Impact Fall 2025

Residency trip to New York City inspires Impact Fellows

Greg Johnson — Tue, 27 May 2025 15:00:28 +0000

Residency trip to New York City inspires Impact Fellows Greg Johnson Tue, 05/27/2025 - 11:00

While many of their peers were spending spring break catching sun at the beach, members of the Impact Fellows Program were busy engaging with organizations and professionals in New York City to see how they run their operations while being dedicated to social impact, sustainability, and community service. 

Impact Fellows visit New York City. Photo provided

Using the United Nations’ sustainable development goals as their framework, the Impact Fellows Program is a competitive two-year program for students in the Costello College of Business at �鶹��Ƶ who want to foster their leadership abilities and personal development.

The Costello students in the Impact Fellows Program come from different backgrounds and have different interests, but they are united in the belief that business should be a force for good in the world.

“At the Costello College of Business, we believe deeply in learning that extends beyond the classroom,” said Yena Kim, director of academic achievement and innovative learning at the Costello College of Business. “The Impact Fellows residency trip is a powerful example of our commitment to student experience and career readiness—giving students the opportunity to apply what they’ve learned, explore their purpose, and connect with professionals making a difference in the world. Experiences like this are where leadership is forged and career paths come into focus.”

Along with being plugged into a network of mentors and participating in a variety of co-curricular activities, the four-day residency trip is a requirement of the program to give the students hands-on experience away from campus.

“We had learned about the UN sustainable development goals, and we had done other co-curricular trips that were almost like steppingstones into this experience,” said Camila Rosales, a junior studying supply chain and operations management. “This residency trip almost felt like a final exam situation.”

But rather than sitting in a classroom and filling out exam sheets, they joined several organizations who are making a real difference.

High Line Tour. Photo provided

Leaving on Tuesday and returning on Friday, the Impact Fellows had many places to see and people to meet during their residency trip to the Big Apple. Touring the High Line, they saw a clear illustration of sustainability for all who walk along or around it. Formerly part of the New York Central Railroad, the High Line was transformed into a 1.45-mile-long elevated linear park. “When you go to a city like New York, you really experience the interconnectedness, the history, all of the fundamental values of community,” said Mike Van Dyken, a senior studying business analytics and management information systems.

God's Love We Deliver. Photo provided

At God’s Love We Deliver, the group learned how the nonprofit cooks and delivers specialized meals to people suffering from chronic illnesses. “Getting to help those people hands-on and seeing how my work had an impact on people’s lives definitely inspired me to create my own nonprofit organization one day,” said Shriganesh Sivakumar, a sophomore studying finance.

Leticia Nunez Nova, a senior studying marketing and business analytics, also has a passion for nonprofit work, and this was the first time she was able to speak with the operations team of a nonprofit. “I love nonprofit work, especially marketing it,” she said, “So, that would be like my dream job. Maybe work for a social enterprise.”

International WELL Building Institute. Photo provided

At the International WELL Building Institute, the Impact Fellows had the opportunity to engage directly with leaders in sustainable finance and workplace innovation. During a dynamic conversation with Minjia Yang, vice president and head of sustainable finance, students gained insights into how companies are designing spaces that prioritize human well-being, environmental responsibility, and innovation. The visit not only deepened the students’ understanding of sustainability in business but also provided valuable networking opportunities with a global leader in the field—an experience many described as inspiring and eye-opening.

The Impact Fellows had a full itinerary on their trip, also touring the Tenement Museum and the United Nations Headquarters.

Tenement Museum. Photo provided

“I really do owe a lot to the residency trip because I was on the fence of what to pursue, but having a week of experiencing what it’s like to be in spaces that are focused on sustainability and helping the community made me realize how much I want to do it,” said Rosales.

Their experiences showed the students that profitability and sustainability are not mutually exclusive. “It opened my eyes to the fact that there are businesses that have made it possible to get revenue and also do good,” said Nunez Nova.

Besides seeing how everything operates, the Impact Fellows learned how to communicate and work effectively with professionals and volunteers from a wide variety of backgrounds.

