Eccles Business Buzz

While waiting for the newest season launching this fall, we have something special planned for your listening enjoyment. Get ready to revisit some of your favorite Eccles Business Buzz episodes with our timeless reruns.

In this episode from Season 3, we'll be talking not just about curiosity but also about how pursuing our curiosity can help prepare us to make a positive and lasting impact on the people and the communities around us.

That’s just what Sadie Bowler has been doing. As a sophomore at the David Eccles School of Business and a resident at Lassonde Studios, Sadie is also running SadieB Personal Care, a personal care brand with a goal to empower Gen Z girls and change the health and beauty industry. 

She chats with Frances about creating a beauty brand that speaks to Gen Z girls like her, having an in-house mental health expert on her staff, SadieB’s partnership with Girls Up United Nations Foundation, and how she is growing her business at Lassonde. 

Eccles Business Buzz is a production of the David Eccles School of Business and is produced by University fm.

• Sadie Bowler | LinkedIn
• SadieB Personal Care’s Website

While waiting for the newest season launching this fall, we have something special planned for your listening enjoyment. Get ready to revisit some of your favorite Eccles Business Buzz episodes with our timeless reruns.

In this episode from season 2, we have Jolly Karungi, a graduate of the David Eccles School of Business and Eccles student of the year in 2020.

During her time at the Eccles school, she participated in the Business Scholars and First Ascent programs in addition to a variety of other student organizations on campus. She graduated with a major in Information Systems.

Jolly was born in the Republic of Congo and lived in a refugee camp in Uganda for several years before coming to Utah. 

She shares the struggles she had to endure living in different environments and the difficulties navigating systems without knowing how to speak the language. However, her passion for learning and adapting together with perseverance helped her overcome the challenges.

Jolly also tells her plans after graduation, her future goals, and what excites her the most in going back home where her family is. 

Eccles Business Buzz is a production of the David Eccles School of Business and is produced by University fm.

• LinkedIn
• Business Scholars Program
• First Ascent Scholars Program
• Cotopaxi Foundation

While waiting for the newest season launching this fall, we have something special planned for your listening enjoyment. Get ready to revisit some of your favorite Eccles Business Buzz episodes with our timeless reruns.

In this episode from season 2, we have the honor of chatting with Gail Miller, President and Immediate Past Chair of the Larry H. Miller Company. Gail also oversees the Larry H.Miller Education Foundation and the Larry H. and Gail Miller Family Foundation. 

Gail shares with us details about her upbringing and what it was like to grow up in a large family where money was often tight. Listen as she tells us how she persevered through the challenges in her life - from being the supporter of her family to being a wife and mother and ultimately stepping to a new role of becoming the owner of a large company. 

We can all resonate with the biggest obstacle in Gail's life - fear. It's the reason she wrote her book, Courage to Be You: Inspiring Lessons from An Unexpected Journey. It's compelling how she overcame fear through faith and perseverance.

We also hear why Gail got involved with the university community and what inspired her to get connected to higher education. She also has some pretty good advice for women who want to transition from being stay-at-home mothers to the workplace once again. Finally, we get to know the future of Larry H. Miller Group of Companies and what Gail hopes her legacy will be.

Eccles Business Buzz is a production of the David Eccles School of Business and is produced by University fm.

• Larry H. Miller Group of Companies
• Courage to Be You: Inspiring Lessons from An Unexpected Journey

While waiting for the newest season launching this fall, we have something special planned for your listening enjoyment. Get ready to revisit some of your favorite Eccles Business Buzz episodes with our timeless reruns.

In this episode from season 1, we hear from Greg Kennedy who graduated from the Eccles School in 1987 and is one of our most dedicated Eccles advisory board members. Greg recently retired as Senior Vice President of Airport Operations at Delta Airlines where he was responsible for some of the busiest airports in the world including our very own Salt Lake International.

Greg walks us through his family story and his experiences growing up, wrestling to go to college, and how he ended up at the University of Utah and eventually, the Eccles School.

He narrates his extensive experience working in the airline industry, some of the ups and downs, dealing with major crises like 9/11 and COVID-19, and the importance of leadership through it all.

Greg shares his definition of empathy and how his perspective has changed throughout his career. He also talks about the great attributes of a leader/mentor and the importance of having the right people to guide you in your journey.

