UVA Darden Pillars

PIL L A RS U N I V ER S I T Y O F V I R G I NIA | DARDE N SCH OOL OF BU SINE SS | ISSU E 23 | SPRING 202 0

DARDEN

Where Professors Make the Place

A LETTER FROM THE VICE PRESIDENT FOR ADVANCEMENT

A T I M E F O R RES I L I E N C E

As with every issue of Pillars, the publication you are reading represents months of planning and work to share the stories of the incredible people at Darden who are improving the world and the inspiring generosity of those powering their purpose. Unlike other issues, this one was ready to publish just as the spread of the novel coronavirus, known as COVID-19, was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization and institutions around the globe, including the University of Virginia, took dramatic steps to alter their operations to slow the spread of the disease.

From all of us at the School, our hearts are with members of the Darden community around the world, and we offer our deepest sympathies in these challenging times.

We chose to forge ahead with Pillars because we believe sharing the stories of those making a difference in the world is needed more than ever. This issue, in particular, shines a light on the Darden faculty, and our cover story honors those who have gone to incredible lengths to recreate their in-person classes for online delivery. In short, they are doing the same thing they have always done for students — going to whatever length necessary to deliver the world’s best education experience, no matter what the circumstances.

In my four years at Darden, I have been honored to meet alumni from around the globe, and they rarely fail to remind me of the deep connection to our faculty. As I watch our faculty’s extraordinary efforts to reshape curriculum and classes this spring, the reasons for that deep connection are clear.

The Powered by Purpose campaign is an opportunity to connect with those at the heart of the School’s academic experience. To date, an impressive $79 million has been raised specifically to support faculty, thought leadership and curricular innovation. The results of this generosity include the establishment of 23 new faculty chairs, support for research centers and institutes on Grounds, and the creation of increased lifelong learning opportunities.

I hope that through this issue, you will gain an appreciation for the extensive impact of the $400 million Powered by Purpose campaign — not just for faculty but for the talented students who join the Darden family, the increasingly sophisticated Grounds and the future of the Darden School of Business. I also invite you to read additional inspiring stories like these on our campaign website: giving.darden.virginia.edu.

Thank you for your support, and I have faith in our community’s resilience as we overcome this unprecedented global challenge and unite in our commitment to power the purposeful.

Warm regards, Kara Ramirez Mullins (TEP ’18) Vice President for Advancement Darden School of Business

$244.1M

More Than Halfway: Progress Toward Purpose 61% As of 29 February 2020

Powered by Purpose Campaign Goal

$400 million by 30 June 2025

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Darden’s Powered by Purpose Campaign Priorities 1. Faculty, Thought Leadership & Curricular Innovation 2. Scholarships, Financial Aid & Student Experience 3. Grounds Master Plan, Technology & Innovation 4. Darden Annual Fund Darden’s progress toward achieving the full potential of these priorities will accelerate as the School advances toward its fundraising goal for the campaign.

‘ W H Y DA RD E N P RO F ES S O R S A RE T H E B EST M B A T E A C H E R S O N T H E P L A N ET ’

BY JAY HODGKINS

Pictured above: Professor Tami Kim leads a case in the classroom. Before teaching, she takes part in extensive case prep sessions with the Marketing area faculty.

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he story of the Darden School faculty is best told through the eyes and words of those who have experienced the inspiring power of the School’s master teachers at work.

Poets & Quants Editor-in-Chief John Byrne spent two days at Darden over the winter to get a taste of the experience and uncover why publications, such as The Economist, Bloomberg Businessweek and The Princeton Review, have named Darden professors the best in graduate business education.

Byrne attended a faculty case study preparation session with several members

of the Marketing faculty and then attended their classes to get a better understanding of how the prep work translated into the classroom. The visit resulted in an indepth feature on Poets & Quants, “Why Darden’s Professors Are the Best MBA Teachers on the Planet.”

The article begins with Richard S. Reynolds Professor of Business Administration Tom Steenburgh, senior associate dean for faculty development and the full-time MBA program, as he coaches four professors — Kim Whitler, Tami Kim, Luca Cian and Lalin Anik — who are preparing to teach a case the next day. Byrne then takes a seat in Cian’s and Anik’s classrooms

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FAC U LT Y S U P P O R T

with the students to see Darden’s spontaneous yet deliberate learning experience in action.

Byrne writes: “What makes them unique? They not only bring deep knowledge and passion for their subjects to a class; they bring their hearts, minds, bodies, and souls. To sit in a class with either Anik or Cian is to witness a human splitting an atom.”

