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Alumni Spotlight Business Management Information Systems
From his childhood in Côte d’Ivoire to his Church mission in Ghana and a year-long stint in China, Stéphane Akoki had seen a lot before he even started college. Yet he discovered that coming to BYU Marriott widened his world—and his impact.
Since graduating with a bachelor’s degree in information systems from BYU Marriott, John Koelliker has relied on authentic relationships in his life to help start his own company.
When Yara Anabtawi was a student at BYU, her insatiable curiosity and her love for a wide variety of subjects made choosing a major difficult.
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.
Ching Tong finds joy in building genuine relationships with others. The MISM graduate now lives in New York City and continues to make meaningful connections.
Jen Almond was playing a trivia game along with other students during the BYU Marriott School of Business’s new-student orientation when a question popped up that she knew she could answer correctly: “How old is the oldest student in this class?”
As a sharp-minded young boy, Travis Cook was constantly pulling apart alarm clocks, radios, TVs, VCRs—even a BB gun—to examine their pieces.
It’s an unassuming blue box, not much bigger than a deck of cards.
Jeff Brownlow was recruiting at BYU when BYU recruited him.
Information systems alumna Ioana Schifirnet recognizes many similarities between art history and one of her personal passions: data analysis.
When C. R. “Casey” Yadon picked up his phone one day in 1988, he was surprised to find a representative from Walt Disney Imagineering on the other end. A former work colleague had recommended Yadon as just the person to fill an open position, the representative said. Would he be interested in submitting his résumé?
Sam Lentz, a 2007 information systems alum, reflects on how he has grown in his career since graduating from BYU Marriott.
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.
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.”
Eric Weight’s alarm clock rang at 6 a.m. every morning, no matter the weather, no matter the month, no matter the holiday.
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.
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.
Onscreen, a pair of hands stirs chaat masala, dhaniya powder, and other spices together before sprinkling the mixture onto a plate of fish. The video isn’t from a cooking network but the YouTube channel of Nirnaya Lohani called Naya Fusion Food.
As a manager at Cloudmed, which helps hospital systems recover revenue losses, BYU Marriott IS alum Jonathan Grether enjoys the challenge of solving new and unique problems.

Alfred Gantner, cofounder of Partners Group and an MBA alum, shared his insights on a balanced life as the featured speaker at convocation on 28 April.
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.
When her experience in one particular computer science class showed her the field wasn’t a good fit, Jeneen Wilson Garbe searched for a major that would allow her to blend her love of technology with other skills. She landed on information management, graduating with her BS in 1990, and would later blend her technology skills with another field: the pharmaceutical industry.