Business Accents

BUSINESSSPRING 2008 VOLUME 4, NO. 1 http://business.fiu.edu

Innovation andEntrepreneurship:

Ideas become reality throughout

the college.

New building complexreveals innovation at every turn. . .20

Born global or regional?Why–and where–some entrepreneurs are driven tosucceed. . .23

New class promotes entrepreneurial thinking among IT professionals. . .25

Innovative use of YouTubeenlivens large classroomexperience. . .29

ACCENTS

FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITYCOLLEGE OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

[II] Business Accents 2008 http://business.fiu.edu COLLEGE OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

Florida International University’s College of Business Administration, SouthFlorida’s leading business school with unique expertise in international busi-ness, entrepreneurship, and a range of financial services—from accounting tobanking to real estate—is the largest of the university’s professional schools.It also is known for its innovative, market-driven, and technology-enabled edu-cational programs for both degree- and non-degree-seeking business profes-sionals in South Florida and beyond. Among the college’s more than 30, 000alumni are some of the region’s most successful business leaders and entre-preneurs.

Every year, approximately 7,000 students are enrolled in undergraduatebusiness courses in the college’s Landon Undergraduate School of Businessand more than 1,200 graduate students study in its Chapman GraduateSchool of Business. Another 1,000 participate annually in one or more of itsexecutive and professional education programs.

The college enjoys a national and global reputation in international busi-ness education at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. U.S. News &World Report (2005-2008) ranked the international business programs in theLandon Undergraduate School of Business among the fifteen best in thenation, and the college’s graduate international business programs in the top25 (2006-2008). BusinessWeek (2002-2006) ranked the college among the top68 graduate business schools in the United States and in the top 25 amongpublic business schools.The Princeton Review’s “Best 290 Business Schools,”2008 edition, lists the college as one of the best business schools in thecountry. Also, Hispanic Business (since 1998) and Hispanic Trends (since 2003)have placed the college among the top 25 business schools for Hispanics,

most recently in the top ten. Since 2004, AméricaEconomía (a pan-regionalbusiness journal) has included the college among its list of the best interna-tional business schools for Hispanic-American and Latin American businessstudents. The college also is among the top international business schoolsincluded in Latin Trade’s annual MBA ratings (2006, 2007), which examines fea-tures like curricular innovation, entrepreneurial focus, diversity of the studentbody, and more.

In both 2006 and 2007, Fortune Small Business identi-fied the college as among the best in the United Statesfor entrepreneurship, and Entrepreneur.com (2008)listed it the fourth best for entrepreneurship forminority students.

Financial Times (2006, 2007) listed the college’sExecutive MBA program in its ranking of the Top 85Executive MBA programs in the world, making it thehighest-ranked Executive MBA program in Florida.

The college is one of only 7% of all business schools globallyand among fewer than one third in the United Stats that is accredited byAACSB International—The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools ofBusiness. That means it has earned the highest standard of achievementamong business schools world-wide. It tells prospective students, faculty,recruiters, and employers that the school produces graduates who are pre-pared to succeed in the global marketplace.AACSB International accredita-tion demands a superior faculty, high-caliber teaching, and meaningfulinteraction among students and faculty.

The College of Business AdministrationLeading the Way in International Business Education

2008 Business Accents [1]COLLEGE OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION http://business.fiu.edu

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SPRING 2008 VOLUME 4, NO. 1 http://business.fiu.edu

BUSINESSACCENTSFLORIDA INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITYCOLLEGE OF BUSINESS ADMIMISTRATION

FeaturesNew College of Business Administration Complex reveals innovation at every turn. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20From its architecture to its state-of-the-art technology, the college’s new building complex inte-grates innovative design, international flair, global focus, and South Florida’s natural environmentin ways that strengthen the communal aspect of learning while ensuring its multimedia infra-structure. Its Capital Markets Lab replicates an authentic securities trading environment in waysthat give hands-on experience to students across disciplines.

Born global or regional? Why—and where—some entrepreneursare driven to succeed. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23Professor Sumit Kundu compares the global nature of the software industry in India, Finland,China, and Taiwan with a more targeted approach to internationalization taken by entrepre-neurial software companies in Costa Rica and other countries in Latin America.

New class promotes entrepreneurial thinking among IT professionals. . . . . . . . 25“Revolutionary and challenging.” That’s how Mairim Avila (MSMIS ’07), a senior operatingsystems programmer with Miami-Dade County, described the class that capped off herstudies in the Master of Science in Management Information Systems (MSMIS) program inthe College of Business Administration: Management of the IS Function.

Innovation: Business would be lost without it. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27College courses like Creativity and Innovation and Managing Innovation, taught by AssociateProfessor Constance Bates, give students theoretical and practical knowledge of the idea-generation process to help them establish and manage a creative work environment..

Innovative use of YouTube enlivens large classroom experience. . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 David Wernick uses YouTube to engage and challenge students in his Management andOrganization course.

New entrepreneurs step up to the challenge. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31The college’s Eugenio Pino and Family Global Entrepreneurship Center nurtures student andalumni entrepreneurs.

DepartmentsFrom the Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2From the Executive Dean . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3CBA 360: Around the College . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4On the Faculty Front . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10Focus on Students. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15Community Connections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33Alumni News . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37Alumni Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43Donor Profile. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

[2] Business Accents 2008 http://business.fiu.edu COLLEGE OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

One of the primary reasons for the college’sphenomenal growth and success since itsinception in 1972 and, more particularly, duringmy time here over the past decade, is its strongentrepreneurial spirit and innovative culture.We live and work in a university and in a col-lege that thrives on bringing new ideas, con-cepts, programs, and businesses to life, ontesting new boundaries, and on experimenta-tion in all we do.

Moreover, while the college has built its com-petitive niche primarily on its expertise ininternational business, rooted in its Miami loca-tion and serving as a focal point for multina-tionals from around the world doing businessin the Americas, we also have and continue toaddress the needs of the entrepreneurial andsmall-business environment which we servelocally and throughout the southern hemi-sphere.

This fourth issue of Business Accents seeks toreflect the many dimensions—cultural, aca-demic, pedagogical, and commercial—of ourcollege’s entrepreneurial and innovative envi-ronment, and the important role it plays inenabling us to fulfill our mission.

From our innovative business honors com-munity to our civic engagement and globalleadership service projects, we are engagingundergraduates in novel ways with each otherand with members of the larger world in whichthey live. Our graduate programs involve stu-dents in a host of projects—from commercial-izing art objects to creating businesses arounduniversity-generated intellectual properties.Our innovative Dual Degree partners’ networkis bringing together students and businesspeople from around the globe to take part in ahost of programs—both for credit and not-forcredit—that benefit from their internationaldiversity and experience.

At the same time, our centers of excellence,as you will read, are developing innovative pro-grams focused on alternative energy sources,green supply chains, and entrepreneurial busi-nesses.

Some of our faculty, too, have been concen-trating their research on such areas as entre-

preneurial dynamics, women entrepreneurs inLatin America, and approaches softwareindustry firms are taking to internationalizingtheir products.

You’ll discover some of our typical students,entrepreneurial in their businesses as well as intheir community service.

Feature articles in this issue cover the innova-tive design and cutting-edge uses of technologyin our new business building complex and itsCapital Markets Lab; a few of our courses inentrepreneurship, creativity, and innovation; afaculty member’s successful use of YouTube in alarge management class; and our annual busi-ness plan competition, which incorporates asocial entrepreneurship requirement.

The ways in which we partner with localcompanies, as illustrated by articles on RyderSystem, Inc., and Burger King, also representmulti-layered and creative relationships forgedand now reaping mutually-beneficial results.

More than 20% of our close to 30,000 alumniare entrepreneurs—another reason for ouremphasis on this subject as a college and in thisissue. We profile a few of them—including amajor donor—but there are so many more inour community and overseas who have estab-lished and grown new and prosperous busi-nesses.

While we barely touch the surface of ourentrepreneurial and innovative activities, I trustit’s clear from this issue that these activitiescover a wide spectrum—and provide the set-ting and impetus for much of what we do.

As always, we welcome your thoughts, com-ments, and suggestions about ways in which wecan increase your understanding of and partici-pation in our growing and entrepreneurialenterprise.

Thanks for reading!

Sally M. GallionEditor

From the Editor

Editorial OfficesCommunication and Public RelationsCollege of Business AdministrationFlorida International University11200 S.W. 8th Street—CBC 121Miami, Florida [email protected] to the editor are welcomed.

Statement of PurposeThe primary purpose of Business Accents, the

College of Business Administration’s magazine,is to keep our friends and supporters in thebusiness and academic communities, includingour students, alumni, faculty, and staff, informedabout their business school and its progress inachieving its mission and vision. It is a vehicledesigned to enable and encourage members ofthese communities to communicate and stayconnected with the business school and witheach other.

Editor: Sally M. GallionWriters: Sally M. Gallion

Beverly Z.WelberMelissa Saegert ElickerRegina Tosca

Contributors: David Wernick

Photographers: Richard EdwardAlexis PuentesOlakunle EkunkonyeKenneth Setzer

Graphic Design: i.e. design

Administrative LeadershipJoyce J. Elam, Executive Dean, College ofBusiness Administration, and Vice Provost, FIU Online

Christos Koulamas, Senior Associate Dean

Jerry Haar, Associate Dean, InternationalRelations and Projects

Clifford R. Perry, Associate Dean,Undergraduate Studies

Tomislav Mandakovic, Associate Dean,Graduate Programs

Sally M. Gallion, Assistant Dean,Communication and Public Relations

Annabelle Rojas, Assistant Dean,Advancement, Corporate, and Alumni Relations

Lynda Raheem, Assistant Dean,Undergraduate Advising

Luis Casas, Director, Marketing and Recruiting

Claudio Pico, Director, Budget andAdministration

Robert Garcia, Director, Executive andProfessional Education

Manoel Oliveira, Director,Technology Center

As we move forward into the 21st cen-tury, entrepreneurship will become an evenmore important driver of economic growththan it has been. Almost one out of everyeight Americans is engaged in entrepre-neurial activity—one of the highest rates inthe world and the highest rate among thelargest, most developed countries. Wealth,jobs, and innovations are created by smallbusinesses started by entrepreneuriallyminded individuals, many of whom go on tocreate large, successful businesses. Mostnew business ventures are driven not somuch by necessity, but by the desire topursue opportunities entrepreneurs saw inthe market.

Our mission is to prepare our students tosucceed in this entrepreneurial economy.The college believes that all of our studentsshould develop an entrepreneurial mindsetand that, by fostering a strong entrepre-neurial culture, we can maximize individualand collective economic success on a local,national, and global scale. Given that most ofour students live and work in South Floridaand that Miami is one of America’s mostentrepreneurial and dynamic internationalcities, a focus on entrepreneurship is partic-ularly important for our college.

The college’s entrepreneurship focusreceived a tremendous boost when the uni-versity was designated a Kauffman Campusin 2003. The college played a key role inhelping the university secure this designa-tion, which came with a $3M grant from theKauffman Foundation of Kansas City, thepreeminent foundation supporting entrepre-neurship in the United States. We take pride

in the fact that our Eugenio Pino and FamilyGlobal Entrepreneurship Center has takenthe lead in administering this grant.

Today, the college offers a practical,applied curriculum in entrepreneurship, richin experiential learning opportunities, forboth our undergraduate and graduate stu-dents.We celebrate the entrepreneurial suc-cesses of our alumni through our annualinduction of some of them into ourEntrepreneurship Hall of Fame. Our facultyis engaged in cutting-edge research on thevarious aspects of the entrepreneurial ven-ture’s life cycle. Through the Eugenio Pinoand Family Global Entrepreneurship Center,we offer programs and activities that tran-scend the traditional academic experience,including a business plan competition, aspeaker series that brings successful entre-preneurs to campus, and a boot camp foraspiring entrepreneurs. In the stories con-tained in this magazine, we hope to give youa sense of the many innovative ways that thecollege embraces entrepreneurship and fos-ters an entrepreneurial culture.

We recognize our responsibility to nur-ture the spirit of entrepreneurship in ourstudents and to provide them with the tools,knowledge, and experiences that will enablethem to discover entrepreneurial opportuni-ties and to take advantage of these opportu-nities by either making an innovativecontribution to an existing organization orby starting a new business venture.We alsorecognize our responsibility to be a thoughtleader in entrepreneurship and to be aresource to the aspiring, as well as theestablished, entrepreneurs in our community.

In looking through this magazine, I hopethat you will be impressed with the varietyof activities that our students and faculty areengaged in and the accomplishments of ourvarious academic programs and centers. Thecollege is blessed with a tremendous amountof support from our alumni and the businessand civic leaders in our community. We areproud to profile some of our outstandingalumni and supporters in this magazine.

We welcome your support and feedbackas we continue to build one of the finestpublic business schools in the country.

Joyce J. ElamExecutive Dean


The Importance of Entrepreneurial Education

From the Executive Dean

Network helps groom honorsstudents for future studies inbusiness.

When Robert Hogner, associate professor,Department of Management andInternational Business, and developmentdirector for undergraduate internationalbusiness programs, speaks about theBusiness Honors Community, he emphasizes“community.”

“We want to foster a sense of commonidentity among honors business students,”said Hogner, who developed the initiativewith strong support from Executive DeanJoyce J. Elam and Elizabeth Williams, associatedirector of student enrichment in theHonors College.

“In addition, we want to integrate accessto the business school for freshmen andsophomores so they begin to think of them-selves as business students as soon as theyarrive on campus,” he said.

“This network gives energetic, bright stu-

dents and corporate leaders another meansto interact with each other,” Elam said.

Initiative promotes fellowship, participa-tion in college life.

Launched in summer, 2007, the BusinessHonors Community provides participantswith a range of special business, networking,professional development, and faculty men-toring opportunities.The inaugural event inOctober, 2007, featured a dinner and recep-tion with Elam and Honors College InterimDean and Fellow Lesley A. Northrup. InJanuary, 2008, the community collaboratedwith the Center for Leadership and Serviceto bring celebrated author and lecturer Paul

Loeb to campus for a series of talks on hissignature themes of citizen responsibility andempowerment.

“What’s exciting is that there has been astrong response from students and adminis-trators,” Hogner said.“We want to channelthat interest into building a thriving campuscommunity that encourages greater studentinvolvement and enriches the overall learningexperience.” ■

Career Management Servicesextends benefits to under-graduate business majors.

No matter how firm the academic founda-tion students receive in the College ofBusiness Administration, when it comes totheir all-important career development, anentirely different kind of support comes intoplay. Career Management Services (CMS)has bolstered its resources to help under-graduate business students through themyriad tasks of applying for and securingprofessional opportunities. And thanks tothe generosity of Bank of America, CMS nowoccupies the spacious Bank of AmericaCareer Management Services offices inStudent Hall in the College of BusinessAdministration Complex (CBC).


Around the College360CBA

R. Kirk Landon Undergraduate School of Business

At welcome reception, from left, Joyce J. Elam, Robert Hogner, Lesley Northrup, Clifford R. Perry,and Anezka Rios.

“This network gives energetic,bright students and corporate

leaders another means tointeract with each other.”

—Joyce J. Elam, Executive Dean, College ofBusiness Administration

“What’s exciting is that therehas been a strong response

from students and administra-tors. We want to channel that

interest into building athriving campus community

that encourages greater student involvement and

enriches the overall learningexperience.”

—Robert Hogner, associate professor,Department of Management and InternationalBusiness, and development director for under-graduate international and business programs,College of Business Administration

New staff member guides fruitful con-versations.

In June, 2007, Dawn Lazar (MS ’06) joinedCMS as assistant director, undergraduateprograms, working with fully admitted col-lege juniors and seniors. She brought withher a deep desire to help students and fouryears’ experience working at FloridaInternational University as the first advisor inthe School of Public Health.

“I am building relationships with the col-lege’s undergraduate students and workingclosely with student organizations to bringcareer development opportunities to theirmembers,” said Lazar, who takes one-on-oneappointments for fifteen students per week.

Conversations can range over many rele-vant topics, but she asks that students arrivewith their résumés.

“Having the document enables me to pro-vide guidance, not only about ways toimprove the résumé itself, but also aboutcareer options suggested by the student’sbackground,” she said.

The spacious new suite has created anattractive location for both students andrecruiters.

“We have a comfortable recruiters’ loungewith a kitchen area, ten private interviewrooms, a room for workshops, and a full-service career reference library,” said BarryShiflett, CMS director.“The new offices makea positive impression on companies just get-ting to know us and on those who havesought out our students as interns andemployees for many years.”■

Innovative at the outset,global leadership and serviceproject continues to evolve.

In 2004, studentsin the InternationalBusiness HonorSociety (IBHS) spenttheir spring break inThailand, membersof the first-everGlobal Leadershipand Service Project(GLSP).This year, thelargest group, num-bering 27 andincluding two stu-dents from otheruniversities in theUnited States andone from SouthAmerica, worked at three sites in Bangkok,with support from the English Club andCommunity Development Department atChandrakasem Rajabhat University (CRU). Inits short history, the GLSP has become amodel for international, collaborative com-munity engagement.

“We couldn’t wait to see the kids again,”said team leader Andres Franco, an interna-tional business major, of the boys with dis-abilities at Baan Rachavadee, a modern,

government-sponsored complex thatdelivers services to people with specialneeds, one of last year’s sites. Anothergroup returned to the Foundation for theBetter Life of Children (FBLC)—a pre-school that rescues children living on thestreets, and yet another went to a new site:a Royal-Family sponsored community pre-school in the economically disadvantagedarea of Klong Toey.

The student organizers, who met twohours weekly as the trip neared, have gottenlogistics down to a science. Each site had aleader, each day included a meeting toresolve problems, and the group’s counter-part in Thailand validated each curriculum.

They’ve learned to expect surprises, evenas they work to minimize their impact. Lastyear, for example, the severity of the disabili-ties of the boys at Baan Rachavadee meantrevising the curriculum entirely.

