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.

March 2025

ASCM@RIT, RIT’s Supply Chain Management Club, facilitated a site visit to the Rochester office of QuidelOrtho, a medical device and testing kit manufacturer on Thursday, February 27th. 

Linda Wiener ‘83 (MBA), with Jessica Drachler, of Allied Financial Services conducted an interactive tax session with members of Next Generation of Accountants on Wednesday, February 19th. The session focused on tax planning, using specialized accounting software to show how different life events, such as marriage, children, or rental real estate losses, affected the taxes owed or refunded for both federal and state.

Charlie Slaymaker ‘25 (accounting) was awarded a scholarship from Financial Executives International Rochester at a ceremony held at the Jackrabbit Club in Rochester. The scholarship goes to a student who has a high academic record in overall course work and in major subjects, displays characteristics of high integrity and ethics, passion for the profession, and a high degree of potential for future business leadership.

February 2025

Jancy Nightingale-Burch, assistant director of marketing at Saunders College of Business, Dhwani Doshi ‘25 (business analytics), and Jen Spencer ‘23 (Executive MBA) placed third in a case competition on health equity challenges at the 21st Annual Columbia Business School Healthcare Conference on Feb. 7 in New York. Their team presented a solution to address the primary care gap and quantified the potential return on investment.

Phatsimo (Olebile) Koboto ‘26 (MS hospitality business management) and Julia (Jay) Ferreira ‘28 (BFA interior design) attended the Americas Lodging Investment Summit (ALIS) in Los Angeles, January 28-30, as student ambassadors representing RIT. ALIS, according to Phatsimo, “brought together top hospitality and investment leaders to dive into key topics like hotel development, market trends, and where the industry is headed.

Amal Aboushanab ‘25 (hospitality and tourism management), Anika Ying ‘26 (hospitality and tourism management), Jenna Kelley ‘25 (hospitality and tourism management), and Pablo Vargas ‘24 (hospitality and tourism management) will take over the Commons pasta station each Tuesday and Thursday throughout the month of February. On their respective dates, the students will serve Egyptian Koshary (Amal), Stir Fried Rice Cakes (Anika), Birria Tacos (Jenna), and Hispanic Pupusas (Pablo).

January 2025

The RIT Intercollegiate Athletics Department inducted nine Saunders student-athletes into the Alpha Rho chapter of the Chi Alpha Sigma Honor Society in a ceremony on January 23, 2025.  Chi Alpha Sigma celebrates four-year collegiate student-athletes who have excelled in both the classroom and in athletic competition. The Saunders inductees are:

• Isaac Braegelmann ‘26 (management information systems) – Baseball
• Joey Golden IV ‘25 (management information systems) – Men’s Soccer
• Seth Grottenthaler ‘24 (finance) ‘25 (MBA) – Men’s Lacrosse
• Bailey Kehl ‘25 (international business) – Women’s Ice Hockey/Softball
• Tyler Mahan ‘26 (finance) – Men’s Ice Hockey
• Sarah Polek ‘27 (global business management) – Women’s Rowing
• Ian Reeve ‘25 (finance) – Men’s Soccer
• Emily Sanchez ‘26 (marketing) – Women’s Soccer
• Douglas Scott ‘25 (management) – Men’s Ice Hockey

Saunders College of Business student delegates for 2025 are Chris Soukup ‘25 (EMBA), graduate delegate, and Annie Hong ‘25 (management information systems), undergraduate delegate. They will represent Saunders at the 2025 convocation and commencement ceremonies.

Ben Hart ‘25 (MBA), founder of RIT’s Real Estate Club, participated in RIT’s Summer Accelerator program through the Simone Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship and won the People’s Choice award in the Center for Urban Entrepreneurship’s ROC the Pitch competition.

Frank D. Cammarata ‘25 (management information systems and global business management) led a team of students that won the ROC The Project competition, organized by PMI Rochester. His team–including Julia Geigel ‘24 (MBA), Yusra Khalid ‘25 (MS computer science) and Fanny Qian ‘28 (management information systems)–assisted Coffee Connection/Project Empower to plan their fundraising event.

December 2024

Evan Macko ‘25 (finance), Carter Ptak ‘25 (software engineering), and Rosa Kauffman ‘27 (Japanese) won the 2024 Bloomberg Global Trading Challenge as the “Tigers Trading” team. The interdisciplinary RIT team, advised by finance and accounting associate professor Hao Zhang, placed first among 2,453 teams from 396 universities in 46 countries.

