DePaul and Ephraim Award Help Launch Alumna’s Tax Career

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Donald Ephaim (BUS ’52) and Catherine Conrad (BUS ’19),
Donald Ephaim (BUS ’52) and Catherine Conrad (BUS ’19)

Donald Ephaim (BUS ’52) established the Donald M. Ephraim Family Endowed Excellence Awards to provide monetary prizes that encourage DePaul business students to achieve. “The awardees with whom I’ve spoken are terrific students who really apply themselves and have great futures,” he says.

Those awardees include Catherine Conrad (BUS ’19), who received assistance from the fund while studying accountancy and management information systems at DePaul. Today she is a tax consultant with Deloitte, a full-time position she landed after graduation and an internship with the “Big Four” firm. In this Q&A she shares more about how DePaul and the Ephraim award helped place her on the path to success.

Where did you grow up and what made you decide to study accounting and taxation?

I grew up in the Northwest Suburbs (of Chicago) and initially decided to major in accounting without knowing much about it. I had never taken any accounting classes in high school, but math had always been my favorite subject and I always figured I’d end up doing something in business. When I got accepted into the Strobel (DePaul’s accountancy honors) program, accounting seemed like the obvious choice and I was lucky that it ended up being something that I enjoyed studying.

What are you doing now?

I’m currently finishing up my first busy season as a tax consultant at Deloitte, focusing mainly on partnership taxation.

How did the Donald M. Ephraim Family Endowed Excellence Award help you pursue your college and career dreams?

Besides lessening some of the financial burden that I would be taking on as I graduated college, it always feels good to be recognized for all the hours and hard work that you put into something. Receiving this recognition motivated me to continue to work hard because it showed me that eventually that work will be rewarded. That is an attitude that I have carried with me into my career. 

When you had the opportunity to meet Donald Ephraim, what did you tell him?

It was really cool to meet Don because he was someone who had been in my exact place before. It was really interesting to talk with him about how the accounting program at DePaul has evolved over the years and how the accounting industry has changed. I also found it very interesting to hear about his own path because, even though he started out with an accounting degree, he went back to get his law degree and now has his own law firm where he does work that really does not relate to accounting at all. It really made me think about what other opportunities I may want to pursue in my future.

What do you remember most about your DePaul education?

For me, it was really the professors that I had that shaped my time at DePaul. When I chose my major I was unsure and really didn’t know what to expect, but it was the professors I had that made me excited to continue to pursue that degree. I eventually chose to go into tax because I had a professor that made tax interesting and fun to learn about.

By Robin Florzak

Driehaus College of Business Celebrates Women’s History Month

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Twelve DePaul business leaders — faculty, staff, students and alumni — explain why they are a “woman in business” in short video.


For more than 100 years, women have been studying in DePaul’s business school. Since then, the Driehaus College of Business has welcomed its first woman dean, opened the Women in Entrepreneurship Institute, and has highlighted countless stories of DePaul women’s accomplishments and contributions to their fields, communities and the world.

March also marks Women’s History Month, a national celebration the U.S. has recognized since 1987. To celebrate this month, the business college created a video that highlights 12 DePaul women leaders — four alumni and Driehaus College of Business faculty, staff and students —who explain why they are leaders in business. Those women include:

  • Misty Johanson, dean, Driehaus College of Business
  • Kelly Richmond Pope, associate professor of accountancy and filmmaker, “All the Queen’s Horses”
  • Dana Fitzmorris, MBA student and co-founder of the Kellstadt Women in Business student organization
  • Jessica Vazquez (BUS ’07, MBA ’16), manager at The Shelby Group
  • Hui Lin, associate professor of accountancy and associate director for Regional Initiatives — China
  • Carolyn Leonard (BUS ’64), CEO and founder, DyMynd Angels and one of the first women to trade options in Chicago
  • Bushra Amiwala, undergraduate DePaul business student, CEO and founder of the Amiwala Foundation and Glamour Magazine’s College Woman of the Year
  • Alyssa Westring, associate professor of management and co-author of “Parents Who Lead: The Leadership Approach You Need to Parent with Purpose, Fuel Your Career, and Create a Richer Life”
  • Emilia Dimenco (BUS ’80, MBA ’83), CEO and president, Women’s Business Development Center
  • Maija Renko, professor and Coleman Entrepreneurship Chair
  • Sandra Shelton, KPMG Distinguished Professor of Accountancy and diversity ambassador at the Driehaus College of Business
  • Abigail Ingram (MA ’15, JD ’18), director, DePaul’s Women in Entrepreneurship Institute