“It was a big shock when we arrived, butwe got used to it quickly, and it was a greatexperience,” said Franco, who served as thatsite’s leader in 2007.

An added development this year: ClintReyla, international program coordinator,Arkansas State University, attended,“tobecome a student of the process as well asof the experience.” As he has since 2004,Robert Hogner, associate professor,Department of Management andInternational Business, and coordinator ofthe college’s Civic Engagement Initiative,made the trip. ■


Around the College360CBAR. Kirk Landon Undergraduate School of Business

“I am building relationshipswith the college’s undergrad-uate students and working

closely with student organiza-tions to bring career develop-ment opportunities to their

members.”—Dawn Lazar (MS ’06), assistant director, under-graduate programs, Career Management Services

“We couldn’twait to see thekids again.”

—Andres Franco, GlobalLeadership and ServiceProject 2008 Team Leader

One team worked with students at the Foundation for the Better Life ofChildren (FBLC).

Dawn Lazar (MS ’06) with student in theGraham Resource Library in CareerManagement Services.

[6] Business Accents 2008 http://business.fiu.edu COLLEGE OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION[6] Business Accents 2008

Alvah H. Chapman Jr. Graduate School of Business


The Wolfsonian-Florida InternationalUniversity (FIU) desired a commercial ven-ture that would capitalize on its collection offurniture, paintings, rare books, prints, indus-trial and decorative art objects, andephemera of the modern era. Alan Carsrud,clinical professor and executive director ofthe Eugenio Pino and Family GlobalEntrepreneurship Center, sought a projectfor his Downtown MBA class that wouldimmerse students in a “real-world entrepre-neurial endeavor.”

“What resulted was a fruitful collabora-tion that allowed students to do somethingchallenging and outside the box,” Carsrudsaid.

The project involved the development ofcommercial products inspired by museumpieces. Students conducted market and salesanalyses and developed revenue projectionsto determine the viability and potential prof-itability of their products.

“Students took it very seriously, thor-oughly investigating each object,” said ReginaBailey, assistant director of planning for TheWolfsonian-FIU.“They spent considerabletime in the museum shop with managerPaola La Rivera observing customers andobtaining sales information.”

Museum staff impressed by students’creativity, professionalism.

The students had eight weeks to createtheir product plans and present them to apanel of museum staff and board members.One proposed a bracelet for individually soldcharms representing pieces in the collection,intended to encourage repeat visits to themuseum for additional charms.Another usedpatterns in the collection to design wall-paper.

“The ideas were interesting,” Bailey said,“and the presentations were extraordinarilyprofessional.”

Carsrud, who hopes to partner with themuseum on future initiatives, described TheWolfsonian-FIU as “a great resource thatoffers unique opportunities for studentlearning.” ■

Innovative entrepreneurshipproject focuses on commer-cializing intellectual property.

Unlocking tech-nologies’ commercialpotential can yieldexciting businessopportunities.Identifying how toconvert the technolo-gies into productsposes many challenges.Fifty-four studentslearned about both inthe Advanced BusinessPlan Development course, part of theInternational MBA (IMBA) curriculum in thecollege.

Each team developed a business plan—analyzing the marketplace and the competi-tion and completing financials and proformas—for technologies to which the uni-versity owns the rights.The options theytook on included Panther Skin, a lightweight,solvent- and fire-resistant plastic that canbond permanently to metal; water purifica-tion projects; and heat sink and temperature-probe technologies.

Creativity and business savvy meld.“We evaluated how Panther Skin could

protect the undercarriage of high-mobility,multipurpose, wheeled vehicles (Humvees)targeted by improvised explosive devices(IEDs),” said Luis Almodovar (IMBA ’07), spe-cialist, talent management, Burger King, amechanic in the military who knew wherePanther Skin could be applied.

The teams presented their plans to mem-bers of the Pino Global EntrepreneurshipCenter; Florida International University’sOffice of Intellectual Property Managementand Resource Development; the AppliedResearch Center (ARC); and to the presi-dent of the South Florida Technology Alliance(SFTA).

Downtown MBA student presents his team’splan for commercializing museum's designs.

“What resulted was a fruitfulcollaboration that allowed stu-dents to do something chal-

lenging and outside the box.”—Alan Carsrud, clinical professor of manage-ment and executive director of the Eugenio Pinoand Family Global Entrepreneurship Center

Class enables students to“artfully” demonstrate their entrepreneurial know-how.

“The ideas were interestingand the presentations were

extraordinarily professional.”—Regina Bailey, assistant director of planning,The Wolfsonian-FIU

Luis Almodovar(IMBA ’07) developeda plan for commercial-izing Panther Skin.


Alvah H. Chapman Jr. Graduate School of BusinessAround the College360CBA

“Students got to participate in a veryinteresting exercise and, in some cases, tomeet the inventors,” said Alan Carsrud, exec-utive director, Pino Center, clinical professorof management, and instructor of thecourse. ■

Unique global network benefits international studentsand universities.

The Global Dual Degree Network,embracing thirty institutional membersworldwide, gives students at its member uni-versities opportunities to expand their edu-cational horizons.

The longest-standing network option, theDual Degree program in the ChapmanSchool, enables students to obtain an MBAfrom their home university and a Master ofInternational Business (MIB) from FloridaInternational University faster than if theypursued the two degrees sequentially.Recently,ALMA Graduate School, Universityof Bologna joined the network—the firstbusiness school in Italy to do so.

Possibilities go beyond the Dual Degree.Some partner universities in France,

Croatia, and Spain offer certificate programs,and plans for expanded collaboration con-tinue to unfold as members learn from eachother’s experiences.

“We’ve signed an umbrella agreementwith Instituto de Estudios Bursátiles (IEB) inSpain and may offer a summer study-abroadprogram there for our International MBA(IMBA) students, an idea we got from ournetwork partners,” said Anna Pietraszek(EMBA ’06), associate director, admissionsand international partnerships.“We’re alsoexploring ways to create options for themany students who want to come to theUnited States for a summer program.”

To encourage dialogue,TomislavMandakovic, associate dean, GraduatePrograms and Pietraszek are working tocreate an interactive web site to facilitatecommunication among administrators andstudents in the networked institutions. ■

Conference explores humancapital, innovation, and entre-preneurship.

Innovation characterized the 42nd annualmeeting of the Latin American Council ofManagement Schools (CLADEA), hosted bythe College of Business Administration, onthe theme “Human Capital and LatinAmerica’s Competitiveness.” Appropriately, itwas held at the college’s new building com-plex (CBC).

Approximately 400 international scholarsand administrators, representing more than100 universities from Latin America and theCaribbean, along with fifty schools fromNorth America and Europe, attended themeetings.

Papers span academic and administra-tive interests.

More than 120 academic papers dispersedover fifteen sessions covered entrepreneur-ship, finance, human resources, innovation,management, and marketing. Jerry Haar, asso-ciate dean for international affairs and proj-ects, served as the academic chair.

The college’s strong ties to top managersensured that attendees at eleven administra-tors’ panels gained insights about their mostpressing administrative challenges—managinghuman resources, supporting facultyresearch, and evaluating faculty perform-ance–from those most in the know.

Certified by the fire marshal three daysbefore the event, CBC provided a tech-nology-rich setting. Manoel Oliveira, director,Technology Center, and his staff had theextensive media equipment operational; andSally M. Gallion, assistant dean, Communi-cation and Public Relations, had the building’selaborate electronic signage system filledwith real-time information about conferenceactivities. ■

“Students got to participate ina very interesting exercise and,

in some cases, to meet theinventors.”

—Alan Carsrud, executive director, Pino Center,and clinical professor of management, College ofBusiness Administration

From left: Massimo Bergami, dean (ConsigliereDelegato), ALMA Università di Bologna, withthe college’s Associate Dean, GraduatePrograms,Tomislav Mandakovic followingsigning ceremony.

More than 400 scholars and administrators attend CLADEA conference, hosted by the college inFall, 2007.



News from our Centers of Excellence

Energy Business Forum fuelsdiscussion about energy andinnovation.

Cheap, abundant fossil fuels turned the21st century into the age of hydrocarbons.Today, rising prices, coupled with concernsabout the environment and supply security,drive the quest for alternative fuels.

Jointly supported by Florida InternationalUniversity’s College of BusinessAdministration and the Applied ResearchCenter, the Energy Business Forum plays aleading role in advancing discussions aroundfuel security and sustainability through diver-sification and closer collaboration across theWestern Hemisphere.

Ed Glab, clinical professor, Department ofManagement and International Business, anddirector of the college’s Knight RidderCenter for Excellence in Management, andGeorge Philippidis, associate director of theApplied Research Center, co-direct theEnergy Business Forum.

“While we recognize the key role fossilfuels will continue to play in the world’senergy mix, the Energy Business Forumfocuses on contributing to energy securityby acting as a catalyst for the public and pri-vate sectors to develop a diverse portfolioof commercially sustainable alternative fuels,”Glab said.

Philippidis noted that federal and statepolicies are in place to promote the use ofalternative fuels, especially biofuels.

“We can leverage these policies to createa fertile environment for private investment,”he said.

Events explore the energy mix.Throughout 2007, the Energy Business

Forum sponsored and participated in morethan one dozen events—from a seminar onelectric cars to a “food-to-fuel” conferenceto several biofuels-focused events.

In September, the Forum and GeneralMotors (GM) hosted an open forum fea-turing a panel discussion on E85 ethanolinfrastructure, technology, and availability, allin the South Florida context.The event coin-cided with the first availability of E85 ethanolat a Miami-area gas station.

As part of the 31st Caribbean CentralAmerican Action’s (CCAA) Conference onthe Caribbean Basin held Miami inDecember, Glab and Philippidis led a paneldiscussion entitled “Energy Security: BiofuelsAdvancements and Regional Cooperation.”

In January, 2008, the biofuels topic tookcenter stage at the Energy Business Forum’s“Biofuels in the Americas” conference. Morethan 170 energy experts, executives frommultinational corporations, and high-rankinggovernment officials came together toexamine how biofuels can complement ordisplace traditional fuels.■

Cutting-edge research ininternational business show-cased at college-organizedconference.

How could a topic as compelling as“Conflict, Security, and Political Risk:International Business in a ChallengingEnvironment” fail to attract the attention ofscholars across many disciplines? It couldn’t.

During the Fifth Annual Academy ofInternational Business (AIB)/Journal ofInternational Business Studies (JIBS)Conference on Emerging Research Frontiers

More than 170 participants attend Biofuels in the Americas conference in January, 2008.

“The Energy Business Forumfocuses on contributing to

energy security by acting as acatalyst for the public andprivate sectors to develop

a diverse portfolio of commercially sustainable

alternative fuels.”—Ed Glab, clinical professor, Department ofManagement and International Business anddirector, Knight Ridder Center for Excellence inManagement


News from our Centers of ExcellenceAround the College360CBA

in International Business, organized by theCollege of Business Administration’s Centerfor International Business Education andResearch (CIBER), 55 papers, fourteen ofthem in process, grappled with the issue.Twenty-eight of the nation’s 31 CIBERs sup-ported the event, held in Miami, Florida, anddrawing delegates from sixteen countriesand 53 organizations.

College handles logistics, makes schol-arly contributions.

“Most importantly, the FrontiersConference featured research at the fron-tier—or cutting edge—of international busi-ness, tackling issues that cut across thedisciplines of political science, internationalrelations, international political economics,philosophy, sociology, business, conflict, andsecurity studies,” said conference chair MaryAnn Von Glinow, professor and KnightRidder Eminent Scholar Chair inInternational Management, Department ofManagement and International Business,CIBER director, and a member of the cross-disciplinary program committee thatreviewed the submissions.

In addition to the presentations—includingthose by six members of various depart-ments in the college—and lively discussionsamong participants, the conference includeda visit to the Port of Miami, where the assis-tant port director, safety and security; andthe chief of the Anti-Terrorism ContrabandEnforcement Team (A-TCET), U.S. Customsand Border Protection, gave a high-levelbriefing about port operations and how theirteams work to spot threats. ■

Alumni EntrepreneurAwareness Campaign shines spotlight on businessinnovators.

Look at almost any industry in SouthFlorida and you will see graduates from theCollege of Business Administration makingtheir mark—and making a difference—assuccessful entrepreneurs.

To honor them and to encourage othersto consider an entrepreneurial career, theEugenio Pino and Family GlobalEntrepreneurship Center and the AlumniAssociation join together each spring toname a distinguished group of alumni entre-preneurs.

Announced during Entrepreneurship WeekUSA, the Alumni Entrepreneur AwarenessCampaign profiles the chosen alumni in eye-catching banners displayed around campus.

The alumni come from across the univer-sity community. In 2007, the group included

three College of Business Administrationgraduates: Ed Arista (BS ’95), founder ofArista Law, a full-service law firm; AlexisNogueras (MBA ’06), who won the 2006New Venture Challenge for ergonomic G-Force Tools; and Monique Hamaty-Simmonds(BBA ’06), president and CEO of TortugaImports, Inc, an international gourmet foodcompany.

“I hope that such recognition inspiresother students who have that entrepre-neurial spirit to pursue their dreams,”Hamaty-Simmonds said.“While often chal-lenging, there is no more satisfying careerthan being an entrepreneur.”

The 2008 campaign features DemianBellumio (BBA ’00), who establishedHoodiny Entertainment Group, a technologyand content production company; and JoséVargas (BBA ’00), current president andCOO of Healthcare.com and founder andprevious CEO of MailCreations.com, Inc., anonline marketing and lead-generation com-pany.

“For me it’s a great honor that my almamater is giving me this recognition,” Vargassaid.“In a larger context, the campaignshows how, with great effort, focus, and edu-cation, you can reach your goals.”

Boot Camp prepares entrepreneurs forbusiness combat.

Hosted by the Pino Center, the annualEntrepreneur Boot Camp comprises anintense series of fast-paced workshops toequip entrepreneurs-in-the-making withpractical tools and real-world knowledge.Session topics include accounting basics,non-profit and for-profit financial modeling,marketing strategy, and sales techniques.

Twin brothers Kevin Otway, slated tograduate in May, 2008, and Russell Otway(BA ’07), attended several Boot Camps ses-sions, including the business plan writingworkshop.

“We wanted to improve the business planfor our company,Veterans Energy Solutions,LLC,” Kevin Otway said.“And it worked:We came in as first runner-up in the 2007New Venture Challenge undergraduate category.” ■

Delegates from sixteen countries and 53 organizations participate in AIB Conference.

Alan Carsrud leads boot camp session onbusiness plans.


On the Faculty Front

SCHOOL OF ACCOUNTING

Yunhao ChenAssistant ProfessorPhD, University of Minnesota, Carlson Schoolof Management

Dr. Chen’s research interests includefinancial reporting and disclosure, financialanalyst forecasting, earnings expectationmanagement, and accounting information

systems. She has presented at numerous professional conferences.Her teaching spans financial accounting, managerial accounting, andaccounting information systems. She taught Introduction to FinancialReporting in the Carlson School of Management at the University ofMinnesota, for which she received the “2004-2005 OutstandingDoctoral Teaching Award.”

Renu DesaiAssistant ProfessorPhD, University of Central Florida

Dr. Desai’s interests include evaluatingthe economic and ethical considerationsunderlying the outsourcing of professionalaccounting services, financial accounting,and management accounting. At the

University of Central Florida, Desai received a university-wideresearch presentation award in business administration andresearched accounting outsourcing and the influence it may have onorganizational form and structure. She also has extensive professionalexperience in the public sector.

Charles J. GoldmanVisiting LecturerJD, Cumberland School of Law

Goldman has taught taxation, law, andbusiness courses, and he lectures fre-quently at the Certified Florida Examinersprogram, continuing professional education(CPE seminars), and Florida Institute of

CPAs (FICPA) seminars. His professional experience has included theprivate practice of law focusing on estate and asset protection plan-ning; individual, corporate, and partnership tax planning; and probateand estate administration, among other areas.

Adam S. MaigaAssistant ProfessorPhD, University of Memphis, Fogelman Collegeof Business and Economics

Dr. Maiga’s areas of interest span activity-based costing/management, budgeting,health care management, benchmarking,

value-chain analysis, strategic managerial accounting, theory of con-straints and optimization, management earnings forecast and earningsmanagement, and ethics/issues in accounting education. He has pub-lished numerous articles in academic journals; he also frequentlypresents his research at international, national, and regional academicconferences.

Divesh S. SharmaAssociate ProfessorPhD, Griffith University, Australia

Dr. Sharma’s research focuses on financialaccounting, corporate governance, auditing,management accounting, and accountingeducation. His undergraduate and graduateteaching experience includes international

accounting, management accounting, auditing, cost accounting, andaccounting theory. He has numerous and varied publications, serveson many conference and technical committees, and has presentedresearch at universities, including several in Australia and NewZealand.

Vineeta D. SharmaAssistant ProfessorPhD, Griffith University, Australia

Dr. Sharma’s research interests includecorporate governance, financial accounting,advanced financial accounting, auditing, andfraud. She has presented her research find-ings at many academic conferences, and her

articles have appeared in several publications. She received aCoopers & Lybrand prize for auditing in 1996 and the GriffithUniversity Honours Scholarship in 2000.

Research and teaching culture grows.In 2007-2008, the college welcomed seventeen new faculty members whose impressive backgrounds

have strengthened our position in teaching excellence and research distinction.A brief synopsis of their credentials follows.

COLLEGE OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION http://business.fiu.edu

Blaise M. SonnierAssistant ProfessorDBA, Grenoble Ecole de Management,Grenoble, France

Dr. Sonnier, a board-certified taxattorney and certified public accountantwhose areas of expertise include estate andcorporate tax planning, commercial transac-

tions, commercial litigation, and estate planning, has represented theAttorney General of the State of Louisiana in transactions relating tothe disposition of hospitals owned by non-profit or governmentalentities. His research has been published in several professional journals.

