Fuqua Forums
Engage with Fuqua Faculty and Alumni Practitioners
Launched in 2020, Fuqua Forums are industry-based virtual events created exclusively for the Fuqua alumni community. Each two-hour session features a faculty lecture with Q&A, a practitioner panel showcasing interesting Fuqua alumni, and networking time for participants. View recordings from last year's series below.
All sessions take place from 11:30AM-1:30PM ET. More events coming soon!
Previous Fuqua Forums
May 23, 2023: Health Care
Faculty feature: David Ridley, Professor of the Practice and Dr. and Mrs. Frank A. Riddick, Jr. Research Fellow
- Navigating Biotech and Pharma's Future: Threats and Opportunities in the Next Decade. Biotech and pharmaceutical companies have several challenges and opportunities in the coming decade. Some of the biggest threats stem from changes in reimbursement and regulation, including price controls, restrictive formularies, and reduced periods of exclusivity. However, there are also promising opportunities arising from advances in technology, including artificial intelligence. In this talk, Professor Ridley will discuss four threats for the industry in the next decade. He will then recommend strategies for success.
VIEW HEALTH CARE 2023 FACULTY RECORDING
Alumni practitioner panel:
Left to right:
- Sanjay Acharya MBA ’14, Senior Vice President of Strategy and Growth, HiLabs
- Frank Chavez MBA ’14, Head of Strategy & Corporate Development for Digital & Data, Otsuka Pharmaceutical Companies
- Natalie Schneider MBA ’06, Chief Executive Officer, Fort Health
- Daniel Weinstein MBA ’10, Associate Principal, Digital Medicine Lead, ZS Associates
- Sydnor Gammon MBA ’15, Partner & VP, WillowTree, Digital Health & Wellness (Moderator)
March 30, 2023: Entrepreneurship
Faculty feature: David McAdams, Professor of Business Administration
- Going viral? Lessons from economic theory on the power (and limitations) of word-of-mouth marketing. When launching a new product or social initiative, how much should an entrepreneur leverage word-of-mouth versus direct-to-consumer marketing? Both approaches raise awareness of the new product, but word-of-mouth also has the potential to harness the "wisdom of the crowd" and shape consumers' beliefs about product quality. In this talk, Professor McAdams will discuss the power (and limitations) of word-of-mouth marketing, drawing insights from his recent research on "Adoption Epidemics and Viral Marketing."
View Entrepreneurship 2023 Faculty Recording
Alumni practitioner panel
Left to right:
- Bette Ann Fialkov ’07, Influencer & Entertainment Marketing Consultant, ex-Google, Lyft, Hims & Hers
- Josh Gabay ’19, Campaign Director, Pixly
- Katherine Kane MBA ’12, Founder & Designer, K Kane, LLC
- Philip McKenzie MBA ’99, Cultural Anthropologist + Strategist, and Podcast Host of "The Deep Dive" (Moderator)
March 16, 2022: Technology
Faculty feature: Allison Chaney, Professor of Marketing
- Algorithmic Personalization: Perks and Pitfalls. Data-driven algorithmic recommendations are powerful tools to help you increase customer engagement, sales, or any number of valuable metrics. As a manager, the lure of using machine learning and big data to improve your metrics is tempting, but there are always some dangers to accompany any siren's song. To help teams navigate these waters, this session will tackle crucial discussion questions for managers and data scientists so you can use algorithmic recommendations to achieve your business goals.
VIEW TECHNOLOGY 2022 FACULTY RECORDING
Alumni practitioner panel
Left to right:
- Chidi Erike MBA '12, Industry Manager, Disruptors, Facebook
- Himanshu Kalkar MBA '18, SVP, Head of Products - Intelligent Automation Technology & Strategy, Fidelity
- Rick Thomas MBA '93, Program Director, Cloud Computing, IBM
- Suzanne Scharer MBA '13, Principal, Qualtrics (Moderator)
December 15, 2021: Entrepreneurship
Faculty feature: Sharique Hasan, Associate Professor of Strategy and Jamie Jones, Associate Professor of the Practice of Management and Executive Director for the Fuqua Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation
- David vs. Goliath: Innovation in Startups and Large Firms. Innovation is crucial for success in today’s dynamic business environment. Popular press exalts startups as industry-disrupting innovators poised to slay sluggish, burdened incumbents. Actions by large firms seem to play into this narrative as more and more firms launch accelerators, create corporate venture capital arms, and stand up innovation labs to "see around the corner." What do these dynamics mean for startup founders and for large firms seeking to grow through innovation? When are startups actually disruptive? Are large incumbents unable to innovate? How do startups and incumbents collaborate? What do these dynamics mean for consumers and society?
VIEW ENTREPRENEURSHIP 2021 FACULTY RECORDING
Alumni practitioner panel
Left to right:
- David Blivin MBA '85, Founder and Managing Director, Cottonwood Technology Funds
- David Hailey MBA '13, Co-Founder and CEO, Countifi (formally Countalytics)
- Megann Vaughn Watters MBA '11, Vice President of Corporate Development, New Ventures & Strategic Alliances, Labcorp
- Peter Majeranowski MBA '09, President and Co-founder, Circ (formerly Tyton BioSciences) (Moderator)
October 19, 2021: Health Care
Faculty feature: David McAdams, Professor of Business Administration
- From Aid to Essential National Investment: Changing the Game of Global Pandemic Preparedness.
VIEW HEALTH CARE 2021 FACULTY RECORDING
Alumni practitioner panel: "What are social determinants of health and why are they a big deal?"
