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UCF business students Erin Engel, Jordyn Fiorica, William Newbold, Jordan Ray and Brock Stephens were crowned champions with their idea for a virtual reality simulator to better the DICK’S Sporting Goods House of Sports experience

ORLANDO, FL (July 13, 2026) – UCF business students Erin Engel, Jordyn Fiorica, William Newbold, Jordan Ray and Brock Stephens teamed up to win the 2026 Great Capstone Case Competition on Friday. The competition is typically the final course before graduation where students in the College of Business present inventive proposals for modern, real-world business issues as part of their final coursework in the college.

The Capstone course enables students to collaborate and develop their analytical, communication and teamwork skills. Dick’s Sporting Goods worked in partnership with BNY for this competition, providing the framework each group used for the proposals. Finals’ judges included BNY representatives Reshanna Jagroo, Tatiana Manzanares and Logan Parkes, Golf Galaxy Store Manager James Gick, DICK’S Sporting Goods General Manager Robert Dupuy and the college’s Finance Executive in Residence Paul Gregg.

“I am consistently impressed by the depth of research and the exceptional quality of work our students dedicate to their Capstone projects,” said Christopher Leo, Senior Lecturer of the Strategic Management course, before presenting the awards to the winners. “The compressed timeline of the Summer semester demands intense focus, and these winning teams have truly risen to the challenge.”

Victory Analytics (Avah Armour, Andrea Ballestro, Arne Michaelis, Ysabela Rodriguez, Marcus Rumbaugh) finished second and Mission Possible (Ariana Bridgemohan, Balecia Knighton, Daniela Martinez-Rivera, Mckenna O’Brien and Victoria Perez) finished third.

Leo presented the winning team’s lab instructor, Jade Laderwarg, Ed.D., MBA, SHRM-CP, with the Nichols Cup, named in honor of longtime Capstone instructor Gary Nichols ’87. The winning lab instructor keeps the trophy until the next competition.

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Orlando, FL (June 23, 2026) — Eleven UCF College of Business students earned scholarships as part of the ADP Business Knights Leadership Academy, thanks to the support of global human resources management company ADP. The academy, which launched in January 2025, is designed to enhance leadership development and create opportunities to prepare students with the knowledge and skills they need in their first job. The collaboration with ADP is just another part of the company’s longtime partnership and commitment to the college and UCF.

SCHOLARSHIP WINNERS

Mya Belanger
Lerick De Leon Bautista
Erik Denico
Colby Duncanson
Zoe Fulgencio
Peyton Gary
Olivia Hoffman
Samreen Khan
Madison Levon
Chris Previlon
Emma Rumija

Students with a 3.0 GPA in Denise McFadden’s GEB 3006 course were eligible to apply for the scholarships, which are offered each semester, by submitting a 500-750 word essay describing their leadership, volunteer or customer service experiences and sharing key lessons learned and how those experiences influenced their career goals.

About ADP

Designing better ways to work through cutting-edge products, premium services and exceptional experiences that enable people to reach their full potential. HR, Talent, Time Management, Benefits and Payroll. Informed by data and designed for people. Learn more at ADP.com.

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UCF business students Cassidy Carpenter, Almyr Chery, Kyle Coggins and Sofia Heredia each earn $500 in scholarship funding

ORLANDO, FL (May 4, 2026) – UCF business students Cassidy Carpenter, Almyr Chery, Kyle Coggins and Sofia Heredia teamed up to win the 2026 Great Capstone Case Competition on Friday and take home $500 each in scholarship funding, thanks to presenting sponsor BNY. The Case competition is typically the final course before graduation where students in the College of Business present inventive proposals for modern, real-world business issues as part of their final coursework in the college.

The Capstone course enables students to collaborate and develop their analytical, communication and teamwork skills. Costco worked in partnership with BNY for this competition, providing the framework each group used for the proposals. Finals’ judges included BNY representatives Eric David, Reshanna Jagroo and Logan Parkes, Costco executive Santiago Camargo and the college’s Finance Executive in Residence Paul Gregg.

“This was one of the closest finals we’ve ever had in the Capstone competition,” said Christopher Leo, Senior Lecturer of the Strategic Management course, before presenting the awards to the winners. “You should all be proud of the work you did and use this as proof of concept as you begin your careers.”

The Starting Five Team of Chris Brassington, Jackson Harris, Sam Lessinger, Devon Maue and Coleman Smith finished second, earning $250 each. Team Chicken Bake (Mindy Ballard, Mimi Huynh, Shiva Rajendran and Riley Stephens) finished third and took home $150 each.

Leo presented the winning team’s lab instructor, Mahsa Mohsenibeigzadeh, with the Nichols Cup, named in honor of longtime Capstone instructor Gary Nichols ’87. The winning lab instructor keeps the trophy until the next competition.

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The 2026 UCF Joust New Venture Competition finalists and judges with UCF President Alexander Cartwright.MBA student, engineering and business alumni team up to take top prize at UCF’s Annual Shark Tank-Style CompetitionA health care consulting and technology company that builds AI systems aimed at reducing administrative burden and preventing revenue leakage took home the top prize of $12,000 and more than $27,000 in in-kind services at last week’s 2026 Joust New Venture Championship. The competition is UCF’s version of the ABC TV show Shark Tank and it is open to all UCF students.

This year’s winning team, CareFlo, was led by current MBA student Jad-Alexander Shalhoub ’19, who is also a UCF engineering alum and former student body vice president, along with engineering alum Joshua Boloña ’19 and business alum John Alex Kurutz ’21.

UCF President Alexander Cartwright (from left) with 2026 Joust winners Jad Shaloub and John Kurutz from CareFlo, a health care consulting and technology company.“The CareFlo team…walked away with $12,000 to invest back into building Deacon, a tool designed to help revenue cycle for the healthcare practices that need it most,” Shalhoub wrote in a LinkedIn post. “Nights like this remind me we’re onto something…Proud of this team, and we’re just getting started. A sincere thank you to the coaches and mentors who helped sharpen the pitch.”

Hosted by the College of Business’ Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership, UCF’s annual premier startup showcase sees student competitors pitch their business models to a panel of industry professionals and entrepreneurs for the chance to win money and other valuable resources for their venture.

“This competition is what it looks like when ideas meet action, when learning turns into doing. As Florida’s Technological University, UCF does not separate ideas from execution, because that is what today’s economy demands and what tomorrow’s economy will be built on,” said UCF President Alexander N. Cartwright, speaking from the stage before the winners were announced. “Competitions like the Joust matter because they create powerful moments where connections, insights and opportunities emerge that turn ideas into products, students into founders and potential into progress.”

Led by computer science majors Jordan Campbell and Aridsondez Jerome, Luro finished second and earned $7,000 for a real-time intelligence platform for live streaming that monitors and understands video, audio and chat streams as they happen.

Third place went to computer science majors Rahul Ghosh and Wei-Lin Chou and their company TenX, a project-based hiring assessment tool that measures how engineers use AI tools to solve practical engineering problems. Ghosh and Chou earned $4,000.

Rounding out the top four was GeriTrac with the freshman-led team of Om Telang, a biomedical sciences major, and Amit Prasad, a computer science major. The geriatric care revenue gap-closing company that automates Medicare compliance earned $2,000.

The four student teams made their pitches on stage at the Student Union to a live audience and a panel of industry-leading experts, entrepreneurs and College of Business Hall of Famers. The judges included 2017 Hall of Fame inductee Sonya Dixon ’96, ’98, president of Kimaya Real Estate; 2026 inductees Taylor A. Gerring ’05, co-founding member of Ethereum; and Serguei Melnik ’98MS, president and chairman of the board of directors, at Nutriband, Inc.; Michael Cantrell, former Coca-Cola executive; and Miriam Mitchell, chief lending officer at Addition Financial.

“Our Joust Entrepreneurship Challenge events have become a leading platform for UCF’s creative talent to connect with community leaders and startup advocates,” said Cameron Ford, founding director for Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership, and executive director of the UCF Blackstone LaunchPad. “The progression from this year’s Ideas Tournament to our Innovation Tournament to, finally, our Joust New Venture Championship engaged over 250 students and almost 100 expert community judges. These connections promote learning, creativity, collaboration and startup success needed to enrich our campus and our community.”

Cash award sponsors for the Joust included the Michael & Colleen O’Donnell Family Foundation, Jeff’s Bagel Run (Justin Wetherill ’07) and PETE Learning (Jacque Fu ’08). In-Kind Essential Services sponsors awarded to the Joust Champion include BK Consulting Services, Design Theory, Orlando Law Group, Serverizz, Think Integrated and UCF’s Business Incubation Program.

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Orlando, FL (April 3, 2026) — Fifteen UCF College of Business students earned scholarships as part of the ADP Business Knights Leadership Academy, thanks to the support of global human resources management company ADP. The academy, which launched in January 2025, is designed to enhance leadership development and create opportunities to prepare students with the knowledge and skills they need in their first job. The collaboration with ADP is just another part of the company’s longtime partnership and commitment to the college and UCF.

SCHOLARSHIP WINNERS

Isabella Herrero Colon
Rachael Gonzalez
Patricia Alvarez Ibarra
Thomas Justice
Sania Khurana
Mariana Guevara Alana Kibitz
Allyson Limbrick-Rosado
Rania Malik
Claudia Navarro
Edgardo Reina
Sam Rico
Jonathan Santoso
Zachary Weiss
Olivia White

About ADP

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As the winning team, Miami Dade College receives $9,000 in cash prizes of $50,000 total awarded to seven of the largest public colleges and universities in Florida

ORLANDO – A spark of creativity and a deep understanding of what it means to be a fan propelled Miami Dade College’s “Magic Metrics” team to victory in this year’s Blackstone LaunchPad Florida Innovation Challenge sponsored by the Orlando Magic.

The two-day event held in October brought together students from seven Florida universities: Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University (FAMU), Florida International University (FIU), Florida State University (FSU), Miami Dade College (MDC), University of Central Florida (UCF), University of Florida (UF), University of North Florida (UNF), who were challenged to create a fan membership program that engages fans domestically and internationally. The Miami Dade College team delivered a concept that was as innovative as it was inspiring. UF, UNF and UCF joined Miami Dade College on the podium.

In its second year, this innovation challenge platform, led by faculty from UCF College of Business, focuses on the real-world strategic priorities of a sponsor. This year, student teams developed proposals around the Orlando Magic’s need to develop a global fan membership program. All of the student teams created features of their proposals that may be implemented by the Magic in the rollout of the program.

Reimagining Fandom: Everyday Connection Beyond Game Night

The winning proposal, titled “Magic Metrics,” introduced a points-based fan membership program that transforms fan engagement from a game-night event into a daily, lifestyle-driven experience. Built around three “lifestyle anchors” – everyday purchases, fitness and play, and entertainment access – the concept allows fans to earn points for everything from workouts and charitable acts to attending games or supporting partner merchants.

Those points, tracked through a mobile platform called Magic Score, can be redeemed for rewards and experiences that deepen fan loyalty while benefiting the broader community. The model also integrates strategic partnerships with companies such as Affina, HomeCourt, and Live Nation to deliver a seamless blend of digital convenience, local perks, and global connectivity.

Magic Metrics impressed judges with its dual impact: strengthening fan relationships while also creating new revenue opportunities and enhancing a commitment to the local community, a nod to the Orlando Magic’s mission to be world champions on and off the court.

Other proposals ranged from the incorporation of predictive analytics (UF), a robotics competition (UCF), female-fanbase-focused social media (UNF), and docuseries with potential major corporate partners (FIU and FSU) to help broaden the impact of the membership program with segments of Magic fans in the U.S. and abroad.

Students Behind the Innovations

The five-member Miami Dade College team, including Angela Lai, Uyen Hoang, Jean-Pierre Neira-Pinzón, Minh Nguyen, and Santiago Padron, blended backgrounds in economics, business administration and pre-med to create a concept rooted in both empathy and data.

Their presentation emphasized that fandom isn’t just about moments inside the arena – it’s about shared identity, purpose and belonging.

“As a pre-med student, this experience was far outside my usual path, yet it became one of the most transformative moments of my college journey,” said Minh Nguyen. “It reminded me that stepping outside of your comfort zone can open doors to entirely new ways of learning and problem-solving.”

“The breadth of students competing in the state finals was truly impressive, attracting students from major STEM programs, including computer science. engineering and physics, to fine arts, psychology, and of course, business,” UCF Department of Management Professor of Practice and Florida Partnership Director for the Blackstone LaunchPad, Michael P. Lynch, PhD/MBA said.

A Celebration of Collaboration and Vision

The Florida Innovation Challenge drew more than 300 students and 50 teams from colleges and universities across the state, each bringing bold ideas to the table. The competition was judged by Central Florida leaders in sports, business, and academia, including Jennifer Lastik (Greater Orlando Sports), Chris Hughes (Track Shack), Sankaya Hall (Full Sail University), and Michael Forde and Marie Webb (both with the Orlando Magic).

For the Orlando Magic, the challenge represents more than just innovation, it’s a reflection of the team’s ongoing mission to engage fans through technology, creativity and connection.

“The ideas we saw this year, especially from Miami Dade College, demonstrate that the next generation of innovators are already shaping how sports organizations can build lasting relationships with fans,” Orlando Magic Chief Strategy and Innovation Officer Jay Riola said. “Their proposal beautifully aligned with our values – using innovation not only to entertain but to empower.”

Looking Ahead

As the winners of the 2025 Innovation Challenge, the Miami Dade College team leaves with $9,000 in prize funding and invaluable exposure to leaders across the sports and entertainment industry. UF, UNF, UCF, FAMU, FIU and FSU also left with $3,000-$6,000 each as well as a substantially broadened professional network. But perhaps more importantly, they leave having redefined what it means to engage fans in the digital age — turning everyday actions into lasting loyalty.

The Miami Dade College team’s Magic Metrics vision, as well as the full range of concepts from each of the schools, exemplify how creative thinking, strategic partnerships and community impact can unite to elevate the fan experience – a perfect reflection of the Orlando Magic’s belief that fans paired with innovation is the true magic behind the game.

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Every year on the first Wednesday of April, UCF marks Founders’ Day by honoring the outstanding accomplishments and contributions of its people. The College of Business is incredibly proud of the following students and faculty who will be recognized for their impact on the College and UCF.

FOUNDERS’ DAY AWARD

Jordan Nell is a senior finance major and member of the College of Business Ambassadors.

What does this award mean to you? I am truly grateful to be receiving the Founders’ Day award. It’s really special to receive an award that connects back to the people and values that built UCF. It motivates me to keep challenging myself and to proudly represent UCF beyond graduation. I look forward to staying connected and giving back as an alumna.
Why did you choose UCF? Back in high school, UCF was the only school I wanted to attend and the only one I applied to. Its strong connection to The Walt Disney Company really stood out to me and played a big role in my decision. I’m incredibly grateful for the Disney Aspire program for partnering with UCF and covering my college tuition.
What is your favorite memory from UCF? I’ve had many amazing experiences at UCF, but one that stands out the most is participating in the NYC Capital Markets Advisory Board trip. I had the opportunity to travel to New York City with faculty from the College of Business and seven other students. Visiting the New York Stock Exchange, engaging with leaders from the Big Four accounting firms, and connecting with UCF alums working in New York City were incredible experiences I’ll never forget.
How has the College of Business helped you? The College of Business has given me confidence in my skills and professionalism. By teaching what employers value and helping me develop those skills, they’ve prepared me to succeed in whatever opportunities come after graduation. Their guidance has helped me grow as a student and as a future professional ready to make an impact.
What knowledge would you pass on to students thinking about coming to UCF and the College of Business? My advice is to make the most out of the knowledge and guidance the faculty provide. UCF has an abundance of resources and opportunities, but I’ve learned that your experience is truly what you make of it. The more you put yourself out there and take initiative, the more you’ll gain from your time here.
Who were your biggest supporters in getting to where you are now? I’ve been fortunate to have incredible support from the College of Business faculty, including Tiffany Hughes, Dean Paul Jarley, and Professor Paul Gregg, as well as the Office of Professional Development team. I am also grateful to my family for supporting me in all of my pursuits and cheering me on along the way.

ORDER OF PEGASUS

Hannah Lovejoy is a senior accounting major and member of the UCF Women’s Rowing team.

What does this award mean to you? This award is a representation of the village of people I have supporting and pushing me.
Why did you choose UCF? I chose UCF because it has such a large student population, which means there are so many opportunities, but at the same time, in my classes and around school, I don’t feel overwhelmed by the number of students, which I really like.
What is your favorite memory from UCF? Winning the Big 12 rowing championship was by far my favorite memory here.
How has the College of Business helped you? I have loved that my core classes are smaller so I am able to have a closer relationship with my professors and get more help from the TAs.
What knowledge would you pass on to students thinking about coming to UCF and the College of Business? There are so many resources available, just ask for help. I didn’t realize all the support offered in the college of business until a couple years in.
Who were your biggest supporters in getting to where you are now? Tanner O’Connor and my parents played a huge role in getting me here. Tim Allen and Mara Allen have played a huge role in getting me to where I am now.

Natalie Otero is a senior accounting major who is a member of the Honors Congress and Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) and previously served as the Vice President of the Health Awareness & Prevention Society, Director of Volunteering for Medlife at UCF and a Orlando Regional Medical Center volunteer.

What does this award mean to you? This award means a lot to me because it represents the difference I’ve been able to make at UCF beyond the classroom. It reflects not just my work, but the people and communities that have shaped my experience. UCF has deeply impacted me and will forever be a part of my heart. I am so grateful to think that perhaps I have impacted UCF too.
Why did you choose UCF? I chose UCF because of the community. From my first day on campus, I knew that it was the place for me. UCF offered unparalleled support and opportunities. It was a place where I could explore different interests, get involved and challenge myself.
What is your favorite memory from UCF? I have so many incredible memories at UCF that it is honestly hard to pick just one. My college experience is made of thousands of happy moments that have come together to shape my journey. If I had to choose, I think I would say my first ever Honors Congress board meeting as a new director. It might not seem that exciting in comparison to all that I have done in my time here, but looking back, it was the beginning of so much for me. From the first moment, I knew I had found my community, and I made forever friends that day. Honors Congress has been at the center of so much of my time at UCF, and I believe it is where I have been able to make the biggest impact, starting with that first day.
How has the College of Business helped you? The College of Business has given me both the technical foundation and professional opportunities to succeed. Through coursework, mentorship and internship connections, I’ve been able to gain real-world experience and better understand what I want to do in my career.
What knowledge would you pass on to students thinking about coming to UCF and the College of Business? Get involved early and don’t be afraid to try new things. UCF has so much to offer that it can almost be a little overwhelming at times, but I promise that it is worth exploring and you will find the place you were meant to be. Some of the most impactful experiences I’ve had came from stepping outside my comfort zone. The UCF College of Business has so many resources and opportunities if you take the time to get involved.
Who were your biggest supporters in getting to where you are now? I have been incredibly lucky to have had an unbelievable amount of support during my time at UCF. The supportive community here is one of the things that stood out to me the most about UCF and is why I ultimately chose to attend. My family, my professors and my friends have offered me advice and mentorship that I truly would not be here without. I am so grateful for the sacrifices that my parents and my grandparents have made to provide for my education. I could not ask for better parents; I hope more than anything to follow in their footsteps and make them proud. My grandparents were (Operation) Pedro Pan kids (from Cuba) and they have always made it so clear to me how happy and proud they are of me and my success in America. During my time at UCF, I was fortunate to have professors who cared deeply about their students and what they were teaching. One professor in particular, Dr. Sean Dennis, was extremely impactful in guiding me toward choosing audit as a career path and actually wrote my letter of recommendation for this award. Lastly, I would be remiss if I did not mention the friends that I have made here. They have cheered me on every step of the way and made me part of a community that I will never forget. One of my friends actually insisted on flying back to Florida just for the Order of Pegasus Ceremony when she heard the news, so a special thank you to my best friend Alysha who believes in me more than I believe in myself.

FACULTY AWARDS

Reach for the Stars: John Bush – Assistant Professor, Department of Management
Excellence in Research: Kevin Mullally – Assistant Professor, Department of Finance
Excellence in Graduate Teaching: Dana Joseph – Professor, Department of Management
Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching: Sara Willox – Lecturer, Department of Integrated Business
Employee Leadership Excellence Award Nominee: Amy Perry – Director of Human Resources

FACULTY & STAFF EMPLOYMENT ANNIVERSARIES

10 Years: Summer Davis, Aaron Smart
20 Years: Richard Curcio, Kelley Dietrich, Sean Snaith
25 Years: Tarek Buhagiar, Mark Dickie, Steven Hornik, Stefanie Mayfield Garcia
30 Years: Lynn Becker
Emeritus: Richard Hofler, Robin Roberts

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New platform gives Knights access to real-time financial data & analytics

Orlando, FL (Feb. 5, 2026) – The UCF College of Business recently secured access for all UCF students and faculty to FactSet, a platform used by Wall Street analysts that creates software solutions and instant access to financial data and analytics. This addition, alongside the College’s longstanding partnership with Bloomberg for financial terminals for its students, continues UCF’s reputation as a leader in the industry and supports its continual effort to offer students and faculty access to the best educational programs available.

Students and faculty across campus can access FactSet at any time by visiting factset.com. To setup your account, visit support.factset.com/academic/# and use your @ucf.edu email address.

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There is a troubling phenomenon that threatens to undermine investor confidence in legitimate technological innovation – many firms claiming to use AI for portfolio optimization are, quite simply, not using AI at all. The gap between marketing claims and technological reality has reached crisis proportions. The Securities and Exchange Commission has coined a term for this deceptive practice: “AI washing”—and it’s more pervasive than most realize.

Full Article: aijourn.com/when-ai-powered-portfolio-optimization-is-neither-artificial-nor-intelligent-the-trillion-dollar-trust-gap/

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“The next wave of AI disruption won’t target people – it will target patterns. Jobs built on repetition, compliance, and predictable logic are standing on the fault line. Think payroll clerks, data entry keyers, medical records specialists, credit authorizers, and insurance underwriters – roles where accuracy and volume once equaled value. Within 2- years, automation and large language models will absorb these transactional tasks faster than most leaders expect.” – Dr. Amanda MainFull Article: edsmart.org/newsroom/ai-job-risk-report/

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Full Article: fl-falcon.org/beyond-the-algorithm-balancing-efficiency-and-ethics-in-ai-assisted-grading/

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Full Article: yotru.com/blog/amanda-main-on-gen-z-s-career-pivot-ai-reality-and-the-new-blueprint-for-work

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Full Article: chronicle.com/article/ai-has-joined-the-faculty

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UCF Instructor & Program Director, Center for Risk Management & Insurance Education Gabriel F. Carrillo was featured in WalletHub’s article on the cheapest car insurance in Florida, originally published on Nov. 14, 2025. His excerpt is featured below, to read the whole article, click HERE.

Do you have any advice for Florida residents looking for the cheapest possible car insurance?

Finding affordable insurance involves a critical balance of identifying the right company, quoting the right coverage and finding the right price. Start by narrowing the companies you should consider by identifying the best-rated companies. If they are AM Best rated, you should only consider those with an A (A-, A, A+ or A++). This will guarantee your company is solid financially and is deemed one of the best available by an independent rating agency. Second, make sure you quote adequate coverage. This should be non-negotiable. State minimums create a ticking timebomb for your financial security. With the cost of medical care, our extremely litigious environment and the average cost of a new car now approaching $50,000, now is a particularly bad time to gamble on inadequate coverage. Talk to a licensed agent for coaching on how to set adequate limits. Finally, the price. The best approach is to shop around – the more quotes you get, the better your odds of finding that right price. Make sure you explore available discounts, as bundling your auto with homeowners or renters coverage can provide much better pricing. As tempting as it can be, never sacrifice quality (the right company) or adequate coverage for the sake of price.

Is there anything unique about car insurance in Florida that people who move to the state might not be aware of at first?

There are two key differences a newcomer will notice in Florida auto insurance relative to other states. First, we are a “no-fault” state, which means you must purchase Personal Injury Protection (PIP) coverage. In the unfortunate event of an accident, this coverage allows your own company to pay your medical bills (up to the policy limit), rather than having to establish fault and negotiate who pays for what. You should carefully consider the limit you choose, as medical care inflation has been particularly steep. Second, this state allows drivers to purchase a PIP/PD (personal injury protection/property damage) policy in an attempt to offer inexpensive, state-complaint coverage. I would strongly advise against choosing this coverage – please see my response to the prior question for an argument for adequate coverage. One additional note: Florida has a higher population of uninsured drivers (estimated around 28%) than any other state. Combined with the 38% of drivers who choose the PIP/PD policy option, roughly 64% of drivers on our roadways are uninsured or underinsured. Purchasing uninsured motorists and underinsured motorists coverage in Florida is imperative. Neither is required by law, but everyone should purchase both to manage the risk associated with our driving population.

What can people expect from the cheapest car insurance companies in Florida? When does it make sense to pay extra for better service?

Each insurance company promulgates and maintains their own auto insurance pricing structure. As a result, very good companies can have very competitive rates for some risks, and less competitive for others. Thus, it is not possible to say, uniformly, what to expect from the cheapest company for your risk profile. What can be said is that you should never trade the quality of your insurance company, nor the adequacy of your coverage, for a cheap price. If you do choose to buy simply on price alone, there is some meaningful chance you could end up with a company that either won’t be there at claim time, or won’t handle your claim well, resulting in a poor experience at a time when quality and service matter most. Experiencing an auto accident is definitively a very bad day. With your car out of service, and you potentially in the hospital, there will never be a more important time to have a solid insurance company working hard to get you healthy and back on the road again. Better service typically comes from better companies, so paying more to be sure you’ve signed on with a solid insurance partner always makes the most sense.

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Paul Jarley: It’s Space Week at UCF and I’m like a kid in a candy store. So many questions. For one, everyone’s talking about going to Mars, but why? What problem are we solving? What does Mars offer that other planets or the moons don’t? And if the answer is survival or curiosity, does that really require an economy, people trading air, power and data in some kind of cosmic barter system? Or is Mars just a science project? Let’s be real. Most moms or dads did their kids science projects. Nobody ever monetized anything from any of them.

This show is all about separating hype from fundamental change. I’m Paul Jarley, Dean of the College of Business here at UCF. I’ve got lots of questions. To get answers, I’m talking to people with interesting insights into the future of business. Have you ever wondered, Is This Really a Thing? On to our show.

In the past few years, the College has been undergoing a transformation. We’ve been asked to build a Business School that’s a key asset to Florida’s leading engineering and technology university. That’s meant bringing in people who are a little different from our typical pragmatic, data-driven faculty. The ones who teach students to manage people and PNLs. A few of these new faces can fairly be called dreamers. One of them is Zaheer Ali. He, along with Greg Autry is leading our space commercialization efforts, including our space MBA. It’s not a nickname, it’s a space MBA. As we were setting up for Space Week, Z claimed that a Martian economy would really be a thing. Well, he said something like that. I gave him a skeptical look, he countered with a panel of experts.

Listen in.

Zaheer Ali: Well, thank you Dean Jarley. I like to say that, you know, in our business, we turn sci-fi into sci-reality. And one of the people who helps make sci-fi and is now helping make science reality is Danica Vallone of the Making Space Agency. Her path to space is very interesting coming from Hollywood of things like costumes and sets of such high fidelity and accuracy that the space industry said we need some of that. In my time at NASA, one of the things we did was we always built very high fidelity simulators and simulation systems to prepare people and equipment for the challenges of the space environment. So welcome Danica.

Danica Vallone: Thank you very much.

Zaheer Ali: We also have Dr. Pascal Lee of the Mars Institute, of the SETI Institute, one of the leading planetary scientists in the US and indeed the world Co-Chair of the National Space Society Space Settlement Summit and International Space Development Conference. Welcome, sir.

Paul Jarley: So I’m going to start this conversation by asking the same question I ask anybody who pitches me an idea, what problem does this solve? If you’re going to Mars and establishing an economy, what problem does that solve?

Danica Vallone: Mars expert over here should probably have first crack.

Pascal Lee: This is an interesting way to frame the question. I’m not interested in space exploration to solve a problem. I’m interested in drawn to space exploration and Mars exploration in particular because as a scientist, I’m interested in this quest for life. We often say we’re looking for life on Mars. What we fail to specify is that we’re looking for the first example of an alien form of life. And we’re not talking about little green men or some intelligent form of life. We know that Mars hasn’t had that in its history, but we’re looking for another example of life. A different biology from ours. All life on earth is connected and going to Mars would solve possibly that problem, which is how alone are we? Is there some other form of life even within our own solar system? That would solve the problem in the sense of giving us a fuller perspective of what we mean here on Earth.

What are we as a phenomenon in the universe? Are we something really exceptional? Are we common? So that’s the scientific quest that I think would be solved by going to Mars. But in a broader sense, going to Mars to me is also opening a frontier. It’s creating new possibilities. It’s allowing our dream to not just be focused on one planet, but sort of be placed our dreams to be placed in a broader context of a universe where we can do things, where we can thrive. And so maybe the problem we’re trying to solve here is to not be confined to the Earth in our thinking, but to be beyond Earth.

Danica Vallone: I love Pascal with every fiber of my being, but I think that going to Mars is a step in the path to solving the penultimate problem, which is the eventual demise of our species. On a long enough time signature, even if we manage to not blow ourselves up or create some giant nuclear winter or implode the Earth, eventually it will no longer be livable here on our planet. So if we don’t, and we’re talking about millions of years of time signature, eventually figure out how to exist off world and terraform and make other habitable places in the solar system and galaxy and universe as a whole, we will inevitably go extinct. So this is the biggest, fastest, juiciest of all of the problems to solve, and Mars is our second-closest neighbor that is viable.

Paul Jarley: Z, you threw out the economy. It’s on you buddy.

Zaheer Ali: So I’m going to go hardcore here. Capitalism, as we know it is based on continuous growth, right? And you see interesting behavior in the last decade. There was a really good article about competing for talent and things, but the real gem in that article was the statement that, look, we don’t have easy growth markets anymore, right? You’re down to tier five in China, the African disposable income has not increased and India is serving itself to a great extent. So if we’re going to constantly drive the system we currently have, we need to grow populations and we need to grow economies. So I think going to the moon, going to Mars and developing economies off world fundamentally solves the problem of continuing to drive the system we have, should we change the system? That’s a different type of discussion entirely. And secondly, the Earth as far as we know it, in our solar system and certainly within reachable timelines is completely unique.

Are there other planets out there that are Goldilocks-type planets where there’s water and the right temperature and all these other things for our type of life to exist? Yes, we found them. Missions like Kepler and TESS and others have identified some of those. But, they’re not reachable. We do not have the physics understanding to achieve that. So in the meantime, what do we do? How do we protect Earth? Well, I would rather that we completely strip-mine the moon. I would rather that we completely pull asteroids down onto Mars, even if it crashes in the surface, it causes different types of damage. It’s a dead rock. But the only place there’s life that we know it is here and creating these economies off world to serve Earth is in my opinion, one of the ultimate forms of Earth environmentalism as well.

Paul Jarley: Okay, I’m going to focus on Mars here, because that’s how you served it up. We’ll get to this more a little bit. Yes, Mars is a rock. I don’t see that Mars has anything going for it. The moon has some things going for it. It’s close, it has some water, right? There’s some other things there. Mars doesn’t seem to have anything. You are telling me that it would be easier to grow and produce an economy on Mars than it is in Africa. I would ask you to rethink that proposition.

Zaheer Ali: That’s fair. I just think we should do both.

Pascal Lee: I both agree with Zaheer and disagree in some ways. But I think the disagree may be on the timescale over which we would like to see these things happen. Mars is a God-forsaken place right now.

Paul Jarley: It’s hell, let’s be honest,

Pascal Lee: Venus is hell, Mars worse, a little better.

Zaheer Ali: The atmosphere will melt you on Venus.

Pascal Lee: Mars is a little bit better. It’s a place to me that we can explore. Now whether or not we should establish colonies and large settlements of humans, I personally don’t see that. That’s not what drives my vision of the future of humanity and space including on Mars. But there are several things that are really changing here in the landscape. First of all, when we say why spend money in space, why can’t we have more of an economy in space? The answer is that money is not spent in space. Even when we go to space, money is spent here on Earth, the economy is here on Earth. It’s benefiting humans every day on Earth with the things that we’re doing already in space. And to me for quite a while still until, and if we ever have a larger population that’s permanently present on some other world, what we really see the economy that’s based on Mars. But for a long time, even when humans are going to explore Mars and even when we establish a first base there and a resort that tourism might actually want to use and send people to, the economy will still be on the Earth. The money will be made on Earth, the investments will be made on Earth. And, you know, it’s farther down the road that I see that we would really transition into what one might call a sort of a Mars-based economy. But I hope that the day for that will come. It’s just a matter of is this really the immediate future that we’re talking about? And for quite a while still the economy is going to be Earth-centered even when we go to the moon, let alone Mars.

Paul Jarley: Well, the economy requires a few things. The first thing is scarcity. Mars has plenty of scarcity. That won’t really be a problem.

Danica Vallone: Scarcity in abundance.

Paul Jarley: Right? Exactly. Then it needs specialization of labor because scarcity and specialization of labor leads to trade and trade is at the heart of an economy. And that doesn’t necessarily mean that currency has to trade. I mean you could see on Mars or on another planet, oxygen credits might serve as a barter system for trade. But I do think also there’s sort of a stage in the middle. So if you think about on our little world how colonization happened, you would think about things like the Hudson Bay Trading Company, which was given a monopoly for a certain period of time, largely for resource extraction. And here I think we’re talking about a resource extraction scenario, at least in the short term. What I worry about with Mars is there ain’t no resource to extract. I don’t know what it would be.

Pascal Lee: Well, water actually would be a very important resource and we know is abundantly present there. First of all, it can be used as a fluid that we use for hydration solution in general, but also for as rocket fuel, you can break up H2O into hydrogen and oxygen and that’s rocket fuel. So in the context of Mars, actually, this notion of using water from Mars, I don’t know how that translates into an economy, but as a resource certainly that we should tap into that buys you a lot.

Paul Jarley: Something to make a settlement sustainable that would –

Pascal Lee: Buy you a lot to be able to –

Paul Jarley: Yeah, that would buy you a lot.

Pascal Lee: To extract water and have a gas station on Mars.

Paul Jarley: Yeah.

Pascal Lee: Now it’s actually less clear on the moon ironically, because right now we have a lunar program that’s completely obsessed by extracting water ice from the lunar South Pole. If you look at the actual scientific data about this, there is water ice at the South Pole, and even people say there’s the equivalent of 200,000-plus Olympic size swimming pools worth of water at the South Pole, but it’s really scattered over a very vast region. And even in places where you have the highest concentration of water ice, according to the one map that we have for now of the hydrogen in the lunar South Pole, it would take the plowing of 26 football field size of a patch of ground on the moon down to a depth of one meter for you to extract enough water to fill one Starship. Forget about the environmental damage you do to the moon.

There’s no economy there in my view because it’s not just excavating the stuff. You have to confine the water, pipe it, store it, preserve it because it vaporizes, it vents, and then eventually you’d have to fill in your rocket. So you have to take the water to where the rocket is because where the ice is is actually not really easy to land or operate. The bottom line is to me, there’s a pipe dream here with extracting water from the moon economically. And yet we are all focused on getting to the South Pole of the moon right now, which I think is actually a strategic mistake to send people there. The biggest source of water on the South Pole of the moon is the Earth.

Paul Jarley: Can we import it?

Pascal Lee: Yes, we can transport water from the Earth. Any single landing of a starship on the moon can bring in 125 metric tons of water. I think for a long while, the water on the moon should be counted as coming from the earth as opposed to extracted on site. It might take a generation or two here of really prospecting at the South Pole, and if we ever get lucky enough to find a spot where we can really extract water in large amounts and in a way that’s economically viable, we would do that. I’m completely on board the dream and desire of growing an economy in space from local resources, but the bar is very high to make it economically viable for quite a while.

Danica Vallone: There is one factor that we haven’t discussed yet, which is the variability in gravity that exists, whether we are in LEO (Low Earth Orbit), MEO (Medium Earth Orbit), GEO (Geostationary Earth Orbit), on the Moon, or Mars. And Mars has its own very unique gravity signature and we do not yet know what kind of manufacturing can be done in very specific gravitational balance levels. Specifically when it comes to organelles or biology or being able to 3D print organs and things like that. Again, when it comes to reproduction capabilities. Essentially all we know when it comes to our bodies and gravity is one G good, zero g bad. And that’s the extent of our knowledge base. So to have a planet-sized laboratory to be able to explore what is possible inside of those bounds is potentially incredibly advantageous.

Zaheer Ali: One other thing that I would add is it’s about real estate at some level.

Paul Jarley: Well now we’re talking property rights.

Zaheer Ali: And that’s being established. That’s why we have a panel on governance at the Space Settlement Summit because we have to figure that out. But –

Paul Jarley: I seriously doubt there’s going to be sovereignty on the moon or Mars.

Zaheer Ali: It might be like the Alaskan wilderness.

Paul Jarley: Or Antarctica, right?

Zaheer Ali: Antarctica is different because the world’s nations got together mostly and said we’re not going to extract resources. That is exactly the opposite of what we want to do in space. We want people to go extract resources because that fuels investment. If there’s an ROI at the end of this, when my ship comes in or in this case when my spaceship –

Paul Jarley: You and I are going to be dead then, Z.

Zaheer Ali: Yeah, but we do have to set this up. I mean that is one thing that is important to realize in the space conversation is we are in this for the species and between (Carl) Sagan and (Frank) Drake, they laid out the probability that our great great grandkids exist. And it is not a hundred percent. And that is a reality that some of us look at and say the way we can make sure that gets closer to a hundred percent is –

Paul Jarley: This is why you need a space MBA. But keep going.

Zaheer Ali: You know, Phil Metzger, who is a professor here, I’ve been telling him to publish this work, but he’s been tinkering with this model and I think you’ve seen it Pascal, right?

Pascal Lee: Phil is a great researcher, yeah.

Zaheer Ali: But he needs to publish the damn thing, so then the rest of us can start playing with it too and optimize it and 20-year-olds can figure it out, which is probably what’s going to happen.

Pascal Lee: And he does publish good stuff.

Zaheer Ali: Yeah, but this particular model on how much mass and population it takes to actually make exactly what you said, that economy –

Paul Jarley: A minimally viable economy in this case.

Zaheer Ali: Right? It’s not a hundred, it’s not a thousand, it’s not 10,000. It’s tens of thousands of people, but it is not all of them on Mars. It is a spectrum from orbit all the way to Mars and back. And the thing is, when you look at distances, particularly you talk to people like Joel Sercel of TransAstra and others, when we think about what is it really going to take for us to advance to other levels of civilization? That and also where does some of these economies kick in? And to access the asteroid belt at some level, we don’t know how to mine an asteroid, but we do know how to mine in gravity. So if we have to pull stuff down to Mars and then process it there, it could become the giant processing plant for the next level, the type two human civilization.

Paul Jarley: Well, that may bring up some ethical issues that we don’t have time for today. But I’m trying to apply a pretty fundamental economics principle here. I’m not trying to pooh-pooh the idea that there’s going to be an economy that has some basis in space. We need to think in terms of comparative advantage. And I don’t see Mars having one. It ain’t close, it doesn’t have any materials that I think we need. I’m thinking there are probably other prospects even in the solar system that would be better for establishing a civilization than Mars would be?

Pascal Lee: First of all, like I said, establishing a civilization on Mars is not at all something that drives my interest and actions and area of space.

Paul Jarley: And we can stipulate, it’s hard.

Pascal Lee: To me, first of all, Mars right now is still a very attractive and some sense romantic landscape, but the reality of this place is really harsh. It’s completely deadly. If you walk out onto Mars without a pressurized spacesuit, you’re dead within seconds from low pressure and other things will kill you eventually as well. But the key thing here is there really is a potential for there to be life on Mars. Not at the surface, we don’t think anymore, but deeper down, or at least in the subsurface, possibly in caves. And there are many caves, there’s over a thousand caves and pits that have been identified on Mars in this day. And when you’re in a cave on Mars, the harshness of the environment is completely different. Now it’s completely moderated into something that many forms of life on Earth could survive in, even at the low pressure of Mars. So really one of the potential major discoveries we could find on Mars, if you find a form of alien bug or life, is essentially insights into an entirely new realm of biology. And we have to understand what biology means today. It’s an entire industry. It’s an entire economy on Earth, understanding life, how it works, how it doesn’t work, how it could be modified, how it could be adapted. All of these things would be revolutionized by another example of life that we could find. So there’s that huge potential I think that really is looming on Mars, but we don’t know that it’s there. That’s a fact.

The other thing is what’s the worth of a National Park? It is just there preserved, it’s beautiful, it has potential, it’s very attractive. People still go to National Parks. Are we necessarily thinking that one day we’ll have to destroy Yellowstone and turn it into a thermal plant or an electrical plant? No. The answer is there are some things out there that we should try to achieve, go explore and possibly settle a little bit because they are just incredible things for us to think about and dream about. So, I think that once again, if you’re in the business of really making money fast, space is only in a very limited way the place where you want to be. But if on the other hand you are really a long-term thinker and you are interested, you believe in humanity’s greater future down the road, and you sort of are an investor in that sense of into our distant future, then the action, as Zaheer says, needs to be taken. Now we are the people who have the responsibility of taking the first steps to making this happen down the road.

Paul Jarley: So we did find some things right on the sea bed near volcanic vents, which showed us forms of life that we did not know existed before. If I may digress for a minute though, our own human experience would tell us that if life exists, it exists everywhere on that planet. It’s not hard to find. It screams at us in various forms.

Pascal Lee: Let me moderate that. I’ve done 25 years of field work in the Arctic. There is life in the Arctic, but a lot less. It doesn’t scream at you anymore. You go to the Arctic, you’re walking on this desert plane. You have to look for life to find it. It’s not harking back at you. And so, I do think that a place like Mars could have life, globally, but in places that are still niche like underground. And there’s the speculation that somehow if it had life at all, it would have somehow colonized the whole planet and modified it. That’s not necessarily the case. On Earth, even on Earth, in extreme environments, you see that life recedes into nooks and crannies where it can survive, but it doesn’t necessarily have enough oomph at that point to change the planet.

Paul Jarley: So, you used the word romance. So talk a little bit about that, about the power of space exploration and storytelling and romance. People make a lot of money off of that.

Danica Vallone: Yes we do. Yes we do, my friend. People need things that are greater than themselves to believe in and to strive for. That’s a unifying human trait. And to do hard things means that we’re solving for all sorts of other problems along the way. So if Mars is the symbolic end goal, the amount of technology and innovation that’s required to get us there will produce an enormous amount of viable, economically viable offshoots that we can make use of. The more resource constrained the environment, the more difficult our solutions are, but we will get there. And as our Earth becomes less inhabitable, as we treat it increasingly poorly, this will become very, very relevant for us to be able to have access to. But the reach itself is noble and if it exists as little more than a symbol that still has intrinsic value to the species.

Paul Jarley: So if you had a few trillion dollars to invest tomorrow, where would you put it? Z?

Zaheer Ali: A couple trillion, that’s a big number.

Paul Jarley: We’re going to think big here, right? Well, it’s not going to be a small task.

Zaheer Ali: Right. If I had to invest it in a short time span or within a few years, it’s going to be a little nuts, but I’m just going to say it.

Danica Vallone: I’m ready.

Zaheer Ali: The material capability of there for a lunar space elevator, it would eliminate the need for keypad zones and directly enable interaction from the lunar surface to orbit and could be a direct last-mile system to kickstart the lunar economy.

Paul Jarley: You got to tell me more about what a lunar elevator looks like so I understand.