Alec Waight-Morabito ‘24 (global business management) was featured on Spectrum News on New Year's Eve as part of their Getting mentally and physically fit segment on New Year's Resolutions regarding health and fitness. Alec was interviewed about his fitness journey and overcoming a debilitating autoimmune disease.

November 2024

Amal Aboushanab ’25 (hospitality and tourism management), Daniel Lootens ’26 (management information systems), Kimberly Kaleta ’25 (marketing), Luchunzi Wang ’26 (MS hospitality business management), Matilda Gjini ’26 (MS hospitality business management), and Dan Hooper ’27 (hospitality and tourism management) attended The Hospitality Show, October 28-30, in San Antonio, Texas. The Show featured programming, networking, breakout presentations, and an exhibition hall featuring hundreds of vendors.

October 2024

Amanda Bosh, Ph.D., ‘24 (Executive Online MBA) has been promoted to Executive Director of Lowell Observatory, in Flagstaff, AZ, where she previously served as Chief Operating Officer. States W. Lowell Putnam, Sole Trustee of Lowell Observatory, “We are excited to welcome Amanda as our new Executive Director. Her extensive experience in planetary science, along with her proven leadership as Chief Operating Officer, makes her the ideal candidate to guide the observatory through this next era of discovery and public engagement.”

Joshua Michaels ’26 (marketing), Chad Chapman ’27 (computer science), Emmanuel Boakye ’26 (individualized study), and Nemesis Velasquez ’26 (new media interactive development) are the inaugural winners of the Ramsey Family Innovation Award, which provides annual support for a student team each year enrolled in the RIT Student Accelerator program. The team, led by Michaels, developed OnCall, a platform that connects available nurses to nearby healthcare facilities.

Chris Soukup ‘25 (Online Executive MBA) published an article, “How Companies Can Use AI to Better Serve Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Customers,” in Harvard Business Review. Soukup is the CEO of Communication Service for the Deaf (CSD), a pioneer of accessible communication services and technologies for the deaf community for nearly 50 years.

September 2024

Annie Hong ’25 (management information systems) completed an internship this past summer as an Operations Analyst Intern with JPMorgan Chase in New York City. She reports that she “had the opportunity to work on KYC [know your customer] due diligence for high-income clients from Latin America.”

Ericka Chen ’26 (accounting and management information systems) completed an internship this past summer at the New York Climate Exchange in New York City. This was the first year for the internship program, and Ericka was the first student from RIT to participate.

August 2024

Justin Maine '28 (business exploration), graduate of Dansville High School, Jack TeBeau (marketing and management information systems), and Keegan Dennis '28 (finance), graduates of Livonia High School are 2024 recipients of E. Philip Saunders Endowed Business Scholarships. The three recipients will receive scholarships valued at up to $100,000 over the course of four years. The award was established in 2006 by E. Philip Saunders to provide four-year scholarships annually to graduates of designated Livingston County high schools who are enrolled in Saunders College of Business.

Joshua Michaels ’26 (marketing) and his team presented “OnCall,” a digital nursing agency, as part of the RIT Student Accelerator Demos, on August 7.  Notably, his was the first team in over a decade and 21 cohorts to be awarded the Ramsey Fellowship for Innovation.

Adelle Young ’24 (graphic design), who worked as a graphic designer for Saunders College during her junior year at RIT, has begun a new job as Contract Graphic Designer for TPH Academy.

Emma Schock ’25 (management information systems) completed a successful summer 2024 IT internship with St. Luke’s University Health Network in Lehigh Valley, PA.

Amal Aboushanab ’25 (hospitality and tourism management) began, on June 10, 2024, a Management Training Internship with Marriott International at Renaissance Sharm El Sheikh Golden View Beach Resort in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt.

Logan Burns ’25 (accounting) has been named a Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) Scholar. The award comes with a $15,000 scholarship for the 2024-25 academic year.

Emma Goetze ’25 (management information systems) is completing a summer internship at the Lake House on Canandaigua. She joins Cornell hospitality; interns to help staff The Lake House, one of Greater Rochester's premier hospitality destinations in the Finger Lakes.

View students' accomplishments from previous years!