Winter 2013 Inquirer’s Bob Hall Talks Business + Faith, Family, Football | 24 The Boss Who’s Never Been Promoted | 28 Exclusive Event for the LeBow Community! You now have the rare chance to reserve and OPEN INNOVATION name a chair today, in LeBow College of Business’ Collaborate to Compete state-of-the-art 300-seat auditorium. There are February 21, 2013 a limited number of naming opportunities left in the auditorium. Each Have a Seat Donor will be an integral part of LeBow’s history, with your name prominently displayed on a plaque inside the auditorium with your gift of $2,500. Take advantage of this opportunity by visiting www.BuildingLeBow.com/HaveASeat and reserve today! JOIN YOUR FELLOW ALUMNI TODAY CULTIVATE. INNOVATE. ACCELERATE. INVEST IN YOUR PEOPLE. Business success is directly impacted by how well your team understands your company’s mission. RESERVE TODAY AND PROVIDE Does your team apply creative and contemporary analytic skills to its decision-making? Drexel has been such an integral A SEAT FOR THE LEBOW Partner with Drexel LeBow Corporate and Executive Education to help you develop the active and part of our past, we seized the STUDENTS OF TOMORROW. opportunity to pull up a chair at exemplary leadership skills needed to achieve your organization’s goals. LeBow and Have A Seat in its bright future. – Erik Sermarini ’93 & Cathy Meehan Sermarini ’92 LeBow.Drexel.edu/ExecutiveEd [email protected] BuildingLeBow.com/HaveASeat 215.895.2702 haveaseat_ad_revised.indd 1 12/7/12 2:46 PM MARKET STREET FROM THE EDITOR Winter 2013, Vol. 2, Issue 2 CONTENTS Market Street magazine is produced and published quarterly by Drexel Faith, Family, Football University’s LeBow College of Business, 24 Chicago Bears owner Virginia McCaskey Office of Communications. talks about her “sacred duty.” EXECUTIVE EDITOR Mark Eyerly At the end of almost every interview I conduct for EDITOR Market Street, I feel as though I just had a lovely Leda Kopach ASSISTANT EDITOR conversation with a new friend. Okay, I like to Lisa Litzinger-Drayton talk. But in these instances, I enjoy listening to CREATIVE DIRECTION/DESIGN stories about families, education and career paths. art270 DESIGN CONSULTING Take Bob Hall, the subject of our cover story and the CEO and Susan Rinaldi publisher of The Philadelphia Inquirer. After graduating with a business MARKETING degree from Drexel in 1967, Bob worked as a CPA for years before being Yael Branscom bitten by the newspaper bug. He thought he’d give it a try and has stayed PRODUCTION for 30 years and counting. Read all about him and his newspaper-less Zac McGroarty plan on page 20. ONLINE COMMUNICATION The Boss Who’s Never A Matter of Trust Joseph Master Professor Gefen conducts Becoming the Chicago Bears’ owner was not on the radar for 28 Been Promoted 32 CONTRIBUTING WRITER SEI Investments CEO Al West research to his own tune. Virginia McCaskey ’43 when she attended Drexel, but now she is a Joseph Master never stops thinking. sports icon presiding at the helm of a $1 billion franchise. Read how her PHOTOGRAPHY David DeBalko, Jerome Lukowicz faith and family have influenced her life on page 24. From the Editor Research SEI Founder and CEO Al West first worked as an engineer — the DEAN Frank Linnehan, Ph.D., Interim Dean 2 18 Neal Orkin and Alisa Melekhina investigate only time he ever worked for someone else — before deciding finance Street Buzz whether chess score sheets could be DEAN’S CABINET intellectual property. was more his thing. Learn why he’s Drexel’s Business Leader of the Lisa Bogan, Exec. Dir., College Relations 5 ArchiTECH Competition, former Philadelphia Eagle joins LeBow, Buzzwords and more. Year on page 28. Anna Chrulkiewicz, Chief of Operations In My Own Words Donna De Carolis, Ph.D., Associate Dean Undergrad Ryan Williams views risk “Can music make you more or less trusting?” An intriguing topic Mark Eyerly, Exec. Dir., Communications Behind the News 36 as opportunity. Paul Jensen, Ph.D., Associate Dean Arunkumar Madapusi on the challenges of Massive and one MIS Professor David Gefen is pursuing with Drexel’s biomed 10 V.K. Narayanan, Ph.D., Associate Dean Online Open Courses (MOOCs). department. Stateside for the last 15 years, David started his career in Ron Nordone, Assistant Dean Profiles Ian Sladen, Assistant Dean Intersection: Point/Counterpoint 38 The FBI’s Mike Doyle investigates white collar Israel working as an IT project manager before deciding an academic 12 Professors Richardson Dilworth and Paul Jensen crime; Jason Larrabee’s journey from farm boy COMMENTS? to Capitol Hill. career was more his tune. See page 32. Email: [email protected] debate fair trade. These are just a few of the stories we have in store for you. As Editor: 215.571.3554 Fax: 215.571.3511 Teaching Across Town Dean’s LeBow College of Business Office of Stan Ridgley’s eclectic personal library always, please let me know how we’re doing, or if you have a story Communications, 3141 Chestnut Street, 14 MBA students master the science of consulting 40 boasts collectible comics and vintage books Word Philadelphia, PA 19104-2875 for the University’s Academy of Natural Sciences. 