Real-world business acumen delivered inside the classroom

Five veteran business leaders bring perspectives earned through a lifetime of successful practice to business classrooms.

Janel Shoun-Smith | 615.966.7078  |  09/01/2020

At commencement, Lipscomb’s College of Business graduates walk away with more than a degree. They carry with them firsthand experience with tackling day-to-day challenges successfully.

One of the chief ways they gain that experience is through the insight and mentorship of the college’s five in-residence faculty, longtime business titans who bring their real-world solutions to students within the confines of the classroom.
Lipscomb’s current in-residence faculty include:
Kevin Monroe, partner-in-residence, former Deloitte Partner and Professional Practice Director and Chairperson of the Tennessee State Board of Accountancy;

• Sue Nokes, executive-in-residence, former senior executive at Asurian, T-Mobile and Walmart.com. among others;
• Phil Pfeffer, CEO-in-residence, former Chairman of the Board and CEO of the Ingram Distribution Group Inc.;
• Burt Nowers (’79), CEO-in-residence for The Center for Business As Mission, former co-founder and CFO of AIM Healthcare and President of Healing Hands International; and
• Ernesto Silva, executive-in-residence, former CEO of Coca Cola FEMSA, Mexico Division.

These business leaders each bring a unique perspective, earned through a lifetime of successful business practice, to students through guest lectures, involvement in global learning trips, mentorship and work on advisory committees. They bring decades of experience in IT, human resources, nonprofit management, corporate turn-arounds, supply chain management, accounting, trans-cultural learning, quality assurance and C-suite management into Lipscomb’s classrooms.

“In today's complex business environment, business education must embody the interaction of academic and professional engagement in a meaningful way,” said Ray Eldridge, dean of the College of Business. “Combining some of the best minds in business to interact with our faculty, staff and students is essential to reach our goal to be a leader in Christian business education.”
 

Expertise in global business

One of the primary ways the in-residence faculty have enhanced the COB experience is through insight on and involvement with global learning.

Nowers worked around the globe as part of Healing Hands, a humanitarian nonprofit that aids, equips and empowers those in need around the world. In 2017, he brought many of his connections in Nairobi, Croatia, Thailand and the Philippines to enhance programs at Lipscomb’s Center for Business As Mission, a program in which students interact with merchants in various nations to build sustainable businesses.

Nowers has worked directly with students in social entrepreneurship classes where they develop and sell their own products. He said he strives to help students understand that a social enterprise, which traditionally donates a portion of its profits to a community need, “is just a regular business with a different purpose.” They still need to understand market factors and how to make a profit, he said.

“It is increasingly difficult to raise money for nonprofits, so if you want to have an impact, it’s important to develop enterprises that are sustainable,” he said.
Pfeffer, whose time at Ingram Book Company saw a complete evolution in the supply for books to handle the demand of online shopping, has accompanied students on five study abroad opportunities in Thailand, United Arab Emirates, China, Israel and South Korea.
 

“I stand in awe of the questions students ask (on these trips), and of the real searching to acquire knowledge of the business world that is evident (from these students),” he said. “They pursue valuable lines of questioning.”

Monroe also accompanied accounting students on a trip to the United Kingdom in 2019, and Silva, whose former bottling company was based in Mexico, has been based in or worked in around 70 nations throughout his long career.

In order to take advantage of emerging business trends, students must “not only think locally; they have to think globally,” he said.

“They have to change their mindset… and to know how to deal with persons of other countries and cultures and languages. They need to… learn new languages and to be ready to learn how to read body language. They have to be ready to interact with people who may not be very friendly.”

Insight on ethical business practice

Besides expertise in their own business areas and global business, the in-residence faculty are also stellar examples of ethical business practices, something they are all passionate about instilling into the next generation.

During his long career at Deloitte, Monroe was responsible for the quality and professionalism of audit practices. He says he often gets questions from students about real ethical situations they may face in the field.

“Particularly in public accounting, there are times when you have to stand up for what’s right, even when it is a costly decision,” he said.

“For me, it was a way to pay it forward,” he said of joining Lipscomb’s in-residence faculty in 2019. “A way to try and keep the profession strong and to encourage bright students to think about entering the profession”

Nokes, who is known for accomplishing company turn-arounds, including one for T-Mobile, says she tells students, “Don’t chase the title, chase the job and the fit, with the culture.

“It’s when things aren’t going your way that you can really tell about your character,” she said. “Do you lean in and look for solutions? That’s when you can tell what a person is made of.”

Growing up in a post-Enron world, many business students today enter college with a negative lens about business operations, but Silva says he strives to show students how ethical, profitable business can positively impact the world.

“If you do not generate wealth, you are not able to improve anything,” Silva said. “(You cannot) purchase food or help people in need if you don’t have resources that you helped generate. Money is not bad; the love for money is what is evil, because it distracts you when you want to do good.”
 

Women in leadership

Nokes has been a judge at the college’s annual entrepreneurial pitch competition, has spoken in classes about the customer experience and mentored entrepreneurship students. One area she has specifically been quizzed about by students is the experience of women in today’s business world, including on a conference panel coordinated by a business student in 2018.

“(The students) always ask, ‘How I did end up being the COO? How did you get people to listen to you? How did you gain credibility?’ And everyone wants to know about work/life balance,” she said. “I spent most of my career in C-suites, and during that time I was one of only one or two women in the room. I tell them, ‘You listen and you have to deliver results. When you deliver results, you become a genius.’”