The Ledger

From McCombs TODAY

Harvin C. Moore III gave a speech on ethics Nov. 4 to Prof. Urton Anderson and Prof. Janet Dukerich’s undergraduate studies class, Organizational Corruption and Organizational Control.

At first glance, Moore looks like the picture of success. He earned a law degree from UT Austin and went to work for a law firm in Houston, where he had a “Midas touch” for putting together lucrative business deals. His real estate developments were valued at $250 million and he co-owned a savings and loan business with more than $400 million in assets.

It wasn’t until Moore took off his jacket and put on the prison badge he wore during his 2-year sentence in federal prison that students realized that this wasn’t going to be like any ethics speech they had heard before.

Moore was in business during the collapse of both the oil and gas industry and the real estate market in the four oil and gas states - Texas, Colorado, Oklahoma and Louisiana. That collapse caused all of his personal business to fail and left him with only the savings and loan institution, which he believed to be in excellent health.

However, the savings and loan institution was hit by defaults on the loans it had made to people in Houston and under the rules the partners could not declare a dividend for themselves under those circumstances. That meant that they could not pay back their debts and lenders were threatening to foreclose on their stock in the institution, thereby forcing both parties into bankruptcy.

It was the pressure and fear of being without a job that caused Moore to make three loans to his friends. Those friends would then use part of the money they were lent to “buy” miscellaneous assets from Moore’s personal holdings so that he could use the money to pay his debts. Read More…

From McCombs Alumni Network News

ArrowStream, a leading provider of supply chain solutions for the foodservice industry, announced that John Harvey will join the company November 10 as Chief Financial Officer (CFO).  He will be responsible for all financial aspects of the company.

 Harvey will replace Mary Healy, ArrowStream’s current CFO, who announced her retirement earlier this year.

Harvey brings a wealth of experience from rapidly growing companies to ArrowStream, serving most recently as CFO of Redbox Automated Retail, LLC and then as CFO of Redbox’s publicly traded parent, Coinstar, Inc.  Prior to Redbox, Harvey was with JetBlue Airways Corporation where he supported the company’s growth from an entrepreneurial start-up to a mature, $3 billion operation serving initially as Vice President & Treasurer and then as Executive Vice President & CFO. 

Harvey’s proven ability to build financial teams, discipline and processes that deliver operational insight for rapidly growing companies is crucial as ArrowStream continues its growth trajectory.  As the premier provider of supply chain solutions for the foodservice industry, ArrowStream serves blue-chip customers such as Wendy’s, Church’s Chicken, Steak n Shake, and ARCOP, Arby’s purchasing cooperative group.

Key to the company’s rapid success is The ArrowStream Network, which is the largest most extensive system of restaurants chains, distributors and manufacturers in the foodservice industry with more than 2,300 partners and more than $15 billion of transactions on an annual basis.

“When Mary announced her retirement we were concerned about finding someone with equal skills.  We are thrilled about the addition of John Harvey to our executive team.  His leadership, experience and core values are particularly relevant to the next phase of our evolution and will enhance our already strong financial position as we continue to expand The Network and fulfill ArrowStream’s commitment to delivering supply chain innovation and mutually beneficial solutions to our customers,” said Steven LaVoie, CEO and Chairman of ArrowStream.

By Amber Walkowiak
From McCombs TODAY

Eric Israel, managing director of forensic and global sustainability services for KPMG, gave a presentation Oct. 6 on how sustainability relates to business value. His talk was part of the MPA Distinguished Speaker Lyceum.

According to Israel, sustainability plays a large role in a company’s value and its outlook for the future.

Israel listed the Carbon Disclosure Project is one example of how important sustainability practices and plans are to investors. The project is sponsored by financial investors and asks Fortune 500 companies around the world to report on their carbon emissions. The investors then use these reports to determine in which companies they will make long-term investments.

