Have you heard the one about the priest, the banker and the network of Kellogg graduates who are making a world of difference?

By Matt Golosinski

As a man of faith, Father Jamels James may be predisposed toward the miraculous, but even he seems taken aback by the spirit of those who, quite literally, led him to the Kellogg School.

A Catholic priest ordained in Southern India in 1989, James has worked in Chicago since 1994, including ministering to parishioners of Old St. Patrick's Church. In 2005, his plans to build primary schools in his native country convinced him to seek formal management training.

He obtained a full scholarship to a respectable MBA program and prepared to begin studies there. That's when the Kellogg alumni network stepped in.

"I met Fr. James for lunch to discuss his plans to set up schools in India," says Lois Haubold '01, a management consultant who is co-president of the Kellogg Alumni Club of Chicago and class representative for EMP-47. During the conversation, Haubold suggested the priest apply to Kellogg, a prospect that appealed to James but one he found beyond his means.

"Assume financially this is not an issue. Is Kellogg a place you would like to go?'' asked Haubold. When he said yes, she thought: "Strap yourself in."

What followed was an informal but enthusiastic campaign by Haubold and Kellogg peers to find a way to negate the financial hurdle and bring James to Evanston. Though all students must pay part of their own tuition, several alumni joined the effort to offset some of the academic cost.

Haubold views the effort as another way to enhance the Kellogg School, a cause she says she is always ready to serve — even under improbable circumstances.

"It's difficult for me to sit in a meeting with someone who tells me he's going to another school when I know that Kellogg would provide the best education," she says.

Fr. James says he was "deeply moved and inspired" by the concern of these Kellogg graduates to bring him into the fold as part of EMP-65. "It's amazing," he says. "Before I even heard about the Kellogg mission to create socially responsible global leaders, I saw in them a living example of what it means to be this."

If one measure of a network's power is its ability to affect those not even formally affiliated with it, another is the way its members create value for each other. Doing so requires a generous spirit rather than concern for personal gain.

A sense of gratitude motivates alumni like Chris Ksoll '98, who began her career in retail before moving into banking, a transition facilitated by her Kellogg connections.

Like Fr. James, Ksoll's introduction to Kellogg happened almost by accident. During her tenure at Harris Bank, Ksoll had been a student in Professor Bala Balachandran's accounting course, a custom offering that was part of the bank's training program. She was impressed by his command of the subject, and by his mentorship. "He let me call him every Sunday and ask questions," recalls Ksoll. "He could not have been more generous and I wanted to prove to him that a retailer could become a banker."

Eventually, Ksoll made the leap and applied to the Kellogg EMBA Program; Balachandran even wrote a letter of recommendation for her.  "The chain on this network just keeps giving back," she says.

But Ksoll, now managing director at The Private Bank and a class representative for EMP-40, has been ready to lend a helping hand herself. 

"I threw myself into the Kellogg network because I was so thrilled with my EMBA experience that I felt like I was still paying Kellogg back," she notes.

She didn't realize that her efforts to add value to the network — whether hosting alumni dinners or speaking at Kellogg events — were adding "Kellogg capital" into a figurative account she would eventually tap when making a career change.

"Every time someone called me to help, I said, 'I'll do it,'" says Ksoll, a member of the Kellogg Alumni Advisory Board.

She insists she does not regard giving back in quid pro quo terms. In fact, she wasn't sure when she would ever need the network's help — until she "made a huge career change" that brought her to The Private Bank, thanks to the many high-level connections made through her Kellogg peers.

"You forget how powerful the Kellogg alumni are because they're so nice," says Ksoll. "Every interview I went on, I got a job offer. And every one of those people in the network was responsible for getting me in front of a decision maker."

Ksoll emphasizes that her good fortune occurred because she participated in the network before she needed it.  "Some people make the mistake of waiting until they're in a panic before getting involved," she says.

Similarly, Haubold has given back and benefited from the Kellogg community while creating a new consulting business. By leveraging the network's talent, she hopes to create opportunities for her peers while building the enterprise.

"When we needed a bank we said, 'Let's call Chris Ksoll.' When we needed insurance we said, 'Let's call Tim Moffitt,'" says Haubold.

She believes that any Kellogg alum should be able to pick up the phone anywhere in the world and contact another Kellogg graduate and have the call returned.

"That's the power of Kellogg," she says. "It's not only about an education; it's about changing your life forever."