FEATURES

By AMY BIEMILLER

2012 Small Business Breakfast Series

March 14 – Taking Advantage of Today’s Favorable Tax Environment – Strategies to Enhance Business Profitability and Financial Security; Paul Salerno, Director of Financial Planning at Tax & Financial Group

May 9 – Building Your First Sales Team

To learn more about the Small Business Breakfast Series, go to http://bschool.pepperdine.edu/alumni/councils/oc/

Small businesses have big appetites for learning how to better manage the business of business. Now, the Graziadio Alumni Network (GAN) in Orange County is meeting that need for local small business owners, managers and nascent entrepreneurs – and provide a breakfast to boot – in a regular Small Business Breakfast Series on the Irvine campus.

“We recognized that a good portion of our constituents are either employed with, or have started a small to medium-sized business,” says MBA student Kris Carter, the Orange County alumni network’s director of small business outreach. “This observation, combined with increased awareness of this segment by the University, led us to initiate the program.”

Less a networking meeting and more a think-tank session over coffee, the Breakfast Series is open to anyone willing to pay the $15 fee and make the bright-and-early 7:30 a.m. start time. Attendees help themselves to breakfast goodies, then settle in for a presentation by a business leader or subject matter expert who delivers focused insight into specific areas that are important to business owners.

“Our speakers are subject matter experts who provide current, relevant information on topics that face a small business or entrepreneur,” explains Carter. “The greatest value is that attendees get access to individuals who have ‘been there, done that’ and can share what they learned through the process.” continue

RECENT HEADLINE

Dr. John K. Paglia, lead research for the Pepperdine Private Capital Markets Project and an associate professor of finance at the Graziadio School of Business and Management, was awarded the third annual Middle Market Thought Leader Award. The recognition honors “individuals who have made a meaningful contribution to middle market M&A” and was given by the Alliance of Merger & Acquisition Advisors (R) (AM&AA), the leading association and credentialing body for middle market M&A professionals in partnership with Grant Thornton LLP, one of the six global audit, tax and advisory organizations.

Paglia tied for the award with investment banker Robert Slee, author of the text Private Capital Markets, who collaborate with the Pepperdine professor in 2007 on a model to map the movements of both lenders and businesses that comprise the ever-changing private capital market system.

This became the Pepperdine Private Capital Markets Project, the first simultaneous, comprehensive, and on-going investigation of the major private capital market segments. The research has resulted in 11 reports since its inception in 2009. Most recently, collaborating in part on surveys with Dun & Bradstreet Credibility Corp., Paglia issued a 2012 U.S. Economic Forecast, State of Small Business Report, Capital Markets Report and California State of Small Business Supplement. continue

PRESS RELEASES

LOS ANGELES–Executives and managers are invited to enroll in non-degree certificate programs centered on strategic corporate social responsibility (CSR) and creative problem solving, as well as travel to Japan for an immersive experience in the country’s sustainable business practices. Pepperdine University’s Graziadio School of Business and Management announces its Spring 2012 portfolio of new executive education offerings. Courses are taught by MBA-level faculty, addressing the latest best practices and current issues facing business leaders, and designed to advance learning that can be immediately applied to enhance the success of organizations. continue

EXECUTIVE CONNECTION

In its first year, the Graziadio School’s new Office of Executive Education has introduced exciting programs that broaden the Graziadio School’s audience, educational offerings and geographic reach. Four new general enrollment programs have been developed and launched. The inaugural offerings of the Certificate in Private Capital Markets last June and again in November, led by Dr. John Paglia, were a huge success, with attendees traveling not only from across the United States, but from also Brazil, Canada and Australia.

Over the summer, faculty partnered with Training Vision in Singapore to develop a six-unit management and leadership program under the Singapore government’s Work Force Development Agency guidelines. Faculty traveled to Singapore in November to begin delivering the program. The faculty members who pulled the program together are Dr. Mark Allen, Dr. Kevin Groves, Dr. Teri Tompkins, Dr. Julie Chesley, Dr. Kent Rhodes, Dr. Gary Mangiofico, as well as faculty coordinator Dr. Ann Feyerherm and Rachel Williams, director of Executive Education, who coordinated the curriculum development and document management and review.

A corporate partnership with Calabasas-based Ixia Communications, the leader in converged IP testing across five continents, is another exciting program that Executive Education pioneered. Graziadio faculty delivered four workshops to Ixia executives in 2011. Some of Ixia’s management traveled from India to attend. Plans are in the works to develop an even more robust program for the company this year.

This spring the portfolio of offerings include:

Certificate in Private Capital Markets

April 18-20, 2012 Lead Faculty: Dr. John Paglia
Learn in-depth critical analysis and evaluation skills for transacting successful financing deals within the private capital markets and the valuation methods used by capital providers when evaluating transactions.

Certificate in Financial Management for the Family Office

March 19-21, 2012
Learn best practices in corporate governance, financial management for the family office necessary to make informed and suitable investment decisions.

Certificate in Innovative Leadership

April 2-3 and May 14-15, 2012 Lead Faculty: Dr. Larry Cox and John Shearer
This highly practical seminar series utilizes the Simplex® System of Applied Creativity, and the work-related problems submitted by the participants themselves, to train executives and managers in the processes, skills, and tools to find innovative and creative solutions to business challenges.

