Emilia Dimenco President and CEO Women’s Business Development Center, Chicago (BUS ’80, MBA ’83)
Opportunity is the first step to independence”
The plan for Emilia DiMenco’s life may sound familiar to the children of working-class immigrants: hard work and a college degree would be the path to a better life for the next generation.
Growing up in south suburban Blue Island with other Italian immigrants, DiMenco excelled in the math and science classes the Servite Sisters in her Catholic grade school emphasized. After working her way through DePaul’s business school, she graduated at age 25 and landed a coveted slot in the management training program at Harris Bank (now BMO Harris).
Then she began breaking glass ceilings.
DiMenco became the first woman senior vice president and, later, executive vice president in the corporate and commercial bank at BMO Harris, leading to “a wonderful” 30-year banking career there.
However, it almost didn’t happen.
A class-action lawsuit by the U.S. Department of Labor and the National Organization for Women against Chicago banks in the late 1970s challenged the different training programs offered to men and women. As a result, banks started recruiting staff differently, broadening the list of universities where they recruited and interviewing diverse students who had not previously made it into their hiring pools. DiMenco believes she would not have been hired but for the impact of the lawsuit. “That really builds the case for public policy to change the way all of us behave,” she argues.
“I attribute my success to sponsors who supported my work on projects and advocated for my promotions,” she says. It was important to her to pay those opportunities forward when she entered top management by opening doors for other women and people of color who, like her, may not have had the customary preparation.
DiMenco continues to foster economic independence for women today as the president and CEO of the Women’s Business Development Center (WBDC) in Chicago, where she seeks to change statistics showing that just 5 percent of federal contracts go to women-owned businesses.
One of the services that WBDC provides to build capacity is women’s business enterprise (WBE) certification. This recognition enables WBE-certified businesses to differentiate themselves when they bid on private-sector and some public-sector contracts.
While women own 38 percent of businesses, “there still isn’t equal opportunity,” DiMenco laments, noting that they face barriers in accessing contacts and capital. “Opportunity is the first step to independence,” DiMenco says. “I am lucky to be able to help women realize the opportunity and achieve independence every day.”
Walk five minutes west of the Driehaus College of Business to the intersection of Jackson and LaSalle, and you’ll be in the heart of Chicago’s financial district. Our college and this vibrant community of banks, exchanges, investment firms and other financial services have enjoyed a close relationship for more than 75 years—ever since DePaul first offered students an opportunity to major in finance and banking.
Our connection is more than just proximal—it’s synergistic. DePaul is a major provider of alumni and intern talent for Chicago financial institutions. Financial leaders provide us with practical advice for designing a curriculum that prepares our graduates to succeed. Many of these leaders, including finance pioneer Richard H. Driehaus, also donate generously to DePaul to support teaching, research and scholarships.
Our professors regularly share research with industry experts at conferences co-hosted by the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago and other major institutions. Meanwhile, the DePaul Finance Institute’s trio of centers connects faculty, students, alumni and industry representatives on campus.
The effects of this synergy are far-reaching. Our finance degree programs and the city’s status as a major financial hub attract international students to DePaul. Our finance alumni are well prepared to work not only in Chicago, but also in New York and other major financial centers around the world. DePaul also collaborates with institutions locally and internationally to provide programs tailored to specific industry needs.
The university’s CEO Initiative and our graduate program recently formed partnerships with Northern Trust and MB Financial to launch MBA programs for their employees. Another MBA program partnership between DePaul and the Bahrain Institute for Banking and Finance celebrates its 15th year this fall.
In our main story, we explore the benefits finance alumni, students, faculty and industry have realized from these relationships. I also invite you to read about our newest finance faculty member, Professor Hongjun Yan. Appointed in July as Richard H. Driehaus Chair in Behavioral Finance, Hongjun will further advance our cutting-edge research and real-world teaching in finance.
Accounting Manager Amanda Rzepka (BUS ’07), at right, says it’s important for new managers to coach others, as she does with intern Allison Fisher, a DePaul accounting major.
Earning a business degree can lead to many different opportunities in the workplace including managing a team of employees.
