Developing women in developing nations - Thunderbird Magazine ...

Summer 2008
Magazine
Developing
women in
developing
nations
Women hold keys
to new prosperity in
emerging markets
Tia Laura’s clinics of hope
Graduate turns her back on corporate wealth
to bring health-care training to rural Mexico
Language of trust
Alumna speaks English, Spanish, French, Portuguese
and some German. But as president of U.S. Trust,
she commands respect in any language

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thunderbird : summer : 2008
On the Cover
Nasima Payman
produces silk scarves
at her shop in Kabul,
Afghanistan, and sells
them in retail stores.
She graduated from
Thunderbird’s Project
Artemis, a program
that identifies
and trains women
entrepreneurs in
Afghanistan. Photo ©
Paula Lerner/Aurora.
4 News & Notes
Save the Tower Students and alumni raise money to renovate a campus landmark.
Survey says Thunderbirds express satisfaction with School but ask for more.
Prestigious posts An alumnus and a trustee head to Europe as U.S. ambassadors.
Middle East degrees Thunderbird launches partnership in United Arab Emirates.
Still on top Thunderbird retains its No. 1 rank in international business.
22 Developing women
in developing nations
A new initiative funded by Goldman Sachs aims
to change the world by opening the doors to
education for 10,000 underserved women in
developing nations.
30 Tia Laura’s clinics of hope
A single mom in her 40s takes the plunge at Thunderbird and then does something
even more daring: She heads to Mexico to develop a network of rural health care
workers.
38 Language of trust
Thunderbird alumna Frances Aldrich Sevilla-Sacasa speaks English, Spanish,
French, Portuguese and some German. But as president of U.S. Trust, her message
as a woman banker resonates in any language.
44 Open-door policy
Rising Thunderbird star Charu Modi Bhartia establishes colleges and nurse
training programs in India that make the U.S. model of education accessible to the
people of her homeland.
46 Faculty Focus
Caught in the quake Thunderbird professor describes the devastation in China.
Global impact Buyout investment firms face challenges in sluggish economy.
Not the same thing A strong brand does not guarantee a strong business reputation.
Accidental leader? All managers are project leaders, even if it’s not on purpose.
52 Chapter News
Hosting the world Beijing alumnus prepares for Summer Olympics.
Getting together Newly named East Africa chapter shines on Super First Tuesday.
54 Class Notes
Safe haven Nigerian alumna reaches out to domestic violence victims.
Teaching hope Indian nonprofit helps educate girls from the slums of Bangalore.
Financing dreams Swiss mentor, advocate helps launch women’s careers.
Embracing change Thai coup forces alumna back to U.S., where she thrives.
Active in Africa T-bird joins nonprofit that defends human rights in Senegal.
64 Forum
Global citizens Looking for ways to get involved? Opportunities for global
citizenship abound for Thunderbird alumni.

letters
You have
spoken
Thunderbird asked
for your opinion, and
you gave it to us.
The following letters
are excerpts from the
2007-08 alumni survey
of 1,259 graduates. See
the full story on Page 8.
ATTENDING
Thunderbird
continues to
be one of the best decisions
I have made
in my life. I express
this to potential
students at every
opportunity possible,
including during
my discussions with
Peace Corps volunteers
serving in the
Balkans.
43-year-old male
’91, East and
Central Europe
I’VE UTILIZED
the alumni network
extensively.
I travel internationally
for my job and
always contact the
chapter presidents or
former classmates.
It’s a great way to get
an insider’s view of
the city or country
I’m visiting.
38-year-old female
’98, USA
THUNDER-
BIRD was
responsible
for my international
banking career of 39
years and six countries.
70-plus-year-old
male ’61, USA
I
SEEM TO RUN
into T-birds all
over the region,
and it is great to
know that you can
always tap into that
network.
43-year-old male
’92, Asia
AFTER graduation
I was
happy as
long as I stayed in
the USA. Then I
went to Europe and
realized that nobody
knew the school.
… In Asia it’s even
worse. Thunderbird
is totally inactive
and not present in
comparison with
other schools that I
see advertising and
organizing events all
the time. Where’s the
truly global here?
41-year-old male
’97, Asia
IN MEXICO
there is still
little awareness of
Thunderbird.
43-year-old female
’02, Latin America
THUNDER-
BIRD is a
blend of business
and culture. We
foresee opportunities
and act accordingly.
In the late ’70s we
were talking about
cross-cultural communication.
It is only
now that some institutions
are discovering
cross-cultural
communication. In
the late ’80s we were
talking globalization.
It is now that people
are talking about
globalization. T-birds
are agents of change
and indeed global
citizens.
55-year-old female
’77, Africa
I
REALLY DID get
a top-notch education
in an environment
that cannot
be duplicated. It was
a microcosm of the
world under one roof.
I just wish more
companies knew our
strengths as potential
employees.
34-year-old female
’99, USA
I
LEARNED
branding at Thunderbird.
You have
changed names two
or three times since
I graduated – against
all branding convention.
51-year-old female
’79, USA
STOP changing
the name
of the place.
You keep screwing it
up. “School” of global
management is problematical
overseas.
“School” in Europe
means something
for children and the
meaning is not the
same as in American
English, where
“school” could mean
college, university,
whatever. We have
a strong brand. Just
use it. Call the place
Thunderbird and
have done with it.
50-year-old male
’92, East and
Central Europe
I
LIKE THE NEW
slogan and school
name better than
the previous. I am
very, very proud to be
a T-bird.
40-year-old female
’97, USA
I
VALUE MY
international
business education
at Thunderbird, but
unfortunately there
was no pub back then
in the ice age.
70-plus-year-old
male ’55, USA
THE SELEC-
TION criteria
for students to
get admission is too
easy, which dilutes
the overall value.
35-year-old male
’05, USA
EVEN IF it was
a great and
unforgettable
experience, the job
market knows that
we are not among the
top MBA programs
... even if we are No. 1
in international management.
In many
situations it makes
our lives much more
difficult. Some organizations
have “glass
ceilings” for professionals
from non-top
programs.
35-year-old female
’05, USA
I
HAVE ALWAYS
considered Thunderbird
one of the
best investments I
ever made.
58-year-old female
’78, Latin America
TRULY GLOBAL
Thunderbird
Magazine
Volume 60, No. 3, Summer 2008
Executive Editor &
Senior Director,
Corporate Communications
Carol Sunnucks
Editor
Daryl James
Graphic Designer
Tim Clarke
Staff Writer
Brian Camen
Editorial Proofreaders
Kat Bryant
Suzy Howell
V.P. & Chief
Development Officer
Joan M. Neice
Senior Director
Alumni Central
Terri Nissen
Associate V.P.
Planned Giving &
Development
John McDonald-O’Lear
Director of Marketing
Kim Steinmetz
All editorial, sales and
production correspondence
should be addressed to:
Thunderbird Magazine,
15249 North 59th Avenue,
Glendale, AZ, 85306-6000.
Advertising inquiries should
be addressed to: alumni@
thunderbird.edu. Changes of
address and other subscription
inquiries can be e-mailed to:
alumni@thunderbird.edu.
Thunderbird Magazine is a
publication of the Marketing
and Communications
Department of Thunderbird
School of Global Management.
©2008
Editorial submissions
and letters to the
editor can be e-mailed
to: magazineeditor@
thunderbird.edu.
2 summer 2008

from the president
Investing in the
power of women
Thunderbird joins a global initiative to unleash the largely untapped
resource of women as entrepreneurs and managers in developing nations
GLOBAL SOCIAL entrepreneur
Muhammad Yunus invested
in women when he launched
a bank for the poor in Bangladesh.
He knew that women
would deliver the largest return on investment
because of their devotion to issues
such as child care, health and education.
Today, the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize laureate
reports that 97 percent of his microcredit
clients at Grameen Bank are women.
Other microfinance leaders have taken a
similar approach. And research shows the
investment in women is paying off.
Larger financial institutions such as Goldman
Sachs Group are taking this strategy to
new heights.
Goldman recently pledged to invest
$100 million to educate at least 10,000 women
in developing countries through a program
that aligns some of the world’s top business
schools — including Thunderbird — with
local educational institutions in countries
such as Afghanistan, India and Rwanda.
This initiative will unleash a largely untapped
yet significant resource in emerging
and developing countries: the power of
women as entrepreneurs and managers.
Investing in the education of women in
developing countries not only improves the
lives of those women, but also enriches their
communities and contributes to the sustainable
prosperity of entire nations.
It was Thunderbird’s success in educating
Afghan women through Project Artemis
that attracted Goldman to select our School
as one of its initial 10,000 Women partners.
This new initiative will allow Thunderbird
to extend its reach in Afghanistan by educating
more women in their homeland through
a new alliance with the American University
of Afghanistan.
Several Thunderbird alumnae also have
launched initiatives of their own to empower
women in emerging and developing
nations. They are living examples of the
impact educated women can have on their
communities and society at large.
Laura Libman ’05 came to Thunderbird
looking for a midlife career change. Today,
her new foundation helps recruit and train
rural health care workers in the poorest
regions of Mexico. Nigerian alumna Gbemi
Disu ’06 has developed a shelter system to
help domestic abuse victims in her homeland.
And Charu Modi Bhartia ’97 has led an
effort to establish affordable education in her
homeland of India.
I hope you enjoy reading more about these
and other Thunderbird alumnae who are
featured in the pages of this magazine.
KRISTEN JARCHOW
President Ángel Cabrera
believes that investing in
the education of women
in developing countries
enriches communities
and contributes to the
sustainable prosperity
of entire nations. He is
proud that Thunderbird
is participating with
Goldman Sachs in the
10,000 Women initiative.
thunderbird magazine 3

news &
You’re
invited
Homecoming 2009
beckons alumni
HOMECOMING 2009 will
attract hundreds of alumni
to Glendale next spring for
beautiful Arizona weather and a
chance to reconnect with classmates
and network with other Thunderbirds.
The event will kick off with Pub Night on
Thursday, March 5, and end with a farewell
champagne brunch on Sunday, March 8. The
celebration will coincide with Rugby Alumni
Weekend on campus and Cactus League baseball,
which includes spring training games for
12 Major League teams across the region.
For more details, send e-mail to alumni@thunder
bird.edu or call 602-978-7358.
Homecoming award winners, from left, John
Andrews ’86, Karen Longo ’88, Aleana Hiles ’78 and
Bruce Wilcox ’80 stand with Thunderbird president
Ángel Cabrera, center, during the 2008 awards
celebration.
Marshall Parke ’77, managing partner of the London
office of Lexington Partners, is the 2008 Jonas
Mayer Award recipient.
TINA FRANCISCO
2008 award
winners
About 400 alumni
returned to Thunderbird
for the 2008
homecoming Feb. 28
to March 2. Chapter
members from
Canada, France, Germany,
Great Britain,
Hong Kong, Japan, the
Netherlands, Panama,
Poland, Singapore,
Sweden, Thailand and
at least 24 U.S. states
joined the celebration.
Five alumni received
special recognition.
Outstanding Chapter
Leader: Karen Longo
’88 led the Phoenix
Chapter for five years
before stepping down
in December. She and
her team developed
an annual wine-tasting
event that drew more
than 100 T-birds in
2007.
Service to Thunderbird:
Aleana Hiles
’78 has served on the
Thunderbird Global
Council since 1987.
She has led recruiting
initiatives, served as a
guest speaker during
the Winterim Banking
Symposium and
mentored students.
Finance Award: John
Andrews ’86 serves
as managing director
and head of investor
relations for Citadel
Investment Group’s
capital markets activities.
He lives in New
York and Chicago.
Business and Industry
Award: Bruce
Wilcox ’80 leads the
management committee
of Cumberland
Associates, one of the
nation’s oldest hedge
funds. He is cited in
“The New Investment
Superstars,” published
in 2001.
Jonas Mayer Award:
Marshall Parke ’77 is
managing partner of
the London office of
Lexington Partners, an
international venture
capital and private
equity firm. He was
born and raised in
Scottsdale, Ariz., and
is an active supporter
of Thunderbird. The
award is Thunderbird’s
highest alumni honor.
4 summer 2008

notes
Embassy
event will
help fund
Afghan
project
THUNDER-
BIRDS will
gather Sept.
4 in Washington to
celebrate Afghan culture
and raise funds
to educate Afghan
women through
Thunderbird’s Project
Artemis.
The Afghanistan
Embassy
will host “Sunset
at the Embassy,”
which will include
a cocktail reception
starting at 6 p.m.
Later in the evening,
Thunderbird will
announce the names
for the next group
of Project Artemis
participants. The
project, which the
School launched in
2005, delivers business
management
training to Afghan
women.
“We have applicants
from all parts
of Afghanistan,” said
Kellie Kreiser ’04,
director of Thunderbird
for Good.
“It’s exciting to see
women from all over
the country and all
walks of life interested
in business
education. We’ve
had everyone from
beauty salon owners
to mushroom farmers
apply. It’s going
to be a spectacular
class this October.”
Sunset at the
Embassy is open to
the public, and all are
welcome to attend.
To purchase tickets
or to join the Project
Artemis mailing list
for future events, call
602-978-7815 or send
e-mail to events@
thunderbird.edu.
SUNSET
at the
Embassy
Washington D.C.
September 4, 2008
6pm
PROJECT ARTEMIS
Calendar
Thunderbird worldwide
◗ Global Issues
Forum,
Sept. 9, 2008
John Chidsey,
CEO and director
of Burger King
Holdings, will
speak at 1:10 p.m.
on the Glendale
campus. Other
Global Issues Forum
speakers this
fall will include
executives from
Wal-Mart, Esterline
Technologies,
US Airways
Group, JPMorgan
Chase & Co. and
the World Bank
Group. Contact:
barbara
.stevenson@
thunderbird.edu
or 602-978-7327.
◗ Campaign
Thunderbird,
Oct. 1, 2008
The public launch
of Campaign
Thunderbird will
include a global
celebration on
the Glendale
campus. For more
information, visit
www.thunderbird.
edu/kickoff.
Contact: events@
thunderbird.edu,
602-978-7815.
◗ EMBA in China,
Oct. 10-18, 2008
Executive MBA
students will study
in Beijing. Contact:
katerina
.mackiewicz@
thunderbird.edu,
602-978-7002.
◗ Thunderbird
Homecoming,
March 5-8, 2009
About 400 alumni
are expected to be
part of this year’s
festivities, which
include Pub Night
on Thursday,
awards on Friday,
rugby on Saturday
and a farewell
brunch on Sunday.
Contact: alumni@
thunderbird.edu,
602-978-7358 or
800-457-6957
(U.S. only).
◗ Thunderbird
Private Equity
Conference,
March 26-27, 2009
The fifth annual
Global Private
Equity Investing
Conference on the
Glendale campus
will explore
opportunities
and challenges
of private equity
investment.
Contact: james
.lamarche@
thunderbird.edu,
602-978-7501.
thunderbird magazine 5

news & notes
Campaign
will help
historic
Tower
go green
TIM CLARKE
DONATIONS
to save Thunderbird’s
historic
air traffic control
tower will also turn
the landmark green.
Organizers behind
an initiative to
convert Thunderbird
Tower into a social
hub for students say
their plans include
sustainable building
practices that
will help the aging
building qualify for
Leadership in Energy
and Environmental
Design certification.
Mick Dalrymple
’98 will help with
the greening process.
Dalrymple is the
co-founder of a.k.a.
Green, a supplier of
eco-friendly building
materials.
“I see this as the
perfect union between
Thunderbird’s
long historical traditions
and its future as
a leader in sustainable
international business,”
Dalrymple
said.
But first, Thunderbird
donors must
come up with the
money.
Students and alumni
have launched a
$2 million campaign
to renovate the Tower,
which has sat empty
since 2006. The vision
is for the building to
function once again
as the heart of Thunderbird.
So far, campaign
organizers have raised
about $25,000 beyond
An old Thunderbird logo has survived from the
1940s on the exterior of the Tower.
Thunderbird Tower has sat empty since 2006, when cracks were found in some
of the wooden support beams.
an initial $100,000
pledge from Thunderbird
Trustee Merle
A. Hinrichs ’65.
That pledge,
which came in early
February, has allowed
Thunderbird to commission
design plans
and start on improvements
that will
include a new roof,
skylights, new trusses
and new windows.
The renovated
tower will include
the ThunderShop,
pub, new student
union and a veterans
and alumni gallery
dedicated to the
pilots who trained at
More online
Watch a student video
on the Thunderbird
Tower renovation
project at YouTube
.com (search
using keywords
“Thunderbird Tower”).
To purchase a tile
or provide financial
support, visit www.
thunderbird.edu/
tower or contact John
McDonald-O’Lear at
john.mcdonald-olear@
thunderbird.edu.
TIM CLARKE
Tower
over the
decades
The School first used
Thunderbird Tower in
the 1940s for administration
and faculty
offices. By the late
1950s, use of the Tower
had been expanded
to include the intensive
language learning center.
Many students sat
through the sweltering
summer heat learning
languages.
In 1960, alumni donations
made it possible
to add an extension to
the rear of the building.
The Tower continued to
house administration
and faculty offices until
June 15, 1992, when
it was remodeled to
become the new student
center. Included
in the new student
center was a student
lounge and offices for
Thunderbird Student
Government.
On Feb. 1, 1993, the
Tower café opened
and operated until
2006, when the building
was closed after
cracks were found in
some of the wooden
support beams.
6 summer 2008

news & notes
Thunderbird and the
students who came
after them. If all goes
according to plan, the
new facility could
open as early as May
2009.
For that to happen,
the Glendale City
Council would need
to review the building
modifications by
August so construction
could begin in
September. So far,
Thunderbird does not
have capital funding
to support the entire
restoration.
Campaign organizers
Andrew Burman
’09, Rebecca Mitchell
’08 and Will Counts
’09 have teamed with
project advisers Bill
Johnson ’60 and Lisa
MacCollum ’97 to
raise money quickly.
One way is by selling
square-foot tiles
on the Tower Web
site at thunderbird
.edu/tower.
The organizers
have also presented
an alumni chapter
challenge. The group
wants to raise $5,000
to $10,000 from each
chapter and create an
Alumni Pub Patio.
The Phoenix chapter
was first to donate
$5,000 and is planning
a fundraising gala in
the fall.
“With 38,000
alumni, corporate
constituents, and a lot
of partners around the
world, I think there
will be ample care
for this project,” said
Chris Lee ’08, associate
vice president of
finance and administrative
services.
A tattered windsock hangs from the top of
Thunderbird Tower.
TIM CLARKE
Campus
projects
minimize
carbon
footprint
THE GRASS
on the rugby
pitch isn’t the
only part of campus
that is greener than
normal. Thunderbird
students have turned
green, too.
At the beginning
of the fall 2007 semester,
all incoming
students were told
they would receive a
Carbon-Free Degree
through an initiative
to make on-campus
studies of all incoming
classes climateneutral.
Many students
have responded to
the challenge to
make Thunderbird
greener.
Campus initiatives
being explored
include the Thunderbird
Solar Project,
the Thunderbird
Tower restoration
project and a campus
recycling program.
The students leading
these initiatives are
all members of the
ThunderGreen Club.
“ThunderGreen’s
projects will raise
awareness of how
Thunderbird can
make professional
and lifestyle changes
that protect the environment
as well as
provide avenues by
which the community
can be active in
their environmental
education and pursuits,”
said Debarshi
Das ’08, a Thunder-
Green Club member.
POWERED
BY THE SUN
The Thunderbird
Solar Project will
utilize solar panels
around campus to
make Thunderbird
100 percent energy
sustainable. By generating
power from
the sun, Thunderbird
can eliminate nearly
all of its electrical
costs. The Project’s
goal is to reach yearly
generation of 10 million
kilowatt hours of
electricity within the
next 15 years at no
cost to the School.
Possible locations
for the panels are
on top of the Yount
building and on top
of covered parking
lots. Installation will
be implemented in
stages to minimize
the costs and to take
advantage of the
product-development
curves in the renewable
energy market.
Rodolfo Paiz ’08,
Julien Villa-Massone
’08, Jon Wilson ’08
and Das are working
with local solar
architects to design
the project.
FOCUS ON
RECYCLING
Another Thunderbird
project under
way is the campus
recycling program.
Recycling has always
been available on
campus, but efforts
are being made to
make recycling an
innate behavior.
Educational e-mail
campaigns have
started detailing how,
what and where to
recycle.
“During my first
trimester at Thunderbird,
I realized
that many people do
not recycle because
they don’t know
what can be recycled,
where to recycle or
why it is important,”
said Abigail Rethore
’08, the leader of the
recycling push.
Rethore has implemented
increased signage
near recycling
bins to remind people
what can be recycled.
VERMONT
LAW SCHOOL
DEGREE
Students such as
those in the ThunderGreen
Club have
a new way to take
their environmental
education even
further with a degree
in environmental law.
In February, Thunderbird
announced
a degree partnership
with Vermont Law
School, which has
been ranked No. 1 in
environmental law 11
times by U.S. News &
World Report. Thunderbird
students now
can receive a juris
doctor or master of
studies in environmental
law from the
school in conjunction
with their Thunderbird
degree.
thunderbird magazine 7

