Social Impact

Career Paths: How Mary Boling Made a Major Career Pivot

Kelsey Cipolla — Thu, 14 Nov 2024 16:53:51 +0000

Career Paths: How Mary Boling Made a Major Career Pivot Kelsey Cipolla Thu, 11/14/2024 - 09:53

Jane Majkiewicz

By pursuing her MBA at Leeds, Mary Boling orchestrated a career pivot from education to a rewarding role in the clean energy field.

Right after graduation, Mary Boling (MBA’24) started an exciting role as an associate with the Clean Energy Buyers Association (CEBA). She works on the market insights team tracking clean energy deals—an entirely new direction from her previous career in education.

So, how did she make such a dramatic shift?

For Boling, it boiled down to self-awareness and seizing opportunities.

“No one is going to work harder for you to get a job than you,” she said. “You have to connect the dots.”

The value of an MBA

Boling had been teaching in Houston for three years as part of the Teach for America program when she and her husband moved to Colorado. She didn’t have a job lined up when they arrived, but through networking, she found roles in enrollment and student recruitment at Rocky Mountain Prep, a Denver-based charter school network.

After five more years in education, Boling felt ready to deepen her roots in Colorado. It also felt like the right time for a career change. She saw how colleagues had expanded their skills through advanced degrees.

“A master’s degree is one of many levers you can use to help shape your career,” she said. For her, pursuing an MBA helped craft a narrative around her career transition. It also created opportunities she knew would have been challenging to access or orchestrate without a program to offer resources.

But Boling didn’t go to grad school knowing she wanted to work in sustainability. She just knew she wanted to make an impact, and she believed she could do that outside of education. She approached the graduate school experience as an opportunity for self-exploration: What skills do I already have that are transferable? And where are my blind spots?

Then, she actively sought the answers.

“No one is going to work harder for you to get a job than you.”

Mary Boling (MBA’24)

The power of asking questions

She began to clarify her direction while attending conferences on combating climate change. She reflected on parallels she had noticed with how people advocate for educational equity, and it resonated with her background in teaching, advocacy and pushing forward efforts like DEI initiatives.

“The first thing that struck me was the clear action around procuring clean energy,” she said. That ultimately led Boling to pursue the Clean Energy MBA Pathway through the Center for Ethics and Social Responsibility at Leeds.

“CESR, in general, was a great resource,” Boling said, pointing to the Energy Finance Bootcamp and networking events as highlights. She was even honored by the center with an Impact Buff Award in 2024 for her contributions.

Being a networker

Boling’s work experience had already helped her flex her networking muscle, but she further developed it at Leeds, she said. She was intentional about tapping into every available resource: career guidance, internships, conferences, one-to-one conversations and classes, such as one that involved a semester of consulting work with Optera, a Leeds alumni-founded company, where Boling made great contacts and better understood which skills she could transfer to the climate tech space.

“There’s only so much you can learn on the Internet about a company’s culture or what they’re looking for,” she said. Networking helped her discover job opportunities she might not have found otherwise. “You might know the shiny names of big companies, but through conversations, you find out about startups or smaller companies doing similar things.”

In fact, it was through a conversation that Boling discovered the Clean Energy Buyers Association. A contact pointed out that Boling’s education experience was well aligned with the organization’s mission to create awareness around clean energy. She began monitoring CEBA’s job board, and when the right opportunity came along, she already had a networking connection to help her resume stand out.

Leeds also equipped Boling with two components required for her job application: For a presentation sample, she waa able to use material from the International Duke University Energy in Emerging Markets Case Competition, for which her team pitched to Okra Solar, an Australian climate tech startup. For her writing sample, she submitted a final paper from her Socially Responsible Enterprise MBA class.

Being the solution

Sustainability is a field with immense potential for growth. Green job seekers are 29% more likely to get hired, according to Forbes.

“There’s a great deal of momentum [in sustainability], so that means there’s also a lot of competition,” Boling said. “You have to know what you’re going to provide. At the end of the day, they're paying you to help them push their work forward. Are you bringing in a network, or do you have experience solving similar problems?”

During her internship as a change manager at Alterra Mountain Company, Boling’s manager helped her connect with the company’s sustainability team, and while onsite for a project in Vermont, she connected with the sustainability lead. She also talked with a fellow CU MBA student who was working there as a sustainability intern. Through her work and those discussions, Boling got to see how change management plays a crucial role in launching sustainability initiatives. She could frame her skills as a competitive edge.

Being resilient

Like most job seekers, Boling faced some rejections and lack of responses along the way. She learned not to take those as a sign of being incompetent or incapable, knowing they could be related to other circumstances, like an internal hire. Her friend gave her a great analogy: “A job search is like water finding cracks to flow through—you just need to keep moving.”

As Boling dives deeper into the clean energy industry, her practice in resilience will come in handy.

She was inspired by a recent webinar that discussed mental fatigue when confronting the daunting task of climate change. “One thing they brought up is that to see progress, you need to make sure you’re replenished,” she said.

“I think the questions I always have in the back of my head are, ‘Where can I be plugging in? Do I feel like what I've done has had an impact, whether it’s at a macro level, or even at a micro level?’” It helps to focus on small, incremental wins to stay positive, she emphasized. “You have to pay attention to what you can control.”

By pursuing her MBA at Leeds, Mary Boling orchestrated a career pivot from education to a rewarding role in the clean energy field.

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Leadership Lessons from the Dalai Lama

Anonymous — Tue, 23 Apr 2024 21:06:35 +0000

Leadership Lessons from the Dalai Lama Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 04/23/2024 - 15:06

Katy Hill • Photos by Glenn Asakawa

A graduating senior shares insights from a trip to India with the Dalai Lama Fellows program.

Nikki Bechtold’s spring semester is one for the books. Along with a group of students, faculty and staff from CU ��Vlog�ƽ��, the senior business major traveled to India in March for an unforgettable meeting with the Dalai Lama.

“It was just so humbling,” said Bechtold, who is graduating in May. “I learned so much from both a cultural and personal-insight perspective.”

