News Releases 

In 2001, sitting in a tiny three-hundred-square-foot office south of BYU campus, Jason Christensen worked unceasingly to build his company, NorthStar Alarm. Eighteen years later, right before he retired as CEO, Christensen's small company had grown to hundreds of employees and tens of thousands of customers in thirty different states. Now as an adjunct professor of entrepreneurship at the BYU Marriott School of Business, Christensen strives to instill the same ambition within his students that propelled his own success.

Cookies and ice cream are delicious by themselves, but they’re even better when paired together, at least according to two brothers from California. Blake Barkdull, an entrepreneurship junior at the BYU Marriott School of Business, has paired his knowledge gained in the classroom with real-life business experiences in his ice cream and cookies business, The Penguin Brothers.

A victory at the Utah Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM) Case Competition on 27 March 2021 marked back-to-back wins for undergraduate students from the BYU Marriott School of Business. A BYU Marriott graduate student team also took first place. As students in the human resource management (HRM) program worked to tackle real-life HR problems, their willingness to learn from each other led each team to success.

The Brigham Young University Marriott School of Business MBA program has awarded ten students with the 2021 George E. Stoddard Prize, an award given to first- and second-year students in the BYU Marriott MBA program. 

New research co-authored by BYU Marriott dean Brigitte C. Madrian shows that public health officials looking to boost COVID-19 vaccination rates should take note of one easy, low-cost strategy used for flu shots: text messages.

The MBA director at BYU Marriott, Daniel Snow wishes he had a dollar for every time he’s received compliments about his BYU Marriott graduates in the workforce. Since becoming the MBA director in June 2020, Snow has dedicated himself to not only upholding the school’s values and reputation but also fulfilling his personal goal to make a positive impact on the lives of others.

Popular media typically portrays prison as a dark, antagonistic place. With that image, it’s hard to imagine why anyone would want to work there. However, a group of human resource management (HRM) students from the BYU Marriott School of Business recently looked past this stereotype as they brainstormed solutions to make the Utah Department of Corrections a better place to work.

BYU’s motto—the world is our campus—is embodied by a team of students participating in the InternationalHub at the BYU Marriott School of Business. These students hosted the Beyond Borders case competition in March 2021, an event that virtually brought together more than two hundred participants from twelve countries to find new diversity and inclusion solutions.

In a world still reeling from a global pandemic, many are wondering how to prevent or prepare for the next global disease outbreak. BYU microbiology major Curtis Hoffmann discovered what he believes is the answer through his work with the Ballard Center for Social Impact.

Every year, each department in the BYU Marriott School of Business selects one outstanding student to receive the Bateman Award, which recognizes excellence both inside and outside the classroom. The award is named after Merrill J. Bateman, who served as the dean of BYU Marriott from 1975–79 and the president of BYU from 1996–2003. 

Erin Ricks, BYU Marriott’s Department of Aerospace Studies program manager at the BYU Marriott School of Business, recently received three Air Force and BYU awards recognizing her for her efforts and dedication to leadership in helping to improve and uplift the BYU US Air Force and Army ROTC programs. Since joining the program, Ricks has accomplished several firsts for the BYU ROTC programs as a nonmilitary program director.

Kray Jubeck’s parents encouraged him to live a service-oriented life almost every day of his childhood. Now a junior in the BYU Air Force ROTC program, Jubeck serves as a leader to his peers and exemplar of service, inspired by the program and his father’s example.

BYU junior Isaac Dushku was recently announced as the 2021 Student Entrepreneur of the Year by the Rollins Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology.

When teaching his class ENT 401: Entrepreneurial Innovation to MBA students, associate professor of entrepreneurship Nile Hatch shares his own method of innovation: developing a deep understanding of others’ needs. With both management and engineering students in the class, Hatch also encourages his students to combine their strengths in teams and support one another’s needs.

While growing up in Hazen, Arkansas, entrepreneurial management senior Alex Thompson watched his dad struggle with the water chemistry of their above-ground pool. This experience gave Thompson the idea for Armano, a device that monitors chemical levels in pools. Thompson’s product idea was one of hundreds submitted to the Business Model Competition (BMC), hosted by the Rollins Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology at the BYU Marriott School of Business. Thompson and his team received first place in the competition and took home the $4,000 cash prize. 

Perseverance is no stranger to Chris Call—especially when outdoor pastimes are involved. The lessons Call learned from activities such as road cycling and skiing have helped him find his niche in the business world and reach out to his peers at the BYU Marriott School of Business. 

While pondering on a hill outside the BYU Jerusalem Center during her postgraduation study abroad in 2019, Katy Reese felt overcome by a sense of peace about her future. Now, nearly two years later as an assistant teaching professor of information systems (IS) at the BYU Marriott School of Business, Reese recognizes how God’s hand led her to teaching at BYU. 

The first time Graham Carman applied to the information systems (IS) program at the BYU Marriott School of Business, he didn't get in. However, that initial rejection didn't deter Carman from trying again, and the second time he applied, he was accepted. Now a senior, Carman is well acquainted with the value of persistence.

As a nine-year-old boy, Bryan Stringham started a yard work and lawn mowing business with one of his friends, charging $2.50 an hour. During seventh grade, he sold 1,700 gumballs to his peers at school, wanting a little extra pocket change. Years later, thanks to his experiences at the Rollins Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology at the BYU Marriott School of Business, Stringham’s passion for business has only grown, expanding far beyond lawns and gumballs.

At home in Australia, Jaysen Valdes felt like he was “marinating in stagnation” and that his goals were out of reach. However, thanks to his own grit and the resources available at the BYU Marriott School of Business, the senior in the strategy program now uses his business skills to reach his own aspirations and to help early-stage organizations around the world reach theirs.