Tag: classroom speakers

ExxonMobil has been very busy connecting with Olin students on campus this Fall!
First, David Levy, Controller, Chemicals Division, and Washington University Alum, flew from Texas to present at the Finance Platform class, taught by Todd Milbourn. He also hosted a luncheon for MBA students, where he shared some valuable industry insights and gave pieces of career advice to those in attendance.

David Levy (EN 1984), hosting luncheon for Olin MBA students

Following David Levy’s visit, a group of four ExxonMobil professionals and Olin Alumni: Jake Dulle (MBA 2008), Ryan Jennings (MBA 2012), Bridget Karn (MBA 2011) and Rob Wilson (MBA 1991), came on our campus to host info sessions and conduct interviews. An active recruiter at Olin, ExxonMobil hired four MBA students for full-time positions and three interns this past academic year.

Rob Wilson and Dean Gupta

In addition to hiring Olin talent, ExxonMobil has been actively supporting MBA students through their Departmental Grants Program. This year again, they offered a generous donation to support Olin MBA Programs.

Image: ExxonMobil website

Bridget Blaise-Shamai, MBA’92, vice president of customer loyalty and insight at American Airlines, flew through campus on October 9 to share her expertise with students.

Bridget Blaise-Shamai

She spoke in two sessions of MKT 576A – Consumer Behavior, detailing how there is an emotional spectrum in customer loyalty, along with a competitive fare market. Utilizing the data she receives to make better choices for customers is a large portion of her job.

Loyalty means increased profits. And loyal customers are more forgiving, which is quite valuable in the airline industry, where customers will experience dissatisfaction due to external forces like weather or equipment malfunction.

The Freshman Women’s Dean Scholars invited Blaise-Shamai for a short afternoon gathering where she was able to share about her industry and speak candidly with the freshmen.

Blaise-Shamai was also able to visit with Dean Mahendra Gupta, a throwback Thursday for sure, as she sat in his first class when he started as a professor at Olin.

Olin’s new program degree focused on Big Data, Master of Science in Customer Analytics (MSCA), held its first “Thought Leader Speaker Series”.

Justin Honaman, Managing Partner, Consumer Goods & Retail at Teradata, traveled from Atlanta, Georgia, to kick-off the series and meet with the students who enrolled this Fall in this innovative program. Mary Gros, from Teradata’s University Relations, was also in attendance.

Honaman kicked-off the presentation by sharing his background and creative hobbies (in addition to being analytics’ expert, he is also an author, singer and songwriter), and followed with insights on Teradata’s journey from data warehousing to advanced data analytics company.

Hadoop, cloud, global analytics… In the world where “big data is everywhere”, bringing all the consumer information into one place and being able to interpret it and analyze is a huge competitive advantage. That’s why students who have an understanding of data driven business and metrics will be particularly valuable in the job marketplace, Honaman pointed out.

MSCA students will have the opportunity to gain more insights directly from the corporate world, as the “Thought Leader Speaker Series” will host speakers from companies like Ernst & Young, Nestle Purina PetCare or Accenture in the upcoming weeks.

About MSCA
Launched this Fall in partnership with IBM, the MSCA program is run by Seethu Seetharaman, PhD, the W. Patrick McGinnis Professor of Marketing. Click here to learn more.

Developing leadership skills is a part and parcel of every business school’s curriculum.Nevertheless, no program can replicate real-life stories nor hearing first-hand from CEOs about their personal experiences.

Bob Chapman, Chairman & CEO, Barry-Wehmiller, kicked-off this year’s Defining Moments speaker series.

But Olin students participating in the “Defining Moments” course taught by Professors Stuart Bunderson and Kurt Dirks do have this unique opportunity. 

A group of successful and accomplished leaders visit the class to share how their values and their choices shaped their careers. They talk about their mentors, give insights from their personal history, and point to a handful of “defining moments” that determined the trajectory of their careers.

This year, the speakers include: 

• Bob Chapman, Chairman & CEO, Barry-Wehmiller
• Dave Peacock, Former President, Anheuser-Busch
• John Mozeliak, Senior Vice President and General Manager, St. Louis Cardinals
• Eric Greitens, CEO, The Mission Continues
• Maxine Clark, Founder, Build-A-Bear Workshop and Chair of Build-A-Bear Workshop Foundation
• George Bauer, Chairman & CEO, GPB Group, Ltd.
• Arnold Donald, CEO, Carnival Corporation

Video: Students talk about Defining Moments Course.

Videos courtesy of WUSTL Public Affairs.