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Kelley School of Business Indiana University Bloomington
Kelley School of Business

Alumnus Vernon Clapp relishes the opportunity to encourage entrepreneurs coming out of Kelley

Posted on by George Vlahakis

 

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – When Vernon Clapp returns to Indiana University Bloomington to serve as a judge at an annual entrepreneur pitch competition at the Kelley School of Business, he says he doesn’t quite see a younger version of himself, but perhaps he should.

After graduating from IU in 1969 with a business degree, Clapp accepted a position with Western Electric in Greensboro, N.C., joining a team that was developing an anti-ballistic missile system. While the work was important, he longed to go into business for himself.

“I basically, very fast, got tired of corporate work and sought out business ideas,” said Clapp, who still lives in North Carolina. “I jumped when I discovered one idea that I thought would work.”

After a few side ventures, Clapp’s career in real estate began 10 years later and grew into a business developing subdivisions that he continues to lead. He also pursues other business opportunities today through his company, Clapp Investment Ltd.

“These kids are much further along with their business plans than I was when I began,” he said of the Kelley students who competed in the Clapp IDEA Competition last month.

In 2013, Clapp gave $2 million to the Kelley School to establish the annual competition, where budding student entrepreneurs pitch their ideas to judges. This year, Civic Champs, a company co-founded by Kelley MBA student Ryan Underdahl, won the $20,000 first place prize and will have use of the school’s Hoosier Hatchery incubator. Clapp and Underdahl are pictured above.

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Kelley conference to examine the role of foods we eat as part of Indiana’s life sciences industry

Posted on by George Vlahakis

 

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Many may remember their parents’ admonition to “eat your vegetables.” Healthcare providers warn against taking in too many calories, too much sugar and too much fat. Some doctors are writing prescriptions for healthier foods.

On the menu for the next event in the Indiana Life Sciences Collaboration Conference Series is a day of discussion, “The Intersection of Food, Diet and Healthcare.” Experts in nutrition, agribusiness, medicine and healthcare will discuss the role of the food chain in Indiana’s life sciences industry.

The conference, organized by the Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business and its Center for the Business of Life Sciences, will take place May 10 at One America Tower in Indianapolis.

“As our understanding of food and its effects on and interaction with the body increase at the molecular level, the opportunities to put it to use for population health are significant,” said George Telthorst, director of the Center for the Business of Life Sciences.

“Besides helping feed the world’s growing population and affecting the social determinants of health, the potential of gene-edited crops to act as treatments for a variety of conditions could meaningfully reduce future healthcare costs,” Telthorst added. “How these products are labeled, marketed and sold is a part of the equation as well. Stakeholders and observers will share their thoughts and opinions on the benefits and concerns regarding this part of the life sciences industry.” (more…)

IU president presents Kelley-authored economic report at CEO summit in Washington, D.C.

Posted on by George Vlahakis

 

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – At a recent summit of American and Australian chief executives in Washington, D.C., Indiana University President Michael A. McRobbie presented findings of an economic report prepared in part by two research centers in the Kelley School of Business.

The American Australian Business Council commissioned the report, which highlights a deep and multifaceted economic relationship between the two countries. The organization consists of C-suite leaders who seek to foster active dialogue, encourage innovation, improve trade and support growth on both sides of the Pacific. Members include a who’s-who of U.S. and Australian companies.

Researchers from IU worked with a team from the U.S. Studies Centre at the University of Sydney, whose chief executive, Simon Jackman, on April 16 presented report findings with McRobbie (the two are pictured above).

McRobbie serves on the advisory council for the government-funded center, which seeks to provide Australians with a deep and balanced understanding of the U.S. through teaching, research and public engagement. Now in its 13th year of existence, the center also provides support for scholarly exchanges between Australia and the U.S.

According to the report, the symbiotic financial relationship between the two countries is remarkable.

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Six IU Kelley School of Business alumni being honored at 50th annual awards gala

Posted on by George Vlahakis

 

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Six alumni of the Indiana University Kelley School of Business will be honored for professional achievement during the 50th Annual Alumni Awards Gala on Saturday, April 27, in Chicago.

Being named to the Kelley School of Business Academy of Alumni Fellows are:

  • Fay Ferguson, (top row, left) co-CEO and co-owner of Burrell Communications Group based in Chicago. She earned an MBA from Kelley in 1978. Under her leadership, Burrell has consistently ranked among the top-performing multicultural agencies, attracting Fortune 100 companies such as Toyota, McDonald’s, Comcast XFINITY, Procter & Gamble, GlaxoSmithKline and Walmart. It has won more creative awards and built more No. 1 brands among African Americans than any other agency. Her honors include the Chicago Advertising Woman of the Year, the Chicago Advertising Federation’s Silver Medal Award, Advertising Working Mother of the Year, and History Makers, a lifetime achievement award.
  • Larry Gerdes, (bottom row, left) chairman and CEO of Pursuant Health, an Atlanta-based healthcare data and services company. He received an MBA from Kelley in 1974 and spent his career building startup companies. He has invested in — and in some cases — been a board member and CEO of more than 60 startups predominately on the West Coast. Many of these companies have become public, and a few have grown past $1 billion in annual revenue.
  • Ian Lee, (center, top row) chief executive officer of Asia Pacific, The Adecco Group, with overall responsibility for the group’s general and professional staffing business in Australia, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam. He joined The Adecco Group in September 2017 as president for its China operations after 14 years with the Whirlpool Corp. and 13 years with Procter & Gamble. He earned a bachelor’s degree in finance with honors (magna cum laude) in 1989 from Kelley and went on to complete an MBA in finance there in 1990.
  • Michael Petrie, (bottom row, center) chairman and CEO of Merchants Bancorp and Merchants Bank of Indiana, a $3.9 billion bank headquartered in Carmel, Indiana, and chairman and CEO of Merchants Capital Corp., a mortgage banking firm specializing in multifamily housing and health care facilities finance. He received a bachelor’s degree in finance in 1979 and an MBA in 1983, both from Kelley. He serves on the national board for the IU Varsity Club and the advisory board for the IU Center for Real Estate Studies.

The 2019 Distinguished Entrepreneur Award will be presented to Richard L. Johnson, (bottom row, right) president and CEO of Johnson Ventures, Inc., an operating and investment company based in Columbus, Indiana. Its current operating companies include Johnson Agricultural, Lenny’s Franchise Systems, and Black Jewell Popcorn. He has served through the IU Foundation, the Johnson Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation and IUPUC. He was instrumental in efforts to establish the J. Irwin Miller Master of Architecture Program in Columbus. He earned a bachelor’s degree in entrepreneurship and marketing from Kelley in 1981.

Katharine Finn, (top, right) a senior consultant in strategy and analytics office at Deloitte Consulting LLP, based in Chicago, will receive the Volunteer Leadership Award. She earned a bachelor’s degree in information systems in 2014. She has served as the KSB Alumni Association Analytics Council chair for the last two years and is an advisor for the Kelley Institute of Business Analytics.

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A Silicon Valley innovator, an NFL executive and other Kelley alumni join a former ambassador in addressing graduates

Posted on by George Vlahakis

 

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – A Silicon Valley innovator, a former U.S. ambassador, an NFL executive, an inaugural member of the 3/2 accounting MBA program and a long-time Kelley administrator are speaking to this year’s graduates of the various degree programs at Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business.

The annual recognition ceremonies complement IU’s commencement activities during the weekend of May 3-4. Speakers from the business world will offer Kelley graduates advice and encouragement tailored to them.

John C. Shoemaker, board chairman of Extreme Networks, a former executive vice president of Sun Microsystems and a 1966 Kelley MBA graduate (pictured right), will speak to MBA graduates May 3 at the IU Auditorium.

With more than three decades of experience in high tech, Shoemaker held various executive management positions at Sun Microsystems from 1990 through 2004, including executive vice president for worldwide operations, executive vice president and general manager of its Computer Systems Division. He also served in a number of senior executive positions with Xerox Corp., including as its senior vice president of worldwide marketing. (more…)

Jon Beroza Found His Way to a Big Four Firm with Kelley Undergraduate Career Services

Posted on by Kelley School

 

Jon Beroza grew up in a small town on Long Island, and after spending his college years in mid-size Bloomington and completing a summer internship in Chicago, he’s ready to start his career in a big city. Beroza just landed his ideal job at Deloitte Consulting in Chicago.

With more than 4,000 employees in 500,000 square feet of office space near the (former) Sears Tower, the Deloitte office is one of the largest professional services organizations in the city. “I always envisioned a career with a Big 4 Four firm but did not know how to break into the industry,” says Beroza, who is majoring in finance and technology management at the Kelley School of Business.

Last summer, Beroza’s internship in Chicago at a smaller firm offered a valuable experience in addition to the business skills gained; he learned how to be independent in Chicago on his own. “It was scary for sure moving to Chicago. But I quickly learned to navigate the city and it didn’t seem so overwhelming,” says Beroza. After his internship, he decided that he would like to explore career options at larger firms, like Deloitte.

Beroza will begin his new career this summer as a business technology analyst. “Deloitte offers everything I was looking for-it’s a large company where I can leverage different service lines representing different industries and sectors,” he says. “It has a broad reach.”

Based on his experiences, what is Beroza’s advice to other Kelley students? “Take advantage of the resources available. Don’t be afraid to ask questions. Kelley and the Undergraduate Career Services team do a good job of connecting students with resources, but they are not going to just hand everything to you. It’s really up to the student to take some initiative,” he says.