“Compassion in Action: A Conversation About Leadership with His Holiness the Dalai Lama,” was the result of a connection between CU’s Renée Crown Wellness Institute and the University of Virginia Contemplative Sciences Center. The event, held March 17-23 in India, gave students including Bechtold the opportunity to seek wisdom and guidance from the Dalai Lama and broaden their cultural perspectives.

Representatives from the Crown Institute, Leeds School of Business, Stanford University, and the Contemplative Sciences Center, along with faculty, staff and students affiliated with CU’s Dalai Lama Fellows program, met with the Dalai Lama at his residence in Dharamsala for a series of conversations focusing on compassionate leadership.

Bechtold attended the trip as part of the Dalai Lama Fellows program, a one-year leadership program designed to help emerging social change makers cultivate self-awareness, resilience and compassion; broaden their cultural perspectives; learn how to engage with complex systems; and work with local communities in sustainable ways.

CU ��Vlog�ƽ�� entered into partnership with the University of Virginia and Stanford University in 2021 to deliver the global Dalai Lama Fellows program, which is headquartered at UVA. The CU ��Vlog�ƽ�� program launched in 2022 and expanded in 2023 to include Leeds students as part of a three-year pilot focusing on nurturing compassionate and contemplative leaders with a focus on excellence in leadership development.

“I don’t really think I knew what compassion meant until these talks,” Bechtold said. “I took away that if I'm dealing with a conflict as a leader, I want to keep that mindset. Compassion is such an important thing that can often be overlooked in leadership. Because as the Dalai Lama mentioned, hierarchies can be really detrimental to compassion.”

Leadership, compassion and connection

CU ��Vlog�ƽ�� Chancellor Philip DiStefano opened the meeting with the Dalai Lama, remembering when CU hosted him on campus in 2016 and when the Crown Institute hosted a virtual conversation with him in 2021.

“It’s a joy to be with you and Dalai Lama Fellows from the University of Colorado, Stanford University and the University of Virginia,” he said. “This is an opportunity to shape tomorrow’s leaders.”

Questions for the Dalai Lama were crafted by global fellows and four undergraduate CU ��Vlog�ƽ�� DLF fellows around themes including climate, leadership, education, social and cultural change, and compassionate leadership.

The Dalai Lama highlighted the importance of compassion, humility and the shared human experience.

“I want to tell you how happy I am to be meeting with you here,” he said. “Basically we have all been born of a mother and received maximum affection from her. It’s a natural response, we see other animals do this too. It’s an experience we all share in common, and it means we are all essentially the same. We survive because of our mother’s kindness. This is something very important to remember.

“While we’re still young, the sense of our mother’s affection remains vivid within us, but as we grow up and go to school, it begins to decline. How much better it would be if we could keep our appreciation of her kindness fresh and alive until we die? One way to do this is to make an effort to nurture a sense of compassion and warm-heartedness.”

Leeds Senior Nikki Bechtold snaps a photo near the entrance to the Kora Walk in Dharamsala, India, which surrounds the Dalai Lama’s residence.

Bechtold found the Dalai Lama’s remarks on maternal affection to be particularly impactful.

“My mom passed away in high school, and we actually left (Colorado) on the anniversary of her death during this massive snowstorm,” she said. “We thought our flight was going to get canceled, but we actually left with no delay … So I felt like I really was supposed to be there.”

One question the students asked the Dalai Lama was how to employ compassion as a leader when you’re feeling angry and frustrated.

“If we were to keep the basic sense of affection that we received from our mother alive, there’d be no reason to quarrel with anyone,” he said. “However, instead of thinking about what we have in common with other people, we tend to focus on the differences between us.”

Bechtold considered how these insights might influence her leadership style. “If I can become a leader someday and a manager and all these things, I’ll remember how important being compassionate is,” she said. “In the society that we have right now, sometimes it can be hard to be compassionate in all circumstances.”

Vijay Khatri, Tandean Rustandy Endowed Dean of the Leeds School of Business, said meeting with the Dalai Lama was “transformational.”

“I am filled with inspiration and gratitude after witnessing young social innovators who are creatively addressing global challenges in ways that are tailored to their local communities, all the while fostering the well-being of our planet,” Khatri said.

A graduating senior shares insights from a trip to India with the Dalai Lama Fellows program.

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Leeds Students Win Big at the CU Student Leadership Awards

Anonymous — Fri, 19 Jan 2024 16:48:58 +0000

Leeds Students Win Big at the CU Student Leadership Awards Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 01/19/2024 - 09:48

Anneli Gray

The B-school claimed three of 16 winners campuswide, who were recognized for outstanding character and exceptional service.

Leaders aren’t born—they’re self-made. At Leeds School of Business, students are presented with countless opportunities to grow into leaders. That may explain why this year’s prestigious CU Student Leader of the Year award went to not just one Leeds student, but three.

Along with 13 other students from across campus, Kaela Gero (Fin, BusAn’24 ), Meghan Fall (Mktg’26) and Bianca Rubini-Tapernoux (Mktg’25) were each named a CU Student Leader by CU’s Center for Leadership. This year marked the sixth consecutive time that a Leeds Scholar has won the award.

“I am extremely proud of these three students, who embody our program’s values of community engagement, global awareness, inclusivity, ethically-driven leadership, and quite simply, being a good person who lifts up those around them,” said Darrell Zechman, senior director of Special Programs at STEM Initiatives at Leeds.

Learned leaders

Kaela Gero (Fin, BusAn’24) was nominated by Zechman this year. “Kaela is an inclusive person who listens to others and ensures that those around her find a general sense of happiness and belonging. Her ability to see an issue and find creative solutions that bring people together is admirable,” he wrote in his nomination.

In addition to her role as a Leeds Scholar, Gero is a member of the Leeds Honors Program, a peer mentor and a teaching assistant. She has also completed prestigious internships at BlackRock and KSL Capital Partners, volunteered extensively, and gained experiential learning that has helped expand her global mindset.

She was recently recognized for her dedication and commitment to tutoring. She’s also heavily invested in mentorship and committed to instilling confidence in students.

