The Journey 2023 Issue 2

2023 ISSUE TWO MiamiOH.edu/fsb

ONE THING LEADS TO ANOTHER

See how ‘07 grad Lara Krug became the Chief Marketing Officer for the Kansas City Chiefs

HIGHLIGHTS:

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BEYOND THE ORDINARY

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BLAND CAESAR SALAD LEADS TO EXCITING CAREER MOVES

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CLASS OF 2023 BEYOND READY FOR THE NEXT STAGE OF THEIR JOURNEY

THE FARMER SCHOOL RANKS

NO. 13 IN THE NATION AMONG PUBLIC SCHOOLS, WITH MANAGEMENT CONSULTING GRADUATES HAVING AN ANNUAL SALARY PREMIUM OF $7,764 AND AN AVERAGE YEARLY SALARY OF $101,773.

From the Dean

With graduation behind us, we are focusing our attention on enhancing the Farmer School student journey and determining how best to ensure that our curriculum and out-of-class experiences are innovative, timely, and support our goal of becoming the number one public undergraduate business school in the country

This issue includes stories of current students, like Emil Barr, who founded StepUp Social to assist organizations –including Fortune 500 companies and universities – to create social media posts that resonate with teens and young adults . The company now employs several other Miami students and has revenue in excess of $1 million . We also celebrate the graduation of our first cohort of Passport students and hear words of wisdom from our graduation speakers, Diana Chudnovsky ‘23 and Neil Hunn ‘94 . Off campus and around the world, we hear about winter term study away and abroad memories .

We meet alumni Laura Palmer and Jeffrey Graham and learn how sharing a lunch led to sharing their passions and writing and producing “Always Lola,” a film that will be released digitally on August 1 . Miamians will recognize many of the locations as Oxford landmarks We meet ‘07 grad Lara Krug, CMO for the Superbowl-winning Kansas City Chiefs, and see how each step in her journey was integral to her success . Jim and Amy Chapman answer the question of ‘Why do donors give,” and we learn the meaning of L .I .F .E ., the newest center at the FSB .

I also share my thoughts on reaching and impacting this generation of students and connecting with them as knowledge workers – in an article that appeared in Insider Higher Ed .

JENNY DARROCH Dean and Mitchell P. Rales Chair in Business Leadership

IN MEMORIAM: Richard (Rick) Forsythe

Farmer School alumni and visitors to the school are familiar with the name “Forsythe,” because two of the most popular areas in the building are the Forsythe Commons and the Forsythe Technology Center and Library. Both were funded by Rick Forsythe ‘61 and his wife Sandra to honor his alma mater and to ensure that Farmer School students had the latest technology and other leadingedge resources.

“For Sandy and me, the goal was to help students make important connections — technological and interpersonal,” Rick said of the gift. “Technology is a priority for us, and we believe that the new technology center will truly connect our students to the world. The student commons will give students and faculty a place that promotes personal interaction.”

Forsythe continued to be involved in the Farmer School, donating to fund a professorship in entrepreneurship, and again in 2022 with an additional gift for the John W. Altman Institute for Entrepreneurship to provide funding for expansion and operational support. Rick has also served on the school’s Business Advisory Council, and on the advisory board for the Institute. He was inducted into the Miami Academy of Entrepreneurs in 2004. In 2021, he was awarded with an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters by president Crawford.

FARMER SCHOOL STUDENT STEPS UP IN A BIG WAY

When Emil Barr set up his dorm room during his first year at Miami, he never intended to make it the home of a social media startup that would have more $1 million in annual revenue a couple of years later .

“I think that if you told me when I entered Farmer that I’d be making TikToks all day, I would’ve thought you were crazy . I was an economics major, I knew nothing about social media, I didn’t even have an Instagram, I was one of those kids without social media,” he said .

In fact, his original plan for college had nothing to do with Miami, or even Ohio . “I said, ‘I’m not going to go to a state school . I’m going to get as far away from Ohio as possible .’ I wanted to go to school in a big city . I couldn’t stand the idea of living among the corn fields,” Barr said . “But I went and visited some campuses and they kind of felt dry and dead . And then I visited Miami and the Farmer School. And I was like, ‘Wow, like this place is just alive. This place is beautiful. This isn’t like any other college campus.’ I was like, ‘I guess I’m going to Miami.’”

Barr arrived in the midst of COVID, and got into social media pretty quickly during the pandemic . And for someone with not a lot of social media experience – or perhaps because of it – he noticed something about a lot of social media .

“We were looking at social media and some social media feeds and we just saw some really bad posts, just some really out of touch marketing . And we thought, as students we’re making Instagram stories every day . We can probably do a better job and make a little bit of money on the side to go out,” Barr said . “So the initial thesis was that there was a large market demand for good cheap social marketing .”

“But the more time we spent in the space, we found that there was less demand for good cheap social media and just a demand for good social media,” he said . “There were very few firms that did social media well, and there was a lot of demand to do better on social media .”

“Then TikTok came along, which was game changing because we went from competing with every single A-list agency that had massive Facebook ad budgets and 10 years of declining track records to a relatively clean slate,” Barr said . “We were able to hire a team of Miami students, some influencers, some people that worked with brands that did well on TikTok, some influencers that built out their own profile to over a million followers, and sort of throw together this into a package .”

StepUp Social started as an idea in a coffee shop and was run out of Barr’s dorm room . “We’ve been able to do this because we’re twice as cost effective as our competitor’s options . And that’s really helped us scale like crazy these last six months,” Barr said in May 2022 . “By last summer it was a business . I mean it was fun . We were doing about $10,000 a month, which I thought was awesome at that time But right now we’re doing about $40,000 a month and we’re probably going to hit a million dollars a year if not by the end of this summer, definitely by the end of this year .”

Fast forward to March 2023 . “We have hit a million, so we’re at about a million dollars a year now . Um, so that’s been big and that was like really crazy,” Barr said . “We were a TikTok agency and TikTok was sort of seen as this ‘nice to have’ for companies, but it wasn’t essential in any way Our biggest gift last year was when Facebook rolled out Facebook Reels and Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts and now there’s Pinterest Watch and Snapchat Discover .”

“What we saw is all the data showed that people spend more time watching short sub-60-second videos on social media and that they’re more likely to engage with them on social media: in terms of both giving it a like or clicking a link if it’s an ad . Your engagement rates are much higher,” he said .

It’s been a busy couple of years for the Miami University rising senior who turned 20 in January . StepUp Social now has more than a dozen clients and nearly 20 employees . The firm won the Main St Ventures Launch It! Cincy pitch competition in 2021 . It was part of the Miami University Redhawk Launch Accelerator’s seventh cohort in 2022, and a companion startup in social media marketing education, Flashpass, is part of the eighth cohort for 2023 Barr was one of 10 students that Miami chose to highlight in the TV series “The College Tour .” And his FlashPass concept took the top spot in the spring 2023 Venture Pitch Competition .

“I’m impressed by StepUp Social . Everyone on the team is great to work with – responsive, creative, and with an insightful grasp of how to get meaningful results,” Dot Crane, Content Marketing Manager at Northern Kentucky Convention and Visitors Bureau, said . “In less than six months the TikTok channel they created for us is already outperforming the national average for accounts like ours .”

The company has become bigger than the dorm room and the coffee shop can handle, growing from Barr and two friends to nearly 20 employees . One of them is account manager Danielle Barnes, a senior Human Capital Management and Leadership major, who connected to Barr and StepUp Social through her business fraternity .

“It’s honestly really exciting to do this now, especially because Step Up is mostly made up of college students and we’re all in it together.”

“It’s honestly really exciting to do this now, especially because Step Up is mostly made up of college students and we’re all in it together . Not only figuring things out, but doing exciting work that you don’t really see your peers doing as much,” she said . “I think it’s something that’s not only fun to be able to see where the company is leading the way, but also be a part of that process in itself .”

Barnes is one of several employees who is older than its founder “He’s able to believe in something and not only just believe in it, but put it into action . He didn’t wait until he was a certain age or he graduated college,” she said “He realized that it was something that he wanted to get done now and has put in a lot of work in order to get it done . It’s inspiring to say the least .”

Barr credits the Farmer School for helping him to achieve the success he’s had so far. “I wouldn’t be able to do this if I wasn’t in the Farmer School as a business student . I wouldn’t know where to start . There’s so many things I learned even in those first two years of classes, like Excel, modeling, and these skills that Farmer teaches,” he said When interviewed in May 2022, Barr indicated that he was looking to build the company so that someone might buy it, but now, that’s not quite the path he sees .

