As a recent alum, Praveen Loganathan, BBA ‘17, is very familiar with Michigan Ross’ emphasis on using business to make a positive change in society. Instead of waiting until he graduated to do that, he and several other students began the work their junior year, launching the Change Agents Internship Program. Created for students, by students, Change Agents is an organization designed for Ross BBAs interested in careers related to social impact.

Students participate in a one-week orientation, followed by a nine-week summer internship with a social impact organization. During the orientation, they engage in networking sessions, volunteerism, presentations, and hands-on activities and are tasked with four goals: lead with empathy, innovate with passion, explore with confidence, and learn with excitement.

Richard Nguyen found out about the organization after meeting Loganathan in the Preparation Initiative (PI), an outreach program for BBA students. He says the orientation helped him express his complete self.

“It’s a group where it’s ok to be yourself and not fit inside a box,” said Nguyen. “Professionally, I think it helped me feel like I can impact the world and do something bigger than myself. Hopefully, it will allow others to continue the road of impact.”

This year, nine of the 19 students were selected to work among four companies, Focus:HOPE, Spellbound, DC3, and a special impact consulting project that’s working with several clients including the YMCA and The Entrepreneurship Center at Washtenaw Community College (WCC). Change Agents has partnered with the Center for Social Impact, which provides each student with a stipend since the internships are unpaid.

Loganathan, who is now working for the Peace Corps in Botswana, notices that an increasing number of students are interested in social impact, but many are hesitant to turn it into a career because they believe internships and jobs in social impact are hard to come by for business students.

“A lot of times people think, ‘Oh, I have to work a few years in consulting, and then I'll be able to have my dream job in the impact space,” says Loganathan. “I was like, no, if you work on projects throughout your junior and senior year, then by the time you get to senior year, impact companies will come and find you.”

BBA junior Avantika Tiwari agrees. She and Nguyen are currently business development interns at Spellbound, a startup that makes augmented reality technology for children undergoing medical treatment. She’s interested in getting more women into the gaming industry and her intern experience this summer will help greatly.

“Change Agents was able to place me with an organization that is in line with my goals and interests,” said Tiwari. “This is a support group and a home for people that feel like maybe they don’t want to pursue a traditional business career, but know a cause they’re absolutely passionate about.”

Charlene Franke, also a BBA junior, is interning at Detroit Creative Corridor (DC3) in Detroit, an organization focused on increasing equality and inclusivity through the creative economy. She is creating an exhibit for the second annual Detroit City of Design Summit in September, and helping to redesign DC3’s designer network. Charlene’s long-term career goal is to provide economic opportunities to small business entrepreneurs in low-income and minority communities. She says her experience interning at DC3 is giving her the experience she may not have otherwise received before she graduates.

“One more great thing about Change Agents is that it shows business school students that there are ways to have professional growth and experiences outside of the traditional business job route,” said Franke. “You can get caught up in that rush recruiting for corporate finance and corporate consulting. These other jobs do exist and you don’t have to wait four years or more to get involved.”

For Loganathan, aside from the internships, Change Agents is about transforming the culture in a positive way. What began as a pure concept has now become a group of more than 50 students and counting.

“Change Agents was created out of an opportunity of helping business students use the concepts they’re learning in the classroom and principles of business to make an impact in society,” said Loganathan. “I hope that as students enter Ross, they have opportunities to find out what they truly want to do. Change Agents provides a space where you’re pushing each other to learn and take risks.”

Learn More About Social Impact at Ross

Nikole Vargas’ schedule is more carefully calibrated than a Rolex.

The dual-degree MBA and Erb Institute student is at Ross to prepare for a big career change, and she’s also a new mom to Logan, who was only four weeks old when she began her studies.

Vargas details in MBA Mama Blog exactly how she manages to balance coursework, professional development, several Ross club memberships (she’s even the co-president of Michigan Business Women), and family time. Let’s just say it takes plenty of prioritizing, planning, and relying on an excellent support network— including her husband, who put his career on hold to care full-time for the baby. She also realizes that sometimes she’ll miss out on some of the nonessential fun stuff, like socializing with her classmates.

For any mom or mom-to-be who’s considering an MBA, Vargas has some advice: “I would tell these women to complete any necessary self-reflection to learn what you want out of your career, and how an MBA will help you achieve those goals. If the MBA is the right fit for you, know that you can do it, even as a mom.”

“Overall, do not sell yourself short,” she says. “So many dads pursue their MBAs–Moms can do it too! I am someone who wanted to delay (or potentially cancel) her MBA journey because I did not know if I could be a mom and a student. Though it has not been easy, it has never been impossible.”

See how Nikole Vargas balances it all in MBA Mama

Michigan Ross students love taking on challenges — and smashing them.

Chris Owen, a dual-degree MBA/MS student who begins his studies this fall, just finished a month-long, cross-country adventure: the Trans America Bike Race, also known as TransAm.

Biking for 16-18 hours a day is grueling enough, but TransAm has the added challenge of being a solo and self-supported race, meaning racers do not receive help from the personal support vehicles often present in other races.  
This meant that Owen was alone when he faced: “Just about everything. Snow storms and grizzly bears, 110-degree heat and 40 mph crosswinds, 10,000 foot mountain passes and perilous switchback descents, sleep deprivation and malnutrition, isolation and mental fatigue, multiple flat tires, a shredded shifter cable, and injuries.”

