Category Archives: Features

Elizabeth Stigler says her MBA in entrepreneurship helps her to think creatively and strategically, which is useful for succeeding in any role.

Chicago native Elizabeth Stigler (MBA ’13) originally aspired to a career in publishing when she graduated with an English degree from a small liberal arts college in 2005. For five years, Stigler held internships at the University of Chicago Press and Poetry magazine and later worked for the Poetry Foundation managing public events.

After moving to a small town in Colorado for a few years, she realized she missed Chicago. “I decided that I really wanted to go to business school and be more marketable,” Stigler says. “I thought that given where I want to take my career and what I want to do, I really needed an MBA.”

Currently Stigler serves as managing director of external relations at The Chicago Network, a nonprofit organization that unites leading professional women from a range of industries throughout the Chicago area. The role, she says, allows her to combine her English background and the business acumen she gained from her MBA coursework at DePaul.

A huge draw for Stigler in choosing to attend DePaul was the college’s Coleman Entrepreneurship Center, which launched in 2003. She also liked the college’s central location in the Chicago Loop.

“Another aspect that I really liked was the cohort structure, which offered an effective networking mix to me as a fulltime student,” she says. “I had the benefit of a close cohort during the first year, and from that solid foundation, my network grew as we took classes alongside part-time students who were new to us and who were already active in the workforce.”

Stigler pursued an MBA concentration in entrepreneurship. “We can all be entrepreneurs in some way, even if you’re not an ‘entrepreneur’ launching your own business,” she says. “Part of my role (at The Chicago Network) is thinking creatively and strategically about what partnerships we should be seeking in the community and making those connections. Just being innovative and thinking on my feet as far as what we could be doing differently is how DePaul informed how I think now in my role.”

In addition to meeting lifelong friends through her cohort, Stigler credits DePaul with giving her the confidence to speak knowledgeably with CEOs. She also recalls an operations class she took with Nezih Altay, a professor who specializes in supply chain management, for understanding how seemingly disparate elements, such as communications infrastructure and humanitarian relief logistics, are intertwined.

Stigler says, “There are all these surprising connections that my MBA background allows me to make on a daily basis as a result of the classes and exposure to all of the great professors I had at DePaul.”

By Jaclyn Lansbery

Read about DePaul MBA grads from other decades:

• The 1950s: From GI to MBA
• The 1960s: Scholars of Change
• The 1970s: MBA-Powered Leaders
• The 1980s: Chicago-Educated, World Ready
• The 1990s: Cultivating People and Profits
• The 2000s: Leaders Who Pay It Forward
• The 2010s: The Career-Changing MBA

DePaul University founded its current Master of Business Administration (MBA) program with little fanfare 70 years ago. The new degree received only a brief mention in the minutes of a business faculty meeting preserved in the Richardson Library archives. “Graduate work for the M.B.A. will begin in September and will be thirty hours with no thesis,” the minutes record. “Candidates will major in Accounting, Economics, Finance, Management and Marketing …”

Forty years earlier, Harvard University launched the first MBA program, seeking a scientific approach for teaching management at the dawn of America’s corporate age. DePaul initiated its MBA during the post-World War II economic boom, and its program differed from others by enrolling working professionals and emphasizing a practical business education—distinctions that remain today.

While the introduction of the DePaul MBA may have been modest, its impact over the past seven decades has been momentous. Among the program’s more than 25,000 alumni are generations of chief executives, board members, presidents, accounting partners, bankers, investment managers, marketing strategists, economic forecasters, real estate developers, entrepreneurs and other professionals who have served as the backbone of Chicago business. The DePaul MBA also shaped the futures of 41 professors and business professionals who are members of the business college’s faculty today. The program’s reach extends beyond Chicago, too. DePaul MBA alumni now live and work in all 50 American states and 43 countries.

We mark the 70th anniversary of the DePaul MBA through stories of alumni from each of these seven decades, which you can read below. You can also contribute your own memories at go.depaul.edu/MBA.

• The 1950s: From GI to MBA
• The 1960s: Scholars of Change
• The 1970s: MBA-Powered Leaders
• The 1980s: Chicago-Educated, World Ready
• The 1990s: Cultivating People and Profits
• The 2000s: Leaders Who Pay It Forward
• The 2010s: The Career-Changing MBA

How DePaul is Fostering Leaders of Purpose-Driven Ventures

Michael Cody (MBA ’13), co-founder of BareItAll Petfoods with his dog Mustache. Cody’s company makes treats that are good for pets and the environment.

After spending years working as a chef throughout the U.S., Michael Cody (MBA ’13) came to DePaul to study entrepreneurship and sustainable management so he could start a business that combined his two passions: animals and the environment.

Cody, an avid fisherman, learned about the increasing number of Asian carp in U.S. waterways in an environmental science class he took while seeking his MBA. Asian carp, an invasive species, endanger native fish by eating their food sources. They are now making their way to the Great Lakes.

