Volume 13, Issue 2

Beyond His Comfort Zone

Larry Pratt

Working Hard and Discovering a Passion

Growing up in a small East Tennessee town, Pratt learned about the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, from his parents, both of whom were unable to attend college but wanted the opportunity for their children. When Pratt was five years old, his father took him to a UT football game. After that first game, they would attend at least one baseball, basketball, or football game on campus each year, and those experiences formed Pratt’s love for the university and its athletics programs.

Unplugged

Heath Wilson

Experienced Entrepreneur Creates Business to Help Families

After 17 years co-leading successful fintech startup eVestment, Heath Wilson (HCB, ’96) embarked on a new entrepreneurial journey: creating a product that helps families to put down their smartphones and spend time together. Aro, an app and phone system that uses gamification to motivate users to set aside their technology, was birthed out of Wilson’s own struggles to prioritize his family. Wilson and his wife, Mistye, had four young children when he realized something needed to change. With work and travel, he rarely felt present, even when sitting across from his kids at home. With the time he spent on his phone, he knew he had no room to chastise his children about their own technology use. “I’d been a terrible role model in that way,” he says. “It’s hard to tell your kids to put their phones down when you’re staring at yours.”

In This Issue

Downloads

Full Magazine

Cherokee Tribe Creates New Tradition with Haslam Professional MBA Program

Alumni Profile

Connecting Generations and Improving the College

HASLAM YOUNG ALUMNI BOARD

C. Warren Neel and the Neel Corporate Governance Center

CELEBRATING A HASLAM LUMINARY

Better Together

FREDDERICK AND PATRICIA RICHARDSON

JTV Center: Analytics Applied

Governments Believe Manufacturers’ Cross-Licensing Is Bad for Society, but New Research Says, “Not Always”

Learning Through Immersion: The New Undergraduate Degree in International Business

Insight and Intention

SHERRY M.B. THATCHER

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Thought Leadership

Bloomberg

“Our department head saw the writing on the wall that data was going to be at the center of everything we do.”

Missie Bowers - Associate Professor

Harvard Business Review

“If customers are asking for different things, the place to get out ahead of that often is not at the salesperson level but at the procurement group level. They’re the ones that are going to be able to enact a change.”

Chad Autry - Associate Dean of Faculty and Research; Daniel and Karen Myers Distinguished Professor

The Conversation

“It isn’t necessarily that the maritime industry doesn’t want to go the direction of cleaner fuels. But their assets — their fleets — were purchased with a long lifespan in mind, and alternative fuels aren’t yet widely available.”

Don Maier - Associate Professor of Practice

The Tennessee Ledger

“Especially when things are tight and business might be facing a recessionary type of environment, are they expecting more out of fewer employees? Are you getting enough productivity out of the employees? And if you’re expecting 10 hours a day, are you really getting the productivity for those extra two hours?”

Jennifer Rittenhouse - Assistant Professor of Practice

WalletHub

“You have to do your homework to find the lowest cost to borrow. This means considering the interest rate and any additional costs like origination fees. Additionally, you need to find out what the late penalties will be, and if you expect to have issues repaying (which probably means this is a bad idea unless you have no other choices) or have a history of accidentally missing payments, then late penalties are worth baking into your estimated cost to borrow.”

Ryan Farley - Torch Fund Program Director and Clinical Assistant Professor

Global Supply Chain Institute

“Companies’ desires to achieve greater supervision and control over their supply chains are heightened in the post-pandemic business environment, and are understandable when one considers the business disruptions that have occurred. Whether driven by internal needs for increased control, by customer directives or by the need to become compliant with emerging regulations, companies are aggressively seeking ways to achieve higher levels of visibility, traceability and transparency for materials and finished goods, as well as the actors that facilitate their movement through supply chains.”

Thomas Goldsby - Co-Executive Director, Global Supply Chain Institute; Dee and Jim Haslam Chair in Logistics

Chad Autry - Associate Dean of Faculty and Research; Daniel and Karen Myers Distinguished Professor

Forbes

“Demonstrating a clear commitment to transparency during something as crucial as contract negotiations will go a long way in building accountability, establishing trust in the business relationship and setting appropriate expectations for the future.”

Kate Vitasek - Distinguished Fellow, Global Supply Chain Institute

Uken Report

“Tax rates and other state-level tax policies certainly influence business startup and location decisions, but the latest research suggests that other issues are at least as important. Business owners care more about access to suppliers and markets, transportation and communications infrastructure, amenities like parks and good schools for their employees and supportive business policies other than taxes.”

Don Bruce - Randy and Jenny Boyd Distinguished Professor and Director, and NCAA Faculty Athletics Representative

The European Business Review

“Our [program] provides students with broad knowledge of how to manage, plan, source, make and deliver operations as an integrated system and gives them the senior leadership skills in strategy and financial management to use their knowledge to guide the firm toward a successful future.”

Ted Stank - Co-Executive Director, Global Supply Chain Institute; Harry J & Vivienne R. Bruce Chair of Excellence in Business; Haslam Family Faculty Research Fellow

NACD BoardTalk

“One thing we saw is that there are two types of audit committees out there. There are those clinging to the [U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission]’s bare minimum rules and who have a ‘check the box’ mentality. Then there are those who are going beyond these rules and disclosing important information about their work that investors want to know.”

Lauren Cunningham - Associate Professor, Keith Stanga Professor of Accounting and Cheryl Massingale Faculty Research Fellow

Salon

“While it is an unpopular strategy, it helps when retailers place purchase quantity limits on consumers at the store shelf. In the longer term, state and federal governments can choose to get involved, if they wish, by providing purchase commitments to manufacturers and distributors that would encourage suppliers to make the big investments required to up their capacity.”

Thomas Goldsby - Co-Executive Director, Global Supply Chain Institute; Dee and Jim Haslam Chair in Logistics

Wall Street Jounral

“Retail isn’t a high-margin business, and a large part of that are the costs that go into things like returns. Too many companies are not measuring the cost that they’re spending on reverse logistics.”

Alan Amling - Assistant Professor of Practice

Inside Higher Ed

“As we move from lower-income to higher-income areas, we don’t see a proportionate increase in lottery sales. Lower-income areas purchase a disproportionate amount of lottery tickets.”

Celeste Carruthers - William F. Fox Distinguished Professor of Labor Economics and Haslam Family Faculty Research Fellow

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