Owen was inspired to complete the race after returning from a three-year stint in Ecuador, where he volunteered for the Peace Corps. He envisioned TransAm as a welcome home adventure and a way to explore the U.S.

Owen biked from Washington state to Virginia, riding 16-18 hours a day and sleeping for 5-6, “which, by most race standards, was luxurious,” he said. He camped in national parks, along highways, and even front yards. He ate more than 10,000 calories each day, relying heavily on fast-food dollar menus. And as for showers and hygiene? “You don’t want to know,” he says.

Owen says the arduous journey from the west to east coasts taught him unforgettable lessons: “I learned that little by little I can do it, that sometimes going backwards is going forwards, and that good decision-making is a dance between knowing when to be patient and when to push through.”

Sounds like Owen is well-prepared for the focus and commitment needed to complete his degrees.

Congrats, Owen, and welcome to Michigan Ross. Now hurry up and pedal your way back to Ann Arbor — MBA Orientation begins in three weeks!

Excitement is in the air as Michigan Football gets ready to take the field for the third season under Head Coach Jim Harbaugh’s leadership — and with several high-profile recruits joining the team this year, there’s reason to celebrate.

To kick off the season in style, the Michigan Ross Office of Alumni Relations is offering one lucky member of the Ross alumni network four tickets to the Advocare Classic in Arlington, Texas, on September 2.

Originally called the Cowboy Classic, the annual game got its start in 2009 and marks the opening of the college football season. This year’s game will have the Michigan Wolverines facing off against the University of Florida Gators.

To win tickets to the game, simply use the form below to update your contact information in our Alumni Directory before 11:59 pm EST on August 10. If selected, you’ll spend your Labor Day weekend enjoying four tickets to the game and cheering on the Wolverines*.

Update your alumni Information

View form in separate window

A winner will be selected via a random draw of all eligible entries.** Winner will be notified on August 11.

Updating your information has other benefits, too. Because at Michigan Ross, your degree has value for a lifetime.

It gives you access to our AlumniAdvantage program, which gives you a lifetime of benefits, including tuition-free enrollment into Ross Executive Education courses.  

Updating your information also keeps you connected to the Ross community, so you can hear the latest about alumni benefits, the incredible stories behind fellow alumni and current Michigan Ross students, and much more.

Update your contact information

Learn more about AlumniAdvantage

More about the Advocare Classic

* Travel and lodging not included. Winner is subject to all applicable state and federal tax laws.

**Eligibility: All persons who hold a valid degree from the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business are eligible to enter and be selected as the recipient of the tickets.

For the third year in a row, Ann Arbor was named the Smartest City in America by WalletHub. Ann Arbor bested the second-ranked city, Washington, D.C.––scoring a 95 while D.C. scored a 78.

To determine rankings, WalletHub compared the 150 largest metropolitan statistical areas, using nine metrics to determine educational attainment and quality of attainment and education gap.

The site used data from the U.S. Census Bureau, Bureau of Labor Statistics, GreatSchools.org, and U.S. News & World Report.

Aside from bragging rights, why does this ranking matter? WalletHub says cities that have more degree-holders also have markedly higher wages, which in turn creates more tax revenue for more livable, vibrant cities.

Ann Arbor also has a lot of benefits for the student populations who visit and call the city home while they’re studying at Michigan Ross.

• It’s one of the top metro areas in which to secure venture capital investment
• It has a vibrant and high quality food scene
• U of M has a world-class theater program and dynamic, nationally known live music venues, and Ann Arbor is surrounded by a network of professional theatres.
• It has 157 city parks and more than 2,000 acres of outdoor activities of all varieties
• Explore all that makes Ann Arbor great

WalletHub’s data found that Ann Arbor has the highest percentage of associate, bachelor’s and graduate degree holders in the country. The latest US Census shows 71 percent of the city has a bachelor’s degree or higher.

So it’s no surprise that Ann Arbor was also named the Best City to Live in the US this year by niche.com, and that’s on top of its numerous other accolades, including: Best College City by aier.org and #1 Main Street by Huffington Post and Fodor.

See more of Ann Arbor’s stellar rankings

Read WalletHub’s Smartest City 2017 List

The 116 new Executive MBA students who started at Michigan Ross this week hail from an impressively diverse set of industries, companies, and backgrounds.

From tech to healthcare, and from entertainment to consulting, these students bring unique perspectives and work styles to classroom discussions and group activities like ExecMAP in December – it’s a defining characteristic of a Michigan Ross Executive MBA.

But those experiences and backgrounds aren’t the only thing that’s diverse among our new class of students. They also have different motivations, expectations, and excitements for what’s to come as they embark on a Ross education.

The students are joining a network of accomplished executives who’ve come to Ross for their MBAs. They’ll make new contacts from around the globe. When they graduate, they’ll be leaving the program not only with a best-in-class degree, but a deeper, more strategic understanding of business. Many earn a promotion while they attend or soon after graduation, and an average pay increase of 26 percent. Not bad for a 21-month investment.

We wanted to get a better sense of what aspect of the program our newest group of students is most excited about, so we asked them.

