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Stanford Business magazine

 

Newsmakers

Who's in the News: A Round-up of Media Mentions

Boardroom Dancing
In her television career, Andrea Wong, MBA ’93, has “had some great successes, but I’ve put on some failing shows, and it’s very painful,” she told Newsweek. One risk that turned into a success: When she was in charge of reality programming for ABC, she championed Dancing with the Stars.

“People thought I was totally out of my mind,” she said. “I knew it was a big risk, but it was something I believed in so strongly.”
Wong’s success propelled her to her current position as president and CEO of Lifetime Network and Entertainment Services. “I think it’s really important to be a mentor to people that you think are promising. People did it for me, and it helped me grow and be a better leader.”

Public Television’s Digital Challenge
WGBH, Boston’s public broadcasting station, has a new president, Jonathan Abbott, MBA ’88, as it tries to find its place in the digital age. The station produces about one-third of PBS’s prime-time programming and many of its children’s shows. Abbott is known for his technical savvy, according to the Boston Globe, and has helped the station better use its growing range of digital channels.

Abbott said he has been looking at the hurdles involved in putting material online as another step in the digital revolution—without forgetting why viewers are drawn to public broadcasting in the first place. “The thing that gives me confidence in the future is that we stand for something in the public’s eye,” he said.

Advocate of Higher Tax on Equity Managers
Should Congress change the tax code so private equity fund managers pay taxes on “carried interest”? This seemingly arcane question has made Leo Hindery, MBA ’71, something of a black sheep in his own industry. Hindery, who is managing partner of InterMedia Partners, testified before Congress in September in favor of closing what he called “a tax loophole the size of a Mack truck.”

“We’re not talking about the underlying importance to the economy of private equity,” he told Fortune. “It’s vitally important. We’re talking about properly taxing the management fee of a few people who make so much money and pay a tax rate for which there’s no corollary elsewhere in the tax code.” Hindery is also advising Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards on economic issues, according to the New York Times.

Facetime Pays Off
It took a year of work—and clever, inexpensive marketing—for New Zealand-based Bendon to break into the U.S. lingerie market. A billboard on a 16-story building on the Long Island Expressway during New York Fashion Week, for example, created the impression of a larger brand.

“You’ve got to start out with a bit of recklessness,” Stefan Preston, MBA ’93, who is stepping down as Bendon’s CEO, told the New Zealand Herald. “You’ve got to be willing to get on the plane and give it a go. But you won’t get anywhere unless you’re fully committed to it. A lot of New Zealand exporters think they can develop their brand overseas through distributors, and not really fly anywhere and not really put any staff on the ground.”

Preston’s patience and commitment were rewarded: Bendon products are now sold in several U.S. department stores.

Cheaper Solar Energy
In Fort Collins, Colo., a 70,000-square-foot plant that will turn ordinary sheet glass into solar power generators may boost the local economy—and jolt the solar power industry.

AVA Solar will produce its products for about $1 per watt, about half the cost of electricity generated by coal-powered plants, CEO Pascal Noronha, MBA ’81, told the Northern Colorado Business Report. The veteran of five technology startups has big plans for the company, which, he said, would build its plants in the United States rather than overseas.

“We are not just being euphoric,” he said. “My technology background gives me confidence that, over time, we’re going to be a much bigger company.”

Where Everybody Knows Your Name
When it comes to using the resources of Stanford Business School, “I’m a poster child,” Alyssa Rapp, MBA ’05, told the San Francisco Business Times. Rapp is founder and CEO of Bottlenotes, an online cluster of customized wine clubs that welcomes new members at Bottlenotes.com.

At the GSB, Rapp was co-president of the student wine club, which introduced her to industry greats like Jack Cakebread, who is now on Bottlenotes’ board of directors. Two marketing professors, Jim Lattin and Michaela Draganska, who helped Rapp form her business plan, sit on Bottlenotes’ board of advisers. Half to two-thirds of Rapp’s employees come from her Stanford network, she told the newspaper, and her company was able to hire a summer intern last year with the help of the School’s Entrepreneurial Summer Program.

