2022-23 Accomplishments from Saunders Students

At Saunders College of Business, students are always on to something amazing, even before graduating! If you are a student at Saunders College and have exciting news to share, email communications@saunders.rit.edu.

May 2023

Danell Francis ‘24 (global studies) sang the black national anthem at the 4th Annual Black Graduation where Ndidi Chimah ‘23 (hospitality management and global innovation) was the student speaker. 13 Saunders students graduated.

Three teams in dt ogilvie, Ph.D., professor of management, earned a Top 100 ranking in the worldwide simulation with 1,186 teams participating. Bold Graphics team members are LaCerius Cross ‘23 (global business management), Alnord Deski ‘22 (global business management), ‘23 (MBA), and Sarah Ortiz. CDrones R US team members are Alexis Ennis ‘23 (business management), Quan Lu, and Thomas Polochak ‘23 (international business). D-Glo-Big or Bus team members are Mohammed Ahmed ‘23 (management information systems), Adama Cisse ‘23 (MIS), Ashweene Hassan ‘23 (international business), and Jeffrey Iorio ‘23 (business management). 

Mohammed Ahmed ‘23 (MIS), Adama Cisse ‘23 (MIS), Ashweene Hassan ‘23 (international business), and Jeffrey Iorio ‘23 (business management) were members of a GLO-BUS team that placed within the top 100 worldwide. GLO-BUS is an online competition that simulates a company where student teams must formulate a strategy that establishes a respected brand image, generates profit, and keeps the company competitive.

Professor Molly McGowan and Professor Rick Lagiewski Ph.D. classes won Best Product Idea and Best Overall Pitch in their respective classes for the Freshman Experience Biz 1+2, providing first-year students hands-on education through various applied-learning opportunities inside and outside the classroom. Learn more about the student projects created this year.

Students in the classes of Professor Clyde Hull, Ph.D., Professor Ezekiel Leo, Ph.D., and Professor Stephen Luxmore, Ph.D., placed above the 90% percentile in the Capsim Capstone Business Simulation. This triannual global tournament that crowns the best student teams to "run" a multimillion-dollar corporation. Learn more about our students ranking in the 90th, 94th, 97th, and 99th percentiles.

Jessie Shelton ‘26 (management information systems) received the Isaac L. Jordan Sr. Endowed Scholarship, awarded to students who demonstrate an understanding of diversity and contribute to inclusive efforts, selected by the Division of Diversity and Inclusion.

Ruth Kaveke '23 (technology innovation management and entrepreneurship), Ndeye Rokhaya Sow '23 (MBA), and Lilian Bagenda '24 (MBA) are all students in the Fulbright Foreign Student Program that have grown their skills in creating and running new organizations in the course, Entrepreneurship and Technology Entrepreneurship. 

Austin Lamb ‘23 (accounting) received an Outstanding College Student Award from the Rochester Chapter of The New York State Society of Certified Public Accountants at the Outstanding Accounting Recognition Awards Dinner. This prestigious award recognizes one exemplary student from each of eight upstate New York colleges and universities.

April 2023

Hailey Blixt ‘24 (MIS), Alex Carey ‘23 (MIS), Jonathan Cohen ‘23 (MIS), Matt Kellenberger ‘23 (MBA), Jessica Klein ‘24 (supply chain management), Adam Marsh ‘25 (accounting), Emelia Mislan ‘24 (MIS), and Jacob Statman ‘24 (accounting) were inducted into the inaugural Chi Alpha Sigma honor society, which recognizes excellence in both the classroom and athletic competition.

Kavitha Rajkumar ‘23 (accounting), Jasmine Ward ‘23 (accounting), and Brady Janowski ‘26 (accounting) volunteered with CASH, a Rochester nonprofit organization that helps residents complete their tax returns.

Teodora Grozdanic ‘23 (hospitality), Ekua-Janea Quagraine ‘23 (international business), Danny Le ‘23 (finance and MIS), Philip Rottkamp ‘23 (MIS), Kolby Matthews ‘23 (accounting), and Hannah Springer ‘23 (accounting) received the Outstanding Undergraduate Scholar Award from RIT. This award recognizes the top 1% of undergraduate students who achieve academic excellence while also volunteering, conducting research, or engaging in a co-op in their field of study.

Mohammed Ahmed ‘23 (MIS), Adama Cisse ‘23 (MIS), Ashweene Hassan ‘23 (international business), and Jeffrey Iorio ‘23 (business administration management) were members of a GLO-BUS team that placed within the top 100 worldwide. GLO-BUS is an online competition that simulates a company where student teams must formulate a strategy that establishes a respected brand image, generates profit, and keeps the company competitive.

March 2023

Kamso Onwumechili ‘23 (MBA) will join the U.S. General Services Administration as a full-time employee after graduating in May 2023.

Sedrick Thomas ‘24 (MIS) attended the annual Jackie Robinson Foundation (JRF) Mentoring and Leadership Conference in NYC and won the GE-Lloyd Trotter Award. The award recognizes a JRF scholar who has successfully undertaken an innovative project within the STEM disciplines.

Wilson Huang ‘23 (finance and MIS) will join Cisco as a financial analyst after graduating in May 2023.

Students in the strategic management course taught by Clyde Eirikur Hull, Ph.D., formed six teams and participated in the Capsim Capstone simulation. Over two thousand teams competed worldwide; every team at Saunders placed within the top 5%, and more than one team placed in the top 1%.

Chimdi Okoye ‘23 (MIS), Nika Pikulik ‘23 (hospitality), Lucia Stroligo ‘23 (international business), and Brittney Teed ‘23 (accounting) were members of a GLO-BUS team that placed within the top 100 worldwide. GLO-BUS is an online competition that simulates a company where student teams must formulate a strategy that establishes a respected brand image, generates profit, and keeps the company competitive.