“A good leader,” she said, “is someone who can naturally inspire and empower others, motivating them to achieve their full potential. They lead with empathy, inclusivity, and unwavering integrity, creating an environment where everyone feels valued and encouraged to participate.”

Meghan Fall (Mktg’26), a Leeds Scholar studying marketing with a minor in Italian, is a Dalai Lama Fellow with the Renée Crown Wellness Institute and the president of the NMDP chapter at CU (formerly known as ‘Be the Match’), which helps save lives through blood marrow donation.

She was nominated for the student leadership award by CU’s Volunteer Resource Center (VRC), which praised “her propensity for activation and a knack for building community among her peers.“ They described her as “the type of person who connects to her values and lived experiences—who embraces differences and uses them to strengthen a group.”

The Miss Colorado Organization saw the same leadership aptitude in Fall and recently crowned her Miss ��Vlog�ƽ��. Inspired by the loss of her father when she was 16, she launched the ‘Good Grief’ group through the Renée Crown Wellness Institute at CU ��Vlog�ƽ�� as her community service initiative, which focuses on supporting young adults experiencing grief. In addition, she spearheaded a new partnership with Judi’s House, which supports grieving children and their families.

“For me, a great leader leads with compassion and makes everyone feel seen and heard within a group,” Fall said.

In less than two years at CU, she has logged over 170 hours on five different service experiences with the Volunteer Resource Center (VRC). As a PALS Peer Mentor, a site leader for the inaugural Winter Alternative Break, and a facilitator of the Volunteer Placement Program with Colorado Reading Partners, her ability to embrace differences and use them to strengthen a group has contributed to each program’s success.

“A good leader is willing to acknowledge what they don’t know and willing to learn to achieve the best possible outcome.”

Bianca Rubini-Tapernoux (Mktg’25)

Bianca Rubini-Tapernoux (Mktg’25) is working toward a marketing degree as well as certificates in Global Business and Social Responsibility, while also minoring in political science and international affairs.

Her involvement in Leeds Scholars has helped shape her leadership development through working cross-culturally with students from Japan and doing an ‘Outdoor Access for All’ outreach project to improve access to outdoor recreation. In addition, her participation in the Daniels Fund Ethics Initiative's Ethics of Service Learning Cohort has reinforced her dedication to ethical leadership and social responsibility.

The Conference on World Affairs (CWA) nominated Rubini-Tapernoux for CU’s leadership award after watching her in action for the last two years on the CWA business committee. She leads a team of students and community members in creating business-centric programming, which includes panel development, speaker recruitment, content and logistics.

CWA praised her for “exceptional service to campus and community, exemplary character, and embodiment of the values of the campus Colorado Creed.”

Rubini-Tapernoux explained that she’s recently taken on her most important role yet: the re-envisioning of the 76-year CU tradition for 2025 and beyond. She is the only student within a special task force that oversees conducting research and drafting a plan to present to the chancellor for the future of CWA.

“I believe a defining trait of a good leader is having a lifelong commitment to learning,” she said. “A good leader is willing to acknowledge what they don’t know and willing to learn to achieve the best possible outcome...Great leaders empower others using their knowledge and creativity; they can adapt to whatever challenge they are facing.”

See how others at Leeds have learned to lead in the latest edition of Business at Leeds magazine.

The B-school claimed three of 16 winners campuswide, who were recognized for outstanding character and exceptional service.

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ESG Champions

Anonymous — Tue, 05 Dec 2023 17:16:00 +0000

ESG Champions Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 12/05/2023 - 10:16

Joe Arney • Photos by Nathan Thompson

How Leeds alumni are making the case for sustainability.

Working in financial risk management gave Ralph Drabic a larger perspective than, say, what he might consider in doing due diligence on a proposed loan or deal.

“Ultimately, if there’s no planet, there are no financial services,” said Drabic (Fin, Mgmt’07), a vice president and senior manager of the environmental and social impact audit team at Wells Fargo. “If we don’t get this right for our planet, for our environment, none of what we have matters.”

Many professionals feel a sense of urgency and responsibility in adopting better business practices that benefit the environment. But because Leeds weighs environment, equality and sustainability as heavily as finance, marketing and accounting in creating academic programs, alumni often find themselves in corner offices—or just outside of them—where they have opportunities to advocate for practices and policies that create meaningful change.

For Megan Lorenzen (MBA’21), the idea that her work can make a difference brought her to Salesforce, where she’s senior manager of sustainability. Her work involves collaboration with partners in various business units to understand needs and create impact.

“We believe we have a responsibility to help bring the entire community with us,” said Lorenzen, who was named to GreenBiz Badass Women, a power list of key players in environmental justice, in the spring. “If we reach our company targets and get to the finish line alone, we will have failed to actually impact climate change.”

‘Accountants are going to save the world’

The good news, she said, is leaders are listening when it comes to not just setting targets but also the strategies that help companies meet emissions pledges and climate goals.

Megan Lorenzen (MBA’21), Senior Manager of Sustainability at Salesforce

“I always say that accountants are going to save the world,” Lorenzen said. “You are increasingly seeing accountants who are now ESG professionals. And our business partners—legal, government affairs, finance—are critical to our success.”

Lorenzen and Drabic pointed out that a lot of leaders’ actions are being driven by changing regulations, whether from the Fed or SEC. That outside pressure has helped Drabic find a ready audience when he presents ideas to his team and stakeholders.

“It makes it easier for an audit team to have credibility when it comes to what regulatory activities are taking place and what needs to happen,” he said. “When you’re a bank, the last thing you want to do is run afoul of regulators, so their work is pivotal for teams like ours.”

And while Lorenzen said that growing credibility has made now “an incredible time to work in this industry,” that wasn’t always the case. Just ask Kathryn Wendell, executive director of Leeds’ Center for Ethics and Social Responsibility (CESR).

“When I graduated from college back in 2000, I was very interested in corporate social responsibility and sustainability, but there was no clear career path to get there,” said Wendell, whose work experience includes corporate responsibility roles at Chevron and World Bank.

