Greg Johnson

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Dean hosts fireside chat with president and CEO of EagleBank Susan Riel

Greg Johnson — Mon, 24 Jun 2024 14:51:19 +0000

Dean hosts fireside chat with president and CEO of EagleBank Susan Riel Greg Johnson Mon, 06/24/2024 - 10:51

In This Story

Ajay Vinzé

Ajay Vinzé, dean of the Donald G. Costello College of Business at ��AV, sat down with Susan Riel, president and CEO of EagleBank, for a fireside chat on the afternoon of Wednesday, April 10.

Susan Riel, president and CEO of EagleBank

In front of faculty, students, and community guests gathered on George Mason’s Fairfax Campus, their discussion covered a range of topics, from EagleBank’s evolution as a startup to a community bank, to how regional banks support the entrepreneurial ecosystem. Having been at EagleBank since 1998, Riel has held several different positions, experiencing and driving the decades-long evolution of the bank and its impact on clients.

EagleBank’s mission is to be the most trusted, experienced, and client-centric bank across the Washington, D.C., region and beyond. With clients over the years including MOM’s Organic Market and Honest Tea, EagleBank was founded on the belief that every person and business deserves individualized financial guidance from experts who care. The bank’s "Relationships FIRST" policy was echoed throughout Riel’s remarks. FIRST is an acronym, standing for flexible, involved, responsive, strong, and trusted.

Susan Riel speaks with Dean Ajay Vinzé

“Entrepreneurs depend on banks,” said Riel. Despite the current challenges for commercial real estate, resulting from many employees not returning to the office following the pandemic, she explained how the banking system is as important as ever and has continued to evolve. Fewer consumers are making banking transactions in person at the brick-and-mortar buildings, leading to a reduction of bank branches. However, with nearly everyone completing their banking needs via mobile devices, digital products are more important than ever before.

“Thinking strategically is an important part of any business,” she said. When considering a bank for employment opportunities, many job seekers think there are limited opportunities. However, Riel assured the audience that there are many professions within a bank, and especially at EagleBank. Many of the new jobs are results of this shift to a more digital banking experience.

Leadership, and especially leading as a woman, was another major theme of the discussion. When addressing how women can get ahead in the workplace, Riel said, “Speak up and share your ideas when you have them. Be open and outspoken.” But it is also advice that she would give to anyone looking to make their mark. “Don’t limit yourself,” she said. “Be open to opportunities.”

After asking his questions, Dean Vinzé opened it to the audience.

Riel spoke of the name recognition that came from naming George Mason’s EagleBank Arena and explained how EagleBank hires diverse thinkers by always attempting to hire the best person for the position.

This is the third fireside chat hosted by Dean Vinzé. The fireside chats are instrumental in providing knowledge and insights to the Costello College of Business community and forging partnerships with leaders in business.

Topics

Guest Speaker

Campus News

partnerships

Sustainability MBA elective matches student teams with partner companies

Greg Johnson — Thu, 16 May 2024 15:09:06 +0000

Sustainability MBA elective matches student teams with partner companies Greg Johnson Thu, 05/16/2024 - 11:09

When hearing the term “sustainability” in business circles, there’s often a misconception that it hinders growth. For the last three years, the MBA elective course Environmentally Sustainable Operations has offered interested graduate students from across ��AV the opportunity to work with companies from multiple industries on making the business case for sustainability.

Dominic Leone, Jordan Heisen,
Sabrena Snow (Hyde), Rachel Edwards

Each year, new companies participate, mobilized by George Mason alumni, faculty and staff, and other community members. “I only need to have one conversation with them, and then they're on board,” says Ioannis Bellos, an associate professor of Information Systems and Operations Management (ISOM) at the Costello College of Business at ��AV and director of the MBA Program; Bellos developed the course and has been teaching it since Spring 2022. This latest semester the course featured consulting projects with: Schneider Electric, 4P Foods, Hyde, MAXSA Innovations, and Future Acres Urban Farming.

Because of the partnership building done by Bellos and others at George Mason, this course offers an excellent experiential learning opportunity where students help real companies, gaining insight from the executives in the process. “It was an exceptional opportunity to mentor MBA students from George Mason’s Environmentally Sustainable Operations course,” says Kevin DeLeon, program manager of sustainability business at Schneider Electric. “We were excited to participate and offer students a glimpse into the practical aspect of driving sustainable improvements. This collaboration is a reflection of Schneider Electric’s mission to champion sustainability and our commitment to engaging and educating future leaders.”

