Jason Oshins '87, Alumni Council president, attorney and Court TV pundit, is frequently in a hurry – but never, he says, when leaving the Union College campus, which he does reluctantly and only after driving completely around it. He does the same thing on arriving, as if reclaiming it.
“The first day I saw Union – October 25, 1982 – I knew,” said the early decision applicant. “It seemed like a 'central casting' idea for what a college should look like, and I knew I would thrive in a smaller environment.”
While at Union, Oshins founded Union's Alpha Epsilon Pi chapter, volunteered with the United Jewish Appeal, spent a term abroad and immersed himself in the community, working on political campaigns. As the Admissions Office's “Volunteer of the Year,” he searched in interviews for “self-confident people looking to make a difference, people who care about the community around them and fancy themselves as leaders and doers.”
After finishing his academic requirements early, he worked in a Manhattan law firm until graduation, but found himself returning to campus on weekends. Today, Oshins has law offices in Brooklyn and Fort Lee, N.J., but he continues to feel the pull and the allure of Union.
“Being Alumni Council president is incredibly fulfilling. When you care about something passionately, you want to spread the gospel,” he says. “I enjoy being part of that, of staying connected to the College to give back something and make it better. It's showing love to something that shows me love back.”
TAPPING INTO UNION'S TECH NETWORK: Nish Nadaraja '94
“We were right in the eye of the storm,” says Nish Nadaraja '94, recalling his experiences during the height of the late '90s economic boom.
“It was a crazed and exciting time, and we'll always look back on it and feel fortunate that we did well when so many other companies didn't.”
The “we” in that high-tech whirl includes two other Union alumni – Jason Epstein '95 and Greg Monahan '95. Together, the three built Bind Networks Inc. into a highly successful IT solutions company, with such clients as Walmart.com, Hummer Winblad and the Natural Resources Defense Council.
“When we moved to San Francisco in 1998, we knew two people,” Nadaraja says. “Ned Walley ('93), my predecessor as chapter president, helped get us started by introducing us to other Union alums.”
Though they've since sold the company and pursued separate opportunities, the alumni attraction remains strong. Nadaraja has enthusiastically embraced his role as president of the 452-member Northern California Alumni Club. This thriving group sponsors about four events each year, such as a private tour of California wineries arranged by wine industry insider Aaron Blum '80.
“It's a great thrill to hook up total strangers for the first time and watch the magic happen,” Nadaraja says.
The Meaning of Union: Jessica Adelson-Alton '89
While working in New York City in magazines and online publishing, it became exceedingly clear to Jessica Adelson-Alton '89 that “Union had nurtured my liberal arts fundamentals and values – my communication skills, writing and interacting.”
Now, in marketing and business development for a catering firm, this volunteer is dedicated to sharing the meaning of Union with her fellow alumni.
She recently hosted a unique event in her Manhattan loft for Union graduates from the classes of 1987-1991, featuring William Thomas, professor of French and International Programs director. Complete with suggested readings, the evening evolved as a wide-ranging conversation about internationalism.
“Professor Thomas touched so many people through the term abroad program, bringing lasting effects into their lives,” said Adelson-Alton, who also holds a master's degree in international affairs from Columbia University. “I decided to leverage this Union asset, to bring him here to New York and get people engaged.
“We immediately connected through the shared experience of the College,” she said. “People need to be reached in a personal way, and this event really tied in with what the College does. People didn't want to leave.”
While at Union, Adelson-Alton won the Daniel F. Pullman Prize for classical scholarship, spent her junior year in Japan and joined Sigma Delta Tau and the student-run theater group, Mountebanks. “Professor Barry Smith's improv class was great for me,” she recalled.
In all of her activities, she said, “The size of the college and the intimacy of it made it feel like you were important, that you didn't dissolve into the crowd.”
For nearly five decades, Donald S. '46 and Armand V. '42 Feigenbaum have been initiating and implementing quality control and management systems at some of the world's largest corporations.
Donald is one of the acknowledged world leaders in systems management and systems engineering and co-author with his brother, Armand, of the very successful recent book, The Power of Management Capital, from McGraw-Hill, with editions also in China, Brazil, Japan, Korea and many other countries.
