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During her four years at Missouri State University, Rachel Kuenzler gravitated steadily toward the transition from college student to the full-time job that would signal her official entry into adulthood.

Her diligence paid off when, a week following graduation, Kuenzler found work.

And in a corporate environment - where colleagues the age of her parents outnumber twenty-somethings - Kuenzler was confronted with a dilemma that was left unaddressed by her college professors.

“I thought they wouldn’t take me seriously,” said Kuenzler, 25, an associate software engineer at MasterCard International operations center in O’Fallon, Mo.

The gap between neophytes and experienced employees has been around as long as people have been reporting to places of work.

Last year, MasterCard addressed with a “reverse mentoring” program that asks younger employees to, in effect, take older workers under their wings.

Peer-to-peer coaching is not unusual in corporate or even small business settings. But in most cases the programs call on seasoned employees to impart the wisdom of experience to younger colleagues.

MasterCard, in a concerted effort to retain and promote its younger workers, provided them with an opportunity to share their thoughts and observations on the workplace environment.

The coaching program at MasterCard may be reversed, but the strategy remains the same, said Rik Nemanick, an adjunct instructor at Washington University and a principal with The Leadership Effect, a St. Louis business consultancy. He has developed and facilitated coaching programs at Anheuser-Busch, Monsanto and other area corporations.

Mentoring programs help firms identify and develop existing talent, accelerate professional growth, nurture company loyalty and retain valuable employees, Nemanick said in a recent presentation to the St. Louis chapter of the Human Resource Management Association.

“When talented individuals reach the juncture when they might leave, it’s good that they have someone they can go to - someone they trust to discuss the situation,” he said.

At Monsanto, experienced technology division employees have tutored younger workers since 2003. The program began with 30 matches. This year, there are 70 selected from a pool of 150 applications.

“It has become part of the developmental culture within the organization,” Monsanto executive Maggie Morris told the human resources organization.

The reverse mentoring at MasterCard matched Kuenzler with Keith Martin, a 46-year-old team leader who joined MasterCard 20 years ago. The program placed 18 younger mentors with 11 supervisors.

Kuenzler saw the two-way conversation as an avenue to help Martin, and by extension other MasterCard supervisors, understand the conditions young employees seek in order to advance themselves along with the interests of the company.

“Younger employees like more openness, they are tech savvy and they don’t necessarily want to always be in meetings,” said senior human resources business partner Wanda Davega.

For example, Kuenzler and Generation Y prefer open work spaces that encourage collaboration.

Whereas Martin is admittedly more inclined to hole up in a cubicle.

Martin wasn’t exactly venturing into foreign territory when his monthly lunch meetings with Kuenzler began about a year ago - he has a daughter slightly older than his mentor.

But their meetings highlighted to him the difference between being a parent and being a colleague or supervisor.

He learned that the young people now moving into the workforce have little interest in easing into the corporate whirlwind.

“They like to move at a quick pace and effect change,” Martin said. “They basically want to jump right into the fire. They don’t want to hold back or want to hear, ‘Why don’t you wait three months to find your way around.’”

Nemanick traces the roots of the mentoring movement to a commitment to furthering the careers of minority employees at large and small businesses alike.

As the success of the programs became evident, many companies made the initiatives available to all workers.

In light of a Millennial Branding survey that this month revealed that young, recent hires comprise only 7 percent of the workforce at Fortune 500 companies, the opportunity to learn from a mentor is especially attractive to young people.

“It shrinks the big organizations,” Nemanick pointed out. “It crosses boundaries that (employees) wouldn’t normally cross.”

Its success in O’Fallon prompted MasterCard to offer reverse mentoring to employees at its global headquarters in Purchase, N.Y.

Eighteen months into her first job, Kuenzler already has a sense that her monthly meetings with Martin are making a difference.

She recently learned of plans to open her workspace by removing the wall of the over-sized cubicle she shares with several other young employees.

