PURPOSEFUL
AMONG THE 150 ALUMNI CONTACTED FOR THIS CROSSROADS, this note was struck often: the importance of the integrity of the individual financial expert and, by extension, the company represented by that person. Most interviewees seemed to feel they had secured the right work situation for their skill set and ethical values. But they didn’t always arrive at this point immediately upon licensure as a CPA, completing an MBA, or earning a Certified Financial Planner designation. Perhaps a dozen interviewees parted from jobs at some point in their work journey as a result of feeling compromised or burned for. Employed by Trilogy Global Adviout, eventually finding something that fit sors, a boutique investment managethem better. ment firm that manages $14 billion of Matthew Clemmer ’02, for example, institutional equity assets, Clemmer is an was looking for a way to get a toehold in investment analyst focused on indusasset management when he landed a job trial and material companies domiciled in October 2005 with a Chicago-based in emerging markets – such as those private equity firm. There he joined an in China, Brazil, and Indonesia. He is investment team managing a portfolio part of an investment team in Orlando, of over $200 million worth of real estate Florida, which manages assets for large and commodity assets. Initially Clemmer public and private institutions globally. thought this was his first big opportunity. “We invest so that pension-holders can Yet he left in July 2006 (10 months later) retire,” he says. “We look for high quality – so suddenly that he had lined up no companies that have durability, that are other job – after realizing that his integnot a flash in the pan.” And such comparity was being compromised by dubious nies, by definition in his mind, need to ethical practices. demonstrate high ethical and corporate In August 2008, at the start of the governance practices to be sustainable Great Financial Crisis – about the over the long term. time his former employer was entering receivership – Clemmer was enrolled IMPORTANCE OF “GUIDING VALUES” full-time in the MBA program at Boston Allon Lefever, an adjunct business College, while his wife, Sara Joy Bergey professor at EMU, urges his MBA Clemmer ’03, was a campus recruiting students to start with “guiding values” – manager for KPMG, one of the Big Four put in writing and reviewed regularly accounting firms. – in any enterprise they undertake. “I went underground [i.e., to grad He often offers his own example: He school] for two years, while the financial worked with his son, Rod, and another world unraveled,” Clemmer jokes. business partner in the late 1990s to Today Clemmer loves what he does build an Internet service provider, Oneand, more importantly, who he does it Main.com, that went public in March 2 | crossroads | spring 2013
photo by jon styer
In the Choices One Makes
Matthew Clemmer ’02
1999 with an Initial Public Offering that raised $215 million. They more than doubled OneMain’s customer base in 18 months and then sold it to Earthlink for $308 million in September 2001. Before they did any of this, however, the three business partners agreed upon these five “guiding values,” which were presented to all potential investors: People – we will treat people (our employees, customers and suppliers) with fairness and respect. Quality – we will consistently and continuously exceed the expectations of our customers. Integrity – we will deal honestly and fairly with people in all our business relationships. Mutuality – we will work for the mutual success of our employees, customers and shareholders. Innovation – we will develop innovative solutions to meet our customers’ needs. At a critical stage in the growth of OneMain, Lefever and his partners discovered that a significant client specialized in Internet-transmitted pornography. They ceased carrying his business on their network, despite the financial loss. Lefever said he was fortunate to spend