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Business Management Strategy 2021 2010–2014
The potential to achieve lasting and meaningful success in life is within each of us—at least that's what strategy senior David Rawson says.
After spending most of his time as an undergraduate student preparing for law school, Kurt Herrmann received surprising inspiration to change career paths.
What do you get when you combine business strategy and students from 16 different majors? A group dedicated to applying strategic principles to any career.
The more Breann Hunt learns about social impact causes, the more the strategic management senior envisions businesses changing the way they operate forever.
After realizing his student apartment did not have a recycling program, BYU Marriott strategy alum Ryan Smith went to work to create his gig economy recycling company Recyclops.
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.”
Four years ago, BYU Marriott alum Stephen Farnsworth wanted to move technology forward. In order to reach his goals, he took a risk—one that has paid off years later.

BYU's undergraduate and graduate entrepreneurship programs were ranked No. 4 and No. 7, respectively.
Many business schools are not teaching MBAs to create new businesses, according to two of BYU's innovation gurus.
With its emphasis on teaching students to discover solutions to seemingly impossible problems, BYU Marriott's course Strategy 421: Strategy Implementation is one that Sherlock Holmes would have approved of.
At home in Australia, strategy senior Jaysen Valdes felt that his goals were out of reach. However, he now uses his skills to reach all of his aspirations.

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.
Even though students cannot be prepared for all future changes, a new analytics class at BYU Marriott helps teach students some of the skills they'll need to make decisions in their future careers.

The details made the difference at the inaugural Walmart Business Case Competition held at BYU.
This year hundreds more Marriott School graduates were hired, resulting from an intensified focus on placement.
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.
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.
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.
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?”
Figuring out the reasons behind the strange things consumers do is Tamara Masters’s passion, one she follows by studying consumer behavior, both in the marketplace and in restaurants. Masters, an assistant professor in the business management department, recently conducted a study that suggests when diners use larger forks, they eat less. Today she shares her thoughts on eating with spatulas, marketing, and consumer goals.
In the area of market research, Cathy Chamberlain is a one-woman political powerhouse. Her influence, as well as the results of her studies, has been spread across the country from Washington, DC, back to the West Coast, and overseas as well. Since graduating from BYU in 1973 with a degree in business education, she’s tallied up more than thirty years of experience in market research and is still going strong.
Professor Peter Madsen has been researching NASA's safety climate ever since the Columbia shuttle broke apart.