Owl Have You Know

When it comes to working in military intelligence, strong leadership skills and the ability to make quick decisions under pressure are key. Just as important to a mission’s success is being a good team player.

Those were the lessons and skills Chris Stillwell ’24 carried into his two career pivots after his time working as a military intelligence officer for the U.S. Army. His first pivot landed him a role at Kearney in Dubai focusing on M&A integration and strategy consulting. Chris then decided to pursue an MBA at Rice Business to sharpen his financial skills and pivot once again into the world of investment banking. 

Now an investment banking associate at Bank of America, Chris joins co-host Brian Jackson ’21 to discuss his military experience, why he chose Rice, how the program helped him make a major career transition, and his advice to those considering an MBA to pursue new career opportunities. 

Episode Guide:

00:00 Introduction to Chris Stillwell

01:03 Military Intelligence: Separating Fact From Fiction

02:15 Roles and Responsibilities in the Army

03:08 Leadership and Decision Making in High-Pressure Situations

08:02 From Military to Consulting: The Dubai Experience

09:46 Living Abroad: Challenges and Cultural Insights

14:58 Transitioning to an MBA at Rice University

17:58 Involvement and Networking at Rice

20:39 Entering Investment Banking: Preparation and Challenges

25:16 Day-to-Day in Investment Banking

27:33 Advice for Career Pivoters and Veterans

The Owl Have You Know Podcast is a production of Rice Business and is produced by University FM.

Episode Quotes:

The moment Chris realized that Rice gave him an edge over his peers

[20:48] Brian: Going into investment banking, was there, like, now an elevated sense of confidence of, Okay, I've done this before; I'll do it again?

[20:56] Chris: Maybe some blind confidence sometimes. Yeah, you could even ask my parents. I went home for like four days for the Christmas break the year I was recruiting. And I was studying flashcards with my mom of all the IB 400 questions. And I was like, “I'm not going to get a job. You know, like all these people around me are much smarter than me. There's a really—we've got a really talented pool of candidates that are recruiting this year.” But you know, I felt like at the end of the day, the Finance Association and Rice, just the classes I took, really prepared me to understand the basics of finance, the basics that are expected of the interview process. And then, going forward, I saw when I started as an intern at the bank, I went to New York for a week…We were training with all these people from all these different schools, going to all these different groups in the bank, and some people didn't even know what a DCF was or didn't know how to do it that well, I should say. We were doing some practice problems, and I was like, “Wow, we’re actually far ahead of a lot of these other schools and people.” So that was kind of good to see that Rice really put an effort into training us up. 

What Chris learned about leadership through three career pivots

[30:15] There are certain people who can be leaders and are very good at being leaders. But being a good leader in the military might not translate to being a good leader at banking. And a lot of times you actually see that, or you see military officers leave the military and go into the corporate world and not be as successful. Because I really think you do need to tailor your leadership style to the one the industry you're working in, and two, the people you're working with, you know, different ways of operating motivate people differently. Like in the military, you could yell at somebody and hold them to a higher standard and maybe they'll do it. But if you yelled at somebody like, you know, a marketing job, they probably would shut down and that'd be the end of it. It really doesn't work the same. The leadership style is something that you have to adjust to the area you're working in.

On how his military experience strengthened his teamwork skills

[04:03] In the military, you are a leader, but you learn how to be a good follower as well. And I think what you do with that is that you are able to have great teamwork. You're able, like in my current job now, I have an analyst underneath me, but I have people like VPs and MDs above me and I can understand what their intent is and what we need to get accomplished in our day-to-day job, but also articulate to the people below me, Hey, this is the intent and this is how we do it. So it's kind of been very helpful in those soft skills.

On how Rice gave him the academic foundation he needed

[16:49] My reasons for going to Rice were great, but once I got there, I appreciated it a lot more. I really got exposed to, I mean, I was looking for some things like smaller classrooms for example. Like a lot of people we hire from Kearney were from Yale or HBS, and their class size was like a thousand people. And maybe you didn't have a lot of rigor in terms of academics. I think Rice, especially in the first term, really forces you to go to classes to do your homework, to learn the materials. And that was attractive to me as well, because I didn't come from a finance background at all. So I didn't even know what a DCF was before I came to Rice. So I was very grateful at that, you know, getting to Rice and realizing that it was such a good platform to be integrated into.

