Fall - Thunderbird Magazine

Fall 2005
Evolution at
Thunderbird
President Cabrera
launches historic
transformation
Magazine
Amazon
Grace
Alumnus races to
reach river’s source
Télésonique
booms
A David takes on
a telecom Goliath

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thunderbird : fall : 2005
4 Agenda
Homecoming Alumni gather in Glendale for an artful weekend.
European Reunion T-birds frolic on Lake Geneva and Mont Blanc.
Because It’s There Two alumni on a quest for the Seven Summits.
Global Citizenship Thunderbird establishes a philanthropic office.
Prague Graduation Václav Havel addresses our newest graduates.
On the Cover
Six illustrations
were created by the
artist David Lesh to
represent the basic
Thunderbird definition,
“Truly Global,”
along with the five
pillars that support it
and that define the
School’s core values.
The cover illustration
represents “Enterprising
Spirit,” the
pillar that recognizes
Thunderbird’s aim of
nurturing the entrepreneurial
desires
and adventurous
spirit in its students.
18 Thunderbird’s Evolution
After a year of analysis and planning, Dr. Angel
Cabrera is leading a major transformation of the
School that includes new faculty, new curriculum
and new plans for the future.
26 Amazon Grace
James Lynch ’77 and a group of intrepid adventurers traveled 10,000 kilometers through
deadly terrain in a quest to be the first to reach the source of the Amazon by vehicle.
34 Télésonique Booms
Adel Labib ’83 aims to break not the sound barrier but the monopolistic grip that
state-supported monoliths have on the telecommunication market. His upstart company
is making waves in Switzerland, his adopted home.
40 Faculty Focus
Sales is dead Value-based selling is the key to sales within the IT industry.
India telecoms What lessons can be learned from India’s deregulation efforts?
45 Chapter News
Texas Give ’em The Lone Star State’s chapters band together to raise at least
$100,000 for an endowed scholarship.
Blazing fun Thunderbirds gather for the celebration of Saint Jean at an ancient
castle outside Paris.
48 Classnotes
Afghan lending Daniel Gies ’99 dodged rockets to bring loans to farmers throughout
the war-torn country of Afghanistan.
Artistic outreach A stint with the Peace Corps in Nicaragua gave Chantele White ’96
an idea for helping local artisans.
Rising star As an on-air reporter for CNBC in Tokyo, Yuka Tanimoto ’04 is up early and
moving at full speed all day.
Higher calling By recycling cell phones, Seth Heine ’99 has found a way to help people
in developing nations while making money.
Daredevil marketing When not racing motorcycles or paragliding, Babs Ryan ’91 is
helping Fortune 500 companies revolutionize their marketing.
56 Forum
Use the mystique Alumni need to band together and use the power of the
“Thunderbird mystique” to support the School during this time of change.

letters
Back in
the USSR
DENNIS
Hopple is
right on!!
His Forum article,
“Let’s put Russia
back on the map,”
was a shocker to me.
Had it ever been
taken off the map at
Thunderbird? There
are three countries
whose interlaced
geopolitics, demographics,
economics,
and natural resources
will shape
the 21st century: the
United States, Russia
and China. I will
never forget the
statement made in
1958 by the venerable
Professor William
Schurz at the height
of the Cold War:
“Not in my lifetime,
but most likely in
yours, we will be allied
with Russia
against China.”
Lenin said Russia
progresses “one step
forward, and one
step backward.” Today
I’d say it is three
steps forward and
two backward. In
Russia, that is
progress. Our inability
to recognize this
hesitant dance into
the future for a
country that has
been an autocracy
(read dictatorship)
for a thousand years
is self-inflicted injury.
I am on to my
second business venture
in 14 years
there, and a resident
for six. My Russian
CEO is a Duke
EMBA graduate. As
Hopple said, it “isn’t
for everybody,” but
it surely should be a
top agenda item for
Thunderbird.
Thanks for a great
magazine.
Frederick R.
Andresen ’58
Man at
the helm
IJUST finished
reading the
spring 2005 issue
of the Thunderbird
magazine. It was
well done and I
particularly enjoyed
reading the articles
concerning Dr.
Cabrera and his
plans for the future.
Thunderbird is fortunate
to have him
at the helm. I would
like to point out one
minor error. It said
that the first graduating
class was 1948.
The first class graduated
in 1947. I
should know, having
participated.
Joseph Klein ’47
On Brand
America
THANK you
for an interesting
look at
Brand America in
the spring 2005 issue.
I can’t help but
think that there is a
piece of the American
brand that the
best market research
will never be able to
decipher. That, simply,
is a quiet relief
deep in the hearts of
people around the
world in knowing
that the single
largest fighting machine
in the world is
also the single greatest
instrument of
freedom in the history
of man. Free
people move the
market, push companies
to produce
quality, and create
market forces that
make prices competitive.
Those people
are the quiet global
majority and America
is the brand
they trust.
Eric Meyer ’97
Scrums &
mentors
IWANT to make a
point of clarification
regarding the
article about Rugby
Alumni Weekend
(RAW) in the spring
2005 issue. My quote
was in reference to
the mentoring program
that the Thunderbird
Alumni
Rugby Association
(TARA) created to
help students in
their chosen careers.
In March, we created
nine mentoring
pairs, during RAW,
and several firm internships
and job
leads as well. Our
goal to double the
number of alumni
returning to campus
for RAW 2006 is an
effort to build the
mentoring program,
as well as to see old
friends and play a
rugby match. First
and foremost,
TARA’s aim is the
development of its
current and future
members’ career
ambitions.
Chuck
Hamilton ’91
President, TARA
Passing
notices
INOTICED in the
most recent edition
of the Thunderbird
magazine
that you had death
notices for each class
year. That is a fine
step forward. However,
in past editions
deaths were not
included in Class
Notes and therefore
we have no idea who
is now alive and
who is dead, to put it
bluntly. Could you
let us know who has
left us in recent
years since you
neglected to report
that for a number of
years.
H. Fanning ’59
A complete list can
now be found on
My Thunderbird.
Senior
pioneers
NOT FOR
nothing, but
the Miami
40+ Chapter (called
TEAM) was formed
well before the 40+
Initiative effort began
a year and a half
ago. TEAM, the
original 40+ Chapter,
was founded in
1997.
C. Morrison ’73
South Florida
Chapter Leader
TRULY GLOBAL
Thunderbird
Magazine
Volume 58, No. 1, Fall 2005
Editor
D.J. Burrough
Art Director
Pat Kenny
Photo Editor
Kristen Jarchow
Web Designer
Adam Kline
Web Production
Belinda Gleason
Publisher & Assistant V.P.
Frank Neville
Executive Director,
Thunderbird Global Network
Meredith Peabody
Director, Alumni
Communications
Linda Jensen
Editorial Director
Roger Toll
All editorial, sales and
production correspondence
should be addressed to:
Thunderbird Magazine, 15249
N. 59th Avenue, Glendale,
AZ, 85306-6000. Editorial
submissions and letters to the
editor can also be emailed to:
editor@thunderbird.edu.
Advertising inquiries should
be addressed to:
editor@thunderbird.edu.
Changes of address and
other subscription inquiries
can be emailed to:
editor@thunderbird.edu.
Thunderbird Magazine is a
publication of the Marketing
and Communication
Department of Thunderbird,
The Garvin School of
International Management.
2 fall 2005

from the president
A whirlwind
year of activity
Thunderbird needs its dedicated, energetic global
network of supporters as it faces crucial transformations.
SO MUCH HAS happened during
my time as president, it’s hard for
me to believe that only a year has
passed since I first arrived. It has
been a whirlwind of events and
activities: a grand reception in Korea, the
Global Reunion in Shanghai, Homecoming,
the Ambassadors’ Ball, the Innovation
Challenge, campus visits by former Ireland
President Mary Robinson, Chairman of the
U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Richard
Myers and Dell CEO Kevin Rollins, the
world tour of alumni chapters, the European
Reunion, the EMBA graduation in Prague
with Václav Havel, the 10th anniversary
celebration in Moscow, Foundations Week,
meeting the first cohort of On-Demand
students, and each and every commencement
where we celebrated the accomplishments
of our outstanding graduates.
These events have given me the chance to
meet so many members of the Thunderbird
community and if I’ve learned anything, it
is this: we have some amazing people who
are the heart and soul of the School and who
embody our Truly Global mission.
And this is certainly a time when
Thunderbird needs that global network of
supporters. The School faces a market that
is more competitive than at any time in its
history, a market that has created challenges
that demand our attention and action.
At the same time, the world needs Thunderbird
now more than ever. Our mission
has never been more relevant and necessary.
However, for Thunderbird to remain viable
and maintain its position as the leader in
international management education, we
need to change, not at the heart or content
of our mission but in how we do it.
Being part of so many events during the
past year also has convinced me that Thunderbird
has what it takes to transform itself:
an unequaled international reputation, a
talented staff, a well-respected faculty, and
a dedicated, energetic group of alumni. As
we have begun to move forward in reshaping
Thunderbird, we have been fortunate
to be able to draw on the expertise of distinguished
alumni on the Global Council,
Thunderbird Global Network Board and the
Board of Trustees. By the time you read this,
we will have made further progress and will
have begun to articulate more details of our
future vision.
I look forward to working with you and
with each member of the Thunderbird
community to make our vision a reality, and
to meeting with alumni chapters throughout
the world to get feedback and support. We
are a global community and by harnessing
the talent and energies of the full Thunderbird
network, we can and will ensure that
our school remains the standard by which
other schools of international management
are judged.
Thunderbird has what it
takes to transform itself
as it integrates changes
already in place, says
President Angel Cabrera,
with still more to come.
A highly competitive
market ”has created
challenges that demand
our attention and
action,” he writes.
BRAD REED
thunderbird magazine 3

age
The Art
of Being
Global
This wooden mask from
Bali is worn in the classic
ballet that describes the
Hindu Ramayana legend.
Like the other crafts on
this page, it can be seen
at the Global Market
during Homecoming.
NOT ONLY WILL alumni who
return to the Glendale campus
for the 2005 Thunderbird Homecoming
November 4-6 have a
chance to catch up with former
classmates and see how the School is evolving,
but they will be able to see and purchase
artwork from around the world.
For former MBA students who have
presumably launched a career in business, a
surprising number of T-bird alumni are
artists. The work of
several of them will
be displayed during
the 2005 Thunderbird
Homecoming
weekend in keeping
with the theme,
“The Art of Being
Global.” This year,
Homecoming celebrates
the classes of
1955 (50th anniversary),
1980 (25th anniversary)
and 1995
(10th anniversary),
but all alumni are
welcome to attend.
The weekend will also include several new
events, including a case competition featuring
teams of alumni and current students,
a scavenger hunt for art and a wine tasting
hosted by Thunderbird vintners and
distributors. Saturday
evening’s World
Night will showcase
cuisine, art
and music from
around the globe.
For more details,
see back cover or go
to thunderbird.edu/
homecoming
A considerable number
of Peruvian women
contributed their artistic
talents to the making of
this “arpillera” (above).
The woven basket by the
Yoruba people of Nigeria
(left) includes traditional
beads sewn in by hand.
BRAD REED
4 fall 2005

Popular balloon fest
returns to Glendale
THE BALLOON
festival Thunderbird
started
more than 30 years
ago has drifted closer
to home.
The 2005 Salt
River Project Thunderbird
Balloon and
Air Classic will be
held Oct. 28 to 30
at the Glendale
Municipal Airport.
The event
returned to
Glendale
last year
after being
hosted in
Scottsdale
for a few
years.
Thunderbird
is the
main beneficiary of
the event, with proceeds
going toward
a student scholarship.
Thunderbird
students and staff
are volunteering to
help with balloon
rigging and other
duties during the
event.
The Thunderbird
Balloon Classic was
launched in 1974
by the Friends of
Thunderbird as a
way to raise scholarship
funds. It has
grown larger each
year and is now one
of the largest
balloon
festivals in
the country.
About 60,000
people will
attend this
year.
The air
show, added
to the festival
last year, has become
a popular part
of the annual event.
For more information
about attending, go to:
thunderbirdballoon
andairclassic.com
Calendar
Glendale
campus
◗ Career Week,
Oct. 24-28
More than 30
corporations visit
campus seeking
top MBAs.
◗ Thunderbird
Balloon Classic,
Oct. 28-30
Don’t miss “Desert
Glows” choreographed
to live
music.
◗ Homecoming,
Nov. 5-6
Three days of
festivities, fun and
networking.
◗ Global Mindset
Conference,
Nov. 10-12
Top scholars gather
to discuss what is
global mindset, and
how it’s created.
◗ Innovation Challenge,
Nov. 17-19
The final round pits
the top 10 teams of
MBAs from around
the world.
◗ Ambassadors’ Ball,
Nov. 19
This year, the Mexican
consul is hosting
the evening gala.
nda
Safari, so good
WILD AND DOMESTICATED
Thunderbirds alike have the
chance to mingle with the
indigenous fauna on the
plains of the Serengeti, climb
up to the snows of Kilimanjaro and visit the
Spice Island of Zanzibar in a Thunderbird
Alumni Travel program to Africa.
The 10-day safari, which begins February
3, offers an excellent chance to see elephants,
buffalos, rhinos, leopards, lions, zebras, giraffes
and cheetahs in the unrivaled wildlife
viewing sanctuaries of Kenya and Tanzania.
Alumni will also visit a traditional “Maasai
boma,” or village.
In Zanzibar, travelers will enjoy a few
days at a beach resort, explore a spice plantation
and tour historic Stone Town, a UN-
ESCO World Heritage site. The adventurous
can take on 19,340-foot Mt. Kilimanjaro
during a pre-trip six-day climb in a fully
supported trek to the top of Africa’s tallest
peak for the highest-ever T-bird reunion.
Learn more about the trip at:
thunderbird.edu/alumnitravel
thunderbird magazine 5

news & notes
Thunderbird alumni enjoy pre-dinner drinks at the Domaine de Penthes, with its
beautiful views over Lake Geneva. Besides social get-togethers each evening,
alumni enjoyed daily excursions in the area, including one to the top of Mont Blanc.
European
reunion in
Geneva
pulls in at
least 200
T-birds
EVERY CLASS
year from 1972
to 2006 (minus
1976) was represented
at the first Thunderbird
Alumni
Reunion to be held
in Europe in three
years. More than 200
alumni were joined
by President Angel
Cabrera and other
School officials.
“I really had fun,”
says M.J. Cabanel
’93, who traveled
from Florida to
attend. “It was great
to see so many old
friends and make
some new ones.”
William Bossany
’87 came all the way
from Guam because
he had so much
fun at the Global
Reunion in Shanghai.
“When I heard
about the reunion,
I scheduled a business
trip to Europe
to coincide with the
event,” he says.
Coming to Geneva
led to a surprise
and happy reunion
for Tarek Amyuni ’86
and Ben Kroon ’87.
They had shared a
dorm room at Thunderbird
but had not
seen each other
since graduating.
Nighttime
activities kicked off
on Thursday with a
cocktail reception at
the Hotel Royal in
the heart of Paquis,
Geneva’s nightlife
area, and continued
the next evening
with dinner and
dancing at Domaine
de Penthes, which
overlooks Lake
Geneva. Saturday
night featured dinner
and dancing
aboard the S.S. Lausanne
as it cruised
on Lake Geneva.
During the day,
T-birds went on a
number of sightseeing
trips. The most
popular, attended by
40 alumni, was a cable
car ride to the top
of Mont Blanc and a
hike across the Mer
de Glace glacier.
“It was a great
party, but it was too
short,” says Frederic
Agneessens ’88.
Attending alumni
represented 20 countries.
Approximately
a third came from
Switzerland, a quarter
from the United
States and another
quarter from the
United Kingdom,
with the remainder
coming from all
over the globe. The
most distant attendees
jetted in from
Guam, Hong Kong
and San Francisco.
Students
chip in to
help local
charities
AGOOD NUMber
of Glendale
residents
are better off because
of work offered by
T-bird students in a
new program organized
by the Thunderbird
Student
Government (TSG).
Thunderbird
Cares Day brings
together student and
staff volunteers to
aid non-profit organizations
in Glendale.
In May, 71 volunteers
braved record
110-degree heat to
work with Habitat
for Humanity, Faith
House, the City of
Glendale, Home
Base Youth Services
and St. Vincent de
Paul.
“In one day,” says
Thomas Alston,
TSG Community
Outreach Chair,
“we managed to
significantly improve
conditions for
a Glendale family,
assist women at a
domestic-violence
shelter with their
career search, manage
donations at a
youth outreach center,
help with organization
at a charitable
second-hand store,
and build houses for
deserving families.”
Thunderbird
Cares Days are held
on the first Saturday
of each trimester.
The first was held
in January this year.
Fabio Pelliccione ’05 joined 70 other T-birds who
helped make the Thunderbird Cares Day a success.
6 fall 2005

news & notes
Influential
professor
and friend
Paul R.
Johnson
passes on
In memoriam: Dr. Paul R. Johnson
ON JULY 17,
Thunderbird
lost one of its
favorite professors
and friends when
Dr. Paul R. Johnson
passed away.
“Dr. Johnson’s
many contributions
to Thunderbird will
long be remembered
and he will be
missed by the community
to which he
gave so much of his
time, talent and energy,”
President
Angel Cabrera said.
Johnson began
teaching at Thunderbird
in 1982, after
more than 34 years
in the corporate
world. His career
had taken him to
president and CEO
of five organizations,
BRAD REED
among them First
Central Bank,
Sincere Press Inc.
and Thunderbird
Enterprises. He also
founded three other
companies.
In 1985, Johnson
became a full-time
faculty member and
was the first to establish
a concentration
and coursework in
Entrepreneurship.
It was in one of Prof.
Johnson’s classes
that Sam Garvin ’88
developed the business
plan for Continental
Promotion
Group, Inc.
“I credit Paul
Johnson with
teaching me how to
analyze effectively,”
Garvin said in a 1999
interview in Thunderbird
magazine.
“He has both great
practical experience
and an infectious
enthusiasm for his
field that rubs off on
his students.”
In November
1998, Johnson
became the initial
recipient of the
Samuel L. Garvin
Distinguished Professorship
of Entrepreneurship
and
was named director
of the Center for
Global Entrepreneurial
Studies at
Thunderbird.
In 2001, Johnson
left Thunderbird to
become professor
of Entrepreneurship
at Bond University
in Queensland,
Australia.
He is survived
by his wife Barbara,
who also worked
for Thunderbird
from 1988 to 1993
as director of Internship
Education,
four daughters
and a son.
T-bird
continues
playing at
the top of
its game
Thunderbird
again ranks
among the
world’s best
grad schools
of business
FOR THE 10th
consecutive
year, U.S. News
& World Report has
ranked Thunderbird’s
full-time
program first in the
United States for international
business
graduate schools. At
the same time, the
Financial Times has
placed the school’s
Executive Education
programs near the
top worldwide in
various categories.
In its May 16
issue, the Financial
Times ranked Thunderbird’s
open enrollment
Executive
Education at No. 12
in the world and
No. 10 in the United
States for overall
excellence, while
its custom program
came in fourth for
overall excellence
in the USA, up one
spot from last year’s
rankings, and seventh
in the world,
up two positions.
The custom
program also was
ranked high among
global competitors
in a number of separate
categories, including
#2 for value
for money, #5 for
course design, #7
for aims achieved
and #8 for quality
of the faculty.
The number of
international students
in both the
Executive Education
open enrollment and
custom programs also
set them apart
from the other
schools in the Financial
Times’ rankings.
Seventy-three percent
of the students
in Thunderbird’s
custom programs
are from outside the
United States, the
highest percentage
of foreign students
of any program in
the top 20. By comparison,
only 28 percent
of the students
at the London Business
School are from
outside Britain, and
only 21 percent at
IMD in Switzerland
are not Swiss.
Among open
enrollment programs,
the difference
is even greater.
Eighty-three percent
of students in the
Thunderbird programs
are foreignborn,
more than 30
percentage points
higher than the next
closest program in
the top 45 in the
world.
Twice a year the
Financial Times
publishes a list of
the top graduate
business schools,
ranking Executive
Education programs
in the spring and
full-time programs
in the fall.
thunderbird magazine 7

