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Pillars ISSUE 17 SPRING 2017

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darden.virginia.edu2 Introducing Annual Fund Designations

4 Scholarship Impact

6 Supporting Business in Society

7 Weymouth Named New Board Chair

8 Alumni Career Support

RESPONSE TO DARDEN SCHOLARSHIP CHALLENGE PAYS EARLY DIVIDENDS IN CLASS OF 2018

In many ways, Second Year student Vidhur “Vid” Srinivasan Chari (left) epitomizes an ideal candidate for the University of Virginia Darden School of

Business. A native of India with multiple engineering degrees,

including a master’s degree from the University of Florida, Chari spent the previous five years in industrial procurement and supply chain management positions, eventually managing a $200 million portfolio of raw materials at a Philadelphia-area manufacturer. With an eye toward “growing in business and becoming a business leader,” Chari decided to explore an MBA program,

specifically one with a focus on leadership development. Armed with impressive work experience, high test

scores and a friendly demeanor, Chari applied to five elite business schools, including Darden.

As the offers rolled in, Chari was faced with a decision that would set his professional course for the future. The choice to definitively attend Darden was tipped by an increasingly important factor for high-achieving candidates: a generous scholarship offer.(See Challenge Accepted, Page 5)

THE POWER OF PHILANTHROPY AT THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA DARDEN SCHOOL OF BUSINESS

CHALLENGE ACCEPTED

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D A R D E N A N N U A L F U N D

New Annual Fund Designations Allow Donors to Direct Gifts to Top PrioritiesFor the first time ever, Darden is offering a choice for donors to designate their Annual Fund gifts to support the area of the School that matters most to them. It’s an opportunity to design their impact by saying “yes” to innovative programs, experiential learning opportunities and enrichment of the Darden experience. On these pages, students, faculty and Dean Scott Beardsley share how a gift to each of the four areas helps make an incredible impact as Darden pursues its mission to develop and inspire responsible leaders and advance knowledge.

The four areas of designation are:

1. AREA OF GREATEST NEED

2. SCHOLARSHIPS

3. GLOBAL IMPACT

4. FACULTY EXCELLENCE

Defining Darden’s Greatest Needs: Q&A With Dean Scott Beardsley

Dean Scott Beardsley calls the Darden Annual Fund an “amazingly im-portant part of Darden’s competitiveness” in the business education land-scape, and thanks donors for helping the School pursue its most pressing priorities through Annu-al Fund support. Below, Dean Beardsley explains how choosing Area of Greatest Need allows donors to support those priorities (and others) with maximum impact.

What are the areas of greatest need for support from the Darden Annual Fund this year?

There are many areas of need for a top business school every year, and some of the priorities for Darden at the moment involve:• Attracting the next generation of faculty• Offering scholarships to make Darden affordable and accessible

as we compete with other top institutions student by student• Giving every Darden student a global experience and making it

affordableThere are always other great priorities and, every year, the

financial support in a given area evolves. For example, right now Darden is reinvesting in our Career Development Center and innovating in other areas.

So if you think about the Annual Fund and checking the box for Area of Greatest Need, it is probably the most impactful way to give. It gives Darden great flexibility to have an impact where it needs it at that moment in time.

Why is the flexibility achieved through giving to Area of Greatest Need an advantage compared to other forms of giving?

First of all, every donor should do what gives them the great-est meaning and impact.

However, a lot of Darden’s philanthropy is restricted. Most of our endowment is earmarked for a specific area, such as a scholar-ship for a student from a certain geography. When you give to the School through the Area of Greatest Need, it allows the School’s leadership to be more nimble and to allocate resources to an area of priority that has emerged in that given year that would not necessarily otherwise be met through restricted endowments.

This year, for instance, we have 11 faculty searches underway. Last year, we had four. For us to land 11 amazing faculty members who are as good as the ones they are replacing, it will require a tremendous amount of financial resources and flexibility to con-vince somebody that they should leave their current institution. That is an example of one priority that may vary from one year to the next.

How do you envision Darden’s Area of Greatest Need evolving over time?

I don’t have a crystal ball, but I can say that some of the broad categories are unlikely to change. The need for scholarships, faculty excellence, research or being global are unlikely to go away. But I do believe that, in the long term, we’re going to focus more on some of the non-degree areas — Executive Education, lifelong learning and new innovations that Darden hasn’t come up with yet.

To remain a preeminent business school, we have to innovate. The areas in which we’re going to do so will involve the use of technology and connecting with alumni — and also practitioners — with non-degree options. I think we’re going to hear more about that while continuing to see the need to respond to the competitive landscape and a rapidly evolving business context. The Annual Fund will help us pave the way.

Area of Greatest Need

alumni.darden.edu/ways-to-give

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I said ‘yes’ to scholarships because I greatly appreciate the scholarship support that Darden gave to me.” — KRISTINA ALIMARD (MBA ’03)

COO, UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT CO.

