Archive for October, 2010

When Gita Patel ‘96 travels anywhere in the world, she always knows she can find a T-bird

“The first thing I do whenever I travel for business or pleasure is look up the T-birds there,” Patel said.

On her most recent trip, the New Jersey-based consultant traveled to El Salvador as a researcher for Bpeace (Business Council for Peace), a nonprofit organization that promotes women’s empowerment through encouraging entrepreneurship and job creation.

And, of course, the first thing Patel did was find her fellow T-birds.

“Within 36 hours, almost everyone I contacted got right back to me. Everywhere I turned, there was a T-bird. My Bpeace team couldn’t believe it.”

Patel’s Bpeace trip also coincided with First Tuesday, so she had additional opportunities to connect with alumni.

Even back at home in New Jersey, Patel uses her T-bird network.  In fact, it was at the Princeton Alumni Chapter’s panel discussion where she first met Toni Maloney, Co-founder and CEO of Bpeace, and realized she would be a perfect fit for their third country research team.

 “The way you are mining that Thunderbird network makes us think there are only 2 degrees of separation between you and the rest of the world, “ Maloney said.

“As a consultant, I have the flexibility and the mindset to jump into a project and run with it,” Patel said.

Flexibility and initiative are only a few of Patel’s strengths. She is also the caregiver and patient advocate for her older sister, who lives with a rare brain disease called Acute Disseminated Encephalomyelitis. This commitment is what has kept Patel living in New Jersey.

After graduating from Thunderbird, Patel’s career in the technology industry took off quickly.

However, just before her sister had become sick, Patel was transitioning her career from technology back to global business, and was considering working for the State Department in Arizona.

But as she was sitting in traffic one day, Patel had some doubts.

“I better watch out for what I’m asking for,” Patel said to herself. “I could end up with a great international job that’s doing mostly paperwork.”

And at that moment she realized something:

“My international passions are with the culture and people, and it may not be the actual job that I’m passionate about.”

Volunteering with Bpeace has allowed Patel to be more fulfilled, and she believes it also will take her down the career path she had envisioned. On her most recent trip to El Salvador, she was tasked with identifying if the country was a good fit for Bpeace’s next program launch.

“El Salvador looks promising,” she said. “The next step is market intelligence on the ground.”

But research aside, Patel also had a special trip filled with both of her passions – culture and people. She delighted in the pride that the citizens of El Salvador displayed for their country and was touched by the warmth and hospitality of everyone she met. And of course, she relished her time with her fellow T-birds and learned from them.

 “There’s definitely something to the Thunderbird mystique,” she says. “If we could just bottle it up and share it, that would lead to incredible things.”

The Phoenix Chapter enjoyed dinner at Monti’s in Tempe on Oct. 26 with the women Afghan entrepreneurs of Thunderbird’s Project Artemis.

Chapter leader Mike Cottrell called the evening a “enlightening” and “a huge success.”

David Dodge, ’06, was recently highlighted in the Arizona Republic in an article about his business setting up its corporate headquarters in downtown Scottsdale. Dodge’s business is called SurePrep Learning and provides tutoring services in Arizona and three Southwestern states. Dodge founded the company in 2005 and prepared his business plan as part of an entrepreneurship class at Thunderbird. SurePrep also participates in federal and state educational assistance programs.

Fred Frese, ’67, was recently named in the Journal Star as the keynote speaker for the annual fundraiser of the local chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness Tri-County. Frese has a doctorate in psychology from Ohio University and has worked for 40 years as a practitioner and advocate for people who have mental health problems. His talk was titled “Recovery from Schizophrenia: Myths, Mountains and Miracles.”

Chakrit Benedetti, ’99, was recently featured in the Bangkok Post in an article detailing how a family tragedy thrust the T-bird into taking over his family businesses – Italasia Electro and Italasia Trading – at the age of 23. Benedetti has successfully expanded his businesses and considers himself very fortunate to enjoy such success.

