Siena Business Report Winter 2010

8/14/2019 Siena Business Report Winter 2010

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When theWhite House calls:Siena professors work innational spotlight

WINTER 2010

Sienabusiness

REPORTA MAGAZINE FOR SIENA COLLEGE

SCHOOL OF BUSINESS ALUMNI AND FRIENDS


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A MESSAGE FROM THE DEAN

Leaving the School inExtraordinary Hands

James Nolan 75, Ph.D.Dean of theSchool of Business

s I look around at the School of Business, I realize that my au revoir

in August 2010 will come at an ideal time.

In the last few years, our school has accomplished a great deal. The addition

of the William R. Raub 85 Market Trading Room, and the launch of the student-

managed Bjorklund Fund, have immersed our students in the real-time world

of Wall Street. Our new marketing laboratory has brought state-of-the-art tools

to students in that discipline. We have added programs in actuarial science and

risk management as well as masters in accounting. Our communications, as

exemplified by this publication, now match the quality of our curricula.

Dynamic new faculty members continue to come here.At the same time, we uphold the elements that make Siena so distinctive in

business higher educationespecially our emphasis on values, ethics and service.

Before long, an exceptional team of Siena leaders will begin a national search

for a new dean. Between the caliber of these people and the vibrancy of our

programs, I have absolutely no doubt that the transition to new leadership in

2010-11 will be positive for the School of Business.

Please note that in the introduction to this message, I used the phrase au revoir,

not good-bye, because this August will not be the last you see of me. After a

years sabbatical, I will return to the classroom, taking up my rolea different

rolein moving the school forward.

It is an exciting time for me, and even more so for the school. I am certain that

the best is yet to come.

A


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SIENA COLLEGE SCHOOL OF BUSINESS MAGAZINE

WINTER 2010

4 When the White House Calls

4 Faculty Publications

6 Alumni Profile: Guy Maddalone 89

8 Excellence by the Numbers

10 Student Profile: Angela Guzzi 09

12 From Students to Actuaries

14 New Faculty, New Directions

ON THE COVER

Andrea Smith-Hunter, Ph.D., associate professor of marketing and management was named to an

advisory group for the new White House Council on Women and Girls. Her story appears on page four.

Siena Business ReportWinter 2010Published by Siena College515 Loudon RoadLoudonville, NY 12211-1462

Office of Strategic Communications

and Integrated MarketingDelcy Fox, Director

EditorJim EatonAssociate Director of Communications

Contributing WriterJohn Backman

PhotographersDonna Abbott VlahosKris QuaSergio Sericolo

Design and ProductionPanarama Design

DEANS ADVISORY COUNCIL

Kenneth Blass 83President, Blass Communications

Erin M. CrottyPresident, The Crotty Group, LLC

Terence CurranAssociate, The Hudson Group, LLC

Paul Goetz 85Managing Director, UHY, LLP

Matthew Gras 95Assistant Vice President, Senior Financial AdMerrill Lynch

David Hancox 75Director of State and NYC Audits,NYS Comptrollers Office

Michael Hickey 76President, Albany Financial Planners, Inc.

Charles J. Kavanaugh 70Consultant

Shaun P. MahoneyPresident and Chief Executive Officer,NextRidge, Inc.

William Martin 78President and Founder, The Initiatives Group

Joe Millington 77Managing Director, Gilbert Tweed Associate

Jay Moore 87Vice President Commercial Learning,NBC Universal

Thomas SelfridgeCEO, Albany Valve and Fitting Company

Kevin Thompson 87Vice President and Corporate Controller,Marietta Corporation

Judy TomlinsonVice President, Rose and Kiernan

Lee M. Weiser, CPFPresident, Frame of Mind

Ann WendthDirector of External Relations,The Albany Academies

Mark Woroby 81Executive Director, Wildwood Foundation

SienabusinessREPORT


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FACULTY PUBLICAT

The first came from a pioneer in her

field. The second came from the

White House.

