Siena Business Report Winter 2010

WINTER 2010

Sienabusiness

REPORT A MAGAZINE FOR SIENA COLLEGE

SIENAcollege

SCHOOL OF BUSINESS ALUMNI AND FRIENDS

When the White House calls:

Siena professor’s work in national spotlight

A MESSAGE FROM THE DEAN

Leaving the School in Extraordinary Hands

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James Nolan ’75, Ph.D. Dean of the School of Business

s I look around at the School of Business, I realize that my au revoir in August 2010 will come at an ideal time. In the last few years, our school has accomplished a great deal. The addition of the William R. Raub ’85 Market Trading Room, and the launch of the studentmanaged Bjorklund Fund, have immersed our students in the real-time world of Wall Street. Our new marketing laboratory has brought state-of-the-art tools to students in that discipline. We have added programs in actuarial science and risk management as well as master’s in accounting. Our communications, as exemplified by this publication, now match the quality of our curricula. Dynamic new faculty members continue to come here. At the same time, we uphold the elements that make Siena so distinctive in business higher education—especially our emphasis on values, ethics and service. Before long, an exceptional team of Siena leaders will begin a national search for a new dean. Between the caliber of these people and the vibrancy of our programs, I have absolutely no doubt that the transition to new leadership in 2010-11 will be positive for the School of Business. Please note that in the introduction to this message, I used the phrase au revoir, not good-bye, because this August will not be the last you see of me. After a year’s sabbatical, I will return to the classroom, taking up my role—a different role—in moving the school forward. It is an exciting time for me, and even more so for the school. I am certain that the best is yet to come.

Siena Business Report Winter 2010 Published by Siena College 515 Loudon Road Loudonville, NY 12211-1462

Sienabusiness

REPORT

Office of Strategic Communications and Integrated Marketing Delcy Fox, Director Editor Jim Eaton Associate Director of Communications Contributing Writer John Backman Photographers Donna Abbott Vlahos Kris Qua Sergio Sericolo Design and Production Panarama Design

SIENA COLLEGE SCHOOL OF BUSINESS MAGAZINE WINTER 2010

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When the White House Calls

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Faculty Publications

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Alumni Profile: Guy Maddalone ’89

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Excellence by the Numbers

10 Student Profile: Angela Guzzi ’09 12 From Students to Actuaries 14 New Faculty, New Directions

DEAN’S ADVISORY COUNCIL Kenneth Blass ’83 President, Blass Communications Erin M. Crotty President, The Crotty Group, LLC Terence Curran Associate, The Hudson Group, LLC Paul Goetz ’85 Managing Director, UHY, LLP Matthew Gras ’95 Assistant Vice President, Senior Financial Advisor, Merrill Lynch David Hancox ’75 Director of State and NYC Audits, NYS Comptroller’s Office Michael Hickey ’76 President, Albany Financial Planners, Inc. Charles J. Kavanaugh ’70 Consultant Shaun P. Mahoney President and Chief Executive Officer, NextRidge, Inc. William Martin ’78 President and Founder, The Initiatives Group, LLC Joe Millington ’77 Managing Director, Gilbert Tweed Associates Jay Moore ’87 Vice President Commercial Learning, NBC Universal Thomas Selfridge CEO, Albany Valve and Fitting Company Kevin Thompson ’87 Vice President and Corporate Controller, Marietta Corporation Judy Tomlinson Vice President, Rose and Kiernan Lee M. Weiser, CPF President, Frame of Mind Ann Wendth Director of External Relations, The Albany Academies Mark Woroby ’81 Executive Director, Wildwood Foundation

ON THE COVER Andrea Smith-Hunter, Ph.D., associate professor of marketing and management was named to an advisory group for the new White House Council on Women and Girls. Her story appears on page four.

When the White House Calls Presidential appointment sheds national light on Andrea Smith-Hunter’s seminal work

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wice in her career, Andrea Smith-Hunter, Ph.D., associate professor of marketing and management, has heard an urgent call to action and stepped forward to fulfill it.

