As We Go to Press: A Letter From the Dean
Dear Wharton Alumnus:
The attacks on New York and Washington have stunned the world. The magnitude of the devastation and sheer barbarism of these acts utterly defy explanation.
Our community has been deeply affected by this tragedy. Over the past weeks, we have begun to learn just how many alumni, family members, colleagues and associates have been personally touched – and as a community, we mourn their loss.
We are also challenged to reckon with the impact that such unfathomable events have in our ability to move forward. As an institution – and as a worldwide community – Wharton faces this task as well.
The Wharton School, from its founding and throughout its 120-year history, has had a singular educational mission: to create leaders. Generations of men and women from all over the world have come to the Wharton School to prepare for leadership in the global society. Wharton alumni are leaders of vision, of passion and of the highest moral character. An essential quality of their service to the world is their deep respect for views of others and their commitment to unity and cooperation. Their contributions to the economic and social advancement of humankind have consistently built a better future for the generations that follow.
What is clear and certain in the wake of these attacks is that the mission of this institution is more important than ever. We cannot falter in our ultimate purpose. We must continue to offer today’s – and tomorrow’s – students the opportunities to grow into leaders and to take on the mantle of global responsibility that is the hallmark of all of our alumni throughout the world. While we rededicate ourselves to our global mission of service and leadership, we must also serve each other in this difficult time. Above all, this is a tragedy of personal, human impact. We must console each other in our grief and join together in a spirit of healing. My thoughts and prayers are with you and our entire Wharton community around the world.
Patrick Harker
Wharton West Kicks Off
This fall, the commute to Wharton got a lot more interesting. Wharton West, the school’s West Coast initiative, welcomed its first class of 65 Wharton Executive MBA Program (WEMBA) students in San Francisco.
Though this first cadre of students is initially taking classes at the Park Hyatt Hotel in downtown San Francisco, they and all of Wharton West will be housed on the fifth floor of the historic Folger Building by January 2002, when renovations there are completed. Plans for renovating the 20,000-square-foot space include two 60-seat tiered classrooms as well as faculty and administrative offices. The Folger Building – located at Howard and Spear Streets in the financial district – will also provide space for West Coast faculty members conducting research, executive education programs, and MBA courses for Philadelphia-based students. In addition to the WEMBA program, Wharton West includes courses for traditional MBA students, internships for undergraduate students, expanded executive education offerings, and faculty research projects.
Wharton West’s first class of WEMBA students, 16 percent of whom are women, has an average GMAT score of 700 and experience in industries including technology, financial services and health care.
Wharton alumni already have a strong West Coast presence; they currently number 8,000 in the West, with more than 5,500 in California. This past year, 18 percent of Wharton’s graduating MBA class and 11 percent of Wharton undergraduates accepted positions with companies in the western U.S.
“In effect, Wharton West just gives our involvement a tangible presence and enables it to continue to grow,” says dean Patrick Harker, noting that dozens of Wharton faculty are working with companies across the region from technology and telecommunications firms to the financial services, energy, and media and entertainment sectors.
School Awards Endowed Chairs
Wharton recently awarded seven endowed professorships, a key tool in building and sustaining faculty talent. Endowed chairs allow the school to provide professors with competitive salaries, recognition and research support. Newly awarded en-dowed chairs are:
Marshall L. Fisher, professor of operations and information management, was awarded the UPS Transportation Professorship for the Private Sector.
Thomas P. Gerrity, former Wharton dean and professor of management and operations and information management, was awarded the Joseph J. Aresty Professorship.
John Wesley Hutchinson, professor of marketing, was awarded the Stephen J. Heyman Professorship. Paul R. Rosenbaum, professor of statistics, was awarded the Robert G. Putzel Professorship.
G. Richard Shell, professor of legal studies and management, was awarded the Thomas Gerrity Professorship.
Kenneth L. Shropshire, professor of legal studies and real estate, was awarded the David W. Hauck Professorship.
Robert E. Verrecchia, professor of accounting, was awarded the Elizabeth F. Putzel Professorship.
Mack Center for Technological Innovation Created
Wharton recently announced the creation of the William and Phyllis Mack Center for Technological Innovation, an umbrella organization for all of the school’s technology management initiatives. The Center, established with a $10-million gift from alumnus William L. Mack, will support the research and publishing activities of Wharton faculty members, create an endowed professorship and support a student-run conference. Mack is president and senior managing partner of the Mack Organization, a national owner, investor and developer of warehouse facilities.
The Center will include the Mack Program in Technological Innovation, which will house the Wharton Emerging Technologies Management Research Program, a corporate learning network for senior executives and academic researchers guided by a varied group of senior faculty members and staff.
Industry partners include Bank of Montreal, Charles Schwab, DuPont, Enron, Hewlett-Packard, General Motors, IBM, McKinsey & Co., NSA, Procter & Gamble, GlaxoSmithKline, Sprint, Xerox and 3M Company. The program will also include the MBA major in Technological Innovation, which is administered through the school’s Operations and Information Management Department.