Zaheer Ali: It’s a space elevator like this Arthur C. Clark thing where you’ve got weight on one end –

Paul Jarley: And it’s connected to the Earth?

Zaheer Ali: and connected to the body. The material properties are not sufficient.

Paul Jarley: The material science guys need to do some work. Is that what you’re telling me?

Zaheer Ali: Well, I mean even to get to the lunar one capable, they’ve done a lot of work. That’s 25 years of work.

Paul Jarley: Or ladies, by the way.

Danica Vallone: Thank you.

Zaheer Ali: That’s an impressive development. And the reason I say if I had the money now I would invest in the moon is because I believe this is a ladder. And I don’t think we can leapfrog rungs here. It needs to be done methodically. It needs to be done strategically with consistent effort. The moon enables us to develop all the systems at some level and optimize them to go to the harder environment, which is Mars. And there’s a lot there because the radiation environmental Mars is also worse fundamentally than on the moon. And there’s all types of other challenges. So that’s where I would put the money. I would make lunar happen as soon as possible and I believe that would kickstart this and we would have a sustaining cislunar economy because of the comparative advantages to the moon, you know, crater resources, gravity, helium. I actually don’t think that’s going to be a thing. There’s just no market. I mean the tokamak, the type of fusion that would’ve used Helium three is not the one that is going on grid by 2035. And I know this because I’ve been in the Commonwealth Fusion data room.

Pascal Lee: It’s a maybe later thing.

Zaheer Ali: That’s a whole other podcast, nuclear power. So that’s what I would do first, but I would specifically do it in a method that is not focused on, okay, moon and then stop. But Moon as a rung on the way to Mars.

Paul Jarley: Do you agree with that?

Pascal Lee: Yes. At this point, I think going back to the moon is imperative. I was sort of criticizing Artemis and the plan to send humans to the South Pole earlier, but I’d like to see what the alternative is or what it should be, which is to set up a base on the moon off pole, not too far from it, but in a place where, I mean my favorite spot is Clavius Crater, which happens to be where “2001: A Space Odyssey” had its base, for reference. But at the time they didn’t realize how great a place this is.

Paul Jarley: Hal is echoing in my head right now.

Pascal Lee: It’s turning out to be a fantastic place to set up a base and for reasons that Arthur C. Clark or Stanley Kubrick could not have known, but the reasons they had, which is a big wide open place, are still good. But it turns out that it has caves nearby, it has a direct drivable route to the South Pole, it’s much more pleasant to be based out of, much safer as well, easier to access from Earth, etcetera. But setting up a base is really the imperative. Right now, we are in this contrived, self-inflicted race against China to be first to put humans back on the moon when in fact, I don’t think that’s the real race. That race we won 60 years ago, and we don’t have to re-litigate that. On the other hand, where there is a race, is a race to stay on the moon for permanent presence. And so the Artis program in my view, should be redirected as soon as possible to establishing permanent presence at the surface of the moon. Not in the polar regions, but at Clavius or somewhere similar.

Paul Jarley: But that’s a military imperative as much as it is anything else.

Pascal Lee: Well, it’s strategic.

Paul Jarley: Let’s be honest about it.

Pascal Lee: Strategic, but it also opens the way to our future exploration of the moon for science. It’s a better place for a number of reasons. I don’t know if we’ll get to the AI part, but this –

Paul Jarley: Throw it out there.

Pascal Lee: Well, this particular summit that Zaheer Ali here and Dr. Greg Autry organized at UCF with the National Space Society, I think is really a visionary opportunity because, think about Mars settlement as sort of a farther out frontier here that we’d like to someday achieve and get humans to occupy. But there’s also been talk of the role of artificial intelligence. And humanity, while we continue to explore and push our limits in space, humanity’s really on the verge of this huge revolution here, which is the one that’s associated with the emergence of AI and AI-equipped androids. So it’s not just AI that’s making progress, it’s robotics as well. And very soon, just because we are Dr. Frankenstein’s, all of us, we are wanting to see humanoid robots. You can create robots that don’t look like humans at all and have AI, but somehow there’s this global effort to create humanoid robots that are eventually going to be equipped with artificial general intelligence, meaning intelligence that matches that of our human brains and eventually –

Danica Vallone: Supersedes.

Pascal Lee: artificial super intelligence, which exceeds the human brain. But anyway, once you have a robotic machine that’s essentially like ourselves, that we can relate to completely differently from how we relate to a robot rover on Mars, instead, this is a robot that we essentially can talk to as if they were part of our family. Now all of a sudden you are opening an entirely different realm of possibilities for humanity if you extend that definition to include these AI robots to explore space. So as much as I don’t see, ever, a point where we should be thinking of a million biological human beings on Mars, because I don’t think a place could support it, I could actually see a million Android robots on Mars reproducing themselves, extracting local resources, but turning Mars into this incredible playground.

Paul Jarley: You know how that science fiction movie ends though? Mars revolts.

Danica Vallone: Or they claim it for themselves and we negotiate a treaty.

Paul Jarley: The Martians are never happy.

Pascal Lee: I’m banking on the fact that we’ll be good parents in raising these AI for sure, for sure.

Danica Vallone: And we need better stories.

Paul Jarley: Can you sell that movie?

Danica Vallone: Oh, absolutely. I think we have sold that movie.

Paul Jarley: Probably!

Pascal Lee: The point is, if now you have representatives or human selves who are much more resilient, I mean think of sending Android robots to Mars. You don’t need to feed them on the way there. They don’t need water anymore. They just need power, and there’s plenty of that on Mars. They don’t even need a spacesuit to go out on spacewalks. The ones who will occupy Mars on our behalf and be part of ourselves essentially in this process. And so we’ve even talked about interstellar travel and what that can do to us. So you’re correct. There’s no place in sight right now for us to head out to beyond our solar system. But if you have Android robots, then they’re immortal. I don’t actually think that we will ever terraform Mars. I think we’ll have the ability to reach nearby stars that are already habitable and then if we’re just cared for as humans in the form of DNA all the way there, then we could be replicated there.

Paul Jarley: What should students learn about potential missions to Mars or space exploration or?

Zaheer Ali: One thing that we didn’t actually say, but it’s been implicit in all of our discussion, is that you have to get a business case to close. And one of the things the space economy teaches you perhaps better than any other economy is how hard that is and how tightly you have to pull that thread through and connect it. So many things we take for granted about the way we can build a business in all other aspects of our economy. We have ready markets, people understand the products, it’s easy to communicate all these things. Here? You have to get every aspect of your business. So that’s how I’d answer what I think students should take away.

Danica Vallone: It’s a bit like playing your favorite video game on the hardest setting possible. If you can make it here, you can make it anywhere. So if you’re going to pitch an idea and try to make it work in the space economy, you are set for whatever other endeavors you want to tackle thereafter.

Pascal Lee: I agree completely with both what Zaheer just said and Danica. President Kennedy I think said, I’m going to paraphrase poorly, but he said, we want to do this and the other things not because they’re easy, but because they’re hard. You gain something from doing something that is hard. The benefit is not necessarily out there, it’s here, down here and how you do it and how you get it done. In some sense, even if we couldn’t identify or pinpoint any specific benefit right now, and there has to be a component of everything we do that sort of takes into account this bigger picture out there that’s there. We are just in this tight spot in history where it’s going to take quite a bit of investment to make all this eventually pan out.

Danica Vallone: But this is the most glorious of all pursuits because this is legacy. What greater path to legacy than this?

Paul Jarley: So is the Martian economy going to be a thing or not it when Zaheer?

Zaheer Ali: Yes, a hundred years.

Danica Vallone: Yes. For humans, 200 years. Robots before.

Pascal Lee: Yeah, space economies will be on Earth for the next 50 years until things get going on the moon and then 100 years or so or more for Mars.

Paul Jarley: Well, thank you all.

If you view Mars through an economist’s lens, it’s the least-efficient frontier imaginable. High-fixed costs, negative externalities, no obvious path to comparative advantage. There are way better options than Mars. The moon for one. The only plausible reason to go are psychological and civilizational. Curiosity, maybe the continuity of the species, and the need to prove that humans can live elsewhere. Every generation invents a frontier to prove we’re all still moving forward. Once it was oceans, then continents, then the sky. Now it’s a red dot in the dark. Mars isn’t a business plan, it’s a mirror. It reflects our fear that Earth might be finished, our hope that we can start again, and our stubborn belief that we’re still builders. We don’t chase Mars for its resources. We chase it for its symbolism. A clean slate, a test, a thrill. Maybe we just want to prove that we can bend the universe to our will, even if our will is just for a thrill. Many a Greek tragedy reminds us hubris is a bad investment.

So what’s your take? Check us out online and share your thoughts at business.ucf.edu/podcast. Special thanks to my new producer, Brent Meske, and the whole team at the Office of Outreach and Engagement here at the UCF College of Business. And thank you for listening. Until next time, charge on.

The post Is a Martian Economy Really a Thing? appeared first on Barry S. Miller College of Business.

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Orlando, FL (October 29, 2025) — Fourteen UCF College of Business students earned scholarships as part of the ADP Business Knights Leadership Academy, thanks to the support of global human resources management company ADP. The academy, which launched in January 2025, is designed to enhance leadership development and create opportunities to prepare students with the knowledge and skills they need in their first job. The collaboration with ADP is just another part of the company’s longtime partnership and commitment to the college and UCF.

“We not only invest in [UCF College of Business], but we’re lucky to harvest from the school. UCF produces great graduates,” said Simon Choy, Vice President & GM of ADP, told the scholarship winners and their families Friday before handing out the awards, before adding, “People don’t just come to ADP for a job, they come for a career.”

SCHOLARSHIP WINNERS

Juan Bolanos
Sophia Califano
Mia Canose
Kathryn Crutchfield
Vanessa D’ignazio
Shemika Demosthene
Lani Dupaya
Grady Greenwald
Nathan Mackiewicz
Rebecca Miller
Maleah Parker
Daniela Ponce
Sofia Sarmento Rosa
Sarah Sundin

Dean Paul Jarley told students, “ADP is doing this for all of the right reasons. They want you to succeed. That’s their No. 1 goal.”

About ADP

The post ADP Awards Scholarships to 14 Students in Recurring Scholarship Grant appeared first on Barry S. Miller College of Business.

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We’ve all sat through bad slide decks—but what about the ones that change history? In this episode of Is This Really a Thing?, Dean Paul Jarley is joined by Jim Balaschak, Dr. Mike Pape, and Derek Saltzman to explore whether the so-called “billion-dollar PowerPoint” is myth or reality. From Airbnb and Tesla’s iconic pitch decks to the role of storytelling, trust, and investor psychology, they unpack what makes a presentation powerful, what doesn’t, and whether AI or new tools might one day dethrone PowerPoint.

Featured Guests* Michael Pape, Ph.D. – Dr. Phillips Entrepreneur in Residence & Professor of Practice, Management * Jim G. Balaschak – Principal, Deanja, LLC * Derek Saltzman – Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer, Soarce

Episode TranscriptionPaul Jarley: We’ve all sat through terrible slide decks, but every so often a PowerPoint does more than communicate. It creates value. Think of the pitch deck that launched Airbnb, the presentation that convinced investors to fund Tesla or the strategy decks that shape billion dollar mergers. So is the billion dollar PowerPoint really a thing? Can a few slides actually change the course of business history, or is it just a fancy way of describing really good storytelling?

To help me figure this out, I’ve invited three guests. Jim Balaschak is an alum of the college, in our Hall of Fame, and a serial investor. Dr. Mike Pape is an Entrepreneur in Residence here at the College of Business, and Derek Saltzman is a former winner of the Joust and is co-founder of a company called Soarce. Thank you gentlemen for being here today. We’ve all seen really bad PowerPoints. Talk a little bit about what makes a great one. Jim, I’ll start with you.

Jim Balaschak: A PowerPoint that catches my eyes shows a big potential market, a problem they’ve identified that they have a solution for that they can make money on. It’s not necessarily always the slides, but the slides can quickly convey the idea of the thoughts. And a lot of times before I meet with a founder, I’m emailed the pitch deck and going through the pitch deck helps me determine do I want to pursue this to the next step, get on the call with the founder, have them pitch it to me? I think it’s a good way to open the door.

Paul Jarley: The quality of the pitch deck tells you something about how serious and well thought out this is, right? So a schlocky one can really close the door, maybe more than a really good one can enhance it. Is that fair in your view?

Derek Saltzman: Yeah.

Paul Jarley: Derek, what do you think?

Derek Saltzman: I think there’s a lot to take into consideration with the audience and the stage gate of when you’re first starting a pitch or when you’re trying to interact. There’s multiple decks for multiple stage gates. So in the first beginning intro, like for instance, how Jim said, when you’re trying to send and get that initial meeting, it’s all about a hook. Can you describe what you do in the most succinct, effective way possible to get the message across of what the problem is, how you’re solving that problem, and what’s the revenue potential like he described? Because that’s what all investors are really looking for. Once you move past that initial stage gate, you have much more detailed decks that go into your financials that go into your true revenue model, your business model, maybe your IP strategy, and a variety of other topics. The overall optics and the overall clear messaging is I’d say the two biggest things.

Paul Jarley: Mike, what do you tell students?

Michael Pape: The way I deal with the pitch deck is treat it as just one element of a much bigger picture. The bigger picture is what is the business plan? Which you can express verbally and in the old days, if you will, back in the 90s and being part of this first company I did, we wrote that 40-page business plan. It was a very static document, but it had all the elements that we teach about what is required. Do you need a compelling problem, you need a solution? What’s the market? How are you going to market it? Who’s your team? What’s your financial model? All those types of things. So the pitch deck, I just see it as neither here nor there, because it is a way to communicate. The way I talk about this is I kind of view things as a trajectory and the pitch deck is purely in my opinion, a consequence of two things, changes in technology over time, and the other is the just madness of the rate of change of the world, and it creates an easy way to change on the fly.

So the first one, if you think about the trajectory of technology, we always have to present your pitch, whether it was to Wall Street or a merger, an acquisition in some form. PowerPoint came out in ’87 I believe, and really didn’t grab hold till the mid 90s. It was clunky, it was terrible. There was no way to show PowerPoints through a Zoom-like thing. All those things never worked when we do a pitch to VCs or whoever You’d have to print out your PowerPoint. You’d have to print, also, a relatively long business plan document and it was just a lot of friction, and that became really problematic and the people could reduce that friction, they kind of won the game. And Microsoft PowerPoint and just from preparing scientific slides over the years, my gosh, what a savior. You’re getting new data all the time. Before we used to have to take photographs, have the slides. If you just look at that progression of things, the PowerPoint as we have it is a value because it’s a very succinct way to bring in all the important business elements that you’ve got to communicate one way or the other.

Paul Jarley: Now the AI can do it for you.

Michael Pape: Well, it’s –

Paul Jarley: To a degree. Let’s talk about that a little bit. Is that a good idea?

Derek Saltzman: Uhm, no. I think there’s a balancing act. I think there’s definitely, you can utilize the tools of AI to get the ball moving, get in the right direction, but AI is not going to build the business for you. You still got to go out and talk to the customers, build the relationships, develop the actual business, and something to Pape’s point. In the kind of more of course, AI age, more modern age things, I feel the investment cycles have gotten compressed kind of how you’re describing where you’d have to develop a 40-page business plan and really describe how you’re going to attack a market that is almost archaic now, where seed rounds are going a $25 million seed round, $30 million seed round because they have 10-to-15 really great slides and they have AI attached and they’re rocket shipping like crazy. So it’s a really interesting dynamic depending on the business.

Paul Jarley: Here’s my real test on the value of a PowerPoint. Tell me the one that you saw that really stuck in your mind without revealing any secrets. And what about it really stuck in your mind?

Michael Pape: There’s two I got in my mind. One is Dropbox. It is not a pretty PowerPoint. However, it was a compelling problem. We didn’t have cloud computing. We had the USB drives, we had the floppy disks, we had all that stuff all over. Nobody would communicate. You’d have to carry the USB drive.

Paul Jarley: You’d forget it.

Michael Pape: You’d forget it. The flash drives, remember? So if you look at their PowerPoint, they’ve got a picture of just a messy desk with floppies and the things all over, and then they came up with their solution and you’re like, everybody I’m sure just stood up.

Paul Jarley: How about you, Derek? Which one do you remember?

Derek Saltzman: One for us being in the deep tech space is a company called Solugen, and to Pape’s point, one of the really interesting things that they do is just, it’s storytelling. How do you take a really complex, difficult topic like chemical refining and distill that down to really digestible information for someone to understand, oh, you use this chemistry or these processes to develop these things and you sell it for X amount of dollars.

Paul Jarley: Jim?

Jim Balaschak: I think one of the ones that caught my eye is recycling of batteries to repurpose like for EVs, because that’s going to be a really big problem. So just seeing how much of an environmental impact this is going to be and how much can be saved if things are recycled. That really impacted me and is a company we invested in.

Paul Jarley: So if you can’t articulate the problem, you’re in trouble. Right?

Michael Pape: The goal of a PowerPoint in front of investors or potential acquisition partner is to get the next meeting. That’s its goal, that’s its role, and then you’ve got to come up with another one and another one. You’re not going to get investment on your first presentation.

Derek Saltzman: No.

Michael Pape: Your goal, if you remember this, I told you guys, your goal is to get the next meeting

Derek Saltzman: One hundred percent.

Michael Pape: Somehow, some way. And sometimes the next meeting will be a lunch, it won’t be a PowerPoint. Sometimes they’ll just be hanging out and having a drink at a conference.

Derek Saltzman: Yeah.

Michael Pape: So, its role has really got to be minimized to some degree just to maintain the conversation so you can build trust and they can perform due diligence in whichever form they deem fit.

Derek Saltzman: Yeah. Every day you don’t get a no is a closer step to a yes. That’s how we look at it.

Paul Jarley: Our Joust is in the 20th or 25th year. It’s been around a long time. I’ve always thought that in that setting and in business plan competitions, generally, the winner is the group that can tell the best story. That the data really doesn’t drive it very much, that it’s pretty much an emotional decision. And I wonder if that is disconnected to what you guys just talked about … getting the next meeting. Because I worry sometimes that a lot of our students are really good at winning competitions. That’s not the same thing actually as attracting investors. What do you think about that?

Jim Balaschak: I agree. It’s the best presentation …

Paul Jarley: … presentation that wins that …

Jim Balaschak: that wins the Joust.

Paul Jarley: Almost all the time.

Jim Balaschak: Yes. It’s not always the best business idea or best team that can execute the idea. It’s a valuable thing for the students to go through. There can’t be that much due diligence done on a company that’s up there pitching for 10 minutes and has 10 minutes of Q&A. I think it’s still a very good thing for the College to have, and it gets a lot of excitement and interest, and I think it sparks quite a few people.

Paul Jarley: It’s a culture building tool for sure.

Derek Saltzman: Yes.

Paul Jarley: Have you ever invested out of any of the companies that were in the Joust?

Jim Balaschak: I have, yes. But –

Paul Jarley: Were they the winners or were they the team that finished second or third?

Jim Balaschak: I have invested in one winner, it was about five years later. They were a very good presenter. They’ve taken their idea and pivoted several times, but the founder is tenacious, so I’m betting a lot on the founder with that investment.

Michael Pape: If our frame of reference is the students and we’re educators. For them to get up in front of a big crowd, and defend is invaluable. And they’re nervous and it’s like, you know this better than anybody because it’s your business. Be confident. I mean, that just goes so far. Most of them never been in front of a crowd like that where –

Paul Jarley: Yeah, you get serious quesitons.

Michael Pape: It’s nerve-wracking. Totally.

Paul Jarley: I remember the one group where one of our judges made the presenters cry in the semifinals, and the final part of that story, not to mention Merrell (Bailey) by name, would be that they came back and won the Joust.

Derek Saltzman: Yeah, a hundred percent.

Paul Jarley: They took that advice to heart.

Derek Saltzman: Right?

Paul Jarley: Yeah.

Derek Saltzman: And as someone that’s kind like trial by fire and walked through that kind of ring essentially with my co-founder. Like Jim said, you’re not going to, at the end of the day, convince an investor to give you an investment on that day. Like Pape said, it takes multiple meetings, multiple interactions, and truthfully, everything is an emotional decision. We’re humans. Whether we want to think we make logical decisions, we’re truly making an emotional decision at the core, and it’s how do I like the person? Do I invest in the jockey? Do I believe in this person to get the job done? And it’s very different when you’re a student, say pitching a research topic, it’s about the science. The science doesn’t lie. It’s like this happened, this happened, this happened. But when you’re going, you’re pitching a business. It’s your idea of what you think you can bring value to the world and extract money from people from. It’s a very humbling experience when you get told no on stage, they grill you with really difficult questions that you may not be able to answer as fast as you’d like, but that trains you to build the thick skin and the nerves necessary that when you’re pitching to a variety of investors, you get pretty used to saying, no, that doesn’t make sense, or move on from here.

Paul Jarley: Derek, what’s your company Soarce? What does it do?

Derek Saltzman: We’re a materials company at the core. So what we do is we developed a process that allows us to take natural feed stocks like basically hemp, wood and seaweed and extract and tune or functionalize specific nano biopolymers such as nanocellulose. So these are tiny little nano fibers that are 10,000-times thinner than in human hair, eight-times the strength of steel. And then we use those and we put them into a variety of different industrial applications. Our goal over the next couple of years is kind of innovate on the overall composite industry.

Paul Jarley: Your degree is in?

Derek Saltzman: Material science and engineering. So background in material engineering. Didn’t start that way. I started off as an aero engineer, then took a couple classes with Pape and we were really into the business side and said, hey, we like this chemistry thing. We should maybe build a business in it.

Paul Jarley: I would imagine describing material science properties to investors is a little tricky.

Derek Saltzman: Oh, yeah. It’s definitely different.

Paul Jarley: I glazed over when you first started for a second.

Derek Saltzman: Yeah, it’s definitely a very different topic. So that’s why we’ve learned there’s different lanes of investors. So there’s investors and investors strictly in SaaS companies where they know how to evaluate a SaaS product. They understand the growth and development cycle, and then you have other individuals that are more into the hard sciences and deep tech sciences, which you have to my right here, a chemistry guy.

Paul Jarley: Exactly.

Derek Saltzman: There are two completely different paths. They all have different outcomes in the end. For us, we sit in more in the deep tech science side where we have to take a really hard chemistry topic and distill that down into really easy, digestible information to then give to investors so they see, oh, that’s the actual value. And to do that, to your point, it’s a lot of visuals. I mean, we deal with nano material, so when you’re saying we deal with stuff that’s so small, you can’t see it. It’s hard to say, “These tiny little things can produce a lot of value for the world.”

Paul Jarley: Ultimately, our podcast is about what we should teach our students. So talk to me a little bit about how you hit the sweet spot between the data and your presentation.

Michael Pape: When I look at the pitch deck, it’s a knowledge framework, and that’s how we basically teach. We teach frameworks. In marketing, we teach the three C’s and the four P’s. We can teach theories like the diffusion of innovation. We’ve got a variety of different frameworks that we teach students in all our classes. Science has the same thing, whether it’s thermodynamics or biochemistry, there’s frameworks and pathways by which we hang new things that we learn as time goes on in undergraduates, basically just to learn the basics. So the pitch deck I have found very helpful because it does provide a framework by which you can hang the data in there. If you’ve got what this slide is, then all the times you’re pivoting and changing, you morph it over time as you get more data. So it becomes the base, and then you just slide in what you need. The other power of the PowerPoint is if you work on it enough, you become a better team because it forces you as a team to actually get something on pen and paper or electrons. Because that makes you more precise rather than just talking about it. And that is a critical piece of it. Furthermore, when you’re talking to other people, what usually happens, I think the good presenters, in their mind, they have their PowerPoint and they rifle through the slides that they’ve already prepared and they know where they are, and that becomes a really powerful framing mechanism by which you can pull out that slide. We worked on that slide here was the main message. You’re not showing them the slide. You are just, it’s so embedded.

Derek Saltzman: Yeah, you do it so many times, it becomes kind of an ingrained pattern in your brain.

Michael Pape: That’s its power.

Paul Jarley: Can you imagine the day that the PowerPoint dies in favor of something more dynamic? Given the tools that we have these days? Are we going to see short movies on business concepts generated by AI?

Derek Saltzman: Actually, I think we’re already there. We’ve actually seen a couple of startups already do that. Startups that we’ve met, that their pitch deck is a mini, one minute skit. I don’t know if they’ve generated investment from it yet, but it’s an interesting concept.

Paul Jarley: Are there companies out there that will help invent do that? I would imagine there are.

Michael Pape: If it will help a company get the next meeting, by all means.

Derek Saltzman: Yeah. Somebody, one of the companies that we’re really close with is a company called Pageport. They essentially automate this process, so they help basically take businesses that are difficult to describe and make it really easy for you to get video updates or this great content from them. We’ve used them, they’re awesome.

Jim Balaschak: I think I like the PowerPoint. I like to spend a certain amount of time on each slide analyzing, okay, let me see the competition slide.

Paul Jarley: Because the investors are old school, right? Let’s be honest about this. I’m not sure how I would react to a short movie on it, right? I might think, oh boy, I am really getting marketed to death here.

Michael Pape: The new school at the end of the day is going to do just what Jim said because they’re going to go through their due diligence and they’re going to have to sit down and go through material if they’re going to be a good investor or if they’re going to do a true due diligence on an acquisition target.

Derek Saltzman: Yeah.

Michael Pape: At the end of the day, you’re only going to be as good as your understanding of business and frameworks and that stuff we teach here, which will not go out of style no matter what the mechanism or the modality is.

Paul Jarley: It’s just the tool.

Derek Saltzman: That’s right. A hundred percent. And I think a great company that also exemplifies that is a company called Potato. No one would think of like, okay, a company called Potato, but they’re doing amazing in one of the top –

Paul Jarley: It’s memorable.

Derek Saltzman: Yeah. It’s one of the top AI research tools that we use in a variety of researchers.

Paul Jarley: What does it do?

Derek Saltzman: Basically it distills research papers for scientists in a much faster, more meaningful way.

Paul Jarley: Yes or no, is the PowerPoint going to stay around and can it generate a billion dollars worth of revenue? Jim?

Jim Balaschak: Yes, the PowerPoint is going to stay around. Can it generate? Not right off the PowerPoint. It can lead to the meeting that leads to a round to another round to another round, another round to another call, and then you’re at a billion.

Paul Jarley: Derek?

Derek Saltzman: I’ll echo what Jim said there. I think the PowerPoint is cemented in for a while here that we’ll continue to use it. I think there might be some new tweaks and tools that get utilized, but at the other core, like you said, it’s going to be to get to the next meeting and have that next conversation.

Paul Jarley: Professor Pape, as is our culture in the College, the faculty member gets the last word.

Michael Pape: Yes, it is important. It is a thing. It’s a powerful framework and you can rapidly change it in an ever-changing, warp speed culture that we’re living in right now, particularly with respect to technology.

Paul Jarley: It’s my podcast, so I get to go last.

My distaste for PowerPoint runs deep. I think it usually gets in the way of stories rather than enhancing them. And storytelling, after all is one of the most powerful tools any leader or entrepreneur has. That’s been true since the invention of the campfire. Yes, there are legends. Airbnb’s 2009 pitch deck of just 14 slides allegedly raised their first $600,000 seed round. The company’s worth over $100,000,000,000 today, and by the way, employs my daughter Maggie. Facebook, Peter Thiel’s deck in 2004, really just a few slides, secured a $500,000 angel investment and set the stage for a trillion dollar company. But let’s be honest, it’s never the slides that make the deal. It’s the power of the idea and the belief in the team’s ability to execute it. PowerPoint just happens to be the messenger and like all tech platforms, it won’t be king forever. One day something will replace it, just like Google replaced Netscape. So is the billion dollar PowerPoint a thing? Yes, but only until the next big thing comes along.

So what’s your take? Check us out online and share your thoughts at business.ucf.edu/podcast. You can also find extended interviews with our guests and notes from the show. Special thanks to my new producer, Brent Meske, and the whole team at the Office of Outreach and Engagement here at the UCF College of Business. And thank you for listening. Until next time, charge on.

The post Is the $1 Billion Powerpoint Really a Thing? appeared first on Barry S. Miller College of Business.

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Quarterly earnings reports have been a fixture of American business for more than 50 years … but are their days numbered? Earlier this month, President Donald Trump reignited debate by suggesting companies should only report twice a year, a move he says would cut costs and free executives to focus on the long term. But would fewer reports build stronger businesses, or erode trust in the markets? In this episode of Is This Really a Thing?, Dean Paul Jarley sits down with UCF College of Business Hall of Fame members Paul Gregg and Jim Balaschak, along with accounting faculty member EB Altiero Poziemski, to examine whether the quarterly report is an outdated ritual or a critical safeguard. Could its demise really be a thing?

Featured Guests* EB Altiero Poziemski, MSA Program Director & Advisor / Associate Lecturer * Paul Gregg, Finance Executive in Residence * Jim G. Balaschak – Principal, Deanja, LLC

Episode TranscriptionPaul Jarley: Sometimes things just come together. Last week I read something about the President’s proposal to shift from quarterly to semi-annual earnings reports. That same week I was holding the College’s fall meeting of our Dean’s Advisory Board. The Board is filled with folks who have a direct interest in this debate. So I convened a quick panel to gain insights into the likely death of the quarterly report. Paul Gregg is an experienced CFO, member of the College of Business Hall of Fame and an Executive in Residence in the Department of Finance. He is joined by Jim Balaschak, a fellow Hall of Famer and serial investor, and EB Altiero Poziemski, a faculty member in the Dixon School of Accounting. Quarterly earnings reports have been with us for 50 years. President Trump has floated the idea of going European and cutting back to semi-annual reporting. Would that save money, destroy trust in markets or both? And what happens when AI makes real time disclosure possible? In this episode, we ask whether the cadence of reporting is about efficiency or about faith in the system itself. Could the end of the quarterly earnings report really be a thing? Stay tuned.

EB, let me start with you. Talk a little bit about when the quarterly report first came about and why, and the changes over the years.

EB Altiero Poziemski: The requirement to actually have any financial reporting whatsoever from our public companies started with the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934. So that was the first time that there was a law that said a publicly traded company had to periodically report their results to their investors.

Paul Jarley: This was a response that Great Depression, right?

EB Altiero Poziemski: Yes. Following on that, in 1955, that was when the requirement for semi-annual reports was added to the rules, and so we saw that sometime between the original 1934 act and 1955, there was an increased demand for more timely information about these companies. And then from there, we didn’t see quarterly reporting required until 1970. So in the grand scheme of things, it’s actually a fairly recent development and not entirely a settled one either because we’re here talking about it right now. But Donald Trump also brought this up in 2018, actually brought it to the SEC for comment. It did go out for public comment at that time, and in 2013, the European Union actually abolished quarterly reporting for the companies that they regulate. So it’s been kind of a push and pull over time.

Paul Jarley: Paul, you’ve been in the corporate world for a lot of years, what actually do you need to report?

Paul Gregg: First of all, the report is unaudited, unlike the 10-K, which is an audited report. And you have to report your balance sheet, income statement, cashflow statement, along with selected disclosures. And of course, if there are material events, they typically show up at that point. Although an 8-K is required if there’s a material event between reporting periods. So it’s basically producing your financial statements and it’s kind of morphed into where the analysts are going to meet with the company. After these 10-Q’s are produced, the press release will go out, the company would then go over the results for the quarter. The analysts are tracking the quarterly results against their forecast that are not looking for surprises. Typically, the company tends to guide during this period, what the remaining year will be.

And there’s some pros and cons to reducing the quarterly reporting to semi-annual. The pro would be we can save on audit fees because our auditors come in and review these quarterly reports and it allows the company to think more long term. Having said that, those slides and that data that is shown to the analyst is done every month for the Board of Directors. It’s not like we have to make this stuff up. It’s already there lots more detailed than we show the public, and so it really isn’t that much more work for management to report. The only out-of-pocket cost really is the biggest, the audit fee.

The bigger issue is that by forcing companies to report quarterly, it flushes out information that has to be shown in the financial statements before the quarter end. The way it works in a corporate world, bad news travels very slow, good news travels quickly. So, it’s a way to force out the bad news to make sure we get it into the public arena. You never want to surprise Wall Street with a surprise report. And so if it were to be twice a year, that would basically be six months of perhaps data that should have the actions management problems that should be addressed. So those problems may not be addressed as quickly because they’re not known as quickly. This quarterly reporting kind of forces them out sooner than later, and of course it’s going to create volatility in the stock. It’s going to create bigger variations. When semi-annual reporting is done, that’s going to add volatility, which adds to the cost of capital.

Paul Jarley: Because people are guessing more on what’s going on. Is that where the volatility will come from?

Paul Gregg: Their forecast would be less accurate, just like the company would not know for six months of what’s going on, a lot can happen in a quarter.

Paul Jarley: I imagine, Paul, the typical CEO doesn’t really love the forecast meeting.

Paul Gregg: They certainly don’t like going to Wall Street and presenting the quarterly results unless they’re good, in which case that’s enjoyable. But if they’re not good, they’re going to get a lot of questions. The stock can actually start moving during these quarterly earnings and conference calls. If the information is not really known or worse than expected, better than expected, it is a drill. We would prepare a book and anticipate every question. We give each person, “If this question comes up, this is how we’re going to answer it.” Ours were pretty well orchestrated and we generally did not have problems, although, I’ve seen really good webcasts on quarterly reviews and I’ve seen some that are not so good. So it just depends on the company and how well they’re managed and how accurate their numbers are.

Paul Jarley: And there’s also some game playing right around when to book revenue or is that overstated?

Paul Gregg: We manage earnings, but we manage it within generally accepted accounting principles. So during the quarterly review, if we took some positions on something that affected earnings, I would discuss it with our auditors. During the quarterly review. I was telling EB, our chairman of the Audit Committee was a former Chairman of the SEC. Anything we did, I’d be ready to go tell him why we did it and why it was consistent with GAP and why it was appropriate. Revenue is a common problem though for many companies and revenue recognition.

Paul Jarley: Jim, you’re an investor. What do you think about this?

Jim Balaschak: I like the current system. I like to hear the quarterly earnings. I do my analysis on what is projected for the next quarter and the one after that, and one after that. Usually I’m looking about two years out of earnings and earnings growth. I like to buy growth companies and the economy can change, the sector can change. I’d like to know about that sooner than later. Also, I know that a lot of the European companies, not only do they report semi-annually, their dividends are semi-annually. And I think there’s a lot of income investors out there that count on that quarterly dividend. So I would think that if companies start reporting only every six months, that many of them would start changing their dividends every six months.

Paul Jarley: EB have there been any studies done on firm behavior and investor behavior in Europe when they made the change?

EB Altiero Poziemski: There was a study done on German firms that showed those who opted to go ahead and switch to semi-annual instead of the quarterly requirement, they actually saw a increase in their cost of capital and an increase in the information asymmetry. So basically the investors, again, weren’t as well-informed, weren’t willing to take as much risk. Basically they were demanding a bigger return because they were perceiving a bigger risk.

Paul Jarley: So there might be a signal in choosing six months rather than four months, which might be negatively perceived by them?

Paul Gregg: Exactly, which adds to the volatility of the stock, which adds to the cost of capital.

Paul Jarley: And let’s understand that even if the SEC did relax the rule, a number of firms might not do it anyway, right? So the stock exchange itself could require quarterly reports, right, to list the stock on the stock market?

EB Altiero Poziemski: So in the UK, only 9% of firms actually decided to make the switch. So they were given the option to drop quarterly reporting and they didn’t do it. And so there is the chance that even though the requirement goes away, firms are still going to choose to do this because their investors are demanding this information.

Paul Gregg: All it takes is Fidelity, Vanguard, some of the big shareholders to say, look, we want this quarterly, we’d do it. I don’t care what the SEC says. If our big shareholders are asking for it, we’re going to do it, but that’s our audience. That’s who we want to please.

EB Altiero Poziemski: We do run the risk though of that information being less reliable if it’s voluntary, if there aren’t rules around it and it’s no longer being reviewed by the auditors.

Paul Jarley: I assume that the audit community would be against this. Is that fair to say?

EB Altiero Poziemski: I think that’s fair to say. I think the audit community, generally speaking, always thinks they should be looking at everything. And also it does help with some of the analytic procedures that they do. Some of those work better when they’re done quarterly, especially the fraud detection analytical procedures. There was a study by the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners in 2020 that said that financial statement fraud has a median loss of $1.25 million per case and take up to 19 months to detect even with quarterly reporting in place. So without that quarterly reporting in place, it could take even longer to see the patterns and uncover that fraudulent reporting.

Paul Gregg: I would think the audit committee would want the quarterly reporting just from their due diligence and fiduciary responsibility. You know, they have a lot at stake here, so they’re not likely to want to give up the quarterly reviews even if you didn’t have to.

Paul Jarley: So the impact on cost for the organization would be fairly minimal.

Paul Gregg: Absolute incremental costs would be minor. But if your beta starts to move up because of volatility and your cost of capital goes up 1%, that’s a big cost.

EB Altiero Poziemski: Yeah. It seems more likely that the companies that would be interested in taking advantage of this would be the smaller firms, the ones that are really hurt by those audit costs, those review costs. Financial reporting is expensive. I talked to my class about this. Anytime you add a disclosure requirement, that is a real cost. There is a person who has to write up that footnote who has to collect the information. If you are a organization that operates in multiple jurisdictions, you have to get all of the information, aggregate it, make sure it’s in the same format, and interpret it through U.S. GAAP that costs actual dollars.

Paul Jarley: So with the advent of AI, might all of this be irrelevant? Can you imagine a world in the next decade where all earnings are reported instantaneously for everyone to see?

EB Altiero Poziemski: I mean, I can’t say it’s impossible. I can’t currently see it, only because I think that auditing is one of the things that although we’re going to end up using AI in auditing, I think the audit profession itself becomes even more important in the face of AI because AI is a black box. You put information in, you don’t know what it does, it spits information out. So it becomes really critical to look at anything that comes out of AI with an auditor brain. You have to have that auditor level of skepticism. When you look at that data. You have to have the level of expertise to interpret it and know if what the AI gave you is right if it’s following U.S. GAAP. And so I think it’s going to be a little bit still before we can trust AI to take numbers out of a general ledger system, put them into a financial report, follows all of the rules of the SEC and FASB and is reliably doing so.

Paul Gregg: Yeah, it would seem unlikely, but even if AI could generate perfect financial statements every month, I’m not going to disclose them to the public every month. Because that’s way too much effort for have the public that on top of your business, you do need some maneuvering room and some time to manage the company.

Paul Jarley: Jim, would you want daily reports if you could get them?

Jim Balaschak: I’m fine with quarterly. There’s enough massaging of the numbers as it is. So, I don’t think daily would be any improvement.

Paul Jarley: Can I push back? I mean, we publish stock prices every day. Nobody seems to worry about that.

Paul Gregg: If you’re a mutual fund, your results are published every day, right? You know your gain or loss on your existing securities. But that’s a little different I think.

EB Altiero Poziemski: I do think that gives an advantage to the sophisticated investor who has the computing power to go through all of that information and maybe detect patterns, but maybe not, right? There may be just spurious correlations in there that they’re acting on and it doesn’t really mean anything.

Paul Jarley: Well, there are random fluctuations, right? I mean they happen all the time.

EB Altiero Poziemski: Yeah, accounting data is definitely not meaningful on a daily basis.

Jim Balaschak: I could see AI more estimating sales, but I don’t see on the expense side being able to generate, that being too accurate.

Paul Jarley: Because in the small organization, the person who books revenue could be sick one day sending somebody into it tizzy.

EB Altiero Poziemski: We also have accruals that have, we’re guessing throughout the year, and then we have to fix them when it comes to a reporting date. And so on any point in time actually knowing the true number is sometimes not possible.

Paul Jarley: Why do you think the President recommends it then?

EB Altiero Poziemski: I mean, I know what he said. He said it was to lower cost.

Paul Jarley: Right? He said to lower cost.

Paul Gregg: Some company may be pressuring him or suggesting this to him.

EB Altiero Poziemski: Yeah, he may have constituents who have been talking to him about it.

Paul Jarley: Well, small business to your point, right, might be a place where some gain, some cost savings might happen.

EB Altiero Poziemski: And that’s a place that the FASB and the SEC have kind of always had this push and pull. Where the FASB has maintained forever, that there is one U.S. GAAP, and if you report under U.S. GAAP, everyone should know what that means. Whereas smaller businesses have been arguing, we should have different reporting requirements. You should make it easier for us so that we have a chance. These reporting requirements are too onerous, we can’t do them. So it comes to a point where they have to make a decision to either report wrong, badly, or not do the types of transactions that they want to do because they can’t afford to do the reporting.

Jim Balaschak: Well, that does keep a lot of the smaller companies from going public.

Paul Gregg: It’s very expensive to be a public company.

Jim Balaschak: Very expensive.

Paul Jarley: No doubt, right? Yeah. And perhaps that’s part of the motivation here. Alright, I don’t want, well, two of the three of you EB’s pretty young, to just sound like old guys wanting new people to get off their lawn. Is there a different system that would work better or did 1973 get it right, and it should be the quarterly report forever?

Paul Gregg: I’m certainly happy with the quarterly report. It’s the data itself and how we get accurate data within each month’s financial statements is really the key. Reporting it is a separate issue. How often do we report it to our shareholders? And data will become more accurate with AI. No doubt about it. The real key is forecasting, because that’s where the valuations come in and that’s what everybody’s interested in, not just what you did, but where are you going?

Paul Jarley: Particularly against where you said you would be.

Paul Gregg: Yes. So that gets back to you better know how to accurately forecast.

Jim Balaschak: Yes, that’s more important.

Paul Jarley: So is the death of the quarterly report exaggerated a yes or no? Paul?

Paul Gregg: I don’t think it’s going to happen.

Paul Jarley: Jim?

Jim Balaschak: I don’t think it’s going to happen either. I hope it doesn’t happen.

Paul Jarley: EB?

EB Altiero Poziemski: I’m not as confident, but I don’t think it’s going to happen.

Paul Jarley: It’s my podcast, so I get to go last.

This debate isn’t really about the merits of quarterly versus semi-annual reports. It’s about trust. Quarterly disclosure has become part of the governance rhythm of our capital markets. Boards expect it, investors demand it and exchanges quietly enforce it. That kind of inertia is hard to break, especially in an arena where credibility is everything. I don’t think we’ll be writing an obituary for the quarterly earnings report anytime soon. If change does come, it probably won’t be wholesale. Big firms will keep reporting every quarter because stakeholders will demand it. And moving away from such reporting, will bring suspicion. But small companies, the ones for whom the compliance costs are steepest, might see some relief. The paradox, of course, is that the smaller firms are also the most vulnerable to sudden revenue swings, which means investors may want more frequent, not less frequent updates. Reducing report frequency might also increase the cost of capital for these firms, negating any positives from the reduction in reporting costs.

The future may not be a choice between quarterly or semi-annual. It may be a world of lighter tiered reporting where transparency is preserved, direct costs are contained and trust remains the currency of the system. Or maybe nothing happens simply because humans don’t like change.

Special thanks to my new producer, Brent Meske, and the whole team at the Office of Outreach and Engagement here at the UCF College of Business. And thank you for listening. Until next time, Charge On.

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UCF Associate Professor of Marketing Axel Stock was featured in WalletHub’s article on the Citi Simplicity Card, originally published on Aug. 11, 2025. His excerpt is featured below, to read the whole article, click HERE.

Expert Thoughts on Citi Simplicity CardWhy would a credit card company offer a long 0% intro APR for balance transfers but only a short one for new purchases?

