Thanks to a gift from Mario Gabelli, GABELLI ’65, the new Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) program in business administration will welcome its first cohort in the fall of 2016. The five-year program will feature a cross-disciplinary study of the major areas of business education, as well as an intensive research component.

“This is our opportunity to ground research strongly at the graduate level,” said Donna Rapaccioli, PhD, dean of the Gabelli School of Business. “These students will be able to develop papers alongside our faculty for journal submission. We will also, for the first time, have Fordham represented at doctoral colloquia at major conferences.”

In addition to expanding opportunities for current students and faculty, the presence of a terminal degree program promises to attract high-caliber scholars and new talent to the Gabelli School, Rapaccioli said. This will not only enrich the mentorship between faculty and students, but it will also prepare students as scholars in their own right.

“The education they receive at Fordham will kindle their careers as junior faculty, and as they move on to other universities to teach, Fordham-generated scholarship will begin to spread across the country and worldwide,” she said.

The new doctoral program is in keeping with the school’s mission to distinguish itself as a research-intensive business school, said Iftekhar Hasan, PhD, professor of finance and Corrigan Chair in International Business and Finance.

“Research is an integral part of academic life,” said Hasan, who is spearheading the program’s development. “This particular program will create an environment that not only enhances the current commitment to research, but will also create a new hub of research activity at Fordham.”

The program is structured around two areas of focus, Hasan said: capital markets and strategy and decision-making. Students will receive a uniquely interdisciplinary doctoral education that encompasses economic theory—including finance and accounting—and contemporary studies in management, marketing, information systems, and media theory.

In addition to the PhD program, the business school has another advanced degree in the pipeline, a Doctor of Professional Studies (DPS), which will provide doctoral-level training to business practitioners. The PhD, meanwhile, is geared toward research academics.

“The intention of this program is to create future educators,” Hasan said. “It has been our Jesuit tradition for hundreds of years to create light in areas of darkness—to bring new knowledge and education around the world.

“Our University’s business program has been in the forefront for years in creating industry leaders, and now we are taking a step forward to create research-intensive future educators.”

Donna Rapaccioli, Ph.D., has been appointed the dean of Fordham’s unified undergraduate and graduate business programs, renamed the Gabelli School of Business. The school will be housed across two campuses: in Hughes Hall on the Rose Hill campus, and at Lincoln Center, in the former Law School building and at 45 Columbus Avenue, one of which will be named Joseph A. Martino Hall, after Fordham’s longtime vice president, member of the Lay Board of Trustees and executive council, and honorary degree recipient.

“It would be hard to overemphasize the importance of the business schools’ unification,” said Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of Fordham. “Having a single school led by the very capable Dean Rapaccioli will mean a better education for both graduate and undergraduate students, and putting both schools under the Gabelli name makes Fordham business more recognizable, nationally and internationally. In this we are grateful to Mario Gabelli not just for his great generosity, but for his vision and dedication to Fordham.”

Rapaccioli has been interim dean of the graduate business school since July 2014, dean of the undergraduate business school since 2007, and dean of the business faculty since 2010. She worked with faculty, staff, alumni volunteers, and donors during the unification process, not just on administrative and curricular issues, but on raising the funds needed to elevate the school’s profile. The latter effort was led by Mario J. Gabelli, GSB ’65, who in 2010 gave his name and the largest gift in Fordham’s history to the undergraduate business college. He has also funded the Gabelli Ph.D. Program, which will establish a doctoral-level business program at Fordham’s Gabelli School of Business.

“One school. One dean. One name,” said Stephen Freedman, Ph.D., provost of the University. “Dean Rapaccioli has done an excellent job of joining the two schools in a way that ensures we maximize our resources and give our stellar business faculty the support they need in and out of the classroom. The unification puts Fordham in a position to lead the way in business education in the 21st century.”

The unified school will emphasize innovation in faculty research and teaching, academic excellence, and preparing students to make a difference in the business world. Rapaccioli led the implementation of a distinctive hands-on core curriculum at the undergraduate business school; redefined the full-time MBA curriculum to feature the intersection of business, history, and culture in New York City; and is laying the groundwork for a Ph.D. program that will help to attract world-class faculty and promising future scholars. The unification will also allow greater academic collaboration and alumni interaction between business and other Fordham schools, adding greater depth to teaching and research.

