Michigan Tech College of Business Newsblog

2013 Tidwell Outstanding Man and Woman in Business Selected

Published May 9, 2013

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

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

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.

APMP Holds Junior Day

Published May 2, 2013

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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.

iOMe Challenge! Michigan Tech SBE needs your Vote!

Published May 1, 2013

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Seminars and Events

Michigan Tech’s School of Business and Economics has made it to the top 10 videos in the iOMe Challenge. As a part of the 3rd annual iOme Money Smart Week Video Contest, our students have a chance to win $250.00 for first place. Vote for the winner by Liking the “Ome Challenge” Page and vote in the pole found on the wall of their Facebook Page.

Our team needs your votes because the winner will be selected through voting on Facebook. Take a minute to vote and spread the word to your friends! Click here to Vote the for the Michigan Tech Team! Go Huskies!

Voting ends TOMORROW Thursday, May 2nd at Midnight CST.

Oliveira Named Student Organization Advisor of the Year

Published May 1, 2013

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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

Two New Brew Crews

Published April 25, 2013

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Alumni

Engineering+Business=Beer

Perhaps inspired by our own Keweenaw Brewing Company (Dick Gray ’82) and Schmoz Brewery in Grand Rapids (Chas Thompson ’91), a couple of husband-wife alumni teams are bringing craft brewing to two different locales: Appleton, Wisconsin, and Zeeland, Michigan.

We caught up with them as they branch out in new careers and take a shot as business people.

Mairi (Smith-Risk) Fogle ’09 and Ben Fogle ’08 are the Appleton brewers, Ben is a brewer and production manager, and Mairi is the marketing director.

“Between the two of us, we have taken on a large share of the responsibilities, but there are many other people involved as well at varying levels of ownership,” Mairi says. “Ben’s dad (Jeff) is the president of the organization and Ben’s stepmom (Leah) is the chef.”

Other alumni are involved: Carl Pierce ’08 is also a brewer/owner and Evan Zaborski ’10 is an owner and part of the construction crew.

“We are building the twenty-barrel brew system, kitchen, and bar ourselves in what used to be an auto parts shop on College Avenue in Appleton,” Mairi says. “We are optimistic that we can open this summer, and we we will have a full bar in addition to the beer, but our primary focus will be on our beer.”

She said her menu will be a beer-centric, with all food will having beer in it or will go well with beer.

“We are very focused on educating our customers on craft beer and being transparent in everything we do,” Mairi said. “We will have the brew system visible through floor to ceiling windows, and the distribution line and kitchen will be visible through large windows that we’ve pulled out and restored during the renovations.”

They’ve focused on sustainability, too. They’ve re-used much of the wood torn out of the building for tables and benches, recycled steel for our equipment, and using the spent grain for bread and will be giving the rest to local farmers as feed for their animals. They are on Facebook.

Across Lake Michigan in Zeeland (southwest of Grand Rapids), Nate ’05 and Laura ’05 Gentry are converting a 115-year-old building downtown into a restaurant and brewpub called Tripel Root (www.tripelroot.com).

Zeeland might be considered a unique place to start, since they just reversed their alcohol sale ban in 2006.

But, times have changed, and accenting their family-friendly focus, Tripel Root will be open for lunch and dinner Monday through Saturday. Tripel Root will also offer artisan stone breads made with spent grains left over from the brewing process. It will serve its own beer along with wine and “guest taps” from other microbreweries.

Nate’s interest in brewing started early.

“He was home brewing while we were at Tech,” Laura says. “We lived in one of the subdivisions up the hill from Shopko. Nate also was a bartender at The Library for a few years.”

Tripel Root aims to bring more people to the downtown area. “We love the Zeeland community and look forward to working with the city and local businesses and organizations,” she said. The last use for the building was a bank, and the drive-through will be replaced with a door and outside seating area.

They have been working hard.

“After a weekend of working on demolition, we filled our first 20 yard dumpster and have made progress on taking down the inside walls,” she says.

They are also working on fundraising.

“If anyone is interested in an opportunity to be a part of our Founding Members Mug Club, contact us at info@tripelroot.com.”

Are there any other alumni brewers out there?

This story was originally published in the TechAlum Newsletter.