What business students need to know now, according to Loyola’s new dean: AI and ‘problem solving’

Over a 42-year career, Louisiana native Bobby Savoie has built and sold three companies in the engineering and high-end software space, specializing in everything from nuclear power to federal energy work, defense work and NASA consulting.

The most recent one was Geocent, acquired in 2021 by Virginia-based Sev1Tech. There are still about 100 employees working for Sev1Tech throughout Greater New Orleans.

In January, Savoie embarked on a totally new enterprise, stepping in as interim dean of the business school at Loyola University New Orleans. This week, he was named the school’s permanent dean.

In this week’s Talking Business, Savoie discusses what he believes a business school should teach in 2024.

This conversation has been edited for brevity and clarity.

You clearly have an interest in academia because you went back to school several times for multiple degrees, including a Ph.D. in engineering, but how did you find yourself in this new role?

Unintentionally!

I’ve decided that I’m a little too old to be working 80 hours a week and building new companies, so I formally retired last October. My wife and I went to Europe for a few weeks to celebrate, and while we were there, I got a call from Loyola President Xavier Cole and the Rev. Justin Daffron, the provost who is a dear friend of mine and a Jesuit priest.

I had been chair of the board of Loyola previously, and they were asking me if I would be the interim dean. I kept saying no for about a month and a half, and then I finally decided that this was put in my path for a reason.

It’s a chance for me to give back.

What do you want to teach this next generation of business students?

First of all, our graduates need to be problem solvers.

They need to be critical thinkers that know how to do AI-infused analytics in whatever field they’re in, whether that’s finance or entrepreneurship or accounting or marketing or business analytics, which is the most sought-after field.

We need to produce people who know how to do analytics but know how to do it with the most recent tools. Use AI. Don’t be afraid of it.

I hired a young AI professor who was the type of person I would have hired for one of my companies because she had a very deep and broad knowledge of AI and machine learning and big data and data analytics.

What changes are you making?

I’ve already changed some of the courses that were being taught just to bring them up to date. For example, we had a computer science course that was teaching C++. Well, that’s yesterday’s technology. I need them to teach Python and data analytics.

We need to produce people who know how to use the most up-to-date tools that are available and stay up to date with them as they go and help companies to solve whatever challenges they’re facing.

That’s all my companies ever did to help our customers, whether they were large companies or the government.

We solved problems. And our students need to be able to do that for the companies that hire them. If they can do that and be ahead of the game, they’ll be sought after. They’ll receive the jobs that pay better.

What has changed since you were a student and what is as essential now as it was then?

What is absolutely as essential is that you learn the broad base of business. So, you learn a little bit about accounting, finance and economics. Now, you learn about business analytics.

Besides getting that broad base of business knowledge, you can specialize in certain areas like finance or entrepreneurship.

Way back when, when I went to business school, we learned the same broad-base business concepts, but there weren’t computers doing everything. We had to learn formulas. We had to learn a lot of things that now are just a tiny part of the course. So, you really learn so much more now than you did then.

Since computers can handle many business tasks, what does that free you up to teach now?

We can focus on how to make businesses successful. Back then, businesses were facing a totally different set of problems. Things move so much more quickly now. That’s why I think people are asking for problem solvers, because things change daily, whereas they used to change monthly or every few months.

Instead of worrying about whether someone used ChatGPT to cheat on a paper, I’m teaching an undergraduate-level entrepreneurship class. I told them, “Use everything.”

What distinguishes your program from Tulane’s well-regarded business school next door?

I have great respect for Tulane, but it attracts a very large percentage of its students from the Northeast and a lot of them go back home after they graduate.

We attract students internationally, but we also attract a lot of local students that wouldn’t otherwise have the opportunity. So, our focus is on producing people that can help businesses in New Orleans, in Louisiana.

We have a lot of people who are extremely committed to this university and believe in the Ignatian values of Loyola. I’m excited about helping people achieve things they didn’t think they could achieve.

You grew up in Belle Rose where your family has been in the sugar cane industry for generations. Do you still have family out there?

I’m on the board of two of our family’s companies and when I go back for our stockholders’ meeting, there’ll be 200 people in the room and I’m not only related to every one of them, I know most of them. It’s wonderful.