Eccles Business Buzz is a production of the David Eccles School of Business and is produced by University fm.

• Greg Kennedy | LinkedIn

Despite the rise in scrutiny of bachelor’s degrees, research shows that having access to college is a key indicator of future economic and financial success as well as physical and emotional well-being. 

Studies show that people with bachelor's degrees have 57% more job opportunities than people with high school diplomas, and 60% of workers with bachelor’s degrees reported being highly satisfied at work, while only 38% of workers without college degrees reported being highly satisfied. 

If a degree can play such a pivotal role in someone’s overall future success, how can access to college be expanded so that students can not just get in but thrive while they’re in school and graduate? Tara Hardison, assistant dean for undergraduate programs at the David Eccles School of Business, works on that question every day. 

She joins host Frances Johnson to chat about the real-world impacts a college degree can have on someone’s life, the ways Eccles is helping first-generation and low-income students, and why that support doesn’t end after students have been handed a degree. 

Eccles Business Buzz is a production of the David Eccles School of Business and is produced by University FM.

Access critical to business education

[08:32]: Access is so critical for what we do here, and when we talk about a business education, we've got a large chunk of business-specific courses, but it's nestled in a broader liberal arts education, which does a lot for our students in everything that they'll do. We are teaching them about business fundamentals and practices in a series of topical areas. Finance, accounting, operations, right? We've got a series of majors. But the liberal arts piece is incredibly helpful, too. We absolutely teach critical thinking in our business education, but they learn these valuable skills in other aspects of humanities and social sciences, as well as their business-specific curriculum.

What got Tara into academic advising?

[24:06]: This is a 100 percent why I got into student affairs and why I started in academic advising. Because when I thought about what I wanted to be or, like, what I could do and how I could make an impact, I was like, "Oh, advising. Like that is the single most important impactful thing." And so I am incredibly passionate about our students' experiences, and I'm incredibly passionate also about our staff experiences, right? Because I don't think we can have good student experiences if we don't have good staff experiences and faculty experiences, right? We really think about the ecosystem, not these sort of different groups of what makes our ecosystem in silos necessarily.

What makes David Eccles Business school unique? 

[12:48]: I think one of the things that makes us the strongest in the David Eccles School of Business is our ecosystem, in that it does not just include staff, faculty, and students; it really is a much broader ecosystem of our alum and the broader business community, which is something that makes us unique.

• Eccles Basic Needs Initiative 
• First Ascent Scholars Program
• Opportunity Scholars Program
• Tara Hardison | David Eccles School of Business 

According to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, small businesses employ nearly half of the American workforce and represent 43.5% of the country's GDP. However, not everyone in the American economy has the same access to the tools and resources needed to launch and sustain a new business successfully. 

The Master of Business Creation (MBC) program at the David Eccles School of Business is working to address some of these gaps by offering a degree program committed to helping entrepreneurs grow their startup companies. 

Paul Brown and Rena Vanzo will join me today to discuss the program and its impact on creating equitable opportunities for entrepreneurs. Paul Brown is Co-Director of the Master of Business Creation program at the Eccles School.  

Rena Vanzo is a graduate of the Executive MBA at the Eccles School and is currently enrolled in the Master of Business Creation program. She is the founder of The Boob Bus, which offers mobile breast imaging services.

They sit down with host Frances Johnson to explore the MBC program's unique approach to entrepreneurship education, combining aspects of an accelerator with an accredited master's degree program and focusing on practical, immediate application of business concepts. We will also hear how the MBC program helps founders from diverse backgrounds to develop successful businesses. 

Eccles Business Buzz is a production of the David Eccles School of Business and is produced by University FM.

When people create jobs they also create value

[11:55] Paul Brown: I really am just a firm believer, Frances, that when people create businesses and create jobs, wherever they are, they're just adding to the overall productivity and wealth of a society. And it's a miracle to me, and I love it, whether it's a nonprofit dance company in Rose Park, a software company in Chicago, Rena's company here in Utah, the Boob Bus, or somebody having a food products company in Botswana. They're creating jobs; they're creating value. People are trading money for the products and services they have, and they're getting satisfaction and value out of that. So, I just want to continue to help hundreds and ultimately thousands of entrepreneurs create businesses that make our lives better. It's amazing. I love it.

