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Alumni

Where will your BYU Marriott degree take you? Read about the careers our alumni are in and the interesting things they are doing.
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Alumni Spotlight

The Family That Skis Together

February 13, 2015
Jolene Day Weston’s two children can practically ski circles around her, even though they’re only three and a half. Her career path and journey to motherhood have taken a similar circuitous course.
2 Min Read
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Alumni Spotlight

Mazel Tov and Military Secrets

February 13, 2015
Playing the part of butcher Lazar Wolf in Fiddler on the Roof came naturally to 1983 MPA alum Chris Miasnik: his last name is made up of the Russian occupational suffix and the word for meat. But there were a few other factors involved in landing the role of rejected suitor in the Bluffdale Arts Council production. “I was the oldest guy there, and I had the whitest beard,” he admits.
2 Min Read
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Alumni Spotlight

Gravity Check

February 13, 2015
It reads like a worst-case scenario: you’re slicing through rough air to check on an offshore oil rig when the unfathomable happens—the chopper goes down. Would you survive?
7 Min Read
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Alumni Experiences

Ruth Ann Jefferies Honored as 2014 Wright Distinguished Alumnus

December 05, 2014
The Romney Institute honored Ruth Ann Jefferies, a property tax specialist, for her career success and community service.
2 Min Read
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Alumni Spotlight

A Pattern of Giving

October 14, 2014
I keenly remember sitting in my basement apartment in Utah and reviewing with my wife our meager student finances. Given the recent birth of our first son and my heavy academic load, I could only afford to work part time. Even with our combined efforts, money was very tight for my wife and me. We were incredibly grateful for the low tuition, the scholarships, and the financial aid which allowed me to receive such an outstanding degree, and we committed to someday give back what had generously been given to us.
2 Min Read
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Alumni Spotlight

Making Her Move

October 08, 2014
Growing up with a father in foreign services, Reneta Bezerra ventured far beyond her home country of Brazil. Now that she has a family of her own, she’s still on the move.
1 Min Read
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Alumni Spotlight

Game, Tech, Match

October 08, 2014
Call it a cruel but fortunate twist of fate: Dan Handy’s companies tend to undergo extreme growth when it comes time for him to hit the books. As an undergrad and a grad student at the Marriott School, the current CEO of Bluehost.com guided two internet start-ups to success, sometimes smashing against current trends with a Ping-Pong paddle.
2 Min Read
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Alumni Spotlight

Back to Business School

October 08, 2014
As soon as Thaylene Lowe Rogers made her decision to return to school for an Executive MBA, she hit the GMAT prep books. During a trip to Newport Beach, California, vacation time turned into study time as she and her son began plowing through the math section. After a year of brushing up, she was in. By 2015 she’ll be sporting a new Marriott School degree on her office wall.
1 Min Read
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Alumni Spotlight

Making Waves in Family Fun

October 08, 2014
Fifty-six years and 1.3 million birthday parties may seem impossible, but it sums up John Huish’s career. He’s had a hand in facilitating cake-and-candle celebrations across five states and has provided jobs for more than one hundred thousand people.
1 Min Read
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Alumni Spotlight

Speaker of the House

October 08, 2014
The Utah Governor’s Mansion was blanketed in soft, blue light. The occasion was World Autism Awareness Day 2014, and buildings across the country were swapping bulbs to highlight a disorder that affects one in sixty-eight American children.
8 Min Read
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Alumni Spotlight

Rank and File

October 08, 2014
Curtis Bedont thought he knew what it meant to be in the military. Though he spent his formative years on bases in foreign outposts, his fighter-pilot father never faced deployment.
9 Min Read
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Alumni Spotlight

BUSINESSMAN WITH A FIREHOUSE BUCKET

September 05, 2014
Randy Judd’s story begins in the Ozarks of Arkansas, where he grew up with no indoor plumbing and went to school in a two-room schoolhouse. His family’s financial situation created what he feels was a truly fortunate opportunity to work full-time during college—a path that led him to the restaurant business.
2 Min Read
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Alumni Spotlight

Q&A With Advocate Mirella Petersen

June 28, 2014
Alum Mirella Petersen is bold, organized, and driven—the perfect combination for getting autism insurance reform passed in Utah.
2 Min Read
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Alumni Spotlight

MPA Alum Joins Walmart to Create Change

June 27, 2014
When Jackie Saumweber joined the BYU MPA program, she didn't know she would find her niche in corporate social responsibility.
2 Min Read
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Alumni Spotlight

Making the A-List

June 12, 2014
Working at the Oracle Corporation, alum Liz Wiseman found herself constantly surrounded by intelligent people. But she noticed an ebb and flow—not of intelligence but of how leaders capitalized on or closed off that intelligence. One executive she coached was brilliant but shut down others, leaving their ideas untapped. Wiseman searched for something to share with this leader about the dynamic he was caught in but found nothing. “Someone needed to research how what leaders did either diminished or multiplied the intelligence of the people around them,” Wiseman says. “This seemed like a worthy pursuit, so I just did it.”
2 Min Read
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Alumni Spotlight

Fund-Raising Facial Hair

June 12, 2014
It only took five seconds for Ryan Judkins’s boss to approve his beard plan. Surprised, Judkins, a sales representative for Callaway Golf and a normally clean-cut guy, asked, “You do realize I might have a beard that’s five, six, or seven inches long at one point?”
2 Min Read
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Alumni Spotlight

JOINT VENTURE: JUDITH & DOUGLAS MAUGHAN

June 03, 2014
In the winter of 1989, the snow and pine trees of Sundance Resort set the backdrop for Doug and Judith Maughan’s second date. Doug, an MBA student at the time, had asked Judith to accompany him to a Valentine’s dinner and dance sponsored by the Marriott School. “He was handsome, smart, and probably the most polite man I had ever met,” says Judith of her date. Doug was also persistent and outdoorsy—during the summers, he caught salmon in Alaska as a commercial fisherman to help pay for school. After Doug worked his charms that evening in the mountains, dates with Judith became increasingly frequent. Sharing space in the Tanner Building, where she was also a Marriott School student, helped fuel their courtship.
1 Min Read
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Alumni Spotlight

PARALLEL PATHS: ROD AND JEN HINZE

May 22, 2014
Jen sat in the BYU Varsity Theatre eager to learn on her first day of class in the accounting junior core. Rod Hinze was also in class that day, but he found it hard to focus on academics once he saw Jen. When the teacher announced that the students would be forming two-person teams, Rod knew who his partner would be—Jen didn’t have a chance to look around before he was leaping over the seats to get to her. “I looked for the cutest girl in the class and Jen was sitting two rows in front of me, so I literally jumped over the two rows and sat next to her,” Rod says. “She was a little surprised when I asked her to be my partner, but she said yes.”
2 Min Read
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