Fall 2016: The Economy Issue

Night falls, and the air is filled with sounds of laughter and reminiscing at Hankamer. This is the music of Homecoming.

You are invited to the Homecoming reception at the Paul L. Foster Campus for Business and Innovation in the Paul and Jane Meyer Conference Center, Oct. 14^th from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m.

Homecoming is always one of the highlights of the year at the Hankamer School of Business. Enjoy heavy hors d’oeuvres, refreshments and smooth jazz from a live band while you connect with old friends, alumni, students, faculty and staff. Your Baylor spirit will soar.

Baylor Business Review, Fall 2016

1970s

Ed Crenshaw, BBA ’73, retired chief executive officer of Florida-based Publix Super Markets, was honored by the Grocery Manufacturers Association and received the 2016 Hall of Achievement Award in July, the organization’s highest honor.

Mary Ann Cloyd, BBA ’76, was appointed as an independent director for Bellerophon Therapeutics, Inc., a clinical biotherapeutics company. Cloyd will also serve as a member of the audit committee. Before retiring in 2015, Cloyd was a senior partner with PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) and was responsible for leading their Center for Board Governance. Cloyd has more than 39 years of public accounting experience serving multinational corporate clients in a variety of industries, including biotechnology and pharmaceuticals.

Rick Owen, BBA ’76, was named managing partner of the Houston office of SolomonEdwards, a privately held professional services firm focused on strategy execution. Owen brings nearly 40 years of combined financial, executive and consultative experience establishing financial and operational processes, conducting full spectrum corporate finance, mergers and acquisitions activities, and providing strategic thought and financial leadership. As a SolomonEdwards Partner, he has responsibility for client service, operations and recruiting in the Houston market.

John Eddie Williams, BBA ’76, former Baylor football player, generous contributor to the construction of McLane Stadium and the namesake of the stadium’s football field, was gifted a bronze bust of himself for his 60^th birthday. The bust is at the foot of the stadium, facing the Brazos River and the Baylor Law School.

Carrie Leana, MBA ’78, has been selected as a 2016 resident scholar at the Rockefeller Foundation’s Bellagio Center in Bellagio, Italy. Currently serving as the George H. Love Professor of Organizations and Management at the University of Pittsburgh and director of the Center for Healthcare Management, Leana will join a group of 14 international scholars from various disciplines whose work broadly examines human behavior. The Foundation’s resident scholar program is a four-week residency program that has been offered to Nobel laureates, Pulitzer Prize winners, National Book Award recipients and MacArthur Fellows.

Bruce Ballengee, BBA ’79, president and chief executive officer of Pariveda Solutions, a leading provider of strategic consulting services and technology solutions expertise, announced Service Performance Insight (SPI) named Pariveda to their 2016 Best-of-the-Best List. Pariveda utilizes SPI’s Professional Services Maturity™ Benchmark year after year to continuously improve the performance of the firm. SPI has recognized Pariveda for the second year in a row.

1980s

Hans Brattskar, MIM ’80, has been appointed Norway’s ambassador and permanent representative to the United Nations and other international organizations in Geneva. Brattskar has previously served as Norway’s deputy foreign minister, as ambassador to Kenya and ambassador to Sri Lanka. He received his PhD from Claremont Graduate University.

Richard S. Willis, BBA ’81, MBA ’82, was appointed president and chief executive officer of Pharmaca Integrative Pharmacy, the nation’s first and largest chain of integrative pharmacies. Willis also will serve as a director of the company.

Dan Chapa, BBA ’82, was recently named senior managing director at the newly launched healthcare finance unit at Sterling National Bank in Montebello, New York.

Jeff Fletcher, BBA ’82, was recently elected to become District Judge of the 402^nd District Court of Wood County, Texas. As there is no Democrat in the election, Jeff will be unopposed in the November general election and will assume his duties as District Judge on January 1, 2017.

William Giles, BBA ’83, was appointed interim chief executive officer (CEO) of Gordon Memorial Health Services in Gordon, Nebraska. He assumed administrative responsibilities for the hospital and rural outreach clinics. Giles previously worked as CEO at Hardy Wilson Memorial Hospital in Mississippi.

