Alumni Achievement Awards: Honorees and Victories
The starting five: This year's Alumni Achievement Award winners included (clockwise, from lower left) Judy Haberkorn, Lou Gerstner, Joe O'Donnell, Rahul Bajaj, and Nancy Barry. The group visited HBS in September and took part in a case discussion with members of the MBA Class of 2007.
Photo by Stuart Cahill
Just moments earlier, Dean Jay Light had presented five HBS graduates with the Alumni Achievement Award, the School’s highest honor.
Now they were being asked, metaphorically speaking, to pull on their basketball jerseys, tie up their sneakers, and show off some of the veteran moves and hard-earned skills that had made them stars during their long and distinguished business careers.
HBS professor Bill George was, in effect, the referee for the September 29 Burden Hall event, which was sponsored by the HBS Leadership and Values Committee. George presented to the alumni panelists, and to an audience of some 900 first-year students, a pair of video clips that showcased the contrasting leadership styles of two of college basketball’s best coaches: the nurturing Mike Krzyzewski of Duke and the intimidating Bobby Knight of Texas Tech and, previously, Indiana.
Which coach, George asked, would you rather play for, and which coach would you hire to turn around your basketball program if you were a college president?
The contrast between the two coaches sparked a broad discussion of leadership. “I’d play for both,” one panelist said, while others agreed that each man had his strengths and that they shared certain traits. Panelists recalled difficult situations from their own careers, trying to stay on course while adjusting to particular circumstances.
As the action went back and forth, the audience listened and questioned the pros, absorbing lessons they will no doubt put to good use when it’s their turn to get into the game.
Following are short profiles of this year’s recipients.
Rahul Bajaj (MBA ’64)
As chairman of Bajaj Auto Ltd., one of India’s foremost companies and one of the world’s largest makers of motorized scooters and motorcycles, Rahul Bajaj has had a powerful influence on corporate practices in his country, championing modern concepts of production and manufacturing as well as adherence to the highest standards of governance.
Nancy M. Barry (MBA ’75)
For fifteen years, Nancy Barry has been president of Women’s World Banking, developing it into the global leader in microfinance and empowering poor women in more than forty countries to become entrepreneurs and change agents.
Louis V. Gerstner Jr. (MBA ’65)
The current chairman of The Carlyle Group and the former chairman and CEO of IBM, Lou Gerstner was the architect of one of the great turnarounds in American business as he rescued Big Blue, then a stumbling mainframe-computer giant, and rebuilt it into a powerful but nimble information-technology company.
Judith R. Haberkorn (AMP 111, 1992)
The retired president for consumer sales and services at Verizon Communications, Judy Haberkorn led some 30,000 employees during a period of intense technological and organizational change through an inspirational leadership style based on a deep commitment to her workforce.
Joseph J. O’Donnell (MBA ’71)
A prominent philanthropist, Joe O’Donnell worked for several years as an HBS administrator before joining a small concessions company and building it into Boston Culinary Group, of which he is chairman and CEO. The firm does business in forty states, supplying food and drink to arenas and convention centers and operating theaters, ski resorts, and restaurants.
