Owl Have You Know

By Rice BusinessSociety & Culture Business

Owl Have You Know episodes

December 14, 2022What Is My Purpose Here? feat. Mike Dey ‘20
Growing up, Mike Dey had a passion for planes. So it was only fitting that when he got older, he would pursue a career doing what he was good at (mechanics) in the field he loved (aerospace engineering).

Mike is a Houston native and Rice Business Class of 2020 online MBA graduate. He received a BS in aerospace engineering from the University of Colorado Boulder and began his career as an engineer for flight crew operations integration at Boeing in 1996.

Mike initially wanted to get an MBA to advance his existing corporate career by adding business tools and knowledge to his engineering background, but Rice Business exposed him to the concept of entrepreneurship through acquisition, inspiring him to pivot to business ownership. He is now based in Seattle and is the president and owner of American Spray Technologies, a manufacturing company that invents and manufactures drywall texture spraying technology.

He talks with host Maya Pomroy about building a cohort community in the online MBA program, how flight communications have changed during his career in the industry, and the importance of networking and connections.

Episode Quotes:

How the Rice MBA program prompted Mike to make a big change
14:20 - I kind of felt like my skillset was locking me into my career in some ways. I knew I was good at a lot of things. I liked coaching and mentoring, you know, I'm good at problem solving. But I wasn't sure that I could pivot out of that industry into something totally different. And so, a number of the classes in the MBA program were expanding my thinking there, but then when I got to Enterprise Acquisition, it was – a light bulb went off.

On pivoting to a new career path
21:08 - How do you do something you've never done before? Well, you just do it. You just start. You get advice. You follow people, find people you admire who have done things like that, and learn what they did.

What Mike liked about the online MBA option
07:43 - What most impressed me was how well, even over Zoom, those connections were formed among my cohort. Working on group projects remotely and spending the time together in class, it really was amazing how well everybody was connected.

Show Links:
Episode Transcript
Guest Profile:
Mike Dey on LinkedIn
36 min
November 30, 2022Hard Work and Flexibility Lead To Success feat. Natalie Smith ‘17
When Natalie Smith first came to Rice as a full-time MBA student, she was under the impression that she would end up being an investment banker. But through her time in the program, and learning from different perspectives, she found a new calling in mergers & acquisitions.

After graduating in 2017, Natalie joined EY as a senior consultant for transaction advisory services, progressing to director, before becoming the senior director of mergers and acquisitions strategy and operations for EY-Parthenon.

She sits down with host Scott Gale ‘19 to discuss her early years working offshore with bp, her dreams of reaching the C-suite in the oil industry, working and living in China, and starting her own clothing business, Sisterly Village.

Episode Quotes:
Why she chose Rice
07:50 - In order to study for my MBA, I knew that it would need to be local. And so, Rice, to me, is the top school here. It was a no brainer for me. They're phenomenal when it comes to finance and entrepreneurship. They have a wonderful department. They have a strong network not only here in Texas, but nationally. And, that's what I wanted to be able to walk away with.

Favorite things about Houston
26:24 - Houston is a very busy place. I like the Southern hospitality aspect, the ability to meet so many different people.

The pivot from investment banking to consultant
10:42 - I didn't foresee myself ever becoming a consultant. And it's amazing that I've pivoted to consulting and made a full career out of it.

Challenges working in M&A
17:55 - I'd say the critical challenge is the fact that this is a people business. And so there are multiple personalities, and there are multiple agendas when it comes to transactions and ensuring that our clients win You want your client to win. You want them to know that the advice that we're providing them is trustworthy as well as credible.

More great things about Rice
27:55 - We're known for small cohorts. So the relationships that you build are a lot stronger. You know everybody and everybody knows you very well, and you’re family. Many of my classmates, they've looked after my children and we still hang out to this very day, and help each other with our careers as well.

Show Links:
Episode Transcript
Guest Profile:
Natalie Smith on LinkedIn
30 min
November 16, 2022Transforming Tragedy Into Something Remarkable feat. Jackie Pham ‘21
It was Jackie’s kids who finally got her to pursue her MBA. She realized she was at a loss for how to explain what she did for a living to her kids, when their friends could easily describe how their parents were teachers, or worked at Target. It was time for her to pursue something different in her career.

