Together, 485 graduating students from the Undergraduate Business, MAC, MBA, and MBA@UNC programs contributed to their respective class campaigns. Their gifts totaled $66,898 and will have an immediate and tangible impact on the business school. Last year, 362 students gave $28,936 to UNC Kenan-Flagler.

Further details of each program’s class campaign:

• Forty-five percent of the undergraduate business class contributed $11,919 to UNC’s Senior Campaign. Of that total, 30% directed a total of $9,826 to Kenan-Flagler. Last year, 25% of the class contributed $2,072 to Kenan-Flagler.
• The MAC class gave $4,671.13 with 88% of their graduates participating. Last year, 75% of the class gave $4,141.
• In 2012, 72% of the MBA class contributed $22,741 to Kenan-Flagler. This year, 95% of the MBA graduates participated in their class campaign and gave a total of $27,324 which included a $9,000 participatory challenge gift from an anonymous member of the class.
• The first MBA@UNC class will graduate in July 2013. In an effort to recognize their special place in Kenan-Flagler’s history, the “Original 19” or “O19” organized the first class campaign for an online cohort. Indicative of their appreciation for and connection to Kenan-Flagler, all 19 students plus two additional students participated in the campaign and contributed a total of $25,050 including matching gifts from their corporate employers.

The success of the 2013 class campaigns illustrates a tremendous vote of support and gratitude from Kenan-Flagler’s newest alumni. This success would not have been possible without the commitment and perseverance of student leaders from each program, who rallied and educated their peers. UNC Kenan-Flagler is a better place because of their involvement and the contributions of nearly 500 students who understand the importance of philanthropy and the impact their gifts can make on the business school.

Many thanks to the following students for their leadership in the class campaigns:

• UB:  Cameron Ahari, Lucie Bradshaw, Abby Harrill, Billy McCormick, Stephanie McGowan, Tate Sisk, Amee Shrimanker, Paul Taylor, Chanel Porter
• MAC:  Kristin Green, Griffin Kennedy, Kaelyn Mulvey, and Casey Putnam
• MBA:  Chance Cobb, Charles Crowell, Sunil Devarakonda, Drew Gaputis, Mary Grace Hicks, Luke Holman, Mary Knighton-Brenner, Max Kunisch, Steve Martin, Jimmy McClain
• MBA@UNC:  Jamie DeMaria

Leonard W. Wood (MBA ’72)

In the best-attended conference since it was established, UNC Kenan-Flagler honored alumnus and long-time benefactor Leonard W. Wood (MBA ’72) by naming the real estate center the Leonard W. Wood Center for Real Estate Studies in his honor.

“The Real Estate Program has been a prototype for all programs in the business school,” said James W. Dean Jr., dean of UNC Kenan-Flagler. “A lot of students come for the strength of the program. It’s academically rigorous and professionally oriented, and I don’t believe there is another program with the strength and generosity of our alumni.”

David Hartzell (PhD ’85) with Leonard Wood

David Hartzell (PhD ’85), the Steven D. Bell and Leonard W. Wood Distinguished Professor in Real Estate at UNC Kenan-Flagler, and his wife Randee also were honored with the re-naming of the Leonard Wood/Trammell Crow Fellowship in their names.

Currently home to 32 second-year MBA students and 36 first-year MBA students, the Real Estate Program has been a leader in real estate education for more than 40 years. However, the April 18 conference’s theme recognized that the industry is a changing field. “What is the new normal and are we there yet?” asked Hartzell in his introduction. “Where do we go from here?”

Timothy Naughton, CEO and president of AvalonBay Communities, gave a keynote address. “I have a very positive outlook on housing over the next several years,” Naughton said. “We expect a more expanded cycle than in the 2000s.” He was joined on the speaker’s podium by Dick Michaux (MBA ‘73), who provided a lively Q&A session focused on the $16 billion transaction by AvalonBay.

Describing his company’s strategy for maintaining a competitive edge in the market, Naughton said AvalonBay Communities looks to build “the right product for the right customer in the right location during the right cycle.” This strategy is founded upon thorough market research and customer insight. Late last year, Naughton’s company partnered with Equity Residential to acquire Archstone, one of the largest investors, developers and operators of apartment communities in the United States.

