Georgetown Business Magazine - Fall 2024

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Innovating Responsibly

AI is transforming society at an exponential rate. How do we use it as a force for good?

The rate of change and technological advancement in AI has accelerated rapidly over the past few years, and it is driving both economic and social transformation in the workforce. While these technological innovations have brought positive change to our world, there are broader implications to their adoption. How do we address the ethical considerations of AI? According to Paul Almeida, dean and William R. Berkley Chair, it should start with business schools.

What are the ethical considerations of AI?

With the advent of AI and machine learning, the future holds both perils and promise. We are already witnessing the benefits of these tools, including better information accessibility, automation capabilities, and decision-making power. But as we celebrate the potential for good, we also need to understand the ethical challenges of AI, including how to evaluate algorithmic bias and discrimination, data privacy and surveillance, and the loss of human judgment in decision-making. Additionally, as new technologies increase the potential for job displacement, we must develop strategies to ensure that as new opportunities emerge, the most vulnerable members of society are not left behind in the new future of work.

How is McDonough preparing students to be responsible leaders of technology evolution?

Through a foundation in values-based leadership, alongside an innovative curriculum focused on real-world transforma-

tions, we empower our students to deploy their education and skill sets for good in the world. We require courses on ethical leadership and social responsibility to ensure our students contemplate the potential for good across every industry and sector, and then we challenge their ethics through case studies and projects. These efforts are exemplified through classes in our undergraduate and graduate programs, such as the M.S. in Business Analytics capstone, where students collaborate with industry leaders to tackle complex data problems while accounting for ethical considerations facing the organizations — and in our elective about the rise of generative AI, to explore the relationship between humans and machines and the risks to adopting these tools.

How do we address these issues more broadly in society?

As a Jesuit institution, we are called to translate global challenges into opportunities to build our communities and improve outcomes for society at large.Through our AI, Analytics, and Future of Work Initiative, we are producing research and informing business leaders and policymakers on how to help our most vulnerable members adapt — and thrive — in a new world of work. This requires responding to current innovations, leveraging our research expertise to inform the broader impact of these transformations, and equipping the next generation of AI and analytical leaders with the tools they need to lead the future of business with compassion and concern for all workers.

FEATURE | 14 >

Spinning Gold

How Max Durovic turned sign spinning into a guerrilla marketing empire — and a cultural phenomenon.

Power Players

Georgetown business alumni are electrifying the energy revolution. PROFILE | 26

“It is remarkable that we are constantly trying to fight against our natures, run away from how our brains function, and tend to be generally unaware of our biology.”

Max Durovic was his high school’s entertainment coordinator and a DJ; he loved being the center of attention. He took those skills and a simple concept and built a company that entertained people while driving future business.

PATHS | 06

Landing the Interview: Taking Flight

Beyond Business: The Bridge Builder Six Degrees: Going Private Pitch Deck: Baked with Purpose

Georgetown Business

Dean, William R. Berkley Chair Paul Almeida

Associate Dean, Chief Marketing and Communications Officer

Teresa Mannix

Senior Director of Marketing and Communications

Samantha Krause

Associate Director of Publications and Design

Martha Holland

Director of Alumni Relations and Corporate Partnerships

Sara Solin Martinez

INNOVATIONS | 10

Buying / Selling: Does Distance Matter in the Modern Workplace? Making the Case: Bigger Business Career Up: Success Through Service The Edge: The Truth Behind the Cost

CONNECTIONS | 30

My Shot: Dog Days

Pivot: A New Look at Life

My Feed: Be Better

My First Job: It All Adds Up Class Notes

Creative Direction 2communiqué

Editorial Direction Dog Ear Creative

Staff Writers

Rachel Ellis Brian Rea

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McDonough School of Business Alumni

Briefings

10 Years of Blended

Finance Education

Launched in 2014 as Georgetown McDonough’s first technology-intensive program, the Master of Science in Finance (MSF) celebrates a decade of innovation and growth as it continues its mission to deliver a transformational blended online learning experience. The program has since grown from 39 to 330 students while being regularly ranked among the top 10 programs — online and onsite — in the United States. MSF graduates also report extraordinary career outcomes and salaries that surpass industry benchmarks, year after year.

“The MSF program was Dean Almeida’s idea, and he asked me to create the vision and run with it,” said Allan Eberhart, senior associate dean and founding director of the MSF program. “I worked with many amazing colleagues as part of the program’s launch, and we knew from our experience with teaching part-time graduate students that there was an unmet demand for a program that offered the quality of a top in-person program with the flexibility to attend class online. So, we did the opposite of what other online programs were doing by providing a unique blend of genuine quality with flexibility. It was a great risk because it was so different, but it has worked.”

Students Drive Small Business Success

Georgetown McDonough recently established the Small Business Corps (SBC), which pairs experienced business students with small enterprises in under-resourced communities across the Washington, D.C., region. SBC mobilizes the skills, know-how, and creativity of Georgetown business students to support the growth and profitability of small enterprises through customized, project-based consulting. The program is supported by the generosity of corporate sponsors Bank of America and PNC Bank, as well as the McDonough Dean’s Office, the University President’s Office, and many Georgetown alumni. Boston Consulting Group also provides pro bono consulting training and coaching to the student corps members. In its pilot phase, SBC matched 36 Georgetown student consultants with 15 small businesses, resulting in over 9,000 consulting hours to support small business success and, in turn, help local communities thrive. This year, SBC will expand to recruit and match 60 business students with 30 local small businesses.

“ It’s not too early to start thinking about what your lasting impact will be. More than any amount of money you make or titles you accumulate, it’s the difference you make in the lives of others that will give you the greatest reward.”

—ANN SARNOFF (B’83), DURING HER COMMENCEMENT

ALLAN EBERHART ON:

Dubai Meets Washington

The first cohort of Georgetown University’s Executive MBA (EMBA) in Dubai program traveled to Washington, D.C., as part of the Global Business Experience consulting project to present their findings to U.S.-based clients, visit cultural sites, and gain new perspectives on business relations between the United States and the UAE. In a unique joint course opportunity, the Dubai-based EMBA students also worked with the D.C.-based EMBA program on a project during their Organizational Behavior and Leadership course to emphasize international collaboration and engagement between the two cohorts. Students from both programs met face-to-face, presented their project outcomes, and built relationships with one another.

Recognizing Global Impact

Five exceptional Georgetown alumni under the age of 40 — including Vikram Agrawal (SFS’07), Caroline Cotto (NHS’14), Augustin Porres (MPP’16), Devi Sahny (C’15), and Alexandra Scott (NHS’10, MSFS’15) — were honored at the Baratta Center for Global Business’ Future of Global Business Conference for their exemplary leadership, innovation, and impact in promoting the positive aspects of globalization. The new Baratta Center Global Impact Award aims to acknowledge future leaders who are engaged in innovative and sustainable initiatives that foster cross-border business and economic development.

“The Baratta Center is thrilled to recognize Hoya alumni making a meaningful impact on a global scale,” said Joseph Baratta (B’93), global head of private equity at Blackstone. “Whether their influence as business leaders is felt in the C-suite, in the nonprofit sector, through philanthropic efforts, or through new entrepreneurial pursuits — the recipients of this inaugural award are driving positive change and making a meaningful difference on issues impacting our world.”

Taking on Health

Georgetown McDonough has launched the collaborative Business of Health Initiative to prepare business leaders and medical professionals to tackle critical issues in the healthcare industry. Through academic discovery, multidisciplinary research, and ongoing engagement with industry practitioners, students will be equipped to inspire forward-thinking solutions to the administration of the national healthcare system.

“As one of the largest sectors in the United States, health and wellness remain deeply connected to the prosperity of our businesses, our communities, and our economy,” said Sandeep Dahiya, Akkaway Professor of Entrepreneurship and director of the Business of Health Initiative. “The Business of Health Initiative will address the most pressing concerns in the industry, including technological disruptions, joint healthcare ventures, price transparency, and increasing accessibility and affordability to proper care.”

THE INTERVIEWER

Finance

LANDING THE INTERVIEW

Taking Flight

How to be a caring leader — and a successful businessperson.

