by jlansber | Apr 25, 2019 | Notes from the Dean
Dean Misty Johanson | Photo by Kathy Hillegonds
Spring usually marks the end of the academic calendar at our college, but this year, it represents a new beginning. We recently finalized the Driehaus College of Business 2024 Strategic Plan: Connection, Culture & Commitment, and our community has sprung into action to start implementing its ambitious initiatives. The plan’s goals are grouped around strengthening these three pillars of our success:
CONNECTION to the Chicago business community and our global alumni network.
CULTURE of academic excellence within our faculty, staff and student community.
COMMITMENT to student success and the high-value experience.
As alumni, you play a vital role in helping our college achieve its strategic goals, especially those associated with our first pillar of success. Our city is home to many options for business education, but the Driehaus College of Business is distinctive among them. Founded in the heart of Chicago’s business district more than a century ago, our college has built its reputation on producing career-ready graduates who make business work in “The City That Works.” Today, more than 67 percent of our 66,888 business alumni live and work in the Chicago area.
Our strategic plan calls for our college to strengthen its bond with this extensive, local network by better engaging alumni in the life of our college. Our aim is to build a community of alumni leaders who inspire our students by guest-lecturing on campus, opening their organizations to experiential learning and job shadowing, and mentoring the future business leaders studying at our college. We plan to invite more of you to serve on our advisory boards to help guide our curriculum and programming. We also want to partner with you to host alumni networking, professional development, social and fundraising events, as well as connect you and your organizations to our centers and institutes in mutually beneficial ways. Together, we can firmly establish our college as a top choice for Chicago business education, talent recruitment, thought leadership and professional engagement.
The other pillars in our strategic plan challenge us to enhance the market-responsiveness of our programs, expand student services that support success, facilitate the recruitment and retention of top scholars, and create new cutting-edge business centers and institutes, among other goals. Our Vincentian values also commit us to providing students from diverse and financially disadvantaged backgrounds access to a high-quality, holistic, real world college education. Reaching our goals in a mission-focused way means that we will be seeking more resources to support our strategic initiatives.
What energizes me most about our new strategic plan is meeting students who embody our college’s mission. That mission pledges us to “develop socially responsible leaders and managers who are prepared to add immediate value in today’s diverse and globalized environment.” In our cover story, you’ll meet four of these young leaders who are using their DePaul business education to make a difference today on our campus, in business and in our community. These young leaders inspire us to embrace our role as Chicago’s business school.
Misty Johanson
Dean
Driehaus College of Business
by jlansber | Apr 25, 2019 | College News
The Driehaus College of Business celebrated the launch of a new digital marketing concentration in its undergraduate marketing major. From left to right: John Digles, Business Dean Misty Johanson, Jacqueline Kuehl (BUS ’87, MBA ’95) and Steve Koernig (MBA ’94). (Photo by Kathy Hillegonds)
Digital marketing talent is in high demand by organizations nationally. In fact, it is the most recruited role by marketing leaders, according to the McKinley Marketing Partners 2019 Hiring Trends Study. This trend won’t be ending anytime soon; 61 percent of the leaders surveyed said they are planning to expand their marketing teams.
To ensure that DePaul students are well prepared for these opportunities, the Driehaus College of Business has launched a digital marketing concentration in its undergraduate marketing major. DePaul announced the concentration to the business community during a Feb. 21 reception attended by more than 100 business professionals.
The program is led by faculty member and alumna Jacqueline Kuehl (BUS ’87, MBA ’95), who brings experience as a marketing consultant and executive to the role. Associate Professor of Marketing J. Steven Kelly and Marketing Chair Steve Koernig (MBA ’94) created the curriculum with input from the marketing department’s advisory board of alumni and industry leaders.
“We developed the courses based on conversations with these business leaders about the skill sets they are seeking from marketing graduates,” Kelly says. “The courses address fundamental needs in business today.”
The courses cover internet marketing and analytics, inbound and content marketing, and search engine, social media and mobile marketing, among other industry-relevant topics. Each student also is required to complete an internship in digital marketing. “With digital communications pervading every aspect of human engagement today, students with digital marketing skills have a wide range of career opportunities, from Fortune 500 companies to startups to nonprofits,” Kuehl says.
