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Kelley School of Business

Kelley School’s Sports Industry Workshop welcoming two IU alumni and sports marketers to discuss FIFA World Cup 26

Posted on by George Vlahakis

Courtesy: Major League Soccer Players Association

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Soccer fans worldwide will converge on the United States next June as it serves as primary host of FIFA World Cup 26, along with Canada and Mexico. It will be the first time in the history of the tournament – played every four years – that it will be hosted by three countries.

Staging an international soccer championship in 16 cities is quite an undertaking, which two Indiana University alumni and former IU soccer stars – David Wright and Chris McGuire – understand from their roles as sports marketers. They will share their perspectives on the world’s biggest sporting event when they visit the Indiana University Kelley School of Business on Friday, Nov. 7.

McGuire, vice president of sports marketing for adidas North America, and Wright, chief commercial officer of the U.S. Soccer Federation, will be part of a discussion moderated by Jeremy Gray, IU senior associate athletic director for strategic communications and director of the Cuban Center for Sports Media and Technology. The event, from 3 to 4:30 pm, will take place in Hodge Hall 1006.

Chris McGuire

The event is being presented by the Kelley School’s Sports Industry Workshop. All IU students are welcome to attend.

McGuire and Wright will discuss their professional journeys post-IU and how they have seen the rise in popularity of soccer domestically, since 1994, when the U.S. hosted the World Cup for the first time, importance of the success of the women’s national team and the upcoming 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.

Adidas is longest tenured World Cup partner — since 1970 – and McGuire will discuss the challenges of activating sponsorships across three nations and 16 host sites. Wright will talk about “Soccer Forward” the U.S Soccer Federation’s initiative to expand the game further, including as a means of addressing health and wellness needs.

“The Kelley Sports Industry Workshop is lucky to count David and Chris among our high powered advisory board members, and we are thrilled that they wanted to come and share their insights about this important moment in U.S. sports history,” said Doug Eibling, the Yormark Family Director of the Sports Industry Workshop and lecturer of management and entrepreneurship. “We hope that this is the first of many events, focused on the business of sports, that we can bring to campus for the enlightenment of all IU students.”

David Wright

David Wright

Wright oversees all outward facing business units including marketing, corporate partnerships, media/content, consumer products, events, development and analytics for the U.S. Soccer Federation. Since joining the organization in 2020, the U.S. Soccer Federation has made several strategic moves, including retaining its commercial rights beginning in 2023, securing a long-term extension with Nike and finalizing long-term partnerships with Warner Bros. Discovery and NBCU Telemundo. He previously was chief marketing and commercial officer for Minor League Baseball.

A key member of IU soccer squads that won four Big Ten championships and competed in two NCAA College Cups, Wright also had a 15-year career with Major League Soccer. A Sports Business Journal 40 Under 40 Award recipient, he holds a Bachelor of Science degree in kinesiology from IU and a Master of Science in sports management from the University of Massachusetts.

McGuire has nearly 30 years of experience in the sports marketing industry and has helped to solidify adidas’ relationship with Major League Soccer. He joined adidas in 1999 as a marketing manager and today is responsible for building the strategy of who adidas partners with across all fields and courts of play in North America.

He has spearheaded countless milestone moments for the brand, while building industry leading relationships across all professional sports leagues. McGuire helped solidify adidas’ relationship with Major League Soccer, growing and diversifying the brand’s athlete roster, and growing the brand’s footprint in the NCAA.

Under his tenure, adidas has partnered with the best and most creative athletes, including Patrick Mahomes, Anthony Edwards, James Harden, Trinity Rodman, Candace Parker, Donovan Mitchell and Travis Hunter. With a proven track record of success, McGuire became head of the brand’s sports marketing division in 2008.

Like Wright, McGuire also has been named to Sports Business Journal’s 40 Under 40 list. Continuing his passion for soccer, he was a member of the city of Portland’s Soccer Advisory Board, which laid the groundwork for the establishment of the Portland Timbers in Major League Soccer. He also is a member of the Sport Oregon executive board of directors. He earned a bachelor’s degree in sports marketing in 1996 from IU, where was a four-year member of the soccer team.

This will be the 23rd FIFA World Cup. It will take place from June 11 to July 19 next year. Host cities in the U.S. will include Atlanta, Seattle, Dallas, Houston, Kansas City and Miami. The final will take place at Met Life Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., just outside New York City.

Research presents differences between merger types, market outcome implications

Posted on by George Vlahakis

An unidentified employee walks into a Home Depot store in Auburn, California. Home Depot’s merger with distributor SRS Distribution is a recent example of vertical integration. (iStock photo/Chris Allan)

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Merger announcements often lead to concerns about whether competition will be reduced, which can lead to higher prices and reduced service quality for consumers. But a new research study co-authored by an Indiana University Kelley School of Business economist is attracting attention for highlighting important differences between two types of mergers and their implications for market outcomes.

“Horizontal mergers” combine companies in the same industry and at the same stage of production. One example was Kroger’s attempted acquisition of Albertson’s, which recently was blocked in federal and state courts. “Vertical mergers” (or vertical integration) combine firms at different levels of a supply chain. Retailer Home Depot’s acquisition of distributor SRS Distribution is a recent example.

For many years, antitrust authorities, such as the Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission, took a more favorable view toward vertical compared to horizontal mergers, largely because vertical mergers generally are guaranteed to increase synergies by combining elements of the supply chain, whereas horizontal mergers are not.

Jeff Prince

However, over the past decade or so, there has been a push to increase scrutiny of vertical mergers to the point of putting them on par with horizontal mergers. This push culminated in the recently unified U.S. merger guidelines — for both horizontal and vertical mergers — replacing what had previously been separate merger guidelines across the two types.

Research by Jeff Prince, the Harold A. Poling Chair of Strategic Management and professor of business economics and public policy at Kelley, challenges this policy change, providing support for returning to reduced scrutiny of vertical mergers due to their guaranteed synergies. And it is the subject of an article published by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the world’s largest business organization.

