jones journal - fall 2012

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BUSINESS BRIDGE BUILDER TRAVELS THE WORLD CAREER SUCCESS FOR ALEX CESTERO ’96,’08 HAS ONLY JUST BEGUN HAPPY TRAILS UNEXPECTED PATHS ARE WELCOMED BY BUTCH ROBINSON, RICE B.A., B.S. ’71, MACC ’76 CAUSAL RELATIONSHIPS ONLY UNDERSTANDING HOW X CAUSES Y IS A MUST FOR DR. JAMES WESTON RICE UNIVERSITY | JESSE H. JONES GRADUATE SCHOOL OF BUSINESS | FALL 2012 EXCELLING Through Strong Foundations EXCELLING Through Strong Foundations

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We excel at developing principled, innovative thought leaders in global communities.

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Page 1: Jones Journal - Fall 2012

Business Bridge Builder Travels The Worldcareer success for alex cestero ’96,’08 has only just begun

happy Trailsunexpected paths are Welcomed by butch robinson, rice b.a., b.s. ’71, macc ’76

Causal relaTionships only understanding hoW x causes y is a must for dr. james Weston

rice uniVersity | jesse h. jones graduate school of business | fall 2012

ExcElling Through Strong Foundations

ExcElling Through Strong Foundations

Page 2: Jones Journal - Fall 2012

business.rice.edu

DEAN + H. JOE NELSON III PROFESSOR OF MANAGEMENTBILL GLIck

DIREcTOR OF ALUMNI AND cORPORATE RELATIONSJOy BROwN kIRST ’12

EDITORwEEzIE MAckEy

EXEcUTIVE DIREcTOR OF MARkETINGMARk RUDkIN ’08

cREATIVE MANAGERkEVIN PALMER

PRODUcTION DESIGN ARTISTSHATHA HUSSEIN

wEB MANAGERJON PAUL ESTRADA

wEB cONTENT SPEcIALISTTRIcIA DELONE

MARkETING cOORDINATORDOLORES THAckER

cONTRIBUTING wRITERSANN S. BOORGENE BRIEck ‘10STEVEN FENBERGMARy LyNN FERNAUM. yVONNE TAyLOR

cONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERSTRISH BADGERLOGAN BEckJEFF FITLOwSHAU LIN HONMIcHAEL MARTINEzSAM MASON ‘12zEF NIkOLLAkEVIN PALMERVERONIcA RAMOSASHLEy SMITHDON TROUT

PRINTINGcHAS. P. yOUNG cO.

our mission: We excel at developing principled, innovative thought leaders in global communities.

FEaturE StoriES12 Happy Trails Unexpected Paths are Welcomed by Butch Robinson, Rice B.A., B.S. ’71, MAcc ’76

14 ExpErT JugglEr, BusinEss BridgE BuildEr, alEx CEsTEro TravEls THE World At 37, career success for vice president, general counsel and master multi-tasker Alejandro Cestero ’96, ’08 has only just begun

16 Causal rElaTionsHips only Understanding how x causes y is a must for Dr. James Weston

articlES2 mCnair Hall, a dECadE of groWTH

4 JEssE JonEs, CapiTalism and THE Common good

6 riCE BusinEss plan CompETiTion 2012

8 JgsEo spoTligHT

9 rEEp spoTligHT

10 2012 EmploymEnT rEporT

11 WHo Employs riCE mBas

18 nEW full-TimE and visiTing faCulTy

20 nEW faCulTy spoTligHT

22 HisTory of EnTrEprEnEursHip aT THE JonEs sCHool

24 Q&a

25 sTaff spoTligHT

26 doing BusinEss WiTH CorporaTE parTnErs

27 THrEE rEasons To givE

28 giving BaCk

32 2012 invEsTiTurE of graduaTEs

in EvEry iSSuE1 dEan’s WElComE

30 alumni prEsidEnT’s lETTEr

34 Class noTEs

36 alumni rEsourCEs

37 alumni EvEnTs pHoTos

jones journal is published semiannually for alumni and friends by the jesse h. jones graduate school of business. current and back issues of the magazine are available online at business.rice.edu/jj. change of address? new job? update the online directory with your new contact information or send us your class notes at: jonesalumni.com.

comments or Questions? We’d love to hear your thoughts about the jones journal. send an e-mail to joy brown Kirst, director of alumni and corporate relations, at [email protected].

business.rice.edu

Page 3: Jones Journal - Fall 2012

JONES JOURNAL | FALL 2012 1

Bill glickDeanH. Joe Nelson III Professor of ManagementJesse H. Jones Graduate School of BusinessRice University I 713-348-5928 I [email protected]

thE jonES School, paSt and prESEntWe find ourselves preparing for two celebrations at the Jones School this October — the 100-year anniversary of Rice University and the 10-year anniversary of McNair Hall. Both are beloved, historic and inexorably linked with Jesse Jones. Both count 2012 as a milestone. Of course there have been many opportunities to honor the university throughout the year, but the Centennial Celebration culminates with a week of festivities and you won’t want to miss it. From October 10 to October 17 there will be walking tours, panels, picnics, concerts, receptions, book signings, faculty mini-lectures, an Edgar Odell Lovett statue dedication, a homecoming football game, a sound and light show under stars and many more ways to be involved on campus.

Over homecoming weekend, the Jones School will also remember our recent history with a celebration of McNair Hall, a building that represents a commitment to our students, our city and our thriving business community. Locate details of the festivities on Rice’s website: centennial.rice.edu. In the pages of this issue of the Jones Journal you will read about former Dean Gil Whitaker’s vision for the building, its importance to our growth, and the significance of having a building of such grandeur, in his words, to enhance “our capacity to do high-quality teaching and research in the various fields that comprise management education and scholarship.”

In its 10 years, our beautiful building has delivered on Gil’s vision by attracting top students and faculty and by stimulating a learning environment that touches lives and impacts communities. I’m hoping that everyone who contributed to the building will feel proud of our accomplishments. Reading through some of the other stories, I think you will. The magazine also reports the paths to success of alumni Butch Robinson MAcc ’76 and Alex Cestero ’08, explores what makes Professor James Weston tick, and introduces you to new faculty. We are fortunate enough to have another article from Jesse Jones biographer Steven Fenberg that examines Jones’ entry on the national stage as well as a second installment on the history of entrepreneurship at JGSB with input from most of our key players in that journey.

On behalf of our cherished 100-year-old university, the 10-year-old McNair Hall, and all of us here at the Jones School, I look forward to reconnecting with you on campus in the days ahead.

FromthEdEan

Page 4: Jones Journal - Fall 2012

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With thE SuccESSFul launch of the Rice MBA for Executives program in 1998, the Jones School welcomed more students, more faculty and a revamped curriculum. The business school was living up to its expectations of high standards and projected growth, but that expansion had begun to strain the building’s capacity. Housed in Herring Hall at the time, the Jones School’s students, faculty and staff suddenly exceeded the four classrooms, narrow hallways and third floor faculty offices. Although there was — and still is — much love for Herring Hall, everyone was ready for a change and Dean Gil Whitaker had the vision.

homE iS WhErE thE hEart iSFirst in Sewall Hall — shared with the Shepherd School of Music and the social sciences — then on to more shared space in Herman Brown Hall, cramped quarters became legendary for the early years of the Jones School. A decision finally emerged — made by then dean, Doug Tuggle; the Rice administration; the council of overseers; and the Rice board — to build a permanent home for the school. Completed in 1984, Herring Hall boasted all the hallmarks needed for a growing business school, beginning with support from the Houston business community.

Fifteen years of growth later, with an expanding student population and perspective, the Jones School again faced space challenges. Gil recognized the significance and necessity of creating a bigger state-of-the-art building for the steady rise of a premier business school. Prominent Houston businessman, entrepreneur and member of the Rice University board, Bob McNair and his wife Janice generously donated a gift to help finance the new building and its programs as an endorsement of and contribution to the ongoing efforts to transform the school.

dESignS on thE FuturE Design for the new building came with several stipulations. Not only must it be beautiful and in keeping with Rice’s architecture, it also must be innovative with an eye toward the future. No easy task. To this end, the award-winning architect and dean of Yale School of Architecture, Robert A.M. Stern, was chosen to design the building. Stern’s work was best known for its emphasis on continuity of tradition and for creating buildings that take into account the spirit of the places in which they are located.

After seeking advice from faculty, students and administration, Gil had some requirements of his own — classrooms equipped to handle a variety of teaching styles and technological improvements; oversized lockers to accommodate interview attire and showers for changing; a central stairway built for encouraging conversation; and wide hallways meant for interaction between faculty, students and staff. The early renderings of the future home of the Jones School building were stunning, and everyone was ready for the transition to a new place and a new perspective.

groundBrEakingOn May 23, 2000, university leaders put shovel to dirt to begin a new chapter at the Jones School. During the two years of construction, fundraising and of course the teaching and research that had to persist at a high level, three devastating events occurred in a matter of five months that gave pause to the region and especially the nation: Tropical Storm Allison, the attacks of September 11, and finally the collapse of Enron. Although the construction efforts forged ahead, Gil pulled back on fundraising efforts due to the fact that the community was suffering on so many levels.

As a testament to Gil’s sensitivity, Randy Batsell, Jesse H. Jones Distinguished Associate Professor of Management and 32-year faculty veteran of the business school, remembered that “100 percent of the full-time faculty [33 people] donated toward the building as a way to honor the Whitakers and their huge impact on the Jones School.” Contributions totaled $278,000.

By August of 2002 students, faculty and staff were moving in, but hard hats were everywhere. Senior Faculty Assistant Linda Werkle recalled “the building was not really finished. That first day it was pouring down rain, and after wading in from the parking lot, we had no phones and no computers. People were working around us in hard hats and safety glasses while we were trying to get classes started.” As the year unfurled, however, everyone began to settle in.

today at thE jonES SchoolThe spring of 2005 ushered in Gil’s retirement after his “eighth year of a three-year term” and the Rice Board of Trustees officially named Janice and Robert McNair Hall. By summer the tenure of the Jones School’s new dean, Bill Glick, had begun. Now entering his eighth year, Dean Glick looks at the future with both affection and determination. “It’s been a great honor to continue the momentum and tradition of growth and excellence at the Jones School. With the addition of the Rice MBA for Professionals five years ago, the addition of a Ph.D. program and added classes to provide for an undergraduate minor, 2013 will see a McNair Hall with over 800 students enrolled this year. The Jones School continues its upward march as a world class business school.”

Today, the classrooms and corridors are filled with students Monday through Saturday. Evening events bring in crowds from the community. The dialogue of business, the exchange of ideas and the steady hum of scholarship inhabit this building just as Gil envisioned it. But to measure the legacy of a building only by the students and faculty that roam its halls is to lose sight of the important role the Jones School now plays in Houston and around the world. In 10 years, the school has surpassed all expectations. It has become a vast and vital resource, reminding the Whitaker family, the McNairs and all those connected to this building where the heart of Jesse Jones still beats. Portions of this article were excerpted from the building dedication program.

janicE and roBErt mcnair halla dEcadE oF groWth

BUSINESS.RIcE.EDU

Page 5: Jones Journal - Fall 2012

JONES JOURNAL | FALL 2012 3

inaugural years

PhD: 2009, Undergrad Business

Minor: 2007, MBAP: 2006, EMBA: 1998

First jones School

matriculation: 1977

rice Business plan competition

cumulative Prizes 2001-2012: $4.8 Million

degree programs: Fall 2012 Enrollment

rice mBa Full time 231

rice mBa For Executives 154

phd in Business 27

rice mBa For professionals 311

juSt thE FactS

jones School Faculty 2012

tenured professors: 40

tenured-track professors: 11

other Full-time Faculty: 8

part-time: 58

32% class of 2012 riceundergraduates in Business courses 46 Executive Education

courses conducted20% delivered internationally

total number of jones

School alumni4,731

mcnair hall is over three times the

size of herring hall, former home of jgSB

date occupied: August 2002

host to ringing of the

nySE closing Bell: 2010

Page 6: Jones Journal - Fall 2012

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The article in the Spring 2012 Jones Journal traced Jesse Jones’s early life from his family’s tobacco farm in Tennessee to his emergence as Houston’s preeminent developer, up to his entry on the national stage, where he would eventually become the most powerful person in the nation next to President Franklin Roosevelt.

Jesse Jones’s development of Houston and the Ship Channel, his determination to simultaneously build his businesses and his community, and his embrace of government appealed to President Woodrow Wilson. The President offered “Mr. Houston” ambassadorships and cabinet positions, but Jones declined so he could build his businesses and his city. World War I changed his mind.