Such praise from a keen-eyed industry observer and the many No. 1 faculty rankings are earned, not given. It’s a testament to a culture built in Darden classrooms, faculty offices and case prep sessions over generations, handed down from one to the next. But those accolades will not be easy to hold.

Without support to retain the teaching legends who have built Darden’s reputation for faculty excellence, there will be no one to pass the torch.

Without the means to recruit the very best emerging scholars from all corners of the globe, those legends won’t be followed by the type of multitalented academics capable of building on their legacies.

Without resources to enable and amplify their thought leadership, professors can’t achieve their full potential impacting business and society for good.

The stakes for remaining home to the world’s best faculty are high, and these pages aim to demonstrate the high return

The campaign empowers Darden to nurture the outstanding faculty of the future and develop insights for leaders facing real-world business challenges.

and incredible impact that comes with investing in “the best MBA teachers on the planet.”

PROFESSORS WITH GLOBAL IMPACT AND RECOGNITION • Poets & Quants in December 2019 named Professor Lalin Anik MBA Professor of the Year. The publication has named an MBA Professor of the Year three times, twice recognizing a Darden professor. In 2017, the publication bestowed the honor on Greg Fairchild, Isidore Horween Research Associate Professor of Business Administration.

• Professor Ed Freeman in July 2019 received an honorary doctorate from Leuphana University of Lüneburg, Germany, for developing the foundations for stakeholder theory. Freeman’s work advancing stakeholder theory also netted him a lifetime achievement award from the Academy of Management in 2018 and additional honorary doctorates from Finland’s University of Tampere and Hanken School of Economics, Canada’s University of Sherbrooke, and the Netherlands’ Radboud University.

• Professor Saras Sarasvathy in October 2019 received the Legacy Impact Award from the Global Consortium of Entrepreneurship Centers for her research on effectuation, a framework

Ed Freeman, University Professor, Elis and Signe Olsson Professor of Business Administration

Saras Sarasvathy, Paul M. Hammaker Professor of Business Administration

How many teachers can I remember from undergrad? Maybe two, three. However, quiz me on who taught each of my Darden classes from 1982–84, and I can reel them off as fast as you can say TANSTAAFL.” — Kent Smith (MBA ’84), who, with his wife, Mary, recently made a $1 million planned gift, and remembers fondly learning the phrase “there ain’t no such thing as a free lunch” in class

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FACULTY BOOKS ON STRATEGY, DIVERSITY, SUSTAINABILITY NAMED AMONG 2019 BEST for thought and action used by expert entrepreneurs to build successful ventures. Sarasvathy was only the sixth person in the organization’s history to receive the legacy award.

EXPERT IN HEALTH CARE, WOMEN’S LEADERSHIP JOINS DARDEN FACULTY Darden announced in January that McKinsey & Co. Senior Partner and board member Vivian Riefberg would join the School as the David C. Walentas Jefferson Scholars Foundation Professor. She is among 32 new professors to join the Darden School faculty in the previous five years, many of whom have already received top ratings, honors and awards from students and peers alike. Riefberg is a global thought leader in the areas of health care and women’s leadership; a speaker, writer and convener in the health care field; and a leader in work on the economic benefits of gender parity in business and society. She becomes the first person to hold the Walentas Jefferson Scholars Foundation Professorship, which became fully endowed in 2018.

It is little wonder why Darden has the best MBA teaching faculty in the world.”

— Poets & Quants Editor-in-Chief John Byrne

In 2019, Darden faculty members published books on issues ranging from innovation to sales to diversity in the workplace. And in the months ahead, expect more faculty thought leadership on the bookshelf from the likes of Professor Jim Detert on demonstrating courage in the workplace, Professors Ed Freeman and Bobby Parmar on responsible business without tradeoffs, Professor Ed Hess on the future of work and Professor Raj Venkatesan on AI and marketing.

In February, three Darden professors’ books were honored with Axiom Business Book Awards as among the best business books of the year.

• Strategic Execution: Driving Breakthrough Performance in Business (Stanford University Press), by Professor Scott Snell and Kenneth Carrig, received the gold award in the category of Business Intelligence/ Innovation.

• Race, Work and Leadership: New Perspectives on the Black Experience (Harvard Business Review Press), by Professor Laura Morgan Roberts, Harvard Business School Professor Anthony Mayo and Morehouse College President David Thomas, received the gold award in the category of Women/Minorities in Business.

• Can Business Save the Earth: Innovating Our Way to Sustainability (Stanford University Press), by Professor Mike Lenox and Aaron Chatterji, received the bronze award in the Philanthropy/Nonprofit/Sustainability category.

