NIU Business - Spring 2019

NIU Business Spring 2019

NIU MBA student Lei Mao

Inspired Peers Page 26

NIU Business Spring 2019

Laser Focus

An ELC student team hunts for commercialization pathways.

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Pictured, Avery Kirchner, also featured in Inspired Peers on page 26.

Contents

Photo by Wade Duerkes.

Cross boundaries to innovation Greetings from the Dean

Folklore has it that inventor Thomas Edison constructed 3,000 different configurations to create the electric light. Undeterred by each “failure,” he kept pushing forward, famously saying, “I haven’t failed. I discovered several thousand things that won’t work.” Soon enough, he also discovered what did.

Indeed, Edison’s invention moved the world forward. But something else is also worth remembering: his effort to be innovative demanded uncompromising determination, a willingness to experiment, continuous learning and good old fashioned hard work. A rolling up of the sleeves in the face of the sometimes perplexing, oftentimes confounding realm of myriad possibilities.

It is with this same spirit of innovation that I welcome you to the spring 2019 issue of NIU Business, aptly titled “Cross Boundaries to Innovation.” Ours is a college intent upon fostering a culture of innovation as created by participants who share a passion for crossing the boundaries of perspectives, ideas, and places. Our vision is to be among the best in the world to nurture innovation and make a meaningful, even a profound difference in the lives of our students and the world.

In this issue, you will read about how we are realizing this vision and experiencing our own Edison moment — when we encounter our versions of “several thousand things that won’t work” until we land on what does. While experiences vary, all of our journeys are inspired by talented and open minded individuals committed to gazing headlong into the unknown, rolling up their sleeves and making some very impressive things happen.

Warm Regards,

Features

Laser Focus

The Real Deal

Crossing global boundaries…from China to NIU

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CREXi: flipping the commercial real estate paradigm

Culture of Innovation

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Listen up… a funny thing happened on the way to class

Programs shaping the future

Engagement

Citizen Diplomacy

Be unreasonable.

Do good. Do well.

In Every Issue

20 22 24 26

Alumni Award Winners

Inspired Peers

We’re among the nation’s best… again! NIU Business has been ranked nationally for 32 consecutive years.

To our passionate supporters The NIU College of Business sincerely appreciates every investment made by alumni and friends. We thank you for your support.

Balaji Rajagopalan, Ph.D. Dean Northern Illinois University College of Business

Cross Boundaries to Innovation

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Features

Laser Focus A team of students crossed the boundaries of academic disciplines, theory and application when they identified commercialization pathways for a faculty invention. The following story conveys the journey taken by the team members: Austin Pauga, Avery Kirchner, Chase Nelson, Joshua Griggs, Robbie Glaser, Sam Jaros, William Holmes and Yuxuan Qiu.

Avery Kirchner (left) and Austin Pauga (right) relive their ELC student team experience.

Photo by Milo Barsanti-Gonzalez.

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NIU College of Business

by Michelle De Jean, NIU Business What does a warm stick of butter have to do with innovation? Turns out, a great deal.

“The butter analogy was the easiest way to explain how Dr. Sciammarella’s invention works,” says mechanical engineering major Austin Pauga when he describes a spring semester Experiential Learning Center (ELC) team project he worked on with seven other students: Avery Kirchner, Chase Nelson, Joshua Griggs, Robbie Glaser, Sam Jaros, William Holmes and Yuxuan Qiu. Pauga’s academic pursuits also include an internship with Argonne National Laboratory and interaction in the engineering college with the professor-inventor of this particular ELC project: Federico Sciammarella, interim chair of the NIU Department of Mechanical Engineering.

“My ELC teammates got the analogy right away,” Pauga says. “That visual helps describe how Dr. Sciammarella’s invention impacts laser assisted machining.”

Easy Machining of Hard Materials (EMHM), the professor’s newly patented invention, is a faster, more accurate and more cost effective alternative for machining advanced ceramic materials. The device includes a method to super heat advanced ceramics to very high temperatures before they’re cut in the laser assisted machining process. The end result is a radical increase in time efficiencies (upward to 80 percent), tighter tolerances and higher quality output, all of which translate into dramatic cost savings.

“We have been working on this since 2007,” Sciammarella says, “So to see it come this far and have a great team put the final touches on it was great for the continuing growth of this technology.”

And the butter analogy? “Think of it as the difference between cutting through a warm stick of butter instead of a cold one,” Pauga explains. “It’s a lot easier to cut through a stick

Cross Boundaries to Innovation

that’s warm. It takes less time and results in much cleaner slices.”

The illustration is so direct that it ends up being profound. Because being able to articulate the breakthrough aspects of Sciammarella’s design proved to be of critical importance to the students, most of whom are not mechanical engineers.

College of Business Dean Balaji Rajagopalan agrees. “The team’s ability to speak clearly about Federico’s invention represents a huge first step toward helping their client, the Northern Illinois Research Foundation (NIRF), advance its plans to commercialize NIU faculty inventions. As a member of the NIRF board, I suggested that they engage the creative minds of our students through the Experiential Learning Center,” Rajagopalan says.

Created in the College of Business in 1998, the ELC crosses the boundaries of thought-leadership with students’ open-mindedness and brings that combination to bear on semesterlong, firm-specific projects. The original model for this college-level program comes from the management department and entrepreneurship classes created and taught by Dan Lemanski over three decades ago. Yet, a thread of continuity directly connects Lemanski’s classes from the 1980s to the ELC of today. And that thread is this: an unwavering belief in the capabilities of students and the commitment to let their thinking loose in a fluid, collaborative space, with guidance from faculty and outside experts, in order to solve non-mission critical business problems in actual firms.

Or as some of these students might simply say: welcome to no classrooms. But if you asked students on this particular team, they might modify the sentiment to something like: welcome to diversity and cross-collaboration on a large scale, because that’s precisely what they navigated.

Collectively, the students represent a range of academic backgrounds and colleges: business

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Features: Laser Focus

(with all disciplines on the team), engineering, health and human sciences. One member came from China by way of the college’s global program.

Still, the group managed to gel quickly, perhaps aided by the team’s wide ranging diversity. They didn’t shy away from learning about each other’s perspectives.

“As far as I know, we might be the first ELC team to deal with an actual innovation and to identify possible new commercialization pathways,” says co-assistant coach Avery Kirchner. Kirchner double majors in accountancy and operations management/information systems, with a focus in data analytics. He is also an NIU Presidential Scholar.

This is his second ELC experience and his first as a student co-assistant coach, a role he took on along with co-assistant student coach Chase Nelson, who majors in health and human sciences.

“In the end, we did generate three viable options for our client,” Kirchner adds.

But there’s much more to all of this, as the team’s faculty coach points out.

“This was a challenging project for a team of undergraduates,” says management professor and faculty coach Bart Sharp. Sharp, the Mike and Kristina McGrath Professor of Entrepreneurship,

facilitated the students’ efforts by drawing upon his academic expertise in innovation, organizational learning and entrepreneurship. Before he earned his Ph.D., he worked as an aerospace engineer. “This was different from other ELC projects in that there was no template to follow,” Sharp continued. “The students had to deal with unavoidable uncertainty about the technology, the market, the competitive space and the commercialization process itself, and they did so exceptionally well.”

To get there, the team interfaced with personnel in the NIRF office, the EMHM inventor and professor Federico Sciammarella, faculty coaches Joan Petros and Bart Sharp and a range of machining industry experts, as well as technology transfer process professionals. They poured over patents, research articles and white papers and wrestled with abstraction, false starts and possibilities.

Kirchner explains, “We had a lot of questions that we kept running into that kept us chasing down answers.”

“Initially we had to work on something that as a team, we were just vaguely beginning to conceptualize,” Pauga adds.

At least once a week, they conferenced with

The ELC NIRF student team pictured here with team coaches Joan Petros (far right) and Bart Sharp (fourth from left), along with Dean Rajagopalan (far right). Image from Len Lennergard.

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NIU College of Business

NIU Business Dean Rajagopalan (far right) congratulates the ELC NIRF team. Image from Len Lennergard.

manufacturers and company representatives. Many NIU alumni were among those ranks.

