Baylor Business Buzz

“Business Review” Radio Series Earns Awards in International Competition
The weekly radio series produced by Livingston+McKay and Baylor University’s Hankamer School of Business continued a long streak of recognition with an Award of Excellence and an Award of Distinction from the Communicator Awards.

Dean Mazumder Answers Students’ Questions
Sandeep Mazumder, the William E. Crenshaw Endowed Dean of the Hankamer School of Business, hosted students from the Business School for a series of questions on his transition to Baylor, his faith and the Business School’s role in Baylor’s R1/T1 status.

Seeds of Faith
Get to know Sandeep Mazumder as he discusses growing up in England, his love for education, his move to the U.S. and his journey to finding Christ. Watch the video at https://bit.ly/3FZsWA8.

Provost Honors Baylor University Faculty as 2021-2022 Baylor Fellows
Associate Professor of Accounting Jason MacGregor was selected to serve as a 2021-2022 Baylor Fellow along with nine other faculty members due to their excellence in teaching and desire to transform student thinking through innovation.

Baylor Hankamer School of Business Programs Rise in Latest U.S. News Rankings
In addition to moving up to No. 75 among National Universities, Baylor has ranked No. 9 in Best Entrepreneurship Programs, No. 57 in Best Undergraduate Accounting Programs and No. 74 in Best Undergraduate Business Programs, according to U.S. News rankings.

Light Will Rise in the Darkness: BU 58:10 Project Leads Food-Relief Effort
The Baylor Department of Accounting and Business Law partnered with the Pack Shack to assemble 50,000 meals for the Waco community.

In the News

Precarization or Protection? How Labor Policies Influence the Effects of Globalization Informality
The United Nations University World Institute for Development Economics Research cited research conducted by Economics Professor Lourenco S. Paz that examines the relationship between globalization and job precarity, or the substitution of high-quality jobs with those that may not comply with regulations or offer benefits.

Uninsured Motorist Coverage Guide
A WalletHub article quoted Allen Seward, associate professor of Finance, Insurance and Real Estate, for his advice as a panel member expert regarding uninsured motorist coverage.

Best and Worst States for Working Dads
WalletHub interviewed Professor of Management Dawn Carlson regarding the best working environments for fathers, including budget savings tips, family leave policies, emotional support and finding work-life balance.

Best Student Credit Cards of 2021
WalletHub cited Finance Professor Franklin Potts as a finance expert who provides tips for students regarding finding and using credit cards.

The 3 Keys to Success (And Failure) in Family Businesses
Assistant Professor of Entrepreneurship and Corporate Innovation Lee Grumbles was quoted in a U.S. Chamber of Commerce article about the competitive advantages and disadvantages of family-run businesses.

Which Comes First: Economic Decline or Hospital Closure?
Research conducted by Economics Professor Michael Richards where he investigated the economic impact of rural hospital closures was cited in a Tradeoffs article.

7 Traits of High-Quality Remote Job Candidates
Assistant Professor of Management Sara Perry’s research into the emotional impact of remote work on employee well-being was featured in a Business 2 Community article. She found that workers with high emotional stability and autonomy are best suited for remote-work opportunities.

Laurie Burney Named Ima’s Professor-In-Residence
The Institute of Management Accountants (IMA) named Laurie Burney, associate professor of Accounting and Business Law, as professor-in-residence effective Sept. 1. Burney will serve a three-year term as IMA’s top academic volunteer leader contributing to academic outreach and thought leadership.

The Perfect Workday Hours to Maximize Motivation
Research on employee work breaks conducted by Associate Professors of Management Emily Hunter and Cindy Wu was quoted by Thrive Global, a company that focuses on the wellbeing of employees in providing behavior change technology.

The State of Modern Economics
The Mises Institute discussed research conducted by Carl Menger Research Fellow, W.W. Caruth Chair and Professor of Entrepreneurship Peter Klein who investigated the economics of entrepreneurship and business organization, which contains applications to regulation, innovation and economic growth.

Business Review – Insincere Negotiations
In an episode of the radio series Business Review, Associate Professor of Management Chris Meyer provided tips for navigating encounters with a negotiator whose purpose is strictly strategic and not to make a deal.

Alumni News

1980s

Stephen L. Bailey, BBA ’83, assumed new leadership position as, president and CEO and interim chief financial officer of emerging technologies and mineral resources development company, HXPN, Inc.

John Beall, BBA ’85, joined TMGcore, Inc., as the chief financial officer. Headquartered in Plano, TMGcore manufactures and designs mobile data centers that have leading-edge, high-performance computing solutions for virtually any environment.