Armand – known as “Val” – is the originator of Total Quality Control and Management, an approach to quality and profitability that has profoundly influenced business management strategy. His book on the subject has been published in many languages and is the basic text on quality systems and improvements.
Natives of Pittsfield, Mass., both received their undergraduate degrees at Union, Val with a B.A. in industrial administration and Don with a B.S. in electrical engineering. Their many honors include honorary doctorates from the College and other institutions.
Several years ago, a Business Week profile summed up Armand V. and Donald S. Feigenbaum's approach to quality control and management in two sentences: “Never Mind the Buzzwords. Roll Up Your Sleeves.”
For nearly three decades, the magazine noted, the two former General Electric Co. engineers, working behind the scenes, have been streamlining operations at such corporations as Tenneco, Union Pacific, Citicorp, Pirelli, Fiat, Johnson Controls and 3M.
“Their advice is pragmatic, and it saves companies big bucks,” the magazine said admiringly.
You might assume that the two men who have the ear of leading executives around the world would operate out of high-powered offices in New York City.
You would be wrong.
Armand V. and Donald S. Feigenbaum
Instead, the two brothers share an attractive suite in the headquarters of the company they founded, General Systems, Inc. It looks out over the city square in Pittsfield, the city in the Berkshires where they were raised and where they returned to live. Val is the company's president and chief executive officer and Don is executive vice president and chief operating officer. Together, they form General Systems' executive office from which they manage the company's global operations.
That Val and Don Feigenbaum eschew the fancy trappings of the big city comes as no surprise when you talk with them. Soft spoken and unassuming, they take a conservative approach with their customers (they don't use the word client). Shunning quick fixes or slash-and-burn tactics, they get to know each customer individually as they seek to eliminate inefficiencies and instill a commitment to quality.
Every inefficiency and disconnect eliminated, they say, reduces total product costs and improves end user satisfaction. Every company committed to total quality is a company that is being managed to serve its customers – and it is the customers who, in the end, decide the quality of a company's products and make their purchase decisions accordingly.
CREATING RESULTS AND RELATIONSHIPS
The brothers do not see themselves as consultants, a word that connotes an outside advisor, nor do they see their company as a consulting company.
“General Systems is an execution company – an implementation company, an engineering company – in a broader sense than the word is typically used,” Val says. “We think of ourselves as systems engineers or systems managers. What we want to do is create results and relationships with customers.”
Adds Don, “We don't advise people. We work with people to build something. Most people think of systems as computers. We see people, machines, and information that have to be integrated. We build the internal processes.”
And it works. When the Feigenbaums and General Systems were called in by Tenneco, the company reported failure costs of $2.9 billion a year. The chief executive officer of Tenneco, in a recent book, has written that in three years the Feigenbaums' Cost of Quality approach created $2 billion of savings – real margins without sacrificing the core businesses or the company's valuable people.
The CEO said, “We called it 'soft restructuring,' but really it was our 'silver bullet.' ”
And it is principles such as these that the Feigenbaums emphasize for their corporate customers throughout all of the 24 industry groups that General Systems has served.
The brothers note that they have worked for two “generals” in their lives. One, of course, is General Systems, which they founded in 1968. The other is General Electric, where together they put in 42 years of experience before striking out on their own.
CONNECTING, NATURALLY
The General Electric connection is, in a way, a natural. Their mother's father had gone to work at GE in Pittsfield at the start of the 20th century. (“He knew Charles Steinmetz and spoke about him,” Val recalls fondly.) Their mother, Hilda, was a concert pianist, and their father, Samuel, was a CPA who ran his own accounting firm.
Val was an apprentice toolmaker at GE right after graduating from Pittsfield High School, but came to Union after he was told it was a good place for someone who wanted to become a balanced engineer.
“If you look at the unique character of Union – its small size and its blend of the liberal arts and engineering – that appealed to me,” he says. “It was the right decision – a place where I could spend all afternoon in a lab and edit the college paper at night.”
Don had a variety of summer jobs while he was in high school, one as an assistant to the cutters in a local textile mill, one as an usher in the local theater. He came to Union intent on becoming an engineer, but left after two and a half years to join the Navy during World War II. After serving with the Seabees in the Philippines, he restarted his junior year at Union.
“I still wanted to be an engineer, but not one who sat in the corner pushing a slide rule,” he says. “I wanted a liberal, broad education.”
