Business
Monterey Mayor Commends Team of MIIS MBA Students for Excellent Consulting Work
City of Monterey Mayor Chuck Della Sala has issued a letter of commendation to each member of the Golden State Theatre International Business Plan team. In his letter, Mayor Della Sala writes: “We have worked with a number of consultants over the years on a wide array of topics. The work your team provided rivaled, if not excelled, those professional consultants.”
The team consisted of five students in the Masters of Business Administration (MBA) program, Whitney Hales (MBA/MAIEP ’14), Mary Vargo (MBA ’14), Charles Ruegger (MBA ’14), Alexander Dennis (MBA/MAIEP ’14), and Henry Scotson Webbe (MBA ’14). The project for the City of Monterey involved consultation regarding the future of the historic Golden State Theater in downtown Monterey. The team investigated different uses of the theatre and assessed impact on community development, economic benefit, and financial viability. Instead of presenting the city officials with a set of strategic recommendations of the optimal use scenarios, the team also provided an easy-to-use spreadsheet tool that would allow the city officials to experiment with different mix of objectives and discover associated optimal use scenarios.
MIIS Launches New Center on Social Impact Learning with Funding from Cordes Foundation
On May 12, the Monterey Institute announced the establishment of a new Center for Social Impact Learning (CSIL), which will bring three existing programs together under a single umbrella:
- The Institute’s Frontier Market Scouts program, which provides graduate students from MIIS and other schools, as well as mid-career international professionals, with an intensive two-week training program followed by a six-month internship designed to prepare them for careers in impact investing and social venture management;
- The Ambassador Corps, which will provide undergraduate students at Middlebury College and other schools with ten-week in-field learning experiences in development and business in underdeveloped and emerging economies; and
- The Development Consulting Program, which will engage MIIS students as team members on projects initiated by some of the most reputable consulting firms to provide pro-bono consulting services to nonprofit organizations.
The latter two programs were created by the new center’s director, Jerry Hildebrand, who most recently headed the Global Center for Social Entrepreneurship at the University of the Pacific. Hildebrand was previously the CEO for 17 years of Katalysis Bootstrap Fund, a microfinance organization that provides training, technical assistance, and credit to non-governmental microfinance institutions in Central America. His decades of work in grassroots economic development began in Peru, where he served as one of pioneering Peace Corps volunteers in the early 1960s.
“The opportunity to create a groundbreaking Center for Social Impact Learning at MIIS is truly an enviable task,” said Hildebrand. “The MIIS faculty have already laid the foundation of a rigorous academic program, to which we will add a compelling and innovative experiential learning component. Students will be equipped with a practical problem-solving skill set that will be field tested throughout the developing world.”
The new center plans to develop an active research program on management issues in social venture and impact investing, leveraging existing experiential and professional learning programs. Managing the research program and the academic programming for CSIL is Dr. Yuwei Shi, dean of Graduate School of International Policy and Management at MIIS, who also founded the Frontier Market Scouts program. CSIL also expects to collaborate closely with Middlebury College’s Center for Social Entrepreneurship (CSE), which integrates social entrepreneurship and liberal arts education. According to economics professor Jonathan Isham, the CSE’s faculty director, “MIIS and Middlebury College students should celebrate this grand news. Jerry Hildebrand is one of the true leaders in social entrepreneurship education. My CSE colleagues and I look forward to building opportunities with Jerry and Yuwei, on behalf of students on both coasts.”
“This new venture is unique among the many social entrepreneurship programs in existence today,” noted Monterey Institute President Sunder Ramaswamy, “in that it is designed to serve the full spectrum of budding social entrepreneurs, from undergraduates to graduate students to young professionals. CSIL will offer them not only valuable learning experiences but also seamless transitions from one stage of professional development to the next as they prepare for careers in the social impact investing field.”
The Center for Social Impact Learning will be supported by a generous grant from the Cordes Foundation. The Cordes Foundation was created in 2006 by Ron and Marty Cordes following the sale of Ron’s company, AssetMark Investment Services. One of the major focuses of the foundation’s philanthropy continues to be supporting social entrepreneurship education. The foundation also funds the Cordes Innovation Awards given each year by Ashoka U; the Monterey Institute’s Frontier Market Scouts program won a Cordes award in 2013, and Middlebury’s MiddCORE program was a winner in 2014.
“We are excited to be a seed funder of this groundbreaking new initiative, which aligns our mission with the commitment of MIIS and Middlebury to equip the next generation of leaders in social entrepreneurship,” said Ron Cordes.
The center will formally launch at MIIS effective July 1, with related academic programming beginning in fall 2014.
MIIS Professor and Student Win $50,000 Innovator of the Year Award
“A supportive culture of innovation exists at MIIS,” says Professor Jeffrey Langholz of the International Environmental Policy program, who this weekend won the main prize of $50,000 and title of Innovator of the Year at the Monterey Bay Startup Challenge along with graduate student Maeve Murphy (MBA/MAIEP ’15). Their idea is called Water City and it helps make water conservation easy and profitable for the public.