Show Links: 

• Transcript
  
  

Guest Profile:

• Chris Stillwell | LinkedIn

As a first-generation American from Saudi Arabia, Rzan Yunus ’17 learned from an early age what ambition and perseverance can lead to. 

She credits her immigrant father’s determination to build a successful career and life for his family in the U.S. as inspiration for her own strong work ethic and drive. It was that drive that led her first to a career in insurance at American International Group (AIG), and eventually all the way to Rice Business. Since pivoting from insurance into consulting, Rzan has put her Rice MBA to use as a senior director at Alvarez & Marsal, where she’s helping companies solve tough problems. 

Rzan chats with co-host Brian Jackson ’21 about how her father’s pursuit of the American dream inspired her, the critical skills she picked up at AIG, why she was drawn to the Professional MBA program and how her experience at Rice has left a mark on her forever. 

Episode Guide:

00:00 Introduction to Rzan Yunus

01:00 Early Life and Family Influence

05:39 Career Beginnings at AIG

09:41 Pursuing an MBA at Rice

18:28 Transition to Consulting

23:03 Current Role and Consulting Insights

35:28 Balancing Career and Personal Life

38:11 Conclusion and Final Thoughts

The Owl Have You Know Podcast is a production of Rice Business and is produced by University FM.

Episode Quotes:

Finding community, support, and belonging at Rice

[12:32] When you learn entrepreneurship, you learn to hustle. You learn to think like an owner, or take  accountability to be resourceful, to drive results. I really appreciated Rice's pathways with other organizations and other companies, particularly consulting. I knew I wanted to explore that eventually and knew that they recruit based on certain programs. And then my favorite thing about Rice, and when I went and visited, is the team and peer atmosphere. You know, you spend so much time at work, but you also spend so much time in this program. And the people that I met and the camaraderie and the collaboration and the fact that you rarely ever achieve anything alone in life. I really wanted to be surrounded with people that were smart and hardworking and capable and collaborative and supportive. Very similar to the support system that I think everybody needs in life to be successful.

Why the MBA program was an important investment in Rzan’s future.

[16:17] My two years in the program, and I think I said this earlier, it really changed my life. I am becoming and am the person now that I never thought I could have been 10 years ago, 15 years ago. I mean, the program is hard. It's a top MBA program for a reason. Balancing school and your personal life is difficult. Working full-time while earning an MBA is not a casual commitment, but it's the most important step that you can take to invest in yourself. Surround yourself with people that reflect the ambition and the dedication that is contagious.

 

Why she chose to pivot to consulting

[19:11] I chose consulting because I loved the variety of work that they got to do, you know, in every year, and this was something that really attracted me to it when I was meeting with people from Alvarez & Marsal. You know, you work in different industries and different projects. One year you might be doing a transformation for a media company. The next, working on a financial services operational improvement. The following year on a manufacturing cost reduction. And I think that continuous learning really appealed to me.

Show Links: 

• Transcript
  
  

Guest Profile:

• Rzan Yunus | LinkedIn
• Rzan Yunus | Rice Business

Liam Morris ’23 manages one of the most complex corners of United Airlines — airport operations quality control across more than 80 stations spanning Latin America, Central America and the Southwest U.S. In this conversation, he shares how early travel experiences opened the door to a career in aviation, the path that led him from loading bags in El Paso to overseeing global safety audits, and what it takes to lead with precision, clarity and calm under pressure.

Liam also reflects on United’s customer-centric transformation, the moments that shaped his commitment to the industry, and how the Rice Online MBA gave him the flexibility and confidence to grow as a leader while navigating an ever-moving, always-on operational world.