And this week, we’ll be sharing some of their responses on the Michigan Ross Instagram in a series of Instagram Stories posted throughout the week.

You can follow Michigan Ross on Instagram to get the stories delivered directly to your feed. Stories on Instagram only last 24 hours, so be sure to check back each day. Stories will also be archived in this blog post at a later date.

Learn more about the Ross Executive MBA

Things feeling pretty blah at work? A well-done compliment can do wonders for the moods of your teammates –– and even your own, too.

New Ross research shows that complimenting fellow colleagues has dramatic effects on how they feel about their work and their value.

But before you start gushing over your co-worker’s socks, take note: Random, shallow compliments aren’t the way to go. Instead, the paper written by Michigan Ross Professors Jane Dutton and Julia Lee, and featured in Harvard Business Review, outlines specific ways to make your affirmations meaningful and effective, including:

1. Create positive first impressions. “Use introductions as a way to positively narrate your colleagues. Be imaginative and share details that highlight the ways in which the person is interesting, and describe them as someone others would want to get to know,” Dutton and Lee write.

2. Communicate the value that each team member brings to the table. When a new team is brought together, be sure to share each person’s potential contributions to the project and group.

3. Describe your colleagues positively if they are socially undermined. Take the opportunity to lift up a colleague who is being undermined, whether intentionally or not.

“Not only do we uplift others, but we also lift up our own potential for meaning by positively contributing to others,” Dutton and Lee explain.

So, we’re throwing down a challenge. Can you dedicate yourself to taking a moment every day this week to give a coworker a boost? We think you can.

Give it a try and leave a comment to let us know how they react.

Jane Dutton is the Robert L. Kahn Distinguished University Professor of Business Administration and Psychology at the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business. She is co-founder of the Center for Positive Organizations at Ross. Julia Lee is an assistant professor of management & organizations.

Although the idea of subscription delivery of consumer goods has been around for decades, it’s gained new life in the e-commerce era and is one of the fastest growing categories of consumer consumption. Think Blue Apron for food and Dollar Shave Club for mens’ grooming. And some recent graduates of the Michigan Ross Executive MBA Program are learning first-hand how to stand out in the crowded field.

Carrie Thorpe, a 2016 graduate of the EMBA Program’s Ann Arbor cohort, has taken her love for the University of Michigan into the subscription box business and created Proudbox, which will send U-M swag to the fan or student of your choice.

Meanwhile, Steve Ezell, Ted Hamory, and Jordan Toplitzky — who met as students in the EMBA Program’s Los Angeles cohort — have a fresh take on the craft beer boom with their CraftX service (pictured above).

At their core, both concepts are rooted in the classic “fruit of the month”-type plan: For a set fee, boxes of goods will be delivered at deliberate intervals. But both Thorpe and Ezell are quick to point out that success in the space requires some careful thought: Exactly what goes into the boxes is critical.

“You have to be careful that you really deliver an authentic experience. Anyone can throw a bunch of stuff in a box and ship it out. You have to think of the person receiving it,” Thorpe says. And Ezell uses similar language, emphasizing that true curation of the products is what sets CraftX apart.

Both Proudbox and CraftX have their roots in their founders’ respective ExecMAP projects. The CraftX team did a feasibility study of whether a beer delivery service could both turn a profit and do some social good by helping small craft brewers. And Proudbox started when Thorpe researched the subscription box business for an Irish company looking to expand into the U.S.

“The research revealed incredible opportunity and potential,” Thorpe says of the expanding subscription box business. “It was staggering.”

She realized the concept works best when there’s an emotional connection to the subject matter. “So I’m sitting at Ross working up this final report, and I’m thinking you will not find a more passionate group of fans” than U-M fans. She recalls thinking, “I just can’t believe we don’t have this.”

“I simply looked at what was happening in the market and applied it in an area it was not being applied,” Thorpe says. Len Middleton, her ExecMAP mentor, and the Zell Lurie Institute helped provide guidance and tools to get started. “It almost felt like the idea developed itself. It just made such good sense,” she says.

“I fell in love with Ann Arbor and the University of Michigan when I came to get my MBA. I was absolutely blown away by the sense of community, the excitement, the innovation, everything that the University of Michigan stands for,” Thorpe says. “This business model really spoke to me personally.”

She learned that putting real thought into the specific products in the box is key. She says she treats the box like it’s going to a loved one. Packaging, color, feel, design, placement, notes, merchandise selection are all vital. “These things all have to speak with authenticity to the person who receives them,” she says.

And that care paid off. The U-M boxes met with immediate success, so she added Michigan State offerings as well and plans to add a third Big 10 school this fall, ultimately expanding to the entire league.

“If you don’t have a passionate connection to what you’re doing, you won’t succeed,” she says.

The CraftX team shares that passionate connection. That venture has its roots in a disappointing beer membership service Ezell experienced. “It was sub-par,” he recalls, clearly put together with no real thought or effort. “The more research I did, (I found) their model works because they’re buying overstock from distributors.”

As he and his teammates talked, they realized most small brewers start at home and don’t have a business background. So they wondered: “What kind of impact could we have? Where could we help them?”

They set up a model where they work directly with brewers, not distributors, and commit to buying a set amount of product, reducing the brewers’ risk. Each box features two specific brewers, but the customer has some choice of beer style.