“The Impact Fellows Program teaches you not only cross-cultural communication but also how to implement and communicate with professionals that work in the industry,” said Sivakumar. For several of the Impact Fellows, the trip confirmed career goals. “Just overall, this program helped me stick with my original vision of how I could use business to have a positive impact,” said Van Dyken.

United Nations Headquarters. Photo provided

For the Impact Fellows, the residency trip to New York City brought their program experience full circle. When they graduate, they will be entering the workforce with connections, leadership skills, and the inspiration to make the world a better place through business and innovation.

If you are interested in learning more about the Impact Fellows Program and how you can get involved, visit us online.

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Study: Left-handed CEOs are more innovative

Jennifer Anzaldi — Wed, 30 Apr 2025 02:32:28 +0000

Study: Left-handed CEOs are more innovative Jennifer Anzaldi Tue, 04/29/2025 - 22:32

In This Story

Long Chen

June Woo Park

Q: What do Steve Jobs, Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg have in common (besides the obvious)?
A: All three belong to a community comprising about 10 percent of the population—the community of the left-handed.

And they’re far from the only business luminaries who are members. Steve Forbes, Oprah Winfrey, and Lou Gerstner (of IBM fame) are left-handed, as were John D. Rockefeller, Henry Ford and Ratan Tata.

Of course, this could be a mere coincidence—but perhaps not. The popular belief that left-handers think more creatively—and hence may enjoy an innovative edge in business—has been supported by cognitive neuroscience research, which shows that the left hand is controlled by the brain’s right hemisphere, a region closely associated with creative thinking. However, conflicting findings and limited research evidence prevent broad conclusions about the correlation between creativity and handedness, let alone its potential implications for business leadership.

A forthcoming research publication by Long Chen and June Woo Park, two accounting professors at the Costello College of Business at �鶹��Ƶ, constitutes the first rigorous scholarly investigation into whether—and how—handedness plays a role in business innovation.

June Woo Park and Long Chen

The paper was co-authored by Albert Tsang of Southern University of Science and Technology and Xiaofang Xu of Beijing Technology and Business University.

The researchers searched Google for photos and videos of S&P 500 CEOs engaged in activities like writing, throwing, drawing, and eating to determine their dominant hand, if wasn’t already disclosed in published sources. “We looked at pictures of them on the golf course to see how they held their clubs,” Park explains. “We also noted which wrist they wore their watch on; left-handed people often wear it on the right.” When in doubt, they followed up with calls or emails to the respective companies. All in all, they were able to identify the handedness of 1,008 CEOs across 472 companies: 91.4 percent were right-handed, 7.9 percent left-handed, and 0.7 percent mixed.

The researchers then looked at the numbers of patents and citations received by the firms from 1992 to 2015. They controlled for firm and industry characteristics, as well as other personal traits known to affect CEO innovativeness (such as age, education, risk preference shaped by experience, birth order, and founder status).

In addition, they performed several follow-up tests, including one focused on a narrow subset of firms that unexpectedly switched from a right-handed CEO to a left-handed one due to unforeseeable circumstances such as death or illness.

Every variation of the study produced essentially the same result: Firms led by left-handed CEOs demonstrate significantly higher innovative output. The differences were qualitative as well as quantitative. Patents under left-handed leadership were more likely to represent something new under the sun, rather than a spin-off from established technology.

The researchers hypothesized that the left-handers’ creative orientation would impact the way they ran their firms, including hiring decisions. Indeed, they found that companies applied for more H-1B and STEM visas when left-handers were at the helm. This emphasis on talent acquisition was not only a key indicator of innovation commitment, but may have also contributed to the firms’ creative advantage.

“We find that left-handed CEOs are more likely to hire immigrant inventors in STEM fields, and are also more likely to be inventors themselves,” Chen says. “These findings strengthen our argument by highlighting specific ways in which left-handed CEOs may directly enhance firm innovation.”