MBA students Rachel Edwards and Jordan Heisen had previously participated in the Global Residency program at the Costello College of Business, where they visited Sweden and Denmark to meet with businesses in the sustainability field, sparking both of their interests in the subject. For their sustainable operations project, they joined fellow MBA student Dominic Leone to work with Hyde, a Washington, D.C., based company pioneering AI-driven solutions to combat excess inventory in the apparel industry. The three of them worked closely with Hyde representatives to examine ways they could make their practices more sustainable.

“Apparel clothing discarded in landfills is now visible from space,” says Sabrena Snow, Hyde’s vice president of partnerships and sustainability. “We began working with the Costello College of Business to really quantify the impact of excess inventory, and its disposal, on the environment.”

The team of Costello MBA students examined Hyde’s business practices to see how they could best help them.

“A lot of companies are pumping out new fashion trends,” says Leone. “If that trend is going to continue, how can we do it in a more sustainable way where we don’t overorder and have a crazy amount of excess inventory?”

Once a week, the team met with CEO Rahul Jindal and Snow. “Going through the paper with Hyde and hearing the feedback from both representatives, they were an incredible pleasure to work with,” says Heisen.

“By building a framework, and combining our EPA data, company interviews, and Hyde's proprietary data, the George Mason team was able to size the impact of producing and dumping excess apparel inventory in the United States,” says Snow. 

The Hyde representatives took it a step further and connected the students with high-profile contacts from the fashion industry’s sustainability field. “When we started this project, Hyde was trying to get partners and funding,” says Edwards. “Being able to attach this white paper to any sort of funding that they’re trying to get later, this is their documentation of what’s going on.”

One of the community partners who worked to recruit participating companies for the course was Fairfax County Government’s Office of Environmental and Energy Coordination. “When we were approached about working with Professor Bellos, it seemed like a perfect opportunity for companies in our Green Business Partners program,” says Gina Weil, co-manager of the Green Business Partners program. “We know that green business is good business, and helping businesses identify both the economic and environmental benefits to adopting sustainable practices is central to our mission.  We were thrilled to be able to connect his students with Future Acres Urban Farming, and we know the experience for the students and the company was incredibly positive and beneficial for both.” The mission of the Green Business Partners program is to support Fairfax County businesses in creating a carbon neutral economy through collaboration and learning opportunities that advance climate action.

Students with guest speaker Ian Gayman,
MBA '23 (Partner at Environmental
Resources Management)

Though there was more to the course than this collaborative project, the experiential aspect brought the learning experience full circle. Bellos worked closely with the company representatives to ensure that their organizations got the most out of the projects.

Heisen appreciated how he explained case studies in the classroom. “He does a really great job of breaking down each case and ultimately getting you to thinking of another perspective,” he says. Sustainable operations lead to profit, says Edwards, “Unless it’s actually making money and it’s financially viable, there’s no reason for a company to do it.”

Recently, 68% of all prospective graduate students surveyed by the Graduate Management Admission Council said that sustainability is important or very important to them. This course is in direct response to this increasing market need.

If you want to learn more about how you can become a business leader with a sustainability mindset, please learn more about the Costello College of Business MBA program.

Topics

MBA Program

Sustainability

experiential learning

innovative classes

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Ioannis Bellos

Ambitious management and marketing student leads in many organizations across campus

Greg Johnson — Wed, 15 May 2024 13:10:51 +0000

Ambitious management and marketing student leads in many organizations across campus Greg Johnson Wed, 05/15/2024 - 09:10

After two years of studying management and marketing at the Costello College of Business and the Honors College at ��AV, Rakibul Alam’s academic credits have put him a semester ahead of schedule.

Rakibul Alam

Now planning to graduate in December of 2025, Alam has been working at an accelerated rate both inside and outside of the classroom. He saw how many opportunities George Mason had to offer, and he was keen to take advantage of as many of them as possible. Among his accolades so far are being named an Honors College Professional Development Fellow, co-founding the Collective Organizations of South Asia, serving as senator in the George Mason Student Government, being a student ambassador for the Costello College of Business, receiving the Shrivastava Diversity and Inclusion Scholarship, and being named the Schwartzstein First-Year Research Award Finalist for his research project, “Coastal Bangladesh: the Effect of High Soil Salinity & Sustainable Agriculture.”