Earlier this year, the Center for

Womens Business Research named

Smith-Hunter to an advisory group

for the new White House Council

on Women and Girls. The group

will formulate new policies and

procedures to ensure that all

Cabinet-level agencies consider

their impact on women and families.

The ultimate impact, Smith-

Hunter believes, could extend far

beyond the walls of federal agencies.

Our goal is to build a model

that encourages and sustains

women entrepreneurs from varying

backgrounds in differing economies,

Smith-Hunter said. The model

could, for instance, encourage

entrepreneurship training for girls

and women at many educational

levels, from middle school to college

and beyond.

This could transform the landscape

for women and girls. According to

Smith-Hunter, This model for

women entrepreneurship has the

potential to be revolutionary.

Smith-Hunters presence on the

advisory group will advance the

contributions that she has already

made during her career. As a

doctoral student, she began to

pursue the research topic for which

she is best known: minority women

entrepreneurship. Her dissertation,

focusing on the Capital Region,

eventually became her first book.

Shortly thereafter, she responded

to a call to action from her mentor.

One of my earliest influences was

Dr. Dorothy Moore, who wrote

about women entrepreneurs,

Smith-Hunter recalled. Her book

(with Holly Buttner in 1997) is

considered a turning point in the

literature. At the end of that book,

they called for someone to write a

complementary book on women

entrepreneurs across racial lines,

using a national sample. I heeded

that call. The result: the aptly

named Women Entrepreneurship

Across Racial Lines: Issues of

Human Capital, Financial Capital

and Network Structures, which she

published in 2006.

From her first work in the Capital

Region, Smith-Hunter has expanded

her focus to include the entire world

Currently she is at work on her third

book, Women Entrepreneurs in the

Global Marketplace, which employs

a questionnaire to analyze women

entrepreneurs in eight regions, from

South America and the Caribbean to

Asia and Africa.

Her goal with this book could

suit her work on the White House

advisory group as well. I want

to show governments the critical

importance of women entrepreneurs

as a legitimate source of income

and a significant contributor to

their national economy, she said.

Across the world, women

entrepreneurs share characteristics

that are universal; I hope that my

work can help government agencies

best facilitate support for women

entrepreneurs in their region of

the world.

CHERYL BUFF and M. Lodes published Are Generation Y Consumers Brand Loyal and is their Buying Behavior Affectedin an Economic Recession? A Preliminary Study inJournal of Academy of Business and Economics (forthcoming).

PAUL THURSTON, CHERYL BUFF and RAJ DEVASAGAYAM published Participation Preferences and Brand Community1Integration: An Empirical Investigation in Review of Business Research (forthcoming). RAJ DEVASAGAYAM and ZINAID

When the White House CallsPresidential appointment sheds national light on Andrea Smith-Hunters seminal work

Twice in her career, Andrea Smith-Hunter, Ph.D.,associate professor of marketing and management,has heard an urgent call to action and stepped

forward to fulfill it.


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TARAN published Student Driven Business Projects: Motivation, Implementation, and Consequences in Academy of EducationalLeadership Journal(forthcoming). DEVASAGAYAM and M. Gonnering published Using Digital Asset Management as a Strategic Tool fo

Consistent Branding: Implications and Possibilities in DIAS Technology Reviewthe International Journal for Business and IT(forthcominDEVASAGAYAM andJASON SCHARF 09 published Honor Thy Elders: Does this Apply to Service Encounters? in Synergy.

I have always enjoyed

the one-on-one student-faculty interaction atSiena. This type oflearning environmenthas allowed me toinclude students inmy research.Andrea Smith-HunterAssociate Professor ofMarketing and Management


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ACULTY PUBLICATIONS

GIRARD,JAMES NOLAN andANTHONY PONDILLO published Determinants of Emerging Markets Commercial Bank Stock Returnsin Global Journal of Business Research (forthcoming). With M. Omran, GIRARD published On the Relationship Between Trading

Volume and Stock Price Volatility in CASE in International Journal of Managerial Finance.With T. Reid, GIRARD published Cost ofCarry On Steroids: Application to the Pricing Oil Futures in International Journal of Business and Finance Research (forthcoming).