“I do think what we’ve done is impressive and I do think that it was a really crazy two years and a lot of work went into it . I just don’t think that this is where the story ends Imagine how far we’re going to grow now that we’ve nailed down our product and now that we are consistently getting results,” Barr said . “We have a 97% customer satisfaction rate . We’re hiring 3 or 4 people a month . My goal is looking ahead and I’m super excited that this could be a $5 million a year company very quickly, very soon .”

“Studying abroad last semester was an absolute life changing experience. I gained more independence, cultural awareness, and it opened my eyes to new possibilities.” JADA ‘25

STUDENTS ARE LESS ENGAGED; STOP BLAMING COVID

BY JENNY DARROCH,

COVID-19 disrupted learning as schools and universities moved between online, in-person and hybrid learning modalities, impacting the lives of our students in ways that we are still trying to fully understand. As we move into a post-COVID world, many of us see students who are less engaged, and we are quick to blame the pandemic: in conversations with colleagues, we tell each other that our students are disengaged because they had negative experiences in high school due to COVID and so they are unprepared for college, or our students are struggling with mental health issues, which became more pronounced during COVID-19.

AS “DIGITALLY EVOLVED KNOWLEDGE WORKERS,” OUR STUDENTS ENGAGE DIFFERENTLY THAN THE GENERATIONS BEFORE THEM; AS EDUCATORS, WE NEED TO ADAPT.

as published in the May 30, 2023 edition of Inside Higher Ed

While I am not dismissing these arguments, and I am certainly not trivializing mental health, I believe we need to stop blaming COVID and reframe the narrative around student engagement by thinking about who and what today’s students are—knowledge workers. Through this lens, we can better cater to what does engage them .

A knowledge worker is a professional who uses their expertise and skills to create, analyze or distribute information or knowledge . They rely heavily on their intellectual abilities, creativity and critical thinking skills to perform their tasks, and they typically work in fields such as technology, education, research and consulting . By this definition, students are knowledge workers . They actively engage in acquiring knowledge, develop critical thinking skills, conduct research and analyze data to solve complex problems, and apply what they learn . Students go to college to learn and develop expertise in a field, they mostly seek knowledgeintensive jobs upon graduation and, through their research, they often advance the body of knowledge .

Our current students, part of Generation Z, are digital natives who have grown up in an “always on” technological environment . They are entrepreneurial, independent, resourceful and self-sufficient and willing to use technology to find solutions . In short, they are digitally evolved knowledge workers .

Members of Gen Z want to have a personalized experience and expect brands to know them well . They like to curate their own experience: in fact, some of our students ask why they cannot curate their own learning journey, and many are starting to question the value of the many subjects that comprise the core curriculum . Members of Gen Z also expect that their own unique learning style, preferences and interests will be taken into consideration—something my Farmer School of Business colleague Megan Gerhardt, who researches generational differences, notes in her recent piece for AACSB Insights .

Members of Gen Z are incessantly exposed to multimedia elements such as images, videos and audio, and they engage in interactive games and apps . As a consequence, they expect

faculty to use technology so as to make the learning process more engaging and effective . In a recent study, more than half of the respondents said they learn best by doing, and a further 38 percent said they learn by seeing (e .g ., videos) . Gen Z expects content to be relevant and practical, as they did before COVID

Students, like knowledge workers already in the workforce, are very outcome-focused . They tend to come to business schools with clear career goals in mind . While these goals do and should change as students are exposed to a variety of new career options, we find that students engage with activities they believe will help them to achieve their goals If the activity is seen as not directly related to achieving a goal, then the student disengages .

Peter Drucker, who coined the term “knowledge work” back in 1959, identified six factors that fuel productivity for knowledge workers, including a need for autonomy—“that we impose the responsibility for their productivity on the individual knowledge workers themselves”—a commitment to continuous learning and teaching, and a focus on quality as being “at least as important” as quantity . “Knowledge-worker productivity demands that we ask the question: ‘What is the task?’” Drucker wrote

At the Farmer School of Business, we’re seeking similar factors to help reset student engagement. We are at the start of a process, and I have asked faculty, students and staff to share their different perspectives . While I don’t know what the final decisions and outcomes will be, I do believe we need to go back to basics and apply Drucker’s six factors to the knowledge workers we are encountering in our classrooms, in the hopes this will enhance their levels of engagement, performance, feelings of well-being and overall growth as lifelong learners . This would mean we would:

• Provide clear expectations as to the outcomes you expect of students but let students identify the tasks they believe are required of them to achieve those outcomes .

• Provide timely and constructive feedback so that students can improve their performance and stay on track .

• Recognize and celebrate accomplishments and acknowledge individual contributions .

• Hold students accountable for their own work, the quality and quantity of their work, and the pace at which they work .

• Empower students to create a learner-led, self- organized, independent learning environment .

• Expect students to innovate and constantly improve both how they work and the quality of their output .

• Encourage students to develop a thirst for learning such that upon graduation students are lifelong learners .

• Encourage students to teach and share with others but at the same time encourage students to seek out and embrace different points of view .

The answer to declining student engagement is to not blame COVID and the impact it had on our students as learners but instead to recognize that today’s students engage differently—and did so before the pandemic . They expect to be recognized for the knowledge they have and their ability to self-direct as they learn and grow . As faculty members, we need to hold students accountable, allow them to self-direct, encourage them to innovate, meet them where they are digitally and provide relevant examples to help what we are teaching come to life . Ultimately, we have to trust the ability and capacity of the next generation of leaders .

Jenny Darroch is the dean of the Farmer School of Business at Miami University in Ohio.

...recognize that today’s students engage differently—and did so before the pandemic. They expect to be recognized for the knowledge they have and their ability to self-direct as they learn and grow.

Beyond the Ordinary

Farmer School students, faculty, and staff are never satisfied with the status quo . They seek opportunities to go beyond, and we are delighted to share some of their most recent accomplishments .

Farmer School of Business again ranked in the top 15 public schools by Poets and Quants .

The school also ranked in top 10 for career outcomes and academic experience .

STUDENTS:

• Cameron Tiefenthaler, a junior Honors College student majoring in Business Analytics and Political Science has been named a 2023 Harry S . Truman Scholar . She is the only recipient from Ohio, and Miami’s second Truman Scholar in six years (Sara Al-Zubi, also an FSB grad, won in 2018) .

• The Farmer School’s chapter of the Pi Sigma Epsilon co-ed business fraternity won the national award for top chapter and placed first or second in 10 competition categories . The Lewis F . Gordon Top Chapter win was the 17th in the last 25 years, and the fifth in the last six years for the chapter

• The John W . Altman Institute for Entrepreneurship’s venture capital investment team competed in the Global Finals of the 2023 Undergraduate Venture Capital Investment Competition for the seventh consecutive year, finishing second overall this weekend . This is the sixth time a venture capital investment team from Miami University has finished in the Top 3 of the global finals since it began competing in 2017 and the second time Miami has finished as the runner-up in the finals . 12

Cameron Tiefenthaler

• Finance major Abigail Bartlett and Accountancy major Anthony Patrick were chosen for Poets & Quants for Undergrads 100 Best & Brightest Business Majors Of 2023 .

• A group of Farmer School students, Katelyn Hartings, Jessica Motley, Dan Weingart, and Nick Weseman won the General Motors supply chain case competition .

• Alpha Upsilon chapter of Delta Sigma Pi learned recently that it had received the Outstanding Service Award, presented to a chapter that plans and implements the most effective and comprehensive program of service to others

• Dawson Cosgrove and Brittney Rivelli were recognized with the 2023 President’s Distinguished Service Award .

• A team of four Farmer School students, Ross Ziegler, Logan Ziegler, Dylan Forche, and David Staub won the Cleveland Research Company stock pitch competition, beating students from Ohio University, Ohio State, Dayton, Indiana University, and the University of Texas

• Supply Chain and Operations Management majors

Katelyn Hartings and Emily McAtee were awarded 2023 AWESOME (Achieving Women’s Excellence in Supply Chain Operations, Management, and Education) Scholarships . They will have the opportunity to attend the AWESOME Symposium and the CSCMP EDGE Conference and have each been awarded a $5,000 financial award toward tuition .

• Accountancy sophomore Ava Nagy has been selected as a PCAOB (Public Company Accounting Oversight Board) Scholar and will receive a scholarship in the amount of $10,000 for the 2023-2024 academic year .