The Kelley Undergraduate Career Services is an important and valuable resource for students at Kelley. The UCS has a team of experienced professionals who help students find the career that is right for them. They organize career fairs and on-site company visits and interviews. The staff also provide a range of personalized job-search coaching sessions from writing a resume to developing strong interview skills. Utilizing the available resources can best prepare Kelley students for career success.

No. 1 ranking highlights Kelley’s leadership role in researching and advancing entrepreneurship

Posted on by George Vlahakis

 

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business is again No. 1 in the 2019 World Rankings for Entrepreneurship Productivity, which examined research in the discipline at nearly 500 colleges and universities worldwide.

Kelley has consistently been at the top of these rankings, which come out every five years.

Between 2014 and 2018, the Neely Institute for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at Texas Christian University tracked research articles in three top entrepreneurship journals — Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal, Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice.

The rankings – established 10 years ago — are based on the number of published articles in these publications, which also are among the Financial Times’ overall list of 50 leading business journals.

As in the past, research activity by faculty in Kelley’s Department of Management and Entrepreneurship far outpaced those at other universities. The 37 articles published by Kelley faculty nearly doubled the number of articles by professors at Imperial College London, who published 21 articles.

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Kelley director of diversity initiatives brings same passion for students as he does on stage

Posted on by George Vlahakis

 

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Carmund White has performed on some big stages around the world. Sometimes he’s been out there alone and other times he’s been part of an ensemble.

An opera tenor, White’s sung the roles of the smuggler character “Remendado” in Bizet’s opera, “Carmen.” He’s been the villain “Monastotos” in Mozart’s “The Magic Flute.” He was in the world premiere of an opera based on Thornton Wilder’s classic, “Our Town.” He’s sung before audiences in Washington, in South Africa, Indianapolis and across the country.

Today, White is undergraduate director of diversity initiatives for the Indiana University Kelley School of Business. While the venues were different, White’s experience as a vocal artist enables him to understand the pressures of his students to also perform well. He also understands the importance of having a mentor.

“I think that it helps to have some perspective,” he said of his previous career.

“I know that I put more pressure on myself than my parents put on me, and I know that my students put enormous amounts of pressure on themselves,” he said. “They’re driving themselves so hard. I can relate to them and I try to help them realize that while they are exceptional if they pull it back a little bit, they’ll be fine.”

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Helping improve education and opportunities for women in India at the heart of Kelley project

Posted on by George Vlahakis

 

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Connections that 100 Kelley Direct online MBA students hoped to make during their recent Kelley Connect Week went far beyond the usual networking opportunities.

If they are indeed successful, their efforts will help empower young women in rural areas of Bihar province, India, and perhaps beyond.

Kshitiz Anand, an Indiana University alumnus (front-row, center in above image), returned to Bloomington in early March to share with Kelley Direct students the vision that he and his wife Vatsala have been working to achieve since 2013 through the Happy Horizons Trust.

The non-governmental organization is trying to improve the quality of education in rural India, particularly for young women who often are discouraged from pursuing more than a basic education. It has about 40 employees (full-time and part-time) and works with about 25,000 students at 40 schools in Bihar through its different programs.

With about 315 million students, the Indian educational system is among the largest in the world. However, there is a shortage of teachers in rural areas of India, which affects student development, and many children in rural areas are first-generation students. Poor educational quality leads to illiteracy.

Happy Horizons Trust has created programs that help with the students’ cognitive, motor, social and creative skills. For example, pictured below is an internet awareness course being taught to 20 young women in the village of Kahra, to help them better understand digital technology and its applications.

Discussions in India between Anand and Ramesh Venkataraman, chair of Kelley Direct MBA and MS programs and the John R. Gibbs Professor of information systems, led to the live case project that Kelley Direct students worked on during Kelley Connect Week. Will Geoghegan, clinical assistant professor of management and entrepreneurship, wrote the case.

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Opa! Students travel to Greece, learn from someone known for her love for the country

Posted on by George Vlahakis

 

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Many around Indiana University, the Kelley School of Business and beyond know of Tatiana Kolovou’s love for the land of her birth, Greece.

As attested by the headline of recent article in Hellas Journal, a major Greek publication, the Kelley faculty member also is known as “the Greek professor in the U.S. who teaches her students to love our country.”

Over the last decade, Kolovou, a senior lecturer of business communication, has taken about 300 Kelley School undergraduates and MBA students to Greece as part of immersion courses about the country, its economy and culture. She and two dozen undergraduate students in her “Business Culture of Greece” class traveled there during spring break on March 10-17.

They visited companies and met with business professionals involved in a variety of industries, including the Greek offices of global advertising giant, McCann;  Greece’s leading digital media communications company, Antenna Group;  a natural cosmetics company, Apivita; an outdoor recreational products manufacturer, Terra Nation; an olive oil producer and tourism and travel firms.

The people they met included Anastasios Economou, founder of the investment holding company iGroup who has been called the “Mark Cuban of Greece;” and Nikos Panayiotopoulos, a member of Greece’s parliament.

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