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~EKISTAN: THUNDERB I RD Maga z ine WWW.THU D ERB I RD.EDU 55 /2/2 003 THUNDERBIRD Page 2 Leading Through Tough Times Firesto ne CEO John Lampe '73 had the task of leading his people th rough the recall crisis Page 8 Alumni Profiles Unique people in unique places pursu ing u nique careers. Meet Ambassador Lyo ns Brown and Kim Wiehl Page 10 Competing Through People How do you develop leaders? One way: teach them how to be active leaders fro m day o ne Page 14 Expanding Thunderbird Europe With outstand ing new facilities, the School will expand executive programs th roughout Europe Page 16 Uzbekistan Life after Thunderbi rd can take you anywhere Page 18 Class Trip to China Opens Doors EMBA student fi nds a new li fe in a new land Page 22 Held Hostage in Moscow Trapped in the theater siege, a T-bird in tern survives a lesson in life - and death T A BLE O F CONTE N TS Ranked # 1 in international business by The Wall Street Journal and U.S. News & World Report Thunderbird is America's premier source of global management education with operations in the United States, France, Russia, China, Japan, Mexico, Taiwan and Brazil. Page 1 TRAINING LEADERS President's message Page 13 BUSINESS ENGLISH IMMERSION ST Y LE For MBA studen15 and executives, this lO-week program is oU15tanding Page 21 MIMLA CHANGES ITS DEGREE NAME Becomes Global MBA for Latin Amelican Managers Page 24 WANTED : INTERNSH I PS AND STRONG INTERNS Given the economy, internship oppol1unities are critical for swden15 and great for companies Page 26 LOO KING FOR ADVENTURE For T-birds, taking the road less traveled is typical Page 30 TRADITION AND C HARACTER The Barton Kyle Yount Award Page 31 AMERICAS CONFEREN CE Building Brand in Latin America Page 32 T-BIRD NEWS Page 36 NETWORK NEWS Homecoming 2002 From balloons and galas to rugby and career advice, Homecoming offers something for everyone Page 41 U PD ATES ABOUT OUR COVER lohn Lampe '73 didn 't want the CEO position. But the 30-year Firestone employee couldn 't ignore his friends and company. He accepted the challenge and has performed admirably. ~~------------ P AGE 55/2/200 3 ONE TRAI N I NG LEADERS The big picture includes ethics and integrity I t', ,bout ",dernhlp, 'nd It ,iwaY' h" b"n. If there is one lesson to be taken from this issue of Thunderbird magazine, that would be it. Thunderbird alumnus John Lampe makes the point throughout his interview. Thunderbird professor Dr. Caren Siehl expands on the theme in her article as well. Somewhere in the last year or two of news about corporate accounting scandals, many of us have been reminded in very clear terms how important leadership is in an organization. As Siehl and Lampe both point out, it's about more than just issuing orders. It's about the culture and tone of a company, about making it clear what is important and what is not, about what is acceptable and what isn't and about leading by example. The world of business education has spent a considerable amount of time and energy over the past few months examining what part we might have played in creating the climate that made the scandals possible and what role we might play in responding to it. The conversation is continuing, but it has become apparent to all that what we teach in business schools has to include more than just mechanics. It has to include what are often called the "soft" skills of managing people, ethics and leading organizations. stood the importance of the "practical" international business skills, but they also understood there was a bigger picture to be considered as well. The program for the opening-day ceremonies on Thunderbird's first day of classes, Oct. 1, 1946, includes a Statement of Policy. That statement opens with the sentence: "The world today stands on the threshold of a new era: an era in which, if mankind is to suwive, an ever-expanding global trade must help foster mutual understanding and good will among nations." The statement later makes clear that, in the view of Thunderbird's founders, success in this "new era" would require a wider range of knowledge and skills than had previously been expected of U.S. business men and women. "Mutual understanding and good will" meant being open to other cultures and ways of doing business, of being as eager to learn from them as one hoped they would be to learn from us. It meant doing business fairly and with integrity. It meant working toward mutually beneficial business relationships, not exploitative ones. As all Thunderbird alumni recognize, that's nothing new for our School. John Lampe tells us it was part of what he DR. ROY A. HERBERGER, JR., president of Thunderbird, stands before a mural honoring the School's aviation history. Thunderbird now trains students for missions of a very different kind. Those thoughts were laid down almost 60 years ago, but they are as true today - or maybe even more so - as they were then. That eagerness to learn about other peoples and cultures and to do business across political boundaries remains the heart of the Thunderbird experience. That higher calling to pro-learned here in the early '70s, and it's part of what Caren Siehl teaches every day today. But it truly goes back to the founding philosophy of Thunderbird. Those skills are, in a very real sense, the core values of Thunderbird. As part of our EQUIS accreditation process, we have undertaken a comprehensive review and update of our strategic plan. That's a very healthy thing for any organization to do periodically, and the timing has been good for us. It also has served to remind us of the vision that launched Thunderbird in the wake of World War II. Our founders under-mote "mutual understand-ing and good will among nations" is as much a part of our mission today as it was in 1946. It is not a sentiment you will find in the founding documents or mission statements of many other business schools in the world. It is what has historically set us apart, and it will continue to do so. In the wake of the recent corporate scandals and international turmoil, others have come to realize that business people need a bigger vision than simply next quarter's bottom line or this month's stock price. It should be gratifying to all members of the Thunderbird family that your School - and you - recognized that need long ago. • p .2 WWW.THUNDERBIRD. EDU LEADING THROUGH TOUGH TIMES Bringing Bridges tone/Fires tone back from the brink BY LINDSEY MICHAELS .. --. -bird John Lampe '73 was named chairman, CEO and president of Bridgestone/Firestone Americas Holding Company in December 2001 at the height of the Ford Explorer tire controversy. Lampe's handling of that crisis, along with Firestone's subsequent repositioning, has gained him widespread praise. • Lampe's interview with writer Lindsey Michaels addresses those issues .• Bridgestone/Firestone Americas Holdings is a $7.5 billion company that employs more than 51,000 people throughout the Americas. It is a subsidiary of Tokyo-based Bridgestone Corporation. The first question has to be, how does a nice, ethical and humble guy become CEO of a company this size, especially at a time like this? What's the status of all product liability and other issues Firestone was facing? We have nothing pending with either the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration or the state attorneys general; that's all been put to bed. We have litigation, as all large companies do, but we are managing that issue in the same focused way that we manage all of our business issues. We have settled many individ-ual product liability cases where we and the other parties were able to achieve reasonable and mutually acceptable agreements. Our company lost considerable money last year, but we made a commitment to our employees, customers 55 / 2/2003 That's very kind of you to say. I still happen to believe that good things happen to good people. But, I'm probably not any more ethical or humble than anyone else. In my particular case, we were in a very, very, very difficult situation, and I believe I was in the right place at the right time to make a positive difference. Due to the communication and cultural issues, it was decided that an American member of our management team would be in the best position to communicate our message to the American public, to appear before Congress, to lead the company through its most difficult time of testing. I was asked to do that, and I'm very glad I was in a position to contribute. It was an extremely difficult time for me and my family and an extremely difficult decision to make. But I thought about something Mark Twain once said, that 25 years from now you won't remember what you did; you'll remember what you didn't do. And I was afraid that I would remember that I didn't do something that I really needed to do. "MARK TWAIN ONe THAT 25 YEARS FROM NOW YOU WON'T REMEMBER WHAT YOU DID; YOU'LL REMEMBER WHAT YOU DIDN'T DO." 55/2/2003 and suppliers that we were going to be profitable this year, and we will be. So, we made a huge tum-around in just this one year. How did you accomplish that? Well, I tell people that it goes back to customers and our associates. We've had tremendous support, dedication and commitment from our associates at all levels. They stuck with us. They fought for us. They've gotten us though this. And another thing that distinguishes us from our competitors is that we have an extremely loyal dealer base, the people who buy our tires and resell them to consumers. Seventy percent of tire consumers wind up buying a product that is recommended at the tire WWW.THUNDERBIRD . EDU store they go to. We're very fortunate that we have dealers who believe in our product, who believe in our company and who have steadfastly supported us from day one. To me, that's made all the difference in the world. What I hear in you is absolute pride in and dedication to your company. Well, this is the only company I've ever worked for. In the three years between undergraduate school and Thunderbird, I was in the Army. I joined Firestone right after graduating from Thunderbird. I've been here almost 30 years. I do love the company. It's been good to me, and I want to do what's right for the company. I believe in it. I believe in our products. I p .3 respect the people I work with and I respect our dealers. An example. I went to our dealer meeting in Las Vegas after the alumni ceremony at Thunderbird and it was like being back with friends because they are friends. They bring their wives, and Barbara and I enjoy having dinners with them. It's more like a family get-together, and it's something I've enjoyed doing for almost 30 years. You have stayed with Bridgestone/Firestone for 30 years. Tell me about your career, why you've stayed, and where you've been. In some cases, I'm sure it makes sense for some people to move on to a different chal- p.4 lenge with a different company. But in my case, thankfully, I've been given tremendous opportunities throughout my career. I've lived in a number of different countries. I've had a number of different jobs. I've been fortunate enough to be given the kind of challenges that really push you to reach deep inside yourself and do the very best you can. I've never had to change companies to continue to strive for the next level. I've always been challenged here, and I've always been fairly rewarded for what I've done. So, why would I move? I know a number of people who have done the same thing. Another Thunderbird graduate, Mark Emkes '76 has been with the company for 26 years, and like me, it's the only company he's really ever worked for. He's just been promoted to one of the most senior positions within our company. We have a number of people who have 30, 35 and in some cases, 40 years with Firestone. Speaking of Thunderbird, I have to ask what you learned here that prepared you for all of this? The international emphasis that Thunderbird has, I think prepared me for my international assignments. Before Thunderbird, the only exposure I'd had outside the United States was in the Army in Germany. After Thunderbird, I had the privilege to be assigned in five different countries over a 12-year period. Thunderbird certainly prepared me to adapt to foreign situations. While my language : at Thunderbird was German, I never had an ' assignment that let me use that language skill. . But that exposure to learning the German language helped me when I was required to learn , Spanish and Portuguese. I think I learned . Spanish and Portuguese much faster than I would have without the Thunderbird experience. I'm guessing you probably focused on Europe here if you studied German. How transferable is learning the cultural issues of one region to another when you move? I think it's very transferable. I did have two ' assignments with Firestone in Europe, one in Denmark and one in Spain. In my other assignments, Singapore, Costa Rica and Brazil, there was a lot that I learned at Thunderbird that was directly applicable. For instance, [ learned that it was important to acknowledge that there are differences between my culture, my American upbringing and the experiences had by someone else who was raised in a different country. I learned to be open to the fact that there are other ways to do business, that there are other religions, that there are other languages, all different from my frame of reference. I learned WWW.THUNDERBIRD.EDU that an approach or a response to a situation may depend on your cultural references and that these cultural differences do not make a particular approach any less important, any less correct or any less necessary. So I guess opening up my mind to the world was one of the most important things Thunderbird gave me. The thing I see in Thunderbirds is that we're flexible, persistent, and open. You're one. You just promoted one in Mr. Emkes. How critical are those traits in international business now? It's critical. Very, very critical. We truly are a global society. My particular company is extremely global. It's owned by a Japanese company that is traded on the Tokyo stock exchange with shareholders around the world. It has operations in more than 150 countries. I think people, certainly in management positions, have to be open to and accepting of the global nature of business rather than just being isolationist and focusing just on the United States. That's been a tremendous help to me. I don't think I'd be in this position without my international background. I doubt that Mark would be in his position without his international background. You came into your current position at a very difficult time. You had to take over from a management that had been beaten up in the U.S. press. How were you able to use your cross-cultural skills to bridge that transition gap? To convince your Japanese parent of what needed to be done in this culture to start turning things around? Well, fortunately, we had some very highranking people from our Japanese management team who came over to show support for our operations during what we call our darkest days, our darkest hours. They were here 55/2/2003 What I walked away with after spending time with you at Homecoming is that you're a leader, a natural leader who people follow instinctively. Incredible integrity. Character. That has to give you an advantage in a leadership position. How do you use that throughout Firestone? Well, I had an advantage. I've been with the company almost 30 years. I know many, many of our associates at all levels on a first-name basis. I knew