UCLA Anderson School of Management Blog

Up Close: Lucy Allard ('06), CGM Executive Director

 

As UCLA Anderson celebrates the 10^th anniversary of the UCLA-NUS GEMBA for Asia Pacific Program, we sit down with Lucy Allard — 2006 alumna of the program and executive director of UCLA Anderson’s Center for Global Management — to learn more about how the program has evolved over the years and what fuels her passion for global business, travel and outdoor adventure.

Give us the basics. Where are you from? Where did you go to school?

I was born and raised in the U.K., and received a British, U.S. and Asian business education. I received MBAs from UCLA Anderson and the National University of Singapore Business School through the UCLA-NUS Global Executive MBA dual-degree program, and was also honored with the C H Wee Gold Medal from NUS Business School.

Where did you work before going through the UCLA-NUS GEMBA program?

I was managing director of the Consulting Group at CB Richard Ellis in New York City after qualifying as a chartered surveyor in London, where I worked for two years before relocating to the U.S. I also worked for Deloitte Consulting in its Strategy & Operations Practice in Los Angeles after graduating from the UCLA-NUS GEMBA program.

I understand you took a nearly yearlong break from work to travel the world — what inspired that?

Yes, while I was working in New York City I recognized that there were other facets of my life that I wanted to explore further and nurture. So, I decided to take time off to explore the world — a nine-month sabbatical (initially nine months!) to pursue personal passions and interests, including traveling, philanthropy and learning.

I started my sabbatical in April 2004 by trekking to Mount Everest base camp. Years earlier, I had backpacked around the world, predominantly through Asia, and had spent eight days in Nepal. The extravagant beauty of the region and the cultural richness and openness of the Nepalese people were very enchanting, and I dreamed of one day returning to trek in the Himalayas. Reaching base camp was therefore a very pivotal and magical moment for me. I then continued on to Vietnam and Cambodia, and in the summer months, volunteered in Kenya helping a local hospital build homes for AIDS orphans. I also traveled to Argentina, Uruguay, Singapore and Thailand, and visited family and friends in the U.K.

UCLA Anderson Ph.D. Alumni Recognized for their Research

Mindy Xiaolan Zhang (Ph.D. ’13), assistant professor of finance at University of Texas McCombs School of Business, received several citations, including the USC Marshall School of Business Trefftzs Award for the Best Student Paper entitled, “Who Bears Firm-Level Risk? Implications for Cash Flow Volatility.” The Western Finance Association presented the award at the organization’s annual luncheon in June 2014. She also received a 2014 Cubist Systematic Strategies Ph.D. Candidate Award for Outstanding Research, which provides financial support to attend and present the awarded research at the 2014 Western Finance Association meetings.

Her paper explores the relationship between labor and finance, most specifically the role human capital plays in contributing to the value of a firm, as well as the risk.

“In class we learn about financing tangible capital or investments, such as technology and operational plants,” Zhang says. “Today, firms such as Google and Facebook are committing less to tangible investments and instead investing more heavily in their work force, which becomes the main asset. There was a time when we thought that labor was ‘costless’ in a job, but that’s no longer the case. The worker is the asset and, in general, owns the capital of the firm.”

This paper has become the starting point of Zhang’s research pipeline.  She admits that she is focusing her efforts on an understudied field that has not had much literature on which to build, but has great potential.

Zhang credits her paper’s success to her Ph.D. committee, who included UCLA Anderson Professors Hanno Lustig, Andrea Eisfeldt, Antonio Bernardo and Mark Garmaise.

“What made me happiest was when my professors told me that they were proud of me,” Zhang says. “I am happy that I make them proud. It’s for them as well, not just for me.”

Dimitris Andritsos (Ph.D. ’11), assistant professor of operations management at HEC Paris, and UCLA Anderson Prof. Chris Tang received the Best Paper Award at the 2^nd International Conference on Big Data and Analytics in Healthcare, organized by the National University of Singapore (Centre for Health Informatics.) Their paper, “Linking Process Quality and Resource Usage: An Empirical Analysis,” is expected to be published in the Production and Operations Management Journal (POM) in the near future.

“We started this paper as an opportunity to explore and learn more about the wide array of different health care databases that were routinely used in the medical literature, but less so in the operations management literature,” says Andritsos. “Our topic emerged as a natural link between the two.

“We examined the effect of stricter adherence to medical guidelines on the level of resources that a patient uses during hospitalization. The Affordable Care Act has made hospitals accountable for the quality of care they provide and therefore this question is interesting both from a policy maker’s and a hospital manager’s point of view. The broader area of health care operations management has been my personal research area of focus during my doctoral studies and my current occupation at HEC Paris.”

