Alumni in the News
Local Customs
ROGERS WITH CONCEPT CAR: “Technology has changed over the past 100 years. We no longer need to build cars the way Henry Ford once did.”
Matthew West/Boston Herald
Jay Rogers (MBA ’07), whose grandfather once owned the legendary Indian Motorcycle company, also has some wheels turning. “Rogers dreams of opening fifty ‘microfactories’ around the globe, each building 2,000 units a year of cars customized to fit different regions’ local tastes,” the Boston Herald reported (December 15, 2008).
Invoking the sudsy success story of Jim Koch (MBA ’74), another entrepreneurial HBS alum, Rogers declared, “We want to be the Sam Adams of the auto world.” Rogers launched his Massachusetts-based company, Local Motors, with $4 million in start-up capital; its online contest (LocalMotors.com/competition.php) invites the public in various cities and regions to pick their favorite, locally relevant car design. One leading entrant is “The Rally Fighter,” a $50,000 off-road racer for the desert Southwest that Rogers hopes to bring to market in the fall.
A former Marine and an Iraq veteran, Rogers thinks the Big Three’s troubles offer an opportunity. “Technology has changed over the past 100 years. We no longer need to build cars the way Henry Ford once did.”
Inciting Wonder
ROGERS: State dinners and Easter eggs.
Stephen J. Serio/Crain’s Chicago Business
As the social secretary for the new administration in Washington, Desirée Rogers (MBA ’85) will have a discreet hand in shaping the personal image that the Obama White House presents to the nation, the world, and history. As the New York Times reported (December 14, 2008), “Ms. Rogers, an Obama fundraiser and an executive at Allstate Financial, will oversee every White House social event from Easter egg hunts to lavish state dinners (along with those oh-so-important guest lists).”
Rogers, who has also been the chief executive of an Illinois utility company and the director of the state’s lottery, is well-known for her civic, philanthropic, and social activities. Regarding her new job, she said, “What we really want to do is incite some wonder, some joy, some celebration. You will definitely see new things.” Asked by the Chicago Sun-Times (November 25, 2008) about how she conceived of her new role and her goals in it, Rogers replied, “Having people feel comfortable, and having people be able, in the warmth of wonderful surroundings, to develop relationships that are really deep is what this is all about.”
Deep Discovery
The British luxury liner RMS Lusitania was torpedoed by a German submarine on its New York-to-Liverpool run in 1915. The ship sank in 300 feet of water off the coast of Ireland; 1,198 (including 128 Americans) of 1,959 passengers and crew perished in what was seen at the time as a murderous attack on civilians, one that helped bring the United States into World War I. However, it has long been suspected — indeed, shipping documents declare — that the Lusitania was carrying munitions. But where’s the tangible proof?
Diving enthusiast Gregg Bemis (MBA ’54), who bought the rights to the wreck in 1982 for $1, has himself made the perilous deep dive to its resting place. Last year, Bemis organized a team of divers that recovered and photographed rifle cartridges that seem to be conclusive physical evidence. “Now that we’ve found it,” Bemis said, “the British can’t deny anymore that there was ammunition on board.” Bemis expects that as many as 4 million rounds of ammunition could be found; he plans to mount a $4 million forensic examination of the ship this summer (Daily Mail Online, December 20, 2008).
Having a Ball
STAFFORD: Planning a memorable party, with help from his son, Earl Jr., and wife, Amanda.
Tracy A. Woodward/Washington Post
Long before the November election, sensing that something historic was in the offing, Earl Stafford (OPM 26, 1998) decided that wounded veterans, the disadvantaged, the terminally ill, and others unlikely to be part of the presidential inauguration should have a chance to experience it. When the JW Marriott on Pennsylvania Avenue offered a $1 million package deal that included 300 hotel rooms, suites, meals, and priceless parade-route views for the event, Stafford, the founder and CEO of a Virginia technology company, snapped it up through his Stafford Foundation.
“We’ve gotten away from the core values that made America great,” Stafford told the Washington Post (December 4, 2008). “We just need to get back to caring about each other.” Working with the Urban League and social service organizations, Stafford, who grew up as one of twelve children of a Baptist minister, invited his guests from all over the country and provided beauty treatments and formal evening wear for two gala balls he organized for his “People’s Inaugural.”
In the late 1980s, Stafford, an Air Force veteran, founded Universal Systems and Technology. The $150 million firm has 475 employees and makes military-training and weapons-simulation devices.
The Life of Ted
TURNER AND BURKE: Capturing the boss in print.
Courtesy Bill Burke
Immediately after graduating from HBS, Bill Burke (MBA ’92) went south, where he helped start Turner Classic Movies and later became president of TBS, the Atlanta superstation. “In 2004, Burke wrote a twenty-page article, ‘Leadership Lessons I Learned from Ted Turner,’ and decided to show it to his subject before sending it to a business magazine,” wrote Maine’s Portland Press Herald (December 7, 2008). The boss liked it so much he asked Burke to cowrite his autobiography. Call Me Ted hit the bookstores in November, and USA Today liked it so much the paper named it one of the best business books of 2008.
“Ted has really lived ten lifetimes,” Burke said. “He just turned 70, and I can say he hasn’t slowed down at all. I would fly to his plantations to do research with him, and I could only do three days at a time. He is going full speed absolutely all the time.”