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The first came from a pioneer in her field. The second came from the White House. Earlier this year, the Center for Women’s Business Research named Smith-Hunter to an advisory group for the new White House Council on Women and Girls. The group will formulate new policies and procedures to ensure that all Cabinet-level agencies consider their impact on women and families. The ultimate impact, SmithHunter believes, could extend far beyond the walls of federal agencies. “Our goal is to build a model that encourages and sustains women entrepreneurs from varying backgrounds in differing economies,” Smith-Hunter said. The model could, for instance, encourage entrepreneurship training for girls and women at many educational levels, from middle school to college and beyond. This could transform the landscape for women and girls. According to Smith-Hunter, “This model for

women entrepreneurship has the potential to be revolutionary.” Smith-Hunter’s presence on the advisory group will advance the contributions that she has already made during her career. As a doctoral student, she began to pursue the research topic for which she is best known: minority women entrepreneurship. Her dissertation, focusing on the Capital Region, eventually became her first book. Shortly thereafter, she responded to a call to action from her mentor. “One of my earliest influences was Dr. Dorothy Moore, who wrote about women entrepreneurs,” Smith-Hunter recalled. “Her book (with Holly Buttner in 1997) is considered a turning point in the literature. At the end of that book, they called for someone to write a complementary book on women entrepreneurs across racial lines, using a national sample. I heeded that call.” The result: the aptly named Women Entrepreneurship Across Racial Lines: Issues of

Human Capital, Financial Capital and Network Structures, which she published in 2006. From her first work in the Capital Region, Smith-Hunter has expanded her focus to include the entire world. Currently she is at work on her third book, Women Entrepreneurs in the Global Marketplace, which employs a questionnaire to analyze women entrepreneurs in eight regions, from South America and the Caribbean to Asia and Africa. Her goal with this book could suit her work on the White House advisory group as well. “I want to show governments the critical importance of women entrepreneurs as a legitimate source of income and a significant contributor to their national economy,” she said. “Across the world, women entrepreneurs share characteristics that are universal; I hope that my work can help government agencies best facilitate support for women entrepreneurs in their region of the world.”

FACULTY PUBLICATIONS CHERYL BUFF and M. Lodes published “Are Generation Y Consumers Brand Loyal and is their Buying Behavior Affected in an Economic Recession? A Preliminary Study” in Journal of Academy of Business and Economics (forthcoming). PAUL THURSTON, CHERYL BUFF and RAJ DEVASAGAYAM published “Participation Preferences and Brand Community 1Integration: An Empirical Investigation” in Review of Business Research (forthcoming). RAJ DEVASAGAYAM and ZINAIDA

“ I have always enjoyed

the one-on-one studentfaculty interaction at Siena. This type of learning environment has allowed me to include students in my research.”

Andrea Smith-Hunter Associate Professor of Marketing and Management

TARAN published “Student Driven Business Projects: Motivation, Implementation, and Consequences” in Academy of Educational Leadership Journal (forthcoming). DEVASAGAYAM and M. Gonnering published “Using Digital Asset Management as a Strategic Tool for Consistent Branding: Implications and Possibilities” in DIAS Technology Review–the International Journal for Business and IT (forthcoming). DEVASAGAYAM and JASON SCHARF ’09 published “Honor Thy Elders: Does this Apply to Service Encounters? in Synergy.

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See a Need, Fill a Need Guy Maddalone ’89 started his entrepreneurial career long before finishing his Siena degree

Talk about a glimpse of things to come. Guy Maddalone ’89 is the founder and CEO of GTM Payroll Services which was named one of the best places to work in the Capital Region.

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When his grandfather fell ill back in 1986, Siena sophomore Guy Maddalone ’89 responded by starting a business, a home health care and hospital staffing agency, with his mother, a registered nurse. “The goal was simply to respond to our own needs, my grandfather’s needs and the needs of other area families,” he recalled. See a need, fill a need. That simple approach to business has taken Maddalone and his company, GTM Payroll Services, to extraordinary success. Since 2004, revenue has more than doubled, employee numbers nearly so, and GTM Payroll Services has made the Inc. 5000 list of the nation’s fastest-growing companies three years running. In 2008, the Capital District Business Review also named the company one of the Best Places to Work in the Capital Region.

