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PROVO, Utah – Oct 14, 2020 – During this last summer, the Deans Office of the BYU Marriott School of Business decided to brainstorm ways for students to gain new experiences in a nontraditional way. The Deans Office wanted to give students the opportunity to showcase their knowledge and skills, and potentially win fun prizes. The solution? Teaming up with DaVita, a kidney-disease healthcare company, to put on a completely virtual case competition. The winners of this unique competition consisted of Katana Billingsley, a junior studying pre-business from Queen Creek, Arizona; Michael Harris, a senior majoring in statistics from Farmington, Utah; and Andre Marrey, a senior studying mechanical engineering from São Paulo, Brazil. "From conducting industry research to countless hours spent in Zoom meetings with my team, the DaVita Case Competition was an outstanding experience for BYU students this summer. It enabled us to hone our analytical skills and have a sense of what working in the healthcare industry is,” says Marrey. A total of ninety-six students from various majors across campus in teams of three to five set out to help DaVita for the chance to win cash prizes and gain a résumé-building opportunity. DaVita provided students with a prompt — an issue the company is currently facing—while the Deans Office would provide cash prizes. The week-long competition began with a virtual welcoming event where DaVita presented the prompt to the teams. Students immediately began working to solve the presented issue. Over the next three days, DaVita provided office hours via Zoom video conferencing when DaVita employees could answer any questions the BYU Marriott teams had. “I was worried about signing up for a case competition without any preselected teammates,” says Billingsley. While initially nervous to join the competition, Billingsley’s worries were calmed by her interaction with the other students assigned to her team. “I remembered that everyone at BYU Marriott is talented, and I knew that if students entered the case competition, they probably wanted to learn and grow like me,” she says. “The competition was fast and intense and required research into aspects of subjects I knew nothing about, but the experience helped me to learn new skills and better understand problems people face every day.” After working together in their groups for a few days, each of the twenty-three teams presented in a preliminary round of judging. Each team was given up to three minutes to present in front of members from DaVita on their group’s solution to the issue. “Due to the short timeline, my team met every day brainstorming solutions, designing PowerPoints, and practicing our presentation,” says Billingsley. “This competition helped me to realize the importance of listening to what a company needs and presenting a solution within those guidelines that reflect the company's values.” After some deliberation, DaVita selected the top five teams to advance to the final round. The final round required groups to delve into more detail about their solutions and offer more in-depth explanations than what they previously had revealed to judges. The top three teams were awarded cash prizes by the Deans Office to split between team members. Other participants were given prizes provided by DaVita. “After months of quarantine where I felt like I was not making an impact, this competition helped me feel like I was finally able to do something meaningful—not just for me but for others,” says Billingsley. “This experience helped me to expand my knowledge and gave me the opportunity to work alongside similarly dedicated people. The members of my team all had different majors, providing different perspectives and interests which I believe led to the overall success of the team.” Media Contact: Chad Little (801) 422-1512 Writer: Madi Wickham
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PROVO, Utah – Sep 30, 2020 – When asked what real estate is, most people will say the topic has to deal with something about the home-buying process. But BYU Marriott School of Business finance senior Dallin Curriden challenges that simple explanation. “Real estate is not just the home you live in but also the community in which you live and work,” he says. Curriden credits his love and interest for real estate in part to his service as a missionary in Johannesburg, South Africa, for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It was in Johannesburg that Curriden had the responsibility to manage the housing process of where missionaries lived as part of his day-to-day duties. “I was tasked with finding better, more suitable living situations for missionaries,” says Curriden. “After taking a strategic look at the location, quality, and safety of our mission apartments, I helped find twenty-five new living quarters that were better suited for the work missionaries were doing. That experience was a part of what sparked my initial interest in real estate.” With his attention focused on serving people and his fellow missionaries while in South Africa, Curriden explains that