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Students from the Program for Sales Leadership compete in the National Collegiate Sales Competition

Posted on by Claire Hall

Melanie Nunes, a senior psychology major, and Michael Ferrone, a junior marketing major, represented UConn at the 13th Annual National Collegiate Sales Competition (NCSC), hosted by the Coles College of Business at Kennesaw State University in Georgia.  Melanie and Michael’s performances placed UConn in the top 3rd of the 61 schools that competed.  Melanie made it to the wildcard round, having placed 3rd in her first round session. Michael made it to the quarterfinals, having placed 4th in his first round session, and 1st in his Wildcard round session.

Inaugurated in 1999, the National Collegiate Sales Competition is the largest and oldest sales role-play competition in existence.  Instituted for the purpose of enhancing the practice and professionalism of the sales profession.  The NCSC, places students in simulated one-on-one sales call challenges. Each sales call is broadcast live to faculty and recruiters, who evaluate each student’s performance.

The NCSC hosts the top collegiate sales talent and sales faculty from the most elite University Sales Programs in North America. Up-coming sales graduates are provided a venue for sharpening their sales skills in a highly competitive environment and networking with their peers and sales faculty from across the United States. NCSC Corporate Sponsors have the opportunity to network with and preview the elite talent and greatly contribute to their education and careers and in turn make a great investment in the future of the sales profession.

Pictured (left to right): Cyndi Soucy, Whitney McIntosh, Melanie Nunes, Michael Ferrone

Connecticut’s Leading MBA Programs to Compete in Second Annual ACG Connecticut Cup Competition

Posted on by Claire Hall

ACG Connecticut, the Connecticut Chapter of the Association for Corporate Growth (ACG), the premier authority on corporate growth, corporate development and mergers and acquisitions, will hold the second annual ACG Connecticut Cup Competition on March 28, 2011 at the offices of RBS Business Capital in Stamford, CT. Continue Reading

Alumna to receive an Honors Distinguished Alumni Award

Posted on by Claire Hall

On  Friday April 29th and Saturday April 30th Nicole McKinney Lindsay, a School of Business alum, will be visiting UConn to receive an Honors Distinguished Alumni Award.  On Friday she will be giving a presentation to students, faculty and staff at 3:00 – 4:30  p.m. in the Babbidge Library Class of 1947 Conference Room. She will speak about her nonprofit career and her advice to students regarding careers in this field.   Refreshments will be served.

Nicole Lindsay is Executive Director of New York Needs You (NYNY), a start-up non-profit which supports first-generation college students in realizing their college and career ambitions.  Ms. Lindsay joined NYNY in September 2009 as the first staff person.  Now the organization has a six-person staff and an operating budget of $1.2MM.  NYNY closes the opportunity gap through the most intensive career mentorship program in New York City, enabling high-potential, first-generation college students to realize their college and career aspirations.  NYNY is the only non-profit in NYC that focuses exclusively on first-generation college students. The primary components of the NYNY curriculum are life planning, career development, and community leadership. The first class of 50 NYNY Fellows began the two-year program in June 2010 and recruitment for the second class is underway.   Previously, she was the Vice President of Talent Development at Management Leadership for Tomorrow (MLT), overseeing all program-related activities.

Ms. Lindsay earned her BS in Business Administration and graduated as an Honors Scholar from the University of Connecticut in 1996.  She attended UConn with her twin brother, Anthony McKinney ’97 and her favorite pastime during her time at UConn was cheering for him and her friends on the Husky football team.  She then enrolled in a joint JD/MBA program at the University of Virginia. Ms. Lindsay received a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law, in 2000 and an MBA from the University of Virginia’s Darden Graduate School of Business in 2000. Upon graduation, she joined Wachovia Bank as a Corporate Finance Associate and later moved into Community Development Finance as a program manager.  In 2003, Nicole became the Associate Director of Admissions and Student Affairs at the Yale School of Management (SOM), overseeing minority and women’s admissions and diversity student affairs. She was instrumental in diversifying the applicant pool and in increasing the number of underrepresented minorities that matriculated at the SOM.

While at the SOM, Ms. Lindsay also served as a coach for MLT’s Career Prep program, aiding eight college juniors in their career exploration and development process. She later managed MBA recruiting initiatives for Goldman Sachs at the Wharton School, Chicago Graduate Schools of Business (GSB), Kelloggat Northwestern, and the Tuck School at Dartmouth before joining MLT full-time as director of the Career Prep program in June 2006. In February 2007, Ms. Lindsay became Director of the Career Prep and MBA Prep programs for MLT and in July 2008 was promoted to Vice President.