Coming in his freshman year as a commuting student, Alam wanted to learn about the student body and find ways in which he could immediately get involved and feel at home at George Mason. The first group he joined was the Bengali Patriots Association, where he quickly became the freshman representative and most recently the treasurer. “Within the first two weeks, I also learned there was an election for student government,” he says. “I ran for election, and I won and have served as senator the past two years. Everything kind of spiraled from that.” Through the student government, he was also appointed as a student ambassador for the Costello College of Business. As a Costello College of Business ambassador, he’s interacted with and presented to students, prospective students, community partners, and even the Board of Trustees. The position has empowered him to build and expand on his skillsets as he showcases what it means to be a Costello College of Business student. Recently, he’s shifted his ambassador focus to marketing and has been creating social media content to engage the student body, reaching nearly 50,000 views.

This past April, Alam’s startup company, Project Hope, co-owned and established by management and entrepreneurship student Naila Ahsan, was awarded the top prize in Social Impact at the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship’s Patriot Pitch Competition. “Our campaign endeavors to furnish annual provisions of safe, sustainable, reusable sanitary napkins to marginalized communities,” he says. “In Bangladesh, 85% of the menstruating population cannot afford necessary menstruating products. Therefore, we are on a mission to end period poverty.” Presenting the prize check to Alam and Ahsan was Sumeet Shrivastava, MBA ’94, an individual whom Alam now considers a mentor. Always proactive in getting involved and making connections, Alam connected with Shrivastava and Christine Landoll, director of business engagement at the Costello College of Business, at several events across the university. Receiving the Shrivastava Diversity and Inclusion Scholarship opened even more doors for him. The scholarship is awarded to students who are contributing to diversity and inclusion through their leadership roles. Rakibul Alam is an exemplary Shrivastava Diversity and Inclusion scholar.

While Alam has taken advantage of the myriad opportunities at George Mason, like with Project Hope, he has also identified and worked toward introducing new solutions and initiatives where he sees a need. He did this when he co-founded the Collective Organizations of South Asia. “The South Asian community was so strong, but it was very dispersed, and our goal was to unify under the organization,” he says. “Our main objective was to provide scholarships for South Asian students.” He is currently their vice president of internal affairs.

In addition to the organizations where he is an active member, Alam enjoys participating in events put on by others across campus. “Going to so many different cultural events helps make you a global leader,” he says. “Companies are very represented all over the world, so having that global understanding is very important.” From the get-go, he came into George Mason with a vision of using the university’s diverse resources to make his student experience as rewarding as possible. Furthermore, this summer he will be interning at the Pentagon with the United States Department of the Navy as a financial management intern. Only two years in, he has a resume stacked with accomplishments, a network connecting him with esteemed business leaders, and the drive to put all of his goals within reach.

Topics

Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship

diversity

Learn more about Student Organizations at the Costello College of Business

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Sumeet Shrivastava, '94

Christine Landoll

Healthy recipe content creator found niche while studying at ��AV

Greg Johnson — Wed, 24 Apr 2024 20:48:04 +0000

Healthy recipe content creator found niche while studying at ��AV Greg Johnson Wed, 04/24/2024 - 16:48

Brittany Mullins, BS Marketing ’07, found her professional niche while studying at the Costello College of Business at ��AV. Since graduating, she has founded and run her successful brand, Eating Bird Food, providing healthy recipes and more to her loyal followers.

Brittany Mullins, BS Marketing ’07

When Mullins began her freshman year at George Mason, she was determined to not gain the “freshman 15.” Even though she had always consumed the average American diet, now, she decided, was the time for her to turn over a new page.

As she got into top physical shape, she learned everything she could about health and nutrition, some of it by enrolling in nutrition courses at George Mason. Combining her newfound passion with her marketing background, she would soon establish Eating Bird Food, a platform providing healthy recipes.

With a combined social following of more than two million, Mullins has also published a cookbook and serves as a nutrition coach. Her brand continues to grow as followers recognize and trust her as an expert in her field. Eating Bird Food has been evolving ever since Mullins came up with the initial concept.

“After graduating, I got a job in marketing and also started a food blog to keep myself accountable to my healthy eating,” she says.

As Mullins states on her website, “Eating Bird Food simply means eating a wholesome diet focused on real foods—without labels.” Even though her personal preference is to eat plant-focused meals, she also eats fish and lean meat, enabling her to provide an array of healthy recipes to meet an individual’s own dietary preferences. On her website, she offers detailed recipes, complete with photos and videos, and organized by meal course, protein, diet, and cooking method. Furthermore, followers have the option to purchase a variety of meal plans.