“We want people who are dedicated to the craft,” he says of choosing partner breweries. “We want to go for the underdogs.”

Their Ross connections helped as well, with Puneet Manchanda offering some early feedback and an Izak Duenyas supply chain class offering lessons “that we draw on pretty regularly,” Ezell says.

“I think we’re in a good spot. I think it’s cool to see this come out of the EMBA program."

Michigan Ross welcomes six new tenure and tenure-track faculty to campus this year, including a PhD alumnus and a former senior economist from the Council of Economic Advisers.

Five of the six new professors are women, underscoring the school’s efforts to retain a faculty that is not only centered on excellence but also one that better reflects the diversity of our community. This represents the largest group of women to fill tenure and tenure-track positions in the last ten years. Over the last five years, Ross has hired men and women in equal numbers.

"By hiring five women as professors we're demonstrating our commitment to cultivating a diverse and inclusive community, and following through on our Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) strategic plan," said Taryn Petryk, director of Diversity and Inclusion at Michigan Ross.

​Charleen Case joins the management and organizations faculty as assistant professor. Case’s research takes an evolutionary approach to the study of social hierarchy, leadership, and coalition behavior. Her work focuses on the fundamental motives underlying the way people behave in social hierarchies and coalitions, and examines the downstream behavioral consequences of those motives. Case received her PhD in social psychology from Florida State University and was a pre-doctoral research fellow at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.

Julia Lee joins the management and organizations faculty as assistant professor. She was previously a 2015-2017 post-doctoral fellow at Ross. Lee’s research relates to capitalizing on employee social networks to create positive psychological, physiological, and organizational outcomes. She has also examined the antecedents and consequences of engaging in ethically questionable behavior. Lee received her PhD in Public Policy from Harvard Kennedy School.

​Shima Nassiri joins the technology and operations faculty as assistant professor. Nassiri’s research interests involve designing coordination mechanisms in supply chain and their applications in healthcare and public health policy using game theory and optimization techniques. She also studies the behavioral aspects of healthcare operations using econometrics and data-driven methods. Nassiri is particularly interested in studying healthcare policies that aim to reduce expenditures by moving toward performance-based care. Nassiri received her PhD from the Foster School of Business at the University of Washington.

​Nirupama Rao joins the business economics and public policy faculty as assistant professor. Rao was formerly assistant professor of economics and public policy at New York University’s Wagner School of Public Service. Her research focuses on the economic effects of fiscal policy, the impact of policy on firm production, investment, pricing decisions, and individual consumption. She’s studied the effects of excise taxes on oil production, and the effectiveness of tax credits for R&D. Rao served as a senior economist on the Council of Economic Advisers and received her PhD in economics from MIT.

John Silberholz joins the technology and operations faculty as assistant professor. His research interest is healthcare analytics, with a current focus on cancer screening and treatment. He has co-authored papers on using machine learning to predict clinical trial outcomes, and using mathematical models for optimal decisions in prostate cancer screening. Silberholz received his PhD from MIT and was a lecturer at MIT’s Sloan School of Management.

Gwen Yu joins the accounting faculty as associate professor. She was previously associate professor of business administration in the accounting and management unit at Harvard Business School and received her PhD from Ross in 2010. Yu’s research centers on information frictions in the global economy. She investigates the cross-border frictions that cause differences in information quality and how those differences have real economic effects. Yu also dissects the underlying drivers of these cross-border information frictions. Her work has been published in numerous academic and practitioner journals and cited and discussed in the business and financial press. Yu is on the editorial board of The Accounting Review.

In addition to tenure and tenure-track professors, the following intermittent lecturers join the faculty:

Brad Farnsworth joins the strategy faculty. He is vice president of the American Council on Education’s Center for Internationalization and Global Engagement. Farnsworth also was an adjunct lecturer and director of the Center for International Business Education at Michigan Ross.

Alison Kruger joins the business administration faculty. Her work and interests center on collaborative problem-solving, and she has organized national strategy sessions on public health, transportation innovation, and climate. At Ross, she facilitates stakeholder engagement in social impact. Kruger holds an MBA from the Yale School of Management.

Greg Lewis joins the business administration faculty. He was a partner and leader of McKinsey & Co.’s healthcare systems and services practice, and its public sector practice. A 2001 Ross MBA alumnus, he was also global dean of faculty for all of McKinsey’s learning and development programs.

Vijay Pandiarajan joins the technology and operations faculty. He is vice president and CIO, digital transformation practice, at ArborSpot. He also held senior leadership positions at Verizon Wireless, Whirlpool, and Accenture. Pandiarajan holds a PhD in industrial engineering from West Virginia University. He is a MIT Sloan Fellow with an MBA from MIT Sloan School of Management. Pandiarajan has been published in several journals.

Zach Sheinberg joins the finance faculty. He is the managing director of HB Capital Group, a real estate investment company based in Miami. Prior to HB, he was vice president at New York-based developer The Witkoff Group. Sheinberg earned his law degree from U-M and has published a novel, The Nominee.

Burcu Tasoluk joins the marketing faculty. She’s a visiting research scholar at Ross and is scheduled to teach in Michigan State University’s Executive MBA Program. She earned her PhD from Michigan State and has been published in numerous journals. Burcu also has industry experience at Procter & Gamble.