news & notes
Thunderbird students—and a staffer—from the Prague Executive Education
program ran races in Germany. From left (front): Robert Fritz, Elizabeth Feary, Julie
Cook and Ghaida al-Khaled. Behind are Robert Komanec and Lasidlav Simek.
T-birds
prove fast
of foot in
German
races
FIVE Executive
MBA students
in Prague didn’t
exactly fly along the
cobblestone streets
of the Welzheim 10K
and half-marathon
races in Germany,
but they did finish.
“We had a great
time,” says Julie
Cook, senior director
for Executive Education
at Thunderbird
Europe, who ran the
10K. “Despite the
bubbly water with
gas that was served
at the water stations
along the route, the
team somehow
managed to stay
hydrated enough
to persevere to the
end.” Competing in
the half-marathon
were Elizabeth
Feary, Robert Fritz,
Robert Komanec,
and Ladislav Simek.
Ghaida Al-Khaled
and Julie Cook ran
in the 10-kilometer
race.
Zoom, zoom, zoom
Type in Thunderbird’s street address—15249 N.
59th Avenue, Glendale, Arizona—and watch as
the satellite imagery zooms in to provide a
detailed image of the campus and surrounding
neighborhood. The photos are available
through keyhole.com, where you can watch for
free for a week (or pay $20 for an upgrade
view). So detailed is the photography that
students can be spotted getting a tan at the
Fish, playing rugby in the field or gathering on
the patio of the Thunderbird Pub.
Buy, buy, buy
IT’S NOT THE FLOOR of the New York Stock
Exchange, but it’s getting closer. With funds
donated by the Class of 2002 and Michael
Viteri ’95, a significant upgrade has been
made to the trading room in the International
Business Information Centre (IBIC), where
students and alumni gather to research investments.
The room now has flat-screen
computer monitors, two heavily used
Bloomberg terminals, state-of-the-art
financial analysis software—like Ibbotson
Encorr and Barra Aegis Portfolio Manage—
and a 42-inch plasma screen television
permanently tuned to CNBC.
THERESA HEINDL
8 fall 2005

news & notes
In quest
of the 7
Summits
Two T-bird
alumni go
after one of
adventure’s
most grueling
challenges
TWO THUNderbird
alumni
share the
same dream, yet
they are worlds
apart. Kurt Gusinde
’96, of Arizona, and
Celso Sugiyama ’01, of
Brazil, both dream
of climbing the
Seven Summits,
the highest peak on
each of the seven
continents.
Gusinde, 50, has
already scaled four
of the summits
while Sugiyama, 32,
has reached the top
of two.
In 2002, Gusinde
reached the top of
Mt. Kilimanjaro.
In 2004, it was Mt.
Elbrus in Russia,
the highest peak in
Europe at 18,510 feet,
which he summited
in his first attempt.
After two failed efforts
on Aconcagua
on the Argentina-
Chile border,
Gusinde met with
success in February.
“Aconcagua was
my most challenging
climb so far,”
Gusinde says. “During
my first attempt,
I got sick and had to
turn back. The second
time it was too
cold. Although both
were a huge disappointment,
finally
making it was a
significant personal
accomplishment.”
In June, the
mountaineer successfully
climbed
Denali (Mt. McKinley),
the tallest peak
in North America.
Although Gusinde
funds most of his
expeditions, a handful
of sponsors help
pay for equipment
and other expenses.
“I would like to
climb Mount Everest
next,” says Gusinde,
who wants to
complete all Seven
Summits in the next
few years. “But it’s
$65,000 plus transportation
costs and
the climb takes more
than two months, so
there’s a bit of a time
element involved.”
Sugiyama hopes
to complete the
summits over the
next decade. In
March 2002, he
climbed Kilimanjaro
in five days. The only
people along on
his self-funded trip
were a guide, porter
Celso Sujiyama ‘01 kneels on the summit of Aconcagua, South America’s highest
peak, in January 2004. It was the second of the seven summits he wants to climb.
Kurt Gusinde ‘96 crouches last June on the summit
of Alaska’s Denali, aka Mt. McKinley, North America’s
highest peak. Gusinde (upper left) climbs Denali’s
final ridge on his way to bagging his fourth summit.
and cook. “It usually
takes six days or
more to climb Kilimanjaro,
but I was
short of money, so I
did it faster,” Sugiyama
says. “Kilimanjaro
is one of
the most beautiful
places I have been.”
After a year of
financial planning
and intense physical
and psychological
training, Sugiyama
climbed Aconcagua
in December 2003.
“It was extremely
challenging and
very cold, but I
succeeded,” he says.
“You get a special
feeling when you
reach the summit.”
Next year, Sugiyama
plans to climb
Denali, for which
he is seeking
sponsors.
— Kerry Duff
thunderbird magazine 9

news & notes
“Thunderbird
should
be directly
engaged in
some of the
world’s
most
important
issues
through
management
education.”
School
takes role
as global
citizen
seriously
Thunderbird
for Good
offers free
business
education to
willing entrepreneurs
in
needy nations
THUNDERbird
now will
do more than
just produce graduates
who are good
global citizens. It
will become even
more of one itself.
In launching
Thunderbird for
Good, the School
will support business
education in
areas of the world
where the economic
or political conditions
make it difficult
to start or grow
a business. The new
initiative grew out
of the success of Project
Artemis, which
brought 15 women
from Afghanistan to
the Glendale campus
for two weeks
in January 2005 to
attend classes on
entrepreneurship,
communications,
networking and
presentation skills.
(See Thunderbird,
spring 2005.)
“Thunderbird
should be directly
engaged in some of
the world’s most important
issues
through management
education,”
says Dr. Angel
Cabrera. “Thunderbird
for Good programs,
like Artemis,
will provide deserving
students with
the business tools
needed to create successful
businesses
that can lead to less
poverty, more secure
peace and improved
living conditions in
their respective
communities.”
To carry out new
efforts, Thunderbird
for Good plans to
channel faculty,
staff, student and
alumni volunteers,
as well as funds
from external organizations
and private
donors, into the
programs.
“Thunderbird’s
expertise is not in
things like building
hospitals or bridges,
so we are not going
to do those things,”
says Kellie Kreiser
’04, who was named
director of Thunderbird
for Good in
May. “What we are
good at is teaching
global business.”
One of the first
initiatives for the
new department is
Kellie Kreiser ‘04 has been named director of a
new international program, Thunderbird for Good.
fostering the professional
growth of the
original 15 Project
Artemis fellows.
Since they returned
to Afghanistan,
Thunderbird faculty
and staff have followed
up with answers
to business
questions, financial
charts and business
contacts.
Thunderbird
staffers have volunteered
to produce a
brochure and logo
for the Artemis
Business Association,
an organization
started by the
Artemis fellows to
support each other
and other women
entrepreneurs.
“The program
didn’t end after they
left Thunderbird,”
Kreiser says. “It’s
an ongoing commitment
Thunderbird
has made to them.”
Kreiser says she’s
also trying to get
medical equipment
donated to three
fellows who are doctors
trying to start
their own clinics.
Thunderbird for
Good has also begun
the search for the
next cohort of
Afghan women,
as well as corresponding
American
women mentors, to
take part in Project
Artemis II, scheduled
for spring 2006.
In addition, Kreiser
says she’s looking into
how the program
might be expanded
to bring global
business training to
entrepreneurs in
other parts of the
world. “I don’t see
an end point,” she
says. “As it gets more
and more bandwidth
behind it, I see it
growing so that we
will be poised to help
in any international
hot spot that develops
during the
coming years.”
10 fall 2005

Contest
highlights
original
thinking
Third Global
Innovation
Challenge
finals to be on
campus in
November
THE CONTEST
to see who will
be named the
Most Innovative
Graduate Team in
the World begins
October 8 when the
first round of Thunderbird’s
3rd Annual
Global Innovation
Challenge gets under
way.
The number of
teams vying for the
title, as well as the
first-place award of
$20,000, is expected
to be more than 300,
says Anil Rathi ’02,
co-founder of the
event. Last year, 251
teams entered; five
MBA candidates
from Instituto de
Empresa won.
More teams are
expected now that
graduate students
from other disciplines
can enter.
For the first time,
the Global Innovation
Challenge is
open to part-time
MBA students,
MBA students in
Executive Education
programs and students
in such graduate
school programs
as law, engineering
and medicine. Each
Lounge
wizards
renovate
Tower
team, consisting of
either four or five
members, must
have at least two
MBA candidates.
The on-line portion
of the event
runs from Oct. 8-16.
The five finalist
teams will be announced
on October
28. The final round
will take place on
the Glendale campus
from Nov. 17-19.
Sponsors for the
event include Hilton
Hotels, the United
States Postal Service,
IBM and Bill-
Matrix.
Alumni interested
in judging, sponsoring
or attending the
event should visit:
innovationchallenge.com.
THUNDERbird’s
most
historic building,
where once Air
Force pilots were
taught to fly and
future entrepreneurs
relaxed, has received
its first major renovation
in years.
In June, the first
of a total $35,000 in
investments dedicated
to renovating the
Tower building
resulted in a new
carpet, recovered
leather couches, new
A truly grand perspective
interior and exterior
paint, a new barbeque,
new entryway,
upgraded
lighting, outside
tables and benches,
new window treatments
and a $6,000
audio-visual system.
“We looked at
what we could
renovate to add value
to the students and
to build community,”
says Michael
Teague, president
of the Thunderbird
Student Governnews
& notes
Thirty Thunderbird students who joined the one-day trip in August to the South
Rim of the Grand Canyon were treated to more than majestic beauty. “We saw a
rare 7-point elk and an endangered California condor, which only has 49 of its
fellow species left in the wild,” says Thomas Alston ’05, community outreach chair
for the Thunderbird Student Government, which sponsored the excursion. T-birds
also enjoyed a barbeque at Shoshone Point, a private overlook. During their four
hours at the canyon, the group acted as secret shoppers for the National Park
Service, which wanted to gauge how park operations are perceived by non-U.S.
visitors. “As a group, we were perfectly undercover,” says Alston, whose father
is a park supervisor at the canyon. “We had a couple of Japanese tourists join us.
They didn’t realize we were a private group because we were so multinational.”
The Tower has received a thorough renovation
that student leaders believe will add value to the
student experience and build community.
ment, which funded
the renovation. “I
hope that the Tower
Lounge becomes the
place alumni think
of when they remember
their time
at Thunderbird.”
Each incoming
cohort of students
will be assigned one
of the eight meeting
rooms for their entire
stay on campus.
A wall of the lounge
will be dedicated to
photographs of student
activities. Past
student presidents,
aware of budget
limitations, had
been accumulating
renovation funds
over the past several
years, Teague says.
thunderbird magazine 11

news & notes
Fiesta
Mexicana
to honor
southern
neighbor
Ambassadors’
Ball will help
build endowment
fund
CARLOS DE
Icaza González,
the newly
appointed ambassador
of Mexico to the
United States, will
be the featured
speaker at the 2005
Ambassadors’ Ball
on November 19,
which honors Mexico.
The chairman
of the ball, called
“Fiesta Mexicana,”
is Carlos Flores
Vizcarra, consul
general of Mexico.
Dinner, dancing
and music is expected
to bring out hundreds
of internationally-minded
Valley
residents and School
supporters for the
festive evening. It
is the 22nd year the
Consular Corps of
Arizona has hosted
the event.
Now standing at
more than $520,000,
the Consular Corps
Endowment Fund
provides scholarships
to Thunderbird
students. As of
press time, seats and
sponsorships were
still available for the
event at the Hyatt
Regency Resort at
Gainey Ranch.
Dr. Angel Cabrera (upper left) stands with Korean
students in front of Thunderbird’s Welcome Wall.
Thunderbird world tour
THE ROLLING
Stones aren’t the
only baby boomers
embarked on a world tour
this year. In late August,
59-year-old Thunderbird
started on an MBA recruiting
tour that will take
representatives to nearly
70 cities around the world.
Some of the cities that
Thunderbird will visit are
Houston, Mumbai, Milan,
Frankfurt, Munich, Mexico
City, Madrid, Lima, Paris,
Zurich, London, Tokyo,
Seoul, Taipei, Bangkok,
Budapest and Beijing.
For specifics on tour
dates, times and locations,
go to: thunderbird.edu.
Welcome
Wall adds
greeting
in Korean
Action follows
long effort by
Thunderbird’s
Korean
students
FOR THE FIRST
time since it
was built more
than 13 years ago,
Thunderbird’s
Welcome Wall has a
greeting in Korean.
It was unveiled at a
ceremony in April
attended by most of
the School’s Korean
student population,
Thunderbird administrators
and Korean
dignitaries from the
Phoenix area. The
Korean “welcome”
was etched into the
upper right-hand
corner of the 25 foothigh
flagstone that
serves as the School’s
main entrance.
“Many alumni
have devoted themselves
to this effort,”
says Jack Seoung
Hyo Yang ’05, Thunderbird’s
Korean
Club president. “I
expect this wall will
foster a deeper relationship
between the
Korean students and
the School.”
Korean students
lobbied for years to
have the Korean
“welcome” included
among the other 10
languages represented
on the wall, arguing
that the recognition
was deserving
of the second largest
population from any
one country to attend
Thunderbird,
after the United
States.
The Thunderbird
Welcome Wall was
built in 1992 with
the salutation
“welcome” etched
into the stone in 10
languages: English,
French, Spanish,
German, Portuguese,
Chinese,
Japanese, Arabic,
Italian and Russian.
The languages
weren’t intended to
mirror the student
population, but
rather were chosen
as they were the languages
being taught,
or that had been
taught, at the School.
12 fall 2005

Alumni
weekend
to salute
business
heroes
Distinguished
alumni to be
honored with
Thunderbird’s
yearly awards
FIVE ALUMNI
will be recognized
at
Homecoming in
November, two for
their outstanding
contributions to
Thunderbird and
three for the impact
their careers have
had on others.
A stellar career
and the support
David Roberts ’73
has shown toward
Thunderbird made
him a candidate for
the 2005 Jonas Mayer
Award. During
his 27-year career
with Citibank/
Citigroup, Roberts
fostered a relationship
with Thunderbird
that resulted in
a $220,000 multi-year
grant and a networking
directory
for the more than
160 T-birds who
are employees at
Citigroup. Roberts,
a former member
and chairman of the
Thunderbird Global
Council, also led a
$130,000 fundraising
effort for student
scholarships.
Putting his considerable
knowledge
of art to work for
Thunderbird has
garnered Dean
Career Fair Week
HALLOWEEN IS COMING a week early for
Thunderbird students this year. Starting
October 24, they will get dressed
up and talk with corporate recruiters at the
Thunderbird Fall Career Fair and look for a
treat: a job. The five-day event will include
company presentations, workshops on networking
and interviewing, and presentations
by job search gurus Tim Koegel, author of
“The Exceptional Presenter,” and Keith Ferrazzi,
author of “Never Eat Alone.” Students
will have the chance to test their interviewing
skills in front of more than 45 recruiters
and, the next day, in one-on-one interviews.
Warner ’57 the 2005
Volunteer of the
Year Award. In 1994,
Warner created and
became director of
the Global Market,
an on-campus marketplace
with
unique handicrafts
and artwork. He single-handedly
coordinates
the consignment
of pieces from
students and alumni
and makes other
astute purchases.
A percentage of all
sales go to Thunderbird’s
scholarship
program. Warner
also has donated
several pieces from
his personal collection
to Thunderbird.
By all measures,
Melville Brown ’69
has had a very successful
career in international
banking,
for which he has
been recognized
with the 2005 Career
Achievement
Award. During his
30-year career, the
past 19 as president
of Executive Advisory
Services, he has
held senior executive
positions with
four major U.S.
banks, led a comprehensive
financial
sector development
program for Ukraine,
established
and managed the
first international
bank in the Kyrgyz
Republic, participated
in international
efforts to restructure
the Indonesian financial
sector, and
led the restructuring
and privatization of
Banco Mozambique.
In 1987, he received
the Governor’s Citation
for Excellence
for his efforts in resolving
a major
savings and loan
crisis in Maryland.
The work of Kimberly
Wiehl ’80 in international
finance
and her role in international
trade has
earned her the 2005
Career Achievement
Award. As
secretary general
of the Berne Union,
an international
trade association of
52 members, including
government export
credit agencies,
private insurers and
multilateral agencies
from 43 countries,
she represents the
members’ interests
to major international
organizations
news & notes
such as the World
Bank, IMF, OECD,
EU and WTO. Prior
to being named
secretary general,
Wiehl was a managing
director with JP
Morgan, where she
created and managed
a structured
debt team that raised
more than $4.5 billion
in syndicated
financing and was
awarded “Central
European Syndicated
Loan House
2000” by Central
David Roberts ‘73 Dean Warner ’57 Melville Brown ’69 Kimberly Wiehl ’80 Leandro Finol ’00
European magazine.
A quick Google
search will tell you
why Leandro Finol
’00 was named the
Rising Star for 2005.
He is founder and
CEO of DIREC4U,
one of the largest
retailers of DIREC-
TV satellite systems
in the United States.
In 2004, sales for the
company topped $50
million, and in 2005
DIRECTV named
him Dealer of the
Year. Finol also is
owner of Puerto Rico’s
master franchise
for Pressto, a dry
cleaning operation,
and expects to have
eight stores open by
the end of 2005.
thunderbird magazine 13

news & notes
In quest
of a definition
for
global
mindset
Thunderbird
professors
are at the
center of
the search
ANOVEMBER
conference
on the Glendale
campus, the
brainchild of two
Thunderbird professors,
will explore
how international
businesspeople
think about the
world or, in other
words, how their
global mindset
might be defined.
The conference is
expected to bring
together the world’s
foremost experts on
the subject.
Professors Mary
Teagarden and
Mansour Javidan,
co-chairs of the
Global Mindset
Project and Conference,
are heading up
the research project.
The research team
has interviewed
more than 500
T-bird alumni in
various parts of the
world so far in an
effort to gather information
about the
dimensions of global
mindset, including
what it is and how
it is developed,
Teagarden says.
“We are looking
at the way people
think about other
people, how well
suited they are in
working in a new
environment and
how willing they are
to take risks and travel
to new places,”
says Teagarden, who
has taught Global
Strategy at Thunderbird
for a dozen
years. “We are trying
to identify the
parameters of a global
mindset. From
that we will certainly
be able to help
both companies and
individuals understand
what it takes
to succeed in international
settings.”
Academics attending
the November
10-12 conference
will help define a
global mindset, its
consequences and
how best to measure
and identify it.
Professors in related
studies from leading
universities around
the world are expected
to attend.
In October,
researchers plan to
start surveying more
than 40,000 non-
Thunderbirds working
in international
settings to gather a
broader range of data.
At the Thunderbird
Homecoming
(Nov. 4-6), Javidan
will outline the research
project and
results to date. Preliminary
research
results, expected in
early 2006, will be
published in a book
and in academic journals,
and will be used
to help Thunderbird
craft its marketing
message and identify
people with a strong
global mindset... in
other words, ideal
Thunderbird
students.
Alumni ranks grow by 602
Thirty-five countries were represented in the Parade of Flags during Thunderbird’s
spring commencement, including the Bulgarian flag carried by native
Vanya Dimitrova ‘05. All told, Thunderbird has had four graduations since the
start of the year, adding 602 men and women to the alumni ranks. Spring
commencement, held in April, had 353 graduates; the Global MBA for Latin
American Managers commencement, held in July, had 147 graduates;
summer commencement, held in August, had 80 graduates; and the
Executive MBA in International Management commencement in Prague,
also held in August, saw 22 graduates added to alumni rosters.
The new barbecue at the Pub, provided by the 13th
EMBA class, features tiles for each class member.
EMBAs
give Pub
new BBQ
THE BARBEcue
at the
Thunderbird
Pub got a welcome
makeover in August
thanks to the largess
of the 13th EMBA
class. The group,
which graduated in
April, donated more
than $8,000 to fund a
built-in gas barbecue
that includes a
shade umbrella and
a wall covered
with hand-made
tiles from each class
member who donated
to the project.
“The Pub is a
center of activity for
full-time, part-time
and executive students,
as well as for
school staff,” says
Scott Bundgaard ’05,
a member of the 13th
EMBA class and
organizer of the
project. “So it was
our desire to create
something everyone
could enjoy.”
14 fall 2005