Andy Blocker (EMBA’02) speaks with Kelly Grace Richardson (B’25) about pivoting in industry, building trust and empowerment in the work environment, and leading with empathy.

How did Georgetown prepare you for a career?

Georgetown motivated me to move out of the airline industry. While at McDonough, we did three different case studies on the airline industry. The operating margins were very tight and the smallest fluctuation of oil prices or demand could easily tip you from black to red. After graduation, I had an opportunity to move to the financial services industry, and I took it. Later, Invesco was an opportunity to build an operation from scratch, take what I had learned from previous roles and business school, and put my theories into practice.

Could you share an initiative you spearheaded that you’re particularly proud of?

The most meaningful project was with American Airlines, working on their international route negotiation work with the U.S. State and Transportation departments. Then, 9/11 happened.

American brought me back to work with Congress because two American Airlines planes were involved in the terrorist attack. While we were still getting our bearings, we discovered we had a $36 billion liability hanging over our heads. We were going to go bankrupt.

Part of my mandate was to work on helping get liability relief so that we wouldn’t go bankrupt. We came up with a package that insured the airlines involved in 9/11 and a victim’s relief package. Our basic premise was that the terrorists have already had one victory. Let’s not give them another symbolic victory of American Airlines going out of business. That was a very meaningful endeavor.

Kelly Grace Richardson (B’25)

What strategies have you found most effective for fostering innovation, whether it’s within your team or organizations as a whole?

First, create an environment of trust and empowerment, with clear roles and responsibilities.

If you want people to trust an environment, you have to embody that trust in what you do and say every day, and you have to be consistent over time. Then, people will come out of their shells and start sharing.

Plus, you need to consistently reward the behavior that you’re looking for — that’s where you get the crosspollination of ideas and people wanting to help each other.

The whole concept of “one team, one dream” is important. But it takes a lot of consistency at the top of that organization, and it takes fairness. The minute anyone sniffs out favoritism, it’s over.

What are the most important qualities leadership possesses, and how do you personally strive to embody those qualities in your own leadership style?

There are a number of leadership qualities to embrace. One is service. Are you a servant leader? Also, are you investing in your team — giving them the tools, skills, and perspective they need to do the job?

But the most important quality is listening. I do a lot of talking in my job. I talk on TV; I talk to clients; I talk to members of Congress. I’m always advocating something. So you have to be careful that as much time as you’re talking, you’re also listening.

How did your Georgetown education help you succeed in your current position?

That’s a great question. Georgetown had everything to do with what I’m able to do now.

From learning from my fellow students to having incredible professors who I still talk to today, they’re great examples of working in business with an ethos that values people. And I think that’s missing. Today it’s all about results, short-term often.

However, Georgetown gave me permission to be successful in business and care about people you work with.

I think that’s a differentiator — ethics. You’re taught that business doesn’t have to be cutthroat. Business can be additive to the people you’re working with.

THE INTERVIEWEE

Andy Blocker (EMBA’02), Global Head of Public Policy and Strategic Partnerships, Invesco

The Bridge Builder

Jerome Smalls has spent his adult life building bridges to connect youth to their communities.

creating spaces that make a real impact. That’s the motto Jerome Smalls (B’19, G’22) has lived by his entire life. “Go to a neighborhood, a town, a city, and just make that place better.”

While growing up in Charleston, South Carolina, Smalls looked for ways to empower those around him through volunteerism and entrepreneurial ventures.

“I started a website business with a friend, joined an organization that equips Lowcountry youth with entrepreneurial and business skills, and sold candy in my neighborhood, amongst other ventures,” Smalls said.

Before his time on the Hilltop, Smalls pictured his professional career taking off in a high-rise building in

New York City working for a large corporation. After completing his first year at McDonough, he decided this path wasn’t the best fit for him.

“I quickly learned that the world of corporate America was far beyond what I could have ever conceptualized it to be,” Smalls said. “Once I was exposed to it, I didn’t feel as aligned to it anymore.”

As Smalls navigated this chapter of self-discovery and weighed his career options, he said it created internal conflict that wasn’t always easy to deal with.

“I felt a bit of survivor’s guilt,” Smalls said. “As a first-generation, low-income student going to a school as prestigious as Georgetown — all while many of my friends didn’t grad-

uate high school or tried college and it didn’t work out for them — it caused me to wonder: ‘Why am I able to have this opportunity to attend a school like Georgetown when many of my friends could have been just as successful?’”

As difficult as these feelings were to manage, Smalls knew he could use his personal experience to positively influence young minds and educators alike. He wrote his first book, Small Talk: One Youth. Seven Stories. Countless Lessons., which offers tools and educational resources for students and teachers through storytelling and cultural competency lessons.

“The more I spoke with young people, the more it became evident that they weren’t being heard,” Smalls said. “These students were dealing with immense trauma, challenging situations, and navigating their own identities.”

In March 2023, Smalls felt a calling to return to his Charleston roots. He moved back home where he serves as the developer of youth outreach programs for the city’s police department.

“I don’t have a background in law enforcement,” Smalls said. “However, the role has been the perfect blend of my passions. I am applying my marketing background by communicating the police department’s brand to our youth. I am also applying my educational background through my efforts to use local law enforcement to best serve and empower our young people.”

Smalls said he looks forward to serving as a mentor and leader in this capacity and hopes to use his personal story to empower others to go and make positive change in their communities and beyond.

—RACHEL ELLIS

Jerome Smalls’ book, Small Talk: One Youth. Seven Stories. Countless Lessons., uses his personal experience to positively influence young minds and educators.

BEYOND BUSINESS

While at McDonough, I formed strong relationships with faculty members, like… After graduating, I started brainstorming with…

Gregory Lyon

I was invited to be a guest speaker in the Psychology of Big Data class, taught by…

Jenn Logg

Assistant Professor of Management

My colleagues and I have spoken in Georgetown classes

Sudipta Dasmohapatra Professor of the Practice (Business Analytics) and Senior Associate Dean of MBA Programs

As an industry leader in AI, I bring partners from major companies to visit campus and serve as advisors for capstones.

Assistant Teaching Professor in Business Analytics MSBA Alumni Panelist

a close friend and trusted mentor, about how to integrate Georgetown and my company

Dasmohapatra has also visited the SAS campus

SIX DEGREES

GOING PRIVATE

I serve as a mentor to students, like…

Clark Necciai (MSBA’24)

I’ve helped students launch their careers by serving as a posting jobs at my company with the

McDonough Career Center

James DeNofrio (MSBA’22), an Army veteran, spent nearly 30 years working for the federal government before pivoting to the private sector. He is now the managing director and senior account executive for Veterans Affairs and Defense Health at SAS, a data and AI company. As a leader in an emerging field, DeNofrio is committed to mentoring the next generation of business leaders by helping students build their networks and connecting them with opportunities to help advance their careers.

Baked with Purpose

maspanadas began as an unexpected journey, born from a desire to overcome adversity and create something meaningful. As a Colombian immigrant, I fled to the United States 24 years ago, seeking safety and a new life. The challenges of balancing a demanding career and raising three young children highlighted the deep need for community and support. The support of a family friend encouraged me to start MasPanadas, a modern Latin American catering company with a purpose. Our empanadas quickly became a hit, revealing a lucrative opportunity in the $66 billion frozen foods market. MasPanadas stands out with its blend of authentic Latin American flavors and modern culinary innovation, offering nutritious, convenient, and versatile options. Beyond food, we empower vulnerable women by providing employment, making a real impact in our community. MasPanadas isn’t just a business; it’s a story of resilience, cultural celebration, and social responsibility.

Margarita Womack (EMBA’19) Founder & CEO, MasPanadas

— MARGARITA WOMACK

PITCH DECK

Does Distance Matter in the Modern Workplace?

The world of remote and hybrid work has become the norm, but that doesn’t mean we have successfully navigated its challenges just yet.

In the age of constant real-time communication, Assistant Professor Jasmina Chauvin (SFS’05) is curious about the role distance and location plays in a firm’s performance. Chauvin, a graduate of Georgetown’s Walsh School of Foreign Service, worked in infrastructure and energy finance, as well as international development, before returning to academia. She teaches core courses in strategic management and the structure of global industries at Georgetown McDonough.