Episode Guide:

00:00 Introduction to Aviation and Role at United Airlines

01:06 Ensuring Safety and Compliance in Airport Operations

03:16 Passion for Aviation and Early Influences

06:31 Managing Multiple Stations and Time Zones

08:14 Why United Airlines Stands Out

11:45 Best Flight Experience and Customer Insights

13:15 Decision to Pursue an MBA at Rice

19:22 Mutual Learning and Decision Making

21:16 Leadership Growth and Student Association

25:24 Career Journey and Future Goals

28:32 Travel Tips and Flying Etiquette

33:25 Conclusion and Farewell

The Owl Have You Know Podcast is a production of Rice Business and is produced by University FM.

Episode Quotes

From cleaning planes to leading global operations

25:34: I never, ever envisioned that I would be where I’m at now, and I can honestly say from when I was a business partner with United — cleaning aircraft and loading bags for another company, right — but working the United product, I never had a plan to get to where I was. My internship with United came up out of nowhere, and I moved to Jersey. Then, midsummer, I got a full-time offer to stay, and I transferred schools. You know, at the very last minute, I went up to Rutgers from UT El Paso. And then, you know, an opportunity came to transfer to Dallas, and there I ended up. You know, our CEO lives there. Ended up meeting him and a lot of executives all the time, and my name got out there really great. And then I came down to Houston to go to Rice as an assistant manager here in the airport. Then I finished my B.A. and went into the current role that I’m at, which is safety and regulatory. I can honestly say I never really had a plan to get where I was, but I’m thankful that I was always willing to walk through the door, because every single opportunity that I’ve had — both promotion and a lateral — was a great move, and it was such an instrumental, pivotal move.

On being part of something bigger than yourself

04:06: I wanted the ability to be in an industry where I am a part of something bigger, right? And being a part of an airline is really cool because even though, you know, my work now may not directly affect a flight leaving on time out of here, it does affect the customer experience some way. So I just wanted to be a part of a really, really big machine that gets people where they need to go.

Show Links: 

• Transcript
  
  

Guest Profile:

• Liam Morris | LinkedIn

As the youngest founder in her Rice MBA cohort, Allison Knight ’10 knows a thing or two about blazing a trail. 

At just 24 years old, she co-founded Rebellion Photonics, which used cutting-edge technology to identify and quantify gas leaks on oil rigs, preventing catastrophic explosions. Knight went on to sell Rebellion Photonics to Honeywell in 2019, and is now codifying blue collar genius through Alaris AI. 

In this episode, Knight joins host Brian Jackson ’21 to discuss how Rebellion Photonics used early AI technology to improve hyperspectral imaging and revolutionize gas leak detection. She also opens up about her experience as a young woman founder in a predominantly male industry, her role as an adjunct professor at Rice Business and why she believes blue collar work is the next frontier for AI exploration. 

Episode Guide:

00:00 Introduction to Allison Knight

01:08 Founding Rebellion Photonics

02:24 Challenges and Innovations in Gas Leak Detection

03:46 The Role of AI in Rebellion Photonics

04:24 Reflections on Being a Young Founder

12:04 Lessons From Startup Life

16:12 Introducing Alaris AI: AI for Blue Collar Workers

20:17 Teaching AI at Rice Business

23:12 The Future of AI in the Workforce

28:53 Final Thoughts and Reflections

The Owl Have You Know Podcast is a production of Rice Business and is produced by University FM.

Episode Quotes:

On being a young entrepreneur

12:17: I was 24. I was the youngest student in the Rice MBA program, and I had gotten a prestigious, semi-prestigious investment banking job that I had accepted. And then I did the thing you’re not supposed to do under any circumstances, which is renege on a job. They do not like that. But I am a physicist more than I am an MBA. Science and tech still make me the happiest. So, I ended up, even at Rice, just hanging out with Rice techies, like other applied physicists. Yeah. And it was just too tempting. I knew I should do the investment banking job, but I just could not do it. I had to go for this crazy methane emissions monitoring company. And I loved it.

