Honoring the Leaders of Emory and Goizueta

The Emory Williams Distinguished Undergraduate Teaching Award is presented to faculty members from each of Emory’s four undergraduate schools during commencement every year. “The award celebrates the pinnacle of teaching excellence, honoring faculty who have profoundly impacted their students’ academic journeys,” says Wei Jiang, vice dean for faculty and research and Asa Griggs Candler Professor of Finance. The award was established by Emory Williams, a 1932 Emory College alumnus and longtime trustee, to recognize a record of excellence in undergraduate teaching.

Emory College of Arts and Sciences selects three award recipients, drawn from the humanities, sciences, and social sciences. Each of the other undergraduate schools—Goizueta Business School, Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing, and Oxford College—selects one award recipient.

The 2024 honoree from Goizueta Business School is Richard Berlin, associate professor in the practice of organization and management.

The remaining 2024 honorees are:

• – Christopher Eagle, associate teaching professor in the Center for the Study of Human Health, Emory College of Arts and Sciences
• – Sarah Fankhauser, associate professor of biology, Oxford College
• – Gillian Hue, assistant teaching professor, Neuroscience and Behavioral Biology program and senior faculty fellow, Center for Ethics, Emory College of Arts and Sciences
• – Brajesh Samarth, teaching professor, Department of Middle Eastern and South Asian Studies, Emory College of Arts and Sciences
• – LisaMarie Wands, associate clinical professor, Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing

The Provost’s Distinguished Teaching Award

The Provost’s Distinguished Teaching Award for Excellence in Graduate and Professional Education recognizes outstanding scholars who excel as teachers within formal and informal educational settings. “This award honors exceptional teaching and recognizes those who guide their students with passion and expertise,” says Alicia Sierra, director of human resources and diversity.

One faculty member in each of Emory’s seven graduate and professional schools receives the award in recognition of the important role of exceptional teaching in graduate and professional education. 

The 2024 honoree from Goizueta Business School is J.B. Kurish, professor in the practice of finance.

The remaining 2024 honorees are:

• – Lauren Christiansen-Lindquist, assistant teaching professor, Department of Epidemiology, Rollins School of Public Health
• – Thomas W. Elliott Jr., professor in the practice of practical theology and Methodist studies, Candler School of Theology
• – George S. Georgiev, associate professor of law, Emory School of Law
• – Adriana P. Hermida, professor, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Emory School of Medicine
• – Lori A. Modly, assistant clinical professor, Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing
• – David A. Steinhauer, faculty, Microbiology and Molecular Genetics Program in the Graduate Division of Biological and Biomedical Sciences, and associate professor, School of Medicine Department of Microbiology and Immunology, James T. Laney School of Graduate Studies

The Keough Awards

The Keough Awards for Service are named after Don Keough, the legendary President of The Coca-Cola Company and a symbol of business excellence. This award is the business school’s highest service award and is awarded to one faculty member and one staff member. Each recipient receives a $2,000 award. “The recipient is a long-term contributor to the school and makes a significant impact or contribution to Goizueta,” says Jiang.

Keough Faculty Award

The recipient of the 2024 Keough Faculty Award is Professor Kristy Towry. Towry has served in many roles within Goizueta over many years. She has served as vice dean and significantly impacted the culture and comradery at the school. Towry also served as the chair of the executive committee, where she initiated a governance structure that has enhanced decision-making and evaluation. She served as a mentor to numerous junior faculty and doctoral students. In addition, Towry has shown true leadership by appealing to others’ values in helping and supporting the school.

Towry is a top researcher and has trained numerous influential students. She is a favorite teacher of hundreds of MBA graduates and has made a lasting contribution to the school.

Keough Staff Award

The 2024 Keough staff recipient is Krystle Arnold-Moore, administrative assistant, BBA program office. She has consistently made an impact since she started at Goizueta in the summer of 2019. Faculty and staff across the school quickly noticed her creativity, as she served as an active division student advisory council member and on the committee to build morale after the pandemic. She has helped other units with programmatic support during staff vacancies, all while continuing to grow her expertise in the BBA program office.

Staff Excellence Award: Collaboration

The staff excellence awards recognize staff who have “gone above and beyond in collaborating with others, managing resources, and overall influence at the school,” says Sierra. Each recipient receives a $1,000 award.

The 2024 recipient of the Staff Excellence Award for Collaboration is Brandi Baker, director of registrar services. Baker has worked tirelessly to accommodate Goizueta’s exponential growth as a school. She collaborates with program offices to meet the needs of faculty, students, and administrators and proactively finds solutions that create a more positive learning environment. Baker is in a position where she has to answer to colleagues across numerous academic programs. She is limited in terms of building capacity, and yet she manages to fit all the pieces together. In her work, she maintains a positive attitude and a “get to yes” philosophy.

