A
s we prepare for the next academic year, an exciting new program joins our mix: the Health Leadership EMBA program(HLEMBA). This twenty month degree program will prepare leaders across the health sector with enhanced leadership competence and the business toolkit necessary to have organizational impact and affect positive change. It is open to managers and other leaders in health care and delivery, medical equipment manufacturing, health sciences, and affiliated industries such as biotech and pharmaceutical.
To understand why and how this program fits our portfolio, let me provide a brief review. The Executive Leadership Program (ELP) was launched in 1998. In the past 13 years, it has earned high credibility among companies for improving the leadership competence of attendees. Equally important, ELP has touched the hearts of hundreds of
alumni, most of whom regard it as a Continued on page 5
CONTENTS:
TRANSITIONS: HERE TO STAY ...2 ALUMNI COUNCIL TRANSITIONS ...3 PERSPECTIVES: CAREER TRANSITIONS ...6
powerful, and positive, transformational experience. Graduates report greater knowledge, competence, self-awareness, and confidence in leading others.
In 2005, the Albers School of Business and Economics considered the addition of an EMBA degree program. Faculty and administration built on proven competence in leadership formation. As a result, the Executive Leadership program became the founda-tion (first two quarters) of the Leadership EMBA (LEMBA). ELP is still offered as
tive experience in leadership.
In 2006, we launched the Center for Leadership Formation, as well as the LEMBA program. In the past five years, we have accomplished a lot, but three things stand out. First, we have successfully integrated alumni activities across the two programs. Through a mix of formal and informal events — both social and educational — we engage alumni monthly. It is great to see so many of you turn out for these events, regardless of which program you
a stand-alone certificate program, and entering students from all programs are blended for the first two quarters. For those continuing for the full degree, three quarters of core business content follow ELP, and the program concludes with a final quarter of advanced
forma-attended. I believe this succeeds because the principles of ELP carry forward in the LEMBA program and are expanded in the final quarter.
Second, we have broadened the number of organizations we serve locally
Extending Our Reach: Health Leadership EMBA
Center for Leadership Formation Staff Dr. Marilyn Gist, Executive Director Penny Koch-Patterson, Associate Director
Lynn Callantine, Programs Manager Sommer Harrison, Recruiting and
Marketing Coordinator
Carly Cannell, Programs Coordinator Kaily Serralta, Work-Study Assistant
Sarah Portin, Work-Study Assistant Center for Leadership
Formation Fellows Phyllis Campbell
Chairman, Pacific Northwest, JP Morgan Chase
Martin Coles
Managing Director of International Operations, Tommy Bahama
Allan Golston
President, US Program, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
Jim Sinegal
CEO, Costco Wholesale
Susan Scott
Founder, Fierce, Inc.
Center for Leadership Formation Advisory Board
Sallie Bondy
Sales & Marketing Operations Director, Boeing Commercial Airlines,
The Boeing Company
Pat Callans
VP Business Centers, Costco Wholesale
Darren Hamby
Senior VP, Human Resources, Zymogenetics
David Jackson
Human Resources Business Leader, Bing Search, Microsoft Corporation
Jane Kilburn
Director of Public Affairs, Port of Seattle
Jim Klauer
VP General Merchandising Manager, Costco Wholesale
Butch Leonardson
Chief Information Officer, BECU
A LETTER FROM THE CENTER FOR LEADERSHIP FORMATION
Transitions: Here to Stay
Graduation, pregnancy, job loss, marriage, divorce, moving, retirement…what do all of these have in common in the story of life? They’re times of transition and, ready or not, life has a way of ushering us into the next chapter. These periods of change can be joyful, celebratory and thrilling. For the woman who has longed for a child all her life, the weight of her baby’s small body resting against hers brings a feeling of elation that’s unmatched.
And some seasons in life are tinged with pain and regret. Divorce and job loss can rattle our sense of identity to the core. We may find ourselves longing for what could’ve been, might’ve been, should’ve been. E.L. Doctorow said, “Writing a novel is like driving a car at night. You can see only as far as your headlights but you can make the whole trip that way.” That’s true for transitions, also. We never really know what’s on the other side of them. What will it ask of me? Am I up to the challenge? Do I have any choice but to adapt?