John Driskill, MBA ’84, was named treasurer of the not-for-profit National Organization of Social Security Claimants’ Representatives (NOSSCR) for 2015-2016, the largest trade organization of attorneys and representatives practicing Social Security disability law.

Mark Howard, BBA ’85, was hired by Nationwide to lead the company’s trial, legal, government relations, compliance, corporate citizenship and corporate governance functions. He is going to Nationwide from financial services group USAA.

Kyle Deaver, BBA ’86, was elected mayor of the city of Waco, Texas, in May. Among his priorities are economic development and making sure new employment opportunities benefit those who are currently unemployed or underemployed. Deaver also is an enthusiastic supporter of Prosper Waco, which seeks to coordinate nonprofit, government and business entities in a coherent effort to improve income, healthcare and education.

Jennifer Eagle, BBA ’86, is one of two women spearheading the development of the Nasher Prize, the only international prize for contemporary sculpture, from a local initiative into an international art brand.

Kyle Smith, BBA ’86, has been the owner of Goen & Goen insurance agency, located in Floydada, Texas, since 1987. Goen & Goen celebrates its 90^th year in business in 2016. Founded in 1926 by Smith’s great grandfather, A.C. Goen, the insurance agency has served the Texas South Plains area and beyond for four generations. Smith purchased the agency from his uncle, Dale Goen, after graduating from Baylor. The agency specializes in crop insurance, farm and ranch coverages, as well as business, home and auto insurance.

Lori King, BBA ’87, was hired by DHISCO Inc., a hospitality distribution company, to serve as vice president of its global implementation and interface services division.

Sandy Spoonemore, BBA ’87, was crowned Ms. Wheelchair Texas at a recent leadership conference in Houston. Spoonemore, who has spinal muscular atrophy, represented the Dallas area with her platform, “Defying Gravity,” where she focused on showing individuals, family members and co-workers in Texas that everyone has value and purpose.

Scott Woodby, BBA ’87, has been named vice president of sales and marketing for Almark Foods of Gainesville, Georgia. Almark is a leading producer of egg products in the consumer packaged goods industry (CPG). Woodby will oversee the national roll out to convenience stores and alternate channels, such as Dollar General and Family Dollar. Woodby has nearly 30 years of sales management experience in the CPG industry with companies like General Mills and Acosta Sales & Marketing.

Mitch Bennett, BBA ’88, was awarded an honorary Doctor of Humanities degree from Dallas Baptist University (DBU) in May. Bennett has worked for DBU for the past 28 years, and he currently serves as the director of gift accounting and assistant to the chancellor.

Christy Jack, BBA ’88, has been reappointed as chair of the Governing Board of the Texas Civil Commitment Office by Texas Governor Greg Abbott. Jack is a partner at Varghese Summersett, PLLC, and previously served as an assistant criminal district attorney for Tarrant County.

Steven D. Allen, BBA ’89, has been promoted to senior vice president of general aviation for QBE North America. Allen will be responsible for the continued development and execution of QBE North America’s Aviation go-to-market strategy. He joined QBE in 2015 as vice president of aviation claims. Allen has more than 20 years of insurance, legal and management experience in the aviation insurance arena and served as a pilot in the United States Air Force for nearly a decade before his honorable discharge.

Neal Emmons, BBA ’89, created the Project One Scholarship Fund to support talented, motivated children of single parents in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools in North Carolina attend state universities. The son of a single parent, a friend’s grandfather, who had grown wealthy in oil, paid for Emmons’s tuition to Baylor. He had little contact with his benefactor, but the donor’s son later explained that his dad had simply seen a hard-working family and wanted to help. Emmons resolved to pay forward the help he’d gotten: Providing not only money but personal guidance that helps young adults complete college.

1990s

Curtis W. Harrison II, BBA ’91, has been named managing partner of GoransonBain, a family law practice in Dallas. Harrison is board certified in family law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization and has been named as a “Texas Super Lawyer” by Thomson Reuters each year since 2008.

