Executives in Residence Engage Students

In Brief

STUDENT-MANAGED FUND SURPASSES $1 MILLION

The Intrieri Family StudentManaged Fund, which began in 2012 with a $100,000 gift from alumnus Vincent Intrieri ’84 and his wife, Joanne, has grown to more than $1 million. At the end of September, the value stood at $1,128,000.

Reaching the million-dollar milestone means funds gained beyond that mark will help fund student scholarships.

“The original plan was to start offering scholarships in two years to allow us to build up a cushion,” said Dr. Timothy Krause, associate professor of finance and co-director of the fund with Phil Stuczynski, lecturer in business and finance. “However, the market has done so well that we are looking at offering some scholarships in 2022.”

While the scholarships are a nice bonus, the underlying value of the student-managed fund is evident for upper-level Finance students who have the opportunity to actively manage it. Many business alumni say their experience with the fund has contributed directly to their career trajectory.

PROFESSIONALS EXPAND EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES

Six business leaders with experience in management, finance, and product innovation are serving as Executives in Residence in the Black School of Business this academic year. They are:

Steven D. Bugajski, chief information officer, U.S. Steel.

Matthew MacBeth, chief innovation officer, The Brookfield Group.

Eugene Natali, CEO and founder, Troutwood.

Jeremy O’Mard, managing consultant, IBM Global Business Services.

Ann Scott, community outreach manager, Erie Insurance Group.

Jeff Stempka, senior associate marketing manager, Campbell Soup Company.

Executives in Residence lead workshops, sponsor class projects, judge business competitions, and provide career advising to students. Each brings industry expertise to the classroom, student research, and student networking.

“The program is a major asset for our students and faculty,” said Dr. Greg Filbeck, director of the Black School. “Students gain hands-on, portfolio-building opportunities and begin to develop their professional networks. The guidance, mentoring, and firsthand experience these executives provide is invaluable.”

Events led by the Executives in Residence this fall included:

Marketing-Palooza with Jeff Stempka, who spoke to marketing classes, held appointments with students, and organized a panel for students to learn from and network with industry professionals.

A Day in the Life of a Cybersecurity Professional at IBM with Jeremy O’Mard and David Chapin, North American privacy lead at IBM, who gave students a glimpse into the day-to-day life of cybersecurity professionals, offered tips on applying for internships and jobs, and highlighted continuing education after college through certification programs.

The C3W Mentoring Program, created by Ann Scott, which kicked off its third year with a mentor training session taught by staff members of the college’s Susan Hirt Hagen Center for Community Outreach, Research and Evaluation (CORE). The C3W Program is designed to engage and develop female students in the areas of connectedness, capability, and confidence.

STEVEN D. BUGAJSKI MATTHEW MACBETH EUGENE NATALI

ERIE STUDY MEASURES ECONOMIC IMPACT OF NEW AMERICANS

Immigrants and refugees who resettle in Erie County contribute approximately $253 million to the local economy every year, according to a recent study by the Economic Research Institute of Erie (ERIE), an outreach center of the Black School of Business.

That impact tends to increase the longer immigrants live here: Once naturalized, new Americans have higher rates of home ownership and are more likely to own their own business than their native-born neighbors. They also are less likely to be unemployed than native-born residents, according to the report.

“Over time, they assimilate and become contributors to the economy,” said Dr. Mark Owens, associate professor of economics. He co-authored the report, working with Dr. Jim Kurre, associate professor emeritus of economics and a former director of ERIE. They based their findings on data from the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey, which is used to apportion federal and state funding for hospitals, schools, and emergency services. The survey polls approximately 1 percent of the U.S. population every year.

“We wanted this to be a fact-based read on how the foreign-born impact Erie,” Owens said, “so we tried to take in the whole picture from the data, which shows both the positives and the negatives.”

The study used data from 2015 to 2019. During that time, approximately 4.4 percent of Erie County’s residents were identified as having been born abroad.

They emigrated from at least eighty-seven countries, with the largest group—44.7 percent—coming from Asia. DR. MARK OWENS That broke from the national pattern over the same period, when 51 percent of immigrants were from Latin America. The majority of Erie’s immigrants were of working age: 73 percent were between the ages of 18 and 64, according to the study. For native-born residents, the figure was 60.8 percent. That added approximately 5,600 people to the local workforce, according DR. JIM KURRE to the study. The largest portion of that population, at 45 percent, worked in manufacturing, education, or health care. Immigrants also were more likely to work in food prepartion: 10 percent were employed in that industry, compared with 7 percent of native-born residents. “There is evidence that the industries that are growing, and that are going to need the most workers over the next ten years, already are seeing more involvement from foreign-born workers,” Owens said. “Maybe they’re more willing to take a job that happens to be available.”