Amanda Rzepka (BUS ’07) knew that she always wanted to lead a team, and she earned that chance when she was hired by Jet Support Services, an airline insurance company, as an accounting manager.
“I think it is fantastic to coach and mentor people, because so many people have helped me in my career,” says Rzepka. “You’re only a good manager if you are helping your team. If they succeed, you will succeed as well.”
Rzepka manages a staff of four, including a senior-level accountant and a DePaul student intern. “When it comes to being a good manager, you need to have training and leadership skills,” says Rzepka. “I learned a lot of these skills throughout my career and at DePaul, where I got experience working on real-world group projects, balancing a heavy workload and having to deal with conflict resolution.”
Rzepka admits the toughest part of being a manager is motivating employees, while the most rewarding aspect of managing a team is seeing her employees get promotions. She offers this advice for becoming a successful first-time manager: Learn how to be humble, how to give somebody else credit and how to take credit when credit is due.
Six Things New Managers Should Do
The most important thing for first-time managers to remember is that management is the process of getting things done through others says DePaul Professor of Management Robert S. Rubin. Rubin gives the following tips for first-time managers:
Set Clear Expectations Early
Many new managers fall into the “settling-in trap” whereby they wait a considerable amount of time before setting expectations with employees. Don’t wait three months or even three weeks to jump right in and establish expectations. Hold individual meetings with every direct report within the first week to set expectations about performance goals and professional conduct. Your first 90 days are ripe with goodwill—don’t squander it.
Get To Know Your People and Show Appreciation
You have no shot at influencing others unless you build mutual liking. Uncover genuine similarities and show respect for the contributions of others. Ignore any reports from prior managers about your direct reports or teams. Draw your own conclusions.
Celebrate Early Wins
Look for opportunities to provide positive feedback at the first signs of your direct reports’ success. Demonstrate that you are paying attention to their contributions.
Be Authentic
Whatever you do, don’t fake it. Every great manager makes mistakes. Show people you’re open to their feedback and learn from mistakes.
Underpromise and Overdeliver
Always do what you say you will do, and never make promises you can’t keep— it will ruin your credibility and trust.
Don’t Overcompensate for Differences in Age or Experience
When you are managing people older or more experienced, don’t overinflate your authority as a way to demonstrate who is in charge. Remember, you need your people more than they need you.
OCCUPATION: CEO and president of MAG USA, a wholly owned subsidiary of Manchester Airports Group (MAG), a global airport company that owns and operates four United Kingdom airports in Manchester, Stansted, East Midlands and Bournemouth.
The U.S. division of MAG was launched in June 2015, bringing three new business lines to the U.S. market: P3 airport terminal and retail development, Escape lounges and car-parking services. MAG USA has already won three contracts to build common-use Escape lounges in airports in Minneapolis-St. Paul, Oakland, Calif., and Windsor Locks, Conn., that offer high-speed Wi-Fi, charging stations, drinks and food for all travelers, regardless of airline.
EDUCATION: I chose to attend DePaul University as a marketing major, with a Spanish minor, because of its tremendous reputation for academic excellence. Of equal importance to me was the sense of community. During my college years, I always felt like I was part of the DePaul family and its tradition of service to others.
VITAL STATS: Upon graduating from DePaul, I joined the City of Chicago and had the great fortune to work for the city I love. It was an honor and privilege to work for two strong, visionary leaders, Mayor Richard M. Daley and Mayor Rahm Emanuel. I had a unique opportunity to create positive change for our city and its residents serving in various positions during my 24-year career in public service. More than half of my career with the city was spent at the Chicago Department of Aviation.
As commissioner, I oversaw the management and operation of one of the world’s busiest airports during a period of rapid expansion, reviving the organization’s focus on customer service as well as leading a $26 million redevelopment of O’Hare’s international terminal. I also oversaw the $8 billion O’Hare modernization program, which reconfigured the airport’s intersecting runways to improve efficiency and enhance the traveler’s experience.