It’s clear that recent Ross graduates Laura Florez and Kim Kennedy have the focus and determination to turn their dreams into reality.

This is probably why they both landed on Poets & Quants’ “MBAs to Watch” list.

Laura Florez, MBA ‘17

Laura hails from Bogotá, Columbia, where she earned her Bachelor of Science in Industrial Engineering and Master of Science Engineering in Operational Research from the Universidad de los Andes before coming to Ross for her MBA.

While at Ross, she held a variety of leadership roles, and she was the first international student elected co-president of Michigan Business Women. While she admits “there are millions of reasons why I decided to come to Ross,” a few in particular stood out for her, including Ross’ commitment to make a positive impact and its dedication to creating a strong community based on the power of diversity.

She is currently working at BCG in Chicago.

Read more about Laura Florez 

Kim Kennedy, MBA ‘17

Kim was inspired to go to business school “when I was sitting frustrated in a broken-down car in the middle of Malawi, realizing that sustainable economic development within emerging markets is primarily driven by private-sector actors.” Kennedy has lived or worked in 12 countries, and her goal is to become a chief human rights officer of a multinational organization.

While at Ross she worked to publish a case with the William Davidson Institute, an independent, nonprofit research and educational organization focused on providing private-sector solutions in emerging markets.  

When selecting among business schools, Kennedy paid close attention to second-year MBA students. “It was clear to me that the Ross MBA2s were a group of highly engaged individuals who never blinked at the opportunity to step up,” she said. “They were passionate and collaborative leaders, who balanced a sense of calm with an excited need to contribute to both the Ross community and to society. I selected the school because I knew it would help me develop into this type of leader.”

Kennedy now works at Nike after a successful internship, and has an amazing and promising career ahead of her.

Read more about Kim Kennedy 

Congratulations to these amazing alumnae! Go Blue!

Michigan Ross Professor Sue Ashford has been honored with a prestigious lifetime achievement award for her incredible work advancing the global understanding of management knowledge and practice.

This past weekend, Ashford was awarded the Academy of Management's 2017 Award for Distinguished Scholarly Contributions to Management, an honor shared by a very small list of academics and professors.

According to the Academy, “This lifetime career achievement award recognizes long-term, significant contributions in one or more of the following areas: conceptual, empirical or theoretical developments; creating and disseminating new knowledge; and advancing management knowledge and practice.”

In the 38-year history of the award, Ross faculty have been honored four times — an impressive feat for any school. Only Harvard can claim more winners.

Ashford, who serves as the Michael & Susan Jandernoa Professor of Management and Organizations and the Chair of Michigan Ross’ M&O department, focuses her research on leadership, managerial effectiveness, and organizational change.

She’s an associate editor for the Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior and sits on the editorial board for the Academy of Management Journal.

Congratulations to Professor Ashford and Go Blue!

Read recent Ross Thought in Action articles about Sue Ashford’s research:

The Very Real Benefits of CEOs Asking For Feedback

Fearful Employees Are Most Likely To Sabotage a Business

VIDEO: Simple Two-Step Way To Become a Better Leader

Image: Ashford accepts her award from Carlo Salvato, Career Achievement Award Committee member. Picture courtesy of The Academy of Management

Michigan Ross students are always high achievers, but the new MBA Class of 2019 really takes the cake. Their classes officially kick off next week and by many measures, this incoming class of MBAs is the strongest, most impressive we’ve ever seen — and they’ve already broken three school records.

Check it out:

The MBA Class of 2019 has an average GMAT score of 716. That’s eight points higher than the previous record high set by last year’s incoming class!

The incoming students are also our most diverse MBA class ever, with our highest percentage of women at 43 percent, our largest ever group of military veterans, and 15-year high in the number of underrepresented minorities who make up the new class.

More than a third of our MBAs are also international— with ties to 45 different countries around the world.

This is also the most diverse class in terms of academic studies: One third have business degrees, another third have STEM degrees, and the final one third have humanities degrees.

That all adds up to good news for this stellar group of new students because  research from Ross faculty has shown that diversity (of background, experiences, thought, skills, and everything else) is the main ingredient in developing successful, high-achieving teams.

And this group is nothing if not high-achieving. Members of the MBA Class of 2019 have already held impressive, impactful jobs, such as:

• CIA economic analyst
• New York Times project manager
• Aerospace and space-mission engineer at NASA
• Energy and environment analyst in the Obama Administration
• Major in the Indian Army
• Humanitarian Director for a relief organization in South Sudan

In addition to holding impressive titles, they’ve already done some incredible things:

• Performed opera at the Vatican
• Worked for the United Nations Foundation
• Raised $30K to open a student-run men's shelter and a 15-bed shelter for LGBTQ kids while he was a student at Penn that is now in its sixth year of being open
• Worked directly with Sheryl Sandberg on project for LeanIn
• Established Taiwan’s first major corporate LGBT group
• Attended Peru’s most prestigious engineering university at age 14
• Performed improv at Second City
• Competed nationally in chess
• Served in the Peace Corps in Ecuador
• Army Officer that currently runs a non-profit supporting Gold Star families

This is the strongest, most-diverse group of students we’ve ever welcomed into the MBA program at Michigan Ross, and we have no doubt they will accomplish many more great things during their time here and beyond.

