In other news: April 2023

More insights and highlights from the UNC Kenan-Flagler community.

Thought leaders

• The circumstances surrounding the fall of Silicon Valley Bank are a bit complicated. Professor Yunzhi Hu breaks it down.
• Professors Greg Brown, Paige Ouimet and Arzu Ozoguz discuss the role of CEO pay in good governance.
• Professor of the Practice Adam Brown (MBA ’13) offers his advice to Congress on how to fix a shortage of clinicians.

Standout students and alumni

UNC Kenan-Flagler MBA students Aidan McConnell, Mariafe Mazurski, Hampton Young and Jason Hull placed second in the annual UNC Real Estate Development Challenge.

• A team of MBA students took home second place at the 2023 UNC Real Estate Development Challenge.
• Congratulations, Courtney Humphrey (BSBA ’27). The North Lenoir High School senior in La Grange, North Carolina, is headed to Carolina and UNC Kenan-Flagler with the merit-based, four-year $100,000 Barnhill Family Assured Admission Scholarship. “There’s literally nowhere else I wanted to go,” she says.
• Mariafe Mazurski (MBA ’24) was named the 2023 president of the MBA Real Estate Club. The native of Peru and mother of two says the best part of a real estate concentration at the School is the endless resources and the community.
• Anuj Padia (MBA ’20) reflects on transitioning from food sustainability entrepreneurship to a new consulting role at Bain & Company. “I didn’t have a career aspiration or planned trajectory in mind and that is where the MBA program guided me,” he says.
• Stephanie Winans (MBA ’16), CEO of women’s health virtual care provider Iron Health, talks about the company’s focus on bolstering the healthcare experience for patients and their OB/GYNs.

Global footprint

Jenna Haugen and undergraduate students during a Global Immersion Elective on ecotourism in Thailand.

• Jenna Haugen and a group of Undergraduate Business Program students had an amazing Global Immersion Elective (GIE) focused on ecotourism in Thailand, getting a first-hand look at how sustainable, small-scale and community-based tourism is essential to the country’s economy. Undergrads’ experiences also included Hungary and South Africa, while MBA GIEs included learning about real estate in Argentina and Uruguay and healthcare in Switzerland.
• Vetter Dean’s Fellows also returned to Chapel Hill after a 10-day experience in Rwanda focused on responsible leadership, learning from a startup that delivers medical supplies to remote areas via drone, going to a village housing orphaned youth and taking part in a gorilla trek.

Spotted on social

The inaugural Black Women in Business event.

• Dave Alpern, president of Joe Gibbs Racing, returned to campus to talk to the Principles of Marketing class about how big brands partner with NASCAR.
• Students and staff gathered for the inaugural Black Women in Business event.
• The Center for Excellence in Investment Management’s Pramita Shaw visited Raleigh’s Sycamore Creek Elementary School for Career Day. Shaw talked with students about investment management careers and how they can build their finance skills early.
• For the first time, about 160 students from the School’s three Executive MBA Programs came together in Chapel Hill for their first Impact Weekend. Students learned about Leading Through Complex Change, participated in workshops and networked with executives.

 FYI

• Construction on the School’s new Steven D. Hall is underway. Detours, parking adjustments and road closures are in effect.

To submit news items to be considered for inclusion in “In other news,” email jordan.bartel@kenan-flagler.unc.edu