Message From the Dean — November 2022

Time really does fly when we’re having fun! With the Fall break already behind us, I hope the rest of the semester is filled with the energy and enthusiasm we have seen on campus this fall, and our students continue to make us #GWSBProud. I’d like to once again congratulate the 17 students who have been selected for the Real Estate & Finance Alliance (REFA) Class of 2025. It was a great pleasure to have the opportunity to meet the new mentees during the welcome event last week. Also last week, it was great to stop by the Strategy Case Competition for our Global MBA program. Congratulations to the participants and especially to this year’s winning team. And a special thank you to our alumni judges for the insight and guidance they shared with our students as part of this enriching learning experience.

 

It was wonderful to see so many students attend our recent George Talks Business sessions. We have had wonderful interviews with Durreen Shahnaz, founder and CEO of Impact Investment Exchange (IIX) and the IIX Foundation and James C. Polan, vice president of development credit at the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation; Barbara Humpton, president and CEO of Siemens USA; and in New York with alumni from the real estate industry—Jonathan Iger, CEO of Sage Realty Corporation, Josh Kuriloff, executive vice chairman of Crushman & Wakefield, and Evan Pariser, senior managing director of Capital Markets at Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL), with Charles Bendit, co-founder and co-CEO of Taconic Partners and GW Trustee member, as our moderator. I hope you have a chance to watch these interviews on our YouTube channel.

 

Our faculty have continued to share expertise with both internal and external audiences, with great media coverage in outlets such as the Financial Times and the Wall Street Journal, and as panelists and presenters at various industry and education events. I want to also acknowledge our colleague, N. Sharon Hill, associate professor of management, who was honored with the Research Mentor award at the Faculty Honors Ceremony on Oct. 18.

 

We are equally as grateful to be able to host outside speakers at GWSB, including Olivia S. Mitchell, Ph.D., the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans Professor at The Wharton School, who delivered the first seminar for the Fall 2022 installment of the Financial Literacy Seminar Series, which is hosted by the Global Financial Literacy Excellence Center in partnership with the Federal Reserve Board of Governors. The next lecture on Nov. 3 will be delivered by Lisa Dettling, Ph.D., principal economist at the Federal Reserve Board.

 

On October 22, I flew out to California to attend a reception hosted by Susie Selby, M.B.A.’85, owner of the Selby Winery in San Francisco’s Sonoma County. Joining us for the wine and food tasting were around 50 alumni, parents, friends, and supporters from our Bay Area and West Coast community. I’m grateful to all those who came out with us for their continued engagement on behalf of GWSB, and to Ms. Selby for her continued efforts to bring us together—with this gathering marking the ninth such event she has hosted. 

 

And it was a pleasure to be on a panel, albeit virtually, at the Eduniversal World Convention (EWC) being held in Cairo, Egypt. EWC brings together administrators and scholars from higher education institutions for idea sharing and dialogue around how we can continue to advance our mission. The panel I joined was titled, “What’s next for deans - insights from the business schools’ leadership in uncertain times,” with deans from Brazil, Poland, Thailand, and Egypt. During the convention, I also had the pleasure of delivering a keynote address in which I outlined my thoughts on three core themes related to how business education can help bridge the gap between business and society: increasing access and equity, cultivating innovative, interdisciplinary, and experiential education, and leveraging partnerships and connections. I’m grateful to my colleagues from GWSB who contributed as speakers during EWC this year, including George Jabbour, Ph.D., vice dean for executive education and professor of finance, and Shivraj Kanungo, Ph.D., vice dean for graduate programs, and associate professor and chair of our department of decision sciences.

 

Additionally, I am excited to share that on April 25, 2023 we will host the inaugural GW Business & Policy Forum in collaboration with other schools and external stakeholders from industry and government. I recently spoke about this in an interview with CyberScoop. The theme for this first annual Forum will be “Attacking Cybersecurity Risks.” We will welcome leaders from the private and public sectors to address the most significant issues of this evolving landscape, merging technology, cybersecurity, policy, and regulation. You can register now to receive updates about the Forum, and I look forward to sharing more details with you in the coming months.

 

As I close, I want to make sure you are aware that on Thursday, Nov. 10, our Diversity Council will open its Book Club to students for the first time, with discussions scheduled for 5:00 - 6:00 p.m., on “The Loudest Duck: Moving Beyond Diversity While Embracing Differences to Achieve Success at Work” by Laura Liswood in Duquès Hall, Room 553, and “Beast Rider” by María Elena Fontanot de Rhoads and Tony Johnston in Funger Hall, Room 520. All students, faculty, and staff are invited to participate.

 

To that end, I’d like to invite you to share what books you are enjoying right now. We will highlight book recommendations from our GWSB community members in my future monthly messages. You can share them with me by replying to this email.