Bill Verdini: A Retirement of, Not from, Service

A Retirement of, Not from, Service

Bill Verdini

Bill Verdini has been a teacher, researcher and administrator in several of ASU’s colleges and centers. His work in Supply-Chain Management has taken him and his expertise far and wide, and his administrative skills have opened a wide variety of opportunities. As we see in this interview, his retirement was a smooth transition into more of the same. Since he left the “active” faculty as Chair of the Supply Chain Management Department in the W. P. Carey School of Business in 2011, he has provided essential assistance in establishing business degree programs in India, served as Dean of the Emeritus College and President of the Association of Retirement Organizations in Higher Education (AROHE) and on several community boards and committees. Bill went through college in Ohio, where he got his Doctor of Business Administration from Kent State University in 1976. He came immediately to ASU, where he rapidly became an influence in Management and Quantitative Systems programs. On a personal note, I first met Bill upon his arrival in Tempe, when he stayed with my next-door neighbors while getting his feet on the ground. We have enjoyed a warm friendship ever since, which is easy to do with the personable Bill Verdini.

Emeritus Voices: Thank you, Bill, for being the subject of this issue’s “Reinventing Retirement.” As our readers will see, your notion of retirement is more of the same hard work. You actually took what most people would say is early retirement. Was there any special reason why you retired when you did?

Bill Verdini: I had not planned to retire when I did in 2011. In fact, after the W. P. Carey School of Business offered a retirement package, I

recall having a conversation with Dr. Amy Hillman, Dean of the School, when I agreed to stay on as chair of the Department of Supply Chain Management. Not long after, though, my father’s health and living situation deteriorated. He was living near Pittsburgh, PA. Then ASU offered a retirement package with the caveat that no similar offers would be made for at least three years. Those conditions changed my mind about retiring. I spoke with Dean Hillman, and she encouraged me to do what was best for me and my family.

EV: You were then focused on your family and not on post-retirement professional or avocational activities?

BV: I thought that I would relocate to Pennsylvania to look after my father. After about a 4-week stay, enjoyable, but not my lifestyle, I realized that I could not “live” at home. Instead, I made a trip back to Pennsylvania every four weeks or so and stayed for a week to take care of my father’s needs. He was very appreciative, and I was enjoying our interaction and helping. My father died a year later.

EV: We’re sorry for your loss, Bill. Did you have something waiting for your attention at that point?

BV: I thought about returning to ASU or seeking other opportunities, but I was still busy with several not-for-profit organizations and was enjoying hiking around Arizona. I think I have been on every trail in South Mountain, North Mountain, and the McDowell Mountains.

EV: That sounds like an ideal itinerary. But finding yourself free of normal faculty obligations, perhaps a bit sooner than you had expected, what was the first new opportunity that came your way?

BV: Soon after, I was asked if I would be interested in teaching a class at a new graduate school of business in Mysore, India. An interesting prospect to me. I had taught a course at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University and visited the National University of Singapore. When my ASU colleague Rajiv Sinha, who was involved in the Mysore project, learned that I was retired, he asked me if I would be interested in getting the Mysore Royal Academy (MYRA) up and running. They needed help in recruiting faculty and students. I had been to India in 2010 to give a keynote address at a conference in Chennai. While there I stayed in an Ashram for a week. I was fascinated with

Reinventing Retirement

Reinventing Retirement

India, so this opportunity sounded very interesting. Besides, what else would I do? The result was three extended trips to India over the next year and a half.

EV: Would you describe the nature of MYRA and some of the innovations you introduced?

BV: Business education in India is very important. India has 4500 graduate schools of business; the U.S. has about 1500. With nearly five times the population, 4500 schools seems reasonable. Unfortunately, relatively few of those 4500 institutions are considered top schools. The top schools in India have space for fewer than 30,000 students so many of the hundreds of thousands of students taking graduate admission tests opt to attend graduate schools in other countries.

MYRA’s vision was to be a desirable in-country choice for students through its campus, curriculum, and reputation. To become “top” quickly, MYRA recruited faculty from across the world to offer a global curriculum and a unique international learning experience. MYRA’s mission was to offer a curriculum international in scope yet focused on the business opportunities and challenges in India, and to retain entrepreneurial talent.