Jenni Hord, BBA ’92, was appointed by Texas Governor Greg Abbott to Humanities Texas, a nonprofit educational organization. Hord is co-manager of Vanderpool Management property development and leasing firm.

Kermit Ward, BBA ’92, the principal of Pflugerville Connally High School in Texas, was recently named a 2016 College Board Fellow, becoming one of 11 educators nationwide to earn the distinction. The program recognizes educators with a track record of “working effectively to close achievement and attainment gaps” in their campuses and communities.

Jack F. Harper, BBA ’93, executive vice president of Concho Resources, an oil and gas exploration company, assumed the additional roles of chief financial officer and treasurer.

Joyce Lee, BBA ’93, was recently appointed president of Bayer’s North American Animal Health business, located in Shawnee, Kansas. Previously, Lee was the executive vice president and area president of Canada and Latin America at Zoetis. She has more than 20 years of experience in marketing and commercial operations in emerging and developed markets within the life sciences industry.

Thomas “Tee” Shipmon, BBA ’93, was named senior vice president of specialty lending at Paragon Bank. In his new role, Shipmon will provide interim construction financing primarily for franchisees. Prior to joining Paragon, Shipmon served as the president and co-founder of WingFinance and served in a variety of positions at Bank of America. He currently serves on the finance committee for Downtown Church in Memphis and is a volunteer at New Hope Christian Academy.

Michael Sims, MBA ’93, was named associate executive director at Presbyterian Village North, a senior living community in Dallas. In his new position, Sims will work to provide visionary leadership, fulfill administrative and operational duties and help manage teams to ensure excellent resident care. Sims previously served as interim administrator and has more than 42 years of experience working in senior living and continuing care retirement communities.

Michael Dean, MBA ’94, has been named the chief technology officer of Zonesty.com, a Houston-based company that helps small and midsize businesses in Texas compare companies with whom to contract for electricity. Dean will be responsible for leading the advancement of Zonesty’s website and enhancing the residential electricity shopping platform.

Chip Gaines, BBA ’98, and Joanna Gaines announced they are releasing their first book, The Magnolia Story, which will detail their relationship through the ups and downs of their life.

Daniel Williamson, BBA ’98, and his wife Jennifer (Nivin), associate professors in the Counselor Education and Supervision Program at Lindsey Wilson College, were awarded the 2015 ACES Counseling Vision and Innovation Award at the ACES annual conference in Philadelphia, for their work developing counseling at the state, national and international level. In addition, the Baylor alumni spent some time last fall teaching in Naples, Italy. They were there conducting a training seminar for the European Branch of the American Counseling Association.

2000s

Paul Wittorf, BBA ’00, has been named executive managing partner and market leader for Transwestern’s North Texas operations, based in Dallas. He also has been appointed to Transwestern’s executive committee and board of directors.

Aniko Rakita, BBA ’04, is Churchill Stateside Group’s new vice president and West Regional production officer. Rakita is responsible for debt and equity origination for affordable and market rate properties in the West and Southwest regions.

William L. Garrett, BBA ’06, of San Francisco, was promoted to director of Bank of America Merrill Lynch’s Rates & Currencies Origination Team. He works with companies to help understand and manage the risks associated with currency movements. Garrett joined Bank of America Merrill Lynch in 2010 from JPMorgan. He also participates as a guest speaker for the Hankamer School of Business every spring.

Julia MacDonald, BBA ’07, was part of Keith Allen Harward’s legal team. As a result of recently tested DNA evidence, Harward was declared innocent of the convictions that kept him in prison since 1983. The Innocence Project, national litigation and public policy organization dedicated to exonerating wrongfully convicted individuals through DNA testing and reforming the criminal justice system to prevent future injustice, was co-counsel on the case.

Roddex Barlow, MBA ’08, has been added as associate administrator for the Memorial Campus of The Hospitals of Providence in El Paso, Texas. Barlow, who has 20 years of experience, was previously chief of the department of nursing at William Beaumont Army Medical Center.