Mullins has clearly found her own recipe for success when it comes to content creation. When asked for tips for someone who wants to break into the space, she says, “I say number one is just to start, and number two is to be really passionate about your topic and to niche down because the market with content creators is really saturated. Find something that is ‘your thing,’ and when people think of this, they’ll come to you for that specific content.” She continues to niche down even more, now focusing on more protein-focused recipes.

Though being her own boss gives her a lot of flexibility—something that the wife and mother of two greatly values—there are many challenges Mullins has to overcome. “I have to wear all the hats and do all the things, like the bookkeeping, taxes, and everything else,” she says. “Whereas if you’re an employee for a company, someone else manages those tasks and you don’t have to worry about all those extra things.” Additionally, she manages a team of four people and then contracts other professionals to accomplish tasks like videography and photography.

Having found her niche in content and amassing a large, loyal, and still growing audience, Mullins is excited to find more ways to expand her business. With a keen eye on updates happening with artificial intelligence and SEO, she’s considering new possibilities from affiliate earnings to expanding her products for purchase. Her expertise on both healthy eating and marketing have earned her a large following, which helps establish a built-in audience for whatever new venture she decides on next.

Learn more about the Costello College of Business

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Costello College of Business Alumni

Marketing Area

Alumni

Winning teams are selected at the annual Patriot Pitch Competition

Greg Johnson — Thu, 18 Apr 2024 19:21:12 +0000

Winning teams are selected at the annual Patriot Pitch Competition Greg Johnson Thu, 04/18/2024 - 15:21

Led by the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CIE) within the Costello College of Business at ��AV, the Patriot Pitch Competition supports early-stage business ventures and ideas from Mason students and recent alumni. On April 11, the finalists made their final pitches on the Fairfax Campus.

Patrick Soleymani

Before the finals commenced, 16 semifinalist teams, their mentors, and 16 semifinalist judges participated in the semifinal round via Zoom, providing them the chance to develop the skillset to pitch their ideas virtually to stakeholders. These semifinalists represented six colleges and schools from across Mason, including College of Engineering and Computing, Schar School of Policy and Government, College of Education and Human Development, College of Humanities and Social Sciences, College of Science, and the Costello College of Business.

After narrowing down the field to eight finalists, two teams in each competition track, the Johnson Center Bistro filled with spectators to watch and vote on the final pitches. In addition to earning $6,000 for first place and $3,000 for second place in each track, teams were eligible to be voted as Mason’s Choice Awardees by the audience members, receiving another $1,000 for each track. The tracks were Public Engagement, STEM, Social Impact, and General Entrepreneurship.

Seth Goldman and Ali Aldubaisi '21

Emceed by Patrick Soleymani, associate dean of outreach and strategic engagement at the Costello College of Business, the competition was proceeded by a keynote discussion with Seth Goldman, co-founder of Eat the Change, Just Ice Tea, and Honest Tea; and recent Mason alumnus entrepreneur Ali Aldubaisi, BS Neuroscience ’21. Aldubaisi asked Goldman about his challenges and triumphs as an entrepreneur, setting the stage perfectly for the next generation of entrepreneurs ready to make their pitches.

Each finalist team was given five minutes to make their pitch, followed by five minutes of answering questions from the panel of judges. The panels of finalist judges comprised Mason stakeholders, faculty, alumni, and other successful entrepreneurs, who were experts in the given competition track.

In all four tracks, the first-place winner was also voted the Mason’s Choice Award Prize winner, awarding each team a total of $7,000. For the Public Engagement Track, UR2CLOSE was selected as the top pick for their following distance indicator to be mounted on the rear license plate of a car to prevent rear-end collisions.

In the STEM Track, FlightCommand Pro was selected as the first-place winner. FlightCommand Pro’s mission is to provide better products and systems for drone operations, including drone deliveries flying with more certainty when beyond the visual line of sight. “As a part of my systems engineering senior design project, my team and I performed a context analysis and a stakeholder analysis to find the performance gaps for a case study about drone delivery to an island located in the Chesapeake Bay – Tangier Island,” says Diana Machuca, a senior studying systems and industrial engineering. “To bridge the gaps, we designed the Drone Range Dynamic System and came up with a business plan for the project.” Mason alumnus Scott Hine, BS Decision Science ’85, mentored the team, advising them to emphasize the humanitarian aspects of the product to appeal to people’s hearts. The team is looking forward to using their winnings to test their system using a real drone.

