Each semester, high profile executives -- such as Ronnie Lott, NFL Hall of Fame Inductee and Co-Founder of HRJ Capital Investments -- serve as Executives in Residence in the NIU College of Business. These executives possess a wealth of business and world experiences, are highly respected within industry, and are typically CEOs, company founders/owners, or senior level executives.
These highly accomplished individuals come into NIU's classrooms to share their vast expertise on global business issues, relationships, giving back, and life with NIU business students. As an illustration, Mr. Lott shared a champion's values and gave a leadership clinic in Fall 2006 before a packed classroom in the college's Entrepreneurship class.
The 2008 roster of executives in the classroom promises to be as compelling:
Mike McGrath (B.S. Management 1970), Senior Owner, McGrath Lexus — February 7 Executive in Residence.
Bill Bendush, retired CFO, Applied Micro Circuits — March Executive in Residence.
Lyle Heidemann (B.S. Marketing 1967), President, CEO, True Value Company — March 18 Executive in Residence.
James Palumbo, (B.S. Education 1972), president, Plasma Display Coalition, Tom Harvey, (B.S. Education 1971, M.S. Education 1972), CEO of a start up venture by Blue Chip Sports and Tony Piazza, sales and marketing consultant — March 25 Executive in Residence. These three former co-workers at Sony Electronics formed a panel discussion with undergraduate students in the Marketing Strategy and Strategic Management classes. They discussed their careers, sacrifices, successes and encouraged students to build relationships in order to accelerate ones career outside of graduation.
Tim Jerzyk, (B.S. Finance 1974, M.B.A. 1977), senior vice president, Investor Relations/Treasurer Yum! Brands Inc. — April 1 Executive in Residence. Tim Jerzyk spoke to marketing and finance students in the Marketing Strategy and Investor Relations classes. Jerzyk shared the lessons he learned through his career and how he has used those different experiences to leverage his career path in investor relations. He shared also his insights on the growing global economy.
Sean Erwin (B.S. Accountancy 1973), President/CEO Neenah Paper — April 10 Executive in Residence.
Ty Ballou (B.A. Coms-Media Studies 1978), president and CEO of PLB Sports, Inc. — October 11 Executive in Residence. Ty Ballou spoke to marketing students in the Department of Marketing's Services and Sports Marketing classes. Ballou shared his experience at NIU, his career path in sports marketing, and lessons in leadership. Ballou's company - which markets food products through celebrity athletes (MLB, NHL, NBA) - is widely known in the industry for the creation of Doug Flutie's "Flutie Flakes,” with a large portion of the profits donated to the Doug Flutie, Jr. Foundation for Autism, created to honor Flutie's autistic son.
James Marino (B.S. Marketing 1972), president and CEO of Alberto Culver — November 2 Executive in Residence. Jim Marino spoke to more than 300 undergraduate students on product positioning and branding. Marino concluded his discussion with a case study on Alberto's TRESemme product line. After a successful branding and repositioning campaign, TRESemme sales grew from $40 million to $400 million, making it a leading product for the company.
Lawrence Stuenkel (B.S. Management 1965, M.S. Management 1967), founder and senior partner of Lawrence and Allen — October 15 Executive in Residence. As founder of a leading executive out-placement firm, Larry Stuenkel spoke before standing-room only crowds in several NIU College of Business classes on a variety of human resource subjects. The topics included strategic management, career planning, and effective networking, among others. Stuenkel concluded his Executive-in-Residence presentation by talking to members of the NIU student chapter of the Society for Human Resource Management.
In fall 2006, Joe Cullinane was named the NIU College of Business Department of Marketing executive in residence. Cullinane teaches the upper-level business class Global Marketing.
Joe Cullinane graduated from NIU in 1980 with a degree in marketing. He earned a master of science degree in communications from Northwestern University and an M.B.A. from Dominican University. Since 1980, Joe has held sales and executive positions at Xerox Corporation, NCR Corporation, and Diversified Software Systems, Inc. After a successful corporate career that included executive-level positions in international marketing, Cullinane's entrepreneurial spirit took the form of Telum Group, Inc., which he founded. Subsequently, he founded Joe Cullinane Enterprises, Inc., a business-development and sales advisory firm.
A podcaster, Cullinane co-hosts, with Roger Green, The Cullinane & Green Report. In this hour-long podcast, Cullinane, Green, and their guests dispense no-nonsense information and advice on the "hows" of business development in light of the latest technologies — such as blogs, podcasts, social networking, and CRM, among others. C&G Report's current podcast explores the social networking phenomenon Second Life. Listen to The Cullinane & Green Report at www.cullinane-green.podomatic.com/. C&G Report guests to date include Gil Penchina, CEO of Wikia; Kate Edwards, CEO of CenterPost; Irv Rein, Ph.D., professor of communication studies at Northwestern University and internationally known expert in public communications and popular culture; marketing guru Guy Kawasaki; Google's Internet Evangelist Vint Cerf; and venture capitalist Tim Draper.
Joe Cullinane contributes much to the academic community at NIU, the College of Business, and its Department of Marketing. Joe is a board member of the NIU Executive Club and a sponsor of a Department of Marketing scholarship. He has coached numerous student teams working on real-world business projects as part of their semester course work. For the past several years, Joe has served as a frequent guest speaker in NIU business classes. In 2005, Joe was awarded the Marketing Alumni of the Year designation.
John Shigley, executive vice president and chief financial officer, MGM Grand Hotel, LLC., was executive in residence in the NIU College of Business on November 16 and 17, 2007. Shigley spoke in finance classes on career opportunities and career paths in the finance and accounting fields, sharing his interesting and varied path to success, as well as the excitement of working in the Las Vegas casino industry. Shigley's presentation, The Business of the Casino Industry, was made before more than 100 student organization representatives and the 600 students in the college's undergraduate cross-functional course.
Peter Butterfield, president and CEO for ATK North America, spent November 7-8, 2006, in the NIU College of Business as an executive in residence. Butterfield spoke of global competitiveness before students in the college's strategic management courses. He shared insights from more than 25-years of experience in the automotive industry, which began with the Ford Motor Company after Butterfield graduated from NIU. Peter held executive-level positions with Ford and Volvo and was president and CEO of Kia Motors America. Peter serves on the NIU College of Business Board of Executive Advisors.
Jim Rose, CEO for Mosaic Sales Solutions Corporation, visited classes on November 7-8, 2006, as an executive in residence. Jim spoke in leadership and strategic management classes on leadership. Rose has extensive global business experience, living and working overseas for a good part of his career. He shared with undergraduate business students his insights on global business as well as keys to leadership success. Jim serves on the NIU College of Business Board of Executive Advisors.