news & notes
What you said
Overall satisfaction, while a student:
■ Extremely satisfied 65.7%
■ Moderately satisfied 28.4%
■ Neutral 2.9%
■ Moderately unsatisfied 2.3%
■ Not satisfied at all 0.7%
Overall satisfaction, after graduation:
■ Extremely satisfied 27.9%
■ Moderately satisfied 45.0%
■ Neutral 17.8%
■ Moderately unsatisfied 7.1%
■ Not satisfied at all 2.2%
In making a decision about graduate
business education, I would choose
Thunderbird again.
■ Strongly agree 52.5%
■ Agree 31.4%
■ Neutral 9.3%
■ Disagree 4.8%
■ Strongly disagree 1.9%
Are you currently a donor to Thunderbird?
■ Yes 45.8%
■ No 54.2%
SOURCE: THUNDERBIRD ALUMNI SURVEY 2008
Survey results indicated some concerns about Thunderbird’s brand related to its
recent name change.
Alumni
survey
shows
overall
satisfaction
THUNDER-
BIRD alumni
have spoken.
Nearly three-fourths
of 1,259 responding
to a recent survey
expressed satisfaction
with the School, and
nearly 84 percent said
they would enroll
again if they could
start over.
But alumni still
offered plenty of suggestions
for improvement
during the fivemonth
survey that
ended in January.
“Thunderbird
alumni are very
passionate about the
School, and they’re
not shy about expressing
their views,”
said Thunderbird
Alumni Network
Board President
Kevin Rohrer ’82.
Alumni raised
concerns about the
School’s frequent
name changes, its
Who you are
lack of advertising in
certain markets, its
limited career management
services and
other issues.
“Thunderbird
created a very good
learning environment,”
wrote one
U.S. alumnus who
graduated in 1984.
“The biggest drawback
I see with a
Thunderbird degree
is that many people
still do not know
what Thunderbird
is. It does not have
the national visibility
that other elite
schools have.”
But Rohrer says
the overall response
from alumni was
1,259 Thunderbird alumni completed online
questionnaires from September 2007
to January 2008.
Graduation year
1940s-1950s 2.2%
1960s 4.5%
1970s 14.8%
1980s 22.9%
1990s 29.3%
2000s 26.3%
Location
United States 74.0%
Western Europe 9.1%
Asia 6.0%
Latin America 5.1%
Eastern and Central Europe 1.9%
North America outside U.S. 1.6%
Middle East 1.3%
Africa 1.1%
FILE PHOTO
8 summer 2008

news & notes
positive. He says he
was especially pleased
with the number of
alumni who indicated
they would return to
Thunderbird if they
were starting over
with their graduate
business education.
“That tells me that
they got a good education,”
he said. “And
it was practical.”
Rohrer says
Thunderbird asked
for honest feedback
from alumni because
the School is focused
What you want
on making improvements.
“In order to better
serve our alumni, we
need to know what
their priorities are,”
he said. “Their priorities
are our priorities.”
Terri Nissen, senior
director of Alumni
Central, says Thunderbird
likely will
repeat the alumni survey
every two years
as a way to measure
improvement.
“We welcome the
feedback from our
What programs and/or services would be most valuable and
relevant to you? (Respondents selected from a list; top five
responses are shown.)
Business-to-business directory 55.2%
Webcast/podcast by Thunderbird faculty on relevant
business topics 50.1%
Enhanced career management assistance 47.2%
Business executive newsletter 42.4%
Enhanced library (IBIC) access 41.6%
How Thunderbird responded
Issues addressed in comments:
alumni,” she said.
In addition to
identifying concerns,
Rohrer says the survey
revealed misconceptions
about Thunderbird.
He says
alumni hear about
things such as major
financial pledges to
the School, and they
sometimes decide the
School doesn’t need
their money.
“With limited
information, people
jump to the wrong
conclusions,” he said.
Thunderbird already has added several products and services
requested in the survey. A business-to-business directory is available
at www.thunderbird.edu/alumnibizdirect (see story on this page).
Faculty webcasts also are available now (see story on Page 14). An
executive newsletter will be launched in September, and the Global
Leadership Society has been launched (see Web site).
• Concerns about brand value due to name changes and
limited advertising.
• Identity crisis over past decade. (What does School want
to be?)
• Perception of declining reputation and quality of students.
• Diminished differentiation from other schools.
• Global presence shrinking while other schools expand.
• Alumni resources too limited.
Alumni
B2B site
links
T-birds
MORE THAN
300 alumni
have registered
their products
and services on the
Thunderbird Alumni
Business eDirectory,
a business-to-business
database that allows
Thunderbirds to network
in all regions of
the world.
The site addresses
the top request made
by Thunderbirds in
the alumni survey
that ended in January.
About 55 percent
of the 1,259 alumni
who responded said
they would like to see
some sort of businessto-business
directory
online.
Terri Nissen, senior
director of Alumni
Central, said the
School launched the
directory on Nov. 15
as the need became
apparent. The site is
viewable by anyone,
but only Thunderbirds
can list their
businesses.
Nissen said alumni
can register their
businesses free until
Aug. 31. After that, a
standard listing will
cost $50 per year and a
showcase listing will
be $75 per year.
The more expensive
listings allow alumni
to post a company
logo, a photo gallery, a
video snippet, a map
and a detailed company
description.
Nissen said all
proceeds from the
directory will support
alumni programs and
services.
New Jersey alumna
Molly Rhodes-
Naughton ’98, has
listed her company,
aiaTranslations, on
the site.
“I think the service
is a great idea, and I
was eager to participate
based on my previous
interaction with
alumni purchasers,”
she said. “I am definitely
a big believer in
alumni support and
relationships.”
Dinesh Goel ’04
works in India with
Deepak Woollens, a
manufacturer of fine
count woolen yarns,
fabrics and throws.
“I feel there is a lot
of potential in this
directory,” he said.
“I have received a
few inquiries, but
mostly for people
offering services for
my business, not actual
concrete business
promotion inquiries.
But I feel once people
really latch on to this
product, it can be a
great tool for T-birds.”
The directory can be
found at www.thunder
bird.edu/alumni
bizdirect.
thunderbird magazine 9

news & notes
Forbes
gives
graduates
five keys
for ‘golden
era’
FORGET THE
reports of economic
gloom.
Thunderbird commencement
speaker
Steve Forbes told
graduates May 2 that
the world is in the
midst of a “golden
era” of innovation.
“In terms of our
global economy today,
the headlines are
rather grim,” Forbes
told 252 business
graduates from 35
nations who gathered
at the Renaissance
Glendale Hotel and
Spa near campus.
“We have reports of
economic slowdown,
food riots in various
parts of the world
and a credit crisis.”
But Forbes called
these things mere
“road bumps” in a
period of tremendous
growth and
prosperity.
“As you stand back
and look at the larger
picture, we are in the
midst of a golden
era,” said Forbes,
the chairman and
CEO of Forbes Inc.
and editor of Forbes
magazine.
Prior to the address,
Thunderbird President
Ángel Cabrera
presented Forbes with
an honorary doctorate
in international
law. The award came
31 years after Forbes’
father, Malcolm
Stevenson Forbes,
received a similar
Thunderbird degree
in 1977.
Forbes said millions
of people
around the world are
starting their own
businesses, owning
property for the first
time and entering the
middle class.
“Never before have
so many people in
so many parts of the
world made so many
economic advances so
quickly as happened
in recent years,” he
said.
Forbes then left
the graduates with
five basic principles
that foster global
prosperity:
APPLY RULE
OF LAW
First, Forbes
emphasized the
importance of the
rule of law. He said
politics can crush a
global manager who
lives in a society that
does not provide
individual equality
before the law. This
encompasses private
property rights.
In the United
States, he said the
biggest source of
capital used to launch
new business is the
equity that comes
from private property.
He said homeowners
refinance their
property and take out
second mortgages
before they seek other
types of financing to
Steve Forbes gives graduates five basic principles that foster global
prosperity during the spring 2008 graduation ceremony.
start a business.
“Without property
rights,” he said,
“it is very hard to
advance.”
STABILIZE
MONEY
The next thing
global managers need
to create prosperity is
stable money.
Forbes said the
weak dollar policy
that the United States
has adopted in recent
years has caused
enormous damage in
terms of food prices,
fuel and housing.
“Money should
be a steady means of
value,” he said, “not
an instrument of
economic policy.”
LOWER TAXES
Forbes also emphasized
the need for low
taxes.
He said taxes generate
necessary revenue
for government,
but taxes set too high
create burdens on
entrepreneurs that
stifle innovation.
“The tax you pay
on income is the
price you pay for
working,” he said.
“The tax on profits
for your business is
the price you pay for
success. The tax on
capital gains is the
price you pay for
risks that work out.”
If you lower these
prices, he said, you
will get more work,
more profits and
more successful risktakers.
“It ends up
enriching society,” he
said. “And it enriches
government revenue
at the same time.”
REMOVE
BARRIERS
Forbes next urged
world governments
to remove barriers
that make it difficult
for managers to set
up legal businesses.
“Remove barriers,
and people like
yourselves can apply
your talents and have
those talents flourish,”
he said. “Your
success is society’s
success.”
GET A HOBBY
Finally, Forbes
counseled the graduates
to take time out
of their busy lives
to rest their minds
through hobbies and
healthy recreation.
He said managers
who focus too much
on work can burn
themselves out.
“Find something
that totally absorbs
your mind,” he said.
“That’s how you
refresh your mind.”
TIM CLARKE
10 summer 2008

news & notes
Give while
you shop
with eScrip
THUNDER-
BIRD alumni
can now give
to their alma mater
while they shop.
And they won’t need
to spend any extra
money to do it.
All they will need
to do is go online and
register their grocery
club cards, debit
cards and credit cards
at www.eScrip.com.
Registration is free
and takes only a few
minutes.
After that, a
percentage of every
purchase made
at participating
merchants will go
directly to Thunderbird
to support
alumni programs and
services.
The Thunderbird
Alumni Network
Board voted in
March to join the
eScrip program,
which links hundreds
of U.S. merchants
with alumni who
want to help their
schools.
Participating
merchants include
Macy’s, American
Airlines, Pep Boys
auto supplies, Eddie
Bauer clothing and
many others.
“EScrip is a fantastic
opportunity for
alumni to give back to
Thunderbird – specifically,
programs
that will directly
benefit the alumni –
with absolutely no
out-of-pocket cost to
the alumni,” said network
board member
Lisa Jones ’91. “You
merely register online,
and then you shop at
the stores where you
normally shop.”
For more information,
contact alumni@
thunderbird.edu or
call 602-978-7358.
Register
today
Visit www.eScrip.com
and click the link that
says “sign up – it’s
free.” Designate
Thunderbird to
receive the merchant
contributions
using group ID
No. 500018258.
Arcapita Ventures, a $200 million fund based in
Atlanta, GA, makes lead investments in growth stage
technology companies in the United States. Focusing
on three sectors, Healthcare, Information Technology
and Industrial Technology, Arcapita Ventures typically
makes initial investments between $4 to $8 million.
Arcapita Ventures also evaluates venture buyouts of
companies with enterprise values less than $40
million.
Arcapita Ventures Investment Team
John Huntz................................. Executive Director
Tom Hawkins ............................................. Director
Ramsay Battin............................................ Director
Linnea Geiss ..................................... Sr. Associate
Chris Carter............................................. Associate
Dan Lenahan........................................... Associate
75 14 th Street • Suite 2400 • Atlanta GA, 30309
Telephone: (404) 920-9000 • Fax: (404) 920-9011
thunderbird magazine 11

news & notes
Barrett
heads to
Finland in
new role
THE AP-
POINT-
MENT of
former Thunderbird
Trustee Barbara Barrett
as U.S. ambassador
to Finland was
confirmed April 29
by the U.S. Senate.
She is an international
business and
aviation attorney and
corporate executive.
“I congratulate
Barbara on her
swift confirmation,”
said Sen. Jon Kyl,
R-Ariz. “Barbara is
obviously highly
intelligent and has
a broad background
of experience, a
tremendous personality
and great energy
— all skills critical
in representing the
United States in a
post abroad.”
Barrett served as a
Thunderbird trustee
and Campaign Thunderbird
chairwoman
until her appointment,
which prevents
her from volunteering
as a fundraiser
and holding certain
partisan positions.
She is the president
and CEO of
Triple Creek Ranch
in Montana and
recently served as
senior adviser to the
U.S. Mission at the
United Nations. She
is a member of the
U.S.-Afghan Women’s
Council and
is the driving force
behind Thunderbird’s
Project Artemis — a
training, development
and mentorship
program for Afghan
women entrepreneurs.
“Barbara Barrett is
a true global leader
who personifies the
ideals for which
Barbara Barrett, alongside her husband, Craig, is sworn in as the U.S.
Ambassador to Finland by retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor.
Thunderbird stands,”
said Thunderbird
President Ángel
Cabrera. “We are
thrilled by her
appointment and
pleased that she will
be in a position to
utilize her immense
skill and experience
on the global diplomatic
stage.”
She has served as
deputy administrator
of the Federal Aviation
Administration,
and as vice chairwoman
of the U.S.
Civil Aeronautics
Board.
Barrett received
her bachelor’s degree,
master’s degree and
juris doctorate from
Arizona State University
in Tempe.
She holds an
honorary doctorate
in international law
from Thunderbird.
COURTESY OF ASU
Alumnus
nominated
to serve
U.S. in
Macedonia
THUNDER-
BIRD alumnus
Philip T. Reeker
’91 was nominated
as U.S. ambassador to
the Republic of Macedonia
on March 31.
He currently serves
as counselor for public
affairs at the U.S.
Embassy in Iraq.
Prior to serving
as counselor, Reeker
was deputy chief of
mission at the U.S.
Embassy in Hungary.
He has also served as
a deputy spokesman
at the U.S. State Department,
and earlier
in his career was a
public affairs officer
in Skopje, Macedonia.
“Philip Reeker, like
so many Thunderbird
graduates, is the
living embodiment of
Philip T. Reeker ’91
the School’s mission
to educate leaders
who are a driving
force in making the
world a better place,”
said Thunderbird
President Ángel
Cabrera.
The announcement
marked the second
time in 2008 that a
person affiliated with
Thunderbird was
nominated to serve
as an ambassador.
Former Thunderbird
trustee Barbara Barrett
was appointed
ambassador to
Finland in April. If
Reeker is appointed
to the Macedonia
position, he will
join Niels Marquardt
’80 as Thunderbird
alumni serving in
ambassador positions.
Marquardt is the U.S.
ambassador to Madagascar.
Other alumni who
formerly served as
U.S. ambassadors
include Luis Moreno
’77 in Colombia,
Lewis Lucke ’77
in Swaziland, W.L.
Brown ’60 in Austria
and Tony Holmes ’79
in Burkina Faso.
12 summer 2008

news & notes
Super Bowl
brings NFL
executives
to campus
COURTESY OF KIM WILLIAMS
SUPER
BOWL XLII
brought several
NFL executives
and global sponsors
to Thunderbird this
past winter when the
sports extravaganza
came to the School’s
home city of Glendale.
Guests at Thunderbird
included a
high-ranking alumna,
who spoke in the
Global Issues Forum
in the week prior to
the Feb. 3 game.
Kim Williams ’92,
chief operating
officer of the NFL
Network, kicked off
the series on Jan. 29.
Williams discussed
the National Football
League brand
in both domestic
Kim Williams ’92
Super Bowl XLII brought hundreds of thousands of visitors to Glendale, Ariz., and several key NFL
executives, including Kim Williams ’92, to Thunderbird.
and international
contexts. She also
talked about the six
key factors that the
brand represents
for the company:
integrity, excellence,
community,
teamwork, innovation
and tradition.
She noted that NFL
football is the most
widely watched
sport in the United
States, with 200 million
fans.
Williams said this
was her first visit to
campus since graduation.
She had high
praise for her graduate
school. “Thunderbird
continues
to prepare people
for global roles and
global assignments,”
she said.
Later that day, Michael
Bidwill, president
of the Arizona
Cardinals, offered
insights on “Building
Your Team Brand
Internationally.”
Joining him was
former Cardinals
offensive lineman
Rolando Cantu, the
first Mexican nonkicker
to play in the
NFL.
Cantu works in
the team’s front
office as manager of
international business
ventures.
The Cardinals organization
has been
an NFL pioneer in
international marketing,
particularly in
terms of Hispanic
outreach. In 2000, the
team became the first
professional team
to broadcast all its
games on Spanish
radio and recently
launched a fully
developed Spanishversion
of the team’s
Web site.
“If you’re in
Mexico, you will be
hearing about the
Arizona Cardinals,”
Cantu said.
The Super Bowl
series of campus
speakers was capped
by a presentation
Arizona Cardinals
President Michael Bidwill
speaks about global
branding during a visit to
Thunderbird prior to the
Super Bowl.
by James Vurpillat,
representing Cadillac,
a key sponsor
of the Super Bowl
and its MVP award.
Vurpillat, director
of global marketing
and brand development
for the Cadillac
Division of General
Motors Corp., spoke
to the Thunderbird
community about
Cadillac’s brand
renaissance.
DARRYL WEBB
CAROL SUNNUCKS
thunderbird magazine 13

news & notes
Free T-bird
webinars
link alumni
with faculty
THUNDER-
BIRD professors
don’t
normally make house
calls, but alumni
can now participate
in faculty webinars
from the comfort of
their home or office.
The program was
launched in fall 2007
as a free service to
Thunderbird alumni,
and already global
business experts
have presented four
webinars from the
Glendale campus.
Professors Robert
Moran and William
Youngdahl gave the
most recent presentation
on May 29. The
webinar was done in
conjunction with the
release of their book,
“Leading Global
Projects: For Professional
and Accidental
Project Leaders” (see
story on Page 44).
Alumni who
missed the live
webcast can watch
a recording on the
alumni section of
MTB (my.thunder
bird.edu).
Terri Nissen,
senior director of
Alumni Central, said
as many as 150 alumni
have participated
in each webinar.
Previous presenters
have included Professors
Mansour Javidan
and Mary Teagarden
and emeritus Professor
Llewellyn Howell.
The next webinar
will be in September
on a topic to be determined.
Nissen said all
the webinars so far
have been at 10 a.m.
Arizona time, which
doesn’t work well
for alumni in certain
time zones. But Nissen
said the webinars
are posted on MTB
for a month afterward
so alumni can
watch them at their
convenience.
Instructions to
participate in the
webinars are sent to
alumni via e-mail
a few weeks before
each session and
again during the
Same
school, new
address
THUNDER-
BIRD hasn’t
moved, but the
Glendale campus is
getting a new mailing
address.
Street signs will
go up in October
marking Global Place
near the entrance to
week of the event.
To be added to the
distribution list, call
602-978-7358 or send
e-mail to alumni@
thunderbird.edu.
the School that has
stood at 59th Avenue
and Greenway Road
since 1946. Mail sent
to Thunderbird should
then be addressed to 1
Global Place, Glendale
AZ 85306-6000.
The change will be
made to give Thunderbird
a more distinctive
and memorable
mailing address that
promotes the School’s
global mission.
14 summer 2008