Andritsos admits that the biggest difficulty with the paper was “familiarizing ourselves with medical terminology, the medical literature and understanding the different nuances that medical researchers may give to terms that also have wide usage in operations management. Nevertheless, this is also what made this work exciting and interesting.”

“I think of this award as good motivation to continue working hard,” he adds.

Finance Principles and the Final Frontier

UCLA Anderson’s Francis Longstaff, Allstate Professor of Insurance and Finance, has teamed up with colleagues in UCLA’s Department of Physics and Astronomy to produce innovative research on astrophysical phenomenon. Published in this month’s The Astrophysical Journal, their paper, “A Formal Method for Identifying Distinct States of Variability in Time-Varying Sources: Sgr A* as an Example,” uses mathematical-finance principles to improve upon “standard statistical” approaches to detect subtle variations in the Galactic supermassive black hole. The research was funded by a UCLA interdisciplinary grant.
 
Read the whole paper at The Astrophysical Journal website.

Alumni Profile: Paul Rosenbaum ('86) to Lead College Preparatory School

Paul Rosenbaum ('86), Interim Head of School, Viewpoint School

Paul Rosenbaum (B.A. ’81, M.A. ’84, MBA ’86) didn’t start out with a plan to achieve his MBA. After completing his undergraduate degree at UCLA, he continued on that path, getting his master’s degree in English. However, after watching a colleague succeed at the Anderson Graduate School of Management, Rosenbaum decided to pursue the MBA program. He remembers an impactful class taught by Eric Flamhotz focusing on entrepreneurship in professionally managed firms. Other classes that remain relevant to him today include a marketing class taught by Professor Mike Hanssens and a finance class taught by Professor Bill Cockrum. As he progressed through his studies at AGSM, Rosenbaum decided he would focus on human resources and the nonprofit track.

When he graduated from AGSM, he was approached by Viewpoint School to become its business manager, as well as an English instructor in the Upper School. With the appeal of the school’s serene setting on a 40-acre, oak-tree-studded campus and a reputation for quality faculty, he couldn’t resist the offer. Twenty-eight years later, Rosenbaum is still making a difference in young students’ lives. Having acted as the chief operating officer and the director of education, Rosenbaum will take on the position of interim head of school in the coming year. As the de facto CEO, he focuses on the curriculum offerings — the school has a high level of success, including offering more than 28 AP courses — as well as the hiring of faculty. The independent private school has more than 1,200 students in the K-12 grade levels. Rosenbaum compares Viewpoint’s to a primary and secondary school version of Occidental College.

While Viewpoint attracts highly educated talent, his last three hires were all Ph.D.s, Rosenbaum notes that in the world of academia there is always a desperate need for good and passionate educators. The challenge, Rosenbaum notes, is that society does not reward teachers adequately in the public sector. In fact, he thinks we should model the U.S. education system after Finland, where they hire teaching candidates with outstanding academic promise and provide them with dedicated time to constantly improve their professional talents.

Rosenbaum has seen many talented young scholars pass through his office, and has a few words of wisdom for today’s parents. “Let your child make mistakes. It helps them build their own confidence and character.” When asked how to assist a child in academic achievement, he noted that the largest single factor of success on the SAT is the number of books in the family’s home — that is, a family dedicated to learning. He says parents can help their children excel through engagement. “Do whatever you can to be enthusiastic about something your child is passionate about. Whether it is Japanese bonzai crafting or French cooking, it doesn’t matter. Help them find their passion so that they know what it feels like to be truly engaged in something.”

Professor Christopher Tang named Editor-in-Chief of M&SOM

Professor Christopher Tang, Distinguished Professor in Decisions, Operations and Technology Management and Edward W. Carter Chair in Business Administration, has been named editor-in-chief of Manufacturing & Service Operations Management. M&SOM is the premier journal for the operations management research community. This quarterly journal publishes a wide range of research that focuses on the production and operations management of goods and services, including technology management, productivity and quality management, product development, cross-functional coordination, and practice-based research. Tang replaces MIT Professor Steve Graves, whose second term ends at the end of the year.

The Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences committee, who recommended Tang for this position, determined that he met all of their criteria. Those ranged from maintaining a high intellectual stature and reputation in the field and having previous senior experience at M&SOM and other related journals to exhibiting the capability to administer the journal, communicate with its stakeholders and effectively maintain the program’s strengths.

According to the INFORMS committee, “We were also impressed with his statement to the committee which included his ideas for maintaining and improving the performance and quality of the journal while increasing its recognition in both the academic and business communities, as well as its attractiveness as a publication destination."