BUSINESS BRIEFS: Leadership Fairfield; Simpleray; MUM MBA students; Iowa Job Honor Awards

Leadership Fairfield enrollment underway

Join the top leaders and team members of the Fairfield community for the sixth year of Leadership Fairfield.

Leadership Fairfield is the premier networking and professional development program for the area. The Fairfield Area Chamber of Commerce is currently accepting applications for the program.

The program includes eight monthly sessions each centered on a unique theme. Every session includes expert presenters, panels of community leaders, and behind-the-scene tours of Fairfield businesses. By the end of the program, each participant will not only have a well-rounded view of the various businesses in Fairfield, but also have personally connected and networked with Fairfield's top business and community leaders.

If interested in sponsoring an employee to enroll in the program, or to enroll as a participant, download the program guidelines and application.

A business interested in serving on a panel or offering a tour should contact the chamber.

If participants register by 5 p.m. Aug. 16, the enrollment fee is $525. After that deadline, the cost increases to $575.

For more information or to register, contact the chamber at 472-2111 or email Events@FairfieldIowa.com.

Solar Power World's ‘Top Contractor' list includes local business Simpleray

Fairfield solar firm Simpleray was recently recognized by Solar Power World magazine for its installation efforts, achieving the rank of 271 on the magazine's 2019 Top Solar Contractors list.

The Top Solar Contractors list is developed by Solar Power World to recognize the work completed by solar contractors across the United States. Simperay made the list for the past four years, including winning the Most Forward-Thinking Contractor title in 2017.

The U.S. solar market is expected to see 14 percent growth in 2019, with over 12 GW of new solar power added to the grid this year - enough to power 2.28 million average American homes. Renewable energy is projected to be the fastest-growing source of U.S. electricity generation for at least the next two years. Simpleray has experienced exponential growth beyond the industry average, with a sales increase of over 200 percent compared to 2017.

The increase in installations is attributed to strong solar interest and a rush to get projects in before the 30 percent federal investment tax credit steps down to 26 percent next year.

MUM students rank in 94th percentile in global business simulation

Recently, three Master of Business Administration student teams at Maharishi University of Management participated in the online graduate-level version of the Capstone Simulation offered by Capsim Inc., a Chicago-based provider of business games.

Competing in Industry C109164 in the period June-July 2019 against 1,150 graduate-level teams, the best M.U.M. team named Baldwin Group achieved results better than 94 percent of participants.

Baldwin consisted of four MBAs: Tsion Woge, Daniel Ayalew Belay, Molla Mekonnen, and Haofang Dong.

According to Andrew Bargerstock, who uses the Capstone Simulation in his class, Enterprise Performance Management, numerous university MBA teams have participated in this online simulation since 2010. In all 20 incidents of M.U.M.'s participation, at least one MBA team has finished in the Top 10th percentile in the world.

Bargerstock said, 'The Capstone Simulation provides an important third-party assessment of our MBA student development. An MBA education is designed to prepare leaders for the future, leaders who possess good strategic and tactical insights based on data analysis and problem-solving skills. The Capstone experience confirms to students the value of the M.U.M. degree program that teaches team-building, collaboration, consensus-building, quantitative-analysis, and decision-making in situations of risk, uncertainty and deadlines.”

In CAPSIM simulations, students play the role of top management executive teams who guide the decision-making of their enterprise through eight years of multifaceted decisions including sales and marketing, product development, manufacturing operations management, finance, human resource management and total quality improvement. Points are earned in each round (representing one year) of decisions based on performance metrics established by CAPSIM across four perspectives of the Balanced Scorecard, a concept first described by Professor Robert Kaplan at Harvard University. The four perspectives include metrics for financial, customer, internal business processes, and learning and growth aspects of the business.

Among the better performing universities along with M.U.M.'s Baldwin Group in the top decile: universities of Northern Iowa, Texas, Ohio, Washington, DePaul, Brigham Young, Citadel, Georgia Institute of Technology, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, and Shanghai University of Finance and Economics.

Provided by Andrew Bargerstock.

Nominations open for Iowa Job Honor Awards

DES MOINES - Gov. Kim Reynolds is encouraging Iowans to make nominations for the sixth annual Iowa Job Honor Awards.

The Iowa Job Honor Awards is accepting nominations for its sixth annual event set for Oct. 10 in Des Moines.

The awards celebrate Iowans who overcome barriers to employment and the employers who hire them. Previous honorees have overcome disabilities, criminal convictions, immigration challenges and ageism in their struggle for employment.

Two previous honorees, Steven Shewry and Michael Willoughby, were recognized by Gov. Reynolds in her 2019 Condition of the State address. The two completed apprenticeship training while in prison, obtained employment immediately upon release, and are now recognized as outstanding workers by their Iowa employers.

Top individual honorees in the Oct. 10 ceremony will receive cash awards, and winners in both the individual and employer categories will receive engraved crystal awards. Videos will be produced for each top honoree.

The awards are presented as part of the Iowa SHRM (Society for Human Resource Management) annual state conference.

Nominations are due Wednesday, July 31 and can be submitted at www.JobHonor.org. Previous honoree videos can also be viewed at the organization's website.