Chauvin’s research focuses on firm performance and growth — how firms decide where to locate different parts of their organization, how resources are allocated within the firm, and the effects of transportation and communication costs on firm performance in the United States, as well as emerging markets. Her research also explores a broader question: does the geographic distribution of various firm operations impact business efficiency — and why?

Here, Chauvin discusses the recent shift to remote work and how firms should consider the dimension of distance between their employees.

BUYING

Distance Matters and Challenges Should Be Considered

As internet communication has experienced exponential growth over the past two decades, some employers and employees alike have bought into the idea that “distance is dead.” As a result, employees are more likely to work with teams that are geographically separated. Even in the age of digital communication, though, distance does matter when it comes to business efficiency and effectiveness. It can be a challenge to manage a firm that’s distributed across multiple locations — whether it be globally, multinationally, or even in various cities in the same country. In today’s modern and globalized workplace, time zone differences are more frequent than they used to be. When employees are based in different time zones, it can create friction for real-time, synchronous communication, such as Zoom meetings. Firms and their employees, however, can overcome this hurdle by time shifting. For instance, an employee working for a London-based company in the United States can adjust their work day to fit standard business hours in London.

SELLING

The Belief that Distance Doesn’t Matter Following the COVID-19 pandemic, fully-remote and hybrid work became the norm for many companies — with it, the idea that employees can live anywhere in the world and workflow is not interrupted. As a result, companies have become more global than ever before. While some employees may prefer a non-linear work day and can easily time shift, it’s not a one-sizefits-all solution for every job and duty. For roles that require brainstorming, problem-solving, and creative thinking, synchronous communication with colleagues is essential. On the other hand, employees who perform more routine tasks that don’t involve collaboration, such as data entry, time shifting may be easier because that type of work can be easily done asynchronously. There are trade-offs to time shifting as well. For instance, employees may end up working around the clock, which can lead to burnout and dissatisfaction. Furthermore, working early morning and late evening hours can be costly for employees.

— BRIAN REA

Bigger Business

When Social Action Spurs Better Business.

a core georgetown value is “People for Others,” and this is the cornerstone of the Master of Arts in International Business and Policy (MA-IBP) program’s Social Action Projects, where students collaborate with public, private, and nonprofit organizations to develop recommendations for tackling international business issues. Here is a look at a few of the challenges the Class of 2023 explored to drive greater social purpose in the world.

Christopher Perry

The Client: The Representative of Germany Industry and Trade, the German Embassy, Responsible Alpha Consulting

The Problem: Germany is investing heavily in clean hydrogen and plans to become a future import and export hub, and the United States is aiming to become one of its largest net exporters. However, many German firms have withheld investment in the U.S. market until there is more clarity about the standards for subsidy and tax credits, as well as international trade strategy.

The Solution/Pitch: Perry met with the Representative of German Industry and Trade to understand the policy environment and engaged in independent research. He concluded that connecting hydrogen stakeholders in the two countries was the most effective way to create dialogue about the misalignments. Perry organized the U.S.-German Hydrogen Forum at McDonough, featuring perspectives from German and American

companies, investors, and think tanks. The forum format has been adopted as an annual event by the USA-Germany Climate and Energy Partnership.

Heather Falen Ashby, Jackie Frederick-Maturo, Laura Hays, Sarah Leung

The Client: U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), Bureau of Humanitarian Assistance, Global Development Alliance

The Problem: Most farms are harvested by some of the poorest populations, who also experience the most food insecurity. Hunger rates are on the rise and farmers, especially women, are mired in an endless cycle of poverty, driven by post-harvest loss due to pest infestation, mold growth, rot, and theft.

The Solution/Pitch: The MA-IBP group analyzed Global Development Alliance projects in Niger and Tanzania to prevent post-harvest loss. The group investigated tools that allow farmers to stabilize cash flow between harvest and dry seasons, including the use of Purdue Improved Crop Storage bags, a cost-effective solution that stores grain without using insecticides. In addition to producing a whitepaper, the group analyzed gender engagement strategies with recommendations for broad application with women farmers and presented their research at a SAP Symposium and to professionals across the USAID.

Greg Felder

The Client: Hekima University

The Problem: East Africa is home to a large Jesuit population, but there are few universities for them to attend. Hekima University, a startup proposed by the Jesuit Fathers Trustees of the Eastern Africa Province, will offer undergraduate, postgraduate, and executive programs to students from member countries in the region. The founders need to raise money and resources to launch the university.

The Solution/Pitch: Felder worked to develop a marketing strategy and establish new partnerships and tailored the marketing materials to resonate with potential donors. He developed a pitch book, a brochure for in-person fundraising events, updated the university’s website, and created new, modern graphics for use in all marketing materials.

Chris Perry, Heather

Falen Ashby, Greg

Felder

Success Through Service

at our core, Georgetown’s values focus on community. Yet, so often in career management, we focus on ourselves. Consider the following ways to grow your network and reputation through service to others:

REVERSE NETWORKING

Instead of seeking connections, attract them. Hop on LinkedIn and share an article or comment on a hot topic.

EXPERIENCE CREATION

Generate new pathways for others. Repost an internship or job opportunity with your LinkedIn community while growing your visibility.

VOLUNTEER TIME

Share your expertise. By contributing to a LinkedIn article or offering informational interviews to Georgetown students, you can make a lasting impact. The confidence gained by giving back will make you a stronger, more valuable asset whether you hope to upskill, find a new job, or secure a big promotion.

— LAURA VENOS, DIRECTOR, MCDONOUGH CAREER CENTER

The Truth Behind the Cost

Whether you’re house hunting, grocery shopping, or filling up at the pump, it’s no secret consumers across the United States are concerned about inflation. Yet the numbers tell a different story — inflation has fallen and experts report a positive outlook for the U.S. economy.

If all data points to a strong economy, why do consumers feel differently? Francesco D’Acunto, A. James Clark Chair in Global Real Estate and Provost Distinguished Associate Professor of Finance, explains this phenomenon and how to close the inflation education gap.

How do consumers and the administration perceive economic indicators? Consumers and economists think about inflation and its impact on financial decisions very differently. While experts measure aggregate economic data metrics to determine the health of the economy, consumers care about the prices they’re exposed to every day. The cost of milk is not an indicator of overall economic performance but those prices are important to the consumer — our research shows that they impact financial-planning decisions such as when to buy a house and when to refinance a mortgage as well as broader actions such as how they vote in elections. These decisions in turn impact financial markets, housing markets, and the real economy.

How can we bridge the gap between consumer perceptions and economic data?

One way is by incorporating robo-advising tools to demonstrate in real-time how spending is allocated across a person’s portfolio. If a consumer is upset about the price of milk, a robo-advisor can demonstrate that a 5% increase in milk isn’t as significant when put into context of, say, housing and mortgage-related spending. Our research indicates these interventions can immediately change how consumers think about inflation and improve their financial choices, which also helps stabilize prices in financial and housing markets and the real economy.

Do consumer expectations differ when looking across wealth distribution? People view the economy differently across income and wealth distribution, which is a source of both financial and educational inequality. Consumers with more wealth align with economists’ viewpoint, while consumers with financial constraints do not. Because economists’ perspectives tend to be more accurate, those with higher incomes make better financial decisions for their futures. This discrepancy is often compounded by financial literacy, further stressing the need for communication policy and educational apps to help everyone make better choices.

CAREER UP

SPINNING

TYLER CARTWRIGHT’S WINNING performance in February’s World Sign Spinning championship had the physicality of a gymnastics floor routine mixed with the precision of high-art juggling and the electric crowd engagement of a WWE match. Flipping, tossing, and manipulating in every conceivable manner an arrow-shaped sign for an audience gathered in the heart of downtown Las Vegas, the 29-year-old from Atlanta beat out almost 60 other competitors to take the title.

The championship is the culmination of the 25-year-old creation of Max Durovic (B’05, MBA’10), founder and CEO of AArrow Sign Spinners, the business he built around his high-octane marketing invention. All of the spinners competing at the event, now in its 17th year, are employees of the company, so it feels a little like a family reunion, says Durovic. “Goldman [Sachs] might have their holiday party,” he says with a smile. “But every year, the better we’re doing, the more fun we can have with this event.”