The reason may be found in the objective that the credit card company pursues with offering a balance transfer to new customers. The objective is to obtain share of a customer’s spending from a competitor. When a customer makes a new purchase then he may simply pay off that amount on the new credit card while continuing to spend money using the old credit card. However, when he transfers balances from an existing credit card then this is a psychological step away from that credit card towards the new credit card, and the focus on the old card is reduced.

What advice do you have for someone who’s shopping for a 0% APR credit card?

The advice I would give is to not look only at the 0% introductory APR, but also long-term APR, rewards program and other services the credit card may provide.

The 0% APR will only last so long and the customer needs to be aware of the conditions after it expires!

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UCF Finance Executive in Residence Paul Gregg was featured in WalletHub’s “Best Credit Cards for Young Adults” article, originally published on Sept. 24, 2025. His excerpt is featured below, to read the whole article, click HERE.

Paul GreggMS, CPA, Finance Executive in Residence & Senior Instructor – College of Business – University of Central Florida

Most consumers including young adults can be characterized as either “savers” or “spenders”.

Most of my students have both a credit card and debit card.

I recommend debit cards for spenders to avoid credit card debt. This is the biggest mistake consumers make with credit cards.

For savers, I advise students to get a credit card with a low limit and learn to use it properly and pay the balance in full each month.

For rewards, I normally recommend cash rebates since cash works everywhere.

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Is layaway making a comeback—or has it simply been rebranded as “buy now, pay later”? In this episode of Is This Really a Thing?, Dean Paul Jarley sits down with Jim Adamczyk, Chief Strategy Officer at FAIRWINDS, to unpack the surprising history (and psychology) of delayed payments. From Christmas shopping in the 1970s to today’s Klarna and Affirm apps, they explore why consumers keep returning to installment plans, what it means for financial health, and whether AI could reshape how we manage spending and debt.

Featured Guests* Jim Adamczyk – Chief Strategy Officer, FAIRWINDS

Episode TranscriptionPaul Jarley: If you’re as old as I am, you know, things come back around. Today, we’re going to talk about an old classic: layaway. Is it back? Is it hiding under a different name? Should you really put your lunch on layaway? Or buy now, pay later. To help me figure this out, I’m joined in this episode by Jim Adamczyk. Jim is a UCF alum, a member of our College of Business Hall of Fame and is the current Chief Strategy Officer at FAIRWINDS. We recorded this podcast live in front of 100-plus students in The EXCHANGE, and we’re bringing it to you now. Listen in.

So when I was a kid, my mother spent half of her annual income on Christmas. I’m not kidding. We grew up with relatively modest means, and so she would start shopping in June for Christmas. And the family didn’t have a huge amount of money, so she would buy things on what was called layaway. Basically, you went in and you picked out your item and you gave it to the store and you promised to pay for it before you would pick it up and you had to agree to a schedule. And I was driving somewhere a couple of weeks ago and I was listening to the radio and I think it was Burlington Coat Factory was talking about their layaway program. Literally, I hadn’t heard about layaway in probably 40 years. And so today Jim and I are going to talk about layaway, what it was, how it differs from Buy Now Pay Later, or rent to own things that many of you might see, why it’s on the comeback and what might replace it after that. So thanks for joining us today, Jim.

Jim Adamczyk: Always happy to be here.

Paul Jarley: What is layaway? Had you ever experienced layaway?

Jim Adamczyk: When I was in high school, I was dating somebody and I remember there was a Montgomery Ward in Altamonte Springs and I put a present on layaway. And by the time I got the layaway, I was no longer with the person anymore, so my first experience was: layaway is not great.

Paul Jarley: Just so you understand kind of the world we’re living in at that time, people didn’t have credit cards, people didn’t have debit cards.

Jim Adamczyk: The main way to pay for it was cash. You took cash out and you went to the store and buy it, but if you didn’t have the cash, your primary means of credit was layaway. And it’s not really credit in the sense that you don’t have the item, so you’re kind of saving each month. It’s like a savings plan to end up eventually buying something. It’s almost like delayed gratification in a world of instant gratification today.

Paul Jarley: Right? And if you missed a payment, the retailer put the product back on the shelf.

Jim Adamczyk: And so the retailers had to have an entire inventory management system to keep track of all the different items that were on layaway, the customers that had them on layaway and then the payment plans that were in place to pay for those items as well.

Paul Jarley: And there would be late penalties, right? I think if you –

Jim Adamczyk: Usually you had to put a percent of the item down upfront, 10, 20%, and then if you were late, kind of like a credit card or a loan today, they would charge you a fee on the late payment. And then if you didn’t actually pay it off or you’d stop paying, they would put it back and they would keep your money pretty much.

Paul Jarley: So fast forwarding a little bit, if you did that today and you missed a payment and they put it back, would it impact your credit score?

Jim Adamczyk: On layaway today, there’s no impact. It’s not credit. So the big difference with layaway is that you don’t own the item yet. You’re almost saving towards, and ended up eventually getting it, so it’s not credit. Whereas today if you buy on a credit card or you buy now with those buy now pay later items, that’s credit. Someone is giving you the item before you actually have paid for it. That’s credit under any definition.

Paul Jarley: So mom was shopping in June, she didn’t really need the item until Christmas.

Jim Adamczyk: Right.

Paul Jarley: This is how this would work. And so she would make a payment on it for a few months so that she could have presents under the tree. That’s really how this developed. Let’s go to a couple of other similar kinds of programs, but in some ways different. How’s it different from rent to own?

Jim Adamczyk: With rent to own, it’s a contract, so you’re entering into a contract to buy a particular item and you’re renting it for a period of time and you have the option to buy at the end. Most of these programs aren’t designed for the majority of consumers. They’re usually for consumers that typically don’t have a good track record of saving. And so unfortunately, the programs do target those that aren’t disciplined in our approach like rent to own or buy now pay later. And the buy now pay later, which is what everyone in here probably sees, and probably more than half of you have used it already, I would imagine based on –

Paul Jarley: Based on the number of apps.

Jim Adamczyk: the number of statistics out there. It is more of the payment in four. So you’ll get the item and then you’ll agree to four payments. So instead of paying $100 today, you’ll pay $25 over four weeks or six weeks is typically the cycle that you’d pay that over. That’s pretty much what has put layaway, away. Because buy now, pay later is prevalent in almost every transaction that you see today. And it’s pretty much a dominated small dollar purchases today.

Paul Jarley: Because that’s about instant gratification to your point.

Jim Adamczyk: Yeah, I mean the psychology behind it –

Paul Jarley: Exactly the opposite.

Jim Adamczyk: is really interesting. You have this bias for having something now because you feel like having it now. You over assume the importance of having the item now and you under assume the value that you have to pay over time and the benefit of that. It ends up hurting I think those of us that struggle with savings just in general.

Paul Jarley: And you end up paying more for it over the long haul than you could have just paid upfront?

Jim Adamczyk: I heard it described once as like a treadmill. You get on a treadmill of debt. Most people that use buy now pay later, 60% of consumers have at least two or more active buy now, pay later going at the same time.

Paul Jarley: I’ve noticed now it’s even on my credit card.

Jim Adamczyk: There’s three big firms that control the whole buy now pay later space, and one of the big ones, they want to replace credit cards in the banking system around credit. That’s their whole goal. The short-term buy now pay later does replace credit cards for small dollar purchases for a lot of people, and it works in a similar way like a credit card. If you pay it off when it’s due, there’s no interest on it. But, like credit cards, most people don’t pay those off every month. In fact, probably more than half of Americans with credit card balances don’t pay them off every month. And so buy now pay later unfortunately follows a similar cycle. It might seem like you don’t have to pay a hundred dollars now and it’s only $25 today, but the reality is more than 40% of people that are in that today have some late payment over that period of time.

Paul Jarley: Why do you think layaway might be making a comeback now? Inflation maybe?

Jim Adamczyk: Certainly the cost of goods has gone up and layaway is still a niche product I would say today because a lot of the bigger retailers have gone away from it and moved to the buy now pay later. I definitely know that there’s a couple out there that still do it like Burlington, you’d mentioned, Sears and some of the older traditional players. But the Walmart’s the Best Buy’s the Target’s, they’ve all moved to the bigger buy now pay later firms. And what they’ve seen is just an increase in sales when they move to it, and that’s part of the reason why.

Paul Jarley: Well, and plus the inventory management part of it, right? Of setting it aside and –

Jim Adamczyk: Just imagine you’re at Walmart and you’ve got to manage all of these layaway programs for different consumers and when they come get it and if they’re late, not late, it’s an entire inventory management system. Versus you move to a buy now pay later infrastructure and the consumer gets their product right away and they have to manage inventory and payments and late tracking. So that’s part of the reason why you’ve seen layaway go away.

Paul Jarley: And you don’t need to have a credit score, right to do buy now, pay later?

Jim Adamczyk: I think a lot of people think that buy now pay later is helping your credit score. It is not actively in a credit score today. But if you don’t pay that buy now pay later at some point, that could go to a collection agency which could show up on your credit report. So there’s no benefit to credit for buy now, pay later, but there could be a detriment to your credit for not paying buy now pay later. So I think it’s important that people understand that there’s some misinformation in there out there about whether or not buy now, pay later can actually help your credit today. Now I will say that there’s a couple of the bigger ones have started to send your data monthly to the credit bureau agencies, but they’re not including it in their scores today.

As a company that lends money, we want to know that information because we make decisions on your ability to repay debt. And so if you’re getting a car loan or a mortgage and you’ve got eight different buy now pay later plans out there, that impacts your ability to repay. And so I think you’ll see some movement probably from the larger institutions pushing to have this data readily available to them. I don’t know if it’s going to impact your credit score anytime soon from a positive perspective.

Paul Jarley: So FAIRWINDS is very big on financial freedom and being debt-free. So would you recommend layaway to anyone?

Jim Adamczyk: We are always a proponent of save now, buy later. Okay? It is so easy to open an account and most banks have a little budgeting tool or a budgeting program or even a budgeting like savings goals or something you can use and just start putting the money into the savings goal in your bank account until you get ready to buy the purchase and then go make the purchase. That’s our recommendation a hundred percent of the time. First, it’s buy cash. Second, if you need to buy it, save for it and then buy it with the cash you saved. One of the worst things you can do is put it on credit if you can’t pay it off.

Paul Jarley: And for people who can’t get credit cards right, it’s an option.

Jim Adamczyk: Absolutely, a hundred percent. It is an alternative for people that cannot get credit cards and typically people with no credit. A bigger lesson for me around layaway is the movement of it to buy now pay later. And the most important thing you can learn about buy now pay later is, it’s credit. You got to know all the rules that come around with buy now pay later are like credit rules and you want to manage it in a way that doesn’t put you in a bad position later on.

Paul Jarley: So this is really all about the importance of cashflow and knowing how to manage it. So what tips would you have for our students on how to manage their cashflow?

Jim Adamczyk: The most important thing you can do is one, have a budget. You should know some idea each month of how much money you have coming in and then you should have some idea of the expenses that you’re paying each month. And then once you have the budget, your next goal is to save $1,000 in an emergency account. Don’t touch that money for any reason whatsoever unless some emergency happens. And by emergency is not like all my friends are going somewhere and so I got to go with them on vacation, which is mistakes I’ve made when I was younger. Emergency is like my car broke down or I need books or something like that. Save that money for a real emergency. So now you have a budget, you have a thousand dollars saved. And then, then I think you think about layaway programs or if you need to actually own something. We don’t say buy now, pay later. We say save now, buy later. That’s our approach to this.

Paul Jarley: You know these numbers better than I do. What percentage of households don’t have a month’s worth of savings? It’s a frighteningly high number, I do remember that.

Jim Adamczyk: It’s anywhere between 50 and 60% of Americans cannot afford a $400 emergency expense, and it’s been that way for as long as I can remember, at least the last 10-to-15 years has not changed. And so the small decisions you make today can influence whether or not you’re part of that statistic or you’re not. Income does not matter a lot because even people that make over $100,000 a year, over 25 or 30% of them are still living paycheck-to-paycheck. The more money you make, the more money you spend is a reality in life. And so the most important thing you can do is spend less than you make.

Paul Jarley: So in today’s world, I got to ask this question. Can AI help you out here?

Jim Adamczyk: Man, I hope so. I’m looking forward to it.

Paul Jarley: A cashflow manager, an AI cashflow manager. Yeah, I think that’s coming.

Jim Adamczyk: There is a future around what AI can do for you, even around managing your money. Imagine that has access to your transactional spend across every platform that you have. It has access to your income coming in, it has access to every expense you’re making on a monthly basis. I see a future where AI is helping you decide what to do next and even telling you, don’t buy that. Or no, no, don’t do that. Do this and here’s how to do it. Or if you’re going to buy it, use this channel because you’re getting better rewards, it’s better behavioral science for you to do that, but it will be your little agent that follows you round and I believe that future is not far away.

Paul Jarley: Yeah. How far do you think, I know you guys are thinking about this and you’re not alone. I’m sure.

Jim Adamczyk: You can see use cases on YouTube and online today where you see people that are uploading all of their transaction data and they’re using it to help – I would never recommend that, by the way – but you can see how the AI is helping them identify and spend correctly. The challenge that most financials have today is most people don’t have just one account. They usually have multiple accounts. For AI to be effective, it needs to know everything happening.

Paul Jarley: That’s called open banking. There’s still some challenge. What are the main challenges with that?

Jim Adamczyk: The main challenges are all the banks having access to the API calls from all the different financial institutions data that’s out there. And then I think you can make a pretty accurate prediction of how you should manage your money. But in today’s world, and I imagine most of you’d say might have five or six different financial apps sitting on your phone, and so having access to that and having financial institutions trust that they can do that –

Paul Jarley: Because options for evil there as well, given what they would know about people and their spending habits?

Jim Adamczyk: You would have to essentially allow access to that. A scale that maybe most people aren’t comfortable with.

Paul Jarley: Yeah, maybe. I don’t know. Younger generation seems to give that away pretty quickly compared to –

Jim Adamczyk: Although I find myself giving away a lot of stuff too, as well as I get older. I want convenience. I think people, want convenience.

Paul Jarley: That’s right. People want convenience.

Jim Adamczyk: Most of you’ll probably grow up in a world, or at least you’ll be in your professional world in the next five to 10 years where it’s going to be totally different than it is today, and you’ll have a tremendous opportunity to make more of an impact than people that have been in the industry for 10, 15, 20 years. Because you’re going to come in at the cusp of all this new tech coming in and you’re going to be able to teach people that have been there for 10, 15 years how to use it probably more effectively than they are using it today.

Paul Jarley: What other advice do you have for students before I open it up for questions?

Jim Adamczyk: Well, as it relates to layaway, my biggest advice is that it’s a better program than buy now, pay later because it’s delayed gratification and I think you feel better when you actually work to save for something and then you buy it. The behavioral science behind this will show that almost half of people that buy something now and they have to pay it later, they end up regretting the purchase, especially the bigger the purchase, the more regret happens. Think of all the stuff you bought over the last three or four months. Did I really need to buy that stuff? And if I didn’t buy it, I’d probably have this extra $500 sitting here. And so my advice really to everyone is have a budget, save a thousand dollars and plan for your spending, and I promise you’ll be in a much better position than most of your counterparts out there if you treat personal finance as the most important thing you do as you graduate.

Paul Jarley: I think the psychology around spending is really fascinating. I think it’s also true, and hardly none of you do this. How many of you have more than $20 of cash in your wallet right now? More than I would’ve guessed. How many of you have $50 of cash? I still think paying for things in cash and watching it disappear from your wallet is one of the strongest incentives not to spend money.

Jim Adamczyk: You know what’s funny, if you asked that question to all the 600 people that worked at FAIRWINDS, probably less than 10% of them would have had $20 in their wallet.

Paul Jarley: I’m stunned that about half of the students raised their hand.

Jim Adamczyk: That was pretty interesting. That is fascinating. Would’ve not predicted that that many would’ve raised their hand with $20. I don’t think I’ve had $20 in my pocket in six years.

Paul Jarley: Yeah, me too. Okay, so last question, Jim, do you think layaway will still a thing 10 years from now? Yes or no, and why?

Jim Adamczyk: I think layaway will be as much a thing as the flip cell phone, and I don’t know if I remember the flip cell phone. You remember the little Razor? Everyone wanted the Razor cell phone. There’s still some people that have it.

Paul Jarley: I know a few guys who do.

Jim Adamczyk: Yeah, that’s right.

Paul Jarley: They happen to be wealthy.

Jim Adamczyk: Yeah, that’s right. Yeah, they do. They don’t want all the tech on their phone.

Paul Jarley: Discipline buying.

Jim Adamczyk: Discipline buying. Yeah, it could make a comeback. I do think with artificial intelligence, though, layaway might change in the future. Maybe there’s a different way of looking at layaway that becomes more consumer friendly and hopefully puts people in a better position, not a worse position.

Paul Jarley: Well, thanks Jim. Always good to have you in The EXCHANGE.

[Audience clapping]

Paul Jarley: It’s my podcast, so I get to go last.

In a world of instant gratification, credit cards and buy now pay later programs pretty much ensure that Layaways heyday is behind it. But it isn’t dead either, in part because it offers a form of inclusiveness for people with modest incomes, difficulty saving and little access to credit. The real question for retailers is whether this boosts their sales enough to deal with the hassles of keeping track of the payments and reserving the goods. It very well might for the Burlington Coat Factory, but probably not for Bloomingdales.

In some ways, the biggest layaway plan of all is sitting right in front of my students. It’s a college degree. Think about it. You put money down semester after semester, making installments in time, effort, and tuition. You don’t get to take advantage of the degree until the very end, and if you stop partway, you don’t get the ultimate prize. A half a degree is no degree. Paying for the entire four years at the start of a college journey would price all but the wealthiest people out of the market. And it’s unlikely that an 18-year-old could get a loan for the entire amount, unless they were exceptionally gifted academically. Even the government isn’t going to take this deal and give you a loan.

So maybe that’s the lesson. Whether it’s a coat at Burlington or a college degree, layaway survives because it’s the only way some of us can afford the things that matter most. We live in a world of instant gratification, but some of life’s biggest rewards still require patience, persistence, and a long string of installment payments.

So what’s your take? Check us out online and share your thoughts at business.ucf.edu/podcast. And be sure to follow us on social media to be alerted when our next episode airs. I’ll be joined by UCF’s own Carolyn Massiah and pet mom Amber Downs to learn if pet influencing is really a thing … and more importantly if my dog, Sneaky Pete, has a shot at becoming one of them. Special thanks to my new producer, Brent Meske, and the whole team at the Office of Outreach and Engagement here at the UCF College of Business. And thank you for listening. Until next time, charge on.

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Associate Lecturer, Department of Integrated Business

From cheering in the Bounce House to exploring gamification in marketing, Shelley brings passion, expertise, and heart to her students. Learn how she’s shaping the next generation of Business Knights, what inspires her inside and outside the classroom, and the advice she gives for standing out in the age of AI.

How long have you been a Knight? : I have been a faculty member with Integrated Business for the last 8 years, however I have been a Knight for over 25 years, earning my MBA at UCF in 1998.

What is your favorite UCF memory?I’ve been a football fan my entire life, but the energy in the Bounce House during football games is like nowhere else! Best place to watch a game.

What is your area of research at UCF?Gamification in marketing, customer loyalty programs, and marketing ethics

What professional awards or honors have you earned during your career? College of Business TIP Award in 2023

What do you love about what you do? I love helping my students map a path to their futures and watching them find success.

What do you find most exciting or rewarding about your field of study? I enjoy teaching in the Integrated Business program because it leans into my multidisciplinary background, which allows me to explore issues related to digital media, marketing, law, and ethics while still crossing multiple industries.

When you’re not in the classroom, what can we find you doing? At our getaway in the North Carolina mountains or traveling anywhere the opportunity takes me. I especially enjoy stopping at local wineries and meeting the owners and winemakers. I have learned a lot about geography and climate in understanding wine regions. Traveling while wearing UCF merch has led to meeting UCF alumni around the world.

What are some little known facts about you? My background is tourism marketing, with a diversion to earn a law degree from George Washington University

What is your advice for Business Knights? Remember to be human. Using effective critical thinking skills is the most important way to separate yourself from what can be automated through AI. Embracing your humanity and the unique skills that you bring to the table is what sets you apart.

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Lecturer, Department of Integrated Business

With a heart for service, a passion for storytelling, and a drive to inspire the next generation of business leaders, David Penn has spent the past seven years making a lasting impact on the Knight community. From coaching a student team to a national championship victory and capturing personal graduation moments for hundreds of students, to earning an Emmy and accolades from the White House, their journey is anything but ordinary. Whether researching personal branding or mentoring students to dream bigger, this dedicated educator blends academic insight with real-world experience … and a little Hollywood flair from their home movie studio.

How long have you been a Knight? This is my 7th academic year

What is your favorite UCF memory? Winning the 1st Place National Championship at the Battle of the Brains and $50,000 for UCF after spending over 200 hours on recruiting and preparing a team of 8 students from the College of Business and the College of Engineering and Computer Science. Another favorite memory is attending every graduation since 2019, taking close-up photos of students as they walk across the stage and sending it to them.

What is your area of research at UCF? Personal branding on LinkedIn, impressions of human resources recruiters, presentations in competitions, the soft skills and objectives of the Integrated Business program.

What professional awards or honors have you earned during your career? Emmy award for producing an educational film for television, Higher Education Community Service Leadership award for six years from a joint program of The White House, Corporation for National and Community Service, and U.S. Department of Education; Harvard University Derek Bok Public Service prize for long-standing community service; Florida’s Child Advocate of the Year from Florida’s Children First.

What do you love about what you do? Inspiring students every day to reach beyond their imagination to plan for careers and projects that align with their mission.

What do you find most exciting or rewarding about your field of study? Collaborating with our incredible faculty team to share our years of professional experience in integrated business roles and best practices with students, so they experience the soft skills and leadership acumen necessary to achieve success in business.

When you’re not in the classroom, what can we find you doing? I am a movie buff who enjoys films of various genres and has a movie studio in my home. I volunteer to help others and travel as often as I can.

What are some little known facts about you? I am a first-generation student in my family and still the only one of six siblings to graduate from college. As a college student, I worked for United States Senator Claiborne Pell in Washington, D.C. I attended a Papal Mass at the Vatican City, officiated by Pope John Paul, and a speech given by Queen Elizabeth at the opening of British Parliament while studying abroad. My family worked for several famous Boston Red Sox players, and I spent three summers volunteering at the training camp of the New England Patriots.

What is your advice for Business Knights? Always believe in your capacity to achieve and exceed your expectations and those of others. Ask for mentoring support whenever you want to learn something new or model the success of others. There is always someone kind enough to help, many valuable lessons in written works and conversations to be learned from others, and be sure to express your gratitude to those with whom you collaborated along the way.

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Professor, Department of Economics

For over 14 years, Professor Uluc Aysun has been a guiding force in the Department of Economics, blending rigorous research with a passion for student growth. Specializing in international macroeconomics, innovation, and economic forecasting, his work has earned prestigious fellowships and recognition from institutions like the Bank of International Settlements and the Bank of Jamaica. But what truly drives him is witnessing students evolve from uncertain freshmen to thriving professionals. Whether he’s on the soccer pitch, spending time with his family (including his triplets), or perfecting his homemade dolma, he brings energy, curiosity, and care to everything he does, especially in encouraging Business Knights to dive into real-world experience early and often.

How long have you been a Knight? 14 years

What is your favorite UCF memory? Receiving the Dean’s Most Transformative Moment Award

What is your area of research at UCF? International Macroeconomics, Economics of R&D and Innovation, Monetary Transmission, Macroeconomic Forecasting

What professional awards or honors have you earned during your career? BIS Fellowship, Dean’s Productivity Awards, Bank of Jamaica Visiting Scholar

What do you love about what you do? I love watching some of my students transform from lost high school graduates into motivated adults. I especially love hearing from them many years after they graduate and about their success stories.

What do you find most exciting or rewarding about your field of study? It is a young and a very dynamic field of study. The topics and challenges change constantly. It is also very easy to engage students as Macroeconomics is all around them.

When you’re not in the classroom, what can we find you doing? You can find me with my family or on the soccer pitch.

What are some little known facts about you? Father of triplets. I ran two marathons. I make the best Dolma (stuffed grape leaves).

What is your advice for Business Knights? Internship, internship, internship! Start looking early and reach out to UCF Alumni and the Internship office for help.

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Senior Lecturer, Department of Economics

Since joining UCF in 2003, Senior Lecturer Nora Underwood-Caputo has watched the University evolve while remaining a steady and supportive presence in the Department of Economics. With a passion for student engagement and mentorship, she believes learning thrives through interaction … whether it’s discussing course concepts, career goals, or life after graduation. Known for her open-door policy and approachable style, she takes pride in helping students see the relevance of economics in their everyday decisions. Outside the classroom, she enjoys cooking, hosting dinner parties, traveling through Europe, and soaking up the sun at the beach all with the same enthusiasm she brings to her teaching.

How long have you been a Knight? Since fall 2003

What is your favorite UCF memory? Looking back on how the university has grown and changed. Online learning has certainly taken over.

What do you love about what you do? Engaging with students. As my syllabus has always said “learning is an interactive process.” Any time spent conversing with students about course content, their major, or what they want to do after UCF is rewarding. Being available to mentor students is very rewarding. My door is always open.

What do you find most exciting or rewarding about your field of study? Economics is about managing scarce resources. Many students don’t like economics because it can be challenging. Economics is everywhere around us and we all use economic principles in our daily decision making. Getting students to recognize the importance of the subject is rewarding.

When you’re not in the classroom, what can we find you doing? I love to cook and throw dinner parties. I love Les Mills on demand. The beach is a favorite place and European travel is a favorite activity.

What is a little known fact about you? I went to high school in London, England.

What is your advice for Business Knights? Take advantage of these last few years of school. Get involved in school activities, build connections with fellow students, and talk to your professors. You have your entire life to work.

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Associate Director, DeVos Sport Business Management Program

Though new to UCF, Associate Director Chris Gallagher has already become a guiding force in the DeVos Sport Business Management Program, bringing years of industry leadership and a passion for student success into the classroom. With a decorated career in sports and entertainment (including honors from Sports Business Journal, Major League Soccer, and Venues Now) he now focuses on preparing the next generation to break into a competitive field. Whether he’s celebrating graduates, coaching his son’s sports teams, or writing bestselling novels, he leads with purpose, positivity, and a deep belief in the power of perseverance and authentic relationships.

How long have you been a Knight? 2 semesters

What is your favorite UCF memory? Attending the post-graduation ceremony this past December celebrating the recent group of students that completed the DeVos program.

What is your area of research at UCF? The sports and entertainment industry

What professional awards or honors have you earned during your career?Venues Now All-Star (2022), Ticketing Industry Power Player – Sports Business Journal (2018), Major League Soccer Ticketing Executive of the Year (2015)

What do you love about what you do? It’s a privilege to help guide the next generation of sports and entertainment professionals. The students are wonderful to work with and watching them successfully take the next steps to follow their dreams is extremely gratifying.

What do you find most exciting or rewarding about your field of study? Helping the students successfully navigate the sports and entertainment industry and then watching them land their first full-time role – that’s where the journey begins.

When you’re not in the classroom, what can we find you doing? I can be found on the baseball or football field coaching my 12 year old son. I’m also active in the men’s group at our Church.

What are some little known facts about you? I’ve written two novels. One of which, The Vulture Circles, reached Amazon Best Seller status in 2023.

What is your advice for Business Knights? 1) Develop genuine, mutually beneficial relationships (2) Have a strong willingness to learn at every opportunity (3) Stay positive and don’t give up – getting into this industry is challenging, but absolutely worth it.

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Instructor, Department of Integrated Business

In just a year at UCF, Instructor Alfred Whiffen has already made a lasting impression with his student-centered approach and passion for growth. With a background in sales and a research interest in organizational decision-making, he brings real-world insight into the classroom along with a deep appreciation for human connection. Originally from a small fishing village in Newfoundland & Labrador, and the first in his family to earn a university degree, he knows the power of stepping into the unknown. Whether mentoring students or enjoying time with his family and music, he’s driven by a belief that the best opportunities often come when we’re just bold enough to take the leap.

How long have you been a Knight? 1 year

What is your favorite UCF memory? At the beginning of my first UCF class, I encountered multiple technical difficulties getting the in-class systems operational. Three students leapt forward to help and within minutes, class was up and running. That first minute was as welcoming as it could have been, especially from students.

What is your area of research at UCF? While I am not formally involved in research relative to my role as a UCF Instructor, my primary research interest relates to the “the decision dynamic in enterprise organization’s purchase decisions.”

What professional awards or honors have you earned during your career? Certified Sales Professional (with Distinction) from the Canadian Professional Sales Association

What do you love about what you do? What drives me as a teacher is challenging students to grow. The best part is seeing them realize the talent and capacity they’ve had all along.

What do you find most exciting or rewarding about your field of study? At its core, Sales is about people. It’s about how people think, connect, and decide. In Business-to-Business Sales, where markets and expectations are constantly shifting, studying sales offers a dynamic lens into human behavior and strategic influence.

When you’re not in the classroom, what can we find you doing? Outside the classroom, you’ll most likely find me with my family. That’s where I recharge and find joy. Music is also one of my favorite ways to unwind. It’s both a creative outlet and a lifelong passion.

What are some little known facts about you? I grew up in a small fishing village of 700 people, in Newfoundland & Labrador, Canada and was the first person in my family, to graduate with a University degree.

What is your advice for Business Knights? To my students and all Business Knights, I would say that opportunities rarely come when we feel fully prepared. Stepping forward, especially when we feel uncertain, is when we stretch, grow, and discover what we’re truly capable of.

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Associate Professor, Department of Accounting

With over a decade at UCF, Associate Professor Dana Wallace brings a powerful blend of passion, purpose, and expertise to the Department of Accounting. A dedicated educator and award-winning researcher, her work centers on the intersection of corporate responsibility, governance, and transparency, areas that reflect her belief in the role business plays in shaping a better world. Whether mentoring students, breaking down complex accounting concepts, or cheering on UCF Softball with her kids, her approach every role with heart. A champion for education, ethics, and community, she reminds Business Knights that true success is rooted in kindness, hard work, and giving back.

How long have you been a Knight? 12 years

What is your favorite UCF memory? Attending UCF Softball games with my softball-playing kiddos.

What is your area of research at UCF? Corporate social responsibility, corporate governance, disclosure

What professional awards or honors have you earned during your career? UCF College of Business Research Incentive Award (RIA), Teaching Incentive Program (TIP) Award, Excellence in Graduate Teaching Award, Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching Award

What do you love about what you do? I love the opportunity to think deeply and continually learn about topics that truly fascinate me. I find great joy in breaking down complex accounting concepts to make them more understandable and relatable for our students, and I’m especially grateful for the chance to connect with so many of our fantastic students along the way.

What do you find most exciting or rewarding about your field of study? Accounting evolves with business innovation while promoting ethics, transparency, and accountability. It plays a vital role in helping organizations stay responsible to all stakeholders.

When you’re not in the classroom, what can we find you doing? Outside the classroom, I coach youth sports, lead my daughters’ Girl Scout troop, and mentor foster youth. I love live music, cycling, and going on adventures with my husband and our three daughters.

What are some little known facts about you? I’m a big fan of NYC and Broadway, and I am an avid reader. I’m especially passionate about community involvement and supporting the most vulnerable in our society.

What is your advice for Business Knights? Work hard, be kind, enjoy the journey, and always find ways to give back. Success means more when it’s paired with integrity, joy, and a commitment to others.

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Associate Professor, Department of Marketing

For more than a decade, Associate Professor Yael Zemack-Rugar has been a vibrant part of the UCF community, inspiring students in the classroom and exploring the fascinating world of consumer behavior through research. With interests ranging from donation decisions to emotional responses to success and failure, her work resonates with both marketers and everyday consumers alike. A decorated teacher and researcher, she brings curiosity, passion, and a personal touch to everything she does … whether she’s cheering on graduating students, leading a fitness class, or supporting her son at a weekend hockey tournament. Her advice to students? Embrace the unexpected, you never know where the detour might lead.

How long have you been a Knight? 11 years

What is your favorite UCF memory? The last class of every semester when I get to congratulate my students for graduating!

What is your area of research at UCF? Donation Behavior, Consumer Goals, Consumer Emotions, Success and Failure

What professional awards or honors have you earned during your career? Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching 2019, Research Incentive Award 2019, Outstanding Reviewer at the Journal of Consumer Research and Journal of Consumer Psychology (3 years in a row)

What do you love about what you do? I am always challenged to learn something new both in the classroom and in my research.

What do you find most exciting or rewarding about your field of study? We are all consumers and we all have questions about why we make the choices we do, and why we behave as we do. I am lucky enough to tackle some of the intriguing puzzles of consumer behavior, and everyone (as a consumer or marketer) can relate to and apply the resulting insights.

When you’re not in the classroom, what can we find you doing? Before work, you’ll find me at the gym. On weekends, I am often attending one Hockey tournament or another with my son (who plays travel). And when I have time—I love the freedom and creativity of cooking.

What are some little known facts about you? I am a certified group fitness and yoga instructor.

What is your advice for Business Knights? Don’t be afraid to explore. The path you’re on doesn’t have to be straight to be successful. Take that odd class that sounds interesting. Say yes to the unexpected opportunity. It may seem like the people standing in front of the classroom followed a straight line—but ask them, and you’ll usually find their path zigged and zagged.

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Associate Professor, Department of Finance

A proud UCF alum turned faculty member, Associate Professor Kevin Mullally brings both academic insight and real-world perspective to the Department of Finance. With a research focus on the asset management industry and a passion for uncovering the hidden truths that shape financial markets, his work has been recognized by top conferences and featured in major financial media outlets. Beyond the classroom, he’s a dedicated mentor, family man, youth coach, and wine enthusiast who thrives on learning, connecting, and helping students launch meaningful careers. Whether on campus or the soccer field, he brings energy, authenticity, and a deep commitment to making a difference.

How long have you been a Knight? 7 years as a UCF faculty member but I graduated from UCF with a Bachelor’s degree in 2005

What is your favorite UCF memory?There are a few students during my time here who have really pushed through challenging circumstances to succeed.

What is your area of research at UCF? I study the asset management industry. Specifically, I focus on asset managers’ incentives and their responses to disclosure requirements.

What professional awards or honors have you earned during your career? The MBA cohorts I taught at the University of Alabama twice voted me MBA Faculty member of the year; my papers have won best paper awards at the Chicago Quantitative Alliance conference and the China Internation Finance Conference.

What do you love about what you do? So many things. I love getting to interact with people from so many different backgrounds since academia is an international profession. I love getting to (more or less) be my own boss and choosing what I get to work on. I love that my job involves me constantly learning. I love pretending that I am still young so that I can relate to and advise my students. I love watching my students use the skills I have taught to obtain the jobs they want.

What do you find most exciting or rewarding about your field of study? What excites me most about conducting finance research is discovering (often nefarious) things about the financial industry that impact society. I have had papers featured in the Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, and other major financial media outlets. It makes me feel like my research is truly impactful when these outlets decide to cover my work.

When you’re not in the classroom, what can we find you doing? Cooking and wine tasting, travel, golf, coaching my son’s baseball team, playing soccer with my buddies on Tuesday nights, spending time with my wife and three kids.

What are some little known facts about you? I can think of two that are reasonably noteworthy. First, I lived in Hawaii for four years as a kid during my dad’s military service. Second, before going to graduate school I coached middle school basketball at a well-known basketball program in Jacksonville, FL. One of my former players played college basketball at Duke and now plays in the NBA.

What is your advice for Business Knights? Finance is an incredibly hierarchical industry, so Business Knights really need to hustle and network to obtain jobs at well-known firms. Aside from that, I would advise students to behave like someone they themselves would want to work with. Once a potential applicant is deemed competent enough for a given position, my sense is that most employers want to hire someone they believe would be a good colleague. Kindness, responsibility, and respect go a long way. Invest in relationships with your classmates here at UCF.

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Associate Professor, Department of Finance

For more than two decades, Associate Professor Melissa Frye has been a dedicated part of the UCF community, blending a passion for finance with a deep commitment to teaching, research, and student mentorship. From cheering on groundbreaking innovations at graduation to leading national finance organizations and winning multiple teaching awards, her journey is marked by both professional excellence and personal warmth. A former Division I swimmer and current marathon runner, this faculty member brings energy, discipline, and curiosity to everything she does … whether it’s uncovering insights about corporate governance or encouraging students to pursue what truly excites them.

How long have you been a Knight? 26 years

What is your favorite UCF memory? At the 2016 UCF graduation, I was hooding a finance PhD student when Albert Manero received his PhD in Mechanical Engineering. Albert, the cofounder and president of Limbitless Solutions, has dedicated his work to creating 3-D printed bionic limbs for children. In a heartwarming surprise, the first child to receive a bionic arm from Limbitless Solutions helped hood Albert. Witnessing that moment was a powerful reminder of how innovation, compassion, and education can come together to change lives.

What is your area of research at UCF? My research focuses on corporate governance, particularly the roles of boards of directors and executive compensation in shaping firm outcomes under conditions of uncertainty, regulation, and managerial incentives.

What professional awards or honors have you earned during your career? I served as president of the Southern Finance Association. I am currently an associate editor at two finance journals. I have won 5 UCF Teaching Incentive Program Awards.

What do you love about what you do? I get to discover new knowledge through research and share it in ways that inspire students, making my work both intellectually stimulating and deeply rewarding.

What do you find most exciting or rewarding about your field of study? Financial decisions shape businesses, markets, and people’s lives. It is rewarding to uncover insights through research that can inform better decision-making and to help students build the tools to navigate and influence the financial world.

When you’re not in the classroom, what can we find you doing? I love traveling, running, reading, and cooking. I try to complete a half marathon every year, and I have even finished a full marathon. Above all, I enjoy spending quality time with my family, which includes our golden retriever!

What is a little known fact about you? I was a Division I athlete, specifically a swimmer at Florida State University. This fall, I’m being inducted into my high school’s athletic Hall of Fame for being the Texas high school state champion in the 500-yard freestyle.

What is your advice for Business Knights? My advice to Business Knights is to pursue what truly excites you. When you’re passionate about your work, challenges become opportunities to grow. In finance and beyond, strong critical thinking skills are your greatest asset. They help you ask the right questions, make informed decisions, and adapt in a constantly changing world. Invest in developing those skills, stay curious, and let your passion guide you.

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originally published on WalletHub.com on June 3, 2025

Full article: https://wallethub.com/car-insurance/florida#axel_stock

Why are car insurance laws so different from state to state?

Car insurance laws vary by state due to factors like differing levels of risk, varying cost of living, and individual state policies. The level of risk may differ based on the population density of a state, for example.

Are car insurance companies really able to save drivers as much as they advertise?

While car insurance companies can offer savings, the actual benefit will depend on the driver’s unique situation, i.e., whether he or she qualifies for certain discounts.

It is also important to note that sometimes discounts come at the expense of a reduction in coverage. Thus, it is always important to read the fine print and compare offers.

What advice would you give to someone shopping for car insurance for the first time?

In my opinion, it is most important to understand the coverage you need, which depends on how much you drive, your car’s value, and whether you are comfortable with the risk of having a higher deductible. Once you have determined the coverage you need, it is beneficial to obtain multiple quotes from a number of insurance providers to identify the best offer.

Why are car insurance prices so different from state to state?

There are a few factors that come to mind: State laws and regulations, population density and urbanization, and medical and repair costs, all of which can vary widely across states. Some states require minimum coverage and additional coverage, like Personal Injury Protection (PIP). Furthermore, if a state is more urbanized, there will be more accidents and claims, leading to higher premiums.

What are the pros and cons of choosing a national car insurance company over a local insurer?

The pros of national insurers include broader coverage options, wider networks, and potentially lower rates, while they may lack personalized service and local knowledge compared to a local insurer.

What are the most important things to look for when shopping for car insurance?

When shopping for car insurance it is important to carefully check coverage type and limits, deductibles, and to avail oneself of all possible discount one may be eligible for. Once these factors are considered a consumer should compare premiums across providers.

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College of Business students Christina Bell, Evan Gore, Michael Mowduk, Sophia Ode & Krishna Patel teamed up to win the 2025 Great Capstone Case Competition on Friday, and thanks to sponsor Royal Caribbean Group, each team member took home $200 in scholarship funding. The Great Capstone Case Competition is typically the final course before graduation where students present inventive proposals for modern, real-world business issues as part of their final coursework in the college.

The Capstone course provides the opportunity for students to collaborate and further develop their analytical, communication and teamwork skills. The finals’ judges included Royal Caribbean Group’s Vice President of Digital Product Heather Bishop, Director of Technical Accounting Jesse Gonzalez Sr., Director of Finance Marina Armani Haider and VP Assistant Controller David Vidal, as well as the college’s Finance Executive in Residence Paul Gregg.

“The most satisfying teaching outcome for me is to see our incredibly talented students take what they’ve learned in an academic setting and apply it in a business setting,” said Christopher Leo, associate lecturer of the Strategic Management course. “We go from academic theories and frameworks straight to a Fortune 500 company’s boardroom.”

Ocean’s Five (Olivia Caperton, Kylie Doherty, Sebastian Hernandez, Kavia Lazard & Madeline Lucyshyn) finished second, earning $150 each. And perhaps the best team name in the competition, Ship Happens (Ken Harris, Christina Jimenez, Mia Mitchell, Mayumi Porto & Colton Root) finished third, with each student taking home $100.

Leo presented the winning team’s lab instructor, Jade Laderwarg, Ed.D., with the Nichols Cup, named in honor of longtime Capstone instructor Gary Nichols ’87. The winning lab instructor keeps the trophy until the next competition.

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originally posted by the AAA on May 14, 2025

The American Accounting Association (AAA) announced recently Jay Thibodeau, Director of the Kenneth G. Dixon School of Accounting for the College of Business at UCF, as the recipient of the 2025 AAA-AICPA-Bea Sanders EDGE in Teaching Award. Dr. Thibodeau, along with Cody Hyman an Caitlin Landy, was recognized for his work on “Personal Waste Reports: A learning strategy designed to engage principles of financial accounting students through Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) reporting.”

This AAA award, which is sponsored by the AICPA, will be presented to the authors in the form of unique glass art pieces and a monetary award at the Wednesday, Aug. 6 plenary session at the 2025 AAA Annual Meeting to be held in Chicago.

Thibodeau, who joined UCF in 2024, is a former auditor and CPA. He received his B.S. degree from the University of Connecticut in 1987 and his Ph.D. from the University of Connecticut in 1996. He has authored two books, Auditing and Assurance Services and Auditing and Accounting Cases: Investigating Issues of Fraud and Professional Ethics, as well as over 70 articles and books chapters and has been published in top journals including Auditing: A Journal of Practice & Theory, Journal of Information Systems, Accounting Horizons, and Issues in Accounting Education. A member of the Board of Directors at the AAA, he has been nationally recognized for his work 10 times, including the 2001 Joint AICPA/AAA Collaboration Award, the 2016 AAA Forensic Accounting Section’s Teaching Innovation Award, and AAA Auditing Section’s Innovation in Assurance Education Award in 2019 and 2023.

A former bank regulator, Hyman received her B.A. from Clark University in Economics and Sociology, her M.A. in Economics from George Washington University, and her Ph.D. in Accounting from the University of Maryland. She teaches Introduction to Financial Reporting and Analysis and Practice and Application in Accounting and Finance at Bentley University.

Landy is a former auditor and CPA who earned her bachelor’s degree from Providence College in 2016 before joining PwC. She is a Ph.D. candidate at Bentley University where she conducts experimental audit research and teaches Introduction to Financial Reporting and Analysis. She received the Accounting Doctoral Scholar award issued by AICPA and the Rauch Doctoral Fellowship from Bentley University in 2022.

