Juniors complete SAS Leadership Challenge

The junior cohort of the Buckeye Leadership Fellows Program recently completed their Spring Semester Leadership Challenge which was hosted by SAS in Cary, North Carolina.  The students tasked with the following issue:  In January 2014, five divisions of SAS were reorganized under the leadership of one Senior Vice President. The divisions that merged were:  Professional Services Education, Tech Support, Publications, and Customer Loyalty.  

Although the reorganization was smooth, there are still structural and strategic changes to implement in order to make the new division most effective and cohesive. The students had a month to understand the new division, assess its current functions, and create recommendations for streamlining the functionality of the division.

Some guidance was given to the students before they started.  They needed to:

• To accomplish this challenge over the next four (4) weeks, you will:
• Self-select into five (5) teams, assigning each team a (former) division within SAS
• Consult with a division contact(s) and complete a full analysis of its: structure, processes, changes from the division merger, and areas for continued development
• Work collaboratively with other teams to create a picture of the new division
• Develop a holistic strategy for improving the structure, efficiency, and collaboration between divisions
• Recommend a strategy for SAS as it looks to unify the new division, and perhaps include a new name to unify the new division

The challenge culminated with a trip to the SAS Campus in North Carolina where the students presented their work to senior level executives.  The students even had a chance to meet the founder of SAS, Jim Goodnight.  While on the SAS campus, the students were able to interact with SAS employees, learn about the culture of the company, and hear about employment opportunities. 

About SAS[1]

SAS (pronounced "sass") once stood for "statistical analysis system," and began at North Carolina State University as a project to analyze agricultural research. As demand for such software grew, SAS was founded in 1976 to help all sorts of customers – from pharmaceutical companies and banks to academic and governmental entities.

SAS – both the software and company – thrived throughout the next few decades. Development of the software attained new heights in the industry by being able to run across all platforms, using the multivendor architecture for which it is known today. While the scope of the company spread across the globe, the encouraging and innovative corporate culture remained the same.

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[1] http://www.sas.com/en_us/company-information.html#executives