Still, piling up patents doesn’t automatically produce outcomes that will make customers and shareholders happy. Ultimately, firm performance is what matters in evaluating business success. As additional analyses in the study suggest, firms led by left-handers had higher return on assets and stronger buy-and-hold returns than peers with a right-handed leader.

“They outperformed their counterparts,” Park summarizes. “Investors are drawn to innovative firms, and left-handedness is one of the factors investors could use in their stock-picking.”

Yet innovative success is complex and multifaceted. Left-handedness is only one potentially meaningful trait among many—a lot more are yet to be explored.

“Our results are based on a large sample. But investors should not assume a CEO that is not left-handed lacks innovative potential,” Chen says.

For their ongoing and future research projects, Chen and Park are looking beyond left-handedness to explore other deeply personal CEO traits that may have business implications.

“We find it fascinating to draw on insights from disciplines outside accounting and finance,” Chen says. “CEO decisions may be shaped by factors like family experiences, genetics, academic background, career paths, and more—really, the full range of experiences that makes them who they are. Understanding that can help market participants better interpret and predict CEOs’ decision-making.”

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At George �鶹��Ƶ basketball game, students ran the show

Sarah Holland — Fri, 21 Feb 2025 16:16:20 +0000

At George �鶹��Ƶ basketball game, students ran the show Sarah Holland Fri, 02/21/2025 - 11:16

Most students at Division 1 universities like George �鶹��Ƶ can say they’ve been to at least one sport event. A sold-out football game, a baseball no-hitter, or a Cinderella run at the NCAA Final Four: these games bring the campus together and make core memories for future alumni.

Students from left: Melissa Quinteros, Cody Salenga, and Manahil Piracha. Photo provided.

But while many can say they’ve cheered in the stands, only a handful can say they’ve run the show.

In fall 2024, Donald G. Costello College of Business students had that unique opportunity, leading the marketing and management of the Ferrum vs. George �鶹��Ƶ basketball game on November 23.

Mentored by marketing professor Niki Vlastara, assistant director of fan engagement Lily Plizga, and senior marketing and communications director of Costello College of Business Duane Bailey, five students took responsibility for various aspects of the game: from marketing ticket sales to managing check-in to developing a creative timeout game.

For Plizga, the experience was an opportunity to show students the breadth of career possibilities in sports management and marketing. “I found this career because I was a student wage worker with Athletics; I wouldn’t have known about all the opportunities here otherwise,” she said. “So for me, this experience helps showcase all the different paths available to them.”

For Vlastara, it was an opportunity to give students hands-on experience to practice theories and concepts from their coursework. “In event marketing, once the event is done, it’s done; you can’t resell. So, it’s important for the students to have that experience of having one chance to get it right and fill the seats,” Vlastara explained.

George �鶹��Ƶ is nationally ranked for internships/co-ops and its graduates report high job success related to their career goals, which underscores its prioritization of experiential learning opportunities like this one.

“I think this experiential part of education is what students are looking for. Projects like this help them really understand where the concepts I’m teaching in class apply,” said Vlastara. “It’s very holistic.”

From left: Melissa Quinteros, Cody Salenga, Dean of Costello College of Business Ajay Vinzé, and Manahil Piracha. Photo provided.

Melissa Quinteros, a senior in Costello, said that this hands-on opportunity challenged her to improve the skills she was developing in her classes and extracurriculars. “Having interpersonal skills and collaborating on projects have always stood out as necessary skills in my marketing and business classes,” she said. “For this, I needed to take those skills and learn what worked when trying to promote an event to attendees. I had to figure out how to be brief while emphasizing what parts of the event would be most interesting to the person I’m talking to. That was a challenge, but I learned so much.”

The students, Bailey said, “jumped in with both feet and smiled the whole way.” They brought ideas not just from the classroom, but also from their own experiences: winter 2024 graduate Cody Salenga, for example, pitched the idea of the timeout game based on a game he saw at an NBA game. According to Plizga, the game was really successful.

Athletics also saw increases in their social media engagement when the students had taken over; Plizga’s data showed more comments and higher views.

“We want students to feel like they’re part of something bigger than themselves, that extends beyond graduation,” said Bailey, “We want them to invest in George �鶹��Ƶ, and experiences like these plant that seed early.”