global campus
Thunderbird
MBA
with a
different
latitude
718 students
have earned
degrees thus
far in the
Latin America
program
ON A WARM
morning on
July 22, 147
men and women
from the sixth class
of the Global Masters
of Business
Administration
for Latin American
Managers program
transitioned from
students to alumni.
The group was the
largest graduating
class since the program
began in 1998,
a distinction it is
unlikely to keep for
long.
The seventh class,
which will graduate
in the summer of
2006, has 149 students.
The eighth,
which began classes
in August, has more
than 170 students.
“The program has
just taken off,” says
Dr. Bert Valencia,
director of the Latin
American program.
During a period of
22 months, on every
other Friday afternoon
and Saturday,
students in the program
gather at 14
sites in six countries
—Mexico, Peru, El
Rodrigo Laddaga ’05 of Mexico gets a congratulatory kiss from his wife, Tania
Tiquet Martinez, after graduating from the Latin American Managers program.
Salvador, Panama,
Bolivia and Miami
—to participate in
classes delivered via
satellite. Professors
from both Thunderbird’s
Glendale campus
and the Instituto
Tecnológico y de Estudios
Superiores de
Monterrey, lecture
on a variety of subjects
to their widely
dispersed but attentive
students. The
Instituto Tecnológico
y de Estudios Superiores
de Monterrey,
Thunderbird’s
partner in the program,
is one of the
top MBA schools in
Latin America.
“Thunderbird is
very well regarded
among multinational
companies,” says
Alejandro Marti ’00
of Mexico. “I feel
very proud to have
completed my degree
from what I
consider the best
international business
school in the
world. I am still connected
to my virtual
classmates, for business
contacts and
great friends have
come out of these
virtual teams.” Students
in the program
come from throughout
Latin America.
In the class that
graduated in July,
17 nationalities were
represented.
A new class begins
every August
with a two-day orientation
and a fiveday
seminar. The
program closes with
a 40-hour seminar.
Both are held on
Thunderbird’s
Glendale campus.
Graduates receive a
joint degree from
both institutions.
Since the program
began, 718 students
have earned a degree
in the program.
“This is not an
easy program. So
when I received my
degree, it felt like I’d
won a world medal,”
says Oscar Guajardo
’00. “I didn’t have
any difficulty with
distance learning. It
was just like having
the teacher in front
of us all the time.”
Into the fold
“Thunderbird
is very
well regarded
among
multinational
companies.
I feel very
proud to
have completed
my
degree
from what
I consider
the best international
business
school in
the world.”
COSTA RICA AND COLOMBIA have joined
the ranks of countries in the Global
MBA for Latin American Managers
graduate degree program. Classes begin in
August at Chiquita Latin American headquarters
in San José, Costa Rica and at the Instituto
Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores
de Monterrey campus in Bogotá, Colombia.
To date, nine students have signed up in
Costa Rica and six in Colombia for the virtual
learning program that will commence in
2007. “We continue to analyze new sites for
the program each year,” says Bert Valencia,
program director. “Top on our list are
Guatemala City and San Antonio or Dallas.”
thunderbird magazine 15

global campus
“What is
important:
how we
approach
our pIanet,
how we
approach
our country,
our settlements,
our quality
of life, its
atmosphere,
the
aesthetic
element of
our living
and our
existence
on this
planet.”
Prague
EMBAs
graduate
in special
ceremony
Ex-president
Václav Havel
urges graduates
to think
about the big
issues of life
VACLAV
Havel, a symbol
of courage
and defender of human
rights and the
first democratically
elected president of
the Czech Republic,
was the keynote
speaker at Thunderbird’s
August 6 commencement
ceremony
for the 22 graduates
of its Executive
MBA in International
Management
program in Prague.
Havel praised
Thunderbird for
promoting cross-cultural
understanding
and stressed to the
graduates the power
they hold in their
hands as business
leaders.
“I believe that in
the sphere of business,
entrepreneurship,
creation of
tangible goods,
satisfaction of
human needs, there
are things which,
regrettably, cannot
be counted, cannot
be described and projected
into charts by
Thunderbird President Angel Cabrera presented
President Václav Havel with an Honorary Doctor of
International Law at graduation in Prague.
Eight countries were represented among the 22 students graduating from the
Czech EMBA program, at which Václav Havel (front) was the keynote speaker.
accountants,” he
said in his speech.
“What is important:
how we approach
our planet, how we
approach our country,
our settlements,
our quality of life, its
atmosphere, the aesthetic
element of our
living and our existence
on this planet;
those are several
things belonging to
the category of the
hard-to-count but
hugely important.”
Thunderbird
awarded Havel an
Honorary Doctor of
International Law
Honoris Causa, one
of 25 awarded by the
School in its history.
Robert Dudley ’79,
president and CEO
of TNK-BP, one of
the largest oil companies
in Russia,
also spoke at the
ceremony.
Eight countries—
Kuwait, Czech Republic,
USA, Italy,
Russia, Macedonia,
Switzerland and
Canada—were
represented among
the graduates.
The group was the
second cohort to
go through the 14-
month program,
established in 2002.
The program is run
in partnership with
the Czech Management
Center.
PAVEL HOREJSI
16 fall 2005

global campus
The start
of a new
Thunderbird
MBA,
with
Seoul
For electronics
giant LGE,
the School
develops its
first in-house
grad degree
program in
its history
FOR THE next
year, the workday
for 25
executives of LG
Electronics (LGE)
in Seoul will be
even more demanding
than usual. Key
managers of one of
the world’s largest
electronics manufacturers
will not only
have to contend
with their everyday
responsibilities
now, but find time
to write business
plans and study
marketing and
finance textbooks
as well.
The hand-picked
executives, who
started classes in
June, comprise the
first cohort of students
in an in-house
custom MBA program
specifically
designed for LGE.
It’s the first in-house
custom MBA program
Thunderbird
has ever run for a
corporation.
“With Thunderbird’s
skills in the
international arena
and cross-cultural
side, and LGE’s
mission to be in the
global top three by
2010, this is a logical
fit,” a company
official says. LGE
selected Thunderbird
over a number
of other top MBA
schools.
Each month,
Thunderbird professors
from the Glendale
campus travel
to Korea and teach
classes at the LGE
Learning Center,
which is just outside
Seoul in Pyeongtaek-si.
In between on-site
instruction sessions,
Thunderbird faculty
mentor LGE executives
via a Thunderbird
intranet. Students
will spend 31
days at the Glendale
campus for the last
four modules and
will present their final
projects to LGE’s
top management before
graduating.
Si-Dong Noh,
group leader for
Cohort 1, says that
his final project is to
develop an overseas
marketing strategy.
“Thanks to these
classes, already I
have more understanding
about the
international market
and cross-cultural
business,” he says.
The custom program
includes classes
on team-building
and cross-cultural
communication, for
example, while incorporating
real
company data and
issues. For instance,
one project is examining
the feasibility
of manufacturing
and distribution in
Argentina, says Dr.
Graeme Rankine,
who is teaching
several modules.
Beth Stoops,
associate vice president
of Language
and Culture Programs,
spearheaded
the five-year effort
Twenty-five handpicked executives of LG Electronics, a leading Korean firm,
join Thunderbird professors and staff as they begin studying under the first
ever in-house custom MBA program created by Thunderbird for a corporation.
to land LGE as a
Thunderbird client.
She had been talking
for years with company
executives
about cross-cultural
training and custom
language classes.
“A critical piece
in LGE selecting
Thunderbird was
the relationship we
had built over the
years. It really
helped in the final
decision-making
stages,” Stoops says.
Thunderbird also
had proven that it
could work closely
with Korean companies,
having graduated
many SK
Group executives
as well as Korean
students in the
full-time program.
Having a client
as large and wellrespected
as LGE
could trigger similar
relationships with
other companies
throughout Asia.
“There is definitely
more potential for
these programs,
especially abroad,”
Stoops says.
LGE posted
record annual sales
in fiscal year 2004 of
24.659 trillion won,
roughly $23.5 billion
US. The company,
which makes everything
from vacuum
cleaners to DVD-Ws
to XNOTE laptop
computers, has
more than 100
offices across all
continents and
more than 66,000
employees. LGE
management has
professed a desire to
become a top global
player in electronics.
The LGE contract
will last through
2010, with a new
cohort of 30 executives
beginning
each year. The next
cohort will start
classes in July 2006.
The curriculum
also features managing
global business
and understanding
global
mindsets, key classes
for the 25 hardworking
executives
in the first cohort.
This is especially
relevant given that
LGE boasted sales
of one million mobile
phone units in
Europe, giving it the
top market share
position with more
than a quarter of the
market. In 2005, the
company sold the
third most mobile
phones in North
America among all
competitors.
— Debbi Gardiner
thunderbird magazine 17

ACTION
PLAN
After a year of study and reflection,
Thunderbird is launching
a major transformation to reshape
the School for the future.
By D.J. Burrough
DAVID LESH
PILLAR NO. 2
”Global Thought
Leadership” recognizes
innovative teaching,
groundbreaking
research and clear-eyed
perspectives on global
business issues. The
pillar of “Enterprising
Spirit” is illustrated on
the cover of this issue.
PRESIDENT ANGEL CABRERA HAS HAD A LOT
more of what he calls “Jacuzzi days” than he expected
to have in his first year as head of Thunderbird. “When
I have a really hard day, my wife knows it right away
because I head straight for the Jacuzzi,” he says. “I’ve
had quite a few ‘Jacuzzi days,’ but even with those I am
still thrilled to be here. Thunderbird is a very special place.”
The list of challenges that send Cabrera heading for his Jacuzzi are
many. He arrived at Thunderbird in August 2004, at a time when the
School was facing a serious market decline and a steady reduction in
the number of applicants to the full-time program, a reflection of an
overall decline in interest in full-time graduate business programs.
In addition, a drop in the availability of student and work visas has
led to a precipitous slide in the number of applications from outside
the United States. At the same time, MBA programs around the
world have begun to include international elements in their programs,
an encroachment into a niche Thunderbird has dominated for
more than half a century, which has siphoned off potential students.
“We have some serious market challenges to which we cannot turn
a blind eye,” Cabrera says. “We cannot sit around and wait for the
market to return to what it was. Our endowment was not meant to be
spent funding operational losses year after year, but to help us invest
in our future. We need to come to terms with the new reality and
transform our operations and programs to stay ahead of the game.”
Returning Thunderbird to financial self-sufficiency must be the
School’s top priority, he says.
To reverse the situation, Cabrera initially turned to a strategic business
plan prepared under his predecessor, Dr. Roy Herberger. In a
matter of weeks after his arrival, Cabrera began to execute elements
of the plan, which called for diversified sources of revenue, increased
quality in the full-time program, a strong marketing effort and an expanded
global presence. Since then, the School has attracted high-
thunderbird magazine 19

NEW DIRECTORS
From left, Dr. Mansour
Javidan, director of the
Garvin Center for the
Cultures and Languages
of International Management;
Dr. Gregory
Unruh, director of the
Lincoln Center for Ethics
in International
Management; and Dr.
Robert Hisrich, director
of the Center for Global
Entrepreneurship.
profile professors, brought greater efficiencies
to its operations in the restructuring of
faculty compensation, reduced the number
of under-performing courses, increased tuition
and expanded its product portfolio. It
has also articulated the School’s core value in
the expression “Truly Global” as well as five
key “pillars” that define, as well as guide, the
School as it moves into the future: Global
Thought Leadership, Borderless Community,
Enterprising Spirit, Business & Cultural
Fusion and Global Citizenship.
Despite several concrete changes he had already
introduced, Cabrera recognized early
in 2005 that the School’s budget was still out
of balance and that a reliance on endowment
funds to make up the shortfall was not acceptable.
The pace of transformation would
have to be quicker if the School were to maintain
its leadership in international business
education. “We made a lot of progress in the
past year and showed that we can execute on
the plans we lay out,” Cabrera says. “Yet it became
clear that we had to be even more innovative
and aggressive to stay on top.”
Earlier this summer, Cabrera engaged a
special committee of members of the Board
of Trustees, some of whom are alumni, to examine
how Thunderbird needs to change to
operate under a sustainable business model
while continuing to provide a world-class educational
experience and remaining true to
the School’s founding principles. A number
of professors, key alumni, staff and members
of the Thunderbird Global Council were involved
in some of the planning sessions. The
results of these efforts will be condensed into
a set of recommendations, which will go before
the Board of Trustees in October.
“By asking the tough questions and making
the hard decisions, we can align our organization
with the future demand of the
market and create a Thunderbird that both
celebrates the true essence of the School and
puts us on sound financial footing,” Cabrera
says. “We need to be a lot more aggressive in
introducing change to Thunderbird. We
don’t have the time for a slow evolution.
Now is the time to act. The fact is that the industry
has changed.”
After a year of examination and reflection,
the School is ready to address the challenges
“Truly Global” & Thunderbird’s five pillars
FOR 59 YEARS, those who attended Thunderbird
described what lay behind that
special experience as the “Thunderbird
mystique.” But with the identification of the
term “Truly Global” and its five supporting
pillars, that shorthand has been more coherently
articulated. Emerging from a branding
exercise in the summer of 2004 that brought
together students, faculty, staff and alumni,
the concepts embodied by the five pillars
succinctly capture the ethos of the institution
and its core values. The pillars serve as a
guide for how the School should be structured
and the directions in which it should move
forward. The five pillars are:
Global Thought Leadership recognizes innovative
teaching, groundbreaking research and
clear-eyed perspective on global business.
Borderless Community recognizes a core
spirit of embracing cultures that is shared by
students, faculty and alumni.
Enterprising Spirit recognizes Thunderbird’s
aim of nurturing the entrepreneurial desires
and adventurous spirit in its students.
Business & Cultural Fusion recognizes a learning
experience that imparts an understanding
of the important role culture plays in business.
Global Citizenship recognizes the existence of
a community beyond national borders and the
importance of acting ethically in business.
20 fall 2005

it faces, says Cabrera, who spent much of the
summer mustering support for the coming
changes with the Thunderbird community.
“We need to articulate a new vision for the
School, and we need to do so in a collaborative
way that ensures we are drawing on the
collective experience, expertise and resources
of the entire community,” Cabrera says. “We
have made substantial progress, but much
work remains to be done.” Cabrera says he is
eager to meet with alumni, who are “passionate
supporters of the School,” to discuss some
of the issues facing Thunderbird.
AMONG THE significant changes
Cabrera has made, one has been especially
transformative. Thunderbird
has enhanced its three “centers”—or disciplines—that
serve as the foundation of the
School’s new curriculum and academic direction.
They include: 1. The Lincoln Center for
Ethics in International Management, 2. The
Garvin Center for the Cultures and Languages
of International Management and 3.
The Center for Global Entrepreneurship.
Each center will generate new knowledge
and thought leadership in its area, design new
courses and infuse already established courses
with their core topic, and coordinate the
work of faculty members.
“The centers provide an intellectual home
for each of Thunderbird’s core values,” says
Dr. Robert Widing II, senior vice president
of academic programs, who joined the School
from the University of Melbourne in March.
“This helps ensure they are advanced and instilled
in our students.”
The Lincoln Center for Ethics in International
Management focuses on the pillar,
Global Citizenship. The Garvin Center for
the Cultures and Languages of International
Management focuses on the pillar, Business
& Cultural Fusion. And the Center for Global
Entrepreneurship focuses on the pillar,
Enterprising Spirit.
Directed by Dr. Mansour Javidan, who
joined Thunderbird in August 2004, the
Garvin Center for the Cultures and Languages
of International Management has
taken responsibility for courses on cross-cultural
communication and language immersion.
Javidan is internationally recognized as
one of the leading voices in researching the
role that culture plays in business relationships.
A member of the board of directors of
the GLOBE Project, a 10-year, cross-cultural
research program that has examined the
character traits that make up successful business
leaders in different cultures around the
world, he is the co-author of an award-winning
book about the project.
The Lincoln Center for Ethics in International
Management will introduce discussion
on corporate social responsibility and
governance into Foundations Week and into
particular coursework, says Dr. Gregory Unruh,
who became director of the center in
September. In addition to case studies that
delve into ethical and environmental issues,
Unruh hopes to develop an elective course on
managing for environmental sustainability.
“We are living in different times,” Unruh
says. “The demand on corporations is much
greater than it used to be. Before, it was clear:
create wealth, create jobs and pay taxes. Now,
corporations are expected to do that but also
integrate social responsibility into their actions.
They need leaders who understand the
issues, including how to engage the public,
the local governments and NGOs.” Unruh,
who was the alumni professor of Corporate
Sustainability and founding academic director
for the Center for Eco-Intelligent Management
at Instituto de Empresa Business
School, has worked with dozens of Fortune
500 companies to improve management systems
to minimize environmental risks.
The Center for Global Entrepreneurship is
focused on creating courses that instill in-
PILLAR NO. 3
”Global Citizenship”
recognizes the existence
of a community beyond
national borders and the
importance of acting
ethically in business.
thunderbird magazine 21

