Social Entrepreneur of the Year to Speak at Isenberg on Sweatshops and Slavery in the 21st Century: What Business Can Do

Today, the UMass Amherst INFORMS Student Chapter will be hosting Mr. Viederman of Verite in our "Meet the Executive" Speaker Series.

His talk will take place in the Isenberg School of Management, Room 210, at 11AM today.

Immediately prior to his presentation on "Sweatshops and Slavery in the 21st Century: What Business Can Do," we will be holding a reception, beginning at 10:30AM.

At the reception we will be serving coffee and pastries and will have the magna cum laude award plaque displayed, which the chapter was awarded this past Tuesday morning at the 2011 INFORMS Charlotte conference.

Please join us, if you can.

The students (with help from Ms. Ellen Pekar) designed the event flyer above.

Great Leadership and How to Succeed -- Characteristics of Top C.E.O.s

This year, we started a "Meet the Executive" initiative at the Isenberg School of Management, through the UMass Amherst INFORMS Student Chapter, that I serve as the Faculty Advisor of.

Just this Friday, we had the honor and pleasure of hosting one of our alums in this initiative, Mr. Kevin Koswick of Ford Motor Corporation. I wrote about some of the highlights of his talk in an earlier post but he offered additional pearls of wisdom during more informal discussions that took place both before his talk and at the lunch afterwards that several of our students and faculty attended (I was the host).

Lo and behold, today's New York Times has a terrific article by Adam Bryant on extractions from his book, “The Corner Office: Indispensable and Unexpected Lessons From CEOs on How to Lead and Succeed," based, in part, on his weekly "Corner Office" column, which is a favorite read of mine.

And, guess who is the first exec that he quotes -- none other than Alan Mullaly, the Chief Executive of Ford, who is quoted as saying:

“You learn from everybody” “I’ve always just wanted to learn everything, to understand anybody that I was around — why they thought what they did, why they did what they did, what worked for them, what didn’t work.”

A discussion on the importance of teamwork came out during Friday's Q&A with Koswick (and even our Dean, Dr. Mark Fuller, asked some terrific questions).

So, distilling some more pearls of wisdom from top C.E.O.'s -- those who succeed in business, according to Adam Bryant, have:

1. passionate curiosity (with Mullaly being an exemplar here);

2. confidence and a tireless work ethic gleaned through facing adversity;

3. team smarts (and Koswick emphasized this to us last Friday);

4. limited time so make sure that you get to your point fast (forget about those time-consuming Power Point presentations), and

5. fearlessness!

The Times article states that: C.E.O.’s can act as mentors to speed people along that learning curve. They may not develop silver-bullet theories, but they are experts in leadership because they practice it daily. And many of them have spent years honing their leadership styles, studying what works and what doesn’t, and then teaching others.

However, Kevin Koswick of Ford had interesting insights when I asked him about the importance of mentorship in corporate America. Mentorship is very important as one moves up the academic ladder, beginning with being a student. He told us that one actually has to be a bit careful on this because what happens if your mentor gets fired and you have been very closely associated with him / her? This goes back to what Mullaly said about learning from everyone and as Koswick told us -- the importance of getting along with everyone. One should not just manage up (which means that one should also always be genuinely nice to the administrative assistants).

Plus, what Koswick and I agree on is the most important attribute of a successful leader, whether a C.E.O. or not, and that is, first and foremost, INTEGRITY!

Alum Auto Exec Comes Back to Isenberg

Today we hosted Mr. Kevin Koswick of Ford in our second "Meet the Executive" event. The students of the UMass Amherst INFORMS Student Chapter help me to organize this speaker series.

Mr. Koswick is the Executive Director of Ford's North American Fleet, Lease and Remarketing Operations. In this role, he oversees the largest commercial and government operation in the industry, as well the remarketing of all Ford Vehicles in North America. In addition, he has brand responsibilities for all Ford Commercial Vans, Chassis Cabs, Police Vehicles, Taxis, Limousines, Livery and Recreational Vehicles.

Mr. Koswick received his MBA from UMass Amherst in 1985.

His three "takeaway points" from his presentation today:

1. Your personal habits matter. Work very hard and always be prepared.

2. Respect everyone. Managing up doesn't work. People who take care of others, do better. Don't be competitive at the expense of others.

3. You need to have common business sense. Persevere and make things happen.

Above are photos taken at his talk and the lunch afterwards.

Thanks to Mr. Kevin Koswick, an exceptional individual, executive, and alum!

Meet the Ford Executive

I am delighted that we will be hosting Mr. Kevin Koswick of Ford in our next "Meet the Executive" event at the Isenberg School of Management. Mr. Koswick will be speaking on Friday, April 15, 2011 at 11AM in ISOM Room 128.