STUDENT ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS

The Farmer School of Business recognizes the most academically talented seniors in the graduating class . The number of students recognized represents a proportion of the graduates in each area of study .

Delta Sigma Pi Scholarship Key

Liam Glass

Luke Knopf

Lidia Marusic

Accountancy Academic Achievement Award

Dylan Boone

Abigail Larson

William J. McKinstry Award

To honor the top School of Business Economics majors

Liam Glass

Jacob Daignault

Outstanding Achievement in Entrepreneurship

Scott Graumlich

Olson Finance Achievement Award

Luke Knopf

Robert Hammett

J. Belden Dennison Award

John Keifer

Ben Skapura

Outstanding Academic Achievement in Human Capital Management & Leadership

Lidia Marursic

Abigail Bartlett

Anthony Patrick

Brittney Rivelli Dawson Cosgrove

“You can see that four years of immersive learning really makes a difference. I don’t know that these students fully know how far ahead they are of most students their age.”

LUKE DOOLEY, CEO, OCEAN PROGRAMS

Roy Sandquist Family Award

Outstanding Academic Achievement in Information Systems & Analytics

BA Best Major: Aidan K McGaughy

IS Best Major: Madeline Grace Begalke

Marketing Academic Excellence Award

Lidia Marusic

Marketing Student Achievement Award

Aidan McGaughy

Mark Decile

Outstanding Academic Achievement in Supply Chain & Operations Management

Madeline Begalke

Dongshou Mei

MAD RABBIT VALUATION TRIPLES, INKS DEAL WITH WALMART

Mad Rabbit Tattoo, founded by 2019 FSB grads Oliver Zak and Selom Agbitor, recently closed a $10 million Series A funding round, quadrupling its valuation to $56 million. The funds will be leveraged to expand the brand’s product line, increase its marketing efforts and grow its team. The company is currently growing 138% year-over-year.

In 2022, it launched in 1,200 GNC locations. And now, Mad Rabbit will expand into more than 1,800 Walmart locations nationwide this summer.

Mad Rabbit sells one tattoo balm every 90 seconds and has helped preserve more than three million tattoos to date.

For more on the company and its founders, see the Spring/Summer 2021 issue of The Journey or read the story in the April edition of Forbes.

FACULTY:

Lisa Ellram, University Distinguished Professor and James Evans Rees Distinguished Professor of Supply Chain Management and Professor was awarded the university’s Benjamin Harrison Medallion Award .

Brett Smith, Cintas Chair and Professor of Entrepreneurship, was awarded the title of University Distinguished Professor . University Distinguished Professors have national and international stature with demonstrated recognition and projected high level of scholarly productivity in the future . They must be a teacher of demonstrated excellence and a contributor to the life and mission of Miami University .

Fadel Megahed, Endres Associate Professor and Associate Professor was a Faculty Scholar Award Recipient .

Chuck Moul, Professor of Economics was recognized with the Excellence in Career Development Award .

Jan Taylor, Senior Lecturer and Director of FSB Honors and Scholars Program was named to Poets & Quants’ Top 50 Undergraduate Business Professors

21 Farmer School faculty members were among the 100 most commended faculty at Miami University . Each year Miami asks graduating students (undergraduate and graduate students) to complete a survey regarding their experience at Miami . Students are specifically asked about faculty or staff members who made a positive impact on their learning and development while at Miami .

Lee Biggerstaff, Finance

Thomas Boulton, Finance

Debbie Coleman, Marketing

Michael Conger, Entrepreneurship

Daniel Docherty, Management

Gina Dutro, Marketing

David Eyman, Entrepreneurship

Megan Gerhardt, Management

Tyler Henry, Finance

Jing Li, Economics

Xi Liu, Finance

Rocco Manzo, Management

Fadel Megahed, Information Systems and Analytics

Norman Miller, Economics

Peter Nguyen, Marketing

Terry Nixon, Finance

Joseph Nwankpa, Information Systems and Analytics

Jan Taylor, Marketing

Beth Troy, Entrepreneurship

Maria Weese, Information Systems and Analytics

Jonathan Wolff, Economics

Senior Faculty Award for Research Excellence – Xi Liu

Ohio Casualty Professor and Associate Professor of Finance and Scott Friend Associate Professor Marketing

James Robeson Junior Faculty Research Excellence

Award – Darryl Rice

Assistant Professor of Management

Farmer School Faculty Service Excellence Award –

Thomas Boulton Jack R . Anderson Professor in Finance and Professor of Finance

RICHARD K. SMUCKER TEACHING EXCELLENCE AWARDS

Outstanding Professor – Michael Conger Affiliate in the Institute for the Environment and Sustainability and Associate Professor of Entrepreneurship

Outstanding Junior Professor – Joseph Nwankpa

Assistant Professor & FSB Director of Cybersecurity Initiatives Information Systems & Analytics

Outstanding Teaching Professor – Wei (Vivian) Chen Assistant Teaching Professor of Information Systems & Analytics

Jim Friedman, the White Family Associate Clinical Professor of Entrepreneurship, won the John E . Dolibois Faculty Award for Innovation in Global Programming for his work with Prodesse Scholars Interdisciplinary Creativity & Innovation Experience and World Creativity & Innovation Week/Day .

Darryl Rice, Associate Professor of Management, was presented with the Ray of Light Award which recognizes members of the Miami community who have demonstrated, advanced, or promoted activities, programs, or actions supporting campus efforts to help enrich the experiences for faculty, staff, and students .

Jenny Darroch, Thomas Boulton, Michael Conger, Joseph Nwankpa, Vivian Chen, and Darryl Rice

Jan Taylor with several of her students

Jim Friedman with several of his students

Darryl Rice

Inaugural Passport Cohort Celebrates Graduation

Amid the celebrations, photo shoots, and preparations for graduation at the Farmer School of Business and Miami University was a small meetup in the FSB Commons for a group of students who were the first to take part in a new program when they came to Miami .

The FSB Passport Program is a high-touch student success program for first-year students on the Oxford campus who have been directly admitted to the Farmer School of Business . The program targets talented students who have strong academic credentials and will give them comprehensive academic support along with professional development and service learning opportunities throughout their time at Miami University .

“It was a great way, as a first-generation college student not knowing what to expect, to be surrounded by people similar to you with different backgrounds but all coming together,” Emily Martinez said .

“Coming in as a freshman it was a little nerve-wracking so I made relationships that are going to be long life,” Brandon Stewart said “My closest friends are in Passport, so I really enjoyed it .”

Over their time at Miami, the Passport students learned valuable skills related to personal development, time management, study skills, degree planning, internships, and career development for greater employment opportunities after college

Noah Bishop couldn’t make it to the meetup, but his father Sam made a point of stopping by . “When we first started the process at looking at schools, we never even thought something like Passport would exist,” he said . “What it meant for Noah was having a good touchpoint, a good place to get started and make friends, learn how to navigate the school . Then touchpoints each and every year that he would have with the entire Passport Program helped him stay on track and do well .”

“That’s been a really good experience. There’s a lot of kids in Farmer and a lot of different things that go on. Just having someone there to talk to, or just knowing that they’re here and they’re in your corner is a really good feeling,” Kind said.

The students at the party were among 26 who met for the first time in the summer of 2019 for a two-day boot camp, where they worked with FSB staff and students in a variety of areas, ranging from creating and defining a personal brand to finding ways of easing the transition from high school to college .

“We came here two weeks before school started and we know no one, so these were the very first people we met,” Brittney Kind said . “Now just seeing them all again when we’re about to walk across the stage, that’s pretty cool .”

“The community we built freshman year, I still talk to a lot of them It’s my senior year, and we will catch up once a semester and we’ll get coffee,” Martinez said “I think that’s what I got the most out of the Passport program . If I knew, if I saw them on the class roster, I would text them and ask them for help if I needed it and they would for me, too .”

“The support from Michelle Thomas and her team has been great . They’re there for you any time, any day,” Stewart said . Whether its academics or life, they’re there to support you, help answer your questions, put you in the right direction .”

“We’ve had interns from Harvard, Wharton, Ohio State, many universities, but the Miami students are just absolutely the best.”

ELIZABETH EDWARDS, MANAGING PARTNER, H VENTURE PARTNERS

ONE THING LEADS TO ANOTHER

It’s a phrase that seems trivial and self-evident, but for Lara Krug, it’s the perfect description of the seemingly insignificant, unrelated, random events that led her from a small town in Connecticut to the C-suite of the Kansas City Chiefs as their first Chief Marketing Officer .