The video was produced by Jaclyn Lansbery, website & social media content editor, and Theophilus Jamal, video producer and instructional designer, at the Driehaus College of Business.​

In Memoriam: Professor Emeritus Alex Devience

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Alex Devience
Alex Devience

Professor Emeritus Alex Devience, a management faculty member at DePaul’s Driehaus College of Business for 45 years, died on June 13.

An extraordinarily dedicated teacher and mentor, Devience inspired generations of business students and generously guided colleagues. An attorney as well as a professor, Devience taught business law and other subjects at DePaul, and he continued to teach through spring quarter of this year.

“Alex always had a story, joke or interesting anecdote he would drop by and share,” says Lisa Gundry, chair of the Department of Management & Entrepreneurship. “At our department meetings, he was known as the master of Robert’s Rules, and always kept us on track. He was brilliant in the law, and at teaching business law, and made such a positive impact on students who chose to continue their careers in law.”

Jim Staruck (BUS ’65), an assistant professor in the department and fellow attorney, was among those Devience guided. “I’ve known Alex for over 40 years,” he says. “He had the most wry sense of humor, always had a smile, and was an excellent advisor to me.”

Sam Manella (BUS ’81. JD ’85), a clinical professor and Devience’s colleague at the business college, remembers Devience for his love of the law. “Many times we spoke about ethical issues in the law, which is my specialty, and he had so much to offer. He was a very smart man.”

“He had a great rapport with his students,” Manella added. “Many of them who subsequently had a class with me spoke highly of Alex to me. He will be missed.”

Devience is survived by his wife, Arlene, of 59 years; his ward, Mark, and 11 nieces and nephews. Services were private, with interment at Town of Maine Cemetery. In lieu of flowers the family asks that donations be made to Advocate Lutheran General Hospital in Alex’s name. To read more, visit OehlerFuneralHome.

By Kathy Hillegonds and Robin Florzak

In Memoriam: Robert O’Keefe

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Professor Emeritus Robert O’Keefe
Professor Emeritus Robert O’Keefe

Professor Emeritus Robert O’Keefe, a marketing faculty member for 40 years, passed away at age 84 on Feb. 11, 2020.

O’Keefe taught principles of marketing and other marketing courses to generations of business students during his four decades at DePaul. He served as an associate dean and director of DePaul’s graduate business school, where he spearheaded the development of the weekend and full-time MBA programs. Numerous university committees throughout DePaul also benefited from his active participation.

A highly regarded professor and prolific researcher, O’Keefe frequently reached out to junior faculty members to collaborate on papers for publication.

“Bob was the ‘grandfather’ of our department,” says Steve Koernig (MBA ’94), chair of the Department of Marketing. “He was a mentor that cannot be replaced. He worked with numerous faulty members on research projects, and helped junior and senior faculty succeed throughout the tenure and promotion process.

“On a personal note, his wisdom and institutional knowledge was instrumental in helping me as I moved into the department chair role,” Koernig added. “He will be greatly missed.”

O’Keefe was named a St. Vincent de Paul Professor in 2004 to honor his commitment to teaching and productive scholarship, and he won several annual teaching awards from the college and university during his tenure. DePaul recognized his research achievements by presenting him with its Spirit of Inquiry Award in 2015. Upon his retirement that year, DePaul also gave O’Keefe its highest honor, the Via Sapientiae Award, to recognize his many contributions to the university.

The award citation noted that O’Keefe inspired scores of students to become marketers. “In your exemplary career at DePaul,” it said, “you demonstrated how a professor can balance rigorous academic scholarship with a strong dedication to teaching and university service.”

Services were held for O’Keefe on Feb. 17, 2020. Click here to share memories.

