Florida International University College of Business - Who’s ......the 6th-largest part-time MBA program among them.U.S.News & World Report(2005) ranked the College’s undergraduate

After 9/11:Security at What Price? . . . . . . . . . . . .30

Security on the Network Front . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .36

Who’s watching our back door?Who’s watching our back door?International Trade and National Security . . . . . . . . . . . . . .26

Magazine

Fall 2004 Volume 1, No.1 http://cba.fiu.edu Florida International University

COLLEGE OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

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Florida International University’s College of BusinessAdministration, South Florida’s leading business school with uniqueexpertise in international business, entrepreneurship, and informa-tion technology (IT) strategy, is the largest of the University’s profes-sional schools. Among the College’s more than 30,000 alumni aresome of South Florida’s most successful business leaders and entre-preneurs. Approximately 5,000 students are enrolled in its LandonUndergraduate School of Business and more than 800 graduatestudents study in its Chapman Graduate School of Business everyyear. Another 1,000 participate annually in one or more of its pro-fessional and executive education programs.

The College is one of only 480 business schools in the world—about 25% of all business schools—accredited by the AACSBInternational—The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools ofBusiness. It ranks in the top 10 among these schools in the numberof students it graduates each year, and its Chapman School offersthe 6th-largest part-time MBA program among them. U.S. News &World Report (2005) ranked the College’s undergraduate interna-tional business programs the 9th best in the nation and its gradu-

ate international business programs among the top 25 in the U.S.(Best Graduate Schools 2005)—the only Florida business school tomake both lists. BusinessWeek (October 21, 2002) also ranked theCollege among the best in the U.S., placing it in the group withAmerican, Fordham, George Washington, South Carolina, Syracuse,Rutgers,Tulane, and others. For the past three years, AmericaEconomía, a premier pan-regional business journal, has rated itamong the top 50 MBA schools for Latin American students. Forthe last five years, Hispanic Business has ranked the College amongthe top 25 business schools for Hispanics. Hispanic Trends (Summer2003) ranked the College in its list of the Top 25 MBA programs forLatinos—the only Florida business school to make the cut.Additionally, in March 2004, HispanicMagazine.com ranked theschool in its Top 25 colleges for Latinos.The College also is one ofonly 30 business schools to have received a U.S. Department ofEducation grant to establish and support a Center for InternationalBusiness Education and Research.

Visit http://cba.fiu.edu or e-mail [email protected] to learn more.

The College of Business AdministrationThe business school for South Florida, the Americas, and beyond...

FeaturesWHO’S WATCHING OUR BACK DOOR? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .26John Zdanowicz, finance professor in the College, that’s who.He’s developed some sophisticated tools to help our government protect it, too.

AFTER 9/11: SECURITY AT WHAT PRICE? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .30Faculty study led by David Wernick, reserach director of the College’s Knight-Ridder Center, shows impact of security measures on the cost of doing business among companies in South Florida.

DOBROW PROTECTS SECURITY ON ANOTHER FRONT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .36Alumnus Richard Dobrow has created a business focused on securing organizations’ electronic borders.

TONY ARGIZ: HE NEVER DROPS THE BALL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .38Whether on or off the field, College alumnus Tony Argiz leads by example. And he attributes much of his success to his experience at Florida International University.

BBA+ MEETS WORKING PROFESSIONALS’ PREFERENCES…AND THEN SOME. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .40An innovative program brings small college benefits to undergraduates seeking convenience, personal attention, and plenty of extra (+) services.

COLLEGE USES TECHNOLOGY TO ENHANCE COLLABORATIVE, ACTIVE LEARNING. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .44Is it possible to offer rigorous, high-caliber college courses beyond the walls of a classroom? The answer is yes, based on some pioneering pedagogy, innovative course delivery, and student response.

DepartmentsFrom the Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2

Comments from the Executive Dean . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3

CBA 360: Around the College . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4

On the Faculty Front . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12

Focus on Students . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20

Community Connections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .46

Alumni News . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .60

Alumni Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .69

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Magazine

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Homeland security has become a national priority.New security laws and regulations are having and will have a

profound impact on how business is conducted—across indus-tries and across the value chain.

In international banking and financial services, for example,the USA Patriot Act requires U.S.-based banks and financial serv-ices institutions (broker dealers, mutual funds, insurance firms,and money-remitting services) and foreign institutions withoffices in the U.S. to be more vigilant about knowing their cus-tomers, monitoring their transactions, and reporting suspiciousactivity to the federal government.

For organizations involved in international trade, security,rather than trade facilitation, has become the paramount con-cern. Importers, accustomed to quick clearance of goods throughcustoms at local airports and seaports, are facing more frequentand rigorous inspections, which in some cases have meant costlydelays and missed deliveries. Meanwhile, ocean and air carriers,shippers, consolidators, freight forwarders, customs brokers, andother service providers are grappling with a slew of new securitymandates that will require new administrative procedures thatcould significantly raise operating costs and divert cargo to for-eign ports or other modes of transportation. Healthcare institu-tions and universities also are being affected by new immigra-tion rules that make it more difficult for foreigners who want touse their services to enter the country.

It is imperative that the College of Business Administrationtake a leadership role in helping businesses address the chal-lenges of complying with the new security mandates and inpreparing our students to be effective managers in this newenvironment. Faculty members currently are engaged inresearch projects to both understand this environment as wellas help business people comply effectively with the new regu-lations. Some of their work is highlighted in this premier issueof Business Accents. We are developing new case studies to beused in our academic programs that teach our students aboutbest practices in addressing security issues. And, we are devel-oping new courses and programs in the security area.

With change comes opportunity. Our alumni are takingadvantage of this opportunity by providing information technology products and services that protect the supplychain. You will read about one of these companies in thisissue—Guarded Networks, Inc.—which was founded by 1995graduate Richard Dobrow.

Security will be the defining management issue of the 2000’s.More than ever, competitive advantage will accrue to thoseorganizations that can understand, and then adapt to, the rapid-ly-changing regulatory and security environment. In the Collegeof Business Administration, all of us recognize our responsibility,through our research and teaching, to help people and organiza-tions step up to this challenge.

Editorial OfficesMarketing, Communication, and PublicationsCollege of Business AdministrationFlorida International University11200 S.W. 8th StreetRyder Business Building — Suite 310Miami, Florida 33199-0001

Statement of PurposeThe primary purpose of Business Accents, theCollege of Business Administration’s magazine, isto keep our friends and supporters in the busi-ness and academic communities, including ouralumni, informed about the business school andits progress in achieving its mission and vision.It is a vehicle designed to enable and encouragemembers of these communities to communicateand stay connected with the business school andwith each other.

Editor: Sally M. Gallion

Graphic Designer: Aileen Solá

Art Director: Sally M. Gallion

Photographers: Richard EdwardKiko RicoteStaff

Writers: Sally M. GallionBeverly Welber

Contributors: Monique CatoggioColleen PostMarci RichardsonBarbara RyanDavid Wernick

Administrative Deans

Joyce J. Elam, Executive Dean of the College

José de la Torre, Dean,Alvah H. Chapman, Jr., Graduate School of Business

Clifford R. Perry, Associate Dean,Academic Affairs & Undergraduate Programs

Donald Fair, Associate Dean,Budget and Administration

Sally M. Gallion, Assistant Dean,Marketing, Communication,Public Relations and Publications

Lynda Raheem, Assistant Dean,Undergraduate Advising

Security:

the defining management

issue of the 21st centuryHelping Business Step Up to the Challenge

From the Editor From the Executive Dean

Our first issue of Business Accentshas been a long time in the making—more than a year, in fact. We hopeyou’ll find some information of inter-est to you in the material we’veincluded and that you’ll come awaywith a broader appreciation for theCollege of Business Administrationand for what we are doing to fulfillour educational mission.

We’ve themed this issue around thesubject of security—a serious onethat all of us have been struggling tounderstand from our own perspec-tives since 9/11. As our ExecutiveDean, Joyce J. Elam, points out, securi-ty also has become a most significantmanagement issue in this relativelynew century. Three of our feature sto-ries focus on this topic. Two involveresearch in which our faculty areengaged—one dealing with ways tohelp secure our borders, the otherwith the impact of new security meas-ures on the cost of doing business,particularly for those firms operatingin South Florida. The third profiles oneof our alumni, whose work in the areaof information security providesanother line of defense to financialand other institutions.

But that’s not all you’ll find in thesepages. You’ll learn about innovativeways in which we are improving anddelivering business education andresponding to market demands for

flexibility and relevance. You’ll readabout some of the exciting researchprojects our faculty are pursuing—research that helps us better under-stand how people and businesses canoperate more effectively. You’ll get toknow some of our student leadersand to learn about what they areaccomplishing. You’ll discover ways inwhich you might want to becomeinvolved with us—as individuals andas organizations—by reading abouthow some of them already are. Andthose of you who are alumni will findout about how you can reconnectwith each other and with your busi-ness school.

Together, we are building a strongcommunity. We want to continue tobuild on what we already are—notjust a business school recognizedworld-wide for our expertise in inter-national business—but also one thatis on the move, that’s at the cuttingedge, that’s accelerating its pacetowards excellence in serving you—our students, alumni, friends, support-ers and members of the business andacademic communities we serve. Joinus as we go forward.

We welcome your thoughts, com-ments, and suggestions. And, thanksfor reading!

Sally M. GallionEditor

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360CBA Around the College

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high-powered learning experiences is justone way the business school fulfills its com-mitment to lifelong learning and to helpingexecutives in the business community stayon the cutting edge of best practices in busi-ness leadership, strategy, and management.

“We listen to the business community tolearn about pressing issues in the market-place and also work with our internal expertson possible topics,” said José de la Torre,dean of the Chapman Graduate School.

What could be timelier than knowinghow to handle the media? How to Managethe Media Effectively helps executives learnhow to handle the press—from a solereporter seeking an interview to a throngthat appears during a crisis. Designed forprofessionals who either support officialspokespeople or serve that function, theone-day, intensive session gives partici-pants real-life experience, through inter-views with reporters, for example.Attendees also get insights from seasonedjournalists on how to establish an ongoingrelationship with the press that can bene-fit their companies on a day-to-day basis.

To help executives improve their com-pany’s competitive position, the five-dayStrategic Market Orientation seminarzeroes in on issues ranging from forgingstrategic alliances to applying technologyfor business benefits.

A third offering, Strategic Human Resourcesfor the Americas, may be available in thefuture and will capitalize on the College’sstrengths in helping business professionalsmaximize their opportunities in North andSouth America.The five-day seminar hasbeen designed to help companies align theirhuman resource strategies and practiceswith their firms’strategic plans and enhancetheir competitiveness in the hemisphere.

“We can tailor-make other courses forcompanies to address their particularneeds or present a more general version ofthe programs on campus,” de la Torre said.

Undergraduate and graduate programs now offered at Pines Center.

South Florida has a population boom onits hands. Broward County, especially, proj-

ects significant growth—to the tune of 53percent over the next twenty years.WhenFlorida International University (FIU)announced that a new, state-of-the-art satel-lite facility in western Broward County wouldopen for business in 2003, the College leaptat the opportunity to offer programs there.During the summer of 2003, classes deliv-ered at the Pines Center were a hit.

Now students can take courses for theBBA+ program or the Executive MBA (EMBA)

at the Pembroke Pines location. (Please seethe articles on undergraduate programs for more information about technology-enabled collaborative instruction and howBBA+ benefits working professionals.)

In addition, the Master of Science inFinance (MSF), a lock-step, eleven-course,twelve-month cohort program, runs at thePines Center from January to December. Itincludes the Investment Track, consisting ofthree specialty courses. Students who optfor the MSF at the Broward location mayswitch to the University Park location to takethe three specialty courses for the track inFinancial Management, while students atUniversity Park can take Investment Trackcourses at the Pines Center.

Undergraduate certificate inretail management focuses onlatest industry trends.

Responding to the most recent currentsin the consumer products and servicesindustry, the Certificate in RetailManagement Program, which is sponsoredby a grant from Burdines,The FloridaStore®, is now under the direction ofMarketing Instructor Tim Dugan, a formerentrepreneurial retailer himself, who has“set up shop” and is opening retailing

doors to students.The intense, year-longcertificate program focuses on the latesttrends in marketing, management, infor-mation technology, and other business dis-ciplines that are shaping the retail industry.

The program concentrates on theseller/customer interface and includes spe-cialized coursework, internship opportuni-ties, individual advising and skills develop-ment, and personal placement assistance.

To earn the certificate, students takefive required courses, attend one seminaror corporate tour, and complete a retail-ing internship.

International Business Honorsprogram provides a borderlessbusiness school experience.

U.S. News and World Report’s annualranking of U.S. colleges (2005) listed theCollege’s undergraduate internationalbusiness programs #9 in the country. Thiswas welcome news, especially following asit did a re-launching of the College’sundergraduate International BusinessHonors program (IB Honors) directed byBob Hogner, associate professor of man-agement and international business andan Honors College faculty fellow,

The IB Honors program, which invitestalented undergraduates to “explore thepossibilities,” pairs rigorous training inbusiness education and humanities withinterdisciplinary and regional studies. Theprogram accepts only thirty of the high-est-performing juniors into its ranks eachyear and candidates must gain admissionto both the Honors College and the busi-ness school to participate.

Selected students enjoy acurriculum that is broad yetfocused on the latest andmost complex topics ininternational business. Atthe same time, their immer-sion in regional studiesteaches them the impor-tance of acknowledgingthe cultural, political,and social contextsof internationalbusiness today.

Office of Professional Educationpractices and teaches “customer service.”

It’s supply and demand—as the needsof business professionals change, theCollege’s Office of Professional Education(OPE) works to meet them. Under thedirection of the business development“dynamic duo” of Grisell Sotolongo andVince Daniels, OPE has revamped its pop-ular offerings and has introduced a widevariety of new training and certificationprograms, adding to the College’s educa-tional offerings for working professionals.

“We are constantly responding to theneeds of the market in management andprofessional education,”said Daniels, direc-tor of

business development for OPE.Courses are offered in two paths: open

enrollment and custom.“We provide open enrollment programs

to prepare participants for nationally andinternationally-recognized certificationprograms,” Daniels said.“In addition, eachmonth, we bring out new open enroll-ment programs that enable attendees toobtain various Florida InternationalUniversity (FIU) certifications.”

Faculty of the College, faculty membersfrom other local universities, and qualifiedbusiness professionals and consultantsteach dozens of courses for working pro-fessionals in areas spanning accountingand finance (including CERTIFIED FINAN-CIAL PLANNER™ Certification ProfessionalEducation program), human resources,

leadership, management, marketing, pro-fessional development, project manage-ment (such as Advanced ProfessionalCertificate in Project Management), salesand negotiation (including theInternational Sales Professional Certificateprogram), and technology. The non-degree programs are offered on campusand at business and government offices.

In addition to OPE’s open enrollmentcourses, which are available to the generalpublic, OPE customizes programs for localand international companies, deliveringthem, typically on site, on a contract basis.

For example, the project managementcertification program was delivered toMiami-Dade County senior-level manage-ment and can be customized for othercorporate customers. School principals ofMiami-Dade County and employees ofMiami-Dade County and Miami Children’sHospital are among the other clients forcustomized offerings from OPE.

The Customized Sales Strategies trainingseminars were delivered to Carrier Corpor-ation’s sales personnel in December, on siteat Carrier’s office in Puerto Rico and toCityBank, Allplus Computer Systems Corp.,and others in the United States.

Now that’s what we call customerservice!

Advanced Diploma in Business Administration fillsgap in business education.

Because a large number of its studentscome from outside the United States, the

College has taken a proactive role in helpingthem prepare for graduate business educa-tion by administering an Advanced Diplomain Business Administration (ADBA) program.

This unique, supplementary programtargets talented international studentsand potential graduate students whoseacademic or experiential background hasnot been in business.

The ADBA program, which began inAugust 2003, is a cohort-based, thirty-credit-hour professional developmentprogram. Consisting of 5,000- and 6,000-level courses, it has been designed as a

• pre-MBA general business educationpreparatory program for studentsnew to business courses or for busi-ness students who need a “boost” intheir GPAs for graduate admission • “fourth year” program for interna-tional students whose Bachelor'sdegree programs of three years oftenadversely affect their success in enter-ing graduate programs • stand-alone program that appeals tostudents who want a non-degree pro-gram with the opportunity to incor-porate practical training into theirlearning experience.

“We’ve drawn students from aroundthe world—Europe, Asia, and North andSouth America—to this program,” VinceDaniels said.“The Chapman GraduateSchool will accept the general businesseducation preparatory program and the“fourth year” courses from students whocomplete it successfully and decide toapply for graduate study.”

According to Daniels, the office also isworking with other graduate schools toensure that they will accept the coursesfor those students who may want to pur-sue a graduate business degree notoffered by the College.

Office of Executive Educationconducts seminars for senior executives.

The Office of Executive Education coordi-nates executive education programs, semi-nars, and courses offered through theChapman Graduate School. Providing these

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< Chapman Graduate School Updates >

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Graduate students capitalize on international trips.

Students in the International MBA pro-gram had summer class trips to Rome in2002 and Madrid in 2003. In this summerprogram, students learn best practices inbusiness while immersed in a vivid, inter-national context. Coursework is pairedwith opportunities to meet with businesspeople… with a little fun mixed in.

Participants in the Executive MBA pro-gram, starting with the class that began inJanuary 2004, will have a mandatory inter-national trip built into their curriculum.The inaugural required trip will be toChina. Especially valuable to studentsinterested in international business, thesetrips are aimed at helping all of ourExecutive MBA students gain a deeperunderstanding of business issues in theinternational arena. Such broadenedawareness is of particular importance toour students because many of them willcontinue their careers in South Florida—an ever-growing global gateway.

Specialized Master’s degree programs afford new options.

The School of Accounting redesignedthe curriculum of its Master of Accountingand converted it to a value-added pro-gram. The first cohort of students graduat-ed in the fall of 2003 after beginning theprogram in the fall of 2002. Since then, asecond cohort has completed the degreeand cohorts three and four are underway.

“Students are able to take the requiredthirty credits beyond the Bachelor’s degreeas required by the State of Florida Board ofAccountancy to sit for the Certified PublicAccountant (CPA) Exam,”said Delano Gray,program manager.

The program allows for concentrationsin accounting information systems and inaccounting and assurance services.

Also in the fall of 2002, the new Masterof Science in Management—HumanResource Management (MSHRM) waslaunched, with 28 students in the firstcohort. Nearly fifty students have gonethrough the program or are currently in it.

The program plans to bring in fifty stu-dents annually going forward.

The curriculum focuses on internation-al human resource management, on theuses of information technology in humanresource management, and on changemanagement. It also helps prepare partic-ipants for the most valued professionalcertification exams: those of the Societyfor Human Resource Management’sCertification Institute.

The MSHRM program is now beingoffered in Kingston, Jamaica, as well, incollaboration with the University Collegeof the Caribbean.

In addition to the Master of Accountingand Master of Science in Management—Human Resource Management programs,the Chapman Graduate School offers inno-vative, cohort-based specialized Master’sthat include the Master of InternationalBusiness, the Master of Science in Finance,the Master of Science in ManagementInformation Systems, and the ExecutiveMaster of Science in Taxation.

The school’s roster of MBA pro-grams are its twelve-month, full-timeInternational MBA, its weekendExecutive MBA, and its traditionalEvening MBA. Moreover, students canearn dual degrees—combining anMBA with one of the specializedMaster’s programs like a combinationMBA/Master of Science in Finance.

Information on all of these pro-grams can be found athttp://chapman.fiu.edu.

Dual degree programdraws in partner schools.

Thanks to a new dual degree pro-gram, students in Latin America canearn an MBA from their “home”insti-tution and a Master of InternationalBusiness from the ChapmanGraduate School—just one way theChapman School has increased itsservice to the Latin American market.

Signed agreements for the dualdegree program now exist betweenthe School and Universidad de SanAndrés, Argentina; COPPEAD, Brazil;Universidad Católica de Chile, Chile;Universidad de Los Andes,Universidad del Norte (UniNorte),Colombia; Anahuac, México; ORT,Uruguay; and IESA, Venezuela. It willtake students two years to com-plete the two degrees, after whichthey will have the opportunity towork in the United States for anadditional year through theOptional Training Program.

In addition, the School is continu-ing to explore other creative oppor-tunities with partner institutions.

“We are discussing collaborativeinitiatives at both the Master’s andPh.D. levels as well possible facultyexchanges,” said José de la Torre,Chapman School dean.

Global programs reach beyond Miami.

To help fulfill its commitment tointernational business education,

the College exports Master’sdegrees to several other countriesthrough its Global Programsoffice. From well-established offer-ings such as an International MBA(IMBA) in Jamaica, to those underdiscussion, these opportunitieshelp students prepare to succeedin the global business arena.

The programs generally requiretwelve to fourteen courses andinclude a variety of deliverymethods to maximize resources.

“College faculty may have aresidency in the country, afterwhich, once they return to Miami,students take technology-enabled, interactive coursework,”said Flavia Iuspa, program man-ager of the Global Programsoffice.“Faculty members from thepartner institutions contribute tothe teaching as well.”

A sixth cohort got underway inAugust 2004 of the Jamaica IMBAprogram, which began in 1999 andwhich takes place at the UniversityCollege of the Caribbean (UCC). Asecond cohort of the IMBA atUniversidad Iberoamerica (UNIBE)in Santa Domingo, DominicanRepublic also started in August2004.This eighteen-month pro-gram was launched in March 2003.A new Master of Science inManagement—Human ResourceManagement, with a strong focuson international human relationsmanagement, began in July 2004at UCC.

The office also is movingahead with the establishment ofa Master of Science andInformation Systems (MSIS)cohort in Greece.

“A private organization inGreece that promotes educationwas interested in the MSIS,” Iuspasaid.“We have worked out thedetails, and we plan to start thefirst cohort in October 2004.”

< Chapman Graduate School Updates >

For more information, contact the Office ofExecutive Education at 305-348-4244,e-mail [email protected] or visithttp://execed.fiu.edu.

The next Strategic Market Orientation takes placeNovember 8 - 12, 2004, at Florida International

University s University Park campus in Miami.

¥ Applying innovative and strategic marketing concepts and tools in a competitive setting

¥ Corporate positioning and branding

¥ New product and service introduction

¥ Effectively implementing marketing information and research

¥ Licensing and the importance of strategic alliances

¥ Sales forecasting and motivation

Using INDUSTRAT, a world-renowned strategic businesssimulator, participants in this intensive five-day program

will focus on:

The Chapman Graduate School ofBusiness’ Office of Executive Education

offers

Strategic Market OrientationA fast-paced, marketing strategy seminar designed forcorporate executives, managers, and entrepreneurs.

For additional information, contact:

Office of Professional EducationCollege of Business Administration Florida International University11200 S. W. 8th Street—MARC 270Miami, Florida 33199Telephone: (305) 348-4217Fax: (305) 348-3628Email: [email protected]: http://ope.fiu.edu

REGISTER FOR THE OFFICE OF PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION’S

Advanced Management Professional Certificate Program

This program provides a practical foundation in current business theory and practices in an intensive, 12-week format.Through case studies, lectures, problem-solving exercises, and interactive class sessions, the program gives you a

framework of knowledge for making informed business decisions on issues affecting organizations today.

Who should attend? • Experienced managers who need a solid foundation in current business theory and practices• Technical professionals moving into management positions who need more management “know-how” • Managers looking to advance their careers by becoming more knowledgeable in a variety of functional areas• Those who need to broaden their understanding of how functional areas within a business interrelate • Professionals or business graduates who need to update their business skills and education

When is it offered? Saturdays, 9:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m., January 29 - April 23, 2005

OFFICE OF PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION


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Diploma in Fraud Examination meets pressing need in new corporate environment.

With the breakdown of accountingpractices continuing to attract publicattention, accountants and other busi-ness professionals must be able to spotand discourage fraud. The new Diplomain Fraud Examination program, offeredthrough the College’s Center forAccounting, Auditing, and Tax Studies(CAATS), equips them to do just that. Itcovers such topics as interviewing, col-lecting data, handling evidence, dealingwith computer records, testifying, andworking with settlements.

“Traditionally, accountants have notbeen trained in this area,” said DanaForgione, director of the School ofAccounting, one of its two fraud examin-ers and a Regent Emeritus of CertifiedFraud Examiners (CFE).

“The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 estab-lishes higher standards of accountabilityand responsibility, he said.“As fraudremains a problem in insurance, banking,healthcare, and the government as wellas in business, accountants with expertise

in fraud examina-tion will have an

important roleto play.”

Geared for working professionals, thecourses take place Friday night and all daySaturday every second weekend for fourmonths. CAATS plans to run the programevery four months. Students earn eightycontinuing professional education (CPE)credits. In addition, the program helpsthem prepare for a career as a CFE,though it does not focus on preparingthem for the CFE exam.

Jerome Bain Real Estate Institute expands offerings and staff.

Students have been able to obtain theirBachelor of Business Administration witha major in real estate for several yearsnow. The Jerome Bain Real Estate Instituteoffers the major—with a five-course corecurriculum plus electives—through theCollege’s Department of Finance.

To enhance the major and build a mas-ter’s program, the Institute has recruitednew full-time faculty. Randy Anderson hasjoined the College as a Ryder EminentScholar and professor of RealEstate/Finance. He will work closely withJohn Zdanowicz, director of the Institute,to develop all of its activities.

“Dr. Anderson and I will be focusing onthree key areas—the undergraduate cur-riculum, the graduate program, and a realestate professional development pro-gram,” Zdanowicz said.

One aspect of the development of theundergraduate curriculum involves allow-ing real estate majors to take electives inrelated areas such as building construction,architecture, and public administration.

“The idea is to develop a synergisticcurriculum among colleges at FIU,”Zdanowicz said.“Through cooperativecourse offerings, students in each ofthese majors will be able to take electivesin the others.”

On the graduate level, plans are under-way to offer a graduate course on realestate investment and valuation and todevelop a Master of Science in Real Estate.

As their third collaborative commit-ment, Anderson and Zdanowicz will work

to establish a five-day executive programabout how to invest in South Florida.

“We will market this program globally,with a focus on Latin American and U.S.investors,” Zdanowicz said.

The Institute also is planning a two-dayacademic conference on real estate issues.Slated for Spring 2005, the conference willfocus on cutting-edge real estate issuesand is expected to draw top real estateacademics from around the country.

In other news from the Institute:• Students who complete the RealEstate Principles and Real Estate Lawcourses will be able to sit for Florida’sReal Estate Salesperson License examwithout having to declare a realestate major. This new opportunitycomes as a result of the Florida RealEstate Commission’s approval of thetwo courses. The Florida’s Real EstateSalesperson License is required for aperson to provide real estate services.• Also, the Real Estate StudentAssociation and the Real EstateAlumni Association, headed by PaulJones of Pyramid Realty Group, Inc.,offer two ways for current and formerstudents to stay involved with theInstitute. Another way: financial con-tributions.

“Dr. Anderson and I will become veryactive in soliciting external funding tohelp underwrite the activities of the RealEstate Institute,” Zdanowicz said.

Opportunities abound through CIBER.

The Center for International BusinessEducation and Research (CIBER), fundedby a grant from the U. S. Department ofEducation and also housed in theCollege, provides faculty and students awide array of exciting enrichment pro-grams that take place both in SouthFlorida and around the world.

In August, CIBER launched “Anti-MoneyLaundering,”which combined a two-dayseminar in Miami and a four-day session inPanama. More than a dozen organizationsfrom the two countries contributed their


2004 Business Accents [9][8] Business Accents 2004 http://cba.fiu.edu COLLEGE OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION


Customized programs meet one-of-a-kind needs.

A customized Master of BusinessAdministration degree for managers inMiami-Dade County (MBA-MDC) wasdesigned this year to meet their uniqueeducational needs as identified by theCounty’s leaders. Based on the ChapmanSchool’s prestigious Executive MBA program, the MBA for Public Managersrequires students to complete fifteencourses and attend a series of three professional development seminarsselected by the group to match theirneeds or interests.

Students enrolled in the MBA-MDC willhave the option of taking at least two electivecourses in fields related to public administra-tion,social welfare,and international relations.They’ll also have the opportunity to specializein a field such as accounting,finance,orhuman resource management and obtain acertificate verifying their participation.

The first cohort began in August 2004with classes taking place Friday eveningsand Saturday mornings.

Ph.D. program draws top students.

Business schools across the Americasneed professors, a deficit the ChapmanGraduate School hopes to help alleviateby turning out more students with doc-torates. The group of Ph.D. candidatesstarting their program this coming fallwill include approximately twenty newstudents, who will be joining thosealready in various stages of completingtheir degree. Over time, the Collegewants to support a pool of fifty to sixtyPh.D. students.

According to José de la Torre,Chapman Graduate School dean, thebusiness school is particularly well suitedto address a specific challenge beyondthe general shortage of Ph.D.s: thedearth of minority faculty.

“We are in a privileged position to supply distinguished minority facultymembers,” he said.

Increasing the number of admitted Ph.D.students also will draw faculty to FloridaInternational University (FIU), he said.

“Any business school that wants topublish or conduct research needs aPh.D. program,” he said.“Top-notch facul-ty will continue to be attracted to uswhen they know they’ll have access togood doctoral students.”

In addition, he said these graduate stu-dents can lend brain power and time tonew projects, which will stimulateresearch and enhance the businessschool’s and the University’s reputation.

The Chapman School is reaching out,especially in Latin America, by offering totrain Ph.D.s from partner universities.

“Our target group in this outreach effortis young academics in other universitieswho need to advance their careers byacquiring a Ph.D.,”said Ronald Lee, facultydirector for the Ph.D. program.“The Schoolwill collaborate with their home universitiesby sharing financial support and willensure flexibility through the use of dis-tance learning technology.”

