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Alumni Spotlight
Aaron O'Hearn, '07
Operations Manager
BuyYourFriendADrink.com
What year did you graduate? 2007
What did you study at Clark? Management major
with Innovation & Entrepreneurship track
What is your hometown? Norton, MA. I now live in Boston.
What is your current position? Operations Manager for
BuyYourFriendADrink.com
How long have you been at this job? 9 Months (3 months in current
position - was promoted from General Manager of Boston)
How did you find your current job? Funny story
actually – While running my own business, Interactive Purchasing Solutions,
Inc. – discretionary cash was tight. I started bartending at a local
Worcester restaurant. The now president of Initial Advantage emailed me a
cool blog post – “BuyYourFriendADrink.com – when you can’t be there to
celebrate”. Intrigued, I emailed the sales mailbox and offered to involve IA
to help launch Worcester. I was contacted by the company’s co-founder and we
started discussions about my business, where we were in the capital raising
process, etc. After a few weeks – we decided to meet and talk seriously as
they were preparing to launch in Boston and needed a local manager to launch
the city. After a few meetings, and declining a couple of offers – I caved
and the rest is history. It was too great an opportunity to turn down.
Describe in a few sentences the work that you do: I initially
came on board to launch BuyYourFriendADrink.com in Boston. I’ve since been
promoted to the Operations manager and am now implementing national
marketing programs for major spirit companies. If I could sum it all up in a
day – I’d fly from my home in Boston, land in LA to interview and train a
new market manager. From there – I’d put the sales hat on to acquire a few
hot locations in LA proper. During lunch I’d field some operational
questions from our local GM’s in Chicago & Miami then begin to install our
technology at new bars/restaurants in NYC. For dinner I’d meet a local brand
manager to discuss marketing plans and relay them over to our CMO. I’d hop
back on the plane, land in Boston and drop a line to my CEO to share the
progress. I’d check in with our local team in Boston, fire off a few emails
and call it a day.
What do you like most about your job and the work that you do? The
team, the pace, the opportunities and the ability to learn and develop more
every day – I’m like a sponge.
What do you feel are necessary skills to do your job?
The ability to multi-task - managing multiple projects and people is
challenging. Being in a start-up, you have to be prepared (and willing) to
wear multiple hats. Also – organization. With so many things happening at
such an incredible rate – be prepared to do a major overhaul of your
organization practices. Also, get ready to think on your feet and adapt to
meet deadlines. When your CEO is raising capital around your work, “it’s not
there yet” isn’t really an acceptable answer.
How did your time at Clark prepare you for this position/work?
An anecdote should sum this up nicely – recently over dinner I asked
my CEO if there was something that stood out when he hired me. I didn’t have
the experience he was looking for and I commanded a significant chunk of
equity to come on board. He broke it down to hard skills and soft skills and
told me this: you can take a star athlete who has a 40” vertical leap and
sub 4-second 40-yd dash and train him to run football routes as a wide
receiver. What you cannot do is take a wide receiver and teach him to jump
40” off the ground and run a 40-yard dash in under 4 seconds. I was a star
athlete with great soft skills, and he was going to coach me what to do with
them.
Where do you hope to see yourself in 5 years?
I’ll be getting my MBA somewhere and meeting my future business
partners– hands down.
What recommendations would you provide to current students interested
in pursuing a similar job? Similar job or completely
different – be open to coaching. Spend as much time with your executives and
upper management as possible. They’re smart people – you can learn a lot
from them. Ask good questions – companies want to know you’re interested in
and able to learn their culture – worry about improving it later. Push back
– you’re a valuable asset. If you truly don’t agree with something –
challenge it (logically and professionally of course). If you can build a
case as to why, and present your thought process– you’ll be respected and
grow along the way.
Have questions for Aaron about his job or his field? Feel free to
contact him at aaron.ohearn@gmail.com
Professor Seol wins Fulbright Scholar Award
 Professor Inshik Seol, Clark Graduate School of Management associate
professor of accounting, has received a Fulbright U.S. Scholar Award for
2008-2009.
Seol will lecture at the Sogang University in Seoul, Korea, beginning in
summer of 2008. There he will instruct students on comparative accounting
practices between Korean and U.S. systems. Korean students will have the
opportunity to understand and build upon the similarities/differences
between Korean and American accounting systems. In addition to teaching,
Seol will be building on his research in auditing management and behavior,
specifically investigating Korean cultural implications on internal auditor
management and how these cultural implications relate to international
practices for auditor selection, performance and competency evaluation.
