$8 Million Bequest Supports Student Scholarships

Lorraine "Lori" Holland (BUS '84)

Lorraine “Lori” Holland (BUS ’84) | Photo by Kathy Hillegonds

To honor the legacy of his late wife, Lorraine “Lori” Holland (BUS ’84), Robert A. Holland has made an $8 million bequest to DePaul University to support student scholarships. Mrs. Holland was a first-generation college graduate who rose to become managing director of investment management firm Neuberger Berman and serve as chair of DePaul’s Board of Trustees.

The contribution will be divided between two funds: the John and Regina Letsos Endowed Scholarship and the Lorraine L. Holland Memorial Endowed Scholarship. The Letsos scholarship, created by the Hollands in 2015 and named for Mrs. Holland’s parents, is designed to benefit finance students.

MacArthur Foundation Grant Supports Housing Research

Geoff Smith, executive director of the Institute for Housing Studies at DePaul.

Institute for Housing Studies Executive Director Geoff Smith | Photo by Kathy Hillegonds

The Institute for Housing Studies at DePaul University (IHS) at the Driehaus College of Business received a three-year, $300,000 grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation to support its mission to produce research that informs housing policy and practice in the Chicago region.

“We’re excited to continue our long-standing partnership with the MacArthur Foundation through this latest substantial investment in our applied research and technical assistance work,” says Geoff Smith, executive director of the IHS. “This funding will advance our efforts to help local housing and community development stakeholders be data-informed as they develop, implement and evaluate strategies for tackling the region’s affordable housing challenges.”

The grant supports the IHS’s ongoing research, which includes rental housing reports, price index updates and briefs on emerging Chicago-area housing policy topics. Smith says it also will fund new inquiries that probe “how the COVID-19 economy is affecting Chicago neighborhoods, especially historically underinvested communities, and what an equitable recovery could look like.”

Women in Entrepreneurship Institute Partnership Supports Business Founders of Color

Nichole Jackson (MEd ‘00), owner of Chicago-based Bronzeville-Wingz

Nichole Jackson (MEd ‘00), owner of Chicago-based Bronzeville-Wingz and a member of the DePaul/YWCA cohort.

The Women in Entrepreneurship Institute (WEI) has partnered with the YWCA Metropolitan Chicago to offer WEI’s business accelerator program to Chicago-area entrepreneurs who are women of color. The first cohort of YWCA-identified participants completed WEI’s two-month accelerator workshop last spring.

“Women entrepreneurs are less likely than men to have access to capital and resources, and it’s even more challenging for women of color,” says Abigail Ingram (LAS MA ’15, JD ’18), WEI director. “Our new accelerator program helps women of color at a time they might not typically have access to help, when they’ve been in business a few years and want to grow.”

Flexibility Is Our New Norm

Interim Dean Tom Donley | Photo by Kathy Hillegonds

Interim Dean Tom Donley | Photo by Kathy Hillegonds

This fall, we welcomed our business students back to DePaul with a course schedule that offered a range of in-person, remote and hybrid classes. Flexibility has become the new norm for how we deliver business education, shaped by the diverse needs of our students and the novel ways we have learned to teach and support them during the pandemic.

We educate undergraduates seeking the traditional campus experience, nontraditional students juggling part-time jobs and/or family care with school, professionals pursuing graduate degrees while working full time, and far-flung doctoral students who travel to Chicago once a month for residencies. To meet their varying expectations while continuing to address the uncertainties of the pandemic, we are expanding online degree programs, upgrading classroom technology, embracing new teaching techniques and offering personalized advising services in multiple modalities.

In September, we launched three new online degrees—master’s degrees in entrepreneurship and finance and a bachelor’s degree in accountancy. These programs provide a flexible option for local professionals who continue to work partially or entirely from home while enabling us to offer a DePaul business education to more students located outside of Chicago. Across the curricula we are offering courses in five modalities, including Flex, which allows students to choose whether to attend class in person or virtually each week.

To support these new instruction modes, DePaul is investing in high-tech classrooms that feature motion-following cameras, upgraded audio and the latest digital presentation tools. Many of our faculty members have completed DePaul’s award-winning online teaching workshops, and our college hosts regular tutorials on how to teach engagingly whether in person or remotely. Our faculty members are emphasizing interactive learning, such as real-world team projects working with Chicago businesses, during shared in-person and synchronous, online class time, with lectures often delivered via videos that students view before class.

