When Last Seen

The Bulletin likes to be sure that it is, without exception, landing in the mailboxes of all HBS alumni. So it was with our usual attentiveness that we followed the recent confusion in the Sunshine State, in order to ascertain if the mailing address for George W. Bush (MBA ’75) should be updated.

Resolution of that question seemed to revolve around the mother of all competition and strategy cases, with no small amount of numbers crunching (and re-crunching) thrown in. As he awaited the outcome of the determination of his next address, it all must have reminded Bush of his days in the HBS classroom; certainly his relaxed demeanor “as he sat in front of a fireplace framed by festive Christmas decorations” as the New York Times reported (December 5, 2000), must have reminded members of the Class of 1975 of their sky-decking classmate. For those who aren’t so sure they recall him, here’s how the School’s most famous alumnus appeared in his class yearbook. Clearly, the years have brought a few changes.

A Miller's Tale The oldest flour company in the United States — and perhaps the only one whose sales are rising amid a decline in home baking — is King Arthur Flour, a firm that’s been in operation since George Washington was President, as Smithsonian magazine reported in its November 2000 issue. King Arthur’s chairman is Frank Sands (MBA ’63), who, according to a long-established tradition in this family-run enterprise, did not inherit the company but bought it, at fair market value, from his father. Milled from the heart of the wheat berry (and slightly more expensive than competitors’ products), King Arthur flour is hailed by famous chefs such as Julia Child and Graham Kerr for its superior quality. Of the company’s exacting standards, Sands noted, “A couple of years ago, we shipped back eleven freight cars of flour because it was one-tenth of 1 percent off our protein specs.” In addition to a thriving catalog business that sends King Arthur flour, recipes, and baking items to far-flung devotees, Sands and his wife, Brinna, have initiated baking programs in schools. They also operate a Baking Center (a bakery, store, and school) at company headquarters — appropriately known as “Camelot” — in Norwich, Vermont. In 1996, realizing that none of their children wanted to continue the business, the Sandses began to turn over ownership to their 150 employees. “Seeing the men and women who work here strive to reach their full potential now that they are owners is tremendously gratifying,” Sands said. RETURN TO THE TOP OF THE PAGE

Changing Student Life “I’m actually an abstract artist,” Jaja Jackson (MBA ’99) told the Boston Globe (November 27, 2000), “but you know what? I was forced to go to school.” That education — Harvard College, followed by a job at McKinsey, and then HBS — has paid off. Jackson is cofounder and president of Mascot Network, Inc., whose online “Campus in a Click” intranet services provide cost-effective, interactive communication for all people associated with an institution of higher learning. “We’re changing student life,” Jackson explained. “You remember walking around campus and seeing signs on posts or blowing around all over the place? It’s clubs, it’s all the things happening on your campus. We invented this service to put all this online.” Based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Mascot Network, whose cofounder and chief strategy officer is Jason Palmer (MBA ’99), aims to improve communication between administrators and students and to enable students to explore academic topics, access information, and connect with peers. It currently serves some 600,000 students at ninety institutions. RETURN TO THE TOP OF THE PAGE

Classic Lines

Contemplating old furniture and oddities from the attic sounds about as exciting as watching paint dry — hardly the stuff of prime-time entertainment. Yet Antiques Roadshow, in which people present their household treasures for inspection by eagle-eyed appraisers, has become PBS’s top-rated show, attracting some fifteen million viewers weekly. Enter Dekkers Davidson (MBA ’82), CEO of Antiques America, an online company (antiquesamerica.com) that brings together buyers and sellers in this $25 billion market and wants to be the leading online destination for the antiques community.

Davidson’s company features a number of Antiques Roadshow’s authorities as online hosts, and the show’s creator and former executive producer has also signed on to develop Internet concepts and broadcast programming. Other members of Davidson’s staff include antiques experts with backgrounds at prominent museums and auction houses.

As the Woodstock generation increasingly limits its rockin’ to the front-porch variety, Davidson notes that one big target market has become “baby boomers moving into prime antiquing age.”

A Bankable Trust

Carla Ann Harris (MBA ’87) is a managing director at Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, in charge of the marketing and execution of new-issue equity financing in the technology, media, telecommunications, transportation, industrial, and health-care sectors. With a workload like that, most people might find it hard to break into song at the end of the day, but it’s not a problem for Harris: “I’ve been singing all of my life, primarily R&B and gospel,” she told the New York Times (October 22, 2000).

Singing gigs helped Harris work her way through Harvard College and HBS. Out in the real world, she has performed in theater productions, at weddings and parties, and, for the last five years, in a gospel choir. “It’s important to have balance in one’s life,” she observed.

That balance also includes community service — Harris serves on several nonprofit boards and has funded scholarships both at her Florida high school and at Harvard College. And now her music is furthering her academic outreach efforts. Last fall, Harris released a holiday CD, “Carla’s First Christmas.” All proceeds from its sale are benefiting not only her high-school scholarship fund but also a new scholarship she has established at a New York City parochial school. For more information, visit www.nema-amen.com.