With this environmental problem in mind, Cody and his business partner, Logan Honeycutt, began devising pet food recipes using Asian carp. They quickly found their own dogs loved the treats.

“Turning something that people perceive as trash into a moneymaker was a really appealing idea to me,” Cody says. “I hadn’t heard about (doing) that until I took the sustainability classes.”

In 2015, Cody and Honeycutt launched BareItAll Petfoods and now offer one- to seven-ingredient treats for both cats and dogs. They employ fishing crews to catch the Asian carp, and they donate a portion of BareItAll’s profits to local animal shelters.

Cody is one of a growing number of DePaul students and alumni who are starting entrepreneurial ventures driven by a purpose. Bolstered by DePaul’s entrepreneurship program and resources, and grounded in Vincentian values, these entrepreneurs are creating businesses and nonprofits that are solving problems in Chicago and beyond. As social responsibility becomes an increasingly important part of business, the Driehaus College of Business is fostering these leaders to become innovators for good.

Do Good. Do Well.

Coleman Entrepreneurship Center Executive Director Bruce Leech (MBA ’81)

We wanted to change the conversation from ‘How much money can I raise?’ to ‘What problem am I solving?’”

Since opening its doors in 2003, the Coleman Entrepreneurship Center has been helping DePaul students and alumni start and grow businesses. The center hosts year-round business development workshops, programs and events. In 2017, the center created the Purpose Pitch Competition for DePaul students and alumni.

“Our biggest event of the year has purpose right at the beginning of the name,” says Coleman Executive Director Bruce Leech (MBA ’81). “When we started our competition last year, we wanted to change the conversation from ‘How much money can I raise?’ to ‘What problem am I solving?’”

The competition fits the center’s new focus. Following a daylong retreat last year involving constituents and board members, the center’s leadership developed a strategic plan and mission statement that is reflected in its new tagline: Do Good. Do Well.

Drawing from that mission, Leech tells students and alumni that it’s important for entrepreneurs to have a sustainable, goal-directed business idea that aims to solve an existing problem. “Helping the community is in the very fabric of what DePaul is all about. We’re here to make a difference in our community,” Leech says. “We’re one square mile from anything our students would need in the way of resources to get their businesses started.”

Creating Positive Impact

How can organizations achieve purpose?

That’s the question Adam Fridman (BS ’99, MS ’03), founder of the digital marketing agency Mabbly, is attempting to answer through the ongoing research project and online platform ProHabits.

“We want to prove that if you are your best self, business outcomes will be improved,” says Adam Fridman (BS ’99, MS ’03), co-founder of Mabbly.

Now in the alpha stage, ProHabits offers three types of habit-forming activities that align with organizations’ values: ProLeadership, ProInnovation and ProFeedback. Each activity is sent via email to employees to encourage their self-actualization in hopes of improving business outcomes. The recommendations are the result of more than 500 interviews with thought leaders and entrepreneurs from around the world on their daily habits and personal growth activities.

We want to prove that if you are your best self, business outcomes will be improved,”
says Fridman, who prefers to use the word “tribe” instead of employees. “Companies will make more money, and there will be better customer service and better sales.”

The research project also informed the book “The Science of Story,” which Fridman co-wrote with Mabbly CEO Hank Ostholthoff. The book is “by and for those dedicated to building inspired organizations,” according to the Mabbly website, and outlines steps for organizations to find their purpose, ignite their tribe and create a positive impact on the world while running a successful business.

Fridman’s business philosophies stem from working in investment banking for several years before leaving to start his own business.

“I wasn’t built to sit in front of a computer for 12 to 15 hours a day, crunching numbers so that I could work to make more money,” says Fridman, who helped the Coleman Center organize the first Purpose Pitch Competition.

Now, Mabbly is committed to helping organizations tell their story through purpose-first marketing. “I think that if organizations figure out a path to help people self-actualize at work, which includes not just purpose but other aspects, they will move the world in a more positive way,” Fridman says.

Social Enterprise at DePaul

Patrick J. Murphy, professor of management and entrepreneurship at the Driehaus College of Business.

For Management and Entrepreneurship Professor Patrick J. Murphy, improving the world starts in the classroom.

Murphy, who has published six scholarly articles on social enterprise, developed the college’s first social enterprise course, which is offered in the DePaul MBA program. The course, Social Enterprise, examines the differences between social enterprise businesses and for-profit and nonprofit businesses.

Social enterprise models, Murphy says, maximize social impact while generating revenue. He offers as an example Sweet Beginnings LLC, a Chicago-based organization that employs men and women returning from incarceration to produce honey-infused and all-natural body care products.“Social enterprises are necessary because they denominate value in different kinds of ways,” says Murphy.

Just as we can measure economic value over time, we can measure social value objectively over time. We can track lower crime rates, higher education rates and other community-related data.”

