Jim Steele, MBA’82, knows what it’s like to be up against tough odds. Eight years ago he was diagnosed with Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease and spinocerebellar ataxia, both genetic neuromuscular conditions that have since left him disabled.
“I have partial symptoms of both, but the doctors can’t do anything for either one,” he says. “They’re progressive diseases, and [...]

Sheru Chowdhry, MBA’00, laughs about his earliest experience living in New York City. His first apartment was in Times Square, and there was little respite from the noise and lights. “It’s a wonder that I didn’t end up half-deaf and half-blind from all of that,” he says. “It was sensory overload.”
Chowdhry eventually settled on the [...]

The Admissions office would like to thank the following alumni for their help in recruiting prospective students. If you would like to be involved in future Admissions events, please email admissions@owen.vanderbilt.edu.

Atlanta
Bella Abel, MBA’09
Matt Abel, MBA’09
Javier Canas, MBA’05
Jared Degnan, MBA’09
Travis Dunn, MBA’11
Astrid Huebner, MBA’09
Erin White, MBA’09Austin
Paige Brown, MBA’10
Michael Chao, MBA’11
Chapin Hertel, MBA’10Beijing
Chuan-Cheng “Tim” Wu, MBA’04
Boston
Jack Hartley, [...]

This past spring Bruce Brockenborough, EMBA’01, President and CEO of Hannan Supply Co., issued a challenge to the Executive MBA Class of 2011. If they would raise at least $145,000 for their class gift with 100 percent participation, he would pledge money of his own to help launch much-needed scholarships within the EMBA program. The [...]

This summer Peter Veruki, Owen’s Director of Corporate Relations, traveled to Budapest, Hungary, with his wife, alumna Judy Spinella, EMBA’93, Vice President and Project Leader at B.E. Smith. While there, they met up with several local Owen alumni at a rooftop restaurant overlooking the city. Pictured from left to right are Peter Holtzer, MBA’94, Partner [...]

Frank Bumstead, MBM’72, admits he really didn’t know what to expect when he enrolled in Vanderbilt’s Graduate School of Management in 1970, soon after finishing a tour in Vietnam as a mine warfare officer. The school, which had yet to adopt the Owen name, was young then and trying to establish its identity, much like [...]

This past spring Rachel V. Rose, MBA’05, Assistant General Counsel and Director of Business Development for BCE Healthcare Advisors, was given the task of developing a new website for her company. Unsure of where to send the requests for proposal, she sought the advice of her former professor and fellow alumnus, Bruce Lynskey, MBA’85, who [...]

The CityOwen program is led by alumni around the country and provides value through networking opportunities, updates on the school and featured faculty or staff presentations. The program also helps strengthen the relationship between Owen and local communities in areas such as recruitment.
Birmingham: Sept. 8
C.T. Fitzpatrick, MBA’90, hosted an event at the offices of Vulcan [...]

There was no single “aha” moment that convinced Kim Parlett, MBA’04, to leave her job at a marketing firm and embrace a more rustic way of life. Rather, she says, it was a series of realizations during a 2009 horse-packing trip through Yellowstone Park that helped her make up her mind.
“I was continually struck by [...]

A new mobile application called SmartFuel allows drivers to search for live gas prices along any route in the United States, find the cheapest price and save an average of $5 with every fill-up. SmartFuel provides this information by gathering credit card purchase data that is continuously updated.
That is just one of the features that [...]

From Peru to Germany to India, Owen alumni around the world have supported the Admissions team’s efforts at B-school fairs. These alumni have played an important role in rallying support from other Owen graduates, relaying market-specific information that might improve recruiting strategy, hosting applicant gatherings, and representing the program at fairs. The Admissions team would [...]

The CityOwen program is led by alumni around the country and provides value through networking opportunities, updates on the school and featured faculty or staff presentations. The program also helps strengthen the relationship between the Owen School and local communities in areas such as recruitment.
Birmingham
Jan. 26
Margaret and Jim Brunstad, both MBM’75, hosted a CityOwen Birmingham [...]

When asked about his role as Global Brand Strategist at Intel Corporation, the world’s leading manufacturer of microprocessors, Bryan Deaner, MBA’93, cannot help but talk about the future. His job, after all, is to look ahead from 18 months to 2018 and decide, in conjunction with Intel’s other strategists and planners, how best to manage [...]

The EMBA Class of 2010 made history by raising more than $140,000 toward its class gift. Not only is it the largest amount ever raised by an EMBA class, but it is also the first time in Owen history that a class—EMBA or otherwise—has reached 100 percent participation. The gift established the EMBA 2010 Strategy [...]

The CityOwen program is led by alumni around the country and provides value through networking opportunities, updates on the school and featured faculty or staff presentations. The program also helps strengthen the relationship between Owen and local communities in areas such as recruitment.
Atlanta
March 30
CityOwen Atlanta welcomed Nick Bollen, the E. Bronson Ingram Professor of Finance, [...]

