2023-24 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 2024

Three teams from RIT advanced to the finals of the Finger Lakes regionals of the New York Business Plan Competition.

• Manisha Puppala MS ’24 (technology, innovation, management and entrepreneurship), Aedan Frank ’25 (MBA), Angel Yang MS ’25 (visual communication design and entrepreneurship), and Jordan De Pina ’27 (neuroscience) pitched a business plan for a mental health app called HeartBox.
• Ben Hart ’25 (MBA) presented Hart Homes.
• Lamya Hamad ’24 (EMBA), Jen Spencer ’23 EMBA, and Alex Sunseri ’23 (EMBA) pitched Health Sync.

Myren Bobryk-Ozaki ’24 (communication), ’25 (MBA), competed in the American Advertising Federation's National Student Advertising Competition, at Pace University. Bobryk-Ozaki's team was comprised of advertising and public relations from RIT's College of Liberal Arts; Jason Drexel ‘24, Elijah Bowley ‘25, Dave Sanders ‘25, and Brandon Rothstein ’25. Bobryk-Ozaki served as the team’s presentation coach and called the experience “a great learning opportunity for professional development, networking, and furthering my role as a speech and presentation consultant.”

April 2024

Cindy Achedu (Okoh) Afolabi ’27 (Ph.D.) presented “The Interplay of Industry Specialization and Critical Audit Matters” at the RIT Graduate Student Showcase.

Jingyun Su ’24 (management information systems), an exchange program student from Beijing Jiaotong University, has been accepted into and will attend the Ph.D. program at the University of Miami Herbert Business School.

Aaron Liu '19 (software engineering), MS ’24 (technology innovation management and entrepreneurship) and Adib Ahnaf ’26 (human centered computing), comprising Team Socian AI, competed at the 2024 Rice Business Plan Competition, April 4-6, in Houston, TX. The competition included 42 graduate student-led university startups from around the US and the world.

Nine Saunders College students have been recognized for their accomplishments in and outside of the classroom.

• Jessie Shelton ’26 (management information systems) was awarded the Isaac L. Jordan Sr. Endowed Scholarship.

Honored at the Student Leadership Awards ceremony on April 4, 2024, at the Gordon Field House:

• Michael Penna ’23 (finance and management information systems) won the Student Life Award, for demonstrating significant leadership in RIT-related activities.
• Eddie DiTomasso ‘24 (finance and management information systems) and Ethan Feldman ‘24 (management information systems) won an Excellence in Student Life Award, for balancing academic success and engagement.
• Joshua Michaels-McClean ’26 (marketing) received the Community Impact Award, which recognizes students for “leadership, making improvements to the campus, or being involved in club activities.”
• Carlos Bindert ‘25 (supply chain management) and Joshua Michaels-McClean ’26 (marketing) were recipients of the Alfred L. and Ruby C. Davis Scholarship, given to students “who have demonstrated significant effort toward the improvement and quality of campus.”

Bridget Dehond ’23 (management information systems), Jada Jennings ‘24 (management information systems), and Kavitha Rajkumar ’23 (accounting), '24 (MBA) were recipients of Legacy Leadership Awards, which recognize graduating student leaders who have made a lasting impact at RIT or in the greater Rochester community.

Owen Cavo ’28 (finance and management information systems), and Jake O’Connor ’25 (finance) represented Saunders College of Business at the Quinnipiac University GAME (Global Asset Management Education) Forum. GAME bills itself as the largest student-run financial conference in the world.

Logan Carolan ’22 (management information systems), currently a software engineer for General Motors, spoke at RIT as part of an Alumni Career Panel of members of the Epsilon Lambda Chapter of Delta Sigma Pi, the professional business fraternity.

Justin McFadden ’23 (management information systems) has been named Regional (Niagara) Collegian of the Year by Delta Sigma Pi, the professional business fraternity. Honorees are nominated by their chapter; selection is based on “multiple criteria, including inter-chapter Fraternity events, degree of leadership exhibited in Delta Sigma Pi, scholastic aptitude and more.”

