letter from the
chief executive officer
The 2011–2012 fiscal year was the 11th year the Flyer Enterprises’ corporate umbrella had been utilized; however that might have been the only thing that seemed “normal.” Over the five years I’ve been a part of Flyer Enterprises, I’ve seen it grow immensely in both a business sense as well as in the quality of experience our students receive from our program. In comparison to the other years I’ve been involved in the program, this year reinforced FE’s business foundation, as well as strengthened our relationships with business partners, University administrators and University alumni. The year started with a re-emphasis on the executive positions. Each executive was reminded that they have full control over their divisions and they should be seen as their own chief executive officer. To no surprise, they, along with their management teams, responded by posting increased sales and profits at many of the divisions, which also led to record profits for FE at the year’s end. The bond that was created by the executive and management teams proved to be necessary as the year progressed and many challenges came about. The first of these challenges was the notification that the monetary support from the School of Business Administration’s Office of the Dean would be $35,000 less than the previous year. The announcement pushed our teams to implement stricter budgets and reduce wastes, all while increasing sales. Although we successfully achieved this challenge, it was easier said than done. The second and third challenges came when the University changed their accounting and human resource systems, pushing FE to make changes as well. We quickly learned that the way things had been done in the past regarding human resource managers interviewing, hiring, paying, and overseeing employees would not be possible anymore. Furthermore, 12 | Flyer Enterprises
the new accounting system gave us trouble for months, as we remained determined to create our monthly financial reports in a timely manner. We soon found that the University’s monthly financial reporting was not a practical tool that could be used to run our businesses on a monthly basis, as we would not be able to compile completed reports until about a month after the reporting month closed. Ultimately, this led us to take a proactive approach and utilize our internal accounting practices and our internal sales reporting system and then balance our numbers to the University numbers once they were released. The changing practices led to an increased emphasis on documentation to ensure future FE employees did not have to learn the new, more complex systems over again. The end result was new transition documents that could be used to lookup step-by-step instructions for any business process or activity a future executive or manager could find themselves facing. I am also pleased to report that these new documents helped FE through one of its smoothest transition periods yet. The 2011–2012 fiscal year also marked the first full year with the FE Information Technology group’s (FE IT) Management Development Program (MDP), as well as the new President of Business Development role. Both proved that they could be monumental in ensuring further development of the use of technology at our current divisions, as well as developing new businesses ideas going forward. The next five years are setting up to be the most exciting in FE’s history as the company has potential for explosive future growth. One of the factors affecting this growth will be FE Storage. Due to a successful implementation of the pilot program this spring, we decided to continue forward with further development of services offered.
It was important to each divisional president to work on further developing the alumni association, specifically formalizing the 10th Annual Flyer Enterprises’ Alumni Association Weekend held on campus. This year’s weekend set a record with over 30 alumni in attendance and over 60 student employees participating in the weekend. Programming for the weekend included a state of the firm presentation, an alumni panel discussion, and a professional networking event that eventually led to several students receiving interviews for internships and jobs; a trend we hope to continue! In closing, I would like to thank the students, faculty, staff, University of Dayton administrators and alumni that continue to support Flyer Enterprises. This program has come a long way since its beginning and has been one of the most enjoyable organizations I have had the pleasure to be a part of. I would also like to extend a special thank you to our student employees, board of directors, and our advisors, Ray Lane and Janet Leonard. With your guidance and hard work, I am confident that the accomplishments Flyer Enterprises has endured the past several years will continue for the foreseeable future.
FE Love Forever,
Jeffrey R. Firestone Chief Executive Officer
2011–2012 annual report | 13