Notes of
gratitude
pour in for
retiring
admissions
official
HUNDREDS
of Thunderbirds
sent
notes of gratitude to
longtime admissions
official Judy Johnson
after she announced
her retirement this
spring.
For 18 years,
Johnson changed the
lives of hundreds of
Thunderbirds when
she signed their acceptance
letters to the
School. Every incoming
student received
a kind, genuine congratulatory
message
in the form of a note,
e-mail or phone call.
“You have been the
face of Thunderbird
to so many prospective
students, myself
included,” wrote
Molly Vannucci ’09.
“I was born to go to
Thunderbird, but you
have reminded me of
that and always made
me feel at home.”
Students and staff
are working to establish
a scholarship in
Johnson’s name.
“We need at
least $50,000 for an
endowed scholarship,
which would
enable Judy’s legacy
at Thunderbird to go
on forever,” said Kay
Keck, vice president
for full-time programs.
People who wish
to contribute to the
scholarship fund can
visit thankyoujudy
johnson.com.
The site also allows
Thunderbirds to
submit tributes and
express gratitude to
Johnson, who retired
June 30 as associate
vice president of Admissions
and Financial
Aid.
Genevieve Lemire
’09 said she was
impressed by the personal
e-mail Johnson
sent in December.
“I was wowed and
so very glad that I
chose Thunderbird,”
Lemire wrote. “Not
only did you initiate
contact with me
directly, my personal
recommendations
received a note of
thanks. Within the
process of business,
people often forget
that building relationships
is paramount in
most societies.”
Ryan Luke ’08 said
Johnson changed his
life forever.
“Thank you for
your time and service,”
he wrote. “The
ripple effect of your
service will be forever
felt.”
Elias Khalil ’08
helped set up the
Web site and collect
the tributes before he
graduated in May and
started work in Saudi
Arabia. He said hundreds
of students and
alumni posted comments,
which were
presented to Johnson
on June 12 during a
retirement party.
news & notes
Judy Johnson, associate vice president of Admissions and Financial Aid, retires
after 18 years admitting students to Thunderbird.
Magazine
moves
annual
report to
November
ANNUAL
usually
means once
a year. But Thunderbird
Magazine will
produce two annual
reports in 2008 as
part of a new publication
schedule.
Regular editions
of the magazine will
be mailed to alumni
each July and March,
and the Annual
Report on Giving will
be mailed each November.
In the past,
the annual report
was distributed each
spring.
That means
alumni who saw the
fiscal 2006-07 report
in March will receive
the fiscal 2007-08
report less than nine
months later.
The new publication
schedule will allow
alumni to review
financial data closer
to the end of the fiscal
year on June 30.
Thunderbird also
hopes the report’s
circulation in November
will serve as
a timely reminder
for alumni who wish
to make donations
before the end of the
calendar year for tax
purposes.
KRISTEN JARCHOW
thunderbird magazine 15

news & notes
COURTESY OF ZAYED UNIVERSITY
Thunderbird Senior Vice President and Provost Rob Widing delivered Zayed
University’s spring commencement address and helped award diplomas to
graduates (right) with Sheikh Nahayan Mabarak Al Nahayan, the minister of
higher education and scientific research in the UAE and Zayed president (center).
School
creates
Middle
East links
THUNDER-
BIRD has announced
plans
to expand its global
learning network
to the Middle East,
including opportunities
in Saudi Arabia
and the United Arab
Emirates.
The School announced
its intention
in June to develop
an academic and
research presence
in Saudi Arabia’s
new King Abdullah
Economic City with
the support of the
Saudi Arabia General
Investment Authority,
the governmental
agency in charge of
driving the kingdom’s
competitiveness
agenda.
Initial Thunderbird
offerings in Saudi
Arabia are expected
to include an “Advanced
Global Leadership
Program” for
senior Saudi executives
and a “Women’s
Entrepreneurship
Certificate” for highpotential
women
business leaders.
“These programs
will allow us to deliver
on our mission
and better understand
this dynamic region
of the world as we
consider our next
steps in Saudi Arabia
and the rest of the
Middle East,” said
Thunderbird President
Ángel Cabrera.
The School announced
in April
that it would provide
faculty for portions of
a new Master of Science
in International
Business degree at
Zayed University in
the UAE. The program
will be a combination
of classroom
and distance learning.
The degree will
consist of 12 courses,
three of which will be
taught by Thunderbird,
over a two-year
period ending with
a capstone international
experience
for Zayed students
hosted by Thunderbird
in Arizona.
“The focus of
the program is
on developing an
understanding of
how organizations
function internationally
and the complex
issues which managers
encounter in a
global environment,”
says Dr. Sulaiman Al
Jassim, vice president
of Zayed.
School
retains
No. 1 rank
U.S. NEWS
& World
Report ranked
Thunderbird as the
nation’s No. 1 school
for international
business for the 13th
consecutive year in
the magazine’s April
7 edition.
The distinction
marked the School’s
third No. 1 ranking
for international
business by top business
publications in
recent months.
Thunderbird was
ranked No. 1 in
International Business
by the Financial
Times in its annual
worldwide ranking
of full-time MBA
programs in January,
and the Wall Street
Journal/Harris Interactive
poll of corporate
recruiters ranked
Thunderbird No. 1 in
International Business
last September.
“These rankings
confirm the fact that
Thunderbird continues
to lead the way in
global management
education,” said
Thunderbird President
Ángel Cabrera.
“As the pace of globalization
continues
to accelerate, Thunderbird’s
expertise in
global management
has never been more
relevant and in demand.”
U.S. News & World
Report’s 2009 edition
of America’s Best
Graduate Schools hit
newsstands March 31,
and the full America’s
Best Graduate Schools
guidebook went on
sale April 1.
The International
specialty ranking
was determined by
a survey of business
school deans and
program directors,
who nominated the
top 10 programs for
excellence in 12 specialty
areas.
U.S. News & World Report
Top 10 schools in the “International” category:
1. Thunderbird School of Global Management
2. University of South Carolina (Moore)
3. University of Pennsylvania (Wharton)
4. University of Michigan-Ann Arbor (Ross)
5. Duke University (Fuqua)
6. Columbia University
7. Harvard University
7. New York University (Stern)
9. University of Southern California (Marshall)
10. University of California-Berkeley (Haas)
Source:
2009 edition of America’s Best Graduate Schools
16 summer 2008

news & notes
T-bird
distance
learning
joins elite
EIU list
THUNDER-
BIRD’S
distancelearning
program has
earned quick recognition.
The Global MBA
On-Demand program
was named one
of the top business
schools worldwide for
distance learning by
the Economist Intelligence
Unit on Jan.
23 in its first ranking
of distance-learning
MBA programs.
Thunderbird’s
Global MBA On-
Demand landed the
No. 7 spot overall, No.
4 for program content
and No. 5 for quality
of students. Thunderbird
was one of only
two U.S. schools to
make the list.
Now in its third
year at Thunderbird,
the Global MBA is
a 19-month program
for working professionals
that blends
Web-based learning
with on-site intensive
seminars on the
Glendale campus and
other sites in Europe,
Asia and Latin
America.
“Distance-learning
MBAs are becoming
an increasingly important
sector of business
education, allowing
students from
around the world to
earn degrees from
top-quality schools
without having to
change jobs or move
abroad — often at a
fraction of the cost
of a full-time program,”
EIU stated in
its media announcement.
“For these very
reasons they are also
becoming increasingly
popular with
employers.”
EIU said the idea
that distance-learning
programs are the
“poor relation” of the
MBA, particularly
compared with fulltime
programs, is no
longer tenable.
“Most distancelearning
programs
have now achieved
equal standing with,
and have the same
academic rigor as,
other delivery methods,”
the EIU said.
“Because the corporate
world has largely
embraced them for its
own employees, they
also accept them as an
important qualification
for new recruits.”
Thunderbird
Senior Vice President
and Provost
Rob Widing said the
School agrees with
EIU’s observation
about the exceptional
quality of these
programs.
“Our own learning
outcome assessment
program indicates
this to be the case
at Thunderbird,”
he said. “The high
level of satisfaction
After only a few short years, Thunderbird’s Global
MBA On-Demand receives top ranking.
expressed by our
distance learners
is equally as good
as those who go
through our oncampus
program.”
Sixty percent of
the EIU ranking is
based on a survey
of distance-learning
students, with the
remaining 40 percent
based on data supplied
by schools.
Because distancelearning
students often
study in isolation,
a sense of connection
to the school is essential,
according to EIU.
“This is certainly
true at Thunderbird,”
said Bert Valencia,
vice president for
distance-learning
programs. “In order
to create a strong
sense of belonging,
Thunderbird emphasizes
high faculty and
student interaction,
collaborative learning
and four one-week
on-site seminars.”
FILE PHOTO
Top 10 distance-learning programs
School Overall Program content Student quality Distance learning elements
Warrington (U.S.) 1 3 3 1
IE (Spain) 2 1 4 2
Warwick (U.K.) 3 2 6 5
Curtin (Australia) 4 5 1 4
Audencia Nantes (France) 5 7 2 3
Henley (U.K.) 6 8 7 6
Thunderbird (U.S.) 7 4 5 8
Manchester (U.K.) 8 6 9 9
Open University (U.K.) 9 9 10 7
Bradford (U.K.) 10 10 8 10
Source: Economist Intelligence Unit
thunderbird magazine 17

news & notes
Campaign
draws big
donations
THUNDER-
BIRD has received
several
multimillion-dollar
commitments to its
capital campaign,
including $10 million
from alumnus and
trustee Scott Walker
’81.
An additional
$5 million came from
campaign chairman
Craig Barrett and his
wife, Barbara, who
served as campaign
chairwoman until
her appointment this
spring as U.S. ambassador
to Finland.
These commitments
brought the
total to more than
$40 million, which is
more than 61 percent
of Campaign Thunderbird’s
$65 million goal.
Commitments to
date also include
$4 million from Jerry
Nichols ’97 and his
Barbara and Craig Barrett
wife, Rachele,
$3.5 million from Ken
Seward ’57, and
$2.6 million from a
family foundation
being created by
Trustee David Lincoln,
his wife, Joan,
and their family.
Thunderbird Trustee
Francis Najafi ’77
also announched an
additional $1 million
commitment in June
to support the Global
Mindset project.
Campaign Thunderbird
will publicly
launch Oct. 1 with a
celebration on Thunderbird’s
Glendale
campus. The campaign’s
key initiatives
are to raise funds for
scholarships, professorships,
curricular
innovation and
research, improved
facilities, technology
and operations.
CAMPAIGN THUNDERBIRD
KICKOFF CELEBRATION
October 1, 2008 - 6pm • Thunderbird Campus • Free Admission
To register visit www.thunderbird.edu/kickoff
Suzanne and Scott Walker
Million dollar hats
Barbara and Craig Barrett wanted to find
a special way to thank Campaign Thunderbird’s
top donors, so they turned to a
custom hatmaker in Montana who does
business near their Triple Creek Ranch. Jim
“the Hat Man” Harrison created the Thunderbird
Million Dollar Hat that incorporates
a Thunderbird logo. As the name suggests,
the price for each hat starts at $1 million.
“Campaign Thunderbird
will help us
prepare countless
more young men and
women to become
the world’s future
global leaders,” said
Thunderbird President
Ángel Cabrera.
“More than ever, the
world needs people
with a global mindset
who can navigate a
complex global business
landscape.”
Walker’s $10 million
commitment
will fund the operations
and expansion
of the Thunderbird
Center for Global
Entrepreneurship,
which was established
in 2005 from a
$1 million gift he also
made.
Walker, the
founder of BillMatrix,
a Dallas-based
payment services
company, said he
made this donation
because Thunderbird
transformed his life
and set him on his
career and life path.
“None of us arrived
at where we
are on this planet
without somebody
else helping us along
the way,” he said. “It
is paramount that we
give back.”
TIM CLARKE
18 summer 2008

news & notes
Alumni
score high
on Global
Mindset
THUNDER-
BIRD alumni
trail the
School’s faculty on
the Global Mindset
Inventory, but they
outpace Thunderbird
staff members and
just about everybody
else.
The GMI is a
scientific self-assessment
tool designed
at Thunderbird to
measure the specific
social, psychological
and intellectual
attributes that enable
managers to influence
individuals,
groups and organizations
from different
cultures.
A $1 million
commitment from
Thunderbird Trustee
Francis Najafi ’77,
which the School announced
in June, will
support the Global
Mindset project.
About 1,600
alumni have taken
the survey so far,
but exact scores and
comparisons will
not be released until
after the inventory is
optimized in its final
format.
Thunderbird’s
Class of 2008 got
an early glimpse of
their scores during
a Global Mindset
Celebration on
graduation day May
2. Mansour Javidan,
Thunderbird’s dean
of research, said
Thunderbird graduates
consistently
outperform incoming
students on the
survey.
“We show a very
clear and significant
improvement in the
scores of our graduating
students,” said
Javidan.
The celebration
included a Global
Professor David Bowen brands graduating students with a Global Mindset
stamp during a Global Mindset celebration the day of their graduation.
Mindset trivia
competition among
the 40 tables in the
Thunderbird Activity
Center. The winning
group included Executive
MBA students
Tim Devereaux ’08
and Tory Kinson ’08.
Kinson said
his table included
relatives with global
experience from
Colombia, Spain and
the United States,
but the group’s secret
weapon on the quiz
was “Uncle Hank”
from Wisconsin.
Hank Kinson, 70,
travels the world
and swims in rivers
everywhere he goes.
“That’s how he
connects with the
countries he’s in,”
said Tory Kinson, 37,
a Latin American director
for Red Wing
Shoe Co.
TIM CLARKE
Andrew Wulf ’08
T-bird grad
honored for
rainforest
project
ANDREW WULF
’08 received
more than a
diploma on graduation
day May 2.
He and three
friends he met in
the Peace Corps also
received second prize
in the 2008 Social
Innovation Competition
at the University
of Texas.
More than 1,200
students representing
97 colleges and
universities competed
to produce the
“most compelling
new idea to change
the world.”
Wulf’s team took
the $7,500 second
prize for developing
Planting Empowerment,
a business
that aims to reduce
deforestation in
Panama by creating
financial incentives
for rural landowners
to participate in
sustainable timber
production.
“You can’t tell a
farmer to conserve
the rainforest when
he’s got a family to
feed back home,”
Wulf said.
Planting Empowerment
recruits U.S.
investors to lease
land in Panama.
The company then
plants, harvests and
sells the timber over
a 25-year investment
cycle.
Wulf said half the
profits go back to the
community through
projects such as aqueducts
and bridges.
For more information,
visit plantingempowerment.com.
thunderbird magazine 19

news & notes
T-bird
students
ring NYSE
closing bell
A
GROUP OF
Thunderbird
students
closed the New York
Stock Exchange Jan. 8
during their Winterim
on Wall Street.
Professor John Mathis
led the group to
New York from Jan. 3
to 15, while other students
and professors
made similar treks all
over the world.
The Wall Street
Winterim was one
of more than 12
experiential learning
offerings that took 311
Winterim on Wall Street participants rang the NYSE closing bell Jan. 8.
students in the fulltime
MBA program
to nine global destinations
during January.
Students visited
Costa Rica, Switzerland,
China, Dubai,
Egypt, Jordan, South
Africa, Mexico and
the United States.
Marketing, global
brands, financial
services, marketing
analysis, export/
import management,
sustainable business
development, emerging
markets, entrepreneurial
leadership and
language immersion
were among the topics
studied.
“Actually being on
the trading floor and
participating in ringing
the bell for the
close of day is something
I will never
forget,” said Bonnie-
Jeane Lynes ’08, who
attended the Winterim.
“Being able to ask
questions of the vice
president of the U.S.
Trust, or the CEO of
Continental Grain,
or a trader and many
other employees at
Goldman Sachs —
you just cannot get
that in the typical
classroom experience.”
The students who
traveled to New York
were introduced to
more than 65 speakers
and more than
four dozen financial
service providers.
“Prior to the
Winterim, I had my
eyes on investment
banking and private
equity,” said VJ Jain
’08, a native of India
who is interested in
a career switch from
accounting. “This
program cleared the
haze about my career
path.”
COURTESY OF NYSE
Private
equity
conference
draws
industry
leaders
THUNDER-
BIRD became
the epicenter
of discussions this
April with some of
the private equity industry’s
most notable
leaders, on the heels
of a turbulent year in
which the community
faced extensive
public exposure.
In the School’s
fourth annual Global
Private Equity Investing
Conference,
Promod Haque, Robert Grady and James Bowden lead
a panel discussion on technologyat the private equity
conference on April 3.
held April 3-4 on
campus, dozens of
national and international
investment
leaders discussed
the next step for an
industry entrenched
in shifting American
and European markets
while looking
for a foothold in the
world’s latest emerging
economies.
Titled “Private
Equity’s New World:
Global Deal Sourcing,
Financing and
Exiting,” the conference
showcased
keynote speeches by
industry leaders such
as A. Charles Baillie,
co-head of the Private
Equity Group and cochairman
of the Investment
Committee
at Goldman Sachs;
John de Yonge, global
research director of
Ernst & Young’s,
Venture Capital
Advisory Group;
and Joseph Quinlan,
U.S. Trust-Bank
of America Private
Wealth Management
managing director
and chief market
strategist.
“It’s an impressive
lineup here, but that’s
what we’re about,”
said Peter Wolken
’59, vice chairman
GABRIELA M. TRUJILLO
of the Thunderbird
Global Private Equity
Center Executive
Advisory Board. “If
you want to know
what is going on in
this area, this is the
place to be.”
The two-day
conference included
breakout sessions
with prominent international
fund managers
who discussed a
wide range of pressing
topics, including
ways to improve the
private equity industry’s
tepid representation
by mainstream
media, the reality of
increased international
investment in
the United States and
where the industry is
headed.
20 summer 2008

22 summer 2008

DEVELOPING
WOMEN
IN
DEVELOPING
NATIONS
Women hold keys to new prosperity in emerging markets
By Ty Young
MARCELLINA CHIJORIGA BEAT THE
odds.
Like more than 60 percent of women in
Tanzania, she was raised in extreme poverty.
Her father died when she was 14, leaving
her mother to support 10 children.
This forced Chijoriga’s siblings to work as well, hampering their opportunities
for education. But luckily, Chijoriga says, she was one of
two children in the family who received a formal education.
She made the most of the opportunity.
She earned a communications degree from the University of Dar es
Salaam in Tanzania, an MBA from Catholic University in Belgium,
and an economics and finance doctorate from the University of Economics
and Business Administration in Vienna, Austria.
Chijoriga has emerged as an important voice in her country. As dean
of faculty of commerce and management at the University of Dar es
Salaam, she teaches and researches corporate finance, banking, capital
markets, microfinance and small-business development.
Now, through a new global initiative to educate 10,000 women from
developing countries, Chijoriga hopes to reach even more female en-
Marcellina Chijoriga
thunderbird magazine 23

PHOTO © PAULA LERNER/AURORA
Habiba Rifhat teaches
children in the preschool
she operates in Kabul,
Afghanistan.
“It is
through
this
program
that these
women
will become
hoteliers
instead
of food
vendors,
managers
of computer
companies
instead of
running
saloons.”
trepreneurs and business managers who share
her drive to climb out of poverty.
As the name implies, the 10,000 Women
project will attempt to educate 10,000 underserved
women throughout the world. The
mission is simple: Invest in educating women
with the skills they need to start and grow
their own businesses, and then watch that investment
grow.
The Goldman Sachs Group organized the
initiative and funded it with an unprecedented
$100 million commitment. Initial partners
include 15 top business colleges and universities,
including Thunderbird.
Chijoriga’s school will partner with Columbia
University to build curriculum and
develop faculty in Tanzania. Additionally,
the partnership will spawn two certification
programs in entrepreneurship and management.
Chijoriga says women in her country have
operated under cultural constraints for centuries,
but new business potential has emerged
since 1999, when Tanzania began instituting
gender reform.
She says teaching other Tanzanian women
through the Goldman Sachs initiative will
be the ultimate return on her investment in
education.
“It is through this program that these
women will become hoteliers instead of food
vendors, managers of computer companies
instead of running saloons,” she says.
Untapped potential
MOST OF the developed
world has known for decades
the powerful influence
women can have on local
and national economies
when they are educated and supported in
their efforts.
But many emerging and developing countries
have yet to acknowledge this valuable
resource or make the necessary changes to
invest in its potential. Cultural dogma and
gender persecution keep many women in the
shadows of poverty.
“The professional development of talent is
a critical component of addressing global inequities,”
says Jacqueline Novogratz, founder
and chief executive of the Acumen Fund,
a global entrepreneurial venture fund that
works to solve global poverty. “Providing
women with access to education gives them
entrepreneurial tools they need to build their
own futures, which in turn creates a corps of
leaders with the skill and will to effect broader
change.”
For this reason, the 10,000 Women project
will impact more than economics.
In each of the targeted countries, the general
culture could undergo dramatic transfor-
24 summer 2008

mations, especially in places where women
historically have stayed at home.
In Nigeria, for example, the ratio between
male and female secondary school students is
84-1, according to a World Bank study. The
same divide is seen in Nigeria’s workforce,
where only 35 percent of employees are female.
The ratios are similar in other emerging
countries.
This is where the 10,000 Women program
hopes to take root, says Thunderbird President
Ángel Cabrera.
By opening the doors to education, young
female students will find the path easier to
becoming employees and employers. And in
order to reach the young students, they must
have role models, thus creating a cyclical educational
effect.
Afghan pioneers
THUNDERBIRD HAS seen
firsthand the impact female entrepreneurs
can have in emerging
countries.
Through Thunderbird’s Project
Artemis, a two-week business training
and mentoring program started in 2005, the
School has educated 30 women from wartorn
Afghanistan who have returned to their
homeland and, despite much adversity and
personal risk, put their training into action by
starting and growing their businesses.
In many cases, the women not only have
COURTESY OF GOLDMAN SACHS
Ronke Fetuga, managing
director of a publishing
company in Lagos and
Peter Bamkole, director,
Enterprise Development
Services at the Pan-
African University of
Nigeria joined other key
project partners during
the launch of 10,000
Women.
Nick Verreos wears the official Project Artemis T-shirt.
Artemis shirt worn on red carpet
A
T-SHIRT CREATED by Afghan-American fashion designer
Samira Atash for Thunderbird’s Project Artemis has gained
celebrity attention on Hollywood’s red carpet.
American fashion designer Nick Verreos of Project Runway
fame wore the shirt April 22 at a charity event in Santa Monica, Calif.
Verreos is a contributing fashion editor of Frontiers magazine, and his
designs have been worn by actresses such as “Desperate Housewives”
star Eva Longoria.
The “Burqa Buddha” design for Project
Artemis is part of Atash’s UNI-TEE collection of
T-shirts, which promote cultural understanding
through messages of peace.
The “Burqa Buddha” shirts feature a quote
from Mohandas Gandhi: “You can chain me, you
can torture me, you can even destroy this body
... but you will never imprison my mind.”
The shirts can be purchased wholesale by
Thunderbird alumni who are retailers.
Order your
T-shirt
To buy the
“Burqa Buddha”
shirts, visit the
ThunderShop on
campus or visit
samiraatash.com.
thunderbird magazine 25