Dan Reddin, BBA ’09, has completed his MBA at the University of California, Berkeley’s Haas School of Business. He will be joining Deloitte Consulting’s Strategy and Operations practice as a senior consultant based in San Francisco.

2010s

Cameron McCown, BBA ’10, is owner of Bread of Life Community Deli in Meridian, Idaho, a restaurant that charges no set prices, allowing those unable to pay for a sandwich to pay as much as they are able. Those who cannot afford a sandwich are asked to help out by working around the deli. The goal of the deli is to end hunger, stop food waste and build a healthy community.

Cory Duncan, MBA ’12, a real estate developer from Austin, Texas, acquired space between 711 and 723 Washington Ave., in Waco, Texas, to expand Wildland Supply Co., a clothing store he opened with his wife, Kate Parker Duncan. Wildland is one of the many new companies contributing to the growth of downtown Waco.

Brittany Foreman, BBA ’12, was hired as director of marketing for 3d Health, Inc., located in Oak Park, Illinois. Previously, Foreman was the digital marketing manager for the Hankamer School of Business.

John David Beard, BBA ’14, and Dylan Washington, started their own coffee roasting business last year and opened Pinewood Coffee Roasters, a coffee shop, in Waco, Texas, this year.

Baylor Business Review, Fall 2016

Upward Trend: Economics Degree Boosts Student on Corporate Law Trajectory

By Becca Broaddus

Sakina Haji was born in India and lived abroad until she was seven years old. When her family moved to Houston that year for her father’s job with Exxon, she didn’t even know what the United States was. Now, a little more than a decade later, the junior Economics major has competed in high school Model U.N. competitions, lobbied on Capitol Hill and argued for Baylor’s mock trial team.

Incoming Baylor students may recognize Haji’s name and voice. When she’s not focused on her corporate attorney ambitions, she moonlights as an admissions telecounselor, describing and answering questions about Baylor to prospective Bears. But she hadn’t always planned on going to Baylor.

“When I actually visited campus, that’s what changed my mind and really made me want to come here,” she said. “I knew it was a Christian school, so I didn’t know what it was going to be like, but I felt really welcomed by everyone I met and everyone I talked to. I could see myself here.”

As a Muslim student, Haji admits it was a bit daunting to attend a Baptist university.

“I didn’t know what to expect,” she said. “I had never been in a very religious living community before. When I came here, I actually learned there are more similarities than differences. I’ve always been kind of conservative. I have a conservative family and upbringing, so that really made me happy to come to Baylor, and that really made my parents happy.”

If it was intimidating at first, it didn’t take long for Haji to find her place at Baylor. As a pre-law student, she joined the mock trial team and Baylor Ambassadors, a student lobbyist organization, her freshman year. Last fall, she went to Capitol Hill with Baylor Ambassadors to lobby for religious freedom and federally funded grants.

“I thought that was a really far-reaching issue for just us college students to talk about, but I think we actually had a good impact on it,” Haji said. “When we went to D.C., we met with the Office of Faith-based Initiatives [sic] and congressmen. We got to sit in on the House and the Senate and were there for the passing of the budget this year. It was exciting.”

With her interest in law and government, a Political Science major seems a more natural inclination for Haji, but she insists Economics is a much better fit.

“I think Economics is forward looking where a lot of other [majors] are kind of backwards looking,” Haji, who is minoring in Arabic and Philosophy, said. “Economics tries to make predictions about the future, and that really appealed to me because that’s what I want to do as a lawyer. Understanding the forces that have shaped the past and how they affect the future, that’s what I’m trying to get out of the degree. I wanted to be a part of that to affect change.”

Haji doesn’t plan on slowing down anytime soon. This semester, Haji is studying abroad at St. Andrews University in Scotland, and next summer she hopes to get an internship in Washington, D.C.

Baylor Business Review, Fall 2016

By Eleanor Hunt

There is no limit to the rhetoric on illegal immigration this election year, even while full-scale reform is deadlocked in the U.S. Congress. Meanwhile, cities, counties and states are enacting their own laws.

Gathering extensive research about subfederal immigration laws and sentiment are Van Pham, graduate program director and professor of Economics at the Hankamer School of Business, and his wife, Huyen Pham, professor at Texas A&M University School of Law.