Prince’s research focuses on industrial organization, applied econometrics, strategy, and regulation. He served as chief economist at the Federal Communications Commission during 2019 and 2020. At the FCC, he advised the chairman on economic policy, auction design, data analytics, and antitrust matters.

“Historically, vertical mergers are viewed as less problematic than horizontal mergers, for good reason. A new paper, ‘Integrating the Literature: Theory and Evidence from a Reassessment of the Empirical Research on Vertical Integration,’ provides compelling evidence to support how vertical mergers benefit consumers and the economy,” wrote Sean Heather, senior vice president for international regulatory affairs & antitrust at the U.S. Chamber.

The paper, written with Robert Kulick, managing director at NERA Economic Consulting and a visiting fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, and Elena Ramirez Pierce, senior consultant at NERA Economic Consulting, has been downloaded more than 100 times since being published to SSRN earlier this month.

“While it is undoubtedly true that, as many commentators have argued, more research on the welfare effects of vertical integration is needed, we believe that, nonetheless, important inferences can be drawn from the existing empirical literature,” Prince and his colleagues wrote.

“There is a large body of research demonstrating the potential for horizontal mergers to increase prices to the detriment of consumer welfare when mergers involve products that are close substitutes,” they added. “Our review of the literature demonstrates that the same cannot be said about vertical mergers.”

The paper establishes two major findings:

  • Little evidence of anticompetitive outcomes and a relatively high incidence of procompetitive outcomes among existing empirical studies of vertical integration. Findings of anticompetitive outcomes were restricted to studies that utilized relatively weaker methods and/or data.
  • Theory helps explain the lack of anticompetitive outcomes in the empirical studies. Specifically, for a wide range of plausible market conditions, leading theoretical models show the synergies from combining parts of the supply chain tend to dominate any anticompetitive effects (such as raising input prices on rivals).

Based on these findings, Prince and his co-authors arrived at the following conclusion: “We view our results as supporting the application of different antitrust review standards for vertical mergers versus horizontal mergers by, for instance, maintaining separate merger guidelines for vertical mergers.”

In his article about the paper, Heather echoed this conclusion, stating, “’Integrating the Literature’ highlights the need to distinguish between vertical and horizontal mergers in antitrust policy. With separate guidelines, policymakers can balance protecting competition with promoting economic dynamism. The Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice should return to standalone guidelines that recognize the unique dynamics of vertical integration.”

Prince, a Kelley faculty member since 2010, has been teaching and working on antitrust matters for more than 20 years. “Over-scrutinizing vertical mergers is wasteful of very limited government resources for antitrust enforcement. It is also costly to the firms being scrutinized,” he said. “The goal is to direct resources where they are best used, and our research shows that, as a general matter, resources used to scrutinize vertical mergers are substantially less likely to help reduce anticompetitive outcomes compared to horizontal mergers.”

‘Fake News’ is a growing concern for companies and financial markets

Posted on by George Vlahakis

An investor compares company information found online with a printed report.

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Six years ago, Carvana made a startling admission, reporting in a prospectus that it might be subject to the effects of “so-called ‘fake news.’” The online car seller went on to say that while using “all available tools to defend the company,” there was little they could do to control it, “making fake news an ongoing concern for any public company.”

Not just under the purview of politics, fake news today has become ubiquitous in its effect on financial reporting, maliciously casting doubt about companies and their financial performance.

“Making up claims about companies to manipulate their prices on the stock market has always been an issue. However, with social media and advances in AI, fake news is spreading with a speed we’ve never seen before, and it creates significant problems for the integrity of our financial markets,” said Betty Liu, assistant professor of accounting at the Indiana University Kelley School of Business.

Betty Liu

Liu and Austin Moss, an assistant professor of accounting at the Leeds School of Business at the University of Colorado, examined fake news in financial markets in a research study published recently in the Journal of Accounting and Economics, “The Role of Accounting Information in an Era of Fake News.” They gathered a sample of more than 125,000 articles published by Seeking Alpha, a financial site that features crowdsourced investment research, which attracts more than 20 million readers monthly.

Using a machine learning algorithm, they found that 2.5% of the articles were written with the intent to deceive their readers about the financial performance of the company in the article.

“Fake news authors are incentivized to spread disinformation for a variety of reasons,” the paper states. “Some want to manipulate stock prices to profit from short-term positions, much like classic pump-and-dump schemes. Others create content for online platforms that offer compensation based on views and therefore sensationalize their articles to generate more views … Still others generate fake news not for monetary compensation but rather for ideological or political gain or for the satisfaction of ‘trolling’ market participants.”

“Spreading fake news is basically telling lies,” Liu said. “When are people less likely to believe in a lie? Well, when they already know it’s not true or they can fact-check it easily. It’s a similar idea with fake news about publicly traded companies. Every 3 months, these companies are required by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to file 10-Ks or 10-Qs, which are formal accounting disclosures detailing their financial performance. Executives will also go on conference calls to discuss how their company is doing financially and sometimes even talk about their expectations for the future.

“So going back to the idea of people being less likely to believe in a lie when they know it to be untrue or can fact-check it, a lot of fake news about companies involves intentional misrepresentations about how good or bad profits will be in the future, and investors are less likely to be misled by this type of fake news when there are better accounting disclosures to help fact-check,” she added.

The research study finds that fake new authors on Seeking Alpha are less likely to target publicly traded companies with more robust accounting information. Specifically, companies with more frequent management forecasts about future performance and more readable 10-Ks attract relatively fewer fake news articles. Even when these companies become targeted with fake news, investors tend to disregard it when making trading decisions on the stock market.

“People trying to spread fake news about how well or poorly a company is doing want others to believe them. They do not want to target a company with accounting disclosures that are easy to read and interpret because then, chances are, investors understand how the business is run and how it’s doing. It will be harder to get these investors to believe unsubstantiated claims about the company’s performance,” Liu said.