By Robin Florzak

Creating Value by Being Entrepreneurial

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Misty Johanson
Dean Misty Johanson | Photo by Kathy Hillegonds

The Driehaus College of Business has always been entrepreneurial, in both what it teaches and how it approaches business education. Our college is recognized among the nation’s best for entrepreneurship study by the Princeton Review, which ranks both our undergraduate and graduate programs in the top 25. We earn these rankings because our faculty teaches students to apply theory to practice, providing practical tools and connections for students to turn classroom lessons into real- world business opportunities.

This fall our entrepreneurship faculty became even stronger with the appointment of Maija Renko as Coleman Foundation Endowed Chair in Entrepreneurship. Maija—who is profiled by Business Exchange—is an award-winning teacher and researcher who specializes in social entrepreneurship, an area of growing interest among our students.

I also have named Professor Lisa Gundry interim chair of the Department of Management & Entrepreneurship, which oversees our entrepreneur curriculum. A member of our faculty for 30 years, Lisa is an expert in business innovation, and she most recently served as faculty director of our Master of Science in Entrepreneurship program. Our programs also are expanding—DePaul will soon offer a new minor in entrepreneurship for non-business majors.

Our academic programs in entrepreneurship are supported by the Coleman Entrepreneurship Center, which recently launched an innovative “start-up” of its own—the Women in Entrepreneurship Institute (WEI). Supported by an impressive committee of Chicago women business owners, WEI is developing the most comprehensive array of academic, research, incubation and public policy programs in the country to support women entrepreneurs. In this issue’s cover story, you’ll learn how WEI’s new accelerator program is helping women business founders, including our students and alumni, overcome barriers to develop new ventures.

Our college is doing more than teaching the entrepreneurial mindset—we also are applying it to our planning for the future. Innovating our academic programs and centers is at the heart of our college’s new 2024 Strategic Plan: Connection, Culture and Commitment. Innovation is necessary for us to create value for students and alumni and to sustain DePaul’s mission in a challenging higher education landscape.

Our strategic plan calls for us to review and redesign our MBA program, expand our career management services, and develop online programs in select areas to ensure our graduate programs are relevant and competitive. We also plan to revise our under- graduate business degree and enhance career preparedness services and experiential learning opportunities for students. Our goal is to empower students with the analytical skills and career savvy they need to succeed in today’s increasingly complex marketplace.

Strengthening the college’s connections to our alumni network and the Chicago business community is imperative for reaching these goals. We want to engage more alumni as guest lecturers and mentors for our students. We also want to expand alumni and business community support for our centers and institutes, which create value for both our students and the business community through programs that produce career-ready graduates, industry- relevant research and business networking opportunities. I encourage you to review our full strategic plan at go.depaul.edu/Driehaus2024Plan.

I look forward to working together with you to begin reaching our plan’s goals. With your support, we can elevate our college’s profile as a top business school of choice for people living and working in the Chicago area.

Misty Johanson signature
Misty Johanson
Dean
Driehaus College of Business

College Honors Faculty and Staff Retirees

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Finance Chair Eli Brewer (right) congratulates retiree Finance Associate Professor Carl Luft.
Finance Chair Eli Brewer (right) congratulates retiree Finance Associate Professor Carl Luft.

The Driehaus College of Business held a reception in the spring to honor 14 long-serving professors and two staff members who retired from DePaul June 30, 2019.

Retirees celebrated at the event were Associate Professor John Ahern, Ezerski Chair Mark Frigo, Assistant Professor Mark McCarthy, EY Distinguished Professor Bel Needles and Associate Professor David J. Roberts from the School of Accountancy; Professors Bala Batavia and William Sander from the Department of Economics; Associate Professor Carl Luft and Professor Werner F.M. De Bondt from the Department of Finance; Professors Dan Koys, Kenneth Thompson and Harold Welsch, Associate Professor Margaret Posig and Program Administrator Ilya Meiertal from the Department of Management & Entrepreneurship; Associate Professor Roger Baran from the Department of Marketing; and Admissions Associate Petrina Tignino from the Kellstadt Graduate School of Business.