HELP THE DARDEN ANNUAL FUND REACH ITS GOALS OF 50 PERCENT ALUMNI PARTICIPATION AND $5.4M FOR FISCAL YEAR 2017

PILLARS • SPRING 2017 3

The Time Is Now to Nurture the Next Generation of Great Faculty: A Letter From VenkatGreat faculty are not born, nor are they built in a day. It takes years and an academical village to attract, nurture and develop great faculty talent. Faculty excellence has always been the bedrock on which Darden’s preeminence is built. The need of the hour is to invest in the next generation of our faculty, which will continue to walk in the footsteps of those who have made Darden special. We have to find and attract the Bruners and the Colleys, the Chaplinskys and the Liedtkas of tomorrow.

And we have to invest in the teaching and the research infrastructures that take raw faculty talent and transform them into thought leaders and impactful teachers and mentors for talented students who will go on to become leaders in the world of tomorrow. It takes a Darden village of teaching and research sup-port systems to develop the Freemans and the Horni-mans, the Freys and the Isabellas of tomorrow. For great faculty members are not born; they are developed with support, systems, toil and inspiration. Indeed, they are an investment.

Investment in faculty excellence would be easy if we could just take the future value of our faculty and go to the capital markets for the resources necessary today. However, we do not have such a capital market. But Darden is blessed with its community of generos-ity. Indeed, our Darden family has been extraordinarily generous over the years to the Darden village. Let us take our generosity and invest in the future bedrock of Darden. Let us invest our generosity on the talent and the systems necessary to nurture and develop faculty excellence so that Darden can continue to deliver on the full potential of its talent and its mission.Sincerely,VenkatSankaran “Venkat” Venkataraman Mastercard Professor of Business Administration and Senior Associate Dean for Faculty and Research

Scholarships

Faculty Excellence

Forging Global Leaders Through Darden Opportunities Around the WorldTo see the value of global learning in action, look no further than Kyle Perez (Class of 2017).

When it came time to pursue an MBA, Perez sought out a school with a strong sense of communi-ty and ample global opportunities. Darden fit the bill on both fronts.

A New Jersey native with a professional back-ground in private equity, Perez has taken advantage of multiple global experiences at Darden, traveling to Japan, Argentina, China, Switzerland, India and Kenya during his time as a student. 

Perez’s first international trip remains his favorite global Darden experience — the Kaizen program in Japan.

Kaizen is Japanese for continuous improvement, aptly named for these trips designed to provide students the opportunity to work alongside company employees to study and maximize the efficiency of designated processes in another country. “It was a wake-up call of putting what I learned from Darden to work,” said Perez.

Admitting that he wasn’t the best student in his First Year Operations course, Perez credits his Kaizen experience with helping him understand in a practical way how important operations could be in a real-world, practical system.

“Elliott Weiss was my Operations professor at the time and also happened to lead the Kaizen pro-gram I went on,” Perez said. “After leveraging what I learned in his class for the Kaizen project and seeing how useful and effective ops actually could be, I just had to thank him.”

Perez continued his global experiences through multiple Darden Worldwide Courses, an exchange program in Buenos Aires and an internship with Danaher Corp. that spanned four continents. Each opportunity presented hands-on experience with global business and convinced Perez that his future career, which will begin after graduation with Dana-her Corp. subsidiary Hach Co., will be a global one.

While international experiences are invaluable for students like Perez, the costs of organizing and executing the courses would not be possible to cover without the considerable support from alumni and friends to the Darden Annual Fund. Each year, the Annual Fund supports the global initiatives and additional areas of the School that work to deliver Darden’s vision to achieve great global impact and stature.

Global ImpactScholarship Offers Student Path to Darden Despite Venezuela’s Inflation CrisisPrior to joining Darden’s student body, Stephanie Marie Machado Reggeti (Class of 2017) was suc-cessfully leading the expansion of a startup delivering education and career services amid extreme economic turmoil in Venezuela. However, as the startup grew, so did the challenge of managing the complexity of doing business in Venezuela.

Reggeti knew she had more to learn.“In a hyperinflationary economy where you have a

business that’s actually growing and succeeding, you realize you know a lot less about business than you thought you did. That was when I decided to go to business school. I wanted to acquire all of the tools that I could use to be a better business person.”

Reggeti had the credentials to earn admission to Darden — an engineering degree from a top Vene-zuelan university and unique work experience at the startup and in marketing at Diageo. However, the very inflation crisis that drove her toward business school also stood in the way of her dream to develop a more global business perspective at a school outside Venezuela.

Facing triple-digit — and rising — inflation rates for several years, it has become almost impossible for most Venezuelans to buy goods and services outside their country, much less afford an MBA in the United States.