“These fake news authors also do not want to target a company with executives who are transparent about expectations for future profits, potential headwinds or tailwinds, and growth opportunities, since then, investors know where the business is headed and will not be as easily misled by exaggerations about how profitable or unprofitable the company will be.”

For firms, Liu’s findings demonstrate the benefits of transparent accounting disclosures for counteracting fake news about publicly traded companies. For investors, the study promotes using accounting information during the information search process to minimize the effects of fake news on their decision-making. For regulators, the research emphasizes the importance of maintaining transparent and accessible financial reporting in protecting capital market integrity.

Study examines two of the world’s largest ridesharing markets – the U.S. and China – and how user data is regulated

Posted on by George Vlahakis

Ridesharing companies have become ubiquitous, through their convenience. (iStock image)

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Launching a rideshare app and hailing a lift to your destination may seem convenient and sometimes affordable. But you may be overlooking hidden personal costs arising from potential abuse of your private data, especially with the advent of artificial intelligence.

“Apps like Uber and Lyft can quietly gather enormous amounts of personal data, which can be sold, stolen, or misused,” said Abbey Stemler, associate professor of business law and ethics and Weimer Faculty Fellow at the Indiana University Kelley School of Business. “With artificial intelligence making it so much easier for companies to analyze and exploit that data, the need for strong privacy protections has never been greater.”

In response to those concerns, Stemler and two colleagues examined how two of the world’s largest ridesharing markets, the U.S. and China, regulate user data. They found that the two nations took dramatically different approaches to regulating ridesharing—from safety and liability to privacy protections

They presented their findings in the paper, “Data Privacy and the Regulation of Ridesharing Platforms,” published recently in the American Business Law Journal.

In the United States, regulations developed piecemeal through state and local governments. “Every city in America had to figure out how to handle the new business model on its own,” Stemler said. “There were so many issues to address that privacy concerns often took a back seat.”

Abbey Stemler

Most platforms in the U.S. use contract law – which you’ll find in the terms of service – to establish their privacy protections. But since platforms write their own terms, protections often are inadequate from the user’s perspective, Stemler said. For example, under its terms, Uber may gather location data even when users aren’t using the platform’s app, and record audio of their rides through the app.

“The impact of these problems is further exacerbated because platforms shape shift, move rapidly and work energetically to find loopholes in regulatory frameworks,” the researchers wrote.

By contrast, China was one of the first countries to legalize ridesharing nationwide. Its Ministry of Transport established baseline safety and privacy standards while giving local governments freedom to tailor additional rules to their specific needs.

On the privacy front, Chinese ridesharing companies must notify passengers and drivers about the purposes, methods and scope of the collection and use of personal information through their platform. Unless there’s an investigative proceeding or explicit user consent, companies cannot use this data for commercial purposes. They must also store data within China and implement strict cybersecurity measures.

“China’s regulation of privacy in the ridesharing sector is a sophisticated approach that encourages consistency across the industry, while simultaneously fostering innovation,” Stemler and her co-authors wrote. “This consistency is primarily enforced through central government regulations that set the baseline for data privacy and security measures, which all ridesharing platforms must adhere to.”

This multi-tiered structure also allowed China to adapt quickly as new issues emerged in the fast-moving industry, including the rise of aggregated platforms that connect passengers with multiple ridesharing services.

Didi-Chuxing is the leading ridesharing company in China, but Uber does operate in Hong Kong. Here’s an Uber Taxi, as seen in Kowloon, Hong Kong on Oct. 14, 2025. (iStock image)

Stemler argues that a similar approach could benefit the United States. While the proposed American Privacy Rights Act of 2024 stalled after being weakened by revisions, she believes federal baseline standards remain essential.

“Clear regulatory frameworks provide incentives for innovation as evidenced by the growth of aggregated platforms (in China),” she and her colleagues concluded. “This approach highlights the potential for U.S. policymakers to streamline the regulatory process, reducing any friction that can arise from a patchwork of state and local rules.”

However, Stemler emphasizes that learning from China doesn’t mean copying its system wholesale.

“China is by no means doing everything right when it comes to data privacy, and the differences between our legal systems are profound,” she said. “But comparative research helps us understand how different approaches play out in practice. When disruptive technologies emerge, whether ridesharing, AI, or something we haven’t imagined yet, other countries become laboratories for experiments. We can observe what works, what fails, and why, then adapt those lessons to our own legal frameworks and democratic values.”

Other authors of the paper are Justin W. Evans, associate professor of legal studies at Georgia Southern University, and Carrie Shu Shang, associate professor of finance, real estate and law at California State Polytechnic University Pomona. Evans is a graduate of the Evening MBA Program at the IU Kelley School in Indianapolis and the IU McKinney School of Law.

Professor hopes her research leads to better gamification systems for users, companies

Posted on by George Vlahakis

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Gamification is being widely adopted, engaging consumers to earn points toward a free beverage, employees to be more efficient and online learners studying another language. Although seemingly promising, the success of this online marketing technology doesn’t always lead to successful engagement with a product, service or program.

Sometimes, the reason relates to a lack of privacy protections in the program’s design. In other instances, users may feel pressure from peer comparisons when it involves a “leaderboard,” instead of being motivated. Badges are the most widely adopted game elements, but not always been a successful tool

Lei Wang, assistant professor of operations and decision technologies at the Indiana University Kelley School of Business, and two colleagues examined the challenges of gamification and offers insights into how such systems can be better designed and fine-tuned, leading to improved user experience.

Lei Wang

“Although we have witnessed tremendous use cases of gamification, there have been quite a few failed cases, highlighting that a careful system design is the foundation for successful implementations,” she and her co-authors wrote in the article, “Game for Brainstorm: The Impact of a Badge System on Knowledge Sharing.”

“Gamification draws researchers’ considerable attention from a proof-of-concept perspective,” they said. “Prior studies assess the impact of gamification across domains, but literature should never stop there … Designing a multielement gamification system requires specific knowledge not fully understood in prior literature, including each game element’s efficacy, the synergy and discord among elements, and the user-system-interaction dynamics.”

