John A. Elliott Named Dean of UConn’s School of Business

Posted on by Claire Hall

John A. Elliott has been named the new dean of the University of Connecticut’s School of Business. Elliott has been the Vice President and Dean of the City University of New York’s (CUNY) Zicklin School of Business at Baruch College since 2002, where he also holds the Irwin and Arlene Ettinger Chair in Accountancy.  Baruch is home to the largest business school in the United States with 80% of its 18,300 undergraduate and graduate students majoring in business.

“John is a highly successful sitting dean who has had a distinguished scholarly career and clearly understands academic and educational excellence at the highest levels,” said UConn President Susan Herbst. “His experience and background at these prestigious institutions are exactly what we look for in our senior leadership.”

Elliott brings with him substantial experience as a faculty member and administrator. Prior to his arrival at Baruch College, he served as a professor of accounting at Cornell University’s Johnson School of Business beginning in 1982 and later served as Associate Dean of the school from 1996 to 2002. While at Cornell, he chaired the Johnson School’s Global Task Force as well as task forces on strategy and marketing and also directed its doctoral program.

He has been a visiting professor at the University of Chicago and, before earning his doctorate, held faculty appointments at Central Washington State College, Saint Lawrence University and the University of Maryland.  He also worked in the private sector at Arthur Andersen and Westinghouse.

“We are delighted that someone of John’s caliber will be leading UConn’s School of Business,” said UConn Provost Peter Nicholls. “His charge is to ensure that the upward trend of the school continues nationally and, as importantly, globally, through strategic growth and achievement. Our School of Business, its faculty and our students must be on the cutting edge of this ever-evolving field.”

“The UConn Business School’s trajectory is compelling and the future offers many opportunities,” said Elliott. “I am delighted to join a vigorous, ambitious group of faculty, staff, students and alumni as we embrace that future. President Herbst and Governor Malloy have put education in the forefront of the economic development of Connecticut and the Business School will play a key role in realizing that vision.”

Elliott has authored numerous publications in his field as well as serving at the editorial boards of several distinguished journals including The Journal of Financial Statement Analysis (1995 – 1999), The Accounting Review (1984 – 1987, 1989 – 1995), Accounting Horizons (1994 – 1995) and The Journal of Accounting and Public Policy (1983 – 1985).

He earned his B.S. in Economics from the University of Maryland in 1967, an MBA from Maryland in 1972 and his Ph.D. in Accounting from Cornell University in 1982.

He will begin at UConn in August.  His salary will be $390,000. His immediate family includes: his wife, Laura Philips; son, Jesse Elliott; daughter, Dawn Elliott; her husband Marc Guerissi and grandsons Jack and Nick.

WGC Names the School of Business 2012 Educational Institution of the Year

Posted on by Claire Hall

The National Black MBA Association Westchester/Greater Connecticut Chapter (WGC) named the University of Connecticut School of Business the 2012 Educational Institution of the Year.  This award recognizes different organizations and businesses for their successful efforts in encouraging the development of African American students.  UConn has provided commitment and resources towards both the programming and membership initiatives in relation to the WGC’s outreach to the high school, undergraduate, and graduate community in Westchester County and Greater Connecticut.

Last summer the Office of Diversity Initiatives (ODI) at the UConn School of Business hosted the National Black MBA Association’s Leaders of Tomorrow (LOT) 10th Annual National Business Case Competition.  The case competition, held on the Storrs campus, challenged high school students all across the country to excel at the highest levels of analysis, public speaking, strategic planning financial analysis, marketing, and management.  After being trained by members of the National Black MBA Association, Inc., the teams analyzed a graduate school Harvard-style business case.  They then presented recommendations, forecasts, and implications before judges from the highest levels of business and academia.  The winning teams received thousands of dollars in scholarship prizes.

The University of Connecticut continues to show its support of the WGC and its dedication to helping encourage higher education in the youth of our community.  The Office of Diversity Initiatives enhances the School of Business’ outreach to high-quality student applicants and prospective faculty through its initiatives with high schools, colleges, universities, and minority business/professional organizations.  ODI’s goals include outreach and service excellence. This is accomplished by increasing the admissions of high-quality minority students at the undergraduate and graduate levels in the School of Business, and by providing scholarships, fellowships, mentors and role models to help foster high retention rates and success within the University of Connecticut and the School of Business.