Vivian Riefberg, David C. Walentas Jefferson Scholars Foundation Professor

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BLAZING THE DIGITAL LEARNING FRONTIER Launching its first massive open online course (MOOC) in 2013, Darden is a pioneer in delivering online learning on critical topics impacting business and society. Today, Darden’s portfolio includes courses in accounting, design thinking, entrepreneurship, innovation, leadership and management, marketing, product and project management, strategy, and ethics. More than a million learners have participated in a Darden course through the Coursera platform.

Professor Jeanne Liedtka’s “Design Thinking for Innovation” and Professor Mike Lenox’s “Digital Transformation,” delivered in partnership with Boston Consulting Group, are among the most popular courses offered through Coursera.

The School’s early work in the MOOC space paved the way for the Darden faculty to become experts delivering transformational education experiences online. Students in the Executive MBA, Master of Science in business analytics and even full-time MBA programs benefit from the flexibility and ease of access afforded by digital education. Through live and self-paced online sessions, Darden is able to extend its impact developing responsible leaders where they are, across a lifetime of learning.

Faculty and Thought Leadership Fundraising Highlights  $79 million raised in support of the Faculty, Thought Leadership and Curricular Innovation campaign priority  23 new professorships endowed since the start of the campaign  $55 million impact created by Frank M. Sands Sr. (MBA ’63) — $41 million in giving to support faculty and thought leadership combined with $14 million in matching funds from the UVA Bicentennial Professors Fund (BPF). In total, Darden donors have unlocked $22 million in BPF matching funds from UVA for new Darden professorships  $11.6 million in funding for the Robert F. Bruner Dean’s Fund for Faculty Excellence, completed in 2015 in honor of Professor Bob Bruner’s tenure as dean

Ways to Support the Priority

Student Rating of Faculty

DARDEN FACULTY CONSISTENTLY OUTPERFORM PEER SCHOOLS 5.00

Darden

4.75

Harvard Stanford

4.50

Wharton Source: The Economist

4.25 4.00

’11

’12

’13

’14 ’15 ’16 Calendar Year

’17

’18

According to surveys conducted for The Economist’s annual Which MBA? ranking, students have rated the Darden faculty No. 1 in the world three years in a row.

For more information, contact Howie Avery at AveryH@darden.virginia.edu or +1-434-982-2153.

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 Faculty chairs  Faculty excellence endowments  Research Centers of Excellence endowments and support (Batten Institute, Center for Global Initiatives, Institute for Business in Society, Richard A. Mayo Center for Asset Management)  Curricular innovation support  Darden Annual Fund faculty excellence designation

Matching Funds Available  The Bicentennial Professors Fund will match 50 percent of gifts of $1 million or more to support an emerging scholar, 50 percent of gifts of $2 million or more to support a mid-career scholar and 66 percent of gifts of $3 million or more to support a distinguished scholar. Learn more.

Martin Davidson, Johnson and Higgins Professor of Business Administration

DARDEN’S MBA PROFESSOR OF THE YEAR ON ACHIEVING PERSONAL FULFILLMENT

Professor Lalin Anik

BY CAROLINE NEWMAN

Support for faculty allows Darden to recruit and retain impactful professors, like Anik, who continue the School’s tradition of faculty excellence and cutting-edge research. Since arriving at Darden in 2015, Anik has been named MBA Professor of the Year and a Top 40 Under 40 Professor by Poets & Quants, nominated for Darden’s Outstanding Faculty Award multiple times, received the Faculty Diversity Award in 2017 and 2019, and was selected a faculty marshal for graduation by the Class of 2019.

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rofessor Lalin Anik has made a splash at Darden since arriving about five years ago, building enduring relationships with colleagues and students and receiving a host of accolades, including being named MBA Professor of the Year by Poets & Quants in 2019.

Anik, a professor in the Marketing area, has also quickly built a reputation as a topflight researcher, often exploring the impact of social connection on consumer behavior and well-being. Recent papers on the implication of a preference for consuming as a couple, as opposed to solo, and how threshold incentives, or being the “tipping point,” can influence behavior have both drawn notice in and outside of the academy.

One paper Anik co-authored with UVA McIntire School of Commerce Professors Jeff Boichuk and Eric Martin sought to determine how individuals derive feelings of abundance, or personal fulfillment, and what kind of link could be established between feelings of abundance and a propensity to make charitable donations.

The findings, based on surveys of 2,000 people, found that those who cited material or physical resources — money, investments, real estate, belongings, health, fitness, etc. — as their primary sources of abundance felt less abundant overall and reported donating their money and time less frequently.

However, those who cited relationships or spirituality as the sources of their abun-

dance felt more abundance in their lives and were more likely to give of their time and money, as well as emotional resources like compassion, love and positivity.