An endowed Mack Professorship has also been created. The professorship will be awarded to a senior faculty member whose primary focus is teaching and research related to technological innovation. In addition, the Center will support an annual student-run Mack Conference on managing technological innovation.
“The Center will ensure Wharton’s status as the global educational leader in managing technological development and innovation, with far-reaching impact on our students and the entire business community,” says Wharton Dean Patrick T. Harker.
“Innovation in technology is the way mankind continues to advance and make a better place for itself,” says Mack. “The future of the world has to do with technological innovation. Wharton’s role is to help companies improve how they manage technological innovation.” George Day, Geoffrey T. Boisi Professor, and Harbir Singh, Edward H. Bowman Professor of Management, will serve as co-directors of the Mack Center.
Mack also serves as chairman of Mack-Cali Realty Corporation, a publicly traded REIT that owns and operates a portfolio of office buildings throughout the United States, and he is founder and managing partner of Apollo Real Estate Advisors. He is a 1961 graduate of Wharton’s Undergraduate Division, a Trustee of the University of Pennsylvania and a member of the Wharton School’s Board of Overseers.
Meeker to Speak at Women in Business Conference
Morgan Stanley analyst Mary Meeker, one of the Internet boom’s most high-profile bulls, is among the slate of featured speakers at this year’s Wharton Women in Business (WWIB) Conference, to be held on November 2 at The Inn at Penn. Meeker garnered national media attention for her optimistic outlook on Internet stocks – as a hero during the market’s highs, then a scapegoat after the market tumbled. She will be joined by a host of other women business leaders scheduled to speak at the conference, including Janet Tiebout Hanson, CEO and founder of Milestone Capital Management and Betsy Holden, CEO of Kraft Foods North America.
The conference, titled “Conquering New Frontiers,” will focus on the importance of mentoring fellow women professionals and career development planning through women’s networking resources. A midday lunch will feature organized seating to encourage discussion between alumnae and students with similar career goals. Featured lunch guests include Holden and other team members from Kraft’s recent IPO; Liza Bailey and Carolynn Rockafellow, both managing directors in Credit Suisse First Boston’s Consumer Product’s Practice, and Jessica Palmer, a managing director of Citigroup/Salomon Smith Barney and advisor to Phillip Morris.
The leaders of this year’s WWIB hope to establish strong links between current students and alumni that will ultimately create a lasting sense of community and commitment. “We want to create a strong community of women who are Wharton alums,” says Jennifer Beachell, one of the conference organizers, “and we’re seeking women who can help us work toward that goal by being a part of our WWIB Alumnae Board of Advisors.”
How do you persuade a hospital that hiring more registered nurses will actually save money? This was just one of the many real-world problems nurse executives recently tackled during the annual Johnson & Johnson- Wharton Fellows Program in Management for Nurse Executives, held this summer at the Inn at Penn.
Caring for the Bottom Line
The nurse executives program prepares fellows by teaching skills that allow them to better understand the myriad changes underway in health care organizations. The goal of the 19-year-old program is to heighten nurse executives’ ability to represent and deliver a clinical voice at the most senior decision-making levels of their organizations.
“If you want clinicians to effectively participate in the rigorous and challenging world where traditional business disciplines have risen in prominence, they had better be equipped with those skills,” says program academic director Gregory P. Shea, noting that a key strength of the program is its track record of improving nurse executives’ ability to partner with top executives and board members. This is vital, he says, because nursing’s presence at the decision-making table is essential to maintaining quality patient care.
To participate in the program, nurse executives must be nominated by their CEO/COO, have at least an MS graduate degree in nursing, and be the organization’s chief nursing officer. They also must have significant influence at decision-making levels, have spent five or more years in a leadership role and be professionally active outside of their organization. Typically, 40 nurses from around the world participate each year. Most of their costs are covered by Johnson & Johnson.
Graduates join an international network of more than 700 alumni who continue to share information, advice, and support. The program also provides advanced management conferences for its graduates that offer refreshers on health care management and leadership trends and practices.
Warner Home Video President Joins Board
Warren Lieberfarb, W’65, president of Warner Home Video, has joined Wharton’s Undergraduate Executive Board. Lieberfarb has served as president of Warner Home Video since 1984. Under his leadership, the company expanded its global presence to include more than 75 international territories while increasing revenue seven-fold. Lieberfarb, described as the architect of the DVD (Digital Video Disk) format, began his career at Ford Motor Co. as a financial analyst. He later held senior-level posts at Paramount Pictures and 20th Century Fox where he was instrumental in early initiatives that led to the growth of cable and pay television.
Other recent board appointments include:
Asian Board
Atul C. Choksey, PAR’99 (parent), PAR’04, chairman, APCO Group of Companies, Mumbai, India
Farid Harianto, G’87, GR’89, chairman, Indonesian Clearing and Guaranty Corp., Jakarta, Indonesia
Tsong-Jen Huang, PAR’00 (parent), PAR’02, president, TCW/YFY Investment Partners Ltd., Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of China
Angelo J.Y. Koo, WG’93, president and chief operating officer, China Securities Co., Ltd., Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of China