More important, to Kuenzler, are the chats with Martin that have brought about the removal of a more symbolic wall.

“Being able to share our thoughts with supervisors, getting their take and seeing that they are taking notes and listening, I’m already seeing a difference,” she said.

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It’s been three months since MF Global became the eighth-largest bankruptcy in U.S. history. Did anyone see this coming?

Well, a few people had some idea, and a congressional subcommittee heard from them on Capitol Hill Thursday.

Michael Roseman, MF Global’s former chief risk officer, warned early of the dangers in the firm’s massive bets on troubled European debt. He clashed with ex-CEO Jon Corzine over the strategy before being replaced early last year by Michael Stockman, who also appeared at the hearing.

"I discussed my concerns about the positions and the risk scenarios with Mr. Corzine and others," Roseman told the subcommittee. "However, the risk scenarios I presented were challenged as being implausible."

Under questioning, Roseman said he believed his views on risk "certainly played a factor" in the firm’s decision to dismiss him.

MF Global () filed for bankruptcy on Halloween following a frantic week in which executives including Corzine, the former CEO and an ex-governor and senator from New Jersey, attempted to offload assets and sell the business.

The firm had come under intense pressure in the previous days after its $6.3 billion investment in European debt came to public notice. Trading partners called for increased margin payments and clients took their business elsewhere, leaving the firm scrambling for cash to meet its obligations.

"It almost looks like that they took Mr. Roseman out and replaced Mr. Roseman with a ‘yes man,’" Rep. Stephen Fincher said.

Stockman responded that he had initially signed off on the European bets, but later raised concerns and recommended bringing the firm’s risk down in July of last year.

Corzine, for his part, has acknowledged pushing the aggressive European strategy after arriving at MF Global in 2010, anxious to take it to the ranks of Wall Street’s elite.

The investments themselves didn’t actually lose money, as Corzine noted in Congressional testimony in December. None of the bonds MF Global held came from countries that have defaulted and all were set to mature before 2013. But Europe’s precarious finances and the massive leverage MF Global took on spooked investors and ultimately helped doom the firm need a personal loan with bad credit.

While an examination of MF Global’s risk management may have been the main focus of Thursday’s hearing, for the firm’s former customers, the bigger question is what happened to their money.

Customer funds at futures brokers like MF Global are supposed to be protected even in the event of a bankruptcy. In MF Global’s case, however, staffers were unable to account for roughly $1.2 billion in customer money that is now suspected to have been unlawfully appropriated for the firm’s own purposes.

Ratings agencies under fire: Others facing scrutiny Thursday were rating agencies Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s, which waited until just days before MF Global’s bankruptcy to flag its European exposure even though the firm had disclosed it back in May.

By the time the rating agencies acted, the bets were already sparking concern among MF Global’s trading partners. The downgrades then sharply acclerated the firm’s downward spiral.

"[T]he abruptness of the downgrades and the suddenness of MF Global’s collapse raise questions about why the credit rating agencies did not consider MF Global’s exposure to European sovereign debt until late October," the House committee said in a memo last week.

Also appearing Thursday was James Gellert, head of the smaller ratings agency Rapid Ratings International, which maintained a grim outlook on MF Global long before its larger counterparts did. Gellert noted in his testimony that MF Global’s business model had been deteriorating for several years prior to its failure, and that the new risks in the European strategy only made its situation more precarious.

"Had MF Global offered a lower risk foundation, MF Global might have been able to withstand the failure of the new business strategy," Gellert said. "As it was, Mr. Corzine inherited an unhealthy company and made it worse by some high-stakes gambles." 

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PC sales didn’t have a happy holiday sales season, but you wouldn’t know it from the strong earnings posted by Microsoft and Intel.

The PC is struggling — last quarter, shipments fell 6% from the year-ago period, according to research firm Gartner — as tablets and smartphones grab market share.

But both computing giants reported earnings that beat Wall Street estimates. They chalked up softness in PC sales not to obsolescence, but to a worldwide hard drive shortage caused by massive floods in Thailand in November.