Both men rose quickly at GE. Val was director of quality at GE's huge Schenectady operations in his early twenties, and Don rapidly moved up to major management responsibility in the company's jet engine business before leaving to become general manager and chief operating officer of International Systems Co.
“We learned a great deal at GE, but we wanted to be our own boss as much as anyone can be,” Val says. When their paths crossed on a plane in Sao Paulo, they decided the time was right. Val left GE, where he was worldwide director of manufacturing and quality control in New York, and he and Don launched General Systems with headquarters in New York City.
Their first morning in business they received a call from Volvo of Sweden that led to their first assignment, a two-year project applying systems engineering techniques. Success there led to other work in Europe for such companies as Alfa Romeo and Renault, in Japan for major organizations, and back in the U.S., where General Motors and Bechtel were among their first customers.
Soon realizing that they were going to be traveling all over the world (half their business has always been international), they decided they may as well do that from the place they always called home, and they moved their company headquarters from New York to Pittsfield.
SERVING THE WORLD
Meeting of the minds – Attending the Feigenbaum Forum are, from left, Doug Klein, director of the College's Center for Converging Technology; Charlotte Borst, dean of arts and sciences; and Armand V. and Donald S. Feigenbaum. This annual event encourages
Today, General Systems' list of companies served includes many American and global corporate leaders such as J.P. Morgan Chase, Cummins Engine, Ford, John Deere, SKF, Shell, Volkswagen and IBM, as well as organizations in Japan, Brazil, China and other countries. And the brothers continue to write. Their latest book, The Power of Management Capital, from McGraw-Hill, has been attracting a large number of readers throughout the world.
Both Val and Don point out that Pittsfield has a long history of success in technology and is a good environment for the headquarters of a company like General Systems. “Our international customers know the big U.S. cities as well as we do,” Val says, “but Pittsfield and the Berkshires are a welcome experience for them. They call Pittsfield the World Capital of Total Quality Management.”
Don mentions how their recent keynote speech to a major management conference in Dubai was delivered. “They sent a team from Germany to holograph us so we were speaking and walking and talking in Dubai, when we were in fact at our desks here.”
And the brothers emphasize these points with a wall clock in their outer office with a gold star placing Pittsfield at the center of the global business geography.
SERVING THE COMMUNITY
The two say they feel a great sense of responsibility toward their hometown, and they have had leadership roles with the Berkshire Bank, the Berkshire Athenaeum, Hancock Shaker Village, Colonial Theatre and the Berkshire Museum, among other institutions. That level of involvement mirrors their years at Union, where their activities included a fraternity (Kappa Nu), the Student Council, Concordiensis and the Philomathean Society.
These days, the brothers give no evidence that they plan to slow their pace.
“Our grandmother always said that people rust out faster than they wear out,” Don says. “So we continue to get out among our customers and stay completely involved in helping transform the people we work with.”
Adds Val, “I like to recall another one of our grandmother's admonitions – the minute you close your mind is when you think your teachers have nothing left to teach you.”
The Union Experience
'Converging education'
Val and Don Feigenbaum regularly return to campus, where they admire such changes as the new House System and Converging Technologies. For eight years they have sponsored the Feigenbaum Forum, designed to stimulate dialogue about the integration of corporate management principles in the administration of institutions of higher education. They are particularly pleased with the impetus from the Forum.
“Look at the conversation over the years,” Don says. “Everyone who attends is interested in his or her own discipline, of course. But they are also interested in producing well-educated students, and these days that means knowing both the liberal arts and engineering.”
“One of the phrases we like is 'organization transformation,' and this is what is happening at Union,” Val adds.
“One of Union's challenges is to recognize its own strengths,” he continues. “Today, if you're a pure technician, Heaven help you in terms of your career. You'll be obsolete in two years.”
“Union, with Converging Technologies, recognizes that technology by itself isn't enough,” Don says. “It's converging education. We're going to live in a technologically advancing society with constant social and cultural pressures. So, get as broad an education as possible, but not so broad that you don't have a profession.”
“Transformation is a constant process,” Val observes. “Still, if you had to invent a college that fits the times, you'd invent what Union is right now.”
And Don adds that “with the experience I have had – and if I had to do it over again – I would go to Union.”
