File #4505: "su-1875.pdf"

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I From the Dean I

MISSION STATEMENT:
We create a learning environment that enables our students to

emerge as succesiful leaders in the practice of global business and
public service. We value excellence in education and research) and
work with our students) alumni and business partners to achieve it.

T

he ability to embrace change is
essential to success in any profession.

Organizations and people today must be aware of
external influences affecting their business and react
to these changes or be left behind . They must also be
open to new ways of thinking, and new approaches
to product development or services.
At Suffolk's business school, we adopted a
new mission statement in March. This new
mission, highlighted above, incorporates our
new global vision and reflects recent changes
in business thinking. Throughout the year,
a faculty task force met to enhance the
Executive MBA curriculum. A similar
task force also examined the undergraduate
entrepreneurship curriculum.
Students at the business school learn to be open
to the many different approaches to problem
solving-they think outside the box and come
up with creative solutions to solving issues in a
complex global environment.
Consistent with our commitment to lifelong
learning, this issue of the Suffolk Business
Alumni Magazine is dedicated to innovation
and globalization. Each aspect of the magazine
discusses or focuses on innovation.

We begin with three articles written by
members of the Sawyer School faculty.
Professor Robert DeFillippi's article, The Spirit
ef Global Innovation, takes a look at how
organizations can lose their competitiveness
when they lose their innovative spirit.
Professor Ruth Ann Bram.son's article,
What Is Happening to American Democracy,
provides insight into how public administrators
can strengthen civic engagement. Finally,
Lin Guo's article, Integrating China into Global
Financial Markets, discusses China's newfound
acceptance into the global marketplace and
what this acceptance means to the Chinese
economy and financial markets.
In this issue we've profiled seven alumni
innovators and expanded the Alumni News
section to give you a better glimpse of some
of the many new networking opportunities
in the Boston, Cape Cod, South Shore, and

Metro West Alumni Chapters. Please
remember to set aside Suffolk's Alumni
Reunion Weekend,June 11-13, for classes
ending in 4s and 9s on your calendars.
I hope you enjoy this issue. I would like to
hear your thoughts and feedback on items
included in this issue and on items you would
like to see in the next issue. Post your feedback on the alumni section of the Sawyer
School's Web site at www.sawyer.suffolk.edu.
I look forward to seeing you at one of our
many alumni events during the year.
Very truly yours,

Willia
Dean

Preparing Successful Global Business Leaders
Suffolk Business /Sawyer School of Management

SuffolkBusiness
Suffolk University

Sawyer School of Management

SuffolkBusiness

Spring 2004

David J. Sargent
President

William J.O'Neill,Jr.
Dean

Susan C. Atherton

Contents

Associate Dean, Faculty and
Undergraduate Affairs

Shahriar Khaksari

10

Associate Dean/ Dean, International Programs

C. Richard Torrisi
Associate Dean/ Dean, Graduate Programs

THE SPIRIT OF INNOVATION
FOR A GLOBAL ECONOMY
by Robert DeFillippi, PhD
Professor of Management

Lillian Hallberg
Assistant Dean, Graduate Programs

Michael Lavin
Assistant Dean, Cape Cod Programs

Myra Lerman

12

Assistant Dean, Undergraduate Programs

Kelly Maclean Clark, BSBA '85
Major Gift Officer

WHAT IS HAPPENING TO
AMERICAN DEMOCRACY?
by Ruth Ann Bramson, PhD
Assistant Professor of Public Management

Paula Prifti Weafer
Director, Alumni Relations

Executive Editor

MidgeWilcke
Editor for Public Affairs

14

Rosemarie Sansone
Editor for Sawyer School
of Management

INTEGRATING CHINA INTO
G LO BA L F I NA N CI AL MA RKET S
by Lin Guo, PhD
Associate Professor of Finance

Teri M. Malionek, BSBA '89
Managing Editors

Tracey Palmer
Sara Romer
Steven Withrow
Copy Editor

Nancy Kelleher
Contributors

Solange Diallo, BSBA '03
Vicki Sanders
Art Direction/Design

Christine Hagg
Project Management

Sarah Medina

2

THE FIGURES

Photography

3

BUSINESS NEWS

Mark Alcarez
John Gillooly
Jovan Photography and Video
Tom Kates
Dan Oleski
Brian Phillips

16

ALUMNI NEWS

20

ALUMNI NOTES

Lawrence Tribune

Cover Photograph

Jacey (Debut Art)

SuffolkBusiness is published once a year
by the Sawyer School of Management.
It is produced by Creative Services/UMS
and distributed free of charge to alumni,

SEND LETTERS TO THE EDITOR TO:

Suffolk University, Suffolk Business Magazine
41 Temple Street, Rm. 481, Boston, MA 02114

students, friends, parents, faculty and staff.
The views expressed in this magazine do not
necessarily reflect the opinions of the editors
or the official policies of the University.

email SuffolkBusiness@suffolk.edu

The Figures
Strength in Numbers

Placement Success

Alumni

Domestic Employers (2002 partial list)

There are over 16,026 Sawyer School alumni worldwide.

SSOM Enrollment Trends
GRADUATE

UNDERGRADUATE
Campus Breakdown

Campus Breakdown

Boston, MA
Cape Cod,MA
Franklin, MA
Madrid, Spain
Dakar, Senegal

Boston,MA
Cape Cod,MA
Franklin, MA
North Andover, MA
Online

1,358
92
57
19
68

Total
Undergraduate Profile
Female
Male

1,068
64
52
104
56

Total

1,594

1,344

46%
54%

Graduate Profile
Female
Male

47%
53%

Massachusetts Residents
Out-of-State
International

69%
11%
20%

Full-time
Part-time
International

18%
82%
11%

Receiving Financial Aid

76%

Receiving Financial Aid

54%

(full-time only)

BSBA Major Breakdown
Management
Finance
Accounting
Marketing
International Business
Interdisciplinary Studies
Entrepreneurship
Public Administration

30%
18%
15%
15%
10%
9%
3%
1%

Graduate Major Breakdown
MBA
Public Administration/
Health Administration
(MHAIMPA)
Finance
(MSF/MSFSB, MSA, MST)

Top 10 Foreign Countries Sending Students to Suffolk
Bahrain
China
Colombia
India

Japan
Korea
Saudi Arabia
Taiwan

Turkey
Venezuela

Become a Country Ambassador!
Country Ambassadors assist prospective International students and
their families with questions about studying at Suffolk University and
living in Boston. For a list of current country ambassadors, visit our
Web site at www.suffolk.edu/internationalalumni.

2

Suffolk University

I Sawyer Sch ool of M anagement

62%
20%

18%

Cambridge Trust Company
Cape Cod Health Care
Digitas
Ernst & Young
Fidelity Investments
Genzyme Corporation
Global Advisors
Grant Thornton
Hill Holiday
John Hancock Financial Services
Massachusetts Department
of Public Health
Massachusetts General Hospital
Mellon Trust
Pricewaterhouse Coopers
Raytheon
Schaepens Research Institute
State Street Bank & Trust
Thomson Financial
US Department of Labor
Verizon
WHDH-TV

International Employers (2002 partial list)
United Bank for Africa
McKinsey & Company-Austria
Bangladesh Bank
Dai m lerCh rysler Corporation-Belgium
Standard Produce Dealers-Cameroon
Texas Instruments, Inc-Canada
The Royal Bank of Canada
Deloitte Consulting-Denmark
The Gillette Company EasternEuropean Division
World Trade Center-Ecuador
Quaestor Investment
Management- England
Hale and Dorr, LLP-England
Compaq Computer Corporation-France
The Sheraton Corporation-Hong Kong
Merrill Lynch & Company, Inc-Japan
Intel Corporation-Japan
Nigerian Agriculture Bank
Digital Equipment CorporationSingapore
The Hertz Corp.-Spain
Joseph E. Seagram & Sons, Inc-Taiwan
MetLife-Taiwan
Tisco Asset Management Co. Ltd.Thailand
Grant Thornton, LLP-Thailand
Ministry of Finance and Customs-Turkey
Toyota-Sabanci-Turkey
Saudi Aramco-Saudi Arabia

I Business News I

SUFFOLK BUSINESS GOES GLOBAL

International Study Program

"Every successful business is either global or will be global," said Shahriar Khaksari, Suffolk's
dean of international business programs. It is this fact that drove the launch this past fall of the
Sawyer School's new Global MBA, an innovative degree program designed to prepare global
business leaders.

Undergraduate and graduate students can
now expand their view of the world by participating in the International Study Program.
The program supplements students' study
of global business and enriches their overall
academic experience. International Travel
Courses are at the center of the program.

Under the leadership of Khaksari,' an interdisciplinary group of business school faculty members
developed an entirely new curriculum for the Global MBA. The program is offered full-time
and part-time and includes globally focused coursework, an in-depth study of the student's
choice of International Finance or International Marketing, and real-world international study
and work experiences.
"Effective managers must have the know-how and ability to forge global strategies and appreciate cultural and political differences," said Khaksari. "They must have a keen understanding
of how culture can shape business decisions. Suffolk's Global MBA is designed to provide individuals with the knowledge, skills and experiences they need to effectively manage, compete
and succeed in global business. We prepare men and women to lead successful businesses."
The core Global MBA curriculum enables students to build a solid knowledge base in key
functional areas of business and continuously challenges them to apply their knowledge across
cultures. After 12 months of academic coursework, students spend the last three months of
the full-time program earning credits as they work in a business enviromnent outside their
home country. Global MBA students may intern in a variety of industries, including consumer
products, e-conunerce, economic development, energy, finance, industrial manufacturing,
pharmaceutical, professional service, high technology, telecorm1rnnications or travel.
Employers may include start-ups.joint ventures or global corporations.
Business schools around the world have implemented international alliances and courses that bring
real-world global business issues into the classroom in response to an increasing need for effective
global business managers. Committed to establishing itself as a cutting-edge, globally focused
academic institution, the Sawyer School created an Office of International Business Programs,
headed by Khaksari in 2002. The launch of the Global MBA is just one piece of a larger plan.
New initiatives include globalization and enhancement of the undergraduate and graduate
curricula, the creation of increased strategic alliances with overseas universities and multinational
corporations, and expansion of students' global internship and employment opportunities.

Organized by Professor Teresa Nelson, as
part of the international business program,
international travel courses for 2004 include
visits to the Czech Republic, Chile, China ,
England, India, Belgium, the Netherlands
and Luxembourg.
Each travel course includes classroom time
in Boston studying the culture and economy
of the country to be visited; a seven to 10 day
visit to the country; ::tnd a follow-up class
and paper upon return. Students participating
attend lectures at a host institution, visit
corporations, and cultural sites.
The schedule for 2004 includes:
Undergraduate
Business in the European Union: Prague

Courses offered at Suffolk's Madrid Campus
Global Services Marketing
International Marketing
Introduction to International Business
Business in the European Union

Graduate

On the undergraduate side, this past fall, Dean O'Neill named Professor C. Gopinath director
of the global business program (formerly known as international business). First on Gopinath's
agenda was to evaluate the quality of the program. "The first important change we made was
to require all global business majors to have a minor," said Gopinath. "Most people enter an
organization through a functional area, like marketing or accounting. For our students to be
competitive, it's not enough to just major in international business."
Gopinath is excited about other undergraduate initiatives, such as the student-run International
Business Club and increased international travel seminars for undergraduates. "This spring we
have a group going to Prague, and in the sununer we'll offer four business courses on our
Madrid Campus," he said. O'Neill added, "These new initiatives solidify our commitment
to global business education." •

Operations Benelux
(Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg)
Financial Markets of London
Business in China
Doing Business in South America: Chile
Business in Bangalore, India

For course specifics, visit:
www.suffolkssom.org/ travel. •

Suffolk:Business

I Spring 2004

3

I Business

News I

SUFFOLK ACCOLADES

Students Get Down to Business

Suffolk's Sawyer School of Management was

Chopping onions, busing tables and mixing
drinks were all part of Suffolk's undergraduate
business curriculum last year-at least for a few
select students. As part of an educational collaboration with small-business advisers and owners
from Lawrence, Massachusetts, a group of ten
undergraduate business students got a hands-on
lesson in what it's like to run a small business.

selected for inclusion in the 2005 edition of
The Best Business Schools published by the

Princeton Review.
This is a student-driven publication that gives
prospective business students an insider's
view into the best MBA programs in the US.
NAFSA: Association of International
Educators has selected Suffolk University
to receive an award for its international
programs. Suffolk is one of eight institutions
to receive this award. •

Sponsored by Lawrence's Center for
Entrepreneurship and Business Development,
the program allowed students to get involved at
every level-providing manual labor, technical
advice, product pricing and small-business plans.