The good news on earnings boosted shares of both companies early Friday. Microsoft’s stock rose 2.6% in premarket trading, while shares of Intel edged up 0.7%.

Microsoft earned a record 78 cents per share on record sales of $20.89 billion for the second quarter of its fiscal year.

Despite the strong overall showing, Microsoft (, Fortune 500) felt the pain of the lackluster PC market in its Windows division. Its sales fell 6% over the year to $4.74 billion.

"It’s difficult to say with any sort of certainty" whether PC sales will pick back up when the hard drive supply recovers, said Lisa Nelson, Microsoft’s investor relations director. "But the market should benefit from it."

On a conference call after the earnings release, Microsoft executives said the hard drive shortage will affect sales at least through the current quarter.

The call also revealed that netbooks — essentially small, low-powered laptops — now represent just 2% of the PC market. A year ago, they comprised 8%.

Executives dodged most questions about the upcoming, tablet-optimized Windows 8. The company revealed at a trade show earlier this month that a beta version will be released in late February.

Strength in Microsoft’s other sectors made up for PC weakness.

The Microsoft unit with the strongest sales remains the business software division, which includes Microsoft Office and other software. The sector accounted for $6.28 billion of the company’s revenue, though it gained only 3% over the year.

Office 2010 has sold more than 200 million licenses in the 18 months since its launch easy payday loans.

Gaming systems were also a bright spot, as Microsoft’s "entertainment and devices" sales jumped 15% over the year to $4.24 billion. To date, Microsoft has sold about 66 million Xbox 360 consoles and 18 million sensors for its motion-controlled Kinect system.

Nelson said Xbox now commands 46% of market share for gaming consoles.

But Microsoft said on the conference call that the overall console market "is softer than previously expected."

The "server and tools" area also did well, posting a sales increase of 11% to $4.77 billion. That’s the seventh consecutive quarter of double-digit growth, Nelson said.

Intel beats the street: Intel beat Wall Street estimates with fourth-quarter earnings of 68 cents on sales of $13.9 billion — in line with its own downgraded forecast.

Intel (, Fortune 500) sharply cut its sales forecast last month because of the hard drive shortage. Left without that supply, PC makers scaled back their inventories — which meant they were buying fewer semiconductors from Intel.

But sales at Intel’s "PC client group" were strong, rising 17% over the year to $9 billion. Growth in emerging markets was the main driver.

CEO Paul Otellini cited ultrabooks as one of the company’s biggest opportunities for growth in a press release. Ultrabooks are extremely light-weight notebook PCs that have long battery life and almost as much power as a full-sized laptop.

At the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas earlier this month, Intel showcased several upcoming ultrabooks that will run on its "Ivy Bridge" 22-nanometer chips.

In other tech earnings news on Thursday, Google (, Fortune 500) announced profit and sales that rose from year-ago results but badly missed Wall Street’s forecasts. IBM (, Fortune 500) posted earnings that topped estimates. 

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Spain’s Parliament approved the new conservative government’s first austerity measures Wednesday, which aim to rein in the country’s swollen deficit with euro8.9 billion ($11.5 billion) in spending cuts.

The measures, which also include income and property tax hikes, were approved by 197 deputies in the 350-seat lower house, where the ruling Popular Party has an absolute majority of 185 seats after a landslide election win in November.

Finance Minister Cristobal Montoro said the measures were severe but necessary, owing to what he called the mismanagement of the economy by the former Socialist government.

“The economy is stopped, we’re on the verge of a recession and the accounts are unbalanced as a consequence, among other things, of the deplorable decisions taken by the former government, which only made the situation worse,” Montoro told lawmakers.

Spain is battling to avert being dragged further into a debt crisis that has already forced Greece, Ireland and Portugal to seek financial bailouts.