Of Nannies, Giants and Payroll After the first venture was up and running, it didn’t take long for

MARGARET GARNSEY, JOHN O’NEILL and LEN STOKES published “FARS Database Searching: Providing Potential Search Terms to Students” in Accounting Educators’ Journal. ERIC GIRARD and H. Kilmaz published “Stock Market Volatility and Trading Volume: An Emerging Market Experience” in Journal of Applied Finance. GIRARD also published “Empirical Evidence Of The Existence Of Investable Premiums In Emerging Market Investable Stocks” in Financial Review (forthcoming).

ALUMNI PROFILE

Maddalone to see the next need on the agenda—and expand to fill it. “While running the agency, I met many people who juggled caring for their own families while attending to the needs of their ailing parents,” he remembered. “Truly, these people were sandwiched between generations, with each demanding extensive care, time, and energy. To help these caregivers, I knew I needed to add child care— along with a household payroll tax preparation service—to the agency mix. Thus began GTM Payroll Services.” Initially, the business served as a nanny placement agency, which in 1991 became an independent company by the name of A New England Nanny. The next year, armed with a burgeoning national network of care providers, Maddalone turned to employee work-life issues, launching a backup dependent care program—known as Pinch Hitter Care—to fill the need. In 2002, GTM Payroll Services expanded its household payroll and tax services to meet the needs of small business; the new service, branded Tech Valley Payroll, now goes head-to-head with the likes of ADP and Paychex.

That combination of ventures brought GTM Payroll Services to where it is today: a leader in employment support. Not that GTM Payroll Services is the only arena where Maddalone’s leadership skills have come to the fore. His book, How to Hire a Nanny (Sphinx Legal, 2006) has become the definitive guide for employing someone in the home. Several years ago, he participated in the prestigious Birthing of Giants program. Sponsored by the MIT Enterprise Forum, Inc., and the Young Entrepreneurs’ Organization, the program brings together recognized entrepreneurial leaders to form a unique CEO network and learn from the titans of industry.

Turning People into Entrepreneurs As GTM Payroll Services has changed, so has Maddalone’s role. “I’ve gone from a one-person operation, doing everything, to now, where my role is more leadershipfocused,” he said. “In that time, I’ve been able to leverage my accounting education, leadership experience and knowledge to groom and educate my executive team in the fundamentals of leadership. It has

been so rewarding to see them use the skills I share with them to grow their own teams.” While the accounting education and business knowledge had their roots in Siena, other aspects of the college—particularly friendships— have been even more important in Maddalone’s career. “Especially in the early days, I leaned on a lot of my Siena friends for help and guidance,” he remembered. “The greater Siena community in the Capital Region has been very welcoming and supportive of my entrepreneurial endeavors. And the Franciscan philosophy has helped shape my company’s community service efforts over the last 20 years.” Not surprisingly, Maddalone is delighted with a change in the School of Business from his college experience. “If anything has changed since my time at Siena, I would have to point to the new focus on entrepreneurship,” he said. “During my Siena days, the focus was much more on business management. I would encourage all educators to continue to challenge their students to think big and solve a problem in a market—and to choose entrepreneurship as a career.”

FACULTY PUBLICATIONS GIRARD, JAMES NOLAN and ANTHONY PONDILLO published “Determinants of Emerging Markets’ Commercial Bank Stock Returns” in Global Journal of Business Research (forthcoming). With M. Omran, GIRARD published “On the Relationship Between Trading Volume and Stock Price Volatility in CASE” in International Journal of Managerial Finance.With T. Reid, GIRARD published “Cost of Carry On Steroids: Application to the Pricing Oil Futures” in International Journal of Business and Finance Research (forthcoming).

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Excellence by the Numbers Siena connections pervade this year’s CFO of the Year Awards

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ourteen CFOs made it to the final round of the Capital District Business Review’s CFO of the Year Awards. Five—including two winners— have Siena connections.

