A culture built around honesty, commitment, passion, innovation, inspiration, teamwork, empowerment and student engagement has earned adidas this year’s Distinguished Business Partner award.
That culture is in sync with that of the College of Business, adidas executive Nic Vu said.
“The professors and other educators focus on placement,” said Vu, a senior vice president and a 1995 College of Business graduate who spearheaded his company’s partnership with the college. “College of Business students are very well versed in team dynamics, group projects and results orientation, and they’re open to learning.
“I work with lot of Ph.D.’s and consultants who have master’s, MBAs, whatever, and they don’t have all of that packaged together as well as some of the undergrads I see coming out of Oregon State,” he said. “That’s a compliment to the dean and all the educators at Oregon State.”
Beavers who have joined Vu at adidas have taken note of a supportive environment that mirrors that of the college that prepared them to launch their careers.
“The College of Business stresses networking and adidas allows recent grads to take networking to an entirely new level,” said OSU senior Jacob Knightley, who’s majoring in finance and business information systems and works 30 hours a week for adidas’ finance reporting team.
“All managers — junior, senior and above — are extremely approachable and will take time out of their day to talk with you. My CFO walks around and talks with everybody on a first-name basis and will make the effort to learn your name as soon as possible.”
Knightley said he and others consider the adidas culture to be an extension of their university life.
“We make sure our work is getting completed to the best degree, but we have fun while we do it,” he said. “Adidas benefits (from the College of Business partnership) by getting great local talent who bring new and fresh ideas about how to win in America, and the college benefits by having a local company that loves to recruit local talent.”
Adidas will be honored May 11 in Portland at the college’s annual Celebration of Excellence, along with the rest of the 2015 award winners as well as retiring Dean Ilene Kleinsorge.
The evening begins with a reception at 5:30 p.m., followed by dinner and the awards presentation. For more information or to register, contact Elsa Frey at elsa.frey@oregonstate.edu or call 541-737-6648, or register online at http://business.oregonstate.edu/awards.
When Katie Haakenson was still an intern, Boeing tasked her with creating and hosting a conference for the company’s project managers in the Puget Sound area.
The idea was for them to talk about methodologies they’d used and lessons they’d learned.
About 20 people attended.
“Everyone thought it was very valuable and said, we want to do that again,” said Haakenson, who earned a finance degree from Oregon State in 2009 and added an MBA a year later. “So the next year when we hosted the Boeing Project Management Conference, it went from 20 to about 100, and they came from all across the country. The third year, there were more than 300 from around the world. The event still goes on, and all the project managers look forward to it. It’s pretty cool to be able to say I started it.”
The creativity, leadership skills and organizational savvy that Haakenson used in developing the conference are among the reasons she’s this year’s Distinguished Young Business Professional.
“I think it’s a great honor,” she said. “Any success I’ve had reflects back to my experiences at OSU.”
Haakenson, hired as a permanent employee after starring in her internship, spent nearly four years with Boeing at the Everett (Wash.) Delivery Center. She’s now a project leadership associate with Point B Management Consultants in Seattle, having started there in January following one-year stints at Microsoft and Logic 20/20, also a Seattle-based consulting firm.
The bustle of Seattle represents a stark change from Haakenson’s youth in Corbett, Ore., where her graduating class at Corbett High featured 45 people.
Choosing Oregon State after a campus visit and conversations with faculty made her feel at home, she worked two jobs to pay for school and still graduated in three years, then stayed a fourth year and collected an MBA.
“I really liked the IBP (integrated business plan) program, and I wanted some additional time with College of Business faculty since I’d learned so much as an undergraduate,” Haakenson said.
She mentioned in particular professor Erik Larson, who taught Haakenson project management, and professional development instructor Gene Young, whose lessons “helped me get positions that on paper I didn’t have enough experience for by defining and highlighting what I could bring to the table.”
“Going to OSU was a great experience, and the connections I’ve kept with the university are very valuable for me,” she said. “I don’t think I could have made a better choice.”
Stephen Bailey with wife Marian and other members of their family.
Stephen Bailey had gravitated toward Oregon State partly because he was a Beaver sports fan, and as graduation neared, he came to realize his choice of universities was fantastic for academic and career purposes, too.
“It became apparent when I got a job offer,” said Bailey, who completed his accounting degree in 1970. “That’s a little bit tongue in cheek, but it’s not far from right. I think I was offered five different jobs coming out of Oregon State. Oregon State within the profession had a high level of awareness because graduates had demonstrated an expertise.”
Bailey had grown up on a Tillamook farm and developed an affinity for Oregon State while following the exploits of all-America end Vern Burke, who in 1962 had the best receiving season the NCAA had yet seen, and quarterback Terry Baker, that year’s Heisman Trophy winner.
A football and basketball player for the Tillamook High Cheesemakers, Bailey arrived in Corvallis ready to meet any challenge, prepared by his duties on the family’s 120-cow dairy.
“That type of environment gives a lot of life lessons, and the primary one is work ethic,” Bailey said. “You don’t shy away from hard work, and in one form or another you pick up a number of job skills along the way. I was left from time to time running the farm by myself while my father was away, and shouldering that load gives you a keen awareness of what responsibility is and how you carry it.”