Negotiations for such collaborative pro-grams are underway with universities inPeru, Chile, Mexico, and Brazil.

< Chapman Graduate School Updates > < News from our Centers of Excellence >

COLLEGE OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION http://cba.fiu.edu

For more information please call (305) 348-2771.

The Jerome Bain Real Estate Instituteproudly welcomes

Randy I. AndersonRyder Eminent Scholar and Professor of Real Estate and Finance

Dr. Anderson has joined the Jerome Bain Real Estate Institute in the College of BusinessAdministration as the Ryder Eminent Scholar and Professor of Real Estate and Finance.

Anderson is the executive director of the American Real Estate Society and co-editor of both theJournal of Real Estate Literature and the Journal of Real Estate Portfolio Management. He was theChief Economist and Director of Research at the Marcus and Millichap Holding Company and alsoserved as the Vice President of Investment Research at Prudential Real Estate Investors.

Anderson has published more than 40 academic articles which have given him repre-sentation in every major real estate publication and recognition as one of the nation’sleading real estate researchers. He has been a distinguished lecturer at HarvardUniversity and Johns Hopkins University. Anderson received his doctorate in financefrom the University of Alabama.

Dr. Anderson will be offering a new graduate course, REE 6305 “Advanced RealEstate and Valuation” during the Fall 2004 semester.



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Joining forces with the Latin Americanand Caribbean Center (LACC), and theGreater Miami Chamber of Commerce’sInternational Services Network, CIBERorganized the 2003 Western HemisphereBusiness Outlook Conference. Nearly fiftyleaders from the private and public sectorsand a number of U.S. Department ofCommerce’s Senior Commercial Officers(SCOs) held two days of interchanges ontopics related to the business climate inthe Americas. More than a dozen Floridaagencies, associations, and councilsinvolved with trade and business develop-ment collaborated on the conference, anannual event held in concert with the U.S.Department of Commerce.

Study abroad options reinforcethe College’s emphasis on international business.

CIBER coordinates a number of shorttrips for students—ten or fourteen days onaverage—to far-flung locations. Participantstake coursework in management before,during, and after the excursions, and whilethere, visit company sites.

In 2003, students studied technological,political, economic, and cultural customs

and practices in Greece, Bulgaria,Germany, Japan, and Rome. This yearbrings them the chance to travel andlearn in Central Europe (Munich, Vaduz,Benice, and Ljubljana); Paris; Japan (Tokyoand Kyoto) and Hong Kong; and Spain, anannual event, with stops in Madrid,Granada, Cordoba, and Salamanca.

“Study abroad programs are a neces-sary part of business programs, enablingstudents to study while they interactwith different cultures and under condi-tions that will stretch what they learn intheir courses,” said Randall Martin, lec-turer, Management and InternationalBusiness, who leads many of the trips.

According to Martin,“Our goal is tooffer safe learning surroundings and tocreate new and lasting relationshipsamong our students—as a group and asrepresentatives of the College.”

In addition to the short-term sessions,students also can spend a semester inCanada, England, Finland, France, Mexico,or Spain. The Department of Educationprovides scholarship support for thesemore extensive international study tripsthrough the Fund for the Improvementof Post Secondary Education (FIPSE).

2004 Business Accents [11]COLLEGE OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION http://cba.fiu.edu


expertise, including the Florida InternationalBankers Association, U.S. Department ofJustice and Drug Enforcement Agency, andthe Association of Certified Anti-MoneyLaundering Specialists.

Two opportunities were available forfaculty members and others in the com-munity who wanted to learn or improvetheir Spanish. The Fourth Annual SpanishLanguage and Cultural Immersion pro-gram in Peru in July targeted those inter-ested in learning Spanish for business. Amonth-long session helped people gainthe communication skills they need tofunction in professional, academic, andbusiness situations and included lectures,discussions, visits to local companies, andseminars detailing the economic and polit-ical history of Latin America. CIBER cooper-ates with the Escuela de Administración deNegocios para Graduados (ESAN), a non-profit private Peruvian institution in Lima,to offer the program.

The Fifth Annual Spanish LanguageFaculty Development Program, titledTeaching Spanish for Business: A Global

Approach brings Spanish professorsfrom across the globe to Spain for aweek-long workshop. Attendees acquirebackground on business terminology,the method for teaching Spanish forbusiness, and information about thebusiness world in Spain and its relation-ship to the European Union. This year’sprogram—offered by CIBER andUniversidad Nacional de Educacion aDistancia (UNED)—took place in Avila.

A consortium of schools collaborates topresent the annual ProfessionalDevelopment in International Business(PDIB) Mercosur. Designed for U.S. busi-ness professionals and faculty, the pro-gram aims to raise awareness about thesocial, political, economic, and businessenvironments that exist in South America.The 2004 program, which took place inBrazil, Argentina, and Chile and which isthe eighth annual trip, is offered by theMercosur CIBER Consortium

During the two-week PDIB, partici-pants explore a wide range of topics thataffect business opportunities, from

national economic reforms and adjust-ments to regional and country-specificbusiness practices. Meetings with busi-ness faculty from leading academic insti-tutions, business executives from multi-national companies, and governmentofficials, along with cultural events andcity tours, round out the experience.

Host or contributing institutionsinclude Brazil: EAESP (Escola deAdministração de Empresas de São Paulo)of FGV (Fundação Getulio Vargas);Argentina: IAE Escuela de Dirección yNegocios, Universidad Austral; and Chile:Universidad Nacional de Chile.


[10] Business Accents 2004 http://cba.fiu.edu COLLEGE OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

< News from our Centers of Excellence > < News from our Centers of Excellence >

RANKINGS BOLSTER COLLEGE’S

REPUTATION FOR EXCELLENCE IN

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS

• U.S. News & World Report’s “America’s BestColleges 2005” listed our undergraduateinternational business program as the 9thbest in the U.S. We’re in good company—other schools in the Top 10 includeWharton, University of California-Berkeley,University of South Carolina—Columbia, andNew York University. No other Floridaschools made the list.

• Earlier this year, U.S. News & World Report’sAmerica’s Best Graduate Schools 2005 ratedour school among the Top 25 businessschools in the U.S. for excellence interna-tional business—again, the only Floridaschool on the list. Others in the Top 25included Thunderbird, Wharton, Columbia,Harvard, and Duke.

• In BusinessWeek’s most recent (2002) rank-ing of business schools, we made the thirdtier group along with schools like Fordham,American, George Washington, Rutgers,Tulane, and others.

• Hispanic Business has ranked us among theTop 25 business schools for Hispanics everyyear since 1998, and Hispanic Trends, whichjust started its rankings in 2003, also listedus in the Top 25.

• For three years running, America Economiahas ranked us among the top 50 interna-tional business schools in the world for LatinAmerican business students

• We’re in the top 10 among AACSBInternational-accredited business schools inthe number of students we graduate annu-ally and we offer the 6th largest part-timeundergraduate program and 8th largestpart-time MBA program among this group.

• The College ranks number one in the U. S.in awarding undergraduate and graduatebusiness degrees to Hispanics (Black Issuesin Higher Education, 2002; Hispanic Outlook inHigher Education Magazine, 2004).

Buenos Aires, Argentina

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On the Faculty FrontOn the Faculty Front


the most prolific accounting academic in 1992. In addition, hewas Radcliffe Killam Distinguished Professor at Texas A&MInternational University and a Citibank Scholar while earning hisMBA at the Indian Institute of Management. He also held aNational Merit Scholarship, given by the government of India.

With a specialization in information systems and accounting,Rama has an impressive record as well. Before joining theCollege’s faculty, she taught at Bentley College, the University ofMassachusetts, Dartmouth, and Texas A&M InternationalUniversity. From 1999-2002, she held the distinguished positionof “Engaged Scholar,” selected by Campus Compact (a service-learning award funded by the Pew Charitable Trust). She also haschaired committees on teaching and learning topics with theAmerican Accounting Association.

Raghu and Rama live in Weston, Florida with their two sons.

Sumit K. Kundu (Ph.D. in International Business,Rutgers University) Associate Professor ofManagement and International Business

For several years now, Sumit Kundu hasbeen touting the benefits of relationship-building to corporate CEOs and collegestudents alike.

“It’s how to do business on the global playing field,” said thisIndian-born scholar. The message to both groups is the same:“Focus on relationship-building strategies to see results.”

Kundu is an expert in the internationalization of service indus-tries, theories of multinational enterprises and global strategicalliances, international entrepreneurship, and emerging multina-tionals. He has published in the Journal of International BusinessStudies, Management International Review, Journal of BusinessResearch, Journal of International Management, Journal ofInternational Marketing, and Journal of Small Business Economics.

For this scholar of international business, the “bottom line”always has been teaching. So far, Kundu has taught internation-al business to students in China, Thailand, Spain, India, and theUnited States, and he’s consulted to executives of multination-als around the world. He’s the perfect candidate to lead ourExecutive MBA students on their international trip in 2005. But,for now, he calls Miami home.

Anthony D. Miyazaki (Ph.D. in Marketing,University of South Carolina)Assistant Professor of Marketing

Anthony Miyazaki has been quoted in thelocal media as an expert on risky decisionmaking and state-sponsored lotteries.“Whatthat translates to,” said the affable Miyazaki,

Michael Prietula (Ph.D. in Information Systems, University ofMinnesota)Ryder Eminent Scholar, jointly appointed tothe School of Accounting and theDepartment of Decision Sciences andInformation Systems

He’s the newest in the College’s lineupof Eminent Scholars, wearing two hats as a renowned expert inaccounting and in decision sciences and information systems.Author of five books on computational organization theoryand the use of systems technology in business, MichaelPrietula is widely published in respected journals in his field,including Organizational Science, MIS Quarterly, and InformationSystems Research. He also has published articles about businesssystems in journals such as the Journal of Personality and SocialPsychology and the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology.

Currently, Prietula is the recipient of a $180,000 fundingaward from the National Science Foundation for a researchproject called “Integrating Models of Trust, Gossip, and Emotionfor Artificial Agents.” He already has held faculty appointmentsat Emory University, Warrington College of Business and FischerSchool of Accounting (University of Florida), Johns HopkinsUniversity, Dartmouth College, and the University of Minnesota.Internationally respected, he has been invited to speak at pres-

tigious business schools in Mexico (ITAM and ITESM), in theUnited States (Stanford, Harvard, Yale), and in the UnitedKingdom (Oxford). He continues to hold affiliated faculty mem-bership at Carnegie Mellon University and at ITAM.

Kannan Raghunandan (Ph.D. in Business Administration, Universityof Iowa) Professor of Accounting

Dasaratha Rama (Ph.D. in Business Administration, Universityof Iowa) Professor of Decision Sciences andInformation Systems

Kannan Raghunandan and DasarathaRama insist that you call them “Raghu”and“Rama.”They also made names for themselvesas publishing power players in academewhen they were doctoral students.These mar-ried, Indian-born scholars graduated togetherfrom the University of Iowa in 1990. Bothearned tenure and the rank of professor with-in eight years of completing their doctoral

work; between them, they have authored more than 23 articles inpremier quality publications and nearly 40 in high-quality journals.

Raghu, who specializes in accounting and auditing, was named

LEVERAGING HUMAN CAPITAL: College continues to attract top faculty. BOOKS

Joey George, Dinesh Batra, Joseph Valacich, and Jeffrey Hoffer,Object-Oriented Systems Analysis and Design. (Upper Saddle River,N.J.: Prentice Hall, 2003)

Irma Becerra-Fernandez, Avelino Gonzalez, and Rajiv Sabherwal,Knowledge Management: Challenges, Solutions, and Technologies.(Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 2004)

A second edition of Mary Ann Von Glinow’s Organizational Behavior:Emerging Realities for the Workplace Revolution was published lastyear. (New York: Mc-Graw Hill, 2003) Co-authored with StevenLattimore McShane, the book originally was published in 1999.

BOOK CHAPTERS/CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS Andrew M. McCosh,“E-education as E-commerce. Delivering FinancialDecision Support System Understanding,” in Adam F., Brezillon P.,Humphreys P., and Pomerol J., eds., Decision Making and DecisionSupport in the Internet Age. (Cork, Ireland: Oak Tree Press, 2002).

Duane Truex, Emmanuel Monod, and Richard Baskerville,“TheDiscourse of Large Scale Organizational Transformation: TheReengineering of IBM 1989-1994,” in Discourse Theory in ISResearch—Global and Organizational Discourse about InformationTechnology, IFIP TC8/WG8.2 Working Conference on Global andOrganizational Discourse about Information Technology,December 12-14, 2002, Barcelona, Spain. IFIP ConferenceProceedings. Eleanor Wynn, Edgar A. Whitley, Michael D. Myers, andJanice I. DeGross, eds. (Berlin: Kluwer Press, 2002), pp. 249-272.

ARTICLES IN PREMIER JOURNALS Irma Becerra-Fernandez and Rajiv Sabherwal,“An Empirical Study ofthe Effect of Knowledge Management Processes at Individual, Group,and Organizational Levels,” Decision Sciences 34.2 (2003): 225-260.

Peter Dickson, Ronald Rust, and Christine Moorman,“GettingReturn on Quality: Revenue Expansion, Cost Reduction, or Both?”Journal of Marketing 66.4 (2002): 7-24.

Farok J. Contractor, Sumit K. Kundu, and Chin-Chun Hsu,“A Three-Stage Theory of International Expansion: The Link betweenMultinationality and Performance on the Service Sector,” Journal ofInternational Business Studies 34.1 (January 2003): 5-18.

Nitish Singh and Sumit K. Kundu,“Explaining the Growth of E-Commerce Corporations (Eccs): An Extension and Application ofthe Eclectic Paradigm,” Journal of International Business Studies 33.4(December 2002): 679-697.

Walfried M. Lassar, Leslie J. Vermillion, and Robert D. Winsor,“TheHunt-Vitell General Theory of Marketing Ethics: Can It Enhance OurUnderstanding of Principal-Agent Relationships in Channels ofDistribution?” Journal of Business Ethics 41.3 (2002): 267-285.

Paul Miniard and Michael J. Barone,“Mood and Brand ExtensionJudgments: Asymmetric Effects for Desirable versus UndesirableBrands,” Journal of Consumer Psychology 12.4 (2002): 386-400.

David E. Sprott and Anthony D. Miyazaki,“Two Decades ofContributions to Marketing and Public Policy: An Analysis ofResearch Published in Journal of Public Policy & Marketing,”Journal of Public Policy & Marketing 21.2 (Spring 2002): 105-116.

The excellence of a business school can be evaluated in part by the quality of the faculty itattracts. The College of Business Administration is no exception. We consistently work to bringprominent scholars to our roster, and since the summer of 2002, we have added an impressivegroup to further strengthen our well-deserved reputation for expertise in international business,entrepreneurship, and the strategic uses of information technology.

These faculty appointments include José R. de la Torre as Byron Harless Eminent Scholar inManagement Development and Dean of the Alvah H. Chapman, Jr., Graduate School of Business;Ronald M. Lee as Ryder Eminent Scholar in Logistics and Information Systems; David Weinstein asVisiting Ryder Eminent Scholar in Marketing; and Alan L. Carsrud as Clinical Professor ofEntrepreneurship (jointly appointed to the Colleges of Business Administration and Engineering).

In the fall of 2003, we welcomed ten new faculty members—four senior scholars and six jun-ior scholars—who were recruited to support and enhance our mission and vision in critical areas.They represent a valuable addition to our growing stature in several of the most in-demand fieldsof business—international business, technological innovation and marketing, financial worldmarkets, accounting information systems, and others.With this added intellectual capital, we con-tinue to make strides toward becoming a premier business school for the Americas and beyond.

We are pleased to have these new faculty members on board and look forward to their contri-butions. Here’s a snapshot of their achievements and interests.

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On the Faculty Front

http://cba.fiu.edu COLLEGE OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION 2004 Business Accents [15]COLLEGE OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION http://cba.fiu.edu


“is that every time the Lotto jackpot gets ‘up there,’ someone fromthe media calls me up and wants me to comment on why peoplebuy tickets. It’s a no-brainer.”

But, of course, he knows much more than that. He’s an expert inprice management and price perceptions, consumer behavior,online consumer privacy and e-commerce, corporate partnerships’effects on brand and image, the impact of technological innovationon the consumer and seller, and public policy.

He’s been published in the Journal of Marketing, Journal ofRetailing, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Journal ofProduct and Brand Management, Journal of Public Policy &Marketing, Journal of Business Research, Journal of ConsumerAffairs, Psychology and Marketing, and others. Most recently,Miyazaki was Assistant Professor of Marketing at the Universityof Miami, where he earned 11 research awards between 1996and 2001 and “Excellence in Teaching” awards in 1997 and 1998.

It’s a career that’s come full circle for this experienced youngscholar: Paul Miniard, BMI Professor of Marketing in the College,was Miyazaki’s dissertation advisor at the University of SouthCarolina. Miyazaki lists competitive ballroom dancing as one ofhis passions, and he’s the proud father of four daughters.

Aya Chacar (Ph.D. in Policy and Organization,University of California at Los Angeles)Assistant Professor of Management and International Business

An expert in business and corporatestrategy, Aya Chacar’s areas of specializa-tion have been the pharmaceutical and

utility industries. Her research has been published and praisedwidely: she’s been “noticed” by the Academy of ManagementProceedings, which compiles a list of the best five percent ofpapers published annually, and has had her work cited in theStrategic Management Society’s annual “Best of theConference” list of edited books.

A scholar and expert in international business, Chacar hassome surprising ideas up her sleeve. In a recent article, Chacaranalyzed the business of baseball to elucidate theories ofinnovation and value creation. For instance, she argues that, fordecades, Major League Baseball encountered little competitionfrom other sports, refusing to adopt most 20th-century inno-vations—night games and radio broadcasts, for example—andas a result lost the chance to create more value. However, lucki-ly for Marlins fans, MLB “woke up” in time to reverse its half-century long ban on expansion teams, leading to the creationof the team in the 1990s.

Born in Lebanon, Chacar most recently was assistant professorof Strategic and International Business at the London BusinessSchool. She is enjoying Miami and has settled into Coral Gables.

Suchismita Mishra (Ph.D. in Finance, University of Nebraska-Lincoln) Assistant Professor of Finance

Brice Dupoyet (Ph.D. in Finance and Business Economics,University of Washington-Seattle) AssistantProfessor of Finance

The Finance Department strengthenedand diversified its portfolio in several keyareas by adding two promising youngresearchers to its team this year.Suchismita, or Suchi, Mishra, is a scholarin corporate finance, financial marketsand institutions, and internationalfinance. Brice Dupoyet also is a scholar incorporate finance; he adds to the finance

team’s expertise in options and futures, financial theory andanalysis, and business and managerial economics.

Mishra’s current interests are in the areas of asset pricing, mar-ket microstructure, and corporate governance. Her dissertationwas based on incorporating the skewness preference in assetpricing models and investigating its effect in cases of major cor-porate events such as stock splits, mergers, earnings announce-ments, etc. This young, Indian-born scholar has already publishedtwo journal articles, both in the International Journal of Finance,and a book chapter in a volume dedicated to regional financialmarkets. She likes to spend her free time experimenting withspices in Indian cuisine.

At the University of Washington, Dupoyet studied theJapanese Yen for his dissertation project, looking at the alterna-tive performance of currency option pricing models. He has sev-eral publications in progress and has earned industry experi-ence as a financial analyst, working in the division ofInternational Finance and Operations for prominent Californiawine distributor, E. & J. Gallo. A native of Lyon, in the Rhône-Alpes region of France, Dupoyet prides himself on being a foodand wine connoisseur.

Kaushik Dutta (Ph.D. in Information TechnologyManagement, Georgia Institute ofTechnology) Assistant Professor of DecisionSciences and Information Systems

Kaushik Dutta is a young entrepreneurand scholar in information technology.Specializing in information technology

management at Georgia Institute of Technology’s DupreeCollege of Management, he has expertise in e-commerce, theuse of technologies to support real-time, one-to-one interac-

tions with customers, the mining of web log data, methods ofbuilding scalable e-business infrastructures, and database sys-tems and data management.

Before embarking on a career as a researcher, Dutta did sys-tems engineering and architecture work for private firms inIndia, where he was born; in Europe; and in the United States. Healso has tried his hand at a Silicon Valley technology start-upventure. He has used his entrepreneurial savvy to rise quicklyto a promising research career, publishing articles in journalssuch as VLDB Journal, IEEE Internet Computing, ManagementScience, and IEEE Transactions in Mobile Computing. He was a final-ist in Penn State’s e-BRC Doctoral Proposal Award Competition.

So what does this hi-tech researcher and entrepreneur do forfun? Dutta’s interests range from watching cricket to readingBengali novels.

For more information on these individuals or on any of ourfaculty experts, please visit our online Expert’s Guide athttp://experts.fiu.edu.

ARTICLES IN PREMIER JOURNALS continuationSherry Moss, Enzo Valenzi (ret.), and Bill Taggart,“Are You Hidingfrom Your Boss? The Development of a Taxonomy and Instrumentto Assess the Feedback Management Behaviors of Good and BadPerformers,” Journal of Management 29.4 (2003): 487-510.

Mark DeFond, Kannan Raghunandan, and K.R. Subramanyam,“DoNon-audit Service Fees Impair Auditor Independence? Evidencefrom Going Concern Audit Opinions,” Journal of AccountingResearch 4.4 (September 2002): 1247-1274.

Kannan Raghunandan,“Non-audit Services and ShareholderRatification of Auditors,” Auditing: A Journal of Practice and Theory22.1 (March 2003): 155-163.

Juan Sanchez, Spector, P. E., Cooper, C. L., O’Driscoll, M., Sparks, K., etal.,“A Twenty-Four Nation/Province Study of Work Locus of Control,Well-Being, and Individualism: How Generalizable Are Western WorkFindings?” Academy of Management Journal 45.2 (2002): 453-470.

Bruce Seaton, John Tsalikis, and Petros Tomaras,“A New Perspectiveon Cross-Cultural Ethical Evaluations: The Use of Conjoint Analysis,”Journal of Business Ethics 35.4 (2002): 281-292.

Krishnamurthy Surysekar, Ramji Balakrishnan, and K.Sivaramakrishnan,“Short-term Contracts, Long-term Actions andInformation System Design,” The Journal of Accounting, Auditing andFinance. (Forthcoming 2004)

Mary Ann Von Glinow, Debra L. Shapiro, and Jeanne Brett,“Can WeTalk, and Should We?: Managing Emotional Conflict in MulticulturalTeams,” Academy of Management Review. (Forthcoming 2004)

Mary Ann Von Glinow, Debra L. Shapiro, Stacie A. Furst, andGretchen M. Spreitzer,“Transnational Teams in the Electronic Age:Are Team Identity and High Performance at Risk?” Journal ofOrganizational Behavior 23.4 (2002): 455-467.

Mary Ann Von Glinow, Ellen A. Drost, and Mary B. Teagarden,“Converging on IHRM Best Practices: Lessons Learned from aGlobally-Distributed Consortium on Theory and Practice,” HumanResource Management Journal 41.1 (2002): 123-140. Mary Ann VonGlinow was guest editor of this issue of the publication. Her GuestEditor’s note appears on pages 3-4.

Clark Wheatley, David Manry, and Samuel L. Tiras,“The Influence ofInterim Auditor Reviews on the Association of Returns withEarnings,” The Accounting Review 78.1 (2003): 251-274.

Clark Wheatley, Samuel L. Tiras, and Daniel M. Bryan, “TheInteraction of Solvency with Liquidity and its Association withBankruptcy Emergence,” Journal of Business Finance & Accounting29.7&8 (2002): 935-965.

EDITORSHIPSMary Ann Von Glinow, Department Editor, Journal of InternationalBusiness Studies

Kannan Raghunandan, Associate Editor, Auditing: A Journal ofPractice and Theory

Dana Forgione, Managing Editor of Research in Healthcare FinancialManagement

[14] Business Accents 2004

UNIVERSITY RECOGNIZES COLLEGE’S ‘FOUNDING PROFESSORS’

On October 4, 2002, on the occasion of FIU’s 30thAnniversary, University President Modesto Maidiqueand Provost Mark Rosenberg conferred the title of‘Founding Professor’ on eight long-time faculty mem-bers in the College who played a role “in the foundingof [FIU].”

Gary DesslerManagement and International BusinessPh.D., City University of New York

Earnest FridayManagement and International BusinessPh.D., University of Miami

Jan B. LuytjesManagement and International BusinessPh.D., University of Pennsylvania

J.A.F. NichollsMarketingD.B.A., Indiana University

Herman W. Dorsett Management and International BusinessEd.D., Columbia University

Rosalie C. Hallbauer AccountingPh.D., University of Florida

F. Bruce SeatonMarketingPh.D., WashingtonUniversity

Raul MoncarzFinancePh.D., Florida StateUniversity

LEVERAGING HUMAN CAPITAL

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Dinesh Batra:Building a Base for Research inSystems Analysis and DesignDinesh Batra has published a textbook—the first ever of its kind—entitled Object-Oriented Systems Analysis and Design(Prentice-Hall, 2003). Teachers will use itin undergraduate and graduate courses in

systems analysis and design.Systems analysis and design—the study of a business problem

and the proposing of a technology-based solution for it—consti-tutes an intrinsic part of learning in the management informa-tion systems (MIS) field. The reason is sim-ple: In “real world” business, the majorityof such systems—as many as four out offive—fail. Consequently, MIS managerswho have an understanding of both thetechnical and managerial issues related tocreating and implementing effectiveinformation systems are in high demand.

“All MIS programs have a course in sys-tems analysis and design,” said DineshBatra, associate professor of DecisionSciences and Information Systems.“Butnot much is done in terms of research ortheoretical investigation in this area.”

According to Batra, who’s been with theCollege since 1989,“What little researchexists has focused on management issuesrather than on theory. In addition,between 80 and 90 percent of the aca-demic conferences on the subject are held in Europe.”

Recognizing this gap, Batra has led the charge in research insystems design and analysis in North America. And he’s madesignificant progress.

He attended the December 2001 International Conference onInformation Systems (ICIS), the “Mecca” of information technolo-gy (IT) and IS researchers worldwide, and participated in a spe-cial interest group (SIG) focused on systems analysis and design.

In March, 2002, he and two colleagues, Jeffrey Parsons ofMemorial University of Newfoundland (Canada) and RameshVenkataraman of Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business,called for a follow-up meeting in Miami, where 14 systems analy-sis and design researchers met to consider the state of researchin this field.

“Because we still don’t have a core theory, we said to ourselves,‘we must think like philosophers, then develop models,’” heexplained.

Another challenge the group in Miami discussed was the needto identify a critical mass of researchers, he said. To tackle the

problem properly, they talked about setting up a special interestgroup within the Association for Information Systems (AIS). TheSIG would focus specifically on creating a framework and theo-ries for studying systems analysis and design. The move wouldentitle them to hold their symposium concurrently with a majorAIS conference, but there was a major hurdle: the AIS requiresthat special interest groups have a minimum of 40 members.

While trying to meet that requirement, Batra said the groupdecided to begin “developing core theories and frameworks thatwould facilitate the construction of a shared set of concepts forresearch in systems analysis and design.” Essentially, they agreedto begin building a common theoretical language for systems

analysis and design researchers.“We wanted to provide a challenge to

researchers in the United States whilepreparing ourselves to be better teachersof systems analysis and design concepts,”he said.

The following year, the initial groupgrew to 21 members. They reconvenedin Miami in April, 2003, for their secondsymposium entitled, “Systems Analysisand Design Research: Toward CoreTheories and Frameworks.” This meet-ing was more formal: It was held overa two-day period and consisted ofthirteen presentations on topicsranging from empirical stud-ies and pedagogical issuesto the uses of systemsanalysis and design in

organizations to possible theoreticalframeworks for research to philosophy.

In December, 2003, Batra and hishard-working colleagues got thenews they had hoped and workedfor: The AIS council approvedSIGSAND (Special InterestGroup on Systems Analysisand Design). Batra willserve as chairperson untilelections take place atthe conference.Currently, the group issetting up the organi-zation, planning con-ferences, and estab-lishing links and por-tals, among manyother tasks.


2004 Business Accents [17][16] Business Accents 2004


He Said, She Said: What to DoWhen Managers and EmployeesDon’t See Eye to Eye

Giving and receiving feedback is animportant aspect of manager-employeerelations. But, it doesn’t always work well,leading to what Sherry Moss and JuanSanchez, College researchers in humanresource (HR) management, call “the feed-back gap.” And when it comes to address-ing such essential—and often thorny—HRchallenges, the old adage,“Two heads arebetter than one,” is right on target.

They’re currently working together, for-malizing the connections between theirindividual research. A co-authored journal

article about their findings on the manager-employee feedbackgap was published in the February 2004 issue of Academy ofManagement Executive, and they hope to take their findings “live”aswell—in the form of a seminar or workshop.

“People in the HR industry, managers, and employees all couldbenefit from taking a look at their feedback-seeking behavior,”Moss said.“We think this makes the perfect topic for a one-dayworkshop on humanresource management,”Sanchez added.

A call to an old friend provided the inspiration forMoss’s collaborative efforts with Sanchez. Moss saidshe had been researching and publishing for severalyears on the ways that attributes of gender and lan-

guage affect workplace behaviors. The work improvedher understanding of human factors in manager-employ-

ee relationships. One day in 1991, she decided to phonea friend who worked for the State of Florida

in Tallahassee.“She told me that she was working from home because she

was hiding from her boss,” Moss recalled.“Evidently, she hadn’tfinished some work on an important project.”