The study — funded by a grant from 1984 McIntire graduate Brian Rogers — cut across demographic and geographic divides.

Respondents’ average age was 46; their incomes ranged from less than $10,000 to more than $200,000 annually, with an estimated median income of $46,726. Eightyone percent reported that they had donated at least $1 in the past year and 63 percent that they had volunteered at least once in that time.

The researchers found that respondents who were very well-off financially tended to give in large, single chunks, rather than steadily over time. Geographically, respondents from the Deep South displayed more giving behavior than the rest of the country.

The findings suggest that nonprofit organizations and others dependent on donors’ generosity should focus on building meaningful relationships with donors and bolstering the relational and spiritual resources that coordinate with giving.

As Anik recently told the public radio station WVTF: “If a nonprofit gets to know me, gets to know my family, gets to know the things that are valuable to me, then I will be more willing to give in the longer term.

It’s actually not rocket science. It’s building relationships with your potential donors.”

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SCHOLARSHIPS

GENEROUS SCHOL ARSHIP PROGRAMS ARE TABLE STAKES FOR ELI T E B-SCHOOLS. WHAT CHAN GED?

BY DAVE HENDRICK

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Campaign support creates scholarships and an unmatched student experience that sparks a virtuous circle in which top student talent draws top faculty, top rankings and top resources.

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tudents cite quality and reputation as the key selection criteria when choosing a full-time MBA program, according to data from the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC). The most likely reservation to pursuing business school? Cost.

On the first metric, the Darden School competes well against top schools. Rankings continue to trend upward and the School’s global reputation for education experience and top teaching faculty remains unsurpassed.

On the second, donors are powering great strides in Darden’s effort to be affordable and accessible, with fundraising for scholarships up dramatically in recent years.

Amid fierce industry competition and a shrinking pool of MBA applicants, however, all progress is relative. The top programs are in a heated race to attract the most talented students, and scholarships have emerged as one of the most effective levers.

THE COMPETITION TO ATTRACT THE VERY BEST Applications to full-time MBA programs were down about 7 percent globally in 2019, according to GMAC. The reasons are many: a boom in business master’s degrees, a relatively strong economy encouraging students to stay in their current jobs, reduced international demand to study in the United States and cost, among other factors.

“Graduate business schools, just like any other organization, are subject to the forces of the world around them,” Sangeet Chowfla, president and CEO of GMAC, wrote in a recent introduction to a business school trend report.

Top students are increasingly weighing the cost of their education before making their final decision.

Top B-schools have learned that generous scholarship awards can be the tipping point for applicants’ school choices.

As a first-generation student, pursuing my MBA was a whole new experience. Receiving a scholarship made it possible for me to commit to a two-year program and truly get a return on the investment on the Darden experience.”

— Miranda Grueiro (Class of 2021)

As Poets & Quants reported: “As applications to full-time MBA programs continue to decline at the elite U.S. business schools for the third consecutive year, the value of and number of scholarship grants have never been higher.” The publication cited industry experts who reported scholarship award increases of “at least 30 percent.”

DARDEN’S POSITION AMONG ITS PEERS Darden estimates the total cost to attend the School at over $100,000 per year for a non-Virginia resident entering the Class of 2022, which includes tuition and fees, student health insurance, living expenses, case fees, computers and transportation, to name a few major expenses. While an eye-popping sum to many, it is lower than the cost of Darden’s peers, and Darden’s self-sufficiency agreement with the University of Virginia necessitates the School charge market rates to cover the full amount of its operating expenses. Further, Darden does not receive budget support from the Commonwealth of Virginia or UVA and has not since 2003.

In the recent Bloomberg Businessweek ranking, Darden ranked No. 5. And, according to Bloomberg Businessweek and individual school data, the total cost to attend Darden is less than every school ranked in the Top 10. However, even though its closest competitors in higher cost-of-living locations like New York City and Silicon Valley cost more, a cost of attendance of over $100,000 a year is a steep climb for many.

“My goal is to make Darden the most affordable top business school,” said Dean Scott Beardsley, who has made fundraising for scholarships a key component of both the annual fund and the current capital campaign. “I come from a family of educators and see education as the great equalizer. We at Darden aim to admit the most deserving students, regardless of their financial need.”

A business school will only be as good as the quality of the students it can attract. Top faculty want to teach top students. Recruiters want top candidates. Scholarships have become the catalyst to spark a virtuous cycle in which top student talent attracts top faculty, top recruiters and top resources.