all of our dealers - I'd been on the U.S. sales side of the business for 12 years after I came back from Brazil - so I think they did trust me. I think they did believe in me and they knew that I'd treat them with honesty and integrity. So I had the advantage that I didn't have to take two years to convince people of that and what needed to be done. They knew me, and they really supported me from day one. Just in little things, like when I came back from my first Congressional hearing. We flew into the airport and we were all pretty beat up. It had been a rough time and probably one of the scariest things I've ever done. And there were about 100 of our employees out on the tarmac clapping as we got off the plane. Those things let you know you made the right decision in taking the job and make you feel you did a good job in Washington. Our associates made, and make, all the difference in the world. I also made every effort to get out to visit many of our locations, to meet with people on our factory floors. I attended all five of our regional store manager meetings this year and last. Attendance at those meetings includes every one of our 2,000 or so store managers from all over the United States. Every one of the store managers was able to hear about what I with us for almost two months, including the current CEO of Bridgestone Corporation worldwide. One of our executive vice presidents in charge of finance and administration was here for three months. And that proximity certainly helped me in terms of being able to explain what we needed to do. They were able to see first hand that what we were recommending - being open and transparent with Congress, with the media, the regulators - was the right way to approach our situation. The fact "YOU CAN'T JUST YOURSELF IN THE THE BUSINESS IT'S A BALANCE OF THE CRISIS BUT FOR THE FUTURE." that I could talk to them face-to-face day in and day out definitely helped a lot. And, they were very receptive. They understood that this was an issue we needed to confront directly and openly and they supported me throughout that time. believe in and what I think we need to do to move on. I believe in our associates and [ believe in communication, and I think people can sense that and respond to it. I'm a people person. They know that. They believe that. They want that. Especially in tough 55/2/2003 CRISIS AND LET FOUNDER. MANAGING . PLANNING times. You know, it's a leader's job to be able to manage a crisis, but at the same time the leader has got to be able to lead people forward on the business issues. You can't just immerse yourself in the crisis and let the business founder. It's a balance of managing the crisis but planning for WWW.THUND ERBIRD .EDU the future, leading for the future, and I have a lot of people who supported me and helped. It seems that one of the reasons you've been so successful in this crisis is that you spent an entire career building up trust and integrity and improving your leadership skills. From your perspective as a CEO, what are the critical success factors for leading an organization today? I certain ly think integrity, walking the talk, leading by example is important. Respect all those you come in contact with. We respect our associates. We respect the unions in the places where our employees are represented by unions. We have great respect for our dealers; because their success is our success. I really believe that. We say that every time we get together with them. If they're not successful, in the long run we won't be successful. So mutual respect and admiration is something that every-p .5 one in our organization has to demonstrate day in and day out. There are a lot of smart people in the world. And there are a lot of people who are smarter than [ am, so [ don't think it's necessarily an issue of intelligence. Don't get me wrong, you need to be able to think clearly, but if you don't have other attributes - loyalty, dedication, drive - it doesn't matter how smart you are. I think about the incredible complexities of your business, the supply chain and logistics issues, the finance. You obviously have to have all those skills; you run a $7.5 billion company. But what I'm hearing you say is that it's the people skills that make the difference. You can teach people business skills in a lot of cases. You can teach people supply chain management. You can teach people the manufacturing process. But unless a person has the ability to lead others, to get people to follow him or her, to be trusted, it's going to be extremely hard, if not impossible, to be successful. Here at Firestone, we're in the people business; we're in a relationship business. And if we can't build the relationships, if we can't inspire the confidence and trust of the people, then [ don't care how smart we are or how much business acumen we have, we can't be successful. Tell me the toughest decision you've had to make during this past year. There were a lot of difficult decisions. No doubt the toughest decision last year, 2001, which was a very, very difficult year for us, was the decision to close one of our manufacturing plants. Obviously, the demand fell for our products following all of the negative publicity. At that point, our capacity exceeded demand. To survive we had to get our capacity in line with the facts and realities of our business. That meant [ had to make a decision to close one of our facilities. That meant the loss of good-paying jobs for 1,500 of our associates. With the terrible burden it put on them and their families and the small community where that facility was located, it was an extremely tough decision. I look back and it was sti ll the toughest decision I've had to make, probably in my whole career. How did you handle the closing and communication issues? I went to Illinois and I met with the governor and his staff. I met with the mayor of Decatur. I met with our management folks at Decatur and was honest with them. I explained why it had to be done. I talked about how difficult a p.6 decision it was. That it wasn't punishment or revenge. It was just a business fact and we really had no choice. I think the fact that I did go face-to-face and that people could see that I really did care, I think that made all the difference in the world. It didn't make it any easier, but I think it made it more understandable to those involved. What's the thing you're proudest of? I did a lot of things in my life that I'm proud of. I'm certainly proud of my family and how my kids have turned out. From a professional standpoint, I'm proud of the people I work with. If you ask me what I'm proudest of personally, I think it's been these last two years. I look back and it was a decision I almost didn't make, the decision to take the job. If I hadn't taken it, I think I would look back and always regret not taking it, not doing everything I could to try to help this company in the situation we were in. So, I'm proud that I made the right decision. I can certainly get up and look myself in the mirror in the morning knowing that I've done and continue to do everything I can to make sure that our company goes forward and that it provides employment for 51,000 men and women in the Americas. Where's Firestone going to be five years from now? I have no doubt that Bridgestone/Firestone will continue to be a leader in the U.S. tire industry. Our company made tremendous gains during the '90s when we were the fastest growing tire company in the United States. The recall impacted our passenger tire business but we have made a strong recovery in 2002 and have actually gained market share. Our Firestone brand has stabilized and our Bridgestone brand has shown remarkable growth - up over 30 percent from last year's levels. We will continue to draw strength from our chain of company- owned tire and service centers and we will continue to support the other parts of our business that were not impacted by the recall. Our company will continue "Making it Right" in all aspects of our business. What are the key factors for getting your company back to that position? It goes back to leadership. We must make sure that our stakeholders, the people who are important to us - our associates, customers, dealers, parent corporation - have confidence in us, in our company and in our management so that they continue to support us like they have the last two years. To me, that's going to make all the difference in the world. That's not to say that things like the quality of our products and services aren't important. Quality is a given. You don't even get into the game if you don't have top quality. It's the other things, peoples' attitudes, their desire to work WWW.THUNDERBIRD .EDU hard and dedicate themselves to their personal success and the success of the company, that really make or break your company. When you make a hiring decision, what do you look for in that person? Obviously, there are many key competencies that we look for. Some of these include the ability to coach and develop others through effective communication, the ability to build trust and lead through vision and values, operational and strategic decision making. and recognizing the value of diversity. But beyond these types of competencies, I look for someone who has real passion, a good attitude, likes to work hard and respects people. 55/2/2003 N BUSINESS. ON PEOPLE ... AND, YOU HAVE RIGHT AND THE Are leaders born or trained? I think both. For me, the Army was an extremely good learning experience. I really do think that experience, as well as the fact that I was active in ROTC in college, helped develop me as a leader. But I also think there are a lot of 55 / 2 / 2003 innate natural abilities that people have that help distinguish them as leaders. If someone has the leadership skills and personality traits you're looking for, can you teach them the other business skills? Yes, I believe so. Thunderbird gave me a tremendous education but I didn't come into Firestone knowing everything that I would need over the course of my career. In fact, I'm still learning after 30 years. Certainly a school like Thunderbird gives you a foundation, instills the idea of having a receptive mind, a mind that is ready to learn, but you learn your business skills when you're in business. Every new assignment, every challenge, every new country you're in is a new learning experience. Given the Enron issues, the economic factors involved in running a company your size, besides leadership, what would you say is your single biggest business challenge? The Enron-related type stuff is not something we've ever had to deal with. We've never had to change what we're doing because of any accusations of wrongdoing. We've had some tough times lately, but no one has ever said we weren't open, honest and forthright when responding to the issues that we had. No, my biggest challenge is keeping 51,000 people marching in the same direction. I know you said, don't make it a leadership issue, but again, I think leadership is the biggest issue. No one person can have the business skills necessary to run a business. You've got to rely on people and you've got to have people with those skills. And, you have to lead those people; you have to lead them in the right and same direction. I still think that's a chief executive officer's and senior management's biggest challenge. CAN RUN A WWW.THUNDERBIRD .E DU and that it regains the position I know it deserves within the industry. Then I'll look and see what I want to do personally with the rest of my life. There are a lot of things I love to do that I just haven't gotten much time to do. I love outdoor sports - golf, tennis. I love to fish. I love to boat. I love to play Bridge with my wife, Barbara. All those things have suffered, so at some point in time, I'm looking forward to having the time to do those things. Talk to me about your wife, Barbara, and the role she has played in all of this, especially these last two years. That's a good question. When I interviewed with Firestone at Thunderbird 30 years ago, the company had a practice of interviewing both the candidate and the candidate's spouse. So Barbara and I were both interviewed and we were asked the same questions. "How do you feel about taking risks?" "Give me some examples of some risks you've taken." She and I both had to respond. For years after that, every time I'd see the human resources manager who did that interview, he would tell me the only reason I got another interview, and ultimately the job, was because Barbara was so good in the interview. I still don't know how serious he was but part of me thinks he was very serious. Barbara's been very supportive. This has maybe been more difficult on her than me. She saw what we went through with the Congressional hearings. She saw just how beat up I was at times. Her support and her kicking me out of bed and telling me to quit feeling sorry for myself made a tremendous difference. Judging from what you said at Homecoming, this isn't the first time you and Barbara have faced adversity. Barbara is German. met her while I was in the Army in Germany. We YOU'VE GOT TO RELY WITH THOSE SKI LLS. TO LEAD IN THE SAME DIRECTION" married a year and a half after we met. Our son was born a little over a year later and we've been together ever since. So you dragged a new bride to a new country with a new baby and went to school? (Chuckle) It was worse What's next for you? I don't know. We still have some challenges. I'm not saying that everything is solved or that it's not fun anymore. In fact, it's starting to get fun again; it's certainly a challenge. I want to make sure this company is on the right track that that. My classes at Thunderbird started when my son was only three weeks old, so he couldn't fly. So I flew back to the United States, then Barbara flew here, by herself with our son, three weeks later. Imagine this. /t's the first time she's been in the United States. She doesn't drive. She gets off the airplane at the Phoenix airport p.? when you still had to go down the stairs from the plane onto the tarmac. It was 120 degrees and completely overwhelming. We didn't have any money; we lived off the GI bill and what we could borrow in student loans and so forth . At one point, we had to go on food stamps and we were so embarrassed that we'd drive to the other side of Phoenix to shop so that no one would know us. But, we made it through. So a lot of credit goes to Barbara. How do you keep a marriage together for 3D-plus years? We enjoy each other's company. We enjoy many of the same things. We love playing Bridge together. We love antique hunting together. We love the weekends we do get to spend together. We love to be together. It's just always been that way. I've moved my family 12 times in 20 years. Half of them were overseas moves. Living in hotels for three months at a time and she's been just extremely supportive in helping me get through those transition times. I think interviewing spouses was one of the smartest things Firestone did. When you're asking people to do the things Firestone asked people to do - the international assignments, the moving and the job advancements - if the spouse can't deal with that or doesn't want to do that, you're going to have a real problem with the employee. You have both a son and a daughter. Tell me about them. Sure, I'm proud of them, more proud than I could ever say. My son, Patrick, was director of purchasing at the Bellagio casino in Las Vegas. He just resigned that position because he got his law