By Norris Porter, COB Director of Development

As Director of Development for the College of Business it is my role to connect and engage alumni and industry partners with the College of Business as well as cultivate funding in support of the mission, vision and academic programs for the College. A theme this year for the College of Business is “connections.” Our goal is to help alumni reconnect with each other and the College of Business. Keeping our alumni connected is a critical component to our ability to engage them in supporting the College.

As a first step in developing our alumni network, the College now has a Linkedin group that business alumni and friends can join as well as a presence on Facebook. As of today we have 264 members in our Linkedin group and the number continues to grow steadily. LinkedIn is similar to the social networking sites  Myspace and Facebook, only it’s focused primarily on professional networking. We need as many faculty as possible to join our Linkedin group so that alumni can connect with you. Setting up a LinkedIn account is free and easy.

Once you’re a member, you can join our group by going here:

COB Group Page: http://www.linkedin.com/e/gis/130547

For the third consecutive year, Enterprise Rent-A-Car has been named to BusinessWeek’s annual ranking of the best companies for new college graduates to launch their careers.In naming companies to the list, BusinessWeek used three sources of data – a survey of college career-services directors, a survey of employers and a student survey conducted by Universum Communications, a market-research firm based in Philadelphia. This year, as in the past two, Enterprise received especially high marks from career-services directors, who placed the company in their top five.

“It’s a tremendous honor to be recognized by BusinessWeek for the third consecutive year,” said Marie Artim, the company’s assistant vice president, recruiting. “We’ve worked hard as a company to build and maintain a strong culture of opportunity; and our recruiters work just as hard to communicate that culture to our job candidates and form great relationships with career services professionals at colleges and universities throughout North America. This honor is a real tribute to those efforts.”

Enterprise also is featured in a new book based on the annual rankings from last year. BusinessWeek Fast Track: The Best Places to Launch a Career, by Lindsey Gerdes, was published this summer by McGraw-Hill.

Enterprise has been widely recognized for its well-developed management training program and its promote-from-within business model. Nearly 100 percent of Enterprise’s current senior management team – including Chairman and CEO Andy Taylor, and President and COO Pam Nicholson – started at the rental counter, learning the business from the ground up.

At Illinois State University, Enterprise hires about 30 students each year, and there are 130 alumni from Illinois State, currently working throughout the Enterprise network of businesses.

Greetings COB Alumni!

Please join us to officially “kick-off” the NEW COB Alumni Network —our way of helping graduates of the College connect with each other and us!

On Saturday, October 18, 2008 between 11:00 a.m. and the 2:00 p.m. Homecoming game against Missouri State, COB graduates, faculty and staff can bring a spouse or guest and  enjoy great conversation along with some barbeque from Famous Dave’s.

Hosts for this first gathering of the COB Alumni Network include: our Early Career Achievement Award winners, members of the College of Business Emeritus Faculty Association, COB Advisory Council members and Beta Gamma Sigma student leaders.

To help us as we plan, it is important for you to RSVP to: www.cob.ilstu.edu/rsvp or call 309-438-2251 by October 14, 2008.

The location and format of future networking events will be based on the input we receive from you! To get involved:

1. Join the Illinois State University COB Alumni Network on Linked In - http://www.linkedin.com/e/gis/130547

2. You can also connect by contacting Amy Humphreys, Assistant to the Dean for Constituent Relations alhumph@ilstu.edu.

Illinois State University College of Business Alum Jim Tyree will be the keynote speaker for Business Week 2009. Jim is chairman and chief executive officer of Mesirow Financial, an employee owned financial conglomerate that got its start in 1937 when Norman Mesirow opened a one-man brokerage in the Loop. Today, the Chicago company has $35 billion under management, $451 million in annual revenue, $230 million in capital, 45,000 clients, and 1,100 employees. Its primary service is investment management, but it also offers insurance and consulting. Mesirow opened its first European office in London last year and will open an office in China this year. They are currently building a new 18 floor office high rise in River North to consolidate all six of its businesses under one roof. Since 1990 Jim has made 50 acquisitions and boosted revenue seven and a half times.