Naughton said the transaction allowed AvalonBay Communities to expand its presence in core markets in southern California and Washington, D.C. “The quality of the portfolio was complementary and there was a high degree of alignment,” Naughton said. “We saw this as the optimal outcome for everyone involved.” At the overhead level, AvalonBay Communities identified areas in which Archstone Apartments excelled, such as risk management and technology, and brought on 40 to 50 people from the company to supplement in those areas. “It was a once in a lifetime transaction,” Naughton said.

The conference also included conference speakers concluding with an industry panel discussion of industry sector trends. Conference speakers included: Mark Dotzout, economist from Texas A&M; Mark Yusko, founder and CEO of Morgan Creek; and Mitchell Silver, planning director for the City of Raleigh and current president of the American Planning Association. The panel included Dan Cummings, managing director of Harvard Management Company; Sharmil Modi, principal at the Baupost Group in Boston; and Steven Tanger (BSBA ’70), president and CEO of Tanger Outlet Centers.

Donors & Scholars Celebration

On Wednesday April 3, UNC Kenan-Flagler’s Office of Advancement hosted the third annual Donors & Scholars Celebration, an event where our fellowship and scholarship donors have the opportunity to meet their student recipients.

More than 200 people attended the celebration, including donors, faculty, staff and more than 100 student scholarship and fellowship recipients. This is a 40 percent increase in participation over last year’s event.

Following a reception and dinner, the evening featured a brief program with welcoming remarks from UNC Kenan-Flagler Dean James Dean and donor remarks from James T. Clark (AB ’93, MAC ’95, MBA ’01), managing director of Harris Williams & Company. Clark established The James Wilford Clark Jr. Undergraduate Scholarship Fund in 2006 in honor and memory of his late father, who graduated from Carolina in 1962 with a bachelor’s degree in business administration.

Callie Brauel (BSBA ’09), a former recipient of Clark’s scholarship as well as a former Phillips Ambassador, also spoke at the event. Brauel is co-founder and U.S. director of A Ban Against Neglect (ABAN), an organization that focuses on developing a sense of self-confidence in young women in Ghana by teaching a basic educational curriculum, developing vocational and social skills, money management and counseling in nutrition and health. In 2012 Brauel received the Outstanding Young Alumni Award for leadership in career accomplishments and exceptional commitment to the school.
Student testimonials featured comments from the following student recipients:

• Leena Patel (BSBA ’13), The Thomas Hart Norwood Scholarship Fund
  The Wade S. Dunbar Jr. Undergraduate Scholarship
  The William G. Daughtridge, Jr. Study Abroad Fund
  The David S. and Christine C. Moss Scholarship Fund
• Dexter Blackwell (BSBA ’12, MAC ’13), The Coleman D. Ross Master of Accounting Fellowship
• Mary Grace Hicks (MBA ’13), The Falls Prize
  The Thomas W. Hudson, Jr. Graduate Scholarship Fund

Donor Appreciation Weekend

In April our annual Donor Appreciation Weekend was held in New York, bringing together the most loyal and generous supporters of UNC Kenan-Flagler to discuss the future of our school.

The event featured keynote speaker Gary Parr (BSBA’79), vice chairman of Lazard Ltd., chairman of the New York Philharmonic and chairman of the Parr Center for Ethics at UNC.In addition, Susan Cates (MBA ’98), president & associate dean of executive development and executive director of MBA@UNC, presented updates on the MBA@UNC program and the Rizzo Center expansion.

A special thanks to Dwight (MBA ’94) and Julie Anderson, who sponsored dinner at Mario Batali’s award-winning restaurant, Del Posto, on Friday night, and to David (BSBA ’79) and Teresa Carroll (BSBA ’79), who sponsored Saturday night’s dinner at 620 Loft & Garden on Top of the Rock.

David (BSBA ’79) and Teresa Carroll (BSBA ’79)

Mike (BSBA ’87) and Andi Griffin
(BS ’89)

Paul J. Rizzo Conference Center

Having a conference center designed with executive development as its core purpose has been a competitive advantage for UNC Kenan-Flagler. That became possible after the DuBose family donated 28 acres of historic land and the family home to the university, and UNC Kenan-Flagler broke ground for the Paul J. Rizzo Center in 1997. The result: a campus designed specifically to serve the needs of executive programs, including the historic DuBose Home that serves as an executive dining facility, the first-class residence center, McLean Hall; and the state-of-the art classrooms of Loudermilk Hall.