Jackie earned her MBA from Rice Business, graduating in 2021. But tragically, during her time in the program, she lost her three children and mother in a house fire during the Houston freeze in February of 2021.

But resilience is deep in Jackie’s bones, having been raised by Vietnamese immigrants who fled Vietnam in 1979. Jackie was born in a refugee camp in Malaysia, where her parents were rescued after being found adrift in the South China Sea.

In this episode, Jackie dives deep with host Maya Pomroy (‘21) talking about her career path, carrying on the memory of her 3 children Colette, Edison and Olivia, and transforming the lowest points of her story into hope and action through the CEO Foundation, which supports initiatives that closely align with her core values of education, arts, health, wellness, and environmental and social impact for the children of Sugar Land, TX and beyond.

Episode Quotes:
Promoting positive environmental & social impact through the CEO Foundation
20:41: I came to the realization that why not continue to double down on things like education, right? And why not promote positive environmental and social impacts, especially among kids? Certainly, in my upbringing, I didn't learn enough about that kind of stuff. And so, I think the more we're able to expose kids to some of these things at a younger age, it'll help shape them as tomorrow's leaders, innovators, and change-makers.

The MBA program as a shared experience
25:53 - The MBA experience was as much mine as it was my kids because I needed them to be flexible about certain things. When it came to every other weekend when I had to be in class, they were genuinely excited for me. And that fueled me as well.

Inspiration for pursuing MBA
07:48 - At one point I realized, I was kind of at a loss for words when it came to telling my kids what I did for a living. The concept of payments and financial services is just way too abstract and really lame to kids. And I envied, honestly, the parents who could easily convey the value of their contribution as like police officers or teachers, or even like, so-and-so's mom, who's a director at Target.

Why she started the CEO Foundation
22:57 - Is it really, am I really being responsible with those funds? And, I kind of just wanted to do right by everyone's kindness. But eventually I think I realized, I came to the realization that, why not continue to double down on things like education.

Show Links:
Episode Transcript
Guest Profile:
Jackie Pham on LinkedIn
CEO Foundation Website
CEO Foundation on Instagram
CEO Foundation on Facebook
CEO Foundation on LinkedIn
35 min
November 02, 2022Pushing Boundaries feat. Jeffrey Moseley ‘21
During the pandemic, the hybrid MBA model wasn’t considered hybrid anymore, it became the normal way to work and learn. While Jeffrey Moseley ‘21 was in Rice Business’ online MBA program, he was also living in Santiago, Chile, balancing a full-time job, two kids with cabin fever and coursework.

Jeff took on his current role of strategy and operations manager for the U.S. Department of Defense in Santiago, Chile in March of 2020.

Jeffrey obtained his MBA from Rice Business in 2021 through the online MBA program, with a focus on corporate strategy, marketing and brand strategy. He is a Young Alumni Ambassador and is helping design a Global Field Experience (GFE) for Rice Business.

He chats with host Scott Gale ‘19 about joining the Army, what he gained there that he couldn’t find from the traditional undergrad experience, being stationed in Russia and his passion for international work and travel.

Episode Quotes:
On being in the military
05:19 - That's kind of the goal is to break you down and build you back up and make you comfortable being uncomfortable and comfortable with those things that you never would've considered yourself capable of doing in a previous life.
On living abroad
12:13 - There's only so much of a culture that you can really understand through tourism. You can spend a week or two, you can see some things and it's eye opening and everyone should travel. Everyone should travel the world, but living there takes it to a different level. You see more of the underbelly, you see more of the good and the bad. You start to see the people for who they really are.
The beauty of the Rice program
30:53 - The beauty of the Rice program is that it's intentionally small. And I love that about it. You can't have a cohort of 200 people or 300 people and develop those relationships in an online format that you can get at Rice.
Building community through cohorts
38:37 - That's kind of one of the things that I think Rice carries forward is when that Rice alumni or that Rice student calls, you answer. And you don't get that in other programs, those relationships are built, that network transcends your cohort in your class, into cohorts past and present.