degree by going to school at night at UNLY. He's accepted a position with a law firm in Chicago and is now clerking for a judge here in Phoenix, where he will be for a year. I'm just so proud of him. He did so well in the business world, then to have him go back to school at night to get a law degree and to do as well as he's done, certainly I'm proud. My daughter, Meike, lives in New York City. She moved there after graduating from Wake Forest. She worked for a few years before returning to school at Columbia, where she received a master in organizational psychology. She just accepted a position in human resources at a large international company and simply loves it - she's in seventh heaven. She is a wonderfuL caring person. One final question. If you could have people know two things about Firestone, what would that be? That Firestone did the right thing during the last two years. That it took responsibility for its issues, for its products and did the right thing. And that we make great products. • -P.8---------_1~ ~O F7 L ~S III-_________ 55_/2_/20_03 UNIQUE PEOPLE. UNIQUE PLACES. UNIQUE CAREERS. BY LINDSEY MICHAELS W L. Lyons Brown '60 grew up in a family that was attuned to interna- • tional activities. His grandfather spent part of his career as a U.S. Army military attache in five different European countries. Brown spent several summers working in France while a student at the University of Virginia. So, after earning a B.A. in history from the University of Virginia, Brown headed west to Thunderbird to complete his bachelor's degree in Foreign Trade. • "Thunderbird offered an interesting new approach to international business that hadn't been seen in business schools," said Brown. "I was particularly impressed by the language portion of the Thunderbird education. "At the time, you normally couldn't get 'credit' for language courses as part of a business degree in schools like Harvard, Wharton or Virginia. I liked the fact that Thunderbird allowed me to combine business and language training. The School also offered some very good courses for dealing with and understanding Europeans, especially where their traditions differed, what you should and shouldn't say and do, how their way of doing business differed from ours." Brown benefited from that training. After graduation, the French-speaking Brown was immediately assigned to the international division of his family's publicly held wine and spirits business. He moved to France to help launch Brown-Forman Corporation's Jack Daniels brand in six European countries and to act as the liaison between Brown-Forman and its European suppliers. "There were a significant number of trade tariffs in place at that time," he said. "One was that spirits made with grain couldn't be advertised in local French media. Of course, Jack Daniels was made with grain and French cognac was not. Jack Daniels wasn't even known in Europe then. That meant we started with one hand tied behind our backs." Brown began by finding good importers who would champion his product - a task he said was difficult. Those importers then found cre-ative ways to get their products before consumers - tastings, special-event promotions, point-of-sale displays. Targeting those hotels that catered to Americans helped provide a breakthrough. "Once they realized how well Jack Daniels sold - and that they could make money on it - they started to buy. Restaurants and stores followed later on." Brown eventually led the company's international division. He served as president and CEO of Brown-Forman from 1975 to 1983; as chairman and CEO until 1993; and as chairman until 1995. He is proud of how shareholder value increased throughout that time. "One of my greatest sources of professional pride was being named to the President's Advisory Council for Trade Policy and Negotiations by President Reagan in 1988. The council was created by an act of Congress and consists of about 35 people representing business, labor and the environment who advise Congress on trade issues before they can be passed. The first President Bush reappointed me in 1990 and 1992, and President Clinton in 1994. "My most memorable moment was chairing the subcommittee in charge of the Uruguay Round of GAlT, which significantly liberalized world trade. In the United States, the summary of the recommendation to Congress to pass the agreement was signed by two people: President Clinton and me." President George W. Bush nominated Brown as U.S. Ambassador to Austria in May 2001 . The Senate confirmed him in November 2001 . "I told the White House when I was first called that I didn't speak German and that concerned me. They told me it was important that I understood international business, trade and administering large enterprises, and Europe, and that English could be used everywhere in Austria. They pointed out that many ambassa- * Before switching to its current master's degree format in 1969, Thunderbird offered a B.S. in Foreign Trade. dors don't speak the language of the country to which they're assigned." Brown listened, but, being a T-bird, he started taking German classes right away - a practice he continues. "Speaking the local language, especially when you're doing business with someone, is still important, even though most business can be conducted in English now. Speaking to someone in his or her language establishes rapport. If nothing else, they appreciate that you're making the effort. But more than that, they may not be totally comfortable in English, so it can remove important barriers. "Even today, when I go outside of Vienna, where few Austrians speak English, people are so appreciative of the fact that I've learned German. They comment on that all the time." Of course, Brown said, the priorities of U.S. ambassadors worldwide changed dramatically between the time of his appointment and the 9/11 terrorists attacks. Ambassadors continue to foster bilateral relationships, trade and investment, but counter-terrorism and security have been added as top priorities. This is especially true for Brown in Austria, which is positioned strategically along a key route to the Middle East. "One of the greatest draws of Thunderbird is its language training," he maintains. "When that is added to its outstanding courses on local business and culture, the School is still unique." 55 / 2 / 200 3 Kim Wiehl 'SO never envisioned a career in export banking - lining up risk insurance and structuring loans so companies can sell into emerging market countries. In fact. she'd never even considered banking. A French language major who minored in economics and international politics and who had studied twice in France, as well as in Oxford, England, and Slovenia, before attending Thunderbird, Wiehl just knew she wanted to work abroad. She's accomplished that, and more. Wiehl spent most of the last 15 years in London focused on export finance for projects in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Ten of those years were with Chase, mostly as director of loan syndications. She then spent her last four years with the newly merged JPMorganChase as managing director, Central and Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa Structured Debt, where she raised more than US$4.s billion in syndicated financing and won the Central European Syndicated Loan House 2000 award. Wiehl is now secretary-general, the Berne Union, an international group of credit and investment insurers whose 51 members did almost US$SOO billion in cross-border trade and investment during 200l. "Choosing the finance track at Thunderbird wasn't a terribly conscious decision. 1 just found that I was a little bit more practical and WWW.THUNDERBIRD.EDU less creative," said Wiehl. "I could also see more career possibilities and international assignment options through the finance track." According to Wiehl. her Thunderbird finance training helped get her into Chemical Bank's training program, where she performed extremely well. "If you did quite well in the bank training program, you got first choice of which department you wanted to go to. I chose international." Based in New York and focused on commodities, Wiehl's first memorable deal was actually the "dream deal" she didn't make. "We were flown down to Florida in a private jet to meet with some Colombians who were exporting coffee to the United States. Everything looked right on the surface. They did a great presentation, geared to impress the typical New York banker. But, p.9 that deal ultimately lost a lot of money on it, and so, Wiehl was vindicated. "A lot of people who worked in international had never been outside of the state where they were born, let alone the country. Having already been abroad so much for school, and having studied at Thunderbird, my international orientation set me apart. It was the difference between reading a book about how to ride a bicycle and having actually ridden one." Another favorite deal involved helping Ethiopian Airlines purchase planes from Boeing. "On the surface, the deal looked untouchable. It was about US$300 million and there seemed no way they could repay. But working through the options, working with the people, going down there, understanding how important that airline was for the whole Ethiopian economy, for the government, we realized that we really could and should put together a structure that would work." Once Wiehl and her team were able to cement a partnership with GE Capital to share the risk. a group of international lenders made the loans, using the airplanes as collateral. 'The members of the Berne Union alone did more than $500 billion worth of international trade like that last year," said Wiehl. "That's all trade that probably would not have happened without the services offered by our members." Much of that financing is for projects: power plants, oil refineries, roads, telecommunications. "I recently did financing for a motorway in Croatia, which was pretty ravaged by war. They really, really needed to get tourism up and running again. And highways were critical for getting people from the popular cities to the tourist spots along the coast. "What we do is not mundane; it is hard work," she said. "Even when we come up with really creative solutions, we can run into roadblocks. The legal system can't accommodate the structures. This is going to cost more than someone can pay. A bank you thought was going to join you changed its mind. But, that's what motivates me - the fact that you can do something special that seems un-doable. 'This is also fun. because of my background, I asked some different kinds of questions, and kept asking them. My 'international intuition' told me something wasn't right." "M y international "Just in the past month, I've been to Slovenia, to Croatia, the Czech Republic. Next month I'm going to Moscow. Our April meeting was in Beijing. China. Sometimes I'm working day and night. But again, it's very rewarding to go into these countries and see the changes you're helping to bring about. Ultimately, Wiehl and her group declined the deal - a decision not taken by many of the competitors. However, the banks that did orientation set me apart. It was the difference between reading a book about how to ride a bicycle and having actually ridden one." "I wouldn't be here without Thunderbird." • FACULTY VIEWPOINT COMPETING THROUGH PEOPLE Developing leaders to lead change through people, systems and processes BY DR. CAREN SIEHL, AsSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF MANAGEMENT I believe th at no matter what your job, no matter what your level within your company, you are expected to lead. This is completely independent of job tiLie. It's a point on which I am very adamant. It is also the premise behind the Competing Through People course I teach at Thunderbird . All Thunderbird students take this cl ass. All learn how and why Liley must take an active leadership role within their companies - beginning the day Liley join. The role of managers and leaders is shifting as business environments shift. Leadership has now become a core competitive adva ntage. Companies need managers and leaders who ca n help them be faster in delivering products and services, and more innovative in the ways they manage, lead and add value to th at company. p. I I This means you can't just have a few leaders higher up. You need leadership throughout th e organiza tion. Sure, people lead directly, i.e., they have direct reports. But even if they don't have direct reports, they must still be expected to lead through influenci ng. whether it's influencing peers, influencing customers or influencing other stakeho lders. I push my students very hard to take seriously their role as leaders. That's because you have to get the information flowing in order to be competi ti ve. And you really ca n't do that if you don't have people who are serious about the need to understand the business environment, the need to analyze ways to make Lllings better and the need to communi cate about what they learn and do. Most Thunderbird students embrace this premise because it is empowering. Whereas many of their peers at other schools enter compani es, especia lly larger companies, saying. "What can I do, I'm only one person," Thunderbird students enter knowing Lllat no matter what level or type of job they take, in whatever functional area - finance, marketing. or whatever - they can and must expect to make an impact from day one. Once they understand - and accept - the fact that leadership must exist throughout the company, they rea lize they must lead the cllange. We then focus on driving competitive adva ntage through organizational capabili ty, people, systems and processes. ORGANIZATIONAL CAPABILITY The basic premise behind organizatio nal capabili ty is that you must first understand the external envi ronment in which the business operates. That mea ns having a good solid understanding of suppli ers, customers, regulatory agencies, Wall SLreet and other key stakeholders - then ensuring that all of your people understand th at, too. Only by doing that can everyo ne gauge wheLiler the internal processes make sense, and the change you need to make to move closer to your goals. ext, you must determine what your competitive advantage should be. Not what it currenLly is but what it should be. Then, your job as a leader is to assess where you are as an orga ni zation, where you need to go and what you need to change. There are five different parts of organizati onal capabi li ty: culture or shared mindset, governance cho ices, role competencies, ro le consequences and leadership throughout. 