Archive for September, 2011

From left to right: Salmon Rabie, Marty Mohn Brady, Ken Paley, Shirin McElhinney Borrett, Nelle Newton Placek, Lisa Hamilton Youngdahl and Laurie Krieger Kohl.

Seven T-birds from the Class of 1977 recently reunited in Aspen, Colorado after 34 years.

The group had a great visit sharing stories of their children and world travels.

A special thank you to Marty Brady ‘77 for sharing this special picture with Thunderbird!  Have you gathered with T-birds lately? Share your photos with us at alumni@thunderbird.edu

John Donnelly ’70 has been appointed to the Board of Directors of Dia Bras. Donnelly is currently Chairman of the Board of Zurich Financial Services in Mexico; Member of the Board of Directors and President of the Audit Committee of JP Morgan in Mexico; Founder and Member of the Board of Directors of CrediConfia, a microfinance company; and a Board Member of U-Storage, a self-storage company and Paralelo 19, a hotel ownership company, all in Mexico.

Charles Rix ’79 has joined Oklahoma Christian University as an assistant professor of Bible. Rix previously served as an associate dean and professor at the New Brunswick Theological Seminary. Also, he is a retired financial executive for Exxon and has served as a minister for 17 years. Rix is an accomplished pianist who performs around the world and has been a finalist in international pianist competitions.

Kim Korth ’80 has been appointed to President and Chief Executive Officer for Supreme Industries. Korth has served as the interim President and CEO of the company since February 2011.

Thomas Malone ’80 was recently hired as a senior advisor to Waller Capital. Malone has more than 30 years of investment banking experience including serving as the group head of Daniels & Associates’ Private Capital Group, the managing director at Chase Securities and additional roles for Chase.

Kim Royster ’85 was recently hired as Director of Client Strategy for The Pert Group. Royster will focus on the restaurant, hospitality and foodservice industries, drawing on more than 20 years of experience as an industry consultant. Royster has worked throughout the U.S. and in Europe, the Middle East and Southeast Asia.

Douglas Sanders ’87 has been appointed Chief Financial Officer of CMC Biologics. Sanders is a founder of several life science companies and a financial consultant in the industry. He brings extensive international, financial and life science experience and has spent years working in Europe and the U.S.

Nina Maria Fite ’88 recently assumed charge as the U.S. Consul General in Lahore. Fite is a career member of the Foreign Service and spent more than 20 years focusing on trade, environmental issues and post-conflict economic development. Her assignments include serving as the Deputy Economic Counselor in Kabul, Afghanistan and as the Political/Economic Section Chief in Angola.

Sanjeev Chowdhury ’91 was recently appointed by Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper as Consul General of Canada to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. This is Chowdhury’s second time serving as Consul General. He was Canadian Consul General to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam from 2003 to 2006 and was Acting Canadian Ambassador to Sri Lanka for three months during that same time.

William Mott ’94 has been appointed Managing Director of Opel Australia. Mott has spent the majority of his career in Europe and the last 16 years with Opel, most recently as Group Marketing Manager Mini and Small Cars at Adam Opel Haus in Rüsselsheim.

Robert Criste ’95 was named Director of BigBelly Solar waste and recycling systems. He is responsible for seven states and 38 nations globally.

Ashley Moretz ’96 moved to the Kyrgyz Republic as Country Representative for USAID’s Office of Transition Initiatives’ new program, which was launched following the unexpected change of government in April 2010. Moretz previously spent five years as the USAID Country representative in Turkmenistan.

Joseph Gerard ’98 has been named Assistant Professor of Management at Western New England University. Gerard comes to the university from the State University of New York Institute of Technology, where he served as Assistant Professor of Technology Management.

Gwen Davidow ’98 will take a short term assignment with the President’s Council on Environmental Quality to further the mission of the U.S. Government’s major sustainability initiative known as GreenGov. Davidow is currently the Senior Director of Corporate Programs & Operations for the World Environment Center. In the new assignment Davidow will serve as the Senior Program Manager in the Office of the Federal Environment Executive.

Nikhil Arora ’98 has been appointed Vice President and Managing Director of Intuit India. Arora comes to Intuit from Laureate Education where he served as Vice President and head of operations. He has more than 18 years of experience in corporate strategy, business development, marketing, finance and operations and has worked for companies such as ADP, Delphi Automotive, Microsoft and CBS Television. Arora has a deep understanding of the Indian and Central Asian marketplace as well as the challenges confronting businesses in India.

Chai-Koon (CK) Tan ’99 has been appointed as the Vice President of Marketing for Asia Pacific in the Infrastructure Business Group of Belden Singapore. Tan’s most notable experience includes Director of Asia Pacific Sales and Marketing with Johnson Controls Power Solutions and various sales and marketing positions throughout Asia with Hilti.