Now in its 13^th year as home to UNC Executive Development, the Rizzo Center will break ground again – on expanded facilities to accommodate the growing demand for its programs.

“We offer scaffolding for leaders to build on, new frameworks to challenge their thinking and build on through practice in our programs,” says Susan Cates, UNC Executive Development president. “Our campus at the Rizzo Center allows executives to learn in an environment where they are surrounded by their peers, and builds capabilities that individual participants can apply the next day to deliver business impact.”

The expansion accompanies projections of growth in the coming years. “The uniqueness of the Rizzo Center is that it has great proximity to campus but is in a retreat-like setting more conducive to executive training, contemplation, and strategic thinking,” says Dave Stevens, associate dean of finance and operations for UNC Kenan-Flagler. “This expansion will serve to enhance the executives’ experiences in our programs.”

The $37 million project, funded by a combination of debt and private donor contributions, will get underway this summer. The expansion and renovations are expected to be complete by the end of 2014. Among the new features the Rizzo Center’s expansion will offer are:

• 66 new guest rooms
• Expanded executive lounge
• New bistro style restaurant
• Two 70-seat classrooms
• Two executive conference rooms
•  30,000-square-foot courtyard designed for large-scale  events
• Expanded fitness center and lap pool

Since the Rizzo Center opened in 2000, UNC Executive Development has consistently increased the business school’s revenues.  The continued growth will allow school to compete for the best faculty and students, expand program support and offer new, innovative learning experiences to those enrolled in executive development courses, says Stevens.

UNC Executive Development builds strong connections with its client companies that benefit both the firms and the business school. “To the extent that we’re able to have an impact on companies and individuals, that really benefits the overall brand of the business school among companies,” Cates says. “It leads them to hire more students coming out of UNC Kenan-Flagler and to encourage their employees to come to us for their MBA.”

The center is named for Paul J. Rizzo (BSBA ’50), former dean of UNC Kenan-Flagler; chairman emeritus of Franklin Street Partners; and former vice chairman of the board of IBM Corporation.

If you are interested in learning more about this project or making a gift to name a space as part of this final expansion at the Rizzo Center, please contact executive director of development Adam Z. Gerdts at 919-962-9143 or adam_gerdts@unc.edu.

Ross, U.S.-China Business Council (USCBC) director of communications and publications, laid out three reasons why during his keynote address at the Duke-UNC China Leadership Summit April 7.

There’s always been a trade deficit.
Before America was a nation and revolutionaries dumped tea imported from China into the Boston Harbor in the 1700s, an American trade deficit with China existed. While Americans had developed a taste for Chinese products early on, Chinese were much less interested in U.S. goods. Silver, an integral part of the Chinese economy, was used to facilitate more than 70 percent of early purchases. U.S. products, such as furs, sandalwood and cotton, made up a much smaller percentage of transactions and the numbers were miniscule compared to the Chinese goods imported.

“If you look at where we started and where we are now, not much has changed,” said Ross. “Americans have been trying to sell stuff in China forever, and we’ve had a trade deficit just as long.”

The trade deficit doesn’t tell the whole story. 
Today China is the United States’ second largest trading partner and third largest export market, but current trade measurements, namely surpluses and deficits, might not the best way to measure the countries’ actual commercial relationship. For example, when product components are produced in the United States, assembled in China and shipped to Belgium, this process only registers as trade between China and Belgium. This measure gives China, which is essentially an assembly economy engaged in process trade, a larger advantage in trade numbers. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development is developing a more sophisticated trade measurement system and recently released a report estimating that the actual U.S.-China trade deficit is about 25 percent lower than current reporting methods suggest.

In addition, the rising U.S.-China trade deficit is often misinterpreted as showing that the United States is importing a drastically higher number of products. In reality, the United States is just importing more products from one country.

“The bilateral deficit gets a lot of attention, especially in the U.S., but I would contend that most of this has to do with the consolidation of Asian supply chains into China,” Ross said. “We’ve always imported products like televisions and electronics from that region. Nothing’s really changed. The trade deficit is just much more concentrated in one country.”