“We’re grateful to everyone who helped us, especially the alumni,” Kirchner adds. “We contacted about five NIU alumni to learn more about their industry and their machining needs. They put us in contact with another 15 people. What everyone shared was invaluable and really helped us keep our project moving forward.”

By the end of the spring semester, not only did the team recommend commercialization pathways with next steps — they had, in effect, roughed out a fully articulated business plan with financials that included analysis of three possible commercialization options — but they also prepared a benchmark study of technology transfer processes and best practices from a shortlist of peer and aspirant universities.

“From the beginning we saw this project as having the potential to create a model for the commercialization of other university-generated technologies in the future,” Sharp says. “From that perspective, the lessons they learned first-hand as well as the research they did into the process at other universities will be invaluable.”

All of which brings to mind the phrase “a lot of moving parts” — only the students’ accomplishments imbue revolutionary spirit into the cliché.

The reality is that they intentionally broke heavy duty ground in a number of areas simultaneously and made it all seem easy even when it wasn’t.

Cross Boundaries to Innovation

Right at the start, their ideas collided back and forth between the academic worlds of business and mechanical engineering. Constructs and labels often crashed into each other, pushing the team up against language limitations.

“Without Austin’s butter analogy, our work would have been severely hamstrung,” Kirchner says.

Pauga, who viewed the experience through the lens of an engineering major, explains, “Probably the most interesting thing to me is how we could look at the same thing and come away with different meanings or insights. With all the diverse backgrounds on the team, it became more clear to me that engineers have a different way of thinking about problems. Some of the strength that Sam Jaros, now an alumnus of the engineering program, and I provided to the team was translating the technical aspects into terms that people could more readily understand.”

Expanding on that point, Kirchner says, “A huge team lesson was the need to appreciate the difficulty of keeping the project moving forward while facing rejection. But it was really rewarding when the team made a breakthrough.”

“Everyone had a piece of the puzzle,” Pauga adds.

“We all had different perspectives and skills in many regards — and each was needed and necessary for the entire team to move the work forward.”

Initially they tried to hunt out an industry champion but ran headlong into a barrier to See Laser Focus on page 29.

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Lei Mao. Photo by Milo Barsanti-Gonzalez.

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The Real Deal Vipon Sandhir, serial entrepreneur and 1994 finance alumnus, talks value-add during turbulent times — from the wild west of the ’90s, the market crash in 2008 to the present and beyond.

by Michelle De Jean, NIU Business Vip Sandhir doesn’t hesitate. Not even when he’s asked to describe the next big thing.

“I’m excited about the innovations in artificial intelligence (AI) that move us from simple task-automation to ambitious problem-solving and nuanced decision-making,” Sandhir says.

Perhaps in anticipation of a follow-up question, he continues with context: “Microsoft, Google, Amazon and Apple dominate the field. They had tens of thousands of engineers building data models to create sophisticated AI, and they kept that code in their corporate libraries. But the big players want to encourage innovation. In February 2018, they opened up their libraries, which means companies can now access the code for free. Imagine what will happen after 10,000 engineers get a hold of free AI that took 10 years to build. We’ll soon witness another acceleration in this space. Today we use AI to automate tasks. In the next 10 years, AI will be smarter and help with decision-making.”

Vip Sandhir.

Cross Boundaries to Innovation

Sandhir speaks like a man who’s been wired into business and the Tech Age for a while. Indeed, he has. Immediately after graduating from NIU in 1994 with a degree in finance, Sandhir was hired by McMaster-Carr, where he went through a rotation program to learn every aspect of the industrial supply company’s business operations. He ran a sales team, managed quality control, a call center and eventually a large production department.

In just a few years, Sandhir took that experience and moved on from being a startup executive to founding his own companies.

He was still in his twenties.

“After you graduate, it’s critical to build your skills,” Sandhir says. “I’d characterize the years through the twenties as a period to develop the abilities that are coveted and missing in your workplace. Commit yourself to studying the environment, taking risks, and becoming good at something that is highly valued in your field.”

The Wild West

The 1990s tech boom illustrates his point perfectly. For Sandhir, the year is 1999, only five years after he graduated, and the wild west of the dot com industry explodes into…something. Few at that time thoroughly grasp what the internet was or could be, where it was headed or how to generate revenues with it. “In the ’90s there were irrational ideas about making money — much of those ideas were based solely on owning a vanity URL address,” Sandhir recalls. But that didn’t deter many, Sandhir included, from entering into the chaos of the “web.”

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Features: The Real Deal

In 1999, at the beginning of the dot com era, he was tapped as the first vice president of sales for iExplore, the first online adventure travel company. iExplore was ultimately sold in January 2007 to TUI Travel PLC, a $25 billion revenue travel business.

“The dot com period was tumultuous. iExplore was a classic dot com. It raised $25 million and spent too much,” he says. Then just as candidly adds, “With my first two startups, I learned more about what not to do than anything else. In the end,

“These days, everyone wants to be an entrepreneur.” both businesses ended up okay.”

In 2000, on the heels of iExplore, Sandhir co-founded his first startup: Busbank, an event transportation company that took off even after the tragedy of 9/11 in 2001, when times were filled with turmoil, raw emotions and travel restrictions.

Busbank managed to continue performing well — so much so that a large travel organization soon acquired it.

By 2005, Sandhir was tapped as a founding executive to lead another high-growth tech startup, Echo Global Logistics, which was funded by the two co-founders of Groupon. “We started with a small team of five to ten people. In four years, we had 1,200 people. It was an exercise in scaling a business fast.”

But the ride to a large enterprise was not without challenge. The original initial public offering (IPO) for Echo was set for 2008, during the worse recession of our time.

“No one knew what was coming.” He pauses then chuckles, “Of all the banks to work with, we picked Lehman Brothers to handle our IPO. Just prior to the initial public offering, Lehman collapsed and the financial crash began in earnest. We had to pull 8

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the IPO down and wait another year.”

One year later not much had changed. And yet, in some ways, everything had. As Sandhir recalls, significant movements occurred in tech in 2009. The internet had matured. Mobile, social and wireless data were all converging. Groupon, Uber, Grubhub, Facebook and BrainTree accelerated mobile and social networks and Amazon took off. Yet the overall market climate remained miserable. The DOW had dropped as low as 6,000.

Unemployment hovered over 10 percent.

“Times were still rough in virtually every market.

Yet even with less than ideal conditions, our IPO was successful just one year into the crash. In 2009, only a handful of companies in the country were successful in going public; ours was one of them.”

In 2010, Sandhir left Echo. (Fast forward only a few years to 2018 when Echo will do over $2.2 billion in revenue.)

After Echo, he started two other companies, Fooda and Highground. Fooda, an eight-year-old technology company, was just listed in Crain’s 2018 “Fast Fifty” as the eighth fastest growing company in Chicago. Highground, an employee engagement software company Sandhir started in 2013, raised $25 million in venture capital and recently sold to Vista Equity in July 2018.

All of which makes five. As in, five successful startups since 1999 with the first launched just five years after Sandhir graduated. During that brief period, Sandhir survived chaos and its impact. He found ways to innovate within the constraints of maturation. He’s breathed the experience of the corporate environment and the startup. He’s walked both sides of the Shark Tank equation: the venture capitalist and the entrepreneur. (“I admit I enjoy the show,” Sandhir says, then describes watching episodes with his 8-year old son and recounts their debates over the merits of the business ideas thrown into the tank.) He’s come through all of these experiences with greater learning and a greater appreciation for the unknowables and factors that are beyond anyone’s control. Along the way he gained, as Sandhir modestly phrased it, “some insights.”

NIU College of Business

Today’s Tech Scene

“These days, everyone wants to be an entrepreneur. The tech barriers are low and the talent pool is deep. Today’s internet is mature. There are no fake companies on the internet any more like there were in the ’90s. The decision making now is much more solid. That means you need good differentiation in your business model and your offering. You also have to move fast and with capital.”

Almost on cue, Silicon Valley VCs come to mind.

It’s as if Sandhir anticipates this reaction.

