Kid's play: Working with children brings joy and job satisfaction

by Myra A. Thomas

The flexibility of a Goizueta degree is especially evident with alumni who take their business acumen and fuse it with work that benefits others. Whether in their professional lives or through volunteer efforts, the alumni featured here have discovered that working with children not only can provide great personal satisfaction, it also can be a way to use many of the skills garnered at Goizueta.  Diana Robertson, associate professor of organization and management, doesn’t see their efforts as a reach. She notes, “Students attracted to our programs not only want to contribute to Goizueta, but to make a contribution beyond the immediate community.”

“Our emphasis on ‘principled leadership’ reflects Roberto Goizueta’s passion to connect business passion with a passion for the human condition. Our students understand that the two are becoming increasingly inseparable in the contemporary business world.”
Michael Sacks, assistant professor of organization and management

Starting a nonprofit organization in the midst of a recession might seem like an impossible task. But, Zander Lurie ’99JD-MBA, a vice president in JPMorgan’s Technology Investment Banking in San Francisco, did just that. With confidence in his finance and marketing skills, and an abiding belief in his business model, Lurie founded the Los Angeles-based CoachArt in 2001. The nonprofit offers free lessons in the arts and athletics to children living with life-threatening diseases.

Thanks to CoachArt, children and teens take weekly lessons in yoga, photography, ceramics, and more. The nonprofit picks up the transportation and equipment costs for those in need. CoachArt also sponsors hospital workshops, camping trips, and theater events. “In situations where the need for play is the most acute, there often isn’t money for discretionary activities,” says Lurie. “Families lack access to arts and athletics instructors—time that will take the child’s mind off the disease.” The nonprofit works in partnership with Children’s Hospital Los Angeles and a number of other area organizations to reach out to kids and teens.

Lurie notes that a strong business model and brand appeal must stand behind any good intention, in order to attract volunteers and donations. He credits Goizueta for this valuable knowledge. “We measure our ‘value-added’ in the community by the monetary value of the lessons that occur because of CoachArt and its volunteer coaches. We have nearly 100 qualified, volunteer coaches in our network today, across dozens of categories. People get the mission and the model, and want to join the CoachArt team.” In 2003, the organization worked with over 600 kids, with 250 youngsters in one-on-one lessons and the rest through workshops and field trips.

On average, Lurie spends about fifteen hours a week acting as CoachArt’s president, after fulfilling his full-time duties at JPMorgan. “I understand the competitive environment that nonprofits face much better since my experiences at Goizueta and JPMorgan. Besides, JPMorgan, like Goizueta, markets itself on producing well-rounded people.” In fact, Lurie received JPMorgan’s Outstanding Volunteer Award in 2003.

The impetus for the nonprofit was the 1996 death of Lurie’s father, Dr. Arthur Lurie, from multiple myeloma, a cancer of the blood that develops in the plasma cell. Lurie remembers that his father always remained positive, even in the midst of painful bone marrow treatments, choosing to worry more for the children in the hospital. “I thought this organization would serve as a lasting tribute to him,” he says. CoachArt came into being in 2001 when Lurie and his childhood friend, Leah Bernthal, drafted the plan, and networked with hospitals, coaches, and contributors.

Lurie received his BA in political science in 1995 from the University of Washington. In the fall of that same year, he began Emory School of Law. After graduating from the JD-MBA program in 1999, Lurie passed the California Bar and began working at Chase (formerly Chase Manhattan Bank) as an associate. In early 2000, he joined Hambrecht & Quist, after Chase acquired it. Lurie’s client list at the boutique investment bank includes eBay, Yahoo!, and Google.
What’s the next step for the nonprofit? Lurie says, “It’s a model that can be replicated in communities all over the country—like a franchise. As our brand becomes more familiar, through PR and word-of-mouth, we pick up additional coaches, partners, and funds. It’s a virtuous cycle.”