1) CULTURE / SHARED MINDSET Shared mindset or culture are the va lues and beliefs that are shared by a group of people within an organization that influence their thinking. their actions and their emotional connection to the company. The real inte rest here is the connection between the espoused values and beliefs - what we say is important - and the el1acted values and beliefs - what we actually do. To have a positive impact within an o rga nizatio n, there should be a high level of consistency between those two. What the research has shown is that people look to Llleir immediate boss to determine the level of consistency and the daY- lo-day impact of the shared values on behaviors and actio ns. So, most of our students, when they take jobs, wi ll have people reporting to them, people who are lookin g at them to determine "What really mallers around here?" "What's this culture all about?" And, they'll be looking for a high level of consi stency. That means you can and should inspire your team even if you can't directl y change the world outside your unit. In large companies, corporate culture ca n take a very lo ng time to change. Unless you're in one of the top management positio ns, you're probably not go ing to change the culture of th e entire organization. That's OK. Start where you can. Impact the culture of your team, business unit and peers. p . I 2 WWW. T HU NDE RB IR D.EDU 5 5 / 2 / 2003 So, you've just joined the company? Where do you begin? That's a very complex questi on. You start by knowing who you are as a leader. What's important to you. Then you see if that lines up with the company and culture of which you've become a part. Is it a d ose enough match so that you can be true to who you are and suppo rtive of the orga nization at the same time? If so, th e change begins with eadl day- today in teracti on, by ro le modeling, th rough a real d ear focus on communication, by aligning rewards and consequences so that they reinforce those values, by usin g the selection system so that you hire people who, in fact, reinforce those values, by using development opportuniti es as a way of not just teaching technical ski lls, but of reinfo rcing values. It can be as small as the way in whi ch you set an agenda for a meeting. If you're always talking about customer service, yet customer service related items are always number 14 and 15 on your agenda, when you know you never get past item nine, that's sending a very sharp signal that customer service really doesn't maller that much to you. If you rea lly wa nt to have an impact on culture, you have to be committed to do ing it, and you have to be in it for the med ium- to lo ngterm . It's velY difficult to get sho rt-term cu lture change un less you fire a number of people then hire all new peopl e who fi t perfectly. Shy of that, culture change is an evo lutio nary process that requ ires time and commitm nl. The o ne exception to this is a time of crisis. People tend to be a little mo re open to culture d l ange during a cri sis; the problem is, they often revert back to their o ld behavio rs o nce the crisis passes. 2) GOVE RNAN CE C H OIC ES Governance is all about how you coo rd ina te work within a compa ny or department. It deals wi th what structures you would choose, whidl forms o f teamwork, and how you use informatio n technology to furth er coordination and co nnecti on. Since the industrial revo luti on, we've worked in hiera rchi es. Some organizatio ns have moved to a matrix structure in order There are many compa nies grappling Witll big shifts right now. For example, in the medi cal industry around bio- tech and bio-genetics. That's a who le di ffe rent skill set than what had been needed in tlle pa l. So, if you' re in that industry, how do you acquire tllose competencies? Are you going to dlange your selection process? Are you go ing to dlange your development process? Are you going to use a combination of the two? Most of our Thunderbird students find this area interesting because it's something each of them will have to do: hi rin g. fi ring and helping people develop skills. What do you look for when hiring? The message I try to get through to our students is that there is no preordained right or wrong answer as to who to hire. You have to determine what competencies are needed for eadl job to drive competi tive adva ntage in your part of the business. Once you know what those competencies are, you can start using both direct and unobtrusive measures to ascertain if that person has the competencies, or whetller o r not they a re willing to acqui re them. It's a will/s kill question: Do tlley have the skill already? Or do tlley have the willi ngness to acquire skills? 4 ) ROLE CONSEQUEN C ES This is where you get into issues SUd l as whether someone has the skill but doesn't really care to use it, about motivating people to actually del iver perfo rmance. We ask people, have you designed and implemented measures for whatever the performance is tllat you want? Then what are the rewards or negative consequences that are attadled to either the delivery - or lack of delivery - of that performance? What results from that is that people really come to internalize, on a personal level, what's really importan t about tllat job in terms o f delivering competitive advantage. The other main point I try to emphasize in dass is that you need to really tailor rewa rd s and consequences to earn individual. You need not just rewards, but valued rewards. Understand that what one to increase coord inatio n. ow there's a lot of ta lk about network structures. Thi s, of course, di ffe rs greatly by culture. There <j re some cultures, where a high power d istance is va lued, that seem much more supStudents debate leadership issues inside and outside of class. person views as a valued reward might not be the least bi t motivating to another. So, one of your greatest chall enges - and oppo l1uni ties - as a manager is investing the time to fi nd out what each of your po rtive of hi erard lical structures. Japan and France are two sum cu ltu res. There are very few peopl e at a mid- to lower-manager level who a re goi ng to significantly change the overall structure of an o rganizatio n. Your goal as a new employee tllen is to understand the structure, then to figu re out the best way to get your work done in it. To make the types of connections you need to get your work do ne effectively. 3) ROLE COM PETEN CIES Competencies are the knowledge, skills and abilities an individual or team would need to perform a pa rticular job or tas k, now and in tlle futu re. This is where you really have to th ink about how to use selection and development to drive competi tive adva ntage. There are two basic ways to acquire competencies. You either select people who have them, or you train and develop the people you already have witll in th e o rganization so they get tllem. The real chall enge is: can you use selection and development in a strategic way to drive competitive advantage? You may, for instance, say that customer service is important on a macro level within the o rga ni za tion, but as you look at each speci fic job, how are you buil di ng the need for customer selvice skills into your selection process, your development process - both fo r today and in the future? people really value. But be ca reful, because what is valued doesn't just differ by culture, it also differs by individual wi th in each culture. Thunderbird s, by virtue of the fact that they ten d to go to work in so many other cultures, could run into real problems if they over-general-ized with in a cultu re. If you're an American, for instance, and you go to work in Japan believing that everybody there values team-based rewards because Japan is a very collectivist culture, you may miss an opportunity to influence perfo rmance. Yes, you might have a team of 10, and eight of them rea lly value those team-based rewards. But tll e other two may not. If you do n't recognize the differences and make ad justments, you'll lose the abili ty to motivate those two people - who are one-fifth of your team. 5) LEADER SH IP T HROUGHOUT We at Thunderb ird acti vely work to grow and groom world leaders, people who lead people as well as they lead change - in different compa ni es, in di ffe rent cul tures, in good times as well as bad. The principles we teach in our Competin g Through People course wi ll defin itely drive performance. But, remember, this is a never-end ing cyde that must be embraced and supported th roughout o ne's ca reer. _ 55/2/2003 WWW.THUNDERBIRD .EDU p. 1 3 MBA program was to disconnea from my work and adapt once again to student life before starting my degree program," said Joaquin Margain '02, who runs his own business in Mexico. "I had been working and preparing for the GMAT, and that did not work well for me. "Besides the English language training. other Pre-MBA benefits for me induded learning to Thunderbird's Business English programs. So do companies, like the SK Group, and individual executives who need to quickly improve their business English skills. work in cross-cultural groups, learning the case-style teaching method that is used at Thunderbird and getting comfortable with the School and community before dasses began. "What I didn't expect, though, was the excellent and friendly attention all the staff and faculty associated with the Thunderbird Language & Culture Center offered us students. They did everything they could to help us. I can't imagine how different my Thunderbird experience might have been without their individual guidance early on." BUSINESS ENGLISH IMMERSION STYLE Offered three times each year - in the spring. summer and fall - the Pre-MBA Intensive Language Program attraas more than 150 students a year. Cost is US$6,250, which indudes all books and materials. Custom corporate programs are also popular. Program focus areas indude: Need to rapidly improve your business English, U.S. culture and/or study skills? If so, the Thunderbird Language & Culture Center's Pre-MBA Intensive English Program is an excellent resource. This lO-week, 25-hour-per-week program was initially designed for non-native English speakers preparing to attend U.S. graduate schools. But, the program has proven so successful it now attracts corporate executives as well. "Our Pre-MBA Intensive English program is unique in that it offers a fu ll 250 hours of sound, solid immersion learning." said Beth Stoops, senior direaor, Thunderbird language & Culture Center. "Most other programs offer just 160 hours. Our dass size is also smaller, just six to eight students compared to 12 to 20 in other programs. And, because more than 90 percent of our graduates enroll in Thunderbird, the cultural, gender, work history and age mix of our students mirror those of the overall campus." Thunderbird created its Pre-MBA Intensive English program in the early 1990s to specifically serve the needs of otherwise-qualified potential students whose TOEFL (English) scores wouldn't qualify them for Thunderbird. Participants expand vocabularies, praaice listening to the spoken word and master writing skills. However, they also learn how to work in a multicultural environment. how to resolve disputes appropriately within a U.S. context and how to participate effectively in an American- style dassroom. Students also take cultural field trips, make business site visits and receive business leaders as speakers to their dass. "Those executives like the faa that in addition to honing their business English skills, they can also learn about American culture and make business contacts within the safe and extremely well-mentored environment we provide here at Thunderbird," Stoops said. Pre-MBA program participants have full access to all Thunderbird campus resources. That indudes research databases, facilities and access to on-campus party and dub events. However, they also benefit from something regular incoming students rarely get: the type of highly nurturing. seamless, "family-style" assistance with insurance, family relocation, banking. etc., for which Thunderbird's Executive Education department is famous. "What we find," said Stoops, "is that our students become so comfortable and acculturated while in our care that they often take a leadership role in helping their fellow students adjust and find their way around when they arrive on campus to commence their degree dasses." "My main objective in enrolling in the Pre- CONVERSATION SKILLS: practicing formal and informal conversation for everyday situations, developing executive-style presentations and working on pronunciation. CRITICAL liSTENING SKILLS: enhancing business- listening skills, note-taking skills, as well as listening strategies for social interactions. ENGLISH FOR CORPORATE INTERACfION: building discussion skills and a broad business vocabulary through the careful use of special business readings and the "case-study" method. AMERICAN CULTURE ORlENTATION: exploring key elements of American culture, induding values, non-verbal communication patterns, relationships, family life and education. STRATEGIC READING COMPREHENSION: enhancing reading skills through learning and practicing reading techniques. The Thunderbird language & Culture Center - part of Thunderbird's Executive Education unit - also provides custom language and culture programs for those seeking a quality foreign or English as a Second language immersion experience. It also offers regional business and market practice training programs. • FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION, please contact Prof. Beth Stoops, senior director, Thunderbird language & Culture Center by telephone at (602) 978-7779 or by email at stoopsb@thunderbird. edu. -liNDSEY MICHAELS p . 1 4 WWW.T HUNOERBIRO .E OU 55/2/2003 55/2 / 2003 WWW.THUNOERBIRO.EOU p.15 EXPANDING THUNDERBIRD EUROPE School dedicates new facilities in style On Oct. 3, Thunderbird took the next step in its strategic plan to "think global and be local" with the dedication of its new facilities at Thunderbird Europe. Thunderbird has had a European campus on the Site d'Archamps, an international business park located near Geneva, since 1993. However, the School had dearly outgrown the capacity of the 17th-century farmhouse which had welcomed students from Glendale. Thus, four years ago, Thunderbird began working with the Conseil Regional de la Haute Savoie (the local government), and the Site d'Archamps management on an expansion plan. Today, the Thunderbird Europe site indudes a new 1,400-square-meter (13,SOO-squarefoot) building which consists of four auditoriums, six dassrooms and 12 breakout rooms, all equipped with state-of-the-art technology. It stands ready to welcome full-time students and executive education participants. Events began early on Thursday with a conference on "Educating Present and Future Executives for a Tumultuous Global Environment: Urgent Risks and Emerging Opportunities." The conference took the form of a panel discussion, with President Dr. Roy Herberger, Prof. Dave Bowen, dean of Faculty &. Programs, Dr. John Seybolt, senior vice president for Institutional Advancement &. Alliances, and the RT. Hon. the Lord Holme of Cheltenham as speakers. Joshua Jampol, a journalist for the International Herald Tribune, served as moderator. At 10:30, the guests - about 400 people - were welcomed by a four-man Dixieland band BY BEATRICE BERNESCUT '90 as they gathered in a specially built tent pavilion to hear the presentations. The guest list induded not only those who had attended the morning conference, but members of the Thunderbird Board of Trustees, the Thunderbird Global Council and the Archamps Board of Directors, as well as local supporters and corporate dients. Dr. Yahia Zoubir, the Thunderbird Europe director, opened the proceedings by welcoming everyone. He told attendees about the dream that was born in 1998 to expand the campus, and spoke of Thunderbird's excellent partnership with the Site d'Archamps, which made the expansion possible. Local dignitaries, induding Bernard Jouvenot, the mayor of Archamps; Claude Birrau, member of the European Parliament; and Prof. Maiani, the director of CERN (European Center for Nudear Research); along with Ernest Nicollin, the president of the Conseil Regional de la Haute Savoie, spoke of their hopes for the continued growth of Thunderbird and of the Site d'Archamps. They were followed by the morning's keynote speaker, Ambassador Kevin Molley, U.S. representative to the United Nations (and an Arizona native). Roland Pascal, head of the services division of the Conseil Regional and responsible for the Site d'Archamps, then talked about his dream of creating a center for development that would attract international talent, and how the transatlantic partnership with Thunderbird helped fu lfill that dream. He presented Herberger with a small scu lpture representing the Alps in commemoration of one of their first meetings, when he flew Herberger to the heights of the Mont Blanc in his private plane. It is in memory of this trip that the new building was named the "Mont Blanc" building. Herberger thanked Pascal for his partnership and support in helping Thunderbird Europe grow and presented him with an Arcosanti bell in memory of Thunderbird's roots in Arizona. After the speeches, guests were welcomed with a glass of champagne as the deputy mayor of Chamonix.