For press information, contact Curt Guenther, 901/678-2843

The University of Memphis has created an Alumni Council to support the Executive Master of Business Administration (EMBA) program, its students and faculty and alumni, as well as the entire Fogelman College of Business and Economics (FCBE) at the University.

The Council was formed, at the request of FCBE Associate Dean Jasbir Dhaliwal, by Emily Greer (EMBA ’06), chief of staff of ALSAC / St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, and Ian Gentis (EMBA ’04) manager of corporate logistics for ServiceMaster.

The members of the Council elected Gentis as chairperson and Jill Reynolds (EMBA ’07) as vice chairperson of the group. Gentis said the committee’s members are enthusiastic and off to a strong start. “We have several initiatives in the works that will make an immediate impact,” he said. “We are working closely with the FCBE faculty and staff, from whom we have received strong support.”

The Council plans to unveil its initiatives later this semester.

Committees have been established to address specific areas of support to the FCBE and the EMBA program. They include:

Networking, to assist with alumni job referrals, chaired by Keith Dillihunt (BBA ’90, EMBA ’07), vice president of MRI of Cordova;

Brand Development, to promote the College to the global community, chaired by Marc Schrader (EMBA ’09), marketing specialist advisor, channel strategy and orchestration, for FedEx Services;

Curriculum Development, to ensure the currency and relevancy of EMBA courses, chaired by Uma Ramamurthy (Ph.D. ’04, EMBA ’09), director of computing, pediatric brain tumor consortium and department of biostatistics, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital;

Research, to bring real-world business problems into the program for study, chaired by Julie Grower (BS ’93, EMBA ’05), executive director, Special Kids and Families;

Recruiting, to assist with targeting potential students and Council members, chaired by Rick Brown (EMBA ’09), IT director, North America, LDCommodities;

Business/Government Relations, to promote the program, to engage the community, and to support community interaction with the program, chaired by Andrew Bailey (BBA ’00, EMBA ’05), marketing advisor with FedEx Services; and

Fundraising, for the fiscal support of the program and its participants, chaired by Lorene King (EMBA ’07), senior director, corporate alliances, ALSAC/St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

The Fogelman College of Business and Economics teaches a rigorous, relevant, and wide-ranging business curriculum to almost 3,000 students at the undergraduate, master’s and doctoral levels. Of the College’s 99 full-time faculty, 12 occupy Chairs of Excellence and one is a Distinguished Professor.

With several of America’s great companies having headquarters or other offices in Memphis, students of the FCBE are able to interact with members of those businesses for invaluable real-world experience before graduation.