Reggeti said she conducted a global search of MBA programs and fell in love with Darden’s use of the case method as well as the Darden community, which felt both comfortably close-knit and full of intellectual people who could challenge her. However, it was a scholarship funded through the Annual Fund that helped her ultimately say “yes” to the School.

“The scholarship is the reason I’m here today. I definitely could not have afforded Darden had it not been for the student loan and scholarship I was awarded,” Reggeti said.

Now in her final weeks at Darden, Reggeti looks back fondly on her favorite experiences, such as when Whole Foods co-CEO John Mackey spoke to her “Creative Capitalism” course led by Professor Ed Freeman. “First, just having Ed Freeman as a profes-sor is indescribable, then having John Mackey stand in front of our class for an hour and a half, I felt so honored.”

Although leaving Darden is bittersweet for Regge-ti, she has accepted a position with Danaher Corp. that she says will perfectly mix her business and engi-neering experience. And, one day, she hopes to start a business that will bring Venezuelan food to the world and profits back to the people in her home country.

Kyle Perez (Class of 2017)Stephanie Marie Machado Reggeti (Class of 2017)

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Professors Sankaran “Venkat” Venkataraman and Ed Freeman

Murphy Fellowship Enables ‘Big Change’ Through Global Experience

Elaine Yi (MBA ’16) experienced firsthand how the simple act of alumni reaching back to support current students can make a big difference when she received the Murphy

Fellowship for International Exchange.The award was established in 2002 by J. Byrne Murphy (MBA

’86) with his brother, P. Clarke Murphy, and sister-in law, Whit-ney Murphy — both of whom are also UVA graduates. It aims to provide financial assistance to students who wish to study abroad. Byrne Murphy has made a career of international business, export-ing the American models of retail outlet centers, data centers and private residency clubs to countries across Europe.

“My family and I have had the incredible good fortune to live half or more of our lives outside our native country and culture,” said Murphy. “Doing so, especially at a young age, imbues one with a sense of perspective that greatly facilitates navigating this ever more globalized, fast-moving and multicultural world. It teaches one how to test your most basic assumptions and, especially, how to listen.”

The fellowship afforded Yi the opportunity to spend three months in Australia, studying at the Melbourne Business School.

“In First Year, I got a really good understanding of the U.S.- oriented cases and how America does business, but coming from China, I knew it wasn’t the whole picture,” Yi said. “Australia was a continent I had never been to, and I was curious to know how I could really broaden my learning in business and practice.”

Yi said she hopes the namesakes of her fellowship know the significant role they played in her academic career.

Said Yi: “Sometimes people don’t believe how big a change a small thing can make to others’ lives. It does make a big difference.”

Yi’s global education began even earlier, as soon as she came to study at Darden, the first long-term overseas experience of her life.

A Shanghai-based entrepreneur with a banking background, Yi first came into contact with the School when she was considering MBA programs and attended an informational event organized by members of the Darden alumni network in China.

“When I went to the Darden event, I could feel that it was so different,” Yi said. “All of the alumni there just wanted to spend all of their time and effort to help you understand what you are getting in to and how to be successful in the process. That was the moment I said, ‘OK, Darden really cares about what it can give you during the two years — and also what happens after you graduate.’”

Now a consultant with Everest Group in Dallas, Yi says she is already finding direct correlation between Darden cases and her day-to-day work, and expects her international experience to soon pay dividends, as well.

In their own words This fall, nearly 100 Darden students took time out of their schedules for one reason: to share their gratitude. Scholarship recipients in both the Class of 2017 and the Class of 2018 gathered to write letters to the donors of their scholarships.

The magnitude and meaningfulness of the scholarships to each student and to his or her trajectory — not just in business, but in life — is underscored throughout the notes. Many students shared that they are the first of their families to attend business school. The quotes below provide a glimpse into the impact of a scholarship for these Darden students.

IMPACT

Because of your gra-ciousness, I am the

first person in my family to attend graduate school. I will continue to do work and be a role model for future gen-erations of African-American leaders.”— JUSTIN EDMONDSON

(CLASS OF 2017), MARIETTA AND SHERWOOD FREY SCHOLARSHIP RECIPIENT

I grew up in a rural village in central China and the

majority of residents in the village are illiterate. Like many Chinese peasants, both of my parents did not finish high school … Eventu-ally, I became the first col-lege graduate in my village.”— YONGQIANG (ANSON) GU

(CLASS OF 2018), DAVID AND JANE WALENTAS SCHOLARSHIP RECIPIENT

As the first person in my family to attend business

school, I chose to come to Darden because I fell in love with the School. I was enchanted by the environment, culture and faculty, and, last but not least, Charlottes-ville. I can safely say that this has been one of the best decisions of my life so far.”— AUGUSTO TORRES BOZZI

