ANNUAL REPORT ON GIVING - Thunderbird Magazine ...

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“The changes we made to the curriculum represented a return to our core values.” Net assets Changes in the MBA market impacted Thunderbird’s bottom line $16.9M $20.5M $28.1M $37.1M $50.9M $60.0M $58.6M $46.5M $39.0M $34.6M ’89 ’90 ’91 ’92 ’93 ’94 ’95 ’96 ’97 ’98 ’99 ’00 ’01 ’02 ’03 ’04 ’05 ’06 ’07 Chinese officials canceled GMAT testing— the test required for entry into most MBA programs, including Thunderbird—during the height of the near-pandemic. Before the drop in visas and the SARS epidemic, Chinese students made up nearly 12 percent of the students in the full-time program. By the start of the spring trimester in 2003, they accounted for less than 5 percent. Concurrently, the executive education program Thunderbird had in operation in Taiwan was put on hold because few professors were willing to risk traveling there. A ray of hope IN THE MIDSTof the confluence of challenges faced by Thunderbird came alumnus and board member Sam Garvin ’88, and his wife, Rita, who in early 2004 made history by pledging a $60 million gift to the School—at the time, the single largest pledge ever received by a business school. The Garvins’ lifetime gift, of which more than $12 million has been received to date, brought not only an important cash infusion but also was a significant show of support for Thunderbird in a challenging MBA marketplace. “Today, the world needs more global leaders to serve as the bridge between cultures, and the Thunderbird degree, with its emphasis on world business, international studies and languages, is perhaps the most important, relevant and respected advanced degree a student of world business can possess,” Garvin said at the time. Garvin’s largesse, however generous, wasn’t enough to counteract the market changes that were hurting Thunderbird’s bottom line. “In order to maintain quality, we had to shrink our programs faster than we anticipated and faster than we could right-size the organization to fit with the new reality,” says Thunderbird Chief Financial Officer Tim Propp, who joined the school in late 2000. While the Garvins’ gift provided much-needed resources to support new initiatives, it did not eliminate the need to restructure the School’s operations, he says. “It would have been a mistake to utilize the Garvin gift to mask the problems inherent in the school’s business model and operations rather than to invest in Thunderbird’s future success as it was always intended,” he says. “The MBA market had shifted and it was our responsibility to take a hard look at ourselves and to make some tough choices about our operations, which ultimately made us a much more focused and efficient institution.” Turning the corner THUNDERBIRD’S turnaround efforts began before 2004, during the final years of President Roy Herberger’s administration. By the time Cabrera arrived on campus though, it was clear that even deeper changes would be required. Over the following three years, the school would trim costs, improve the efficient use of its facilities and programs around the world, reconsider the size of the faculty and staff in certain areas, leverage its partnerships with key business schools around the world to increase opportu- 8 spring 2008
Thunderbird’s International Business Information Centre has seen increasing student activity with the rise in enrollment. Funds from Campaign Thunderbird would go toward expanding the resources available to students. nities for students, restructure, reposition and re-price its executive education programs, and introduce new degree and non-degree programs that would respond to evolving market preferences and demand. Marketing and communications were strengthened to better position the Thunderbird brand in an increasingly crowded market, and a new structure for student recruiting was put in place to more effectively attract top students from around the world. The faculty assumed higher teaching loads and tuition was increased across all programs. Salaries were frozen. Unprofitable overseas operations were closed. The portfolio of programs was revised, new programs were created, and the curriculum of existing programs underwent significant upgrades. Staff and faculty positions were eliminated in stages, first in 2001, which saw early retirements and position reductions of more than 45 faculty and staff, then in 2004 with a reduction of 40 staff, and in 2005 with early retirements and position reductions of 29 faculty and staff. “Those are some of the toughest decisions any manager has to face, but, we had the responsibility of doing what we had to do to secure the future of Thunderbird,” Cabrera says. “And no one of those actions would have sufficed in and of itself. It all had to be done across the board.” A new strategic plan was developed under the rubric Thunderbird 2010, which was intended to guide the school until the year 2010. Thunderbird expanded the number of universities with which it has dual degree programs. Senior Vice President and Provost Rob Widing signed an agreement with Soochow University in 2007. Thunderbird has diversified its portfolio of offerings, which now includes the Global MBA for Latin American Managers. thunderbird annual report on giving 9
Page 1 and 2: Spring 2008 ANNUAL REPORT ON GIVING
Page 3 and 4: On the Cover The 2006-2007 Thunderb
Page 5 and 6: YOU NEED ONLY GLANCE AT the front p
Page 7 and 8: BILL TIMMERMAN Once caught off bala
Page 9: people ages 25 to 29—the age grou
Page 13 and 14: As Thunderbird 2010 became more def
Page 15 and 16: programs: the Global MBA On-Demand,
Page 17 and 18: Matter of fact FOR THE FIRST TIME i
Page 19: ment education. The school’s comm
Page 22 and 23: Alumni affinity Alumni donations va
Page 24 and 25: “It’s one of the last buildings
Page 26 and 27: Donations to Campaign Thunderbird w
Page 28 and 29: thunderbird leadership PRESIDENT'S
Page 30 and 31: global leadership society PETER J.
Page 32 and 33: corporation foundation giving GIFTS
Page 34 and 35: alumni gifts by class 1947 % DONATI
Page 36 and 37: alumni giving by class 1963 % DONAT
Page 40 and 41: alumni giving by class ARTHUR F. RI
Page 42 and 43: alumni giving by class ANNE E. SQUI
Page 44 and 45: alumni giving by class Alumni givin
Page 48 and 49: alumni giving by class GREGORY S. T
Page 50 and 51: alumni giving by class key ▪ dono
Page 52 and 53: other contributors PAMELA NICHOLS J
Page 54 and 55: volunteer leadership MR. JOSEPH KLE
Page 56 and 57: volunteer leadership Thunderbird Al
Page 58 and 59: volunteer leadership Oslo, Norway T
Page 60:
Thunderbird Campus Alumni Relations
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