(L to R) Professor Lee Kulas; Paula Castilo, BSBA '04
(Marketing); Lenka Schmitzova, BSBA '04 (Management)
and Philip Wang, BSBA '04 (Finance) are pictured in front
of the Center for Entrepreneurship and Business
Development in Lawrence.

One of the businesses that benefited was the
Bali Tropical Cafe. Owner Carlos Veras was
very enthusiastic about the program, even before he met the students. "They [the students]
are going to know everything they can about the restaurant. Everything I know. Then I'm
going to take opinions from them," he said. The students helped Veras with advertising,
telemarketing and payroll.
The majority of the students involved in the Lawrence project were Griffin Honors Society
scholars (all averaging a GPA of at least 3.3). Lee Kulas, adjunct professor at Suffolk and
one-year executive director of Lawrence's Center for Entrepreneurship and Business
Development, initiated the project. •

c)rld 8'oston

WorldBoston Alliance Formed

AM11nN,ol lh1WorldAll11 C111ncU1olAan111
,s
u

The Sawyer School and WorldBoston
have teamed up to bring high-profile global
business leaders to the Boston community.
The WorldBoston/ Suffolk University Global
Leadership Series is a forum for discussion
on business trends and how they impact the
world economy.
His Excellency Karim Tawfiq Kawar, US
Ambassador to Jordan, was the series' first
featured speaker. Approximately 60 people
attended the event on November 14 at
Suffolk's Sargent Hall. Kawar was raised
in Amman,Jordan, and is credited with
launching the IT industry in Jordan.
He became ambassador in 2002.

Business school deans from across New
England gathered this past October on Cape
Cod to attend the annual meeting of the
Association for New England Business
School Deans.

(L to R) Mike Barretti; US Ambassador Karim Kawar;
Brandie Conforti, executive director, World Boston; and
Suffolk's Dean of International Business Programs
Shahriar Khaksari

The Suffolk/ WorldBoston connection came about through Michael Barretti, director of
executive education and lifelong learning, who also is a member of the WorldBoston board
of directors. Established in 1961, WorldBoston is a source for global engagement in the Boston
area, providing a better understanding of the complex forces that shape social, economic and
political activities around the world. For information on upcoming events, contact the executive
programs office at (617) 573-8660. •

4

Suffolk University

Suffolk Hosts New England
Business School Deans

I Sawyer School of Management

Sawyer School Associate Deans Susan C.
Atherton and Richard Torrisi organized
the program. Topics of discussion included
new AACSB International accreditation
standards, branding for business schools
and empowering faculty leadership. Speakers
included John Fernandes, president/ CEO of
AACSB International, and Jerry Trapnell, dean
of Clemson University and immediate past
chair of the AACSB International board. •

I Business News I

Suffolk MBAs get the EDGE

Bloomberg Comes to Suffolk

According to a survey published recently
in the Wall Street Journal's Guide to the Top
Business Schools, communication, strong
interpersonal skills and the ability to work
well with others in teams rated highest
among the skills recruiters seek when
interviewing business school graduates.

What does the business school have in
common with the Federal Reserve Bank
and the Vatican? They all use a Bloomberg
terminal to access the latest financial and
business information.

The Suffolk MBA EDGE (Empowerment,
Diversity, Globalization, Excellence)
Professor Michael Barretti (L) with a group of
Program is the professional development
MBA EDGE participants.
component that complements the Suffolk
MBA curriculum. Meeting throughout the
academic year, students gain the competitive advantage needed to succeed in today's dynamic marketplace. They develop their professional image by increasing their communication and leadership skills in this unique program.
The first MBA EDGE session relates new product development directly to entering MBAs.
Led by Michael Barretti, director of executive education and lifelong learning, students form
teams to develop and test a new product-a protector for an egg. Barretti's lecture, discussion
and hands-on exercises motivate students to picture themselves as a product in the development
stage. Students also interact with faculty and department chairs, learning about electives and
specializations they can choose to pursue in their MBA.
Networking opportunities throughout the day introduce students to each other, to Sawyer
School faculty, and to deans and administrators. While the day provides much valuable
information, it's also a time to socialize, design a "career path" apron, eat lunch on the Boston
Common and compete with faculty and deans in the annual MBA water balloon toss!
Other Suffolk MBA EDGE sessions address interview skills, writing the perfect resume,
corporate presentation skills, dressing for success and career development issues.
The EDGE luncheon series gives students the opportunity to meet informally with corporate
executives. Students learn firsthand what it takes to make it to the executive level. This fall,
students met with a leading healthcare CEO, a CFO, and a marketing executive.
It all comes together at the end of the year in an all-day business etiquette session. Students
receive formal coaching in an Art of Networking/ Executive Power Lunch. Students learn
proper dining techniques for a business lunch, how to "work a room" and how to gain the
competitive edge in a business social setting. •

New Tracks Prepare Students for Careers in Financial Planning
Aspiring financial planners can get on the fast track at the Sawyer School of Management.
The finance department has added two new options for those pursuing financial planning
careers: a certificate in financial planning and a certified financial planner track within the
undergraduate finance n1.ajor.
Each option offers a valuable opportunity for students to enhance their knowledge of
financial planning. Students can take courses in Personal Financial Planning, Estate Planning,
Taxation, General Insurance, Retirement Planning and Principles of Investments. Upon
completion of either program, students are entitled to take the CFP exam administered
by the CFP Board, which is the first step in the CFP certification process. For more
information, contact the finance department at (617) 573- 8396. •

This past fall, Suffolk business students and
faculty gained access to a Bloomberg terminal
thanks to the generosity of two Suffolk donors.
The terminals are located in the computer lab
on the fifth floor of the Sawyer Building.
"With a Bloomberg terminal, we have
instantaneous access to real-time financial
data, including stock prices, government and
corporate bond prices, exchange rates
and prices of derivatives," says Professor
Ki C. Han, chair of the finance department.
"Another great aspect is that the terminal
comes with a lot of valuable services, including the Product Certification program, which
all of our students can take advantage of."
The Bloomberg site, www.bloomberg.com,
is one of the top five most visited sites in
the United States for financial news, data
and analysis. •

MBA Students Serve as
Consultants for Change
A new elective offers MBA students
the opportunity to collaborate with local
for-profit and non-profit organizations to
diagnose a change dilenuna faced by these
organizations. Professor Regina O'Neill
developed MGOB 900 Managing
Organizational Development and Change
to help graduate students develop valuable
change management and consulting competencies through community outreach and
consulting projects. Students are working
with such organizations as the Gillette
Company, South Shore Elder Services,John
Hancock Financial Services, MassMentoring
Partnership, Summerbridge Cambridge,
Oxfam and United South End Settlements. •

SuffolkBusiness

I Spring 2004

5

Faculty Promotions
and Appointments
Ross Fuerman was awarded tenure with
promotion to associate professor of accounting.
Lin Guo was awarded tenure with promotion
to associate professor of finance.
Kevin Krauss was named clinical assistant
professor of management/ coordinator of entrepreneurial programs and director of Suffolk's
graduate programs at Merrimack College.
Gregory Markham was named instructor

of finance.

Ross Fuerman's research on the performance of accounting firms was the subject of
an article in Business vJ.-eek, October 28, 2002.
Fuerman's controversial study ranked major
auditing firms on how much risk they
represent to the companies, boards and
investors who rely on their work. His goal
is to track and publicize auditors' performance
so that they can improve.
Jerry Gianakis co-authored "Procuring
Expertise: The Case ofWater Rate
Consultants," published in the Journal
of Public Procurement.
C. Gopinath authored "Pitfalls in

Sandy Matava was appointed clinical assistant

professor of public management and director
of the Center for Public Management.

Implementing Corporate Strategy" in
the Journal of Business Strategy.

Teresa Nelson was awarded tenure with promotion to associate professor of management.

Ki Han , co-authored "Contagion Effects:
Evidence from the Asian Crisis," published
in the International Journal of Finance. He also
co-authored "Mexican Peso Crisis and its
Spillover Effects to Emerging Market Debt,"
in the Emerging Market Reviews.

Suzyn Ornstein was promoted to professor

Charles Mambula published "Acts of

of management.

Entrepreneurial Creativity for Business
Growth and Survival," in a special issue of the
International Journal for Social Economics.

Donald May was named instructor

of accounting.

Lewis Shaw was awarded tenure with

promotion to associate professor of accounting.

Public Management Department.

Daniel Sankowsky published "ProblemBased Learning: A Modified Approach for
Introductory Management Science," in the
Southwestern Business Administration Journal.

Faculty Publications

Lewis Shaw co-authored "Surf City,

Douglas Snow was named chair of the

Mai Datta co-authored "Executive

compensation structure and corporate equity
financing decisions," published in the Journal
of Business and "Convertible Bond Calls:
Resolution of the Information Content
Puzzle," published in the Journal of
Financial Intermediation.
Nick Dedeke authored "Dimensions of
Service Quality: An Interactions-Centered
Approach," in International Journal Managing
Service Quality, and "Building Quality into
Information Supply Chains: Robust
Information Supply Chains (RISC)," in the
AMCIS Monograph on Information Quality.
Dedeke and Beverly Kahn published,
"Model-based Quality Evaluation:
A Comparison of Internet Classifieds
Operated by Newspapers and NonNewspaper Firms," in the AMCIS
Monograph on Information Quality.

8

Suffolk University

Quickbooks Pro 2003 Accounting
Information System Analysis and Design,"
in the AIS Section Compendium for Cases and
Classroom (CJ) Tools supplement to Journal of
Information Systems. He also authored, "The
Relationship of Accounting Majors' Cognitive
Style and Technological Proficiency: Are
Students Prepared to Enter an Increasingly
Knowledge-Based Profession?" in the Review
of Business Iriformation Systems.
Doug Snow , co-authored "Budgeting
by Negotiation in Illinois," in Budgeting in
the States: Institutions, Processes and Policies,
Edward J. Clynch and Thomas P Lauth,
eds, (Greenwood).

I Sawyer School of Management

Faculty Awards
Excellence in Teaching: Associate
Professor of Accounting and Academic
Director of the MST Program James
Angelini. Angelini

teaches tax and
accounting courses
to a large audience
of undergraduates,
MBA and MST
students, both
online and on site.
He also developed
a number of new
courses that have
met the varying
needs of students and Associate Dean Richard Torrisi and
programs designed
Associate Professor James Angelini.
and taught the
online version of
TAX 801: Issues in Federal Taxation,
among other achievements.
Excellence in Research: Assistant
Professor of Public Management Ruth
Ann Bramson. Bramson's research focuses on

issues of change management, civic engagement, deliberation in public policy and ethical
leadership. Her major publications include
"Strategies for Engaging the Community
in Productive Public Conversations about
Immigration Issues," co-authored with M.
Leighninger and published in the Journal of
Economic Development; and "Group Methods for
Whole System Change in Public Organizations
and Communities: An Overview," published in
the Public Organization Review and co-authored
with T. Buss.
Excellence in Service: The Global MBA
Team An interdisciplinary faculty team at

the origin of the creation of the Global MBA
program. Members of the Global MBA team
include, Associate Professor of Marketing
Nizamettin Aydin, Clinical Assistant Professor
of Marketing Michael Barretti, Business Law
and Ethics Associate Professor Mark Blodgett,
Associate Professor of Finance Mai Datta,
Professor of Management Robert DeFillippi,
Assistant Professor of Management Christian
DeLaunay, Associate Professor of Management
C. Gopinath, Professor of Information

Systems and Operations Management Denis
Lee, Professor of Accounting Morris Mclnnes,
Associate Professor of Management Teresa
Nelson, Associate Professor of Public
Management Douglas Snow and Associate
Professor of Management Alberto Zanzi.