Business is impactful in a positive way

[21:44]: Paul Brown: I believe business is inherently impactful in a positive way. So I'm not one of these people who believes that markets, capitalism, and free enterprise are somehow icky, and the only way they can be good is if they're explicitly pursuing a social purpose.

Running a business can not only contribute economically but also to the community

[16:45]: Rena Vanzo: The health impacts and potential health improvements of the Boob Bus, I think, are exponential, and they're really exciting. We literally launched within the last week. The bus was here. We've started seeing patients, and so far, 90 percent of my patients are women who have never had a mammogram before. They've called, and they've said, I haven't felt comfortable going, or it's been harder for me to get to the hospital. Simply the access that the mobile environment provides, and I think just the welcome atmosphere of a more outpatient facility that doesn't even feel like a clinic, you know, that isn't affiliated with a hospital, is a really big deal.

How MBA gave Rena confidence 

[23:17]: Rena Vanzo: I think my MBA gave me some confidence and maybe develop that knack for me, but it's like the MBC; I'm developing the blueprint for my business that probably would have taken me years to do on my own, frankly.

• Master of Business Creation (MBC)
• Paul Brown | David Eccles School of Business, University of Utah
• Paul Brown | LinkedIn
• Rena Vanzo | LinkedIn
• The Boob Bus
• The Boob Bus - Instagram
• The Boob Bus - facebook
• The Boob Bus | LinkedIn

In today's episode, we're focusing on the role of higher education in creating lifelong economic opportunities. Research shows that the average college graduate is 24% more likely to be employed than their peers who have only completed a high school degree. 

At the same time, college is not accessible to everyone. According to the National Center for Education statistics, over 85% of college students receive some form of financial aid. Here to talk about the role of scholarships in increasing college access and lifetime economic opportunity is Mbe Agbor.

Mbe spent his career in the consumer packaged goods industry where he worked for Unilever and Reckitt. Mbe now invests in real estate and small start-ups. He also owns and operates Sosega Nigeria FZE, a cashew farming and processing operation in Nigeria.

MBE earned his BS in marketing and business management at the David Eccles School of Business and earned an MBA from the Eccles School in 2001.

Mbe and host Frances Johnson will delve into his personal journey and how his family influenced his pursuit of higher education, the added stress of overcoming financial barriers, and Mbe’s belief that college is a great equalizer, providing students with the confidence to pursue their ambitions.

Eccles Business Buzz is a production of the David Eccles School of Business and is produced by University FM.

The impact of meeting your scholarship donor

[11:55] When we talk about what kind of impact we could have in the lives of young people, we could all give something. It might not be money, right? It might be time and these resources, just to the fact that we just have more road miles than these college students and we've seen and maybe been through some pitfalls, that we can give a little bit of advice and be a sounding board.

That was a part that I really enjoyed, even though I got to see Jack once a year. It was great; he asked about how school was going, and it was just great to talk to somebody that is directly involved in and invested in my future and my success.

Real happiness comes from contributing

[24:05]: I think this whole thing comes down to being happy. I think we substitute education for that and substitute money for that. We substitute a whole bunch of things for that. But at the end of the day, when we get to achieve the things that we set out to achieve, yes, happiness is quantified by a certain income level, but once we reach that, we don't have to worry about food for shelter and safety and have a car that works and things like that, and we're able to be happy, and not only happy, I want to be happy, but also happiness also comes from contributing, and so if that happiness can be shared by giving of themselves, whether financially or their time to someone else that needs a boot, then no matter where they go in life, no matter how successful they are, if they're happy and are contributing, that's making it right. That's being successful in life.

Mbe’s biggest takeaway from college 

[23:17]: College gave me the confidence to know that the only limit is me, and that's probably the biggest takeaway I took from the experience.

On pulling yourself up by your bootstraps

[09:05]: I think one thing that people don't realize is that there are a lot of people who don't have boots. And everybody just assumes that everybody has boots to pull themselves up by. And really, I think what scholarships do is give everybody boots, or bootstraps, I guess. I think once we get to the playing field, people can show what they're capable of. But if we can't even make it into the stadium, right? How is somebody going to get an opportunity to perform?

• Black History Month - The David Eccles School of Business
• Mentoring Moments
• First Ascent Scholars Program | Undergraduate Advising Resources

As we continue exploring the topic of economic equality and the different factors that influence a fair and equitable economic experience, today we are tackling the topic of student loan debt. 