WHAT I LIKE BEST ABOUT MY JOB: Working in an industry I love with extremely talented people from around the world. As the CEO of MAG USA I have the opportunity to continue to make a difference in people’s lives by enhancing the traveler’s experience at airports with new offerings that also benefit the airport and surrounding communities.
MY DePAUL EXPERIENCE HELPED ME TO: Think outside the box. It provided me with a solid foundation to build upon. It also instilled in me the importance of strong ethics and of staying true to yourself.
WORDS OF ADVICE FOR RECENT GRADUATES
It is important to do what you love, not be afraid to take risks and follow your heart when making important decisions.
Hongjun Yan embraces unconventional thinking. It’s a mindset that drove him to become an innovative finance professor and scholar, and to join DePaul’s business faculty in July as Driehaus Chair in Behavioral Finance.
Yan’s academic journey began in 1991, when he left his small hometown of Weihui in the Henan province of China to study mathematics at the prestigious Nankai University in Tianjin. China had just resumed stock trading after a 41-year hiatus following the Communist Revolution. “It was a period when the stock market in China started developing from scratch,” Yan recalls. “I soon became fascinated by finance.”
Yan switched his focus to business, earning a master’s in management science, and then entered the London Business School’s finance PhD program. He studied classical finance models, in which investors are assumed to have all the knowledge, analytical power and self-control needed to make rational investing decisions, without the bias of human behavior. But Yan questioned this thinking and found himself drawn to alternative theories of behavioral finance, an emerging academic field that took behavioral biases seriously.
“Growing up in a society that went through dramatic transformation, it is natural for me to be skeptical about mainstream views,” Yan says. “I found it appealing when the research in behavioral finance started challenging the mainstream.” Behavioral finance not only provides a fresh perspective for understanding investor decision-making, he explains, but it also yields new insight into the behavioral influences that affect asset pricing and policymaking.
After obtaining his PhD, Yan taught finance at Yale University for 10 years, where he built an impressive record of research. His scholarly work probes how asset pricing is affected by market imperfections and “bounded rationality,” which are anomalies in investors’ behavior caused by their limited knowledge, information and time. Yan also taught at Rutgers before joining DePaul.
At DePaul, he continues this inquiry while teaching finance classes and leading the Driehaus Center for Behavioral Finance as academic director. The center, which promotes research into the human aspects of financial decision-making, and Yan’s chairmanship are endowed by a 2002 charitable trust gift from Richard H. Driehaus (BUS ’65, MBA ’70, DHL ’02), founder of Driehaus Capital Management and a proponent of behavioral finance. Driehaus applauded the choice.
“Professor Yan is an impressive thought leader whose work is advancing the knowledge and application of behavioral finance theories among students, academics and industry professionals,” Driehaus said.
Yan says his goal at DePaul is to nurture an “elite institute in behavioral finance.” He also relishes challenging a new generation of business students to question conventional thinking about finance.
“I always strive to encourage my students to have a healthy dose of skepticism toward what they learn,” he says. “I want them to learn how to use the models, and, more importantly, when and how not to use those models.”
DePaul celebrated Accountancy Professor Sandra Shelton as the newly named KPMG Neil F. Casson Endowed Professor and honored the KPMG Foundation’s generous support for DePaul’s accountancy school at a reception hosted by the Driehaus College of Business in April.
“This professorship brings great prestige to the school of accountancy and to the university,” the Rev. Dennis H. Holtschneider, C.M., president of DePaul University, told faculty, students, alumni and KPMG representatives who gathered for the occasion. “It recognizes that faculty are a cherished resource, and, after all, it is faculty who educate, inspire and challenge.”
The endowed professorship supports Shelton’s teaching, research and service, most notably as the director of the internal auditing program at the School of Accountancy and Management Information Systems. The foundation’s gift of $650,000 to fund the professorship came from the estate of retired KPMG partner Neil F. Casson’s wife, Jeanne, who chose the KPMG Foundation as her sole beneficiary.
Shelton, who has taught at the university for more than two decades, said the professorship had special significance because of KPMG’s steadfast support throughout her academic career. She was one of the first recipients of the KPMG Doctoral Scholarship when she attended the University of Wisconsin.