Left to right:
- Benson Hsu MBA ‘12, Founder and Chair, Aequitas Health and Pediatric Critical Care Physician, Sanford Health
- Leila Nowroozi MBA '02, Vice President, Marketing Operations, Aetna
- Yogin Patel ’99, MD/MBA ’04, President, ApolloMD
- Stephen Morales MBA ’03, Managing Director, Optimity Advisors (Moderator)
March 12, 2021: Technology
Faculty feature: Carl Mela, T. Austin Finch Foundation Professor of Marketing
- Marketing Technology. The growth in martech, or technologies to scale and automate marketing, has been explosive. In 2014, there were only 900 major marketing technology companies and Shopify was trading at around $30 per share. Today there are over 8,000 major martech companies, and Shopify is trading around $1,200 per share. Professor Mela will discuss some key reasons that underpin growth in martech and its major components including ad tech, content marketing, and B2B and B2C and C2C platforms including sales tech, social media, the peer economy, and reputation platforms. Further, he will outline a more strategic approach to creating and managing your martech stack.
VIEW TECHNOLOGY 2021 FACULTY RECORDING
Alumni practitioner panel
Left to right:
- Scott Brighton MBA '93
- Chen-Lin Lee MBA '05
- Naveen Seshadri MBA '11
- Katherine Hutton '05, MBA '11 (Moderator)
March 4, 2021: Management and Leadership
Faculty feature: Jack Soll, Professor of Management and Organization
- Less is More: When Knowing Less Leads to Better Decisions. To make good decisions, you need information. Yet in some cases certain types of information can make decisions worse, not better. For example, although a job applicant’s physical attractiveness, gender, or race may all be irrelevant to job performance, our research shows that people often want to see this type of information. Moreover, decision makers often know that this type of information can be biasing, yet driven by their curiosity they elect to see it anyway. In this talk, Professor Jack Soll will discuss research that highlights this problem, and also how "blinding" oneself to certain kinds of information can lead to better decisions.
VIEW MANAGEMENT AND LEADERSHIP
2021 FACULTY RECORDING
Alumni practitioner panel
Left to right:
- Tarang Amin MBA '91
- Chip Daniels MBA '03
- Anne Sempowski Ward '94, MBA '04
- Cari H. Coats MBA '03 (Moderator)
February 25, 2021: Marketing
Faculty feature: Keisha Cutright PhD '11, Associate Professor of Marketing
- Befriending the Enemy: Should Brands Play Nice with the Competition? Consumers’ trust in brands is declining, and managers are desperately searching for novel ways to connect. Professor Keisha Cutright’s research suggests that improving one’s relationships with competitors is a valuable, albeit unexpected way for brands to do so. Professor Cutright will discuss the results of several experiments investigating how consumers respond when brands communicate with one another in more complimentary ways.
VIEW MARKETING 2021 FACULTY RECORDING
Alumni practitioner panel
Left to right:
- Jasmin Allen MBA '08
- Esteban Colón MBA '98
- Carl Negin MBA '02
- Todd Bolin MBA '84 (Moderator)
December 15, 2020: Entrepreneurship
Faculty feature: Manuel Adelino, Associate Professor of Finance, and Christine Moorman, T. Austin Finch, Sr. Professor of Business Administration
- Entrepreneurial Action & Mindset. Business today requires talent possessing an innovative spirit combined with the ability to see opportunities, create value, and marshal resources to solve big problems for the benefit of business, customers, and society. In our Fuqua Forums: Entrepreneurship faculty session, Professors Manuel Adelino and Christine Moorman will give an overview of a new Fuqua course that addresses how those seeking to innovate across a wide range industries can have an entrepreneurial mindset. They also will do a deeper dive into the importance of prioritizing deep customer focus.
VIEW ENTREPRENEURSHIP 2020 FACULTY RECORDING
Alumni practitioner panel
Left to right:
- Rachael Classi MBA ’14
- Robb Lawrence MBA ’03
- Rotimi Thomas MBA ’13, MEM '13
- Manil Uppal MBA ’06
- Andrea Weinberg MBA ’10
- Jamie Jones, Associate Professor of the Practice and Executive Director of Fuqua’s Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation (CEI) (Moderator)
December 8, 2020: Health Care
Faculty feature: Mary Frances Luce, Robert A. Ingram Professor of Business Administration and Associate Faculty Director, Health Sector Management
- Making Value-Based Care Valuable. No one argues for less value (less benefit, more cost) in health care in general. Everyone wants positive patient health outcomes and no one wants to waste money. So what’s the problem? Professor Mary Frances Luce will discuss what value-based care is really addressing and why incentives, information, and influence on patients all matter in making value-based care robust.
VIEW HEALTH CARE 2020 FACULTY RECORDING
Alumni practitioner panel
Left to right:
- Teri Lawver MBA ’94
- Shaden Marzouk MBA ’11
- Edward Sim MBA ’02
- Michael Dombeck MBA ’03 (Moderator)
November 13, 2020: Finance
Faculty feature: Adriano Rampini, William and Sue Gross Professor of Financial Economics
- The Risk Management Paradox: Why Firms Should Hedge and Why Many Don’t. Professor Adriano Rampini presents data on hedging patterns in the airline industry and discusses how the theory of corporate hedging helps us understand these patterns by considering the benefits of hedging and the obstacles that might prevent firms from doing so.
The recording of this session is not available. An updated version of this presentation was given via LinkedIn Live in March 2021.
VIEW FINANCE 2020 FACULTY RECORDING
Alumni practitioner panel
Left to right:
- Lisa Hinds MBA '98
- Anton Sahazizian MBA '00
- Manavendra Sial MBA '03
- Jack Wildermuth MBA '95
- Jonathan Rosenzweig '91, MBA '93 (Moderator)