Coincidence? Not according to the Siena finalists. “Siena gave me an opportunity to attend college that I may not have had otherwise,” said James Delaney, CFO of Curtis Lumber, a finalist in the Large Private Company category. “And I believe a Siena degree is a tipping point in many hiring decisions. When you mention Siena College to an employer or a client, you’ve got an opening.”

Accounting Grads on Parallel Tracks The career paths of the Siena CFOs share some interesting parallels. Delaney, the first in his family to attend college, joined Curtis Lumber in 1973 and has worked there ever

since. During that time, the company has grown from four stores and $7 million in sales to 22 stores and $150 million. Like Delaney, Gregory Sorrentino started at a CPA firm—in his case, Urbach Kahn & Werlin—then became division controller at Mechanical Technology Inc. before joining the Center for Disability Services in 1993. As CFO, he oversees the nonprofit’s $100 million operating budget. He too has noticed the difference a Siena degree makes. “Employers want to interview and hire Siena graduates,” said Sorrentino, who had landed the Urbach job by November of his senior year. “My educational experience was outstanding, and

Left to Right: James Delaney ’66 of Curtis Lumber, Joseph Vitale P ’05 (parent of a Siena graduate) of Rose and Kiernan Insurance and Small Private Company CFO of the Year Susan Premo ’87 of Specialty Silicone Products.

Donna Abbott Vlahos/ The Business Review

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RALUCA IORGULESCU and J. M. Polimeni published “A Multi-Scale Integrated Analysis of the Energy use in Romania, Bulgaria, Poland and Hungary” in Energy Journal. They also published “Whose Standards? (B)reaching the Assessment Puzzle” in American Journal of Business Education (forthcoming).

so were my two internships. They prepared me well for what I was to encounter after I graduated.” Susan Premo of Specialty Silicone Products echoes that observation. “Siena’s accounting program put a lot of focus on real-life problems and taught me how to think outside the box about issues that arise in my job,” she said. “I learned a great deal about the team approach, which we use continually at Specialty Silicone Products.” Premo, who won CFO of the Year honors in the Small Private Company category, also worked with several accounting firms before joining Specialty Silicone Products in 1994— just a year after Sorrentino went to work for his current employer.

From the Parent’s Perspective One finalist has a slightly different connection with the college. Joseph Vitale is a parent of a Siena graduate—and a satisfied one at that. “I would recommend Siena to anyone in the field,” said the CFO

of Rose & Kiernan Inc. “Siena helped turn my son into a responsible adult who passed the CPA on his first attempt and works for Grant Thornton today.” By doing so, the younger Vitale has taken a somewhat different path than his father, who started at a Pennsylvania jobsite for a Boston engineering firm, then moved to Rose & Kiernan in 1986. Joseph Vitale became treasurer in 1991, vice president in 1992, senior vice president/CFO in 1999, and executive vice president/CFO in 2000. According to another Siena award winner, accounting graduates like Vitale’s son will benefit greatly from the college’s well-rounded approach to education. “The accounting department is simply superb, to be sure,” said Robert Cushing, CFO at Trustco Bank (see sidebar). “But a Siena education is also about moral focusing, community involvement, and other Franciscan values. That makes a big difference in the life of any graduate.”

