Economics Alum Establishes Endowed Scholarship for Poole College Undergraduate Students

Dr. Fred Gallasch, founder of Gallasch Consulting Services, LLC, and his wife Mary Hepler, have established the Dr. Fred Gallasch Endowed Scholarship Fund in the Poole College of Management. Once fully endowed over the next few years, the merit-based scholarship will be available for future Poole College undergraduate students.

“We were looking at our estate plans and started thinking about this scholarship 10 years ago,” said Hepler, who recently retired from a professional career in information technology.

“Fred wanted to get started giving, and we have been attracted to NC State because of his friendships and the ability to interact with the faculty and students, so why don’t we do it?” she said.

Both reflected on Gallasch’s ties to NC State from his years as a graduate student, his connections with the North Carolina Center of Automotive Research located in Garysburg, N.C., and his career that includes market research and some teaching.

THE ART OF TEACHING

Gallasch, who received his master’s and doctoral degrees in economics from NC State in 1967 and 1973, respectively, has an affinity for education. He received his bachelor’s degree in science, mathematics, economics and chemistry from Hampden-Sydney College, the 10th oldest higher education institution in the U.S.

After completing his master’s in economics at NC State, Gallasch began teaching remedial math at the Davidson County Community College and found that he enjoyed the art of teaching.

“When trying to get a concept across to (the students) and seeing blank stares, as a teacher I thought, ‘How else could I explain that concept?’” So he took a different approach, “and then, you look out and they are all smiling because they understand. This was just the beginning for me,” he said.

Gallasch mentioned one particular student who struggled in his coursework. “His parents were well off and wanted him to go to college, but he couldn’t do the college stuff. Instead, he had strong mechanical inclinations and wanted to get into automotives,” Gallasch said. “I got him together with the automotives professor. That teacher told him he could run a business, and that rang a bell for the parents. Now, he’s teaching automotive mechanics. We have lots of skills … the most important thing is to put people in jobs,” Gallasch said. 

Gallasch has seen a number of students enter NC State after completing two years at a community college. He himself progressed through higher education in stages.

After teaching with his master’s degree for several years, he realized he would need a doctorate if he was to have an academic career. So he came back to NC State and completed his doctoral program in economics in three years. He found the same kind of help at NC State’s Department of Economics that he had provided to his students at the community college.

Struggling with his dissertation, “one professor kept on me,” Gallasch said. “I was devastated. But the professor said, ‘come to my office,’ and he showed me what he needed – for weeks.” The professor he cited is the late Ed Erickson, who died in November 2015.

While Gallasch was preparing for a teaching career, he also “was always a car guy.” That drew him to General Motors where he had received three offers: in research, academics and social science research. The latter was ‘new in business then,” he said. He became director of General Motors Research Laboratories, a position he held for 12 years, working with 25 people with doctorates in diverse fields: anthropology, sociology, psychology, engineering and statistics. Their common link: analytics.

SETTING STANDARDS

“This was the early 70s, and GM was getting beat up about not being socially conscious. Government was just starting to regulate the auto industry, and they didn’t know how to deal with that,” Gallasch said. Noise standards were among the first areas of focus. A study by one of the psychologists on the team, looking at highway noise and impact on those living on certain roads, helped the government develop appropriate noise standards.

The research team also studied materials used “for things you don’t see in the car – as well as the traditional departments, including power, steel standards, and product quality – investment versus impact on the customer,” he said. The team published over 30 market research journal articles.

Gallasch then moved to Chevrolet where he was a brand manager for 11 years, doing market research, talking with customers to understand that they wanted – and were willing to pay for – in a car. Storage space, he said, was a favorite topic.

He also became Chevy’s customer representative for the fourth generation Corvette and was instrumental in the fifth generation of the car, “helping engineering designers develop the look, the engines – and to add more storage space.”

In 2006, another project drew Gallasch back to the Triangle: the North Carolina Center for Automotive Research. The state-of-the-art test facility, located in Garysburg, N.C., is used by auto manufacturers, suppliers, enthusiasts and driver training programs. He serves on its board of directors, along with his former boss at GM and Steve Margolis, professor of economics at Poole College.

Gallasch also served on the board of the Global Luxury Management program, a dual degree program offered jointly by the Poole College and Skema, in collaboration with NC State’s College of Textiles.

He comes to campus once a year to talk with GLM students about product development, market research and other aspects of the luxury market in both the automotive and textiles industries, including the role of accessories for product lines. He also has presented to Jenkins MBA students about how to build your personal brand.

Back in his home community, Gallasch serves as president of Franklin Village, Michigan and is a member of the National Corvette Museum Hall of Fame. He also is a lay member of the board of the American College of Endocrinology Foundation.

BEYOND CORPORATE: A WORD ABOUT PERSONAL BRANDS

“We all have one,” Gallasch said, speaking of an individual’s personal brand. “You need to take charge of it or someone else will.

“We all get up in the morning and brush our teeth but don’t really look in the mirror,” he said. “Can we develop a process to evaluate ourselves, particularly if looking for a job? What do you represent? What are your goals?”

Gallasch provides two examples of personal brand.

• Dirty Harry: You know how he talks, walks. You can envision that.
• Bugs Bunny: You automatically know how he talks, walks, thinks, his likes/dislikes.

If you ask enough loved ones, friends, you may get to a picture of yourself. It does awaken you to your behavior, how you greet people. It doesn’t necessarily change anything, but it does impact who we are. It can help you pick a job.

One way to begin to clarify your brand is to consider what it is that you collect, and how it reflects who you are.

Most of us have collections – things we like, something that’s special, he said. He once asked a woman he worked with, who was interested in a high level position in leadership but decided she wanted to be an HR person. He had asked her what she collects. “Butterflies,” she answered, but she wasn’t wearing one of her butterfly pins that day because people always asked her about the pins. When he asked why she collected them, she said “because she sees her job as taking (individuals) from the pupa stage and morphing them into butterflies.”

His message to the future recipients of the Dr. Fred Gallasch Scholarship: “Make a difference. Work hard. Do something you like. Have a passion for what you do. People who have a passion for what they do have a glow about them and they are happy.”