Wake Forest Holds Event for Beta Gamma Sigma Inductees

The Wake Forest University Schools of Business held an event on April 18 for students who were inducted into Beta Gamma Sigma, an honor society for those who performed at the highest academic level in 2011-2012.
Winston-Salem Mayor Allen Joines served as the keynote speaker at the event, held at Forsyth Country Club. Joines, who was also inducted as an honorary member of Beta Gamma Sigma, shared anecdotes with the students about exemplary leaders who helped shape his career.
Membership in Beta Gamma Sigma is the highest recognition a business student anywhere in the world can receive in a business program accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business International. Students ranking in the top 10% of the baccalaureate and top 20% of graduate programs at schools accredited by AACSB International are eligible for this invitation.

Click here to see the list of students recognized this year.

Meredith Honored By Ops Journal

The Journal of Operations Management has honored Jack Meredith by naming an award after the long-time professor in the Wake Forest University Schools of Business.

The inaugural “Jack Meredith Best Paper Award” ceremony will be held at the 2012 Academy of Management Conference on Aug. 5 in Boston. Meredith was the journal's editor-in-chief from 1994 to 2002, overseeing a period where the journal became the premier empirical journal in the field of operations management and supply chain management.

“The top journals in the field at that time were taking a year or two to respond to authors’ submissions," Meredith said. "When I took over [the journal], I promised a response within three months, and the papers came pouring in. A dirty trick I suppose, but I got the best papers."

Meredith is a professor of management, a Broyhill Distinguished Scholar and the chair of operations at Wake Forest Schools of Business.

The learn more, visit here.

Wake Forest Student Earns Carolinas Agency Experience Internship

Kate Cummings, a junior at Wake Forest University, has been named a recipient of a 2012 Carolinas Agency Experience paid summer internship by the 4A’s Carolinas Council. The internship program recognizes Wake Forest and UNC-Chapel Hill students who demonstrate outstanding potential in the field of marketing communications
As part of this innovative 4A’s program, winning candidates are then able to choose the agency they wish to intern with from a list of potential host agencies throughout the Carolinas. Cummings, a Business and Enterprise Management major from Austin, Texas, will intern in account management with Woodbine in Winston-Salem.
“This year’s Carolinas Agency Experience program has been our most successful to date in terms of attracting passionate marketing communications students and active participation among the Carolinas Council member agencies,” said Brad Bennett, the council chair and CEO of Wildfire & Keystone Marketing in Winston-Salem.
“Our Council’s mission is to attract and retain great young talent in the Carolinas, and we quadrupled the number of qualified student applications in 2012," Bennett said. "Congratulations to this year’s recipients.”

Why Apple's Fuel Cell Project Matters

The energy sector is keeping a close eye on the Apple Fuel Cell Project in North Carolina because of the progress that can be made in the field of sustainability.
That theme was a key component of a panel presentation on the Apple Fuel Cell Project at the tech company's call center in Maiden, N.C. The discussion was held Wednesday at the new Wake Forest University Charlotte Center.
Apple's fuel cell project is the largest one in the country not built by an electric utility company, and will include a 20-megawatt solar farm. The company has said it will make landfill gas the farm’s main fuel. Off-site bio gas will be injected into the natural gas pipelines for use at the Apple facility.
“As demand grows, why not push ourselves to as much as reasonably possible, supplement the existing infrastructure and replace retiring infrastructure and replace with facilities that run on solar, wind, and biomass,” said Michael Youth, the counsel and regulatory adviser for the North Carolina Sustainable Energy Association.
To read more on the panel, visit here. Also go here to watch professor Dan Fogel discuss the project on a recent newscast.