Ferdinand Virtudes ’25 (management information systems), who is a portrait photographer, shot group photos of members of the RIT chapter of Delta Sigma Pi, the professional business fraternity.

March 2024

Daniel Lootens ’25 (management information systems) started work as a project manager with Saunders College of Business' Hospitality Workforce Training program, which helps immigrants and refugees develop workforce skills in hospitality. In his role, Lootens teaches English and technical skills to area refugees, and he arranges accommodations and menus.

Alric Amon ’24 (management information systems), Zev Motiani ’24 (marketing), Samantha Phillips ’25 (hospitality and tourism management), Ayushi Patel ’24 (marketing), Katherine Collier ’25 (management information systems), A.J. Claiborne ’24 (global business management), and Trevor Lane ’24 (management information systems) participated in a panel discussion in Careers in Business, a class taught by Julian Huenerfauth, assistant director for international student career services, RIT office of career services and cooperative education. Among the students’ insights:

• Always go one step further than what you think you want to do.
• Don't be afraid to reach out to people you don't know on LinkedIn.
• If you really like a company, weave their company values into your application documents.
• Approach companies you like at the Career Fair, even if they're not looking for business students.

Ericka Chen ’26 (accounting), president of Next Generation of Accountants (NGA) and Samuel Robertson ’24 (accounting) have established an NGA Book Hub. The Book Hub—physically a set of bookcases located near the Team Rooms in Saunders College—offers students, faculty, and staff access to a variety of used business textbooks, which they can borrow, donate, or keep. Chen and Shawn Norton ’27 (accounting), NGA vice president of service, are in charge of the Book Hub during the spring 2024 semester.

RIT has announced the Outstanding Undergraduate Scholar Award winners for 2023-2024. The awardees, who will be celebrated at a ceremony on Thursday, March 21, 2024, represent “the top 1% of undergraduate students who achieve academic excellence while also giving back to the community through civic or volunteer work.”

The Outstanding Undergraduate Scholars from Saunders College are:

• Jood Alnajjar ’24 (marketing)
• Eddie Ditomasso ’24 (finance and management information systems)
• Kimberly Kaleta ’25 (marketing)
• Lydia Keffer ’25 (accounting)
• Max Mekker ’23 (accounting)
• Ayushi Patel ’24 (marketing)
• Samantha Phillips ’25 (hospitality and tourism management)
• Sedrick Thomas ’24 (management information systems)

Dubai business students:

• Najma Muhammad ’24 (management)

BJTU business students:

• Xinze Li ’24 (management information systems)
• Qiang Tang ’24 (management information systems)

Croatia business students:

• Andrea Danic ’24 (international business)
• Marta Primorac ’24 (international business)
• Tara Rakocevic ’24 (international business)
• Leona Sentic ’24 (hospitality)
• Iva Vukovic ’24 (hospitality)

February 2024

Brian Yan ’26 (finance and accounting) received a Financial Executive International (FEI) Scholarship Award at the FEI Scholars Night Program, February 13, 2024, at the Kodak Center, in Rochester. The scholarship, in the amount of $1,250, went to outstanding undergraduates—Yan and four others from neighboring colleges—majoring in accounting, finance, and economics.

Lamya Hamad '24 (EMBA), Jen Spencer '02 (IT and security), MS '06, '23 (EMBA), and Alex Sunseri '23 (EMBA) won the third annual Case Competition, part of the Healthcare Conference hosted by Columbia Business School (CBS) and the Healthcare Industry Association (HIA). Teammates combined their experiences in pharma, health information, and cybersecurity to propose a winning solution. This is the second consecutive year an RIT student from the nationally ranked online Executive MBA program has won the competition.

Frank D. Cammarata ’25 (global business management and management information systems) and Logan Burns ’25 (finance) are featured in an article in Croatia Week, “From USA to Croatia: RIT students Frank and Logan’s cultural journey,” February 8, 2024. The two Saunders students visited the RIT Croatia campus in Dubrovnik during the fall semester 2023 as part of the Global Scholars program. The Croatia Week article describes how Cammarata and Burns “experienced a blend of new academic experiences, cultural differences, and many opportunities for personal growth.”

