MBA News 

As a member of the Army Reserves and an MBA student in the BYU Marriott School of Business, Jared Sturgell believes in serving others. Over time, Sturgell has found helping others brings immense satisfaction in life, and he continues to serve as a volunteer advisor for the BYU Army ROTC.

An avid “peak-bagger,” Brett Hathaway spends much of his free time summiting mountains. While his own career path has seemed like a long trail traversing varying professional pursuits, Hathaway—now a new assistant professor of global supply chain in the BYU Marriott School of Business—feels uniquely equipped to provide perspective to students in their own journeys.

Ten BYU Marriott MBA students were announced as the recipients of 2023 Hawes Scholars Award—an honor that carries the highest distinction given to MBA students at the school and a cash award of $10,000.

Jenn Larson was just 14 years old when she took over the bookkeeping for her family’s dairy farm near Firth, Idaho. She soon saw firsthand how challenging it was for her parents, who lacked any college education, to properly manage the unpredictable revenues of farming. This experience ignited a lifelong passion for finance, and it led her down an unexpected path to becoming a role model she never had.

The MBA program at the BYU Marriott School of Business announced the winners of the 2023 George E. Stoddard Prize, an award given to second-year MBA students studying finance who display leadership and academic excellence.

BYU Law earns highest mark ever and BYU Marriott makes jump in latest edition of U.S. News rankings

The Whitmore Global Business Center at the BYU Marriott School of Business named 13 first-year BYU Marriott MBA students as 2023 Eccles Scholars. The Eccles Scholars Award offers financial support to MBA students who are interested in and committed to international business.

Students, employees, and executives typically work hard to present themselves professionally. Yet BYU Marriott management professor Kristen DeTienne, an example of professionalism herself, calls for something more. DeTienne says, “What’s that extra edge that helps you be effective and enjoy what you’re doing? It’s personal connection.”

With nearly three decades of experience at BYU Marriott, Christine Roundy diligently seeks to care for and inspire confidence in students. As the academic program manager for the MBA program, she does that by meeting students’ needs one by one.

In a one-of-a-kind event, the BYU Marriott School of Business, in conjunction with the BYU Sorensen Center for Moral and Ethical Leadership, hosted the inaugural Faith and Belief at Work case competition in February. The event hosted more than 50 students from 11 MBA programs across the country, marking the first-ever MBA case competition to deal exclusively with faith and religion in the workplace.

Whoever said “third time’s the charm” was obviously not an entrepreneur. There’s no magic number for successful business launches, but for Ben Miller, a BYU Marriott School of Business MBA alumnus, finding a profitable business idea took him four tries. He eventually cofounded SimpleNexus, a large, prospering mortgage industry platform that integrates multiple homebuying processes into a single system. In the midst of his success, Miller remembers the influence of the Rollins Center for Technology and Entrepreneurship and what he learned there about seeking and preparing for success.

Empowered by the BYU Marriott School of Business, MBA graduate Betsy Rose always strives for positive impact. In every capacity—whether she is working on human resources (HR) projects from a New York City office or cheering up the elderly by volunteering with her therapy dog—Rose is all about making a difference.

When Ronell Hugh worked as an account manager after graduating from college, he quickly realized he wanted to make decisions about products instead of simply overseeing customers using them. Hugh was told he would need an MBA for such a goal, which he earned in 2010 at the BYU Marriott School of Business. While the degree gave Hugh the career path he was looking for, other aspects of the program ended up being much more meaningful to him.

As a principal partner marketing manager at Adobe, Ivy Portwood oversees a group she calls her "dream team." Twenty years ago as a music major at BYU, Portwood never would have imagined she would be working in such a position, or even that she would earn an MBA from the BYU Marriott School of Business.

BYU Marriott executive MBA student JohnPaul Parraga's day usually starts at 3:30 a.m. with a morning workout. His dedication to his fitness goals is a reflection of his committed approach to life in general, including recently achieving a career goal he has worked toward for 25 years.

When he thinks about his future goals, Wilson Moreno hopes to become a leader who makes an impact—in his family, his community, and his local congregation of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Thankfully, Moreno's time spent in the Cardon International Sponsorship (CIS) program, run by the Whitmore Global Business Center (GBC) at the BYU Marriott School of Business, prepared him for these leadership roles.

Marcelo Souza always had a passion for education while growing up in Brazil. He set a goal as a teenager to earn an advanced degree from BYU, which he accomplished when he graduated with an MBA in 2005. The lessons Souza learned at the BYU Marriott School of Business not only helped him adjust to a new culture, they also helped him become a better businessman and reinforce his top priorities of family and religion.

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.

Ten BYU Marriott School of Business MBA students were recently named 2022 Eccles Scholars by the school's Whitmore Global Business Center (GBC). The Eccles Scholars award program provides up to $9,000 in scholarship money to 10 first-year MBA students who are enrolled in the Global Business Certificate program and show a dedicated commitment to international business.

The BYU Marriott School of Business MBA program has awarded nine second-year students with the 2022 George E. Stoddard Prize, an award given to BYU Marriott MBA students.