[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 39 (Monday, April 3, 2000)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2038-S2039]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        TRIBUTE TO ROBERT TAYLOR

 Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I rise today to congratulate Bob 
Taylor on his accomplishments at the University of Louisville Business 
School and in the Louisville business community.
  From the moment Bob took over the reigns at UofL's business school in 
1984, good things started to happen. Bob is a man of vision and 
incredible instincts about what works in the business world. He brought 
those talents to UofL to improve the quality of the program and 
strengthen the students' capabilities in a real-life business 
environment. Bob succeeded at both of those goals and brought UofL's 
rankings among U.S. business schools up to an honorable level and 
continues to rise in national recognition.
  Numerous academic achievements mark Bob's tenure at UofL, including 
Success magazine's recent naming of UofL as one of the best in the 
nation for training entrepreneurs. Also, the business school has begun 
offering master's level programs overseas and now offers varied 
advanced degrees.
  Several personal achievements are evidence of Bob's knowledge of and 
influence in the business world. He became the president of the 
American Assembly of Collegiate Schools of Business last year, which 
serves as the accrediting body for business schools nationwide. Bob 
also serves the community on the board of directors for the Rawlings 
Company, Logan Aluminum Inc., the Louisville Police Administration 
Advisory Commission, and the Metro United Way.
  Many of Bob's colleagues and members of the Louisville business 
community have noted his extraordinary leadership skills. Bob took on a 
huge responsibility when he came to UofL, and he continues to press on 
to reach higher goals for the school. For this, I commend Bob and thank 
him for his dedication to UofL. His hard work has paid off and students 
from across the state and even the nation are reaping the benefits of 
Bob's success. His experience in business and success at Louisville is 
a sign of more good things to come for the school and the great State 
of Kentucky.
  Bob, on behalf of my colleagues and myself, thank you for your 
commitment to the students and faculty at UofL's College of Business 
and Public Administration. I have every confidence in your ability to 
lead the school to even greater heights with more accomplishments and 
successes in the years to come.
  Mr. President, I also ask that an article which ran in the Louisville 
Courier-Journal on Sunday, March 19, 2000, appear in the Record 
following my remarks.

          [From the Louisville Courier-Journal, Mar. 19, 2000]

U of L Dean Doubles as Civic Leader--Low-Key Leader Guides a School and 
                              a Community

                           (By David McGinty)

       When he arrived in Louisville in 1984 to become dean of the 
     University of Louisville's business school, Robert Taylor did 
     not expect to hang around.
       ``I was going to stay here three years and move on,'' he 
     recalled.
       For perhaps one of the few times in his life, Taylor's 
     expectation for the future was faulty. At the time, he 
     thought his job would be fairly simple: To help a small 
     business school win accreditation.
       Tayor did not foresee the complications and twists that 
     life would throw in his path, or where they would lead.
       The business school now has master's-level programs in 
     three overseas locations, offers several advanced degrees and 
     is becoming known in academic circles.
       In a recent U.S. News and World Report survey its 
     undergraduate programs ranked 93rd among more than 327 
     programs--not in the top ranks, but a big step up from the 
     bottom levels the program once inhabited.
       Success magazine has ranked the school's program for 
     training entrepreneurs among the best in the nation. And last 
     year Taylor became president of the American Assembly of 
     Collegiate Schools of Business, the accrediting body for 
     business schools.
       Apart from his academic accomplishments, Taylor may also be 
     one of the most influential civic figures you never hear of.
       He serves on a number of boards, charities and advisory 
     bodies, including the boards of directors of the Rawlings Co. 
     and Logan Aluminum Inc. and the Louisville Police 
     Administration Advisory Commission. He is most proud, he 
     said, of his service on the board of Metro United Way--but 
     his greatest influence may be through less visible 
     activities.
       Although his style is low-key and his name rarely surfaces 
     publicly, behind-the-scenes business and political leaders 
     have learned he is a prescient adviser, and they seek him 
     out. His contacts are widespread and so, although it is 
     subtle and anonymous, is his contribution to Louisville's 
     economic well-being.
       ``You've got to put him among the top five'' civic leaders 
     whose contributions are not publicly known, said Bill 
     Samuels, president of Maker's Mark distillery.
       Samuels, a longtime friend, said Taylor ``is as bright as 
     anybody I've ever met. . . . I've never had a dull 
     conversation with him, and I've had several thousand. In a 
     sense he's been a mentor to me.''
       Former Louisville Mayor Jerry Abramson said that while he 
     was in office he often worked with Taylor, particularly in 
     urban workshops on visits to other cities to observe their 
     accomplishments. After a visit Taylor would lead group 
     discussions on what lessons could be learned, and he proved 
     to be an adroit moderator with a gift for shaping a plan of 
     action.
       ``Whenever we needed someone who could think outside the 
     box and be a visionary and push the envelope a little bit, we 
     always looked to the dean,'' Abramson said.
       ``There have been times when we worked on issues that I 
     wasn't ready for a public discussion on, that I would take 
     him into my confidence. He's a tremendous listener, and he 
     can frame a consensus out of disparate views.''
       ``He's probably one of the biggest assets to the 
     community,'' said David Wilkins, chairman of Doe-Anderson 
     Advertising and Public Relations. ``He moves in and out of 
     virtually every circle and level of the community with ease. 
     He's trusted and respected by everybody.''
       Wilkins' relationship with Taylor is a close one, with an 
     unusual twist. In 1994, in what Taylor said was a pivotal 
     moment for him, he took a six-month sabbatical to work at 
     Wilkins' agency and learn firsthand how the business world 
     works.
       At the time, Taylor was winding up a decade of busy and 
     often frustrating activity. He took charge of the business 
     school just as it was entering an unforeseen period of 
     problems and change.
       At Doe-Anderson, Taylor made an abrupt eye-opening 
     transition from academia to the business world. He quickly 
     learned ``that the environment business people were facing 
     was changing daily.''
       ``Everything was getting much faster,'' Taylor said. ``The 
     turnaround time on work was faster, the demands were faster. 
     In order to be successful, they had to be completely 
     flexible.''
       Taylor's own background is a mix of academic and military, 
     with no private business experience. A native of Pittsburgh, 
     he graduated from Allegheny College in 1961 with a U.S. Air 
     Force commission through the ROTC. Later he received advanced 
     business degrees from Ohio State University and Indiana 
     University.
       He had a eight-year stint at the U.S. Air Force Academy in 
     Colorado, rising to head the Department of Economics, 
     Geography and Management. After retiring from the Air Force 
     in 1981 he joined the faculty of the University of Wisconsin-
     Stevens Point, where he headed the division of business and 
     economics. From that job he came to U of L.
       After his stint at Doe-Anderson, Taylor returned to U of L 
     convinced that the business school was not keeping up with 
     the world outside, so he set up teams of faculty to 
     reorganize the school.
       ``I said, `Look, gang, we are not adapting quickly enough. 
     We've got to do something different so that we have the same 
     sense of urgency, the same flexibility that our students must 
     have if they're going to be successful in business.' ''
       The response, Taylor acknowledged, was not overwhelming. 
     One faculty member said he'd left the business world because 
     ``I didn't want that kind of frenzy.''
       And some of the results weren't successful. But such 
     stumbles are part of progress, Taylor believes, and the 
     school has made progress. When he came back from his 
     sabbatical, he set long-range goals for the school.
       He wanted it to achieve national recognition for its public 
     administration programs. That recognition is coming, and the 
     school's overseas programs are gaining an international 
     reputation and alumni base.

