Former Michigan Tech basketball player and assistant coach Ben Stelzer ’15 (B.S. Finance) was mentioned by The Daily Mining Gazette in a story about his appointment as assistant coach for the Santa Cruz Warriors. During Stelzer’s career with the Huskies, he finished as the program’s all-time leader in 3-pointers and was also named NCAA Division II All-American, Academic All-American and Midwest Region Player of the Year.
Michigan Tech alumni Denny Socha ’86 (BS in Mechanical Engineering) will present a lecture on Thursday, October 10, 2024, at 9:30 am in ChemSci 101. The talk is part of a Principles of Marketing (MKT3000) class instructed by Junhong Min, Associate Professor of Marketing.
In his talk, Socha will discuss STP marketing—Segmentation, Targeting, and Positioning— a marketing model that helps businesses identify and target their audience, and position their products to be more effective.
Also, on October 10, Socha will share his career success journey with the American Marketing Association (AMA) student organization at 5:30 pm in AOB 101. Pizza and drinks will be served.
Socha’s visit to campus is part of the Time & Talent initiative of the Michigan Tech Office of Alumni Engagement, which aims to connect successful MTU alumni with students, faculty, and staff through guest lectures, presentations, and learning opportunities.
Socha worked in consumer research and product research throughout his 26-year career at General Motors. He retired as Senior Manager, Global Product Research.
Denny Socha is a marketing professional with over three decades of experience working in the automotive industry. Most of his experience, which also included four years in Switzerland with the GM Europe marketing team, supported Chevrolet with Brand and Advertising Research. Providing the customer insights behind such memorable campaigns as An American Revolution, Chevy Runs Deep, Find New Roads and Real People/Not Actors, his efforts were recognized by the Advertising Research Foundation with the prestigious David Ogilvy Gold Award. Denny is a member of the Advertising Research Foundation and Association of National Advertisers. Denny has been married for 35 years to Kristi and they have three children. He enjoys traveling with family and snowboarding.
Two teams of College of Business students met with the College of Business Applied Portfolio Management Program (APMP) advisory board on September 23, 2024.
The APMP program gives students the opportunity to manage and invest approximately $2.5 million dollars of real money in the U.S. stock market.
At the board meeting, each team gave a presentation about their investment philosophy and the plan for implementing that philosophy into a strategy. Following each presentation, questions were taken from the board.
The board members challenged the teams on their philosophy and implementation strategy, which prompted further discussion following the meeting.
Preparation for the board meeting began many days before the actual event. The student teams were responsible for ordering food, reserving a room, providing parking passes, preparing presentation materials, and more.
COB student Marguerite Goldman says that through the preparation process the teams gained a deeper understanding of what is required to host events like this one in industry.
“There was much anticipation leading up to the meeting, but both teams were well-prepared for the event,” says COB student Elijah Joseph.
“Among many other things, we learned how to prepare and give a professional presentation, how to organize a professional meeting, and how to greet our guests and ensure they had a quality experience,” says Goldman. “We also learned how to improve our investment philosophy and presentation skills through feedback and questions from the board members.”
“My personal experience has been fantastic,” says Marguerite “It is incredible to be able to apply classroom knowledge to the management of a real portfolio and engage in intellectual conversation with other bright business students.”
The teams have been involved in the APMP class since May of 2024.
The College of Business is pleased to announce that Dan Batten ’88 ’90 has joined the College of Business Dean’s Advisory Council (DAC). The DAC is composed of business professionals with experience and expertise in leading businesses or public and nonprofit organizations, and for their commitment to the College of Business.
Batten graduated from Michigan Tech in 1988 with an associate’s degree in mechanical design technology, followed by a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with an emphasis on finance in 1990.
Batten is a seasoned strategic business and technology executive with over 34 years of experience driving IT transformations for global organizations. Throughout his career, he has consistently demonstrated expertise in aligning technology solutions with business strategies, ensuring operational efficiency, fostering innovation, and enhancing customer engagement.
Most recently serving as vice president and chief information officer for Ampacet, Batten has earned a reputation for leveraging cutting-edge technology to drive business growth, enhance customer engagement, reduce costs, and deliver visible ROI. His extensive expertise spans ERP systems, business process reengineering, digital IT strategies, Industry 4.0, cybersecurity, cloud computing, AI integration, and cross-functional team leadership.
Batten’s leadership style is rooted in collaboration, with a firm belief that business success is achieved through teamwork. Prior to his role at Ampacet, he held CIO positions at SAF-Holland and Kautex America, where he spearheaded IT transformations and modernized IT capabilities.
Batten also holds an executive MBA with high honors from Northwood University’s DeVos Graduate School of Management. He is a proud father of three adult children. In his spare time, he enjoys home renovation and building furniture.
The Dean’s Advisory Council (DAC) is dedicated to helping the College of Business to be a top choice for business education among students and employers. DAC provides a link to individuals and organizations that possess the resources, knowledge, and contacts the College requires to achieve its mission.
Rajath Nagaraj ’21 MS in Data Science will present a talk by on Monday, September 23, 2024, from 12-1 pm, in MEEM 403. His talk is titled, “Nagaraj will discuss, “Navigating Project Management in Data Science and Exploring Al Innovations in Insurance.”
The talk is presented by the Institute of Computing and Cybersystems’s Center for Artificial Intelligence.
Rajath Nagaraj is a senior data scientist at Liberty Mutual Insurance, working with Al and ML, including LLMs. In this session. Rajath will first dive into the essentials of industry-level project management in data science, exploring best practices for successfully managing complex projects from initiation to execution. The second part will focus on the transformative role of Al in various domains, with a deep dive into how Al is revolutionizing the insurance sector through applications like claims processing, fraud detection, quoting, underwriting, and personalized customer experiences.