THERESA HEINDL
STUDENTS WILL BENEFIT from the enhancement of three core centers, or disciplines, that remake the School’s academic structure.
trapreneurial (entrepreneurship in existing
organizations) and entrepreneurial instincts
in Thunderbird students. With the curriculum
changes, Thunderbird is ahead of the
curve in teaching students skills needed to
start their own business, says the center’s director,
Dr. Robert Hisrich, who is the Garvin
Professor of Global Entrepreneurship.
“Several quality MBA programs are now
putting intra/entrepreneurship aspects into
their curriculum as a requirement due to the
economics around the globe as well as student
interest, and I sense that many more
will follow,” he says. “My goal is to create a
world-class global entrepreneurship center
with a focus on global family business, global
women entrepreneurs, global innovation/
creativity, and global intrapreneurship.”
Hisrich joined Thunderbird in July after
spending the past 12 years at the Weatherhead
School of Management, Case Western Reserve
University. Hisrich is the author of 23
books, including the best selling “Woman
Entrepreneur” and “How to Fix and Prevent
the 13 Biggest Problems that Derail Small
Business,” and at least 200 academic articles.
BEGINNING NEXT summer, students
will be presented with a new curriculum
that offers either a one-year accelerated
program or a two-year program, a
second-language requirement for all students,
“soft skills” training and—something
no other MBA school requires—coursework
in an international location.
“We’ve gone back to the core values,” says
Senior Vice President of Academic Programs
Widing. “While we offer a number of other
ways to get a Thunderbird education, the
full-time program provides the reputation
that all the other programs are built on. Any
changes we have made to the curriculum
have had to improve the quality and set it
apart from others in the industry.”
A second language had been a requirement
for decades, but it was dropped a few years ago
when a non-language degree program, Track
2, was introduced. The new curriculum requires
a minimum level of proficiency in a
second language as a graduation requirement.
Language and cross-cultural instruction will
be offered through non-credit courses and a
number of other activities, such as participation
in overseas learning modules.
“The goal for our graduates is not high
levels of fluency, but the opportunity to appreciate
other cultures through the window
of language,” Javidan says.
The new curriculum has a traditional program
(60-credit hours, 20-months) and an accelerated
program (45-credit hours, one year).
Both require a second-language proficiency;
both allow students to declare a focus area.
The accelerated program requires an undergraduate
degree in business or related discipline,
and does not include an internship.
New global business courses that have been
added include:
Global Enterprise focuses on intrapreneurship
and entrepreneurship and is a preparatory
course for the Global Business Plan.
Global Business Plan students spend the
trimester writing, either individually or as
part of a group, a business plan that involves
at least two countries.
Thunderbird Global Experience (TGE) is a
two- or three-week course requiring students
from the United States to travel to an international
location for immersion in the regional
business environment. TGE courses
will initially be offered in Europe, Asia and
Latin America. Non-U.S. students will have
22 fall 2005

the option of taking their TGE in the USA.
“We want them to look at a culture through
the window that Thunderbird provides,”
Widing says. “The goal is to contribute to
their global mindset so they can look at business
through the lens of another culture.”
The TGE will include corporate site tours,
coursework with Thunderbird faculty, and
lectures by local business experts and leaders.
Hisrich says that the Global Business Plan
course will probably end up being a highlight
of the MBA program for many students.
The new curriculum also includes noncredit
courses that hone students’ “soft
skills,” which are increasingly prized by corporations.
These include business-report
writing, business presentations and public
speaking, career management, cross-cultural
team building and networking, and etiquette
in global business settings.
Currently, only about four out of 10 Thunderbird
students have a declared focus area,
but under the new curriculum that number
could rise significantly. Narrowly defined focus
areas within a discipline, such as business-to-business
marketing, will be eliminated,
and only the broadly-defined focus areas
such as finance, international development,
management and marketing will be offered.
Kip Harrell, director of the Career Management
Center (CMC), says students who
declared an overly narrow focus area were often
overlooked by potential employers.
“Employers are often unwilling or unable
to sort through confusing and idiosyncratic
labels,” he says. “The curriculum changes reduce
the need for CMC to explain and validate
‘customized focus area’ to employers.”
The curriculum changes not only strengthen
the School’s international positioning but
simplify scheduling and, because of course
streamlining, reduce the cost of delivery.
“No other business school requires all
graduates to possess language proficiency,
undertake a global experience, write a global
business plan, and take functional area courses
that are globally focused,” Widing says.
“This curriculum provides Thunderbird
graduates with a consistent and unique ‘truly
global’ signature.”
ON SEPTEMBER 10, the first cohort of
34 students in the Global MBA On-
Demand degree program gathered in
a classroom on the Glendale campus to begin
their first face-to-face seminar in the 21-
month program. The cohort has four intensive
face-to-face seminars, two on the Glendale
campus and one each in Archamps and
in Beijing. In between seminars, students
have real-time interaction with their peers
and professors, almost on a daily basis, says
Dr. Bert Valencia, director of the Global
MBA On-Demand program. Although most
live thousands of miles apart, students in the
program will work in groups on projects and
presentations, utilizing My Thunderbird
(MTB) to maintain contact with one another.
To recreate the cultural blending that occurs
on campus, students from different cultures
will be paired together on group projects.
Students also will receive streaming
video and e-learning modules via MTB.
The majority of students are United States
citizens, but a good number come from India,
Mexico, South Africa and Venezuela, among
others. Not only does this program offer a
Thunderbird education in a way that students
want, but it also overcomes the visa issues
that have slowed overseas enrollment in
the full-time program.
“This is a program that allows us to offer an
education to working professionals around
the world, regardless of where they are,”
Cabrera says. The second cohort of students,
expected to number about 40, is scheduled to
begin in January 2006.
Starting in August 2006, a group of 40 to 50
students will begin a dual-degree program
PILLAR NO. 4
“Business & Cultural
Fusion” recognizes a
learning experience that
imparts an understanding
of the important role
culture plays in business.
thunderbird magazine 23

THERESA HEINDL
ALUMNI WILL BENEFIT through a number of significant changes at the office of Alumni Relations, including access to Factiva, a
database offered by IBIC that provides access to more than 8,000 periodicals from 118 countries around the globe.
Alumni Relations Reborn
Big changes come to T-bird office
BY THE END OF 2005, the more than
35,000 Thunderbirds around the world
should begin to notice the transformation
coming to the alumni association.
Notable changes to the network have
already taken place. The Alumni Association
has become the Thunderbird Global Network
(TGN); the network’s governing structure now
includes a Global Network Board, which sets
policy, reviews programs, creates new services
and programs; My Thunderbird (MTB)
received a face-lift; and, most significantly,
the role the network will play has shifted.
“It’s for us now,” says Meredith Peabody ’96,
executive director of the network. “It’s more
about building and enhancing the network.
It’s about our powerful connection to one
another. Thunderbird is still at the center of
the network, but more as a facilitator.”
To enhance this role, the Alumni Relations
office redesigned the alumni section of MTB,
which is now more navigable and intuitive,
making it easier for alumni to find information
and search and access one another.
Alumni Relations also has expanded
Network Partners, a collection of T-bird alumni
available to mentor other alumni in a number
of industries and professions. For a list of
mentors, contact Barbara Limmer, director of
Alumni and Executive Career Management.
Plans also call for Thunderbird Global
Reunions to become biennial affairs. (Due to
timing issues, however, the next event won’t
be held until 2007 in Latin America.) “Global
reunions bring alumni together to socialize,
to network and to enjoy a unique learning
experience,” says Peabody.
Connections between alumni will be helped
by the Alumni Travel Program, which will offer
greater learning and “life changing” elements,
Peabody says. Future trips will not only offer
alumni the chance to visit interesting locales,
but to use their talents and experience to help
local non-profit organizations.
While programs like the 40+ Initiative and
First Tuesdays will continue to be run by individual
chapters, the Alumni Relations office
now has a dedicated staff member to help
bolster efforts, in part by gathering best practices
and sharing those with other chapters.
Other changes expected to come before
year-end include: the introduction of a Thunderbird
credit card; alumni access to Factiva,
a database with more than 8,000 periodicals
from 118 countries; access to a portfolio of
discounted insurance products; a program
that offers assistance in résumé crafting and
interviewing; and the ability to post résumés
on MTB.
“We are giving alumni what they said they
wanted,” Peabody says. “They want a dynamic
network that provides them a platform to
advance their careers, to hone their business
knowledge, and to connect to each other.”
24 fall 2005

that is the result of a joint venture between
Thunderbird and Indiana University’s Kelley
School of Business (IU).
“We complement each other very well,”
says Valencia. “Indiana University has a top-
20 ranked MBA program and the highest
ranked distance-learning MBA program in
the country, while we’re the top international
business school and are now offering distance-learning
MBA degrees through our
On-Demand program.”
Students will take courses concurrently
from both schools, a feature unique for most
dual-degree programs. The 26-month program
begins with a 10-day face-to-face intensive
seminar on IU’s Bloomington campus,
followed by a 10-day seminar in Beijing at the
halfway point, and then a final 10-day seminar
on Thunderbird’s Glendale campus. The
program represents the 16th such joint venture
Thunderbird has with other institutions
of higher education throughout the world.
THE TRANSFORMATION Thunderbird
has undertaken during the past
year has been significant, Cabrera says,
but even greater changes are on the way. “Now
is the time to take our efforts to a new level and
firmly seize control of our destiny,” he says.
Thunderbird has to consider every option
that will allow it to create a sustainable business
model that keeps it at its very high level
of prestige as the very best international
management school in the world, he says.
That could include not just selling off the 80
vacant acres surrounding the school, but perhaps
reconfiguring the campus itself.
The campus was designed to accommodate
a full-time student body of more than 1,500, a
figure unlikely to ever again be reached given
the School’s emphasis on taking only the
highest quality candidates, and the prospect
that most of the future growth will be among
working professional and overseas programs.
Also, the campus doesn’t fully accommodate
the growing demands of Executive Education,
an area of significant growth in which
Thunderbird is seen as among the best in the
world.
“The campus is supposed to serve our core
mission of creating international business
leaders, not the other way around,” Cabrera
says.
Thunderbird should also closely examine
the idea of establishing closer relationships
with other institutions of higher education.
Until now, most of the partnership has been
“at arm’s length,” Cabrera says, but in order
to remain competitive the School needs to revisit
some of those partnerships and consider
new ways to join forces with domestic or
overseas partners.
The School will continue to diversify its
product portfolio, as it has with the GMBA
On-Demand program, but only with programs
that are consistent with Thunderbird’s
mission and values, as well as ones that are
self-sustaining and can grow “organically,”
he says. Thunderbird is not in a position to
build campuses or programs, and then “hope
that students come.”
Cabrera is certain that although he has
more “Jacuzzi days” ahead, they won’t come
from fretting about the direction in which to
take the School. The drawing of that roadmap
will soon be behind him. His “Jacuzzi
days,” Cabrera says, will be those long days
spent carrying out the details of navigating
the roadmap and in overcoming the obstacles
that stand in the way of Thunderbird’s transformation.
“Change is never easy, especially when
you’re talking about an institution with a
legacy as rich and as long as Thunderbird’s,”
he says. “But the time has come to move forward,
and I feel that now we have the School
headed in a positive direction, down a path
that will lead us to a brighter and more prosperous
place.”
PILLAR NO. 5
“Borderless Community”
recognizes a core
spirit of embracing
cultures that is shared by
students, faculty and
alumni.
thunderbird magazine 25

VIEW WITH ROOM
From the source of the
Amazon River, the view
is lunar and the way
back down is steep.

TO THE
SOURCE
OF THE
AMAZON
By James Lynch ’77
James Lynch and a team of explorers ventured
through some of South America’s most dangerous terrain
to become the first party ever to reach the source
of the Amazon River in motor vehicles.
Their quest took them across the world’s
largest wetlands, through land brutally ruled
by narco-traffickers and to uncharted peaks
along the Continental Divide.
thunderbird magazine 27

SINCE 1989, JAMES LYNCH ’77 AND ADVENture
partner Rene Delmotte have planned,
organized and led more than a dozen expeditions
into the jungles of South America. In
1996, while exploring a region of the Amazon
basin where English explorer Percy Harrison
Fawcett mysteriously disappeared more than 70 years earlier,
Lynch and the rest of his team
were kidnapped and held hostage, perhaps
by the same Indian tribe that had
executed Fawcett. The ordeal ended
after three harrowing days when
Lynch and Delmotte negotiated their
release in exchange for the team’s
boats, motors, radios, generators and
camping equipment.
In the summer of 2004, Lynch and
Delmotte began planning a new expedition
that would take them to the
source of the Amazon in motor vehicles. In the five years
since the headwaters of the mighty river had been pinpointed,
only a handful of people had reached the spot, and
they went on foot. Though many had tried, no one had
succeeded in covering the treacherous terrain by vehicle.
For months, Lynch poured over topographic maps and
satellite photos to find the best route.
On February 3, 2005, Lynch, Delmotte and a handpicked
team of other adventurers began their journey from São
Paulo to latitude 15.50 south, longitude 71.69 west, a voyage
of 23 days that would cover 10,000 kilometers.
STANDING PROUD
The team of adventurers
poses together before
Mount Mismi on one of
the last days of the trip
to the Source. Their
vehicles (below), which
had to blaze their own
trail around rocks on the
final day, were raised
high and turbocharged,
then equipped with
double-sized fuel tanks
and a GPS system to
withstand the rugged
10,000-kilometer trip.
28 fall 2005

DAY 1 Our team came together just four
weeks ago. It consists of Toninho Ausenka, a
restaurateur and world-class chef; Domingos
Guerreiro, a highly experienced off-road
driver; Dr. Paulo Demenato, a doctor specializing
in high altitude sickness; Joao Amaro,
co-founder of TAM, Brazil’s largest airline;
Rick La Rocca, a Los Angeles documentary
film director; Roberto Liesegang, a partner in
one of Brazil’s largest law firms; Claus Herzog,
CEO of MTU, a German multinational
company; Rene Delmotte, who owns and operates
a chain of automotive service centers
in São Paulo; and myself, a senior partner at
Phoenix Strategic Financial Advisors.
Our three vehicles—a Land Rover Defender
90, a Toyota Land Cruiser and a Toyota
Hilux pickup truck—went
through serious modifications
for the trip at Delmotte’s shop.
They have been turbocharged
for more power at altitude, and
each has a private band radio
and Global Positioning System
navigation. To increase their
range and clearance, we’ve
added double-sized fuel tanks
and lifted the bodies four inches,
which allows room for our
preferred tires, BF Goodrich
M/T Tires.
DAY 2 It took two long days to
drive the 1,700 kilometers to
Cuiaba, in the state of Mato
Grosso. At first, the roads were
well-paved, but after leaving the
state of São Paulo, they got increasingly
bad, with thousands
of sharp-edged potholes and
endless lines of 22-wheeled trucks crawling
along no faster than a person could walk.
DAY 3 By mid-afternoon, we crossed the Bolivian
border and reached San Matías, a
farming village between the Pantanal Wetlands
and the Amazon forest. We were all
anxious to move on, with 300 kilometers of
dirt roads yet to travel before reaching San
Ignacio, our night’s goal. Unsure of the availability
of diesel fuel, we filled all the tanks
and reserve containers to the brim.
We parked in front of a wooden hut just
down the road from the fuel depot that served
as customs and immigration headquarters.
An army officer in full camouflage fatigues,
who enjoyed pointing the business end of his
machine gun at whomever he was addressing,
told us that the customs officials had left
earlier that day to celebrate carnaval and
wouldn’t return until four days later. Waiting
was out of the question, as was backtracking
to another entry point into the country. To
complete the trip in our allotted three weeks,
we had to drive 10 to 12 hours per day.
We checked into the only pension in San
Matias. The rooms, which cost 15 Bolivianos
(US $2), were furnished with two single
beds, a small table and a noisy wall fan that
barely moved the air but helped keep the
mosquitoes at bay. We ate in a thatched hut
with dirt floors and watched the local carnaval
revelers dance their way through the
muddy streets, spraying canned foam at unsuspecting
targets. After a dozen bottles of
cool Paceña beer, we decided to take our
chances and drive on to San Ignacio the next
morning even though it meant entering the
country illegally.
DAY 4 We left at first light. The dirt road
was in good condition as we traveled 100 kilometers
into the Bolivian Amazon, but soon
the scorching sun burned off the morning
dew and the air filled with choking dust that
reduced visibility to a few dozen feet and
clogged the air filters. Even though we’d been
told to stick together for security, the dust
made it impossible to drive in convoy so we
continued our trek a kilometer apart.
In San Ignacio, we found the immigration
officer at a bar and explained our predicament.
After a few cold ones, he agreed to
open his office on a Sunday and stamp our
passports. With this, all we were missing
PRETTY PALETTE
Colorful landscapes—
here of potato fields in
the Colca River Valley—
would give way to
moon-like terrain as
Lynch and his team
climbed higher and
higher into the Andes
on their strenuous
23-day journey.
thunderbird magazine 29

LONG WAY DOWN
On Day 8, the caravan
snakes its way along
“Death Road,” a serpentine
sliver carved into
the sides of the steep
Cordillera Real that
Lynch calls the most
dangerous road in the
world. The ravines are
so deep that bodies of
some who failed to
navigate it safely have
never been recovered.
were the customs authorizations. But there
was no customs officer in town.
“Not to worry,” the commandante of the
army garrison told us. “You are our hermanos
brasileños,” our Brazilian brothers.
The authorities in Trinidad, he assured us,
would understand our predicament and issue
the proper authorizations. We had already
driven our cars 300 kilometers into a foreign
country illegally and now we were proceeding
hundreds of kilometers more. If anything
were to happen, we would get little sympathy
from the authorities.
DAY 5 To raise the group’s morale, we spent
the day visiting the 17th century Jesuit missions
in the neighboring towns of San
Miguel, San Rafael and Santa Ana. The
timeless beauty of the colonial architecture
and intricate artwork was overshadowed by
our customs problem. That evening, in a bar
on the plaza that faced the cathedral, we
watched the carnaval revelers dance all
around us. We decided to push forward to
Trinidad.
DAY 6 We left at dawn in a somber mood,
then stopped for lunch at a roadside restaurant,
with six hours of intense driving left to
reach Trinidad. We were now entering the
Cocaine Corridor, an empty stretch of jungle
controlled by wary drug growers and pitiless
narco-traffickers. Countless people have
ventured into the Cocaine Corridor and never
been seen again. Back in our vehicles, we
maintained radio silence. The faster and qui-
eter we got through the jungle the better.
In Ascención, we stopped to fill our diesel
tanks, but within 20 minutes word of our arrival
attracted a group of suspicious looking
onlookers. In this rundown village, where
the only other vehicles were three shiny new
pickup trucks with dark tinted windows
guarded by tough looking characters in sunglasses,
our vehicles had become objects of
desire. The men were surely involved in drug
trafficking. We departed without incident,
but drove away with our eyes on our rearview
mirrors.
We reached the outskirts of Trinidad by
sunset. On hearing our tale, the avuncular
owner of our hotel took us to his friend, a sergeant,
who gave us the authorizations for the
cars. All our worry for nothing!
DAY 7 We crossed the final
stretch of Amazon jungle before
reaching the Yungas, the
mountainous highlands leading
to the Andes. Our immediate
challenge was a 65-kilometer
dirt road, known as the most
dangerous road in the world,
that would take us from 800
meters altitude to 4,000 meters
in a few hours. Each year, more
than 100 lives are lost from cars
careening off the edge of the
road into the valley below.
The view over the canopy of
the Amazonian rainforest is
breathtaking. The rolling green
carpet stretching to the horizon
seems untouched except for the
jagged scar where the road
slices through the lush vegetation.
We climbed the steep switchback
curves for hours without seeing anything
but thunderclouds gliding ominously between
mountain peaks. Nightfall came
quickly and brought with it a torrential
downpour from the pregnant clouds that had
been accumulating moisture all day. A thick
gray mist descended on the road, which
forced us to reduce our pace to walking speed
and to use only parking lights to navigate the
treacherous road. Late that night, we arrived
at a town called Caranavi.
DAY 8 The next morning, the sun quickly
burned off the mist that had blanketed the
mountain forest. We snaked our way over the
mountains to Coroico, which sits precariously
on a cliff only 65 kilometers from La Paz,
the day’s goal. To reach the capital, we had to
30 fall 2005

climb 3,800 meters to reach La Cumbre, the
summit of the Cordillera Real. Over millions
of years, the Coroico River has carved out a
twisting valley with near vertical walls. It was
hard to imagine how the engineers managed
to build what they call the Death Road. All
along it, dilapidated buses and trucks pass one
another on the nerve-wracking blind switchbacks,
often no more than four meters wide.
Just a month earlier, 35 people had died and
more than 100 were injured when two buses
went over the edge into one of the shallower
ravines. Colorful plastic bouquets attached to
crosses marking some tragic accident are the
only spots of color in the gray-brown landscape.
In the canyon below the road lay the
wreckage of busses, trucks and cars. Where
access is especially difficult, we
were told, bodies are not often
recovered.
The sweat that dripped down
our faces was more than response
to the humid conditions.
We were scared. During
the four hours on Death Road,
we had our share of heart-stopping
experiences. First, a truck
and then a fully loaded bus
came grille to grille with our
pickup on one of the blind hairpin
curves. After seeing the difficulty
the truck had in backing
up, we decided to drive in reverse
ourselves when we met a
bus full of Bolivians. The bus
driver refused our offer, however,
and proceeded to execute
the reverse maneuver with perfection.
During the whole
process, no one in the bus got
out. Were they resigned fatalists or just worried
about losing their seats?
DAY 10 Early Saturday morning, we left La
Paz and entered Peru. Ironically, not once in
Bolivia were we required to present the customs
documents we had suffered so much to
obtain. We spent the day on a dusty road to
Puno, the largest city on Lake Titicaca.
DAY 11 Late in the afternoon, we arrived in
Chivay, less than 200 kilometers from the Pacific
Ocean, as the crow flies. Chivay lies at
the head of the Colca Valley Canyon, a ravine
twice as deep as the Grand Canyon. The
town would be our base camp for the attempt
to reach the source of the Amazon. We were
headed for Mount Mismi, on the continental
divide. That night we spent talking with
Carlos Zarate, our mountain guide, about the
conditions we could expect on this final
stage: cold, wind, snow, rocks, ice and a lack
of oxygen. We figured the cold and lack of
oxygen were going to be our two worst enemies.
Some in the group were already feeling
the effects of the altitude, and our objective
lay at 17,000 feet, still 5,000 feet higher.
We had to make it to the source before the
sun softened the snow around midday. Our
tires could navigate the harder snow better,
and we would still have to get back down. If
we didn’t reach the source by midday, we
would have to turn back, Zarate said. We had
not brought equipment to spend the night at
altitude and were not willing to risk getting
stuck there.
DAY 12 By 4:30 a.m., every member of the
group was awake and preparing for the summit
attempt. We removed all non-essential
equipment from the vehicles, but we carried
tea brewed from coca leaves to counter altitude
sickness.
For the first hour, we drove under a starlit
sky. As we climbed, vegetation diminished.
Just after the sun crested the peaks, lighting
up the Colca Valley, we reached the ghost
town of Ran Ran. Four hundred years ago
the Spanish conquistadores had herded the
Aymara Indians into pueblos, or “reducciónes,”
to control the “heathen” and facilitate
the evangelization of these once proud
people. Ran Ran was one of their most remote
reducciónes. Today, most of the stone
walled houses stand empty and roofless.
We took some time to wander through the
GHOST TOWN
On the way to the
source of the Amazon,
Lynch and his team
came across the ruins
of Ran Ran, a 400-yearold
“reducción” where
Spanish rulers once
forced the Aymara
Indians to live in order to
teach them about
Christianity.
thunderbird magazine 31

