Thunderbird School of Global Management
Established:	1946
President:	Dr. Ángel Cabrera
Location:	Glendale, AZ, USA
Website:	www.thunderbird.edu

Thunderbird School of Global Management is a private business school in the United States, and the first and oldest graduate school^{[citation needed]} specializing in international management and global business.^[1] Its main campus is situated in Glendale, Arizona, but it also has operations in Geneva, Switzerland; in Russia; in Beijing, China; and in Monterrey, Mexico with the Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey (ITESM).

Thunderbird has had different official names throughout its history, including the original American Institute for Foreign Trade, American Graduate School of International Management, and Thunderbird, The American Graduate School of International Management during the nineties, and the more recent Garvin School of International Management in 2004 in recognition of alumnus Sam Garvin and his wife Rita who had pledged $60 million to the School. Since its founding, however, the School has consistently been known as Thunderbird, the name of the Glendale air base where its campus was established. In 2007 the school finally adopted Thunderbird as the official name of Thunderbird School of Global Management.

An alumnus or current student of Thunderbird is sometimes referred to as a "T-bird". Thunderbird has over 38,000 alumni and 150 alumni chapters in 141 countries throughout the world.^[2] T-Bird alumni have a long-standing tradition, called First Tuesday, whereby on the first Tuesday of every month, in major cities across the globe, alumni gather for informal socializing and networking opportunities.

Thunderbird has officially changed its address to 1 Global Place. The change reflects Thunderbird’s history as the world’s first and oldest graduate management school focused exclusively on global business.^[3]

[edit] History

A 30 April 1997 satellite image of the campus, incorporating various building from the former Thunderbird Field

The school was founded in 1946 by Lieutenant General Barton Kyle Yount (1884-1949) on a former military airbase, Thunderbird Field. The property was valued at US$407,000. However, a law enacted after the war enabled someone to purchase government property at a discount if the property was going to be used for educational purposes. The founders successfully applied for a 100% discount, so the property was essentially free. The only condition was that it had to remain as an educational institution for ten years, which it has done for 62 years.

Yount became Thunderbird's first president when the school was chartered on April 8, 1946; it was founded as a nonprofit corporation known as the American Institute for Foreign Trade. Classes began on October 1, 1946, and the school saw its first graduating class on June 14, 1947.

Growth and expansion have also included the addition of various new buildings on campus in Glendale, and additional facilities overseas, including, at one point, a campus in France, and facilities in Japan, China and Russia. The school also teaches students through partnership programs in Brazil, Mexico, Peru and Taiwan.

In August 2004, Angel Cabrera, formerly dean of Instituto de Empresa in Madrid, Spain, became the first foreign-born president of the School, succeeding Roy A. Herberger Jr.

In April 2006 the school celebrated its 60th Anniversary and announced a new mission, vision and beliefs:

• Mission: We educate global leaders who create sustainable prosperity worldwide
• Vision: To be the world's foremost learning community for global managers and global enterprises
• Beliefs: Global Mindset, Global Citizenship, Global Entrepreneurship, Global Thought Leadership, Global Connections

Currently a student led initiative on campus is underway to restore the Thunderbird Tower. The Tower, originally erected in 1939, has been closed since 2006. It is currently being restored and will utilize the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) green building rating system. ^[4]

[edit] Programs

Thunderbird offers a number of graduate programs in international management for individuals from around the world at different stages in their careers. The MBA in Global Management is the full-time MBA offered to experienced professionals. The Global MBA On-Demand is a distance learning MBA program for working professionals that combines residential modules and technology-mediated courses. The Executive MBA in Global Management is a modular MBA for experienced managers offered currently in Glendale. The Master of Science in Global Management is offered to college graduates without prior work experience. The Master of Arts in Global Affairs and Management is oriented towards management of public, international and social organizations. Thunderbird offers a Post-MBA Masters in Global Management for recent MBA graduates to gain a more global perspective and the knowledge and soft skills to succeed as a global business leader. Thunderbird also offers a Masters of Global Management as a dual degree with a number of partner schools around the world.

Thunderbird also offers the Master of Arts in Global Affairs and Management and Master of Science in Global Management. This degree combines coursework in international relations and global business.^[5]

[edit] Notable alumni

^[6]

• Jim Alling, '85, former President of Starbucks Coffee USA
• Luis Alberto Moreno, '77, President, Inter-American Development Bank and former Colombian Ambassador to the United States
• William D. Perez, ’70, CEO of The Wrigley Co.
• Frances Aldrich Sevilla-Sacasa, ’78, President, U.S. Trust
• Gordon Smith, ’96, President, Consumer Card Services Group at American Express
• Raymundo A. Yu Jr., '81, senior vice president, chairman, Asia Pacific Region of Merrill Lynch
• Lewis W. Lucke, '77 former United States Ambassador to the Kingdom of Swaziland
• W.L. Brown, '60, former United States Ambassador to Austria
• Tony Holmes, '79, former United States Ambassador to Burkina Faso
• Walid Chammah, '77, co-president of Morgan Stanley
• John Lampe, '73, former Chairman, CEO and President of Bridgestone/Firestone Americas Holding Company
• Phillip Reeker, '91 U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Macedonia ^{[7][broken citation]}

[edit] Rankings

Thunderbird has been ranked by US News & World Report as the #1 school in International Management for 13 years. The 2005 Business Week rankings place Thunderbird in the Top 50 Full-time MBA program (fifth consecutive time) and in the Top 10 for "Best & Brightest", Global Scope.^{[8][citation needed]} Thunderbird was ranked #1 for Academic Excellence in International Business in the United States (as judged by U.S. recruiters), #1 Regionally, and #5 for top International Schools overall in Europe and North America (as judged by global recruiters) by Wall Street Journal in 2007.^[9] In 2008, Thunderbird:Garvin was ranked #1 among schools for international business by The Financial Times, based on alumni recommendations.^[10]

[edit] Board of Trustees

^[11]

[edit] Notes

This article needs sources or references that appear in reliable, third-party publications. Primary sources and sources affiliated with the subject of the article are generally not sufficient for a Wikipedia article. Please include more appropriate citations from reliable sources, or discuss the issue on the talk page. (August 2008)

[edit] External links

• Thunderbird School of Global Management
• WSJ Article on Thunderbird (September 20, 2006)

Coordinates: 33°37′20″N 112°10′56″W / 33.62222, -112.18222