External media mentions
UConn Today – It was perhaps predestined that Sean Maloney would love hot sauce, because his mother had such strong cravings during pregnancy that she ate it straight out of the packet.
“By age 10, I was putting hot sauce on everything, even pancakes,’’ Maloney says.
Today, Maloney is the founder and owner of 13 Stars Hot Sauce, a veteran-owned small business with six sauces “ranging from mild to wild.”
UConn Today – UConn marketing professor Nicholas Lurie and two colleagues have found a little-known method for significantly enhancing social media influencer marketing.
In a recently published article in the Journal of Marketing, the researchers highlight how seeding the combination of a prominent influencer and a follower boosts the spread of an endorsement up to fivefold.
“Both researchers and marketers have traditionally believed that the key to social media messaging is to find the influencer with the largest social network,’’ Lurie says.
Congratulations to School of Business alumnus and Hall of Fame inductee Richard Eldh ’81 who has been appointed CEO and President of the UConn Foundation, the fundraising arm of the university.
In his new role, Eldh will oversee the “Because of UConn’’ fundraising campaign, which has raised more than $900 million, at a time when philanthropic investment is critically important to the success of all universities.
Eldh is an entrepreneur, business leader and investor. He is known for his work in B2B research, advisory services, and philanthropy. Formerly an officer at Gartner, a leading technology research and advisory firm based in Stamford, Conn., he also co-founded and served as co-CEO of SiriusDecisions, Inc., which catered to major corporate clients such as Microsoft, IBM, Oracle, Cisco, and Salesforce.
A graduate of the school of Business, where he majored in finance, Eldh recently served on the UConn Foundation Board of Directors. He and his wife, Joyce Eldh, have generously supported student scholarships. He was also an early supporter of Hillside Ventures, an experiential-learning course in venture capital at UConn. Eldh was the 2025 commencement speaker for the School of Business, where he emphasized servant leadership, respect, hard work, and creating environments in which others can thrive.
Wallethub – Gas credit cards can give you as much as 6% back on gas purchases, either at any gas station or at a specific chain, depending on the card. To point you in the right direction, we evaluated the gas credit cards in our database of 1,500+ credit card offers and selected the top gas cards using WalletHub’s proprietary credit card rating system.
If you always purchase a certain brand of gas, your best bet is to get a card affiliated with that gas station. Otherwise, you should get a card that offers a solid rewards rate on all gas purchases, so that you can be flexible about where you fill up your tank. Also, before you purchase gas with a gas credit card, check to see if the gas station charges extra for using a credit card. Using your gas credit card is only worth it if the rewards you’ll earn make up for or exceed the extra charge.
UConn Today – As companies face increasing pressure to address climate change, many are choosing to publicly announce voluntary carbon-elimination goals.
Two UConn researchers have discovered that, in addition to highlighting environmental responsibility, these commitments also influence how investors perceive the value of a company.
UConn Today – In one of the most harrowing descriptions in his new book, two-time alum George Aldo Barrios ’87 (CLAS) ’89 MBA, a transformative business strategist and former co-President of WWE, recounted a trip to Saudia Arabia to close an important deal to bring wrestling entertainment to the kingdom.
The company was in the home stretch of the deal when journalist Jamal Khashoggi was assassinated at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, in October 2018. His death was believed to be at the behest of the Saudi Crown Prince. Everyone at WWE was nervous about moving forward.
UConn Today – Artificial intelligence (AI) has raised big questions for higher education, employers, policymakers, and communities. How should AI be used in the classroom? What skills will students need in an AI-enabled workforce? How can organizations take advantage of new technologies while addressing concerns about privacy, ethics, and trust? Answers to these questions are already being explored across UConn, the state’s flagship, land- and sea-grant university.
UConn Today – rofessor Emerita Robin Coulter, who led the School’s Marketing Department for 17 years, will be recognized by the American Marketing Association this summer for the enduring impact of her research.
UConn Today – The Center for Real Estate and Urban Economic Studies is co-leading, co-organizing, and co-sponsoring a four-day symposium in Zurich, Switzerland, drawing international experts to address sustainability in the real estate industry.
The conference, titled “Global Real Estate and Sustainability: An International Conference on Emerging Challenges and Research Frontiers,’’ will be held at the University of Zurich in September 2027. Other academic partners include Yale University and The University of Oxford in England.
CTSBDC – Sometimes all it takes is a fresh perspective to unlock new growth. Through a recent collaboration between the UConn School of Business and the Connecticut Small Business Development Center (CTSBDC), Cricket Press—a West Hartford staple since 1971—gained valuable insights from some of UConn’s top business students, opening the door to new opportunities and ideas.
As part of its Honors Program, the UConn School of Business offers a Case Competition which gives students a chance to work directly with real-world businesses to address a challenge. In years past, students have worked with larger enterprises, but during the Spring 2026 semester, students worked with CTSBDC’s client, Greg Confessore, owner of Cricket Press. For Confessore, working with the students was about continuing a legacy of being forward-thinking and using new technology—and the knowledge of others—to allow his small business to operate at a higher level.