A DESOLATE LAND
The team had to wind
around house-size rocks
and ravines on their final
push to the crystal clear
jets of water that are the
source of the Amazon,
located high on this rock
wall (above). On the way
to the source, the high
plains of the Andes
provided stunning views
of distant horizons.
The spellbinding
beauty of the
high Andes
opened up
before us.
Only our
colorful cars
broke the
reddish-brown
palette of this
desolate
landscape.
32 fall 2005

uins while eating our picnic breakfast.
Soon after, the trail petered out, leaving us
to blaze our own path. We picked our way
around rocks, ravines and rivers, our pace reduced
to a crawl. The GPS placed us 22 kilometers
from the source, and at the speed we
were traveling we weren’t going to make it by
midday. Furthermore, dark clouds billowed
from mountain passes and we were pelted
with hail the size of ping-pong balls. We
could only hope our vehicles would not be
damaged. The pounding stopped as fast as it
had begun, leaving behind a clear message:
enter at your own risk.
As we motored upward, the cold deepened,
the wind picked up and the landscape
changed. The towering rock escarpments
slowly folded into barren, rolling valleys surrounded
by snow-capped peaks. The spellbinding
beauty of the high Andes opened up
before us. Only our colorful cars broke the
reddish-brown palette of this desolate landscape.
The terrain was more forgiving, but our
engines lost power in the airless, 16,000-foot
elevation. We all felt a shortness of breath and
pain in our foreheads, the infamous soroche,
first indications of altitude sickness.
Zarate, our guide, rode with Delmotte and
me in the lead and helped us approach snowclad
Mount Mismi. The GPS real-time navigation
was no help in getting around boulders,
and our erratic route drew interesting
circles and half moons on the screen of my
laptop, but it was critical to log the path to the
source on the laptop in order to retrace our
trail on the return leg of the expedition.
When we found ourselves in a box canyon,
we had to climb a steep slope of gravel and
rocks. Delmotte took a running start. The
turbocharger, trying to feed the engine
starved of oxygen, kicked in and our 33-inch
BF Goodrich tires spat gravel in all directions.
The Hilux fishtailed wildly and twice
lost momentum as the tires searched for traction,
but Delmotte managed to maneuver it
to the top of the ridge. The other vehicles
were less successful. Both the Land Rover
and Land Cruiser dug in deep, up to their
chassis in gravel. Neither vehicle was going
anywhere.
If it weren’t for the altitude, extracting the
two cars from the gravel would have been a
walk in the park. However, at 16,500 feet it
tested the limits of safety. At this altitude,
just pulling the cable from the winch and
dragging it up to the Hilux was heroic. It took
us 20 minutes to haul each truck up the hill,
time we couldn’t afford to lose.
From the top of the box canyon, the base of
Mismi was less than a kilometer away. It is
where we would find a dark wall of near vertical
rock marking the source of the mightiest
and longest river in the world. All we had to
do was traverse a largely level area between
two valleys. When we reached a point where
we had to drive down one steep grade and
then up another, we agreed that only Delmotte
would drive his vehicle. If he got stuck,
we had enough straps and cables to winch
him out. The rest of us would reach the
source on foot. Delmotte slowly but surely
made it to the base of the rockslide that was
marked on his GPS system as the source of
the Amazon River.
Climbing on foot the last few hundred meters
was not easy. We were all tired and felt
the altitude. My heart was beating twice its
normal rate in an effort to compensate for the
low oxygen levels in my blood. Every six
steps, I had to stop and take a breath. Slowly,
we moved upward. Finally, we reached the
cliff face and gathered together at the base of
a 100-meter wall where a powerful jet of crystal
clear water shot out through cracks in the
granite. A wooden cross was haphazardly
buried at the edge of the pool formed by the
water streaming from the rock.
I thought of the trips I had made to the
mouth of the Amazon at the Atlantic Ocean,
some 6,700 kilometers to the east. At that
point, the river is so wide that you cannot see
to the opposite shore; so immense that early
explorers took it for a fresh water ocean. As
we looked at the small stream of crystal-clear
water, I was humbled and deeply moved by
standing at the birthplace of this powerful
river that gives so much life to South America
and the world.
AT THE SOURCE
On Day 12, Lynch (left)
and Rene Delmotte
stand proudly at the
source of the Amazon,
their obsession. “We
dreamt, we planned and
we made it happen,”
Lynch says about the
feat. The team was the
first group ever to arrive
there by motor vehicle.
thunderbird magazine 33

TÉLÉ-
SONIQUE
BOOMS
PETER LAUTH
34 fall 2005

Forget neutrality.
There’s a war going on
in Switzerland between
the nation’s longstanding
telecom monopoly
and the upstarts
gunning for their share
of the business.
Meet the man spearheading
the call-to-arms.
By Jason Ankeny
ADEL LABIB ’83
surveys the town of
Zurich from the rooftop
of his Swiss start-up
business, Télésonique,
EVERYONE KNOWS THAT TIME IS MONEY AND,
like money, the value of time fluctuates from one corner
of the globe to another. In the United States, where
the 1984 breakup of AT&T and the Telecommunications
Act of 1996 helped forge a fiercely competitive
telecom market, network operators large and small vie
for customers by promising cheaper voice services and long-distance
minutes than their rivals. But that’s not the norm in much of the
world, where state-run telcos maintain a monopolistic grip that forces
consumers to pay inflated prices for basic communications services.
“Most governments don’t look at telecom as a tool to fulfill a basic
human need. To them, it’s a method to impose hidden taxes,”
says Thunderbird alumnus Adel Labib ’83. “The industry needs a
revolution.”
So Labib put his money where his mouth is. In 1997, he resigned his
post as managing director for AT&T’s International Emerging Services,
liquidated all his personal assets and with fellow AT&T alum
François Callegaro founded the Geneva-based telecom service
provider Télésonique, a David against the Goliath Swisscom, the former
government-owned service provider that was privatized following
a 1997 act of Swiss parliament.
Télésonique’s approach is simple: purchase wholesale network capacity
and minutes from the major international service providers,
sell those minutes to consumers for a fraction of the traditional cost,
and improve the quality of customer care that is the Achilles’ heel of
virtually all large companies from Argentina to Zimbabwe.
“The telecom industry is the biggest cartel ever known to man, but
no one dares to call it a cartel,” says Labib, Télésonique’s CEO. “The
true cost of transmitting a phone call from anywhere in the world is
less than one cent. Yet the cartel members have devised a scheme
among them called ‘accounting rates’ and usually a so-called ‘confidential
bilateral agreement’ to hide the true costs so that they can get
away with charging customers any amount that pleases them and
satisfies their greed.”
thunderbird magazine 35

“When
you work
in a big
company,
you have to
go against
the culture
and the
old way
of doing
business.
You fight
for your
principles
and what
you believe
in, and
you fight
against
corporate
politics...
I guess I’m
a rebel for
a cause.”
Labib accuses them of making a mystery
of traffic costs so that people outside of the
industry have no idea what calls really cost.
They fix prices and monopolize access,
Labib says, so customers have no choice.
“We re-engineered the process by buying
minutes at wholesale market prices and
lowering the costs of selling, delivering,
servicing, billing and collecting so that we
can deliver our services at an affordable
price. We try to eliminate bureaucracy and
wasted resources.”
So far, the Télésonique uprising is paying
dividends. The company has transported
more than 1 billion traffic minutes since inception
and it reached profitability in 2001.
“Mr. Labib is a lionhearted entrepreneur,”
says Dr. Dieter Beer, chairman and founder
of the Swiss pharmaceutical research and development
company CarboGen and one of
the jurors who awarded Labib and Callegaro
the 2003 Entrepreneur of the Year award in
the start-ups category, sponsored by the
Swiss arm of professional services firm Ernst
& Young.
“When he started his company, Swiss
telecommunications was still characterized
by tough monopoly,” says Beer. “It is to his
merit that he has helped to break up this
trust-like situation and to push free market
conditions a little bit further in this country.”
A global focus
THE EGYPTIAN-BORN, U.S.-
educated Labib knows better
than most the value of international
communications. The
product of a middle-class Cairo
family, as a child he dreamed of traveling the
globe, believing a career in hotel management
was his ticket forward. “I wanted to get
myself out of a confined place,” he recalls.
“But standing behind a reception desk where
all the guests are venting their frustrations
was not for me. Most international guests
came to Cairo to do business. One of them
was a Thunderbird graduate. I figured that
could be my way out.”
After the government-mandated breakup
of the AT&T monopoly, the venerable carrier
began looking outside of the United States
for new opportunities while seeking out new
blood with experience in international business,
not just telecom veterans. Labib, who
joined the company’s international division
in 1987 and worked out of its New Jersey
headquarters, was among this new generation
of AT&T execs. In 1995, Labib was
transferred to Geneva to head AT&T’s International
Emerging Service Business Unit
that was looking at markets in which liberalization
was imminent.
“AT&T was my first deep understanding
of how the telecom services side works,” he
says. “I was in charge of the traffic generated
and terminated outside of the United States,
so I learned how telecom traffic operates
worldwide. All of the world’s telecom companies
were our customers. It’s an incestuous
industry. Our suppliers are our customers are
our competitors, all at the same time.”
But the new AT&T found itself mired in
its traditional methods of doing business,
frequently forcing Labib to butt heads with
superiors. His colleagues even awarded him
such tongue-in-cheek and unofficial honors
as the AT&T Bulletproof Vest Award and
the AT&T Sense of Urgency Award.
“When you work in a big company, you
have to go against the culture and the old way
of doing business,” Labib says. “You fight for
your principles and what you believe in, and
you fight against corporate politics. My first
manager at AT&T once told me, ‘You bring
more value by fighting against monopoly
culture than adhering to it.’ I guess I’m a rebel
for a cause.”
In 1997, AT&T dismantled its Geneva operations,
announcing its decision to refocus
on its U.S. business and the growing broadband
services market. “I couldn’t believe it.
We spent how many years planning, and
now we’re going home?” Labib says. “I decided
it was a good time to jump ship. Besides, I
was sick of people saying, ‘You can’t do that.
It’s not your company.’ When you have your
own company, you can do what you want.”
Founded with 1 million Swiss francs (approximately
$600,000 US), all of it from
Labib and Callegaro’s own pockets, Télésonique
sought to capitalize on a newly liberated
Swiss market still in the infancy of privatization.
The company built its network virtually
from scrap, acquiring only the most
cost-efficient equipment necessary to do the
job. “Telecom service is not about just having
a switch,” Labib says. “You need billing
systems, a network operations center, marketing
and customer service, and you have to
do it all with very little money.”
After securing the necessary licenses in late
1997, Télésonique transmitted its first live call
in August 1998, initially offering only longdistance
and international services. The
company, which now also delivers Internet
services, serves about 20,000 residential consumers.
Its Carrier Services and Wholesale
36 fall 2005

Card Sharp
IN ADDITION TO DIFFERENTIATING Télésonique via pricing,
Adel Labib hopes to position the company as, in his
words, “a telco with a heart.” Toward that end, the company
donates 5% of the revenue earned from its prepaid
“Help Africa” calling cards to Médecins Sans Frontières,
which provides volunteer medical care to developing
countries torn apart by war or natural
disaster.
Available at some 4,000 Swiss newsstands,
post office locations and other retail sites,
Télésonique’s calling cards appeal largely to
tourists, immigrants and students—“cost-conscious
customers,” Labib says. The cards are
available in denominations of 10, 20 and 30
Swiss francs.
“The cards are a tangible and visual representation of our
business,” Labib says, speaking of their importance for the
company. “It’s something the customer sees on the shelf or
at the store and says, ‘I need that.’”
Télésonique’s “Help Africa” cards also boast considerable
cultural cachet. Each is adorned by the artwork of the
Russian-born, Geneva-based painter Serge Diakonoff. So
far, Diakonoff has submitted art for about a
dozen of the limited-edition cards. According to
Labib, discontinued cards have even become
collectibles, and customers have reported the
cards selling for premium prices at online sites
and trading-card collectors’ events.
“The product has been received very well by
our customers and the media, and we’re delighted
to see the results,” Labib says. “We have
a limited marketing budget, but
this program has helped us donate
about half a million Swiss
francs to a very good cause.
That’s part of our philosophy: if
you do something for the customer
and the community, you
get rewarded.”
thunderbird magazine 37

“The idea
now is to
take our
business
model and
experience
and
replicate
it in every
corner of
the world
where there
are humans
who need
to communicate.
There
should be
a microoperator
for every
village and
town on
Earth.”
divisions additionally serve more than a
dozen telecom operators across Europe.
Though Télésonique has produced profits
of more than 10 million francs since it was
founded, Labib still employs a small staff of
about 20. Most employees originate from outside
of the telecom business, including former
hotel and restaurant employees well
skilled in the art of customer service. Others
are recent college graduates entering the corporate
arena for the first time. Almost all are
under the age of 25.
“Small business is more productive than
big business,” Labib says. “Successful companies
are either small or big. If you’re small,
you can use speed, efficiency and productivity
to your advantage. If you’re mediumsized,
you lose that flexibility, but you don’t
have the resources of the big guys, either.”
Although Labib says the Swiss market is
far less receptive to start-ups than the United
States, Télésonique’s success has not gone
unnoticed. “Adel has done a wonderful job as
a genuine entrepreneur in a monopolistic and
closed market,” says Susan Kish, CEO of the
networking organization First Tuesday, Zurich
and one of the jurors who awarded Labib
the Ernst & Young honor. “He has shown
high levels of both strategic vision and pragmatic
survival skills. His energy, enthusiasm
and creativity are outstanding.”
Labib’s next step: telecom without borders.
He wants to replicate the Télésonique business
model across the planet, targeting devel-
oping nations where communications services
remain under government control. Labib
estimates that this includes about two-thirds
of the countries in the world.
“We’ve worked hard to prove there is room
for companies like ours. The idea now is to
take our business model and experience and
replicate it in every corner of the world where
there are humans who need to communicate,”
Labib says. He envisions a McDonald’s-like
franchise model in which every micro-telco
would be individually owned and operated by
entrepreneurs, but with full access to Télésonique’s
experience, resources, support and a
global network infrastructure to transmit
phone calls, faxes and emails to anywhere in
the world.
TÉLÉSONIQUE built its network virtually from scrap, but now it is a highly advanced telecommunications firm.
“Most of them will go after neglected
markets, then the neglected segments within
those markets,” Labib says. “There should
be a micro-operator for every village and
town on Earth. We’ll tell the cartel, ‘We’re
small potatoes, and we’re going after the
peanuts you don’t want.’ We will franchise
the business model, but offer infrastructure
support. Sharing of resources will allow
them to do it.”
But if it sounds like David wants to become
Goliath, think again. “My plan is not to become
a big operator. I’d rather have hundreds
and thousands of micro-operators,” Labib
says. “We want to break the myth that there
is no room for small players in the telecom industry.
Who needs a $10 billion gorilla?”
38 fall 2005

Ever think about starting
your own business?
Thunderbird’s Walker Center for Global
Entrepreneurship can help you make that
dream a reality. We can help you with:
Robert Hisrich, Ph.D.
•Business planning
•Capital development and funding
•Personalized consulting and coaching
•Conferences, workshops
•Family business development and management
•Thunderbird campus “incubator” facilities for start-ups
Ernesto Poza
With a staff of experienced, passionate entrepreneurs and
faculty to guide you, there is no better time than now to
get your business off the ground.
Steven Stralser, Ph.D.
To learn more about how Thunderbird’s Walker Center for
Global Entrepreneurship can help you, call 602-978-7571 or
e-mail robert.hisrich@thunderbird.edu.
www.thunderbird.edu/cge

faculty focus
The overnight MBA
Thunderbird professor Steven Stralser provides busy professionals
with the business concepts they didn’t learn in school
DESPITE ITS TITLE, Professor
Steven Stralser’s book, “MBA
in a Day,” doesn’t advocate a
dramatic shortening of the
Thunderbird trimester system.
“I wrote the book after I noticed more and
more professionals going back to school for
an MBA,” says Stralser, who is also the
managing director of Thunderbird’s Global
Entrepreneurship Center. “It gives busy
doctors, lawyers, CPAs, veterinarians and
other well-educated professionals a comprehensive
overview of business concepts they
likely missed during their professional
school training.”
The 320-page book, published by Wiley
and available at Amazon.com, is divided
into four sections: management and policy;
economics, finance, and accounting; marketing;
and systems and processes. Readers get
pointers on, among others, fair negotiation
tactics, advertising and promotion, effective
communication and presentations, project
management, using the Internet for business
purposes, and quality control measures.
In one section, Stralser points out the importance
of establishing good human relations
policies, practices and strategies which,
he says, is something a lot of highly trained
professionals tend to overlook. Physicians,
for example, don’t always realize that a
patient’s overall satisfaction may be determined
less by the physician, who may spend
only moments with a patient, and more by
the time he has to wait for the doctor.
“Physicians come out of medical school
usually well prepared to treat patients, but
rarely prepared to run a medical practice,
which is a business enterprise that should
be run like any other business: efficiently,
productively and in a customer-focused
manner.”
Bowen
authors
top HR
paper
THE National
Academy of
Management,
the world’s leading
academic organization
in the management
field, honored
a paper by Thunder-
bird Professor David
Bowen and co-author
Cheri Ostroff by
naming it the best
HR article published
in any academic
journal in 2004. The
article appeared in
the Academy of Management
Review.
While the impact
of hiring and compensation
practices
on individual employees
is well established,
the way in
which they affect
a firm’s overall
performance is less
well understood.
“It’s the features of
a human resource
management system,
overall, that send
signals to employees
that allow them to
form a shared sense
of what is expected
of them,” Bowen
says. A “strong”
human resource
management system
creates a “strong
climate.” The best
human resource systems
have visibility,
legitimacy, understandability,
consistency,
instrumentality
and fairness.
“To enhance human
resource management
effectiveness,
the focus has to
be much more systemic
than just getting
specific practices
‘right’ to leverage individual
performance,”
Bowen says.
Bowen also was
honored earlier this
year when he received
the G. Robert
and Katherine
Herberger Chair in
Global Management
from Thunderbird.
See the full paper at:
thunderbird.edu
40 fall 2005

