FALL 2015SMU • COX SCHOOL OF BUSINESS

INSIDE The Eurozone Crisis: A Modern Greek Tragedy

CAPITALISM: Bad Word or the

Wrong Argument?

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Starting in MayA streamlined, intensive 12-month program designed for students

with work experience and a business education background.

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F A L L 2 0 1 5

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DEAN

Albert W. Niemi, Jr.

ASSISTANT DEAN OF EXTERNAL RELATIONS, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOROF THE COX ALUMNI ASSOCIATION

Kevin Knox

ASSISTANT DEAN OF MARKETING AND COMMUNICATIONS, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Lynda Welch Oliver

DIRECTOR OF DEVELOPMENT

Laran O’Neill

ASSISTANT EDITOR

Lacey Zumberge

CONTRIBUTORS

Anna MartinezCatherine Maurer

PHOTOGRAPHERS

Jay Brousseau Dean DominguezJuan Garcia Hillsman JacksonRen Morrison

HOW TO REACH US

Marketing and Communications OfficeCox School of BusinessSouthern Methodist UniversityPO Box 750333Dallas, TX 75275-0333E-mail: communications@cox.smu.eduWebsite: cox.smu.edu

Main Office: 214.768.3678Fax: 214.768.3267

CoxToday design: Wiswall McLain Design

F E AT U R E S

24 Capitalism: Bad Word or the Wrong Argument?

30 The Eurozone Crisis: A Modern Greek Tragedy

C O N T E N T

2 From the Dean

3 Program News

14 Career Center

16 Graduation

18 Faculty Achievements

20 Faculty Research

23 In the News

24 Capitalism: Bad Word or the Wrong Argument?

30 Eurozone Crisis: A Modern Greek Tragedy

32 Development

34 Calendar of Events

35 Contact Us

36 Executive Board

37 Alumni Board

38 Distinguished Alumni

39 Outstanding Young Alumni

40 Class Notes

46 Cox Connections

Southern Methodist University (SMU) will not discriminate in any employment practice, education program, education activity, or admissions on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, age, disability, genetic information, or veteran status. SMU’s commitment to equal opportunity includes nondiscrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity and expression. The Executive Director for Access and Equity/Title IX1 Coordinator is designated to handle inquiries regarding the nondiscrimination policies, including the prohibition of sex discrimination under Title IX. The Executive Director/Title IX Coordinator may be reached at the Perkins Administration Building, Room 204, 6425 Boaz Lane, Dallas, TX 75205, 214.768.3601, accessequity@smu.edu. Inquiries regarding the application of Title IX may also be directed to the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights of the U.S. Department of Education.

1Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, 20 U.S.C. §§ 1681-1688.

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cox.smu.edugo to

F R O M T H E D E A N

We take this

opportunity to thank you,

our dedicated alumni and

loyal supporters, for

continuing to make

possible a wide variety of

educational experiences

for our students. You are

at the heart of what makes

SMU Cox an outstanding

school of business.

‘‘‘‘

T his fall, SMU and the Cox School are on the threshold of a new beginning as we successfully conclude—at the end of 2015—The Second Century Campaign. With your help, we have laid the groundwork for the next 100 years of

academic achievements. SMU’s second century brings a renewed sense of purpose and reinvigorated energy, campus-wide and here at the Cox School. Interest in pursuing a business degree at Cox continues to be strong, with 43 percent of this year’s incoming university students expressing a desire to enroll in Cox classes. Since 2002, Cox has admitted a high-achieving group of students directly out of high school based on their university admission rating and their SAT/ACT scores. This year, we welcomed 117 BBA Scholars, with an impressive average SAT equivalent score of 1459. Our BBA Scholars program attracts students from all over the country, with 64 percent of this year’s Scholars coming from states other than Texas. SMU Cox is one of only a few business schools in the country that offers a BBA Scholars program, and it makes us one of the most selective undergraduate schools in the nation. Also, graduate admissions at the Cox School made history this fall, with an entering class enrollment of 586 students—the largest intake ever of graduate students at Cox, including the largest number of women enrolling in graduate business programs. Admissions were strong in our MBA programs, as well as in our Master of Science programs. Enrollment doubled in the MS in Management and the MS in Business Analytics, which is just beginning its second year at Cox.

At both the undergraduate and the graduate level, we prepare students for the challenges of an ever-changing world. In this issue of CoxToday, we explore the concept of capitalism, which has helped shape America’s role as a world leader. I’ve been teaching “The Evolution of American Capitalism” to BBA and MBA students here at Cox since 2010 and, like our other professors, I strive to give students the information they need to make their own decisions about the role of capitalism in our economy and in the future of the world they will someday help lead.

Also in this issue, we take a look at what’s behind the changes in the Eurozone and what those changes mean to the international marketplace. At Cox, we believe global understanding is critical to being successful in business, which is why the SMU Cox Global Leadership Program offers Cox MBA students a chance to experience the international marketplace firsthand.

We take this opportunity to thank you, our dedicated alumni and loyal supporters, for continuing to make possible a wide variety of educational experiences for our students. You are at the heart of what makes SMU Cox an outstanding school of business. We appreciate your generous support.

Albert W. Niemi, Jr.Dean, SMU Cox School of Business

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P R O G R A M N E W S

Undergraduate Programs | Graduate Programs | Executive Education | Centers of Excellence | Global Connections | Cox in the Community

PROGRAM NEWS

U N D E R G R A D U A T E P R O G R A M S

The BBA Marketing Awards luncheon recognized six Cox BBA students with the department’s Outstanding and Distinguished Marketing Award. Chosen from a highly competitive pool of graduating BBA marketing students, the recipients were judged not only on superior academic achievement, but also on student internships, leadership in organizations,

Left to Right: Rachael Hubers, Taylor Corrigan, Andrea Butler, Gina Haskins, Kathleen Strauss, Samantha Liles.

SMU Cox Welcomes the Class of 2019

The SMU Cox BBA Admissions office welcomes the Class of 2019. More than 1,400 first-year students arrived on campus this fall, with 40 percent of those interested in business. Additionally, the SMU Cox BBA Scholars program attracted students from across the country. Sixty-four percent are from outside of Texas, with top states being California, Florida, Illinois, Kansas, Louisiana and Missouri.

Lauren Packer, Carissa Laughlin, Kathryn Ruben, Taylor Corrigan, Andrew Scott, Lauren Ioffrida.

2015 Honors MarketingPracticum Winning Team

After a semester-long competition

among the Cox BBA Honors Marketing Practicum course, “Team Blitz” won the FOX Sports marketing campaign.

The program, a partnership between the FOX Sports University Program of FOX Sports and the Marketing Practicum, evaluated the marketing campaigns of five student teams from the course. Each team developed an innovative marketing campaign for FOX Sports Live and presented proposals to FOX Sports and FOX Sports Southwestsenior executives. The winning team was announced in May.

Students, admitted to the class through a competitive application process, gained valuable networking opportunities and real-world experience for their résumés and careers. FOX Sports extended an invitation to the Honors Marketing Practicum to participate in its FOX Sports University Program next spring.

Cox Marketing Recognizes the Success of Six BBA Students

and potential for future success once they are in the business world.

Taylor Corrigan received the JCPenney Outstanding Student award; Samantha Liles, the Outstanding Marketing Student award. Andrea Butler, Gina Haskins and Kathleen Straus were each honored with the Distinguished Marketing Student award.

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G R A D U A T E P R O G R A M S

SMU Cox MBA Student Named MBA to Watch

In Poets & Quants’ “MBAs to Watch in the Class of 2015” listing, Meeae Annie Dienemann (MBA '15) stood out among 110 submissions. The recognition, which honors the best-and-brightest from this year’s full-time class, evaluated submissions from 60 MBA programs. Students were selected based on their

In a first for the Cox School, SMU Cox Alternative Asset Management students completing their junior year traveled to Hawaii in May at the invitation of Zac Hirzel (MBA '04) and his wife Holly (PMBA '04). Hirzel, founder and president of Dallas-based Hirzel Capital Management LLC, is the largest shareholder in Hawaiian Airlines and a board member of the Alternative Asset Management Center. Hirzel sponsored 32 of the undergraduates who spent the 2014-15 academic year analyzing Hawaiian Airlines’ valuation, business and opportunities. The trip, which was also co-hosted by Hawaiian Airlines, gave the students the opportunity to present their research to airline shareholders, explore the company’s operations and enjoy the island atmosphere before launching into their summer investment banking internships.

Alternative Asset Management students pose with trip host Zac Hirzel in front of the first, and still operative, Hawaiian Airlines airplane.

BBAs Present Analysis to Hawaiian Airlines Shareholders

academic and professional excellence, and personal narratives that conveyed their passion and character.

Dienemann, who recently joined AT&T’s mergers and acquisitions group, began her MBA after working as an investment banker. She joined Cox as a Cox Distinguished MBA Scholar and served as vice president of the Cox Investment Club, a Forte Fellow and consultant for the Dallas Children’s Advocacy Center.

Nominated by Marci Armstrong, SMU Cox associate dean of graduate programs, Dienemann was described as a citizen of the world. Armstrong stated, “She is Korean by birth, grew up in Sweden, worked in M&A and banking in London, Dubai and New York City. Meeae loves knowledge and brings real-world global experience to learning. She is brilliant in the board room, humble in the classroom, well informed, and has interests ranging from art to real estate.”

Cox Hosts All-EMBA ReunionSMU Cox hosted the first ever all-EMBA reunion in April, welcoming more than 200 EMBA alumni from classes as early as the 1980s. Jerry Magar, founding director of SMU’s Organizational Effectiveness department, served as keynote speaker. Magar conducted an educational seminar titled Organizational Change and showcased Executive Education for continuous learning.

The EMBA reunion was sponsored by eight successful EMBA businesses: International Translating Company, Seal Software, FarmAssure, Core Clarity, Axcess Catering and Events, Torchmark, Andrews Distributing and Examsoft.

U N D E R G R A D U AT E P R O G R A M S

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P R O G R A M N E W S

SMU Cox EMBA Named Best Executive MBA

Freddie Barela (EMBA '15) was named toPoets & Quants’ list of the Best Executive MBAs. Based on submissions from nearly 40 EMBA programs, the honor evaluates nominees on academic, extracurricular, professional and personal achievements.

Barela, recently named a partner at Canaan Resource Partners, commuted from Oklahoma City to Dallas for the SMU Cox EMBA program. “I chose the SMU Cox EMBA program after researching several graduate schools,” wrote Barela. “I was looking to join a top-tier program that provided a strong networking base and support to its students while I continued to excel in my company. The program is the only top-ranked program in the area and well worth the commute time from Oklahoma City.”

EMBAs Choose Amy Puelz as Professor of the Year

EMBAs Host Bosses NightThe 4th annual EMBA Bosses Night welcomed more than 75 students, bosses and mentors. Managed by students, the networking reception initially stemmed from a military tradition adapted to the EMBA program. EMBA students invited their bosses or colleagues for an opportunity to meet each other and learn more about the program.

EMBA Business Plan Competition Becomes Reality

John Terry (EMBA Entrepreneurship Professor), John Adler (Silver Creek Ventures), Imran Nasir (EMBA ’15), Gunny Babaria (EMBA ’15), Puneet Gupta (EMBA ’15), Jerry White (Director, Caruth Institute for Entrepreneurship), Mike Segrest (Silver Creek Ventures)

Every year the Executive MBA program selects one professor who goes above and beyond to make sure SMU Cox EMBA students have a memorable experience. This year, the honor goes to Statistics Professor Amy Puelz.

A long-time EMBA professor, Puelz works with students to ensure they fully understand statistics, a core course in the EMBA program.Not only does she make herself available outside of classroom and office hours, she conducts review and preparation sessions, allowing students every opportunity to understand the material prior to class. Because of her dedication, students gain a solid understanding of this foundation course, preparing them for the rest of the program.

Lonestar Caps and Taps won the 1st place award in the annual Executive MBA Business Plan Competition. Imran Nasir, Gunny Babaria and Puneet Gupta (EMBA '15) presented their idea to fellow classmates

and venture capitalists and were awarded $6,000 to put toward their business. The annual competition is part of the entrepreneurship course and encompasses material from classes throughout the program.

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E X E C U T I V E E D U C A T I O N

Dean Niemi’s American Capitalism Program LaunchesWars, recessions, industry migration, technological innovations and changing demographics all play critical roles in the evolution of the U.S. economy. In order to navigate today’s business landscape, it is essential to understand the past. The Certificate in American Capitalism program, held in May, provided an analysis of the evolution of American capitalism and the global challenges ahead. In this wide-ranging certificate course, Dean Niemi shared his insights about the road traveled and what could be expected in the future.

Participants explored how the states’ constitutional economic power determines winners and losers in the fight for jobs; how Americans became the world’s most heavily taxed people; causes of the growing gap between rich and poor; how an eroding education advantage is affecting the U.S. workforce; the impact of higher spending and taxation on the country’s competitive position; and why Texas has the best business climate in the nation.

This program will be offered again in February 2016. For more information on the Certificate in American Capitalism, please visit: smu.edu/capitalism.

Meet LLI’s Newest Team Member – Trini Monistere, Director of Insights and Strategy

SMU Cox welcomes Trini Monistere, who joins the Latino Leadership Initiative as director of insights and strategy. Prior to joining the LLI, Monistere served as senior manager for the Multicultural Center of Excellence at Nielsen. She has a record of delivering powerful insights to clients about Latino market opportunities.

As director of insights and strategy, Monistere will work with Professor Mickey Quiñones to advance LLI’s research plank by producing data-driven white papers and presentations focused on Latino talent management. The LLI is confident that these timely and actionable insights will better equip its partners to succeed in today’s market.

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P R O G R A M N E W S

Twenty-eight students from several universities enrolled in the SMU Cox Summer Business Institute (SBI), a rigorous four-week program that provides a basic understanding of business knowledge for current university students with non-business majors and recent graduates with non-business degrees.

SBI teaches the essentials of business disciplines, including accounting, marketing, finance, business law, career planning, operations management

and more. Students gain skills that distinguish them from the competition during job or graduate school interviews while learning about business principles used in the day-to-day workplace.

At the culmination of this year’s program, students made a presentation to a panel of corporate executives and SMU Cox faculty. To prepare, students studied the business operations of Southwest Airlines, Starbucks, Whole Foods Market, Frito-Lay, Google and Nike. The presentation and resulting

critique are an important part of gaining business knowledge.

SBI graduates have gone on to MBA and other master’s degree programs, law school and medical school as well as employment with advertising agencies, management consulting firms and non-profit organizations. SBI is offered at SMU Cox in June each summer.

For more information, go to www.smu.edu/Cox/ExecutiveEducation/SummerBusinessInstitute.

Expanding the Pool of Latinos in Middle Management

Students Complete 2015 Summer Business Institute

For more information on the next Rising Latino Leaders program, please visit: www.smu.edu/Cox/ExecutiveEducation/Latino_Leadership_Initiative.

In April, the Latino Leadership Initiative launched the Rising Latino Leaders Program, a week-long program addressing two critical issues: the transition from individual contributor and first-line supervisor to middle management; and awareness of how certain aspects of Latino culture impact performance

and achievement. During the April launch, 19 participants learned

about Latino demographics, cultural awareness, the global landscape, essential skills for managing talent, financial statements, value creation, and technology and leadership.

