Entrepreneurship Hall of Fame ceremony celebrates a different kind of green.

View video tribute to Malcolm Butters.

Each year, the Entrepreneurship Hall of Fame (EHOF) induction ceremony and luncheon, the College of Business Administration’s largest alumni event of the year, makes a glittering mark. On May 8, 2008, 450 guests—including many alumni and former inductees—celebrated the tradition for the ninth time.

Malcolm Butters (MBA ’83), president and co-founder of Butters Construction & Development, Inc., was inducted in the founder category; and Ignacio Urbieta Jr. (MBA ’85), co-owner and CEO, Urbieta Oil Company, was named the inductee in the builder category. In addition, Sergio Pino, chairman and president, Century Partners Group, received the 2008 South Florida Entrepreneur of the Year award. A well-known South Florida entrepreneur, Pino has established thirteen successful companies bearing the Century name.

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“The 2008 inductees into the Entrepreneurship Hall of Fame demonstrate how entrepreneurship can be combined with a concern for environmental issues.”

—Joyce J. Elam, executive dean

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View video tribute to Ignacio Urbieta.

The focus underlying the ceremony wasn’t only on the green representing monetary success, but also on how entrepreneurship and a concern for the environment can go hand in hand.

Executive Dean Joyce Elam commented on this relationship, noting that, “The 2008 inductees into the Entrepreneurship Hall of Fame demonstrate how entrepreneurship can be combined with a concern for environmental issues. Butters now designs all buildings to Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Certification standards, so that they will be ‘green’ ones that benefit their occupants and have minimal effect on the environment, and Urbieta’s firm was the first E85 ethanol provider in South Florida.”

For Monique Catoggio (EMBA ’03), director of advancement and alumni relations, the office that organizes this event, the annual gathering brings excitement, with this year’s enlivened by two alumni from the 1980s, who prompted her to reflect on what makes the EHOF ceremony so special.

Two alumni bring the idea of sun and heat to the event.

“Our first inductee into the EHOF, Bob Bell (BBA ’81), founder of Banana Boat Suncare and chairman and CEO of Sea & Ski Corporation, joined us and promoted his best-selling book From Lifeguard to Sun King: The Man Behind the Banana Boat Success Story, published in April, 2008,” she said. “In addition, alumnus Mike Baiamonte (BBA ’86), Voice of the Miami Heat, energized the audience like never before. Their presence reminded me how very special our alumni are and how they have not only transformed their lives via their talents and businesses, but also how they have helped to build the strong community that we are today.”

View video update about Erica Courtney's (EMBA '07) firm-Biodiversity & Company-and its accomplishments since she won the New Venture Challenge in 2007.

Erica Courtney (EMBA ’07), president of Biodiversity & Company and winner of the 2007 New Venture Challenge, also attended and provided an update of her venture’s progress over the past year.

A panel of judges that includes past inductees as well as event sponsors and business leaders in the community selects the inductees. The Miami Herald, El Nuevo Herald, WorldCity, NBC 6, and Telemundo 51 were among the media sponsors. Financial sponsors included SunTrust Bank, Miami; Morrison, Brown, Argiz & Farra, LLP; and Adorno & Yoss. The ceremony took place at Jungle Island on Watson Island, Miami, Florida.

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Innovative web sites capture major prizes in 2008 Entrepreneur Challenge Business Plan Competition.

View video highlights of teams and team members competing at the 2008 Entrepreneur Challenge Competition.

With rich cash awards and a forum for budding entrepreneurs to pitch their business and investors to speak about what they want out of a start-up opportunity, the Entrepreneur Challenge Business Plan Competition, hosted by the Eugenio Pino and Family Global Entrepreneurship Center at Florida International University, consistently creates excitement and opportunity.

On May 13, 2008, twenty of South Florida’s leading entrepreneurs, investors, and industry experts evaluated the business plans of ten finalist teams, with a total of $25,000 awarded to the winners and runners-up in the investment track and a new social track. Concepts embraced non-profits and for-profits in industries such as Internet, green technology, social networking, education, and entertainment.

Winning companies seek to empower others.

