Robert Fox, who has led Foster Farms and other major corporations for decades, has donated $350,000 to UC Davis to help the Graduate School of Management bring the know-how of other seasoned executives — like Russell Read of CalPERS — to its MBA programs.

The gift for the Robert A. Fox Executive-in-Residence Program was announced and Read, the chief investment officer at CalPERS, was introduced as this year's executive at a management school event last week at the downtown Sacramento headquarters of the California Public Employees' Retirement System.

Fox, a member of the management school's Dean's Advisory Council, told the gathering that he wanted to give something back after he, as executive-in-residence in 2001, taught a course on corporate strategy from the perspective of the chief executive.

"I am very interested in education, and while I chose a career in business, I've participated and been involved in a number of different ways at several universities," he said at the April 19 event. "By founding this endowment, I will ensure that there are dollars to continue the program and raise the level of the positive experience."

In thanking Fox for the gift, Dean Nicole Woolsey Biggart said the executives-in-residence add levels of complexity to the knowledge imparted through the MBA program.

"Students come to realize that business decisions often involve much more than money and can include politics, relationships, traditions, culture and ethics," Biggart said.

"We are very grateful to Bob for his generous gift that will allow us to continue to bring the best and brightest from business to UC Davis," she said.

'A unique opportunity'

Each year since 1993, the Graduate School of Management has invited a senior-level, often recently retired executive to teach a quarterlong MBA course in his or her area of management expertise. The executive-in-residence program gives students and faculty a unique opportunity to work closely with a top business leader. In addition to class lectures, the executive-in-residence brings in other high-level executives to guest-lecture, meets with students informally and makes a presentation to the school's Business Partners.

With responsibility for CalPERS' $240 billion investment portfolio, this year's executive-in-residence is one of the nation's most influential money managers. He is well educated — he has a doctorate, two master's degrees and an MBA — and has taught at the University of Maine and Stanford University.

Read already had one meeting with the 65 MBA students in his course on portfolio construction and risk management. "Teaching is something I find really connects me with the critical research," he said. "It forces you to think in terms of comprehensiveness and within an analytical framework for issues.

"The students themselves keep you sharp and ask more difficult questions than naturally arise during the day-to-day workday," he added.

Fox said Read will add a lot to the students' education: "He'll bring a great deal of insight about the financial investment arena and social responsibility that students need as they go out in the business world full time."

Brian Hoblit, a second-year MBA student is in Read's class, which continues every other Saturday through June 2.

"One of the strengths of the Graduate School of Management," Hoblit said, "is the access we have to top CEOs, business leaders and decision makers, especially in the Sacramento region."

The MBA student really wanted to take Read's course, but was not sure he was up for the six-hour class on Saturdays. "Mr. Read sealed that decision for me," Hoblit said. "He is an engaging and gifted instructor."

CalPERS connection

The gift from Fox will compensate the executive-in-residence for teaching a quarterlong course, pay for travel and lodging, provide for a reader or student assistant for the course, and support other outreach events to broaden access to the executive.

Fox, who retired from Livingston, Calif.-based Foster Farms in 2000, led the largest poultry producer in the Western United States to record sales and profits. He has more than 40 years of domestic and international business experience, and holds an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Read oversees the strategic plan and direction of CalPERS' Investment Office and its staff of 190. He holds a doctorate in political economy and master's degrees in economics and political science, all from Stanford. He also has an MBA from the University of Chicago.

The management school partners with CalPERS, the nation's largest public pension fund, and the California State Teachers' Retirement System to offer a fellowship program in which MBA students train in the two pension funds' investment offices. Professor Brad Barber, director of the UC Davis Center for Investor Welfare and Corporate Responsibility, has authored a study examining the shareholder wealth generated by CalPERS' institutional investor activism.

During last week's event, Barber led a discussion with Fox and Read on a variety of topics that included ethics, global warming and executive compensation. On the of corporate backdating of stock options, Read said he thought the Securities and Exchange Commission could prevent wrongdoing by taking preventive steps. "A two-page statement of (SEC) principles would have stopped a couple hundred companies from doing something that is obviously wrong," he said. "I think there is a role here — an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of enforcement — I think the SEC could do more."