California State University East Bay

The Pioneer

California State University East Bay

The Pioneer

California State University East Bay

The Pioneer

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Howard Hyman Named CSUEB’s Distinguished Alumnus of 2012

Distinguished alumnus gives advice to future alumni.

CSU East Bay’s Distinguished Alumnus of the Year award has been given to the Executive Vice President of Fremont Bank, Howard Hyman, who graduated from the university in 1979 with a degree in psychology and a minor in business.

“I received the call from Anne Harris,” said Hyman. “She told me I had been awarded the Distinguished Alumnus of the Year award and I immediately had three questions for her; one, are you sure it’s me you want? Two, did you look at my transcript? Three, How much is this going to cost me? I was assured that it was me that they wanted.”

Hyman was presented with the award last quarter at the gala celebrating the investiture of CSU East Bay’s fifth president, Leroy Morishita.

“He exemplifies what it means to be a CSUEB alumnus through his contributions to the vitality of the East Bay,” said Morishita at the gala.

Before the gala, Hyman says he and Morishita were told to meet with one another and discuss what each would say during the ceremony and how long each would have to speak. Hyman says although it turned out to be a fun experience, he knew in advance that until he was physically in the room with Morishita, his words would be unknown.

“We actually went well over time,” said Hyman. “It went just fantastic. We each talked about our passion for enthusiasm for building organizations. He is just a terrific guy.”

The gala came soon after and Hyman says the moment he arrived he noticed that there were people from all different kinds of places, who could have easily won the award themselves. These were people who Hyman believed in his opinion to be at least as accomplished as he was.

“I sort of thought, why didn’t they get the award,” said Hyman.

Yet, it was clear why Hyman received the award.

He has been Fremont Bank’s executive vice president since 1980, served on the board of directors for Valley Montessori School in 2000, then served as a trustee of CSUEB’s Education Foundation in 2008. He is currently the director of Fremont Back Foundation, volunteers on Stanford Cancer Council board, since 2009, and also serves on the board of directors for the Fremont Symphony since the late 1990s.

“It’s been a fantastic experience. I am truly humbled and honored to receive this recognition,” said Hyman.

He explains that CSUEB and Fremont Bank have a similar background, seeing as they both were established around the same time and “have deep roots in local Bay Area communities.”

“At Fremont Bank, I did just a whole variety of different things through my whole career, and the more I started banking, the more I realized that my biggest contribution could be in the areas of working with people and corporate culture,” said Hyman.

Hyman says he learned the idea of corporate culture from his father, who began discussing the idea before it became a hot topic in business agencies.

“I had learned quite a lot from him, so I started using my degree to create a corporate culture at our business,” said Hyman.

Hyman, who had always had an interest in marketing, realized early on that the brand of a company is more than just its image. That it really becomes the culture, the image, what people say about the company and how they view it. He further states that in order to create a company’s identity, you have to have many different people marching to the same drum.

“You can run campaigns, but that doesn’t really mean you are actually delivering on what you planned,” said Hyman. “I’ve started working on how do you align large groups of people around a common vision and then train them so they understand what the goals and objectives are and make it in a way so that it becomes a natural part of their own self-expression.”

Hyman believes everyone wants to make their life make a difference, which is why one of Fremont Bank’s visions is to make a difference in every interaction they have with people. According to Hyman, one of this Fremont Bank would like to increase is their interactions the youth, especially at universities like CSUEB.

“I’m a big believer in the youth. I love what Dr. Phil said, ‘You can’t change what you don’t acknowledge,’ said Hyman. “You have to start with acknowledging what the challenges are and then communicate it to the organization, then I usually go through and try to identify who the constituencies are, then you have to determine what’s the value proposition for each one of those stake holders.”

From there, Hyman says one should create an organizing principle or slogan like, ‘Quality is Job One’ or ‘Since We’re neighbors, Let’s be friends.’ This creates a phrase that unifies the organization, and Hyman explains that if everyone is behind the slogan, then the value is doable in the moment by everyone in the organization.

“You then build on strategies and tactics that deliver on the value proposition for the different constituencies,” said Hyman.

Hyman believes the university is really progressing in its own understanding of what is going to keep people engaged with the university.

“I think the whole concept of organizations and business and of people being engaged came from social media. As social media became more prevalent, the whole concept of being engaged with your constituents really moved to a new level,” said Hyman.

Hyman says he would really like to see more internships become available to students. Past recipients of the Distinguished Alumnus of Year award include former Oakland mayor Elihu Harris in 1968, California state treasurer and former legislator Bill Lockyear in 1969 and Hall of Fame baseball player Joe Morgan in 1990.

“It really doesn’t matter what you major in because you’re going to bring in some kind of skill into the world,” said Hyman. “If it’s math, you’re going to bring logic, if it’s art, you’re going to bring creativity. Just go towards whatever interests you.”

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Howard Hyman Named CSUEB’s Distinguished Alumnus of 2012