David Sylvia has had dreams of Olympic proportions since he was seven, when he would stay up late watching the 1994 Lillehammer Games. He would track times, scores and points, and run across the street to type up the stats on his neighbor’s computer. He repeated this for the 1998 and 2000 Olympics, thinking he wanted to be a statistician and work on the Olympic circuit.

A member of the Men's Water Polo Club at the University of Richmond, Sylvia became interested in marketing when his high school swim coach asked him to help draft a flyer to promote the team.

Today, Sylvia seeks to combine his passions for sports, marketing and international business. A marketing major, Sylvia spent a semester studying at the University of Hong Kong. Throughout his senior year, he interned at the Golf Division of Octagon Sports, where he met managing director and 1981 UR grad Giff Breed. Breed, who began his career with Procter & Gamble, became a mentor to Sylvia. Sylvia, too, will begin his post-graduate life at P&G.

Sylvia, who hasn’t given up on his Olympic-size dream, is a self-professed people person in spite of his knack for numbers.

“For me, it’s all about relationships,” said Sylvia. “I knew I would get an excellent education at the Robins School, but it was up to me to develop lasting relationships that would enhance my education. I’ve always created my own path, and as soon as I got to college I wanted to get to know my professors. There are fascinating people at the Robins School, like Dr. Babb and Dr. Lascu, and they have helped me facilitate my academic and personal growth. They know how to dream big.”

In June 2008, Sylvia will use a Quest grant to present marketing research he co-authored with Dr. Lascu to the 17th World Business Congress in Paramaribo, Suriname. One week after returning from Suriname, he will begin a full-time position as an Associate Manager in Consumer and Market Knowledge (CMK) for Procter & Gamble at the company headquarters in Cincinnati.

“These are all pieces to of the puzzle,” Sylvia said. “My experiences in Hong Kong and Suriname will arm me with knowledge of different cultures and consumer behavior.”

In his role, Sylvia will help create a competitive advantage for Procter & Gamble, bringing the consumer to the center of business decision-making. He will find out what drives consumer behavior and how that shapes the market for consumer products and services.

Sylvia is waiting to receive his brand assignment from P&G – he’s hoping his brand will be actively involved in sports marketing. “Maybe I can convince P&G to become an official Olympic sponsor! Then I’ll be all set,” jokes Sylvia.

If not, no worries; like the Olympic Motto "Citius, Altius, Fortius,” a Latin phrase meaning "Swifter, Higher, Stronger,” Sylvia will chart his own path.

In Spring 2008, the Robins School of Business successfully launched a newly developed program designed to introduce undergraduate students to a practical, real-world exercise in professional and career skills. 

The program, named “Q Camp,” honors Paul B. Queally, R’86 and exemplifies his desire for Robins School students to stand above the rest as they begin competing for jobs in the business world.  

Held off-campus in a business conference center, the small, select group of students in the pilot program experienced first-hand the social and professional interactions they will face as they enter the workforce. 

Q Camp is packed full of interactive seminars and opportunities to practice the newly introduced skills with alumni, corporate friends and faculty.

The Robins School is now accepting registrations for Q Camp 2008 scheduled for Friday, September 12 – Sunday, September 14, 2008. 

Open to rising business school juniors, Q Camp 2008 has been scheduled to give students the maximum amount of time to use their newly acquired skills as they apply for key internships, prestigious Robins School organizations, including the Student Managed Investment Fund, and other business opportunities. 

The 2008 agenda is still being finalized in order to incorporate the suggestions for improvement from the pilot group. However, key components of the weekend include opportunities to meet with corporate partners, alumni and faculty at a reception, formal dinner, interviewing session and golfing event. Also included are sessions on office and e-etiquette, effective business writing, and presentation skills. 

Details

Q Camp 2008 will be held at the Virginia Crossings Resort in Glen Allen, Virginia. The program will begin at approximately 3pm on Friday, September 12 and conclude at noon on Sunday, September 14.

All transportation, lodging and meals will be provided for participating students. Details about dress, agenda, and other logistics will be sent prior to the program.

Q Camp is only offered once annually. A limited number of students will be accepted into this program. Don’t miss your opportunity!