“Chicago is now a significant tech hub with major IPOs coming out of the city. Access to venture capital here is greater than ever before. This wasn’t true as recently as 2010 — everything was Silicon Valley, and all tech innovations were thought to occur only in that geographic space. But Chicago, Boston and New York have greatly changed their trajectories.” (See also the September 2017 Forbes story, “Why Top VCs are betting big on Chicago.”)

“If you build something that nets a $1 billion buyout everyone will notice,” he continues. “That particular $1 billion buyout happened out of Chicago. BrainTree was started by a University of Chicago graduate. The founder of GrubHub lived in Chicago and Groupon was founded by entrepreneurs in Glencoe. Chicago has all the ingredients it needs to be a major tech hub. The city has a big talent pool — including a vast amount of talent from the students in the many universities in and near the city — and a cost of living that’s far more reasonable than Silicon Valley or the East Coast.”

All of which begs the question: with AI’s anticipated growth, a mature internet, and Chicago’s Tech Hub and VC investment boom…what’s next?

“In terms of technology, there’s a consolidation of sorts happening with the big five tech companies: Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon and Microsoft. It’s inevitable, really. When Apple holds $285 billion in cash, it can buy companies as a rounding error. That allows startups that are not well capitalized to take an exit to a larger player.

Everyone can still start a company with a worthwhile idea as long as they can execute — that’s the key. Venture capital funding is the highest it’s ever Cross Boundaries to Innovation

been, but venture capitalists are much more risk averse. They like proven ideas and it’s unlikely that the big five tech companies will want to compete against you unless your idea disrupts their models in meaningful ways. Then you’ll need to leapfrog over typical startup growth patterns and move fast.”

When asked to describe the secret sauce that’s led him down a path to five successful startups in wildly chaotic times, Sandhir doesn’t hesitate.

“I believe in keeping things simple,” the serial entrepreneur says. “Adding value is a must. Ideas matter, but ideas are cheap and can interfere with execution. You need market-centered ideas that you can act on. Timing and execution typically matter more than the idea itself.” ■

Sandhir’s Insights

New graduate skills. Continue to focus on the soft skills — writing, speaking, being articulate, making good presentations. Those skills are hard to automate and hard to outsource. Just about everyone has STEM skills these days; it’s built into

“Timing and execution typically matter more than the idea itself.” many different types of classes. That said, if you have a chance to do some coding, do it. It’s helpful to experience if only academically. Whether or not you intend to become a professional coder, this knowledge will deepen your appreciation for the Tech Age we live in and make you a more valuable player in virtually any setting.

On raising venture capital. If you believe the literature, venture capital investment is at an all-time high. But the reality is, it depends on the stage of your startup. Investors are flush with cash and looking to write checks, but many of them are more interested in later stage businesses that

See The Real Deal on page 29.

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Haibo Tong (MBA 2001), founder of Ivy Machinery, gives a presentation during an NIU Executive MBA open house in China.

Crossing global boundaries… from China to NIU

by Anthony Preston, NIU Business, lead writer; Michelle De Jean, NIU Business, contributing Imagine packing up and moving by yourself to a foreign country over 7,000 miles away. Your family and friends support your decision and at the same time they eagerly await your return. Imagine not knowing anyone in this new place and not knowing what you will find as you search for an education that promises a better, more successful future.

NIU College of Business alumnus Haibo Tong (MBA 2001) lived that experience — an experience that has since brought him full circle. Shortly after graduation Tong returned to his family and friends in China to run Ivy Machinery, an automatic door manufacturing company that Tong founded in 2004 — just three years after he earned his NIU degree.

Headquartered in Nanjing, China, Ivy is a foreign investors-owned enterprise that develops and mass produces vehicle and platform automatic door systems for the fast-growing public transportation industry. Just two years after its launch, the company achieved significant global reach, with exports throughout Asia and into 10

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Europe and North America to countries that range from the U.S., Canada, Australia, Germany, Indonesia, Thailand and others. Its patented key technologies — such as two-directional driving mechanism, over-center locking and synchronous mechanism — have brought the company significant recognition in the transportation industry.

One of its most notable accolades, the coveted Best Component Award, was awarded to Ivy over four years (2005, 2007, 2011, 2013) during China’s annual National Business Competition. Yet these achievements haven’t made Tong complacent; in fact, quite the opposite. As a first-time author and as chief member of the Chinese Business Standards committee, he continuously drafts industry standards that push companies to produce high quality products and new innovations throughout the transportation industry.

Recently, Dean Balaji Rajagopalan and Executive Director of Global Programs Anthony Preston had the opportunity to meet with Tong after he gave a presentation at the NIU MBA opening ceremony in Nanjing. Their conversation covered a range of topics, from favorite NIU memories to words of NIU College of Business

wisdom for current students. Some of Tong’s key impressions follow.

Favorite NIU memory. I have strong memories of many deep conversations with NIU faculty members, in particular with David Graf, who, at that time was dean of the college in 1997. I’ve always believed that the best way to gain respect is to show respect to others. I encountered this philosophy at NIU as well. I’ll never forget the caring and profound connections I had with NIU faculty and staff.

Words of wisdom. Current students and young alumni are usually eager to move forward in life. It’s important that they also remember life is a cumulative process. The key to success is to spend the time to identify the road in life that you are best suited for – and when you do, stick with it. Realize things won’t always be easy. Also realize that you will grow from challenges, so don’t give up!

Cross Boundaries to Innovation

NIU’s impact. My experience at NIU impacted me greatly. The college of business opened my eyes to business views and instilled technical skills sets that were key in helping me create my company.

NIU truly inspired my entrepreneurial spirit. We live in an age of exponential change. Now more than ever the future will be shaped by those who can innovate and do so rapidly. Timing and execution are key.

Haibo Tong perfectly embodies the college’s new brand promise “cross boundaries.” He encourages ideation and execution with equal measure. He pushes himself beyond his comfort levels in order to learn and to grow. Like the college itself and many NIU College of Business alumni, Tong shares a commitment to innovation and to making a genuine difference in the world — no matter which side of the globe he calls home. ■

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CREXi: flipping the commercial real estate paradigm Erek Benz and Michael DeGiorgio created a commercial real estate marketplace to advance the industry and streamline transactions, from listing to closing. Benz and DeGiorgio each received the NIU Alumni Association’s 2018 Outstanding Young Alumni Award.

Erek Benz discovered his career path when he was an NIU Business entrepreneurship student.

For Michael DeGiorgio, a family tragedy motivated him to pursue his dreams. Their journeys began as Barsema Hall classmates, then budding entrepreneurs, before intersecting again when they created an online commercial real estate marketplace that’s flipped the nature of the industry on its head.

In 2008, Benz — then a freshly minted NIU alumnus — launched his first company, Position-Tech, with fellow alumni. The idea origi-

nally came to him when he was still a student and his entrepreneurship professor challenged the class to think of an innovative product. They were also challenged to develop a company around it. That’s when Benz, a walk-on football player, thought up the idea of a better pair of football cleats. In his mind, they needed to be customizable for each football position. They also had to enhance the player’s speed and agility. His idea became reality with the help of NIU College of Engineering students, who — after a couple of false starts — designed the perfect prototype: a pendulum-like device that mimicked the movement of an athlete dragging the cleat through artificial turf.

Erek Benz, B.S. marketing ’08.

Mike DeGiorgio, B.S. marketing ’10.

by Colleen Leonard, NIU Alumni Association, lead writer; Michelle De Jean, NIU Business, contributing

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When Benz and friends launched the product, they took a page from Nike’s founder and made sales presentations from the back of a car. In rented minivans (which doubled as their hotel rooms and their presentation suites), they made a series of cold calls each day until orders eventually reached $53,000. They quickly set about negotiating shelf space in retail shops and sold their cleats to NCAA and National Football League teams before entering into a deal with Champ/MacNeill Engineering Worldwide to manufacture and distribute the product and expand the technology to other sports.

On the heels of Position-Tech’s success, a new journey soon beckoned. Benz moved to California, where he joined former Barsema Hall classmate DeGiorgio on the payroll at Auction.com, one of the first residential real estate digital platforms.

