March 2019

SoM Career Center debuts

The School of Management Career Center is now open for business.

This brand-new addition to the school had its soft opening in January, when Linda Haas Manley assumed the position of director. The overall objective, she says, is to “customize assistance to the students to help them meet their goals.” [Read more about Haas Manley in the profile below.]

Currently sharing space with the SoM’s Academic Advising Center, the Career Center eventually will employ a staff of three people. Current students — as well as alumni — have access to the center, where they can “leverage their skills so employers will take notice,” says Haas Manley. The staff will help sharpen students’ interviewing techniques and resume writing skills and can shepherd them through the ins and outs of internship and job placement. Coordinating business executives’ campus presentations to classes and clubs is another focus. Further strengthening the annual School of Management New York City Career Trek (which last fall provided site visits to 170 students at 26 companies), adding industry-specific happenings (such as the accounting “Meet the Firms” event scheduled for September 11), and bringing employment recruiters to campus are additional goals. Last but by no means least, center staff aim to better connect students with alumni who are employed in their field of study.

For her part, Haas Manley has spent her first few weeks on campus meeting with students and faculty, making presentations at club meetings, and reviewing interactive software programs that assist with resume writing and student/alumni interaction. Students need “academics, professional engagement opportunities, and connections with employers” in order to get started on a career, she says. And the Career Center is poised to assist with all three.

“With the opening of the Career Center, School of Management students and alumni can now receive industry-specific help in applying for and securing internships and employment,” says Dean Lawrence Singleton. “We are committed to giving them all the tools necessary to make the transition from college to career as seamless as possible.”  

Seniors shine at capping presentations

At the end of last semester, seniors in the Management Strategy and Policy capstone courses showed off their hard-earned knowledge and skills to panels comprised of corporate executives, alumni and faculty.

“Generally, the capstone course is designed to give senior business students the chance to apply the knowledge they have acquired throughout their education to real-world situations,” said Associate Professor of Management Pamela Harper. In her classes, student teams conducted in-depth research on one of five companies: Gap Inc., Albemarle, McDonald’s, CBS and Barnes & Noble. Using various resources — including the Investment Center’s Bloomberg terminals, library materials and, in some cases, direct contact with company representatives — each team became “experts,” not just in their chosen company but the entire industry. “The final Business Strategic Plans for above-average returns were documented and presented, boardroom style, before a panel of esteemed executives,” said Harper; the panel included Marist Board of Trustees member Alvin Patrick ’86 and Brian Bingham ’99, both senior producers at CBS News; Mary Vodzak Meyer ’97 of Barnes & Noble Education; Allan R. Page, founder of A. Page & Associates LLC; and SoM executive in residence and member of the Dean's Board of Advisors, Timothy P. Keneally ’69.

IN THE PHOTO: Back row (L-R): Prof. Ismay Czarniecki; seniors Kurt Lindberg, Leeann Owens, Amanda Bagala, Mikala Palumbo and Mark Moutinho; Prof. Pamela Harper. Front row (L-R): Prof. Robert Zito; Timothy P. Keneally; Prof. David Gavin; Allan R. Page; Prof. Yuwei Wang

The 60-some seniors in Professor of Strategy Helen Rothberg’s capping class took part in a war game based on the quick service restaurant (or QSR) industry. Teams researched one of five companies: Dunkin’ Brands, Panera Bread, McDonald’s, Domino’s and Starbucks. “Unbeknownst to the students, Dunkin' Brands was our sponsor,” said Rothberg. “They defined the teams for war gaming (there were 10 teams, two per competitor) and posed the following question: ‘The QSR is facing multiple disruptive factors. How does a competitor stay relevant and excel in such a dynamic environment?’ ”

On the first day of the two-day game, each team presented a strategic analysis for its designated company and responded to questions from the panel. On the second day, teams question their competitors in round-robin fashion. “When the Q&A period is over,” says Rothberg, “the teams craft a deliberate retort presentation based on what they learned during the war game. As a rule of thumb, the team that doesn’t adjust its strategy to reflect new intelligence loses the war.”

