Finance News 

For the past few years, Amy Densley's family has enjoyed the delicious, hot-out-of-the-oven products of her breadmaking hobby. Similarly, as the assistant program director for the finance department at the BYU Marriott School of Business, Densley brings a warmth to the people around her, including alumni, current students, and her fellow staff and faculty members.

For Adam King, a senior in the finance program at the BYU Marriott School of Business, a good college education extends beyond the classroom. By pursuing internship opportunities, becoming involved in club leadership, and even starting his own business, King has truly embraced the idea of the world as his campus.

BYU Marriott School of Business dean Brigitte C. Madrian has announced Taylor Nadauld as the next chair of the Department of Finance. Nadauld took over for the previous department chair, Craig Merrill, on July 1, 2022. 

When Brian Boyer was an undergraduate finance student at BYU, a pivotal conversation with one of his professors started him on the path to his future career. Now, as an associate professor of finance at the BYU Marriott School of Business, Boyer witnesses firsthand how his roles as a mentor and teacher can positively influence the direction of his own students' careers.

In the years since his graduation from the BYU Marriott School of Business in 2014, finance alum Alan Croft has stayed busy creating a global mentoring program for Disney's magical Florida theme parks, making a case for the building of a new Star Wars themed hotel, and managing a team at Google Fiber. Looking forward, he plans to continue working on projects that give him creative freedom and opportunities to work with others.

For finance students at the BYU Marriott School of Business, choosing a specific career path in the diverse world of finance can sometimes seem daunting. To address these concerns, the finance department recently hosted its first-ever BYU Career Paths in Financial Services Summit, which aimed to help students learn more about different finance careers and form plans for their futures.

Nine students at the BYU Marriott School of Business were recently honored as 2022 Bateman Award recipients for their excellence both inside and outside the classroom. The annual award, named for Merrill J. Bateman, allows each undergraduate program at BYU Marriott to select a 2021–22 academic year senior for recognition.

As a child, Kami Mak grew up with limited finances, and her family was unaware of the resources available to help their financial situation. Wanting to ensure greater financial freedom and stability for her future, Mak decided to learn as much as she could about money management and budgeting. Through the help of a mentor, this BYU Marriott School of Business senior grew from a financial novice to an up-and-coming expert now working as a financial analyst intern at a multinational technology company.  

Taking risks may be a challenge for many, but for Saira Aslam risk-taking comes naturally. As a 2015 finance graduate, Aslam’s journey to success began when she moved more than 7,500 miles to study at the BYU Marriott School of Business. After graduating and working in several corporate finance positions, she has learned that the secret to success, both in life and in finance, is found through navigating opportunities that possess potential risk.  

A day of work for BYU Marriott School of Business alum Tanner Clawson might look different than what most people assume someone in “business” does. Through the Ballard Center for Social Impact at BYU Marriott, Clawson’s career in business has led him across the globe, helping with projects that are solving pressing social issues.

The Brigham Young University Marriott School of Business welcomes nine new professors this fall.

Every fall, recruiters from finance firms around the country descend on the BYU Marriott School of Business in hopes of finding their newest interns and future full-time hires. In order to help students prepare for this recruiting process, the Department of Finance offers a unique class: Finance 180: Finance Recruitment Prep Series. The annual winter semester course focuses on giving pre-business students who are interested in the finance program the necessary skills to connect with recruiters, along with exposing students to the different fields within finance so they know which direction to take their careers.

In 1984, a young Colby Wright watched the BYU football team win the national championship after beating the University of Michigan in the Holiday Bowl. Watching the team’s improbable run to the top proved to be an inspiring catalyst in Wright’s life as he later attended BYU. Years later, Wright is now back at BYU as a professor of finance at the BYU Marriott School of Business, though not because of his love for the football team, but because of the exceptional students he works with on a regular basis. He is also grateful for the character principles BYU Marriott is built on, which he strives to live by running a nonprofit for higher education in the Philippines.

BYU Marriott School of Business alum Wes Whitman owns his own real estate private equity firm and has an MBA from Harvard, achievements the 2003 finance graduate credits to the foundational experiences he had at BYU Marriott. His education as an undergraduate prepared him for accomplishments throughout his life and allows him to now give back to the school that helped set his career in motion. After succeeding in real estate, he now works to helps students strengthen their knowledge of real estate career paths and create connections with the BYU Marriott alumni network.

Teamwork is an important part of any business, whether on a small hay farm or in a large hospital. For Preston Willey, a BYU Marriott School of Business finance senior from Midway, Utah, the benefits of teamwork are personal because medical teams helped him beat cancer. Now he is striving to give back by connecting the principles learned from a childhood job to the classroom and the medical field.

During his free time, Alex Kim can often be found in a field playing soccer with his friends. When he’s not dribbling a soccer ball, he’s either finishing finance homework, studying for tests, working at his internship, or teaching international students how to network. Though Kim may seem busy, he wants to make the most of his experience in the United States and his education at the BYU Marriott School of Business.

Every year, each department in the BYU Marriott School of Business selects one outstanding student to receive the Bateman Award, which recognizes excellence both inside and outside the classroom. The award is named after Merrill J. Bateman, who served as the dean of BYU Marriott from 1975–79 and the president of BYU from 1996–2003. 

Perseverance is no stranger to Chris Call—especially when outdoor pastimes are involved. The lessons Call learned from activities such as road cycling and skiing have helped him find his niche in the business world and reach out to his peers at the BYU Marriott School of Business. 

The Denny L. and Jerri Brown Professor of Finance at BYU Marriott, Hal Heaton has become well-known for his rigorous method of challenging students’ case study positions by asking them to defend their logic. Heaton hopes the lessons that students learn from his teaching method help prepare them as they enter the workforce and compete in business with professionals from all over the world.

Since 1935, people have been playing Hasbro’s Monopoly or The Game of Life board games, where players make decisions about how to best invest their hard-earned tokens and game currency to win the game. But for students involved in the Silver Fund, an investment class at the BYU Marriott School of Business, there’s no need for Monopoly money or investment games. Every semester, these students in the Silver Fund walk the walk by managing more than three million dollars of real stock investments through trading stocks.