Chinese investment in the United States is growing faster than ever.
State and local developments are important indicators of how much the U.S.-China commercial relationship is thriving – and changing. China is no longer just shipping products to the United States; it also is sending investments. Governors and local officials are traveling to China in record numbers to seek investors and trade partnerships. Ross said Chinese investment in the United States last year was a record-breaking $6.5 billion. However, in order to continue the development of these positive trends, both governments need to support open investment for foreign companies.

“Investment issues will be a key factor for the future of the bilateral relationship in coming years,” said Ross. “Chinese companies want to invest more in the U.S., but they’re encountering political obstacles that politicians are using either for protectionist reasons or to challenge China from a national security standpoint. China will need to reduce its own investment barriers as well. China currently maintains foreign ownership restrictions in nearly 100 manufacturing and services sector categories.”

Despite the obstacles, Ross has an optimistic outlook for the next 40 years of U.S.-China relations. “In my job I get exposed to a lot of Chinese economic data. By some reports China is the best thing in the world, and some say it’s the worst thing in the world,” he said. “It’s probably somewhere in the middle. Just look at the level of engagement from the White House, American business leadership and average U.S. citizens. There are a lot of challenges, but there also is a lot of energy around this relationship and the intense level of engagement point to a lot of potential.”

Undergraduate Business Program

In March Bloomberg Businessweek ranked the Undergraduate Business Program at UNC Kenan-Flagler as No. 10 in the United States for the second consecutive year.

The program was ranked No. 2 for internships, No. 4 for public undergraduate programs, No. 6 for finance and No. 7 for student satisfaction.

This year’s detailed also earned grades of A+ for UNC Kenan-Flagler in three categories: teaching, job placement, and facilities and services. Read more.

Executive MBA Program

U.S. News & World Report has ranked the Executive MBA Program at the UNC Kenan-Flagler as No. 9 in the United States.

The rating marks a two-spot increase in the annual U.S. News ranking.

“This U.S. News ranking – combined with Bloomberg Businessweek’s ranking of the MBA for Executives program as 11th worldwide – shows the consistent recognition of our excellent programs,” said James W. Dean Jr., dean of UNC Kenan-Flagler.  Read more.

MBA Program

Bloomberg Businessweek, U.S. News & World Report and Forbes rank our full-time MBA Program among the top 20 in the United States. In addition, the Financial Times ranks the MBA Program 3rd for corporate social responsibility/ethics, and Bloomberg Businessweek ranked the MBA Program as follows:

• 5^th for full-tuition scholarships
• 6^th  for offering scholarships and fellowships
• 7^th among the top schools for leadership
• 7^th  among the top schools for sustainability

Bloomberg Businessweek also assigned letter “grades” and UNC Kenan-Flagler received:

• A+ in Leadership Skills
• A in Career Services
• A in Teaching
• A in Caliber of Classmates

Joseph DeSimone

What first appealed to you about taking the position of Director of the Kenan Institute?

Frank Hawkins Kenan’s original vision for the Institute talks of fusing entrepreneurship and free enterprise more broadly across campus. That has always been important to me since I came to UNC in 1990. My research group based in the Department of Chemistry became entrepreneurially active quickly, and back then there weren’t very many of us doing that. Our campus is now a hub for university-based entrepreneurship. We’re a leader in this realm, and we can leverage this position. Knowing that Jim Dean had a vision to elevate the Kenan Institute to new heights, the idea of taking Frank’s vision and helping implement that was very appealing to me. We have an opportunity to build on current strengths; refine what we’re doing across campus to foster entrepreneurship among faculty, staff, and students; develop key partnerships in the academic and business communities; and pursue replicable initiatives designed to create lasting economic impact. That’s the most attractive aspect about it.

What excites you most about your new role?

We have completed our strategic planning process– a robust session that started in September and concluded in February. Our weekly Internal Advisory Committee meetings, facilitated by Paul Friga, involved members of the Kenan Institute and other leaders on campus. We also had an external group of about 50 who met three times to provide input on our process. This group included almost every dean on campus in addition to people from off campus–  lawyers, venture capitalists, the president of RTI International, folks from Duke and NC State, and even Governor Perdue. Through this effort we identified our three primary goals. They are bold and challenging, and the prospect of making significant progress in these areas excites me most.