From left, Go Global Education team leader Archie Jeter with Mike Tomás of The ASTRI Group and president of the Eugenio Pino and Family Global Entrepreneurship Center’s Board; Colleen Post, associate director of the Center; and Alan L. Carsrud, executive director of the Center

Web site Go Global Education, provider of standards-based online global education programs to U.S. public, private, and charter schools, won the investment track, which the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation sponsored.

“The inspiration came from my passionate belief in the importance of having a global perspective,” said team leader Archie Jeter (MIB ’06). “I’m from a small city in the Midwest but had the opportunity to live in Spain, Australia, and Peru. Broadening your horizons, opening up your vision, and increasing your knowledge of the world empowers you.”

From left, My Daily Cause team leader Justin Vizaro with Lorenzo Lebrija of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation; Alan L. Carsrud, Pino Center executive director; and Karym Urdaneta, Pino Center program assistant

My Daily Cause, a web site that aggregates charities and other non-profit organizations in a way that allows individuals to donate in small increments via a click-through business model, captured the social track prize. Justin Vizaro, a twenty-year-old International Business Honors student, led the team.

“A tremendous number of people want to be involved with non-profit organizations or charities, but lack the extra time or money,” he said. “Our idea is to get college or high school students to put some of their daily computer time to use, empowering them to make a difference in the non-profit world, and getting them involved with organizations that make a difference.”

First-time judge Lorenzo Lebrija (MBA ’07, BA ’00), program director, John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, which sponsored the social track, was impressed with the event and with what he heard from the competitors.

“The presentations were innovative in the issues they were tackling and their approaches to those issues were good,” he said “The idea behind My Daily Cause was so simple that we all thought ‘Wow, why didn’t I think of that. This really seems to work!’”

The Miami Herald and HSBC Private Bank provided additional support for the event. The traditional investment track of the competition is open to all Florida International University students or alumni, with the social track open to all South Florida residents.

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Groundbreaking study tracks the distinctive characteristics of social entrepreneurship.

Colleen Post

Ashoka, the global association of the world’s leading social entrepreneurs, has elected more than 2,000 leading social entrepreneurs as Ashoka Fellows, providing them with living stipends, professional support, and access to a global network of peers in more than sixty countries.

In examining the work of these Ashoka Fellows, a question comes to mind: How do social entrepreneurs compare with commercial entrepreneurs?

A recent research project conducted by Colleen Post (MBA ’03, BFA ’00), associate director, Pino Center, and adjunct professor in entrepreneurship, management, and international business; and her colleague, Moriah Meyskens, a PhD student studying management and international business in the College of Business Administration, took on this query and in the process created a database of social entrepreneurs.

“Our research is one of the few larger-scale empirical studies of social entrepreneurs,” Post said. “Much case work has been done, but the field needs more quantitative research. We hope this database will help drive it in that direction.”

The study focuses on identifying patterns and relationships surrounding the strategies employed by social entrepreneurs and their ventures and comparing them to existing patterns and relationships previously identified in commercial entrepreneurship-related literatures.

The findings, which indicate that social entrepreneurs demonstrate similar patterns to commercial entrepreneurs, are assessed through two different lenses of analysis—alliances and knowledge management. Statistically significant relationships were found between alliances, funding sources, innovation, and ease of replication.

The research report, entitled “Social Venture Strategy from a Global Perspective: An Exploratory Study Assessing Ashoka Fellows,” was accepted for presentation at the prestigious 2008 Babson College Entrepreneurship Research Conference held June 4-7, 2008, at the Kenan-Flagler Business School, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

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International MBA offers exciting support for prospective, incoming, and graduating students.

A group of seven admitted IMBA students participated in the first “IMBA for a Day,” meeting in the Special Events Center with present and former students and program personnel.

Thirty-five years ago, David R. Parker, chief operating officer, The Archstone Partnerships, and chair of the Florida International University Foundation Board of Trustees, received a life-changing opportunity upon completing his graduate work at the Harvard University Business School.

“Rather than leaping right into the workforce, I took advantage of a Frederick Sheldon Traveling Fellowship that enabled me to combine travel and study at points throughout Europe during a seven-month period,” said Parker, who studied the automakers in each country—during the volatile period of the early 1970s—while getting a sense of each culture and gaining confidence that helped him later operate at the highest corporate levels.