Allison’s first AI moment

08:31: I think everyone will experience this, and I just happen to experience this 15, 16 years ago. It is your, like, AI moment—that first time where you run some code with AI. We had been trying to do real-time video detecting and imaging gas leaks in real time and kind of making do with it, and they were ugly. But then we brought in AI and started doing very, very, very, very basic machine learning, and it was just like magic, Brian. It was magic.

On AI’s next frontier

17:20: Pretty much across the board, AI really sucks for blue-collar work. With white-collar work, we can just boop, boop, boop—take the generic ChatGPT, and it works beautifully. And that’s because we, white-collar workers, have been typing for a long time. We’ve got all their documents in different folders, new ones, and so it’s all been trained on that for the most part. So it’s really trained on white-collar documentation and meant for it. Blue-collar documentation—basically, manuals and SOPs—has inherently always been stinky. But more importantly, none of the documentation has been done on what’s in their head, what’s in the foreman’s head, the supervisor’s head, or the individual’s head. And so, when you don’t have that data documented, structured, codified, the AI will be useless.

Show Links: 

• Alaris AI
• Transcript
  
  

Guest Profile:

• Allison Knight | Rice Business
• LinkedIn Profile

How does something as simple as a five-star rating system reveal subtle biases?

When she’s not teaching MBA and undergraduate students at Rice Business, Sora Jun, Assistant Professor of Management – Organizational Behavior, studies the hidden forces that shape how we see and treat one another. Her work explores how our minds process inequality and how even small design choices, like switching from stars to thumbs-up icons, can make systems fairer. 

Host Brian Jackson ’21 sits down with Sora to discuss her research on the hidden bias of gig worker ratings, what she loves most about teaching at Rice, the findings of her latest paper and how her background has shaped her work. 

Episode Guide:

00:00 Introduction to Sora Jun, Ph.D.

00:58 Journey From Finance To Organizational Behavior

02:20 Impact of Diverse Upbringing on Research

04:41 Teaching Experience and Philosophy

06:02 Research on Bias and Inequality

14:48 Framing Inequality: Advantage vs. Disadvantage

20:31 Exploring Anti-Asian Discrimination

24:24 Future Research Directions

25:50 Teaching Across Different Programs

26:56 Final Thoughts and Takeaways

The Owl Have You Know Podcast is a production of Rice Business and is produced by University FM.

Episode Quotes:

How embracing insecurity helped Dr. Sora on her research

23:32: It actually took me a while to really feel like I had enough legitimacy in standing and studying this in some ways, because I felt like I did not really have the real, like, Asian American experience, given that I have been in so many different circles and I'm hearing so many different stories about what it means to be Asian for different people. But I think really embracing that insecurity almost was useful because I think it just made me dig in deeper and realize that might be part of that Asian experience—feeling like there are so many different kinds of Asian experiences. I'm sure this is similar for other groups as well, but I think I've just become more appreciative of just asking people, like, what's this been like for you? I started to do more qualitative-oriented work because of this, and I think that is helping me sort of reaffirm my own, I guess, standing and studying this topic.

Why the way we talk about inequality matters

14:52 [Brian Jackson]: Why does framing matter so much when talking about pay gaps or wealth disparities?

16:08 [Sora Jun]: So, framing of inequality matters because even though what is being talked about is logically equivalent for an advantage or disadvantage frame, people understand it to be very different. And then they focus on different, I guess, objects.

On balancing the fairness of the gains of a binary system with the loss of nuance

13:36 [Sora Jun]: I think that's a really tricky part. I do think it is a challenge if we were to imagine changing all these numerical rating scales to dichotomy scales. We would lose a lot of the fine-grained information. So it probably depends a lot on the context. I think from our study, what we were finding was that the ratings using a five-point scale were already quite inflated, so there was not actually a ton of fine-grained information to be had from even the five-point scale information.

Show Links: 

• Transcript
  
  

Guest Profile:

• Sora Jun | Rice Business

One year ago, the Virani family made a historic gift to Rice Business, establishing the Virani Undergraduate School of Business. To mark the occasion, Owl Have You Know welcomes Farid Virani — entrepreneur, philanthropist and proud Rice University parent.