(CLASS OF 2018), COLGATE DARDEN SCHOLARSHIP RECIPIENT

Elaine Yi (MBA ’16)

J. Byrne Murphy (MBA ’86)

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OF SCHOLARSHIPS

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As the second daughter of agricultural researchers

and granddaughter of rice farm-ers, I hadn’t thought I would be the first one in my family to go to business school. Indeed, the generous scholarship from Darden allowed me to do so.” — THANH-TRANG HOANG-LE

(CLASS OF 2018), DARDEN ANONYMOUS SCHOLARSHIP RECIPIENT

PILLARS • SPRING 2017 5

From Page 1

“When I got the letter from Darden saying, ‘You’ve been selected for a scholarship,’ it helped tip the scales in two ways. It helped me make a decision between two schools, but it also helped answer the question: Do I really need to go to school or can I continue doing the work I am doing now and grow into that leader in the next five years?” Chari said. “So, from a perspective of opportunity cost, the scholarship definitely helped.”

Indeed, an ambitious effort to dramatically increase scholarship funding for Darden students is showing clear early returns, attracting high-performing students like Chari. Cognizant that rising tuition costs and increasingly generous scholarship awards at other top schools were impacting Darden’s ability to attract and enroll its ideal students, Dean Scott Beardsley established the Darden Scholarship Challenge goal in October 2015 to increase scholarship funding by $10 million each year.

A Standout ClassAfter the goal was set in 2015, Darden alumni and friends have responded immediately to what will be a years-long effort, and the Darden community is already seeing concrete evidence of scholarship dollars at work — measured largely in the notably high caliber of the Class of 2018.

The Class of 2018 set a number of new high water-marks, with a record number of women at 39 percent, more minority students than ever before and the highest-ever average GMAT score of 712.

Perhaps most tellingly, the yield — the percentage of students who chose to enroll at Darden after being offered admission — rose from 46 percent for the previous class to 52 percent.

Assistant Dean of Admissions Sara Neher says a number of factors have converged to make scholarships such an important part of an admissions offer, includ-ing the industry-wide rise in tuition, an increasing number of students coming from less lucrative profes-sional backgrounds and the rising undergraduate debt many students carry into their MBA career.

“The decision to come to business school is more influenced by finances than it ever has been before,” said Neher.

Darden’s assistant dean of admissions notes that while students aren’t necessarily choosing Darden solely on scholarships, their availability levels the playing field when it comes time for students to make a decision.

“We are really identifying people who are great fits for Darden — who we want to come here. Prior to last year, these students just couldn’t afford to attend Darden. They would receive a big offer from another school that they liked less, but they would tell us that ‘I can’t turn down this ability to pay,’” said Neher.

Scholarship dollars also play a critical role in at-tracting international students, particularly in an era of a strong U.S. dollar.

“If you are nervous about being able to get a job in the U.S., but you have a scholarship, you could go back and work in your home country,” Neher said. “If you don’t, it can be very hard to go home and pay off your loan.”

Neher said the increased funding also helped round out the industry diversity of the Class of 2018, with more students in fields such as consumer products, marketing, operations and supply chain management. Faculty members have applauded the diversity of back-grounds that is visible in the classroom, Neher said.

Impacting the Classroom ExperienceProfessor Kim Whitler said she’s seen a change in makeup in the First Year Marketing class she teach-es, a diversity she attributes in part to the increase in scholarship funding.

Whitler, who says diversity of experience and competencies have always been the great strength of the Darden classroom, points out the range of back-grounds was even more pronounced in her most recent First Year class. Notably, Whitler said it was the first time the class had more than one or two students with marketing backgrounds.

“It’s surprising because marketing is one of the biggest functional areas recruited out of undergrad business schools,” Whitler said. “Conceptually, you would expect that many would enroll in an MBA program; yet, for some reason that hasn’t been the case in my few years at Darden.”

Whitler believes concerted efforts to attract top female and minority candidates might have led to the increased function diversity. But no matter the reason, the professor said it made for a “spectacular start” to the 2016–17 school year.

“Part of the richness of the case methodology experience in our classroom is the diversity of knowl-edge, skill, competency, thinking and experience,” Whitler said. “As we become more focused on greater demographic diversity, an outcome of this appears to be greater diversity in the types of backgrounds and experiences coming into the program — and that’s terrific because it leads to a more vibrant, challenging and deeper learning experience.”

Chari, who coincidentally said he has “fallen in love with marketing” in the early days of his Darden experience, anecdotally confirms the strength of his classmates in the Class of 2018.

“My peers are so talented and knowledgeable,” Chari said. “It’s been incredible to see how many smart people can be piled into a room and how they can teach you so many things in the six hours you spend together in class each day.”