“Today, this whole field is evolving so fast that even people like me are struggling to try to stay on top of what’s happening. But it’s exciting because, as we rethink risk, we’re seeing sustainability take on a stronger focus for private-sector leadership.”

An ESG portfolio

CESR plays a key role in helping prepare students to lead those conversations. In addition to student competitions, the center supports students enrolled in the social responsibility and ethics certificate and CESR Fellows organization for undergrads, as well a new MBA pathway in ESG and sustainability.

Wendell said the center’s programming is an outreach of the clear strength in sustainability and ESG coming out of our faculty research.

“This deep caring about the environment and society is what brings a lot of people here to ��Vlog�ƽ��—both faculty and students. It’s a shared passion and expertise that cuts across our school and makes us unique.”

David Drake, Associate Professor and Chair of the Social Responsibility & Sustainability Division

In fact, that helped bring David Drake, associate professor of strategy, entrepreneurship and operations, to Leeds. Before moving into higher education, he was a director at Random House, where one of his projects was recommending whether to print books with recycled paper.

It turned into a much more involved project as Drake worked to understand the hurdles with partners—like paper mills and customers—and internal stakeholders. Ultimately, he advised the CEO to use recycled paper, though the economic case was unclear.

“It was a harder sell, at the time, because customers purchase based on the content of the book, not the paper it is printed on—if they want the new John Grisham, they generally want the new John Grisham whether or not it is printed on recycled paper,” Drake said.

Random House went forward with the initiative, he said, because the cost was reasonable, the impact was significant, “and we were a privately held company whose owners cared about doing better. We felt the economic upside—if there was one—was through an improved potential of landing book deals with authors who shared that ethos.”

Drake has brought lessons from that project to his research. He studies innovative business models that improve quality of life through resource preservation and greater access to products and services. His current focus is mobile money, which gives people in rural and underdeveloped areas access to banking services.

“It’s another example, like cases in health care and education, where people innovated in unique ways to bring products and services to people who haven’t had access to them,” Drake said. “If you design that business model well, it can be profitable as well as beneficial for society.”

Even alumni who aren’t yet in leadership roles are finding ways to influence the C-suite. In his role as a deal advisory senior associate with KPMG, Alex Freimuth, CPA (Acct, Fin’18; MAcct’19) has carved out a niche in the energy space; “at first, I was seeing more traditional oil and gas deals, but a couple years later, the majority of my work tends to have a renewable focus,” he said.

Economics, environment ‘can go hand in hand’

Freimuth’s deal book tends to follow larger energy market trends. So oil and gas deals may be more prevalent as prices rise, while renewable energy deals are driven by a favorable regulatory environment and the associated tax incentives for those investments. He’s also seen traditional oil and gas companies spend more time analyzing and executing clean-energy investments.

“Profitability and sustainability do not have to be mutually exclusive. They can go hand in hand.”

Alex Freimuth, CPA (Acct, Fin’18; MAcct’19), Deal Advisory Senior Associate, KPMG

“The main thing for leaders right now is balancing how to make decisions that promote sustainability while still remaining financially responsible to shareholders,” Freimuth said. “This allows executives to address stakeholders and communicate that these decisions are founded in the interest of our business and but that also accomplish something in the interest of the broader community.

“Profitability and sustainability do not have to be mutually exclusive. They can go hand in hand.”

That’s the same hopeful tone Drabic struck when thinking about how his team’s work could help leaders and decision-makers set the course for the future.

“That’s what I like about this audit team—we’re the last line of defense,” Drabic said. “This is the influence we can have on a major bank that ultimately plays a role in driving this transition.”

Leeds alumni are making the case for sustainability. Here's how.

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For Frascona Winner, Inspiring Students is ‘The Greatest Feeling’

Anonymous — Mon, 08 May 2023 06:00:00 +0000

For Frascona Winner, Inspiring Students is ‘The Greatest Feeling’ Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 05/08/2023 - 00:00

Drake leans on his industry experience to find effective ways to connect with students who take different paths to Leeds’ MBA classes.

Students will present David Drake with the Frascona Teaching Excellence Award at graduation this week. At MBA Last Lecture, in downtown ��Vlog�ƽ��, Drake gave a short talk to the graduates, encouraging them to maintain a sense of curiosity as they take their skills out into the world.

When he was a director at Random House, David Drake led a project team responsible for initiatives across the organization. And as you might expect from a publications empire, the company’s makeup could make that challenging.

“You had some division leaders who were very business-minded, MBA trained, always focused on the bottom line,” Drake said. “But you had other leaders who came up through editorial roles and who were more artistically trained. And since we needed buy in from everyone to move ahead, I had to learn how to present ideas to a wide variety of audiences with different skills.”

That, he said, has proven invaluable in his role as a teacher.

Different styles for different students

“Each student has their own learning style and different strengths, and my job, is to find a way to present material in a way that is accessible to each of them,” he said. “I really think that makes a difference in helping people learn.”

Graduation 2023

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That commitment to his craft—and to the MBA students he teaches—is why Drake will be honored at commencement with the Joseph L. Frascona Teaching Excellence Award, presented annually by students to a Leeds professor who is a strong mentor, who encourages intellectual development and who creates lasting impact beyond the classroom.

For Drake, teaching excellence is about living up to the professors who inspired him as a student. He completed his undergraduate and MBA degrees from Vanderbilt, then headed to INSEAD for his PhD after six years working in industry.

“I think I’m like a lot of faculty in that I chose this career because I was inspired by those who taught me,” he said. “When you’re in the classroom, and you sense that students are really dialed in and engaged, that’s the greatest feeling. And then, when you have a chance to truly make a difference for a student—help them grasp something that they may have been struggling with and you see that ‘aha,’ or when you are able to make a connection for them that helps them land a job or internship—those moments stay with you, as a professor.”

Drake uses the case method in teaching his MBA classes, in which students take on the role of leaders who faced difficult choices in guiding their businesses.

“When you have a chance to truly make a difference for a student ... those moments stay with you, as a professor.”