“I believe Darden is, and continues to be, a place that allows anyone from anywhere to go anywhere,” said Beardsley. “Scholarships power the dream machine that makes Darden accessible and those journeys possible.”

Scholarship Fundraising Highlights  67 new scholarships endowed since the start of the campaign (June 2013)  $3 million from the Darden Annual Fund used for scholarships to support the classes of 2020 and 2021  $5 million raised for current-use scholarships since the start of the campaign (June 2013)  $15 million from the Batten Foundation, combined with a $15 million match from UVA, to create the $30 million Batten Foundation Darden Worldwide Scholarship program, which covers the cost for each full-time MBA student to participate in a global academic experience at Darden  $27.6 million in matching funds for Darden scholarships from the UVA Bicentennial Scholars Fund  $40 million raised to complete the Darden Jefferson Fellowships Program, which provides 10 fellowships covering the full cost to attend Darden in each class

Ways to Support the Priority To best support Darden scholarships and generations of purpose-driven leaders, the following levels for endowed scholarships have been established:  Full-Tuition Scholarship Endowment — $1.5 million  Half-Tuition Scholarship Endowment — $750,000  One-Third Tuition Scholarship Endowment — $500,000  Pooled Scholarship Endowment — $100,000+  Darden Annual Fund scholarships designation — any level

Matching Funds Available  The Bicentennial Scholars Fund will match 50 percent of gifts of $100,000 or more that are paid within five years for new endowments to support scholarships for graduate students.

Learn more.

Contact Howie Avery at AveryH@darden.virginia.edu or +1-434-982-2153 for more information.

We are incredibly grateful to, and proud of, all who have made gifts to support scholarships so that exceptional students can pursue their purpose at Darden.”

— Scott Beardsley, Dean and Charles C. Abbott Professor of Business Administration

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G E N O V ES E F E L LO W S H I P S S PA RK N E X TG E N E R AT I O N GIVING F RO M PA ST RE C I P I E N T S

BY SALLY PARKER The Class of 2020 Second Year Genovese Fellows include, from left, Logan White, Stephen Joy and Alex Zhou.

I wanted to produce alumni so beholden to Darden that they will give back just like I did.”

— Frank Genovese (MBA ’74)

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o Darden supporter Frank Genovese (MBA ’74), the best business career is an act of creation — from building a company or product line to leading collaborative, effective teams.

Genovese, founder and president of the Rothbury Corp., a Richmond, Virginia-based investment firm, says the wealth he has created over the years is a result of doing work he enjoys, and he has earmarked millions of it to build a new generation of Darden supporters.

Through an original gift of $2 million more than 25 years ago, the Genovese scholarship endowment has funded 74 full-tuition fellowships for Second Year students and 12 scholarships for First Years. The scholarships have totaled $5 million, while strong returns have also allowed the fund to have a balance of $6 million.

The fellowship goes to students who have “the fire in the belly” to build and lead a business as general managers or

owners, Genovese says.

“The greatest joy is running something and being your own boss. I wanted to impart that to others,” he says. “I also wanted to produce alumni so beholden to Darden that they will give back just like I did. I am just trying to perpetuate the giving.”

That wish is coming true, as three Genovese Fellows recently launched scholarship funds of their own to support future Darden students, leveraging matching funds from the UVA’s Bicentennial Scholars Fund to maximize their giving.

All of them remember Genovese’s clear expectation the day they received their awards: that they would pay it forward to Darden with a million-dollar gift someday.

‘A COMMITMENT I HAD TO HONOR’

Mike Augins (MBA ’99) has launched a pooled scholarship fund. He is an owner in a suite of Charlotte, North Carolina, firms: Charlotte Management Advisors, MAP and Magic Money.

“Upon awarding me the Genovese Fellowship, Frank made it clear to me that his expectation was that I would return 10 times the value I received back to Darden. That has always felt like a commitment that I had to honor,” says Augins, who serves on the Genovese Fellowship selection committee.

“I established the scholarship as the first step toward honoring my promise to Frank and to Darden. I did it in order to recognize the impact Darden had on my life and fulfill my promise to Frank as a measure of my gratefulness for his benevolence.”

‘DARDEN OVERDELIVERED’

Dave Banyard (MBA ’04) spent 11 years as a Navy pilot before entering Darden. He says the tuition break the Genovese Fellowship provided helped accelerate opportunities for him and his family at a time when finances were tight.

“Darden overdelivered on what I was hoping to get out of business school. They’re first and foremost focused on the student and teaching, and that really changes the game for the students,” he says.

Banyard is president of MasterBrand Cabinets Inc. As his career evolved, he began looking for ways to support the places and people who have made a difference for him “so others behind me can have the same advantage.”