In 2010, Spain began to emerge from a near two-year recession triggered by the collapse of a property and construction bubble that had fueled growth for nearly a decade. The country now has a 21.5 percent unemployment rate _ the highest in the eurozone _ and Economy Minister Luis de Guindos said recently the economy would slide back into recession early this year with the last quarter of 2011 and the first of 2012 both registering negative growth.

Montoro accused the former Socialist government of deliberately hiding figures that showed that Spain’s deficit for 2011 would be 8 percent of national income, and not 6 percent as the Socialists had claimed easy to get unsecured personal loans. He said the deviation represented an estimated euro20 billion ($25.4 billion) “black hole.”

However, Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has acknowledged that the deficit of regional governments, most of which are run by his own conservative party, was responsible for 75 percent of the deviation.

Other measures in the austerity package include a freeze on civil servants’ salaries and on practically all government hiring. Pensions, however, are to be increased by 1 percent, the only area of spending to rise. Taxes on income and property will also be raised but only for two years.

Treasury Minister Cristobal Montoro said the tax increases will be progressive, with the wealthiest paying more and that the impact on lower-income earners will be minimal.

The government projects that the tax increases will bring in euro6.2 billion ($7.9 billion) on top of the euro8.9 billion saved on the spending cuts.

The package was part of an extension of the 2011 budget because the last government did not pass one for 2012. More austerity measures are expected when the government presents its 2012 budget by the end of March.

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An independent political committee supportive of Newt Gingrich is planning to release a film critical of Mitt Romney’s tenure at a private-equity firm, just days after a Las Vegas billionaire contributed $5 million to the group to bolster the former House speaker’s White House run.

The Gingrich-leaning Winning Our Future PAC said Sunday that the 28-minute video _ which assails Romney for “reaping massive awards” while head of Bain Capital _ will be posted online soon and could show up on TV ahead of this month’s primary elections.

Meanwhile, a person familiar with the development said Sheldon Adelson, a casino mogul and longtime donor to Republican candidates, made the contribution Friday to Winning Our Future, which is run by Gingrich allies. The person, who was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly, said Adelson is expected to contribute to groups backing the Republican nominee, be it Gingrich or one of his rivals.

Both the film and the large contribution highlight the growing role that new “super” political action committees are playing this election. Just weeks ago, a Romney-leaning super PAC called Restore Our Future hammered Gingrich with $3 million in negative ads that largely contributed to his eroding support before the Iowa caucuses. Gingrich finished in fourth place.

Now, the tables have turned: Winning Our Future’s case marks the first time Gingrich and his allies have targeted Romney’s time at Bain. They have said Romney’s record is fair game, but up until now have restricted attacks to his time in government.

The film, called “When Mitt Romney Came To Town,” assails Romney for “reaping massive awards” for himself and his investors. Bain has been credited with turning around dozens of companies, including well-known brands like Domino’s Pizza, but its record has been criticized _ notably by the Democratic National Committee _ for slashing jobs in the process.

Rick Tyler, a former Gingrich aide who is now working for Winning Our Future, said the full video would be posted online “soon.” Some segments could be used in shorter TV ads, he said, although there were no immediate plans to run the full piece on television.

Super PACs have sprouted up from a series of federal court rulings, including the Supreme Court’s Citizens United case in 2010 that stripped away restrictions on corporate and union spending in elections. The groups can’t coordinate directly with campaigns but many of them active in this election are staffed by longtime supporters of the candidates.

While some super PACs have to disclose their contributors’ names later this month, many will never be known. Some super PACs have established nonprofit arms that are permitted to shield contributors’ identities as long as they spend no more than 50 percent of their money on electoral politics low fee payday loans. Crossroads, the giant conservative outfit tied to former George W. Bush political adviser Karl Rove, operates both a super PAC, Crossroads GPS, and a nonprofit, American Crossroads.

Crossroads GPS and other Republican-leaning super PACs played a significant role in the 2010 midterm elections, helping deliver the House to the GOP and boost the number of Republicans in the Senate. The 2012 contest is the first to test the influence of such groups in presidential politics.

