Skip to Main Content
HBS Home
  • About
  • Academic Programs
  • Alumni
  • Faculty & Research
  • Baker Library
  • Giving
  • Harvard Business Review
  • Initiatives
  • News
  • Recruit
  • Map / Directions
Alumni
  • Login
  • Volunteer
  • Clubs
  • Reunions
  • Bulletin
  • Class Notes
  • Help
  • Give Now
  • Stories
  • Alumni Directory
  • Lifelong Learning
  • Careers
  • Programs & Events
  • Giving
  • …→
  • Harvard Business School→
  • Alumni→
  • Stories→

Stories

Stories

01 Sep 2004

Bill Dunaway (MBA 1964)

Re: Bill Dunaway (MBA 1964); By: Julia Hanna
Topics: Ownership Type-Family OwnershipCompetency and Skills-Experience and ExpertiseHealth-Health Care and Treatment
ShareBar

Photo by Andy Sharp, Atlanta Journal-Constitution

A self-described SOB — son of the boss — Bill Dunaway grew up working in his father’s pharmacy in Marietta, Georgia, a town of 61,000 outside Atlanta. After expanding the business to a chain of 18 drug stores, Dunaway sold the operation in 1989 and opened the 1848 House, an upscale restaurant located in a Greek Revival plantation home. He now serves as mayor of Marietta, a job he describes as both rewarding and frustrating. His reason for running? “Payback. It’s a trite but true answer. This town has been good to me.”

My father worked his way through the University of Georgia. When I was in high school, he had built up his business to five drug stores. He said, “If I ever failed along the way it would have been OK. I came from nothing. If you fail, you’ve got a long way to fall.” He’s the one who suggested HBS. He wanted me to have an opportunity that he hadn’t.

When I got up to Boston, I was scared to death that everyone would be smarter than me. And they were. On the first day of class we were all anxious to talk and make a good first impression. I held my hand up until it had gangrene. Then Professor Ted Levitt ate me alive. I used some marketing buzzwords, and he got right in my face and made me define them. It was his way of saying, “Don’t bring book knowledge in here. Bring your experience.” That kept me quiet for quite a while! He was a dynamic, dramatic, and damn good professor, very well loved and respected.

No one forgets where they were when they heard that President Kennedy had been shot. I was on the fourth floor of McCulloch, just coming out of class. That night I’d planned a “Retire John Kennedy” party and decorated my hallway with posters, just to throw it back in my Democratic friends’ faces. I was a Republican and one of the few people from the South. After I heard what had happened, I ran up to my room and tore down the signs. As it happens, I had voted for Kennedy. It was a tragic, terrible thing.

I thought I would stay in the retail drug business for the rest of my life. My advice to new MBAs is to keep your options open. It’s never too late to change. I opened a fine dining restaurant at 53 and became a mayor at 62. HBS didn’t give me the confidence that I would never fail — but it did give me the confidence that I could get back up if I did. — JH

ShareBar

Featured Alumni

Bill Dunaway
MBA 1964

Post a Comment

Featured Alumni

Bill Dunaway
MBA 1964

Related Stories

    • 01 Mar 2019
    • HBS Alumni Bulletin

    3-Minute Briefing: Richard Edelman (MBA 1978)

    Re: Rich Edelman (MBA 1978); By: Julia Hanna
    • 19 Dec 2016
    • Boston Globe

    Harvard Students Help Mom-and-Pop Shops Get off the Ground

    Re: Leonard A. Schlesinger (Baker Foundation Professor Chair, Practice Faculty); Kristin W. Mugford (Melvin Tukman Senior Lecturer of Business Administration Chair, MBA Field and Co-Curricular Activities)
    • 07 Sep 2016
    • Wall Street Journal

    Appreciating the Big Role of Small Business

    Re: Nitin Nohria (Professor of Business Administration Harvard University Distinguished Service Professor (Leave of Absence)); Richard S. Ruback (Baker Foundation Professor Willard Prescott Smith Professor of Corporate Finance, Emeritus); Royce G. Yudkoff (MBA Class of 1975 Professor of Management Practice of Entrepreneurial Management)
    • 23 Jul 2016
    • Livemint

    The Art of Persuasion

    Re: Radhika Piramal (MBA 2006)

More Related Stories

Stories Featuring Bill Dunaway

    • 01 Sep 2006
    • Alumni Stories

    HBS Students Mentor Kids

    Re: William Pritchett (MBA 2006); Bill Dunaway (MBA 1964)
 
 
 
 
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
ǁ
Campus Map
External Relations
Harvard Business School
Teele Hall
Soldiers Field
Boston, MA 02163
Phone: 1.617.495.6890
Email: alumni+hbs.edu
→Map & Directions
→More Contact Information
  • Make a Gift
  • Site Map
  • Jobs
  • Harvard University
  • Trademarks
  • Policies
  • Accessibility
  • Digital Accessibility
  • Terms of Use
Copyright © President & Fellows of Harvard College