Where Are They Now?

Exemplary professors have always graced the hallways and classrooms of BYU Marriott, leaving indelible marks on the students and the school. We tracked down six beloved professors whose impact continues to be felt long after retirement. The stories that follow prove that “Enter to learn; go forth to serve” doesn’t just apply to the student body.

What did they do then, and what are they doing now?

Steve Albrecht:

Most Likely to Become a Town Council Member

→ Put the accounting program on the map.
→ Served as associate dean of BYU Marriott for 10 years.

For Steve Albrecht, it’s always been about relationships. And while he loved the accounting program and helped build its notoriety, it was the people at BYU Marriott who mattered most to him—not the numbers. “I loved the interaction and the relationships,” he says.

The accounting program has been ranked one of the top three in the nation for nearly two decades. Albrecht, who served as program director for nine years, believes “the faculty that we hired, the curriculum that we put together, the students we were able to attract, and the support we got from recruiters and alumni” were key in making the accounting program what it is today.

Cori Elzey, who graduated with a JD/MBA in 2003, says, “I owe my career to Dr. Albrecht. I decided to be a fraud investigator after taking his fraud audit class, and he persuaded KPMG to hire me into its forensic practice. I worked harder because Steve Albrecht was my reference. I refused to let him down.”

She adds: “Don’t tell anyone, but he let me take the fraud audit final early so I could go to the first showing of The Lord of the Rings at midnight. The final was at 8 a.m. the following day. I am forever grateful!”

Albrecht paused his teaching from 2009 to 2012 to preside over the Japan Tokyo Mission, where he and his wife, LeAnn, orchestrated the evacuation, lodging, meals, transfer, and relocation of 160 missionaries in the hours and days following Japan’s 2011 earthquake and tsunami. When they completed their mission, Albrecht resumed teaching at BYU Marriott until he retired in 2017.

People still matter most to Albrecht, and retirement has drawn him closer to his family. “I have been spending a lot more time with LeAnn, our children, and our grandchildren,” he says. The couple, who met as students in a BYU family home evening group, have traveled to Israel, Alaska, and Europe, among other spots. They also serve as temple workers in the Manti Temple.

Retirement also drew Albrecht back to his hometown of Bicknell, Utah, a small town with a population upward of 300 that is located near Capitol Reef National Park. In Bicknell, he helped put something else on the map: a new heritage memorial that honors veterans and early pioneers. Albrecht raised more than $400,000 for the memorial’s construction, and LeAnn designed it. The landmark earned Bicknell the Beautification Award from Utah’s Six County Association of Governments. It’s no wonder that Albrecht was recently reelected to the Bicknell Town Council.

Albrecht also serves on several corporate boards of directors. He has penned multiple books for his family, including his own personal history, and he assisted LeAnn in writing her history.

“Even though I’m retired from BYU, I’m not really retired,” Albrecht says.

Ray Andrus:

Most Likely to Sing in the Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square

→ Oversaw the planning and construction of the Tanner Building in the 1980s.

→ Livened up his sports marketing classes with guests like Steve Young and LaVell Edwards.

Ray Andrus had a blast at BYU Marriott—quite literally, on one occasion.

As faculty chair of the Tanner Building construction committee, Andrus, who was also associate dean at the time, spearheaded the groundbreaking ceremony in November 1980. “Usually, they use shovels to break ground, but I thought it would be more dramatic to use dynamite,” Andrus says. “It was dramatic, all right.”

The blast shot rocks into the air. “I thought I was gonna wipe out the First Presidency single-handedly,” Andrus quips.

One softball-sized rock knocked out a woman in the crowd. Andrus says, “When she came to, she said, ‘This is the best day of my life! I get hurt, and when I look up, the entire First Presidency is giving me a blessing.’”

Andrus made an impact in the classroom too. He taught a variety of marketing classes, making sports marketing particularly fun by bringing in notable guest speakers. In his 25 years at BYU Marriott, Andrus also served as assistant dean to Merrill J. Bateman and as associate dean to William G. Dyer. “I had a great time at BYU,” Andrus says.

Lia Brandligt, a 1995 business management alumna, says: “It is hard to put into words the effect Dr. Andrus had on me personally and professionally. As I spent many late nights at his house working on group projects with peers, I learned market research from every angle, and I also witnessed firsthand a devoted husband and father.”

Brandligt adds, “His connections landed me my first marketing coordinator position in Los Angeles. His confidence in my abilities allowed me to take risks and grow in impactful and unexpected ways.”

Andrus also built up BYU Marriott’s technology resources. “It’s hard to imagine, but in those days, nobody had personal computers,” he says. Andrus replaced typewriters with personal computers—a major upgrade for professors who had previously relied on the university’s central computer—and he created a computer lab and a MAcc lab at the school.

Leveling up was a trend for Andrus, and it didn’t end at retirement. When the time came, he and his wife, MaryAnn, served two full-time missions: first as facilitators for the China Teachers Program and then as senior missionaries at the Mesa Temple Visitors’ Center. Andrus also performed in the Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square for several years.