Maddalone to see the next need on

the agendaand expand to fill it.

While running the agency, I met

many people who juggled caring

for their own families while

attending to the needs of their ailing

parents, he remembered. Truly,

these people were sandwiched

between generations, with each

demanding extensive care, time,

and energy. To help these caregivers,

I knew I needed to add child care

along with a household payroll

tax preparation serviceto the

agency mix. Thus began GTM

Payroll Services.

Initially, the business served

as a nanny placement agency,

which in 1991 became anindependent company by the

name of A New England Nanny.

The next year, armed with a

burgeoning national network of

care providers, Maddalone turned

to employee work-life issues,

launching a backup dependent care

programknown as Pinch Hitter

Careto fill the need. In 2002,

GTM Payroll Services expanded its

household payroll and tax services

to meet the needs of small business;the new service, branded Tech Valley

Payroll, now goes head-to-head

with the likes of ADP and Paychex.

That combination of ventures

brought GTM Payroll Services

to where it is today: a leader in

employment support.

Not that GTM Payroll Services is

the only arena where Maddalones

leadership skills have come to the

fore. His book,How to Hire a

Nanny (Sphinx Legal, 2006) has

become the definitive guide for

employing someone in the home.

Several years ago, he participated in

the prestigious Birthing of Giants

program. Sponsored by the MIT

Enterprise Forum, Inc., and the

Young Entrepreneurs Organization,

the program brings together

recognized entrepreneurial leaders

to form a unique CEO network andlearn from the titans of industry.

Turning Peopleinto EntrepreneursAs GTM Payroll Services has

changed, so has Maddalones role.

Ive gone from a one-person

operation, doing everything, to now,

where my role is more leadership-

focused, he said. In that time, Ive

been able to leverage my accounting

education, leadership experienceand knowledge to groom and

educate my executive team in the

fundamentals of leadership. It has

been so rewarding to see them use

the skills I share with them to grow

their own teams.

While the accounting education

and business knowledge had their

roots in Siena, other aspects of the

collegeparticularly friendships

have been even more important in

Maddalones career. Especially in

the early days, I leaned on a lot

of my Siena friends for help and

guidance, he remembered. The

greater Siena community in the

Capital Region has been very

welcoming and supportive of my

entrepreneurial endeavors. And

the Franciscan philosophy has

helped shape my companys

community service efforts overthe last 20 years.

Not surprisingly, Maddalone is

delighted with a change in the

School of Business from his college

experience. If anything has changed

since my time at Siena, I would have

to point to the new focus on

entrepreneurship, he said. During

my Siena days, the focus was much

more on business management.

I would encourage all educators to

continue to challenge their studentsto think big and solve a problem

in a marketand to choose

entrepreneurship as a career.

A L U M N IP R O F I L E


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RALUCA IORGULESCU and J. M. Polimeni published A Multi-Scale Integrated Analysis of the Energy in Romania, Bulgaria, Poland and Hungary in Energy Journal. They also published Whose Standar

(B)reaching the Assessment Puzzle in American Journal of Business Education (forthcoming).

Coincidence? Not according to the

Siena finalists.

Siena gave me an opportunity to

attend college that I may not have

had otherwise, saidJames Delaney,

CFO ofCurtis Lumber, a finalist

in the Large Private Company

category. And I believe a Siena

degree is a tipping point in many

hiring decisions. When you mention

Siena College to an employer or a

client, youve got an opening.

Accounting Grads onParallel TracksThe career paths of the Siena CFOs

share some interesting parallels.

Delaney, the first in his family to

attend college, joined Curtis Lumberin 1973 and has worked there ever

since. During that time, the company

has grown from four stores and

$7 million in sales to 22 stores and

$150 million.

Like Delaney, Gregory Sorrentino

started at a CPA firmin his case,

Urbach Kahn & Werlinthenbecame division controller at

Mechanical Technology Inc. before

joining the Center for Disability

Services in 1993. As CFO, he

oversees the nonprofits $100 million

operating budget.