In addition to other support for the School and for the Cleveland, Ohio, community where they live, Banyard and his wife started a Darden scholarship fund with $100,000. He expects it will be fully funded in five years.

‘RECEIVING THE GENOVESE FELLOWSHIP WAS AN AHA MOMENT’

Genovese Fellow Darren Fultz (MBA ’06), co-founder and CEO of Dorilton Capital Advisors, a private investment firm in New York City for small and medium-size businesses, has supported the Darden Annual Fund since he graduated. A few years ago, he started thinking about personally meaningful ways to give back.

“I spent more time thinking about what it is I’m trying to do by giving to Darden each year. I realized the program fundamentally changed my career trajectory and future earning capability,” Fultz says.

So last year, Fultz established a scholarship fund and committed to funding it fully within five years. His gift has everything to do with Genovese’s generosity.

“I had lofty aspirations for myself as a young kid, but receiving the Genovese Fellowship was definitely an aha moment: ‘Wow. Here’s someone who’s a Darden alumnus, who’s very successful, saying, I believe in you guys,’” Fultz says.

“That was definitely a vote of confidence that reinforced that the whole experience, the network you create and the opportunities you find afterwards could be really meaningful.”

Thomas R. Watjen (MBA ’81) a member of the Virginia Military Institute Board of Visitors, created a Darden scholarship for military veterans, with a preference for those who graduated from VMI.

NEW GIFT EXPANDS SCHOLARSHIP SUPPORT FOR MILITARY VETERANS, HONORS FATHER A $3 million gift from Thomas R. Watjen (MBA ’81) and his wife, Nanette Watjen, announced this fall will support members of the military with full scholarships to Darden.

The gift was matched with an additional $1.5 million from the UVA Bicentennial Scholarship Fund to create the $4.5 million Edward A. Watjen Bicentennial Scholarship Fund. This new fund will be incorporated with an existing military scholarship fund established by Watjen several years ago, the Edward A. Watjen Military Fellowship Fund, for a total impact of nearly $6 million.

The fund will support scholarships for students who come to Darden with a military background, with a preference for those who graduated from the Virginia Military Institute. The fund is named after Watjen’s father, who was a first-generation college graduate and served in the U.S. Navy as an aircraft mechanic.

I have always been inspired by the powerful example set forth by my father.

This scholarship is symbolic of the values and virtues that my father stood for and ensures that others with a military background have the same opportunity to achieve their educational pursuits.”

— Thomas R. Watjen (MBA ’81)

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The campaign allows Darden’s Grounds to set the standard for world-class business education and uniquely reflect the School’s values, interests and purpose.

GROUNDS

T H E F U T U RE O F G ROU N D S : W H AT ST U D E N T S SA Y THE Y NEED M O ST

The future of business is in their hands. Darden wanted students to have a say in the future of Grounds, too.

BY DAVE HENDRICK

A student committee recently worked with Professor Mike Lenox to assess Darden’s facilities. From left: Michael Reed (Class of 2020), Lenox, Ali Schumacher (Class of 2021), Max Linden (Class of 2020), Victoria Luk (Class of 2021) and Lihn Le (Class of 2020)

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urrent Darden students are grounded in the reality of their daily experience living and learning within the School’s Grounds, while receiving constant feedback from the employment marketplace about what skills they need to become leaders within top organizations.

What better focus group could there be to influence the future of the School’s facilities and technologies?

A student committee, working with Professor Mike Lenox, recently assessed Darden’s facilities, seeking to answer the question of how current spaces could continue to support the School’s goal to provide the world’s best MBA education experience, both in and out of the classroom.

The committee of five students in the classes of 2020 and 2021 — Linh Le, Max Linden, Victoria Luk, Michael Reed and Ali Schumacher — focused its report on key areas for potential improvement after completing a monthslong study of student spaces.

“The Darden Grounds are integral to the fabric of the community and impact every aspect of the Darden experience,” said Reed. “It has been an exciting challenge to envision the next phase of Darden through the integration of the classic

Jeffersonian architecture style with the needs of a modern business school. I look forward to seeing how our recommendations will manifest into new spaces at the School.”

The committee offered a variety of research-backed, short- and long-term suggestions focused on four areas for potential improvement: dining, student activity space, learning team rooms and housing.

School leadership is already acting on initial recommendations in upcoming improvement projects. In addition, gifts from former Citigroup Chairman Mike O’Neill (MBA ’74) as well as The Riverstone Group Chairman and CEO William H. Goodwin (MBA ’66) and the Goodwin family will fund a refresh of the Abbott Center Dining Room. Moreover, plans to relocate the W.L. Lyons Brown III i.Lab at UVA to the Darden classroom building will allow for upcoming trials of new learning team room configurations.