We also have learned a lot about the power of connection and delivering a high-touch, personalized experience to students. Zoom advising sessions give international, out-of-state and busy transfer students more flexibility to meet with an advisor for one-on-one conversations and collaborative registration walk-throughs via screen share. We have found that smaller virtual events encourage inclusion and build community by providing more opportunities for personal interaction among students and industry speakers. We will continue offering online advising and events while resuming on-campus guidance and gatherings this fall, serving students flexibly where they are.

Many of you are likewise seeking new ways to collaborate, communicate and connect in workplaces that combine in office, remote and hybrid work. In this issue’s feature story, alumni and faculty at the forefront of understanding these issues offer their insight and advice for navigating new workplace norms.

As you find your way in an evolving workplace, we hope you’ll help us support the next generation of DePaul graduates who will soon join your ranks. DePaul has launched The Finish Line Fund to benefit students who are facing financial hardship on the brink of earning their degrees. Please help these students cross the finish line to become DePaul alumni through your contributions to this scholarship fund.

Tom Donley signature

Thomas Donley
Interim Dean, Driehaus College of Business

Real-World Consulting Projects Prepare Students for Careers

Anissa Patterson (seated fifth on the left) and DePaul sports business classmates review fan letters as part of a customer service consulting project for the Chicago Cubs baseball organization. (Photo by Kathy Hillegonds)

Anissa Patterson (seated fifth on the left) and DePaul sports business classmates review fan letters as part of a customer service consulting project for the Chicago Cubs baseball organization. | Photo by Kathy Hillegonds

Anissa Patterson (BUS ’21) took her first sports management class at the Driehaus College of Business three summers ago. At the time, Patterson was earning a business administration degree and unsure of what field she wanted to pursue, but she had always been an avid sports fan. So when she learned about a business class that would allow her to work directly with the Chicago Cubs organization, she signed up immediately.

Anissa Patterson (BUS ’21)

Anissa Patterson (BUS ’21) | Photo by Kathy Hillegonds

During the eight-week class, Patterson gained a firsthand look at what it would mean to work as a consultant who provides expertise for a specific problem. Students in the undergraduate course, taught by Andy Clark, director of DePaul’s sports business program, partnered with the Chicago Cubs Service Excellence Program and became “secret shoppers” who tested the quality of all aspects of the professional baseball team’s customer service. The class showed Patterson not only what it would be like to work in the sports industry, but also how to identify and solve problems for organizations.

“It was really nice to be treated like a professional during my experiential learning classes with Professor Clark,” Patterson says. “It wasn’t just making a presentation in class—you’re presenting to real execs who work in the industry. That was a great experience to have and to put on a résumé, and it helped me get a job.”

Today, Patterson works as the client services coordinator in partnerships for the Chicago Wolves, a professional ice hockey team playing in the American Hockey League. She credits her classes not only for helping her gain marketable skills and experience but also for helping her learn how to communicate with multiple stakeholders who have different perspectives, a skill that consultants must utilize when taking on projects.

“When you are consulting with someone,” she says, “you have to make sure you’re communicating on a level that everyone understands.”

Growing Demand for Consulting Skills

Marketing Consulting Club faculty advisor James Mourey (second from left) with student members Timothy Tran, Julia Adams and Faith Ramos. (Photo by Kathy Hillegonds)

Marketing Consulting Club faculty advisor James Mourey (second from left) with student members Timothy Tran, Julia Adams and Faith Ramos. | Photo by Kathy Hillegonds

Since 2012, the number of management consultants working in the United States has continued to increase every year. According to Statista, which specializes in market and consumer data, 734,000 consultants worked in the U.S. in 2020. Although consultants can provide a range of expertise, graduates with business degrees offer a blend of teamwork skills and business acumen that employers often seek. According to a Graduate Management Admission Council survey, 95% of consulting sector recruiters said they expected to hire MBA graduates in 2021.

Given this demand, the Driehaus College of Business is actively preparing students to enter the workforce poised for consulting careers or to use consulting skills to increase their success within organizations. A recent college survey found that 76% of the faculty incorporate consulting, case studies and other real-world projects into classwork.

