Professor David Cadden offers insight into Yahoo’s decision to extend maternity and paternity benefits

David Cadden, a management professor in the Entrepreneurship and Strategy Department in the School of Business at Quinnipiac University, is available to comment on Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer’s decision to extend maternity and paternity benefits to employees. Yahoo is now offering female employees 16 weeks of paid maternity leave while new dads get eight weeks of paid leave.

“It is extremely gratifying to hear that Yahoo has decided to double the maternity and paternity leave time,” Cadden said. “CEO Mayer has recognized that employees aren’t singularly driven by just the paycheck. They look and are motivated by other benefits. These include the ability to raise a family. She had curtailed Yahoo’s employees’ ability to work at home which aided many of them in raising their family. While extremely generous by American standards, Yahoos’ policies for maternal and paternal would be merely average in the Northern European context. Such policies are critical in attracting and retaining technically competent individuals. For a period of time, Xerox Corporation had in many of its facilities on-site daycare for young children. CEO Mayer has a comparable capability for herself. She had a nursery built next to her office.”

To speak to Cadden, please call John Morgan, associate vice president for public relations at Quinnipiac, at 203-206-4449 (cell).

 

Garvey Young’s sports site takes first prize in business plan competition

 

 

Dean O’Connor, right, presents Garvey Young with first place for “Draftspot,” a web-based business for high school athletes and college recruiters.

Garvey Young will graduate this spring with a MBA from Quinnipiac University, and among the things he’ll be taking with him when he moves back to Washington, D.C. is a very promising business.

Young, who graduated with a bachelor’s degree in marketing in 2012, won the $5,000 first prize in the Quinnipiac University School of Business‘ Business Plan Competition on April 12. He has been working since last spring on Draftspot, which he describes as “a social branding platform that introduces athletes and coaches through digital media.”

Young plans to start Draftspot, now in a pre-launch phase, next year, but before that happens he’s got a busy summer ahead, including volunteering as a teacher in Ghana and playing in Europe for the FIBA International Basketball Federation. Young played basketball for two years at the University of Vermont, and then became a big scorer the last two seasons with the Quinnipiac Bobcats.

Young, who plans to raise $100,000 to start the business, believes he will benefit from the first-mover advantage and make Draftspot profitable within three years. He credits Quinnipiac with getting him ready to switch from scholar-athlete to entrepreneur. “It’s great preparation and an intense curriculum,” he said. “I’m definitely prepared.”

Please click here to read more.

Symposium on ‘A Resurgent China in the 21st Century’ on April 18

Jonathan Spence, a renowned scholar on China and the Sterling Professor Emeritus of History at Yale University, will deliver the keynote address at “A Resurgent China in the 21st Century,” a daylong symposium that will take place on Thursday, April 18, in the Mancheski Executive Seminar Room at Quinnipiac University.

The symposium, which is free and open to the public, will run from 9:30 a.m. to 7 p.m.

The International Business Department in the School of Business and the Albert Schweitzer Institute, are co-sponsors of the event. Registration is required. Please contact Professor Mohammad Elahee at mohammad.elahee@quinnipiac.edu.

Please click here to read more.

Cautious optimism on the global economy at Quinnipiac University’s G.A.M.E. III Forum

More than 120 esteemed speakers are sharing ideas with more than 1,000 students from 118 universities in 33 countries and 44 states plus the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico this week at the Quinnipiac Global Asset Management Education (G.A.M.E.) III Forum in New York City.

The U.S. and global economies are slowly recovering from the economic crisis of 2008, and consumer confidence is growing. Uncertainty about government policies and stubborn unemployment levels remain as obstacles. That was the consensus of a high-level panel of experts on the first day of the Quinnipiac University‘s third annual Global Asset Management Education (G.A.M.E.) III Forum at the Hilton Hotel Midtown.

“Business profits are pretty good, but hirings are not there yet,” said Frank Hatheway, chief economist at NASDAQ OMX Group, Inc. “We don’t yet have the level of employment normally seen at this stage of the business cycle.” Hatheway called for stimulating the sector with government job retraining programs “so we can start creating 400,000 jobs a month, not 150,000.”

Hatheway was one of four keynotes on the morning “Global Economy” panel, and his bullish outlook was shared. According to another speaker, Bob Doll, chief equity strategist and senior portfolio manager at Nuveen Asset Management, “The world economy is slowly, irrevocably improving.” Looking at the U.S. economy, Doll said that “the business sector is in pretty good shape, and corporations are now willing to spend a little more on hiring workers, investing and paying dividends. We’re seeing sustainable momentum.”

Please click here to read more.

President John L. Lahey to ring the NASDAQ Stock Market Closing Bell April 3

Quinnipiac University’s Global Asset Management Education (G.A.M.E.) III Forum, a unique opportunity to interact with industry leaders and learn best practices in investment management, will visit the NASDAQ MarketSite in Times Square.

In honor of the occasion, John L. Lahey, president of Quinnipiac University, Bob Froehlich, moderator and program co-chair, David A. Sauer, founder, managing director and program co-chair, will ring the NASDAQ Stock Market Closing Bell at 4 p.m. on Wednesday, April 3.

Joining them will be Strategic Partner CFA Institute represented by Thomas Collimore, CFA, head of industry relations, stakeholder services, marketing & communications; keynote speakers, Al Angrisani, president & chief executive officer, Harris Interactive, Guy Adami, managing director, Drakon Capital & CNBC “Fast Money” contributor, Joe Terranova, chief investment strategist, Virtus Investment Partners & CNBC contributor; along with 100 college students representing the 118 participating universities from 33 countries, 44 states, Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia.

A live webcast of the NASDAQ Closing Bell will be available at: http://www.nasdaq.com/about/marketsitetowervideo.asx.