She later served on the planning committee for The PhD Project, an initiative co-founded by the foundation in 1994 to address the under-representation of minorities on the faculties of American business schools. In 2012, the foundation recognized Shelton as a KPMG Alumni Distinguished Professor, one of only about 40 such professors in the nation.
“This appointment provides me with a greater opportunity to pay it forward to support the needs of students and my community in my efforts to make a difference,” Shelton said.
At the reception, Fr. Holtschneider presented Bernard J. Milano, president of the KPMG Foundation, with the DePaul Richardson Society plate to acknowledge the foundation’s long-standing philanthropic support.
“DePaul has been a major source of talent for the profession and we are proud of having our name associated with both the university and Sandra,” Milano said. “We look forward to many more years working together with integrity on our mutual high-quality, caring and diverse relationship.”
$1.8 Million Marriott Foundation Grant Supports New Hospitality Student Center
Nick Thomas, director of the new J. Willard and Alice S. Marriott Center for Student Development and Engagement (left), with DePaul Marriott Scholar Elanna Smith (BUS ’15) and Marriott representative Annmarie Gustello.
The School of Hospitality Leadership opened a new student center on the Loop Campus this fall with the support of a $1.8 million grant from the J. Willard and Alice S. Marriott Foundation.
Believed to be the first of its kind in the country, the J. Willard and Alice S. Marriott Center for Student Development and Engagement provides a place for students to connect with industry leaders and alumni mentors for personalized career preparation and leadership development guidance. It complements the highly specialized, cutting-edge curriculum of the school, which prepares students for management positions with hotels, restaurants and tourism ventures.
“This investment will significantly enhance the ability of the School of Hospitality Leadership to offer generations of diverse students a competitive advantage of academic preparation and professional development, befitting one of the best applied hospitality management programs in the nation,” says Misty Johanson, director of the school.
Led by Assistant Professor of Hospitality Leadership Nicholas Thomas, the center offers students individualized mentoring and career guidance; customized internship planning; and leadership and professional skills seminars, including etiquette and international service culture training. It also hosts industry and alumni events.
Among the center’s new initiatives is an ambassador program that enables students to work one-on-one with Chicago hospitality executives within their organizations. “Because of DePaul’s ideal location and tremendous industry support for the program in Chicago, executives are eager to be involved in the School of Hospitality Leadership and the lives of its students,” Johanson says.
Coleman Entrepreneurship Center Names Alumnus as Executive Director, Unveils New Space
The Coleman Entrepreneurship Center’s new executive director Bruce Leech, joins Assistant Director Abigail Ingram and Michael W. Hennessy, president and CEO of the Coleman Foundation at the entrance of the center’s new space on DePaul’s campus.
The Coleman Entrepreneurship Center (CEC) has been a beacon of innovation in business at DePaul since its inception in 2003. Founded with a grant from The Coleman Foundation, the center provides guidance and resources for DePaul students and alumni to start and grow new ventures. The center is now poised to take its efforts to the next level thanks to a new leader, new space and a newly invigorated strategic plan.
In April, the CEC welcomed entrepreneur Bruce Leech (MBA ’81) as its executive director. Leech, who has been involved with the CEC for more than 12 years as an advisory board member, relishes this opportunity to lead the center into its innovative future.
“I am looking to leverage my 30 years in business and my experience of starting, selling and building businesses to work with the CEC staff to help expand our world-class programs,” says Leech, founder of CrossCom National, a telecommunication and IT services company. “I want to connect the entrepreneurial ecosystem within DePaul, within Chicago and across the country and the world.”
Leech and new CEC assistant director Abigail Ingram (LAS MA ’15) hosted the opening of the center’s new 4,000-square-foot offices on the seventh floor of the DePaul Center in the fall. The modern, flexible space features a main room that can be converted easily from a co-working area for student entrepreneurs to an 80-seat venue for the center’s programming.
