Finance News 

When Professor of Finance Taylor Nadauld got his first job in 2002, he could count on one hand how many students from the BYU Marriott School of Business had gotten jobs in high finance. Now, he says a huge smile comes to his face as he watches students mentor each other, leading to more than 40 students from BYU Marriott getting jobs in investment banking last year. “It’s a beautiful thing,” he says.

As Mary Catherine Shepherd works her way through the information systems junior core, she recalls a time when she was less sure of her path. Shepherd found guidance in the BYU Marriott School of Business Undergraduate Advisement office, where she now works with other trained peer advisors who rely on their own BYU Marriott experiences to help pre-business students seeking light and advice on an individual level.

Andres Aleson had one goal in mind when he pursued a college education: "I wanted to become a leader in whatever career I pick, where I can make a positive social impact in people's lives." Now, as an alumnus of the finance program at the BYU Marriott School of Business, he strives to impact individuals through service and personal connection.

For Mark Johnson, an assistant professor of finance in the BYU Marriott School of Business, the decision to come to BYU Marriott to teach finance wasn’t driven only by a love of numbers or research—though he says he enjoys both. What ultimately drew him to academia was the chance to pair those interests with the opportunity to build lasting relationships with students and colleagues.

Heidi Wakefield had planned to spend the months after her freshman year at Brigham Young University as a Nauvoo performing missionary, but her application was denied. She took a chance on finance and learned that for her, God's timing is perfect.

Brigham Young University student Grady Call thought the motto “The world is our campus” was a little cheesy when he first arrived to campus. But when he competed in the Computers for Change Case Competition hosted by the BYU Marriott School of Business’s Whitmore Global Business Center, he realized the phrase held some truth for him. “Here we are learning about Africa from Provo,” says Call, who’s studying international relations and economics. “It’s been a really cool feeling to be able to work on things that can have a real difference there.”

When Tyler Shumway was a student at Brigham Young University, he admired the casual confidence of his economics professor Richard Butler, who would walk up and down the department hallway in his socks, deep in thought. But the lack of shoes wasn’t the only aspect about his former professor that intrigued Shumway—Butler contributed to more than 200 research papers in his career, and Shumway decided that a career of continual learning would be a career of continual rewards.

During the fall 2024 semester, BYU Marriott School of Business students Ellie and Trevor Lowry rode the bus home from class every weekday—not from the Tanner Building, but from Pforzheim University in Germany.

When Rebekah Koster took her first finance midterm in the MBA program, she felt like she had no idea what she was doing. The test scared her, so she decided to switch her track—not away from finance, but to it. “Part of who I am is choosing and going after really hard things,” says Koster, a second-year MBA student from Mesa, Arizona. “I love doing things that stretch me.”

From the time that Matthias Dunn was a high school senior to the day he returned from his church mission to Córdoba, Argentina, and Lansing, Michigan, his plan was simple: play football at Brigham Young University. But that plan was put on pause when Dunn was cut from the team in March 2022—and he says it’s the best thing that could have happened to him.

Since the pandemic, Zoom classes—often filled with muted participants and blank screens—have been a new part of the classroom experience. But for students at the BYU Marriott School of Business who are part of the Silver Fund class, a Zoom discussion featuring 65 BYU–Pathway Worldwide students in 18 different countries provided inspiration and connection.

On April 8, a packed ballroom of students from the BYU Marriott School of Business listened to what Mary C. Daly, president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, had to say: “If you want to learn and you want to give, you’ll have a beautiful life. That’s my main message to you today.” Then she added, “I’ll talk about the economy, too.”

Born and raised in Mexico City, Jesus Raul Martinez Piña accepted an unexpected opportunity to improve his English, leading him to his dream program at the BYU Marriott School of Business. Along the way, Martinez began to foster a new dream: to become a business professional who makes his corner of the world a better place.

In its April 2025 awards ceremony, the BYU Marriott School of Business recognized selected faculty, staff, and administrators for exemplifying the college’s vision, mission, values, and guiding principle in both classroom and administrative work.

In March the BYU Marriott School of Business administration recognized a graduating student from each undergraduate program with the Bateman Award for their exemplary dedication to the BYU Marriott values, commitment to academic excellence, and profound drive to serve others.

During an internship in Berlin made possible by the Whitmore Global Business Center, Finance senior Emilio Ramos Barrios has learned that determination will take you places—literally.

As a young college graduate, Barrett Slade wasn’t looking for a job in real estate. Now a professor of finance and real estate at the BYU Marriott School of Business, Slade strives to equip his students with practical tools to thrive in the “real world” of real estate.

Jay Meldrum, a principal at PwC and the recipient of the BYU Marriott School of Business 2024 Alumni Achievement Award, recently spoke to students about the power of transactions that transform—both business and everyday life.

As a former collegiate gymnast, Elaina Greco knows a thing or two about competition. But as a junior in the finance program at the BYU Marriott School of Business, Greco has learned that succeeding in the face of opposition stems not just from willpower or talent—true progress is often the result of mutual support and shared growth.

Each year at University Conference, Brigham Young University recognizes a number of employees for their service and influence. This year faculty and staff members at the BYU Marriott School of Business—Julie Averett, Spencer Hilton, Jenn Larson, and Scott Webb—received awards at the conference for their contributions to BYU.