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C E N T E R S O F E X C E L L E N C E

Students named as new members of the Dean’s Circle spent more than 90 hours in the BLC attending optional seminars. These students included:

Amy Aughinbaugh (MA/MBA '16)Clayton Bell (MBA '16)Bailey Butzberger (MBA '15)Robien Christie (PMBA'16)Jolie Delcambre (MBA '15)Peter Gleason (MBA '15)Nathan Hale (EMBA '15)Pricilla Hosein (PMBA '16)James Jillson (MA/MBA '15)Kat McKinley (PMBA '16)Ravi Meganathan (EMBA '16)Kathleen Nelson (EMBA '16)Vu Pham (EMBA '16)Andrew Phillips (MBA '15)Jared Poe (PMBA '16)Sam Puri (MBA '15)Andrew Rehwinkel (MBA '15)John Reiman (MSBA '15)Beatriz Rios-McKee (PMBA '16)Jack Schwimmer (MA/MBA '15)Atit Shah (MBA '16)Rick Staples (EMBA '15)Kari Strickland (MBA '16)

Instructors earning the BLC Teaching Excellence Award scored a 4.8 or higher (out of a possible 5.0) on student evaluations given at the end of each seminar. These instructors included:

Randy Mayeux, Creative Communication Network Mitch McCasland, Fridays Restaurants Summer Pailet, Image DynamicsRandy Pennington, Pennington Performance GroupMelissa Reiff, The Container StoreDavid Ridley, Invesco Real EstateStan Richards, The Richards GroupJim Roach, Formerly VerizonPadmini Sharma, Formerly Frito-LayPaul Spiegelman, StericycleMerrie Spaeth, Spaeth Communications, Inc.Kevin Turner, Formerly Kansas City MACLuis Veras, ITL ManagementJerry White, Caruth InstituteTim Williams, Texas InstrumentsJeff Williford, Disney InstituteJim Young, Margate GroupSteve Zipkoff, Formerly Burger KingKim Zoller, Image Dynamics

The BLC provides leadership skills, seminars and programs designed to enhance the MBA experience.

Ric Anderson, The Retail ThinkTank Alex Bagden, Henge Docks, LLCRichard Best, LEAD Executive Consulting, LLCMike Bogda, Slalom ConsultingTonya Brenneman, Formerly Cap GeminiCliff Cary, AccentureTommy Clark, iFranchise GroupTommy Daniel, Korn/Ferry InternationalEd Dawson, Capital Alliance CorporationJerry Dilettuso, Newport Board GroupHenry Evans, Dynamic ResultsKen Evans, Critical Path StrategiesPaul Flowers, Slingshot AdvertisingDave Gunby, Formerly EDSRichard Graves, Formerly AT&TCraig Haptonstall, Formerly Southwest AirlinesJohn Hawkins, Leadership Edge, Inc.John Hetzel, Beaird Harris Wealth Management, Inc.Nathan Jamail, Formerly SprintKendal Jolly, Disney InstituteJoe Jordan, Formerly AxiomLothar Katz, Formerly Texas InstrumentsWill Leach, Formerly PepsiCo

Business Leadership Center Students and Instructors Achieve Excellence

Students and instructors were the focus at the Spring 2015 Business Leadership Center Recognition Luncheon. Hosted by Dean Niemi and honored guest Edwin L. Cox, ('42), 23 students were inducted into the Dean’s Circle, and 42, BLC instructors earned the BLC Teaching Excellence Award.

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P R O G R A M N E W S

The Folsom Institute awarded $27,000 to deserving students who demonstrated dedication to the SMU Cox Real Estate Department by excelling in academics and leadership.

The Folsom Institute not only facilitates student networking and mentorship opportunities, but also helps BBA and MBA real estate students with job placement. By spring, 85 percent of SMU students seeking industry careers found internships or full-time positions. Students found internships with prestigious firms such as Ashford Hospitality Trust, Bank of the Ozarks, Blackrock, CBRE, Chief Partners, C-III Capital Partners, DTZ, Goldman Sachs, HFF, Hines, Hunt Realty

Investments, Invesco, JP Morgan, L&B Realty Advisors, MetLife, Newmark Grubb Knight Frank, and Thackeray Partners.

SMU Cox real estate students attained full-time positions with Bellwether Enterprise Real Estate Capital, C-III Capital Partners, CBRE, Crow Holdings Capital, Eastdil Secured, Exeter Property Group, Goldman Sachs RMD, Green Street Investors, JLL, L&B Realty Advisors, Panattoni Development, Parmenter Realty, and RBC Capital Markets, among other firms.

Real Estate Students Enjoy 85 Percent Placement

Folsom Real Estate Students Make the MarkReal estate case competitions enable students to apply real estate concepts and applications to real-world issues. In 2014-2015, several BBA and MBA teams represented SMU Cox in regional and national competitions.

2014 ICSC Texas Undergraduate Case Study Competition. Several BBA students who participated received praise for their work and $2,000 in prize awards.

National Association of Industrial and Office Parks (NAIOP) 10th Annual Texas Shootout Case CompetitionThe case involved the redevelopment of an old jail facility in Boston, MA. The SMU Cox MBA real estate team analyzed the facts, determined a solution of how best to redevelop the site, and then presented the solution to the NAIOP judges in a 20-minute presentation. The panel consisted of members chosen from the NAIOP North Texas Chapter. Universities participating in the competition included SMU, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, the University of Texas at Austin and the University of Texas at Arlington.

USC International Real Estate Case CompetitionIn April, the Folsom Institute sponsored a team of six BBA students to go to Los Angeles, where they competed for cash prizes in written and oral presentations centered around real-world real estate issues. Other competing universities included Cornell University, National University of Singapore, New York University, University of North Carolina, University of Pennsylvania, University of Southern California, University of Texas at Austin and University of Wisconsin.

The Folsom Institute Presents $27,000 in Awards and ScholarshipsMBA Scholarships ($3,000 awards)

Bradley Olmstead Joshua Brown

BBA Scholarships ($3,000 awards)

William Ammons Elizabeth Herman Natalija (Natasha) IvanovaKendal Johnson

Real Estate MBA Academic Achievement Awards ($3,000 awards)

Christopher Belosic Evan ClarkTyler Darden

Business Library Student Assistant Recognized for Outstanding Service

Chetan Kurade (MSEE '15) received the SMU Libraries’ 2015 Outstanding Student Assistant award, recognizing his achievement among students working across all of the campus libraries. He was honored at the SMU Libraries Staff Recognition Awards Ceremony in May. “What set his candidacy apart was not only the caliber and consistency of his work,” said the committee, “but also his initiative, enthusiasm, and ability to work independently in the rapidly changing, dynamic environment of the Business Library.”

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BLC Offers Nonprofit Consulting ProgramIn the program’s 12th year, the BLC Nonprofit Consulting

Program expanded its reach to eight local nonprofit organizations, each of varying size and mission. Fifty Full-Time, Professional and Executive MBA students linked with these organizations to solve pressing strategic issues.

Over six weeks, student teams confronted current and abstract challenges in this immersive learning experience. Students researched and benchmarked, gathered and analyzed data, and ultimately generated plans to solve core challenges. The culmination of the program featured the students presenting their recommendations to the organizations’ staff and board members.

The opportunity helped students expand their professional portfolios, use their MBA skills in real-life scenarios, gain exposure in the Dallas area and give back to the community. BLC Nonprofit Consulting Group at Stewpot.

Caruth Participates in TCU’s Venture Plan Competition

In April, Simon Mak, professor ofpractice in entrepreneurship and associate director of Caruth Institute for Entrepreneurship, accepted an invitation from TCU and brought an SMU team to the TCU Values and Venture Business Plan Competition. Pictured with Mak is the DIMO Learn team, consisting of Alex Blume (BBA '18) and Logan Gerard (BBA '16).

C E N T E R S O F E X C E L L E N C E

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P R O G R A M N E W S

Caruth Institute Gets Involved with Big iDeasSMU’s Big iDeas program hosted a business plan contest. Professor Simon Mak served on the advisory board of Big iDeas, judged the event and was a faculty advisor to students.

Caruth Institute Joins the Small Business and Entrepreneurship ConferenceJerry White (SMU Cox), Jim Hart (Meadows) and Simon Mak (SMU Cox) participated in the United States Association of Small Business and Entrepreneurship (USASBE) Conference in Tampa this Spring.

Jerry White, Director of the Caruth Institute for Entrepreneurship, led a pitch competition for the Summer Business Institute participants. Pictured: White with the winning team.

SMU Cox Business Plan Team Earns More RecognitionThree SMU undergraduate students

have become a highly successful business plan team. Team BioLum (BioLum Sciences, LLC) won the Cox/Lyle 14th Annual Business Plan Competition, beating out graduate and undergraduate students to win more than $37,000 in prizes. They were also chosen as one of 42 teams, out of a pool of more than 500 from around the world, to participate in the Rice Business Plan Competition.

BioLum Sciences is a smartphone-based imaging system that can detect

the presence of asthma in less than a minute, with a goal of reducing the high percentage of asthma misdiagnoses.

Co-founder Edward Allegra (BA '15), an economics and pre-med major, serves as the company’s CEO. Other BioLum co-founders are Jack Reynolds (BA '15), a finance and markets and culture major, and Miguel Quimbar (BA '17), an accounting major. Besides winning the Cox/Lyle Business Plan Competition, the students were also among the winners of SMU’s Engaged Learning Big iDeas business plan competition.

Students Jack Reynolds (BBA '15), Edward Allegra (BA '15), Jian Cao (Chemistry PhD student), Miguel Quimbar (BBA '17).

Starting a Business Welcomes Entrepreneur Roland Dickey

The Starting a Business Certificate course, offered three times a year by the Caruth Institute for Entrepreneurship, featured guest speaker and entrepreneur Roland Dickey, who led the effort that added 450 franchised restaurants to the Dickey’s Barbecue Pit restaurant chain.

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G L O B A L C O N N E C T I O N S

Caruth Institute for Entrepreneurship Launches Global Trip

This fall, students will learn about entrepreneurship in one of the most innovative countries in the world. Global Explorations in Entrepreneurship, an MBA-level course, travels to Switzerland, a country that has ranked first in the Global Innovation Index (GII) four consecutive times.

Students will visit startups, venture capitalists, local incubators and education centers of entrepreneurship. With each visit, they will gain a broader understanding of how different cultures evolve their entrepreneurial ecosystem. Global Explorations in Entrepreneurship is offered each fall.

MBAs Experience International Business in the Cox Global Leadership Program

More than 100 SMU Cox Full-Time MBAs experienced global business as they traveled on the annual Global Leadership Program. Student groups traveled to Asia (China and South Korea), Europe (France and Slovakia) or Latin America (Brazil and Chile) for an immersion in the economic, social, political and cultural forces impacting global business.

In Slovakia, students met with U.S. Ambassador Theodore Sedgwick and discussed the up-and-coming economies of Eastern Europe. While in South Korea, MBAs toured LG’s plant in Pagu, near Seoul. In China, students visited Dell’s newest facility in Chengdu and met with the leadership of Yum! Brands, Fluor and Chinavest in Shanghai. The Latin America group visited Chile’s state mining company Codelco and the Hydro power giant Endesa. The group also visited Sam’s Club in São Paulo and the leader in agribusiness, Bunge.

The Global Leadership Program is a requirement in the Full-Time MBA program, setting apart SMU Cox from the competition.

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C O X I N T H E C O M M U N I T Y

Cox School Encourages High School Students to Look Toward a Business Career

SMU Cox School of Business hosted the 15th annual Accounting Career Awareness Program (ACAP), sponsored by the Dallas-Fort Worth chapter of the National Association of Black Accountants, Inc. (NABA). Fifty-six high school students and their counselors attended classes in the Cox School for a week to gain exposure to career

options in accounting, finance and other business-related disciplines. Through the program, ACAP seeks to serve as a student pipeline to college, the accounting profession and ultimately the business community.

This year’s Dallas ACAP class consisted of 31 women and 25 men from four dozen high schools across Texas,

Arkansas, Florida and Oklahoma. These students averaged a 3.5 grade point average. According to Dallas ACAP Executive Director Odell Brown, of the more than 600 students who have participated in ACAP over the past 15 years, approximately 80 percent have gone on to major in accounting or other business-related disciplines in college.

Ten BBA accounting and finance majors traveled to New York City for the 43rd Annual Convention and Career Fair of the Association of Latino Professionals for America (ALPFA) in early August. All ten students are members of the ALPFA SMU Chapter at the Cox School. Mayra Diaz (BBA '16), outgoing chapter vice president, and Lia Nañez (BBA '16), outgoing chapter president, were ALPFA scholarship recipients at the convention. Established in 1972 as the first Latino professional association in the U.S., ALPFA serves as a bridge between the business community and young Latinos seeking to build career opportunities. ALPFA’s membership includes 48,000 professionals and students nationwide.

Student ALPFA Chapter Members Participate in NYC Conference

ALPFA attendees from left to right: Vinhty Dinh, Jonatan Garay, Mayra Diaz, Cristina De Avila, Lia Nañez, Stacy Tubonemi, Michelle Davis, Irais Hernandez, David Guerrero, Minh Vu (Alex). All are accounting majors, with the exception of Garay and Tubonemi.

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CAREER CENTER

Career Management Center Offers Innovative Career Prep Opportunities

Students seeking help in the Cox Career Management Center (CMC) have a new career guidance resource this fall: fellow students. On the graduate side, second-year student coaches are available to conduct mock job interviews, help update résumés and offer ideas for more effective networking. The student coaches are available Monday through Thursday from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. to work with walk-in visitors and serve as facilitators in break-out sessions. The CMC staff selected six second-year MBAs who worked with CMC career coaches through their own internship selection processes and have exhibited strong leadership skills.

“We looked for potential peer coaches who wanted to bridge the

communications gap between first-year and second-year students,” said Lisa Tran (BBA '02), director of the CMC. “Second-year students who’ve already gone through the internship selection process have credibility with first-year students because they’ve already been down that road. They can bring experience and valuable perspective for fellow MBA candidates.”

Cox Student Business CouncilServes Undergrads

On the undergraduate side, a similar effort is called the Cox Student Business Council. CMC associate director and BBA/MS career coach Brandy Dalton, who ran the same type of program at Texas Tech, is working with 15 BBA upperclassmen with leadership

experience. BBA business council members will answer walk-in questions, be the voice of the CMC for student events, help with job applications and résumés and greet employers for on-campus recruiting.

“We can have up to five companies on campus any given day for on-campus interviews,” Tran said, “so the students who work with us on the Cox Student Business Council will have the added benefit of gaining exposure to employers. Meanwhile, we benefit by students getting the word out about the CMC. This opens the door to many possibilities.”

“We looked for potential

peer coaches who

wanted to bridge the

communications gap

between first-year and

second-year students.”

Lisa Tran: Director of the CMC

Cox Student Business Council: Top Row L-R: Tyler Steudel (BBA '18), Ajay Sharma (BBA '16), Alex Ramirez (BBA '18) Middle Row L-R: Katherine Kerstetter (BBA '17), Oscar Paulin (BBA '17), Amanda Dumont (BBA '17) Bottom Row L-R: Mandaline Kam (BBA '17), Any Cabello (BBA '17), Tess Velar (BBA '16), Aveline Chan (BBA '17) Not pictured: Emily Nguyen.

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C A R E E R C E N T E R

CMC MBA Student Coaches (All MBA '16): Top Left: Clayton Bell, Vu Pham, Atit Shah Bottom Left: Tina Deljavan, Cecily Koss, Ihsane AziNot Pictured: Ted Watt.

CMC locations are open 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday in the Maguire and Fincher Buildings. 214.768.6227coxcareers@cox.smu.edu

The idea for student coaches evolved from a best practices presentation at a career services conference. The CMC team benchmarked career placement centers in a variety of U.S. business schools and found that the peer coach concept is growing in popularity. It’s one of a number of innovative approaches Tran and her team have implemented since she took over as director in 2014.

Career Academies Help Connect Students With Employers

Another new CMC resource is the creation of a new career academy. The CMC launched the Cox Consulting Academy (one for BBAs and one for MBAs) two years ago. Due to its success, the CMC launched the first Marketing Academy class this semester.