He too has noticed the difference

a Siena degree makes. Employers

want to interview and hire Siena

graduates, said Sorrentino, who had

landed the Urbach job by November

of his senior year. My educationalexperience was outstanding, and

Excellence by the NumbersSiena connections pervade this years CFO of the Year Awards

Donna

AbbottVlahos/

TheBusinessReview

Left to Right: James Delaney 66 of Curtis Lumber, Joseph Vitale P 05 (parent of a Siena graduate) of Rose and Kiernan Iand Small Private Company CFO of the Year Susan Premo 87 of Specialty Silicone Products.

FourteenCFOsmade it to

the final roundof the CapitalDistrict BusinessReviews CFO ofthe Year Awards.Fiveincludingtwo winners

have Sienaconnections.


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so were my two internships. They

prepared me well for what I was to

encounter after I graduated.

Susan Premo ofSpecialty Silicone

Products echoes that observation.

Sienas accounting program put a

lot of focus on real-life problems

and taught me how to think outside

the box about issues that arise in my

job, she said. I learned a great deal

about the team approach, which

we use continually at Specialty

Silicone Products.

Premo, who won CFO of the Year

honors in the Small Private Company

category, also worked with severalaccounting firms before joining

Specialty Silicone Products in 1994

just a year after Sorrentino went to

work for his current employer.

From the ParentsPerspectiveOne finalist has a slightly different

connection with the college.

Joseph Vitale is a parent of a Siena

graduateand a satisfied one at that.

I would recommend Siena toanyone in the field, said the CFO

ofRose & Kiernan Inc. Siena

helped turn my son into a

responsible adult who passed the

CPA on his first attempt and works

for Grant Thornton today.

By doing so, the younger Vitale

has taken a somewhat different path

than his father, who started at a

Pennsylvania jobsite for a Boston

engineering firm, then moved to

Rose & Kiernan in 1986. Joseph

Vitale became treasurer in 1991,

vice president in 1992, senior

vice president/CFO in 1999, and

executive vice president/CFO

in 2000.According to another Siena award

winner, accounting graduates like

Vitales son will benefit greatly from

the colleges well-rounded approach

to education. The accounting

department is simply superb, to be

sure, said Robert Cushing, CFO

at Trustco Bank (see sidebar). But

a Siena education is also about moral

focusing, community involvement,

and other Franciscan values. That

makes a big difference in the life ofany graduate.

From Humble Beginningsto CFO of the YearRobert Cushing had no chance of

attending Siena.In a single-parent

household with threeboys, he knew hisfamily could not afford

higher education. Evenso, he visited Siena andtold the then presidenthis storyconcludingwith Help me out and

Ill remember you down the road.The president put his arm around my

shoulders and said, Dont worry. Welltake care of you, recalled the CFO ofTrustco Bank. I ended up with a four-yearscholarship.

Good call on Sienas part. With his

accounting degree in hand, Cushing wenton to become a partner with KPMG PeatMarwick and CFO of Trustco Bank Corp NY.For his work at Trustco, he won top honors

in the Public Company category of theCapital District Business Reviews CFO ofthe Year Awards.

I was honored to be nominated, thrilledto be a finalist, and shocked to be a winner,

he said.True to his promise, Cushing has remem-

bered Siena, currently serving as chair of thecolleges Board of Trustees. He sees his almamater as an ideal training ground for finance

professionalsif you want to be a CFO,you cannot get better training than at SienaCollegebut not just because of theaccounting departments technical excellence.

The CFO is the final arbiter of whats

reported, Cushing explained. You haveto assess not only whether the informationbefore you is technically correct, but whetherits rightright for the shareholders andright for the community. Such an assessment

requires good judgment and a strong sense

of ethics. Siena instills both in its studentsthrough exposure to liberal arts andFranciscan values. This is why, time andtime again, Siena grads come out on top

because theyre thinkers. Siena has trainedthem to think well.

