Importance of the Election Process

Student Government Association elections are now taking place. I urge all of you to take time to participate in this very important process - one that can have a profound positive impact on the success of the School and, therefore, the future value of your degree. From the moment you accepted the invitation to join our community, you became an equity holder in the Ross School of Business. All of us - whether we are students, staff, or faculty - have an equity stake in our community and its reputation. Each of us has a responsibility to one another, to future members of our community, and to our alumni across the world. We're all accountable here.

Voting is one way in which you can exercise your responsibility to all of these stakeholders. You have a responsibility to know the issues and the candidates and to choose wisely among them to ensure we have the best possible leadership within the School going forward.

It is also an important way in which each of you is accountable for the quality of the educational experience and student life here at Ross, as well as one of the most important opportunities you will have to protect your own investment during the time that you are here. Everyone that is eligible to vote is accountable for what these elected community leaders will do together over the course of the next twelve months.

The leaders you elect this week will have a profound influence on the legacy of the Class of 2006. What will that legacy be?

I am hopeful your legacy will be one of working together to make the School the best that it can possibly be.

The newly elected SGA leaders, appointed committee chairs, and members of these committees will make their mark through:

* Working together with deans, faculty, and staff on the School's key initiatives to strengthen our programs, our community, and our brand;

* Communicating out to the student body about key initiatives our School is pursuing with regards to orientation, leadership development, curriculum, student life, diversity, placement, alumni, facilities, technology, and brand - as well as progress we are making in each area;

* Improving our current programs and shaping the future of our School by facilitating student proposals for change or for new initiatives, as well as ensuring such proposals are well-grounded and that those making such proposals are willing to play a role in their implementation;

* Acting as a sounding board for deans, faculty, and staff, as they work to pursue the School's strategy.

Overall, the new SGA leadership and those that choose to take on important SGA committee roles will have a real opportunity to engage in 'co-creation' and 'action-based learning' as they live and learn how to best enhance an organization from within.

So, I urge each of you to take time over the next day or two to carefully consider who you want to play such an important role in leading the School during the next year.

Cast your vote for a candidate that you know will always keep the best interest of the School in mind and represent all of our community's equity holders at all times.

Cast it for someone whom you believe will represent the School well both internally and externally, whether meeting a visiting CEO or speaking at graduation.

Cast it for the individual you think best-suited to work collaboratively with students, faculty, and staff to pursue the School's goals and strategy.

Most of all, cast it for the person you think best embodies the most important qualities we think of when we think of a 'Ross Leader' - other focused, results centered, internally directed, and externally open - a person with the kind of ideas, values, and energy it takes to lead a community like ours.

Dean Dolan and I both look forward to working with the SGA leadership and committees over the next year to move the School forward and keep our momentum going as we strive to become the best business school in the world.