In 2017, Murphy organized DePaul’s first Social Enterprise Pitch Competition, where students pitched business ideas that supported a social good. Three DePaul student winners received $8,000 in scholarships, as well as $1,800 worth of website development services.

Murphy pointed to DePaul’s Vincentian values as fostering business students who want to do good for the community. “Our culture at DePaul is almost like a strategic weapon for doing world-class work in this area.” He also ties the popularity of starting social enterprises to generational shifts. “Doing good for the community today often starts with young people researching the world around them based on personal interests and eventually finding unique ways to embed what inspires them into their university education.”

Doing Good in the Nonprofit Sector

Helen Hammond Redding (MBA ’78)

Helen Hammond Redding’s (MBA ’78) purpose for doing good in the community stems from a personal tragedy.

In 2003, Helen’s youngest son, Christopher Redding, went jogging while visiting home during Thanksgiving break from college. His parents had learned he suffered from exercise-induced asthma one year before, but never knew how important it was for him to carry his inhaler. That morning, Christopher died from an asthma attack.

Years later, Redding retired from a long career in banking and founded the Christopher D. Redding Youth Asthma Foundation.

“When Christopher died of the asthma attack while he was jogging, it just hit us that we were not educated enough to know that Christopher potentially had a deadly disease,” Redding says. “So we started our foundation to educate other parents and the community so that they would not have to suffer the same tragedy.”

The foundation, which Helen operates with a nine-member board of directors, including her husband and middle son, primarily educates people in under-served Chicago-area communities about asthma management practices. It partners with Mobile Care Chicago to bring asthma vans to schools and community centers. The foundation also works with the Respiratory Health Association to support an asthma management curriculum in those schools and communities.

When I go and talk to community groups, I impress upon these parents and caregivers how critical it is that they, as well as their children, get educated,” Redding says.

“That’s why we go out and try to do as many seminars and workshops as we can, even if there are only 10 or three people there. We just want to get the word out that asthma can kill if it isn’t managed, and there are some things you can do personally to help your child or relative who has asthma.”

Redding’s foundation also has awarded 17 scholarships and educational grants totaling about $25,000 to student-athletes with asthma across the country and has provided sponsorships to allow young children to attend asthma camps. She hopes one day to own and operate a summer camp for kids with asthma, as well as a mobile asthma van that will serve athletic and recreational venues in under-served communities.

“It’s a tragic disease, and compared to violence in Chicago, (asthma) doesn’t really get the attention that it deserves,” says Helen, who previously worked as the state director of community development for Citibank Illinois, where she helped secure funding and grants for Chicago nonprofits. “We’re a small foundation, but we’re doing some good.”

Innovation in the Special-Needs Community

Elizabeth (MBA ’15) and Melissa Ames

We’re creating an ecosystem of impact by providing value to three different customer bases. Our products and the way we do business are purpose-driven.”

As winners of the 2017 Purpose Pitch Competition, Elizabeth Ames (MBA ’15) and her sister Melissa’s goal is to help children and adults with special needs, one subscription box at a time.

Their for-profit business, EarlyVention, is a monthly subscription service that sends a box of adapted activities designed to help parents engage with their children who have autism and different abilities.

A special education teacher and autism home therapy consultant, Melissa knows firsthand the challenges parents face as they try engaging their children. “There are a lot of materials for parents,” Melissa says. “But everything I could find was downloadable, not ready-made, so I would send links to parents and say, ‘This is a great worksheet, try using this with your child or these visuals.’ Then I’d follow up and ask, ‘How did it go?’ And they’d tell me, ‘Well, I never got to do it, and I didn’t have time to make the materials.’”

To answer this need, Melissa began designing materials for parents at home in the evenings. The sisters’ mother, who worked as director of special education for LaGrange Highlands School District 106, based in LaGrange, Ill., suddenly passed away from cancer. She had always encouraged them to start a business like EarlyVention.

Elizabeth began working on a business development plan with her sister after enrolling in the DePaul MBA program. They received guidance from business professors, classmates and the Coleman Entrepreneurship Center. The sisters continued to raise funds through several pitch contests before winning the Purpose Pitch Competition.

“Purpose Pitch gave us enough security to know that we can keep going with some extra cushion,” Elizabeth says. “It provided a great safety net, and it will provide us with a better website, which is our storefront, so it’s only going to enhance our business.”

EarlyVention also engages adults with autism and special needs to help create the materials in the boxes. The sisters would like to ship the boxes internationally and create YouTube videos that demonstrate how parents can use the materials with their children.

“Not only are our products directly benefiting children and their parents, as well as caregivers, therapists and teachers who love and care about them, but we also have the purpose of providing vocational opportunities to adults with special needs,” Elizabeth says. “We’re creating an ecosystem of impact by providing value to three different customer bases. Our products and the way we do business are purpose-driven.”