The academies give high-achieving students the opportunity to connect with a variety of firms and potential employers who will lead workshops and case competitions. Students must apply and meet a minimum GPA requirement to be considered. The Marketing Academy is launching on the MBA side first and will expand to BBAs.

Tran and her team of 10 serve both undergraduates and graduates—undergraduates on the second floor of the Maguire Building and graduates on the ground level of the Fincher Building. Different staff members work in different function verticals, such as MBA finance or BBA finance, MBA marketing or BBA marketing, etc. The goal is to help students gear up for full-time and internship opportunities.

“We touch every current student in all Cox degree programs because of required course components,” said Tran. “Students are welcome to come in and avail themselves of our resources, with or without an appointment. We’re here to help with all aspects of career preparation, whether it’s advice on how to prepare for a job interview or the mechanics of writing an effective cover letter.”

“We touch every

current student in all

Cox degree programs

because of required

course components.”

CMC networking events allow students to get industry-specific career advice.

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2 01 5 G R A D U A T I O NCongratulations

16

G R A D U AT I O N

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cox.smu.edugo to

of Meeting or Beating the Consensus” was

accepted for publication by Contemporary

Accounting Research. Markov won the 2014-

2015 Cox Research Excellence Award.

Darius Miller, Caruth

Chair in Finance, co-wrote

“Shareholder Voting and

Corporate Governance

around the World,”

published in Review of

Financial Studies. His paper

titled “Uninvited U.S. Investors? Economic

Consequences of Involuntary Cross-Listings”

was selected to be included in the Journal of

Accounting Research’s inaugural virtual issue,

International Accounting Research. Miller

was also awarded the Altshuler Distinguished

Teaching Professor Award, which annually

recognizes four SMU faculty members for their

notable commitment to and achievements in

fostering student learning. Recipients receive

$10,000 and membership in SMU’s Academy of

Distinguished Teachers. For two years following

the award, they participate actively with other

members of the Academy in providing campus-

wide leadership in teaching and learning.

Rajiv Mukherjee,

assistant professor of

information technology

and operations

management, was

invited by the University

of Texas at Dallas to

present his research paper “Designing Online

Matching Markets.” He was also invited to

the Theory of Economics of Information

Systems in Canada to be a discussant of the

research paper on platform competition and

compatibility decisions.

Robin Pinkley, professor

of management and

organizations, and her

co-authors gave three

presentations at the

International Association

of Conflict Management

in Tampa, Florida: “The Gendered Path to

Negotiation Expertise: Perceptions Regarding

Mattia Landoni,

assistant professor of

finance, presented

his paper “Why are

Municipal Bonds Issued

at a Premium?” at

the American Finance

Association (AFA) Conference in Boston.

Robert Lawson, Jerome

M. Fullinwider Endowed

Centennial Chair in

Economic Freedom and

director of the O’Neil

Center for Global Market

and Freedom, had two

co-authored papers accepted for publication:

“Does Immigration Impact Institutions?” in

Public Choice and “Economic Freedom in

the U.S. and Other Countries” in Economic

Freedom, Entrepreneurship, and Economic

Prosperity. His paper “Can Two Observations

Confirm a Theory? A Comment on Max U

versus Humanomics” was also accepted for

publication in the Journal of Institutional

Economics. Lawson contributed an essay to

the Fraser Institute titled “What America’s

Decline in Economic Freedom Means for

Entrepreneurship and Prosperity.”

Dwight Lee, senior

fellow at the O’Neil

Center, had three articles

published: “Buchanan

and Tullock Ignore their

own Contributions to

Expressive Voting” and

“In Remembrance of Gordon Tullock” in

Public Choice, and “Making the Case Against

‘Price Gouging’ Laws: A Challenge and an

Opportunity” in The Independent Review.

Stan Markov, associate

professor of accounting,

presented his paper titled

“Come on Over: Analyst/

Investor Day as Disclosure

Medium” at the 2015

European Accounting

Meeting in Glasgow, Scotland. His paper

“The Market’s Assessment of the Probability

Amit Basu, Carr P. Collins

Chair in Management

Information Systems

(MIS) and chair of the

Information Technology

and Operations

Management (ITOM)

Department, authored a case study on “Digital

Strategy at Merck, Sharp and Dohme,”

which was accepted by the Case Center.

His co-authored paper “An Empirical Study

of the Effectiveness of Telepresence as a

Business Meeting Mode” was accepted for

publication in the Information Technology

and Management Journal.

Michael Braun, associate

professor of marketing,

co-wrote “Scalable

Rejection Sampling for

Bayesian Hierarchical

Models,” published online

as part of Marketing

Science’s “Articles in Advance” and slated to

appear in a special issue of Marketing Science

on “Big Data: Integrating Marketing, Statistics

and Computer Science.” Braun authored

“trustOptim: An R package for Trust Region

Optimization with Sparse Hessians,” published

in the Journal of Statistical Software. He is the

author and maintainer of three other packages

for R statistical programming language, which

have all received major updates in 2015. Braun

also co-wrote “Transaction Attributes and

Customer Valuation,” accepted by the Journal

of Marketing Research for future publication.

Read more on page 20.

Simon Huang,

assistant professor of

finance, presented his

research paper “The

Momentum Gap and

Return Predictability”

in Seattle at the 50th

Annual Conference of the Western Finance

Association, a professional society for

academicians and practitioners with scholarly

interest in the development and application

of finance.

FA C U LT Y A N D S TA F FA C H I E V E M E N T S

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A C H I E V E M E N T S

Where to Go and the Path for Getting There”;

“The Strategic Use of Arguments in First

Offers: Advice Concerning Anchors, Accounts

and How to Share Them”; and “Agreement

Attraction and Impasse Aversion: Reasons for

Selecting a Poor Deal over No Deal at All.”

Read more on page 20.

Harvey Rosenblum,

professor of practice

in business economics,

moderated a CEO panel

on the Global and U.S.

Economic Outlook

at the Dallas CFO

Executive Summit in May. He interviewed and

participated in economic outlook talks with

David Seaton, CEO of Fluor Corp, and Joseph

Alvarado, CEO of Commercial Metals. He was

a guest on Bloomberg TV, where he discussed

the role of “Too-Big-To-Fail Banks” in the

financial crisis and public policy steps to avert

another crisis. He presented his paper “Getting

the Sequence Right: First Fix the Banks, Then

Proceed with Monetary Policy” at the Western

Economic Association International Conference

in June. At the same conference, he served as

a discussant of a paper titled “U.S. Financial

Crises: How Similar, How Different?”

Ulrike Schultze, associate

professor of information

technology and operations

management, joined the

Advisory Board of the

Schmalenbach Business

Review, the international

edition of Schmalenbachs Zeitschrift für

betriebswirtschaftliche Forschung, the oldest

and most prestigious German journal of

business. She also served as a faculty mentor

for the KIN Summer School in July, organized

by the KIN Research Group of the VU University

of Amsterdam and the Amsterdam Business

Research Institute. Schultze was one of five

international business school professors on the

summer school faculty.

Gregory Sommers,

professor of practice in

accounting, received

the Willis M. Tate

Distinguished Teacher

Award given by the

SMU Student Senate,

recognizing a faculty member for outstanding

teaching and service to the university. As

director of the Master in Science in Accounting

Program, Sommers announced SMU Cox was

ranked three in master's programs and four in

undergraduate programs for schools with 15

or fewer full-time accounting faculty by Public

Accounting Report.

Shelette Stewart,

associate director of

business development in

Cox Executive Education,

served as a co-presenter

with GameStop Corp.

senior VP of HR,

Mike Buskey, on the topic of “Empowered

Leadership Development” at the Evanta Chief

Human Resources Officer Conference. She

served as a keynote presenter at Harvard

University for Harvard Business School and was

selected as the MBA students’ first speaker

for the new school year. Her presentation

“Connecting Your Profession with Your

Purpose” leveraged insights from her award-

winning book, Revelations in Business. She

conducted workshops on the same topic and

was a keynote presenter at the 2015 Coca-Cola

Global Women’s Leadership Conference at the

company headquarters in Atlanta.

Don Vandewalle,

Altshuler Distinguished

Teaching Professor and

associate professor

of management and

organizations, presented

the workshop “Using the

Power of Evidence-Based Teaching Practices”

at the 2015 Academy of Management (AOM)

Annual Meeting in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Bernard Weinstein,

associate director of the

Maguire Energy Institute

and adjunct professor

of business economics,

delivered speeches on the

effect of energy prices

and energy policy at the Pipeline Opportunities

Conference in Houston; the National Rail

Research Conference in San Jose; the Energy

Outlook Forum in Tyler, Texas; and the Piellucci

Investment Seminar in Dallas. He made similar

presentations in April before the Council of

Petroleum Accounts Societies in Dallas; the

Rotary Club in Kalamazoo, Michigan; the Rail

Safety Conference in Orlando; the International

Right of Way Association in Grapevine, Texas;

the Rotary Club in Erie, Pennsylvania; and

the Dartmouth Club in Dallas. In May, he

spoke with Tri-Gate Capital and the Financial

Executives Institute Energy Forum, both in

Dallas. In June, he traveled to Kentucky to

speak with the Kentucky Trucking Association;

the Northeast Gas Forum in Boston; and

then to Russia to speak at the Yegor Gaidar

Fellowship Program in Economics/International

Research and Exchanges Conference in

Moscow. He also spoke to the Texas Society

of CPAs in Dallas and the Experimental

Aircraft Association in Wisconsin in July.

2014-2015 FACULTY AWARDSBoghetich Family Distinguished Teaching AwardKumar Venkataraman

C. Jackson Grayson Endowed Faculty Innovation AwardDonald F. Shelly, Jr.

Eugene T. Byrne Endowed Faculty Innovation AwardGary T. Moskowitz

Carl Sewell Distinguished Service to the Community AwardRoger A. Kerin

Don Jackson Outstanding Teachingin Finance AwardWilliam F. Maxwell

Research Excellence AwardDarius P. Miller Stanimir Markov

BBA Distinguished Teaching Award Albert W. Niemi, Jr.

BBA Outstanding Teaching Award Barry J. Bryan Donald F. Shelly, Jr. Barbara W. Kincaid David T. LeiSal Mistry

MBA Distinguished Teaching AwardBarry J. Bryan Donald M. VandewalleJacquelyn S. Thomas

MBA Outstanding Teaching Award David C. Croson Andrew C. MacKinlay Mel Fugate Albert W. Niemi, Jr. Barbara W. Kincaid John H. SempleDavid T. Lei

Staff Recognition Award Ann Campbell Barbara MohrleCatherine A. Collins Patti TenenbaumMelissa Johnson Blair WrightHilary McIlvain

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COX FACULTY R E S E A R C H

re people hard-wired for cooperation? Previous studies, and

new research by Management Professor Robin Pinkley and her co-authors, support the idea that when people are faced with an offer, they reach new agreements even when not agreeing might be more rational. This phenomenon is based on people’s tendency to be averse to impasse and attracted to agreement which, according to Pinkley’s research, can undermine value. “We have created a bias toward agreement over obtaining value, which is the primary justification for negotiation,” she says.

Pinkley and her co-authors hypothesized that agreement has a utility and impasse a disutility, driving people to accept agreement. To test their hypothesis, a series of games and allocation decisions were developed.

“We subjected participants (including executive populations) to every type of test we could conjure to eliminate conflicting issues, and people still chose to avoid impasse,” says Pinkley. People willingly paid a premium to agree, the authors found. In their second series of studies, they tested whether people’s willingness to give up value stems from an attraction toward agreement, an aversion to impasse, or both. The aversion to impasse was a stronger motivation than finding agreement, thus avoiding the seemingly negative idea of impasse.

“Tracking your own value means keeping your eye on your side of the playing field—between your bottom line and target, or higher aspirational outcome. You are successful if you obtain value anywhere between your bottom line and your target (though aiming for

your target). Walk away if the deal is worse than the bottom line. The goal isto improve on your bottom line as much as possible,” says Pinkley, adding, “I teach my students, customers and family members that one must give to get, but negotiation is about getting when you give. And, the healthiest relationships are about give and take.” Her co-authored paper “Agreement Attraction and Impasse Aversion: Reasons for Selecting a Poor Deal over No Deal at All” is under review at Psychological Science.

Deal or No Deal: Are People Hard-Wired to Agree?Robin Pinkley, Professor of Management and Organizations

A

ow much is too much when it comes to investing marketing

money to retain valued customers? SMU Cox Associate Professor of Marketing Michael Braun partnered with two collaborators on “Transaction Attributes and Customer Valuation,” unveiling a new statistical model that allows businesses to determine that otherwise elusive answer.

Their research, presented at the 2015 Joint Statistical Meetings in Seattle and forthcoming in the Journal of Marketing Research, is the first to identify and quantify how differences in customers’ interactions with a firm affect the long-term value of customer relationships.

Traditionally, the return on marketing investment is measured by the expected

change in the customer’s value as a result of marketing intervention. This new research offers insight into how to assess the impact of marketing investment on the increase of customer value. The research team used indicators of customer service quality during a purchase. Braun and his fellow researchers then developed a model, “grounded in probability theory, to estimate how changes in transaction attributes, like service quality, influence when a customer might end the relationship with the firm.”

According to Braun, “ignoring transaction attributes can lead to different estimates of customer value, which can in turn lead to poor decisions based on bad information.” Another possibility, says Braun, is that “the expected incremental

customer value that comes from increasing investment in retaining a specific customer immediately before a transaction, can serve as an upper limit for that investment.”

Braun believes “it is more valuable to invest in service quality for some customers than for others. Our modeling approach better enables businesses to determine which customers to target with marketing outreach and at the same time maximize the impact of their company’s limited marketing resources. As a firm uses customer base analysis and customer valuation models to score and rank customers according to the value they hold for the firm, managers should be interested in tracking and compiling transaction attributes that may be informative of each customer’s future value.”

Statistical Model Helps Better Target Marketing ResourcesMichael Braun, Associate Professor of Marketing

H

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FA C U LT Y R E S E A R C HFA C U LT Y R E S E A R C H

tock buybacks, a way to return cash to shareholders, are reaching

record-high levels. New research finds that managers of undervalued firms use stock repurchases as a mechanism to signal firm value. Assistant Professor of Finance Stacey Jacobsen and her co-author find a large number of firms that announce share repurchases never follow through with the buyback.

Their research, recently published in Review of Finance, examines why some firms announce share repurchases but fail to repurchase any, and why stock prices increase upon announcement. “In our sample, the average abnormal return surrounding the repurchase announcement is 2.5 percent,” says Jacobsen. “So the market views the repurchase announcement as good news, even though the announcement does not commit the firm to follow through with the repurchase program.”

The authors suggest that the

announcement of share repurchases attracts investor attention. An ignored undervalued firm may separate itself from an overvalued firm by announcing share repurchases and attracting scrutiny. “Popular firms, with a potential for only small mispricing, cannot attract more attention,” says Jacobsen. “Such firms, if undervalued, have to use a costly signal—actually repurchasing shares—to credibly signal their undervaluation.”

In the first two months of 2014, $11 billion dollars of debt was issued for stock buybacks, with ensuing credit downgrades and negative outlook changes. In 2013, credit ratings agency Fitch downgraded six U.S. companies because of buybacks. The researchers’ theoretical model predicts that firms with large mispricing use repurchase announcements to attract scrutiny from speculators who discover their true value. And, firms with small mispricing must announce and repurchase shares

to signal their true value. The authors analyzed 7,602 firms that announced an open market stock repurchase program between January 1985 and September 2012. Forty percent of firms that announced a repurchase program did not repurchase a single share in the fiscal quarter of the announcement; in the entire fiscal year of the announcement, 24 percent did not repurchase.