Foreign-born residents of Erie County are more likely to rely on government transfer-payment programs, at least initially. According to the report, 5.5 percent received cash public assistance, compared with 3.6 percent of their nativeborn neighbors. Even more received Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits, formerly known as food stamps: 34.7 percent relied on those benefits, compared with 17.5 percent of native-born families.

“Immigrants are often under a lot of pressure when they come into this country,” Kurre said. “They are often expected to find work very quickly, and most of them do.

“Foreign-born citizens are often times people who have chosen to come here, and in some cases are literally running for their lives,” Kurre said. “It takes a lot of effort and perseverance to go through all the steps it takes to get here, and those who succeed often endure hardships and have to do a lot of problem-solving along the way."

Doing Business

Not all students take the traditional four-year route to an undergraduate degree. Some, like Liam O’Brien, a junior dual-majoring in International Business and Finance, do it their way.

It seems only natural for O’Brien to be carving his own path. He became intrigued by entrepreneurship in high school after reading books by Tim Ferriss, a U.S. entrepreneur, investor, author, and podcaster.

“Ferriss' approaches on business and productivity are sometimes unorthodox but can be really effective if used appropriately,” O’Brien said. “LIFE IS TOO SHORT TO BE SMALL.”

TIM FERRISS

O’Brien and two former high school classmates—Danny Pakulski, now a Digital Media, Arts, and Technology graduate, and Simon Yahn, a film student at Rochester Institute of Technology— formed Oddity Productions, a videoproduction company.

The company is set to hit the indie film circuit this year with Alexander the Brain, a short-film about bare-knuckles boxing set in the post-Civil War United States.

O’Brien is the business manager for the company, which also does commercial work, implementing a creative filmfocused approach to creating high-value video advertisements. That keeps him rather busy between—and sometimes during—classes.

“Sometimes, I’m sitting in a business class and my phone will be buzzing with messages from clients,” he said.

He has learned that communication is key to doing good business.

“You have to be precise with your language and super-specific about everything, especially any sort of schedule changes,” he said.

O’Brien isn’t rattled by a change of plans. Delays don’t mean derailment.

“GO OUT ON A LIMB. THAT’S WHERE THE FRUIT IS.”

JIMMY CARTER

In the summer before his sophomore year, O’Brien secured an internship in São Paulo, Brazil. Having dual citizenship (O’Brien’s mother is Brazilian) and family he could live with in São Paulo provided the perfect opportunity for hands-on international learning.

“Offering to work for free will help you get a foot in the door,” he said. “That’s how I started working at my first position in São Paulo,” he said.

He was offered a three-month gig as an intern/office assistant at an asset management company. At the end of the summer, they offered him a full-time job. He accepted and had been working for the company for about a year when he met an entrepreneur who inspired another turn of events.

“A generous donation of industry-leading video equipment by the Black family of Erie has enabled our company’s growth, and also the development of Behrend’s Digital Media, Arts, and Technology program

O’Brien and two former high school classmates—Danny Pakulski, center, now a Digital Media, Arts, and Technology graduate, and Simon Yahn, left, a film student at Rochester Institute of Technology—formed Oddity Productions, a filmmaking and advertising company.

The entrepreneur was starting a consulting business to help tech companies scale their operations for Latin America.

“He invited another person and me to help launch the company—Ocidente Tech—and I had to learn fast,” O’Brien said. “This experience taught me tough lessons about how to manage myself and a small team, how to build professional relationships, and how to fail and recover fast. I couldn’t have asked for a better ‘gap year’ experience.”

When he returned to the United States, O’Brien jumped right back into college and his work at Oddity.

“I spend a lot of time working on business development, building our professional network, and maintaining our ‘back office’ operations such as the website, social media, and client contracts,” he said.

The company is in the black and has a growing list of happy clients. But Oddity Productions’ founders have aspirations beyond making money.

“WE RISE BY LIFTING OTHERS.”

ROBERT INGERSOLL

“We really want to build the film industry in Erie,” O’Brien said. “We have nearly every setting you could want here—forests, downtown, beaches, farms—and we have every season. Erie can and should be a destination for filmmakers.”

Not only do they want to attract filmmakers to Erie, they want to help build them.

O’Brien is a driving force behind BOLD Media Group—a Behrend club that will teach students how to use high-end video equipment available through Behrend’s Open Laboratory for Digital Creations (BOLD-C), an outreach program of the School of Humanities and Social Sciences.

“Through the club, we hope to facilitate cross-disciplinary collaboration between Digital Media, Arts, and Technology and Marketing majors to create speculative and real-world digital assets and advertisements for companies, with the goal of eventually taking on commercial work, contributing to Behrend’s Open Lab style of learning,” he said.

and the creation of the BOLD Media Group. Our involvement with the college will continue after graduation. We plan to provide opportunities for Behrend students on our film sets.” — Liam O’Brien