FALL 2012 Building Olin for Navigating the Brave New Startup Boom Has the Next Century World of Social Media Deep Roots at Olin Page 2 Page 22 Page 24 OLINBUSINESS CREATE KNOWLEDGE. INSPIRE INDIVIDUALS. TRANSFORM BUSINESS. NOT BUSINESS AS USUAL ALUMNI CHALLENGE THE STATUS QUO Contents 2 10 22 24 Building Olin for Alumni Challenge Navigating the Brave New Startup Boom Has the Next Century the Status Quo World of Social Media Deep Roots at Olin DEAN’S LETTER 1 NEWS 4 ALUMNI NEWS 16 BY THE NUMBERS 19 Research That SEEN & HEARD 20 Impacts Business Olin Praxis pullout section CLASS NOTES 28 located on page 19. Connect with Olin Alumni & Development Executive Education Seminars, Master of Science facebook.com/OlinBusinessSchool 314.935.9209 Corporate Programs, & Certifi cate in Finance Program [email protected] Programs for Professionals 314.935.3390 314.935.9494 msfi [email protected] @WUSTLbusiness Brookings Executive Education [email protected] 800.925.5730 Master of Science in [email protected] Executive MBA Program – Shanghai Leadership Program +8621 5566.4788 800.925.5730 youtube.com/OlinBusinessSchool BSBA Admissions [email protected] [email protected] 314.935.6000 [email protected] Executive MBA Program – Master of Science in Supply Search “Olin Business School” St. Louis & Kansas City Chain Management Program Center for Experiential Learning 314.935.EMBA (3622) 314.935.3390 314.935.4512 [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] Full-Time MBA Program Weston Career Center Search “Olin Business” The Charles F. Knight Executive & Professional (Evening) 314.935.5950 MBA Program in the app store Education & Conference Center [email protected] 314.933.9400 or 866.933.9400 314.935.7301 [email protected] [email protected] Doctoral Programs Master of Accounting Program To read a digital version 314.935.6340 314.935.3390 [email protected] of OlinBusiness magazine, [email protected] use QR code or go to: olin.wustl.edu/magazine OLIN BUSINESS SCHOOL | FALL 2012 FALL 2012 OLINBUSINESS Email [email protected] Website olin.wustl.edu PHOTO BY RON KLEIN Letters OlinBusiness Washington University in St. Louis Campus Box 1162 One Brookings Drive St. Louis, MO 63130-4899 Vol. 15, Fall 2012 Not Business as Usual OlinBusiness magazine is published annually by Olin Business School, Being innovative, forward thinking, and that challenge the notion of business Washington University in St. Louis. proactive were part of Robert Brookings’ as usual. They hone their business Unless otherwise noted, all vision for the university’s new business plans in courses such as The Hatchery articles may be reprinted without school 95 years ago. or competitions such as the Olin Cup. permission with appropriate credit Check out the variety of innovative to OlinBusiness magazine. He was, after all, an entrepreneur who Olin startups profi led on page 24. transformed the Cupples Woodenware Dean Co. from a regional to a national Our alumni, too, follow in the footsteps Mahendra Gupta concern and created the fi rst regional of Mr. Brookings. Never satisfi ed with depot-warehouse that revolutionized the status quo, they are change agents Associate Dean and Director of merchandise delivery along the railroads for the 21st century. From biotech to Marketing & Communications and rivers. As a successful businessman building a library in sub-Saharan Africa, Paula Crews, BSBA ’90 and a visionary change agent, he saw the these Olin graduates don’t practice need for a school to research and promote business as usual. Six alumni share their Editor best business practices in the St. Louis inspiring work beginning on page 10. Melody Walker region and beyond. Settling for business as usual was not an option for him. Without the original foresight and Staff philanthropic generosity of Robert Katie Bliss, A&S ’13, I like to think Mr. Brookings would Brookings, Washington University would Class Notes Editor be pleased with the way his vision not be the internationally respected has evolved. Nearly a century on, Olin research institution it is today. Joanne Leah Costantino, AB ’97 is one of the top business schools in the and Chuck Knight and Carol and George Teresa Melton world, where faculty and students are Bauer carry on that tradition by leading Judy Milanovits challenged to think critically and globally the way with their generous gifts so that Lexie Walther O’Brien, MBA ’90 to solve today’s complex management we may continue to strengthen Olin for Neil Schoenherr issues. And our partnership with another its second century. Suzanne Shenkman, PMBA ’06 Brookings legacy, the Brookings Institution in Washington, DC, is helping to inspire We are all part of this proud tradition Gloria Stukenbroeker and transform the business of governance that is Olin. We owe it to our founders as Adrienne Wartts through executive education for well as generations of alums and friends Gabe Watson federal employees. since our beginning to always strive for Audrey Westcott, BFA ’12 excellence and integrity in all we do and Katie Roth Wools Mr. Brookings would be delighted with our never settle for business as usual. thriving entrepreneurship curriculum. MBA students have a new option to Art Direction concentrate in entrepreneurship, and Jager Creative all students from across the university can pursue a minor in the discipline. We’re also partnering with the Brown School to offer courses in social Mahendra Gupta entrepreneurship. Students launch Dean and Geraldine J. & Robert L. Virgil Professor of Accounting & Management dozens of new companies each year [email protected] CREATE KNOWLEDGE. INSPIRE INDIVIDUALS. TRANSFORM BUSINESS. 