Department of Marketing advisory board member John Digles, executive vice president of the public relations firm MWWPR, attended the kickoff reception and says he supports the new concentration’s focus on digital marketing as an essential skill for marketers.
“The curriculum was developed to address social media, data analysis, audience targeting and even influencer marketing,” Digles says. “It’s an exciting start for DePaul and the students, as well as the hiring managers seeking candidates with this coveted background.”
Kuehl added: “We plan to host more events for the digital marketing community to ensure we continue to address the skill needs of businesses.”
By Robin Florzak
by jlansber | Apr 25, 2019 | College News
Forty-four percent of the U.S. population listened to a podcast in 2018, according to Nielsen. Capitalizing on the popularity of this medium, two DePaul business professors are using podcasts not only to educate, but also to enlighten listeners about issues in their respective areas of expertise: hospitality leadership and accountancy.
“The Hospitality Spirit”
Nicholas “Nick” Thomas, director of the School of Hospitality Leadership, listens as his guest Ryan Arnold, wine director for Lettuce Entertain You, talks about his career during a production of the podcast “The Hospitality Spirit,” Tuesday, July 3, 2018. (Photo by Jamie Moncrief)
“People who work in the hospitality and tourism industry have a great spirit—a sense to serve,” says Associate Professor Nicholas Thomas, director of the School of Hospitality Leadership. “The idea behind the podcast is to bring in a huge cross-section of people from the hospitality and tourism industry and have a conversation.”
Thomas created his podcast, “The Hospitality Spirit,” to drive awareness of the industry, act as a teaching tool and draw attention to programming at the School of Hospitality Leadership. Thomas has interviewed leaders from various segments of the hospitality and tourism industry, discussing with his guests their personal experiences, insights, industry trends and advice for those looking to make a career in hospitality.
“What makes this podcast so interesting is that the topics are wildly varied and unique,” says Thomas. “Whether our guests are entrepreneurs or work in food and beverage, hotel management or meeting and event planning, they bring a huge range of life experiences. As long as we are having fun and producing great content, we will keep on sharing the hospitality spirit.”
Listen to the podcast at SoundCloud (below) or Spotify and iTunes.
“Dupe of the Week”
Associate Professor of Accountancy Kelly Richmond Pope
“A ‘dupe’ occurs when you unexpectedly fall victim to something that seems natural,” says Associate Professor of Accountancy Kelly Richmond Pope, “like when you bury your loved one and the funeral home puts extra charges on your bill, or when you return an item for a gift card and it is empty because the cashier put the return on their own gift card.”
In “Dupe of the Week,” Pope and her cohost, Bill “Professor Fraud” Kresse, a Governors State University assistant professor, provide weekly stories about deception in business, politics, education, nonprofits and even love. Some of the topics are timely, like the failed Fyre Festival that resulted in a multi-million-dollar lawsuit, while others are timeless, cautionary tales.
“There are so many different types of dupes out there that our weekly short segments can be very helpful,” says Pope. “I use the podcasts to educate my students about forensic accounting, and I hope professionals can use them in the classroom, at brown-bag meetings or in training sessions.”
Pope and Kresse interview fraud experts, people who have been duped and, in some cases, the people who perpetrated the fraud. “We provide a one-of a-kind look at every aspect of a fraud,” says Pope. “This podcast not only entertains, but helps protect you from becoming a victim.”
“Dupe of the Week” is available on iTunes. Follow @dupeoftheweek on Twitter.
By Andrew Zamorski
by jlansber | Apr 25, 2019 | College News
Finance Lab Named for Alumnus Christopher L. Keeley
Members of the Keeley family (left to right)—John Keeley III, Kevin Keeley, Barbara Keeley
and Mark Keeley—join Martin Essenburg, executive director of the John L. Keeley Jr. Center
for Financial Services, and Elijah Brewer, department of finance chair, following the dedication of the Christopher L. Keeley Finance Lab. Photo: Jamie Moncrief
DePaul’s Finance Lab, where students can learn how to research and manage stock portfolios, was dedicated as the Christopher L. Keeley Finance Lab in a Feb. 7 ceremony at the business college. The lab was named in honor of the 1987 DePaul finance alumnus who died of a pulmonary embolism at age 29 in 2002. Finance Chair Elijah Brewer says the lab truly “honors the entire Keeley family for their continuing support for excellence in finance education at DePaul.” The Keeley family, who have been generous DePaul supporters for more than a decade, and the Keeley Family Foundation donated funds last fall to found the John L. Keeley Jr. Center for Financial Services, named for Christopher’s late father, a finance executive. In 2006 John L. Keeley Jr. and his wife, Barbara, endowed the Christopher L. Keeley Chair in Investment Management.