Andre Doumitt, ’95, was recently featured in a report by the Defense Advanced Projects Agency (DARPA) for his business Geosemble Technologies. The company was highlighted as a uniquely capable business in the development and commercialization of technology for delivering textual content to geospatial imagery and maps.

A love of travel grew into a quest to learn the language of nature for environmental scientist Michael Goodsite ’08, Ph.D., director of a newly funded center that helps Nordic businesses and other organizations adapt to climate change.

“The evidence is talking to us,” Goodsite said. “Nature is talking to us. Scientists like myself are trying to interpret the language so we can objectively present to everybody what it is saying.”

The quest for knowledge has taken Goodsite from Arizona to the Arctic and many places in between. He earned an Executive MBA in Thunderbird’s European program in 2008 and then put his business skills to work with the formation of the Nordic Centre of Excellence-Nordic Strategic Adaption Research (NORD-STAR).

The center links natural scientists, political scientists, economists, management educators and business professionals in a virtual network that covers Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden.

NordForsk, a public organization that supports Nordic initiatives, announced a five-year $5.2 million grant on Oct. 18, 2010, to fund the center. Goodsite will lead the center at the National Environmental Research Institute at Aarhus University in Denmark, where he is a professor of atmospheric chemistry, climate change and global processes.
Read more »

As Thunderbird alumni, you are global explorers with a passion for understanding the world.

Are your children following your lead?

Now they can develop a global mindset long before college.

Verde Valley School, America’s International Baccalaureate Boarding School in Sedona, Arizona, is offering two partial merit scholarships to children and grandchildren of T-bird alumni who are enrolling in fall 2011 for grades 9, 10 or 11.  The scholarships are for one boy and one girl.

Verde Valley School and Thunderbird share similar pasts and complimentary missions.

Like Thunderbird, Verde Valley School opened its doors following WWII. The school was developed out of the idea that the United States and world needed a school where the values of cultural diversity would be understood and celebrated, rather than simply studied and tolerated.

Forty five percent of the students attending Verde Valley School are international and 20 percent of the faculty and staff are from countries outside the U.S. The school also offers students immersion field trips to countries such as Vietnam, Guatemala and Egypt.

“This is a tremendous opportunity for the children and grandchildren of our alumni to encourage the next generation of global leaders,” said Joan Neice, Vice President & Chief Development Officer. “Verde Valley School offers students the chance to experience a global community long before they step foot in a university.”

The scholarships will be automatically renewable, as long as the recipients maintain at least a 3.0 grade point average and good deportment. The scholarship covers $18,000 per year toward tuition and other expenses.

Students interested in applying, go here and check “yes” next to the question, “Thunderbird Scholar?” The deadline for applications is April 15, 2011. By April 28, 2011, the finalists will be notified and asked to submit a second essay via e-mail by May 15, 2011. The final awards will be made by May 30, 2011.

Connie Dillon, ’78, has joined CHS Healthcare Foundation as Executive Director. Dillon brings more than 12 years of fundraising experience along with strong involvement in her community. Most recently, she served with the NCH Foundation. A graduate of the Greater Naples Leadership program, Dillon also has served on the Board of the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) for the past four years and is currently president of the local chapter.

John Bauer, ‘87, has been appointed Chief Architect at the Library of Congress.

Rick McCarthy, ’88, has been appointed as Vice President of Sales and Marketing, Americas for DST Global Solutions. McCarthy’s primary role will be to lead new business development activities for the company’s investment management solutions and its business process management solution. McCarthy will also be responsible for marketing strategy and execution for the region. He joins the company with a track record built up over the past 20 years in senior sales and marketing management roles in the financial software industry.

