The Charlotte Observer from Charlotte, North Carolina • 35

THE CHARLOTTE OBSERVER MONDAY JULY 28 1997 3D A Question For Charlie Moyer You took over as dean of Wake Forest's Babcock Graduate School of Management March 20 after serving for about four months as interim dean Where do you want to take the school? A We have a formal strategic plan that we worked through during the time I was acting dean This is a school that has managed to rise from a ranking of 59th five years ago to a current ranking of 37th among 3 12 major graduate business schools really impressive progress but this school can be a whole lot better Our objective in the next five years in every objective criteria the quality of the students we attract the quality of our faculty and the placement experience of our students is to become at least as good as the schools ranked among the top 25 in the country Beginning with the class entering in the fall of 1998 we will be teaching with class section sizes that are the smallest of any major business school in the country The students in addition to their course work will also begin certification work toward a professional designation such as chartered financial analyst In the second year of the program they will choose career concentrations Those include entrepreneurship health services management consulting and multiple concentrations in finance operations and in marketing We expect to add a new program in Charlotte (in addition to the evening program now available) as early as Januaiy 1999 aimed at the more senior manager with 10 to 15 years of experience with a weekend schedule that will make it accessible to anyone on the US Airways nonstop system Tell us about your vision for the Babcock Business Alliance A The alliance is the name given to an initiative to reach out and become much more actively involved in the community to become a force in economic development in the Piedmont Triad area by making our resources available to the business community These include our economic forecasting resources our libraiy and our student fieldwork We have a summer internship program where companies can get an early look at students and a leg up on hiring them we also have a mentorship program work ing with the economic development folks and the chamber folks (in the Piedmont Triad area) We have not done anything formally yet with economic development in Charlotte become more of a focus as we expand our program there Charlie Moyer is dean of the Babcock Graduate School of Management at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem Moyer joined the faculty in 1988 as Integon Chair of Finance and served on the faculty of the American Bankers Association's Stonier Graduate School of Banking for more than 15 years Gocom-Cottonwood: group of small-market network rently owns two Fox affiliates WFXI-TV in GreenvilleNew Bern NC and WGXA-TV in Macon Ga and KTVE-TV an NBC affiliate in Monroe LaEl Dorado Ark The Cottonwood properties include two ABC affiliates KSPR-TV in Springfield Mo and KMID-TV in MidlandOdessa Texas and KCPM-TV an NBC affiliate in Chi-coRedding Calif All six stationswill be operated by Gocom Communications a new entity acquiring Gocom assets Bain Capital Inc of Boston became primary investor by pumping $100 million in equity funds into the venture and buying out previous partner Teaneck NJ-based BCI Growth LP Gorman who will be chief executive of the combined entity says the stations acquired in the merger with Cottonwood fit in with strategy of acquiring lackluster network affiliates in geographically diverse small markets three are grossly underperforming and the kind of station we want to Gorman says three stations on a consolidated basis are earning less than any one of the three stations we already own even though the same size or in the case of Springfield even announce plans to build office tower Segal will craft programming for stations He played a similar role during four years at TNT and at TBS where he worked from 1991-95 have the guy who was responsible for shaping the product at TBS and TNT is tremendously Gorman says Terry is a said Segal 45 who was house-hunting in Charlotte last week and will join Gocom Aug 11 a passionate believer in the power of local television and the franchise value that local stations provide and what Gocom is all Relations Institute holds its first bimonthly seminar and dinner meeting at 5:30 pm at the Charlotte Marriott City Center 100 West Trade Street Rusty Page former senior vice president of investor relations for NationsBank will speak Cost is $27 for members and $32 for non-members Register at the door Coming up AUG 6: The Postal Customer Council Show Forum open to all businesses interested in streamlining their mailing operations and cutting mailing costs 8 am-3 pm Charlotte Convention Center Call Karen Holt at (704) 424-4493 to register to exhibit call Jeff Brown at (704) 379-9416 US business calendar See Page 240 By DAVID COBURN Staff Writer Gocom Television is a minor-league player in the broadcasting industry with three small-market television stations in Eastern North Carolina Georgia and Louisiana But the Charlotte-based company clearly has major-league aspirations In a deal reported last week Gocom will double its broadcast properties through a stock merger with Cottonwood Communications a three-station group based in Springfield Mo On Wednesday Gocom announced it has hired Terry Segal former president of TBS Superstation to be vice presi- Jon Talton 358 5169 Business editor David Cobum 358-5159 Assistant business editor Clifford Glickman 358-5164 Assistant business editor Doug Smith 358 5174 Business columnist STAFF WRITERS David BoraksTechnology 358 5235 Stella HopkinsManufactunng 358 5173 Sean Jamieson Health care 358 5165 Leslie Williams Johnson' Small business 358 5069 Pamela Moore Banking 358 5181 Lore PostmanRetail 358 5176 Ted Reed Transportation 358 5170 Melissa WahlBanking 358 5141 TO REACH US By telephone: 358 5177 By fax: 358 5172 By mail: Send announcements of upcoming events promotions and people the news to Carol Smith PO Box 30308 Charlotte NC 28230 0308 Or fax to Carol Smith 358 5172 ON THE INTERNET Business news on line http www char lotte comobserver 'business OPLUS For free stock quotes call 377 4444 FOR ADVERTISING INFORMATION The Observer advertising department can be reached at 704 358 5310 The advertising manager is Dennis West Behind the News lentcorporate director of programming and promotion intent is to build a very arge group of small-market net- work stations and I base it in Char- says Ric Gorman who founded Gocom in 1994 Another deal could be announced as early as this week orman Gocom cur First Union to What you missed if you reading us last week and ahead: First Union will make news this week and it have anything to do with buying another bank or brokerage firm The Charlotte bank is expected to formally announce Wednesday that it will build a $120 million 27-story tower in the 400 block of South Tryon Street The base of the tower first reported in The Observer June 9 will stretch the entire block along East Second Street from South Tiyon to South College First Union plans to occupy half the 27-story 866249-square-foot building A decision on a rezoning request needed for the project is expected in October First Union made big news with its announcement that it will buy Signet Banking Corp of Richmond in a $33 billion deal The acquisition awarded to the Salisbury grocery chain A judge had told Food Lion to choose between the punitive damages and a trebling of $1500 in damages awarded under the unfair trade act The company had said it deserved both DSW will open a 24400-square-foot shoe superstore at Carolina Pavilion mall in Pineville the Columbus Ohio-based retailer said Belk named John Hering manager of its SouthPark mall store Piedmont Natural Gas lost a three-year fight with Frontier Utilities of North Carolina over rights to provide natural gas service to four northwest NC counties The NC Supreme Court agreed with NC utility regulators who had ruled that Frontier operating from North Wilkesboro should serve Surry Wilkes Watauga and Yadkin counties This week TUESDAY: The Charlotte chapter of the National Investor makes First Union the No 1 bank in Virginia ahead of NationsBank and Wachovia The National Labor Relations Board set union elections for Fieldcrest Cannon workers at sue NC plants Workers will vote Aug 12 and Aug 13 on representation by the Union of Needletrades Industrial and Textile Employees predecessor union lost three earlier bids to organize Fieldcrest Cannon workers US Airways reported record second-quarter profits of $2056 million or $192 a share up slightly from $2008 million a year ago The airline also said it was near agreement on contracts with its labor unions Walt Disney Co added Carrboro-based Mammoth Records to beef up its presence in the music industry Disney paid $20 million to $25 million for the company an independent record label with such artists as Squirrel Nut Zippers to bolster its lackluster Hollywood Records unit Food Lion said it would accept $55 million in punitive damages.