Business Mastery Program for Public Service Certificate Ceremony

Posted on by Claire Hall

The School of Business Executive Education Business Mastery Program for Public Service Professionals held its certificate ceremony at the Graduate Business Learning Center (GBLC) in Hartford on December 15. Dr. Robert Bird, Associate Professor in UConn’s Marketing Department, welcomed honorees, friends and family, distinguished guests and program faculty and staff. He also shared experiences from his course module, Introduction to Employment Law. Dr. Karla Fox, Dean of the School of Business, addressed the group with congratulatory remarks. Other distinguished guests attending the ceremony and assisting Dean Fox with the distribution of certificates included: Department of Transportation Commissioner James Redeker; UConn Director of the Institute of Material Sciences, Dr. Harris Marcus; State Health Care Advocate, Victoria Veltri, JD, LLM; Department of Public Health Deputy Commissioner, Lisa Davis; Department of Social Services Operations Manager, George Chamberlin; Deputy Commissioner of the Department of Developmental Services, Joseph Drexler; and Chief of Quality and Planning, Department of Children and Families, Fernando Muniz.

In closing the ceremony, Dr. Lucy Gilson, Associate Professor in UConn’s Management Department, remarked that she recently brought her MBA change management class to the GBLC to hear Governor Malloy give a speech stating that Connecticut is, “open for business,” and “we are going to compete.” In this speech Governor Malloy outlined a number of changes that the state had made and was in the processes of making to encourage, support, and facilitate business as well as attract new companies and industries to our state. More specifically however, he talked about how we needed to reposition Connecticut to attract and keep current industries. He also discussed how UConn could work in tandem with the state to meet these goals. “Tonight, I believe we are taking a big step toward achieving this goal,” noted Professor Gilson. “The business mastery program which tonight’s honorees have completed helps to insure that our state employees have the managerial tools necessary for us to compete” she added.

Certificate recipients honored included: Bruce Bourgoin, Department of Transportation; YoungHee Chudy, UConn; Patricia Dunn, UConn/Department of Social Services; Africka Hinds-Ayala, Office of Health Care Advocacy; David Madonna, Department of Public Health; Elieen McMurrer, Sharon O’Neill and Wayne Seidel, Department of Developmental Services; Tricia Morelli, Department of Social Services; Cristina Pereira, formerly of Department of Transportation; Marc Petruzzi, Department of Public Safety; Ilia Stranko, Department of Children and Families.

The two-course Public Service Professionals Certificate Program offers Introduction to Management and Introduction to Employment Law & Government Processes. Participants either earn 4 undergraduate or 3 graduate non-degree credits per course. To date, 59 participants have completed the program from agencies and departments, throughout the State. By providing customized educational opportunities to public service professionals, the program enhances participants’ skills, while benefiting State agencies and the residents of the State of Connecticut. Our alumni have credited the program with networking and promotional opportunities as well as the development of advanced management skills. Testimonials on the value and benefits of the program can be found at: www.business.uconn.edu/publicservice.

Pictured (top right): Business Mastery Program for Public Service Professionals 2012 Certificate Recipients, Dean Karla Fox, Faculty and Staff. Pictured (above, left to right): Dr. Robert Bird, Professor of Business Law; Dr. Lucy Gilson, Professor of Management; Mary Palmer, Program Manager; Nancy Brouillet, Adjunct Instructor.

Dr. Kramer Receives Award by the CT Chapter of American College of Health Care Administrators

Posted on by Claire Hall

Dr. Kramer Awarded Chapter Award by the CT Chapter of American College of Health Care Administrators

Dr. Jeffrey Kramer, Director of Programs in Healthcare and Insurance Studies, was honored by the Connecticut Chapter of the American College of Health Care Administrators at their Annual Holiday Luncheon held on Friday, December 2, 2011.  Professor Kramer received a Chapter Award for his many years of service in promoting the profession of long-term care administration, and especially for mentoring the numerous individuals who currently serve as Administrators in Connecticut’s nursing homes.