Show Links:
Episode Transcript
Guest Profile:
Jeffrey Moseley on LinkedIn
42 min
October 19, 2022A Self-Proclaimed Sustainability Nerd feat. Lauren Miller ‘14
Lauren Miller started her first business as a student at Rice, and she hasn't slown down since! While getting her MBA at Rice Business, Lauren started and led a venture-funded company named A-76 Technologies (later relaunched as Aidant Brands) with a teammate (Tim Aramil) from a Technology Entrepreneurship course. After developing a business and commercialization plan for A-76, the company came in second at the Rice Business Plan Competition in 2014 and traveled to top competitions around the world.

Lauren was also listed on the 2015 Forbes “30 Under 30” in the energy category and has been featured in numerous local, national and international media.

She talks in this episode with host Maya Pomroy about growing up in a family of entrepreneurs & Texas ranchers, sustaining long term Rice connections, her latest venture as a new mom, and some of the roughest lessons she learn in her early days of starting a company.
Episode Quotes:
There is a lot of power in crazy ideas
17:34 - Everybody is looking at climate solutions at these huge technology-based solutions. And here we are, going, "You know what? Let's just give cows grass. Let's just move them the way they should be moved." And it's so funny because it sounds insane when you're telling people in the industry, but it's so effective. It improves profitability. It improves biodiversity. It improves the water systems, as I mentioned. And then they can make money off it, too.

On being a female entrepreneur
25:50 - There are so many investors now who recognize the benefits of women entrepreneurs because of how hard working we are and we can really get things done.

How growing up on a ranch influenced her career choices
13:23 - You really see the impacts of the environmental changes and what that means. And when those occur, you see what that impact is on the towns nearby too. So when there are huge droughts, heat waves, et cetera, you're seeing that first hand because you're actually looking at the land every day.

The importance of having a support system as an entrepreneur
20:01- It's so important not to get completely lost in your business and to have people who are still supporting you, so that when you are in a tough time like that, there are others you can rely on. You're not just sitting there, stressed, alone, crying out by yourself, going, you know, what's going on? You have folks you can lean on.
Show Links:
Episode Transcript
Guest Profile:
Professional Profile at Sharks In Heels
Lauren Miller on LinkedIn
33 min
October 05, 2022At the Forefront of Female Health feat. Caroline Goodner ’92
Caroline Goodner is truly the intersection of her parents. Growing up, her father was a geneticist and her mother was an entrepreneur. Now, Caroline is a serial entrepreneur who has founded and led multiple companies in the healthcare space.

She is the co-founder and CEO of OrganiCare, a startup company that provides highly effective, all-natural, over-the-counter healthcare products to consumers, including a range of first aid, oral care and feminine care products.

Before founding OrganiCare, she was the CEO of UpSpring Baby, a growth-stage consumer products company that focuses on the health, safety and wellness of mothers and babies. In 2005, Caroline also founded MendelWorks, a mouse genotyping laboratory that served the scientific research community.

Caroline joins one of our new Owl Have You Know hosts Maya Pomroy in this episode, and takes us through the genesis of her companies, the importance of a network when launching your business, pivoting to women centric products, and their shared appreciation for Rice Business professor & mentor Al Danto.

Episode Quotes:

Advice for early entrepreneurs
18:13 - Get a peer group. Find some other entrepreneurs, women or men, to surround yourself with, to share stories, to talk through problems.
How modern women's healthcare has grown
21:02 - There's amazing statistics out there on how clinical studies didn't include women until the seventies. All the kind of studies that were ever done were, were really male focused. And so now we're hopefully getting more and more attention on women's health. And so companies like ours that are trying to help women in that way, it feels good.

On working in women & vaginal centered products
24:17 - I would say, if you can find a technology that you think can make a real difference, not just like a tweak of a difference, but a real fundamental difference in the way a consumer handles their healthcare, that’s something to really pay attention to.