Jacobsen offers, “For non-repurchasers, the mere announcement of an open market share repurchase attracts scrutiny from speculators, who search and discover the underpricing, then trade. These trades lead to price corrections.”

Why Do Some Firms Announce Stock Buybacks But Not Follow Through? Stacey Jacobsen, Assistant Professor of Finance

S

he conventional method used by the oil and gas industry to report on

upstream operations and results distorts profitability and valuations. Industry practice uses “barrels of oil equivalent” or BOE—a measure that combines oil and gas volumes based on thermal parity, or the energy content of the source. Research forthcoming in The Energy Journal by Finance Professor James Smith, the Cary M. Maguire Chair in Oil and Gas Management, shows why and how the BOE convention has overstated the cost of adding reserves, the principal asset held by these firms.

Since 2008, when natural gas prices declined precipitously—from $14 per mcf (thousand cubic foot) to under $3 today—

distortions due to reliance on the BOE convention have increased. Performance and valuation differences between firms, when measured on the basis of thermal parity versus relative prices of oil and gas, distort shareholder perception of operational efficiency. Smith and the likes of British Petroleum’s CEO John Browne acknowledge this industry problem—that in actuality "barrels of oil equivalent" is a fiction.

A new approach by Smith offers “a workable alternative.” Smith proposes that the value of oil and gas reserves be calculated based on the market-based equivalence of these two resources, capturing the specific, real economic values and costs of oil and gas.

According to Smith, “Thermal parity implicitly assumes the Btu (British thermal unit) of gas commands the same market price as oil, which is not true. From the producer side, the cost of finding oil needs to be measured relative to the price of oil. If [oil] is more valuable than the resources expended to find and develop it, that’s what companies and their investors care about.”

“By separating out oil and gas, and comparing apples to apples, we see the industry has not been overspending to find oil because oil is more valuable than the mixture of oil and gas—a mixture that no one sells in the marketplace for a 6-to-1 price, which is what thermal parity implies,” says Smith.

Outdated Convention Distorts Oil and Gas Firms’ Bottom Lines: Valuing Barrels Better James Smith, Cary M. Maguire Chair in Oil and Gas Management

T

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NEW FACULTY

Ryan Murphy joins the Cox School of Business as a research assistant professor in the O’Neil Center for Global Markets and Freedom, where he has served as a research associate since January 2014. His research interests include institutional economics, economic development, public policy and macroeconomics.

Murphy was previously an adjunct economist and research assistant at Beacon Hill Institute in Boston and a research fellow at Yankee Institute in Hartford, Connecticut. He earned his PhD in economics and his MS in economics at Suffolk University in Massachusetts, and completed his BA in economics at Boston College.

Brian Young joins the Cox School of Business as a visiting assistant professor of finance. Young is a returning Mustang, having earned his MBA at the Cox School in 2003. He completed his PhD in finance at Arizona State University in 2011. His main focus of interest is in executive compensation practices, corporate governance and financial reporting of compensation. He is currently researching pre-IPO executive compensation. He most recently taught investment and financial modeling in the department of finance at TCU’s Neeley School of Business. Prior to that, he taught financial management and advanced financial management at Mississippi State University. Before entering academia, he was a mechanical engineer who worked as an independent contractor and later for the VHA and Sprint.

Young Woong Park joins SMU as a clinical technical professor in marketing for the Cox School of Business and the National Center for Arts Research in the Meadows School of the Arts. He specializes in optimization, machine learning and the intersection of the two. Other research interests are theories and computation. Park just completed his PhD in industrial engineering and management sciences at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, in June. His dissertation title was “Optimization for Machine Learning.” He also completed an MS in industrial engineering and management sciences at Northwestern, an MS in industrial and systems engineering at the University of Florida, and a BS in industrial systems and information engineering at Korea University in Seoul, South Korea. He taught operations research and optimization courses at Northwestern prior to completing his PhD.

Dean Stansel will join the Cox School of Business as a research associate professor in the O’Neil Center for Global Markets and Freedom in January. Most recently, he was an associate professor and program leader in economics at Florida Gulf Coast University in Fort Myers, Florida. His research focuses on a wide range of issues in the areas of public economics and urban economics. He completed “An Economic Freedom Index for U.S. Metropolitan Areas,” which was published in the Journal of Regional Analysis and Policy in 2013. He previously taught at Eastern New Mexico University and George Mason University, where he earned his PhD in economics in 2002 and his MA in economics in 2000. Prior to entering academia, Stansel worked for seven years at the Cato Institute, a public policy research institute, in Washington, D.C.

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‘‘COX QUOTABLES

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I N T H E N E W S

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Fox Business News“Countdown to the Closing Bell”Michael Cox, executive-in-residence of the O’Neil Center for Global Markets and Freedom, believes an increase in interest rates by the Federal Reserve Bank is long overdue. “The Fed is afraid of the stock market effect, but we can do something about that. If we can coordinate monetary policy with trade policy—let’s call it fiscal policy because it’s really a cut in the corporate income tax rate—we can have a win-win situation.”(4/6/15)

The Dallas Morning News “Follow the Money: The Growing Impact of LGBT Consumers”Marci Armstrong, associate dean of graduate programs and marketing professor, shares research-based insights on the impact of LGBT consumers as a marketing focus for companies. “The specific focus on LGBT consumers as a segment, as a market, is new. It’s not untapped exactly, but really focusing on the market is new for a lot of companies. To have as many companies of such a magnitude as Apple and Google openly support the LGBT community points to the impact of allies and mainstream acceptance. It’s part of the changing of our culture.” (4/9/15)

Dallas Business Journal“Power Players: Albert Niemi on Engineering a Path to the C-suite”Al Niemi, dean of the Cox School, is profiled as a Dallas “Power Player” in education. He offers his perspective on how business schools are changing to keep pace with the times. “The world is becoming much more competitive. Many students don’t have to get a graduate degree in business. While the full-time MBA will be the flagship for business schools, there are many people who just need a better skill set to get a promotion. So we added specialized master’s programs. We launched a master's in business analytics this year, and this May, we will launch a fast-track, one-year MBA program...we've seen tremendous growth." (4/10/15)

Mainstreet.com“FHA Loans Can be a Good Option for First-Time Home-Buyers”Joseph Cahoon, director of the Folsom Institute for Real Estate, talks about the benefit of FHA loans for first-time home buyers who don’t have large down payments or high FICO scores. Because FHA loans are mortgages insured by the Federal Housing Administration, this guarantee reduces the risk of “loss of principal for lenders, which is advantageous for borrowers. For those borrowers with good credit, FHA insured loans offer a good pathway to home ownership.” (4/15/15)

Forbes Magazine“SMU’s Top Manager Competition Prepares Students for Wall Street”Joe Dancy, adjunct professor of energy law, explains how students taking part in the Spindletop Fund, a real-money energy sector fund, are preparing for careers in the money management industry. “While making an energy sector bet many students realized that the stocks of smaller companies make larger moves more quickly (are more volatile/risky) and allocated funds to small and microcap firms that are under-followed. The share price of these small firms were more adversely impacted by the crash in oil prices in the fourth quarter of 2014, so they were expected to recover strongly as oil prices stabilized and increased. Using this strategy some students allocated funds to small and microcap firms in the technology and biotech sectors also, with less success.”(5/29/15)

The Washington Post“The Facts about Rick Perry and the Texas Miracle” Bernard Weinstein, associate director of the Maguire Energy Institute and business economist, weighs in on whether Rick Perry, candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, can claim credit for the strength of the Texas economy during his tenure as governor of the state. “I would say he deserves some credit…Obviously, he didn’t control the price of oil, but he’s been a very good spokesperson and a very good salesperson for the state of Texas.” (6/8/15)

NBC 5, KXAS-TV“CDC Issues Final Report on Blue Bell Listeria Outbreak”Michael Braun, associate professor of marketing, comments on the potential long-term impact of the Blue Bell listeria outbreak. “Over the years they’ve been able to accumulate a lot of credibility and good will. I think the public wants Blue Bell to come back, and because Blue Bell did not rush coming back, there should be some confidence the product is safe. The public can be very forgiving if there’s one event. If it ever happens again, I think they’ll have a lot more difficulty.”(6/10/15)

Inc. Magazine “How This Entrepreneur Works Christianity Into His Craft”Jerry White, Endowed Director of the Caruth Institute for Entrepreneurship, offers insight into how the belief system of some entrepreneurs may affect their approach to business. “Successful entrepreneurs arm themselves with data, but in the end, learn to trust their gut. Believers, no matter what their faith, have access to a resource that nonbelievers don’t…one that the believer believes has infinite wisdom and power, and has the best interests of everyone at heart. The believer will follow that inner voice. When they get that confirmation, they have clarity. You do this for a while and you develop a sense of confidence.”(6/19/15)

Texas Standard (state-wide public radio program)“Barometer of Confidence: A Quick Look at the Investor Communityafter the NYSE Glitch”Don Shelly, professor of practice in finance and Fabacher Endowed Professor of Alternative Asset Management, explains what investors should keep in mind the day after a four-hour outage on the New York Stock Exchange and several days of international volatility. “Let’s remember first that the stock market is the ultimate voting booth. People vote with their dollars. If they’re confident, they’re buying, and if they’re not confident, they’re selling. But we’ve really had an amazing run over the last six years in the U.S. stock market…I think that’s a good barometer of confidence.” (7/9/15)

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W alk the halls of the SMU Cox School of Business on any given school day and you’ll find professors

teaching finance, accounting, marketing and management—the nitty-gritty of the workday business world. In a few courses, the school takes on the challenging subject of American capitalism, teaching economic history and philosophy to students, many of them already exposed to politically-driven caricatures of the U.S. economic system.

“I prefer to teach students about what is

vs. what it ought to be,” says Robert Lawson, Jerome M. Fullinwider Endowed Centennial Chair in Economic Freedom and the new director of the SMU Cox William J. O’Neil Center for Global Markets and Freedom.“I’ll lay out the case and let the facts speak for themselves.”

True to form, the Cox School takes impartiality seriously. “We teach Karl Marx, Joseph Schumpeter and Adam Smith,” explains Lawson. “Students have to decide for themselves what is right or wrong.”

CAPITALISM: Bad Word or the

Wrong Argument? by Lynda Oliver

The inherent vice of capitalism

is the unequal sharing of blessings;is the unequal sharing of blessings;

the inherent virtue of socialism is the inherent virtue of socialism is

the equal sharing of miseries.the equal sharing of miseries.

winston churchillwinston churchill

24

C O V E R S T O RY

Capitalism: A Word By Any Other NameThe Texas Board of Education, swayed by conservative Republicans in 2010, voted to make changes in the state’s social sciences curriculum so that capitalism would be replaced by terms such as “free enterprise system.” As one board member, Teri Leo, said, “Let’s face it, capitalism does have a negative connotation. You know, ‘capitalist pig!’“

Capitale originated in 12th century French and was used to refer to stocks, merchandise, property and money—essentially “moveable property” used for trade. However, when Karl Marx‘s Das Kapital was published in 1867, the word became synonymous in some minds with the exploitation of labor and the dominance of the bourgeoisie.

Today, economic theory and political ideology are so intertwined that the original definition is lost in confusing—often biased—rhetoric. One side celebrates capitalism as history’s greatest engine of economic progress, pointing to the mind-boggling gains in Americans’ living

standards. To the other side, capitalism is the bogeyman of right-wing politics, tainted by greed, corporate profiteering, inequality and self-indulgent materialism (cue: Michael Moore’s hit movie Capitalism, A Love Story).

“Capitalism has always had its critics and champions,” says O’Neil Center writer-in-residence Richard Alm. “Which view dominates depends on how well the economy is performing. In the Roaring Twenties and after the fall of the Soviet Union, capitalism was gloriously ascendant. The Depression of the 1930s and the financial crisis of 2007 eroded faith in American capitalism.”

Continued on next page

To blunt some of capitalism’s unsavory associations, the system’s supporters have taken rhetorical refuge in such terms as “free markets” and “free enterprise.” Lawson prefers another alternative—economic freedom.

“I was never a big fan of the term capitalism; it never really made a lot of sense,” says Lawson. “When Marx used it in Das Kapital, it meant capital in the form of buildings, machinery, factories. But socialism has those too. I prefer to use ‘economic freedom.’“

Lawson explains: “Economic freedom is, at its essence, about personal choice. In economically free societies, people are largely free to go about their lives without much rule by the government. They can hire, fire and pursue their economic objectives without having those decisions governed by a group.”

Few people understand the benefits and drawbacks of economic freedom better than Lawson. Since 1996, he has been researching and co-authoring the Economic Freedom of the World annual report (www.freetheworld.com). Each year, he and his team of independent researchers evaluate more than 150 countries and rank them by the ease of conducting business with limited government interference.

Economically free societies historically enjoy greater individual wealth and higher standards of living, significantly longer life expectancies and less crime. Meanwhile, countries that score at the bottom of economic freedom tend to suffer from a poorer quality of life, corruption and a lack of personal freedoms and opportunities.

Economic Freedom

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SMU Cox Dean Albert Niemi’s popular class for BBA and MBA students, The Evolution of American Capitalism, is offered to the community in several annual workshops where participants can earn a Certificate in American Capitalism.

Dean Niemi has passionately studied the growth of America’s economy and the roles that wars, recessions, global competition, immigration, technological innovations, changing demographics and other forces have had upon our business landscape. Dean Niemi’s certificate program analyzes the evolution of American capitalism and the global challenges ahead. Attendees can experience the same esteemed business education offered to SMU Cox students while broadening their understanding of today’s complex economic environment in its historical context.

The problem of social organization

is how to set up an arrangement under

which greed will do the least harm.

Capitalism is that kind of a system.

Milton Friedman

Albert Niemi, dean of the SMU Cox School of Business, has been studying the American economy for more than 40 years. He is quick to explain that, while private enterprise drove the country’s growth and made America the richest nation in the world, there is a legitimate role for government to protect the public interest.

“Capitalism is kind of like organized greed; it’s built on self-interest,” he says. “So when the pursuit of self-interest conflicts with the public good, who acts as the referee? The government. Sometimes capitalism needs boundaries because

what is best for the bottom line is not necessarily best for the public good. The government has to play the watchdog role.”

Dean Niemi adds that sometimes it takes an act of Congress to protect people. Abolition of slavery, child labor laws, worker safety, handicap access, sexual discrimination, equal pay for equal work and environmental protection all resulted from governmental action when the quest for profitability might have otherwise prevailed and brought about unacceptable social ills.

The Bottom Line vs. the Public Good

Certificate in American Capitalism

To learn more about the SMU Cox Certificate in American Capitalism and register for the certificate program, visit: smu.edu/capitalism.

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C O V E R S T O RY

Continued on next page

In 1942, economist Joseph Schumpeter suggested capitalism was by its nature an unforgiving system, describing an ongoing, relentless process of “creative destruction”—the demise of existing business structures under the onslaught of new products and new ways of doing business.

Is capitalism cruel? “Yes and no,” Lawson says. “If I have a fruit stand and you’ve been coming to me for 20 years, and a new fruit stand opens up and you go there instead, it looks cruel because I’ve lost my business to a competitor. But what’s more cruel is to say that a business can’t open and provide you with a product

that you really want to buy because the government wants to protect me.”

“Capitalism requires constant churn. If someone can do it faster and better, they will,” says Niemi. Inevitably, some people get lost in the shuffle. “We have more unemployed people in the labor force than ever before. We pump our own gas and check our own groceries. We used to have telephone operators and typists. Technology lowers costs and makes us more efficient, but it also puts a lot of people out of work.”

Over time, Lawson asks, which society would end up looking better— a world without innovation or a world

that invites it? “It’s not even close,” he says, “I want to live in an open and dynamic society that allows that creative destruction, or ‘cruelty.’”