Project Hope, established by Naila Ahsan, a senior studying management and entrepreneurship, and Rakibul Alam, a junior studying management and marketing, was chosen as the top pitch in the Social Impact Track. In Bangladesh, where 85% of the menstruating population cannot afford the necessary menstruating products, Project Hope endeavors to furnish annual provisions of safe, sustainable, and reusable sanitary napkins to those most in need. “In 2016, I was hosting a warm clothes drive during winter, and I came across a young girl who was banished from her shack in the slum area,” says Ahsan. “To my surprise, I was shocked to see how she was struggling in the cold. But due to lack of access to period products and prevailing stigma, she was banished due to her periods!” Alam says, “I joined the venture to engage and partner with corporations and NGOs to accelerate the business’s growth.” Alam and Ahsan plan to convert their prize money into Bangladeshi taka and invest into the fast-growing business.

Taking the top prize for the General Entrepreneurship Track was Zachary Suh with ElderlyEats. Suh, a freshman studying marketing, created ElderlyEats to provide senior citizens with meal plans that are diverse, customizable, and nutritious. The idea came to him when his grandmother developed health conditions that made it difficult for her to digest food. “Our team of dieticians and chefs have carefully curated traditional meals elders are used to and incorporated common nutritional needs elderly people deal with, past just vegan and gluten free and accommodate common dietary conditions, such as Alzheimer’s and dysphagia,” he says. Suh is planning to use the prize money to develop meals vetted through dieticians and stronger customer discovery.

Sumeet Shrivastava, MBA ’94

Sumeet Shrivastava, MBA ’94, donor of the CIE’s Shrivastava Family Refugee and Immigrant Success through Entrepreneurship (RISE) program, announced the event’s winners, track by track, and welcomed them to the stage. External representatives from each competition track presented giant checks to their respective winners. The representatives were Beth Young, PhD Education Policy ’18, president of Quality Information Partners, Inc. and Commissioner of Fairfax City Economic Development; Gurdip Singh, divisional dean of the School of Computing in Mason's College of Engineering and Computing; Anil Sharma, CEO of 22nd Century Technologies Inc.; and John Hoeveler, manager of national business investment at Fairfax County Economic Development Authority.

Dean Ajay Vinzé

The 2024 Patriot Pitch Competition was a culmination of months, and sometimes years, of hard work, starting from the initial idea to the polished pitch in front of a room of audience members. For a month leading up to the semifinals, the teams met with their mentors and attended entrepreneurship training sessions with Costello College of Business faculty. The experience of the participants and the feedback they received will serve as a launching pad to becoming successful entrepreneurs. The event is another triumph of inclusive entrepreneurship for the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship and the Costello College of Business.

Thank you to the event’s sponsors: 22nd Century Technologies, Inc.; College of Engineering and Computing at ��AV; Fairfax City Economic Development Authority; Costello College of Business Women in Business Initiative; Costello College of Business Management Advisory Council; Fairfax County Economic Development Authority; and the Greg and Camille Baroni Center for Government Contracting at the Costello College of Business.

The CIE team led the organization of the event, helping make it an outstanding experience for all those involved.

If you are interested in being a mentor, judge, or sponsor of the Patriot Pitch, please email ciemason@gmu.edu to learn more.

2024 Patriot Pitch Competition Participants

Lead Event Organizers: CIE Team

Topics

Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship

entrepreneurship

Learn more about the Patriot Pitch Competition

In This Story

Ajay Vinzé

Patrick Soleymani

Sumeet Shrivastava, '94

Rebecca Howick

Dean Vinzé cuts ribbon at ��AV’s new Viet Nam exhibition

Greg Johnson — Mon, 15 Apr 2024 16:06:55 +0000

Dean Vinzé cuts ribbon at ��AV’s new Viet Nam exhibition Greg Johnson Mon, 04/15/2024 - 12:06

To mark the beginning of a broader academic connection between ��AV and leading universities in Viet Nam, the Costello College of Business at ��AV and University Libraries officially opened a special exhibition in partnership with the Embassy of the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam and received their donation of rare books to Mason's collection. The exhibition, displayed in Fenwick Library’s Special Collections Research Center through August 15 consists of treasured cultural artifacts.

