By M Johnson
Dean M. Eric Johnson
With plenty of new faces and spaces at Management Hall, I take great pleasure in looking back at an exciting year for the Owen Graduate School of Management as the academic year comes to a close.
We introduced seven new faculty members, one of the largest influxes of new teaching talent in the school’s history, spanning every level of seniority. Their research areas include accounting, finance, marketing, operations, and organization studies. Their scholarship and research interests have enhanced several areas of study at Owen, including venture and entrepreneurial finance, data analytics, marketing analytics, and diversity and inclusion. We profile Berk Sensoy, the Hans Stoll Professor of Finance, in this edition’s “Intellectual Capital,” found on page 12.
Professor Sensoy teaches Entrepreneurial Finance, a new course at Owen that takes a closer look at vehicles for financing new ventures. With the Center for Entrepreneurship at Owen offering new resources and tools for students interested in launching businesses, the world of startups at Vanderbilt has been energized this year. We talk to three Owen entrepreneurs—James Murray, MBA’17, Ian McCollum, MBA’12, and Brian Fox, MBA’01—in different stages of the company life cycle on page 20.
Several of our new professors are also teaching core course work in Vanderbilt’s new Hoogland Undergraduate Business Program, a trans-institutional minor that offers students a straightforward route to studying business at the university. Students pursuing the minor choose among elective course offerings from the four undergraduate schools and fundamentals courses taught by Owen. Read more about the program on page 8.
Outside the classroom, faculty are making great use of resources like our Behavioral Lab to conduct behavioral research around consumers and organizations. We spotlight the lab on page 10.
Our new Alumni Board chair, Emily Baker Tobin, BA’87, MBA’92, is working with the board to develop new strategies for improving the alumni experience and increasing engagement. We take a closer look at her goals on page 36.
I am always impressed by the ability of our alumni to find new and interesting ways to engage with the Owen community and each other, on a truly global level. In this edition we take a closer look at Japan, which boasts nearly 100 Owen graduates, including Alumni Board member Heiki Miki, MBA’96, who has been instrumental in guiding prospective students to Vanderbilt and organizing the alumni community in Japan. We profile six Japanese alumni beginning on page 28.
With another year in the books, I’m heartened by the generosity of time and energy that our community gives to each other and to the school, and motivated by the growth we will see in the years to come.
All the best,
M. ERIC JOHNSON Ralph Owen Dean Bruce D. Henderson Professor of Strategy