Along the way, he has relished spending time with his children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. His yard is equipped with a playground and zipline where his posterity can gather.

Andrus wrote a book of family memories titled Ray Remembers, though
“a lot of people wonder if that is a fact,” he laughs.

Kristie Seawright:

Most Likely to Live the Aloha Life

→ Created the curriculum for BYU Marriott’s first study abroad program.

→ Trekked across Africa and Asia while leading experiences abroad.

Kristie Seawright made “The world is our campus” more than a motto for her students when she taught in BYU Marriott’s management program. Vibrant villages and cities around the globe became a living classroom for Seawright. “I loved sharing cross-cultural experiences with students,” she says.

One of those experiences unfolded in Africa, where Seawright’s students collaborated with locals to achieve an especially sweet success.

“The villagers were looking for unique things to sell,” Seawright recounts. The students suggested selling mangoes out of season, when the market would bear a price 25 times higher. “We showed the villagers how to preserve mangoes,” Seawright says. “They enjoyed the unexpected sweetness of the dried fruit, and they also learned how to make a differentiated product.”

Creating these real-world teaching moments was Seawright’s specialty. “I didn’t have to teach the students much about financial currency exchange because they were out doing it,” she remembers.

When Seawright presented to the Centers for International Business Education and Research (CIBER), attendees from across the country would often ask, “How do you teach international business outside the classroom?” Her answer was always, “How do you teach international business inside the classroom?”

Since retiring in 2018, Seawright has continued to travel, teach, and transform lives. She and her husband, Larry, worked for a nonprofit called Extending Reach International to help villages in Zambia. They also served a three-year service mission for BYU–Pathway. Retirement has also gifted Seawright the “amazing though tiring experience” of caring for her aging parents.

Currently, the Seawrights are serving in the Hawaii Laie Mission, where they are helping students develop university-success skills. “The gathering of Israel is picking up speed,” Seawright says, “and everyone is needed.”

Shortly after arriving in Hawaii, the couple ran into Vimbayinashe Jennifer Mutsvangwa (pictured above), a student from Zimbabwe who they’d previously worked with at BYU–Pathway. They learned that she had joined the Church and was now studying at BYU–Hawaii. “We’ll have the opportunity to attend her family’s sealing at the Laie Temple,” Seawright says. “It’s like the two missions came together.”

Former student David Jeppesen, who graduated from the MPA program in 2004, says Seawright stood out among faculty: “I can’t think of another professor—and I had a number of excellent ones—who better embodied the standards of BYU, especially teaching through example the ideals of establishing Zion.”

Scott M. Smith:

Most Likely to Start a Company in His Basement

→ Taught marketing courses at BYU Marriott for more than 30 years.

→ Brought market research tools to the masses by launching Qualtrics, a highly successful survey company.

Scott M. Smith sparked progress and growth within his classrooms and well beyond. As his longtime friend and colleague Michael Swenson puts it, “Smith’s impact was not only felt within the academic realm, but it also reverberated through the business world.”

Smith served as chair of the business management department, where he oversaw finance, marketing, and operations. Swenson says, “Scott Smith steered the department through a period of remarkable growth. When I reflect on Scott, a number of descriptors come to mind: colleague, thought-leader, innovator, researcher, mentor, and friend.”

While teaching at BYU Marriott, Smith simultaneously developed several software packages for data collection and multivariate statistical analysis. Later, with the advent of online surveying and data collection, he founded an evolving series of online survey companies—including Qualtrics—with his sons, Ryan Smith and Jared Smith, and Stuart Orgill. Together, they worked out of Smith’s basement and garage for seven years. “During this period of time, we focused on getting the product right before we scaled it,” he says.

Qualtrics developed under Ryan and Jared’s insightful leadership to become the world-leading Experience Management platform. In 2019, Qualtrics was sold to SAP for $8 billion—at the time, the largest private enterprise software acquisition in tech history.

Smith shares that the success of Qualtrics has allowed him and his family to focus on serving and creating a legacy of missionary, public, and philanthropic efforts for their posterity to learn from and follow. “Life provides us with a canvas that we fill with practical achievements, intellectual and spiritual understanding, and the love we give and receive as we minister and share our lives and resources,” he says.

Smith and his wife, Karen, served as Church service missionaries in Hong Kong, and they trained healthcare professionals in newborn resuscitation techniques in Palestine, Ghana, and Nepal. They coordinated Church humanitarian service efforts in Israel and the West Bank (Occupied Palestinian Territory) while living and serving at the BYU Jerusalem Center in 2018. The couple recently completed a year of service doing special projects for the Middle East/Africa North Area.

The Smiths are both cancer survivors, and their philanthropic priorities focus on cancer treatment, research, and education. They support the Karen and Scott Smith Women’s Center at the Kathryn F. Kirk Center at the Huntsman Cancer Institute. They’ve also made significant contributions to Utah Valley University, where Smith serves as vice chair of its Board of Trustees.