Dean Misty Johanson thanked the honorees for collectively contributing more than 500 years of service to DePaul. “You have transformed the lives of thousands of students through your teaching, advising and program administration,” she said. “You have advanced business thought and practice through your research and industry outreach. You have been our faithful friends, mentors and champions. You embody the Vincentian values we hold dear.”

Two faculty members who accepted deanships at other institutions also were recognized at the reception. Marketing Professor and Associate Provost Lawrence Hamer has been appointed dean of Purdue University Northwest’s College of Business, and Department of Management & Entrepreneurship Chair Dan Heiser has been named dean of the Schneider School of Business & Economics at St. Norbert College.

By Robin Florzaki | Photos by Kathy Hillegonds

Student-Alumni Communities Formed for Master of Science Programs

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Marketing Leaders Community
Marketing Clinical Professor Roger Lall (middle) with students and alumni involved in the new Marketing Leaders Community: (left to right) Nick Schmitt, Kennedy Conn, Margaret Wolfe, Jenna Rummelhart, Raleigh Meier and Abay Sarsenov. | Photo by Kathy Hillegonds

Faculty directors of Kellstadt Graduate School of Business Master of Science degree programs are launching social media groups online and hosting industry-related events on campus to create new communities of students and alumni associated with these specialized master’s degrees.

“We are forming these communities because we recognize that our master’s students have an affinity for their programs,” says Christa Hinton (MBA ’98, EdD ’12), assistant dean and director of the graduate business program. “We want to create ways for students, alumni and faculty in these programs to connect with each other, share what’s going on in their industries, and network. For alumni it’s a great way to give back by sharing advice with students, who also represent a pipeline of talent for them.”

One such effort, called the Marketing Leaders Community (MLC), is bringing together students and alumni from the Master of Science in Marketing (MSM) program. “We want to differentiate our MSM program from other universities’ programs by enhancing the student experience both inside and\ outside the classroom,” says Clinical Professor and MSM Program Director Roger Lall. MLC hosts two events focusing on industry trends annually for members.

We wanted to create ways for students, alumni and faculty in these programs to connect with each other, share what’s going on in their industries, and network.”

Raleigh Meier (BUS MS ’19), who served as MLC’s first president, says the group is seeking to broaden alumni connections and promote student engagement. “We hope to get MSM students involved while they are current students [to] make the most of their time at DePaul and then be willing to return [as alumni] in the future to provide advice to incoming students.”

Associate Professor Jaclyn Jensen, faculty director of the Master of Science in Human Resources (MSHR) program, formed a LinkedIn group, DePaul MSHR Program, where 141 MSHR students and alumni share job postings and HR industry-related news. She and the DePaul student chapter of the Society for Human Resource Management also host panel discussions. One recent event focused on innovations in human resources and featured four alumni speakers who are senior HR leaders.

“The MSHR LinkedIn community helps to showcase the career events we hold and alumni who are giving back,” says Jensen, “all while helping link current students with industry professionals.”

To find out more about Kellstadt’s student-alumni MS communities, go to go.depaul.edu/MS-Communities.

By Robin Florzak | Photo by Kathy Hillegonds

DePaul Expert Shares Housing Policy Ideas with New Mayor’s Team

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

The city needs to align planning for future large projects with affordable housing strategies. Otherwise the market will respond accordingly, and the city will lose affordable housing.”

Last spring, when Chicago Mayor-elect Lori Lightfoot outlined her agenda for her first 100 days in office, her priorities included increasing affordable housing to stem population loss in the city. Lightfoot named a 44-member Housing Transition Committee to help her team shape strategies for achieving this goal. Geoff Smith, executive director of the Institute for Housing Studies (IHS) at DePaul, was among the experts tapped to serve on the committee.

Smith participated in two meetings with the mayor-elect’s transition team and the committee to discuss policy ideas and provided a memo with recommendations for preserving affordable housing in the city. “In general, we suggested that the new administration use data to be proactive about targeting strategies for affordable housing, especially in neighborhoods near large, planned city investment projects,” Smith says.

