Olin Business School

More than 100 area executives joined 30 Olin Business School student leaders at Washington University in St. Louis in discussing topics from U.S. economic policy to business growth during the third annual Leaders in Business Summit Oct. 14 in the Charles F. Knight Executive Education Center.

The Brookings Institution, a nonprofit public policy organization based in Washington, D.C., and Washington University in St. Louis announce recipients of grants from the joint Academic Venture Fund. The purpose of the AVF is to support collaboration between scholars at WUSTL and the Brookings Institution, particularly long-term projects that impact research, education and policy.

Nestlé Purina’s latest commercial for its Beneful dog food, aimed directly at canines by using high-frequency noises inaudible to humans, should serve to increase the bond owners feel with their pets, says a marketing expert at Washington University in St. Louis.

Washington University in St. Louis is among five finalists for the MBA Roundtable Innovator Award Program, which is designed to recognize and promote educational initiatives that advance innovation in MBA education and acknowledge institutions that are driving change in the field.

Interest in social entrepreneurship — using innovation and enterprise to address social problems — has exploded, but training has always been from a business perspective. This fall, the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis will be home to the first social entrepreneurship program based in a social work setting.

The Charles F. Knight Executive Education & Conference Center was feted for its 10th anniversary Oct. 5 with a celebration in the building’s Anheuser-Busch Dining Room.

First-year MBA student Katie Coco (center) packs energy bars into a care package during the Olin Cares kickoff event Oct. 1 in Simon Hall. More than 40 Olin Business School students assembled care packages for service men and women overseas and for children with cancer. Olin Cares is the school’s graduate volunteer organization that sponsors several community service projects throughout the year.

Bank of America’s plan to begin charging customers $5 a month for using its debit card has been met with resistance from citizens and members of Congress alike. In fact, there is some reputational capitol at risk as a result of this kind of charge, says a banking expert at Washington University in St. Louis.

It’s not easy being a Chicago Cubs fan. Just ask Chakravarthi Narasimhan, PhD, the Philip L. Siteman Professor of Marketing at Olin Business School. Though Narasimhan’s sports life may have more downs than ups, his professional life has been a grand slam. “Chak is a key member of the school’s senior faculty and has built an outstanding marketing group here at Olin,” says colleague Todd Milbourn, PhD.

President Barack Obama is calling for a more modernized and concentrated hiring process in the federal government as more of its workers retire. While the government attracts many excellent candidates, the recruitment process remains bureaucratic, cumbersome and complex, leading many talented workers to be turned away. “The federal government is facing a war for talent and its competitors are winning,” says Jackson A. Nickerson, PhD, professor of strategy at Olin Business School at Washington University in St. Louis.