it wasn’t until after his mission that he realized how relevant real estate is to everyday lives. “Everyone interacts with real estate every day,” he says. “Real estate is where you live, work, attend school, visit the doctor, or interact with people in your everyday life. The more I learned about real estate, the more I realized real estate is an opportunity to help better the community around you, help businesses grow, and help people have a comfortable place to live in.” Curriden believes that BYU Marriott’s finance major and real estate have a lot in common. Curriden says his experience in the finance program has made him more marketable, not just for finance jobs but also in the real estate industry. “BYU Marriott offers a number of classes that teach finance principles that are a great foundation for anyone going into real estate,” says Curriden. “Classes that teach topics such as investments in equities and the stock market, how to project cash flows and calculate returns, and even how to become an expert in Microsoft Excel and crunch financial data.” When Curriden was first admitted to BYU Marriott, he wanted to maximize his learning experience and began looking at clubs to join. Because of his experiences on his mission, Curriden was drawn to the BYU Real Estate Association. Now, two years after returning home from South Africa, Curriden serves as the co-president of the BYU Real Estate Association. “BYU has one of the top real estate clubs in the country and is an untapped resource that a lot of undergrads at BYU could benefit from,” Curriden says. “The club has an open-door policy where anybody can come in and feel welcome, like I felt when I joined.” Curriden’s current responsibilities include helping current undergrad students and alumni find internships and full-time jobs, organizing networking trips, and preparing weekly technical trainings for the association meetings. Curriden also hopes to influence the BYU Real Estate Association post-graduation. His plan is to help other undergraduates wanting to pursue a career in real estate by working with future club leadership, assisting students with finding internships, and mentoring students as they pursue their own path to real estate. This last summer, Curriden completed an online internship with Greystar, a globally recognized real estate firm located in South Carolina. After a successful internship, Curriden accepted a full-time offer with the company and is excited to move to South Carolina after he graduates in April 2020 and begin the next stage of his career. For Curriden, his time at BYU Marriott has been one of growth and has helped him prepare to live out his dream career. “I am thankful for the amazing experiences I have had while attending BYU and I can’t wait to get to work full-time at Greystar,” says Curriden. “I’ve been preparing for this moment for years, and I know that I’ve been set up to succeed.” Media Contact: Chad Little (801) 422-1512 Writer: Madi Wickham Link
PROVO, Utah – Sep 24, 2020 – When Todd Manwaring first heard the term social impact, he had no clue how much those two words would change his life. It was 1996 and Manwaring was searching for his legacy vocation after a successful information technology career. Now looking back almost twenty-five years later as the founder, director, and professor-of-practice of the Melvin J. Ballard Center for Social Impact at the BYU Marriott School of Business, Manwaring says the change in career was one of the best decisions he made in his life. So how did Manwaring found a center devoted to social impact? Like most teenagers and young adults, Manwaring he wasn’t particularly focused on making a difference, only attending an occasional service project. He admits as a youth he did not understand the global issues he now works so intently on. All that changed, however, after he got married to his wife, Kristine. Kristine was passionate about, and shed light onto, different problems people around the world face, such as women’s rights issues in the Middle East. He credits her with getting him interested in social impact work. “She helped me recognize that these issues were currently affecting people globally. She helped open my eyes to see what was going on,” Manwaring says. His awareness continued to grow after attending a fundraising breakfast in 1996 with his wife, where he heard the words social impact for the first time. Speaking at the breakfast was then future Nobel Prize winner, Muhammad Yunus, a Bangladeshi social entrepreneur and civil society leader. "That event gave me the perspective that not only were people working on social issues in a unique and innovative way, but they were also creating change in a way that could bring greater outcomes in the people's lives,” he says. Manwaring was so moved that he left his job at Sequent Computer Systems and began pursuing a master’s degree in organizational behavior from BYU Marriott. While pursuing his degree, Manwaring co-founded a group called Unitus, one of the first global impact investing firms, or a group dedicated to investing in organizations in order to generate both a beneficial social