The Phams chronicled immigrant laws for 2005 through 2011 and assigned composite scores based on whether regulations are permissive or restrictive. Each state has a positive or negative immigrant climate index (ICI) score.

“This is an example of how academic research can inform an issue in which many opinions and policies are running ahead of actual analysis,” says Van Pham. “We, in academia, can contribute with dispassionate, objective analysis to help parse through difficult issues and make concrete statements about impact.”

Creating the research database was a herculean effort because there are no central sources of all local laws. The Phams consulted media reports, advocacy groups and government officials to verify each immigration law that was enacted. To determine their impact, they placed them in the categories of law enforcement, employment, language, housing benefits, voting and legal services.

“To the extent that we are trying to measure immigrant climate, we tried to figure out what laws would have the most effect on immigrants in their everyday lives,” Huyen Pham says. “There’s some consensus among legal experts that policing laws have the most impact.”

Van Pham adds, “Quantifying immigrant climate allows us and other researchers to study factors that can affect climate and the impact climate can have on economic performance and welfare. The ICI measure also illustrates wide ranging views across states and counties. One can appreciate how difficult it is to find consensus in immigration policy at the federal level.”

Immigrant climates can vary widely even when states are in geographical proximity. The data shows Arizona has the most restrictive immigrant climate, whereas Illinois has the most pro-immigrant environment, followed by California. The ICI scores signal continued polarization and may also reflect voter opinions by region. After all, voters elected the local and state officials who passed the laws.

“As we update the ICI scores, it will be interesting to see possible changes in state climates and whether those scores will be reflected in November voting, as voters decide between federal candidates who may or may not reflect the immigration sentiment in their areas,” Huyen Pham says.

Additionally, this research is important to others measuring immigration’s effect in specialized areas, including healthcare, taxes, employment and economic growth. The Phams say their analysis has been downloaded at least 1,000 times and cited extensively in academic papers and the media.

Van Pham concludes, “In an election year, it’s difficult sometimes to make decisions based on objectivity. Hopefully, in the academic community, we can provide reasoned analysis that will guide some of the decisions made in our country.”

Baylor Business Review, Fall 2016

Agent in Charge

By Kevin Perkins
Special Agent in Charge, Baltimore Division
Federal Bureau of Investigation

One thing all highly successful organizations have in common is exceptional leadership through turbulent times of change. Throughout its 108-year history, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has encountered numerous periods of organizational change driven by world events, none however, as significant as the tragic events of September 11, 2001.

Robert S. Mueller III was sworn in as director of the FBI on September 4, 2001, a mere one week prior to the 9/11 attacks. He inherited a proud agency, long known for its success in fighting crime and exposing foreign spies bent on harming our national security. Within days of the attacks, President George W. Bush asked Director Mueller what the FBI was doing to prevent the next terrorist attack. That one question became the basis for the change Director Mueller knew was going to be required of him and the Bureau. The challenges he faced involved understanding the external influences of the changing world and setting a course to meet a new mission. With his keen insight into what it would take to protect the country going forward, Director Mueller set a strategic course of change like none ever experienced by the FBI.

My FBI story began in 1986 as a young CPA just four years removed from the halls of Hankamer. Today I reflect back on a 30-year career that took me from being a special agent in Kansas City to serving as the FBI’s associate deputy director where, as the No. 3 executive in the FBI, I was responsible for the business operations of a $9 billion dollar enterprise with 35,000 employees and worldwide operations.

To my good fortune, I also had the opportunity to grow up in the FBI known for taking down the mafia and other violent criminals, confronting corrupt public officials, uncovering complex financial frauds, and exposing foreign adversaries stealing national security and trade secrets. The valuable experience I gained while working and learning with special agents from the pre-9/11 era has stayed with me throughout my career. To my even greater fortune, I held a front row seat to witness and participate in the planning and execution of Director Mueller’s organizational change and mission shift, the results of which have positioned the FBI to address the threats confronting our country today.

