Daniel J. McCarthy D'54, T'55
 |
"There is a thirst around the
world for knowledge about
U.S. business."
|
A Paper Man in the Digital Age
When was the last time you followed your own advice? Dan McCarthy seems to have been doing it his entire life and has a distinguished—literally "distinguished"— career and a singular honor to show for it. His advice? "If you have a passion for something, go for it."
McCarthy's first stop after Tuck was Johnson & Johnson, followed by a three-year hitch in the navy. He was on the verge of becoming a prep-school hockey coach—a natural follow-on to his successful hockey career at Dartmouth—but in the nick of time, Tuck Dean Karl Hill gave him the idea of pursuing a doctorate in business administration. Physical education's loss became business education's gain: soon after receiving a DBA from Harvard, McCarthy joined Northeastern University, where he quickly became professor of management, associate dean, and director of the Graduate School of Business Administration. He now serves as the Mckim-D'Amore Distinguished Professor of Global Management and Innovation. McCarthy has written scores of articles and several books, with the highly regarded Business Policy and Strategy having seen four editions. In recognition of his academic achievements, he was inducted in 2004 into Dartmouth's Phi Beta Kappa Society as that year's alumni inductee.
In 1969, McCarthy went back to Hanover and into business with Dartmouth and Harvard colleagues. He was part of the startup of Computer Environments Corporation and Timeshare Corporation with the renowned mathematician, computer scientist, and Dartmouth Professor and President John Kemeny on the TimeShare board. This was the start of a lifelong involvement with the private sector and technology, which eventually led to nearly two decades as a director of the environmental services company Clean Harbors, Inc., of which he is now the lead director.
But the lure of teaching prevailed, and, in 1972, McCarthy returned to Northeastern as professor of management, focusing on business technology and strategy. During the 1970s, he co-founded and helped develop Northeastern's High-Technology MBA Program designed for engineering, IT, and biotech professionals. The program has been one of Computerworld's Top Techno MBA programs since 1999.
At the same time, a fascination with other cultures led McCarthy to international business. As visiting professor at non-U.S. schools over the past 20 years, he has discovered "there is a thirst around the world for knowledge about U.S. business."
But it has been Russia, since free-market reforms of the late '80s and early '90s, that has captivated him. He has researched and taught in Moscow and is recognized as a top expert on Russian business, having coauthored Business and Management in Russia, The Russian Capitalist Experiment, and, recently, Corporate Governance in Russia. Now Russian entrepreneurs are on his radar. "Yes," he says, "there are entrepreneurs in Russia, but it's tough going. Altogether, progress in Russian business is encouraging—despite rampant corruption in government and the police." McCarthy has been a fellow at Harvard's Davis Center for Russian Studies since 1997.
Looking back on his varied career, McCarthy says that "you never know when something you're doing is going to make a difference in your career." In fact, his work with two students, in the classroom and business, inspired a $1.5 million gift to Northeastern to endow the Alan McKim and Richard D 'Amore professorship, which, upon McCarthy's retirement, will be renamed the Daniel J. McCarthy Distinguished Professorship of Global Management and Innovation. "It's the high point of my career," McCarthy says of the honor, "a wonderful recognition that reminds me of more good advice: understand the joy you can reap from the changes you make."
|