Associate Professor of Marketing James Mourey serves as faculty advisor of the student DePaul Marketing Consulting Club, which has taken on consulting projects for companies ranging from alumni-owned startups to national companies, such as Philz Coffee. He also teaches a marketing capstone course that challenges student teams to propose solutions to organizational problems outlined in business cases for well-known companies and brands.

Exposure to real-world client work through classroom and student organizations “transitions our students from passive students to active, prepared practitioners of our discipline,” Mourey says.

Mourey, who worked as a consultant in Los Angeles before completing his doctorate, says he believes business students bring a different, holistic perspective as a function of their education and training.

“Importantly, though, having experience lends credibility that is important for consultants,” he says. “Formal education is one thing, but getting your hands dirty in your discipline exposes you to myriad issues, challenges and problems people in your field face, as well as potential solutions that work or don’t work, all of which makes you an informed resource in a consulting role.”

Solving Human Resources Challenges

Rachel Collins (MBA ’21) worked on a student consulting project for United Airlines’ human resources division.

Rachel Collins (MBA ’21) worked on a student consulting project for United Airlines’ human resources division.

For Rachel Collins (MBA ’21), gaining hands-on experience meant learning more about the human resources industry through a consulting lens. For several years Collins worked in a variety of events and sales roles and eventually found her passion for working with people in human resources. She came to DePaul after hearing about the human resources graduate program and decided to pursue an MBA.

To gain more real-world experience, Collins decided to enroll in a consulting skills course, taught by Associate Professor Jaclyn Jensen, which allows students to work on quarter-long projects with real clients. In winter 2021, Collins worked with four other students to help United Airlines develop a hiring and retention framework for the Chicago-based airline’s human resources division. Collins worked closely with United Airlines HR professionals to identify their needs and then interviewed several of the organization’s employees. At the end of the class, Collins and her team presented their findings to United Airlines’ chief learning officer.

The project, although challenging at times, helped her become more comfortable with leading interviews and problem-solving. “Sometimes in consulting, the company you’re helping thinks they know what the issue is but in reality there may be a lot of underlying issues,” says Collins, who now works in talent acquisition for a Chicago-based trading firm. “I think that kind of came up in this project, and that was a big challenge for us. It made us learn to be flexible and be willing to [initially] fail. But sometimes that’s okay because it means you’re getting closer and closer to the end result.”

Consulting Expertise “A Big Differentiator”

A class project inspired Matt Almeranti (BUS ’18), now a LinkedIn regional account manager, to become a sales professional. (Photo by Mike Nowak)

A class project inspired Matt Almeranti (BUS ’18), now a LinkedIn regional account manager, to become a sales professional. | Photo by Mike Nowak

As a graduate of DePaul’s Sales Leadership Program, Matt Almeranti (BUS ’18) had an opportunity to utilize consulting skills early in his career. Almeranti credits his experience in an analytical sales course for preparing him for his current role as regional account manager for global clients at LinkedIn.

The undergraduate course challenged students to address a business case scenario in which they were consultants tasked with persuading 3M corporation to buy Salesforce software. While the case was hypothetical, the students had to make a presentation to actual Salesforce employees who came to their class. Almeranti says his experience with the class was “singlehandedly the biggest differentiator I had coming out of college,” igniting his passion for sales and teaching him to apply consulting skills in his career.

Although his current role at LinkedIn is in sales, Almeranti says it’s important to be seen as a collaborator with expertise that clients can rely on. “When you are working at a company like LinkedIn where you’re so strongly positioned in the market, coming off as a consultant and a trusted advisor and a problem-solver is much, much more impactful than someone who is trying to jam product down someone’s throat the entire time,” he says.

As a consultant, “if you build trust, you can earn responsibility and really scale your career, whether that be for internal projects or externally with customers,” he says.

By Jaclyn Lansbery

College Named a Bloomberg Experiential Learning Partner

Finance faculty member Brian Thompson (MBA ’13, DBA ’19) stands behind students in the Keeley Finance Lab.

Finance faculty member Brian Thompson (MBA ’13, DBA ’19) stands behind students in the Keeley Finance Lab.

The Driehaus College of Business has been designated a Bloomberg Experiential Learning Partner, joining a select group of colleges recognized for offering students practical learning experiences using the Bloomberg Terminal, a powerful analytics tool widely used by business and government decision-makers. Most of DePaul’s 20 Bloomberg Terminals are in the Christopher L. Keeley Finance Lab, where students use them for finance classwork, investing competitions, career research and Bloomberg Market Concepts certification.