The AAA-AICPA-Bea Sanders EDGE in Teaching Award is intended to recognize and disseminate successful leading-edge teaching practices in the first courses (freshmen, sophomore, and community college) that entice a student’s interest in accounting and encourages them to pursue the CPA profession as a career. More information about this award is available online at https://aaahq.org/About/Directories/2024-2025-AAA-Committees-Task-Forces/Award-Committees/AICPA-Bea-Sanders-Award-Committee/Award-Criteria.

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Accuity, GISDATA.io, PURED & REEM to compete for $25,000 in Shark Tank-style competition

By UCF College of Business

ORLANDO, Fl. (April 4, 2024) — Four student ventures will compete for nearly $20,000 in cash prizes and more than $50,000 in business services at UCF’s version of Shark Tank—the Joust New Venture Competition Finals— on Monday, April 14, from 2-4 p.m., in the Student Union on main campus. The student business proposals include technology platforms that aim to reclaim electronic waste, keep drinking water safe, train future accountants and help urban planners harness the power of thousands of geographic information systems. The event, which is free and open to the public, will be held in the Cape Florida Ballroom (Room 316) at the UCF Student Union.

2025 Joust New Venture Competition Finalists pose for a photo during the Semifinals on April 3, 2025.The Joust New Venture Competition is UCF’s premier startup showcase event hosted by the College of Business’s Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership and Blackstone LaunchPad. The event provides key resources to finalists in the pursuit of launching their ventures and connects them to community leaders as the teams present their models for a viable business to a panel of judges. Previous competitors have gone on to appear on ABC’s Shark Tank and have launched successful businesses.

A panel of expert professionals representing corporate partners, area businesses and alumni assess the students’ business plans. This year’s judges will be:

Jacques Fu ’08, Founder, PETE Learning
Kevin Miller, President & CEO, Addition Financial
Michael O’Donnell ’09, Founder & CEO, MOD Ventures LLC
Michael Shannon ’76, Managing Principal, Liquid Strategies
Justin Wetherill ’07, Co-Founder, UBreakiFix & President, Jeff’s Bagel Run

This year’s finalists beat out 12 other teams in the semifinal round April 3 in the college. The finalists include:

AccuityTeam Members: Jake Glidden
Accuity is a course platform and tutoring service designed to help UCF students succeed in challenging accounting courses, especially ACG 3131. With videos, exam reviews and one-on-one tutoring, Accuity aims to improve pass rates and achieve 75% adoption among students.

GISDATA.ioTeam Members: Parker Dinkins
GISDATA.io transforms how enterprises access and use geospatial data for energy, urban development and environmental conservation. By consolidating over 2,000 data sources and one million datasets into one platform, it reduces search time and boosts efficiency, helping users make better decisions faster.

PUREDTeam Members: Andrea Bardales
PURED is a rapid, portable device for detecting multiple waterborne pathogens, ensuring safe water and public health. Designed for diverse users, from agencies to researchers and homeowners, it makes water quality monitoring seamless and accessible.

REEMTeam Members: Gad Lisker
REEM uses AI and IoT technology to optimize rare earth element recovery from e-waste, improving efficiency and reducing costs. With 95% detection accuracy and up to 10-times higher recovery rates, the company aims to reclaim $1B+ in REEMs annually by 2030, advancing sustainability and the circular economy.

For more information about the Joust New Venture Competition, a list of past winners and more, please visit: https://cel.ucf.edu/competition/joust-new-ventures-competition/.

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11 Students to Earn Scholarships Through the State Farm PSP Competition

ORLANDO, Fla. (March 18, 2025) — State Farm, in partnership with the UCF College of Business, announced recently the renewal of its grant for University of Central Florida students enrolled in the school’s national championship Professional Selling Program. Now, in its eighth year, State Farm has upped its grant to $15,000, which provides scholarships to the nationally-recognized program that prepares students to become leaders in all selling arenas.

“Scholarships provide an essential source of education funding for many of our students,” said Associate Lecturer of Marketing Bill Steiger, who leads the 11-time national champion PSP program. “The partnership with State Farm is both educational and an important financial benefit.”

State Farm will grant 11 scholarships to PSP students who will compete in the State Farm PSP Competition in the Fall. Each year, competitors are asked to develop a State Farm-centered plan, developing a comprehensive insurance plan for a fictitious family in a case study competition. The winner will receive a $4,000 grant with the next 10 finishers each receiving $1,000 grants.

“We wanted to help prepare students to be more life-integrated ready, so they can use those skills when those first paychecks start coming in and they can help others on this journey,” said State Farm agent Justin Bauknight. “So, we created a scholarship to challenge them. As part of the competition, students are asked a lot of questions regarding what should you do when you’re trying to reach your dreams and still meet all of your needs.”

The Professional Selling Program competes in multiple events every semester, including the Bayou Sales Challenge, USF Selling with the Bulls, National Collegiate Sales Competition, Robert Morris University Virtual Sales Challenge and the Global Bi-lingual Sales Competition. To learn more about UCF’s PSP, visit business.ucf.edu/professional-selling.

About UCF College of Business

Established in 1968, the UCF College of Business offers degrees at the bachelor’s, master’s, doctoral and executive levels. All programs, as well as the Kenneth G. Dixon School of Accounting, are accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business— AACSB International. The college provides high-quality academic programs designed to give students a competitive advantage in the world of business now and in the future. Learn more at business.ucf.edu.

About State Farm

For over 100 years, the mission of State Farm has been to help people manage the risks of everyday life, recover from the unexpected and realize their dreams. State Farm and its affiliates are the largest providers of auto and home insurance in the United States. Its more than 19,400 agents and 67,000 employees serve over 91 million policies and accounts – including auto, fire, life, health, commercial policies and financial services accounts. Commercial auto insurance, along with coverage for renters, business owners, boats and motorcycles, is also available. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company is the parent of the State Farm family of companies. State Farm is ranked No. 39 on the 2024 Fortune 500 list of largest companies. For more information, please visit http://www.statefarm.com

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originally published on WalletHub.com on March 5, 2025

Full article: https://wallethub.com/edu/b/budget-categories/144143#expert=Axel_Stock

What are the most important categories to include in a budget?

The most important categories include Income, i.e. how much money you have available to spend, Housing, Utilities, Transportation and Food.

What categories do people often forget to include?

I would think that setting a budget for an emergency fund for unexpected expenses like medical emergencies or car repairs is often overlooked. Similarly, people seldom plan for Home maintenance which includes costs for home repairs.

Is it possible to have too many categories in your budget?

Yes, while it is important to be thorough, having too many categories can make your budget overly complicated and harder to manage.

What are some tips that can help people organize their expenses better?

I have two ideas. First, one would want to track their spending: Use apps or spreadsheets to record every expense. This helps you see where your money is going and identify patterns. Second, it is useful to categorize expenses: Group similar expenses together, such as groceries, utilities, and entertainment. This makes it easier to see how much you are spending in each area.

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originally published on WalletHub.com on April 11, 2023

Full article: https://wallethub.com/edu/ci/how-to-get-cheap-car-insurance/93647#expert=Melanie_Guldi

Is it better to focus on getting cheap car insurance or getting as much coverage as possible?

This depends. If you have a newer vehicle, it is probably better to get fuller coverage, and a fuller level of coverage may be required if you borrowed money to purchase the automobile. However, if you have an older (lower value) car, you may want to save some money on your premium by reducing the comprehensive coverage.

Do you have any tips for finding cheap car insurance coverage without sacrificing quality?

I would suggest shopping around. Ask for the price for the exact same coverage at multiple companies and determine the least expensive option. If two companies come in at the same price, look at the non-price information to make your decision (e.g., customer reviews, availability of agents after hours, etc.).

What red flags should people watch out for when comparing cheap car insurance companies?

If something seems too good to be true, it probably is. Always read the contract to make sure the terms are what you think they are.

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UCF Business Student-Led Teams Sweep Top 3 Spots in New Global Business Analysis Challenge

By UCF College of Business
(January 15, 2025)

Three UCF College of Business student-led teams swept the top three spots in the recent Global Business Analysis Challenge, which featured 94 teams and 468 students from UCF, Universidad del Norte (Colombia), Krakow University of Economics (Poland) and Tecnologico de Monterrey (Mexico). UCF’s Alejandra Alas ’24, Benjamin Challco and Nathan Fliess teamed up with Zofia Hermanuik and Airiangga Rump from Krakow University of Economics to take first place for their innovative technology solution to integrate the Starbucks app with global merchandise purchases for an enhanced experience for collectors.

The challenge, which is part of the Business Climate Analysis course, part of the College’s Integrated Business degree, asked students to identify global opportunities or threats for the coffee giant and propose innovative solutions. The competition is designed to give students an international experience without leaving home.

“Not all undergraduate students have the chance to participate in exchange programs abroad, so this project allows them to learn from and understand different cultures,” said UCF IB lecturer Sara Lopez, who designed and launched the Global Business Analysis Challenge this fall. “It also broadened their views on how businesses operate globally. With advancements in technology and remote working, physical location is no longer a barrier. Understanding the nuances of being part of a multi-cultural team is a skill that must be developed and practiced.”

Over the course of seven weeks, students navigated time zones, language barriers and cultural differences to develop their team’s pitches for Starbucks.

“This program was insightful because it presented a realistic problem that arises in international business,” said Alas, an Integrated Business graduate. “My group often employed creative solutions to involve everyone and account for our different perspectives. Within my own group, there were various nationalities represented which gave rise to a plethora of perspectives and furthered our level of creativity. In the end, we presented a technological business solution that we were proud of, having built camaraderie in the process.”

The team of UCF’s Brandon Aviles, Seth Coruch and Sage Muentes, along with Sofia Maurizzi from Krakow University of Economics placed second. UCF’s Trent Behner, Arielle Dwyer and Katherine Hurley, Palina Nestsiarovich from Krakow University of Economics and Juan Vela from Universidad del Norte took third.

A panel of Integrated Business graduates served as judges for the opening rounds, and nineteen teams advanced to the qualifying round. Instructors in the program selected the top three teams. The challenge earned the course, Lopez and the IB department the High Impact Practice (HIP) – Global Learning Course Designation.

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By BRENT MESKE
UCF College of Business (January 9, 2025)

ORLANDO, FL – Ten UCF College of Business students earned scholarships last semester as part of the new ADP Business Knights Leadership Academy, thanks to support from global human resources management company ADP. In collaboration with ADP and the college, the ADP Business Knights Leadership Academy is designed to enhance leadership development and create opportunities to prepare students with the knowledge and skills they need in their first jobs.

The first round of scholarships was presented to business students Wyatt Anderson, Monica Andrade, Daniela Ardila, Cyro Baldaci, Thatcher Brutus, Devin Gaston, Arel Mizrahi, Nicole Munoz, Andrew Stevenson and Zaphaniahn Torres. Students with a 3.0 GPA in McFadden’s GEB 3006 course were eligible to apply for the scholarships, which will be offered each semester, by submitting a 500-750 word essay describing their leadership, volunteer or customer service experiences and sharing key lessons learned and how those experiences have influenced their career goals.

“Thank you, ADP, for all you do for our students,” said Denise McFadden, Director of Professional Programming. “These students took a risk and applied for this scholarship. Anytime you get out of your comfort zone and try something new, it’s a step in the right direction for your career.”

The leadership academy expands ADP’s existing efforts with the college. ADP Vice President and General Manager Simon Choy, who recently joined the College of Business Dean’s Advisory Board, said there was no doubt ADP wanted to continue supporting UCF’s efforts to develop and prepare their students.

“We love UCF,” said Choy, speaking to students during the scholarship presentation. “In fact, many of the associates in our Orlando office are UCF alumni. We look forward to continuing to support students as they prepare for their future careers, so stop by and say hello when we’re in the college. Come get to know us.”

“Culture comes from leadership,” said Paul Jarley, Dean of the College of Business Dean. “I encourage you all to get to know Simon because Simon’s team loves him. I know a good leader when I see one.”

As part of the collaboration, ADP will host speaking engagements at the college focusing on innovation, human capital management and cutting-edge technology. Sessions will prepare students for their transition into the workforce by exposing them to real-world business challenges and leaders.

About ADP

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originally published on WalletHub.com on November 14, 2024

Full article: https://wallethub.com/edu/cc/credit-card-purchase-protection/25932

What are the benefits of purchase protection programs for buyers, sellers, and credit card companies?

Buyers have the most upside potential when considering purchase protection. I would consider it close to a zero-cost insurance program for purchases made with the card, depending on the card’s terms and conditions.

Credit card companies have built an entire industry on the business model of increased convenience in payment processing, and they take a processing fee on each transaction.

The benefits for both consumers and credit card companies are not that hard to imagine. However, being a professor of entrepreneurship and a former business owner, I am keenly interested in how purchase protection programs could affect the companies that accept that form of payment. The rest of this response pertains to how these programs could affect businesses who accept payments from cards with purchase protection.

Businesses that currently accept credit cards understand the tradeoffs when a customer offers to pay with a card. Credit card companies provide an easy way for consumers to buy from businesses, even consumers that don’t have the cash on hand to cover the purchase. This helps both sales and cash flow, and businesses pay a fee for relatively quick conversion of sales receipts to cash—as opposed to only doing sales with customers who can pay cash, or a model where the business extends credit to customers and collects in the future.

Adding purchase protection to payment processing is something that credit card companies have done to add value for consumers. There are several drawbacks and benefits for businesses who accept these types of payments. Here are a few that come to mind.

Potential downside for businesses

There could be higher processing fees, which means that the business yields even less cash from the transaction.
Chargebacks could increase when purchases are made with a purchase protection plan.
It is possible that the business would have to spend more time and effort to respond to dispute inquiries.

Potential upside for business

More sales. Accepting more forms of payment should yield more sales, always a positive development for businesses.
Customers could trust the business more if this form of payment is accepted.
Accepting these payments might send signals of legitimacy and professionalism to consumers, which could also yield customer loyalty and repeat purchases over time.
There is potentially less fraud liability when accepting these payments in cases where the card issuer will handle the investigations.

Not all businesses are the same, and each business should consider their unique situation before agreeing to accept payments from cards with purchase protection. In the end, if your business is reputable and you stand behind your products and/or services, accepting payments from cards with purchase protection should be an overall positive development for businesses.

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originally published on WalletHub.com on November 11, 2024

Full article: https://wallethub.com/car-insurance/florida

Why are car insurance prices so different from state to state?

Are car insurance companies really able to save drivers as much as they advertise?

While car insurance companies can offer savings, the actual benefit will depend on the driver’s unique situation, i.e., whether he or she qualifies for certain discounts.

It is also important to note that sometimes discounts come at the expense of a reduction in coverage. Thus, it is always important to read the fine print and compare offers.

What are the most important things to look for when shopping for car insurance?

While there are many factors to consider, I would like to encourage drivers to study coverage types and limits, as well as premium costs versus the deductibles.

What advice would you give to someone shopping for car insurance for the first time?

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Associate Provost for Space Commercialization & Strategy

By: Kendall Harrison (Posted on November 6, 2024)

Greg Autry was recently hired by UCF as the Associate Provost for Space Commercialization & Strategy and will be teaching our #BusinessKnights about the quickly-evolving field of Space Commercialization. The author has previously been named Space Activist of the Year and enjoys being outdoors or writing his next book. Learn more about him below.

How long have you been a Knight? This is my first year.

What is your area of research at UCF? Space entrepreneurship, space policy, China

What awards or honors are you most proud of? Space Activist of the Year 2020

What do you love about what you do? Space is the most important thing to happen in at least half a millennia. We are charting a new future for humanity, improving the lives of billions, saving our biosphere, making our nation more secure, and creating jobs right now.

What do you find most exciting and rewarding about your field of study? The passion of the space community. People at NASA, in the US Space Force, in industry and the space fans. People don’t just work in the space economy, they love every minute of it.

When you’re not in the classroom, what can we find you doing? Writing, wakeboarding, snowboarding, skiing, scuba diving, boating.

What is your favorite UCF memory? Getting lost while skateboarding around campus.

What is your best advice for Business Knights? The Space community is always open to newcomers who share the vision of a better future. Become technically savvy in whatever field you chose and always, always be networking. We live in a world of constantly accelerating change. Never fear change, embrace the opportunities it creates. If you want more sage advice, read my book, A New Entrepreneurial Dynamic!

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Published in The National Bureau of Asian Research

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6 Students Earn Scholarships in the State Farm PSP Competition

ORLANDO, Fla. (Oct. 22, 2024) — State Farm recently announced the renewal of its $10,000 grant for University of Central Florida students enrolled in the school’s national championship Professional Selling Program. This is the seventh year State Farm has provided scholarships to the nationally recognized program that prepares students to become leaders in all selling arenas.

“Scholarships provide an essential source of education funding for many of our students,” said Associate Lecturer of Marketing Bill Steiger, who leads the 10-time national champion PSP program. “The partnership with State Farm is both educational and an important financial benefit.”

State Farm granted six scholarships to PSP students who competed in the State Farm PSP Competition on Oct. 4. Competitors were asked to develop a plan to help a family with insurance and financial needs in a role-playing scenario. Marketing seniors Kaylee Duong, Carlo Gonzales, Madison Igdalsky, Edan Shettian and Maliha Versi, as well as finance senior Alexander Cooper, each earned a $1,500 scholarship.

“We wanted to help prepare students to be more life-integrated ready, so they can use those skills when those first paychecks start coming in and they can help others on this journey,” said State Farm agent Justin Bauknight. “So, we a created a scholarship to challenge them. As part of the competition, students are asked a lot of questions regarding what should you do when you’re trying to reach your dreams and still meet all of your needs.”

The Professional Selling Program is scheduled to compete in a handful of competitions this semester, including the World Cup of Sales (Oct. 30-Nov. 2) and the Northeast Intercollegiate Sales Competition (Nov. 8-9). To learn more about UCF’s PSP, visit business.ucf.edu/professional-selling.

About UCF College of Business

About State Farm

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Originally Published on October 22, 2024

by: Blackstone LaunchPad, UCF College of Business & Orlando Magic

Students from seven Florida universities competed for more than $50,000 in cash prizes as part of this year’s Blackstone LaunchPad Florida Network Innovation Challenge, sponsored by the Orlando Magic.

The UCF team of Allyson Judkins, Bryan Lupianez, Hayley Manners and Mariana Marcotti was awarded $1,250 for their fourth-place finish. University of Florida took first place with Florida International University and Florida A&M University finishing second and third, respectively.

“This was a great experience as we were able to present our partnership proposal to industry professionals and put into practice all of the relevant coursework that the DeVos Sport Business Management Program has provided in the past year and a half,” said Lupianez, a graduate student in the DeVos program.

Blackstone LaunchPad, run by the charitable arm of the world’s largest alternative asset manager Blackstone, seeks to close the opportunity gap by equipping primarily first generation and underrepresented college students with key entrepreneurial skills and career exposure.

The competition gives students access into real company operations, helping them build innovation skills and grow their personal and professional networks with peers from across the state. This year, the Orlando Magic presented the challenge to expand the NBA team’s international engagement strategy to new markets. For example, the Magic’s Brazil Night, hosted at a Magic home game, sells out annually and draws major stars from Brazil including football legend Ronaldo and megastar entertainer Claudia Leitte.

More than 500 students and 70 teams competed in qualifying rounds at Florida State University, University of North Florida, Miami Dade College, FAMU, FIU, UF and UCF.

“This innovation challenge offers unmatched opportunity and access for students to develop a track record and relationships toward growing their careers in the business of sports,” said Orlando Magic Chief Strategy & Innovation Officer Jay Riola. “Fan engagement – especially now in marketing to international audiences – is a core strategic opportunity for us as it is for all NBA franchises. We have been delighted to offer students from across the Blackstone LaunchPad Florida schools an opportunity to grow with us by offering new ideas and perspectives.”

Senior members of the Magic innovation team and business units worked with the students to refine their concepts and prepare for the final pitch to judges, who included senior executives from the Magic, UKG, as well as former two-time All-America FSU basketball star Morgan Jones and UCF alum Jim Balaschak ’86 ’92 from Beresford Ventures.

“Competition aside, I feel like this event benefited my teammates and myself hugely by giving us a chance to experience where the bar will be set for us in the sports world and any job situation,” said Jermaine Fleming II from FAMU. “This is especially important for me because I am a registered sports agent, and my dream is to ultimately work in the front office of a major sports franchise. On the very first night of this event, we met former Magic star player Bo Outlaw during our Kia Center tour, and after a great conversation, he invited me back for HBCU night. Thanks so much to everyone for this chance!”

Opening night of the final round competition aligned with the preseason matchup between the Philadelphia 76ers and the Magic last Friday, offering students an immersive look at the live product the Magic presents to approximately 774,000 fans annually.

“More than just a conceptual project, this innovation challenge has been designed to be held to the same standard of excellence, analytical rigor and strategic thinking required for a major sports property to consider presenting it to their board of directors to be run as a real pilot program,” said Michael P. Lynch, Ph.D, UCF College of Business faculty member and Florida Blackstone LaunchPad Partnership Director. “Ultimately we are encouraging our students to reach for the stars in the platform to possibly have their ideas implemented by a major sports property. All of the coaching and preparation has been structured in that direction. It would be life-changing for one or more student teams to reach that goal.”

About the Blackstone LaunchPad & the Blackstone Charitable Foundation

Blackstone LaunchPad seeks to close the opportunity gap by equipping primarily first generation and underrepresented college students with key entrepreneurial skills and career exposure. In partnership with 60+ colleges/universities and mission-aligned nonprofits, LaunchPad helps students sharpen their growth mindset, creativity, critical thinking and leadership skills and access hundreds of curated, paid internships to apply these skills, expand their networks, and open doors to a more successful future.

About the Blackstone LaunchPad Team FL partnership

Blackstone LaunchPad has supported University of Central Florida for the past decade, delivering entrepreneurial skill-building programs to help their students launch successful companies and careers. As part of Blackstone’s broader commitment to Florida, Blackstone LaunchPad recently added partnerships with Miami Dade College, Florida International University, Florida State University, Florida A&M University, University of Florida and the University of North Florida to expand its program. Blackstone LaunchPad advances career and economic mobility in Florida by equipping students with skills, resources and opportunities to succeed across campuses serving 370,000 annually.

About the Orlando Magic

Orlando’s NBA franchise since 1989, the Magic’s mission is to be world champions on and off the court, delivering legendary moments every step of the way. Under the DeVos family’s ownership, the Magic have seen great success in a relatively short history, winning six division championships (1995, 1996, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2019) with seven 50-plus win seasons and capturing the Eastern Conference title in 1995 and 2009. Off the court, on an annual basis, the Orlando Magic gives more than $2 million to the local community by way of sponsorships of events, donated tickets, autographed merchandise and grants. Orlando Magic community relations programs impact an estimated 100,000 kids each year, while a Magic staff-wide initiative provides more than 7,000 volunteer hours annually. In addition, the Orlando Magic Youth Foundation (OMYF) which serves at-risk youth, has distributed more than $30 million to local nonprofit community organizations over the last 35 years. The Magic’s other entities include the team’s NBA G League affiliate, the Osceola Magic, 2021 G League champions; the Orlando Solar Bears of the ECHL, which serves as the affiliate to the NHL’s Tampa Bay Lightning; and Magic Gaming of the NBA 2K League. The Magic play their home games at the award-winning Kia Center – voted by fans no. 1 in the NBA for game experience; honored with The Stadium Business Awards’ Customer Experience Award; named SportsBusiness Journal’s Sports Facility of the Year; and awarded the Venue Excellence Award (VEA) by the International Association of Venue Managers. For ticket information, visit OrlandoMagic.com or call 407-89-MAGIC.

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The College of Business marks 30 years of the UCF Executive MBA with a special celebration at UCF Downtown and honors Professor Richard Hofler for his three decades of teaching in the program.The University of Central Florida’s Executive MBA (EMBA) program celebrated its 30th anniversary with a special event at the UCF Downtown campus Thursday, Sept. 5, honoring the program’s rich history and the alumni who have shaped its success. More than 100 alumni, faculty, current students and special guests gathered to commemorate the milestone and reflect on the program’s journey to its current status as a leading executive education program. The celebration was also a chance to reflect on their UCF EMBA experience and the lasting impact the relationships they built.

The inaugural UCF EMBA cohort, which was held on main campus, graduated in 1994. Today the program has 580 alumni and two active cohorts with 50 students on the Downtown UCF campus. Milestones in the program include the introduction of an international residency in 2004, the move to UCF’s 36 W. Pine St. building in downtown Orlando in 2007 and subsequent relocation to UCF Downtown in 2020.

“Our EMBA program began 30 years ago with a clear mission: to equip executives and aspiring leaders with the knowledge, skills and networks they need to excel at the highest levels,” UCF College of Business Dean Paul Jarley said. “Over the decades, we’ve adapted to the rapid changes in the business world, from the rise of the internet and globalization to the challenges posed by the financial crisis, the COVID pandemic, and the advent of AI and automation technologies.”

Dr. Hofler Recognized for 30 Years of Teaching in the EMBAUCF College of Business deans Paul Jarley (left) and Pradeep Bhardwaj (right) present a Faculty Recognition Award to Economics Professor Richard Hofler for his 30 years of teaching in the Executive MBA program.A highlight of the EMBA 30th Anniversary celebration was the presentation of the Faculty Recognition Award to Economics Professor Richard Hofler, a cornerstone of the UCF EMBA program since its inception where he has taught foundational statistics and applied business research tools. Hofler has spent his career equipping more than 2,600 UCF MBA students with the critical data-driven, decision-making skills leaders need to succeed.

“Professor Hofler’s impact on our students and alumni is profound,” Jarley said. “His dedication to academic excellence and extraordinary commitment to our students and the program has been pivotal in developing the EMBA program into what it is today. Richard’s passion for learning and teaching remains as vibrant as ever, and his influence extends far beyond the classroom. From his leadership as Chair of the Economics Department to his recent work on the college’s Artificial Intelligence committee, Richard has been an integral part of our success.”

The event also included a learning segment that highlighted the EMBA community’s commitment to continuous growth. Paul Gregg ’74 & ’76, Executive-in-Residence with the College’s Department of Finance and a former faculty member in the EMBA program, led an engaging, Ted-Talk-style presentation focused on wealth management for executives, emphasizing strategies for planning and timing retirement effectively.

Upcoming EMBA 30th Anniversary ActivitiesThe College of Business will continue celebrating the EMBA 30th Anniversary at the college’s annual tailgate Saturday, Sept. 28, before the Knights host Colorado and Coach Prime. EMBA alumni and students are invited to enjoy food, networking, and festivities.

Throughout the fall, the college will also feature EMBA alumni and faculty on social media.

About the UCF Executive MBAThe UCF Executive MBA is a premier graduate program designed for experienced professionals seeking to advance their leadership skills and business acumen. With a rigorous curriculum focused on strategic decision-making, global business perspectives, and executive leadership, the EMBA prepares executives to lead with confidence and innovation in today’s dynamic business landscape. Offered each fall term at UCF Downtown, the EMBA is a 19-month, weekend program with a limited class size and cohort format.

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Associate Professor, Marketing

By: Kendall Harrison (Posted on November 26, 2024)

Dr. Stock is a longtime Knight, having been with UCF for more than 20 years and is a wealth of knowledge in the Marketing department. Looking for a game of chess? Dr. Stock is an avid player who has once matched with the women’s world champion in back-to-back matches! Learn more about him below.

How long have you been a Knight? 21 years

What is your area of research at UCF? Product Scarcity Strategies, Salesforce Management, AI

What awards or honors are you most proud of? College Award for Research Excellence (2010)

What do you love about what you do? I have a chance to interact with highly talented students on a daily basis and help advance their careers.

What do you find most exciting and rewarding about your field of study? Marketing is at the center of any business. Thus, conducting impactful research in this area benefits many.

When you’re not in the classroom, what can we find you doing? Either Salsa dancing or at a tournament of my son’s soccer team.

What is your favorite UCF memory? UCF clinching National Championship in Football in 2017.

What is something most people don’t know about you? I am an avid chess player and drew the women’s world champion in simultaneous exhibition games.

What is your best advice for Business Knights? Recognize your strengths and pursue a career in a field that you are passionate about.

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Associate Chair and Instructor, Economics

By: Kendall Harrison (Posted on November 19, 2024)

Joshua Eubanks is a two-time Knight who earned both his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees at UCF and is now Associate Chair and an Instructor in the Economics department! Find out more about this Knight below.

How long have you been a Knight? I started at UCF as a transfer student in Spring 2015. I earned both my bachelor’s and master’s degrees here. I taught as an adjunct at nights while working at Siemens starting in Fall 2019, then left Siemens to teach full-time in Fall 2022. So, in Spring it will be 9 years.

What awards or honors are you most proud of? While I haven’t received official awards, my efforts have been recognized. In my first semester at UCF, I was in a course with 1,600 students and was asked to be a teaching assistant soon after. My performance as a TA for ten different courses, a research assistant, and my academic performance earned me a full-ride scholarship for graduate school. This led to opportunities to teach as an adjunct and eventually full-time. My work has been acknowledged, resulting in my current role as Associate Chair. I appreciate those who have recognized my efforts.

What do you love about what you do? With the classes I teach, I have the opportunity to learn about what students enjoy and then experience those things myself. I like having practical answers to the question, “When will I ever use this?” With my experience at Siemens and in consulting, I have an insider’s perspective on why we teach what we teach. My favorite part is seeing my students succeed; for example, one of my labor economics students is now employed as an Economic Research Associate at the Florida Department of Commerce working with employment data. It validates what I do.

What do you find most exciting and rewarding about your field of study? Economics is to business what physics is to engineering: you cannot be a good engineer without understanding physics, and you cannot be a good business person without understanding economics. Even if you do not pursue a career in business or economics, studying economics makes you a better decision-maker. It helps you frame decisions properly and, if you’re in a leadership role, it aids in identifying and creating the right incentives for better outcomes. Moreover, economics is incredibly versatile. Whether you’re interested in the environment, sports, or any other field, there’s an area of economics that applies.

When you’re not in the classroom, what can we find you doing? If I’m not at UCF, I’m likely supporting my daughter at gymnastics competitions. I tend to have short-lived hobbies, such as surfing, piano, guitar, and record collecting, but I love to cook and have been growing bonsai since COVID.

What is your favorite UCF memory? My Bachelor’s degree graduation. My family insisted I walk, even though the ceremony was three hours long. As we were leaving, a family member handed my one-year-old daughter to me, and I carried her out. I felt a deep sense of comfort, knowing that this degree would help me provide a better future for her.

What is your best advice for Business Knights? All business students should learn a programming language like Python or R. Today’s datasets are too large for Excel, which can only handle 2^20 rows and 2^14 columns. Even if you do not plan to go into business and instead want to pursue graduate school, having data-handling skills will improve your chances of being selected as a Graduate Research Assistant (GRA), as you will be more useful to faculty.

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Professor & Howard Phillips Eminent Scholar Chair in Real Estate

By: Kendall Harrison (Posted on October 1, 2024)

Dr. Harrison is a proficient researcher in Real Estate and is in his 10th year of instructing Business Knights! You’ll find him passing his knowledge on to his students, looking for the “lightbulb” moment, and when he’s out of the classroom, keep an eye out around the Disney World parks for this Knight.

How long have you been a Knight? I started in August 2015, so this will be my 10th academic year this Fall.

What is your area of research at UCF? Securitized Real Estate and Mortgage Markets. My specific focus is on the application of information economics to both commercial and residential real estate applications.

What awards or honors are you most proud of? 2022 recipient of the David Ricardo Medal – the American Real Estate Society’s (ARES) lifetime achievement award and highest research honor; 2023 International Real Estate Society (IRES) career achievement award; 28 “Best Paper” awards from major national conferences and/or journals; multiple teaching awards.

What do you love about what you do? Seeing the light bulb come on for my students and challenging them to think and push themselves.

What do you find most exciting and rewarding about your field of study? More than many other business disciplines, real estate research has direct, practical implications which shape everyday life outcomes for individuals and businesses.

When you’re not in the classroom, what can we find you doing? When I’m not teaching, I’m likely to be at a UCF sporting event, a Disney theme park, or traveling.

What is your favorite UCF memory? As a sports fan, the undefeated football season and “National Championship” of 2017.

What is something most people don’t know about you? I enjoy traveling, especially seeing things which are new/different and can’t be found at home. I’ve been to all 50 U.S. states, lived in Hawai’i, climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro, and swam with sharks (both inside and outside of shark cages).

What is your best advice for Business Knights? There are lots of ways to be successful in life. Most involve finding the intersection of three key attributes:
1) what do you care passionately about;
2) what do you do well;
3) what creates value/utility for others.

Finding a path which incorporates all three dimensions will lead to success.

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Associate Dean for Faculty, Research & Graduate Programs

By: Kendall Harrison (Posted on September 17, 2024)

Dr. Bhardwaj was named the newest Associate Dean for Faculty, Research & Graduate Programs before this school year, following a successful run in the College’s Marketing Department. Find out more about Dr. Bhardwaj below.

How long have you been a Knight? Since 2011

What is your area of research at UCF? Sales force management, channel management, customer relationship management, pharmaceutical marketing, and corporate social responsibility.

What awards or honors are you most proud of? UCF Excellence in Research Award (2018), American Council on Education Fellow 2023-24 at Georgia Institute of Technology

What do you love about what you do? Get to interact with amazingly creative minds and learn every day.

What do you find most exciting and rewarding about your field of study? The fast-paced nature of marketing requires constant adaptation and innovation. Emerging technologies like AI, ML, and AR are opening new avenues for creative marketing strategies.

What is your favorite UCF memory? Seeing Spirit Splash for the first time.

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Richard & Helen DeVos Foundation Endowed Chair; Eminent Scholar, DeVos Sport Business Management Program; Director, The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport (TIDES)

By: Kendall Harrison (September 3, 2024)

At the head of the DeVos Sport Business Management Program, you’ll find Adrien Bouchet. The new Knight is in his second year with UCF and brings 15 years of professional sport industry experience to all the students who are in the program pursuing a Master’s, MBA, or minor in sport business management.

How long have you been a Knight? Two years.

What is your area of research at UCF? Geopolitical issues in sport and university relationships with athletics

What awards or honors are you most proud of? Fulbright Fellow (Portugal), Research Fellow – North American Society for Sport Management, Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics grant, Mayo Research award

What do you love about what you do? The DeVos students and my colleagues at the business school are great.

What do you find most exciting and rewarding about your field of study? I’m able to combine 15 years of professional sport industry experience working in the NFL, Major League Baseball, and an international sport marketing company with academic training to present students with a course that prepares them to work in this field.

When you’re not in the classroom, what can we find you doing? My wife and I travel the world visiting sports properties and venues.

What is your favorite UCF memory? Graduation day is always special.

What is something most people don’t know about you? My first job after college was teaching boxing and close-quarters combat at the United States Military Academy at West Point.

What is your best advice for Business Knights? It’s good to be ambitious but be careful because it can get you into trouble.

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Director of Professionalism Programming; Lecturer, Career Professionalism Series

By: Kendall Harrison (August 20, 2024)

If you’ve taken Career Professionalism, you know Denise McFadden. If you’ve attended Welcome to the Majors or The Invitational, you know Denise McFadden. Denise, entering her eighth year with UCF, serves as the Director of Professionalism Programming for the Office of Professional Development (OPD) in the College of Business and is a big part of student success in the College. You’ll see her on stage at Welcome to the Majors and The Invitational telling you how to succeed in the College of Business and how you can Get to the One!

How long have you been a Knight? Nearly 8 years.

What is your area of research at UCF? Career Paths

What do you love about what you do? One of the most gratifying parts of my job is being able to witness the success of students as they navigate their job search endeavors. Seeing their efforts, particularly when they secure interviews or secure their first professional positions, gives me a sense of fulfillment.

What do you find most exciting and rewarding about your field of study? The most exciting and rewarding aspect of my career path is witnessing the transformation and growth of students throughout their career searches. It’s thrilling to see them discover their potential, overcome obstacles, and ultimately achieve their professional goals. Guiding them through this journey and witnessing their success is incredibly fulfilling, knowing that the college has played a part in shaping their futures.

When you’re not in the classroom, what can we find you doing? Somewhere under the sun! Usually beach, pool or ocean fishing.

What is your favorite UCF memory? Being Faculty Member of the Game and being able to be on the sideline and feel the energy of the football team and fans!

What is your best advice for Business Knights? My advice for Business Knights is to always strive for excellence in everything they do. Whether it’s in academics, internships, or professional endeavors, maintaining a high standard of quality and dedication can open doors to endless opportunities. Additionally, networking and building strong relationships within the business community can significantly enhance career prospects.

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Unbound Disability Claims, the 2024 2nd place finisher of the UCF College of Business JOUST New Venture Competition, was named a Collegiate Winner at the 16th annual Florida Early Stage Venture Conference on June 5.

The award was accepted by Unbound Disability Claims Co-Founder Alyssa Wilbanks. Unbound Disability Claims is a Turbo Tax-like platform that streamlines Social Security Disability claims. The company provides a lifeline to the 62 percent of applicants facing improper denials.

“Unbound Disability Claims is thankful for the continued opportunities to grow our business, provided by UCF,” said Wilbanks. “We were so proud to present our company to the investors and judges and hope this continued success allows us to help as many underserved disabled Americans as possible.”

Unbound Disability Claims received $5,000 each from Florida Power & Light and Space Florida.

The Florida Venture Forum is Florida’s largest statewide support organization for investors and entrepreneurs, helping fast-growth companies connect with sources of capital from across the country.

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Originally published by Florida SBDC at the University of Central Florida on March 30, 2024

by: Hal Thayer & Jairo Batista

Pest Control and Wildlife Removal Firm Growing with Assistance from FSBDC at UCF

Orlando, FL – Starting and growing a new business can be dauting for even the most accomplished entrepreneurs and small business owners. The journey can sometimes feel isolating, with only a dream for the venture and one’s own persistence to rely upon. Gladys Salicrup, Owner of Orlando, Florida based Trapline Pest Solutions had a vision, a sense of determination, and more but it was her resourcefulness and willingness to seek help that made the difference when she found and became a client of the Florida Small Business Development Center at the University of Central Florida (FSBDC at UCF).

Trapline Pest Solutions is a pest control firm that provides services in general household pest control, commercial pest control, pre-demolition inspections, termite treatments and wildlife nuisance removal. Trapline is a family-owned small business operating in Central Florida since 2005. With their trained and knowledgeable staff, they are committed to doing the job right the first time by providing their customers with the safest and most cost-effective treatments.

“Why should you trust Trapline?” asks Salicrup, “It’s simple, we genuinely care for our customers, and our goal here at Trapline is to build trust and to maintain long term positive customer relationships. We encourage feedback from our customers and respond to feedback as quickly as possible. Our customers have direct contact to the owner(s), we walk our customers through the process of the work to be performed from beginning to end, we would never sell them a service that they do not need. We take such great pride in our work, that we guarantee it!”

“I sought services from the FSBDC because starting and growing a business can be challenging if you don’t have the right people with the correct knowledge and expertise in place,” says Salicrup. “I was extremely impressed by the organization, the staff and the programs that FSBDC had to offer. If I could shout it out on the rooftops to all the entrepreneurs and small business owners out there on how the FSBDC helped paved the way to my business growth, I would! this organization is extremely valuable to have. There are not many places out there that would offer such superior programs and services as the FSBDC.”

“My journey with FSBDC has been phenomenal,” Salicrup continued. “Starting out, I didn’t know left from right. There was a wealth of information to learn about how to start and run a successful business.” Working with FSBDC consultants Jairo Batista and Pauline Davis, Salicrup received business assistance across a wide range of important levels of success, including but not limited to accounting, website analysis, HR compliance, taxes and licensing, creating a business plan, applying for SBA loans, staffing, paycheck protection program, ERC Tax Credit, and social media marketing.

Going a step further, the FSBDC enrolled Trapline in the FSBDC’s Small Business Institute® (SBI®) program which connects local small businesses to the resources and management expertise of UCF’s College of Business Administration and the FSBDC at UCF by offering confidential and professional management assistance to small businesses through consulting projects performed by UCF MBA students. “My SBI® team actually took a deep dive into my business and presented me with a plan for further growth in my business which I implemented with great results,” Salicrup recalls.

“Since I have been working with the FSBDC, Trapline has grown exponentially,” Salicrup shared proudly, “We have experienced an increase in revenues of approximately 45% because of the programs they introduced us to and by the improvements made to our digital marketing strategy that they suggested. If you are looking for an organization that you can trust to help you start and grow your business, then the FSBDC is there for you to back you up and support you in achieving your goals!”

For information about Trapline Pest Solutions, please visit https://traplinepest.com/ .

— FSBDC —

About the FSBDC at UCF

Hosted by the University of Central Florida (UCF), and with its main office in the National Entrepreneur Center located at the Fashion Square Mall in Orlando, the Florida Small Business Development Center at the University of Central Florida (FSBDC at UCF) is part of part of UCF’s Office of the President and the Florida SBDC Network.

The Florida SBDC at UCF provides aspiring and existing small businesses with no-cost consulting, low-cost training, and access to business data and research resources. In addition to its core service offering, the Florida SBDC at UCF also offers specialized services to qualifying companies, including capital access, market growth, government contracting, international trade, business continuation, cybersecurity, disaster planning and recovery, and more. The FSBDC at UCF serves an eight-county area that includes Brevard, Flagler, Lake, Orange, Osceola, Seminole, Sumter, and Volusia counties and maintains 9 service centers across Central Florida.

In 2021, the FSBDC at UCF served more than 2,700 entrepreneurs in Central Florida with consulting services, resulting in more than 8,200 jobs created, retained or saved; $1.5 billion in sales growth; $88.8 million in capital formation; $72.4 million in government contract awards; and 137 new businesses started. For more information, please visit www.sbdcorlando.com .

About the Florida SBDC Network

For over forty years, the Florida SBDC Network, the state’s principal provider of business assistance [Fl. Stat. 288.001], has nourished a statewide partnership between higher education and economic development to provide existing and emerging small and medium-sized business owners with management and knowledge resources that enable overall growth, increased profitability, and economic prosperity for Florida’s economy.

In 2021, Florida SBDCs provided 157,841 hours of professional business consulting to more than 18,379 client businesses. Based on the results from the network’s latest economic impact analysis, the FSBDC’s services resulted in almost 38,000 jobs impacted; $7.4 billion in sales generated; $381.6 million in government contracts acquired; and $528.4 million in capital accessed.

A statewide network of over 40 offices, the Florida SBDC is funded in part by the U.S. Small Business Administration, U.S. Department of Defense, State of Florida and other private and public partners. The Florida SBDC Network, headquartered at the University of West Florida, is nationally accredited by the Association of SBDCs and is a 2016 recipient of the President’s E Award for Export Service. Florida SBDC services are extended to the public on a nondiscriminatory basis. Language assistance services are available for individuals with limited English proficiency. For more information, please visit www.FloridaSBDC.org.

FSBDC at UCF | 3201 E. Colonial Drive | Orlando, FL 32801 | p 407.420.4850 | f 407.420.4862

sbdc@ucf.edu | www.sbdcorlando.com

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Originally published on WalletHub in 2024

UCF Associate Professor of Marketing Axel Stock, Ph.D. was quoted in WalletHub’s article “Compare Personal Loan Rates.” To access the article in its entirety, click here.

Why do you think advertisements for personal loans seem to be increasingly popping up on TV and online?

Spending decreased during the pandemic; however, consumers saved and increased their spending after it was over. This made them get used to higher spending levels. Unfortunately, income levels did not increase concurrently. Therefore, being unwilling to decrease their spending levels, consumers are seeking personal loans and marketers respond to that.

To what extent do you think the pandemic is affecting personal loans?