Eigo Okada ’99 recently joined Takeda Pharmaceuticals International, Inc. as a Director, Franchise Strategy at their global headquarters in Deerfield, Illinois.

Olivier Portet ’02 has recently joined Polaris Wines as national sales manager. Portet has more than 15 years of professional wine industry experience. In his new role, Portet will focus on national sales and marketing, brand management and distributor and supplier management.

Claudia Huang Ruobing ’04 has been appointed as a member of the BASF Greater China Country Board. BASF is a leading chemical company. Huang joined BASF as a Plant Manager of Shanghai BASF Polyurethane Co. in 2004. She became the General Manager of Shanghai Lianheng Isocyanate Co. four years later.  Before joining BASF, Huang held senior positions in technical planning and project management with international companies.

Nearly 1,000 T-bird Alumni will gather on campus in just six weeks to network, re-unite and celebrate.

Some are attending Thunderbird’s first inaugural Global Business Dialogue, others are attending the largest celebration in our school’s history, and Homecoming – and many are taking part in everything.

As Thunderbird gears up for 11-11-11 , world-class speakers are still joining an already impressive list of top global business leaders for the Thunderbird Global Business Dialogue set for November 10 – 11, 2011. In addition, Class of ’86 leaders are working with Alumni Relations staff to gather classmates for a reunion. And Thunderbird event planners are putting the final touches on the Tower Celebration.

“After 32 years of being an alumnus, I am still as excited as ever about getting back on campus to renew the sense of purpose we felt when we graduated,” said John Cook ’79. 

Despite living in Switzerland, Cook rarely misses a Homecoming and calls the returns to campus “truly amazing.”

Another T-bird, Nona Niner ’81, who is a New York City Chapter Leader, said returning to Thunderbird campus for Homecomings and attending European reunions have been among the most memorable and joyful times in her life.

“Being an alumni leader for many years has given me the opportunity to meet and inspire new alumni, to catch up with the special staff members who take care of our cherished school and to reconnect with fellow T-birds from all graduation classes and countries around the world,” Niner said.

On November 10 in the evening, after the first day of the dynamic two-day Global Dialogue, alumni will head over to the original Thunderbird Pub, founded in 1971, for the Last Night at the Old Pub event. There, T-birds spanning six decades will share stories – old and new – over pints of beer in the new Pub housed in the west wing of the award-winning restored air traffic control tower.

On Friday, Nov. 11, T-birds will gather at the center of campus to celebrate the restored Tower during a long-awaited party complete with dinner, drinks, fireworks and music.  Then, on Saturday evening, alumni can enjoy margaritas and beer on the tower lawn, followed by dinner, dancing and entertainment for Regional Night.  Lastly, a final farewell champagne brunch on Sunday morning will provide a relaxing morning to say goodbye to friends old and new.

Register here  if you plan to attend any of the events. Hotels are booking up quickly due to a number of events occurring in the Phoenix area around the same time, so don’t wait until the last minute. We recommend booking your hotel now. American Airlines is offering a 10 percent discount   to alumni traveling to and from this event.

In photo: Front Row (left to right) Lorrain McCord ‘97, Mortada Mohamed ‘81, George Hiller ‘72 & Richmond Chapter Leader, Eugenio Reyes ‘92.
Back Row (left to right) Elizabeth Glynn ‘85, Kelly Fish ‘90, Barney Lehrer ‘89 Not pictured: Kelly Murphey ‘88

Eight T-birds recently discovered that they had more than their Alma Maters in common.  They also serve on the same board.

The National Association of Small Business International Trade Educators (NASBITE) has a total of 24 members on its International Board of Governors and eight of them are T-birds.

At a recent Board of Governors meeting in Charleston, South Carolina, the group gathered from across the U.S. and Mexico to further their organization’s mission of advancing global business practice, education and training.

Elizabeth Glynn ’85, Export Advisor/Global Trade Educator of EMG Global Business Solutions took the time to share this great photo with Thunderbird.

Thank you Elizabeth! If you have recent photos with fellow T-birds to share, please send to alumni@thunderbird.edu.

Thunderbird’s annual Career Fair is coming up quickly! An entire week’s worth of Professional Development workshops and networking opportunities culminates in the career fair on Thursday and interviews on Friday.

Is your company looking for new talent? Would you like to see more Thunderbirds in the office? This is your best chance to make it happen! Send your HR or recruiting team here and reserve a spot today to meet some of the most talented new MBAs willing to travel globally.