Teresa Nelson presented "The Comparative
Participation of Women as Governance
Leaders Across Economic Sectors: Is the
Promise of Entrepreneurship Fulfilled?" at the
Annual Babson-Kau:ffi-nan Entrepreneurship
Research Conference, Boston, MA.

This year a new faculty award, the Global
Business Education Award , was established.
The Global Business Education Award is given
to individuals committed to the development
of global business and was presented to
Associate Professor of Management Teresa
Nelson. Nelson, whose areas of expertise
include international business and strategic
management, has been at the forefront of
Suffolk's opening to global business. She has
organized a number of trips and seminars
with Suffolk students and exposed the Suffolk
community to various aspects of globalization.

Tracey Noga presented "Behavioral
Determinants of Students' Intention in
Participating in Teaching Evaluations" and
"Evaluating Statistical Methodologies in a
Taxpayer Elasticity Context" at the American
Accounting Association Annual Meeting.

Faculty Presentations
at Conferences

Faculty Leadership Roles in
Professional Associations
Robert Defillippi , was appointed to the
editorial board of the Organization Management
Journal (Sponsor Eastern Academy of Management). Also, he was appointed liaison for
project-based learning, Management Education
Division, Academy of Management, for a
three-year term of office.

Robert Defillippi presented "US Academics
Teaching Abroad" at the Professional
Development Workshop presentation on
"Short-Term. International Assignments" at
the Academy of Management, Seattle, WA.
Also, he presented, "Knowledge Work, the
Knowledge Diamond and its Enacted
Knowledge Space," at the 19th Colloquium
of European Group for Organization Studies
(EGOS), Copenhagen, Denmark.

Colette Dumas joined the newly established
Practice-Oriented Education Research
Network organized by the Knowles Chair,
Northeastern University. The network studies
methods of learning that integrate experience
in the world with experience in the classroom
(called practice-oriented education) . Its
research will focus on practice- oriented education's critical success factors and outcomes.

Colette Dumas presented "The Present
Moment is the Perfect Teacher: How
Mediation Can Inform our Teaching," at
the 30th Organization Behavior Teaching
Conference, Springfield, MA.

Jerry Gianakis was elected to the executive
council of MassASPA, the local chapter of the
American Society for Public Administration.
Also he was invited to serve on the management team of the incoming president of that
national organization.

C. Gopinath presented "Strategic Issues," at

the SRM Institute of Management Studies,
Kattankulathur, India. Also he gave a lecture on
"Indigenous Management," at the Rajaji Centre
for Public Affairs and YMIA, Chennai, India.
Laurie Levesque presented "Teaching Boot
Camp 101" and "Teaching Boot Camp 102"
at a Professional Development Workshop at
the Academy of Management Annual
Conference, Seattle, WA.

In Memoriam
William Lee
Sutherland, BSBA
'59, MEd '75
Retired Professor of
Management William
Lee Sutherland died
on September 2,
2003, in Billerica,
MA. He was 71.
Sutherland served for
32 years on th~ Sawyer School faculty, where
he taught the management principles course.
He was the faculty recording secretary and
adviser to the American Management
Association.
Sutherland is survived by his wife of 45
years, Maria (Anatos); two sons, Drs. William
Sutherland and Phillip Sutherland; his daughter,
Dr. Sandra Sutherland; and seven grandchildren.
Sutherland's sons, William and Phillip, earned
their undergraduate degrees from Suffolk's
College of Arts and Sciences, and his daughter, Sandra, earned her BSBA and MBA from
Suffolk's business school. Sandra's husband,
Habib Rahman earned his JD from Suffolk
Law School and was a part-time accounting
instructor at the Sawyer School.
David Pfeiffer, retired professor and
former chair of the Public Management
Department, died in his home on Hawaii
on December 17, 2003.
An internationally renowned scholar and
author in the field of disability studies, Pfeiffer
taught public administration and disability
issues to Suffolk students from 197 4 to 1994.
Most recently, he was the Resident Scholar
at the Center on Disability Studies at the
University of Hawaii at Manoa.
One of Pfeiffer's last professional pursuits
was the establishment of a new journal in the
field of disability studies, titled the Review of
Disability Studies (RDS): An International
Journal. He was serving as lead editor for the
new journal and wrote an introductory paper
for the first issue published in January 2004.
Pfeiffer is survived by his wife, Barbara,
two daughters, and a grandson.

SuffolkBusiness

I Spring 2004

9

Why are only 1O percent of Fortune 500
companies from 25 years ago successful today? What happened
to the 90 percent that did not make the list? Part of the answer
lies in the fact that these companies lost their innovative spiritthe very same spirit that originally contributed to their success.

TheSpirit .
Inn ox. __.
__
by Robert Defillippi
Professor of Management

W

hy do companies that once achieved global market leadership through
innovative products and services unwittingly condemn themselves to

eventual decline? One needs only to look at the Boston corporate landscape of the past
20 years to see examples of this paradox. Why have DEC (Digital Electronic Corporation),
Lotus and countless other previously dominant high-technology companies disappeared?
Paradoxically, these firms were generously endowed with all the intellectual and technolog-

ical resources needed to continue their global market leadership. So, why couldn't these
firms leverage their resources?

The study of the management of innovation provides several insightful answers to these
questions. First, companies that are successful innovators typically develop close relationships
with their current customers and become beholden to them for current and future profits and
revenue growth. By satisfying demands of current customers, these same companies often blind
themselves to the innovative possibilities for creating future value for new customers in markets
they may not be currently serving.

10

Suffolk University

I Sawyer School of Management

Can companies reclaim the spirit of innovation?
To survive in today's dynamic global economy, they must.
Clay Christensen, author of the Innovator's
Dilemma (Harvard Business School Press, 2000)
describes such innovations as disruptive innovations. He suggests that they are most likely to
be commercialized in non-mainstream markets
which are not completely satisfied by current
product offerings. Such markets are frequently
found outside the scope of the company's business forecasts and, if they are identified, often
carry unacceptably high market risk combined
with unacceptably low revenue growth and
profit potential to attract corporate support.
As a result, corporate investment in proposed
"disruptive innovations" lag. Additionally, the
best and brightest people who champion these
ideas grow disenchanted. Eventually, the more
entrepreneurally minded of these innovators
either leave to start new companies or join
rival companies more sympathetic to their
new ideas. In either case, the old company
has lost not only the idea of the moment but,
perhaps more importantly, some of its most
entrepreneurial talent.

spirit of innovation must extend beyond the
boundaries of any single firm and embrace
each participating player in such collaborative
knowledge networks. Fortunately, advances in
internet and communications technology are
reducing the requirements for physical colocation of people in innovative collaborations.
However, geographically separate innovative
partners still need to share a similar spirit of
innovation, a similar commitment to innovative practice and inter-relating that can make
creative collaboration work at a distance. These
skills of virtual collaboration are among the
most important new skill sets of today's business students, whose future innovative work
will often arise in collaborative networks of
geographically dispersed business units.

Spirit of Innovation Series
Professor DeFillippi has developed a Spirit
of Innovation speakers program and executive workshop for alumni and business
practitioners. The first workshop was held
on November 6 at the Marriott Hotel in
Burlington. The event was co-sponsored by
SRI International, an international leader in
research and technology development.
An increasing number of organizations are
focusing on innovation as a means to create value. Silicon-Valley based SRI (Stanford
Research Institute) International, founded in
1946, is expert at maximizing value through

MBA students examine best (and sometimes
worst) innovation practices of firms in a wide
range of industries in the Management of
Technology and Innovation course that I
teach. In this course, MBA students engage in
field research, where they examine the types
of disruptive innovations currently impacting
the global economy and analyze the likely
impact of these innovations on current and
future market leadership and on industry
practices. Additionally, MBAs examine
companies engaged in n10re open models
of innovation and analyze their practices for
discovering, accessing and commercializing
external sources of innovation.

History seems to suggest that companies lose
their way when they lose the very spirit of
innovation that originally contributed to their
success. The spirit of innovation for a global
economy means that a company must be
willing to scan the globe for best practices
and innovative product, service and business
model concepts. Innovation must not only
be internally developed but also discovered
and acquired from external sources. Henry
Chesbrough, author of Open Innovation
(Harvard Business School Press, 2003), suggests that companies today need to develop
open systems of innovation, where companies
are engaged in harnessing external ideas from
worldwide sources while at the same time
utilizing its in-house innovative capabilities to
bring new ideas to the marketplace through a
variety of pathways. This may take the form.
of spin-off ventures, strategic alliances or
the licensing of their intellectual property
to others better able to commercialize their
innovative technologies and processes.

Robert DeFillippi specializes in understanding how
the new economy is creating opportunities for project
based models of organizing careers, enterprises and
learning communities. He is developing a course on
Knowledge Management based on his forthcoming
co-authored book Knowledge at Work (Blackwell
Press) which elaborates on creating and capturing
value from collaborative innovation. He is also
developing a course on innovation and international
competitiveness that will examine how specific types
of industry innovations .flourish in dijferent international settings and provide those country-specific
players unique global competitive advantage.

My own research suggests that much innovation today occurs in virtually organized innovation networks through which innovation is
collaboratively developed by its participants
and the economic value captured and appropriated among network participants through
reciprocally negotiated agreements. As the
complexity, costs and risk of innovative global
product or service offerings increase, the

DeFillippi is executive officer of the International
Academy of Management professional society, where
he is past chair for the division on Management
Education and Development. He holds a master's
degree and a doctoral degree in Organizational
Studies from Yale University and a master's degree
in social work from the University of Maryland. He
recently won an international competition to study at
one of the leading centers of innovation in the UK.

innovation. Its experts have defined a systematic process for generating high customer value for organizations and meeting
the strategic needs of their clients. Dr.
Leonard Polizzotto, Vice-President of
Business Development and Marketing for
SRI International led the 4-hour interactive
workshop. The workshop touched upon
SRl's best practices for creating high-impact
value for customers from successful
technology and product ideas.

Creative Sparks: Igniting Innovation
through Theory and Practice
The second workshop was sponsored by
Suffolk's Metro West Alumni Chapter on
April 22. Professor DeFillippi was joined
by Sushi I Bhatia, EMBA '79, at the Concord
Colonial Inn.
An author, entrepreneur, and inventor,
Bhatia earned his PhD in polymer chemistry
from the University of Liege in Belgium. He
is president/CEO of JMD Manufacturing.

SuffolkB11si11ess

I Spring 2004

11



What is
happening to

n1er1can
M

any analysts, academics
and thoughtful citizens are

worried about the health of our civic life
in the United States.
Voting rates have dropped about 25 percent
since the 1960s, and the proportion of people
who tell pollsters that they "trust the federal
government to do what is right" has fallen
from three-quarters in the early 1960s to less
than a third at the turn of the twenty-first
century. In his book, Bowling Alone, Robert
Putnam points to a decline in institutions
such as clubs, professional groups, neighborhood organizations and other forms of
communal and associational life in America.
Concern about declining levels of civic
engagement has led many observers to
advocate reforms designed to strengthen
associations, and foundation dollars are flowing
to voluntary groups for community building.
This is important work-strong civic organizations are essential to a healthy democracy. But
the most important breakthroughs in the
effort to strengthen civic life in the United
States, I believe, will come from changing the
way the institutional paradigm works in government, especially local government, and
from public managers who view themselves as
catalysts and facilitators of civic engagement.

by Ruth Ann Bramson
Assistant Professor of
Public Management

12 Suffolk University

I Sawyer School of Management

Engagement means that the people who are
involved in a problem have a responsibility,
working with others of differing views, to try
to devise a solution that will work and that
will be accepted by most of those affected.
William Ruckelshaus described this approach
well in a 1996 lecture when he presented
several instances in which public adm.inistrators
stepped back from their accustomed roles and
served as facilitators and supports while citizens
directly affected by an environmental problem
hammered out solutions. Ruckelshaus said,
"Historically, public administration has prided
itself on its ability to apply the tools of rationality to complex problems. In the future,
many decisions will, rather, em.erge from
group processes. The role of the public administrator will be largely to foster the process and
make sure that it has technical support . .. "

en1ocrac
If public administration is to be a key element
in strengthening civic life in America, how
can we make it happen? The research on civic
engagement specifies requisite characteristics
of democratic self government for a strong
civil society. The first essential feature is ongoing public dialogue on significant community
issues in which any individual or group may
participate. The second requisite is to nurture
the organizations and forums that provide
spaces for public conversations. City council
and school board chambers, legislative halls
and other official forums are essential for the
conduct of formal government business. But
such settings do not provide an environment
conducive to sharing personal stories or
listening to and learning from others
about community problems.
The third requirement for civic engagement
concerns political and administrative culture.
In our governmental system. of partisan politics, regulations and hierarchical bureaucracies,
problems typically are framed in political
terms, and they rapidly become the subject
of legislation. Once laws are passed, issues are
moved to the turf of government agencies
to be "solved." When it becomes evident
that public administration cannot solve many
of our most pressing public problems, the
bureaucracy becomes the object of political
scorn. Candidates for public office find that
criticism of government is often effective
politics. But such criticism does little to solve

public problems and results in citizens who
question the legitimacy of our political and
administrative institutions. An alternative is a
system whereby citizens engage more directly
in democratic self governance.
Fourth, historically, public administration has
emphasized expert professionalism. Now, in order
to strengthen community a shift is needed to a
facilitative or catalytic role. The same is true for
other professions, such as law, medicine or education. In these fields, appropriate practice now
must include not only content expertise but
also engaging the community. This means both
providing expertise and developing processes
whereby the community can deliberate on its
problems and collaborate to resolve them.