The CLF office is experiencing some exciting transitions of its own. We’re pleased to announce the launch of the Healthcare Leadership Executive MBA. On page 1, Executive Director Marilyn Gist discusses the evolution of the program and the impact it will have on the community. The timing is apt to reach the health sector as this is the largest growing segment of our economy, both locally and nationally.
On page 3, CLF alumni council members Guy Silver and Heidi de Laubenfels provide an update on the council’s recent transitions. By taking an honest look at the needs and wants of the CLF alumni, the council changed their approach to events and engagement to increase participation. They share their process and the keys to their success.
Career transitions can be daunting, especially in “this economy.” What does it take to navigate change when it comes to your career? And what mindset takes you the farthest? On page 6, the CLF sits down with recent LEMBA graduates Sarah Cole and John Bencich, both in the midst of career transitions, to learn what’s working for them and what lessons from their ELP experience have been particularly helpful. Similarly, Susan Woerdehoff (LEMBA ’10), is featured on page 7, for her recent career move from Microsoft to become Seattle University’s AVP of Alumni Relations, which was one of her leadership legacy goals.
Transitions can ask a lot of us. But like driving at night, we don’t need to see the entire stretch of road ahead of us in order to reach our destination. We need to only relax our grip on the steering wheel, trust the road beneath us and do our best to enjoy the ride. Please enjoy this edition of Connections.
Penny Koch-Patterson Associate Director
Center for Leadership Formation Continued on page 3
S
ometimes, even when things are working well, change can be healthy. That has been true for the alumni council that serves graduates of Seattle University’s Leadership Executive MBA(LEMBA) and Executive Leadership Program (ELP) — and has done so quite successfully for many years.
The council operates under a charter that includes the following mission, which in 2008 became part of a three- to five-year strategy:
• Inspire and catalyze the community of ELP alumni to continue the journey from leadership to legacy • Interact to support learning and
growth
• Convene important conversations • Take on significant corporate and
community issues
• Foster relationships within and between cohorts
Then in the middle of 2009, when laudable ambitions to sustain social-justice projects and other weighty endeavors were beginning to feel overwhelming, the council decided a transition was in order.
We heeded some wise ELP advice to just take one step, rather than strive for giant leaps. Maybe what we needed were a few simple successes. If we could create valuable experiences with which alumni could connect, people would naturally get engaged in all of the above objectives over time.
AND WHAT BETTER FIRST STEP TO TAKE THAN TO THROW A PARTY?
That’s one way to describe our early transitional efforts, at least. Our plan: to build a series of events that would give alumni easy ways to engage with each other. No long-term commitment, no preparation required. While it sounds simple enough, it required a clear
stand by the council to recognize the Continued on page 4
limitations of member commitment, temporarily forgo otherwise worthy initiatives, and be honest with ourselves about our own energy reserves.
We started by creating a calendar of “meet-and-greet” opportunities for alumni and current students at The Garage, a venue near campus that is a popular place to wind down after classes. That easily fit with the goal of fostering relationships among cohorts.
The calendar grew from there, building on existing programming wher-ever possible. For example, we attached alumni receptions to executive-speaker events on campus, and we opened the Center for Leadership Formation’s annual holiday party to alumni.
The council continued an estab-lished tradition of partnering with CLF staff to produce the annual Stoking the Common Fire event as part of the ELP graduation process.
Once we had a number of these events on the calendar (and successfully under our belts), it became easier to invent a few new ideas to add to the mix. What would our fellow alumni value?
