Bertolon School of Business Newsletter Spring 2023

BERTOLON SCHOOL OF BUSINESS NEWSLETTER

Spring 2023

internships in local, regional and national organizations. While our students gained valuable experience, almost every employer had extremely positive feedback about the work ethic and dedication of our students.

Dean’s Message

We have just ended a hugely successful academic year 202223 and are looking forward to welcoming a more diverse class in Fall 2023. 270 business students walked the commencement stage, 239 receiving a BS in Business Administration, 16 receiving the MBA degree and 15 receiving the MSA degree.

We continue to strive for our tomorrow to be better than today, and we started implementing some key initiatives from our 2022-27 strategic plan this academic year. Experiential education and success for ALL students have been the top priorities this year, in addition to ensuring support for faculty in their intellectual endeavors as they prepare students to be successful in this increasingly interconnected global economy. We held many events in person and almost every event was to capacity including the Entrepreneurship Panel in November, celebration of our experiential education successes in December, Bertolon Speaker Series in March, and the Business Pitch competition finals in April.

We signed 1-2-1 program agreement with Nanfang University in China and a MoU for student and faculty collaboration with University of Johannesburg in South Africa. We are working on another MoU with University of Mitrovica in Kosovo, and other agreements in China and India. COIL efforts by faculty and these internationalization efforts are expected to provide a broader global exposure to students and faculty and will yield additional enrollment in our programs.

We continue to play a vital role in the economic and social growth of communities around us. More than 200 students were involved in experiential education either by undertaking projects for local organizations, making investment decisions for the Student Managed Investment Fund which is approaching $400K, or helping low-income families file taxes in April 2023 through our VITA (Volunteer Income Tax Assistance) program. Almost 20 teams participated in the Third Annual Viking Business Pitch competition and more than 60 students undertook

Once again, on behalf of the BSB family I’d like to thank all of you who continue to invest in the future of our students and the growth of our school. This support has allowed us to provide internship stipends for unpaid internships, provide cutting-edge investment education using Bloomberg terminals, provide cash prizes to winners of our Business Pitch competition and provide faculty the much-needed time to research issues currently impacting our society.

I look forward to continued engagement by all of you. Happy Summer!

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For more information about the Bertolon School of Business, please visit salemstate.edu/bertolon or contact us at bsbstaff@salemstate.edu or 978.542.6608.

We look forward to speaking with you!

Raminder Luther, Dean, Bertolon School of Business

DEPARTMENT CHAIR CHANGES

Prof. Sanjay Jain continued as chair of Accounting and Finance, Prof. Fernando Colina filled in as chair of Marketing and Decision Sciences for Spring 2023 when Prof. Mayuresh Kelkar was on sabbatical, and Prof. James Gu will fill in as chair of the Management department for Prof. Leah Ritchie when she goes on sabbatical in Fall 2023.

MCNAMARA AWARD

Professor Chaerin Yun received the 2023 McNamara Faculty Excellence Award in Emerging Teaching.

ARTICLES, CASES, AND BOOK CHAPTERS PUBLISHED

Tang, Z., Chen, L., Jain, A. (2023). Exploring Individual Feature Importance in Student Persistence Prediction. Journal of Higher Education Theory and Practice, 23(6), 1-14.

Nigam, S., Chopra, D., Jain, S. (2023). India’s Economic Ecosystem Challenges for Women Entrepreneurs. Empirical Economics Letters, 22 (Special Issue 2): (January 2023) (ISSN 1681 8997), 35-44.

Tarnoff, K. A., Barnes, K. , Bostwick, E. (2023). Is Your AoL Process Overly Complex? Organization Management Journal, 20(2), 46-55.

Hakstian, A.-M. (2023). Racial/Ethnic Disparities in traffic citations, Tisbury, MA.