Inc., Gregory Sorrentino ’89 of the Center for the Disabled,

Robert Cushing had no chance of attending Siena. In a single-parent household with three boys, he knew his family could not afford higher education. Even so, he visited Siena and told the then president his story—concluding with “Help me out and I’ll remember you down the road.” “The president put his arm around my shoulders and said, ‘Don’t worry. We’ll take care of you,’” recalled the CFO of Trustco Bank. “I ended up with a four-year scholarship.” Good call on Siena’s part. With his accounting degree in hand, Cushing went on to become a partner with KPMG Peat Marwick and CFO of Trustco Bank Corp NY. For his work at Trustco, he won top honors in the Public Company category of the Capital District Business Review’s CFO of the Year Awards. “I was honored to be nominated, thrilled to be a finalist, and shocked to be a winner,” he said. True to his promise, Cushing has remembered Siena, currently serving as chair of the college’s Board of Trustees. He sees his alma mater as an ideal training ground for finance professionals—“if you want to be a CFO, you cannot get better training than at Siena College”—but not just because of the accounting department’s technical excellence. “The CFO is the final arbiter of what’s reported,” Cushing explained. “You have to assess not only whether the information before you is technically correct, but whether it’s right—right for the shareholders and right for the community. Such an assessment requires good judgment and a strong sense of ethics. Siena instills both in its students through exposure to liberal arts and Franciscan values. This is why, time and time again, Siena grads come out on top— because they’re thinkers. Siena has trained them to think well.”

FACULTY PUBLICATIONS THOMAS KOPP and JOSEPH ROSETTI published “The Impact of Market Driven Staffing on Faculty Governance in a General Education Environment” in The Journal of World Universities Forum. ROSETTI and M. Maceiko published “An Investigation Of Strategic Decision Making In Service Marketing Through Case Study Development And Analysis” in College Teaching Methods & Styles Journal (forthcoming).

Donna Abbott Vlahos/The Business Review

From Humble Beginnings to CFO of the Year

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STUDENT PROFILE

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ome young girls dream of becoming a veterinarian, ballerina or the president. Angela Guzzi ’09 dreamed of owning her own ice cream place.

“As a child I remember going to Happy Clown with my grandmother and thinking of how I wanted to do that one day,” said the marketing and management major. “When the business went up for sale last spring, I knew I had to buy it.” So she did, purchasing the Livingston, N.Y. landmark this past July during the peak of ice cream season. With support and advice from her parents, she took charge of the business setup from filing LLC papers and buying insurance to getting approval from the Columbia County Health Department.

How to Open a Business in 13 Days

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Then the real work began. “We planned for a July 22 reopening,” Guzzi recalled. “So after the purchase, I had to do all the ordering, hiring, painting, cleaning, etc., in a week and a half!” Starting with six employees, Guzzi opened Happy Clown on time—much to the delight of the community. “Happy Clown was always known for great ice cream at great prices. I wanted to keep this same mission,” Guzzi said.

“The regulars were very happy to see us open again. You get to know what they ordered all the time, so we would have their ice cream ready by the time they got to the window, which they really appreciated!” The most popular product was the strawberry angel food cake ice cream—her uncle’s special creation. The workload of running Happy Clown surprised even a savvy management student like Guzzi. “Coming from a background of family businesses, I knew it was going to be a lot of work, but I was not used to working seven days a week from 10:30 a.m. to 10 p.m.,” she said. “I had never made an ice cream cone before, so there was a lot of learning on my part.”

Siena at Work … and Vice Versa Throughout the process, Guzzi’s Siena education played a valuable role. “At Siena, you are taught a lot about problem solving, and I think this helped me when opening my own business,” she said. “The ability to be highly organized, which you quickly learn at Siena, also helped me a great deal.”

Her Happy Clown experience, in turn, has given her an entirely new perspective on her Siena classes. “This was something like an internship, except my internship doesn’t end,” she exclaimed. “I am thinking about projects and classes differently than I did before. I look at every class as ‘How can it help my business? How can I fit this into what I’m doing at Happy Clown?’” Guzzi plans to continue operating Happy Clown well into the future. “I absolutely love what I do,” she said. “My shop is closed now for the season, but I cannot wait to open back up in April. The people who come to my window brighten my day, and there is no way you cannot be happy when you see their faces light up!”

FACULTY PUBLICATIONS ELIZABETH MARCUCCIO and J. W. Arpey published “Possession, Perfection and Priority in a Fraudulent Environment” in North East Journal of Legal Studies. JOSEPH MCCOLLUM published “Extension of a Random Walk on Finite Abelian Groups” in International Journal of Pure and Applied Mathematics.

A Business of Her Own Siena senior takes the helm at landmark ice cream store

At left, Angela Guzzi with the previous owners Robert & Jackie Stickles in front of Happy Clown Ice Cream Stand in Livingston, N.Y.