Ms. Lindsay serves on the UVA Darden School Alumni Board, the Board of Directors of New York Chapter of the UConn Alumni Association, on the Advisory Board of MOVE, an NYC-based high school mentoring program, and is licensed to practice law in Connecticut and Georgia.  She is a 2010 recipient of the Rebirth Renaissance Award for Perpetuating Excellence and Leading Generation Now from the New York Urban League Young Professionals.

She is married to Josiah Lindsay.

New School of Business Mentor Program

Posted on by Claire Hall

University of Connecticut School of Business alums Rob Amenta ’07, Ben Duell ’07 and Tim Kelley ’08 MBA from the UConn New York City Alumni Chapter had a vision of how they could give back to their alma mater. Together with a team of talented young alumni and Jim Lowe, Executive Director of the School of Business Career Center, they developed a new mentor program around the idea that young alumni would be able to share their experiences and expertise with the students to help direct them into a more focused study and career plan.

The group held their first event on Thursday, February 17th when alumni were paired with undergraduates at a meet and greet dinner in the School’s Board Room. The School is extremely grateful for the time and talent that these young alumni bring to this program.

Categories:
MBA

Faculty Awards 2011

Posted on by Claire Hall

The Teaching and Research Committee at the University of Connecticut School of Business has met and evaluated the nominations for annual Faculty Awards.   The following winners were selected:

Best Paper:  (3-way tie)

Xue Bai and Manuel Nunez: “Managing Data Quality Risk in Accounting Information Systems” 
(with Jayant Kalagnanam), Information Systems Research

Xinxin Li: “Price Effects in Online Product Reviews: An Analytical Model and Empirical Analysis”   
(with Lorin M. Hitt), MIS Quarterly

David Souder and Zeki Simsek: “The Differing Effects of Agent and Founder CEOs on the Firm’s Market Expansion” (with Scott G. Johnson), Strategic Management Journal

Research Excellence:  John Zhang

Undergraduate Teaching:  Dave Papandria

Graduate Teaching:  Amy Dunbar

Teaching Innovation:  Andy Rosman (with Roger Travis, Modern and Classical Languages)

Service Award:  Tim Dowding

UConn Business School Organizes an International Conference in India

Posted on by Claire Hall

The Management Development Institute in India and the University of Connecticut School of Business jointly organized a two-day conference in new Delhi on Financial Innovations and Change during January 7-8, 2011.  The conference covered a wide range of issues such as the dynamics of the financial markets and price discovery process for financial assets, requirements for innovative financial products and services for corporate and other sectors, issues of governance, financial  regulations, accounting, and financial inclusion.

About 60 academics and Indian executives attended the conference. It provided them a platform for brainstorming to identify the “fault lines” and envisage a robust financial system for future growth.

Dr. Shantaram Hegde from the Department of Finance at the UConn School of Business served as the co-chair of the conference. Finance head, Chinmoy Ghosh was one of the keynote speakers at the conferences.

For further information, contact Dr. Shanta Hegde.

Related Articles:

  • Mr. C Rangarajan inaugurates FINCON 2011 at MDI Gurgaon

Pictured: Dr. Hegde and Dr. Ghosh at the keynote address by the Economic Advisor to India’s Prime Minister.

The Business Mastery Program for Public Service Professionals Certificate Ceremony

Posted on by Claire Hall

The University of Connecticut School of Business Executive Education Business Mastery Program for Public Service Professionals held its certificate ceremony at the Graduate Business Learning Center in Hartford on December 15, 2010.

Dr. Lucy Gilson welcomed honorees, friends and family, distinguished guests and program faculty and staff.  She also shared experiences from her course module, Introduction to Management.  Dr. Robert Bird and Dr. Michelle Stronz addressed the group with regard to their course modules, Introduction to Employment Law & Government Processes.   Distinguished guests attending the ceremony and assisting Dr. Gilson with the distribution of certificates included: Department of Public Safety Commissioner James Thomas;  Department of Revenue Services Commissioner Richard Nicholson; CT Housing and Finance Authority Administrator, Nancy O’Brien;  State Elections Enforcement Commission Executive Director and General Counsel, Albert Lenge; and Department of Development Services Commissioner Peter O’Meara.