A LITTLE BIT ABOUT LARA

Lara grew up in Weston, Connecticut, a small town about an hour north of New York City. When it was time to start thinking about college, while most of her 110 graduating class was focused on staying close to home, she wanted to go to a bigger school that had a “classic college” feel.

Her parents supported her in her journey by agreeing to road trip with her to any schools she wanted to explore. A friend that she had played softball with when she was in middle school had just started at Miami, so she added it to her list. As she explained, “I saw Miami and I adored it. The moment I got on campus, I fell in love with it. It met all the things in my vision of what I thought a college should look like. The town, the grass, and the brick buildings. It felt kind of northeast so I didn’t feel totally out of what I had grown up around, but it felt far enough away that I could go do something different.”

She told her parents, “I’m done. I want to move here.”

Lara’s first experience when she arrived with her mom for orientation reinforced her belief that Miami was the right place for her The airline had lost her luggage . As she tells it, “Here I am, the weekend of orientation . I was wearing a brown Velour knockoff Juicy tracksuit that I’d worn on the plane . I had no other clothes . My mom drops me off in the Emerson dorm room She said, ‘I’ll come back in a few and we can go shopping for clothes .” Across the hall, this young woman and her parents were standing there, her name was Sydney Stoops, she said, ‘You can borrow some of my clothes if you want!’”

She and Sydney went downstairs for the welcome event where she met Sydney’s best friend Colin Krug . She remembers the exact date – June 8th because it’s the same date that Lara and Colin were married ten years ago .

Lara entered Miami as a Mass Communications major . Her best friend’s mom who worked in media and marketing at Unilever, told her, “If I were you and I wanted to move to New York one day and you want to do anything in this world, I would suggest getting an internship early .” She heeded the advice and completed an unpaid internship in New York City at Jane, a beauty fashion magazine .

“I realized quickly that having a marketing background and advertising background was something that would be a good compliment to mass comm, especially for some more of the financial pieces and understanding how businesses are run .” Lara added a Marketing minor when she returned to campus . “I felt smart being around the people that were going to Miami, but also, I didn’t feel so intimidated that I didn’t think I was going to thrive . Miami helped me feel much more confident in my abilities .”

That decision made Lara a great candidate for the Farmer School’s prestigious Laws, Hall & Associates interdisciplinary program where teams of students from marketing, mass communications and art worked with a client, competing with each other in creating multi-media campaigns .

“Laws Hall, to me, was the coolest thing I ever got to do . The fact that Miami had a program where you could have realworld exposure was just so cool . At that time, the client was a Liz Claiborne brand called Mexx .

“I loved it . I loved working on real-world problems . I loved getting the briefs and coming up with the ideas and getting to understand the difference between marketing planning versus someone that was going to be much more of a designer, and the creative versus someone that was going to be strictly advertising . I loved that combination of all the sides That was the best experience I was able to have at Miami .

One of the best things that came out of it was the network of people who had gone through it . Laws Hall gave us a list of people who had participated in Laws Hall I think I emailed every single person on that list saying, “I’m Lara Edwards . I’m graduating . I went through Laws Hall . I’m not asking for a job, but I would love to know your experience . This is what I’m interested in . Where do you think I should look?” A couple of people I remember responding, some were not in marketing or anything, but others were, and they’re like, ‘Oh, have you considered this?’ or ‘Would you look there?’”

Lara started her career as an entry-level coordinator at a media agency in New York City . She was on the brand strategy team buying media .

“I definitely got the itch early on that I loved understanding brands, I loved to understand the consumer, and where they spent their time . It was always more intriguing to me, less on the creative execution and more around where does a person go to digest a piece of content to then make some conversion .

“I saw that digital marketing and media were definitely becoming where the industry was going, and I wanted to get in there quickly . I wanted to make the move . I don’t think it was intentional, but I knew that getting to the brand side was going to allow me more responsibility, more experience

To move in that direction meant taking a job at Avon that wasn’t necessarily what she wanted but provided the opportunity to get her closer to her goals . The position wasn’t consumer-facing, but Lara had a manager who was very supportive and the more she raised her hand and said, ‘I can do that,’ the more she was able to do build expertise and a track record in the digital space . After a few years, Lara realized it was time to take the next step and add more international experience .

“I love people . I love to travel . I wanted to learn more . I just started applying to jobs everywhere that I could in New York City, got rejected from some, and then ended up at L’Oreal, which was an amazing pivot in terms of exposure, and went to a global side of the business .

“I worked on a brand called Matrix, which owns Biolage within the Professional Haircare Division . I was the only digital marketer in that brand I wasn’t even part of the marketing team technically . I was responsible for their websites . I was responsible for social assets . Facebook at the time was becoming a big deal . I wasn’t considered a traditional marketer, but I got to report directly to the global general manager .

“It was the best situation because he was a traditional marketer . He had been leading creative branding for 40+ years . I learned so much from him in terms of writing a brief and a concept If you think about shampoo, it’s the same ingredients pretty much . It’s how you market the product that determines if you could buy it for $15 or buy it for $2 . I learned that from him, and he gave me so much autonomy because I was able to come to the table in a very, I think, pragmatic way, with confidence to say, ‘Here’s what we can do from digital .’”

That position allowed Lara to work with all L’Oreal’s partners around the world on their websites, digital assets, and content, and she loved it

Three and a half years later, Lara experienced another first –she was recruited by Anheuser Busch InBev (ABI)

“lt was a huge pivotal moment in my career in terms of getting exposure and experience . I went into their global organization first . I ran their media and experiential teams negotiating contracts with the World Surfing League and building a music platform with the largest EDM (electronic dance music) festival, TomorrowWorld, in Belgium . I had zero experience in sponsorship or events, but people matter, great relationships matter, delivering great work matters and I was given the opportunities based on my results .

“I worked in the global office for about three years in a variety of different roles . ABI is a huge part of my career and a huge part of my life . I got to travel all around the world with them . I’ve gone to Russia, and Korea, and China, and Argentina . Then I moved to the US operations of the business .

“About three years into my career there, I had my first baby . I didn’t want to travel around the world as much anymore and wanted to finally be given a brand to own . That was a big transition for me . I wanted to move from being in a support role in digital and media to being the owner of a brand and the full marketing team . I moved to the US and was there for about four years in a variety of different roles . My last one was running Stella Artois as the VP of Marketing .”

Right as the pandemic was hitting, Lara’s husband, Colin, was recruited by Barkley, an independent creative agency in

Kansas City . It would take him back to his hometown and a new experience for their family . They decided to make the move .

Not long after relocating, Lara got a call from another recruiter telling her that the Kansas City Chiefs were looking for their first Chief Marketing Officer, and asked if she was interested, even though it would mean leaving New York. They had no idea that she was already there. Surprisingly, many NFL franchises don’t have CMOs . In some, the position is combined with sales, while in others, it isn’t elevated to the C-suite level .

“I think they wanted to recruit me because of my skills and experience and because I came from a different world from sports, bringing a different approach and mindset when it came to building brands . It also was a nice compliment I am sure to be married to someone from Kansas City and the fact that I had become an NFL fan, a Chiefs fan, and I had the respect and the desire to want to uphold the legacy of the club and the brand .

“After I had interviewed, I got a call offering me the job, and my husband’s standing in the living room, and mouthing, ‘Take that job . Take that job .’ I knew I was going to take it given the opportunity, but I negotiated because I’ve spent 12-plus years working incredibly hard to come to that point in my career . While I couldn’t wait to work for this organization, I think the hard work that you put in after college, and all those years, you want it to pay off So, I negotiated, and my husband was like, “I can’t believe you did that .” Then they called back and we had a deal . I was proud of myself and as you can imagine, Colin, a huge Chiefs fan, was also so excited .”

“I hope my kids, and especially my daughter, see this one day and understand that you, man, woman, whoever you are, you should at least ask, fight for yourself and your worth . The worst thing they can say is no . You are in control of your career and your life .”

Lara had built a career in product marketing and was a relative newcomer to the world of sports, but the learning curve wasn’t as steep as you might think . Essentially, all the marketing skills she had honed throughout her career, combined with her ability to connect with consumers, view the world through their lens, and tell a compelling story were exactly what the Chiefs were looking for .