Charlotte Event Focuses on Women in Leadership

Students and alumni of Wake Forest University gathered last week at the Charlotte center for “In the Wake of Success: A Woman’s Guide to the Top,” an event focused on building an effective network and achieving work-life balance. The evening included small group break-out sessions followed by a panel discussion, both featuring successful professional women serving as guides.
After group sessions concluded, all attendees converged in a classroom for a panel discussion. Maria Henson, who led a distinguished newspaper career and is now an associate vice president at Wake Forest and editor-at-large of Wake Forest Magazine, moderated. One topic panelists addressed was the relationship between mentors and mentees.
“Live in your current job really well,” said Melanie Lankau, senior associate dean of graduate programs and diversity and inclusion and an associate professor of organizational behavior. Mentors like to see evidence of competence in mentees before they begin mentoring them, she said.
For some of the 80 or so women who turned out to hear the small group leaders and panelists, it was a first opportunity to see the new Wake Forest Charlotte Center. Others had been to the January grand opening or another event at the center.
For more coverage of the event, visit here.

Making the World a Better Place

Join your fellow alumni on June 1 – 4 for Pro Humanitate Days. Together we’ll make the world a better place. Hundreds of student and 19 clubs have committed to keeping the Pro Humanitate spirit alive in their communities through service activities including park restorations, garden projects, and food drives.

Here are some examples:

• A group in Denver plans to help Habitat for Humanity ReStore on June 2 from 9 am-2 pm and from 2 pm-6 pm. You can register here.
• A Keep Austin Beautiful Community Clean-up is planned in Texas. That event is scheduled for June 2 from 10 am – noon.
• Stop Hunger Now in Raleigh will benefit from a volunteer effortset for June 2 from 10 am – noon.
• If you are in Philadelphia on June 4 from 5 pm – 8 pm, you can volunteerwith the American Cancer Society Hope Lodge.

Click here to learn about other activities planned across the country.

Seattle Student Wins Wake Forest Capitalism Essay Contest

Louis Brotherton, a senior finance major from Seattle, is the winner of the BB&T Center for the Study of Capitalism's 2012 Essay Contest: “The Conscience of Business: What is the Role of Business Today?”
Students were challenged to write about issues raised during a “Capitalism with a Conscience” event at Wake Forest in January that featured Whole Foods Market co-CEO, Walter Robb. Brotherton won a $1,500 prize for an essay that presented a logical argument as to how the system of capitalism enables, and in fact encourages, the simultaneous pursuit of both corporate and social goals.
Brotherton argued that:
• Business organizations come into being through the exercise of liberty by individuals who start them. They succeed or fail based on the exercise of liberties by various stakeholders who assess the values created and who choose to transact with them or not.
• Although there are instances of unethical conduct by individuals and occasionally by organizations, these are exceptions.
• The ethics of capitalism are predicated upon integrity and cooperation. Capitalism creates the incentive to cooperate, and the natural checks and balances of capitalism keep self-interest and ethical lapses in check.
Four other students received “honorable mentions” and $50 Whole Foods gift cards.
“Every year the BB&T Center for the Study of Capitalism offers the opportunity for Wake Forest students to weigh in on important questions about contemporary topics in our civil discourse,” said Page West, a professor at the Wake Forest University Schools of Business and the director of the BB&T Center for the Study of Capitalism.
“This year’s contest attracted a large number of entries from students across various fields of study," West said. "Faculty from across the campus served as judges in a ‘blind review’ process where the judges have no information about the student. Congratulations to Louis and thank you to Whole Foods and the faculty judges for making this year’s contest such a success.”

Wake Forest to Honor VF, Sunoco at Leadership Summit

Are you looking to add “Top Company for Leaders” to your organization's name plate? Or have you wondered how company culture develops great leaders? There is no prescribed formula for becoming a Global Top Company, but there is most certainly a discernible pattern.

Please join Aon Hewitt and the Wake Forest University Schools of Business for a special leadership event on Mon., April 30, from 5:30-8 p.m. Come network with top company representatives and local Human Resources professionals while learning from AON Hewitt and Wake Forest University leadership experts.

We'll start with a light reception and begin the presentation at 6:30 pm, during which we'll recognize VF Corp and Sonoco Products, as they made the list of North America Top Companies for Leaders. We'll also hear from leadership experts from Aon Hewitt and Wake Forest University.