To the incredible new class: Welcome to Michigan Ross and Go Blue!

New students who are just starting their Michigan Ross Master of Supply Chain Management program may be a little apprehensive ― after all, this is the program that’s ranked No. 4 in the country. Is the atmosphere all work and no play?

While the academics are challenging and rigorous, students say the supportive, diverse community sets them up for success.

“One of the best things about the Ross MSCM is the people,” says Brooks Williams, MSCM ‘17. “My classmates are very intelligent and come from diverse disciplines and backgrounds. They are what make this experience so valuable to me.”

Larissa Petroff, MSCM ‘17, agrees. “Working and learning in this environment continually broadened my strategies for tackling different problems,” she said. 

The MSCM program also encourages collaboration across Ross and the University of Michigan, which means countless ways for students to establish new connections and relationships. “I don't just  have class with MSCMs; I also have class with MBAs, engineering students, and students from other U-M graduate schools,” said Amy Allport, MSCM ‘17. “Class discussions, group learning, and the professional network are that much more rich and diverse.”

Mian Wei, MSCM ‘17, sought out the Ross MSCM to further her supply chain expertise, and she was pleasantly surprised to discover an unexpected benefit: her fellow students. “This program has a very close-knit community,” she said. “I am super grateful to have known such a wonderful cohort of people. At the end of the day, the friends we made in the program and the alumni we connected with are truly the most valuable aspects of being here.”

The newly revamped Michigan Ross MSCM program features an updated curriculum and more in-depth, hands-on learning opportunities in a corporate setting. If you’d like to learn what attending the program is really like, you can contact our MSCM Ambassadors, who are eager to connect with you. Their backgrounds and career experiences are truly global, and they reflect the awesome diversity of this program.

Interested students are also encouraged to check out the Prospective Student Guide, attend an MSCM event, or contact the program directly with any questions.

Nicole Ver Kuilen is on a mission.

The 2013 Michigan Ross BBA grad has a prosthetic leg, the result of a battle with bone cancer that started when she was 10 years old. Still, that hasn’t stopped her from competing regularly in bike races, triathlons, and half-marathons.

Today, she’s setting out on her most ambitious undertaking yet: a 1,500-mile, triathlon-style fund-raiser from Seattle to San Diego.

And she’ll do it all with a single, basic prosthetic leg. She doesn’t have a backup, or any special prosthetics for running or swimming, because insurance won’t cover anything else, and it typically won’t even pay the full cost of just the one.

That’s the reason Van Kuilen started her fund-raiser, which she calls “Forrest Stump,” in the first place — to bring awareness to issues in the insurance market and help improve the situation for others.

“Nicole wants to be a voice for change. And she’s willing to break her only leg to do it,” reads a statement on the website. “She has assembled a team of athletes and supporters to complete a 1,500 mile triathlon (swimming, biking, and running) down the entire west coast. Along the way she will be raising money and advocating for legislative changes affecting health care coverage for prosthetic devices.”

Ver Kuilen will make her journey primarily by bicycle, with some stretches of running and swimming. Her schedule includes rest days and a few special events along the way, wrapping up by Oct. 22 with a triathlon at the Challenged Athletes Foundation, which is based in San Diego and awarded her with a grant to support the project. She has also lined up a host of other sponsors, and a documentary film crew will follow along the route to create a movie about the effort.

Michigan Ross played a role in Ver Kuilen’s evolving efforts around prosthetics awareness. In her Ross application, she recalls, she wrote an essay about her hopes to one day engage in advocacy or perhaps found a nonprofit. And in an entrepreneurial studies class with Len Middleton, while she was going through the extremely long and time-consuming process of getting a new prosthetic leg, “I started thinking about how can we make this better, and more transparent for amputees?”

Ver Kuilen quit her full-time job — doing fund-raising and communications for the University of Michigan School of Natural Resources and Environment — to pursue Forrest Stump full time. She recently relocated to Seattle, and is working on turning the project into a registered nonprofit organization.

In the future, she plans to continue her efforts, likely using the documentary film as a vehicle to increase awareness and taking the message to lawmakers in D.C. Meanwhile, she’s been making contacts, building relationships, and raising funds. She notes, “My studies at Ross significantly helped with preparing to think as an entrepreneur.”

Forrest Stump website

GoFundMe PAGE

You could say that the newest managers of Rent Like A Champion in Ann Arbor are more than a little familiar with the area.

Michigan Ross grads Matt Johndrow and Paul Bockwoldt, both MBAs who graduated in 2011, have recently taken over as town managers of the local chapter of Rent Like A Champion, which provides homeowners ways to rent their homes out to fans traveling in for college football games.

It started in South Bend, Indiana, to help fans find places to stay during Notre Dame games and since then, the Chicago-based company has expanded to over 40 markets, appeared on ABC’s Shark Tank, and earned its homeowners over $10 million in total revenue.

“Michigan has one of the largest alumni bases of any university in the world, and may of them live outside of Southeast Michigan,” Bockwoldt said. “When alumni from out of town come back for games, they want to be close to campus, have the room to tailgate before the game with their group, and have an easy experience getting to and from the stadium. Our goal is to provide those experiences to fans and alumni throughout the fall that the hotel in town can't meet.”