When President Wilson asked Jones to organize battlefield and home front medical aid through the American Red Cross, he moved to Washington, D.C., and recruited thousands of nurses and doctors for the battlefields, organized hospitals, canteens and ambulance networks throughout Europe and established rehabilitation centers in the U.S. for wounded soldiers. Jones, called “big brother to 4 million men in khaki,” was also an early advocate for women. His Houston Chronicle had endorsed women’s right to vote since 1915, and in Washington Jones lobbied President Wilson to give Army nurses military rank, a status they finally won in 1920, along with the right to vote.

Jones accompanied President Wilson to the Paris Peace Conference and stayed after to help reorganize the Red Cross from loosely confederated local societies into the international relief agency it is today. An impatient business colleague in Houston begged him to return, but building his community, whether local or international, took precedence over material gain, and Jones replied, “Am not willing to leave what I am doing here for a money consideration.” After he had completed his mission, he returned to Houston, embarked on the most ambitious phase of his building career and married Mary Gibbs Jones, a doctor’s daughter from Mexia, Texas, who had attended college when few women at that time finished high school.

During the 1920s, Jones filled Houston’s Main Street with the city’s tallest office buildings, its grandest hotels and its most ornate movie theaters. As the Democratic National Committee’s finance chairman, Jones erased the Party’s persistent debt and captured the 1928 national convention for

Houston — the first major political convention to be held in the South since before the Civil War and one of the first to be widely received over the radio. The convention put Houston on the map and filled up Jones’s buildings. From early on, he knew he would prosper only if his community thrived.

Jones completed Houston’s tallest building, a 35-story Art Deco tower for the Gulf Oil Company and his National Bank of Commerce, right before the nation plunged into the Great Depression. When two tottering Houston banks were about to fail and bring down the rest, Jones gathered the city’s business leaders and hammered out a rescue plan. He explained to an opponent of the plan, “I believe that all we have done, are doing and must continue doing is necessary for the

general welfare, and we cannot escape being our brother’s keeper.” As a result of Jones’s leadership, no bank in Houston failed during the Great Depression. Other cities were not so fortunate.

In 1932, President Herbert Hoover created the Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC) to make government loans to desperate banks, insurance companies and railroads, and Jones accepted the President’s invitation to join the bipartisan board. Willing for government to be a catalyst when required, Jones complained Hoover’s RFC was “too timid and slow.” With great relevance now, Jones later observed, “A few billion dollars boldly but judiciously lent and invested by such a government agency as the RFC in 1931 and 1932 would have prevented the failure of thousands of banks and averted the complete breakdown in business, agriculture and industry.” President Franklin Roosevelt expanded the RFC’s powers and made Jones its chairman.

jESSE jonES, capitaliSm and thE common goodBy StEvEn FEnBErg

President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Mary Gibbs Jones and Jesse H. Jones after Jones is sworn in as U.S. Secretary of Commerce in 1940.

Page 7: Jones Journal - Fall 2012

Like today’s TARP (Troubled Asset Relief Program), Jones and the RFC bought preferred stock in banks and recapitalized them, hoping the banks would lend the fresh money and revive the moribund economy. The bankers hoarded the cash instead and forced the RFC to become the nation’s lender of last resort. The RFC’s judicious loans saved millions of homes, farms, banks and businesses; built aqueducts, bridges, tunnels and schools; and developed the latest in high-speed diesel-electric trains. Contrary to some current commentary about the New Deal, the RFC in fact salvaged capitalism, benefiting every citizen and business in the nation, and remarkably made money for the federal government while doing so.

Roosevelt and Jones shifted the RFC’s focus from domestic economics to global defense eighteen months before the attack on Pearl Harbor. The RFC began financing and building the massive factories that would manufacture the tanks, trucks, airplanes and ammunition required to win World War II. Astonishingly, the RFC orchestrated the development of synthetic rubber from the lab to mass production in less than two years. Without such government initiative, the Allied forces would have been stuck in place and unable to fight.

After the war, the Joneses returned to Houston and focused on philanthropy through Houston Endowment, the foundation they had established in 1937. One year before Jones’s death in 1956, Houston Endowment donated $1 million to build Rice Institute’s Mary Gibbs Jones College so women for the first time could live on campus. In more recent years, Houston Endowment has donated more than $50 million to help establish and support the Jesse H. Jones Graduate School of Business. Since its inception, the foundation has donated more than $1.6 billion to Houston area nonprofit organizations and educational institutions to help fulfill the Joneses’ vision of a vibrant community where the opportunity to thrive is available to all.

The 1929 Gulf Building (now the JPMorgan Chase Building)

remained Houston’s tallest skyscraper until the forty-four-

story Humble Oil Company (now ExxonMobil) Building

opened in 1963.

Steven Fenberg is the author of Unprecedented Power: Jesse Jones, Capitalism and the Common Good, a biography recently published by Texas A&M University Press. (For information about “Unprecedented Power,” see jessejonesthebook.com). Fenberg was the executive producer and writer of PBS’s Emmy Award-winning film Brother, Can You Spare a Billion? The Story of Jesse H. Jones, which was narrated by Walter Cronkite. He produces Houston Endowment’s annual report and makes frequent presentations about the foundation and Jesse Jones.

“From early on, he knew he would prosper only if his

community thrived.”

Page 8: Jones Journal - Fall 2012

business.rice.edu

thE 2012 ricE BuSinESS plan compEtition (rBpc) has enjoyed growth that only the most successful businesses or investors could hope for. Last year alone the prize money increased by $250,000. In the 12 years of the competition, prize money has grown from $10,000 to $1.55 million, an increase of 15,500 percent. Entry has become more competitive each year as well, and in 2012, less than three percent of the 1,600 applicants were accepted to compete. The participants have increased by fivefold since the competition began — from nine to 42 teams — and applications have increased by over 17,500 percent.

Why the large increases in prize money and participation? It could be because RBPC participants have a much greater chance of launching their business, raising venture capital and staying in business than other businesses.

A study by the Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship spans the 11-year (2001 to 2011) life of the RBPC, the World’s Richest and Largest Business Plan CompetitionTM. The comprehensive study offers insight into the experiential factors that can help entrepreneurs launch a successful business.

Using data of the 354 past graduate student competition teams from 2001 to 2011 the study finds:

• 199 (56 percent) went on to launch their companies after competing at the rice competition

• 128 of those (or 64 percent) are successful and still in business today (Typically, only 20-50 percent of start-ups survive to their fifth anniversary)

• past competitors have raised more than $460 million in early stage funding

• a conservative estimate of 1,000+ jobs have been created (The kauffman foundation states that “in the past 30 years, literally all net job creation in this country has taken place in firms less than five years old...” kauffman foundation, state of Entrepreneurship address, January 19, 2010)

The study shows that university business plan competitions can go beyond simply being an academic exercise or educational experience. They can serve as a vehicle for building a robust entrepreneurial ecosystem and serve as a launching pad for new businesses, especially high-tech, high-growth start-ups. The event, hosted by the Rice Alliance and the Jones School, brings in 250 venture capitalists, angel investors, corporate investors,

mentors, successful entrepreneurs, and other leaders from the business community to evaluate the business concepts and presentations.

“As a result of the quality of the companies and this access to investors, the study shows that 25 percent of the successful start-ups from the competition have raised venture capital funding compared to less than one percent of start-ups that typically get venture capital funding,” said Brad Burke, managing director of the Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship. “Of the total $460 million in funding raised, 62 percent came from venture funding, 13 percent from angel investors, and 13 percent came from government grants.”

The RBPC results have shown to be a good predictor of a company’s success, based on the winners and teams that reach the finals. Of the winners from 2004 to 2011, 100 percent of the winners have been successful, are still in business, and raised more than $107 million in funding (with the exception of one team that decided to pursue other avenues for their technology and did not attempt to launch their company). Of all the teams that reached the finals from 2001 to 2011, 56 percent have been successful and have raised more than $269 million in funding.

2012 compEtitionThe 2012 RBPC crowned NuMat Technologies from Northwestern University as the world champion start-up company last April. Dr. Jack Gill and Bob Brockman of The GOOSE Society of TexasTM handed out the $450,000 grand prize check to the winning team, which took home a total of $875,000.

Building a roBuSt EntrEprEnEurial EcoSyStEm By mary lynn FErnau

Photo by Shau Lin Hon, Slyworks Photography, Inc.

Page 9: Jones Journal - Fall 2012

JONES JOURNAL | FALL 2012 7

Insperity, itself a Houston success story founded in 1986 that provides an array of human resources and business solutions to over 100,000 clients and customers, served as the title sponsor for the third year in a row. FORTUNE covered the competition again this year and featured the winners, teams and competition in the May 7, 2012 issue of the magazine and on FORTUNE.com.

The teams competed in five categories: life sciences, information technology, energy, green tech, social ventures and other technologies in the April 12-14 event. The teams presented 15-minute business plans and also competed in a rapid fire 60-second elevator pitch contest on the first night of the competition.

thE Six FinaliStSNuMat Technologies, Inc. from Northwestern University won the Grand Prize of $874,300.

NuMat invented a nanomaterial that can store gases just like a sponge soaks up water. One significant application for their nanomaterial is for natural gas tanks used in everyday motor vehicles. The material stores gases at lower pressure thereby reducing infrastructure costs and increasing design flexibility. This allows tanks to be designed around current automobile underpinnings. The lower pressure storage is also a major safety factor for this and other uses. NuMat Technologies is currently in discussions with chemical, technology and transportation companies to commercialize their nanomaterials.

Medtric Biotech, LLC, Purdue University, Medtric provides the measurable difference in wound management with their infection fighting nanotechnology.

LeMM Technologies, LLC , Purdue University, LEMM Technologies is a start-up medical device company with the mission to develop a non-

invasive device that performs sensitive blood chemistry analysis.

Solidenergy, MIT, SolidEnergy improves the safety and energy density of rechargeable lithium batteries. Its battery technology will help speed up the deployment of electric vehicles, and be a game-changer in the oil drilling industry.

Solanux, Inc., University of Idaho, Solanux produces patented potato food ingredients with high amounts of resistant starch (RS) which help lower a person’s glycemic index response, improve insulin levels, improve digestive health, and lower fat and cholesterol levels.

Salveo Vascular, Johns Hopkins University, Salveo’s vision is to prevent the unnecessary death and suffering of healthcare’s most vulnerable patients by developing novel medical devices which deliver hospitals and patients both clinical and financial value.

Eight prizES oF $100,000 or morE: $450,000 gooSE SociEty oF tExaS grand prizE: NuMat Technologies, Northwestern University

$125,000 oWl invEStmEnt prizE: NuMat Technologies, Northwestern University

$100,000 dFj mErcury tEch tranSFEr invEStmEnt prizE: LeMM Technologies, Purdue University

$100,000 klEinEr pErkinS cauFiEld & ByErS clEan tEch innovation prizE: NuMat Technologies, Northwestern

$100,000 Waste ManageMent “think green”® invEStmEnt prizE: Mimas Nanotechnologies, Northwestern

$100,000 opportunity houStonSm liFE SciEncE tEchnology prizE: Medtric Biotech, Purdue University

$100,000 opportunity houStonSm tEchnology prizE: NuMat Technologies, Northwestern University

nEW $100,000 u.S. dEpartmEnt oF EnErgy clEan EnErgy prizE: Solidenergy, MIT

OPPOSITE: 2012 RBPC Winners from NuMat Technology of Northwestern University celebrate their win. L-R Tabrez Ebrahim, Omar Fahra, Chris Wilmer, Ben Hernandez. ABOVE: Winners of the 2012 Rice Business Plan Competition, NuMat Technologies of Northwestern University ring the closing bell at NASDAQ OMX on Friday, Aug. 24. Pictured from left to right: Ashok Rao, TiE global chair; Greg Price, director, consulting solutions, PKF Texas; Ben Hernandez and Dr. Omar Fahra, NuMat Technologies; Brad Burke, managing director, Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship; Tabrez Ebrahim and Chris Wilmer, NuMat Technologies; Cari Broderson, vice president of marketing of the Greater Houston Partnership; Gautam Ghandhi, Google; Alex Robinson, Insperity.

Photo by Zef Nikolla

Page 10: Jones Journal - Fall 2012

business.rice.edu

oWl tank rEturnS in FEBruary With morE caSh For EntrEprEnEurSby gene brieck ’10

The Jones Graduate School Entrepreneurs Organization (JGSEO), for the uninitiated, is one of the driving forces at the Jones School for entrepreneurs — alumni, current students and others — to meet, review concepts, network and receive guidance on the successful creation of new enterprises.

In April of this year, the JGSEO launched the organization’s first Owl Tank business plan competition. The idea was to mimic the concept of the television show Shark Tank, where entrepreneurs compete for cash and in-kind prizes with a focus on quick to market concepts and ideas. With over 100 people participating, either as contestants or audience, Owl Tank was a huge success and boasted the largest turnout at a JGSEO event since its inception. Plans are already in the works for the next Owl Tank in early 2013.