The event will be held at the Charlotte Center at 200 N. College St., Suite 150.

Alumni Alert: Tisdel Becomes CFO of Steelwedge

Mark Tisdel (MBA, '94) was named the chief financial officer of Steelwedge, which handles cloud-based sales and operations planning.
Tisdel has held CFO and finance leadership roles as several companies, including Peoplesoft, GTE Mobilnet and Selectica. He recently was the CFO of Spigit during a time when that company raised capital and expanded.
To read more about Tisdel's appointment, visit here.

Wake Forest Recognized for Preserving Trees

In honor of Earth Day, we wanted to highlight an article in Wake Forest Magazine looking at how the university remains committed to planting and preserving trees around campus. On Friday, the Arbor Day Foundation honored Wake Forest with a Tree Campus USA designation.
"Beginning with an initial planting in the mid-1950s that included elms, dogwoods, magnolias and pin oaks ... some 2,400 trees have been added since 1993," the magazine states. In fact, Farrell Hall will have a beautiful outdoor gathering area that will have several mature trees.
To earn the honor from the Arbor Day Foundation, the university had to meet five core standards:

• establishment of a tree advisory committee
• development of a Tree Endowment Fund to replenish any forest impacted by construction or natural disaster
• an Arbor Day observance
• the sponsorship of student service-learning projects
• a tree-care plan

To read more on the university's commitment to trees, visit here.

 

Interested in Attending Wake Forest?

The Wake Forest University Schools of Business frequently holds events to help students learn more about its various programs. We looked at the various calendars and found a few upcoming events that prospects might want to attend:

• Prospects in Charlotte will get a chance to tour the new campus on Thurs., April 26, from 8 am - 2 pm. Admissions and career management staff will be in attendance - 200 North College Street.
• On Fri., April 27, from 11 am to 1:30 pm, representatives from Wake Forest will be at Mortimer's Cafe and Pub at the Epicentre (201 East Trade Street) in Charlotte to discuss the opportunities at the new Charlotte campus. Another session is scheduled for May 4 - same time and place.
• The Winston-Salem campus will host its student for an evening program on Wed., May 2, from 6-8 pm. Working professional prospects can visit the campus, attend a class and learn from the program's existing students.
• Working Professional prospects in Charlotte also get a chance to spend a day as a student. The next session is scheduled for Sat., May 5, from 9-11 am. The location is 200 North College Street, Suite 150. The class will be taught by Matthew Phillips, a visiting professor of practice who will discuss Damon Horowitz's call for a "moral operating system" from TED.

Wake Students Hobnob With Warren Buffett

Late last month, a group of Wake Forest University business school students traveled to Omaha, Neb., to meet with Warren Buffett. Eight schools joined Wake Forest this year: Duke, Ohio State, University of Arizona, Kansas State, St. Louis University, University of California-Davis and W. Ontario. But Wake Forest arrived first!
The event included tours and Q&A sessions at Borsheim's, the Nebraska Furniture Mart and the Omaha Field Club. Students also got the opportunity to dine with Buffett (see picture below). The businessman opened the session with a joke: "Help yourself to the Coca-Colas. Berkshire makes money on every 11th one sold."
Buffett then informed attendees that 1.8 billion eight-ounce servings of Coca-Cola are served every day.  So if the cost increases by just a penny it adds $6 billion in revenue in just one year.
He also offered several pieces of advice:

• "Find the job you would take if you had all the money in the world. Be happy in life and in work."
• "If you have the ability to react when others run away, you'll make more money than a mortician during a plague."
• "We all want a society where the people who draw the long straws help the people who draw the short straws."

Buffett was also asked for a suggestion on how the typical American - with $25,000 to $50,000 in savings - should invest. The response: Invest in equities and in yourself. Look for businesses that have the same values as you.

 

NOTE: This account of the trip came from various social media feeds from attendees.