faculty writings
Sales is dead;
long live sales!
By Keith Niblett and Chris Edwards
THE INTERNET
technology industry
is often regarded as
the bellweather for
modern business
practice. Innovation
is fast, dirty and
competitive. Product life cycles
are shortening. Competition
from global players and niche
specialist organizations is fierce.
Only the fittest survive.
The nature of a complex IT sale is that its
implementation involves much organizational
upheaval. The complex sale is not
unique and can be found in other industries.
In such instances, future survival depends
on collaborations that transcend organizational
boundaries, adversarial situations,
traditional functional silos and conventional
well-honed relationships.
❖
The persistence of the hangover affecting
the IT industry from dot-com bubbles, scale
efficiencies, outsourcing fashions and the
like has many wondering whether the good
days will ever return. While vendors persist
in talking up the industry in the hope that
sales will somehow follow PR, the truth
remains that both consultancies and IT
vendors have been propped up by a generous
public sector (£35 billion in the UK health
sector alone). In both the public and the
private sectors, the IT industry faces
commoditization, with too many vendors,
too little that is really new and an evershortening
technology innovation life cycle.
Even more importantly, the great truth left
unspoken is that, in technology terms, the
buyer is having an increasingly difficult
time choosing between vendors’ solutions.
Procurement departments within
customer organizations are unbundling
IT solutions into components that are then
aggressively sourced through discounting
deals. Commodity components of the solution
are sometimes being sourced through
on-line auction mechanisms.
❖
Value-based selling is grounded upon the
concept that a sale fulfills a set of explicit
needs that are aligned to improvements in
the effectiveness of a client organization.
This implies that to understand the values
that may be created within a specific organization,
some form of relationship is created.
Now, with technology innovation cycles
significantly shortening, higher margins lie
in being able to differentiate a product by
focusing on solutions to specific and identified
customer needs. This has to occur before
competition swarms in to crowd the
marketplace. However, sophisticated buyers
are aware of this innovation cycle differentiation
eroding over time and delay purchase.
As competition increases, a value-based
rivalry is created.
❖
We observe that the attractiveness of
value-based approaches is beginning to wane
in the eyes of the vendor. Vendors complain
that they undertake the research on the
prospect and identify needs, understand the
key stakeholders, make the perfect presentation—only
to be met with subsequent
silence. Weeks go by, months sometimes,
without hearing anything at all.
The causes of this silence are clear:
1. All IT vendors are now telling the same
value-based story but with different names.
2. Buyers are losing the ability to distinguish
between the stories; they do not have
the criteria to choose between solutions.
3. Most importantly, the true nature of the
decision is, nine times out of ten, not a product-
or solution-based decision. It is actually
a strategic business solution that inevitably
leads to significant organizational change.
Vendors have for a while been trying to
influence the customer’s business strategy,
Keith B. Niblett
Keith Niblett is associate
vice president of Global
Partnerships and
teaches Marketing
Strategy, Sales Strategy
and Customer Engagement
at Thunderbird.
He has a Masters in
Marketing from the
Institute of Marketing, a
Masters in Management
Studies from East Anglia
University, a BA in
English Literature from
Bath University and a
BA in Music from the
Royal School of Music.
Chris Edwards
Chris Edwards is the
chair of management
information systems
at Cranfield University
School of Management
in Bedfordshire,
England.
thunderbird magazine 41

faculty writings
…the great
truth left
unspoken
is that, in
technology
terms, the
buyer is
having an
increasingly
difficult
time
choosing
between
vendors’
solutions.
which involves moving from value-based
selling to a consultative approach. These are
situations in which, according to the theory
at least, the buying and selling organizations
become significantly closer. Frequently,
vendors also include ‘high touch’ sales techniques
to understand their customers’ needs.
The difficulty vendors experience is that,
despite their best efforts, they are not treated
as consultative partners, but merely suppliers
of technology. Understandably, buyers
are reluctant to hold strategic conversations
with anyone trying to sell. “It’s all a dance,”
said a major buyer in the telecom industry
in Europe. “We know what our suppliers are
doing. Why would we open up to them and
tell them our biggest fears and weaknesses?”
❖
The length of the sales cycle is influenced
by the time it takes for the buyer to understand
the organizational context, combined
with how long it takes to become comfortable
with the ability to successfully manage
the organizational change.
Rather than leaving the customer to
struggle alone at this point, the vendor can
help the buyer through this process because
the vendor has a rich history of such experiences.
In doing so, they should and they can
greatly speed up the sales cycle.
Vendors must develop a core value-strategy,
with associated processes that achieve
near-total integration across functions and
organizations. This strategy must be highly
focused, involving key relationships not only
with customers but with other suppliers
and even competitors. This is sometimes defined
as an “eco-system.” Therefore vendor
organizations must form tightly knit teams
to manage the many dynamics of these
complex relationships. None of the members
of the team necessarily have to be
salesmen in the conventional sense. The
team vision is one of developing a deep
knowledge of the customer’s organization
while designing solutions specifically for
the needs of their end customers.
Applying these ideas demands that
vendors must divide their customer engagement
approach into two stages:
In stage one, vendor teams need to truly
stop selling and help customers understand
their readiness for a solution, particularly
the implications of change within their
organizations. Further, vendor teams need
to help customers understand how they
will manage these changes.
Stage two involves introducing the vendor’s
products and services in the context
of the customer’s business issues. The
vendor, in collaboration with the customer,
can develop a complete and comprehensive
custom cost-and-benefit statement resulting
in a personalized ROI.
The knowledge and skills required of
those individuals working in vendor teams
is well beyond the traditional salesperson’s
experience. Specifically, knowledge of marketing
and business strategy is required as
well as in-depth knowledge of fellow team
members’ products and services. This approach
suggests that IT vendors should reskill
their sales force and integrate the marketing
strategy and sales operations, with
new forms of bonus and reward to match.
❖
The task of the salesperson, as a part of
the “eco-system” team, will become:
1. To introduce the existence of a range
of potential technologies that may be
applicable to the customer’s organization.
2. To help the customer understand the
potential technologies within the context of
its own environment and the changes that
will be required to introduce the technology,
as well as how it will impact existing
processes, systems and cultures.
3. To resolve issues before the customer
makes any decision regarding a specific
solution. For example, identify changeagents,
be instrumental in bringing various
stakeholders on-board, and introduce the
customer to other suppliers who can assist
in resolving some of the identified issues.
4. When—and only when—the customer
has decided to go ahead with a solution, the
salesperson’s role is to introduce the vendor
team’s particular version of that solution,
and to discuss its benefits in the light of the
customer’s specific situation.
❖
A fundamental change in philosophy is
needed, and this will require a completely
new approach, and a different set of skills,
than has traditionally been used. This skillsenhancement
does not apply to the salesperson
alone but to many others in the vendor
organization who will be thrown into a
customer-facing relationship team role.
This paper had to be edited due to space limitations.
See the complete study at Thunderbird.edu/magazine
42 fall 2005

Learning from
India’s telecoms
By Kishore C. Dash
faculty writings
WITH THE
wide recognition
of the
critical relevance
of
telecommunications
infrastructure
to a country’s economic
and social development strategy,
telecommunications deregulation
has become a preferred policy
option for many developing
countries. With this renewed
emphasis on telecommunications
deregulation, two critical questions
have moved to the forefront
of academic and political debate:
1) what forces drive the process
of telecommunications deregulation?
And 2) why do some countries
succeed in deregulating the
state-owned telecommunications
sector rapidly while others fail?
Veto-player models explain policy change
by focusing on relationships among component
actors within the government. A veto
player is an individual or collective actor
whose agreement is necessary for a policy
change. In Parliamentary systems, veto
players are the partners in a government
coalition. When the government seeks to
change a policy, it must propose a change to
which all necessary members of the government
coalition must agree. The more partners
in a government, the more difficult it
becomes to enact significant policy changes.
In a government coalition composed of
multiple parties, the ability of any one party
to influence policy rests on its importance to
the survival of the coalition. Several empirical
findings in other policy areas—such as
labor laws, financial reform, and capital
control policy—have found that governments
with more veto-player parties enact
fewer policy changes, including liberalization
policies, than governments with fewer
veto-player parties. Four types of parliamentary
governments can be identified.
First, in single-party majority governments,
only votes from the governing party are necessary
to pass legislation. Hence, only the
governing party acts as a veto-player party.
Second, in surplus majority coalitions, the support
of all governing parties is not necessary
to pass legislation. At a minimum, a majority
can be achieved without the support of
the smallest party. Thus, only larger parties
are important and can act as veto-player
parties. Third, in minimal winning coalitions,
all participant parties are important because
this type of coalition loses its majority if any
party drops out. In such a situation, each
participating party in the government can
effectively become a veto-player party.
Fourth, in a minority government, government
parties require support of outside parties to
pass any legislation. In this type of government,
the number of veto-player parties
exceeds the number of government parties.
The government remains an agent of the
parliament and must produce policies that
are palatable to a majority of legislators or
else it risks losing a vote of confidence.
Applying the veto-player model to telecom
policy changes in India, we see that in a
parliamentary democracy, governments
with more veto-player parties enact fewer
telecom deregulation policies than governments
with fewer veto-player parties. Two
other issues are important to consider here.
First, veto-player parties can take different
bargaining positions depending on the
salience of policy issues. Those with high
salience tend to involve a wide range of domestic
players in the policy debate. Conversely,
issues with lower salience involve
fewer players and generate less attention to
policy outcome than the high-salient ones.
Kishore C. Dash
Dr. Kishore Dash has
been an assistant
professor of International
Studies at
Thunderbird since 1998.
In 2001, he received
Thunderbird’s William
Hacker Faculty Prize for
excellence in teaching
and research. He
received his Ph.D. from
the University of Hawaii
at Manoa, his MBA from
Georgetown University,
his BA from Utkal
University in India, and
his MA from the
University of Delhi.
thunderbird magazine 43

faculty writings
In a government
coalition
composed
of
multiple
parties, the
ability of
any one
party to
influence
policy rests
on its importance
to the
survival
of the
coalition.
Consequently, the higher the salience of
issues under consideration, the greater the
possibility that veto-players will take larger
bargaining positions and demand more concessions.
The lower the salience of issues
under consideration, the better the prospect
that veto-players can take smaller bargaining
positions and demand fewer concessions.
Since the policy of privatization of stateowned
enterprises, including telecommunications
deregulation, always carries high
salience, the veto-players are more likely to
ask for special favors for their constituency
as a condition for supporting any policy
change. This problem of narrow “winset”—the
set of choices that will gain
majority support among domestic constituencies—available
to policy makers
will considerably delay the process of policy
change in the telecommunications sector.
Second, veto-players can take different
bargaining positions depending on their ideological
orientation. For example, veto player
parties with a left-wing orientation are
more likely to resist the privatization policy
initiatives than the veto-player parties with
a centrist or right-wing orientation. The
latter parties are generally more favorable
toward market-based reforms and tend to
support deregulation of the state-controlled
telecommunications sector. Although business
is often thought to benefit from deregulation
policies, this group does not always
welcome the dismantling of domestic
protection, state subsidies, and the prospect
of multinational corporations entering
domestic markets. But generally speaking,
the business groups are likely to support the
telecommunications deregulation policies as
the latter bring efficiency in the telecommunications
infrastructure, a necessary condition
for profitable and efficient business
operations. On the other hand, the major
domestic constituency for the left-wing
parties is organized labor, which is most adversely
affected by deregulation of the stateowned
enterprises, at least in the short run.
Thus, in a coalition government, the
greater the significance of ideological distance
among veto players, the more difficult
it will be to produce agreement for policy
change. This analysis suggests the central
argument of this paper: given the high issue
saliency of the policy of deregulation of the
state-owned telecommunication sector, the
larger the number of veto-players and wider
the ideological distance among them, the
more difficult and time consuming it
becomes to enact telecom deregulation
policies in a parliamentary democracy.
Conclusion
In a parliamentary democracy like India,
the structure of ruling coalitions and the
nature of government’s strategic interaction
with dominant interest groups influence
the choices that policymakers make with
respect to deregulation of state-dominated
telecom sectors. Severe macroeconomic crisis
can create opportunity for policymakers
to launch reform in the telecom sectors. But
once telecom reform is adopted as an official
policy, the pace and viability of its implementation
is largely shaped by the structure
of governmental decision-making. The
delicate act of balancing the contradictory
demands of various veto-player parties and
interest groups in a coalition government
has led to a stop-and-go pattern of reform in
the telecommunications sector in India.
In a parliamentary democracy, governments
with many veto-player parties, separated
by ideological distance, will have less
control over parliamentary agendas because
such governments will have difficulty in
passing through parliament significant
pieces of legislation required for agenda
control. In such a situation, two developments
are inevitable: first, significant pieces
of parliamentary legislation, and deregulation
policies in particular, can only be incremental;
second, a series of nonpolitical actors
such as bureaucrats and judges will have
more influence on deregulation policies.
The findings of this analysis are also
consistent with models of two-level games,
which posit that states’ policy preferences
are shaped by the dynamic interaction
between governmental actors and domestic
players at the domestic level, but the effects
of domestic level variables are themselves
contingent on the constraints and opportunities
imposed by the international system
and foreign players. The present study
extends this argument by showing the
effects of the structure of governmental decision-making
and domestic veto-players on
policy outcomes as more consequential than
suggested by the two-level game model.
Professor Dash’s lengthy and detailed study can be
found in its integral form at Thunderbird.edu/magazine.
44 fall 2005

chapter news
Texas give ’em
NOT SINCE THE Alamo was
surrounded have Texans been so
unified. Five Texas chapters—
Dallas/Ft. Worth, Houston, El
Paso, Austin and San Antonio—
have come together in a collaborative effort
to raise at least $100,000 for an endowed
scholarship for a Thunderbird student.
“We wanted to help the School in a way
that would build goodwill among chapters
and enrich the alumni experience,” says
Bart Kohnhorst ’83, former regional council
member. “We want to set an example for
other T-birds and put forth a friendly Texas
challenge to alumni chapters around the
world to find similar initiatives.”
Scott Walker ’82, former president and
CEO of BillMatrix Corp., has committed
$50,000 to match all donations dollar-fordollar
from Texas alumni. The chapters
hope to have the funds collected, and a
scholarship offered, by spring 2006.
The effort of the Texas chapters is more
evidence of their collaboration. In March,
leaders from each chapter met to share ideas
and best practices on improving and increasing
alumni participation. The chapters plan
to hold similar meetings bi-annually.
Paris
A blazing fire, believed
historically to
have purifying powers,
has been a part
of the annual celebration
of Saint Jean
on June 18 since the
pagan ritual began
more than 2,000
years ago, but Thunderbirds
from the
Paris Chapter who
showed up to celebrate
this year’s
event instead used it
to “purify” a whole
lot of sausages and
shishkabobs. T-birds
grilled on half-barrel
barbeques, washed it
down with an ample
supply of red wine
and took over a good
portion of the outdoor
dance floor.
The evening began
with an aperitif gettogether
at dusk at
the home of Edward
Pierce ’91, in the village
of Bourdonne,
about 50 kilometers
west of Paris. From
there the 18 Thunderbirds,
along with
family and friends,
made the short hike
to Chateau de Bourdonne,
joining about
500 other revelers at
the ancient castle.
The sister of the famous
songwriter, actor
and entertainer,
Charles Aznavour,
lent the castle for the
event.
T-birds gathered near Paris for the celebration of Saint Jean. Front row (l.-r.):
Marie-Claire Kramer, Liyana Berthon, Victoria Pierce, Julien Kramer, Milla
Kessener (sitting), and Timothé Durand. Back row: Frederic Shih ’03, Catherine
Pierce, Todd Kramer ’83, Edward Pierce ’91, Laura Kessener, Paul Kessener ’75
with baby Alec, Simone-Eva Redrupp-Durand ’95, Eric Durand with Alexandre
Durand, and Bernadette Martin ’84.
thunderbird magazine 45

chapter news
Panama
On May 10, Dr.
Angel Cabrera visited
with the Panama
chapter without ever
leaving the Glendale
campus. Using the
video equipment by
which Thunderbird
broadcasts its distance
learning programs,
Cabrera
talked for an hour
with 14 alumni who
had gathered at the
City Club in Panama
City. After a
20-minute State-ofthe-School
address,
alumni asked Dr.
Cabrera questions
for 40 minutes. The
event was sponsored
by José Roncal ’90
of Cable & Wireless
Panama and Harry
Ho Lam ’01 from
Panasonic.
Chapters interested
in organizing a
virtual visit by Dr.
Cabrera should contact
Alumni Relations
at: chapters
@thunderbird.edu.
L.A.
Giacomo may have
been a 50-to-1 shot to
win the Kentucky
Derby, but it was a
sure thing that the
60 T-birds from
throughout the
Southern California
area who gathered
May 7 at Hollywood
Park to watch the
race via satellite
were going to have a
good time. They
came together at the
famed racetrack to
watch some live
horse racing, catch
the 131st running of
the Kentucky Derby
and to network.
They enjoyed a picturesque
day at the
track and a Southwest
buffet from a
40+ Initiative
gains strength
IN JUNE, THE Austin and Houston chapters held their first 40+ Initiative
events. In Austin, the chapter hosted a cocktail reception
featuring speaker John Egan, senior editor of the Austin Business
Journal, who discussed the city’s changing business environment
in terms of opportunity and demographics. The event was held at
the Shoreline Grill at the Four Seasons. Austin T-birds Bjorn Kirchdorfer
’87 and Scotty McNutt ’88 were the key organizers.
Also in June, 17 T-birds met for dinner at Birra Poretti’s, an Italian
restaurant with an Irish bar in Houston. During the dinner meeting,
the group planned a series of 40+ Initiative events to be held over
coming months, including a wine tasting and a seminar on international
trade finance. Mike Kelly ’87 and Jim Marsico ’89 are
co-coordinators of the Houston group.
Sixty Thunderbird alumni gathered at Hollywood Park to watch the Kentucky
Derby. Some partiers included, in the front row, Betty Schlothan ’95, Nancy
Hiromoto, Jennifer Beener, Kollyn Kanz ’93, Alex Cabrera, Beth Cabrera, Emily
Cabrera. In the back row, event coordinator Elizabeth Glynn ’84, Robert Olsen,
Daniel Cody ’93, Rahul Handa ’02 and Thunderbird President Angel Cabrera.
private patio that
overlooked the
track’s finish line.
The event marked
the start of World
Trade Week, which
recognizes the benefits
of international
trade in strengthening
economies and
improving lives. Dr.
Angel Cabrera, who
was in town to promote
Thunderbird,
attended the event,
along with his wife
Beth and children
Alex and Emily.
Denver
“It is essential for
Western firms to be
familiar with the
tenets of Islam if
they are to have any
hope of being successful
in business
within an Islamic
setting,” said Thunderbird
professor
Kishore Dash to the
85 attendees of a
panel discussion
hosted by the Denver
chapter on May
3 at the Denver Athletic
Club.
Western firms
need to know the
five pillars of Islam
because, to those
who practice it,
Islam is more than a
religion. It is a way
of life, an integrated
guide for daily living
and business practices.
The five pillars
include: worship one
God, Allah; pray
five times a day; pay
Zakat, or alms; fast
during the holy
month of Ramadan;
and make a pilgrimage
to the holy city
of Mecca. Islam also
forbids drinking alcohol,
eating pork,
hoarding, gambling
and usury, Dash told
the very attentive
group of listeners.
The chapter
worked with the
Denver Business Series,
an MBA association
which boasts
more than 4,000
members, to pull the
event together. Organizers
of the event
included Denver
residents Julianne
O’Dwyer ’99, Joe
Kurland ’98 and
Michael Sevilla ’96.
BENOIT PHOTO
46 fall 2005

chapter news
Kabul
With the addition of
15 Afghan women
who participated in
Project Artemis at
Thunderbird’s
Glendale campus in
January, Kabul’s
First Tuesday is a
growing affair.
However, the ongoing
security challenge
in the country,
and other issues,
resulted in only one
of the fellows getting
to the May
event. “We tend to
follow the UN’s
very conservative
security protocol
and take no ‘extraordinary’
risks,” says
sues as terrorists
attempt to disrupt
the process.” With
T-birds posted in
cities all over the
country, getting a
sizeable portion of
the disparate group
together has proved
to be difficult, but
the group plans to
continue the effort.
U.K.
A handful of T-birds
heard all about the
future of telecommunications
from
one of the preeminent
people guiding
where it’s headed:
Niklas Zennström,
CEO and founder of
Skype, a software-
Cameron Wall ’99, a
business development
consultant for
small and mediumsized
enterprises in
the agricultural center
of Qala-e-Fatullah,
who hosted the
event in August at
his office.
“We have guards
in a shack directly
outside of my guesthouse,
which is also
my office. We are
upgrading these
guards to be better
trained, and better
armed, over the next
few days. There is
much concern here
that the elections in
mid-September may
heighten security isbased
telephone
service that provides
free user-to-user
calls. “Niklas was an
engaging speaker,
discussing not only
his vision and strategy
for Skype, but also
his experiences as
one of the founders
of Tele2, a pan-European
long distance
provider,” says UK
Chapter leader
Kevin Cowan ’98.
Added bonus of
the event: Skype
recruiters were there
looking for top talent.
The event was
held in partnership
with the XMBA
networking group
and took place April
26 at Goldman Sachs
International, River
Court Auditorium.
Phoenix
About 20 members
of the Phoenix chapter
spared themselves
the usual First
Tuesday in August
and struck out for a
Phoenix bowling
alley instead in a
bout against four
Alumni Relations
staffers. While the
beer, wine, nachos,
pizza and popcorn
didn’t help the
scores, they did add
up to a good time.
The teams split the
challenge, winning
one game each.
lumni
WANT HELP FINDING A LOST T-BIRD FRIEND? NEED TRANSCRIPTS?
HAVE A QUESTION ABOUT A CHAPTER EVENT?
Contact ALUMNI CENTRAL, the one-stop customer service point for and about Thunderbird alumni.
You’ll find friendly, helpful service in response to your questions.
If we don’t have the answer, we’ll connect you to the people who do.
thunderbird magazine 47