The center supports DePaul’s highly ranked entrepreneur degree programs with workshops, seminars and speakers; a student and alumni new-venture competition called Launch DePaul; and an internship program that pairs students with newly founded Chicago businesses, among other initiatives. Last year, the CEC hosted 102 guest speakers and reached more than 2,000 people through its activities.
Leech says the CEC’s headquarters will serve as a bridge connecting students from across DePaul to entrepreneur alumni and Chicago’s thriving startup community. “This is a space where students and alumni can nurture their business ideas and try them out before unleashing them in the ‘real world.’”
In Memoriam: Brother Leo Ryan, C.S.V., Former DePaul Business Dean
Brother Leo. V. Ryan, C.S.V., former dean and professor emeritus, offers the convocation as DePaul University Driehaus College of Business during the 116th commencement ceremonies on Sunday, June 15, 2014, at Allstate Arena in Rosemont.(DePaul University/Jamie Moncrief)
From early beginnings in his small hometown of Waukon, Iowa, to training Peace Corps volunteers in Brazil, to initiating new graduate business programs and professorships at DePaul,
Bro. Leo Ryan, C.S.V. (MBA ’53, DHL ’13) spent his life transforming others through leadership, dedication and care. On June 22, he died at the age of 89.
A world traveler and prolific scholar, Bro. Leo “was generous in sharing his insights with his colleagues here and around the globe,” says Ray Whittington, dean of the Driehaus College of Business.
After receiving a bachelor’s degree from Marquette University, Bro. Leo entered his religious order, the Clerics of Saint Viator, in 1949. He later earned an MBA from DePaul and a doctorate from Saint Louis University.
Bro. Leo served as president of Saint Viator High School and dean at both Marquette University and the University of Notre Dame before returning to DePaul in 1980 as business college dean.
During his eight-year tenure, the college launched the School of Accountancy, the Institute for Business and Professional Ethics, the Kellstadt Marketing Center, and its first endowed professorships in entrepreneurship and finance. Bro. Leo also established the Dean’s Advisory Council and fostered greater engagement between the college and Chicago’s business community.
After retiring as dean, Bro. Leo continued sharing his knowledge about business ethics and management as a professor in the college and through his scholarship and teaching around the world.
He became a professor emeritus in 1999 and was honored that year with a Via Sapientiae Award, DePaul’s highest faculty and staff honor. In 2013, the business college presented him with an honorary doctorate.
“The contributions he made to business education, to DePaul and to countless alumni were enormous,” Whittington says. “He will be remembered for championing many initiatives that make our college distinctive today.”
Robert Rubin, professor of management, says the rankings shows the DePaul business faculty’s commitment to evidence-based teaching practice.
Driehaus College of Business faculty members are among the world’s most prolific scholars of research about business education, according to two new studies.
DePaul business professors ranked No. 2 for producing research about marketing education and No. 6 overall for generating business and management education (BME) research among approximately 1,900 institutions surveyed internationally.
Management Professors Robert S. Rubin and Dan Koys, Associate Professor of Management Erich Dierdorff, Marketing Chair Stephen Koernig (MBA ’94), Associate Professor of Marketing Joel Whalen and Associate Professor of Accountancy Cindy Durtschi were among DePaul faculty members whose research was noted in the survey.
“These studies highlight the growing recognition of business and management education research as a critical business discipline in its own right,” says Rubin, an associate editor for the premier management education journal Academy of Management Learning & Education.
“That Driehaus faculty are so prominently represented among this scholarly community is evidence of the overall commitment that the college of business makes not only to good teaching, but also to engaged, evidence-based teaching practice.”
Rubin, whose research focuses on MBA curriculum and quality, noted that “it’s not enough to experiment with new teaching methods; we have a professional obligation to examine the effectiveness of such methods.”
One of the study authors, Ben Arbaugh, management and human resources chair at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, said the purpose of the survey was to identify and cultivate a cross-disciplinary community of scholars who share best practices for business school teaching and program management.
“Our hope is that scholars increasingly will engage in BME research, that business schools increasingly use such work to inform their educational practices, and that BME-active schools will articulate to their external stakeholders how such research informs and improves their educational practices,” he says, “thereby presenting highly compelling cases for why parents, employers and other stakeholders will want to send prospective students to these schools.”