Show Links:
Episode Transcript
Guest Profile:
Professional Profile at Beyond Batten Disease Foundation
Caroline Goodner on LinkedIn
Caroline Goodner on Twitter
OrganiCare
38 min
September 21, 2022Creating Resources for Resiliency feat. Pierre Aristide ‘22
Starting an MBA program in the middle of a global pandemic is difficult already. But when Pierre Aristide was diagnosed with cancer during his program, the flexibility and remote options offered to him made it possible to graduate on time with the rest of his cohort and beat the disease. In fact, Pierre says if it weren't for his cohort, he may have had a totally different health outcome.
Pierre earned his Executive MBA from Rice Business in 2022, concentrating in entrepreneurship and healthcare. He is the co-founder and CEO of Impireum Psychiatric Group, an adult, child and adolescent psychiatric practice with locations in Katy, Spring, Richmond and Sugar Land. He is also the co-founder of Index Medical Billing Solutions.
Fresh off of graduation, Pierre joins host Christine Dobbyn to discuss resiliency, his path before Rice including almost 30 years as a U.S. Air Force Reserve officer, coping with PTSD and making improvements to mental health treatment centers.

Episode Quotes:
Advice for future EMBA students
23:12 - My advice to anybody going to business school, go in there with a purpose. Don't go in there and try to follow what everybody else is doing. Don’t go in there to fit in. Don't go in there to be known because you went to Rice, as a Rice alumni, do it because you have a purpose. And that purpose will be your guiding light.

Before and after Rice
04:27 - If you ask me who I was prior to Rice, I would describe to you a whole different person.

On finding his purpose at Rice
22:36 - My purpose was to be able to do the same thing that I was doing in the military, in the business world. And Rice has taught me that. It made me a little bit more dedicated to what I'm doing now, because now I feel like I know what I'm doing, and there's no room for failure because I have all the tools.

Going to Rice saved Pierre’s life, he says
03:30 - I tell my family, if it wasn't for Rice, I wouldn't be here today. Rice actually saved my life. Accepting me into the program and the support that I got. It looks like it was meant to happen the way it did, but it was all a coincidence.

What he's most proud of in his current work in mental health
15:08 - When I talk to patients, one of the things they tell me that sticks with me is that I don't have to worry about the stigma anymore. I'm very comfortable coming here and talking my issues out and I don't feel judged.

Show Links:
Episode Transcript
Guest Profile:
Pierre Aristide on LinkedIn
Impireum Psychiatric Group
31 min
September 07, 2022Seizing the Opportunity feat. Brandy Hays Morrison ‘05
Growing up in New York City, Brandy Hays Morrison (‘05) had never heard of Rice Business School. But in the mid 90s, when there was a push for more women and minorities to enter the field of engineering, someone told Brandy she should check it out, and it was off to Houston she went. In her words, Brandy says she “took a leap of faith, and it all worked out.”
Brandy is actually a two-time Owl, earning her undergraduate degree from Rice in 2000, double majoring in computer engineering and managerial studies, and returning to earn her MBA from Rice Business in 2005. She has since served on the Board of Directors for multiple entities, including the Association of Rice University Black Alumni (ARUBA) and the Posse Foundation, a non-profit whose mission is to bring more diversity and leadership to college campuses.
In her professional role, Brandy is currently the Vice President of Strategic Growth for Pluribus Digital, a technology firm based in Washington, D.C., where she leads business development efforts in the federal government contracting space.
Brandy sits down with host Christine Dobbyn to chat about her years at Rice, learning to advocate for herself, starting the Black Business Student Assocation at the Jones School, and the importance of being knowledgeable in global customs.

Episode Quotes:
Changes Brandy has seen in engineering over the course of her career
13:52 - So I've gone from being the only minority female in a room to now coming across other minority females. I say for women, there have been a lot more strides in terms of making sure that the pipeline is strengthened. And what I mean by that, is that there are more little girls who can see themselves as engineers. There are more little girls who can see themselves as software developers.

How The Jones School got Brandy out of her shell
03:25 - [Rice MBA] really transformed me from someone who was very much an introverted technical software engineer to someone who was more comfortable speaking in public and taking a leadership role and not being afraid to speak up.

How the Rice Alumni network kept Brandy going
19:43 - So I came from a New York city public school. And while I had phenomenal grades, I was very involved in school, it did not prepare me for the rigors of Rice undergrad. And so I struggled a bit. And so the biggest push that I needed was to keep going. And I mentioned the rice alum by the name of Russell Ross. He was absolutely someone who had a similar path as me as a student. And so being able to meet with an alum who had a similar story, I'm thinking, okay, I can do this too.