By Jaclyn Lansbery | Photos by Kathy Hillegonds

After graduating, Ryan Zieman (BUS ’13) moved to Madrid to teach English, travel and share his experiences in a blog.

Ryan Zieman (BUS ’13) embraces a life that is rich in experiences.

Shortly after earning his marketing degree from DePaul, Zieman moved to Madrid because he yearned to live in a Spanish-speaking country and to travel. For two years he taught English, trekked to a dozen European countries and shared his experiences in a travel blog.

Zieman returned to Chicago in 2015 and is now a social media consultant for McDonald’s. Outside of work, he enjoys meeting friends for drinks or dinner three or four times a week.

He does not own a car, and instead uses Uber and other ride-sharing apps to get around. He knows the value of owning a home, but is holding off on buying one for now. Although he likes shopping, he doesn’t invest in extravagant things.

The things I do splurge on are usually food, wine and traveling,” he says.

As a member of the millennial generation, Zieman is not alone in preferring to spend more of his time and money on experiences, like travel and eating out, than on things, such as cars and pricey possessions. More than 3 in 4 millennials (78 percent) say they would choose to spend money on a desirable experience or event over buying something desirable, according to a Harris poll conducted for Eventbrite. The survey also found that 72 percent want to increase their spending on experiences in the future.

Millennial spending preferences are a potent force in the marketplace. Millennials number 80 million and surpassed baby boomers as America’s largest generation last year. Born between 1980 and 2000, millennials are entering their prime spending years and have a collective purchasing power of $600 billion annually. Accenture estimates that this will grow to $1.4 trillion by 2020.

The millennial generation’s hunger for consuming experiences, plus their increasing ability to spend, is feeding the growth of the experience-driven economy. To thrive in this new environment, professionals in a wide range of industries— from marketing and retail to hospitality and real estate—are radically changing how they do business.

Valuing What You Do, Not What You Own

Associate Professor of Marketing Sue Fogel

What leads many millennials to seek experiences over stuff?

“For the baby boomer generation, which was pre-internet, the way to show status was the number of cars you had in the driveway, the types of cars, how large your house was, where your house was located. Consumer goods were a way to secure and legitimize your status in society,” says James Mourey, DePaul assistant professor of marketing and author of “Urge: Why You Really Want What You Want (and How to Make Everyone Want What You’ve Got).” “For young people now, that’s not necessarily the case. They grew up in a time when everything you do is being tracked online. So on Facebook, on Instagram, you’re keeping track of your life. You are sharing what you do versus what you own.”

DePaul Associate Professor of Marketing Sue Fogel says the phenomenon also is tied to how millennial consumers view physical things, which can lose perceived value over time, versus memories of experiences, which can be relived in the mind and online.

Experiences are valuable because you can consume them again and again,”  Fogel says.

The rise of the sharing economy—from Uber and Divvy bicycles to collectives that lend everything from tools to kitchen equipment—also reflects changing attitudes about owning things, especially among millennials, she adds. “You don’t personally have to own something to benefit from it. There are things you can take advantage of when you need them and forget about when you don’t.”

Instagrammable Moments

Jeff Cloud (BUS ’97), director of digital platforms at GGP, says today’s malls are being infused with opportunities for social media-friendly experiences.

The millennials’ less-is-more lifestyle can present a challenge for traditional shopping malls and their retail tenants. But Jeff Cloud (BUS ’97) and his colleagues at GGP are turning that challenge into opportunity by transforming mall shopping into an experience.

GGP manages a portfolio of 115 premium retail properties across the nation, including Water Tower Place, Oakbrook Center and Northbrook Court locally. “Our core business is to lease space, but we spend a significant percentage of our marketing dollars on consumer marketing in an effort to make our tenants as successful as possible,” says Cloud, director of digital platforms at GGP.

One of GGP’s marketing priorities is to make the consumer experience engaging “throughout the shopper journey, from couch to closet,” Cloud says. It begins, he explains, when a consumer, sitting on her couch at home, is inspired to buy something new. It proceeds through her trip to the mall, finding parking, navigating the mall, making a purchase, sharing the experience on social media and then heading home, where she places the item in her closet. For millennials, mobile devices are the go-to guide for this journey. To make this experience more engaging, Cloud says, GGP is investing in search engine optimization, digital advertising and social media, as well as responsive website design that features retail offers, mall event information, interactive maps and parking availability.

GGP is also strategically curating its tenants to make sure they appeal to experience-seekers. “The mall of yesterday was very heavy on the apparel side, but now we are changing that environment to be much more experiential,” Cloud says. GGP has designated more than $1 billion nationally for mall upgrades that include chic food halls, bowling alleys, fitness centers, outdoor lawn areas and movie venues.

We want to provide an environment and experience that’s Instagrammable,” Cloud says.

