Global Business Center News 

A common theme throughout Joseph van Scheltema’s life is to carry on—through coping with family tragedy, supporting his family as a student, and traveling through a global pandemic. But he doesn’t only carry on for himself. As an MBA student, Van Scheltema hopes his education at the BYU Marriott School of Business will help him reach out and help others as well.

When Mary Kay Lloyd graduated from high school, she planned on working in fashion advertisement. However, like many of us, her experiences took her on a different path and taught her how to adapt. As a program coordinator for the Global Business Center (GBC) at the BYU Marriott School of Business, she relies on life lessons she’s learned to reach out to students and help them feel connected to the world and community around them. 

In a global market that is constantly expanding, companies that wish to succeed must understand how to apply business strategies and models to a plethora of cultures and peoples. Through the efforts of dedicated faculty at the BYU Marriott School of Business, students in the marketing program are getting firsthand knowledge of what it means to market to a global audience; they are also learning how to truly make the world their campus.

BYU Marriott staff member Lisbeth Hopper immigrated to the United States when she was seventeen years old to pursue better opportunities for education. Years later, she's helping other international students do the same.

In 2005, when Cate Allen first entered the Whitmore Global Business Center at the BYU Marriott School of Business to ask about receiving her global business certificate, her thoughts were focused on pursuing a career in international business. She had no way of knowing that the experiences that followed would help her in all facets of her career, including in her current jobs as an actress and radio show host.

At the start of the school year, the Whitmore Global Management Center is turning over a new leaf—or actually a name to be more precise. The Brigham Young University Board of Trustees approved the center to be renamed the Kay and Yvonne Whitmore Global Business Center.

Whether they’re riding elephants, climbing Machu Picchu, or visiting thousand-year-old caves, BYU Marriott MBA graduate David Paradiso and his family members have enjoyed adventures around the world. However, none of these experiences—or his career opportunities—would have been possible without the education and skills he obtained during his time at the BYU Marriott School of Business. 

BYU Marriott School of Business dean Brigitte C. Madrian has announced the appointment of Bonnie Anderson as the school’s newest associate dean. Anderson takes over for previous associate dean Keith Vorkink on 18 May.

BYU Marriott alum and former Eccles scholar Colin Ludlow created his own career opportunities and followed his passion for international business first to Japan and then to Malaysia. Now as he settles back into life in the United States, Ludlow is grateful for the global experiences he's had and wants others to know that they too can be internationally minded—even if they don't have the opportunity to work abroad.

For Corinne Anderson, assistant professor of accounting from Salt Lake Community College, the chance to go to India with BYU Marriott's Whitmore Global Management Center (GMC) was an opportunity she couldn't pass up. Her experience, which was made possible with the help of BYU's Center for International Business and Research (CIBER) grant, allowed Anderson to gain insightful knowledge that will benefit her students as she develops and refines her teaching curriculum to prepare them for their own trip to India this year.

Whether he's kayaking to waterfalls in Croatia or exploring the sites of Dubai, Tanner Wegrowski loves to experience the world. Completing an internship in Berlin and participating in BYU Marriott's Global Marketing Study Abroad has convinced Wegrowski that everyone should have international experiences. He believes these experiences are an invaluable way to gain an appreciation for and broader perspective of the world in which we live.

When BYU Marriott MPA professor Rob Christensen hit a crossroad in his career, he took the path that led to a semester-long sabbatical in Europe. After spending three months in Milan and a month and a half in London during fall 2019, Christensen reflects back on his time abroad and is grateful for the research opportunities he was given and the networking experiences he had. 

BYU Marriott's Whitmore Global Management Center hosted its ninth annual High School Business Language Competition. Fifty-eight teams of students from high schools around the state of Utah gathered in the Tanner Building to put their language skills to the test as they competed in Spanish, Mandarin Chinese, French, and Arabic.

BYU Marriott’s Whitmore Global Management Center recently recognized eleven MBA students as this year’s Eccles scholars and presented each student with $9,000 for their interest in and commitment to a career in international business.

On 2 November 2019, four students from BYU Marriott’s Global Management Center won second place in the NU-CUIBE International Business Case Competition in Boston. Team members competed against fourteen other universities and walked away with valuable insights they plan to apply to their future careers.  

If creating and presenting an international business plan isn’t challenging enough, try doing it in a foreign language. Students from across the country traveled to BYU Marriott to compete in the Global Management Center’s two-day Business Language Case Competition on 7–8 November 2019. 

At the age of thirty-six, Marc de Schweinitz strapped on his helmet and barreled down the half-pipe on his skateboard for the first time in fifteen years. This one-of-a-kind BYU Marriott alum chases his dreams, whether on a skateboard or in the office.

The Brigham Young University Marriott School of Business welcomes seven new professors to the Tanner Building this fall.

From developing business relationships in France to watching a sunrise over a mountain in Peru, the Global Management Center’s foreign exchange programs teach what a classroom can’t. The foreign exchange program provides students the opportunity to learn the inner workings of international business, become proficient in a new language, experience a different culture, and build professional international relationships.

Outside the office, Jonathon Wood, managing director at the Whitmore Global Management Center, spends a lot of his free time playing in a bluegrass acoustic band known as Lincoln Highway. Along with his fellow band members, Wood recently accepted an invite from Mike Lee, senator from Utah, to play in Washington, DC, at an event known as Utah Days.