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C. Gary, O’NEILL and A. Betancourt published “The Many Call Centers of Teen Mania” in Business Case Journal. DONALD RAUX published “Teaching an Effective Accounting Class in the 21st Century: Using Active Learning Techniques” in European Journal of Management.

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Key to the program launch were two grants from State Farm Insurance, facilitated by Deb DelBelso and Suzanne O’Connor from Siena’s Career Center.

From Students to Actuaries Two Actuarial Science programs launch math and business students into promising careers

S. Kochanowski, CHUCK SEIFERT and G. Yukl published “Using Coaching to Enhance the Effects of Behavioral Feedback to Managers” in Journal of Leadership and Organizational Studies (forthcoming). R. R. Van Ness, K. Melinski, CHERYL BUFF and SEIFERT published “Work Ethic: Do New Employees Mean New Work Values?” in Journal of Managerial Issues (forthcoming).

PROGRAM HIGHLIGHT

A perfect storm of circumstances inspired Siena to launch its actuarial science program. “First, we saw a need to address the shortage of actuarial scientists around the world,” explained John O’Neill, associate professor of quantitative business analysis. “Second, our School of Science had an untapped pool of students with tremendous mathematical ability. And finally, students of similar ability in our School of Business wanted to develop their quantitative analysis to a very high level. As a result, we thought it was time to formalize and systematize our program.” Thus were born two programs at Siena: a B.S. in Actuarial Science and a Certificate in Risk Management. The programs’ exceptional rigor and advanced courses prepare students to meet all entry-level requirements of the profession’s two leading societies—the Society of Actuaries and the Casualty Actuary Society— including full preparation for the first two professional exams.

State Farm Steps In Key to the program launch were two grants from State Farm Insurance, which maintains an operation center in nearby Ballston Spa, N.Y. The grants, facilitated on the Siena side by Deb DelBelso and Suzanne O’Connor in the campus Career Center, helped the college purchase

materials, develop courses, fund faculty development, bring speakers to campus, and reimburse students as they begin to pass the exams. “Through our relationship with Siena, we can support the pursuit of a quality education in our community while addressing our own workforce development initiatives,” explained Freda Laiacona, public affairs specialist for State Farm’s Northeast Zone. “As our chairman and CEO says, it’s our responsibility to support the communities where we live and work.”

Cross-Disciplinary and Hands-On The programs feature extensive cooperation across disciplines and intensive faculty involvement. Most professors from Siena’s mathematics, quantitative business, finance, and economics departments participate. O’Neill himself takes a very active role in advising undergraduates which course options to pursue for their desired careers. “The major is roughly divided into half math and half business,” he said, “but students can weight their electives in one direction or another depending on their interests.” This active faculty role has deep roots in Siena’s mathematics

curriculum. Long before the launch of the major and certificate programs, mathematics professor (now emeritus) Tom Rousseau advised many mathematics majors about careers in actuarial science. Internships play a key role in the actuarial science major. To date, students have interned as such New York State agencies as the Teacher’s Retirement System, the Insurance Department and the Comptroller’s Office. Several private insurers have approached the school about hiring interns, and State Farm offers internships at its corporate office in Bloomington, Illinois. According to O’Neill, the two programs not only prepare students for the professional exams and offer VEE (Validation by Educational Experiences) credit—as required by the professional societies—but also provide several other distinctive advantages. “The small class sizes and close working relationships with professors are uncommon to the university experience where many actuarial centers are located,” he said. “Moreover, the advisor will remain proactive in helping students plan their course curriculum, so they can prepare themselves comprehensively for outstanding careers in the profession.”

