Anne Herron Visits MIS Students

Associate Professor Mari Buche and Anne Herron collaborate to benefit MIS students.

The School of Business and Economics got a visit from Anne Herron this week, who came to campus to speak with Associate Professor Mari Buche’s Business Intelligence class.  Having graduated from Michigan State with a B.S. in Chemistry, Anne started her professional career working for DOW Chemical as an analytical chemist in polymer sciences.  After leaving DOW, Anne has remained at Allis Information Management, Inc. (AIM) for fifteen years and has climbed the ladder to the role of Vice President and co-owner of the company.  Her responsibilities include work in client/project development, and managing a team of information researchers and analysts.    

Anne said that her background in chemistry developed her analytical thinking skills, which translated well into the business world.  She was able to offer the perspective of someone working in the industry, coveted by students interested in ways to apply what they learn in their classes.  Under the umbrella of business intelligence, Anne discussed competitive intelligence and how crucial it is to offering companies competitive advantages.  She discussed her company’s focus on guidance for good business practices to optimize opportunity and minimize threats; noting that external and internal information is assessed through research, analysis, and dissemination of information affects everything in the marketplace.  This emphasis on competitive intelligence for companies is something that is leading to an increase in career opportunities for students with degrees in the area of management information systems and related fields.

Management Information Systems students are employed in some of the following professions upon graduation: business data analyst ($55,626), business intelligence specialist ($108,937), and application systems architect ($97,000).  The salaries for the aforementioned jobs are the median national salaries for each position according to salary.com.

After Anne’s lecture, Mari Buche said, “Having a representative from a successful intelligence company come in and talk to our students about career opportunities and industry expectations is a great supplement to coursework for our students.”    AIM boasts a 98% client re-engagement rate which is evidence of their superior performance and customer satisfaction.  Guest lecturers such as Anne Herron offer Tech students a great opportunity to pick the brains of successful people working in their desired field. 

The School of Business and Economics got a visit from Anne Herron this week, who came to campus to speak with Associate Professor Mari Buche’s Business Intelligence class.  Having graduated from Michigan State with a B.S. in Chemistry, Anne started her professional career working for DOW Chemical as an analytical chemist in polymer sciences.  After leaving DOW, Anne has remained at Allis Information Management, Inc. (AIM) for fifteen years and has climbed the ladder to the role of Vice President and co-owner of the company.  Her responsibilities include work in client/project development, and managing a team of information researchers and analysts.    

Anne said that her background in chemistry developed her analytical thinking skills, which translated well into the business world.  She was able to offer the perspective of someone working in the industry, coveted by students interested in ways to apply what they learn in their classes.  Under the umbrella of business intelligence, Anne discussed competitive intelligence and how crucial it is to offering companies competitive advantages.  She discussed her company’s focus on guidance for good business practices to optimize opportunity and minimize threats; noting that external and internal information is assessed through research, analysis, and dissemination of information affects everything in the marketplace.  This emphasis on competitive intelligence for companies is something that is leading to an increase in career opportunities for students with degrees in the area of management information systems and related fields.

Management Information Systems students are employed in some of the following professions upon graduation: business data analyst ($55,626), business intelligence specialist ($108,937), and application systems architect ($97,000).  The salaries for the aforementioned jobs are the median national salaries for each position according to salary.com.

After Anne’s lecture, Mari Buche said, “Having a representative from a successful intelligence company come in and talk to our students about career opportunities and industry expectations is a great supplement to coursework for our students.”    AIM boasts a 98% client re-engagement rate which is evidence of their superior performance and customer satisfaction.  Guest lecturers such as Anne Herron offer Tech students a great opportunity to pick the brains of successful people working in their desired field.

Annual APMP Scholarships Awarded

APMP students hard at work.

The School of Business and Economics awards annual scholarships to students who participate in the Applied Portfolio Management Program (APMP).  The scholarships are made possible by generous donors who have setup funds to recognize specific skill sets and characteristics in the recipients.  Each scholarship is awarded in the Spring of the academic year. We are very grateful to the generous donors that provide excellent opportunities to stand-out APMP students at Michigan Tech.

2012 Scholarship Recipients

Clarence Fisher APMP Scholarship – Jessie Patrick

Chester Reault APMP Scholarship – Todd Storm

Norb Verville APMP Scholarship – Mike Harri

Joe Dancy LSGI Scholarship – Dan Eskola

Hugh Makens APMP Scholarship – Pat Carroll

Jeff Call Memorial APMP Scholarship – Rachael Ristau

Scholarship Descriptions

The Clarence Fisher, Chester Rheault, and Norb Verville APMP scholarships recognize the impact these three former Advisory Board members had in founding APMP.  Recipients of these scholarships this year were: Jesse Patrick, Todd Storm, and Mike Harri, respectively.

As an APMP Board member from origination through today, the Hugh Makens APMP scholarship honors Hugh’s continual support of the students and the program.  Pat Carroll is the 2012 recipient.