impact and financial return. Manwaring says that Unitus and its investments have touched the lives of more than fifty million people through the various programs and services it provides. Soon after Unitus turned four years old, Ned Hill, then dean of BYU Marriott, had a discussion with Manwaring about creating a center with a specific focus on social impact that could reach students all across campus; that conversation led to the founding of the Ballard Center. Hill and Manwaring discussed how the new center would contribute to BYU’s mission as well as one of the Aims of a BYU Education: lifelong learning and service. Manwaring felt a key component to the center should be providing students with the opportunity to not only become involved with the center but to actually lead it. Today, the Ballard Center operates with three full-time staff members, a handful of part time staff, and approximately ninety student employees. Manwaring says students are the Ballard Center’s secret sauce to success. “We put a group of students in charge of one of our programs, such as the Peery Film Festival,” he says. “Then they ask, ‘How do we change this? How can we do this better? How do we approach this innovatively?’ The center is far different than if I would have sat down and planned it all myself. The center has a tremendous team of students that help make this work.” The result? Last year over 3,000 students from over 120 different majors participated in classes, internships, competitions, and research. Another 6,000+ students participated in one-time events like TEDxBYU, the Peery Film Festival, clubs, and information sessions. The center is the largest university-focused effort on social impact worldwide. The students who work in the Ballard Center are more than simply employees to Manwaring, who speaks of them with endearment. While his responsibilities as the director of the Ballard Center include oversight of the center and raising money to fund the center, Manwaring’s favorite task is teaching classes. “I enjoy interacting with students and learning with them. The main class I teach is MSB 375: Social Innovation: Do Good. Better. This is the foundational course of the Ballard Center, where students learn a broad perspective of what social impact is and how to solve social problems,” Manwaring says. For Manwaring, teaching about social impact did not stop once he left his BYU Marriott office at the end of each day. As Manwaring raised his four children, he made sure to incorporate social impact principles into their daily lives as well. In addition to daily lessons from their father, each of Manwaring’s children had an opportunity to participate in trips facilitated by the Ballard Center to implement projects designed to benefit underserved people in countries such as Ghana and Paraguay. “The Ballard Center provides money to students who come up with social impact projects, domestic and abroad,” Manwaring said. “Sometimes it's an internship, sometimes it’s a team of people working on a project. From time to time, one of the leaders in the Ballard Center will go and participate with them. "I tried to teach my children that serving others and making a positive impact on the world around us is natural and needs to be part of what we do," Manwaring continues. "I encourage anyone who wants to do good to ask what role they can play in making that happen and what social impact looks like for them. The Ballard Center provides a wonderful base for any BYU student trying to become more aware of the current conditions in the world today and we’re here to help them make a real, positive difference.” Media Contact: Chad Little (801) 422-1512 Writer: Madi Wickham Link
PROVO, Utah – Sep 22, 2020 – Ariadna Mateu is no stranger to risk. In 2008, at the onset of the Great Recession, which affected economies across the world, she left her stable, well-paying job to travel internationally for a year. Now, in the middle of a worldwide pandemic, she’s adjusting to her new position as the chief student experience officer in the Experience Design and Management (ExDM) program at the BYU Marriott School of Business, where she helps enhance, enrich and improve students’ outcomes during their time on campus. Born in Barcelona, Spain, Mateu studied and graduated from the University of Barcelona in 1998 with a bachelor’s degree and a master's degree in hotel management. After graduating and working in the industry, she decided hotel management wasn’t for her and felt the urge for a significant change. She moved to London in 2003, hoping to explore other options for her future path. “I got the bug for travelling,” she says. “Before moving, I said I wouldn’t work in hotel management. You know what they say about never say never? Well, they’re right.” As a professional in London, Mateu accepted an offer to be the purchasing manager for a five-star hotel, the Dorchester hotel in London. She enjoyed the job but ultimately decided it still wasn’t what she wanted to do. While working at the Dorchester, however, Mateu discovered a passion for encouraging her team and colleagues to grow. “When you become a manager and start