Seol believes that his background as a Korean-American will allow him "to
successfully pursue the research and teaching program and that the
experience gained from the program will help to contribute to both
educational cultures and further understanding of the influence of different
cultures on accounting education."
While we will miss Professor Seol's presence in the classroom next year
during his sabbatical, please join the GSOM community in congratulating him
on winning this prestigious award and in wishing him well next year!
The undergraduate Accounting courses will be taught by Prof. Michael
Ruff while Prof. Seol is on sabbatical.
Get to Know...
Professor Michael Ruff
 Hometown: Born and raised in Eastern Pennsylvania, near
Allentown, but I’ve lived mainly in Massachusetts since graduating from
college. Now living in Eastern Massachusetts, in Norfolk.
Alma Mater: BS Science (Penn State), MBA Finance and
Healthcare Management (Boston University), Certificate of Accounting
(Bentley College). Will begin Ph.D. program in accounting at Bentley
starting this Fall 2008.
Professional affiliations/organizations: Certified Public
Accountant (CPA) Commonwealth of Massachusetts Certified Management
Accountant (CMA), Institute of Management Accountants Fellow (FHFMA),
Healthcare Financial Management Association, Mass-RI Chapter
I’ve stayed active as a Board Member and Committee member for
professional associations like the Mass Society of CPAs and the Mass-RI
Chapter of HFMA. My major interests include career development, professional
certification, and continuing education. My HFMA colleagues and I set up
review courses and testing cites for various professional certifications.
Several years ago the Mass HFMA Chapter presented me with the Chapter Medal
of Honor for my service – it was a real honor for me.
Favorite thing about Clark: "Clarkies” -- Clark students, staff,
and faculty – make Clark a wonderful place. “Clarkies” are individuals
yet share the common theme about making a difference in the world.
I also like Clark’s “Discover Yourself” statement. Discovering yourself
is a lifelong and important journey. As you discover more about yourself you
can be more true to yourself and others that matter to you.
In my free time… Life is busy these days between studying
and taking classes, but in my free time I hang out with my family and
friends. My partner Beth and I have four children – Richard (16), Hayley
(14), Madison (11), and Hannah (9), so we keep busy. I don’t watch much
TV but try to catch Penn State football games on TV in the Fall, since
those games bring back fond memories of my undergrad days.
Favorite Book: “Idealism and Liberal Education”, by the late James
O. Freedman. James Freedman served as President of the University of Iowa
and Dartmouth College. He was a strong supporter of a liberal arts
education, and believed that a good liberal arts education prepares you for
success not only in your career, but most importantly, in your life. I also
enjoy reading autobiographies by other people who strive to make a
difference in what they do.
Place I would most like to visit: It would be great to visit
Asia, especially India and China. My Clark graduate students from those
two countries represent their home countries very well!
In my previous life (pre-Clark): As an undergrad I was a science
major, but after working in a research lab on campus I realized that a
science career was not for me. My first job after college was in health
administration in New England, and I’ve stayed here since. After
graduate school, I became more involved in the business side of health
care. I worked for one of the big accounting firms in Boston, a small
and successful health care startup consulting and software firm, a large
publicly traded hospital management company, and more recently as a
controller and finance manager at several large hospitals in Boston and
Providence.
Other teaching experience: I started teaching accounting evenings
after work at Boston University, and also at Bentley College, in the 1990’s.
I really enjoy teaching and higher education. I learn as much from students
as they learn from me!
I’ve taught all levels of undergrad and grad accounting courses to over
2,000 students in dozens of courses in a variety of diverse settings –
traditional on campus classrooms, online, and specialized degree programs in
locations like downtown executive centers, financial services companies,
military bases, hospitals, and prisons.
Last year Clark offered me the opportunity to teach full time, and I
couldn’t resist! Clark’s business school has met the same high quality
business school accreditation standards that schools like Harvard, Stanford,
and Wharton have achieved; yet the Clark business school remains small and
personal. I’ve enjoyed my experience at Clark so much that next Fall I will
start a Ph.D. program in accounting at Bentley College. Everybody at Clark
has been very supportive to me this year. I’ll strive to do the same for all
the undergraduate accounting students at Clark next year!