Building upon the rich tradition of entrepreneurship at the Jones School, Owl Tank is yet another opportunity for current students, alumni and others to compete, receive helpful feedback and potentially launch a new venture. During the event, each of nine teams had three minutes to pitch their idea to the judge’s panel and then a five-minute question and answer period. They were critiqued on their ability to gain customers, deliver their product or service, achieve investor return, and theoretically break even. Three teams placed — Amaethon, with a renewable fuel converted from alternative sugar source, took first — and all nine made connections with angel investors and successful entrepreneurs who could help them in the future.

On the heels of this success, the JGSEO plans on increasing attendance, increasing the number of teams competing, and increasing its prize money to over $50,000 for the next Owl Tank, which is scheduled for February 8 and sponsored by the Houston Chapter of the Entrepreneurs Organization. Whether your interest is in attending or presenting a business to compete, stay tuned for information on registration, company applications and other event details.

The JGSEO continues to grow each year. The abundant support and encouragement within the group make the connections and events that much more valuable. The organization’s new board will be enhancing the group even further by bringing its members educational events, networking opportunities, resources, and assistance in launching and growing their businesses. Alumni who own and run companies are encouraged to join the CEO Roundtables, a smaller forum of like-minded entrepreneurs for regular meetings to help work through the rigors of owning and successfully managing a company.

Be sure to stay connected through the JGSeO LinkedIn group and the Jones School website for more details on how to be involved: business.rice.edu/JGSeO

upcoming EvEntS:

The Good, The bad, The ugly: Tales from an entrepreneur November 29, 2012

Holiday Party December 12, 2012

Owl Tank February 8, 2013

Valuation February 13, 2013

entrepreneurship strategy March 13, 2013

For morE jgSEo EvEntS, viSit BuSinESS.ricE.Edu/jgSEo

Page 11: Jones Journal - Fall 2012

JONES JOURNAL | FALL 2012 9

rice University’s Education Entrepreneurship Program (REEP) begins its fifth year with another round of support from Houston Endowment, an expanding reach outside of Texas, and a new addition to the administrative team. In August, the endowment granted $5.2 million to REEP to provide executive training to 379 teachers and principals. To date, Houston Endowment has invested $15.8 million in REEP, and the program has educated 89 principals from the Houston area. The current grants will support five additional REEP cohorts of 50-60 participants each.

“The evidence is overwhelming that quality teaching is the most effective lever to improve student achievement,” said George Grainger, senior grant officer at Houston Endowment. “However, great teaching over a sequential period of time is almost impossible to achieve without a great school leader. The principal creates the conditions that need to be in place within a complex organization for there to be success in the classroom.”

Rice University is the first and only institution in the country to permit aspiring principals to receive state certification through a business school. REEP allows full-time teachers and administrators to pursue either a two-year MBA or a one-year fellowship through the Jones School’s Executive Education training program.

Central to both the MBA and fellowship is the REEP Summer Institute. REEP has recently opened the summer program as a stand-alone offering to other seated principals, central office leaders, MBA students and graduates interested in education. The program immerses participants in a rigorous and innovative professional development program to become more effective change agents by focusing on three topics:

• Applications of Leadership coursework addresses the candidate’s personal leadership style as it is applied to the educational setting.

• Problem-Solving sessions focus on business problem-solving principles as applied to issues and challenges in education. These sessions are hands on and students participate in actual case studies.

• Entrepreneurship coursework focuses on innovation projects that offer real-world applications of skills and knowledge.

Throughout the institute, students participate in group discussions, case studies, simulations, and reflective activities. The program is designed to explicitly make connections from business concepts and knowledge to educational contexts. It brings together both MBA candidates and fellowship candidates in a context in which they can freely interact and mutually benefit from knowledge exchange. The overall purpose of the institute is to reinforce educational and entrepreneurial coursework, make connections, and provide opportunities for students to apply new knowledge and skills. This summer, for the first time, two principals attended from Detroit-area public charter schools.

“REEP offers a sharp and significant break with past practice in developing education leaders. Our focus is on the campus leader and the school as the critical unit of change. The school leader is the change agent,” said Executive Director Andrea Hodge. “REEP’s approach builds on knowledge from multiple sectors. Our students are capable educators and leaders who have not had this kind of professional development. Graduates of REEP push the status quo. “

Along with REEP raising their profile, a new addition has joined the team. Dr. Lawrence Kohn

is the Director of Program and Evaluation. He comes from Sam Houston State University, where he was an associate professor in the College of Education, Department of Curriculum & Instruction. Furthermore, plans are to add one additional staff member, an assistant director of recruiting and public relations.

Founded in 2008, ReeP is a highly selective program that combines an elite business school education with a K-12 leadership and entrepreneurship practicum to equip educators with leadership principles and management tools. ReeP is one of several examples of how the Jones School is engaged with the community through entrepreneurship, education and outreach, and it complements a number of other Rice programs geared toward improving the quality of education in the Houston community, Texas and the country. For more about the Jones School, visit business.rice.edu/future.

For morE inFormation on rEEp, viSit http://reep.rice.edu

Excerpted in part from Rice News article by Amy Hodges

principalEd EducationReeP Spotlight

Summer Institute students engage in problem solving with nationally renowned faculty member, Jim Spillane, Northwestern University.

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2012 EmploymEnt rEportricE mBa Full timE (aS oF auguSt 14, 2012 intErim*)

accenture Justin Straughter Consultant

aig Xiaohui Ma Senior Analyst

air liquide Adam Brand Acquisitions Specialist

alvarez & marsal Kelsey Adams Consultant

Megan Manning Manager

amd Jinfan Shi Leadership Development Manager

anadarko petroleum corp. August Roitsch Senior Commercial Development Representative

apache corporation Vernon Henry Transaction Specialist

Gabriel Villasmil Energy Analyst

atx innovation, inc. John Mauro Director of Product Management

cameron Guillermo Mezzatesta Project Manager

Samuel Veselka Project Manager

Norman Wright Senior Financial Analyst

chaionE Arun Rao Project Manager

chevron Tiffany Coffey Business Analyst

conocophillips Amit Aggarwal Category Management Analyst

Christopher Farrokhnia Financial Analyst

cooper industries Luke Arnold ALP Associate

Vikram Dasa-Rao ALP Graduate Analyst

deloitte Nitin Shastri Senior Consultant

deutsche Bank Ryan Stohl Investment Banking Associate

Energy market Exchange Melanie Jones Senior Manager, Marketing & Public Relations

Enite Kenzel Fallen Trading and Risk Management Consultant

Edward Park Consultant

Ernst & young Leah Brown Senior Consultant, Performance Improvement/ Customer

Jennifer McKinney Senior Consultant

Ferozkhan Mulla Senior Consultant

Jennifer Neeley Senior Consultant, Performance Improvement

Mary Lee Senior Consultant

Exterran Emily Breazeale Finance Associate, Management Development Program

Exxonmobil Tomi Adesida Business Analyst

Tina Dong Treasurer’s Financial Analyst

Bryan Hagle Global Marketing Analyst

Rahila Odhwani Human Resources Advisor

Brian Sheridan Controller

Flat river group Matthew Dean Finance Director

Fluor John Levene Project Controls Specialist

Fmc technologies Trilok Mahadevia Business Analyst

Jianing Zhu Business Process Specialist

gulf States toyota Ravi Dubey Project Manager - Fixed Operations

healthcare management Systems, inc. (hmS) Aarti Gupta Pricing Analyst

ignite restaurant group Robert Knox Marketing Manager

j.p. morgan John Matthew Scholin Associate

Brian Walker Investment Banking Associate

kalypso Mallory Engler Senior Consultant

Sunny Sun Senior Consultant

kBr Anudeep Jain Technology Acquisition Analyst

kirby corporation Erica Sedeño Financial Analyst

konami Ping Wang Senior Marketing Manager

korn/Ferry Tiffany Valentin Senior Associate

linkedin Fernando Magalhaes Relay Account Executive

Lloyd’s Jeffrey Freedman Associate

marathon oil corporation Jesse Filipi Production Engineer

mckinsey & company Joseph Abdou Associate

Justin Dahl Associate

mercer Rachel McGaughey Compensation Consultant

morgan Stanley Teresa Mattamouros Investment Banking Associate

national oilwell varco (nov) Alberto Diaz Wild Business Development Manager

Javier Penaflor Procurement Manager

nordic consulting partners Scott A. Vanderpoel Senior Consultant

nrg Kosta Zujic MBA Associate, Strategy and Business Development

oiltanking Michael Pariser Business Development Analyst

proS Carlos Parra Associate Product Manager

David Droogleever Associate II

Jared Gillis Implementation Consultant

rBc richardson Barr Benjamin McQueen Associate

repsol Alvaro Martinez Yañez Business Development Analyst

rignet Ryan Hazard Marketing

robert Enterprise development Fund (rEdF) LaMecia Butler Farber Fellow

rockwater Energy Solutions Vidyuth Chengappa Senior Business Analyst

Sabre holdings Campbell Eifler Senior Financial Analyst

Salient partners, lp Jimmy Moffett Business Development Manager

Samsung Chan Park Associate Manager

ScF partners Christopher Petersen Associate

Shell Van Thi Nguyen Procurement Manager, Upstream Americas

Sysco Utpala Daftary Senior Analyst

Pallavi Hisaria Senior Analyst, Business Process Management

teacher retirement System of texas Lee Carter Investment Associate

Steven Wilson Investment Associate

texas crude Energy, inc. Lacey Goosen Director of Finance

tyco Jessica Lewis Marketing

Waste management Shamsha Damani Program Manager

World class capital group Tim Wingfield Analyst

*Meets MBACSC guidelines

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JONES JOURNAL | FALL 2012 11

Who EmployS ricE mBaS?

At Ernst & Young, 152,000 professionals work together to deliver assurance, tax, transaction and advisory services to clients. They are united by shared values and an unwavering commitment to quality. And, they make a difference through leading practices that develop their people, help their clients and strengthen their communities.

A collaborative culture at Ernst & young supports the personal and professional success of each individual. Visit ey.com/us/eyinsight to learn more about who they are and to hear directly from their employees. you'll quickly see why Ernst & young has been on FORTUNE’s “100 Best companies to work For” list for 14 consecutive years, longer than any of the other Big Four. To date, over 45 Jones School alumni have worked or are working at Ernst & young.

Kira JOrdan SENIOR ADVISORy SERVIcES ERNST & yOUNG

RIcE UNIVERSITy, BA EcONOMIcS ’00

RIcE UNIVERSITy, MBA ’05

“At Ernst & Young you have the opportunity to own your career

trajectory, leverage great training and knowledge resources, and team with

people from diverse backgrounds. Much like my time at the Jones

School, I know the relationships I’m forming now will last a lifetime, and

they add to my life, not only professionally but also personally.”

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While a student at Rice, Charles “Butch” Robinson never envisioned he would start an oil and gas company, own a ranch, or become involved in the Rodeo. He never imagined he, his wife, Paula, and their three children would become members of the iconic Salt Grass Trail Ride and that Rodeo would become part of the family’s DNA. “It all just kind of evolved,” said Butch. “Things tend to pop up in front of you. You really never know where you’re going to end up, but unless you take that first step, you won’t end up anywhere.”

Butch’s first exposure to the Rodeo other than as a visitor was in the mid-1970s when several friends asked him to join their barbecue cook-off team, the Brisket Cases. He had a lot of fun, but started paying more attention to the Rodeo after buying a place in Navasota, Texas which he ultimately transformed into a working ranch. Beginning with just 55 cows, he was in need of a bull. That led him to the Junior Commercial Heifer Sale at the Livestock Show. Butch bought the winning Charolais

Bull and returned the next few years to do the same thing. What followed was an invitation to join the Rodeo’s Commercial Heifer Sale Committee.

From heifers, Butch moved to the Recycling Committee, a concept in its early stages of evolution. From there, it was an invitation to join the Grand Entry Committee, where he also served as vice-chairman. The grand entry presented some unique challenges; among them, inexperienced riders. Butch had a team of 10-12 expert riders responsible for catching a loose horse if a rider fell during the ceremony. “One thing we learned is that if one rider fell, another one was about to,” said Butch. “We saw the patterns and developed a strategy to prevent that from happening.”