Learning Curve on Social Investing
Bud Colligan, MBA ’83, started a community development venture capital fund in the late 1990s to invest in low-income areas. His plan was to help very small businesses grow, creating jobs where they were most needed. “We thought we could get our money out quickly,” Colligan told the San Francisco Chronicle.

He found out, though, that very small businesses couldn’t absorb the capital that the fund had to invest, and they also were unlikely to go public. So Colligan’s fund, Pacific Community Ventures, changed its focus to companies with $2 million to $10 million in revenue.

Colligan hears from skeptics that they would prefer to invest their money for performance than give away some of the profits to benefit the community. “PCV cracks that stereotype since we think we can do both,” Colligan said. “We can earn a return maybe not as great a return, but for that difference we can make a difference in
our communities.”

Funds for Everything That Floats, Flies, Rolls
Roads and bridges may not inspire passion in many people. But they do in Janet Kavinoky, MBA ’01, who is the top transportation lobbyist for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Recently she has been working to get Congress to authorize spending for projects ranging from flood control to aviation safety.

Kavinoky sees the collapse of the I-35W bridge in Minnesota in August as both a tragedy and an opportunity for public education. The collapse “brought public attention to the urgency of the issue,” Kavinoky told Politico. “They are now aware that our  infrastructure is crumbling.”

Competitive Survivor
MorrisonWhen Molded Fiber Glass Cos. decided to implement quality improvement and lean manufacturing processes in order to stay competitive, employees feared for their jobs. “I said, ‘No, you’ll be concerned with losing your jobs if we don’t get better, and I hope you’ll trust me on that,’” said President and CEO Richard Morrison, MBA ’68 (pictured at right).

Morrison learned a lot about establishing trust with employees. “That’s a major component of change. You have to trust your leaders,” he told Smart Business Cleveland. Repeated communication was key: “We moved down the road because we insisted on it, and we spread the message, ‘This is not to make more money; this is to survive.’ You just keep beating the message in.”

China Investor Explores Clean Energy
Silicon Valley is positioned to help China develop technology to meet ambitious energy goals, said Jim Boettcher, MBA ’76, of Palo Alto–based Focus Ventures.

Boettcher has for years invested in China’s technology and communications market. Now he is turning his focus to clean tech, with 20 deals in the pipeline. One project: research being done by Stanford University and China’s Tsinghua University on how to turn coal into energy without emitting carbon dioxide.

“Silicon Valley can provide a lot of input in terms of the technologies China now needs  to develop,” he told the San Francisco Chronicle.

Career Advice, Part I
“If you want instant gratification, this isn’t the job for you,” venture capitalist Jon Isaacson, MBA ’98, told eFinancial Careers. “We manage deals over years, not days or weeks.”

Isaacson advised anyone wanting to get into private equity to “do anything you can” to work for one of the firms. “Volunteer yourself for minimum wage or do free internships or offer free research for a private equity firm,” he said. “If you want to break in you may have to sacrifice dollars in the short term.”

Career Advice, Part II
Tim Berry, MBA ’81, wrote in Entrepreneur.com, crediting the lesson to Steven Brandt, MBA ’65 and lecturer emeritus at the GSB: “If you really can’t get your company going now because you can’t pare it down and you can’t get it financed, then start down a path that eventually will lead you there. Work in a related business as an employee and keep your eyes open.”

Promoter of Green Living
A lot of people are interested in green living, and almost 8 million of them have joined Care2.com, an online network founded by Randy Paynter, MBA ’95. Membership numbers generate money: The site is profitable and got $5.9 million in revenue last year from ad sales and sponsorships.

But it hasn’t been easy getting to this point. Although the company was founded with money from angel investors, in late 2001 it couldn’t get more investment.

“The challenge of being self-funded is that we’ve had a fairly near-term focus for a number of years,” Paynter told the San Francisco Business Times. “Now that we’ve built a balance in our bank account we’re reworking the design and interface and hiring a marketing team for the first time to get the word out.”