Thomas J.TarangeloVisiting InstructorJD, University of Florida

Tarangelo’s academic experience includesteaching business law and the legal environ-ment of business at Florida InternationalUniversity, where he received the “MostEnthusiastic Professor” award for teaching

in the college’s BBA+ Weekend program. His professional legal expe-rience spans employment with Anderson, Greenwood & Company,Inc.; AMF Tuboscope, Inc.; English, McCaughan & O’Bryan, P.A., andthe law offices of Thomas J.Tarangelo.

DEPARTMENT OF DECISION SCIENCES ANDINFORMATION SYSTEMS Monica Chiarini Tremblay

Assistant ProfessorPhD, University of South Florida

Much of Dr.Tremblay’s research has cen-tered on the use of business intelligencetools, particularly in the context of healthcare, and data mining, text mining, andonline, analytical processing (OLAP) tools.She has published papers in professional

journals and has presented her research at many conferences. Sheworked for Exxon U.S.A. as a systems analyst.

Weidong XiaAssistant ProfessorPhD, University of Pittsburgh

Dr. Xia’s areas of interest include infor-mation systems (IS) strategy; organizationaldesign and governance; IS project manage-ment, systems analysis, and design; innova-tion adoption and evaluation; and quality

and process management. He has published in a number of refereedjournals, is co-founder and co-director of the CIO Research


BooksMernoush Banton, Implementing Organizational Change:Theory andPractice, 2007, (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2007)J. F. George, Dinesh Batra, J. S.Valacich, and H.A. Hoffer, Object-Oriented Systems Analysis and Design, 2, (Upper Saddle River, NJ:Pearson, 2007)Alan L. Carsrud, Entrepreneurship, 1, (Westport, CT: Greenwood,2007)Gary S. Dessler and N. Cole, Human Resources Management inCanada, 10, (Toronto, Pearson Canada, 2007) S. McShane and Mary Ann Von Glinow, Organizational Behavior, 5,(Chicago, IL: McGraw-Hill/Irwin, 2008)

Refereed Journal Publications

Gary A.Anderson and James D. Keys, “Building Human Capitalthrough Education,” Journal of Legal Economics, 14.1 (February 2007):49-74.Irma Becerra-Fernández, Karlene Cousins, and R.Weber,“Nomadic Context-Aware Knowledge Management Systems:Applications, Challenges, and Research Problems,” InternationalJournal of Mobile Learning and Organization (IJMLO), 1.2 (April 2007):103-121.Edward R. Lawrence and Krishnan Dandapani, “ExaminingSplit Bond Ratings: Effect of Rating Scale,” Quarterly Journal ofBusiness & Economics, 46.2 (March 2007): 65-82.N.Vishwanathan and Peter R. Dickson, “The Fundamentals ofStandardizing Global Marketing Strategy,” International MarketingReview, 24.1 (February 2007): 46-63.Stylianos Drakatos, N. Pissinou, K. Makki, and C. Douligeris,“AContext-Aware Cache Structure for Mobile ComputingEnvironments,” Journal of Systems and Software, 80.7 (July 2007):1102-1119.Kaushik Dutta, Debra VanderMeer,A. Datta, P. Keskinocak, andK. Ramamritham,“A Fast Method for Discovering Critical EdgeSequences in E-Commerce Catalogs,” European Journal ofOperational Research, 181.2 (September 2007): 855-871.Kaushik Dutta,A. Datta, Debra VanderMeer, H.Thomas, and K.Ramamritham,“ReDAL:An Efficient and Practical RequestDistribution Technique for Application Server Clusters,” IEEETransactions on Parallel and Distributed Systems, 18.11 (November2007): 1516-1528.Xiaohu Tiger Li and Barnett A. Greenberg, “TeachingExperiential Learning:Adoption of an Innovative Course in an MBAMarketing Curriculum,” Journal of Marketing Education, 29.1 (April2007): 25-33.Sushil K. Gupta and A.V. Roth,“Martin K. Starr:A VisionaryProponent for System Integration, Modular Production, andCatastrophe Avoidance,” Production & Operations Management, 16.1(January-February 2007): 1-12.

Consortium on IS/IT Organizational Design and Governance,and has worked closely with senior executives at Fortune 500 companies.

DEPARTMENT OF FINANCE AND REALESTATE

Xiaoquan JiangAssistant ProfessorPhD, University of Houston

Dr. Jiang’s research interests includeempirical asset pricing and valuation,return and risk, stock return pre-dictability, inside trading, equity issuing,and information uncertainty. He has pub-

lished extensively in professional periodicals and has presented atmany conferences, including the CRSP Forum; SFA Conference, atwhich he won the best paper award in investments in 2004; FMAConference; FMA European Conference, and AFA Conference.

DEPARTMENT OF MANAGEMENT ANDINTERNATIONAL BUSINESS

Natarajan BalasubramanianAssistant ProfessorPhD, University of California–Los Angeles(UCLA), Anderson School of Management

Dr. Balasubramanian focuses hisresearch mostly on competition and inno-vation, typically with an economics orien-tation. He has published in the Academy

of Management Best Paper Proceedings of the 65th Annual Meeting,and he has presented his research at the annual meetings of theAcademy of Management, the Atlanta Competitive AdvantageConference, the Western Economic Association, and theConsortium on Competitiveness and Cooperation.

Meredith F. BurnettAssistant ProfessorPhD, University of Maryland, Robert H. SmithSchool of Business

Much of Dr. Burnett’s research centerson how individual differences and humanresource policies interact to influenceemployee behavior, employee retention,

and employee knowledge sharing. Some of her other researchincludes work on justice and national culture. She has been pub-lished, has other work under revision for two major journals, andhas presented at professional conferences.

http://business.fiu.edu COLLEGE OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

College Draws Extraordinary FacultyOn the Faculty Front

H. S.Weeks, J. H. Finch, and William G. Hardin, “Endowed RealEstate Positions and the Faculty Who Hold Them,” Journal of RealEstate Practice and Education, 10.1 (January 2007): 67-91.J. O. Everett, Cherie. J. Hennig, and W.A. Raabe,“The ScheduleM-3 Compliance Maze: Unanswered Questions,” Tax Notes, 114.11(March 2007): 1103-1128.S. P. Salter, Ken H. Johnson,W. P. Spurlin,“Off-Dollar Pricing,Residential Property Price and Marketing Time,” Journal of HousingResearch, 16.1 (January 2007): 33-46.S. P. Salter, Ken H. Johnson, and J. R.Webb,“Theory of the RealEstate Firm:A Portfolio Approach,” Journal of Real Estate PortfolioManagement, 13.2 (February 2007): 129-137.Constantine Kalogeras and David Lavin, “Teaching EthicalIssues in Banking and Accounting,” ASBBS eJournal, 3.1 (December2007): 1-4.Christos Koulamas and George J. Kyparisis, “A Note onPerformance Guarantees for Sequencing Three-stage Flexible FlowShops with Identical Machines to Minimize Makespan,” IIETransactions, 39.5 (May 2007): 559-563.Christos Koulamas and George J. Kyparisis, “A Note on theTwo-stage Assembly Flow Shop Scheduling Problem with UniformParallel Machines,” European Journal of Operational Research, 182.2(October 2007): 945-951.Edward R. Lawrence, J. Geppert, and Arun J. Prakash, “AssetPricing Models:A Comparison,” Applied Financial Economics, 17.11(July 2007): 933-940..R. D. Burnett, M. Friedman, and Antoinette L. Lynch, “EndlessInefficient Meetings? Try CMS,” Journal of Corporate Accounting andFinance, 18.5 (Jul/Aug 2007): 23-27.H. Huang, Suchismita Mishra, and Kannan Raghunandan,“Types of Nonaudit Fees and Financial Reporting Quality,” Auditing:A Journal of Practice and Theory, 26.1 (May 2007): 133-145.H. Huang, Kannan Raghunandan, and Dasaratha Rama,“Auditor Industry Specialization, Client Bargaining Power, and AuditFees: Further Evidence,” Auditing: A Journal of Practice and Theory,26.1 (May 2007): 147-158.F. Lievens and Juan I. Sanchez, “Can Training Improve the Qualityof Inferences Made by Raters in Competency Modeling? A Quasi-Experiment,” Journal of Applied Psychology, 92.3 (March 2007): 812-819.John Tsalikis and Bruce Seaton, “Business Ethics Index: USA2006,” Journal of Business Ethics, 72.2 (May 2007): 163-175.John Tsalikis and Bruce Seaton, “International Business EthicsIndex: European Union,” Journal of Business Ethics, 75.3 (October2007): 229-238.M.Teagarden, E. Drost, and Mary Ann Von Glinow, “ResearchRigor in Large Scale Cross Cultural Research Projects: a Team-based Approach, Research in Management,” Research inManagement, 6 (2007): 81-99.

COLLEGE OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION http://business.fiu.edu


Eric CartayaInstructorPhD candidate,Virginia Tech

Cartaya (MBA ’00, BA ’97) has taughthuman resource management, organizationalbehavior, business policy and strategy, knowl-edge management, and critical thinking atboth the undergraduate and graduate levels

and in both classroom and online settings. He also has organizationalexperience as a consultant.

William E. NewburryAssistant ProfessorPhD, New York University

Dr. Newburry’s research areas of interestinclude managing international subsidiariesand joint ventures, international environ-mental management, and employee attractionto global firms. His research has appeared in

numerous publications, and he won best paper awards from theEuropean International Business Academy (EIBA) and the Academy ofManagement. Also, he received a fellowship with China EuropeInternational Business School’s (CEIBS) Center for Emerging MarketStrategy (CEMS) in Shanghai.

José Antonio VillamilProfessor ScD, Florida International University

Dr. Villamil has more than thirty years’experience as a noted business economist,university lecturer, corporate executive, andeconomic policymaker, including as U.S.Under Secretary of Commerce for Economic

Affairs from 1989-1993. Much of his research has centered on usingeconomic concepts to inform business decisions and public policy. Hispublications have appeared in many journals and he has contributed tonumerous conference proceedings.

DEPARTMENT OF MARKETING Yi-Ju (Vivian) ChenLecturerDBA, Argosy University

Dr. Chen’s areas of expertise include mar-keting, business management, internationalbusiness, and research and statistics. She hastaught extensively at the undergraduate andgraduate levels. Her paper,“What Is

Important in Life? A Story of Cultural & Work/Life Issues—A CaseStudy” was published in 2004. She also has extensive professional expe-rience in project management for companies in Taiwan and China.

J. O. Everett, Cherie. J. Hennig, and W.A. Raabe,“The Schedule M-3 Compliance Maze: Unanswered Questions,” Tax Notes, 114.11(March 2007): 1103-1128.

S. P. Salter, Ken H. Johnson,W. P. Spurlin,“Off-Dollar Pricing,Residential Property Price and Marketing Time,” Journal of HousingResearch, 16.1 (January 2007): 33-46.

S. P. Salter, Ken H. Johnson, and J. R.Webb,“Theory of the RealEstate Firm:A Portfolio Approach,” Journal of Real Estate PortfolioManagement, 13.2 (February 2007): 129-137.

Constantine Kalogeras and David Lavin, “Teaching Ethical Issuesin Banking and Accounting,” ASBBS eJournal, 3.1 (December 2007): 1-4.

Christos Koulamas and George J. Kyparisis, “A Note onPerformance Guarantees for Sequencing Three-stage Flexible FlowShops with Identical Machines to Minimize Makespan,” IIETransactions, 39.5 (May 2007): 559-563.

Christos Koulamas and George J. Kyparisis, “A Note on theTwo-stage Assembly Flow Shop Scheduling Problem with UniformParallel Machines,” European Journal of Operational Research, 182.2(October 2007): 945-951.

Edward R. Lawrence, J. Geppert, and Arun J. Prakash, “AssetPricing Models:A Comparison,” Applied Financial Economics, 17.11(July 2007): 933-940.

R. D. Burnett, M. Friedman, and Antoinette L. Lynch, “EndlessInefficient Meetings? Try CMS,” Journal of Corporate Accounting andFinance, 18.5 (Jul/Aug 2007): 23-27.

H. Huang, Suchismita Mishra, and Kannan Raghunandan,“Types of Nonaudit Fees and Financial Reporting Quality,” Auditing: AJournal of Practice and Theory, 26.1 (May 2007): 133-145.

H. Huang, Kannan Raghunandan, and Dasaratha Rama,“Auditor Industry Specialization, Client Bargaining Power, and AuditFees: Further Evidence,” Auditing: A Journal of Practice and Theory, 26.1(May 2007): 147-158.

F. Lievens and Juan I. Sanchez, “Can Training Improve the Qualityof Inferences Made by Raters in Competency Modeling? A Quasi-Experiment,” Journal of Applied Psychology, 92.3 (March 2007): 812-819.

John Tsalikis and Bruce Seaton, “Business Ethics Index: USA2006,” Journal of Business Ethics, 72.2 (May 2007): 163-175.

John Tsalikis and Bruce Seaton, “International Business EthicsIndex: European Union,” Journal of Business Ethics, 75.3 (October2007): 229-238.

M.Teagarden, E. Drost, and Mary Ann Von Glinow, “ResearchRigor in Large Scale Cross Cultural Research Projects: a Team-basedApproach, Research in Management,” Research in Management, 6(2007): 81-99.


What’s the nature of women’s entrepre-neurial activity in Latin America today?

This question spurred Victoria Kenny, pro-gram coordinator, College of BusinessAdministration’s USAID John OgonowskiFarmer-to-Farmer program, to embark on anin-depth analysis of women business owners inLatin America.

Kenny interviewed 34 women in cities inArgentina, Guatemala, and Mexico, with ques-tions designed to help her gain insight into theregion’s unique entrepreneurial culture.TheTinker Foundation funded her field research.

“I discovered that women entrepreneurs inLatin America seek a balance between familyand work,” Kenny said.“The search for flexi-bility and income rather than for independenceare primary motives—and most women findthat the established labor market cannot offerthem the flexibility they need.”

Kenny also found that women encounterconsiderable challenges when seeking financialsupport from area banks.

“That’s why many women frequently turn tofamily members and friends for funding,” shesaid.

Research identifies differences—and similarities.

In another facet of her research, Kenny deter-mined that women’s participation in entrepre-neurship varies greatly across the eighteen LatinAmerican countries she analyzed. In most low-income countries, rates for general and femaleentrepreneurial activity are around 26.3 percent,falling to 7.2 percent in middle-income coun-tries.

“Across Latin America, one thing is clear: thestrength and initiative of its women entrepre-neurs are unmistakable,” she said.

Building on her research, Kenny now teachesa course on women entrepreneurs in LatinAmerica. ■

[14] Business Accents 2008


New data from a comprehensive study of entrepreneurship offerscompelling insights into the behavior of start-ups.The Panel Study ofEntrepreneurial Dynamics (PSED) is the only nationally representa-tive database providing reliable, generalizable data about the processof business formation in the United States.

Preeminent scholar Paul Reynolds, professor of management,College of Business Administration, and director of theEntrepreneurial Research Institute in the Eugenio Pino and FamilyGlobal Entrepreneurship Center is the PSED’s coordinating and prin-cipal investigator. In 2004, his work garnered him the prestigiousInternational Award for Entrepreneurship and Small BusinessResearch from the Swedish Foundation for Small Business Researchand the Swedish Business Development Agency.

Data provides window into activities of budding entrepreneurs.

Reynolds’ fascination with the phenomena that surround businessformation emanates, in part, from the positive impact that new ven-tures have on the economy.

“The number of nascent entrepreneurs is greater each year thanthe number of people who get married and have babies combined,”Reynolds said.

The PSED examines the impetus for new business creation, the“shower moment and what follows” as Reynolds described it.Thefirst wave of the study, the PSED I, ran from 1998-2003.The PSED II willrun from 2005-2008, and he hopes to secure funding to extend it.

Reynolds was surprised to discover that the percentage of newstart-ups remained constant following the dot-com bust.

“We’ve also found that factors like age, gender, and personalitydon’t influence success in creating a new business,” he said.“Experience in a particular field is the major factor.”■

“The number of nascententrepreneurs is greater each

year than the number ofpeople who get married and

have babies combined.”—Paul Reynolds, professor of management anddirector, Entrepreneurial Research Institute,Eugenio Pino and Family Global EntrepreneurshipCenter

Victoria Kenny (right) with a woman entrepreneur in rural Jocotán, Guatemala.

Women in Latin America follow their own paths to entrepreneurship.

Faculty member’s research yields distinctive new data on business formation.


Focus on Students

Passion for real estate motivates student’s entrepre-neurial spirit.

Native New Yorker Sam Kantor, afreshman majoring in real estate and finance,dreams big.

“My goal is to become a real estate devel-oper in Manhattan. I want to be able toerect a building, point to it, and say, ‘I builtthat.’” he said.“It’s the best way to con-tribute to the ever-changing city that I love.”

To develop the financial skills and realestate savvy needed to turn his dream intoreality, Kantor chose to pursue his educationin the College of Business Administration.

“I knew the business school offered awell-respected undergraduate programthrough the Jerome Bain Real EstateInstitute,” he said.

Early experience triggers enthusiasm.Kantor’s interest in real estate led him to

take advantage of an opportunity to partici-pate in a special internship program duringhis senior year in high school. He internedwith Newmark Construction Services, theconstruction management division of leadingcommercial real estate firm NewmarkKnight Frank.

“My uncle works in real estate and helpedme get in touch with Newmark,” he said.“Iworked in the headquarters plus field officesfor three different developments throughoutManhattan. It was a phenomenal experienceand an ideal introduction to the industry.”

Before arriving at college, Kantor alsogained financial industry experience byspending his summers working at a WallStreet hedge fund.

Kantor channels energy into studentorganization.

Early on, Kantor knew he wanted to getinvolved with a student organization at theuniversity. He quickly found out about theReal Estate Student Association (RESA) and

eagerly accepted the role of president.“I believe the best way to learn about a

field is to hear from experts who haveachieved success,” Kantor says.“That’s whyRESA now focuses on bringing in a variety ofguest speakers, including investors, construc-tion managers, real estate attorneys, archi-tects, and brokers.”