© 2008 MARC BRYAN-BROWN/COURTESY OF GOLDMAN SACHS
Lloyd Blankfein,
Chairman & CEO,
Goldman Sachs
Group Inc. and key
participants at the
10,000 Women launch
event in New York.
“We women
have taken
it upon
ourselves
to stitch
the future
of peace
for our
children.”
Initial partners
Thunderbird is one of 15 initial partners
in 10,000 Women, including:
■ American University in Cairo
■ Brown University
■ Columbia Business School
■ Harvard Business School
■ Indian School of Business
■ Pan-African University, Nigeria
■ School of Finance and Banking,
Rwanda
■ Stanford Graduate School of Business
■ United States International University,
Kenya
■ University of Cape Town Graduate
School of Business
■ Judge Business School, University of
Cambridge
■ University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
■ William Davidson Institute at the
University of Michigan
■ Wharton School at the University of
Pennsylvania
found personal business success, but also have
extended those opportunities and their business
knowledge to other women.
“We women have taken it upon ourselves
to stitch the future of peace for our children,”
says Rangina Hamidi, whose business makes
embroidered shawls, pillows and wall hangings.
“Embroidery is the skill we have, and
love and patience is what we can give to our
families and our country. We will work to
help rebuild this war-torn nation.”
Since completing the Thunderbird program,
Hamidi has grown her business to
more than 500 employees, and their products
are exported worldwide. Her spirit, resolve
and hard work have greatly impacted economic
opportunities and independence for
Afghan women.
Habiba Rifhat is another Project Artemis
graduate working to turn Afghanistan into a
bastion of entrepreneurship.
After careers in education and handicrafts,
Rifhat founded a private preschool in Kabul
that strives to provide Afghan children with a
safe, nurturing environment. Rifhat, an advisory
board member of the Afghan Women’s
Business Federation, used her Thunderbird
training to develop a business plan for her pre-
26 summer 2008

school and obtain financing for a three-story
facility in 2007.
She says the former Taliban regime did
many things to destroy educational opportunities
in Afghanistan — especially for women
— and her preschool will work to teach children
who otherwise would not have opportunities
to learn to read and write.
Building the economy
THOUSANDS OF WOMEN
have crossed back into their native
land, after being forced out
by Taliban leaders who did not
allow women to work, even if
they were widowed and supporting a family
by themselves.
Project Artemis graduate Kamela Sediqi
has turned her newfound educational freedom
into big business, as well as educational opportunities
for other women.
She already had earned a literature degree
before the Taliban rule, and supported her
family with a small tailoring service that employed
nearly 100 women. But it did little to
prepare her for one of the most lucrative industries
presented in post-Taliban Afghanistan.
She knew it was time to start her next business.
Seeing the opportunity to literally build
herself into the country’s economy, Sediqi decided
to start a construction company. Competing
with foreign contractors lining up for
infrastructure projects, she worked tirelessly
to secure contracts and hire workers, employing
hundreds of Afghan citizens.
Sediqi says she realizes the extreme value of
this business education and how, if taught to
others in her country, it could further raise the
level of future business leaders and, eventually,
the entire economic scene.
“There are a lot of (nongovernment organizations)
that have funding for vocational
programs, but not for businesses in the private
sector,” she says. “For the future of Afghanistan,
it is very important to provide good
educational opportunities for children, for the
next generation.”
Armed with her instruction from Project
Artemis, Sediqi crafted a business plan and
learned the market in Afghanistan. Using
her networking skills and tireless drive, she
created Kaweyan Business Development Services,
which teaches Afghan entrepreneurs
how to start and cultivate their own businesses.
Among the most popular subjects are
business development and avenues for microfinancing.
New Afghan initiative
It was Thunderbird’s success in educating
Afghan women through Project
Artemis that led Goldman to select
the School as one of its initial 10,000
Women partners. This new initiative
will allow Thunderbird to extend its reach
in Afghanistan by educating more women in
their homeland through an alliance with the
American University of Afghanistan.
“Investing in the education and economic
empowerment of women in developing countries
not only improves the lives of those women,
but also enriches the entire community
and contributes to the sustainable prosperity
of those countries as a whole,” Cabrera says.
FILE PHOTO
“Our goal is to change lives and create lasting
benefit. In Goldman Sachs and the American
University of Afghanistan, we have partners
who share this goal and are deeply committed
to realizing our vision of a better world
through education and opportunity.”
Through the Goldman Sachs Business
Women’s Training Program in Afghanistan,
Thunderbird will help train about 460 women
over five years through classes in management
at American University of Afghanistan. The
alliance also will incorporate distance learning
opportunities and create a women’s resource
center for meetings, computer access and a
safe space for networking events. Thunderbird
alumni also will have opportunities to mentor
these women and share their expertise.
Kamela Sediqi meets
Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice during
a gala honoring Rice in
2005. She credits her
Thunderbird experience
as a turning point in
her life.
More online
Additional
information about
10,000 Women
can be found at
10000women.org.
thunderbird magazine 27

PHOTO © PAULA LERNER/AURORA
Rangina Hamidi was honored by CNN as a finalist in its Heroes program. Hamidi
operates a business that makes shawls, pillows and wall hangings.
Artemis graduate honored for
fighting for justice in her homeland
A
GRADUATE OF THUNDERBIRD’S training program for women
in Afghanistan was named a finalist in December for the CNN
Heroes award for her efforts in fighting for justice in her wartorn
homeland.
Rangina Hamidi, who was part of the first Project Artemis class, is
the owner of Kandahar Treasure, a company that specializes in handembroidered
products in Afghanistan. Since completing the Thunderbird
program, Hamidi has grown her business to more than 400 employees.
“The other women and I dedicated to this project know that working
is the only real alternative to insecurity,” Hamidi says. “We have given
up on the men in this region, who only know — and love — war and
destruction.”
Hamidi joined 17 other CNN Heroes finalists who were nominated in six
categories for their work to advance civil rights. The finalists were chosen
from more than 7,000 people from 93 countries.
Said Tayeb Jawad, Afghan ambassador to the United States, attended a
Project Artemis fundraising breakfast Nov. 8 in Scottsdale, Ariz., where
he thanked Thunderbird for its efforts to help educate the women of
Afghanistan.
“Women are changing the entire fabric of Afghan society for the better,
and Project Artemis is playing an essential role in empowering many of
the key change-makers,” Jawad said.
Alliance for good
AMONG U.S. schools joining
Thunderbird are Brown, Columbia
and Harvard universities,
the Stanford Graduate
School of Business, the William
Davidson Institute at the University of
Michigan, and the Wharton School at the
University of Pennsylvania. These schools
will partner with universities in places such
as Egypt, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Afghanistan
Michael Chu, Harvard Business School senior
lecturer of business administration, says
women from these developing nations show
incredible drive and determination.
“While entrepreneurship is key at all levels
of society, nowhere is it more important than
for women and the dispossessed, who often
do not have access to the traditional paths to
progress and must carve out their own roads,”
he says.
Through 10,000 Women, Harvard will form
an alliance with business schools throughout
India.
Goldman’s $100 million investment to
bring the project to life is the largest ever for
the firm, nearly matching the company’s $101
million total charitable giving in 2007.
“10,000 Women focuses on a critical, yet often
overlooked, area where we believe Goldman
Sachs can use its resources and convening
power to help build the foundation to
expand the ranks of businesswomen, managers
and entrepreneurs around the world,”
says Lloyd Blankfein, Goldman Sachs chairman
and chief executive.
The program will look for small gains in
its initial stages, mostly through business and
management certification programs. With
these, women can gain entry into local and
global companies and potentially gain entry
into higher education institutions. Eventually,
the education will increase to include
bachelor’s and master’s degrees in business.
Thomas Robertson, dean of the Wharton
School, says the bridge between academia
and economic development has always been
strong, but delivering its potential to emerging
countries is a mission the 10,000 Women
project presents. Wharton will be partnering
with schools in India and Egypt as well as
providing online research and resources to all
schools involved in the program.
“Business schools can be a force for good in
the world,” he says. “And this collaboration is
an excellent way of fulfilling that promise.”
28 summer 2008

Share your experiences
with future T-birds
Thunderbird Alumni Class of 2005, Sara Swain, US; George Alambo, Kenya; Supang Srichaovarat, Thailand.
You’ve been there. You’ve done that.
Share your T-bird experience.
If you know someone with a global curiosity –
someone who is ready to take the next step toward
a global business career – refer him or her to
Thunderbird. Our varied program options are
designed to meet a wide range of needs.
Help expand Thunderbird’s ranks by becoming an
honorary member of our worldwide recruiting team.
Visit www.my.t-bird.edu and click “Refer a
Future T-bird.” A Thunderbird recruiter will
contact you soon.
Get involved!
Thunderbird is looking for Alumni Ambassadors.
Work hand-in-hand with Thunderbird’s recruitment
team to help spread the word to prospective students.
Serve as a representative at local events.
Inform Thunderbird’s recruitment team
about local alumni events open to
prospective students.
Coordinate conversations between prospective
students and alumni in the same global
region or career.
For more information contact: ambassadors@thunderbird.edu

30 summer 2008

Tia Laura’s
CLINICS
OF HOPE
Thunderbird graduate Laura Libman
turns her back on corporate wealth to bring
health-care training to rural Mexico
Story and Photos by Kathy McCraine
LASTING IMPACT
Children of La Granja,
Guadalajara, are
healthier and happier
due to the work of
Laura Libman and
her Tia Foundation.
LAURA LIBMAN IS DOING HER BEST TO
wake up, standing in the dusty street lined with lowslung,
windowless, adobe dwellings, a cup of steaming
coffee gripped in both hands. As the sun creeps over
the Altos de Jalisco, the foothills in the far northeastern
corner of this central Mexican state, the sleepy
pueblo of La Granja is waking up to an important event.
Today, 13 excited village women will receive graduation certificates
pronouncing them promotoras, official health workers in the small community
about five hours from Guadalajara. The women give credit for
their accomplishment to Libman and the Tia Foundation, the Arizonabased
nonprofit organization she founded to bring health care training
to rural Mexico.
With her brains and education, Libman could easily be the CEO of a
major corporation, ensconced in a plush, high-rise office, wearing heels
and an Armani suit. Instead, the 2005 Thunderbird graduate has spent
the night on a mat on the floor of a bare room in the home of Don José
and Doña Maria de Jesús Marín. This house boasts a cement floor and
bathroom with hot running water, both luxuries in this town — where
most of the simple houses have only dirt floors and no running water,
animals roam freely in and out, and children play in the streets.
Libman wears jeans, tennis shoes and a well-worn cotton blouse with
thunderbird magazine 31

“Our
whole goal
is to make
ourselves
obsolete,
get in
there
and give
them the
essentials
and tools,
access
to the
resources,
and get
out with
a minimal
impact
on their
culture.”
colorful Mexican embroidery. “I wish I blended
in better,” she says, apropos of nothing, in a
throaty voice that she attributes to too many
cigarettes and too many nights with too little
sleep. With her fair skin, green eyes and long
hair as crinkled and chocolate-red as an ancho
chile, she is decidedly the only gringa in this
remote village of some 800 people.
At 44, Libman has taken on a monumental
task, turning her back on more lucrative jobs
to “go out and do something to help somebody
else.”
Libman is the daughter of a successful
American businessman, and her mother is
Mexican. She grew up spending summers
with her cousins on the family ranch near
Guadalajara, sometimes also attending school
there. So she feels a special connection with
Mexico. She started college early, but got married
young, had two children and didn’t finish
her undergraduate degree until the kids were
in high school.
She returned to school at 40 and graduated
as valedictorian from Arizona State University
West in Phoenix with a bachelor of arts in
English. Even before she finished the degree,
she developed a successful career as a contractor
in global project management, knowledge
engineering and marketing.
But she wanted something different out of
life.
When a friend suggested she attend Thunderbird
School of Global Management in
Glendale, she said, “Why would I want to
go to an MBA school? I thought I was done
climbing corporate ladders.”
Taking the plunge
THE FRIEND, who happened
to be head of Thunderbird’s
Career Management, told her
she should think about going
into international development.
When the School offered her a generous scholarship,
she took the plunge.
“I went there having no idea what I was going
to do when I graduated, and really, to be
honest, scared to death,” she says. “I was 40
years old, a single mom, juggling a part-time
job, kids and a house, and I wondered if I was
smart enough to do this. Then, a month before
graduation, I had all these job offers. But it was
all the same thing I had done before. I thought,
‘I didn’t go back to school to do what I was doing
before.’”
About that time, she attended a fundraising
event for the Center for Humanitarian
Outreach and Inter-Cultural Exchange
(CHOICE), an organization that focuses on
sustainable village development in poor rural
areas in more than six countries. The CEO
told her he didn’t have enough money to hire
her, but the center had an operation in Mexico,
and the one area where the staff couldn’t seem
to put the pieces together was health care. “It
would be cool if you could do that,” he told
her.
“I had learned about similar models in class
at Thunderbird about barefoot doctors and
community health workers,” Libman says. “I
wanted to find a use for those models for creating
independence and teaching people to take
care of themselves. So I began to research the
best way to put together a program that would
work in Mexico.”
The turning point came shortly before her
graduation, when she met with a man who
would become an anonymous donor. He offered
her the seed capital to get her program
started, so she jumped in with both feet. First
she spent a month in the field, hiking and
driving from village to village in the state of
Guanajuato, Mexico, talking to people from
CHOICE and trying to figure out how to
make the plan work.
“It ended up that a lot of the ideas I had were
good, but not broad enough,” she says. “You
Health care students practice their
skills before graduation in La Granja.
32 summer 2008

have to walk that narrow line between being
too broad and not being able to do anything
very well.”
A valuable partnership
THINKING SHE HAD NO
contacts with the medical community
in Mexico, Libman next
pondered how to deliver the
training. At a cousin’s wedding
in Guadalajara, her relatives laughed at her.
“Don’t you remember Tío Luis, your uncle
who at one time was dean of the medical school
at the University of Guadalajara?” they asked.
Luis Garibay actually had started the Community
Health Program for Universidad Autónoma
de Guadalajara nearly 35 years ago.
The program runs 40 to 50 clinics for the poor
all over the state of Jalisco, sending in brigades
of medical students to do field work mandatory
to earning their degree. The weeklong
blocks of field work include vaccination campaigns,
treating patients and providing health
education classes for the schools, as well as for
adults. It would be a natural extension for the
students to also take on the task of training
Libman’s promotoras.
So she approached Dr. Francisco Rico, director
of the student brigades, to help with
her project. A big, burly man, Rico is a nononsense,
shoot-from-the-hip kind of guy who
has no problem approaching government officials
in the municipalidades (like a county seat
in the U.S.) in jeans and rumpled Polo shirt to
request help with expenses.
“We have mobile units that go into different
villages each month,” Rico says. “It’s part
of the students’ curriculum to spend 40 to 80
hours each semester at these small clinics in
the field where there is no health care available.
I love this program and working with Laura
Through her
work with the Tia
Foundation, Laura
Libman provides
health care
training in rural
communities of
Mexico.
thunderbird magazine 33

A woman of La Granja
walks through the village
in January 2008.
because we are able to help the people that
really need it.”
Two years after connecting with Rico, the
Tia Foundation is a working reality.
Teaching them to fish
THE FUNDAMENTAL theory
behind Tia, which means
“aunt” in Spanish, is to teach
villagers how to care for themselves
rather than being dependent
on outsiders. Libman says she learned
the philosophy of “teaching them to fish,
rather than giving them fish” at Thunderbird.
The idea is to teach the people and mentor
them as an aunt would, not to come in and
boss them like a parent. Using native student
doctors builds trust, and purchasing medical
supplies locally helps to spur economic development.
“Our whole goal is to make ourselves obsolete,”
Libman says, “get in there and give them
the essentials and tools, access to the resources,
and get out with a minimal impact on their
culture.”
The program starts with an initial needs assessment
to determine which communities
are the best candidates for the program. The
second trip involves a community study, going
house to house to do a thorough medical
survey of the living conditions and medical
histories of about 25 percent of the residents.
Then the village organizes a meeting and
chooses the people to be trained as promotoras.
Each of these individuals must have at least
a fourth-grade reading level, be someone the
community will respect and have a nurturing
personality. The program has never specified
women, but all of the candidates have been
women, probably because they are the typical
caregivers and the anchors of their families.
Finally, the brigade of medical students with
their professors comes in to do a week of instruction,
lectures and discussions, as well as
hands-on training with any local people who
are sick or injured. At the end of the week, the
workers are presented with their diplomas and
their medical kits.
One of the unforeseen byproducts of the
program has been female leadership building,
as these women who once were voiceless be-
34 summer 2008

thunderbird magazine 35

Right: A health care
worker who received
Tia Foundation
training helps a
woman at the clinic
in La Granja. Below:
A woman and child
walk through the
streets of La Granja,
a rural village about
five hours from
Guadalajara, Mexico.
More online
To learn more about the Tia Foundation,
visit tiafoundation.org.
come leaders in their communities.
With her first project in the municipality of
Sayula behind her, Libman is concentrating
this time on the municipality of Ojuelos, with
four villages involved: La Granja, Salitrillo, La
Presa and Los Morenitos. La Granja is a fivehour
drive from Guadalajara, and the other
villages are even farther on bumpy dirt roads.
Only La Granja has a clinic, which serves
six to eight communities of 300 to 800 people
each. But they are lucky if the medic assigned
to their area by the government shows up once
a month for one day.
The area used to employ many people in
copper, gold and silver mines, but most of the
mines have closed. Many of the men have left
for work in the United States or larger Mexican
cities, so the wives are left to care for the
families and try to farm.
A few people raise goats, pigs or chickens,
but they cannot afford to eat the meat they
raise, needing to sell it to buy more essential
items.
“We usually have beans and corn,” a woman
in the village says. “But this year the rain was
late, and when it came, it was so much that it
damaged the corn.”
Angel with no wings
ONE REMARKABLE woman
was instrumental in contacting
Rico and bringing the
brigade and Tia Foundation
to the Ojuelos area. Maurilia
Huerta, from the poorest town in the area, La
Presa, was born with no legs and underdeveloped
arms. Rico fondly refers to her as an “angel
with no wings.”
Against all odds, she finished high school,
then attended some college, thanks to a scholarship
from the wife of the municipal president.
She went on to be elected a supervisor in
the Ojuelos district representing several communities
in the area.
As supervisor, Huerta was shocked to find
that the casa de salud (health clinic) in La Gran-
36 summer 2008

ja, like many others in these remote villages,
was in disrepair, and that the doctors often
would not show up for three months.
“This is not a casa de salud,” she says. “They
just painted that on the building and put a couple
of old pieces of medical furniture here and
left. There is not even medicine or alcohol. We
are very grateful to Dr. Rico and Tia for helping
us.”
Graduation day
The streets of La Granja bustle
on the day of graduation. The
student doctors are busily finishing
their consultations with
patients, while others give lastminute
instruction to the graduating promotoras.
Libman is darting here and there doing
what she can to help, along with her newly
hired Mexico project manager, Patricia Garibay,
her cousin from Guadalajara. Garibay has
been involved with Tia from the start.
“When Laura told me two years ago she was
starting this project and had to go to Guanajuato,
I just grabbed my car and my kids and
went with her,” she says. “Then I started helping
her, making phone calls, making appointments,
translating, anything I could. Then she
asked me to work for her, but I keep telling her,
“I would be doing exactly the same even if you
weren’t paying me.”
Down the street, Huerta oversees the preparation
of food for the fiesta to take place after
the graduation. Tia is supplying all the food
for the carne asada barbecue, a rare treat for this
town. Some of the local women have pitched
in to cook tamales, beans and tortillas.
Finally Rico arrives in the university bus
with a government official from Ojuelos, and
the ceremonies begin. The promotoras are all
smiles as each walks up to accept her certificate
and medical kit.
Libman is embarrassed by the gush of appreciation
they show for her.
“They look at me like I am the one that has
given them everything, and I am really nothing,”
she says. “I am the orchestra conductor
that puts the pieces together and begs for the
money to make the programs possible. They
are the ones who give up their time and drop
everything to go help people.”
Women studying
to be health care
workers in La Granja
take notes during a
class organized by
the Tia Foundation.
thunderbird magazine 37