* To facilitate all things entrepreneurship on Carolina’s campus.

* To facilitate inter-institutional connections to fuel translational research.

* To leverage the intellectual capital of our region’s universities to help elevate NC’s economic vitality.

We have a lot of heavy lifting to do and it’s a huge opportunity for us as a research institution. At Carolina we’re really excited about the fact that we’re 9^th in the nation in federal funding for research. The top 25 universities get a whopping 35 percent of the federal research budget. We’re at an advantage in this sense, even without an engineering school. In fact, only two schools on that list don’t have engineering: the University of California at San Francisco and Carolina. Engineering is a translational discipline; engineering oftentimes enables better and faster translation into the market. Without engineering, you’re missing a key part of the entrepreneurial ecosystem. So we need to fix that, and we do it by forming bridges with other universities that focus more on applied engineering. That way we can really reap the benefits of the strong science that happens on our campuses. This is just an example of something we’re going to be focusing on.

What priorities or initiative areas do you plan to focus on at this point?

First we want to recognize our values of diversity, collaboration, and innovation. The diversity piece is really important because it is a fundamental tenet of innovation – different perspectives coming together play a very important role in new ideas. Connecting people and collaborating by valuing and using diverse perspectives will be critical to generating new and better ideas.

Three organizing words for us are connect, create, and accelerate:

1) connect people and organizations
2) create opportunities and resources
3) accelerate people’s achievements in the sector.

Our mission is to be a partner for innovation, and for innovative entrepreneurship. By underlining partner, we’re emphasizing connections and acceleration. We want to elevate North   Carolina to be a global partner in innovation and entrepreneurship.

What changes have you made since taking the position?

Up to this point, the Kenan Institute has really been a collection of centers. These centers have had different focuses and have been driven as separate units operationally. We are redirecting a lot of our efforts away from centers to focus on being a hub for innovation and entrepreneurship—for finding programs, resources, connections for entrepreneurs—and to being a partner to others. Right now there are a lot of resources on this campus, but they’re not necessarily coordinated, or mapped out, or positioned in the best way to make our university-based entrepreneurs most successful. It’s difficult to navigate in some ways as an entrepreneur, and that can be a deterring factor to pursuing an entrepreneurial path. We want to counter that. We want to make sure we’re doing three things: 1) facilitating all things entrepreneurship on the campus, 2) enabling inter-institutional research translation, and 3) leveraging the intellectual assets of the university and region to achieve strong economic development in the state.

We are also trying to leverage our own assets internally, and although we are moving away from centers, and that is a big cultural shift, I see it as a positive one. We have everyone coming together on a biweekly basis to work as a team, and we have more potential to create the best impact when we bring all of our perspectives and strengths to the table.

Is the Center for Entrepreneurial Studies affected by this change?

The Center for Entrepreneurial Studies is formally housed in the business school. It is an affiliated center with the Institute. Entrepreneurial studies is key to what we’re trying to do. We’ve been talking about ways to simplify our messaging and have better integration. There are two main thrusts within that center:

1) the curricular component – things for credit – that is going to remain in the business school. There’s a whole entrepreneurial offering that’s really important to our MBA students and that’s going to stay within the area of strategy and entrepreneurship in the business school, under the direction of Ted Zoller.

2) the non-curricular component – helping companies get launched and financed and out the gates – that’s going to move over here, again under Ted’s leadership.

Are there specific types of industries or business ventures that the Kenan Institute focuses on?

When you look at the research portfolio of Carolina, we have strengths in a lot of areas— broad and significant strengths. So, we’re interested in building strong ties between the business school and the research engine here because that’s what it takes to be translational, to get things in the marketplace. We are very much focused on:

* life sciences (medical devices, pharmaceutical science, big data, clinical trials)
* energy (creation and storage, biofuels, solar power)
* clean water
* genetics, predictive medicine and well being
* sport entrepreneurship

Globalization is always a hot topic – what plans or ideas do you want to implement to help further advance the Institute internationally?