Surprisingly, the mix of mall tenants increasingly includes retailers that used to be online only. Amazon has a kiosk at Water Tower Place where it sells its Echo smart speaker. Fabletics, the e-commerce athletic wear company, is investing in bricks-and-mortar stores in several malls. “We embrace it because there is a positive correlation between the two (online and in-store retailing),” Cloud explains. “What we’ve found is that a tenant’s e-commerce sales increase in trade areas where a store is opened and decrease where a store has closed.” As a result, online retailers “are seeing the benefit of having the physical format as well.”

A Boon for Hospitality

Allyson Murphy (BUS ’15) is front office manager at Hotel EMC2, a boutique hotel that features two robots, Leo & Cleo, who serve as personal assistants to guests. This novel experience and the art-and-technology theme of the hotel appeals to millennials (Read more).

For hospitality enterprises, the growth of the experience economy is a boon for business. To capture the millennial dollar, however, hotels, restaurants and other industry players need to tailor their experiences to millennial values and lifestyles, says Nick Thomas, assistant professor at DePaul’s School of Hospitality Leadership.

Take hotel rooms. “Baby boomers and Generation Xers look for consistency,” Thomas says. “They are more likely to book through hotel websites, and they want recognition through loyalty programs. They are looking for traditional hotel amenities—a large desk, a big bed, a big closet, big bathroom. The hotel room is an extension of their home.”

By contrast, millennials shop around for the best deals through sites like Booking.com and don’t care as much about loyalty points or standard in-room amenities. “They are looking to come in, drop off their bags and then get out into the neighborhood, into the experience,” Thomas says. They also seek hotels with quirky decor and unusual services that create unique experiences, he says. For example, millennials are flocking to the Albert Einstein-themed Hotel EMC2 in Chicago, where two robots, Cleo and Leo, bring towels and toothbrushes to guests’ rooms.

As for eating out, millennials like it—a lot! A Food Institute analysis found that millennials spend 44 percent of their food dollars—nearly $3,000 annually—on eating out, a 10.7 percent increase from 2010 to 2014.

Driving the choice of where they spend these dollars, Thomas says, is the millennial quest to experience food from around the world and to know that the ingredients are healthy and sustainable.

Nate Arkush (MBA ’15), co-founder and managing partner of the Milwaukee restaurant FreshFin Poké, agrees. His millennial customers seek a high-quality but casual dining experience with food that is customizable and healthy. “Our menu offers a build-your-own option with countless combinations,” he says. “We see a higher percentage of millennials designing their own meals because it allows them to be a part of the experience and have some ownership in how their meal tastes.”

Renting Experiences

“From the economic mobility perspective, (millennials) might want to be more flexible, to be able to take a job in a different city and not get tied down with a mortgage,” says Geoff Smith, executive director of the DePaul Institute for Housing Studies.

Millennials’ preference for experiences over things is having a big impact on one of the milestones of the American Dream—homeownership.

“In Chicago, what you see is a pretty pronounced shift toward renting,” says Geoff Smith, executive director of the Institute for Housing Studies (IHS) at DePaul, which researches local housing market and affordability trends. Renters ages 25 to 34 accounted for 31.2 percent of all Cook County renter households in 2014, up from 25.7 percent in 2007, according to an IHS report.

Lifestyle choices and financial concerns certainly contribute to this trend—millennials marry later on average, and those who took out college loans may want to pay down that debt before plunging into homeownership. But many millennials who can afford to buy are still choosing to rent. “In particular what we noticed is big growth in renting by higher-income millennials, those earning 120 percent or more of the median income,” Smith says.

Renting in Chicago is appealing because it provides close access to city experiences and career opportunities, as well as the option to move easily to have these experiences elsewhere, Smith says. “They want to live in walkable neighborhoods, near transit, where there is access to jobs—and a lot of the jobs are increasingly in the core of downtown Chicago. From the economic mobility perspective, they might want to be more flexible, to be able to take a job in a different city and not get tied down with a mortgage.”

Developers are responding by building more rental properties with smaller units along transit routes. Smaller units mean more profit per square foot for developers, while offering millennial renters more affordable options that fit their lifestyle, Smith notes. “If you are going to spend most of your time outside of the apartment anyway, then maybe it’s not important to have a lot of amenities in the apartment, although you may want the amenities in the rest of the development.”

This trend reaches the next level with co-living—apartment-sharing buildings that rent by the room. Over the summer, New York-based Common opened Common Damen in Chicago’s Ukrainian Village neighborhood. The 12-bedroom development not only offers renters fully furnished, utilities-included rooms, but also the services of a full-time community manager who plans events and outings for residents.

“There’s clearly more demand than supply, so we’re going to keep growing to meet the demand,” Brad Hargreaves, Common’s CEO, told Crain’s Chicago Business. “It’s a huge, huge market.”