DeGiorgio was a leading sales rep at Auction.com, but his future was about to undergo massive change. In 2014, after losing his mother to liver cancer, he developed an intense personal understanding of the fragility of life. More than ever, he felt compelled to follow his dream — to start his own business — and did just that with his father’s encouragement. DeGiorgio and Benz both quit their jobs and focused on transforming the commercial end of the real estate transaction process, guided by lessons they learned working for other organizations.

During his three years at Auction.com, DeGiorgio noticed systemic process issues in how real estate transactions were handled. “Being new to the industry was a huge benefit,” DeGiorgio says and adds that he was fortunate not to feel hindered by the status quo. Because he saw things differently, it became quickly apparent to him that every step in the transaction process involved a host of antiquated approaches, structural issues and a lack of transparency. There simply had to be a better way.

He knew that even large commercial real estate properties could be bought and sold almost entirely online. So after much thought, he crafted a fully articulated business plan. Commercial Real Estate Exchange Inc. (CREXi) was born the following year.

CREXi, an online open marketplace in the commercial real estate space, uses innovative technology to simplify and expedite the transaction Cross Boundaries to Innovation

The CREXi offices.

process, allowing commercial brokers to transparently track and analyze buyer interest. Users can also conduct market and due diligence research and uniquely manage offers received, among other features included in the platform’s customer relationship management system. Since its founding, CREXi’s market share has outpaced that of its competition.

“We were fortunate enough to get the right people around the table in both the real estate and tech verticals,” Benz says. “As so often is the case in life, you need to be able to seize opportunity and then make things happen.”

More than 250,000 users utilize the platform each month. Properties marketed on the site total in excess of $500 billion, with an estimated $10 billion in offers made on 10,000 commercial properties each month. Platform use has spread to all 50 states, and after just three years, the See Flipping on page 19.

Dean Rajagopalan at the CREXi offices.

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Culture of Innovation

Listen up‌

Juliana Silva-Sinning and Aylissa Moore, left to right.

Photo by Milo Barsanti-Gonzalez.

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NIU College of Business

a funny thing happened on the way to class NIU students leave what they think they know behind and cross boundaries into the mysterious world of communications.

by Michelle De Jean, NIU Business It’s no laughing matter to be on a stage well-travelled by comedic giants ranging from Bill Murray, Stephen Colbert, Tina Fey to Steve Carell and Amy Poehler. But it’s certainly eye opening. Each year, NIU accountancy and sales students participate with their specific class in a half-day training event at Chicago’s Second City comedy club. And each time, they soon realize that punchlines aren’t the point. Trust and discovery are. Newly graduated NIU alumnus Jake Paulson (B.S. accountancy, MAS) and current MAS student Christopher Neal, who

recently earned a bachelor’s degree in accountancy, explain.

“Our professors brought the entire masterlevel accounting science class to The Second City for a communications workshop.”

Paulson pauses then chuckles before adding, “Accounting isn’t generally thought of as the most geared to interpersonal communications.”

Neal’s immediate memory reflects a similar inside joke. “It’s an invaluable experience for accounting majors. Some people might think it’s unusual to pair accounting with communication.” He pauses as if to say ‘but seriously folks…’ before adding, “But, it’s a great work-

NIU accountancy students at The Second City workshop. Photo by Jennifer Ellis.

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Culture of Innovation

shop for every individual and all majors.”

Accountancy and sales faculty both agree.

“No one wakes up in the morning and is handed a script for the day. It’s all about improvisation,” says Robert Peterson, the Dean’s Distinguished Professor of Sales. “The goal isn’t to be funny but to be valuable. This training is all about eventually becoming comfortable with being uncomfortable.”

Jennifer Ellis builds on the thought. Ellis, a communications professor, directs activities in the college’s Ernst & Young Leadership and Professional Development Center. “Improvisation is really not about getting a laugh but more about the principles of active listening, unconditional support, flexibility and building a conversation.

This workshop does a fantastic job of pushing our students outside of their comfort zones and helping them find ways to support each other through uncertainty.”

Irrespective of the academic focus, workshop attendees leave their egos and what they think they know at the door. Or at least they try to.

“This experience helps you become much more aware of how you interact with others. My classmates said they had the same reaction,” Neal says.

“And our professors, as well,” Paulson says.

Neal’s and Paulson’s reflections come across as if the two were sitting together comparing notes, belying the fact that they talked about their experiences on separate occasions. But even though they attended the workshop in two different years, much of what they had to say echoed across time and space…all the way from different Barsema Hall semesters to Chicago’s historic Old Town neighborhood, home to one of the country’s most beloved comedy clubs, The Second City.

NIU Business It’s early morning. Your accountancy class piles into a bus with your professors. Did you know what you were getting into?

Paulson We knew we were heading to The

Second City theatre. Other than that, the majority of us had no idea what to expect.

Neal Our professors didn’t let any clues slip out —

The Second City. Photo by Rob Peterson.

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NIU College of Business

not even during the entire ride into the city, which was about two hours, with traffic and construction.

NIU Business That’s fast for Chicago’s rush “hour.”

Neal It felt even faster because we spent the

entire time guessing what would happen once we got there.

NIU Business Can you provide some context?

Workshops aren’t generally associated with Second City.

Paulson Second City opened on Dec. 16, 1959 and

is one of the oldest comedy clubs in the country.

The company consists of a rotating troupe of comedians and apprentices who put on weekly performances. They perform satire, skits and do improvisation.

Neal Along with being comedians, they also create workshops for educators, students and interested organizations. This includes running the entire workshop and delivering the instruction.

Paulson They made it fun. They approached it more like facilitators and coaches.

Neal If need be, the workshops can be tailored to a specific goal for a specific group. But even if specific goals are involved, the overall purpose is to strengthen communications skills. The amazing

thing is that even when you know the purpose, you still don’t know what you’re walking into.

Paulson Here’s an example: all of us were sitting around in a circle and a Second City facilitator arbitrarily called on one of us. The student was asked to stand and to share a story about themselves. I listen as they speak but maybe not as closely as I should only because I’m thinking about what to say when it’s my turn. I like to be prepared, and I’m fairly sure the point of the exercise is to share something personal. But things don’t work out entirely that way. Out of the blue, the facilitator asks the first person to sit down and then randomly calls on another person. This time the new speaker has to build on what the first person just said. So, if the first person talked about sports, then the second person had to tie their personal story in somehow with sports or being an athlete. Listening — truly listening — suddenly becomes vital because anyone could be called on at any time. You can imagine that as this exercise continues and more and more people speak, the complication level increases; what you just heard keeps changing with each new speaker. Or sometimes the story might include a reference to something that was said earlier. The See Listen up on page 30.

Christopher Neal (left) and Sergio Perez laugh it up with Dean Balaji Rajagopalan. Photo by Wade Duerkes.

Cross Boundaries to Innovation

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Culture of Innovation

Programs shaping the future Master of Science in Digital Marketing, 100 percent online

The newly created Master of Science in Digital Marketing (MSDM) launched in fall 2018 as a fully online program, the first online graduate degree offered by the college. The degree appeals to working professionals who seek upward mobility in the rapidly growing field of digital marketing… an area projected to reach expenditures near $120 billion and to account for 46 percent of all advertising spending by 2021, according to a 2017 Forrester Research study. By the program’s completion, MSDM students will also be prepared to earn certifications in the latest digital marketing technologies — from Google Ads and Analytics, HubSpot, Qualtrics to Salesforce, Tableau and more.

“Kudos to NIU’s Department of Marketing for being out in front with this,” says Bethany Harrington, associate vice president, Digital Marketing and Customer Experience, American

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fields. Data analysis careers have been heralded Family Insurance. “Many organizations lack a clear as the “sexiest job of the 21st century” (Harvard digital marketing strategy precisely because they Business Review); the #2 fastest growing job (CNN lack the professionals who can help develop one.”

Money); the #5 overall best job in America in 2017 Mark McDonald, digital strategist and author of “The (Glassdoor), and; the second most difficult set of Social Organization” and “The Digital Edge” agrees. skills to find (ComputerWorld 2016).