The conversation prompted Moss to reflect on what hap-pens when employees and managers don’t communicate ordon’t communicate well about work. She began looking at

FACULTY RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS

PUBLICATION AWARDSPeter Dickson (Marketing) received the Marketing ScienceInstitute’s (MSI) Best Paper Award for his article,“Getting Returnsfrom Service Quality: Is the Conventional Wisdom Wrong?” Journalof Marketing 66.4 (2002): 7-24. Co-authored with Ronald Rust andChristine Moorman,“Getting Returns” previously appeared as a“working paper” published by the MSI. Dickson and his colleaguesdemonstrated empirically that firms are much more successfulwhen they focus on improving service quality rather than on tryingto reduce costs and improve service quality at the same time.

Mary Ann Von Glinow received the Gold Book Award from theMinistry of Economic Affairs in Taiwan, ROC, in 2002, forOrganizational Learning Capability. That book has been translatedinto Spanish (Las Capacidades de Aprendizaje) and Chinese.

The December 2002 issue of OR/MS Today declared FloridaInternational University’s (FIU) Decision Science and InformationSystems (DSIS) faculty the seventh highest among IS/IT/OR depart-ments in the United States based on their research productivity inflagship INFORMS journals.

http://cba.fiu.edu COLLEGE OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

An associate professor in the department ofManagement and International Business, Moss conducts

training sessions on “Managing Diversity” and “WorkplaceViolence” in several of the College’s certificate programs.In the 1980s, Sanchez, now a professor of Management and International Business, worked as a human resources

evaluation specialist in Europe and in the United States.His research on HR has captured awards from theInternational Personnel Management Association

and the International Society for PerformanceImprovement.They both have received FIU’s

“Teaching Incentive Plan” (TIP) award for excellent teaching performance.


6769_BusAcc 9/16/04 4:24 PM Page 16

Accounting research affects SEC regulations.

The Security and Exchange Commission(SEC) has used conclusions reached inresearch by Clark Wheatley and two formercolleagues in the College of BusinessAdministration to justify new regulations.Under the old law, firms could have the

quarterly reports they file with the SEC reviewed prior to filingthem (a timely review) or as part of the year-end audit (a retro-spective review). Now, firms must have external auditors reviewthe quarterly financial statements before they are filed.

Wheatley and his colleagues, former College faculty members,David Manry and Samuel Tiras, tested whether there was a

difference between the way securities marketstreated the quarterly earnings of corpora-

tions that filed timely or retrospec-tive reviews. They found that

the securities markets

viewed timely-reviewed earnings as more “credible.” Of greatestimportance, they discovered that most firms did not disclosewhether or not their quarterly reports were timely-reviewed.

“Our evidence isn’t based on whether or not investors hadsome indication of ‘perceived credibility,’”Wheatley said.“Rather,our evidence indicates that markets ‘learned’ which firms to trustand which not to trust and that the amount of that trust washigher for firms that had independent auditors review their quar-terly reports prior to SEC filing.”

The research influenced the SEC in its decision to require allfirms to have their quarterly reports reviewed by an independ-ent auditor before filing them with the SEC. According toWheatley,“This requirement is expected to increase the overallcredibility of the information contained in financial reports, toenhance the efficiency of our capital markets, and to bolsterinvestor confidence.”

The study is also significant because with it, Wheatley and hiscolleagues accomplished what fewer than eight percent of aca-demics in accounting have achieved: They published a paper,“The Influence of Interim Auditor Reviews on the Association ofReturns with Earnings,” in The Accounting Review, considered bymany to be the number one accounting journal in the world.

Not only has Wheatley’s work had an impact on the govern-ment, but also, businesses facing bankruptcy will be well servedby insights from his other major area of research: bankruptcyemergence.

By examining firms before and after they file for bankruptcy,Wheatley, Tiras, and Daniel Bryan (SUNY-Buffalo) have gener-ated a somewhat unorthodox view of the effect of an audi-tor’s “going-concern” opinion on the inevitability of a firm fil-ing for bankruptcy and on the condition in which that firmmight emerge from bankruptcy.

“The ‘going concern’ opinion is given when the auditorexpects that the firm will not survive as an entity beyondtwelve months,”Wheatley said.“Our conclusion, that the

‘going concern’ opinion provokes stakeholders to ‘stop thebleeding now’ and thus enhances the probability that the firm

will, indeed, survive as an operating entity, contradicts the audi-tor’s expectation.”

The researchers’ conjecture, supported by their evidence, isthat the longer that managers of a distressed firm fail to ask forcourt intervention (Chapter 11 bankruptcy), the greater the likeli-hood that they will continue to squander the assets of the firm,and ultimately cause the entity’s liquidation. Conversely, man-agers who file for bankruptcy (Chapter 11 reorganization) havethe opportunity to reorganize their operations in a way thatenhances the probability of their survival.

The paper,“The Interaction of Solvency with Liquidity and itsAssociation with Bankruptcy Emergence,” was published in a2002 issue of the Journal of Business Finance & Accounting.



feedback-seeking behavior in employees or, in this case, feed-back-avoiding behavior.

“What are the consequences to the manager-employee rela-tionship and to the organization when an employee avoids feed-back, or seeks it in the wrong way?” she asked.

Her questions and research resulted in the aptly titled article,“Are You Hiding From Your Boss? The Development of aTaxonomy and Instrument to Assess the Feedback ManagementBehaviors of Good and Bad Performers,” which was published inthe premier journal, Journal of Management, in 2003.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the hallway, Sanchez wasworking on similar notions. His research projects generallyfocus on measuring or assessing organizational HR practices—studies in benchmarking practices, validity studies, and psycho-metrics, for example. He also has been studying stressors andstrains in the workplace. For example, in 2002, he published“The Effects of Temporal Separation on the Relations betweenSelf-Reported Work Stressors and Strains” in OrganizationalResearch Methods. And, he was working on defining best HRpractices for managers.

Following conversations Moss had with Sanchez, theydecided to work together since each had been researching inthe area of feedback-seeking behavior for several years—

Moss from the employee’s side of the equation, and Sanchezfrom the managerial side.

Together, they have drawn conclusions about ways to closethe feedback gap.“In addition to giving reasons that accountfor the gap, we give a set of prescriptions for managers to fol-low that might reduce it,” Moss explained.

Sanchez said that his research shows that “most managersare not very skilled at giving feedback. In fact, when a manag-er fails to give constructive criticism, or gives it in the wrongway, in one-third of those situations, they make things worse.”

Moss reported that “in 24 percent of cases, when someoneperforms badly, he or she avoids interaction with his or hermanager and the situation becomes unhealthy.”

Combined, those statistics may reveal that more than halfthe time, workplace relationships are not healthy, owing near-ly equally to the behavior of the manager, the employee, or acombination of the two.

“In any given organization, there are manager-employeerelationships that don’t work properly,” said Moss. She andSanchez offer a simple explanation: “It’s just human nature.”And while they realize that their research can’t change humannature, their results might help to make the work week a littleless stressful.



HOW MANAGERS CAN IMPROVE THE FEEDBACK PROCESS

n Try to recognize your own biases before giving feedback. Forexample, are you more likely to blame your employee forpoor performance rather than to look at the circumstances?

n Are you anything like one of the following three managementtypes most prone to creating a feedback gap?

• The conflict-avoider wants everyone to like him or her,is uncomfortable with giving negative feedback, and generally will wait too long to do so, thereby letting the problem worsen.

• The micro-manager is overly-critical and his or her need tocontrol everything suppresses the autonomy of employees,who may stop thinking and caring about their work, whichcan strain the relationship.

• The zero-tolerance manager intimidates employees and“blows up” in response to their failures. Since employeesknow this, they avoid giving the manager any bad news.

n Try to reduce the psychological or physical distance betweenyourself and your employees by being aware of situationalconstraints that may affect their job performance.

n Avoid making the giving of feedback a personal matter.

http://cba.fiu.edu COLLEGE OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

6769_BusAcc 9/16/04 4:25 PM Page 18

Focus on Students

2004 Business Accents [21][20] Business Accents 2004 http://cba.fiu.edu COLLEGE OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION COLLEGE OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION http://cba.fiu.edu

Focus on Students

Samir Qureshi, 21, looks franticallyaround his bedroom floor trying to findhis finance book so he can start headingto campus. Already, he has finished a mid-term business law paper, run four miles,and read half The Wall Street Journal whileeating a bowl of Shredded Wheat, but ifhe doesn’t hurry, he’ll be late to class. It’sanother typical day in his busy life.

Despite Qureshi’s hectic schedule, he stillfinds time to devote to leadership. Heserves as president of FIU’s AccountingAssociation, controller of the StudentGovernment Association, and vice chairper-son of the Student Organizations’ Council.

“The days I don’t plan, I don’t get every-thing in that I need to,”he said.

And while Qureshi suggested that aclass in time management will help anystudent, he also knows a person has towant to accomplish his or her goals badlyenough to make time to reach them.

“It is a matter of using your time wiselyand making your priorities crystal clear,”he explained.“The key, however, is not pri-oritizing your schedule, but schedulingyour priorities.”

Scheduling those priorities is a chal-lenge faced by thousands of studentseach semester.

“Prime time television is probably mybiggest time trap during the week,” saidYahaira Hernandez, 23, American Market-ing Association co-president.“It reallyhelps me unwind after a long, hectic day,but I know I should be studying instead.”

Pablo Bravo, 24, former president ofBeta Alpha Psi, looks at setting prioritiesfrom a different perspective.“I figure thatCEOs of companies have to handle a loton a daily basis,” he said.“Where else butschool am I going to have an environmentin which to learn how to handle a lot ofresponsibilities at once?”

Bravo said he feels the crazy pace ofcollege life can be ideal preparation for alife that will demand that the right priori-ties be solidly grounded.

“If we set that foundation now, we will bebetter and more successful professionalsthan our classmates who didn’t,”he said.

Qureshi, Hernandez, and Bravo are rep-resentative of undergraduate business

students who assumed leadership rolesin the College’s student organizationsand who serve or served on the College’sBusiness Student Council. As members ofthat council, they communicate studentconcerns to the Executive Dean and heradministrative staff, ensure their organi-zation’s members are involved in the lifeof the College, convey important mes-sages to the student body, and work withCollege administrators to plan student-focused, College-wide events like theInternational Biz Fest.

Thanks to their enthusiasm and consider-able talent, the lives of all students in theCollege continue to be enriched.

Student Leader and Association SnapshotsAMERICAN MARKETING ASSOCIATION

Founded in 1937, the AmericanMarketing Association is the world’slargest and most comprehensive profes-sional society of marketers, consisting ofmore than 45,000 worldwide members in92 countries and 300 chapters throughoutNorth America. At last year’s InternationalCollegiate Conference in Orlando, the FIUchapter won three awards—OutstandingChapter Planning and OutstandingMembership Activities (2001-2002) andOutstanding Regional Chapter (2002-2003)—all of which placed it among thetop ten chapters in the country.

Joel Gandara,Co-President andHonors ChairpersonStatus: SeniorMajor: InternationalRelationsMinor: BusinessAdministration Future Plans: Work in

sales/promotions/marketing; attend agraduate business school a few years aftergraduationHonors: Student in FIU’s Honors College,Dean’s List Memberships: Gamma Epsilon Phi, FIU’sHonors College Society; Phi Kappa PhiHonors SocietyEmployment: Owner of an Internet retailbusiness; also works for FIU AthleticsDepartment as independent marketingcontractor

Yahaira Hernandez,Co-President Status: Junior Major: MarketingFuture Plans: Attendlaw school and studyreal estate law Memberships:Student Support

Services, Hispanic Business Association Employment: Marketing ProjectManager for an Internet retail company,8B8 USA, Inc.

BETA GAMMA SIGMABeta Gamma Sigma’s mission is to

encourage and honor academic achieve-ment in the study of business, and person-al and professional excellence in the prac-tice of business. Beta Gamma Sigma hasinducted more than 480,000 outstandingstudents into membership since its found-ing in 1913. Since the College of BusinessAdministration re-activated its Chapter in2002, it has inducted nearly 200 students.

Yvette M. Hernandez,PresidentStatus: SeniorMajor: Accounting andInternational BusinessFuture Plans: Pursuean MBA and sit for theCPA examHonors: 3.94 GPA;

member of the FIU team in the Associationof Latino Professionals in Finance andAccounting (ALPFA) KPMG Case StudyCompetition and won 2nd place; on theAccounting Association team for theJohnson & Johnson Case Study CompetitionMemberships: National Society ofCollegiate Scholars, Golden Key, Phi KappaPhi Honors Society, Gamma Epsilon Phi,ALPFA, Florida Institute of Certified PublicAccountants, student representative forthe ALPFA Miami Professional BoardEmployment: Completed a summerinternship at Cordis

FIU ACCOUNTING ASSOCIATIONThe FIU Accounting Association (FIU AA)

is one of the largest and most active organ-izations on FIU’s campus.The goal of theAssociation is to introduce students to thevast opportunities in the field of account-ing.Through its participation in two corpo-rate case study competitions, FIU AA has

shown to the nation the dynamism andhigh caliber of its students.The first wasthe 2003 Johnson & Johnson Case StudyCompetition, in which the FIU AA won firstplace at the local level. Next, the organiza-tion participated in the 2003 national com-petition at Johnson & Johnson’s headquar-ters in New Jersey, placing second in thenation. In 2004, the FIU AA team first placein both the local and the national competi-tions. Students also participated in a KPMGCase Study Competition, winning thirdplace at the recent ALPFA convention.

Samir Qureshi,PresidentStatus: SeniorMajor: FinanceFuture Plans: Work fora Fortune 500 company,beginning as a financialanalyst and working myway up to manage-

ment, eventually becoming a CEO or CFO Honors: Who’s Who in American Collegesand Universities 2000-2003; OutstandingStudent Life Award (SophomoreLeadership), 2002Memberships: President of StudentOrganizations CouncilEmployment: Student Assistant,Campus Life

ALPHA KAPPA PSIAlpha Kappa Psi (AKPsi) is America’s first

professional business fraternity. FoundedOctober 5, 1904 at New York University, AKPsinow has more than 230 college and alumni

chapters. Xi Sigma Chapter at FIU celebratedits 10th anniversary on June 27, 2003.

John Singh, PresidentStatus: SeniorMajor: ManagementInformation Systemsand ManagementFuture Plans: Attain amanagement positionin a global corporation Honors: Collegiate

Leadership Development Program(CLDP) graduateMemberships: Tau Kappa EpsilonEmployment: Desk Assistant, FIU Housingand Residential Life

BETA ALPHA PSIBeta Alpha Psi is a national scholastic

and professional fraternity for financialinformation professionals. Founded in1919, there are nearly 230 chapters on col-lege and university campuses with over200,000 members initiated since the frater-nity’s foundation. At the Annual Meeting inHonolulu, Hawaii, on July 31, 2003, FIU’sBeta Alpha Psi Chapter was awarded the“Distinguished Chapter Award,” gaining

national recognition.

Pablo D. Bravo,PresidentStatus: GraduatedSpring 2003Major: Accounting Future Plans: Pursue a

Master of Accounting degree and sit forthe CPA exam. Then, work with the fifthlargest public accounting firm, GrantThornton, as an assurance agent here inSouth FloridaHonors: National Accounting HonorsSocietyMemberships: FIU AccountingAssociation, Internal Revenue Service’sVolunteer Income Tax Assistance programEmployment: Graduate Assistant for FIU’sSchool of Accounting

FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATIONEstablished in 1970, the Financial

Management Association (FMA) is a glob-al organization whose purpose is to devel-op and disseminate knowledge aboutfinancial decision making. FIU’s FMAChapter recently attained national-levelGold Membership status.

Derek Nembhard,PresidentStatus: SeniorMajor: Finance Future Plans: Work inthe financial servicesindustry, earn a CFA,earn an MBA at one ofthe top 50 business

schoolsHonors: Dean’s ListMembership: Association of FinancialProfessionals Employment: Vice President of Finance,Total Development Concepts International

BUSINESS STUDENTSmake leadership a Priority.

ACCOUNTING STUDENTS WIN AICPA MEDALS.

Another graduate of the School ofAccounting was recognized this year inFlorida CPA Today (May/June 2004) forreceiving one of the highest scores in thestate on the CPA exam.

Alejandro M.“Alex” Perez (BACC ’92)registered one of the ten best scores inthe state, rounding out the “Florida Top-10” list after sitting for all four parts of theNovember 2003 Uniform CPA Exam. Perezis an accountant with Miami-DadeCounty’s South Florida Work Force, wherehe has been employed since 1997.

“I was surprised when I found out myscore,” he said.“I had just wanted to makesure I passed.”

According to Dana Forgione, directorand professor in the School of Accounting,

Perez joins rank with seven other Collegegraduates who have met with phenome-nal success on the exam.

The prestigious AICPA Elijah Watt SellsGold Medals, which denote the highestscore in the nation, went to DeborahEgurrola (BA/BBA ’99, MST ’02) in May2002, and Rodolfo E. Pita (BBA ’78) in May1979, who recorded the best score in thehistory of the exam at that time. A SilverMedal, for the second-highest score in thenation, went to Patrick Joseph Smith (MSin Management ’79) in May 1976. Thosewho have made the Florida Top-10include: Frank Cordero, who chalked upthe top score in the state on the May 1987exam; Adrian Valencia (BACC ’97, MACC’99), in May 2001; Tian Shu Chu (MACC

’01) in May 2001; and Jose Miguel Iglesias(MST ’03) in November 2001.

“To put our award-winning achieve-ments in perspective, consider Olympicmedal winnings coming from a singlehometown community,” Forgione said.“Forone community in America to produce asingle Olympic gold medalist would be anoutstanding achievement. For one commu-nity to produce two Gold Medalists, oneSilver Medalist, and eight bronze medalistswould be almost unbelievable.”

Nearly 60,000 nationwide sat for theNovember 2003 exam, the last to beadministered as a paper test. Now avail-able in a computer-based form, the testis taken by about 120,000 each year inall 50 states.

BUSINESS STUDENTSmake leadership a Priority.

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Focus on StudentsFocus on Students

New Venture Challenge 2003Knees trembling, palms sweating, and

blood pumping, the young entrepreneur-ial students stepped onto the stage infront of a panel of judges, ready to defenda business plan they had sweated andcried over for months. This was it: theirmoment to shine. This was the oral pres-entation round of the 2003 Howard J.Leonhardt New Venture Challenge: ABusiness Plan Competition.

Based on fifty written business planssubmitted by students from schoolsthroughout Florida, the Caribbean, andLatin America, the panel of judges hadselected five finalist teams to compete inthis Final Oral Presentation Round of theNew Venture Challenge, which was held atUniversity Park last spring. At stake werecash prizes ranging from $2,500 to $7,500.

The College of Business Administration(CBA) has a long and proud tradition ofsponsoring an annual business plan com-petition to support its educational empha-sis on entrepreneurship.The 2003Challenge was the first to be

offered in partnership with the College ofEngineering and funded through gifts fromHoward J. Leonhardt and a National ScienceFoundation grant.

In the Challenge, students across manydisciplines—business administration, engi-neering, arts and sciences, architecture, hos-pitality, and other fields—can participate byforming a team and developing and sub-mitting a solid business plan.To prepare forthe Challenge, they can take workshops onhow to write a business plan or sit in onbusiness development courses offered inthe College.

“The important thing about this com-petition is that you can’t be a recognizedcenter for entrepreneurship without one,”said Alan Carsrud, clinical professor ofentrepreneurship and director of FloridaInternational University’s (FIU) new GlobalEntrepreneurship Center.

At the oral competition last year, the fivefinalist student teams each gave fifteen-minute presentations of their businessplans and then fielded questions from the

ten consultants and venture capitalistson the judging panel. In

this question andanswer session, stu-

dents wereforced to

think ontheir

feet and address questions about theirplans that they might not have thoughtabout before.

Team members not only answeredquestions, but also received feedbackfrom the judges about the viability oftheir business ventures. For all theteams, the process amounted to an eye-opening reality check.

“A competition like the New VentureChallenge provides a real-life test for stu-dents,” Carsrud said.“They get exposureto people who are sophisticated in busi-ness. He added that,“It’s not like readinga Harvard case study; it’s building some-thing and having to defend it.”

The written business plans submittedto the 2003 competition represented avariety of business ideas, from firefightertraining software to escargot farming tomarketing biomedical equipment. Thejudges reviewed and scored the writtensubmissions on each of twelve requiredsections, and teams were given theopportunity to review their scores, alongwith the judges’ comments.

“We wanted to be sure that every stu-dent who participated was able toextract value from the experience,” saidMonique Catoggio (EMBA ’03), who coor-dinated the Challenge last year and nowserves as the College’s director of alumniand partner relations.

Two teams from FIU were finalists inthe 2003 competition. VCUBE, Inc., a firmthat specializes in manufacturing, engi-neering, and providing regulatory servic-es to the medical device industry, hopesto provide single-source solutions forcompanies with device-developing andmanufacturing needs. Amazonia Productsresearches, designs, produces, imports,markets, and distributes dietary supple-ments developed from Amazonian rain-forest plants. Proposed product linesincluded supplements for losing weight

and for increasing energy and virility.Winners of the New Venture Challenge

2003 were:n Grand Prize, $7,500: Ensol, Inc

Ensol, Inc., developed by a team from theUniversity of Central Florida, is a firmspecializing in developing and commer-cializing advanced vacuum packaging,such as ZipVacTM Bag, a new form of in-situ vacuum packaging that increasesthe shelf life of food and other perish-ables three- to five-fold without theneed for an external vacuum pump.

n First Runner Up, $5,000, and TechnologyPrize, $5,000: BioMed, Inc.

BioMed, Inc., created by a team fromFlorida Agricultural and MechanicalUniversity, is a business specializing inhome health care products, such asBaby Pulse, a Sleep Analyzer used tohelp prevent Sudden Infant DeathSyndrome.

n Second Runner Up, $2,500:Caracoles del Sur

Caracoles del Sur was the business concept from a team from Argentina’sUniversidad Torcuato Di Tella. It special-izes in breeding and exporting escar-gots, particularly to Spain and Portugal.

New Venture Challenge 2004The 2004 New Venture Challenge

offered additional, heftier prizes andgave awards at both the undergraduateand graduate levels. Participation waslimited to teams from FIU and from thoseinternational business schools withwhom the College of BusinessAdministration offered dual degree pro-grams. More than 60 FIU teams appliedfor the competition and more than 20submitted business plans.

During practice rounds in early May, FIUstudent teams interacted with coaches,teachers, and business professionals togain insight into the approach they had

taken in their plans. The number of teamswas winnowed to a group of semifinalistswho competed with the internationalbusiness school teams during the Final

Oral Competition Round.The 2004 winners of the Challenge

were unveiled at the EntrepreneurshipHall of Fame luncheon May 13.

HOWARD J. LEONHART NEW VENTURECHALLENGE

beckons student entrepreneurs.

2004 Business Accents [23]COLLEGE OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION http://cba.fiu.edu[22] Business Accents 2004 http://cba.fiu.edu COLLEGE OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

2004 Grand Prize Winners: Graduate Level

2004 Grand Prize Winners: Undergraduate Level



6769_BusAcc 9/16/04 4:25 PM Page 22

2004 Business Accents [25]

Focus on Students

Taking top honors in the graduate stu-dent division was UniversityPlacementServices.com, an international studentservice addressing all aspects of the uni-versity admissions process in the UnitedStates. Team members Jose I. Alvarez, AlbaN. Nuñez and Michael Reyeros received$15,000 and $4,000 in in-kind contribu-tions for their efforts.

The same prize went to the first-placeundergraduate team of Charles Bowdenand Dale Andrew Silvia for their company,Eco-Solutions, Inc., which manufacturesmulch and tea tree oil from Florida’s abun-dant nuisance, the melaleuca tree.

The only winning team not from FIUwas first runner-up Gladys-T Porto Alegre,a Brazilian company designing, importing,

and trading high-quality women’s gar-ments in Uruguay. Members Andres Buela,Rosina Guisande, and Elianne Hecht, allrecent business graduates fromUniversidad ORT in Uruguay, were on handto accept their $5,000.

Receiving $1,000 and $2,500 in in-kindcontributions were Les Bagatelles teammembers Lindsay Thomas, AlexanderRiera, Judieth Cure, and Anne-ChristineLenquette. The company manufacturesand distributes designer handbagsthrough retail outlets and donates theprofits to the Women’s Alliance.

The prototype award and $5,000 went to Moe Sadeek and his Dirtyboi,Inc., a wheel rim that illuminates while in motion.

Focus on Students


At the national Johnson & Johnsonbusiness case competition held April 14-15 in New Brunswick, NJ, our College’steam took first place, beating teams fromWharton, Rutgers, Lehigh, Lasalle,Villanova, University of Illinois, and others.Teams were given three weeks to preparefor the national competition, whichrequired them to balance their courseloads, work schedules, on-campus activi-ties, and personal lives to pursue victory.

In March 2004, FIU teams of from fiveto seven students, primarily in finance,accounting, and marketing, were giventhe challenge of developing and launch-ing the first bariatric product for SurgicalInnovation, a multinational medicaldevice company based in Austin, Texas.Team members worked together toanswer the case question by performing

an in-depth financial and marketinganalysis, and teams competed againsteach other in a presentation format infront of faculty and corporate judges.The FIU Accounting Association (ALPFAStudent Chapter) team won the local

competition and, thereby, the right torepresent FIU at the nationals. With itsimpressive showing there. Johnson &Johnson donated $3,000 in their namesto the College.

In late March 2004, students in theCollege’s Chapter of the AmericanMarketing Association (AMA) attendedthe 26th Annual International CollegiateConference. During the event, theCollege’s Chapter was awarded “TopRegional Chapter,” placing it at NumberOne in the South (out of 75 chapters)and in the Top Four (out of 300 chapters)nationally. Among the accomplishments

that helped the College’s Chapter earnthese honors were its ability to maintaina membership of 150 students, its host-ing of thirteen professional recruitmentseminars, its having raised more than$12,000 to subsidize attendance at theConference for 22 members, its havingparticipated in eight community serviceprograms during the year, and its havingenhanced its web site.

COLLEGE’S STUDENTS STAND AMONG THE BEST.


The Global Entrepreneurship Center at Florida International University is an internationally-

recognized leader in entrepreneurial research, education, and outreach. It integrates

entrepreneurship into all disciplines at FIU and in the economic life of South Florida

and the Americas.

Whether in the arts, sciences, business, engineering, or humanities, entrepreneurship

at FIU adds value to every discipline and enhances the creativity and innovation of

its students, faculty, staff, and alumni. The Center fosters new technology

firms, strengthens existing family-owned businesses, and engages in research

that affects entrepreneurial firms worldwide.

FIU… founded on the spirit of entrepreneurship.

www.entrepreneurship.fiu.edu

FIU's Global

Entrepreneurship Center

has been designated a

Kauffman Campus

by the Kauffman Foundation of Kansas City.



2004 First Runner-Up

COLLEGE TEAM WINS NATIONAL CASE COMPETITION.

From left, Thomas Casares, Miguel Martinez, Ana Perez,Julius Nuñez, Ana Garcia—the FIU AccountingAssociation’s winning team at national Johnson &Johnson Case Competition.

American MarketingAssociation

AMA CHAPTER RANKS IN TOP FOUR NATION WIDE.

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easoning that imported or exported goods ofabnormal weight could be carrying concealed money, explosives,drugs, or other contraband, Zdanowicz and his colleague DonaldChambers of Lafayette College launched a project focused ondetecting abnormal weights in U.S. international trade.

It isn’t the first research project Zdanowicz has conducted usingimport and export data released monthly by the U.S. Departmentof Commerce. With another colleague, Simon Pak (now at PennState), he has spent more than ten years analyzing thisMerchandise Trade database to identify abnormal pricing schemesused by tax avoiders and money launderers. Zdanowicz’ currentresearch focuses on detecting terrorist financing.

“Since 9/11, the U.S. government has done a great job shuttingdown what I call the ‘front door,’” Zdanowicz said. “Thanks tothe U.S. Patriot Act, it has intensified its monitoring of financialtransactions for possible instances of money laundering.”

Banks, credit unions, insurance companies, brokerage firms,currency exchangers, check cashers and so on must adhere tostrict and closely-watched reporting regulations.

“But the ‘back door’—international trade—is not being moni-tored very carefully,” Zdanowicz said. “The U.S. government col-lects weight and pricing data on goods entering and exiting ourair and seaports, but doesn’t systematically analyze or use it toguard our borders.”

He added that the government does not publish weight data ongoods crossing its borders on trains and trucks.

While Washington has spent billions of dollars on airport secu-rity since 9/11, it has done little to monitor the more than sixmillion shipping containers arriving at U.S. seaports every year.

An article on just this issue, “On the Waterfront,”(CBSNews.com, August 3, 2003) quotes Stephen Flynn, a formerCoast Guard Commander and senior fellow at the Council ofForeign Relations, as saying “It is physically impossible to checkevery container without essentially stopping global commerce.”

Typically, shipping containers are quickly loaded onto trainsand trucks which deliver them throughout the country. Flynn saidhis biggest fear is that terrorists could use such containers tosmuggle in weapons of mass destruction (WMDs).

While customs agents have been armed with radiation detec-tors, they can physically inspect only about 2% of the cargo enter-ing the U.S.

Zdanowicz’s research provides some valuable tools for watchingthis back door.

“He’s helping the government do its job,” said Charles Intriago,publisher of Money Laundering Alert.

THE BACK DOOR: ABNORMAL WEIGHTSIn his analysis of weight data, Zdanowicz relies on the U.S.

Department of Commerce’s international trade data, which con-tains detailed information on every product imported into andexported out of the U.S. from and to every country in theworld—for all U.S. Customs Districts.