LAN
38 summer 2008

GUAGE
OF TRUST
Thunderbird alumna speaks English, Spanish, French,
Portuguese and some German. But as president of U.S.
Trust, she commands respect in any language
By Russ Wiles
ERIK FREELAND
WOMAN OF
INFLUENCE
Frances Aldrich
Sevilla-Sacasa grew
up in Miami as the
child of Spanish/
Cuban immigrants.
Today, she leads U.S.
Trust in New York.
SPANISH THRIVES IN MIAMI today. But Frances
Aldrich Sevilla-Sacasa’s parents used to send her away
from the city so she could practice speaking the language
of her ancestors.
“Today, Miami is a very international community,
a Latin community,” she says of her hometown. “But
in the 1950s it wasn’t. My parents wanted me to learn Spanish really
well.”
The daughter of Spanish/Cuban immigrants to south Florida,
Sevilla-Sacasa spent several summers visiting relatives in Spain and
Mexico, and she studied during high school and college in Switzerland
and France.
The international exposure helped her develop strong linguistic
abilities. She speaks English, Spanish, French, Portuguese and some
German. Sevilla-Sacasa, who graduated from Thunderbird in 1978 as
Frances Aldrich, also learned to become comfortable around people of
different nationalities.
Her multicultural background helped her climb the corporate ladder
from Latin American loan officer to private banker to senior financial
services executive.
Today, at age 52, Sevilla-Sacasa serves as president of U.S. Trust,
thunderbird magazine 39

“My father
twice had
to leave
a country
and start
over again.
It instilled
in us the
qualities of
persevering,
being
focused
and always
trying to
do the best
we could.”
Bank of America Private Wealth Management,
where she oversees 4,600 associates including
private bankers, investment advisers,
trust officers and financial planners. She was
named to that position last year, shortly after
Bank of America purchased U.S. Trust from
Charles Schwab.
U.S. Trust, based in New York, operates 144
offices and manages $225 billion in client assets
on a discretionary basis. The firm’s wellheeled
clients hold nearly $350 billion in total
assets. U.S. Trust caters to some of the nation’s
wealthiest people — generally those with at
least $3 million or more in investable assets.
Sevilla-Sacasa, who sits on Thunderbird’s
board of trustees, acquired an appreciation for
education from her parents. Her father, an attorney,
left Spain following the Spanish Civil
War and wound up in Cuba by way of Italy.
Her mother was born in Cuba, also of direct
Spanish descent.
“My father twice had to leave a country and
start over again,” she says. “It instilled in us
the qualities of persevering, being focused and
always trying to do the best we could.”
One of her brothers is a cardiologist, and the
other is an attorney and accountant.
Her father had to establish his law credentials
in the United States by returning
to school at the University of Miami with a
young family.
Her mother has been active in providing
social work to Cuban immigrants in south
Florida. She co-founded Centro Mater in Miami,
an agency that provides day-care help to
working immigrant families.
Thunderbird connection
LIKE HER FATHER, Sevilla-
Sacasa studied at the University
of Miami, earning a bachelor’s degree
in French and Spanish with a
minor in business before heading
to Thunderbird.
“Some of my professors at the University of
Miami recommended Thunderbird based on
my international passions, my language skills
and because I was also studying business at
the time,” she says.
She was one of the youngest students in her
Thunderbird class, graduating at age 22 with a
focus on finance. She remembers the low-key
feel of the school back then, situated as it was
in the middle of agricultural fields.
Sevilla-Sacasa appreciates the interaction
she had with a mix of students of different
nationalities and backgrounds, most of whom
were older and had spent at least a couple of
years in the work force, including international
assignments.
“Part of the education was being with students
from a lot of different cultures, areas
and experiences,” she says. “I loved the international
mix of the School.”
She also picked up Portuguese while at
Thunderbird, which turned out to be a catalyst
for her career. The timing of her degree
also helped.
Flourishing in Florida
UPON RETURNING TO Miami
after graduating, Sevilla-
Sacasa joined a regional financial
institution called Southeast
Bank and spent two years there
in an international training program focusing
on credit issues. “At the time, international
banking was booming, and Miami was developing
into this wonderful international community,”
she says. “A lot of banks were setting
up their Latin American headquarters in Miami.
It was perfect for someone like me who
was born in Miami with international passion
and skill sets and an interest in people.”
Because of her fluency in Portuguese, Sevilla-
Sacasa was assigned to the bank’s Brazilian
debt portfolio, spending the next five years as
an international lending officer.
But by the early 1980s, Latin American nations
were defaulting on their escalating debt
burdens, and Sevilla-Sacasa sensed it was time
to try something different. She joined Bankers
Trust as a private banker.
In her new role, she came to provide intensely
personal financial services to clients
in cash management, investment, estate planning,
tax, business banking and other areas.
The new position fit well with her interest in
people and cultures, and it made use of her language
proficiency because many of her clients
were European or Latin American. In many
cases, clients were business owners, and she
appreciated dealing with key decision-makers.
“I also liked establishing long-term relationships
with families and extended families,”
she says.
Sevilla-Sacasa’s passion for different cultures
and global topics continues. “She’s very interested
in our work in educating young people
in this country on international affairs,” says
Noel V. Lateef, president and CEO of the
New York-based Foreign Policy Association,
where Sevilla-Sacasa sits on the board. “She’s
also one of the outstanding women bankers
of our time, a role model who adheres to the
highest standards of ethics and who enjoys a
40 summer 2008

ERIK FREELAND
wonderful reputation in the business world.”
Sevilla-Sacasa eventually rose to the position
of president of the Bankers Trust international
private banking corporation. She
followed that by becoming managing director
of Deutsche Bank’s Latin American private
banking unit, president of Citigroup’s Latin
American private banking unit and president
of its European private banking operation. She
also worked in the securities business for Lehman
Brothers.
Private bankers aim to become the trusted
advisers of their clients, and sometimes that
involves extra duties outside the office. On
one occasion, Sevilla-Sacasa had to hurry to
an airport to pick up a client’s children who
flew to the U.S. quickly for a personal emergency.
The client asked Sevilla-Sacasa to pick
up the children and check them into a hotel
until he could meet up with them later.
“You do tend to be on call 24/7 because you
never know when clients will need you,” she
says.
In 1984, she married Eugenio “Gene” Sevilla-Sacasa,
with whom she has a son and two
daughters ranging in age from 12 to 21.
Her husband is a Miami-based vice president
and managing director of Ryder Latin
America, part of transportation/supply chain
management firm Ryder System. He joined
the company in 1983 as a financial analyst after
earning a bachelor’s degree in industrial
and systems engineering from Mexico’s Instituto
Technológico de Monterrey, following
that with an MBA in finance from the University
of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of
Business. “We feed off each other for (workrelated)
ideas and suggestions,” she says. “But
mostly we enjoy our family together and talking
about things not dealing with business.”
Making time for family
SEVILLA-SACASA CONCEDES
that juggling career and family
hasn’t always been easy, especially
since so many of her working hours
have been spent on airplanes, in hotel
rooms and in meetings far from home. She
has missed many of her children’s school activities
over the years and even some of her
wedding anniversaries. But she credits the assistance
she has received from her husband,
other relatives in the Miami area and a longtime
nanny and housekeeper.
Sevilla-Sacasa doesn’t express a strong
As a private banker,
Sevilla-Sacasa worked to
become a trusted adviser
of her clients. She says
that required her to be
on call 24 hours a day.
thunderbird magazine 41

“Women
tend to
be good
listeners.
They’re
serviceoriented,
and they
establish
a lot of
relationships.”
opinion either way on whether her status as a
trailblazing woman in banking during the late
1970s and 1980s helped or hindered her career.
But she does think many women have qualities
that help them in banking.
“Women tend to be good listeners,” she
says. “They’re service-oriented, and they establish
a lot of relationships.” Many women
also can juggle numerous responsibilities, she
adds, and they often are patient, willing to
seek feedback, work well on teams and have a
passion for helping others.
As head of U.S. Trust, she’s involved in setting
the strategic direction for the business
and making sure it gets executed. “I spend a
lot of attention on details,” she says. “I spend
a lot of time with associates articulating our
strategy and inspiring them to do their best
with clients.”
The international travel has slowed because
U.S. Trust’s clients are mainly domestic. Still,
she spends many days traveling around the
nation, meeting with staff and the firm’s clientele.
Sevilla-Sacasa stresses teamwork and bringing
together associates with different perspectives
and strengths. “I like to set the strategy and
give people their directions and responsibilities
— tell them what they need to accomplish and
hold them responsible for that,” she says.
‘Grace under pressure’
WEALTHY CLIENTS have
many of the same basic
needs and concerns, regardless
of their national
background. Sevilla-Sacasa
says these needs include wealth preservation,
efficient intergenerational asset transfers, business
banking and philanthropic goals.
“Being able to service clients better than
anyone else — that’s what’s really exciting,”
she says.
She sees the role of private bankers becoming
more critical these days, especially from
large firms with a broad range of services and
expertise, and sufficient breadth to provide
continuity over many years. She describes
U.S. Trust as the leading private bank in the
country.
“When I started in the business, the world
was a simpler place,” she says. “The financial
markets were simpler. Today, the world is
much more challenging and the markets more
complex. Clients can’t be an expert in all areas.”
She cites the advent of an array of promising
yet complex new investment vehicles
geared toward the affluent, such as hedge
funds, private equity partnerships and commodity
funds.
Jan Hier-King, executive vice president and
chief information officer at Charles Schwab,
was head of human resources when the company
owned U.S. Trust. She praises Sevilla-
Sacasa’s help in building the business and easing
the transition between Schwab and Bank
of America.
“Frances typically played her role in the
background, translating a vision into tangible
execution,” Hier-King says. “She did this with
enormous grace under pressure and was known
for her ability to attract talented executives, her
thoughtful analysis of issues and her many
years of experience in wealth management.”
Arts and culture
SEVILLA-SACASA SAYS she often
lacks the time to pursue hobbies, but
does enjoy ballet, tennis, cruising in
the family boat near her Coral Gables
home and snow skiing. “I have
a passion for the water, whether it’s a walk
along the beach or being on a boat,” she says.
She also likes spending time with her family
and traveling. She says one highlight was
a vacation she took with her family to the
Olympics in Greece four years ago.
While career commitments in New York
dominate her time, she makes room for at
least a couple of weekends each month back
home in south Florida.
Her philanthropic interests are focused
around the arts, culture and education. She’s
on the board of the Miami City Ballet, where
she’ll become president next year. Mike
Eidson, the board’s chairman and past president,
says Sevilla-Sacasa has been unwavering
in her support for the organization.
“She’ll never miss a board meeting unless
she’s on an airplane,” he says. “I don’t know
how she does it all.”
Eidson, an attorney who also was Sevilla-
Sacasa’s neighbor in Coral Gables for many
years, calls her an “oustanding face” for the
organization. “She happens to be beautiful, elegant
and an impeccable dresser, and all that’s
important.”
Among several awards, Sevilla-Sacasa says
she especially appreciates being honored
by the Foreign Policy Association and by
Thunderbird, where she was named the distinguished
alumni member in business and
finance in 2003. “That’s important because I
attribute a lot of my success to Thunderbird,”
she says.
42 summer 2008

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dream a reality. We can help you with:
Robert Hisrich, Ph.D.
•Business planning
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•Thunderbird campus “incubator” facilities for start-ups
Ernesto Poza
With a staff of experienced, passionate entrepreneurs and
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To learn more about how Thunderbird’s Walker Center for
Global Entrepreneurship can help you, call 602-978-7571 or
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www.thunderbird.edu/cge
thunderbird magazine 43

COURTESY OF MODI APOLLO INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE OF WESTERN INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY
Open-door policy
Thunderbird graduate makes the U.S. model
of education accessible to people in India
By Sally J. Clasen
CHARU MODI BHARTIA was an educational
anomaly when she arrived at Thunderbird more
than 10 years ago. Newly separated from her husband,
she made a intercontinental move from India
to the United States with two young children.
“It was a real stretch for me to attend Thunderbird,”
Bhartia says. “It was unheard of for an Indian woman with two
children to go overseas and get a master’s degree without a husband,
but I needed to make a break.”
Not only did Bhartia face deeply rooted cultural views about proper
educational aspirations for women, but she hadn’t been in an academic
environment in 13 years. “I wasn’t confident that I would pull
if off,” she says. “I was scared. I couldn’t drive, and I was concerned
about my family. I had been living the life of luxury.”
Prior to attending Thunderbird, the 1997 graduate had operated
Above: Charu Modi
Bhartia ‘97 wanted
people in her homeland
to have access to the
type of education she
received at Thunderbird.
44 summer 2008

an export clothing company in New Delhi.
Despite the initial fears, her decision to come
to the United States has shaped most of her
endeavors since leaving Arizona.
“The level of educational freedom among
people from all nationalities was a real eyeopener,”
she says. “It got me thinking: So
many people in my country can’t go to
Thunderbird and have access to a model of
education like this. I wanted to bring the
American model of education to people in
my country.”
Affordable education
FOLLOWING GRADUATION,
Bhartia worked briefly in the
United States on behalf of her father’s
company, K.K. Modi Group,
an entity of businesses ranging
from agriculture to consumer goods to education.
She managed partnerships with Estée
Lauder and Kaiser Permanente before returning
home.
Bhartia discussed the idea with her father
of bringing affordable, high-quality Western
education to those in India. He told her if she
could find a partner with $1 billion in assets,
he would back the deal.
Relying on a strong network of contacts
she developed in the United States, Bhartia
contacted four companies with significant
resources before she negotiated a joint venture
in 2002 between K.K. Modi Group and
Apollo International.
The deal established India’s first teaching
site of Western International University, a
subsidiary of Apollo. Today, the Modi Apollo
International Institute of Western International
University offers U.S.-accredited
bachelor of science degrees in management
and business with specializations in human
resources, marketing, finance and international
business. In addition, the institute offers
a master’s degree in management, marketing
and finance.
“The timing was right for this to happen,”
says Bhartia, who is vice chairwoman and
CEO of Modi Apollo International Group.
About 1,000 students are enrolled at the
institute, which has three locations in New
Delhi and the National Capital Region.
Three new sites are planned to open soon in
Hyderabad, Bangalore and Mumbai.
Bhartia says many superior academic institutions
exist in India, but access to such
programs is difficult and most can’t afford
tuition. “We have been dealing with archaic
norms and have been operating with systems,
methodologies and rules that are 20 years
old,” Bhartia says. “There are a billion people
in India, with only 4,000-plus seats available
at the top institutions.”
Training for nurses
AS A MEMBER of a long line of
family entrepreneurs, including
her grandfather and father,
Bhartia saw another barrier in
education and another economic
opportunity. This one involved a shortage
of training opportunities for nurses in India.
In 2001, she created Modi Healthcare
Placement, one of the most successful nurse
recruitment companies in India. Through an
exclusive tie-in with Banner Health in Arizona
as well as partnerships with other companies
in the United States, Modi Healthcare
Placement trains and equips qualified
Indian nurses to work in U.S. markets.
While the Apollo transaction transpired
fairly smoothly, developing a Western nursing
program that honored Indian sensibilities
was a challenge. “It was a complicated
model to bring to India,” she says. “Through
many conferences and meetings, I was able
to understand the American health care system
and develop a workable and affordable
program for nurses.”
Highly skilled nurses from different regions
in India undergo Modi Healthcare’s
rigorous training and licensing curriculum,
which is taught by 15 faculty members. In
addition, they receive extensive training in
assertiveness, leadership and cross-cultural
orientation. According to Bhartia, it’s the
equivalent of a master’s degree in nursing,
since the training can take up to two years
to complete while most students in the program
work full-time.
While some nurses continue to live in the
United States, Bhartia says many return to
India after a few years, taking their skills
and capital home with them. “Due to the
backlog of visas, the majority of nurses end
up staying in India with a new set of knowledge
and tools,” she says. “It’s a transfer of
systems, and India becomes stronger because
of this.”
Despite her full-time endeavors, she says
family comes first, particularly visiting her
daughter, 22, a student at the University of
Pennsylvania, and her 18-year-old son, who
attends school in Scotland.
“I’m a strategist,” she says. “I put together
deals. I’ve set up my organizations so that
they allow me to be flexible.”
“The level of
educational
freedom
among
people
from all
nationalities
was a real
eye-opener.”
thunderbird magazine 45

faculty focus
Professor
lives through
China quake
A
MASSIVE EARTHQUAKE
May 12 in China left Thunderbird
Professor Roe Goddard and his
students shaken. Goddard was
teaching about 40 executive MBA
students on the fifth floor of an old cement
building in Chengdu when the quake hit the
densely populated region.
He says the initial tremor of a deadly earthquake
that measured 7.9 on the Richter scale
felt like a nibble on a fishing line. But, within
a few seconds, windows started shattering and
things in the classroom started falling.
The students rushed to an outdoor patio near
the classroom and looked over the capital city
of the densely populated Sichuan province.
Buildings swayed in the distance to the sound
of grinding cement and cracking lumber.
Instinctively, Goddard says, everybody
grabbed arms and waited for the floor to crumble
beneath them. But that never happened.
Roe Goddard shares his earthquake experience with the Thunderbird community.
“We stood there for what seemed like infinity
as everything was shaking,” Goddard said.
“It was so unsettling.”
Goddard sadly reports that one-third of
the students in his class lost family members,
and he said the devastation has left him raw
emotionally.
“China is really getting beaten up this year,”
he said, adding that the country has received
an outpouring of aid from around the world.
He worries that the generosity will taper off
with time. “I’m hoping there will be the political
will to continue,” he said.
How to help
Phoenix and
Chengdu, China,
have been sister
cities for more
than 20 years. The
city’s Web site at
phoenix.gov provides
information on
disaster relief. Other
helpful sites include
redcross.org and
mercycorps.org.
TIM CLARKE
Mary Sully de Luque
Professor
speaks on
women’s
leadership
THUNDER-
BIRD assistant
professor
Mary Sully de Luque
joined women from
around the world this
spring at an event
organized by Zayed
University in Dubai.
The 2008 Women
as Global Leaders
conference, which
ran March 10-12, was
designed to educate
female students on
their leadership roles
around the globe.
Sully de Luque,
along with Amy Boren
and Rachel Clapp
Smith ’04 from the
University of Nebraska,
hosted a session
that explored the
use of cross-cultural
mentoring programs
to provide support for
female entrepreneurs
in Afghanistan.
The presentation
was based on
research involving
fellows from Thunderbird’s
Project
Artemis, a business
skills training
program that started
in 2005 for women in
Afghanistan.
The Dubai conference
was primarily
a student leadership
conference and drew
participants from
more than 85 countries.
Since many
Muslim women
cannot attend mixed
conferences, this
biennial event for
women is widely attended,
according to
Sully de Luque.
46 summer 2008