“Digital marketing skills are essential “The future of data analytics is for leading and achieving in the future. now, and NIU is at the forefront The NIU MSDM degree equips students “NIU Business has of this movement,” says Chris a distinguished with skills that will serve them well tradition of crossing Millington, former Chief Technology throughout their careers.” the boundaries of Officer (CTO) of McDonald’s For more information, contact knowledge and and a member of the OM&IS Mya Groza, assistant professor of learning by creating Advisory Board. marketing and MSDM program innovative programs MSDA coursework emphasizes that prepare director, at 815-753-6215 or by email hands-on learning, enabling students graduates for longat mya@niu.edu. term success in their to develop data analytics and problem careers and their solving skills that can be utilized in Online Master of communities.” a range of contexts, organizations —Dean Balaji Science degree in and industries. MSDA students will Rajagopalan, Data Analytics also earn the NIU-SAS joint certiNIU College of The college launched its second fication credential as a result of Business online graduate degree in January the Department of OM&IS’s long2019 with the newly-created Master standing membership in the SAS of Science in Data Analytics (MSDA) from the Global Academic partnership. SAS is widely considDepartment of OM&IS. The program focuses on ered to be the dominant industry leader in the competencies for the future and incorporates feedanalytics space. back from executives in the technology space.

To learn more, please contact Russ Devereaux, The MSDA appeals to working professionals who associate director, at rdevereaux2@niu.edu seek upward mobility in one of the fastest growing or 815-753-6372.

Flipping Continued from page 13.

company has raised $25 million in venture capital financing, hired more than 50 professionals, and recently expanded its Marina del Ray base of operations to include offices in New York and Miami.

And yet DeGiorgio is well aware that when it comes to the commercial real estate industry, no two transactions are identical.

“In order to truly modernize antiquated ways of doing transactions, the platform you build must be flexible and allow for multiple ways to do things,” he says. “And it must be really easy. Time is money and can quickly kill deals.”

Time is often also a teacher.

During his first six years as an entrepreneur, Benz recalls his greatest challenge — the periods Cross Boundaries to Innovation

of time when he had only two months of actual pay.

Yet, when the going got tough, he stayed with the experience in order to learn. It’s with that same tenacity and open-mindedness that he reset his strategy and took a leap of faith to join DeGiorgio’s team in California.

As for the CEO of a rapidly growing startup, DeGiorgio’s challenge centers around finding balance in life. One of his most important lessons learned — something he learned early and holds dear — is the importance of surrounding yourself with great people and trusting in them.

“Everyone we’ve hired since we began is still here. Our employee retention is amazing because every individual who’s part of CREXi is just that good,” DeGiorgio says. “We’ve built a product that is mentioned alongside the biggest and most established companies in commercial real estate. All of us at CREXi are moving in the same direction.” ■ NIU Business

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Engagement

Citizen Diplomacy NIU Business partners with WorldChicago

By Michelle De Jean, NIU Business

of directors,” says Peggy Parfenoff, president of WorldChicago. “Having the NIU College of Business join the WorldChicago network is a great addition and helps us further reach our goal of connecting visitors with Chicago-area organizations to engage in meaningful, mutually beneficial dialogue.”

The organization has direct affiliation with Global Ties U.S. and the U.S. Department of State.

Its mission is to connect the Chicago community with U.S. government-sponsored international professional and youth leaders to promote mutual understanding and build lasting connections.

Founded in 1952, WorldChicago annually welcomes between 800 to 1,000 emerging leaders from over 130 countries to the Chicago area. In recent years the non-profit has developed strength in the tech, innovation and entrepreneurship communities, growing along with Chicago’s entrepreneurial community.

WorldChicago officially welcomed NIU Business Dean Balaji Rajagopalan onto its board of directors. WorldChicago is a non-profit organization that is dedicated to citizen diplomacy: the shaping of mutually beneficial foreign relations through one-on-one interactions between citizens from other countries.

“As dean, I am honored to join an organization that has an exemplary record of impacting lives across the world. Our relationship with WorldChicago will enable both organizations to benefit from new programs and initiatives made possible because of this partnership. It’s a perfect fit. The college’s mission has a focus on building a mindset for innovation through crossing boundaries and creating an impact on the world,” Rajagopalan says.

WorldChicago utilizes its extensive network to engage leaders in the public, private, nonprofit and tech sectors in order to create collaborations.

The overarching focus of these efforts is to advance national security, economic development and social justice. Previous collaborations have focused on green technology and climate change as well as preserving cultural heritage, among many other areas.

“With citizen diplomacy becoming a necessity in today’s world, we are delighted to have NIU Business welcomes students and faculty from the Universidad Dean Rajagopalan join our board Externado de Colombia.

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Faculty Notes Ann Dzuranin on innovation in accounting education. Accountancy professor Ann Dzuranin

received the 2018 Innovation in Accounting Education Award in Washington, D.C. for her work “Data & Analytics in Accounting: Innovation and Impact in Accountancy Education.”

Sponsored by the Ernst & Young Foundation, this national award is granted by the American Accounting Association Ann Dzuranin.

(AAA). Submissions for the award are judged by their innovation, demonstrated educational benefits and adaptability by other academic institutions. As a result of her work in data analytics curriculum development, Dzuranin has been invited to give presentations at academic and professional conferences. To date, her presentations have reached over 1,800 people and her materials have been shared with 50 universities. Ann Dzuranin is the Dean’s Distinguished Professor of Analytics in Accounting in the College of Business. She is a CPA (New Jersey) with 15 years of experience in both public and corporate accounting. Dzuranin conducts behavioral research in management accounting decision making and the ways in which accounting information systems interact with those decisions.

Mahesh Subramony on high impact interdisciplinary scholarship. Management professor

Mahesh Subramony helped design and facilitate an interdisciplinary forum on service management to bring the perspectives of international scholars to bear on important service-related problems.

Twenty-one professors and doctoral students from 13 different universities and six different disciplines (healthcare, marketing, psychology, organizational behavior, operations management, and strategy) worked together over a weekend (Oct. 4-6, 2018) at NIU Hoffman Estates as part of three teams.

Cross Boundaries to Innovation

Each team was tasked with answering one of these questions: “How to enhance compassion in healthcare services?” “Are employee and customer engagement related to each other?” and “How can social entrepreneurs promote social wellbeing while generating financial value?” After an intense weekend of collaborative work, each team developed a concept and outline which over the course of six months Mahesh Subramony. will result in academic papers that will be submitted for peer review in the Journal of Service Management, a high-impact journal in services. This methodology for generating high-impact interdisciplinary scholarship is rare in academics.

Lei Zhou on working with the SEC. Finance professor Zhou was invited to work as an academic visiting scholar at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, where he helped develop an effective mechanism to examine the individual credit rating agency and monitor industry trends and risks. In May, Zhou was the inaugural recipient of the Jones Diedrich Mennie Endowed Professor of Lei Zhou.

Finance. Created by Paul Jones (B.S. Finance 1976), William J. Jones (B.S. Finance 1979), John C. Diedrich (B.S. Accountancy 1976) and Douglas U. Mennie (B.S. Industry and Technology 1978), this professorship assists the Department of Finance to retain excellent faculty and enrich research done in the field. ■ NIU Business

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Engagement

Be unreasonable.

Do good. Do well.

By Michelle De Jean, NIU Business They’re a down-to-earth bunch. They’re also incredibly unreasonable. They don’t claim to have all the answers, but they still believe they can change the world. It’s that combination of cleareyed talent and fearless open-mindedness that informs the genius of the student organization NIU CAUSE, the Collegiate Association of Unreasonable Social Entrepreneurs.

Members of NIU CAUSE are committed to making a difference and in no small way. They take on some of the world’s most pressing problems, ranging from extreme poverty, food insecurity

and climate change to the widening education-opportunity gap. For every action they take, this cadre of students measures their success against the triple bottom line people, planet and profits.

It’s because of their self-imposed rigor to uphold all three of those metrics that NIU CAUSE has had real impact. So much so, the group received the 2018 Entrepreneurship Club of the Year designation in the State of Illinois during the EntrepreneurshipU Awards. An annual spring event, EntrepreneurshipU Awards is hosted by Future Founders and celebrates the spirit of entrepreneurship and innovation at Illinois universi-

NIU CAUSE student leadership and faculty advisor Christine Mooney (fourth from left) at the EntrepreneurshipU Awards.