“Chambers and I developed a computer analysis that allows usto determine the normal weight characteristics for every productimported into the U.S.,” he said. “Once we determined relevantnormal weight ranges, we compared the weight of every importedproduct to the range and filtered out all transactions with abnor-mal weights.”

The duo initiated their research looking at imports to the U.S.from the U.S. State Department’s 25 al Qaeda “Watch List”countries. Sample results from two U.S. Customs Districts arereflected in Chart 1. “There are thousands of similar transactionsevery month across all Districts,” Chambers said.

While not able to identify individual names or firms because

that data is not available for the research, Zdanowicz said theHomeland Security Office does have the ability to do that.

“Our research data could be coupled with real time import datato determine which items a Homeland Security official shouldinspect,” he said.

THE BACK DOOR: ABNORMAL PRICINGSince 1991, Zdanowicz and Pak have been examining this

international trade data to isolate instances of abnormal pricing—an indication of tax avoidance and/or money laun-dering schemes.

Tax AvoidanceIn 2002, for example, they reported that the United States gov-

ernment lost more than $53 billion in tax revenues in 2001—more than $145.5 million per day—due to artificial over-pricingand under-pricing of products entering and leaving the country.Because it allows them to shift profits abroad, a number of indi-viduals and firms engage in abnormal international trade pricingto avoid or reduce their U.S. tax liability.

Japan tops the list of countries with the highest amount ofestimated U.S. tax losses due to abnormal trade pricing in 2001(see Chart 2). Trade with other countries that resulted in largeU.S. tax losses include Canada, Germany, and Mexico. Charts 3and 4 show some examples of the abnormally-priced transactionsthey uncovered.

Through his research, Zdanowicz has found that U.S. tax rev-enue lost through abnormal pricing in international trade hasbeen increasing steadily over the past decade. Using the same kind

The idea came to him one Sunday

afternoon at the movies.

While watching The Sum of All Fears, in

which an atomic bomb is smuggled into

the U.S. inside a vending machine, College

Finance Professor John Zdanowicz

thought to himself,“That vending

machine must have weighed

considerably more than a regular

vending machine. Why didn’t anyone at the port notice that?”

Who’s

back door?

watchingour

Port Product Country Weight

San Fran. Coffee Indonesia 1.26 kilograms per kilogram

San Fran. Briefcases Malaysia 98 kilograms per unit

San Fran. Carpet Iran 63 kilograms per square meter

LA Pens Malaysia 8.7 kilograms per unit

LA Televisions Malaysia 202 kilograms per unit

LA Carpet Pakistan 62 kilograms per square meter

Chart 1: Abnormal Import Weights at San Francisco and Los Angeles Customs Districts from al Qaeda “Watch List” Countries - 2001

R

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Money Laundering and Terrorist FinancingMultinationals aren’t the only entities moving money from

country to country using overvalued imports and undervaluedexports. Money launderers and terrorists are doing it as well.

“Money laundering describes movement of money out of thecountry that was illegally gained, say through extortion, drugs,crime, prostitution, and terrorism, for example,” Zdanowicz said.“Money laundering also results in tax evasion.”

Zdanowicz has helped uncover money laundering and terroristfinancing schemes over the years and continues to furnish expertise tothe Department of Justice, U.S. Customs, and others in law enforce-ment. He also has provided training on financial crime at the U.S.Treasury Department’s Federal Law Enforcement Training Center.

“If I want to move $1 million in cash to, say, Panama, I can goand buy $1 million worth of gold watches, say 200 of them at$5,000 apiece,” Zdanowicz said. “I can sell them to my partnercompany in Panama for $5 apiece, so my friend there pays$1,000 for the lot. He then sells the watches at $5,000 apiece,and now, my $1 million is in Panama. I’ve moved the money.”

Moreover, his firm has cheated Panama of import dutiesbecause the importer is only paying $1,000 for the goods, whichalso enables him to compete and make money against legitimateimporters and competitors.

Money can be moved from other countries to the U.S as easilyas from the U.S. to other countries. The former is typical “capitalflight,” Zdanowicz said. “I could buy emeralds in Brazil at theirreal value, export them to the U.S. at 1/100 of this value, thenresell them in Miami at their real value.”

The same practices are used to move money for the purpose offinancing terrorist activities.

“In the future, I hope to establish a multi-agency task forceincluding analysts from U.S. Customs, the Internal RevenueService, the Department of Commerce, and the Department ofJustice,” Zdanowicz said. He added that he hoped these analystswould provide insight into some of the mysteries uncovered by hisresearch and that the work will lead to changes in U.S. policieswith respect to monitoring trade statistics.

And that monitoring could help close the “back door.” n

of analysis, they estimated in 2001 that lost tax revenue in 2000was $44.55 billion.

“Initially, I was looking at international price discrimination totry to assess the efficiency of international trade markets,”Zdanowicz said. “I assumed there would be some difference inprice for the same product from market to market, but what I dis-covered was some bizarre pricing—what’s called ‘statistical noise.’”

If you’re shopping for a new television and checking prices for themodel you want at a number of different stores, you’ll discover someprice variation, he said. But the prices will fall within a range—arange that’s typical for your market. If that range is $180 to $225,but you suddenly find one selling for $800, it raises a red flag. That

is the kind of “statistical noise” that was uncovered, he said. Zdanowicz assumes that import and export prices are suspicious

if they deviate above or below the interquartile range of all prices,as defined in the 1994 “Intercompany Transfer Pricing RegulationsUnder Section 482” of the Internal Revenue Service tax code. Healso assumes that every dollar of taxable income shifted out of theUnited States would have been taxed at 34 percent.

Senator Byron L. Dorgan (D-North Dakota) included $2 mil-lion in the 2002 Treasury-General Government Appropriationsbill to expand the study to help determine policies that will allowthe Internal Revenue Service to collect taxes due but avoidedunder abnormal pricing schemes. The legislation was signed intolaw by President Bush.

The research grant was awarded to Florida InternationalUniversity (FIU), with Zdanowicz designated as FIU’s principalinvestigator. Senator Dorgan and others in Washington are con-cerned that foreign multinationals with U.S. subsidiaries shifttheir income tax liability to lower-tax countries. Typically themoney they move out of the U.S. to avoid tax liability was lawful-ly gained—hence the descriptor, “tax avoidance.”

“Multinationals hire “transfer pricing” staffs whose job it is tojustify pricing among their subsidiaries,” Zdanowicz said.

Some multinationals either overvalue imports or undervalueexports to avoid paying taxes. The goal is to move money fromhigh-tax jurisdictions to low-tax jurisdictions.

“Let’s say a foreign company manufactures automobile radios ata cost of $100 each,” Zdanowicz said. “It sells them to its U.S.subsidiary for $100 each, and the subsidiary sells them for $200—a $100 profit on which they would pay a tax of $34 per radio.”

To shift the tax liability, he said, the foreign firm would sell the$100 radio to its U.S. subsidiary for $199 and the U. S. sub-sidiary would sell it for $200, earning $1 profit per radio. The taxliability is now down to 34 cents per radio. In other words, higherimport prices, lower U.S. profits, and lower U.S. income tax lia-bility. Although import duties on overvalued imports might behigher due to these inflated prices, they’re much lower thanincome taxes, the liability for which are often further reduced byinflating costs of shipping, insurance, freight, and so on.

This research is expected to help the U.S. Internal Revenue Servicecollect some of the unpaid taxes. In fact, Zdanowicz has providedexpert analysis in a number of tax cases. The same kind of analysisalso can help developing countries collect taxes and import duty rev-enues currently being lost thanks to abnormal pricing practices.

2001 TOTAL TRADE Tax Loss @34% Income Shifted($ millions) ($ millions)

All Countries $53,117 $156,225Top 25 Countries $49,073 $144,332

JAPAN $12,225 $35,957CANADA $4,967 $14,608FR GERM $4,640 $13,646MEXICO $3,459 $10,175U KING $3,003 $8,833NETHLDS $2,628 $7,731CHINA $2,416 $7,107FRANCE $1,753 $5,157PHIL R $1,691 $4,973TAIWAN $1,507 $4,431KOR REP $1,504 $4,423SINGAPR $1,057 $3,108HG KONG $1,010 $2,969ITALY $952 $2,800IRELAND $904 $2,660MALAYSA $755 $2,221AUSTRAL $626 $1,840BRAZIL $609 $1,792INDIA $606 $1,781BELGIUM $593 $1,745SWEDEN $589 $1,732SWITZLD $487 $1,433THAILND $456 $1,342ISRAEL $360 $1,057VENEZ $275 $809

DAILY LOST U.S. INCOME TAX REVENUES 53,116,638,061/365 = $145,525,036 PER DAY

Chart 2: Top 25 Sources of Lost U.S. Taxes due toAbnormal Trade Pricing - U.S. Total Trade (Export & Import)

2001 Income Shifted and Federal Income Tax Losses

Bovine Animals - Live Mexico $20.65/unitMultiple Vitamins Finland $1.34/kgDynamite Canada $1.24/kgRadial Tires – Bus/Truck UK $11.74/unitDiamonds – Not Industrial India $13.45/caratToilets -

Bowls with Tanks, one piece Hong Kong $1.75/unitAluminum Ladders Japan $4.40/unitFork-Lifts, Self Propelled Jamaica $384.14/unitIndustrial Robots Ireland $324.37/unitBulldozers – Self-Propelled Colombia $1,741.92/unitAutomatic Teller Machines France $97.00/unitTrash Compactors UK $54.82/unitVideo Monitors - Color Pakistan $21.90/unitVideo Projectors – Color Brazil $33.95/unitRoad Tractors –

For Semi-Trailers Nigeria $3,750.00/unitTruck Caps Mexico $10.77/unitCameras – SLR, 35mm Colombia $7.44/unitClinical Thermometers Germany $ .06/unitWrist Watches –

Cases of Precious Metal Colombia $8.68/unitMissile and Rocket Launchers Israel $ 52.03/unitPrefabricated Buildings Trinidad $1.20/unitSeats – For Motor Vehicles Belgium $1.66/unit

Chart 4: Abnormally Low U.S. Export Prices

Multiple Vitamins China $ 1,868.77/kgPlastic Buckets Czech $ 972.98/unitFence Posts – Treated Canada $ 1,853.50/meterWood Moldings Bolivia $ 1,124.17/meterToilet/Facial Tissue China $ 4,121.81/kgBriefs and Panties Hungary $ 739.25/dozDishtowels of Cotton Pakistan $ 153.72/unitOther Made-Up Articles Arab Em $ 106.73/unitUnglazed Tiles – Ceramic Italy $ 4,480.00/sqmtrRubies – Cut, Not Set Burma $38,192.30/caratBolts – Iron or Steel France $ 3,067.17/kgThreaded Nuts Belgium $ 2,426.70/kgTweezers – Base Metal Japan $ 4,896.00/unitLawnmower Blades Australia $ 2,326.75/unitRazors UK $ 113.20/unitAir Pumps –

Hand/Foot Operated Malaysia $ 5,000.00/unitCamshafts and Crankshafts Saudi Arabia $15,200.00/unitTelephone Sets – One Line Japan $ 2,728.00/unitUnrecorded Magnetic Disks Denmark $ 164.19/unitSmoke Detectors –

Battery Powered Germany $ 3,500.00/unitIndustrial Hand Trucks Spain $ 3,800.86/unitHypodermic Syringes Switzerland $ 142.78/unit

Chart 3: Abnormally High U.S. Import Prices

© DAN COWAN - PORT OF MIAMI

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In the nearly three years since 9/11, we have been living in aworld in which security has become a precious, highly-sought-after commodity. But how much are we willing to pay

for it and who should foot the bill? The cost of arming Americanbusinesses against potential terrorist threats—physical andcyber—is a subject of intense debate among researchers, legisla-tors, and executives alike. Since thecollapse of the Twin Towers, the ques-tion of how to enhance national secu-rity while allowing for the unrestrictedmovement of physical, human, andfinancial capital has risen to the top ofthe policy agenda and will likely staythere for years to come.

David Wernick, research director ofthe College’s Knight-Ridder Centerfor Excellence in Management, isdevoting considerable attention to theissue, and, in particular, to what thealphabet soup of new federal laws andregulations—among them, the USA Patriot Act, the BioterrorismAct, the Maritime Trade Security Act, and the 24-Hour rule forocean cargo—mean for companies doing international business inSouth Florida.

“We are particularly interested in how these new mandates areaffecting just-in-time production systems, how the new expendi-tures on security-related equipment and software are affecting cor-porate profitability, how the new visa restrictions may affect thelong-term productivity of U.S.-based multinationals, and whattypes of technology might be used to help secure supply chains,minimize risk, and deliver a return on investment,” Wernick said.

WHAT IS THE COST TO BUSINESS?Wernick, former faculty member Laura Kozloski, and the

College’s Executive Dean Joyce Elam, in partnership with theGreater Miami Chamber of Commerce’s Business AdvocacyCommittee, embarked on a study in early 2003 to address thesequestions.

The original shape of the project—a series of case studies ofseveral South Florida businesses that would address the post-9/11impact on South Florida’s business community—quickly grewinto a more comprehensive economic-impact study.

“We interviewed executives in the banking, healthcare, hospi-tality and real estate industries and all had stories to tell of clients,

deals, and transactions that werelost or adversely affected by thenew regulations,” Wernick said.“We soon realized that we neededa more comprehensive study, onethat would tell the story withhard data and real-life testimony.”

“We were especially concernedwith businesses that manufactureor source product or clients over-seas,” Wernick said.

Essentially, the research projectwas launched with a survey whichlanded in mailboxes and e-mail

boxes of more than 1,000 businesses in Miami-Dade, Broward,and Palm Beach counties during the summer of 2003. The studytargeted four industry sectors—manufacturing and internationaltrade, banking and financial services, tourism, and health care.

“We were especially concerned with businesses that manufactureor source product overseas and import or transship it via our air-ports and seaports,” Wernick said. “International trade representsthe backbone of our economy and importers were among the firstto be hit with the new rules.”

The survey itself was designed to “get at the costs in terms ofmoney and other measurables such as delays and bureaucratichassles associated with the new rules,” Wernick said. It askedbusinesses to disclose, in specific terms, how much time andmoney they are currently spending to comply with homelandsecurity measures and how this figure compares to the pre-9/11period. The data revealed some interesting and worrisome trends.

For example, he said, “We learned real estate agents have lostlucrative sales because potential foreign investors are deciding that

After

STUDY SHOWS IMPACT OF SECURITY MEASURES ON THE COST OF DOING BUSINESS AMONG COMPANIES IN SOUTH FLORIDA.

SINCE THE COLLAPSE OF THE TWIN

TOWERS, THE QUESTION OF HOW TO

ENHANCE NATIONAL SECURITY WHILE

ALLOWING FOR THE UNRESTRICTED

MOVEMENT OF PHYSICAL, HUMAN, AND

FINANCIAL CAPITAL HAS RISEN TO THE

TOP OF THE POLICY AGENDA AND WILL

LIKELY STAY THERE FOR YEARS TO COME.

Security at what price?9/11:6769_BusAcc 9/16/04 4:25 PM Page 30


their vacation home in the U.S. comes with too many stringsattached.” Furthermore, he observed that international tourism isstill in a slump, due to fears of terrorism and to the fact thatmany tourists are finding it more costly and cumbersome toobtain a U.S. visitor’s visa from their local consular offices.

“Though overseas visitors comprise less than half of all visitorsarriving at Miami International Airport, they have an outsizedimpact on our economy, boosting demand for everything fromairline workers to hotel and restaurant staff and generating con-siderable tax revenue,” Wernick said.

Moreover, since international visitors stay longer and spendmore money than their domestic counterparts, Wernick said, theireconomic impact is significantly greater. Figures from the Miami-Dade Aviation Department indicate that for every internationalleisure visitor Miami loses, the city must attract more than threedomestic visitors to recoup the difference.

“The visa issue has affected a widerange of businesses, from universitieslike ours, to language schools, retailoutlets, and hospitals,” he said.

“We think it’s our ‘civic duty’ as aresearch institution to provide thiskind of expert information to legis-lators, to help them make better pol-icy,” Elam said. “And if they won’tcome to us, we’ll bring it to them.”

Wernick said the study, which con-tains a list of ten policy recommenda-tions from the private sector, isdesigned to both critique and improveexisting anti-terror legislation. In January 2004, he presented the studyat a half-day conference at the Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables whichbrought together more than a half-dozen local executives and adminis-trators and senior policymakers from Washington. Among those inattendance was Ambassador Crescencios Arcos, director of interna-tional affairs for the Department of Homeland Security and the right-hand man to Secretary Tom Ridge.

In February, Wernick also presented the study to Governor JebBush’s Council of Economic Advisors and personally briefedSenator Bob Graham in April, who he said was particularly inter-ested in the findings. The study also was circulated by the FloridaInternational Bankers Association to policymakers during a May2004 trip to Washington, D.C.

“We think it’s our ‘civic duty’ as a research institution to pro-vide this kind of expert information to legislators, to help themmake better policy,” Elam said. “And if they won’t come to us,we’ll bring it to them.”

WHEN DOES SECURITY BECOME COUNTER-PRODUCTIVE?

Clearly, the events on 9/11 have presented challenges forAmerican legislators. The fact that the terrorists used internationalbanking and financial networks to move money and had procured

legitimate visas to enter the country made it clear that the securityof the United States had been breached and that policymakerswould have to fix the system to minimize the likelihood of similarattacks in the future, or worse—an incident involving a Weaponof Mass Destruction (WMD).

Experts argue that at least some of the 19 terrorists involved inthe attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon shouldhave and, indeed, would have been red-flagged for suspiciousactivities ranging from errant credit histories to outrageous finan-cial statements had the government been paying attention.

In his remarks at the April 2002 World Conference onInformation Technology, former U.S. President Bill Clinton saidthat “One of the terrorists had more than 30 credit cards andmore than half a million dollars in debt.” He said that any one ofthose 30 banks or credit card companies should have caught andreported him as suspicious.

Clinton also said that "One of the mostimportant aspects of the technologyand the Internet is the ability to mon-itor people who might be terrorists.”

He was right: After 9/11, the gov-ernment has been able to track all ofterrorist Mohammad Atta's safe hous-es by scrutinizing his financial history.

Since 9/11, of course, the govern-ment has “stepped-up” its existingcounter-criminal policies, scram-bling to protect against reoccur-rences of terrorism and to seal the

‘holes’ that made the terrorists’ breachpossible. Congress created the USA Patriot Act—the Act to“Provide Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and ObstructTerrorism.” President Bush created the Department of HomelandSecurity, which has enacted a myriad of policies for conductingsafe, terrorist-free business.

In addition to pressures from the federal government’sDepartment of Homeland Security, businesses in South Floridaalso have other agencies, such as the Financial Action Task Force(an inter-governmental body), the State Counter-Terrorism agen-cies, the United Nations’ Counter Terrorism Committee, and theOffice of International Affairs breathing down their necks.

While designed to intercept and obstruct terrorism, these meas-ures have constructed an obstacle course of red tape that affectsnearly every industry involved in international commerce. Theresults of Wernick’s research so far indicate that these measureshave had some serious short-term effects and may have even moreserious long-term effects on South Florida’s competitiveness.

IS THE NEWS ALL BAD?Not all of it. According to the study, a variety of high-tech

companies, legal and accounting firms, and security consultantsare cashing in on the homeland security bonanza.

Wernick said that software companies like Coral Gables-based

Americas Software “are making a bundle” in this new market,since they can hawk their product to a wide range of industries—from banks to real estate brokers—that must comply with theUSA Patriot Act.

“Most businesses are eager to comply with the new rules, butare frustrated by the contradictory mandates being put forth bydifferent agencies,” Wernick said.

Firms identified the hiring of extra staff, retraining of existingstaff, and purchasing of new security-related software systems assome of the negative consequences of the new rules.

“In addition to the cost in dollars,” Wernick said, “there is the‘hassle factor’ of not getting your goods cleared by Customs in atimely manner, or having to wait an extra month or two to pro-cure a visa for an employee you want to bring into the country.”

Hospitals, in particular, are feeling the squeeze. “Doctors and administrators from a local hospital said they

have lost patients and physicians seeking to travel to SouthFlorida for training because they were denied visas or had theirvisas approved after the fact,” Wernick said.

In some cases, a hospital executive told Wernick,patients who wish to travel to the U.S. fortreatment must submit a letter fromthe hospital to the overseasU.S. Consulate statingthat the treatmentthey seek can-not be per-formed at

home. If the operation or treatment is available in their owncountry, at any kind of facility, they may be denied a visa.

“U.S. hospitals that do a lot of ‘cash’ business with foreignpatients are suffering, and patients, too, may receive inferiorhealthcare elsewhere,” Wernick said.

Banks and financial institutions, which include everythingfrom car dealerships to pawn shops, are also facing new monitor-ing and reporting requirements under the USA Patriot Act. Forexample, former government officials, their family members, and“close associates” are now subject to intensive scrutiny. Somebanks have reported that their customers are moving their assetsto non-U.S. jurisdictions to avoid being put through a battery ofquestions that some consider intrusive and demeaning.

The penalties for non-compliance, however, are severe. As anexample, Wernick cited the travails of money services giant WesternUnion Financial Services, Inc., fined more than US$11 million forfailing to file currency transaction reports (CTRs) for customerswho had transacted more than $10,000 during one business day, asrequired by the post-9/11 revisions to the Bank Secrecy Act, and

for failing to file 63 suspicious-activity reports during athree-month period in 2002. The world’s

largest money-transfer company wasassessed a $3 million penalty by

the U.S. Department of theTreasury’s Financial

Crimes EnforcementNetwork (FinCEN)

“WE THINK IT’S OUR ‘CIVIC DUTY’ AS A

RESEARCH INSTITUTION TO PROVIDE

THIS KIND OF EXPERT INFORMATION TO

LEGISLATORS, TO HELP THEM MAKE

BETTER POLICY,” ELAM SAID. “AND IF

THEY WON’T COME TO US, WE’LL

BRING IT TO THEM,” ELAM SAID.

6769_BusAcc 9/16/04 4:25 PM Page 32


tives include the 24-Hour rule, the Container Security Initiative(CSI), and the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (C-TPAT), which promises expedited Customs clearance to compa-nies that do a security audit of their supply chain.

In addition to the new regulations, importers must contend withmore frequent and rigorous inspections of cargo, both overseas andat U.S. ports of entry, since U.S. Customs wants to make absolutelycertain that inbound containers contain the items declared on theshipping manifest—and nothingmore. This has led to recurringdelays and bottlenecks at the port.

The problem for South Florida isthat, unlike the goods arriving atother major U.S. seaports, a largepercentage of cargo—as much as40%—is transshipped. Thisincludes bananas from Ecuadordestined for Germany, flowers fromColombia destined for the U.K.,and electronics from Hong Kongdestined for Costa Rica. If these goodsget held up for a week or more due to inspections, Wernick said,they may miss the next leg of their journey. “There are also addi-tional costs for inspections and storage, and these costs and delaysmake Miami a less attractive distribution point,” he said.

“At one time, Miami was the only game in town for companiestransshipping goods to or from Latin America and the Caribbean,”Wernick said. “Now we are competing with the Bahamas, Jamaica,Panama, Trinidad, and others for this lucrative trade.”

He said that one of the people he interviewed, the president ofan importer/consolidator, said the increase in inspections anddelays since 9/11 are costing his company roughly $20,000 permonth. “That’s a bitter pill to swallow for a medium-sized com-pany that’s working on thin margins.”

Another concern of the trade, Wernick said, is the newBioterrorism Act, which applies to anyone who produces, picks,packs, or ships a food product. Companies must register with the

Food and Drug Administration,appoint a U.S. agent, provide sev-eral hours advance notification ofshipments, and furnish minutedetails about the contents of theshipment. If any of the informa-tion is incorrect or deemedincomplete, shipments can bedetained or destroyed.

“The new rules, which alreadyhave gone into effect and will beenforced beginning in August

2004, have confused nearly everyone andangered our allies who regard them as non-tariff barriers,”Wernick said. Ultimately, he said, he believes that U.S. consumerswill pick up the tab by paying more for imported produce.

“I don’t think anyone would complain about paying a few centsmore for a head of lettuce if it meant a safer product,” Wernicksaid. “Unfortunately, I’m hearing that the new law creates a lot ofadditional paperwork that will raise costs without delivering muchin the way of added security.” n

and $8 million by the New York State Banking Department. The finemarked the first time the USA Patriot Act was used against a majorfinancial firm—but certainly not the last.

INDUSTRY SECTOR: BANKING AND FINANCE‘TIME IS MONEY.’

South Florida’s money business is feeling a big pinch in profits as aresult of post-9/11 legislation and regulations, unofficially dubbed“know thy customer” policies and overseen by the U.S. Treasury’sFinancial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN).

In the name of keeping our borders safe, casinos, banks, pawnshops, brokerage and investment firms, life insurance companies, andmoney-remittance firms all are shelling out big bucks and factoringin time delays in their business transactions. For instance,

n Banks must purchase or upgrade existing anti-money laun-dering systems to check new accounts against lists of knowncriminals and terrorists and monitor account activity. Many ofthese systems use artificial intelligence and pattern-recognitiontechnologies to mine data for irregularities. Costs to deploy thesystems range from tens of thousands of dollars to over $1 mil-lion.

n Banks also are hiring new personnel to ensure they stay “in-line” with the new regulations—financial auditing and compli-ance experts such as senior compliance officers and seniorauditors who command salaries in the $100,000 and upwardrange.

“Few banks were using these systems before 9/11 because there wasno need for them,” said Kenneth Henry, a Ph.D. candidate in DecisionSciences and Information Systems and a lecturer in the School ofAccounting who has 20 years experience in the field of information andcommunication technology (ICT) used for financial auditing, includingserving as an ICT/performance audit advisor for the United StatesDepartment of the Treasury. “Pattern-matching and pattern-detectionare prime uses of ICT to detect suspicious activity” he said.

But he cautions that banks alone won’t be able to detect suspiciousactivity. By tracking across commercial networks—banks, shippers,port authorities, for example—‘cracks’ or audit risks are much morelikely to be detected.

“It will be a while longer before businesses find the optimalcombination of ‘crack detection,’ efficiency, and economy,” hesaid. “These technologies are just now being invented and cus-tomized for individual banks.”

INDUSTRY SECTOR: OCEAN CARGO FREIGHT COMPANIES CITE SHIPPING WOES.

In recent years, nearly one million tons of cargo have passedthrough the Port of Miami, making it one of the busiest seaports inthe nation. Miami is home to literally thousands of ocean cargo serv-ice companies—vessel operators, customs brokers, trucking compa-nies and freight forwarders. Their businesses have been subjected tomajor changes in regulations since 9/11. New programs and initia-

“MOST BUSINESSES ARE EAGER TO

COMPLY WITH THE NEW RULES, BUT

ARE FRUSTRATED BY THE CONTRA-

DICTORY MANDATES BEING PUT

FORTH BY DIFFERENT AGENCIES,”

WERNICK SAID.

THE PROJECT TEAMAs a researcher, analyst, and writer, David Wernick has yearsof experience reporting on international economic andsecurity issues for corporate and government clients.Whilewith the Ackerman Group, a Miami-based internationalsecurity consultancy, he traveled throughout Latin Americaand the Caribbean and wrote business and political riskassessments for multinational clients. He also has served asmanaging editor of The Latin America Advisor, and commu-nications director for The Council of the Americas andAmericas Society, headquartered in New York.

Laura Kozloski was faculty member in the College ofBusiness Administration from Fall 2000-Summer 2003. Sheleft Ryder Systems, Inc., in Brazil in 2000 after five years ofdirecting the company’s strategic analysis and research,mergers and acquisitions, and international market entrystrategies. She knows which policies work and which ones

don’t during periods of organizational transition.Thisknowledge helped to guide the study’s assessment ofwhat she calls “both direct and indirect”effects of new leg-islation. Kozloski’s hands-on understanding of internation-al market management strategies, coupled with Wernick’sextensive research experience in international business,proved to be a winning combination.

As Executive Dean of the College of BusinessAdministration, Joyce Elam is a dedicated advocate ofbusiness research and education in the private and pub-lic sectors. She is an expert in Information Technology(IT) and, in the last two years, has increased the College’sfocus on the uses of IT for security with projects such asthe Network Security Lab, the Information Security andPrivacy Professional Certification program, and theHomeland Security study.

6769_BusAcc 9/16/04 4:25 PM Page 34


Have you ever thought about the amount of private informa-tion your financial institution stores about you and/or yourclients? If you have, and if you’ve asked your banking repre-

sentative how the bank manages your secure information, you’remost likely aware that information security is a major concern forthem as it is for banks everywhere. According to the FederalFinancial Institutions Examination Council, the number of Internetusers is growing at the rate of more than two million per month,suggesting a continued expansion of electronic banking as well.

How does your bank prevent hackers from gaining access toyour data?

Richard Dobrow (BACC,’95 and MACC ’97), president andfounder of Guarded Networks, Inc., asked himself this questionwhen he started his company over three years ago. He foundanswers that have led many banks to partner with his firm to pro-vide round-the-clock network surveillance to prevent hackersfrom invading their systems.

Because of Dobrow’s extensive knowledge of and hands-onexperience in assessing and building secure network architecturesfor financial institutions, it’s no surprise that banks comprise 75%of his business today.

“Guarded Network’s technology allows us to focus on our num-ber one priority—our customers. We feel comfortable knowingthat someone is always protecting our customers’ best interests,”said Felipe Cam, information technology director and vice presi-dent at Gibraltar Bank in Coral Gables.