After a stint as chairman of the Cutting Horse Committee, he was elected vice-president of the show. One of the committees he oversaw was Trail Ride. There were fifteen groups of trail riders, and Butch felt like they deserved a lot more attention from the officers. His term as vice-president

Happy Trails Unexpected Paths are Welcomed by Butch Robinson, Rice B.A., B.S. ’71, MAcc ’76

By ann S. Boor

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JONES JOURNAL | FALL 2012 13

lasted three years, so he did the math and figured if he rode on five rides a year for a half-day each, he could ride all fifteen during his tenure — a goal that he achieved.

all aBout EducationOne of the trail ride highlights occurred at an elementary school where a group of riders put on a show for the kids. Out of the blue, the riders asked Butch to speak. He felt like everything about the show had been covered, so he asked the kids if they knew anything about the scholarship program. Two of the teachers raised their hands; they had gone to college on Rodeo scholarships and shared their experiences. When they stopped at a second school, Butch asked the same question, thinking he couldn’t be lucky enough for that to happen twice, but it did. “That got to me,” said Butch. “I’m a big believer in

the value of education, which is exactly why the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo became a huge part of my life.”

After his stint as vice-president, Butch was elected to the executive committee and then to a three-year term as chairman of the board and executive committee. In many ways, Butch said running the Rodeo is like running a corporation. You have to make sure you have a good product, the right people, a good facility, appropriate logistics, customer focus, and manage hundreds of details. But there’s one big difference. “We have 26,000 volunteers we are dependent on to make the show go; 26,000 volunteers who actually pay to be a part of it. You have to make it worthwhile for them. You have to be doing things they are proud to be a part of — that’s their pay.”

Butch can easily cite the numbers associated with the Rodeo; attendance, volunteers, revenues, and, most fondly, scholarships. At any time, there are around 2,000 students attending Texas colleges on Rodeo scholarships. But it’s one thing for him to have a number, and quite another thing to know their names and see their faces.

“As chairman, you attend an unbelievable number of meetings and luncheons across the region,” said Butch. “One day, I’d be sitting with a handful of students at lunch in Houston, and the next I’d be visiting somewhere hundreds of miles away like West Texas A&M in Canyon, listening as they told me about their studies and how the Rodeo is helping them. And, I knew I could hit the road and do it again the next day.”

Start thE prESSESThis Jones Journal profile is a bit like coming full circle for Butch Robinson. As one of the first Jones School students, he was approached by Dr. Bob Sterling and a few other faculty members about writing and editing a Jones Journal to go out to the small group of alumni. He was working at Ernst & Ernst and one of the partners was a Rice graduate. That gave Butch a little extra help and access to the printer. He enjoyed his short editorial stint, but claims the publication was “not nearly as nice as it is now.”

lEvEling thE playing FiEldAs a student-athlete, Butch Robinson learned quite a bit playing football. One important lesson — if you get knocked down, you have to get up and keep moving forward. “Many people get that advice,” said Butch. “But when you experience it physically and emotionally, it stays with you.” Butch’s passion for education as well as collegiate sports has lead him to create the Charles R. “Butch” Robinson — Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo Endowed Scholarship. This scholarship will support a Jones School graduate student who has participated in collegiate athletics during his or her undergraduate education.

Butch Robinson, Rice B.A., B.S. ’71, MAcc ’76 competing in a cutting horse competition. Photo by Don Trout for the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo

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WhEn alEx cEStEro, born in balmy Puerto Rico and raised mostly in sunny Florida, was considering colleges, he knew two things for certain: he wanted to go to law school, and he most definitely did not want to shovel snow. Fortunately, Rice offered him a scholarship — a chance to prepare for his future law career as well as to avoid the wintry white stuff.

But his educational and professional careers would present him with more opportunities than he imagined. Cestero’s ability to modify his playbook on the fly and seize those opportunities is a strength that has helped jettison the 37-year-old vice president, general counsel, secretary and chief compliance officer of Lufkin Industries from success in the classroom to victory in the courtroom, business deals, and leadership in the boardroom.

making room For thE unExpEctEd“I didn’t know anything about oil and gas until I moved to Texas,” he explains, “and I didn’t know much about commercial business. My dad was a career actor and my mom was in the advertising business.” But an undergraduate summer internship with Vinson and Elkins, gained in part through a Rice alumni connection, introduced him to the convergence of international business, energy, and law, and profoundly affected the trajectory of his career. By the time Cestero was mid-way through law school at Stanford, he’d had enough experience in those fields to know where he wanted to make his career.

Fresh out of law school, Cestero, who had married native Texan and college sweetheart Erin Kellam, Rice ’98, returned to Texas to work for the Vinson & Elkins and (later) Bracewell and Giuliani law firms. He then became in-house counsel with Bracewell client, Pride International, a multibillion dollar

drilling company, during a dynamic time in the company’s life. By the time he was 30, he had already had a chance to co-lead a fairly large asset divestiture program and sit on a $600 million joint venture board in Brazil.

His leadership abilities didn’t go unnoticed. When the company began identifying high-talent employees to nurture into their potential, Cestero was offered the option of furthering his education by attending business school. “It wasn’t what I’d planned for, being in the earlier stages of my career and with a young child,” he says, “but there was a very good window of opportunity to do this right before our second son was born. Erin and I went for it. Pride told me to pick any business school I wanted and could work into my schedule, and they would pick up the tab.”

Balancing challEngES payS oFF“I was still doing a lot of deals and traveling all over the world during the MBA program,” says Cestero about the difficulty of balancing career, family and school. “I did 90-hour weeks for 22 months, and witnessed the birth of my second child halfway through the program. I took calls with my Jones School team at 2, 3 and 4 AM from Norway, Asia and the Middle East. I’d come back frequently from an overnight from Brazil or Argentina, take a shower at the business school, and scrape in just in time for class.”

Cestero credits the strength of his team for much of his success in the program. “We were very efficient and fantastic at helping each other out,” Cestero says of his Jones School cohorts, who consisted of a BP senior manager, an ex- U.S. marine pilot, a nanotechnologist and rocket scientist, and a president of a division at Texas Children’s hospital. “It was a great balance, most every discipline was covered, and we were all able to play off those strengths.”

ExpErt jugglEr, BuSinESS BridgE BuildEr, alEx cEStEro travElS thE World

By m. yvonnE taylor

At 37, career success for vice president, general counsel and master multi-tasker Alejandro Cestero ’96, ’08 has only just begun

for a gaLLery of aLex’s adventUres aroUnd thE World, viSit BuSinESS.ricE.Edu/alExtravElS

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JONES JOURNAL | FALL 2012 15

Understanding and capitalizing on team dynamics have been boons to Cestero’s success in managing and working with teams since the program: “You are basically thrust into an artificial situation. You don’t get to choose who is in the room or who the players are. You have to learn how to quickly blend your styles, figure out the strengths of the other people and how the team is going to function.”

The lessons learned and balancing act paid off. Cestero earned his MBA in 2008 and was promoted to vice president and general counsel of a division of Pride in October the same year, eventually moving on to Seahawk Drilling as vice president, general counsel, secretary and chief compliance officer before landing at Lufkin Industries, (NASDAQ: LUFK) an international, vertically-integrated manufacturing and services company specializing in oilfield and industrial power transmission products.

turning FlExiBility into artAlthough the extraordinary juggling of school, work and family may seem overwhelming to most, balancing, merging and bridging are everyday aspects to Cestero’s career. As general counsel and vice president, he wears at least two hats daily. Although responsible for the “technical reasoned legal advice,” he explains, “I’m really there as a critical adviser, helping shape and influence decisions, commercial deals, giving business input and observations, understanding the financials of the business, and managing risk. I see myself as a business guy in charge of the legal function more than the lawyer who is happy to just take a back seat and be only a technical adviser.”

This ability to perform and meld two professional roles simultaneously isn’t the only duality Cestero handles in his life with aplomb. Cestero grew up in a Latin American home, navigating North American culture. This dual consciousness has contributed to considerable international business success. “I have a sensitivity and general awareness of different types of people who surround me on a project or business deal.” The biculturalism “doesn’t give you a perfect Rosetta Stone to every country or culture,” he explains, “but you understand that there’s usually a gap to bridge.” This flexible mindset has made Cestero, who has conducted business in at least 50 countries, highly sought after and requested by several counterparts when negotiating deals in nations as far flung as Dubai, Norway and Thailand.

all roadS lEad homEOne of the youngest general counsels and vice presidents of a public company in Texas, Cestero is now father of three young children. He and Erin make their home in Lufkin, Texas, headquarters to Lufkin Industries and ten minutes from Erin’s hometown of Diboll. When asked how he manages the additional balance of a globe-trotting lifestyle with small-town America, he responds, “When I’m coming off a 10-day trip, I don’t really want to do anything other than be at my house, catch up on my DVR, read my Wall Street Journals and spend time with my kids. The exoticness of traveling the world comes with a price, so it’s nice to ratchet down and do something more basic, more sublime. If we want a big night on the town, I can usually find a business reason to zip down to Houston.”

“I’d come back frequently from an overnight from Brazil or Argentina, take a shower at the business

school, and scrape in just in time for class.”

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ames Weston arrived home from work one evening and settled into his routine of grabbing a beer and watching PBS NewsHour. Before the program started, there was a 20-second commercial sponsored by BASF. He recalled it went something like this. “We don’t make computers, we make them lighter; we don’t make bridges, we make them more durable. We don’t make a lot of things you use, but we make them better.”

His first reaction — what is this? Why would a company that does not produce consumer products buy media time on television to basically say they exist? That commercial nagged at him until finally, some time later, BASF did a seasoned equity offering. Now, it was starting to make sense.

BASF was advertising — hey, get familiar with us before we do a public equity offering. Their media buys were on PBS and during golf tournaments where viewers were likely to be educated and affluent, essentially their investor base. And, Weston thought, “This could be a paper!”

It turned out to be a highly cited paper. Working with Rice colleagues George Kanatas and Gustavo Grullon, Weston collected information on thousands of public firms and their advertising expenditures and examined how it related to stock market liquidity and security offerings. Their research showed that firms that are well-known among the investor base have a much easier time raising public equity.

cauSal rElationShipS onlyUnderstanding how x causes y is a must for Dr. James Weston

By ann S. Boor

JYasuaki Onishi, Reverse of Volume RG, 2012 Commission, Rice University Art Gallery, Houston, Texas.

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JONES JOURNAL | FALL 2012 17

got QuEStionS?The BASF commercial was just one example of the many questions rolling around inside Weston’s brain. He’s always mulling a number of them, and then one will jump out because he finally has figured out where to find the data to answer it. Weston takes a natural science approach to causality. His pet peeve is soft research that is qualitative and hard to pin down. “You have to test hypotheses that come from theories and accept or reject them,” said Weston. “You have to be scientific about weighing the evidence.”

Along with several Rice colleagues, Weston challenged some of the earlier work in the area of behavioral finance and actually got into a war of papers with a group from Harvard. “They wrote a paper basically saying that managers regularly can fool investors, and we challenged that notion with hard evidence that showed what they were saying was not true.”

Harvard shot back with a critical paper; the Rice group responded, and additional written volleys came from both sides. “It was kind of fun, and it all got published in the finance journals,” said Weston. “And I think we put a lid on their literature.”

Weston’s questions and ideas come from, well, everywhere. He loves the quirky and runs an eclectic research program. Consider his work-in-progress on religion and corporate misbehavior. The behaviors he is measuring are not illegal, but consist of policies and practices one would rather not show up in the Wall Street Journal. It has been a huge project that involves

collecting samples from every public company for the past 40 years as well as data from the religious census conducted every ten years.

While Weston is not attempting to make an association between morality and religion, the data shows that firms headquartered in counties ranked higher in religion do exhibit different behaviors across the board. “Perhaps when you’re headquartered in rural religious towns, you feel it’s more likely that you’ll be monitored and so you’re more controlled in your behavior,” said Weston. “You’re less likely to make a sneaky earnings play, adapt some questionable strategy, or pay your CEO forty times that of the average worker.”

taking StockA fundamental question in finance that piqued Weston’s curiosity was, “Why pay dividends?” Dividends are correlated with many things, but Weston and his colleagues wanted to pull out causation. They started looking at companies on the Russell 1000, the largest public firms in the U.S., and the Russell 2000, the next 2,000 firms. Each is a value-weighted index, so if you happen to be 998 on the Russell 1000, you’re a trivial member of the group. But, say over the course of a year, you lose a few dollars of market cap and end up being 1002 on the Russell 2000. You go from being a grain of sand to a whale, and every institutional investor has to own you and benchmark against you. In the meantime, the firm that got a little bigger and went from 1001 to 999 becomes the grain of sand. “These firms didn’t do anything differently in that narrow range around the

cutoff,” explained Weston. “But there is a huge movement in institutional ownership, so you take a nosedive or soaring jump depending on the threshold.”

What happens when all these institutions pile into a stock? Do they make the firm pay dividends, and when they pile out, do dividends stop? Using the Russell variation to test the causal effect of dividend policy, Weston found that, yes; institutions do force firms to pay dividends.

“We look at a couple of dozen firms above and below the threshold every year when the Russell is rebalanced,” said Weston. “Companies don’t know where they will land. You cannot choose to be above or below the line. It’s random; and that’s exactly how I want it to be as a scientist.”