Staff Excellence Award: Influence

The 2024 recipient of the Staff Excellence Award for Influence is Ron Harris, director of research computing. Harris has been the backbone of faculty research projects for decades. He helps faculty as a thought partner, sharing the work and thinking through choices. This ability requires a deep understanding of the datasets and faculty research challenges. He uses his data manipulation skills to clean data and make it serviceable for research. He also trains the next generation of scholars, our PhD students, in the use of statistical software. It would be fair to claim that the considerable pace of our research is due to Harris’s support.

Staff Excellence Award: Resources

The 2024 recipient of the Staff Excellence Award for Resources is Robin Dittmann, chief business, analytics, and operations officer. Dittmann has been instrumental in helping strengthen school finances. She has worked toward more efficient staffing levels, streamlined processes, and new policies to facilitate efficient resources by faculty and staff. She does so with expertise and transparency that instills confidence in the community.

Department Distinguished Teaching Awards

Emory and Goizueta also award those of exceptional academic excellence in each department. These awards go to individuals who represent their departments with outstanding education and lead the professionals of tomorrow. We would like to recognize them here.

• – BBA Distinguished Educator: Emily Bianchi, Goizueta Foundation term associate professor of organization and management.
• – Evening MBA Distinguished Core Educator: Omar Rodríguez-Vilá, professor in the practice of marketing.
• – Evening MBA Distinguished Elective Educator: Kevin Crowley, associate professor in the practice of finance.
• – Full-Time MBA Distinguished Educator: JB Kurish, professor in the practice of finance.
• – Full-Time MBA Distinguished Educator: Marina Cooley, assistant professor in the practice of marketing.
• – MS in Business Analytics Distinguished Core Educator: Rajiv Garg, associate professor of information systems and operations management.
• – MS in Business Analytics Distinguished Elective Educator: Emma Zhang, associate professor of information systems and operations management.
• – Master of Finance Distinguished Educator: Kevin Crowley, associate professor in the practice of finance.

We are immensely proud to celebrate the accomplishments of our faculty. Through their transformational work, they push industries forward, prepare the next generation of business leaders, and solve today’s toughest business problems.

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A landmark new study by Goizueta Business School’s Omar Rodriguez-Vila among the top 50 brands in the country finds their marketplace actions are not yet reflecting the diverse demographic makeup of today’s customer bases. His research is unearthing new ways for firms to be more inclusive in the way they behave in the market.

Rodriguez-Vila, who is a professor in the practice of marketing at Goizueta, teamed with Dionne Nickerson of the Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business, and Sundar Bharadwaj of The University of Georgia’s Terry College of Business, to measure brand inclusivity. Inclusive brands, he says, are those that “serve the needs of underrepresented communities in ways that enhance their perception of belonging and respect.”

To understand where firms currently are in this kind of marketplace inclusivity, Rodriguez-Vila worked with BRIDGE, the first independent DEI trade group for the global marketing industry, and a committed team of Goizueta Full-time MBA and undergraduate students in the school’s BBA program[1] to assess the top 50 U.S. brands across 10 consumer-facing industries.

Using machine learning and human coders, the team analyzed social media posts on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok, looking for patterns of representational diversity across four measures: skin type, body type, hair type, and physical ability. Altogether, they processed just short of 11,000 social media posts made between June 2021 and July 2022.

“We applied the Simpson’s Diversity Index (SDI) to the population of social media posts by the largest brands in the United States. The SDI is a commonly used equation to measure the diversity of a population,” says Rodriguez-Vila. Applying the SDI calculation to measure the diversity in social media messages is a novel idea and one that provides clarity on the state of inclusion in brand communications, he adds. 

According to the 2020 U.S. Census, the racial diversity index in America is 61 percent—with racial diversity consistently increasing across the country over the past 20 years. Rodriguez-Vila and his colleagues compared this data with their findings on brands’ social media output.

We found that the racial diversity index of social media messages by the top U.S. brands was just 41 percent. The last time the racial diversity index was in that range was in the year 2000.

Omar Rodriguez-Vila

Interestingly, this lag between representation and demographic reality is common to brands in virtually all of the industries studied—from airlines to fashion, consumer packaged goods to financial services, and hospitality to retail.

“Brands’ social media activities typically capture many actions that a brand performs in the marketplace, including new products, promotions, ad campaigns, influencer messages, and more. Therefore, it is a fairly complete signal of their level of inclusion across the marketing mix. And by this measure, it’s clear that there’s more we can do to be inclusive of all our customers,” says Rodriguez-Vila. There is a compelling case for doing so.