EV: What did you most enjoy about your service in India?

BV: I was fascinated with the people and the culture. I kept a sporadic blog with some of my discoveries. The link to my blog is catchthewav. wordpress.com/. It is a land of contrasts – economic, cultural, geographic. India is more like Europe in that each state has its own language, customs, and food. I loved the food. The people were very friendly. The most common greeting was “Have you had your breakfast yet?”

EV: That’s certainly engaging! Were there any notable downsides?

BV: Of course, getting there and back was arduous. Two ten-hour flights with a 2-hour layover in London. Exhausting for someone who has a hard time sitting still for very long. Also, I was disappointed that I didn’t get to explore more. I traveled a lot, but most of my time was in airports and hotels

The people were very friendly.

giving recruiting talks and interviewing students and faculty. There are few places to walk, though many do. If there was a sidewalk, it was not unusual to see a motorized vehicle use the sidewalk to get around a traffic jam. Fortunately, I did not have to drive!

EV: If the only negatives were in the logistics of getting around, it must have been a very enjoyable experience. Now, I believe it was shortly after your return from India that I, as chair of the dean search committee, approached you about taking the helm of the Emeritus College. We know you accepted the appointment by the Provost upon our recommendation, but I would like to know something of your initial reaction when you were asked.

BV: I was surprised to be recruited. I had been a contributing member of the College since retirement but had not actively participated in college events and activities. I was reluctant to accept the nomination at first. I was very busy with several nonprofit boards (I have been told that I am not retired, just not paid), and I do not like to take on a responsibility for which I cannot give the attention needed.

EV: I can assure you that you were approached because of your reputation as being an organizer and administrator who can get things done. Your four years of excellent service as EC Dean is familiar to most of our members, who are grateful for it. Could you reflect a bit on that experience?

BV: I enjoyed getting to know my colleagues better. I knew many of them from work together on university committees but working with the College Council provided a wonderful opportunity to get to know them better outside of their academic disciplines. We had fun, and the staff was very supportive. Emeritus College Council (2016). One of my goals in accepting the appointment was to leverage the extensive talent, experience, and connections that our members possess to reach out to the university and wider community. We certainly do that with several of our initiatives, but I was a little disappointed that we did not accomplish more. However, our members have many commitments, not just the Emeri-

Reinventing Retirement

Reinventing Retirement

tus College. Plus, they are all volunteers and retired! We did very well. We do very well, despite being hampered by the pandemic.

EV: The deanship led more or less directly to a position of national weight, namely the current presidency of AROHE, the Association of Retirement Organizations in Higher Education. How actually did that happen?

BV: Déjà vu! You, Dick, encouraged me as Emeritus College Dean to attend the AROHE conference at the University of Washington in Seattle. ASU had a very good reputation because of the previous work you and Len Gordon had done in the organization. I was approached by Carl Huether, University of Cincinnati, who knew you both, to accept a nomination to the Board of Directors. I accepted and was elected. At the next Biennial meeting at Emory University in Atlanta, Carl asked if I would consider a nomination for president-elect of AROHE. I recall expressing my reservation because of my commitments to the Emeritus College and a few other organizations. Carl and others assured me that being president-elect was a two-year apprenticeship with little responsibility. Considering that my second term as dean of the Emeritus College would end before I would become president of AROHE, I accepted the nomination. I was elected, served as president-elect for two years and am now ending my first of two years as president of AROHE. I will serve as past president for an additional year. Maybe I’ll really retire after that!

EV: Would you like to tell us more about AROHE’s aspirations and your involvement?

BV: AROHE will celebrate its 20th Anniversary in 2022. Since 2002, AROHE has encouraged the formation and ongoing development of campus-based retiree organizations because we know that retirement organizations increase retirees’ value to their schools, communities, and professions. A priority initiative is to work with higher education institutions that do not already have retirement organizations. We particularly want to reach current faculty/staff and retirees from colleges and universities that primarily serve traditionally under-represented populations or first-generation college students, including historically Black colleges and universities, Hispanic-serving institutions, Native American colleges, community colleges, and small or rural campuses.