And that attitude is exactly what makes Dr. Weston’s research so impactful in the world of finance research.

James P. Weston is a professor of finance at the Jones School. He joined the faculty in 2000 and currently teaches the core finance course which focuses on valuation, corporate finance, and financial modeling. His research covers a wide array of corporate finance issues and his articles have appeared in many of the leading academic finance publications as well as being cited in the popular press. He is a former assistant economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and holds a Ph.D. and M.A. in economics from the University of Virginia. He also earned a B.A. in economics from Trinity College.

“Companies don’t know where they will land. You cannot choose to be above or below the line. It’s random; and that’s

exactly how I want it to be as a scientist.”

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Brian akinS, Assistant Professor of AccountingBrian Akins is an assistant professor of accounting at the Jesse H. Jones Graduate School of Business at Rice University, and teaches financial accounting in the MBA for professionals program. His research focuses on financial reporting quality and the impact of accounting in debt and equity market settings. Dr. Akins earned his Ph.D. in accounting from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology this past May after defending his dissertation studying the relationship between reporting quality and uncertainty about credit risk, captured by disagreement between the rating agencies. He received a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from the University of Texas at Austin. He also holds master’s degrees in business administration from Rice University and in biblical interpretation from Lubbock Christian University.

nEW Full-timE Faculty

otilia oBodaru, Assistant Professor of ManagementOtilia Obodaru is an assistant professor of management in the Organizational Behavior group at the Jesse H. Jones Graduate School of Business at Rice University. She teaches the Leading People in Organizations undergraduate course, and her research interests include self-concept, identity, gender, careers, and counterfactual thinking. Dr. Obodaru’s research has been published in the Academy of Management Review and Harvard Business Review, and has been featured in media outlets such as Forbes and The Boston Globe. She received her Ph.D. and M.Sc., both in Organizational Behavior, from INSEAD and just finished a two-year post-doc at Harvard Business School and INSEAD. She earned her B.Sc. in International Business at the Academy of Economic Studies in Bucharest, Romania.

kEvin crotty, Assistant Professor of FinanceKevin Crotty is an assistant professor of finance at the Jesse H. Jones Graduate School of Business at Rice University. Prior to joining the faculty at Rice, he completed a Ph.D. in finance at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management. He teaches Financial Markets across all programs at the Jones School. His research focuses on empirical asset pricing, and he is particularly interested in the importance of market frictions for asset prices and financial market quality. Before pursuing his doctorate, he worked as an accountant at IBM. Dr. Crotty holds undergraduate and graduate degrees from the University of North Carolina.

david dE angEliS, Assistant Professor of Finance David De Angelis is an assistant professor of finance at the Jesse H. Jones Graduate School of Business at Rice University. He did his doctoral studies at the Johnson School at Cornell University and is currently teaching the managerial economics course in the MBA Full-Time program and in the MBA for Professionals (Evening) program. His research interests are in corporate finance and corporate governance. Dr. De Angelis has examined issues related to firms’ internal capital allocation decisions, the design of executive compensation contracts, and corporate risk management. He earned an M.S. in economics at the University of Montreal and a B.B.A. at HEC Montreal.

anaStaSiya zavyalova, Assistant Professor of Strategic Management Anastasiya (Annie) Zavyalova is an assistant professor of strategic management at the Jesse H. Jones Graduate School of Business at Rice University. Her research focuses on negative events in organizations, such as product recalls, on-campus murders in U.S. universities, child abuse scandals in the Catholic Church, and the role of information intermediaries in helping repair organizational reputation. In 2011 she was a recipient of a dissertation grant from the Center for Corporate Reputation at Oxford University. The first essay of her dissertation has been nominated for Best Paper for Practical Implications Award by the Strategic Management Society. Her empirical paper on toy recalls “Managing the message: The effects of firm actions and industry spillovers on media coverage following wrongdoing” is forthcoming at the Academy of Management Journal. Dr. Zavyalova has taught Social Entrepreneurship and Business Policies courses. She received her Ph.D. in strategic management from the University of Maryland, Robert H. Smith School of Business.

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JONES JOURNAL | FALL 2012 19

nEW viSiting Facultyhajo adam, Visiting Assistant Professor of Management Hajo Adam is a visiting assistant professor of management and is filling a new postdoctoral fellow position in the Organizational Behavior group at the Jesse H. Jones Graduate School of Business at Rice University. He is teaching a new elective course on bargaining. Prior to joining Rice, Dr. Adam was a visiting assistant professor and postdoctoral fellow at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, where he received the Faculty Impact Award for teaching excellence. His research investigates how cultural, emotional, and physical factors influence key organizational processes such as task performance, decision-making, and negotiation behavior. Dr. Adam has presented his research at the Academy of Management, the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, and the Transatlantic Doctoral Conference. His work has been published in peer-reviewed academic journals such as Journal of Applied Psychology, Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, and Psychological Science. His findings have been featured in media outlets in over a dozen countries, including The New York Times, BBC radio, and ABC’s World News This Morning. He received his B.B.A. in international management from the International University in Germany and his M.Sc. and Ph.D. in organizational behavior from INSEAD.

zachary arEnS, Visiting Assistant Professor of Marketing Zachary Arens is a visiting assistant professor of marketing at the Jesse H. Jones Graduate School of Business at Rice University. His research focuses on the dynamics of consumer behavior, in particular how consumers react when they are unable to obtain the products that they want. His current projects investigate the effects of forgoing an alternative, regret and the effectiveness of substitution. Prior to academia, Dr. Arens worked as a consultant and analyst for the Gallup Organization. He earned a Ph.D. in marketing and a master’s degree in survey methodology from the University of Maryland, as well as a bachelor’s degree in marketing information systems from James Madison University.

Elia kacapyr, Visiting Professor of Business economicsElia Kacapyr is a visiting professor of business economics at the Jesse H. Jones Graduate School of Business at Rice University. He has been teaching econometrics and macroeconomics at Ithaca College for the past 25 years. Dr. Kacapyr’s research interests lie in measuring regional economic activity and macroeconomic forecasting. His research has been published in numerous journals including American Demographics, The Journal of Prediction Markets, and the International Journal of Social Economics. He has written three books including Economic Forecasting: The State of the Art. Dr. Kacapyr holds a B.A. in economics from the University of Maryland. His Ph.D., also in economics, is from the J. Mack Robinson College of Business at Georgia State University.

garEn markarian, Visiting Professor of AccountingGaren Markarian is a visiting professor of accounting at the Jesse H. Jones Graduate School of Business at Rice University and is teaching the core financial accounting course in our full-time program while Brian Rountree is on sabbatical. An international scholar specializing in corporate finance and governance, he is currently based in IE Business School, Madrid, and has also taught at HEC (Paris), Bocconi (Milan), Concordia (Montreal) and Case Western Reserve (Cleveland). Dr. Markarian has extensive research on governance mechanisms, executive compensation, the banking crisis, stock market/event analysis, and financial statements and valuation. His numerous publications have received awards both from the American Finance Association and the American Accounting Association, and have been mentioned in the Financial Times and CFO magazine. Previously, he was a consultant for Standard & Poor’s “Society of Industry Leaders,” the United Nations, and for starts-ups and private equity. Of Lebanese and Russian descent, Dr. Markarian is fluent in English, Arabic and Armenian, has an intermediate understanding of Russian and Spanish, and a working knowledge of French and Italian. He earned a B.S. in biology from American University of Beirut, an MBA from McNeese State University and a Ph.D. in Management from Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve University.

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Shiva SivaramakriShnan, the new Henry Gardiner Symonds Professor of Accounting, has been living a stone’s throw away from the Rice campus for more than 15 years. His wife, Devika Subramanian, has been a professor of computer science at Rice for 16 years. Yet, a move to Rice had not been an option — until late last year.

“I have come to know the accounting group well,” he says. “They are exceptionally talented and well-known researchers, and I am thrilled with the opportunity to be a part of it. Thomas Hemmer and I were colleagues at the University of Houston for several years. Ajay Kalra in the marketing group was a colleague of mine at Carnegie Mellon for almost a decade.”

Born to a middle class family with South Indian roots, Shiva and his two sisters grew up in Northern India. He earned his undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Chennai, and an MBA from the Xavier Institute, Jamshedpur, India.

“I worked as a systems analyst for several years in India and in Singapore, analyzing, designing and implementing financial accounting, internal control, production planning, and inventory control systems in small to medium sized business organizations,” he says.

Once he joined the Ph.D. program in accounting and information systems at the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University, however, “I found information economics, agency theory, and problems in accounting and finance in general more interesting.”

He spent ten years on the faculty of Carnegie Mellon University before moving to Houston in 1998 and then held faculty positions at Texas A&M University and the University of Houston. A winner of numerous research, teaching and service awards, Shiva teaches managerial accounting in the MBA program.

“I am also excited by the new Ph.D. program that appears to be off to a great start at the Jones School,” he adds. “And I hope to actively participate in the Ph.D. curriculum.”

As for his research, Shiva’s philosophy has been to work on problems that he believes are important, relevant to practice, and interesting. “My work to date spans an array of issues in management accounting, financial reporting, and finance. I have sought to use the methodology that is best suited for a research question, drawing mostly from agency theory, game theory, finance and statistics.

Specifically, my research focuses on two broad areas: The design of information systems for planning and control in organizations and the examination of the interactions between corporate managers, shareholders and financial analysts. Currently, I am working on issues relating to voluntary disclosures, performance evaluation, and the role accounting conservatism plays in contracting. I am also doing some archival empirical work relating to the participation of insiders in private equity placements, and on some aspects of ‘real’ earnings management.”

neW faculty Spotlight Shiva SivaramakriShnan

“I am also excited by the new Ph.D.

program that appears to be off to a great start at the

Jones School.”

Professor Sivaramakrishnan joined the accounting group in July 2012. He received his Ph.D. in Accounting and Information Systems from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University. He has served as tenured associate professor in the Graduate School of Industrial Administration, Carnegie Mellon University, where he was the KPMG Peat Marwick Faculty Fellow and Research Fellow. He was the Philip Ljungdahl Chair in Accounting at Texas A&M University where he was also a University Faculty Fellow, the Bauer endowed Chair in Accounting at University of Houston, and most recently, the Peggy Pitman Mays eminent Scholar Chair at Texas A&M University.

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JONES JOURNAL | FALL 2012 21

tEnurE aWardEd Scott Sonenshein

promotEd to Full proFESSor James Weston

EndoWEd chairS aWardEd Karen Nelson, Harmon Whittington Professor of Accounting Ajay Kalra, Herbert S. Autrey Professor of Marketing

un-tEnurEd Faculty rESEarch aWard Scott Sonenshein

tEnurEd Faculty rESEarch aWard Alex Butler Utpal Dholakia

Faculty rEcognition

A fond farewell goes to Wil Uecker, professor of management, who retired effective June 30. A member of the Jones School faculty since 1984, he also served for 11 years as associate dean for academic affairs and eight years as associate dean for executive education. He and his wife, Karen, expect to engage in a variety of activities, including cycling and dancing, volunteering, traveling, starting a business, and most importantly spending time with their

granddaughter who lives with her parents in the Sacramento area where they will be moving soon.

Of his years at the Jones School, Wil says, “The school has grown massively since I joined the faculty and I wish my accounting colleagues the best going forward.” His colleagues and former students extend their heartfelt regard and thanks in return.

rEtirEmEnt

Faculty accoladESbob hosKisson George R. Brown Professor of Management• Top 25 in Economics and Business (Times Higher Education)• President, Strategic Management Society (SMS)

stephen ZeffHerbert S. Autrey Professor of Accounting • Listed in the top 125 people of impact in accounting, Journal of

Accountancy, 2012 — identifying the 125 people who have made a profound impact on the professions since 1887

ViKas mittalHugh Liedtke Professor of Marketing • Recognized as one of the top five most prolific marketing scholars

worldwide by the Journal of Marketing

morE Faculty accoladES and FactS aBout thE jonES School at BuSinESS.ricE.Edu/FuturE

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thE Birth oF an inStitutionPart 2 of the History of Entrepreneurship at the Jones School

aFtEr thE oFFicial launch oF thE Jones School entrepreneurship program in 1978, the program continued to grow its course offerings and faculty over the years — covered in Part I in the last issue of the Jones Journal — to the point where Ed Williams was named the No. 2 entrepreneurship professor in the U.S. by Businessweek in 1996.

The following year, Steve Currall — formerly an associate professor in management, psychology, and statistics at the Jones School and now the dean of the Graduate School of Management at the University of California, Davis — had the vision that Rice should play a leadership role in technology entrepreneurship, based on a Fortune magazine article which discussed the critical role that universities played in creating Silicon Valley.