1 BUILDING OLIN FOR THE NEXT CENTURY Olin launched a major expansion project on May 7, 2012, An amphitheater-styled Forum will be at the center of the with the offi cial groundbreaking ceremony for Knight Hall fi ve-story complex and accommodate gatherings from small and Bauer Hall. When complete in the spring of 2014, the and informal to all-school events. The new buildings will facilities will nearly double the business school’s footprint also include: on the Danforth Campus. • 300-seat Emerson Auditorium The $90 million project includes two innovative buildings, united by a soaring glass atrium totaling 175,000 square • 120-seat café in the Atrium feet. Lead gifts totaling $25 million from two of Washington University’s most dedicated benefactors—$15 million from • Expanded Weston Career Center facilities for recruiters, advisors, and students Charles F. and Joanne Knight, and $10 million from George and Carol Bauer through the Bauer Foundation—provided • 2,800 sq. ft. Active Learning Lab the capital foundation for building Olin’s second century of top-ranked business education. • 75 faculty offi ces 18 group study rooms Located directly across Mudd Field from Simon Hall and • adjacent to The Charles F. Knight Executive Education • 11 classrooms & Conference Center, the new ensemble of buildings will provide much-needed classroom, offi ce, and meeting room space for the entire Olin community. Registered with certifi cation goal of LEED–NC v2009 GOLD KNIGHT HALL BAUER HALL 2 OLIN BUSINESS SCHOOL | FALL 2012 NEWS TAKE AN ONLINE TOUR Take an animated video tour of the new buildings, watch live streaming webcams from the construction site, and keep track of the progress online as we build toward Olin’s second century by visiting our new website buildolin.wustl.edu. KNIGHTS AND BAUERS HONORED The Knights and the Bauers received the Dean’s Medal this year for their signifi cant dedication and service to Olin. Dean Mahendra Gupta presented the award at the Distinguished Alumni Dinner in April. “ The Dean’s Medal is awarded to special friendss whose dedication and service to Olin Businesss School have been exceptional. By providing wise advice, pursuing high objectives, as well as inspiring the enthusiasm and support of many others, these friends have made signifi cant differences to the school. Special friends of this caliber greatly enhance the school’s progress.” TOP RIGHT: Chancellor Mark Wrighton, Stephen Brauer, chairman of the Board of Trustees, and Dean Mahendra Gupta dig in with Joanne and Chuck Knight at the May Groundbreaking ceremony. RIGHT: Carol and George Bauer admire the artist’s rendering of Bauer Hall presented to them at the Groundbreaking festivities. CAMPUS-LEVEL ATRIUM FORUM WITH VIEW LOOKING UP TO ATRIUM CREATE KNOWLEDGE. INSPIRE INDIVIDUALS. TRANSFORM BUSINESS. 3 NEWS Trailblazing for Community and Charity Six months, one week, and 2,180 miles after leaving the Appalachian trailhead in Springer Mountain, Georgia, Michael McLaughlin, MBA ’14, arrived at trail’s end: Mt. Katahdin in Maine. “It’s not about one guy hiking. It’s about a community coming together to help these underprivileged kids and make sure they have a good life James, who is legally blind, worked in for themselves.” the Peace Corps and remains dedicated MICHAEL McLAUGHLIN to a school for blind children she helped found in Cameroon. McLaughlin set out to thru-hike the Appalachian Trail and the Ozark Trail Funds raised through Hike4Kids will in Missouri back-to-back, as part of a support the school and the Family personal goal to help children who, like Resource Center in St. Louis. The MBA him, have been the victims of physical Class of 2013 has rallied around the and emotional abuse. cause by holding t-shirt sales and a charity basketball game, and many McLaughlin and classmate Brooke classmates pledged to donate 1% James discovered a common passion of their summer internship salaries ABOVE: Brooke James, MBA ’13, with one for community service and created to Hike4Kids. of the students at the school for the blind Hike4Kids, an organization to raise she helped build in Mokolo, Cameroon. She says blind people are generally treated awareness and funds to improve hike4kids.com as marginalized outcasts in the community the plight of neglected and abused and left to roam the streets as beggars.