Historically, creative destruction brought about by markets routinely delivered economic progress. In societies that endorse economic freedom, with minimal intervention by governmental or special interest groups, entrepreneurs are less burdened by subjective rule and, thus, free to create, innovate, compete—and even fail—in an open marketplace. “Capitalism isn’t perfect, but it’s better than anything else out there,” concludes Dean Niemi.

Creative Destruction: Progress at a Price

Capitalism…is by nature a form or

method of economic change and not only

never is, but never can be, stationary.

Joseph Schumpeter

The William J. O’Neil Center for Global Markets and FreedomFounded in 2008 by SMU Cox alumnus William J. O’Neil (BBA '55), the Center is dedicated to researching economic freedom and the growth and/or decline of global economies. Robert Lawson, the center’s new director, explains the objectives:

Research and the Economic Freedom IndexLawson has been working on the Economic Freedom of the World project since 1996. You can read the latest Economic Freedom Index report at www.freetheworld.com. The Center will soon welcome Dean Stansel, research associate professor, who co-authors the Economic Freedom of North America report at the state-by-state and provincial levels.

Outreach and EducationLawson says, “We are educators. We will teach other people about the science of economic freedom as well as the principles of economics.” W. Michael Cox, former director of the O'Neil Center, and Richard Alm, the Center's writer-in-residence, frequently write and speak about economics in their own work. And this year, the O’Neil Center’s team will extend itsteaching to junior high and high school teachers in Texas.

For more information, visit the O’Neil Center website at www.oneilcenter.org.

W. Michael Cox Richard AlmRobert Lawson

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Founder and CEO John Mackey authored Conscious Capitalism, a book in which he shares his “do good by doing well” philosophy. (Mackey was also the keynote speaker at the O’Neil Center’s 2012 conference.) Through his writing and conversation, Mackey touts the benefits of following a conscious capitalism model within his own company. “The more profit we make, the more stores we can open, the more donations we can make to our community, the more responsible citizens we can be for the environment.”

Mackey also contends that the benefits of capitalism are often lost in skewed rhetoric. “The narrative that people have about business and capitalism is that they are fundamentally selfish, greedy, and exploitative. Of course, I don’t agree with that narrative. Free enterprise

Capitalism may be better than anything else, but America doesn’t seem to be embracing it with much enthusiasm. Alm puts the blame squarely on capitalism’s proponents. They often stumble in creating a compelling narrative, one that emphasizes the morality of a capitalist system and the opportunities it creates.

“Capitalism operates on voluntary exchange—so every transaction makes both buyer and seller better off,” Alm says. “In capitalism, people are free to choose. If they don’t like a product, they can buy somewhere else.”

In effect, capitalism should put more power into the hands of the ‘little guy.’ “Economic freedom is about placing as much of the decision making in the individual’s hands as possible, and not replacing it by the decision-making of a government,” explains Lawson.

In 2013, Whole Foods Market

Conscious Capitalism: When Greed Can Be Good

capitalism has been the most powerful creative system of social cooperation and human progress ever conceived, but its perception and its role in society have been distorted.”

Call it greed or call it self-interest, but the desire to support one’s own well-being can be a powerful motivator to go to work. Lawson uses a milk farmer as an example. “Milking cows is hard work. Farmers have to get up at 4 o’clock in the morning, and the cows are mean – even dangerous – so why are the farmers getting up every morning? Because they want my money. I don’t see this as a bad thing. He’s not my slave. Why shouldn’t he be paid? If I had to rely on love and kindness, I wouldn’t get my milk. There’s just not enough charity to go around.”

Doing well is the result of doing good.

That’s what capitalism is all about.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

John Mackey

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Because we are in an economically free society, the argument over the pros and cons of capitalism shall continue and, ideally, expand beyond a two-party political debate. “The left-wing party leans toward capitalism as often as the right,” Lawson concludes. “In fact, maybe even more so. There is a very weak link between party affiliation and economic freedom.”

Listen closely enough and you’ll find free-market proponents in the most unlikely of places. Even the Beatles lamented big government in their song, Taxman:

If you drive a car, I’ll tax the street.

If you try to sit, I’ll tax your seat

If you get too cold, I’ll tax the heat.

If you take a walk, I’ll tax your feet

Taxman! ‘Cause I’m the taxman,

yeah I’m the taxman!

C O V E R S T O RY

“George (Harrison) wrote the song "Taxman" and I played guitar on it,” Paul McCartney reportedly said. “He wrote it in anger at finding out what the taxman did. He had never known before then what could happen to your money.”

As George goes, so go the rest of us. Responsible education about the merits and downfalls of capitalism—in and out of the classroom—and healthy debate regarding the role of government to protect us from runaway greed will be critical to guiding our economic future. Fortunately for us, given the intrinsic nature of our current “capitalist” society, our words are free. Let’s use them wisely.

And in the End“Somebody said to me, ‘But the Beatles were anti-materialistic.’ That’s a huge myth. John and I literally used to sit down and say, ‘Now, let’s write a swimming pool.’”

Sir Paul McCartney

Public debate should be

a healthy outcome of

economically free societies

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ecent headlines highlight the inextricable and complex links among global economies—from

the stock market meltdown in China to Greece’s long-running debt crisis. We live and work in an ever-shifting global economy, and SMU Cox professors seek to educate students about it. “To be an effective business leader, you must understand the global economy,” says Mike Davis, SMU Cox senior lecturer of strategy and economics.

These days, Greece is far more newsworthy for a series of billion-dollar bailouts, anxiety about default and possible expulsion from the Eurozone than for its ancient culture and beautiful islands. So how did Greece end up in a financial abyss, facing the largest sovereign debt default in history? In what follows, Davis sheds some light on the Eurozone, Greece’s predicament and the future of the euro.

The EU – Unity Among Former FoesEstablished in 1957, the European

Economic Community (EEC) sought to unify European countries after the carnage of World War II. Leaders believed that a peaceful collection of countries with shared economic and political goals would avoid bloody wars like those that plagued the continent years earlier. Renamed the European Union in 1992, the EU consists of 28 countries today. Of those, 19 use the euro as their common currency, thus forming the Eurozone. Greece joined the EU in 1981 and relinquished its drachma in favor of the euro in 2002.

The Big Fat Greek Debt CrisisWith the arrival of the euro, Greece

found it could borrow more money abroad at low interest rates. The country used the foreign capital to expand public spending. Greek citizens, among the EU’s poorest, received lavish pensions, which often paid 96 percent of pre-retirement salaries. Not surprisingly, only 43 percent of Greeks aged 55-64 worked (vs. 62 percent of Americans)—not the best recipe for economic growth. When the global financial crisis hit in 2009, lenders grew wary of heavily indebted Greece, and the good times were over. The country faced declining GDP, rising government deficits and downgraded credit ratings.

By 2015, Greece’s debt equaled 177 percent of GDP, while unemployment surpassed 25 percent (among youths, it exceeded 60 percent). The country was kept afloat, avoiding bankruptcy and perhaps exile from the Eurozone, by loans from the rest of the EU, which demanded economic reforms and

CRISIS:

THE

A Modern Greek Tragedyby Lynda Oliver

R

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F E AT U R E S T O RY

spending cuts. To keep the support coming, the leftist Syriza-led government reluctantly agreed to take further austerity measures this summer.

“Greece has enormous structural weaknesses,” explains Davis. “When you look at specific sectors of the economy, you find practices that prevent people from creating new businesses and new jobs. The incredibly generous pensions for public employees are a problem. Whether you call this socialism, or just bad government, it’s a huge issue.”

Germany, France and other rich EU nations have been willing to rescue Greece for political and strategic reasons. “All lenders could have been more careful,“ Davis adds, “but after

the trauma of both world wars, all of the countries, especially Germany, wanted to forge a strong European identity. Also, Greece’s proximity to Turkey and the Middle East makes it politically important.”

Greece is a small country, but Davis points out that its financial troubles could have repercussions for the EU. “The real risk is that Greece sets a kind of precedent for other European countries. If it’s a bad precedent, then a default by Italy or Spain could follow.” As for the impact on the U.S., Davis says it’s the uncertainty and the “unknown unknowns” that give financial markets the jitters.

The Eurozone: Does it Still Make Sense?

With the economic quagmires plaguing the Eurozone, the EU’s future has been the subject of extensive global speculation. Will the common currency collapse? Will the EU endure? “There has never been a common currency area or a fixed exchange rate system that didn’t eventually collapse,” Davis says.

For example, there could be an EU

without a euro. A third of EU countries have not adopted the currency—most notably, Great Britain. Davis explains, “Not being part of the Eurozone gives the Bank of England the freedom to conduct its own monetary policy. Otherwise, they could only influence European monetary policy through their representatives on the European Central Bank.”

The political glue, Davis says, may be what keeps the Eurozone together despite today’s troubles. “There is real determination in Frankfurt, Paris and Brussels to keep the Eurozone intact. Remember, the EU was never just about economics. It was about political unification in Europe. The goal since 1945 has always been to prevent another catastrophe.”

The SMU Cox Global Leadership ProgramSMU Cox offers students global travel opportunities to supplement their classroom learning with boots-on-the-ground

experience in Europe, Asia and South America. The Global Leadership Program is the flagship travel program for MBA students, who can choose a region on which to focus and observe how business is conducted abroad.

“I think every business student should spend time outside the U.S., visiting businesses and talking to business leaders and ordinary citizens,” Davis says. “A day spent viewing all the new construction in Shenzhen and then touring factories in the Special Economic Zone tells you more about China than you will get from any book. You can also learn a tremendous amount from random encounters.”

Davis shares a story about a girl who, when guiding a student tour in a textile factory in southern China, was asked whether she’d ever known someone who worked in such a place. The girl said she had indeed worked in a similar place for eight years. She then recounted a story about being 14 years old when her parents put her on a train from her small village in Hunan to go south and work. Far from feeling exploited, she considered it to be the greatest adventure and opportunity in her life. She lived in a dorm, saved money for English lessons and became a guide.

Unexpected insights such as this rarely happen unless students are on the ground, in foreign countries. Davis says, “Whether you think such stories are uplifting or just propaganda, you have to be there to listen.”

To learn more about the SMU Cox GLP, go to www.smu.edu/glp.

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COX DEVELOPMENTSMU Cox Celebrates Most Successful Fundraising Year

Highlights from the 2014-15 year include:

• The establishment of two new endowed faculty positions – The Linda A. and Kenneth R. Morris Endowed Directorship of the Caruth Institute for Entrepreneurship, and the Janet and Craig Duchossois Endowed Professorship in Management and Organizations

• $8.6 million in contributions toward scholarships for undergraduate and graduate business students

• $4.2 million toward the expansion of activity in the Cox School centers and institutes

• The establishment of the Barbara and James Mangum Endowed Award for Teaching Excellence

• The creation of the Scott Sheffield Energy Investment Lab and the Student Managed Energy Fund, which will provide students with an opportunity to have hands-on experience overseeing a fund comprised of energy assets, and new space featuring top-of-the-line technological resources to support this effort

• Five new planned gifts

• Contributions from a record-setting 31 percent of BBA alumni and a near-record participation rate of 17 percent from Cox graduate alumni

• Donations from 73 percent of Cox faculty and staff members

“The unprecedented generosity of alumni, friends and community business leaders has generated the means necessary to fund an exceptional business education,” said Cox Dean Albert Niemi. “The increased resources will provide Cox students with the tools to succeed in a globally competitive environment and enable them to develop skills that help prepare them for future leadership in the business world.”

The Cox School of Business has many reasons to be thankful for the community of alumni, parents and friends who support the school each year. Through the dedication of significant volunteer time, these individuals provide SMU Cox students with unparalleled opportunities to learn from industry experts, seek career guidance from professional experts and access internships and job opportunities.

Furthermore, the generous individuals in this community have made supporting the Cox School a financial priority for themselves, their families and their companies. Together, these donors to the Cox School committed $18.7 million in pledges and cash gifts during the 2014-15 academic year. This outpouring of support for SMU’s business school programming resulted in the most significant fundraising year

of The Second Century Campaign, generating 75 percent more in support than the previous year, which was also a record at the time.

The Second Century Campaign, which concludes on December 31, 2015, is an ambitious effort to generate support that will sustain SMU’s academic programming far into the future. The Cox School has made significant progress toward its goals, which include securing endowment funding for student scholarships; establishing several new faculty chairs, professorships and teaching awards; and the expanding centers and institutes that connect our students to experiential learning opportunities. Since June 1, 2006, more than over $90 million has been contributed to these efforts as a result of The Second Century Campaign.

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

26%

Yearly Alumni Participation Goal by 2015: 25 percent

YearlyGoal

‘14-‘15‘12-‘13‘11-‘12 ‘13-‘14‘10-‘11‘09-‘10‘08-‘09‘07-‘08‘06-‘07‘05-‘06

"Join the Stampede" Campaign is a Success!

Contributions from a record-setting 31 percent of BBA alumni played a significant role in helping SMU reach its university-wide annual participation goal of 25 percent. SMU thanks you!

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D E V E L O P M E N T

How will your support be recognized?SMU and the Cox School of Business are grateful for the support of alumni, parents and friends who have made generous financial contributions in support of scholarships, faculty and academic programs. To acknowledge this support, the University has created a multitude of recognition opportunities, which include:

• Second Century Campaign plaques, to be unveiled in spring 2016, will be engraved to recognize the cumulative support of SMU’s most generous donors during this milestone campaign. The plaques will be placed in perpetuity near the Crain Family Centennial Promenade, which will be constructed immediately east of the Cox School’s Fincher Building.

• By making a special $100 gift, you can be recognized with an etched paver, to be placed on the Crain Family Centennial Promenade.

• The Cox Hall of Donors, located on the second floor of the Fincher Building, is an installation of permanent plaques recognizing those who have generously established endowments benefitting the Cox School.

• The Dallas Hall Society celebrates the generosity of individuals who have embraced the long-term vision for SMU by establishing a deferred gift. Planned giving opportunities include naming SMU as a beneficiary of a will, charitable trust, life insurance policy or retirement plan.

• The Hilltop Society provides special recognition and distinction to those individuals who collectively help build SMU’s financial foundation through consecutive annual giving.

• The President’s Associates are a select group of SMU supporters who contribute $1,000 or more cumulatively to any area of the university during our fiscal year June 1 – May 31.

Commemorate your connection to SMU! To inquire about your current campaign recognition or discuss giving opportunities that would add your name to these special groups, please contact the Cox Development Office at 214.768.3074.

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C A L E N D A R OF E V E N T S

EVENTS

October 2The O’Neil Center for Global Markets and Freedom presents “Keeping the Texas Economy Strong” Luncheon Keynote Speaker: George Will, Columnist and TV Commentator Morning Keynote Speaker: Phil Gramm, Former U.S. Senator8:00 a.m. – 1:30 p.m. Collins Center Contact: Catherine Maurer 214.768.1595cbaetz@smu.eduoneilcenter.org

November 4Dallas 100™ Awards6 p.m. – 10 p.m.Omni Dallas HotelContact: Julianne Deering 214.768.3689jdeering@smu.edu

November 17SMU Cox CEO Sentiment Survey and “CEO of the Year” Reception6 p.m. – 8 p.m.Collins CenterContact: Andrea Smith 214.768.4266aesmith@cox.smu.edu

ATHLETICS

Football

October 24 SMU at USF October 31SMU Family WeekendSMU vs. Tulsa, TBA at Ford Stadium November 6 Coalition of Veteran-Owned Businesses Hats Off to Heroes, Military Appreciation DaySMU vs. Temple, 7 p.m. at Ford Stadium

November 14SMU at Navy

November 21 Senior DaySMU vs. Tulane, TBA at Ford Stadium

November 28SMU at Memphis

Chad Morris joins SMU as Head Football Coach. Morris arrived on the Hilltop after five seasons as an offensive coordinator on the collegiate level and 16 seasons as a Texas high school coach.