Costello College Dean Vinzé and special guests cut ribbon at new Viet Nam exhibition on Mason's Fairfax Campus. Photo by Jeffrey Porovich/Costello College of Business

On the morning of Tuesday, March 26, in Fenwick Library’s Reading Room, the ceremony commenced with a dancer performing the traditional lotus dance—the lotus being the national flower of Viet Nam. Following her performance, several women demonstrated the traditional costumes of Viet Nam from various regions and eras.

Attendees toured the Viet Nam exhibit in Mason's
Special Collections and Archives.
Photo by Jeffrey Porovich/Costello College of Business

JK Aier, senior associate dean of academic affairs and global engagement at the Costello College of Business, welcomed the guests to the ceremony. Among the dignitaries from the Viet Nam delegation were Honorable Madam Vu Thi Bich Ngoc, the foreign minister’s spouse; Honorable Madam Nguyen Thuy Hong, deputy chief of mission of Viet Nam Embassy; and Honorable Madam Tran Thi Bich Van, ambassador’s spouse.

Mason leaders in attendance included Ajay Vinzé, dean of the Costello College of Business; Anne Osterman, dean of University Libraries and university librarian; and Krista Uhrig, director of international enrollment partnerships in the Global Education Office. Also attending and instrumental in making the event possible were Anil Sharma, CEO of 22nd Century Technologies Inc; Sean Lam, president of Cross Border Ventures LLC and member of the Asian American Chamber of Commerce; and Cindy Shao, president of the Asian American Chamber of Commerce.

“I am delighted to be here with you today as it marks the start and acceleration of a strong partnership between ��AV and the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam,” said Dean Vinzé, as he thanked the Viet Nam dignitaries for the gift. “The exhibition we will soon officially open, and the wonderful book donation will allow Mason faculty and students to get better acquainted with Viet Nam and strengthen our relationship.”

Dean Vinzé welcomed Honorable Madam Vu Thi Bich Ngoc to the stand for her keynote remarks on behalf of the embassy, as she expressed her gratitude and her excitement for the partnership that will empower students to learn more about Viet Nam and its rich history. Mason currently has 114 students enrolled from Viet Nam, with many more students of Vietnamese heritage. The exhibit continues the university’s tradition of celebrating and educating about different cultures within its diverse student body.

After the gift exchange between the embassy guests and deans, the crowd proceeded to the Special Collections Research Center for the ribbon-cutting ceremony. There, they toured the exhibit, viewing and learning about the displayed artifacts. Housed within the largest and most diverse public university in Virginia, the Costello College of Business continues to build new partnerships that have impact spanning across the world.

Topics

Special Collections Research Center

University Libraries

Campus News

Strategic Direction

Learn more about the Special Collections Research Center

Learn more about the Costello College of Business

In This Story

Ajay Vinzé

JK Aier

Accounting students visit the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)

Greg Johnson — Thu, 11 Apr 2024 13:25:04 +0000

Accounting students visit the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Greg Johnson Thu, 04/11/2024 - 09:25

Prior to his teaching career, Bret Johnson, an associate professor of accounting at the Costello College of Business at ��AV, was a staff accountant at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Accounting students and faculty

“I went back as an academic fellow, so I was there from 2020 to 2021, and part of my responsibility was arranging these student visits for other universities to come,” he says. Johnson knows the current SEC academic fellow Ally Zimmerman, an assistant professor of accounting at Florida State University’s College of Business. She coordinated the visit for Costello College of Business students to visit the SEC headquarters on the afternoon of Wednesday, February 28. An independent agency of the United States federal government, the SEC was established following the Wall Street Crash of 1929 to protect investors and enforce the law against market manipulation.

Johnson worked with Ethan Kinory, an instructional assistant professor of accounting at the Costello College of Business, to assemble a group of students they could bring on the visit. Kinory is the faculty advisor to Mason’s chapter of Beta Alpha Psi, an international honor organization for financial information students and professionals. The chapter has 41 total students, 29 of whom are accounting majors, and it runs approximately 12 events per semester. In addition to Beta Alpha Psi students, other attendees in the group included students from the accounting honors program and the master of science in accounting program. “It’s a huge benefit of us being here in the backyard of Washington, D.C., to have these types of opportunities,” says Johnson. “We have a great relationship with the people there, and that’s really helpful to foster these types of opportunities in the future.”

The Costello College of Business group arrived at SEC headquarters by 1:30 p.m. and was greeted by Ally Zimmerman in the lobby. From there, the afternoon was broken into segments running approximately half an hour each until the agenda concluded at 5:00 p.m. Interactive presentations were given by representatives from the office of the chief accountant, division of investment management, division of enforcement, division of corporation finance, and division of examinations.