“It’s an exciting time to be part of the business program at Fordham,” Rapaccioli said. “Whether you’re a student or faculty member, there will be new opportunities for research, teaching and learning, and for activities that complement the business curriculum. I’m very proud to work with such accomplished faculty, students, alumni—and of course Mario Gabelli himself—on making concrete our vision for a new way to educate business leaders at Fordham.”

The Gabelli School’s new home in the former Law building and at 45 Columbus Avenue will make business education much more visible at the Lincoln Center campus, with instructional, office, and multi-use space. The old Law School building will house both the graduate business school and the new Bachelor of Science in Global Business program, whose first class of 81 students started in August 2014.

“The foundations of our country include the rule of law, the free market system and meritocracy,” Mario Gabelli said. “Education generates the underpinning for meritocracy. My focus on education is my way of giving back to our society and way of life.”

The United Nations has selected 24 schools worldwide to be exemplars of responsible business education, based on their emphasis on ethics and social values.

The Fordham Schools of Business are one of those 24—chosen from among 514 candidates.

Members of this “Champions Group” have embraced the U.N. initiative, Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME), which sets out six guidelines for teaching students to conduct business in ways that benefit both humankind and the environment.

The focus is on how to shift teaching away from traditional business-school models based on profit motive and maximizing shareholder wealth. The new teaching model will strive for a balance of three motivations: people, planet, and profit. It will ultimately lead, the United Nations hopes, to sustainable businesses that help serve society’s needs while not depleting natural resources for future generations.

Among the guidelines are:

• Developing students’ capabilities to be generators of sustainable value;

• Incorporating into activities and curricula the values of global social responsibility.

• Creating frameworks, materials, processes, and environments that enable effective learning for responsible leadership.

• Engaging in research that advances understanding about the social and environmental role and impact of corporations;

Within the Champions Group, Fordham’s main role will be to co-lead a curriculum development effort along with representatives from ESADE in Spain and the Graduate School of Business at the University of Cape Town in South Africa. Other schools will come aboard as team members.

Membership in the U.N.’s PRME initiative has been one of Dean Donna Rapaccioli’s priorities since 2009. Even before that, Fordham had, under her leadership as dean of business faculty, become part of the U.N. Global Compact, PRME’s umbrella organization.

The Global Compact now includes more than 10,000 corporations and other organizations that have signed on to 10 principles of ethical and caring leadership.

“It is an honor to work with renowned, forward-thinking schools from all over the world to change the nature of business education,” Dean Rapaccioli said. “We have a lot to talk about with them and to learn from them.”

— Claire Curry

A few years ago, Oliveras and his fellow members of the Bridge2Business leadership team—all alumni representing classes from the 1960s to the ’90s—developed an idea for a networking group of executive-level alumni that would work in partnership with Fordham University. This network of alumni contacts working at leading companies in industries—spanning from government to publishing—help to identify internship and employment opportunities at their employers for Fordham students, recent graduates, and alumni in transition.

“When people come up to us, we find out what industry they are interested in and we introduce them to people in that industry,” says Oliveras, chair of Bridge2Business. “Because you’re much more likely to get a job through networking with a person, than through an online application.”

This network of dedicated volunteer alumni is Bridge2Business’ membership network of 200 members so far—all alumni who have graduated at least eight years ago and have been or are in a senior or executive role—who help to identify the various opportunities. Members work in such organizations as the Wildlife Conservation Society, MagnaCare, Barclay Capital, McCann Erickson, UBS Investment Bank, NBCUniversal, and IMG Sports.

These influential alumni, “can be a conduit,” says Oliveras, CEO and managing director of Kane (USA), Inc., the U.S. operations for Kane, the largest global independent insurance manager. “We can use our influence and expertise to open doors. At the same time, students and alumni can be networking and learning about different organizations.”

When alumni within the membership network identify a possible internship or job position opening, Bridge2Business shares that information with the Office of Career Services, who can alert interested students. Or deans from the University’s undergraduate colleges will often reach out to Bridge2Business if they know of a student or graduate who could be a great fit for a position. Bridge2Business has also worked with the career services office to help them find keynote speakers for their annual Diversity Fair.

Oliveras, who has worked in the insurance industry for more than 30 years, studied economics at Fordham College at Rose Hill. He says that while Fordham had on-campus recruiting when he was a student, career services now offers students more extensive resources. And through Bridge2Business Oliveras has found a way to be another resource to the University.

“The school allowed me to achieve things that otherwise wouldn’t have been possible. I love the school,” says Oliveras, who was the first in his family to attend college.

“This is a great way to give back.”