Show Links:
Episode Transcript
Guest Profile:
Brandy Hays Morrison on LinkedIn
Brandy Hays Morrison on Twitter
30 min
August 24, 2022Doing Business in 70+ Countries feat. Robert Lesnick ‘00
Robert Lesnick got his MBA from Rice Business in 2000, where he was part of the school’s first Executive MBA cohort and was honored as a Jones Scholar. At this point in time, the program was mostly from the energy sector but from roles all over the industry.
Robert is now an executive advisor to the highest levels of governments and businesses seeking to develop policy and projects in the energy sector. His resume also includes a successful 30-year career in the private sector before leading the World Bank’s Petroleum Advisory Services Practice until 2013.
In his assignment at the World Bank, he managed the development of the business strategy and allocation of resources of the institution’s Petroleum Policy Advisory Services Unit and provided advice on a variety of energy policy topics to strategic government clients.
Robert joins host Christine to look at the state of energy and oil today, his career path from philosophy to the energy sector, roaming the globe working in international business development, and how Rice prepared him for it all.
Episode Quotes:
How energy affects every aspect of life
2:47 - Energy is built into everything we do. From the moment we wake up, turn on the light, to the stalk of broccoli that has to be shipped. And commercially throughout the world, it's just built into the price of everything.

Advice to future MBA students
23:50 - If someone says should I pursue an MBA, I would say absolutely. And in any way that it would allow you to become more of an international citizen of the world. I would certainly try to leverage that because I really think business success is on the long term, a function of, how you can leverage global markets to your success.

What advice would you give a young person considering oil and gas?
21:37 – The media and the political systems have kind of created a false sense of, not only what the energy companies do, but how badly fossil fuels are needed to meet growing energy needs of the world. And so, it's possible for recent graduates to think that the role and the work of energy companies is short-lived, or at least oil and gas companies are short-lived. You know, that's just not true.

What Robert took from Rice
30:26 - I would just say that the homework never stops. Keep on learning and keep on using what you learned to develop your own success.

Show Links:
Episode Transcript
Guest Profile:
Professional Profile at The World Bank
Robert Lesnick on LinkedIn
31 min
August 10, 2022Whatever You’re Doing, Do It For The Right Reasons feat. Ruy Lozano '20
A Houston native, Ruy Lozano worked for 25 years in the Houston Fire Department, the third-largest municipal fire department in the country, where he was an assistant fire chief and managed a multi-million dollar budget for transportation, logistics, procurement and infrastructure.
After speaking with the Houston Fire Department’s fire chief and realizing the chief’s progressive and innovative mindset was a result of his MBA journey, Ruy decided to pursue an MBA himself. In March of this year, after a nationwide search, he was appointed as the fire chief for the New Braunfels Fire Department.
Ruy joins host Christine to look back at their time in the MBA program together, the diversity of their class, the business element of public service and some of the toughest times Ruy experienced during his work with the Houston Fire Department.
Episode Quotes:
On balancing school and being an assistant fire chief:
19:33 - Was it tough? Absolutely. But there was also so many, there was so much cross-pollination. There would be times that I'm working and things that we were talking about in class were kind of coming into my workplace. So it was a huge advantage to be able to grow together, you know, I was growing as an assistant chief, I had only been an assistant chief for less than a year when I joined the program. And then growing as an EMBA, you got an opportunity to kind of see the theories being applied in practical use, but then you had that amazing cohort that you could bounce ideas off of.

Reflecting on his time at Rice:
01:28 - That's one of the greatest experiences of my life, attending Rice. Not just learning from the instructors, but learning from the conversations where professionals were debating, dialoguing and just having an exchange of ideas.

What makes Rice different:
05:05 - You were allowed to be vulnerable. You were allowed to make a mistake. And no one was going to judge you for it because we were all there to learn. I truly attribute my progressing into the position of fire chief to Rice and the amazing cohort we had.

Show Links:
Episode Transcript
Guest Profile:
Ruy Lozano on LinkedIn
34 min

About Owl Have You Know

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Owl Have You Know is Rice Business’ podcast created to share the experiences of alumni, faculty, students and other members of our business community – real stories of belonging, failing, rebounding and, ultimately, succeeding. During meaningful conversations, we dive deep into how each guest has built success through troubles and triumphs before, during and after they set foot in McNair Hall.

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