News Releases 

U.S. Comptroller General Gene Dodaro recently accepted the 2022 Administrator of the Year Award. This award is presented annually by the Romney Institute of Public Service and Ethics at the BYU Marriott School of Business.

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.

When Isaac Pettit was 14, his uncle gave him an extremely unusual gift—a unicycle. With the promise of $100 from his uncle if he could learn how to ride the one-wheeler gracefully, Pettit took off. Now, as an April 2022 graduate of the strategic management program at the BYU Marriott School of Business, Pettit has extended his ability to balance from riding his unicycle to staying on top of future education and career opportunities.

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 crackling sound of sparks, dancing orange flames, and the glowing light of a fire cast upon the faces huddled around it are the images and sounds that play in Marinne Pearson’s mind when she thinks about a campfire. When the 2013 BYU Marriott School of Business marketing alumna was working to rebrand a new company, Pearson likened the company’s service of bringing managers together for trainings to people gathering around a campfire.

When she ended her 30-year-long career at the Romney Institute of Public Service and Ethics at the BYU Marriott School of Business, emeritus faculty member Gloria Wheeler knew she wanted to continue serving others. Since leaving the institute in 2008, Wheeler has found countless ways to bless the lives of those around her, including serving five full- or part-time missions for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

While serving a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Stuttgart, Germany, Ross Storey was planning on being a graphic designer when he returned home. However, a conversation with a stranger he met on the street led Storey to change his plans, which eventually resulted in him working at the Provo Missionary Training Center and teaching as an adjunct experience design and management professor at the BYU Marriott School of Business.

As Caleb Faber drove to Assisi, Italy, the sky was pouring rain. However, as soon as he arrived, the rain stopped, and a beautiful sunset broke through the clouds, creating a colorful backdrop as he and his wife walked through the town. This memory is one of the highlights of Faber's student exchange program at Bocconi University, which is run through the Whitmore Global Business Center at the BYU Marriott School of Business.

Wearing Nike shoes, surrounded by BYU sports paraphernalia in his office without a textbook in sight, Bill Keenan works to put the job-seeking students he advises at ease. As a career advisor at the BYU Marriott Business Career Center, Keenan tailors his teaching and advising to help undergraduates find jobs after graduation.

In the years since his graduation from the BYU Marriott School of Business in 2014, finance alum Alan Croft has stayed busy creating a global mentoring program for Disney's magical Florida theme parks, making a case for the building of a new Star Wars themed hotel, and managing a team at Google Fiber. Looking forward, he plans to continue working on projects that give him creative freedom and opportunities to work with others.

When Alyssa Asplund transferred to BYU from BYU–Hawaii in 2018, she knew she wanted to continue making a difference for those in need. Asplund found a way to do so through the Ballard Center for Social Impact at the BYU Marriott School of Business. In the process, she also discovered how to improve herself.

The call of free doughnuts can be powerful, and for BYU Marriott School of Business student Emily Holden, this call led to her major at BYU and her eventual career. A Yakima, Washington, native and a lover of the outdoors, languages, service, and yes, doughnuts, Holden is excited to use the accounting abilities she has gained from the School of Accountancy (SOA) to serve not only the business world but also the environment she loves and the underprivileged communities she aspires to empower.

When she learned that a supervisor position would be opening where she worked, Ana Malafu-Eliesa decided to enroll in the executive MPA (EMPA) program at the BYU Marriott School of Business. However, shortly before she graduated in 2007, an unexpected event changed her life—and career path—forever.

Some people might call 15 water bottles excessive, but for Trove Brand human resources manager Blake Marchant, it's just another aspect of his life where he's all in. From when he was participating in BYU clubs to now repping his Blender Bottles from work, the 2015 BYU Marriott School of Business alum has always been fully committed.

Many students feel apprehension as college graduation approaches, particularly about the hunt for full-time employment. Students in the experience design and management (ExDM) program at the BYU Marriott School of Business are no exception. To help ease students’ stress, ExDM faculty added a new section to its ExDM 490R: Topics in Experience Design and Management course during the winter 2022 semester, a section that was so successful that the department plans on turning it into a new course.

When Raena Hay Yong Lau is not helping her sisters run a food blog for those with dietary restrictions, she is studying global supply chain management (GSCM) at the BYU Marriott School of Business. An international student from Hong Kong, Lau has grown and evolved through many challenges during her time at BYU.

When people think of accounting, an affinity for parties might not be the first thing that comes to mind. However, Brooke Bradford, the events and programs coordinator for the School of Accountancy (SOA) at BYU Marriott School of Business, says accountants are all for having a good time. As an employee for the SOA, Bradford organizes events that are not only for enjoyment but also allow connections to be forged between students, faculty, and alumni.

When Allie Jensen lost her mother to a lifelong battle with multiple sclerosis, she thought she would never be able to attend college. Flash forward seven years and Jensen is a brand-new marketing graduate from the BYU Marriott School of Business.

When students enter The Slab, the Rollins Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology’s newly remodeled office space in the Tanner Building, they will often be greeted by office manager Rose Blamires. She may be behind the soda counter making someone a drink, on her laptop completing various office tasks, or sitting in a brightly colored chair, chatting with a student about their aspirations. Whatever the activity, Blamires is an integral part of the BYU Marriott School of Business’s entrepreneurship center and strives to use her strengths to make the Rollins Center a place of collaboration and inclusivity.

When Detroit native Eric Louis took his first cybersecurity class at BYU, he was reminded of doing jigsaw puzzles with his grandmother. For this second-year MISM student, the pieces may look different, but the goal of puzzles and cybersecurity is the same: try to fill in the blank spaces. As Louis prepares to graduate and leave the BYU Marriott School of Business for the world of cybersecurity, his future is a new kind of puzzle, an abundance of open spaces just waiting to be filled.