If you want to learn more about Bridge2Business or are interested in joining the membership network, e-mail [email protected] or stop by the group’s table under the tent on Edwards Parade at Homecoming on Sept. 21.

Alumni get involved with Fordham in many ways. Find out how you can get connected and stay connected to your alma mater.

– Rachel Buttner

Please check back regularly for announcements of our planned initiatives. If you would like to be kept updated, please click HERE to join our mailing list.

Upcoming events

Switch to Calendar View

• Creating Trust and Increasing Patient Value: The Role of the Pharmaceutical Industry in a Changing Health Care System
• Show details
• • When Mon, November 09, 2015
  •  2:00 PM – 7:30 PM
  • Location Fordham University (Lincoln Center campus at 60th street and Columbus Avenue in NYC)
• We know from research that trust breaks down when people and companies operate without properly aligning and communicating the interests of parties in an exchange relationship. We are conducting an in-depth conference to explore how the healthcare industry is evolving and the alignment of interests among players that is needed to maximize the efficiency and effectiveness of the system for the long-term health of both patients and industry. Our goal is to bring together thought leaders from various stakeholder groups in the healthcare system to dialogue about issues are central to the evolution of this important human, medical and economic system.
  ——Leaders who work within the the health care ecosystem who can influence how the system evolves to benefit all stakeholders. This will be an interactive conference so having a point of view on how this system should function will be of great value.——This event is by invitation only.

  WHO SHOULD ATTEND

• Leaders who work within the the health care ecosystem who can influence how the system evolves to benefit all stakeholders. This will be an interactive conference so having a point of view on how this system should function will be of great value.

Devaluing a country’s currency may provide a temporary boost to the economy, but it is not a good long-term solution, a global finance expert told an audience at Fordham’s Rose Hill campus.

“Devaluing currency is not the path to prosperity,” said Jim Rickards, author ofCurrency Wars (Portfolio, 2011). “You might get some temporary bump, but at the end of the day, there’s retaliation from other countries devaluating their currencies, or engaging in a currency war that can turn into a trade war. It’s a zero sum game.”

The author of spoke on Thursday, Feb. 16, as part of International Business Week, a four-day long series of lectures, workshops and information sessions organized by the Gabelli School of Business.

Rickards touched on the two previous currency wars the United States fought—from 1921 to 1936 and from 1967 to 1987—and the third currency war, which started in 2010 and is ongoing with Iran and China at the heart of the conflict.

He advocated a return to the gold standard and argued against the popular notion that Winston Churchill’s decision to return to the standard in the 1925 was responsible for the bringing on a Depression in England. Churchill’s mistake, he said, was linking the value of the country’s currency value to an ounce-of- gold value that was much too low for the times.

“Gold has been disparaged ever since the 1920’s by mainstream economists . . . for bringing on the Great Depression,” said Rickards. “The reason wasn’t the gold; it was the price [Churchill decided upon].”

Regarding today’s currency war, Rickards noted that net exports have become the main tool of choice for the U.S. to revive its economy. For that reason, the Obama Administration is deliberately devaluing the dollar so that American companies can compete in places like China.

This, he said, would trigger inflation—which would be good to a point. The problem is that the Fed cannot always control the rate, and that too much inflation would be devastating to the U.S. economy.

An example of how nations use financial instruments as weapons would be the squeeze currently being enacted by the United States and Europe to cut off Iranian banks from international markets. The U.S. recently decreed that multinational banks—such as UBS and Deutsche Bank—would be punished if they do business with Iran’s central bank.

This made it impossible to get U.S. dollars in Iran. As a result, Rickards said, the local currency value dropped 40 percent in two days when the ban was enacted.

“If you were going to sell your goods in the Rial, you needed more Rials to buy the dollar, so some prices doubled overnight,” he said.

This injected hyperinflation into the Iranian economy, which triggered a run on the banks and thus forced bankers to raise interest rates to try to keep Rials in the bank.

“In a matter of days, we trashed their currency, created a dollar shortage, injected hyper-inflation into their system and forced them to raise interest rates above 20 percent,” he explained.

Since the U.S.’ goal has always been to convince Iran to abandon its drive for nuclear weapons, it is still too early to declare this move against the Iranian currency a success.

“Be careful what you wish for,” he warned. “Because you can envision a world in which China, Iran, Russia, Central Asia, Malaysia and a few other countries, actually create a non-dollar payment system which would use other currencies backed by gold or oil.”

On thing the United States doe not have to worry about is the amount of U.S. debt held by China.