The ultimate design of the Rice Alliance emerged from discussions led by Currall over the next two years with Dan Watkins, now with DFJ Mercury, a venture capital firm based in Houston; Daryl Boudreaux, former director of the Rice Office of Technology Transfer; and the deans and several faculty members from the Brown School of Engineering, Wiess School of Natural Sciences and Jones School. Currall proposed that Rice develop a consortium between the three schools to promote technology entrepreneurship, and he garnered the support of their deans. As founding director, Currall formally launched the Rice Alliance in January 2000 with cofounders Watkins and Boudreaux.

The problem was the need for seed money to support the Rice Alliance, and Steve approached Rice President Malcolm Gillis about securing university funding. Gillis was immediately receptive but also sought advice from Rice Trustee Bill Sick to review the proposal and provide an independent recommendation. Sick discussed the proposal with fellow trustees Burt McMurtry and Bob Maxfield, and the trustees supported funding the Rice Alliance. They also provided guidance by suggesting the Rice Alliance focus on providing expertise, mentoring, and connections versus providing seed funding or office space — a strategy that has proved critical to the Rice Alliance success.

Sick (Rice ’57, ’58), who had been executive vice-president of Texas Instruments, CEO of American National Can, and a founder or active investor in 11 start-up and early stage companies, provided the first outside funding for the Rice Alliance. With his wife, Stephanie, he created the first endowed Chair of Entrepreneurship, initially held by Currall. Sick has served as the chairman of the Rice Alliance External Advisory Board from that time through today. He was joined on the board by Burt McMurtry (Rice ’56, ’57), Bob Maxfield (Rice ’63, ’64), Kenny Kurtzman, and Steve Sheafor (Rice ’72).

In 2001, Steve recruited Brad Burke as the managing director of the Rice Alliance. Burke had recently completed working for a venture capital-

Phot

o by

Sam

Mas

on

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JONES JOURNAL | FALL 2012 23

backed start-up that went public in 1999. Under Brad’s leadership, the Rice Alliance has grown far beyond the original vision and become recognized as one of the leading entrepreneurship centers in the world. (Brad is quick to point out that the Rice Alliance staff — Mary Lynn Fernau, Tom Kraft, Lea Aden Lueck, Quynhmai Nguyen, Kerri Smith, Erin Wyatt — deserve most of the credit.)

Since inception, more than 1,400 early-stage companies have benefitted by participating in the 140+ programs hosted by the Rice Alliance and these companies have raised in excess of $2.5 billion. From 2001 to 2010, Rice has launched more start-ups based on Rice technology than Stanford, MIT, and Carnegie Mellon, per dollar of research funding. More than 33,000 individuals have attended Rice Alliance events, featuring more than 1,000 speakers, while over 28,000 individuals currently subscribe to the Rice Alliance Digest newsletter.

A flagship program of the Rice Alliance is the Rice University Business Plan Competition (RBPC), co-founded by Currall and local venture capitalist Dennis Murphree in 2001. The RBPC has become the world’s richest and largest, awarding more than $1.5 million in prizes in 2012. The competition has served as the launch pad for more than 128 successful companies that have raised more than $460 million. The competition is featured each year in FORTUNE magazine and the

winner rings the NASDAQ bell in New York City.

The Rice Alliance has received numerous awards and recognitions over the years including the discipline’s highest award — bestowed by the Global Consortium of Entrepreneurship Centers — the 2011 NASDAQ OMX Center of Entrepreneurial Excellence Award. Also in 2011 the Rice Alliance and Jones School were awarded the National Model MBA in Entrepreneurship award granted by the United States Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship.

The Jones School’s entrepreneurship program continues to advance in stature and ranking. Dr. Jack Gill, a successful Silicon Valley venture capitalist, entrepreneur, and philanthropist, joined the faculty as professor in the practice of entrepreneurship and chairman of the Rice Alliance’s Houston advisory board. Gill launched a new Life Science Entrepreneurship course modeled after courses he taught at Harvard Medical School and MIT, focused on M.D.s and Ph.D.s at the Texas Medical Center, as well as Rice MBAs and Ph.D.s. The course attracted the largest enrollment of any Jones School offering.

In 2005, Gill co-founded The GOOSE Society of Texas, a group of successful entrepreneurs, to provide a large investment prize at the Rice Business Plan Competition, a pivotal event in the competition’s history. To-date, The GOOSE

Society of Texas group has provided $1.4 million investment prize money to Competition winners, plus over $5 million in subsequent funding to these teams.

A number of other successful venture capitalists, investors, and entrepreneurs have joined Dennis Murphree and Jack Gill on the teaching staff at the Jones School, including Dan Watkins, Blair Garrou, and Ned Hill (DFJ Mercury), Bob Ulrich (Vanguard Ventures), Jerry Finger (Finger Interests) and Leo Linbeck III (Aquinas). Dr. Tom Kraft, accomplished entrepreneur and mentor, and Dr. Cliff Atherton, a private equity investor, are the most recent additions to the faculty.

In 2008, Professor Napier won the national Acton Award for Excellence in Entrepreneurship Education. In that same year, the Rice University Education Entrepreneurship Program (REEP) was launched with a grant from the Houston Endowment and has grown into the nation’s foremost leadership development program for highly motivated educators committed to leading public schools.

From 2009 to 2012, the Princeton Review and Entrepreneur Magazine have ranked the Jones School in the top 10 for graduate entrepreneurship programs in the U.S., one of only four schools to achieve this distinction for four consecutive years.

Nearly a quarter of Jones School alumni have now started or bought their own businesses and have begun seeing substantial successes in their own entrepreneurial endeavors. As a way to “give back” and help other alumni and aspiring entrepreneurs, they organized the Jones Graduate School Entrepreneurs Organization (JGSEO) under the leadership of Dr. Napier and Al Danto, also a successful entrepreneur and member of the first EMBA class to graduate in 2000.

From academic research, outreach and education to alumni engagement, Rice University and the Jones Graduate School of Business are fully committed. Together with the Rice Alliance, RBPC, REEP and JGSEO, the goal of the entrepreneurship program at the Jones School is to be the best in the world at educating the next generation of successful entrepreneurs and assisting in the launch of successful companies. Based on the recent track record, the school is well on its way.

Special thanks to ed Williams, Al Napier, Dennis Murphree, Brad Burke, Bill Sick, Jack Gill, and Steve Currall for their time and contributions to this article.

“Nearly a quarter of Jones School alumni have now started or bought their own businesses and have begun seeing substantial successes in their

own entrepreneurial endeavors.”

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Q&AWITH JEREMY GRACEDIRECTOR OF STUDENT SERVICES FULL-TIME MBA PROGRAM

jj: What arE your goalS For thE oFFicE oF StudEnt SErvicES?JG: Although it may sound cliché, I want to preface excellence in everything that we do and deliver a world-class experience as our first philosophy. It should be all about the student experience for us. You know Aristotle’s, ‘We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act, but a habit.’ It’s about having a shared vision at the Jones School.

jj: you WorkEd at ricE From 2001 to 2010. What did you do? JG: I was assistant director of forensics and lecturer in the disciplines of communications, humanities and leadership studies. I eventually moved to associate director of the Office of Academic Advising. During my nine years here I was also an R.A. at Martel College, taught a literary science fiction course at Glasscock School and a Mayan Studies course at Martel, among other things.

jj: hoW did you gEt into ForEnSicS?JG: I was an active member of the Future Farmers of America in ninth grade. I had a lamb and everything. I gave this really dramatic speech about agriculture that year and afterwards my teacher told me to go see the speech and debate coach. Speech and debate was huge in my high school. I even earned a letterman’s jacket with a gavel on it. Forensics also put me through college.

jj: What Brought you Back to ricE aFtEr tWo yEarS aS aSSociatE dirEctor oF lEarning and tEaching at thE auStralian School oF BuSinESS in SydnEy, auStralia?JG: This is difficult to answer in short form but the easiest answer is to say that my wife Morgan and I really missed the ‘greener grass’ here. We have seen the ‘other side’ while down under in Australia and that adventure gave us a true appreciation for home.

jj: What did you do prior to EntEring highEr Education? JG: I have bagged groceries, sold financial services, been a host at a hair salon, a waiter in diners, a construction laborer, a telemarketer, worked as a poet, an actor, a musician, a political fundraiser, a restaurant manager, a band manager, a stable boy and horse guide, a short-order cook, a fine dining waiter, a sommelier, a camp counselor, a fine dining chef, a speech coach, and a private mentor.

jj: hoW doES that Extraordinary Work hiStory inForm your nEW rolE at thE jonES School?JG: All of our experiences inform us and make us richer for it. Between my experiences as a stable boy and political fundraiser I am sure there are going to be plenty of opportunities for some rather rich metaphors that apply to our experiences here in the Jones School…and hearty opportunities for self-deprecating humor as well.

jj: What SurpriSES you?JG: Anti-intellectualism and the idea that ignorance rather than knowledge should be prized. I am constantly surprised by people’s readiness to not engage in critical thinking. What surprises me even more is that people do not see the danger in it. Ignorance by choice, not intellect by choice is what should be mocked.

Jeremy Grace joined the Jones School in June as its newest director of student services, Full-Time MBA Program. He holds a Master of Arts in Rhetoric and Composition and a Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Studies from Northern Arizona University and is a current candidate for the Ph.D. in education Leadership from the University of New South Wales. He lives in Houston with his wife Morgan and their daughter Harper.

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JONES JOURNAL | FALL 2012 25

crEativE managEmEnt Staff Spotlight with dEanna goldEnFrom a vEry Early agE, Deanna Golden was into creative pursuits — drawing, painting, pastels, sewing, writing, cooking. “In third grade a friend and I started writing our own version of the Nancy Drew books.” That personal initiative and pluck carried her through jobs as a service rep at Southwestern Bell, a couple of oil companies, the Houston Symphony, Baylor College of Medicine, teaching at her daughters’ pre-school, Baylor again, and finally to the dean’s suite at the Jones School.

With a stepfather in the Air Force, Deanna and her three older sisters moved a lot — Missouri, Florida, Illinois, back to Florida, Wyoming, back to Florida (again) and finally Texas. The arts were a constant for all the girls and kept them grounded, but work, once she started, always took precedence. It wasn’t until she’d married Randy, her husband of 27 years; had two daughters, Alexandra and Jacqueline; and took a job at their pre-school that the passion for the arts resurfaced. “I loved working with kids. I was really in my element with all the arts and crafts projects,” she says with a laugh.

When the girls started elementary school, she went back to work at Baylor College of Medicine in the department of psychiatry. But after nine years there she decided to make the move to Rice. “I had

always been curious about working at Rice. I felt there was more I could be doing. I needed more challenge.”

And she certainly found it. Within nine months of being hired as dean’s suite office manager in June of 2006, she was promoted to manager of administrative and faculty affairs, where she oversees a little bit of everything. The years of different jobs with different organizations have served her well. “I work closely with the senior associate dean of academic affairs on all faculty administrative matters such as promotions and appointments; manage the dean’s suite; act as the administrator and liaison for all Jones School HR and building maintenance matters with the help of a great administrative staff; manage the faculty assistant area; and act as the overseer of building renovations. Oh, and I am also coordinator of the Ph.D. students.”

It’s clear that Deanna loves her job for the “diversity of duties and being in touch with so many people.” And her talents go well beyond the Jones School. She collaborates with people all over campus — Human Resources, Facilities Engineering and Planning, the Provost’s Office, and Office of Graduate Studies. “As a school, we’ve been able to achieve so much in the years I’ve been here. It’s only the beginning. I truly believe that.”

Now that her daughters are in college — Alex at University of Houston and Jacque at Trinity University — Deanna has been looking to reconnect with her art and her writing. She is currently writing something a little more sophisticated than Nancy Drew. And despite experience in the arts, she “decided to start from scratch

and get back to the fundamentals.” She signed up at The Glassell School at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston for three classes so far. “I’m not sure which direction I want to go yet, but for now I have discovered drawing is very meditative for me.” Which, as it turns out, is the perfect complement for the demands of the dean’s suite.

“It’s only the beginning. I truly believe that.”

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WhEn conSidEring the moving parts of a modern business school, it begins with people — in classrooms discussing case studies; in corridors bursting with conversations; and in offices generating academic research. The people of a business school are its beating heart.

What may not be immediately apparent in this consideration is the powerful role the corporate

partners of a business school play in the ever-changing evolution of an institution’s influence on industry, business and the community. Often behind the scenes, corporate philanthropy and sponsorship is the engine that drives the recruitment of higher quality students, acquisition of notable researchers, and virtuous cycle of alumni networking and career development.

The role of a corporate partner and its relationship to a business school is one of mutual benefit and essential to a school’s strategic framework. Corporate partners support the school and their own initiatives through access to research, opportunities for recruitment and increased visibility as well as social impact. An ongoing dialogue with our corporate partners also provides a valuable channel to the private sector, allowing leadership from both entities to gain from the relationship.