Co-authors of the paper, published in Information Systems Research, are Yifan Zhang, assistant professor of business analytics and information systems at Auburn University, and Yi-Jen (Ian) Ho, associate professor of management science at Tulane University.

To improve the effectiveness of gamification systems, they proposed in the paper a generic framework to design and fine-tune a gamification system. Their study focused on a badge system and considered three major design elements – volume (the number of badges), variety (the number of badge categories), and valence (high-tier badges). They characterized the dynamics of user-system interactions on Stack Overflow and conduct policy experiments using a structural Hidden Markov Model (HMM). They sharpened their empirical analyses by incorporating Gaussian copulas into the HMM to address potential endogeneity from badge elements.

Among their findings:

  • As expected, users who collected more badges were more likely to stay engaged and provide more and better answers. But they also found that the positive relationship turns to negative at the highest state.
  • In the long run, variety brought a consistent negative impact on contributions. Users with more diversified badge collection profiles often had a higher probability of sliding down to lower engagement states.
  • Valence played a critical role in boosting users’ performance. In the long run, awarding rare badges was useful in inspiring users. In the short term, rare badges only motivated inactive users to contribute more answers of higher quality.
  • As more behavioral data becomes available at the individual level, a platform that can effectively personalize badge offerings for each user will be powerful. Two potential examples of this include when the platform encourages new and inactive users by offering easy-to-get badges, and it challenges experienced and active users by giving away a prestige, limited-edition badge.
  • User characteristics, such as gender, age, or tenure length, can be utilized to enhance personalized badge offerings. Badges can efficiently acquire desirable behaviors and content when the platform seamlessly aligns badge incentives and specific qualifications.

Wang and her colleagues hope their findings, which are believed to be the first to study the impact of badges from a system design perspective, will improve next-generation badge systems from a user engagement perspective.

Kelley School hosting 24 teams participating in the National Team Selling Competition

Posted on by George Vlahakis

This is the 19th time that the IU Kelley School of Business has hosted the competition.

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Students from 24 colleges and universities across the country will compete this week in the 19th annual National Team Selling Competition, hosted by the Indiana University Kelley School of Business.

Considered the premier event for students studying professional sales, the competition takes place Oct. 15-17 and is organized by Kelley’s Center for Global Sales Leadership.

Competing teams have an opportunity to bring their classroom knowledge and experience and apply those skills in a selling situation that is realistic and relevant in today’s market. The competition also provides exceptional networking opportunities with corporate partners, recruiters, student peers, and faculty.

The competition’s team-based approach and its complexity differentiate it from other sales contests around the country.

Charles Ragland

“The National Team Selling Competition exemplifies the Kelley School of Business’ leadership in professional sales education,” said Charles B. Ragland, executive director of the Center for Global Sales Leadership and Fettig/Whirlpool Faculty Fellow and clinical professor of marketing.

“It offers students a dynamic, team-based learning experience that mirrors real-world strategic selling challenges,” Ragland added. “Participants sharpen their skills, receive valuable feedback, and benefit from a case that faculty integrate into their curriculum to further develop individual and team selling capabilities.”

Ninety-six participants will come from coast to coast and include students from 19 business schools that have participated before and five new schools. Schools new to the competition are Robert Morris University, the University of Kentucky, the University of South Carolina, the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga and the University Texas at Dallas.

Other participating schools include the universities of Arizona, Kansas, Missouri and New Mexico, as well as Baylor University, Michigan State University and The Citadel. Several in-state institutions are represented, including Ball State University, Indiana State University and Marian University.

Teams from Marian University have won the competition the last two years.

Last year’s winning team, from Marian University, reacts as they learn they came in first place.

Among the competing teams will be one from the Kelley School. Students were selected after a rigorous interview process and through observation of their performance in other competitions. Teams from Kelley have been finalists in the last four of five years and won the event in 2019. They are coached by Dennis Spahr, a lecturer in marketing who joined the Kelley School in 2018 after more than 30 years of sales effectiveness consulting and hands-on B-to-B sales experience.

Students are competing for more than $6,000 in prize money. Through the generous support of sponsoring companies Altria Distribution Co. – which has been involved since the first competition in 2006 – and Nucor, there is no entry fee for the competition and meals and lodging are provided throughout the event for teams selected to participate.

Two weeks before the competition, teams were given a case that presented a realistic yet fictional business scenario about a convenience store chain looking for a healthy, outsourced food vendor. Teams will be judged on their performance during two rounds of role-playing exercises with judges from the sponsoring companies. Three teams will be chosen as finalists and will present a summary of their proposals to select a winner.

Feedback is given to all students during the competition. All faculty coaches and participants receive a video of their school’s performance as well as a video of the case debrief, so they can continue to learn from the National Team Selling Competition experience.

The Kelley School team is coached by Dennis Spahr, a marketing lecturer who joined the faculty in 2018 with more than 30 years of sales effectiveness consulting and hands-on B-to-B sales experience. Last year’s Kelley team, pictured here was a finalist last year.

Hosting the team sales competition demonstrates how much Kelley remains a leader in sales education. It is the only undergraduate business school in U.S. News & World Report’s top 10 rankings to offer a professional sales major. Fewer than 25 business schools nationwide offer such a degree.

About 350 Kelley students graduate annually with a double-major in marketing and professional sales, and most co-major in another business discipline. All of them leave with jobs at leading consumer goods companies such as Procter & Gamble, manufacturing and distribution companies like Nucor and Altria, and medical device and pharmaceutical companies such as Boston Scientific, Stryker and AbbVie.

In addition to organizing the competition, the Center for Global Sales Leadership works closely with corporate partners to create programs and events that get students excited about careers in professional selling and sales management. Each semester, the center provides multiple opportunities to partner with different student groups at Kelley, including the Global Sales Workshop, Sales Club and professional sales majors.