Scott Wilson, BBA ’89, was named vice president of Global Advisory Services and Business Development Directors of Unisys Corp. Prior to joining Unisys Corp., Wilson was a managing director in the Resources Operating Group working with clients on re-imagining operating models and how they intersect with digital transformation.

1990s

Holli C. Ladhani, BBA ’92, was elected to Marathon Oil Corporation’s Board of Directors to serve on the committee for Audit and Finance and Health, Environmental, Safety and Corporate Responsibility. Prior to her time at Marathon, she served as president and CEO of Select Energy, which provides end-to-end water and chemical solutions to oilfield operators.

Nipul Patel, BBA ’94, was appointed to lead Well Fargo’s Real Estate Banking within its Commercial Real Estate group as of July 2021. Patel will oversee balance sheet lending for office, multifamily, mixed-use, industrial and retail properties, including construction financing, acquisition financing and permanent financing.

Brian White, BBA ’96, was appointed to the Continental Automated Buildings Association (CABA) Board of Directors, a nonprofit association that promotes advanced technologies for the automation of homes and buildings. White is currently the director of digital marketing for Rheem, a manufacturing company based out of Atlanta.

Chip Gaines, BBA ’98, and his wife, Joanna, launched the Magnolia Network and app on the Discovery+ streaming service in July. Content includes an original series of workshops covering a range of topics, including design, cooking, home decor, gardening and more.

Jeff Cummins, MBA ’99, earned his sixth Five Star Wealth Manager Award. As a CFP, he started his comprehensive financial planning practice in 2002 and specializes in consulting business owners, physicians and workers nearing retirement.

Ace Roman, BBA ’99, was promoted to chief financial officer and new executive committee member at Granite Properties. As a previous director of finance, he will continue leading financial strategy and manage capital, corporate, finance and portfolio management. Over the past year, Roman secured financial negotiations totaling $570 million in Dallas, Southern California and Atlanta.

2000s

Jerry Gannaway, MBA ’01, recently retired from Lockheed Martin Aeronautics as the F-35 program manager for Singapore. Gannaway has been selected to participate in a nine-month program called Leadership Clarksville in Tennessee.

Sarah Kennedy Ellis, BBA ’04, joined the board of directors at Ansira, an independent global marketing technology and services firm that provides strategic planning for clients. Ellis is VP at Google’s Global Growth and Demand division and a member of the Hankamer School of Business Advisory Board.

2010s

Laura Lea, MBA ’13, was appointed new vice president of Transwestern Real Estate Services in Dallas. As a new addition to the Healthcare Advisor Team, Lea aids clients concerning site selection, lease negotiations and transaction management.

Amira Lewally, BBA ’15, was named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 list for Hollywood & Entertainment. Lewally serves as a supervising producer at A&E Networks, producing works such as “The Secret Origins of Hip Hop” and “Biography: TLC.”

Giampetro Ippolito, BBA ’16, MBA ’20, was hired as the new administrative services and finance director for the City of Greenville starting in September 2021. He previously worked in physician recruiting, operations and revenue cycle management at Envision Healthcare.

Caleb Mann, BBA ’17, was hired as head of projects at ICON Technology, a construction company that utilizes 3D printing, robotics, software and advanced materials in their engineering and homebuilding efforts.

Elmo Lopez, Jr., MBA ’18, received the President’s Community Leadership Award, which recognizes outstanding civic leaders who advance the welfare of the Laredo community. Lopez serves as the CEO at Gateway Community Health Center.

Faculty

Dan Jennings, former Entrepreneurship professor, passed away in November 2021. Jennings taught at the Hankamer School of Business from 1984 to 1997 alongside Baylor President Linda Livingstone and former HSB Dean Terry Maness, among many others.

Setting a Good Foundation

Baylor Hankamer School of Business scholars pave the way for future entrepreneurs

By Kathryn Herd

Russell Browder

Jiaju Justin Yan

After months of observations, surveys, writings and rewritings, Baylor Assistant Professor Jiaju Justin Yan and PhD graduate Russell Browder achieved what many in business academia deem one of the highest accolades: the doctoral dissertation award from the Academy of Management. One of the largest professional associations of scholars, the Entrepreneurial Division considered hundreds of dissertations from candidates across the globe before picking its two winners.

“This is the biggest award that you can win in the entrepreneurship field,” Professor and Chair of Entrepreneurship and Corporate Innovation Department Peter Klein said. Yan received the 2021 Heizer Best Doctoral Dissertation Award for his paper, “Exploring the Unknown Requires Leveraging Uncertainty: Two Essays on A Real Options Perspective on the Pattern and Decision-Making of Entrepreneurial Internationalization.” After completing his PhD program at the University of Tennessee, Yan joined the Entrepreneurship and Corporate Innovation faculty in July 2020.