“There’s an old joke that if I owed you a million dollars, I have a problem. But if I owe you a billion dollars, you have a problem,” he said.  “We owe china three trillion, so they have a problem.”

The secret to running a successful airline is not that hard to grasp, said David Neeleman, founder and former CEO of JetBlue Airlines, on Friday, Nov. 4. All you have to do is talk to every single person on the plane.

Neeleman delivered remarks to a packed 12th-Floor Lounge at Fordham’s Lincoln Center campus after being honored with the inaugural Cura Personalis in Positive Marketing Award.

The award, which was presented by Dawn Lerman, Ph.D., director of the Fordham Schools of Business Center for Positive Marketing, was part of the center’s inaugural conference on positive marketing.

Neeleman devoted equal time to JetBlue, which he founded 2000, and Azul Linhas Aéreas Brasileiras S.A., the Brazilian airline he founded in 2008 after his departure from JetBlue.

“To be able to get on a plane, and go through the cabin and talk to every single person, I learn so much, and every single director and vice president who flies Azul is required to get on the airplane, and talk to every single customer,” he said.

“What we’ve learned is that when someone has a negative experience with your company, they tell nine people on average. When they have a good experience, they tell two people on average, you so have to figure out, if you’ve had a negative experience, how do you turn them around and how do you make them a loyal customer for life? That really is not easy.”

He cited three management principles that were integral to JetBlue and now Azul:

-Employee pride

-Flawless execution

-Bending over backward when things go wrong

Part of the success of both airlines, he noted, could be explained by a 2001 article published in the Gallup Management Journal, “The Constant Customer.”

“When JetBlue started flying between New York and Fort Lauderdale, Delta had three or four flights a day, and we had one airplane that we were serving New York with. We went from three flights a day to 20 flights a day over three years, and Delta stayed at the same number of flights. You wonder, why is that some companies grow, and become so successful, and some stay stagnant?” he said.

“This article looked at those facts, and through its research, it found there were three things that were widely important. Those companies had more customer loyalty, had higher profit margins and generally had higher market cap than any other company.”

Neeleman also related a conversation he once had with Mitchell Modell, the founder of Modell’s Sporting Goods. Modell, he said, said anyone who wants to be a great C.E.O. should imagine what would happen if their company vanished overnight.

“If your customers showed up on the day it was gone, and you were no longer there, how would they feel? Would they say ‘Oh, I can buy the same thing across the street, or I can just go down the block?’ When your employees showed up for work, would they say, ‘Eh, that guy was cheap; he never gave me health care; I need to find another job anyway,’ and never think about your company again? Or would they say, “Oh damn, I just lost the best job I ever had,” and be completely depressed,” he asked.

The more your company matters to your employees and your customers, the more successful it will be, plain and simple.
“If you just treat people better, if you treat them with respect, you bring humanity back to customer service, you really do something different, you can really create a different brand, you can create a better company, and you can change people’s lives for the better. You can make things better,” he said.

Unlike other research centers, most of which focus on the supply side of consumption — the marketers’ perspective — CPM will focus on the demand side. By examining marketing from the perspective of the consumer, CPM hopes to uphold marketing as a force for satisfying needs while also providing positive outcomes.

“Marketing is one of the main ties that binds the themes of globalization of, and social responsibility in, business,” said the center’s director, Dawn Lerman, associate professor and area chair of marketing. “Fordham’s Jesuit mission and the caliber of its business schools make the University uniquely positioned to house this type of research center and to explore these themes.”

Led by Lerman, along with Associate Professor of Marketing Marcia Flicker and Assistant Professor of Marketing Luke Kachersky, the Center seeks to be the premier resource for information on the impact of marketing on consumers and society. It already possesses the immediate advantage of harnessing the collective expertise of the marketing faculty.

Future plans include establishing an executive-in-residence program, funding research fellowships, developing a survey and index on consumer well-being, holding an annual conference and convening roundtables and seminars.

“We start from the premise that marketing exists to improve peoples’ lives,” Lerman said. “One of the issues that we can examine, for example, is how the plethora of choice has made us less-efficient decision makers.”

“We understand that you just can’t leave it to companies alone. You need high-level advocacy. One of the things that we’re trying to do is to demonstrate that the federal government is engaged in that advocacy,” he said. “When the president goes out, he has two or three or four companies on a list, and he raises them with the president of China, with a number of others, where he identifies particular projects.”