In the category of convening important conversations, we tried an approach we called Dinners with Faculty. The concept was to invite a professor or two from the programs to lead a conversation in someone’s home, with a quasi potluck dinner attached. This made
Paul Lambert
National Practice Director, Point B Solutions
John Milne
Founder, Vice President of Medical Affairs, Swedish Hospital, Issaquah Campus
Doug Moore
President, McKinstry Company
Dan Shea
Director, Human Resources, Weyerhaeuser Real Estate Company
Mike Stafford
Managing Member, Management Performance Solutions, LLC
Dan Wall
Senior Vice President, Ocean Services, Expeditors International
Tracy Warner
Executive Vice President, Chief Operating & Financial Officer,
Washington Dental Service
Center for Leadership Formation Health Leadership Advisory Board
Scott Armstrong
President and CEO, Group Health Cooperative
Gregg Davidson
CEO, Skagit Regional Health
Dan Dixon
Vice President, External Relations, Swedish Medical Center
Azita Emami
Dean, College of Nursing, Seattle University
Pat Hagan
President and COO, Children’s Hospital Seattle
Brad Harlow CEO, Physiosonics Steven Huebner Partner, KPMG, LLP Mary McWilliams Executive Director, Puget Sound Health Alliance
Sarah Patterson
Executive Vice President & Chief Operating Officer, Virginia Mason Medical Center
Chris Rivera
President, Washington Biotechnology and Biomedical Association
Jan Sprake
Executive Director, Medic One Foundation
Brian Webster
President, Physio-Control
Center for Leadership Formation Advisory Board (Cont’d)
GUY SILVER (ELP ‘08) HEIDI DE LAUBENFELS (LEMBA ‘09)
Our Report Card
Like any organization that has a potential audience of more than 300 alumni, measuring success is relative. Certainly, having 30 to 40 people show up to a Dinner with Faculty event is great. If 10 people attend a meet-up at The Garage, that is valuable to us, and to those 10 folks.Perhaps our favorite endorsement occurred at the end of 2010, after a full year of monthly events. More than 20 percent of the alumni paid their $50 annual dues — a record. We’d received dues from people we’d never even met, and the result was a 50 percent increase in dues submitted over 2009.
We took that as a vote of confi-dence in our approach, and we take very seriously the responsibility that comes with that. Those dues are now making it possible for the council to create more and richer programming, and to regularly extend event invitations to our faculty, CLF staff, executive coaches, current cohort, and prospective students.
Alumni Council Transitions
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 3 for an intimate and casual evening that
included fun social activity along with substance and meaning.
All three dinners so far have been terrific successes, with topics ranging from communication to courage to what leadership looks like here in the Northwest while major upheaval rattles other parts of the world. Each has featured a broad cross-section of the alumni community, with some re-engaging for the first time in years. This deepened engagement has led the council to re-emphasize the collection of alumni member dues, which in turn is helping finance richer and more varied programming.
We’re experimenting with activities that support learning and growth (part of the council’s mission), having hosted a presentation on Caring Economics and another on developing negotiating skills.
This year’s calendar includes a few new ideas, including a series we’re calling The Great Debate, in the style of Lincoln-Douglas (with our own twists). We’ll host a service day on Saturday, September 10, that will give graduates a chance to work/spend a fun day together while helping restore Magnuson Park with EarthCorps. Finally, we’re drafting Releasing the Leader Within, a series of engaging activities gleaned from the practice of theater arts.
Looking back over the past couple of years, it’s easy to see that much has changed for this group. But change didn’t happen suddenly. The key to successful transition was to keep it simple, exercise patience, be consistent and work within our known capacity to contribute.
IF ALL ELSE FAILS, START WITH A PARTY!
Do you have an event idea? Please drop a line to any of the council officers:
Guy Silver, President g-silveg@seattleu.edu
Heidi de Laubenfels, Vice president delauben@seattleu.edu
Tom Gates, Treasurer thosgates@gmail.com
Ken Peasley, Secretary kpeasley@trueblueinc.com
And be sure to attend an event! Next up is A Day of Community Stewardship. See you there.
– Guy Silver, ’08 & Heidi de Laubenfels, ’09 ALUMNI COUNCIL EVENTS
A Day of Community Stewardship September 10 (Saturday)
Tine: 10:00 AM – 2:00 PM Location: Magnuson Park
Join Steve Taylor (ELP ’08) and Sue Kraemer (LEMBA ’10) as we engage in team volunteerism and park restoration. Continental breakfast will be served.
