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The end product read like an amazing who’s who of students that had achieved phenomenal success in one or more areas than many people ever achieve in a lifetime. This year, we again made the same request of our faculty and staff and they didn’t disappoint. This proves, once again, that SDSU has an amazing group of business students that not only have brilliant futures, but have already made an impact on the lives of those around them. And this listing only scratches the surface…
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STUDENT PROFILES |
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Emil Ayoub Finance major, Emil Ayoub isn’t finished at SDSU yet, but he knows what he’ll do when he graduates in December 2009. He is currently working in real estate and he has plans to obtain his real estate license to become a successful real estate investor and broker upon graduation. Ayoub was recently elected to the membership chair position for the SDSU Real Estate Society’s Board of Directors for spring 2009. Ayoub is also a member of the Phi Kappa Phi honor society and Golden Key International Honour Society, as well and the SDSU Entrepreneur Society. “My desire to succeed drives me to excel in everything I do,” explained Ayoub. Mark Goldman (finance): Emil serves on the board of directors for the Real Estate Society, and is also a member of several honor societies. Emil works as a brokers associate for California Real Estate & Mortgage and as well as G.E.A. Inc., a real estate consulting company. Emil has done exceptionally well in my Finance 435 class and I know that he also uses his abilities to help his classmates improve their performance in my class and other classes.
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Rex Brown Jr. Rex Brown Jr., an entrepreneurship junior, has big plans for the summer: he will be attending the Trials program at Harvard Law School in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Brown was one of only 20 students (from a field of 6000) to be selected for the program, which offers exposure to the legal professional and extensive LSAT preparation to promising potential law school students. Brown expects to attend law school following his graduation from SDSU in 2010. Brown has shown promise in other respects as well. In 2007, as a college freshman, he began Baskets 4 Hope, a non-profit organization which creates athletic and educational programs that develop and “enhance the abilities, confidence, and self-esteem of inner-city youth.” Brown has dedicated the organization to a close friend who was gunned down in a robbery attempt in May of that year. The organization has received support from Senator John McCain and hosted events in San Francisco, Los Angeles and Las Vegas. Additionally, Brown has recently been awarded one of SDSU’s most prestigious undergraduate awards, Quest for the Best, and he is a member of SDSU’s Business Honors Program. Tim Orlando (management): Rex Brown Jr. is an excellent student and an even better human. Without any formal counseling, Rex channeled his feelings into starting Baskets 4 Hope to do something in a positive way. His organization hosts athletic tournaments that allow at-risk youth to be involved in fun competition and teamwork at no charge to them. He is truly the type of student that we can be proud to have at SDSU. Dr. Carol Venable (accountancy/Director, Business Honors Program): When Rex entered the Business Honors Program, he immediately gained the respect of everyone when he was asked to describe his activities. Rex had already founded the not-for-profit organization which has made a significant contribution in his hometown neighborhood in San Francisco. Motivation and follow-through brings him to the end of his junior year with an outstanding grade point average and recognition as one of the 2009 Quest for the Best award recipients.
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Stephanie Buchanan Junior management major, Stephanie Buchanan, knows a thing or two about volunteerism. As president of College Students for New Orleans, she led a group of 36 volunteers in January 2009 and a group of 48 volunteers during the last spring break to New Orleans where they helped to rebuild Katrina-damaged homes. Buchanan was able to do this largely through her innovative and successful fund-raising events which included two silent art auctions. These auctions alone raised a total of $11,000. Additionally, Buchanan has learned the art of grant writing to further her fundraising efforts and has secured 501(c)(3) tax exempt status for the organization. Buchanan has also been involved with the hall council in her dormitory. With a targeted May 2010 graduation, she will wrap up her SDSU career in only three years. Dr. Carol Venable (accountancy/Director, Business Honors Program): Stephanie dedicates her time to organizing and going on working trips for New Orleans and organizes the fund raisers to finance the trips. She accomplishes this while maintaining outstanding grades and is actively participating as a member of the Business Honors Program.