This series is organized by the award-winning UMass Amherst INFORMS Student Chapter.

Mr. Koswick is the Executive Director of North American Fleet, Lease and Remarketing Operations. In this role, Koswick oversees the largest commercial and government operation in the industry, as well the remarketing of all Ford Vehicles in North America. In addition, he has brand responsibilities for all Ford Commercial Vans, Chassis Cabs, Police Vehicles, Taxis, Limousines, Livery and Recreational Vehicles.

Beginning his career with Ford Division in 1985 as a Sales Representative for the Philadelphia Region, Koswick has held several managerial roles in Ford Division, Marketing Sales and Service including Regional Market Representation Manager for the Northeast, National Contest & Incentive Coordinator, General Zone Manager for the Cincinnati Region, and Regional Marketing Manager for the Southwest Region --where he developed and implemented plans contributing to Ford’s truck leadership.

In 1996, he became Regional Operations Manager for the New York Region, and in 1998 became Regional Sales Manager for Washington D.C. Region. Kevin was appointed Ford Division Manager of Commercial Trucks in 2001, a position he held prior to his appointment to the Executive level in the Ford Motor Company.

Mr. Koswick has held several executive positions with Ford dating back to December 2002, including General Sales Manager of Ford Division, General Sales Manager of Ford and Lincoln-Mercury, and Chairman of the Ford Motor Company Dealer Policy Board.

He was born in Washington DC, and raised in the New England. Koswick graduated in 1983 with a bachelor's degree in marketing and business administration from Western New England College in Springfield, Mass. He completed his MBA in 1985 at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Meet the Executive Event a Big Success -- What a Day!

Today, we hosted Mr. Marc Schneider, the Group President of Dress Furnishings at Phillips Van Heusen (PVH), as part of our "Meet the Executive" initiative. The announcement even made the UMass Amherst homepage.

Mr. Schneider, who is an alum of our School of Management, was simply fantastic.

Some tips from Mr. Schneider's lecture and a fabulous Q&A that followed are below:

You should go for a career and not for a "job." He spoke about how he began his career at Macy's and benefited from its outstanding training program.

What creates success? -- preparation, clarity of objectives, and putting the work in! Do not be outworked!

Those who succeed aren't necessarily smarter -- whatever profession you select, you must be good at it. The successful ones are the ones who have worked the hardest. Make sure that you do your homework.

In business, you must know finance, marketing, logistics, and organizational behavior.

You need a toolbox of capabilities. I create value, he said -- I set the strategy and create the roadmap. I set the structure and populate it with great people. I give them the space to succeed and encourage them to execute with distinction.

One needs to focus on the end results and to build a good team and to collaborate.

I want my employees to be charged up and to love coming to work. Employees must be engaged. (Now, wouldn't the world be a better place if all bosses were like this?!)

Mr. Schneider also emphasized the importance of mentoring and looking at the longer view.

He regaled us with his travels as part of his work and he always combines work and pleasure when he travels.

He was asked about the greatest obstacles that he has faced, about the relative importance of face time vs. electronic communication (he is on 24/7 and loves it that way), and about whether he is always learning (indeed, he is, and sometimes will go to the library for a couple of hours to just reflect and think).

And, yes, he was even at the Super Bowl game last weekend in Dallas (PVH works with the NFL) and was also there at various festivities since his company had corporate seats. He highlighted how football players have to work really hard to make it to the NFL and those who make it to the Hall of Fame are those who have worked the hardest.

His near-term travels will take him to LA, where he regularly checks out a manufacturing plant, to Reno, to Milan, and then to China. He was in Istanbul last summer.

It was fascinating to hear him speak on the global supply chain of his fashion products and to hear about the role of information technology (he even reworked this aspect of the business). His decisions as to where to outsource and the associated risk in the world that we live in today he analyzes very thoroughly because they will affect many. He even mentioned how the events in Egypt are affecting the delivery of some of his company's products! And we all know what happened in Egypt today!

What came through is his energy, his love of his career, his curiosity about the world around him, and his willingness to advise and mentor our students.

The lunch at the University Club at UMass Amherst was not only delicious but the conversations continued and were so warm and entertaining.

Thank you, Mr. Marc Schneider, for a visit we will all remember and, think, he could have just stayed in Manhattan with this being Fashion Week!

Thank you also for noting the great education that you received in our school -- and he is now responsible for a business valued at an amount with a 1 followed by a lot of zeros!

You can find more photos from this and our UMass Amherst INFORMS Student Chapter activities on the chapter homepage, which also has links to Facebook and Twitter.