Dinner w/ Faculty October 6 (Thursday) Time: 6:00 – 9:00 PM
Location: TBD
Alumni Council Meet-Up October 21 (Friday) Time: 5:30 – 8:00 PM
Location: The Garage (1130 Broadway)
SAVE THE DATE! The Great Debate Series November 17 (Thursday) Time: 6:00 – 7:30 PM
Location: TBD
Featuring SU faculty and local leaders.
SAVE THE DATE! CLF Holiday Party December 2 (Friday) Time: Evening
Location: TBD
2011 Event Brainstorming Session January 19, 2012 (Thursday) Time: 5:30 – 6:30 PM
Location: Casey 400, Seattle University Calendar planning for the year ahead Hors d’oeuvres will be served
SAVE THE DATE!
Conversations with Fellows January 24, 2012 (Tuesday)
so more and more companies have become familiar with our brand. Our social justice projects also reach deeply into the community and our impact is being felt in very positive ways. Even in a tough economy, sponsors and students continue to report the value they see in our formative educational offerings.
Finally, we are proud of the national recognition we have earned in such a short time. You may recall that just a few years ago, ELP was ranked in the Top Ten nationally by corporate respon-sibility officers. We are now pleased we stand at #18 nationally in US News and World Report’s best programs rankings for 2012. We also take pride in being the only school in the Pacific Northwest to be ranked in the Top 25 for the past three years.
The time is ripe to extend our reach to the health sector, specifically. This is the largest growing sector of our economy, both locally and nationally. It is also undergoing significant and necessary transition. Many of its leaders are asking for education in business and organizational leadership. Seattle U’s values of developing leaders for a just and humane world are very consistent with concerns about access to health care and global health.
Extending Our Reach: Health Leadership EMBA
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
The Health Leadership EMBA program utilizes the same foundation as LEMBA. Specifically, ELP comprises the first two quarters, and the final quarter consists of advanced, formative experience in leadership.
In between will be three quarters of core business content. Some of this will be the same, or adapted from, LEMBA. For example, Statistics will be the same across the two programs, but the Accounting courses will be adapted to better address the needs of the health sector. Importantly, about half the business core is comprised of new content that is customized for the health sector. Examples include courses in Health Sector Economics and Policy, Healthcare Information Systems, and Implementing Health Sector Strategies.
We are currently forming our first class and the program will start in late August. This is an exciting time for the Center as we extend our reach to new companies in this industry. As we do so, we remain committed to providing the best formative education we can. HLEMBA participants will gain a global understanding of the issues facing the health sector, while developing greater capacity to engage locally to make a difference. – By Marilyn Gist, Ph.D.
Welcome Carly Cannell
The CLF is happy to welcome Carly Cannell who joined the staff in July as the Programs Coordinator. She brings a familiarity with Seattle University having served for 4 years in various positions on campus in both the Office of Government and Community Affairs and the Center for Service and Community Engagement. Carly com-pleted her Bachelor of Arts in International Studies with a focus on China, from the University of Washington, and is currently pursuing her MBA at Seattle University as a part-time student, specializing in Leadership Formation. Outside of work, Carly enjoys traveling, indoor rock climbing, learning to play the cello, and volunteering at Childhaven.SEATTLE UNIVERSITY’S ALBERS SCHOOL OF BUSINESS
AND ECONOMICS
Congratulates the
Leadership Executive
MBA Class of 2011
Andrew Barfoot
Vice President, Sales & Marketing
Troutlodge, Inc John Bencich, Consultant Jeffrey Cole, Vice President,
U.S. Gasoline, Car Wash & Photo
Costco Wholesale Corporation Sarah Cole
Entrepreneur – Health Care Services
Zahra Dedhar
Senior Manager of Financial Reporting
Boeing Capital Corporation Elizabeth Elsner
General Merchandising Manager
Costco Wholesale Corporation Tina Hagedorn, Executive Consultant
Wesley Rickard, Inc. Ed Hiar, Engineering Manager
Google Mark Homeyer
Director Marine Operations
Crowley Maritime Corporation Sara Kern, Claims Specialist
Port of Seattle
Michael Mooney, Director, Risk
Management & Insurance - The Americas, Expeditors, International
of Washington, Inc. Maren Nelson,
Senior Program Director, Physio-Control
Bill Northey
Senior Vice President/General Manager
Northland Services MarineTransportation, Inc. Daniel Quinn-Shea, Consultant Tonya Swick, Executive Director Samena Swim & Recreation Club Teal Williams, Operations Program
Management Professional
Sherene Williams-Loughead
Director, Information Services
Perspectives: Career Transitions
C
areer transitions are a reality in today’s business world. The Center for Leadership Formation provides students with the skills, networks and support they need to succeed in uncertain times. We sit down with two recent LEMBA graduates, Sarah Cole (’11) and John Bencich (’11), to learn about their personal approach to managing their careers in times of change.CLF: Tell us where you are in your career transition.