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IMPORTANT NUMBERS FORCOX ALUMNI & FRIENDS

C O N TA C T U S

March 13: Hartford: The Mustangs Club sponsored a reception prior to the beginning of the American Athletics Conference basketball tournament. Kevin Knox, Kim Moore and Michael Moore.

March 23: Dean Niemi, Coach Chad Morris andEdwin L. Cox ('42) – Business Leadership Luncheon

May 22: Alternative Asset Management students in Hawaii – Sean Milmo, Gordie Hamilton and Charlie Landon.

214.768.3185214.768.3933214.768.8257214.768.3190214.768.3403214.768.3182214.768.2191

214.768.8338

214.768.1322

214.768.4113 214.768.4113

214.768.2533 214.768.4606

214.768.3096 214.768.3689214.768.8256214.768.8256214.768.3548 214.768.3943214.768.3335 214.768.3692214.768.3251

214.768.3335 214.768.2191 214.768.1246214.768.4155214.768.2722214.768.3689

214.768.3012

214.768.4988

214.768.3191

214.768.4754

214.768.4486

214.768.3678

214.768.3104

214.768.2991

214.768.3336214.768.3692214.768.3251214.768.3689

ACADEMIC DEPARTMENT CHAIRSAccounting: Hemang DesaiFinance: James LinckInformation Technology and Operations Management: Amit BasuManagement and Organizations: Miguel QuiñonesMarketing: Raj SethuramanReal Estate/Insurance/Business Law: Bill BrueggemanStrategy and Entrepreneurship: Gordon WalkerALUMNI AND EXTERNAL RELATIONSAssistant Dean of External Relations and Executive Director of theCox Alumni Association: Kevin KnoxBBA PROGRAMAssociate Dean: James BryanBUSINESS LIBRARYDirector: Sandy MillerKitt Investing and Trading Center CAREER CENTERSDirector: Lisa TranRecruiting Services (MBA, MS, BBA) CENTERS AND INSTITUTESAlbert W. Niemi Center for American Capitalism Caruth Institute for EntrepreneurshipDon Jackson Center for Financial StudiesEnCap Investments & LCM Group Alternative Asset Management CenterFolsom Institute for Real EstateJCPenney Center for Retail ExcellenceLatino Leadership Institute Maguire Energy InstituteWilliam J. O’Neil Center for Global Markets and FreedomCERTIFICATE PROGRAMSCertificate in American Capitalism Global Strategy Certificate Program Graduate Business Analytics Certificate ProgramGraduate Finance Certificate ProgramGraduate Marketing Certificate ProgramStarting a Business ProgramDEAN’S OFFICEDean: Albert W. Niemi, Jr.DEVELOPMENT AND MAJOR GIFTSDirector: Laran O’NeillEXECUTIVE EDUCATIONAssociate Dean: Frank LloydGLOBAL PROGRAMSAssistant Dean: Linda KaoGRADUATE PROGRAMSAssociate Dean: Marci ArmstrongMARKETING AND COMMUNICATIONSAssistant Dean: Lynda Welch OliverMBA BUSINESS LEADERSHIP CENTER/BBA BUSINESS LEADERSHIP INSTITUTEDirector: Paula (Hill) Strasser SOUTHWESTERN GRADUATE SCHOOL OF BANKINGPresident and CEO: Scott MacDonald SPEAKER SERIESBank of Texas Business Leaders Spotlight Series L. Frank Pitts Oil and Gas Lecture SeriesO’Neil Center Conference Southwest Venture Forum

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EXECUT IVE BOARDMr. David B. Miller Chair

Mr. Gerald B. Alley President Con-Real Inc.Mr. Michael AndersonMr. Stephen L. Arata Executive Vice President & CFO Caiman Energy LLCMr. F. Thaddeus Arroyo CEO Iusacell-AT&T Mexico LLCMr. Norman P. Bagwell Chairman & CEO Bank of Texas N.A.Mr. C. Fred Ball, Jr. COO Spyglass Trading LPMr. Raymond A. Basye, Jr. Sewell Cadillac DallasMr. James F. Berry Retired President Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire ControlMr. Raymond A. Blanchette CEO Ignite Restaurant Group Inc.Mr. William A. Blase, Jr. Senior Executive Vice President, Human Resources AT&TMr. Mark A. Blinn President & CEO Flowserve Corporation Mr. Tony Boghetich Owner & CEO Omar B. Milligan Enterprises Inc.Mr. Pat S. Bolin Chairman & CEO Eagle Oil & Gas Co.Ms. Julie Ann Brice Former Owner & Founder I Can’t Believe It’s Yogurt Inc.Mr. Tucker S. Bridwell President Mansfeldt Investment CorporationMr. Bradley Brookshire Chairman Brookshire Grocery CompanyMr. Peter D. Brundage Managing Director Goldman Sachs & Co.Mr. T. Randall Cain Southwest Region Managing Partner Ernst & Young LLPMr. Donald J. Carty Retired Chairman, American Airlines & Retired Vice Chairman, Dell Inc.Mr. Thomas W. Cobb, Jr. U.S. Human Capital Leader & Vice Chair PricewaterhouseCoopers LLPMr. Gus Comiskey President Comiskey Kaufman Consulting LLCMr. William R. Cooper Chairman Paragon Holdings Inc.Mr. Edwin L. Cox Chairman & CEO Edwin L. Cox Company

Mrs. Katherine R. Crow Civic and Philanthropic LeaderMr. Gary T. Crum President CFP FoundationMr. William A. Custard President & CEO Dallas Production Inc.Mr. Terry R. Dallas Executive Vice President & Managing Director Wells Fargo U.S. Corporate BankingMr. Peter T. Dameris CEO & President On AssignmentMrs. Holly Deason President Holly Bock & Associates, Inc.Mr. Derek E. Dewan Former Chairman & CEO MPS GroupMr. Antoine L.V. Dijkstra Partner & Co-Founder Implexus Capital & PartnersMr. Jason W. Downing Managing Partner DeloitteMr. Frank M. Dunlevy Vice Chairman Investment Banking Cowen & Company LLCMr. Gonzalo Escamez Sada CEO Cintermex ACMr. Manny Fernandez Managing Partner KPMG LLP - Dallas OfficeMr. Bryant R. Fisher Retired Senior Vice President FederatedMr. Martin L. Flanagan President & CEO INVESCOMr. Randall S. Fojtasek Managing Partner & CEO Center Oak PartnersMs. Lisa A. Gardner CEO OMS Strategic Advisors LLCMr. David L. Gonzales Global Diversity & Inclusion Bristol Myers SquibbMr. Norman Green Founder & Former Owner Dallas Stars Hockey ClubMr. Seth W. Hall President Source One SparesMs. Linda W. Hart Vice Chairman, President & CEO Hart Group Inc.Mr. Brad K. Heppner Chairman & CEO Heritage Highland Finance & Management ServicesMr. Denny Holman Chairman Folsom Properties Inc.Mr. Thomas W. Horton Former Chairman/CEO American Airlines Group Inc.Mr. Clark K. Hunt Chairman & CEO Kansas City Chiefs

Mr. Thomas W. Jasper Managing Partner Manursing Partners LLCMr. David K. Kao Managing Partner Advantage Resources GroupMr. James W. Keyes Chairman Wild Oats MarketplaceMr. Barry M. Kitt Manager Pinnacle Family Office Investments L.P. Mr. Mike J. Lafitte Chief Operating Officer CBREMs. Nancy Loewe Vice President & CFO Kimberly-Clark InternationalMr. Paul B. Loyd, Jr.Mr. D. Scott Luttrell CEO LCM GroupDr. Bobby B. Lyle Founder & Chairman Lyco Holdings IncorporatedMr. James H. MacNaughton Senior Advisor Public Sector Investment Board, CanadaMr. Cary M. Maguire President & CEO Maguire Oil CompanyMr. Charles A. Mangum Chief Investment Officer Baylon Capital LLCMr. Michael F. McGehee CEO Wilmac Companies LLCMr. Michael A. Merriman President & CEO Financial Holding CorporationMr. David B. Miller Founder & Managing Partner EnCap Investments LLCMr. Peter Mottek Senior Vice President, Head of U.S. Wealth TD WealthMr. Roger Nanney Vice Chairman Deloitte LLPMrs. Connie O’Neill Civic and Philanthropic LeaderMs. Karen L. Parkhill Vice Chairman & CFO Comerica IncorporatedMs. Pamela H. Patsley Chairman & CEO MoneyGram InternationalMs. Patricia Patterson President Patterson InvestmentsMr. Randal L. Perkins Private Investor Private Advisory GroupMr. Timothy E. Perry Managing Director Credit Suisse AGMs. Angela Raitzin Principal Constellation Wealth AdvisorsMs. Melissa M. Reiff President & COO The Container Store

Mr. Kirk L. Rimer Principal Crow Holdings Mr. Ronald A. Rittenmeyer Retired Former Chairman, President & CEO EDSMr. Philip J. Romano Owner Romano Concepts Ltd.Mr. Byron Roth Chairman & CEO Roth Capital PartnersMr. James J. Saccacio CEO Il Mulino GroupMr. Robert J. Schlegel Chairman & CEO Bedrock Logistics Founder & Retired CEO/Owner Pavestone CompanyMr. Jeffrey R. Schmid Chairman & CEO Mutual of Omaha BankMr. Mark W. Schortman Senior Vice President & General Manager Coca-Cola RefreshmentsMr. David T. Seaton Chairman & CEO Fluor CorporationMr. Carl Sewell Chairman Sewell Automotive CompaniesMr. Michael J. Skillman CEO Cadence Capital ManagementMr. Michael G. Smith Private InvestmentsMr. Richard F. Smith Chairman & CEO Equifax Inc.Mr. Richard K. Templeton Chairman, President & CEO Texas Instruments Inc.Mr. John C. Tolleson Chairman & CEO Tolleson Wealth ManagementMr. William Vanderstraaten President Chief Partners LP Mr. Richard Ware Chairman & President Amarillo National BankMr. Garry Weber Chairman of the Board Weber Financial Inc.Mr. Kevin D. Welsh Partner & Senior Managing Director Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LPMr. William M. Wheless, III CEO & Owner Wheless PropertiesMr. Kirk Wiginton President & CEO Amegy Bank of TexasMs. Billie Ida Williamson Director Forrester & CompanyMr. Robert A. Wilson Executive Vice President Kemmons-Wilson CompaniesMr. Royce E. (Ed) Wilson, Sr. Chairman & CEO Dreamcatcher Media LLC

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A L U M N I B O A R D

A L U M N I B O A R D

Cox Alumni Association Board of DirectorsNATIONAL Atlanta, GA Jack Chapman BBA '10 jchapmanx@gmail.com Mark Galyardt MBA '88 mark.galyardt@xioss.com Catherine Walts BBA '99 catherinecoates@hotmail.comAustin, TX Jim Bernard PMBA '02 jamesmbernard@gmail.comBoston, MA Jessica Chang BBA '79 chang.jess@gmail.comChicago, IL Chase Spirito BBA '06 chase.b.spirito@jpmorgan.com Cristine Struble BBA '96 cristine.struble@sbcglobal.net Matthew Struble PMBA '00 matthew.struble@sbcglobal.netDallas, TX Jessica Boghetich BBA '08 jboghetich@rgtnet.com Dennis Cail EMBA '07 denniscail@me.com Paul Divis - Chair EMBA '99 paul@megacapital.com Chris Hanna MBA '02 channa@qiggroup.com Tessa Hoskin EMBA '09 tessahoskin@tx.rr.com Nick Kapral PMBA '10 nicholas.kapral@gmail.com Greg Kitt BBA '08 gregkitt@gmail.com Lauren Lyngstad BBA '14 lauren.lyngstad@senderoconsulting.com Kyle Martin PMBA '09 kyle.martin@pepsico.com Max Meggs BBA '06 max.meggs@thehartford.com Frances Mitchell BBA '10 frances.mitchell@riatacg.com Matt Peakes BBA '00, MBA '07 mpeakes@gmail.com Wayne Richard BBA '80 wrichard@icglobal.net David Rouse PMBA '95 david.rouse@yum.com Liz Youngblood EMBA '05 elizayou@baylorhealth.eduDenver, CO Ryan Orlowski MBA '12 ryan.d.orlowski@gmail.comEncinitas, CA Kyle Perkins BBA '09 kyle@westviewfg.comFort Worth, TX Jeff Dyer MBA '03 jdyer@crescent.com Evan Radler BBA '05, PMBA '10 eradler@tug-hillop.comHouston, TX Sandy Campion BBA '79 sandy.l.campion@exxonmobil.com Clayton Dallas BBA '10 claytonrdallas@gmail.com John Goodrum BBA '05 john.goodrum@gmail.com Marcus Malonson BBA '93 marcus.malonson@ml.com Ashley Wilson McClellan BBA '04 ashley.mcclellan@hcahealthcare.com Phil Moran MBA '87 pmoran@pacadvisory.com Jonathan Parker MBA '05 jonathan.parker1@morganstanleypwm.comKansas City, MO Angela Gieras MA/MBA '03 angfuf1@hotmail.com Kylie Wood Owens BBA '06 kylie.owens@hotmail.comLittle Rock, AR Jay Staley MBA '13 jmstale@gmail.comLos Angeles, CA Clark Bacon BBA '04 clark.bacon@ubs.comMemphis, TN David Visinsky BBA '98 dvisinsky@hotmail.comMilwaukee, WI Dan Einhorn MBA '02 deinhorn@capitalmidwest.comNashville, TN Frank McGrew BBA '90 frank.mcgrew@raymondjames.comNewport Beach, CA Melissa MacLeod BBA '07 melissa.ann.macleod@gmail.comNew Braunfels, TX Merrill Reynolds BBA '76 mreynolds@reynoldswilliams.comNew York Area Rick Calero EMBA '08 rick.calero@tiaa-cref.org Paul Collins MBA '02 paul.collins@willis.com Katy Thomas - Vice Chair BBA '07 kathryn.d.thomas@jpmorgan.com Laura Till BBA '82 ltill@financialguide.comOklahoma City, OK Chris Wilson BBA '03 cwilson@gobaker.comPhiladelphia, PA Jordan Carter BBA '08 jcarter@smualumni.smu.eduPhoenix/Scottsdale, AZ Trey Chappell BBA '00 treychappell5@gmail.comSan Antonio, TX Mary Stephanie Peavy BBA '00 marystephanie.peavy@frostbank.comSan Diego, CA Noel Koenig MBA '15 nkoenig@smu.eduSan Francisco, CA Paul Henderson PMBA '94 hendersonp02@yahoo.comSeattle, WA Dave Manges PMBA '07 davidmanges@yahoo.comSt. Louis, MO Chip Hiemenz BBA '06 chip.hiemenz@gmail.comTulsa, OK Rich Wilson MBA '05 rich@wilsoninterests.netWashington, DC Elizabeth Schmidt BBA '87 elisabeth.sigmar.schmidt@gmail.comINTERNATIONAL Bangalore, India Arun Subramanian MBA '01 psarun@hotmail.comDubai, United Arab Emirates Alex Stem MBA '01 akstem@yahoo.com Hong Kong, China Javier Silvera MBA '07 javier.o.silvera@citi.comLondon, England Jiang Wu MBA '00 jiang.wu@capturepower.com Richard Knauf BBA '06 rick.knauf@pimco.comMexico City, Mexico Carlos Romo BBA '89 cromo@kp.com.mxNew Delhi, India Aakash Moondhra MBA '03 aakash.moondhra@gmail.comSão Paolo, Brazil Fabio Okamoto MBA '95 fokamoto@me.comShanghai, China A.J. Hu MBA '01 aj.hu@jljgroup.comSydney, Australia James Alvetro MBA '99 james@getfundamental.comTokyo, Japan Tomoaki Ota MBA '95 ota.tomoaki@gmail.com

Taos, NM: Cox Alumni Board meeting at the SMU-in-Taos campus.