No one talks about companies today without thinking globally. We will be looking at the best ways to form bridges with other countries and institutions in those countries. We’re interested in the intersection of research and business, and I think we’ll be entrepreneurial in adapting to global opportunities as they emerge. There’s another dimension to this on company formation – multinational companies are collecting a lot of cash overseas but they don’t invest it in the US because of the huge tax hit. There are companies coming out of our university that multinational companies want to invest in with seed capital, but they want the companies to be domiciled overseas now to avoid the 35 percent tax hit that they would get. To me, that’s a terrible trend. It’s one thing to have our technologies go overseas before they come into the US (a prime example being medical devices due to certain prohibitive FDA regulations). It’s a whole different level to have our companies pulled overseas. We want to keep topics like this front and center.

I hear pig waste is another popular topic?

In its history the Kenan Institute has had a strong focus on eastern North Carolina. And taking a step back, North Carolina has the 2^nd largest rural population in the U.S., which presents unique challenges. Poverty also exacerbates existing challenges, whatever the setting. A question we ask at the Institute is what can we do given our strengths as a research institution to make a positive impact in Eastern North Carolina?

One of these concepts is “pig power.” Despite being the 9^th most populous state, North Carolina has more pigs than it has people! We have 9.5 million people and 11 million hogs— the 2^nd largest in hog population after Iowa. And if you look at a heat map of hog locations, we have the equivalent of the city of LA on our coast without a sewage system. The economic and environmental implications of this are really daunting. What is also significant is that we can harness this biomass and power 100,000 homes in NC. Right now hog waste isn’t collected in any sort of system—instead we have hog lagoons. If these could be eliminated, like how a sewage system would work, the waste could be collected and shipped to processing plants that could extract and generate a lot of power. In addition to powering 100,000 homes, we could grow the hog industry. It’s a big idea. We are trying to engage the state to think about this being an infrastructure need, because it is. And it’s an area where I see the Kenan Institute being able to bring together researchers from different areas—agriculture, microbiologists, energy scientists, with policymakers, investors, developers, and others.

What are the most important messages you would like to deliver to alumni about the work of the Kenan Institute?

We’re showing a renewed dedication to Frank Kenan’s vision and aspirations for the Institute. We want to infuse business thinking across our campus. When you look at what’s happening with MOOCs (massive online open courses) and other big trends having a significant impact in higher education, the Kenan Institute is in a privileged place to be situated to help as a convener of people, to bring perspectives together and accelerate progress. We are pursuing creative new ways to do this.

What areas and ways do you need to cultivate financial support from alums and friends of the school?

At the Kenan Institute we are going to partner with other units on campus for fundraising. Entrepreneurship is a topic that permeates the entire campus, and again we want to build bridges between the business school and other units. We want to facilitate the connection of the university and society that entrepreneurship brings by helping other units on campus raise dollars to realize their goals in entrepreneurship. In that way, we’ll be facilitating partnerships, and there will be a philanthropic character to the work.

How can alumni get more involved with the Kenan Institute?
We will soon have a new website that will include more on our activities. We’ll be sponsoring some great lectures especially on international finance topics. I also, and especially, encourage alumni to visit classes in the entrepreneurship minor—it is a unique program that is preparing Carolina’s business leaders of the future. We have visitors all the time – pop in one or two of those classes. Come to some of the venture capital business plan competitions that are currently going on. Those are some of the tangible ways to get involved. And tell us what you think!

The day-long conference was open to all UNC students, alumni and the community. This year’s theme was “Unlock Your Potential: Creating Opportunities with Impact.”

“This year in particular we focused on the necessity of sharing with others who don’t have the same resources in order to inspire a sense of confidence and well being,” said Jacqueline Wulwick (MBA ’13), who led the event’s planning committee. “Our goal was to impact those outside ourselves and our families by promoting the importance of giving back and making our community stronger and more empowering for women.”

Afshan Khan

Keynote speakers featured:

• Afshan Khan, president and chief executive officer, Women for Women International
• Cynthia Hougum, general manager operations, global supply chain life sciences North America, GE Healthcare

Panels addressed international women in business, women’s experiences in corporate boardrooms and workplace wellness. Workshops taught conference participants how to improve their negotiation skills, develop wellness plans and achieve life goals.