IU, Kelley School and Whirlpool mark 15 years of building homes together with Habitat

Posted on by George Vlahakis

Kelley students, faculty and staff will partner with other IU students, Habitat for Humanity of Monroe County and Whirlpool Corporation employees to build a home for a Bloomington family, as they did in 2018.

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Amid the colorful autumn leaves and campus excitement for football, another Indiana University tradition – now established after 15 years – continues, with the construction of a new home for a Bloomington family, built by students, faculty and staff from IU and the Kelley School of Business.

With support from Whirlpool Corporation, Habitat for Humanity of Monroe County also will celebrate the construction of its 250th home in its 37-year history. The house also will be part of a new, historic framing blitz of five houses in its Osage Place neighborhood. Once completed, the first phase of the neighborhood’s development will be complete.

More than 3,300 IU students, staff, faculty, and alumni have come together over the years to build homes alongside Monroe County families through the partnership.

A public celebration will take place during IU’s Homecoming Weekend, at 9 a.m. on October 18 at the build site. Among those expected to attend will be several people involved with the first project in 2010, including Jeff Fettig, retired Whirlpool CEO, who initiated the annual Habitat build, which initially took place near the home of the Hoosiers, Memorial Stadium. In the early years, houses were built on the IU campus and then moved to a permanent location.

Jeff Fettig, a Kelley alumnus and retired CEO of Whirlpool Corporation, initiated the annual Habitat builds.

“It’s truly inspiring to see how a simple idea 15 years ago has blossomed into such a powerful relationship between Whirlpool Corporation, Indiana University, and Habitat for Humanity,” Fettig said. “The dedication of employees, students, faculty, staff, and community volunteers alongside the incredible families we support, continues to make a profound difference in the Bloomington community, building not just homes, but hope and brighter futures.”

With this build, Whirlpool Corporation has sponsored 15 homes in Bloomington over the course of the relationship. And all five houses being framed the week of Oct. 13 are supported through BuildBetter with Whirlpool grants. As part of the BuildBetter with Whirlpool program, all five homes will be net zero-energy ready helping homeowners save on utility costs.

“We are grateful for Whirlpool Corporation’s sustained investment in Monroe County which has delivered transformative results over the past 15 years. In partnership with Habitat for Humanity and Indiana University, Whirlpool has broadened its commitment from supporting homeownership to advancing energy efficiency and sustainability,” said Wendi Goodlett, president & CEO of Habitat for Humanity of Monroe County. “This evolving vision continues to shape stronger, more resilient communities—one home at a time.”

Onga Masumbuko and Emmanuel Ngongo Kanamuli are excited about the new home being built for them and their four children. The couple, who originally are from the Republic of Congo, emigrated to the United States in March 2023, after being refugees in the East African country of Burundi for 23 years. “We came because of peace; in Congo, no peace,” Masumbuko said.

Emmanuel Ngongo Kanamuli, center, and Onga Masumbuko and their four children.

They look forward to living in a larger house that will meet their family needs better than the cramped apartment where they now live. It also will be a tremendous improvement over the simple three-room house they rented in Burundi, which did not have running water.

Kanamuli, 53, works as a custodian for IU and Masumbuko, 38, is a housekeeper at Bell Trace Senior Living Community. He will be the first IU employee to procure a home through this partnership with Whirlpool Corporation and Kelley. Their children are Joseph, age 16; Orly, 14; Elisabeth, 11; and Gael, 7.

“It’s a joy that falls from the sky for us, because having a house here is a dream,” he said. “We consider this house to be a blessing, because we tell ourselves that it is a special gift for our family and through it, we are going to live in a better condition. It is what we were waiting for in our life.”

Families qualify for the Habitat program based on three criteria: need for housing, ability to pay back their affordable mortgage and a willingness to partner. Each adult member living in a Habitat home must invest 250 hours of volunteering, called “sweat equity,” before closing on their house. The couple has been actively involved in prior Habitat construction projects and volunteered at the ReStore.

There is a significant population of Congolese refugees living in Bloomington, and Masumbuko and Kanamuli look forward to hosting gatherings for family and friends. “The first day, we pray and thank God for the blessing of the house,” he said, “After we invite the friends and brothers to celebrate together, we will invite our neighbors to do so with us”

When a home was being built with the Kell Family in 2012, construction took place along 17th Street, across from the IU Athletics complex. This house was moved later to its permanent location.

All the houses will be net-zero homes. Habitat for Humanity of Monroe County received a $250,000 grant from the City of Bloomington to install solar panels on other homes. Combined with private donations, the organization has raised nearly $300,000, which will enable it to put solar on all homes in Phase 1 of Osage Place. The solar panels come with monitors, which allow homeowners to manage the electricity usage in their homes.

Local volunteers will be joined at the dedication by Pat Hopkins, dean of the Kelley School and the James R. Hodge Chair of Excellence, and current and retired Whirlpool Corporation representatives, including Fettig and Whirlpool Foundation President, Pam Klyn.

“Our ongoing partnership with Whirlpool Corporation and Habitat for Humanity reflects Kelley’s deep commitment to community engagement and socially conscious leadership,” Hopkins said. “The support from Whirlpool not only helps make these builds possible but also connects meaningfully with our students, offering them a firsthand look at how corporate responsibility and professional development can go hand in hand. Through the Kelley Institute for Social Impact, our students are empowered to give back to Bloomington and the State of Indiana in lasting ways.”

The family will symbolically receive keys to their home after the ceremony, in the endzone of Merchants Bank Field at Memorial Stadium, before IU’s game against Michigan State University. Masumbuko has become a fan of the Hoosiers in football and soccer, and they look forward to receiving their keys before IU beats the Spartans.

The Whirlpool Corporation is a long-term corporate partner for the Kelley School, and the project enables students to work alongside company employees, some of whom are IU alumni. Many students participating in the build are involved with the Kelley Institute for Social Impact (KISI), which serves as a hub within the school for socially conscious undergraduate students who want to make a difference in local and global communities through education, service, career development and leadership opportunities.