“We've already gotten feedback from local homeowners who are glad to know that Paul and I are both local, both alumni of the university and only a quick call or email away,” Johndrow added. “This knowledge has given them assurance that their homes are not just being placed on a website for rental, but that this service is also being managed by local representatives who are invested in their success and in the safety of their homes as well.”

As they grow the business’ presence in Ann Arbor, they’ll be using their Ross education––Johndrow mentioned Jim Price's Venture Creation course and the business plan competitions managed by Paul Kirsch that were sponsored by the Zell Lurie Institute. “To be able to call upon those experiences right here back in Ann Arbor with the opportunity to build something that supports both our alumni and our local community is really the best of both worlds for us,” he said.

Maybe it’s because of the meteoric success of female entrepreneurs such as Jordana Schrager, Shelly Sahi, and many others who have launched their businesses while Ross students. Maybe it’s the presence of the Sam Zell and Robert H. Laurie Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies, the Desai Accelerator, and the University of Michigan Center for Entrepreneurship. Maybe it’s the annual funding competitions such as Entrepalooza and the Michigan Business Challenge.

It’s all those reasons, and many more, why the University of Michigan has landed on Pitchbook’s top-ten list of best universities for female entrepreneurs. U-M is among an elite group of institutions recognized by the business magazine that includes Stanford, Harvard, Yale and Brown.

What makes U-M so welcoming and supportive of entrepreneurs regardless of gender, but exceptionally inclusive of women? According to Fortune, it’s the support of an incredibly strong and engaged alumni network, extensive opportunities to draw investments from within the university, and exceptional engineering and computer science programs.

This ranking is one of many over the years that has recognized U-M and Michigan Ross as power players in developing student and alumni entrepreneurs. The university as a whole and Michigan Ross are regularly ranked among the top-10 in the nation.

Learn more about entrepreneurship at Michigan Ross

Meet more female entrepreneurs at Ross

It’s almost 400 people long, in fact. And it’s just getting started.

Michigan Ross Alumni have joined forces with Alumnifire– a networking platform designed specifically for college alumni to interact with one another and with current students — and they’re they’re asking their fellow alums to join in, too.

Co-founded by Michigan Ross alum Andrew Margie, MBA ‘04, the Michigan Ross Alumnifire program allows alumni to choose from a variety of pre-selected services they’re willing to offer to students and fellow alums, including: informational interviews, networking, resume reviews, start up advice, job shadowing, and more.

Pledge Your Services & Sign Up Today

We all know our network is powerful but a truly engaged network could be unstoppable. The process for registering is pretty easy: Using the Michigan Ross Alumnifire service, Ross Alums can pledge their time and services to other alums and current students who can then reach out and ask for assistance.

As of right now, 372 alums have signed up for the service. 288 have pledged informational interviews, 199 have offered introductions and networking, and more than 120 have offered to look over resumes and cover letters to offer constructive feedback.

What can you pledge to help Michigan Ross students and fellow alumni? Register now and join the community.

Pledge Your Time

Michigan Ross Alumni Fire system also allows those volunteering their services to pledge a specific amount of time to the cause as well, specifying the number of times they’d be comfortable being contacted by those looking for help.

Fulfill your pledge for the month? You’ll be removed from the directory until next month.

For those looking for help in the Michigan Ross community: The directory is filterable by location, job title, industry, company, and even “favorite class at Michigan Ross”, so it’s easy to find the alumni best suited to helping you out.

Join Michigan Ross on Alumni Fire

Michigan Ross will host a one-day symposium Sept. 15 exploring the interplay of culture and commerce as part of Social Media Week.

This independent event is co-hosted by Ross Professor John Branch and Lecturer Marcus Collins and will feature leaders from BuzzFeed, Spotify, Dollar Shave Club, and many others. Social Media Week aims to give professionals in media, marketing, and technology the ideas and insights they need to advance themselves and their companies.

Branch has worked with companies around the world on marketing strategies, and Collins — senior vice president social engagement at Detroit-area agency Doner — has led social media campaigns for Apple, Beyoncé, and the Brooklyn Nets.

The symposium will run from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. in Robertson Auditorium. Tickets are $20 and includes lunch. Registration begins at 8 a.m.

TICKETS

MORE INFORMATION

Branch and Collins also teach the Ross Executive Education program Strategic Marketing in the Digital Age, next offered Oct. 9-13.

Daniel Pink has written incredible books about work and success that have landed him on the New York Times bestsellers list five times. He’s coming to Michigan Ross next week to talk with the Ross community about surviving in a workforce as jobs become more routinized by robotics, automation, and artificial intelligence.

We had a chat with Dan ahead of his visit to campus. He shared his thoughts about the skills students and business schools should focus on developing to thrive in this new world of work, why corporations need to treat their employees better, and how U-M even has a role in his next book!

Join us for Daniel Pink: The Mind of the Future, part of the Joseph and Sally Handleman Lecture Series.

September 12 - 6:30pm

Hill Auditorium

Learn More and RSVP

MICHIGAN ROSS: We’re hearing often that we’re shifting out of the Information Age. What’s next?

