elf. “The experience has been great. Seeing all the little kids’ faces light up is the perfect experience to put you in the Christmas mood,” Crawford said. “Doing activities off campus that really make a difference help keep you in touch with the Pro Humanitate motto.”

Santa’s Helper raises about $15,000 each year. The families are selected based on a list provided by the local Salvation Army. This year, the program served about 170 families.

Click here to read an article about the event in the Winston-Salem Journal.

Winter at Wake

For the second time in less than a month, the campus at Wake Forest University has been blanketed in a thick cover of snow, giving the area a special feel. Not sure when the university last enjoyed a white holiday season, but this is a nice touch to reward the business school students who elected to stay in town during their winter break. We are including a few pictures from first-year full-time student Parag Shirsekar so you can see for yourself what we have been enjoying!

Wait Chapel in the wintertime.

Worrell Professional Center

Prelude to a snowball fight?

Wake Forest Makes Another Top 50 Ranking

Wake Forest University is once again ranked among the Top 50 Business Schools in the U.S. by Poets & Quants. The full-time MBA program ranked #41 this year, up four spots from last year. The Poets & Quants list is a composite of five major rankings including Financial Times, The Economist, Bloomberg, BusinessWeek, Forbes and U.S. News & World Report. It was founded by the former BusinessWeek.com editor-in-chief John Byrne.

"The ranking measures the overall quality and reputation of the flagship full-time MBA programs at the schools, rather than the schools themselves," Byrne said. Because Poets&Quants blends the rankings and tends to eliminate anomalies and other statistical distortions, Byrne considers it the most authoritative ranking of MBA programs.

Poets & Quants takes into account quantitative and qualitative data captured such as: surveys of corporate recruiters, MBA graduates and deans; faculty publication records; median GPA and GMAT scores for entering students; and salary and employment statistics from the latest graduating class.

“The Poets & Quants list is a good indicator that the Wake Forest University Schools of Business are consistently improving.  Recruiters, students, alumni, and peer schools are taking notice of the quality of our programs that challenge students to follow their personal passions while improving the world in which we live,” said Scott Shafer, Senior Associate Dean of Graduate Business Programs. 

Schools were ranked based on a combined index, weighting the BusinessWeek ranking 30%, the Forbes ranking 25%, the U.S. News & World Report rankings 20%, the Financial Times rankings 15%, and The Economist ranking 10%.

The Cost of Cutting Prices

As the recession drags on and money and job security are concerns, it’s not surprising that consumers continue to wait for sales before making a purchase.

In the short-run, the consumer “wins”— purchasing the item for less. But at what cost?

“When a brand goes on sale, it gives away part of the profit margin needed to invest in future innovation and quality,” says Sheri Bridges, associate professor of business at Wake Forest University and an expert in branding and consumer behavior.

“This affects the consumer’s satisfaction in the long run because the company cannot afford to develop the newer and better products we all want,” she adds.

In fact, Bridges says, firms that keep giving away margin will eventually have to reduce the quality of their goods and services.

“Too many brands think the only way to get and keep customers is by cutting prices,” Bridges says. “In reality, consumers are more interested in high value than low prices. Value is a function of the bundle of perceived benefits offered at a given price. Apple doesn’t discount its products, but it’s still one of the hottest electronics brands around.”

Continual price-cutting conditions consumers to wait for sales before making purchases and sends a message that, in the company’s eyes, the brand is not worth full price.

“Selling products at a discount is like paying someone to like you,” Bridges says. “Good marketers know that sales aren’t necessary, if you’re providing the right value to the right customer.”

By Kim McGrath, Office of Communications and External Relations

Alumni Update: Sheehan Named CFO at Healthcare Company

IntegraMed America Inc., a leader in developing, marketing and managing specialty healthcare facilities in the fertility and vein care markets, announced that John Hlywak, Jr. will retire as chief financial officer at yearend. Additionally, the Purchase, N.Y., company said that Timothy Sheehan, would serve as CFO on an interim basis.