FACULTY PUBLICATIONS I. Ruiz, ELIAS K. SHUKRALLA and C. Vargas-Silva publishedprofessor “Remittances, Institutions and A Semiparametric Study” in MARGARET GARNSEY, associate of accounting, hadGrowth: her article, “Automatic Classification of International Economic Journal. ANDREA SMITH-HUNTER, F. J. DeCasperis, and MANIMOY PAUL published “The Role of Perception Financial Accounting Concepts,” published in the Journal of Emerging Technologies in Accounting. ANDREA in Predicting Entrepreneurial Start-ups’ Behavior and Success” in Journal of International Business & Economics (forthcoming).Quarterly (forthcoming). SMITH-HUNTER, associate professor of marketing and management, had papers accepted for conferences.

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New Faculty, New Directions Four new assistant professors are not afraid to use new ideas and critique the status quo

What can Civil War accounting tell us today? What do consumers really think of private-label products? What is labor search theory, and how is it transforming labor economics? What have class and power got to do with the economy? Siena’s newest faculty members can explain it all for you. From the problems with tighter accounting regulation to the demise of the unfettered free-market paradigm, the four assistant professors bring fresh insights and thoughtful analysis to trends at the vanguard of business today. As such, they fit seamlessly with several School of Business departments on the move.

Goodbye, Unfettered Free Market 14

For Aaron Pacitti, it is hard to imagine a more momentous time to study economics. “The financial crisis and Great Recession have credibly disproven the idea that the combination of unregulated markets and self-interested behavior will always maximize the welfare of society,” explained the new assistant professor of economics. “The principles that have governed

economic science for the past three decades will need replacing with a different model: one that includes issues of income distribution, class, and power.” Much of Pacitti’s research focuses on this new model. In his dissertation (written at American University), he analyzed the direct relationship between employment insecurity and better macroeconomic outcomes— then showed how the same outcomes might be achieved in more equitable ways, such as offering pensions to more workers. This line of research, he said, “offers students a chance to explore topics rarely covered in standard textbooks or mainstream economics departments.”

Pacitti’s two courses this year— American economic history and political economy—allow him and his students to explore alternatives to conventional economic wisdom. “Political economy, in particular, looks at how institutions and power can affect economic outcomes,” he said. “I am very much looking forward to teaching it.”

Toward a New Theory of Labor Pacitti has several things in common with one of his new colleagues, Arindam Mandal, Ph.D: both teach economics, both focus on labor, and both examine ideas on the cutting edge. For Mandal, those new ideas come in the form of labor search theory. “Unlike standard neoclassical economics, this approach to labor markets recognizes labor market friction,” he said. “With labor market

FACULTY PUBLICATIONS MANIMOY PAUL, ANDREA SMITH-HUNTER, and S. Cherukari publshed “Students’ Selection, Participation and Performance in Undergraduate Math Courses” in International Journal Educational Research (forthcoming). SMITH-HUNTER and M. Infante published “Women Entrepreneurs and the Protected Market Hypothesis, Niches, Cultural and Disadvanatge Theories” in Journal of Business and Economics Research (forthcoming).

friction, it is possible to build more realistic economic models that better explain labor-related economic phenomena.” Mandal brings an intriguing blend of experience to his new post as visiting assistant professor of economics. During the last academic year, he served in a similar capacity at Hartwick College; he has also worked at the New York State Assembly and for Fidelity Investments as an economist. Mandal, who also conducts research in macroeconomics and econometrics, came to Siena principally because of its reputation. “Siena is known not only for its quality teaching, but also for its commitment towards service and research,” he said. “Being at Siena can help anyone build a successful academic career.”

Of Railroads and Reporting Chester Brearey, D.B.A. is passionate about the study of history. That goes for accounting history too. “History helps us to explain the present and become prophets for the future,” mused the assistant professor of accounting. “It not only plays a critical role at the core of a college, but should become a required course in all disciplines.”

Brearey draws on the first true model of financial reporting—the railroads of the nineteenth century— to find lessons for today’s accounting profession. He is developing papers on such diverse topics as Civil War accounting and credit default swaps. His dissertation cast a critical eye on calls for more stringent reporting regulation, particularly whether those new regulations would help users make better decisions. Like Mandal, Brearey has plenty of experience to draw from: as an audit partner with an international public accounting firm, the partner of an investment firm that specialized in organizational workouts and the CEO of a national distributor of health care equipment. To his students, Brearey brings a thoughtful approach to pedagogy. “In business, and critically so in accounting, education is about rigor, communication skills, and critical thought—the why, not the how,” he said. “My objective is to provide the student with the tools to be successful in these areas.”

