William G. Hardin III

Understanding the rent potential of shopping centers has consequences for developers and retailers alike. As developers determine where to build or redevelop and as tenants weigh their options for where to locate, the question of which spaces can expect to command premium rents—and why—needs careful attention.

Research by William G. Hardin III, a new professor in the Department of Finance in the College of Business Administration, sorts out the complexities. And there are many.

“In the retail segment, we can look at the regional mall, power center, community center, neighborhood center, and specialty center, each of which has different attributes,” said Hardin, whose most recent study focused on neighborhood and community centers and the rent potential of each. “Very little work has been done on rental rates in non-mall retail shopping centers.” Read more.

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.: Alumna credits her parents and education for her success.

Diana Montenegro

Diana Montenegro (BBA ’86) attributes her success to her parents and her upbringing.   Her parents, college-educated Cuban immigrants who didn’t speak any English, obtained domestic jobs upon their arrival in the U.S. and worked hard to obtain a better quality of life. They were great role models, she said, full of ambition and drive to succeed who instilled those characteristics in her.

She said her parents encouraged her and were very supportive of her education.  She majored in finance and international business in the College of Business Administration at the university.

 “FIU was an eye-opening experience for me,” she said. “I came from Miami-Dade College, where I had a full scholarship for academics and was used to making A’s.” 

She remembers the disappointment of receiving a C on her first exam.  The scores were posted, so she knew that it was the highest grade in the class.  

“I asked the professor if he would give a curve on the test and he said ‘no’,” she said.  “That is when I realized that I was receiving a quality education.”   

.: Traveling Happy Hour Series hits the road.

From left, Manny Mantalon (BACC '01) , Business Alumni Chapter president; Monique Catoggio (EMBA '03), director of the college’s alumni and partner relations; Gilbert Santiesteban (BACC '02) , chapter president-elect; Michelle Joubert, marketing manager for alumni and partner relations; and José Perez (BBA '02), chapter vice president.

Business Alumni Chapter members met at Martini Bar on Thursday, September 21, 2006, for the first of this academic year’s Traveling Happy Hour Series.

.: New Business Alumni Chapter Board plans next series of events.

New chapter board members have been selected for the 2006-2007 academic year.  They include Manny Matalon (BACC ’01) as president; Gilbert Santiesteban (BACC ’02) as president-elect; José Perez (BBA ’02) as vice president, and James Rivera (BACC ’01) as director of development.

The new board is looking forward to many exciting developments for the Business Alumni Chapter. Upcoming chapter events include:

For additional details about these upcoming events visit the chapter’s events page. Not a member? Join now.  

.: Alumnus selected as South Florida CEO speaker.

Albert Santalo

The Business Alumni Chapter, along with South Florida CEO magazine, will present the South Florida CEO Speaker Series on October 19, 2006, from 6:00 p.m.-8:30 p.m. at the Biltmore Hotel.

Albert Santalo (EMBA ’97), president and CEO of Avisena, will be the featured speaker. Santalo is one of South Florida's youngest and most successful entrepreneurs and a recent inductee into the university’s Entrepreneurship Hall of Fame. He will discuss his personal story and the launching of his firm, Avisena, which focuses on health care technology. He also will address how he has taken the company from the start-up phase to the growth phase. If you are interested in attending the event, please see our events page.

.: Alumni Career Fair draws graduate schools, firms, and alumni.

The second annual Alumni Career Fair was held on Monday, September 25, 2006, in the GC Ballrooms at University Park. Thirty graduate schools were represented and 59 companies were present to recruit employees, leading to many conversations and ample opportunities for alumni to benefit.

The fair was one of the most successful of the university’s alumni events.  According to Dana Dellacamera, marketing and outreach coordinator for the university’s Career Services, “FIU is the only university in the Southeast to host an alumni career fair. We are in the forefront nationwide in offering a career fair strictly for alumni and we plan to present the idea at national conferences.”

.: Alumni Notes

• The International Bank of Miami has promoted Ana Navas (BBA ’98) to vice president and senior portfolio manager in the real estate financing division.

• Berkowitz Dick Pollack & Brant CPA & Consultants promoted Joshua P. Heberling (BA ’99, MS ’00) to tax manager.

• David P. Johnson (MS ’94) has been promoted to chief financial officer for TIB Financial Corporation.

• Wachovia names Jorge Gonzalez (BA ’88) as regional president for Miami-Dade and Monroe Counties.

• Dianne Cordova (BBA ’06) has been hired by Bank United to serve as its human resource employee relations coordinator.

The Chapman Graduate School of Business ranks in the Top 10 among graduate schools in the country for Hispanic MBAs, according to an article titled “2006 Hispanic Business Diversity Report: Education,” in the September, 2006, issue of Hispanic Business. Among the other schools in the Top 10 were Stanford University, Graduate School of Business; University of California, Berkeley, Haas School of Business; University of Texas at Austin, McCombs School of Business; New York University, Leonard N. Stern School of Business; and Yale University, Yale School of Management.

The university has a unique profile.

“We are delighted to share this honor with some of the finest business schools in the country” said Luis Casas, director of marketing and recruiting for the College of Business Administration. “It is important to point out that, not only do we have the largest pool of Hispanic students among the schools in the Top 10 listing, but also, we have the largest diversity even within the Hispanic population—from Central America, South America, Mexico, and the Caribbean—which is something you can find only in Miami.” Read more.

.: College of Business Administration establishes strategic alliance to offer interactive online certification program in customer relationship management.

