Admissions Director David Green and Executive in Residence Dr. Ghiyath Nakshbendi met with presidents, provosts, deans, and department chairs at business schools.

What started off as an invitation from the Kuwait government for a higher education conference turned into a much greater opportunity for Kogod’s Director of Admissions David Green and Executive in Residence Dr. Ghiyath Nakshbendi.

The pair’s goal was to open educational connections between the Middle East and Kogod.

“The Middle East region is under-represented in the student body at Kogod. Given the exposure the Middle East has had for many years, this trip will add to the cultural awareness of the West,” said Nakshbendi. “This trip provides opportunities on how culture and business go hand in hand for the greater good. What better vehicle than education to break away from stereotypes,” he said.

Green and Nakshbendi began their trip by meeting with Kuwait University and American University of Kuwait, and other educational, business and training organizations. Many of their appointments were with presidents, Provosts and deans of schools of business Department chairs. They also met with eight Kogod alumni living in the area in addition to Qatar University officials.

These appointments and meetings were made possible through Dr. Nakshbendi’s connections in the region. Nakshbendi lived in Kuwait for about 20 years and worked for the Kuwait Investment Authority, which is one of the oldest sovereign wealth funds in world.

“Being in the region representing Kogod helped our partners realize that we have accepted the challenge to further reach this region and are well-suited for the Middle East’s demand for global business education. .,” said Green. “In the meantime the benefit here is that we have proven output in terms of students who graduated from Kogod and are making their impact in important posts in Kuwait.”

Photo used courtesy of AU Photo Collective.

David Trone, owner of Total Wine, spoke at the Kogod School of Business's annual Alan Meltzer CEO Leadership Speaker Series about his successful career as an entrepreneur. Trone discussed his experiences with growing a small business into a big business. He highlighted his achievements, but also praised the benefits of failure.

"I'm happy as hell to fail because I went out and did something. Failure needs to be our friend because failure means we’re innovating," said Trone.

On his path to success, Trone faced many roadblocks, mainly in the form of legislation. Over the years, he worked with state policymakers to create more business friendly liquor laws. Not every attempt ended successfully, but Trone used his failures to motivate himself.

"The nice thing about business is as you make money you can invest. If you’re not making continuous improvement you’re history," said Trone.

In his quest to continuously innovate, Trone found more legislative roadblocks stood between him and his latest endeavor, an online storefront for his brick and mortar stores. In order for his latest business idea to work, Trone has worked to find solutions to accommodate each state's liquor laws.

"You can’t ignore what’s going on in government because as you get bigger they put a bulls eye on you," said Trone.

Trone opened his first Total Wine store in Delaware, with his brother, in 1984. At 12,000 square feet, the flagship store sold only beer until 1991, when the brothers broke into the wine business. Since its opening, the original store has expanded to 50,000 square feet housing over 8,000 wines, 3,000 spirits and 2,500 types of beer. Total Wine stores can now be found in 18 states, with about 130 stores.