faculty focus
Competitive impact
of global private equity
By F. John Mathis
UCH HAS been
said and written
about the activities
and outcomes
of private equity
investment in the
United States during
the past two years.
Now, as the U.S. economy slows
at the hands of a troubled real estate
market and the resulting tightened
credit availability, buyout investment
firms face not only more challenges
obtaining debt leverage, but also a
road less traveled as they try to match
the high returns of previous years for
shareholders.
One reality is that most private
equity firms have ventured toward
globalization.
This represents new opportunities
for high returns as well as risk diversification.
Globalization also adds
stability to these high returns.
Some of the most discussed opportunities
are in Asia, most notably in the countries
with robust economies such as China, India,
Korea and Japan. Other opportunities have
developed in Taiwan, Australia, Vietnam,
Singapore and Malaysia.
In 2006, according to a study by Asia Pacific
KPMG, nearly $33 billion was raised in
the Asia Pacific countries, representing a 39
percent increase from 2005. Meanwhile, the
IPO market in this region is still developing,
giving buyout firms an easier exit strategy in
the near future.
To keep pace with returns of previous
years, buyout firms must look beyond the
old guard — namely, the United States and
Europe.
As this happens, buyout firms will inject
more than just money into global markets.
Global private equity transactions will
transmit technology, management skills and
operational innovations to other countries.
The value added to the purchased companies,
and their respective countries, is an
important theme for future private equity
investment worldwide. Often criticized for
lack of transactional transparency, leveraged
buyouts often center on the dollar figures
involved, restructuring of management, and
cutting of unnecessary jobs and business
units.
This makes great fodder for mainstream
media outlets and politicians. But what
these commentators often overlook in these
transactions is the innovation that leads to
more efficient — and therefore more profitable
— business practices.
When firms purchase companies, their
leaders are focused on making the new
company as efficient as possible. This could
mean reconfiguring the capital structure,
depleting idle cash, and pegging executive
and director compensation to the amount of
work they actually do for the company.
Often, this means reducing the number
of employees and positions in the company.
While it is a hard reality for those affected,
it is the firm’s shareholders who ultimately
gain from these difficult decisions.
Job creation and job reduction are not the
goals of private equity firms, but rather of
politicians. Private equity firms are charged
with delivering a return on investment for
their shareholders and keeping a competitive
pace.
Those that chastise private equity firms
and U.S. multinationals are missing the
main point: To remain competitive, companies
must innovate and become globally
efficient.
If we remember that private equity is
doing what is required to improve competitiveness,
we will place as few barriers as
possible in front of its activities.
F. John Mathis
F. John Mathis, Ph.D.,
is a professor of global
finance and the director
of Thunderbird’s Global
Financial Services Center.
More online
A longer version of
this report, titled
“The Competitive
Impact of Global
Private Equity:
Creative Destruction
and Innovation,” can
be found at www.
thunderbird.edu/
tpec. The report was
released in April
during the fourth
annual Thunderbird
Global Private Equity
Investing Conference.
thunderbird magazine 47

faculty focus
Going global
How to take your venture across borders
NTRE-
PRE-
NEURS
ready to
go global
soon will have a new
resource.
Thunderbird
professor Robert D.
Hisrich, co-author
of the world’s topselling
book on entrepreneurship,
will
release a new book
this fall that focuses
on global ventures.
“International Entrepreneurship:
Starting,
Developing and
Managing a Global
Venture” will go on
sale in November.
The book includes
cases from contributors
in places such as
Croatia, Germany,
Russia, China, Spain
and the United
States. The three
main sections of the
book will focus on
international entrepreneurship
and opportunities,
entering
the global market,
and managing global
enterprises.
Hisrich, who
directs the Walker
Center for Global
Entrepreneurship,
says the book will
offer practical tips for
established entrepreneurs
and upstarts
who are ready to go
global.
“That’s a different
kind of thinking
process than staying
in your own domestic
market,” he says.
Hisrich says any
business venture
needs four things to
succeed: an idea, an
entrepreneur, money
and infrastructure.
The first two ingredients
look pretty much
Robert. D. Hisrich
the same in all parts
of the world.
“You’ve got to have
an idea that’s unique,”
he says. “And you’ve
got to have an entrepreneur
who will
drive the idea to the
marketplace.”
He says entrepreneurs
all have certain
traits in common
regardless of gender,
age, education and
nationality.
“Entrepreneurs
come from all walks
of life,” he says.
“They’re in all fields
of business. But entrepreneurs
are very
much the same.”
Hisrich says one
trait all entrepreneurs
share is passion. But
a passionate entrepreneur
with a good idea
still needs financing
and support from a
strong national infrastructure.
These final two
ingredients for global
success vary greatly
from country to
country.
Hisrich says the
book includes several
pointers to help entrepreneurs
navigate
these differences,
including an entire
chapter on country
selection.
He says 37 percent
of Thunderbird
alumni are entrepreneurs,
and his
position at the
Walker Center has
given him a unique
perspective for his
research. A recent $10
million commitment
from Texas entrepreneur
Scott Walker ’81
will create a permanent
endowment,
allowing the center to
offer more scholarships,
fund professorships
and support
entrepreneurial
events.
“We’re known
for global thinking,”
Hisrich says. “And
now we’re known for
global entrepreneurship.
That tendency
to think globally also
tends to make those
people entrepreneurs.”
MIKE ELLER
Ángel Cabrera
Cabrera
named
Aspen
Institute
Fellow
PRESIDENT
Ángel Cabrera
has been
named a 2008 Henry
Crown Fellow by the
Aspen Institute.
The fellowship
is designed
to engage the next
generation of leaders
in the challenge of
community-spirited
leadership. It brings
together young executives
and professionals
under age 45
who already have
achieved conspicuous
success in their
chosen fields.
Henry Crown Fellows
will meet four
times over a twoyear
period and will
undertake individual
community service
commitments.
The Henry Crown
Fellowship Program
was established in
1997 to honor the life
and career of Chicago
industrialist Henry
Crown, who lived
from 1896 to 1990.
The fellowship is
the flagship program
within the Aspen
Global Leadership
Network, now comprising
more than
700 fellows from 36
countries.
The Aspen Institute
is an international
nonprofit
organization founded
in 1950.
48 summer 2008

faculty focus
Reputation vs. brand
By Richard Ettenson and Jonathan Knowles
AVE NO DOUBT,
corporate reputation
is at the top of the
agenda for business
leaders — and rightfully
so. A company
should make every
effort to safeguard and improve its
reputation.
But when executives make the claim that
corporate reputation sells, it’s time to step
back, put the reputation bandwagon in neutral
and look at what actually drives customer
purchase decisions.
Today, companies speak about their corporate
reputation and their brand as if they are
one and the same. They are not, and confusing
the two actually can hurt business.
Simply put, your brand is an intangible
asset that is all about the customer. It focuses
on what a product, service or company has
promised to its target markets. A strong
brand helps communicate that the company
and its offerings are relevant and uniquely
capable of meeting customer needs.
Corporate reputation, on the other hand,
is all about the company. It focuses on the
credibility and the respect that an organization
has among a broad set of constituencies,
not just customers. These include employees,
investors, regulators, journalists and local
communities.
When businesses fail to make the distinction
between corporate reputation and their
brand, it can lead to costly mistakes. Consider
Nike and Wal-Mart. Each focused on
its brand and underestimated the importance
that customers and communities place on
feeling good about the behavior of the company
behind the brand.
When allegations surfaced of sweatshop
labor and discriminatory employment
practices, each company was on the brink of
a damaging boycott of its products. Nike and
Wal-Mart learned a hard lesson: A strong
brand does not necessarily equate with a good
reputation.
On the flip side, a solid reputation does not
always result in a strong brand. Owens Corning,
the Fortune 500 manufacturer of building
materials, is a good example. After settling
long-standing asbestos-related lawsuits and
undergoing a massive reorganization, the company
has garnered widespread respect on Wall
Street as a resilient and well-managed business.
But despite all the accolades, the company’s
brand is not quite a household name.
So, while interest in corporate reputation
has never been higher, executives need to do
more than just keep their company’s reputation
on track. They need to differentiate their
offerings in relevant ways that win the hearts,
minds and wallets of customers. What makes
a company and its products special and preferred
among its customers is its brand, not
its reputation.
Richard Ettenson
Richard Ettenson is an
associate professor and
the Kieckhefer Fellow
of Global Marketing
and Brand Strategy at
Thunderbird. Jonathan
Knowles is the founder
and CEO of Type 2
Consulting, based in
New York.
More online
A longer version of
this article appeared
in the Winter 2008
edition of MIT Sloan
Management Review,
sloanreview.mit.
edu/x/49213.
For more information on AAI Global Equity
Contact Susan Vick, VP Development
(713) 600-8888 x 205
www.aainvestments.com
“To uncover and unleash the greatest
investment opportunities the global
economy has to offer through the marriage
of the tremendous growth occurring in the
world’s most dynamic economies and the
depth, breath and liquidity of the US public
equity markets.”
The AAI Global Equity Mission
thunderbird magazine 49

faculty focus
Accidental leaders
Authors share tips for global project management
THUNDERBIRD PROFESSORS
Robert Moran and William
Youngdahl are passionate about
creating a new area of thought
leadership at Thunderbird called
Global Project Leadership.
In their new book, Leading Global Projects:
For Professional and Accidental Project Leaders,
Moran and Youngdahl argue that global
projects and initiatives require new-era leaders
with increasingly sophisticated skills. They
also assert that since virtually all work is project
work, all business managers are either professional
or accidental project leaders — with
the majority being in the accidental category.
Moran, a psychologist and emeritus professor
of international studies, and Youngdahl,
an associate professor of operations management
and a certified project management
professional, have worked at the intersection
of their disciplines to create a “truly global”
and practical book and set of executive development
programs.
Their book and programs demonstrate
how being a skillful global project leader leads
to value delivery and strategic results, even
when projects are at the edge of chaos.
Moran and Youngdahl have delivered
30 Leading Global Projects programs for
Novartis, a global pharmaceutical company,
in Switzerland, the United States, Hungary,
China, Italy, Spain, Singapore and Canada.
They also donated their time, through the
Novartis Foundation and Thunderbird for
Good, to deliver a program for REPPSI, a
nongovernmental organization that provides
training in psycho-social support for children
affected by HIV or AIDS in South Africa.
Variants of their program have been
delivered to American Express and numerous
other clients through open-enrollment
programs.
“We’ve reached out to a thousand global
project leaders with our programs,” Youngdahl
says. “Maybe we can help a million with
our book.”
Title: Leading Global
Projects: For Professional
and Accidental Project
Leaders
Authors: Robert T. Moran
and William E. Youngdahl
Price: $33 (£21)
ISBN: 978-0-750-682466
Publisher: Butterworth-
Heinemann (Elsevier)
Information: www.
leadingglobalprojects.
com
Paul Kinsinger
Kinsinger honored
for competitive
intelligence work
PAUL KINSINGER, clinical professor
of business intelligence, was honored
by Frost & Sullivan with the 2008
Lifetime Achievement Award as a pioneer
in competitive intelligence and marketing
research.
For more than 20 years, Kinsinger honed
and put his intelligence skills to work as a
CIA analyst for the U.S. government. Now,
he teaches one of the few semester-long
courses in a full-time MBA program that
is dedicated to competitive intelligence. In
the class, he teaches students robust external
analysis techniques companies need to
study the competition. The class, commonly
referred to around campus simply as BI to
keep its identity secret, is now in its 14th year.
Kinsinger says he often hears from former
students who’ve made full careers of business
intelligence after leaving Thunderbird.
Lifetime Achievement Awards are given
each year to individuals whose careers are
characterized by a legacy rich in accomplishments
and achievements. The award recognizes
the individual’s vision, style, management
and dedication making a difference in
his or her field.
The award was given Feb. 4-7 during the
15th annual Competitive Intelligence 2008
and the 11th Annual Marketing Research 2008
Frost and Sullivan Executive MindXchanges
at the Hilton Clearwater Beach Resort in
Florida.
Kinsinger also is the managing consultant
for Thunderbird’s Learning Consulting
Network.
50 summer 2008

faculty focus
Emerging issues
Professor explores South Asian cooperation
A
THUNDERBIRD associate
professor with expertise
on South Asian markets has
published a book that examines
the main cooperation issues in
the region.
Kishore C. Dash released “Regionalism in
South Asia” at the 49th annual International
Studies Association convention in San Francisco
from March 26 to 29.
The book is part of the Routledge Contemporary
South Asian Series. It examines the
1985 formation of the South Asian Association
for Regional Cooperation and explains
why the association’s growth has remained
modest.
The book also addresses key South Asian
issues such as the acquisition of nuclear
capabilities by India
and Pakistan, conflicts
in Kashmir, the
war in Afghanistan,
and India’s growing
economy.
Dash, an associate
professor of international
studies, has
degrees from Utkal
University and the
Kishore C. Dash University of Delhi
in India.
He earned a doctorate
at the University of Hawaii at Manoa
in 1994 and completed a summer MBA
program in 1990 at Georgetown University
in Washington.
Title: Regionalism in
South Asia: Negotiating
Cooperation, Institutional
Structures
Author: Kishore C. Dash
Price: $170 (£85)
ISBN: 978-0-415-43117-0
Publisher: Routledge
Information: www.
routledgeasianstudies.
com
Show the world you’re a T-bird!
Display your T-bird pride!
Visit ThunderShop for logo items like t-shirts,
travel mugs and mouse pads, as well as unique
items from around the world.
Thunderbird’s student-run gift shop is located
at the School’s main campus, but you can also
order items online at www.thundershop.com.
ThunderShop proceeds benefit
Thunderbird for Good, a program
committed to leveraging the
School’s expertise in international
business and to provide learning
experiences for non-traditional
students.
Visit the ThunderShop at www.thundershop.com today!
thunderbird magazine 51

chapter news
East Africa alumni shine
on Super First Tuesday
SUPER FIRST TUESDAY
came on a Saturday this year for
alumni in Kenya, but the newly
named East Africa Chapter shone
anyway with participation from
class years 1954 through 2007.
The alumni gathered March 1 in Nairobi
with three prospective Thunderbirds.
The group, formerly known as the Nairobi
Chapter, changed its name on Oct. 11 to
include Thunderbirds from Tanzania and
Uganda. The East Africa Chapter also could
include Thunderbirds from Sudan, Somalia,
Ethiopia, Rwanda and Burundi.
Super First Tuesday 2008 drew about
350 prospective students and 2,500 alumni
worldwide from 78 chapters. Participants
came from 41 chapters in the United States
and Canada, seven in Latin America, 15 in
Europe, three in the Middle East and Africa,
and 12 in Asia and the Pacific islands.
East Africa participants, from left, Howard Crooks ’54, Fred Opere ’07,
prospective student Katono Okanya, Peter Bartig ’83, Chris Lundh ’79 and Mike
Odera ’78 gather March 1 in Nairobi.
COURTESY OF EAST AFRICA CHAPTER
Michigan
Jim Hayes ’98 and
Angela McClure
were married Sept.
22 in Saginaw, Mich.,
in a ceremony that
looked a lot like a
Thunderbird rugby
reunion. T-bird ruggers
who attended
the couple’s reception
in the nearby resort
town of Frankenmuth,
Mich., included
Jennifer Rush
Budurka ’99, Jackie
Jones Donaldson ’98,
Pat McRae ’04, Christian
Loredo ’99 and
Christine Stasikowski
Loredo ’99. Timothy
Riesen ’98 was a
groomsman.
Hayes is a board
member and treasurer
of the Thunderbird
Alumni Rugby Association.
The couple
honeymooned in
Rome, Florence and
Venice, Italy, and
spent a day at Oktoberfest
in Munich,
Germany.
Cincinnati
The Cincinnati
Area Thunderbird
Alumni Chapter and
friends met Dec. 4 for
a First Tuesday global
wine-tasting extravaganza.
The group
sampled wines from
five countries. There
was even a local Ohio
winery represented.
In typical T-bird
style, the participants
were even more
diverse than the wine.
The 16 participants
came from seven
countries.
Geneva
and Zürich
Twelve T-birds
arrived Oct. 21 in
Biel/Bienne, Switzerland,
for an alumni
barbeque. A cold
wind dropped the
temperature by more
than 10 degrees
Celsius in the days
before the event. But
even with the chilly
weather, the T-birds
took over a mountain
cabin above Biel/
Bienne, the main
watch manufacturing
town of Switzerland.
San Diego
Ann Rosen ’82
and Thomas Ferrier
’86 were married in
52 summer 2008

chapter news
AP PHOTO/MCDONALD’S, HENNY RAY ABRAMS, HO
Beijing alumnus preps for Olympics
One year before the
Beijing 2008 Olympic
Games, hundreds of
children from Shi Jia
Hu Tong primary school
in Beijing show their
Olympic spirit by forming
the Olympic rings to
mark the announcement
of McDonald’s 2008
Olympic Games
sponsorship.
BEIJING WILL HOST the world this
summer during the 2008 Olympic
Games, and Thunderbird alumnus
Teh-han Chow ’97 will have a role
in feeding the hungry hordes.
“The city is buzzing with excitement,
anticipation and a bit of uncertainty,” Chow
says. “Certainly everyone is excited about the
Olympics.”
Chow’s company, J.R. Simplot, supplies
McDonald’s with about 90 percent of its frozen
French fry needs in China. Those needs will
spike during the games Aug. 8-24 because
McDonald’s is an Olympics sponsor with restaurants
at various venues.
As Simplot’s managing director for greater
China, Chow oversees the company’s potato
processing facility in Beijing. He says food prepared
for the games must be processed under
tight security, and his facility has made several
production runs under those conditions.
“We have produced several hundred tons
of products, in part to develop production lot
contingency plans,” he says.
Besides keeping the crowds fed, Simplot
also will keep the grass green at the games.
Chow says his company supplies Kentucky
bluegrass seed for Olympic venues including
the main stadium and park.
He says Beijing opened a new airport terminal
in anticipation of the Olympics, and the
city has scrambled to make other accommodations.
“The city will be sure that it is ready
to host the world,” Chow says.
January in San Diego
at the Wild Animal
Park. A reception
followed with a
three-tiered cake with
giraffe spots, zebra
stripes and leopard
spots. The couple met
at Thunderbird as
Tom was walking out
of the Pub and Ann
was walking in. They
honeymooned in
Cabo San Lucas and
La Paz, Mexico.
Santiago
Diana Yang ’01
invited several alumni
to her home north of
Santiago, Chile, for a
backyard barbecue on
April 12. Guests included
Thunderbirds
living in Chile and
others in the country
on vacation.
New
Chapters
The Thunderbird
Alumni Network
recently added two
alumni chapters and
several new chapter
leaders. Robert Hart
’77 will lead the new
Albania Chapter, and
Nayim Khemaies ’07
will lead a new chapter
in Tunisia.
Meanwhile, Sarvar
Tillabaev ’05 will
serve as chapter leader
of Almaty, Kazakhstan,
Sherif Wahdan
’08 has taken over
the chapter leadership
in Cairo, Egypt, and
James Keefe ’04 and
Paul Tedeschi ’04 will
co-lead the chapter in
Philadelphia, Pa.
1988
Michael Richter ’88
is leading a campaign
to create a Class of
1988 Scholarship Fund
that will become an
endowment. “We
are making history
by setting this
up as a class, and our
20-year reunion was
the perfect opportunity
to reconnect
and contemplate on
our lives and careers
since graduating from
Thunderbird,” Richter
says.
For more information
and to obtain a
donation form, visit
Richter’s blog at
michaelrichter.type
pad.com/thunder
bird_class_of_1988.
thunderbird magazine 53

class
Comings & goings
All your personal news that’s fit to print…
YOU CAN BE SURE we’ll catch the big news about you:
Nobel Prize nominations, when you take your company
public or if you’re the first MBA into space. But we can
only know about those happenings in your life that are less
publicized if you tell us about them. We’re not too particular;
we want to hear it all — the good, the bad and the ugly. Send us
an e-mail about what’s happening in your life, so your classmates will
know about your astronaut training long before you leave Earth.
Send your information to alumni@thunderbird.edu.
1940s
Jolly Backer ’47 and John Backer ’47 live in
Arizona at least part-time. Jolly retired from
Phillips Petroleum and lives in Bartlesville,
Okla., with his wife, Jackie. They return to Phoenix
each winter to their townhouse. John retired
from General Motors. He said the company
never listened to him, and you see the result.
He lives in Saddlebrooke, north of Tucson, with
his wife, Willie. John said he gave up golf when
the pros hid his clubs and banned him from the
course. Bob Backer ’47 passed away in 2000.
1960s
Richard Hayes ’62 paid his first visit to Thunderbird
since graduation in May 2008. He told
the Alumni Relations staff that the campus has
changed dramatically and he recognized very
little. Richard and his wife, Jane, have lived in
Brazil since 1964, when they went with Chase
Manhattan Bank after a year in Panama. After
several job changes, they are still there with two
Brazilian-born sons who are now married to Brazilian
wives and living nearby. Their daughter is
living in the Seattle area, so they visit the United
States at least once a year. Richard’s work now
consists of volunteer fundraising for Instituto
Souza Novaes, which he and Jane founded in
1991. Richard remains president of the institute,
which helps chemically dependent adults and
adolescents. Richard has been in touch with Ed
Heath ’62 quite a bit during the past 10 years
since Ed and his wife, Jane, were in Sao Paolo
for a couple of years as Ed was “turning around”
the Gates Rubber subsidiary. Later, as a Denver
Rotarian, Ed was instrumental in helping ISN
obtain grants from Rotary International working
through a Campinas chapter… Harold McArthur
’65 is serving as assistant vice chancellor for
research relations at the University of Hawaii at
Manoa and has been involved in international research,
development and technical assistance for
much of the past 30 years. Harold also recently
served as lead author on a World Bank Assessment
of Agricultural Science, Technology and
Development for the Asia/Pacific region. Prior
to that, he was the co-principal investigator on
a food security, income generation and natural resource
management project in the newest nation
in the world, East Timor… Michael Flannery ’66
is closing his antiques business after 30 years to
concentrate on speaking engagements and promoting
his exclusive St. Andrews, Scotland, golf
programs. His book, “Golf through the Ages: 600
Years of Golfing Art,” has become a standard reference
work on golf. He has been guest of honor
of the first Russian and Italian International
golf fairs, the European Golf Writers Association,
numerous major European institutions and
clubs. He resides with his wife, Jacqueline, in
Neu-Isenburg, Germany… Jim Lehman ’68 has
54 summer 2008