Larry Segerstrom, ’05, has been appointed Chief Operating Officer of Andover Ventures. Segerstrom has more than 30 years of experience in the mining industry, including 25 years in exploration and 15 years in management. From 2006 to the present, Mr. Segerstrom has been the Chief Operating Officer of Paramount Gold & Silver Corp., which is exploring and developing precious metals deposits in Mexico and the United States

Video: By Daryl James

Hewlett-Packard strategic adviser Satjiv Chahil, a 1976 graduate of Thunderbird School of Global Management, answers the Thunderbird Question: “What can global leaders do to create sustainable prosperity worldwide?”

Alumni, faculty and friends of Thunderbird’s Walker Center for Global Entrepreneurship have been discussing entrepreneurship and its demonstrated ability to profoundly impact local, national and global economies through its potential for job creation, commercial diversification and community and personal wealth creation. While Thunderbird provides knowledge and education about entrepreneurship, the question of how a boost could be provided to the economic growth of Arizona’s and the regional economy still remains.

The Thunderbird Angel Network, a separate legal entity from the school, was created to introduce qualified investors to early-stage and emerging companies that possess characteristics that suggest the potential for rapid growth. The Network was envisioned to develop through Thunderbird’s robust network of alumni, students and friends.

The Thunderbird Angel Network is an organized group of accredited investors who seek opportunities to invest in early-stage or start-up companies. The organization serves as a forum for its members, who choose to invest individually from their personal funds. Information for investor membership or entrepreneurs seeking funds are available on the website.

The Thunderbird Angel Network will also offer educational opportunities to its members and Thunderbird alumni on a variety of topics related to investment and entrepreneurship, such as building a portfolio of investments in entrepreneurial ventures and understanding the characteristics of successful entrepreneurs. These topics will be presented by national and local experts and practitioners.

Mark Field ‘95 proudly served eight years in the U.S. Navy and believed his service would be recognized as he applied for jobs in the private sector.

But that wasn’t the case at all. In fact, it was just the opposite.

“Not one company could care that I spent eight years on submarines,” Field said. “That becomes so disheartening and you think to yourself, ‘I can’t believe I spent so many years of my life that no one could care less about.’”

While Field persevered and eventually found success through Thunderbird and starting his own business, he knows that there are many veterans whose stories don’t have the same happy ending.

“All of the government resources and shelters and training…if there’s not a job for them at the end of that, then it’s all for nothing,” Field said.

So the Phoenix-based mortgage banker decided to launch an organization that would provide them with opportunities. His group the Veterans Job Creation Program provides work for former homeless veterans, veterans with disabilities and unemployed veterans who will deliver flyers, door hangers, newspapers, magazines, phone books, and marketing materials for various companies throughout the Valley. Although the organization is still in its infancy, it is gaining attention and Field is hoping to expand into telemarketing, moving services and additional opportunities with global companies.

“I’m determined to make this a national program,” Field said.

In addition to running the Veterans Job Creation Program, Field also donates clothing to homeless veterans and volunteers and multiple shelters. He credits Thunderbird with empowering him enough to look inward for success, instead of believing that he would find it through working for someone else.

“My life started when I stopped looking for a job,” Field said. “I had a professor at T-bird that I took an entrepreneurship class from and it was really interesting.”

Field also said that he wrote a book while he was a student at Thunderbird and that former Thunderbird president Dr. Herberger personally came to his book launch party.

“I was always touched by that personal connection and thought ‘Wow, they took such an interest in me, maybe I can do this myself?’”

Field said that he found “ten times” more success working for himself than he could have found elsewhere.

As he continues working in the business he loves, he can’t help but want to make the same kind of impact in the lives of veterans.

“If you have entrepreneurial dreams, you should pursue them, follow them and help them grow.”

Photo: Taken at the Madison Street Veterans Shelter in Phoenix, Ariz. , Courtesy of Mark Field.

“Seeking a better job or higher compensation? The time to plan your salary negotiation strategy is well before the interview. Give yourself leverage by researching salaries for your desired position and planning your approach in advance,” says Barbara Limmer, professional career coach and consultant on Thunderbird’s Alumni Career Management pages.