The team hopes to continue this collaboration next season. “Athletics and the fans were excited by the collaboration. So we hope to keep it going in the fall, maybe make it a big event each year that becomes tradition,” said Plizga. “And I hope that other departments, schools, and colleges see what we did as a baseline for opportunities in the future.”

In This Story

Mariniki (Niki) Vlastara

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Checking in to a “suite” internship with Marriott International

Sarah Holland — Wed, 15 Jan 2025 14:34:55 +0000

Checking in to a “suite” internship with Marriott International Sarah Holland Wed, 01/15/2025 - 09:34

When business major Kyle Samuel went to �鶹��Ƶ’s Fall 2023 Career Fair with a list of companies to speak with, he didn’t realize he would land an internship that would kickstart his career.

With a legacy connection to Marriott hotels through his father, who worked for Marriott at the property level, a chat with the Marriott representative led to securing a competitive spot as a finance HQ intern with Marriott International.

Now, in addition to completing a summer internship with Marriott, Samuel is working part-time for the hotel company and making plans to return in summer 2025 for a second internship.

Kyle Samuel (left) with Marriott founder's grandson, David Marriott. Photo provided.

Why did you choose George �鶹��Ƶ?

There are a couple of reasons why. First, it’s close to home and within my culture we try to live with our parents even after we’re 18. So that was important to me. Affordability was a major aspect, too, because staying home saves some tuition. George �鶹��Ƶ’s Costello College of Business is also great and well-established, especially compared to other schools in the region.

What inspired your interest in finance?

In junior year of high school, one of my uncles recommended the book Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert T. Kiyosaki and Sharon Lechter. And that opened my eyes to how much personal finance matters in your life. I started reading more, like The Outsiders: Eight Unconventional CEOs and Their Radically Rational Blueprint for Success by William N. Thorndike, Jr., and my interest just took off from there.

How did you find out about the internship at Marriott?

Through the career fair at George �鶹��Ƶ. I went into the fair with notes about each company I was interested in, and Marriott was on the list. I spoke with the representative, and we really connected. She told me about the internship—I didn’t know that Marriott offered internships—and she recommended that I apply.

It’s funny, whenever someone asks me about the career fair, I tell them I have a 100% track record, because I went to one fair and got an internship from it!

What did you do during your summer internship with Marriott?

Some of my major projects were conducting reviews of around 50 capital expenditure budgets from Marriott Select brands to ensure compliance and accuracy, checking the integrity and translation of data from Excel sheets to visualizations, and helping a senior manager send out revenue share allocations to select brand owners.

I also participated in a competition with the other interns where we were given a real-life business challenge that Marriott is facing, and we had to design a potential solution. So we brainstormed ideas for improving Marriott Bonvoy sign-ups among the Gen Z demographic.

One of the things I really appreciated about my internship is that I wasn’t just doing internship work that wouldn’t go anywhere once I was done: I was doing projects with impact.

How have your experiences at George �鶹��Ƶ prepared you for your internship?

Many classes gave me the foundations I needed to succeed at my internship. BUS 210 Business I and BUS 310 Business Analytics II were really helpful because it allowed me to strengthen my Excel skills, and BUS 103 has helped improve my professional development skills.

University Career Services also played a monumental role. They helped me establish my resume, create my LinkedIn profile, and prepare for the interview with Marriott.

Kyle Samuel (right) with Anthony Capuano, current CEO of Marriott. Photo provided

What would you say is the importance of an internship?

School does prepare you for the workplace, but there’s really no substitute for actually experiencing a workplace. Understanding office culture, learning the hierarchies, networking; you can only really learn those soft skills through being in the workplace. And networking is so valuable. I’ve had a meeting with the CEO of Marriott because I was able to network with the former intern, who connected me to the right people.

Where do you hope to be in ten years?

My long-term goal is to become the CFO of Marriott. I’m minoring in real estate, so working for Marriott combines my interest in finance with my interest in real estate. I love the culture; I feel like they really put people first and work together as a team. And there’s a lot of potential for them to grow in the future.