notes
traveled and lived in Latin America and Europe
because of his career in international business
due to Thunderbird. In 1993 he started a company
in Northern Arizona manufacturing PureBlaze
heating and camping logs. Additionally, Jim has
started an environmental business park development
in Winslow, Ariz. He is spending much
time in Mexico, where he plans to retire someday.
1970s
Stephen Moskowitz ’70 recently returned to
Albania to complete his second Fulbright grant,
establishing an intensive English language curriculum
at the new University of Durres. His
initial stay in Albania was from 1993 to 1996. He
would like to hear from any other T-birds with
experience in Albania… Ed Auble ’72 became a
grandpa in. The Auble name will continue on
for at least one more generation. Ed is on the
alumni boards of both Lafayette College and
The American College, and president of his local
business association. For the Lafayette alumni
association, he is chairing the International
Committee that supports the college’s expanded
effort at global outreach… Chad Wick ’72, president
and CEO of KnowledgeWorks, gave the
commencement speech at Youngstown State
University and received an honorary degree during
the ceremony… Brian Marshall ’73 is serving
on a U.S. State Department assignment as a
provincial reconstruction team senior adviser for
elections in Kirkuk, Iraq… Chris Hansen ’73 has
been appointed president and CEO of AeA, the
nation’s largest technology trade association…
Vince Daniels ’74 recently had his new book titled
“International Sales” published. It is available on
Amazon and Barnes & Noble… Dennis Kelley ’74,
president and CEO of Pacific World Trade and
a DePauw University graduate, lectured at DePauw
on “The DePauw International Study Experience:
How It Led to a Lifelong Career”… Axel
Mees ’76 is now managing director and partner
in OneBridgehouse GmbH in Munich and LLC
in Atlanta, a consulting company specializing in
transatlantic business. The move came after 30
years in the car industry… John McLaughlin ’77
has joined Enwisen as vice president of finance.
He will be responsible for accounting, financial
reporting and human resources at Enwisen, a
leader in on-demand work force communications
solutions… Walid Chammah ’77 has been appointed
co-president of Morgan Stanley. In addition,
Walid will have Institutional Securities reporting
to him… Ronald Cook ’77 has retired to Sonoma,
Calif., after living 28 years in Los Angeles, of
which the last 20 were spent in medical sales. He
is looking forward to hearing from his classmates
and his e-mail address is current on MTB for
anyone wishing to contact him… Gail Beske ’78
celebrated her 15th year with McKesson Corp.
in November. She is vice president of reimbursement
services and business development.
She and her husband, Bruce Smith, celebrated
their 25th anniversary in October. Their son,
Nicholas, celebrated his 21st birthday on Sept.
7, and their daughter, Stephanie, turned 16 in
February. Gail and her family reside in Edina,
Minn., but enjoy traveling the world… Robert
Roussel ’79 has been appointed regional managing
director for Europe, Middle East and Africa
for Aon Corp.’s international business division.
Aon is the largest insurance and risk management
consultant/broker in the world. Robert
resides in Brussels, Belgium, where he continues
his managing director role as a member of Aon
Belgium’s Executive Committee… Kelley Downing
’79 has been named president and CEO of
Bartlett & Co. a Cincinnati-based investment
management firm. In her new role, she will
oversee Bartlett’s daily operations including all
administrative functions.
1980s
Russell Wild ’80 is the principal of Global
Portfolios, a fee-only investment management
firm based in Allentown, Pa. He recently published
“Exchange-traded Funds for Dummies”
and “Bond Investing for Dummies” and now is
writing “Index Investing for Dummies,” to be
published in January 2009… Cynthia Cielle ’80
and her husband, Robert, have moved to Velez-
Malaga in southern Spain. They plan to explore
Europe in depth and just completed a monthlong
Talk to us
You can let us know
about changes in your
life by e-mailing us at
alumni@thunderbird.
edu. We’ll publish your
news in the next issue
of the magazine.
Don’t forget to update
your personal profile
on My Thunderbird
(MTB). Log on at
my.t-bird.edu, click on
the personalize button,
then click on the
edit buttons for each
category you want
to change.
thunderbird magazine 55

class notes
COURTESY OF GBEMI DISU
Nigerian
alumna
reaches
out to
abuse
victims
GBEMI DISU
’06 is deskbound
at the
moment as assistant
vice president of
strategic cost initiatives
for HSBC in Chicago.
But that doesn’t
mean she’s stuck in a
domestic mindset.
“I find ways to
reduce inefficiencies
and costs while still
maintaining quality,”
says Disu, who
regularly interacts
with key business
units in the Global
Resourcing Group
NA for London-based
HSBC, which has
more than 10,000 offices
in 83 countries.
GBEMI DISU ’06 launched Thunderbird Cares Day
as a student. Today, she serves domestic abuse
victims in Nigeria.
“It doesn’t make
sense for me to get
on a plane and meet
people in person,
particularly since I’m
in a cost-savings role.
But I leverage my
cross-cultural skills I
learned at T-bird, like
working with virtual
teams and global
technology, to get the
job done.”
Tackling issues,
regardless of her
location, is a habit for
Disu. As a student,
she launched Thunderbird
Cares Day,
a volunteer program
in which students,
faculty and staff
work on a number of
community issues in
Phoenix. Now, she
is extending a social
arm to women in
her country who are
victims of domestic
abuse by developing
a shelter system that
will be a safe haven
and provide longterm
opportunities.
“It’s a grass roots
project that will
empower women to
learn skills that will
help them leave their
circumstances,” Disu
says of the project,
which is in the research
stage. “It’s not
enough to give them
a temporary place to
stay. Without proper
training, they won’t
leave their situation.”
Nigeria is a complicated
environment to
change, but Disu says
her T-bird training,
especially in microfinance,
is guiding
her toward building a
shelter infrastructure
that is sustainable.
“We learned at T-bird
that it’s not enough
to do good, but to
do something that
makes sense.”
She’s also using
her multinational experiences
to pursue
her culinary passion,
hosting informal
cooking classes
that feature diverse
menus and writing a
global infusion cookbook.
“If it’s food, I
love it,” she says.
Her kitchen habits
come in handy since
her Midwestern digs
have become a popular
layover for T-birds
in transit. “Everyone
passes through
Chicago,” Disu says.
“My friends call it the
‘Hotel Disu.’ I host
T-birds at least twice
a month.”
– Sally J. Clasen
stay in Prague... Lynn Metcalf ’81 is the 2007-08
Hood professor of marketing in the Orfalea
College of Business at California Polytechnic
State University. She teaches about cross-cultural
negotiation, international service learning and
innovation. Her article in Thunderbird International
Business Review titled “Mexico and the
US: Common Border, Common Negotiating
Orientations” was published in the January 2008
issue... Jim Thomas ’81 has been appointed vice
president of international sales for Mate Precision
Tooling in Anoka, Minn. The company is
a world leading manufacturer of CNC punch
press tooling. Jim will plan and direct all of
Mate’s international sales activities… Ron Malak
’81 joined General Electric Money as CEO of
GE Money Romania in June 2007. The operations
in Romania consist of three businesses that
were acquired by GE at the end of 2006. They
are Estima Finance, a consumer finance business,
Domenia Credit, a non-bank mortgage company,
and Motoractive Leasing, a non-bank automobile
and equipment leasing company. As of the end
of 2007, the combined business accounted for
more than $700 million in financial receivables.
Ron lives with his wife and children in Surrey,
England, and commutes to Bucharest, Romania,
during the week... Michael Haerting ’82 lives in
Miami and works for the Continental Group
as a district manager in property management.
Last year he began teaching a business course at
Haiti’s first rural university, the University of
Fondwa, as a volunteer on a part-time basis. The
school is located in the mountains on the road
to Jacmel, about a two-hour drive from Port-au-
Prince. The university aims to educate students
in veterinary science, agronomy and smallbusiness
administration. The students pledge
to return to the rural villages and teach sustainable
development. Michael teaches as a visiting
instructor, flying to Haiti every month for four
or five days… Paul Jona ’82 has been appointed
chairman and CEO by CoActive Technologies.
CoActive manufactures electromechanical
switches, interface controls, keypads and dome
arrays for a variety of industries, including
industrial equipment, mobile communications,
computer and automotive… Steven Puig ’83 has
been appointed by the board of executive directors
of the Inter-American Development Bank
(IDB) as vice president for the private sector and
non-sovereign guaranteed operations. In his new
position, Steven will be responsible for coordinating
the private sector and non-sovereign
guaranteed operational programs of the IDB
Group, the development and implementation
of a private-sector integrated business plan, as
well as the business plans of each of the groups’
private-sector entities… Bernadette Martin ’84
is celebrating a successful year since founding
her company, Visibility Branding LLC. As a
personal brand strategist, she works with professionals
in career transition and entrepreneurs in
developing a strategy to build and express their
brand. Many of her clients are T-birds across the
globe as she works virtually and on-site in Paris.
This professional transition from working with
56 summer 2008

class notes
corporate brands to “people” brands has been a
natural and rewarding evolution. Bernadette is
also the T-Bird chapter leader in France and vice
president of the American University Clubs of
France (AUC), where Thunderbird, as a member,
networks with 25 other U.S. alumni associations…
Robert Mahaney ’84 has been appointed
to the board of directors of mBank and Mackinac
Financial Corp. in Michigan. Robert is also sole
owner of Veridea Group LLC, a commercial
real estate development company in Marquette,
Mich., that owns, develops and manages office,
retail and multifamily properties in the Upper
Midwest and is a partner in Mommaerts
Mahaney Financial Services, a financial planning
and investment management company... Day
Lohmann Breitag ’85 has accepted a position as
major gifts fundraising officer with the National
Wildlife Federation, covering the 10-state Rocky
Mountains and Great Plains regions. Day works
from her home on a ranch on the Missouri River
north of Pierre, S.D. She shares the ranch with
her husband, Don; daughter, Helen; and horses,
dogs and steers… Karen Baldauff ’85 returned
to an international role recently when she accepted
a global sales enablement role within
the software division of Hewlett-Packard. She
resides in the San Francisco Bay area… Christy
Taylor ’86 has been promoted to chief operating
officer of Dey LP, the specialty pharmaceutical
business of Mylan Inc.… Glenn Laumeister ’86 is
the co-founder, chairman and CEO of Partsearch
Technologies. Partsearch has grown dramatically
and last year made the Inc. 500 fastest-growing
companies in the U.S. list. Glenn lives in New
York... Julie Scalabrino Young ’86 has left Agilysys
Inc. after seven years. She is now the senior
manager of corporate communications at Lubrizol,
a premier specialty chemical company in
northeast Ohio. She will be managing employee
communications, media relations and executive
communications for the company… Barrett Travis
’88 has been appointed to a new position as director
of international marketing for Dish Network.
He is responsible for driving the business forward
in German, Greek, French, Italian, Arabic,
Armenian, Russian, Israeli, Portuguese, Brazilian
and Polish broadcasts on Dish in the U.S… Liz
Alumna
teaches
hope in the
slums of
India
MANY PEOPLE
talk of how
great it would
be to help educate
the less fortunate, but
Sharon Jayakumar
’04 is making it happen
every day in India.
This Thunderbird
graduate has established
a nonprofit with
her mother that helps
impoverished young
women from the
slums of Bangalore.
Jayakumar stays
busy in Philadelphia
as a global brand
manager for Astra
Zeneca, but her heart
is with the young
women of Bangalore,
where she was born.
Her nonprofit there
is called Baghya —
which translates to
“second chance.”
“Our first goal is
to get some of these
girls out of a terrible
location,” she says.
“Many living in the
slums have no parents,
and we work to
put them in boarding
school and fund their
education.”
She says some of
the older girls haven’t
been in school, so her
organization teaches
them computer skills
and helps them find
work.
After time as a
marketing specialist
and manager for Orbit
Satellite Television and
Radio Network and
then Microsoft Corp.,
Jayakumar enrolled
at Thunderbird to
broaden her horizons.
“My time there gave
me business skills,
but more importantly,
it gave me a certain
community of people
I feel I belonged with,”
she says. “I wanted
to be a citizen of the
world.”
It was that desire
that helped her to
found her nonprofit in
India, but it also helps
her at AstraZeneca,
where she’s the global
brand manager for
Seroquel, a drug that
treats schizophrenia
and bipolar disorder.
The drug does
$4 billion a year in
global sales, ranking
it as the fifth-largest
drug in the world.
Jayakumar says
about three-quarters
of the drug’s sales are
in the United States,
but she spends much
of her time growing
that brand overseas.
As a woman from
SHARON JAYAKUMAR ’04 and her mother work to
help impoverished young women in Bangalore.
Bangalore whose
mother, grandmother
and great-grandmother
all worked when
she was growing up,
she says the sky is
the limit for women in
school now.
“They need to
understand that the
world is their oyster,”
she says. “There are
so many opportunities
out there for everyone.”
– Adam Kress
COURTESY OF SHARON JAYAKUMAR
thunderbird magazine 57

class notes
Hoffswell ’89 has been promoted from marketing
director to vice president of marketing at the
Holland, Mich., Chamber of Commerce. Liz
was responsible for the new Holland Chamber
logo and brand development, enhancement of
chamber events and the upgrade of all collateral
pieces. She is now leading the launch of its new
Web site.
1990s
Mark Ross ’90 recently joined Aginsky
Consulting Group, bringing more than 15 years
of multichannel business development experience
to the organization based in Portland, Ore.
Mark joins Alexander Aginsky ’03 and many
other T-birds working on a multitude of
international projects there… John O’Connell ’90
has been named vice president of international
strategic solutions at Bristol Global Mobility, a
rapidly growing leader in U.S. domestic and
international employee relocation management
and consulting services... Arild Wold ’90 has
moved from Oslo, Norway, to Cambridgeshire,
U.K.… Katrina Gonnerman-Manoleas ’90 and her
husband, Costas, had their third child, Anna
Margarita, on Nov. 6 in Copenhagen, Denmark…
Gina Davis Haines ’90 recently was
promoted to vice president of marketing for the
Americas for Sidel. A global leader in packaging
serving the beverage industry, Sidel is based in
Paris and operates in more than 150 countries.
Gina lives in Roswell, Ga., with her 11-year-old
son, Jack... John Brobst ’91 recently passed the
CPA exam. He is now a staff accountant at
James A. Lucas & Co. LLP, a CPA firm in
Raleigh, N.C.… David Dinwoodie ’91 has been
appointed general director of Escuela de Alta
Direccion Administracion, one of the top four
business schools in Spain and among the top 100
in the world as regards academic quality
accreditations and recognition by leading
business publications... Michael Kruppa ’91 has
just become finance director of Central Europe
for Real Estate Investment & Development in
his hometown of Vienna, Austria. He will be
responsible for 12 countries... Dae B. Kim ’91 is a
Alumna
puts skills
to work in
Senegal
JENNIFER
Beaston Hedrick
’01 speaks four
languages. But as the
director of operations
for Tostan, a human
rights organization
based in Dakar, Senegal,
efficiency talks
the loudest.
“I manage all financial
and operational
aspects, preparing
the organization for
a rapid expansion by
standardizing systems
and procedures for accounting,
financial reporting,
organizational
structures, program
implementation and
working to enhance
our IT and human
resources infrastructure,”
says Hedrick,
COURTESY OF JENNIFER BEASTON HEDRICK
who accepted the
position in February.
Hedrick, a finance
and technology expert,
has traveled a diverse
career path from
grassroots initiatives
to international development
to nonprofit
work. She has worked
as a small-enterprise
development agent
for the Peace Corps
in Africa, a credit risk
manager for Citigroup
in Poland and business
development
director for World-
2Market covering 40
countries.
She’s also helped
improve processes
Tostan staff members, from left, Marieme Diop, Papa
Sadou Seck and JENNIFER BEASTON HEDRICK ’01
work in Senegal.
for serving dispersed
communities for Digital
Partners/Grameen
Foundation and
managed Microsoft’s
global grant management
system as a
consultant.
Hedrick’s wellrounded
resume
provides her with a
global perspective,
but she also draws
on her T-bird experience
to get immediate
payoffs in the international
marketplace.
“As a result of my
Thunderbird training,
I was able to
recognize Tostan’s
exchange-rate risk
quickly,” Hedrick
explains. “A large
portion of our funding
is in U.S. dollars, but
the vast majority of
our expenses are in
six different African
currencies. The U.S.
dollar depreciated up
to 35 percent against
some of these currencies
in 2007. The
knowledge I gained at
Thunderbird allowed
me to identify the
problem and offer a
solution to help us
hedge against the
volatile currency environment.”
While managing risk
is Hedrick’s job, the
greatest reward occurs
in the growth of human
capital.
“It’s exciting to
know that my job
brings Tostan’s lifetransforming
program
to thousands of people
in need,” she says.
“They have shared
moving stories about
how empowered they
are after participating
in the 30-month
village-based program
that teaches human
rights, democracy,
literacy and entrepreneurship.”
– Sally J. Clasen
58 summer 2008

class notes
consular officer in the U.S. Embassy in Beirut,
Lebanon. He previously served as assistant
cultural affairs officer in the U.S. Embassy in
Seoul, Korea, and as political officer in the U.S.
Embassy in Tokyo. After graduating from
Thunderbird, he worked as sales and marketing
manager for six companies in Silicon Valley,
Calif., before joining the U.S. State Department
in 1999... Barbara Keating ’91, president of
Computer Frontiers, has been selected among
the prestigious Maryland Top 100 Minority
Business Enterprises. This program salutes the
region’s best minority and women business
owners and highlights their achievements…
Charles Gloor ’91 has had an interesting 2007
working as senior adviser to A&D Pharma, with
which he has gotten to know the pharmaceutical
distribution, marketing and retail environment
of a number of Eastern European countries.
Through his other activities with Birgli and A.T.
Kearney, a number of interesting projects
continue to percolate in Western Europe and
Asia that should prove successful in 2008… Chris
Boone ’92 was promoted to chief financial officer
of Lufkin Industries, a $600 million publicly
traded global manufacturer of energy-related
equipment. He has been with the company since
1993… Gretchen Walberg Kupin ’92 recently
moved from Russia to Singapore with her
husband, Ivan, and their 2-year-old son, Finn...
Albert Plunkett ’92 was recently promoted to
outsourcing strategy director for Fidelity
National Information Services. His wife, Laura,
and his two sons, Drake, 11, and Jackson, 8, live
with him in Allen, Texas… Steve Rizley ’93 has
been promoted to senior vice president and
general manager of Cox Communications. In his
new role, Steve will continue to oversee Cox
operations in Arizona. Steve is 2007-08 chairman
of the Greater Phoenix Chamber of Commerce…
Joe Cunningham ’93, married to Shaila Patterson
’93, recently took his company, Gamma Pharmaceuticals,
public in the United States. The stock
debuted in January. Gamma is a marketing and
product formulation company focused on
developing, marketing and selling various
product lines in greater China and the United
States. It is based in Las Vegas... John Trohan ’93
has been appointed treasurer of markets and
banking with Nikko Citigroup Ltd. effective
March 1... Ross Mrazek ’93 recently joined Media
Capital Group as managing director after five
years of leading the entertainment finance team
at CIBC World Markets. Media Capital Group
provides production financing for feature film
and television productions worldwide. Ross and
his family live in Vancouver, Canada... Monica
Moreno ’93 retired from the corporate world
almost four years ago and now is involved in
family business and nonprofit organizations. She
has two daughters, Mariana, 5, and Paulina, 2…
Vickie Austin ’93 was elected chairman of the
Wheaton, Ill., Chamber of Commerce and will
serve as the board’s leader throughout 2008.
Vickie is founder of Choices Worldwide and
offers business and career coaching services to
individuals, entrepreneurs and executives. Choices
REGULA SCHEGG ’05 believes global managers need to balance career
development with philanthropy.
Financial
pro helps
launch
careers of
women
SHE MIGHT BE
an established
financial pro
now, but the little
girl who grew up in a
tiny Swiss village has
always believed in
helping others.
Regula Schegg
’05 says her passion
for lifelong education
brought her to
Thunderbird, and her
desire to help others
fueled her strong
views on corporate
responsibility.
Schegg is the head
of strategic controlling
for Hilti AG,
based in Liechtenstein.
The company
develops products for
the construction and
building maintenance
industry.
“Corporations have
a huge responsibility
to do good for
society,” Schegg says
from Switzerland.
“It’s important to
me to have a good
corporate career, but
also to develop good
philanthropic work.”
Both Schegg’s
career and education
have given her opportunities
to educate
women around the
world. She previously
worked for the
Grameen Foundation,
a group based in
Washington, that provides
microloans to
poor women around
the globe. Schegg
helped build a team
of microfinance
pros that developed
financial products for
socially responsible
investors.
“It was a dream of
mine for years to get
into (microfinance),”
she says. “Those little
loans can make a
huge difference. The
power of women in
this world is tremendous,
but many are
disadvantaged.”
Beyond her
past work with the
Grameen Foundation,
Schegg has mentored
an Afghan woman
since 2006 as part of
Thunderbird’s Project
Artemis.
Schegg doesn’t
mince words when it
comes to the importance
of educating
more women around
the world.
“Education for me
is one of the most important
things in life,”
she says. “Thunderbird’s
biggest impact
on me was teaching
me how the world
and culture works.”
She says Thunderbird
also helped
show her that society
changes, and the
roles of women
around the world are
changing.
“Women should not
be seen as a threat,
and it shouldn’t be a
battle against men,”
she says. “More opportunities
for women
create more opportunities
for everyone.”
– Adam Kress
FILE PHOTO
thunderbird magazine 59