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ties. Ten different public and private universities were awarded — NIU, Northwestern, University of Chicago among them — for demonstrating exceptional entrepreneurial accomplishments.

“EntrepreneurshipU gives us the opportunity to recognize some of the game changers in the Illinois ecosystem who are pushing the boundaries of innovation to inspire the next generation of entrepreneurs,” says Scott Issen, President & CEO, Future Founders. The nonprofit’s mission is to inspire youth to create employment opportunities for themselves. To date, Future Founders has served over 33,000 students from elementary school through college and has launched everything from international companies to local nonprofits.

“Knowing all of the hard work that has been put in the last seven years for CAUSE to get to where it is today makes this award incredibly gratifying.

Each of our members strives to make a positive social impact during their time at NIU. Being recognized as a premier entrepreneurship organization in the Chicago area and the State of Illinois

Student Notes

NIU accountancy students claim first and second place at the Audit Analytic Case Competition. This event was hosted by DePaul

University in spring 2018. NIU’s first place winning team members are Jesse Laseman, Matthew LeGare, Gregorius Pradana and Nai-Yu Shih.

NIU’s second place team members are Amelia Annala, Patricia Barrett, Adam Worazek and Martin Alcaraz-Gomez. The teams were led by NIU accountancy professor Chih-Chen Lee. NIU Outstanding Women Student Awards.

The university’s annual Outstanding Women Student Awards recognize those students whose leadership may be less formal in nature, including those who entertain non-traditional aspirations, or have overcome significant obstacles in the process of pursuing their education. In spring 2018, 10 outstanding NIU Business women students were recognized. They are Hend Alkarzon (accountancy), Amelia Annala (accountancy), Bridget Barry (management), Georgia Breunig (accounCross Boundaries to Innovation

is validation that we have achieved that mission,” says Jason Kaye, NIU CAUSE student president and marketing and OM&IS major.

EntrepreneurshipU awarded NIU CAUSE the top spot because of the group’s ability to operate with a strategic and mission-driven focus, fundraise successfully in the social space, organize — from ideation to execution — their annual Social Impact Summit and recruit and engage student majors from across the university. Now in its seventh year, CAUSE’s Social Impact Summit sees more than 250 attendees on average each year (in excess of 1,700 total) and draws participation from national experts in the field.

“This is a really important award for CAUSE. It validates all of the energy and hard work they put into creating a unique and impactful group,” says Christine Mooney, the Barsema Professor of Social Entrepreneurship in the Department of Management. Mooney’s research interests include innovation and entrepreneurship, social enterprise See Be unreasonable on page 30.

tancy), Joyce Calacal (business administration), Amanda Mapes (accountancy), Thanairy Mariscal (marketing), Emily Montavon (management), Iva Pouhaleva (accountancy) and Zuleima Torres (business administration).

Finance students claim third place in the Midwest Regional of the CFA Research Challenge. The CFA Institute Research Challenge

is an annual global competition with participation from more than 5,000 students from over 1,000 universities, 99 CFA Local Level Challenges and 140 local hosts in 75 countries and territories.

Sixteen teams participated in Chicago’s 2017-2018 local level challenge, drawing from schools ranging from the publics, privates, and the Ivy League. The team members who placed for NIU are finance majors: Sean Gerent, Mark Gonzalez, Edward Kim, Sinong Ou and Chenfang Su. NIU Department of Finance Chair Gina Nicolosi served as their faculty advisor and Ben Hier of Northern Trust was assigned to be their CFA industry mentor.

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In Every Issue

Alumni Award Winners Distinguished Alumnus

Brent Brodeski is the CEO of Savant Capital Management, where he also is a financial advisor and has membership interest in the company. Brodeski serves on Savant’s Board of Managers, Executive Brent Brodeski Team, Ideal Futures B.S. Finance 1988, MBA 1991 CEO, Savant Capital Platform Committee and Management Investment Committee.

He holds a bachelor of science degree in finance and economics and an MBA with an emphasis in accounting from Northern Illinois University. He is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA), a Certified Financial Planner™ professional, a Chartered Financial Analyst® (CFA®) and an Accredited Investment Fiduciary Analyst® (AIFA®).

Outstanding Young Alumnus

Sam Kunde was a self-driven individual in college and has taken that same attitude into his career. During his academic tenure, Kunde was involved in numerous campus groups, most notable Sam Kunde among them Leaders in B.S. Accountancy 2012, M.S. Accountancy 2013 Ethics and Academic Assurance Supervisor, RSM US LLP Discipline (LEAD). LEAD is a component of the college’s BELIEF Program and serves as the student voice with regard to ethical needs, issues and concerns. In 2011, Kunde participated in the Eller Collegiate Ethics Case Competition, where he earned the highest award for NIU. This event inspired him to help launch 24

NIU Business

Brodeski is co-founder and past president of Zero Alpha Group, an industry association. He is also a co-founder of the Alliance for RIAs, a prestigious industry group that together manages nearly $50 billion. Currently, he is a member of the Young Presidents’ Organization and serves on the boards of the Northern Illinois University Foundation and the Rock Valley College Foundation. Previously, he was president of the Illinois CPA Society, a board member of the Northern Illinois Estate Planning Council and an officer of Stateline Angels, an angel investment group.

For over 20 years, Brodeski has received national recognition for his leadership in the financial services industry. His most recent accolades include a 2017 rank of no. 40 in the Forbes list of top 250 wealth advisors. In 2011, he was named the nation’s 10th “Most Experienced Independent

See Brodeski on page 31.

the NIU Ethical Case Competition, which is sponsored by LEAD and is held every spring semester for college and high school students. Even five years after his graduation, Kunde continues to assist the LEAD program case competition teams by sharing his knowledge of ethics and his experience as a competition participant.

Additional campus groups that Kunde participated in include the accountancy fraternity Beta Alpha Psi, the Financial Management Association (FMA) and NIU Athletics. He was often found in the NIU athletics press box, writing articles and press releases and running the official NIU Athletics Twitter account. Each fall, Kunde continues to collect statistics for NIU’s home football games; at the same time, he gives guidance to and sets a good example for incoming student assistants.

See Kunde on page 31.

NIU College of Business

Innovation and Entrepreneurship Alumnus

Ralph de la Vega is the chairman and founder of the De La Vega Group, which focuses on advisory/consultancy services and investments. He is the former vice chairman of AT&T Inc. and CEO of Business Solutions & Ralph de la Vega International. In that MBA 1989 Chairman and Founder, capacity, he had overall the De La Vega Group responsibility for the company’s integrated Business Solutions group, which served more than 3.5 million business customers in nearly 200 countries and territories, including nearly all of the world’s Fortune 1000 companies. He also had overall responsibility for AT&T’s wireless business operations in Mexico and DIRECTV in Latin America.

Previously, he was president and CEO of AT&T Mobile and Business Solutions, where he had overall responsibility for the company’s wireless and business services operations. Before that, he

Honorary Alumna

Stacey Barsema is the president of the Barsema Family Foundation.

Under her leadership, the foundation supports a number of organizations worldwide that are primarily focused on education, poverty and Stacey Barsema animal rights.

President of the Barsema Family Foundation Highly active in the education and social entrepreneurship spaces, Barsema devotes her talents to a number of organizations. She is a member of the board of directors for the Northern Illinois University Foundation, which develops, supports and encourages a culture of giving among alumni and throughout the NIU community in order to help accomplish NIU’s goal of becoming the most student-centered public research university in the Midwest.

Barsema serves on the board of directors for the Northern Illinois Food Bank, which leads the Cross Boundaries to Innovation

was president and CEO of AT&T Mobility. Under his leadership, AT&T Mobility became one of the world’s leading smartphone and mobile internet providers and expanded into new growth areas such as connected cars, home security and automation.

During his career he has held numerous executive positions, including chief operating officer of Cingular Wireless and president of BellSouth Latin America. As the COO of Cingular Wireless, de la Vega was responsible for the integration of AT&T Wireless and Cingular Wireless, following the largest all-cash merger in U.S. history at the time. As president of BellSouth Latin America, he was responsible for wireless operations in 11 countries: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Ecuador, Venezuela and Uruguay.