“When I went into the beer world, which was so different from the beauty world, I wondered how I would go from beauty to beer . But I think it was never really about the product to me . I’ve always come to different jobs seeking the exciting part of the role . My perspective is branding and storytelling, connecting with consumers and fans .

“I’ve learned a lot about fandom, so much of fandom is passed down from families . The beauty of sports is that you have loyal fans . It’s not just about the game on Sunday . This is so much bigger than that . How do we export that from the stadium all around the world?

“The biggest difference is you’re selling so much more than the tangible product . The sports business world is changing . I think that was one of the reasons I was excited about the role Not just because they’re now a Super Bowl-winning team, or had been, it was more about the opportunity . I seem to always find entrepreneurial roles within existing large organizations . I like that type of challenge .

“The fact that Clark Hunt, our chairman and CEO, and Mark Donovan, the president who I report into, they have ambitions of becoming the world’s team . Some people would say, ‘How could a Midwest team…why would you think you could become the world’s team? We are Super Bowl-winning, we have Patrick Mahomes, we have amazing players Our

organization has been owned by the same family for 60-plus years . We have international ambition . We would say, “Why not?”

But there have been some surprises.

For most of her career, Lara worked for large public companies with more than 100,000 employees . The Chief’s business staff includes roughly 250 people . About 50 of them report to Lara . That means that she is involved in many more ways, from fan engagement to community-building, to events, to charitable giving .

“I had never felt that level of inspiration . There were just so many more people in my other companies that I don’t think I realized being the VP, if I made as much of a dent .

“When I recruit people, I can say, ‘We get to build this .’ You’ll actually feel when you close the door at night, like, ‘Oh, I can see the thing that I did,’ which I think was a big change for me, but also something that I felt was a good progression in my career .

“I can see it from the 50,000-foot view so a lot of my day is spent trying to get the vision through and giving very clear directions so that my team can go and be excellent at what they do in delivering . No two days look the same, which I love because I think there are constantly new challenges that we’re discovering and finding solutions for .

Another difference is the extreme loyalty of sports fans . Consumers may like a product, but diehard sports fans can recite stats, player histories and may have entire rooms dedicated to memorabilia .

“It’s not even rational sometimes . Once a fan is a fan, they are so loyal to the club and it’s such an emotional thing . It’s so cool in that way because the stories we get from fans like, ‘I’ve watched every game with my grandfather,’ or, ‘My mother and I watched the game . We go to every game .’ The amount of loyalty was very surprising to me in a positive way . Also surprising to Lara is her unofficial position as role model . “There are so many young women coming into sports that are very much looking up to those that are at the top to say, “How did you get there? What did you do? How do I do it?”

Many women that are not even in my department, come and talk to me . ‘Hey, what did you do?’ ‘In this situation, if we’re trying to make a change, how do we do it?’ That’s something that I have a lot more awareness of and care about . I want to be a good leader and a good example so that young men and women can see you can get to a CMO position or a CEO position one day regardless of being either in love with the product that you’re selling and/or if you’re a woman or a man . Remembering where a childhood friend went to college . A stranger hearing her plight at orientation . A brief conversation with a friend’s mother . Moving from New York to Kansas City . Unconnected events that helped forge Lara’s path . One of the things that make her smile the most? Lara now gets to joke with Colin and say, “Man you really played the long game You met me and now you get a Super Bowl ring .”

Well played, Lara .

LARA’S ADVICE FOR SOMEONE WHO WANTS TO BE IN HER POSITION

To be in sports, I would not necessarily start in sports. I think the world is changing. I think having as much relevant experience based on how the world is turning is going to make you a really strong candidate. Whether that’s working at agencies, which I find a huge value for anyone that’s in this field, I think you need to know what it’s like to get the brief. I think you need to know what it’s like when the client says, “I don’t like something, and you have to know how to respond in a graceful, respectful way.

I’m a huge advocate for people starting at agencies, whether that’s media agencies, sports agencies, experiential agencies, creative agencies. You just learn a very different skill and you’re working across a lot of different brands, which I think gives you exposure and flexibility. Then I think also coming with an open mind on how to deliver solutions. Again, I think a lot of people assume that at sports clubs they’re like these massive teams with massive budgets. That’s not the case.

Sports teams need people that can be really effective, really efficient, really solution-oriented, really good at people management…the soft skills. You need to know how to convince someone to buy your idea and the ROI in it and make the business case about it.

ALEC MARTINEZ SCORES A THIRD STANLEY CUP

FSB alum Alec Martinez won his third Stanley Cup championship as a defenseman for the Vegas Golden Knights after winning two with the Los Angeles Kings. For more about Alec, see the Winter, 2018 edition of the Journey Martinez’s goal in the second period came nine years to the day after he delivered the double-overtime goal in Game 5 to give the Los Angeles Kings’ the cup.

Winter Wonderland Wonderland

Many Farmer School students use winter break as the ideal opportunity to study away or abroad . While the locations and courses vary, each had a profound impact that went far beyond the course material .

Amber Peskin, a senior majoring in entrepreneurship and social work traveled to San Francisco with ESP 461, Entrepreneurial Consulting .

“When someone asks about my ESP 461 San Fran experience, I think of the final moments after pitching our idea to Major League Baseball . It felt like the end of an 80s movie when the theme song plays and each person returns to real life . That shared experience was magic . I know that one of the teams quite literally played ‘Don’t You Forget About Me’ while leaving the parking lot . It was a moment of joy for all of us - to excel at something extremely difficult . To know that the laughter, tears, and countless hours we put into this had meaning . And it wasn’t about winning - it was about the learning process . We proved a lot to ourselves that day and had fun doing it .”

For Bradley Yoger, a junior finance major, the “impact moment” in his South Korea program wasn’t course related .

“A core memory from my time abroad in South Korea was visiting the DMZ (Demilitarized Zone), which is the contested border between North and South Korea . I remember catching a bus into the countryside and eventually began to see barbed wire along the roadside with caution signs with “Mine” written . Pretty cool to see . Upon arrival, I got to take a hike down a tunnel hundreds of feet below ground level, eventually reaching a viewing point of North Korea . This consisted of an opening in a rusted metal door surrounded by barbed wire . This tunnel and viewing point has been the entrance into South Korea for North Koreans attempting to invade in the past .

“This particular recollection of my study abroad experience stands out as the most profound, due to the surreal nature of the experience . Being as close as one can get to North Korea, at a location often on global news, and on the opposite side of Earth, I found myself saying, “Out of all the places in the world, I am here” .

The Sistine Chapel brought junior supply chain operations and management major Emily Sauer to tears . “No picture or replica could have prepared me for the beauty and art I witnessed standing in complete awe in the Sistine Chapel . I remember standing there with tears streaming down my face when my professor, Dr . Terri Barr came up and hugged me .

“Dr Barr had asked me if both the Sistine Chapel and our trip to Vatican City was everything I had hoped it would be . When I responded, “Yes . And so much more,” she told me that was the exact reason she does study abroad with students . To witness people like me having the greatest experiences .”

Beer and friendship were the memories marketing senior Cassidy Schlotterbeck cherishes most from the multilocation Brewing Industry Field Study

“Joyride Brewing is a small, 10-barrel brewhouse located about fifteen minutes outside of Denver While we were there, I had the Black Razz Blonde Beer . This beer won silver at the 2022 Great American Beer Festival . One thing to note about this beer is its fruitful taste and aroma .

“This memory is representative of the entire trip . All of the owners and tour guides at every brewery were more than willing to share their experiences, answer

any questions, and help all of us further understand their company . Along with this, hanging out with everyone from the trip was always very fun . Throughout the weeks, I made a couple of lifelong friends on this trip . Overall, this trip was one of my favorite experiences as a Miami student .”

Meeting FSB alumni and pitching to a managing director at Mizuho Securities during Wall Street Week were key takeaways for Mickey Fanella, a junior double majoring in accountancy and finance .

“Pitching our stock to a managing director at Mizuho Securities in this big conference room was pretty intimidating, going back and forth with him on the data that I had, the data that he had, and debating on our stock choice . It was definitely daunting, but I think that it was the best experience that I had from the program

“The alumni reception we had, I think there were 50 or 60 alumni there . It was really cool to see the Miami presence that we have in New York and on Wall Street . Hearing some of the stories being told from the older alumni with decades of experience on the street, hearing their stories about their young days when they were first starting out . It taught me that when you’re young, you really have to stay hungry and really think outside of the box to gain trust with the people you’re working alongside .”

It’s clear that even though these courses were less than a month long, the effects and learnings were timeless.

