A Villanova Community Celebration

The Villanova School of Business is pleased to announce the establishment of the Herbert G. Rammrath Endowed Chair in International Business. Professor Jonathan Doh, a faculty member in VSB’s management department and founding director of the Villanova Center for Responsible Leadership and Governance, is the inaugural chairholder. Mr. Rammrath and the Villanova University community gathered to celebrate the establishment of this chair and Professor Doh’s inauguration on April 4, 2007.

Mr. Rammrath, a 1957 Villanova graduate, was most recently Chairman of United Plastics Group, Inc., a leading global plastics molding company serving a wide variety of markets worldwide. He spent more than three decades as a senior executive at General Electric, retiring as President of GE Plastics-Pacific, the world’s leading supplier of engineering plastics. In 2003, Villanova University awarded Mr. Rammrath an Honorary Doctor of Laws degree. He has also been honored with the Villanova Alumni Medal (1992), and the President’s Forum Medallion (1994).

“International business is the future. Mr. Rammrath’s establishment of this chair will support VSB’s strong commitment to international business education and my own research and teaching, which focuses on the potential of emerging markets,” says Professor Doh. “In keeping with Mr. Rammrath’s vision for this chair, we will work to further our business students’ exposure to the possibilities of globalization and to prepare them for future global leadership roles.”

Along with their shared expertise in global business, Mr. Rammrath and Professor Doh have several other things in common: both men are avid sailors and fond of traveling, and Mr. Rammrath received his MBA at the School of Business at American University where Doh later taught for six years. In 1995, Mr. Rammrath sailed around the world in a boat he purchased in Singapore. He currently resides in Vail, Colorado, where he spends winters on skis.

A Gift to Meet an Educational Need

Globalization of business is increasing at an accelerating rate and has created unprecedented opportunities. By emphasizing the growing importance of developing and emerging markets in the global environment, The Herbert G. Rammrath Endowed Chair in International Business will support education in global business and the integration of developing and developed markets. The chair will also support the development of VSB’s curriculum in helping students appreciate and experience the unique challenges and opportunities of emerging markets—including India, China, Brazil, and others—all with an emphasis on creativity and innovation.

A Villanova Leader

Professor Doh is an internationally-recognized scholar in international business, and has led many Villanova and VSB initiatives in research, education, and service. Professor Doh is author or co-author of more than 30 referred articles published in leading scholarly and practitioner journals, 20 chapters in edited volumes, and co-author or editor of 5 books dealing with global business, including the best-selling international management text. Previously, Doh was a trade negotiator with the U.S. government and a faculty member at American and Georgetown Universities. He has been a consultant and executive instructor for a number of public and private organizations around the world.

 
A Milestone for the Villanova School of Business

The establishment of the Herbert G. Rammrath Endowed Chair in International Business marks a significant milestone for VSB as it continues to gain momentum and international recognition as a premier business school, and looks toward the education of generations of business students to come. As these students face an increasingly international and complicated business world, their ability to excel as ethical, talented global leaders will benefit them—and their companies and communities—throughout their lives.

Villanova University is deeply honored and grateful to Herbert G. Rammrath for his generosity and dedication to its students through the establishment of the Herbert G. Rammrath Endowed Chair in International Business.