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Kimberly Carter MBA candidate, Kimberly Carter, has become somewhat of an expert when it comes to global responsibility and community service. For the past two years, Carter has been president of SDSU’s chapter of Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE). The SIFE program creates economic opportunities for individuals and small businesses within U.S. communities and in other countries. In 2008 - 2009, SDSU’s SIFE program has also been engaged in mentoring at-risk students at San Diego High and has helped bring clean drinking water to a section of Tijuana, Mexico. Both last year and this year, SDSU’s SIFE team, led by Carter, has won their regional competitions to compete with other SIFE teams from across the United States. 2009 will mark the third year in a row that SDSU’s SIFE team has ranked within the top three in their division, placing the SDSU’s team among the top 48 teams in the U.S. (out of 644 teams). In addition, Carter is a graduate assistant for the Aztec Business Alliance (ABA) where she helps to coordinate and oversee student internships with nonprofit organizations that are coordinated by ABA. Carter earned her bachelor’s in marketing from SDSU in 2007 and will complete her MBA with an emphasis in management in May of 2010. Dr. Don Sciglimpaglia (marketing): Kim has a very positive attitude and infectious personality. She has been the force behind the scenes in directing our award-winning SIFE program. Kim has worked hard to motivate others and to build a cohesive team working towards a common cause. She has also been the lead graduate assistant in our small business undergraduate consulting program.
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Jonathan Champagne Jonathan Champagne’s planned graduation from SDSU in December 2010 will be only the first step in the education process for the information systems junior. Champagne is currently active in the Platoon Leaders Class program which will lead him to a commission as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Marine Corps upon graduation and a trip to Quantico, Virginia for Officer Candidates School for the next two summers. Following graduation, he will be in Naval Aviator flight training, for which he recently qualified by passing the difficult Aviation Selection Test Battery. After completing flight school and during his tenure in the Marines, Champagne plans to earn his MBA. Little-known fact: he plays the trumpet and is the first chair in his church’s orchestra. Dr. Theo Addo (IDS): Jonathan has a quiet confidence about him. One would suspect, but never know of his interesting background unless one took the initiative to talk to him. I took such an initiative a few weeks ago and, sure enough, found out that, among other things, he an accomplished musician and is planning a career in the Marine Corps as an officer and is diligently pursuing the necessary steps to accomplish that goal.
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Brian Cowell Only a month after graduating with a degree in psychology from SDSU in December of 2006, Brian Cowell founded SwiftKick Martial Arts studio in January 2007. This was the same month he began his MBA program at SDSU. Cowell was recently told that he will graduate this May as the Outstanding MBA in Management. Since Cowell had been a student of the martial arts since the age of three and he has studied many styles of martial arts, it made sense for him to pursue this passion as a career. It was also the discipline he learned through martial arts that allowed him to focus extensively on his studies - he completed his undergraduate degree with a 3.96 GPA out of 4.0. Cowell was recently invited to join SDSU’s Beta Gamma Sigma business honors society. Dr. Karen Ehrhart (management): Brian Cowell he has done an admirable job of balancing his coursework with running his business. His studio integrates his education in psychology and management, and I am impressed with the thoughtfulness and maturity with which he approaches the business.
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Lisa Doan Winning isn’t everything. Integrated marketing communications senior, Lisa Doan, could tell you that. Even after investing $1500 of her own money into her campaign for the Associated Students (A.S.) vice president of finance position in the spring of 2008, she came up short when the results were read. But Doan did not give up. She instead retained her position on the A.S. finance board and later took on the position of executive vice president of the SDSU’s chapter of Alpha Kappa Psi, a professional business fraternity. Recipient of a 2005 Presidential Diversity Scholarship, Doan has continued to hold at least two part-time jobs throughout her SDSU career and she has also been involved in the Asian Pacific Student Alliance and the Student Affirmative Action Committee. In April 2009, Doan was one of only five students honored by the College of Business Administration as a Future Rising Business Leader. Following graduation in this May, Doan plans stay in Southern California to work in the field of marketing. Bryan Lubic (Manager, Aztec Business Alliance): Lisa has distinguished herself not only through her outstanding accomplishments, but through her continued growth and development as the kind of leader the CBA wants our students to become. During her college career, she has developed the kind of professional polish that will take her anywhere she wants to go. She is unique because she looks forward; she is going to be remembered because she never forgets to look back and continues to help others who walk the same path.
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Allen R. Fuqua By the time he graduates this December with a B.S. in information systems, Allen Fuqua will have an impressive resume filled with leadership roles in both academic and volunteer capacities in two countries. Fuqua participated in SDSU’s study abroad program where he attended Yonsei University in Seoul, Korea. During his time in Korea (2007- 2008), he volunteered as a Global Angel and with the 1318 Happy Zone. Both programs provided a path to sharing American and world cultures with Korean youth and offered Fuqua an opportunity to help kids learn English. Here in the U.S., Fuqua currently serves as a team leader at Volunteer San Diego where he coordinates efforts to manage the volunteers’ time most effectively for the agency. Additionally, he has been involved in the Reading to Kids program where he reads to underprivileged children. And if that wasn’t enough, Fuqua has also volunteered at the San Diego Food Bank and at Classics for Kids where he helps to expose children to classical music. Fuqua is also president of SDSU’s chapter of the Association of IT Professionals and a member of the Project Management Institute, a professional certifying organization for excellence in project management. Dr. Robert Plice (IDS): Allen Fuqua stands out among the undergraduates that I have taught in the past seven years. He has a keen intelligence and the ability to summarize the significant aspects of a problem and develop a meaningful and practical plan to address it. Allen stands out as a student leader with the natural ability to command the attention and respect of his peers and he displays an originality and enthusiasm in assisting the IDS department with community-outreach efforts.