“We are fortunate to have sufficient depth in our financial team to be able to transition the CFO role,” said Jay Higham, IntegraMed’s CEO, in a press release. “Tim has a strong, well-rounded finance and operational background with health care experience. … These factors, in addition to his significant public company experience, made us confident in his ability to handle the CFO function on an interim basis over the next few quarters.

Sheehan joined IntegraMed as vice president of finance in January, and in this role he managed the corporate accounting and finance functions. Tim previously served as the CFO of Scale Finance LLC, a Winston-Salem provider of outsourced CFO services to emerging growth companies.

His prior role was as vice president of corporate development at MINRAD International, an AMEX-traded manufacturer of medical devices and specialty pharmaceuticals where he managed the corporate development, product registration and customer service groups, in addition to his responsibility for investor relations, SEC reporting and capital raising.

Tim is a CPA and earned Bachelor of Science degrees in Finance and Accounting at Virginia Tech and an MBA with distinction from the Wake Forest University Schools of Business.

Alum Update: Bunn Joins SquareTwo Board

SquareTwo Financial, a leader in the asset recovery and management industry, announced earlier this week that Thomas Bunn, a former vice chairman at KeyCorp, has joined the SquareTwo Financial board.

Bunn, a 1978 alumnus of Wake Forest University and a member of the board of visitors, served as vice chairman at KeyCorp and president of Key National Banking from 2005 until 2008. In this role he was responsible for multiple lines of business, including corporate and investment banking; real estate banking; equipment finance; global treasury management; bank capital markets; and Victory Capital Management.

He joined the Cleveland bank in 2002 as president of Key Corporate and Investment Banking. During his tenure, Bunn was a member of the management committee and executive council, as well as a director of KeyBank, and Victory Capital Management. Prior to joining Key, he was the managing director and head of global debt capital markets at Bank of America, where he served for 24 years.

"Tom has extensive experience in the financial services industry and is universally respected by banking and finance professionals," said Paul Larkins, the president and CEO of SquareTwo. "He is our eighth board member, and we are fortunate to add yet another highly accomplished strategically-minded professional to our board."

"SquareTwo Financial is uniquely positioned for growth and excellence in the debt purchasing and asset management industry," Bunn said. "Paul Larkins has put together a solid executive leadership team, as well as an impressive core of directors, and I'm excited to be elected to help guide this innovative, growing company."

Bunn earned his bachelor's of science degree in business administration from Wake Forest University and his MBA in finance from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is a member of the Wake Forest University board of trustees and the Babcock School of Business board of visitors. He also serves on the board of Southern Weaving Company and is on the board of advisors for Sound Harbor Partners.

SquareTwo is based in Denver.

Marketing Summit Unveils Competing Schools

The 2011 Marketing Summit now has its list of competing schools!

In the graduate category, the following teams will compete for bragging rights and a $75,000 grand prize:

• University of Pennsylvania
• University of California – Berkeley
• The Ohio State University
• University of Notre Dame
• Boston College
• London Business School
• Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
• Wake Forest University

The undergraduate teams will consist of:

• University of Pennsylvania
• Emory University
• Northeastern University
• University of Maryland
• Brigham Young University
• Wake Forest University

Congratulations and good luck!

Wake Forest Plans Tennis Facility Ahead of Tourney

Earlier today, Wake Forest announced plans to host an annual professional tennis tournament, beginning in August 2011. The Winston-Salem Open at Wake Forest University will be an American Tennis Professionals World Tour 250 series event that was previously held in New Haven, Conn. The tournament will be part of the Olympus US Open Series and will be the final ATP tournament prior to the US Open.

“It is an honor for Wake Forest to serve as the host of the Winston-Salem Open,” said President Nathan O. Hatch. “The international attention garnered by the tournament will allow us to showcase Wake Forest's unique character.”

To accommodate the tournament, a new tennis facility will be constructed off of Shorefair Drive, between BB&T Field and the Wake Forest Indoor Tennis Center. The facility will have 10 to 12 outdoor tennis courts, including a
stadium court which can seat at least 3,500 spectators. The facility will also be used by the Wake Forest tennis teams and may be used for concerts and other entertainment activities.