Laura Gutaman ’27 (marketing and new media interactive development) and Abigail Santosh ’26 (finance) have founded a new RIT student campus group, the Multicultural Business Association (MBA). The aim of the club is to “help support and foster a community that celebrates and showcases the talented underrepresented students in Saunders College of Business.”

Max Mekker '23 (accounting), '25 (MBA) and Disha Rungta MS '24 (accounting and analytics) won accolades at the annual Saunders accounting banquet, January 25, 2024. Mekker received the Undergraduate Accounting Scholar Award and Rungta the Graduate Accounting Scholar Award. Check out photos from the event, taken by Julia Pham.

Eddie DiTomasso ’24 (finance and management information systems) has accepted a position with Goldman Sachs, Salt Lake City, beginning in May 2024 immediately following graduation. DiTomasso recently completed a co-op with Goldman Sachs.

Michael Hibbard ’25 (management information systems), recently completed an eight-month co-op as a project manager with Wegmans Food Markets.

December 2023

Eason Chin ’27 (finance), L Zheng ’27 (management information systems), and Riston Bertoli ’27 (business exploration), representing RIT as “Chin Industries,” placed third in the MikesBikes World Champs Competition sponsored by Smartsims Business Simulators. In the international event, which included 73 participants from 20 schools, student teams competed using MikesBikes Introduction and Advanced Simulators. The Chin Industries team was advised by Molly McGowan, senior lecturer in management. Learn more about the competition.

Ben Hart ’25 (MBA) is working to start a new Saunders College student organization, the Real Estate Club. The club, should it receive official recognition, would be perfect for anyone interested in learning more about real estate—achieving home ownership, becoming a licensed agent, and more.

A team of RIT students won the 2023 Grand Finals of the National Association of Collegiate Esports Varsity Premier League, December 3rd in Boise, ID. The team, playing Counter-Strike 2, included Matt Bussell ’24 (computing security), Kyle Jacowleff ’24 (computer engineering), '25 MS (computing engineering), Benjamin Feldstein ’26 (management information systems), Aidan Trabuco ’24 (individualized study), and Gian Esteves ’25 (computer science). The victory marks RIT’s eighth national esports championship.

A team of RIT students, Carter Ptak ’26 (software engineering), '27 MS (software engineering) captain, Evan Macko ’25 (finance) and Alexandria Walker ’26 (computer science), supported by Hao Zhang, PhD, professor of finance and accounting, were regional champions for North America, and placed third globally, in the Bloomberg 2023 Global Trading Challenge. In the competition, which included 2,007 teams from 309 universities in 38 countries, students spent six weeks conducting simulated investing. “Team Tiger” came together as members of the Financial Management Association, a Saunders College student club.

November 2023

Danny Le ’23 (finance and management information systems), a management rotation program associate at Capital One, spoke to Saunders students about his post-RIT journey as well as Capital One’s Management Internship Program (which he completed as a co-op) and their Management Rotation Program, on November 2, 2023. Learn more about his co-op experience.

October 2023

Christopher Ferrari ’24 (political science and marketing) recently completed a co-op with the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. Ferrari, from Spencerport, N.Y., was supported in his co-op by an award from the Kristine and John Simmons Public Policy Scholar Internship Fund.

September 2023

Student members of the student-run chapter of the Association of Supply Chain Management (ASCM) attended the membership meeting of Institute for Supply Management (ISM) on September 21 at Delmonico’s Restaurant in Henrietta. The featured speaker was CaTyra Poland, CEO and founder of Love for Words, who spoke on “Code Switching.” Learn more about their experience.

June 2023

Cassidy Wall ‘25 (accounting) has been announced as the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) Scholar and will receive a scholarship for the 2023-2024 academic year.

View students' accomplishments from previous years!