February 12, 2014
For the second year in a row, UConn MBAs won first place in the APICS Northeast Supply Chain Business Case Competition held this year February 7-8, 2014 in Albany, NY.
The winning “Grand Champion” team, comprising Jaimin Bhatt ’15 MBA, Mohit Ganotra ’15 MBA, and Bhupender Singh ’15 MBA, will represent the Northeast District in APICS International Student Team Competition scheduled for October in New Orleans. Continue Reading
Hartford, CT – The CFA Institute Research Challenge is an annual global competition that provides university students with hands-on mentoring and intensive training in financial analysis. The Hartford CFA chapter hosted the local CFA Research Challenge competition for the first time this year. By participating in this competition, students gain real-world experience as they assume the role of a research analyst and are tested on their ability to value a stock, write an initiation-of-coverage report, and present their recommendations.
We are pleased to announce that with the assistance of the CFA Society Hartford Industry Mentor Leslie White and Finance Department Professor Michael Oancea, the CFA Research Challenge team representing the University of Connecticut School of Business was victorious in completing the research challenge for the local Hartford region and are moving on to the Americas Regonal finals in Denver this March. UConn’s CFA Research Challenge Team consists of the following MBA students: Kamran Momenzadeh, Pornpong Lueang (Omo), Jon Singsen and Jeff Makray.
This global competition tests university students’ skills on equity research and valuation, investment report writing and presentation skills. The competition consists of a written investment research report on a single, publicly traded company and a 10 minute presentation to the judges. The winning team is selected based on the thoroughness of the equity analysis and full research report as well as the overall knowledge of the company. Last year, over 775 universities in 54 countries participated in this global challenge.
From Left to Right: Leslie White – CFA Industry Mentor, Kamran Momenzadeh, Pornpong (Omo) Lueang, John Singsen and Jeffrey Makray
February 11, 2014
Storrs, CT – “The rules for work are changing. We’re being judged by a new yard stick – not just by how smart we are but by how we handle ourselves and each other,” said Jen Shirkani, the CEO and president of Penumbra, a talent management consulting practice. Shirkani drew from her 20 years of personal and professional experience as she presented “Emotional Intelligence: Skills for Success” to UConn students and faculty on January 29th.
This presentation, brought to UConn by Target and the School of Business Career Center, educated an audience of undergraduate students and UConn faculty members on emotional intelligence, or EQ, and how it contributes to success in the workplace.
Emotional Intelligence is the ability to control impulses, read situations and people appropriately, influence others and manage stress. According to Shirkani, emotional intelligence is just as, if not more important than having the proper technical skills in most jobs. “The number one reason new employees fail is lack of coachability… the last reason was due to technical skills” Jen explained. Along with this information the audience received insight on practical techniques on how to improve your EQ and apply it to work situations. The key points taken from her engaging and practical lecture included:
For more information on emotional intelligence or Jen Shirkani you can go to: http://jenshirkani.com/ or read Shirkani’s book “EGO vs EQ.”
Pictured (from left): Allison (Allie) Lavista ’12, ’13 CLAS, Target Executive Team Leader; Lorraine Liswell, School of Business Career Center; Jen Shirkani; and student Lauren Harrigan, Target Campus Liaison.
February 6, 2014
On January 29, 2014 more than 200 participants attended CEO Evolution, a panel discussion featuring four exceptional Connecticut CEOs discussing the challenges they’ve faced while leading their businesses through tremendous periods of growth.
Named after his column in the Business Journal, panel moderator Mark Fagan, managing partner of the Norwalk office of Citrin Cooperman, believes that CEOs should focus their attention on strategic activities versus tactical ones, adding that the success of a company is heavily weighed on a CEO’s understanding of the business, anticipation of changes and strategic thinking.
Roundtable panelists featured Linda McMahon, co-founder and former CEO of WWE in Stamford; Austin McChord, founder and CEO of Datto in Norwalk; Paul Senecal, partner of United Services of America, in Bridgeport; and John Votto, president and CEO of the Hospital for Special Care in New Britain.
In addition to emphasizing hard work and dedication as traits for success, all four panelists stressed the importance of hiring qualified staff and allowing them to do their jobs so that the CEO can devote all efforts toward keeping their business on track.
Held at UConn Stamford, the event was hosted by the School of Business and Citrin Cooperman.
February 4, 2014
Do you want the chance to win $15,000? Do you have an idea that you would like to see made into a business? If so, check-out Innovation Quest (iQ)!
The iQ Program fosters creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship across campus. Students who have new ideas for a product or service can compete for cash prizes up to $15,000 to make their idea into a reality. Past successes include Macroscopic Solutions, PartsTech, Secor Water, and Sobrio.
The kickoff workshop will be held on Tuesday, February 11th in Gentry 131 at 7pm. Free Pizza will be served!
Join our Facebook group (Innovation Quest- UConn) to Sign-up for the Feb. 11th Workshop!
If you have any questions please email us at iQ@uconn.edu.
See you there!
The UConn iQ Team
www.innovationquest.org/uconn
Greetings!
As 2014 enters with the BIG CHILL, we are excited to share news from Fall 2013!
