contents

A Letter from the Dean

Public Offerings
The 2009 Haskins Award honors Judith Rodin; Stern faculty ring out NASDAQ’s trading day; the Volatility Institute is launched; Estée Lauder’s Demsey talks management at an After Hours event; the Directors’ Institute debates board oversight of risk management; a NERA roundtable ponders the future of securities litigation

Stern in the City
Gretchen Shugart gets a standing ovation for TheaterMania.com,
By Jenny Owen
Alan Ennis of Revlon takes a by-the-book approach to managing,
By Rika Nazem

Cover Story – Amid Commerce and Culture
The Global Alumni Conference provides a forum to discuss the financial crisis, family businesses, indie films, urban planning, and NYU’s Global University –while enjoying the vibrant culture of Barcelona, By Joanne Hvala

The Oracle of Wall Street Speaks His Mind
10 questions for Henry Kaufman

Leading Indicators
Stern’s CEO Series: Volkswagen Group of America’s Stefan Jacoby talks about VW’s US strategy, global manufacturing, branding, and alternative energy sources

Prospectus
Faculty appointments, awards, honors, and noteworthy papers

Office Hours –
Faculty Research

When the Going Gets Tough: A Trio of Papers. New research into organizational behavior provides insights into what makes employees tick, why people make ethical missteps, and the pros and cons of hiring for experience

How to Inspire Motivation
By Steven L. Blader

Bad Behavior
By Mary C. Kern and
Dolly Chugh

Unpacking Prior Experience
By Gina Dokko, Steffanie L. Wilk, and Nancy P. Rothbard

Keeping the CEO in Line
Internal governance can curb a wayward boss, By Viral V. Acharya, Stewart C. Myers, and Raghuram G. Rajan

Peer to Peer
Student Life in Washington Square and Beyond: Recruiting trek to Abu Dhabi and Dubai explores economic and cultural opportunities; First group of Indian students visits Washington Square from Mumbai in new exchange program

Alumni Affairs
Alumni News and Events: More from the Global Alumni Conference in Barcelona, Stern’s top alumni ambassadors, NYU Alumni Day, and a new online alumni community

Class Notes

Past Performance
Coming to your iPod soon? The 20-year-old Stern faculty band is a rock’n’roll’n’jazz juggernaut that sets School functions on fire, By Marilyn Harris

 

 

 

The past six months have produced enough “green shoots” in the global economy that it is reasonable to hope an economic spring is in the offing. It is gratifying to think that the book of white papers our faculty created, which was published by Wiley in March under the title Restoring Financial Stability: How to Repair a Failed System, may have influenced key policy measures taken by our nation’s lawmakers to address the financial crisis. I am proud of our School’s continuing contribution to this critical national dialogue.

This level of intellectual product from our community is, of course, one reason why NYU Stern has become a preeminent school of business education. In this issue, we highlight more examples of the vitality of our campus, actual and virtual. Henry Kaufman (BA ’48 (Heights), PhD ’58), for whom our main academic center is named, answers questions about his life and his vision of the world – its risks and its promise. Kaufman’s third book, The Road to Financial Reformation: Warnings, Consequences, Reforms, was published in August by Wiley.

Last spring, at our conference, “Bankruptcy and the Financial Crisis,” President of the Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank Thomas Hoenig’s keynote speech drew a lot of media attention. Stefan Jacoby, president and CEO of Volkswagen Group of America, touched on bankruptcy in his discussion of the global auto industry and then presented an interesting vision of the future of transportation. John Demsey (MBA ’82) of Estée Lauder led an After Market Hours event, sharing his insights on managing through these turbulent times.

We also include in this issue excerpts of several research papers by our faculty that I think you will find intriguing. Viral Acharya (PhD ’01), a co-editor of Restoring Financial Stability, poses an interesting hypothesis about what he calls the internal governance of firms – a situation wherein employees who have the firm’s best interests at heart provide a strong counterweight to a self-interested or myopic CEO . Also in the management area, we have grouped excerpts from three separate papers that come at the topic of “Managing in a Recession” from different angles. Steven Blader describes how employees can be motivated by something other than money, a most helpful insight these days. Dolly Chugh shows, disturbingly, how if people think they may suffer a loss, they have a greater tendency to engage in unethical behavior. And Gina Dokko examines how employees’ prior experience doesn’t necessarily work to their new employers’ advantage.

Most imminently, the School is preparing to welcome its new dean, Peter Blair Henry, currently the Konosuke Matsushita Professor of Economics at Stanford University. Dean-designate Henry will assume his new role on January 15, 2010.

I am delighted with the appointment of Peter Henry, whose multi-faceted background encompasses scholarship, administration, and public policy. A Rhodes Scholar, he is a charismatic leader as well as a creative and productive scholar, whose research focuses on the impact of economic reform on emerging economies. He led the Obama Transition Team’s review of the International Monetary Fund, World Bank, and other international agencies, and has advised governments from the Caribbean to Africa.

Professor Henry’s contributions in the arena of public policy are numerous and will serve to advance the work that we have begun, positioning NYU Stern at the intersection of business and society. I am confident that he will be a strong advocate for our many areas of excellence and that the School will continue to thrive under his leadership.

At our Global Alumni Conference in Barcelona last June, we were treated to exciting progress reports on NYU as the Global Network University. It is our alumni who carry Stern’s reputation into the farthest corners of the globe, and we are always proud of your accomplishments and grateful for your continued support. It has been my great privilege to serve as dean, and I look forward to remaining a vital part of the Stern community as I return to teaching and writing.

Thomas F. Cooley
Dean