Spending in certain categories like travel was limitedly possible during the pandemic. When it was over consumers overspent their actual income in these categories which indirectly creates a demand for personal loans now.

What advice do you have for people who are having trouble making their personal loan payments?

The best advice is to keep careful track of your spending and to set budgets for each expense category. Doing so will allow you to make your personal loan payments regularly.

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Originally published on WalletHub on February 12, 2024

UCF Assistant Professor of Finance Kevin Mullally, Ph.D. was quoted in WalletHub’s article “Is the Total Visa Card Worth It?” To access the review in its entirety, click here.

What advice do you have for someone with bad credit who needs to borrow for an emergency expense?

Regarding folks with bad credit who need to borrow for an emergency expense, I suspect the best option would be to borrow from a friend or family member. If the emergency is medical-related, many medical providers offer financing options. I suspect the same is true for other service providers (auto repair services provided by a dealership for instance). The worst-case option would be a payday lender or other extremely high-interest rate option.

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Originally Posted on April 29, 2024 on PR Newswire

ORLANDO, Fla., April 29, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Withum, a top 25 accounting and advisory firm, is officially redesigning the Withum Learning Lab at the University of Central Florida College of Business five years after its creation. Located on the UCF campus, the Withum Learning Lab provides students in the Kenneth G. Dixon School of Accounting and throughout the college with a collaborative, modern study and tutoring space.

As the accounting profession continues to face a talent pipeline shortage, Withum is excited to continue inspiring, supporting and mentoring accounting students at UCF. “Refreshing the Withum Learning Lab will invigorate the study and collaboration space for the accounting students,” said Russell Goldberg, UCF College of Business Hall of Fame member and Partner-in-Charge of Withum’s Orlando office. “Withum is dedicated to fostering a culture that is open and primed for teamwork, and we’re glad to extend that piece of our culture to the hardworking scholars at UCF.”

The redesign is just one way that Withum and UCF have joined forces over the years in their shared mission to support accounting students and set them up for success. As a corporate partner of the college, Withum visits the campus multiple times a year to meet with accounting students about opportunities within the profession and tips on pursuing the CPA certification. Many of these students go on to find internships in the Firm’s Orlando office, where intern cohorts can be comprised solely of UCF Knights. UCF alums currently account for over half of Withum’s Orlando team members.

“When it comes to fueling the talent pipeline, we always look to colleges and universities local to our offices to ask: What do your students need? What can we do?” said Theresa Richardson, Chief Talent Officer. “We understand the road to the accounting profession and we strive to both ease that journey and educate on the bigger picture that is an illustrious career in professional services.”

The Withum Learning Lab redesign will take place over the summer and be ready to welcome students for the Fall 2024 semester.

Withum ranks as the #2 Central Florida Top Accounting Firm by the Orlando Business Journal and is one of Central Florida’s largest accounting and advisory firms. Located in the heart of the city’s central business district, Withum specializes in providing advisory, tax and assurance services to healthcare, hospitality, nonprofit, technology and manufacturing entities. Learn more at Withum.com/Orlando.

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Originally posted on April 22, 2024

by: Hal Thayer, Communications Director, FSBDC at UCF

Student Team Assists Local Small Business with Award Winning Consulting

Orlando, FL – A student team from the University of Central Florida’s College of Business recently won 1st Place honors in the 2023-24 ‘Graduate Feasibility – Comprehensive’ category of the Small Business Institute’s® (SBI®) annual Experiential Learning Project of the Year competition.

Competing against MBA teams from across the country, the UCF student team of Keith Bassett, Justin Pineiro, and Rachel Spencer won in the Graduate Feasibility – Comprehensive category on the strength of their consulting project for Trapline Pest Solutions, a locally based pest control company owned by Gladys and Wayne Salicrup.

This is the 19th time a UCF student team has won an award since 2009 when UCF and sponsor Florida Small Business Development Center at UCF (FSBDC at UCF) first participated in the SBI® national competition. SBI® is the premier provider of professional development for experiential student team consulting and entrepreneurship education, research, and activities.

The Small Business Institute® is featured as a graduate level class in the UCF College of Business’s Department of Management: ENT 5946 – Small Business Consulting. The course is led by faculty advisor and Department of Management instructor Dr. Carl Blencke as part of a management class. The Florida SBDC at UCF manages the program by recruiting its clients, evaluating the students’ skills, and then matching them to the clients’ needs. The student team is then guided through the process by an FSBDC consultant acting as the Case Supervisor.

“Congratulations go out to Mr. Bassett, Mr. Pineiro, and Ms. Spencer on their award-winning work,” said Rebecca Bennett, PhD., Professor and Chair of the Department of Management at UCF. “The SBI® program as part of our course offering is an important educational partnership between UCF and the FSBDC and a valuable experiential learning platform that contributes to the quality of the student educational opportunity at UCF.”

“Being recognized as 1st Place winners in the SBI®’s competitive awards program is an honor for our MBA students, our College of Business’s Department of Management, the College itself, and the University. It is wonderful recognition of the important contributions made by our UCF students and by the FSBDC and by UCF itself to the client Trapline Pest Sotions,” commented Michael Kilbride, Chief of Staff, The Office of the President, University of Central Florida with oversight of the Florida SBDC at UCF. “We commend the students who have contributed to a small business’s growth, to the FSBDC’s clients Gladys and Wayne Salicrup of Trapline Pest Solutions for their commitment to success, and to UCF’s College of Business for offering a class that so admirably serves its students and its Central Florida business community.”

In the winning project, the UCF team outlined a scope of work which included three parts: a financial analysis, a marketing plan (to include a detailed competitive analysis), and additional tools/deliverables including an operational plan, Action Plan & KRA (Key Result Areas) Tracker, and a Customer and Sales Tracker. These practical tools were designed to help Trapline operate more strategically and to boost visibility of the company amongst its target markets. The team provided a thoughtful and detailed competitive analysis of four of the client’s biggest competitors and included beneficial industry research focused on providing the clients with new insights into the pest control industry. A major and unexpected “value-added” for Trapline came out of the team’s financial analysis when it made a great discovery that Trapline was eligible for employee retention tax credits (ERTC), as it had actively remained open throughout the pandemic (keeping each of its employees).

— FSBDC —

About the Small Business Institute® Program in Central Florida

The Florida SBDC at UCF (FSBDC at UCF) sponsors the Small Business Institute® in Central Florida and, in conjunction with the Department of Management at the UCF College of Business Administration, manages the SBI® program locally. It recruits and evaluates FSBDC clients for the program, lends FSBDC consultants as SBI® case supervisors, and provides a range of guidance and support.

At the UCF College of Business Administration (UCF CBA), SBI® is a graduate‐level elective course. Students enrolled in the class provide management consulting services to local small businesses. Each student team has direct contact with the client and produces a professional case report. The report is the ultimate product of the program and is tailored to each business. Case study reports have included market research, marketing plans, competitive analysis, advertising strategy, customer surveys, strategic plans, financial analysis, human resource best practices, and business plans.

The SBI® Program is offered as a full-semester credit course through the CBA’s Department of Management. During the semester, the student teams complete extensive research and analysis to determine industry best practices; meet regularly to understand company processes and procedures; and perform wide-ranging analysis of business and industry strategies and performance. As a result of their efforts, the students are able to provide a comprehensive final report and set of recommendations.

SBI® is a nation‐wide program that provides high‐quality business assistance to companies in need while providing an extraordinary opportunity for university students to learn through field case studies. Each project is led and conducted by a group of students under the supervision of an SBI® Director or faculty member. The experience is often cited by students as being one of the most rewarding of their academic careers. In today’s collegiate environment there is a strong emphasis on experiential learning, and the SBI® has been at the forefront of this movement for over thirty years.

About the FSBDC at UCF

In 2022, the FSBDC at UCF served more than 2,700 entrepreneurs in Central Florida with consulting services, resulting in more than 10,600 jobs created, retained or saved; $793.9 million in sales growth; $66.7 million in capital formation; $103.8 million in government contract awards; and 160 new businesses started. For more information, please visit www.sbdcorlando.com .

About the Florida SBDC Network

For more than 45 years, the Florida SBDC Network, the state’s principal provider of business assistance [Fl. Stat. 288.001], has nourished a statewide partnership between higher education and economic development to provide existing and emerging small and medium-sized business owners with management and knowledge resources that enable overall growth, increased profitability, and economic prosperity for Florida’s economy.

In 2022, the Florida SBDC Network delivered 117,750 hours of consulting to 14,758 small business clients – resulting in business owners securing $446 million in capital, $445 million in government contracting, impacting 23,515 jobs, increasing sales by over $4.5 billion, and creating 825 businesses.

With over 40 offices statewide, the Florida SBDC is funded in part by the U.S. Small Business Administration, Department of Defense, State of Florida and other private and public partners. The Florida SBDC Network, headquartered at the University of West Florida, is nationally accredited by the Association of SBDCs and is a recipient of the President’s E Award for Export Service. Florida SBDC services are extended to the public on a nondiscriminatory basis. Language assistance services are available for individuals with limited English proficiency. For more information, please visit www.FloridaSBDC.org.

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Topper’s Craft Creamery has served old fashioned custard style ice cream on the UCF campus since 2013. Recently, Topper’s CEO Greg Sausaman engaged the services of a team of UCF graduate students to review and evaluate his company’s strategies around complementary branding – including opportunities to create brand awareness, to identify target markets, and to brainstorm business development strategies.

Class Background and FSBDC at UCF Partnership

The Department of Management at UCF’s College of Business offers a Small Business Consulting class (Class Designation: ENT 5946) under the auspices of the national Small Business Institute® (SBI®) association. It is a program that emphasizes the importance of experiential learning and is typically offered during the summer and fall sessions of the academic school year. Typically, the class is comprised primarily of College of Business MBA candidates, although students from the College of Engineering, Nicholson School of Communication, and other UCF departments and programs have participated.

The class is sponsored by the Florida Small Business Development Center [FSBDC] at UCF. The FSBDC at UCF is a quasi-governmental service organization serving Central Florida’s small business community through no-cost, one-on-one consulting services, seminars, and webinar trainings on a myriad of business topics, market research, and other special programs (including the Small Business Institute®.) Clients of the FSBDC are recruited to participate in SBI® and to work with a UCF student consulting team over the course of a semester.

The class follows the methodology of the Small Business Institute® which is a national organization first formed in 1972 as a venture that joined the U.S. Small Business Administration with leading universities and colleges to provide experiential learning opportunities in service to local small businesses. According to the organization, the mission of SBI® “is to strengthen the free enterprise system’s small business/entrepreneurship sector. SBI® enhances and improves entrepreneurship education through an extensive network of Small Business Institutes® at colleges and universities throughout the United States and internationally.”

At UCF, teams of three to four students are assigned to FSBDC client companies accepted into the program. Upon review of each student’s academic and professional background, it is determined how the experience and skill sets that each team member brings to the class can best be utilized in a consulting engagement.

The consulting engagement begins with each team meeting with its assigned client to uncover possible “pain points” – an expression used to describe the client’s needs. Once the team and client agree upon a scope of work, the students prepare a Letter of Engagement to describe each of the requested deliverables. This is the same approach taken by professional consultants in the world of business.

Throughout the semester, the teams follow an agreed upon Action Plan and their progress is monitored carefully by FSBDC consultants who serve as case supervisors. The expectation is that the teams and the clients will interact throughout the semester in a meaningful manner to fulfill the needs of the client while fulfilling the expectations of the class.

Rewarding Work

Students who have taken the class consistently convey their appreciation for the experiential learning opportunity that stems from collaborating with actual clients in a real-world environment where they can apply their theoretical knowledge to the practical knowledge that is gained from learning by doing.

Furthermore – the students’ dedicated work pays off. Each year the FSBDC at UCF selects and submits top quality reports generated from the class to the Small Business Institute® for competition against other nationally-ranked institutions. UCF has won 18 awards over the last 14 years as part of this annual Project of the Year competition!

Topper’s Craft Creamery and SBI

Among the many FSBDC clients who support and participate in the program, Topper’s Craft Creamery became one of the most involved. It’s CEO, Greg Sausaman, holds a Bachelor’s degree in Marketing, an MS degree in Marketing and MS Management in Leadership and Organizational Effectiveness; both from the University of South Florida, Tampa.

Mr. Sausaman has been a guiding force for UCF teams over the course of two semesters. As the author of Inside the Box: The Power of Complementary Branding, Mr. Sausaman is a recognized leader in complementary branding who has brought his demonstrated ability to integrate food service brands in a complementary method that maximizes revenues from participating brands to achieve robust bottom-line gains.

As part of the final class for the Fall 2023 semester, Mr. Sausaman demonstrated his exceptional business skills in marketing and strategy for the class. The team that consulted for Topper’s Craft Creamery throughout the semester was aware of Mr. Sausaman’s extensive business acumen, but, for the final class, Mr. Sausaman was gracious enough to share his knowledge with the entire class. He brought his latest innovation, a small soft-serve ice cream machine that has an innovative “small footprint” and produces outstanding old fashioned custard style soft-serve ice cream. He even served provided samples of the frozen treat to the entire class.

Sausaman had this to say regarding his participation in the SBI program, “Your program is excellent. It’s a $50,000 consulting project that is free to a business. I think if there is a decision maker that is open to the process and results, it would be hard for them to not benefit from the results of the MBA students.

This memorable class provided a great conclusion for the semester while introducing the student teams to a successful, pioneering businessperson and accomplished author who conveyed his methodology of achieving business success in a striking fashion that the class benefited from greatly.

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Withum Partner, Dr. Phillips Charities CFO/CIO & Retired Supply Chain Management Exec Slated for Induction

ORLANDO, Fla. (Feb. 22, 2024) — Hold onto your hat and grab your leather jacket as UCF College of Business hosts an action-packed 24th annual Hall of Fame gala Tuesday, March 12, from 6 to 9 p.m., at Rosen Shingle Creek. Guests will be taken on an elegant adventure inspired by Hollywood’s favorite faculty member — Indiana Jones, as the college celebrates its most distinguished alumni and partners.

This year the college will induct Eva Tukdarian ’90 ’91, Chief Financial Officer and Chief Investment Officer, Dr. Phillips Charities; Russell Goldberg ’89, Orlando Partner-in-Charge, Withum, and Dean’s Advisory Board member; and Charlie Lousignont ’81, Supply Chain Management Executive. Induction into the Hall of Fame is the highest honor given to business graduates.

The college also will recognize Dean’s Advisory Board member and longtime donor Mark Plaumann ’74 ’79 with its Legendary Knight Award. BNY Mellon will receive Corporate Partner of the Year. The Entrepreneurial Alumni Awards will honor Justin Buzzi ’13, CEO and founder of Get Up and Go Kayaking; Adam LZ ’16, founder and owner of LZMFG and professional drifter; and Jeff Stafford ’04, Vice President at J.D. Power and CEO of FishingAmmo and Golden Knights Investment Group.

The Honorable Knight Awards, which recognize alumni with more than 10 years of experience, will be presented to Sara Bernard ’00, Partner, Holland & Knight; Derek De Salvia ’03 ’11, Chief Customer Officer and Executive Vice President, Hilton Grand Vacations; and Paul Hagge ’99 ’00, Tax Managing Director, Grant Thornton.

The Notable Knight Award, which recognizes alumni who have displayed promise and excellence early in their careers, will be presented to Victor D. Almeda ’19, Wardrobe Consultant, Tom James Company.

Tickets Still AvailableMore than 700 guests are expected to attend Central Florida’s biggest networking night of the year. The event will begin with a cocktail party, followed by the always interactive and entertaining Hall of Fame gala and awards ceremony. Individual event tickets are $150, or guests may purchase up to 10 table seats for $1,500, which includes sponsor recognition. Purchase tickets or a table

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By: Noah Davis

Originally published on: January 25, 2024

UCF alumna Doris Vega Baez ’09, who graduated with a degree in Business Administration, is now a self-published author. Her book, “Anani and the Brave Hurricane Adventure / Anani y la valiente aventura del huracán” is a bilingual children’s story that follows the adventures of a young girl in Puerto Rico whose determination inspires her community after a devastating hurricane.

“My grandfather used to always tell me stories about my ancestors, where we came from,” said Baez, who lived in Puerto Rico for two years growing up before moving to Central Florida. who grew up in Puerto Rico before moving to Central Florida at five-years old. “In Puerto Rico, most of the people who live there, their ancestors are from Spain, Africa and the indigenous people – the Taíno that lived on the island.”

Taíno refers to the indigenous native peoples of the Caribbean who inhabited places such as Puerto Rico. Their culture has been passed down for generations and is kept alive by their descendants, which was Baez’s inspiration behind her book. Aside from living in Puerto Rico for two years, Baez and her family lived at her grandparents’ house in Carolina, Puerto Rico each summer until high school. She not only wanted to become a published author but to set a good example for her daughter to never give up.

Baez’s writing journey has not been an easy one as she balances her job as the Lead Author Support Representative at Salem Author Services, writing and being a mom.

“I wake up at 4 a.m., exercise, then set aside an hour to work on my book,” she said. “Now it’s published, so I do the same thing, except now I’m marketing it.”

The dual language format of the book was another challenge. It is written so that one paragraph is in English then repeated in Spanish. Although she can speak Spanish, Baez is not fully fluent, so she received translation assistance from family members during the writing process.

Doris Vega Baez reading her book to students at Pleasant Hill Elementary. (Courtesy: Doris Vega Baez)Baez, who is pursuing a career in digital marketing, views the writing process as part of her path as it utilizes her creativity and ability to overcome challenges. By personally marketing her book, she is gaining valuable skills that will help with the transition to the digital marketing field. All the challenges of the writing process are worth it when she sees someone reading her book.

“When I see other people read the book and I see pictures of their children holding the book,” she said, “that is the most touching, most wonderful experience ever.”

While she pursues her full-time career, Baez is planning to turn her book into a series with each new installment following a different child and adventure. The second installment in the series is already in the works.

Baez said the most important part of becoming an author is maintaining a focus on your target audience through the writing process.

“Make sure you know your book is not meant for everyone. It’s an ongoing effort that requires determination, creativity and endurance,” she said. “You cannot afford to pause your marketing endeavors. Embrace the responsibility that, as an author, you are the most powerful advocate for your book. Be prepared to market yourself, step outside your comfort zone and push your boundaries. It’s a brave endeavor, but it’s vital for the success of your book. Remember that the journey might be challenging, but the rewards of connecting with your audience and sharing your story are immensely fulfilling.”

Baez’s book is available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble. You can also find her on TikTok and Instagram @tainoadventurebooks.

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Originally published on WalletHub on January 26, 2023

UCF Associate Professor of Marketing Axel Stock, Ph.D. was quoted in WalletHub’s review of Farmers Insurance Review. To access the review in its entirety, click here.

What should consumers take away from Farmers’ choice of celebrity endorsers (J.K. Simmons) and sponsorships (e.g. Farmers Insurance Open golf tournament), as well as its marketing more generally?

One way to think about significant Marketing expenditures like celebrity endorsements and sponsorships is that they are a signal to uninformed consumers about the high quality of a product offered which a low-quality alternative brand is unable to match. In the example of Farmers’ it means that because the company is able and willing to spend this amount of money on Marketing, consumers can be more ensured that Farmers’ will also provide a quality insurance product and experience.

Should the number of discounts Farmers offers sway potential customers’ decisions?

Discounts are often a strategy to attract customers to switch insurance providers. However, instead of looking at the percentage discounts offered, consumers should examine final premiums for comparable insurance coverages of different providers. Only then they can make the best decision in terms of price.

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Real Estate Major Graduates in December
by Brent Meske
Originally Published on December 15, 2023

Orlando, FL. – Carlen Auguste found his way to UCF from southern Florida, set on becoming a first-generation college graduate ready to go out and make an impact with a degree in Real Estate. The Deerfield Beach resident graduates today with his Bachelor’s Degree in Real Estate and becomes the first member of his family to graduate from college after his grandmother immigrated from Haiti in 1974.

“I was raised by my mom and my grandma,” Auguste said. “My mom was a single mother and worked hard to bring me up. They taught me to work hard and be the best I can be.”

Auguste is set to work for Campbell & Rosemurgy Real Estate, based in southern Florida, joining the group as a sales associate. He said his goal in college was to land a job with a smaller real estate group and found the perfect fit with Campbell & Rosemurgy.

“My goal in the beginning was to be a jack of all trades, a Swiss army knife, if you will, and just being part of everything and learning and then getting to a point where I find something I’m really passionate about and then focus on that,” Auguste said. “I wanted to be where I had a great opportunity, where I can really develop and learn. I’m excited they want me to be a part of their culture.”

During his time at UCF, Auguste became the first recipient of the Savannah Lee Memorial Equity Partners Endowed Scholarship for Minorities, named in memory of Savannah Lee ’19, a graduate of UCF’s Real Estate program who passed away in 2022.

Auguste recently met Savannah’s father, Courtney, and said meeting him was an inspiration to not take life for granted.

“He’s a great man, he loves his family and he’s really candid about what happened and how his life has been since the accident,” Auguste said. “It was an honor meeting him and to get this scholarship. I definitely want to make sure I commemorate what I do and tell people that it’s a product of the opportunity he gave me through this scholarship.”

The scholarship is funded by Equity Partners, a firm specializing in office development, landlord and tenant representation and investment sales in Central Florida. Savannah was an employee of Equity Partners at the time of her passing, and the company decided to support an annual endowment, which they hope to increase each year.

“Equity Partners funded the endowment to serve the minority community hoping to enter the commercial real estate industry,” said Mike Fess, CEO & President of Equity Partners. “We’re presenting this annual scholarship to minorities in Savannah’s honor, as her commitment and passion to her career in commercial real estate was inspiring to everyone she met. We’re excited to have Carlen as the first recipient of the scholarship and look forward too continuously supporting scholarship recipients.”

Faith Pamplin, Senior Vice President, and Gabriela Ferreira, Vice President, are both graduates of UCF with bachelor’s degrees in finance and real estate.

Auguste said through the scholarship, he has gotten to know Fess, who has become a mentor to Auguste.

“He’s a great man, and you can be personable with him and someone you can have real conversations with. He’s not a typical CEO and president,” Auguste said. “He’s a professional, but from the time I met him, he just honestly gave me a crash course on commercial real estate and told me about how he got to where he is today.”

Before coming to UCF, Auguste attended Broward College and earned his Associate’s Degree in Business Administration, graduating with high honors. It was there that Auguste fell into real estate.

His family was selling their home, and Auguste, who said he’s curious by nature and always asks questions when he’s intrigued, got to know their real estate agent and began developing an interest in real estate as a profession.

“She said she could see me in real estate and to look into it,” Auguste said. “I always knew with real estate, if you work hard, you can become successful, and I’ve always wanted to have a strong base in something and work in something credible.”

By the time he completed his degree at Broward College, Auguste had earned his real estate license and knew this would be what he continued to build on at UCF.

“I knew I wanted to go to UCF, and when I saw that they had the major I wanted to be in, I knew I had to run with it,” Auguste said. “At UCF, they teach real estate from a commercial aspect. I learned more about commercial real estate and I feel like it is more credible and I can really make an impact on my community.”

The spark to become a Knight came during high school, when he first visited UCF as part of a college readiness program and instantly fell in love with the campus.

“It’s beautiful and I love the black and gold aesthetic of UCF,” Auguste said. “I visited Florida State University and University of Florida, but felt like UCF was still close to home. There’s so much more to do in Orlando, and I couldn’t see myself going to a smaller town. I wanted a place where I had more to do than just school and a place where I could network and find a ton of opportunities. It’s where I was supposed to be for sure.”

At UCF, Auguste met UCF College of Business Hall of Fame member Socrate Exantus ’00, who is the CEO of All County Property Management. Auguste said similar backgrounds and career aspirations led to an instant connection that has given him a mentor who can be real with him when he needs it most.

“There was a time when I talked to Exantus after class and told him I felt like I was doing all the necessary things to succeed after I graduate, and he kind of grilled me,” Auguste said. “He said I need to try harder if I really want it and to go out and do what I need to do. He’s helped me out a lot by just being there for me. I can ask him for advice and he’ll break things down for me. He’s Haitian American like me and grew up in the same area too.”

Auguste also credits UCF Associate Director of Postdoctoral Affairs Jade Laderwarg, EdD, MBA, SHRM-CP, as being an impactful mentor during his time at UCF. Dr. Laderwarg was Auguste’s Capstone professor this past summer.

“She cares about her students and really wants them to succeed,” Auguste said. “Toward the end of the class, I just told her thank you for being there and that I wanted to continue to have her in my corner. She’s one of the most influential people that I’ve met at UCF and I can talk to her about my life and the future.”

In the end, Auguste said he hopes his story can inspire others to continue working hard and achieve the goals they have set for themselves, no matter their background.

“I look from where I started, from where I came from, to graduating from the University of Central Florida, and it’s a blessing,” Auguste said. “I just want people to see my story and know anything is possible. We’re all going to go through trials and tribulations, but the key is to never give up.”

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by Brent Meske
Originally Published on December 12, 2023

The team of Jonathan Beck (Integrated Business), Nicholas Caro (Finance), John Sablone (Management), Zachary Smith (Finance) and Ventura Torres (Finance), aka The Monarchs, beat out a field of 120+ teams Friday to win the Fall 2023 Great Capstone Case Competition, presented by Insight Global. The Monarchs put together a winning pitch for Royal Caribbean International, which provided the business case for this semester’s contest. Thanks to Insight Global, each winning team member was awarded $250 in scholarship funding.

“We’d like to thank Insight Global for sponsoring this event and the judges from Royal Caribbean International,” said Smith, who served as The Monarchs’ associate manager. “The Great Capstone Case Competition provided a wonderful opportunity to embody the UCF spirit of aiming for the stars.”

The Capstone course gives business students the chance to collaborate and develop their analytical, communication and teamwork skills. In this competition, students present inventive proposals for modern real-world business issues as part of their final coursework before graduation. The panel of judges included UCF Finance Executive in Residence Paul Gregg, Insight Global Director of Campus Relations Adam Reese, as well as David Vidal (AVP Assistant Controller), Jesse Gonzalez (Director, technical Accounting), and Greg Pasek (FRP Analyst) from Royal Caribbean International.

“We’ve always loved hiring through our partnership with the College of Business,” said Reese, noting that Insight Global also regularly attends The Invitational, the College of Business’s largest recruiting event each semester. “The Great Capstone Case Competition reconfirms the elite level of talent the college has in its student population.”

Team Personality Hires, featuring James Evans (Accounting), Kaya Gezen (Finance), Iris Januey-Lopez (Accounting), Jordan Rembert (Integrated Business) and Gianna Wegman (Finance), finished second with each member receiving $150 in scholarship funding.

Team ASI’s Finest took third, and team members Cameron Brown (Integrated Business), Justin Davis (Management), Julia Herwood (Accounting), Katherine Ramsdell (Finance) and Megan Williams (Accounting) earned $100 each in scholarship funding.

The winning team also was presented with the Nichols Cup, named in honor of longtime Capstone instructor Gary Nichols ’87, who passed away in 2021. The team’s lab instructor, Christopher Leo, will keep the trophy until the next competition.

“Cheers to the College of Business student teams for their exceptional accomplishments in the Great Capstone Case Competition,” Leo said. “Your strategic thinking and innovative solutions have set a new standard for future classes.”

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By: Erika Hodges

Originally Published on December 6, 2023

UCF Aims to Meet Growing Need for Talent in Insurance Industry

ORLANDO, Fla. – The University of Central Florida will launch an MBA with a Risk Management & Insurance emphasis next fall in Daytona Beach to address a growing need for talent in the insurance industry. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics has forecasted that over the next 15 years, 50% of the current insurance industry workforce will retire, leaving more than 400,000 positions unfilled.

“The insurance industry is expected to face many challenges in the next decade such as inflation, interest rate volatility, a global economic recession, climate change, pressure on traditional valuation models, and the emergence of InsurTech. Plus, the labor market is tight and demands on the workforce continue to evolve,” said Ronald F. Piccolo, Ph.D., Executive Director of UCF’s new Risk Management & Insurance Education Program, as well as Associate Dean for Strategic Initiatives in the College of Business and Special Assistant to the Provost for Volusia County. “We hope UCF can play its part in supporting such a critical industry for our state.”

Piccolo will lead UCF’s expansion in Volusia County, the epicenter of Florida’s insurance industry. He will be responsible for initiating educational programming and encouraging the development of a national hub in InsurTech. The College of Business is no stranger to launching innovative programs. In 2021, UCF created the first Master of Science in FinTech in Florida.

“Ron is the perfect person to build the strong corporate partnerships necessary to build a successful Risk Management and Insurance program in Daytona,” said Paul Jarley, Dean of UCF’s College of Business. “He has an uncommon ability to bring groups together in ways that lead to a shared vision that drives success.”

The Risk Management & Insurance offering is designed for working professionals who wish to pursue an accredited MBA program while continuing their careers. The program will be taught in a part-time, cohort format on Saturdays at UCF’s Daytona campus. Students will take 10 core MBA courses plus three specialty courses focused on risk management, insurance and data analysis, including two new courses: The Fundamentals of Risk Management & Insurance, and Property/Casualty Insurance Contract Analysis. Applications are being accepted now and classes are expected to start in Fall 2024. Go to business.ucf.edu to learn more and to apply.

About UCF College of Business
Established in 1968, the UCF College of Business offers degrees at the bachelor’s, master’s, doctoral and executive levels. All programs, as well as the Kenneth G. Dixon School of Accounting are accredited by AACSB International – the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business. The college provides high-quality academic programs designed to give students a competitive advantage in the world of business now and in the future. The college promotes a unique culture of engagement, risk taking, cross-disciplinary collaboration and data-driven decision making in an effort to ensure students are well prepared to enter a dynamic marketplace. Learn more at business.ucf.edu.

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By: Erika Hodges

Originally Published on December 6, 2023

Will Lead UCF’s New Risk Management & Insurance Education Program

ORLANDO, Fla. – With the University of Central Florida set to launch an MBA program with an emphasis in Risk Management & Insurance in fall 2024, Ronald F. Piccolo, Ph.D., has been named Associate Dean for Strategic Initiatives in the College of Business, Executive Director for the new Risk Management & Insurance Education Program, and Special Assistant to the Provost for Volusia County, where the program will be located.

“Ron is the perfect person to build the strong corporate partnerships necessary to build a successful Risk Management and Insurance program in Daytona,” said Paul Jarley, dean of UCF College of Business. “He has an uncommon ability to bring groups together in ways that lead to a shared vision that drives success.”

With more than 18 years of experience in higher education, Piccolo will lead UCF’s expansion in Volusia County, the epicenter of Florida’s insurance industry, and the development of educational programming that emphasizes Insurance Technology, or InsurTech. The College of Business is no stranger to launching innovative programs. In 2021, UCF created the first Master of Science in FinTech in Florida.

“There is clear and compelling alignment between Volusia County’s economic interests and UCF’s areas of expertise,” Piccolo said. “We are excited to integrate business, engineering, and computer science to develop Florida’s workforce, support the insurance industry’s evolution, and develop a national hub for InsurTech.”

Piccolo is the Galloway Professor of Management and previously served as Chair of the Management Department at UCF from 2016-22. He was a special advisor to UCF President Alexander Cartwright from 2021-22 and facilitated the development of the university’s strategic plan (“Unleashing Potential”). He also served as Interim Vice President in UCF’s Office of Advancement. Piccolo was an assistant professor of management at UCF from 2005-09. From 2009-16, he was the Cornell Professor of Management and Academic Director of the Center for Leadership Development in the Crummer Graduate School of Business at Rollins College.

Piccolo’s primary areas of research include leadership, job design, social information processing, and subconscious motivation. An award-winning teacher and scholar, he has been recognized by the Academy of Management Learning and Education as one of the Top 100 Most Influential authors in organizational behavior and by The Leadership Quarterly as one of the most highly cited leadership scholars since 1990. He is among the top 20 most cited faculty members at UCF.

He earned a Ph.D. in organizational behavior from the University of Florida, an MBA from Rollins College, and a Bachelor of Science in mathematics from Stetson University. He has been a visiting scholar at Drexel University, Tulane University, Jacobs University in Bremen, Germany, the University of Kiel, and the Amsterdam Business School.

Piccolo is also active in the Central Florida community, serving on the Orlando Tech Council and on the Boards of Directors for the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, the Winter Park Library, and 1858 Capital Advisors in Winter Park. His consulting experiences include leadership development, executive coaching, and strategic planning.

About UCF College of Business
Established in 1968, the UCF College of Business offers degrees at the bachelor’s, master’s, doctoral and executive levels. All programs, as well as the Kenneth G. Dixon School of Accounting, are accredited by AACSB International – the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business. The college provides high-quality academic programs designed to give students a competitive advantage in the world of business now and in the future. The college promotes a unique culture of engagement, risk taking, cross-disciplinary collaboration and data-driven decision making to ensure students are well prepared to enter a dynamic marketplace. Learn more at business.ucf.edu.

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Originally Published on May 25, 2023

Dr. Guldi is in her 12th year at UCF and is an Associate Professor in the Department of Economics. A self-described economist, Dr. Guldi’s research examines effects of policies on maternal and infant health as well as broader demographic trends that are fertility-related.

“I love digging into a question and trying to get at the answer. With so many resources devoted to health care, I am interested in discovering what the more productive expenditures are.”

Dr. Guldi Fun Facts:
– Mother of triplets
– Has completed seven marathons and countless half-marathons

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Originally Published on May 18, 2023

Eshwar is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Finance and is approaching five years at UCF. His research covers entrepreneurial finance, the economics of climate change and text mining. Professionally and personally, Eshwar loves to solve a puzzle, and it could be anything from why startups succeed to why homeowners don’t buy flood insurance to a game of sudoku.

“Doing anything worthwhile takes impatience for progress but patience for results. Keep at it.”

Fun Facts:
– Has lived and worked on three continents
– Enjoys photography

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Originally Published on May 11, 2023

Before teaching, Dr. Ray Eddy was a professional stuntman who acted in movies and TV shows, but his most significant role was as Indiana Jones at Walt Disney World for eight years. Ray is currently a lecturer in the Integrated Business Department and is in his sixth year at UCF. Before joining the College of Business, he spent five years at Rosen College teaching Entertainment Management.

His advice for Business Knights is to pursue your passion.

“Some people told me a math major wouldn’t end up being a stuntman, so I shouldn’t even try. Be smart and work really hard, you never know what might happen for you.”

Ray’s favorite thing about teaching is being a source of information, passing on his knowledge and experience, and watching the next generation of leaders run with it.

Fun Facts:
– Won Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching Award (2021)
– Won Teaching Incentive Program (TIP) Award (2022)
– Earned his Ph.D. from UCF in 2021

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Associate Professor, Integrated Business

Posted on November 30, 2023

Ms. Ghada Baz is a world traveling paraglider who always looks to expand her business knowledge abroad through her network and soak in the aspects of new cultures. Learn more about Ms. Baz below:

How long have you been a Knight and what are some of your favorite memories? 12 years, I started in the Fall of 2011. The creative work I did with my colleagues to establish the Integrated Business department is one of my favorite memories. We started out as a small team from different departments, and we collaborated on every aspect of the new program from learning outcomes to branding. It was a fulfilling and fun experience.

What is your area of research? My interest areas in research include leadership, teams, diversity and individual differences, as well as workplace incivility.

What do you find love about what you do? The transformation in knowledge and skill that I see in my students every semester. I enjoy the moment they realize how much they have learned at the end of the semester when they put together their final reports and see the range of tolls and techniques they learned. When they stay in touch after graduation, I enjoy following their growth especially when they pursue careers in areas related to my class.

What do you find most rewarding about your field of study? My dual focus on management and industrial and organizational psychology gives me many opportunities to work on exciting and rewarding topics. Specifically, I find project management to be a universally useful platform for accessing a wide range of highly technical fields. It has applications in various industries and even in personal life. What I find exciting about industrial and organizational psychology is that it objectively quantifies psychological experiences at work, which makes it possible to study human behavior in ways that are not accessible otherwise.

Any professional awards or honors you’re proud of? I received the teaching incentive award twice, was recognized by Dean Paul Jarley for “Most Transformative Moment” and was recognized for promoting affordable course material and creating a course with no additional cost for students.

When you’re not in the classroom where can you be found? I enjoy paragliding and traveling with my family.

What’s a little known fact about you? I am only a few months away from earning a Ph.D. in Industrial and Organizational Psychology from the UCF College of Sciences. Also, my past work experiences span three different countries. I consider myself a citizen of the world and I always seek opportunities to expand my understanding of different cultures and build bridges through collaboration across my network.

What’s your advice for Business Knights? In this day and age, it is becoming increasingly important to possess technical and quantitative skills. Making data-driven decisions has become more accessible and those with relevant skills have an advantage over others. At the same time, it is important to recognize that every single day you interact with others, you are building your personal brand. Do not postpone presenting yourself in the best light. Your teammates in college may be your future coworkers, and every day is an opportunity to build a social capital that will help you in the future.

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Associate Professor, Department of Finance

Posted on November 21, 2023

Dr. Cuneyt Akcora is new to UCF but brings an impressive background to the Department of Finance. He learns languages, was a Fullbright Scholar and studies Blockchains and graph machine learning despite not touching a computer until the age of 19. Learn more about Dr. Akcora below:

How long have you been a Knight? Two months only, but I really liked seeing the campus full of people over the weekend.

What is your area of research? Graph machine learning and Blockchains.

What is a little known fact about you? Coming from a rural background, I touched a computer for the first time when I was 19.

What do you find most rewarding about your field of study? I work on topology, which deals with shapes of data. The visualizations can reveal quite novel insights. For example, in a 2020 article we looked at ransomware payments on the Bitcoin blockchain, and we could identify ransom payments automatically. These payments are typically unreported because companies pay the ransom and avoid bad publicity.

Any professional awards or honors you’re proud of? I was a Fullbright Scholar during my Ms. Degree in Buffalo, N.Y.

What do you love about what you do? Our contributions (algorithms, equations, data structures) may survive forever. In a sense, computer science is still a novel field and much remains to be explored.

When you’re not in the classroom where can you be found? I learn languages. I speak Italian, Turkish and Chinese (at HSK 4 level, which helps me navigate Beijing on my own). I am currently learning Russian.

What’s your advice for Business Knights? Do not be intimidated by complex looking formulas. We are not Newtons, and we would not be working on these things if those formulas were that difficult to understand.

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Associate Professor, Department of Management

Posted on November 1, 2023

Dr. Joseph stays busy as a celebrated researcher in her field of emotional intelligence in the workplace, appearing in many top-rated publications, and stays even busier away from the classroom where she’s raising three young boys. Find out more about Dana below!

How long have you been a Knight? I’ve spent 12 years at UCF and my favorite memory was of the UCF men’s basketball team beating Illinois at home to advance to the semifinals of the NIT. It was the best UCF basketball game I have ever been to.

What is your area of research? Emotional intelligence in the workplace.

What do you find most rewarding about your field of study? My favorite moments are my research comes full circle and I conduct research, teach the findings of my research in class, and then a student contacts me after graduation and says “I used what you taught me and it worked!”

Any professional awards or honors you’re proud of? My work has been included in the top five most-cited works published in the entire field of management since 2010 and has resulted in over 7,000 citations, 30 peer-reviewed journal articles, five book chapters, two best-paper proceedings, and 70 referred conference presentations. Two of my papers have been included on the list of the most impactful papers published in the entire 100-year history of the Journals of Applied Psychology.

What do you love about what you do? I love teaching people how to increased their emotional intelligence. It’s a valuable skill in many jobs, so students are eager to learn and really value lessons on emotional intelligence.

When you’re not in the classroom where can you be found? I have three boys age 10, 7, and 5 who are involved in every extracurricular imaginable (soccer, basketball, tennis, robotics club, school plays, reading club, chess club, etc.), so at this point in my life, if I am not at work, I am the cliche working parent who is transporting her kids in a minivan all over the place.

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Will Get Chance to Compete for $10,000 in National Ideas Competition

Posted October 24, 2023

ORLANDO, Fla. – Congratulations to the four winners of the Blackstone LaunchPad Ideas Competition—Azzam Alhussain with AI Medical Imaging Solutions, Claire Bury with SeptiSmart, Hiba Zuberi with Papyrus and Kaylyn Weston with Pet Connect—who took home $1,000 each and will get the opportunity to compete for $10,000 in the National Ideas Competition.

The four business ideas bested a field of 70 submissions in the recent Blackstone LaunchPad Ideas Competition, which challenges students to showcase their ideas to a panel of judges and entrepreneurial leaders. The students submitted their ideas in one of four tracks: Social & Climate Impact, Health & Life Sciences, Consumer Products & Services, or General. The UCF winners in each category were:

Social & Climate Impact: Zuberi (Economics) pitched Papyrus, a sustainable in-office paper recycling unit that uses old/used paper to create new paper.
Health & Life Sciences: Alhussain (Engineering & Computer Science) led with AI Medical Imaging Solutions, a low-cost medical imaging service using AI and Computer Vision on edge platforms.
Consumer Products & Services: Bury (Mechanical Engineering) won with SeptiSmart, a septic tank monitor that automates eco-compliance and maintenance.
General: Weston (Integrated Business) created Pet Connect, an online community for passionate pet enthusiasts that promotes pet well-being.

“I want to congratulate all of the brave Knights who shared and tested their ideas for our judges,” said Cameron Ford, the founding Director of the Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership, Executive Director of the Blackstone LaunchPad at UCF and a professor of entrepreneurship at UCF. “Competitions like this teach students that investing in their entrepreneurial mindsets, skillsets and venture proposals will improve their career readiness and develop their identity as creators, innovators and entrepreneurial leaders.”

The Blackstone LaunchPad network comprises 75 campuses, including UCF, and seeks to ensure entrepreneurship is accessible and relevant to every college student, regardless of major or future goals. University students enter the Ideas Competition at their respective schools, and the top four winners at each school advance to the national competition. The competition is designed to give students with early-stage ideas the opportunity to compete for cash prizes and further their ideas.

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Associate Chair, Department of Finance; Lecturer, International Business

Dr. Resch is a world traveler who is well prepared to lead his International Business classes thanks to his travels that have taken him to 55 countries, so far! Find out more about Peter below.

How long have you been a Knight? I’ve been teaching at UCF since 2015.

What is your area of study? I teach courses in International Business at the undergraduate, graduate, and executive levels.

What do you love about what you do at UCF? To teach courses in International Business at UCF has been a rewarding experience. Business today is conducted internationally and having an international perspective opens many opportunities for firms of all industries. At the same time, International Business is very important for the state of Florida, being home to the second-largest number of exporting companies int he country while attracting significant amounts of foreign direct investment from all around the world.

When you’re not in the classroom, where can you be found? I’m a global citizen. I’ve traveled and worked in 12 countries around the world and speak three languages fluently. I’ve been to 55 countries and have many more destinations to visit on my bucket list.

What are some of your hobbies? Traveling, photography, rowing, mountain biking, and snowboarding.

What is your advice for Business Knights? Differentiate yourself and start gaining international experience. Participate in a UCF study abroad program, do an internship abroad, or simply travel. As future managers, to have a global perspective is invaluable to yourself and your organization. A great motto to have is: “Today, I will do what others won’t, so tomorrow, I can accomplish what others can’t.”

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Associate Lecturer, Marketing Department

Dr. Johnson is a Air Force Veteran, has been with UCF for six years and is researching supply chain management, demand planning, and transportation management. Learn more about him below!

How long have you been a Knight? Six years.

What is your area of research? I work in Supply Chain Management, Demand Planning (Inventory Management and Forecasting), and Transportation Management.

Is there an award you’re proud of receiving? Yes, the Teaching Incentive Program Award this year!

What do you love about what you do at UCF? I enjoy providing students with the business tools needed to help them in their professional journey.