Professor David Drake

That’s not an unusual approach for graduate classes, but Drake said he appreciated it because it’s the best way to get students to bring their own perspectives and experiences to classroom discussions.

“I teach that way because there’s so much talent in that classroom that’s not necessarily at the podium,” he said. “Case discussions allow all students to benefit and learn from that collective talent.”

That can lend a degree of authenticity to Drake’s classes.

‘You have to stay real’

“When you’re teaching MBAs, sometimes there’s a dose of healthy skepticism—it’s not antagonistic, but it’s like, ‘How can I use this?,’ or ‘That isn’t my experience, why do you say that?’” he said. “You have to stay real. You can’t just present this abstract theory, you have to be able to connect the dots and bring it back to what’s practical and pragmatic.”

Just because MBAs are seeking practical skills for leadership doesn’t mean they don’t need to be reminded to bring perspective to their lives. Drake shared some of that during a meaningful, teachable moment at MBA Last Lecture, a Leeds tradition in which graduating MBA students enjoy a life lesson from one of their professors over drinks in a ��Vlog�ƽ�� restaurant.

In his talk, Drake mentioned wonder and confidence as two values he hoped the graduates would continue to harness throughout their lives. He shared the story of rushing with his son, then 2, to day care on a fall day.

“I was running a bit late and, rather than being in the moment, I was in that zone, thinking about teaching and what was ahead for my day, when I notice my son had suddenly stopped and was just staring at the sky,” Drake told the students. When he looked up to see what his son was watching, he saw brightly colored leaves dancing across the sky in a beam of sunlight.

“Look at the world with the wonder of a toddler,” Drake said. “They go out into the world looking for what will amaze them.

“When you look for wonder, you find it. Be in that moment, be present wherever you are. Curiosity does not have an expiration date.”

Why Leeds Faculty research Leeds MBA programs

Students nominated David Drake for the award, given annually to a Leeds professor who mentors and challenges in ways that extend beyond the classroom.

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Alumna, Board Member and Mentor Recognized with Leadership Award from AACSB

Anonymous — Mon, 06 Feb 2023 14:00:00 +0000

Alumna, Board Member and Mentor Recognized with Leadership Award from AACSB Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 02/06/2023 - 07:00

Since retiring from Accenture, Ellen Balaguer has created enormous impact in education, serving as a role model to countless Leeds students.

If you ask Ellen Balaguer what she’s most proud of in her philanthropic work, she’s quick to quip that—thanks to the efforts of the entire Leeds School of Business community to elevate its standing and impact—“a bum like me would never be accepted there today.”

Rather than tout her own accomplishments, Balaguer (Fin, Psych’82) points to “a dramatic increase in the quality of the research and education at Leeds in the past two decades, which has allowed us, as a community, to significantly enhance the impact on the lives of our students, faculty and staff.”

Balaguer’s compelling story—an impressive career with Accenture, her tireless work as a mentor and her emphasis on philanthropy that creates positive impact for others—led to her selection as part of AACSB International’s 2023 class of Influential Leaders. AACSB is the world’s largest business education alliance; this annual initiative honors notable alumni from AACSB-accredited business schools whose work inspires the next generation of business leaders.

This year, AACSB sought nominees who create positive impact through leadership that is compassionate, curious and resilient, with a focus on purpose, people and planet.

MORE: Meet the 2023 class of Influential Leaders

“I don’t do any of this for the recognition—for me, it’s about making impact and making the world a better place, and having fun doing it,” Balaguer said. “At the same time, it’s nice to know you’re making a difference. I was so honored to find out I’d been nominated, let alone that I’d been selected.”

“The most rewarding part of working with Leeds is getting to talk with students and alumni, helping them figure out their own journeys.”

Ellen Balaguer (Fin, Psych’82)

After retiring from Accenture as a global managing director in 2009, she became a highly active board member and philanthropist whose service includes the Leeds Advisory Board, the CU ��Vlog�ƽ�� Enterprise Corporation board, the CU Denver Business School board, the Jane Goodall Institute, the Florence Crittenton School Denver, World Pulse, ActivateWork, the Colorado Ballet and many others. She was presented with the Leeds Alumni Service Award in 2012 for her extensive involvement with the school, including mentorship of students and supporting initiatives related to women in business, career development, global learning and scholarships.

Confidence in tomorrow's leaders

Her mentorship record is particularly impressive. Leeds is nationally recognized for its mentorship programs, but Balaguer has never been formally registered in the program. Get her in front of a class, though, and she’s liable to leave with a half-dozen—or more—new protégés.

“The most rewarding part of working with Leeds is getting to talk with students and alumni, helping them figure out their own journeys or sharing perspectives from my own career,” she said. “I joke sometimes that people my age say young people don’t want to work as hard as we did. But that’s never been my experience. I have so much confidence in today’s students to sustainably address our problems, and I look forward to the time when they are in charge.”

At Accenture, Balaguer led many strategic growth initiatives for the organization and facilitated countless complex global deals. She successfully turned around several distressed business units and helped drive significant growth in outsourcing and consulting.

Her experience at CU was important preparation for her Accenture career. Balaguer got into business “by accident,” as she said, after taking an economics class in her first year: “I have often said that in my career, I may have used my psychology degree more than my business degree—even though when I was a college freshman, I would have told you business was the last career path I had in mind. That said, I have come full circle and now wholeheartedly believe that business can be a primary source for good.”

The advantages her degree offered are a key reason she enthusiastically supports Leeds and other education-related causes.

“Education, to me, is a root solution for addressing our biggest problems,” she said. “I want to make education far more accessible for far more students—especially underrepresented students—to help them obtain the same advantages I had through my own great experience at CU.”

A long record of service

At Leeds, Balaguer has established scholarships to support economically and socially disadvantaged students, while also providing funding for programming and activities that support students who have been historically excluded from accessing educational opportunities. Her impact goes far beyond Colorado, though—for example, she sponsored a five-year pro bono project as part of a partnership between Accenture, the African Medical and Research Foundation and the Nursing Council of Kenya to educate 20,000 new registered nurses in Kenya, where the university system only had capacity to graduate 100 new RNs each year.