If these are civic engagement imperatives,
how can we make them happen? Many organizational reform efforts are based on a "best
practices" approach of importing the innovations of others. In civic engagement reform,
however, the primary objective is not to emulate the innovations of others, but rather to push
issues back to the community and foster public
deliberation through which a community can
define and interpret its problems and determine
how and by whom problems should be
addressed. In addition to learning from the best
practices of others, creative conmmnity problem
solving requires "best processes." It involves
means by which individuals and groups can
take ownership of problems by framing them



in terms that are meaningful to conmmnity
members, explore common ground as well
as differences and dialogue about whether and
how to act together. The process involves identifying public assets, bringing people together
to address the problem, identifying alternative
approaches, creating conditions for public
action, and deciding on the criteria by
which to evaluate actions publicly.

If public administrators, who are part of the
authority, lawmaking and procedural system,
understand and value these conmmnity best
processes they can adapt our governmental
system to the features of a strong civil society.
Can public administration rise to this challenge?
I sincerely hope so. The foture of our democracy
might well depend on it.
From designing and facilitating community planning
processes to developing training on leadership and
community problem solving, Ruth Ann Bramson's
expertise is helping organizations in transition.
Her current focus involves building community-based
knowledge and skills for deliberative dialogue on
public issues. Bramson 's background includes positions in local government, media, nonpreftt consulting, and political campaign management as well as
extensive voluntary community involvement.
At Suffolk she teaches courses in effective government,
leadership and community and civic engagement.
She holds a master's in public administration from
Harvard University's JFK School ef Government
and a doctorate from the Union Institute.

Suffolk's Public Administration

attempt to reap the benefits of citizen and public

bring together diverse individuals and groups

Department began offering a Master's in Public

engagement. Public Involvement Strategies and

from multiple institutions, sectors and jurisdic-

Administration degree in Community Leadership

Facilitation Methods is a skill-based course

tions and work together toward solutions.

and Public Engagement in fall 2003. It is the first

grounded in group theory. Also, students in this

such program in the country. The courses in the

program take a course in either alternative dispute

program provide graduates with the specialized

resolution or negotiation. As a program capstone,

knowledge and skills to reinvigorate civic life and

students complete an internship or practicum

lead participatory public processes. Students in

assignment that involves working on real

this new degree program take four required cours-

community problems-learning by doing.

community organizing and community building.
The Civic Innovation and Effective Governance
course examines a variety of civic innovations that

not only to public sector practitioners, but also
to managers in non-profit and private sector
organizations who need access to people with
the advanced knowledge, specialized skills and
experience to engage multiple stakeholders in

es: The Community and Citizen Empowerment
course focuses on the theory and methods of

The courses in this program will be of value

In addition, a new course has been added to the

collaborative problem solving and to guide others

required core for all MPA graduates. Leadership

in doing so. The courses in this new program are

Strategies for an Interconnected World explores

designed to prepare Sawyer School graduates

the challenges facing public leaders who need to

to do this important work.

Sulfolknu,/111·,.,

I

Spr!ll:-',

~()(1-j.

1_)

f NT E c; RAT I N c; CH I NA
into Global Financial Markets

by Lin Guo

Associate Professor
of Finance

ccording to a poll of forecasters published by The Economist on
January 29, 2004, China is once again expected to be the fastest
sprinter among 25 emerging economies, with a projected GDP growth rote
of 8.5 percent in 2004. This is after the country's GDP had grown at an average annual rate of
nearly 9 percent for the past two decades. Using GDP figures converted at purchasing-power
parity, the Bank Credit Analyst, a Canadian research firm, estimates that the United States
accounted for 20 percent of global growth from 1995 to 2002, while China's share was 25
percent. The rest of emerging Asia contributed another 18 percent. China's accession to the
World Trade Organization (WT O) in December 2001 showed the country's deepest new
commitment to economic reform. China is now required to abide by the WTO's rules on
free and fair trade and to open its financial markets to foreign com.petition.

14

Suffolk University

I

Sawyer School of Management

As China increasingly is integrated into the
world economy, the country's financial system
is undergoing profound structural changes.
Through more than two decades of reform
and developn1ent since the country opened its
markets to the outside world, China's financial
sector now consists of a rich variety of financial-services firms, two stock exchanges and
three centralized regulators overseeing banking,
insurance and securities firms. The rapid rise
of China's stock markets has been astounding.
Until 1990 China had no stock market at all,
and until 1993 no Chinese company was listed
abroad. Nowadays, mainland China's two stock
exchanges, the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock
exchanges, have about 1,200 listings and a market capitalization of around $500 billion. This
makes China third in Asia, after Japan and Hong
Kong, and numerous mainland Chinese companies have listed their shares in Hong Kong and
foreign markets. The securities industry has
grown rapidly since the early 1990s. There were
131 securities firms at the end ofJanuary 2004.
Yudong Hou, MSF '99, executive vice president
of GF Northern Securities in China and author
of Ti'f;c,[l Street Securities Practice, has witnessed the
growth of the industry firsthand. He estimates
that his company's client assets increased by 25
percent, from 3.2 billion RMB to 3.9 billion
RMB in 2003.
"Compared to its scale of economy and population, the Chinese securities market has great
potential;' says Hou. "Today there are 30 rnillion stock and bond holders; this number could
double or even triple in the next ten years."
However, danger lurks behind the dazzling
growth of China's economy and financial markets. In the stock markets, the risk lies on the
quality of the listed companies, of which more
than 90 percent are state-owned enterprises
(SOEs), and many have abysn1al profitability,
poor information disclosure and weak corporate governance. Most private firms have been
denied access to the stock market. To ensure
listed firms remain under state control, the
government and SOEs own about two-thirds
of all shares in the market, and these state
shares and legal entity shares cannot be traded
in the stock market. The illiquidity of these
shares and the lack of incentive mechanisms
and legal infrastructure to improve profitability
of the SOEs distort the capital-allocation
function of the stock market.
In the banking system, the pressing issue is the
huge number of nonpe1forming loans on
banks' books. China's financial system is largely
bank-based, dominated by four state-owned

conm1ercial banks. The "big four" banks
account for about 60 percent of total deposit
and loan volumes and hold about 50 percent of
the overall financial assets of the country. The
government estimates that 23 percent of the big
four's loans are non-performing. However, most
independent experts think the true figure is a
third or more. All the big four banks are now
technically insolvent by any economic measure.
For years, these bartks have been tools for government-directed lending to SOEs, and they
cannot restore their solvency unless they can
assess risk and price their products and services
according to economic principles.
According to China's WTO agreement, the
country must allow foreign banks to conduct
corporate banking business in local currencies
within two years after its WTO entry and to
conduct retail banking with Chinese individuals
five years after its WTO entry. The entry of
foreign banks will erode the market share of
many Chinese banks that lack capital, technology, skilled employees and competitive financial
products. It is urgent for Chinese banks to
deepen reforms and enhance their ability
to meet the challenges.
On January 6, 2004, the Xinhua news agency
announced that the Chinese state injected
$45 billion-one-tenth of its foreign-exchange
reserves-into the country's two largest
banks, the Bank of China and the China
Construction Bank. "This is no doubt the most
important banking reform in China's banking
history," said Zhongyang Chen, a finance professor at Renmin University and a Fulbright
scholar who visited the Sawyer School last
year. "This capital injection will help the banks
to clean up their nonpe1forming loans before
their upcoming IPOs. The main purpose in
selling the banks is to change their ownership
structure and conm1ercialize bank lending. The
expectation is that banks with improved corporate governance will lend more productively
and more prudently than what they are doing
now." Let us hope that the pressures brought
by foreign competition will speed up China's
economic reforms and smooth the country's
integration into the global financial markets.

"THIS IS
NO DOUBT
THE MOST
IMPO~TANT
BAN KIN~
~EFO~M
IN CHINA'S
BAN KIN~
HISTO~Y"
-Zhongyang Chen
Finance Professor at
R enmin University,
Fit/bright Scholar, Sawyer School
of Management 2002-2003

Lin Guo earned a bachelor of arts degree in international economics from Nankai University in the
People's R epublic of China and a doctorate in
finance from Boston College. Her work is frequently
published, and she has presented widely on issues
concerning banking and international financial management. She is undergraduate program director for
the finance department at Suffolk, where she has
taught since 1996.

SuffolkBusiness

I Spring 2004 15

Alumni News I

REGIONAL CHAPTER EVENTS
The Suffolk University Alumni Association hosted a series of fall events sponsored
by regional alumni chap ters. Chapters include the N orth Shore, South Shore, Boston,
M etro Wes t, Cape Cod and N ew York . Each chapter plans to sp onsor two events annually
to provide alumni w ith opportunities to network and reconnect.
South Shore Alumni gathered at the Light Keeper's M ansion in C ohasse t and enj oyed an
authentic clambake on September 10. M etro West alumni gathered on September 17 at the
historic Wayside Inn in Sudbury fo r a hands-on cooking demonstration and discussion about
the history of the inn. North Shore alumni were treated to an Australian wine tasting with
a talk about historic Salem at the H awthorne Hotel on September 24, w hile Boston alumni
savored a decadent chocolate tasting at the Langham H otel in B oston on O ctober 1.
For m ore information about regional alumni chapters, please call Paula Prifti Weafer,
at (617) 994- 4231 or email pweafer@suffolk. edu. •

Pamela Scangas, BA '72, with President
David J. Sargent at the Chocolate Tasting
for Boston Chapter alumni.

(L to R) Mike Malaguia, MBA '99; Lisa Malaguia; Jodi
Connors, BS '94, JD '97 and Lori Esta no at the South
Shore Alumni Chapter Clambake.

(L to R) Kate Connor; Phillip Connor, MSF '94; Helen Lee,
MBA '97; Ed Chin, MBA '97; and Linda Klein, MBA '74; at
the Metrowest Chapter event at the Wayside Inn.

(L to R) Dr. Sushi I Bhatia, EMBA '79; Sanjeeb Swain, EMBA
'00; and Julie Swain at the Metro West Chapter event at
the Wayside Inn.

Fifth Annual SK Road _..
Race Yields Biggest
Numbers to Date!
Suffolk's Fifth Annual SK Road Race saw
a marked increase in participation this year,
with 135 runners representing the entire
Suffolk community. This annual run benefits
the Suffolk University Alumni Leadership
Scholarship Fund. "The Road Race
Committee is pleased to organize such a
wonderful event that is truly a Universitywide effort," said event Co- chair Bill Fonte,
BSBA '83, MBA '89. "We look forward to a
bigger and better race next year." Mark your
calendars for the 6th Annual Sk on
September 19, 2004. •

State Treasurer Speaks
at MSF Reception
State Treasurer Timothy Cahill addressed
MSF students and alunmi at the Bay
Tower Room
on October 17.
He spoke about
the many challenges that face
the Treasurer's
Office in light
of the state's
poor econonuc
health and the
different ways
in which he
and his team
(L t o R) Dea n William J. O'Neill, Jr.,
are working to
and Massachusetts State
address them.. •
Treasu rer Tim Cahill.

