PRESS RELEASES

SCCO International and Pepperdine University’s Graziadio School of Business and Management Ranking Finds Occidental Petroleum CEO Stephen Chazen and Monster Beverage CEO Rodney Sacks Top Among Southern California Executives

LOS ANGELES—Today, SCCO International and Pepperdine University’s Graziadio School of Business and Management released the 2012 CEO Performance 100 , which ranks CEO performance of Southern California’s largest companies. The report names Occidental Petroleum’s CEO, Stephen Chazen, as the top value creator in Southern California. In 2011, Occidental had the highest absolute value creation with $3.4 billion in economic profit, an increase of $1.6 billion over its 2010 results. Occidental was followed closely by Amgen, with an absolute economic profit of $3.2 billion.

The absolute value creation for each company was achieved by measuring profits earned above the cost of capital. The report highlighted strong profitability for many companies; 58 of the 100 CEOs reached positive economic profit. Conversely, 42 delivered negative economic profits.

“By focusing on economic profit in our ranking, we were able to determine which companies are truly creating value for their investors,” said Patrick Furtaw, Partner at SCCO International and a co-author of the report. “Stephen Chazen has exhibited strong leadership, effective strategy and disciplined execution, which have positioned Occidental Petroleum for continued success.”

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GRAZIADIO IN THE NEWS

Business leaders have three primary reasons for seeking an MBA, according to Linda Livingstone, dean of the Graziadio School of Business and Management at Pepperdine University, Irvine branch. They are:

• To improve job skills in hopes of creating advancement opportunities within a current company

• To transition to a new company or perhaps a new field

• To move into entrepreneurship, creating one’s own business instead of trying to climb someone else’s corporate ladder

At Pepperdine, one program teams MBA candidates with private companies that often produce ideas created by the students.

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GRAZIADIO IN THE NEWS

“The old price patterns are breaking down,” said Joe Hahn, an associate professor at Pepperdine University’s Graziadio School of Business and Management. “It’s beginning to look like the peak price for gasoline may have been much earlier this year.” Hahn specializes in energy price modeling.

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FEATURES

Presidents and Key Executives (PKE) MBA C-Level students in Professor Demos Vardiabasis’ class were treated to an extraordinary surprise guest earlier this spring. Dr. Demos arranged for a minister in the Greek government to Skype into class for a live frank and informal Q&A regarding the debt crisis seizing the country and sending shockwaves across the European Union.

An esteemed professor, intrepid entrepreneur, accomplished executive, and much in-demand consultant, Dr. Demos was California Economic Commissioner under Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and worked previously with the Greek National Tourism Organization.

“The call improved my understanding of the debt crisis by providing underlying insights on why this was occurring in Greece first,” said Ken Huening (PKE MBA ’12), a vice president at semiconductor manufacturer Maxim Integrated Products. The minister shed light on what the Greek people themselves thought, why the crisis precipitated, the constraints on the government to fix the problem, what kind of help Greece was receiving from the EU and the forecast for the crisis’ end. continue

RESEARCH

John Mooney, an associate professor of information systems and technology management, has been named a research fellow at the Irish Center for Cloud Computing and Commerce (ICA), a new technology center to develop new architectures, service models, security and business techniques that assist companies migrating and establishing their business on the Cloud in a secure and compliant manner. ICA will work with a group of software companies to establish ways to generate business and profit from cloud-based innovation.

“The Center brings together government, enterprise and Ireland’s leading academic research institutions to help make Ireland a world leader in the fast-growing cloud computer sector, and significantly contribution to job creation and economic growth,” said Dr. Mooney, who is himself a native son of the proud island nation. “As Research Fellow, I will guide a selection of empirical research projects.” continue