Mining Digital Gold, Meeting Millennial Expectations

“We want brands to create delightful and seamless digital experiences,” says Eric Acevedo (BUS ’08), business development specialist for Solstice.

Whether you are marketing a place to live, eat, visit or shop, millennials expect brands to create authentic, customer-centric experiences for them, says Eric Acevedo (BUS ’08), business development specialist for Solstice, a digital innovation and consulting firm that helps companies develop new products and adapt to new technologies.

“As millennials, we spend insane amounts of time and money on our digital devices and connected to the internet. We expect brands to have their act together when delivering experiences digitally, and a lot of them are falling behind,” says Acevedo, a millennial himself. “We want brands to create delightful and seamless digital experiences, which includes exceptional customer service online, timely deals, relevant recommendations, savvy social media and the use of emerging technologies to bridge the gap between offline and online.

“Increasingly, forward-thinking brands are leveraging new technologies like machine learning, artificial intelligence, the ‘internet of things’ and even augmented and virtual reality to deliver delightful digital experiences and connected products driven and personalized by data,” Acevedo says. “That’s where the gold is right now, and companies are working hard to mine that gold and build digital experiences for their customers.”

By Robin Florzak

Six Stories of Alumnae Success

Joanna M. Bauza (MBA ’01) (center), president of the Cervantes Group, teaches a course in leadership at DePaul.

Since 1917, women have been studying in DePaul’s business school and carving out challenging careers for themselves. To commemorate this historic 100th anniversary milestone, six highly successful alumnae reflect on their professional lives and share advice for the next generation of women leaders.

Traversing the world and making meaningful contributions in diverse industries, these remarkable women have broken barriers and advanced their careers with sure footing on uneven terrain. Indeed, a new national initiative among more than 30 influential corporate CEOs called Paradigm for Parity launched recently to close the gender gap in business and create a new normal that brings power, status and opportunity into balance for women and men.

Meanwhile, a new book by Joann Lublin, management news editor for the Wall Street Journal, explores the stories of 52 female executives, laying bare both the progress women in leadership have made and the obstacles that remain on their path to equality on the career ladder. In “Earning It: Hard-Won Lessons from Trailblazing Women at the Top of the Business World,” Lublin found that resilience, persistence and confidence were among the most valuable traits of women executives.

The women profiled here possess these qualities and have powerful advice for women following in their footsteps:

• Emilia Dimenco (BUS ’80, MBA ’83)
• Monique Nelson (MBA ’03)
• Carrie Meghie (BUS ’96)
• Joanna M. Bauza (MBA ’01)
• Diane Pearse (MBA ’86)
• Carol Bramson (BUS ’89)

Stories by Denise Mattson

Carol Bramson
Entrepreneur, Private Equity,
Investor and CEO
(BUS ’89)

The style of culture I like to put in place is focused on transparency and employee empowerment.”

From her first job at a venture capital company that invested in health care to her latest challenge as CEO of a natural pet food business, Carol Bramson has made a career out of keeping others healthy.

Growing up in a health-focused household, she developed positive habits that she still maintains today. From clean eating to running, cycling and yoga, Bramson stays active in her personal life to help her stay sharp in her
profes­sional life. This health and wellness orientation made her a great match for her first job at a venture capital firm. “I just loved that we were investing in health-care-focused businesses that had a direct and positive impact on people’s lives.”

When First Chicago Equity Capital recruited her into a leadership-training program for her next job, she found fast success, impressing a supervisor who became a mentor. “He basically walked me over to the head of the private equity group and gave me a glowing reference,” recalls Bramson.

After returning from maternity leave a couple of years later, she became a partner in that group—the only woman in a practice of six. Although outnumbered by her male colleagues, Bramson remembers a supportive environment. “The culture of the group was about empowerment and teamwork. It felt like a family, and we were able to accomplish great things together.”

Bramson went on to build an exciting career by finding opportunities that matched her values and vision. Sometimes she found it in existing companies; other times she had to build opportunity by creating a culture of employee empowerment and innovation. “I consider myself a business builder, and for me, aligning a company’s culture with the vision and mission is an incredibly powerful experience.”

When she jumped from board member to CEO of a juvenile products company, she found some staff had lost their voice, and it was up to her to reinvigorate them. “To me, not having these brilliant engineers feel empowered enough to confidently speak their minds and share their personal and professional opinions was a great disservice to the business and their colleagues. We quickly moved to change that and it had a significant impact on the turnaround of the company.”

“The style of culture I like to put in place is focused on transparency and employee empowerment,” says Bramson. “We can talk about anything—and we should. Every environment I’m in represents an opportunity to seek out talent and to support those people to bring out their best.”

More success stories:

• Emilia Dimenco (BUS ’80, MBA ’83)
• Monique Nelson (MBA ’03)
• Carrie Meghie (BUS ’96)
• Joanna M. Bauza (MBA ’01)
• Diane Pearse (MBA ’86)

Diane Pearse
CEO
Hickory Farms
(MBA ’86)

Good leaders need to be strong, smart, decisive and authentic.”