Professor Kramer received his BA, MBA, and Ph.D all from UConn.  He specializes in the study of managed care and long term-term health care organizations. He also has served as a key investigator for utilization review programs, a study evaluating the performance of managed care organizations, and a study examining the effects of deregulation of private pay rates in long-term health care facilities.

Photo: Dr. Jeffrey Kramer

UConn Student Wins First Place in National PSE Competition

Posted on by Claire Hall

On November 18th, 2011, at the Widener University in Chester, PA, Pi Sigma Epsilon, held their National Speakers Competition.  Armando Jimenez, a junior studying business management with a concentration in entrepreneurship at the University of Connecticut, and a member of the Epsilon Omega Chapter on campus, won first place in the national competition.  Jimenez said that he went out for the competition because he enjoys public speaking, it sets him apart from his peers, and it allows him to influence diverse audiences.

Jimenez gave a 6-minute speech discussing the “9 Realities of Life.”  The speech touched upon realities and truths that go overlooked in our daily lives.  Through the sharing of personal experiences and information that Jimenez learned from others he was able to mention points relative to career, academia, and personal realities.  Jimenez said, “the purpose of my speech was to bring awareness to my peers about some of the things we (as a society) do not pay close attention to.”

Jimenez gave his speech to a panel of professional and peer judges and placed first.  He won a Pi Sigma Epsilon national convention package to Indianapolis, IN, in March, where he will have the opportunity to emcee a keynote presentation at the week-long event.

Photo: Armando Jimenez giving his speech

UConn Team Wins Travelers IT case competition

Posted on by Claire Hall

The University of Connecticut School of Business team won the 2011 Travelers IT case competition. The competition is held annually by the Travelers IT Leadership Development Program that pairs talented college students with realistic business scenarios. It is a great opportunity for students to showcase their technical and business abilities, and helps demonstrate the importance of strong research, teamwork, and presentation skills.

This year’s team included Dr. Wei-Kuang Huang, Associate Professor in Residence, Operations and Information Management Department, as the faculty advisor and the following students:

  • Chad Munroe (Senior in Business Technology, Hartford)
  • Dean Richards (Senior in Business Technology, Hartford)
  • Joshua Rome (Senior in Business Technology, Hartford)
  • Reuben Ruppert (Junior in Business Technology, Hartford)
  • Justin Iriondo* (Senior in Management Information Systems, Storrs)

The participating schools for this year’s competition included University of Minnesota (Carlson School of Management), Central Connecticut State University, Worcester Polytechnic Institute,  Quinnipiac University, Metropolitan State University and UConn. This year’s topic of the competition dealt with Agile software development and project management. During the three weeks prior to the competition, the team put forward tremendous amounts of effort and time discuss issues, researching solutions, and rehearsing their presentation.

On Friday, November 18, 2011, the team presented their final work along with other participating schools in front a panel of 7 judges. Our students, being poised and prepared, came out on top, representing UConn with great pride. This is the third time UConn won the Travelers IT case competition in the past four years.

*Justin participated in the first two weeks but was unable to continue due to medical constraints.

MSBAPM and The Hartford Networking

Posted on by Claire Hall

On Thursday, Nov 17, 2011, the MS in Business Analytics and Project Management (MSBAPM) held its first MSBAPM/Industry Networking Event in the Graduate Business Learning Center (GBLC) in downtown Hartford, co-sponsored with The Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc. In addition to several faculty from the Operations and Information Management (OPIM) department, several top executives from The Hartford were in attendance. These included Ruben Fechner, VP Commercial Lines; Sundar Subramanian, AVP Commercial Lines; Nitin Korgonkar, Director IT Program Management; Chris Ross, Director IT Program Management; and Betty Davis, Director IT Program Management.