Certificate recipients honored included:  Troy Anderson and Patricia Johannes, (Department of Public Safety); Carol Andrews, (Department of Revenue Services); Oddler Fils and Justin Giorlando, (Department of Transportation); Leanne Harty, (University of Connecticut); Audrey Horan and Erica Garcia, (Department of Social Services); Mark Hirsch, (CT Housing Finance Authority); Sheri-Lyn Lagueux, (State Elections Enforcement Commission); Cristina Boisvert-MacGillis, (Department of Social Services); Linda Rooney and Dawn Stephenson, (Department of Developmental Services).

The two-course Public Service Professionals Certificate Program offers Introduction to Management and Introduction to Employment Law & Government Processes.   Participants either earn 4 undergraduate or 3 graduate non-degree credits per course. To date, 47 participants have completed the program from agencies and departments, in addition to those above, that include the Department of Public Health; Department of Mental Health & Addition Services; Office of the State Treasurer; the UConn Health Center; Veteran Affairs; and the CT Commission on Culture & Tourism. By providing customized educational opportunities to public service professionals, the program enhances participants’ skills, while benefiting State agencies and the residents of the State of Connecticut.  Our alumni have credited the program with networking and promotional opportunities as well as the development of advanced management skills.

Testimonials on the value and benefits of the program can be found at: www.business.uconn.edu/publicservice.

Pictured (top right): Business Mastery Certificate Program for Public Service Professionals 2010 certificate recipients. Pictured (below, left to right): Dr. Lucy Gilson addresses the audience. Dr. Robert Bird discussing his Introduction to
Employment Law course module. Dr. Michelle Stronz congratulates the honorees.

 

UConn Team Places Second in 2010 Travelers IT Case Competition

Posted on by Claire Hall

A team of four undergraduate students participated in the 2010 Travelers IT case competition. This year’s team consisted of four exceptional students:

Jose Cabanero (Finance, senior, Storrs)
David Pyne (MIS, senior, Storrs)
Silvana Sina  (MIS, juinor, Storrs)
Joseph Thibeault (CS, junior, Storrs)

The team has put forward tremendous amounts of effort and time for the project. Over 40 hours were devoted to research, meetings, and presentation rehearsals.

On Friday, November 19, the team presented its final work in front of a panel of 8 judges.  This team stood out at the presentation, impressed the jury and was awarded Second Prize.  The participating schools for this year’s competition included UConn, WPI, University of Minnesota, Central Connecticut State University, and Quinnipiac.

Pictured: Prof. Wei-Kuang Huang with the Travelers IT case competition team.

An Entrepreneur’s Journey

Posted on by Claire Hall

I feel that an introduction is probably the best course of action as many people reading this article will have no idea who I am. My name is Joe Nunez, and I am a former US Marine, Disabled Veteran and member of the newly graduated, inaugural class of the Entrepreneurship Boot camp for Veterans with Disabilities at the University of Connecticut’s School of Business. I was born in Brooklyn, New York and my family moved to San Antonio, Texas when I was just three years old. I spent my entire childhood in San Antonio, graduating high school and leaving for Marine Corps boot camp three weeks later. In 2005 I was injured while participating in unit physical training, requiring two extensive surgeries on my ankle just to be able to walk without a limp. By the end of 2006 it had become painfully apparent that I would no longer be able to wear the uniform of a US Marine for very much longer. The Marine Corps treated me well and allowed me to finish my contract and I separated honorably after seven years and four months of service in October of 2007.

Since leaving the Marine Corps I have been working in the industrial laundry industry in a variety of roles. After being laid off three days after Christmas of 2009, my wife and I decided that we needed to begin exploring our options for financial security that did not depend on anyone else’s judgment or hard work (other than my own). We decided to begin cultivating an idea for a business that would take my existing skill set and apply it to a larger market capable of providing our family with a comfortable living. The only problem was that neither of us knew where to begin. So the idea lay dormant for several months, recurring in my head every so often. I was frustrated by the lack of direction I had as I took another job and desperately hoped I’d be able to find a way to make my dreams come true.