For RESA’s inaugural spring, 2008 event,Kantor invited Frank McKinney, the self-pro-claimed “maverick daredevil real estateartist,” to speak at the university.

“I learned about McKinney when readingone of Donald Trump’s books on realestate,” Kantor said.“I did some research onhim and found out he was based in SouthFlorida. I knew right away he would be anincredible speaker for RESA.”

McKinney’s stature as one of the biggestdevelopers in the country did not deter

Kantor from inviting him to speak at the college.

“Most people wouldn’t even have both-ered contacting him, figuring he’s too impor-tant to come to a meeting for a campusorganization,” he said.“But I thought, what’sthe worst that can happen? I waste ten min-utes drafting an email? Long story short,McKinney quickly responded, and he said,‘Sam, if you can put this whole thingtogether, then I will be pleased to be yourinaugural speaker.’”

Clearly, Kantor sets the bar high, with thekind of self-motivation that should propelhim into a successful career as a real estatemogul in his own right.

RESA is supported financially by the col-lege’s Jerome Bain Real Estate Institute and agift from Ken Rosen, Kendar Realty. ■

“My goal is to become a real estate developer in Manhattan . . .I knew the business school offered a well-respected undergrad-uate program through the Jerome Bain Real Estate Institute.”

—Sam Kantor, student, RESA chapter president


Focus on Students

Love of cars, environmental sensibility sparkundergraduate’s idea for online ventures.

Still two years shy of his graduation, Onil Maruri already hasforged a path for himself in the world of online entrepreneurship.The sophomore business student views his establishment of virtualcommunities for auto enthusiasts as tapping into a largely unex-plored, and potentially profitable, niche market.

Plans for his online businesses began percolating in 2005. Maruri,an avid car fan, frequently visited automotive sites and found they didnot offer the chance, á la MySpace, to share content, videos, photos,and information, and to construct personal profiles.

“The automotive market is one of the biggest on the web,” Marurisaid.“I thought my brand, with its social networking piece, had agood shot at turning a profit.”

In 2007, Maruri launched his first business, Hondaspace.com, andwithin six months logged 3,600 active members.The site uploadsuser-created profiles, blogs, automotive advice, classified ads, informa-tion about car shows, and invitations to races and other gatheringsof auto enthusiasts. Maruri supplements the content with the latestnews releases from manufacturers’ web sites and industry publica-tions.

“My goal is to push the market further and do this with each carbrand,” Maruri said.“I’m already at a break-even point withHondaspace and am working on enhancing features and content sothat people visit the site more often and stay on longer.”

Emboldened by the response to Hondaspace, Maruri launched asecond site, Fordspace.com, and initiated an online magazine calledautomotivepublisher.com, which features a mix of content fromindustry and manufacturers’ web sites and columns he writes. Inadmitting that writing is neither his forte nor his desire, he plans topartner with a syndication company to increase content contributedby performance drivers and automotive experts.

Philanthropic vision is core to business pursuits.While Maruri’s love of automobiles is undeniable, he describes an

equally compelling motivation behind his efforts to prosper in theworld of online business.

“My idea is that if you can move forward in business, you can givemore back to the community,” Maruri said.“I feel really grateful for

the opportunities I’ve had, and I really want to pay forward that posi-tive energy.”

The business student’s actions reflect his words. Maruri’s unflag-ging commitment to community service earned him induction intohis high school’s hall of fame. He served as president of his school’schapter of Best Buddies, an organization that promotes opportuni-ties for disabled individuals. He created an environmental awarenessweb site and persuaded teachers at his high school to advertise it intheir classrooms.

Maruri, whose minor is in environmental studies, plans to expandhis online presence so that he can, in part, promote greater use ofhybrids and cars that run on alternative fuels to a wider market.Toward that goal, he aims to position Hondaspace.com for a poten-tial partnership with the automotive giant that will generate greaterinterest in fuel-efficient brands and help spur their development.

“Sure, I want to do well in business,” he said.“But working tomake a positive impact is the only way the world will advance.” ■

“The automotive market is one of the biggest on the web. I thought my brand, withits social networking piece, had a good shot

at turning a profit.”

—Onil Maruri, undergraduate business student

Onil Maruri

Entrepreneurial success comes in many languages.

No matter in what language, running your own business for morethan thirty years represents quite an accomplishment.

For Maria Cristina de la Vega, a student in the College of BusinessAdministration’s Executive MBA (EMBA) program, the success storybegan in 1973, when she and her husband, Luis de la Vega, launchedProfessional Translating Services, Inc. (PTS).

“Our mission remains consistent: to be leaders in the languageservices industry by delivering top-quality translation and inter-preting services to a broad base of clients,” de la Vega said.

The formula works.Today, PTS ranks as the largest language serv-ices provider in Florida. Based in Miami, the company also fieldsoffices in Atlanta, Detroit, New York, and Argentina.The full-time PTSstaff includes more than seventy in-house linguists and project man-agement executives, plus a global network of more than 3,000 lan-guage specialists.Translation services primarily focus on supportingtwenty or thirty languages, but, if needed, PTS has the resources tooffer services in more than 100 different languages.

An accredited simultaneous interpreter, de la Vega now serves aspresident of PTS. Her husband, who has a PhD in linguistics, is theCEO.

Business model changes with the times—and technology.Having met in Boston—and with shared Cuban roots—de la Vega

and her husband moved to Miami to start their business.“Back then, Miami was just taking off as a center from which to do

business with Latin America,” she said.“We grew with the city. PTSstarted by offering interpreting services to help the community dobusiness with our neighbors in Latin America and working withwaves of immigrants to the area to help with such matters as busi-ness contracts and court appearances.”

The scope of services PTS offers has expanded to include every-thing from simultaneous interpretation services for large conferencesto translating a variety of legal, technical, marketing, and medical doc-uments.

Now the Internet has opened up new opportunities for PTS.“The unfettered global reach of the Internet enabled us to grow

and diversify,” Vega said.“Today, we have an incredible pool of transla-tors and interpreters all over the world that I can easily tap whenneeded. Responding to the growing need for web site translation,we’ve opened a department dedicated to web work.”

What makes a successful entrepreneur?Based on her experience, de la Vega offers keen insights into what

traits best typify a successful entrepreneur.

“You must know what you want as well as be a clear communi-cator—and you must trust in yourself and in your power to createwhat you want in your business environment,” she said.“You have tomove forward relentlessly, one step at a time. Along the way, youmust always pay attention to your instincts and let them guide you inmaking the right decisions. When you do your part, giving your bestto the minute portion of your life that you do control, the universeresponds by opening doors to new opportunities.” ■


Focus on Students

Maria Cristina de la Vega

“You must know what you want as well as be aclear communicator—and you must trust in

yourself and in your power to create what youwant in your business environment.”

—Maria Cristina de la Vega, president, Professional Translating Services, Inc., andEMBA student


Focus on Students

New graduate student organization reachesout to make the world a better place.

Watch any news program, pick upany news magazine, or browse anyonline newspaper—and you’ll seetoo many stories about people inneed in every corner of the globe.

Many people wonder how theycan help. And some—like the groupof motivated Master of InternationalBusiness (MIB) students in theCollege of Business Administration’sChapman Graduate School—takeinnovative action.

These students came togetherand launched Graduates ReachingOut Worldwide (GROW)—a newly

chartered student organization that promotes active involvement ininternational and local community service.

“Other universities may have formalized service projects at thelocal level, but I am not aware of any other organizations charteredwith the global scope of GROW or with this kind of direct linkage toan MIB program,” said Robert Hogner, associate professor,Department of Management and International Business, coordinatorof the college’s Civic Engagement Initiative, and GROW’s facultyadvisor.“What our graduate students have started here may beunique.”

GROW connects with communities near and far.GROW members work closely with local organizations, corpora-

tions, and community groups to increase awareness of the socialissues affecting millions of disenfranchised people globally.

“We want to make a difference and to build long-term relation-ships with communities that truly need our help,” said MelissaMiranda (MIB ’07), who served as the first GROW chapter president.“Compassion. Unity.Teamwork. Responsibility.These core principles

form the foundation for GROW.”GROW projects include part-

nering with United Way, Habitat forHumanity, and The CommunityPartnership for the Homeless, Inc., inMiami. Members also work closelywith Friends of the Orphans, a non-profit organization dedicated toimproving the lives of orphaned,abandoned, and disadvantaged chil-dren; and Nuestros PequeñosHermanos, a network of orphanagesin Latin America and the Caribbean.

GROW played an active role inthe recent Fashion for Friends

fashion show and fundraising event benefiting Nuestros PequeñosHermanos.

“We coordinated fundraising and publicity, plus pulled together ateam of event-night volunteers,” said Sherman Humphrey (BA ’05),GROW vice president.“We helped raise more than $60,000 forNuestros Pequeños Hermanos while elevating awareness about waysto support the less fortunate children in the world.”

GROW leaders motivated to lead and serve.As one of GROW’s founding officers, Miranda brought with her a

well-established sense of organizational savvy and entrepreneurialdrive.While an undergraduate student at Florida State University(FSU), she helped revitalize that school’s floundering InternationalBusiness Association (IBA) student chapter.

“Shortly after I joined, we had only six members,” said Miranda,former FSU IBA secretary.“Through a coordinated marketing cam-paign and membership drive, we worked to boost membership ten-fold.”

For Humphrey, the desire to pursue a career in social entrepre-neurship follows a family tradition.

“My father worked with the Peace Corps and CARE to help disad-vantaged people,” he said.“My undergraduate degree in internationalrelations and geography deepened my theoretical understanding ofwhy the world is the way it is. Now I’m sharpening the practical busi-ness skills needed to actually solve problems and promote corporateresponsibility.” ■

“Other universities may have formalized service proj-ects at the local level, but I am not aware of any other

organizations chartered with the global scope ofGROW or with this kind of direct linkage to an

MIB program.”—Robert Hogner, associate professor, Department of Management andInternational Business, coordinator of the college’s Civic Engagement Initiativeand GROW’s faculty advisor

“Compassion. Unity. Teamwork. Responsibility. Thesecore principles form the foundation for GROW.”

—Melissa Miranda (MIB ’07), first GROW chapter president

Sherman Humphrey (BA ’05)

Melissa Miranda (MIB ’07)


Focus on Students

Executive MBA students discover spark ofentrepreneurship in China.

This year, the eyes of the world turn to China as the nation pre-pares to host the 2008 Olympic Games.

In November, 2007, students in the College of BusinessAdministration’s Executive MBA (EMBA) program witnessed first-hand the outward signs of growth and change taking place in Chinatoday.

Thirty-five EMBA students and one alumnus took the ten-day tripto China, accompanied by Mary Ann Von Glinow, professor andKnight Ridder Eminent Scholar Chair in International Management,and Sumit Kundu, professor and Knight Ridder Center ResearchProfessor, both members of the Department of Management andInternational Business.

“We went to Shanghai and Beijing, visiting different companies ineach city,” said Sarah Perez, director of the EMBA program, who alsojoined the trip.“It’s been five years since my last trip to China.Global companies are expanding rapidly—and the door is openingwider to entrepreneurs looking to launch innovative businessendeavors in China.”

If it’s Tuesday, it must be Shanghai.During the first week of the trip, the group spoke with the

strategic customer manager for Coca-Cola in Shanghai, then touredthe nearby cola museum and plant.They also met with representa-tives from Bacardi Asia Pacific, Eagle Logistics, and General Motors

China.While in Beijing, the students met with the director of interna-tional development for the No. 1 Machine Tool Plant.They visitedlocal offices for Intel Corporation and Caterpillar and heard a pres-entation from the standards officer at the U.S. Department ofCommerce, Foreign Commercial Service, at the U.S. Embassy.

“The trip exposes our students to what it’s really like doing busi-ness in China today,” Perez said.“We gained valuable insights aboutthe challenges and differences to be dealt with when working in theChinese marketplace.”

EMBA student Maria Kaufmann (BS ’95), currently working as atechnical lead at Ryder System, Inc., noted that one of these chal-lenges includes a shortage of locally based management talent.

“Rapid growth puts a strain on the Chinese educational system

when it comes to preparing students for managerial roles,"Kauffmann said. “But I think the Chinese people are entrepreneurialby nature, eager to establish their own businesses rather thanbecome part of an international conglomerate.”

Martin J. Rodriguez (BS ’01) traveled to China several years ago aspart of his job working in the electronics and technical sales fields—but the signs of rapid economic development struck him this time.

In the midst of all this change, Rodriguez learned that any companyor investor looking to do business in China must be flexible.

“You have to be willing to take the time to build trust with yourChinese business partners,” he said.“At any given point the rulesgoverning your business relationship may change and you have to beready to adapt quickly.” ■

Executive MBA students practice Tai Chi at the Forbidden City.

Executive MBA students outside restaurant after lunch in Beijing

“Global companies are expanding rapidly—and thedoor is opening wider to entrepreneurs looking tolaunch innovative business endeavors in China.”

—Sarah Perez, Executive MBA program director, College of Business Administration

“I think the Chinese people are entrepreneurial bynature, eager to establish their own businesses ratherthan become part of an international conglomerate.”

—Maria Kaufmann (BS ’95), EMBA student


Student lounge inside Commons Hall

Exterior entrance to Commons Hall and view of Commons Courtyard

Inside the lobby of Commons Hall

Front of auditorium functions as case room.

▼


With roots reachingdeep into theCollege of Business

Administration’s internationalheritage, the design of the newCollege of BusinessAdministration Complex (CBC)makes a bold, modern statementabout where the college hasbeen—and where it is headed.

The 81,000 gross-square-foot,state-of-the art facility incorpo-rates interlocking design, open-ness, landscaped beauty, and technology sizzle thatreflect an unwavering commitment to innovation.

“With the opening of the new CBC, the collegenow has a world-class instructional facility,” saidJoyce J. Elam, executive dean. “We’re supportingthe demands of management education in the 21stcentury and creating an active, team-orientedlearning environment.”

If you can’t visit in person . . .take a quickvisual tour.

The three buildings in the complex connect viaan external walkway and second-story arcade—witha beautifully landscaped courtyard in the center ofit all.

The first three-story building, Commons Hall,houses college administrative offices, an executiveboard room, Chapman Graduate School programoffices, conference rooms, and meeting spaces forstudents.

Student Hall, a second two-story building,includes the administrative offices for Executiveand Professional Education, the Executive andProfessional MBA programs, and the Office of

Communication and PublicRelations. The Bank of AmericaCareer Management Servicesoffices, with ten interview rooms,a library, and a recruiters’ loungealso are located in this building.A special events center on thesecond floor offers a spaciousvenue for networking receptions,lectures, and other special events.

Also two-stories tall, the thirdbuilding, Academic Hall, featuresa unique two-level, 300-seat

Ocean Bank Auditorium, six classrooms, theCapital Markets Lab—where simulated financialtrading takes place—and audio-visual/recordingfacilities.

New complex melds innovative construc-tion with international flair.

Walking through the courtyard of the new com-plex, you feel the Miami breezes and hear thecalming sounds of water flowing through the basinsthat traverse the space.

“We positioned the building to take full advan-tage of the temperate South Florida climate andcreate a calm oasis,” said Hana Kassem, senior asso-ciate principal, Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates(KPF). Based in New York, KPF collaborated withBEA International, the Miami-based architecturaland engineering firm that has completed otherprominent buildings on Florida InternationalUniversity’s University Park campus.

Kassem notes that inspiration for the exteriorstucco color palette of the complex came from apre-Colombian mural and that the grand staircaseleading up to the Special Events Center borrowsfrom Mayan culture.

reveals innovationNew College of Business Administration Complex

at every turn.

“We positioned thebuilding to take full

advantage of thetemperate South

Florida climate andcreate a calm oasis.”

—Hana Kassem, senior asso-ciate principal, Kohn PedersenFox Associates

The facade of the building uses an innovative application of pre-cast con-crete.

“The choice to use pre-cast concrete with varying degrees of sandblastingcreates an appealing pattern and makes ideal use of an affordable construc-tion material that also works well in the South Florida environment,” Kassemsaid.

The innovation continues once you step inside the buildings. The OceanBank Auditorium, for example, divides readily into two spaces—with thefront area designed to be used as a more intimate case room for up to seventystudents.

Gustavo Berenblum, principal, BEA International, believes the buildingdesign and construction accomplish the original goal: to look to the futurewith a nod to the past.

“As we went through the design process, we wanted a contemporary,angular facility that also connects with and pays homage to this college com-munity’s global legacy,” he said.

Leading-edge technology impresses—and informs.From a technology perspective, the new complex offers the very latest in

multimedia equipment and flexible infrastructure—all designed to enhancethe learning experience.

What most grabs your attention when walking through the complex?Manoel Oliveira, Technology Center director, thinks it’s the networked elec-tronic signage displays and the impressive Ocean Bank Auditorium.

The array of digital screens—including the prominently displayed 103-inch flat-screen monitor in the main lobby—broadcasts information aboutongoing college-related events, news, and announcements.

In the auditorium, complete multimedia facilities support the lower class-room environment. The larger higher-level seating space enjoys a thirty-footdiagonal screen with 1080P digital projection and 15,000 watts of digital sur-round sound.

“Throughout the networked complex, we can make shared informationimmediately available at the highest speed possible to students, faculty,alumni, and guests,” Oliveira said.

In terms of infrastructure and technology, the complex design casts an eyeto the future.

“We created an infrastructure that can easily keep pace as technologies con-tinue to evolve,” Berenblum said.

Elam agrees, adding that “It’s only fitting, given the growth of the college,its increasing reputation, and its successful graduates and supporters, that thebusiness school have a world-class building to support what it has becomeand is in the process of becoming as it realizes its vision for excellence.”