This was the future Durovic had envisioned for sign spinning at its

genesis. In 1999, when he was 16 years old, he and his friend, Mike Kenny, now the company’s COO, got summer jobs as “human directionals” — essentially charged with holding signs in high-traffic areas to alert potential customers to new housing developments or business openings. It was the dawn of the extreme sports era, and Durovic and Kenny lived in the Ocean Beach neighborhood of San Diego — a hub of those alternative, adrenaline-fueled pursuits and host of the previous year’s X Games. What if, they wondered, there was an extreme sports version of what we’re doing? What is the X Games version of marketing? Sign spinning was born.

“Having it be more than a business and actually be a sport and a way to entertain people was always just as much a goal as the business being successful,” says Durovic.

It was a good fit for Durovic. He was his high school’s entertainment coordinator and a DJ; he loved being the center of attention. He was also a hustler, determined to wake up early and outwork everybody. The company

was built on a simple guerilla marketing concept, but he started really building the business of AArrow out of his dorm room at Georgetown, guided in part by his experiences in the classroom.

“I received really valuable feedback from my classmates on how to make the business better or tools that I could use to help, say, calculate your profitability and investment criteria,” says Durovic.

He also credits his entrepreneurship professor, Will Finnerty, with critical mentorship. “He was just outstanding at forcing me to take my business plan to the next level,” says Durovic.

His entrepreneurship class with Finnerty concluded with a presentation to a group of venture capitalists. “The whole panel loved it, so we won the business plan competition for the class,” he says. “That was a great boost of confidence.”

The three years after his undergraduate experience were a sprint, with Durovic traveling the country and expanding the business to disparate locations, trying to keep up with the housing boom and the resulting rising demand for spinners. Home builder clients in southern California suddenly had work

When Max Durovic and his friend Mike Kenny (left) were 16, they got summer jobs as “human directionals” — essentially sign-holders pointing the way to businesses. But they wondered how they could make their jobs more interesting, and soon, sign-spinning and a future business was born.

“EVEN IF I NEVER GOT ANOTHER PAYCHECK AGAIN, I WOULD STILL HAVE THOSE MEMORIES OF TAKING SIGN SPINNING TO A DOZEN OTHER COUNTRIES FOR THE FIRST TIME AND JUST WATCHING PEOPLE’S EYES GO WIDE. AND IT REALLY CREATED A WAY FOR ME TO SEE THE WORLD — NOT AS A TOURIST, BUT AS AN ENTREPRENEUR.”

for them in Las Vegas, Phoenix, and Raleigh. “We were able to open five new cities quickly,” says Durovic. Almost immediately, he was signing six-figure deals and was on track for $1 million in revenue his first year out of school. But he wasn’t set up to enjoy his success. “I mean, I’m 21 years old at that point with seven apartments in my name across the country. I’m doing business in six different states. It was a lot to handle.”

To help accommodate the rapid growth, Durovic deployed a franchise model after entering the MBA program in 2008, which allowed for the businesses to be run regionally. It made sense from a management perspective: recruiting, training, and management are all best done locally — and ideally by more than one employee. It was also a way to preserve his friendships, which made up the company’s core. “I was lucky enough then — and still today — to be running the business with some of my friends from high school and college, and I didn’t want to continue to be their boss, to be honest,” he says. “I thought it would be better — both personally and professionally — if I were able to create a model

that allowed them to run with the idea in whatever region they lived in.”

In 2008, Durovic also began to bring his sign-spinning evangelism overseas, eager for global expansion. “I put signs in a surfboard case. I jumped on airplanes. I sat on them for 13 to 18 hours at a time. I showed up in countries where I don’t speak the language and didn’t know any laws. And I would train armies of sign spinners on how to do tricks,” he says. He would stay in the cities for weeks, learning the business licensing process, the local labor laws, and the work customs. “Even if I never got another paycheck again, I would still have those memories of taking sign spinning to a dozen other countries for the first time and just watching people’s eyes go wide. And it really created a way for me to see the world — not as a tourist, but as an entrepreneur.”

Taking sign spinning to Croatia, where his grandmother was from, was a personal highlight. He flew his mother and grandmother over to see a sign-spinning competition that AArrow held in a mall in the middle of Zagreb, the country’s capital. The event was covered

by a local news station, which caught the attention of his great uncles. “And so they’re calling [my grandmother], saying ‘Max is on TV,’” says Durovic. “That was like a dream come true.”

The company’s ability to achieve this level of growth was due in part, Durovic says, to its competitive culture. Not the cutthroat type you might find on Wall Street — more of the light-hearted, barb-filled atmosphere of a fantasy football league message board. “We have a good time with this,” says Durovic, noting that friendly rivalries extend beyond the sales numbers. “It’s also, ‘I got more recruits last week than you.’ ‘My spinners are better than yours.’ Or ‘I got this new contract.’ I also think that my franchisees take a lot of pride in having the best spinner and in their spinners getting featured in major media.” He pulls up AArrow’s digital tracking platform on his screen. “Look, Atlanta just pulled ahead of Phoenix last week.” That will surely require a needling text or email. “I’ve definitely tried to encourage a little bit of healthy coop-etition,” he says.

“The thing that probably has kept so many of us at AArrow for so long —

The first AArow Sign Spinning Team.

“OUR MISSION WHEN WE STARTED THE BUSINESS WAS TO CREATE A COMPANY WHERE WE COULD HAVE FUN DOING TRICKS WITH PLASTIC ARROWS AND MAKE MONEY AT THE SAME TIME, ALL WHILE HARNESSING THAT ENERGY TO ATTRACT ATTENTION TO OUR SIGNS.”

over 20 years for some of the original people — is the culture,” says COO and co-founder Mike Kenny. “I’ve seen a lot of different businesses over the years, and I haven’t seen anyone able to replicate something this authentic.” Kenny credits Durovic and his ability to take mundane activities (like holding a sign) and infuse them with his trademark joie de vivre. “It’s that attitude of ‘We can make anything fun.’ We can make our work conference calls more fun. We can make our key metrics more fun by making them more fantasy football-ish,” says Kenny. “It’s really infectious.”

These days, Durovic is focusing much of his energy on the possibilities of AArrow’s digital platform, which is a relatively new development for the company. A map-based interface allows him to track all of his spinners, which can range from 500-1,000 globally at any given time. And while the number of cities has fluctuated with both economic and even local weather realities (Chicago’s winds, for instance, severely limited its sign spinning season), those spinners are now in 20 U.S. cities as well as Germany and Panama.

The tracking ensures both accuracy and customer service, Durovic says. “It’s similar to tracking your Amazon package or your Uber ride.” The platform’s utility might not be limited to AArrow, either. “The system is so robust that we’ve got other businesses approaching us for the software and the technology.”

The digital advances have made AArrow much more manageable for Durovic. “Figuring out a way to automate the business was really important to us,” he says. “The onboarding, the payroll, the invoicing, the distribution of funds to all the franchisees. We’re just a well-oiled machine.”

The new technology also helps keep him home more — useful with a brandnew baby and a 2-year-old. “Do I have to choose between doing a good job running my business or spending time with my family? No. Now I can do both.”

The cultural phenomenon aspect of sign spinning is important to Durovic, too. It has been featured in Super Bowl ads, pre-game festivities at NBA and NHL games, and even spoofed on South Park. It’s a part of the American lexicon — as much an art form as it is advertis-

ing. “That element is not lost on me, and I do take pride in that,” says Durovic. “It’s hugely rewarding from a creative and performance art standpoint.”

But he also wants his business to survive for the long term. Perhaps for his kids, if they want to go that route. Or just to keep the good vibe going. “Listen, I’m a goofball at heart, so the whole thing has been a lot of fun — and I hope I can continue to make it fun for future generations, too,” says Durovic. “Because there are a lot of really serious jobs out there. This isn’t one of ’em. We’re a serious company, but not a serious job.”