Americans owe $1.77 trillion in federal and private student loan debt as of the second quarter of 2023, and questions about whether and how borrowers should be required to repay that debt have become part of an ongoing national conversation.  

Here to help us unpack all of this is Adam Looney. Adam is a professor and executive director of the Mariner S. Eccles Institute for Quantitative Analysis of Markets and Organizations here at the Eccles School. He is a nationally recognized expert on student debt, having testified before Congress multiple times on the topic of student debt forgiveness.

With host Frances Johnson, Adam shares his thoughts on how we got to this place of burdensome student debt. He’ll dive into the quest for equity in higher education accessibility, repayment options, and his thoughts on student loan forgiveness.

Eccles Business Buzz is a production of the David Eccles School of Business and is produced by University.FM.

Can we make higher education equitable and efficient?

[23:48] The reality is that college is a very good investment for a very large share of Americans. And I think the problem is identifying programs and institutions that are effective at serving disadvantaged, low-income students who historically had not enrolled in very high numbers. If we could have increased enrollment at good-quality programs and provided better guidance to steer students into programs that they can complete and that lead to good-quality jobs, then I don't think we would have a repayment crisis.

Why do we have student loan programs?

[08:36] We have a student loan program for two reasons. One is to help people pursue. a college degree and graduate programs. And second, to make access to college more equitable in the U.S. and around the world, whether you go to college, whether you complete college, whether you go to graduate school, is closely related to family income, your family background, and whether your parents went to college.

The uneven burden of student debt

[11:18] On average, college students do well because student loan borrowers, to a large degree, reflect who goes to college; the outcomes of student loan borrowers look a lot like the outcomes of typical college students. And so, it's important to remember that student loan borrowers are more likely to have a job. They earn more, they're more likely to be able to own a house, and they're more likely to become married. So, it's not a universal impediment to being able to launch a career and a life.

Why does Adam think that college is a high-quality investment?

[10:10] I think college is a very high-quality investment. It is a key way where Americans move up the economic ladder. It's a vehicle of social mobility. It's obvious that there are huge inequities in terms of who gets to go to college, who's able to persist and complete a degree, and who gets to go to graduate school. But it seems like access to financial aid alone is not able to overcome those barriers and, in fact, seems to have made many millions of these often disadvantaged students worse off.

• Adam Looney LinkedIn
• Adam Looney - The David Eccles School of Business
• Adam Looney | Brookings

When it comes to creating more equitable access to economic opportunities, like buying a house or getting a loan to start a small business, financial technology innovations are moving the needle faster than almost anything else. 

Joining us today to talk about FinTech and the role it plays in economic equality are Ryan Christiansen and Steve Smith. Ryan Christiansen is the Executive Director of the Stena Center for Financial Technology at the University of Utah. In this role, Ryan directs and coordinates the labs, venture fund, incubator, and student programs at the center.

Steve Smith is one of the co-founders and creators of the Stena Foundation and currently serves as Chief Engagement Officer, Global Open Banking for MasterCard. He believes that financial inclusion and quality education can be a catalyst for change and can break the chains of generational poverty to lift local economies.  

Steve and Ryan join host Frances Johnson to discuss how FinTech innovations can help bridge the gaps in economic inclusion, how Utah plays a role in the greater FinTech landscape, and building out the intention and future of the Stena Center. 

Eccles Business Buzz is a production of the David Eccles School of Business and is produced by University FM.

The small and medium-sized business success in global financial inclusion

[25:24] Steve Smith: The success of the small and medium-sized business is really important in the world economy for driving economic impact and financial inclusion at a higher level. Think about this: if every small and medium-sized business, to the extent they hire employees, were more successful and able to hire just one more employee next year across the world, what level of economic impact would that have?

You start thinking in terms of that, and then you start thinking about where the center can play a meaningful role in helping individuals, families, communities, entire nations kind of lift themselves from the foundation up, rather than trying to put band-aids on problem sets that are always repeat problem sets. So, I think that's where the focus is in fintech and financial services and really democratizing financial inclusion in very meaningful ways.

The role of intention at Stena Center

[15:00] Ryan Christansen: What I think is so important about the Stena Center is intention. So we've had a lot of success, as we've both talked about in the state of Utah around FinTech, and there's some other cities around the world or areas around the country that have had some success. I think what makes it really special here in Utah is truly that intention.