According to her, “The design of the building complex captures the spiritof the business school—and of what its students aspire for it to be. Its dra-matic design, contemporary style, innovative structure, student-friendlyspaces, high-tech features, and cosmopolitan ambiance reflect the sense ofcommunity, momentum, and entrepreneurial leadership that permeates thecollege today.” ■


Capital Markets Lab proves hugelypopular.With the exception of Sundays, the Capital MarketsLab, a 2,200 square-foot dedicated space in the newCollege of Business Administration Complex, buzzeswith activity.The authentic securities trading environ-ment provides hands-on experience to give studentsa competitive advantage in their careers.

Enthusiastically supported by Executive Dean Joyce J.Elam and directed by Helen K. Simon, instructor,Department of Finance and Real Estate, the labincludes a Bloomberg terminal, exposing students tothe leading information management software forthe finance industry. Forty stations run Reuters, thesecond-most prevalent information product infinance. Salesforce.com,Vhayu, Crystal Ball, @Risk,Tradestation,TraderX, and other finance-relatedproducts reside on a number of the computers.

“Not every business school has a trading room,”Simon said.“Our faculty always has given studentspractical experience, through simulations, forexample.The lab adds important new capabilities inour commitment to preparing them for theirfutures.”

In addition to classes, including those for the Masterof Science in Finance (MSF), the Lab plans to offergeneral training sessions for the university commu-nity. Eight interns, who report to Simon as part of anofficial internship program, can earn up to six elec-tive credits, three per term.

“I want the facility to be a resource for the entirebusiness school,” she said.“The more integral to thecollege it becomes, the more it will benefit everyone,and the more resources we’ll be able to add.”

Helen K. Simon directs the Capital Markets Lab.


In large part, entrepreneurs powered the past decades’ high-technology boom—and nowhere does that manifest itselfmore strongly than in the software industry.

“Software developers tend to be very entrepreneurial,” said SumitKundu, Knight Ridder Research Professor of International Business,Department of Management and International Business. “Theyshare common traits, based in part on their academic and engi-neering training. Many are innovative and willing to take risks—butnot always at a global level.”

A software company’s location makes all the dif-ference in the world.

As Kundu’s research shows, software entrepreneursin some regions tend to be more willing than othersto expand their businesses beyond regional borders.

His initial research focused on the global nature ofthe software industry in India, Finland, China, andTaiwan. In these countries, Kundu found softwarecompanies willing, if not eager, to introduce prod-ucts into the international marketplace.

“In India, for example, many companies developsoftware and solutions, then enter many marketssimultaneously, going abroad to sell services andsoftware in less than a year after their launch,”Kundu said. “In Latin America, it’s a different story.”

Born globalor regional?Why–and where–some entrepre-neurs are drivento succeed.

“Software developerstend to be very entrepreneurial.

Many are innovativeand willing to take

risks—but not alwaysat a global level.”

—Sumit Kundu, Knight RidderResearch Professor ofInternational Business,Department of Management andInternational Business


Case in point: Research focuses firston Costa Rica.

Kundu describes Costa Rica as “thecrown jewel of Central America—a suc-cessful democracy where the bulk of itsbudget flows into health care and educa-tion rather than into the military.”

A small country with an open economy,Costa Rica historically exported coffee andplantains. That changed in 1996 whenIntel opened a facility in San José, lured inpart by the presence of a population thathad enjoyed the benefits of public educa-tion.

“With the arrival of Intel, the countrygot a new microchip industry, and thehardware spilled over into a new softwareindustry.” Kundu said. “Unlike coffee andplantains—tangible products with poten-tially complex trade requirements—soft-ware can be transmitted over the Internet without border-crossingissues. That’s why I was interested in the extent to which Costa Ricatook a global approach to exporting software.”

Study examines regional approach to business growth.To build his research, Kundu and two colleagues collected data

through interviews with CEOs or founders of forty Costa Ricansoftware firms—and discovered that the country has chosen to focuson nearby markets.

“Our data showed that most software companies in Costa Ricafollowed a gradual approach to internationalization, and they didnot export immediately after birth,” he said. “Companies have takena very focused export stance, exporting only in the region—not evento North or South America at the outset. We might more appropri-ately describe them as ‘born regional.’”

Kundu and his colleagues presented their findings in a paper titled“Born Global or Born Regional? Evidence from an ExploratoryStudy in the Costa Rican Software Industry” at the Academy ofInternational Business (AIB) 2007 Annual Conference inIndianapolis, Indiana, in June, 2007, during a session titled

“Unleashing the Powers of InternationalEntrepreneurship.” The Journal ofInternational Business Studies (JIBS)selected the paper for publication in 2008.

Now the research continues . . .As planned, Kundu and his colleagues

are expanding the focus of this research toother Latin American countries, includingBrazil, Perú, and Uruguay.

“Our research is a work in progress,” hesaid. “We have begun the data collectionprocess with fifty or more companies ineach country.”

The findings in Costa Rica revealed fewtrue “born globals,” but Kundu notes thatthe predictive value of the born globalargument may have to be refined. Or, pos-sibly, the “born global” argument is notadequate to explain the internationaliza-

tion processes of high-technology firms based in a small developingcountry.

“With our limited empirical evidence we can only raise theseissues, and our ongoing further research will offer more insight,”Kundu said. “It is fair to say that not only have we found few ‘bornglobal’ firms in the Costa Rican software industry, but also we havediscovered that most firms generated the majority of their foreignsales in nearby Latin American countries, and thus stayed as ‘bornregional’ firms.”

Kundu believes this research is particularly relevant for theoreticaldebates about how to define “born global” firms.

“We are proving that if definitions of ‘born global’ firms simplylook at exports as a share of sales and at the number of export mar-kets, they may ignore whether a company internationalizes gradually,starting from culturally proximate neighboring countries, or whetherit chooses its export markets according to strategic considerations,disregarding physical or psychic distances,” he said.

Further research will shed more light on the true distinctionsbetween software companies “born regional” and those “bornglobal.” ■

“It is fair to say that not only have we found few ‘born global’ firms in the Costa Rican softwareindustry, but also we have discovered that most firms generated the majority of their foreign sales

in nearby Latin American countries, and thus stayed as ‘born regional firms.’”—Sumit Kundu, Knight Ridder Research Professor of International Business, Department of Management and International Business

Sumit Kundu


“Revolutionary and challenging.”That’s how Mairim Avila (MSMIS ’07), a

senior operating systems programmer withMiami-Dade County, described the classthat capped off her studies in the Master ofScience in Management InformationSystems (MSMIS) program in the College ofBusiness Administration.

“The class was strategically positioned atthe end of the program, allowing students totake all the experience accumulatedthroughout the year and mold it into a realbusiness solution,” she said. “For me, it waslike the fireworks at the end of a greatevent.”

Classmate Carlos Gomez (BBA ’01),senior group manager of information tech-nology for Miami Dade College, sharedAvila’s assessment about the value to IT pro-fessionals of the MSMIS program’s newestrequirement—Management of the ISFunction.

“It does a fantastic job of teaching thestrategies that future chief information officers (CIOs) will need to know to align themselves with other business

departments.”—Carlos Gomez (BBA ’01), senior group manager

of information technology, Miami Dade College

“It does a fantastic job of teaching thestrategies that future Chief InformationOfficers (CIOs) will need to know in orderto align themselves with other businessdepartments, such as marketing, sales andfinance,” he said.

The course that drew such praise andexcitement from Avila and Gomez is thebrainchild of Irma Becerra-Fernández (PhD’94), associate professor, Department of

New class promotes entrepreneurial thinking

among IT professionals.

Irma Becerra-Fernández (PhD ’94)


Decision Sciences and Information Systems. Becerra-Fernández, whoalso serves as faculty director for the MSMIS program, used supportfrom her receipt of a Kauffman Professor Award to design the class,which imbues IT students with the skills and vision to operate asentrepreneurs within an organizational environment, an approachknown in business circles as “intrapreneurship.”

Taking an intrapreneurial approach means that IT leaders shouldoperate more like business owners, exploring innovative ways to useinformation technology to effect the transformation of businessprocesses into profitable ventures.

“It’s about emphasizing the managerial aspects of being an ITleader,” Becerra-Fernández said. “We wanted our students to be ableto bridge the communication between the IT function and profes-sionals in other departments and to be able to demonstrate the valuethat technology brings to business.”

IT leaders, argued Becerra-Fernández, focus largely on the cost-reduction aspect of running the IT function. The class urges stu-dents to think more broadly about “implementing technologyinitiatives that generate value for their companies or organizations.”

“As a technical person, I viewed technical competencies as mostimportant for an IT program,” said Eduardo Baez (MSMIS ’07),systems analyst/programmer 2 for the Miami-Dade County Waterand Sewer Department. “This class taught me that while technicalcompetencies are important, without being able to talk the businesslanguage effectively, a CIO will find it impossible to communicate

an IT idea appropriately either to obtain funding or gain support.”

Students tasked with developing entrepreneurial ventures.Becerra-Fernández divides the class into two halves. In the first,

students form teams and brainstorm about ideas for IT ventureswith an implementation price of $50,000 or less. They then hashout their ideas with team members to determine which to adopt forfurther development. Becerra-Fernández jokingly referred to thisphase as the process of weeding out the “ugly babies” from the“beautiful babies.”

“The discussions are very intense because students can becomeemotionally attached to their ‘ugly babies,’” she said. “It is hard forsome students who come up with a great concept to hear that it maynot work on a practical level.”

She added that “The Pino Center has been a great resource for us.My interactions with them helped catalyze the development of thisclass, and they provided me with invaluable feedback as I worked toput it together.”

Venture capitalists offer insights on student ideas.The student teams next develop the business plans for their ideas

and compete against each other to see which will most likely attractinvestors. Becerra-Fernández assembles a panel of venture capitaliststo judge and provide feedback about the plans.

“This part of the class gives students a lot of constructive ideas,”she said. “The judges take the time to explain why they think spe-cific concepts are feasible or not.”

Students also receive once-a-week lectures from local entrepre-neurs providing them with direction and practical insights to informthe creation of their business plans—“a much-needed awakening forthose of us still floating in the academic cloud,” Avila said. Oneweek, students learned about the business opportunities inherent insocial networking sites. The talk inspired Alan Lopez (MSMIS ’07,BBA ’05), a business development manager for Invitech, to develophis idea for an online heating, ventilating, and air conditioning

(HVAC) business that would enable clients and other users toupload content, create profiles, and share information.

“The goal of our project was to facilitate interaction amongindustry folks, and between them and the customers,” Lopez said.“The site had tabs that allowed users to create blogs, participate inforums, and rate various HVAC companies based on pricing, quality,and timing of service.”

Becerra-Fernández already is thinking about new ways forteaching the class and presenting the subject matter. She will explorethe development of case studies of local businesses that have imple-mented the intrapreneurship model and found it effective and prof-itable.

“I want my students to see that you can do this in South Florida,”she said.

Additionally, Becerra-Fernández is working on a book that delin-eates the course’s concepts and methods and will continue to lookfor opportunities to expand her research on the topic of intrapre-neurship.

“This course has energized my interest in the topic,” she said. “It’sbeen a really fun way to learn.”

According to Avila, “The class is a great model for a new andinnovative way of teaching.”■

“Without being able to talk the businesslanguage effectively, a CIO will find itimpossible to communicate an IT idea

appropriately either to obtain funding orgain support.”

—Eduardo Baez (MSMIS ’07), systems analyst/pro-grammer 2, Miami-Dade County Water andSewer Department

“The goal of our project was to facilitate interaction among industry folks

and between them and the customers.”

—Alan Lopez (MSMIS ’07, BBA ’05), business devel-opment manager, Invitech

“The class is a great model for a new and innovative way of teaching.”

—Mairim Avila (MSMIS ’07), senior operating sys-tems programmer, Miami-Dade County

Albert Einstein once said, “Imagination is more importantthan knowledge.” A valid corollary: Innovation is vitallyimportant to business success.

And yet, as Constance Bates, associate professor in the College ofBusiness Administration’s Department of Management andInternational Business points out, people seldom learn innovation.

“A myth I’ve discovered while researching the topic of innovationis that it just comes naturally,” Bates said. “People think ‘ok, it’s timeto invent so let’s sit here and wait for an idea to pop into our heads.’It doesn’t work that way. But there are learned techniques and skillsthat can help speed the path to new ideas.”

Fortunately for the college’s graduate and undergraduate students,Bates shares her insights through a series of courses focused on cre-ativity, innovation, and managing innovation in the workplace.

Get creative—with a right-brain workout.In one of Bates’ undergraduate courses, entitled Creativity and

Innovation, students get firsthand experience learning about the toolsneeded to generate new ideas.

The course, open to students across all disciplines, explores mul-tiple approaches to problem solving: how to begin, how to generatenew ideas, how best to screen ideas, and how to implement them.

“The problems we tackle in class may be big ones—crime, hunger,or high medical costs,” Bates said. “Or we may tackle smaller prob-lems—like how to find parking at Florida International University.Whatever the problem, solving it gives us the opportunity to applynew techniques for creativity. By the time a class ends, we may havebeen able to solve the problems of the world or found parking oncampus—or not. But we’ve definitely learned how to apply variousmodels of creativity.”

Bates goes on to emphasize the importance of “letting your rightbrain fly . . . as this is where your imagination lives and where unfet-tered ideas bubble up to inspire a creative approach to solving aproblem.”


Business would be lost without it.IInnnnoovvaattiioonn::

“People think ‘ok, it’s time to invent so let’s sithere and wait for an idea to pop into our

heads.’ It doesn’t work that way. But there arelearned techniques and skills that can help

speed the path to new ideas.”—Constance Bates, associate professor, Department of Management andInternational Business


Consider this a group activity.Bates heartily endorses the concept that when it comes to creative

problem solving, groups are more productive than individuals—when the right techniques are put into play.

“We’ve all had the brainstorming experience where someone sug-gests an idea and the naysayers jump in,” she said. “What’s going onhere is that the pragmatic left brain takes charge and evaluates every-thing too quickly—before an idea has a chance to develop. Instantly,the ideas stop coming.”

Bates says the 80/20 rule applies here—as well as when moving onto figure out the optimum way to implement a new idea.

“When you spend eighty percent of your time coming up with avariety of ideas, you only need to spend twenty percent of your timeimplementing,” she said. “This rule generates much better resultsthan when you spend the first twenty percent of your time thinkingup a few quick ideas—and then have to spend eighty percent of yourtime figuring out how to make them work.”

Managing change and innovation requires a unique skill set.Corporations. Hospitals. Schools. Engineering companies. No

matter what the organization, change is inevitable, unavoidable—and necessary. The challenge comes in finding the best, most innova-tive ways to manage this change.

Taught at both the graduate and undergraduate level, Bates’sManaging Innovation course centers on learning how to create ideasthat drive change and how to best manage the process. The coursealso helps business people develop skills to manage creative people,projects, or departments.

“We talk about how to be ready for change and how to manageand facilitate the creative process,” Bates said. “We discuss how tohire the right people, set up a new department, and reward creatorsof new ideas and innovative implementers of change.”

Bates goes on to say that a manager needs to create a flexible envi-ronment conducive to innovation while providing policies that helpcreative projects stay on track in terms of time and budget.

To illustrate her point, she refers to this quote from Andrew S.Grove, former chairman of the board of Intel Corporation, who said,“You need to plan the way a fire department plans—it cannot antici-pate fires, so it has to shape a flexible organization that is capable ofresponding to unpredictable events.”

Bates encourages people to remember that “we are all creativeeveryday—every time we find a new way of looking at something ora new approach to solving any kind of problem in our lives orwork.”

What she does is give students the resources to make the most ofthat creativity. ■

“We talk about how to be ready for change and how to manage and facilitate

the creative process.”—Constance Bates, associate professor, Department of Management andInternational Business

Constance Bates shows off one of her student’s creative projects.

In late 2007, David Wernick, instructor, Department ofManagement and International Business in the College ofBusiness Administration, came up with a novel idea. If it

worked, he thought, it would greatly enhance his Management andOrganization course, and perhaps even serve as a model for otherfaculty members looking to use new technologies to engage theirstudents.

From a pedagogical standpoint, the idea was fairly straightfor-ward. He would divide his super-sized class of 300 students into twodozen teams of twelve students, assign pairs of teams a business casedealing with a company’s response to a managerial challenge, andgive them a position to defend. Then, each week, he would have thecaptains of two teams debate the cases in front of the class, fieldquestions from him and the audience, and offer a closing statement.After the debate, he would have the class vote on the best presenta-tion and award the winning team bonus points—an inducementthat had worked well in the past by building camaraderie and pro-moting a lively, competitive atmosphere.

But there was another element to Wernick’s plan. “I knew from past experience that my students loved it when their

peers taped short video clips and incorporated them into their pre-sentations,” he said. “Such clips, which sometimes took the form ofdramatic skits or mock interviews with CEOs, could be incrediblycreative and engaging.”

Then it hit him: why not require each team to tape a portion oftheir presentation—a five-minute opening statement—prior to classand upload it to the web so that the opposing team could view itand prepare a rebuttal?

“Having the videos available ahead of time would enable us to useprecious class time to drill down deeper and explore the nuances of

the cases, while students wouldget an opportunity to polish both their media and public speakingskills,” Wernick said.

Technology affords benefits but poses challenges to overcome.

Although the idea seemed compelling, Wernick knew that techno-logical obstacles existed. Among the thorniest was the question oftechnical standards and compatibility. While most of his studentshad access to video cameras—many through their cell phones—there was an alphabet soup of different video formats (MPEG, AVI,MOV, etc.) and not all devices supported the same formats.

There also was the question of how the students would transmitthe videos to Wernick. They could certainly e-mail him the videos inadvance, but sending large, media files through cyberspace seemedlike an invitation to trouble, given the time it would take to zip,unzip, download, and decode them.

Finally, there was the issue of accessibility: if the videos were keptinside the “walled garden” of WebCT, the web-based course platformused by the college, they would be less inviting to watch than if stu-dents had relatively open access to them.