Representational diversity has the potential to open new markets, new customer bases, and areas for expansion. Not only that: feeling represented and included matters to a large segment of the consumer base, says Rodriguez-Vila.

“To understand the importance of inclusion to customers, we used a discrete choice model where people made trade-offs between price and a collection of product features in order to understand the factors that motivated them to make a purchase,” he explains. “We tested a sample of consumers looking to buy sportswear, and we added representation of diversity and inclusion as a characteristic, to see if it had any impact on their choices.”

Again, the results are stunning. On average, 51 percent of customers took inclusion into account as a primary driver of athletic apparel choices. Inclusion was a priority driver of choice among 38 percent of consumers in historically well-represented communities—slim, white, able-bodied people.

When Rodriguez-Vila and his colleagues expanded the analysis to other, historically under-represented groups, they found a significantly greater impact. Here, inclusion was a primary driver among 61 percent of plus-size, Black consumers and for 87 percent of consumers that identified as non-binary. While this study needs to be replicated across other industries for a more general finding, it suggests inclusion can be a critically important factor to a majority of customers who are making decisions about whether to purchase products and services, or not.

“Our work is set to deliver tools that will help firms institutionalize marketplace inclusion as a function of their day-to-day operations. And it’s exciting to see the DEI thinking by leaders as they start to incorporate practices that focus on marketplace inclusion; practices that are geared to eliminate bias in the way they serve customers.”

Goizueta faculty apply their expertise and knowledge to solving problems that society—and the world—face. Learn more about faculty research at Goizueta. 

[1] The students working on the social media analysis were: Stephon Harris 23MBA; Shaun Abraham 23MBA; Suh Yoon 23MBA; Connor Marshall 23MBA; and Yongchen Qian 23C.

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Goizueta’s Common Read program provides a forum for self-education and a safe space for honest dialogue for those seeking to be allies. Through books, faculty, staff, alumni, and students explore a range of topics including understanding stereotypes and unconscious bias, becoming effective allies, and developing anti-racism mindsets. The current common read is “The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together” by Heather McGhee who will join an Emory-wide virtual community event on November 10, 2021. The Common Read program is managed by Goizueta’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee. 

Ash Meenakumari Shankar 23BBA chose Goizueta Business School to prepare himself to create more equity for people of color in business. In his view, business leaders have been too comfortable with the status quo and look for convenient solutions to problems.  

“I fundamentally believe that businesses have the ability to create lasting equity,” Shankar said. “This book brings up the uncomfortable and inconvenient questions that we in business need to confront.” 

Shankar is among the 300 Goizueta students, staff, and faculty who are reading and discussing the bestselling The Sum of Us.   

“This shared reading has only reminded me of why I chose Goizueta,” Shankar said. “I am so glad that McGhee’s message has been received positively here. The classes and resources we have at Goizueta are working to remove these barriers. With greater knowledge and dialogue, we can create permanent equity at Emory and in the Atlanta community.” 

McGhee’s book explores themes that demonstrate the communal, global benefits when people come together across race to build an equitable future. The November 10 event, “The Sum of Us: An Emory Community Conversation with Heather McGhee,” is free and open to all in the Emory community including students, staff, faculty, alumni, and community partners. 

Common Read Program Draws Campus-Wide Participation 

Lead organizer Allison Kays, assistant professor in the practice of accounting, said 100 Goizueta students, professors, and staff are in the small groups, and another 200 are reading the book on their own. Of the 300 readers, 32 are faculty, 61 are staff, and the rest are students. 

“I’m encouraged and excited by the response across the business school, from BBAs to the deans,” said Ama Ampadu-Fofie, director of diversity, equity, and inclusion. 

“We’re having discussions as a family, treating each other as family, and creating spaces to have sensitive conversations together. That’s what I wanted us to walk away with: open gateways to have difficult and uncomfortable experiences with people who look different from each of us. I want you to know about my experience and I want to know about yours.” 

Ama Ampadu-Fofie, director of diversity, equity, and inclusion

Principled leadership, diversity and equity were priorities when Jesse Conyers 24EvMBA chose her graduate program. Her most meaningful experience with her student cohort has been the book and discussion group.  

“Participating in this common read on racial injustice in America affirms my decision to choose Goizueta,” said Conyers, an Emory physician radiologist. 

“I have gained a deeper understanding of the history of structural racial hierarchy in America, the zero-sum mentality that frames and perpetuates these systems and the impact on contemporary racial inequality. I have learned from the unique and shared experiences of my colleagues and gained an understanding of the systemic impact of racism and discussed potential solutions. We consider how, as McGhee writes, to become strategic partners in the fight for a racially just America.” 