ACULTY PUBLICATIONS

THOMAS KOPP andJOSEPH ROSETTI published The Impact of Market Driven Staffing on Faculty Governance in a GeneralEducation Environment in The Journal of World Universities Forum. ROSETTI and M. Maceiko published An Investigation

Of Strategic Decision Making In Service Marketing Through Case Study Development And Analysis in College TeachingMethods & Styles Journal(forthcoming).

Gregory Sorrentino 89 of the Center for the Disabled,


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FACULTY PUBLICAT

ELIZABETH MARCUCCIO and J. W. Arpey published Possession, Perfection and Priority in a Fraudulent Environmenin North East Journal of Legal Studies.JOSEPH MCCOLLUM published Extension of a Random Walk on Finite Abeli

Groups in International Journal of Pure and Applied Mathematics.

As a child I remember going to

Happy Clown with my grandmother

and thinking of how I wanted to do

that one day, said the marketing

and management major. When the

business went up for sale last spring,I knew I had to buy it.

So she did, purchasing the

Livingston, N.Y. landmark this past

July during the peak of ice cream

season. With support and advice

from her parents, she took charge of

the business setup from filing LLC

papers and buying insurance to

getting approval from the Columbia

County Health Department.

How to Open a Businessin 13 DaysThen the real work began. We

planned for a July 22 reopening,

Guzzi recalled. So after the

purchase, I had to do all the

ordering, hiring, painting, cleaning,

etc., in a week and a half!

Starting with six employees,

Guzzi opened Happy Clown on

timemuch to the delight of the

community. Happy Clown wasalways known for great ice cream

at great prices. I wanted to keep

this same mission, Guzzi said.

The regulars were very happy to

see us open again. You get to know

what they ordered all the time, so

we would have their ice cream ready

by the time they got to the window,

which they really appreciated!The most popular product was

the strawberry angel food cake ice

creamher uncles special creation.

The workload of running Happy

Clown surprised even a savvy

management student like Guzzi.

Coming from a background of

family businesses, I knew it was

going to be a lot of work, but I was

not used to working seven days a

week from 10:30 a.m. to 10 p.m.,

she said. I had never made an ice

cream cone before, so there was a

lot of learning on my part.

Siena at Work and Vice VersaThroughout the process, Guzzis

Siena education played a valuable

role. At Siena, you are taught a lot

about problem solving, and I think

this helped me when opening my

own business, she said. The abilityto be highly organized, which you

quickly learn at Siena, also helped

me a great deal.

Her Happy Clown experience, in

turn, has given her an entirely new

perspective on her Siena classes.

This was something like an

internship, except my internship

doesnt end, she exclaimed. I amthinking about projects and classes

differently than I did before. I look

at every class as How can it help my

business? How can I fit this into

what Im doing at Happy Clown?

Guzzi plans to continue operating

Happy Clown well into the future.

I absolutely love what I do, she

said. My shop is closed now for the

season, but I cannot wait to open

back up in April. The people who

come to my window brighten myday, and there is no way you cannot

be happy when you see their faces

light up!

Some young girls dream of becoming a veterinarian,ballerina or the president. Angela Guzzi 09dreamed of owning her own ice cream place.

STUDENTP R O F I L E


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At left, AngelaGuzzi with therevious ownersobert & Jackietickles in frontf Happy Clown

ce Cream Standn Livingston, N.Y.

C. Gary, ONEILLand A. Betancourt published The Many Call Centers of Teen Mania in Business Case Journal.DONALD RAUXpublished Teaching an Effective Accounting Class in the 21st Century: Using Active Learning Techniques

in European Journal of Management.

A Businessof Her Owniena senior takes the helmt landmark ice cream store


12/16

S. Kochanowski, CHUCK SEIFERT and G. Yukl published Using Coaching to Enhance the Effects of BehavioralFeedback to Managers in Journal of Leadership and Organizational Studies (forthcoming). R. R. Van Ness,

K. Melinski, CHERYL BUFF and SEIFERT published Work Ethic: Do New Employees Mean New Work Values?inJournal of Managerial Issues (forthcoming).