Chari isn’t certain what career path he’ll eventually pursue, but he’s determined to ultimately lead a global organization. The engineer thinks increased scholar-ship support at Darden will also help other students interested in leadership get off the fence and into the MBA program.

FROM LEFT: Kate Sutton (Class of 2018), Justin Edmondson (Class of 2017) and Vid Srinivasan Chari (Class of 2018) all came to Darden thanks to scholarship support.

Challenge Accepted

Help meet the Darden Scholarship Challenge. Contact Howie Avery at AveryH@darden.virginia.edu or +1-434-982-2153.

Part of the richness of the case methodology experience in our classroom is the diversity of knowledge, skill, competency, thinking and experience. As we become more focused on greater demographic diversity, an outcome of this appears to be greater diversity in the types of backgrounds and experiences coming into the program.” — PROFESSOR KIM WHITLER

India Fund Races to the Finish LineThis spring, alumni around the world are helping complete the Darden India Fund, which will provide scholarship funding for students from one of the world’s fastest-growing economies and markets for top MBA candidates.

Through an effort led by VN Dalmia (MBA ‘84), chairman of Dalmia Continental, the fund was estab-lished in 2009 to provide financial assistance for Indian students enrolling at Darden. While additional support of the fund continues to come in, Darden’s Office of Advancement is bolstering efforts to bring it up to the required level to begin allocating funds for scholarships.

Darden is hosting three special events this spring in Washington, D.C., Silicon Valley and New York City to help push the India Fund across the finish line. Ronald E. Trzcinski Professor of Business Administra-tion Raj Venkatesan will provide insight into Darden’s exciting activities in India, including a recent roundta-ble and Global Executive MBA residency hosted in the country’s business hotbeds.

“The events are an opportunity to highlight Darden’s work in India — and this important schol-arship fund — for our alumni community,” said Kara Mullins, executive director of Advancement. “I recently returned from India, where the fund is widely support-ed, and we look forward to increasing the awareness of it to our supporters in the United States.”

For more information on the Darden India Fund, contact Kara R. Mullins at MullinsK@darden.virginia.edu or +1-434-243-0834.

VN Dalmia (MBA '84)

DARDEN INDIA FUND EVENTS

WASHINGTON, D.C. — 2 MARCHSILICON VALLEY — 20 APRIL

NEW YORK CITY — 3 MAY

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LEWIS EXEMPLIFIES NEW HONOR FOR TIRELESS DEDICATION TO DARDEN

A member of the first class to graduate from Darden, Harry Lewis (MBA ’57) has remained a tireless friend

and champion of the School over the decades. It was fitting, then, when Lewis received an inaugural

honor recently: Darden’s Distinguished Service Award, given to the alumni leader who has dedicated exceptional, longtime volunteer service to the School, a class or alumni chapter; demonstrates passionate and creative commit-ment to engaging more alumni; and provides loyal financial support.

Lewis, who remains a regular presence in the halls of Darden, was the first chair of the Darden Alumni Associa-tion Board of Directors in 1964 and has continued in an active emeritus role since that time. A leader of his class for 60 years, Lewis also spearheads the Annual Fund’s efforts for the Hickory Club and Abbott Society.

Adding to the honor, School leaders announced that the Distinguished Service Award would henceforth be known as the Harry N. Lewis Distinguished Service Award. The newly named award, supported by an endowment from Lewis’ wife, Dr. Dearing Ward Johns, will further Lewis’ estimable legacy and continue to promote and inspire engagement for future generations of alumni.

“Darden taught me the value of relationships. My classmates of more than 60 years ago have become my lifelong friends and, along with lessons we learned at Darden, have had a vital influence on my life and career,” said Lewis. “At Darden, I learned — when it comes to busi-ness, family or friendships — if something is worth doing, start working on it now and keep working until it's done. It has been an honor and a privilege to serve and support Darden as it continues to grow and move forward.”

ALUMNI RECOGNITION

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As he settles into his new role at Darden, Joey Bur-ton, executive director of the Institute for Business in Society, took time to answer three questions posed by Kara Mullins, executive director of Advancement.

KM: Joey, like you, I joined Darden within the last year and am thrilled to be part of such an incredi-ble institution. What, in particular, brought you to Grounds, and what excites you the most about the School?

JB: You know, I think people believe that if you want to change the world, you have to earn a degree in social work, law or public policy. But the business leaders I know are deeply concerned about how their decisions affect their employees, their suppliers, the markets they function in and the communities they serve. They see business as a complex source of social good. And they are right.

I love that the soul of Darden is a really concrete, explicit commitment to advancing business as a solu-tion to intractable economic, social and public policy problems.

That is dramatically different from Darden’s peers, and I think it gives Darden’s faculty research and thought leadership an almost uniquely pro-business character. From top to bottom, this is an institution that believes in the power — and responsibility — of businesses to lead the charge against the world’s most pressing problems.