That was always the goal. “Our mission when we started the business was to create a company where we could have fun doing tricks with plastic arrows and make money at the same time, all while harnessing that energy to attract attention to our signs,” says Durovic. A truly enjoyable, vibrant job was always going to be a requirement for him, and he loves that he can offer others that same rare opportunity. “Being able to help other sign spinners travel the world while making money is just my way of paying it forward.” GB

BY LAURA J. COLE

Power Players

Georgetown business alumni are electrifying the energy

ILLUSTRATIONS BY DAVIDE BONAZZI

Mujinga Mwamufiya (MBA’04) got her start in the energy sector in the late ’90s, transitioning over the years from oil refineries with Sunoco to her current role as vice president of strategic projects at Electric Hydrogen, a green hydrogen tech company.

Her journey reflects a global trend. Over the past decade, renewable energy consumption has surged by more than 12%, with a 15% increase from 2020 to 2021 alone. The International Energy Association (IEA) predicts that by 2028, renewable energy sources will account for over 42% of global electricity generation.

Mwamufiya credits her shift to happenstance. At the time, she was working for AES and traveling a lot, a schedule unsustainable with children. She needed a local job and found opportunities in California’s renewable sector. “It just made sense,” she says. “As the market pivoted toward renewables, it felt right in terms of potential and my interests. Now, I feel grateful that I can tell my children I’m creating green energy rather than digging dinosaurs out of the ground.”

Here, we highlight how Mwamufiya and three other Georgetown business alumni are fueling clean energy.

ACCELERATING GREEN HYDROGEN

Dubbed the holy grail of decarbonization, green hydrogen is made by using renewable energy to split water into hydrogen and oxygen. The resulting molecule produces little to no carbon emissions.

The biggest challenge has been whether it is possible to produce green hydrogen at a low enough cost to replace — or significantly reduce — our dependence on oil and gas. Enter Electric Hydrogen. Last year, the startup co-founded by Derek Warnick (B’07) became the first in the green hydrogen industry to reach unicorn status. The company’s promising electrolyzer, which is capable of producing hydrogen much more efficiently and at lower cost than their competitors, has led to investments from the likes of Microsoft, Amazon, and BP.

“We manufacture the world’s most powerful, efficient, and low-cost hydrogen electrolyzer,” says Warnick, who serves as the company’s chief financial officer.

The company operates two plants

in California — a 1 MW electrolyzer plant in San Carlos and a 10 MW electrolyzer plant in San Jose. The latter can produce nearly five tons of green hydrogen per day, or the equivalent of 1.8 million gallons of gasoline annually. Electric Hydrogen recently opened a 187,000-square-foot factory in Devens, Massachusetts, where they manufacture and test their electrolyzer stacks in-house. And they are in the process of building a 100 MW plant in Texas, which will be the largest plant of its kind in the United States.

By manufacturing the stacks in-house and assembling the complete electrolysis system, Electric Hydrogen boosts efficiency and drives down the cost of production. But what does all this mean for consumers and businesses?

“It means we can produce more hydrogen with the same scale of equipment,” says Mwamufiya. “Electric Hydrogen helps optimize production because our product is more efficient

than the rest of the market. Our electrolyzers produce more hydrogen per unit of power than anybody else, translating efficiency into dollars — and we do it with a more compact footprint.”

Mwamufiya means the literal footprint. Green hydrogen can play a key role in the production of renewable fuels, which can easily integrate into industrial plants. In doing so, Electric Hydrogen displaces “gray hydrogen” in the supply chain to produce greener fuels that power transportation vehicles, from trucking to airplanes and shipping vessels. The latter two, which are not well suited to electricity or the lithium-ion batteries required for wind and solar power, accounted for 4% of the total global energy-related CO2 emissions in 2022, according to the IEA. And both industries have been charged with significantly reducing their emissions.

Last year, United Airlines invested in Electric Hydrogen, with the company’s CFO Michael Leskinen praising the company for being “further along than just anything else I’ve invested in.” Electric Hydrogen’s technology also is being used to serve demand from OCI Global, a producer and distributor of nitrogen, methanol, and hydrogen products and solutions, to produce green methanol for shipping.

“The energy density of a gallon of gasoline is really, really tough to beat,” says Warnick. “Green hydrogen allows us to build upon a lot of gasoline’s positive attributes without the negative environmental ones. In the case of aircraft, for example, we’re working toward sustainable aviation fuel that offers zero net carbon emissions without changing the technology of the airplanes themselves.”

LEVERAGING CO2

In the shadow of Denali sits two coal power plants that provide a small fraction of the electricity used across Alaska’s Railbelt region — but emit the highest CO2 emission per kilowatt-hour. Known as Healy 1 and 2 for the town in which they reside, the plants contribute to Alaska’s status as the fourth largest producer of carbon emissions per capita. However, they also produce cheap, reliable energy for the nearly 100,000 residents served by Golden Valley Electric Association (GVEA).

Therein lies one of the biggest conundrums for renewable energy in an area where residents already pay 2.3 times the national average for energy — and where electricity can mean the difference between life and death during the harsh, dark winters.

Echogen Power Systems, led by CEO and co-founder Phil Brennan (MBA’94), hopes to change that. They have partnered with Westinghouse Electric Company and GVEA to replace the coal plants with wind turbines and the long duration energy storage technology developed by Echogen.

“The big problem with solar and wind is the sun doesn’t always shine and the wind doesn’t always blow, and humanity’s demand for electricity occurs all day, every day,” says Brennan. “Up until this point, energy storage has primarily relied on the same lithium-ion battery that’s in your Tesla or your cell phone. But the qualities and characteristics of lithium-ion do not support the longer durations required to make wind and solar capable of providing all of the planet’s electricity needs.”

According to the Department of

Energy, the average duration of utility-scale lithium-ion batteries is 1.7 hours, reaching up to four hours. Echogen’s solution provides 24 hours of storage and is building a 50-megawatt system that uses supercritical CO2 to store the energy. According to Brennan, that solution can store enough to power 225,000 to 300,000 average U.S. households for a year. “Supercritical CO2 is our secret sauce,” says Brennan. “It’s a magical fluid.”

Here’s how it works. Wind and solar generate electricity and often in amounts greater than what the electricity grid can consume. When that is the case, the excess electricity is converted into heat using supercritical CO2, a fluid that has the density of a liquid but moves like a gas and requires considerably less energy to compress. That in turn is used to heat up another medium — in this case, concrete — which stores the energy as heat to be later converted back into electricity when the renewable sources are unable to produce enough electricity.

Replacing a dirty but reliable coal plant with a combination of wind and Echogen’s energy storage system is often considered a gamble by the notoriously conservative power producers, Brennan admits. But the vision of GVEA to produce renewable electricity at a level that makes it one of the most “renewable” of

all U.S. utilities is one with high reward.

“It’s not a CO2 sequestration play, where we’re sucking CO2 out of the atmosphere and burying it in the ground,” he says. “This is CO2 that’s already been used, and we’re just putting it to better use.”

Healy 1 and 2 are far from Echogen’s only project. Brennan started the company 17 years ago after meeting a serial inventor, Michael Gurin, in Chicago. They had the idea to “recycle lost industrial energy that would normally go up the stack.” Initially, they focused on the manufacturing sector, which contributes nearly a quarter of the world’s CO2 emissions, according to the IEA. Today, in addition to the project in Alaska, they’re working on solutions for both renewable and non-renewable energy, including nuclear and solar photovoltaics, concentrating solar thermal power and building a prototype high-temperature industrial heat pump that converts green electricity into usable steam that was previously generated by burning natural gas.

“I credit my Jesuit education at Georgetown, which reminds us of our stewardship responsibilities and gave me the foundation to address the big challenges like climate change that don’t have easy, obvious solutions,” Brennan says.

EXPANDING MARKETS

Africa presents a unique energy paradox. Despite being the richest continent for renewable energy resources, it is also the most energy deficient. According to the IEA, Africa holds 60% of the world’s solar resources, yet only 1% of the population relies on solar energy, and as of 2022, 43% of the population lacks access to any kind of electricity.

Of course, these numbers vary from country to country. In Kenya, for instance, 75% of the population has access to electricity and at least 90% of the country’s power comes from renewable sources, making it an emerging leader in the global energy landscape.

Based in Kenya, GridX Africa is working to build upon the nation’s success — and helping to power business growth across sub-Saharan Africa. With projects in Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique, and the Congo, they develop commercial-scale solar installations and provide financing for clean energy projects.