After completing his degree, Bailey went to work with Touche Ross & Co. (now known as Deloitte & Touche) as a CPA and audit manager. That was the springboard for a long career, capped by a 10-year stretch at Flir Systems, the thermal-imaging company he helped turn around from the brink of failure, that earned Bailey induction this year into the College of Business Hall of Fame.
He’ll be honored May 11 in Portland at the college’s annual Celebration of Excellence, along with the rest of the 2015 award winners as well as retiring Dean Ilene Kleinsorge. For more on the event and the honorees, follow the College of Business blog as the countdown to the celebration continues over the next couple of weeks.
The evening begins with a reception at 5:30 p.m., followed by dinner and the awards presentation. For more information or to register, contact Elsa Frey at elsa.frey@oregonstate.edu or call 541-737-6648, or register online at http://business.oregonstate.edu/awards.
Dean Kleinsorge with all five student presenters. FROM LEFT: Obum Gwacham, Frances Chen, Margo Botti, Dean Ilene Kleinsorge, Alexander Mason and Josh Gilardi
Seniors Obum Gwacham (Marketing) and Alexander Mason (Finance), along with MBA student Frances Chen each served as awards presenters throughout the evening, while junior SDHE student Margo Botti accepted a Weatherford Award on behalf of her Grammy Award-winning uncle, Chris Botti, who was unable to attend; and senior Josh Gilardi (Marketing) was selected by Dean Ilene Kleinsorge to present a speech offering a current student’s perspective about the College of Business.
Despite the students’ different roles in the ceremony, each of them had to speak on stage to more than 400 attendees made up of distinguished alumni and business partners, as well as their peers and professors.
Senior Obum Gwacham presents an award to one of the college’s award winners
“I had never done anything like that before,” said Gwacham. “It was certainly the largest audience I’ve ever had to speak in front of, but I enjoyed every moment of it. Seeing how excited the other student presenters were before the event helped calm my nerves, and I was able to feed off their energy,” he said.
“When I was asked to be a presenter earlier in the year before the original event was postponed, I was told that the event had around 300 RSVPs,” said Gilardi. “I was terrified because it’s not just peers I’d be talking to but alumni, business professionals and important others. Talk about an intimidating first impression! After the event was canceled in February, I was relieved but disappointed that I would miss out on the opportunity. I was emailed in April saying the event was rescheduled for May and now they had 400-plus RSVPs, so you can imagine what I was feeling. I was nervous starting the day of the event up until I stepped on stage to speak. Once I started giving my speech though, I felt a lot more comfortable,” he added.
Chen and Botti also learned a lot from the experience after shaking off some early jitters.
Senior Josh Gilardi presents his views of the College of Business from the perspective of a current student
“Speaking at the Celebration of Excellence forced me to step out of my comfort zone,” said Chen. “Not only did I have to remember to speak with confidence and personality, but it was also a learning experience for me in that I learned how to behave properly at such an elegant, formal event,” she said.
“I thought I was inadequate to speak on behalf of my uncle and the College of Business at such an important event, but I quickly got comfortable, and it felt like second nature to me,” said Botti. “The experience confirmed how much I love speaking in front of large audiences,” she added.
Not only did the students hone their public speaking and presentation skills, but they also discovered the power of networking.
“I always knew that Oregon State had a great alumni network, but I truly felt it that evening,” said Gwacham. “I was approached by a number of alums that wanted to help me out with just about anything or answer questions I might have about what could be next for me after graduating,” he added.
Gilardi was also impressed with the alumni he encountered at the event.
“This event was proof that hard work pays off,” said Gilardi. “The award-winning alumni worked hard and were recognized for their efforts and accomplishments in different ways. I worked hard and was selected to speak because of it,” he said.
Overall, the students all said that they had a great time at the event.
“The number of attendees was simply amazing,” said Gwacham. “Some even came in from other states! It’s an event I look forward to being a part of after I finish with my undergrad at Oregon State,” he said.
“It was just a really fun experience for me as I got to see some old friends who are alumni at the event,” said Chen. “They mentored me in different stages of my life, and it was so good to show them my growth and how I’ve changed and make them proud of me,” she said.
One of the keys to a great experience is putting your education into action, and it was exciting getting to see these students thrive on the stage, handing out awards to distinguished alumni and business partners. Perhaps in the future, these students will be back at the Celebration of Excellence receiving awards of their own.
View some photos of the student presenters from the event in the image gallery below:
Frances Chen (MBA) speaks at the 2014 Celebration of Excellence
Frances Chen and Dean Kleinsorge present a Distinguished Business Partner award to Mutual of Enumclaw
Senior Marketing student Obum Gwacham addresses the audience
Obum Gwacham and Dean Kleinsorge present an Award to ‘Crazy Pete’ Newport
Bert Sperling admires his Weatherford Award
Sperling’s 2014 Weatherford Award
Senior Marketing student Josh Gilardi provides the student perspective at the 2014 Celebration of Excellence awards banquet
Gilardi and Dean Kleinsorge induct Jim Williams into the Oregon State College of Business’ Hall of Fame
Student Alexander Mason, Finance, introduces the next speaker
Senior SDHE student Margo Botti accepts a Weatherford Award on behalf of her uncle, jazz trumpeter Chris Botti
A culture built around honesty, commitment, passion, innovation, inspiration, teamwork, empowerment and student engagement has earned adidas this year’s Distinguished Business Partner award.
