BYU Marriott Welcomes New Faculty

PROVO, Utah – Sep 21, 2017 – The Brigham Young University Marriott School of Business welcomes three professors to the Tanner Building this fall.

The newest additions to the full-time faculty include Ben Iverson in the finance department and Degan Kettles and Taylor Wells in the information systems department.

Ben Iverson received his PhD in business economics from Harvard University, taught at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, and now returns to BYU as an assistant professor of finance. “The commitment to excellence in both research and teaching, combined with a strong sense of community, makes me feel that I can make more of a difference here than anywhere else,” Iverson says. After earning his bachelor’s degree in economics from BYU in 2006, Iverson moved to the Big Apple where he worked as an assistant economist in a research group at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Iverson studies corporate finance with a particular emphasis on financial distress, restructuring, and bankruptcy. “I’ve always tried to focus my research and my teaching on ideas that can make an impact in the real world,” Iverson says. “BYU is the perfect environment for me to continue on that path.”

After spending the last ten years outside of Utah, Degan Kettles got a rich perspective on the effect BYU has on the world. “The world is filled with people who are BYU grads, and they are pillars within their communities, their families, their jobs, and in society,” Kettles says. “I want my students to be the best in the world in their professions, but I also want to help them to see the bigger picture and that opportunity makes working here exciting.” Kettles earned a PhD in business with an emphasis in information systems at Arizona State University and graduated from BYU with a BA in communications. He was most recently an assistant professor in the information systems and operations management department at the University of Central Oklahoma. He teaches management information systems, software development, business analytics, and systems analysis and design.

After earning a PhD in information systems from the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University, Taylor Wells is back at BYU to teach courses in the IS core. Wells says he wants his students to understand the application of technical solutions to business problems, core business processes and cycles, and the internal controls necessary in modern systems to mitigate risk and fraudulent activity. “The students are excellent, and it is exciting to work with individuals trying to make positive changes in the world,” Wells says. While pushing and challenging students to help them realize their potential, he will also be advancing his research program that is investigating how technology changes the behavior of business professionals. Wells received both a BS in information systems and a MISM at BYU Marriott.

The BYU Marriott School of Business prepares men and women of faith, character and professional ability for positions of leadership throughout the world. Named for benefactors J. Willard and Alice S. Marriott, the school is located at Brigham Young University, the largest privately owned, church-sponsored university in the United States. BYU Marriott has four graduate and ten undergraduate programs with an enrollment of approximately 3,300 students.