FromStudents tActuariesTwo Actuarial Science

programs launch mathand business students into

promising careers

Key to the

programlaunchwere two

grants fromState FarmInsurance,

facilitatedby DebDelBelsoand SuzanneOConnor

from SienasCareer

Center.


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ACULTY PUBLICATIONS

MARGARET GARNSEY, associate professor of accounting, had her article, Automatic Classification of

Financial Accounting Concepts, published in theJournal of Emerging Technologies in Accounting.ANDR

SMITH-HUNTER, associate professor of marketing and management, had papers accepted for conference

PROGRAMHIGHLIGHT

A perfect storm of circumstances inspired Siena to launchits actuarial science program.First, we saw a need to address the

shortage of actuarial scientists around

the world, explained John ONeill,

associate professor of quantitative

business analysis. Second, our

School of Science had an untapped

pool of students with tremendous

mathematical ability. And finally,

students of similar ability in our

School of Business wanted to develop

their quantitative analysis to a very

high level. As a result, we thought it

was time to formalize and systematize

our program.

Thus were born two programs at

Siena: a B.S. in Actuarial Science and

a Certificate in Risk Management.

The programs exceptional rigor and

advanced courses prepare studentsto meet all entry-level requirements

of the professions two leading

societiesthe Society of Actuaries

and the Casualty Actuary Society

including full preparation for the

first two professional exams.

State Farm Steps InKey to the program launch were two

grants from State Farm Insurance,

which maintains an operation center

in nearby Ballston Spa, N.Y. Thegrants, facilitated on the Siena side

by Deb DelBelso and Suzanne

OConnor in the campus Career

Center, helped the college purchase

materials, develop courses, fund

faculty development, bring speakers

to campus, and reimburse students

as they begin to pass the exams.

Through our relationship with

Siena, we can support the pursuit

of a quality education in our

community while addressing our own

workforce development initiatives,

explained Freda Laiacona, public

affairs specialist for State Farms

Northeast Zone. As our chairman

and CEO says, its our responsibility

to support the communities where

we live and work.

Cross-Disciplinary andHands-On

The programs feature extensivecooperation across disciplines and

intensive faculty involvement. Most

professors from Sienas mathematics,

quantitative business, finance, and

economics departments participate.

ONeill himself takes a very active

role in advising undergraduates

which course options to pursue for

their desired careers. The major is

roughly divided into half math and

half business, he said, but students

can weight their electives in onedirection or another depending on

their interests.

This active faculty role has deep

roots in Sienas mathematics

curriculum. Long before the launch

of the major and certificate programs,

mathematics professor (now

emeritus) Tom Rousseau advised

many mathematics majors about

careers in actuarial science.

Internships play a key role in the

actuarial science major. To date,

students have interned as such New

York State agencies as the Teachers

Retirement System, the Insurance

Department and the Comptrollers

Office. Several private insurers have

approached the school about hiring

interns, and State Farm offers

internships at its corporate office

in Bloomington, Illinois.

According to ONeill, the two

programs not only prepare studentsfor the professional exams and offer

VEE (Validation by Educational

Experiences) creditas required by

the professional societiesbut also

provide several other distinctive

advantages. The small class sizes

and close working relationships

with professors are uncommon to

the university experience where

many actuarial centers are located,

he said. Moreover, the advisor will

remain proactive in helping studentsplan their course curriculum, so

they can prepare themselves

comprehensively for outstanding

careers in the profession.

I. Ruiz, ELIAS K. SHUKRALLAand C. Vargas-Silva published Remittances, Institutions and Growth: A Semiparametric Study inInternational Economic Journal.ANDREA SMITH-HUNTER, F. J. DeCasperis, and MANIMOY PAULpublished The Role of Perception

in Predicting Entrepreneurial Start-ups Behavior and Success inJournal of International Business & Economics (forthcoming).Quar-terly(forthcoming).