What’s most exciting and rewarding about your field of study? The daily challenges and opportunities for improvement in the various supply chain management channels provide a rewarding environment for teaching, training and research.

When you’re not in the classroom, where can you be found? You’ll find me enjoying spending time with family, golfing, and reading.

What is something most people don’t know about you? In 2006, as a paratrooper in the United States Air Force, I participated in the 62nd Annual D-Day reenactment ceremony. Approximately 150 Americans, British, Canadians, French and German soldiers jumped out of C130s on to Iron Mike drop zone in Normandy, France.

What is your advice for Business Knights? Supply chain management involves a lot of data analysis. Strengthen your analytical skills, including proficiency in tools like Excel and data visualization software. Familiarity with data analytics can set you apart in this field. Develop your interpersonal sills, as communication and teamwork are crucial. Stay committed to continuous learning.

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Instructor, Department of Management; Florida Partnership Director, Blackstone LaunchPad

Dr. Mike Lynch is an avid Marvel comic collector, social golfer, bullpen catcher for his daughter and serves as the Florida Partnership Director at the Blackstone LaunchPad as well as instructing in the Department of Management. Helping students through the LaunchPad keeps each day feeling new and exciting for Mike and he has a passion for merging the theoretical, empirical and practical aspects of life and business. Find out more about Mike below!

How long have you been a Knight? I have been at UCF for eight months.

What’s your favorite memory so far? My favorite memory has repeated itself a few times lately when I’m in front of a class on my own – or with our team with an orientation group, the first day of the semester, guest lecturing, a new student-athlete meeting, etc. – and we suggest the students grab the QR code for the Blackstone LaunchPad on the projection screen and nearly everyone does and signs up. It reminds me of the scene at the end of “The Martian” when Matt Damon’s character is back on Earth teaching at the space academy and asks if there are any questions and everyone’s hands eagerly shoot up. It’s truly awesome every time. UCF students seem to appreciate an education grounded in scholarship, but connected intimately to the real world.

What is your area of research at UCF? At UCF, our team focuses on developing innovation and entrepreneurship skills that are believed to have generalizable impact that employers seek out and that can be taught even though they are difficult to define. It’s a pretty cool synthesis of cognitive psychology, learning theory, organizational behavior, and interdisciplinary business strategy among other disciplines. My first go in higher education was 1989-1996 and my research focused on quantitative and experimental study of musical characteristics of prelinguistic vocalizations in infants and development of music cognition also in infants, but through the adult lifespan to older adults and effects of aging as well. In that work, we discovered a couple lasting phenomena.

What awards or honors are you most proud of? I have been awarded the NIH FIRST Award, First National Bank of Chicago Fellowship at Chicago Booth, been named Outstanding Young investigator by the International Conference on Infant Studies, and to the Who’s Who in Science & Engineering and was also presented the Journeyman Mentorship Award at Boston Consulting Group.

What do you love about what you do? When I left higher education in 1996, I wrote in my business school applications that I planned to return to higher education and contribute very differently than I would have if I had stayed the traditional path. Returning to higher education here at UCF, in my current roles, and with room to grow could not be more perfect. It truly brings me full circle. Who wouldn’t love that?

What do you find most exciting and rewarding about your field of study? The merging of the theoretical, empirical, and the practical. We practice theory every day in the Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership (CEL) at UCF and in the Blackstone LaunchPad. We’re grateful to the trust the Blackstone Foundation has placed in UCF to allow us to help expand the LaunchPad in Florida. We are also really excited about a new NSF grant to UCF supporting interdisciplinary translational work to help enable groundbreaking science to reach the marketplace. All of these efforts are about creating new value-generating jobs, companies, and highly-skilled innovators in Florida. It’s fun and exciting work.

When you’re not in the LaunchPad, what can we find you doing? I love golf, even though it’s an incredibly frustrating game. It’s a social exercise, so even a bad day is a good day with friends on the course. As BF Skinner found, intermittent reinforcement is powerful and golf is nothing if not intermittent reinforcement along the lines of how AI can keep you addicted to social media. I also spend a lot of time catching bullpen for our daughter who is aiming to play college softball. She was one of the top high school freshmen in Florida last year and is already being recruited to play in college. It’s exciting to work with her and watch her develop in to a scholar-athlete.

What is something most people don’t know about you? I’m still really into collecting Marvel comic books. I started when I was six-years-old. Among other books, I have the very first appearance of the Black Panther, which was actually in “Fantastic Four #52” in 1961! I hadn’t even been born yet. I purchased it at a Comic-Con around 1977. Black Panther has been around a lot longer than most people realize, which is cool to think about Chadwick Boseman made Black Panther truly great in movies and brought the character to life like no one else could have.

What is your best advice for Business Knights? Instead It’s a great time to be a Business Knight and a UCF student in general. The long-term option value of your degree is visibly climbing, as is obvious from recent gains in reputational and national standing of the University and Business programs, and now being a member of the Big 12. I talk a lot with students about personal option value. Work hard. Achieve your best. Be open to acquiring new skills, even if that is a little uncomfortable sometimes. Extract every ounce of value you can from your experience while you are here. Build real relationships. Focusing on those things will keep your options open in a dynamic and exciting future.

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Director, FinTech Initiative; Professor, Finance

Dr. Pirinsky has been a part of UCF since 2018 and has been involved in starting UCF’s FinTech program. His passion about research keeps him engaged and has seen him published around the world. Find out more about Christo below!

How long have you been a Knight? I have been at UCF since 2018.

What is your area of research at UCF? My research focuses on behavioral finance and economics and data analytics applications for financial decision making.

What awards or honors are you most proud of? My research has been published in top-tier academic journals and has been presented at numerous conferences and seminars around the world.

What do you love about what you do? I like doing research. Universities generate knowledge about the world. This knowledge is transformational – it could make things better. It is exciting to be a part of this process.

When you’re not in the classroom, what can we find you doing? You’ll find me on a golf course or in a local restaurant. Beyond that, I enjoy travelling and learning about different cultures and civilizations.

What is something most people don’t know about you? I was born in Bulgaria.

What is your best advice for Business Knights? People tend to achieve their dreams. Have big dreams.

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ORLANDO, Fla. (Oct. 3, 2023) – The UCF College of Business is proud to announce State Farm has renewed its funding of scholarships for students in the national championship-winning Professional Selling Program (PSP) who compete in the program’s sales competitions.

“The faculty at UCF’s College of Business never ceases to amaze us,” State Farm Agent Justin Bauknight said. “They understand our passion and work tirelessly to give us the opportunity to inspire the next generation with our mission. We believe the best way to realize your dreams is to first help others realize their own, and UCF has provided an incredible outlet to share this message.”

State Farm Agents and Professional Selling Program (PSP) students pose for a photo. The five students won scholarships from State Farm.State Farm has been a continual sponsor of the program, entering their 6th year providing scholarships to the competition’s winners.

The PSP is a nationally-recognized program that aims to prepare its students to become future sales leaders in all selling arenas. The program has won nine national championships in its history, including most recently in the Spring.

“Scholarships provide an essential source of education funding for many of our students,” Associate Lecturer of Marketing; Instructor & Coordinator, Professional Selling Program Bill Steiger said. “The partnership with State Farm is both educational and an important financial benefit.”

Last month, State Farm granted scholarships to five PSP students who were selected from the cohort of 53 students who were asked to determine what State Farm products would best meet a hypothetical client’s needs. Students recorded their pitch recommending how they would educate their client on how State Farm could best fit their needs. Bryan Bacallao (Senior, Marketing) earned a $2,000 scholarship while Veronica Batini (Senior Integrated Business), Max Calnan (Senior, Finance), Madeleine Hanewich (Senior, Marketing), Hunter Montgomery (Senior, Marketing) and Gabriel Shore (Senior, Integrated Business) each earned a $1,500 scholarship thanks to State Farm.

About UCF College of Business
Established in 1968, the UCF College of Business offers degrees at the bachelor’s, master’s, doctoral and executive levels. All programs, as well as the Kenneth G. Dixon School of Accounting, are accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business— AACSB International. The college provides high-quality academic programs designed to give students a competitive advantage in the world of business now and in the future. Learn more at business.ucf.edu.

About State Farm

For 100 years, the mission of State Farm has been and continues to be to help people manage dreams. State Farm and its affiliates are the largest providers of auto and home insurance in the United States. Its more than 19,400 agents and approximately 61,764 employees serve over 91 million policies and accounts – which includes life, health, commercial policies and financial services accounts. Commercial auto insurance, along with coverage for renters, business owners, boats and motorcycles, is available. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company is the parent of the State Farm family of companies. State Farm is ranked No. 44 on the 2023 Fortune 500 list of largest companies. For more information, please visit www.statefarm.com.

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Program Director, Blackstone LaunchPad; Instructor, Management Department

From her days attending the College of Business as a student to her current roles as the Program Director of the Blackstone LaunchPad and an instructor in the Management Department, Cassi is a lifelong Knight! In between stints at UCF, she has served as an entertainment lawyer to the stars, including Taylor Swift. Now back at UCF she’s passionately showcasing options and opportunities for students through the LaunchPad and is actively involved in her community. Find out more about Cassi below!

How long have you been a Knight? As a student, three amazing years. As a LaunchPad coach/speaker, this will be year three or four. As an educator, I am in my first year at UCF.

What is your area of research at UCF? Although not “research” per se, my focus is on expanding the reach and impact of our Blackstone LaunchPad to help students expand their career opportunities through learning and applying entrepreneurial mindsets and skillsets.

What awards or honors are you most proud of? I served twice as the Chair of the Entertainment, Art & Sports Law Section of The Florida Bar and was recognized by the “Orlando Business Journal” as one of their Women Who Mean Business. I was honored to be a speaker at TEDxOrlando and also was named the PROPS Graduate Educator of the Year while at Full Sail University.

What do you love about what you do? I have the opportunity to showcase different options and opportunities that exist as career options for students. My entire career trajectory changed when, as a UCF student, I got involved on campus, changed my major, and met an amazing guest speaker, who became my first boss in the field of entertainment law.

What do you find most exciting and rewarding about your field of study? Entrepreneurship, entertainment, and education are constantly evolving. It is amazing to see how much innovation has occurred in recent years and the broad opportunities to create unique career paths exist for today’s students. There are so many ways to get engaged and learn what you love, learn what you do not like as much, and meet new people to help keep you on course and possibly open some doors to next moves in the future.

When you’re not in the LaunchPad, what can we find you doing? I am active in the local community and serve on a number of nonprofit boards. I also enjoy spending time exploring everything cool in Central Florida and, of course, cheering for our UCF Knights!

What is something most people don’t know about you? I was a charter class member of LEAD Scholars and a Founders Day Award and Rising Star winner for the College of Business at UCF.

What is your best advice for Business Knights? Instead of asking why, ask yourself why not! If you do not try, you will never know and you will not be able to grow. As a student, stay curious and explore different aspects of the industry because you might find your calling from an elective course, a speaker, a club, or another event on campus.

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Andy Smith has been defying the odds his entire life and continues doing so at UCF. The current DeVos Cohort Class President and Graduate Assistant is pursuing a dual Master’s Degree in Business Administration and Sports Business Management at UCF. This summer, Smith participated in the Pathways Internship through the United States Golf Association (USGA) […]

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Are the Excel Championships just another bit of content for ESPN? Could it keep the Pac 12 alive? More importantly, is it an eSport and can we gamble on it? Listen in!

Featured Guests* Andrew Grigolyunovich – Founder and CEO of the Financial Modeling World Cup * David Clayton Brown, Ph.D. – Associate Professor of Finance at the Eller College of Business at the University of Arizona * “Mr. Excel” Bill Jelen – Excel Expert, Consultant, Author & Play-by-Play Announcer * Adrien Bouchet, Ph.D. – Richard & Helen DeVos Foundation Endowed Chair; Eminent Scholar of the DeVos Sport Business Management Program at UCF * Sean Dennis, Ph.D. – Assistant Professor, Kenneth G. Dixon School of Accounting at UCF

Episode TranscriptionAnnouncer from the movie “Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story”: Live from Las Vegas, It’s the Las Vegas International Dodge Ball Open here on ESPN 8: The Ocho, bringing you the finest in seldom scene sports from around the globe since 1999. If it’s almost a sport, we’ve got it here.

Paul Jarley: But I have to admit I did not see this coming.

Paul Jarley: While, it most certainly isn’t “Dodgeball,” and we aren’t breaking down Average Joe’s, we are talking about the Excel Championships that just aired on ESPN, and will be heading to Las Vegas in December. Are the Excel Championships even close to an eSport? I really need help understanding why Excel is on ESPN. To form an opinion on this, I’ve assembled the following panel of experts.

Andrew Grigolyunovich is the Founder and CEO of the Financial Modeling World Cup and joins us all the way from Latvia. David Clayton Brown is an Associate Professor of Finance at the Eller College of Business at the University of Arizona. Bill Jelen goes by the moniker Mr. Excel. He has authored several books on Excel and is the competition’s play-by-play guy. Adrian Bouchet is the DeVos Endowed Chair of Sports Management and Chair of the Sports Business Management Program here in the College of Business. Finally, Sean Dennis is an Associate Professor in our Dixon School of Accounting. Listen in.

Paul Jarley: So one of the very first podcasts I did was on eSports and the premise of it was whether eSports was going to be a thing or not. I came down on the side that I thought it was going to be a big thing that I thought it wouldn’t just be a big thing in the professional ranks, that it would be a big thing in the college ranks as well. And one of the reasons I thought that that would be true is it would be a way for universities to promote a group of geeky students with a unique offering, but I have to admit, I did not see this coming. When I saw the ESPN promotion on The Ocho for this event, I thought, wow, this is one I just wouldn’t have imagined. I’m going to start with David and Andrew here. Where did the idea for these kinds of competitions come from? Andrew?

Andrew Grigolyunovich: It all started, I think that was back in 2012, the first competition of a similar kind that was called ModelOff that was created by two guys in Australia and they were doing that on an annual basis and that was devoted to financial modeling. That was called the Financial Modeling World Championship. They had a name brand named ModelOff. I was one of the players, David was one of the players there. We were good players, we made it to the finals a couple of times and in 2016 we were among the top 16 players in London. So the difference between what you saw on ESPN, first of all, that was annual, not regular. Second, it was more player oriented, less show oriented. That was basically targeting finance professionals, giving them very interesting cases to solve, but there was not too much value for spectators. When they sold this to new owners back in 2019 and the competition discontinued by 2020.

So I saw an opportunity to create the Financial Modeling World Cup and that was the tournament for professionals from the very beginning. We were aiming to increase the production value and also increase the spectator value there. We’ve tried a couple of formats. Some of these initially were not too successful, but eventually that has evolved into the format you actually saw on ESPN and that’s how Excel eSports was born. I think the first game we could probably get it to back to 2021 and meanwhile David continued to play in his ideas about the student tournaments because he’s a professor. We are more like professionals and David, maybe you can tell more about that aspect.

David Clayton Brown: My whole entry into this was 2014. I started here at the University of Arizona as a professor and I started teaching financial modeling and I wanted a way for my students to get a little bit more than what we had in class, get some M&A models, some private equity type models as well, and I found ModelOff was a great place to do that. You got these professional models, professional modelers were completing them and it gave the students a chance to see what they were doing. They also provided answers, which was great for student learning. You could try the challenge, you’re going to struggle through it, which is fine, but then you’re going to learn from it afterward. And I had a few students that really engaged with this. They would finish in the rankings at least for this, for the ModelOff competitions.

And then in 2016 I took my hand at it and made it to the finals with Andrew. We got to meet for the first time and then like he said, in 2019, things changed hands with ModelOff started to wrap up and at that point I initiated a conversation with the ModelOff team like, Hey, can we start a college version of this? We start working on it, the pandemic hits, it kind of derails everything, but then I actually was able to get tenure. To me that gives me kind of a license to create value in the world and I see this as a huge source of value. We see industry people saying students need more Excel, they need it sooner, so how do we deliver it to them? At U of A, we’ve started to do more courses earlier in the curriculum, but broadly we just want to get more Excel opportunities to students. This is a hard thing for professors to bring to the classroom, so we’re hoping this is a way to make it easy for professors to give their students a little something extra to do to get their feet wet and then the students that are really interested are going to run with it because of this format Andrew’s developed.

Paul Jarley: So where did most of the contestants come from, Andrew?

Andrew Grigolyunovich: Basically, investment banking, audits, financial consulting. If we talk about finance people, we have actuaries, we have engineers maybe a little bit less than we would hope for. We have a couple of mathematicians. The reason is that our company name is the Financial Modeling World Cup. The word financial might be a little bit encouraging for finance professionals, a little bit less encouraging for other professionals.

Paul Jarley: Where do the problems come from? Do companies submit problems for you all?

Andrew Grigolyunovich: You know what, that’s a very special discipline in writing those types of cases. If a company comes with a problem, it could be the case. We’ll have actually a real life company initiated problem in September, but again, these have to be adapted to a format that’s solvable within thirty minutes or maybe an hour. So we try to see some real life problem. The whole tournament that’s been studied by my company, which is doing financial consulting and financial modeling consulting, quite often what we do, we just look into some interesting real life examples, the real life models we were doing and create some generic case out of that. Initially most of the cases were written by myself, especially in the first season. And then after a while, the players have started to contribute their cases. So right now, it’s also probably two thirds, maybe even more. That’s contributed by the community and the other is being written internally at the Financial Modeling World Cup.

Paul Jarley: One last question and I’ll jump to David. Andrew, do you use it to identify talent for people who you want to hire into your company? Have you ever hired anyone who won the competition?

Andrew Grigolyunovich: Actually, yes. We’ve hired two guys from a team who were doing the student competition last year.

David Clayton Brown: Yeah, for our cases I’d say it’s a mix because we actually want students to get an idea of what real life work is, and a lot of that has been more finance oriented so far just because that’s where my connections are, but we want to expand that even more as we go. For example, we’re actually talking to a professor across the university here that studies bee populations. And so building cases that relate to things people study, I think is a real good way to engage the students and it doesn’t just have to be in the business school. And that’s why we’re starting to look across campus for more of these collaborations, to bring interesting data problems to the students and then teach them some Excel skills along the way and have fun competing.

Paul Jarley: Has it developed into a student club yet? David? Is there a registered student organization on campus?

David Clayton Brown: So I started the financial modeling club a couple of years ago, kind of an offshoot of that that focuses on this competition. I actually for the first time later today, will be teaching an Excel eSports class here at the University of Arizona. Basically, I’m training them on what the recent case competitions have been. I pick a recent Excel eSports case that has been part of the pro competition and let’s break it down, let’s work through, let’s talk about different ways to approach it and how to get as fast as possible. I think two or three other universities at least have these Excel clubs. So I see this growing. Hopefully the MECC creates some momentum behind it.

Paul Jarley: How did ESPN get involved in this? Are they that desperate for programming? What’s going on?

Andrew Grigolyunovich: I think that’s an interesting niche they could be looking into because imagine the potential interest from potential market there. Hundreds of millions of people around the world use Excel, right? This is definitely something that could evolve into something very, very, very big. It’s not just the competition, we use the word competition, but essentially that’s a very nice, interesting, fun way to train. And as soon as people realize that that’s going to be a massive increase in the number of followers and number of participants, there’s a huge market I see there and a huge growth. For ESPN, it turned out that we were actually acquainted with the right person there by Microsoft. The story was that they had some contacts there. They are one of the sponsors for our competition, very much interested in their product being used in these very unusual ways, so to say, that’s how it started. So basically we were producing these Excel eSport games that were shown on our YouTube channel, but that was the right content for them and that’s where they were showing our world championship in 2021, the All-Star game, 2021, ’23 as well, and that’s how it started. So once in a while, that’s a nice content for them. We’re not able to move basketball or American football yet from the prime time. There is a long way to go at this point.

Adrian Bouchet: If you want ESPN to take it to the next level. The question nowadays is can you gamble on it? Can I place a wager on a certain Excel team? And is Las Vegas iterested? That seems to be the future.

Andrew Grigolyunovich: There is some interest, there is some initial, let’s say, work on that. We might see that after some time.

Paul Jarley: One of my original reactions was that ESPN might be the wrong place to host the competition, in the sense that your viewers, and I’m going to engage in overgeneralizing here, but my hunch was that your prime consumers or watchers may not be people who really watch ESPN that much. What do you think? Have they helped you guys promote this, do you think or not?

Andrew Grigolyunovich: They definitely have helped to promote just the fact that Excel is on ESPN already made a lot of news across the world. That’s probably one of the reasons we’re meeting today.

Paul Jarley: Right? Yeah.

Andrew Grigolyunovich: Whether other channels could be more suitable? There might be. Essentially, even internally, we’re discussing, it could be also positioned or very easily transformed into some sort of like a quiz show or very similar to a quiz show. And that’s basically a content for less sport channels, like more general TV channels with general audience. It could be, we will be reviewing these. At this point, there is no exclusive contract or something. So we definitely have options there to look for other ways to promote. But yes, initially ESPN helped a lot, very thankful to them. Hopefully they liked us to be there as part of The Ocho.

Paul Jarley: Do you have any sense of what viewership is like?

Andrew Grigolyunovich: We do have some ratings. What we can share is that our viewership on YouTube for the last year’s All-Star Battle, it’s 800,000 views and of these, I think probably half a million was within a couple of days after ESPN has shown the game. So the interest is there, that’s for sure.

Paul Jarley: Bill, you had the lofty title of Mr. Excel and as I understand it, you’re the play-by-play guy for this. So how did you get this gig?

Bill Jelen: It goes all the way back to the first live event in 2012. I was invited to come and be a judge and I was very happy. I always say I was smart enough to be a judge and not to be one of the competitors because although I teach Excel and I know a lot about Excel, the people who reach the finals are just incredibly good at Excel and to watch them work live, I was there the first three years, 2012, ’13 and ’14 in New York City. It was just surreal to see how fast everyone was and I knew I was in the right spot as a judge instead of trying to compete because the people that are using Excel 50, 60, 70 hours a week are incredibly fast Excel. I’m very happy to be a judge and I was very happy when they invited me back to do some of the play by play for the FMWC before the two ESPN shows, it was on ESPN 3, three sets of two hours that were on ESPN 3. So there was good history there being on those networks.

Paul Jarley: So what’s your day job Bill?

Bill Jelen: I write books about Microsoft Excel, and before that I worked in accounting and finance using Excel 40, 50, 60 hours a week and I’m good at Excel, but I’m not finals good at Excel.

Paul Jarley: So how do you approach the play by play?

Bill Jelen: We get the case a few days before the competition and it’s really important to try and work through that case and there’s maybe seven stages that you’re trying to earn points for, so you have to actually go through and try and solve those. So I know how I solved it and I recognize that there’s other ways that other people might solve it. So then as you’re watching people start to dive in, you’ll be able to see their screen and say, “Oh, look at this. They’re doing something completely different than I did.” And ideally, say there’s 15 questions in section one. If you get the logic for the first one, if you did the logic correct, you’ll get all of those points at once. So 15 times five points, let’s say. So if you see someone get 75 points, oh, they just solved section one, but if they get less than that, then that means that there’s a logic error there and they’re not catching some cases and that problem will then snowball. So it’s just kind of interesting to see who gets the complete section done, which section they’re working on and the leaderboard changing they have. Then we go take a look at that particular.

Paul Jarley: So Bill, what do you think makes a great Excel competitor?

Bill Jelen: Being able to multitask. One of my favorite competitors is someone who looks at the seven problems and tries to figure out a general function that will be useful in sections five, six and seven. So they’re solving case one, but not just solving case one. They’re trying to create an overall model and an approach that will work through those deep cases out of a thousand points. Maybe people want to get to 540 points, but the difference at the end is going to be the people who get up into the 200 point sections.

Paul Jarley: So Bill, I think you’ve probably seen David compete a couple of times. Can you break down his skills? What are his strengths and weaknesses?

Bill Jelen:In all of the that I’ve been in, David does not make it to the final three or four. I know he is very good.

Paul Jarley: I’m trying to help him out.

Bill Jelen: Some people that I remember from 2013, Michael Jarman. Michael Jarman was incredible back in 2013, but Michael’s been promoted and he’s the manager’s, manager’s manager and I don’t think he’s using Excel 80 hours a week anymore. And so you’ll see Michael in a competition and fall out pretty quick. And now Michael has moved on to be a judge and write cases, so it sounds trite, but it is a young person’s game. The people who are actually using Excel just continuously, they would never be at a computer without Excel turned on. Those are the people who are going to.

David Clayton Brown: I think there are three big areas that makes a good Excel competitor. So the first one is just raw horsepower. How smart are you at solving puzzles? So that’s a very general skillset. Two is Excel, how much Excel, do you know? How practiced are you in it? Are you doing it 60 hours a week or are you doing it a few hours here and there? How deep is your knowledge of the functions, the tricks? I mean they just announced Python in Excel, so do you have that tool set ready to go? I think the third area that’s going to become increasingly important kind of in this new world of ChatGPT and prebuilt tools is just how prepared you, how much research have you done into past cases? How many LAMBDAs have you built ahead of time? That way when you see something and you’re like, “Oh, that’s like what I saw three seasons ago in this case,” and I can pull that out in 10 seconds rather than having to model it, which might take you two or three minutes now, you’ve really just saved valuable time. My strength, I think, is number one is I just have good horsepower. I just don’t have enough time to practice Excel and to build those tools. Although that’s partly why I want to coach and why I’m teaching my students is it is what keeps me engaged, otherwise I just can’t devote the time to it. So it’s kind of my mechanism to keep myself in and try to stay relevant on the professional side.

Paul Jarley: And what makes for a good competition? Is it the puzzle? Is it the complexity? What makes for a good competition?

Bill Jelen: You definitely want one where people are getting up into levels five, six and seven, but not solving it too fast if the whole thing gets solved. If someone gets their thousand points in half the time, then it wasn’t hard enough, but if you get down to only two minutes left and they’re only on section two, then it was way too hard. So you’re looking for at least a few of the competitors to get deep into section five, six and seven where they’re trying to get close to that thousand points and kind of neck and neck, those are the ones that I think are the most interesting.

Paul Jarley: Well, I think you’ve had an innovation in the competition in that people drop out if they’re not quick enough.

Bill Jelen:Bill Jelen: Right, yeah, this time, every five minutes, the lowest scores were knocked out. It actually helps trying to talk about eight people and give time to everyone makes it tough. So having those people drop out makes it easier for us to talk about the people who are left.

Paul Jarley: Go ahead David.

David Clayton Brown: Yeah, one thing I’d add is a good competition is also one that’s relatable for the audience. A lot of times these are not necessarily financial model cases, but they’re games that we all know like rock, paper, scissors, or when you asked about how do these cases come from, some of my cases come from playing little board games with my daughters. Kids’ games are a great way to adapt into this. People understand them and so then when you watch it, you have a conceptual framework for how I would solve this, and then you’re just kind of in awe at how the competitors are solving it way faster than you could imagine.

Paul Jarley: Adrian, what’s the definition of an eSport?

Adrian Bouchet: It seems to be like all electronic games try to be an eSport, but I reached out to a former colleague of mine when I worked for Major League Baseball who now works for Red Bull and he oversees Red Bull’s eSports division, which is pretty prominent, and he said that it comes down to three things. Number one, what he called playability. It’s got to be fun to play. Number two, it’s got to be a compelling viewing experience, and number three, it has to have support of either the developer or the publisher, which in this case I guess would be Microsoft. And it certainly seems like, I mean there’s already the ecosystem built, so that’s what he said that takes to become a successful eSport and it has to have a good mix of all three of those components.

Paul Jarley: So there are really famous eSport athletes. I know the South Koreans in particular are dominant in a number of eSports. Have any of the competitors in these competitions gone on to be influencers or do they have fan clubs?

Andrew Grigolyunovich: We definitely do have stars of the competition. We definitely have people who are admired by the field, by the industry, by those people who are engaging with Excel eSports. I wouldn’t say they are influencers, but they definitely use this as their marketing too because for most of them they are consultants. They are doing financial modeling consulting or other types of consulting, and that’s a great added value for them in the eyes of their clients. I believe they can make much more there rather than through let’s say influence revenue, which is especially tough if you just starting.

Adrian Bouchet: So I would ask that question a little bit differently. I would say has Microsoft allowed you to leverage their ecosystem for sponsorship purposes? What companies have sponsored the Excel championship? I mean because if you have ESPN and you have Microsoft, those are two pretty big brands, have they allowed you to sort of leverage their market share to go out and get other companies interested in sponsoring either the competition or the athletes that take part in it?

Andrew Grigolyunovich: We do have other companies sponsoring the events for Excel eSports at this point. There are companies like SoftwareOne, software license retailer. Order.co, a procurement company, like very creative in terms of thinking of different events next to us and basically there are lots of other companies coming with inquiries there. It’s not really prohibited or something like that. Basically, the more sponsorships we’re able to get, the better is the value we can provide and the higher the prize money.

David Clayton Brown: A lot of our sponsors are coming from employers that are interested in our students. The students that are engaging in the collegiate challenge are ones that are typically driven. They want to solve puzzles. It really is about critical thinking and developing those skills alongside Excel, and those are two things all employers seem to want right now. We have a couple sponsors that are basically trying to tap into that network of students, make them aware like, “Hey, we’ve got jobs that leverage these skills, come talk to us.”

Paul Jarley: I’m going to turn to Sean, Sean’s in our accounting department. Sean, are there any accounting firms that are doing kind of quasi competitions to identify talent? I mean, this goes all the way back to Google, right? With some open source things they do and challenges to identify really high end talent?

Sean Dennis: Not that I’m aware of. I did look into this a little bit at the big four and I couldn’t find anything specific to Excel. I could easily see this becoming part of a summer leadership program.

Paul Jarley: Yeah, Andrew, I could see you reaching out to them. There might be some interest there.

Sean Dennis: I think this is more than just a resume builder for firms that this is a way for students to signal, put their money where their mouth is, look, I love this stuff. While not everybody that goes to work for an accounting firm needs to be an eSport level expert at Excel. They do need some and they’re always looking for students to bring in new tricks. And I’ll be honest with you, I considered myself pretty proficient in Excel, but when I’ve watched these competitions on ESPN, I understand that the game that they’re trying to play and it’s kind of cool, Bill does a great job of announcing it and generating interest, but I have no idea what kinds of functions they’re using behind the scenes and firms would love to get their hands on students who know those types of functions.

Paul Jarley: Yeah, that’s my sense of it as well, Sean.

David Clayton Brown: So much has been changing in Excel the last few years that it really is an amazing way to learn. Just trying these challenges and then watching the live stream with Bill where you get to see what the competitors are doing or a number of competitors post YouTube videos and walk through how they did it. I personally have learned so much by doing that, that it’s just hard to find otherwise. So to me, this is one of the best ways to train and to develop those modern skills in Excel.

Bill Jelen: I’ll echo that. The post-competition walkthrough where they’ll turn on the clock and in 30 minutes solve the problem, and it’s not the same as the competition, because in the competition, you just saw the case five minutes ago. To watch someone actually go through and explain step by step by step, and for me, maybe in my 30 minute I got halfway through or something like that, but just to see, oh, that was brilliant. I never considered that or seeing the tools that they’re using. I know a lot about Excel, but I learned from those walkthroughs every time.

David Clayton Brown: And there’s a small slice of people that post speed runs where they’ll take this case that in 30 minutes no one was able to finish, and they show you a way that they just did it in two and a half minutes. It’s kind of mind blowing the care that they put into it and the creative tricks they come up with to make that happen.

Paul Jarley: I’m also surprised some accounting firms, Sean, aren’t using miniature versions of that as part of their selection process.

Sean Dennis: I think it’s probably coming. I know internally when students land at firms, there are incentives for them to learn and develop new tools within, maybe not Excel, but Alteryx, Tableau, Power BI, those types of tools.

Paul Jarley: What do you think students should learn from these competitions?

Sean Dennis: I think firms have been emphasizing Excel for a while. Teachers emphasize it all the time. Students are kind of bombarded with messages about how important Excel is. And for those students who really like Excel, I think shows them that, “Hey, if you like what you’re seeing, like what you’re doing, there’s more out there.” I know I work with a lot of students in office hours. I’ll show them some cute tricks that I’ve learned through the years, but at the end of the day, until this comes along, there’s really not much more you can do with it, not much further to go. And this gives students who want to this extra way to keep going and for lack of a better word, pursue their passion. A lot of accountants really geek out on this stuff and this gives people an outlet for it.

Andrew Grigolyunovich: What do people learn? Imagine you have hundreds of millions of people across the world working in Excel every day. This is something where you can show them what’s the best available, what do the stars do, how do they work? When you’re playing basketball, you’re watching Michael Jordan, LeBron James, other players, you see how they do and you try to replicate that. If you’re playing soccer, you’re watching Messi or Christiano Ronaldo and you go to your playgrounds and play other kids similar like that. Here, it’s more or less the same, but this is the way for people who are working Excel every day to see what the pros do and get some tricks from there. And it’s much easier for them to learn these tricks and apply to their job rather than for a kid to learn dribbling like LeBron or shooting like Stephen Curry. And that’s really the reason that would drive viewership, and this is what’s going to make this huge, in my opinion.

Bill Jelen: Let me talk about relatability. I played baseball, I played basketball, and now as an adult, the number of hours that I get paid to play baseball and basketball is zero. You have 300 million people who are getting paid 48 hours a week to play Excel and then to see Excel on ESPN. I mean all of a sudden there’s a lot of people who are saying, oh, wait, I could do this. I should enter this. I’m using Excel 40 hours a week. I think there’s a huge opportunity there of getting more people to enter the competitions that lead to the ESPN finals just because there’s a good chance that you’re good enough at Excel at your company. Every company has those stars who are the Excel people. I think the competition on ESPN will encourage more of those people to answer in the future.

Paul Jarley: Final question, 10 years from now, are Excel competition still going to be on ESPN? Will they be rivaling other eSports?

Sean Dennis: When I watched the competition, I loved it. One of the thoughts I had is that I didn’t really know what I was watching. I didn’t understand what was going on behind the scenes in Excel, and I think for this to get to the next level, they’ll have to continue to evolve. I think the evolution of going from a tournament down to a survival of the fittest where you kick somebody out every five minutes, I think that’s a good evolution. I think the more that this starts to appeal to the masses, the stronger the chances are that it stays on ESPN.

Adrian Bouchet: You look at the sports that survive on ESPN, they’re the sports that have a sort of an ecosystem, right? I always tell my class, we didn’t just follow Michael Jordan when he got to the Bulls. We knew who he was at college. Nowadays we even know who these players are at high school. So my question would be, can you make Excel relevant at the high school level so people follow it kind of up through the value chain? But I would say yes, as ESPN gets more segmented and certainly there’s only so many SECs and NFLs and MBAs they have to have programming. So I would say, sure.

Paul Jarley: Live content is king these days. Bill, what do you think?

Bill Jelen: I think there’ll be some competition somewhere, whether it’ll be on ESPN or not. I’ve had a long running joke for 20 years that someday Excel would be in the Olympics. This half hour gig on ESPN is just the first step to that. I think eventually, whether it is just on, just on ESPN The Ocho, that’s the day of seldom scene sports. We’re up against Corgi racing and other kind of things that …

Paul Jarley: Wet stair climbing.

Bill Jelen: Yeah, slippery stair climbing, which makes primetime. For me, the first year we were at a 4 a.m. slot in New York and then got moved up to a 7:00 a.m. slot, which is a huge increase because the people who were using Excel 40 hours a week are getting ready for work. I thought that 7 a.m. spot was really good. So I think it’ll evolve. I would love to see Excel not just on The Ocho, but just, “Hey, here’s an Excel competition once a month or whatever.” That would be amazing.

David Clayton Brown: I think we’re going to have collegiate competitions. The Collegiate National Championship, World Championship are going to be where the big airtime comes in. Last year we had Ohio State was the team that won here, and one of their students held up a sign that says, “Michigan fans use Google Sheets.” We’re going to see more good rivalries like that building up. Hopefully we see college competitions, schools scrimmaging each other. Maybe even we have the PAC 12 can survive through Excel eSports perhaps in the future.

Paul Jarley: Andrew, you’ve probably thought the most about the future of this. What do you think?

Andrew Grigolyunovich: My vision is that there are crowds cheering in events where we’ll have Las Vegas finals in personal finals prize money of millions dollars to the winners just like it should be so that it drives the players so that the players will be able to live off the prize money and live off the tournaments. I mean the main stars of the competition. It’s going to be huge and it’s going to be on ESPN and hopefully not on The Ocho.

Paul Jarley: It’s my podcast, so I get to go last. I am all in on the student competition version of this event. Gamification is a thing in education. It’s a great way to motivate learning, feature student skills and give the top contestants the kind of bragging rights that can land them great jobs. It can also bring visibility to the school. I’m so in that we’re going to join David’s competition and win it. Is Excel in eSport? I don’t think so.
Using Adrian’s three criteria, a fair number of geeks probably see it as easy to play and the organizers have the support of Microsoft. But as Sean noted, I don’t think it passes the compelling viewing test. I wasn’t really sure what I was watching and how contestants were winning. That said, the pandemic gave the Excel competition its first window on ESPN and the Hollywood Strike provides another opportunity for Excel competitions to improve their watchability and earn a place on network tv. After all, the E and ESPN stands for entertainment. My staff tells me pickleball is going to be the next big thing, not Excel competitions. But I wouldn’t be surprised if Excel finds a home on the financial channel or some other similar niche business oriented network complete with betting odds.

Listen to all episodes of “Is This Really a Thing?” at business.ucf.edu/podcast.

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Reality TV, strikes and cyborgs, OH MY! Hollywood may be heading toward AI-generated content, and we all may already be living in a cyborg state … so was this episode AI-generated? This is part two of a two-part episode. Be sure to go back and listen to Part 1: Will the Hollywood Strike be an […]

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More reality TV? AI-generated “South Park” episodes? Is this where Hollywood is heading thanks to the latest writer and actor strike? We find out from UCF experts how, and why, the strike will be resolved and how AI will play into plans moving forward. This is part one of a two-part episode. Featured […]

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The Napkin: Hip Hop & Higher Education Across the Globe by Dr. C. Keith Harrison with Dr. Marcis Fennell. Contributor: Hannah Jo Groves

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by Jasmine Garcia The results are in, and Team “We Hate I4” brought home the top prize at the Summer 2023 Great Capstone Case Competition on July 14th. College of Business students Parker Brown, Nicholas Carroll, Christian Garcia-Cobian and Ryan Scism collaborated on an innovative proposal for building a Dollar General distribution center in Mexico. […]

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“Compared to what Florida went through in the two previous recessions, the next recession will be more akin to a tropical depression,” says UCF economist Sean Snaith.

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Student Team Assists Local Small Business with Award Winning ConsultingMay 15, 2023

Orlando, FL – A student team from the University of Central Florida’s College of Business recently placed second in the 2022-23 ‘Graduate Specialized Project of the Year’ category of the Small Business Institute’s® annual Experiential Learning Project of the Year competition.

Competing against MBA teams from across the country, the UCF student team of Corrigan Valcarcel-Jones, Sultan Khan and Jose Sanz won in the Graduate Specialized category on the strength of their consulting project for Mecatos Bakery & Café, a locally-based hospitality franchise company featuring Columbian coffee and specialty food items at 6 locations in Central Florida with more to come.

This is the 18th time a UCF student team has won an award since 2009 when UCF and sponsor Florida Small Business Development Center at UCF first participated in the SBI® national competition. The SBI® is the premier provider of professional development for experiential student team consulting and entrepreneurship education, research and activities.

The Small Business Institute® is featured in a graduate level class in the UCF College of Business: ENT 5946 – Small Business Consulting. The course is led by faculty advisor and Department of Management instructor Carl Blencke as part of a management class. Jill Kaufman, FSBDC Associate Director and Program Manager, with assistance from Jessica Ali, Program Coordinator and Associate Consultant, oversees and manages the program for the FSBDC, which recruits clients, evaluates the students’ skills and matches them to the clients’ needs. In the case of Mecatos Bakery & Café, the student team was guided through the process by Ali in her associate consultant role.

“Congratulations go out to Messrs. Valcarcel-Jones, Khan, and Sanz on their award-winning work,” said Rebecca Bennett, PhD., Professor and Chair of the Department of Management at UCF. “Utilizing the SBI® program as part of our course offering is an important educational partnership between UCF and the FSBDC and a valuable experiential learning platform that contributes to the quality of the student educational opportunity at UCF.”

“Winning this top honor in the SBI®’s competitive awards program is a wonderful recognition of the important contribution made by our UCF students and by the FSBDC and by UCF itself to our client Mecatos Bakery & Café,” commented Eunice Choi, Regional Director for the FSBDC at UCF. “Compliments to the students who have contributed to a small business’s growth, to our client Edwin Lurduy and Mecatos Bakery & Café for his commitment to success, and to UCF for offering a class that so admirably serves its students and its Central Florida business community.”

“Mecatos Bakery & Café is a new concept looking to expand its presence throughout Florida and nationwide. The contributions made by the SBI student project have been incredibly useful for our growth plans. The team’s research of our market, their analysis of our strengths and weaknesses are key for our organization. Their project has established paths for us to follow, shown us areas of improvement and reinforced what we have been doing so well as an organization to have the success we have had,” said Lurduy, founder and owner of Mecatos Bakery & Café and the FSBDC’s client.

Like many in the hospitality and food/beverage industries seeking new growth opportunities after the pandemic, Lurduy’s company was exploring strategies to revamp its marketing efforts and increase visibility and foot traffic, particularly to its Downtown Orlando location. The UCF team presented Lurduy with a comprehensive marketing plan that included new in-sights into his industry, competition and target market, as well as practical action items and recommendations to enhance Mecatos’ online presence, heighten its appeal and attract more customers to its Downtown Orlando location.

— FSBDC —

About the Small Business Institute® Program in Central Florida

About the FSBDC at UCF

About the Florida SBDC Network

For more than 40 years, the Florida SBDC Network, the state’s principal provider of business assistance [Fl. Stat. 288.001], has nourished a statewide partnership between higher education and economic development to provide existing and emerging small and medium-sized business owners with management and knowledge resources that enable overall growth, increased profitability, and economic prosperity for Florida’s economy.

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Business Knights a Family AffairBy BRENT MESKE

Choosing to attend the same college a parent once attended is nothing new. Attending the same college at the same time is something most don’t get the opportunity to do. For the past two years, Sean Parkes and Logan Parkes have been able to do just that.

On Friday, Sean, 47, graduated with his bachelor’s degree in finance after going back to school to continue his education. Logan, 21, is wrapping up his junior year and was recently named the Chair of the Student Ambassadors for the College of Business.

The Parkes have been around UCF their entire life, so the decision on where to go to school was a simple one. Sean and Logan attended local community colleges before arriving at UCF, but both agree that UCF has always been home.

“I was born at Arnold Palmer Hospital and haven’t moved outside a 20-mile radius in my life,” Logan said. “I grew up going to UCF football games, and we have been season-ticket holders multiple times. UCF was always going to be my home.”

Sean has been enrolled at UCF since 2020, with Logan joining in Fall 2022. With Sean having started his UCF journey earlier than Logan, they didn’t get the chance to be in the same classes at the same time. This has provided Logan – who refers to his dad as his unofficial advisor – valuable insight for his college career.

“He helped me navigate campus, showed me shortcuts to class, the best garages to park in, what professors to take and how to study effectively for each class,” said Logan, who hopes to pursue a career in personal finance. “While our experiences have been largely the same, there are, of course, differences. This has led us to meet different people and be able to introduce the other to that person, effectively doubling our connections and deepening our relationships with people we meet.”

While the Parkes don’t have any friendly wagers on grades, they are admittedly super competitive. Sean says Logan is more organized and driven academically, but Logan attributes that to having his dad there to push him.