We would like to create a sustainable business model for the organization. With just one part-time employee, our consistent revenue sources still

account for only 40% of our expenses. As a result, annually we seek supporters and sponsors to fund our programs. I would like to recruit a group of sustaining partners with core values like those of AROHE so that we are able to plan more than one year at a time. Our biggest revenue stream comes from our biennial conference. The Emeritus College at ASU was planning to host the AROHE Biennial Conference in 2020, but that was postponed and eventually cancelled due to the pandemic. As an historical note, Dick, you were instrumental in ASU’s hosting the 3rd AROHE Biennial Conference in 2006. Our 2022 Conference will be hosted by and held at the University of Southern California (USC), the sight of our founding.

In October 2021 we “boldly” ventured into cyberspace with our first ever virtual conference, “Re-Imagining Retirement: Let Us Boldly Go.” We were determined to reconnect with our members and were hoping to generate much needed revenue. Both objectives were met. We had the highest attendance ever for a conference and we attracted generous sponsors interested in AROHE’s mission. More importantly, we learned that many of our constituents enjoyed the virtual experience and look forward to having similar opportunities in the future.

EV: Your retirement is remarkable in that it’s chock-a-block full of leadership responsibilities. We’ve covered three of the major ones, but would you like to tell us some of the other? Were any of them continuations of pre-retirement commitments?

BV: All Saints’ Episcopal Day School is a pre-kindergarten through eighth grade outreach mission of All Saints’ Episcopal Church. The school was founded in 1955 and has an enrollment of approximately 500 students. I currently serve as a member of the Board of Trustees and on the Governance and Finance Committees of the Board. I had served as a trustee from 20042008 too. ASEDS combines academic excellence with spiritual and moral formation to prepare students to lead fruitful lives and to serve a world in need. In 2013, ASEDS partnered with the Challenge Foundation to provide opportunities for bright, ambitious, and hard-working students to break the cycle of poverty through educational opportunities. Today 24 scholars attend ASEDS. The Challenge Foundation continues to support these students and their families throughout their high school years and collegiate careers at universities across the country. I have been a mentor for Challenge Foundation scholars since 2015.

The Arizona Bach Festival presents performances of, lectures on, and mas-

Reinventing Retirement

Reinventing Retirement

terclasses about, the music of Johann Sebastian Bach. The Festival has featured performers from around the globe and talented musicians from our own community to present works using instruments of Bach’s time, contemporary instruments, and works in transcription. In 2012 I was asked to join the ABF Board of Directors to provide a business perspective to operation. In 2018 I was elected Secretary and continue to serve in that role. I still cannot read music!

National model time standards for state trial courts were approved in August 2011. In October 2012, the Arizona Supreme Court established the Committee on Arizona Case Processing Standards. I was asked to represent the community along with judicial and legal representatives on the Committee. As written on the Committee’s web site, “The Committee reviewed the national model time standards, statutory requirements, court rules, and business processes of Arizona courts and, based on this review, recommended case processing standards for all case types in the justice, municipal, and superior courts. The Committee also developed recommendations on how the Arizona Judiciary should proceed with implementing the case processing time standards in Arizona’s courts.” Our work was completed in 2020!

Any Day is a Good Day on Lake Nipissing

EV: Assuming you have any time left that you could call “spare”, what do you do with it?

BV: I enjoy being outdoors. I like to hike and had a habit of doing two fishing trips a year until the pandemic interfered. I enjoy traveling too.

EV: Where do you like to fish?

BV: When I first arrived in Arizona, I found the fishing to be very enjoyable. Since our dry spell that began 20 years ago, I have fished only occasionally in Arizona. The two out of state fishing trips that I annually took were to Lake Nipissing, Ontario, and to various rivers in Washington, Oregon, California, Idaho, and Montana. My favorite river is Rock Creek near Missoula, Montana. The stream flows north from the Continental Divide near Philipsburg into the Clark Fork River. I should write an essay for Emeritus Voices on the evolution over twenty plus years of my fishing Rock Creek.

EV: Thank you again, Bill, for the interview, but even more for your service to the University and to the Emeritus College.

Reinventing Retirement

The materialism of modern civilization is paradoxically founded on a hatred of materiality, a goal-oriented desire to obliterate all natural limits through technology, imposing an abstract grid over nature.

Alan Watts