The new facility will impact the student parking lot at BB&T Field.  While this will change the look around the student lot, it presents new and exciting opportunities to further enhance the atmosphere of the student lot.

“The construction of the new tennis facility will allow tremendous programming possibilities for our student tailgating area,” said Ron Wellman, the director of athletics. “The student game-day experience is important to the landscape of Wake Forest football, and we look forward to engaging with students over the coming months to discuss the opportunities that this area can now bring, like concerts, tailgate space and other activities.”

Following the holiday break, the athletic department will form a committee of student leaders to discuss tailgating and the game-day experience. Interested students are encouraged to e-mail Mike Odom in the athletic
department at odomms@wfu.edu.

Holiday Wishes From Dean Reinemund

Dear Schools of Business Students,

It is a great time for reflection as we come to the end of this calendar year and celebrate the holiday season. I am grateful that you have chosen to invest in a Wake Forest education. I hope that you are already realizing the benefits of your investment and that you use your vacation time to go back and think about your goals, especially as they relate to your career, and the actions you will take to attain them.

Take a few minutes to sit back and reflect on what you’ve learned in the classroom and what you’ve learned about yourself. Pressure-test the assumptions you have made regarding what you want to do with your life. Utilize resources from family and friends and others you may meet during your break. I hope you will come back with a renewed sense of purpose and fire about what you would like to accomplish and a road map on how you will get there.

Most of all make sure to also enjoy the time with your family and friends during this holiday. I wish all of you and your families, the very best during this Holiday Season and hope you have a restful, relaxing and safe winter break.

Happy Holidays and a Happy New Year!

Steve

Lovefeast Lures 2000+ to Wake Forest Campus

Following a tradition started by a student in 1965, more than 2,000 people gathered for the annual Christmas Lovefeast and Candlelight Service in Wait Chapel Sunday night.

Students taking a break from studying for exams joined faculty, staff, alumni and community members to hear the Handbell Choir, the Flute Choir, the Concert Choir and a Moravian band.

Chaplain Tim Auman led the service, which featured a message by Gail R. O’Day, dean of the School of Divinity.

O’Day’s sermon focused on peace and the potential for unity, “You are sitting together row upon row, the powerful and the vulnerable, the triumphant and the struggling, the ‘I can’t make ends meet’ and the ‘I got it made,’ the upbeat and the downtrodden, the timid and the brave, friend and foe. One community…”

Ninety gallons of coffee and 175 dozen yeast buns were served. As candlelight filled the chapel toward the end of the service, the crowd sang, “Joy to the World” and the traditional Moravian carol “Morning Star.”

The Christmas Lovefeast and Candlelight Service is a custom that originated in Europe in 1747. The first lovefeast in North Carolina was held on the evening of the arrival of the Moravians at Bethabara in 1753.

By Cheryl Walker ('88), Office of Communications and External Relations

Fueled By Competition

Geoff Smith is a self described sports junkie. He lives and breathes sports. If he is not on a ski slope, you will most likely find him at a NASCAR track. He is fueled by competition, and has made a career out of his personal passion.

Today, Smith is the president of Roush Fenway Racing. The Wake Forest University Schools of Business Sports Management Club welcomed him to campus to share his personal story and offer advice to students interested in pursuing sports management careers.

Smith earned his law degree from Wayne State University and worked in private practice in Detroit, eventually crossing paths with up- and-coming NASCAR race team owner, Jack Roush. In 1990, Smith accepted an offer to manage the business operations of Roush Racing and serve as general counsel to the engineering service conglomerate, Roush Industries.

By 1997, he was promoted to the position of president and transferred from Michigan to North Carolina. Smith was instrumental in expanding Roush Racing to operate multiple teams. He negotiated the sale of half of Roush Racing to New England Sports Ventures, owners of the Boston Red Sox. The business was renamed Roush Fenway Racing in 2007.

“It’s one of these businesses you need to leap into. It’s an event marketing business. You need to be at the events and travel 29 to 38 weeks a year,” he said. But Smith doesn’t mind the schedule. “I do it because I love the competition. There aren’t many places where you can plan and get graded every week on how you do.”