Jesse Conyers 24EvMBA

Discussions Deepen as Perspectives are Shared 

For Goizueta faculty and staff, The Sum of Us follows their fall 2020 reading of Whistling Vivaldi: How Stereotypes Affect Us and What We Can Do. Kays teamed with Brian Goebel, managing director of The Roberto C. Goizueta Business & Society Institute, Lt. Gen. (Ret.) Ken Keen, senior lecturer of organization and management and associate dean for leadership, Brian C. Mitchell, associate dean for full-time MBA programs and Goizueta Global Strategy and Initiatives, and Melissa Rapp, associate dean of MBA admissions, to choose The Sum of Us, and secure sponsorships from Emory Advancement and Alumni Engagement, Emory Global Health Institute, Emory Law, Laney Graduate School, Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing, and Emory School of Medicine.  

The zero-sum paradigm was a key discussion point for Maya Caron 23BBA. “Just because one government program helps a certain population does not mean that it takes away any opportunities from someone else,” she said. “It was insightful hearing from everyone in our diverse group. We all valued and acknowledged our differences.”  

Chris Weakley 22BBA, a former Army explosive ordinance disposal officer, shared his experiences growing up in southern California.  

“Being a little bit older than most of my classmates, I’ve been exposed to a little bit more of history,” he said. “I specifically talked about the 1992 riots after four policemen were acquitted of beating Rodney King. For me, the discussion was an eye-opening juxtaposition between Jim Crow era laws, the Los Angeles riots, recent police brutality headlines, and reading The Sum of Us.” 

The discussions have helped Kegan Baird 22MBA to his goal of personal growth in business school by meeting people from around the world.  

“This initiative shows why Emory is such a great place to grow,” said Baird. “The book and corresponding discussions have taught me that it is important to dig deeper and understand the root causes of societal issues to ensure you aren’t unknowingly perpetuating any issues and are equipped to solve these issues and better society as best you can. It has been great to learn and hear the perspectives of others that have experienced these issues in different ways than I have.”   

Sustainability over Shortcuts? 

For Kays a main takeaway from the book is the powerful business choice of sustainability over shortcuts. She teaches two theories of the firm: shareholder theory and stakeholder theory. The former is the more widely recognized theory and states that the purpose of a firm is to maximize returns to shareholders. The theory relies on a zero-sum mindset and argues that if a corporation focuses on any other stakeholders, it is taking away from shareholders’ returns. Stakeholder theory, however, ties in well to McGhee’s book, which argues that there can be a powerful solidarity dividend for all when returns are maximized to everyone connected to the firm, including the employees, suppliers, customers, and the communities in which the firm operates.  

“When you invest in employees and the communities you serve, that may reduce profits in the short term, but long term it should lead to higher profits because you are building more loyalty and allowing space for development and creativity.” 

Allison Kays, assistant professor in the practice of accounting

“Business has a really important role to play in reducing inequities,” agreed Omar Rodríguez-Vilá, the academic director of education for The Roberto C. Goizueta Business & Society Institute. “Not just as business leaders in our companies, but how we look at the marketplace and to what extent are we paying attention to the needs of the communities we are serving?” 

His discussion group worked on identifying ways to take action.  

“There is definitely a point in the dialogue where it’s easy to feel that you don’t have power; the issue is so complex and pervasive, what can I do?” he said. “We discussed making that very micro: What can I do in my class? Do I speak up when I see issues? What types of leaders and cases are we learning from? When we left the room, I feel there was a collective sense that there is power in our individual actions.” 

Register today to take part in this important conversation.

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Named to the “2021 Best and Brightest List of Executive MBAs” in Poets and Quants, Gade prizes the lessons he learned while a student at Goizueta. Born in Hyderabad, Telangana, India, Gade is a family man and hobby cricket player who attained degrees in mechanical engineering before enrolling in Goizueta’s Executive MBA program.

“In this competitive and ever disrupting business landscape, my goal is to find the right ‘moat’ for me and the business that I would like to lead,” he says. “Ultimately, I would like to lead an organization where we encourage challenging the status quo in finding creative solutions. If I can do all this in a family-like environment while creating value for all involved parties, then I can say I have succeeded in life and gotten my return on investment on my MBA.”

Guided by the teachings of Omar Rodríguez-Vilá associate professor in the practice of marketing, Gade gained invaluable insight into cases, tools and techniques, subjective and objective data-driven decision making, and marketing. He reflects, “We learned not to ignore the power of marketing on social impact in areas of sustainability, social purpose, and diversity. Looking at a project through various lenses to put aside biases allows me to solve customer pain points.”