class
Comings & goings
All your personal news that’s fit to print...
THERE IS MORE to life than just what happens
between the office walls, and now Class Notes will
reflect that in its pages. In expanding the scope of the
section, we want to know more about our alumni than
just your professional lives. Let us know, as well, about
your personal triumphs and transformations. Tell us if you get
married (or, sorry, divorced), have kids, complete the Boston
Marathon, scale Mount Everest or get your pilot’s license. Have
you been elected to the school board or named People magazine’s
Sexiest Man or Woman? Or are you volunteering your time with
a nonprofit? Of course, we also want to hear about those T-birds
who have passed on so we can honor their memory.
Send your information to alumni@thunderbird.edu
1940s
Joseph Klein ’47 will again be listed in the 2006
edition of Who’s Who in America, The World and
Science and Industry, in which he has been listed for
more than 25 years. He lives in Pacific Palisades CA.
1950s
Daniel D. Witcher ’50 passed away March 12 in
Portage MI. He is remembered as a man with a great
appetite for life, a great mind and an admirable work
ethic. He is survived by his wife Betty, five children,
19 grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren…
John Eikenberry ’53 and wife Betty celebrated their
60th anniversary November 6. The Eikenberrys
retired to SaddleBrooke AZ in 1989, where they
currently reside. They have two children, six grandchildren
and two great-grandchildren. Both ride
750cc motorcycles in the SaddleBrooke Motorcycle
Club… Richard W. Stone ’54 passed away April 13.
He served in the United States Marines Corps for
43 years during which he was awarded the Bronze
Star with a Combat V designation, which stands
for valor under fire. He is survived by his wife
Kathryn, six children and eight grandchildren…
Don Bohning ’59 published a book last spring with
Potomac Books entitled “The Castro Obsession:
U.S. Covert Operations Against Cuba 1959-1965.”
It was written after his retirement from the Miami
Herald, where he served as a reporter until 2000…
John R. Bogert ’59 was honored as the 2004
volunteer of the year by the Phoenix City Police
Department. Bogert has been a volunteer with the
Phoenix Police for more than three years and
specializes in citing vehicles illegally parked in
disabled or handicapped parking spaces.
1960s
Richard E. Hayes ’62 and wife Jane completed 41
years of residence in Brazil. He thanks Thunderbird,
then the American Institute for Foreign Trade, for
pointing him toward Latin America. Hayes keeps
busy as the volunteer president of Instituto Souza
Novaes, a nonprofit entity that helps chemicallydependent
persons… Richard Weden ’68 retired
from American Express after 36 years of service,
during which he worked mainly in Latin America,
Asia and Russia. He has moved to Miami FL and
would enjoy hearing from classmates in or passing
through the area… Sanford “Sandy” Stone ’69 is a
self-employed consultant with the Latin American
Division of the U.S. State Department. Over the past
two years he has been traveling to the U.S. Embassy
48 fall 2005

notes
in Bogotá to advise on Plan Colombia, which
provides training to the Colombian armed forces in
their battle against FARC guerrillas. Stone resides in
Alexandria VA.
1970–74
Peter Kingman ’70 is the founder and current
president and interim CEO of Southwest USA Bank
in Las Vegas. He also established and serves as
president of Nevada Trust Co., which manages more
than $75 million in assets… Manfred Braun ’72 and
his wife have returned to the United States after 27
years of living and working in the Middle East and
Europe. They have retired to Cave Creek AZ… Gary
Pacific ’72 recently presented, along with Cenk A.
Tarhun ’00, at the prestigious European conference
on international trade offsets and industrial cooperation
in London. They shared their experiences
in offsets and industrial participation in Latin
America and Romania… James A. Henderson ’73
and wife Charlotte are mostly retired and living in
Gulf Shores AL after a successful international
business career that included residences in Kuala
Lumpur and London. He is an adjunct faculty
member at Troy University, teaching international
marketing and management. His current activities,
he says, include “cheating death” while flying his
Cessna Cardinal and “scaring motorists” while
driving his Lotus Elise… Larry E. Bartleson ’73
passed away November 21 of cancer in Atlanta GA.
He is survived by his wife Linda and three children…
T.J. Sinha ’74 was recently promoted to vice
president of sales for American Block Mfg. in
Houston TX, an ISO 9001 company that
manufactures oil field equipment in Houston and
Mumbai, India. American Block Mfg. recently
opened an office in Esbjerg, Denmark for the
European and CIS markets… Vincent S. Daniels ’74
has left Florida International University after six
years and joined Nova Southeastern University.
1975–79
Roger W. Titley ’75 retired from the InterContinental
Hotels Group after 30 years of hotel and resort
management assignments around the world, most
recently as vice president and director for Latin
America and the Caribbean. He now offers
international hotel operations, development and
asset management advisory services to hotel owners
and operators from his offices in Coral Gables FL
and Sun Valley ID… George Fronske ’75 and his
wife Nonglak had originally planned to be visiting
family in Phuket, Thailand at the time of the 2004
tsunami, but because of changes in travel plans they
were in Bangkok on December 26. The Fronskes
were active in raising funds for the victims of the
disaster by convincing Cytec, the specialty chemicals
company for which Fronske works, to match funds
donated by employees… Neil Browne ’75 and his
wife Dalal’s business, Browne’s Fine Jewelry in
Champaign IL, was named Small Business of the
Year by the Champaign County Chamber of
Commerce… Steven H. Ganster ’77 is publishing a
book this summer called “The China-Ready
Company.” He now splits his time between
Shanghai and Chicago… Roger Wittlin ’78 is the
senior managing director of Sutter Advisors within
Wells Capital Management in San Francisco. The
company manages approximately $3 billion in high
yield bonds and leveraged loans for pension funds,
private foundations, corporations and a mutual
fund… Theodore Rectenwald ’78 and his wife
Marie-Louise had their third child January 21.
Rectenwald returned from Maputo, Mozambique,
where he was working at the time, to welcome her
into the world… Hiromi Yoshida ’78 has been named
the president of Dentsu Holdings USA, Inc. and
lives in New York City… Marino J. Cajina ’79
works in Managua for the presidency of Nicaragua
and is currently in The Hague, Netherlands for a
ten-week course in governance and public policy at
the Institute of Social Studies… Robert Roussel ’79
is transferring from the New York City office of Aon
Corp. in New York to AON Brussels in September to
become the head of the insurance and risk
management company’s international business
division.
1980–84
Jonathan McVety ’81 is in his seventh year as
president/CEO of Enkel Florida Ltd. which
manufactures, imports, distributes and sells high
quality aluminum and steel wheels. He successfully
completed the Iron Man Half Triathlon in North
Talk to us
You can let us
know about
changes in your life
by e-mailing us at
alumni@t-bird.edu.
We’ll publish your
news in the next
issue of the
magazine. Don’t
forget to update
your personal
profile on My
Thunderbird
(MTB). Log on at
my.t-bird.edu, click
on the personalize
button, then click
on the edit buttons
for each category
you want to change.
thunderbird magazine 49

class notes
Carolina last year in celebration of turning 50…
R. Craig Briggs ’81 has been living in Asia for the
last 12 years. He has published essays to help orientate
foreigners to life abroad… Jeff Kleinschmidt ’81 was
recently named general manager of Grupo Carpenter
Technologies, a leading manufacturer and distributor
of specialty alloys and engineered products. Before,
Kleinschmidt was a consultant with Knoll Mexico, a
leading U.S. furniture company based in Mexico
City, and was an executive with Goodyear Tire and
Rubber Company… Ginny Blackwell ’81 and her
family own French Property Shares, a company that
specializes in researching and purchasing old stone
properties in France for time-share ownership.
Blackwell and her family divide their time between
their home in Aurora OR and France… Merryl
Burpoe (nee Rosenblatt) ’82 recently joined the
Council on Competitiveness as vice presidentinternational.
The organization promotes innovation
and technology as a means to improving global
competitivity. Members include university presidents
and corporate executives… Maria Panagakos Nolan
’83 was killed in April by a hit-and-run driver in
New York City. The 45-year-old Nolan is survived
by her husband Jack, who resides in Manhattan...
Iderma Jimenez ’83 is an administration manager of
Universidad Tecnológica del Centro in Venezuela.
She lives in Naguanagua, Venezuela with her two
children… Marcella Simon Peralta ’84 currently
resides in Perth, Australia with her husband
Govindan and her daughter. She is an educational
consultant at Murdoch University’s Business School,
where she will be pursuing her Ph.D. in education
and management. She is also a published poet.
1985–89
Mendy Laval ’85 married Khaled Alkotob in 1999 and
they have a 3-year-old daughter. Since 1997, Laval has
been president of Claude Laval Corporation, based in
Fresno CA… Don Capener ’85 was chosen “2005
Professor of the Year” by the students and faculty of
Monmouth College, a liberal arts college in Illinois,
In making
loans to
Afghans,
banker
banks on
culture of
honor
MAKING
loans can
be work full
of pressure. Even in
a perfect setting,
you need to weigh
an applicant’s plea
and fill out streams
of paperwork.
But rural finance
specialist Daniel
Gies ’99 did not
count on so much
excitement when
lending money over
the past year in
Afghanistan.
“A few rockets
have hit within just
a hundred meters
of me, one of which
set a nearby house
on fire,” Gies says.
“I had to evacuate
for a few hours.”
Until 2004, no
financial institutions
in Afghanistan
offered credit.
Financial transactions
passed
primarily through
money dealers.
Enter Gies.
Thanks to a contract
with the United
States Agency for
International Development’s
Rebuilding
Agricultural
Markets Program,
Gies helped
develop lending
programs to small
agribusinesses for
Shorebank Advisory
Services.
Don’t get the
idea he was able to
scour documents
when coming to a
decision on loans.
Gut instinct was
more useful in
Afghanistan, where
there is no formal
collateral law, no
DANIEL GIES ’99 (center) does business in creative
ways, including over tea and Afghani sweets.
land title documentation,
no mortgage
lending and no
bankruptcy law.
“This is why it is
so important to sit
down with borrowers
and understand
their businesses,”
Gies says.
With a baby on
the way in September,
why did Gies—
who was in Paris
consulting for
Shorebank—get
involved in such a
dangerous area of
the world?
“Seeing the
immediate impact
of my efforts on
farmers and small
businesses gives
me a great feeling,”
says Gies, who has
been involved in
development work
on the lending side
in war-torn areas
such as Croatia
since he graduated
from Thunderbird.
Despite decades
of instability, including
the 1979 Soviet
invasion, civil
conflict and ousting
the Taliban, Gies
found the Afghan
people resilient
and honorable in
business dealings.
“Most Afghans
will sooner sell their
house than default
on a loan,” he says.
“Personal honor
and reputation are
incredibly important,
so it’s a great
environment for
lending.”
—David Sweet
50 fall 2005

class notes
where he teaches international marketing, advertising
and entrepreneurism. He has lived in Nauvoo IL with
his wife Tami and five children since 1998… Daniela
Bryan ’85 recently finished building her own
“residential barn” while successfully running her own
business as a personal coach. She resides in Soquel
CA… Lloyd Tyler ’85, chief financial officer for
North American Development Bank in San Antonio
TX, has been hired as the city of Vancouver’s top
financial executive. Since 1998, Tyler has worked for
North American Development Bank, which was
created to finance environmental infrastructure
projects along the border between the United States
and Mexico… Gabrielle Riera ’85 is an investment
manager for Investment New Zealand in their New
York City office. She is responsible for attracting
investments from North America to New Zealand…
Greg Jenik ’86 and his wife Jane recently welcomed
twin sons into the world. They live in Golden CO…
Gregory A. Peters ’86 was appointed by President
George W. Bush to serve on the National Infrastructure
Advisory Council (NIAC). Peters is
president and CEO of Internap, an Atlanta-based
corporation that provides routing services over the
internet… Sanjyot P. Dunung ’87, founder and CEO
of Atma Global, a global developer of educational
products, has written a book called “Straight Talk
about Starting Your Own Business.” The book
includes real life tales highlighting innovative tactics
used by successful entrepreneurs… Roger Dodge
Potdevin ’87 passed away April 11 of cancer. Potdevin
was 43 years old and was vice president of Iridian
Asset Management in Westport CT. He leaves
behind his wife Jacqueline and three children. The
family has asked that any contributions be made to
the Thunderbird Development Office “In Memory of
Roger Potdevin ’87”… John Collins ’89 moved back
to Taipei, Taiwan after nine years in Singapore. He is
enjoying his new position as director of corporate
communications for Wistron Corporation… Daniel
Talmage ’89 works as a study director for the Air
Force Science and Technology Board at the National
Academies in Washington D.C. He received the
Academies’ 2004 Community Service Award for his
work in the greater Washington D.C. area, including
his home community of Germantown MD.
1990–91
William J. (Jeff) Martin ’90 has joined the Strategy
& Change practice of IBM Business Consulting
Services. He and his wife Maureen live in Dallas TX
along with their 3-year-old triplets, who are now in
excellent health after being born severely premature.
They send their gratitude to the Thunderbird
community for its prayers, support and encouragement…
Charlie Rooney ’90 is working as the
European finance director for Energizer, Inc. in
London. He moved there last year with his wife and
two young sons… Rikia Saddy ’90 is still working
out of Vancouver as a marketing strategy consultant
for medium-sized companies trying to expand. He
has spent the last few months working on the campaign
team of the premier of the province of British
Columbia... Steven Soehlig ’90 is moving to Doha,
Qatar, to become director of commercial standards for
Qatar Airways… Terry Koch ’90 is a founding board
member of Make-A-Difference, a worldwide service
organization that focuses on giving back to local
communities. She is also serving as executive director
for the Kearny Alliance Foundation, based in
Scottsdale AZ… Terry Grant ’90 has been hired by
the U.S. Bank in Salt Lake City as the vice president
and senior relationship manager. Grant has 21 years of
experience in the financial industry… David
Dinwoodie ’91 has been appointed director general
adjunto at EADA business school, Barcelona, Spain.
He hopes to become director general in three years…
Emil W. Milker ’91 has been named president of
Copper Consultants LLC. He and his wife Pamela
reside in Dunedin FL… Judith Ward ’91 and her
husband Rod Hall welcomed a new daughter on
October 28. She joins one brother and one sister.
They live in London, where Ward is regional director,
northern Europe for AT&T Wholesale... Donald J.
Howell Jr. ’91 passed away April 29 at 42 in Maui HI.
He was project director for the Marriott Corp.
1992–93
Marshall D. Welch III ’92 is senior vice president,
transition management with Platinum Equity, a
California-based private equity firm. It is the 32nd
largest privately held company in the USA with
more than $11 billion in portfolio company revenue.
He and his wife Melissa have two children and reside
in his home town of Williamsport PA… Michelle Y.
Levesque ’92 recently moved to Maryland to work as
vice president-financial planning for Discovery
Networks International, a division of Discovery
Communications, Inc… Elsie Chang ’92 is working
on national security issues for the Intelligence
Operations team at Booz, Allen, Hamilton in
McLean VA. She resides on Lake Thoreau in Reston
VA… Bowen Banbury ’92 and his wife Lana started
Docuvault, a Denver CO-based company that
specializes in storing indispensable paperwork for
businesses… Guy C. Enderle ’92 recently wrote and
published a novel based on his experiences playing
rugby at Thunderbird. As his way of supporting the
School, he will be donating a quarter of all sales to
Thunderbird Rugby… Stephen Rizley ’93 is the vice
president and regional manager for Cox Arizona, a
division of Cox Communications Inc., which was
recently listed as the 15th top cable system for 2005…
Scott Raske ’93 has accepted a position as vice
president with Organizational Development
Associates, a management consulting firm in Atlanta
GA. He and his wife Gitana had their first child in
December… Ruth Morris ’93 and Peter Kelly ’93
welcomed their second daughter to the family in
October. They live in Newton MA… Rob Batchelder
’93 is currently acting consul general at the U.S.
Embassy in Buenos Aires, Argentina and will be
leaving at the end of this year to take up a new
assignment as consular section chief in Berlin…
Terry Wagemann ’93, his wife and two boys moved
to Tokyo in July to live with his father-in-law. They
are looking forward to returning to Japan and meeting
up with T-bird friends there… Michele Pino ’93
is the executive director of the Arizona State
University’s Research Park, an organization that
strives to attract companies engaged in research and
development or education… Maryna Hrushetska ’93
was appointed executive director of the Craft and
Folk Art Museum in Los Angeles.
Dpi demands
Ever wonder why
the photos from
your last event
didn’t make it into
the magazine? It’s
probably not
because your First
Tuesday images
were unfit for
civilized
consumption
(although that does
happen) or that
everybody had
their eyes closed.
They didn’t make
the cut because
they weren’t sharp
enough. We need at
least 300 dots per
inch (dpi) for a shot
to be considered,
so ramp up the
setting on your
digital camera and
remember to keep
your eyes open.
thunderbird magazine 51

class notes
1994–95
Dennis Korte ’94 married Maria Paz Allamand in
2001 and they now have a three-year-old daughter.
Last October, he left Vida Security, a Chilean life
insurance company, to start a financial consulting
company, DK Financial Planners. The company does
financial planning for high net worth individuals.
The family has resided in Santiago, Chile since
January 1999… Kent Lewis ’94 was recently promoted
to director of international operations for XanGo, a
Lehi UT-based dietary supplement company... Maria
Ballina ’94 has two young children who are “bound”
to go to Thunderbird, she says: three nationalities,
bilingual by preschool age and perfect travelers.
Ballina’s graphic and printing services business in
Houston TX designs, prints and ships everything
from full color catalogues and brochures to posters
and trade show graphics… Josh Teweles ’95 was
promoted to national accounts manager for Atlanta
GA-based Equifax. He currently lives in Forest Hills
NY with his wife Liz and daughter… Will Lashley
’95 has joined General Electric’s Advanced Materials
Polymershapes as its business counsel. In his new
role, Lashley will be located in Huntersville NC and
will be responsible for all legal matters relating to the
Polymershapes business… Lonnie Power ’95 was
promoted to territory sales manager overseeing the
sales network in Southern USA and Latin America
for Nihon-Kaiheiki Kogyo (NKK Switches) of
Scottsdale AZ. He and his wife Joann have two
young daughters and reside in Glendale AZ… Murad
Al-Katib ’95 is the president and CEO of Saskcan
Pulse Trading Inc., the world’s largest processor and
exporter of lentils and peas.
1996
Mauricio R. Alves ’96 left Merrill Lynch to pursue a
new career opportunity as the vice president of
consumer product for Latin America and the
Caribbean for MasterCard International, based in
Miami FL. His wife Amy Alves ’96 and their two
young sons are doing well… David James Drake ’96
lives on a farm in Indaiatuba, São Paulo, Brazil with
his wife Dora, a veterinarian, and their two young
children. He is general manager of Spartan Chemical
with responsibilities for all operations in Brazil,
Bolivia, Peru, Uruguay and Paraguay… Ramy Mora
’96 recently joined Hotwire.com, owned by Expedia
Inc., as the vice president of marketing… Elizabeth
Painter Rosa ’96 married Matt Rosa April 9 in
Louisville KY. Armando Huerta ’96 was in the bridal
party, and other T-birds who came to celebrate
included Emily Rosenthal Moses ’96, Barbara
Goodman ’96, and Mark Eckstein ’96. The couple
Driven by
the need
to help,
alumna
launches
firm for
artisans
CHANTELE
White ’96 is
a great
believer in destiny.
If not for her desire
to improve her
Spanish language
skills and her love of
helping others, she
might be spending
her time in corporate
offices instead
of using her skills to
promote the work of
artisans striving to
survive in a poor,
struggling country.
Soon after
earning her undergraduate
degree,
White joined the
Peace Corps to
satisfy both her
humanitarian
interests and her
love of travel. She
was assigned to
Nicaragua as a
small business
development
consultant, working
with the Canadian
organization Mennonite
Economic
Development
Associates (MEDA).
“The person who
suggested I volunteer
with the Peace
Corps was from
Nicaragua. And
the agency I was
assigned to was
MEDA, the same
name as the street
I grew up on,” said
CHANTELE WHITE ’96 founded Artisans Relief to
aid developing-world artists sell their works abroad.
White. “It was fate.”
Such signs eventually
led White to
create Artisans
Relief, a non-profit
that promotes the
work of Nicaraguan
artisans she
had met as she
catalogued handcrafted
arts during
her Peace Corps
stint. This led her to
Thunderbird.
“I wanted to help
people,” she says.
“I went back to
Nicaragua to visit
my mentor, who
challenged me to
help Nicaraguans.”
Most of White’s
imports are handwoven
hammocks
from Masaya,
pottery from San
Juan de Oriente
and soapstone
figures from San
Juan de Limay.
Many pieces are in
boutiques and
galleries in her
hometown of Joliet,
Illinois. White is
looking to expand
to other countries.
“These artists
make beautiful
pieces with skills
passing through
generations,”
White says.
“Finding funding
has been difficult,
but it’s fulfilling to
help artists into a
formal economy.
I just want to help
them change their
lives for the
better.”
— Carrie Miner
52 fall 2005