As the Darden Grounds Master Plan continues to come into focus, the needs and desires of students will remain a priority.

For more information, contact Howie Avery at AveryH@darden.virginia.edu or +1-434-982-2153.

DINING The report found that 65 percent of students eat at Darden once a week or less, suggesting existing facilities are underused. Students cited a need for greater variety of food options and more relaxed environments for meals, with a specific suggestion to transform the Abbott Center Dining Room into a more casual setting, with an action-station model replacing the current buffet option.

ON BE ING HONORE D IN BRICK AND MORTAR: Q&A WITH PROFE SSOR E ME RITUS C. RAY SMI TH (MBA ’58)

BY KRISTEN KEESEE

STUDENT ACTIVITY SPACE The committee’s findings divided student space needs into the categories of serendipitous interactions, work space for individuals and teams, and wellness and reflection. In the short term, the report recommends setting aside existing underused spaces for student activities.

Longer term, the committee recommended integrating student activity space near renovated dining areas and securing new space devoted to student wellness.

LEARNING TEAM ROOMS Students recommended pilot testing a redesign of a single learning team hallway into a pod with glass walls, allowing for more natural light, modular furniture and collaboration space in the center with communal supplies to promote “casual collision.” Students also recommended better soundproofing and access to small phone rooms or conference space for networking calls and practice case interviews.

HOUSING More than half of the students responding to the committee’s survey indicated they were less than satisfied with their housing search at Darden, and many students indicated they would be interested in a Darden-only student-housing community. In the short term, the committee recommended the establishment of a Darden housing committee and outreach to admitted students. Longer term, the committee suggested working with a variety of stakeholders to develop a new student-housing concept.

C. Ray Smith (MBA ’58)

Few have played a more central role advancing the Darden School than Professor Emeritus C. Ray Smith (MBA ’58). As part of a record $68 million gift to the School, Frank M. Sands Sr. (MBA ’63) dedicated $7.2 million as a challenge match in Smith’s honor to fully renovate C. Ray Smith Alumni Hall into a hub for alumni engagement and lifelong learning. Donors who help unlock the match through gifts of $100,000 or more will receive special recognition as sponsors of the project.

Hear from Smith on what he hopes this new space in his honor will create for the community.

Why is lifelong learning important for Darden and its alumni?

Lifelong learning is an important part of the Darden School’s mission, and it’s an important part of your education, particularly if you are in the business world. The whole opportunity for lifelong learning has been changing fast — you can do it online or come back to Grounds — and in the fast-paced world that we live in, you have to keep learning.

How do you hope the building named in your honor will transform Darden once it’s complete?

I hope that C. Ray Smith Alumni Hall will foster more opportunities for alumni to pursue their own lifelong learning — it’s important for them to do it when they can.

What does it mean to you that donors want to give in your honor?

It means a lot that students remember me and feel that I had an impact on them. In teaching, you don’t get immediate feedback on what a student has learned; if students make good grades, then you assume they learned something. But when you hear from your students later on in life and see the impact they are making, that is the best feedback you can get.

Contact Kara Ramirez Mullins at MullinsK@darden.virginia.edu for more information on how to unlock matching funds to honor

Click to learn more about additional priorities of the Darden Grounds Master Plan, including a new inn and conference center, arboretum and botanical gardens, and more.

the legacy of C. Ray Smith and power Darden’s future.

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ANNUAL FUND

Campaign support for the Darden Annual Fund enables the School to remain innovative, invest in top strategic priorities and respond nimbly to emerging opportunities.

YOUR SUPPORT FOR THE ANNUAL FUND REINVENTS CAREER SERVICES AT DARDEN

BY JAY

HODGKINS

Dennis Ortiz (MBA ’04), right, meets with First Year students Reid Bergen, left, and Michael Johnson during a recent recruiting visit to the School.

The Darden Annual Fund is a critical resource powering the exceptional career outcomes of recent Darden graduates. As students lock in another successful year securing top summer internships and post-Darden jobs, the School recently looked back at highlights of the record-breaking career outcomes for Class of 2019 graduates across all degree programs and formats.

• Full-time MBA graduates secured the best salary results and placement rates in Darden history.

• Executive MBA graduates generally join the program with a goal to switch careers (“switchers”) or climb within their current organization (“climbers”). Switchers notched an average salary increase of 76 percent from the start of the program while climbers earned salary increases of 45 percent on average, lifting their average salary to $208,500.