[[Page S2039]]

       He wanted the schools entrepreneurial program to start new, 
     student-run businesses. That effort is beginning to get off 
     the ground through a venture-capital fund, a 
     telecommunications research center intended to incubate new 
     businesses and the aid of former business executives on the 
     faculty.
       He wanted the school's endowment to top $25 million. It has 
     topped $21 million and is growing.
       In Louisville's business community the school's reputation 
     is increasingly solid, in no small part because of Taylor's 
     own credibility. Civic figures who have worked with him say 
     he has been a prescient advocate--sometimes the first--for 
     coming economic trends.
       He was one of the first voices in the community to preach 
     the importance of new technology and the Internet.
       Doug Cobb, who was until recently president of Greater 
     Louisville Inc., said Taylor ``is the original champion of 
     the idea that Louisville needs to be more entrepreneurial.''
       Cobb, himself one of the city's foremost advocates of 
     entrepreneurial activity, said he feels like ``I walk in his 
     steps a little bit.''
       To Taylor, this kind of trailblazing is part of the job. 
     ``I feel like my responsibility to this community is that we 
     have to be on the leading edge, and somebody has to be 
     telling people what is happening.''
       It has not always been rewarding work, and by his own 
     account Taylor has not always been successful. In the early 
     1990s, he foresaw a coming shortage of workers in the 
     community and began urging measures to attract immigrants to 
     Louisville.
       But when he proposed such steps to a committee planning 
     economic-development strategies for the community, the 
     reception was hostile. ``I'll never forget. A couple of 
     aldermen and other people just berated me, saying we've got 
     unemployed in this community we've got to help first.''
       Without rancor, Taylor characterized that period as his 
     ``biggest failure'' to direct the community's attention to an 
     important issue.
       Now, of course, employers are straining to find qualified 
     workers. Civic leaders are pondering how to ensure that the 
     community will have enough workers in the future to support 
     economic growth--and one of the strategies is to attract 
     immigrants.
       ``I think if we had been prepared, we wouldn't have had the 
     pressure on our work force that we have today, and we could 
     be bringing in more people than we bring in now,'' he said.
       That's an opportunity missed. Taylor now is pushing the 
     community's business leaders not to miss other opportunities 
     that he sees, particularly in rapidly evolving technologies.
       Traditionally, Taylor said, Louisville has been content to 
     follow economic trends. That's got to stop, he said. ``I'm 
     saying the trends are occurring so quickly we can't afford a 
     time lag. We have to go and grab it.''
       Taylor is already pushing his faculty to what he sees as 
     emerging possibilities for global education--a degree program 
     that involves courses in two countries, two universities, two 
     languages, two cultures.
       ``That's my new vision,'' he said, and he admits that when 
     he espouses it ``some people are looking at me like I've gone 
     off the deep end.''
       To his friends, that's just vintage Bob Taylor.
       ``He's such an individualist,'' Samuels said. ``He enjoys 
     ideas that are in the unconventional vein. And I've got so 
     much respect for his judgment. I think he'd make a wonderful 
     CEO.''

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