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MMA Network ONLINE CONNECTIONS
November 2002

In this Issue:
Alumni News
McCombs Business
Outside the Box
Press Mentions


ALUMNI NEWS

McCombs’ Pitch Party- Investing in the Future
In an effort to create pillar community events involving students, alumni, faculty and friends of the McCombs MBA program, we just hosted the first, annual McCombs Pitch Party—an interactive, networking party with an entrepreneurial twist. At the Pitch Party, each MBA student came with a creative, 60-second, elevator ‘pitch’ that they presented to alumni, faculty and visiting business leaders playing "investors.” Investors could invest their $1 Million dollars in “Murphree Money”—the event was sponsored by Murphree Venture Partners and Shiner Bock—in the most persuasive ‘pitch’. The MBA with the winning idea, as well as the ‘investor’ who invested the most money in the winning idea, each won prizes. The event was a huge success and we would like to thank all the alumni who turned out to invest in the future of McCombs!

Alumni Leader Exchange
The Alumni Advisory Board got together for their annual fall meeting on October 25th. After a morning of judging the Plus Program Showcase Challenge with 36 local alumni, the Board met with Steven Tomlinson and Dean Gau to hear updates on the new Plus Program and the current MBA program. The afternoon meeting consisted of reviewing task force reports, highlighting strategic initiatives review and establishing future goals and objectives. The mma Advisory Board voted to expand the current Advisory Board to include class presidents and city chapter presidents of established chapters. Chris Johnson ’95 was elected as the new Chairman of the Alumni Advisory Board and Michael Bacon ’98 was voted Chair-Elect. The board also approved the name change of the alumni organization the McCombs MBA Alumni Network.

The Alumni Advisory Board would like to formally thank Jason Watkins ’96, our outgoing Chairman, for his dedication, spirit and energy in serving our alumni community and the school. If you would like to submit a nomination for an open board position, please email mbaalumni@mccombs.utexas.edu with name, class and a brief description of the nominee’s contribution to the school and their strengths as a potential board member. All nominations will be reviewed by the Nomination Committee.

Voices from the Real World...compliments of the Texas Business Weekly
We are looking for a few good alums to share their stories with the current MBA students. In coordination with Texas Business Weekly, the student newspaper of the Graduate School of Business, we are hosting a monthly column that highlights an alumnus who is out there making it happen – proof that there really is life after B-school.

Check out past profiles at http://www.texasbusinessweekly.com/news/276246.html
If you are interested in being profiled, please email mbaalumni@mccombs.utexas.edu


McCOMBS BUSINESS

EMBA Rankings
The McCombs EMBA program, Option II, placed #21 in the global survey, up from #41 in the inaugural EMBA survey last year. The Financial Times ranking is based on a combination of data from business schools and from graduates three years out of each program. According to the editor, "The main driver of the table is the career progression of managers after completing their EMBA." 55% of the ranking is based on the salaries of graduates, salary increases of alumni three years out, and career progress of alumni. Another 25% comes from diversity data on the representation of women and internationals among a school's faculty, students, and board members. The final 20% is based on research and doctoral data, including faculty publications in major journals. For more information on the rankings, please see: http://news.ft.com/surveys/businessed

Accounting Rankings
The Public Accounting Report, one of the leading trade publications for the accounting profession, ranked the McCombs School's graduate accounting program #1 in the nation for the ninth year in a row. This year the undergraduate and doctoral programs also received #1 ranking, giving the school the top spot in all three categories. Public Accounting Report bases their rankings on a survey of accounting professors nationwide.

BusinessWeek MBA Rankings
The McCombs MBA fell four places in the latest survey of MBA programs from BusinessWeek. In the online edition, editor Jennifer Merritt assessed that the school slipped because of “a shuffle in its famed entrepreneurship faculty, not to mention a cratering technology market. But a new dean committed to bringing change should bring improvements,” wrote Merritt. In an interview about the rankings with the Austin Business Journal (October 11), Dean George Gau said that issues with the entrepreneurship program have been resolved and that the program is now operating smoothly with a full staff and a positive future.