Jim graduated from Illinois State in 1978 with a degree in business administration and in 1980 with an MBA. He has served on more than 50 corporate, civic and not-for-profit boards of directors. Civically, Jim provides active leadership and participates in numerous organizations in support of healthcare, education and children. Mayor Daley appointed him as chairman of the board of City Colleges of Chicago, an organization with seven colleges and 110,000 students. In addition, Jim is the chairman for the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce and past chairman of the Executives Club of Chicago. He is chairman of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation International. He currently serves on the boards of Illinois State University Foundation, Roosevelt University, Illinois Education Foundation, University of Chicago Medical Center, Big Shoulders Fund, Illinois Emerging Technologies Fund, and University of Illinois at Chicago Medical Advancement Council. Jim also serves on the Advisory Board of the Northwestern University Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation Program Project Grant.

The keynote address will be followed by a public reception in Old Main from 3:00-3:45 p.m. Faculty, staff and students are encouraged to attend.

To learn more about Tyree visit http://www.mesirowfinancial.com

Business Week 2009 runs from Monday, March 30 through Friday, April 3. Each activity is designed to develop essential soft-skills that complement classroom instruction and help students make a smooth transition into the professional world. Business Week also helps us build strong relationships with partner firms and alumni that directly benefit the COB.

Thank you for supporting this college-wide event through actively encouraging your students’ participation and by joining us at key events. More details about the events and other guest speakers will be released shortly.

 Two new scholarships for students in Illinois State University’s College of Business have been made possible through the Flessner Family Endowed Scholarship Fund. The fund was recently established by Paul Flessner, a retired senior vice president at Microsoft and a 1981 graduate of Illinois State’s business information systems program.

The Flessner Family Endowed Scholarship Fund supports the annual Donald J. Flessner Endowed Scholarship, awarded to a new freshman majoring in accountancy. The scholarship is named for Paul Flessner’s father, Donald, a businessman and long-time mayor of Roberts, Illinois. The Fund also supports the annual Dr. Gerry McKean Endowed Scholarship, awarded to a junior or senior majoring in business information systems. The scholarship honors one of Paul Flessner’s former professors, Gerry McKean, a retired business information systems faculty member.

Paul Flessner, a member of Illinois State’s College of Business Hall of Fame, was instrumental in leading Microsoft’s efforts in the development of software for servers. He received Microsoft’s 2008 Technical Recognition Award for his leadership of the SQL Server 7.0 Team.

The $100,000 in funding for the scholarship endowment was contributed by Microsoft on behalf of Paul Flessner. The funding is part of the company’s philanthropic efforts to support education and communities across the globe.

Since starting my new role as Director of Development I have been busy meeting with the Leadership Team and Center Directors to determine the most critical funding needs for the College. Here is a short list of priorities:

• Operating Funds/Technology & Software/Access to Research Databases
• Salary assistance (enhancement) for faculty recruitment/retention (summer support for research)
• Technology/Hardware replacement and recapitalization
• Funding for international initiatives, including the International Business Institute and faculty/student travel
• Student Scholarships and Awards
• New Program Development/enhancement
• Unrestricted dollars for the Dean to allocate for the most pressing needs of the COB (Dean’s Administration Fund)
• Permanent endowed dollars to fund institute activities

With over 31,000 living alumni it is impossible for one person to contact everyone. I hope you will think of development and stewardship as something that we all need to embrace and  participate in. Working together we can build a strong alumni base with a positive attitude toward financially supporting the COB.

A recent survey of ISU alumni revealed that they want to know how the equity of their degree has increased and how it will continue to increase in the future. The concept of “giving back” is a motivator for ISU alumni in giving financially. The more that we can keep alumni connected… the more likely they are to financially support our programs.

Keep me informed about the alumni you meet and those that you think may have capacity and a heart for financially supporting the COB and University. It takes time to bring an alum to the point of giving back financially, but building strong relationships and connections are critical to the process.

Finally, keep in mind that strong brands attract the best students and faculty, more donated dollars, more media attention, more research dollars and more strategic partners. Strong collegiate brands also generate more alumni support and positive word of mouth marketing.

Thanks for all you do! The College of Business at Illinois State truly is an amazing place for students to study and  learn the art and practice of business. Through each of you and your support, we will continue on our path to greater distinction.