INTERNATIONALIZATION EFFORTS

COLLABORATION WITH UNIVERSITY OF MITROVICA

CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS AND PROFESSIONAL SERVICE

Profs. Kathleen Barnes, Zlatinka Blaber, Fernando Colina, Hongtao Guo, Anne-Marie Hakstian, Xu Hartling, Jean-Paul James, John McArdle, Ken Mullane, Youqin Pan, Chaerin Yun and Guorong Zhu attended various national and/or international conferences.

Profs. Norbert Tschakert, Kathleen Barnes, Anne-Marie Hakstian, Mindy Jeon, Leah Ritchie, Linda Coleman, Youqin Pan, and Zaiyong Tang continued to serve on the editorial boards of various journals.

In May 2023 Professor John McArdle returned to the University of Mitrovica in Kosovo to follow up on his Fall semester Fulbright grant. In addition to guest lecturing on a variety of topics and presenting his research that he collaborated with Prof. Norbert Tschakert on, he also held an information session for students interested in pursuing graduate study at Salem State. This partnership is expected to result in increased enrollment in our graduate programs and more scholarly collaboration among faculty of the two institutions.

Jeon, M. (2023). CSR and employee attachment in tourism firms: Perceived ethical leadership, responsible management, and the mediating role of community engagement. Journal of Human Resources in Hospitality and Tourism, 22(1)

Jeon, M., Colina, F., Coleman, L. J. (2023). Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Risk Perception and Behaviors of Small Life-Cycle Event Attendees. Event Management (formerly Festival Management & Event Tourism).

Mullane, K. (2023). Organizational Behavior: Groupthink. SAGE Business Foundations. SAGE Publications, Inc.

COLLABORATIVE ONLINE INTERNATIONAL LEARNING (COIL)

Faculty members from all three departments including Prof. Zlatinka Blaber, Prof. Cissy Hartling, Prof. Mindy Jeon, Prof. John McArdle and Prof. Guorong Zhu have exposed, or plan to expose their students virtually to international students via Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL). Last year, these students worked collaboratively on projects with students at various universities around the world including Kansai University, Japan; University of Johannesburg, South Africa; Saga University, Japan; Poltava State Agrarian University, Ukraine; Panyapiwat Institute of Management, Thailand. Prof. Blaber will continue to serve as the COIL coordinator for our school till December 2023, and more participation by faculty is expected in Fall 2023.

1-2-1 PROGRAM WITH NANFANG UNIVERSITY

We signed an agreement for an international cohort program in accounting as part of the AASCU-CCIEE cooperation in Higher Education and Professional Development. Under this program, a cohort of students from Nanfang University will come in Fall 2023 to pursue a degree in Business with a concentration in Accounting at the Bertolon School of Business.

MOU WITH UNIVERSITY OF JOHANNESBURG

Dean Luther invited and we hosted Prof. Tankiso Moloi, a visiting scholar from University of Johannesburg, South Africa. Prof. Moloi serves as the Academic Director at the Johannesburg Business School and is a Full Professor in Finance and Research Chair in 4IR. Prof. Moloi interacted with students and faculty during his time here and we explored various collaboration opportunities. As a result, we have signed a MoU with the University of Johannesburg for an exchange of academic employees, student exchange and joint research programs.

INTERNSHIPS

More than 60 students completed internships during Summer 2022, Fall 2022 and Spring 2023 at various organizations in the region and beyond including Accurate Logistics, Big Sister, Boston Marriott, Finer Wealth Management, Groom Construction, Kernwood Country Club, Leap for Education, MIT Lincoln Lab, North Shore Chamber of Commerce, Santander Bank, Teradyne, Triumvirate Environmental, UBS and Walt Disney.

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT

Salem State University was selected as Big Sister Boston’s inaugural recipient of the Mia Roberts Community Partner of the Year Award. Mia, VP of Community Partnerships, retired from Big Sister Boston in March 2023 after 21years of service to Greater Boston’s girls!