Was there a delicious basket of goodies from Hickory Farms shared at one of your holiday gatherings last year? Is there a Redbox DVD sitting on your counter? Do you get excited when you get a gift in the iconic black-and-white box from Crate & Barrel? Have you filled your tank with BP Amoco gas recently?

These are some of the omnipresent brands Diane Pearse has helped shape during her career. Currently the CEO and president of Hickory Farms, LLC, Pearse has witnessed a world of change for women employees and women leaders during her 35-plus years in business.

“Earlier in my career, I needed to fit the mold to show I was part of the team,” she explains. There were times she compromised who she was to fit in, she says, like the time in her late 20s, in the male-dominated world of oil and gas, when an offensive cartoon of a Playboy bunny was shown at a meeting to make a point.

“I had to laugh along, despite the fact that I was mortified,” she says. “I couldn’t go to HR and make a complaint. I had to be one of the boys and go along. It was a time when women were patiently gaining momentum in the workplace.”

At times, she stifled her warm personality. “I hug people,” she confesses, but that was not acceptable in the business environment of the 1980s.

The business environment has evolved since then. “It is OK to show vulnerability and say that I don’t know how to do (this thing) or that I need someone’s help,” she notes, and she does these things without hesitation in her career today. This is a stark contrast to the business atmosphere three decades ago. Then, she recalls, “Leaders thought that strength came from a façade and that they couldn’t show weakness.”

That’s one reason why authenticity is so important to her. “Authenticity lets people know who you are, what they can expect from you and that you are being true to your word.” It’s the reason people she worked with at previous jobs followed her to Hickory Farms. “They say, ‘I’m here because of Diane. I’m doing this for you.’” Being genuine motivates staff to give something extra to get the job done right, she believes.

“Millennial women don’t realize how different it is now,” Pearse says. “Today, women are looked at for our work. We have an equal opportunity to rise in our careers, just as the man sitting next to us does. We share household and child responsibilities with our partner and don’t have to choose whose career will be put on hold. Millennial women can relish the fact that so many women before them made the opportunities of today possible.”

Yet, Pearse believed the traits of a good leader are the same no matter one’s gender. “Good leaders need to be strong, smart, decisive and authentic.

More success stories:

• Emilia Dimenco (BUS ’80, MBA ’83)
• Monique Nelson (MBA ’03)
• Carrie Meghie (BUS ’96)
• Joanna M. Bauza (MBA ’01)
• Carol Bramson (BUS ’89)

Joanna M. Bauza
President and Co-Founder
The Cervantes Group
(MBA ’01)

You have to know how to work as a team. You have to lead people to one goal.”

Family businesses are in Joanna Bauza’s bloodline. This third-generation entrepreneur raised in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico, learned about business from her grand-parents and parents. She recalls breaking a customer’s credit card by pressing too hard to make an impression on the manual card reader while working in her parents’ hardware store as a teen.

Today she doesn’t need to work so hard to make an impression.

The success of The Cervantes Group, a multinational, multi-million-dollar business she co-founded with her husband, speaks for itself. The technology talent acquisition and services company ranked No. 1,465 on the Inc. 5000 list of the fastest-growing private companies in the United States, as well as one of its top Hispanic companies.

Bauza is comfortable as a female executive on the international stage. She has traveled the world for both business and sport: the former as a business owner with offices in Puerto Rico, Spain and Mexico, the latter as the No. 1 ranked tennis player in Puerto Rico.

“I relate everything back to tennis,” she says. “Sports and business are very similar. You have to know how to work as a team. You have to lead people to one goal. You need mental toughness, and you cannot lose faith when things don’t look good. When you are losing 6-2, 4-2, it doesn’t mean that the game is over. You can stay strong and try to find your opponent’s weakness. You keep striving, keep pushing and never quit.”

Athletes excel at career transitions that require them to pivot, Bauza believes. “You go through different chapters in your life. You have to successfully close one chapter and start another, but you bring all that knowledge and experience to the next one.”

Bauza encourages students at DePaul, where she teaches a class in leadership, to emulate this practice. “I tell students, ‘Where you are right now will be very different from where you will be in five years.’” She advises them to bring their special experiences and accomplishments forward to apply them in a fresh context.

In Bauza’s iteration of the family business, responsibilities are split by professional strengths. Her husband focuses on business development functions for their organization, while her background as a programmer and web developer positions her as the technical expert on clients’ staffing needs.

Bauza is mother to a 12-year-old girl and 10-year-old boy. Her best advice for balancing family and business is to “have self-determination, be forward-looking and always be a great leader. You never stop learning or growing.”