“Whether he realizes it or not, it has helped tremendously,” Logan said. “My dad has always let me make my own mistakes, so I could learn from them, but also is a helping hand when I needed him.”

A Florida real estate broker and property investor, Sean said going back to school to obtain his degree in finance has helped him learn more about investing, capital budgeting and cash flows, all of which will help him get to the next level in his investments.

Sean attributed Logan approaching high school graduation as the driving factor to go back to school. His advice to anyone considering going back to school later in life is simple: “Do it!”

“When you go back to school because you want to – not because you feel like you have to – it takes on a different meaning,” Sean said. “I felt like I had a zest for learning when I came back to school, whereas, when I was younger, it did not have much appeal for me. For anyone reading this who is considering going back to school, it really is never too late.”

Logan, who was recently named Chair of the Student Ambassadors for the College of Business, said his experience as a Student Ambassador has been an unexpected but rewarding path.

“I was working a full-time job that wasn’t allowing me the time to take advantage of the resources that UCF provides us, and I was faced with the decision of leaving that job to pursue something more flexible,” he said. “That risk has proven to pay off more than I could have expected. I have had the opportunity to build a network with our corporate partners, faculty around the college, and like-minded students who are part of the program. Becoming the Chair is very exciting for me and will push me further out of my comfort zone, which I believe is very important.”

After graduation next summer, Logan hopes to become a financial advisor. He gained experience in the sector through an apprenticeship with Westshore Financial Group. Logan said it’s an opportunity of a lifetime and he hopes it will be his current and final employer.

Although Sean earned his bachelor’s degree this semester, he decided to forgo walking the stage, for now. His plan is to walk next year when Logan graduates. After that? Maybe you’ll see the Parkes in the same MBA courses, at the same time, this time around.

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Business students Victor Vargas Ortiz (from left), Paige Vodopich, Diego Baduy Aumaitre, Ryan Adams and Jose Rodriguez celebrate their Great Capstone Case Competition with Verizon executives and judges Jason Beaty (far left) and Bob Wheatley and UCF Finance Executive in Residence Paul Gregg (far right).Top 3 Finishers Take Home Scholarship Prizes from Sponsor VerizonBy BRENT MESKE

Five College of Business students teamed up to win the 2023 Great Capstone Case Competition with their plan for longtime competition sponsor Verizon to launch an experiential marketing program called “Verizon’s Green Horizon.” Ryan Adams, Diego Baduy Aumaitre, Victor Vargas Ortiz, Jose Rodriguez and Paige Vodopich, who made up Team Inception, beat out a field of 12 semi-finalists on April 29 with their idea for Verizon to establish a meaningful relationship with its customers and educate potential customers about the company’s green initiatives. Each member of Team Inception earned $250 in scholarship funding, thanks to Verizon.

“It was so fun to combine all of our personal experiences, ideas and fields of study to create a product that is uniquely ours, and then getting to experience this once-in-a-lifetime competition with them is something I will keep with me forever,” said Team Inception spokeswoman Vodopich who will graduate with a degree in management this spring. “Our experiential marketing campaign utilizes Biz-Box activations designed to leverage Verizon’s sustainability efforts by targeting the sustainable marketing demographic. It is unique and takes something Verizon does very well, other than providing premium service, and brings awareness to it to strengthen Verizon’s brand reputation and customer loyalty.”

The Great Capstone Case Competition challenges business students to develop strategic recommendations for real-world business issues as part of their final coursework. The panel of judges included Bob Wheatley, Director of Internal Audit for Verizon, and Jason Beaty, Senior Manager of Enterprise Risk Management for Verizon, as well as Paul Gregg, UCF Finance Executive in Residence and longtime Capstone judge.

“We always enjoy this competition every year. I think we’ve been doing this for five or six years now,” Wheatley told the semifinalists before the final three teams were announced. “I’m always amazingly impressed by the poise that you have as students. When I was your age, I was nowhere near as poised as you all are today.”

Team JAVLN (Alexey Akopov, Victor Almanza, Juan Ballesteros, Nathaniel Beardslee and Lucien Lagrange) finished second, earning $150 each. Mamba Mentality (Joel Andrade, Matthew Denning, Christopher Forges and Amy Le) finished third with each student taking home $100.

“The Great Capstone Case Competition is made up of the top six percent of a class that has over 750 graduating College of Business seniors,” said Christopher Leo, associate lecturer of the Strategic Management course. “These future business leaders showcased their skills to create innovative solutions for our client, Verizon Wireless, and delivered those strategic recommendations in a Shark Tank-style competition. It’s always a great privilege for me and our team of amazing faculty to see our students apply what they’ve learned throughout the semester and to defend their analysis with data, research and passion.”

The winning team was also presented the Nichols Cup, named in honor of longtime Capstone instructor Gary Nichols ’87. The team’s lab instructor, Dr. Erna Herzfeldt, will keep the trophy until the next competition.

View Photos from the Event

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The International Journal of Sport and Society granted UCF Professor C. Keith Harrison, Ed.D. and his co-writers the International Award for Excellence for their article “Images of Black Men and White Women: Unpacking Representations of Interracial Couples in Sport and Society.”

Harrison, along with Whitney Griffin and Amanda N. Schweinbenz, wrote the article, which was selected for the award from a pool of the highest-ranked articles through a peer-review process. In recognition, Harrison’s article has been featured on the Journal’s website and will be announced in an upcoming newsletter.

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The U.S News & World Report Best Graduate Schools rankings for 2023 were released Tuesday and included an impressive 51-spot jump to No. 76 for the College of Business’ Part-Time Master of Business Administration (MBA) program.

“It is exciting to see our programs jump significantly in the rankings. I would say our secret to success is our students,” says Keri White Kozlowski, a lecturer of law, business and tax. “They come to in-person classes engaged and ready to debate real business issues in an environment where it is safe to make mistakes. Students and faculty alike bring our best efforts into the classroom. Each of our part-time MBA cohorts become a family during the program and often remain personal and professional connections for life.”

The Part-Time MBA’s jump was just one of many highlights for UCF as a whole. To more about the University’s rankings in the report, check out the UCF Today article.

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A trio of UCF College of Business seniors – Connor Huseman, Nicholas Martins, Mazen Youness – won the 2023 Joust New Venture Competition on Thursday at the Celeste Hotel. Their company, VIP Hard Seltzer, is a first-of-its kind competitor in the hard seltzer marketplace that features collagen protein and appeals to health-conscious consumers.

The unique combination of components has enabled VIP Hard Seltzer to outclass other products in the market, with a 7% alcohol content in a 12-ounce can, while retaining a more crisp and flavorful experience.

“We had nearly 50 applications at the start of this process and are incredibly proud of VIP Hard Seltzer and our other finalists for all the hard work they put into their startups and presentations for each step of the Joust,” said Cameron Ford, Director of the UCF Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership. “All four finalists were highly regarded amongst our judges and the competition was incredibly close. For that, the students should be very proud of themselves as our judge’s panel was packed full of high-ranking professionals from some of the biggest names in their respective industries.”

Similar to NBC’s Shark Tank, the four teams pitched to a panel of five judges, including Jessica Blume ’80 (Retired Vice Chairman, Deloitte), Sean Hayes ’95 (Chief Marketing Officer, Voloridge Investment Management), Laurette Koellner ’77 (Retired President, Boeing), Barry Miller ’95 (President, Voloridge Investment Management) and Kevin Miller (President & Chief Executive Officer, Addition Financial).

The Joust is UCF’s annual premier startup showcase event, hosted by the UCF College of Business’ Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership, and is open to students of all majors. Competitors present their models for a viable business venture and compete to win money and other resources to pursue their venture. This event celebrates student entrepreneurs, introduces them to community leaders and provides key resources to help launch their ventures.

VIP Hard Seltzer was one of four finalists that emerged from a semifinal pool of 16 companies and was awarded $12,000 as champion. Joining the seltzer company in the finals was Certusa AI (Arash Raftari), Hire Match (Justin Press), and PostFlight (Tyler Worrall).

Joust Champion: VIP Hard Seltzer (Connor Huseman, Nicholas Martins, Mazen Youness)
2nd Place: PostFlight (Tyler Worrall)
3rd Place: Hire Match (Justin Press)
4th Place: Certusa AI (Arash Raftari)

PostFlight, a mobile app that connects pilots to share flight time and reduce training costs as well as their carbon footprint, earned $7,000 as runner-up.

Hire Match, which helps companies incorporate applicant tracking systems into their hiring process to prevent the increasing percentage of under-qualified job applicants that make it through hiring systems, earned $4,000 for its third-place finish.

Certusa AI finished fourth and earned $2,000 for a state-of-the-art AI technology that evaluates the value and risk of life insurance policies based on the policyholder and provider information.

The 2023 Joust New Venture Competition was made possible by in-kind sponsors SeacoastBank, Orlando Business Journal, The Orlando Law Group, PL, and Think Integrated.

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Four UCF student teams will face off this Thursday, April 13, in a Shark Tank-style showdown with $50,000 in cash on the line at the Joust New Venture Competition. The students will present business proposals in industries ranging from hard seltzer to AI technology before a panel of judges starting at 2 p.m., at the Celest Hotel on UCF Main Campus. The event is free and open to the public.

The Joust New Venture Competition is UCF’s premier startup showcase event, hosted by the UCF College of Business’s Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership and Blackstone Launchpad. The event features students of all majors and all types of venture proposals. Competitors present their models for a viable business and compete to win money and other vital resources to pursue their venture. The Shark Tank-style event celebrates student entrepreneurs, introduces them to community leaders and provides key resources to help launch their ventures.

Advancing beyond a roster of 16 semifinalists, the four teams moving on to the finals are:

Certusa AI (Arash Raftari, Yaser Fallah): Certusa AI has developed state-of-the-art AI technology for evaluating the value and risk of life insurance policies based on the policyholder and provider information. The company’s solution can be used by the individual policyholder (policy seller) and the life settlement companies or third-party investors (policy buyers). They offer the next generation of data-driven life policy evaluation technology.

HireMatch (Justin Press, Georgia Russell, Kaleo Phoenix): HireMatch helps companies using applicant tracking systems (ATS) in their hiring process prevent the increasing percentage of under-qualified job applicants that make it through the hiring system. HireMatch incorporates a counter key-word based screening algorithm and acknowledgement of similar skills to the description / qualifications section, resulting in a higher overall quality candidate pool and less time spent weeding out unfit candidates.

PostFlight (Tyler Worrall): PostFlight is a mobile app that connects pilots to share flight time and reduce both their training costs and carbon footprint by 50%. The app helps pilots find suitable partners to share flight time with and fosters a sense of community within the aviation industry. This innovative approach to pilot networking makes it easier and more convenient to coordinate flight sharing.

VIP Hard Seltzer (Connor Huseman, Nicholas Martins, Marco Manfredi): VIP Hard Seltzer is the first hard seltzer based on collagen protein, aiming to cater to health-conscious consumers while enhancing taste with flavored collagen concentrate. The unique combination of components has enabled VIP Hard Seltzer to outclass other products in the market, with a 7% alcohol content in a 12-ounce can, while retaining a crisper & more flavorful experience.

A panel of expert professionals representing corporate partners, area businesses and alumni will assess the students’ business plans.

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ORLANDO, Fla. – The American Council on Education (ACE) announced that Pradeep Bhardwaj, Ph.D., Chair of the Department of Marketing at UCF, has been named an ACE Fellow for academic year 2023-24. Following nomination by the senior administration of their institutions and a rigorous application process, 36 Fellows were selected this year—click here for a full list.

“I’m pleased to see that Dr. Bhardwaj has been recognized as an up-and-coming leader by ACE,” said Paul Jarley, Ph.D., Dean of the College of Business. “I’m sure this appointment will benefit his host institution as much as it does Pradeep.”

Bhardwaj is the Carl H. Galloway Professor of Marketing and the Doctoral Program Coordinator for the Ph.D. Marketing Track.

“It is an absolute honor to be selected as an ACE Fellow and I am extremely grateful for the support of President Alexander Cartwright, Provost Michael Johnson, and Dean Paul Jarley,” Bhardwaj said. “I look forward to interacting with senior leadership, across a wide spectrum of universities, and learning about strategic experimentation and prototyping, under systemic disruptions in the educational industry, and bringing this knowledge back to UCF.”

Before arriving at UCF, Bhardwaj served on the faculty at UCLA, UNC-Chapel Hill and UBC Vancouver. In Vancouver, he was the BC Innovation Council Chair in Sales and Sales Management. Bhardwaj earned his Ph.D. from University of Toronto and an MBA from Simon Frasher University, Vancouver. He is an award-winning teacher who has taught at the BBA, MBA and Ph.D. levels and his research has appeared in a variety of publications.

Since its inception in 1965, the ACE Fellows Program has strengthened institutions in American higher education by identifying and preparing more than 2,500 faculty, staff, and administrators for senior positions in college and university leadership through its distinctive and intensive cohort-based mentorship model. Of the Fellows who have participated to date, more than 80 percent have gone on after their fellowship to serve as chief executive officers, chief academic officers, other cabinet-level positions and deans.

“The ACE Fellows Program has a proven track record of developing agile leaders, and it fuels the expansion of a talented and diverse higher education leadership pipeline,” said ACE President Ted Mitchell. “ACE Fellows engage in unique learning experiences before returning to their home campuses armed with a fresh outlook and distinct skillset. I am excited to see all that this class accomplishes.”

The ACE program combines retreats, interactive learning opportunities, visits to campuses and other higher education-related organizations, and placement at another higher education institution to condense years of on-the-job experience and skills development into a single year.

During the placement, Fellows observe and work with the president and other senior officers at their host institutions, attend decision-making meetings, and focus on issues of interest. Fellows also conduct projects of pressing concern for their home institutions and seek to implement their findings upon completion of the fellowship placement.

At the conclusion of the fellowship year, Fellows return to their home institutions with new knowledge and skills that contribute to capacity-building efforts, along with a network of peers across the country and abroad.

Click here for more information.

About ACE

ACE is a membership organization that mobilizes the higher education community to shape effective public policy and foster innovative, high-quality practice. As the major coordinating body for all the nation’s higher education institutions, ACE represents more than 1,700 college and university presidents and related associations. For more information, please visit www.acenet.edu or follow ACE on Twitter @ACEducation.

About UCF College of Business
Established in 1968, the UCF College of Business offers degrees at the bachelor’s, master’s, doctoral and executive levels. All programs, as well as the Kenneth G. Dixon School of Accounting, are accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business— AACSB International. The college provides high-quality academic programs designed to give students a competitive advantage in the world of business now and in the future. Learn more at business.ucf.edu.

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UCF College of Business is an outstanding business school, according to The Princeton Review(R). The education services company recently named the College’s Executive and Professional on-campus MBA programs to its list of Best Business Schools for 2023.

The list features profiles of 243 schools offering on-campus MBA programs that have been rated by Princeton Review and students in the programs.

“All of the b-schools that made our list for 2023 deliver exceptional business education and programs,” said Rob Franek, The Princeton Review’s Editor-in-Chief. “We commend them for their excellent academics, and we recommend them highly to prospective MBA applicants.”

The Princeton Review editors describe the UCF Executive and Professional on-campus MBA programs as MBAs with both great value and a great reputation. The profile also includes comments from enrolled MBA students who were surveyed by The Princeton Review for this project. UCF MBA students stated the program “caters to working adults with a schedule of three Saturdays per month and one Friday,” and that the “concierge service for registration and materials…(allows) working professionals to concentrate on the course work.” Another student said that because “the program is cohort-based,” students are able to interact with their peers and hear “perspectives from other executives in various industries and fields.”

“We work hard to understand the needs of working professionals, the things they value in an MBA experience and the need to integrate their education with their busy lives,” said Paul Jarley, Dean of the UCF College of Business. “It’s the diversity of our high-quality student body, focus on building their professional networks and concierge services that separate our program from the competition.”

The Princeton Review editors weigh more than 60 data points in making their selections for their annual Best Business Schools lists. The selections for the 2023 list took into account data from surveys the company conducted in 2021-22 of administrators at 243 schools offering on-campus MBA programs, as well as surveys over the past three academic years of 20,300 students enrolled in the programs.

The administrator survey requests data on topics from academic offerings, faculty and career services to admission and graduation rates. The student survey asks students to rate their school’s academics, professors, administrators and career services and to report on its campus culture as well as their career plans.

“What students tell us about their experiences at their b-schools contributes substantially to our school selections, profiles and ratings,” Franek noted. “We also factor data from our student surveys into our tallies of 17 of this project’s 18 categories of ranking lists.”

Each ranking list names the top 10 on-campus MBA schools in the category. (The Princeton Review does not rank the 243 schools overall from 1 to 243 on a single list.)

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Howard Phillips Eminent Scholar Chair in Real Estate Dave Harrison speaks at 2022 UCF Real Estate ConferenceThe International Real Estate Society (IRES) recognized UCF Professor and Howard Phillips Eminent Scholar Chair in Real Estate Dave Harrison with the 2023 Achievement Award earlier this month. Harrison, who has been with UCF for eight years, was recognized for his research focused on Real Estate Investment Trusts (REIT), mortgage markets and real estate finance. Harrison’s work appears in IRES sister society journals, including the Journal of Real Estate Research and International Real Estate Review, as well as Real Estate Economics and Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics.

Harrison is regularly requested to present at conferences and speak with doctoral students about their academic career. Previously, Harrison served as President of the American Real Estate Society and Director of Development for the ARES Foundation and has been a faculty member at UCF, Texas Tech, and the University of Vermont.

Harrison’s primary research interests involve real estate investment trusts and mortgage markets. He currently serves as the co-editor of the Journal of Real Estate Literature and is the author of more than 60 peer-reviewed journal articles, including numerous publications in leading academic real estate outlets. Harrison’s articles have received 24 “best paper” awards and in 2007, Harrison was awarded the William N. Kinnard award by the American Real Estate Society. The award was in recognition of “substantial contributions to the field of real estate research achieved under the age of 40.” More recently, Harrison was recognized as the James A. Graaskamp award from ARES in 2019 for “extraordinary iconoclastic thought and/or action throughout a person’s career in the development of a multi-disciplinary philosophy of real estate.”

About the International Real Estate Society (IRES)

The International Real Estate Society (IRES) is a federation of regional real estate societies that encourages global cooperation on research and education. The mission of IRES is to: (1) encourage communication, cooperation, and coordination regarding real estate research and education; (2) encourage and assist in establishment of real estate education and research programs; (3) encourage research on international real estate topics; and (4) encourage and facilitate faculty exchanges. The federation consists of the American Real Estate Society, European Real Estate Society, Pacific Rim Real Estate Society, Asian Real Estate Society, African Real Estate Society, and Latin American Real Estate Society. IRES annually presents three prestigious awards. Nominations come from individual members of the regional societies and the recipients are decided by a vote of a committee comprised of one representative from each of the regional organizations and one industry representative. Further information about IRES and the names of past award recipients can be found at the IRES website, www.iresnet.net.

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Winning App Helps Student Pilots Reduce Training Costs, EmissionsCongratulations to UCF students Tyler Worrall, Laura Murillo and Rachel Flasterstein who finished first, second and third, respectively, at the UCF Social Venture Competition. The competition focused on solutions intended to impact society’s problems.

Worrall’s application, PostFlight, connects student pilots who are then able to share flights, cutting down on training costs and reducing carbon emissions by 50 percent. Murillo’s company, KNOW, provides discrete, cost-effective at-home STD tests for gonorrhea and chlamydia. Flasterstein’s online store, FreeTheV, provides safe and effective gynecologist-recommended vaginal and sexual health solutions.

The Social Venture Competition is an annual event open to current UCF students and features cash prizes for the top three finishers.

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Detroit Lions’ Annual Thanksgiving Game Has UCF Flavor Nov. 23, 2022 By ERIKA HODGES Thanksgiving just wouldn’t be the same without the Macy’s Day Parade, mashed potatoes, pumpkin pie and…the Detroit Lions. The Lions have played at home on Thanksgiving Day since 1934, only pausing during World War II. This year the historic holiday game […]

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Did the pandemic spark a flurry of innovation or was everyone too busy bingeing Tiger King and Outerbanks and Zooming to endless happy hours to launch new businesses and products? Dean Paul Jarley turns to UCF’s entrepreneurial in-house experts along with an alum whose company helps startups grow and scale to find out the answer. […]

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The verdict is in: Team ‘It’s All Legal’ won their case at the Summer 2022 Great Capstone Case Competition on Friday. Business students, Marvin Fung, George Miller, Austin Phouangphrachanh, Michael Serrano and William Walton took home $500 each in scholarship funding, thanks to competition sponsor Platinum Technologies. It’s All Legal beat out eight other teams […]

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Tyler Wright, a 2015 UCF alum, began a career in sales following his graduation, but always knew he wanted to harness his entrepreneurial mindset and create something of his own. When he wasn’t working, Tyler used his free time to learn and make intentional financial decisions that ultimately led him to a seven-figure income at […]

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Inflation hasn’t been much of an issue since Jimmy Carter was in office. But—like Mom Jeans and mullets—it’s totally back. This time, though, it feels different. We’re paying more than ever at the pump and in the grocery stores, so what’s to blame? Is it government spending? Supply chain shortages? The war in Ukraine? We’ve […]

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Bush JT, Baer MD, Welsh DT, Outlaw R, Garud N, Sessions H. To What Do I Owe This Visit? The Drawbacks and Benefits of In-Role and Non-Role Intrusions. Journal of Management. May 2021. View Article

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When COVID lockdowns hit in the spring of 2020, Rafael Irastorza of Winter Springs picked up the perfect pandemic hobby — flower gardening.

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The American Accounting Association will award UCF professor Greg Trompeter and co-authors Jeffrey Cohen and Kim Westermann with the 2022 Deloitte Foundation Wildman Medal Award for their paper, “PCAOB Inspections: Public Accounting Firms on Trial” published in the Summer 2019 issue of Contemporary Accounting Research. The AAA award will be presented Aug. 1, at the […]

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MAN-dalorians Team Wins $3,500 from Verizon for Customer Service App Idea By ERIKA HODGES Business Knights and Baby Yoda made a winning team at this semester’s Great Capstone Case Competition. The MAN-dalorians team, featuring members Katherine Cueto (Integrated Business), Jack Boos (Finance), Hannah Thomas (Marketing) and Kenneth Colón (Accounting and Finance), earned first place and […]

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By Dr. C. Keith Harrison and Associates

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Four College of Business students have been named as 2021-22 recipients of the Order of Pegasus, UCF’s most prestigious student award for those who display incredible academic achievement, university involvement, leadership and community service. During their time at UCF, Trinity McCall-Peaks, McKenna Melville, Jaylen Brown and Scott Wolfe coached and mentored other students, won athletics […]

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by: Marisa Davino Fairways to Leadership is a new RSO at UCF that aims to promote diversity, equality and inclusion in the workplace while providing education and professional opportunities to its members. Leadership is at the forefront of the program whose mission is to develop the leadership abilities of college students from diverse communities using […]

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Roberto Burguet and József Sákovic, January 14, 2022. Procurement Lobbying Burguet

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Baudot, L., Kelly, K, and McCullough, A. 2021. Contemporary conflicts in perspectives on work hours across hierarchical levels in public accounting. The Accounting Review. Available online. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aos.2021.101308

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Baudot, L., and Cooper, D. 2021. Regulatory mandates and responses to uncomfortable knowledge: The case of country-by-country reporting in the extractive sector. Accounting, Organizations and Society, 101308. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aos.2021.101308

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This past summer marked a significant change for college athletes as the NCAA voted to allow them the opportunity to benefit from their name, image and likeness. While it’s certainly a significant change in the NCAA’s approach and rulemaking, what will it mean for most student athletes, especially those outside the big conferences and revenue-generating […]

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Five business seniors who dubbed themselves Team Senioritis earned $3,000 in scholarship funding and the top spot at this semester’s Great Capstone Case Competition with their recommendation that competition sponsor Verizon utilize 5G network technology to improve airport security. Graduating seniors Ryan Bis, James Smith, Anthony Tran, Talia Vasquez and Katarina Vue pitched their plan […]

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UCF students Robert Burke, Owen Burns, Michael Bradford and Veronica Suarez won $1,000 each in the first Blackstone LaunchPad Ideas Competition, where contestants showcased their early-stage ideas. In addition to the cash prizes, Burke, Burns, Bradford and Suarez also earned automatic entries into the National Ideas Competition where they’ll compete for the chance to take […]

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Our Alumni Spotlight in the UCF College of Business Graduate Programs is Paige Biller. Biller is a 2017 graduate of UCF’s inaugural cohort of the Master of Science in Management-Business Analytics program. Biller also obtained a bachelor’s degree from UCF in business and managerial economics. Upon graduating from UCF with a bachelor’s degree in economics […]

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From the article: There is a common impression that younger people play an outsized role in the technology industry, said Tang Wang, an assistant professor at the University of Central Florida College of Business, who studies the demographics of technology founders. This makes sense on a theoretical level, Wang said. “By its definition, technological ventures […]

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Christina Martin, a 1992 UCF alumna, is passionate about the Knights and paying it forward. Now as the Executive Director of Marketing at USAA Bank, she is still grateful for the scholarship she received while studying marketing as an undergrad in the College of Business. In fact, it inspired her and her husband, Bill, […]

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By Maria Pacheco and Lesley Crews The champions of the summer semester’s Great Capstone Case Competition won over the judges with their proposal for sponsor FAIRWINDS Credit Union to implement a new communications strategy and add branches in growing areas of Central Florida. The Financial Independent Partners Team of Julio Allen, Spencer Dubay, Matthew […]

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Find yourself asking “Where’s the beef?” when you order a burger these days? You could be a victim of “Shrinkflation.” Rising demand post-pandemic and disrupted supply chains are impacting many of the goods and foods we consume. Will we be getting less of a product for the same price as companies try to protect their […]

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If you’re wondering what an NFT, aka Non-Fungible Token, is, well, you’re not alone. CryptoPunks and CyberCats are selling for six and seven figures and even Christie’s is getting in on the digital art action. So we’ve got questions…what are these digital items, why are people investing a fortune in them (and should you?), and […]

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By Alyssa Babcock & Erika Hodges Team Cash Money LLP hit the jackpot at this semester’s Great Capstone Case Competition with their recommendation that competition sponsor Verizon bring its technological prowess to the construction industry. The team of graduating business students Ricardo Viloria, Graham Sock, Michael Hernandez and Chloe Childer took home $2,500 in scholarship […]

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Finals week is creeping up on us, and it is important to begin preparation. Moving to online classes in these past semesters has been a transition for everyone, and it may have led to some bad habits that students need to break out of to reach their full potential on finals. These psychological, physical and […]

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Contribution becomes largest gift in UCF Day of Giving history By Josh Miranda A $250,000 gift from Jessica Blume ’80 and her husband, Ken, will support a scholarship program for business students who are the first in their families to attend college. This commitment, which marks the largest single gift in the history of the […]

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In a business proposal showdown for $50,000 in cash and essential services, four student teams will deliver their best pitches to a panel of seasoned judges at the finals of the Joust New Venture Competition Thursday, April 8 at 3 p.m. The event, presented by Echelon, is open to the public and will take place […]

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As a program manager for Google in New York City, Molly Meyers says she uses the skills she learned in the UCF College of Business Evening MBA program every day. The two-time UCF alumna who earned her MBA in 2016 is our UCF Alumni Spotlight. Meyers first graduated from UCF with a B.S. in Anthropology […]

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A structural approach to measuring the degree of economic integration: Evidence from G-7 countries.

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Members Include C-Level Execs and Nationally, Globally Recognized Corporations

ORLANDO, Fla. – Ron Piccolo, Ph.D., Chair and Galloway Professor of Management, Department of Management at UCF College of Business was recently named to the executive board of directors for the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Metro Orlando (HCCMO). Piccolo joins a talented group of leading Orlando and national executives that includes:

Chair: John de Armas, CEO, Profitland Partners
Vice-Chair: Jan Aspuru, COO, Orlando Utilities Commission
Vice-Chair-Elect: Jeff Villanueva, CEO, East Orange Market at AdventHealth
Treasurer: Oscar Cristancho Mercado, Assistant VP of Budgets & Analysis, Valencia College
Legal Advisor: Roberto Santoni, Managing Partner, Florida In-House Counsel Law Group
Secretary: Elisha Gonzalez Bonnewitz, Vice President, Government Affairs and Community Relations, FAIRWINDS Credit Union and Executive Director, FAIRWINDS Foundation
Director-at-Large: Humberto Hormaza, Senior VP & General Manager, Entravision Communications Orlando

Other board members include Gaby Ortigoni, HCCMO president and CEO, and 18 directors, including Piccolo:

Nicholas Abrahams, VP, Corporate Engagement, Orlando Economic Partnership
Janice Abrew-Coriano, Communications, Events and Community Affairs Manager, Rosen Hotels & Resorts
Wilmer Alvarez, VP, Orlando Health Foundation
Janet Balanoff, Associate VP for Equity and Diversity, Seminole State College
Dick Batchelor, President and Founder, Dick Batchelor Management Group, Inc.
Michael Brown, CEO, Travel + Leisure
Margarita Calo, Manager Asset Management, Maintenance and Strategy, Central Zones, Duke Energy
Belinda Kirkegard, Economic Development Director, City of Kissimmee (Immediate Past Chair)
Angela Lagos, Assistant Director of Diversity & Inclusion, Universal Parks & Resorts
Mario Mendolaro, Principal Counsel, Walt Disney World
Madeline Otero, VP & Corporate Controller, Tupperware Brands
Juliana Peña, Manager, Air Service and Business Development, Orlando International Airport
Todd Piorkowski, President, Perk Business Solutions, LLC
Juan C. Quiroga, CEO, JCQ Investments/JCQ Services
Conrad Santiago, Private Wealth Advisor, The Trentham Santiago Group, Ameriprise Financial Services
Karen Skyer, Attorney at Law, Skyers Law, P.A.
Shelly Wilkes, Sr. VP, Marketing & Social Responsibility, Orlando Magic

The composition of the Board reflects the important role that the Chamber and Hispanic businesses play in the Central Florida community, as well as the value that this economic development organization places on diversity and inclusion. The Board boasts strong representation of prominent Hispanic-owned businesses that are industry leaders in the Central Florida region and state.

“Our Chamber has been advocating for the business growth of the over one million Hispanics in Central Florida for 28 years,” Ortigoni said. “We are proud to have a board that demonstrates the importance of large corporations and Hispanic-owned businesses working together to strengthen our region’s economy.”

de Armas, a C-level executive with an exceptional global track record of disrupting and revolutionizing organizations and leading the journey of creating customer-centric and highly profitable enterprises, is the new Chairman of the board. Under his leadership, the board will guide and promote HCCMO programs and events under the Chamber’s new focus pillars: Commerce Opportunities, Coaching and Community Building, providing an array of services, tools and opportunities for both small business and professional members to increase exposure and profits.

“We’re entering a new era at the Hispanic Chamber,” said de Armas. “We’re placing an intentional focus on helping members ‘scale up’ their businesses. Providing value for our members will be at the epicenter of every decision we make and everything we do.”

For more information on member benefits or to become a member, visit HispanicChamberOrlando.com.

The post Piccolo Named to Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Metro Orlando Board appeared first on College of Business.

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Brothers Kyle (left) and Bryon White (right) travel across North Florida to explore the available sources of Yaupon in the state. Advancing to the final round of an entrepreneurship competition is nothing new for Kyle White and his Yaupon Brothers American Tea Company, but the Blackstone LaunchPad Pitch Competition will offer White a shot at $50,000 in prizes and the opportunity to (virtually) present to thousands of attendees at the Startup Grind Global Conference on Tuesday, Feb. 23. White previously led Yaupon Tea to win the UCF Joust New Venture Competition in 2017 and has continued to earn support from the startup community ever since.

“It is always great to advance to the final round of any pitch competition,” said White. “This one does feel different as we are surrounded by some fantastic competition from ventures launched at schools such as UCLA, Cornell, USC and UC Davis. This event being in partnership with Blackstone and Google is also a bit surreal!”

Among a field of 60+ student startups, Yaupon was selected as one of eight finalists to compete in the final round of the Blackstone LaunchPad Pitch Competition. Along with the first, second and third place winners, viewers will get to select the winner of the People’s Choice award by casting their votes at blackstonelaunchpad.org/vote.

“Winning this competition would mean a great deal for us,” White said. “Outside of the prize money, it is a great way to validate our idea of using Yaupon to help Florida farmers while also providing a cleaner, more ethical and American grown tea option. We are also hoping to bring home the win for UCF as this University has done so much for us.”

The Yaupon Holly is the only naturally-caffeinated plant in North America. Kyle’s brother Bryon noticed the plant everywhere in Central Florida – even on UCF’s Rosen campus. Founded by siblings Kyle and Bryon White in 2012, Yaupon Brothers American Tea Company grows, processes and sells tea made from the Yaupon Holly. The slow-growing tree is North America’s only naturally caffeinated, antioxidant-rich plant and is also abundant in Central Florida. Earning more than $380,000 in revenue in 2020, Yaupon tea is sold in more than 500 stores nationwide and is also carried by Amazon. When Kyle White is not growing tea, he helps other students launch their ideas as a coach in UCF’s Blackstone LaunchPad powered by Techstars.

“The LaunchPad has helped us in every imaginable way, not just for this moment, but for every moment and challenge we have faced as a business,” White said. “Starting a business as a student can be scary and stressful. But there are so many resources at UCF. Between the free databases from the library, coaching from the LaunchPad, and utilizing your professors and the alumni network – there is an abundance of help.”

The post UCF Student Startup Reaches Final Round of National Pitch Competition appeared first on College of Business.

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Build your network and find your passion at the UCF College of Business Invitational. By Christina Alonso

It is never too early to begin searching for your next big opportunity. The Invitational is the UCF College of Business’ exclusive, invite-only job and internship fair. As a virtual event designed to connect top business students with employers and recruiters, The Invitational is the perfect place to discuss your career interests and passions with companies who want to hire YOU! The guide below contains five of the best reasons to attend The Invitational this semester.

Grow Your Network Going to The Invitational will allow you to meet both employers and students within your industry. You can utilize your LinkedIn profile to stay in contact with those connections. Building a network on LinkedIn allows you to stay connected and reach out if you find open opportunities within their field. You can also reach out for informational interviews about their role and company to learn more about your industry. Sometimes it’s not about what you know, but who you know.
Be Exposed to Your Industry When attending The Invitational, you’re able to learn about your options. You can learn about the different career paths in your field and become more familiar with companies that have open opportunities. You can also ask people about their journey and create a career development plan if you want to follow in their footsteps. Remember, each and every person’s path is different! Angelande Estilien, a marketing student, utilized her network to diversify her options later on.

“I talked to my list of targeted employers and ones who were not on my list,” said Estilien. “I made sure to be personable so that I was memorable and to get the names of the recruiters I talked to. I sent thank you emails within 24 hours. While I wasn’t hired right away, months later when I was in need of a job, I emailed all the employers I spoke with and reminded them of our conversations during The Invitational. Then, I asked if they were hiring and attached my resume. One of them answered and I got hired as an intern.”

Prepare for the Real World When preparing for an event like The Invitational, you’re also preparing yourself for future networking events, professional settings and interviews. You’ll learn how to carry yourself and dress for the event, present yourself with an elevator pitch and resume and grow your network. Take notes and research the roles and companies you want to work for so you’re able to create a career development plan to get there. At the very least, you’ll have the tools and professional network when you’re ready. Kali Bennett, an integrated business student, prepared to meet with employers by looking up background information on each company she was interested in.

“I stood out to employers by researching the company, the position and even the recruiter who would be interviewing me,” said Bennett. “Preparing questions around the recruiter’s experience shows them that you’ve researched the company and show an interest in the position.”

Secure an Internship If you are able to secure an internship, that’s a huge accomplishment! Internships are stepping stones to obtaining a job after college. Even if you don’t receive a job offer from where you interned, employers love to see students taking initiative and getting involved in their industry. While organizations benefit from having interns, it is crucial to make sure they are also providing you with a valuable experience. Pick an internship that both parties can thrive in. Rebecca Lubelski, a marketing student, used her internship as a chance to learn on the job.

“The biggest takeaway from my internships is to treat every experience as a learning opportunity,” said Lubelski.

Get to the One! UCF College of Business wants to help students “Get to the One!” Once you’ve completed an internship and made an impact at your company, you’ll be on your way to finding a job that’s the best fit for you! For Kali Bennett, The Invitational is all about opening doors to new opportunities and learning more about herself.

“It really is important to take advantage of every opportunity. When a company offers a mentorship program or networking socials, definitely attend and make the most of it to learn more and network with new people,” said Bennett.

Ready to Sign Up? To earn your ticket to The Invitational, register for a Qualifier Session/Career Cluster or schedule an appointment with a Career Coach. Visit our Office of Professional Development’s website to get started!

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GameStop and AMC made national headlines for unexpected reasons as retail investors from social media website Reddit began feverishly scooping up shares in each company. While the resulting drama caused wild swings in stock prices and scrutiny against some online trading platforms, the long term impacts remain to be seen. Did “Redditors” usher in a new era of retail stock trading? Or are these so-called meme stocks just another example of financial history repeating itself?

Featured Guests * Garrett Cummings – President, UCF Young Investors Club * Kevin Mullally, Ph.D. – Assistant Professor of Finance, UCF College of Business

Episode Highlights * 1:04 – Introduction * 2:48 – Why would anyone invest in GameStop? * 7:22 – What led to the media spotlight on $GME? * 12:37 – Who is the group driving the run on GameStop stock? * 14:27 – Is this a legitimate area of finance research? * 16:37 – Historical similarities * 20:12 – How is this run on $GME going to end? * 22:08 – What’s the future for meme stocks as a whole? * 28:27 – Will this still be a story a year from now? * 31:33 – Dean Jarley’s final thoughts

Episode Transcription Paul Jarley: Remember the E-Trade Baby?

E-Trade Baby: A lot of people are like, “Isn’t it difficult to invest in the markets?” And I’m like, “Not if you’re using E-trade. Making a big investment is as easy as a single click.” Boom. I just bought some stocks.

Paul Jarley: I think he was the first meme investor. He didn’t last long.

E-Trade Baby: Wait, why is this line going down? Oh God, it just dropped 400 points. This is not happening. Dear Lord, I made a horrible, horrible mistake. ****

Paul Jarley: Or maybe he just moved onto the social media site, Reddit [crosstalk 00:00:31] and lost hundreds of thousands of dollars trading stock in GameStop. Turns out he’s just one of many.

E-Trade Baby: Take it back. Sell, sell, sell, sell, sell. Too late. It’s all gone.

Paul Jarley: This show is all about separating hype from fundamental change. I’m Paul Jarley, Dean of the College of Business here at UCF. I’ve got lots of questions. To get answers, I’m talking to people with interesting insights into the future of business. Have you ever wondered, “Is this really a thing?” Onto our show.

Paul Jarley: So GameStop has obviously been in the news a lot over the last week, and to help me understand what’s going on here, I’ve convened a panel of experts. Kevin Mullally is an assistant professor in our finance department. Garrett Cummings is the president of our student investment club and a finance major. And I pulled in our own Josh Miranda, who knows a little bit about viral marketing and maybe viral finance to have a conversation about GameStop and its short-term and long-term implications. But I want to start out with a story. When I first came to UCF, one of the first groups I met with were some executives at EA sports.

Paul Jarley: And they said to me, “We know right now we’re a company that puts the $60 box in a GameStop for people to purchase, but we know that’s about to go away. We know that a few years from now, we will have developed into something like iTunes, where people electronically download whatever the game is into their console. And we think after that, we will become a company that offers various components of games that people can download and create their own game. And we want to understand that consumer more and what aspects of the games they like and dislike, so that we can meet that market demand when it comes.” Now, I raise that story because that was 10 years ago, and EA sports knew GameStop was dead then. So when I first heard the stories about GameStop, I have to admit my first reaction was, “Wow, they’re still around? Why would anybody invest in GameStop?” Is there a legitimate reason to believe that GameStop has a future? Kevin, do you want to kick us off? I’ll pick on you first.

Kevin Mullally: Yeah, absolutely. So I did a bit of researching that question myself, actually, kind of thinking the same thing, because as you guys probably know, at certain points during this whole incident, GameStop was actually more valuable as a company, as a going entity than was Best Buy. And again, my reaction is the same as yours.

Paul Jarley: Or Delta Airlines, I think I read somewhere.

Kevin Mullally: Correct, correct. So all kinds of crazy mis-valuations, very clearly. And so I looked back into the history of it, and kind of the thing that has come out is that there are actually quite a few people that were long in GameStop, even sort of middle of 2019.

Paul Jarley: Explain long, Kevin, for our listeners.

Kevin Mullally: Oh, I’m sorry. So they had established a position where they had held a good number of shares in that company. So they were investors in that firm mid 2019, early 2020, well in advance of any of this taking place. In the argument, one of the most famous guys that had established a pretty sizeable position in GameStop was Michael Burry, who listeners may be familiar with from the movie The Big Short. He was kind of one of the guys that very famously predicted that the housing market was going to collapse. And his argument for investing in GameStop was basically that it had been mismanaged, that they had a whole bunch of cash on their books, that they had been making a bunch of bad acquisitions, and just generally had poor management and a lot of managerial turnover at that time as well.

Kevin Mullally: And his argument was that, “Look, hey, if we can get these guys to buy back their shares, we can take cash off the books and deploy that more efficiently in the market. It’s going to make the firm more valuable and the shares more valuable.” And so that was the argument for it, is that they had a lot of cash on the books. We can basically just kind of skim this thing down and take that cash and make it more valuable elsewhere. And so that was the argument for him and then several other hedge fund investors who came in later on as well to try to establish, to take some control over that firm. So the argument was potential, basically.

Paul Jarley: Okay. So that cash had built up over a number of years?

Kevin Mullally: That’s my understanding.

Paul Jarley: Okay, because I doubt they even own the real estate they’re in, right? I mean, I think there’s probably little asset there.

Kevin Mullally: Yeah, that’s probably true. What I definitely know is that the number that I saw as far as their cash holdings was like $500 million.

Paul Jarley: Wow.

Kevin Mullally: So a very sizeable amount of cash that they were just basically sitting on, or misusing in many cases.

Paul Jarley: Well, because here’s one of the first questions I would have for our two younger colleagues who are here on this podcast. Josh, when’s the last time you set foot in a GameStop? I know you’re a gamer.

Josh Miranda: I mean … so the difference in setting foot in a GameStop, maybe a little bit more recently, but actually buying something from a GameStop? It has been quite some time. It’s just most game consoles nowadays, the new ones don’t even have disc drives, so you can just download the games directly from the vendors, from the publishers. So why leave your house to check out what’s out there when you can just download it?

Paul Jarley: Garrett. How about you? Have you ever set foot in a GameStop?

Garrett Cummings: Yeah, it’s been a very long time, I must say. And being a brick and mortar company, you got to sell the best. With everything moving online, GameStop is definitely not the first place I think of when I want to download a new video game.

Paul Jarley: Right, they’re in a space where you can download things directly located in shopping malls. Could there be a company in a worse position than GameStop? It’s kind of hard to imagine, really. So it’s not surprising, I think, that some hedge funds started shorting it. Kevin, would you mind explaining shorting for our listeners?

Kevin Mullally: Absolutely. Yeah. So this is a pretty common thing that hedge funds do. So when you short a stock, what you are doing is you are borrowing those shares from somebody else in the market. You are taking them and you are selling them, in a sense, and then hoping that the stock will fall so that you can later go back and buy them to replace what you’ve borrowed, and thus you win, you make money if those shares fall. The risk, of course, is that they could also go up, and if they go up, your risk is unlimited. They could go up to infinity, theoretically, and you would lose a whole bunch of money or all of your money.