Val and Don Feigenbaum regularly return to campus, where they admire such changes as the new House System and Converging Technologies. For eight years they have sponsored the Feigenbaum Forum, designed to stimulate dialogue about the integration of corporate management principles in the administration of institutions of higher education. They are particularly pleased with the impetus from the Forum.
“Look at the conversation over the years,” Don says. “Everyone who attends is interested in his or her own discipline, of course. But they are also interested in producing well-educated students, and these days that means knowing both the liberal arts and engineering.”
“One of the phrases we like is 'organization transformation,' and this is what is happening at Union,” Val adds.
“One of Union's challenges is to recognize its own strengths,” he continues. “Today, if you're a pure technician, Heaven help you in terms of your career. You'll be obsolete in two years.”
“Union, with Converging Technologies, recognizes that technology by itself isn't enough,” Don says. “It's converging education. We're going to live in a technologically advancing society with constant social and cultural pressures. So, get as broad an education as possible, but not so broad that you don't have a profession.”
“Transformation is a constant process,” Val observes. “Still, if you had to invent a college that fits the times, you'd invent what Union is right now.”
And Don adds that “with the experience I have had – and if I had to do it over again – I would go to Union.”
Close to her heart: Estelle Cooke-Sampson juggles her many roles with characteristic grace and determination
Walking down a Washington, D.C., street in a snowstorm wearing her Union College scarf, Dr. Estelle Cooke-Sampson '74 was flagged down by a recent Union graduate. It was a fleeting encounter she recalls with a laugh – and the recognition that the Union connection reaches far and remains strong.
“It was a pivotal point for all of us,” she said of her days at Union, where she and brothers Gerald '73 and Lawrence Cooke '77 attended on loans, grants and scholarships. “I was able to flourish among interesting students of different cultural backgrounds.”
The siblings set up the Cooke Family Scholarship in 1997. This year, Cooke-Sampson gave a million thanks – a $1 million gift of insurance designed to properly fund the family scholarship. “The value of the policy will continue to grow, and Union will get not only a million dollars but, potentially, a good deal more,” she noted.
A physician and associate professor of diagnostic radiology at Howard University who grew up in Washington, Cooke-Sampson was one of the 100 women in Union's first coed class. Swapping the urban streets of the nation's capital for Union's quintessentially postcard campus was, literally, a breath of fresh air.
“I found the campus very serene and beautiful, especially Jackson's Garden,” she said. She joined the Drama Club and Black Student Alliance, enjoyed Latin, felt inspired by Dr. Francis Lambert's biology classes and experienced the community beyond Union's gates through the Big Sisters program and visits to Hamilton Hill. Those volunteer experiences set the stage for her lifelong passion for mentoring and civic service.
With an M.D. from Georgetown University, Cooke-Sampson served as a medical officer with the U.S. Public Health Service and worked in women's health care before joining Howard's full-time faculty in 1999. She is also a full colonel and state surgeon for the District of Columbia National Guard. Her latest assignment: Task Force Grizzly, a National Guard effort to enhance U.S./Mexico border security.
She has always made time for her alma mater, including serving as term trustee and Admissions rep, hosting alumni receptions and jetting to campus events. Most recently, her roles and responsibilities converged when she spent a whirlwind 14 hours getting to her 30th ReUnion. The drill? Depart San Diego for Schenectady. Scoop up daughters at the airport. Taxi to campus. Reconnect with classmates. Pick up Alumni Gold Medal. Put girls on a plane back home. Fly across country to suit up for the National Guard once more.
Lacross captain-cum-venture capitalist. Nott Scholar turned legal expert. Math lover-scientist-corporate leader. Union's three newest trustees Stephen W. Ritterbush, Lawrence B. Pedowitz, and John E. Kelly III bring exceptional energy and focus to the board
Stephen Ritterbush, PH.D. '68: Across the disciplines
Stephen Ritterbush
“Union has a unique blend of engineering and liberal arts in a small college environment where students are able to get special attention,” said Steve Ritterbush '68, Ph.D., who holds a B.S. in civil engineering and B.A. in political science from Union College as part of a former combined five-year program.
At Union, Ritterbush served as class president for three years and captained the lacrosse team, memorably and dramatically scoring five goals in a victory over RPI while playing with a broken hand.