The event, a reception and dinner held at Fordham’s Lincoln Center campus, honored the U.S. ambassadors from Libya, Tunisia, Kuwait, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Algeria, Oman, Egypt and Saudi Arabia. It was sponsored by the Business Council for International Understanding, and was part of the U.S.- Middle East Business & Export Promotion Tour.

John Tognino, Chairman of the Fordham Board of Trustees, began the program by recognizing each ambassador in attendance individually.

“Fordham is proud to say we are the Jesuit University of New York, but I think we can safely say for that this evening, we’re the Jesuit University of the world,” he said.

The tour, which is the first under the National Export Initiate—initiated by President Obama to double U.S. exports and create two million American jobs in the next five years—is bringing the ambassadors to New York, Chicago, Houston, Seattle, Milwaukee and the San Francisco Bay Area. The ambassadors are a resource for business both small and large, Hormats said, and can help establish relationships with governments there.

The Middle East is of particular interest, because countries with economies fueled by oil wealth are investing in projects as diverse as universities, medical complexes, highways and ports.

“The countries of the region are buzzing with new projects aimed at diversifying their economies and providing job opportunities for what is a very young population,” he said. “Those kids want to get jobs. They understand what’s going on, and if they don’t have the opportunities to get jobs, not only is it seriously frustrating for them, but it will also have serious social and political implications, and that’s of course an important part of helping them strengthen their development capabilities.”

As such, he noted that five trade agreements have been ratified in the area, and the Commerce Department maintains a foreign commercial service presence in 10 out of the 16 countries.  China, South Korea, Turkey and European countries are all vying to sell their goods and services there too though, which is why he highlighted 20 trade missions to 25 countries, featuring more than 360 companies that the Commerce Department has organized since January.

Additional missions are also planned for Saudi Arabia in December, Jordan, Israel and the West Bank in February and Egypt and Morocco in March.

“In the Middle East and North Africa, you can’t just do this by impersonal context. You have to have good relationships first, and these trade missions are very important at developing these relationships,” he said. “That’s why more people going to the regions and ambassadors coming to the United States to talk about what they’re doing is important.”

That sentiment was also expressed by the Honorable David D. Pearce, U.S. ambassador to Algeria, in a meeting with Fordham students before the dinner. Pierce, a 26-year veteran of the Foreign Service who has been in Algeria since June 2008, answered questions from students about topics such as security as well as the effect of Islam on women’s lives there. He too emphasized the importance of personal contact there.

“Often time people will not deal with you until they kind of know who you are and really trust you. That can take a while; a lot of tea and a lot of calls,” he said. “I always make it a point when I go somewhere, to not have the first time I call on somebody be the time I want to ask them for something. You need to go and establish a relationship so that people know you are interested in them and have a relationship with them, so that when you do come by, it’s not just to get something out of them. People don’t like that.”

According to Francis Petit, Ed.D., assistant dean and director of executive programs at the Graduate School of Business Administration (GBA), the class of 2011, which will be the program’s seventh cohort, consists of 36 students.

As with past classes, the class is notable for its diversity and work experience. The mean age of the class is 33, the mean experience is 11 years, and the companies represented include Deloitte Services LP, Credit Suisse, McKinsey, KPMG, AT&T, BMW of North America, Hyperion Publishing, The Embassy Suites Hotel, Source Media, MTV Networks and Ann Taylor.

The student’s personal backgrounds are just as diverse, as they hail from Canada, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Jamaica, and Pakistan. Also notable is the fact that it has its’ first student from the Fordham Vets Initiative, a veteran who has served two tours of duty in Iraq.

An expanding group of innovative executives have discovered a new and unusual way to increase profitability and productivity among their workers. The secret? They are leading their employees with kindness, as detailed in Baker and Michael O’Malley’s book, Leading with Kindness: How Good People Consistently Get Superior Results (AMACOM, 2008).

To dispel the notion that a boss has to be imperious to succeed, Thirteen/WNET president emeritus Baker and co-author O’Malley bring their book to public television viewers in the new one-hour special by the same name. The program, hosted by Baker, interviews executives of Google, Eileen Fisher and Pitney Bowes, among other leading firms. In addition to interviews with executives, the program features company profiles and expert commentary provided by O’Malley, and shows how leadership traits and business practices common among top executives have led to their company’s growth and success.

Baker is president emeritus of Thirteen/WNET and executive in residence at Columbia University Business School. Michael O’Malley is senior editor for business, economics, and law at Yale University Press and adjunct professor at Columbia University Business School.