On the faculty front, we bid farewell to Subhash Jain, who received the American Marketing Association’s 2013 Significant Contributions to Global Marketing Award, and retired in December. We welcomed three scholars with expertise in digital marketing and analytics. Jane Gu, Ph.D, works in digital marketing and distribution channels; Jane is teaching New Media Marketing Strategies. David Norton, Ph.D., is a recent graduate from University of South Carolina’s Darla Moore School of Business; Dr. Norton’s research focuses on consumer behavior in the digital marketing environment; he is teaching Introduction to Marketing Management. Hee Mok Park, Ph.D., a recent graduate of the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business, focuses on empirical modeling of marketing problems, and will be teaching Marketing and Data Analytics.
Our students continue to make us proud! Josh Lagan ’14 was named one of the Top 10 Student Sports Business Leaders, Caitlin Taylor ’14 shares her internship experiences in marketing and social media, and Pi Sigma Epsilon, our sales and marketing fraternity, hosted the 2013 Northeast Regional Conference!
Our alumni continue to be important partners! John Fodor, Executive Vice President of American Funds Distributors, Inc., Capital Research Management Company, was named our 2012-13 Outstanding Alumnus. John is our keynote speaker at the Department’s Student and Alumni Networking Reception on February 10(register at uconn.biz/mktg2014). We hope to see you there! We greatly appreciate the creation of scholarship funds for our students and gifts to the Marketing and Business Law Endowment for Excellence.
Each newsletter highlights contributions of our faculty. Please read more about Bill Ross‘ award winning article, “Individual Differences in Brand Schematicity” and Robin Coulter’s recent work on the effects of automatic color preference on consumer choice. At the 2013 American Business Law Conference, our Business Law faculty were revered, “their research, teaching, and service to the academy makes the UConn business law faculty one of the most prominent cohorts in the discipline,” and Mark DeAngelis was again honored as one of four national Master Teacher finalists for the Charles M. Hewitt Master Teacher Competition.
Our best wishes for a happy and healthy 2014!
Best regards,
Robin Coulter
Department Head
Professor of Marketing
Marketing Department
January 27, 2014
The University of Connecticut is pleased to announce the dates for the 2014 Geno Auriemma UConn Leadership Conference (http://genoleadership.uconn.edu) – October 22-23. The conference will once again be held at the Mohegan Sun Convention Center in Uncasville, Connecticut.
“After an extremely successful inaugural conference in 2013, I am very excited to be partnering with the UConn School of Business again to bring leadership insights to business leaders throughout the region,” said UConn Women’s Basketball Coach Geno Auriemma.Continue Reading
January 22, 2014
The UConn School of Business has announced a new 2-day workshop – Hands-on Lean Business Process Improvement, designed to provide individuals at all levels of an organization with a solid foundation for using Lean to help achieve operational excellence from the top-down and the bottom-up.
The workshop will be held on February 27 & 28, 9am-4pm, at UConn’s Graduate Business Learning Center in downtown Hartford. The cost of the 2-day program is $1,200.
“The Hands-on Lean Business Process Improvement workshop enables individuals to quickly and easily follow a common roadmap and use simple tools to improve business processes by eliminating waste and improving flow to enhance value for your customers and stakeholders,” says David A. Burn, Chief Statistician in corporate operations for Boston Scientific Corporation and workshop instructor.
The workshop format is highly interactive and relies on simulation and competition to challenge individuals and teams to quickly learn concepts and skills and to reinforce their learning using a low-tech, high-touch approach. Features of the hands-on program include: real-time simulation of business processes; fast-paced competition between teams; and interactive discussion of relevant examples.
At the completion of Hands-on Lean Business Process Improvement, participants will be able to identify waste and flow problems in business processes, and design and follow a structured roadmap toward improvement. In other words, workshop participants will be able to cut costs and increase efficiencies within their organization.
“Lean processing is particularly important for Connecticut companies where the cost of doing business is one of the highest in the nation,” adds Colleen McGuire, director of UConn’s School of Business in Hartford. “We plan to offer more of these timely, relevant workshops in the months to come in support of a stronger, more competitive Connecticut economy.”
January 18, 2014
The UConn School of Business Accounting Department is pleased to announce the new online Accounting Certificate Program (ACP). The program is designed for non-accounting college graduates interested in obtaining a graduate certificate in accounting. The potential applicants are likely to be working professionals who want to acquire additional accounting knowledge and potential MS in Accounting applicants, who were not accounting majors and thus do not have the required prerequisite accounting courses, providing an attractive bridge into the MSA Program. The program will offer four comprehensive accounting courses; Financial Reporting I, Financial Reporting II, Federal Income Taxes, and Assurance Services over the fall and spring semesters resulting in the completion of the certificate in May.
For more information, see ACP Information.
January 1, 2014
The Connecticut Center for Economic Analysis, led by Professor Fred Carstensen, released its latest Economic Outlook in mid-December.
Even while jobs are returning to Connecticut’s economy, the apparently encouraging seasonally unadjusted unemployment rate of 7.5% for 2013Q3 needs to be compared with the Seasonally adjusted (SA) unemployment rate of 7.9%. The improving unemployment rate is in large measure a result of declining participation in the workforce. Nearly 65,000 working-age adults simply stopped looking for employment since 2010Q2.
Continuing productivity gains often approaching (or even exceeding) 2% annually translate into no job creation unless the economy grows even faster. Even at the national level, job creation remains modest for this reason. Ironically, Connecticut’s strength in manufacturing, which typically delivers quite high productivity growth, is a concomitant of fewer jobs, and thus a challenge for job creation.
Full-time equivalents (FTEs) have risen 43,000 over the three years. With gains in FTEs and loses in the number jobs, the ratio of FTEs to jobs in Connecticut has risen, which can be an indicator of further job growth.