Alumna finds the right fit in Silicon Valley

In 2008, a young woman’s college career ended and her business career began. Shalie Gaskill is a graduate in finance and marketing who recently accepted a job offer from Box, a enterprise software company in the San Francisco Bay area. The winding road from KU to Stanford, where she earned her Master of Business Administration degree this spring, to the technology-driven Silicon Valley, is not the path she expected to travel.

When Gaskill arrived at KU, her interests leaned toward sports management and marketing. But, like many undergraduate students, she discovered a subject she enjoyed even more.

“During school, I realized that sports weren’t actually what I was most passionate about,” Gaskill said, “but I did love looking ahead for trends and winners. Technology had both of these characteristics, plus there was so much to learn. I was immediately invigorated.”

Shalie Gaskill with Chancellor Gray-Little

After KU, Gaskill worked at Sabre Holdings, a technology company headquartered in Texas. She became the first analyst in Hospitality Solutions, a new group focusing on hotel software products, Gaskill said. The position connected her with senior leaders in the company.

“This created opportunities to be part of various side projects lead by company executives,” Gaskill said. “Looking back, I think these side projects, which I took on in addition to my full-time role, lead to my progression.”

When Gaskill was a senior at KU, Mark Hirschey, Anderson W. Chandler Professor of Business, helped her create a five-year plan, culminating with a doctorate degree. In 2010, Hirschey passed away, yet even death couldn’t stop him from continuing to make a difference. Out of that loss came the inspiration Gaskill needed to continue her education and move one step closer to the goal they set together two years earlier.

But the Stanford Graduate School of Business is not easy. At first, she admitted, it was extremely intimidating.

“I knew the formulas in finance and the P’s of marketing, which I attribute to my time at the KU School of Business,” she said. “The classroom setting, on the other hand, was something I wasn’t prepared for. At Stanford, none of our classes are lecture-based. Instead, we discuss a case and learn a decision-making framework. The protagonist of the case is usually in class to comment on what actually happened.”

The network of KU business alumni spans the globe, and Jayhawk values are ingrained in the most populous cities in the U.S. Even though Dallas was a perfect fit for her career in 2008, Gaskill said she still wonders what opportunities she missed by not knowing who to reach out to and what to ask while at KU.

“At the time, I felt lucky to have an opportunity in technology in Dallas.” Gaskill said. “I wish I would have looked at other areas of the country like San Francisco, Chicago and New York and reached out to alumni to see if there were any opportunities available.”

Regardless of where Gaskill’s career leads, the fond memories of her days in Lawrence, KU and the School of Business follow along.

“KU is a very special place and was an amazing time in my life,” Gaskill said. “While you’re in school, it feels like nothing will ever change. But once you’re gone, you quickly realize that it’s never going to be the same.”

Gaskill earned her MBA and she is once again leaving college to continue her career. Now she can’t picture herself anywhere other than Silicon Valley, at least for now.

“This place is electric,” she said. “Everyone is so motivated and working on things that have the ability to change the world. It’s truly inspiring!”

Students pitch creative recruitment ideas to Payless

Students at the University of Kansas School of Business on May 9 pitched social media recruitment campaigns to the human resources department at Payless ShoeSource.

Six teams from Recruitment and Selecting Effective Employees (MGMT 413) worked on a semester-long project to hone in on creative ways to build the Payless brand on social media and to help prospects find their perfect “fit” at Payless.

Students from the winning team, the Wheel Deal, with HR
reps from Payless and Prof. Venkat Bendapudi

“We researched Payless’ career website and evaluated its current social media sites. We also did extensive research on competitors’ sites to see what they were doing and find inspiration and conducted a focus group,” said Andrea Serrano, senior in management from Olathe, Kan., who presented her ideas with her team to Payless.

The six groups were also required to recruit an additional team member to help them build these social media plans, which helped the students learn what worked and didn’t work to get others interested and involved.

