A l u m n i M a g a z i n e - Duke University's Fuqua School of Business

Fast
Facts
Michael P. Crowley
President
Oakland Athletics Baseball Co.
’92
Oakland, Calilfornia
MBA Class of 1992
habit. Of course, we’re trying to develop
these players, but we’re trying to develop
them into winners.”
The team that comprised these players
and a stable group of veterans
(including Jason Giambi and Kevin
Appier) took the A’s to the division
crown and the American League playoffs
against the New York Yankees.
Crowley grins and points out that the
A’s had more wins in its series against
the Yankees, than did the New York
Mets, who lost the World Series to the
team across town.
Crowley’s path to “The Show” was a
circuitous one. His post-college work at
Pricewaterhouse in San Jose and later
stints in his family’s sizeable manufacturing
business (architectural coatings,
coatings used in automotive refinishing,
etc.), the O’Brien Corp., enabled him to
hone his financial expertise. But by
1990, he was ready to take a leave from
O’Brien to learn more about business
areas in which he had little experience.
“I came to Fuqua because I wanted
to get to the point where I could run a
company. Because my emphasis had
been on finance, I felt that it was important
to get some knowledge about sales
and marketing and the operational
side,” he says.
Crowley jokes that school is a lot dif-
ferent when you’re married with a
child. “There’s a lot more at stake so
there are sacrifices,” he says. His wife,
Kathleen, took a two-year leave from
her electrical engineering job at Hewlett-
Packard, to be with her husband and
child in Durham.
The Crowleys were impressed by
Fuqua’s reputation in marketing education,
and North Carolina was a little
known but appealing destination. “We
went down and fell in love with the
area and the school and the people
there,” he recalls. (Kathleen later,
through a Hewlett-Packard management
development program, took classes in
Fuqua’s executive education program.)
During his time at Fuqua, Crowley
and fellow classmates combined their
mutual interests to organize the Sports
and Entertainment Club. The group
sponsored a May 1991 symposium that
featured professional baseball, basket-
PRESIDENT OF A
ball, tennis and golf executives talking
about the business. It peaked Crowley’s
interest, he says, but he still didn’t see a
professional sports franchise in his
future.
When Crowley graduated, he says
he had extensively expanded his knowledge
and skills. “From my perspective,
MBA school is about getting good, wellrounded
business education through a
broad range of disciplines. If you want
to be an investment banker, fine, but
the road has lots of twists and turns, so
get the best education you can.”
When Crowley returned to
California, he went into a sales and marketing
capacity at O’Brien. With him, he
says, he took some of Fuqua’s successful
models and philosophies.
“I learned a lot about the group concept
at Fuqua. So wherever I’ve worked
since then, we’ve had groups of people
taken from various disciplines and
departments and thrown them at a project
or a problem. I’ve found it very
effective.”
Since then, he has also kept the
spirit of Friday night kegs and activities
at Fuqua alive in teambuilding events,
such as bowling, golf, Friday lunches
and days at the races.
In 1994, O’Brien split, and he was
back in the job market. He learned that
the A’s needed a CFO and he applied
for—and won—the position. “It was
ironic. I’d come full circle back to
finance and accounting as my entrée
into baseball,” he says.
But his appreciation of the game and
those who play it made him feel right at
home, he says. In the past two years, he
has attended every home game and 20
to 25 road games as well as much of
spring training play in Arizona and some
trips to the complex in the Caribbean. “I
love the game. The more I get into it,
the more I appreciate it.” In a society
where physical and faster-paced sports
are gaining in popularity, baseball has its
NON-TRADITIONAL
COMPANY
place, he says. “Baseball is a subtle
game—one that is very different every
day and not about instant gratification.”
Has the young president of the A’s
indulged his desire to get down there on
the field and shag balls with the team?
“No, no,” he laughs. “I have a certain
image to uphold.”
However, the father of three does
have other goals. “From an organizational
standpoint, I’d like to see us
move attendance higher each year.
When we started to rebuild, it slipped,
but it’s now on the way back up,” he
says. “And we want to build revenues
and win a world championship. To
hoist a world championship trophy
would be the ultimate for us.”
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