-Mont Blanc and Barbara Barrett, chair of the Board of Trustees of Thunderbird, cut the ribbon and dedared the building open. Visitors then explored the new building and saw presentations on various program offerings available at Thunderbird Europe before continuing on to lunch, which was served in a nearby pavilion. While everyone dined on local cuisine and sampled wines from the region, a Dixieland band provided entertainment, prompting some impromptu performances by Herberger and Pascal. Lunch over, the crowd dispersed. But everyone agreed - between the incredibly fine weather, the new facilities and the support of the Site d'Archamps, the new Thunderbird Europe campus should be a great success! • They call it "Broadway," a lively pedestrian street that is always full of people. It's lined with small shops and vendors' carts where you can buy anything from good quality original oil paintings to bootleg CDs. The smell of roast lamb fills the air. It's called shashIik; combine it with a substantial rice dish called pIau and you've got a traditional Uzbek dinner. As you walk along. you pass at least a dozen sets of over-sized speakers blasting out a cacophony of the latest hits, bad but loud, from Europe and Russia. Local beer is 40 cents a liter. It appears to be a non-stop block party. It is a very misleading scene. In Uzbekistan, the people are poor and the prospects for improvement are poorer. In the capitol, Tashkent, one estimate has it that 40 percent of the population lives at or below a "subsistence level" of 15 dollars a month. Poverty is worse in rural areas. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, newly independent Uzbekistan tried to sustain the mechanisms of a centrally controlled economy. For the first few years the strategy seemed to work Although the economy contracted, the depression was not nearly as severe as in other countries of the former Soviet Union. But to make a long and rather painful story short, this could not be sustained. Capital flight, policies hostile to trade and investment, and corruption have left the country in economic ruin. The current policy direction gives little reason to hope for improvement. For example, new customs duties of 90 percent on manufac-tured goods and 50 percent on food products were recently announced. Presumably an effort is being made to reduce demand for dollars and push black market exchange rates to parity with official. very tightly controlled rates ahead of the next IMF visit. The consequences of these actions on the economy will be devastating. I went to one of the city's outdoor bazaars shortly after the tariffs came into effect to see how business is being affected. It would be difficult to estimate any fall-off in trade by just looking at stocks and estimating a drop, so I planned to count only the stalls that were dosed completely. It was easier to count the ones that were open. No less than 70-80 percent of the place was deserted. Just an empty acre of bare, rusting wire racks. Even the old ladies selling homemade bread have been chased out, though ] can't imagine why. It is estimated that as many as 10,000 jobs are connected to each of the five big bazaars, and those jobs are gone for at least two months, if not much, much longer. An average state pension is now about nine dollars a month, but the state doesn't always have the money to pay those pensions. And the banks don't always have enough cash to give to pensioners. Pension office registration and accounting are also done manually, so mistakes and delays in processing are considered normal. Tamara Dauletova, like more than 60 percent of the people in a region near the dying Aral Sea called Karakalpakstan, needs assistance from the government to buy food. She is a mother of five and can't work She and her children need money from the government to meet their basic needs, and life has been very difficult. "We never got paid on time. I would go to the bank every day, and every day they would say they still had not received the right paperwork" Fortunately, help came. A local non-governmental organization received support from the Eurasia Foundation, a privately managed grantmaking organization dedicated to funding programs that build democratic and free market institutions in the former Soviet Union. The foundation, which I work for, gets most of its funds from the U.S. Agency for International Development. An association of neighborhood leaders developed a computerized system to track and distribute public assistance and trained the local staff. The system allowed them to correct faulty records and streamline the process. "It used to take five or six days just to write a report," the director said. "When we began this project no one believed we would shorten the time to just a few minutes. But we did, and we've also made the work more effective and accurate in the process." As regional director of the foundation, I talk with people like these every day. In the five Central Asian republics of Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan and the Kyrgyz Republic, the foundation supports a wide range of independent associations, NGOs and other organizations with grants of as much as $35,000 for one-year projects. Each year that comes to more than 100 grants totaling $2.5 million. 55/2/2003 To be frank, though, few of our grants support activities designed to reduce the effects of poverty as directly as the effort in Karakalpakstan. There are too many needs to fill, and even a well-funded effort like the foundation is barely a drop in the ocean. The foundation focuses on supporting organizations that can continue to provide service beyond tile term of our grant. One excellent example of how this works is a program we funded last year in which a number of NGOs received training in social marketing. The idea was to help them produce their own ads and 1V programs. "The seminars taught me the tools we need to WWW.THUNOERBIRO.EOU communicate our message," said Nodira Salyamova, manager of one professional association. A few weeks later, local 1V showed a public service announcement about a young deaf-mute boy unable to attend normal grade school. While all the other children walk to school one morning. he sits at home and watches them from his window. His mother, near tears, looks at him and says 'There is no place where deaf and mute children can go to school in Kokand." No one in town realized this. Calls came to the station, and within days two schools had offered to donate classroom space for a new school for the deaf. These are some examples of what foreign aid is, and it is what I do for a living. The United tates is the world's largest donor nation and distributes more than $10 billion a year in international development and humanitarian assistance. A fair portion of it, and a large part of the recent increase, comes to this region. Perhaps the recent upturn in U.S. aid following 9/11 will contribute some momentum to change. In any case, I have managed development programs in more than a dozen countries, and there is truly a sense that the work we do has meaning and makes a difference. It's challenging work. While petty bureaucrats can be relied on to obstruct your work, the p. 17 phone system can't be relied upon at all. Every good grant proposal from a hardworking and sincere organization is matched by a ridiculous piece of fiction from an obvious fraud. There's never a dull day. I've flown in the baggage compartment of a much-too-old airplane when I couldn't get a ticket. I've politely asked a Tajik border guard to point his AK47 in another direction. I've drunk vodka by the galIon, one shot at a time, to establish rapport with skeptical counterparts. And, as I write this in a comfortable office in a city of over two million, I look out the window as three donkey carts roll by oblivious to speeding traffic. Somehow - I don't know how, but I'm sure it's true - the ll1Underbird degree I got in '82 has helped me function in such an environment. That Tashkent has a first-class golf course also helps. There is a significant Korean minority in Uzbekistan, and it has drawn a thousand dedicated Korean entrepreneurs in the past 10 years. It often seems that every one of them is fanatical about golf. A former Korean ambassador built the Tashkent Lakes Golf Course. Those of an entrepreneurial temperament do find opportunities here. In fact, opportunity is everywhere, and more money is hidden in this economy than anyone can guess. The absence of commercial activity is not brought about by poverty. It's the other way around. Commercial activity is stifled by oppressive bureaucracy and bad laws. For those undaunted by a challenge, and able to navigate in these corrupt commercial seas, large profits can be made. • INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT is one of the three formal focus areas students can choose at Thunderbird. Marketing and Finance are also offered. I TRAVELING IN UZBEKISTAN you feel tfIe cItsi,. to tmeI the .ncIent Silk Road, let tfIe soIf course be )'OW Iut modem stop Wore 5ImIrbnd. BuIchara and Khlva. '1MhIrMt Is not a wtr'J lttrlctlve city. It Is, however. tfIe best travel hub In CtntraI AlIa. UzbeIc Air has several ftIahts a week to Tashkent from KUlla Lwnpur. a.npok. DeIhl and a few EuropeIn cities. Expect to pay $550 - $620 roundtrip. A few other alrllna fly In IS well. aIthou&h IISI frequently and aenerally at a hI&her price. UzbIIc Air tries wtr'J hard to operate at "western standards," and they mostly succeed. All of the plana .,. 11ft. and the service Is reliable. There .,. two wetem standard hotels In TashIr.nt. a Sheraton and an IrnrcontInental. 'TIley .,. IS aoocI IS you would explCt, with pools and fitness clubs and room service. A room will COlt you more than $100 a night. A '- expensive att.matIve, with chtcent quality and service Is the Orzu at about $30 a nJ&ht (http://www.orzu.tuhlalnt.~ 'The Orzu Is actually sewral old houses In aresidlntlal nef&hborhood, aU.1I\OVatWd, dan and friendly. OUtsIde TuhIciInt ~ .,. no wetem ~ althouah Samarbnd and BullOrO have a number of aood famlty-run auest houses, such IS \CornU In Bulchara, It about $l5 a nJaht (http://www.bukhara.MVlckoll~ RussIan Is the most widely used lanauaae. but It Is not unIversal Uzbe!c and Tajlle .... more cornrnon. En&Ilsh is not widely spoken, thou&h hotels, some restaurants, and most tourist IpI'ICIes have Enallsh-spellcl"l staff. Visu ... required for almost eYetyOne.and you need to have one before you arrive. ~lIy. this takes sewral days and costs between $40 and $100. Contact the nearest Uzbe!c embassy. p . 18 WWW.THUNDERBIRD . EDU 55 / 2/2003 CLASS TRIP TO CHINA OPENS DOORS EMBA student finds a new life in a new land BY SUSAN COFFRarH Dulce Garcia had an intuition about China even before she and her EMBA X classmates made their lO-day trip to Beijing and Shanghai last May. She had fallen in love with the Orient during a horseback-riding trip to Mongolia two years earlier. "\ started the EM BA program two weeks after getting back from Mongolia, so the next two years were about deep introspection for me and tough decisions about moving on to new beginnings. Maybe China was there at an unconscious level all the time," she said. "But it was the Thunderbird trip that opened the door for my transition." Call it synchronicity or just good fortune, but while she was in Shanghai, Garcia's Chinese language professor introduced her to a professor at Shanghai University. That meeting led to an interview for a teaching position and finally a job offer. Two months later, she was moving to Shanghai from Prescott, Ariz. Now, she is a visiting professor of management at Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, the No. 1- ranked business school in China. Garcia teaches junior-level undergraduates in a country developing at break-neck speed. Her students are hungry for expertise, especially Western business skills. "( admire their resolve, because they have to take a few sub- 55/2/2003 jects in English, a language they've been exposed to through Chinese teachers with a focus mostly on grammar but little oral experience. For most, ) was the first foreign teacher they had ever been exposed to," she said. ") dare say it's been a transformational process for both of us." A Motorola executive for 10 years, Garcia chose Thunderbird because ") just felt that it was the right point in my career to refresh my skills. After 20 years in the workplace and many experiences behind me, my approach to business decisions was getting sta le." She is not unlike her colleagues in Class X. Most of them fit the Thunderbird EMBA profile: average age is 37; about 25 percent commute from out of state; 20 percent have other graduate degrees; two-thirds have more than 11 years of work experience; about one-third are non-Caucasian, and 50 percent come from companies with fewer than 10,000 employees. The China trip comes in the second year of the EMBA program. Garcia and her dassmates spent five days in Guadalajara, Mexico, during their first year of study. Both trips focus on bringing dassroom learning to life through company and plant visits, guest speakers and cultural exercises. The China trip began in Beijing, population 12 million, with guided tours. Over the first two days, the students visited the Forbidden City, the Temple of Heaven, the Summer Palace and the Great Wall. Every stop was an opportu- WWW. TH LI DERB IRD . ED LI nity to see what they've been learning about in books and in the dassroom, an opportunity to see what life is like in China, an opportunity for some of the students to try out their Chinese language skills with native speakers. The next 21/2 days in Beijing revolved around learning firsthand what it means to do business in China in the midst of a "T p . I 9 Unicorn CEO Wang /ianzhou, they learned how his telecommunication company handled the split from the Chinese government and the phenomenal growth it has realized. At the morning debrief led by Dr. Mary Teagarden, students analyzed what they'd learned so far. "The speakers aren't telling us anything we didn't learn in dass at revolutionary economic transition. They heard from executives of Ericsson and Siemens about the great gains China has made and about how much must still be done to restructure the economy, build infrastructure and train skilled workers. I he speakers Thunderbird," said Laura Kozel, finance consultant, "but just being here makes it real and brings it home. Experiencing the culture, the cities and the people is invaluable. " They heard about the pitfalls and succes es of doing aren't telling us anything we didn't learn at Thunderbird, but just being here makes it real. " A short two-hour plane ride took students to their next stop - Shanghai, a dynamic city of 17 million. business with China from the commercial affairs expert at the U.S. Embassy, T. Lee Boam, who cautions U.S. and other companies to do their due diligence before entering the market. His office hears more trade complaints than any other U.S. Embassy office in the world, but "most of the wounds are self-inflicted," he said. From China's Ministry of Information Vice Minister Zhang Chuenjiang, whose wife is a member of EMBA Class XI, they learned about the telecommunication industry and the impad of reform on what had been a government- owned and operated sedOr. From China Shanghai has been compared with New York City for its edectic attitudes, its diversity of population, its energetic pace. People in Shanghai say, "no one is a foreigner here." During their 21/2 days in Shanghai, students visited several plants and talked with managers, supervisors and employees. They toured the Shanghai GM plant and were among the few visitors allowed to tour the plant while vehides were on the line. That visit was arranged with the help of student Brent Hendrickson, a manager at the GM Desert Proving Ground in Gilbert. He introduced his GM China colleagues. At the condusion of the visit, student p . 