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Aunalori Honeycutt-Taylor Aunalori Honeycutt-Taylor is pursuing her MBA (entrepreneurship) while working at the College of Business Administration’s graduate program office as a peer advisor for the past year. While working with the office staff, Honeycutt-Taylor noticed how cumbersome it was to use the office’s ACCESS database. With no formal ACCESS training and without being asked, she single-handedly learned how to update and add features to the system to greatly improve its efficiency, making it easier for staffers to track student data. In addition to training all the current graduate assistants (GAs), Honeycutt-Taylor has also recently completed a comprehensive handbook for incoming GAs. This assures that once she completes her MBA in December 2009, new GAs will get the proper training and accurate information regarding all graduate business programs. Upon graduation, Honeycutt-Taylor hopes to work in the field of human resources. Suleka Puswella (MS Programs Coordinator): Aunalori continues to perform far beyond the job description of a graduate assistant and has been fully on board performing at the level of a very competent full-time employee. She has been an outstanding performer from the beginning, putting in extra unpaid hours to assist with numerous tasks. She does all of this while maintaining a full-time MBA course load and a stellar GPA!
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Jeremy Katz By the time finance major Jeremy Katz graduates from SDSU in May 2010, his resume will be impressive by any standard. The University Honors Program student has served as an executive member of the Residence Hall Association and twice served on the board of directors of Associated Students (A.S.). Katz was honored with the 2009 Dean Herbert Peiffer award, provided annually by A.S. to their most outstanding male leader. Katz currently serves as the president of the Associated Business Students Council (ABSC) and will begin his term as executive vice president of the SDSU student body and A.S. starting in the fall of 2009. His efforts to develop new programs and motivate the council were recognized when A.S. awarded ABSC with the Most Improved College Council award in 2009. Even with all of his activities on various boards and executive positions, somewhere along the way, Katz even managed to find the time to study aboard for one semester in Australia. Heather LaPerle (Peer Advisor Coordinator/Academic Advisor for the Undergraduate Business Advising Center and Co-Advisor ABSC): Jeremy Katz has done great things this year to improve the participation of the business student organizations in the council. He is also passionate about continuing to help ABSC even though he has secured an A.S. position for fall 2009. He demonstrates amazing time management skills and is devoted to all of the activities in his academic and social life.
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Wesley Martin By the time Wesley Martin graduates in December 2009, he will have a very full and impressive resume of activities, awards and accolades. In addition to holding down two part-time jobs, having a nearly perfect GPA, and being the president-elect for SDSU’s Beta Alpha Psi (BAP)chapter, Martin co-founded the chapter’s Financial Literacy program which helps San Diego high school students learn how to build and maintain a budget. The program earned second place in the “Best Practices” category during BAP’s regional meeting this spring. Martin is also helping to spearhead SDSU’s effort to lobby the California state legislature to vote in favor of Senate Bill 691 which would increase the number of classroom hours needed for CPAs to qualify for a state license from 120 to 150. Passage of this bill would allow California CPAs to become more active in interstate practice. Dr. David DeBoskey (accountancy): Wesley Martin continually strives to be a role model for BAP participants and the students of the Charles W. Lamden School of Accountancy. He has logged over 90 tutoring hours (and counting) over the last two semesters and is highly involved in helping the Lamden School of Accountancy and the College of Business Administration in any way he can.
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Jessica Minick After Jessica Minick earns her Master’s of Science in accountancy in December of 2009, she will take only a few weeks off before she starts work at KPMG’s tax department. Having earned her bachelor’s degree in accounting in 2008 (also at SDSU) as well, Minick has had a successful collegiate career with many stellar accomplishments. Minick’s leadership at Beta Alpha Psi (BAP), the honorary organization for financial information professionals and students, has strengthened the chapter at SDSU. While president of the organization during the fall of 2008, she implemented the use of Google Documents and gmail to help streamline communications within the group. This proved so successful that faculty and staff at SDSU’s School of Accountancy have followed her lead. She also spearheaded participation in BAP’s new Gold Challenge completion which is open only to chapters deemed “Superior”. In addition Minick has served as a mentor to Accounting 321 students, a team leader at the CIBER Case Competition and the BAP representative on CBA’s Associated Business Student Council. She is currently studying for her CPA exams which she plans to take in the coming months. Dr. Sharon Lightner (William E. Cole Director of the Charles W. Lamden School of Accountancy): Jessica is a student that is committed to excellence and enhancing the reputation at SDSU. She is a member of the Business Honors Program and one of the first to volunteer for any opportunity to help the CBA and the SOA. Jessica also volunteered her time in January to attend CPA at the Capitol to encourage legislators to pass the 150-hour rule in California for CPA licensure. California is one of only four states in the nation that is left to adopt this rule. This is just another example of how Jessica is working for excellence.