working with people, and you care about them, you become more of a coach or a mentor,” Mateu says. “I realized how much I loved helping my staff grow personally and professionally.” When the 2008 recession hit, Mateu felt the pull of change again. Leaving the security of her job in the middle of uncertainty, Mateu decided to travel and gain new experiences. “I needed something more than just the professional life of earning money and spending it,” she says. “I decided to quit my job and went on an around-the-world trip for a whole year. I was either extremely brave or extremely crazy.” After her year of exploration, Mateu returned to Barcelona and managed executive education programs at IESE Business School. In that role, she acted as a liaison between the academic creators of the school and the executive leaders of businesses. “I created learning experiences and customized programs for companies that wanted to fill a gap in their executives’ education by using the curriculum that the IESE teachers created,” she explains. Mateu explored finding a better professional and personal life approach for herself while working at IESE. She studied mindfulness and even became a certified yoga teacher. During this time, she also met her husband, Ben Rabner, a Springville, Utah, native. “My husband and I met in Barcelona during the Mobile World Congress. He was there for work. Ben works as the head of experiential marketing at Adobe, so when we met, we both spoke the experience-design language. Our passion to create experiences that transform lives and organizations was apparent from day one,” Mateu says. After Mateu and her husband decided to move to Utah, she found her current position at BYU Marriott. “When I read the description of the position, I knew the job would be right up my alley,” she says. Like many of her large life changes, the move to BYU Marriott came with a certain amount of uncertainty and risk. She began her job at BYU Marriott right before the coronavirus pandemic significantly impacted how classes were taught. “I started my job three weeks before everything was shut down,” Mateu says. “Here I was, supposed to create and manage experiences for ExDM students, and I had barely met 10 percent of the students before the pandemic changed things.” Despite the disruption in schedules and routine that characterized her first few weeks at BYU Marriott, Mateu finds the response of her coworkers and the students in the ExDM program impressive. “Our department, faculty, and students decided to make a good life during a disruptive situation,” she says. “Between adjusting to classes over webcam and working from home, we’ve been on top of things in an extraordinary way.” Mateu’s position at BYU Marriott encompasses much of her philosophy around learning and the ways people can best internalize lessons. Her goal while working in the ExDM department is to enhance the long-term outcomes for students who go through the program. “There is a human component to what we teach that is unique to the ExDM department,” she says. “I aim to create strategies that make this program not just professionally beneficial for students who graduate but beneficial in personal ways also. Our goal is for students to be able to say that this program was one of the best experiences of their lives.” Media Contact: Chad Little: (801) 422-1512 Writer: Madi Wickham www.cubic.com/news-events/news/cubic-showcase-multi-domain-lvc-advanced-training-environment-fighter-pilots
Cubic Global Defense’s breakthrough live, virtual and constructive capabilities enhance training for today’s warfighter SAN DIEGO – June 16, 2019 – Cubic Corporation (NYSE: CUB) today announced its Cubic Global Defense (CGD) business division will exhibit its advanced air combat training systems at this year’s International Paris Air Show from June 17–23 at the Le Bourget Airport in Paris, France. The 53rd International Paris Air Show will bring together key players in the aerospace industry from around the world for a weeklong event consisting of the latest technological innovations, product demonstrations and commercial opportunities. “For nearly five decades, Cubic has continued to revolutionize air combat training to benefit the United States and our allied nations. Today, we are the only provider of fourth and fifth generation fielded interoperable Air Combat Maneuvering Instrumentation (ACMI) and Live, Virtual, and Constructive (LVC) training solutions,” said Mike Knowles, president of Cubic Global Defense. “In fact, Cubic stands alone as the only company that has flown Secure/Joint ACMI/LVC and built a true multi-domain hardware and software infrastructure that has been tested and proven in operational fighter cockpits. Our Multi-Domain Advanced Training Environment is a must see this year at Le Bourget,” added Knowles. Cubic will highlight the following solutions at the Le Bourget Airport in the U.S. Partnership Pavilion Hall 3, stand #3-E161:
For more information, please visit Cubic’s event page or follow Cubic Global Defense on Twitter at @CubicDefense. Join the social conversation surrounding the International Paris Air Show with #PAS19. |