“Sociological theory is just as important in for-profit firms as it is in firms that are engaged in an explicit mission of social change. We are educating leaders for society—leaders of commerce, leaders of social change, entrepreneurs who take ideas and move them to reality, whether in the arts or sciences.”
Monica C. Worline, assistant professor of organization
and management

Sometimes work can be a labor of love. That’s exactly what inspired Deborah Capone ’97EMBA to start her entrepreneurial venture called As Simple As That. The company makes, markets, and distributes children’s books featuring positive images of trans-racial adoption and multi-cultural families. The books in the company’s growing library feature an adopted six-year-old girl named Rain, who was born in China and joins a Caucasian American family through adoption. Capone notes that the character is loosely based on her own four-year-old daughter, Noelle. “When I didn’t find any books that would resonate with my daughter I started to create my own.”

Capone, a native of White Plains, N.Y., received her BA in speech communications from the University of Virginia in 1979. Capone landed a job as a media planner for New York City-based Marschalk Company, an ad agency, that same year. After spending four years in advertising, earning four promotions in as many years, she moved to the West Coast in 1983 and worked as a district manager for CMP Media in Silicon Valley. In the early 1990s, she took a position as a regional sales manager for the Washington, D.C.-based Federal Computer Week. She decided to apply to Goizueta Business School in 1995, looking to further advance her business knowledge.

After graduating from Goizueta, Capone wanted a job outside of the publishing industry to put some of her newfound skills to use. She took a consulting post with Insignia/ESG, a large commercial real estate services firm in New York City. “I didn’t have an operations background, and so I leapt at the chance to work for a commercial real estate company that was growing through acquisition. They wanted someone to integrate the companies.”

By 1999, with the Internet boom well under way, Capone returned to the publishing industry to help launch the new magazine InternetWeek. In 2000, while serving as the publication’s associate publisher, she adopted her daughter. However, the hectic work schedule took its toll. When the magazine folded in January 2001, Capone was determined to find a better way to incorporate her professional and personal life. “I waited a long time for my daughter to join my family, and I wanted to have a more flexible schedule in order to be with her,” she says.

Capone credits her Goizueta education, as she took considerable time to write a strong business plan and search for seed capital for her small publishing house. As Simple As That was officially incorporated in January 2003 and quickly received recognition for its products. The first book in the series, Families Are Forever, won a 2003 iParenting Media Award as one of the best children’s books. Not only that, Barnes & Noble recently ordered the book for national distribution. She notes, “The big booksellers don’t usually buy from small publishers, so this is quite a feat.”

In addition, Capone is launching the As Simple As That Foundation in the second quarter of 2004. One of the Foundation’s goals will be to increase the number of ethnically diverse donors of bone marrow and blood stem cells in the United States. “With the shifting demographic profile of the United States, we are facing a real health crisis if we can’t increase the number of donors from all ethnic groups,” says Capone.

Future business plans include music CDs, a video series, and educational material for teachers. She adds, “I never envisioned working on a kids project. But there’s nothing like going to an event at a bookstore and having kids say that they love my characters. These products make learning fun, and they make a difference in kids’ lives. There is no better legacy than that.”

“We take the core values of courage, integrity, accountability, rigor, diversity, team, and community very seriously, and attempt to apply them not only in the classroom, but in every aspect of our lives. The ‘soft skills’ that Goizueta alums learn are applicable no matter what career direction they take.”
Earl Hill, senior lecturer in organization and management

As a family law attorney, Lynn Davis Ward ’94EMBA stands committed to raising the bar on ethics in the legal profession. Ward opened her firm, the Dallas, Texas-based Ward, O’Brien, Staev, Fisk, Arnold & Garcia, in 2002. In much of her work, her business skills come into play, handling such things as closely held business valuations or tax issues. However, she notes, “There is also a lot of the ‘soft sciences’ at work here—the psychology and emotional issues involved in family law. For instance, in a divorce, it really should be about crafting agreements tailored to each family, with emphasis on the best interests of the children.”

Ward’s conscientiousness is apparent when she speaks about her work. “I am very careful about the cases I take. I’m trained in collaborative law, which is a new approach.” (Lawyers vow to keep the parties out of the courthouse, and instead work with clients to reach agreements.) Ward’s reputation led to her appointment by a family court judge as an attorney and guardian ad litem. The lawyer selected represents the legal interests of a minor child who is in the care of child protective services. Ward represents a two-year-old boy who was found wandering in the street. While the courts pay for this work, it is a fraction of the normal rate. She will be asked to advise the court on whether the child should be returned to the custody of the mother.

