CommonWealth Magazine - Summer 2004
Keynote Address by Alumnus of the Year Michael Philipp ’75 ’82 MBA Highlights Isenberg School Graduation Ceremony
“My experience on Wall Street taught me that UMass students can compete anywhere and on any level. Don’t let anybody tell you otherwise… especially Harvard graduates,” observed Isenberg School Alumnus of the Year Michael G. Philipp ’75 ’82 MBA. A former chairman and CEO of Deutsche Asset Management, Philipp was keynote speaker at the School’s graduation celebration on May 22 at the Mullins Center. Attended by 570 graduating seniors and 4,000 well-wishers and m.c.’d by the School’s indefatigable undergraduate dean, Dennis Hanno, the program also featured two other speakers—Professor Glenn Wong of the School’s Sport Management department and John Lukomski ’04, a graduating marketing major.
In his address, Philipp, who received an honorary doctoral degree the next morning at Undergraduate Commencement, recounted key learning experiences, during and after UMass Amherst. “I was an undergraduate art major focusing on painting and printmaking. Art got me to think creatively and outside the box,” he told the students and their families. Spending his junior year in London was another formative experience. “It changed my life by giving me European and global perspectives,” he recalled. As an undergraduate, he also met his future wife, Cheri. “She has been my best friend for 32 years,” he emphasized. After graduation in 1975, Philipp remained in Amherst for five years, working 75-80-hour weeks as a potter. “It was not an artsy period in my life: I learned about economic reality first-hand and became more of an entrepreneur,” he confessed.
With two children and a yearly income of $12,500, Philipp turned to the Isenberg School’s MBA program in 1980 for new skills and upward mobility. “The business school taught me the value of networking and teamwork. It also taught me how to compete.” Hooking up as a research assistant with finance professors Tom Schneeweis and Joanne Hill, Philipp developed strong career-propelling skills in futures and options research. In gratitude, the Isenberg School alumnus has become a key supporter of the School’s internationally renowned Center for International Securities and Derivatives Markets. He is also responsible for the $1.5 million Michael and Cheryl Philipp Professorship in Finance, currently held by Professor Schneeweis.
“That education in futures and options served me well for the next fifteen years,” Philipp told his Mullins Center audience. The Isenberg School alumnus began his career with Goldman Sachs, where he eventually headed the firm’s global securities financing group. In 1990, he joined Merrill Lynch, becoming vice president of international fixed-income and derivatives sales. In 1995, Michael followed his friend and business associate, the late Edson Mitchell, to Deutsche Morgan Grenfell in London. At Deutsche Bank AG, Philipp was at various times a board member, chairman and CEO of Deutsche Asset Management, and head of global equities, global markets sales, and global futures and options.
After leaving the bank in April of 2002, Philipp had a timely realization: “There is life after all those big businesses,” he insisted. “I spent a year and a half in a failed attempt at a record label start-up. Now I’m starting my own global asset management company with help from Tom Schneeweis and others.” Addressing the graduating seniors, he added: “You’re now in a position to do all of those things if you work hard.” And he offered additional advice: “Give back more than you take out; don’t get too comfortable—always look for a challenge; and if something looks too good to be true, it is.” Finally, Philipp advised, “Find someone or something to love. Someone,” he emphasized, “is more important than something.”