OUTSIDE THE BOX…ON THE HUNT FOR A GOOD BOOK

About the same time Seth Steingraph’s, MBA ’88, high tech company shrunk away into oblivion (he was a senior Product Marketing Manager), he also inherited an estate with many excellent books. Most people in Seth’s position would have viewed the circumstances as a great opportunity to catch up on some reading, but most people aren’t always looking for business opportunities (unless you hold a McCombs MBA). After a few conversations with friends and a few profitable (and unprofitable) ventures within the realm of rare and used book selling, Seth decided to dive into the business (not to mention the online opportunities were just arriving at the same time so it was a good match). Now Seth owns Silicon Valley Fine Books, a company that sells rare, used, and out-of-print books primarily over the Internet. The daily operations encompass hunting down and buying boxes & boxes of high quality material per week at low prices; then, along with several part-time employees, researching and cataloging the books so as to sell to customers locally and around the world Silicon Valley Fine Books was one of the first such booksellers to migrate to the online world but now, over 80% of its current sales are derived from the Internet. The business has grown steadily every year -- even in this weak economy! Recently the company has begun branching out into the sale of art, packaged software, and other items of value as well to ensure additional growth.

While Seth says there are many good aspects of the job, two stand out for him. First and foremost, he enjoys being his own boss and says that simply cannot be beat. He sets his on schedule and knows that every hour he works leads to additional income. For eight years, he’s been excited to wake up every day early to get to work. The second best part is the thrill of the hunt. Seth states that “One never knows what valuable treasures await at the next sale. It's extremely common to go to an estate sale & walk out 20 minutes later with a potential $500 profit; sometimes much more.” For example, this upcoming week the company will be listing a rare first edition of Benjamin Graham's Security Analysis (yes, many of you will recognize this from your Finance classes!) for between $8,000 and $10,000. What makes this deal even sweeter is that Seth purchased it for a mere one dollar at an estate sale!

When asked how his McCombs MBA has assisted him personally and professionally, Seth comments on the competitive advantage he gained from his McCombs’ education: “Although now changing rapidly, the rare and used book business has traditionally been dominated by owners who have minimal business acumen and savvy... in fact, they are drawn to the world of books precisely because they often lack business and social skills (yes, the stereotype of curmudgeonly or eccentric booksellers is fairly accurate). However, I've had no desire to go that route and thanks to the broad spectrum of business skills learned at McCombs, Silicon Valley Fine Books has been able to chart a steady pattern of growth from the beginning. There is no doubt that the skills learned and nurtured in graduate school have given me a huge leg-up on my competition.” Check out Silicon Valley Books online at: www.svbooks.com

PRESS MENTIONS

To Catch a Thief, Leibrock explains digital forensics in The New York Times
Can you catch a thief by his palm – his hand-held Palm, that is? Yes, according to McCombs School Chief Technology Officer Larry Leibrock. “The data contained in a hand-held says a lot about its owner,” reported a New York Times feature that leaned heavily on Leibrock’s expertise. As Leibrock explained to the Times, a hand-held device is often a person’s “alter ego,” representing their aspirations, contacts, tasks and objectives, and sometimes their criminal behavior. The story ran with a photo of Leibrock at work on his computer in Austin.

Dallas Morning News reports enrollments rise for Business & Engineering Schools
The downturn in the economy, coupled with the onset of the baby boom “echo,” is leading to increased enrollments at business schools across the nation. McCombs MBA admissions director Matt Turner noted that the school is seeing “more and more people going to and coming back to school to make themselves more marketable by improving their skills.” Speaking in the same article, Steve Salbu, associate dean for graduate programs, noted that during the boom years many students stayed out of school to earn money. But today, “Increased competition for the best jobs means students are eager to return to top schools to get the skills they need to compete effectively.”

Uninformed about Long-Distance Phone Rates? Prepare to pay
In The San Francisco Chronicle, Marc-David Seidel commented about how uninformed consumers “are (being) treated to increasing long-distance telephone rates.” Seidel said that major long-distance carriers have gradually been tacking on an array of hidden fees to heavily advertised “low-rate” plans. The article also notes that Seidel founded the abtolls.com Web site, which allows consumers to compare rate plans.