KM: Which of our phenomenal faculty members are you especially eager to work alongside, and why?

JB: The story of business is often that business is out of alignment with the needs and aspirations of real people. I think that conventional wisdom is wrong.

And I am so excited to work with Darden’s world-class faculty in telling a better — truer — story about busi-ness than the one we have inherited.

For example, Greg Fairchild’s community devel-opment research demonstrates the absolute coura-geousness of business owners in the face of unimag-inable hardship, and it is providing us with models for building resilient businesses. Mary Margaret Frank is passionately advocating for public-private partnerships, for pay-for-success models of public finance and for ensuring markets benefit everyone. Andy Wicks is producing cutting-edge ethics research, asking how business can provide real leadership in transforming workers’ training, expectations and opportunities in an economy that is rapidly being overtaken by artifi-cial intelligence. And Ed Freeman’s hugely influential stakeholder theory goes much further than behavioral science to explain how firms actually behave. Ed has a massive capacity for both generating ideas and collab-orating across disciplines to move his ideas into the mainstream of business teaching.

KM: Can you share insight into the importance of collaboration between Darden’s Institute for Business in Society and the Office of Advancement?

JB: Darden leadership in business education over the past 25 years was built on some very big, influential ideas. And our current challenge is to create a research infrastructure that will engender and support the de-velopment of the next set of big ideas in business. These ideas will come from our current faculty, who are con-stantly reimagining and refreshing what they present to our students in the classroom to reflect cutting-edge research. Big ideas will also come from the next gener-ation of faculty, whose research ambitions must be met with a capacity to execute and publicize them.

Joey Burton, executive director of Darden’s Institute for Business in Society, with Kara Mullins, executive director of Advancement, at the Darden School of Business

Q&AInstitute for Business in Society Poised to Develop the Next Set of Big Ideas in Business

I am excited to meet Darden’s true believers — practicing managers who have experienced the Darden education and who know that it does make the world a better place. From graduation through retirement, our alumni are focused on projects that cast business as heroes among society’s problem solvers. And I am looking forward to a vibrant relationship with the Darden Advancement team as we work together with the School’s philanthropists to create an institution and an infrastructure that will allow the next generation of ideas — and the faculty and students who create them — to flourish at Darden.

Contact Joey Burton at BurtonJ@darden.virginia.edu or +1-434-924-9208 to discuss opportunities related to the Institute for Business in Society.

Harry Lewis (MBA ’57), right, with his wife, Dr. Dearing Ward Johns, and Doug Moore (MBA ’80), chair of the Darden Alumni Association Board of Directors

In support of Darden’s Institute for Business in Society, the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) has established the TVA Fund for Business in Society through a gift valued at more than $2 million.

The fund will augment the institute’s widespread work to inspire business leaders to view their roles as managing a complex source of social good and to promote the efforts of businesses to create social value and improve the world.

Since its inception in 1933 when President Franklin Roosevelt signed the TVA Act, TVA has modeled efforts businesses can take to make a positive impact on society. Just as Roosevelt charged more than 80 years ago, the company ensures the economic, environmental, social and physical well-being of people in its service area, which includes Virginia.

TVA’s financial support of the School under-scores its goal to “make life better for the people of the Tennessee Valley region” and aligns its ser-vice commitment with the missions of both Darden and the Institute for Business in Society.

“With its gift, TVA has demonstrated its com-mitment to ensuring that the next generation of business leaders is equipped to solve important social problems and to advance the interests of the communities they serve,” said Joey Burton, execu-tive director of the Institute for Business in Society. “In TVA, we have a tremendous partner in demon-strating how business can be a force for good, and we are so grateful for their generous gift.”

Through philanthropic support, organizations can partner with Darden as TVA has to advance research and thought leadership on critical areas of business knowledge. Darden’s work with corpo-rations also extends beyond philanthropic oppor-tunities via recruiting at the School and corporate sponsorship, leadership development through Darden Executive Education, and partnering on new case studies.

Missions Aligned Through TVA Major Gift to Darden

PILLARS • SPRING 2017 7

28–30 April 2017

alumni.darden.edu/reunion

ALUMNI LEADERSHIP

The inaugural GivingToHoosDay on 12 April 2016 was a huge success. Darden raised a record number of gifts and dollars in 24 hours. The day resulted in 880 gifts and $570,897 as well as $30,000 in challenge gifts from the University of Virginia. This unprecedented support from alumni, faculty, staff, students and friends drove Darden’s first-place finish among all schools for dollars raised and second-place finish for number of gifts. The Darden community also won compe-titions for first gift and most international gifts.

This year, Darden aims to build on the tremen-dous success for the 2017 GivingToHoosDay on 12 April, with expanded offerings, events, and opportunities for alumni and friends to reconnect with the School.