For Yan, achieving this honor not only allows him national recognition but a sense of legacy for him and his advisors, Denis Gregoire and David Williams, who received the same award years prior. Yan notes that the two served as role models for him throughout his research process, where he studied how uncertainty impacts the internationalization process for business owners.

“Winning the Heizer award is a great honor and recognition of the research I do,” Yan said. “I am extremely grateful to my dissertation advisors, my alma mater and the scholarly community of entrepreneurship. Such an award will further motivate me to conduct impactful and relevant research that can contribute to entrepreneurship theory and practice.”

Ultimately, he hopes to integrate his findings into public policy, thereby easing the transition for business owners as they explore moving their ventures abroad, especially considering the COVID-19 pandemic.

Russell Browder earned the NFIB Best Dissertation Award for his research titled, “Intermediation and Disintermediation of Resources for Entrepreneurship and Innovation in the Maker Movement,” where he examined through hours of hands-on observation how small business owners are democratizing tools of innovation within makerspaces.

“Walking into these spaces sometimes is like walking into makers’ happy place,” Browder said. “It is walking into their world. It is interesting to see what makes them tick, what brings them alive and what places they can escape to in order to find community, meaning and inspiration.”

Browder continues to explore how small business owners are adapting within the current climate of the business world. He attributes his drive for research to the encouraging faculty and staff he grew close to as he pursued his PhD. After completing his doctorate degree at Baylor, he accepted a faculty position as an assistant professor at the University of Oklahoma.

“I am extremely grateful for the many different people at Baylor that supported me in the research,” Browder said. “I was a part of the very first cohort of PhD students. It was a brand-new program. I am really excited that this award recognizes the investment that Baylor made in me by the attention that’s been given to the research that came out of my time there.”

Both Yan and Browder’s accomplishments continue to spur Baylor’s Entrepreneurship and Department of Entrepreneurship and Corporate Innovation forward as more research is conducted throughout its programs.

“We are very proud of the achievements both Justin and Russell received from the Academy of Management,” Sandeep Mazumder, William E. Crenshaw Endowed Dean of the Hankamer School of Business, said. “Here at Baylor, we strive to produce impactful scholarship with the purpose of human flourishing, and these young researchers have done just that. Producing and recruiting research talent such as Justin and Russell is evidence of Baylor’s progress in becoming the leading Christian R1 research institution.”

Filling the Funnel

By Justin Walker

“You must actively help the hungry and feed the oppressed. Then your light will drive out the darkness, and your darkness will become like the middle of the day.” Isaiah 58:10

Baylor students, faculty and staff gathered to pack 50,000 meals for the McLennan County community on Oct. 20, 2021, as part of the 58 Ten Project.

The event, organized by the Department of Accounting and Business Law in partnership with the Pack Shack, saw hundreds of volunteers form assembly lines to pack food and vitamins into boxes to be distributed to families in need.

“The Baylor family can be a powerful force when we work together to meet a goal,” Lauren Farish, clinical assistant professor for Accounting and Business Law, said. “When that goal is driven by our desire to bring the light of Jesus to those in need, I know the Lord multiplies our efforts beyond what we can imagine.”

Going into the event, it was hard for many to imagine how 50,000 meals would be packed in just two hours. But the volunteers met the goal in just over 90 minutes of work. The meals were boxed and distributed to local food pantries and organizations, such as the Cove and Caritas.

“It is amazing that there are so many Baylor students who are aiming to be aware of what is happening in our local community,” Kelly Atkinson, executive director at the Cove, said. “There are kids who are hungry and there are families who have been homeless. There are so many struggles that our community is experiencing. To show that care and be part of addressing that is remarkable.”

Chase Perkins, the mission advancement specialist at Kids Around the World, helped coordinate operations at the event. His organization is focused on bringing people together to help and serve others in need. That mission was on display at the 58 Ten Project, he said.

“I think it is important for young adults to be involved in serving others, because the most basic thing we can do as humans is helping each other,” Perkins said. “That is what happened today. We had people here with different backgrounds that came together to help those in need.”

The event was a perfect reflection of the Hankamer School of Business’ values through teamwork and service, William E. Crenshaw Endowed Dean Sandeep Mazumder said.

“We are a Christian business school and we take our Christian mission seriously,” Mazumder said. “Part of that is giving back in ways that benefit our community. Packing meals for those in need here in Waco is a great way to fulfill our mission.”