New Cox Alumni Board member Alex Stem (MBA '01) with Kevin Knox.

July 25: SMU Beach Party: Mike Skillman (Cox Executive Board, SMU parent), Chase MacLeod (BA '07), Melissa MacLeod (BBA '07, Cox Alumni Board), Clark Bacon (BBA '04, Cox Alumni Board)

Dean's reception for new MBA students: Lisa (BBA '02) and Jimmy Tran (BA'03). Lisa is director of Cox Career Management Center.

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D I S T I N G U I S H E D A L U M N I

Stephen Arata (BBA '88) became CEO of Caiman Energy in April this year, after joining the company as CFO in 2010, leading the effort to establish a 12-bank syndicated revolving credit facility. In 2012, he was a key part of the team that sold Caiman Energy to Williams Partners. He previously served for more than five years as CFO for Regency Energy Partners. Earlier in his career, Arata worked for UBS Investment Bank in Dallas and London, as well as Deloitte Consulting. After graduating from SMU, he became a financial analyst in the Investment Banking Group for First Boston, which is now Credit Suisse.

Arata holds a BA in English from SMU, a BBA in general business from SMU Cox, and he earned his Master of Management from the J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern.

Thaddeus Arroyo (MBA '89) is the CEO of AT&T Mexico, which provides wireless services under the Iusacell, Nextel and Unefon brand names in Mexico. Arroyo was appointed to his current position in January after serving as president of technology development and previously as CIO. Before he joined AT&T, he served as CIO at Cingular Wireless, and prior to that, senior vice president of product marketing and development for Sabre Corporation.

Numerous honors have been bestowed on Arroyo, including a place in CIO magazine’s CIO Hall of Fame, the MIT Sloan CIO Leadership Award in 2014 and the Oracle Excellence Award for CIO of the Year in 2011. Arroyo is a member of the SMU Cox Executive Board, the Board of the National Center for Women & Information Technology and the Hispanic IT Executive Council, and he serves as a Governance Fellow with the National Association of Corporate Directors. He earned a BS in mathematics from UT Arlington and his MBA at SMU Cox. He is only the third SMU Cox alumnus to be honored as both an Outstanding Young Alumnus (in 2003) and a Distinguished Alumnus.

Kim Butler (MBA '88), as director of leasing for Hall Financial since 2010, oversees all of the company’s leasing and is a top producer in the competitive Dallas brokerage market. For more than 30 years, she has identified, negotiated and closed hundreds of lease transactions working with business leaders ranging from Fortune 500 companies to small entrepreneurial start-ups. She’s been responsible for two large national companies in the Dallas region, serving in various high-profile, high-responsibility roles.

The North Texas Commercial Association of Realtors honored Butler with the Stemmons Service Award in January, the highest honor bestowed by the Dallas area’s commercial real estate brokerage business, which recognizes transaction performance, contribution to the real estate industry and community service. Butler graduated summa cum laude from Texas Tech with her BBA and earned her MBA from SMU Cox, where she graduated third in her class.

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O U T S TA N D I N G Y O U N G A L U M N I

Kyle Miller (BBA '01) is the president, founder and CEO of private oil and gas company Silver Hill Energy Partners, LLC, which focuses on acquisition, enhancement and development of lower-risk, long-life U.S. oil and gas reserves. Miller was previously principal and senior vice president of Energy Trust Partners, and before that he was vice president of Energy Spectrum Advisors, Inc. He began his career with Wells Fargo Bank and Wells Fargo Energy Advisors in Houston.

Miller is very active in energy industry and community organizations. Since earning his BBA in finance at SMU Cox in 2001, he has remained engaged with the university. He currently serves on SMU’s 21st Century Council and is a member of the SMU Mustang Club Board of Directors.

John Relton (BBA '00, MSA '01) is the founder and managing director of Strait Capital Company, Ltd., a certified firm that functions as a CFO and COO for hedge funds, private equity funds and family offices. With more than 15 years of experience serving investment funds and the financial services industry in accounting, tax, forensics, compliance and risk management, he is responsible for firm-wide operations and client management. He began his career with KPMG in 2001.

Relton is active in the community and serves on the SMU Cox Accounting Alumni and Professional Advisory Board. In 2013, the Dallas Business Journal honored him as a minority business leader, and in 2014, the Journal named him one of its “40 Under 40” business leaders. Also, in 2014, Relton was listed among the “Outstanding 50 Asian Americans in Business” by the Asian American Business Development Center in New York. He completed his BBA degree at SMU Cox in 2000 and earned his Master of Science in Accounting in 2001.

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CLASS NOTES■ Class of 1948

John Flechtner (BBA) is a registered professional engineer in the state of Texas. He’s listed in the Who's Who in Texas publication. He was wed to Shirley Dean in 1950 and confirmed by the Protestant Episcopal Church. He served in WWII overseas in the Sixth Air Force command and was employed as an aerospace senior test engineer at Vought Aircraft for 18 years. He was employed as a civil engineer during the construction of the Dallas-Fort Worth Airport (DFW Airport). He was employed as a civil engineer with the United States Army Corps of Engineers for 20 years before retiring in 1993. He devoted the past 18 years to publishing his three books, the latest of which is being published by Trafford Publishing Company. He studied in the International Bible Study Fellowship (IBSF) for seven years. He’s a member of the Senior Men’s Golf Association in Arlington, TX, and the proud father of two daughters. His entire family is of the Christian faith.

Loy Beene Moore (BBA) is now chairman emeritus of the Haynesville Mercantile Company, a 110-year old family land management company based in Bossier City, LA. He served more than 30 years as president of the company after serving five years as president of the Louisiana Bank & Trust Company in Shreveport, LA. He considers himself a living example of the joke President George W. Bush told at commencement: “Even ‘C’ students can succeed and become President.”

■ Class of 1960

Robert Faust (BBA) celebrated 51 years in the commercial mortgage loan business. His company, Robert Faust Mortgage Company, is a 39-year-old Dallas-based commercial mortgage loan company. The company is still in its original office address at 6060 North Central Expressway.

■ Class of 1962

Herschel (Bud) Milner (BBA) retired and is now repairing antique clocks for his enjoyment.

■ Class of 1950

Richard A. Connell (BBA) was in the Air Force ROTC charter class of 1950 and went on to become a Colonel in the U.S. Air Force. There he was a director of personnel resources retiring in January 1988 with more than 39 years of total service. As a civilian, he was a professional accountant as well as proprietor/partner. He retired in September 1986 after 34 years of accounting and tax service.Richard has lived in Winter Park, FL, since 1951. His wife, Anne, passed away in May 2015. Active over the years in many civic and military/veteran organizations and activities, they traveled all over the U.S. and Europe during the 1970s and the 2000s.

■ Class of 1951

Dick Merryman (BBA) retired after a career with 3M and started a new venture in Dallas in the electronics industry. He will celebrate his 88th birthday this year. Dick says, “SMU provided me a great start in my business career with many fond memories.”

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■ Class of 1963 Perry T. Dunlap, Jr. (MBA) worked for Abbott Laboratories for 35 years as a sales manager. He is a member of White Rock Kiwanis Club and a deacon at Lakeside Baptist Church. Perry was in the Navy in World War II and retired as a Major in the U.S. Air Force. In his spare time, he pilots and flies radio controlled planes, quadcopters, helicopters and gliders. He has been married 66 years and has seven great grandkids.

■ Class of 1969

James Peyton’s (MBA) fifth book on Mexican food and culture, Naturally Healthy Mexican Cooking: Authentic Recipes for Dieters, Diabetics & All Food Lovers, was recently published by the University of Texas Press in Austin. The book’s premise is that for any diet to be effective, it must become a permanent part of your lifestyle; for that to happen, it must consist of foods that are so good, they provide a reward for dealing with the stress of daily life. In other words, it’s not a diet if you like it.

Wilbur Smither (MBA) graduated in 1968 and earned an MBA the following year. He passed away on July 3 from a brief illness. He had been retired for 15 years, living in both Dallas and Hot Springs Village, AR.

Libbie Wilson Wilmer (BBA) has recently been named one of the nation’s “Most Influential Women in Benefits Advising” by Employee Benefit Advisor magazine. She was also named a 2015 Distinguished Alumni of Hillcrest High School. Her work as CEO of the Dallas employee benefits firm, George Belcher Evans & Wilmer, was cited when she was honored with these prestigious awards.

■ Class of 1970

The Honorable Allen B. Clark (MBA), Dallasite, stays involved by visiting recent military veterans who have wartime issues and presenting at many venues on his Vietnam War wounds and journey of healing. His book, Valor in Vietnam, was awarded the 2014 Bronze Medal for History Books by the Military Writers Society of America.

■ Class of 1972

David A. Gravelle (BBA/MBA) was named brand consultant by the host committee of the 2017 Houston Super Bowl.

■ Class of 1974

Richard J. Billik, Jr. (BBA) retired as a circuit court judge of Cook County, IL, and is now working as a mediator/arbitrator.

■ Class of 1975

Paul D. Johnson (BBA) was promoted to manager of Financial Analysis and the Services, Strategy, Planning and Programs Department for ExxonMobil Research & Engineering Company. In May 2015, he was relocated from Fairfax, VA, to the ExxonMobil Houston campus and resides in The Woodlands, TX.

James R. Murphy (BBA) is CEO of TOC Resources, LLC, working as an oil and gas producer/investments.

■ Class of 1977

Gayle Maurin (BBA '72, MBA '77) has been elected president of the board of trustees for the 50 Vanderbilt Foundation. The newly created foundation is dedicated to preserving the exterior of the 100-year-old James Gamble Rogers-designed Yale Club of New York City building and provide scholarships for Yale University students.

■ Class of 1979

Alyce Tidball (MBA) finished her three-year assignment at the U.S. Consulate General in Jerusalem and officially retired on September 30, 2013. She now works as a special advisor to the U.S. Department of State and is currently working at the U.S. Embassy in Bogotà, Colombia.

■ Class of 1976

Margo Bentsen (BBA '75, MBA '76) was D Magazine Best Realtor and Top Producer 2015 at Briggs Freeman Sotheby’s International Realty.

Bill Byerley (BBA '75, MBA '76) retired from PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP on June 30, 2014. He is busy in retirement serving as co-chair and chair of the 2014 and 2015 Rotary Lombardi Awards, respectively, as well as the board chair of the South Central Chapter of the National MS Society for 2015 and 2016.

Michael Rideau (BBA) currently works as commercial banker-senior vice president for American National Bank of Texas. He is married to Nedra Rideau and has two children, Chandra and Jonina.

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C L A S S N O T E S

■ Class of 1981

Greg Burns (BBA) accepted a position as executive vice president at E. Smith Realty Partners.

Keith Durrett (MBA) is a licensed and certified catastrophe adjuster at Pilot Catastrophe Services, Inc.

Larry Smith (BBA) is the office managing shareholder of the San Antonio Office of Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart, P.C. He has been recognized by Best Lawyers in America since 2007 and was the 2014 Best Lawyers’ Lawyer of the Year in San Antonio for Labor Law-Management. Larry and his wife, Kim Cordes, have been married for 29 years and have three grown children.

Kathryn Braden Palmer (BBA) completed the Rice University Jesse H. Jones Graduate School of Business Rice Educational Entrepreneurship Program Business Fellowship, a leadership program for principals in Texas. She is currently principal of Bear Branch Elementary in Kingwood, TX.

Gordon Welch (BBA) announces the birth of his grandson on May 17, 2014. Gordon was also inducted into his high school (Carbondale Community High School, Carbondale, IL) Hall of Fame in August 2014.

Stephen Alter (BBA) founded RCM1.com, which is now the dominant marketplace for the larger commercial real estate transactions all across the globe. RCM1’s clients are the higher level commercial investment sales brokers and real estate investment bankers, private and institutional real estate investors, commercial real estate lenders and real estate equity players (anyone involved in buying, selling and financing the larger commercial properties).

Terri Peeters (MBA) is currently a service delivery executive with Bank of America in the Global Human Resources Shared Services organization. In this role, she and her team provide business support to global Shared Services teams (HR Administration and Reporting, Payroll Operations and HR Service Center teams). This includes providing the teams with vendor management, audit, risk, compliance, metrics, process improvement and project support. Terri is married with one child and based in Dallas.

■ Class of 1980

Mike Bryant (BBA) was promoted to vice chairman and managing director of CBRE’s Capital Markets division, where he co-manages the Central U.S. debt and equity group.

Gregory A. Gaylor (BBA) is a partner at Maverick Financial Advisors, LLC.

■ Class of 1983

Louis H Kuntz (BBA) is CEO/principal of ReyLenn Properties.

■ Class of 1984

George Springer (Graduate School of Banking) retired as a bank president in 1994 and began his practice at Merrill Lynch that same year.

■ Class of 1985

Sally Heggland Hanlon (BBA) has served as a corporate travel consultant with Adelman Travel Group since 2002. Married for 27 years, she has two sons and will be a first-time grandmother in January.

Thomas Quigley (BBA) is the U.S. region manager for Wells Fargo’s global banking corporate team, supporting inward and outward foreign direct investment with Wells Fargo’s corporate customer base. Tom is based in Charlotte, NC.

E. Dianne Epperson (BBA) is senior vice president at Marsh USA, Inc.

Edward Safa (BBA) is CFO for LATV Holdings, LLC. He received his MBA from the Anderson School of Business in 1996. Edward has been married to Dawn Safa since July 1990. He has two daughters: Diana, who is a graduate of Loyola Marymount University, and Alison, who is attending high school.

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■ Class of 1990

Ellen Collins (BBA) resides in Denver with her husband Kevin and two children, Kaitlyn (13) and Jack (11). She works for Vail Resorts at the headquarters in Broomfield, CO.

Stacey Dickenson (BBA) was elected to the board of trustees of the Delta Delta Delta Foundation.

■ Class of 1993

Dax Hudson (BBA) became a principal and co-founder of Lee & Associates-Columbus, a division of the nation’s largest broker-owned commercial real estate firm Lee & Associates. He resides with his wife, Gina Hudson, and three sons (Austin, Dylan & Reid) in Columbus, OH.

Frank Koyle (PMBA), a defense contractor, has a new job as a program manager for Alion Science and Technology, providing services for the Navy Program Executive Office Integrated Warfare Systems in Washington, D.C.

■ Class of 1995

Robert Triplett (MBA) was appointed senior vice president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. As senior vice president, Triplett will participate in overall management of the bank. He is responsible for the Dallas Fed’s banking supervision; credit, risk, and reserves management; and financial industry studies departments. Previously, Triplett served as vice president in the banking supervision department. Triplett began his career at the bank in 1993 as an intern in the data services department before joining the Dallas Fed full time in 1995.

■ Class of 1996

Rene Martinez (MBA) is corporate director of insurance and risk management for CEMEX.

■ Class of 1997

Robert W. Baker, Jr. (BBA '91, MBA '97) is currently the senior director of financial planning and analysis for Luminant Generation & Mining, based in Dallas, TX. He provides finance and accounting leadership and expertise to the generation fleet and mining operations, which include 12 coal units, 9 mines, 15

combustion turbine units, 7 steam units and 2 operating nuclear reactors. He holds a BBA in accounting and an MBA in finance from SMU Cox. His career before Luminant includes CFO for Hills Floral Group (Indiana), Division Controller for Nortel Networks (Dallas, Boston and Raleigh) Nestle Ice Cream (Houston), and a variety of accounting and finance roles with Stanley Tools (Dallas and New Britain, CT). He also had consulting roles at Dean Foods (Dallas), Acco Brands office supplies (Chicago) and Cardinal Health Group (San Francisco and Los Angeles). Rob's hobbies include golf, attending local sports events, fraternity alumni events, as well as actively participating in his children's extracurricular activities. Currently Rob is chairman of the board for Fossil Rim Wildlife Center, treasurer and board member on a local baseball association, board member and coach for a local Miracle League organization, a representative for the Southlake Zoning Board of Adjustment, and he actively supports a local Wounded Warriors Project group. He also founded a non-profit group that helps develop kids in a variety of sports. Rob and his wife, Pam, (SMU '90), live in Southlake, TX, and have two children, Charlie and Britt.