• Among the first cohort of the Master of Science in business analytics (MSBA), nearly two-thirds of students seeking to change careers were able to secure a new role by the end of the program, raising their average salary by 19 percent to $123,604.

To build on these successful results, Darden must ensure students receive the level of support they need throughout their journeys, which is unique to each individual. The career search is both challenging and stressful for students, which is why the School has tapped the

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Darden Annual Fund to fuel innovation and expanded support for students through investments in the Career Center.

“Our students’ career success is a priority because it is our duty to help each student pursue a path to realize his or her full potential and a lifetime of meaningful work,” said Jeff McNish, assistant dean for career development.

“Not only do we aspire to great career outcomes, we aspire that each and every student will be satisfied with the process — something we have learned is not necessarily correlated with career outcomes and also relates to expectations.”

Annual fund support recently allowed the career center to hire three new senior directors with industry expertise in the areas of consulting, technology and financial services. Their work opened new doors for students in highly sought industries and companies, driving 2019’s record career results. In the 2019–20 academic year, support from the annual fund for the center is driving numerous additional enhancements: • Darden will hire two new senior directors for the full-time MBA coaching team: a senior director of marketing and general management careers and a senior director dedicated to specialized career-search recruiting. These additions will bring the senior director team for the full-time MBA to six, up from zero before the 2017–18 academic year.

• In summer 2019, the center launched a self-paced online program titled Career Development Why Finding — CDWhy, for short — to help Darden’s fulltime MBA Class of 2021 prepare for the MBA internship and job search earlier than ever. Through the innovative program and for the first time, students had access to career resources and support anytime, anywhere. Its success preparing First Years for internship recruiting led the center to develop new CDWhy programs tailored for Executive MBA and MSBA students.

• The center is developing closer partnerships with research centers and student career clubs. Darden seeks to ensure all students have access to the full range of career opportunities offered by the School, the clubs and others.

• The center launched new opportunities for students to explore career pathways in different geographies and sectors, such as job treks to industry hubs around the country. Darden also plans to launch significant programming in the Washington, D.C., area in 2020–21.

NEW ANNUAL FUND DESIGNATION FOR EMBA SCHOLARSHIPS Over the past few years, Darden has heard from Executive MBA alumni and volunteer leaders how important it would be to directly support the Executive MBA program through the Darden Annual Fund. Darden listened, and to meet this call, the School recently introduced a new

PLAN YOUR LEGACY YO U R PL A N N E D G I F TS LAY TH E FO U N DATI O N FOR DA R D E N ’ S F U TU R E. PLANNED GIVING allows you the ability to address your personal financial needs and establish a powerful legacy at Darden.

Planned gifts symbolize our human desire to reach beyond ourselves and

BUILD A BETTER TOMORROW.

CHARITABLE GIFT ANNUITIES CHARITABLE REMAINDER TRUSTS LIFE INSURANCE GIFTS OF REAL ESTATE RETIREMENT ACCOUNT ASSETS WILLS, TRUSTS & ESTATES AND MORE

designation to the annual fund: EMBA Scholarships.

This new designation allows the School to support its Executive MBA students, who have been and continue to be vital to the School’s growth and a catalyst for the

For more information on making a planned gift, contact Corley Raileanu at RaileanuC@darden.virginia.edu or +1-434-243-4825.

global reach of Darden.

The Darden Campaign in Support of Honor the Future, the Campaign for the University of Virginia

Pillars is published by the Darden School Foundation, a nonprofit organization that supports the Darden School by promoting philanthropic support from alumni, friends and corporations; managing endowment funds for the School’s exclusive benefit; and operating Darden’s top-ranked Executive Education program, the Inn at Darden and Abbott Center hospitality.

Vice President for Advancement: Kara Ramirez Mullins

Questions, comments and address changes should be directed to: advancement@darden.virginia.edu or Darden School Foundation, Office of Advancement P.O. Box 7726, Charlottesville, Virginia 22906-7726 USA

Photography: Tom Cogill, Ashley Florence, Sam Levitan, Andrew Shurtleff

Chief Marketing and Communications Officer: Juliet K. Daum Editors: Jay Hodgkins, Kristen Keesee Writers: Dave Hendrick, Caroline Newman, Sally Parker Copy Editor: Camille Weaver Smith Design and Art Direction: Susan Wormington

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P. O. Box 7726 Charlottesville, Virginia 22906-7726 USA

WH Y

DA R D EN ?

BECAUSE WE ALL SHARE A PURPOSE TO

POWER LEADERS FOR A BET TER TOMORROW

Make your gift and pledge your support to the Darden Annual Fund. giving.darden.virginia.edu

POWERED

BY PURPOSE

DARDEN AN N U A L FUND