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Alumni Achievements:
Business to Business across the World
Stephen Kulovits, Class of '98
In the early 1990’s, Stephen Kulovits was a successful manager in the transportation industry; however, he was also a man with a fascination with healthcare. Today – after receiving his MBA from Fordham in 1998 – Steve is the Director of Customer Service for CMO, The Care Management Company of the Montefiore Medical Center, the only New York City hospital listed in Leapfrog's prestigious 2007 Top Hospitals list.
Steve knew for years prior to his MBA that he wanted to work in healthcare. He considered medical or nursing school, but decided to leverage his business experience and add an MBA to get into the industry. He enrolled at Fordham and selected the Deming Scholars MBA Program. The Deming MBA at Fordham was “life-changing,” Steve explains. “I was coming from an environment of ‘carrot and stick’ relationships between supervisor and staff. This was a whole new world! I had always been told that the supervisors were the brains, and staff was the limbs. Deming twisted that philosophy 180 degrees. The transportation industry way of managing people had never made sense to me.” Steve had always believed that employees should be treated with dignity and respect. Deming’s philosophy was that organizations need to find constancy of purpose so that their employees are able to find passion and meaning in their organization and in their roles. Steve firmly believes that “if you have a lot of engaged, enthusiastic people, you can really build something with that strong team.”
Joyce Orsini, director of the Deming MBA, helped Steve to fashion four healthcare internships: two at Mt. Sinai, one at United Healthcare, and one at Montefiore. Although all of his internships were fantastic experiences, he was especially impressed with Montefiore’s executive team, as well as the hospital itself. Montefiore had “not so much a focus on sick care, but well care,” Steve says. Almost a decade later, Steve remains enthusiastic and committed to Montefiore. “When I made the transition into Healthcare, I had goals for myself. At Montefiore, I’ve had the time and opportunity to achieve those goals. I have become part of the executive team at CMO; I have gained the trust of leadership; and I have been given the opportunity to create something from the ground up - a centralized customer service center.” Steve’s department – built on his years of experience, his MBA, and his deep understanding of Montefiore – is now the “one stop shop” for customer service, including appointment scheduling and billing inquiries.
Because of Steve’s tenure at Montefiore, he has built a reputation that affords him time off for an organization called BPeace, also known as the Business Council for Peace (www.bpeace.org). Steve excitedly says, “I cannot begin to explain how rewarding the BPeace experience has been!” BPeace is a network of business professionals; the concept is for these “experts” to volunteer in post-conflict countries to help women build successful businesses – with the ultimate goal of creating more jobs in these nations. Right now, BPeace is in Afghanistan and Rwanda and is looking for an additional region. “My wife, Kate, had been in retail and consulting. After September 11, she reached out to a former client who was a co-founder of BPeace. Kate quickly decided to pursue BPeace work fulltime,” Steve explains. He, of course, became a volunteer. A BPeace team goes in to a country and identifies women called “fast runners” - those who have a business up and running and who could benefit from the collective expertise of BPeace to “really take off.” Twenty to 25 “fast runners” per country receive three years of training and assistance from BPeace before the volunteers move their focus onto new small businesses. The approximately 200 volunteers can mentor long-distance via phone, or they can visit designated sites up to two times a year.
Steve has been on-site in both Afghanistan and Rwanda, and he says the visits are “soulful experiences.” “Afghanistan is post-conflict but still in conflict. We were there for two weeks, and I fell in love with the businesses, the country, and the women starting these businesses. Many of these women have had family killed in front of their eyes. They have moved multiple times. To be able to launch a business - with all of that resting on your shoulders - is truly perspective-building. I come back and say to myself ‘shame on you for getting stressed from sitting at your desk all day!’ ” Steve says. Rwanda surprised him in that the country was so gorgeous and so safe, and the women are so empowered. The businesses are very mature - restaurants, hotels, freight forwarding, etc. In Rwanda, Steve led customer service training with all the associates. Customer service is a huge area of opportunity there and Steve helped the women connect the dots to how good service can better support their business vision. He also led customer service workshops for employees at two businesses that are seeing increases in western visitors expecting western-style service – a hotel/restaurant with over 50 employees and an amusement park with over 100 employees. Steve will be returning in 2008 to continue this work with all of the associates and their employees.
As a mentor to women starting small businesses – and as someone who has had many mentors in his career – Steve highly recommends seeking out someone who can play that role in your career. “I think that kind of assistance is invaluable,” he says, “Try to find someone who is at a substantial level at the organization, so they can help you with the dos and don’ts - especially if you plan to stay with the organization. Make sure that person is someone you click with – someone who has similar values, interests, principles and ethics. It really boils down to, who would you enjoy spending time with and who would enjoy spending time with you?” Keep in mind, though, Steve cautions, “Once you find that person, it is all about showing up and being open to whatever they want to teach you or advise you about.” Remember to be appreciative of that person’s time and efforts for you. If you are appreciative, it lets your mentor know that “they have done good here,” and they will continue to be there when you need advice and guidance.
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