PINK: We’re entering the Conceptual Age, the next stage in somewhat predictable cycle of events.

For instance, we moved from the Industrial Age to the Information Age for three key reasons. First, technology could do certain kinds of routine manufacturing work better and cheaper than humans. Second, some goods were cheaper to import from overseas than to make in America. Third, standards of living increased, so consumers wanted offerings (services, etc.) beyond mass-produced goods. That’s how the knowledge worker supplanted the mass production worker.

Now similar forces are propelling us out of the Information Age. Software and Artificial Intelligence can do certain types of knowledge work better and faster than humans. We can “import” certain kinds of knowledge work from overseas (via outsourcing). And as standards of living rise, demand is changing and changing more rapidly, putting a premium on innovation and invention.

All of these forces are moving us to a new era animated by a different economic logic. The central actors now won’t be knowledge workers per se, but creators and empathizers.

MR: As artificial intelligence and automation are rapidly changing workplace roles, what are the most important skills that our students should focus on developing now to prepare them for future success?

PINK: The top level answer is to build skills that are hard to automate, hard to outsource, that deliver on the new demands of rising living standards, and that augment machine intelligence.

The more granular answer is: Communication skills (especially writing); empathy; design thinking; the ability to compose; basic quantitative skills; synthesis and symphonic thinking; grit, the willingness to practice, and a strong work ethic; and anything “multi” — multi-lingual, multi-cultural, multi-disciplinary.

MR: Let’s turn that question from the worker perspective to the business perspective: How should business leaders best plan for the rapid changes and advancements in artificial intelligence and automation? What are the biggest changes that will come to their operations?

PINK: Hard to say. But at the very top levels the balance of power has changed. Today, talented individuals need organizations far less than organizations need talented individuals. That is a ginormous wake-up call to businesses about how they treat employees. That said, growing inequality — as well as the chasm between corporate profits and individual incomes — is a wake-up call for businesses of every kind for both moral and economic reasons.

MR: Here at Michigan Ross, we’re focused on giving students the real-world, hands-on education that will best prepare students for the jobs they want. What advice do you have for us and other business schools? How should we best prepare leaders for the future?

PINK: I can offer three broad recommendations:

1. Make sure students can: (a) write well and (b) reason with numbers. Everybody doesn’t have to become a great novelist or mathematician. But the ability to write and to make sense of data are foundational. It still amazes me how many people can’t write a coherent paragraph or don’t know the difference between the mean and the median.

2. Break down the barriers between the university and the “real world,” as you’re doing at Ross. That means internships, real-life case studies, tackling projects in the community, etc.

3. Emphasize empathy as a core competency of any 21st century leader. The problems in the world today — in business and elsewhere — are due, in part, to what one of my kids calls “the empathy deficit."

MR: The idea that traditional careers could be disappearing can be a little scary to hear at first. What’s the upside? Why should we not be scared?

PINK: It *is* scary. If you’re not scared, you’re not paying attention. But the upside is you’ll be learning more and faster than your parents ever did. Perhaps more important, if college students recognize how tumultuous the world is for so many people, they might enact policies to make sure that millions of people are not caught in the downdraft and all of us become a bit less frightened.

MR: We’re excited to hear that your next book, When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing, is coming out in January. Can you give us a preview?

PINK: The book is about all the “when” decisions we make in our lives: When to schedule a class or quit a job or get serious about a person or project. We all know that timing is everything. Trouble is, we think that timing is an art. After two years of research, I’m convinced that timing is a really a science — a broad, multi-disciplinary body of evidence that yields practical lessons for working smarter and living better. Added bonus: The opening scene of Chapter 2 takes place at the University of Michigan!

See best-selling author Dan Pink speak at the Handleman Lecture:

Tuesday, September 12

6:30pm

Hill Auditorium

Learn More and RSVP

The Michigan Ross BBA program improved its standing in the yearly undergraduate business ranking published by U.S. News & World Report, rising to #3 in the nation, up one spot from last year.

Ross also placed among the Top 5 schools in the country for five specialties, maintaining its #1 ranking in Management:

• Management (#1)
• Marketing (#2)
• Finance (#4)
• Productions / Operations (#4)
• Accounting (#5)

The strong showing from the Ross undergraduate program in the U.S. News ranking comes at a time when the school is welcoming its first-ever class of BBA freshmen, and an exceptionally strong class of incoming students.

For the first time ever this year, Michigan Ross will welcome a class of 566 freshman to the BBA program, and they are exceptional, with an average high school GPA of 3.9.

Their average SAT score is 1450 — putting the average Ross BBA student in the 97th percentile of SAT takers.

“It’s always an honor to be recognized by our peers for excellence in business education,” said Scott DeRue, Edward J. Frey Dean of Michigan Ross. “Our BBA program is among the best in the nation because of our incredible students and faculty, and also because of our commitment to developing real-world, action-based educational experiences that transform our students into effective, well-trained business leaders — ready to use the power of business to make a positive difference in the world.”

The ranking also placed the University of Michigan as the #4 public university in the nation. U.S. News also looked at top schools that help veterans and active service members pursue an affordable college education. U-M jumped into the top ten, earning a #9 ranking, up eight spots from the previous year.

Learn More About The Ross BBA