“Through our recruitment process I learned it was a little more difficult to reach out to the student body than I had actually realized it would be,” Serrano said. “While recruiting we had to look for a member who would complement the skills of the other members and pull the team together.”

In developing the social media plans groups tapped into networks such as Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Pinterest.

“Pinterest is a newer social media and less crowded with job postings than obvious networks like Twitter and Facebook,” Serrano said. “It’s only four years old with more than 50 million users, so using this as a recruiting site could put them ahead of the game.”

A team pitches its ideas to Payless HR reps

Payless awarded the top three teams with monetary prizes, although it wasn't just the winners who learned from this experience.

“My favorite part about the project was creating a product from scratch that was our own ideas and something that a company could actually take with them and use,” Serrano said.

Students receive award for designing a difference

Two students from the University of Kansas School of Business received the Community Service Program of Year Award in April at the Jayhawk Choice Awards. Their campus clubs teamed up to make a campus-wide and international difference.

Sherry Farrahi, sophomore from Leawood, Kan., majoring in management and leadership and president of the KU Fashion Club, teamed up with Brandon Kuzara, junior from Colorado Springs, Colo., majoring in marketing and president of KU Enactus, for an event called Dresses for a Difference. The event was held in March on campus which invited students to create a simple dress out of only pillowcases and a few basic sewing materials at the Kansas Union between classes. The finished dresses are to be donated to the Dundori Orphanage in Kenya with help from the Dundori Orphans project, which was founded by Scott Moir, senior in accounting from Manhattan, Kan. More than 100 students helped create 102 dresses to be donated to young girls in Kenya.

The clubs collected the pillow cases during an event hosted in the fall of 2012 in anticipation of Dresses for a Difference.

“The members worked together to put on a great event, including applying for grants, collaborating with other on-campus clubs, and preparing a schedule for the event,” Farrahi said.

The dresses will be transported to Kenya this summer with help of the on-campus organization Kansas2Kenya. Professor Bob Basow of the School of Journalism will be handing off these dresses to the owner of the orphanage in early June.

Learn more by following @KU_FashionClub, @kusife and @dundoriorphans.

Information systems club shines at civic hacking competition

The Information Systems Association of KU, known as IS@K, is making waves in the Kansas City technology community with its recent success at a civic hacking event.

The 24-hour Hack of the Sexes competition took place April 26 and 27 at the Kauffman Foundation in Kansas City, sponsored by a number of Kansas City technology companies, including Sprint, and the city of Kansas City, Mo.

Civic hackers are designers, artists, engineers and other tech professionals who collaborate to create open source solutions to challenges facing local communities, cities and states. Some of the civic issues highlighted at the event included environmental sustainability, education and citizen engagement.

KU IS@K member focuses on Hack of the Sexes competition

“Hack of the Sexes combined groups of people with different talents – graphic design, programming, business – in an effort to build a website or application that solves a civic problem,” said Michael Luchen, senior information systems major and IS@K president. “Participants were able to gain real-world experience in solving community challenges through tech solutions while learning from experts in the Kansas City tech community.”

KU IS@K participants in the “hackathon” divided into separate teams, working with students and professionals outside of KU, to increase the club’s visibility and gain networking opportunities.

Frank Dillon, a KU information systems major and IS@K member, pitched the Feed the Meter app, which uses smartphone technology to allow people to pay for parking meters.

“The participants were so impressed with Frank’s idea of a parking meter app that he actually got to lead his own team to create the product,” Luchen said.

Information systems student Pratik Gadhia was also on the Feed the Meter team, and posed the idea of integrating QR codes into the concept. Chad Kozicki, a KU IS@K member, was part of the PlanIT KC team, which devised an app that allows city developers to understand the value of environmentally focused design.

IS@K board member Scott Howell III was on the grand-prize winning team, which created The Giveback, an app that allows charities to connect with citizens interested in volunteer opportunities. The app will launch summer 2013.

For more information on IS@K, connect with the student club on Facebook and Twitter.