Many students participating in the build are involved with the Kelley Institute for Social Impact, which serves as a hub within the school for socially conscious undergraduate students who want to make a difference in local and global communities.

“This enduring relationship with IU and Habitat exemplifies Whirlpool Corporation’s commitment to building stronger communities,” said Klyn. “Through the dedication of countless volunteers and the support of our BuildBetter with Whirlpool program, we are not only providing comfortable, energy-efficient homes but also fostering hope and creating lasting impact. We look forward to continuing this vital work, expanding our reach, and supporting even more Bloomington families in the years to come.”

The company has been invited by KISI to participate in the Jellison Living Learning Center’s professional development series on Oct. 16, to discuss Whirlpool Corporation’s engagement efforts, its mission and why it supports reputable organizations such as Habitat for Humanity International.

Since its founding in 1988, Habitat for Humanity of Monroe County has housed more than 900 individuals, including more than 500 children, helping to address a need for safe, decent and affordable housing in the community.

The dedication ceremony will take place at the building site on Bernard Drive, west of the intersection of Rockport and Rogers roads and adjacent to RCA Community Park, 1400 W. RCA Park Drive, where parking will be available.

Meet Bridget Stomberg, associate dean for Kelley undergraduate education

Posted on by George Vlahakis

Bridget Stomberg

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Indiana University Kelley School of Business students have an exceptional mentor in Bridget Stomberg.
 
As the associate dean for undergraduate education, Stomberg says she’s “uniquely positioned to be an empathetic ear for Kelley women.”
 
She’s eager for students to discover the broad menu of opportunities at Kelley.

“With 20 majors and eight co-majors, it’s easy to create a customized, tailor-made degree,” she says. “If you start down one path and find it’s not right for you, Kelley makes it easy to pivot without getting behind in your college plan.”

Stomberg arrived at the Kelley School in 2017, after four years at the University of Georgia and earning her doctorate in accounting at the University of Texas at Austin. Her research focuses on how tax laws and enforcement affect corporate decisions, the interplay between tax and financial reporting, the informativeness of tax disclosures in financial statements, and accounting for income taxes.

In 2021, she and a colleague launched a podcast, Taxes for the Masses, where they discuss “hot tax topics in a way that informs non-tax and/or non-accounting experts about the issues making headlines.”
 
She is proud that the world-class faculty of the No. 8-ranked undergraduate business program prepares students for the real world.  
 
“From day one, students develop their ability to communicate effectively, think critically, and deliver polished presentations,” she says. “Our program enables students to look across the operational functions of businesses holistically and broadly.

“Kelley is also an environment where it’s safe to make mistakes—we strive to embrace mistakes as an important part of the learning process,” Stomberg affirms. “We care about our students and do everything we can to support their success.”

That supports includes a dedicated office for mental well-being and support. Kelley’s culture of wellness focuses on educating, supporting, and nurturing the whole student.

“Our faculty and staff spend a great deal of time mentoring students not just to be great professionals, but to be great people,” Stomberg said. “We want to equip students with the skills they need to thrive outside of the classroom and to practice finding balance in their lives.”

Dan Smith and Rockney Walters honored with the Jack R. Wentworth Lifetime Impact Award

Posted on by George Vlahakis

From left, Dan Smith, Dean Pat Hopkins and Rockey Walters.

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Two accomplished retired marketing faculty at the Indiana University Kelley School of Business – Dan Smith and Rockney Walters — were honored on Sept. 26 with the Jack R. Wentworth Lifetime Impact Award.

Between them, Walters and Smith had a combined 70 years of service to the Kelley School. Walters retired after spending his entire 41-year career at Kelley. Smith led the school as dean from 2005 to 2013, and most recently taught in Kelley’s No. 1 ranked Kelley Direct Online MBA Program.

The Wentworth Award is named for the three-time alumnus who taught at Kelley from 1959 to 1997 and led the school as its dean from 1984 to 1993. Wentworth’s accomplishments as dean included laying the foundation for the school’s international involvement, creating study abroad and consulting opportunities for students, and launching the Johnson Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation and the Center for Real Estate Studies. He passed away in 2017 at the age of 89.

The Wentworth Award recognizes the lifetime achievements of “truly exceptional individuals who had a substantial and enduring impact on the Kelley School and the marketing discipline through their research, teaching, and service.” Recipients are chosen for the highly selective award through a unanimous vote of senior marketing faculty and approval from the dean.

“There are moments in the life of an institution when we pause—not just to celebrate achievement, but to honor legacy—and this is one of those moments,” said Pat Hopkins, Kelley Dean and the James R. Hodge Chair of Excellence. “Today, we pause to honor two extraordinary individuals whose contributions to the Kelley School of Business and Indiana University have been nothing short of transformational. Their careers have been marked by excellence, generosity, and a deep commitment to the people and mission of this place.”

“Dan and Rockney, your impact runs deep in the life of this school,” Hopkins added. “It lives in the programs you built, the students you inspired, the colleagues you mentored, and the values you upheld. You have shaped minds, built futures, and left Kelley not only stronger, but more thoughtful, more connected, and truer to our mission.”

Dan Smith, left, was recognized for his service to the school, including as its dean from 2005 to 2013.

Dan Smith

Smith earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in business administration from the University of Toledo and his doctorate from the University of Pittsburgh. Before coming to Kelley, Smith was an associate professor at the University of Pittsburgh and an assistant professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His research focused on brand strategy and product management, and he also consulted for several notable industrial and consumer goods companies, including Eli Lilly, Samsung, IBM, Alcoa, Arthur Andersen, Oscar Mayer, R.J. Reynolds and Saab USA.

He joined the Kelley School in 1996 as an associate professor and the Clare W. Barker Chair in Marketing, becoming a full professor in 1998. He quickly became known as a masterful teacher in the Full-Time MBA Program, and he received IU’s Eli Lilly Outstanding Graduate Teaching Award five times over a six-year stretch, and the Board of Trustees Distinguished Teaching Award in 2001. Over seven years, he rose through the ranks, serving as chair of the Full-Time MBA Program, chair of the Marketing Department, associate dean of academics and research and interim dean.