A chance encounter with FIU Online Creative Director JairAcevedo offered Wernick a possible solution: use YouTube.

“Most students today are familiar with YouTube,” Acevedo said ofthe video-sharing web site that has become a mainstay of theInternet since its launch in February, 2005. “Simply create a site for your course on YouTube and have the students upload the videos themselves. It’s free and easy and the site supports most video formats.”

2008 Business Accents [29]2008 Business Accents [29]COLLEGE OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION http://business.fiu.edu

Innovative useof YouTubeenlivens largeclassroomexperience.

David Wernick uses YouTube in his Management and Organization course.


Pilot offering gets high marks.A week after their conversation, and

with Acevedo’s help, Wernick had hisManagement and Organization YouTubesite up and running, and the plan wasrolled out just in time for the spring, 2008semester.

The initial response was overwhelm-ingly positive.

“This was one of the most fun andchallenging projects that I have done inmy two years at Florida InternationalUniversity,” said Lisa Marie Young, asophomore from Trinidad and Tobagomajoring in human resource management.

Her team debated the merits of Perrier’s response to a crisis causedby the contamination of its French water supply in the early 1990s.

“It wasn’t easy,” she said. “It took a lot of prep work, late nights,and coffee runs before we finished our video, but we were super

pleased with the end result.”From Wernick’s point of view, the

project has already been a success.“My students tell me that this project

has greatly stimulated their interest inbusiness administration and managementand that they really look forward tocoming to class to see, hear, and partici-pate in the debates,” he said.

He intends to fine-tune the project incoming months, while developing newideas and applications, among them,bringing in “celebrity judges” from thecommunity such as alumni and businessleaders to evaluate the student presenta-tions.

“It’s always the content that matters, but new technologies canhelp make the material fresh and appealing to a new generation ofstudents,” he said. ■

“This was one of the most funand challenging projects that Ihave done in my two years at

Florida InternationalUniversity.”

—Lisa Marie Young, human resource management major


First comes the idea—the “ah-ha” moment that motivates every entrepreneur totake an innovative concept and run with it . . . all the way to making it a viablefor-profit or non-profit business.

Hosted by the Eugenio Pino and Family Global Entrepreneurship Center, theCollege of Business Administration’s annual New Venture Challenge business plancompetition provides the forum—and the funding—for transforming these dreamsinto reality.

Winners demonstrate growing commitment and innovation.In the 2007 New Venture Challenge competitive rounds, the top prize in the grad-

uate/alumni competition went to Biodiversity & Company, which incorporated multi-faceted, nature-based business concepts centered on working with the Chachi tribe inEcuador to promote ecotourism, sales of carbon credits, and sales of non-timber forest prod-ucts. The monies generated help support research and the renewal of that country’sChocó rainforest.

“My business focuses on making a profit responsibly,” said Erica Courtney(EMBA ’07), who co-founded Biodiversity & Company with Patricia JoTerrack, Courtney’s mother and business partner, who has been supportingnon-profit efforts in Ecuador since her stint in the Peace Corps there.

Recently, Echoing Green, an organizationcommitted to helping social entrepreneursachieve their maximum potentialthrough a range of support services,named Biodiversity & Companyamong its 2008 fellowship finalists.The company also took a second placewin in the William James Foundation'sSocially Responsible Business PlanCompetition and first prize in theSustainability Prizes category sponsored by theFoundation for a Sustainable Future.

New entrepreneurs step up to the challenge.

“My business focuses on making a profit responsibly.”

— Erica Courtney, graduate 2007 New Venture Challenge winner

Erica Courtney (EMBA ‘07) wins top prize in the grad-uate/alumni competition for Biodiversity & Company.


Start-up company QualicAID won the2007 New Venture Challenge grandprize for the undergraduate competitionwith a business plan for outsourcingMedicaid eligibility screening andenrollment services to health careorganizations.

“Thanks to the challenge, what started out asa desire to make a difference and to help qualifypeople for Medicaid is now on its way to being aviable company,” said Jassiel Zapata, the soleentrepreneur behind the QualicAID concept, afinance major who plans to graduate in December,2008.

Continuing with the social responsibility theme,the two undergraduate teams named as runners-upincluded Iraq war veterans who used the knowledgeand experience they gained in the military to benefittheir communities. Veterans Energy Solutions offers energy con-sumption audits and renewable energy designs, while FederalProtection Services plans to bring a range of security services to thecitizens of Trinidad.

Get ready for the 2008 Entrepreneur Challenge: introducinga new name for an expanded competition.

The 2007 competition brought with it a new emphasis on socialresponsibility—with the top-placing business plans weaving a fea-sible connection between successful entrepreneurship and environ-mentally and community-focused concepts.

“More than ever before, our students are taking innovative pathsto combine solid business plans with greater social awareness,” said

Alan Carsrud, executive director of thePino Center and clinical professor ofmanagement. “This trend toward socialentrepreneurship is gainingmomentum as a growth area for newbusinesses, which is why we intro-duced a new social entrepreneurshiptrack as part of the newly named2008 Entrepreneur Challenge.”

The 2008 business plan competi-tion featured two competitive

tracks—one for investment and onefor social entrepreneurship. For the first

time, the college welcomed area residentsto join Florida International Universitystudents and alumni in the competition.To qualify for the competition’s

Investment Track, the proposed venture hadto address the complete business concept—from startup through implementation—andqualify as an original seed stage, for-profit,

start-up venture. The plan also had to demon-strate a significant return on investment andscalability. This track was open to all universitystudents and alumni.

For the Social Entrepreneurship Track, theplan needed to focus on the creation of socialvalue in a significant, sustained manner. A quan-tifiable social or environmental bottom line wasto be incorporated into the business plan’s mis-sion and practices. The proposed venture had to

be an original seed stage, start-up social venture. All university stu-dents and alumni were invited to participate—as were residents fromBroward, Miami-Dade, Monroe, and Palm Beach Counties.

“We are excited to expand the Entrepreneur Challenge into newareas and to welcome new participants,” said Colleen Post (MBA’03, BFA ’00), associate director, Pino Center. “We feel this gives theuniversity and the Southeast Florida community an unprecedentedopportunity to showcase new ideas while providing a forum toattract investment for innovative business models and sustainablesocial messages.”

The Pino Center, once again, hosted the 2008 EntrepreneurChallenge, with sponsorships from the John S. and James L. KnightFoundation and the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. In bothtracks, the top-prize winner received $10,000 and the runner-upreceived $2,500. ■

“Thanks to the challenge, what startedout as a desire to make adifference and to helpqualify people for Medicaidis now on its way to being aviable company.”— Jassiel Zapata, undergraduate 2007 New Venture Challenge winner


Community Connections

2008 Business Accents [33]2008 Business Accents [33]

New program helps womenleaders chart future course.

“Women on the Move:AdvancingAuthentic Leaders,” a four-day seminar, gavewomen forging ahead professionally thechance to understand their experienceswithin a context provided by experts onleadership.

“As high-achieving women move up theranks of their organizations, they realize theneed to take responsibility for their ownleadership development,” said Joyce J. Elam,executive dean of the College of BusinessAdministration; academic director of theCenter for Leadership, which organized theevent; and seminar presenter.“We designedthe program to help them discover theirstrengths as leaders and to provide a frame-work for discussing their individual chal-lenges and choices.”

Unique framework maps to other lead-ership tools.

The framework drew upon research byNathan Hiller, assistant professor in thePsychology Department and center fellow.After an exhaustive review of existing

studies on leadership, he developed a uniquetool that “identified 53 competencies thatlogically clustered around five ‘meta compe-tencies’: leading self, strategic focus, managingoperations, leading teams, and connectingwith others” said Hiller, who introduced themodel and spoke about strategic focus.

“With this program, the center has created a unique

space for women leaders tolearn new ways of thinkingabout and achieving career

success.”—Mayra Beers, executive director, Center for Leadership

Mayra Beers, the center’s executivedirector, and chief of staff, Office of thePresident, noted,“With this program, thecenter has created a unique space forwomen leaders to learn new ways ofthinking about and achieving career success.”

Presenters also included center fellowDana Farrow, professor, Management and

International Business Department; KimberlyTaylor, associate professor, MarketingDepartment; and acclaimed author, lecturer,and center fellow Nance Guilmartin.The col-lege’s Executive and Professional Education(EPE) ran the program. ■

Ryder System, Inc. and collegetransport their relationship toa new level.

Visit University Park at FloridaInternational University and you’ll likely seethe Ryder Business Building. Check out theCollege of Business Administration’s faculty,and you’ll find four Ryder Eminent ScholarChair positions. Survey the college’s centers,and you’ll discover the Ryder Center forSupply Chain Management, which conductssupply chain instruction and research.

“We’re mutually empoweringorganizations—supporting

each other’s agendas.”—Natalia Echeverría Sol, director of advancement and cor-

porate relations, College of Business Administration

These signs of Ryder’s presence, hugelysignificant in themselves, do not even tell thewhole story of the “long and rich relation-ship the business school has with this globaltransportation and logistics industry leader,including a 1996 pledge of $4.080 millionwith the state match,” said NataliaEcheverría Sol, the college’s director ofadvancement and corporate relations.“We’remutually empowering organizations—sup-porting each other’s agendas.”

Ryder now invests time, reaps rewards.“We have a natural synergy with the col-

lege because we are one of the few big com-panies headquartered in Miami, and theuniversity is our closest major publicschool,” said Gregory Greene, executive vicepresident and chief human resources officer;Dean’s Council member; and former

Team building activity,Acid River, aimed at testing participants’ abilities to prioritize, organize,and mobilize around a challenge.



[34] Business Accents 2008[34] Business Accents 2008

International MBA (IMBA) Advisory Boardmember, who taught Strategic Management,the capstone course in the Evening MBAprogram, in 2003.“Participating allows me toprovide a reality check for the college so itcan better prepare students, which will raiseplacements and the business school’s reputa-tion.”

“Our relationship with the college has been important in

fulfilling our goal of developingtop talent in South Florida andhas contributed to the college’s

high national ranking.” —Hernan C.Vera (MBA ’90) group director,

supply chain solutions marketing; member and former co-chair, Executive MBA (EMBA) Advisory Board.

“Our relationship with the college hasbeen important in fulfilling our goal of devel-oping top talent in South Florida and hascontributed to the college’s high nationalranking,” said Hernan C.Vera (MBA ’90)group director, supply chain solutions mar-

keting, and member and former co-chair ofthe Executive MBA (EMBA) Advisory Board.

Kevin Bott, senior vice president and chiefinformation officer, and Master of Science inManagement Information Systems (MSMIS)Advisory Board member, agreed.

“Many employees are alumni,and we’ve established a strong

pipeline for future linkagesthrough internships.”

—Kevin Bott, senior vice president and chief informationofficer; Master of Science in Management Information

Systems (MSMIS) Advisory Board member

“Many employees are alumni, and we’veestablished a strong pipeline for future link-ages through internships,” he said.“We alsohave programs that can reimburseemployees for graduate tuition.”

As an advisory board member, Bott givesadvice about the curriculum’s relevance, andas a guest lecturer, this former professorgets to flex his academic muscles.

For Eugenio Sevilla-Sacasa, vice presidentand managing director of Ryder LatinAmerica, membership in the Latin AmericanForum, which the college runs for CEOs,“is

beneficial, enabling me to interact with othermanagers of Latin American businesses.”

Greene praises Ryder-sponsored forum.Greene takes pride in the Green Supply

Chain Forum organized by the Ryder Centerand the Institute for Technology andInnovation at the Eugenio Pino and FamilyGlobal Entrepreneurship Center. Ryder waspremier sponsor, and Gregory Swienton,Ryder’s chairman and CEO, was the kickoffspeaker.

“The topic is hot, and havingthe event at the university vali-

dated its legitimacy for ourmany customers who

attended.”—Gregory Greene, executive vice president and

chief human resources officer; Dean’s Council member;and former International MBA (IMBA) Advisory Board

member and adjunct

“The topic is hot, and having the event atthe university validated its legitimacy for ourmany customers who attended,” Greenesaid.“We generated dialogue that will foster

Gregory Greene

Kevin Bott

Hernan Vera (MBA '90)


2008 Business Accents [35]COLLEGE OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION http://business.fiu.edu 2008 Business Accents [35]

their commitment to reducing their carbonfootprint.”

“The forum—which we hope will be thefirst of many helping managers to networkand discuss important supply chain issues—put us on the map for our knowledge aboutbest practices and as a first-rate universityfor hosting such events,” said WalfriedLassar, Ryder Professor and Ryder Centerdirector. ■

Burger King finds whoppingamount of talent—and reci-procity—in business school.

Despite its attractions, South Florida—with its high cost of living and hurricanethreats—remains a tough sell to potentialemployees. However, the relationshipbetween Miami-headquartered Burger KingCorporation and the College of BusinessAdministration has lessened the challenge.

“Employers in South Florida often have toimport talent from other cities or tap otherlocal companies,” said José Tomas (MSHRM’03, BBA ’92), Burger King’s vice president,human resources,The Americas, and formerchair of the college’s Master of Science in

Human Resource Management (MSHRM)Advisory Board.“We benefit when we iden-tify local talent because they’re loyal to thearea, which eases retention.”

Burger King has found a welcome supplyof such individuals in the college and hasinstituted a formal summer internship pro-gram, participates in career fairs and infor-mation sessions, actively recruits, and serveson the Career Management Services (CMS)Advisory Board. Approximately forty alumniwork in the corporate headquarters.

Ben Wells, executive vice president andCFO, and Dean’s Council member, sharesTomas’s perception of the value of cultivatinglocal resources, with international implica-tions added.

“We recognize the importanceof Latin America, Canada,

Asia, and Europe, and succeedin finding employees from the

business school to fill positions.”

—Ben Wells, executive vice president and CFO, and Dean’sCouncil member

College of BusinessAdministration AdvisoryBoards

Alumni Circle

Career Management ServicesAdvisory Board

Chapman Executive Committee

Dean’s Council

Executive MBA (EMBA) AdvisoryBoard

International MBA (IMBA)Advisory Board

Jamaica Advisory Board

Jerome Bain Real Estate InstituteAdvisory Board

Master of Science in Finance(MSF) Advisory Board

Master of Science in HumanResource Management (MSHRM)Advisory Board

Master of Science in ManagementInformation Systems (MSMIS)Advisory Board

School of Accounting AdvisoryBoard

Eugenio Sevilla-Sacasa

Ben Wells




“To succeed in running a global business,you need talented young people to fill theranks and extend the brand,” he said.“Werecognize the importance of Latin America,Canada,Asia, and Europe, and succeed infinding employees from the business schoolto fill positions.”

Relationship offers benefits beyond theemployee pool.

From its side, the college, which has bene-fited from Burger King’s involvement in advi-sory boards and as guest lecturers, hasidentified ways to contribute to BurgerKing’s success.

“Through a team effort, involving thedepartment of advancement, alumni, and cor-porate relations; Executive Dean Joyce J.Elam; former Chapman Graduate Dean Joséde la Torre; Executive and ProfessionalEducation; CMS; and faculty members, therelationship has flourished,” said NataliaEcheverría Sol, the college’s director ofadvancement and corporate relations.

The effort has not gone unnoticed.“I applaud the business school for its

efforts to keep people in the communityinvolved,” Wells said.

In addition to his role on the MSHRMAdvisory Board,Tomas stays involvedthrough networking events.

“I meet many business leadersand am building a network to

which I can turn for answers tovarious business challenges.”

—José Tomas (MSHRM ’03, BBA ’92), vice president, humanresources,The Americas, and former chair, Master ofScience in Human Resource Management (MSHRM)

Advisory Board

“I meet many business leaders and ambuilding a network to which I can turn foranswers to various business challenges,” hesaid.

Meeting peers also has benefited JulioRamirez, executive vice president of globaloperations, and a member of the LatinAmerican Forum, a CEO-only group that thecollege runs.

“It’s great to interact withpeople who see the world in

the same way.”—Julio Ramirez, executive vice president of global operations, and Latin American Forum member

“We all have responsibilities for profitsand results in Latin America,” said Ramirez,whose involvement with the college extendsback to the early 1980s when his wife,Myriam Alvarez Ramirez (BACC ’82) was astudent.“It’s great to interact with peoplewho see the world in the same way. In fact,others in the forum helped us decide toextend our operations into Colombia.”

“We intend to continue to find new ways to develop this

mutually beneficial relationship.”

—Natalia Echeverría Sol, director of advancement and cor-porate relations, College of Business Administration

“We’re proud to count Burger King, oneof South Florida’s most important publiclyowned companies, as one of our strategiccorporate partners and intend to continueto find new ways to develop this mutuallybeneficial relationship,” Sol said.

Wells shared her enthusiasm.“I also see the possibility for creating a

more robust relationship,” he said.■

José Tomas (MSHRM '03, BA '92)

Julio Ramirez


Alumni News

2008 Business Accents [37]

Alumni leadership organiza-tions create new activities andenhance perennial favorites.

Alumni Circle deepens involvement.With many entrepreneurs and business

leaders among its members, it’s no surprisethat the Alumni Circle, founded in 2001,devises innovative ideas for increasing thebusiness readiness of students in the Collegeof Business Administration.

“Members will offer presentation coachingas well as job-shadowing,” said MoniqueCatoggio (EMBA ’03), director of advance-ment and alumni relations.

Also the Circle, led by its chair DemianBellumio (BBA ’00), who began his career onWall Street, is developing, along with othercommittee members, the Investment BankingRecruiting pilot program to help studentsenter the field by improving their ability tonavigate the industry.

“We plan to find non-tradi-tional routes and build on our

connections, rather thanhaving students pursue only

the formal recruiting process.”—Monique Catoggio (EMBA ’03), director of advancement

and alumni relations

“We plan to find non-traditional routesand build on our connections, rather thanhaving students pursue only the formalrecruiting process,” Catoggio said.“The col-lege has qualified candidates, particularly forthose firms with diversity initiatives.”