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Bill Riedy William (Bill) Riedy is one of the few students graduating this May with an MBA and a master’s degree in another area of study; in this case, Latin American Studies. Riedy’s thesis research integrates these two academic fields by investigating the economic links between local agriculture and tourist restaurants in Los Cabos, Mexico. In fact, the two leading development agencies in Los Cabos and the Los Cabos chapter of Slow Food have invited him to present the findings of his thesis after his graduation. Additionally, Riedy has been involved in several independent research projects including consulting and market analyst for Jenny Craig Inc. for formulating the organization’s re-entry into the Mexican market. His team’s strategy was later adopted by the company. Riedy is active in using his knowledge and skills by volunteering in Slow Food Urban San Diego where he is working with the aquaculture program at Hubbs-Sea World, Scripps Institute of Oceanography, area chefs and others to put on a sustainable seafood education conference in the fall. The group has a special outreach to kids in local schools. Dr. Marie Flatley (IDS): Bill Riedy has been my graduate assistant for four semesters, excelling in that work as well as both his academic and community work. Not only was he designated an MBA Scholar when he entered the program due to his outstanding GMAT score, but he has also earned a near perfect GPA (3.94) in the program. I think he’s considering going on for a Ph.D., too. He’s helping a village in Mexico go back to restoring it local agricultural economy. It’s all related to eating locally and helping this village become more self sufficient. He gives presentations at a university in Mexico, too (he’s bilingual). As you can see, Bill is an all-around outstanding student that SDSU is proud to claim.
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Daryl Rysdyk Between his full-time position at UCSD, his own computer consulting company and his studies, information systems senior, Daryl Rysdyk, still finds time as a volunteer to feed San Diego’s homeless population and to pursue his hobby of photography and graphic arts. In fact, Daryl has designed the cover of a novel that is currently in production. Rysdyk is also a member of the Phi Theta Kappa and Phi Kappa Phi honor societies and is involved in the SDSU chapter of the Associated Information Technology Professionals. He is currently in the process of designing an interactive computer slideshow for the Alumni Association’s Veterans War Memorial Committee. He is planning to graduate from SDSU in December of 2009. Dr. Theo Addo (IDS): Daryl is a “free spirit” whose relaxed demeanor belies his significant intellectual prowess. He displayed such remarkable logical and analytical reasoning capabilities in my computer programming class that I personally selected him to participate in a special independent study under my supervision and to also be a tutor for the current generation of students in that class, IDS 315.
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Srdan Smamrdzic A native of Dubrovnik Croatia, Srdan Samardzic has immersed himself in American culture by joining the U.S. Navy in 2002. By 2005, he had already been promoted to manage the personnel department aboard the USS Fort McHenry LSD43 and advanced to the rank of First Class Petty Officer. In October 2007, Samardzic was one of only 100 individuals selected to participate in the Navy’s Seaman to Admiral program. This program paves the way for outstanding sailors to earn a college degree and the opportunity to be commissioned as a Naval Officer by providing these sailors with full pay, along with their tuition, books and fees. Samardzic entered SDSU in 2008 and has already impressed his professors as an excellent student with a nearly perfect grade point average in pre-business. He plans to complete his degree as a finance major in May 2011. Dr. Richard O. Dalbey (IDS): Srdan is a very energetic, positive and hard working individual. His approach to the writing demands of my course in business communication (IDS 290) is praiseworthy. He is always well prepared and gets the work done as evidenced by his position as coordinator of the team long analytical report in IDS 290. His participation and excellence in the areas of superior scholarship, outstanding and continual leadership, and dedication to a business working environment is unquestionable. Srdan is truly a kind and sincere individual. It is indeed a pleasure for me to recommend Srdan Samardzic as an outstanding student contributor for 2009.
