The following are students who were highlighted in BYU Marriott's 2025 Annual Report on page 9.
Whitney Sheffield knows how to perform under pressure—whether she’s captaining the BYU women’s lacrosse team or earning 1 of 20 BambooHR internships out of 7,000 applicants. “The Bamboo executives told me I got the internship because I was a quick learner,” says the ExDM senior, who grew up in Provo. Working on BambooHR’s expansion development program, Sheffield guided customers toward product upgrades that improved their day-to-day work. “I love HR technology because it frees people to spend more time on genuine connections—something that technology can’t do,” she says. Sheffield credits the program’s theories and frameworks course, which she now helps TA, for giving her the language to understand motivation and human behavior. That focus on people felt familiar because the ExDM program had been modeling it from day one. “The professors in ExDM know my name; they know my husband’s name. They care deeply, and they share their testimony of Jesus Christ,” Sheffield says. The confidence she’s built in the ExDM program has steadied her on the lacrosse field, especially through setbacks. A post-mission ACL tear sidelined Sheffield for a year, but the trial “ended up being one of my greatest experiences,” she says. “It gave me grit and hunger to come back and play hard.” Sheffield will bring that same drive to her full-time role at BambooHR after graduating.
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Tyler Jeanneret, who grew up in Kansas City, Kansas, was the first in his family to attend BYU; he’d never even set foot on the campus until he arrived as a freshman after his mission. When Jeanneret began exploring career options, he often thought about his father—a dedicated tech salesman who spent long hours on the job. “How nice would it be if there was someone watching out for my father and helping him have the best experience at work?” Jeanneret wondered. His path became clear when he discovered HR and the Ballard Center—both of which fueled his long-standing desire to become an advocate for employees. His involvement with the center also led to a consulting project with Maverik, where he helped company leaders understand barriers to health insurance enrollment among its lower-income employees. Jeanneret later joined the Ballard Center’s careers team, helping create pathways for students pursuing social impact roles. A master’s degree was not on his radar, but mentorship from the Ballard Center’s Jill Piacitelli and MPA Professor Eva Witesman nudged him onward. “HR is a really good managerial degree, and I realized that an MPA would help me get an HR job in social impact or with a nonprofit,” Jeanneret says. Now a first-year MPA student, he is inspired by BYU Marriott’s approach to learning: “Something I’ve loved is that there’s this huge focus on not just running efficient government or nonprofit programs but running ones that help people feel Christ’s love.”
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“I’ve been building businesses since I was a kid—it’s just the way my mind works,” says entrepreneurship student Coleton Clark. As a boy growing up in Meridian, Idaho, Clark made bracelets out of paracord, displayed them on a shower curtain rod, and then sold them door-to-door. He earned enough in a single night to buy a hoverboard. That entrepreneurial drive grew, and as a teenager, Clark started his first online drop-shipping venture—a tie company serving moms of missionaries—that became a meaningful catalyst in preparing him for his own mission. Clark’s time at BYU Marriott post-mission inspired him to embrace the school’s vision to transform the world through Christlike leadership. He founded a new tie company—Volta Ties, named for the Portuguese voltar, which means “to return”—and donated a portion of each sale to an organization in Ghana that helps formerly trafficked children. Later, Clark pulled himself out of a mental health struggle by launching a seasonal window-cleaning business. The door-to-door work created natural opportunities to share his faith with customers and his crew—most of whom were saving money for their own missions. “As an entrepreneur, you’re taking leaps of faith and stepping into the darkness,” he says. “But when I include Heavenly Father, miracles happen.” As a senior at BYU, Clark enjoys his entrepreneurial leadership class and loves seeing how his professors prioritize their faith. “What’s really special about entrepreneurship is that you’re trying to provide value for people,” he says. “You have opportunities every day to help someone feel Christ’s love.”