Paul Jarley: Now, just so I understand the scope of the potential loss here for the market, you can’t short more shares than are in circulation though, can you? Is it the number in circulation or is it the number authorized?

Kevin Mullally: So one of the impetuses for these, for the sort of Redditors to buying GameStop and begin squeezing these guys is the fact that the short interest was actually above the shares outstanding. In aggregate … not a single trader of course, but in aggregate, I want to say the number was 138%. So they had shorted 138% of all shares outstanding. And so the issue there becomes that clearly everybody can’t buy back the shares they’ve shorted at one time. So if you start to see the stock price increase, some people are going to be hung out to dry because they will not be able to buy those shares back to cover their position. And so it obviously can get a bit more technical when you start differentiating between shares outstanding and then the shares that are actually available to be traded. The term would be float.

Paul Jarley: Yeah.

Kevin Mullally: But long story short, yes, there was an issue here that the amount of shorting that was going on exceeded the amount of shares that were able to be traded or available to be traded.

Paul Jarley: And this got some hedge firms, as I understand it, in trouble. The question I had there is it surprises me that a hedge fund would have a significant percentage of its portfolio in a short position with a particular company. Is that unusual?

Kevin Mullally: It’s actually not that unusual. And the reason is if you think about sort of investing, one of the things that we would teach our students right off the bat is that diversification is done to eliminate firm specific risk.

Paul Jarley: Right.

Kevin Mullally: You hold a diversified portfolio to get rid of that.

Paul Jarley: Yep.

Kevin Mullally: Now, if you’re holding a diversified portfolio and you’re not really taking any firm specific risks, it’s also difficult to generate abnormal returns. You’re in essence holding the market. And so if you’re a hedge fund and you’ve got five or 10 really great ideas, one way that you can generate abnormal returns is by basically going all in on those five or 10 ideas, especially in the case of short campaigns. And so it’s actually not as abnormal as you would expect. That’s just one of the things these guys do. They’re very, in many cases, high risk vehicles for investment, and that’s what they do. They just take on these very concentrated bets because they believe in them or they believe they can influence the outcomes or other things like that.

Paul Jarley: Garrett, do you have any GameStop stock?

Garrett Cummings: No, it’s kind of interesting though. The stock itself met our criteria perfectly around the $30 mark. And an idea that we’re teaching, I remember this is something called volatility contraction, meaning that we’re not buying when a stock is bouncing around from $20 to $40 in big swings. Looking for when a stock really settles down in a period of five days to a few weeks within the context of an uptrend. And so we teach our members to buy when the stock makes a new high after it’s consolidated for a period of time in a very tight manner. And what this allows us to do, it allows us to take a decent sized position in a stock, like Kevin was mentioning, but because the volatility of the stock has dried up, it allows us to keep our risk for a stop-loss very close behind it. And so a few of my friends followed this trade, actually. And so they had 30 or 40% of their accounts in this trade when it broke out with a portfolio risk of only about 0.8% roughly behind it. And so did it meet their criteria? Yes, but sadly, because of the fundamental idea, I didn’t believe in GameStop at all. I succumb to more of the fundamental side, and I did not take the trade myself.

Paul Jarley: Did you have some friends who got rich?

Garrett Cummings: I’d had a few friends that made about 40 to 60 grand, so not a million dollars stories, but definitely enough to pay off any debts outstanding, especially at our age. And yeah, they did very well on it.

Paul Jarley: So why didn’t GameStop use this as an event to raise even more cash? Kevin, maybe you answered that early, but do you have a sense of why they didn’t do that?

Kevin Mullally: Yeah, so that’s actually one of the long term implications of this whole incident that I think is the most interesting. So there are a couple of reasons, practically. One, it’s obviously hard to do a seasoned equity issue that quickly. And then the second is more just from an investor’s perspective. So sort of my non-technical description of this whole thing would be that it felt like musical chairs to me. Who’s going to be the last person standing, that’s holding the stock?

Paul Jarley: And you don’t want it to be you, right?

Kevin Mullally: No. No, absolutely not. And so typically what’s going to happen here is with these equity issues, they’re going to be underwritten by an investment bank, and the first sales are going to go out to institutions and stuff like that. And what institution in its right mind is buying GameStop at 300 bucks a share? What is your expected return in that world if you’ve made 300 bucks for this? And so I suspect that there’s some of that going on as well, is that they just know that this is not really viable. They could do an equity issue, but they’re not getting $300 a share for that.

Paul Jarley: Yeah. So who are these Reddit people? Give me some insights here. Are these guys in people’s basements? Josh, you want to weigh in here –

Josh Miranda: Yeah, so –

Paul Jarley: As a reader of Reddit.

Josh Miranda: Yeah, so I mean a lot of my work is kind of in digital media and marketing and communications. So I kind of end up spending a good chunk of my personal and professional life kind of following these trends, these social media communities, if you will. And this subreddit is what it’s called, and this one is called wall street bets. This has been around for several years, as a matter of fact. There’s something like, I think, tens of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands of people who frequent this subreddit to some degree. And the idea being is that they kind of treat Wall Street a little bit more like a casino, and they make a show of some of their buys and some of their losses.

Josh Miranda: I mean, they have their own language for the way they describe some of the trades they make and for the losses that they have. And a lot of it kind of surrounds the way a meme can go viral, for example, and this whole GameStop thing has kind of happened the same way, where you have people who are blindly investing in GameStop just because of the herd mentality. And then they’re posting about their, “Hey, I lost $20,000, I lost $30,000,” and they get a whole bunch of upvotes on their post and the community cheers them on. It’s really … it’s kind of fascinating.

Paul Jarley: Is this where the term meme stock comes from? Is that where this –

Josh Miranda: This is exactly where … yes.

Paul Jarley: You’re paying a lot for that fame.

Josh Miranda: Yes, yes. I believe this community is the one that kind of coined the term meme stock. And it’s right there along with the likes of AMC, with Blackberry, companies who similarly you may not think would be doing too well.

Paul Jarley: Kevin, is this a legitimate area of research in finance?

Kevin Mullally: Absolutely. So this is actually kind of well-timed. We had a seminar speaker here a few weeks ago who presented a paper on Robinhood, and basically talked about retail trading and how Robinhood has facilitated in that and what the effects are. And in essence, this has become a really … this is a really extreme example of his paper, but basically what he saying is that retail traders, people on Robinhood, this kind of demographic of trader essentially buy stocks sort of ignorantly. They just buy whatever is going up or going down and then they just lose their lunch. The stocks that they buy go down quite significantly, five or 10% over the next 20 days. And so, yeah, this notion of how retail trading could affect the market and the propensity of people to be trading over Robinhood and things like that is definitely important, especially given the fact that retail trading has become bigger now, with Robinhood and the sort of commission-free trading and that type of thing. It’s definitely getting to be a more economically significant portion of the market.

Josh Miranda: Yeah. If I can jump in there, it’s kind of been fascinating to watch it from the lens of this Reddit community, because they quickly turned against Robinhood once they started limiting trading of some of these so-called meme stocks, GameStop, AMC, and they almost took on this sort of David and Goliath sort of mentality. We got to stick it to the man. We’re going to stop using Robin hood. We’re going to leave them negative reviews on the app store. And it’s just been interesting to see the way that herd mentality has really driven so many of these key decisions and financial decisions for a lot of these people.

Paul Jarley: Do we have any estimates of how many people we’re talking about here?

Josh Miranda: You mean on the community or how many –

Paul Jarley: Yeah. Well in the description we’re talking about it. I’m going to be a little blunt here, the number of stupid investors that appear to be out there.

Josh Miranda: Sure. Well, so on the front page of this subreddit, it lists 8.6 million degenerates, is what they call themselves, and that’s people who are registered as part of that community. So it’s a lot of people who are at least following this.

Paul Jarley: Now Garrett, do you have any sense of that just from –

Garrett Cummings: Yeah. I’m very proud of the American people for getting back into the marketplace. The number of investors has been on decline since ’08 for a little bit, and it really … I’ve done a lot of studying of the market history. And it really does feel like we’re back in the roaring ’20s a little bit, back when the American people did take a big passion in the stock market. And me being a young, passionate person myself about it, I really hope it’s opened people’s eyes to saying, “Wow, even if I would have just invested $100 in this company, and I did it at the proper time with low risk, I could’ve had a very nice rainy day fund off of that.” And so to me, it’s inspirational. We’re taking down the barrier of the big guy versus the small guy.

Garrett Cummings: The information out there moves so fast, and the fact that this little Reddit page of Wall Street users was able to find out, “Wow, this stock is 140% short interest, let’s run this sucker through the roof.” The fact that they were able to do their due diligence, even though there are a lot of crazy people out there who just go with the herd mentality, the fact that they came out with that information when no other fund or hedge fund easily could have done the same thing or found it, I think that speaks volumes, that the playing field between institutional and retail investors is narrowing at a very rapid rate.

Paul Jarley: Yeah. Is it an American phenomenon though? Or is it a worldwide phenomenon? Does anybody have a sense of that?

Josh Miranda: I know I’ve seen specific commenters, just kind of browsing through the threads, so I mean there are people from other countries. I don’t know if they’re the ones actually making the spend here, but I mean there are people who frequent this website who aren’t from the states.

Paul Jarley: Where are we now with GameStop and that story? I thought it was down to about $90 a share. Is that the last I saw? Is it down below that?

Kevin Mullally: It really depends when you check. It changes every 30 seconds. It’s pretty hypnotic to watch. It’s 61 right now.

Paul Jarley: 61?

Kevin Mullally: Yeah.

Paul Jarley: So are we near the end of the story, do you think?

Garrett Cummings: Personally, I think this is something we’ve seen time and time again, if you’ve paid attention to market history. In the early 1900s, you had the Northern Pacific Railroad had a similar phenomenon. It was $150 a share, short interest was through the roof and a group of traders decided to take advantage of it. And the stock, in one day, went all the way up to a thousand dollars a share before coming all the way back down to $350 a share. You’ve had these boom and busts all throughout history. You had the tulip craze, the South Sea bubble, the .com bubble. So it’s all sorts of things. And usually when a trip … and most recently in the cannabis sector about three years ago, you had [inaudible 00:19:14] rate go from $30 all the way up to $300 a share. So usually when you get these type of moves and they’re round trip, if you did not lock in any profit, I think it’s a very excellent time to go ahead and head for the exit door. The easy money was made on the way up and now it’s just very similar to catching a falling knife.

Paul Jarley: So Garrett, I have to admit, it’s kind of refreshing to have a young guy tell an old guy like me to try to remember history here, because it repeats itself regularly.

Garrett Cummings: Yeah. I get a lot of jokes with my friends, because I’ve read Peter Lynch’s old books, [inaudible 00:19:47], The Old Market Wizard’s books and so on. And a guy named Jesse Livermore said it best: “Human nature is not going to change. So as long as the markets are dictated by human nature, only the names are going to change. You’re eventually going to see a similar bubble situation elsewhere and if you call it a bubble, it can be scary. But if you call it an opportunity, you can catch on the way up if you find a low risk entry and do very well for yourself.”

Paul Jarley: So Kevin, how do you think the GameStop story’s going to end? Is somebody going to buy them? Are they going to go out of business? What’s going to go on there?

Kevin Mullally: I’m not sure. I mean, I think they clearly have to evolve. I mean that seems obvious, that the brick and mortar or video game sales is not really a sustainable operation. In terms of the trading, I’m not sure. I actually think that this could be a more regular event, and I think data’s coming out … when I was kind of reading about this this morning, a lot of data’s coming out that maybe this wasn’t really the retail versus Wall Street kind of thing that it was pitched to be, that one of the main guys in Reddit was a guy who worked for Mass Mutual and is an actual broker. And there’s questions now about how legal his actions were.

Paul Jarley: I was just going to ask that. Was that legal?

Kevin Mullally: Yeah, so there’s quite a bit going on here. And a story came out yesterday that said that this Sendvest Investment, which is a hedge fund, they made $700 million off of this. So it’s not even obvious to me that this is a retail versus Wall Street thing. And the funny thing is, is that this is social media, and maybe the medium by which this is taking places a bit different, but this has been kind of a tactic hedge funds have used for a really long time with trying to get stocks to move in the direction that they want. When a hedge fund does a short campaign, they often do media events about it and they do press releases and they accuse the firm of doing things that are not so great and that kind of thing.

Kevin Mullally: So this idea of trying to get some collective action on a stock isn’t really new either. And I’ll be curious to see if later we find out that there was a bit more on the hedge fund side and the institution side, sort of poking the bear on this one a bit. So I don’t think that this will be the last time we see something like this. And I’ll be very curious if we get more information that reveals that this was not just Redditors who are mad at the stock market or mad at Wall Street sort of fueling this run.

Paul Jarley: How about meme stocks generally? Josh mentioned here, which if I understood Josh, was people sort of bragging about their losses.

Josh Miranda: Yes. And I mean, correct me if I’m wrong, I’m not as much the finance guy as much as I am kind of the media guy, but I had personally never heard of mass amounts of people bragging about all the money that they were losing. This community specifically refers to it as loss porn, is what they call it. And it’s people who just kind of celebrate people who’ve lost all this money from making stupid decisions and kind of laugh about it collectively.

Paul Jarley: Although we don’t know if they really lost money though. We just know they created a meme.

Josh Miranda: They show their portfolio.

Paul Jarley: Oh really?

Josh Miranda: So from everything that they’ve provided, it’s like, “Here’s my portfolio. I lost a lot of money.”

Garrett Cummings: Now if I could touch on the psychology behind that, there’s a guy named Ed Sakota, and he’s quoted as saying, “Everyone gets what they want from the market,” and how the market is subconsciously engraved in how they perform in their trading. And so some people are just purely in it for the adrenaline and the thrill and the gambling. And I think that’s where you see a lot of those people on Wall Street Bets. It’s just subconsciously in their mind that they’re going to lose in the marketplace and just don’t do anything to change it.

Paul Jarley: Are we going to see government regulation here, Kevin?

Kevin Mullally: You know, I think the thing where you could see it as certainly this notion of Robinhood shutting down trading, or only allowing people to close out their positions. I mean, I do think that there’s something to that. It’s an interesting question of what the … of course it always comes down to what your belief about the government’s role is ultimately. There doesn’t appear to be a clear right or wrong answer to me here. Of course on the one side you’ve got these people who are saying, “Hey, we know what we’re doing. We know what we’re getting into and we’re adults and we should be able to do this,” and on the other side the government’s saying, “Well, maybe, maybe not, because some of you are going to lose your lunch on this one as well.”

Kevin Mullally: So I’m not sure. I think what’s going to come out of it is probably more transparency about why that decision was made. And I think clearer rules about when these companies and these brokerages and things like that can actually halt trading, because Robinhood is taking the brunt of this, but other brokerages just at things like increased margin requirements and just made the trading more costly. And I think just more transparency on those rules, the specific terms by which or on which trading would halt, I think will be that the most likely outcome in my mind.

Paul Jarley: What do you think, Garrett?

Garrett Cummings: Personally, if anything comes back to say that retail investors should not be able to [inaudible 00:24:53] maneuver, and in the name of secretly protecting the “hedge funds” that they get messed over, I would find that pretty messed up pretty much, because the market’s supposed to be free. You take your bet and if you lose, you take it like a man and you move on to the next trade. That’s how it’s been since the stock market began. You saw it in 1929 when people got burnt, but guess what? We didn’t change regulation just because people had their feelings hurt. Now, I would definitely love to see more details about Robinhood and how this affects the brokerage side. Did they act within their guidelines in the name of “protecting the investor”? And even if that’s the case, I don’t think they should have the right to infringe on a free market.

Garrett Cummings: If someone wants to buy or sell something and there’s shares available for it or not available, they should really honestly get what’s coming to them, because that’s how they learn. And in 2015, I blew my stock account pretty heavily. I took it from about $20,000 down to $2000. And you know what, that’s part of the game. If you don’t know how to play the game, the game is going to teach you the rules. And the people who did get burned by this, they’re going to learn the rules very fast. And the people who are prosperous from this, I hope they have the rules and don’t go into something else and give away all their gains.

Kevin Mullally: There’s another side to that story though, that would be the argument in favor of some sort of regulation, which is just how we want an efficient capital market, because we have to remember that the trading and the sort of return generation is a consequence of the market, not the goal.

Paul Jarley: That would be nice, and I agree with that, Kevin.

Kevin Mullally: You know what I mean? So if you take a step back and you think about what the purpose is of the market to begin with, the entire purpose is to match savers and spenders.

Paul Jarley: Yeah.

Kevin Mullally: Right. And so if you get into this situation where you have a market that is clearly not efficient, like on no planet can you possibly justify GameStop at $300 or $400 a share.

Paul Jarley: No.

Kevin Mullally: Then you get into the concern that Dean Jarley brought up at the beginning of this podcast, which is why didn’t some firms issue stock during this time? And the answer is GameStop clearly is not going to get 300 bucks a share, but AMC did. They did issue stock during this time. And the concern then becomes if that capital is going to a company that’s overvalued like AMC or GameStop, it’s not going to somebody else who has a legitimately viable project that they could pursue. And so the reason why efficient capital markets are important is because we want spenders to be able to finance projects that will grow our economy. And so that’s the other justification for having at least a conversation about regulation, is not just winners and losers in the market, but it’s the economy as a whole and how the market facilitates economic growth.

Paul Jarley: Because losing trust in that market would be a really bad thing.

Kevin Mullally: Absolutely.

Garrett Cummings: I would arguably say though, that judgment and value is subjective. When you have a stock that’s close to 140% short interest, and you know that, wow, if we can get a short squeeze or this thing could run and these short positions can not cover in time, you can either see it as wow, the stock’s at $30 a share, or we can see it as the fact that people on Wall Street Bets and other institutions saw that wow, this thing’s 140% shorted, we can run this through the roof and make a killing, just like the old commodity rates back in the early 1900s.

Paul Jarley: But I believe that brought regulation, did it not? To commodity markets?

Garrett Cummings: No [crosstalk 00:28:11] lock limit down inside the commodities markets to this day. You don’t have organized … they limit the amount you can buy that to try and prevent that.

Paul Jarley: Yeah, yeah.

Garrett Cummings: But it still can happen where you get lot limit up and lot limit down, and if you’re on the wrong side of that trade, it can be a nasty little spill.

Paul Jarley: So is this going to be a story a year from now? I’m going to ask each of you. Are we still going to be talking about meme stocks and things like maybe GameStop maneuvers going forward? Or is this transitory?

Kevin Mullally: I mean, if these Redditors are bragging about losing $20,000 or $30,000, it doesn’t seem like that’s a sustainable future.

Paul Jarley: Not in my checkbook.

Kevin Mullally: They’re going to run out of money at some point.

Paul Jarley: That’s what I thought too, Kevin. How about you, Garrett?

Garrett Cummings: I don’t think it’s going to be GameStop and AMC, but like I previously said, only the names are going to change. So human emotion and nature loves putting bubbles that we’ve seen throughout history. And so you’re going to just have something else out that goes from a dollar to $50, kind of like NEO went from $4 up to almost $50. You’re always going to find explosive stocks in the market, and that’s exactly what we’re trying to teach our members is okay, how can we identify these opportunities with a small amount of risk and get into them, take our money, and get out before the bubble bursts, essentially?

Paul Jarley: Garrett, you got any interest in going into a PhD program in behavioral finance?

Garrett Cummings: Not really. I’ve just done a lot of studying, and it kind of gets back to what I was saying about Ed Sakota. You get what you want out of the market. So the difference bettwen a losing investor and a winning investor is the losing investors who got their tail handed to them are not going to find what they need to do to win. Myself, I can’t pull it up here on the podcast, but I’ve taken my trading to the level of building a full data Excel sheet that updates live time. And that way I’m having every tool at my ability I need to feel out the market, be able to place the proper bets when I need to. And ultimately it’s a spreadsheet on how to manage my risk while maximizing return.

Paul Jarley: Josh, what do you think? Is this the latest social media craze and it’s all going to go away, or where are we here?

Josh Miranda: You know, I think that might be a little part of it, but it’s like anything. When you have a lot of people who are putting a lot on the line to really do much of anything, that kind of becomes a news story. And when you have millions of people who are on this subreddit, who are even just … even if they’re just monitoring what’s going on, that in and of itself becomes the story. I know now some of these Redditors are focused on driving up some cryptocurrency. Doge coin is one of them. And so it seems like … again, I’m not the finance guy, but it seems like they’re just going to move on to the next thing, and then onto the next thing. And might they be able to make waves somewhere with some stock or some crypto? Perhaps, but it’s clear that these people are just … they’re still going and this community doesn’t seem to be going anywhere. So if they make another headline somewhere along the way, I wouldn’t be surprised.

Paul Jarley: I would just like to take the opportunity to point out that more than two years ago, we decided that Bitcoin is not a thing, at least as a currency. And it continues to exhibit volatility, which makes that impractical.

Josh Miranda: That’s fair. That’s fair. A thing or not a thing though, somebody out there is making money on it, I guess.

Paul Jarley: It’s my podcast, so I get to go last. Let’s start with the thing I’m most sure about. GameStop is not a thing. There was a reason so many investors were shorting it and I don’t see the company making a major turnaround, at least not the GameStop we know. It may serve a niche market in a nostalgia space or as a secondary seller of older equipment and games to parents buying their kids their first video games. But for the most part, the world has passed GameStop by. I’m not investing in it. As Garrett mentioned, bubbles happen from time to time, and some people will lose their shirts. In a twisted display of macho investing, some of these traders will want to post about it online and claim they’re tough enough to take it. But unless they have unlimited lines of credit, serial meme investors aren’t really going to be a thing for very long.

Paul Jarley: Even the E-Trade babies run ended relatively quickly. I suspect meme stocks won’t be a thing for very long either. Chalk it up to a few people getting their 15 minutes of fame. Not a thing, just [inaudible 00:32:41]. Here’s what I think is the real story. Social media gave retail investors a way to coordinate their behavior and maybe influence the market outcome in a way that was impossible in the past. Perhaps a stick it to the man or let’s burn it all down motive played a role with the Reddit group of investors, who see the system is rigged, and were willing to risk losses just to make a point. But ultimately, these retail traders were just participating in the very thing they’re protesting against. Historically, coordinated action by the masses to change market outcomes has been viewed pretty dimly by governments.

Paul Jarley: When manufacturing workers organized in the early 20th century to fight back against what they saw as an unjust wage system, the government took pretty strong action. Add the likelihood that some institutional investors may have participated in the Reddit GameStop action, and are certainly thinking about how to weaponize efforts like this for their own benefit in the future. And I suspect government interest in curbing this kind of behavior in the name of protecting efficient markets is sure to arise if we see a few more repeats of the Reddit GameStop story. What do you think? Check us out online and share your thoughts at business.ucf.edu/podcast. You can also find extended interviews with our guests and notes from the show. Special thanks to my producer, Josh Miranda, and the whole team at the office of outreach and engagement here at the UCF College of Business. And thank you for listening. Until next time, charge on.

Listen to all episodes of “Is This Really a Thing?” at business.ucf.edu/podcast.

The post Are Meme Stocks Really a Thing? appeared first on College of Business.

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After one of the deepest recessions in history, the U.S. economy still has roughly 10 million fewer jobs than before the COVID-19 pandemic began. While some say the economy is improving faster than expected and has seen significant growth in recent months, it could be some time before the U.S. returns to pre-pandemic highs. What will drive the economy back into recovery? And can it happen before 2022? Sean Snaith, Director of UCF’s Institute for Economic Forecasting, explains his timeline and predictions for complete economic recovery.

Featured Guests * Sean Snaith – Director, UCF Institute for Economic Forecasting

Episode Highlights * 0:45 – Sean Snaith introduction * 1:31 – Just how bad did it get in 2020? * 4:54 – How Sean Snaith describes the economy today * 7:01 – The U.S. government’s response * 9:46 – Will new stimulus packages be effective? * 11:41 – How did Florida fare compared to the U.S. economy? * 16:06 – The future of the U.S. and Florida economies * 18:18 – Economic recommendations for the Biden Administration * 22:48 – New taxes? * 25:21 – Are the “Roaring ’20s” going to be a thing? * 26:54 – Paul Jarley’s final thoughts

Episode Transcription Paul Jarley: So between now and election, what do you think, the economy going to have a recession? Yes? No? Why?

Glenn Hubbard: On balance, I don’t think we’re at the cusp of a recession.

John Solow: I absolutely agree with Glenn’s take on what things are doing now.

Paul Jarley: No, I think the short answer is no, there’s not going to be a recession before the 2020 election or in 2020 at all, I think.

Sami Alpanda: I agree with almost everything that has been said so far.

Paul Jarley: Turns out they were all wrong. This year was all about separating hype from fundamental change. I’m Paul Jarley, Dean of the College of Business here at UCF. I’ve got lots of questions. To get answers, I’m talking to people with interesting insights into the future of business. Have you ever wondered, is this really a thing? Onto our show.

Paul Jarley: 2020 threw everyone a curve ball. That recession, well, it turned out to be a thing. Is 2021 the return of prosperity? Will the economy go on a run like it did in the 1920s? I sat down with our resident expert, Dr. Sean Snaith, he’s the director of our Institute for Economic Forecasting. Listen in. Well, thanks for joining me today, Sean.

Sean Snaith: Pleasure.

Paul Jarley: We’ve got a lot to cover. I’m going to ask you to be the ghost of economy past, present, and future, if you don’t mind. And let’s start out with the past. Back in 2019, I hosted a panel of people, including Glenn Hubbard at that time and asked them whether a recession in 2020 was possible and all of them to a person and you as well said, no chance, right?

Paul Jarley: The economy was really humming. When I asked them what they were concerned about, frankly, they had trouble coming up with anything and then March of 2020 happened. So how bad did it get in 2020?

Sean Snaith: Well, at least I’m in good company in being wrong, I suppose. And I don’t know if I’m the ghost or I’m haunted by my past forecast, but I don’t think, two things, that I don’t think anyone saw coming. One is a pandemic, global pandemic out of China. That’s one thing. This is …

Paul Jarley: That’s the exogenous shock.

Sean Snaith: That’s the exogenous part. And so this stuff happens. Now, could that in and of itself have triggered a recession? Maybe.

Paul Jarley: Maybe.

Sean Snaith: Maybe. But it was the endogenous part or the policy response to it that really put us into the historic downturn. And that was the decision in March and April to lock down, quote unquote non-essential sectors of our economy. And that was instantaneous recession. I mean, just add water, just add bad public policy and there you go, that’s a command economy. The government says you don’t make anything. You can still make things. And I mean, it was deep and it was instantaneous and there was no uncertainty about the fact that we were in recession.

Paul Jarley: Has it been the most uneven economy? I don’t know that much about the history of this, but I mean, clearly there have been big winners and losers in this. So there are some parts of the economy that did gangbusters, right? Our friends in Lakeland, Publix did really well during this period.

Sean Snaith: Well, yeah and I played a large role in that. That was for years been my sort of social activity was making up the excuse to go to Publix to get out of the house. But there were huge winners during this and again, chosen by the government by and large. If you had a nail salon, you were a loser. If you were selling groceries, you were a huge winner. If you were selling goods and services online, you were a huge winner.

Paul Jarley: If you required a crowd to be successful, you were a loser. That was sort of the rule, quite frankly. And instead if you were selling something that people could enjoy by themselves in general, you were a winner, I suppose a part of this, but I can’t think of another recession I could summarize that succinctly. Go ahead. Quite frankly, can you, I mean-

Sean Snaith: I mean, this is unique. I mean, and again, typically, you may have an exogenous shock that can knock the economy off its tracks and precipitate a recession, but generally there’s some internal weakness already in place.

Paul Jarley: Oil in the ’70s, probably the best example, right?

Sean Snaith: That was a huge shock a couple of times. And oil was far more important to the economy back then than it is today in terms of how much oil we use to produce GDP. But this was just unprecedented and like I said, I just couldn’t believe what was being done under the guise of public health.

Paul Jarley: So how would you describe the economy now< today?

Sean Snaith: I think, we’re in the midst of a pretty solid recovery. And again, this is because of the nature of this recession and its uniqueness, typically, there’s a psychology involved with recession and accenting recession and confidence has to build. And, it’s a more gradual process, typically. Everyone knew why the economy was in recession. It wasn’t because the economy was in poor shape. It was because the government shut it down.

Sean Snaith: And that’s why the panel of economists in 2019 said everything was fine. And that was true through much of February, the economy was in fantastic shape, maybe the best I’d ever seen, in terms of the labor market, for sure. And so, in order to get out of recession, it was pretty easy to do.

Sean Snaith: And the big thing was to let the economy open up again, tell them all, that millennia you can have shoppers there. And all of a sudden we’re selling retail goods again, that weren’t being sold for several months. And people that were furloughed were being, at least part of them were being called back. So, we saw in the third quarter of 2020, a really large, almost 34% increase in GDP growth at an annual rate that was after the second quarter’s contraction, historic of 31%.

Sean Snaith: We just got a report this morning in the fourth quarter, the first take on GDP growth. And it came in at 4%. So we’re continuing in a recovery. It hasn’t been officially declared. I think the MBER who weighed in very early on when the recession began, will likely declare I think May, but May or June of 2020 is to when we hit the bottom and began this recovery process. And I think most of the data while it’s not final, supports that.

Paul Jarley: Let’s talk about government response for a little bit. So we’re talking about our third fiscal stimulus package, if I got my numbers right, I think. The Biden administration is talking about their third in year judgment. How effective were the first two and how necessary is the third one?

Sean Snaith: I think the first one, again, we threw in a matter of weeks, close to 40 million people out of work, I mean, just, the labor market doesn’t function like that under normal circumstances. It lags behind the economy and unemployment rises gradually. It doesn’t spike. And so that money was needed. Unfortunately, I mean, it happened pretty rapidly by DC terms, $2.2 trillion, passed and signed in a matter of weeks, that’s a record as well, but we traded off sort of precision for speed. And so people were getting checks quite frankly, that didn’t need those checks.

Paul Jarley: My father who passed away got one.

Sean Snaith: And there’s plenty of examples of that, but that’s a different kind of mistake, but I mean, giving it to somebody who’s been working through the entire pandemic and hasn’t seen any loss.

Paul Jarley: It was a blunt tool, right? An immediate blunt tool.

Sean Snaith: And so that helped, but it wasn’t enough of course, because the economy’s still, really didn’t recover until we opened things up.

Paul Jarley: Well, I have to put this in perspective, maybe for people who don’t follow this as much as you and I do, right? In 2019, the economy was $22 trillion give or take, right? So a $2 million or $2 trillion package is little under 10%.

Sean Snaith: I mean, it’s fairly big, much larger than our collective response to the great recession after 2008, 2009. And the total response, which was, I think about 1.6 or 1.8 trillion, it took about 16 months to be kind of rolled out and implemented piecemeal, right?

Paul Jarley: And spent.

Sean Snaith: And spent. So this was very quick, very large and necessary because of what had happened with the shutdowns. Now, had we not shut down everything and let people make their own decisions, and, maybe do public health measures, masks, social distancing, washing your hands, sanitizing, common air, but let the economy continue to function, I think we would have seen maybe a recession, certainly nothing on the magnitude of what we went through.

Paul Jarley: The second stimulus is really just rolling out now, how effective do you think it will be?

Sean Snaith: Well, the second one, a little bit smaller. It will help. Again, I think the big thing is, is the economy’s reopening. Consumers are spending again, a lot of pent up demand from this recession. We’ve got the vaccines through the approval process and manufactured and being administered. So as we proceed through 2021, that fear factor is going to go down.

Sean Snaith: The ability to be in larger crowds should be increasingly possible as we go through 2021. So, that’s really going to be more important than any stimulus. And so this 1.9 trillion that’s being discussed now probably is overkill where we are in the recovery, but if they’re going to do something, let’s take the time and target it to those who need it.

Paul Jarley: I mean, so I can see extended unemployment insurance benefits for people who are still out of work, right? Rather than just mailing checks to people.

Sean Snaith: Willy nilly. This shut down and this recession has really disproportionately hurt lower income households. I mean, like no other.

Paul Jarley: Service industry people, right?

Sean Snaith: Service industry people. I mean, obviously here with tourism being such a large sector, tens of thousands of people lost their jobs in tourism and related businesses. Those are the people that have not gone back to work. These are the people that are still unemployed. These are the people that need help, not people that have been lucky enough to work throughout the entire pandemic.

Paul Jarley: So did Florida do worse than the US economy as a whole?

Sean Snaith: Yeah. Well, the contraction in state GDP, I think-

Paul Jarley: On percentage terms.

Sean Snaith: … in percentage terms, I think we’re projecting about 6% versus 3.5% nationally. So and again-

Paul Jarley: This is bad, basically.

Sean Snaith: And it makes sense because the devastation to tourism. I mean, Orlando International Airport, passenger traffic was down 97% year over year in March and April. I mean, that’s effectively shutting it down. And then we had the major theme parks closed and people weren’t going to the beaches and spring break was viewed as evil for different reasons this year than it usually is. It was going to be this huge, super spreading event, right? Super spreaders. So Florida took it really on the chin and tourism is still climbing its way out of that very deep hole, but the rest of the economy, certainly didn’t fare as badly.

Paul Jarley: Do you think this next stimulus package will pass? Do you think Congress will do something?

Sean Snaith: I’m curious if there’s been pushback because one thing I’ve observed, at least recently in politics is that when it comes to the Democratic Party, there are no deserters. They sort of march and vote in lockstep and maybe somebody will pay a little lip service here and there, but you don’t have people voting against the party very much.

Sean Snaith: And so they’ve got, majority’s albeit slimmer than they did in 2008. So it’s interesting to see some pushback and, it may be the nature of the executive office not being as forceful perhaps that there’s a little more pushback. But I think something will come through. 1.9 trillion, almost the same size as the package we did back when the economy was contracting 31% at a time when the economy is six months into recovery, it seems a little late in the game to be spending that kind of money.

Sean Snaith: And then, we were talking about before we began recording, yelling at kids that are on my lawn. I’ve been doing the economic equivalent of that for about 10 years about the national debt.

Paul Jarley: Well, I’m right there with you, brother. We’re probably the only two people who talk about this regularly.

Sean Snaith: And it’s true 27.6 trillion right now. If this goes through, let’s just say a trillion dollars that plus still a reduced tax revenue, I mean, we’re going to be pushing $30 trillion, but certainly by the end of 2022, at this pace, balanced budgets, surpluses, budgets at all, I mean, who needs them? We’ve got continuing resolutions to fund everything, no debate over priorities. No, it’s just spend away. But I’ll say the same thing about the debt. You can’t run up debt like this forever.

Sean Snaith: We can’t have a climbing debt to GDP ratio without a day of reckoning at some point. I mean, we’ve been lucky. I don’t know if it’s lucky. I mean, we’ve been enabled.

Paul Jarley: Well, interest rates have been so low for so long.

Sean Snaith: Well, that’s it. And so there’s been no short-term pain from all this borrowing, but interest rates aren’t going to be low forever. Now, they might be for five more years, they might be for 10 more years. But if we keep adding to that debt and interest rates start to rise, then the burden of that debt’s going to rise right along with it. And we don’t have wiggle room in the federal budget. I mean, most of the federal budget is non-discretionary spending, mandated entitlements and can’t be touched. The discretionary stuff, oh, less defense, more educated. This is nickel dime stuff when you’re looking at a debt approaching $30 trillion.

Paul Jarley: So let’s go on to the future. Then when does the economy recover to pre pandemic levels? What’s your best guess on that? Both nationally and in Florida.

Sean Snaith: Well, I think in the aggregate, if you’re looking at total payrolls, your total jobs in the economy, I think by the end of 2021, we should be back to where we were in terms of payroll levels. The unemployment rate, probably not down to the same levels by then, but I think into 2022, again, assuming that this recovery progresses and there’s not another policy shock or a viral shock, but with tourism lagging, right, I mean that-

Paul Jarley: I think Florida will come out a little later.

Sean Snaith: I think we’re into 2022 before tourism sort of gets back. But the data thus far is encouraging on that front. Passenger traffic over the holiday season in Orlando was the largest in the nation, down still 42% year over year. But, again, as we discussed earlier, it was down 97% in March and April. So, that bounce back is really pre vaccine, right? Nobody had the vaccine for the most part, or very few people did by the time the holiday season rolled around, this was just people saying, I see what it is.

Sean Snaith: We know what risks are, I’m traveling, and as the vaccine is administered more widely, then I think that tourism accelerates as that takes place. So I think, by the time we get to summer, it may not be exactly where we were in the summer of 2019, but I think we’ll be 75 to 80%.

Paul Jarley: So if you’re the Biden administration, what do you do?

Sean Snaith: Well, take it easy on executive orders. No, I think they’re going to need to do some, they’ll do some stimulus. I would say again, let’s make it targeted to those that really need it to the individuals and the businesses that were damaged the most by these lockdowns in this COVID-19 recession. And then, take the foot off the gas and let’s see how 2021 plays itself out because I do think the pent up demand is still out there.

Sean Snaith: It hasn’t been fully vented and as 2021 rolls on, and people start to go do things in crowds and travel and all these things that have been curtailed, you’re going to see a lot of growth in consumer spending. I mean, if you look at the upper rungs of the household income ladder, that spending is way down still, compared to where we were pre pandemic. And that’s because those households are the ones most likely to go spend two weeks in Aruba or go out.

Paul Jarley: Most discretionary experience-based spending, right?

Sean Snaith: Exactly.

Paul Jarley: We talked about it.

Sean Snaith: And so that has not been uncorked yet, so that’s still coming. I think housing is a pretty solid driver of the economy, not just here in Florida, but nationally, and I think will continue to be. It was unusual, although it’s not late cycle anymore, but pre COVID 19, there was a booming or building boom in housing taking place. And that was at the tail end of that expansion.

Sean Snaith: Usually construction booms at the beginning of an expansion. So we had this late expansion wind from construction and that breeze is still blowing. And I think, continues through 2021 and probably a couple of years beyond.

Paul Jarley: Do you think there’ll be a tax increase?

Sean Snaith: Well, the tax cut and jobs act, I think some elements of that are going to go. It’s always easy to just say, well, we’re going to tax corporations more and just, pretend that there’s some extra-terrestrials-

Paul Jarley: That pay that tax.

Sean Snaith: Yeah. That pay that tax, that it isn’t really us paying it, but it’s confusing enough to most people that they think that they’re not paying it. So, I think you’ll see that, always fashionable to tax the rich. So, those high-

Paul Jarley: Find is over $400000. Is that the current proposal, I think.

Sean Snaith: Well, it depends on where you live and if you have kids. So I think taxes are going up and so that will have a dampening impact on the economy going forward. I think the economy, because of the COVID thing’s got some momentum here as we recover from that.

Paul Jarley: So it may not be a bad time in the short term, [crosstalk 00:21:49], right?

Sean Snaith: Yeah. But what I would expect to see, and I don’t know if it will be in this administration, but at some point there are going to be new taxes implemented. And I think, again, back to this 20, 28, 27 and a half trillion dollar debt and growing, it’s got to be paid for somehow. There’s growth taxes, I think, your 401k might suddenly be subject to a charge or a withdrawal processing privilege fee, financial transaction taxes, we’ll get those GameStop Redditors, we’ll make them pay a tax every time they try to buy. And I think in the medium run, that’s likely to be the case.

Paul Jarley: Is it politically or economically viable though to create a new set of taxes that would actually put the federal budget in balance? You go back to pre ’20 spending, 2020 spending.

Sean Snaith: Well, again-

Paul Jarley: Because there’s two ways out of this, right? We either cut spending and get back into a balanced budget or a surplus situation. Or not unlike UCF, we can try to grow our way out of this.

Sean Snaith: Well, there are limits to enrollment and the best of growth that we could expect would be insufficient to deal with the debt that we have. And we’re not-

Paul Jarley: 5%. I mean, 5% would be historical.

Sean Snaith: It would be historic. It would need to sustain that. And even then would still have to make some decisions, but what’s not been addressed are entitlement programs. Those taxes have been tweaked a little bit, the income limits have been pushed up. I think that’ll be part of that puzzle.

Paul Jarley: Retirement ages might go up as well. I could see that happening.

Sean Snaith: And again, as I get closer to eligibility, my opinion changes a little bit. Dammit, I want my social security, but it was originally not meant to be a 35 year defined benefit pension from the government. This was to keep the elderly, many of whom fought in the great wars and supported those efforts and, lived through the depression and, work to make our country great. And to make sure they didn’t end their lives in poverty.

Sean Snaith: And so the eligibility age at the time it was, the program was created, was older than the life expectancy. And so that hasn’t changed much in terms of eligibility age, but life expectancy has gone up significantly. And so that’s why people are at the social security trough for much longer than historically was the case.

Sean Snaith: Anytime you try and touch social security, you’re pushing grandma off the cliff in a wheelchair, the AARB, Jack boots come out after. I think there’s a realization, finally dawning here that we’re in trouble with this program as it is, the status quo is non-sustainable.

Paul Jarley: So last question, is the roaring ’20s going to be a thing?

Sean Snaith: It was for two months. The first two months was the best of times.

Paul Jarley: Can we have another decade long run?

Sean Snaith: I’m not sure. I think that there’s significant damage from this recession. I said, well, the aggregate, we might get back to the numbers in a year, year and a half, there’s still going to be losses that don’t get-

Paul Jarley: Persist.

Sean Snaith: And particularly small businesses.

Paul Jarley: No doubt.

Sean Snaith: Many did not make it through the lockdown itself, many limped on for awhile, but will not survive 2021. And so those folks, those resources have to be sort of redeployed. I’m a bit concerned about policy. I mean, it seems like we’re slipping back towards, sort of policies that do have a downward impact on economic growth.

Sean Snaith: A lot of the Obama, Biden type ideas are sort of being rolled out again. And I think a lot of that is what kept the economy from really bouncing back more strongly after the great recession. And so, again, I don’t know, I have to wait and see what actually happens and what gets passed, but what’s being discussed seems awful familiar.

Paul Jarley: Thanks, Sean.

Sean Snaith: Thank you for having me.

Paul Jarley: It’s my podcast. So I get to go last. The Spanish flu gave a way to the roaring ’20s. Will history repeat itself? Pent up demand is most certainly a thing. People have been cooped up in their houses for a long time. And when this pandemic ends, they’re going to want to party and travel. Some of this will result in a shift in consumer spending away from goods and towards entertainment and experiences, but on balance, I think a pretty big bump is coming.

Paul Jarley: But for all this to happen, the pandemic has to end. We can talk stimulus packages all we want, and some money is certainly needed, but the best stimulus package in my mind is the one that puts as many needles of the vaccine into people’s arms as quickly as humanly possible. It is ultimately consumers, not the government that will drive this rebound and to do that, people are going to have to feel safe going out again.

Paul Jarley: Will this lead to a decade long expansion? I doubt it. We’ve got a big bill to pay. Tax increases are probably in our future, and this will slow economic growth some, but the roaring ’20s were mainly fueled by technological innovation as the electrification of America and the rise of mass production opened up new markets and fueled job and income growth.

Paul Jarley: Maybe we’ll see a number of innovations hit the market in the post pandemic world, but I doubt they will replicate what happened in the 1920s. That said, predicting the future is a risky business. And right now, just returning to business as usual seems like reason enough to celebrate. What do you think?

Paul Jarley: Check us out online and share your thoughts at business.ucf.edu/podcast. You can also find extended interviews with our guests and notes from the show. Special thanks to my producer, Josh Miranda, and the whole team at the Office of Outreach and Engagement here at the UCF College of Business. And thank you for listening, until next time charge on.

Listen to all episodes of “Is This Really a Thing?” at business.ucf.edu/podcast.

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