In simple terms, Guarded Networks, Inc. helps protect what its cor-porate customers have worked so hard to build—knowledge and net-works. His people identify, trace, and rectify security violations andunderstand the potential impact they may have had on an organiza-tion’s network environment. They also help companies develop theirinformation technology (IT) policies, assist with regulatory and indus-try IT security compliance, and provide targeted educational programsfor IT professionals and individuals seeking a career in IT security.

“Over the last few years, our strategic team has built a nation-

wide consortium of banks that sell our services,” Dobrow said.“This partnership exists in Latin America as well, where our prod-ucts are created for bilingual audiences.”

Given the ongoing threat of terrorism and the security mishapsthat frequent both businesses and individuals, he said his businessis booming. And, although competition is beginning to increasein the industry, Dobrow said his firm has a competitive advantagein several areas: Dominance in the banking industry; proprietary,cutting-edge technology; solid alliances; excellent customer serv-ice; and a variety of off-the-shelf security products for individualsand smaller businesses.

Statistics show that the IT security market is expected to beworth $14 billion by 2006. Given the industry expertise of itsBoard of Directors, which includes Carlos and Jorge de Cespedes,founders of the Pharmed Group, Dobrow said Guarded Networkswill target the healthcare industry for the majority of its new busi-ness. Other industry targets include utilities, insurance, govern-ment and education.

Dinesh Batra, associate professor in the Decision Sciences andInformation Systems Department of the College, hired Dobrowto teach several courses in the College’s Master of Science inInformation Systems (MSMIS) program.

“Teaching provides another way for me to share my resourceswith the talented individuals who will be continuing the work wehave started in the IT security industry,” he said.

Dobrow also helped create the Information Security andPrivacy certificate program now offered through the College’sOffice of Professional Education.

“Students who took Dobrow’s classes and those who have theopportunity to participate in the professional education programlearn network security hands-on and engage in scenarios involvingsecurity breaches,” Batra said. “They are challenged to detect thesecurity breaches and to take preventive measures.”

Batra added that “Network security is his business and that’swhat makes his courses exciting and memorable.” n

DOBROWPROTECTSSECURITY ON ANOTHER

FRONT.While much public attention hasbeen focused on ways to ensurethe security of our geographic borders, security threats also arebeing felt across electronic ones.

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his is my CPA. He never drops the ball,” proclaims the head-line of a framed ad hanging on the ninth floor office overlookingstunning vistas of Biscayne Bay.

The photograph features a beaming John Elway next to theCollege of Business Administration alumnus Antonio “Tony” L.Argiz (BBA ’74) in a promotional message for the AmericanInstitute of CPAs. As one of the greatest quarterbacks in NFL his-tory, Elway gets the kind of attention that a sports hero deserves.As one of Tony Argiz’s clients, Elway gets the kind of attentionthat an astute businessman covets.

Since the mid ‘90s, Argiz has been managing partner ofMorrison, Brown, Argiz & Company—a firm that ranks amongthe top 70 CPA firms in the country. He counts among his distin-guished list of clients professional sports teams such as the DenverBroncos, a number of banks, various celebrities, and more than100 automotive dealerships. In fact, he is recognized as an expertin audit services and litigation support in the automotive industry.

With more than 27 years experience in the field of publicaccounting, he is certified in five states and has lectured interna-tionally—including appearances in Switzerland and Spain.

Argiz said the success that he enjoys today has strong roots inhis beloved alma mater—Florida International University (FIU).

“Math was always my strong point,” he said. “I was awarded abaseball scholarship to FIU and happily discovered that theUniversity had a great accounting program.”

In addition to his accomplishments as an FIU starting andrelief pitcher, he quickly became known as an achiever in the aca-demic arena as well. But Argiz’s gift for numbers never diminishedhis passion for baseball, a passion birthed by his Cuban heritageand nurtured by a father who loved the sport as much as he cher-ished his beloved operettas.

“Saturday nights in my homeland always began with operettasand ended with baseball,” Argiz reminisced. “My father had abeautiful voice and knew all the operettas by heart.”

As part of the “Peter Pan Exodus,” Argiz left Cuba at the age of eight,then lived in Tampa with his older brother until his parents immigratedto the United States. He moved to Miami in 1972 to attend FIU.

He has much more than education for which to show his grati-tude to the university. It was there he met his wife, Conchi, whowas pursuing a graduate degree in education. His dedication tohis family is evident at every turn in his office, which is repletewith proud displays of family photos featuring Conchi and histhree children—Carolina, Tony, and Andy.

Also gracing his Brickell Avenue office are tributes to hisstaunch belief in giving back to his community and his industry.He has served as United Way Campaign co-chairman (2002),

chairman of FIU’s Council of 100, president of the Miami CityClub, and treasurer of the Orange Bowl Committee. He was thefirst Cuban-American appointed by a governor to Florida’s Boardof Accountancy (in which he later served as chair as well as on itsProbable Cause Panel). He is on the Council of the AmericanInstitute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), the AICPANominations Committee, Florida’s Constitution RevisionCommission, and the executive committee of the BeaconCouncil, among others.

As a strong supporter of the University, Argiz is a man wholeads by example.

“I hope to be an inspiration to others,” he said. “Our firm isproud to have recently pledged $100,000 toward the FIU’s Collegeof Business Administration. And on a personal level, I have given$35,000 in support of the University’s baseball program.”

Those who are closest to Argiz would say he is hard-workingand competitive. Argiz agrees, but said, “I like to think that I havemellowed over the years in my expectations for myself so that Ican put more energy into encouraging others to succeed.”

When asked what field he might have pursued had it not beenfor accounting, it was no surprise to hear his answer, “baseball.”

The ultimate Argiz experience, he said, would look like this: He isdressed in full Cincinnati Reds regalia, pitching the winning game ofthe world series against the New York Yankees. As Argiz describedthe scene, you could smell the pretzels, hear the roar of the crowd,and see the wonder in the face of a child whose father had plantedthe seed of unbridled possibilities decades ago in Havana.

No matter what the arena, you’ll always find Tony Argiz play-ing from an elevated position. He’ll never be one to sit on thebench—not in baseball, not in business, not in life.

He’s the kind of guy you’d expect to see on the cover of maga-zines and newspapers. (and he was— Accounting Today, 2001 andCPA Today, 1989). The kind of guy whom movers and shakershave recognized as a “rainmaker” (and he was—Miami Herald,1998). Three times he has been honored with the FIU“Outstanding Alumnus” Award and the Cuban-American CPAAssociation named him “CPA of the Year.”

He has that look that says “distinguished,” and an inner warmththat is quickly unveiled as he talks about his family, his business,his community, and his baseball. Determination and honesty arehis creed, and as the progression of his success unfurls through aninformal conversation, it is evident that Tony Argiz is totally com-fortable with who he is…a man in full. A man who loves Sundaymornings with the New York Times, chilling out on the islands ofTurks and Caicos, attending a Marlins game with his ten-year-old,and adding to the fiscal success of people like John Elway. n

Arguiz: He never drops the ball.

TONY

“T

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shared Aleman’s enthusiasm for course availability.“I used to miss a lot of classes because no one could

guarantee when they would be offered,” said Espinoza, astudent in BBA+ Sunrise. “When I heard about BBA+Sunrise, it sounded perfect for me. I never have to worryabout getting the courses I need when I need them.”

The program attracts students from within andbeyond the College who like the feeling of a small col-lege experience with the resources and activities of alarge university at hand, and who appreciate a level ofattention usually reserved for MBA candidates.

“Even though we’re undergraduates, because of thecohort structure and all the personal attention we getfrom our professors and staff members, we’re experienc-ing what people in MBA programs usually do,”Espinoza said.

He also likes the fact that the program is based onquarters, not semesters.

“I feel like I am on the fast track to my degree,” hesaid. “I’m 28 years old and I don’t want to spend muchmore time in school. This program fits my lifestyle like aring to my finger.”

DELIVERY OPTIONS THAT REFLECT WHAT STUDENTS WANT

Another feature of BBA+ that responds to student pref-erences is its emphasis on collaborative, active learning.

“We wanted to proto-type an enhanced stu-dent learning model,”said Cliff Perry, associatedean of academic affairsand academic programsin the College and facul-ty director and chiefarchitect of the BBA+Sunrise program. “Weembraced student col-laborative learning aswell as a holistic, cross-course curriculum—adeparture from havingthe student complete

twenty mutually-exclusive courses.” BBA+ includes a specially designed business calcu-

lus course in addition to its integrated, enhancedcurriculum.

“Dr. Perry wanted to take a whole new approach inthe program,” said Moe Izadpanah, director of onlinelearning, whose office helped with instructionaldesign. “He wanted the courses to interrelate. Also, hewanted to use technology to support collaborative,active learning.”

According to Dr. Nancy A. Rauseo, an instructor inmarketing who teaches in the program, “We coordi-nate among the instructors to ensure that learning isintegrated each term and that there’s a common threadthroughout the entire program.”

The students readily perceive the commitment to anintegrated approach.

“All three professors are there on the first day of eachterm,” Espinoza said. “They communicate with eachother throughout the term and participate in each other’sclasses. I like the fact that there’s integration amongthem as well as among the students in my cohort.”

For example, team projects—such as business devel-opment and marketing plans—are related to all thecourses the students are taking that quarter, and allthree professors evaluate the work.

BBA+ puts different demands on instructors and

I could besure that I

would finish mydegree on

schedule.Jesus Aleman,

(BBA 04), IT manager for aglobal company

ith a full-time job, afamily, and a desire to

move up the profes-sional ladder, Bob Hartman(BBA ’02; MSMIS ’03) needed away to complete his educationthat would fit his busy lifestyle.

“If I had had to go to classesevery night, it would have beenhard on my family,” saidHartman, director of applicationsdevelopment at Carnival CruiseLines for the past four years.“Also, as I tried to plan myschedule, I would have had towork around the availability ofthe classes I needed.”

“I have a very busy, hectic work schedule,” said MariaPulles, operations manager at Wal-Mart. “I have beenout of school for ten years but have never been able tofinish my degree because I don’t have time to spendtwelve hours a week in a classroom.”

These two hard-working professionals are among thegrowing number of students who have found an idealsolution in the College of Business Administration’sBBA+. BBA+, a cohort-based, lock-step program, givesstudents the chance to earn a business degree quickly:BBA+ Weekend takes just seven twelve-week sessions tocomplete, while BBA+ Sunrise (formerly Early BirdBBA) and BBA+ Sunset can be completed in as little aseighteen months.

BBA+ Weekend matched Hartman’s requirements,while Pulles found BBA+ Sunrise “perfect” for her lim-ited availability. It will enable her to complete herdegree through three short morning classes per week,combined with a hefty technology-assisted componentthat she can do on her own time. (See related articleabout technology-enabled learning on page 44.)

“I may work sixteen hours a day for a stretch, thenhave two consecutive days off,” she said. “Thanks to thetechnology-assisted classes, I can make excellent use of mytime… when I have it. This program is a combination ofhands-on learning, freedom, and what’s convenient.”

Not only can students choose the time that suitsthem best, but also they can opt to take the BBA+ pro-gram at both the Florida International University (FIU)Pines Center in Pembroke Pines and the UniversityPark campus in state-of-the-art facilities.

OFFERING A HIGH LEVEL OF ATTENTION,SERVICE, AND RESPONSIVENESS

The program is replete with “extra” services (hencethe “+”) to accommodate the multiple demands thatstudents who are working professionals often juggle.

“We get our registration materials in the mail,” Pullessaid. “I don’t have all day to stand in a registration line.Avoiding that is the extra gravy to me … and I don’tmind paying for it.”

Jesus Aleman (BBA ’04), who graduated from BBA+Weekend, agreed.

“The staff helped with registration and with otherprocedures,” said Aleman, IT manager for a globalcompany, who wants to move into a CIO position andknows he’ll need the right degree. “I could be sure thatI would finish my degree on schedule. Also, I didn’thave to spend time planning what I would take andwhen. That’s all taken care of for you.”

Jose Espinoza, operations manager for Sode TechCorp, an engineering company that serves as a contrac-tor for the Mexican government in the military area,

This program is a combination

of hands-on learning,freedom,and what s

convenient.Maria Pulles,

(BBA+ Sunrise),OperationsManager, Wal-Mart

W

meets working professionals’ preferences...and then some.

6769_BusAcc 9/16/04 4:26 PM Page 40


students than they face in a conventional course. “Those of us who teach in the program function more as facilita-

tors and coaches than as lecturers,” Rauseo said. “Our studentslearn concepts, but more importantly, they apply them to real-world situations. In each course, we emphasize interaction, discus-sion, and critical thinking, and we verify that our students areengaged in critical thinking by including oral exams.”

The relevance of the courses and projects has been a boon forPulles.

“What I’m learning is very current and I put it touse it right away…sometimes the same day,” she said.“When I was taking a management class, I was alsoteaching new managers. I’d learn a concept in class inthe morning and then teach it at work in the after-noon.”

In addition, Pulles does monthly training of twentycustomer service representatives, drawing materialfrom her BBA+ Sunrise courses.

To maximize the students’ interaction with the pro-fessors and among cohort members, the technologycomponent of the course has been carefully structured.

“I’ve taken online courses at other universities, andI’m really impressed with this program, which is farbetter than anything I’ve encountered before,” Espinozasaid. “There’s a huge amount of communicationthrough e-mail, chat rooms, and discussion forums. Weget lots of evaluation, both of our Internet work and inclass. The whole program was very well thought out.”

ENRICHING THE PROGRAM THROUGH DIVERSITY

“We’ve gotten strong interest from individuals look-ing to bring their real-life experiences and issues into theclassroom, which deepens the program for both studentsand faculty,” said Donald Roomes, BBA+ director andinstructor. Among the participants are high school grad-uates in their early 20s as well as working professionalsin their 40s representing diverse areas such as banking,

law, real estate, healthcare, and finance. “The people in my cohort were generally a little older than I

am, and I felt I benefited from the life experience of the VPs andmanagers in my group,” Aleman said. Hartman, the only IT pro-fessional in his cohort, and Pulles agreed.

“There was added value for me because of the different back-grounds of my colleagues, who were experienced stockbrokers,bankers, and insurance brokers, among others.” Hartman said.

According to Pulles, who had been out of school for ten yearsbefore starting BBA+ Sunrise, “We’re already profes-sionals. We know what we want. This program is tak-ing us to another level.”

Another important aspect of the program is its atten-tion to community leadership.

“As part of its community service project, one cohortin BBA+ Weekend raised more than $7,000 through‘Relay for Life,’ which benefits cancer patients,” Roomessaid. “The effort demonstrated the commitment ourstudents bring to this aspect of their education.” (See thearticle on civic engagement on page 47 for more details aboutthe important role community service plays in the College.)

By soliciting input from students, faculty, and employ-ers, who sometimes pay for their employees to attend,Perry plans to alter the program as necessary to ensure itremains responsive to the needs of its constituencies.

“To best meet the needs of everyone involved, we’reopen to modifying meeting times, the type of technolo-gy we use, and when and where we offer the programin the future,” he said.

Even as the program evolves, it will continue toreflect a philosophy of education based on opportunity.

“We should provide access and inspire students tostrive for lifelong learning,” Roomes said. “Many ofthe students in the program would not be able toattend a traditional BBA program or would requiremany years to complete it. Now, they can finish theirBBA quickly and move on to their next professionalor academic goals.” n

There wasadded

value for mebecause of the

differentback-

groundsof my

colleagues. Bob Hartman,

(BBA 02; MSMIS03), Director ofApplications

Development,Carnival Cruise

Lines

BBA+Accelerating time to degree

“‘Time to degree’ is important to our students andbecame an important issue to the Florida Legislature inthe early to mid ’90s,” said Donald Roomes, instructor anddirector of the BBA+ program.“Since most of the studentsin the College work, it could take them three or four yearsto complete the two years of required classes.”

Work hours of seniors graduating from the College ofBusiness Administration in 2003

None: 18 percent 1-20 hours per week: 18 percent21-30 hours per week: 20 percent31-40 hours per week: 22 percentMore than 40 hours per week: 22 percent

Even though we re undergraduates, because of the cohort structure and all the personal attention

we get from our professors and staff members, we re experiencing what people in

MBA programs usually do. Jose Espinoza, (BBA+ Sunrise), Operations Manager, Sode Tech Corp.

Enjoy a small-college experience within a large university environment. To find out how, visit http://bbaplus.fiu.edu or call 305-FIU-4052 TODAY!

+The College of Business Administration puts the in undergraduate business education!

BBA+Weekend (21 months)

Sunrise (18 months)+ delivers extras like

• Convenience• Personal service• Known-time to graduation • Innovative teaching• Customized curriculum design with special

business calculus course• Collaborative, active, team-based learning• Web-assisted, technology-enabled instruction• Small, cohort classes with close faculty-student interaction• Built-in mentorships and career services• State-of-the art learning facilities

6769_BusAcc 9/16/04 4:26 PM Page 42


said. “I interacted with everyone, getting feedback from other stu-dents and the professor on a discussion page. Not only did theprofessors communicate directly with each of us, but also theyhad online office hours, which made them very accessible.”

Many professors use more feedback and more assessment toolswhen teaching over the Internet than in traditional courses, includ-ing mid-term and final exams, quizzes, projects,and participation in the discussion forums.

“In my technology-enabled courses, I basesixty to seventy percent of the grade on proj-ects, along with interchanges in the Internetdiscussion forums,” Rauseo said. “In a tradi-tional course, a student may derive as muchas eighty percent of his or her grade onlyfrom exams.”

The College’s Office of Online Learning hasbeen supporting technology-enabled collabora-tive learning and course delivery since 1998.The effort began with a modest selection—fewer than ten pilot courses. In response to the ever-increasingdemand for them, the College now offers more than fifty suchcourses and sixty blended (a combination of technology-enabledand in-class instruction) options.

More than 4,000 students a year avail themselves of the oppor-tunity to complete some, or all, of their third and fourth years of business coursework from home and office, according to MoeIzadpanah, director of online learning in the College.

The selections have proven popular with instructors as well:Twenty-five faculty members teach the collaborative learning,Internet-based courses and 35 teach courses that blend technolo-gy-enabled and face-to-face instruction.

The Office of Online Learning now offers all the coursesrequired for an international business major and a finance major

using this technology-enabled model.In addition to student-centered learning

and convenience, these courses provide anexcellent way for the College to extend itsreach into the community.

“People in the immediate area and beyondwho want to take a business course with usreally like the convenience of these courses,”Izadpanah said. “Because we run our officelike a business, we focus on providing top-of-the-line service to students, enhancing cours-es with new technology and constantlyimproving the experience for people who

choose to do coursework this way.”Konobeck can summarize her reaction to her experiences with

technology-enabled collaborative learning in a word: “Perfect.”Currently a consultant with Kadix Systems, an Arlington, VA-based firm, Konobeck said, “I loved it. I was able to concentrateon what I needed to learn, and I wouldn’t have been able to finishmy degree as quickly as I did otherwise. Best of all, I use what Ilearned all the time in my job.” n

s it possible to offer high-caliber college courses beyond thewalls of a classroom?

In the business school, the answer is yes. After careful initial research, and with ongoing evaluation of its

offerings, the College of Business Administration (CBA) has fash-ioned a number of courses that include technology to strengthenthe collaborative, active learning of its students. Using theInternet as its primary tool and without sacrificing the rigors asso-ciated with conventional classroom learning, the College’s Web-based collaborative learning pedagogy is facilitated through itsOffice of Online Learning. (See related article on page 40 on programs for working professionals for details on the vision behindcourses with technology-enabled collaborative components.)

Working full-time in a human resources position at a Miami lawfirm left Kristie Konobeck (BBA ’03) little leeway in her scheduleto continue her work toward a degree in business. After taking anInternet-based course or two for several semesters, she appreciatedtheir educational value as well as their convenience and increasedher online course load to a full eighteen credits per semester.

“I got lots more homework than in a traditional class, I inter-acted with my classmates more than I did in my regular classes,and I had to apply more of the learning through projects,”Konobeck said. “I also loved the flexibility of being able to do thework at my own pace and as my schedule permitted.”

Beyond supporting collaborative work, the technology alsomakes individual feedback easy.

“I felt more comfortable having a dialogue with my professors

and classmates through discussion forums on the Internet than Idid in person,” Konobeck said.

Nancy A. Rauseo, an instructor in marketing who has taughtthese technology-enabled courses for three years, explained that awell-designed Internet-based course challenges students intellectu-ally and gives them ample opportunity to engage effectively withteachers and fellow students. In addition, the courses put heavyemphasis on active learning.

“I include a lot of active learning, which is also the philosophybehind the BBA+ programs,” Rauseo said. “With active learning,students get to put into practice the concepts they learn, whichhelps prepare them for the highly competitive business environ-ment they’ll encounter. We use the techniques of interaction, dis-cussion, and critical thinking—all of which can be accomplishedas effectively over the Internet as in a classroom.”

Konobeck appreciated the emphasis on practical experience.“We had to apply more of what we were learning, which meantwe learned more in the end,” she said.

To ensure that active learning takes place, Rauseo regularlyposts questions on a discussion page, provides feedback, andassigns a project weekly. And because the professors facilitate andcoach the sessions, rather than simply lecture, the students maketheir own discoveries.

To complete projects, students often work as teams, devisingmarketing plans or analyzing a case study together, either in per-son or virtually.

“About ninety percent of my work was group work,” Konobeck

We had to applymore of what we

were learning,which meant we

learned more in theend. Kristie

Konobeck (BBA 03)

Collegeuses technology toenhance collaborative,active learning.

I

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Community ConnectionsCommunity Connections


“I wanted to be a hot shot manager or CEO until I gotinvolved with civic engagement through the College ofBusiness Administration,” said Henry Fernandez (BBA ’02).“Itcompletely changed my career path. I’m now going for a Masterof Public Administration instead of an MBA.”

Whatever it’s called—civic engagement, corporate citizenship,or service learning—it’s happening at business schools and oncampuses across the country.

“Civic engagement is a way for the College to provide knowl-edge, expertise, technology, and resources locally through proj-ects that center on the importance of sharing, community, andreciprocity,” said Robert “Dr.Bob” Hogner, associate professor ofmanagement and international business, who officially heads upthe College’s Civic Engagement Initiative.

“By teaching students principles of service to use in the everydaypractice of business, we’re trying to transform workplaces,”he said.

Considering the scandals in the business world in the lastdecade, it’s no surprise that such an effort is needed. FromEnron to Martha Stewart to MCI/WorldCom’s $11 billionaccounting “mishap” in 2002, the media has reported on count-less stories of companies doctoring books, high-profile peoplecaught red-handed in insider trading activities, and other unsa-vory business practices.

In the face of eroding valuesamong business leaders, educatorsat the College hope to teach stu-dents some important lessons,“offthe books.”

The effort seems to be working.Among many projects, studentsfrom the College have built housesfor Habitat for Humanity, collectedfood and money for the Daily BreadFood Bank, and provided much-needed school supplies for childrenof low-income families throughdonations to the Salvation Army

and the Downtown Miami Homeless Assistance Center.Though some corporations are examples of how not to behave,

others have a solid tradition of supporting community service.KPMG is among the many big-name companies that have set upfoundations to help foster old-fashioned values in students, a prac-tice that’s becoming more widespread.Whether it’s a movementto generate good “PR,” a pre-emptive strike to distance companiesfrom the tarnished images of corporations like Enron, or honest-to-goodness “good Samaritanism” in business cultures, corporate citi-zenship “is always a good thing,” according to Hogner.

Enterprise Rent-A-Car believes in leading by example. As abusiness partner of the College, Enterprise has long been inter-ested in Hogner’s programs and has been there to help by pro-viding services and donating cash.

“More than once, I’ve called on them at the 11th hour andthey’ve responded enthusiastically,” Hogner said.

Through the Enterprise Rent-A-Car Foundation, a charitablearm of Enterprise Rent-A-Car, the company has given nearly $38million to numerous not-for-profit organizations in the communi-

ties where they do business. The Foundation’s mission statementreads, in part,“… employees are the key … our charitable contri-butions and giving nature are almost entirely employee-driven.”

One such Enterprise employee is Chad Naylor, RegionalRecruiting Manager, whose wife, Melissa (BBA ’03) was a student inone of Hogner’s classes. One Thursday evening, she had mentionedto him an upcoming food drive at the College.

“I immediately sent an e-mail message to our 27 branches,and by Saturday, boxes of food had been collected at 20 of

them,” Naylor said. He took a van, gathered the boxes, thendelivered them to the campus and a surprised, elated Hogner.

“This is a model that works and that businesses everywhere canemulate,”Hogner said.“This is whatwe’re trying to teach our futurebusiness leaders here at FIU—toget involved!”

There are three ways in whichthe College gives students oppor-tunities to do just that—throughservice components in variouscourses, in a unique class dedicatedto service learning, and throughthe Miami Benefits Club, Inc.

A number of professors incor-porate service learning in theirclasses, which include Community and Business Leadership,Community Service Management, Business in Society, andBusiness Ethics. For example, in 2000, Hogner’s Business Ethicsclass started the Miami-Jackson Senior High School project. FIUstudents mentored juniors at this magnet school located inBrownsville/Liberty City, a low-income, predominantly African-American neighborhood of Greater Miami.

“They learned about the principles of ethics in their books andlearned the rewards of acting in an ethically-minded waythrough the mentoring project,” Hogner said of his students.

“I am so elated by my experiences in the mentoring project

“The opportunities students find through

service give them a senseof responsibility

that can’t be taught in a classroom.” Bob Hogner,

head of the CivicEngagement Initiative,

College of BusinessAdministration

“My service experiencesaccelerated my interest.

I’d never taken the opportunity to get

involved, but this pushreally stimulated me, andI’m still burning with the

desire to do more.”Vinetta Lang (BBA ’03)

FACULTY IN THE CIVIC ENGAGEMENT INITIATIVE

Bob Hogner, “Dr. Bob”Twenty-five-year Florida International University (FIU) veteranfaculty director of the International Business Honors Program,faculty director of the College’s FIPSE grants (the U.S. govern-ment’s Fund for Improvement of Post-Secondary Education),and faculty member in FIU’s Honor’s College

David Lavin,Associate Professor of Accounting

Karen Paul,Professor of Management and International Business

Dasaratha Rama,Professor of Decision Sciences and Information Systems

Philip Shepherd,Associate Professor of Marketing and Business Environment

Deborah Vidaver-Cohen,Associate Professor of Business Ethics and Environment

Civic engagement improves communities and enriches lives.

Civic engagementimproves communitiesand enriches lives.

6769_BusAcc 9/16/04 4:26 PM Page 46

A recent $5.5 million gift from retired chairman and CEO ofAmerican Bankers Insurance Group and philanthropist R. KirkLandon marked the largest cash gift ever bestowed on theCollege by an individual and has been recognized with theestablishment of the R. Kirk Landon Undergraduate School ofBusiness. As the gift qualifies for the State of Florida MatchingFunds Program, it will provide up to $11 million in total sup-port. It marks an important milestone in the history of theCollege and represents a significant investment in its stu-dents—the future leaders of South Florida.

The money will be used for enhancing and endowing theCollege’s facilities and programs.

“I consider this an investment in the economic future of SouthFlorida,” said Landon, a resident of Coral Gables who has beena supporter of Florida International University (FIU) since itsbeginnings, when he became a member of both the 1972 FIUadvisory board and the University’s Founders Council. Inrecent years, his interest has centered increasingly on theCollege of Business Administration, whose graduates he hashired consistently and with whose vision and growth he hascome to identify.

“It’s clear that FIU’s College of Business Administration isbecoming recognized as one of the country’s leading businessschools,” Landon said.“I’m proud to play a part in fostering its

development of future business leaders for South Florida andfor the Americas.”

According to College Executive Dean Joyce Elam, this sizeablegift from Landon and the naming of the College’s undergradu-ate school in his honor serves as an inspiration to faculty, staff,and students, both present and future.

“Our faculty, staff and students are proud to work within aschool that carries the Landon name,” Elam said. “He’s asuccessful businessman well known for his far-sightedconcern for his employees and for his desire to give backto his community.”

Landon’s passion for education has been longstanding. Duringhis 47-year tenure at American Bankers, for instance, he creat-ed a pre-school for employees’ children and made a donationto the Georgia Institute of Technology for the construction of adaycare facility. He has supported nursing education by pro-viding funds to establish a clinical laboratory, contributed tothe building of the Landon Family Garden on the grounds ofthe Miami Project to Cure Paralysis, and donated toCommunity Partnership for the Homeless, the Miami Children’sMuseum and several arts organizations.

For additional details, be sure to read the Summer 2004 issueof FIU Magazine.

Community Connections



that I am excited about continuing to help in my community,”said Vinetta Laing (BBA ’03). “I had one-on-one conversations withthe kids one day a week for a semester and could really see wherethey needed help in preparing for college and with family issues.”

Laing also worked alongside Executive Dean Joyce Elam, facul-ty, and alumni on a Habitat for Humanity project.

“My service experiences accelerated my interest,” Laingsaid.“I’d never taken the opportunity to get involved, but thispush really stimulated me, and I’m still burning with the desireto do more.”

Other opportunities abound. For example, the InternationalBusiness Students Honor Society, founded in late 2003, was a cata-lyst for Aydin Bonabi (BBA ’04), who became involved with Doctors

without Borders. It was a nat-ural fit for a person who hascrossed many borders him-self. Bonabi was born in Iran,spent most of his life inGermany, and came to theUnited States in 1997.

“The Society plans tohave an annual fund-raisertargeting AIDS in a differentregion each year,” he said.

Bonabi intends to applyto law school and focus oninternational law andhuman rights—further evi-

dence of his civic commitment. And even while he’s in lawschool, he plans to stay involved with community projects.

“I expect to concentrate on my studies during the school termand focus on service projects over the summers,” he said.