Wanting to share and learn from peers in diverse industries, Gade values his relationships with Goizueta classmates. Now in product development of lighting, controls, and building management solutions for Acuity, Gade handles “cradle-to-grave” operations including data analysis, root-cause problem solving, new product design, prototype creation, manufacturing, mass production, and sales support. “In an environment where speed is of the utmost importance, using the structured problem-solving approach we learned has helped me succeed.”

Though the COVID-19 pandemic may have inserted digital obstacles into traditional networking and teamwork, Gade is grateful to know his cohort. He reflects on his Executive MBA experience by encouraging other executives. “I wish I had done this earlier in my life.”

Are you ready to challenge yourself to embrace your career potential, work with a dedicated career coach, and increase your post-MBA salary growth by up to 42%? Explore the Goizueta Executive MBA program, ranked #11 nationally in 2019 by the Financial Times and in 2020 by The Economist. Learn more today.

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IMPACT is a required class that matches student teams with companies and organizations to develop strategies to solve their real-world business problems. With projects in consumer products, higher education, healthcare, municipal government, communications, financial services, and energy, among other industries, the 20 organizations participating in the spring 2021 semester received fresh insights and well-researched consulting recommendations. The students were able to put theory into practice. Roughly one-third of the projects tackled challenges involving diversity, equity, and inclusion.  

“Goizueta IMPACT extends the value of the business school into the business community, and addressing diversity, equity, and inclusion is one of the most critical challenges in business today,” said Lynne Segall, associate dean, Goizueta IMPACT and senior lecturer in Organization & Management. “Because each student tackles a timely issue for a company or organization, the Goizueta MBA degree has greater value. It’s a win-win-win for the school, our students, and the community partners that we appreciate so much.”  

Among others, the projects included a major company looking for marketing solutions in a Latin American country experiencing pressure from currency devaluation; a public organization that wants to respond more efficiently to requests from people who are not proficient English speakers; and a major environmental nonprofit needing to ensure its investments align with environmental, social, and governance (ESG) best practices. 

Here is a more in-depth look at three recent IMPACT projects:

A Joint Venture to Train and Employ Homeless People and Veterans

First Step Staffing, which provides janitorial services at Emory, prioritizes employment for men and women experiencing homelessness and those who are veterans in need, so they can take the first step out of poverty and homelessness. Founded in Atlanta in 2007, First Step is now the largest nonprofit, alternative staffing agency in the country, and is 95% self-sustaining with earned revenue from business customers. 

A partnership with Goodwill of North Georgia, which provides work training, was a possibility, but the two organizations needed help hammering out what the arrangement would look like. 

“In looking for more ways to have even bigger impact, we explored a formal collaboration with First Step Staffing,” said Jenny Taylor, vice president of career services for Goodwill of North Georgia. “What it took to bring it to actionable next steps was the bright, talented team of Emory MBA students and their IMPACT project. This is the second time we have worked with IMPACT, and this is the second time the student team won first prize from the judges. It is a testament to their stellar work.”

“I had worked with a team of students from Emory before and knew they provided a professional approach to their projects,” said First Step CEO Amelia Nickerson. “The IMPACT program provided targeted, in-depth research, and potential solutions. Our goal was to have several forms of partnership vetted with budgets and timelines, which we received.” 

She went on to say, “The team from IMPACT met and exceeded my expectations, providing a thoughtful level of research and presenting conclusions and recommendations concisely with easy-to-follow next steps. I would recommend the program to anyone! Really great experience.”

A Menu of Offerings to Help Feed Autistic Children 

The Children’s Feeding Program, at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, helps children who have chronic and severe feeding disorders. IMPACT student teams were asked to develop a go-to-market strategy for a new, highly effective therapy to treat eating disorders among autistic children. 

“Our initial question focused on a specific treatment model, called the Autism MEAL plan, which involves a treatment manual that our group viewed as the potential market opportunity,” said Emory University School of Medicine Associate Professor of Pediatrics William Sharp.

His team asked IMPACT for recommended next steps for extending the Autism MEAL plan to families outside metro Atlanta. 

The student team saw a broader opportunity: the Children’s Feeding Program could provide training and continuing education for frontline providers serving children with feeding disorders. 

“The Autism MEAL plan could be part of this offering, but not the lone focus of our expansion efforts,” Sharp said. “IMPACT was a valuable experience that met our expectations by providing a novel perspective about the treatment landscape and how our team has the potential to provide a solution to an unmet need.”

Diversifying a Customer Base for Personalized Beauty Products

Function of Beauty is a startup that uses technology to customize skin, body, and hair care products, and offers trillions of possible formulations so each customer receives a product as unique as their fingerprint. The company recognized that their current customers are not reflecting the diversity and inclusion that Function of Beauty can serve. 