Another innovative effort, this onedesigned to benefit Circle members, involvesthe Faculty Linkage Program, which givesthem the chance to interact with facultywho have shared interests. Over time, theprogram will build relationships leading toincreased student access, mentoring oppor-tunities, speaking engagements, and researchprojects.

Beyond these academically oriented proj-ects, the Circle continued its active role inthe community, especially during the 2007Hands on Miami Day, during which volun-teers—including five Circle members—painted murals and landscaped a middleschool in Homestead, Florida.TheContinental Group, Inc., and CorporateCatering sponsored the college’s contingent,and Burnie, the Miami Heat mascot, enter-tained.

Business Alumni Chapter adds twist tosocial traditions.

The Business Alumni Chapter held anumber of events to move the group beyondsocial networking, without sacrificing enjoy-able opportunities for graduates to gettogether. Case in point: the Second AnnualNight in Paradise, a joint partnershipbetween the chapter and the Young UrbanAlumni Association (YUPA!).The fundraiserbenefited the Florida International UniversityStudent Enhancement Fund and CHARLEEHomes for Children, a non-profit organiza-tion that helps abused and neglected chil-dren.

New in 2007: the Art of NetworkingHappy Hour Series sponsored by

Progressive Insurance.The first event tookplace at the Miami Art Group Gallery in theDesign District. James Bussey (EMBA ’99),chief of staff, Executive Dean’s Office, andone of ten finalists in the 2007 Toastmasters’World Championship of Public Speaking,made a short presentation about publicspeaking skills.The second gathering gaveattendees the chance to learn from a masternetworker: David Suarez (MBA ’04), CEOand lead facilitator of Interactive Solutions,Inc. (Please see Suarez’s profile in this section.)

Also new: the establishment of a chaptersub-group, the School of Accounting AlumniAffinity Council (SOAAAC). Its stated mis-sion is to “provide an environment that fos-ters relationships, creates mentoringopportunities, engages alumni, and builds uni-versity pride and excitement.”

The chapter hosted an array of long-standing popular events: a half-day BusinessAlumni Conference, the South Florida CEOSpeakers Series, and the annualEntrepreneurship Hall of Fame (EHOF)Induction Ceremony and Luncheon. (Pleasesee the article about the 2007 EHOF cere-mony in this section.)

Alumni Circle members join hands for 2007 Hands on Miami Day.


Alumni News


More than 500 business leaders fromthroughout South Florida gathered to honortheir own at “The Rhythm ofEntrepreneurship,” the Eighth AnnualEntrepreneurship Hall of Fall InductionCeremony and Luncheon in May, 2007. TheCollege of Business Administration’s majoralumni event of the year, it celebrates theachievements of those among its 30,000alumni—an impressive twenty percent—whohave become entrepreneurs and, throughtheir entrepreneurial activities, have con-tributed significantly to the area’s economy.

The 2007 inductees were Margarita M.Gonzalez (BBA ’06), president and CFO,AccuBANKER, Founder;Antonio “Tony” L.Argiz (BBA ’74), president and CEO,Morrison, Brown,Argiz & Farra, LLP, Builder;and Miriam López, chairman and CEO,Transatlantic Bank, 2007 South FloridaEntrepreneur of the Year.

SunTrust Bank and others make theevent possible.

For the eighth consecutive year, SunTrustBank of Miami was the primary sponsor.Executive Dean Joyce J. Elam, thankedSunTrust, represented by Nicolas Bustle (MS’88), SunTrust Bank city president, Miami, forthis longstanding commitment to the event.

“SunTrust Bank has been a supporter ofthe Entrepreneurship Hall of Fame since itsinception in 1999 and has provided a cumu-lative gift of $125,000 to ensure the collegecontinues to be able to recognize alumniwho have achieved distinction as foundersand builders of new business enterprises,”she told the audience.

Other business sponsors included Adorno& Yoss; and Morrison, Brown,Argiz & Farra,LLP. Media partners were South Florida CEO,represented by Rochelle Broder-Singer,editor; along with NBC 6 and Telemundo 51,whose news anchors Jackie Nespral (MS ’91)

and Ambrosio Hernandez emceed.They keptthe proceedings lively, as did a performanceby two-time Grammy-nominated,singer/songwriter, Elsten “Fulano,” an appear-ance arranged by another alumni entrepre-neur, Demian Bellumio (BBA ’00), president,Hoodiny Entertainment, a vigorous sup-porter of the college, and chair of the col-lege’s Alumni Circle.

Elam also acknowledged previous awardwinner Albert Santalo (EMBA ’97),Avisena,joined in the audience by members of hismanagement team and other business part-ners.

2007 New Venture Challenge winnersannounced.

Another highlight was the announcementof incipient entrepreneurs: the winners ofthe 2007 New Venture Challenge (NVC)Business Plan Competition. Before revealingthe much-anticipated news,Alan Carsrud,

Margarita M. Gonzalez (BBA '06) Miriam López Antonio L.Argiz (BBA '74)

“The Rhythm of Entrepreneurship” honors distinguished entrepreneurs.

Alumni News


director, Eugenio Pino and Family GlobalEntrepreneurship Center, introduced the2006 champion,Alexis Nogueras (MBA ’06),founder, Ergo Tools, a manufacturer ofergonomic gardening tools. After winningthe 2006 NVC, Nogueras competed againsttwelve Florida universities in the state’s first-ever statewide business plan competition,which he also won, earning a slot to presentat the Florida Venture Forum.

The 2007 winners were Biodiversity &Company in the graduate/alumni competi-tion and QualicAID in the undergraduatecompetition. (Please see the feature about the2008 New Venture Challenge.)

“An increasing number ofmembers of our business com-

munity express to us howhappy they are to support the

Entrepreneurship Hall of FameInduction Ceremony and

Luncheon and their pride inthe success of the college andthe profound impact of our

enterprising alumni.”—Monique Catoggio (EMBA ’03), director of advancement

and alumni relations

“An increasing number of members of ourbusiness community express to us howhappy they are to support this program andtheir pride in the success of the college andthe profound impact of our enterprisingalumni,” said Monique Catoggio (EMBA ’03),director of advancement and alumni rela-tions. ■

Alumnus spearheads develop-ment of unique recruitingeffort at financial/bankingpowerhouse.

Charlotte, North Carolina-based Bank ofAmerica seems to like what it sees from theCollege of Business Administration.The pro-gram recruits more graduates each year intoits top-flight Financial ManagementAssociation Program (FMAP), an intense,two-year training experience that facilitatesrapid advancement and expanded careeropportunities within the bank.

The program can lay claim to an earnestproponent in the form of one Juan Carlos“JC” Mendoza (BBA ’06). Mendoza startedthe program in 2007 and describes the“exposure to high-level responsibilities formultimillion-dollar programs” as unmatchedin terms of career development.

“After I complete FMAP, I’ll move into aposition at the assistant-vice-president level,something that would take me six years toachieve elsewhere,” Mendoza said. He saidhe hopes that by spreading the word, he’llencourage more graduating seniors from hisalma mater to apply to the program.

“Our alumni have already established afootprint in the bank,” he said.“I want to seethat footprint grow.”

In addition to their superior academicpreparation, Mendoza said, the bank viewsthe college’s graduates as possessing“charisma” and being “people-oriented,”attributes that earn high marks in the inter-view process.

“The bank is thrilled with the caliber ofstudent who comes out of the college,” hesaid.

Alumni group takes part in recruitingevents.

Mendoza and his fellow alumni at Bank ofAmerica have formed a group who activelyworks to facilitate the entry of more gradu-ates into FMAP. Members of the FloridaInternational University Alumni Committeeaccompany bank executives to campus forrecruiting events, where they provide jobseekers with peer-based insights regardingthe benefits, and challenges, of such a rig-orous program and application process.

From left to right: Enrique Orizondo (BBA ’06), Josh Alfonso (BBA ’06), George Mattocks (BBA ’06), Magdiel Narvaez (BBA ’06), Jason Tilghman (BBA ’06), Sacha Boxill (BBA ’06),Andrew Lanzziano (BBA ’07), and Juan Carlos Mendoza (BBA ’06)


Alumni News


“I’m one of the people who is there tosay ‘Hey, I was in your shoes a year ago, andthis has been my experience,’” he said.

The alumni group also offers tips onrésumé development, dispenses advice oninterviewing techniques, and answers ques-tions about life in Charlotte.They are devel-oping seminars for recruitment events thatwill educate students about the distinctiveaspects of working in the financial field.

“The key driver behind thiseffort is to make our graduatesmore competitive in the appli-

cation process.”—Juan Carlos Mendoza (BBA ’06), financial analyst, Bank of

America

“The key driver behind this effort is tomake our graduates more competitive in theapplication process,” Mendoza said.

Applicants receive support for interviewprocess.

The alumni team kicks into gear everytime an applicant from the university comesto headquarters for an interview, meetingseparately with them to answer questions,provide guidance, and receive feedback ontheir experiences.

“We also take interviewees out for a nighton the town so they can relax and speak offthe record about their impressions of theprogram and the process,” Mendoza said.“Atthe same time, it gives them a chance to seethe city.”

Given the growing prestige of the univer-sity, Mendoza realizes that he, too, competesfor the increasingly sought-after graduates ofthe college. He is banking on the fact thatthe career advancement opportunitiesoffered by FMAP, combined with his effortsto create a welcoming environment for newgraduates, will persuade them to considerseriously the Tar Heel State. ■

Entrepreneur uses art ofimprovisation to craft uniquetraining approach.

“More of me comes out when I impro-vise,” said American artist Edward Hopper,referring to the powerful effects of reactingboldly to events and relying on one’s imme-diate instincts.

David Suarez (EMBA ’04) is keenly awareof the transformative nature of improvisa-tion. As president and CEO of InteractiveTraining Solutions, Suarez designs anddelivers training seminars that integrateimprovisational methods to help clients buildinterpersonal skills, cultivate leadershipcapacity, and create dynamic work environ-ments.

“People improvise every day,though they may not realize it.The same skills you need forimprovisation—the ability toreact quickly and think on

your feet—can help you masterthe business environment.”

—David Suarez (EMBA '04), president and CEO,Interactive Training Solutions

“People improvise every day, though theymay not realize it,” he said.“The same skillsyou need for improvisation—the ability toreact quickly and think on your feet—canhelp you master the business environment.”

Suarez became involved in improvisationthirteen years ago, both as a performer andas co-founder of Miami-based Just the FunnyImprov Theater Company. As a chief organ-izer and producer of the Miami ImprovFestival, he helped resuscitate a flagging localimprov scene and establish an event nowconsidered essential for performers on theinternational circuit.

“Improv has been my passion for a longtime,” Suarez said.“It’s been a great moti-vator in many aspects of my life.”

Business class inspires birth of a company.

Suarez hatched his idea for InteractiveTraining Solutions in a business plan develop-ment course that he took with AlanCarsrud, clinical professor of managementand executive director of the Eugenio Pinoand Family Global Entrepreneurship Center.The class culminated with student presenta-tions to a panel of venture capitalists.WhenSuarez pitched his plan for an improv-basedcorporate training operation, the group gavehim the green light. Five years later, helaunched Interactive Training Solutions.

“I liked the idea of being in control ofwhat I was doing, so I could wake up eachday and love going to work,” he said.

The company offers a range of profes-sional development, teambuilding, and execu-tive coaching services, in both standardizedand customized formats. Sessions help par-ticipants sharpen interpersonal skills, resolveworkplace conflicts, enhance public speakingfacility, and network effectively.

David Suarez (EMBA ’04)

Alumni News


“Clients really embrace our appliedlearning method,” Suarez said, adding thatthe emphasis is on making training inter-esting, fun, and interactive.

“As improv performers, we’re accustomedto picking up on audience cues,” he said,“soif we detect a disconnect, we can changecourse quickly.”

Training empowers participants to take risks.

Suarez and his team integrate role-playingexercises that expose participants to worst-case scenarios, then give them feedback andsupport so they can “change their perform-ance.” Suarez has observed how “puttingfailure out there on a silver platter,” resultsin participants’ increased willingness to takechances and try new things.

“We help them see that when theyembrace the possibility of failure, they actu-ally take more risks because they stopfearing the fall,” he said.

In April, Suarez returned to the place thatstarted it all, the Pino Center, to co-presenta seminar on sales and networking.

“The center has been such a greatresource for me,” Suarez said.“It feels goodto give back and to be able to help otherentrepreneurs.” ■

Where the gas is greener:Alumnus provides SouthFlorida with first ethanolfueling station.

When some people drive by orangegroves or cornfields, they imagine the boun-tiful offerings of harvest time. Urbieta Oilco-owner Ignacio Urbieta (MBA ’85) seesthe raw materials for a future in whichAmerica meets more of its energy needsdomestically through renewable, cleaner fuelsources.The oil executive took a major steptoward realizing his vision last September,when his company’s U-Gas station becamethe first in South Florida to sell E85, an 85percent ethanol-based fuel.

“I believe in the future ofethanol. It’s cheaper and moreefficient than gasoline and willhelp us decrease our depend-

ence on foreign oil.”—Ignacio Urbieta (MBA ’85), co-owner, Urbieta Oil

Company

“I believe in the future of ethanol,”Urbieta said.“It’s cheaper and more efficientthan gasoline and will help us decrease ourdependence on foreign oil.”

Urbieta believes the potential for ethanol’ssuccess in the marketplace lies in the factthat it is “transparent to the consumer.” Agrowing number of drivers favor flex-fuelvehicles, which can seamlessly alternatebetween gasoline and alternative fuelsources.

Increasing access to ethanol is primeobjective.

“The big challenge right now is to makeethanol more available,” Urbieta said.

With General Motors alone estimatingthat more than 11,000 Miami-area driversown one of its flex-fuel vehicles, his eager-ness to see more E85 pumps in operation isunderstandable.

By summer 2008, the company plans tohave ethanol-based fuel available at all Miami-area U-Gas stations.To effect the expansion,the company will rely on a formulation com-prised of ten percent ethanol, which willrequire fewer, less costly modifications at thecompany’s plant and individual service sta-tions. Meanwhile, the quest to provide moreE85 will continue.

“Strategically, we need to find locationswhere there is a commitment to E85,”Urbieta said.“We are looking at stationsnear government buildings because govern-ment vehicles are mandated to use E85when it’s available.”

David Suarez (EMBA ’04), center, coaches clients at Interactive Training Solutions.


Alumni News


Personal values, desire to make a differ-ence inspire actions.

The oil company executive credits hisfather, founder of the family business, withgiving him a “strong work ethic” and thesense that it is a “great legacy to leave some-thing behind and make a difference.” Theseearly lessons in part drive Urbieta’s desire tomanifest change within his industry.

His commitment to ethanol brought himto campus in fall, 2007, after a long hiatus, toparticipate in a public forum on alternativefuels.The event signaled a reunion of sortsbetween the alumnus and the school thathas figured prominently in his professionalachievements.

“The education I received has played an

instrumental role in my success,” Urbietasaid.“It was so great to be back, see all thechanges, and realize that something special isgoing on there.”

In May, 2008, Urbieta was honored for hispioneering efforts to market E85 in SouthFlorida with his induction into the College ofBusiness Administration’s 2008Entrepreneurship Hall of Fame. He believeshis actions merely reflect an obligation hebears as a citizen of the world.

“I see this as part of my responsibility tofuture generations,” Urbieta said.“I havethree children, and I want to see theminherit a world that’s in better shape andwith greater possibilities.” ■

Ignacio Urbieta (MBA ’85)

Alumni Notes


1970’sBartow Mayor Brian Donelson Hinton

(BBA ’75) was featured in The Ledger, PolkCounty Business Journal. He served a three-year term as a city commissioner in Bartow,Florida, chaired the Bartow ChamberCommittee of 100’s economic developmentgroup for years, and serves on the PolkCounty’s Citizens Healthcare OversightCommittee. He’s a longtime member of theBartow Kiwanis Club and an elder and treas-urer for First Presbyterian Church. He alsois vice chairman and treasurer of theLifePath hospice board, serves on the GoodShepherd Hospice Community OutreachCommittee, and sits on the BartowChamber Education Committee. In 2005, theGreater Bartow Chamber of Commercerecognized Hinton with the George W.Harris Jr. Leadership Award. In 2007, CityHall honored him with the Spirit of BartowAward.

Travel firm Interval International hasappointed John A. Galea (BA ’77) as chieffinancial officer.

Accounting firm Morrison, Brown,Argiz &Farra, LLP has elected Daniel Flugrath (BBA’78) partner. Flugrath is a certified publicaccountant and certified financial planner inthe tax department.

Ramon Ferran (BBA ’79), senior vicepresident of corporate lending at TotalBank,has been elected to Florida internationalUniversity’s Alumni Association’s board ofdirectors.

1980’sJusto L. Pozo (BA ’80), president of

Preferred Care Partners, Inc., has beenelected to the board of directors of theFlorida International University Foundation.

Joseph Caruncho (BBA ’81) was featuredin Miami Today on February 8, 2007, forestablishing the first PSO (provider-spon-sored organization) in Florida and the

country’s third PSO, a Medicare-Plus healthplan owned by physicians providing healthcare. Caruncho was elected by the FloridaInternational University Foundation board ofdirectors as its vice chair. He is a member ofthe college’s Entrepreneurship Hall of Fameand chair of its Dean’s Council.

The Jay Malina International TradeConsortium of Miami-Dade County hasappointed Carlos Castellon (BA ’82), apartner at Jordan Castellon Ricardo LLC, toits board of directors.

Mary Cuervo (BBA ’83) has been pro-moted to senior director of compensationand benefits for VITAS Innovative HospiceCare.

Prospero G. Herrera II (BBA ’84) hasjoined North Shore Medical Center’sGoverning Board. Herrera also is director ofsupport services at Miami-Dade College’sNorth Campus.

Juan Carlos Ruiz ( BBA ’85) and his com-pany, Micro Sharp Hearing Centers, wererecognized recently by the Miami Herald for“Outstanding Service and Quality Productsfor over Forty Years.”

