Mays Impacts

On March 27, Leonard Berry, a University Distinguished Professor of Marketing at Texas A&M’s Mays Business School, hosted representatives from the Patients’ Cancer Hospital in Denmark in a new Undergraduate Honors Healthcare class (MKTG 489) at Mays.

The 15 medical doctors and executives are visiting the United States as part of an “inspiration trip” to learn from and share ideas at M.D. Anderson, then other American cancer hospitals. Berry met these doctors when he was in Denmark last summer and gave
a presentation at the Patients’ Cancer Hospital.

Dr. Dorthe Cruger, CEO of Lillebaelt Hospital and chairman of the Danish Cancer Society, discussed the creation of the new Patients’ Cancer Hospital, which is part of The Lillebaelt Hospital. Denmark launched a new comprehensive and national cancer plan titled “The Patients’ Cancer Plan.” The Cancer Society and hospital teamed up to identify what matters most to patients and not simply provide what the hospital believed they needed. “The vision and mission of the hospital, is always the patient first,” said Cruger.

The Danish Health Care System is a national health care system supported by an average tax of 50 percent of an individual’s salary to support free health care, a university education, and other social services. Denmark has one health plan and spends 50 percent less on healthcare than the U.S. In the national patient survey for Denmark, a 95 percent patient satisfaction rate is the goal. It measures several factors including whether patients and their relatives participate in decisions about treatment.

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Texas A&M University and The Association of Former Students has named four members of Mays faculty and staff among the 24 recipients of the 2017 Distinguished Achievement Awards: Wendy R. Boswell, Department of Management; Henry Musoma ’00, Center for International Business Studies; Veronica (Sprayberry) Stilley ’90, Department of Information and Operations Management; and Connie D. Weaver, Department of Accounting.

The university-level Distinguished Achievement Awards were first presented in 1955 and have since been awarded to more than 1,000 professionals who have exhibited the highest standards of excellence at Texas A&M.

The 2017 Distinguished Achievement Awards will be formally presented at 1:30 p.m. on April 24 during ceremonies in Rudder Theatre on the Texas A&M campus. In recognition of their achievements, each recipient will receive a cash gift, an engraved watch and a commemorative plaque.

All of the 2017 recipients, along with their departments/affiliations are as follows: 

For Teaching:
James D. Batteas, Department of Chemistry, College of Science
Ben F. Bigelow ʼ05, Department of Construction Science, College of Architecture
Christian Brannstrom, Department of Geography, College of Geosciences
Audrey K. Cook, Department of Veterinary Small Animal Clinical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences
Alan Dabney, Department of Statistics, College of Science
Amy E. Earhart ʼ99, Department of English, College of Liberal Arts
Larry Johnson, Department of Veterinary Integrative Biosciences, College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences
Mary P. McDougall ʼ97, Department of Biomedical Engineering, College of Engineering
Mary Margaret “Meg” Penrose, Texas A&M University School of Law
Connie D. Weaver, Department of Accounting, Mays Business School

For Research:
Wendy R. Boswell, Department of Management, Mays Business School
Timothy R. Elliott, Department of Educational Psychology, College of Education and Human Development
Paul E. Hardin, Department of Biology, College of Science
Casey J. Papovich, Department of Physics and Astronomy, College of Science
Ping Yang, Department of Atmospheric Sciences, College of Geosciences
Hong-Cai “Joe” Zhou ʼ00, Department of Chemistry, College of Science

For Student Relations:
Elizabeth Crouch ʼ91, Biomedical Sciences Program, College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences
Henry Musoma ʼ00, Center for International Business Studies, Mays Business School

For Administration:
Mark A. Hussey ʼ79, Dean, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences

For Extension, Outreach, Continuing Education and Professional Development
John T. Cooper Jr. ʼ92, Department of Landscape Architecture and Urban Planning, College of Architecture

For Staff:
Kevin Gustavus ʼ08, Business Office, College of Architecture
Veronica (Sprayberry) Stilley ’90, Department of Information and Operations Management, Mays Business School

For Graduate Mentoring:
Robert S. Chapkin, Department of Nutrition and Food Science, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
Yalchin Efendiev, Department of Mathematics, College of Science

KPMG has been selected as the 2017 Mays Business School Corporate Partner of the Year. To celebrate, April 4 will be KPMG Corporate Day in Mays Business School as part of the Mays Connection program, which celebrates the school’s partnerships with both businesses and former students.

