Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/470545
54 BizEd MARCH | APRIL 2015 I believe AACSB should facilitate mutually beneficial relationships be- tween schools in developed nations and those in emerging economies. We can be the eHarmony of business schools. What other challenges do you see ahead? In the developed world, the cost of a business school degree is frequently so high that many students are left with huge amounts of debt. How can we pro- vide high-quality management educa- tion at a lower cost? One way, as I men- tioned, is through forming partnerships with schools in emerging nations, which will allow business schools in developed nations to enroll more students. Another way is through faculty lever- aging, in which academic faculty teach low courseloads while they supervise teaching professionals who teach four or five courses a semester. Under this mod- el, teaching costs can be cut by half. What part will technology play in the future? We have to use technology to enable the global classroom so that schools can share the teaching load and expand the volume of students they serve. We have to get better at assessment and valida- tion of technology-delivered programs, but we will! You originally studied business at Babson College. If you were going to business school today, what would you study? I'd study financial planning and invest- ments. Let's face it, I'm an old guy who worked for a nonprofit—I have to manage on a budget! In fact, I will study financial planning—I'll just do it through MOOCs. HONORING A LEADER To get additional perspectives on the challenges John Fernandes faced as AACSB's CEO, BizEd spoke to three past board chairs: Andrew Policano, former dean of the Paul Merage School of Business at the University of California Irvine and currently Dean's Leadership Circle Endowed Professor of Economics/Public Policy; Carolyn Woo, former dean of the University of Notre Dame's Mendoza College of Business and current president and CEO of Catholic Relief Services; and Robert Taylor, retired dean of the University of Louisville College of Business and part of the committee that selected Fernandes. ANDREW POLICANO: When John started, the association wasn't doing very well financially, and it had a very focused strategy on the U.S. and North America. John recognized that we needed to become a global force for the quality of management education. John really impressed me as someone who was going to learn ev- ery single part of the association. Shortly after he started, John went on an accreditation visit to the University of Washington with me and two other deans. On that visit, we were given 35 boxes of material— for a business school that had been accredited for a long time. John said, "This makes no sense whatsoever." He told the membership it was time to redo the standards, and we put a lot of effort into making the accreditation process shorter and more efficient. John is uncanny when it comes to political sensitivity. He's very careful to listen as much as he can and solicit information from the rest of the membership. He will take a somewhat meandering course to move us ahead without creating a lot of undue strife and tension. CAROLYN WOO: Because AACSB's membership is so diverse, John had to respond to the divergent expectations of the members and the roles they wanted the association to play. He also had to do this in a very dynamic environment as schools became more interna- tional, faculty and student profiles changed, and schools adopted more technology. John always made things happen while giving credit to the AACSB board. He always kept moving the ball forward, even though there was never full consensus on anything. But, compared to the individu- al members, he had a better understanding of management educa- tion trends. He saw the realities and challenges facing many different schools, so the picture he saw was much richer and more complex, and he was able to articulate those challenges. For instance, John saw that St. Louis was not serving the associa- tion well. It was difficult to have that conversation with the board and staff, but step by step, study by study, John convinced us to make the move. People now see the benefit of being in Tampa. ROBERT TAYLOR: We wanted someone who understood the associ- ation's potential—who realized that serving the members is key, but who also would take a leadership position in the world of business education. We also needed someone who could understand and work with academics. John had an accounting background, so he under- stood the academic point of view, and he was full of energy, enthusi- asm, and confidence. After he became CEO, John quickly became friends with his counterparts at EFMD and other global groups, which helped the organization connect with others around the world. He also exer- cised incredible patience and asked thoughtful questions to lead the board to crafting standards that were flexible enough to allow quality schools throughout the world to be accredited. We appreciated that John never told anything but the truth, even when it would be hard for people to digest. He was careful about how he said things, because he did work for the board, but he always said what he thought.