When Margaret and Jim Brunstad, both MBM’75, arrived at Owen in fall 1973, little did they know that their paths would soon merge, sending them in a direction that has been unpredictable at times but enjoyable all the same. “We met on the first day of orientation when I borrowed money for a soft drink,” [...]

When Todd Jackson, BA’96, EMBA’08, joined Cumberland Consulting Group as Director of Operations this past spring, it signaled a new chapter in the company’s growth. The Brentwood, Tenn.-based firm, which assists health care providers in choosing and implementing electronic medical record systems, has more than doubled in size in the last year. The partners recognized [...]

When Connie Ritter, MBA’80, was trying to decide which job offer to accept in anticipation of her graduation from Owen, she got some career advice that she has never forgotten. In her typical analytical fashion, she had created a matrix with factors that she thought should enter into her consideration, but Professor of Management Germain [...]

In a way the timing couldn’t have been worse. Just when Kathy Harris, MBA’85, was making the jump from an 11-year career in investment banking to a small venture capital firm specializing in Internet startups, the dot-com bubble burst. “I started the exact month that everything began to unravel,” she recalls. “It was fun while [...]

The Internet essentially has enabled instant marketing,” says Mike Janes, MBA’94, CEO and Co-founder of FanSnap, a Web-based business that provides an optimized search through hundreds of ticket-purchasing options for sports, concerts and theater events. “Historically marketers would learn about customers through research. Now you can make changes and see instantly how customers react.”
After stints [...]

If you shop for wine or spirits at your local supermarket or big box store, you very well may come across the handiwork of Dave Ficeli, MBA’99, in the near future. His Denver-based company, PL360 Beverage Partners, is focused on building both its own premium alcohol brands and premium, private-label brands owned by the top [...]

From Peru to Turkey to India, Owen alumni around the world supported the Admissions team’s efforts at more than 80 B-school fairs this past fall. These alumni have played an important role in rallying support from other Owen graduates, relaying market-specific information that might improve recruiting strategy, hosting applicant gatherings, and, at times, representing the [...]

The CityOwen program is led by alumni around the country and provides value through networking opportunities, updates on the school and featured faculty or staff presentations. The program also helps strengthen the relationship between Owen and local communities in areas such as recruitment.
Atlanta
Aug. 14, 2009
CityOwen Atlanta was launched at this inaugural golf outing, which included [...]

Virginia “Gigi” Banks Lazenby, BA’67, MBA’73, graduated from Vanderbilt with a degree in European history and fine arts—and few job prospects. When family friend Henry Hooker, BA’54, said that he would hire her as his assistant if she learned to type and take dictation, she was more than willing to oblige.
The job would turn out [...]

Inserted form tools may not be a familiar concept to most, but the products they help manufacture are integral to our everyday lives. Inexpensive turned metal parts for everything from spark plugs to bullets to bearings would not be possible were it not for the technology pioneered by Nashville businessman John Peterson Sr. in the 1950s. [...]

Like a lot of record label veterans, Doug Howard, EMBA’85, has a good sense of timing—not just in terms of having an ear for music, that is, but in understanding the business trends as well. As the Senior Vice President of Artist & Repertoire for Disney’s Lyric Street Records and Disney Music Publishing, he has helped [...]

Lucy Davis Haynes, MBA’88, meant for her sales job to be something of a timeout, a way to keep her hand in the business game as she relocated to Nashville while pregnant with twins. Seventeen years later she is still with the same company.
“I never did go get that real job,” she laughs.
Haynes is a [...]

James Hoffman, MBA’83, has spent more than 25 years in the health care industry. Today he is Senior Vice President of Signature Hospital Corp., based in Houston. 
In the course of his career, Hoffman has developed definite opinions about the state of health care and health care delivery. 
“The dirty secret of health care is that we [...]

Hugh Tanner, MBA’85, is Managing Director in the Fixed Income Banking Group at Morgan Keegan & Co. Inc. in Nashville. He credits Owen with teaching him how to think critically and creatively. Those skills led him to create the first publicly offered, privatized student housing project on a college campus. 
“Colleges know that students do better when [...]

If anyone understands the changing face of America, it’s Polo Romero, MBA’02. In the decade since studying at Owen, the Mexico native has witnessed not only a boom in the Hispanic population of the United States but also a profound shift in the country’s demographic map. No longer are Hispanics concentrated solely along the southern [...]

Jeff Recker, MBA’08, can point to the moment when environmental issues became personal to him. It was Labor Day weekend,and the creek that runs through his backyard in West Nashville suddenly began filling up with dead fish. As he would later come to find out, a toxic spill had occurred at a construction site upstream.
This negligence [...]

Join us for Owen Alumni Weekend.
April 17-19, 2009

Visit the Owen Web site for more information »