With ties to Harvard and Europe, Parker opts for donating to his local public university.

A move to Miami, which brought him in contact with the university, prompted his interest in creating a similar opportunity for graduate students in the College of Business Administration’s International MBA (IMBA) program.

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“As a citizen of Miami, I wanted to contribute where I lived, and to do so in a way that matched what I had experienced as part of my graduate work.”

—David Parker, chief operating officer, The Archstone Partnerships and chair, Florida International University Foundation Board of Trustees

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“Public universities are incredibly important, as I know from personal experience,” he said. “I would have been unable to obtain my undergraduate degree otherwise. As a citizen of Miami, I wanted to contribute where I lived, and to do so in a way that matched what I had experienced as part of my graduate work.”

Tomislav Mandakovic, associate dean, Chapman Graduate School of Business; Paola Moreno (MBA ’03), associate director, International Graduate Programs; Jessica Aristizabal (MBA '07); and Tania Frederic, program coordinator, International Graduate Programs, meet with students at third “IMBA for a Day” on June 25, 2008.

Over the past several years, fifteen IMBA students with at least a 3.25 GPA have benefited from $1,000 awards from the endowment Parker established.

“The students select the schools they want to attend over the summer, with the Chapman Graduate School having established some guidelines for the programs, including the opportunity for the students to take courses, make company visits, study the language, and sightsee,” said Paola Moreno (MBA ’03), associate director, International Graduate Programs.

Each student writes a short report about his or her experiences to fulfill Parker’s modest requirement that he “be able to see how the study-abroad was useful to them.”

According to Dana Farrow, professor, Department of Management and International Business and IMBA faculty director, who also sees the reports, “All who go feel the experience is very important in giving them a different academic view and immersing them in another culture.”

New scholarships expand opportunities and reward excellence for graduate students.

Parker’s scholarship stands alongside two others that the Chapman School has more recently secured to help attract students with high GMAT scores to both the IMBA and Master of International Business (MIB) programs. Former Chapman School Dean José de la Torre was committed to expanding the number of scholarships the Chapman School offers.

“Thanks to the generosity of Espirito Santo Bank and Mercantil-Commercebank, we will be awarding at least three scholarships to outstanding students entering these programs,” Moreno said.

International MBA students get a taste of what awaits them.

Seven admitted students for the International MBA (IMBA) program in the fall of 2008 received “an opportunity to experience firsthand what it’s like to be an IMBA student,” said Paola Moreno (MBA ’03), associate director, International Graduate Programs, of the inaugural “IMBA for a Day” event on April 8, 2008.

The group met with an IMBA graduate; a current student; Tomislav Mandakovic, associate dean, Chapman Graduate School; Dana Farrow, professor, Department of Management and International Business and IMBA faculty director; and program administrators.

Tamara Benitez called it “a great eye opener. Speaking to the administration and the IMBA students gave me a much better picture of what to expect. Meeting my peers and sitting in on a class gave us a sense of unity, and the program hasn’t even begun. I left feeling excited and scared but more motivated than anything else.”

Sean Wiborg found it “extremely helpful in making my final decision, and I had a good time getting to know everyone.”

A second “IMBA for a Day” took place on May 28, 2008, with Executive Dean Joyce J. Elam participating. The day’s agenda included a Q&A session, lunch, a tour of the new building complex, and the chance to interact with program personnel as well as with current and past students. A third session took place on June 25, 2008.

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Two new books take larger-than-usual view of global competition.

Watch Jerry Haar’s discussion of his two new books.

Within one week, Jerry Haar, associate dean for international affairs and projects, and professor, Department of Management and International Business in the College of Business Administration, saw the publication of two books he co-edited: Can Latin America Compete? Confronting the Challenges of Globalization with John Price; and Small Firms, Global Markets: Competitive Challenges in the New Economy, with Jörg Meyer-Stamer. They are number thirteen and fourteen in Haar’s active publication history.

Orientation of the books gives broad perspective . . . outside the firm and beyond borders.