Great Florida Bank has named DanielAcevedo (BBA ’86) senior credit manager.

Lyle D. Larson (BBA ’87) was namedchairman of the American Bar Association’sGas and Electricity Marketing Committee,Section of Environment, Energy, andResources. Larson also was selected as “BestLawyer in America” for the specialty ofenergy law.

Albert Oses (BS ’88) has been appointedboard member of Miami Dade InternationalTrade.

Stephan Titleman (BBA ’88) has beenpromoted to vice president of the commer-cial property management division at The

Continental Group, Inc.Titleman has beenwith The Continental Group sinceDecember, 2004, initially as director, com-mercial property management, a new divi-sion of the company at the time.

Juan Aguerrebere (BBA ’89) has beenappointed to the professional ethics execu-tive committee of the American Institute ofCertified Public Accountants.This committeeestablishes ethical codes of conduct for theCPA profession.

1990’s Frank Gonzalez (BA ’90), partner at

Morrison, Brown,Argiz & Farra, LLP, hasjoined the college’s Alumni Circle.

Mario Nowogrodzki (MBA ’91, BBA ’89)is one of the nation’s most prominentAdvanced QuickBooks professional advisors;he owns the top firm in the QuickBooksEnterprise Solution Provider program and isa member of the Intuit AccountantsSpeakers Bureau.

Maria M.Yip (BACC ’91), executivedirector of the Miami office of DaylightForensic and Advisory, has joined the Schoolof Accounting’s Advisory Board.Yip is a cer-tified public accountant and a certified fraudexaminer with fifteen years’ experience inthe field.

BAC Florida Bank has appointed JoaquinArguello (BBA ’91) to senior vice presidentin charge of the bank’s domestic bankingdivision. Previously, Arguello was senior vicepresident and market manager atBankUnited.

The Related Group has appointedMatthew J. Allen (MBA ’91) executive vicepresident and chief operating officer.Previously he was the executive vice presi-dent and chief financial officer.

Anna Figueroa (BBA ’91) has joinedWGEN-TV, Channel 8, as president of sales.


Alumni Notes


Formerly, she was national sales manager forWJAN-TV, Channel 41.

José I. Juncadella (BBA ’91), founder ofFairchild Partners, has been named to theboard of governors of the RealtorAssociation of Greater Miami and TheBeaches, and of the Realtors CommercialAlliance.

Sonia Díaz (BA ’92), training and develop-ment manager at Royal Caribbean CruisesLtd., has been selected as a new AlumniCircle member.

The Public Health Trust has elected AngelMedina Jr. (BBA ’92) as treasurer. Medina ispresident of Regions Bank Southeast Florida.

Juan M. De Leon (MIB ’92, BBA ’90)recently was promoted to director of inter-national development at Ring PowerCorporation. In addition to sales, De Leondevelops markets for the rental of construc-tion equipment to large multinational corpo-rations.

Insurance firm InSource Inc. has addedWilliam L. Parker (BBA ’93) as a partner.Parker specializes in contract surety, con-struction, and risk management accounts.

The International Bank of Miami hasnamed Bashar Dibsi (BBA ’93) vice presi-dent and branch manager for the Medley-West Branch.

American Express announced that FrancisHondal (MBA ’94, BBA ’87) has been namedregional vice president and head of insuranceservices for Latin America, the Caribbean,and Canada. In this role, she will be respon-sible for managing the company’s insurancedistribution businesses, which consist prima-rily of accident, life, hospitalization, creditprotection, and travel coverage marketed toAmerican Express Card members. Hondal isa member of the college’s Alumni Circle andof the International MBA’s advisory board.

Accounting firm Berkowitz Dick Pollack &Brant has promoted Diana Rodriguez (BBA’94) from supervisor to manager in its taxdepartment.

Patricia Soffer (BBA ’94), principal ofSoffer Adkins Advertising has joined theAlumni Circle.

Albert Montes (BACC ’95) has beennamed director of finance for the Miami-Dade County Fair and Exposition, Inc.

Morrison, Brown,Argiz, & Farra, LLP hasannounced the addition of Ramon deLegorburu (BACC ’95) as director of litiga-tion and valuation. Legorburu has more thanten years of accounting and technologicalexperience. He currently is a member of theGeorgia Board of Accountancy and theAmerican Institute of Certified PublicAccountants.

Emilio Vasquez (BA ’95) has been namedsenior vice president of the Coral GablesMarket for Coconut Grove Bank.

José M. Ferrer (BBA ’96) was electedpartner in the Miami office of law firm Baker& McKenzie.

The International Bank of Miami N.A.named Roxana Jimenez (BBA ’96) vicepresident of the Executive Banking Group.Jimenez has spent fourteen years in banking.

Jhoanna Madden (BBA ’96) serves onthe board of the National Society ofHispanic MBA’s South Florida Chapter as thevice president of university relations.

Monique Hamaty-Simmonds (BBA ’96)and her successful Tortuga Rum CakeCompany celebrated their tenth anniversary.

Law firm Shutts & Bowen has addedAliette Del Pozo Rodz (BBA ’96) as partner.

Monique Lai’s (BBA ’96) first solo pho-tography exhibit, Private Property, ran sixweeks at the ArcLight Hollywood. She is thedirector of Jamaica, Farewell, a one-womanshow in Los Angeles that toured to Atlanta,New York City, and then to the BrowardCenter for Performing Arts. It also was per-formed at the Woodstock Fringe Festival.

Carla DeMarco (BA ’96) was voted to theSouthwest Florida, 2006 “Top 40 under 40”according to Gulfshore Business and wasnamed the 2006 “Rotarian of the Year.”

Benjamin Díaz (EMST ’96, BACC ’95),managing director with Alvarez & Marsal TaxAdvisory Services, LLC, has been selected asan Alumni Circle member.

Robert Perez (BBA ’96) opened his ownlegal practice focusing on criminal defense atboth the state and federal levels.

Liz Consuegra (BBA ’97) has joined lawfirm Fowler White Burnett as a shareholder.She will focus on trusts and estates, tax plan-ning, guardianships, and probate administra-tion.

Robert Garcia (EMBA ’97), director,Executive and Professional Education atFlorida International University, has beenselected as an Alumni Circle member.

Catherine Minnis (MBA ’97, BBA ’93) hasbeen honored with the 2006 AmericanCancer Society’s Volunteer of the Yearaward. Minnis is vice president of theNational Black MBA Association and chair ofpublic relations for Delta Sigma ThetaSorority, Inc.

Manuel Velasquez (BBA ’98) has beenappointed assistant director for audienceservices at the Lincoln Center for thePerforming Arts in New York City. In thisposition, he oversees customer service,CenterCharge, and the expanding responsi-bilities of the audience services group.

Alumni Notes


Jorge Flores (MACC ’98), a former vicepresident and director of internal audit atBanco Internacional de Costa Rica-Miami inCoral Gables, recently was hired at PacificNational Bank as vice president and internalauditor.

Andrea Padilla (BBA ’99), corporate com-munications director of HP Latin America,has been selected as an Alumni Circlemember.

The Carlos Albizu University Foundationhas named Jorge Vazquez (MBA ’99) to itsboard of directors.Vazquez is senior vicepresident and chief financial officer atFreedom Fresh.

Edgar Ceballos (BBA ’99) is a member ofthe steering committee of the first HispanicExecutive Supply Management Summit(HESMS), organized by the SupplyManagement Institute. Ceballos is also amember of the Alumni Circle.

Albert Santalo (MBA ’99),Avisena presi-dent and CEO, addressed a group of physi-cians during a seminar in Norcross, GA.Theseminar aimed at improving performance inthe most critical areas of medical practice:reimbursement trends, managed care con-tracting, and technology/billing and collec-tions.

2000’sDemian Bellumio’s (BBA ’00) company

Cyloop.com, formerly ELHood.com, was fea-tured on the front page of the Miami Herald.The article disclosed Cyloop’s partnershipwith Telefónica in Spain. Bellumio chairs theAlumni Circle.

Great Florida Bank has named CliveCollins (BBA ’00) director of commercialbanking.

MTV Networks Latin America hasappointed Juan C. Acosta (MBA ’01, BA ’95)vice president/chief financial officer. He wasdirector of finance for NBC/TelemundoGroup.

Commercebank appointed BoyanMintchev (MBA ’01) as assistant vice presi-dent of corporate lending products.

Alfredo Machado (MBA ’02) wasappointed international account managerwith American Tire Distributors, one of thelargest independent tire distributors andexporters in the world. Machado willmanage a multi-million dollar account port-folio in Latin America and the Caribbean.

The International Bank of Miami hasnamed Brian San Miguel (BBA ’03) vicepresident of the executive banking group.

International real estate company Grubb& Ellis has added Lance Benson (MBA ’03)to its team. Benson was appointed vice pres-ident of the Miami office. Benson is amember of the Alumni Circle.

TotalBank has named Christian H. Aubert(BBA ’03) as branch service manager for theEast Kendall branch.

CB Richard Ellis has hired Jay Hertzbach(MBA ’03) as a real estate analyst for thevaluation and advisory services group.

Jaime A. Castaño (BA ’03) was promotedto vice president, commercial lending, forColonial Bank’s South Florida region.

U.S. Century Bank has named George H.Bermudez (BBA ’03) executive vice presi-dent for corporate lending. He was a seniorvice president and middle-market divisionmanager for CommerceBank.

The International Bank of Miami namedJorge Scerpella (MBA ’04) assistant vicepresident of its Credit Administration

Division. Scerpella has ten years of experi-ence in credit analysis.

Misha Kuryla Gómez (MIB ’04) was fea-tured in BusinessWeek on June 19, 2007, forher success story as an entrepreneur. She ispresident of Misha’s Cupcakes, which sells torestaurants, bakeries, and cafés. She currentlyis working on a partnership to open a cup-cake/cookie store.

Logistics infrastructure company WTDChas promoted Sean P. Gazitua (BBA ’04) todirector of logistics.

Craig Kirsner (MBA ’04) received thePresident’s Volunteer Service Award on April20, 2007. His nomination for the award camefrom Hands on Miami and was given by thePresident’s Council on Service and CivicParticipation.

Gabriel Zdircu (MSMIS ’04) has beennamed director of the Miami-Dade County/Florida Keys office for Passport Health.Passport Health is a nationwide network oftravel medicine/vaccine clinics.

Robert Calhoun (BBA ’06) started hisfirm MedPay, Inc. during his senior year atthe college and the business is continuing toprosper with new clients and opportunitiesfor growth. His next project is to create areal estate investment company.

Shirley Lowe (IMBA ’06) participated inthe university’s China Track study abroadprogram, where, in Tianjin, she stayed atNankai University for one month and tookChinese language classes daily as well as abusiness class twice a week. She earned a$2000 scholarship to participate in the pro-gram.

Janaina Ribeiro (IMBA ’07) has joinedLehman Brothers as part of its PrivateInvestment Management Department.

Donor Profile


In 1962, as a four-year-old leaving Cuba with his family (who“expected to be able to return in six months or so”), Joseph L.Caruncho Esq. (BBA ’81), founder and CEO of Preferred

Care Partners (PCP), embarked on a journey that wound from asmall town outside Havana, through years of work at WightMillworks in Miami, to the acquisition of a college and law degree,and ultimately, to establishing a thriving company that has garneredhim recognition from both the business community and his almamater.

Caruncho’s path can now lead him to the Preferred Care PartnersStudent Organization Center in the new College of BusinessAdministration Complex, the result of his company’s $125,000 giftto the Building for Business camaign.

Entrepreneurship threads through his life.“My father owned a small, custom woodworking company in

Cuba, and I probably caught the entrepreneurial bug from him,” hesaid. “Within a month of our arrival in Florida, he had a job atWight Millworks, within a year became foreman, and eight yearslater, bought the company and ran it until he retired.”

Caruncho worked in the office fifty hours a week, completing anassociate of arts degree at Miami-Dade College, earning his Bachelorof Business Administration in finance at the college, and obtaining aJuris Doctor degree.

“Sometimes, I worked, went to classes, and returned to the officeat night,” he said. “I learned great time management skills, andworking immersed me in real-world issues that made going to classesseem almost like a vacation.”

After law school, Caruncho plied his legal training for thirteenyears, four of them in a firm practicing health care law, where he“put together deals for hospitals and doctors,” excellent groundingfor PCP, which he founded in 2002 and which owns and operatesSouth Florida’s largest privately owned Medicare health plan, aninnovative alternative to traditional Medicare.

Though his rugged schedule as an undergraduate meant he lackedthe time to participate in student activities—he wanted to playtrumpet in the FIU Jazz Band, for example—when PCP made itsdonation, Caruncho chose to name a space “devoted to the college’sbest and brightest students. They are the current leaders of the busi-ness school and the future leaders of the community.”

Service yields recognition with fun—and justifiablepride—mixed in.

“Giving back is part of having the good fortune to have succeeded.”

—Joseph L. Caruncho Esq. (BBA ’81), founder and CEO of Preferred Care Partners (PCP)

Raised to believe that “giving back is part of having the good for-tune to have succeeded,” Caruncho currently sits on many boardsand serves as chair of the college’s Dean’s Council, which providesguidance to the college on strategic matters, such as “how to balancequality and prestige while giving access to those who can’t go else-where” and which he describes as “the most fun group I’ve beeninvolved with.”

His professional contributions brought him Florida InternationalUniversity’s Distinguished Service Medallion in 2004, when he alsowas named the Florida 2005 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of theYear in the health care category and was inducted into the college’sEntrepreneurship Hall of Fame with PCP’s president, Justo LuisPozo (BBA ’80). He has been featured in many magazines, mostrecently in a cover story in the October, 2007, issue of SmartBusiness Miami.

For all his honors, Caruncho is proudest of his two children (“mybest work”), and of the fact that he was able to “launch a businessand build a culture. We began with a young management teamwhose members started at the entry level and who are now seniorexecutives and department directors. PCP has become a vehicle forfulfilling their dreams for their kids.” ■

Joseph L. Carunchohas healthy respect forthe business school.

Joseph L. Caruncho Esq. (BBA ’81)

Jose M. AldrichManaging PartnerTax & Legal Services, Latin AmericaKPMG, LLP

Mayda AntunChief Executive OfficerCAC Florida Medical Centers

Antonio “Tony” L. Argiz (BBA’74) President and Chief ExecutiveOfficerMorrison, Brown, Argiz & Farra, LLP

Mario de Armas (BBA ’85)Market Managing PartnerPricewaterhouseCoopers LLP

Demian Bellumio (BBA ’00)(Alumni Circle Liaison)PresidentHoodiny Entertainment Group

Paul Bonk Vice President, Store OperationsWalgreen Co.

Steve BrillVice President, MarketingUPS

Darcie BurkDivisional DirectorMerrill Lynch Latin America

Nicholas “Nic” Bustle (MIB ’88) City President MiamiSunTrust Bank

Clemens CaicedoSenior Director, Latin AmericanPolicyInternational PolicyMerck & Co., Inc.

Joseph L. Caruncho (BBA ’81)Chief Executive OfficerPreferred Care Partners HoldingCorp.

Thomas Cornish (BBA ’85) President and Chief ExecutiveOfficerSeitlin

Rui da CostaManaging DirectorLatin American & Caribbean Technology VP, Solutions GroupHewlett-Packard Company

Patricia Dahne (BA ’75) PresidentPat Dahne Realty Group

Maria Del BustoGlobal Chief Human ResourceOfficer and Vice PresidentRoyal Caribbean Cruises Ltd.

George FoyoExecutive Vice President and ChiefAdministrative OfficerBaptist Health

Jorge Gonzalez (BA ’88)Regional President Broward, Dade &MonroeWachovia Bank, N.A.

Gregory GreeneExecutive Vice President and ChiefHuman Resource OfficerRyder System, Inc.

German HerreraManaging PartnerEgon Zehnder International

Dennis Klinger (MBA ’75)Vice President and ChiefInformation OfficerFlorida Power & Light Company

Melinda LargeRegional People Director forAmericasWal-Mart Stores, Inc.

Eric LevinVice ChairmanGold Coast Beverage Distributors, Inc.

Monica LuechtefeldExecutive Vice PresidentOffice Depot

Agostinho A. MacedoPresident and Chief ExecutiveOfficerOcean Bank

Angel Medina Jr. (BBA ’92) Area Executive South FloridaRegions Bank

Carlos M. ModiaSenior Vice President and ChiefOperating Officer Espirito Santo Bank

Alvaro G. de Molina

Ramiro OrtizPresident and Chief OperatingOfficerBankUnited

Elizabeth “Liz” Parnes (BBA ’77) Area Vice PresidentIKON Office Solutions, Inc.

Carlos Sabater (BBA ’81)Regional Managing PartnerAudit and Enterprise Risk ServicesPractice for the Southeast RegionDeloitte

Diane SanchezTelefónica

Federico SanchezPresidentL.I.C. Capital

Albert Santaló (MBA ’97) Chairman and Chief ExecutiveOfficerAvisena

Penny ShafferMarket President, South FloridaBlue Cross Blue Shield

Oscar SuarezOffice Managing PartnerErnst & Young LLP

Mario Trueba (MBA ’87)President and Chief ExecutiveOfficer–FloridaBNY Mellon

Jesse J. Tyson President and Fuels Marketing SalesDirector Americas SouthExxonMobil Inter-America Inc.

Ignacio Urbieta Jr. (MBA ’85)Chief Executive OfficerUrbieta Oil Co.

Augusto “Gus” L. Vidaurreta (BA’80)PrincipalRAM Strategy

J. Guillermo VillarPresident and Chief ExecutiveOfficerMercantil Commercebank

Maria VillarSenior Vice President of EnterpriseData FannieMae

Michael A. WarrenNational Manager Americas Strategic Research &Planning GroupToyota Motor North America

Ben WellsExecutive Vice President and ChiefFinancial Officer Burger King Corporation

COLLEGE OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATIONDean’s Council

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