In conveying the award, Annissa Essaibi George, Big Sister CEO and president said, “Salem State has been a steadfast partner of Big Sister Boston since 2016. Over the last seven years, the University, the business school, and its students have worked to support and enhance our outreach efforts across the communities we serve through both class projects and student internships.”

VITA

The VITA Program completed its mission successfully in Tax Year 2023. A total of 240 tax returns were completed, serving over 120 taxpayers. 40 international students were assisted with filing form 8843. During the 2023 tax season, there were two sites located at the Harrington Campus in CC-115 and at 71 Loring Ave, Salem MA. There was a total of 15 volunteers which included five from the North Shore Community Development Coalition and two local residents.

STUDENT AWARDS

The twenty-ninth annual Awards Night ceremony took place on Wednesday, May 3, 2023. Dean Luther stated “This event provides us an opportunity to celebrate the accomplishments of our hardworking, caring, engaged and dedicated students and faculty.

Our students persevere, manage their course load, and serve in their communities while tackling their financial and personal responsibilities, and our faculty are ready and willing to meet needs of the moment, support students, and each other while continuing their own professional development and scholarly activities. All those being honored tonight represent the best of our BSB family. They have shown incredible engagement, endurance, and commitment to achieving great things, and their drive and passion inspire all of us to be our best.

On behalf of Salem State University and Bertolon School of Business family, I convey my sincerest congratulations to all being honored tonight!”

The following awards were presented:

Dean’s Award

Alexander Tilkens MBA

Neal Hansen MSA

Victor DeLeon Accounting & Finance Department

Rich Esteban Management Department

Jeremy Jacobs Marketing & Decision Sciences Department

David F. Barry Book Award

Abigail Foglietta Human Resource Management

Departmental Book Awards

Accounting and Finance

Nhi Tran Accounting

Hue Le Corporate Finance & Accounting

Kyle Waldusky Finance Management

Seraphin Mafouana Hospitality Management

Abigail Foglietta Human Resource Management

Rich Esteban International Business

Ambra Doku Management

Elise Firth-Gonzalez Entrepreneurship

Marketing and Decision Sciences

McKayla Wenger Analytics and Management Science

Hannah Jensen Marketing

Michael Pizzi Information and Management Science

Joseph T. Flibbert Award

Graduate business student Chloe Brown’s paper was awarded second prize in the 2023 Joseph T. Flibbert Graduate Student Paper Award contest.

Beta Gamma Sigma

Induction

The Second Annual Beta Gamma Sigma (BGS) Induction Ceremony took place on Wednesday, May 3, 2023, in the Recital Hall. BGS is the international business honor society for AACSB-accredited schools, so only students from 5% of the world’s business schools get an opportunity to be inducted into BGS. The society’s goals are to encourage and honor academic achievement in the study of business, to cultivate and celebrate leadership and professional excellence, and to advance the values of the society (i.e., honor, wisdom, and earnestness).

As part of the BSB Awards Night, over 100 attendees comprised of 17 BGS inductees along with their family and friends, President Keenan, Provost Silva, BSB Dean Luther, and BSB faculty (including BGS Faculty Advisors Doug Chene and Ken Mullane), enjoyed a wonderful evening recognizing the hard work and accomplishments of Bertolon’s brightest students. Congratulations to our newest BGS inductees!

SPRING 2023 SPEAKER SERIES

Brian Kelly, President of Kelly Automotive Group presented for Bertolon School of Business Spring Speaker Series. Joining him on the panel was Brian Heney, Chief Executive Officer of Kelly Automotive Group and Lisa Avola, General Manager of Kelly Infiniti. Kelly shared the success and challenges of growing his business, provided insights on the evolving automotive industry, and offered advice to students preparing to launch business careers. Over 80 students were in attendance.