Smith said unlike other professional sports, NASCAR is a sanctioning body owned by a family and teams need to pay to compete and use mandated products and services. The price to compete is high, and Smith said the economy has made it more difficult to keep a team going. “We are a microcosm of what is going on in America. Our sport has been devastated by the recession. We don’t have new sponsors coming on board and the ones we have our staying, but cutting back.” He said 70% of the Roush Fenway Racing revenue comes from sponsors. Auto manufacturers and prize money make up the additional revenue sources.

Ben Ralston (MBA ’11), president of the WFUSB Sports Management Club, asked how NASCAR teams translate value of what is given to a sponsor. Smith said, “Your value is strictly what one person would pay for. They do not care what our costs are.”

Sponsorships have also been impacted by political pressure, according to Smith. He pointed to how banks are getting chastised for spending money on marketing through sports sponsorships and said that corporate hospitality events are getting scaled back or eliminated.

Despite tough times, there are a variety of sports management career opportunities. Smith pointed to financial management, business development, operations, and communications. He said activities can include everything from selecting players and deciding pay to licensing merchandise and selling sponsorship packages.

However, Smith acknowledged that getting a foot in the door is not easy. He said being a player or former player, coach, or team owner are common avenues and “nepotism is big in pro sports everywhere, much more pervasively in corporate America.” Smith recommended doing business with a sports team while working in an outside agency or firm as a good way to open doors. “You can get noticed at an account services level jus by your enthusiasm and attention to detail.”

The newly formed WFUSB Sports Management Club works closely with the University Athletics Department to expose business students to the skills needed to build a career in modern day sports management and sports marketing. For more information, contact Ben Ralston at ben.ralston@mba.wfu.edu or associate athletic director Barry Faircloth at fairclbw@wfu.edu.

CFA Review Scholarship to Honor Alum’s Memory

Becker Professional Education CFA Review is honoring the memory of Wake Forest University Schools of Business student Brent A. Rosenberg (09’, MA ’10) with a full scholarship for its Level 1 CFA Review.  The scholarship will be awarded annually on December 15 to a current Wake Forest student sitting for the June Level I CFA Exam.

The Brent A. Rosenberg Becker CFA Review Scholarship will be awarded based on student excellence and financial need.

To apply for the scholarship, applicants should provide a written statement of 250 words or less describing why you should be considered for the scholarship.  Recommended information includes contributions to Wake Forest University, future career goals, your decision to pursue the CFA Charter, and why purchasing the review would be a financial burden.

Submit application to Prof. Jarrell (Kirby 109) at jarrelsl@wfu.edu by Dec. 8.

A Refuge for Exam Week

Students during exam week drink coffee — a lot of coffee. About 2,000 cups have been ordered to sustain students through finals week as part of Wake the Library.

This year, the library is asking students to bring their own reusable mug to support the university’s sustainability initiatives. Cups, for those who forgot to bring one, will be available upon request at the Circulation desk.There is no limit to refills.

In addition to the free coffee, the library provides food each night at midnight. “For the first Wake the Library event in spring of 2006, food was an afterthought managed by staff members, but since then, food has become an essential component of the week-long activities,” says Wanda Brown, associate dean of the library. “The students are very appreciative.”

Water and fruit, which are available every night of finals week, are coupled with selections of pizza, subs, chicken sandwiches and burritos. Midnight snack menus will be posted on the Z. Smith Reynolds Library Facebook page each day.

At 11:45 pm, the queue begins forming for evening snacks. This year, students can win one of five “Golden Tickets” using Gowalla — a location-based social networking application compatible with most Smartphones and the iPad — to earn the right to skip to the head of the snack line.

On a graffiti wall in the library atrium, students can use paint and brushes to draw pictures or write messages on a display board. Monday through Friday, a graffiti video station will be open for students to share their thoughts and send video messages to friends and family. “Much like the existing graffiti board, the video station aims to provide a constructive and fun outlet for students to express themselves during exam week,” says Wake Forest Fellow Gretchen Edwards.

