Virtual landscape allows management advisory board to be more involved than ever before

The Management Department Advisory Board has been able to give back in new ways, thanks to the virtual work environment.

With virtual meetings making it easier to connect, the Management Department Advisory Board members have found new opportunities to mentor students and offer their expertise to faculty.

The advisory board is a group of business leaders who assist the Department of Management and Strategic Leadership in shaping and supplementing programs to help Ohio University students become more competitive and better equipped to pursue their desired careers.

“Although the board is represented by members in numerous industries and various roles, we all have had to quickly adjust to the current landscape with less travel, increased use of video conferencing, and digital communication,” said Ryan Bond, member of the advisory board and VP of Business Development at Nocimed, Inc. “The virtual environment, particularly because of ample technologies, has enabled engagement and opportunities for mentorship. Present technologies are certainly a bright silver lining for everyone in the shadow of societal constraints due to the pandemic.”

The board meets 2-3 times per year, now virtually, working with the Department of Management and Strategic Leadership on several important initiatives. They provide insights and make connections within their industries to help the department improve enrollment, increase student job placement rates, support faculty research, and boost the college’s reputation and rankings. They also participate in a variety of activities, such as mentoring different groups of students, creating awards, planning guest speakers for classes, and joining panel discussions.

Thanks to the ease of virtual meetings, Kelly Weber, board member, executive coach, and founder of The Wander Project, has been able to offer her support not only to the students, but also to the faculty, all the way from Washington state. While virtual, she’s had the opportunity to lead executive coaching Q&A sessions with students. She also recorded a leadership interview series with the College of Business and served as a guest speaker for a business innovation class. Additionally, she mentored dozens of students in a “Meet the Board” online networking forum and will be serving as a keynote speaker for Ohio University’s Leadership Development Conference for online MBA students this spring.

“While challenging for all of us personally and professionally, I’ve been impressed by the board and Ohio University’s response to ‘create from the chaos’ rather than let it negatively impact our mission and vision,” Weber said. “As a collective board, we’ve been able to give back to the University more creatively by leveraging our time, talent, and treasure in new and meaningful ways.”

This school year, Weber and her fellow board member, René Banglesdorf, founder and CEO of Charlie Bravo Aviation, have been working on how they can become even more involved in the lives of students. To accomplish this, they are offering a new group coaching forum to the Master of Science in Management students where they will explore various leadership topics to support their professional and personal development.

“This virtual environment has resulted in us making adaptations and pivoting, which is really important for management students to learn how to do,” Banglesdorf said. “We’re taking some of the strategic problem-solving initiatives that we teach to executives and bringing those right here online to Bobcats, something that never would’ve happened had we not been pushed to a virtual environment this year.”