When the smoke cleared, a team representing Domino’s was the game winner, with a Dunkin’ squad earning honorable mention. The game was very competitive, says Rothberg. “The Domino’s team demonstrated the most learning and dramatically pivoted their strategy.”

All in all, “business capstone students wowed Dunkin’ executives and alumni with their crisp presentations and quick thinking on their feet,” Rothberg said.

 

IN THE PHOTO: Members of the winning war game team pose with members of the executive panel. Back row (L-R): Tyler Kapuscinski ’19; Andrew McElroy ’19; Matt Bonder ’07, Director International Finance, Dunkin’ Brands; Dennis McCarthy, Senior Manager of Finance, Dunkin’ Brands; Cory Lang ’18, Private Banking Risk Management, Brown Brothers Harriman; Brandon Machida ’19

Front row (L-R): Karin Durels ’19, Prof. Helen Rothberg; Kachen Nguyen, Director-Finance U.S. at Dunkin’ Brands; Brandon Lee Heard ’17, Strategy Associate at R/GA; Camilla Caffo ’19, Mary Vange ’19 

 

Alumni talk HR at SHRM panel discussion

Breaking into the human resources arena post-graduation was the topic of a panel discussion by five Marist alumni at a meeting of the college chapter of SHRM (aka the Society for Human Resource Management).

Brian Alter ’18 of Paycom; Brianna Kinzel ’18 of the Anderson Center for Autism;Dave Mancari ’11 from Montefiore Health System/St. Luke’s Cornwall Hospital; Shelby Outwater ’04/MPA ’10 from Dutchess County Human Resources; and Pete Vigliotti ’85 of Swiss Re Group offered wide-ranging advice on internships, interview techniques, the use of LinkedIn, and other topics to the 25 students at the February 13 meeting.

The feedback from attendees was generally positive, said SHRM Chapter President Morgan O’Coin ’19. “The most interesting part was that our panelists all have very different backgrounds, which gave us further insight into different career options.”

The SHRM chapter hosts a variety of events that are “extremely beneficial for students,” O’Coin says. “We offer LinkedIn and resume writing workshops, alumni panels and networking events that are designed to help students succeed with their classes and future careers.” For more information about joining the chapter, contact O’Coin or faculty advisor Prof. Ismay Czarniecki.

 

RSS hosts top-flight researcher Richard Bagozzi

Richard P. Bagozzi, the Dwight F. Benton Professor of Behavioral Science in Management at the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business, was the featured speaker at the March 6 meeting of the Research Seminar Series.

An esteemed researcher — Thomson Reuters ranked him in the top one percent of most-cited researchers between 2002-2012 — Bagozzi investigates human emotions, decision-making, social identity, ethics and related topics. In 1975, he introduced the theory of exchange, a concept that has become integral to marketing research and practice.

Bagozzi’s presentation was entitled “The Emerging Role of Neuroscience and Genetics in Management and Marketing.” “We’re using neuroscience to research the behavior of sales managers and consumers,” he said. “For example, we’re using fMRI machines to look inside the brain to try to understand emotions.” (fMRI — or functional magnetic resonance imaging — measures and maps brain activity.)

Customer orientation is one focus area of his research. “To what extent do managers try to figure out what the customer really needs and then design their product (or tailor their sales pitch) to meet those needs,” Bagozzi explains. “With customers, we’re studying the reaction a person has to advertising when it is viewed alongside another person. The mere presence of someone else affects how the advertisement is processed.”

“I wanted to talk about something that was new to the audience,” Bagozzi said. “Normally I would do a very narrow, technical presentation. In my experience, out of 30 or 40 people in the room, only one or two are really interested — the rest are being polite. So I wanted to, I wouldn’t say entertain, but educate my audience about a topic that’s part of the future.”

Bagozzi says his talk was warmly received. “The faculty seemed interested, and they had a lot of comments and questions.”