In 1999, Farid founded Prime Communications with a single storefront in Houston’s Baybrook Mall. Today, Prime Communications is the largest AT&T authorized retailer in North America, with more than 2,500 locations across the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. Along the way, Farid has relied on three guiding principles — "stay humble, hungry and scrappy" — which continue to shape his approach to business and life.

He joins host Maya Pomroy ’22 to share his entrepreneurial journey, the Virani family’s commitment to education and community, and the vision behind the Virani Undergraduate School of Business — a school designed to empower the next generation of ethical, curious, and compassionate business leaders.

Episode Guide:

00:15 Meet Farid Virani: Entrepreneur and Philanthropist

01:58 Farid’s Journey to Houston

04:26 Building a Business Empire

05:58 Philanthropy and Community Investment

07:39 The Virani Undergraduate School of Business

11:24 Leadership and Business Education

17:32 The Faris Foundation: A Legacy of Giving

20:25 Advice for Aspiring Entrepreneurs

The Owl Have You Know Podcast is a production of Rice Business and is produced by University FM.

Episode Quotes:

How being agile can separate you from other business leaders

14:13: So, everything is moving very fast. For the next generation of entrepreneurs, the business leaders not only have to build businesses and solve problems in society, but they have to be agile. They have to be fast. They have to embrace technology. That’s a lot of stuff that is coming their way. They have to find their own North Star as to what they’re going to do, and how you do it, I think, will depend on individuals—on their passion, on what they find exciting, what excites them. But more than that, to me, it will require a mixture of basic business fundamentals—doing the right things, building things, having great teams around—but embracing technology, not running away from it. Embracing change, not running away from it. I think that will separate successful entrepreneurs and businesses.

What Farid hopes for the Virani School

15:48: So, my hope is that the Virani School at Rice becomes a top 10 school in the country. Top 5. You said it. That is what we strive—I think Peter and the leadership will strive to do that. But more than that, for me, is that it becomes an institution—the Virani School—that develops the future leaders for the country. Now, whether they are in business, in entrepreneurship, whether it is in the political arena, or whether it is in any industry, so long as it develops leaders that give back to the community and give back to society, and give back to the country, then we will all benefit.

Stay humble, hungry and scrappy

21:02: Be curious, because you just do not know what life has in store for you. I mean, I think for me, being curious and asking questions about things has served me well, and obviously, be grateful that you are part of an amazing institution like Rice—even more special, the Virani School. But then, you know, stay humble, stay scrappy, and stay hungry, and that pretty much has served me well. And it is simple, you can remember it, and it is nothing fancy.

Show Links: 

• Transcript
• The Virani Undergraduate School of Business announcement
  
  

Guest Profile:

• Farid Virani | Rice Business

For Marian Villegas ’23, art can be found in everything — even petroleum engineering. 

Raised in Tabasco, Mexico, Marian grew up inspired by her father’s work in oil and gas and her own lifelong love of painting. That dual passion led her to a career in petroleum engineering — and eventually to Rice Business, where her MBA helped her grow in both her role as a senior asset manager at EDP Renewables North America and as the founder of her art studio, Mablueart.

In this episode, Marian joins co-host Maya Pomroy ’22 to share how she’s built a career that bridges energy and art, the lessons she’s carried from Tabasco to Houston, and why creativity continues to guide everything she does.

Episode Guide:

01:38 Growing up in Tabasco

04:37 Pursuing a Career in Petroleum Engineering

09:51 Transition to the United States and Career Growth

14:05 Discovering and Nurturing a Passion for Art

18:57 Exploring Graduate School and MBA Programs

23:43 Starting Mablueart

26:15 Incorporating Unique Elements Into Art

33:12 Future Goals and Teaching at Rice

The Owl Have You Know Podcast is a production of Rice Business and is produced by University FM.