16

Suffolk University

I Sawyer School of Management

Alumni News I

CORPORATE AFFINITY PROGRAMS
The University's Corporate Affinity Programs
offer opportunities for companies with large
numbers of Suffolk graduates to gather for
networking, professional development and
social gatherings at their work sites.

Alumni at John Hancock enjoyed an
informative and entertaining discussion
about baseball as a brand-building tool,
featuring Steve August, John Hancock
Major League Baseball consultant; Bob
Montgomery, form.er Red Sox catcher and
sports commentator; and Rich Gedman,
former Red Sox catcher. The event was
held at John Hancock on October 23.

Dean William]. O'Neill,Jr., and alumni
from Citizens Bank shared a holiday
lunch at the Wyndham Boston Hotel on
December 10. Luncheon conversation
included news from the Sawyer School
and O'Neill's vision for its future. •

State Street Corporation alumni
attended an after-work reception at the
Downtown Club on the 33rd Floor of the
State Street tower to hear from Ned Riley,
senior principal and chief financial strategist
for State Street Global Advisors, on
November 20.

(L to R) Robert Keating; Kristen Harrington, BSBA '92;
and Christopher Sullivan, director of the Annual Fund,
Suffolk University; at the State Street Corporation event.

Employees at Fidelity organized an afterwork alumni reception at the Langham
Hotel in Boston on December 3.

President's Reception ~
Fifty alumni and friends joined President
David J. Sargent at the New York Historical
Society in Manhattan on October 28. Sargent
brought news from campus and announced
the University's launch of the Centennial
Scholarship Program and the need to bolster
the endowment on behalf of scholarship aid.
Similar receptions were held in San Francisco
and Los Angeles in March. Alumni interested
in learning m.ore about the Centennial
Scholarship Program should call Ann
Peterson at (617) 305-1908. •

Washington, DC, Alumni Gather
On November 4, Washington, DC, alumni
gathered at the Cosmos Club to hear Nique
Fajors, BSBA '89, senior policy adviser for the
Office of the Secretary at the US Department
of Commerce in Washington, DC. •

(L to R) Angela Nunez, BSBA '82, MBA '87, APC '96;
Michael Murray, BS '78; and Janice Di mania, MBA '92;
at the John Hancock Corporate Affinity Reception.

Managing and Leading
in Troubled Times T

(L to R) Joseph J. Beard, JD '69; Joe Dodi,
MBA '96; and President David J. Sargent.

Guy Santagate, BSBA '62, currently the city
manager for Claremont, New Hampshire,
spoke to MPA students and alumni on
October 20. Santagate shared insights drawn
from his 35 years of combined managerial
experience in the public and private sectors,
at the National Bankcard Corporation,
Chelsea Board of Assessors, State Street
Bank, First United Foods, Chelsea Board
of Alderm.an and the Chelsea Housing
Authority. As city manager of Chelsea,
Massachusetts, he engineered the nationally
recognized rebirth of a distressed city. •

SAVE THE DATE!
Reunion Weekend 2004

(L to R) Dean William J. O'Neill, Jr.; Guy Santagate, BSBA
'62; Douglas Snow, chair of the MPA Department; and
John Nucci, MPA '77.

SuffolkBusiness

I Spring 2004

17

Alumni News I

Upcoming Events
May 2004

Alumni Event at Jacob Wirth's

20041200s

July 2004

North Shore Alumni Chapter

The Lowell Spinners

May2

July 24

Peabody Essex Museum
Tour and Brunch
Salem, MA

Lowell Spinners vs. Vermont Expos
Lelacheur Park, Lowell, MA

More than 50 alumni from class years 1994
to 2003 ushered in the holiday season with beer
tasting, hors d' oeuvres and networking at Jacob
Wirth's on December 1. Alumni had a chance to
mingle and make new friends during an evening
that will become a bi-yearly tradition for T
the Alumni Association. •

August 2004
Recent Alumni Night at the Rack
May27

Join alumni from class years
1994-2003 for a night of mixing
and mingling!
Boston, MA

June 2004
Reunion Weekend 2004
Friday-Sunday, June 7 7-73

Celebrating class years ending
in 4 and 9.
Alumni Night at the Boston Pops
"Pops Around the World"
June 25

Alumni at the Red Sox
August 75

Boston Red Sox vs. Chicago White Sox
Fenway Park, Boston, MA

September 2004
Suffolk's 6th Annual SK Road Race
September 79
Benefits the Alumni Leadership Scholarship
Fund. Visit: www.suffolk.edu/roadrace

March 2005

(L to R) Amy Rafferty, MBA '00; Mary O'Donahue, MBA '03;
and Margaret Horgan, MBA '03 .

Mark your calendar!
Alumni Trip to England
March 8

Symphony Hall
Boston, MA

Suffolk's second annual alumni travel
program visits the English countryside.
For details, contact pweafer@suffolk.edu
or (617) 994-4231.

International Alumni Network
Suffolk University's International Alumni Office sponsors a variety of events all over the globe
for alumni, parents, prospective students, and friends of Suffolk University.
For more information on upcoming events visit the International Alumni Programs Office Web
site at www.suffolk.edu/internationalalumni or contact Dorothy Zahir, director of international
alumni relations, at dzahir@suffolk.edu.
International Alumni Network Representatives
Argentina/Spain
Marcela Poporato, MSA '96
docporporato@iese.edu
Brazil/Spain
Juliana Souza Campos,
MBA/MSF '03
jscampos@lycos.es
France
Tugdual Denis, MBA '03
tugdualdenis@hotmaiJ.com
Greece
Faye lfanti, MED '98
01 8022 574
Indonesia
Febrianty Buncaran, BSBA '02
febrian ty_b@yal100.com

18

Italy
Netherlands
Alessandra Gambarotta, BA '02 Annelie Slanemyr-Phillips,
BSBA '95, EMBA '00
agambaro tta@hotmaiJ. com
aphillips@forester.nl
Japan

Ken Hidaka, MBA '03
ken20012003@aol.com
Korea
KimJong-Hyock, MBA '03
jonghyockkim@yahoo.com
Lebanon
Baria Wehbe, MSA '02
bariaw@hotmail .com
Malaysia
Dolly Saw, BSBA '00
dolly_saw@hotmaiJ.com

Suffolk University

Nigeria
Olum.ide Festus Albai,
MBA '77
olumide@cdlni geria.com
Sweden
Carlos Lindquist, BS '01
cdlindquist@ hotmaiJ.com
Taiwan
Chiung-Ling Chen,
BSBA '96, MSF '97
chim1glingchen@cmcnet.com.cw

I Sawyer School of Management

Thailand
Kalaya Kunanantaku, MBA '99
kkalaya@hotmaiJ.com
Tunisia
Ben Abdallah Sarni, MBA '97
bacosport@gn et.tn
Turkey
Sirin Odabas-Kont, MBA '97
sirinodabas@hotmaiJ.com
Venezuela
Carmen Gomes, MBA '93
carmengomes@yahoo.com

I

Alumni News [

SUFFOLK TRADITIONS
Alumni Night at Boston
Ballet's Nutcracker
The festive holiday season brought
together 100 alumni and friends for
Suffolk's annual alumni night at The
Nutcracker on December 11, 2003.
Alumni Nights at the Celtics
On January 30, alumni and friends
cheered for the Celtics against the New
York Knicks and on March 31, for the
Celtics vs. the Portland Trail Blazers.
Suffolk alumni with Paula Prifti Weafer (R) in
Rockerfeller Center.

Alumni Holiday Trip to Manhattan ..&.
Forty-five alumni participated in a
day of shopping and cheer amid New
York City's shops, restaurants and many
attractions on December 13.



. .a_._._·._.

~

..

· ___ ,,/

I"'
·"

~

Betty White and Norman White, BSBA '51 .

Alumni Night at the Bruins
On February 26, alumni and friends
gathered at the FleetCenter for the
match-up between the Bruins and
the Montreal Canadiens.
Alumni Event at the Holiday Pops .,..
Two hundred alumni and friends
gathered at Symphony Hall for an
afternoon holiday performance at
the Boston Pops on December 18.

Mitchell Appointed Alumni Trustee

(L to R) Dean William J. O'Neill, Jr.; David Hamilton,
BSBA '70, MBA '71 ; and John Hamilton, BSBA '67.

Business Professional of the Year
Ralph Mitchell, MBA '91, was elected
Alurn.ni Trustee representing Sawyer
School alumni on Suffolk U niversity's
Board ofTrustees.

(L to R) Bruce Fought, MSF '97 and Ralph Mitchell, MBA
'9 1 at a South Shore Chapter Event.

,._.,

For more than 10 years, Mitchell has
been an ac tive University volun teer,
holding a variety of positions, including
elected member of the SSOMGAA for
eigh t years, two of those years as president.
He is a phonathon volunteer and was
instrumental in securing both the 1996
and 1997 Commencement speakers
for the U niversity. He is currently a member of the South Shore Alumni C hap ter.

Owner of Carthage Financial Group, Mitchell has mentored Suffolk in terns at his firm and
taught undergraduate finance at the University. With n10re than 26 years of distinguished
military service, he is currently assigned to a unit in Rhode Island that provides training for
other Army N ational Guard and Army R eserve units at senior levels. •

John O'Connor, BSBA '73, vice chairman,
Pricewaterhouse Coopers, was named 2003
Business Professional of the Year by the
Beta Alpha Psi N ational H onor Society
for Acco unting. T

John O'Connor (back row, right) with Professor Lewis Shaw (L)
and Professor Tracy Noga (R) and members of the Suffolk
student chapter of Beta Alpha Psi, (back row, L-R) Sam
Milenkor, treasu rer; and Kevin Bruno, vice president; (fro nt
row, L-R) Kelly Nelms, recording secretary; Jamie Alosso,
BSBA '02, president; and Solange Diallo, BSBA '02.

Su fio lkBusiness

I Spring 2004

19

I Alumni Notes

I
Cities and towns listed
are in Massachusetts
unless otherwise noted
Robert C. Howard, BSBA,joined Bridgewater
Savings Bank as vice president/ commercial
loan officer.

1955
C. Paul
Luongo,
BSBA,met
with former
President Bill
Clinton at a
benefit for
City Year, a
non-profit organization established to help innercity youths become more responsible citizens.

John Magnarelli, BSBA, MBA '75 (see
Magnarelli 1975).
Gary Mucica, MBA, is a visiting professor of
marketing in the College of Management at
UMass-Lowell.
Joseph F. Ryan, BSBA, received the Paul Harris
Fellow Award from the Braintree Rotary Club.

1975

1965

1982
Robert L. McGuire,Jr., MBA, is treasurer
for the town of Norwood.
Angela Nunez, BSBA,MBA '87,APC '96
(see Nunez 1996).
Anthony Parziale, BSBA, is chief information officer at Palm Beach Community College in Florida.

1983
Bonnie Mitchell, BS '79, MBA, is an accow1t executive with the Insurance Source Inc. of Keene, NH.
Robert Mudge, MBA, received the Distinguished
Alunmi Award from the Massachusetts College of
Liberal Arts.

Warren Powers, BSBA,JD '71, was appointed
first justice of the Wrentham District Court.

Bruce Hartman, BSBA, is executive vice president and CFO of Foot Locker, a New York-based
specialty athletic retailer.

1967

John Magnarelli, BSBA '74, MBA, is serving a
two-year term on the Duxbury School Committee.

Robert P. Edson, BSBA, MBA '72
(see Edson 1972).

1984

Paul Nash, BSBA '72, MBA, is a sales representative for the shoring and forming division of the
Marr Scaffolding Company.

John Kahler, MBA, joined the Fleet Private
Clients Group, a unit of FleetBoston Financial
Corp. as a client adviser in its Stamford, CT, office.

1968
Frank Falcetta, BSBA, MBA '69
(see Falcetta 1969).

1969

1976
Michael Piemonte, BSBA, is senior vice president of risk management and compliance at
Benjamin Franklin Savings Bank.

