Gary Jones is proud that he’s recruited a roster of “business rock stars” to guest lecture in his Management of Financial Institutions class for undergraduate management majors and first-year MBA students this semester.
Jones, a 1971 College of Management alumnus (IM) and retired managing director of Credit Suisse First Boston, is a guest lecturer at the College during the 2007-08 academic year. In the fall, he first taught the Management of Financial Institutions class, for which he also brought in a series of top business leaders.
The speakers for the Spring 2008 class, many of whom are Georgia Tech alumni, are:- Ed Burdett (IM 1972), managing director of Merrill Lynch
- Dave Dorman (IM 1975), retired chairman and CEO of AT&T
- Jack Guynn (MSM 1969), retired president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta
- Garnett Keith (IE 1957), chairman and CEO of SeaBridge Investment Advisors
- Alan Lacy (IM 1975), former vice chairman and CEO of Sears Holding Corporation
- Charles Moseley (IE 1965), founder of Noro-Moseley Partners
- Mike Neal (IM 1975), vice chairman of General Electric and chairman of GE Capital
- Dennis Patterson (GMGT 1971), corporate executive vice president of Sun Trust Banks
- David A. Perdue Jr. (IE 1972), retired president and CEO of Dollar General Corporation
- John Rhett (IM 1976), chairman of SunTrust Investment Services
- John Strangfeld, chairman, president and CEO of Prudential Financial
- James E. Trimble Jr. (MGT 1991), director of Private Bank Fidelity Bank
- Kurt Wolfgruber, president and CIO of Oppenheimer Funds Inc.
All speakers but Charles Moseley also guest lectured in the fall 2007 course. Jim Cramer, host of CNBC’s Mad Money, also spoke to the fall class when he visited campus for taping of his hit stock-picking show.
Jones says hearing all these speakers in one course is “the equivalent of having Stan Musial, Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, and Mickey Mantle play together if you’re a baseball fan, or hear the Beatles and Rolling Stones together if you’re a music lover.”
During his more than 30 years working on Wall Street, Jones received requests to serve as a guest lecturer at some of the world’s top business schools, including Columbia University, The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, and The Darden School at the University of Virginia.
Seeing how motivated students were to understand financial markets and pursue careers in the investment banking industry spurred Jones to teach the Management of Financial Institutions course at Georgia Tech.
Emphasizing interactive discussions on cases and timely market news, the course focuses on the role and operation of financial institutions and markets in national and international economies. Students learn about investment banks, securities firms, commercial banks, finance companies, mutual funds, insurance companies, asset and money management firms, hedge funds, private banks, private equity firms, and other financial institutions.
Jones says the series of guest speakers provide students with the opportunity to “learn at the knee of the master” in delving into all aspects of capital markets.
Jones serves as a member of the Georgia Tech Foundation Board of Trustees where he is on the Executive Committee and the Investment Committee. Inducted into the College of Management’s Hall of Fame for alumni in 2004, he also serves on the College of Management Advisory Board, of which he was Chairman for three years; the College of Management's Development Committee; and the Alexander-Tharpe Board of Trustees.