“My hope was to have some smart people, who are removed from our day-to-day realities, unpack our problems and questions and come back to us with actionable insights and plans that we could move forward with,” said Chief Marketing Officer Lorna Sommerville.

Sommerville connected to IMPACT through her friendship with Omar Rodriguez-Vilá, associate professor in the practice of marketing and academic director of education at The Roberto C. Goizueta Business & Society Institute. Both had worked at The Coca-Cola Company. 

IMPACT students helped Sommerville and her brand team understand the perceptions and needs of Black, indigenous, and people of color, and develop product changes to better serve their needs. Students also consulted on leveraging Function of Beauty’s sustainability efforts in marketing.  

“The weekly check-ins were always good discussions, with the IMPACT teams posing tough questions, pushing us to ask ourselves why we’ve been approaching things the way we have, and how we could improve,” Sommerville said. 

“The teams uncovered great consumer insights, and then provided frameworks through which we could think about the areas that needed to be addressed. They left us feeling really clear as to what we had to go and do. Now we just actually need to do it!”

Interested in becoming a Goizueta IMPACT client? Learn more about our project-based partnerships.

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In the fall semester, students are immersed in Goizueta IMPACT’s core curriculum—courses and casework specifically designed to build the foundational skills necessary to excel in any area of business and to learn a structured approach to solving those messy problems. In the spring semester, students apply their newly minted practical skills to real world, ambiguous problems on behalf of clients such as Delta Air Lines, The Home Depot, Porsche Cars North America, Kimberly-Clark, Mailchimp, nonprofits, and community organizations. “The IMPACT project was a fantastic way to leverage everything we’d learned the previous semester,” said Sharma. 

For Spring 2021, 26 MBA teams and six BBA teams worked on a total of 23 real-world projects for 18 different sponsor companies. To earn a spot in the Showcase, each team gave a three-minute “elevator pitch” that outlined their project recommendations. Pitches were recorded and all students were randomly assigned six videos to watch and respond to a question. The top 14 teams presented their final client recommendations to more than 250 judges (a mix of alumni and business leaders), who identified the top three teams and crowned the first-place team “Goizueta Gold.” 

Like last year, 2021’s Showcase took place online, albeit with a few new features. Industry and “mini-reunion” breakouts were added to the schedule to enable alumni to connect. “It was our way to mimic running into your classmates on campus,” said Kore Breault, program director, Goizueta IMPACT. Showcase organizers also introduced “Goizueta Greats,” 10-minute, TED-like talks by Goizueta faculty “to give something back to the project sponsors and judges who were giving so much to us,” added Breault.

Sharma, along with Zad Adloo 22MBA, Kegan Baird 22MBA, Cesar Castro 22MBA, and Matthew Mastriforte 22MBA, captured “Goizueta Gold” on behalf of Goodwill of North Georgia. The non-profit had tasked Sharma’s team with exploring the feasibility (and building a business plan for the potential launch) of a joint venture between it and a non-profit staffing company. “We all trusted each other and we worked so hard for the client,” Sharma explained. “I learned so much from my incredible team. I already know that I have really strong friendships going into second year.”

A faculty advisor worked closely with each team to ensure it was on the right track and had the resources it needed. Jeff Rummel, associate professor in the practice of Information Systems & Management worked with Sharma’s team. Teams also had a second year IMPACT Coaching Fellow—a student who completed the Goizueta IMPACT project the prior year. Willie Sullivan, 21MBA worked with the first-place team. Elizabeth Hitti 21MBA, who will join Georgia-Pacific in a strategy role this July, worked with the second place team (Rachael Augostini 22MBA, Jessica Lewis 22MBA, Jonovan Sackey 22MBA, Nainika Sehgal 22MBA and Sam Wang 22MBA) and third place team (Julia Dong 22MBA, Brandon Makinson 22MBA, Kyle McLain 22MBA, Zachary Nusbaum 22MBA and Jakob Perryman 22MBA), both of which had been assigned Georgia-Pacific projects. Saloni Firasta Vastani, associate professor in the practice of marketing, served as faculty advisor for the Georgia-Pacific teams.

Hitti’s two teams had very different working styles. One team addressed the project much like Hitti, who was a consultant at Deloitte before coming to Goizueta, would have. The other team took a different approach. “There came a point where I was like, this isn’t how I would do it, but they’re doing well,” she explained. “That mindset shift was great for me. Sometimes you can learn more from the teams that do things differently.”