Mays will host a presentation to announce the award, special remarks, a reception and class visits across the school from various KPMG alumni. The Corporate Partner of the Year presentation will be made in the Wehner Atrium from 11:30 a.m. to noon.

Bernie Milano, president of the KPMG U.S. Foundation Inc. and The PhD Project Association, is scheduled to give remarks on “Embracing Diversity of Thought” from 2:20 to 3:30 p.m. in Wehner 161.

Diversity of thought ensures cautious and creative processing of information compared to that which occurs within homogeneous groups. The key to embracing diversity of thought is to embrace difference. Managers who are adept in understanding differences across. race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality and ability spectrums have an advantage in creating a sustainable 21^st century work force. Transformational leaders are open minded and seek diverse viewpoints to remain innovative and solve organizational challenges.

Milano graduated from Temple University with a B.S. in accounting and started his career with KPMG in the audit practice of the Philadelphia office. Prior to his current roles as president of the KPMG Foundation he held positions of increasing responsibility, including National Partner in Charge of University Relations and National Partner in Charge of Human Resources.

KPMG is a professional services company – offering audit, tax and advisory services – and is one of the Big Four auditors. It is based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, and employs 189,000 people.

The contributions that KPMG has made to Mays Business School include, but are not limited to

• The KPMG Chair in Accounting, established in 2001
• The KPMG Professorship in Accounting, established in 1988
• The KPMG Fellowship, established in 1987,
• The KPMG Data Analytics/Technology Development Endowment, established in 2015

KPMG is one of the school’s top employers. In 2016, the company hired more than 75 students for internships and full-time opportunities at both the undergraduate and graduate level.

“When selecting the honoree for 2017, we immediately realized that KPMG was the only choice, considering their commitment to our school through financial support, hiring and educational support,” said Mays Dean Eli Jones.

The PhD Project, an effort to improve diversity in higher education, has been led by Milano since its inception and has benefited a number of Mays current and prospective faculty.   

The 18^th annual Women in Information Technology Conference, held March 3 in the Memorial Student Center on the Texas A&M University campus, attracted an array of women interested in informational technology.

Current students from Texas A&M, Blinn College, Prairie View A&M, Houston Christian School and Texas A&M-Texarkana, along with information systems professionals and CMIS board members attended the conference, which is hosted by the Center for the Management of Information Systems (CMIS). A variety of industries from consulting, education, financial, manufacturing and oil & gas were represented by Texas A&M former students and CMIS board members in the MIS (management of information systems) field.

After a welcome by CMIS Director Robin Starnes, Rich Metters, head of the Information Systems and Operations Management Department, presented some facts from his latest publication, “Gender Equality in Operations Management.”  Then the conference opened up with an “ice-breaker” session. Roundtables of networking sessions were conducted three different times, allowing attendees to move to different tables and network with others. A wide variety of topics included “What inspires or motivates you?“ and “What does your typical day look like?”

The sold-out crowd of close to 200 attendees enjoyed three keynote presentations.

• Brandie Claborn, Vice President of World Wide Communications at Intel Security, provided an informative and timely presentation on the Cybersecurity industry; the need to fill open positions and the strides at Texas A&M in the Cybersecurity area.
• Christine Rose, CIO and Head of Ecommerce at Kendra Scott, highlighted The Power of Passion and Perseverance in her career as well as Kendra’s own statement, “NO is only a suggestion.”
• Stephanie Kinser, Senior Vice President Enterprise Solution Engineering, at Salesforce concluded the speakers with Disruption, Innovation, and Empowerment in the Age of Equality in the age of the technologies that affect our lives, such as the cloud.

A wide variety of prizes and gift cards were awarded to attendees. In addition, CMIS provided scholarships to five Texas A&M students as well as book prizes, The Secrets Leaders Keep and The Confidence Code. Texas A&M Information Technology donated two Air 128GB Wi-Fi IPADS and David Gardner’s donated a Katie Decker Century Tree necklace. Every attendee received a surprise yellow box of fashion earrings donated from Kendra Scott.