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Hillary Trevett Graduating Summa Cum Laude in May financial services major, Hillary Trevett, has an impressive list of accomplishments. She has participated in the Business Honors Program and the SDSU chapter of Mortar Board, a national honor society that recognizes college seniors that stand out for their excellence in areas of scholarship, leadership and service. Trevett will also graduate with Distinction in the Major – an honor reserved only for students achieving at least a 3.5 GPA (out of 4.0) and chosen as a student leader by CBA faculty members. Trevett is also a member of numerous other honor societies including Beta Gamma Sigma, Golden Key International Honour Society, Scholars Without Borders, and Phi Kappa Phi. She has served as vice president of membership for SDSU’s Finance and Investment Society and she completed an “intense internship at Vanguard in Scottsdale, Arizona.” In the spring of 2008, Trevett was honored with a Future Rising Business Leaders award and she has been the recipient of numerous scholarships. Immediately following graduation, Trevett will travel to Europe after which she will determine where she wants to live and pursue her career in the finance industry. Hillary is extremely passionate about helping others and dreams of becoming a life coach as one of her future aspirations. Regardless of her ultimate destination, she plans to “give back to the San Diego community and SDSU in many capacities, including donating my first financial bonus to SDSU as a scholarship to needy students.” Christine Probett (management): There are two things about Hillary that makes her stand out from her peers: her intellectual thirst and her passion for helping others. Hillary is an extremely intelligent person and she works very hard to master the material in the courses she takes and her extremely high GPA is an indication of her academic success. However, her interest in doing well is not only driven by the grades but by the ability to understand and pull together information from all the courses and experiences she has to synthesize the learning for use in her life and her career. Hillary is truly passionate to help others, as evidenced by her significant contributions to scholastic and community organizations.
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Howard Tu The ONE-DAY Job Shadow Program, co-founded by integrated marketing communications major, Howard Tu, helps students to determine if their chosen major is leading them down the right path. Pre-business students in the program spend a day observing and interacting with professionals in the career they plan to pursue, allowing them to determine if they are in the right major. The ONE-DAY Job Shadow Program has been so successful that it earned Tu a President’s Award in the 2009 Student Research Symposium. The program will be managed by SDSU’s Aztec Business Alliance upon Tu’s graduation in May 2009. The ONE-DAY Job Shadow Program wasn’t Tu’s only success. In 2009 alone, he was one of five students to be selected for the SDSU Future Rising Business Leader award; is executive vice president of the SDSU chapter of Alpha Kappa Psi; and he was the marketing director for the 2009 Lavin VentureStart Competition hosted by SDSU’s Entrepreneurial Management Center. He has also named the 2009 recipient of the Parker Pike Nonprofit AMA Marketing Scholarship. Aztec Business Alliance: Howard Tu is a rising young leader whose incredible entrepreneurial spirit and creativity is amazingly complimented by his genuine desire to help others succeed. The ONE-DAY Job Shadow Program demonstrates most clearly the scope of Howard's inventiveness, as well as his capacity for caring. As co-founder of the program, Howard experienced firsthand the difficulty pre-business students have choosing a major with only limited knowledge of the field. After much effort and many meetings, the job shadow program was established to provide opportunities for pre-business students to observe professionals in their workplaces. To date, over 200 students have participated in the program.
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Jon Tucker Jon Tucker, a marketing major graduating Summa Cum Laude this May has been focused on much more than class work through his four years at SDSU. As a part only 10 students asked to join the Lavin Fellowship program, Tucker has had the opportunity to be mentored by founders and CEOs of successful companies, including the founder of the billion dollar Alberto-Culver Corporation and the co-founder of Volcom Clothing. Dr. Lois Olson (marketing): Jon is the most entrepreneurial AND school-spirited student I have had. In addition to his enthusiasm for SDSU and his business acumen, Jon will be graduating with Distinction in the Major – an honor bestowed by the faculty and a well-deserved honor.
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Jeremy Volper Former Eagle Scout, Jeremy Volper, is the only student in this year’s crop of Outstanding Students that was also profiled in last year’s newsletter. It’s easy to understand why. While Jeremy has had more hard knocks along the way than most students (divorce, job loss, custody battles), Volper was able to remain focused on his goals and will graduate in May 2009 cum laude with a degree in management. Volper has been designing board games, most of which are three dimensional, since he was a youngster. He hopes to start his own business designing and marketing board games and is currently engaged in gathering the capital to do so. “I can’t say that I have lived the perfect life,” said Volper. “But I can say that I have learned important things through each trial and experience.” Dr. Jeff Glazer (management): Over the years, Jeremy has had a few of challenges which have slowed down his progress towards graduation, but he has persevered and prospered. This month he will be graduating with one of the highest GPA's in the management department. Besides being an excellent student, he is an outstanding father and person.
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