Dan Eskola was the recipient of the LSGI Fund Scholarship, also known as the Joe Dancy LSGI Scholarship.  This scholarship is awarded to the student who displays excellent academic achievement, expresses an interest in finance or applied mathematics, and demonstrates high moral and ethical characteristics.  The LSGI Fund is a hedge fund managed by Joe Dancy, a Michigan Tech alumnus from Dallas, TX.

Finally, the Jeff Call Memorial Scholarship was given to Rachael Ristau.  Jeff Call, a 2002 graduate of the School and the APMP, passed away unexpectedly in 2006.  To honor Jeff’s contributions to the School and the APMP Advisory Board, together with Jeff’s parents, the groups established the Jeff Call Memorial Scholarship.  It is awarded annually to the senior who demonstrates the highest degree of commitment to APMP—a commitment Jeff displayed every day during his time at Michigan Tech.

Duo Takes on Resources Policy

With a prestigious new coeditorship, two professors in the School of Business and  Economics will have the opportunity to impact the analysis and public understanding of resources and mineral economics policies around the world.

Gary Campbell and Mark Roberts have been named coeditors of Resources Policy, The International Journal of Minerals Policy and Economics. Established in 1974, the journal is published by Elsevier and is aimed at economists and decision makers in academia, government, and industry. Campbell and Roberts, who are currently acting as associate editors, will take over the position in January 2012 from Philip Maxwell, professor emeritus in mineral economics in the Western Australian School of Mines at Curtin University.

“We are proud to be a part of a strong editorial tradition,” said Campbell. “We’ve been working together for more than twenty-five years, and, as coeditors, we will be able to exchange ideas and dedicate our combined energies to continue Resources Policy’s contributions to the field.”

The coeditorship is an honor that recognizes Campbell and Roberts’ service to the profession and their expertise in minerals policy and economics. Campbell, whose research focuses on metal markets and the urbanization and sustainability of mining, helped establish and now coordinates the master’s program in applied natural resource economics at Michigan Tech and the associated Peace Corps Master’s International program. He is also an adjunct professor with the Department of Geological and Mining Engineering and Sciences. Roberts, who is also involved in the Master’s International program, analyzes cycles of metal, energy, and commodity prices and studies the environmental issues and impacts of mining. Both maintain full teaching schedules.

Campbell and Roberts have a long history with Resources Policy as regular contributors and reviewers. Roberts was a member of the editorial board for twenty years. As coeditors, Campbell and Roberts will solicit papers, assign reviewers, communicate with authors, and send papers through the editorial system.

The greatest challenge of the position, said Roberts, will be finding qualified reviewers for each piece. “One of the benefits of working together will be the chance to pool our contacts to find reviewers who have expertise in the topic of each article,” he said.

“We are honored to accept the position,” said Roberts, “and we look forward to the challenge.”

Campbell and Roberts’ first coedited issue of Resources Policy will be published in March 2012.

MBA Students Help Guide Portage Hospital Decisions

Students provide guidance for local healthcare provider.

MBA students from Michigan Tech have assisted in optimizing the schedule for Portage Health’s Dialysis Center as published in the Daily Mining Gazette weekend edition.

“The change in hours will increase patient safety, patient satisfaction and efficiency,” said Karen Kelley, dialysis director.

The decision to add new software, Schedule Wise, was suggested by an MBA team including Karen Giddings, Emmett Golde, Heather Richards, and Birong Tao in the spring of 2010.

“The students did a learn project where they examined patient flow, eventually concluding that new software would help,” Kelley said.

For more information about the Portage Health Dialysis Center, visit portagehealth.org/dialysis.

This was originally published by the Daily Mining Gazette March 17/18 weekend edition.

Finance Club Experiences Chicago

Finance Club enjoying a tour of the Chicago Board of Option Exchange.

On Wednesday, March 14th, Michigan Tech’s Finance Club traveled down to Chicago for a whirlwind tour of financial organizations. Their first stop? The Chicago Board of Options Exchange (CBOE) for a tour of their trading floor.

Students were able to go down on the floor of the exchange and get right next to the pits where they were trading securities with the old open outcry method.

Club President, Dan Eskola noted “It was a great experience to get down on the floor and see the open outcry auction pits trading. Many of these jobs have disappeared due to more efficient computer based trading and so it is good to see them before they go away.”

After the tour the group ventured to Peak 6– a proprietary trading company– where they had lunch.  The students had the opportunity to speak with the Chief Technology Officer, Danny Rosenthall, and one of the head traders.

Finance club members were able to view their impressive trading room located in the CBOT (Chicago Board of Trade) building.  Students were grateful to speak with these professionals who explained their business in honest, frank language.  The trip is an excellent opportunity for students to understand careers suitable for finance and accounting majors as well as ask questions about the financial industry.

The group also toured the Chicago Mercantile Exchange during their trip, where a lot of the financial transactions take place for commodities. “It was a great experience to see both of their huge trading floors as well as the fixed income securities,”  added Eskola.

This trip was organized by the Finance Club that is advised by Assistant Professor of Finance, Howard Qi, in the School of Business and Economics.