The institute, a research center in the college’s Department of Real Estate, analyzes complex housing data for trends that affect affordable housing in the Chicago area. Its 2016 study of the city’s 606 linear park project, for example, found that one of the unintended consequences of the city turning a defunct elevated rail line into a park was an increase in property values that reduced the availability of affordable housing in some adjacent Northwest Side neighborhoods.

“These data indicate that the city needs to align planning for future large projects, such as the Obama Presidential Center and new trails [similar to the 606], with affordable housing strategies,” Smith says. “Otherwise the market will respond accordingly, and the city will lose affordable housing.”

In his memo to the transition team, Smith wrote that “a data lens can help stakeholders understand local conditions and potential vulnerability; convene diverse audiences around solutions; help develop, prioritize and implement strategies; and track outcomes.”

Although Smith’s work on the transition team has concluded, he says the IHS has strong relationships with local and national policymakers that inform housing policy decisions on an ongoing basis. The institute produces annual reports on the state of rental housing and a quarterly home price index for Cook County, among other research, and posts this information on its website, housingstudies.org.

By Robin Florzak | Photo by Kathy Hillegonds

New Coleman Chair Sees Entrepreneurship as an Agent for Social Change

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Maija Renko, Coleman Foundation Endowed Chair in Entrepreneurship
Maija Renko, Coleman Foundation Endowed Chair in Entrepreneurship

Living in Miami in the 2000s, Maija Renko found herself surrounded by small business activity. She was there as an exchange student from Finland, completing her doctorate of science in international business. “At the time I was interested in the internationalization of technology-based companies, but my experience in Miami immersed me in a culture of start-ups,” says Renko, a professor who teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in management and entrepreneurship.

“The economy there is largely driven by small- and medium-sized businesses,” she says. “That exposure, combined with encouragement from a mentor, inspired me to take a closer look at the entrepreneurial side of business.”

Renko joined DePaul in July as the Coleman Foundation Endowed Chair in Entrepreneurship at the Driehaus College of Business. She succeeds longtime chair and founder of DePaul’s entrepreneurship program Harold Welsch, who retired from the university in June.

There are so many issues that entrepreneurs can address not only to make an impact on other people’s lives, but to better their own lives as well.”

An award-winning teacher and scholar on entrepreneurship, Renko joined DePaul from the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC), where she was voted best MBA professor by students and was instrumental in developing a certificate program to help entrepreneurs and nonprofits build effective social enterprises.

“I love the idea that you can start a business for the purpose of creating social change,” says Renko. “There are so many issues that entrepreneurs can address not only to make an impact on other people’s lives, but to better their own lives as well. I see that more and more in communities throughout Chicago—entrepreneurs building businesses for the primary purpose of making a difference in society.”

One population of entrepreneurs Renko has recently turned her attention to are people with disabilities. “Studies show people with disabilities are significantly more likely to be self-employed than those without, yet there is little research on how and why they pursue business ownership, and the needs and barriers they face along the way,” she explains. Earlier this year, Renko and colleagues from UIC received a $2.4 million grant from the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research to study entrepreneurship among disadvantaged and disabled youth in Chicago.

“For those in younger age groups, the transition from school to working life can be a real challenge,” says Renko. “In this new project we want to develop and test best practices for entrepreneurship training that can help in that transition and beyond.”

It was never her plan to leave Finland for good, but after earning her PhD in entrepreneurship from Florida International University, Renko’s career in academia took off and changed her life’s trajectory.

“Living in the U.S. has opened my eyes to many different social issues and barriers to success that do not exist in Finland,” she says. “This has fueled my passion about the role entrepreneurship can play in bringing about social change. I’m excited to bring my research to DePaul and find out what business interests DePaul students have. Entrepreneurship is a powerful force in today’s society, and the U.S. business community—and Chicago in particular—is an exciting and energizing place to be.”

By Nadia Alfadel Coloma | Photo by Kathy Hillegonds

Getting to the C-Suite: How Sponsorship Can Propel Your Career in Ways that Mentorship Can’t

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Stephanie Smith DBA ’19
Stephanie Smith DBA ’19

“Sponsorship and mentorship are often used interchangeably, but they are two different things,” says Stephanie Smith (DBA ’19), vice president and chief human resources officer at DePaul. Making the distinction between the two is a big part of Smith’s recently completed dissertation, which examines racial and gender differences in the executive sponsorship of black women.

