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Over the course of its first century, Beta Gamma Sigma has gone through some significant changes. While many individuals have been involved in the Society's evolution, few had a greater impact than Beta Gamma Sigma's presidents.
 A
conversation with
Donald H. Driemeier
Beta Gamma Sigma President 1982-1984
Could you tell us a little bit about
your induction into Beta Gamma Sigma?
It was in graduate school, at the end of my masters work at
Washington University, and I was invited in 1962 to become
a member of Beta Gamma Sigma. Unlike some of our students
when they are invited today, there was no doubt in my mind.
I knew it was an honor. I knew it indicated that members were
among the best of the best. And so I had no doubt I wanted
to say “yes.”
It was a great honor to me because my mother had been a member
of Beta Gamma Sigma. She graduated from Washington University
in 1932. As a junior, she had been brought into what, at that
time, was a women’s honor society in business - Gamma
Epsilon Pi. In her senior year, Gamma Epsilon Pi and Beta
Gamma Sigma merged. As a kid, I would get the mail and see
the Beta Gamma Sigma stuff for my mother in that. So, I realized
when I had the opportunity, this is something that is important,
has been important to my family.
I was pleased she had the invitation to come and be a part
of the ceremony when I was inducted into Beta Gamma Sigma.
Shortly after your induction into BGS you became an employee
of the Society. Can you share a little bit about that?
It’s interesting to me that, here we are, talking about
the celebration of the 100th anniversary of Beta Gamma Sigma,
when in 1963, we were celebrating the 50th anniversary. That
was really important to me because I was given the opportunity,
as a graduate student in the doctorate program at Washington
University in St. Louis, to begin to work part time for Beta
Gamma Sigma and AACSB. Those two organizations had just joined
hands in creating a single office. They needed an additional
administrator, and I was asked if I’d be interested
in becoming the associate executive secretary of both AACSB
and Beta Gamma Sigma. So, that’s how I got my foot involved
in the honor society movement, shortly after I had become
a member.
More importantly, it was probably something that shaped my
future because I worked with deans and associate deans from
the very beginning in 1963 with both AACSB and Beta Gamma
Sigma. In fact, it was those associations that caused me to
say, “Hey, I think I might like a career as an administrator,
and I became to shape myself in that direction.”
Obviously that thought stuck around as you would eventually
become a business school dean. Given the many different responsibilities
that deans have, what made you accept the invitation to get
involved with BGS at the board level?
As a dean, and an associate dean before that, I was keenly
aware of the importance that AACSB and Beta Gamma Sigma had
for schools of business. So when I got a call saying, “Don,
we’d like you to be nominated for our board, and perhaps
even nominated as our Secretary or Treasurer,” it didn’t
take me more than a minute to say, “I’d be honored.”
After that, you kind of stuck around for a long time.
Why have you chosen to, continued to be part of the honor
society process?
Thinking about my role in honor societies in general, I think
it’s because I’ve realized that it’s very
important for schools of business to recognize the best of
their students. And, really, it’s important to recognize
them at any level because if you take a group of students
- graduate students or undergraduate students - and say, “We
want to recognize you because you’re the best of the
best,” it establishes a lifetime relationship between
the school and your better students. That relationship pays
dividends to both the students and the school.
BGS: What do you think were some of the most memorable parts
of your presidency?
When I think of Beta Gamma Sigma, and I think of the enjoyment
I had as a member of the board and as president in 1982 to
1984, I think of the national seminars that Beta Gamma Sigma
had at that time. And it was seeing the bright men and women
from across the country - some graduate students and some
undergraduates - who participated in those national seminars.
They were really the beginning of the kind of leadership forums
you now have.
Do you think what the organization is now doing with the Student
Leadership Forum is a nice addition to what you were doing
then?
It’s a nice outgrowth, and we went for a few years without
that kind of activity. I’m so glad to see Beta Gamma
Sigma involved in that again.
BGOur past presidents continue to be some of the Society’s
strongest advocates in many areas. What makes it important
for you to continue to be involved?
It’s important to say, “Job well done.”
It’s not a matter of being on the Dean’s list
for a semester or two semesters. When a person is brought
into an honor society, they’re given a lifetime membership
that says, “Job well done. We want you to be proud of
what you did at XYZ University.” This is something that
you carry with you for the rest of your life.
 One
of the things that happened when I was on the Beta Gamma Sigma
board is that Beta Gamma Sigma did something quite unusual
that I’d like to mention. Beta Gamma Sigma invested
in starting another honor society. Now, that wasn’t
an honor society to be a competitor. But it was an honor society
to provide the same kind of recognition that Beta Gamma Sigma
provided, but to a different set of people. People who would
never come from an AACSB accredited school. And so, we decided
to start an honor society for students who graduated from
regionally accredited schools. Beta Gamma Sigma invested time
and money in helping Sigma Beta Delta begin its operation
in 1994. And for that, I’m grateful because it says
that my colleagues on the Beta Gamma Sigma board realized
it was important to allow everybody who deserves some kind
of recognition get that.
Beta Gamma Sigma is a little bigger than we were in 1982
or 1984. We now have a membership of over 675,000 and more
than 500 collegiate chapters on 6 continents. If you were
thinking about all those members, what do you think their
potential contribution to the world of business could be?
I think that’s still a question that needs to have greater
study, needs to be considered by all the boards of honor societies,
because I don’t think we’ve yet harnessed the
great potential that those in business and Beta Gamma Sigma
could have to make some real contributions to society. And
it would be my hope that, sometime, we can do a better job
of harnessing those 600,000 members, regardless of where they
live, to worry about what they might do to help humankind.
That’s something that we haven’t quite successfully
tackled yet, but it’s something I’m still working
on.
If you were speaking to business students today who had
just been invited to BGS, what are some of the things you
would tell them?
I’d simply say that as a member of a business school,
graduating with a degree in business, this is THE best opportunity
you will have for recognition. Now, there might be some recognition
that comes with being a marketing student, or an accounting
student, but when you’re coming out of a business school,
this is the one recognition you will have. You will not become
a member of Phi Beta Kappa because that is not your background.
That is not your degree. But this is the Phi Beta Kappa or
whatever you’d like to call it - the best there is that
we can offer you, and that if you do nothing else, this is
the one you want to do.
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