Presently, de la Vega serves on the boards of the American Express Company, New York Life Insurance Company and Amdocs Corporation. He also serves on the Executive Committee and was chairman of the 2017 Jamboree for the Boy Scouts of America. He is the See de la Vega on page 31.

northern Illinois community in solving hunger by providing nutritious meals to those in need through innovative programs and partnerships. She is also former board chair of Farm Sanctuary, an organization in Watkins Glen, New York and California.

Farm Sanctuary protects farm animals from cruelty, inspiring change in the way society views and treats farm animals and promotes compassionate vegan living through rescue, education and advocacy efforts.

As a founding board member of Carpenter’s Place, a nonprofit in Rockford, Illinois, Barsema’s leadership has helped the organization make an impact in the lives of homeless adults. Carpenter’s Place depends on strong community relationships and offers comprehensive programs that provide their clients with the skills and tools to be successful and independent members of society.

Among the many other ways Barsema has made a genuine difference in the lives of others include her service on the board of directors of Opportunity International, a worldwide organization headquarSee Barsema on page 31.

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In Every Issue

Inspired Peers NIU Business comes alive because of its wide variety of participants.

It’s been our good fortune to work with a few of the many stellar NIU students, who, even in the midst of their rigorous academic journeys, agreed to collaborate with us. Their images grace several pages of this publication and provide a visual introduction to our feature stories. Now, it’s our great pleasure to focus directly on these fine individuals…each one of whom embodies the strong character, high intelligence and adventurous nature of all the many outstanding students at NIU. (Photos by Milo Barsanti-Gonzalez.)

junior, marketing major hometown: Chicago Heights, Illinois

One piece of advice that has stuck with me is: “Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life, and you will call it fate.”

At NIU, I learned exactly what that meant.

For me, that phrase describes the successful businesswoman I work to be. My goal is to own one of the largest beauty brands in the world. NIU has provided me with such a solid, strong foundation that I am confident I can build anything when I leave here. I feel a great sense of pride every day when I walk into Barsema Hall, and I hope to carry that same pride into the world and workplace. ■

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Aylissa Moore NIU College of Business

senior, mechanical engineering and ELC student team member hometown: Naperville, Illinois

Austin Pauga

I have always dreamt about being an engineer. As I enter my senior year, I cannot believe that I am taking some of the final steps toward accomplishing my dream. I have enjoyed my college career from the moment it began, from studying to socializing. Yet, undertaking an undergraduate degree is not an easy task.

Understanding the work that needs to be done and having others assist you along the way paves the road for a successful college experience. I’m motivated to work hard because of my own standards and because of the many uncertainties in life – much of which can be impacted by being prepared. I tend to believe that luck is not random but instead a series of opportunities to rise beyond expectations. ■

senior, accountancy and OM&IS double major and ELC student team member hometown: Elmhurst, Illinois

Avery Kirchner Cross Boundaries to Innovation

I am motivated by a desire for self-improvement. I try to stay focused on my goals and work each day to become a little bit closer to where I am trying to go. Sometimes, working toward a goal might seem like climbing a mountain. At first, it might seem like an insurmountable task, but after a time, you’ll look back and be amazed to see how far you have come. For me, it’s never been about the destination; it’s always been about the journey. I find that the satisfaction of accomplishment pales in comparison to the process leading there.

That’s why my eyes are always to the horizon, dreaming about the journey to come. ■

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NIU MBA senior BBA 2015 from the Universidad Externado in Colombia home city/country: Bogota, Colombia

When I was eight years old, I realized that I wanted to be a manager like my dad. After earning my degree in Colombia, I moved to DeKalb, convinced that the international experience would open a new door to exceptional learning opportunities. For me, the college’s new brand — “cross boundaries” — means to become a world citizen, understanding what makes each of us different while at the same time building bonds. I’ve realized how crucial it is to challenge myself and cross my own boundaries — and how much I will grow. I am proud of my cultural heritage, including its symbols, music, and customs that identify me as a Latina and make my heart beat as fast as the drums in the mapalé, a traditional Caribbean dance . ■

Juliana SilvaSinning

NIU MBA senior bachelor degree in English (2015) in China; master in international business (2017), University of Leeds home country: China

My hometown is a coastal and beautiful city in northeast China. I have an international education background in China, the U.S. and the U.K. As globalization and internationalization become a main trend in the world, acquiring international experiences and being a person with understanding of cultural differences is of great importance. I never imagined how interesting a multi-cultural experience would be until I had the chance to study abroad and experience those cultures deeply.

Having an international orientation enables me to prepare for different situations among various backgrounds. Most importantly, it enables me to be ready for any new trends or opportunities that may arise in the future. ■

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Lei Mao NIU College of Business

Laser Focus Continued from page 5.

entry: historic reluctance in the manufacturing industry when it comes to adopting new technologies. That difficulty was compounded by the fact that the team’s discussions with company representatives lacked the aid of a prototype.

When asked about the challenges associated with speaking in terms of intangibles, Pauga replies, “Explaining things in the abstract happens all the time in math. I did notice that business students are much more active with their communications and with reaching out to a number of outside people for their expertise or for their feedback — even with a complex topic like this. That stood out to me as an incredibly important skill. And I learned about the nature of business practices — for example, articulating a business plan with financials and some of

The Real Deal Continued from page 9.

present fewer risks. Investors are writing very big checks to mature companies, but getting venture capital is still challenging. If you need venture capital, it’s not enough to present compelling ideas; they want something that is proven with customers and generating real revenue to boot. In the earliest stages, you may look for other solutions like angel investors or friends and family and hold off on the big dog and pony show until you have a few more horses in your stable.

On self-directed learning. Imagine two recent graduates looking to join a startup: the first went to a prestigious university with innovative curriculum across every program. This learner thinks of his conventional education as all that is necessary for a solid footing in a local startup. The other graduated from a mid-tier university but was hungry enough to supplement that education with unconventional learning practices like certificate study, online enrichment courses, and MOOCs. This learner thinks of traditional schooling as just one part of her broader education and preparation.

I’ve met both of these learners in the startup enviCross Boundaries to Innovation

the language of business, like return on investment (ROI). In the beginning I had no idea what ROI meant or how it factored into the broader business end of things.”

Then there’s a business major’s view on the abstract. “I used to think about what a business major was when I was in high school,” Kirchner says. “I always thought studying business would involve working with others on projects with a lot of unknowns and even with things that might be difficult to describe. This is the type of big impact project that I always wanted to work on. It makes me reflect on the college’s new brand — ‘cross boundaries.’ We didn’t just cross academic boundaries. We entered new territories for what we thought we could accomplish.”

He pauses for a second, then clarifies, “We started off by looking at an idea in a new way. By the end of this experience, we looked at ourselves in a new way too.” ■

ronment. I’d put my money on the second type any day. Be hungry. Be a self-directed learner who finds and drains every resource in an ongoing attempt to prove your value in a dynamic workplace. Never believe that your education is complete. Tap into the free flow of information and keep learning.

On developing ideas. This is about timing and balance. You can have a great purpose and a great idea, but if you forget to put careful thought into the execution, no idea can save you. Remember the basics: with any company, they sell something; there’s a transaction between parties and there is a value exchange. Allow this simple tenet to bring balance to your workflow. Spend time nurturing a great idea, but then go test it out while the idea is still malleable. For example, for Highground we assembled a deck explaining what we would do and built a marketing prototype that we used to sell our first 10 customers. After we had 10 companies who helped us rethink our concepts and validated that they would pay for our idea, we pushed into the next phase of execution. Companies signed up before we did a single line of code. That type of validation proved there was real value. The best ideas are nimble and responsive to the discoveries you’ll make in the testing and selling phases. ■ NIU Business

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Listen up Continued from page 17.

key takeaway for me is that you can’t be stuck in your own thoughts even if your intention is to be prepared. You have to be present and ready to go, without knowing when you’ll be called on and without knowing what you’ll have to work with.

NIU Business That’s intense…especially first thing in the morning.

