Author: Claire Hall

‘Treat People Right Throughout Your Life’

Posted on by Claire Hall
Bill Simon '81, '88 MBA, former Walmart CEO, at the UConn School of Business Stamford campus. (Nathan Oldham/UConn School of Business)
Bill Simon ’81, ’88 MBA, former Walmart CEO, at the UConn School of Business Stamford campus. (Nathan Oldham/UConn School of Business)

‘Treat People Right Throughout Your Life’ Says Former Walmart CEO Bill Simon ’81, ’88 MBA

A store manager had been abruptly fired in a small North Carolina town and Walmart president and CEO Bill Simon‘s phone was ringing off the hook.

Customers were irate, store associates were upset, and even the town’s mayor called to lodge a complaint.

“Our store manager had chased a shoplifter into the parking lot, tackled him and brought him back into the store,” recalled Simon, who earned both his bachelor’s degree and MBA from UConn. “Our policy was that we don’t chase shoplifters because of the risk of someone getting hurt, and he had clearly violated the policy.Continue Reading

Adding Value to the Team

Posted on by Claire Hall
Logan Bement (Nathan Oldham/UConn School of Business)
Logan Bement (Nathan Oldham/UConn School of Business)

Logan Bement ’16 Uses Marketing, Data to Improve Professional Baseball for Fans, Players

Logan Bement ’16 may have stopped playing baseball after high school, but his love of the game has never diminished.

With a passion for marketing, a strong grasp of data analytics, and a powerful dose of initiative, Bement has launched a career that he hopes will enhance the best of Major League Baseball—both for the fans and the players. Continue Reading

Courage, Vision, Wisdom

Posted on by Claire Hall
Left to right, Mark L. Fagan, Scott Gillis, Bill Simon and Margaret Keane discuss business values at the "CEO Evolution." (Nathan Oldham/UConn School of Business)
Left to right, Mark L. Fagan, Scott Gillis, Bill Simon and Margaret Keane discuss business values at the “CEO Evolution.” (Nathan Oldham/UConn School of Business)

Three Top Executives Share Business Advice, Values at ‘CEO Evolution’ Program in Stamford 

When UConn alumnus Bill Simon ’81, ’88 MBA, was a newly hired executive at Walmart, before he became its president and CEO, he made a gutsy decision that he knew could make or break his career there.

The low-price retail giant was excelling in its cost-saving mission on many fronts, but when Simon looked at the profit margin on prescription medicine, he realized it could do much better. Continue Reading

Xcite Program Debuts

Posted on by Claire Hall

 

Xcite - Connecticut's Conference for Women in Innovation, Technology and Entrepreneurship

YouTube Executive to Speak This Fall About Bringing Entrepreneurial Mindset to Business 

A top executive at YouTube, who helped grow the company to its present value of upwards of $85 billion, will be the keynote speaker at a new entrepreneurship and innovation conference for women sponsored by the University of Connecticut.

The program, dubbed Xcite, will be from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sept. 16 at the Crowne Plaza Stamford Hotel at 2701 Summer St., in Stamford, Conn. It is presented by the University of Connecticut School of Business and the Connecticut Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation (CCEI). Continue Reading

Celebrations

Posted on by Claire Hall
A view of the School of Business on April 28, 2015. (Peter Morenus/UConn Photo)
A view of the UConn School of Business. (Peter Morenus/UConn Photo)

School Honors Faculty Whose Accomplishments Shine Brightly; Professor Golec Awarded ‘Research Excellence’ Honor

Finance professor Joe Golec, a scholar who keeps a running list of at least 100 potential research topics at all times, was awarded the School of Business’ top honor this spring, its Award for Research Excellence.

Meanwhile accounting professors Yanhua “Sunny’’ Yang and Michael Willenborg earned the School of Business’ Best Paper award for a highly regarded research paper about IPO prices. One of the reasons she chose to work at UConn, Yang said, was the value the University places on research distinction. Continue Reading

CEO Evolution Features Former Walmart CEO/MBA Alum

Posted on by Claire Hall
William S. Simon, former president and CEO, Walmart U.S. (UConn School of Business)
William S. Simon, former president and CEO, Walmart U.S. (UConn School of Business)

Former Walmart CEO/UConn alumnus William S. Simon To Speak at CEO Evolution Program on June 15

William S. Simon ’83, ’88 MBA, former president and CEO of Walmart U.S. and a UConn School of Business alumnus, will be one of the panelists at the third annual CEO Evolution program on June 15.

He will be joined by Margaret Keane, president and CEO of Synchrony Financial in Stamford, and M. Scott Gillis, senior managing director and co-founder of the Manhattan managing consulting firm Galt & Co.

They will speak of Continue Reading

Corey Birch ’16 is All Business—On the Golf Course

Posted on by Claire Hall
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Corey Birch (Nathan Oldham/UConn School of Business)

No one needs to tell recent School of Business graduate Corey Birch ’16 to keep his eye on the ball. Or the green. Or the competition, for that matter.

Birch, a member of the UConn golf team, who graduated in May with a degree in accounting, is hoping to turn pro golfer this fall, fulfilling a career goal that he set in the sixth grade.  Continue Reading

Research of Seismic Proportion

Posted on by Claire Hall
Northridge, California - January 19, 1994: Experts survey office building with one side entirely collapsed from the Martin Luther King Day earthquake. (iStock)
Northridge, California – January 19, 1994: Experts survey office building with one side entirely collapsed from the Martin Luther King Day earthquake. (iStock)

Finance Professor Finds Inconsistency in California’s Earthquake Insurance Charges

Are some California homeowners subsidizing others for earthquake insurance due to policies that unfairly lump together insurance premiums for both high- and low-risk property owners?

The answer appears to be “yes,” based on new research by UConn finance professor Xiao “Joyce” Lin, a former California resident who is interested in earthquake insurance pricing and demand.Continue Reading

Tradeoffs, Conflicts, Opportunities

Posted on by Claire Hall
Auret Van Heerden, former president and CEO of the Fair Labor Association. (Vivek Soundararajan/University of Birmingham)
Auret Van Heerden, former president and CEO of the Fair Labor Association. (Vivek Soundararajan/University of Birmingham)

Business Law Conference Draws International Experts, Sparks New Ideas

Experts in business law, management and a range of social science disciplines attended a two-day conference at UConn titled, “Public Regulation and Private Governance: Competitors or Collaborators?”

Conference participants, from North America and Europe, presented 14 papers that tackled the complex topic of how public regulations and private governance can complement each other.

The keynote dinner featured Continue Reading

Optimistic About Our Planet’s Health

Posted on by Claire Hall
Jason Harris '16 MBA discusses his coursework with John Mandyck, chief sustainability officer at United Technologies Corp. (Nathan Oldham/UConn School of Business)
Jason Harris ’16 MBA discusses his coursework with John Mandyck, chief sustainability officer at United Technologies Corp. (Nathan Oldham/UConn School of Business)

United Technologies Sustainability Expert Shares Knowledge, Ideas with MBA Cohort

If there’s one take-away that John Mandyck, chief sustainability officer at United Technologies Corp., hopes that he has imparted to UConn’s full-time MBA students it is a sense of optimism.

“We face big problems with the future of our planet, including population explosion, the migration to city life and strain on our natural resources,” he said. “But I hope I left the students with Continue Reading