VP of Student Life

Each Tuesday, for the month of May, we will be introducing you to the new student body officers. Today we are excited to introduce our student body vice president of student life. Enjoy.

-Blog Staff

Hi there! My name is Matt, I'm a Capricorn, and I am rather injury prone (random, I know, but read on and it'll all connect; I think this is called foreshadowing). I grew up in the Seattle area, but I've gotten used to seeing the sun so I'm not sure I could handle living there again. I'm heading to Atlanta this summer to work for a small company called Coca-Cola.

I'll be honest with you, BYU initially rose to the top of my list for potential MBA programs because I'm still a bachelor. After three years of living in Idaho Falls working as an analyst for a mid-size consumer products company called Melaleuca (fabulous experience across the board, by the way), I decided it was time for a change. Since Provo is the mecca for Mormon singles, I thought I would give it a whirl, again. Yes, I had already spent four years in P-town as an undergrad, the latter half of which were in the Tanner Building. Well, it's been simply nostalgic to be back in the Tanner, but even though I have a finance undergraduate degree from BYU and am pursuing a finance MBA degree from BYU, I don't feel that my learning experience has been redundant whatsoever. That's probably because I just didn't learn the material the first time around, but hey, repetition is the master teacher, right?

Besides the social aspect of returning to Provo, BYU's value proposition was an undeniable benefit. However, I believe in investing in myself, so I tried to suppress my numbers-oriented viewpoint long enough to focus on the long-term benefits of the network I would be able to build up. So far, I feel like I made a great decision. There are plenty of opportunities to be involved, give back, and reach out. Even though I explicitly remember sitting in orientation and telling myself I wouldn't get into student leadership like I had previously, one thing led to another and - BAM! - here I am, fully engrossed in the MBA experience. And it is more work, but I love it and wouldn't have it any other way.

And why did I mention my injury prone nature? Allow me to explain. Back in September I was playing on an intramural flag football team with some of my classmates when I went down with a torn ACL in my right knee. As if I weren't stressed out enough, this had to go and happen. . . Well, I have no intention of crying you a river, but that experience taught me several things, including how wonderful my fellow MBA classmates are. The outpouring of help and thoughtfulness was incredible, especially from the other guys and even the professors! This experience as well as many others have thoroughly reinforced my decision to be a part of this inspired institution, again.

Matt Shultz, Finance, Class of 2011

Interning at: Coca-Cola

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VP of Academic Affairs

Each Tuesday, for the month of May, we will be introducing you to the new student body officers. Today we are excited to introduce our student body vice president of academic affairs. Enjoy.
-Blog Staff

I have three women to thank for my being in the MBA program right now: my mom, my wife, and my daughter Fiona. Back in 2000, my Mom, who hadn't earned her Associate's degree until after she already had 5 children, handed me her graduation tassel from a Master's program in nursing and said, "Now it's your turn." At the time I had not even completed a Bachelor's degree, and her request seemed like a tall order. However, her example and that conversation planted a seed that would sprout up years later.

Enter Natalie, my wife. At the time I met her, I had finished my Finance degree at the University of Texas and I was working for a small mortgage company. We met, fell in love, and married, and only after I was fully committed did she reveal that she wanted to move to New York City. Of all the places that in the world that I didn't want to live, NYC was at the top. But wives have a way of making things happen, and I eventually found myself selling most of my belongings, including a new car I'd received for graduation, and loading a Penske moving truck bound for the Big Apple.

I learned the value of networking while looking for my first job in New York. A friend of Natalie's helped me make a connection with Fidelity Investments, where I worked until entering the MBA program last fall. I ended up loving New York more than I would have ever imagined, and I had important career achievements while I was there. Life was good, but one day we found out that we would soon have another member coming to join our family. While we could support ourselves comfortably in expensive Manhattan when both of us were working, we knew that with Natalie quitting work to become a full time mom, we would need to make some changes. So Fiona, my daughter, became the final influence that led us to come back to school.

It turns out that there is one male who figures largely in this story. I had been accepted into another MBA program and was intent on going to school there when Paul McKinnon, VP of HR at Citibank, convinced me to take a closer look at BYU. I took his advice and found that BYU was the right place for me, especially considering my intentions to pursue a career in HR. Just last week he came out to the 2010 OB/HR conference held just outside of Provo. In the middle of his presentation, he paused, said, "Hi Victor! How are you?" and went back to his conversation as if nothing had ever happened. Besides being an entertaining aside for the audience, it reminded me of just how small the world becomes when you join the BYU MBA program. For me the program has delivered far more than I ever expected, and it is only halfway finished! I am excited to see what next year brings.

