News Releases 

At an end-of-year banquet held on April 7, 2022, for students graduating from the MPA program at the BYU Marriott School of Business, MPA graduate Tamsyn Randall received the Garth N. Jones Writing award. The award, including a $1,000 cash prize, was given to Randall by the Romney Institute of Public Service and Ethics at BYU Marriott in recognition of her writing excellence.

Not everyone would take being called “funny guy” as a compliment, but Michael Gibbs isn’t everyone. He took the moniker given to him by a classmate and plastered it on his LinkedIn and résumé. His sense of humor has helped Gibbs, now a senior in the strategic management program at the BYU Marriott School of Business, find connections between the genres of comedy and strategy. 

As someone who has often felt like the odd woman out, Mikayla Cluxton knows what it is like to be lonely. As a second-year student in the entrepreneurial management program at the BYU Marriott School of Business, Cluxton recently created a startup, BeeFriend, to help alleviate loneliness in the geriatric population. Inspired by the iconography of a bee, Cluxton and her two cofounders are creating a hive for the senior citizens in their community to find friends.  

BYU Marriott School of Business dean Brigitte C. Madrian has announced Paul Godfrey as the next chair of the Department of Management. Godfrey took over for the previous department chair, Curtis LeBaron, on July 1, 2022.

BYU Marriott School of Business dean Brigitte C. Madrian has announced Rob Christensen as the next director of the Romney Institute of Public Service and Ethics. Christensen took over for the previous director, Lori Wadsworth, on July 1, 2022.  

As a new vocal performance college graduate, Kortney Wall Gong dreamed of being on the stage. However, after spending two decades working in business and now as a third-year student in the executive MPA program at the BYU Marriott School of Business, she has a new dream: becoming an executive director of a nonprofit organization.

BYU Marriott School of Business dean Brigitte C. Madrian has announced Taylor Nadauld as the next chair of the Department of Finance. Nadauld took over for the previous department chair, Craig Merrill, on July 1, 2022. 

U.S. Comptroller General Gene Dodaro recently accepted the 2022 Administrator of the Year Award. This award is presented annually by the Romney Institute of Public Service and Ethics at the BYU Marriott School of Business.

When Brian Boyer was an undergraduate finance student at BYU, a pivotal conversation with one of his professors started him on the path to his future career. Now, as an associate professor of finance at the BYU Marriott School of Business, Boyer witnesses firsthand how his roles as a mentor and teacher can positively influence the direction of his own students' careers.

When Isaac Pettit was 14, his uncle gave him an extremely unusual gift—a unicycle. With the promise of $100 from his uncle if he could learn how to ride the one-wheeler gracefully, Pettit took off. Now, as an April 2022 graduate of the strategic management program at the BYU Marriott School of Business, Pettit has extended his ability to balance from riding his unicycle to staying on top of future education and career opportunities.

Ten BYU Marriott School of Business MBA students were recently named 2022 Eccles Scholars by the school's Whitmore Global Business Center (GBC). The Eccles Scholars award program provides up to $9,000 in scholarship money to 10 first-year MBA students who are enrolled in the Global Business Certificate program and show a dedicated commitment to international business.

The crackling sound of sparks, dancing orange flames, and the glowing light of a fire cast upon the faces huddled around it are the images and sounds that play in Marinne Pearson’s mind when she thinks about a campfire. When the 2013 BYU Marriott School of Business marketing alumna was working to rebrand a new company, Pearson likened the company’s service of bringing managers together for trainings to people gathering around a campfire.

When she ended her 30-year-long career at the Romney Institute of Public Service and Ethics at the BYU Marriott School of Business, emeritus faculty member Gloria Wheeler knew she wanted to continue serving others. Since leaving the institute in 2008, Wheeler has found countless ways to bless the lives of those around her, including serving five full- or part-time missions for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

While serving a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Stuttgart, Germany, Ross Storey was planning on being a graphic designer when he returned home. However, a conversation with a stranger he met on the street led Storey to change his plans, which eventually resulted in him working at the Provo Missionary Training Center and teaching as an adjunct experience design and management professor at the BYU Marriott School of Business.

As Caleb Faber drove to Assisi, Italy, the sky was pouring rain. However, as soon as he arrived, the rain stopped, and a beautiful sunset broke through the clouds, creating a colorful backdrop as he and his wife walked through the town. This memory is one of the highlights of Faber's student exchange program at Bocconi University, which is run through the Whitmore Global Business Center at the BYU Marriott School of Business.

Wearing Nike shoes, surrounded by BYU sports paraphernalia in his office without a textbook in sight, Bill Keenan works to put the job-seeking students he advises at ease. As a career advisor at the BYU Marriott Business Career Center, Keenan tailors his teaching and advising to help undergraduates find jobs after graduation.

In the years since his graduation from the BYU Marriott School of Business in 2014, finance alum Alan Croft has stayed busy creating a global mentoring program for Disney's magical Florida theme parks, making a case for the building of a new Star Wars themed hotel, and managing a team at Google Fiber. Looking forward, he plans to continue working on projects that give him creative freedom and opportunities to work with others.

When Alyssa Asplund transferred to BYU from BYU–Hawaii in 2018, she knew she wanted to continue making a difference for those in need. Asplund found a way to do so through the Ballard Center for Social Impact at the BYU Marriott School of Business. In the process, she also discovered how to improve herself.

The call of free doughnuts can be powerful, and for BYU Marriott School of Business student Emily Holden, this call led to her major at BYU and her eventual career. A Yakima, Washington, native and a lover of the outdoors, languages, service, and yes, doughnuts, Holden is excited to use the accounting abilities she has gained from the School of Accountancy (SOA) to serve not only the business world but also the environment she loves and the underprivileged communities she aspires to empower.

When she learned that a supervisor position would be opening where she worked, Ana Malafu-Eliesa decided to enroll in the executive MPA (EMPA) program at the BYU Marriott School of Business. However, shortly before she graduated in 2007, an unexpected event changed her life—and career path—forever.