Personal Finance: Investing for your future

Executive-in-residence William Lewis lectures to Personal Finance students

“It’ll all add up in the end,” said Theresa Tran, a senior at the University of Kansas. “Finance 101 has taught me to think about my budget and how to plan for the future.”

Tran, a biochemistry major from Liberty, Mo., will attend optometry school in the fall. She learned about the course through a friend who had taken the course and recommended it to her.

“I couldn’t have taken it at a better time because I now understand I can protect my belongings when I move to a new city with renter’s insurance. I even know how to check my tire pressure,” she laughed.

Personal Finance, or FIN 101, taught by executive-in-residence William E. Lewis, was first offered in 2007. The course addresses personal topics that are relatable to college student’s everyday life, and how they can plan for the future.

“Finance 101 gets personal with students and expects them to think constructively about real life financial issues,” said Adam Casady, a teacher’s assistant for the course and Master of Accounting student from Lawrence. “It introduces students to material that will be applicable for the rest of their lives.”

The material covered throughout the semester brings attention to other every day bits of life when calling on students to test what they already know.

Casady said he was introduced to new material because he never took the class as an undergraduate.
“I was learning the material as the course went on. It was a lot of stuff I didn’t know either, so I was basically learning it along with the students,” he said.

Tran said she remembers the day that the students were all asked if they knew where to find their tire pressure, if they knew the type of car insurance they have.

“I was shocked when he said that credit cards are safer to use than debit cards as long as you’re responsible,” she said. “It was a really fun class that was engaging and useful. And knowing I have a lot of debt in the making over the next few years, I’m confident that I now know what that really means and how I should manage it all.”

FIN 101 is currently enrolling for fall 2013. The class is open to all KU students.

Alumnus named one of the best in his field

A School of Business alumnus is listed among the best buyside analysts in the world. Andrew Carlson earned a Master of Business Administration degree from the school in 2011 and now works for Whetstone Capital Advisors in Mission Woods, Kan.

In less than two years with the company, he caught the attention of SumZero, an online networking community of hedge fund, mutual fund and private equity professionals. SumZero recently released a list of the top 14 buyside analysts.

“I was surprised and honored by the peer recognition associated with being selected for the SumZero list,” said Carlson, whose average peer rating is 9.66 out of 10, the highest on the list.

Among the elite company in which Carlson now finds himself are analysts from the business schools of Stanford, Princeton and the University of Pennsylvania.

Senior finance student wins top award

Each year, the Kansas City chapter of Financial Executives International grants academic awards to students majoring in accounting or finance. FEI Kansas City awarded senior finance student Daniel Bjornson the Oracle-FEI Excellence Award during an awards ceremony April 9. The award, worth $2,500, is the highest honor given.

Daniel Bjornson, KU finance senior

“It’s a nice recognition,” Bjornson said, “but in addition to the money, I will get invitations to future FEI events where I can talk with CFOs and other top executives and learn about their career paths.”

The FEI awards are given to students who show outstanding academic performance, evidence of leadership potential and service to the college and community. Bjornson was in charge of The Big Event at KU last year, a grassroots community service project.

“Last year, participation rose from 500 (in 2011) to more than 2,000 students,” Bjornson said. “I’m proud to say that I was involved.”

As a sophomore, Bjornson brought Project LIVELY (Life, Interest and Vigor Entering Later Years) to the University of Kansas. Project LIVELY is a Lawrence-Douglas County Health Department program that assists elderly residents of the community and helps them stay in their homes as long as possible. Bjornson recognized the opportunity to help and knew that many KU students would be willing to lend a hand.

Bjornson is also a member of Sigma Phi Epsilon, the Finance Scholars Program and the KU Honors Program. His involvement in the community and the university is a characteristic he encourages new business students to adopt.

“Take advantage of all the opportunities the School of Business and KU have to offer,” he said. “You’ll never know if you like something unless you try it, so try new things and get involved.”