In Memoriam
Three distinguished, long-serving DePaul business professors passed away this year.
David E. Drehmer, 69, who died Feb. 5, taught at DePaul for 40 years as an associate professor of management. He also was a licensed clinical psychologist. Among his survivors is his son, Charles Drehmer, who teaches at the business college.
Phil Kemp, 73, died May 28. He served the business college in both administrative and faculty positions from 1968 until his retirement in 2007. Kemp taught courses in marketing, management and business administration, and previously directed the graduate business program.
Curtis Verschoor, 87, passed away Jan. 17. A prolific author on business ethics topics, Verschoor served as the Ledger & Quill Professor of Accountancy. He transitioned to emeritus status in 1994 after teaching at DePaul for20 years.
by jlansber | Apr 25, 2019 | Alumni Profiles
Frank S. Ptak (BUS ’65, DHL ’13)
Frank S. Ptak
My love for the city where I grew up and for DePaul, which came to my financial aid when my father died, will never end.”
RESIDENCE: Boca Raton, Fla.
OCCUPATION: I recently retired as chairman and CEO of Marmon Holdings Inc., a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. My job was to set the overall strategy for Marmon’s vast array of companies and develop sufficient management talent to implement that strategy successfully, and always with high integrity, trust and ethical behavior. Marmon is a highly decentralized, diversified industrial conglomerate with more than $8 billion in revenues in 2018. It comprises more than 100 businesses whose products range from railroad tank cars and platform trailers, to shopping carts and commercial beverage dispensers, to screws and work gloves. Berkshire Hathaway acquired Marmon in 2008, and having the opportunity to work directly for Berkshire CEO Warren Buffett was the delight of my entire career.
EDUCATION: My pursuit of a business career started at Chicago’s St. Rita High School, which offered one of the very few high school business curriculums. DePaul was very attractive to me with its high reputation in accounting and the near certainty of good job placement in the Chicago CPA firm market. This approach worked well for me, as I landed with Arthur Young & Co. immediately after graduation in 1965 and became a CPA.
MY BACKGROUND: I grew up in a highly principled and hardworking family on the South Side of Chicago. My father was a regional manager for the A&P grocery store chain. All of us, including my three siblings, worked hard to help our parents make ends meet in a typical lower middle-class family; I had a paper route starting at age 12. We didn’t have a lot of amenities then, but it was a family full of love and we always tried to have fun.
CAREER HIGHLIGHTS: After a five-year accounting career, I got my first real taste of business working as a stock market analyst and investor for two years. I went on to a series of management jobs during five years with Sara Lee Corp. Then I got my greatest career break with Illinois Tool Works, one of the most highly regarded American operating companies. I spent 30 wonderful years learning and growing, and retired as its vice chairman at the end of 2005. I joined Marmon as CEO in January 2006 after a two-week retirement. In retrospect, I guess I just enjoyed running industrial companies too much to give it up. I relished the opportunity to build something financially strong enough to take good care of a company’s three constituencies—its employees, customers, and owners.
I have watched many employees grow and develop into outstanding contributors to this cause, and I am very proud of the fact that I had something to do with their success. This is my ultimate joy and sense of accomplishment. I am very active in many Chicago philanthropic activities, including DePaul (as an Executive Committee member of the Driehaus College of Business Advisory Council) and Junior Achievement of Chicago. My love for the city where I grew up and for DePaul, which came to my financial aid when my father died, will never end.
Advice for Recent Graduates
- Do something you love.
- Don’t be afraid to take a chance.
- Strive to work with strong mentors who give you your chance to really take off.
- Never compromise on your integrity and ethics.
- Never forget to give back as you achieve your own success.