Beta Gamma Sigma Honor Society
Congratulations to the newest undergraduate inductees to Beta Gamma
Sigma, the national honor society for undergraduate business students
and MBA's!
Adam Androphy
Daniel Brinn
Felipe Kam
Hang Zhang
Hang will also be recognized as the Morton H. Sigel Outstanding
Management Major at Convocation.
 Selection for Beta Gamma Sigma is competitive. Only the top 10% of
undergraduate management students in each year’s graduating class are
eligible for membership in this society. BGS was founded over seventy-five
years ago to recognize and promote scholarship in business, and to honor
business executives who have distinguished themselves in their careers.
Management Major wins Anton Fellowship
Duc Nguyen, a junior Management major, has received an Anton Fellowship
to help him create an online database which will serve as a bridge
between needy organizations, volunteers and donors in his home country
of Vietnam.
His project, a website called Nonprofit Link, will
provide information on organizations and programs that help children in
need in Vietnam to those who may want to help. He also hopes that it
will act as a venue for communication between youth, NGOs, organizations
in need and potential donors. His goal is for Nonprofit Link to give
Vietnamese people the power to contribute capital and energy to places
in need, and thereby serve the community.
His inspiration for this project came when his uncle,
who is a CEO of an export/import corporation, wanted to donate money to
a children’s cause, but didn’t know where to start looking for a
needy
village or orphanage. Duc realized that there are currently 317
international and local non profit organizations, as well as volunteer
clubs and projects working on issues affecting children in Vietnam, but
there is a lack of information and communication about these programs.
He said organizations and community service projects in Vietnam also
have not yet recognized the importance of publicizing information in
order to ask for donations, and often those who are involved with these
organizations are not technologically savvy. His proposed website will
provide a connection between different people interested in community
work in Vietnam. The website will target agencies, volunteers, and
donors. Most importantly, he expects Vietnamese children to be the main
beneficiaries.
Duc will be working on this project with a friend from
home who attends Washington and Lee University. He’ll also receive help
from Social Entrepreneurship professor David Jordan who will be his
advisor for the fellowship.
New Student Marketing Club
A new student Marketing Club is getting started on campus. The
mission of the group is correspond to the motto of Clark University:
challenge convention and change our world. They will try to promote
the influence of diversity in the Clark community while experiencing
the marketing process.
This multicultural product marketing club offers opportunities for
students to experience the process of marketing specific cultural
products. Every semester, they will form three groups, focusing on
marketing three typical products from three different countries.
During the process of marketing and advertising certain cultural
products, members of this club not only can practice their marketing
and advertising skills, but also learn the cultural connotation of
the product.
Students interested in the club can contact Haoming Chang at
hachang@clarku.edu or by
facebooking her. They are currently
looking for insight and feedback as they get this club started, as
well as students interested in three three positions: treasurer,
secretary and marketing group leader.
Listen and Learn
 If you had class, a club meeting or simply forgot and missed some of GSOM's Executive Discussions at Noon speaker presentations this
year, you're in luck. Media Services posts many of the Clark speaker
events online, including GSOM's events, so you can
catch up on them this summer. Check out Matt Goldman,
co-founder of the Blue Man Group; Nancy Kristoff, President of Sales
& Marketing for Bardwil Home; and Natalie Gustafson, Emmy award
winning television producer. The videos may not have the look of an
Emmy award winning program, but you'll still find them interesting
and informative.
Management Tip of the Month
Are you planning on taking a summer class to catch up on
credits or just get ahead in your program? Don't forget you need to get
transfer credit approval before registering and taking a class at
another school to ensure that the course will transfer back to Clark.
Students should visit the Academic Advising Center to pick up and submit
transfer credit approval forms. And if this is a class you want to count
towards your Management program, you need to see Laura Burgess in GSOM for
approval, even if it is a COPACE class. Students often ask
how they will know if a class at another school will count for a Clark
class. The best thing to do is closely compare course descriptions and
look for matching key words in what the course covers. If the course
description is vague, get a course syllabus. This will go over the
course topics in detail.
You should plan ahead and be smart about what courses
you want to take to transfer in though. If you are just short on
credits, taking an elective college course in almost any topic is the
best way to go to catch up. If you don't think you'll fit in all of your
required Management courses in time, the Math and Statistics required
courses are often good to take over the summer, or an elective if you
are further along in the program.
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