class notes
Worldwide has offices in Wheaton, Chicago and
Phoenix... Todd Rustman ’93, recognized as
Worth’s magazine Top 100 Wealth Advisors for
2007, has joined Next Financial Group… Samir
Kumar ’93 was featured in a recent issue of China
Australia Connections magazine for introducing
Australian food products to China. Samir is
executive director of the food division for Sino
Hero International Ltd., a China market entry
advisory and outsourcing firm based in Hong
Kong… Fernando Sandoval ’94 was hired by the
Commerce Department as part of the Arizona-
Sonora Border Trade Initiative. He will focus on
opportunities in Sonora. Fernando says the
majority of his work will consist of knocking on
the doors of maquiladora operations and assessing
what materials or products they need… David
Rios ’94 has joined Viscom International as
executive vice president of marketing. In this key
position, he will oversee and direct all aspects of
the company’s consumer and trade marketing
including advertising, media planning, new
product development, sales support, market
research, public relations, strategic partnerships,
brand stewardship, grassroots marketing and special
events... Brian Vaughan ’94 has been appointed
deputy head of service, programme and
budget service, Division of Finance and Administrative
Management at United Nations
UNHCR, Geneva… Erika Robin Heim ’94
married Gregg Thomas Abella on Sept. 14, 2007,
and became a stepmother to 8-year-old Maryann
and 6-year-old Renata… Andre Doumitt ’95 has
accepted the position of president and COO of
Coup in
Thailand
forces
alumna
back to
U.S.
FROM FINANCE
to real estate
with a
little bit of everything
sprinkled around
the edges, Soparvan
“Nook” Suphamongkhon
’87 has proved
that those who adapt,
flourish.
This native of Thailand
has led a diverse
career since leaving
Thunderbird. But one
thing that’s remained
constant is her desire
to keep learning.
Right now she’s
taking classes at the
University of California
at Los Angeles in
real estate development,
but she took an
interesting path to get
there.
Nook developed
her career in finance
and worked for some
of the most powerful
financial institutions
in the world. Those
include Fuji Bank,
PaineWebber, Smith
Barney, GE Capital
and HSBC Thailand.
While living in
Thailand — where her
husband was foreign
minister — a government
coup in 2006
forced the couple
back to the United
States. Her husband
became a regent’s
professor at UCLA,
and Nook decided to
take up real estate.
She now runs Kanta
Enterprise International,
a privately
owned real estate
development and
property management
company with most
assets in Thailand.
“I inherited the
real estate business
from my husband,”
she explains. “I’ve
been learning on the
job, and trying to get
investors interested in
Thailand.”
Nook says she
SOPARVAN “NOOK” SUPHAMONGKHON ’87 started a real estate development
and property management company after returning to the United States.
misses the corporate
world from time to
time, but not as much
as she enjoys new
challenges.
“I love to study, and
I’m learning a lot at
UCLA,” she says.
Having worked
in Thailand, Japan,
France and the United
States, among other
countries, Nook has
seen many different
approaches to business.
“You have to adapt
to different cultural
environments, and
I’ve seen three very
different attitudes to
work on three different
continents.”
Nook, who serves
on the Thunderbird
Alumni Network
board, also has seen
women in business
viewed much differently
in certain areas
of the world.
“Thailand goes
against the meek
perception of Asian
women,” she says.
“But the attitude at
the top in some areas
still needs to change.”
– Adam Kress
COURTESY OF SOPARVAN SUPHAMONGKHON
60 summer 2008

class notes
Geosemble Technologies, an El Segundo,
Calif.-based company focused on automatic
extraction and fusion of intelligence from a
range of map and satellite image sources for
government and commercial users... Wendy
Steinthal La Velle ’95 and her husband, Robert,
took off on an around-the-world motorcycle trip
in January 2008. They started in Singapore and
circumnavigated the globe back to their home in
Hollywood, Calif. The trip took more than five
months and included stops in Vietnam, Laos,
Nepal, India, Pakistan, Iran and Turkey... Shaun
Dakin ’95 recently launched a nonprofit, Citizens
for Civil Discourse. The main program they run
is the National Political Do Not Contact
Registry, a registry on the Internet dedicated to
helping voters express their desire to not be
called by politicians at home… Jason Fowler ’96
is manager of Europe business planning and
analysis at Ventana Medical Systems’ European
headquarters in Strasbourg, France. He lives in
Strasbourg with his wife, Sarah, and daughter,
Olivia. He is responsible for all planning and
forecasting for Ventana’s European business, and
was responsible for all financial aspects of
Ventana’s product development process prior to
joining the European organization... Barbara
Goodman ’96 has joined the Illinois Biotechnology
Industry Organization as its executive
director. Reporting directly to iBIO’s CEO,
Barbara will lead iBIO’s entrepreneurial and
international programs... Annique Gilbert London
’96 has opened a marketing consultancy practice
called London Marketing Group. She lives in
Minneapolis, Minn.… The Missouri Junior
Chamber installed Tonya Benton ’96 as its 2008
state president. She is the first Missouri Jaycees
president to hail from Columbia, Mo., since 1970.
Tonya is employed at Benton Homes as chief
financial officer… Gordon Smith ’96, formerly
president of American Express Co.’s global
commercial card group, has joined JPMorgan
Chase to head its Chase card services group…
Eric Henderson ’97 has been invited to be a
contributor to the marketing/advertising
publication, AdAge. Although some of his
articles already have been published, they now
will appear bi-weekly... David Zimny ’98 has left
the role of marketing manager for the health
division at National Insurance Network in
Florida after eight years. He is now with Global
Benefits Group/TieCare as Middle East
representative in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
He is employee benefits account manager for
international health and life insurance employer
groups and individuals of all nationalities, and
broker manager for five countries in the region...
Luis Masroua ’98 has worked for Cargill for the
past 10 years and is general manager of Cargill
Animal Nutrition in Venezuela and Peru…
Randip Singh Nibber ’98 is in Houston as CFO/
VP of finance and project controls for Aker
Marine Contractors, a $150 million company in
the U.S., part of the $10 billion-plus Aker Group
of Norway. Randip also was recently chosen as a
finalist for CEO of the year by the Houston
Business Journal. His selection was primarily in
recognition of his stewardship of Aker Marine
from revenue of less than $5 million to more than
$100 million now. Randip is also co-founder with
his wife, Tashi, of Kissaluvs, a manufacturer of
cloth diapers and accessories for children…
Andreas Wolf ’98 accepted a position in March
2007 at Novus International as director of
marketing and technical services for Europe,
Middle East and Africa. Novus is a St. Louis,
Mo.-based multinational company focused on
animal and human nutrition. Andreas’ job is
based in Novus’ Brussels, Belgium office and he
and his wife, Sydney Loughran Wolf ’98, along
with their two children, Schuyler, 6, and Charles,
3, have relocated to Brussels for the next three to
five years… Lynne Kadela Siders ’98 and her
husband, Steve, announced the birth of their
second daughter, Alexis Marie, on July 1, 2007.
Lynne left the Coca-Cola Co. after nine years to
become a strategic alliances marketing consultant
in Atlanta, GA… Tami Peter ’99 has been
active with a nonprofit, Bottomless Closet,
whose mission is to promote economic self-sufficiency
to economically disadvantaged New York
women. She created and teaches monthly
personal finance seminars, created a financial
mentoring program, mentors more than a dozen
women and teaches an intense Debt-Free
Bootcamp. Tami was recently chosen as “New
Yorker of the Week” by NY1, a cable TV station,
and was interviewed by NY1 along with her
students… Fine Point Technologies has appointed
Will Fleming ’99 vice president and chief
financial officer. Will joined this company after
serving two years as a regional CFO for Europe
and Latin America for TeleTech Holdings.
2000s
Nathan Oscarson ’00 and his family are doing
well and have three children, ages 1 to 6. They
recently moved to Dubai, United Arab Emirates,
where Nate is the general manager of fleet
sales for Ford Motor Co. Middle East… Alla
Kamins ’00 joined the U.S. State Department in
September 2007 as a management foreign service
officer and will be moved to Mexico City in
June 2008, where he will work as a vice-consul
at the U.S. Embassy… Brian Kenny ’00 retired
from the Arizona State Retirement System on
Sept. 2, 2007, after 27 years of work and service in
various roles. He then started a new career with
the National Park Service, serving 11 national
parks in Southern Arizona. As cultural programs
manager, he provides park superintendents and
staff with advice on resources management, and
multidisciplinary science and research design…
Juan Garcia ’01 recently completed the Berlin
marathon to clinch the World Marathon Majors
series, which includes Boston, London, Berlin,
Chicago and New York… Emmanuel Yujuico ’01
has won the Bronze Prize for his research paper
submitted to the International Finance Corp., the
finance arm of the World Bank in Washington.
His paper was titled “All Modes Lead to Home:
Assessing the State of the Remittance Art.”…
Todd Heustess ’01 is director of corporate giving
at the San Francisco Opera, the second-largest
thunderbird magazine 61

class notes
performing arts organization in the country, with
an annual operating budget of nearly $70 million.
Todd lives in Oakland and spends his free time
kayaking, rock climbing and enjoying life in the
Bay Area… Steven Moore ’01 moved to Washington,
after spending most of 2006 conducting
public opinion research in Iraq. Steven works
on Capitol Hill as chief of staff to a member of
Congress. In August 2007, Steven married Nadia
Shifa of Sacramento, the daughter of Sri Lankan
immigrants to the U.S. Nadia works for Bio
Ventures for Global Health, a nonprofit organization
funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates
Foundation that promotes research into cures for
diseases in developing countries... Jerry Su-Chi
Kuo ’02 received the People’s Choice Award at
Demo 2008 for his atlaspost.com, an innovative
map-based social networking site that lets users
network through maps and personalize neighborhoods
with its “Map Village” function... Aginsky
Consulting Group, led by Alexander Aginsky
’03, is now staffed almost entirely with T-birds
who are working on a multitude of international
projects. They recently were retained by a group
of Russian investors to provide advisory services
for an acquisition of a hospital in California.
Other projects include conducting market
research on the lubricants industry in Russia
and establishing training facilities overseas to
relieve the nursing shortage... Eric Kaufman ’03,
president of Premier Sports & Entertainment,
has grown the production arm of his company to
include producer credits on “American Gladiators,”
the hit television show on NBC, as well as
“Student Body,” a new television series that will
air on Nickelodeon’s new teen network in the
fall… Shelley Collum McQuigg ’03 got married last
year and recently left the UN-sector to work for
Honeywell near Geneva… Allison Weller ’03 was
promoted to senior manager of mid term and
post-term remarketing for Chrysler Financial in
June 2007. She is now responsible for marketing
all U.S. Chrysler Financial off-lease vehicles in
their various dealer sales channels. She manages
Internet sales, auction sales, distribution centers,
the transport and logistics team, inspections, and
the Dealer Hotline. She lives in Dallas… Jennifer
Melvin ’05 got married in February and has also
accepted a position at Cisco Systems Inc.... Jack
Beldon ’05 joined the strategy practice for financial
services - banking/securities and capital markets
as an engagement manager at Deloitte Consulting
in March 2007... Joanne Solomon ’05 has
been appointed chief financial officer of Amkor
Technology, a leading provider of semiconductor
assembly and test services… Siobhan McDermott
’05 has accepted a position as senior vice president
and managing director of Manning, Selvage
and Lee, a public relations firm that is part of
the Publicis Groupe, based in Paris. Siobhan
now lives in San Francisco, running the group’s
global technology practice. Siobhan is anticipating
a move to New York to run the group’s global
M&A division… Sharon Stegmuller Welsh ’06 has
been promoted to sales vice president of national
accounts with Aetna’s Phoenix office... Caroline
Michiels ’06, an EMBA graduate, has contributed
her industry expertise to Thunderbird International
Business Review, Thunderbird’s flagship
business journal. Her “Case Study Comment”
offers insight and analysis to “DHL Bangladesh:
Managing Headquarter-Subsidiary Relations” in
the May 2008 issue... Hernan Madero ’06 received
his certification as a project management professional
from the Project Management Institute in
December 2007. He is at IBM Mexico working
as an SAP team leader/consultant... Thomas
Steck ’07 married his longtime girlfriend, Inka
Kindermann, on April 4, 2008, in Ulm, Germany.
Guests included Stephane Sinimale ’07 and
Marie-Laure Clisson, both working for Thunderbird
in Geneva. Thomas’ close friend and mentor,
Manfred Lo Locher ’69, was among the guests
at the wedding.
In Memoriam
John Warner ’48 died Feb. 8, 2008, at age
85, leaving behind Betty, his wife of 53 years,
and the families of his three children, Nancy
Warner Trevino ’82, John A. Warner Jr. ’85 and
Maria. A memorial service was held in La Jolla,
Calif., on Feb. 12… Gaylord Maurer ’59 died
in Maracay, Venezuela, some years ago… Joe
Restivo ’69 was a comedian and character actor
who performed on the national comedy club
circuit for many years with a stand-up routine.
He died Nov. 26, 2007, in Burbank, Calif. A
Chicago native, Joe is survived by his wife,
three sons, mother and sister… Peter Charles
Turner Hellwig ’73 died Feb. 12, 2008, at Sharp
Memorial Hospital in San Diego at age 63. A
San Diego County resident for more than 30
years, Peter worked at Wells Fargo, First Interstate
and San Diego Trust & Savings banks…
David Marshall Fagan ’73, who worked for the
Environmental Protection Agency for 31 years,
died of lung cancer on Nov. 30, 2007. He was
56... Bob Wolff ’77 died Oct. 18, 2007, after a
yearlong struggle with cancer. He worked for
four years in China, where his last posting was
with the Ministry of Finance in Beijing… Yuji
Furukawa ’80 died May 19, 2007, due to complications
from cancer of the large intestine…
Guillermo E. Atencio ’94 died in early October
2007 in Caracas, Venezuela. He enjoyed life
and being with his family and friends.
62 summer 2008

Commercial • Industrial • Investment
Sales & Leasing • Management
class notes
Feasibility – Market Studies – Consulting – Appraisal –
Marketing – Development – Financing – International –
Site Selection
Buyer Brokerage Services
614-882-0800–Phone 614-882-2449–FAX
Website: www.reinerrealty.com
Email: WaltReiner@ReinerRealty.com
Reiner Realty & Consultants, Inc.
5030 Westerville Rd.
Columbus, OH 43231
Walter G. Reiner ’71 • Lois J. Reiner • Adam G. Reiner
Alumni Biz Direct:
The New Online Directory
Exclusively for T-bird Alumni
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general public.
Spread the word
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Register today
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Reserve your listing at: www.thunderbird.edu/alumnibizdirect
thunderbird magazine 63
Need more information? Contact Alumni Relations at (602) 978-7358 or alumni@thunderbird.edu

forum
Opportunities abound
for global citizenship
Kevin J. Rohrer ’82
President, Thunderbird Alumni Network Board
Global citizenship comes with
a global mindset. So it’s no
surprise that so many T-birds
promote sustainable development
or give their time to
organizations that do. Thunderbird for Good,
ThunderCares and Project Artemis are just
three examples of T-birds serving society.
But for every T-bird already volunteering,
there are two or three more who would like
to get involved but are unsure how to start.
That’s why the Thunderbird Alumni Network
plans to use its new business-to-business
directory as a clearinghouse to match T-birds
with resources to good causes in need of help.
The clearinghouse at thunderbird.edu/
alumnibizdirect will support the network’s
priorities, which were expanded in 2007 to
include global citizenship.
The clearinghouse also will promote another
network priority, which is the recruitment
of new students.
T-birds who participate in projects that
promote global citizenship likely will meet
others who share their global mindset values.
Such people represent a pool of potential
students who are naturally drawn to Thunderbird.
(Have you ever wondered why so
many Peace Corps veterans find their way to
Glendale?)
Other opportunities to foster global citizenship
already exist.
Many alumni chapters have adopted charities
or have made scholarships a priority. This
is a trend the network wants to support and
expand.
Finding a good cause or building a chapter
scholarship is a great means to increase chapter
participation. I was thrilled a few months
ago to learn that a small group of alumni
from Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda had met
over a few beers in Nairobi and planned to
establish an East Africa Chapter Scholarship.
Considering the small alumni base there,
this is an ambitious project and a great example
of the Thunderbird spirit in action.
T-birds like rising to a challenge, and I look
forward to welcoming the first East Africa
Chapter Scholarship recipient to campus in a
year or two.
Another example of global citizenship
comes from China.
Four years ago, the Greater China chapters
started a scholarship program that in 2008
will award its third and fourth full-tuition
scholarships. Imagine the good that could
be done if every large chapter would fund a
scholarship.
A reunion of a well-known business
school (to remain nameless) included a banner
that read: “We love money.” Well, I love
money, too, but that’s not the motto I’d want
for Thunderbird.
“Making money and making a difference”
would better suit Thunderbird. I would like
people to associate Thunderbird with a global
mindset, business ethics, sustainable development
and social responsibility.
Chapters interested in starting a chapter
scholarship or organizing other global citizenship
projects should contact the Alumni Relations
Office at alumni@thunderbird.edu.
Editor’s Note
Thunderbird Forum is
open to members of the
Thunderbird community
who have a vision or an
idea to share. Write to
the editor with your
ideas, and we will
explore with you its
potential as a column.
64 summer 2008

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60 . 3 . 2008
What is a Tower?
• It’s a landmark. A reference. A signpost on the
landscape. A symbol. An icon.
• It’s a viewpoint. A new altitude. A greater height. An
opportunity to rise above diversion. To see the horizon.
To see the future. To see possibility. To know what’s coming.
• A chance to seek clarity. To seek direction. To watch the
world as it is… its geography, its people and its cultures.
• It’s a house of vision. A stronghold. A foundation for
guidance. A home for learning.
• It’s a unifier. A community’s expression of itself. A leader
of planes and schools and minds. A place for everyone.
To find ideas. To follow dreams.
• It’s a treasure. A legacy. A future.
How can you help us save a
Tower, restore a legacy and
build a future?
At Thunderbird, our Tower is in ruins. We have lost the
landmark. Lost the viewpoint. Lost the clarity. And just
as the Tower has always stood for our Thunderbird
community, the community will now stand for our Tower.
We will unify. We will fight. We will save.
But it will take us all. 38,000 strong. It will take our
activism. From students taking the lead. To alumni
taking ownership. To corporations taking sponsorship.
It will take you. Your effort. Your ideas. Your support.
Your answer to “What can I do?”
To learn more and to support the Tower project,
visit www.thunderbird.edu/tower.
Very few buildings ever echo and hold such rich history, profound stories and personal memories as the Thunderbird Tower. It is an
architectural legacy to be honored. As an architect, I am honored to assist in not only preserving that history but in architecturally
celebrating it with today's Thunderbird generations and facilitating those future stories, memories and the history yet to be.
—Steven Brenden, Drewett + Brenden Architecture