“We work on everything from safari lodges to shopping malls, cement plants, and petrol stations,” says CEO Ryan Dunn (MBA’20). “Using a zero-upfront, CapEx model, we develop bespoke renewable energy solutions and provide long-term financing solutions.”

When the company started seven years ago, the biggest challenge was overcoming skepticism around solar energy. That’s abated over time, allowing Dunn and his team to address another lingering issue: how to determine credit worthiness in countries without third-party credit bureaus. Dunn and his team have developed their own structures and credit process-

es that include studying each business, reviewing financials, and “making a bit of a gut call,” he says. “Looking at five years of audited accounts can tell you something, but not what’s going to happen in 15 years — and our contracts are mostly 12 to 20 years.”

All of that work is paying off. Take the cut flower industry. Roses, carnations, and lilies, among others, provide livelihoods for nearly 2 million people in Kenya alone and are exported as far away as the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. According to the

Observatory of Economic Complexity, Kenya is the fourth largest exporter of cut flowers in the world, exporting $665 million annually. Business owners are competing on a global scale. And though the grid in Kenya is renewable, energy is often their biggest expense, so they need reliable power alternatives that are also affordable.

“Owners are really good at knowing when to apply fertilizer, how to design a greenhouse, and which markets in the Netherlands to focus on,” says Dunn, who started as an intern at the

company before working his way up to CEO. “But they don’t know how many solar panels they should install, if they should use a battery or not, and if so, what brand.”

That’s where Dunn and his team come in. They worked with Waridi Flower Farm, one of the first producers of roses in East Africa. Based on their production needs, GridX financed and developed a solar PV system that generates 607 kilowatt peak to power their greenhouses, resulting in a net savings of more than 10% of their annual power costs.

In the manufacturing industry, they’ve worked with Mabati Rolling Mills, a steel mill in Kenya, to develop an end-to-end 2.9 MW solar installation solution that is projected to save the company $15 million. They’re also working with the tourism industry, which is an integral part of the African economy, accounting for $12 billion in revenue annually, according to the Berkeley Economic Review. At several resorts and safari lodges — most recently Muthu Keekork Lodge in Kenya, Kisawa Sanctuary in Mozambique, and Ndutu Safari Lodge in Tanzania — they’re replacing diesel generators with solar-plus-battery solutions that will provide 95% of their energy needs, providing a saving for owners and a selling point for environmentally-conscious travelers.

“The energy transition is happening really rapidly on this continent, but the demand is so massive and so unmet that it makes this a really exciting, fast-moving sector to work in,” Dunn says.

INNOVATIVE INVESTMENTS

The race to reach net zero is a race to develop new technologies. There’s financial incentive to do so. According to Net Zero Tracker, 92% of the global GDP is pledged to net zero. McKinsey estimates that it will require spending $9.2 trillion on average annually to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050, amounting to $275 trillion between 2021 and 2050.

But it’s not all about innovation. With new technology comes new infrastructures, policies, and systems. All require available capital to keep up with demand, adhere to regulations and laws, and stay relevant. It’s not always groundbreaking, but according to Ingrid Chou (MBA’17), vice president of Symbiome Capital Partners, it is always necessary. A middle market private equity firm, Symbiome invests in what they call “clean energy-adjacent companies” — or what’s missing at the middle of the energy transition.

“We’re really looking to back the picks and shovels companies and solution providers that are much needed with this transition,” Chou says. “We supply the management teams with the capital they need to grow into a new market, and acquire additional capability, which would accelerate the world’s transition to net zero.”

For example, the rise of electric vehicles drives demand for more charging ports. That requires someone to not only install them, but to upgrade the on-site infrastructure. Buildings, which account for a quarter of global energy-related emissions, have to be retrofitted with more efficient solutions, from heat pumps to lighting. Even data centers, especially those that are now running AI, need more efficient cooling devices and updated battery storage systems to work with wind and solar.

All of that requires capital — capital that not all businesses have readily available. “This is really an all-hands-on-deck moment, and everyone in the business community has a role to play,” Chou says. GB

After Karen Guggenheim lost her husband unexpectedly, she had a choice to make: spend her life grieving her love or choose to live a happy life after trauma. She chose to be happy and helped lead a global movement focused on wellbeing in the process.

BY MAUREEN HARMON ILLUSTRATION BY HADLEY HOOPER

findingpeace inscience

THE DAY THAT KAREN GUGGENHEIM (EMBA’15) buried her husband, Ricardo, she came home, took off her black dress and threw it in the garbage. In that moment, her grief was overwhelming, as was her worry about her children, two sons ages 16 and 19. Just as palpable, though, was a gut decision to honor Ricardo’s legacy, not with a black dress and the new title of widow. Ricardo had died young and shockingly quickly from complications of the flu. He got sick at the end of February and was gone by March 6 — which also happened to be her sister’s birthday. March 6 is now a reminder to Guggenheim of the bittersweetness that defines life. She wanted her children to see that grief was important — that they needed to feel the pain to process it — but that it did not need to define what came next.

Throwing her dress away was the first of many conscious choices to acknowledge the pain, to honor her husband, to love her family — but also to move forward. In that first year following Ricardo’s death, Guggenheim moved forward with her Executive MBA, partly as an homage to her husband, but also as an homage to herself. “I wanted to do this,” she says. “When I was studying, I was so hyper-focused, and I began to feel energized again.”

This isn’t to say that Guggenheim was happy, but she sure wanted to be. “I began to copy what happy people did. For example, at Georgetown, initially, I would fly in from Miami where I was living and fly out right after class. But then I began to stay through Sunday so if I was invited to go to dinner or to socialize, I could say yes.”

She didn’t always say yes because she wanted to, of course. In fact, many times she would have rather not gone out at all.

But Guggenheim had a goal after Ricardo’s death. “My goal was for my children to be okay. And for them to be okay, I had to be okay,” she says. “But okay wasn’t enough. I wanted to be happy. I wanted to have a great freaking life. And to me, that meant finding happiness.”

THERE IS A HAPPINESS MOVEMENT AFOOT. Whole platforms and conferences and speaking engagements are focused on prioritizing personal and global happiness, and their roots extend back to 1998 and a man named Martin Seligman. Seligman, then-president of the American Psychological Association, championed a field of psychology that wasn’t centered in mental illness, but rather in wellbeing, or as Seligman puts it in his memoir, “to steer psychology away from the darkness and toward light.” The result of his work and the work of others was a branch of psychology called positive psychology, the idea that wellbeing and yes, happiness, were choices and could be “defined, measured, and taught.”

As more and more psychologists and social scientists around the world did the research and produced the supporting literature around positive psychology and the science of happiness, Guggenheim graduated with her Executive MBA and got a communications job. The job looked great to her on paper, but the actual position lacked purpose for the young, now single, mom. “I thought, I’m not going to have survived my husband’s death and then dread going to work,” she says. When volunteers visiting the agency where she worked approached her with the idea of a World Happiness Summit, she admits her initial thought was, “That’s cute.” It wasn’t until they shared the concept for the theme: “I Choose Happiness,” that Guggenheim really paid

attention. “I thought, wait, I did that.”

She began reading everything she could about the work of psychologists and scientists like Seligman. She saw top academic institutions like Stanford and Harvard digging deep into the research and creating courses and curricula to study — and teach — happiness. With a bachelor’s degree in psychology, Guggenheim had knowledge of how the brain processes emotions and knew about things like post-traumatic stress disorder, but it wasn’t until after Ricardo’s death that she also learned about things like post-traumatic stress growth — the idea that pain can be a catalyst for individual choice and change.

Suddenly the idea of a World Happiness Summit seemed so much more than “cute.” Guggenheim saw the potential not just to change individual lives, but also the potential to change societies as a whole through systemic change. “As a society, we’re burnt out,” says Guggenheim. “We’re not doing well. Our kids are not doing well. The suicide rate in the United States is through the roof and solutions to that issue should be top of mind every single day.”