Elizabeth Weymouth (MBA ’94), chair of the Darden School Foundation Board of Trustees

Bob Hugin (MBA ’85), vice chair of the Darden School Foundation Board of Trustees

Momentum for Scholarships Continues Through Reunion GivingAs the 2017 Darden Reunion Weekend approach-es, the School is working closely with reunion classes to bolster the positive impact each makes through Reunion Giving.

With scholarships as a top priority of the School, three reunion classes — 1967, 1972 and 1982 — are expanding existing scholarships, and the Class of 1987 is building on seed funding to create a new scholarship. Collectively, these four classes are paving the way for increased support to the best and brightest students for the Class of 2018 and beyond at the Darden School.

The focus on scholarships rings true for the Class of 1977, as well. They plan to dedicate their reunion gifts to the creation of new John L. Colley Jr. Darden Jefferson Fellowships. These fellowships honor Professor John Colley as he celebrates his 50th year on the Darden faculty. Members of the

Class of 1977 credit much of their academic suc-cess at Darden to Colley’s expertise and passion.

The Class of 1992 enters its 25th reunion with a commitment to another top priority of the School — faculty excellence. When deciding which area of the School to support, Reunion Giving Co-Chair Sunil Ghatnekar (MBA ’92) emphasized the wide-spread impact of ensuring top-notch faculty.

“A fund for faculty benefits all students,” Ghatnekar said. Darden Reunion Giving to facul-ty excellence is a first, making it an especially exciting focus and particularly fitting for this class, which includes Isidore Horween Research Professor of Business Administration Greg Fairchild.

Weymouth Named Board of Trustees ChairAn influential force in the fields of private equity and asset management, Elizabeth Weymouth (CLAS ’89, MBA ’94) is breaking new ground at Darden. After completing terms as vice chair of the Darden School Foundation Board of Trustees and chair of its Investment and Engagement committees, Weymouth is now the first woman in the board’s history to serve as chair.

She succeeds Jim Cooper (MBA ’84), senior managing partner at Thompson Street Capital Partners, who held the chair from 2014 to 2016. Bob Hugin (MBA ’85), executive chair of Celgene Corp., has been elected vice chair. Hugin and Weymouth will serve in their respective roles through 2018.

“It’s an extremely exciting time at the Darden School, and it is an honor to work with the board of trustees, Darden’s Dean Scott Beardsley and the entire Darden community as we support the School’s important mission and set the course for the future,” said Weymouth.

“We’re thrilled to move forward under the board leadership of Elizabeth and Bob,” said Beardsley. “Both are veteran leaders with deep commitments to institutional excellence and the Darden School, and we welcome their expertise as Darden pursues an ambitious strategic plan to advance the School’s global impact and stature.”

Weymouth was a partner at Riverstone Holdings LLC for 10 years from 2007–17 and was responsible for limited partner relations and capital raising. Over the past decade, she led the firm’s efforts to raise over $25 billion of incremental capital. Riverstone is an energy- and

WHAT IS GIVINGTOHOOSDAY?A daylong celebration and time for students, alumni, faculty and friends to come together for one common pur-pose: to celebrate UVA through social media and philanthropy.

WHENWednesday, 12 April

HOW TO GET INVOLVEDSpread the word via social media. Follow Darden’s accounts and use #GivingToHoosDay on relevant posts lead-ing up to and during the day, and consider making a gift.

GIVINGTOHOOSDAY EVENTS AND CHALLENGESDarden will host a First Coffee kickoff event with Dean Scott Beardsley and end the day with an evening celebration for the Darden community.

Stay tuned for details of a 2017 GivingToHoosDay Challenge.

givingtohoosday.virginia.edu/darden

power-focused private investment firm with approximately $34 billion of capital raised.

Based in New York City, Weymouth earned a bachelor of arts from UVA in 1989 and an MBA from Darden in 1994. A member of the Darden School Foundation Board of Trustees since 2007, she has mentored students in Darden Capital Management and is a visiting executive lecturer at Darden. Weymouth was inducted into UVA’s Raven Society in 2008.

Hugin, who joined Celgene in 1999, served as CEO prior to taking the executive chair position. He is past chair of the board of Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America and serves on the boards of Danaher Corp., The Medicines Company and Princeton University.

Said Weymouth, “I am delighted to partner with Bob Hugin, who is an extraordinary leader. This is an especially important time at the University of Virginia as it prepares to celebrate its Bicentennial and to shape ambitious plans for its third century. We look forward to the opportunity.”

Sunil Ghatnekar (MBA ’92)

8 DARDEN.VIRGINIA.EDU

Parents and Family Weekend (November), Darden and Central Grounds — Darden Student Association President Molly Duncan (Class of 2017), middle, helped facilitate an incredible weekend, which brought more than 200 attendees from across the world.