BLAND CAESAR SALAD LEADS TO Exciting CAREER MOVES

When someone mentions taking a “gap year,” they’re usually referring to a period between high school and college, when one travels the world or just takes it easy for awhile . Laura Palmer, on the other hand, took time off in the middle of her college experience to intern at Late Show with David Letterman, Saturday Night Live and Conan, a move that catalyzed her career in late night television .

“I started out in New York in my early 20s . I was interning and I lived in these tiny apartments with roommates and just kind of discovered the city for myself,” she said . “I didn’t sleep much during that season of my life, but you know, it was all worth it .”

The 2015 Farmer School marketing graduate didn’t just pick late night TV out of the career-fair-hat – it was a medium she’d been interested in for years “I’ve always had a fascination with late night TV– there’s so much history there . It’s an institution . After being bombarded by the heaviness of current events all day, late night distills everything down, flips the news on its head and gives folks the space to laugh before closing out the day,” Palmer said .

Growing up in Carmel, Indiana, Late Show with David Letterman was a staple in her household . So, when Palmer decided to seek out a summer internship, she knew where she wanted to land. “I wrote an impassioned letter to Letterman and -with some help - I was fortunate to be offered an interview and eventually, an internship,” she said . “That summer, working in the control booth at Letterman, cemented my love for late night – and I haven’t looked back since .”

As summer came to an end, Palmer was feeling reticent to leave; she began looking for new opportunities that would extend

her tenure in the city . Her resume found its way to Saturday Night Live, and after a few interviews, she was offered an entry-level position for season 39 .

That Fall in New York, she scheduled a meetup with a fellow Miamian, Jeffrey Crane Graham, an encounter that Palmer explains best in an Instagram post . “I was living in NYC working at SNL and Jeff was singing in an acapella quartet aboard the Celebrity Summit cruise ship (4-Sail!) . His ship was scheduled to port in Bayonne, New Jersey for one day only - and having known each other from afar in college, we decided to meet up on our mutual day off .”

“We ate bland Caesar salads at a strip-mall Houlihan’s and lost track of time talking . Before he had to rush back to the ship for some EmergencyOverboard-Muster-Drill, I awkwardly asked for this photo outside of a TJMaxx because #1 . I’m sure my sorority sisters wouldn’t believe that I had scored a lunch with THE campus heartthrob himself…#2 . Because I felt pretty sure that he was The One and I wanted to document it just in case .”

Spoiler alert: He was “The One.” “So every anniversary, I make him a bland Caesar salad,” Palmer said of her now-husband.

“In a historically male dominated field, it was refreshing to meet with Jill, who is an endless well of wisdom and a force for good in this industry. I knew from our first meeting that I’d move mountains to work with and learn from her.”

Palmer was offered a position as Leiderman’s Executive Assistant shortly after graduation, and still considers her to be a mentor eight years later .

Palmer rose through the ranks at Kimmel, from Executive Assistant to Associate Producer and now, to her current role as a Human Interest Segment Producer .

“If you have a viral video that’s picking up steam or a news story that seems too unbelievable to be true…you can expect a call from me . I’m competitive and I want to be the first TV show you hear from . I pride myself on my ability to track down just about anyone .”

Palmer says that the initial phone call is generally spent trying to convince people that she’s really calling from Jimmy Kimmel Live! “Once they accept that I’m not a scammer calling from a pyramid-scheme-operation, we can finally get to the fun stuff I want to become an ally to this person in their 15 minutes of fame . I want to hear the full story behind whatever hijinx landed them in the spotlight . At the end of the day, I just want these folks to trust me – and by extension the show – to do right by them . In most cases, this will be their first (and only) touchpoint with Hollywood – so I want to ensure that they a great experience from start to finish .”

After SNL, she returned to Oxford to continue on with her degree, pausing once more for a final internship at Conan on TBS . While on the west coast, she connected with Jill Leiderman, the then-Executive Producer of Jimmy Kimmel Live!

“In a historically male dominated field, it was refreshing to meet with Jill, who is an endless well of wisdom and a force for good in this industry . I knew from our first meeting that I’d move mountains to work with and learn from her .”

“There’s something so fun about getting to call a random woman in Idaho and tell her that we want her on Jimmy Kimmel Live! tonight . You get to be a part of a story she will tell her grandkids one day .”

Meanwhile, her husband transitioned from being a high school teacher in his hometown to working at a podcast network, doing some screenwriting, and producing a daily show with entertainment journalist, Maria Menounos . Graham was also reaching a point where he felt he needed

to make a decision . “I either need to go all in on this digital producer track that I’m on right now, which is a great track and a good career, or make the decision to take the plunge and see if I can get something that I’ve written really up in a sellable form,” he said .

“And Laura said, ‘You know, Jeff, we can either be 90 years old in a nursing home talking about that movie we never made, or we can take the risk now and take the plunge,” he recalled “It felt, you know, exciting and borderline delusional . But we agreed that the only thing more intimidating than making an indie movie ourselves was regretting one day that we hadn’t .”

So, sitting around a tiny kitchen table in their apartment, the couple worked out a way to bring Jeff’s film “Always, Lola” to life They decided that the perfect setting to film was a place they already knew well – Oxford .

“We had a really viable piece of material and I spoke to some folks in the theater department at Miami, who were excited about it . So we held a table read over Zoom with some Miami faculty and students . That launched us and put a fire under our butt to make it happen,” Graham said . “I think the thing that was really fun was being able to show my friends and fellow creatives this town that so nurtured who I am today .”

“Miami is both the perfectly sized campus to attend college and also kind of the ideal size to shoot a movie . Nothing is so far away that you can’t get equipment there,” Palmer said, “but it still has this different texture throughout the university, from Central Quad to the uptown area .”

“We came in with this institutional knowledge of the town, which was helpful . ‘Oh, yeah, remember that corner of Kofenya that’s really cozy? I think that would look really great in this shot if we lit it from above,’” she said . “So even though we were 2000 miles away in Los Angeles, we could still be brainstorming that kind creative from afar because we have such a deep-rooted familiarity .”

With Graham directing and a bevy of Miami students helping out, the film was shot in 11 days in the summer of 2021, in locations ranging from Hueston Woods State Park to the Oxford Police station and, yes, the Farmer School of Business . Meanwhile Palmer took on the role of “Producer” that was considerably different than the producing role she already had .

“It might sound fancy when you hear someone is a Producer of a movie . But the reality is that a producer is just a boots-on-the-ground, utility player . I was organizing flights, arranging catering, making sure everybody had transport to and from set,” she said . “I was aiming to be both a support system for Jeff and to create the path of least resistance for him to execute his creative vision .”

And while it might seem that a TV and movie producer has moved away from her marketing degree, Palmer said that’s not so . “The whole idea behind marketing is storytelling, right? You’re trying to put forward a brand’s story in the most enticing and effective way . I help regular people harness their 15 minutes of fame within the ecosystem of late night, guiding them to tell the best version of their stories on our show It’s all connected .”

After the movie was finished, the couple spent much of 2022 on the festival circuit bringing the film to audiences from coast-to-coast . They took home the top prize at the Marina Del Rey Film Festival and were featured at the prestigious Heartland and Boston Film Festivals, among others . Then offers to purchase the film began to roll in .

Early this year, Palmer and Graham found themselves back in their West Hollywood apartment, reading Deadline Hollywood “We sat at that same kitchen table and we had that same excitement and borderline delusional feeling because we were reading our names in the trades . We’d sold our first movie,” Palmer said . As for their future plans, “I’m excited to get back to that kitchen table and dream up our next delusional idea.

“I’ll keep that table forever, honestly,” she said .

THE MEANING OF L.I.F.E.

WITH A NEW $3 MILLION GIFT, MIAMI INTENDS TO EXPAND ITS PIONEERING WORK EXAMINING THE INTERSECTION OF FAITH AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND OPEN DOORS FOR OTHER UNIVERSITIES TO LAUNCH AND EXPAND SIMILAR PROGRAMS.

BY DONNA BOEN ’83, MTSC ’96, MIAMIAN EDITOR

In just four years, Miami University’s L .I .F .E . (Leading the Integration of Faith & Entrepreneurship) initiative has evolved from a back-of-the-napkin idea into an expanding program focused on studying the relationship between faith and entrepreneurship through rigorous academic research, a course taught in the Farmer School of Business, a student organization, and an international research conference .