Frank Falcetta, BSBA '68, MBA, is assistant vice
president of continuing and corporate education at
Georgia Perimeter College in the Atlanta region.

Maria Pirone, BS, MBA '87 (see Pirone 1987).

1970

Mariellen Riley, BSBA, MBA '81 (see Riley 1981).

Thomas Leetch, BSBA, is president and CEO of
the Peoples Federal Savings Bank in Brighton.

1972
Robert P. Edson, BSBA '67, MBA, is serving a
three-year term on the Wakefield School
Committee.
Paul M. Houle, BSBA, is president and CEO for
Hawkeye Global, Inc.

1977

Joseph Morrissey, MBA, is president of
Milton Hospital.

1986
Mario Mazzone, BS '84, MPA, is an assistant
district attorney for Suffolk County.

James Perdikis, BSBA,joined ERA Key Realty
Services as a real estate agent in the Franklin office.

1979

1973

1980

John Champion, BSBA, who received a Purple
Heart as a US Marine in the Vietnam War, was
honored with a framed reproduction of the new
stamp by the Ayer Postrn.aster at the unveiling of
the US Postal Service's 2003 Purple Heart stamp.
Champion is CFO and executive vice president of
MassDevelopment.

Michael Greenwood, EMBA, is the manager
of Global Mid-Market Service for IBM.

1978

Bonnie Mitchell, BS,MBA '83 (see Mitchell 1983).

1974

1985
Marty Dobbins, BSBA, EMBA '96 (see
Dobbins 1996).

Joseph Castellana, MBA, is vice president of
administrative services for Sturdy Memorial
Hospital and serves as director of operations for
Sturdy Memorial Associates.

Paul Nash, BSBA, MBA '75 (see Nash 1975) .

John O'Connor, BSBA, managing partner at
Pricewaterhouse Coopers, was named 2003
Business Professional of the Year by Suffolk's
chapter of Beta Alpha Psi. (See photo on page 18.)

Mario Mazzone, BS, MPA '86 (see Mazzone 1986).

Francis Antonelli, MPA, is the assistant superintendent for business for the Billerica school system.
James Fox, MBA, is president ofBISYS
Fund Services.

1981
Scott Bragdon, EMBA, was named vice
president and director of human resources for
Citizens Services Group.
Mariellen Riley, BSBA '77, MBA,joined
Century 21 Annex Realty as a broker in the
Quincy office.

Richard Silva, BSBA, a provider relations manager at McLean Hospital, married Lisa Mazaheri.
They live in Plymouth.
John Spead, BSBA, MBA '02, is director of
Global Environment, Health and Safety at
Serologicals Corporation.

1987
Jim Lawlor, BSBA, is media director at Cleveland
Communications Ltd.
Scott D. Morris, BSBA,joined Coldwell Banker
Residential Brokerage as a sales associate in the
Easton office.
Maria Pirone, BSBA '76, MBA, vice president of
product and market development at Atmospheric
and Environmental Research Inc. , is serving a
three-year term on the Science Steering
Conunittee for the US Weather Research
Program. She also serves on the Outreach
Subconunittee for the American Meteorological
Society 10-Year Vision.

1989
Eric D. Mummau, EMBA, is vice president and
co1m11ercial loan officer for Mid Penn Bank.

20

Suffolk University

I Sawyer School of Management

I Alumni

1991
Steven Chittenden, BSBA, MBA '95 (see
Chittenden 1995).
Edward Keefe, MBA, and his wife, announce the
birth of son Edward Joseph Keefe rv, born in
January 2003.
Kevin McFarland, AS '87, BSBA, EMBA '94
(see McFarland 1994).

1993
Thomas M. Hammond, MPA, is executive
vice president and CFO for the Northern
Massachusetts Telephone Workers' Credit
Union in Lowell.
Lisa (Forde) Murphy,BSBA, is the executive assistant to the president of Infinity Mortgage Company,
Inc., in Quincy. She and husband Kevin Murphy are
the parents of Matthew Hunter, born in Oct. 2002.

Jeannine (McNaught)
Reardon, BSBA,
JD '96, married David
Reardon, BSBA,JD '99, on
September 6, 2003.Jeannine
is a practicing attorney, and
David is a United States
Postal Inspection Service
inspector. The couple lives in
the Washington DC area.

1994
Tammy Jean Landry, BSBA, married Mark Cover.
Kevin McFarland, AS '87, BSBA'91 , EMBA,
relocated to Texas to assume a new position with
Verizon in financial consolidations and reporting.
Suzanne Shortlidge Newhall, MBA, opened a
personal chef business, providing healthy, homecooked meals for families in the North Shore,
Newburyport and West Newbury areas.

Notes I

Stephen Poirier, EMBA, is a commercial loan
officer at Northea t Bank in Auburn, ME. He and
his wife, Brenda, have four children.

1995
Robert Chatfield, MSF, opened Maine CFO
in Cape Elizabeth, ME.
Steven Chittenden,
BSBA'91, MBA, received
the Outstanding Alunmi
Award for Achievement
at Suffolk University.
Barbara J. Almond
Deady, BSBA,
maintenance supervisor for
Teradyne Inc.'s sem..iconductor test division in Boston,
was honored for 20 years of
service to the company.

Robert Indresano and two of his children,
Susan and Rob, are all Suffolk alumni.
Although they earned different degrees at different times and
pursued different career paths, they all cite the same reason for
choosing Suffolk-It was a good fit.

A GOOD FIT

For Robert, an accounting major, Suffolk allowed him to continue
to work full-time to support his family, while studying on the GI
Bill. He was a star student. With the highest GPA in the business
school, Robert went on to earn a degree from New England School
of Law. Since 1971, he has run his own practice, specializing in real
estate and conveyance law. "I received a very good education," he
says of his Suffolk experience. "I was very satisfied with the school,"
which is probably why he recommended it to his daughter, Susan.
Susan, who wasn't sure of her career path, studied journalism. She
enjoyed Suffolk's friendly atmosphere and the flexibility of being a
commuter student. "Being in Boston was convenient," she recalls,
"and the small classes were nice." After graduating, Susan discovered that
what she really loved was working with children. She went on to earn
a master's degree in education, and for the past ten years, has taught
middle school special needs students in her hometown of Winthrop.

The lndresano
Family

Robert A. lndresano, BSBA '6 2
Susan lndresano Gibbons, BSJ '89
Robert D. lndresano, MBA '93

Susan's brother Rob, went to Boston College before coming to
Suffolk. Graduating from BC in the midst of a recession, he soon
realized that he needed a master's degree to compete in the tight job
market. "There weren't a lot of career opportunities," says Rob, who
turned to Suffolk's MBA program to boost his resume. "It was a really
good fit." After Suffolk, Rob earned a degree from Georgetown Law
Center. Today, he is vice president and general counsel for Oxford
Global Resources Inc., an international IT consulting firm in
Beverly, Massachusetts.
These members of the Indresano family are each special in their
own way, but what they all have in comm.on is a deep regard for
the institution with the flexibility to help each of them achieve
their varied career goals. •

SufiolkBusiness

I Spring 2004 21

I Alumni Notes I

Christian Merhy, MBA, is director of product
marketing for Ipswitch, Inc., a Lexington-based
supplier oflnternet productivity software.
Stephen Pike, MBA, a director at Fidelity
Inve tments in Boston, married Kari Marit
Sorenson. They live in Marblehead.
Seth Schalet, EMBA, is vice president of sales for
Boomerang (www.boomerang.com), an email
marketing service provider in Palo Alto, CA.

1996
Wendy M. Connors, MPA, was promoted to
director of sales at Delta Dental Plan of MA.
Marty Dobbins, BSBA'85, EMBA, is vice
president and COO of State Street Bank
Luxembourg S.A. He and his family enjoy living
in Luxembourg after stints in Munich and London.

Gene Lee, EMBA, president and CEO of Rare
Hospitality, Inc., spoke to one of Professor Mike
Barretti's marketing classes on "pricing your
product." He and his family live near Atlanta, GA.
(See profile on page 24.)
Steve Mazzone, EMBA '94, MSF, is a business
development leader at GE Aerodrive Package
Services in Houston, TX.
Angela Nunez, BSBA'82, MBA'87,APC, is an
analyst III in the investment strategy group ofJohn
Hancock Financial.
Swan Oey, EMBA, and his wife, Stephanie,
welcome a new daughter, Elizabeth Fei, born
September 2001 in Hunan, China.
Frederick Trilling, JD '88, EMBA, a partner with
the firm Lemelman and Trilling, is president of the
board of directors of Horizons for Youth.

1997
Tom McCarthy, EMBA, was promoted to senior
vice president at ADS Financial Services Solutions.
Franklin G. Lopez, BSBA, who lives in Ecuador,
recently became the father of twins, Geovanny
and Daniel.
Julie Moss, EMBA, is assistant vice president and
financial adviser for Bank of America Investment
Services Inc.

1998
Larry Behan, EMBA, is CFO for the Committee
for Public Counsel Services.
Mike Laffin, EMBA, is director of sales training
with Via.Cell, Inc.

Fox began her long relationship with Suffolk as a transfer student.
When she learned that the University would accept credits she
had earned at the American Institute of Banking (AIB), and that
the bank where she worked as a teller would pay her tuition,
she was thrilled.
"One thing about the banking industry, it really encourages education," says Fox, who always loved learning. "It's a big benefit."
For ten years, Suffolk was a part of Fox's life. While she was in
school, she got married, had two children and was promoted four
times-all the while, working full-time and driving from her home
in Ayer, Massachusetts, into Boston every week for class.
Today, as president of Colonial Co-operative Bank-a 100-year-old
institution in Gardner, Massachusetts-Fox oversees $70 million
in holdings and some 15,000 customers. If you think consumer
banking is all bean-counting and calculations, think again.
Fox says it's really about people.

"If you like helping people, banking is a good industry," she says.
"Like any service industry, you have to be flexible and roll with
the custom.er ups and downs. But I really enjoy being a resource
for people-answering their needs and questions."

Ellie Fox
BSBA '85, President, Colonial Co-operative Bank
That's how long it took Ellie Fox
to earn her degree-and never once
did she consider giving up. It's this type of perseverance that
also drove her up the ranks of the banking industry-from.
teller to president-one step at a time.

TEN YEARS

22 Suffolk University

I Sawyer School of Management

And the biggest change in banking in the last few decades isn't
the technology, it's the ever-increasing regulations, says Fox.
"Some days, I can honestly say I'm not banking. The administrative part has become so significant that sometimes the paperwork
takes away from the service and problem solving."
Consumer protection laws and public security are at the heart of
the increase in regulations, says Fox, especially post-September 11.
"Ten years ago, you signed ten documents at a home closing.
Today, it's no exaggeration, you sign about 50."
Despite the challenges, Fox still loves her job. And she says,
she'll never stop learning. In fact, she just completed another
class in January. •

I Alumni

Notes I

Spiros Tourkakis
MBA '83, Executive Vice President, East Coast Seafood, Inc.

If you've ever had
lobster, you can
thank Spiros Tourkakis. His company, East Coast Seafood, is
the world's largest distributor of lobster. Ironically, Tourkakis
thinks lobster is overrated (he prefers fish), but this didn't stop
him from revolutionizing an industry that has changed very
little in hundreds of years.