Small and medium-sized businesses fuels the world economy

[25:24] Steve Smith: What's really important for the Stena Foundation is: What are the fundamental building blocks of economic success and economic mobility—let's call it—that create enduring economic empowerment? For individuals, I think that you always have to wrap in small and medium-sized businesses because they fuel so much of the world's economy. And so, I think the center is great. A great example of bringing academics together with industry together with philanthropy, right? So you've got three verticals that sometimes operate independently and a center that does best in class, bringing them all together.

On Utah as an epicenter for Fintech

[09:05] Ryan Christansen: It's a really exciting place here in Utah when you look at it from various aspects. And I'll start with maybe the universities in Utah. You've got a lot of highly educated people coming out of the university system that have been starting these businesses, whether they're technology businesses or FinTech businesses, and there's really been a long history of that in the state of Utah...So you've got a lot of kinds of startup mentality with the educational system, doing a lot of innovation as well.

• Steve Smith | LinkedIn
• Stena Foundation
• Ryan Christiansen | LinkedIn
• Stena Center for Financial Technology

We are exploring economic inclusion this season, and today we are diving into the history of banking and financial structures in the United States and how they have often excluded minority groups.

Ashley Bell is the co-founder and general counsel of the National Black Bank Foundation, which provides nonprofit expert legal, regulatory, and operational support to Black-owned banks. And Sui Ling Panoke currently serves as Senior Vice President of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion for Zions Bank.

In this episode, Ashley and Sui Lang sit down with host Frances Johnson and discuss how banks were leveraged against people of color from the very beginning, finding a bank that supports your values, minority depository institutions, and some exciting developments right here in Utah, aimed at addressing and closing the racial wealth gap. 

Eccles Business Buzz is a production of the David Eccles School of Business and is produced by University FM.

The power of risking in yourself

[14:14] Ashley Bell: There's been several studies that show there's been over a trillion-dollar impact that discrimination and lack of access to capital to underserved communities is costing us a trillion dollars annually in our economy in spending. This is spending power that communities would have more of if they had access to the capital. And when you think about it holistically, the more you stymie the economy by telling people they can't have access to capital to take a risk and start their own business, to be able to receive the right capital to own their own home and create assets that way through appreciative home value. Then you take a marginalized community, and you leave them with fewer options, many of which become the burden of the state. Many of that, which becomes welfare programs, become more government assistance, and these people have to be reliant on that to be able to survive. So if you really want to see less reliance on the government having to step in and take care of people that can't make it work, then give them the opportunity to take a risk on themselves.

There's no greater act of self-determination than entrepreneurship

[15:05] Ashley Bell: If you really want to see less of a reliance on the government having to step in and take care of people that can't make it work, then give them the opportunity to take a risk on themselves. There's no greater act of self-determination than entrepreneurship. And you have so many entrepreneurs in these marginalized communities that just need access to create businesses. And many times, these are small businesses that could easily be sustained in these small economies in their own community, but they don't get the access to do so.

On Zion’s bank commitment to close the gaps

[22:33] Sui Lang Panoke: One of our core values is equality. Equality, opportunity, and access. So, we are very committed to closing gaps. So, it could be the gender pay gap, it could be the racial wealth gap, and it could be the trust gap and opportunity gaps that still exist in our communities as well. So, it's very important to us to invest not just monetarily but through building relationships, right? Mending those trust gaps that still exist in ways in which we can build meaningful relationships, meaningful partnerships, and work towards building the world's most inclusive economy.

What is the core of redemption?

[18:54] Ashley Bell: Throughout our history, people in marginalized communities have not received any grace or mercy from our financial system. This is what redemption is about. With grace and mercy, there can always be redemption. And we think that we can give that opportunity to people who are looking for it. And we'll start in Salt Lake, but be the center of gravity for an entire nation.

The key to institutional sustainability

[24:38] Sui Lang Panoke: A critical part of building a long-term sustainable and profitable institution in our industry is staying true to who you are and focusing, honing in on what your values are, who you are as an institution, and what is going to carry you through the next generation.

• National Black Bank Foundation
• Ready Life
• Redemption Holding Company
• Ashley Bell LinkedIn
• Ashley Bell X/Twitter 
• Ashley Bell Instagram
• Zions Bank
• Sui Lang Panoke LinkedIn
• Sui Lang Panoke Instagram