School of Management Newsletter: October 2017

Groups of Distinction

The campus chapter of Beta Gamma Sigma, the honor society that recognizes academic excellence in business studies, was granted Highest Honors Chapter status by the organization. In addition to this important recognition, the 50-member chapter was awarded an Honor Roll Scholarship, which provides funds for one student to attend the society’s three-day Global Leadership Summit next month in Orlando, Florida. Seniors and chapter vice presidents Maura Sullivan and Eddie Campbell will both attend the summit. Elizabeth Purinton-Johnson, associate professor of business, is the chapter’s faculty adviser.

“Superior status” has been conferred upon the Marist chapter of Beta Alpha Psi, the international honor organization for accounting, finance and information systems students. This designation includes a stipend of $500; members of the chapter also have the honor of wearing a green ribbon at the organization’s annual meeting next August. The chapter’s faculty advisers are Accounting Professors J. Donald Warren, Jr. and John Finnigan.

“These recognitions are a public acknowledgement of the consistent and ongoing academic efforts made by both our students and the faculty,” said Dean Lawrence Singleton. “And we couldn’t be prouder of their achievements.”

Faculty Focus

“Fraud Examination,” a new three-credit course being taught by Prof. Kenneth Coletti, launched this fall. Developed in association with the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, the course examines the history of fraud and its various manifestations, as well as how it can be detected, controlled and prevented. Coletti himself is a licensed Certified Fraud Examiner.

As part of the new Teaching Enhancement at Marist (TEAM) Program, Prof. Della Lee Sue has organized class visits by faculty members in an effort to support SOM instructors at all levels. Besides encouraging collegiality, the visits provide an opportunity for colleagues to offer feedback and suggestions to their peers in a noncritical, nonjudgmental manner.

On September 28, School of Management faculty members sat down to dinner with a group of the college’s newest students as part of the First Year Programs Faculty Supper Series. The annual repast took place in the private dining room in the Student Center. Faculty members in attendance included professors John Finnigan, David Gavin, Joanne Gavin, Brian Haughey, Byunghoon Jin, Philip LaRocco, Bonnie Stivers, Della Lee Sue, Melinda Weisberg, Mary Winby and Robert Zito.

Alumni Profile – James E. Daly ’72

To say that James (Jim) Daly is a longtime member of the Marist College community is an understatement. Besides graduating in 1972 with a bachelor’s degree in political science, Daly was the school’s vice president and dean of admissions from 1977-87; he served on the Alumni Executive Board — including a stint as that organization’s president — from 2005-08; and for the past three years he has been a member of the SoM’s Board of Advisers. In addition, “after I graduated, I was a volunteer for a year with the Marist Brothers at their high school in Laredo, Texas,” he says. “I taught Mexican-American students at the school, which was in tough shape financially; we got $100 a month for room and board. At that time, there was a certain sense at Marist that we should give back to others. It was real then, as it is now.”

Born in New York City, Daly grew up on Long Island. After completing his short teaching career in Texas, he remained in the educational arena, working as director of admissions at Mount Saint Mary College before assuming the same role in Poughkeepsie. “The school was in a dark financial place when I got here,” he recalls. “But we were able to quintuple the applicant pool and double the enrollment. This helped to put the school on a better financial footing.”

In 1987, Daly switched gears, accepting a position at the venerable firm of Alex. Brown & Sons, the first investment bank established in the U.S. “I was thrilled to join them,” Daly recalls. “I was in my mid-thirties, with two preschool children. I knew that if I wanted to make a career change, it was now or never.” With the company for 12 years, Daly rose to the position of vice president; he then moved to Morgan Stanley Smith Barney, where he served as a vice president for eight years. Since 2011, he has been employed as a financial adviser with Stifel, Nicolaus & Company in Poughkeepsie.

Because of his long association with the college, Daly feels his role as a Board of Advisers member is somewhat unique: “I was dean of admissions for 10 years, and just celebrated my 45th reunion. I know a broad swath of alumni, I have a sort of ‘institutional memory’ of the school, and I’m in the financial industry. I think I bring some things to the plate.”

And speaking of that reunion: On October 7, during Homecoming and Reunion Weekend, Daly received the Dr. Dennis J. Murray Distinguished Service Award from the Alumni Association. He insists, however, that “Marist has done so much more for me than I’ve done for Marist. They gave me an opportunity, and it was life altering. To come in, work hard, and see results — I owe them so much, I could never repay it.”

Getting to know… Prof. John C. Cary

Like Joanne Gavin, last month’s faculty profile subject, John Cary also hails from New Orleans. The SoM’s visiting professor of management’s educational background includes a bachelor’s degree in geology from the University of Alabama, an MBA in finance earned at Loyola University New Orleans, and a doctorate in education from St. John Fisher College in Rochester, NY. Along with his wife Susan, he lives in nearby Marlboro; the couple has three sons — Tyler, Ben and Ryan — who range in age from 21 to 26. During his free hours, Cary enjoys running (especially on the Walkway Over the Hudson), hiking, tennis, and playing the guitar and the saxophone.

Q: What brought you from New Orleans to the Hudson Valley?

A: My wife is from Milton, New York. She went to Tulane, which is in the city of New Orleans, to do her “junior year abroad.” We met while playing guitar, and started dating. She returned north to finish her degree in Connecticut. Six months after that, I finished my MBA and got a job at Bear Stearns in New York City, living in Hell’s Kitchen for about two years. We got married, and I got a job as an accountant with Mellon Financial in New Jersey, which was closer to where we were then living. Eventually we moved to West Nyack.

Although I liked my job at Mellon, I felt there was something missing. I ended up purchasing a Unishippers franchise along with my brother and a friend, which I ran for 18 years. It’s a third-party logistics company. We brokered between shipping carriers and our own customers. It was like the triangular relationship you have with an insurance broker.

Q: How did you go from being an entrepreneur to a college professor?

A: The franchise underwent cultural and financial changes in 2008. It was a great business, but all good things come to an end. So I decided to go back to school so I could teach. Teaching was one of those little seeds I’d always had at the back of my mind, so I decided to make it happen.

Q: How much do you use your work experience in your teaching?

A: All the time! The students get a lot of theory — in my class and others — so I like to mix in practical information and link the theory to the outside world. And it’s part of who I am – I did it for 18 years. I can’t help but incorporate it into class. And they like it.

Q: Beyond the curriculum, is there one overall lesson you’d like your students to take with them from your class?

A: I want them to be able to take a piece of information and use it as a platform to think through a problem. You need to be able to reason and think through things. I also want them to have an open mind to the concepts they’re learning, because eventually they will all come into play.

I love Marist and the culture here. It’s been a good fit for me. The students are great, they generally work hard and want to do well. They’re very engaged, which makes teaching fun.