The students’ trip to the headquarters showed them how they could apply what they have learned in the classrooms as future professionals, whether it be at the SEC or elsewhere. “This excursion provided an invaluable opportunity for students to gain insight into the SEC's role and organizational structure,” says Maya Didier, a master’s in accounting student and vice president of Beta Alpha Psi. "Visiting the SEC provided me with a valuable opportunity to apply the theoretical knowledge I gained from textbooks into a real-life experience from talking to individuals who work for the SEC to visiting the building where all the work happens,” says Nathaly Pablo, a master’s in accounting student. “It was a great experience to broaden my understanding and perspective of the accounting profession."

For the 20 students who attended, it was a worthwhile and potentially career-altering event. “A lot of my students who attended told me that they hadn’t previously considered a career in the SEC or any regulatory agency,” says Kinory. “Now that they’re aware, they are considering those types of opportunities and potential employment down the road.” The proximity of ��AV and the proactive partnership building done by the faculty members open the doors for countless other top-notch experiential learning opportunities for Costello College of Business students.

Topics

Master's in Accounting Program

Accounting Area

Learn more about Beta Alpha Psi

Learn more about Mason's Master's in Accounting Program

In This Story

Bret Johnson

Ethan Kinory

The Montano Student Investment Fund provides experiential learning for student leaders

Greg Johnson — Thu, 21 Mar 2024 20:28:24 +0000

The Montano Student Investment Fund provides experiential learning for student leaders Greg Johnson Thu, 03/21/2024 - 16:28

Co-founded in 2018 by Trevor Montano, BS Accounting ’00, and Derek Horstmeyer, a professor of finance at the Costello College of Business at ��AV, the Montano Student Investment Fund (SMIF) is an all-equity investment fund administered by finance students at the Costello College of Business.

Montano Student Investment Fund Officers

Under the supervision of ��AV’s Endowment and Board of Trustees, students working on the fund engage in incredible experiences, like building the portfolio, presenting pitches to a committee, and expanding their overall financial expertise in an academic setting. Participants must first complete Finance 477, the student management investment fund course for students to practice pitching stock.

Students selected as officers have the responsibility of managing Mason’s endowment for their respective terms. “The student officers of the Montano SMIF have a huge amount of responsibility and they all take it seriously,” says Horstmeyer. “In addition to managing a segment of the GMU endowment, they help lead Costello Fellows on Wall Street, compete in a nationwide SMIF competition in Chicago each year, and run the Alpha Challenge.”

It was during the Finance 477 course that Christopher Lindholm discovered his passion. “I had been coming to school for marketing, but finance really scratched that itch,” he says. Lindholm became so interested in the subject matter that he was eager to get involved and is currently the president of the investment committee on the SMIF. In order to be an officer for the fund, students must apply and interview with Derek Horstmeyer. “The main thing that made me want to apply for this officer position was Dr. Horstmeyer, like the way he teaches and how he’s so invested in it,” says Clarita Orosco, vice president of the risk committee. “It made me excited to learn more.”

The SMIF has attracted the attention of some of the business school’s most ambitious finance students. “I thought this was a great way for me to get involved on campus, pursue my own interests, and learn more by talking to other finance students and hearing their ideas and different perspectives,” says Sriprajna Medicherla, president of the operations and finance committee. “In finance it’s all about perspective and figuring out what the best decision is given the information.” Medicherla and a few of her teammates got to hear even more perspectives when they went to Chicago for a competition with about fifty other student managed investment fund groups from other universities. “Meeting other SMIF officers from different universities was really interesting and so was hearing their ideas about what they implemented in the fund,” she says.

It is not required to be a finance concentration or even a business major to take part in the SMIF. Gabriel Curtis, president of the risk committee, who is majoring in computer science and minoring in finance, had been exploring ways in which he could make an impact in areas besides computer science. “In finance there’s a lot of opportunities to be a generalist, and that’s honestly what I care about a lot more,” he says.

Every year, the SMIF’s officers present the annual report to the Board of Trustees, showing what was in the portfolio and how everything performed. “You get real world experience with them that you probably wouldn’t find in a typical finance course,” says Lindholm. The ability to manage a real investment fund while receiving active feedback in a classroom setting is an experience that benefits all of the participants, regardless of their career ambitions. “I would say I was able to be more informed,” says Curtis. “I’ve gotten to talk to people who graduated and work in investment banking. That’s where I’m headed now because of the fund.” Orosco adds, “I didn’t realize how many opportunities there were and how many news things Dr. Horstmeyer wanted us to explore.”

