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Online Connections 
August 2003

In this issue:
Alumni News
McCombs Matters
Outside the Box

Alumni News...

Summer Receptions: HUGE SUCCESS!
Our Annual Summer Receptions yielded the best turnout to date!  With a total of 17 receptions across the world, the event offered a perfect time for our alumni to reconnect with each other and the current students of the program.  Thanks to all of you who attended and made these events a success!

Eyes on Texas wants your Company
The Annual Eyes on McCombs MBA Career Fair provides your company the chance to meet over 800 MBA students that are excited to learn about full time and summer job opportunities. The fair also enables you to come and build your company's campus presence early at this premiere kick-off event for the recruiting season.
For more details on how you can participate in McCombs' recruiting efforts:
 http://fcc.mccombs.utexas.edu/EyesOnTexas/

McCombs Matters...

Departmental Chairs Named
Wayne Hoyer, who is about to complete a four-year term as Chair of Marketing on August 31st, will be reappointed to that position. His reappointment will ensure continuity to the department and the school. The new Chair of Management will be Janet Dukerich. Janet succeeds Alison Davis-Blake, incoming Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs. A member of our Management faculty since 1989, Janet's academic standards and extensive knowledge of the department will serve her well in her new role. Both Alison and Janet will make the transitions to their new positions in mid-July, though the official date of their appointments is September 1, 2003.

Roundtable to help Stakeholders Capitalize on Mobile Technologies
Aiming to build an international network of global researchers, practitioners, and policy makers in the mobile communication and computing industries, the McCombs School will host the third annual Mobility Roundtable in Austin in March 2004. Participants in the conference will exchange research and knowledge about best practices for different mobile modes of business and will include professors and PhD candidates, Fortune 500 companies, and hardware and software firms.

The two-day event is spearheaded by Sirkka Jarvenpaa, professor of MSIS, and sponsored by the McCombs’ Center for Business, Technology and Law; Center for Research in Electronic Commerce; and Center for Customer Insight.
See the Austin Mobility Roundtable Website.

Exec. Ed to Welcome IML Class
Executive Education’s Institute for Managerial Leadership (IML) is gearing up for its 16th class this September. With more than 500 graduates from top tech companies like Shell, IBM, BMC Software, and Dell, the Institute continues to receive accolades for its innovative, application-oriented business curriculum. The Institute is co-sponsored by the McCombs School of Business and the College of Engineering.
 Learn more about IML.

 
Outside the Box...In a mailbox near you
 
Andrew Newsom, MBA '98, is never bored with his job at Wisteria, a mail-order catalog company, that he started three years ago with his wife, Shannon.   Wisteria sells decorative and antique items for the home and garden.  The company tries to find the niche between high end antique stores, the regular home furnishing catalogs and funky art/design shops.  In Andrew's words, "we want to appeal to a large audience but carry items that are different from what is already out there."  Andrew admits that it’s a constant challenge as styles come and go at such a rapid pace these days.
 
Andrew describes the catalog business as basically three businesses in one – Merchandising (which entails traveling around the world looking for the next great product and thinking of new products to design), Producing creativity (catalog design and copy, which helps build “the brand”), and Operations (taking orders and shipping, providing customer service, running a warehouse, importing from overseas).  Andrew states that the key is making all three businesses work in a seamless fashion so that when a customer calls, the product is in stock, it looks like the product in the catalog, and the customer receives excellent service.
 
When asked how Wisteria came to be a reality for him and his wife, Andrew describes his life since the MBA Program.  After graduation, Andrew landed a job as a business consultant in Dallas.  He enjoyed the challenge but after just a year,  he grew bored of only using the same 5% of his brain.  He quit and then thought about his real interests and what assets he could bring to a business.  He was interested in gardening and garden décor and leaned on his family's expertise in publishing and retail sales to create the world of Wisteria. In just three years, Wisteria has grown from a desk in Andrew's house to a company of 30+ employees and its own warehouse.  Andrew knows his company is still a small business and acknowledges there is no guarantee of success in the world of small businesses.  However, Andrew has confidence in the company and the direction its going- " I think it takes about three years to really learn any business. If you still have cash after this learning period, then you are going to be successful."
 
And how has Andrew's McCombs MBA helped him personally and professionally? He states that "the education he received at McCombs gave him the framework for understanding the various components of a business." Interestingly enough,  Andrew didn’t take many entrepreneurial classes.  He took one and realized that he had the “entrepreneur thing” down but was really limited in the accounting and finance areas.  Admittedly painful, Andrew took more accounting and finance classes to hone in on the tools needed to run a successful business.
 
Andrew appreciates the quality of the McCombs MBA program: "I thought the professors were top notch and the students were extremely diverse, talented and normal.  In other words, they were people that you would like to hang out with."
 
To learn more about Wisteria or receive a catalog in your mailbox, please check out:  http://www.wisteria.com/
 
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  Last updated Wednesday, June 20, 2007