Each team was allotted 25-minutes for its Showcase presentation, and another 20 minutes for Q&A. The final scores were tabulated based on the team’s problem solving and recommended solutions as well as the team’s delivery, ability to communicate ideas, storyline, slide deck, and how it managed the Q&A. 

For the last 10 years, Carrie Schonberg 97C 03MBA has attended the IMPACT Showcase as a judge. “The Showcase is one of the events I most look forward to each year,” said Schonberg, who enjoys re-connecting with faculty and staff (many of whom were at Goizueta when she was a student). During her time at Goizueta, Schonberg, chief marketing officer, Ashton Woods Homes, competed in Goizueta Marketing Strategy Consultancy, or GMSC, the precursor to Goizueta IMPACT. “These projects are a great way for corporations to get a different level of insight and perspective than they would get from people in their own company,” she said. 

Kevin Kyer 05MBA, who lives in Geneva, Switzerland, was happy to be able to take part in the both the 2020 and 2021 virtual Showcases. Kyer, Hatch CoLab’s executive-in-residence and a self-described digital transformation leader, hopes to see a permanent, “hybrid type” way for alumni who can’t be on campus to attend the Showcase online. “It expands the experience to make it available to more people and to have their feedback,” Kyer explained. “It’s a great way to connect better and learn more.” 

Meeting Goizueta Greats and Reconnecting with Alumni 

In addition to his role as a judge, Kyer joined a mini-reunion and dropped into a Goizueta Greats session, of which there were five. Omar Rodríquez Vilá, associate professor in the practice of marketing and academic director of education at The Roberto C. Goizueta Business & Society Institute gave a talk titled, “Towards a definition of an anti-racist brand: concepts, actions, and tools to advance the practice of racial equity in the marketplace.” 

Other topics included “Startups and big companies: ‘It’s complicated,’” given by Amelia Schaffner, director of entrepreneurship, The Roberto C. Goizueta Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation, and “Revolutionizing finance by valuing your customers,” presented by Daniel McCarthy, assistant professor of marketing. Erika Hall, assistant professor of Organization & Management and faculty advisor at The Roberto C. Goizueta Business & Society Institute, talked about “The effect of the racial labels African-American and Black on societal and organizational outcomes,” and Wes Longhofer, associate professor of Organization & Management and executive academic director at The Roberto C. Goizueta Business & Society Institute, discussed his most recent book, Super Polluters: Tackling the World’s Largest Sites of Climate-Disruption Emissions and what it tells us about our energy system and the future of the planet.

“Goizueta Showcase is a day where we showcase not only our students, but our project sponsors, faculty and school,” said Lynne Segall, associate dean, Goizueta IMPACT. “I am so proud of our students, thankful to our project sponsors and appreciative of the many judges—everyone played an important role in making Showcase a success.”

Take part in learning more about the Goizueta IMPACT Showcase, watch Goizueta Greats videos, and read more about the student teams and their real-world projects.Read more about Goizueta IMPACT. 

Listen to the Goizueta Effect Podcast on “Reimagining Business as a Catalyst for Social Change” with Wesley Longhofer.

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Several Goizueta faculty were recently recognized by Emory University for their accomplishments over the past year, including Assistant Professor in the Practice of Accounting Allison Kays and Associate Professor in the Practice of Marketing Omar Rodríguez-Vilá.

The Emory Williams Distinguished Undergraduate Teaching Award

Presented annually to faculty with a record of excellence in undergraduate teaching, this year’s award was presented to Allison Kays. The Emory Williams Distinguished Undergraduate Teaching Award recognizes faculty who foster participation, exemplify the highest quality of teaching scholarship, serve as a mentor to students, retain an ongoing commitment to teaching, and make significant contributions to advance the university through teaching.

Kays joined the Goizueta faculty in 2018 and teaches a core accounting course to students. She recently developed and taught a new course in data analytics that helps prepare students in the usage of Python and Excel.

“The pandemic brought unique teaching challenges to all Emory faculty and Allison rose to the occasion in so many ways,” John H. Harland Interim Dean Karen Sedatole wrote in her nomination form. “In the spring of 2020, Professor Kays went above and beyond to make sure that students would maintain their academic experience during the switch to online course delivery.”

Outside of teaching, Kays has served on several committees, including the Accounting Area NTT Faculty Selection Committee, as well as the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Council and the Experimentation Zone Committee.

“I am so honored to receive this award and so lucky to get to do the work that I do,” Kays said. “Goizueta has brilliant undergraduate students who keep me on my toes. Their passion, curiosity, and desire to learn fuels my own desire to constantly improve my content and teaching methods.”