“I try to bring all the elements of the leadership and strategy skills I built in my career to bear in the nonprofit world,” Balaguer said. “And it’s not always as different as it seems. You’re still trying to make an impact, to help an organization meet its goals. The way investments work are somewhat different, but how you build, hone and execute a strategy is very similar.”

That enthusiasm was what made Balaguer an easy candidate for Leeds to nominate.

“A leader must be smart, strategic, energetic, trail-blazing, caring and thoughtful—all qualities that colleagues and contemporaries use to describe Ellen,” said Yonca Ertimur, Leeds’ acting dean. “Ellen has given back so much to her alma mater, and the community has benefited immensely from her leadership.”

“Ellen’s achievements demonstrate that success in business can also mean success for society,” said Caryn Beck-Dudley, president and CEO of AACSB. “Her efforts to prioritize purpose, people and planet should inspire all of us to reorient our ideas about impactful leadership.”

Why Leeds Mentorship programs Supporting Leeds

In honoring Ellen Balaguer, AACSB highlighted her service, leadership and commitment to creating impact, especially in business education.

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Climactic Change: Amid the Crisis, Leeds Continues Emphasis on Sustainability

Anonymous — Fri, 02 Dec 2022 18:10:20 +0000

Climactic Change: Amid the Crisis, Leeds Continues Emphasis on Sustainability Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 12/02/2022 - 11:10

Right Here, Right Now summit helps showcase the ways faculty, centers and alumni are taking on climate change. 

The Leeds School of Business will have featured discussions at Right Here, Right Now, but it's also long been integrating ideas like sustainability and ESG into its curricula, which helps prepare students for a business world of changing atttiudes and regulation. Below right is Kathryn Wendell, executive director of the Center for Ethics and Social Responsibility at Leeds and a moderator of a panel session.

For almost as long as climate change has been part of the global discussion, there has been the suggestion—if not outright blame—that the crisis is largely the fault of business.

“That narrative is starting to change,” said Kathryn Wendell, executive director of the Center for Ethics and Social Responsibility at Leeds. “Industry leaders are increasingly vocal about how their businesses can play a role in solving this crisis in a socially just manner. There’s a business case and a moral imperative driving the private sector’s commitments and action.”

As the ��Vlog�ƽ�� and United Nations Human Rights kick off the Right Here, Right Now Global Climate Summit, Wendell said it’s important to understand that when it comes to solving this crisis, industry needs a seat at the table, rather than being told to stand in the corner.

‘An incredible time’ to be part of innovative solutions

“We are going to see a lot of change over the next decade, especially as companies integrate sustainability—including climate and diversity, equity, and inclusion considerations—into their core business strategies,” she said. “For business students, it’s an incredible time to learn about the issues and identify innovative solutions.”

Wendell is facilitating a panel discussion on business’ responsibility in the climate crisis, especially from a human rights perspective, that will take place Dec. 3 at 4 p.m. The panel will be introduced by Yonca Ertimur, Leeds’ acting dean.

“At Leeds, we have had a strong focus on values-based leadership for over 20 years,” Ertimur said. “It’s integrated into our curriculum, faculty research, corporate partnerships and pretty much everything that we do.”

A quick examination of Leeds’ unique differentiators bears that out. In addition to offering topical programming and events on business and climate, CESR serves as a bridge between Leeds and the sustainable business community in ��Vlog�ƽ�� and beyond. The center also provides input that directs the creation of academic programs, including a new ESG and sustainability specialization for the MBA and a certificate in social responsibility and ethics.

If you go: Right Here, Right Now

Leeds’ work and thought leadership in sustainability will be front and center at two sessions on Dec. 3. At noon, Kathryn Wendell will moderate a panel discussion featuring high-level sustainability leaders at McKinsey, Microsoft and elsewhere. Then, at 4 p.m., a CESR-facilitated panel on business’ responsibility in the climate crisis, especially from a human rights perspective.
Attend Right Here, Right Now.

CESR also is an enthusiastic partner in working with other Leeds centers to address these pivotal issues. Last month, CESR and the Burridge Center for Finance hosted a panel discussion on careers in sustainability that featured professionals from Bank of America Merrill Lynch, PNC and others. The conversation touched on ESG, the financial innovations needed to make the case for so-called “green portfolios” and the changing regulatory environment around climate-related disclosures.

That impact goes far beyond Leeds’ centers, though. Last year, when CU ��Vlog�ƽ�� cut the ribbon on the Rustandy Building—the campus’ newest academic facility—it marked the physical link between the business and engineering disciplines, which already were collaborating in service of solving complex problems.

Few problems are as complex as climate change, but the cross-disciplinary approach of Leeds and the College of Engineering & Applied Science has paved the way for impactful teaching and research.

Julie Gentile (EnvEngr’24) is part of the BE Women in Tech program, a cross-disciplinary cohort that offers technical, business and leadership training to female students. She’s excited to use what she’s learning to create practical solutions to the climate crisis.

“I plan to develop products and systems that reverse or lessen the negative effects our industrial society has on the environment,” said Gentile, a research assistant on campus who’s interned with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection. “But there needs to be collaboration with business for success.”

At a Right Here, Right Now kickoff event, CU’s business and engineering faculty showcased some of the interdisciplinary research that’s addressing this crisis. Among the faculty presenting were Jeffrey York, research director for the Deming Center for Entrepreneurship and a firm believer in a future where founders figure out climate change.

York co-authored a paper, forthcoming in Organization Science, that examines how entrepreneurship is a promising, but often overlooked, force for mitigating climate change.

“Entrepreneurs create for-profit ventures that can address climate change in a way that government and activists cannot,” said York, who also is chair of the division of social responsibility and sustainability at Leeds.

Research that influences classroom activities

That entrepreneurial emphasis is clearly felt in the classroom, too. A team of Leeds students won the campus New Venture Challenge Climate Prize for their business concept, Aagraze, which produces seaweed feed pellets for cattle that could drastically curb emissions. Another recent graduate created a nonprofit to inspire children to become passionate about ocean conservation.