Manny Buigas

It began with the arrival of an email message from the College of Business Administration announcing a course in customer relationship management (CRM). It continued with the recipient, Manny Buigas, principal of Axis Integrated Solutions, enrolling. And now, it has resulted in the development and initial offering of a one-of-a-kind, interactive CRM online certification program through the creation of a partnership between Axis and the college’s Marketing Department.

“When we expanded our core business beyond the finance department, we knew that to give our clients the best chance for a successful software implementation, we needed to have a deep understanding of CRM,” said Buigas, whose company is a Sage Software premier business partner focused on providing accounting, human resource, and warehouse management solutions, in addition to CRM solutions. 

Based on his experience taking the course from Nancy Rauseo, an instructor in the college’s Marketing Department and a CRM consultant, he saw an opportunity for his firm to join with an academic institution to help peers, clients, and employees achieve the full benefits of CRM. Read more.

.: New scholarship endowment sparks the entrepreneurial spirit.

Margarita Gonzalez

Student and entrepreneur Margarita Gonzalez rarely follows the traditional path.

Already the chief financial officer of AccuBANKER, the company she and her husband founded in Miami in 1981, Gonzalez decided to pursue her Bachelor of Business Administration degree at Florida International University—at the same time her own children were heading off to college.

Now she is going one step further with her commitment to the university: creating the AccuBANKER Scholarship Endowment to support students in the College of Business Administration who are taking classes offered in partnership with the Eugenio Pino and Family Global Entrepreneurship Center.

“My goal is to help a young person with an entrepreneurial spirit get the right education right from the start,” said Gonzalez, who is slated to receive her own BBA this December.

The AccuBANKER Scholarship Endowment totals $71,000, including a $50,000 endowment to be paid out over the next seven years, plus $21,000 in direct annual scholarship funding. Read more.

.: Financial Management Association and Finance Honor Society win prestigious awards for recruitment efforts.

John Gutekunst

The Financial Management Association International has honored the College of Business Administration’s Financial Management Association (FMA) and the Finance Honor Society (FHS) chapter for their effective efforts to increase membership.

The FMA’s receipt of a Bronze Membership Development Award for 2005-2006 puts the college’s chapter in the elite company of other chapters that successfully recruited fifty to seventy-four student members during the academic year. The Bronze National Honor Society (NHS) Membership Development Award recognizes honor society chapters that recruited twenty-five to thirty-four new members.

“This year, only eight FMA chapters and only ten honor societies out of about 200 received the bronze award,” said Shannon Walsh, director of student programs, Financial Management Association International. "The contributions of the students and faculty of Florida International University are outstanding.”

“We are honored and excited that we have received this award from FMA International,” said John Gutekunst, president, FHS. “We believe that our chapter is one of the greatest resources in the country for students pursuing a career in finance. Earning this award is a perfect example of how great our chapter is.” Read more.

.: Graduate students help international company mine for new market opportunities.

Tomislav Mandakovic, Associate Dean, Chapman Graduate School

For more than eighty years, Caterpillar, Inc., has been building the world’s infrastructure. Today, in partnership with its worldwide dealer network, Caterpillar is driving positive and sustainable change on every continent. The company is recognized as a technology leader and as the leading manufacturer of construction and mining equipment, diesel and natural gas engines, and industrial gas turbines. 

“These global credentials make Caterpillar an ideal corporate participant in the College of Business Administration’s Master of International Business (MIB) program,” said Tomislav Mandakovic, associate dean of the Chapman Graduate School of Business and faculty director of the MIB.

During the Spring, 2006, semester, students Ana Benet (MIB ’06), Nicolas Bertullo (MIB ’06), and Pedro Moreira (MIB ’06), tackled their MIB final project at Caterpillar’s Latin America Commercial Division in Miami. Working closely with the marketing and operations departments, they conducted market research in relation to Mexico’s quarry and aggregates market. Read more.

.: Graduate student named 2006-2007 William G. McGowan Scholar.

Arlene Ramkissoon (BBA '05)

The College of Business Administration has named Arlene Ramkissoon (BBA ’05) the William G. McGowan Scholar for the current academic year. The scholarship award covers the recipient’s tuition.

Currently a student in the Master of Science in Human Resources Management (MSHRM) program in the Chapman Graduate School of Business, she plans a career in human capital consulting following her graduation in December, 2006.

“I would like to work for a company, offering human resources (HR) consulting services to their clients with respect to staffing, recruiting, and outsourcing,” said Ramkissoon, who made a switch from finance, in which she earned her undergraduate degree, into HR because she felt the field would give her more opportunities to interact directly with people. Read more.

.: Global Leadership and Service Projects put human face on globalization.

Mark Elbadramany and Milvia Suarez with Executive Dean Joyce J. Elam, who received a collage made by Suarez that included pictures from each of the three 2006 Bangkok sites and photos of Thai culture.

In just two short years, Global Leadership and Service Projects (GLSPs) have established themselves as a potent activity for shaping global business leaders who understand their obligations to the less fortunate in the world. Not only have the three projects drawn ninety students from the university as organizers and participants, but also, students from other universities have received scholarships to join in and have spread the idea to their own schools—here and abroad.

A core activity of the International Business Honor Society (IBHS), with support from the College of Business Administration and the Center for Business Education and Research (CIBER), among others, GLSPs are “a community service vehicle that we describe as a ‘dual side experience without frontiers,’” said Robert Hogner, associate professor, Department of Management and International Business, and coordinator of the college’s Civic Engagement Initiative.

Two GLSPs have gone to Bangkok, and one to Nicaragua. Plans are underway for the third working trip to Bangkok in the spring of 2007 and for the second “December of Dreams to Help Kids,” to Nicaragua this year. Read more.