The efforts require faculty dedication, too. David Lavin, associ-ate professor of accounting, works weekends betweenNovember and April preparing accounting undergraduates toparticipate in the IRS’s Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA)program, which helps low-income earners fill out tax forms. Hetrains the students to use the software program TaxWise and toprepare the various forms required by the IRS.

Now in its second year, the program attracted more than 90 stu-dents who completed returns in about half an hour. Several dedi-cated students from last year’s group of more than 50 VITA partici-pants helped Lavin with the training.

“It’s certainly a taxing effort,” Lavin said.“Pun intended. Butit’s a successful and rewarding program, and I’m happy to playa part.”

Students in the BBA+ Weekend program also engage in civicactivities in their required Business in Society course, taught by“Dr. Bob.” They’ve completed several ambitious projects, includ-

ing a holiday party at the Homeless Assistance Center, a fooddrive that filled the cupboards of the Daily Bread Food Bankwith two vans-full of food, and the 1st Annual Tools for Schooldrive, which in 2003 collected nearly $8,000 in cash and sup-plies for 450 youngsters, sending them off to their first day ofschool with backpacks full of pencils, erasers, lunchboxes, andlots of other goodies.

The second way in which students can take advantage of civicengagement opportunities is in Service Learning, which, accord-ing to Hogner, is the only business school course in the countrydedicated entirely to the subject. It’s devoted to giving its partici-pants hands-on experience in developing and managing servicelearning projects and in gaining theoretical knowledge in thedeveloping service learning field. Students must demonstratetheir understanding of two required books, but the meat of thisclass happens outside the classroom. Each student is required tohelp develop and manage a service learning project.

The Miami Benefits Club, Inc., provides a third way for any-one to get involved in the community. Founded in 1999 with acharitable fund from the Dade Community Foundation, theMiami Benefits Club joined forces with the College in 2001.Since then, it has been able to provide the Greater Miami com-munity with close to a thousand hours of service and todeploy hundreds of volunteers.

“The service projects I did through the Miami Benefits Clubwere my proudest moments as an undergraduate,” Fernandezsaid.“I met people in the community and learned about planning,organizing, and managing a project.”

He worked in the Community Partnership for the Homeless, inwhich students help prepare and serve food or work in thewarehouse. He’s also been involved with NeighborhoodEnhancement Teams: cadres of students who clean up litter oreven paint houses.

Like Hogner, Fernandez wants to be sure such efforts continue.“I’m mentoring students so that I can leave a legacy of know-

ing others will lead and manage projects when I’m gone,” he said.

His attitude embodies Hogner’s belief that “The opportunitiesstudents find through service give them a sense of responsibilitythat can’t be taught in a classroom.”

Civic involvement benefits participants far beyond the way itmakes them feel. According to Naylor, students with such experi-ences are more attractive prospects for the managerial positionshe fills at Enterprise.

“In the four years I’ve been recruiting in South Florida, thenumber of FIU grads we’ve hired has jumped from 35 percent to75 percent,” Naylor said.“The FIU students are strong candidatesin part because of their genuine, clear interest in finding ways tohelp the community.” n

“The service projects I did through the MiamiBenefits Club were my

proudest moments as anundergraduate. I met

people in the communityand learned about

planning, organizing, andmanaging a project.”

Henry Fernandez (BBA ’02)

“I consider this an investment in the economic future of South Florida.”

Kirk Landon

Civic engagement improves communitiesand enriches lives.

Gift prompts creation of r. kirk landonundergraduate school of business.

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CASE STUDY: Kuldeep KumarWhen Disaster Strikes: Perfecting theLogistics of Saving Lives

In a cataclysmic situation, we put our trust in the experts: thepolice, firefighters, and the Red Cross. Over the years, the RedCross has become the symbol of help in times of duress, rushingmedical aid and life-saving supplies to disaster sites, even in themost remote corners of the world.

Kuldeep Kumar, an expert in logistics and supply chain manage-ment and Professor and Ryder Eminent Scholar in DecisionSciences and Information Systems, was in India, traveling fromBombay to Aknau, the day the massive earthquake shook theprovince of Gujarat, killing more than 20,000 and injuring hun-dreds of thousands more. He wondered how the Red Cross hadlearned and honed its ability to assemble and deploy people andsupplies so rapidly to disaster areas everywhere. He recognizedthat the information could help students learn about logistics inproduction and operations management, supply chain manage-ment, and non-profit management issues.

Commonly known as the Red Cross, the International Federation ofthe Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) is the world’s largesthumanitarian organization,with more than 60 field offices strategical-ly positioned around the world. It provides assistance to more than 30million people annually

The challenge to the Red Cross is that,“One never knows whatmay happen, when something may happen, or where it mayhappen,” Kumar said.“With the unpredictable always in play, thebest the agency can do is to have a solid, strategic, rapid-response plan in place.”

Kumar’s interest in principles of dynamic supply chain man-agement had formed before the 2001 earthquake. In 1999, hemet Lynn Fritz, then CEO of Fritz Companies, a multi-million dol-lar logistics company. Fritz was leaving industry for philanthropyand wanted to create a think tank of experts who could brain-storm disaster management practices. He recruited Kumar to

serve as chair of the Crossroads Supply Chain Forum for the FritzInstitute, a foundation whose mission is “mobilizing disaster man-agement expertise.”With the support of the National ScienceFoundation (NSF), Kumar traveled to Geneva in the summer of2000 to continue his research in dynamic supply chains.

While there, he had learned from Bernard Chomilier, head of theLogistics and Resource Mobilization (LRM) department of the IFRCand representatives of several other disaster relief agencies head-quartered in Geneva, that the challenges to disaster relief agenciesare threefold: under-supply, over-demand, and unpredictability.TheLRM department, for example, depends on a full-time staff of onlysix (the rest are temporary and people “on loan”from other parts ofthe organization) and has a consistent under-supply of disasterrelief goods—food, medicine, shelter, cash—with which to work.

How would the agency fare in the aftermath of the Gujaratearthquake, especially since the epicenter of the quake was inone of the least accessible parts of India, a country that boasts thesecond largest and one of the poorest populations on earth? “Thetask,” Kumar said,“was massive.” And there turned out to be sub-stantial differences between theory and practice.

In theory, Gujarat should have been managed as follows: theField Assessment and Coordination Team (FACT) would arrive toassess the situation and report back to suppliers what wasneeded, where it was needed, and how best to get it there. TheLogistics Team then would tackle the complex matching ofdemand and supply, managing the warehouses and determin-ing how best to meet the demand for relief; and the relief dele-gates would define the needs, pull the items out of the ware-houses, and distribute them to the needy.

The case reveals what actually took place. Out of necessity, FACTwas drawn into operational activities from the minute it arrived inGujarat. Nearly a week elapsed before it was able to communicateany reliable information on the extent of the disaster.The LogisticsTeam couldn’t get a clear picture without FACT’s information.

Timing and “tracking” (inventory control) also are crucial to theeffectiveness of disaster relief management. InGujarat, the relief delegates arrivedtwo days after the supplies did.Everyone on hand,including mem-bers of FACT, waspulled aside tobecome tempo-rary relief dele-gates. They per-formed these dutieswithout tracking sup-plies, which, in addi-tion to being againstIFRC procedures, threw




the onsite “supply closet” into disorganization and made the jobfor the Logistics Team that much more difficult.

The team regrouped three months after leaving India for adebriefing at which they recounted their successes and mistakes,looking for ways to incorporate the lessons into their responseand relief plan. On an ongoing basis, students reading and dis-cussing the case learn important management principles fromthe experts themselves.

“IFRC—Choreographer of Disaster Management: TheGujarat Earthquake,” published by INSEAD in 2002, was writ-ten by Research Associate Ramina Samii and Luk VanWassenhov of INSEAD, together with Kumar and Irma Becerra-Fernandez, also in the College of Business Administration.

CASE STUDY: Irma Becerra-FernandezIrma Becerra-Fernandez’s

case studies have “All theRight Stuff.”

What do IBM’s implementation of SAP,a strategic growth management compa-ny, an international merger of e-com-merce consulting firms, and knowledgemanagement (KM) at the NationalAeronautic and Space Administration(NASA) have in common?

The answer is the attentive eye of Irma Becerra-Fernandez, anassociate professor of decision sciences and information systemsin the College of Business Administration, whose background inengineering has made her a rising star in the fields of informa-tion systems, artificial intelligence, and knowledge management.

To facilitate classroom discussion in her “OrganizationInformation Systems” graduate courses, Becerra-Fernandez usescase studies, combining those she has co-authored and thosefrom Harvard, which represent the “standard” in case methodinstruction in business education.

Her cases, which focus on how organizations try to manageand grow their businesses using technology, are very appealingfor a number of reasons.

“They profile organizations in the southeastern United States,from technology-based startups to large, well-recognized corpo-rations; they’re all about real-life scenarios; and they presenttechnologically-savvy and entrepreneurially-minded companies,”Becerra-Fernandez said.

For example, students who aspire to working in a large corpo-rate environment learn a great deal from her cases on SAP tech-nology at IBM. By visiting with knowledge managers at Big Blue’sNorth Carolina Research Triangle Park facility, Becerra-Fernandezwas able to study key aspects of IBM’s SAP implementation, the

world’s second-largest implementation of theenterprise resource planning (ERP) software.She co-authored one case that detailedbest practices in project management forSAP implementations. Another focusedon factors for success in organizationsthat use SAP by looking at IBM’s use ofthe software in “longitudinal progres-sion” (study over time).

In a case about MetalSpectrum,Becerra-Fernandez outlined principlesof strategic growth management,chronicling how members of anindustry worked together to opti-mize and tap into theInternet. The partnerscreated and financiallybacked the technolog-ically-progressivebusiness-to-business (B2B) marketplace called MetalSpectrum,which went live in 2000.

MetalSpectrum had hoped to tap into the U.S. metals market,worth $100 billion; in 1999, it was expected that between 25 and50 percent of that market would go online in the next five years.However, MetalSpectrum lost steam and signed off in 2001 dueto “a combination of poor market conditions and slower useradoption [than predicted],” according to CEO Alan Turfe.

Despite its short Internet existence, all was not lost.MetalSpectrum’s ahead-of-the-curve software now serves as anextranet for Alcoa and other MetalSpectrum backers.

Still another kind of partnership commanded Becerra-Fernandez’s attention in the Semtor and iReality Group (iRG)merger case, essentially the story of an international unionbetween two e-commerce consulting firms.

Located in Hong Kong, iRG was seeking a U.S.-based consult-ing firm that could help provide support to its customers forsystems and organizational integration projects. Semtor, ayoung e-commerce consulting firm based in Weston, Florida,was an attractive candidate. The cyberspace match enabled thetwo firms to add to one another’s core competencies and tospan the globe.

“Such a merger between a local firm in South Florida and aninternational firm is very exciting for our students,” Becerra-Fernandez said.“It gives many of them, who are entrepreneursthemselves, the idea that they can take their businesses global.”

But it’s really the NASA case that provides the “rocket booster”for her graduate students, revealing that even an organizationmade up of the best and brainiest engineers and scientists in theworld has growing pains. Faced with budget and personnel cutsin the early 1990s, NASA had to determine how to continue its

At around 8:50 a.m. local time on Friday26th January, 2001, a series of earthquakespeaking at a massive 7.9 on the Richter scalehit Gujarat, one of India’s four wealthieststates. The epicenter of what turned out to bethe most destructive quake in independentIndia’s history was 20 km from the city ofBhuj, one of the least accessible parts of the

country… Search and rescue operations involving military forcesand volunteers were confronted with a massive task.

–Excerpted from the INSEAD case study,“IFRC—Choreographer ofDisaster Management: The Gujarat Earthquake”

Case studies: Faculty’s work with organizations benefits them as well as students.


6769_BusAcc 9/16/04 4:26 PM Page 50

To assist it in developing timely programs for preparing effec-tive business leaders, managers, and entrepreneurs, the Collegeof Business Administration has built and continues to refine thestructure of its advisory boards.

Populated largely by senior-level directors, regional managers,and owners of their own enterprises, these business expertsshare real-world experience—from strategic to tactical—withdecision-makers at the College.

Exciting plans are underway to reorganize the structure of theChapman School’s program advisory boards. Though specificdetails are in the still in the works, the boards will involve busi-ness leaders in an array of activities.

Two existing advisory boards, one for the Office of ProfessionalEducation (OPE) and the other for the School of Accounting, illus-trate ways in which such groups help to shape and support theCollege’s programs.

Resident expert creates the Office of Professional Education board.

To develop an advisory board for the Office of ProfessionalEducation (OPE), the office’s Director of Business DevelopmentVince Daniels needed only to look at his own research. Hisexperience in creating the College’s International MBA program (IMBA Advisory Board—IBAB), which he managed for several years, led him to write an article to help others dothe same.

In “Building a Successful Business Advisory Board,” publishedin the Spring 2003 MBA Roundtable Journal, Daniels shares les-sons that he learned while forming the IBAB board and from hisexperiences as a member of Thunderbird’s World BusinessAdvisory Council.

“One of the most important factors in building an effectiveadvisory board is to organize it as an advice-giving organ whosecounsel must be given full consideration and implemented whensound and practical,” Daniels said.

Because the OPE does not have a student body, and because itoffers so many courses, Daniels faced several challenges fordevising an appropriate board—a process that continues tounfold. (See the OPE program brief for details on the short-duration,non-degree, in-house and customized programs OPE offers to work-ing professionals.)



“The Advisory Board for the School ofAccounting isn’t about give and take,”said Carlos Sabater, (BACC ’81), Deloitte& Touche LLP–South Florida and PuertoRico Managing Partner.“It’s 100 percentabout give.”

Although earlier attempts to create aflourishing board for the School had notsucceeded, new efforts under Sabater’sleadership are adding up to success.

“We plan to have a very small board—maybe fewer than adozen people from the top of their organizations—that willfocus entirely on helping to produce the top accounting stu-dents in the country,” he said.

Fortunately, the board is starting with a program on firm foot-ing. The College’s School of Accounting is the largest in the U.S.It’s alumni constitute about thirty percent of the professionalstaff in the Deloitte & Touche Miami office. Also, the School ofAccounting has long held the distinction of being one of thehighest performing schools in the United States on theCertified Public Accountant (CPA) exam.

However, there are challenges. According to Sabater, as the pro-gram at FIU broadened to concentrate on what he described as“creating better accountants rather than merely people whodid well on the exam,” the scores declined slightly.

A second challenge results from increased competition.

“FIU students used to be chosen immediately for the jobsthey wanted,” Sabater said.“Now, they may get the jobs theydesire, but they have to compete against graduates fromother Florida universities.”

The board will address this competitive situation throughtwo means: money and knowledge.

“We want to be sure that the School gets its fair share of fund-ing from within the University system,” he said. The board alsoplans to help raise funds from the community through match-ing gift programs at accounting firms and corporations. (Seerelated article on advisory boards for details about theplanned use of the funds for the School of Accounting.)

Though money is important,“knowledge is as important,”Sabater said. To ensure that the School gained a clear idea ofwhat the business community is looking for, he set up meet-ings between the managing partners at major accountingfirms and Dana Forgione, director of the School ofAccounting, and the College of Business Administration’sExecutive Dean Joyce Elam.

“I give these two credit for going to see the managing part-ners to find out what they need and to solicit their ideasabout how to improve the School,” Sabater said.

Sabater also believes that students must understand theglobal context of the accounting world. According to him,firms that try to recruit from FIU too often find its studentsfocused only on South Florida—a mindset he hopes willchange through education.

In addition to chairing the Advisory Board for the School ofAccounting, Sabater serves on the College’s Dean’s Council,the Board of Directors of the FIU Foundation, and on theboards of the Little Havana Activity Center, the GreaterMiami Chamber of Commerce, and the YMCA. n



level of operation within the bounds of a massive downsize anda general shift in employee responsibility from “doers” to “over-seers.” Because the agency was facing a 33 percent reduction incontractor services and a 54 percent reduction in civil serviceemployees, staff members had to switch gears from learning andknowing how to do their job to supervising the work of others.

The downsizing also revealed that, within a few years, theagency would have to figure out how to cull and transition theknowledge of the aging founders—the scientists who engi-neered the first moon landing, for example. Otherwise, theirexperience, totaling more than 140 years, would be lost.

Part of NASA’s strategy to retain that knowledge was to insti-tute the Knowledge Management Working Group. It was chargedwith all aspects of knowledge management, from gaining anunderstanding of NASA’s needs for competency management to

the capture and dissemination of knowledge.Of particular interest to her students is the fact that Becerra-

Fernandez was part of the initiative. She is a four-time NASAgrant-winning researcher and principal investigator for NASA’sExpert Seeker project, launched in the late 1990s. The NASAExpert Seeker software tool pools information on the expertiseand experience of NASA employees, drawing from ten datasources, including the human resources databases and employ-ees’ personal web sites. Compiled in Expert Seeker, this data isused to locate and track knowledge within the organization,matching people with the right projects.

Regardless of students’ goals in business, Becerra-Fernandez’svaried, concrete, and vivid accounts, along with her own experi-ences, help arm them with solid knowledge about what works,what doesn’t, and why. n

CARLOS SABATER SPEARHEADS REVITALIZATION OF SCHOOL OF ACCOUNTING’S ADVISORY BOARD.


College’s programs engage top business leaders through advisory board membership.

“Our professional programs focus on project management,sales management, information technology, human resources,and finance, among other topics,” he said.“Our idea is to createsmall boards with six or seven experts in each area.”

In addition to providing OPE staff members with insights intothe needs of the marketplace, board members will mentor stu-dents, sharing their experiences as lawyers, bankers, and leadersin many industries.

“Board members seem to enjoy giving back to the communi-ty,” Daniels said.“Serving on our board also will give these lead-ers a chance to get to know our students and to network withother professionals.”

School of Accounting Advisory Board thinks small.After a four-year hiatus, the School of Accounting Advisory

Board has become active again. It’s starting small and intends tostay that way.

“Under the leadership of Carlos Sabater (BACC ’81), we’veassembled a group of highly dedicated individuals committed tohelping us re-establish our board,” said Dana Forgione, directorof the School of Accounting. (See sidebar on Sabater for a closerlook at the re-energized board.)

But small doesn’t mean the group lacks big ideas.“We’re formulating the board’s mission and considering ways

to integrate students and business more effectively throughmentoring so that we deliver the right product to the right peo-ple,” Forgione said.

And what better entity to look at the financial impact an advi-sory board can have than a school of accounting?

“We’re looking at long-term funding, including a permanentendowment, to support what we do,” Forgione said.“We’ve dis-cussed scholarships, assistantships, support for faculty develop-ment, and bringing eminent scholars to the campus as well asusing the funds to help us meet our operational expenses.” n

6769_BusAcc 9/16/04 4:26 PM Page 52

ulation it serves, the College relies increas-ingly on corporate gifts to make furtherexpansion and development possible.

“This generous gift from Ocean Bank issignificant in many ways,” de la Torresaid. “The support of businesses andorganizations in the local community weserve is invaluable.”

In addition to this $1 million gift, OceanBank has long been a valuable benefactorof FIU as a sponsor of the University’sFootball Founders program and has beena member of the University’s Council of100 since 1995.

“We’re ecstatic that our relationship withOcean Bank continues to grow,” saidMaidique. “This partnership has con-tributed to the overall success of theUniversity, and we’re so pleased with whatthis latest show of support will mean forthe College of Business Administration.”

Chartered in 1982, Ocean Bank operatesa network of 22 branches throughoutMiami-Dade and Broward counties. It isrecognized as a leader in fueling SouthFlorida’s economic growth by providingits customers with quality financial prod-ucts like commercial real estate lending,

corporate lending and small businesslending, all of which have contributed togrowth and new employment opportu-nities in our community. With more than$4.1 billion in assets and $3.6 billion indeposits, Ocean Bank is a true local bankthat reinvests 100 percent of its localand foreign deposits in South Florida. Ithas received recognition on many occa-sions for its support of local charitableorganizations and for its commitment tohelping those who are most in need. n




Chewing on the sweet, lemon-capered chicken picatta andlooking across table at the bright-eyed MBA student he hadagreed to mentor, James Bussey (EMBA ’97), executive assistantto Executive Dean Joyce Elam, recalls how he felt just gettingout of college.

“The world was my oyster and I didn’t have a clue,” he said.Bussey had set up this initial luncheon meeting with his “mentee,”

Colleen Post (MBA ’03) at a popular Italian restaurant.Although he expected to be asked about career options and

the current business environment, Bussey found himself insteadchuckling and describing the antics of his two Teacup Yorkies,Sparkle and Twinkle. Twinkle, the male Yorkie,“is missing a fewcards in his deck,” Bussey said.

The mentor and mentee laugh as they draw pictures on thetable with red and blue crayons.

“Drawing and similar activities get us back to aspects of ouryouth, which helps us all understand that, even though we're allgrown up, we're all still kids, with all the same emotions andcuriosities,” Bussey said.“It's important that we don't let those gettoo far away.”

While it may not be all crayons and puppies, the College’sMentoring Program, which began in Fall, 2002, has sparked seri-ous discussions between area business professionals and select-ed students in the College.

Business students apply for mentors at the beginning of a

semester and, based on their industry interest, are paired with aCollege alumnus who works in that industry and is qualified tomentor a student. Potential mentors go through a tough screen-ing process and potential mentees are asked to explain why theywant a mentor. Once all the pairs have been formed, the Collegeholds a “meet and greet” event to introduce the pairs. Hopefully,the relationship blossoms from there.

Although the mentors and students do discuss career goalsand transitions from college to the workplace, they also talk aboutpersonal issues that they otherwise would not be able to sharewith someone in their field. Both individuals become part of atrusting relationship that serves as an outlet for expressing con-cerns, frustrations, or fears without the threat of judgment. Thestudent gets a real-life glimpse into the workplace.

“What the mentor gets out of the relationship is a fresh per-spective and a new pair of eyes,” Bussey said.“Something I say my mentee may not agree with and that leads to a newway of thinking.”

But it’s not just the mentors who learn from the relationship.William Levin (MBA ’03), met with his mentor, Jorge Rodriguez,

Southeast Regional Manager for PerkinElmer, several times whilehe was in school.

“Although we were both very busy, I knew I could call on himwhen I had a question,” Levin said.“Last year, he helped me dealwith a situation at work that I was unsure how to handle. I'm gladto have him as my mentor.”

Students benefit from these relationships in the classroom aswell as personally.

“In my Strategic Management class last semester, we had tochoose a company about which to write a case study,” Post said.“Jim had worked for Carnival Corporation for 22 years, so he wasan invaluable resource for my case study team. He opened oureyes to issues we could never have seen from a textbook.”

Cristina Jaramillo, who is coordinating the Mentoring Program,can be reached at (305) 348-0397. n

Members of the Dean's Council help theCollege of Business Administration achieve itsmission by providing Executive Dean JoyceElam with insights into the College’s strategicvision based on their experience in business.They offer an outsider’s view and a fresh per-spective of the challenges and opportunities

the College faces today and expects to confront in the years ahead.Founded in 2001, the Council currently is composed of more

than 25 prominent business leaders, with plans for expandingmembership over time.The group offers guidance on matters suchas how the College can build its reputation and ways it can createcloser alliances with the business community. In addition to givingstrategic counsel, members also help the College obtain long-termfunding and interact with students, alumni, and faculty.

“I rely on them for advice on strategic issues as well as for help withspecific projects,”Elam said.“Their insights,energy,and recommenda-tions are a tremendous asset to me and to the business school.”

“The input of the Council is invaluable,” said Dean’s Councilfirst Chair Carlos Migoya (BBA ’74; MBA ’76), regional president,Wachovia, Miami Dade-Monroe.“We are able to explain what ourneeds are and the kind of education we would like College grad-uates to have. We then leave it to the College to determine thecourses they can offer to meet those requirements.”

Migoya, who has been a member of the Florida InternationalUniversity (FIU) Foundation, Inc., Board of Directors for more thana decade, said that,“The Council is enthusiastic about theprogress the College is making to ensure its graduates have thebackground to succeed.”

Carlos Sabater (BACC ’81), a managing partner with Deloitte &Touche LLP–South Florida and Puerto Rico, was drawn to theDean’s Council when he was trying to establish the AdvisoryBoard for the School of Accounting. (For details about the creation

of that board, see the side bar on Sabater.)“Since the School of Accounting falls within the College, I

wanted to understand the workings of the College as a whole,”he said.“Initially, my goal was to learn more about the College soI could be more effective on the School of Accounting’s AdvisoryBoard. But Joyce Elam drew me right in.” He feels his work on thetwo boards goes hand-in-hand.

“South Florida is the gateway to Latin America,”he said.“We wantto help FIU become one of the preferred universities that companieslook to for employees with business degrees.”

Jesse Tyson, president and retail sales director for ExxonMobilInter-America Inc, concurred.

“We operate our Latin American business out of Coral Cables,”Tyson said.“We need human resources, and we prefer them to have acollege education and an understanding of Latin American culture.”

Being able to see FIU from the inside has made him confidentabout bringing the College’s students into his organization viainternships or permanent employment.

“Through my work on the Council, I have access to students andfaculty. I can see that the students have the education, languageskills, values, and work ethic we’re looking for and an excellent feelfor the culture.”

Tyson’s attraction to the Council is personal as well as profes-sional.“As a good corporate citizen, the company believes in giv-ing back to the community,” he said.“I feel that by serving on theboard I do that. What’s even better, I am able to give back to thecommunity in a way that also has value for our business.”

According to Annabelle Rojas (BA ’87;MBA ’98),director of externalrelations for the College,“It’s really a great board.We have a cross sectionof leaders that includes current and retired top executives as well asentrepreneurs.Also,we have the staff to support the Council’s activities.”

Tyson agreed.“The participation and energy level are at an all-time high,” he said. n

Dean’s Council furthers achievement of College’s mission.

Mentoring is a two-way street.

In January, 2004, Joyce J. Elam, ExecutiveDean of the College of BusinessAdministration, and José de la Torre,Dean of the Alvah H. Chapman, Jr.,Graduate School of Business, accepted a$1 million gift from Ocean Bank at anevent held at the University House,

home to Florida International University(FIU) President Modesto A. Maidique.The contribution is the largest singledonation to date made by Ocean Bankand reinforces its commitment to supporting education within the local community.

“We are delighted to present this gift to theCollege of Business Administration. OceanBank is a true hometown bank and FIUserves our hometown in so many impor-tant ways,” said President and CEO JoséConcepción.“For more than 21 years,Ocean Bank has embraced education asone of the most important causes in thiscommunity and we are delighted to forgethis public-private partnership that willmake an impact on the education of gen-erations to come.”

According to Elam, as a result of dwindlingpublic funding and the ever-growing pop-

OCEAN BANK PRESENTS $1 MILLION GIFT TO THE COLLEGE

Colleen Post (MBA ‘03) with mentor James Bussey

6769_BusAcc 9/16/04 4:26 PM Page 54

“Being a welcoming sponsor makes us very visible to corpo-rations and potential students,” said Monique Catoggio (EMBA’03), director of alumni and partner relations at the College.“Wealso have the opportunity to showcase our expertise in busi-ness education through involving our faculty members as con-ference speakers.”

This conference, which targets current and future MBA stu-dents as well as professionals interested in participating in pro-fessional development workshops on a variety of business topics,brings in more than 5,000 people over the three-day period. The

Career Expo hosts thousands of mid- to large-sized and Fortune500 companies interested in hiring MBAs for management posi-tions. Both Elam and de la Torre were featured speakers.

At the 2004 conference, which will take place in Fort Worth,Texas, in October, the Chapman Graduate School will again bea welcoming sponsor and will continue to support the localSouth Florida Chapter in various ways.

To learn more about NSHMBA and the upcoming conference,please visit: http://www.nshmba.org/home.asp or e-mail the SouthFlorida Chapter at: [email protected].



To underscore its commitment to addressing issues that affectHispanics, particularly in the business world, the College ofBusiness Administration has entered into partnerships with twonational organizations that have similar goals: The NationalHispanic Corporate Council (NHCC) and the National Society ofHispanic MBAs (NSHMBA).

The NHCC ConnectionThe NHCC, a not-for-profit organization, serves its member

companies as a source for information, expertise, and counselabout Hispanic issues that have an effect on corporate objec-tives. It also advocates for increased employment, leadership, andbusiness opportunities for Hispanics in corporate America.

In 2003, Carlos Soto, NHCC president and CEO, and Joyce Elam,executive dean of the College, announced a partnership toexplore value-based projects that capitalize on the organizations’complementary strengths.

“This alliance seems like a natural fit for us, in that both FloridaInternational University’s (FIU) business school and NHCC havestrong and recognized expertise in issues affecting Hispanics incorporate America,” Soto said.“By joining the business school’sacademic research and our members’ experience, we can helpenhance knowledge regarding best practices in Hispanic market-ing, diversity, leadership, and community relations.”

Soto said that the partnership with the College adds value toNHCC’s member services and helps both organizations build theirreputations as key resources for business issues affecting Hispanics.

“We're excited about the benefits that our new alliance withNHCC brings to the business school,” Elam said.“It has the poten-tial to provide our faculty with opportunities for new research. Italso gives our students, more than half of whom are Hispanic,added exposure to corporate America and its needs.”

After the formal alliance was announced, the partners launchedresearch projects on Hispanics in the workplace and on market-ing issues related to this growing sector of the population.

Peter Dickson, the College’s Knight Ridder Eminent Scholar inGlobal Marketing, and Cecilia Alvarez, marketing instructor, areleading the Hispanic Market Research Abstracts (HMRA) project.Its goal is to increase the quantity and quality of market researchstudies undertaken to study Hispanic consumers’ behavior andits impact on markets.