Victor Monreal, OB/HR, Class of 2011

Interning at: Procter and Gamble

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VP of Communications

Each Tuesday, for the month of May, we will be introducing you to the new student body officers. Today we are excited to introduce our student body vice president of communications. Enjoy.

-Blog Staff

When anyone asks me about the BYU MBA program, I have the most difficult time choosing what experience to tell them about. From classes, to traveling, to meeting people, to everything else - I have learned and done so much in the past 7 months!

I will try not to be a constant blogger (because you will get enough emails from me), but would like to introduce myself to those who don't know me. I'm originally from Anaheim, California, but moved to Park City, Utah during my high school days. My undergrad degree is in Communication from Westminster College. From there, I spent a few years doing Public Relations for the U.S. Ski & Snowboard Association, Real Salt Lake, and Comcast. I came to BYU primarily because I had a friend in the program who told me to come. He sold me on all the benefits of price, people, teachings, recruiting opportunities, etc. It became more of a question of, "Why not go to BYU?" Now I'm making the career change to doing something I've never done before (human resources) in the OBHR track and will be going to P&G for my internship this summer in Boston.

The best experience I have had in the program so far is meeting Warren Buffett. Every winter, the Marriott School takes applications for those who want to meet him and I highly recommend applying. We flew to Omaha for a day, did a Q&A with him, ate lunch on his dime, and then spent almost 2 hours taking funny pictures with him. Warren Buffett is now my hero.

The saddest (but funny) experience I had in the program was when I had to get 11 vaccinations to go to Ghana. I thought signing up for a consulting project in Ghana would be a great idea! Eleven vaccines later, I spent 3 days with my left arm in prayer position, swollen, and blotchy red. Not only did I look like a leper, but I could not sleep, walk, breathe, or even look at my arm without experiencing excruciating pain - not to mention the fever the shots gave me on top of that. Friends had to help me get dressed and do my hair so I could still go to church. At least my arm was already stuck in prayer position. I leave in two weeks for Ghana; and that torture better be worth it! I'm sure it will be. =)

The weirdest experience I had was when I was interviewing for an internship and the interviewing kept interrupting me to say things like, "I really like that shirt," or, "Did you see that person that just walked by?" My practice interviews did not prepare me for interviewers who completely didn't care what I was saying. It was my first interview, though, so if anything maybe he didn't hear all the mistakes I made. I did get a second interview with that company after all.

Although this summer is going to be really exciting and bring forth lots of new experiences in Ghana and with P&G, I can't wait to come back to school in August to meet the incoming class and hear about all the 2nd years' summer internship experiences. Until then....

Tara Hair, OB/HR, Class of 2011

Interning at: Procter and Gamble

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Student Body President

Each Tuesday, for the month of May, we will be introducing you to the new student body officers. Today we will start with our student body president. Enjoy.

-Blog Staff

My name is Adam Cuppett. I grew up in a small suburb of Los Angeles, California with my family of eight. Before entering the BYU MBA program, I started and operated two construction services businesses in the south Salt Lake County and north Utah County areas. I am a finance major with a strategy minor and will be working with Property Reserve Inc. as a financial/land portfolio analyst this summer.

My choice to come to BYU was a no-brainer. Where else can you be taught at such a great price by professors who should be at top five schools? The faculty here truly are top notch! The alumni and recruiting network available to enrolled students and graduates rivals that of any other university. My experience in the BYU MBA program has exceeded all my expectations thus far. I have been blessed to be able to build relationships that will last a lifetime. I have made some true friends in this program and will most likely go in to business with some of them at some point in my career.

One of the saddest yet most memorable experiences in the program was the Stice MBA 524 accounting final. Dr. Stice told us the time limit on the final was four hours. However, he said that if we need to take more time we could. So I went to the testing center on the last day of the final six hours before the testing center closed. After four hours, I was still working feverishly to finish. The same was true at the five hour mark. Then at about six hours, the testing center lights turned off to signal that the testing center was now closed. The funny thing is that when the room went dark, I saw about 10 other glowing laptop screens of my classmates who were in the same situation as me. It was fun to all stand around waiting for our scores to appear. Luckily, after six hours of torture, the experience paid off.

I would love to chat with anyone considering the BYU MBA program or those who have already made the excellent decision to join us. Please feel free to contact me any time.

-Adam Cuppett, Finance, Class of 2011

Interning at: Property Reserve Inc.

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