THE LOBSTER MAN

Born just outside of Athens, Greece, Tourkakis came to the United
States in 1978 for an education and a career in business. He spoke
no English. Two years later he graduated second in his class at the
University of Massachusetts. "I left Greece to seek my fortune,"
he says. Tourkakis came from a poor family. His father was a waiter,
and his mother took in sewing to help pay his college tuition.
His first job in the United States was as a driver for East Coast
Lobster Pools in Peabody, Massachusetts. Working there helped pay
for his MBA at Suffolk. "I rn.anaged to take all my classes in one day,
and then I worked the rest of the week," he recalls. "I did in one day
what most people did in a week."
It was a grueling schedule, but well worth it, says Tourkakis.
"It was not just an education; it changed my way of thinking.
Meeting people, learning things, learning how to deal with
people and understanding concepts, this was so valuable."
By the time he graduated, East Coast Lobster Pools became
East Coast Seafood. Tourkakis continued working there, taking
on increasing management responsibility as the four-person
company rapidly grew.
Today, East Coast employs 625 people in the United States, Canada
and Europe. It has offices in Brussels, Frankfurt, London, Madrid,
Milan and Paris. From its headquarters in Lynn, Massachusetts,
East Coast handles 18 percent of the world's lobster production.
According to Tourkakis the phrase "global economy" is already

1999
Peter Bianco, EMBA, relocated to Minneapolis,
MN, where he is business development director for
emerging technologies at Phillips Plastics Corp.
Patricia J. Egan, EMBA, is working for Cerner
Corporation in SurgiNet in the Northeast and
Mid-Atlantic regions.
Tim Horan, EMBA, was promoted to vice
president and portfolio manager at State Street
Research in Boston.

outdated. He believes businesses have to change their perspective.
"We used to be countries, then it was international, then it was
global. Now I call it the 'no border economy."'
Tourkakis' success is not just in helping the company expand into
the global market, but also in pushing the boundaries of an industry
resistant to change. Nearly four years ago, he spearheaded the
invention of a new plastic lobster crate-replacing the old wooden
version. The revolutionary product saves the company millions on
labor and in lost product.
"I always try to be open-minded and think about where
the industry will be 20 or 30 years down the road," says
Tourkakis. "Most important, I have a positive attitude.
We all live only once." •

Christopher Matt, MSF, an investment strategy
officer with John Hancock Financial Services in
Boston, married Betsy Carlisle. They live in Boston.
Calin Moldovean, EMBA, and his wife, Melanie,
announce the birth of a son, Nicholas Gheorghe
Moldovean, born in April 2003.

a daughter, Emma Carolann Rothwell, born in
October 2003.
Marcelo Wiethaeuper, BSBA, MBA '01, is
director of marketing for TenStep, Inc., in Brazil.

2000

Elizabeth Paquelet,
MBA, married Neal Patrick.
They live in Boston.

Eduardo Borges, MSF, was promoted to junior
portfolio manager of Global Asset Allocation,
State Street Global Advisors.

Karen Rothwell, MBA,
and her husband, Frank,
announce the birth of

Ami Collins, MBA, a relationship manager at
Thomson Financial, married Brian Fitzgerald.
They live in Boston.

SuffolkBusiness

I Spring 2004

23

I Alumni Notes I

Eugene Lee

EMBA '96, President and COO, RARE Hospitality International

From busboy
to corporate
president, for the past 25 years Eugene Lee has literally worked
his way up the food chain. As president and chief operating officer
of RARE Hospitality International, the Atlanta-based company
whose concepts include Bugaboo Creek Steak House, LongHorn
Steakhouse and the Capital Grille, Lee can honestly say he knows
the food industry from the bottom up.

THE TOP OF THE FOOD CHAIN

It was 1978 when Lee landed his first restaurant gig as a busboy
at York Steak House in Natick, Massachusetts, where he grew up.
For the next 12 years he rose through the ranks to area supervisor,
overseeing eight restaurants. Pizzeria Uno was the next rung
on the ladder, where Lee was general manager of a restaurant
in Framingham. Soon thereafter, Pizzeria Uno made Lee senior
vice president of operations, overseeing 170 restaurants. But
despite his rapid rise, Lee discovered that he had hit a ceiling.

increased sixfold; average weekly sales have grown n1.ore than
31 percent; and earnings per share have shown a compound
annual growth rate of 25 percent-exceptional accomplishments
considering the events of September 11 and the subsequent
weakening economy.
Accomplishments aside, what Lee has always enjoyed most about
his job is working with people. Mentoring his employees and
helping them develop as professionals and leaders is his sweetest
reward. "The restaurant industry is one of the greatest industries
out there," Lee says. "Most of us presidents started out as busboys.
You can be almost anything you want to be in this industry.
It's a real people business." •

"I realized I couldn't go any further without a master's degree," he
recalls. "I grew up in the restaurant business; I could run multiple
restaurants; but I didn't fully understand the whole picture."
Although he dreaded going back to school, Lee chose Suffolk's
Saturday-only Executive MBA-the only program that allowed
him to keep working full time. "I was in the program. in the best
time of my life," he says. "Everything I was being taught I could tie
back to real life. My learning was real. There was no theoretical."
Lee's degree gave him. the career boost he needed. Less than a year
after he graduated, he accepted the job of executive vice president
of operations for the Bugaboo Creek Steak House division of
RARE Hospitality. A year later, he was promoted to chief operating officer of RARE, and in 2001, he was elected president and
joined the board of directors.
Today RARE owns, operates and franchises 234 restaurants,
including 190 LongHorn Steakhouses, 25 Bugaboo Creek Steak
Houses, 17 Capital Grilles and two specialty restaurants. In the
five years since Lee became COO, the company stock price has

Brian Gaspar, BSBA, a corporate loan administrator
for Fleet Boston Financial, married Kerry Arsenault.

Dale Morris, MPA, is the assistant town manager
for Ashland.

Ann Roberts
Henessy, MBA,
announces the birth of
her triplets, Aidan, 4lbs.
6ozs.; Rachel, 3lbs. 11
ozs.; and Conor, 3lbs.
8ozs.; in October 2002.

Maria Panaggio, BSBA, and Brian Phillips,
BSBA, were married on August 16, 2003. Brian
writes, "Maria and I
met in 1998 in
Professor John
McCoy's Business
Organization and
Leadership class!"
Brian and Maria are

24

Suffolk University

I Sawyer School of Management

members of the Boston Alunmi chapter. Maria is
also involved in the Corporate Affinity Group with
John Hancock alw1mi.
Tracy Vachon, EMBA, has joined BAE Systems
in Merrimack, NH, doing contract and proposal
management.
Donald Walsh, MBA, a support account manager
for IBM, married Sarah McLarney. They live in
Stoneham.

I Alumni

College in Boston. He is also a member of the
alumni board's executive program. alumni council.

2001
Carolyn (Buscemi) Adamson, MBA, is
director of the Tenancy Preservation Program
in Plyn10uth County.
Melissa Leigh Anderson, MBA, married
Michael Colantuoni. They live in Los Gatos, CA.
Jennifer Banks, MBA, an
investor relations analyst for
Bearing Point Inc., married
Jeffrey Malin. They live
in Boston.

Dave Fitzgerald, EMBA, is senior manager preceptor at the FedEx Leadership Institute in
Memphis, TN. He and wife Patty are the parents
of twins, Aidan Montague and Conor Elias, born
inJanuary 2003.

Notes I

Deodatta Shenai, EMBA, is the technical
manager for research and developrn.ent and
intellectual property at Shipley Metalorganics.
Alice Sloan, EMBA, is director of business
development for global accounting firm Grant
Thornton, based in the Boston office. Most
recently, Sloan was head of the Invest UK office
at the British Consulate in Boston.

Berwyn Rahein Holder,MBA, owner of
Millennium Brazil Travel Co., married Robin Turner,
MBA, an auditor with the Mass. Office of Campaign
and Political Finance. They live in Dorchester.
John Leonetti, MSF !JD, is a financial consultant
with SmithBarney in Boston.

Michael Bell, EMBA, senior
vice president of Capital
Crossing, is serving on the
Board ofTrustees at Fisher

Jillian Barry Varetimus, BSBA, and her
husband, Chris Varetimus, BSBA '00,
announce the birth of twin daughters.
Leonard Von Flatern, MPA, is a major in
the Massachusetts State Police.

Craig McKenzie, MBA, is direct credit ni.anager
for the consumer loan department at Brockton
Credit Union.

James T. Brett

MPA '76, President and CEO, New England Council

he was chairman of the Joint Committee on Taxation and the
Joint Committee on Banks and Banking. In these influential
posts, he took the opportunity to make allies on both sides of the
political fence. "I'm from the Joe Moakley school of politics," says
Brett. "In the house, I got to know each and every one of my
colleagues, and I made it a point to know their families, too."
Brett also made a name for himself as a champion of charitable
organizations, especially for the disabled community. It's a
passion close to his heart because of his oldest brother, who
is mentally retarded. "I promised my mother before she died
that I'd take care of my brother and people with disabilities,"
says Brett.
One of his proudest achievements is the Brett House in
Dorchester-a community home for disabled adults located
one street away from Brett's boyhood home. Bay Cove Human
Services of Boston named the house in honor of Brett and
his dedication to their cause. On the national stage, Brett was
recently appointed by President George W Bush to serve on the
President's Con111uttee on Mental Retardation. Also, he serves on
Governor Mitt Romney's Commission on Mental Retardation.

BU ILDI NG RELATION SH IPS

I

If relationships were
money,Jim Brett
would be a very rich man. Early in his career, Brett grasped
the importance of building relationships, and he's made it his
business for nearly 30 years. "There are two things I love most,"
says Brett, "helping people and creating public policy. I love working on issues, bringing people together and finding solutions."
A native of Dorchester, Brett was a Massachusetts state
representative for more than 15 years. During that tin1.e,

Today Brett is president and CEO of the New England Council,
a job perfectly suited to his relationship-building strengths. The
organization is an alliance of schools, corporations and other
private organizations in New England working to promote
economic growth in the region. The job has allowed Brett to
reach out to local and national Democrats and Republicans,
as well as to non-profit and corporate leaders.
"I am as busy now as I was in the legislature, being a clear
voice for New England," says Brett. "I take pride in that."
Above all, Brett is proud to continue serving the people.
"Whether you hold an elected office or not, it doesn't matter,"
says Brett. "Public service is an honor." •

SuffolkBusiness

I Spring 2004 25

I Alumni Notes I

corn.pany that designs and rn.anufactures fine handcrafted cabinetry
for the home, Kennedy enjoys focusing on the business and
operational aspects of the company. But he has not forgotten his
long-held passion for finance, hoping to remain involved in research
in the financial markets by choosing isolated topics to explore.
Before joining Superior Woodcraft full-time in 2002, Kennedy
began his career at the Massachusetts Company, which was purchased by PN C in the early 1990s. Kennedy spent seven years
with the combined entity, working in municipal securities, before
moving on to Pitcairn Trust in 1995. His role as portfolio manager
there allowed him to maximize his knowledge and experience
of the bond market, and his economic outlook and market
commentary could often be read in the New York Times,
Bloomberg Financial Markets, the Street.com, and Bond Week.
Kennedy is also coauthor of a section in Frank Fabozzi's
Handbook of Fixed Income Securities, 6th edition, and author
of " Inefficiencies in Municipal Bond Pricing," a chapter in
Professional Perspectives on Fixed Income Management,Volume J,
also edited by Fabozzi. Kennedy hop es that his published
research in the financial field will challenge others to further
develop his ideas.

Patrick Kennedy
MSF '93, Chief Operating Officer, Superior Woodcraft, Inc.

HONING THE CRAFT

Becoming a noted authority
on fixed-income assets might
be a career highpoint for sorn.e financial executives, but for Patrick
Kennedy, it is simply a launchpad to newer and greater challenges.
Now the COO of Superior Woodcraft, Inc. , a Philadelphia-based

2002
Almudena "Allie" Ayala, EMBA, is working for
TRW in Spain on a three-year assignment.
Steve Baumgartner, BSBA, is an analyst in
global real estate and risk services at Standard &
Poor's. His daughter, Brooke, is 20 months old.
Lenka Benova, BSBA, had an article published
about the pharmaceutical industry in a leading
economic magazine in Slovakia. She hopes to
continue writing.
David Budka, MBA, product manager at
Citizens Funds, married Dana Richichi.
They live in Georgetown.

Kennedy credits his Suffolk education, and particularly the
teaching of Associate Professor Alexandros Prezas, with challenging him to work to his fullest potential. "After your fir t class with
Professor Prezas," Kennedy says, "you knew it wasn't going to be a
cakewalk, but yo u knew you would be more knowledgeable and
benefit in the end."
Kennedy's main goal for his work at Superior Woodcraft is to
make the company the best in its class. He believes that fulfilled
employees of successful businesses can create stronger, more
vibrant communities. "If my career and my work can contribute
to such successes," says Kennedy, "then I will have reached my
career goals and be satisfied with my life's work." •

Timothy Harper, MBA, operations manager for
Freedom Digital Printing, married Amy Easley.
They live in Milford.

