 Martin Fernandez, Tatiana Lopez, Ruben Salazar, and Mahendran Jawaharial compete at NSHMBA. |
From its booth alongside partner Bank of America (BOA) to its co-sponsored breakfast with BOA attended by several hundred registrants to the sterling performance of a team of four Professional MBA (PMBA) students invited to compete in a case competition, the College of Business Administration ratcheted up its impact at the 18th Annual Conference and Career Expo of the National Society of Hispanic MBAs (NSHMBA), held October 4-6, 2007 in Houston, Texas.
The group representing the college during the event consisted of Barry Shiflett, director, Career Management Services (CMS); CMS staff members Elsie Florido, associate director, and Ellie Browner (MS ’93, BBA ’79) assistant director, employer services; Luis Casas, the college’s director of marketing and recruiting; and Sarah Perez, director, Executive MBA (EMBA) and PMBA programs. Joyce J. Elam, executive dean, and José de la Torre, dean, Chapman Graduate School, attended part of the time, including for the breakfast meeting, which Elam emceed and at which BOA’s Frances A. Sevilla Sacasa, president, private wealth management, gave the keynote address. In addition, the college sponsored nine students, including the case competitors.
NSHMBA successes resonate after the conference ends.
“This year, we encountered more interest among recruiters in taking next steps with us.”
—Barry Shiflett, director, Career Management Services
“Because of our activities, and in partnership with BOA, our efforts are beginning to pay off,” Shiflett said. “This year, we encountered more interest among recruiters in taking next steps with us, which we expect will lead to their recruiting on our campus in the future. We look forward to welcoming them—and all recruiters—to our Bank of America Career Management Services offices in the college’s new business building complex, where we will have ten interview rooms and a recruiters’ lounge and library.”
In February, 2007, a team of students from the Chapman Graduate School won the Intercollegiate Case Competition hosted by the University of South Florida. Subsequently, “Team FIU,” consisting of Mahendran Jawaharlal, Tatiana Lopez, Martin Fernandez, and Ruben Salazar, was selected as one of the six finalists—from a field of 44—to compete in the Dell/Microsoft case competition at the NSHMBA conference.
“Based on the quality of our presentation at the competition, two of our colleagues received strong overtures from both Dell and Microsoft,” Jawaharlal said.
“We’re grateful to the many faculty and staff members who helped prepare the team, particularly Browner for her many labor-intensive activities,” said Shiflett, who also handed accolades to Florido for the “way she handled the unbelievable logistics leading up to and during the event.”