CMIS board members sponsoring the conference included Exabyte Members – ConocoPhillips, Deloitte, GM, HP Enterprise, Noble Energy, Phillips 66, and Shell; Petabyte Members – Anadarko, Chevron, ExxonMobil, HP Inc., National Instruments and PwC; Terabyte Members – Charles Schwab, Protiviti, and USAA.

MIS students, faculty and staff assisted in the planning of the event. Additional information on the CMIS and all sponsored events is at http://cmis.tamu.edu.

The airline industry is dynamic and in constant flux, perfect for entrepreneurial-minded types like Michael Cox ’77, vice chairman of the Seabury Advisory Group. A self-proclaimed airline geek since childhood, Cox has spent nearly 20 years with consulting and overseeing the restructuring of numerous airline clients on a variety of projects, including airline treasury corporate finance and airline restructuring.

Cox joined Business Honors students for lunch on his visit to Mays Business School, where he spoke of the current state of the airline industry and some of the lessons he’s learned in his career.

Globalization is changing the game

“Consolidation of airlines around the world is happening at a faster pace,” Cox said, adding “often at the expense of medium to smaller airlines. Yet we’re also seeing more joint ventures supplanting global airlines in importance.”

He said the most important part of Seabury’s business is restructuring. “Airlines that are restructured are driving global profitability. In order to be effective, the restructuring must be comprehensive, touching everything from labor to network, capacity, fleet and other costs. Not many airlines realize this when they first approach us. We have to show how important a holistic restructuring is.”

Some of the restructuring efforts Cox has led include those for Frontier Airlines, South African Airways, Air Mauritius and Gulf Air. He also led the Seabury team in successfully restructuring the aircraft debt/lease obligations for the reorganization efforts US Airways, Air Canada and Northwest Airlines.

The creative side of finance

Cox earned his bachelor’s of business administration in finance from Texas A&M University and an MBA in finance and accounting from the University of Texas at Austin.

He said he was drawn to the industry by his love of air travel and natural inclination for environments that require creative thinking. “Restructuring in the industry requires being comfortable with risk-taking and ambiguity. I like to think of restructuring as the creative side of finance.”

Be open to others’ perspectives

Some students wanted to hear about what lessons in teamwork he’d learned from his years overseeing negotiations and functioning as a project manager. “I make sure everyone has a voice, from the new college graduate to the veteran consultant,” Cox said. “I’ve learned that you have to respect the other person’s perspective and that it’s OK to not have all the answers.”

Business Honors major Arun Mathew ’19 said the lunch with Cox was a great experience. “He was a very down-to-earth individual, and he made the presentation interesting and interactive,” Mathew said.   

PPA and Business Honors major Preston Pownell ’16 added that he enjoyed the discussion and appreciated the opportunity to “see glimpses into what it truly takes to succeed in an increasingly competitive business environment.”

Two Mays Business School faculty members are in the inaugural class of Texas A&M University’s Presidential Impact Fellows. Sean T. McGuire, assistant professor of accounting, and Stephen Courtright, assistant professor of management, were among the 24 announced by President Michael K. Young and recognized on March 7.

McGuire

Young and Provost Karan Watson announced the award, created to support faculty members who are rising stars in their fields and who personify the commitments Young outlined in his October 2016 “State of the University Address” – to advance knowledge through transformational learning, discovery, innovation and impact for Texas and the world. The award recipients come from across Texas A&M’s 16 colleges and schools, two branch campuses, and comprehensive University Libraries.

“Today, we acknowledge a new investment in the excellence of select faculty who through their scholarship, personal commitment and results demonstrate they are rising to meet the challenges of their field and demonstrating impact towards creating a better world,” Young said. “I am proud to name these faculty as the inaugural Presidential Impact Fellows.”

The Presidential Impact Fellows program includes the use of the honorific title for life, and an annual stipend of $25,000 each of the next three fiscal years to accelerate each recipient’s pedagogy,

Courtright

research and service impacts. Identified by his or her dean and confirmed by academic leadership, these faculty members are considered candidates for continued or new national and international acclaim and will utilize this honor to participate in national dialogue, advance their scholarship and create new partnerships.

“This honor furthers our belief that these faculty are and should be considered among the nation’s very best and will enable greater recognition for their excellence,” said provost and executive vice president Watson.