Sarah Cole: I am currently a stay- at- home mom for my six year old son, Colin, and a part-time volunteer board member for a local non-profit, Friends of the Children — King County. I am a CPA and my professional background has been primarily in accounting and financial reporting. I have worked in public accounting, the wireless industry and in the non-profit sector combining my financial skills with community organizing work. I am now in the process of starting my own healthcare services business.
John Bencich: I have been consulting for two local life sciences companies, OncoGenex and Emergent BioSolutions. Emergent BioSolutions acquired Trubion Pharmaceuticals, where I served as CFO, in October of last year. I had the
wonderful opportunity to help the company complete an acquisition that did not result in large layoffs, like is often the case in these transactions. However, it did result in the majority of the leadership team being let go, including me. Given how challenging it was to work and attend the LEMBA program, I made a decision not to actively look for a new role until the program was close to the end. So now I am actively looking for my next opportunity.
CLF: What has been the primary challenge with your transition?
SC: The most significant challenge has been the adjustment my family has made of our day- to- day expectations of each other. In addition, because my business is in a new professional domain for me I’ve had various challenges related to that. I’ve educated myself on the healthcare industry and created an entirely new network of advisors and partners.
JB: A couple things come to mind. For the first time in my career I have not been fully employed. This has been a strange experience. I have more free time than ever before and I’ve taken advantage of this by doing things I love like snow- boarding and bicycling. The downside is that looking for a new job in the current environment is a daunting task.
CLF: Did you find a way to ease such obstacles?
SC: The LEMBA schedule made the adjustment period for my family much less difficult than if I had gone directly back into the traditional workforce. The once- a- month class schedule and combination of group and individual
work in between class sessions was flexible enough that the transition seemed less extreme for all. Now, at the end of the program, we have all adjusted and are better prepared for me to spend time outside the home as I start my new venture.
While in the program I intentionally leveraged the learnings, connections, and structure to help me develop my business plan and build a new network and knowledge base in healthcare. Words can’t describe how helpful the program has been for me during this process. Faculty, classmates and the administration have all been extremely supportive and willing to help. In addition, I was able to reach out on my own to new contacts while leveraging the fact that I am a student. People love to be asked for advice and being a student eliminates the fear of other expectations.
JB: There is no silver bullet solution to finding a job so I have been looking at this as more of an adaptive challenge, one that requires me to focus my energy in a new direction. My default modus operandi has been on the employer side of the equation where I was always in full control of the hiring process. So being on the other side of the coin has required me to shift my mindset.
CLF: Was there a particular moment that catalyzed this change?
SC: The ELP portion of the program provided a framework and support structure for me that greatly helped my personal transition. My executive coach helped me to adjust my mindset and let go of unrealistic expectations I had of myself during the first six months of the program. She also helped me to think through ways to manage my family’s expectations and how I could support their transition.