This experience gives them a competitive edge when seeking internships and full-time work, says Thomas Berry, chair of the Department of Finance & Real Estate. “When students can say they are Bloomberg-proficient, it’s a signal to employers that they know how to do certain types of research and have tech skills that are sought after in the market.”

Professor Introduces Students to Fintech Innovations

Finance Associate Professor Lamont Black shares his expertise in blockchain and cryptocurrencies with students. | Photo by Kathy Hillegonds

Finance Associate Professor Lamont Black shares his expertise in blockchain and cryptocurrencies with students. | Photo by Kathy Hillegonds

There is a growing understanding of Fintech’s potential to transform the future of finance.”
– Associate Professor of Finance Lamont Black

Four years ago, Associate Professor of Finance Lamont Black had the foresight to co-host a two-day workshop for business and computer science students on a subject few knew about at the time—blockchain coding. Since then, Black has become one of Chicago’s foremost academic experts on innovations in financial technology, known as fintech, and is frequently interviewed by the media about blockchain and cryptocurrencies.

“This is not just a fad,” says Black, a former Federal Reserve economist who serves as academic director of DePaul’s John L. Keeley Jr. Center for Financial Services. “There is a growing understanding of fintech’s potential to transform the future of finance.”

Black developed and teaches a graduate course focused exclusively on blockchain, the digital ledger technology that underpins virtual money known as cryptocurrencies. The course, taught in partnership with Deloitte and its blockchain lab, explores how blockchain can be applied to different business scenarios, from cryptocurrencies to supply chains and human resources. He is developing a similar course for undergraduate students, who view it as something that could give them an edge in the job market.

“The interest in cryptocurrency a few years ago was among high net worth individuals who were looking for diversification,” he says. “But what we’re seeing now with younger generations and my undergrad students is an interest in cryptocurrency as an emerging asset class and something that is discussed in the popular media.”

An estimated 4,000 cryptocurrencies exist to date. Only a handful, such as Dogecoin and Ethereum, have gained popularity thanks to dedicated communities of backers and investors.

However, earlier this year, the value of Bitcoin, regarded as the first cryptocurrency using blockchain, fell rapidly. One of the causes of its decline was a single tweet sent by Tesla founder Elon Musk, who wrote that Tesla would no longer accept Bitcoin as a means of payment due to its environmental impact. But the falling price can actually have long-term benefits, Black says.

“I’m still very optimistic about the future,” he says. “The price decline has reduced people’s speculative behavior around cryptocurrency and will result in a more grounded and informed perspective. I think it will lead to more sustainable growth in the market.”

As blockchain becomes more mainstream and more integrated with the finance industry, Black says it’s crucial for the business college’s programs to embrace this new trend. “That includes what we teach, what we research and what we’re talking about,” he says. “It’s an opportunity to innovate and teach students about these trends so that when they graduate, they feel like they’re prepared to adapt and stay ahead of the curve. We’re not just teaching them the past, but also preparing them for the future.”

By Jaclyn Lansbery

View the video below to learn more about Lamont Black’s take on blockchain and cryptocurrency.

Accounting Graduate Brews Coffee Business with Soul

Alumna Leticia Hutchins (center) co-founded Alma Coffee with her husband, Harry (left), and father, Al Lopez (right). The business roasts and sells coffee from Honduras, where her family has been farming for five generations.

Alumna Leticia Hutchins (center) co-founded Alma Coffee with her husband, Harry (left), and father, Al Lopez (right). The business roasts and sells coffee from Honduras, where her family has been farming for five generations.


Leticia Hutchins’ four-year-old coffee business has been 500 years in the making.

“My family has been coffee farming in Honduras for five generations,” explains Hutchins (BUS ’16), cofounder of Alma Coffee, a Georgia-based coffee roaster and importer. “For generations that was all my family knew, the farming side of coffee. They never roasted their own coffee to see how it could taste.”

That changed in 2018. Hutchins had a comfortable job as an auditor at KPMG in Chicago, following in the footsteps of her father, Al Lopez, who enjoyed a successful career as a corporate accountant and executive. But something was missing. “I felt like I wasn’t doing my part to make the world a better place,” Hutchins says. “Accounting is super-important and I really respect the industry, but it just wasn’t fulfilling me in the way that I wanted to help others.”