The event started with a wine and cheese networking hour, followed by a very interactive presentation by all the executives from The Hartford, led by Mr. Fechner, on The Hartford’s approach to project management. Students were told how The Hartford focuses on the customer (both end customer and business sponsor) in a DMAIC/Six Sigma process that hones in on Critical to Quality (CTQs) characteristics of products and processes right from the project initiation phase to project completion. The emphasis is single-mindedly on on-time, on-budget, to-scope and ROI on all their projects, and the project team would not hesitate to pull the plug on projects that do not perform on all these metrics. The presentation was peppered with questions from the audience with all the executives joining in to share their experiences in answering each question. The Hartford team then talked about what makes a good Project Leader, not just a project manager, someone who would inspire, be decisive, be detail oriented and analytical, be accountable and be a good communicator. They were not looking for someone to merely be a “project reporter,” since that information can easily be gathered from Earned Value analysis. The presentation ended with Mr. Fechner saying that products can be copied by competitors, but project management skills in the team cannot be easily replicated, and therefore can be a competitive advantage.

Building for Connecticut’s Success

Posted on by Claire Hall

“Connecticut is open for business, and we’re going to compete,” Governor Dannel P. Malloy emphasized on November 7th during a presentation at the Graduate Business Learning Center in downtown Hartford, Connecticut.  He was speaking to an audience of over 100 business leaders, community members, and University of Connecticut students and faculty members at the UConn Financial Accelerator’s latest premiere event, “Building for Connecticut’s Success.”  The audience gathered with an interest in the Governor’s insight on the role of financial services in Connecticut’s economic future, and the Governor was eager to address the multi-dimensional issue.

Building on Connecticut’s strengths

Governor Malloy posited questions to the audience, “Who are we?” as Connecticut and “what are our strengths?”  Looking to the past, Connecticut has been a financial services-driven state since the industrial revolution, and Malloy envisions a re-industrialization of the United States.  “If we didn’t build it, we financed it!” repeated Malloy, describing the nature of our state economy as one built for investment and high-volume and precision manufacturing. In particular, he noted that the areas of biosciences, insurance, aerospace, hedge funds, and insurance are growth industries for the state. By defining our strengths, and with a focus on technology and innovation, we can work to create a state that nurtures these industries to bring economic development and job creation to Connecticut.

With location and proximity as key factors in encouraging business and innovation among industries, it would be remiss to mention Connecticut’s advantageous position between New York City and Boston.  Also within the state, we have top institutions in higher education, including Yale and the University of Connecticut, which has recently been ranked as a Top 20 research institution by U.S. News & World Report.  Malloy underlined that “universities have to be part of our economic development as a state,” as the universities can act as economic drivers themselves.

The Bioscience Connecticut Initiative is a prime example of this partnership between government, higher education, and innovation, as it is poised to make the UConn Health Center a leader and a hub of research and clinical work in bioscience.  Malloy stated that he was able to deliver upon his promise by taking the opportunity to pursue Connecticut’s partnership with Jackson Laboratories.  Maine-based Jackson Laboratories will construct a research facility at the UConn Health Center and partner with higher education in order to foster the State’s reputation as a leader in the growing industry.

In addition, Malloy recognized the importance of new business, particularly in the realm of technology and innovation.  The State has invested in creating the UConn Technology Park at the Storrs, Connecticut campus, which will house flexible-use laboratories for collaborative research and business services. Other key initiatives include the Connecticut Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation and the IP Factory, which both support what Malloy termed as the “monetization of invention.”  Malloy stated “I understand innovation and education,” as he warned that it would be a flaw in our economic development plans to not capitalize on the partnership of universities and government.  By encouraging this partnership, we encourage investment in the state of Connecticut.  “We need better support for invention,” stated Malloy.

Repositioning Connecticut

Competition with other states is a common theme for economic development, and repositioning the state is paramount to attracting new business and keeping current industry.  As one audience member noted, Connecticut has a reputation for being a high-regulation and high-cost state in which to do business.  While our cost of living in the state is difficult to address, Malloy noted that we could address regulation.

In response to the issue of state banks, a question another audience member posed to the Governor, the Governor responded that competition is critical.  The fact is that we have lost state banks to buy-outs from out-of-state banks. Also, due to given regulation and the current model of the banking industry, he’s unsure if we can still be a player.  However, by changing regulation and the lending environment to attract banks here, having state banks revisit old clients and lend to them again, lending to small businesses, and creating an environment of large investment, we can be competitive.

