Abstract
Dr. Anthony J. Rucci became dean of the College of Business Administration at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) in 1998. He returned to academia following a twenty-five year career as a business executive and senior corporate officer with two Chicago-based Fortune 100 companies— Baxter International and Sears, Roebuck & Company. While with Baxter, the health care products company, Tony held a number of positions, including six years as senior vice president for human resources and ended his career as a senior vice president for corporate strategy, business development, and media and investor relations.
Between 1993 and 1998, Tony was executive vice president for administration for Sears, which included responsibility for legal, human resources, ethics, administrative services, strategic sourcing, quality and product testing labs, facilities management, and aviation. In addition, from 1995-1997, he was the chairman of the board of directors for Sears de Mexico, Sears' $450 million publicly traded retail business in Mexico. He also served on the boards of Sears Canada, Western Auto, and Grupo Carso's retail board.
In 1995, Tony was elected as a Fellow in the National Academy of Human Resources, in 1996 was named to Human Resource Executive Magazine's Executive of the Year Honor Roll, and in 1997 he was named Executive of the Year by the International Association of College and Professional Recruiters. In 1998 he received Workforce magazine's Optimas Award for General Excellence in Human Resources, awarded to Sears for his efforts in the turnaround there.
I was excited to do this interview with Tony Rucci as here is a person who has had experience in industry who was now in an academic role and he might have some insights to share about the differences in managing in the different environments.
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