Israel stressed that sustainability is not merely compliance with the laws. He argued that sustainability should look beyond the minimums of compliance and plan for the future.

He also noted that sustainability means different things for different companies. For a flooring company, sustainability might include a flooring recycling program. For clothing manufacturers, sustainability might include monitoring the production of their products and ensuring that the plants abide by labor laws as well as environmental regulations.

Israel went on to say that sustainability is about efficiency and competitiveness, regardless of what business you are in. Read More…

Florence Atiase, a lecturer in the Department of Accounting, has received the Texas Society of CPAs’ (TSCPA) Outstanding Accounting Educator Award for 2009. The award honors those who have demonstrated excellence in teaching and have distinguished themselves through active service to the accounting profession.

Atiase fits the profile perfectly. Since joining the McCombs faculty in 1993, she has taught a variety of courses at both the undergraduate and graduate levels, including introductory financial and managerial accounting, intermediate financial accounting and financial statement analysis.

Urton Anderson, professor and chair of the Department of Accounting, said, “Florence is truly an outstanding member of the accounting profession who has done much to pass on the values of the profession to a new generation of CPAs.”
 
Her dedication as a teacher is reflected in her students’ comments on her teaching evaluations. “She explains things really well,” one student wrote, “making a very difficult subject accessible to all students.”  Other comments characterize her as “a hard but a compassionate and dedicated teacher” and “one of the best professors I have had at UT so far.”

In 2001, Atiase received the President’s Service Award in appreciation for exceptional dedication and service to the TSCPA’s Austin chapter. In 2007 she also received the CPA of the Year – Industry, Government and Education award from the Austin CPA Chapter of the TSCPA.

Atiase has done a lot of work to promote diversity, both within the McCombs community and the accounting profession.  She serves as a member of the TSCPA’s Diversity and Inclusiveness Committee and as faculty advisor to the University chapter of the National Association of Black Accountants. Since 1994, she has been the faculty coordinator/instructor and facilitator of the McCombs Accounting Career Awareness Program summer camp for underrepresented high school students interested in a career in accounting. In recent years, 80 to 100 percent of former ACAP participants have enrolled as University of Texas business majors.

Atiase joins former McCombs TSCPA Outstanding Educator Award winners Professors Anna Flower, Michael Granof, Ray Sommerfeld and Ed Summers.

By Cory Leahy
From the McCombs TODAY blog

Southwest Airlines Chairman and CEO Gary Kelly, BBA ‘77, waxed philosophic about leadership and his experiences in the top spot at SWA during a conversation with Professor George Gau September 24. Ethical leadership was the theme of the event, the first of three McCombs Leadership Forums planned for this semester.Kelly emphasized how important caring for people is at the airline he has run since 2004 when he became CEO. In 2008 he became chairman, following the retirement of founder Herb Kelleher.

“Southwest Airlines is family-like, which implies love,” he said. The pervasiveness of this warm corporate culture is even captured in its stock ticker symbol: LUV.

As the company’s leader, Kelly said he strives to balance three important areas of focus for the company: low cost, customer service and a focus on people. He acknowledged that the strong customer service culture was deeply embedded when he arrived at SWA in 1985.

“All good stories about Southwest Airlines are because of an interaction someone had with one of our people. We share stories [about customer service triumphs] and celebrate those events,” he said. “They happen over and over.”

Communication is a key piece of being a leader, he said. Kelly, who previously served as CFO, is an accountant by training. When he became chairman and CEO, he said he found it to be very different than being a financial technician.

“God gave us two ears and one mouth,” he said, noting that communication is largely about listening. “Leaders need to know when to listen and respond.”

Despite being the only profitable airline since its inception in 1972, SWA has experienced the global economic downturn during the past several months. But Kelly is circumspect. “To focus on great profits only isn’t sustainable,” he said, while a focus on good service, efficiencies (such as having only one type of aircraft in the entire Southwest Airlines fleet) and safety will lead to profits. Read More…