At the time he was appointed as dean, the Kelley School faced serious challenges. He led a strategic renewal that transformed Kelley’s trajectory, and enrollment grew, global partnerships flourished, and the Kelley brand rose to national prominence. He raised $180 million in private support, renovated the school’s 40-year-old building, and expanded undergraduate facilities with the addition of Hodge Hall—all while strengthening our relationships across the university and around the world.

In 2013, Smith was called upon by President Michael McRobbie to lead the IU Foundation as president and CEO, where he again brought vision and vitality to a major institutional effort, including the first capital campaign that involved every IU campus. He rebuilt the organization and led the $3.8 billion Bicentennial Campaign, doubling student scholarships and faculty endowments. His leadership touched every corner of IU, before stepping down at the end of 2020 to return to the Kelley faculty.

He returned to the classroom in 2022, teaching in Kelley Direct and mentoring students with the same passion and precision that defined his earlier years.

In addition to his administrative responsibilities and his teaching legacy, Smith’s research appears in 60 articles in leading marketing journals, book chapters and proceedings that have received close to 10,000 citations. During his time at IU, he chaired or co-chaired three doctoral dissertations, with one receiving honorable mention from the Marketing Science Institute.

Smith spoke about his decision to come to Kelley from the University of Pittsburgh, and his subsequent career.

“Whenever you go to a new school, it should be selfish, and I knew that this place would make me better. It would make me a better teacher. It would make me a better researcher and probably make me a better person,” Smith said. “And that indeed has played out … This place is magical, if you’re the right person for it.

“I wanted to help people improve their lives; I wanted to help the organizations where I worked improve their situations and I wanted to help the communities I called home. It’s always been my true north,” he said. “I can’t sit around and just watch things happen. I want to be part of solutions.”

Hopkins said Smith’s influence at Kelley “spans far beyond dates and titles. Dan is one of the most beloved and accomplished educators and leaders in our school’s history.”

Rockney Walters, right, spent his entire academic career at Kelley, retiring after 41 years.

Rockney Walters

To many of his friends and colleagues, Walters is simply known as “Rock,” which is appropriate given what Hopkins and others have said of him.

“If Dan Smith is a force of strategic renewal, Rockney Walters is a pillar of quiet strength and enduring excellence,” Hopkins said. “Rock has been a mentor, a friend, and a quiet steward of our culture. He welcomed new faculty with warmth and humor, shaped teaching practices across the department, and brought joy to our halls. He is the colleague you want beside you on a Friday afternoon, sharing a beer and a fresh perspective.”

Walters was “a highly sought after executive education leader and a soft-spoken influencer,” added H. Shankar Krishnan, the Nestle-Hustad Professor of Marketing, in a written tribute. “With his retirement, we are literally losing a rock on which our department is built.”

Before arriving at IU in 1984, Walters earned a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Florida, an MBA from the University of Kansas, and his Ph.D. in Business Administration from Purdue University, with a major in marketing and a minor in econometrics.

His teaching has been exceptional across every format — undergraduate, MBA, Kelley Direct, and executive education. He received more than 30 undergraduate teaching awards and was the recipient of the Eli Lilly MBA Teaching Excellence Award seven times. The Kelley School recognized him as a Ford Teaching Fellow from 2001 to 2008, and as a Max Barney Distinguished Teaching Fellow from 2008 until his retirement.

“His teaching style—Socratic, data-driven, and deeply engaging—has shaped countless students and faculty alike,” Hopkins said.

Later in his teaching career, Walters found fulfillment in teaching in Kelley’s executive education program, sharing his knowledge and insights with leaders from Amazon, Microsoft, IBM, Boeing, GE, and many other top companies. He frequently traveled to teach business leaders across the country and abroad, including in Australia, Europe and Asia.

“We have an amazing job,” Walters reminded his peers. “We are well paid to work in a park with historic buildings, surrounded by very intelligent people who are committed to intellectual growth, who are for the most part very kind. And we have incredible support … This is a great place to have a career. It’s hard to imagine you not being successful if you buy into that culture (at Kelley).”

Walters’ research pioneered the empirical understanding of retail pricing, price promotions, and category management, providing foundational insights into product substitution patterns, cross-category purchase effects, competitive store dynamics, and store performance drivers. He broadened his research and mentored many PhD students, resulting in joint publications.

He shared an anecdote to illustrate the importance of professional commitment — a story and the lessons he learned from his pre-academic career at Schneider Transport in Texas. On his first day on the job after getting his MBA, Walters was asked by his general manager to coach the company’s women’s softball team.

“What could I say? I love softball. At 5:30 in the afternoon, I go out on the field and there were 12 women ready to play softball. I had never met any of them and I think I’m the only person in the history of softball in Texas who coached wearing a tie, because I literally came from the office,” Walters told the awards luncheon audience. “But the point is they never forgot that. Little things really matter.”

Noting Walters’ efforts as a steward to Kelley’s culture, Hopkins said, “Rock’s legacy is one of quiet brilliance, deep care and lasting influence. He has made Kelley better in every way.”

The Wentworth Awards were last presented in 2023, when the recipients were Smith and Walters’ spouses and marketing innovators as well – Jonlee Andrews and Rosann Spiro – who also were in attendance.

Two years ago, Wentworth Awards were presented to Smith and Walters’ proud partners and marketing innovators as well – Jonlee Andrews and Rosann Spiro.

Patrick Decker, Kelley alumnus and key figure in global water sector, named Poling Chair

Posted on by George Vlahakis

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Patrick Decker, an alumnus of the Indiana University Kelley School of Business and former president and chief executive officer of the water technology and solutions company, Xylem, will serve as the school’s next Poling Chair of Business and Government.

Decker is an active voice and leader to other executives on how corporations should deliver social and economic value to realize their full potential and create the greatest value for all stakeholders.