The Power of the Private Label Few organizations can provide a marketing education like a

supermarket chain. That makes Michael Pepe ’90, D.B.A. ideal for his new job, assistant professor of marketing and management. Pepe comes to Siena with nearly 20 years in retailing, principally for Price Chopper Supermarkets, where he served in positions from dairy buyer to senior business manager. It was as a private label brand manager, however, that he found his calling. That calling became a basis for research. His dissertation covered the longitudinal impact of private label brands on category profitability and customer loyalty. He presented a paper on a related topic at the 2008 Applied Business Research Conference and co-authored a second paper with Siena professor Cheryl Buff. After several years as an adjunct professor, Pepe is delighted to put his unique blend of experience to work for his alma mater. “I understand the importance of the excellent education and Franciscan values that Siena provides its students,” said the 1990 graduate, whose father, sister, and brother also hold Siena degrees. “These strengths make me feel honored to be part of the Siena community.”

SMITH-HUNTER and J. Kapp published “A Case of Comparative Entrepreneurship: Minority Men and Women Entrepreneurs in Non Traditional Fields” in Journal of Applied Business and Economics (forthcoming). SMITH-HUNTER and J. Leone published “Evidence on the Characteristics of Women Entrepreneurs in Brazil: An Empirical Analysis” in International Journal of Management and Marketing Research (forthcoming)

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ECONOMICS DEPARTMENT ROUNDTABLE EXPLORES LEGALIZATION OF DRUGS Should drugs be legalized? If so, which ones? How would they be regulated? What are the consequences? Is this the first step toward moral decay? Economics professors Aaron Pacitti and Arindam Mandal facilitated an informal discussion of these controversial issues in their October 13 Economics Department Roundtable. The roundtable comes in the wake of the recent experiment in California, which legalized the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes and has seen an uptick in the economy as a result of the legislation.

PROGRAM UPDATES GOVERNOR’S FORMER BUDGET DIRECTOR HEADLINES LECTURE SERIES The seventh president of the Commission on Independent Colleges and Universities spoke on the challenges to New York higher education in the latest installment of the School of Business Lecture Series. Laura Anglin’s distinguished career in public service—especially as budget director for two governors and deputy comptroller for New York State— made her an ideal candidate for the series, noted School of Business Dean Jim Nolan. Anglin’s presentation complemented two other well-received lectures in the fall series. Gerald Pucci, Jr., ’86, managing director of fixed income portfolio management at BlackRock— one of the world’s largest publicly traded investment management firms—spoke in September, while October’s lecture featured HR leader Rosanne Greenwood, president of RJG Consulting.

Deborah L. Kelly, J.D., assistant professor of management, and Michael Sham, Ph.D., professor of classics, led 25 Siena students on a 16-night study tour of Turkey and Greece in May/June 2009. Prior to the trip, the students took a global connection international business course taught by Kelly and a classics topics course developed and taught by Sham.

FACULTY PUBLICATIONS AND AWARDS SMITH-HUNTER and S. Mboko published “Zimbabwe Women Entrepreneurs: Survival Strategies and Implications for Growth” in Journal of Applied Business and Economics (forthcoming) and “Women Entrepreneurs in Zimbabwe: A Case Study” in Business Renaissance Quarterly (forthcoming). PAUL THURSTON and L. A. McNall published “Justice Perceptions of Performance Appraisal Practices” in Journal of Managerial Psychology (forthcoming). ERIC GIRARD received two awards for Best Paper in Finance at the 2009 GBR conference for: “Determinants of Emerging Markets’ Commercial Bank Stock Returns, Global Business Research” and “Cost of Carry On Steroids: Application to the Pricing Oil Futures, Global Business Research Institute.” KATHERINE SILVESTER received the Best Paper Award at the 2009 IABR and TLC Conferences.