Interestingly, legal work was far from Ward's mind when she was growing up in Columbus, Ga. She earned a BS in accounting in 1981 from the University of Alabama at Birmingham, and became a CPA while working in the tax department in the Birmingham office of Ernst & Young. From there, she moved to positions as controller and CFO of two multi-state companies based in Birmingham. In 1986, she moved to BellSouth, first as a manager in the Office of Comptroller and then as director of business controls at BellSouth Products. While at BellSouth, she was given the opportunity to attend Goizueta’s Executive MBA Program, commuting from Alabama to the campus. Ward graduated in 1994.

After her husband’s job relocated to Dallas, Ward realized that a law degree would broaden her business focus. She graduated with a JD from Southern Methodist University in 1997 and took a position with the family law firm of Goranson, Bain & Larsen in Dallas. Says Ward, “They often worked with families with closely-held stock and complex property situations, and so they saw my financial background as helpful.”

She says her Goizueta classes served her well when establishing and marketing her own firm in 2002. Says Ward, “The Executive MBA is just about the best preparation for being any kind of entrepreneur.” She adds that her Emory experience, one heavy on an ethical approach, continues to factor into her professional choices. “I have an opportunity to educate clients about how choices we make during litigation will affect their children and their ability to co-parent after the case is over.

This is one area of the law where the clients’ best outcome is
not always measured in financial terms.”

“The Goizueta educational experience combines theoretical understanding with practical problem solving. As a result, our students are not only able to identify problems and issues, in this case social injustices, but, because of their practical skills, they envision and then act on solutions to these problems.”
Allison Burdette, assistant professor in the practice of business law

Leslie Wexler ’01BBA, a senior accountant for the management-consulting firm Zyman Group in Atlanta, finds that communication skills are key in her profession and in her volunteer efforts. Her full-time job is more than mere number crunching. She has to effectively communicate the meaning behind the facts and figures. And now, in her volunteer work, that same expertise is critical as she advocates on the behalf of neglected and abused children.

Wexler serves as a volunteer for the DeKalb County Court Appointed Special Advocate program (CASA). The nonprofit trains people to champion the cause of children who are under the protection of the DeKalb Juvenile Court. In 2003, the DeKalb County office of CASA, a branch of the national organization, had about 143 CASA volunteers handling approximately 250 children; however, there are more than 1,000 cases in the DeKalb system. Volunteers attend court hearings about the child and participate in relevant case conferences. Wexler adds, “I also keep the foster family and the biological parents in the loop about the child’s placement and help with visitation when appropriate.”

It appears her communications classes from Goizueta are coming in handy for her volunteer position, as she credits them with helping her confidence level in standing up and speaking before a judge. “The classes helped me to focus on making persuasive arguments, and also on the importance of clear and open communication when working with various parties.” Wexler adds that the team approach taught at Goizueta also comes into play when dealing with the many people involved in the child’s life—including caseworkers, the foster family, the biological family, lawyers, and judges.

The Miami, Fla., native was drawn to the world of numbers after being exposed to it by her family. (Her father, Stanley Wexler, owned a Miami-based investment firm called HG Wexler Securities.) After graduation, she moved on to a position as a financial analyst for Atlanta’s Scientific-Atlanta Financial Leadership Development Program. Says Wexler. “I had an excellent two years there, rotating through a business unit, financial planning and analysis, and a manufacturing plant.” When the job at Zyman Group came her way in 2003, Wexler jumped at the new opportunity. “It fit in with where I wanted to go,” she says. “I wanted to be in a more entrepreneurial
environment.”

After firmly establishing herself in a career, Wexler says she knew it was time to give back to her community. “That’s something that was emphasized at Goizueta.” CASA was the perfect vehicle. She adds, “Reuniting a family is always the goal—helping to do that is a powerful thing. If something’s not right, I am able to advocate for the kinds of services that can help put the case and the family back on the right track. This is truly a life changing experience and has helped me understand the positive impact even just one person can have.”

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