But no candidate has seen his fortunes affected by the emergence of super PACs more than Gingrich.

Riding high in polls just a month ago, he became the target of a $3 million advertising barrage sponsored by Restore Our Future, a super PAC supporting Mitt Romney run by several of the former Massachusetts governor’s allies. The ads, which pounded Gingrich for his ties to federal housing giant Freddie Mac and his reversal on issues such as climate change, sent his political fortunes plunging in Iowa.

Romney and Gingrich tangled over the role of super PACs in a nationally televised debate Sunday. Romney said he had not seen Restore Our Future’s ads but defended their content.

“Governor, I wish you would calmly and directly state it is your former staff running the PAC,” Gingrich said to Romney, warning his own allies would be on the air soon.

Gingrich has pledged to carry on and is hoping to resuscitate his campaign in South Carolina, which holds its primary Jan. 21. With Romney heavily favored to win the New Hampshire primary Tuesday, his rivals are looking to slow his momentum when the contest moves to the South.

Several super PACs have already played a role in the Republican campaign. They include Make Us Great Again, a super PAC backing Texas Gov. Rick Perry; Our Destiny, supporting former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman; and the Red White and Blue Fund, which helped revive Santorum’s campaign in Iowa and is running ads in South Carolina.

Priorities USA Action, a super PAC backing President Barack Obama’s re-election campaign, has spent modestly during the Republican nominating contest and is expected to step up its role in the general election.

___

Gillum reported from Washington. Associated Press Writer Shannon McCaffrey in Atlanta contributed to this report.

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President Barack Obama, saying he

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The General Motors plant in Wentzville has completed the hiring of 437 employees who will work a second shift that’s set to begin in early January, which will mark the first time in two years that the plant has run more than a single shift.

GM, which builds the Chevrolet Express and GMC Savana full-size vans in Wentzville, will add a second shift of van production on Jan.3, bringing the total employment at the plant to 1,940 hourly workers and 155 salaried employees.

Of the 437 hourly employees added for the second shift, 235 are new hires, said Tom Brune, UAW communications coordinator for Local 2250, which represents hourly workers at the plant. GM also recalled 38 employees to the plant and transferred 164 GM employees from across the country.

“It’s a long time coming,” Brune said about the second shift, which was announced in September as part of a new labor contract.

Plant manager John Dansby said many of the transferred employees planned to move their families to the St. Louis region over the holidays.

“We’ve gotten them familiar with the plant and have them working side by side with current employees to understand how we work and how the plant works,” he said of the new employees.

Recalling laid-off workers and preparing for a second shift has “been a great boost to morale,” Dansby added.

The second shift isn’t the only new development at the Wentzville plant. GM also plans to build the next generation of its Colorado midsize pickup there, which will bring an additional 1,260 hourly and salaried jobs in 2013.

To prepare for the line, the automaker plans to invest $380 million in the plant, including the construction of a 500,000-square-foot addition to the current 3.7 million square feet.

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Rite Aid Corp. says its third quarter loss narrowed, as sales at stores open at least a year improved and the drugstore operator more than doubled the number of flu shots delivered.

The third-largest U.S. drugstore chain says it lost $54.5 million, or 6 cents per share, after paying preferred dividends in the latest quarter. That compares to a loss of $81.5 million, or 9 cents per share, a year ago.

Revenue climbed nearly 2 percent to $6.31 billion.

Analysts were expecting a loss of 12 cents per share on $6.29 billion in revenue.

The Camp Hill, Pa., company says sales at stores open at least a year climbed 2 percent, driven by an increase in pharmacy business.

Rite Aid had 4,679 stores as of Nov. 26, down 62 from a year ago.

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Enthusiasm for riskier assets such as stocks faded Monday as skeptical investors assessed a new European fiscal pact aimed at fixing the continent’s debt crisis and preventing a breakup of the euro currency bloc.

Benchmark oil dropped below $99 per barrel while the dollar rose against the euro and the yen.