T-bird student John Briscoe ’12 recently shared these photos and the following story about his experience working with a T-bird alumna in Buenos Aires during his summer internship.

“Mariangeles Perez Manoileff ’01 is currently a Commercial Specialist working for the U.S. Embassy in Buenos Aires. She hosted a local television show in Beunos Aires called Clase Ejecutiva for several years and now co-hosts Clase Ejecutiva on the radio in Buenos Aires every Friday. The show focuses on various topics related to business, politics and international issues from different perspectives. I recently had the opportunity to meet up with Mariangeles at the Radio Palermo studio and sit in on her two-hour program. The day I attended the program Mariangeles interviewed the Director of the Global MBA for LATAM Managers from Monterrey, Dr. Tripp.  About 15 minutes of the program was dedicated to this director supporting the Thunderbird brand over the airwaves of Buenos Aires. Mariangeles is a frequent and passionate supporter of Thunderbird. I was so happy to end up working with a T-bird during my internship and wanted to share one of the ways our alumna is supporting T-bird in Argentina.”

We want to extend special thanks to John Briscoe for sharing this story and photos and to Mariangeles Perez Manoileff for her commitment to our school!

Tom Coler ’67 has been featured in realallthingsrealestate.com in an article announcing that he will be inducted into the Hall of Fame of the Real Estate Buyer’s Agent Council, an affiliate of the National Association of Realtors. Coler has been a licensed Florida real estate broker for more than 31 years. He founded the Buyer’s Broker of Southwest Florida in 1989.

Paul Rachmanides ’79 was recently featured in the Houston Chronicle in an article about his book The Potato Peeler, which chronicles Greece-born Rachmanides’ story of overcoming obstacles and working many jobs after moving to the U.S. in 1971.

Karim Bennouna ’96 was recently published in Management Decision for his article “Improved capital budgeting decision making: Evidence from Canada.”  The article has been chosen as a Highly Commended Paper at the Emerald Literati Network Awards for Excellence 2011.

Todd Smith’01 was recently featured in www.benzinga.com for his six-week RV Business Plan Tour to help startups jump-start their businesses and stimulate the economy. Smith is the CEO of Blue Horizon Venture Consulting and is going to move his office into an RV for a 7,000 mile journey around the U.S. Smith is also an Alumni Chapter Leader in Jacksonville, Florida.

Rush Harris ’09 was recently profiled on marshalledc.org about his decision to work for Marshall Economic Development Corporation , his experience in land leases, land sales, right-of-way agreements and surface change agreements and his passion for his community.

Aaron Bare ’95 was recently profiled by Indiana Tech for his achievements as a successful entrepreneur who has sold six companies, traveled to more than 60 countries and who was recently named to the Phoenix Business Journal’s prestigious “Forty under 40” list. Bare has been named entrepreneur in residence at Thunderbird and is currently CEO of Buzz Mouth, a social media management company founded by Bare.

Eric Heimbecker ’10 was recently named in an article in the Ahwatukee Foothills News about a group of committed Arizonans who spend their days volunteering to put up campaign signs. Heimbecker broke his collar bone – partially because of the wear and tear he suffered as one of four men putting up nearly 600 signs across Phoenix for Claude Mattox, who is running for mayor.

Thunderbird graduate, Thomas Hedges ‘75 admits, “I’ve always been kind of a dreamer.” Many of his dreams have come true. His company, Hedges Family Estate, owns five vineyards in the Red Mountain area 200 miles southeast of Seattle, Washington and produces over one million bottles of wine a year. But this adventurous entrepreneur was not always living the dream, and he credits his Thunderbird connections for helping him get to where he is today.

Hedges recalls back to 1987 when he was trying to break into the wine business. He had found an opportunity to buy excess bulk wine that wineries could not afford to bottle or market. He knew he needed a loan to finance his new adventure, but SeaFirst Bank did not give him the news he was hoping for. “The guy said he couldn’t finance me,” says Hedges. “I got into my beater car and drove to Lake Washington. I sat there crying, literally crying, looking through the phone book for another bank.”

This was not Hedges first disappointment, and it is not the beginning of his story either. Rewind back to 1975. Hedges had just graduated from Thunderbird with a degree and a French girlfriend named Anne-Marie that he had met while away on a school-sponsored summer program in Guadalajara, Mexico.

The couple married in France, and then moved to Vancouver, Canada when Hedges was offered a job with Castle and Cooke Foods, marketing Dole pineapples. Hedges was later promoted to Manager of South American Marketing in Argentina. He laughs as he remembers how his global education came into play. “They said they wanted someone whose wife wasn’t from Iowa,” he says. “They wanted someone with international experience.”
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