Chevron has long been a strategic corporate partner of the Jones School and exemplifies the many ways in which partners engage with the school.

thE poWEr oF human EnErgyAs the second-largest integrated energy company in the U.S., Chevron produces crude oil, natural gas and many other essential products. Part of its mission is to invest in the communities where the company operates, and since 1960 Chevron and its affiliates have given approximately $2 million (excluding sponsored research) to Rice University.

Of the more than 150 Rice alumni employed at Chevron, the company has enrolled its employees in both the MBA for Professionals (17) and MBA for Executives programs (14). It consistently hosts summer interns from the Jones School and has hired 22 full-time Rice MBAs. The company also sends participants to Executive Education programming, including open enrollment courses and custom-designed programs.

Chevron has been an active supporter of The Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship since 2005. By 2009, it became a member of the Jones Partners, a committed group of business professionals working to open doors and increase collaboration between the Jones School and the Houston business community. In 2012, the company’s Africa and Latin America E&P Company has agreed for the second year to sponsor a social entrepreneurship class in Liberia (formerly in Rwanda).

In the spring of 2013, Chevron is sponsoring the Career Rodeo, Rice University’s signature recruiting event for full-time, internship and experienced-level hiring from top companies in the Houston area. The event includes a pre-night networking event at the Houston Livestock and Rodeo Show for corporate partners, Jones School administrators, faculty, and undergraduate and graduate student leaders. The company is also underwriting the International Energy Simulation, a two-day event for MBA students to experience the dynamics of reconciling competing interests to develop energy resources in a fictitious emerging country. The simulation addresses the interplay of social, economic, and political drivers in complex investment and strategic decision-making by government and industry.

A friend to many student-run activities, Chevron holds title sponsorship at the Rice Energy Finance Summit (REFS) on November 1, an annual conference promoting forward-looking discussions on the most pertinent energy issues, and is underwriting the MBA Women International (MBA WI) — headquartered at the Jones School — 13th annual Women in Leadership Conference this spring.

The Jones School is proud to acknowledge Chevron for their generosity and support of its students, its faculty, and its mission to excel at developing principled, innovative thought leaders in global communities.

doing BuSinESS With corporatE partnErS

“Chevron is proud to have this relationship with a top-tier business school. With a workforce of nearly 10,000 in

Houston, having this relationship with the Jones School helps us recruit top talent, prepare our mid-level managers

to be leaders, and promote thought leadership in the business community.”

ali moShiri President, Chevron Africa and Latin America exploration and Production Company

Member, Council of Overseers, Jesse H. Jones Graduate School of Business

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JONES JOURNAL | FALL 2012 27

thrEE rEaSonS to givEa nativE houStonian, Neal returned to his hometown in 2003 after serving as a captain in the U.S. Army. At the Jones School, Neal was active in an array of leadership positions from the Jones Student Association to the Rice University Honor Council. Since graduation, he has stayed involved by spearheading Goldman Sachs’ recruiting efforts at Rice, serving on the advisory board at the Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship, judging the Rice Business Plan Competition, and mentoring current Rice MBA students and alumni.

As a vice president with Goldman Sachs, Neal has built and led a private wealth management team focused on the complex needs of wealthy families and private institutions. Prior to Goldman, Neal was a captain in the U.S. Army and a veteran of Bosnia Herzegovina. He serves as a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations, a fellow in the British American Project, and a director at the Texas Lyceum. He is a board member of Preservation Houston, a member of the C Club, and active at St. Luke’s United Methodist Church. Neal holds a B.S. in philosophy and economics from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and an MBA from Rice University. He and his wife Kristen have two young daughters.

Why nEal givES1. personal commitmentAt every station in life, I’ve had mentors that have taught, inspired, and challenged me to become the best I can be. They are catalysts: professors, military officers, public servants, entrepreneurs and financiers. By the same measure, I have committed myself to be a positive influence in others’ lives early on, as they mature from students, to mentors, to leaders. I have a strong sense of both “giving back” to those people and institutions that have helped me along the way, and also “paying it forward” to a future generation of Jones leaders. Every minute, dollar, and connection a person gives makes an impact.

2. serVice and communityWhile at Rice, my wife put a quote in my study by Mahatma Gandhi: “You must be the change you want to see in the world.” I grew up in a family where we were intimately involved in our church, community, and civic causes. Throughout my career, I’ve seen firsthand the impacts

of small gestures and personal bonds that have fostered and strengthened communities. At the Jones School, our mission is to excel at developing “principled, innovative thought leaders in global communities.” As the school’s community is essentially the sum of its alumni, faculty, and current and prospective students, we should cultivate a community of commitment and service, grounded in principles and excellence. Giving time, resources, and personal experience furthers these ends.

3. transformation and groWthThis year, Rice celebrates its centennial, and the Jones School marks its 10th year in McNair Hall. In the past 100 years, our Rice community has been a prime mover in the greatest stream of innovation in human history, through science, energy, technology and medicine. In the past 10 years, our Jones School has expanded its programs, broadened its curriculum, deepened its faculty expertise, and connected with the global community. By continuing to give to the Jones School, we are the venture capital for the next 10, 50, and 100 years of global transformation and growth.

With neaL d. carLson ’06

Why nEal givES

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giving Back

chriS idol mEt roB kogEr on the first day of Immersion at the Jones School. “We were walking into Herring Hall since the new building was not quite ready, and we introduced ourselves,” Chris remembered. “We sat next to each other during orientation that day and were friends from then on.”

A few years after their 2004 graduation, Chris married and started a family, Rob moved back to Wichita, Kansas, where he was from, and their friendship forged during the rigors of the MBA program held firm. “We saw less of one another, but we were always current with each other’s lives and remained great friends.”

When Rob passed away in July of 2011, the loss hit Chris hard. He wanted to do something to honor his friend. “We were so close, and I had gotten to know his family very well. I thought this would give me, and potentially his family, some form of closure and remembrance.”

The Rob Koger Memorial Fund — in honor of Edward Robbins Koger, Jr. — was established this year at the Jones School. The scholarship was initiated by Chris and other classmates and also received generous support from Rob’s parents; his younger brother and sister, Jared and Jenna; and their tight-knit Kansas community.

“His parents are loving, hard-working folks. Salt of the earth, great people. They operate a huge ranch and have maintained a lot of the old-fashioned, country values. They were very happy about the scholarship,” Chris said. “So much on board with the idea that his family donated a large sum of money, and we were able to endow the scholarship so Rob’s memory will go on forever.”

The Koger family asked that the scholarship be awarded to a student from a rural area with a background in agriculture. Full-time student Jonathon Glueck ’14 was chosen. He is from Canyon, Texas, and grew up working at a local dairy farm. Jonathon judged dairy cattle to pay for his undergraduate education at Texas A&M University and, while in school, to travel to the Middle East, later serving as an agriculture and youth development consultant in Iraq.

“Jonathon is an awesome young man,” Chris said. “He is a great recipient of the scholarship and shares many of the same values as Rob and his family…an excellent first choice. I am also compelled to help Jonathon in any way possible…I guess because he is connected to Rob. I took him to an Astros game with my company and introduced him to my organization, as well as a client. I will continue to open doors for him in an effort to help him succeed.”

The scholarship match celebrates the person Rob was and the influence he had among family, friends and the business community. Rob’s vast business experience included working as a stockbroker for UBS PaineWebber in Burlington, Vermont; a market analyst for ConocoPhillips in Houston; an analyst in business development for Koch Industries in Wichita; and vice president of the Wichita Center for Excellence. He also owned and operated Rio Rubix Ranch near Belvidere, Kansas. Along with his MBA, Rob earned a bachelor’s degree in economics from Middlebury College in Middlebury, Vermont.

This journey to remember Rob has greatly affected Chris. “I am a father and husband, and this has put my life in perspective. Life is short and tomorrow is a promise to no one. I learned that the hard way.

“Rob was a great friend and a better person. He will always be remembered by me, and now each year by Rice too…that makes me happy.” Chris Idol earned his B.B.A. from Texas Tech and worked at Andersen Consulting before coming to the Jones School. Chris is currently a principal at Sungard, a company that does IT consulting for Oil & Gas trading. He serves as Jones Alumni Class Ambassador for the Class of 2004.

At the Jones School there are many ways to give — returning to campus to share your expertise in a classroom, donating to the Jones Fund, recruiting a new employee, sharing your professional insight at an alumni-student lunch, mentoring a second-year student, sending an employee through the MBA program, and many other ways. Chris Idol ’04 found this way to give.

Chris Idol,Photo by Ashley Smith-AL Collective

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JONES JOURNAL | FALL 2012 29

The Jones Graduate School of Business is engaged in a Rice-wide capital campaign with an overall goal of raising $1 billion. The Jones School’s goal within the Centennial Campaign is $65 million, allowing us to continue to attract and develop future leaders through scholarships and to recruit and retain the best faculty as we excel at developing principled, innovative thought leaders in global communities.

campaign goal: $65,000,000 cumulativE commitmEntS: $46,905,335

cEntEnnial campaign Summary aS oF auguSt 31, 2012

mil

lion

SM

ILLI

ONS

$65

$60

$50

$40

$30

$20

$10

$0

CENTENNIAL CAMPAIGN SUMMARY AS OF JULY 31, 2012

2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 JUL 12

BrEakFaSt SEriES 7:00am – 8:30am Faculty: Dr. Jill Foote, Senior Lecturer in Finance

2april

drinkS With thE dEan 6:00pm – 8:30pm Speakers: Bill Glick, Dean and H. Joe Nelson III Professor of Management

7march

19marchthought lEadErShip SEriES 6:00pm – 8:30pm Speaker: Larry Guffey, Senior Managing Director, The Blackstone Group

15januaryroundtaBlE SEriES (mEmBErS only) 11:30am – 1:00pm Faculty: Steve Crawford, Assistant Professor of Management – Accounting

29january thought lEadErShip SEriES 6:00pm – 8:30pm Speaker: Derek Mathieson, President, Western Hemisphere Operations, Baker Hughes

thought lEadErShip SEriES 6:00pm – 8:30pm Speaker: Robert Foye, Chief Marketing, Customer and Commercial Officer, Coca-Cola China

29october

roundtaBlE SEriES (mEmBErS only) 11:30am – 1:00pm Faculty: Al Napier, Professor of Management

7february

thought lEadErShip SEriES 6:00pm – 8:30pm Speaker: Anne McEntee, President and CEO, Flow & Process Technologies, GE Oil & Gas

14noVember

jonES partnErS EvEntSFor a Full liSt oF EvEntS, go to BuSinESS.ricE.Edu/jonESpartnErS

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2012-2013 oFFicErS and Board mEmBErS

PRESIDENTKaTHrYn YOunG ‘04

PRESIDENT ELECTbO bOTHe ‘05President and Chief Creative Officer,BrandExtract

PAST PRESIDENTcarOlYn GalfiOne ‘97Financial Advisor, Linscomb & Williams

BOARD MEMBERSJim barrY ‘84Managing Director - Investments, Merrill Lynch

PHilliP brOwn ‘08Senior Project Manager, Aetna

franciscO casTrO ‘02CEO, Aliant Capital S.A. de C.V.

micHael cHeValier-wHiTe ‘89 Managing Director, Raymond James

JOHn cOTe ‘05 Vice President, GE

elena demidOVa ‘09Senior Economist, Shell Exploration & Production

Julie daVidsOn ‘04Manager, PricewaterhouseCoopers

JaY HawTHOrn ‘05Vice President, Barclays Capital

lYnn lednicKY ‘91President, Lednicky Enterprises

HeaTHer maTTinGlY ‘10 Sales Representative, M&P Sealing Co.; Plastics Machining Inc.

miKe mclauGHlin ‘07 Principal Analyst, El Paso Corp.

dusTin OlsOn ‘06 Marketing Manager, LyondellBasell Industries

eVY PaPPas ‘09Architect, Pappas Restaurant

Kim-KaY randT ‘07Director - Pricing, Phillips 66

JOHn wOOdbY ‘94Managing Director, Oppenheimer

DEAR FELLOW ALUMNI,

This is a special and exciting year to be an alumnus of both the Jones Graduate School of Business and Rice University! We are not only recognizing the 10th anniversary of opening McNair Hall, (home of the Jones School) but also celebrating Rice’s Centennial. And you are a special Jones School alumnus because you have graduated from a top business school — now enjoying our highest rankings ever and representing alumni in 50 countries on 6 continents, working in too many industries and disciplines to mention.