“To date, we have a database of 50 abstracts of academic mar-keting research on the U.S. Hispanic market,” Alvarez said.“Weexpect to enlarge the database, which is web-searchable,through contributions from industry and corporate research onHispanics.”

In five years, Dickson and Alvarez hope to have completed 500abstracts, representing the most comprehensive database onHispanic consumption in the nation.

A second project that Dickson and Alvarez have tackled

involves the development of primary research on the Hispanicmarket. Its research purpose is to develop a Hispanic consumeracculturation model.

Carolina Gomez, assistant professor of management and interna-tional business; Sherry Moss, associate professor of management;and Juan Sanchez, professor of management and internationalbusiness, are leading the third project.

They are examining the developmental factors (career moves,opportunities, attitudes, acculturation, etc.) that lead to leadershippositions for Hispanics.The results of their study will be presentedat a dedicated symposium slated for November, 2004.

The NSHMBA PartnershipThe College’s partnership with NSHMBA represents another

logical fit, because both organizations are dedicated to helpingpromote the professional development and advancement ofHispanics within corporations worldwide.

According to Elam,who sits on NSHMBA’s national board,“This part-nership is a natural for us.We want to ensure that we have a part inenhancing our Hispanic students’development as professionals in ourcommunity and in other parts of the world.”

“Because of our incredible diversity and our influential location, itis our responsibility to craft programs that will develop businessleaders for global corporations located in South Florida or abroad,”Chapman School Dean José de la Torre said.“Our partnership withNSHMBA will help us achieve this goal with both our current andour future MBA students.”

The Chapman Graduate School is a Platinum Sponsor of theSouth Florida Chapter of NSHMBA, helping the Chapter attractMBA students and alumni as well as gain commitment from cor-porations to continue diversifying their workforces.

Additionally, the Chapman School was the welcoming sponsorfor the 14th Annual NSHMBA Conference and Career Expo, whichtook place in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, in November, 2003, at theBroward County Convention Center.The School sponsored thirtystudents at the conference.



Leadership isn’t an afterthought in the Executive MBA(EMBA) program. It’s one of its most notable features. Not onlydoes the program attract business and community leaders asstudents, but also it highlights these individuals through itsHerbert A. Wertheim Lecture Series in Business Leadership.In 2002 and 2003, the program’s organizers assembled an arrayof successful business people and entrepreneurs to speak toand engage EMBA students and professors in conversation.

All the speakers noted an entrepreneurial spirit and the impor-tance of sensible risk-taking as qualities essential in all leaders—whether they own a business or head very large and diverseorganizations. They also stressed the need to find balanceamong work, family, and personal time. Because ethics has beentop of mind for MBA students as well as members of the busi-ness community during the past few years, the speakers facedtough questions about the issue from students and faculty alike.

Here’s some of what they said:Richard Lane, CEO, Andrx Corporation, described how oppor-

tunities in the “pharma” industry require quick thinking and riskystrategic moves. He also stressed that during family vacations—atleast once a year—he becomes unreachable. His “CEO in charge”takes the helm and must make all key decisions while he’s away.

Debi Davis, founder, Fit America, shared her unique entrepre-neurial story, one that required her to sell her watch to start herbusiness. Many watches later, she has found a niche in the healthand wellness industry and as an expert in change management.

Cinda Hallman, president and CEO, Spherion, discussed therisk she took—and how the foundation of the business shook—when she assumed the helm at Spherion, the only public compa-ny in Florida led by a female CEO. Her success revolved aroundensuring that her employees—her “people”—understood theinternal changes needed to transform the organization andrewarding them for their dedication and hard work.

Elia King de Jordan, director and general manager, Eli Lillyand Company/Andean and Central American Region, describedherself as a hard-working woman who developed her expertise

continually and took personal risks to move up the corporateladder. In fact, she was the first female manager at Lilly. She saidshe always made sure she was viewed as a role model for how tobalance work and life. She said the characteristics of a leader arespelled—“FOS”—a person who is fair, objective, and sensitive.

Margarita Abrishame (BBA, ’74; MIB, ’79), publisher, ViveMagazine, closed the series with her story of personal growth.She built TeramarMedia, a publishing company that brings outthe award-winning Vive Magazine. A supporter of many localcharities, she said she dedicates a lot of time to her familybecause she has a “lean-running virtual office.”

In addition to the Herbert A. Wertheim Lecture Series inBusiness Leadership, a second series, the Wertheim ThoughtLeader Lecture Series in Entrepreneurship showcases leadingentrepreneurs, innovators, and professionals as part of FloridaInternational University’s (FIU) university-wide initiative to fosternew venture creation. Partially supported as well by a grant fromthe National Science Foundation and the Ewing Marion

College forms alliances to highlight itsexpertise in Hispanic business issues.

Lecture series bring business leaders to campus.

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To share our expertise in regional and international business issues,the College and its Chapman Graduate School of Business teamed upthree years ago with WorldCity Business to sponsor a series of monthlythink-tank sessions for multinational and government executives withresponsibilities in the Caribbean and Latin America.

Now in its third year, the series, known as “World City BusinessConnections” and affectionately self-described as serving “break-fast for the brain,” enables South Florida’s leaders to “connect”and gather economic and industry intelligence.

“The business school at Florida International University hasbeen a natural and great partner for WorldCity’s Connectionsevent series,” said WorldCity’s publisher Ken Roberts.“It is gainingsuch prominence locally and throughout the region that it helpsset the tone we wanted—serious, intelligent, insightful.”

Typically, each program includes a global and regional eco-nomic analysis and a featured speaker—Army General James T.Hill, Commander of the U.S. Southern Command; Ed Gillespie,

one of the most prominent and successful political strategists inWashington and a key figure in President George W. Bush’s presi-dential campaign; U.S. Ambassador Chuck Cobb, who is oversee-ing Florida FTAA, and Leslie Schweitzer, a top trade policy officialwith the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to name a few—and paneldiscussions focused on specific industries or industry issues.

The speaker is then followed by a panel discussion on the par-ticular industry topic or business issue for that month. Panelistsare multinational executives in the industry who share theirinsights about the challenges they face and the strategies they’repursuing to help their companies succeed in the Americas.Topics have ranged from logistics, technology, and transportationto security concerns, aviation, banking, and media.

“We are flattered that Executive Dean Joyce Elam’s vision ofwhere the business school and university are headed squares so nicely with WorldCity’s vision of where Greater Miami is head-ed—toward a brighter, more connected future,” Roberts said. n

Kauffman Foundation, the lectures included impressive scholarsof entrepreneurship.

Malin Brännback, professor in international business at ÅboAkademi University, Finland, lectured on “Understanding theBiotechnology Business Using Relationship Marketing Lenses.”Sheexplored the relationship marketing theory, particularly what isknown as the “Nordic School,”as a meaningful basis for under-standing and managing biotechnology businesses, which differ insome ways from their predecessors—pharmaceutical businesses.Dr. Brännback also is a senior lecturer at the Swedish School ofEconomics and has published more than ninety articles and papers.

“Maximizing the Potential of University Spinouts: TheDevelopment of Second-Order Commercialization Activities” wasthe topic on which Richard T. Harrison, Chair of the Centre forEntrepreneurship at the University of Edinburgh ManagementSchool, spoke. He focused on the key development phases earlyin the life of a company as well as discussing how some compa-nies spin off additional businesses. Harrison is co-founder and co-editor of the academic research journal Venture Capital: AnInternational Journal of Entrepreneurial Finance.

Paul D. Reynolds, coordinator of the Entrepreneurial ResearchConsortium (ERC) and a newly-appointed entrepreneurship profes-sor in the College, spoke on “Entrepreneurship and NationalEconomic Growth: Recent Findings from the GlobalEntrepreneurship Monitor Project.”He discussed data gathered bythe Global Entrepreneurship Monitor consortium, an organizationthat developed cross-national comparisons in the level of entrepre-neurial activity in 37 countries. His lecture also covered the implica-

tions of the assessment for entrepreneurs and policy makers.Gerald E. Hills, professor in entrepreneurship at the University

of Illinois at Chicago (UIC), is the Coleman Foundation Chair inEntrepreneurship and former associate dean at UIC. He spoke on“Marketing, Entrepreneurship, and Opportunity Recognition.” Inthe lecture, he addressed the significant gap in marketing knowl-edge between entrepreneur-driven firms and large, mature cor-porations and proposed “entrepreneurial marketing” as a newschool of thought.

“Building a Technology Firm: Lessons from Two SuccessfulYoung Entrepreneurs,” was presented by Ben Sardiñas (BS ’01),co-founder and CMO, Avisena, Inc. and Ash Huzenlaub, chairman,president, and CEO of Emergisoft Corporation. Avisena, Inc. is ahealthcare management company that applies advanced tech-nology to the challenges faced by healthcare providers as they tryto improve collections and streamline administrative tasks.Emergisoft is the leading provider of Emergency DepartmentInformation Systems to U.S. hospital emergency rooms.

In a lecture titled “Just Sunglasses,” Dr. Sanford Ziff, founder,chairman, and CEO of Sunglass Hut International, described howhe built his company, a major supplier of sunglasses, from its1971 beginnings as a single kiosk in Dadeland Mall. In addition tohis contributions as an entrepreneur, Dr. Ziff is a well-known andhighly-regarded humanist and philanthropist; FIU has been thefortunate recipient of many financial contributions from him. Herecently gave a $2.5 million gift to the University, and the newEducation Building was named the Sanford and Dolores Ziff andFamily College of Education Building. n



Lecture series bring business leaders to campus.

College sponsors WorldCity’sConnections series.

6769_BusAcc 9/16/04 4:26 PM Page 58

fasts highlight business leaders with College credentials as oftenas possible.

To expand the membership and continue to pinpoint eventsthat add professional as well as social value to alumni, theChapter has created several project committees. In addition tothe Membership Committee, they include the CommunityService Committee, the Affinity Committee (which is seekingways to bring different business groups, such as real estate andfinance, together), and the Events and Marketing Committee.The Chapter invites alumni to be part of these committees or to take a leadership role within the Chapter’s Board of Directors.Elections are held annually.

Today, the Chapter is limited solely by the degree to which alumni participate—the more who take advantage of it, the better it will become. The Chapter’s web site(http://cbalumni.fiu.edu) offers alumni a valuable tool forsecuring the information they need to learn about and attend its various programs and events. Alumni also can view photos of Chapter gatherings there. Soon, the site will allow for opportunity exchange.

Jamaica Chapter is up and running.January 24, 2004, saw the formal launch of the College’s first

international alumni Chapter: the Jamaica Chapter. More than100 guests in Kingston heard from The Honorable Dr. DonaldRhodd, minister of state, ministry of education, Jamaica; Joséde la Torre, Dean, Chapman Graduate School of Business; andCatoggio. Also attending the event were Florida InternationalUniversity (FIU) Vice Provost Doug Kincaid, Chapman Directorof Career Management Services Barry Shiflett, former

Chapman Director of Marketing and Corporate RelationsCorinne Young, and Jamaica Program Administrator DonaldRoomes. In addition, Les Johnson, economic advisor to theU.S. Embassy in Jamaica, attended.

Dr. Rhodd pledged his government’s support to theChapter. De la Torre gave Chapter leaders three challenges: toprovide alumni with a forum to help recruit students for theJamaica programs, to host the College’s first internationalalumni trip, and to organize an advisory board of alumni toaid in mentoring, internships, recruiting, and program/curricu-la development. Catoggio thanked the new board membersfor forming the group and encouraged them to remain posi-tive and focused on their goals. She also urged students andalumni to help the new board succeed.

“I shared with everyone my personal experience of startingthe College’s Alumni Chapter and continuing to push forward,

The College of Business Administration’s Alumni Chapterwas formed three years ago thanks to the vision of ExecutiveDean Joyce Elam, the hard work of Monique Catoggio (EMBA’03)—now the College’s director of alumni and partner rela-tions—and the enthusiasm of the Chapter’s Founding Boardof Directors.

In its early stages, the College’s Chapter conducted quar-terly Business Card Exchange Breakfasts, at which a keynotespeaker discussed a particular topic of interest and alumnihad time to meet and network. The group also organizedsocial mixers every two months, held a general membershipmeeting to discuss its successes and to seek out new lead-ers, and organized an Annual Pool Tournament to take placeeach May.

In 2003-2004, the Chapter expanded its offerings to includemonthly social mixers, a Business Expo, and a series of commu-nity service projects.

Having established the Chapter on firm footing, activemembers now are beginning to focus attention on addition-al ways to help grow its membership. Since more than seven-ty percent of the College’s graduates remain in South Florida,there is a vast opportunity to attract new participants.

The Chapter’s Board plans to do that by identifying newbenefits it can provide its members. One avenue is by promot-ing the businesses in which its graduates work or which theyown. For example, the Chapter’s popular mixers may take placeat a restaurant in which alumni have a business interest, givingthem the chance to showcase the venture. The quarterly break-

Alumni News

As a College, we understand and treasure the role our alumnihave played in helping us achieve the many successes that wehave to date. We know that these successes, which are addingvalue to the degrees of all of our alumni, are not ours alone.

If you look closely at the heads of many of our local banks,firms, and corporations, there is a strong chance they are ourCollege’s alumni. And if you scan the ever-growing list of suc-cessful entrepreneurs as well as the various lists of “up and com-ers” in South Florida, you’ll find that many of them are ourCollege’s alumni, too.

Our alumni’s success stories reaffirm our drive to continuegraduating South Florida’s business and community leaders andour belief that we could not be who we are today without them.

In recent years, we have developed a number of programs toengage our alumni in everything that we do, from recruiting toresearch to program development to mentoring—and so muchmore. Our Alumni Chapter, Alumni Circle, Mentoring Program,Speakers Bureau, and other alumni-led initiatives are providingall of our alumni with opportunities to “come back”—if theyever left at all—to give back and become visible role models forour students.

These are exciting times for the College. If you are an alumwho hasn’t “come back,” now’s the time. We welcome you withopen arms!

Monique R. Catoggio (EMBA, ’03)Director, Alumni and Partner [email protected]://cbalumni.fiu.edu

AMessage

Alumnito our

A MESSAGE FROM THE ALUMNICHAPTER’S FOUNDING PRESI-DENT RAY DEL REY (BBA ‘97)

Since helping to found the College’s Business

Alumni Chapter, I’ve had the pleasure of passing the

torch to two very capable alumni leaders—2003-2004 President

Miguel A. Horvath, Jr. (BBA ‘00), and current President Jeremy Baker

(BBA ‘00)—who have helped to continue laying the necessary

groundwork for our continued successes.

Now, as a director in the FIU Alumni Association’s Board and as

the chairman of the Fellowship Committee of the College’s Alumni

Chapter, I look forward to continuing to help develop our alumni

programs and I hope to see many of you at our events.

I encourage you to get involved in the Chapter—not only by par-

ticipating, but also by taking a leadership role. We are here for you

and hope you will join us.

www.fiu.edu FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY

Alumni News

Alumni Chapter grows stronger and first international chapter begins.

A MESSAGE FROM 2003-2004CHAPTER PRESIDENT MIGUELA. HORVATH, JR. (BBA ‘00)

From the solid groundwork our founding

members built, we have seen the Chapter

develop into a successful and dynamic network of business

professionals. As our membership continues to expand, I

encourage you to join us and reap the many benefits of being

College alumni!

The mission of the College of Business Administration’sAlumni Chapter is to provide its alumni in South Floridawith opportunities to create meaningful and lasting rela-tionships designed to

• help them increase their business options,• advance in their chosen professions,• build new ventures,• become outstanding community role models

and civic-minded leaders,• and re-connect with the University, helping it and its

students to excel in today’s competitive marketplace.

OUR MISSION


Alumni Chapter grows stronger and first international chapter begins.

2004-2005 CHAPTER BOARD OF DIRECTORS

President: Jeremy Baker (BBA ’00),Senior Accountant, Florida International University

President Elect: Denise Pena (BBA ’97),Senior Credit Analyst, Bank United

Vice President: Marteena Rodriguez (BA ‘92)CPA, Colbert, Boue and Juncadella PA

Vice Precident of Programming: Nelson Vallin (BBA ‘99)

Sales Service Associate, Bank of America International Private Bank

Treasurer/Secretary: Arturo Aviles (BBA ‘01)Financial Advisor, Mass Mutual Financial Group

COLLEGE OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION www.cba.fiu.edu 2004 Business Accents [61]

6769_BusAcc 9/16/04 4:26 PM Page 60

Alumni News


Alumni News

A special group of College of BusinessAdministration alumni, the Dean’s Alumni Circle,is devoting both time and energy to help theschool realize its vision.

Chaired until recently by Augusto “Gus”Vidaurreta (BA ’80), 2001 Florida InternationalUniversity (FIU) Entrepreneurship Hall of Fame

Inductee, the Circle enables alumni who are mid- to senior-levelexecutives to work closely with the College’s administrators andDeans, advising them on and helping them implement impor-tant new initiatives.

“We are building a leadership base for our alumni,” he said.“Iwould like to see our alumni become active members of ourAlumni Chapter and move into our Alumni Circle as they moveahead in their careers. Later on, as they become entrepreneursor top leaders of their organizations, they would be invited to

join our Dean’s Council—apowerful advisory board forour College.”

In addition to their hands-on efforts to help shape theCollege’s strategy, the Circledeveloped the College’smentoring program thatjoins students with profes-sionals who work with theirprotegés to help themdetermine their paths to

personal and professional success. For example, mentors areexpected to coach their “mentees” on activities that will add totheir experience or skill development, to tutor them in specificskills and effective behavior, and to serve as their confidantes.A pilot session, which ran from November, 2003 through April,2004, matched 15 mentees and mentors.

“The Circle has a very simple purpose, namely to bring back tothe University one of its greatest assets—its alumni,”Vidaurretasaid.“The Circle provides alumni with an opportunity to build amutually beneficial relationship with the University—to becomeactively involved.”

He added that members will develop the type of relationshipwith the business school that is based on a creative exchange ofvalue tailored to each member’s individual interests and needs.“This process starts with the recognition that the needs of anindividual and his or her capabilities to generate value for theUniversity vary,” he said.

Assuming the role of Alumni Chair in 2004-2005 is Josefina“Josie” Carreno. (See related article in “Alumni Profiles” section.)

Alumni Circle

Demian Bellumio (BBA ’00)Director of Corporate Development, Terremark Worldwide, Inc.

James “Jim” Bussey (MBA ’99)Executive Assistant to the Executive Dean,College of Business Administration,Florida International University

Josie Carreno (MBA ’99)Director and Site Manager,Program Management/OEM/Reagents Product Development,Beckman Coulter Corporation

Alfredo Cepero (BACC ’88; MACC ’90)Audit Partner, BDO Seidman

Claudio Cury (MBA ’01)Regional Manager, Center Group North America

Richard Danze (EMBA ’03)Vice President of Operations and Technology,The Miami Herald

Osvaldo Dominguez (BBA ’91)General Manager,Dadeland Mall

Carlos Garcia (MBA in progress)Senior Manager,Goldstein Schechter Price Lucas Horwitz & Co., PA

Michael Gibaldi (BBA ’84)Regional Manager, Business Wire Florida

Matilde Gramling (EMBA ’00)Director, Florida International University

Daniel A. Linares (BA ’93; MBA ’98)Vice President, Financial Sales Leader,Wachovia Bank, NA

Brian Mormile (MBA ’93)Senior Vice President and Client Manager/Commercial Banking, Bank of America

Mark Poliquin (EMBA ’02)2nd Vice President–D&O Liability Product Leader ERC Group/Division of GE

Mike Pustizzi (EMBA ‘02)HR Director, Compensaiton, Organization,and Staffing, Telemundo Netowrk, LLC

Richard A. Pollack (MSF ’02)Director, Berkowitz Dick Pollack & Brant, LLP

Miguel Rabay (BA ’81)President and CEO, e-Globalnavigators, Inc.

Thomas C. Smith (EMBA ’99)Financial Advisor, Merrill Lynch

André L. Teixeira (BACC ’92; MACC ’93)Chief Financial Officer,The Graham Companies

Joaquin R. Urquiola (BBA ’88)Senior Manager, Goldstein Schechter Price Lucas Horwitz & Co., PA

Augusto “Gus”Vidauretta (BA ‘80)Principal, RAM Strategy, Inc.

“The Circle has a very simple purpose,

namely to bring back to the University

one of its greatestassets—its alumni.”

Augusto “Gus”Vidaurreta (BA ’80)

Circle of alumni helps move the College forward.

Leadership •• Experience •• Guidance

youare

in the circle?

alumnicircleWork hand in hand with College deans and administrators to develop and enhance essential programs and initiatives. Impactthe advancement and intellectual growth of the College’s students. Influence current and future alumni. Are you in the circle?To learn more, please contact Monique Catoggio, director of alumni and partner relations at 305.348.4227; [email protected].

although at times we were not sure if we were going to besuccessful,” Catoggio said.“Our persistence paid off and theChapter is succeeding and growing today.”

She read to them a pertinent quotation from the book TheSecret: Unlocking the Source of Joy & Fulfillment by MichaelBerg—“The only way to achieve true joy is by becoming abeing of sharing.”

De la Torre and Beverley Williamson (EMBA ’03), JamaicaChapter President, unveiled the Jamaica Business Chapter’sbanner as part of the ceremony. Christine Fisher and TheMartin-Blaken Trio provided musical entertainment, and gateprizes were awarded by Cayman Airways and SuperClubs.Other sponsors included Courts, TM Traders Limited, FX Trader,Smirnoff ICE, Carreras Group Limited, Super Plus, and theKnutsford Court Hotel. n

A MESSAGE FROM 2004-2005CHAPTER PRESIDENT JEREMY BAKER (BBA ‘00)

“We have an exciting year planned for the

Chapter, one that will highlight valuable

partnerships we have created which benefit our members.

Through our programming and communication, we hope

to provide our alumni and Chapter members with exciting

opportunities to develop professionally and become effective

members of our local community.”

6769_BusAcc 9/16/04 4:26 PM Page 62


Alumni NewsAlumni News


Whether it’s working with otherexecutives to build a home throughher favorite charity, Habitat forHumanity; building her own busi-ness, CMA Enterprises, Inc.; or build-ing her own book, Marketing forGreater Profits, Gail Askins (EMBA’99) has been constructing quite alife for herself.

Askins was creating CMA Enterprises, Inc.,while she was in the Executive MBA programin the College of Business Administration.

“My experience in the program not onlykept me competitive, but it also con-firmed for me that I was on the right trackin my career and in my business,” she said.“At the same time, it helped me take myconsulting to a whole new level, thanks toits focus on information technology—anarea in which I needed more expertise.”

Today, Askins helps her clients re-engi-neer their business processes by incorpo-rating technology planning. She also spe-cializes in management and workforcetraining and in dispute resolution. Her

clients include Corporate Express,Motorola, and the South Florida WaterManagement District.

“I really enjoy helping companies findand use their best assets to their advan-tage,”she said.“Now, with other personalprojects I’m working on, I’ll have more that Ican bring to the table for my clients.”

When she wasn’t consulting with andexecuting projects for her clients, Askins wasnurturing another love—education. As shespoke with people at universities, she saw aneed for more practical training in the fieldof marketing.To meet that need, she devel-oped a tool that marketing professors coulduse to supplement their lectures.

“The economy wasn’t so great then,which gave me the opportunity to put myenergy into writing my first book—Marketing for Greater Profits,” she said.

According to Askins, the book, subti-tled, A Practical Guide for Results-OrientedEntrepreneurs and Sales Professionals WhoUnderstand That Time Is Money, is for any-one who has to sell.

“It goes beyond the fundamentals andcovers proven marketing strategies—onesthat I have applied as a professional andentrepreneur,” she said.

Not only does Marketing for GreaterProfits serve professors as a “lab book”fortheir college classes, but also Askins hasused it to help Micro Business USA developits marketing and fund-raising plan. In addi-tion, she draws upon it in her work withAcción, an organization that services under-served Hispanic and Haitian communities.

Even high school students are benefit-ing from the text.

“I was able to incorporate it into the“Business and Finance Magnet Program”curriculum at Coral Reef High School,”shesaid.“They are our future business leaders; Ihope other schools will see the guide’svalue as well and follow their lead.”

Marketing for Greater Profits, whichAskins self-published, can be orderedfrom her web site: http://cma-ent.com. Italso can be found on the book shelves atthe Broward County Library. n

Roger de la Rosa (MBA’97; MSMIS ’02) clearlyunderstood the role thattechnology could playwithin the InternationalDivision of UnitedAirlines. In fact, it was hisexpertise in informationsystems and business

process re-engineering that trans-formed the way information was beingused in the Division, resulting intremendous savings.

De la Rosa began his five-year careerwith United Airlines as a network adminis-trator, eventually becoming the firm’sinternational e-business manager. In thisrole, de la Rosa developed United Airlines’web sites for the International Division.

“At the time, United was the only majorairline in Latin America with a strong webpresence,” de la Rosa said.“Content wasoffered in three different languages innine countries.”

De la Rosa saved the Division about$500K by identifying which individualsin the various countries could bebrought to Miami to centralize web con-tent development for all of them.

One year later, de la Rosa’s new unitdecided to expand its focus on cost sav-ings and eliminate redundancies in theNetherlands, Australia, New Zealand, andTaiwan—all of whose web sites weredeveloped in English. Content experts forthose areas were again brought to Miami,saving approximately $500K. This unitdeveloped its own content management

database shared by all of United’s interna-tional web sites.

“United Airlines’ international websites offer typical features, such as flightstatus, frequent flier statement informa-tion, direct-to-customer information (viacell phone, text pager, etc.), as well assome rather unusual features, like a cur-rency converter, virtual tours of its air-planes, and tours of its Red CarpetClubs,” said de la Rosa. Consumers canexperience some of these features bylogging on to:http://www.united.com.br.

De la Rosa plans to continue identifyingways to consolidate the company’s effortsfor improved services and cost savings,keeping United in first class for its use ofinformation technology. n

Gail AskinsAskins builds on her enterprising spirit.

Roger de la RosaDe la Rosa upgrades United’s IT.

Josefina Carreno (EMBA’99) summarizes her successas one of the top femaleexecutives in a historicallymale-dominated industry inthe following way:“There’sso much you can learnwhen you move out of yourcomfort zone.”

That’s exactly what Carreno has donethroughout her 30-year career at theBeckman Coulter Corporation (known asCoulter Corporation prior to 1997).

As a biology and chemistry student atthe University of Miami, Carreno wasthrilled to accept a full scholarship fromCoulter and work as an associate scien-tist. Five years later, Coulter offeredCarreno her first supervisory position inthe Chemistry Assay Department, whereassay values were assigned to serum andenzyme control products.

Every few years thereafter, Carreno’s

successes led her to other managementroles in different departments. BeforeBeckman’s acquisition of Coulter, Carrenowas chemistry production manager,hematology production manager, seniormanager of production, and focus factorymanager. These positions gave her anopportunity to learn many facets of thebusiness and manage varied operations atdifferent times.

“I gained a wide array of experience inmanaging large departments; administer-ing manufacturing, capital, and operatingbudgets; overseeing production process-es; introducing new products; maintain-ing quality control; and managing inter-national manufacturing,” she said.

Under her leadership, programs such asdock-to-dock, just-in-time, and the QUAL-TEC Quality Improvement Program wereimplemented. The need for a more holis-tic view of business and a broader manu-facturing perspective became critical for

Carreno during this time.“I really needed to learn what made

things tick. I had heard so many wonderfulthings about the College of BusinessAdministration’s Executive MBA program,which Executive Dean Joyce Elam created,that I decided to call her personally to learnmore about it,” Carreno said.

Her EMBA experience and her multipleroles in Beckman Coulter brought hercareer full circle. From 1998-2002,Carreno was program manager, directorof program management and quality,and site manager. Today, she is director ofprogram management/OEM/reagentsproduct development and site managerfor the company’s Clinical CellularAnalysis Division.

“Don’t be afraid to make lateral movesthat can offer you incredible learning andgrowth opportunities,” she said.“Especiallywithin one company, moving sidewaysalso can get you up. n

When asked if heattended the College ofBusiness Admin-istration’s Executive MBAprogram to help himdevelop his entrepre-neurial skills, AlbertSantalo (EMBA ’97),founder and CEO of

Avisena, responded quickly and confi-dently:“I was born an entrepreneur.”Santalo (EMBA ’97) has used his vast ITexperience and a little inspiration from aphilosopher named Avicenna to fulfill aneed within the medical industry.

“Just as Avicenna brought philosophyand medicine together in the Book ofHealing, we bring business and medicinetogether to ‘heal the healing business’—ashorter version of Avisena’s company slo-gan,” he said.

Santalo and his partner, Chief MarketingOfficer Ben Sardiñas, a 2001 graduate ofFlorida International University’s Collegeof Engineering, saw a tremendous oppor-tunity to start the business following the1996 passage of the Health InsurancePortability and Accountability Act (HIPPA).This law forced members of the healthcare industry to replace their paper-basedprocesses with electronic ones.

Santalo and Sardiñas developed a pro-prietary software system that would bethe basis for the direct solutions they pro-vide to medical practices needing tobecome HIPPA-compliant.

“Our web-based system allows med-ical practices and insurance companiesto focus on the front-end of the busi-ness, while we handle the critical back-end functions, such as transaction pro-cessing, compliance maintenance, claim

filing, remittance processing, and collec-tions,” said Santalo. Avisena’s softwarealso provides convenient front-officesolutions like appointment schedulingand patient registration.

Avisena’s clients are located primarily inSouth Florida, but expansion is imminent.

“Our goal is to capture two percent ofthe $1.4 trillion health care market, which isestimated to grow to $2.8 trillion in nineyears,” Santalo said.“Today, we are seeingapproximately $300 billion in administra-tive waste and redundant care.We want toredeploy that waste into savings, improvedcare, and a reduction in insurance premi-ums for medical practices and patients.”