Episode Quotes:

Seeing petroleum engineering as an art

[6:13]: So I wanted to have a good understanding of that [petroleum engineering] from a guy who was leading an entire organization. So I went there. He was extremely nice. He saw me, he’s a very sharp guy. And then the minute he saw me, he was like, “Okay, Marian, I guess those are all your questions. I’m going to just talk about petroleum engineering. You don’t need to tell me questions. I will just tell you my story.” And after an hour and a half — not 15 minutes — an hour and a half, of this amazing story, I fell in love with that, the idea of being a petroleum engineer. He’d talk about, “This is art.” You know, the words, the way he was explaining that to me, like a story… for me that was a: Yes, I want something that I can feel that passionate about. For me, it’s also art in a way.

From oil and gas roots to pursuing art

[3:59]: I grew up in this beautiful town. It’s a very small town, Tabasco (Villahermosa), but it is all about oil and gas. Everybody, every single thing, is about oil and gas. So I always loved art in a way — always reading art, always painting. I have been painting my whole life in different aspects, but I never thought about that as another source of income, in a way, as a business.

When art as therapy becomes a business

[17:06]: Until today, it [creating art] used to be my therapy, in a way. I would work the entire week, and during the weekends I would paint full-time. And for me, that was my escape. Today it’s also business. I have deliverables, I have people waiting. And my biggest fear was that, at some point, I would just stop enjoying this part of the art world because I needed to deliver. So that’s why I guess it took me so long to decide to make it big, as I did not want to see this as another job. I wanted to keep painting and seeing this as my therapy, and art is always, for me, the answer. But, I didn't want that to take away that creativity from me.

Show Links: 

• Mablueart.com
• The Art of Networking with Marian Villegas – Nov. 1, 2025 at Rice University
• Transcript

Guest Profile:

• Marian Villegas | LinkedIn

Al Danto, senior lecturer in entrepreneurship, has been a trusted mentor and beloved member of the Rice Business community for more than two decades. A serial entrepreneur, he launched his first company at the age of 23, growing it through multiple acquisitions before selling to a private equity-backed group. After earning his MBA at Rice Business, he returned to teach New Enterprise, Enterprise Acquisition and their corresponding E-labs – guiding students as they build and acquire businesses of their own. He is also a driving force behind the Veterans Business Battle. 

Beyond his professional success, Al has had a personal journey few could imagine. In May 2022, Al experienced two life-threatening medical crises and was placed on advanced life support. Sixty-five days later, he walked out of the hospital determined to return to the classroom, and by October, he was back. 

In this episode of Owl Have You Know, Al shares his extraordinary career journey, his story of recovery and why he urges everyone to “grab life” and make a difference. 

Episode Guide:

00:22 Meet Al Danto: The Entrepreneurial Legend

01:01 Al Danto’s Early Ventures and Successes

07:56 Scaling the Business and Strategic Exits

12:32 The Rice MBA Experience

16:55 Launching Universal Worker

20:31 Rice Alliance and the Rice Business Plan Competition

25:52 Teaching and Mentoring at Rice

29:22 Identifying the Secret Sauce of Successful Entrepreneurs

33:42 Personal Health Challenges and Overcoming Adversity

43:38 The Role of Mentorship and Support in Success

49:00 The Veterans Business Battle: Supporting Veteran Entrepreneurs

51:24 Vision for the Future of Rice University

Owl Have You Know is a production of Rice Business and is produced by University FM.

Episode Quotes:

On the tough realities of entrepreneurship and success

[26:44] Maya Pomroy: For people to sign up to really take these risks, what do you think that it is that you bring? That people are so excited about.

[26:53] Al Danto: First thing I try to do is talk you out of it. It’s not easy. I mean, it’s tough. You have — it’s really hard. I mean, you see a lot about the glamour, and you see all this stuff. You know, 80% of business startups — fail. I think at Rice, what we do is we have a fertile ground, right? To plant these seeds in. You have support. You have nurturing, and you have everything, but it’s a tough road. To me, a lot of it is you make the decisions. I personally think, for most cases, if you start a business, the success or failure comes to you. You know, 86% of plane crashes are pilot or human error. Which we talk about in class. And I think entrepreneurship is pretty similar.