Max Mekker ‘24 (accounting) received the Financial Executives International scholarship award from the Rochester Chapter of Financial Executives International. Each year, the chapter recognizes top scholars who are nominated by faculty from local post-secondary institutions who study accounting, finance, or economics.

Zachary Nicoletti ‘23 (MBA) will join the L3Harris Technologies team in Rochester, NY as a senior program manager after graduating in May 2023.

February 2023

Palak Wadhwa ‘25 (MBA) was the student summit chair leader for the 2023 Women’s Leadership Summit, run by the student-led Leadership Academy @ Saunders. WLS provides an opportunity for women to network and learn from successful business leaders across various industries. Palak was interviewed by Spectrum News 1.

Students in the Saunders Cyber: Risk and Resilience course have released a new edition of “The Sketchy Cybersecurity Newsletter” in collaboration with Rick Mislan and Leigh Rubin detailing the seasonal prevalence of romance scams.

Maggie Dempsey ‘22 (MIS), ‘24 (MBA), and Alena Pischuk ‘23 (MBA) have been selected as the undergraduate and graduate delegates to represent Saunders’ students at this year’s convocation and commencement ceremonies.

January 2023

Steven Simmons ‘25 (international business) has been recognized as a finalist in Ovation: RIT Performing Arts Showcase, RIT’s premier performing arts showcase during FreezeFest.

A group of students went on the international hospitality and service innovation department’s annual trip to New York City from Nov. 13-14 to experience the NYC hospitality industry. Students attended HX: The Hotel Experience show, went on several hotel tours, met with alumni, and ate at Marta, a restaurant managed by an RIT alum. 

November 2022

Lili MCCluskey ‘22 (hospitality), Manee Souphavanh ‘23 (hospitality), and Carter Benedict ‘24 (hospitality) volunteered at the HITECH conference hosted in Orlando from June 27-30. See our blog post for pictures and locations of previous conferences.

Students in the Saunders Cyber: Risk and Resilience course have released a new edition of “The Sketchy Cybersecurity Newsletter” in collaboration with Leigh Rubin focusing on man-in-the-middle (MITM) attacks.

Scott Franco ‘24 (marketing) was part of a team that won the 2022 PRSSA Pitch Competition hosted by Dixon Schwabl + Company. The competition required teams to create extensive media plans for a local Rochester client, The Levine Center to End Hate, in only a few hours and pitch it to them + judges.

Danny Le ‘23 (finance) will return to Capital One as a Management Rotation Program Associate upon graduation this spring.

Sedrick Thomas ‘24 (MIS) has accepted a co-op offer to work at Microsoft during the summer of 2023 as a software engineering intern.

October 2022

Rachel Romaine ‘23 (MBA) has been recognized as a 2022 Otsuka Graduate Scholar by The Executive Leadership Council (ELC). The ELC promotes Black corporate talent by supporting the academic successes of Black undergraduate and graduate students. She will represent RIT at the 2022 ELC Honors Symposium in Washington, D.C.!

Shreya Patil ‘23 (business analytics) is transitioning from a full-time professional to a full-time student by pursuing a master’s at Saunders. RIT provided her with a scholarship equivalent to 30% of her tuition to continue her education.

Samantha Smith-Pisker ‘06 (imaging science) received a Women in Leadership scholarship and her employer, Raytheon Intelligence and Space, is providing assistance to further her education. She is returning to RIT to participate in the Executive MBA program at Saunders.

Sedrick Thomas ‘23 (software engineering), vice president of RIT’s artificial intelligence (AI) club, presented a poster at the AI@RIT Summit titled “Binary Classification with Spotify Songs: Inside Look at How Spotify Recommends Songs.”

Students in the Saunders Cyber: Risk and Resilience course created a monthly newsletter in collaboration with chief RIT cartoonist Leigh Rubin titled “The Sketchy Cybersecurity Newsletter” to celebrate Cybersecurity Awareness month.

September 2022

Alena Pishchuk ‘23 (MBA) attended the Concordia Annual Summit held in New York City with world’s most influential business leaders, government officials, and nonprofit organizers to discuss and collectively pave a path toward a more equitable, sustainable future.

Olivia McDonald ‘25 (accounting) and Ryan Steubing, ‘12 (HSPS), '23 (MBA) have won selective CMA Exam Scholarships, which allows them to take an exam to become certified management accountants for free!

Matt Stasik ‘24 (accounting and finance) presented a project titled “Do Critical Audit Matters Matter?” at the Undergraduate Research Symposium this summer.

Danny Le ‘23 (finance) has completed an internship at Capital One as part of their Management Internship Program. As he's entering his final year at Saunders, he joins The Leadership Academy @ Saunders as the chief academy officer.

Manee Souphavanh ‘23 (hospitality) won the 2022-2023 Statler Foundation Scholarship of Excellence, worth $25,000. This prestigious scholarship is awarded to students who excel in hospitality management programs and demonstrate exceptional leadership. Saunders College of Business has one of the only hospitality and tourism programs in the United States that are invited to nominate students for the scholarship!

July 2022

Alex Feliu '22 (finance) presented "NFTS and Their Correlation to Cryptocurrencies" at the undergraduate research symposium with Archana Jain, Ph.D., interim department chair of finance and accounting.

Kavitha Rajkumar '23 (accounting) has been selected as a recipient of the 2022-23 AICPA Legacy Scholarship. The AICPA Legacy Scholars program helps students become CPAs by assisting with the cost of their college education.

View students' accomplishments from previous years here!