The threats posed by international terrorism, cyber criminals and other 21^st century criminal activities present new dynamics that require the agility to shift from a reactive organizational posture to one of proactive prevention. Such change rarely comes easily, especially in an organization long known for its sustained success.

The FBI designed a plan around five critical elements to successfully navigate the myriad of challenges such an organizational change required.

• Crisis mentality. There had to be a mass recognition that the organization needed to change.
• Leadership commitment. A core leadership team was driven to implement the change.
• Communication. The vision was effectively shared with and accepted by the organization.
• Removal of obstacles. A plan to identify and eliminate obstacles to change was established.
• Enshrinement. The reinforcement of the change continues to ensure sustained success.

During his 12-year tenure, Director Mueller not only changed the mission of the FBI but also changed its culture, ensuring it maintained an operational agility capable of addressing not only current threats but those unknown threats looming over the horizon.

James B. Comey succeeded Director Mueller after the latter’s term ended in 2013. Director Comey quickly adopted those elements of change to continue to build business practices and organizational infrastructure to sustain the FBI’s ability to confront today’s threats and those of tomorrow.

Due to the exceptional leadership of these two men through very turbulent times and seemingly unending challenges, the FBI is in a much better place to protect our country.

As I reflect back over 30 years of serving as an FBI special agent, I realize the foundation for life, provided first by my parents and further shaped and developed by my challenges and experiences at Baylor, is what I’ve drawn most upon in upholding the FBI motto of Fidelity, Bravery and Integrity.

Baylor Business Review, Fall 2016

The New Urban Growth: Researcher Improves Lives through Economic Policy, Urban Planning

By Becca Broaddus

Enveloped in the sounds of Mahler’s Fifth Symphony, Kris Hartley sat in the back of a crowded Jones Concert Hall and read his first academic journal article while the Baylor Symphony Orchestra played.

It was the first of many articles the MBA candidate would be assigned, but it set the stage for his PhD aspirations and interest in complex ideas and problems.

“[I want] to be an influential thinker about issues that inspire me,” Hartley said. “For now, that’s economic growth and urban planning, and I’m open to whatever career path helps me do this. I feel the draw of academia because it’s essentially the industry of ideas. With that said, I’m old enough to know that opportunities come from unexpected places, and I’ll never take any option off the table–private sector, government or returning in some way to my lifelong passion for music.”

Hartley, who describes himself as an “avid traveler,” has visited 50 countries so far, and he has lived in six countries since 2014: Singapore, Korea, Vietnam, China, the Philippines and the U.S. He now resides in New York, teaching city and regional planning at Cornell University.

“I like to say, with all humility, that I’ve crammed a lot of living into 38 years,” Hartley said. “I’ve seen and experienced more things than I thought I ever would in a lifetime.”

After receiving his undergraduate degree, Hartley taught Latin in Fort Worth, Texas, before attending Baylor for his MBA. Then, he worked as an arts manager in New York for two years, spent two years consulting with the New Zealand government and has done independent consulting in Asia for the past four years. He received a PhD in Public Policy at the National University of Singapore this year.

His recent work includes visiting academic posts at four universities in Asia, where he has conducted independent research about economic policy. He writes press articles and commentaries on topics ranging from urban gardening to public health, frequently speaks at international conferences and has written two books.

Hartley’s first book, entitled Can Government Think? Flexible Economic Opportunism and the Pursuit of Global Competitiveness, addresses innovative economic policy and institutional reform through a variety of international cases. His second book, forthcoming this year, explores economic integration in Southeast Asia.

Despite Hartley’s busy schedule, credentials are not his primary motivation.

“I don’t measure my goals in articles, books or clicks,” he said. “My ultimate goal is to contribute to the improvement of people’s lives, especially people who don’t have any voice or influence. I want to be part of something bigger, and I’m still trying to define for myself what that is.’

It’s an “unpredictable” career path for an undergraduate Classics major with a passion for music, but Hartley doesn’t view his career traditionally.

“I want to end up doing something that I never would have guessed I’d do,” he said. “That’s my criterion—personal growth in unexpected ways.”

Baylor Business Review, Fall 2016