High Five - Fall 2026

BYU Marriott earned five top-10 rankings in the Princeton Review’s 2027 business school rankings. The distinctions highlight the school’s continued excellence among 208 institutions nationwide.

What began as a difficult search for an internship led strategy student Charlie Rhodes to an opportunity with a UK-based nonprofit and later to a conference with members of the UK House of Lords. At the gathering, Rhodes presented on religious freedom in Nigeria—an issue he explored during his internship with The FoRB (freedom of religion or belief) Foundation.

Working on the Nigeria project also gave Rhodes the chance to connect BYU engineering students with FoRB to bring solar power to communities serving kidnapping survivors. “The experience showed me that anyone can make a difference if they’re willing to just put their foot forward,” says Rhodes, whose experience with FoRB helped him land a consulting internship with McKinsey & Company.

MISM graduate Tanner Scott Atkin piped “Highland Cathedral” to honor graduates at the April 2026 BYU Marriott convocation. “I love how the tune feels celebratory and triumphant,” he says. “It’s one of the most iconic pieces in modern bagpipe music.”

Atkin learned to play bagpipes from his father fifteen years ago, and the two continue to perform together with the Salt Lake Scots Pipe Band as a way of honoring their heritage. Atkin is now pursuing a career as a software engineer.

A strong foundation has helped Cougar Capital reach new heights since Gary Williams launched the program in 2005. Over the past two decades, MBA students have built lasting relationships while gaining firsthand experience in venture capital and private equity.

The fun (and the fund) come with serious work. Students source opportunities, conduct due diligence, evaluate startups, and make investment decisions for the donation-based, evergreen fund, which reinvests its returns to support future cohorts. Each new class inherits both the fund and a tight-knit network of alumni.

An elephant sanctuary in Thailand was just one memorable stop for Lara Seager (left) during a healthcare leadership study abroad. Students visited a range of medical facilities and met with leaders—including Cambodia’s minister of health—across India and Southeast Asia to gain new perspectives on patient care.

“The healthcare leaders we met are pioneers in paving the way, but they’re also humble—and that’s such an important quality that we can learn from them,” says Seager, who is completing BYU Marriott’s healthcare leadership minor and plans to study nursing. “In every place we visited, I saw healthcare workers treating the whole person—looking beyond the diagnosis to the patient’s emotional and spiritual health.”

This was the first study abroad hosted by the Healthcare Leadership Collaborative, which partnered with the Whitmore Global Business Center and the
Kennedy Center to organize the trip.