Business & Entrepreneurship

The number of women and minorities on corporate boards has remained static in the last 10 years, despite an increasing amount of data supporting the argument that board diversity is related to good business outcomes. “Businesses have a significant opportunity to improve performance through increasing the diversity – in many forms – of their board,” said Hillary Sale, JD, corporate governance expert and professor of law and management at Washington University in St. Louis. Sale offers thoughts for both corporations and potential board candidates.

In his new book, “Leading Change from the Middle,” Jackson Nickerson, PhD, the Frahm Family Professor of Organization & Strategy in Olin Business School at Washington University in St. Louis, offers a practical and novel approach for building extraordinary capability without the traditional use of authority.

The ninth annual YouthBridge Social Enterprise and Innovation Competition has announced the year’s winners and its $155,000 in awards. Winning teams represented community and Washington University in St. Louis social entrepreneurs. Their social venture ideas ranged widely, covering youth, teens, education, science and more.

John Wallace, Robert S. Brookings’ great-grandnephew, talks with Tenille Washburn (JD ’01), a student in the Brookings Executive Education (BEE) program, before a dinner at the Knight Center March 31. With Wallace is his wife, Ellen Wallace (right). The Wallaces were in town for a BEE conference on Daring to Lead. Robert S. Brookings was president of the Washington University in St. Louis Board of Trustees from 1895 to 1928.

Carbon dioxide, which enters the atmosphere through the burning of coal and other fossil fuels, is a significant contributor to U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. Last year, President Barack Obama proposed a sweeping climate action plan to mitigate the impacts of climate change. Washington University in St. Louis, a leader in advanced coal research and technology, will be contributing to the president’s plan with research funded by a $3.4 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy.

Olin Business School celebrated its 97th birthday March 28 with barbecue, arcade games and fun in the school’s newly opened Knight and Bauer halls. Pictured is Olin employee Nate Quest.

Washington University School of Law will establish a Prosecution Law Clinic in partnership with the City of St. Louis Circuit Attorney’s Office. The clinic will be funded by a generous gift from former prosecutor and law alumna Alicia McDonnell (right) (JD ’95), who hopes to strengthen the ranks of criminal prosecutors by creating opportunities for talented law students to gain hands-on experience essential to a career in criminal justice.

The U.S. Supreme Court, in the McCutcheon v. FEC decision, removed the cap on the number and amount of donations a person can give during political campaigns. Gregory Magarian, JD, election law expert and professor of law at Washington University in St. Louis, says that this decision will have a major impact on campaigns – a much bigger impact than the earlier Citizens United campaign finance decision. This decision “marks then end of campaign finance regulation as we know it,” says Magarian.

Placing a bet with a few friends on the NCAA basketball tournament this year? You might not enjoy the experience as much as if you hadn’t laid down any money. “Predictions have a negative effect on enjoyment when the outcome is relatively uncertain,” as in the upcoming basketball tournament, says Stephen M. Nowlis, PhD, the August A. Busch, Jr. Distinguished Professor in Marketing at Olin Business School.

As big data moves to the forefront of the boardroom, how do businesses keep up and find qualified people to manage it all? Olin Business School aims to help solve this problem with the launch of its Master of Science in Customer Analytics degree, offered in partnership with IBM.