European stock markets skidded in the first day of trading after the European Union adopted a new fiscal pact meant to prevent the kind of financial fiasco that is now sweeping across countries that use the euro.

Britain’s FTSE 100 fell 0.5 percent to 5,500.94. Germany’s DAX dropped 0.8 percent to 5,940.05 and France’s CAC-40 lost 0.7 percent to 3,149. Wall Street also headed for a lower opening, with Dow Jones industrial futures dipping 0.4 percent to 12,090 and S&P 500 futures down 0.5 percent at 1,247.50.

Asian stocks registered approval of the deal earlier in the day: Japan’s Nikkei 225 index jumped 1.4 percent to close at 8,653.82. South Korea’s Kospi added 1.3 percent to 1,899.76 and benchmarks in Singapore, Taiwan, Australia and Indonesia also rose.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng swung from early gains to end trading in the red, albeit marginally, at 18,575.66. China’s Shanghai Composite Index fell 1 percent to 2,291.54 as a three-day economic conference of Chinese leaders got under way.

No major shifts in policy for 2012 are expected during a conference of Chinese leaders that began Monday. China has made headway in slowing inflation _ raising some hopes for a looser monetary policy _ while weak demand for exports from the West has sparked concerns that the economy may slow too quickly.

Under the deal, all 17 countries that use the euro agreed to allow a central European authority to oversee their future budgets and impose tighter controls on spending. They also agreed to automatic penalties if countries spend too much.

Europe’s new “fiscal compact” also calls for the launch of a permanent bailout fund for euro nations in 2012 _ a year ahead of schedule _ and an additional 200 billion euros ($267 billion) to the International Monetary Fund for a separate emergency fund for countries in crisis.

But some analysts wondered where debt-stricken Europe, which many economists say is hurtling toward recession, will find the money to make good on the pledges.

“It’s so easy for ministers to say they will contribute to this, but we’ll find out in a week or 10 days time who is,” said Andrew Sullivan, principal sales trader at Piper Jaffray in Hong Kong.

Another caveat is that the deal doesn’t help cut debt today, which in Italy, Greece and Spain has driven government borrowing costs close to levels considered unsustainable.

That loose end brought into focus the future monetary policy of the European Central Bank, and whether it would be willing to buy enough national bonds from troubled countries to keep interest rates down.

Analysts at Credit Agricole CIB said “the lack of ECB action in terms of stepping up to the plate as lender of the last resort” still weighed on investment sentiment.

There were also doubts about the willingness of each individual country to ratify the agreement.

In Tokyo, Toyota Motor Corp., Japan’s biggest car maker, fell 0.7 percent after sharply downgrading its earnings forecast for the fiscal year due to a strong yen and massive flooding in Thailand that disrupted production.

Camera and medical equipment maker Olympus Corp. surged 7.8 percent amid renewed investor faith in the embattled company. Olympus recently admitted falsifying accounting records to cover up huge investment losses from the 1990s and has vowed to investigate about 70 people, including current board members, for their possible involvement.

In Australia, energy shares led the gains. Woodside Petroleum rose 1.5 percent and mining giant BHP Billiton rose 1.9 percent.

Australian miner Whitehaven Coal Ltd. fell 1.4 percent after it agreed to a 5.1 billion Australian dollar ($5.2 billion) business combination with Aston Resources Ltd. that will create one the country’s biggest coal producers. Aston rose 1.4 percent.

High-tech shares posted strong gains. Japanese chipmaker Elpida Memory rose 4.5 percent. South Korea’s LG Electronics, which ranks No. 2 globally in flat screen televisions, also gained 4.5 percent.

Benchmark oil for January delivery was down 85 cents to $98.57 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose $1.07 to finish at $99.41 per barrel on the Nymex on Friday.

In currencies, the euro fell to $1.3300 from $1.3370 late Friday in New York. The dollar rose to 77.66 yen from 77.54 yen.

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