The library is also accepting non-expired, unopened canned goods as payment for overdue book fines. Food will be donated to Campus Kitchen to provide groceries for those in need during the holiday season.

The Z. Smith Reynolds library will remain open 24 hours from Friday, Dec. 3 through Saturday, Dec. 11 — closing at 5 pm when the last exam is taken and winter break officially begins. The serving of food at midnight begins on Sunday, Dec. 5.

By Kim McGrath - Office of Communications and External Relations

Targacept to Sponsor Biotech Conference Case

The 2nd annual Wake Forest MBA Biotechnology Conference and Case Competition will be held Feb. 18-19, 2011, in Winston-Salem on the campus of Wake Forest University.

The Wake Forest MBA Biotechnology Conference will bring together some of the brightest and most creative minds from outstanding MBA and graduate programs in the region, as well as guests and judges from various companies related to the industry.

Targacept will be this year's case competition sponsor. Targacept  is a biopharmaceutical company with a therapeutic focus on central nervous system diseases and disorders and was recently named one of The Scientist magazine's "Best Places to Work in Industry". The company has established strategic alliances with AstraZeneca and GlaxoSmithKline for the results of the company's research with neuronal nicotinic receptors (NNRs). Competing teams will have the opportunity to offer real world solutions to a current business problem Targacept is facing.       

In addition to the case competition, the conference includes panel discussions with some of the industry's leaders, a look into the future of biotechnology through a panel discussion with industry leaders and a tour of Targacept's advanced facilities.

Click here for a recap of last year's conference. If you have any questions or would like additional information on the event, please contact healthcareclub@mba.wfu.edu.

Showing the Love: 2010 Lovefeast

Ninety gallons of traditional Moravian blend coffee; 175 dozen yeast buns with nutmeg, cinnamon and orange flavoring; 2,200 beeswax candles wrapped with red ribbon; and 900 luminaries: the ingredients are in place for Wake Forest’s traditional Christmas Lovefeast and Candlelight Service.

The 46th annual lovefeast — the largest single lovefeast in North America — will be held Sunday, Dec. 5, at 8 pm in Wait Chapel. The service is free and open to the public.

Gayle Hartgrove, administrative assistant in the Chaplain’s Office, has coordinated the service since 1996, ordering the coffee and buns and recruiting about 60 faculty, staff and students to serve as “dieners” (German for servers) to pass out the coffee and buns and light the candles.

“The lighting of the candles is my favorite part,” she said. “All of the lights go out in the chapel right before our candle lighters begin row by row lighting the candles. The chapel is in complete silence. It truly is such a beautiful and moving sight.”

The candles are provided each year by the Mary Ann Fogle Service League from Home Moravian Church. The buns are made by Mrs. Pumpkin’s bakery in Winston-Salem, and Aramark provides the coffee. Members of Alpha Phi Omega service fraternity place the luminaries that encircle Hearn Plaza.

The service will include a message by Gail R. O’Day, dean of the School of Divinity. O’Day, who was named dean last April, was formerly senior associate dean at the Candler School of Theology at Emory University. University Chaplain Tim Auman will lead the service.

A number of student groups will perform, including the Wake Forest Concert Choir, conduced by Brian Gorelick, associate professor of music; the hand bell choir, conduced by senior Beth Ann Williams; the flute choir, conducted by Kathryn Levy, lecturer in music; and the divinity school choir, conducted by Laura Jane Kist. The Messiah Moravian Church Band, directed by Robah Ogburn, will also perform.

University organist Don Armitage and guest harpist Kerry Anne Conner-Briggs (’87) will also provide music. Carillonneur Lauren Bradley (’05) and guest carillonneurs Ray Ebert (’60) and senior Kathryn Rohrer will play the Janet Jeffrey Carlile Harris Carillon.

Those attending the service may make monetary contributions to the Chaplain’s Emergency Fund, which supports students and staff in financial need. For more information on the service, call (336) 758-5210.

~ Kerry M. King (’85), Office of Communications and External Relations