As a 2004 MBA for Executives graduate, I would like to introduce myself as the new president of our Jones Graduate School Alumni Association (JGSAA). The JGSAA is comprised of over 4,700 graduates and is dedicated to furthering the goals of the school and supporting alumni engagement. The JGSAA is led by a board consisting of 18 volunteer members and is organized into three committees: (1) Alumni Committee, led by Jay Hawthorn; (2) Faculty Committee, led by Kim-Kay Randt; and (3) Student Committee, led by Julie Davidson. Each committee is dedicated to enriching relationships between association members and these three important stakeholder groups.

Upon graduation, you were automatically initiated as a lifetime member of the JGSAA. As such, you have the opportunity to stay connected to the school and to support its goals. I encourage you, today, to consider taking advantage of one of the many ways to develop or maintain a reciprocal relationship with the Jones School. Just a few of these activities are listed below:

• Mentoring students• Auditing a class• Performing mock interviews• Recruiting in your company• Assisting in faculty research• Accessing the alumni database• Supporting student clubs• Participating on speaker/career panels• Attending speaker series

In this special and exciting year, as a special JGSAA member, I ask for your commitment to making this a year with the highest alumni participation ever! Together, as an association, we can ensure that the Rice MBA remains highly regarded throughout our personal, business and geographical communities.

From thE prESidEntJONES GRADUATE STUDENT ALUMNI ASSOCIATION

Kathryn Young ’04President, Jones Graduate School Alumni Association

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JONES JOURNAL | FALL 2012 31

respondent statistics

• 70%graduatedfromtheclasses2000-2011

• 52%wantmorealumnispecificcontent

• 25%createdanot-for-profitorbusiness

• 61%takeadvantageofthealumnidirectory

• 42%feltnetworkingwithalumnifromRice,theJones School or other business schools was very important

Energy/Petroleum 45%

Financial Services 20%

Real Estate 8%

Consumer Products 8%

Health Care/Biotech/Pharma 8%

Other 11%

45%20%

11%

8%8%

8%

69.07%Texas

4.65%California

1.86%Illinois

2.33%New York

1.63%Virginia

1.16%Maryland

1.16%Massachusetts

1%Other

respondents by geography

alumni SurvEy rESultS 2012

respondents by industry

Energy/Petroleum 45%

Financial Services 20%

Real Estate 8%

consumer Products 8%

Healthcare/Biotech/Pharma 8%

Other 11%

to see the full alumni survey and other helpful resources, please visit the jgSB alumni directory: ricemba.online.rice.edu

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2012 invEStiturE oF graduatES honorS, prizES and aWardS

Leah Grace Jacqueline Brown

Nancy Bui

Ming chen Burdett

LaMecia c. Butler

Michael Iran Daniel

Mallory Evan Engler

Louise-Philippe Fortin Burroughes

Ryan J. Hanford

kristine Han Vu Hu

Victoria Dooly Jackman

Melanie Anne Jones

John y. Levene

Megan Jo Manning

James Ross Moffett, Jr.

Jennifer B. Neeley

Lora Elena Robles

Jay Shreekumar Vinekar

Brian Howard walker

Ramsay Dean zaki

Jones Scholar Awards

Joseph A. Abdou

Rishi kumar Bhutada

John Arthur Burns

Donald Lee carter

Tushar chaudhry

cornelis de Nooijer

Matthew william walker Dean

Mallory Evan Engler

christopher A. Farrokhnia

Linda k. Hamaker

Junxiong Lei

Xiaohui Ma

Teresa Mattamouros Rezende

Milos Milosevic

Ferozkhan Hamjekhan Mulla

Marco Patriarchi

Philip Michael Perry

Andrew Ramirez

R. Brent Riley

Michael Roberts

charles Roseland

Brian Michael Sheridan

Austin cole Skipworth

Haavard Strommen

Gabriel Villasmil

Brian Howard walker

Randal R. whitaker

jESSE h. jonES graduatE School oF BuSinESS alumni aWard For ExcEllEncE in tEachingPrashant kale

mBa For ExEcutivES aWard For tEaching ExcEllEncE karen Nelson

Full-timE mBa aWard For tEaching ExcEllEncESteve crawford

mBa For proFESSionalS EvEning aWard For tEaching ExcEllEncESébastien Michenaud

mBa For proFESSionalS WEEkEnd aWard For tEaching ExcEllEncEVikas Mittal

M.a. “Mike” Wright aWardsHermine A. BenardLouise-Philippe Fortin BurroughesJames Ross Moffett, Jr.Brian Alan Stanton

loranE t. philipS aWard For ExcEllEncE in WritingMallory Evan Engler

roBErt E. philipS aWard For ExcEllEncE in prESEntationJennifer B. Neeley

jonES citizEnShip aWardS

1. Gabriel Villasmil

2. Gilbert Lei, Van Nguyen, Leah Brown, Scott Vanderpool, and Chris Farrokhnia

3. Kristen Temple and family

4. Jeff Fleming (Sr. Associate Dean of Academic Affairs)

5. Brian Hagle and Dean Glick

6. Cameron Alexander

7. Joy Brown Kirst (Director of Alumni and Corporate Relations) and daughter, Gwyn

8. Robert Knox and Norman Wright III

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JONES JOURNAL | FALL 2012 33

Marco Patriarchi

Philip Michael Perry

Andrew Ramirez

R. Brent Riley

Michael Roberts

charles Roseland

Brian Michael Sheridan

Austin cole Skipworth

Haavard Strommen

Gabriel Villasmil

Brian Howard walker

Randal R. whitaker

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ish

Badg

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ica

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claSS notES See what’s new with Jones School Alumni

Radostina Boneva Mims ’11 and David Mims ’11 joyfully announce

wedding #1 – 1/6/2012 and wedding #2 – 5/19/2012. It was so

nice, they did it twice. Brett and Iara Johnson (both ’11) read

scriptures, Tony Manzur ’11 was David’s best man, Liee LeBlanc ’11

was a bridesmaid, Alison Young ’11 and Brandi Downey Leveque

’11 were honor attendants, and were joined by Sarah and Jordan High ’11, Zoe and Donna Platt,

Sparky Frost ’11, Sam Mason ’11, and many other friends and family

members from around the world.

1

2

3

4

photo by michael martinez

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JONES JOURNAL | FALL 2012 35

claSS notES 1. Lorie Clements ’11, her husband Joey, and their daughter Chloe proudly announce the birth of Alexa Quinn Clements, born on April 05, 2012 at 5:35 pm. She was 7.3 pounds and 19.5 inches.

2. Robert Gabriel Cestero was born April 5 to Erin and Alex Cestero ’07. Big brothers Dominic (8) and Joshua (5 and who was born during Alex’s EMBA program) are quickly showing him the ropes at the Cestero household!

3. Maria Teresa Ritchey ’09, her husband, Mark Ritchey, and her daughter Isabella proudly announce the birth of their twins Stephen Matthew and Rebecca. They were born on June 6, 2011 in Houston, Texas. Stephen Matthew weighed 5.81 pounds and was 18 inches long. Rebecca weighed 5.69 pounds and was also 18 inches long. Maria Teresa is Senior Accounting Manager at Neighborhood Centers, Inc.

4. Federico Muyshondt ’07 and his wife Faye welcomed Adriana Elizabeth in April.

5. Blake and Hobson Brown ’12 are happy to announce the birth of their son, Hayward Brown, on July 24. His brother, Hugh, is pretty psyched too.

6. Nazareth Tekeste ’07, her husband Phillip Strong, and son Mattias Strong welcome their newest addition to the family, Nicholas (Niko) Strong. He was born in December of 2011 and weighed in at 6.9 pounds.

7. Jordan High ’11 and his wife Sarah Shipley High welcomed their first child, Hudson Atticus on April 6, 2012. He was 7.13 pounds and 21 inches long! Hudson Atticus was named after Atticus Finch, and Hudson, TX, where one set of Sarah's grandparents grew up and live. The photo was taken by Jones School alumna Kristine Hu, PMBA ’12! Kristine works with Jordan at Chevron, and also works as a family photographer.

8. Elizabeth Tobin ’05 and Rob Priske ’05 joyfully announce the birth of their son, Jack Robert Priske, who arrived on December 10, 2011 weighing 8 lbs 7 oz and 20.75” long. Jack was happily welcomed home by his 3-year-old big sister Rebecca.

Fernando Gil ’04 and his wife celebrate the birth of their daughter Naya Alexis Gil, born March 14, 2012. Fernando is Commercial Advisor, Business Development, at Chevron Africa & Latin America E&P in Houston.

Alasdair Pullan ’05 swam 10K for Texas-based Colin’s Hope to raise water safety awareness and funds to help prevent children from drowning. Learn more about Colin’s Hope at colinshope.org.

We want to hear about new jobs, new babies, weddings and any other accomplishments of our alumni. Send high resolution photos and text to [email protected]. And thank you!

See what’s new with Jones School Alumni

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RESOURCES

ALUMNI CAREER SERVICESLifelong support for alumni throughout their careers, including confidential access to job postings and avenues to recruit top caliber students at the Jones School.

LIFELONG LEARNINGWhether you have an MBA and could use a refresher or work with someone who could benefit from training, Rice University Executive Education offers more than 100 programs annually that focus on the working executive and includes open enrollment, certificate programs, application based management programs and custom-designed programs for organizations. For more information, please visit business.rice.edu/ee.

ONLINE NETWORKING RESOURCESAccess to the Jones Alumni Directory and official JGSB groups on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter (@ricemba).

NETWORKING OPPORTUNITIESJones Graduate School Entrepreneurs Organization (JGSEO) The JGSEO provides the systems, processes and social networks to bring together and support Jones School alumni with real-world entrepreneurial experiences. Details at JGSEO.JonesAlumni.com.

MBA COUNCIL OF HOUSTON (MBACH) The Jones School is a member institution of the MBA Council. All alumni are invited to the council’s events which provide a great opportunity to network with other MBAs in the area. Member institutions include HBS, Wharton, MIT, Texas, Tulane, Kellogg and others.

WHARTON-RICE MBA ALUMNI NETWORK The Jones School collaborates with the Wharton Club of Houston. The club’s network is designed to assist MBAs who are seeking employment opportunities and career advancement. All member schools of the MBA Council of Houston are invited to attend these meetings. Details available at WhartonRice.JonesAlumni.com.

RICE BUSINESS NETWORK (RBN) Connect with fellow Rice alumni for a monthly networking lunch. This is a great way to share business referrals and career opportunities while broadening your network with the Rice alumni in the Houston area. Jones Alumni Real Estate Club: A club for Jones alumni who are interested in building their network in the real estate community via quarterly happy hours and other events.

GET INVOLVEDShare your professional and life experiences with future business leaders in a variety of ways.

ALUMNI MENTORING PROGRAMMentor a second-year Rice MBA student who is seeking first-hand information about prospective careers from professionals.

Through the mentoring program, alumni:

• Cultivate a deeper connection with the JGSB and our students

• Share professional and life experiences with future alumni and business leaders

• Provide guidance in an ongoing relationship

JONES ALUMNI VOLUNTEERS FOR ADMISSION (JAVA)The Jones School is actively seeking ambassadors from around the world to represent the school in attracting top-tier candidates to the Rice MBA program.

JAVA ambassadors may:

• Interview prospective students

• Represent Rice at recruiting events

• Counsel admitted students during the decision-making process

ALUMNI-STUDENT LUNCHESThe Alumni-Student Lunch Series is an opportunity for current students to meet with alumni. Lunches provide students an informal setting to gain insight into professional areas of interest and to engage the alumni in current happenings at the Jones School.

alumni rESourcES viSit jonESalumni.com to lEarn morE aBout thE opportunitiES and rESourcES For alumni

SAVE THE DATE! OCTOBER 10-14cEntEnnial cElEBration & homEcoming 2012For a full list of Centennial and Homecoming events, visit centennial.rice.edu

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JONES JOURNAL | FALL 2012 37

WinE taSting

drinkS With thE dEan

alumni EvEntSBuSinESS.ricE.Edu/EvEntS | FacEBook.com/ricEmBa | tWittEr.com/ricEmBa

1 2 3

4

5

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67

1. Valerie Nixon ’13, Mike Sherwood ’13, Brandon Siddoway ’13, Deanna Young ’13

2. Francisco Castro ’02 (JGSAA Board), Jill Foote (Faculty)

3. Marcus Granderson ’13, Arturo Peña ’13

4. April Sharr ’06, Star Chacko ’07

5. Sean Ferguson ’01 (Asst. Dean), Ann Mausser ’12

6. Mike McLaughlin ’07 (JGSAA Board), David Merchant ’09

7. Elena Demidova ’09 (JGSAA Board), Diego Molina ’09 (Jones Partners Board), Fred Mammadbayov, Annie Wu ’09

8. Ashley Holley ’14, Eric Unverzagt ’14, LaTisha Cotto ’14

cinco dE mayo

cinco dE mayo

cinco dE mayo

WinE taSting

carEEr conFErEncE

carEEr conFErEncE

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