The timeliness of the subject matter and the thrust of the content have quickly secured a high profile for the books.

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“Instead of looking at what goes on only within the firm or at the macro level, Can Latin America Compete? explores all the prerequisites necessary for firms to compete in the global economy.”

—Jerry Haar, associate dean for international affairs and projects, and professor, Department of Management and International Business

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“Instead of looking at what goes on only within the firm or at the macro level, Can Latin America Compete? explores all the prerequisites necessary for firms to compete in the global economy,” said Haar, who has another book and a number of journal articles underway. “The book covers what I call the plumbing and electrical circuitry of competitiveness: taxes, education, logistics, judicial reform, human capital, the ability to harness technology, and the physical infrastructure.”

It has drawn praise from reviewers in the online version of Time, America Economía magazine, and Foreign Affairs, the principal publication of the highly respected Council on Foreign Relations. Already in its third printing, a paperback version, which will make it more accessible for use by professors, journalists, policy analysts, and the public at large, is due out in the early fall.

The second book focuses on small firms and whether they can survive globalization. The authors answered with a resounding yes.

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“Using cases from Mexico, India, Spain, Italy, and Nigeria,” Small Firms, Global Markets applies a global rather than a regional focus to see what it takes for small players to compete.”

—Jerry Haar, associate dean for international affairs and projects, and professor, Department of Management and International Business

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“Using cases from Mexico, India, Spain, Italy, and Nigeria,” Small Firms, Global Markets applies a global rather than a regional focus to see what it takes for small players to compete,” Haar said.

From Haar’s perspective, the book demolishes many myths, including the notion that smallness hampers success. In fact, in many ways, it’s an asset.

“Small firms have access to much of the same technology that larger firms do, so the questions are how they make use of it and how innovative and entrepreneurial they are,” he said.

New research direction further broadens Haar’s vision.

Both volumes fit with the general direction of Haar’s research, which has involved “the nexus between the business environment and corporate strategy, structure, and operations,” though he notes that his research “is now moving in the direction of looking at themes that directly affect this linkage, such as national innovation systems.”

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Student volunteers put tax expertise to work for Sweetwater residents.

VITA volunteers from Florida International University with Manny Morono, mayor of the City of Sweetwater at the podium, and Sharon Lassar, director, School of Accounting, to his right. The students had completed twenty hours of volunteer work in the VITA program for 2008, many at Sweetwater’s VITA sites, and were able to participate in the IRS’s “National Stimulus Day,” during which taxpayers could have their economic stimulus returns prepared free by VITA volunteers. The event took place on March 29, 2008. View interview with Ana M. Raposo, IRS Senior Tax Consultant.

This tax season, 288 taxpayers in Sweetwater, Florida, got the help they needed to prepare and file their 2007 tax returns, thanks to a group of tax-savvy Florida International University students who participated in the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program.

Sponsored by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), VITA offers free tax help to low-to moderate-income people who cannot prepare their own tax returns. To qualify for the program, 26 students—twenty from the College of Business Administration and six from the College of Law—took the necessary training and certification exam, then held multiple sessions in Sweetwater.

Steven Vogel, visiting instructor, School of Accounting, served as faculty advisor and helped coordinate activities with the School of Accounting, whose director, Sharon Lassar, offered “encouragement and moral support.”

As part of the program, the students worked closely with three Sweetwater VITA site coordinators, including Katrina Valiente, who has overseen the completion of more than 900 tax returns in the past three years.

“Working with the students was a privilege,” she said. “They were always motivated to help and gave a 100-percent effort.”

According to Lassar, participating students earned extra credit for the accounting course of their choice.

“This provided added incentive and reward for a great group of students who volunteered their time and talents to help others handle the often-daunting tax preparation task,” she said.

VITA volunteers help a community and gain career insights.

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“...while what we did for the people in Sweetwater seemed so simple, it was always greatly appreciated.”

—Asma Hood, student and VITA volunteer

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Asma Hood, a senior majoring in accounting and management, found participating in VITA to be rewarding and motivating.