If you are a rising junior interested in registering, visit the Q Camp website and sign up now – registrations are limited!

Two spirited business competitions, the Robins School McWick Competition and the University of Richmond’s Entrepreneurship Club’s Business Plan Competition, light up the Robins School each spring. The competitions teach students important skills necessary to create and manage a company. The stakes are high and excitement fills the as air the winning team in each competition will take home a $2,000 grand prize.

The McWick Award for Strategic Analysis was established eight years ago by Kathleen McBride. Student teams are assigned a business case and given a short timeline to evaluate it and make recommendations. The first round is judged by the students’ instructors, the semi-final round is judged by other Robins School faculty, and the final round is judged by seasoned executives. The competition is intended to test the students’ ability to work independently as a team, without outside advice or counsel, in developing a solid strategic plan. 

This year’s final round of the McWick Case Competition was held Friday, April 25 at the Robins School. The student teams were charged with expanding upon the success of Facebook’s social network, driving new and innovative uses for the popular site. 

Judged by Kathleen McBride, Robins School graduate and McWick founder; Margaret E. ‘Lyn” McDermid, Senior Vice President and CIO, Virginia Power; Chris Scott, Robins School MBA grad and founder of GreenTech; and Katherine Busser, CIO, Capital One US Credit Card Division, the winning team was selected for creating a value proposition with demonstrated financial reward for their site, “Job Hunt.”

Job Hunt targets third and fourth year undergraduates, recent graduates and graduate students. It enables them to create a profile, upload resumes and cover letters, search job opportunities, apply to any job and schedule interviews. It also alerts members to new job opportunities and job fairs.

Elizabeth “Biz” Bowen, Katie Vaska, Anna Swarthout and Bryce McAvoy worked together for a week to develop the winning strategy. The mix of finance, accounting and marketing majors worked well together in the final analysis.

“Our team was great, we worked together all semester and had fun although it was stressful,” said Swarthout. “Now we know how the real world will judge our work. We all have jobs to look forward to after graduation and this gives us an idea of what it will be like.”

Open to all undergraduates is the Business Plan Competition, sponsored by the University of Richmond Entrepreneurship Club and the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CIE). The Entrepreneurship Club is for all undergraduates who have an interest in innovation and in starting or working for new ventures. The new venture idea can be for-profit or not-for-profit. 

Fifteen teams entered the first annual Business Plan Competition, which was juried by five external judges: Jim Brady of Payerpath; Tom Bowden of Gregory Kaplan, PLC; Walter O’Brien of Brand Builders Unlimited; Nasser Chandra of Brinks International and Jennifer Dodge of Accounting Principals. Each team is required to submit and present an executive summary of their idea. They are evaluated on their presentation, not on a full length business plan.

First place went to Rory Golod and Doug Banker, who created Katai Capital LLC, a social networking event management website. Second place went to Emily Rottier and Melanie Jachles for DEA Brew, a beer for women.

“I was pleased to have 15 well-developed ideas for entrepreneurial ventures entered into our first-ever business plan competition. The fact that many of the teams entering the competition included students from Arts & Sciences and the Leadership school – not just the Business school – is important because innovation and entrepreneurship emerges in all disciplines,” said Entrepreneurship Club faculty advisor Doug Bosse.

“Rory and Doug are so entrepreneurial nothing will stop them from creating additional new ideas and figuring out how to test them in their respective markets. I think we’ll be reading favorable headlines about those two in ten years,” continued Bosse.

Next year the club will sponsor another business plan competition as well as several networking forums where students informally share their entrepreneurial ideas.

At the Robins School Honors Convocation on April 9, several students were recognized for their accomplishments. Over 50 merit scholarships were awarded, and 15 students were inducted into the business honor society, Beta Gamma Sigma. Michael Walrath ‘94, Vice President of Yahoo! was honored as Executive of the Year and delivered the keynote address.

At the top of their class were Imran Choudhury and Emily Rottier. Emily Rottier, marketing major from Luray, Virginia was awarded the Alumni Association Outstanding Senior Award. The Charles Norman Award, given to the best overall graduating senior, as chosen by the faculty went to Imran, an accounting major with a 3.97 GPA.