Darden Worldwide Course (January), Moscow — Students braved record-setting cold temperatures during the first Darden World-wide Course in Moscow, which focused on adapting products, services and business models in an emerging market.

Darden Network Gathers Around the GlobeDarden recently hosted several new events for students, parents, alumni and donors at Darden and around the globe. The events offered unparalleled educational and social experiences and celebrated the incredible — and expanding — Darden network.

Pillars is published by the Darden School Foundation, a nonprofit organization that supports the Darden School by promoting philanthropic support from alumni, friends and corporations; managing endowment funds for the School’s exclusive benefit; and operating Darden’s top-ranked Executive Education program, the Inn at Darden and Abbott Center hospitality. Questions, comments and address changes should be directed to: communication@darden.virginia.edu or University of Virginia Darden School of Business, Office of Communication & Marketing, P.O. Box 7225, Charlottesville, Virginia 22906 USA.

Executive Director of Advancement: Kara R. MullinsExecutive Director of Communication & Marketing: Juliet Daum Editor: Jay HodgkinsWriters: Margaret Y. Hancock and Dave Hendrick Copy Editor: Camille Weaver Graphic Design: Susan WormingtonPhotography: Ian Bradshaw, Tom Cogill, Stephanie Gross, Peggy Harrison, Sam Levitan, Jim Olvera and Andrew Shurtleff

TAP IN TO THE NETWORK WITH ALUMNI CAREER ADVISERSDarden’s Armstrong Center for Alumni Career Services (ACS)

turned the page to 2017 with a host of new offerings for alumni. ACS, which provides career support for all alumni for

life, launched its revamped web portal at alumni.darden.edu in January with updated online resources, information and improved navigation.

ACS has also rolled out a new Alumni Adviser Program to help alumni tap the dynamic Darden network for career support through opportunities to speak with senior-level alumni in their areas of profes-sional interest. ACS Executive Director Jen Coleman sheds more light on the exciting pilot program in this Q&A.

What areas of expertise do the current advisers represent?For the pilot, we have enlisted eight highly accomplished alumni to serve as advisers. Marketing, entrepreneurship, private equity, operations and management consulting repre-sent the professional areas of expertise for six of the alumni advisers. The other two alumni are focused on very specific types of career chal-lenges — career relaunch after hiatus from the workforce and transitions to the private sector from military careers.

What is the difference between a coach and an adviser?ACS career coaches are paid, trained coach-ing professionals whose guidance is broad and applies across industries and functional areas. Most importantly, ACS coaches are here to provide support to our clients through ongoing relationships. Advisers are alumni volunteers

and are available for one-time informational con-versations around their specific areas of expertise.

How do I connect with an adviser?If you are interested in speaking with an alumni adviser, please reach out to Alumni Career Services to-day. ACS is hitting the road this year. Be on the lookout for upcoming events in your area!

For more information about the Alumni Adviser Program or for career support, contact the Armstrong Center for Alumni Career Services at alumnicareerservices@darden.virginia.edu or +1-434-924-4876.

Did You Know?The Armstrong Center for Alumni Career Services was established through two major gifts. One gift was made by Beverley “Booty” Armstrong (MBA ’66), who left a tremendous legacy, both as a business and civic leader in Richmond, Virginia, and as a champion for Darden and its alumni network. The second was an anonymous commitment of $2 million matched by Darden through class gifts and Annual Fund designations for a total of $4 million of support.

McKinsey & Co. Admissions Event (November), Sao Paulo — Dean Scott Beardsley led a first-of-its-kind admissions recruiting event for McKinsey & Co. employees during a recent trip to Sao Paolo. He and other Darden leaders also attended a dinner hosted by Marcos Arruda (MBA ’02) with alumni in the area.

Drinks in the Dome (October), Saunders Hall — W.L. Lyons Brown III (MBA ’87), above left, and Damian Warshall (MBA ’14), below, second from right, shared specialty drinks from their respective ventures, Altamar Brands and Snowing in Space, at an event for First Year students.

Foxfield Family Day Races (September), Charlottesville — Darden Hickory Club members enjoyed a day at the races with their families, faculty and fellow alumni. Pictured left to right: Tom Giedgowd (MBA ’12), and Jacki Thompson (MBA ’10) with Jen Andrasko (MBA ’10).

Darden Society Tailgate (October), Pavilion I — Dean Scott Beardsley and Claire Dufournet Beardsley opened their home and garden on the Lawn to members of the School’s generous giving society.

ALUMNI NETWORK

Jen Coleman

Career services for alumni and students are a top priority for Dean Scott Beardsley and will be supported through Annual Fund gifts designated to Area of Greatest Need.Contact Howie Avery at AveryH@darden.virginia.edu or +1-434-982-2153 to discuss major giving opportunities.