The findings were presented at the Academy of Management’s annual meeting in August and will be detailed in forthcoming journal publications. Arbaugh co-authored the studies with Charles Fornaciari, Alvin Hwang, Regina Bento, Carlos Asarta and Kathy Lund Dean.
It’s been more than a century since the Chicago Cubs won a World Series. Now the Cubs are winning again, and fans have high hopes they’ll go all the way this year. But what is it like to see firsthand the team’s historic transformation?
The 12 DePaul alumni – most of them from the college of business – who work the Chicago Cubs organization know.
Much like the team they work for, these alumni have experienced increasing opportunities for success at one of the most storied sports franchises in history. Three of these alumni share how their experiences at DePaul have helped them win at the game of sports management.
Name: Diego Chahda (BUS ’12)
Cubs Job: Premier Account Executive
Years with the Cubs: Three
On Working with the Cubs
“I’m from Cleveland, so if anyone can understand the plight of a Cubs fan it’s me! I started back in 2013, when the Cubs were rebuilding and it was really hard on our season ticket waiting list. I was brought in to focus on the team’s waitlist and help with converting people to season tickets at a higher rate.
“We changed our sales process. Before, we would send a post card reminder and then have people just wait to get a call from us to come to the ball park and buy their seats.
“Literally, people had to come down in December when it was freezing, wait in line to buy their season tickets, and they had no idea on the price or anything. Now everything is digital.
“We contact prospective season ticket holders well in advance of the season, they get a more personalized message from the team, thanking them for their support of the team and are encouraged to celebrate their opportunity to finally buy season tickets.
“We want them to feel a part of the team and its success. They don’t want to lose their opportunity to buy a seat for next season. Now we have an extremely high retention rate for our season ticket holders and convert off the waitlist at a good clip, which had a potential to become extinct, has been extended to 90,000 strong. That number is only going to get higher.”
On DePaul University
“Before I started working [with the Cubs] I had no idea what sales were all about. I couldn’t sell $15 tickets to a high school hockey game. Now, I sell $500 seats, using tactics I learned at DePaul. My classes at DePaul taught me that you are selling more than space, you’re selling experience, and service is how you do that. So that’s my emphasis: serving our customers and making sure they’re more than satisfied with us.”
Name: Annie Scalise (BUS ’13)
Cubs Job: Human Resources Coordinator
Years with the Cubs: Two
On Working with the Cubs
“I started as an intern for a minor league team. I literally did everything, from selling tickets, cleaning the stadium, and even being the team mascot. I also had an opportunity to work for the Cubs as a client service associate in the 2013 season. After the 2013 season, I left the sports industry and went to work full-time in a corporate setting. However, I began to miss the sports industry atmosphere and energy. In 2015, the Cubs had an HR opening and I was able to find my way back. It’s a totally different culture here. Everyone is much more focused on the same goal—having a winning team and organization. We all want to win the World Series. We want to support our baseball team, support Theo [Epstein, president of Baseball Operations for the Cubs], support Tom Ricketts [owner of the Cubs]. That’s our bigger goal.”
On DePaul University
“In every class that I took at DePaul, we had some sort of huge final project that required much collaboration. The team-building and collaboration that I learned at DePaul helps me each day as I support the Cubs’ front office. We just have this mentality that we’re all in this together.”
Name: Ashley Beirne (‘BUS ‘11)
Cubs Job: Development, Hickory Street Capital LLC (owned by the Ricketts Family); formerly worked in Corporate Partnerships with the Chicago Cubs
Years with the Ricketts: Three
“When I started with the Cubs, I worked in corporate partnerships new business and sold everything from naming rights to the Cubs Executive Clubs, to selling outfield signage, and brought in additional revenue for two and half years. While working in corporate partnerships I would educate clients on the 1060 Project development, which included the restoration of Wrigley Field, as well as the Ricketts’ development exterior of Wrigley Field (Hotel, Plaza and Office building).