Certificate in Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility

March 1-2, 2012, Lead Faculty: Dr. Michael Crooke
A two-day program focused on teaching businesses leaders the complexities of sustainability, corporate social responsibility, and ethics, and how these tie into producing a superior product that generates financial growth.

Sustainable Business Strategy Immersion Program in Japan

April 22-27, 2012, Lead Faculty: Tetsuya O’Hara
Travel to Japan with Pepperdine faculty to participate in a one-of-kind educational experience focused on studying sustainability in business.

Online Executive Certificate in Financial Planning

An independent, self-study, online education program designed to fulfill the education requirement to sit for the CFP® Certification Examination.

For more information on these programs, visit: http://bschool.pepperdine.edu/programs/executive-education/

FEATURES

By AMY BIEMILLER

Shandell Maxwell and Brandon Yamasaki

Peer Connection program is successfully helping part-time students in the fully employed MBA, BSM and MS programs have a more satisfying campus experience.

For part-time graduate business students on most college campuses, fitting in can be a challenge. Unlike their resident student counterparts who study, eat, socialize, and live at school, part-time students find their time on campus limited by distance, full-time employment and family responsibilities . Those limitations can prohibit an enriched campus connection and inhibit the effective completion of assignments that have group parameters.

This is not the case at Pepperdine’s Graziadio School of Business and Management, however, where the Peer Connection program is successfully helping part-time students in the Fully Employed MBA, Bachelor of Science in Management and MS programs have a more satisfying campus experience.

“As part-time students, time is our greatest challenge,” says Shandell Maxwell, president of Peer Connection. “Our goal is to show students how they can balance academics, work, and life. We help them make the connections that are important for them to not only get their work done, but also to receive guidance, explore ideas, and have a rich overall Pepperdine experience.”

Maxwell leads by example. Early in her part-time pursuit of a master’s degree in management and leadership at the Graziadio School of Business and Management, she wanted to get a better handle on the campus resources available to help attain her academic goals. She found she was not alone and organized a group called Fully Employed Student Services to provide information sessions and webinars specifically designed to help part-time students better understand the breadth of available campus resources.

“Pepperdine offers an abundance of resources for all students, and we want to make it easy for them to know what is available, easy for everyone to access, and welcoming for all students to participate,” Maxwell explains. She took that goal and has now applied it to Peer Connection.

“Peer Connection is important because it helps part-time students navigate the Pepperdine experience,” says James Grey, Assistant Director of the BSM/MBA Fully Employed program. “I see it as a real catalyst in getting these students involved and connected on a deeper level.”

Article continues after the photos.

“Peer Connection is important because it helps part-time students navigate the Pepperdine experience,” says James Grey (center), Assistant Director of the BSM/MBA Fully Employed program. “I see it as a real catalyst in getting these students involved and connected on a deeper level.”

Peer Connection created a team to help fundraise for the Orange County Children Hospital Walk at Disneyland.

Peer Connection was an important presence at the fall term's campus student reception in Irvine.

Relationship-building underpins the mission of Peer Connection. “We have partnered with the Graziadio Alumni Network and we are building relationships with other student groups to provide part-time students the opportunity to participate in networking events and social gatherings, get involved with service groups, and tap into peer resources on and off campus,” Maxwell says.

One of the group’s most successful recent initiatives has been the series Things I Wish I Knew. Held via webinar and at off-campus locations, current students and alumni share their experiences and provide insight about classroom expectations, how to access campus resources, and how to balance the requirements of work, home and school.

“Students who have attended the webinars found them to be very useful in easing their anxiety about starting school,” she says.

According to Peer Connection marketing manager, Brandon Yamasaki, even after part-time students become oriented, they should continue to take advantage of Peer Connection as a resource to help build relationships critical to their academic success.

“When I first started my part-time graduate studies a year ago, I was a little overwhelmed with the important role that networking plays in mastering group assignments,” he admits. “One of the goals of the graduate program is to build leadership skills by working in groups.” That can be problematic for part-time students who may be in different areas of the country.

Yamasaki hopes to leverage his leadership role with Peer Connection to help other students understand how to use the Pepperdine technology infrastructure to facilitate group interactions. He has helped promote the use of Skype video chat for web conferences, cloud storage services to sync online documents, and Yammer.com as an academic forum to bring students together.

“What we are doing in Peer Connection is bringing students together, regardless of distance or the time limits that define their classroom experience,” he explains.

Because Pepperdine students value community service, Peer Connection provides community service project opportunities that fit with a part-time student’s time limitations. One of the first community outreach projects the group undertook was a weekend beach clean-up at Venice Beach.

“Servant leadership is part of the mission and values of our students, and it is imperative we provide such opportunities for part-time students as well as full-time students,” says Grey. “Peer Connection coordinates opportunities that can fit well with a part-time student’s schedule.”

Peer Connection has raised awareness about its presence by using the school’s social networking site Yammer as well as Facebook, and is working on marketing a grassroots campaign at the graduate campuses to heighten awareness.

For more information about the Graziadio Peer Connection, contact James Grey at James.Grey@pepperdine.edu