Provost’s Distinguished Teaching Award for Excellence in Graduate and Professional Education Teaching Award

For his dedication to teaching within formal and informal educational settings, Omar Rodríguez-Vilá was honored with the Provost’s Distinguished Teaching Award for Excellence in Graduate and Professional Education Teaching Award. The award honors faculty who foster participation and engage students, dedicate their time to advancing the art and science of teaching and learning, make significant contributions that impact the university through teaching, serve as a mentor to students and form advising relationships with graduate and professional students.

Rodríguez-Vilá currently serves as the academic director of education at the academic research center, The Roberto C. Goizueta Business & Society Institute. His current research focuses on two areas: how the environmental and social sustainability considerations are changing the nature of marketing activities; and how brands communicate societal benefits in social media and into the marketplace practices of antiracists brands. His work has been published in Harvard Business Review, and includes one of his most recent works, “Is Your Marketing Organization Ready for What’s Next?”

“I think of my job as helping students ‘see more’ and ‘do more,’” Rodríguez-Vilá said. “However, keeping that promise to our students given the disruptions of the past year was one of the hardest challenges of my career. That is why this award meant so much to me. It has fueled my passion and courage to continue the work of innovating and improving our student’s experience at Goizueta.”

Twelve Additional Teaching Awards Bestowed on Goizueta Faculty

Kevin Crowley, senior lecturer of Finance, was awarded Weekend Executive MBA Distinguished Educator Award (Electives).

Renée Dye, associate professor in the Practice of Organization & Management, received the MBA Teaching Excellence Award (Junior Faculty). The award is sponsored by the MBA class of 1999.

George Easton, associate professor of Information Systems & Operations Management and Rajiv Garg, associate professor of Information Systems & Operations Management, were awarded MSBA Distinguished Core Educators.

Ray Hill, senior lecturer in Finance, received the MBA Teaching Excellence Award (Classic Faculty). The award is sponsored by the MBA class of 1999.

JB Kurish, professor in the Practice of Finance, was awarded MBA Capstone Lecturer.

Alvin Lim and David Sackin were awarded MSBA Distinguished Elective Educators.

Daniel McCarthy, assistant professor of Marketing, was awarded Evening MBA Distinguished Elective Educator.

Shehzad Mian, associate professor of Finance, received the Modular Executive MBA Distinguished Educator Award.

Usha Rackliffe, associate professor in the Practice of Accounting, was awarded BBA Distinguished Educator Award.

Omar Rodríguez-Vilá, associate professor in the Practice of Marketing, received the Evening MBA Distinguished Core Faculty and Weekend Executive MBA Distinguished Educator Award (Core).

Goizueta Business School is proud to present the accomplishments of these and other faculty members within our institution. To learn more about the teaching, specialized research, and core interests of each faculty member, visit here to review our faculty profiles and their related publications.

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For Nicole Mejias 21EvMBA, it was Goizueta or nothing. “I wanted to expand my network deeper into job functions that were more closely aligned with my career aspirations, and so for me, it was Emory or nothing,” Mejias says. “I actually didn’t apply anywhere else.”

The senior account manager at Microsoft focused on strengthening her network by becoming actively involved. After serving as vice president of student activities, Mejias was elected president of the Goizueta Evening Business Association.

“What I love about Emory is that the school provides a multitude of ways to exercise your leadership skills,” she says. “And, not personally having a team to manage yet at work, student government has given me the opportunity to manage a team of students and interface with the program office to amplify the concerns and needs of the student cohorts.”

Mejias also has found opportunities to work on projects with faculty, most recently helping to develop a SunTrust case study about building a purpose-driven organization with Associate Professor in the Practice of Marketing Omar Rodríguez-Vilà. “Case studies take a lot of work and time,” she explains. “As we continued to learn about the details of the case, I couldn’t help but think of how many countless other stories were out there but may never be told. I hope the case serves as a conduit for other teams and organizations to take the time to capture how they were able to execute meaningful change – the business landscape would be better off for it.”

Outside of school, Mejias enjoys traveling, attending live music and sporting events, and outdoor activities like hiking and skiing. “I love discovering new places and overall, taking adventures.”

Guided by what she calls her “North Star,” Mejias’ continued motivation always comes back to her “why” of attending school. “While career goals and aspirations are definitely a major factor, at the end of the day, my big ‘why’ goes back to my family,” she notes. Whether through immigration or attending night school, Mejias’ family made decisions that positively impacted future generations. “I aim to follow in their footsteps of not just doing this to improve my life but the multi-generational lives of those to follow.”  

Mejias’ mentor Omar Rodriguez-Vila also serves as the academic director of education at The Roberto C. Goizueta Business & Society Institute, Goizueta’s new academic research center with a mission to transform business to build a more equitable and climate-smart world.

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