4 you’d like to share. I’m listening. on public speaking. INSTITUTIONAL ADVANCEMENT Community Christopher Brittin, Associate Vice President 16 Drexel sports’ biggest fan, Haz Maragah, gives new Email: [email protected] meaning to “Drexel is my home.” CHANGE OF ADDRESS? Send address changes to: Leda Kopach Drexel University’s LeBow College of Business Office of Communications, Editor 3141 Chestnut Street Philadelphia, PA 19104-2875 Cover Story Or email: [email protected] Bob Hall is not going © 2013 Market Street magazine Drexel to shed tears when University’s LeBow College of Business newspapers go digital. Cover illustration by Tim Raglin. 20 Dean’s Word STREET BUZZ The namesake of the college, Bennett S. LeBow, wheels on the bus visited his hometown this past November to New York native Brian Antolin and I met four years ago Philadelphia and Boston. BoltBus even sent Brian to Seattle tour the new LeBow building. And boy was shortly after he arrived on campus as a member of our and Portland to help launch new services on the West Coast. he impressed. Business Learning Community. As part of the BLC, he and During his Co-op, he also attended a bus-industry trade show “It’s fantastic. The architecture is great. It’s three dozen other first-year students all lived in the same (yes, there are such events!) that was held in Philadelphia really unbelievable,” he said, applauding the residence hall, took classes together and participated in a to showcase the latest in coach design and features. Similar building’s architect, Robert A.M. Stern, as the best number of extra-curricular learning activities. to all other industries, bus technologies need to continually in the country. We agree. One of the activities they worked on that year was a refresh themselves to stay competitive. LeBow said the five-floor atrium is going project to help design a certificate program in corporate social When Brian learned that BoltBus was considering to make the building. “You can’t tell from the responsibility. Members of the BLC answered such questions a study of its economic impact on the cities it serves, he renderings, you’ll need to see the real thing.” as: Was this a focus important to students? What courses connected the company with Associate Dean Paul Jensen, it’s shaping up! A portrait of LeBow and his late wife Gerri has should make up the curriculum? What other requirements Ph.D., an economist who oversees our experiential learning been commissioned and will hang on the atrium’s should be included in the certificate program? programs. The result: an MBA class coordinated by Clinical east wall. After the program was approved by the university, Brian Professor Dana D’Angelo. The only undergraduate in the The new building will house classes by next was one of the first students enrolled and when he asked if course, Brian reported that their analysis showed each fall, and faculty and staff will move in beginning next winter. I would be his mentor, I readily agreed. Over the last four BoltBus passenger traveling to Philadelphia contributed President John Fry (front, left) and LeBow years, Brian has taught me a great deal about the drive that almost $100 to the local economy. College namesake Bennett S. LeBow (front, middle) defines so many of our Drexel LeBow students. What’s next for Brian after he graduates this spring? He Brian turned a childhood love of buses (his parents’ plans to start his own bus service and has several ideas that transportation of choice to visit family and friends) into a could revolutionize the business. For now, those ideas are Co-op with BoltBus, a low-cost bus line popular with college confidential, but I will tell you this: Do not bet against Brian students and young professionals. Not only does he regularly Antolin, because he exemplifies the drive to succeed that is ride BoltBus between Philadelphia and Manhattan, he used a part of all our students at LeBow College. Instead, get on his Co-op to help the company expand its service between board and enjoy the ride. Frank Linnehan, Ph.D. Interim Dean 4 Market Street Winter 2013 5 STREET BUZZ STREET BUZZ Former Eagle ArchiTECH Competition Now a Dragon Challenges Students, There’s a new big man on Faculty to Think Big campus. Victor Abiamiri, a former defensive end for the Three-person teams Philadelphia Eagles, was a consisting of Drexel BUZZWORDS second round draft pick out LeBow professors and of Notre Dame in 2007.