On May 7, 2008, the college hosted a reception for Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) volunteers. Sharon Lassar, director of the School of Accounting, front row left, and the students were joined by Ana M. Raposo, IRS Senior Tax Consultant, and Ronald W. Albert IRS Territory Manager, far right.

“I was debating whether to pursue a career in accounting or taxes,” she said. “But after the VITA program, the choice seems clear. What can I say . . . I like figuring taxes!”

She added that “while what we did for the people in Sweetwater seemed so simple, it was always greatly appreciated.”

A special VITA volunteer recognition ceremony was held on the University Park campus on May 7, 2008, during which Ana M. Raposo, senior tax consultant with the IRS office in Miami, thanked the students and site coordinators.

“You all worked hard this tax season to provide a valuable service,” she said. “I am sure the university is very proud of the caliber of students you are setting forth to represent your school. And I would like to thank you for our valued partnership and hope to continue to bring free tax preparation services to the residents of our county by providing more students the opportunity to reach out and lend a helping hand to those who need it the most.”

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Jesse Miller (MBA ’06)

View full interview with Jesse Miller (MBA ’06).

Jesse Miller (MBA ’06)

Manager, Equipment Rental

Midtown Video

After earning his undergraduate degree from the University of Michigan with majors in philosophy and computer science, Jesse Miller (MBA ’06) was pursuing career opportunities in California in 2003 when he received a call from his father asking him to return to Miami and help his family’s business “on the management side.”

He’d devoted his summers since 1984 to working for the company, Midtown Video, and figured that his undergraduate education, particularly in computer science and information technology, would be helpful. So he returned to Miami.

When he learned about the college’s new Downtown MBA program, he jumped at the chance to enroll because of Florida International University’s excellent reputation and because the program was so “convenient, would take less than two years to complete, and would give me the information I needed to know: finance, legal issues, HR, supply chain, and customer relations.”

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Transfer pricing holds clues to international money laundering, terrorist financing, and more.

View entire video interview with John Zdanowicz.

Combine an economist, a detective, and a pioneer and you end up with John Zdanowicz, professor and Florida International Bankers Association Chair, Department of Finance and Real Estate in the College of Business Administration. For years, he has followed an investigative path that began with a study of international trade patterns, moved to international trade pricing, and recently has focused on transfer pricing and trade financing.

“The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) created the term transfer pricing, which has to do with abnormal pricing, such as overvaluing imports and undervaluing exports,” he said. “It focuses on transactions between what the IRS calls ‘related parties,’ such as a subsidiary dealing with a parent company, or two subsidiaries dealing with each other.”

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“As an economist, I believed that in an efficient market, the same product should not sell for two different prices in two different markets.”

—John Zdanowicz, professor and Florida International Bankers Association Chair, Department of Finance and Real Estate

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Zdanowicz the economist first looked at international trade flows, but the detective in him awakened quickly.

“As an economist, I believed that in an efficient market, the same product should not sell for two different prices in two different markets,” he said. “When I began to look at the pricing parameters of various products traded internationally, I discovered some significant discrepancies. I also discovered that no one had a price list for the world, and that’s where my research eventually led.”

New web site brings together years of data in highly usable form.

The data he has assembled interests many sectors, including banks that must show a process that ensures they are not inadvertently financing illegal international transactions, and law enforcement agencies. His recently launched web site, www.internationaltradealert.com, enables interested parties to check prices and determine if they are out of line.

“No one can scrutinize the price of every product going in and out of every country to detect pricing anomalies,” he said, “but the site enables users to characterize the risk of transactions and examine suspicious ones.”

Research attracts attention from U.S. Senator from Michigan.

Recently, Elise Bean, staff director, permanent subcommittee on investigations for U.S. Senator Carl Levin, contacted Zdanowicz for more information about his pioneering work.

“The subcommittee conducts investigations into money laundering and offshore tax abuses, among other topics,” she said. Noting that she has “followed your work over the years on transfer pricing as a mechanism for money laundering, tax evasion, and capital flight,” she asked him to point her to studies of his that would show an estimate of “the annual tax revenues lost from corporate transfer pricing abuses.”

The Florida International University’s Center for International Business Education and Research (FIU-CIBER) has helped fund such research by Zdanowicz.

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