Patrick Decker

He will join Vikram S. Pandit, chairman and chief executive officer of The Orogen Group and a prior CEO of Citigroup and president of Morgan Stanley, as Poling Chair, whose appointment was announced last September and concludes this May.

Arrangements have been made for Decker to engage with undergraduate and MBA students, staff, and faculty. During his initial visit the week of Oct. 6, he will reside at IU Bloomington and will meet with Kelley Indianapolis students and faculty when he returns during the spring semester.

“Patrick Decker embodies the very essence of our Poling Chair’s mission. His distinguished career—marked by a rare blend of global leadership, operational expertise, and a profound commitment to public good—will be an invaluable asset to our students,” said Pat Hopkins, Kelley Dean and the James R. Hodge Chair of Excellence. “He joins a remarkable legacy of distinguished leaders who have held this chair, and his insights will inspire the next generation of leaders to think, lead, and serve with purpose.”

“I’m humbled and honored to serve as Poling Chair this academic year. The opportunity to further the mission of supporting and encouraging students, faculty and alumni in their leadership and pursuit of creating both economic and social value is more important now than ever,” Decker said. “I look forward to sharing my experience and learnings and exchanging perspectives on how best to support and mentor our students in their individual and collective pursuits towards this purpose.”

Since its establishment in 1993 by the late Harold “Red” Poling, a Kelley School alumnus and Ford Motor Co. chairman and CEO for nearly a decade, the Poling Chair has been held by a variety of business and government leaders.

For the past decade, Decker has been a dedicated and passionate figure in the global water sector. As president and CEO of Xylem from March 2014 through December 2023, he led a company focused on using affordable innovations to help communities address their most pressing water challenges.

He committed himself to providing affordable, sustainable access to clean water for communities worldwide.  The innovative application of advanced technology and pioneering management practices is helping to revolutionize the sector and spotlighting the water challenges facing our communities and more importantly the existing affordable solutions.

Decker led Xylem’s evolution from an aging industrial products company to an advanced technology and solutions-driven enterprise, inspiring others with his vision and determination. Today, Xylem is one of the most extensive global water technology equipment and services provider, with more than $8 billion in annual revenues, serving customers in more than 150 countries.

Under his guidance, Xylem’s revenue more than doubled, and its market capitalization quadrupled to about $30 billion. He was pivotal in shaping Xylem’s purpose and instilling a socially responsible culture that empowered and encouraged colleagues and business partners around the world to engage in their local communities.

A series of earthquakes struck the Indonesian island of Lombok in 2018, leaving hundreds of thousands homeless and without access to clean water. Xylem’s Watermark Program and Planet Water quickly deployed water filtration tower projects and an AquaPod clean water system for use by people living in relocation camps.

Decker significantly expanded Xylem’s Watermark Program, an employee citizenship initiative partnering with customers and other stakeholders that provides vital education and safe water resources to many of the world’s most vulnerable communities. The prestigious Gold Halo Award for Employee Engagement presented by Engage for Good recognized the program’s success.

He also launched Xylem Ignite, a program that empowers youth through grassroots initiatives to find simple, impactful, innovative ways to address pressing water issues. Eight years ago, Xylem built a unique partnership with Manchester City Football Club, providing global fans with knowledge of water challenges and actions they can take to help communities address their water challenges. The partnership garnered more than 1 billion social media impressions within its first five years.

Decker currently serves on the boards of Johnson Controls International, a world leader in smart buildings that create safe, healthy, and sustainable spaces, and CRH, the world’s largest supplier of building materials and solutions aiming to build and connect the world in a sustainable way. He also serves on the board of Mass Eye & Ear Hospital, a Harvard medical teaching hospital and the world’s largest hearing and vision research center. He is also engaged in venture capital endeavors focused on breakthrough artificial intelligence solutions to water and other infrastructure challenges.

Before Xylem, Decker was the CEO of Harsco Corporation (now Enviri Corporation), a global industrial products company that previously served the construction, rail, and steel industries. Prior to Harsco, he served Tyco International in various leadership roles and was an integral executive team member that helped revitalize and transform the enterprise. His last position was president of Tyco Flow Control, then a $4 billion industrial flow control solutions provider to the energy and water sectors.

Before Tyco, Decker was with Bristol-Myers Squibb for 12 years, serving in financial and operational roles, his last role being chief financial officer for the Mead Johnson Nutritional division. He spent nine years living and working in Latin America and Asia. He began his career with Price Waterhouse.

He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in accounting and finance from the Kelley School and serves on its Bloomington and Global Dean’s councils. He and his wife Nussara have been active supporters of the Kelley School and IU. They funded the Patrick and Nussara Decker Changemakers Scholarship for underpaid and unpaid internships for students focused on helping social enterprises, and the newly established Patrick and Nussara Decker Music Business Chair, to support a joint degree developed between the Jacobs School of Music and the Kelley School.

Decker follows a long line of successful leaders, many of them Kelley alumni, who have served as Poling Chairs. They have included top executives at major companies, including Janet Foutty, former chair and CEO of Deloitte Consulting LLP; Jeff Fettig, former chairman and CEO of Whirlpool Corporation; Elizabeth Acton, retired chief financial officer of Comerica and a former vice president and treasurer of Ford Motor Co.; Randall L. Tobias, chairman emeritus of Eli Lilly and Co., and former vice chairman of AT&T Corp; Bob Eckert, former CEO of Mattel Inc. and Kraft; and the late John Rau, former president and CEO of Miami Corporation, Chicago Title Corporation and LaSalle and Exchange National banks and Kelley’s eighth dean.

They also have included two former state governors –Maryland’s Martin O’Malley and Indiana’s Evan Bayh — Hollywood producer Kristin Hahn, Indian parliamentarian Deepender Singh Hooda, the Countess of Frederiksborg in Denmark Alexandra Christina, former U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams, and Mae C. Jemison, the first African American female astronaut.

 

 

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