Hutchins frequently visited Finca Terrerito, her family’s coffee farm in the rural mountains near Copan, Honduras, where her father lived until he immigrated to the United States at age 11. She and her husband, Harry, a fellow accountant whom she has known since high school, began to discuss with her father how they could expand the family business and its social impact. They envisioned a farm-to-cup, high-quality, coffee-roasting business managed with socially responsible practices that respect nature and support the community. “We worked on a business plan, and before we knew it, we were ready to take this scary step of quitting our careers to take a leap of faith,” she says. They named the new venture Alma, the Spanish word for “soul.”

Transitioning from bean counter to bean roaster had a steep learning curve, Hutchins admits. She and Harry moved from Chicago to Georgia, where her parents live, to research the coffee industry and roasting technology. After an eight-month search, they found an 8,000-square-foot warehouse in Holly Springs, Ga., to set up Alma’s roasting headquarters.

Entrepreneur Leticia Hutchins and her husband and business partner Harry Hutchins visit the family coffee farm in Honduras.

Entrepreneur Leticia Hutchins and her husband and business partner Harry Hutchins visit the family coffee farm in Honduras.

Today, Alma Coffee has three business segments: roasting coffee sold at restaurants, coffee shops and stores located primarily in the Southern United States; retailing a dozen coffee blends and related merchandise online and at its pop-up café in the roastery; and wholesaling raw coffee beans (aka green coffee) to other roasters around the country.

We worked on a business plan, and before we knew it, we were ready to take this scary step of quitting our careers to take a leap of faith.”
– Leticia Hutchins (BUS ’16)

Hutchins manages Alma’s retail website, marketing and human resources. Her husband oversees their bean-roasting team, sales and logistics, and her father runs Finca Terrerito. She credits her DePaul education in accountancy and management information systems, which included learning computer code, for empowering her success. “Going into the corporate world, I felt very prepared,” she says. “It really helped me build that foundation for starting a business.”

Conducting business sustainably is a core value at Alma Coffee. “The farm is USDA-certified organic, and we use as many coffee byproducts as possible,” Hutchins says, including converting cascara, potentially harmful waste left over from harvesting coffee cherries, into environmentally friendly farm pesticides. Hutchins also invested in a Loring Smart Roast machine, the most fuel-efficient roaster on the market, which produces 80% fewer emissions than conventional roasters.

Hutchins and her family believe in investing in their community, too. The farm provides employment and proper living conditions for 250 coffee pickers in Copan during harvest season. At Christmastime, the family also distributes food baskets and other necessities, including children’s shoes, to nearby families in need. “A lot of times it will be the only pair of shoes that a child will get for a whole year,” she says.

Alma Coffee is ground in a fuel-efficient roaster to promote sustainability.

Alma Coffee is ground in a fuel-efficient roaster to promote sustainability.


Like many family businesses, Alma has faced economic challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Hutchins responded by building Alma’s online presence. “I spent three weeks redoing the whole website from top to bottom, every single word and photo, updated our subscription program, and began a paid advertising program, which we had never done before,” she says. “Slowly but surely, we began to see the online business grow. In a weird way COVID was a blessing in disguise that pushed us to do things that we didn’t think were possible for us to do.”

Alma has expanded to encompass a second farm, named Finca La Unica, which Hutchins’ father acquired by trading cattle for land. “He came to me and said, ‘Women are very underappreciated in our industry,’” Hutchins recalls. “We need to lead by example, and I would like you to lead this farm and be the owner of it. I think you need to come down to Honduras and teach our community, which is very machismo-driven, that women can own land and successfully lead a coffee farm.” Since then, Hutchins has been busy choosing the coffee varieties to be grown by Finca La Unica and designing farm operations, which will focus on producing a higher yield of coffee.

As Hutchins applies 21st-century business practices to an old family business, she has remained true to the values that inspired her to co-found Alma Coffee. “Our three key pillars are improving lives, sustainability and extraordinary coffee,” she says, “and that’s what we go back to with every single decision we make, whether it’s an investment, a hiring decision or whether we stay late to get one more person’s order out.”

By Robin Florzak

Below, view a video of Leticia Hutchins leading a tour of Alma Coffee’s roastery.