Starbird: business as usual

By Jack Wagner

Andrew Starbird is a man of average height and build, with a head of short gray hair and a humble personality. On July 1, he will become the new Dean of the Leavey School of Business.

"I think of it as a very exciting opportunity," he said. "I've worked here a long time and I care a lot about the school. I care a lot about the institution and I care a lot about the students and the faculty. I'm looking forward to helping the school move to the next level."

Starbird has been acting as the interim dean since July 1, 2009. As such, he was responsible in the business school for all programs, management, marketing, students, operation, human resources and faculty and staff.

"The last year has been a very challenging year for the school of business and for the university," Starbird said. "It has been a challenging economic environment of course, and although it may not sound that exciting, my proudest moment is working with the university to make sure we can continue to provide a high quality education in the school of business."

Just this past year, the budgets for all of the schools in the university were cut by 10 to 20 percent in the area of operations. This provided Starbird with a major challenge.

In response, Starbird made sure that people were more careful with their budgets and expenditures. He also tightened expenses around the margins and operation, and made sure that some people put in extra effort.

"We have been able to meet our budgetary obligations without sacrificing educational quality in the school," the San Jose native said.

Yielding a strong list of credentials is one of Starbird's strong points. He went to Bellarmine College Preparatory School in San Jose for high school and the UC Davis for his undergraduate schooling. He received a Masters of Business Administration from Santa Clara and a doctorate from Cornell University.

When entering UC Davis he had dreams of becoming a veterinarian, but after taking a class called Meat Lab, he realized that he didn't want to work so closely with animals after all. He graduated with a degree in agricultural science and management.

After graduating college he worked in the office for a tomato company called Sun Garden Packing Company. He also did consulting work and served as an expert witness to companies before coming to Santa Clara in 1987.

Starbird was only 26 when he started as an assistant professor at Santa Clara and has been working at the school ever since. He has a wife and three sons, ranging in age from 19 to 26.

Now that he and his wife have an empty nest he said he enjoys reading and traveling with his wife, biking and playing golf. His favorite course is Shoreline Golf Course and according to Starbird, he shoots in the high nineties on a good day. And although he doesn't do Judo as much anymore, Starbird enjoys the martial art and is currently a black belt.

Aside from his current position as the interim dean at Santa Clara, Starbird was recently reelected to the board of directors for the Second Harvest Food Bank, which he has served on for 12 years.

As the new dean, Starbird has three main goals for improving the school of business at Santa Clara.

One, he wants to connect the school better with the firms in Silicon Valley so as to become the preferred provider of their human capital. Secondly, he wants these firms to know the students can be both effective leaders and workers within their organizations.

Starbird also wants to increase the global perspectives of students and to continue working with the faculty to achieve national prominence.

Said Starbird: "I'm very proud to have the job and am looking forward to the challenges and am humbled a bit by the trust the president has shown."

Contact Jack Wagner at jcwagner@scu.edu or (408) 554-4546.