Neal It was a lot of fun. The exercises were almost

like games. They kept changing so you couldn’t anticipate a pattern. The facilitators deliberately leave it up to the participants to figure out the point of the exercise as it’s happening. I learned a lot from every activity, not only about being more aware but also about developing insights into others. Probably the most surprising thing for me was realizing the importance of listening actively. Before this workshop, I tended to take the act of listening for granted and not think of it as a skill to cultivate.

But by really harnessing it, I learned so much more about my classmates as individuals and about their viewpoints. Their different perspectives helped me see things in new ways.

Paulson Listening deeply is a key ingredient for creating trust. It helps you to stay open and it helps others to realize they’ve been heard and are understood. So when things become challenging — like they did in a few of the exercises — the trust makes it easier to grow together from the experience.

Be unreasonable Continued from page 23.

and impact investing, among other areas. She also teaches creativity and innovation, entrepreneurship, and social entrepreneurship and is the faculty advisor to NIU CAUSE. “Through CAUSE, our students are adding an important element to the social entrepreneurship education they receive at NIU,” says Sarah Marsh, Chair of the Department of Management. “I couldn’t be happier that Future Founders has recognized just how outstanding these students are.”

NIU Business Dean Balaji Rajagopalan adds, “This award is a reaffirmation of the incredible work that CAUSE has done to advance social 30

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Neal You begin to understand that it’s okay not

to have all the answers — because no one does. And it’s okay to take the risk of asking questions and to check in with others around you to discover solutions or approaches together.

Paulson Full disclosure here, I’ve participated in this workshop twice. My first time was as an intern with PricewaterhouseCoopers. The specific activities were different each time, but the overall purpose was the same. Each time I came out of the day learning something new and being energized all over again. The second time around, the most inspiring thing for me was watching my classmates break out of their shells. It was so exciting to pay close enough attention to actually see people grow before your eyes. And some of my closest friendships came out of that workshop. We bonded over the experience and carried the memories of it into our other classes — it made the overall journey through the graduate program even that much more rich of an experience.

Neal It’s a great experience. I learned the importance of thinking on the fly, of being open to the unknown and being adaptable. If anyone ever has the chance to go through a workshop like this, I highly recommend that they take advantage of the opportunity. I’ll carry the skills I learned with me through my entire life.

Paulson This was far more than developing communications skills for the business world. It really was about developing listening and relationship skills for anyone in the adult world. ■ entrepreneurship. We can look forward to student leaders of CAUSE shaping a great future for the organizations they work for and the communities they live in. The impactful work of CAUSE is another illustration of how our students seamlessly cross the boundaries of theory and practice.”

Dennis Barsema, who taught the first course in social entrepreneurship at NIU over ten years ago, also won the Outstanding Entrepreneurial Mentor of the Year award for his support of NIU students.

CAUSE student leadership accepted the award on April 20th. The EntrepreneurshipU Awards ceremony took place in the Merchandise Mart at the Chicago Connectory, a technology and innovation workspace affiliated with Bosch and the 1871 incubator. ■ NIU College of Business

Brodeski Continued from page 24.

Financial Advisor” by Bloomberg Businessweek.

And in 2017, Brodeski was named “one of the 17 people advisors should watch” by Financial Planning magazine. He is a regular speaker at industry conferences and events and is frequently featured in local, industry and national media,

Kunde Continued from page 24.

His professional experience in industry includes an internship with CliftonLarsonAllen in both their assurance and tax departments. He also assisted the Kane County Cougars with their promotions and with writing stories for the team’s

de la Vega Continued from page 25.

former Chairman of Junior Achievement Worldwide and continues to serve as chair of the Finance Committee on its board of directors.

A recognized leader, de la Vega has received numerous awards, including induction into the Wireless Hall of Fame and the Atlanta Business Hall of Fame, and the prestigious Global Innovation

Barsema Continued from page 25.

tered in Chicago. This organization annually distributes over $250 million in microloans to the poorest of the poor, helping them to become self-supporting entrepreneurs. Her impact can be felt in communities on multiple continents, most notably when she co-chaired Opportunity International’s Lending Hope to Africa Campaign, which raised over $25 million to fight AIDS in Africa.

Barsema’s additional board service includes active participation in Silicon Valley on the board of Cross Boundaries to Innovation

including the Wall Street Journal and Barron’s.

In 2010, Brodeski received the Distinguished Finance Alumnus Award from Northern Illinois University. In 2017, he was named Citizen of the Year by the Rockford Chamber of Commerce.

Brent is married to Sharon and has four children and three grandchildren. In their free time they enjoy traveling, wine, collecting art, boating, fine dining and spending time with family and friends at their lake house in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. ■ monthly programs. Shortly after he graduated, Kunde began his career as an assurance associate at RSM US LLP, where he was soon promoted to assurance supervisor.

In his free time, Kunde enjoys staying active, running in the Chicago half marathon, volunteering his time for the PGA Tour, and cheering on his favorite sports teams: the Chicago Cubs, the Chicago Bears and NIU Huskies football. ■ Award from the Goizueta Business School at Emory University.

Mr. de la Vega holds a bachelor degree in mechanical engineering from Florida Atlantic University (FAU) and a master degree in business administration from Northern Illinois University. He completed the executive program at the University of Virginia and received a doctor honoris causa from FAU. He is the author of the best-selling book “Obstacles Welcome: Turn Adversity to Advantage in Business and Life” (Thomas Nelson, 2009). ■ directors for Family and Children Services, whose mission is to build strong, safe and self-sufficient individuals with their families and communities.

As a former board member with the Oakland Zoo and as a member of the zoo’s fund development committee, Barsema and her colleagues helped to ensure that the Oakland Zoo remains one of the most progressive zoos in the country. Oakland Zoo leads the fight for elephant welfare, an initiative where she focused all of her energies while Barsema served on the board.

Stacey Barsema resides in Barrington Hills, Illinois, with her husband Dennis Barsema. ■ NIU Business

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Feature story contributing writers Michelle De Jean, director of marketing

environment coupled with learning experiences that cross the boundaries of thinking and doing.

Uncommon learning opportunities also include global

Colleen Leonard, publicity specialist, NIU Alumni Association Anthony Preston, executive director of global, NIU Business

programs, online degrees, a unique set of

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college-level programs, the bachelor of science

Tony Wedick, graphic designer, NIU Division of Enrollment Management, Marketing and Communications (EMMC)

degree in a variety of majors, the master of science degree that includes two STEM-designated programs, the master of business administration, as

Editorial

well as a range of minors, certificates and hands-on

Michelle De Jean, director of marketing

learning opportunities. Our entrepreneurial spirit

Michael Mackey, marketing associate, NIU EMMC

helps us experiment, learn and implement initiatives that have a profound impact on our students. This has resulted in national recognition in a number of

Photography Milo Barsanti-Gonzalez (features and all cover photos)

among the nation’s best for 32 years running. Initially

Jennifer Ellis, director, Ernst & Young Leadership and Professional Development Center

accredited by AACSB International in 1969, the

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college is home to renowned faculty who served

Len Lennergard, media production manager, NIU Integrated Media Technologies

ranking surveys that collectively place NIU Business

as business professionals before earning their doctorates. We are distinguished by our ability to narrow the gap between thinking and achieving. Our

Rob Peterson, Dean’s Distinguished Professor of Sales

prominent alumni include entrepreneurs and leaders

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NIU Business

NIU College of Business

Northern Illinois University is an equal opportunity/affirmative action institution.

Printed by authority of the State of Illinois. niu.edu 50763 2/19

NIU Business offers students a world-class

NIU Business Spring 2019

Programs shaping the future Page 18

Austin Pauga crosses boundaries between engineering and business.

(See also “Laser Focus� on page 2.)

NONPROFIT U.S. POSTAGE PAID NORTHERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY College of Business Northern Illinois University 1240 Normal Road DeKalb, Illinois 60115-2828

Cross Global Boundaries to Big Opportunities.

Oleg did. From Russia to NIU Business to Wall Street.

Oleg Grachev

NIU Finance alumnus 2017 Originally from Russia, moved to the U.S. in 2012.

Currently on Wall Street as an Investment Banking Analyst.