The beauty of the campus impressed the professor, a first-time visitor to Marist, as did the fact that the students he spoke with “seem motivated to learn. That’s not the case everywhere.”

 

Faculty Focus

“Operations and marketing alignment to reduce operational risk: How airlines circumvent well-guarded markets,” by Assistant Professor of Management Kuangnen Cheng, was recently published in the International Journal of Advanced Operations Management.

Associate Professor of Accounting Jianing Fang was a coauthor of “Ethics —Comparing Ethical Egoism with Confucius’s Golden Rule,” which appears in the Journal of Business and Economic Studies. Prof. Fang also coauthored “Ethics — When the East Meets the West,” published by the Journal of Leadership, Accountability and Ethics.

Released through Marist’s Bureau of Economic Research, Assistant Professor of Economics Christy Huebner Caridi’s analyses of Hudson Valley migration and income disparity were referenced in recent articles published by Mid Hudson News.com, Hudson Valley magazine, the Poughkeepsie Journal, and on WAMC-FM.

Professor of Strategy Helen Rothberg’s article, “I've been coaching execs for 25 years, and the same 6 habits keep coming up in the best leaders,” appeared on the website businessinsider.com on November 29, 2018.

Associate Professor of Economics Ann Davis has received a grant from the Marist College Strategic Plan Projects Advisory Committee for her proposal "Sustainability in the College and the Community: A Model of Curriculum Integration." A total of 12 awards were given out by the grant program in this, its first year.

Chair of the Department of Economics, Accounting, and Finance and Professional Lecturer of Accounting Carol Friedman, CPA, has accepted an invitation from Dutchess Community College to serve a three-year term on its Accounting Advisory Committee. Comprised of local business professionals, the committee is charged with helping to keep the college’s degree programs responsive to employer needs.

 

Alumni Profile: Kathryn A. (Marconi) Tacchi ’09

A 2009 Marist graduate, Kathryn Tacchi earned her Bachelor of Science degree in business with concentrations in both human resources management and marketing; she minor in global studies. Today she is employed as a human resources generalist at Moore Capital Management LP, a hedge fund located in Midtown Manhattan. A born-and-bred Long Islander, she lives in Bethpage with husband Edward Tacchi — whom she’s known since they were both in elementary school — and their three-year-old daughter, Annabel; the couple will welcome their second daughter in early April. Not surprisingly, free time is a scarce commodity for Tacchi these days. “I wish I could say I had amazing hobbies,” she says, “but it’s my family. That’s my world.”

Q: Tell us about your career so far.

A: In the summer between my sophomore and junior year at Marist, I interned with Credit Suisse in their campus-recruiting department. The point of our team was to organize training and networking programs to support students who had recently graduated and would be picked up by trading desks in the fall. That was my first eye-opener into human resources — previously I had concentrated more on the marketing aspect of my education. I was immediately drawn into the field, and recruiting was especially interesting to me.

The next summer, I interned at Moore Capital. They needed support writing job descriptions. I was not a finance person at the time, but I did research using databases, old descriptions and performance reviews to create a job description library that I’m proud to say we still reference today.

I continued my internship into my senior year. After graduation, Moore Capital offered me an interim assignment in a consulting capacity. Some internal changes took place in the department; when a permanent role opened up for an HR administrator, I was asked if I wanted the position. Although the role focused more on the more administrative aspects of HR, I knew it was an opportunity to get firsthand experience as I started my career. The experience enabled me to grow into an HR professional, working across all the varied functions of HR (recruiting, benefits, compensation, training/development, employee relations, etc.) over the past 10 years.

As a generalist, a big part of my role is full-time recruiting for all those positions I wrote job descriptions for as an intern, such as analysts, infrastructure (technology), financial risk, middle office functions, and administrative support. I also run our summer and year-round internship program for all parts of the company, handle employee immigration matters, provide counsel to staff and assist in performance review processes.

Q: What is it about human resources that you find so enjoyable?