The initial work has been so impressive that an anonymous donor is providing a $3 million gift to increase L .I .F .E .’s funding, from initial seed money to a substantial endowment approaching $5 million .

L .I .F .E . isn’t necessarily a program you would think of at Miami, a public institution . Brett Smith ’91 understands . As L .I .F .E .’s founding director, he’s quite familiar with the two

most common questions people ask — Why study faithbased entrepreneurship and why at a public university?

Why focus on faith?

Smith, the Cintas Endowed Professor of Entrepreneurship in the Farmer School of Business, believes the basic issue is whether faith affects entrepreneurship .

“Faith is a factor that some 80% of the world’s population claims,” Smith said. “To many of those people, it’s very central, including the way they identify opportunities, the ideas they will and won’t pursue, the places they’ll invest in, and from whom they’ll raise money.

“Yet we’re hesitant to study it,” he said . “Of course, religious scholars study it, and the psychologists and sociologists,

but for some reason, in business and entrepreneurship, we generally neglect one of the most important social variables shaping decisions around the world and across generations .” Faith is a factor that some 80% of the world’s population claims . To many of those people, it’s very central, including the way they identify opportunities, the ideas they will and won’t pursue, the places they’ll invest in, and from whom they’ll raise money .”

Smith and other academics at Miami and elsewhere are collaborating to eradicate that pattern of neglect .

Since L .I .F .E .’s founding in 2018, Miami faculty involved in the initiative have published in leading academic journals, organized a research conference attended by more than 150 scholars from 25 countries, and established a PhD seminar, a postdoctoral program, and a class for undergraduates that has brought in world-class speakers .

“We are very grateful for our donor’s gift to the L .I .F .E . program,” said Miami University President Gregory Crawford . “Such generosity will enable the program to accomplish its audacious goals and become a model for other universities .”

To be clear, L .I .F .E . participants are not endorsing any faith nor encouraging it . They are studying it and its impact on entrepreneurs, investors, and customers, the same way scholars focus on gender and race . In fact, it represents an important form of diversity – religious diversity – often absent from conversations about diversity, equity, and inclusion .

At

a public university?

Actually, Smith thinks L .I .F .E . research and teaching makes more sense at a public school than at a faith-based university for two reasons .

First, he said, objectivity about the intersection of faith and entrepreneurship might be more challenging at faith-based institutions, where a specific faith tradition may influence the types of questions, answers, and interpretations of the data .

Second, it provides Miami’s students with access to content they may not otherwise encounter at a public university or within the context of a business school that may substantially influence them in the workplace

While other public and private universities have similar programs, such as Princeton University, their emphasis is on faith and work . Miami’s is one of the first of its kind to focus specifically on the intersection of faith and entrepreneurship . This distinction is crucial, Smith said .

“We’re not suggesting people should bring faith into their entrepreneurial ventures . We’re simply recognizing that it’s already happening,” said Brett Smith, seen here teaching a PhD seminar .

“Entrepreneurs are change-makers and culture-makers,” he explained . “Entrepreneurs have more agency — or control — over the practices and culture created within their organizations than mid-level managers at large corporations .” What’s next?

With this new gift, Miami can expand its pioneering efforts with L .I .F .E . and open doors for other academics at other schools to launch and expand similar programs

“We are grateful to this donor both for understanding the mission of L .I .F .E . and why it is necessary and then for supporting our pioneering vision and enabling us to continue and expand, making it possible for other institutions to benefit as well,” said Jenny Darroch, dean of the Farmer School of Business and Mitchell P . Rales Chair in Business Leadership .

Smith added, “We’re not suggesting people should bring faith into their entrepreneurial ventures . We’re simply recognizing that it’s already happening What we want to do is help people understand how it is happening, why it is happening, and with what consequences, both negative and positive .

“People think, ‘Oh, I’m not religious so this doesn’t matter to me,’ ” Smith said “Well, it matters the minute you take a job at an entrepreneurial company where the founders, investors, or customers are deeply embedded in their faith . Then, the meaning of L .I .F .E . becomes very personal and important .”

Smith standing in front of a board, speaking to a group

Why GiveDonors

For some, it’s the desire to honor someone or someplace that had a profound impact on their lives . For others, it’s wanting to ensure that others have an opportunity to experience something that they otherwise would not have . Yet others feel an obligation, or a calling to use their success to make a positive impact .

For Jim and Amy Chapman, it’s a combination of all three, and more.

Jim grew up in Wisconsin and discovered Miami through a good friend, Jim Lockman, who was a Miami student and invited him to a local alumni meeting . He recalled, “I just thought it was so much fun . They raved about the business school, and how accepted it was in the Milwaukee area . My parents took me on a trip to Miami . I loved the school and made the decision that of the four schools to which I applied, Miami was the school I wanted to go to .”

Amy grew up in Ohio and got to know Miami through her next-door neighbor who invited her to Little Sibs weekend, where she, too, fell in love with the school . Both entered as business majors – Jim in 1968 with an interest in finance, and Amy in 1977 in marketing . A class with the legendary Bruce Olson sparked Jim’s interest in the bond market . “The class led me to a career in managing and later trading fixed income securities . It really started with Doc O” .

Although Amy enjoyed marketing, it didn’t turn into a career path . “I didn’t end up doing anything with marketing . I became a paralegal after Miami .”

In 1990, Jim and two partners started Meuse, Rinker & Chapman . “Three of us were doing investment banking and trading and selling of fixed-income securities . We grew the firm from three people to about 50 people and added a real estate department . Amy was hired to be a paralegal .

Jim didn’t know Amy, but knew that she was a Miami grad and invited her to a Miami event being held nearby . The rest, as they say, is history They were married less than six months later . This year they will mark their 38th wedding anniversary . Two of their three children, son Matt and daughter Brynne, are Miami grads .

“The client challenge has definitely been the most formative experience for me as a freshman in the business school. It's been a challenge, but I also think it's highlighted all the strengths that could not be highlighted in other programs,” NIKKI WHITE ‘25 SAID. “It's something that's really unique to Miami and it's really made my freshman year experience and made me love the Farmer School even more.”

But the decision to make charitable giving central in their lives predates Jim and Amy’s meeting . The concept came from Jim’s business partner, David Meuse . The partners got together for a dinner and Meuse declared, ‘We’re going to give 10% of our profits every year to charity.’ At the time, Jim wasn’t financially secure, and the firm needed capital, so he wasn’t 100% sold on the concept and thought that waiting a few years might be sensible .

“The first year in 1981, we actually lost money, but in 1982, we had a great year . The three of us sat down over breakfast and we gave over $100,000 to charity . We all picked ones that we were near and dear to us . It really changed my life . It felt so good, especially to give it when I couldn’t really afford to give it .”

It felt so good in fact, that in addition to the firm’s giving, Jim and Amy have done the same thing personally, donating a significant amount every year . As Jim explained, “Because Miami provided such a wonderful base for the two of us, Miami has actually been the number one beneficiary of our charitable dollars .” Amy’s experience and passion for volunteering with at-risk children and families experiencing homelessness makes those two more key beneficiaries of the Chapmans’ financial support .

Amy added, “Jim and I have a philosophy that it’s our responsibility to give back to the community in ways that we can because we have been blessed.”

CLASS OF 2023 BEYOND READY FOR

THE NEXT STAGE OF THEIR JOURNEY

More than 1,200 Farmer School of Business students became Farmer School of Business alumni at Millett Hall . A pair of FSB graduates, one older, the other brand new, took to the stage to send off the graduates with their thoughts .

Diana Chudnovsky, a graduating supply chain and entrepreneurship major, noted that while she was from Pittsburgh, she was also a first-generation American, which meant some childhood moments were different from her peers .

“Growing up in a bilingual household, I spent much of my early childhood watching movies in my family’s native language, and while many of them had little to do with what the other kids were watching at the time, I distinctly remember watching their version of the Wizard of Oz for hours and hours on end,” Chudnovsky said “At an age when I wanted so desperately to connect with others, to feel like I belonged, I was enamored by the fact that, while the languages were completely different and some details were not exactly the same, everyone I spoke to, no matter the culture or the age, could recall Dorothy and each of her dear friends by heart .”

She said that when she was asked to be the student speaker, she initially had trouble settling on a concept or memory to connect with the students in front of her, before settling on her “Wizard of Oxford theory .”