With the backing of partners like FrankRecio, previously of Oracle’s Latin Americaoffice, and Carlos and Jorge de Cespedes,founders of Miami’s own Pharmed Group,Avisena is destined for a healthy future. n

ALUMNI PROF ILESJosefina (Josie) CarrenoCarreno has chemistry for success.

Albert SantaloSantalo finds prescription for health care industry.

ALUMNI PROF ILES

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Their plan was thirteen years in the making: Devise a viablebusiness that would facilitate physicians in better servingMedicare patients.

First they waited for legislation, then for Medicare approval.Finally, exactly two years after both were in hand, the master-minds behind Preferred Care Partners stood awash in applauseas more than 500 alumni and executives honored them asinductees into the 2004 Entrepreneurship Hall of Fame.

Founder Joseph L. Caruncho and President Justo L. Pozo werejoined by three other community business leaders,lauded for their innovation, entrepreneurial spirit, per-severance and leadership, at the College of BusinessAdministration’s premier annual alumni event.

Caruncho, a health care lawyer, received his BBAfrom the College in 1981. Pozo majored in accounting,receiving his BBA from the College in 1980 and hisCPA license in 1984. Together, in a self-labeled “yingand yang” partnership, the pair created South Florida’sfirst and only state-licensed PSO (Provider SponsoredOrganization), an alternative Medicare health plan founded ontrusting doctors to make the right decisions.

“Entrepreneurs are like today’s knights,” Caruncho said in avignette aired at the May 13 event,“or without getting too philo-sophical, it’s really one of those areas where you can take on aquest, take risks, and make a difference.”

The message was one that Executive Dean Joyce Elam saidgoes to the core of everything the College does—from class-room instruction to faculty research to the school’s annual inter-national business plan competition.

“This event is a wonderful vehicle for the College to demon-strate its ongoing commitment to entrepreneurship,” Dean Elamsaid.“It also allows us to honor alumni who have achieved dis-tinction as founders and builders of new business enterprises

and who continually give back to the community. Through theirinvolvement with the College, these business leaders serve asexcellent role models for our students.”

Two other alumni, Roberto Capó (BBA ’03) and Andrew P. Yap(BBA ’91, MBA ’97), were spotlighted for contributions to theirfamily businesses. Capó is vice president of advertising at ElDorado Furniture, the largest Hispanic-owned retail enterprise inthe U.S. The youngest of seven sons of a Cuban immigrant, Capóis credited with engineering the company’s cross-over from the

Hispanic to the mainstream market, landing it amongthe top 50 furniture retailers in the country.

Yap, a CBA adjunct professor, serves as senior vicepresident and COO for LEASA Industries Co., Inc., SouthFlorida’s dominant producer of sprouts and tofu with$3.5 million in annual sales. He’s been named “BestInstructor” in the College’s Weekend BBA program forthree years running, among other student-votedsuperlatives, and has compiled material for more thanfourteen marketing, management, and international

textbooks published by both Prentice Hall and McGraw Hill.Yap attributes his success to an entrepreneurial essence he

inherited from his father, gleaned from his College graduateschool professors, and now conveys to his students: “Have adream—know what you want—have the passion to pursue it,and never give up.”

That tenacious spirit is one that Keith St. Clair said helpedearn him the award he received as 2004 South FloridaEntrepreneur of the Year. St. Clair’s role as chairman and CEOof TraveLeaders has distinguished the company as one of theleading, fully-integrated travel distribution operations in NorthAmerica—despite unparalleled challenges in the industry inthe wake of 9/11. The accolade recognizes an FIU supporterwho is not a graduate. n

Five BusinessLeaders honored atEntrepreneurshipHall Of Fame induction. From left, Andrew Yap, Justo Pozo, Joyce Elam,

Joseph Caruncho and Robert Capó.

COLLEGE OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATIONOFFICE OF PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION

What are you waiting for? Your next career move is up to you!Our Professional Education Programs are designed to help business professionals and their organizations maintain acompetitive advantage in today s fast-paced, changing environment. Our programs are interactive and intended toprovide highly focused, real-world learning experiences with immediate practical application. Instruction by manage-ment educators with business experience facilitates professional development and helps you gain the skills you needto succeed in today s organizational environment.

Accounting and Finance Programs ¥ Accounting and Finance for Non-Financial Managers Professional Certificate¥ CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER“ Certification Professional Education Program¥ Certified Treasury Professional Certification Education Program¥ Managing Your 401(K) Professional Education Program¥ Strategic Wealth and Money Management Professional Program

Management Programs¥ Advanced Management Professional Certificate Program¥ Certified Purchasing Manager Certification Professional Education Program¥ Leadership for Decision Makers Professional Certificate Program¥ Leadership Skills Development Professional Certificate¥ Strategic Business Plan Development Professional Certificate

Marketing and Sales Programs¥ Customer-focused Management Professional Certificate Program¥ Customer Relationship Management Professional Certificate¥ International Sales Professional Certificate Program¥ Negotiating for Business Professional Certificate Program¥ Sales Strategies and Techniques Professional Certificate

Project Management Programs ¥ Advanced Professional Certificate in Project Management (PMP¤ Certification)¥ Microsoft Project 2002 Professional Education Program ¥ Principles of Project Management Professional Certificate

Human Resource and Training Programs¥ Advanced Professional Certificate in Instructional Delivery and Design¥ Business Writing Skills Professional Certificate¥ Human Resource Administration Professional Certificate¥ Interpersonal Communication Skills Professional Certificate¥ Presentation Skills Professional Certificate Program

Professional Education Programs

For additional information, contact:Office of Professional EducationCollege of Business AdministrationFlorida International University11200 S. W. 8th Street MARC 270Miami, Florida 33199

Telephone: (305) 348-4217Fax: (305) 348-3628Email: [email protected]: http://ope.fiu.edu



The Entrepreneurship Hall of Fame was

established in 1999 through a $50,000 gift

from SunTrust Bank, Miami, to acknowledge

alumni who have distinguished themselves as

founders and builders of new business enter-

prises and to promote the entrepreneurial

spirit throughout the College.

Previous inductees include Bob Bell (BBA ’81),

founder of Banana Boat Suncare and chairman

and CEO of Sea & Ski Corporation; Joe Merino

(BBA ’74, MBA ’76), founder of Unipower

Corporation; Augusto L. Vidaurreta (B.S. ’80), co-

founder of The Systems Consulting Group, RAM

Strategy, Inc., and Adjoined Technologies, Inc.;

Richard Dobrow (BBA ’95, MACC ’97), CEO of

Guarded Networks, Inc.; and Anthony E. Ronconi

(BBA ’88), founder, principal, CTO, and chief strat-

egy officer for former StrataSys Group, LLC.

Keith St. Clair

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Alumni News

Because it is mostly through our alumni that we as a Collegeand a University will continue to grow and graduate successfulindividuals, professionals, and role models, we find ways to paytribute to those of our alumni who do contribute and supportour many efforts.

In the past few years, several of our alumni have been awardedFlorida International University’s prestigious Service Medallionsduring the College’s Commencement ceremonies.

Augusto “Gus”Vidaurreta (BA ’80) received this honor onApril 29, 2002; Angel Medina, Jr. (BA ’92) on December17, 2002; and both Dennis Klinger (MBA ’75) andCarlos Sabater (MACC ’81) on April 27, 2004.

Vidaurreta is a highly successful entrepreneur,consultant, and co-author of Business is A ContactSport (co-written with his longtime businesspartner,Tom Richardson). He is co-founder andco-owner of RAM Strategy, Inc., a consultingand training firm built around his innovativeapproach to business utilizing a skill knownas Relationship Asset Management (RAM),the main topic of his book.

Vidaurreta has worked with The MiamiHerald Publishing Company and the consult-ing division of Arthur Andersen (now known asAccenture). He was the founder of the TheSystems Consulting Group, purchased byCambridge Technologies. Today, he is part owner ofP&O Packaging, The Radisson Riverwalk Hotel inJacksonville, Canopy Palms Hotel in Singer Island, andHorizon Bank.

Medina, regional president of Union PlantersBank Miami-Dade, is one of South Florida’s leadingbankers and an active civic leader. He has been inthe financial services industry for nearly 30 years.Since 1973, he has served in numerous leader-ship positions in commercial real estate, corpo-rate banking, business banking, retail and creditpolicy. He spent more than 13 years in top posi-tions with Barnett Bank of South Florida until 1996,when he joined Adrian Homes as its CFO, a position heheld until joining Union Planters in 2000.

Medina has held leadership positions with various organizations,including the Beacon Council, Greater Miami Chamber ofCommerce, and the Orange Bowl Committee. He is on the boards ofthe Miami City Ballet,YMCA, and Goodwill Industries. Last year, hewas honored as Banker of the Year and Director of the Year by theLatin Builders Association.

Klinger, who was one of FIU’s first employees (he served ashead of information technology from 1970-1975), today overseessystems development, computer operations, telecommunica-tions operations, desktop computing and advanced technologyplanning at Florida Power and Light (FPL). In 2000, his efforts toensure diversity among the workforce at FPL were recognizedwhen Computerworld named FPL among the top best companiesto work for in terms of diversity and the top 50 “Best Places toWork” for those in the information technology field. Klinger ispast president and still board member of the Dade PublicEducation Fund and has completed 20 years of volunteer servicewith the United Way campaign cabinet.

Sabater (MACC’81), managing partner of the South Floridaand Puerto Rico offices of Deloitte & Touche, LLP, oversees

the delivery of services to Deloitte’s multi-disciplinarybusiness units in South Florida and Puerto Rico. He alsoserves on the boards of such organizations as theGreater Miami Chamber of Commerce, the Miami

Business Forum, the Orange Bowl Committee, the Miami-Dade College Foundation, the United Way, the YMCA, and

others. He is a member of the American Instituteof Certified Public Accountants, the Florida

Institute of CPAs, and the Cuban-American CPA Association.

Vidaurreta, Medina, Klinger andSabater all are members of theCollege’s Dean’s Council, whichMedina now chairs. Vidaurretaalso was the 2001 Inductee intothe FIU Entrepreneurship Hall of

Fame and the first Chairman of theCollege’s Alumni Circle. Sabater also

is chair of the School of Accounting’sAdvisory Board and sits on the board of

the FIU Foundation. n

Alumni receive University’s Service Medallions.

1970sRobert L. Bonnet (BACC ‘75)was highlighted as “TheNewsmaker” in the Thursday,May 27th edition of MiamiToday. Bonnet is the Presidentof Florida Savings Bank inPinecrest, Florida.

Ana M. Guillen (BBA ‘75) ownerof accounting firm Guillen andAssociates, is president of theDade County Enrolled AgentsAssociation. She also is presi-dent of the non-profit organiza-tion Friends of the Dade CountyCommission on the Status ofWomen.

Richard Browdy (BBA ‘76) isone of the founders ofOptimumBank, a Florida char-tered commercial bank inPlantation.

Gabriel Bustamante (BBA‘78), managing director of RSMMcGladrey, Inc., was highlight-ed in Miami Today (week ofThursday, March 18th) in “TheNewsmaker” profile.

1980sCarlos Abaunza (BBA ‘80), vicepresident of finance and chieffinancial officer at The MiamiHerald, has been promoted tovice president and corporatecontroller of Herald parentcompany Knight Ridder, Inc.(KRI) in San Jose, California.

Jeanne A. Becker (BBA ‘80)has been named the directorof the South Florida Chapter ofthe Gift of Adoption Fund.

Ronald Schechter (BBA ‘80) isattending the MBA program inManagement of Technology at the New Jersey Institute ofTechnology. Schechter is themanager of international rightsfor The McGraw-Hill Companiesin Windsor, New Jersey.

Aurora Abrante (BBA ’81) hasbeen promoted from vicepresident to senior vice presi-dent of the Structured FinanceGroup in the InternationalBanking Division of UnionPlanters Bank.

Diane Delella (BBA ‘81) hasbeen promoted to executivevice president and chief financialofficer of MetroBank in Miami.

Arturo Falconi (BBA ’81) hasjoined Esslinger WootenMaxwell’s (EWM) South Miamibranch office as a sales associ-ate. Before coming to EWM,Falconi was director of salesfor RC Technology Group.

Jeff Mylton (BBA ‘81) was pro-moted to senior vice presidentof Commercial Banking forFirst Charter Bank in Charlotte,North Carolina. Mylton special-izes in commercial real estateand corporate lending.

Miguel Rabay (BA ’81), CBAAlumni Circle member andpresident and CEO of e-Globalnavigators, Inc., was aguest speaker at the Franceand the Americas: Economic,Political, and Cultural RelationsConference on April 2 and 3 atthe Omni Colonnade Hotel.The event is hosted by theMiami European Union andthe Miami French Consulate.

Bill Sablesak (MBA ‘83) haslaunched SableAir, an aviationconsulting company. Sablesak,who is a former pilot withboth Continental Airlines andEastern Air Lines, started thebusiness with his wife, Susan,who is pilot for NorthwestAirlines. Bill and Susan residein Franklin, Kentucky.

John Santalo (BBA ‘86) hasbeen named assistant vice

president for Preferred CarePartners. He will supervise thepharmacy and grievancedepartments.

Nicholas Bustle (MIB ’88) hasbeen named head of theMiami-Dade unit of SunTrustBank. Bustle, a 15-year SunTrust veteran, also has been givenresponsibility for all commer-cial lending in South Florida.

Alfredo Cepero (BACC ’88), oneof the College’s Alumni Circlemembers, has been namedaudit partner with BDOSeidman, LLP, in Miami. Heserves clients in a variety ofindustries, including distribu-tion, manufacturing, technolo-gy, and not-for-profit. He isresponsible for generating busi-ness opportunities for the firmand for overseeing the recruit-ing and various administrativefunctions of the Miami office.Before joining BDO, Cepero waswith Ernst & Young, LLP.

Hena M. Aguirre (BACC ‘89and MACC ‘90) was namedchief financial officer forEsslinger Wooten Maxwell(EWM). Her responsibilitiesinclude financial reportingand accounting at EWM andits subsidiary companies—Embassy Financial Services,Columbia Title of Florida andFirst Reserve Insurance.

1990sRaul Bermudez (BBA ‘90) hasbeen promoted to vice presi-dent of Charter Sales andMarketing for The Moorings inSt. Petersberg, Florida.Bermudez has held severalpositions with the companysince 1998. Prior to TheMoorings, he was with RyderTruck Rental for ten years.

Zhaleh Emani (BA,‘90) an

entrepreneur, was featured inThe Miami Herald in October,2003, for her new business inthe Village of Merrick Park,Rugs by Zhaleh.

Eduardo Balcazar (BBA ‘91) hasbeen named senior vice presi-dent and middle-market lend-ing manager for Union PlantersBank in Miami-Dade, Broward,and Palm Beach counties.

Raul Incera (MST ‘91) was pro-moted to partner at account-ing firm Morrison Brown Argiz& Company. Incera is a mem-ber of the firm’s Tax Consultingand Compliance ServicesGroup.

Carlos Samlut (BBA ‘91) ismanaging partner at Samlut &Company, a full-service publicaccounting and consultingfirm in Coral Gables.

Annie Roques-Hernandez(BBA ‘92) was a student at theUniversity of Miami’s School ofLaw and graduated with herJ.D. degree .

Albert Corrada (BBA ‘93) start-ed his own full serviceaccounting firm—AlbertCorrada, CPA, PA—in CoralGables. The firm specializes insmall and medium-sized com-panies, offering them servicesincluding tax return prepara-tion, auditing, consulting, andbookkeeping.

Laura De La Horra (BBA ‘93)received her Executive MBA inDecember 2002 from theUniversity of Miami. De La Horrais financial planning and report-ing supervisor for GeorgeWeston Bakeries in Miami.

Rick Escudero, CPA (MACC ‘93,BBA ‘92) executive vice presi-dent and CFO of ClickPharmacy,

ALUMNI NOTES 2003-2004

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along with his marketing staff,developed a service for corpo-rations and associations called“Pharmacy Concierge,” whichallows groups to receive dis-counts on volume purchases.Escudero has been invited tojoin FIU’s Council of 100. Hehas worked closely with FIU’sCareer Services Office to devel-op a unique internship pro-gram, which has resulted innumerous hires of FIU stu-dents. For more informationabout the concierge service,visit the company’s web site atwww.clickpharmacy.com.

Timothy Rubin, CPA (BACC ‘93)has joined Rachlin Cohen &Holtz as audit manager for itsBusiness Assurance Group.

Lily Diaz Azel (BBA ‘94) is pres-ident of Children’s PsychologyAssociates in Weston.Children’s PsychologyAssociates is the largest pedi-atric multidisciplinary psychol-ogy and rehabilitative practicein South Florida. The organiza-tion recently opened a newstate-of-the-art facility and isthe exclusive provider for theMiami Children’s Hospital’s DanMarino Center.

Vicente Fernandez (BBA ‘94)has been appointed businessdevelopment officer forCommerce Bank’s Doral Branch.

Karla Icaza (BBA ’94) has beenhonored with the “YoungHispanic Leadership Award” bythe Nicaraguan AmericanChamber of Commerce. Icaza isthe director of marketing forR.E. Chisholm Architects, Inc.and board member of theMiami-Dade County HispanicAffairs Advisory Board.Thisaward is given to youngHispanic men and women, ages40 or younger, who have distin-

guished themselves throughtheir professional entrepreneur-ial accomplishments and com-munity involvement.

Gabriel Jimenez (BBA ‘94) hasbeen re-appointed chair of theHispanic/Latino LawyersCommittee of the NorthCarolina Bar Association, a selectgroup of attorneys and judgesthat addresses legal issuesraised by the growingHispanic/Latino population.Jimenez also recently formedJimenez Law Offices, PLLC.Jimenez resides in Raleigh,North Carolina.

Eduardo Arista (BACC ‘95)president and founder of AristaLaw, a boutique law firm inCoral Gables, has been admit-ted to practice before theUnited States Tax Court. Since1995, Arista’s tax practice hasconsisted of a full range of taxservices. He has served as treas-urer of the College’s AlumniChapter for two years and hasserved as a judge for theCollege’s international businessplan competition. His firm hasbeen approved as an “agent” bythe Attorney’s Title InsuranceFund, Inc. This designationallows Arista Law to providecomprehensive title, escrow,and closing services for lenders,realtors, borrowers, buyers, andsellers at every step of theprocess. Arista Law can befound on the web atwww.AristaLaw.com.

Marcia Fernandez (BBA ’97)has been named vice presidentfor Commercebank. Fernandezformerly served in the bank’scommercial lending division.She will be responsible fordeveloping commercial loansand consumer portfolios for allcenters in Miami-Dade andBroward Counties.

Carlos Hernandez (BBA ‘97)has been promoted to seniorvice president/area executivefor Colonial Bank, South Miami-Dade. Hernandez will overseeeight offices and more than$448 million in deposits.

Kim Hogan (BBA ‘97) hasjoined Bode TradingCorporation as its chief finan-cial officer. Bode is a Miami-based export company andpurchasing agent.

Lyle Larson (BBA ‘97), also agraduate of Georgetown LawSchool (JD ‘91), is now partnerwith Balch & Bingham LLP,practicing in the field of ener-gy and public utility law.Larson resides in Vestavia Hills,Alabama.

Maggie Nieves (BBA ‘97) hasjoined the Prudential WCIRealty office in Coral Gables.Nieves will specialize in realestate sales in Coconut Grove,Coral Gables, and South Miami.

Marcos Rubio (BBA ’97) wasnamed assistant vice presi-dent for retail lending inCommercebank’s Kendalloffice. Rubio formerly was anassistant vice president forUnion Planters Bank, where hewas responsible for businessdevelopment and credit-quali-ty goals.

Albert Santalo (MBA ’97) hasbeen named CEO of Avisena, ahealthcare management com-pany in Miami. Santalo is co-founder of Avisena and hasserved as president of thecompany since its inception inJune 2001.

Alan Lips (MST ‘98) has beenpromoted to partner of theMiami Beach accounting firmGerson Preston & Co. PA.

Gil Kraus (MBA ‘99) recentlyjoined Mosaic Software as a proj-ect manager and technical spe-cialist. Mosaic writes software to“drive”ATM machines and point-of-sale (POS) devices in the elec-tronic funds transfer industry.

Edson Mena (BBA ‘99) attendedDuke University, where he plansto graduate with an MBA. Menais financial analyst for LennarCorporation in Miami, Florida.

Mary Morla (BBA ‘99) attend-ed Stetson University andgraduated with her J.D. andMBA degrees in May 2003.

2000Laura Gonzalez (BBA,‘00)owner of Alpha Travel, washighlighted in The Miami Lakerfor her volunteer efforts andfor being elected as presidentof the PRSA at the Miami LakesMiddle School.

Michelle Jo (BBA ‘00) recentlywas appointed assistant treas-urer for the Wine InstitutePolitical Action Committee.This position strengthens herrole in the government affairsdepartment of the largestpublic policy organization inthe wine industry.

Steve Massena (BBA ‘00) is thechief of information systems forthe U.S. Air Force and is sta-tioned in Hawaii. At the AirForce, Massena maintains morethan 500 workstations and 14servers, manages all of thetelecommunication needs of thesquadron, and advises uppermanagement on all IT issues.

2001Lauren Colon (BBA ‘01) waspromoted to human resourceservices manager for onboardduty-free concessionaire,Starboard Cruise Services, a

ALUMNI NOTES ALUMNI NOTESsubsidiary of Louis VuittonMoet Hennessey in Miami, Fla.

Denise Gaffor (MBA ‘01) hasbeen appointed director ofhuman resources at HialeahHospital.

Mari Perez-Arche (BACC ‘01)has been promoted to vicepresident of operations for theHome Financing Center. In hernew role, she will superviseaccounting and operations inbranch offices and maintainrelationships with title agencies.

Hal R. Pitts (MBA ‘01), lieutenantin the U.S. Coast Guard, is com-manding the construction ofthe new FIR Coast Guard Cutter,a 225-feet long vessel which vis-ited the Port of Miami in lateAugust during her transit fromMarinette,Wisc. to Astoria, Ore.

Eberto Ranero (BBA ‘01) hasbeen appointed vice presidentof business banking at BankUnited Financial Corp.

Ed Redlich (BBA ‘01) has beennamed vice president ofComReal Miami, Inc. He alsowas recognized as the TopProducer in 2002 for leadingthe commercial real estate sideof the firm. Currently, Redlich ispursuing his CertifiedCommercial InvestmentMember (CCIM) designation.

Anibal Rodriguez Jorge (MIB‘01) has been promoted to vicepresident of marketing and salesat Tiger Financial Group, Inc.

Melissa Viana (BBA ‘01) wasrecently promoted to accountexecutive for Burger King’sadvertising division in Miami.

2002Toni Arce (BBA ‘02) is assistantcorporate buyer in the Burdines

division of Federated Depar-tment Stores, Miami. Arce focus-es on the purchasing and man-aging of the Dress Accessoriesareas of all Burdines stores.

Edgar Ceballos (MBA ’02) hastaken a position as a businesssystems analyst with AmericanExpress Technologies GlobalRisk Systems.

Claire Hurtubise (IMBA ‘02)and Melisa Lopez (IMBA ‘02)have started a new business—Mr. Roses, a marketing andsales company which importsand distributes fresh-cut,high-quality roses directly from a farm in Ecuador. To viewtheir selection of roses, visithttp://www.mr-roses.com.

Noemi Martinez (BBA ‘02) isthe volunteer coordinator forHabitat for Humanity in Miami.While at FIU, Martinez internedin the College’s Marketing,Communication, andPublications Office, helping tocoordinate events.

Bob Midyette (EMBA ‘02), man-ager of fleet beverage opera-tions for Royal Caribbean CruiseLine, has been appointed by theNational Institute of Standardsand Technology to the 2003Board of Examiners for theMalcolm Baldrige NationalQuality Award.This was his thirdyear serving on the Board.Theaward, created by public law in1987, is the highest level ofnational recognition for per-formance excellence that a U.S.organization can receive.

Deborah P. Morrison (MST ‘02)has joined Miami accountingfirm Kaufman Rossin and Co. astax manager. In this role, she willprovide professional services tohigh-net-worth individuals andprivately-held businesses.

Fabian Perez-Crespo (EMBA’02) was elected vice presidentof marketing and EdgarCeballos (EMBA ’02) was elect-ed secretary for the SouthFlorida Chapter of NSHMBA.

Michael Richardson (EMBA‘02) has been named managerof planning and replenish-ment, Outlet Stores, at PerryEllis International.

Pilar Vasallo (MBA ‘02) is vicepresident of J.E.M. QualityPrinters, Inc. The company hasjust expanded its operationsand is now located at 9526SW 40th Street (Bird Road), inMiami. Recently,she complet-ed her accounting specializa-tion and was awarded her CPAcertification.

2003George Bermudez (BBA ‘03) hasjoined Bank United FinancialCorp. as senior vice president,commercial team leader.

Carlos Berrio (MBA ‘03), seniorproject estimator for AustinCommercial, is part of the devel-opment team of the MiamiInternational Airport’s NorthTerminal Program (NTP).TheNTP is a $1.5 billion project ledthrough Miami-Dade County foruse by American Airlines.

Richard Candia (MBA ‘03) hasbeen named assistant vice pres-ident of government relationsfor the University of Miami. Priorto joining the University ofMiami, Candia was the directorof government relations forFlorida International Universityfor six years.

Oxana Cardini (BACC ‘03) wasfeatured this past fall in TheMiami Herald for her excel-lence in education (graduatingwith honors from both Miami

Dade College and FIU). Havingmoved to Miami from Russia atthe age of 19 and hardlyspeaking English, her achieve-ments are remarkable. Cardiniis now enrolled in the Masterin Accounting (MACC) pro-gram in the College’s ChapmanGraduate School of Business.

Monique Catoggio (EMBA ‘03)was promoted to Director,Alumni and Partner Relations, inthe College. She graduatedwith her Executive MBA fromFIU in April. Catoggio receivedher BS in Public Relations fromFlorida State University. She isresponsible for building theCollege’s Alumni Chapter,Dean’s Alumni Circle, and cor-porate partners.

Rita Ferro (MIB ’03) has beenpromoted to vice president,International Advertising Sales,at ESPN Latin America in Miami.

Marc Poliquin (MBA ‘03) hasbeen named global productsleader, directors and officers lia-bility, second vice president, forGeneral Electric, Coral Gables.

Juan Felipe Wills (MBA ‘03) hasbeen promoted to vice presi-dent in the technology infra-structure department atCitigroup Latin America inMiami.Wills is responsible forthe technology infrastructureportion of the Voice Engineeringand Voice OperationsManagement in the LatinAmerica and Caribbean region.

Carlos F. Garcia (MBA candi-date), CBA Alumni Circle mem-ber and senior manager ofGoldstein Schechter PriceLucas Horwitz & Co., P.A. washighlighted in the SouthFlorida Business Journal as afinalist in the 2004 UP andCOMERS Awards.

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Daniel H. Aronson ShareholderGreenberg Traurig, P.A.

Josefina CarrenoDirectorBeckman Coulter

Joseph L. Caruncho, Esq.Chief Executive OfficerExcalibur Health Systems

Roberto CavalcantiPresidentLatin America & Caribbean RegionAmerican Express TRS

Pablo CejasManaging MemberAquarius Capital, LLC

Rui Da CostaVice President & General ManagerEnterprise Systems GroupLatin America & Caribbean Hewlett-Packard Company

Rafael CouttolencSenior Vice President—Latin AmericaDHL Express

Patricia Dahne Regional PresidentMiami-Dade County Coldwell Banker Florida

Dennis Klinger Vice President & Chief Information OfficerFlorida Power & Light Company

Angel Medina, Jr.PresidentMiami-Dade County Union Planters Bank

Felipe MedinaLatin American Regional ManagerGoldman Sachs

Luis Gabriel MerizaldeRegional Vice PresidentLatin America & South Africa RegionGeneral Mills

Carlos Migoya President–Dade and Monroe CountiesWachovia Bank, N.A.

Agusti MiroManaging Partner (retired)Accenture

Alvaro G. de Molina PresidentGlobal Corporate and Investment BankBank of America

Jeanne Moreno

Pete PizarroChief Executive OfficerTelefonica Data USA, Inc.

Carlos SabaterManaging PartnerSouth Florida & Puerto Rico,Deloitte & Touche

Federico SanchezPresidentL.I.C. Capital

Gabriel Sanchez-ZinnyManaging PartnerEgon Zehnder International

Eugenio Sevilla-SacasaVice President, South AmericaRyder System

Michael D. TovianVice President, Store OperationsWalgreen

N. K.“Trip” TripathyPresident and Chief Executive OfficerBurdines-Macy’s

Jesse J. TysonPresidentExxonMobil Inter-America, Inc.

Raul J. Valdes-Fauli PartnerSteel Hector & Davis International

Augusto L. Vidaurreta PrincipalRAM Strategy

Gabriel Zambrano BenitezDirector GeneralProeza, TI


Dean’s Council

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A publication of the COLLEGE OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION at Florida International University

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Help your colleagues and your business build theirexpertise by recommending the College of BusinessAdministration’s degree and professional/executiveeducation programs. Whether on-site, technology-enabled, or custom-designed and delivered, our programs have been instrumental in helping individu-als and select companies build their management tal-ent and achieve their strategic goals.

The College of Business Administration is an internationally-ranked provider of innovative, flexible,and leading-edge business education, particularly in international business, entrepreneurship, and the strate-gic uses of infortmation technology.

For more information, e-mail [email protected], visit ourweb site at http://cba.fiu.edu, or call (305) 348-6631.

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