“Climate risk and resilience—not just how we reduce impact, but how we adapt—are moving to the forefront, which means new skills and ways of thinking are going to be valued.”

Colette Crouse (MBA’18), director of carbon services, Stok

In founding Sea the Change, Emma Pearson (Fin, EBio’22) honed the business skills she used as an intern with Boston Consulting Group, which she was eager to join after graduation, thanks to the company’s work in sustainability.

“BCG is really focusing on their climate practice and their sustainability measures and initiatives,” said Pearson, an associate with the company. “I’m really excited to get involved in that, specifically in the conservation sector. It’s just so cool to work for a company whose values I really align with.”

Alumni of Leeds graduate programs also are applying Leeds’ emphasis on sustainability and social responsibility at work, where their knowledge and skills help companies set and achieve ambitious climate goals that are as good for the planet as they are for profits.

Tim Weiss (MBA’16) went to grad school to better immerse himself in the ��Vlog�ƽ�� community, but it helped him build the skills and network needed to co-found Optera, of which he is also chief operating officer. The company is a sustainability software provider that works with companies in tech, retail, oil and gas, and mining.

Going after ‘those hard problems’

“We want to work with the companies that matter,” Weiss said. “When we work with a major manufacturer, or someone at the foundation of the supply chain in the corporate world, our impact is so much bigger, and it matters so much more. We’re trying to go after those hard problems.”

Colette Crouse (MBA’18) had a career in sustainability, but it was mainly in government and nonprofit. She chose Leeds for her MBA so she could make a broader business case for sustainability and create larger impact through her work.

She’s director of carbon services at Stok, which offers clients expertise in areas like greenhouse gas accounting, regulatory and disclosure frameworks, supply chain strategy, and budgeting. Those kinds of services are poised to take off as regulatory conversations around climate impact start shifting.

“Traditionally, the industry has been forward-looking, focused on climate mitigation and reduction. Now, the conversation is slowly shifting toward what do we do now—because we’re in trouble,” she said. “So climate risk and resilience—not just how we reduce impact, but how we adapt—are moving to the forefront, which means new skills and ways of thinking are going to be valued. There will be a lot of opportunities for anyone interested in working in this space.”

That’s a sentiment Weiss echoed.

“Many people think of climate change as a geopolitical issue. We look at it as an economic issue,” he said. “Even if regulation were to help solve this problem, that regulation would require action among companies—so we’re going straight to the companies to help them do business better.”

Why Leeds Center for Ethics and Social Responsibility Right Here, Right Now

Business is finally getting a seat at the table in the conversation to fight climate change. Leeds has spent decades preparing professionals for that responsibility.

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From Patient Care to Healthcare: How Data-Driven Students Can Help Heal Both

Anonymous — Mon, 28 Nov 2022 22:37:47 +0000

From Patient Care to Healthcare: How Data-Driven Students Can Help Heal Both Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 11/28/2022 - 15:37

Leeds School of Business and the University of Colorado College of Nursing roll out a new Healthcare track within the MS Business Analytics degree.

Nurses, facing challenges to providing high-quality care to their patients, will now be able to improve outcomes by using data to inform pivotal decisions. The Leeds School of Business at the ��Vlog�ƽ�� and the University of Colorado College of Nursing on the Anschutz Medical Campus have come together to offer a Master’s Degree in Business Analytics (MSBA), with a specialized track in healthcare.

For Kristi Ryujin, associate dean of Graduate Programs at Leeds, the partnership provides an exciting opportunity for both Leeds and College of Nursing students to enter a burgeoning field and make a difference. “Data helps inform decisions that save lives,” she says, speaking to students’ passion for patients.

The new MSBA Healthcare track prepares both nurses and non-healthcare students for careers in healthcare analytics, where they will turn big data into actionable insights that can improve outcomes for more patients.

Using data for good

“Healthcare analytics is really starting to explode. We need people who can look at big data across healthcare, manipulate it, and use it to make systematic changes that improve population health,” says Sharon Giarrizzo-Wilson, PhD, RN-BC, CNOR; specialty director of the healthcare informatics program and assistant professor at the College of Nursing; and a practicing nurse herself.

She adds that with the MSBA Healthcare track, students can rise to leadership roles, improve the quality of care for many more patients, build better infrastructures, and influence government decision-making through advocacy and working on related contracts and grants. She points out that people with these abilities are hard to find and thus, in high demand.

“It’s a complex specialty,” acknowledges Kelly Stamp, PhD, NP-C, RN, CHFN, FAHA, FAAN; associate dean of academic programs and associate professor at the College of Nursing. But it allows students to lead positive change and help more patients than they ever could before, she says.

“With this new track in the MSBA, graduates will become pioneers in healthcare analytics.”

Sharon Giarrizzo-Wilson, director, Anschutz College of Nursing

Swapping skills

The degree was designed so that business and nursing students could essentially take each other’s classes. Business students interested in the healthcare field can learn about healthcare technology and the environment by taking two of the College of Nursing courses; while nurses can learn business analytics through Leeds’ 10-month master’s program.

“With data analysts from both nursing and business, it’s going to introduce a whole other level of collaborators that will help us see the vision of what is needed in healthcare. Together, they can solve great problems,” says Giarrizzo-Wilson.

Courses are taught by top faculty from both schools. The “online+” format, built with high-quality video content and remote synchronous lab time, allows students to engage with faculty and peers, cover technical skills, and learn from each other while receiving immediate faculty feedback and support. For nurses, the remote format means they can continue caring for patients, while also applying their new insights on the job.

This isn’t the first time Leeds and the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus have partnered on education. In 2019, the University of Colorado School of Medicine and Leeds rolled out the MD/MBA degree for physicians. By teaching medical students business foundations, they’re empowered to positively impact patient care and health care delivery—a shared goal with the new MSBA in healthcare.

