As businesses became more international and markets around the world grew increasingly interconnected over the last three decades, a forward-thinking investor could succeed with a global portfolio. Gary Brinson was one of the earliest of those investors.
He recognized in the 1970s that the markets outside the United States were not, as conventional wisdom dictated, excessively risky. In the right balance, he reasoned, they could actually lead to greater diversification and solid returns.
Brinson ’68 received the University’s highest honor last fall, the Regents’ Distinguished Alumnus Award, because of his achievements in institutional investing and his pioneering approach to global … » More …
Gary P. Brinson, nationally recognized investment fund manager and 1968 graduate of Washington State University, gives advice to investors and consumers in the 2010s. He describes the downturn in the economy and possible solutions for people who want to save and weather the storm.
Brinson managed a record trillion dollars in investments in the late ’90s, earned the highest honor of the Chartered Financial Analysts Institute (an award given to such notables as Warren Buffett), and is a lifetime member of the Horatio Alger Association. WSU honored Brinson with the Regents’ Distinguished Alumnus Award in fall 2010.
Stock symbols and percentages march across a long ticker screen, but it’s not a Wall Street brokerage firm. It’s the fourth floor of Todd Hall at WSU, and the eyes monitoring the stock market belong to undergraduates managing the Cougar Investment Fund.
The students invest $1 million of the university’s endowment—the Cougar Investment Fund—in a large capitalization equity portfolio. Under the supervision of Rick Sias, WSU finance professor and Gary P. Brinson Chair of Investment Management, the class has outperformed the S&P 500 since 2001.
Sias approached the WSU Foundation and suggested the program in 2000. “We wouldn’t charge any … » More …
The rise of Toyota in the 1980s showed manufacturers a fundamental change in methods, called “Lean Manufacturing.” After 20 years in management, Lonnie Wilson (’69, Chemical Engineering) now consults with companies on Lean Manufacturing methods.
Wilson’s How to Implement Lean Manufacturing offers manufacturers an engineer’s perspective on reducing waste and inefficiency through quantity control. He outlines the tools of Lean Manufacturing—particularly 100 percent efficiency and “Just In Time” … » More …
Most people who have worked in a group have probably faced a “getting even” situation. I remember a woman who asked colleagues in our shared office space not to wear perfume. A co-worker who felt personally affronted didn’t respond directly, but she soon began applying her fragrance at her desk.
For managers, or anyone working in an organization, the consequences of a workplace conflict can quickly … » More …
Locals often see Mike and Jill Thorne on the two-lane highway between their ranch outside Pendleton and the Oregon city’s rodeo grounds. As the 100th anniversary of the Pendleton Round-Up comes in September, the couple is busy preparing both the rodeo site and their community for the big party.
Since the first bronco bucked, the event has been drawing participants and spectators from across the Pacific Northwest. Today, it’s one of the 10 biggest rodeos in the country. It may be rooted in Oregon, but the event has many ties to Washington, including two of its key volunteers, Mike and Jill … » More …
In the September 10, 1951, issue of Life magazine is a picture of a bulldozer mounding apples in the Yakima dump. Seven acres of apples worth $6 million dollars rotted as pigs rooted through them, the result of failing foreign markets and high tariffs. At the time, if Washington’s apples didn’t sell, orchardists paid $5 a ton to have their culls hauled off to rot.
Culls are rejected from the fresh fruit market due primarily to shape, size, or color, but they are perfectly sound for such traditional uses as juice. The … » More …
Washington State Magazine talks with Tom Reese, the economic development officer in the Spokane mayor’s office, about the knowledge economy, the role of higher education in economic development, and the planned university district surrounding Washington State University’s Spokane campus. Reese is an adjunct faculty member in the Interdisciplinary Design Institute at WSU Spokane.
Tom Reese: Spokane is redefining itself. I think it’s really interesting that the world’s fair focused on Spokane and the environment. Spokane at that time [1974] was in the throes of being a resource-based economy, timber, and manufacturing and processing of those resources, and how to do it [correctly] was really … » More …
A little more than a year after the grand opening of the Palouse Ridge Golf Club in Pullman, the 315-acre course has garnered national attention as one of the best new courses in the country. It has also gained a cadre of Cougar alums who have come home to help run the business.
Most recently Tyler Jones ’92 joined as general manager last September. His last job was as general manager at Poppy Hills Golf Course in Pebble Beach, and before that he worked at the Poppy Ridge course in Livermore and the Sun Valley Resort in Idaho. “It was kind of a perfect … » More …
When Joni Earl ’75 joined Sound Transit in 2000, she was unaware of the crisis facing the agency, which provides public transportation for Snohomish, King, and Pierce counties. As the new Chief Operating Officer, she was asked to review the struggling $1.9 billion project to build a light rail 21 miles along the Puget Sound corridor from SeaTac Airport to Seattle’s University District. She discovered that it was several years behind schedule and would cost at least $1 billion more to complete. Three months after she took the job, her supervisor resigned. Earl became the acting executive director and later that year was hired as … » More …