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FACULTY PUBLICAT

MANIMOY PAUL,ANDREA SMITH-HUNTER, and S. Cherukari publshed Students Selection, Participation and Performance in Undergraduate Math Courses in International Journal Educational Research (forthcoming). SMITH-HUNTERa

M. Infante published Women Entrepreneurs and the Protected Market Hypothesis, Niches, Cultural and DisadvanatgTheories inJournal of Business and Economics Research (forthcoming).

From the problems with tighter

accounting regulation to the demise

of the unfettered free-market

paradigm, the four assistant

professors bring fresh insights and

thoughtful analysis to trends at the

vanguard of business today. As such,

they fit seamlessly with severalSchool of Business departments

on the move.

Goodbye, UnfetteredFree MarketFor Aaron Pacitti, it is hard to

imagine a more momentous time

to study economics. The financial

crisis and Great Recession have

credibly disproven the idea that the

combination of unregulated markets

and self-interested behavior will

always maximize the welfare of

society, explained the new assistant

professor of economics. The

principles that have governed

economic science for the past three

decades will need replacing with a

different model: one that includes

issues of income distribution, class,

and power.

Much of Pacittis research focuses

on this new model. In his dissertation

(written at American University),he analyzed the direct relationship

between employment insecurity and

better macroeconomic outcomes

then showed how the same outcomes

might be achieved in more equitable

ways, such as

offering pensions

to more workers.

This line of

research, he said,

offers studentsa chance to

explore topics rarely covered in

standard textbooks or mainstream

economics departments.

Pacittis two courses this year

American economic history and

political economyallow him and

his students to explore alternatives

to conventional economic wisdom.

Political economy, in particular,

looks at how institutions and power

can affect economic outcomes,he said. I am very much looking

forward to teaching it.

Toward a New Theoryof LaborPacitti has several things in common

with one of his new colleagues,

Arindam Mandal, Ph.D: both teach

economics, both focus on labor, and

both examine ideas on the cutting

edge. For Mandal, those new ideas

come in the form of labor search

theory. Unlike standard neoclassica

economics, this approach to labor

markets recognizes labor market

friction, he said. With labor market

What can Civil War accounting tell us today? Whatdo consumers really think of private-label products?What is labor search theory, and how is it transforming

labor economics? What have class and power got to dowith the economy? Sienas newest faculty memberscan explain it all for you.

New Faculty, New DirectionsFour new assistant professors are not afraid to use new ideas and critique the status quo


15/16

SMITH-HUNTERand J. Kapp published A Case of Comparative Entrepreneurship: Minority Men and Women Entrepreneurs in NonTraditional Fields inJournal of Applied Business and Economics (forthcoming). SMITH-HUNTERand J. Leone published Evidence on

the Characteristics of Women Entrepreneurs in Brazil: An Empirical Analysis in International Journal of Management and MarketingResearch (forthcoming)

friction, it is possible to build more

realistic economic models that better

explain labor-related economic

phenomena.

Mandal brings an intriguing blend

of experience to his new post as

visiting assistant

professor of

economics.

During the last

academic year,he served in a

similar capacity

at Hartwick College; he has also

worked at the New York State

Assembly and for Fidelity

Investments as an economist.

Mandal, who also conducts

research in macroeconomics and

econometrics, came to Siena

principally because of its reputation.

Siena is known not only for its

quality teaching, but also for itscommitment towards service and

research, he said. Being at Siena

can help anyone build a successful

academic career.

Of Railroads and ReportingChester Brearey, D.B.A. is passionate

about the study of history. That goes

for accounting history too.

History helps us to explain the

present and become prophets for

the future, mused the assistant

professor of accounting. It not only

plays a critical role at the core of a

college, but should become a

required course in all disciplines.

Brearey draws on the first true

model of financial reportingthe

railroads of the nineteenth century

to find lessons for todays accounting

profession. He is developing papers

on such diverse topics as Civil War

accounting and credit default swaps.

His dissertation cast a critical eye on

calls for more stringent reporting

regulation, particularly whether

those new regulations would helpusers make better decisions.

