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Alumni Classroom 2016 2010–2014
Gandhi has a story. Winston Churchill has a story. Martin Luther King Jr. has a story. Great leadership is interwoven with great stories, and often this leadership comes when leaders perceive the power of their own stories.
You’re scrolling through Facebook, and a video catches your eye. A man is riding a horse on a beach and telling you he is the man your man could smell like.
When you have millions to give, wanting to make a difference is not just an idle wish. The biggest challenge is deciding which nonprofit can bring your vision to life.
Three tech-savvy students have redesigned a BYU rite of passage: the search for Provo housing.
Katalin Bolliger’s first trip outside of the United States was just the experience she wanted—eight thousand miles away from campus and surrounded by tigers and elephants.
Four students walk into a room: a chemical engineer, statistician, computer scientist, and business strategist. It might sound like the beginning of a gag, but bringing together savvy students from a variety of disciplines is what the Marriott School’s Crocker Innovation Fellowship is all about.
Following the crowd isn’t usually a good idea, but entrepreneurs can generate serious capital by jumping on the crowdfunding bandwagon. That’s the premise of an innovative new course at the Marriott School.
Changing the missionary age infused excitement and opened doors for many new opportunities. It also created a few challenges. One of these challenges at the Provo MTC was how to prepare and serve as many as 10,000 more meals a day.
Matt Miller is a builder. A 2008 graduate from the BYU Marriott School with a degree in finance, Miller built his first computer at age eleven and his first business while an undergraduate student at BYU. He now helps build the visions of entrepreneurs into multi-million-dollar companies as a partner at Sequoia Capital, a world-class tech venture capital firm located in Menlo Park, California.
James Gaskin’s office décor goes way beyond the family photos and desk plants. A homemade jetpack built by his daughters hangs above his desk, and below his window sits a growing model village complete with green hills, an electric train, and a miniature Hogwarts castle.
Skyler Carr grew up dreaming of traveling through space and hunting aliens. His favorite day in grade school included a trip to the Space Center in Pleasant Grove, where he could practice being a spaceman. He never forgot those days, and in 2012 he was devastated to hear the Space Center would be shut down.
As he listened to Britt Berrett speak on the first day of class, Joseph Mount had the distinct impression he was looking at his future employer. Berrett’s passion for health care was unmistakable, and Mount wanted to be a part of it.
Steve Thacker, city manager of Centerville, Utah, was honored for his legacy of exceptional management in governmental positions for over the past thirty years.
When it comes to being involved on BYU campus, Allison Oberle has been there, done that. She graduated in 2015 from the global supply chain program. During her time at BYU, she worked on the women’s initiative of GSC, served as VP of Women’s Outreach, led as co-president of the Global Supply Chain Association her senior year, and worked in the Global Management Center. She also danced competitively on BYU’s international folk dancing team for three consecutive years, traveling for months at a time. She now works for Sun Products Cooperation in Salt Lake City as a customer supply chain specialist.
Whether it be climbing the tallest mountains in Europe and Africa or climbing the ladder toward a successful business career, Charles Barrett, a 2009 graduate from the Marriott School strategy program, reaches the top one step at a time.
Samuel C. Dunn, former senior vice president for Walmart and 1982 BYU accounting alumnus, was honored with the Marriott School of Management Alumni Achievement Award.
Back in 1942, Gale Hammond had no question how he would spend the three months between his high school graduation and his eighteenth birthday—the day he would be drafted into World War II: “My dad said, ‘Go get some education. Get a trade that will help you when you’re in the service.’”
MPA alum Kena Jo Mathews has built her life around volunteer and nonprofit work, though she started out on a different path. “Sometimes you end up where you’re supposed to be even if you don’t realize that’s where you want to be,” she says. While studying political science at the University of Utah, Mathews worked for a senatorial candidate. But when he lost the election, she changed course, volunteering at Habitat for Humanity, where she laid the foundation for her career.
Morgan Edwards has always been a builder.
Each spring, world-language teacher Lori LeVar Pierce’s work takes her out of the classroom and into the gladiator ring. There, after months of studying Latin, her students take on a different side of ancient culture while competing at the Junior Classical League Convention, participating in gladiator fights, footraces, javelin throws, and even a student-built chariot race. “It’s a lot of fun to act like the ancient Romans and the ancient Greeks,” Pierce says.
As hand-cut steaks sizzle on the grill, Trevor Mecham is up to his elbows in a pile of sweet potato fries. In the oven a sheet of enormous cinnamon rolls–each roughly the size of a dinner plate–awaits a schmear of sugary-sweet frosting.
Marriott School students don’t stop with their diplomas; they continue on to masterful feats—reaching top leadership roles, starting successful businesses, and, in the case of a select few, penning acclaimed page-turners.
Qualtrics CEO and Marriott School of Management alum Ryan Smith was tabbed in Fortune's annual ranking of the most influential young people in business.
After standing on one foot while trying to decide which printer to buy, students hobble out of 340 TNRB with some extra credit but without the slightest clue what their answers will be used for.