Smith continues to innovate and ignite growth in those around him. He and Karen enjoy serving with the young married couples in their ward while they plan for their next missionary service opportunity.

Stacy Taniguchi:

Most Likely to Conquer the Items on His 100 List

→ Helped shape and grow BYU Marriott’s experience design and management program.

→ Climbed the highest peaks on six continents.
(He skipped the seventh because it was too small.)

A master storyteller himself, Stacy Taniguchi played a leading role in the story of BYU Marriott’s experience design and management program. He started teaching in BYU’s Department of Recreation Management, which was housed in the now-dissolved College of Health and Human Performance. Six years later, the department moved to BYU Marriott, and he and his colleagues reinvented their discipline so it would better fit within the business school.

“In my mind, we had to not just fit into BYU Marriott but also bring value to the school,” Taniguchi recalls. “Recreation management focuses on developing experiences. The power of well-designed experiences was becoming a topic of interest in business.”

And thus, in 2017 a new BYU Marriott program was born: experience design and management.

Chase MacCourtney, a graduate of the program, felt the impact of Taniguchi’s storytelling during a 2012 study abroad. “Whether we were in a shack in the forests of New Zealand, on an uninhabited island of Fiji, or in the outback of Australia, we lived to hear his gripping adventures every night before we went to bed. We called it ‘story time with Papa T.’”

More than a storyteller, Taniguchi became MacCourtney’s mentor and friend. “One of the most important things he did for me was to say, ‘Chase, you’re about to graduate. You need a plan.’ That little push led me to research companies and get an offer from my top-choice company before graduating.”

Taniguchi encouraged his students to create a list of things they want to accomplish and let it guide their lives—his own list has 100 items.

Since retiring in 2019, he has shared his stories with even wider audiences through a presentation titled “Choose to THRIVE.” Speaking to a variety of groups, including incoming first-year students at colleges and universities across the United States, Taniguchi inspires people to actively shape their own life stories.

“Your life is full of opportunities,” Taniguchi tells his audiences. “Never think that you don’t have opportunities to grow and to be a better person and to enjoy life. You can choose to thrive, or you can just endure life.”

The principles at the heart of Taniguchi’s message have been a theme for his own postretirement life. Taniguchi also works with some of his former BYU colleagues and students in a consulting role for Beta Experiences, a company he helped found.

Taniguchi has crossed off every item on his personal 100 list and collected many anecdotes along the way. He’s whitewater rafted on the Nile and been chased by Maasai warriors in Tanzania. What’s next? He and his wife, LuAnn, are preparing for their next adventure: serving a full-time senior mission.

Gloria Wheeler:

Most Likely to Walk Across England

→ Joined a small group of female faculty members in 1978 and became the first woman at BYU Marriott to attain full professor status.

→ Left footprints in the business school and around the globe.

Gloria Wheeler blazed trails at BYU Marriott. She started in the business management department and transferred a few years later to the Romney Institute of Public Management—now the Romney Institute of Public Service and Ethics—as its first female faculty member.

Wheeler worked tirelessly to attract more women and other underrepresented groups to the program. She was also known throughout the school for her stats and research methods class.

“Throughout much of my career, because I was often the first woman in a particular role, I was highly visible,” says Wheeler, who also taught HR management. “I always felt like I needed to do well because my performance might clear the way for others to follow me.”

One of those students who shadowed Wheeler was Lori Wadsworth. “Lori was very bright,” Wheeler says. “As a faculty, we did everything we could to encourage her to go on for a PhD.”

Their efforts paid off. Wadsworth earned her PhD from the University of Utah, and Wheeler was instrumental in bringing Wadsworth to teach at BYU Marriott. Wadsworth went on to become chair for the department of public management.

Wadsworth recalls, “When I returned to BYU, Gloria Wheeler was the only other woman in the department, so she had a huge impact on me. She was aware that I needed mentoring. She took it upon herself to make sure that I was doing okay. She’s a very kind and giving person.”

Wheeler didn’t just blaze trails at BYU Marriott; she also left footprints around the globe. Prior to her retirement, she and a small group of friends completed a 192-mile coast-to-coast walk in England.

“We averaged about 11 miles a day and took 17 days to walk it,” she says. “It was a great experience because we walked through little towns and farm fields.” Wheeler appreciated the tenacious spirit of the animals they encountered along the trail. “Chickens and cows don’t move for people walking through,” she says with a smile. “It’s where they live.”

Since retiring in 2008, Wheeler has continued to forge new frontiers—teaching in Mongolia and serving missions in Japan; Sacramento, California; Washington, DC; and Orem. She continues to serve at the Orem Digital Processing Center, preparing books to be added to familysearch.org, and she and her sister, Lida Jane Saunders, teach a Come, Follow Me class at Provo Rehabilitation and Nursing.

“There are many different ways you can serve people,” Wheeler says. “The more you stay physically and mentally active, the more you can help yourself and the people around you.”