Like Mandal, Brearey has plenty of

experience to draw from: as an audit

partner with an international public

accounting firm, the partner of an

investment firm that specialized in

organizational workouts and the

CEO of a national distributor of

health care equipment.

To his students, Brearey brings a

thoughtful approach to pedagogy.

In business, andcritically so in

accounting,

education is

about rigor,

communication

skills, and critical

thoughtthe why, not the how,

he said. My objective is to provide

the student with the tools to be

successful in these areas.

The Power of thePrivate LabelFew organizations can provide

a marketing education like a

supermarket chain. That makes

Michael Pepe 90, D.B.A. ideal for

his new job,

assistant

professor of

marketing and

management.

Pepe comes to

Siena with nearly

20 years in retailing, principally for

Price Chopper Supermarkets, wherehe served in positions from dairy

buyer to senior business manager. It

was as a private label brand manager,

however, that he found his calling.

That calling became a basis for

research. His dissertation covered

the longitudinal impact of private

label brands on category profitability

and customer loyalty. He presented

a paper on a related topic at the

2008 Applied Business Research

Conference and co-authored asecond paper with Siena professor

Cheryl Buff.

After several years as an adjunct

professor, Pepe is delighted to

put his unique blend of experience

to work for his alma mater.

I understand the importance of the

excellent education and Franciscan

values that Siena provides its

students, said the 1990 graduate,

whose father, sister, and brother also

hold Siena degrees. These strengthsmake me feel honored to be part of

the Siena community.


16/16

PROGRAM UPDATE

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FACULTY PUBLICATIONS AND AWARDS

Four new faculty beginmaking an impact at Siena.See page 14.

ECONOMICS DEPARTMENTROUNDTABLE EXPLORESLEGALIZATION OF DRUGS

Should drugs be legalized? If so, whichones? How would they be regulated?What are the consequences? Is thisthe first step toward moral decay?

Economics professors Aaron Pacittiand Arindam Mandal facilitatedan informal discussion of thesecontroversial issues in theirOctober 13 Economics DepartmentRoundtable. The roundtable comesin the wake of the recent experimentin California, which legalized theuse of marijuana for medicinalpurposes and has seen an uptick

in the economy as a result of thelegislation.

GOVERNORS FORMERBUDGET DIRECTOR HEADLINESLECTURE SERIES

The seventh president of theCommission on Independent Collegesand Universities spoke on thechallenges to New York highereducation in the latest installment ofthe School of Business Lecture Series.Laura Anglins distinguished career inpublic serviceespecially as budgetdirector for two governors and deputycomptroller for New York Statemade her an ideal candidate for theseries, noted School of BusinessDean Jim Nolan.

Anglins presentation complementedtwo other well-received lectures inthe fall series. Gerald Pucci, Jr., 86,managing director of fixed incomeportfolio management at BlackRockone of the worlds largest publiclytraded investment managementfirmsspoke in September, whileOctobers lecture featured HR leader

Rosanne Greenwood, president ofRJG Consulting.

Deborah L. Kelly, J.D., assistantprofessor of management, and MichaelSham, Ph.D., professor of classics,led 25 Siena students on a 16-nightstudy tour of Turkey and Greece inMay/June 2009. Prior to the trip,the students took a global connectioninternational business course taughtby Kelly and a classics topics course

developed and taught by Sham.

SMITH-HUNTERand S. Mboko published Zimbabwe Women Entrepreneurs: Survival Strategies and Implications for Growth inJournalof Applied Business and Economics (forthcoming) and Women Entrepreneurs in Zimbabwe: A Case Study in Business RenaissanceQuarterly(forthcoming). PAUL THURSTON and L. A. McNall published Justice Perceptions of Performance Appraisal Practices in

Journal of Managerial Psychology(forthcoming).ERIC GIRARD received two awards for Best Paper in Finance at the 2009 GBR conference for: Determinants of Emerging MarketsCommercial Bank Stock Returns, Global Business Research and Cost of Carry On Steroids: Application to the Pricing Oil Futures,Global Business Research Institute.

Siena Business Report Winter 2010

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