Professor Jack Osborn was the center of an event on October 13 at the Newport Beach Country Club, where 100 alumni, colleagues, students, and friends gathered to celebrate his 20 years of service to the University of Redlands. Osborn was recognized for developing the University’s Global Business Program and an endowed chair was named in his honor.
Introduced by U of R Trustee Chuck Wilke ’64, President Krista Newkirk welcomed the crowd, noting Osborn’s commitment to personalized education. “Coming together to honor and recognize the many accomplishments of an esteemed faculty member who has touched the lives of hundreds of Bulldog students is what we are all about at the University of Redlands,” said Newkirk.
More than 260 students have graduated from Global Business under Osborn’s leadership.
Following dinner, three alumni—Kara Babb ’09, director of e-commerce, marketing, and customer experience of Signify North America Corporation; Taylor Guerrero ’14, senior manager of global sourcing of Target Corporation; and Reed McCord ’13, vice president, business operations and strategy of Impossible Foods—took the stage. They shared their personal experiences in Global Business, reflecting on how the personal care of Osborn’s mentorship led them out of their comfort zones. Cris Gunter, owner and chief executive officer of Bravo Foods, also spoke as Osborn’s mentee.
President Emeritus James Appleton recognized Osborn’s love of his students and the opportunities he helped provide, including through his leadership of the Fulbright Scholars program. “This responsibility required identifying candidates for this prestigious award and mentoring them,” said Appleton. “Through Jack’s leadership and care, 24 of our scholars have been awarded Fulbrights, a distinction not typical for universities of our size.”
Appleton then spoke about the endowed chair, which Osborn assumed in 2001 as the Hunsaker Chair of Management following Professor Emeritus Keith Barnes. Rich Hunsaker ’52 and Ginnie Moses Hunsaker ’52 made a generous leadership gift to establish a chair to “promote the study of management in a liberal arts context, recognize an outstanding teacher and scholar, and enable the recipient to further their professional career.”
“Rich discussed with me his wish to rename the Hunsaker Chair of Management for Professor Osborn as he appreciated Jack’s work so much,” said Appleton. “I wish [Rich] was here to experience it.”
Appleton and Newkirk conferred the endowed chair medallion to Osborn for the Jack Osborn Professor of Management, noting that his “name now is forever a part of this University.”
The event closed with grateful remarks from Osborn, who has called his career at Redlands “the best thing I’ve done,” and University Chair in Global Business Walter Hutchens, who committed to “care for and enhance the ‘house that Jack built.’”
As the global head of product strategy at PIMCO, Kim Stafford Korinke ’00 knows firsthand the impact of Osborn’s work. “Jack implicitly understands that the greatest gift you can impart to someone is the gift of a global perspective.”
“It was rewarding to see so many former students come together with a common experience,” said Wilke, who serves on the Global Business Advisory Board, after the event. “This younger cross-section of our alumni showed their enthusiastic feelings for Jack.”
Learn more about the Global Business Program at the University of Redlands. To make a gift in Osborn’s honor to the Jack Osborn Professor of Management Endowment, visit www.redlands.edu/givenow.