to the train station
for a 20-minute
ride to the Tokyo
Stock Exchange,
where she broadcasts
from the
trading floor until it
closes. Then it’s
back to CNBC to
again talk with
analysts for the
next day’s show.
“Actually, I have
no time to even put
on my makeup,”
she says. “Sometimes
I am on TV
without lipstick.”
Because of the
weight of her words
among market
followers, Tanimoto
can’t afford the
smallest error, no
matter how quickly
she has to analyze
swings in the
market on the live
program. “If I make
a mistake, it can
have a serious
impact on investclass
notes
named and decorated the reception tables after
countries they had visited together… Claudia
Stratmann ’96 is regional advertising manager for
General Motors Latin America, Africa and the
Middle East. She and her husband Gonzalo Rangel
have 2-year-old twin boys and live in Fort Lauderdale
FL… Michelle Glogowski Mobley ’96 and her
husband authored a fun novelty cookbook, “I’d
Rather be Grilling!” written especially for men who
golf. It features golf illustrations, grilling tips and
tongue-in-cheek comments about each recipe. The
couple resides in Downers Grove IL with their two
children… Nicole Seward ’96 was married March 26
to Angus Farquhar. The couple resides in Scotland…
Justin Hibbard ’96 just finished recording the
voiceover for the first in a series of radio/TV
commercials for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim,
a major league baseball team… Lisa Bolton ’96 works
in Madison NJ at Wyeth Consumer Healthcare
where she was recently promoted to director of global
compensation. Her daughter is going into fifth grade
and her son is starting kindergarten… Gordon Smith
’96 was appointed a member of the board of Choice
Hotels International. He is currently president of the
U.S. Consumer Card Services Group of American
Express Travel Related Services Inc. where he holds
overall responsibility for the company’s consumer
card businesses in the United States.
1997
Janet M.G. Akerman ’97 has been appointed to the
executive management team as director of international
development by Shop’n Chek Worldwide,
the world’s largest provider of mystery shopping and
other customer service measurement programs.
Ackerman will be responsible for expanding the
company’s extensive global presence and strengthening
Shop’n Chek’s brand recognition worldwide…
Russ Hubbard ’97 has relocated to Baltimore MD to
work with SafeNet Inc., a leading information
security provider, as the vice president of sales for the
Americas. He welcomes anyone coming to the area to
drop him a line… Anna Maria Cutrone ’97 married
South African Nicholas Fosteras in Rome on May 5.
The couple currently lives in London… Kristi Meyer
Walsh ’97 was married two years ago and is currently
director of marketing for the Arizona State Fair…
Rene Gutierrez ’97 relocated to the Phoenix area
with his wife and two children in May. He is helping
launch a new plant in Phoenix that will serve as the
world headquarters for Le*Nature’s, a water, tea and
juice manufacturer and bottler. He is corporate safety
manager and human resources coordinator… David
Sugrue ’97 recently moved to Atlanta GA from
Amsterdam, Netherlands after a four-year European
assignment. He continues to work for GS Battery in
business development. He lives with his wife and
three dogs in the Atlanta suburb of Roswell GA…
Michelle Denny ’97 has been promoted to national
sales trainer for the Dental Division of 3M Company
and has relocated from Dallas TX to Minneapolis
MN… Minh-Huy Lai ’97 has been appointed
managing director of Planet Rating, a Paris-based
global microfinance rating agency for the microfinance
industry… Sonja Arias-Nogueira ’97 and
husband Marco Cereghino had a daughter in May.
Arias-Nogueira is an administrative services manager
Alumna
feels the
weight of
getting it
right in
Japanese
markets
YUKA TANIMOto
’04 likes to
relieve stress
by playing the cello,
taking in a movie,
or doing aromatherapy.
But finding
time for them is
another matter.
The alumna hosts
three shows on
CNBC in Japan, all
of which focus on
the ups and downs
of the financial
markets. Being an
on-air newscaster
isn’t as glamorous
as people imagine
it is, Tanimoto says.
She rolls out of bed
by 4:30 a.m., in
time to look over
Tokyo’s financial
newspapers and
check in on the
London and New
York stock markets.
When she gets to
CNBC’s broadcast
center a few hours
later, she doesn’t
have an assistant
waiting with a cup
of coffee. Instead,
she gets on the
phone with market
players to gather
content for her
analysis show.
As soon as the
morning show
wraps, she rushes
YUKI TANIMOTO ’04 is the influential—and very
busy—on-air market analyst for CNBC in Tokyo.
ors,” she says.
Tanimoto, a
Japanese citizen,
came to Thunderbird
for the foreign
experience as well
as the international
education. Before,
she was three years
at Bloomberg TV in
Japan. Her plans
include teaching a
course in television
reporting, writing a
book about the
stock market and
starting her own
consulting company.
She loves Tokyo
for its fashion and
style. “Tokyo is one
of the busiest cities
in the world,” she
says. “It is so
exciting to work
here. On the other
hand, I sometimes
miss the comfortable
environment
of Arizona life.”
— Laura Newpoff
thunderbird magazine 53

class notes
Do good,
make
money is
a win-win
formula
SETH Heine
’99 owes it all
to a cab ride
in São Paulo when
he saw a gardener
tending to the yard
of a mansion with a
new cell phone on
his hip. The idea for
a new business was
soon ringing inside
Heine’s head.
“Here was this
guy who knew this
was the only way to
run his business,
with no land lines,”
Heine says. “He
was willing to pay
whatever it took.
I knew then that
there must be a
need out there.”
A little research
later, the 37-yearold
consultant took
his company,
CollectiveGood,
onto the Internet in
May 2000. The idea
was simple: take the
millions of old, outdated
cell phones
lying around and
put them in the
hands of people in
developing areas
like Latin America,
the Caribbean,
Eastern Europe and
India, all at cut rate.
And reusing the cell
phones would keep
them, and their
toxic chemicals,
from ever reaching
a landfill.
“This was always
intended to be an
idea that would
change the world
for the better,” says
Heine, from his
Tucker, Ga., office.
“I wanted to come
up with a little
mouse trap that
would improve
people’s lives and
hopefully make
some money.”
To donate,
individuals go to
the website—
collectivegood.com
— download a
form, designate a
charity and print a
mailing label. The
phones received
are put back into
use and sold to
regional carriers
and distributors
who, because they
can get them for a
fraction of the cost
of new phones,
make them available
for a fraction
of the cost.
Heine says he is
rewarded daily
when the postal
containers filled
with phones arrive.
“It’s like thousands
of little selfless acts
of kindness,” he
says. “It’s a reminder
that people
care, that they will
go out of their way
to do something
that matters.”
—David Schwartz
SETH HEINE ’99 is buoyed by the success of his start-up, CollectiveGood.
CHRIS JORDAN
at Centro Leon, a private museum/cultural center in
the Dominican Republic… Erum Amin ’97 was
married in the spring to Austrian Wolfgang Stefan.
The couple met while working at Dresdner Bank in
London… Martin Echavarria ’97 is the co-founder of
Perczek Leadership Center, a company that is doing
cutting edge work in the leadership and human
development field. He is married to Lisa Fels
Echavarria ’97... Carlos Laje ’98 married Ingrid
Araneda in December in Santiago where he lives. He
is the Latin American general manager for PUMA,
the German sporting goods company.
1998–99
Ann Paglee Bozick ’98 was married April 16 to Brad
Bozick. Several T-birds were in attendance: Nicole
Larson ’98, Andrea Stumpf ’98, Elena Ouliankina
’97, Chelle Murphy Johnson ’97, and Cheryl Lawler
’98. The couple resides in Somerville MA… Helena
Habte-Gabr ’98 and husband Jan Stolber are the
proud parents of a child born in October. Habte-Gabr
is still working for BayerHealthcare Consumer Care
Division in Germany… Melissa Culver ’98 and
George Chimenti are engaged and planning an
October wedding… Jessica April Kitchens ’98 and
Christopher Raymond Williams were married in
May in Houston TX where the couple resides… Joe
LaMuraglia ’98 launched a new company called
Gaywheels.com. It is the first automotive website
that provides a way to research and buy a car or truck
from gay-friendly companies, as well as providing
other related services… David A. Precopio ’98 has
joined Compurex Systems Corp., a leading provider
of new and pre-owned server, networking, storage,
and telecommunication solutions, as the chief
operating officer. He will be responsible for
operations and marketing… Kelley Lynn McIntyre
’99 and Phi Khanh A. Wolfe were married November
6. The couple resides in Arlington VA.
2000–01
Fernando Sucre ’00 and Maria G. Ojeda ’00 had a
daughter on March 30… Tim Tarrant ’00 and his wife
Iskra had their first son, also on March 30… Julia
Stowell ’00 is living near Phuket, Thailand and is
working as a volunteer teaching English and
computer skills through Open Mind Projects,
www.openmindprojects.org... Josh Dorfman ’00,
founder of Vivavi, which offers environmentally
friendly products, is the host of a new radio show,
The Lazy Environmentalist, which explores the
possibilities for effortlessly greening our modern
lifestyles… Chad Davis ’00 has been hired by
Copeland, Cook, Taylor and Bush, P.A. as the
marketing director for the firm… David Hinderliter
’00 is the co-owner and general manager of Great
Russian Gifts LLC, a Phoenix-based business that
supplies unique and authentic Russian products to
customers worldwide… Mary Carter ’01 and her
sister Hopie Carter announce the opening of HobNob
Press, a design company that plays with everyday
images to create clever and quirky stationery…
Roberts Kukainis ’01 has been promoted to project
launch leader for several tire lines at Michelin North
America in Greenville SC… Juan Garcia ’01
completed the Boston Marathon April 18, 2004 with a
time of 4:19.21… Steven Johnston ’01 was promoted
54 fall 2005

class notes
to senior investment insurance officer in March at the
Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC)…
Britta Plathner-Sneep ’01 was recently recognized
for her work as a consultant on canine rights to the
United Nations. She also acts as a global media
liaison for Sirius, an international animal protection
organization.
2003–04
Ken Alston ’03 and his private equity firm, Eventide
Management, were featured in Dow Jones, Yahoo!
Finance, the Press Enterprise, Venture Economics, Mergers
& Acquisitions, Insurance News, and The Globe Investor
for the recent acquisition of Southern California Risk
Management, the leading workers’ compensation
administrator and cost containment provider in
California. Alston is a co-founder of Eventide…
Sergio Mankita ’03 has been named national sales
manager for Vivelo!, a joint venture of Clear Channel
Entertainment and Grupo Televisa S.A., which is the
world’s leading Hispanic entertainment company,
based in Mexico. Vivelo! specializes in the promotion
and production of major music tours, live entertainment,
sports and music festivals in the United States.
Mankita, who is based in Miami, will cover Texas
and the West Coast… Sean Howse ’03 will attend
medical school at the Wake Forest School of
Medicine in the fall. In June, he visited friends from
Thunderbird, Marcio Kaufman ’03 and Ivan Padilha
’03, in Brazil… Julie Levin ’03 is with Prudential
Arizona Properties working in residential and
commercial sales as well as with international
investors… Mauricio Carmagnani ’03 was selected to
participate on the Brazilian version of the TV show
“The Apprentice 2.” He was one of 16 selected out of
46,000 people. The show aired June 26… Frederick
Reese Tisdale ’03 and Jennifer Clare Millen were
married May 21. The bride is completing a medical
degree at the University of California, Davis, while
Tisdale is a market analyst at Cole Parmer Instrument
Company, a division of Fischer Scientific that
distributes laboratory products in Vernon Hills IL…
Matthew Goff ’04 is working at DHL as a project
manager. He is the primary software project manager
in charge of offshore development on a $600 million
automation project… Patrick M. McRae ’04 recently
was hired as the international sales manager of Duro-
Last Roofing Inc. and is responsible for international
planning and new market development as well as
global market assessment… Paul Bellrichard ’04 has
been working as a market research analyst at RSC
Equipment Rental in Scottsdale AZ with fellow
T-birds José Suarez ’03 and Andrew Pruitt ’03.
In April 2004, Bellrichard attended the wedding of
Thanh Nguyen ’04 and Doan Nguyen in Asia and is
planning a second trip there in November.
Daredevil
marketing
EVEN WHEN
she’s idling,
Babs Ryan ’81
feels the need for
speed. And whether
it’s patenting innovative
marketing
programs or penning
her microlight
adventures over
Victoria Falls, Ryan
challenges the
world one idea at a
time. “There are a
hundred things I
want to do,” Ryan
says. “There just
isn’t enough time.”
After completing
her studies at
Thunderbird, Ryan
sprinted in fasttrack
senior management
roles for
Fortune 500
companies, including
GE Capital and
Citibank. Later, she
revved up her
marketing savvy for
Kawasaki, promoting
the company’s
GPZ600R super
bike and using it to
speed along at 150
mph on Europe’s
Grand Prix circuits.
Eventually, Ryan
opted to ditch the
corporate groove
for a dive into entrepreneurial
whitewater
as a business
consultant.
“I like working
with big companies
as long as I’m not
working in big
companies,” Ryan
says. “Most people
in the corporate
environment don’t
like change.”
With the stamps
BABS RYAN ’81 takes the fast lane in life and career.
of 72 countries in
her passport and
more than two
decades of national
and international
corporate work
under her belt, this
outspoken Massachusetts
native
founded Sparks
Worldwide LLC.
Since then, she has
shaped strategic
marketing campaigns
in unique
ways for dozens of
companies, among
them Sears, Block-
buster, American
Express, Disney,
AT&T, Ford Motor
Co., Eli Lilly and
Procter & Gamble.
In her spare time,
Ryan crafted the
controversial book,
“America’s Corporate
Brain Drain,” an
in-depth, in-yourface
look at why the
best people leave
corporations, where
they go and how to
reverse the flow. As
one of the escapees
from big business,
Ryan uses her supercharged
attitude
to push the creative
envelope for her
corporate clients.
“I wake up
everyday and work
on something different,”
Ryan says
with a chuckle.
— Carrie Miner
thunderbird magazine 55

forum
Let’s use the
mystique
BY NONA NINER ’81
Board Member, Thunderbird Global Network
AS AN ALUMNI LEADER, I have
attended a number of Thunderbird
events over the past year
and listened to a lot of conversations
about the changes going
on at our School. Some alumni have been
positive about the changes, but more often
than not one of my fellow alumni has
complained.
It is shortsighted to believe that the
graduates of Thunderbird are not going to
have critical words about where the School
is headed. After all, it is what we have been
trained to do as MBAs. Alumni increasingly
expect the School to operate as a business
and to make the right decisions to ensure the
viability and future of Thunderbird, but all
too often the changes have been perceived as
just another short-term fix and, not unexpectedly,
alumni have become passionately
concerned.
The School has exacerbated this perception
by not always clearly and quickly
communicating such changes to alumni,
something that is critical at this point in
the School’s history. The alumni need to
be reassured that the School leadership is
making rational business decisions that
move the School forward, while at the same
time avoid derailing Thunderbird from
either its founding vision or from the five
pillars—Thought Leadership, Borderless
Community, Enterprising Spirit, Business
& Cultural Fusion and Global Citizenship—
that so clearly define the experience of
attending school at Thunderbird.
I believe the School is at one of the most
critical junctures in its history. Thunderbird
has started a new chapter under the leadership
of President Angel Cabrera. Dr.
Cabrera, the School administration and
the Board of Trustees are reassessing the
strategic plan of the School, just as one
must do with any business from time to
time. Alumni may or may not agree with
some of the tough decisions that will come
out of this process, but we must feel confident
that the School continues to adapt to
the realities of our changing world.
Much has been said about the Thunderbird
“mystique,” about the special place
that Thunderbird is and the unique experience
each of us had during our time as
students. We Thunderbirds feel a tangible
connection to all things international, and
particularly to our fellow alumni and to the
School itself. I feel that connection every
time I attend a First Tuesday or Homecoming
or run across another T-bird by chance.
I know there’s almost nothing a fellow
T-bird could ask of me that I wouldn’t try
to oblige, and I know most of you feel the
same way. Imagine the possibilities if the
passion and energy each of the alumni
has for each other and the School were
harnessed and put to use helping
Thunderbird during this time of transition.
I challenge each and every one of you
35,000 alumni to do just that, and let’s see
where we can take our School. Let’s make
our Thunderbird mystique more tangible
to our mutual benefit!
Editor’s Note
This column, Thunderbird
Forum, is open to
members of the Thunderbird
community who
have a vision or an idea
to share. Write to the
editor with your ideas,
and we will explore
with you its potential
as a column.
56 fall 2005

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What is a Tower?
• It’s a landmark. A reference. A signpost on the
landscape. A symbol. An icon.
• It’s a viewpoint. A new altitude. A greater height. An
opportunity to rise above diversion. To see the horizon.
To see the future. To see possibility. To know what’s coming.
• A chance to seek clarity. To seek direction. To watch the
world as it is… its geography, its people and its cultures.
• It’s a house of vision. A stronghold. A foundation for
guidance. A home for learning.
• It’s a unifier. A community’s expression of itself. A leader
of planes and schools and minds. A place for everyone.
To find ideas. To follow dreams.
• It’s a treasure. A legacy. A future.
How can you help us save a
Tower, restore a legacy and
build a future?
At Thunderbird, our Tower is in ruins. We have lost the
landmark. Lost the viewpoint. Lost the clarity. And just
as the Tower has always stood for our Thunderbird
community, the community will now stand for our Tower.
We will unify. We will fight. We will save.
But it will take us all. 38,000 strong. It will take our
activism. From students taking the lead. To alumni
taking ownership. To corporations taking sponsorship.
It will take you. Your effort. Your ideas. Your support.
Your answer to “What can I do?”
To learn more and to support the Tower project,
visit www.thunderbird.edu/tower.
Very few buildings ever echo and hold such rich history, profound stories and personal memories as the Thunderbird Tower. It is an
architectural legacy to be honored. As an architect, I am honored to assist in not only preserving that history but in architecturally
celebrating it with today's Thunderbird generations and facilitating those future stories, memories and the history yet to be.
—Steven Brenden, Drewett + Brenden Architecture