On making ideas real and sustaining Rice’s entrepreneurial legacy

[28:50] The reality is you have to get out there and you have to do it, and you have to make these things real. And I think, you know, we’ve done that. It’s kind of in our DNA. And so now, five years, six years in a row now, the No. 1 Graduate Entrepreneurship Program — it’s not because of me, it’s because of what was started long ago, and it’s because of support. And now our alumni come back in, and they say what they’ve done — the good and the bad — that we bring back in.

Believing in something bigger and rowing together at Rice

[50:30] I think it’s important to have something that you believe in. I think if you can’t believe in, and anytime you see a military veteran, they put their life to go give us freedom. And a couple years ago, one of the veterans told me the best way that you can show our support is not to thank us, but to go out there and take advantage of the freedoms that we have. I think entrepreneurship is one of them as well. So it’s really been great, and every year these guys have not wanted to let the next person down, and they’ve stepped up and stepped into it. And I think that’s just not letting the next person down. And I think everyone that goes through Rice is going to experience that. It’s tough, but you’re in the rowboat mentality. We’re in this together, and we have to get through it, and y’all will. And that’s part of it.

Show Links: 

• Transcript
  
  

Guest Profiles:

• Al Danto | Rice Business

After many successful years as a mechanical engineer for Baker Hughes, Sujeev Chittipolu ’21 thought it was time to invest in his leadership potential. That led him to Rice Business. 

  

As part of Rice’s Professional MBA program, Sujeev formed invaluable connections through programs like CoachRICE and even joined the board of one of his classmate’s nonprofits — Amel Association Houston. Through Amel, Sujeev is taking what he learned at Rice Business and building leadership coaching programs for underserved youth in Houston, particularly in refugee communities. 

In this episode, Sujeev chats with co-host Maya Pomroy ’22 about his 16 years at Baker Hughes, how playing with machines in his father's small business shaped his interest in engineering, his work with Amel to give back to the community, and how the Rice MBA helped him put the final pieces together in his career. 

Episode Guide:

01:30 Early Career and Education

02:14 Journey at Baker Hughes

05:37 Pursuing an MBA at Rice

09:51 Giving Back Through AMEL

15:19 Balancing Career and Personal Life

16:00 Advice for Aspiring MBA Students

16:43 Impact of Rice MBA on Career

22:23 Staying Connected with Rice

24:53 Future Aspirations and Final Thoughts

Owl Have You Know is a production of Rice Business and is produced by University FM.

Episode Quotes:

How coaching transforms a student’s confidence and future

12:36: I would say one student named Musafa. He was initially not a student. He was active doing his things, but he was not very verbal in the class, right? [13:41] So as he worked with a coach, what we’ve seen was he could explore his inhibitions, he could set his goals, understand what were some of the drivers that were inhibiting his potential. And we’ve seen a clear change. He was about to quit high school. Yes, and working with the coach, it changed. He was over the process of a year, right? Two semesters, he became more verbal. He was confident in himself. He could understand what he wanted in life. He could realize, okay, I have a goal in career, and then okay, I can work towards it. So I think that one story kind of inspired more of us to come back and give. And it’s just like we’ve seen many of those, Maya, over the last three-plus years working with HISD.

Shaping mindset and leadership through the Rice MBA

16:19: [Maya]: So thinking back on before Rice and after Rice, what were some of the ways that your mindset has really changed because of the MBA that you worked for?

16:32: [Sujeev Chittipolu]: So many ways. I think the way I look at problems and the way I look at challenges is very different now. I'm kind of more holistic in approach. I challenge myself much more based on the lessons I’ve learned during Rice, and even the leadership piece, right? Leadership not just at work, but I think leadership goes all the way — starts from home, through the community, at work. So you set an example for yourself. You set an example for your family members, so you’re learning always, trying to grow. So I think Rice has influenced me personally, professionally, and I think I keep continuing to reap rewards as I grow personally as well as professionally.