Within six weeks of that initial pitch, Guggenheim quit her job and invested her time, talent, and treasure into making the World Happiness Summit a leading conference for researchers and practitioners to share their work and ideas and for attendees to change their lives. In the process of co-founding the summit, she also built and launched its supportive ecosystem, WOHASU, a platform to raise awareness about the benefits of happiness and wellbeing to individuals, and to businesses and civic leaders who can then use data-driven tools to build policies to make people and communities happier. After all,

“ The way I have come to understand it is that happiness is a process— a by-product of purposely living a meaningful life…”

studies show happiness and wellbeing among citizens lead to stronger families, organizations, and economies. Her team is currently working on the next Summit, which will take place in Miami, Florida, in March of 2025.

OVER TIME, GUGGENHEIM HAS LEARNED that happiness is not a switch, but a habit-building process and a lifelong practice. Her days start with a mindfulness meditation, an inspirational reading, and a warm cup of coffee that she holds by wrapping her hands around her cup — a lesson from a tea ceremony master, who reminded her that the handle distances her from the act of drinking her coffee and takes her out of the moment. She doesn’t peek at email before 9 a.m. and certainly not after 9 p.m. “The brain doesn’t have a lymphatic system, so the only way it cleans itself is through sleep,” explains Guggenheim.

Another key daily practice for Guggenheim is the creation of a “To Be” list — not to be confused with the running “To Do” list of any adult. The “To Be” list is based on actions within her control. “I want to be kind today. I want to be accepting. I want to be forgiving. I want to be light. I want to laugh,” says Guggenheim.

While her rituals may seem simple enough, they’re all backed by the science of positive psychology. “Happiness is a process — a by-product of purposely living a meaningful life, accomplished through engaging in actions that, over time, become habits, rewiring our naturally ‘negative’ brains to elevate well-

being and increase more opportunities for positive emotions,” Guggenheim writes in her book, Cultivating Happiness: Overcome trauma to transform your life, which was released earlier this year.

What if, thought Guggenheim, we treated our emotional state the way we treat the physical body. “If you want to have your body look a certain way, you have to focus on nutrition, not once, but nearly every day.” We know, scientifically, that if we want healthier physical outcomes, it is a process of understanding what we’re after and then engaging in a process to get there: exercise, better food choices, more water. Oddly, says Guggenheim, we don’t give ourselves this same kind of space psychologically.

“When it comes to our emotional state, we wing it,” she says. “Since childhood, we are often fed the idea that external rewards will make us happy, but we’re not made that way. We keep trying to sell this idea and it doesn’t work, because it’s not true. It is remarkable that we are constantly trying to fight against our natures, run away from how our brains function, and tend to be generally unaware of our biology, especially about how our thoughts and emotions impact our wellbeing or lack thereof.”

Guggenheim is teaching her kids something different. Choosing happiness practices does not mean life is without obstacles and sadness. “The first step to getting out of pain is allowing yourself to feel it, but eventually you have to let it go. Because some people may stay with their pain too long.” Eventually we need to make

conscious choices, says Guggenheim, like burning the record of music that reminds you of a breakup. Like throwing your black funeral dress directly into the garbage.

Sure, she could live in the grief of her husband’s death. She could spend her days mourning every moment he missed and assume everything he built — his career, his family — is a loss because he is no longer here to experience them. But she knew even that grief, as deep as it was, would not bring Ricardo back. Her work today is a tribute to him. “To understand the growth, you must understand the loss,” she says. “While my story has sadness, it is really a legacy of hope and love.”

IN MARCH OF THIS YEAR, GUGGENHEIM took the stage at the 6th World Happiness Summit held in London. She welcomed the 1,000 attendees from 60 countries and nearly 400 cities, and announced the theme: “Wellbeing is the Purpose.” She also announced the launch of the first World Wellbeing Policy Forum built in collaboration with the World Happiness Movement and held at the London School of Economics.

The forum itself included business leaders, healthcare experts, and educators. It also included the U.S. Surgeon General who declared “wellbeing is the issue of our time.” “If we get wellbeing right,” says Guggenheim, “everything else falls into place. You even make more profit. You live on average seven years longer and better. Think about the health costs, look at the GDP. Illness and unhappiness is very costly.”

And through it all, Guggenheim smiled. She laughed. And she wore pink. GB

Connections

Dog Days

When classes moved online during the height of the pandemic, Colton Scrudder took a break from school to spend his days tending to Alaska’s sled dogs.

Asingle decision during the height of the pandemic changed the entire trajectory of Colton Scrudder’s (B’22) life.

When COVID-19 forced Georgetown University to move classes online, Scrudder was at a crossroads. He knew remote learning wasn’t a good fit for him, and he couldn’t stomach not returning back to the Hilltop to complete his degree.

So, he decided to take a leave of absence and do something completely out of the ordinary.

“I thought to myself, ‘Okay, I have this year off. What’s the craziest thing I can do?’” Scrudder said.

After researching opportunities and speaking with his girlfriend, who is also a Hoya alumna, the decision was made. They both headed to Alaska to help run a sled dog kennel in a remote, wooded region of the state.

“When we arrived in Alaska, we had to drive down a dirt road for nearly three hours — with an ATV ride mixed in — to get to our homestead. That’s how secluded it was.”

The isolation ended up creating a sense of a “more normal life” in comparison to friends and family who were masking up in cities all over the world.

But the day-to-day responsibilities at the homestead were anything but routine for the Dallas-born and Washington, D.C.-bred college student.

“In the winter, our days were planned around daylight,” Scrudder said. “We would only have three or four hours of solid daylight, and we had to spend that time running the sled dogs.”

In addition to running the sled dogs nearly 60 miles a day, Scrudder regularly woke up around 5 a.m. to feed them, clean the kennel, and cut five or six tons of meat byproduct for the next meal.

After spending a year in the wilderness, Scrudder came back to D.C. to finish his degree in finance and operations at McDonough. Returning to campus was an adjustment. With a long Alaskan beard, not only was Scrudder a bit unrecognizable, but he also had to re-learn how to use a calendar and stay on top of academic coursework.

When it was time to apply for a job post-graduation, despite attempting to look at traditional financial firms in D.C. and New York, Scrudder couldn’t ignore his newfound love of Alaska.

“Finally, I was like, I need to find a job in Alaska. Which is how I ended up with my job at the Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation in Juneau.”

Today, Scrudder is a credit analyst on

the Fixed Income team, where he works on U.S. corporate bonds. He begins his day before sunrise and wraps by 2 p.m. in order to keep up with the public markets in New York.

“If I didn’t go to Alaska in college, I very likely would have ended up on a different path, probably working in finance in a big city.”

Not only would Scrudder’s career look different, his free time would, too. When he’s not working, he’s training his Belgian sheepdog, Dipper, for search and rescue operations.

“In about 18 months, Dipper and I plan on taking a national certification test to certify with our local search and rescue team,” he said. “Then, we will be able to deploy, and hopefully, help find missing people.”

Scrudder plans on living in Alaska for the foreseeable future — with his girlfriend and Dipper — to explore all that vast forests and coastlines have to offer. His journey to Alaska, including his newfound hobbies, reinforced that taking a chance on yourself, even if it’s risky, is always worth it in the end.

“Always look at what you might regret in 50 years,” Scrudder said. “If you think you will regret not taking your shot, then absolutely do it.”

—RACHEL ELLIS

When he’s not working, Colton Scrudder is training his own Belgian sheepdog, Dipper, for search and rescue operations.

Class Notes

Glen Gardner (B’84) was recently named chief investment officer of Equitable Insurance and this spring was married to Ona Bloom. They currently live in Hoboken, New Jersey.

1988

This June marked the 55th anniversary of the Stonewall Uprising, a pivotal moment in LGBTQ+ history. To commemorate the occasion, the first-ever LGBTQ+ visitor center within the National Park Service officially opened its doors, the Stonewall National Monument Visitor Center. This landmark achievement was spearheaded by Diana Rodriguez (B’88) and Ann Marie Gothard (C’87), co-founders of Pride Live who met at Georgetown and were members of the women’s basketball team.

1989

Eric Christ (B’89) of Peachtree Corners is the general manager for coverage continuation services at HealthEquity, the nation’s largest provider of health savings accounts.

1994

Walter McFarlane (B’94), after a successful business career and years as a CFO, has announced his candidacy for the House of Representatives in New Hampshire’s first congressional district.