One particular example that Malloy raised was that of the hedge fund industry.  There has been a significant movement of hedge funds into Connecticut, and Malloy notes that it isn’t by accident.  Hedge funds are in a uniquely difficult situation in the post-Dodd-Frank climate which makes it challenging to create new enterprises. Competition for establishment is keener.  Connecticut has an advantage by having an environment where hedge funds are taxed less than the neighboring states. By focusing on bringing hedge funds into the state and giving them an environment to grow here, we will be able to carve and keep our niche in that industry.  The Governor expressed a will to fight to keep the tax advantage over other states as well.

Not only do we need to reposition the state to bring in new businesses, we need reposition the state to bring in and retain our workforce.  As one audience member commented, there has been a trend of college graduates of Connecticut institutions leaving the state after graduation.  The Governor countered that although this may be true, the State has been doing better at the retention of our college graduates, and in fact, the State is doing even better when it comes to importing graduates from neighboring states.  To encourage our Connecticut-educated workforce to stay in Connecticut, Malloy noted that we need more vibrant cities.  Stamford and New Haven have made great strides, but we need to be more urbanized and support education and investment.  We can succeed with a sustained commitment to monetary investment in and around universities.

Where do we go from here?

We want people to move into our state and grow industry, and in order to do this we need revenue for supporting who we are and what we want to be.  Malloy noted that he and his administration are currently focused on job growth, job creation, and job retention.  He stressed an importance of bipartisan agreement to continue to support angel investment, corporate investment, and reshape regulation.  Malloy spoke about new tools available for small businesses, which include subsidies for hiring and a portal for growing business.  In order to rejuvenate our economic industry, we need to build a supporting infrastructure and physical infrastructure, such as transportation.

About the event

This event is the fifth in a series of UConn Financial Accelerator Premiere Events.  Previous events included topics on the municipal debt crisis, the idea of too big to fail, Dodd-Frank legislation, and the Peter Principle as applied to the healthcare industry. This event, “Building for Connecticut’s Success” was sponsored by the University of Connecticut’s School of Business, The Phoenix, and the Hartford CFA Society.

The UConn Financial Accelerator is a financial, educational, and analytical research forum for the University of Connecticut’s School of Business and a pipeline of talent that enhances the local business community.  As a laboratory for project analysis, the Financial Accelerator utilizes a combination of students and highly trained faculty with access to cutting edge technology to develop timely solutions for complex, real-world business cases.  For more information about the Financial Accelerator, please visit http://accelerator.business.uconn.edu/ or contact Dr. Chinmoy Ghosh at 860.486.4431 or via email at cghosh@business.uconn.edu.

Paper Received Best IS Publication of the Year Award 2010

Posted on by Claire Hall

A paper co-written by faculty members of the University of Connecticut School of Business Department of Operations and Information Management has been nominated as the best ACM TMIS paper of 2010 and is also one out of five recipients of the Best IS Publications of the Year Awards 2010.  The paper, titled “Why Give Away Something for Nothing? Investigating Virtual Goods Pricing and Permission Strategies,” was co-written in December 2010 by Dr. Sulin Ba, Professor; Dr. Dan Ke; Dr. Jan Stallaert, Associate Professor; and Zhongju Zhang, Associate Professor.

The Best Publications Awards were established to recognize the breadth of high quality work that is being published in the Information Systems discipline. This award was designed to bring outstanding papers across a range of journals to the attention of the IS community, and to give due credit to the journals in which they are published. Each year journal editors nominate the best paper published in their journal in the preceding year. A committee composed of Senior Scholars reviews the nominations from journal editors and selects five papers as the recipients of this prestigious award.

“Why Give Away Something for Nothing? Investigating Virtual Goods Pricing and Permission Strategies” is about the world of virtual goods.  The question of how a creator sets prices for a virtual good, as to maximize their profit, is discussed.  The major difference with virtual goods is that many times consumers will want to use multiple copies of the same good, which results in an increase in the consumer’s utility.  The focus of the research is on the copy permission of virtual goods.  An economic model is developed and examined under different conditions, to find which setting is best for the copy permission that leads to the highest profit, as well as how subsequent pricing strategies are affected.  Both theoretical and practical implications of researched are discussed within the paper.