The maroon-and-gold BC flag covering the front door suggested this wasn鈥檛 going to be a typical business meeting. The location, too, was an unusual place for a group of Carroll School students traveling abroad to find themselves: it wasn鈥檛 a boardroom or a factory but rather the home of聽Luly Castellanos de Samper听补苍诲听Mauricio Samper聽in Bogot谩, Colombia.
The Sampers are business executives and Boston College alums鈥擫uly,聽聽for Ethicon, Johnson & Johnson Medical Devices, Latin America, graduated from the Carroll School in 1991. Mauricio, managing director聽of the , graduated from the Morrissey College of Arts and Sciences (MCAS) the same year. Their daughter, Cristina, is a rising MCAS junior.
In March, the Sampers hosted 21 students who were visiting Bogot谩 as part of a class called International Accounting Experience鈥擫atin America (IAE). The class is co-led by聽Mary Ellen Carter, a professor of accounting, and Tim Gray, a business-writing instructor (the two also happen to be married). It introduces students to such global business issues as international financial reporting standards and the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, culminating with a spring break trip to South America. This year, the group also visited Santiago, Chile.
When the Sampers learned the class was coming to Colombia, they volunteered not only to introduce the group to other local Eagles but also to offer advice on the in-country schedule. They helped set up meetings with top executives at two local companies.
鈥淢auricio and I have been co-leading the BC alumni chapter here for several years, and this is the first time we鈥檝e had a class of BC students come to Colombia that we know of,鈥� Luly says. 鈥淚t was a great opportunity to show them the beautiful face of Colombia.鈥� Colombia is one of the largest and most geographically diverse countries in South America鈥攊t鈥檚 the only one with coasts on both the Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea, and Bogot谩, its capital, sits on an Andean plateau at nearly 8,700 feet. It鈥檚 well known for its coffee, but it鈥檚 also the leading exporter of cut flowers to the United States.
Carter says she was introduced to the Sampers by Ellen Sullivan, Boston College鈥檚 executive director for international advancement. The professor says their involvement enriched her class鈥檚 experience in Bogot谩. 鈥淏esides hosting us at their home, Luly and Mauricio also shared their contacts with us,鈥� she says. 鈥淭hey put us in touch with local business leaders who we might not otherwise have met.鈥�
Those included another Carroll School alum鈥�Carlos Mejia, MBA 鈥�00, chief financial officer of Alpina, a multinational seller of dairy products. Alpina鈥檚 plant, outside of Bogot谩, was one of the class鈥檚 company visits. Four more alumni attended the gathering at the Sampers鈥� home:聽Cristina de la Torre 鈥�89;听Claudia Gaitan 鈥�89;听Angela Royo 鈥�90; and聽Nick Kolentse 鈥�07.
The International Accounting Experience (IAE) course teaches students, both through its on-campus curriculum and trip abroad, how globalization is changing international business, Carter says. Increasingly, business people, especially accountants in the so-called Big Four firms, are expected to have skills and knowledge that enable them to operate as efficiently abroad as they do at home, she says.
Often, a study-abroad semester helps students acquire that kind of know-how, but it can be logistically tough for accounting majors, who comprise most of the class, to pull off. 鈥淎ccounting students have to satisfy a lot of course requirements to sit for the CPA exam,鈥� Carter says. 鈥淭he idea of this class is to give them a taste of what it鈥檚 like to live and work abroad.鈥�
The class, supported by Ernst & Young, is in its fourth year. In years past, it has also visited Buenos Aires, Argentina, and Lima, Peru.
Kevin Reardon, a rising Carroll School junior, says IAE enabled him to combine his main academic interests鈥攁ccounting and history. 鈥淐olombia has a fascinating recent history鈥攚ith the civil war and the FARC guerillas,鈥� he says, using the acronym of the rebel movement that has been battling the Colombian government, mostly in rural provinces, for decades, and is now negotiating a peaceful settlement. 鈥淥ur learning about the country and its economy in the classroom was really supplemented by experiencing the culture first-hand.鈥