Michigan Tech College of Business Newsblog

Category: Student Organizations

2013 Tidwell Outstanding Man and Woman in Business Selected

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About the Award

The Outstanding Man and Women in Business is awarded annually and the School of Business and Economics is confident that this year’s selections represent the student body well with their efforts in leadership and extracurricular activities. Undergraduate Scholarship Committee members Anne Warrington, Mari Buche, and Carly Benson were heavily involved in the selection of this award.

“I had the good pleasure of knowing Sam Tidwell, and I’m confident he would be extremely pleased with this year’s selection of the Tidwell Outstanding Man and Woman in Business,” said Eugene Klippel, Dean of the School of business. “Both students demonstrate high academic performance combined with proven leadership capabilities.  Thus, on behalf of the School, I wish to congratulate Nathan and Sara on their receipt of this award.”

Nathan Sturos and Sarah Ochs were named the 2013 Tidwell Outstanding Man and Woman in Business.

Nathan Sturos and Sarah Ochs are recognized as the 2012-13 recipients of the Sam B. Tidwell Outstanding Man and Woman in Business. This award is given to students who bring honor and pride to the School of Business and Economics through high scholastic achievement and involvement. Students eligible for this honor went through an intense interview process that included an essay and interview with faculty.

Mari Buche of the Undergraduate Scholarship Committee added, “Sarah and Nathan exemplify the qualities inherent in this prestigious award. They excel at their academic studies, demonstrate strong interpersonal communication skills, and serve as leaders both within the department and in the greater community. Their work ethic, integrity, and overall commitment place them at the top of their class. The School of Business & Economics faculty has high expectations for their career success after graduation. Without a doubt, they are true role models on campus.”

Outstanding Man in Business

Dean Eugene Klippel and Natahn Sturos at the Tidwell Outstanding Man in Business award presentation.

Nathan Sturos is a senior in the School of Business and Economics who will graduate as a double major in Accounting and Finance next spring. In his time on campus he has been President of the Finance Club, Treasurer of the Entrepreneurship Club, and member of Kappa Sigma Iota Accounting Club where he helped with the Volunteer Income Tax Program. This year Nathan was inducted into the International Honor Society Beta Gamma Sigma, and has also served on the Dean’s Student Advisory Council for the last two years. Nathan has a high level of professionalism that made him a strong candidate and the recipient of this award.

Outstanding Woman in Business

Dean Eugene Klippel and Sarah Ochs at the Tidwell Outstanding Woman in Business award presentation.

Sarah Ochs is a senior, Marketing major, who will graduate in December of 2013. An extremely involved student, Sarah served as the President and founder of the DECA chapter in the School of Business and Economics. She has served as a representative on the Dean’s Student Advisory Council for the past four years. Utilizing her networking skills, Sarah has been one of our most successful business students at the career fair completing internships at Caterpillar and Mercury Marine. Sarah has proven to be an outstanding student within our school and was one of the strongest candidates we have ever had for this award.

When asked about the selection process, Buche noted “the selection process was very difficult this year. All of the finalists were exceptional candidates: strong academic GPAs, demonstrated leadership skills, and clear commitment to the improvement of the school and Michigan Tech.” Other finalists for this year’s award included: Brett Ludwig, Frank Kampe, and Troy Hecht.

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APMP Holds Junior Day

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Director of APMP, Dean Johnson, prepares another group of students for APMP participation during their senior year.

On April 22nd, the Applied Portfolio Management Program (APMP) held the sixth Annual “Junior Day”. This special event serves to kick start the incoming juniors, as they take over as the new portfolio managers of the APMP portfolio. The juniors began their morning by attending the Spring APMP Advisory Board and watching the graduating APMP senior student portfolio managers present their year-end performance results.  After being introduced to the APMP Advisory Board, the juniors attended a series of guest lectures. This year’s guest speakers included: Ryan Layton, Tim Bailey, Larry Durland, and Paul Kasriel.

Ryan Layton and Tim Bailey are both APMP alumni and introduce the juniors to the program that led them to the careers they have today.  Ryan currently works as a portfolio manager with Main Street Investment Advisors in Chicago. Mr. Layton discussed the importance of asset allocation and the process used by Main Street Investment Advisors to determine a portfolio’s optimal asset allocation. Mr. Bailey works at Fortress Investment Group in San Francisco, which is a $44 billion Private Equity/Hedge fund. He discussed alternative asset investing strategies employed in the hedge fund industry with the new APMP students.

APMP Advisory Board Chairman Larry Durland, discussed the thoughtful development of an investment philosophy and strategy, during his time with the APMP teams. In addition to talking to the APMP teams, Mr. Kasriel also opened his presentation to the entire School of Business and Economics.  Over 60 students attended his guest lecture on the current macroeconomic decisions facing the Federal Reserve and investors. A resident of Door County, Wisconsin, Mr. Kasriel serves as the President of Econtrarian, LLC and is a senior economics and investment advisor with Legacy Private Trust Company of Neenah, Wisconsin.

Junior Day give the students exposure and experience talking with professionals working in the world of finance. As APMP team members, they will be responsible to the APMP Advisory Board as they manage over $1 million during their senior year at Michigan Tech.

Financial support for Junior Day was provided by James and Dolores Trethewey.

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Oliveira Named Student Organization Advisor of the Year

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Finace Club advisor, Emanuel Oliveira, names Student Organization Advisor of the Year.

Each year the Student Leadership Awards celebrate and reward the individual and group efforts of students involved in organizations across campus. There are awards for student employees, residence halls, and student organizations.

Congratulations to the following students, student organizations, and advisors for inspiring community, scholarship, possibilities, accountability and tenacity within Michigan Tech as well as our community.

