Artful Contributions
The director of the High Art Museum in Atlanta regards two HBS graduates as the “twin pillars” of the museum’s recently completed $124 million expansion project. Terry Stent (MBA ’68), chairman of the museum’s board of directors, and his wife, Margaret, have been major donors as well as helping shape the museum’s collections and programs. ARTnews magazine last summer ranked the couple among the world’s top 200 art collectors. “Terry has the passion and emotional voltage of the collector, balanced with the reasoned, businesslike approach of a Harvard MBA,” museum Director Michael Shapiro told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (October 30, 2005).
The second “pillar” is John Wieland (MBA ’64), a past chairman and current member of the board. As chairman of John Wieland Homes & Neighborhoods and with 35 years of construction experience, he served as the board’s point person on the expansion project. He and his wife, Sue, also are avid art collectors. “The thrill of the High project is that it’s a really big-budget job,” Wieland told the Journal-Constitution (October 30, 2005).
Second Acts
When Glen Meakem (MBA ’91) couldn’t persuade his employer, General Electric, that he was on to a hot idea to revamp corporate purchasing using the Internet, he quit and started his own firm, FreeMarkets, which charted the way for successful business-to-business e-commerce. The Pittsburgh-based firm grew rapidly during the ’90s and managed to weather the dot-com bust. Eager for new challenges, Meakem sold the company last year for nearly $500 million and has embarked on a career in venture capital and politics.
Committed to helping Pittsburgh reinvent itself as a hotbed of entrepreneurship, Meakem now seeks out young, local companies that can benefit from his investment and advice. “I get such a thrill to find a great company with loads of potential,” Meakem told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review (September 18, 2005). Seeking to extend his influence on a statewide basis, Meakem last July signed on as chairman of former Lt. Gov. William Scranton’s campaign to win the Republican nomination for governor in this year’s race against incumbent Ed Rendell. Drawing on his business background, Meakem advocates policies that will lower taxes and spur economic growth. Down the road, he isn’t ruling out the possibility that he may make his own run for the state’s top job.
Karaoke Anyone?
After working in Asia for several years, Marti Speranza (MBA ’03) observed how karaoke was a very mainstream form of entertainment. “I thought it was fascinating it didn’t exist that way in the U.S,” she told the Boston Globe (December 11, 2005). After HBS, she decided to import the Asian style of karaoke by launching Limelight Stage + Studios (www.limelightboston.com).
Limelight’s proprietary software allows for easy browsing of a digital song library, real-time vocal processing, LED lighting control, video channels using a live video feed, and CD/DVD recording capabilities all from an easy-to-use touch-screen interface. Limelight has become a popular destination, hosting everything from kids’ birthday parties to bachelorettes and corporate events. Boston Mayor Thomas Menino hosted his annual holiday party there. Now that the pilot has proven to be success, Speranza plans to bring Limelight to new markets.
Presidential Adviser
When President George W. Bush (MBA ’75) went on the road in early January to promote his stalled economic policies, he was accompanied by his top economic adviser, Allan Hubbard (MBA ’72). It’s Hubbard’s job on such trips to sit down with the local media and make the President’s case. In a January 6, 2006, Q&A with the Chicago Sun–Times, Hubbard, assistant to the President for economic policy and director of the National Economic Council, championed Bush’s message on taxes. The way to spur more economic growth is to keep taxes low, “leaving the money with the American people and letting them decide how to spend it,” explained Hubbard. To boost U.S. exports, the administration favors more trade agreements to lower tariffs on American-made products. Hubbard isn’t worried that a decline in the rapid appreciation of home values will have a negative impact on the economy. “This economy will continue to grow as the appreciation of houses declines,” he said.
Robots to the Rescue
STANDING TALL: Mountz flanked by colleagues Raffaello D'Andrea (left) and Pete Wurman.
PHOTO BY ERIK JACOBS/BOSTON GLOBE
Order fulfillment will never be the same if Mick Mountz (MBA ’96) has his way. Distribution centers typically rely on people to pluck merchandise from shelves or conveyor belts and pack it for shipment. But Mountz has a better idea. As founder and CEO of Kiva Systems based in Woburn, Massachusetts, he has developed a fulfillment system that relies on robotic vehicles to locate and deliver merchandise to human packers. “We’re changing the game as far as the manual pick-and-pack system is concerned,” Mountz told the Boston Globe (October 20, 2005).
An MIT graduate, Mountz launched Kiva Systems from his apartment in Palo Alto, California, in 2002, but he moved back to the Boston area two years later to tap into his network of high-tech and business-school contacts. The firm has landed two rounds of private financing and placed pilot systems at operations of a major retailer and food company. If all goes as planned, Mountz sees “no limit to the number of companies that want to grow, expand, or modernize their distribution centers” using his robotic technology.
Another First
DESJARDINS: Heads Air Force Academy.
PHOTO BY DAVID BITTON/COLORADO SPRINGS GAZETTE
Brig. Gen. Susan Y. Desjardins (TGMP 14, 2004), a veteran cargo- and refueling-plane pilot and commander, became the first female commandant of cadets, U.S. Air Force Academy, in December. “I try to ignore being the first woman to do this or that,” she told the Denver Post (December 9, 2005). “The important thing is the 4,400 young men and women I am now responsible for.”
Even so, her career includes other firsts. Shortly after graduating from high school in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, in 1976 she joined the first 157 women accepted as cadets at the Air Force Academy. She went on to fly more than 3,800 hours of missions for the Air Force. Prior to her new post, she was the first female commander of the 437th Airlift Wing in Charleston, South Carolina, where she oversaw more than 4,200 personnel in support of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. At the Air Force Academy, she said she plans to build on programs implemented by her predecessor to deal with sexual harassment and allegations of religious intolerance.
