B&E's first executive-in-residence is from AstraZeneca

Claudio Spiguel, a former pharmaceutical company vice president and member of the College of Business and Economics Information Technology Advisory Board, has joined the faculty as the college's first executive in residence and professor of business.

Spiguel, who holds a doctorate in computer and communication sciences from the University of Michigan and most recently was vice president for commercial information management with AstraZeneca in Wilmington, began his new position Feb. 1. His primary goal at UD, he said, is to strengthen the management information systems (MIS) program in the business college.

"For some time, I've been active in bringing together business leaders and academics, by organizing symposia and other forums," he said. "And, I did this from both ends of the spectrum– as a senior manager in industry and as an adjunct professor at Michigan's Graduate School of Business Administration. So, for me, this new position is almost like an old dream come true."

Dean Michael J. Ginzberg said executive-in-residence programs are a very effective way for universities to bring practical experience into the classroom and to expand their interaction with businesses.

"Dr. Spiguel brings a wealth of real-world IT management experience and a large network of industrial contacts to our college," Ginzberg said. "These will be invaluable to both our teaching and research programs."

Spiguel said he and Ginzberg share the view that information management is vital to the success of any business and that students with a solid information management background are in high demand by employers. As a recent member of the college's IT Advisory Board, he said, he has been encouraging the college to further expand and strengthen its programs in that area.

"Information management includes information technology, but it also goes way beyond it, to integrate IT into all areas of business management aiming at optimal flows of information," Spiguel said. "Information management has been a key to determining success in business long before computers, but computers now give us a very strong tool to move information, which changes the threshold of competition. So, information management becomes ever more important."

Specifically, he said, he plans to help the college, which offers a minor in MIS, continue to develop the program and eventually offer a master's degree with an information management concentration. He said he also hopes to work on ways to expand the MIS focus in the college's MBA and Executive MBA programs.

Additionally, plans call for Spiguel to help lead the college's efforts to prepare for the next phase of Delaware's statewide Information Technology Initiative. That initiative is a partnership among government, business and education, designed to make the state a leader in information technology workers, businesses and research.

Other projects involve increasing interaction between the college and businesses in the Delaware area, with an eye toward giving students more of the skills that employers value.

This semester, Spiguel is working with students in an MIS problem-solving course, coaching them in ways to interact with businesses and conduct "real world" projects. In the future, he will teach additional courses in the IT area.

A native of Brazil, Spiguel earned an undergraduate degree in naval architecture and marine engineering from the University of Sao Paulo and was working in that field when the computer revolution came to Brazil. He gained on-the-job expertise in the new technology and began using computer-aided systems in his work designing complex structures for ships. When he received a fellowship to attend graduate school, he enrolled in Michigan, earning master's and doctoral degrees.

He returned to Brazil for a few years, teaching at the Aeronautics Technology Institute Engineering College, and then settled in the United States, where he spent 15 years in senior management positions in the pharmaceutical industry.

Spiguel and his wife, Cristina, a Ph.D. biologist, have four adult children and live in north Wilmington.

–Ann Manser