■ Class of 1994

Kelly Baisden Butler (BBA) joined Ciber as vice president of global communications on June 1.

Alan DeSantis (MBA), with his wife, Lisa, is continuing to grow their business bkg Service Corporation, providing project management and development services to public and private hotel owners nationwide. Their daughter, Kendall, heads to Cornell University School of Engineering this fall, making her dad very proud by attending his undergraduate alma mater. Their son, Blake, is a sophomore in high school at St. Marks in Dallas and looks forward to the SMU football season, where he is convinced things will get better. All is great for the DeSantis household.

John Wilson (BBA) is presently living near Banff, Alberta, Canada, trading options. He had a great time visiting the old classrooms at SMU this past spring, speaking to the derivatives class, and is looking forward to doing it again in 2016.

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C L A S S N O T E S

■ Class of 2006Paul Akin (PMBA) is now chief information officer for StoneGate Senior Living based in Lewisville, TX.

John Knight (MBA) was recently elected to serve on the board of directors for the Texas Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA), the state association of 71 local CASA programs that recruit and train volunteers to speak up in court and represent the best interests of children in the child protection system. He currently holds the position of business banking area manager, vice president with JPMorgan Chase & Co. Before serving on the board of CASA of Ellis County in 2012, most recently in the role of board president, he was a CASA volunteer for the local program for four years. As the father of two children, one of whom is adopted, John is passionate about his work on behalf of CASA and the organization’s cause.

Mark Lou (BBA) works at Nike headquarters as the global brand manager of Nike energy marketing.

Nancy Smith (EMBA) is SVP of merchandising, fresh food and proprietary beverages for 7-Eleven, Inc.

■ Class of 2002

Valynda Brooks-Gonzalez (PMBA) is senior project manager for Hewlett-Packard since June 2012.

Justin L. Saunders (MBA) was promoted to CFO of Madix, Inc., a leading supplier of store fixtures and racking to retail.

James Tarpeh (PMBA) was recently appointed vice president of the JP Morgan Chase Business Banking Group in Dallas, managing the relationships of businesses with annual revenues from $5 million to $30 million. James helps businesses put together credit facilities for everything from business acquisition to equipment financing. He also leads the team that assists businesses with securing lines of credit for operations, SBA financing, merchant processing services, cash management, payroll services, investments and more.

■ Class of 2004

Nick Kovach (PMBA) is now the building information modeling manager at BOKA Powell, LLC.

■ Class of 2005

Chris Godfrey (BBA) was named to Dallas Business Journal’s 2015 “Who’s Who in Healthcare.” The company he founded, Bloodbuy, was named one of the “Top 10 Most Innovative Healthcare Startups to watch in 2015” by Healthcare Global, ranking 2 out of 10. Chris is a recipient of Harvard Forum on Healthcare Innovation Award, awarded by joint collaboration between Harvard Business School and Harvard Medical School. Harvard Business Review published an HBS case study on Bloodbuy. Finally, Chris was the recipient of the Brown University Graduate School Master’s Award for Professional Excellence.

Alexandra (Trifone) Lunde (BBA) is vice president account executive with Aon Risk Solutions.

■ Class of 1998

John W. George (BA '90, MA '93, MBA '98) is president of Radiophone Engineering, Inc. as well as chair for Young Presidents’ Organization, Inc. - Ozarks Chapter.

Doug Spencer (EMBA) is presently Chief Financial Officer for Level 3 Audio Visual, LLC in Mesa, Arizona.

■ Class of 1999

Bert Brown (BBA) is vice president of compensation and benefits at Hines Interest, LP in Houston.

Doug Linneman (MBA) is a soccer coach and VP of Kenco Apartment Communities.

Branden Mair (BBA) is a client business manager for AT&T.

Brent Mason (BBA) is a registered investment advisor in Los Angeles, CA, happily married, and has three children.

■ Class of 2000

Aaron Solganick (MBA) is the CEO and founder of Generation Equity Advisors, a technology and digital media-focused investment banking firm headquartered in Los Angeles, CA.

■ Class of 2001

John Carter (MBA) joined JP Morgan as the international head of the cash and liquidity markets group within the JPM Investor Services division. He and his wife, LouAnn, have recently relocated to London from New York City as part of his role with JPM.

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■ Class of 2010

Alan Khedairy (BBA) is an associate at Norton Rose Fullbright U.S., LLP in Houston, TX.

Will Hundley (BBA '09, MSA '10) was promoted to vice president at Energy Spectrum Advisors in January 2015. He is now in charge of a new business development. Energy Spectrum Advisors is a boutique energy investment bank, specializing in financial advisory services. Will married Emily Fatica (BBA '09) in April 2012, and lives in Dallas.

Frances Cannon Mitchell (BBA) lived overseas for three-and-a-half years with husband Noah Mitchell. They recently moved back to Dallas and are working together at Riata Corporate Group and TransAtlantic Petroleum Ltd. Frances serves as HR manager for a portfolio of companies primarily in oil and gas, and Noah serves as VP business development. She is excited and honored to be serving

■ Class of 2008Michael Alley (BBA) received his chartered financial analyst designation in 2014 and completed his MBA from Emory University’s Goizueta Business School in May 2015. In June 2015, Michael started working for Freestone Partners in Houston, TX.

Allison Ancona Brubaker (PMBA) and Elliot Brubaker are pleased to announce the arrival of their second daughter, Leah Morgan, in March 2015. Allison works at St. Andrew’s Episcopal School in Austin in the development and communications office managing annual giving and alumni relations.

Randall C. Decker (EMBA) senior vice president of merchandise planning and replenishment for HSN, was announced as the newest member of the board of directors for Habitat for Humanity of Pinellas County. Pinellas County Habitat for Humanity serves as one of the Top 10 affiliates of 1,500 affiliates worldwide. Randall will take an active role in working with the organization on its ReStore initiative, where organizations and individuals donate building supplies and home décor to be sold in order to fund the building of future homes for deserving homeowners.

Ross Gill (EMBA) was promoted to B767 interiors fleet lead for American Airlines in January.

Jeremy Vickers (MSE) left the Dallas Regional Chamber as vice president for innovation to become the executive director of the Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the University of Texas at Dallas.

on the Cox Alumni Board this year and looking forward to football season.

Saren Williams (BBA) graduated cum laude from the University of Miami School of Law in May 2015.

■ Class of 2011Elizabeth Dowell (BBA) celebrates her two-and-a-half year anniversary as vice president of the successful Kentucky startup Original Makers Club, based in Louisville, KY. The Original Makers Club is a curated lifestyle publication that explores ways for readers to discover the best local independent businesses and business owners in their community. It aspires to redefine the city guide concept by producing a lifestyle publication aimed at going beyond the traditional sense of a magazine. It is an aesthetically minded website and publication that shows the city’s local talent from a different perspective. Rather than relying on the

words of a writer, the Original Makers Club shows the true stories of people through imagery.

Faisal Nazary (BBA) works at Santander Consumer USA as a strategy and profitability analyst.

■ Class of 2012Rodrigo Chapa (BBA) is a corporate and investment banking analyst at BBVA Compass.

Cosmin Cotet (MBA) is assistant director at the John McEnroe Tennis Academy in New York City.

■ Class of 2013Sean Tremblay (MBA) began work in May as a business process consultant in McKesson’s Six Sigma group in Carrollton. His wife, Allison Tremblay, earned her MEd this spring through SMU Simmon’s Accelerated School Leadership program. They are expecting the birth of their first child, a son, in August.

Pil Ho Cho (MBA) is currently managing director at Cushing Asset Management LP. in Dallas.

Lauren Peterson (BBA) became a certified internal auditor.

■ Class of 2014Jonathan Hughes (BBA) is currently working as a financial analyst at Energy Transfer in Dallas.

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COX CONNECTIONS1. February 3: Dean Niemi delivers his annual Economic Forecast presentation at the SMU-in-Plano campus.

2. February 20: The Entrepreneurship Club and the Caruth Institute for Entrepreneurship sponsored the annual Business Plan Competition for Cox MBA and Lyle Engineering students. Pictured here: members of the winning team, BioLum Sciences, LLC, along with all the competition judges and coordinators.

3. February 22: Business Plan Competition: Rodney Taylor (MBA '15), Entrepreneurship Club member, Kevin Knox, assistant dean of external relations and executive director of the Cox Alumni Association and Abe Minkara, (PMBA '06) competition judge.

4. February 22: Doak Walker Awards: Mark Schortman (Cox Executive Board), Tracy Schortman, and Kevin Knox.

5. March 6: Graduate Marketing Certificate Program graduation ceremony keynote speaker: Darshan Gad (MBA '05), director of digital messaging of Hilton Worldwide.

6. March 9: New York City: Angela Raitzin (MBA '00, Cox Executive Board) hosted a reception for NYC-area alumni, friends, parents, and students. Shown here: Michael Caplan, assistant dean of MBA student services, Charlie Conroy (BA '10), Justin Short (MBA '01), John Carter (MBA '01), Brendan Foley (BBA '13), Eric Sabandal (BBA '13), Kevin Knox, and Matt Jensen (BBA '09).

7. March 11: Boston: Mike Skillman (Cox Executive Board, SMU parent) hosted a reception for alumni, friends, parents and students. Pictured here: Mike Skillman, Betsy Baumann (BBA '82, SMU parent) and Charles Mangum (BBA '86).

8. March 14: Hartford: American Conference Championship after an SMU win. Pictured here: Marcus Kennedy and Mike Skillman (Cox Executive Board, SMU parent)

9. March 23: Bank of Texas sponsored the Business Leaders Spotlight and hosted Chad Morris, SMU head football coach. Shown here: Norm Bagwell, chairman and CEO, Bank of Texas (BBA '85, Cox Executive Board), Brooke Hickey, football recruiting coordinator, and Coach Chad Morris.

10. April 2: Dallas Chop House hosted a reception for the Cox Alumni Association. Pictured: MBA admissions directors, J.R. McGrath and Katie Radcliffe, along with Robert Brownd (PMBA '13).

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11. April 2015: Cox Rugby: Andrew Rehwinkel (MBA ’15), Chris Musquiz (MBA '15), Travis Rape (MBA’15), James Starcher (MBA '16) and Brandon Wesley (MBA '15) at Fall Brawl in Austin, TX.

12. April 10-13: Cox Rugby Club at Fall Brawl in Austin, TX. The Ruggers had great success against outstanding competition.

13. April 10-13: Cox Rugby at the Duke MBA Rugby Championship.

14. April 17-20: SMU-in-Taos: Dean Niemi and Kevin Knox hosted the Cox Alumni Association Board of Directors for their spring board meeting at the Taos campus.

15. April 17-20: SMU-in-Taos: As a part of the agenda for the board members, their spouses and guests, Dean Niemi taught his Certificate of American Capitalism.

16. April 17-20: SMU-in-Taos: Dean Niemi presenting Holly Bock Deason her Certificate in American Capitalism.

17. April 24: Wilson Scholars Luncheon: Bob Wilson (BBA '66, Cox Executive Board) welcomes current Wilson scholars and alumni scholars at the annual luncheon. 18. April 24: Wilson Scholars Luncheon: Kim Keating (BBA '90), Paul Minton (BBA '84), Stephen Shannon (BBA '00), and Tracery Minton.

19. April 28: Dean Niemi’s Senior Send-off Picnic: Each spring, Dean Niemi hosts a picnic for all graduating BBA students.

20. April 28: Senior Send-off Picnic: Matthew Smoldt, Mackenzie Mulvey and Chloe Hoffacker, (all BBA ‘15).

21. April 28: Senior Send-off Picnic: Michael Packer and Stephanie Koh Chiew Ping, (all BBA '15).

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22. May 14: Dallas Business Club hosted Carl Sewell (SMU Board of Trustees, Cox Executive Board, BBA '66) as their keynote speaker at the Park Cities Club.

23. May 15: Cox Distinguished Alumni and Outstanding Young Alumni Awards luncheon 2014-15 award winners: Kyle D. Miller (BBA '01), Stephen L. Arata (BBA '88), Thaddeus Arroyo (MBA '89), Kim Vincent Butler (MBA '88), John Samuel-Aaron Relton (BBA '00, MSA '01).

24. May 16: SMU and Cox School 2015 Graduation: Members of the Perkins family attended commencement to celebrate Nick Sabourin’s (BBA '15) graduation from the Cox School. Jason Ross, Corrinne Ross, Kyle Perkins (BBA '09, Cox Alumni Board), Robbie Perkins, Seana Perkins, Patrick Perkins, Leslie Perkins, Randy Perkins (Cox Executive Board), Sandy Douglas, Courtney Laabs, Elizabeth Perkins.

25. May 18-22: Honolulu: Zac (MBA '04) and Holly (PMBA '04) Hirzel invited the Cox Alternative Asset Management students to attend the Hawaii Airlines Board of Directors annual meeting and be involved with presentations and discussions with board members and airline executives. Read more on page four.

26. May 21: Honolulu: Mark B. Dunkerley, president and CEO of Hawaiian Airlines, speaks to the Cox Alternative Asset Management students at the airline’s headquarters at Honolulu International Airport. Read more on page four.

27. June 3: Houston: Laura and Bill (MBA '71) Wheless hosted Dean Niemi, Cox alumni, students and parents at the Bayou Club. Bill Wheless welcomes those in attendance.

28. June 27: Mikaela Rivera, Kelly Purdom (PMBA '72), Sam Atwood (Groom, PMBA '72), Blair Wright (PMBA '72), Maddie Juenger (PMBA '72), Alba Arredondo (PMBA '72).

29. July 25: Santa Monica: The SMU Beach Party, coordinated by SMU alumni and friends in the Los Angeles-area and SMU’s Office of Development and Alumni Affairs, was well attended and certainly lots of fun. Pictured here: Steven Kitt (BBA '13), Sherri Skillman (SMU parent), Jim Bryan, associate dean of the BBA program.

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Top 10 Ways To Be Informed,Involved, Invested

Host receptions for Cox alumni, prospective students and parents in your area.

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Become an event sponsor: executive speaker events, tailgates, new student orientation sessions, undergraduate and graduate student club meetings, career fairs and social hours.

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9 Update us on your career and family for the Class Notes section of the Fall edition of CoxToday magazine. Email: communications@cox.smu.edu

Contact Cox Alumni Association board members in your area. Find the list of board members at smu.edu/cox/alumniboard or on page 37.

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1 Maintain a current mailing and email address in the Cox alumni database. Update it at coxalums.com

2 Attend Cox events: social hours, Dean’s Tailgates on the Boulevard, reunions, career fairs, educational forums, discussion panels, industry-specific organizations and awards programs. Invite classmates, alumni, friends, family and workmates to join you. Find our calendar of events at smu.edu/cox/alumnievents.

3 Help recruit students for Cox undergraduate, graduate and executive education programs.

4 Encourage employers to hire Cox students and alumni for internships, project work and part-time and full-time job opportunities.

5 Make a gift to the Cox Annual Fund and ongoing capital campaigns.

Proudly display your SMU Cox logo. T-shirts and ball caps available in the alumni office.

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Learn more at coxmasters.com

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