He also pioneered a term abroad program at the University of Stockholm. “Professor Joe Board was instrumental in helping me develop an independent overseas study program,” he said. “At the time, Union had only two programs – one in Scotland and one in Switzerland – that sent a total of three students abroad to study each year. I was one of the first students to create a program for myself.”
After earning advanced degrees at the University of Hawaii and Tufts and spending time at Harvard as a Rockefeller Foundation fellow, Ritterbush co-founded Fairfax Partners with Ray List '66. He is now managing partner of the firm, which manages a series of investment funds and has launched more than 25 different companies. He resides in Great Falls, Va.
As Union strengthens its image and positions itself in the academic community for the long haul, Ritterbush remains fiercely loyal to the institution that, he says, “provides one with the ability to look at problems in different ways, both from the engineering and technical side, as well as from an economic, social and political perspective.
“Union has a unique ability to turn out students with cross-disciplinary expertise.”
Lawrence B. Pedowitz, PH.D. '69: Value in education
Serving as a trustee is giving Lawrence Pedowitz '69 – Phi Beta Kappa, summa cum laude, B.A., economics and political science – “an education about education.” He's learning more, he says, about “the issues that the administration and professors must confront from a financial, social and moral standpoint.”
Pedowitz credits his own education at Union for much of his success since graduation. He won Union's Heck-Steingut Prize, was nominated as a Nott Scholar, served as class president and was an exchange student at St. Andrews University in Scotland.
Lawrence B. Pedowitz
“I was a very happy student,” he said. “The values that Union teaches – including how to achieve balance from the standpoint of intellectual, social and family pursuits – have been critically important to me. I will always be grateful for the superb liberal arts education Union's professors provided.”
In particular, Pedowitz expressed gratitude to Professor Joseph Board, who encouraged him to vie for the Root-Tilden Scholarship at NYU Law School, which he won. He went on to earn his J.D. cum laude and graduate first in his class from NYU, serve as editor-in-chief of the Law Review and clerk for two judges, including U.S. Supreme Court Justice William J. Brennan Jr.
Pedowitz headed the criminal division of the Manhattan U.S. Attorney's Office and became a partner in the New York City firm of Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz. As a prosecutor, he was involved in the first criminal prosecutions of insider trading and the indictment of Marc Rich and Pincus Green. His role as a defense lawyer for Goldman Sachs earned him recognition in James Stewart's best-selling book, Den of Thieves.
In addition, he is a vice chairman and director of the Legal Aid Society, a co-founder of New York Law Firms for the Homeless and a director of The Brennan Center at NYU Law School.
His association with Union and his fellow trustees, he said, “has been enormously rewarding. The Board is full of dedicated and talented alums. I'm on a steep learning curve and trying to contribute where I have some expertise.”
John E. Kelly III, PH.D. '76: The right balance
John E. Kelly III
Studying at Union, John Kelly III '76 learned to balance the theoretical with the practical, a proficiency that has served him well as both a top scientist and corporate leader. Senior vice president and group executive of IBM's Technology Group, he is responsible for developing, manufacturing and marketing IBM microelectronics products.
“I want to use the skills I have now, from the business and technical worlds, to help direct the College,” said Kelly, who holds a B.S. in physics from Union, as well as an M.S. in physics and Ph.D. in materials engineering from RPI.
The Kelly-Union connection is a strong one. Three siblings also attended Union, his father studied math and engineering in Union night classes while working at the General Electric R&D Center, and his grandfather graduated from Albany College of Pharmacy of Union University.
Highlighting Union's many strengths, Kelly said its small size fostered “tremendous interaction with faculty. They were always accessible; you could just walk in and chat with them. That allowed me to learn a lot from them, and not just academically.”
He said Ennis Pilcher, professor emeritus of physics, inspired him with “a wonderful balance of the theoretical and the practical,” while classes with Professor Byron Nichols of the political science department, “an exceptional professor,” helped round out a course of study that centered on math and science.
Now, after nearly three decades of benefiting from life lessons learned at Union, Kelly is glad to remain involved with the College. “The trustees are a great group of people,” he said. “It's a pleasure to spend time wrestling with the challenges and opportunities that Union faces.
“Union has tremendous potential, and we want to help realize all of that potential.”
