Marquette College of Business Administration's New Dean: Dr. Brian Till

Next Keyes Dean of Business Administration Named

Dr. Brian Till, dean of the Williams College of Business at Xavier University, has been named the next James H. Keyes Dean for the College of Business Administration and Graduate School of Management, President Michael R. Lovell announced today. Till will begin in his new role on July 13.

“Dr. Till brings to Marquette a wealth of experience as an administrator, business leader and scholar, all of which position him to advance the College of Business Administration and bring it to a new level of excellence,” said President Michael R. Lovell. “He has a deep understanding of what it means to be a Jesuit business school, and Marquette will benefit greatly from his leadership.”

Till has been dean of the Williams College since 2012. Prior to joining Xavier, he held marketing faculty positions at Drexel University and Saint Louis University, where he spent his last seven years as chair of the marketing department. He has experience with AACSB business school accreditation processes, and is certified in the use and interpretation of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. Till has received numerous awards for teaching excellence and was named one of the Top Ten Marketing Teachers in the U.S.

He has also served on several boards, including Forest Releaf of Missouri and Stella Maris Child Center in St. Louis, where he served as board president for four years.

Prior to his academic career, Till worked at Purina as a brand manager. He has served as a marketing strategy, branding and advertising consultant for a variety of organizations, including Monsanto, Energizer, Medicine Shoppe International, Growmark and AT&T. He is co-author of the book The Truth About Creating Brands People Love.

Till holds a bachelor’s degree in advertising and an MBA from the University of Texas at Austin, and a Ph.D. in marketing from the University of South Carolina.

“I am very pleased to be joining the College of Business Administration at Marquette University as the Keyes Dean,” Till said. “The college and Marquette University both have an excellent reputation, and I look forward to working with the faculty and staff of the college in moving it forward.”

“The College of Business Administration is poised to take a significant step forward as a premier Jesuit business school and a model for educating tomorrow's business leaders. And Dr. Till is the right person for that job,” said Dr. Daniel Myers, provost-elect. “I want to thank the search committee for its diligence and thoughtfulness in helping select Dr. Till as the next Keyes Dean of Business Administration.”

“We were fortunate to have an excellent pool of candidates for our next dean and Dr. Till rose to the top,” said search committee co-chair Dr. Michael Akers, Horngren Professor and chair of accounting. “The faculty and staff are looking forward to working with him to take the college to new heights.”

Till will succeed Dr. Mark Eppli, who has served as the interim Keyes Dean since August 2012. Over the past three years, Eppli worked closely with the college’s faculty, staff and alumni, as well as business leaders, to forge a new vision for the college.

A renowned commercial real estate scholar who sits on the board of the Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago, Eppli will return to the faculty as a professor of finance and the Robert B. Bell Sr. Chair in Real Estate, positions he has held at Marquette since 2002.

“Mark’s leadership over the past three years is commendable,” Lovell said. “He propelled the college forward in ways that few interim deans can, and Marquette is grateful for that.”

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Krause's Kentucky Derby Picks for 2015

I’m back again for the fifth year with my Kentucky Derby picks. The 141st 'Run for the Roses' has a deep crop of 3-year-olds. The 20 horse field has many promising thoroughbreds – unlike last year’s weak field. So this should be an exciting race.

Best of the Field:  #18 American Pharoah (5-2 odds)  

Last year I successfully picked the Derby winner: California Chrome, who was ridden by Victor Espinoza. This year I believe that American Pharoah, a bay colt trained by Bob Baffert, will be taken to victory lane by Espinoza. This horse has had four impressive wins while posting remarkable speed figures – and to top it off, he has had strong workouts since arriving in Louisville.  Victor Espinoza has won the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness Stakes twice, riding War Emblem in 2002 and California Chrome in 2014. Bob Baffert is the top trainer in the business having won three Kentucky Derbies, five Preakness Stakes, one Belmont Stakes and two Kentucky Oaks. Even with the 18^th draw this horse will likely be the betting favorite on Saturday - so the odds will not provide a big payout, but if you include American Pharoah in your exotics you can have a good payday. (I think Baffert has another winner here).

