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Roth Named Executive Director of IMBA Program


Dr. Marty RothDr. Martin S. Roth became Executive Director of IMBA Program in May. His new responsibilities include those formerly held by Steve Meadows (former Executive Director of Business and External Relations who has accepted a position as Director of Operations for AIB Group, Ireland’s leading banking and financial services organization) and by Dr. Robert J. Rolfe (who served as Executive Director of IMBA from 2001 until this year and will return to teaching [see related story]). These responsibilities include career management and placement, internship advising, recruiting and admissions, and other related support areas such as student and academic services. Roth has been an associate professor of international business at the Moore School since 1997.

Roth says his role is to oversee the staff and resources that guide the IMBA student’s progression through the program from initial identification and recruitment, through successful completion of their studies, to career placement. His goals for the program are to

  • maintain IMBA’s rank/reputation as a preeminent global MBA program,
  • continue to attract bright students interested in managing in an increasingly global business world,
  • produce value for corporations and other potential employers by developing new management expertise for their organizations, and
  • continue to build on IMBA’s international presence through the dual-degree program with Vienna and partnerships with foreign universities for language training and study abroad.

    • In addition, the IMBA program will be investigating joint-degree programs in Asia and possibly Latin America.

    A recent news story in Columbia, S.C.’s The State newspaper highlighted the recent trend of more students seeking Chinese language training. Roth anticipates that the IMBA program’s successful Chinese track will continue to attract students who want Chinese language training and internships with businesses in China.

    In addition, an Arabic track that was popular in the 1990s will be resurrected. “We are responding to increased demand from government agencies and multinational corporations for managers with Middle Eastern cultural immersion and Arabic language training,” Roth says.

    The program will also continue to make improvements to the curriculum to reflect these new trends, Roth says. Global Business Issues, which has been somewhat broad will now offer a “menu” of short electives with more specific regional emphasis. And, the program will be adding courses on globalization and corporate responsibility, and leadership and ethics. To help meet the changing demands for global business education, the international business program recently hired two new faculty members and will hire more next year. (The business school is expected to hire 20-30 new faculty in the next five years; many will replace retiring faculty.)

    Roth will continue to teach, including courses in global marketing management and foreign market entry and growth. Roth received his BA in business and economics from the University of Pittsburgh, and his MBA and Ph.D. in marketing from the Katz Graduate School of Business, also at the University of Pittsburgh. He is the recipient of the Alfred G. Smith, Jr. Award, the Moore School’s top teaching award, as well an Excellence in Teaching Award from the University of South Carolina Alpha Chapter of the Mortar Board. He has published articles in many leading and international business journals, and is on the editorial review boards of the Journal of World Business, Journal of Advertising, and Journal of Public Policy and Marketing. In addition to his teaching and research, Roth has spoken widely at industry and academic conferences and for specialized trade organizations throughout the Americas and Europe, and has consulted for companies including Bank of America, Colonial Life and Accident, Lifeline Systems, Rhone-Poulenc Rorer, and Verizon.

    View Dr. Roth's interview about the IMBA program April 10 on NBC affiliate WIS TV.