2023

Carter Cousins (B’23) has become affiliated with The Bulfinch Group, a wealth management firm headquartered in Needham, Massachusetts. Cousins’ primary focus is on asset protection and wealth accumulation strategies.

MBA

1995

Richard Sherman (MBA’95) published a book, Never Home: Remembering the Military Heroes Who Never Returned, a photographic journey to America’s overseas World War I and II cemeteries. The book features more than 225 images and 54 biographies of military members who lost their lives during the wars.

1998

To commemorate 25 years since their graduation, the Georgetown MBA Class of 1998 pledged $218,000 to establish the MBA Class of 1998 Endowed MBA Scholarship Fund and Current Use MBA Entrepreneurship Fellowship Fund to support the advancement of Full-time MBA students in the McDonough School of Business. With a focus on student engagement, the merit-based Class of 1998 Endowed

MBA Scholarship Fund will support one Full-time MBA student every year in their academic pursuits — and the Current Use MBA Entrepreneurship Fellowship Fund will expand opportunities for entrepreneurship and innovation for current and future MBA students.

1999

Karen Snow (MBA’99), global head of listings at Nasdaq, was named to the Forbes 50 Women Over 50 list in the investment category, which highlights “the women shaping the way money flows in the United States – and beyond.” Snow joined Nasdaq in 2018 and currently sits on the MBA Alumni Advisory Council at Georgetown McDonough.

2010

Michael Hilburg (MBA’10) delivered a keynote speech at the TD SYNNEX CommunitySolv North American Conference in

“ I’m always looking for Georgetown students; I’m always looking for Georgetown connections – but I’m looking not just for the person with the best GPA or the person with the most certifications, [I’m looking for] the highestcharacter qualities.”

—JAMES DENOFRIO (MSBA’22) DURING HIS INTERVIEW FOR SIX DEGREES ON PAGE 09

A New Look at Life

Tiffany Wilson’s journey from pre-med to CEO meant innovation in business — and in herself.

tiffany wilson (mba’01) has always had a passion for medicine and innovation. Beginning her journey considering a pre-med major at Loyola University, and now as CEO of the Science Center in Philadelphia, her career path certainly appears straightforward. Yet, hers is a far more interesting sojourn embedded with the Jesuit values of service and innovation.

It was during her freshman year as she was considering a pre-med major, that Wilson realized a medical degree wasn’t entirely what she wanted. She decided to major in international business, graduated, and pursued a career in consulting and finance in the Washington D.C. area.

A self-described life-long learner,

Wilson selected McDonough as the next stop on her journey. Soon after graduating from the MBA program in 2001, she sought to gain operational experience, and explored technology startups. In her first position with an investment bank in D.C. she raised money for a tissue engineering startup in Boston. It was after joining the management team of that company that she realized her passion for the medical device industry. “I really enjoyed the process from concept to initial launch where science, medicine, business, and government all have to work together to get a product to market that will benefit patient outcomes.” She describes her career pivot to the medical device industry as serendipitous.

Today, Wilson is in her fourth year as president and chief executive officer of the Science Center in Philadelphia — an intermediary of science, startups, and community. As a thought leader on innovation and commercialization of medical technology, Wilson is proud to drive inclusive growth across Greater Philadelphia with her Jesuit values. At the Science Center, she fosters innovation and collaboration with startups in the life sciences and healthcare technology, and she’s created opportunities that benefit the larger community as well — providing STEM educational and career exposure opportunities for students in Philadelphia.

Wilson’s remarkable journey showcases her unwavering commitment to innovation and her dedication to improving healthcare outcomes. Through her leadership, she continues to inspire and uplift her community, embodying the true spirit of service and innovation.

—MARTHA HOLLAND

Tiffany Wilson is president and chief executive officer of the Science Center in Philadelphia — an intermediary of science, start-ups, and community.

PIVOT

Las Vegas about trends and growth opportunities in IT. EMBA 2015

Cady North (EMBA’15) recently published a book, The Art of the Sabbatical: A Money and Mindset Guide for Your Next Work Break, which debuted as a #1 release on Amazon in May 2024. North is the founder and CEO of North Financial Advisors, helping women act on their biggest dreams and build resilience for the future.

Tim Mazzucca (MSF’17) was named senior vice president of Public Properties LLC, where he represents federal agencies in real estate transactions.

2019

Taylor Whitelow (MSF’19, MSBA’23) received the Pinnacle Award, which recognizes students for their exceptional performance and dedication to excellence in analytics, leadership, and collaboration within the M.S. in Business Analytics program at Georgetown McDonough.

We invite all alumni to share updates with the McDonough community by emailing us at GeorgetownBusiness@ georgetown.edu.

Be Better

Shaara Roman (EMBA’02), founder and CEO of The Silverene Group, a culture consulting firm that aligns people, strategy, and culture to optimize organizational performance, recently added author to her portfolio. Her book, The Conscious Workplace, provides leaders with the opportunity to build intentional cultures of their own. Roman is also an adjunct professor at Georgetown’s School of Continuing Studies.

BOOKS

Ninja Selling by Larry Kendall

Speaks to how sales is relationship-oriented and disciplined.

PODCASTS

Everyday Leadership

Guests share, in a vulnerable way, their leadership journeys, stories, and bumps in the road, as well as how to be an authentic leader.

Partnering Leadership

Mahan Tavakoli (MBA’93) engages a diverse range of guests, including culture and leadership professionals, who provide leadership insights from various life experiences and industry backgrounds.

Diverse Minds

Leyla Okhai interviews experts from all over the world in the mental health, wellbeing, and culture space.

What’s Working in Washington

Cool and interesting things that are happening in the D.C. area.

MUSIC

There’s very little music I don’t like and there’s not an ’80s song that I can’t get behind. Think Queen, Madonna, U2, and Prince. Music choices for high-energy workouts include Guns N’ Roses and Meatloaf.

MY FEED

Mettu’s advice for those weighing their career options: Gain a deep understanding of what is out there. You never know where your professional path might lead.

It All Adds Up

How to craft a career from the start.

growing up in an entrepreneurial-oriented family, Anoop Mettu (MiM’20) has always been curious about exploring possible career opportunities in business.

“I’ve seen what it takes to grow a business from a young age,” Mettu said. “Especially how to take care of your customers and employees. I think that piece was really ingrained in me.”

While Mettu’s interest in taking care of people through healthcare education led him to major in biological sciences and engineering in college, he remained interested in business operations throughout his studies. After graduation, Mettu interned at a nonprofit organization where he worked as a strategy analyst for an education center in India.

A few months later, he was accepted to join the M.S. in Management (MiM) program at McDonough as part of the first MiM cohort.

On the Hilltop, Mettu quickly became familiar with the endless career possibilities at the intersection of his personal and professional interests.

“I actually stumbled upon my first full-time job because of Georgetown,” Mettu said. “I didn’t know there were positions that existed between the intersection of business and healthcare.”

Mettu said that his time on campus was pivotal in shaping the next chapter of his career in business. While at McDonough, he focused on keeping an open mind and embracing new experiences and opportunities, which he said helped him get to where he is today.

After graduation, Mettu accepted a role at Predict Health, which allowed him to hone his technical skills while also analyzing healthcare data that helps businesses make strategic decisions.

A few years later, Mettu is now a consultant at Blue Matter, a consulting firm that specializes in life sciences. Mettu said he never expected his career to pan out the way it has, but he is grateful for the opportunities he’s had to follow his passions through work.

“For those who are exploring possible career paths, the first step is gaining a deep understanding of what is out there,” Mettu said. “This will help shape your goals and potential professional trajectories down the line, which aren’t typically linear. I’m grateful for the unexpected professional journey I’ve had to-date, including the opportunity to blend my diverse set of interests and passions.”

—RACHEL ELLIS

What is consumer activism?

“Consumer activism is the use of consumption as a means to promote one’s personal views. Consumers use their purchase decisions to enact change in the marketplace and, as a result, in society more broadly. This type of behavior can take many forms, including deliberately buying or abstaining from buying products for political, environmental, or ethical reasons.”

—DEBORA THOMPSON, PROFESSOR AND MARKETING AREA CHAIR

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