The networking, knowledge, and confidence that these students have acquired through working on the Montano Student Investment Fund have given them the immersive student experience promised at the Costello College of Business. “This much responsibility shows through on their resumes – past officers of the SMIF have gone on to work at Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, and private equity shops in New York City, Chicago, and Austin,” says Horstmeyer. Not only are the student leaders prepared for their careers but they are actively being recruited by employers.

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In This Story

Derek Horstmeyer

Accounting alumna finds acceptance and opportunity at Baker Tilly

Marianne Klinker — Thu, 01 Feb 2024 20:11:11 +0000

Accounting alumna finds acceptance and opportunity at Baker Tilly Marianne Klinker Thu, 02/01/2024 - 15:11

Shabinaaz Mahdi, BS Accounting ’12, discovered a passion for accounting at the Donald G. Costello College of Business at ��AV. While in school, she was introduced to Baker Tilly, a leading advisory tax and assurance firm, where she has risen through the ranks to become partner.

Fifteen years had passed since high school graduation when Shabinaaz Mahdi decided to return to her education at Mason. Her focus had been on raising her children and adjusting to life after immigrating to the United States from Sri Lanka. Taking night classes at Mason allowed her to keep her priorities in focus while exploring her burgeoning passion for accounting and the career paths where it could lead. After transferring from Northern Virginia Community College, she worked diligently at Mason in joining extracurricular groups, including the GMU Accounting Honors Program, Beta Gamma Sigma, Golden Key International Society, and Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society. Additionally, she was named to the Dean’s List in 2010 and 2011.

Shabinaaz Mahdi

The subject of accounting was attractive to Mahdi due to her love of mathematics. “I’m a numbers person, especially being an immigrant and English not being my first language, numbers are a universal language,” she says. It was never a struggle for her to study because she so thoroughly enjoyed the tax work and research. During those night classes, she bonded with her classmates and learned about what kinds of careers could be available for her. She learned even more about the field through an audit and tax internship. Soon after that, she attended a leadership conference and was introduced to Baker Tilly. “Seeing the potential for growth in a mid-sized firm, I applied for a full-time position and received an offer during my senior year, feeling incredibly fortunate to secure employment before graduation,” she says.

Mahdi credits the culture and people of Baker Tilly for her tremendous professional growth. After beginning as staff accountant in 2012, she began her rise through the ranks, finding her strengths and developing proficiency, leading to her recent promotion as partner at the firm. In her current role, she focuses on partnerships and corporations within the professional services industry, particularly law firms. She loves working with her clients, but she also loves working with her colleagues, collaborating with them, and soaking up all the knowledge that she can. Mahdi’s impressive success at Baker Tilly is not at all surprising to JK Aier, senior associate dean and associate professor of accounting at the Costello College of Business, who had her in his intermediate accounting class. “Right from day one, she was motivated to not only do well in the course but also work to understand the subject matter thoroughly by asking clarifying questions.”

As an immigrant, Mahdi had initially felt anxious about being accepted, but she quickly found that her colleagues embraced her. “The firm's inclusive culture has enabled me to find fulfillment in my work by allowing me to be my authentic self, free from pretense or peer pressure,” she says. “This culture of acceptance has fostered a sense of belonging which, in turn, has empowered me to perform at my best.” Baker Tilly promotes a healthy work/life balance for its employees by encouraging effective communication. “Communication is key to make sure you are prioritizing the things that are important to you,” she says. “I always have my Outlook calendar updated which truly helps manage both home and work.” Throughout the year, employees at Baker Tilly make a conscious effort to completely disconnect from work in order to recharge, reset, and relax. And in order to destress and wrap up the work week productively, they avoid scheduling meetings on Fridays.

When Mahdi first arrived in the United States, she only knew her husband and children. Going back to school began as a way to keep herself occupied, but it has since led to an accomplished and rewarding career and a vast network of positive relationships. “I strongly believe that if you give your best effort in everything you do and leave your quality mark on every work product that crosses your desk, work diligently and intelligently, remain open to continuous learning, and stay humble, recognizing that your knowledge is just a drop in the ocean, and, most importantly, enjoy the process, success will inevitably follow when the time is right,” she says. Mahdi has experienced great success following that mindset at Baker Tilly, where she is embraced and encouraged.

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