“In the same time span, my sister and I bought our first condo which prompted me to become more interested in real estate. I wanted to be a part of this new story for the Ricketts, not only the story on the field with the team hopefully competing for the World Series, but also transforming Wrigleyville to be an event destination more than the 81 home games, but rather a place where people travel to at all times of the year.
“I was really inspired and began studying on nights and weekends to get my real estate license. I began working in residential real estate and then transferred to working on the $250-million development project the Ricketts started.
“It’s an exciting and once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be part of this development. There is a small team of us who are developing this entire infrastructure outside of Wrigley Field. It’s keeping us very busy. It’s been amazing to have the ability to be a part of the design meetings, the construction meetings, launching a new hotel brand, and developing community events such as Farmer’s Markets and Movies in the Plaza. This whole experience has been amazing and it’s been incredible to see the Cubs succeed and win.
On DePaul University
“I love DePaul. The best part is that DePaul gives you the mindset where you realize that what you’re doing now is going to impact what you’re doing in the future. As a business student at DePaul commuting to and from the loop, your focus is on the real world right away. At DePaul, you have the opportunity to learn from business professionals who have been successful in their own careers and are teaching real world business practices and strategies, not just from a dated textbook. You’re learning from the best, which has made it easier for me to succeed in my own career and within the Ricketts ’organization.”
Adjunct Professor Brian Thompson (MBA ’13) says experience in the finance lab differentiates DePaul alumni from others in the job market.
To confuse DePaul University’s Finance Lab with a real-life trading company would be an honest mistake. All of the ingredients are there: rows of computers, Bloomberg Terminals, multiple TVs with financial programming, and a stock ticker with orange and green lettering running above sprawling photos of Chicago’s Board of Trade and New York City’s Wall Street.
Brian Thompson (MBA ‘13), an adjunct professor of finance and economics, as well as a principal consultant at Black & Essington Solutions LLC, stands at the front of the lab. Students from Thompson’s Applied International Portfolio Management class file in and immediately start preparing for their upcoming final presentations. They debate which stocks from the school’s portfolio need to be bought, which should be sold and which should be held.
“Students learn to think quickly while applying what they have learned from other classes during these presentations,” Thompson explains. “These skills are essential for success in business.”
Students are managing real money from a $100,000 portfolio, part of DePaul’s endowment that goes toward funding scholarships at DePaul’s business college and music school. Their presentations will be judged by faculty members and financial industry professionals.
Applied learning is the key, Thompson says. Finance students in his class gain valuable career skills from using the tools the professionals use to make investment decisions.
“There’s definitely a tangible piece to it,” Thompson says. “The idea is what they’re doing has an impact. … Giving them the accessibility to investment decision-making here really opens them up to not only being more marketable on their resume, but also more useful on the first day on the job.”
Arman Hodzic (BUS ’15) (far left) says the three classes he took in the Finance Lab gave him a jump-start on his career.
Students who take classes in the Finance Lab go on to get great jobs, Thompson says, as the Lab becomes a talking point on their resume. A recruiter looking at 10 mostly-even resumes will see the experience in the Finance Lab and know the student wasn’t simply “cutting grass and painting last summer,” as he puts it. For students, that experience is priceless.
One alumnus privy to experience in the Lab is Arman Hodzic (BUS ’15), an analyst at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. Hodzic took three classes in the Finance Lab, including the Applied International Portfolio Management class, which he says remains a highlight on his resume. Hodzic hopes the experience will be key in his ultimate goal of transitioning to work as a portfolio analyst.
“That’s definitely DePaul’s strong suit. It differentiates them from other universities,” he says of the hands-on experience at the Finance Lab. “You can almost claim it as non-paid work experience that you get by participating in these really in-depth experiential courses.”
That experience starts to show by the end of each student’s time in the Finance Lab, Thompson says, as their confidence increases “twofold.” Students transform from nervous and self-conscious about their knowledge to quick-thinking and confident, something Thompson believes will help them in future job interviews in the finance industry.
“As companies needs have changed, the job market is more competitive than ever,” Thompson says. I believe the experiences in this class give students a unique competitive advantage that can be a game-changer during the interview process.”