Wulwick attributed this year’s record attendance to increased outreach efforts. “We raised the conference’s visibility this year through a strong marketing campaign that featured the use of social media, advertising in The Daily Tar Heel, postcard and flyer distribution, and Alumni Relations support.”

In addition to the conference, CWIB hosted concurrently the Forte Foundation Career Launch, designed to provide information to undergraduate women about how business knowledge can advance their academic, professional and societal goals.

Sponsors of the Carolina Women in Business conference were Deloitte, Liberty Mutual, ExxonMobil, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Humana, Wells Faro Securities, General Electric, Johnson & Johnson, Vanguard, Direct Supply and SunTrust Robinson Humphrey.

In addition to Wulwick, the conference planning committee included Charlotte Hindsley (MBA ’14), Nandini Subramanya (MBA ’14) and Jordan Gruber (MBA ’14).

“Congratulations to the planning committee on a great CWIB Conference.  I believe it was the best ever in the eight years since the event started.  It was evident the team and others put a great deal of thought and time into the execution,” said Mindy Storrie, Kenan-Flagler’s director of leadership development.

For more information on the event, see these articles:

Leaders make an impact around the globe: Carolina Women in Business Part 1

Wellness in the workplace: Carolina Women in Business Part 2

Experiences from the boardroom: Carolina Women in Business Part 3

On Friday, we kicked off with golf at Finley.  At noon, many alumni shared lunch with current students from all degree programs. Two special seminars highlighted the early afternoon – “Expanding your Professional Reach with LinkedIn,” led by Gary Miller, and “Reducing Income Tax and Eliminating Estate Taxes,” led by Janet Ramsey (BSBA ’79, MBA ’83).  Many returning alumni and their families also enjoyed the UNC Campus Tour.

Friday afternoon activities concluded with wonderful seminars hosted by Carolina Women in Business (CWIB) and the Alliance for Minority Business Students (AMBS) and KFBS Pride.  Attendees at these seminars, along with many other alumni, then joined our Diversity Reception in the beautiful Kenan Center Lounge.  The evening began with our welcome dinner under the wonderfully appointed tent in front of McColl Building, complete with great food, a jazz band and a martini bar.  Many former faculty legends were in attendance, including Jack Evans, Jay Klompmaker, Curtis McLaughlin, John Pringle, Bob Headen and Mike Miles.

On Saturday, many alumni rose early to participate in the Habitat for Humanity 5K run.  Later in the morning, we continued an Alumni Weekend tradition with our annual service project for Any Soldier, Inc., where alumni prepared over 50 packages and wrote letters for our overseas troops. Other alumni attended our career workshop, “Off the Beaten Path,” led by Elizabeth Wallencheck, director of alumni career management.  Everyone enjoyed the great food and atmosphere at our Lunch on the Lawn.  A special treat was music performed by The Hartzellbreakers, a bluegrass band consisting of Kenan-Flagler faculty and staff members Dave Hartzell, Bob Connolly, Patrick Vernon and Rachel McNassor, along with current Kenan-Flagler students.

Our opening afternoon session in Koury Auditorium was headlined by UNC head football coach Larry Fedora, who updated everyone on this year’s Tar Heel team and provided his own personal leadership lessons.  Sridhar Balasubramanian, associate dean for the MBA program, delivered the “State of the School” address.  Sessions later in the afternoon included an interactive Leadership Simulation, led by Kenan-Flagler’s Mindy Storrie and Peter Romanella, and a special “Return to Rizzo” for our Executive MBA alumni, with a presentation by associate dean Atul Nerkar and a reception following in the DuBose House.

Early evening featured special happy hours for our real estate and consulting alumni, and the evening was capped off by “Roll the Dice on Franklin Street” at Top of the Hill. At the Kenan-Flagler Casino, everyone enjoyed playing blackjack, roulette, craps and poker, and those with the most chips at the end won some super prizes.

The weekend ended in grand style with Sunday brunch at the Carolina Inn.

It was a great weekend of networking, fun and reconnecting with classmates and UNC Kenan-Flagler. Thanks to all that attended and we look forward to seeing you at next year’s Alumni Weekend!

Undergraduate Business Program at UNC Kenan-Flagler