“The road to graduation, much like the one leading to the Emerald City, is long and winding, with the final destination promising as much beauty as it does uncertainty . However, this road is not meant to be traveled alone . Along the way, we meet individuals that not only keep us company, but teach us to become the individuals we have always strived to be” Chudnovsky said . “Much like the lion, we learned courage from our loved ones when we embarked on this journey some four odd years ago, despite the fact that they themselves had never experienced anything like it before . Like the scarecrow, straw by straw we collect knowledge from our professors and our mentors, enabling us to understand the problem at hand, to strategize, and ultimately prove ourselves as critical contributors to every room .

Like the tin man, we keep compassion at the heart of all that we do, with friends by our side who encourage us every day to persevere in the face of inevitable change .”

“The movie itself may be older, but the lessons are as old as time . Moment by moment, our home becomes the place where our people are, and where our greatest memories live on,” she said .

Chudnovsky reminisced about her years at Miami, from her late nights in the FSB lower level, to her visits to professors and mentors to ask questions, and watching the sun rise over Cook Field .

“When we finally look around after the moment has passed, we often find ourselves standing in the same place, with the same people that have been there all along, and we hold on with all our might to the memories that will last a lifetime,” she said . “It is my sincere hope that once this moment has taken its leave, and we find ourselves in a new reality beyond the walls of the Farmer School of Business and the cornfields of Oxford, that this legacy continues on through us .”

Part of that legacy was the other commencement speaker, Neil Hunn . Hunn, a 1994 FSB accountancy and finance graduate, is president and chief executive officer of Roper Technologies . He told the soon-to-be-graduates that he left Miami fully intending to be an accountant, and 29 years later, “I’ve never done a day of accounting in my life .” Hunn said that to find happiness, the students should strive to do a job that they love, simple advice that he admitted isn’t always simple to achieve . “How many of you know what you love career wise? And importantly, will love 10, 20, 30 years from now?” he asked .

Hunn gave the students five pieces of advice for finding their love:

• WORK HARD: “Put your head down and work, and I mean really hard . Work smart, be organized, be a student of your personal productivity You’ll love seeing the connection between hard work and results .”

• BE CURIOUS: “Be excited to be curious Have the confidence to be curious . Let your curiosity drive you . Ask why, then ask why again . If you do that five times, you’ll likely get to the core understanding of what you’re curious about . At that point, there is core and fundamental learning . Make mistakes, proudly . If you are not curious and not making mistakes, you are not on a steep enough learning curve .”

ALEX TYREE ‘11 STARS IN BRAVO’S SUMMER HOUSE: MARTHA’S VINEYARD

Bravo’s Summer House fans should brace themselves for a mind-blowing experience with the spin-off show Summer House: Martha’s Vineyard series. After more than four years of providing viewers with premium reality drama by following groups of friends who share a summer house vacation, the latest Bravo installation will twist the format.

Summer House: Martha’s Vineyard will feature an all-black cast for the first time in the show’s history. The series will follow twelve friends from different backgrounds, with different jobs, all living together under one roof through summer.

Alex was first featured in the Spring, 2020 issue of The Journey

• BE HUMBLE: “C .S . Lewis said it best . ‘Humility is not thinking less of yourself, but rather thinking of yourself less .’ Be the one who grabs the presentations and carries them into the client meeting, be the one who does the small things, all with a super positive attitude . If you are humble, you’ll be a great teammate . To that end, do whatever it takes to make your teammates better .”

• BE VULNERABLE: “Be the one who asks for help . Be the one who admits a mistake . Be the one who admits when you are wrong, and be the one to apologize when you mistreat a colleague or friend . If you are able to be vulnerable, it will amplify your ability to learn . You’ll find yourself in the position of listening with the intent to learn vs . having the intent to be heard .”

• FAMILY FIRST: “As time passes you’ll have a partner, most will have children . Your role as a mother or father is the only role that will be uniquely yours for your entire life . This is way more important than any job or career could ever be . But I’m here to tell you, family first does not need to be a trade-off with a successful career .”

“The key question I asked myself about each next role was if I had any idea what to do on the first day in the new seat . If the answer was yes, then it was not a steep enough learning curve . I’ve literally pushed myself to be wildly uncomfortable every time . But guess what? I’ve loved it every time,” Hunn said . “What I hope and pray for each of you is that you’ll realize that love is not a thing, or a job, or a destination . It’s the actual journey .”

Jenny Darroch, dean of the Farmer School of Business, presided over the event and mentioned that journey in her own words of wisdom to the graduates .

“As you prepare to embark on the next phase of your journey, I encourage you to remember the values and lessons you have learned during your time here,” Farmer School dean Jenny Darroch said . “You have learned the importance of hard work, dedication, and perseverance . You have gained valuable knowledge and skills that will serve you well in your future endeavors . But most importantly, I hope you leave Oxford with a deep sense of purpose and a commitment to making a positive impact on the world .”

A top 10 undergraduate entrepreneurship program housed within a business school that is one of the top three public schools for students landing a job with their desired company.

The John W. Altman Institute for Entrepreneurship at Miami University’s Farmer School of Business is a rare breed. And not just because it has been ranked as a top 10 public undergraduate program by the Princeton Review for 15 years in a row. Our students learn, practice, and polish their skills in startup and venture capital competitions, by working with real clients, in internships, and study away and abroad programs.

12 Unicorns founded or led

A pair of Farmer School of Business supply chain operations and management students have won a scholarship aimed at women studying the major. Emily McAtee and Katelyn Hartings are two of 20 women in the nation to receive the 2023 AWESOME Scholarship.

AWESOME stands for Achieving Women’s Excellence in Supply Chain Operations, Management & Education, and is a nonprofit focused on advancing and transforming the future of supply chain leadership.

The power to take you beyond your dreams.

Named Professors

DR . BRIAN BALLOU

EY Professor of Accountancy

DR . LEE BIGGERSTAFF

Armco Endowed Assistant Professor

DR . THOMAS BOULTON

Jack R Anderson Professor in Finance

DR . ARTHUR CARVALHO

Dinesh & Ila Paliwal Innovation Chair

DR . MICHAEL CONGER

Endres Associate Professor Fellow

DR . ROBERT DAHLSTROM

Joseph C . Seibert Professor

DR . JENNY DARROCH

Dean & Mitchell P . Rales Chair in Business Leadership

DR . DEVON DELVECCHIO

Raymond E . Glos Professor in Marketing

MR . GEORGE DENMAN

Herbert E Markley Visiting Executive Professor

DR . TIM EATON

Arthur Andersen Alumni Professor

DR . LISA ELLRAM

James Evans Rees

Distinguished Professor of Supply Chain Management

DR . ANNE FARRELL PwC Professor of Accountancy

DR . JIM FRIEDMAN White Family Clinical Faculty in Entrepreneurship

DR . JON GRENIER

C . Rollin Niswonger Professor

DR . DAN HEITGER

Deloitte Professor

DR . XIAOWEN HUANG

Bill Moeckel Business Professor

DR . ALLISON JONES-FARMER Van Andel Professor of Business Analytics

DR . HAIM KASSA Lindmor Professor

MR . MARK LACKER

John W . Altman Clinical Professor of Entrepreneurship

DR . HANNAH LEE Endres Associate Professor Fellow

DR . YOUNG (GABE) HWA LEE C . Michael Armstrong Business Chair

DR . ANNA-KATHARINA LENZ

Lance and Diana White Assistant Professor

DR . XI LIU Ohio Casualty Professor

DR . FADEL MEGAHED Endres Associate Professor Fellow

DR . JENNY MINIER

Julian Lange Professor of Economics

MR . WILLIAM (BILL) MYERS

Herbert E . Markley Visiting Executive Professor

DR . GLENN PLATT

C Michael Armstrong Professor of Network Technology & Management

DR . JOSEPH RODE

George and Mildred Panuska Professor in Business

DR . MATTHEW SCHWIETERMAN

Dr . John F . Mee Professor in Management

DR . JAY SHAN

Rose-Marie Garcia Anderson Endowed Assistant Professor

DR . SYDNEY SHU PwC Endowed Assistant Professor in Accountancy

DR . BRETT SMITH Cintas Chair in Entrepreneurship

DR . CHRIS SUTTER David and Vicki Herche Endowed Associate Professor Chair

DR . FEIFEI WANG

G . Richard and Jane S . Thomas Endowed Assistant Professor

MR . GORDON WRIGHT

Herbert E . Markley Visiting Executive Professor

DR . DAVID YIN

Frank H . Jellinek Jr . Endowed Assistant Professor Chair

the Farmer School of Business