Smith is a recent graduate of the Doctorate in Business Administration program at DePaul’s Kellstadt Graduate School of Business. She managed human resources organizations for big corporations, including Kraft Foods, before joining DePaul’s executive leadership in 2012.

“Sponsorship as a vehicle for career advancement resonates with me because it made a big difference in my own professional journey, especially as a first-generation corporate professional,” she says. “Over the course of my career, I’ve been fortunate to have people take an interest in my growth, [people] who have helped identify and provide opportunities for me to move forward.”

People tend to seek out mentorship when they want a professional relationship that provides career guidance and development. A mentor is a valuable resource but, according to Smith, can only take you so far, particularly if your goal is to sit at the executive table or get to the role of CEO.

According to research, 95 percent of all white males who are in CEO positions said that there was someone who helped them get there. “Those are sponsors, not mentors, who are lifting them up,” says Smith.

Mentors provide coaching and counseling around a certain issue or career choice. They offer psychosocial support, helping you navigate through organizations or difficult situations, but they can fly under the radar. No one may know you have a mentor. Sponsors, on the other hand, provide strictly career-oriented support that helps open doors to top positions. “They are the people who sit in the rooms where key decisions are made, especially decisions around succession planning,” Smith explains. “They possess the influence, leadership and reputation that allow them to advocate for others. That’s the key difference between mentors and sponsors.”

Conducting a study on sponsors and their proteges, Smith set out to investigate why black women are not represented in the CEO landscape of Fortune 500 companies. “With so much emphasis that companies place on diversity and inclusion initiatives, I find it problematic that the 5% of women CEOs today are all white,” she says. “That’s a weak number for women in general, but it’s bleak for black women in particular. I wanted to find out how and why sponsorship is playing out differently for them.”

They are the people who sit in the rooms where key decisions are made, especially decisions around succession planning…They possess the influence, leadership and reputation that allow them to advocate for others. That’s the key difference between mentors and sponsors.”
– Stephanie Smith

One theory Smith explores in her research is the similarity-attraction paradigm, which posits that people tend to be drawn to people who are similar to themselves. “I found that a number of black women out there do have sponsors to help get them to the top positions, in addition to the education, experience and intellect. But the missing piece had to do with similarity-attraction. White males are still primarily in charge, so part of the issue is that there aren’t enough people of other backgrounds or races with whom to confer on who gets into those executive board rooms.”

Based on these findings, Smith has some advice to share with sponsors: “I think you have a duty to develop a diverse talent pipeline and break the similarity-attraction paradigm. It’s important to see beyond just white males as the prototypical CEO or senior executive. Other people can succeed in those roles, too.”

Smith has these three tips to share for anyone interested in being sponsored:

  • Do excellent work
    It may sound simplistic, but the best way to gain a corporate sponsor is to perform with excellence. Sponsors tend to take someone under their wing because they see a person’s potential, so how you get noticed is through your work. Particularly once they become senior, sponsors want to leave a legacy by developing a talent pipeline for their organization, so they are on the lookout for people who shine.
  • Assume work that increases your visibility
    Of course, you can’t get noticed unless your work is visible, so it’s important to take on responsibilities and projects that will put you in front of the key players in an organization, even if it means going outside of your job’s main duties. You can volunteer to lead a task force or take on a challenging assignment. The quickest way to get noticed, however, is to have a job that is responsible for decisions that contribute to whether an organization/brand fails or succeeds, such as jobs that are responsible for profit and loss. You can ascend to high positions in just about any field, but if the CEO role is your goal, you definitely need experience in profit and loss.
  • Seek access to senior leadership
    The best kind of sponsor-protege relationships happen organically. It’s something that can’t be forced. But to start, you need to be comfortable with introducing yourself to senior leaders when the opportunities present themselves. Whether at networking events or company meetings, don’t be afraid to approach them. Start a conversation and put yourself on their radar. This ability to advocate for yourself, to use political skill to influence people, is key to navigating and leveraging powerful relationships within an organization.

By Nadia Alfadel Coloma | Photo by Kathy Hillegonds