Freshwater issues are a passion for Maeve, who is working on a joint degree in business administration and environmental policy. “This is why I came to MIIS,” she says happily, explaining that she has long been bothered by the inefficiencies in the way we handle freshwater. Professor Langholz is also passionate about water issues, and when his colleague Kent Glenzer founded the recent Monterey Institute Community Innovation Challenge for students with a challenge focused on water issues, Jeff started thinking actively of solutions.
When Maeve made an appointment with Professor Langholz in February to discuss career options, he shared his water ideas and they decided to combine their strengths. For Maeve, the challenge came at a perfect time. “It was a real-world situation in which I could apply my education thus far to an idea that I am passionate about. There were countless times I would be in class and would realize that what we were learning that moment I could apply to the Water City project and would pull open my notes or financial spreadsheet and start adjusting immediately.” Smiling wryly, Langholz says,”MIIS faculty are in the business of making students’ dreams come true.”
When MIIS faculty and students put their heads together, the rest of the world benefits. But these two do not want to take all the credit for their success so far. “This may have looked like a single student and a single professor,” says Langholz, ”but more than 40 people on campus supported the effort – that’s how it works at MIIS!”
Announcing – GSIPM Summer Business Boot Camp!
A new Summer Business Boot Camp will be offered at MIIS from August 8-18, 2014. The training (ECPR 8550 Business Fundamentals) is designed to introduce non-MBA students to fundamental concepts to enhance business acumen and boost professional confidence.
A new 10 day business certificate program for non-MBA students
The boot camp was designed with the Non-MBA in mind as a way to build business acumen and gain the competitive edge for a managerial role in human or financial resources or in freelance contracting services such as interpretation or translation.
Course Schedule
All classes are scheduled from 9am to 5:30pm with a one hour lunch break in between.
| Dates | Course Title and Instructor (click names to view bios) |
| August 8 – 9 | Decision Science – Professor Eddine Dahel |
| August 10-11 | Accounting – Professor Canri Chan |
| August 12 – 13 | Marketing – Professor Fredric Kropp |
| August 15 – 16 | Managerial Economics – Professor Moyara Ruehsen |
| August 17 – 18 | Finance – Professor Sandra Dow |
Course Requirements and Related Fees
For the August 8 – 18, 2014 Summer Business Boot Camp, the fee is $850. This is a one-time only discount to celebrate the inaugural boot camp. The 2015 Summer Business Boot Camp training fee will be $1,600 USD.
Participants will be required to complete the online MBAMath.com training by August 6th. The MBAMath.com costs $149 and will help students to brush up on basis quantitative skills and excel use.
Fun Fact: several complimentary happy hours will offer students a way to mingle with top MIIS instructors and build new connections with peers.
Please send inquiries to Lauren Patron: lpatron@miis.edu.
To learn more or to apply, visit: http://www.miis.edu/academics/programs/mba/bootcamp
Team of MBA Students Wins Third Prize in International Business Plan Competition
Four Monterey Institute MBA students traveled to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland in January to compete in the final round of the international Business for a Better World competition, sponsored by Corporate Knights and the Schulich School of Business. The MIIS quartet beat out teams from 20 other universities around the world to reach the final three.
Mary Vargo (MBA ’14), Morgan Rogge (MBA/MAIEP ’14), John Foss (MBA ’13), and James Shirreff (MBA/MAIEP ’14) said the experience in Davos was “amazing,” and their presentation was very well received. They were awarded the third place, carrying a $2,000 prize. “The MIIS team was the thought leader in this competition,” says Dean Yuwei Shi of the Institute’s Graduate School of International Policy and Management. “Their work treads convincingly beyond corporate social responsibility and shows an exciting direction to businesses that are looking past the one-, five- or even ten-year horizon. We are very proud of the team’s achievement.”
Vargo and Foss are students in the Institute’s Fisher MBA in International Management program, while Rogge and Shirreff are pursuing the joint degree program combining the MBA with the Master of Arts in International Environmental Policy.
Back in the US of A
Participating in the Frontier Market Scouts Program was truly one of the most amazing experiences I’ve had at the Monterey Institute so far! The training was practical and insightful and Maya Mountain Cacao was an ideal placement for me to learn and contribute. The company is a perfect example of a triple bottom-line enterprise making commendable strides in all three areas (people, planet, profit). Scouting for Village Capital provided an opportunity for thoughtful consideration of the social enterprise landscape across southern Belize. All of the connections I made were with inspiring individuals who love their country, its resources, and its people and who want to capture and preserve Belize’s natural and cultural uniqueness while bringing needed economic development to their communities. And though Belize may not be VilCap Accelerator ready just yet, I would advise keeping a close eye for big things are yet to come. The people I met across Toledo are strong, determined, and hard working. Thanks to MMC, I learned first hand that great social enterprises are successful when dedicated individuals unite over a common mission for a greater cause.
I want to thank the MMC team for an incredible summer, for letting me work beside you and with you, and for sharing with me your beautiful Belize!
Miss these guys already! (Kerri, Anna, Emiterio, and Emily)