More success stories:

• Emilia Dimenco (BUS ’80, MBA ’83)
• Monique Nelson (MBA ’03)
• Carrie Meghie (BUS ’96)
• Diane Pearse (MBA ’86)
• Carol Bramson (BUS ’89)

Carrie Meghie
Co-President, Becker Ventures
Founder, Jackson Chance Foundation
(BUS ’96)

I never expect more from anyone than I expect from myself.”

Carrie Meghie takes family matters to a new level. She and her sister Jill Mast are co-presidents of Becker Ventures, the real estate investment holding company their father started. The company now owns the Hard Rock Hotel Chicago and a 41-story luxury apartment building at 200 N. Michigan Ave. Meghie and her husband, Terry, extended the family business connections by co-founding the offshoot Becker Entertainment group, which has developed three brands, one of which—the Jamaican restaurant Mr. Brown’s Lounge—is embedded in Terry’s Caribbean roots and features his brother as executive chef.

Yet the family matter dearest to her heart is the Jackson Chance Foundation, a nonprofit she and Terry launched to provide free parking at Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago for the families of babies in the neonatal intensive care unit. Their late son, Jackson, spent 10 months fighting a devastating lung condition at the hospital, where nearby parking can cost more than $50 a day. Meghie chairs the board of the foundation, carving out time she would have spent with Jackson “to care for his memory” by helping other families facing similar hardships.

For her leadership of the foundation she earned honors as a CNN Hero and a Chicago Magazine Chicagoan of the Year in 2016. In 2017, the program will expand to Northwest­ern Medicine/Prentice Women’s Hospital.

Meghie is a decisive woman who knows how to lead, from managing 200 employees at the Hard Rock Hotel to performing the ownership representative role at her new residential development. “I lead by example,” she says. “I never expect more from anyone than I expect from myself. I believe people are the most important asset in any company and in every industry,” she notes, adding that they must be valued, appreciated and recognized.

Because her entry into the business came as the owner’s daughter, she found some people underestimated her abilities. “It was challenging, and I felt like I had more to prove. It gave me greater determination to do a good job.”

Twenty years later, after netting their own business successes, Meghie and her sister work on balancing their families and careers. “There’s a lot of talk about doing it all or having it all. I don’t think that’s possible. Something has to give, and it’s going to change over time,” Meghie says.

Due to their young families, Meghie and her sister are in a business mainte­nance stage, foregoing certain opportunities now and scheduling growth in the future when they anticipate a better work-life balance.

More success stories:

• Emilia Dimenco (BUS ’80, MBA ’83)
• Monique Nelson (MBA ’03)
• Joanna M. Bauza (MBA ’01)
• Diane Pearse (MBA ’86)
• Carol Bramson (BUS ’89)

Monique Nelson
CEO, UWG
(MBA ’03)

Women need to ask for what they want, and if they don’t get it, they can go build it themselves.”

Monique Nelson has parlayed an early interest in the entertainment industry, which gave her an opportunity to work with artists John Legend, Common and Madonna, into a career as the influential CEO of one of the oldest black-owned marketing and advertising agencies in America.

Nelson, a classically trained singer and dancer who grew up in Brooklyn, assumed the helm of UWG in 2012. Today, companies like Ford, Colgate and Pfizer seek UWG’s expertise when they need a cultural navigator to reach a diverse customer base.

Nelson’s proving grounds were at International Paper in Chicago during the mid-1990s. In their quest to help the company sell more paper, her sales and marketing team recommended expanding the basic line of yellow Post-it notes to include the brightly colored options available today.

UWG (or UniWorld Group, Inc.) was founded in 1969 as African-American, Latino, Asian and LGBT communities began to emerge as consumer markets, according to Nelson. “We believe in talking to somebody, not every­body,” Nelson says. “Understanding diverse consumers is not just giving them a canned message, but talking to them in the right place, in the right space and in the right context.”

As a woman leader in business today, Nelson finds herself more the exception than the rule.

“There are a lot of women in our industry, but not at the top of the house,” Nelson recognizes. “That concerns me because most consumers are women, and we add dimension to a room.”

Nelson had many mentors and sponsors who supported her rise in business. “They were oftentimes my tie-breaker or the truth that I wasn’t prepared to tell myself. They see things in you that you may not want to see, or, when you are down on yourself, you should have seen,”

Nelson explains. “One of my mentors told me, ‘You’re enough, stop worrying about what everybody thinks.’ That was huge to me. Stop worrying about being a girl, stop worrying that they are all guys, stop worrying that they are all white. You’re enough.”

More women will reach the top ranks of business when they understand that they are enough, Nelson believes. “Women need to ask for what they want, and if they don’t get it, they can go build it themselves,” she urges. “You create your own destiny.”

More success stories:

• Emilia Dimenco (BUS ’80, MBA ’83)
• Carrie Meghie (BUS ’96)
• Joanna M. Bauza (MBA ’01)
• Diane Pearse (MBA ’86)
• Carol Bramson (BUS ’89)