2 0 WWW.THUNO ERBIRO. EOU Each year, thousands of people, including Thunderbird EMBA students, make the climb up the Great Wall at Badaling outside of Beijing. BELOW Dulce Garcia n sk any busy, full-time executive why he or she endures two years of rigorous l1li study in order to earn an Executive MBA at Thunderbird, and the answer is "new beginnings." Almost to a person in the 37-member EMBA Class X that was the reason. Paul Caldron, the physician who has an arthritis and rheumatology practice, wants to take his business skills to a new level in a disadvantaged area of the world. Michelle Cowles, an accountant at a large municipality, wants to move into the corporate world. Capt. Luis Villanueva, Air Force flight commander and F-16 pilot, wants an international business career. EMBA students and Prof. Mary Teagarden gather Ehab Daoud, who worked at a major Valley semiconductor company, wants around Jeff Song, to leapfrog into upper management at a technology or other company. country manager Ray Rouse, at 60 and a consultant, is retooling by making a large investment in himself. for Honeywell. From left, are: James Wu, general manager of the plant, Teagarden, Jim Jackalone, Ehab Daoud, Greg Starley, Song and Thaddeus Crawford. 55 / 2 / 2003 Manuel Vanegas offered thanks to the hosts - in Chinese. Throughout the trip, students introduced and thanked each of the speakers and site managers, and most did it in Chinese. "It's another way to personalize the experience," said Barbara Carpenter, senior director of Thunderbird's EMBA program. 'They take responsibility for honoring our speakers, and in doing so, represent Thunderbird in the best possible way." At the Frito-Lay plant in Shanghai, while sipping Pepsi and munching seaweed-, shrimpand beef-flavored potato chips, students talked with three local managers before touring the plant. One of them, HR Director Nina Liu, is a recent graduate of Thunderbird's Global Management Program in Shanghai, a yearlong mini-MBA-type program for Chinese managers offered by Thunderbird's Center for Business Skills Development. The final site visit took the group to Honeywell Thrbocharging Systems, a joint venture company. That visit was arranged by student Jim Jackalone. He and Sanjeet Singh, of Honeywell in Phoenix, introduced Country Manager Jeff Song, a participant in one of Thunderbird's executive education programs. Song was born and raised in China, educated in the United States and has worked at Honeywell for 15 years. "The economic miracle is real for people living in China," he said. "Our biggest challenge is improving agricultural productivity to increase wages in the rural areas. We can't increase consumption without raising income." On the last day of the trip, a final two-hour debriefing session closed the program and provided the context for what the students observed and experienced during the last week. Garcia, who wraps up her teaching assignment in January, has decided to stay in China for another two years. 'The Chinese are doing what they can to undertake the challenges of this economic opening. The young people are full of expectations and they want to get ready to compete in the new economy. They know they don't have the luxury of time and they are working very hard to jump to another level as quickly as possible, " she said. 'This place feels like a sponge; it's so vibrant! China, specifically Shanghai, will rock for the next 20 years and it's very exciting to be here during this transition." For Garcia, the Thunderbird EMBA opened the door to a new career and a new life in China, not to mention, new beginnings. _ FOR MORE INFORMATION, please contact: Barbara Carpenter, senior director, (602) 978- 7921, email@example.com, or visit our website at www.thunderbird.eduJemba. 55 / 2/2003 WWW.THUNDERBIRD .EDU p . 21 TOP LEFT Dr. Celia Caballero '02 (center) celebrates with fellow graduates before receiving her diploma. RIGHT Keynote speaker Antonio Zarate and ITESM President Rafael Rangel pose with students for a class photo. BOTTOM LEFT Outstanding teacher recipient Dr. Toshi Shibano (right) banters with students. MIMLA CHANGES ITS DEGREE NAME Becomes Global MBA for Latin American Managers Thunderbird's popular joint degree program with Instituto Technol6gico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey (ITESM) may have just changed names, but it still attracts more than 100 working executives a year, about 90 percent of whom graduate. The program, which had been called the Master in International Management - Latin America, is now the Global MBA for Latin American Managers. It still delivers the same content and professors as Thunderbird's on-campus programs. However, instruction is delivered through distance learning. English is the official language of the program. Upon completion, graduates receive a joint degree from Thunderbird and ITESM. The program has graduated 323 alumni in its first three years; another 262 are currently enrolled. "The Global MBA for Latin American Managers is a unique virtual educational experience that will change your life," said Dr. Bert Val en-cia, director. "It offers you the chance to study at two world-class schools with the convenience of a 'have it all' location and an investment that's affordable. How can you beat that?" Global MBA for Latin American Managers students begin their program with a lO-day stay at Thunderbird in Arizona, during which they meet their teachers, learn about the distancelearning technology they will use and attend a "Business Leadership in the 21st Century" seminar. Students then return home to their jobs and families, commuting to an ITESM distancelearning site every second Friday evening and Saturday for the next two years for their classes. They graduate back at Thunderbird, after attending a final seven-day seminar titled, "Latin American Business Leadership for the 21st Century." The program currently has 12 such sites in four countries: Chihuahua, Guadalajara, Mer-ida, Mexicali, Mexico City, Mexico Ste, Monterrey, Queretaro and Santa Fe, Mexico; San Salvador, EI Salvador; Lima, Peru; Panama City, Panama. Additional sites are planned in: Ciudad Juarez, Mexico; Santa Cruz, Bolivia; Bogota, Colombia; Miami, Florida, USA; and Guatemala. "The Global MBA for Latin American Managers program prepares you for business decision- making, cross-cultural communication, and global and regional business environments and challenges," said ITESM Director Dr. Jose Manuel Sanchez. "Through the use of technology, you will also develop collaborative working skills with executives in different loca-tions." • FOR MORE INFORMATION about the Global MBA for Latin American Managers, please contact: Chelsea Olson, (602) 978-7534, or olsonc@thunderbird. edu. =-------1 EYES AROU N 0 t--------------- p. 2 2 E WORLD 11--__________ 5 _ 5 _1 2_1 2_0_03 met her in Jet Set. After two glasses of vodka and looking through cigarette smoke, you would never have distinguished her from the dozens of other girls who hang out in such places: blond, big blue eyes, small nose, lips that were luscious. Her name was Natasha, although Jean Paul Gaultier was written on her shirt. She had just broken up with her boyfriend and she was drunk. We went dancing. then to another couple of clubs, where she periodically burst into tears or laughter when meeting her former boyfriend's friends. I remember the following two weeks toned in blue-yellowishabsinth color. She always chose where we went; every day it was a different place. But everywhere it was the same: boys in slim t-shirts with shaking hands; girls, lazily moving to the house rhythms and looking natural; big fat guys with bodyguards, S-Classes outside, and "I can do anything" attitudes. This was Moscow, the capital of our country. Wednesday evening we met without having a specific plan. It was raining - so refreshing. energizing and calm. I remember the strong wind blowing in my face - the under the same umbrella, hiding around, watching energy storm "Let's go for a musical." I said, after looking at a nearby billboard and daring to suggest our plans for once. HAt least we'll get some variety." So we got tickets, paying twice the face value to a dealer just outside. It was interesting sitting there, in a big dark hall, where little has changed since the time anxious speeches about communism were delivered there. 1 was trying to understand the play-behind-the-play and trying hard to notice details other people miss: catching actress Katya Tatarinova's "you've missed the pause, idiot" looks at Sanya Grigoriev, watching solid clouds of dust raising from Zhukov's enormous, scratched shoes. After the intermission, 1 dozed for a little while, awakening to the sound of Bogdanov's voice trembling strangely as he sang his aria, then disappearing entirely. I opened my eyes to see women on the stage crawling out from somewhere. Not sure if what I saw before me was dream or reality, I saw a woman take out a gun and shoot it right into the hall. Then people in camouflage outfits began running along the 55/2/2003 WWW.THUNO ERBIRO .E OU p. 2 3 aisles and blocking doors. There were lots of gunshots and Caucasian accents everywhere. Strange, but no one panicked. Perhaps it was because no one yet understood what was really going on. More Chechen women then appeared. I counted at least five; each was holding a gun in one hand and a bomb in the other. "We are waiting for Barayev's call." they said. "We are ready to explode ourselves!" They ordered women to raise their hands and go left, men to raise their hands and go right. "Georgians can leave the building!" No one still thought it was a show. Their faces registered reality. At first, our captors treated us nicely. They brought water and food from the theater, giving us more than they kept themselves. But then the shooting started. We fell down and hid behind seat backs. Panic set in. I saw men in tears with red faces, cursing in whispers and constantly asking "Why?" Women were biting their lips and trying to calm their children. Girls fainted. Someone said they'd killed a girl. As it turned out, they had. Things suddenly shifted from "normal" to aggression. They lined up, prepared the fuses. Natasha fainted . I did not even have time to give her water. "Women left, men right," they ordered, separating us once more. Strange, the press sometimes writes about "Stockholm Syndrome" where captives can begin to identify with their captors. There was nothing like that in our theater. The only thing I saw was hatred against the terrorists, deep defiance and abhorrence toward those people we knew would meet certain death. The only question was: Would we live or die? They said that they were doing this because of Allah's will, that everything was in Allah's hands. "Idiots," whispered everyone. Natasha was among those girls: uncombed hair, eyes red from tears and bright light, no make-up. I was surprised to see her like that. When we met, she had cried for her lost boyfriend, but that had been a healing cry. Now she cried with despair, a cry that only gets worse, and is laced with the question, "Why?" She put her arms around me, like she had in Jet Set. That time I felt, rather than smelled, her perfume. She smelled of stress, physical fatigue and fear. Yes, I could clearly smell her fear. We tried to make jokes and laugh. But we knew everything could end at any time. "Now we are bound forever," she said, "bound with Nord Ost." It was a beautiful moment. I finally fell asleep, after three days with no sleep. And I slept deeply. Whenever things are bad, I always have nice dreams. Perhaps Morpheus helps me. I dreamed of Natasha and me skating along a beautiful river that was completely frozen, all of its shores covered with deep and downy snow. It was extremely cold, but our faces were red, and our eyes sparkled. We were holding hands and felt each other's warmth. Suddenly a noise sounded from somewhere. In my dream, we did not care and we went farther and farther. I felt a shove and when I opened my eyes, our beautiful snow had transformed into white gas clouds. Terrorists were running everywhere; they were shooting. After that, everything faded to darkness. My first words, upon awakening in the hospital. were: "That is it?" It was like when you go to a presentation you know will be incredibly boring and will last for four or five hours, but in 40 minutes someone says: "That's all for today. " There is nothing worse than reliving things. I lay there with tubes running through my nose. Sometimes I realized it was over. Sometimes I clearly saw the hall, the people, the terrorists. Then I'd be skating and having a tremendous feeling of freedom. I was unconscious for a long time. O~ When I awoke, the people in the hospital it ~ looked really lost, like they didn't know what Only once did I see any semblance of empathy toward the terrorists. It was when a Chechen woman, in a paranja (a black veil or burkha), which she never took off, told us that they had done this because they were so tired of the war. Their men couldn't live any more in forests under the rain and snow, she Police surround the Moscow theatre after the seige. to do. Corridors were full of security agents, checking everyone, asking questions, making said, while their parents and children were being killed at home. notes. There were rumors that people wanted to commit suicide. "You in this city," she said, Hare living in your nice, warm apartments with hot water and electricity. You go to these nice musicals and eat chocolate. You have no understanding of what is happening there, in our land. For you, this is a terrible disaster; for us this is life. We came from war and brought a piece of it to you." Looking in her eyes, I realized that she really hoped to change something. Those eyes brightened as she said: "And if your government fulfills our conditions and withdraws the troops from Chechnya, the war will stop. Our people will live as they used to live many years ago. I remember such a life; my children do not." I later recognized that woman among the dead. It is always very hard to write about personal feelings. Believe it or not, I wasn't really frightened. I was more consumed by guilt at having taken Natasha there. By hatred against my captors. By fatigue. By worry over what my parents were going through. By anger. Everything but fear. For some reason, I just did not think I would die there. What frustrated me most were the inconveniences - going to the toi fet in the orchestra hall, a crowd of people around you constantly, uncomfortable chairs. Bright light that was always on and that did not let us sleep. While I wished I'd had a sweater, I at least wore trousers and a shirt, and so, could get comfortable. The girls in miniskirts and highheeled shoes, trying to lie berween the aisles, had it much tougher. Everyone wanted to go home. When they finally let me go, my parents were waiting in the hall. "Jesus, what they have gone through! " I thought. "Jesus, what you have gone through! " my mother said. I met Natasha in Courvoisier rwo days later: blond, big blue eyes, small nose, luscious lips. Fendi was now written on her sweater. Who could ever tell, I thought? The OJ was playing tunes; cigarette douds hung everywhere - everything appeared normal. Have these people heard, we thought? Do they know there's a war going on in Chechnya? We tried to talk. but something was wrong berween us. I smelled Natasha's Gucci Rush, but I remembered that smell of fear. I tried to touch her hand; she moved it away. "I feel so nervous now," she said. We parted on the street. It was raining. But this time we stood under separate umbrellas. Looking deep into her face I wasn't sure if I saw teardrops there or merely cold, cold rain. You know, now we are bound forever. I know. I'll ca ll you ... sometime ... late1: Maybe never? Maybe never. • p . 