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In a Class of Their Own: Leeds’ First-Years are Poised to Impress

Anonymous — Mon, 19 Sep 2022 15:49:22 +0000

In a Class of Their Own: Leeds’ First-Years are Poised to Impress Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 09/19/2022 - 09:49

The business school welcomed one of its largest, most academically gifted and culturally diverse freshman classes ever.

The Leeds Class of 2026 is among the most impressive ever, in terms of academic quality, gender balance and cultural diversity. First-year student Carson Carere followed his older brother, Max, to Leeds; both men won highly competitive Boettcher Scholarships as top students. Below are scenes from Leeds Launch, which welcomes first-year students each August.

Entrepreneurs. Creators. Top scholars.

The Leeds Class of 2026 is among the largest, most academically gifted and culturally diverse on record, with a total of 651 students boasting higher GPAs and standardized test scores than the previous year.

Class of 2026 by the numbers

Total enrollment: 651 (last year: 634)
Average GPA: 3.89 (3.87)
Average ACT: 30.68 (30.64)
Average SAT: 1347 (1332)
Percent female: 49 (44)
Percent students of color: 31 (30)

“Our Class of 2026 truly is special—their achievements in the classroom, their service, their entrepreneurial spirit and their passion to make their mark in the world,” said Yonca Ertimur, acting dean. “It has been a treat to get to know these students as they acclimate to Leeds, and I am excited to watch them grow into tomorrow’s leaders and problem-solvers.”

Among those entrepreneurs is Jesús Soto (Bus’26), who started a business as a ��Vlog�ƽ�� High School student.

“I’m first-generation, and my family wasn’t really able to save anything,” Soto said of Uptrack, a platform that makes it easier for donors who fund smaller scholarships to identify student applicants. “I saw a real opportunity for a middleman to benefit the organizations, so they keep getting donations, and individuals who may not think they qualify for financial aid.”

Soto is already working with the EforAll accelerator, in Longmont, to build out his business plan, but hopes to study finance and information management at Leeds so he can pair his entrepreneurial passion with hard skills.

“Leeds has an amazing entrepreneurship program, and all these programs to help you launch your business,” said Soto, who’s already become a regular at Leeds’ Deming Center for Entrepreneurship. “There is an abundance of clubs and organizations that offer a strong community for entrepreneurs to participate in co-curricular activities and receive meaningful insights from faculty, professionals and fellow entrepreneurs.”

Another local member of the Class of 2026 is Thornton native Fadilah Passmore, who arrived at Leeds through the Diverse Scholars Program and chose CU ��Vlog�ƽ�� from her 14 admission offers.

“I was in a high school business program and was able to take college classes from Front Range Community College as well as CU Denver, so I’m very comfortable with business,” Passmore said. “And doing the precollege KeyBank Summer Bridge program helped me meet other students and just feel comfortable going to class.”

Passmore, a gothic literature fan and self-taught painter, is considering an art history minor to go with her management area of emphasis. She’s keeping her future open but is curious about working as an art administrator in a gallery someday, “which would be a great use of what I’ve learned about business and my creativity.”

Carson Carere also had his pick of schools. As president of Colorado DECA—the high school business association—he got to plan events and conferences around the state, as well as travel to and speak at high-profile events in New York, Atlanta and elsewhere.

“It was really a chance to learn a lot of valuable information—not just business topics, but how to put myself out there on interviews, job applications, résumés and so on,” he said.

The Lamar resident had plenty of options for studying finance. He ultimately chose Leeds because of the Boettcher Scholarship he received—as well as his business Buff brother, Max (Fin’22), also a Boettcher scholar.

“Ironically, he studied finance, as well,” Carere said. “I was looking at some different routes, but I was able to visit Max quite a few times when he was at Leeds, and I loved the school, the campus, the program.

“I really felt I was truly wanted at Leeds,” said Carere, a member of the Leeds Scholars Program. “A lot of schools I visited, I got the impression I’d be just another student. Leeds was where I felt at home.”

Why Leeds Undergraduate Business Programs How to Apply

The Class of 2026 at Leeds is among the largest, most academically gifted and culturally diverse on record.

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For Michael Leeds, it’s Values, Not Medals, That Matter Most

Anonymous — Wed, 04 May 2022 14:45:46 +0000

For Michael Leeds, it’s Values, Not Medals, That Matter Most Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 05/04/2022 - 08:45

As CU honors Leeds at graduation, he’s more proud of a business school that prizes ethics, diversity and responsibility.

Michael Leeds speaks at an event on the CU ��Vlog�ƽ�� campus. When he and his family made the naming gift to the university’s business school, “we heard ‘business ethics’ was an oxymoron,” he said. “In reality, nothing could be further from the truth.”

As part of its commencement ceremonies this month, Michael Leeds (Bus’74) was recognized with the prestigious University Medal, recognizing his and his family’s tireless support of the Leeds School of Business at the ��Vlog�ƽ��.

It was 20 years ago that Leeds and his family gave the business school at CU ��Vlog�ƽ�� both a name and a challenge—to become a leader in ethics, diversity and social responsibility.

Graduation 2022

Complete coverage of the commencement ceremonies for the Class of 2022 at Leeds.
At ceremonies, a reminder that graduates' resilience will endure in the long term.
Graduates poised to create impact at work.
Curtis Sears honored with Frascona Teaching Excellence Award.

“People laughed when we told them we wanted a business school to be about integrity and ethics,” Leeds said. “We heard ‘business ethics’ was an oxymoron. In reality, nothing could be further from the truth.”

After graduation, Leeds went into publishing, eventually joining the business that was co-founded by his parents, Gerry and Lily Leeds—serial entrepreneurs who both held education in the highest regard. When Michael Leeds joined the company, in 1984, it was a 250-person shop. Fifteen years later, it was an empire that sold for nearly $1 billion; Leeds said the company’s values were a key ingredient in its success.

“I saw how the values at CMP helped us to be successful, whether it was diversity in our hiring practices or ensuring we conducted our business to the highest ethical standards,” Leeds said. “What better perspective to share with future generations of business students?”

Why Leeds Center for Ethics and Social Responsibility Leeds MBA programs

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