News Releases 

Swimming with sharks isn’t typically a precursor to entering a program at the BYU Marriott School of Business, but for Aleia Allen, a field study adventure in the Caribbean spurred her into her first semester in the experience design and management program.

Reid Tileston, an adjunct professor at the BYU Marriott School of Business, first became a business owner at age 16 when he took over his brother’s small airport-shuttle business. The experience helped Tileston begin developing an appreciation for entrepreneurship through acquisition that has directed his career ever since.

How does a student balance playing collegiate soccer with studying in the MBA program at the BYU Marriott School of Business? For Annabella Folino, it meant doing the program backward.

Fifty-eight high school teams from across Utah were given three weeks to develop a new marketing plan for the nonprofit organization Busankam Wola Foundation. The challenge? None of their work could be in English.

Paul Lambert hopes to empower students at the BYU Marriott School of Business to see their faith as one of their biggest assets in the workplace.

A life-threatening car crash was just one of many obstacles that Erin Cole, a senior in BYU’s Army ROTC, believes has shaped who she is today. Now she sees herself as someone who has accomplished mental and physical feats she once considered too difficult to achieve.

Jose and Adela Montoya Brañez—a sibling duo studying entrepreneurial management at the BYU Marriott School of Business—are passionate about entrepreneurship and the chance it gives them to serve others.

Growing up in Hanover, Germany, Rahel Meyer witnessed many of the ongoing difficulties faced by some of the 2.5 million refugees displaced to her country. Now as an MPA student at the BYU Marriott School of Business, Meyer is preparing herself to make the difference she wants to see in the world.

If Michael McLennan had followed his original life plan, he believes he would already have graduated from college and started working as a software developer in his home country of Scotland. Instead, McLennan followed the promptings of the Lord and found even greater joy and purpose.

During an internship in Berlin made possible by the Whitmore Global Business Center, Finance senior Emilio Ramos Barrios has learned that determination will take you places—literally.

“We don’t survive the junior core—we thrive in it,” says Adam Boswell, a strategy student who focuses on the growth, rather than the stress, of student life. Boswell is encouraging his peers to adopt the same attitude while he serves as president of the Strategy Society in the BYU Marriott School of Business.

As a young college graduate, Barrett Slade wasn’t looking for a job in real estate. Now a professor of finance and real estate at the BYU Marriott School of Business, Slade strives to equip his students with practical tools to thrive in the “real world” of real estate.

Jay Meldrum, a principal at PwC and the recipient of the BYU Marriott School of Business 2024 Alumni Achievement Award, recently spoke to students about the power of transactions that transform—both business and everyday life.

In a US Air Force Pararescue selection course of 146 candidates, only a dozen completed the course—including Cameron Strawn, an assistant professor of aerospace studies at Brigham Young University.

As a former collegiate gymnast, Elaina Greco knows a thing or two about competition. But as a junior in the finance program at the BYU Marriott School of Business, Greco has learned that succeeding in the face of opposition stems not just from willpower or talent—true progress is often the result of mutual support and shared growth.

In a lecture hall packed with prospective and current business students, Sunrise Technologies Founder and President John Pence shared how saying yes early in his career eventually led him to start and run his own company.

On a ferry near the northern coast of France, Brigham Young University senior Joseph Ward imagined himself as a solider on the morning of June 6, 1944, preparing to invade Normandy. Ward, a member of the BYU Army ROTC, was touring the main locations of Operation Overlord—the campaign that turned the tide of World War II—and discovered a deeper understanding of leadership.

If there’s one word that alum Tyler Banks uses every day, it’s team. Whether he is with his coworkers at Alliant Private Client or with his family at home, Banks believes that teamwork is essential to make meaningful progress in life.

When Jeffrey Pickerd graduated from BYU Marriott, he knew he wanted to return as a faculty member someday. Now a new associate professor in the SOA, Pickerd has seen the Lord’s hand guiding his journey back to BYU Marriott as he continued forward in faith.

Last May, students from the Department of Experience Design and Management at the BYU Marriott School of Business showcased innovative, experience-focused product demos to FamilySearch executives, garnering high praise and paving the way for a promising long-term collaboration.