Within the School of Business and Economics Senior Lecturer in Economics, Emanuel Oliveira, was selected at this year’s Student Organization Advisor of the Year. Emanuel participated and motivated the Finance Club organization’s membership and is respected by members of the organization. However, the greatest activities contributing to this award was the Finance Club’s FinanceU event last semester.

Yu Summer Gu, an MBA student, was also selected as an award recipient from the School of Business and Economics.  Summer was actively involved and enthusiastic in campus activities .  She was the driving force behind a greatly improved Chinese Night which had a larger attendance this year, almost tripling participation from any year prior.

Here are your 2013 Student Leadership Award recipients:

  • Melanie Hoffman, President’s Award for Leadership
  • Michael Adler, Provost Award for Scholarship
  • Claire Meneguzzo, Vice President’s Award for Service
  • Kevin Cassell, Exceptional Leadership in Student Governance
  • Yu Summer Gu, Exceptional Enthusiasm as a Student Leader
  • Jason Cattelino, Student Employee of the Year
  • Hannah Altscheffel, Rising Star of the Year
  • Caleb Vogt, Undergraduate Research Expo, Exceptional Program of the Year
  • Society of Women Engineers, Most Improved Student Organization
  • Leo Ureel II, Breaking Digital Barriers, Exceptional Community Service Project
  • Memorial Union Board, Student Organization of the Year
  • Emanuel Marcos R. Castro Oliveira, Student Organization Advisor of the Year

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Business and Economics students compete in Global CFA Institute Research Challenge

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In 2013, Michigan Tech students qualified and competed in the CFA Institute Research Challenge for the first time.

Students in the Applied Portfolio Management Program are expanding their resumes by competing in another investment competition and gaining valuable real world experience.

The CFA Institute Research Challenge was introduced to a global audience in 2006 and is considered, “the investment Olympics” for university students.  The event which hosted more than 3,000 students from over 650 universities, 89 businesses, and 106 societies in 55 countries and territories.  This challenge is an annual global competition which provides hands-on mentoring and intensive training in financial analysis and professional ethics.  Despite 2013 being the first year they competed in this challenge, our finance and economics students were able to advance to the global final of the event.

By compiling the highest combined report and presentation score and winning the regional competition, Michigan Tech qualified for global final.  “As a team we set aside many hours of our time to research, compile, analyze, prepare, rehearse, and finally present our findings to a panel of judges. The true amount of work this project entailed is staggering, however we are thankful for the opportunity afforded to us,” said senior Finance major, Justin Wilson.   Joining Justin to represent Michigan Tech was fellow Finance major Jessica Zaiki as well as economics majors Eli Karttunen and Anna Paul.

Each student was tested on their analytic, valuation, report writing and presentation skills and gained real-world experience as they assumed the role of a research analyst.   Upon the team’s return, Jessica Zaiki noted that having the exposure to the CFA institute, investment professionals, and the high caliber of competition at the Americas competition expanded her knowledge of stock analysis and furthered my interest in pursuing a CFA in the future.

The experience was valuable for our students and it is a competition we look forward to having continued participation and success at in the future.  Financial support for the student participation was provided via the James and Dolores Trethewey APMP Professorship.

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Tech Students win $20,500 at New Venture Competition

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Last weekend Michigan Tech and Central Michigan University students competed for a total of $45,000 in this year's New Venture Competition.

Two teams of Michigan Tech students won more than $20,000 in the annual New Venture Competition held at Central Michigan University recently.

Northern Aquaponics won $10,000 in the Best Technology category, and Upland Nanotech won $10,000 for Highest Growth Potential and $500 for second-place pitch.

“We had five strong teams competing in a field of 2Y,” said School of Business and Economics Dean Gene Klippel. “All the teams benefited greatly from the experience of presenting their ideas and receiving valuable feedback from the outstanding panel of judges who participated.”

First place and $30,000 went to Solar Cycle Lights LLC, a student team from Central Michigan.

Upland Nanotech was founded by Thomas Daunais, an electrical engineering major, whose company developed a rapid-sensing technology used for food pathogen detection and drug-level concentration that has the ability to yield results within 20 minutes.

“The first thing we’re going to do is going to take the winnings and leverage another $55,000 out of it,” he said. “We’ll use the $65,000 we’ll have to make an E. coli sensor prototype.”

He said the competition, attended by many business and industry professionals, helped his group network and convince others to believe in their idea.

“We got feedback from the judges that we have an interesting concept, a solid business plan and an overall very intriguing technology,” Daunais said.

Northern Aquaponics, specializing in growing plants and raising fish in indoor environments, won the $10,000 award for Best Technology.

“I think we have done a lot of work to pinpoint our target market and refine our business model to make it more viable,” said Josh Krugh, an economics major and the company’s cofounder. He also thought the judges at Central gave good feedback, not just to his team, but to all of the teams.

“There were so many people there willing and able to help all of us,” Krugh said. “I can’t tell you how many people stopped me throughout the day to give us suggestions and talk about our business. It was definitely a rare opportunity to be in a room full of so many successful businessmen and women.”

He said Northern Aquaponics will use their prize money to build partnerships and company business models.

Twenty-seven teams from Central Michigan and Michigan Tech competed in the daylong event for awards ranging from $500 to $30,000. Panels of 60 judges representing business leaders and entrepreneurs from throughout Michigan and the region evaluated the team presentations based on several factors, including the quality of the idea, strength of the management team and the business plan.

Upland Nanotech and Northern Aquaponics also won second and third place, respectively, at the Fourth Annual Bob Mark Memorial Elevator Pitch Competition on the Michigan Tech campus in November 2012.

This story was originally written by by Dennis Walikainen, University Marketing Communications senior editor, and published in Tech Today.

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