Susan Marino, MPA,joined Echo at the Leahy
Center for Lake Champlain, as administrative
assistant and scheduler.

Stephen MacDonald,
MBA, achieved the highe t
score in the Commonwealth
of Massachusetts on the
November 2002 Uniform CPA
Exam, and was awarded the
Gold Medal for this achievement by the Massachusetts
Society of Certified Public
Accountants at a reception in
May 2003. He is working at
Pricewaterhouse Coopers as
a staff auditor.

Ted Matthews, EMBA, is working at Eastern
Insurance Brokers in Natick-an insurance
subsidiary of Eastern Bank.

Marilyn "Linde" Macleod, BSBA, MBA, is
working in Suffolk's Cape Cod campus office.

26

Suffolk University

I Sawyer School of Management

Mike Miller, EMBA, is working for TRW in
Spain on a three-year assignment.
Bajje M Serugunda, MBA, married Kagale
Kiwanuka on December 13, 2003, in
Kan1pala, Uganda.
John Spead, BSBA '86, MBA (see 1986).
Erick Viloria, BSBA, married Carole Closs in
February 2003. The couple lives in Miami, FL,
w here Viloria is in charge of sales and customer
relations for a Britsh company.

I Alumni

John Walker, MSF, and wife Mary Jane Walker,
associate director of the MSF program. at Suffolk
University, announce
the birth of their third
son, Charlie, born in
September 2003. Charlie
joins big brothers,Jake
and Max. John is vice
president, treasury services, at PBC Bank.
Steve Wands, EMBA, is director of marketing
for Berkshire Mortgage Finance.
Christine Wilson, EMBA, is customs compliance
manager for North America at International
Flavors and Fragrances in Union, NJ.

Greg Kanevski, EMBA, and his wife, announce the
birth of their daughter, Caroline, born in April 2003.

2003
Dennis Caron, MBA, writes, "I accepted a
position as a Department of Labor, MBA Fellow
in Washington DC. It is part of the President's
Management Agenda here at DOL, and our goal
is to use our MBA backgrounds to help improve
efficiency and processes here at the department.
I started in mid-July and it has been great so far.
Right now, I am working in regulatory analysis,
but I ,mll. rotate through about five departments
over the next couple of years. I miss the Cape,
however. It is HOT down here!"
Juliana Souza Campos, MSF, married Francisco
Garcia-Revillo in September 2003. The couple
resides in Madrid, Spain.

Natalia Oberyukhtina
Natalia Valery Oberyukhtina
was born in Yekaterinburg, a
city in Russia's Ural mountains . At 17, knowing little English, she
left her family and came to the United States, a country where
she knew no one.

NONSTOP LEARNING

"Growing up in the Urals was really not all that different from
growing up anywhere else in the world," she says. "My family
always supported me in everything I did."

Notes I

Mathew Kenyon, BSBA, is a pharmaceutical
sales representative for Boehringer Inglheim
Pharmaceuticals in Glastonbury, CT
Ravi Kumbam, BS '92, EMBA, moved to Atlanta,
GA, to work as a senior business analyst in the
engineered materials division ofJ.M. Huber Corp.
Larry Marchese, MBA, and wife Nina, announce
the birth of their second child, Casey James, in
November 2003.
Amy Rafferty, MA '71, MBA, who teaches an
online course at Suffolk University, was featured
in the September 9, 2003, Boston Herald article
about students receiving their degrees online.

BSBA/MSA '03, Staff I, Assurance and Advisory
Business Service, Ernst & Young LLP

academic life at Suffolk. Second is people. I have an opportunity
to work with so many different people, each one exciting and
unique, and each one with experiences I can draw from."
Oberyukhtina's most recent accorn.plishrn.ent was passing the
CPA exam in November 2003. As for the future, although she
misses her family, she plans to stay in the United States. "It has
all worked out very well for n1.e," she says. •

She chose to study at Suffolk University on the advice of a family
acquaintance. "It was a smaller school," she says, "and the cultural
adjustment was lesser than what I would have gone through at
a larger school. Suffolk provided me a family-like atrn.osphere."
In May 2003, she graduated summa cum laude with a joint
BSBA/MSA degree.
Her career goal when she applied to Suffolk was to work for one
of the large public accounting firms in the forensics department,
and she credits her Suffolk professors with pointing the way. "My
professors never failed to support me and inspire me to do better
every day," she says.
After her senior year at Suffolk, where she was president of the
Beta Alpha Psi fraternity, she took part in the summer internship
program with Ernst & Young. The company soon offered her a
job, where she now has a range of clients, encompassing technology, biomedical and manufacturing areas. Her focus is insurance.
"There are two amazing things about my job," she says. "First
is continuous learning. It feels great to grow professionally
and personally every single day of my life. Ernst & Young's
learning-focused culture is a natural continuation of my

SuffolkBusiness

I Spring 2004

27

28

Suffolk University

I Sawyer School of Management

Sawyer School Directory
Administration
William]. O'Neill,Jr.

Dean

SSOM Trustee Committee
Nicholas Macaronis,JD '54,
LLD '00 (Hon.), Chair

Accounting

Attorney at Law, Macaronis Law Firm
Susan C. Atherton

Associate Dean, Faculty and
Undergraduate Programs

Carol Sawyer Parks, DCS '82
(Hon.), Vice Chair

President, Sawyer Enterprises

Shahriar Khaksari, PhD

Irwin Chafetz

Associate Dean / Dean,
International Programs

GWVTravel
John M . Corcoran, DCS '82 (Hon.)

C. Richard Torrisi, PhD

Partner,John M. Corcoran and Company

Associate Dean/ Dean,
Graduate Programs

Leonard Florence, DCS '98 (Hon.)

Lillian Hallberg, PhD

Assistant Dean, Graduate Programs
Michael T. Lavin, PhD

Assistant Dean, Cape Cod Programs
Myra N. Lerman

CEO, I1ie Leonard Florence Group
Jeanne M. Hession,JD '56,
DJS '74 (Hon.)

Retired Vice President and Associate
Counsel, Boston Safe Deposit
and Trust Company
General Joseph P. Hoar, USMC
(Ret.), LLD '93 (Hon.)

Jodi Baier

JP Hoar & Associates, Inc.

Associate Director, Global MBA

J. Robert Johnson, BSBA '63,

Director, Executive Education and
Lifelong Leaming Programs

MBA'68

Founder/ President, Yankee Marketers, Inc.
Ralph Mitchell, MBA '91

Carthage Financial Group
Kelly MacLean Clark, BSBA '85

Major Gift Officer
Lauren Mahoney, MEd '94

Director, Undergraduate Programs
Teri M. Malionek, BSBA '89, MA '94

John J. O'Connor, BSBA '73

Vice Chairman, Pricewaterho11seCoopers
Brian T. O'Neill,JD '71

Attorney at Law, Law Office
Brian T O'Neill, PC

ef

Director, Communications
and Special Events

Francis M.Vazza, BSBA '63

Teresa Nelson, PhD

Beverly Wright

Acting Director, Office ef
Technology Management

Chairperson, Wampanoag Tribe
Gay Head (Aquinnah)

Mary Jane Walker

James P Angelini, Associate Prefessor
Ross D. Fuerman, Associate Prefessor
Ran Hoitash, Assistant Prefessor
John Q. Li, Assistant Prefessor
Donald May, Instructor
Ruth Ann McEwen, Prefessor
Morris Mcinnes, Chair & Prefessor
Tracy Noga, Assistant Prefessor
Laurie W Pant, Prefessor
Mawdudur Rahman, Prefessor
Gail K. Sergenian, Associate Prefessor
Lewis Shaw, Associate Prefessor
Thomas F. Whalen, Visiting

Assistant Prefessor

Assista11t Dean, Undergraduate Programs

Michael L. Barretti

Faculty

Partner, liazza Associates

ef

Business Law
Mark S. Blodgett, Associate Prefessor
Anthony G. Eonas, Associate Prefessor
John McCoy, Clinical Assistant Prefessor
David Silverstein, Chair & Prefessor

Information Systems and
Operations Management
Warren G. Briggs, Prefessor
Patricia J. Carlson, Associate Prefessor
Nick Dedeke, Assistant Prefessor
Bruce Feiring, Associate Prefessor
Jonathan S. Frank, Associate Prefessor
Ken Hung, Assistant Prefessor
Neil G. Hunt, Clinical
Assistant Prefessor
Beverly K. Kahn, Chair and
Associate Prefessor
Denis M. S. Lee, Prefessor
Jafar Mana, Imtructor
David Sandell, Visiting Prefessor
Finance
Haluk Akdogan, Associate Prefessor
Chris Argyrople, Visiting

Assistant Prefessor

Dean's Advisory Board

Associate Director, MS i11
Finance Programs

Michael Chan1pa, MPA '77, MBA '81

Paula Prifti Weafer

Jeanette Clough, MHA '96

Director, Alumni Relations

CEO, Mt. Auburn Hospital
Willian1 Galatis, BSBA '75

Entreprenueur
Robert Gallery

Managing Director, FleetBoston-Fleet~
Private Client Group in Eastern J\.1A
Steve Kahn

Managing Director, Bosto11 Office,
Advent International

Mai E. Iskandar Datta,

Associate Prefessor
Steven Freund,

Assistant Prefessor
Lin Guo, Associate Prefessor
Ki C. Han, Chair and Prefessor
Stephan Kane,

Assistant Prefessor
Martin Kanan, Visiting

Assistant Prefessor
Shahriar Khaksari, Prefessor
Gregory Markham, Instructor
Robyn N. McLaughlin,

Associate Prefessor

Scott Solumbrino, BSBA '82

Mark Legge Muzere,

President and CEO, Dav El,
Chaiffeured Transport

H. Thomas O'Hara,

Bob Watson, EMBA '82

Alexandros P. Prezas,

Chairman and CEO,
L.PM. Holding Co., Inc.

Assistant Prefessor
Associate Prefessor
Associate Prefessor

Management
Michael B. Arthur, Prefessor
Robert J. DeFillippi, Prefessor
Christian J. Delaunay, Visiting

Assistant Prefessor
Pierre Du Jardin, Associate Professor
Colette Dumas, Associate Prefessor
C. Gopinath, Associate Prefessor
Edward C. Jarvis, Clinical Prefessor
Kevin Krauss, Clinical Assistant Prefessor
Laurie L. Levesque, Assistant Prefessor
Tammy MacLean, Assistant Prefessor
Charles Jabani Mambula,

Assistant Prefessor
Tatiana Manolova, Assistant Prefessor
A. Magid Mazen, Prefessor
Teresa Nelson, Associate Prefessor
Regina M. O'Neill, Associate Prefessor
Suzyn Ornstein, Chair and Prefessor
Daniel A. Sankowsky, Prefessor
Charles J. Shelley, Assistant Prefessor
Alberto Zanzi, Associate Prefessor

Marketing
Nizamettin Aydin, Associate Prefessor
Daniel Ladik, Assistant Prefessor
Catherine McCabe, Assistant Prefessor
Sungmin Ryu, Assistant Prefessor
Nancy Upton, Assistant Prefessor
Merra Venkatraman, Chair and

Associate Prefessor
David R. Wheeler, Associate Prefessor
Elizabeth Wilson, Associate Professor

Public Management
Richard H. Beinecke,

Associate Prefessor
Ruth Ann Bran1son, Assistant Prefessor
Clarence Cooper, Associate Prefessor
Eric Fortess, Associate Prefessor
Jerry A. Gianakis, Assistant Prefessor
Michael T. Lavin, Associate Prefessor
Sandy Matava, Clinical Assistant

Prefessor and Director, Center for
Public Ma11agement
John Nucci, Instntctor
Douglas Snow, Chair a11d
Associate Prefessor

Emeritus/a
Frances Burke

Professor Emerita, Public Management
Derek WF. Coward

Executive-in-Residence
Prefessor Emeritus, Marketing
Joel Corman

Prefessor Emeritus, Ma11ageme11t
Benson Diamond

Professor Emeritus, Business Law
Joseph P. Vaccaro

Professor Emeritus, Marketing
Robert C. Waehler

Professor Emeritus, Accounting