2 4 WWW.THUND ERBIRD .EDU Ina soft economy, T-bird students need hands-on experience, and strapped companies need short-term expertise For Susan Talley '01, CEO of Adaptive Technologies Inc., three Thunderbird interns have played critical roles in helping grow her business these last two years. For Xavier Cressan '02, a French national from the Caribbean country of Martinique, a summer internship with Volkswagen Group Latin America proved an outstanding opportunity. "Our interns were great additions to our company, bringing skill sets and perspectives that were not currently present," said Talley. "All three were self-motivated and needed only minimal guidance. I encourage other businesses to examine their needs to identify where interns can add value to their companies." "As an intern at Volkswagen Group Latin America, I could really apply what I learned at Thunderbird," said Cressan. "It was also a great opportunity to learn from the best professionals of the Volkswagen group." Foreign students such as Cressan are eligible to work on internships because the INS considers internships coursework. Most also qualifY for a year of post-graduate U.S. work as well. Internships at Thunderbird are popular three-to-six-month paid assignments that benefit both students and companies. Highly flexible, they typically begin in spring, summer or fall and are routinely customized by companies to fit their needs. More than 30 percent ofT-birds take internships; significantly more want them. Providing an internship or full-time job is one of the best things you can do for both Thunderbird and yourself in this economy. • 55 / 2 / 2003 ntemships are actually easy to organize and manage. Here are some of the questions we're asked most frequently: 1) WHO DO I CONTACT TO LEARN MORE ABOUT/ARRANGE AN INTERNSHIP? Contact David Martin in the Employer Relations office at (602) 978-7814 or email firstname.lastname@example.com. 2) WHAT KINDS OF ASSIGNMENTS MAKE GOOD INTERNSHIPS? Thunderbird internships generally fall into one of three categories: project-based, orientation- based and discovery-based. Many Thunderbird internships include segments of each. • Project-based Internships Thunderbird students have the background, skills and ability to immediately contribute valuable service to the employer. Students come to the MBA program with a wealth of functional competencies, industry experience and regional knowledge. • Orientation-based Internships Many of the typical large company internships fall into this category. The primary objective of the internship experience is to provide the student with broad exposure to management and departments in the organization. Students become familiar with the structure and culture of the company, and companies identifY candidates for future hire. • Discovery-based Internships Students often look to internships as a means to experience and understand new challenges. It is often a test of fit for both the student and employer. Approximately one of four T-bird interns receives job offers. 3) WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF HIRING INTERNS? • Thunderbird interns are highly motivated professionals with excellent skill sets. They are able to manage complex projects with minimum supervision. • Interns can be used to complete special projects that no one on your full-time staff has the time or expertise to do. • Interns allow your company to pursue innovative projects. They provide a fresh perspective and ask challenging questions. • Interns are able to use the vast database resources of the Thunderbird International Business Information Centre (IBIC) to help your company. • Interns are potential new employees. Increasingly, employers look to former interns when they seek to hire for full-time jobs. 55/2/2003 4) HOW LONG DOES AN INTERNSHIP USUALLY LAST? The typical internship lasts one trimester, or 12 weeks. However, internships may be extended for a second trimester. 5) WHEN ARE THUNDERBIRD STUDENTS AVAILABLE FOR INTERNSHIPS? Although summer is the most popular time for students to do an internship, Thunderbird students also can do internships during the fall or spring trimesters. Internships generally coincide with the beginning of each School term: May, September or January. 6) WHAT IS THE RECRUITINGI SELECTION PROCESS FOR INTERNS? • Initiate the recruitment process by contacting the Employer Relations office in the Thunderbird Career Management Center (CMC) at least one trimester before the internship. • Draft a detailed job description catering to a graduate audience. (T-bird has examples you can use.) Remember, the internship must include academic value in order for the student to receive credit, so think about what the student will learn from the experience. • Work with the CMC to post the position (with the job description) using Thunderbird's outstanding online posting system. • Thunderbird will collect resumes from all applicants and mail these to the employer. Once the employer identifies the potential candidates, T-bird will make the necessary interview arrangements. • Conduct interviews. The employer has the option of conducting interviews on campus, by telephone or via video-conferencing. 7) HOW MUCH SHOULD I PAY AN INTERN? Intern compensation varies depending upon the student's experience, the geographic location of the job and industry standards. Most students are more interested in the quality of the experience and the high degree of responsibility, than they are with the salary. However, pay is still a factor: in 2000, the average salary for T-bird interns was approximately $3,200 a month. Government agencies and private not-forprofit organizations typically offer a stipend. Overseas salaries vary. For example, this year European salaries were about $900/month, but most also provided free housing. WWW.THUNDERBIRD .EDU 8) DO I NEED TO PAY FOR RELOCATION OR TRANSPORTATION TO THE INTERNSHIP LOCATION? Some companies include transportation arrangements or a lump-sum payment toward this expense; however, it is not required. 9) WHO ARRANGES FOR THE INTERN'S HOUSING? The intern is usually responsible for finding his/her own housing. Some companies offer assistance in apartment hunting. 10) DO I NEED TO PROVIDE HEALTH INSURANCE FOR INTERNS? Students who are enrolled for internship credit are required to maintain their student health insurance; therefore the company does not need to provide health coverage. 11) CAN FOREIGN STUDENTS BE AUTHORIZED TO WORK ON INTERNSHIPS? Foreign students on F-1 visas are eligible for Curricular Practical Training (CPT), which carries with it a "for credit" academic requirement. This process is monitored by Thunderbird. 12) WHAT PAPERWORK IS INVOLVED IN HIRING AN INTERNATIONAL STUDENT? Thunderbird handles the INS forms related to approval of CPT. Official permission to work is given by the Thunderbird Designated School Official (DSO), who is authorized by the INS to cemfy work permission documents. The only paperwork required from the employer is a simple 1-9 form, which can be downloaded from the INS website. http://www.ins.usdoj. gov/graphics/formsfee/forms/i-9.htm B) WHAT DOCUMENTS ARE NEEDED FOR EMPLOYERS TO COMPLETE THE 1-91 For foreign students on CPT, either a driver's license or the student's passport may be used as an identifying document. The student's 1-20 with the work authorization endorsement on page 4 may also be used. 14) CAN FOREIGN STUDENTS RECEIVE PAYMENT FOR INTERNSHIP WORK? I F SO, ARE THEY SUBJECT TO INCOME TAX? Yes, they can and do seek pay. And yes, foreign students must pay federal income taxes and any state and local taxes that apply. Susan Talley '01, CEO of Adaptive Technologies, has employed T-bird interns to help build her artificial intelligence company. p . 2 5 15) ARE FOREIGN STUDENTS SUBJECT TO FICA (SOCIAL SECURITY) TAXES? If the student has been in the United States for five years or less, authorized employment under Curricular Practical Training is exempt from FICA (Social Security) taxes for both students and employers. 16) CAN FOREIGN STUDENTS GET SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBERS? Yes. Most students will have obtained their SSN before seeking internships. Those who do not already have them can obtain them from the Social Security Administration. 17) WHAT ARE SOME OF THE ON-THE JOB CONTRIBUTIONS MADE BY FORMER THUNDERBIRD INTERNS? • Benchmarked competition for a Fortune 10 company in the Asia-Pacific region and contributed to the launch of an online distribution arm. • Analyzed an under-performing healthcare market segment and recommended that the board divest that existing business line. • Created a feasibility study for a Sino-Swiss joint venture and coordinated necessary transportation logistics for an industrial mineralexpomng project. • Directed market research projects conducted throughout 12 countries in Latin America. Created forecasts for products in the pre-launch stage in that region. • Assisted with expense consolidation for North America. Conducted and presented to the CFO a sensitivity analysis of expense trends within the IT industry. • Developed financial models to facilitate senior management repomng. Prepared ad-hoc analysis in identifying potential upsides/downsides to business trends. • Worked in the international division on project development and structuring. valuation and negotiating with potential partners. Also conducted market evaluation, economic and political-risk analysis, and industry research. p. 2 6 WWW.THUNDERBIRD . EDU 55 / 2/2003 LOOKING FOR ADVENTURE Cruising through the skies ... BY BEATRICE BERNESCUT '90 WANTED: Adventurers with a taste for far horizons and a desire to conduct business in foreign cultures. Age, country of origin, gender, professional background unimportant. Must be good with people and able to hit the ground running. Problem-solving and language ability skills essential. Opportunities for travel. Careers in all countries and industries. Personal growth guaranteed. Doesn't this sound like the way job postings at Thunderbird should read? Wasn't that the reason you studied there - glamour, travel, trading in far-flung locations? The question is, how does one find such foreign adventure? Rest assured that behind such prosaic titles as financial analyst or marketing manager or even management training program, such adventures do exist. And life after Thunderbird will be a world with wings. Between them, Ted Strickler '75 and Rick Dressler '75 have covered the globe. Their careers have taken them to Zaire, Colombia, Nicaragua, Australia, Saudi Arabia, Scotland, England, Panama, Uzbekistan, Turkey, El Salvador and Portugal. Strickler and Dressler, despite being dassmates, never met at Thunderbird. Both accepted positions with Morgan Knudsen, an engineering firm based in Boise, Idaho, meeting about a year and a half into their management training program . Hired specifically for overseas, Strickler then went to Zaire to supervise the installation of high-voltage power lines, while Dressler went to Saudi Arabia to help build the King Khalid Military City. Their work in setting up and managing large international joint ventures eventually led both to roles in human resources. So when they decided it was time to return to the states permanently, they met up in Boulder, Colo., and set up their own global human resources consulting firm. But their traveling days are far from over - their firm recently completed assignments in Bolivia and Taiwan. Sometimes it's difficult to believe that the road to adventure can start at a dusty airfield on the edge of civilization in Arizona. And the edge of civilization it was when Leavitt ("Buzz") Ahrens '66 arrived at Thunderbird in 1965 with a degree from Yale and a desire to work internationally. After graduating, Ahrens served a tour of duty in Vietnam. But as soon as that was over, he accepted his first job - with General Foods. Within six months, he and his family were in Sao Paulo. Thus started a 33-year career working for such global corporations as Levi Strauss, Lee & Wrangler jeans, Jansport, and, finally, Rubbermaid. Ahrens' career has also taken him to Hong Kong (twice), Rio de Janeiro, Brussels, and Puerto Rico, interspersed with a couple of stints stateside. Lest you think that globe-trotting jobs belonged only to those who graduated when ~UNDERBIRD CHANGED MY LIFE. IT EXPOSED ME TO A LOT OF ACTUAL PRACTICES AND BUSINESS ISSUES; IT GAVE ME A LOT OF PRACTICAL EXPERIENCE, AND IT GAVE ME THE OPPORTUNITY TO IMPROVE MY LEADERSHIP SKILLS:' TOllS DOKIANOS '01 economies were booming, rest assured that such adventures are still available. Take Fabio Teixeira '00. Teixeira, a mechanical engineer from Sao Paulo, held an early job that took him to Sweden and to Belgium. Having tasted the international life, Teixeira chose Thunderbird. He then accepted a position in ChevronTexaco's management program. His first assignment involved global supply chain integration. That was followed by a stint working on international mergers and acquisitions. In his current rotation, Teixeira is working on developing a strategy for North Asia, which involves a great deal of travel to Korea and China. In his next assignment, he'll be working in sub-Saharan Africa. 