Value Horse: #2 Carpe Diem (8-1 odds).   Trainer Todd Pletcher has four Derby entries this year, but Blue Grass winner Carpe Diem, who has won four of five career starts by nearly 20 lengths, is his best horse this year. Carpe Diem’s only race loss came in last year's Breeders' Cup Juvenile, when he came in second. This horse is very capable of giving Pletcher his second career win in the Derby. Jockey John Velazquez is the all-time leading money-earning jockey – and this jockey/trainer combination has won four of five lifetime events together. The #2 post isn't a good draw, but Carpe Diem should be in the picture as the horses come down the stretch on Saturday.

 

Long Shots: #15 Frosted (15:1 odds) and # 3 Materiality  (12:1 odds). Winner of the Wood Memorial, Frosted, jockeyed by Joel Rosario, rallied down the stretch to earn a 2 ½ length victory. In 2013 Rosario won the world's richest horse race, the Dubai World Cup and in the same year won the Kentucky Derby aboard the colt Orb. The post position is not bad and this stalker could be a horse to contend with given that Rosario knows how to win the big races.

Starting in the 3rd position, Materiality, trained by Todd Pletcher and ridden by Javier Castellano could also be a surprise. Not much is known about this horse because he did not race last year; however, this year he is undefeated in three races (and with huge speed figures). With plenty of speed to burn, a top trainer and a favorable post position, this could be a wire-to-wire winner – especially if the rest of the horses decide to engage in a demolition derby.

Betting: Pairing up the horses above into an Exacta box could be a nice play or keying American Pharoah with the other three horses in a Trifecta bet could provide an attractive ROI. A Carpe Diem WPS bet might be a nice payout, especially if the line remains at 8:1. In any case, bet responsibly and enjoy the Kentucky Derby!

Marquette's AIM Team Advanced to the Final Round of the 2015 Americas CFA Investment Research Challenge

The CFA Institute Investment Research Challenge is an annual global competition that provides university students with hands-on mentoring and intensive training in financial analysis. For the 6th time in the past 7 years - the team from Marquette University's AIM program advanced to the Americas round of the competition.



The first ever CFA Institute Research Challenge competition was hosted by the New York Society of Security Analysts in 2002 and involved just five teams from the New York area. Since then, the competition has grown to involve tens of thousands of students from over 800 universities in more than 55 countries.

Local level competitions are organized and judged by local CFA chapters (i.e. Milwaukee and Madison) who are responsible for running the local Research Challenge. They secure the subject companies; recruit volunteers (such as mentors and graders); and run the event that involves the universities in their geographic region.

The regional and global competitions are hosted by the CFA Institute. The winner from each local competition advances to one of the three regional competitions: in the Americas; the Asia Pacific; and the Europe, Middle East, and Africa regions. The winner from each regional competition advances to the Global Final, where one team will emerge as global champion of the CFA Institute Research Challenge.

The Marquette team (for the 3rd time in the past 4 years) advanced from the quarter-final round and into the semi-final round. This year's time won the semi-final competition and competed in the Americas final round. For more information, go to: http://www.cfainstitute.org/researchchallenge.

Marquette's team members (from left to right): Jack Sullivan, Mary McNellis, Cole Johnson, Joe Hodes, and Mike Stankovsky.

The subject company this year was Alliant Energy (ticker: LNT). The local CFA host was the Madison Chapter. The CFA mentor was Travis Keshemberg and the faculty advisor was Dr. David Krause.

Speaking for the team, Dr. Krause told the CFA organizers, "Thank you for another wonderful event. We know the work and effort that goes into the organization and implementation of the CFA Research Challenge is a massive undertaking; however, it is worth it. The experiences gained by the students will last them a lifetime - it is truly one of the best applied learning opportunities we've been associated with. Congratulations - the event (and the competition) gets better each year - and we'll be back in 2016 with another solid team!