The 2017 recipients will be honored at a March 21 ceremony and will be given a memento of glass art reflecting the synergy of transformational learning, discovery & innovation, and impact formed by Texas A&M commitments to creating a better world.

Duane Ireland has been named the 2017 recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award  – the highest award given to a faculty member at Texas A&M University’s Mays Business School for sustained and outstanding scholarly contributions.

Ireland is Executive Associate Dean of Mays Business School and University Distinguished Professor and holds the Benton Cocanougher Chair in Business at Texas A&M University.

Dean Eli Jones called Ireland’s scholarly record “a distinguished one.” He said “Ireland’s work has included multiple publications in major journals as well as a significant amount of editorial service (with the potential highlight of this service being his term as editor for the Academy of Management Journal).”  

Ireland is also a recipient of the Association of Former Students’ Award for Research, and is a Fellow of the Academy of Management and of the Strategic Management Society. He received his Ph.D. and MBA from Texas Tech University.

Ireland is prolific in academic journals, having published numerous articles in journals such as the Academy of Management Journal, Academy of Management Review, Academy of Management Learning & Education, Strategic Management Journal, Administrative Science Quarterly, Decision Sciences, Journal of Management, Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, Journal of Business Venturing and Journal of Management Studies, among others. He is a former editor of the Academy of Management Journal and served as the 69th president of the Academy of Management, a worldwide association with approximately 20,000 members.

The Lifetime Achievement Award has a rigorous selection process beginning with faculty nominations. The Mays Research Council and the Mays Executive Committee then reviewed nominees and made their recommendations to Jones, who confirmed Ireland’s selection.

Ireland will be honored at Mays on April 20 with an award presentation and remarks 9:30-10:30 a.m. in 190 Wehner and a reception 10:30-11:30 a.m. in the Cocanougher Center, Room 183 of the Wehner Building. The public is welcome to attend.

Previous recipients of this prestigious award include:

• Rajan Varadarajan, University Distinguished Professor of Marketing (2016)
• Leonard Berry, University Distinguished Professor of Marketing (2015)
• Michael A. Hitt, University Distinguished Professor of Management (2014)

Healthcare customers are a unique type of consumer – reluctant to purchase, at risk and often highly stressed. During a visit with business students in the Improving Service Quality in Healthcare course, J.R. Thomas, executive vice president of Optum, shared some of the complicated challenges healthcare providers face today.

The visit was the second day of a trip to Mays for Thomas and Optum senior executives Doug Hansen ’89, Allison Miller ’99 and Kevin Kuhn. The first day, Thomas presented to Business Honors students in the Executive Speaker Series, followed by a networking session and student dinner sponsored by Optum. The second day Thomas and his team members from Optum spoke with MBA students and to students from the School of Public Health.

Leonard Berry, University Distinguished Professor of Marketing, taught the lecture for the Improving Service Quality in Healthcare course discussion and facilitated discussion between students and their visitors. The focus on Healthcare is one of Mays’ Grand Challenges.

Managing stress

In the discussion, Thomas underscored one of the most important issues facing healthcare providers: stress. “Patients and their families are faced with life-altering decisions, nurses and doctors work long hours and endure emotional exhaustion to provide the best service possible, and management is stressed with striking a balance between good will toward those who can’t afford expensive healthcare and staying in business,” he said.

The key, he said, is to remember that patients are more than customers; they’re people. He provided an example of an end-of life scenario: “If a patient is dying, it’s important to personally talk to the family. Give them your instinct. You can’t always prevent death, but you can control how it will happen.”

He elaborated on another complex situation: “Some customers can’t always afford healthcare. But remember you also owe it to patients to stay in business.”

Technology creates new challenges, opportunities

Thomas also shared how technology is changing the landscape of medicine. “Routine visits and checkups for common maladies are moving towards telemedicine, such as simple phone calls instead of expensive in-office visits,” he said. “But for the more serious cases, the value of a personal touch in an in-person visit will never go away. Patients need that.”

Marketing senior Rachel Claggett said she was impressed by the amount of involvement the business side of healthcare has in the lives of patients. “It’s reassuring to know that there is humanity and passion in this industry – it’s not just about profits.”

Thomas received his master’s of business administration focusing on finance and management at the University of Texas at Austin. He also holds a bachelor’s degree in zoology from the University of Arkansas.