In summer of this year, I received a phone call from a very dear friend and former Marine, Darryl Hill. Darryl is one of the most gifted networkers I have ever met, getting business contacts in even the most innocuous of places. He was calling me to tell me about a course he had recently attended that he believed I could benefit from. The course, The Entrepreneurship Boot Camp for Veterans (or EBV for short) was designed specifically for veterans with disabilities who had served our country honorably and had a desire to be in business for themselves. I was skeptical at first I must admit, because what Darryl was describing to me sounded too good to be true. The course is provided at no cost to the veterans he explained, and anything and everything you will need while you are there is provided. The instruction is world class and you really do learn a lot about what programs and opportunities are available to veterans. In my life experiences, when something sounds too good to be true, it generally is. I applied nonetheless and completed a phone interview a few weeks later.

When I received my acceptance letter to the program, a whirlwind of activity began. I participated in a rigorous, 30 day online course that provided some of the key components of what would eventually become portions of my business plan. After the online portion I was whisked away to the beautiful campus of the University of Connecticut to spend 10 very long, very challenging days going through classes and writing my business plan. Days began early and ended late. We were given world class instruction by the amazing instructors at the UConn School of Business, all of whom had volunteered their time and energy to give the 14 of us all the tools necessary to be successful. UConn rolled out the red carpet for us in every possible way, including allowing us the privilege of walking out onto the football field during a Huskies game to receive personalized, signed footballs as thanks for our service to this great country of ours.

When I left the University of Connecticut I had an entirely different perspective on life, my business and my potential. I am now in the development stage of my business and am actively working to secure the funding necessary to open San Antonio’s first Residential Laundry Service. I cannot overlook the fact that without the fine folks at the University of Connecticut’s School of Business, I would still be working for someone else, wondering when the next layoff was coming. Instead I am working for myself, working harder than I ever have before but loving every minute of it.

To my fellow veterans I thank you for the friendship, camaraderie and objectivism that lead me to where I am today. Every veteran in the course is a fine example of the best the US Military has to offer and I wish each of them good luck in their selected business ventures.

To the School of Business Staff, Dean Earley, Course Directors Mike Zacchea and Kathleen Dechant, graduate students and volunteers, thank you for giving of yourselves to help each of us realize our dreams.

To the students of the University of Connecticut, thank you for your hospitality and warm welcome to the UConn family. I only ask that you pay it forward and tell everyone you know about the course and the great people at the School of Business. Next time you meet a veteran, shake his/her hand and thank them for their selfless service to our nation. No matter your political, social or religious views, these fine men and women give of themselves to protect the very blanket of freedom you sleep under every night.

Joe Nunez

A Letter from the EBV Coordinator

Posted on by Claire Hall

My dear friends,

Spring is upon us already in New England. The semester is rapidly winding to an end as we shake off the long winter, and of papers and presentations and final exams. This semester has seen a flurry of activity at the EBV program at UConn. The graduate assistants have been working to collect data and assist veterans start their ventures. Planning is already under way for next year’s program. We are working hard on expanding our public engagement and outreach to realize our vision of becoming the New England center for veteran business education and transition.

It’s amazing how far we’ve come since we began the online phase of the program in August. In just the 6 months since we parted company at the Storrs campus we’ve gone from exploring ideas and doing market research on a chosen industry, to acquiring and developing the skills necessary to start a business, to starting the business! Eight of you have started businesses, and one of you has enrolled in a full-time MBA program! It’s incredibly edifying for all of us to be part of the solution, helping veterans start businesses and forge a new identity as an “entrepreneur.”

As the seasons change, though, so we will see some personnel changes in 2011. First, Melissa Martin will be leaving us. She has landed a prestigious and high-profile internship with a well-known NY public relations firm. She did an amazing job for us as an administrative assistant and will be sorely missed. I know she will be phenomenally successful in her new endeavor.

Second, Kathy DeChant has announced she will be retiring in May. Kathy was the moving force that made the EBV happen. I owe her a debt of gratitude larger than I can articulate for offering me the chance to be part of the EBV. I wish her all the best and know she will always be a friend of the program.

Finally, Lane Barrow has agreed to join the EBV as the faculty advisor. All of you remember Lane’s incredible devotion and energy in helping us prepare for the final pitch competition. This is truly a labor of love for Lane, himself a veteran of the Viet Nam war, and we are very lucky to have him formally involved. I thank him for his service, and welcome him aboard.

To wrap up, let me congratulate all of you as you continue to meet the dual challenges of post-combat and post-military transition and of starting a new career and venture as an entrepreneur. I have gotten far more out of being a part of the program than I have put into it.

To our friends, supporters, graduate assistants, veterans, and the UConn community, I wish each of you and your families health and happiness and every success in 2011.

Semper fidelis

Mike Zacchea