On the hard work of growth and the rewards of giving back

15:38: There is no easy way or there’s no shotguns in growth or in career. You have to differentiate yourself. You have to work hard to one, grow yourself and be able to give back. I think both of these. If you are passionate, if you want to grow, it’s not easy, but the journey might be tough, but the efforts are always rewarding, right? Giving back, you can see one story that is shared. It changes your perspective on life. It gives you things that show how grateful you are to be able to give back. So, take the leap forward. I think you always find time. There are weekends that you can stretch. There are days you know you need like one or two hours a day that you can stretch and always be able to give back. So yeah, I think take the leap forward, and it will be worthwhile.

Show Links: 

• Transcript
  
  

Guest Profiles:

• Sujeev Chittipolu | LinkedIn
• Board Profile | AMEL Association Houston

At a time when startups are primarily funded by private market investors, who you know has become a critical factor in gaining access to that venture capital. But how does the reliance on alumni and professional networks create barriers for startups from historically disadvantaged groups?

Emmanuel Yimfor ’20 is a finance professor at Columbia Business School and holds a Ph.D. from Rice University. His research focuses on entrepreneurial finance, diversity and private capital markets, with insights into gender and racial disparities in venture capital funding, board representation and how resources could be more equitably allocated.

Emmanuel joins co-host Maya Pomroy ’22 to discuss his career journey from working at a Cameroonian telecommunications company to teaching at some of the top U.S. business schools, as well as his research on the influence of alumni networks in venture capital funding, how AI tools can address biases in lending, and finally how he’s teaming up with his son to bring AI tools to young innovators and entrepreneurs in Cameroon. 

Episode Guide:

01:00 Exploring Entrepreneurial Finance

03:36 The Role of Networks in VC Funding

08:10 Emmanuel's Journey From Cameroon to the U.S.

12:34 The Rice University Experience

15:43 Research on Alumni Networks and Funding

21:49 Algorithmic Bias in Lending

33:17 Empowering Future Innovators in Cameroon

38:42 Final Thoughts and Future Outlook

Owl Have You Know is a production of Rice Business and is produced by University FM.

Episode Quotes:

Rethinking who gets funded in venture capital

31:07: What does good networks mean exactly? If you look at venture capital partners, for example, right? They have worked at McKinsey before they became venture capital partners. So they have worked at certain companies, they have done certain jobs that then led them to become VCs. And so to the extent that we have a lack of representation in this pipeline of jobs that is leading to VC, then the founders that do not come from these same backgrounds do not have as equal access to the partners. And so what that suggests is something very basic, which is like, just rethink the set of deals that you are considering. That might expand the pool of deals that you consider, because, you know, there might be a smart person out there that is maybe not the same race as you, but that has an idea that you really, really want to fund. And that is something that I think, like, everybody would agree with. You know, we want to allocate capital to its most productive uses.

From hard data to meaningful change

29:13: So I have a belief in America, at least based on my life journey, which is: if you work hard for long enough, somebody is going to recognize you and you will be rewarded for it. And so I really believe that America takes in data, thinks about that data for a while to think about whether the research is credible enough, and then, using that data, they are a good Bayesian, so they get a new posterior. They act in a new way that is consistent with what the new before and the new data. And so I think about my role as a researcher as just like, you know, providing that data. Here is the data, and here is what is consistent with what we are doing right now. Now, you know, what you do with that information now is like, you know, update what you are doing in a way that is most consistent with efficient capital allocation—is my hope.

Why Emmanuel finds empirical work so exciting 

21:34: Empirical work is so exciting to me because then you are like, "I am a little bit of a police detective." So you take a little bit of this thing that feels hard to measure, and then you can create hypotheses to link it to the eventual outcomes, to the extent that that thing that is hard to measure is something that is leading to efficient capital allocation. Then, on average, you know, this feeling that you get about founders that are from the same alma mater should lead to good things as opposed to leading to bad things. And so, you know, that is exactly the right spirit of how to think about the work.

Show Links: 

• Transcript
  
  

Guest Profiles:

• Emmanuel Yimfor | Columbia Business School
• Emmanuel Yimfor | LinkedIn
• Emmanuel’s Website