SARAH COLE (LEMBA ’11) JOHN BENCICH (LEMBA ’11)
A
s the new Assistant Vice President for Alumni Rela-tions, Susan Woerdehoff has big plans. Top of mind — make Alumni Relations a world-class office with a world-class plan.Woerdehoff knows something about success in organiza-tions and the business world following 20 years at Microsoft (she most recently was responsible for the strategy and opera-tions of the cloud services support business.) And she knows something about Seattle University as a double alumna, earning a bachelor’s degree in Psychology and Communications in 1990 and a Leadership Executive MBA in 2010.
As the head of Alumni Relations, Woerdehoff is tasked with leading the university’s efforts to enhance alumni engagement and connection. To the role, which she officially began in late May, she brings no shortage of enthusiasm and passion.
“What I want to ensure we make a reality for all students and alumni is that you are a Redhawk and part of a family when you get here,” she says, “and you are a Redhawk and have that family with you when you leave.”
– By Tina Potterf / Photo by Chris Joseph Taylor
CLF: Have you found implementation of content from your ELP/LEMBA courses helpful in your transitions?
SC: As I mentioned earlier, ELP/LEM-BA learnings, classmates, professors, and the SU resources have all played a great role in my transition. I’ve not only lever-aged my expanded business technical skills and language, but I have put into practice the many valuable soft skills that will be so important to my success going forward. I practiced these skills in my volunteer non-profit Board position and while developing my final capstone proj-ect, my business plan, for the program. I entered my plan in both the SU and UW business plan competitions. The compe-titions helped to provide a structure that both supported and challenged me along the way.
JB: The phrase “Trust the Process” has come to mind often. I know I cannot ultimately control whether a potential employer hires me but there are aspects
of the process that I can control, such as strategic networking, my image on social media sites and preparation for inter-views. My main focus has been to take control of the part of the process that I can and to maintain a positive attitude.
CLF: What is your ultimate goal(s) in taking on the challenge of a career transition?
SC: My goal is to launch a new business in healthcare services to create an innova-tive first step solution toward solving our broken healthcare system. I believe that the free market can be a powerful tool to solve big social problems and I hope to demonstrate this through my business. I also hope to demonstrate to other busi-ness leaders that having a dual strategy of profit and social good can result in great value creation for shareholders. Perhaps it will encourage more business leaders to adopt a similar approach over time. I hope my son, and/or his children, will have the opportunity to benefit from the
Building a World-Class Alumni Relations Office
great possibilities this would create for our world.
JB: My goal is to continue to work with emerging life science companies in a financial leadership role to support their mission to protect lives and improve patient outcomes.
Sarah Cole, ’11 is a social entrepreneur in the process of starting a business in healthcare services. She also volunteers as Board Vice President for Friends of the Children—King County (www. friendskc.org). She has over 15 years of accounting and management experience.
John Bencich, ’11 recently served as vice president and chief financial officer of Trubion Pharmaceuticals until their acquisition by Emergent BioSolutions in October of 2010. He continues to consult with Emergent BioSolutions post acquisition as well as other local life science companies as he looks for his next full time opportunity. From 2007 through 2009, he served as Trubion’s senior director of finance and accounting. From 2004 to 2007, Mr. Bencich was an employee of Onyx Software Corporation, where he last served as director of finance. Prior to joining Onyx, Mr. Bencich began his career at Ernst & Young LLP in Seattle, Washington.
ALBERS SCHOOL OF BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS EXECUTIVE SPEAKER SERIES
(Free and open to the public)
Time: 5:30 to 6:30 PM
Location: Pigott Auditorium
• October 19 (Wednesday) Rene Ancinas
President and COO of Port Blakely Companies
• November 3 (Thursday)
Tod Nielsen
President & COO, Costco Wholesale
CENTER FOR LEADERSHIP FORMATION EVENTS EMBA Information Session Time: 5:30 PM Location: Pigott 146 • September 21 (Wednesday) Executive Education Classroom Observations Time: 12:00 – 3:30 PM Lunch included • October 21 (Friday) • November 18 (Friday) • December 1 (Thursday) SAVE THE DATE! CLF Holiday Party • December 2 (Friday)
Time & Location: Evening, TBD