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Alumni Spotlight Employee Spotlight Business Management ROTC
Lieutenant Colonel Travis Bailey planned to make his assignment in Kansas City his last. With a leap of faith to request a new position, Bailey was transferred to BYU, where he is now the chair of the Department of Military Science and head of BYU’s Army ROTC.
When Stephen H. Russell reflects on his life, he is struck by the way seemingly small decisions and ordinary situations have blossomed into extraordinary opportunities. “None of this was part of a strategic plan,” he says, “and I feel grateful when I see all the times Heavenly Father has blessed me.”
Born and raised in Honolulu, Thomas Y.K. Fong has long loved learning about the earth’s natural processes. He originally planned to earn a bachelor’s degree in geology at BYU and then pursue graduate studies in oceanography. But during one midwinter geology field trip to St. George, Utah, a sandstorm blew through the group’s campsite, prompting Fong to reconsider whether his studies had brought him too close to nature for comfort. “Halfway through that cold, sand-blown night, I’m thinking, ‘Is this really what I want to do for the rest of my life?’” Fong recalls.
Teaching ROTC cadets is a new experience for BYU Nathan Schell. However, Schell's nearly 20 years of US Army service, prepared him to tackle this opportunity.
Just before heading to the University of Iowa to join the university’s swim team, John Fellows discovered a copy of the Book of Mormon on a bookshelf in his parents’ home in Boise, Idaho. He packed it in his bags, and before long he called the missionaries wanting to know more. The combination of his baptism into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and a swimming-prohibitive injury led him to transfer to BYU, where he joined the Army ROTC and discovered what would become his lifelong career.
A life-changing conversation with a U.S. Army recruiter led Jack Sturgeon to join the military. Now, he does the same as an army recruiter at BYU.
After completing his undergraduate degree in environmental science from BYU, Trenton Blair jetted from soil labs to B-52 cockpits and joined the US Air Force.
Rebecca McCarron Greenhalgh is no stranger to smart wordsmithing, so it was unusual when she was suddenly speechless during an important Zoom meeting.
It was a business proposition that would change the life of Stewart R. Walkenhorst. A colleague was closing up shop and asked if Walkenhorst would be interested in taking over some outstanding retail orders.
Tracey Evelyn Haslam, a 2001 BYU Marriott management grad, was shocked when she took her four children to visit the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC.
As a teenage boy, C. Todd Linton fell in love with airplanes. This moment was the beginning of a lifelong pursuit in the field of aviation.
As the operations officer for the Army ROTC program at BYU, Roland Griffith hopes to be a role model for his cadets.
The terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, were life changing for 13-year-old Nathan Christiansen. That day would inspire Christiansen to serve his country.
Jeff Brownlow was recruiting at BYU when BYU recruited him.
When former BYU ROTC cadet Scott Lovejoy was a newly enlisted medic in the United States Army, he received a surprise visit from his father that changed his life.
BYU Air Force ROTC Staff Sergeant Jheran Carter is an example of an inspiring leader who may not always stand under the spotlight.
Erin Ricks, Department of Aerospace Studies program manager, recently received three Air Force and BYU awards recognizing her for her efforts and dedication to leadership in helping to improve and uplift the BYU US Air Force and Army ROTC programs.

Almost everything is a learning curve when you’re starting a business, and Sandy Whitaker, a 2003 business management alum, acknowledges that there can be plenty of bumps and detours along the way. But as she and her husband, Tim, a physical therapist, worked to realize their long-term goal of opening a physical therapy practice, Whitaker found that navigating the curve was easier because of knowledge and skills she had gathered along the way—from her formal education, her past jobs, and even her hobbies.
After a fulfilling career in the United States Air Force, Dan McCombs is finishing his last few years in the military as an ROTC instructor for the Air Force ROTC at BYU Marriott.

Whether he's flying helicopters across Afghanistan and Iraq or running 100-mile ultramarathons, Jeff Timmons applies lessons that he learned at BYU Marriott.

In 1968 more than 150 students graduated from BYU Marriott with degrees in business management. Kristi Taylor Lawrence was one of the few women in that graduating class.
Capt. Jordan Woods enjoys building through carpentry and woodwork, but he also enjoys building positive relationships in BYU's Air Force ROTC program.

Almost every May, between four hundred and seven hundred people, attend a Norwegian Constitution Day celebration at the International Peace Gardens in Salt Lake City and enjoy traditional Norwegian lefse flatbread and Solo orange soda. For more than a decade, the chair of the event’s committee has been 1995 business management grad Steve Affleck, who doesn’t have even a bit of Norwegian ancestry.
A fascination with aviation and the bond he had created with his grandfather at a young age would eventually lead BYU Marriott finance alum Trevor Findlay to his future career as an army pilot.