A: We support staff in a variety of ways. Most of our day-to-day work is driven by employees’ requests, so every day is different — and that keeps you on your toes. I found I wasn’t creative enough to do really well in marketing, but I am super-organized and detailed — a real type A personality — and I like to think I am a good judge of character and have empathy for others. So my strengths are a better fit in the HR field.

Q: You mentioned working with employee on immigration matters. What does that entail?

A: The people who apply for jobs come from varying backgrounds, including foreign nationals. Once these people graduate from college, they have a certain amount of time to align themselves with an employer who will sponsor them for a more long-term visa; the most common type runs for up to six years and can be transferred from one employer to another. If we want to do something more permanent, we might sponsor the employee for a green card. This is a lengthy process: We have to test the market to ensure there are no qualified U.S. workers available to do that particular job. The process has gotten harder, since the applications are scrutinized more closely these days.

Q: What made you decide to attend Marist?

A: I tell my husband all the time that Marist is my first love. It just felt like home to me from the minute I stepped on campus. I came out of a competitive high school, and if you weren’t at the top of the heap you just sort of floated by. The community vibe that Marist offers allowed me to build confidence in myself and in my interests.

Q: What skill did you learn at Marist that helps you the most in your career?

A: It was confidence. Marist allowed me to find myself. By taking part in activities like freshman orientation with First Year Programs, working at the campus bookstore, and volunteering with the admissions office, I was able to align myself with people who are like me and to get comfortable in my own skin. I think that resonated when I was interviewing for internships and full-time opportunities, and it still shines through in my career at Moore Capital. I am who I am because of Marist College.

 

Getting to know… Linda Haas Manley

Linda Haas Manley, director of the School of Management’s brand-new Career Center, joined Marist in January. Her 20-plus year career in student services has played out at colleges and universities in states across the country.

A native of the Buckeye State, Haas Manley earned both a bachelor’s degree (in journalism) and an M. Ed. (in college student personnel administration) from Ohio University. After working for a time in the residential life program at the University of Denver, “I moved to Long Island for a higher residential position at Stony Brook University,” she says. It was while representing that institution at a professional conference that she met her (future) husband, James Manley Jr., who occupied a similar position at the College of Saint Rose in Troy, New York. During her four years at Stony Brook, “I really became involved in career services work, and decided that I wanted to move into a position in student affairs.”

Not surprisingly, once she and her husband tied the knot, Haas Manley says, “my career trajectory was affected by my spouse.” The couple spent a couple of years at a university in rural Virginia; unhappy with the location, they headed back north and settled in central New York State. James worked at SUNY Cortland, while Linda landed the job of assistant director of career and alumni services at the Maxwell School at Syracuse University. When her position was eliminated due to restructuring, she moved on to Cornell; she served first as program coordinator for work-life issues and was soon promoted to instructor/service-learning manager for the Cornell Institute for Public Affairs. In this role, she developed a public service exchange program that matched graduate student interns with local, state, national and international organizations in need of their services. “I’ve worked with both undergraduate and graduate students,” she says, “and gained a lot of experience with different companies and helping students connect with employers.” For the past six years, Haas Manley has been the career and academic advisor at Marist’s next-door neighbor, the Culinary Institute of America in nearby Hyde Park.

Haas Manley says she is “thrilled” with her new job. “It’s a natural progression from my previous positions,” she says. “My goal is to utilize my relationship-development skills to help students engage with employers in a meaningful way, so they can land internships and professional opportunities after they’ve graduated.”

The Manleys live in Poughkeepsie along with their two sons, James III and Michael. Since moving to the Hudson Valley, Linda has completed her M.A. in English literature at SUNY New Paltz and is currently working on her Ph.D. in education at Capella University. As a mother of two and a doctoral candidate, “my free time is very limited,” she says. “I like to write [she works with a children’s writing group and has published several educational mini-books] and I enjoy artsy, creative outlets like jewelry-making and crocheting.”

Please join us in welcoming Linda Haas Manley to the School of Management.