As dean of the Opus College of Business at the University of St. Thomas in Minneapolis, Christopher Puto faces an increasingly competitive market for business school education. To rise above the noise level, you need to find a way to differentiate yourself.
One of Puto’s answers: Bring in former CEOs as teachers. In recent years, the school has added three well-known executives to its teaching ranks—Mike Sullivan, former CEO of International Dairy Queen; Dick Schulze, founder and former CEO of Best Buy; and Ken Melrose, who was CEO of the Toro Company from 1983 to 2005.
“Our philosophy is to be able to translate concepts into action,” Puto says. These executives “help connect the world of academia with the real world of business.” None of the three corporate all-stars have signed up at St. Thomas to teach a standard semester-long class. Rather, “we want as many students as we can to have this wonderful opportunity to engage these executives,” Puto adds.
These CEO/teachers seek to balance what’s taught in principle with what happens in practice—helping students understand decision making when theory collides with day-to-day business realities. They also include in their classes discussions about two topics that are moving to the head of the class in business schools: entrepreneurialism and interpersonal relations.
Mike Sullivan was named to the Opus Distinguished Chair in Family Business in 2005. Previously, he served as CEO of International Dairy Queen from 1987 to 2001. IDQ was acquired by Berkshire Hathaway, Warren Buffett’s famed investment company, in 1997.
Earlier in his career, Sullivan spent 25 years at the Minneapolis law firm of Gray Plant Mooty. At St. Thomas, he dedicates about 20 percent of his schedule to teaching; the balance of his time is spent with faculty and visiting members of the local business community as a representative of the university and its Center for Family Enterprise.
Since 2005, Dick Schulze has held the Best Buy Distinguished Chair in Entrepreneurship. He also is a member of the school’s board of trustees and chairs the business school’s board of governors. Schulze is probably best known at St. Thomas for his gift of $50 million to the university in 2000.
The most recent addition to the lineup is Ken Melrose, named in February to the Thomas and Patricia Holloran Endowed Chair in the Practice of Management and Ethical Leadership. Melrose worked at Bloomington-based Toro for almost 36 years. He’s also guest lectured at St. Thomas for about 10 years.
Read on as TCB asks these CEO/Teachers about what they've learned at the head of the class.