George �鶹��Ƶ is Virginia's best for interships

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MS in Finance students answer burning investment questions

Jennifer Anzaldi — Tue, 22 Oct 2024 17:08:48 +0000

MS in Finance students answer burning investment questions Jennifer Anzaldi Tue, 10/22/2024 - 13:08

In This Story

Derek Horstmeyer

�鶹��Ƶ Master of Science in Finance students have the rare opportunity to use their budding analytical skills to solve some of the mysteries of today’s financial markets. Moreover, their faculty-supervised research projects can land their names in the pages of The Wall Street Journal.

To date, these projects have spawned nearly 40 WSJ articles, not to mention dozens of write-ups in outlets such as MarketWatch, The Conversation, and the CFA Institute blog. They have also received television coverage on CNN and NewsNation.

SMIF officers Yashkaran Sidhu, Jonathan Pino, Matthew Rickard, Raheeg Joari, and Reema Hammad at the Chicago SMIFC conference.

As Costello College of Business finance professor Derek Horstmeyer tells it, the process started taking shape organically. “I had started writing for the CFA and The Wall Street Journal. In my talks with my students, some of them revealed they had research interests. It just kind of took off from there—I would bring it up in class and offer to supervise a research project that would last about a week.”

Student researchers are mainly recruited from Horstmeyer’s Montano Student Managed Investment Fund (SMIF) class, a hands-on exercise in security analysis and portfolio construction that serves as a capstone to the MS in finance degree.

While many student research projects originate with questions suggested by the students themselves, Horstmeyer helps the student teams devise their scope and direction.

“They might say, for example, that they’re interested in crypto. So I’ll show them previous articles on crypto and we kind of develop a new idea from there,” Horstmeyer says.

By the time they get to SMIF, students are usually comfortable getting their hands dirty with data. Finding the appropriate data-set for the question they’ve posed, however, can be a challenge. That’s another area where Horstmeyer’s support becomes critical. “The big bottleneck is they just don’t know where the data is,” he says. “We as faculty have access to these private databases. So I’ll guide them or set up the data.”

Horstmeyer also introduces the student teams to the best methods for parsing the data, while leaving students enough leeway to conduct independent follow-up analyses if needed.

Of the dozens of projects completed thus far, there are a few that, for Horstmeyer, typify the process at its best. For example, finance students Matthew Rickard and Camila Marín Builes investigated how stock-market trends fare once they have been familiarized enough to warrant a nickname. Among the eight named trends included in the study were FAANG (Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix and Google), and “The Magnificent Seven” (Nvidia, Tesla, Meta, Apple, Alphabet, Amazon, and Microsoft).

“We did an extensive Google search to find the biggest named trends. Then we used the Wayback Machine to figure out when the trend was first coined, like the exact date. We did all sorts of tests to determine what kind of abnormal returns you can expect if you stick with that trend,” Horstmeyer explains.

The students found that newly christened trends experience an extended honeymoon period of about 12 months, amounting to an average of 13 percentage points in excess returns. But in their second year, trends start to go stale, underperforming the S&P 500 by an average of two points.

The Wall Street Journal published Horstmeyer’s article “Once a Hot Stock-Market Trend Has a Name, Its Best Days Are Likely Past”—published under his byline with the student researchers mentioned by name early on—in March 2024.

Horstmeyer says that participating in these projects helps students hone skills and techniques that enhance their careers and give them a competitive edge in the job market. “I get employers reaching out and saying, ‘I saw this line item on a candidate’s resume saying they did some pretty high-level data analysis for you. Is it true?’ They’re kind of surprised the student contributed to the CFA or a Wall Street Journal article.”

Melvin Jonathan Reyes Echeverria, who completed his MS in finance degree in May 2024, says, “I assisted Professor Horstmeyer with data analysis for the WSJ and the experience was amazing…I was able to leverage everything that I was taught in my MS in finance classes. It was a privilege to be published and something that was unexpected to receive at George �鶹��Ƶ.”