'Thunderbird opened my mind to international," he said. "[ learned how to deal with different cultures around the world." AnotherT-bird who talked of the importance of cross-cultural skills is Octave Moumpala '87. "Thunderbird gave me management skills, but more importantly, it gave me the capacity to deal with people of different cultures," he said. Moumpala, who is originally from Brazzaville, left the Congo at age 15 1/2 to attend boarding school in France. From there, life took him to Topsham, Maine, Gabon and Paris before bringing him to Thunderbird. After graduation, Moumpala worked in various agencies, such as the African Development Foundation, eventually taking a position with the World Health Organization. He worked on a malaria program back in Brazzaville - until he and his family were evacuated during the civil war of 1997. Moumpala is now working for the UNAIDS program in Geneva. But, for him, the best part of his career is the opportunity to 55 /2/ 20 0 3 meet many interesting people - such as actor Danny Glover, with whom he recently worked on an AIDS project. Another T-bird whose career exposed him to celebrity is Richard Sims '92. Sims, who lives in Costa Rica, went to Havana last September to participate in the Agricultural and Food Products trade show as part of his sustainable forestry projects job. While there, Sims spoke with the representatives of Chiquita, who were also exhibiting. The vice president of Chiquita was so impressed with Sims' Thunderbird background that he gave him his tickets to the evening reception. There Sims met and spoke with Cuban President Fidel Castro. Of course, not all meetings are so momentous. But even relatively low-key meetings can provide a wealth of opportunities, as Mark Wentley '95 learned. Wentley is an international territory manager for Trek Bicycle (the provider of bicycles for Lance Armstrong. fourtime winner of the Tour de France). Wentley was tasked with opening the Ukraine market - a country about which he knew nothing. So, using My Thunderbird, he contacted a Tbird who lived in Kiev. That T-bird, Greg Welling '91, not only sent him a book he'd written about doing business in the Ukraine, he also arranged for a car and driver to meet Wentley at the airport, set up a luncheon meeting at the restaurant of another T-bird, Patrick Dodd '95, and introduced him to the owner of a local bike messenger service - an introduction which proved key in Trek's market entry plan. Someone else who understands the power of the Thunderbird network is Nancy Cailleteau '97. A native of Houston now living in northern Italy, Cailleteau said, "I know that I have friends anywhere - alii have to do is to send an email or pick up the phone, and I can get the answer to any question." Getting answers to questions is a vital part of Cailleteau's professional life. She is working on several projects, including one that involves applying knowledge management to food. Her mission, she said, is "to preserve the historical knowledge embedded in food rituals." Cailleteau is clearly involved in a non-traditional opportunity, but what about those Tbirds in "regular" careers? Can blue-suited bankers hope to find adventure? Barbara McAllister '87 would laugh at the question. McAllister, who grew up in Fribourg. Switzerland, left home at 15 to go on an exchange program in Minnesota. Later, after graduating from Thunderbird, she accepted a position with Chase Manhattan Bank back in Geneva. Now a private banker for lNG, she covers India, Pakistan and the Gulf countries, traveling extensively to meet her clients. Not exactly your humdrum banker's lifestyle. WWW.THUND ERBIRD . EDU How did Thunderbird change McAllister's life? "Well, I encountered fantastic companies. I got a great job, and I met both my husband, Stephen McAllister '87, and my best friend at Thunderbird. " Jerome Ryan '99 is also clear about how Thunderbird changed his life. Ryan was a foreign service officer for 10 years, but his goal was to get into investment banking in Tokyo, and Thunderbird was key. By using the skills he leamed at Thunderbird and its famous network. Ryan got his dream job with Morgan Stanley before moving to Deloitte & Touche. 'Without a p . 2 7 doubt, I NEVER would have been hired by Morgan Stanley without going to Thunderbird. NEVER. It all started at Thunderbird." John Sisson '82 also credits Thunderbird for getting him started. Sisson, who now runs his own organization for Big Brothers/Big Sisters, began his career in a completely different field. After Thunderbird, he spent four years as a researcher in agricultural economics at the University of Hawaii. Because Sisson had studied both marketing and finance at Thunderbird, he had generalist skills that proved very useful both in this position and in subsequent Ted Strickler '75 and Rick Dressler '75 covered the globe with Morgan Knudsen before opening their own company. Richard Sims '92 met Cuban President Fidel Castro while working on a forestry project in Cuba. p . 28 WWW.THUNDERBIRD . EDU Brussels, I didn't know anyone, so I :r called a few T-birds ... and the rest is ··1 HANKS TO MY THUNDERBIRD history. " Cook soon got heavily involved in the alumni network, organizing events and recruiting prospective students. In the process he became known as "Mr. Thunderbird" to his many European friends. One such friend, Robert Roussel '79, introduced Cook to a colleague, Tania - BACKGROUND, I FIND MYSELF IN A VERY COOL PLACE WORKING ON SOME VERY INTERESTING PROJECTS WITH THE MOST FASCINATING PEOPLE." N ANCY CAILLETEAU '97 years, whether it was as the national director of marketing research for Junior Achievement or as the director of development for two organizations for the deaf. While some people know exactly what they want, others come out of Thunderbird in a career that they would never have contemplated otherwise - such as Connie Fu '95. Fu, who was born in Hong Kong, originally set out to be a journalist, but after undergraduate school, jobs were few and far between in that field, and she set off for Thunderbird. Fu studied finance because it was an area she knew nothing about. She then took a position in GE's financial training program. After completing the program two years later, Fu went to Hong Kong to manage a joint venture between GE and Toshiba. She was very happy to be home, and had no intention of ever moving again. But the JV was transferred to China, and Fu decided to accept a position in New York. She is now the financial planning officer for the Esprit clothing chain, which is re-launching its business in the United States. Although she is used to working with Americans and Asians, this is her first opportunity to work closely with Europeans (Esprit's headquarters are in Germany). As she puts it, "Everything I ever learned at Thunderbird [ am using. All those group projects are paying off!" Tolis Dokianos '01 is also using his class work in his career. Dokianos, who is of Greek and Brazilian heritage, said the practical experience of doing group projects at Thunderbird stands him in good stead in his job of managing a team of 30 people, three agencies and coordinating all dealership advertising for Ford of Germany. Life after Thunderbird isn't just about the job, of course, or travel. It's also about relationships and the value of the alumni network. Perhaps one T-bird who most exemplifies this is John Cook '79. Cook, who is originally from Wisconsin, went to Brussels immediately after graduation. As he puts it, "When I got to and it wasn't long before Cook proposed. Cook and some friends then went on to organize an event in Bad Ischl in February 1983. Fifty-five T-birds showed up, and thus was born a 20-year tradition of European alumni reunions. The alumni network also helped Daniel Lord '97 get started in a new country. Lord had done some research in the area of agricultural economics in developing countries. He decided to see things for himself, and went to South Africa after graduation. Betsy Boone '98 Fabio Teixeira '00 has toured the world with ChevronTexaco. Here he's at the Great Wall in China. 55/2/2003 offered him a place to stay. Using his networking skills and Thunderbird contacts, Lord was able to land a short-term consultancy project, which eventually led him to his current position with Cap Gemini in Johannesburg. Lord credits the alumni network with his success in establishing himself in South Africa, which he says is a particularly difficult business community to join. "But," he says, "it's not only about learning another country and another culture; the messages you hear about Africa are only a small part of the story. Tying in with local T-birds, you get a much more complete picture of what's going on. H Life after Thunderbird can be ftIled with adventure, but the road to adventure isn't easy. Nor does it have to be about getting on a plane. Adventure can come in the form of dealing with other cultures, of learning new and unexpected skills, of being able to take advantage of sudden opportunities, of having your career take unexpected turns, and of having a world of friends. Are you ready to take the leap? • Thanks to Thunderbird, Jerome Ryan '99 traded in his foreign service officer position for an investment banking job in Tokyo. Latin America's Leading Business Magazine When you need to reach the most powerful executives in Latin America, no publication can match ArnericaEconomfa. Our analytical and insightful content attracts the top decision-makers in ever y country in Latin America. In fact, 84% of our 375,000 readers control the capital expenditures of everything from aircraft to zoom lenses. The art of being competitive in business requires knowing how to reach your target audience where they work and live. ArnericaEconomfa, the leading business magazine in Latin America, provides unmatched access to industry leaders throughout the region. Position your business at the forefront of the most influential minds in Latin America. Contact ArnericaEconomfa today. W: can't teach you to read Spanish, but we vvill make sure you talk business. Americas .. .... Ana Torres de Navarra (USA) 305-444-7430 Asia. . . . .. Hiroshi Kakiyama Oapan) 81-3-3292-4165 Brazil. . . . . . . Ricardo Saints (Sao Paulo) 55-11 -3846-3390 Europe . .. . . ........ Marie Friel (UK) 44-171-842-9600 America economla p.30 WWW.THUNDERB IRD .EDU 55/2/2003 TRADITION AND CHARACTER The Barton Kyle Yount Award The first redpient, Robert Freshe '50, now works as the CEO/executive director of the William Randolph Hearst Foundation. The most recent redpient was SusanBoedy '02. More than 100 others have earned the coveted Barton Kyle Yount (BKY) award in intervening years. Named for Thunderbird's founder, Lt. General Barton Kyle Yount, the BKY award is the highest honor any student can earn at Thunderbird. It is conferred upon the graduate who best embodies the ideals of scholarship, accomplishment and character around which Thunderbird was formed. For those who may not know, Thunderbird began life as Thunderbird Field No. 1. a U.S. Army Air Force Base. Concerned about the growing war in Europe, a group of private investors, induding Hollywood screen stars Janet Gaynor, Jimmy Stewart, Henry Fonda and Hoagy Carmichael, as well as Gen. Hap Arnold, Leland Hayward, John Connelly and John Swope, donated more than $1 million to build a pilot training fadlity that would ultimately teach more than 16,000 U.S., British and Chinese cadets to fly. As the war waned, base commander Yount, who'd grown weary of teaching men to fight and die, increasingly envisioned a business school that trained people for missions of a much more peaceful kind. His idea: equip people with the business, culture, language and human understanding skills they needed to live and work as friends. The school Yount envisioned opened only months after Thunderbird Field was dosed. Fifty-six years later, Thunderbird remains strongly committed to Yount's goal. Each year, Thunderbird still teaches more than 1,100 students from more than 60 countries, nearly 60 percent of whom hail from outside the United States. While here. BY LINDSEY MICHAELS those students live and work together in an atmosphere that actively promotes curiosity; friendship and community. They also tend to form the "It doesn't matter where I was born or raised; I'm a dtizen of the world" mentality that defines true Thunderbirds. Not surprisingly then, Thunderbird's 33,500 alumni now work for more than 12,000 companies in 135 countries. Most remain remarkably "in touch." In the wake of the 9/11 tragedies, Thunderbird invited past BKY award winners to attend its Spring 2002 graduation program. Nearly 20 came, drawing comfort from the Thunderbird fami ly and reaffirming the belief that now, more than ever, this crazy world needs Thunderbird. "More than 'change' me, Thunderbird 'made' me," said John Cooper '61. who attended the event. Cooper had spent 39 years as an international banker with Hong Kong Bank and Merrill Lynch, 20 of them abroad. "I gave up living in the communjty in which I was raised with the friends of my youth and traded that for living in many countries, developing many friends from all over the world, and more importantly, setting the stage for my children's lives in the same fashion. " • BKY WINNERS WHO RETURNED Deborah Camper-Cowan, 1989, The Dial Corporation Kevin Chenoweth, 1993, Intel Corporation john Cooper, 1961, NA Robert Freshe, 1950, W. Randolph Hearst Foundation Richard Gesteland, 1991, Hufcor, Inc. Kenneth Holdbrook, 1966, TEC David Kelly, 1986, 5chering Plough Animal Health james Kohl, 1971, ITW Minigrip/Zippak Dana Nelson, 1952, Univel'Sity"of Arizona Tracy Nottingham, 1996, NA Harry Owens, 1980, St. Charles Medical Center Peter Petrik, 2000, Citibank Charles Peyton, 1953, University of Arizona Richard Saint-Armant, 1975, Intertech IntI. Corp. Thomas Short, 1982, Citicorp jan Wells, 1964, Cannon Wines Ltd. Brian Yates, 2000, FMC Corporation BELOW Past BKY winners assembled to support Thunderbird in the wake of the 9/11 tragedies. 55 / 2 / 2003 WWW.THUND ERBIRD.EDU p.31 WT Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo prepares to address the audience. ABOVE AmericaEconomia editor Ian McClusky '82 hosts the Building Global Brands panel. OTHER PANELS INCLUDED • Risk Management • Transparency and Efficiency in the Latin American Public Sector • Argentina: What Lies Ahead • Brazil: What Lies Ahead • Free Trade Area of the Americas • Ethics and Corporate Responsibility in the Public and Private Sector • The Mystery of Capital: The Underground Economy in Latin America OTHER KEYNOTE SPEAKERS INCLUDED • Jules Kroll, chairman and founder of Kroll, Inc. • Kenneth Dam, deputy secretary of the Treasury • U.s. Ambassador Otto Reich, assistant secretary, Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs. • Allen Stanford, chairman and CEO, Stanford Financial Group • David Anstice, preSident, Human Health The Americas, Merck and Company AMERICAS CONFERENCE BUILDS THUNDERBIRD BRAND IN LATIN AMERICA The Miami Herald, in association with Thunderbird, once again presented its highly acclaimed Americas Conference Oct. 14 and 15 in Coral Gables, Florida. This year's speakers included three country presidents, Gustavo Noboa of Ecuador, Alejandro Toledo of Peru and Alvaro Uribe of Colombia, as well as other highly placed business and government leaders. One of the top two Latin American-focused conferences conducted in the United States each year, Americas Conference 2002 attracted more than 750 attendees, many of them from Thunderbird. T-birds receive a US$400 discount off the regular $1,095 conference rate. Thunderbird gains tremendous brand awareness from the Americas Conference, through our highly visible partnership with The Miami Herald in all pre-, actual-, and post-event materials, through the panel sessions we host and direct, through the many Thunderbird alumni who speak, as well as through visits to our trade show booth. The event also provides an outstanding opportunity for the School to reconnect with both Miami-based alumni and those doi
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