CENTER FOR ENTREPRENEURSHIP NEWS

VIKING BUSINESS PITCH COMPETITION

The third annual Viking Business Pitch Competition was held in the Recital Hall on Thursday, April 6. Eight student teams from both in and outside Bertolon School of Business presented their business ideas as finalists in front of a full auditorium on the stage. In this year, due to increased sponsor supports, the center increases the three grand-prizes to $3,000, $2,000, and $1,000 level. In addition, all other five finalist teams receive $250 in reward for each team.

1st Place – Henry Doherty, Jack Pender, and Michael Flynn

Henry Doherty is a senior student in business major with entrepreneurship concentration; Jack Pender is a junior business student with marketing concentration; and Michael Flynn is also a junior business student with marketing concentration. They will share the $3,000 grand prize. Jack and Michael were also finalists in last year’s annual competition. In this year, the new three-person team presented a new idea, PoliticalEd, an app of political education geared toward American college students. This software has clearly defined market niche and addresses a deficiency among a group of potential consumers.

2nd Place – RoseBiandie JeanMary

A graduating senior student of biology major and biomedical concentration won the 2nd grand prize of $2,000. Her idea of Rosemetics, natural skincare is not only an idea, but the

ADVISORY BOARD NEWS

Advisory board chose to focus on Business Pitch competition and mentorship this year. There was more than 80% participation in supporting these efforts financially or volunteering their time. Many members connected with students as guest speakers in their classes and continue to connect with them through LinkedIn. Thanks to the efforts of all our advisory board members, and especially Mr. Dino DiPalma, we raised $17,500 for financial awards and supporting the Business Pitch competition.

ALUMNI NEWS

40 under 40

Julianna Donovan ’20G earned her MBA from the Bertolon School of Business and is currently the owner of Salem Style and a marketing manager at Howland Capital.

Errin Douglas ’18 earned her bachelor’s degree in business administration and is currently the chief operations officer of The Davis System LLC.

EXTERNAL EVENT ENGAGEMENT

Drew Duperval ’18 graduated with a bachelor’s degree in business administration. Drew is the founder of EntreDupe Consulting LLC and EntreDupe Productions.

More than 50 students attended North Shore Chamber Breakfast forums and other events. These opportunities were made possible through the support of the North Shore Chamber of Commerce members.

only real business that already started among all eight finalist teams. RoseBiandie plans to invest the prize money to her newly established business.

3rd Place – Glen Gjuraj

Glen is a senior business student with management concentration. Glen originally came from Albania. He produced the idea of Harmony, a textile recovery program. He was the first among eight teams to present. His clear understanding of the engineering and financial aspects of the program impressed the judges enough to land him the third grand prize.

FOURTH ANNUAL VIKING BUSINESS PITCH COMPETITION

The Center held its second Entrepreneurship Panel in November 2022, and four of our alumni and successful entrepreneurs shared their experience and lessons learned with our students who see themselves as budding entrepreneurs. The panelists included Rafael Barbosa, founder of Central Cut Marketing and Maverick Suites, Mikki Wilson, CEO of The Dot Connector, Yanique Shaw, founder and creative director of Yanique Events LLC, and Ed Brzychcy, owner of Lead From the Front.

Cassandra Keane ’18, ’22G earned her bachelor’s and MBA from the Bertolon School of Business. She now works for Sanofi Genzyme as a product business manager.

Eric Lampedecchio ’08 earned his bachelor’s degree in business administration and is currently the Vice President of Learning and Development at Pentucket Bank.

Adam M. Lord, CPA, CNAP ’08 earned his bachelor’s degree in business administration with a concentration in accounting in 2008. In 2019 he was made partner at his firm Penchansky & Co., PLLC, Certified Public Accountants.

Pedro Palandrani ’18G earned his MBA from the Bertolon School of Business and currently leads Global X ETF’s thematic research efforts as a director of research.

Meet the Moment is the new campaign for Salem State University aimed to make a positive and tangible impact on student success. For more information and ways to support Salem State University and the Bertolon School of Business, please scan the QR code.

If you have news to share or would like to become involved as an alumni, please email bsbstaff@salemstate.edu.