Beta Gamma Sigma is an international honor society serving business programs accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB International). Membership in Beta Gamma Sigma is the highest recognition a business student can receive.

The inductees represent the top 10 percent of the junior and senior classes in the Martha and Spencer Love School of Business, as well as the top 20 percent of the graduating class in the MBA and M.S. in Management programs.

Steven Bednar, assistant professor of economics, was presented with the Beta Gamma Sigma Professor of the Year award. Current BGS members selected the recipient based on the following criteria: encourages and honors high academic achievement by students of business and management; fosters in students an enduring commitment to the founding principles and values of the Society: honor and integrity, pursuit of wisdom, and earnestness; and supports the advancement of business thought and practice to encourage lifelong learning.

Bednar has published articles in journals including Education Finance and Policy, Applied Economic Letters, American Economic Review Papers and Proceedings and Economics of Education Review. His commitment to undergraduate research is reflected in his active role teaching the economics senior seminar course and in his mentorship of both economics senior theses and honors theses.

Bednar received his doctoral and master’s degrees in economics as well as a master’s in philosophy from Yale University and his bachelor’s degree in economics and applied mathematics from UC-Berkeley.

The 2018 inductees:

Juniors

• Sara Adelson
• Grayson Albers
• Stephanie Attias
• Kathryn Barthelmess
• Sara Bornmann
• Alyssa Caffrey
• Tyler Campbell
• Bailee Castillo
• Alexander Deberghes
• Elena Elliott
• Theresa Gebhardt
• Katherine Glass
• Emma Gresh
• Aye Aye Han
• Kaitlyn Hartman
• Sarah Hartsema
• Noor Irshaidat
• Grace Kadel
• Jacey Katch
• Jessica Lalama
• Westin Landau
• Bridget McMahon
• Conor McVeigh
• Margaret Miniati
• Meghan Murray
• Dana Pajk
• Nicole Parisi
• McKenna Patterson
• Kelly Quinlan
• Gabrielle Saluzzi
• Sarah Sykes
• Michael Thomas
• Casey Torto
• Kevin Wiles
• Haley Zee

Seniors

• William Colligan
• Michael Germinario
• Gregory Holler
• Sarah Huber
• Maxwell Pivonka
• Hannah Quinlan
• Ellen Stanovich

MBA/ MScM

• Preston Christy
• Jeffery Drummond
• Nicole Filippo
• Corie Hampton
• Jonathan Lindberg
• Samantha Simunyu
• Jocelyn Woloszczuk

Faculty

• Steven Bednar
• Brian Lyons

President

• Raghu Tadepalli, dean

Outgoing Vice Presidents

• Grace O’Hara
• Lauren Ray

Incoming Vice Presidents

• Emma Ott
• Conor McVeigh

Twenty-one sophomores in the Martha and Spencer Love School of Business attended the spring Sophomore Success event, hosted by the Porter Family Professional Development Center. The March 29 event provided an early start for sophomore students to strengthen networking, resume and interviewing skills, discuss the value of diversity in the workplace and practice dining etiquette.

Students also had the opportunity to engage with industry professionals and alumni from companies including Apex Systems, Bernard Robinson and Company, FactSet Research Systems, Glen Raven, Gartner, Lincoln Financial Group, Relias, RSM, UPS Capital Corporation and Vanguard.

“I feel more prepared to apply for internships and jobs after taking part in Sophomore Success,” said Zoe Budsworth ’20. “The working world seems much less frightening. I’ve improved my interviewing, networking and dining skills, which has encouraged me to feel more confident about succeeding in the future and earning a job.”

The builds lasting relationships with students by offering support and coaching throughout the student’s academic and professional journey in the Martha and Spencer Love School of Business. The center’s staff offers consultative one-on-one meetings with students to create an action plan that will help each student secure the internship or job that best suits their career goals.

Entrepreneurs, students and faculty members came together on April 18 for WE Do! Women Entrepreneurs for the Greater Good hosted by the Doherty Center for Creativity, Innovation and Entrepreneurship. Held at ����app�ٷ���վ��, the conference promoted a vibrant entrepreneurial ecosystem and offered resources, advice and inspiration through speakers, panels and roundtable conversations.

“This is our second year producing an event dedicated to women and entrepreneurship,” said Alyssa Martina, director of the Doherty Center for Creativity, Innovation and Entrepreneurship. “I believe that creating an event that connects students with women entrepreneurs and empowers all women to reach their highest potential is extremely important.”

Martina said students and professional women played integral roles in the conference’s success. “Student co-chairs Gabby Vance and Hannah Clifford were amazing and worked tirelessly to produce this wonderful event,” said Martina. “Our professional women co-chairs, Gizem Cetgin, Nina Martinez and Eleanor Reid represent the best of women entrepreneurs and were a tremendous asset to the conference as well.”

Elon President Connie Ledoux Book delivered opening remarks, reflecting on her time as provost of The Citadel and the challenges she faced as the first female provost and dean in the Citadel’s 175-year history. She noted the importance of taking calculated risks and navigating the underlying tension when being a “first.” She realized she was creating change not only for herself, but for other women to come.

Book pointed to the three energies of leadership: physical, emotional and intellectual. The combination of the three allows for growth, handling challenges and staying ahead with a strategic mindset, she said.

“Leaders must have their own mission statement and vision for advancing that mission in the most effective way,” Book said. “Each of us has something that compels us that we embrace in leadership work.”

Participants also heard from Marci Zaroff, an ECOlifestyle pioneer and expert. Zaroff coined the term “ECOfashion” and is an internationally recognized innovator and serial entrepreneur. She highlighted the importance of creating a business model where education is paramount. When she designed a model that brought together fashion and the environment, storytelling was key in resonating with customers and allowing them to see great design that was also socially responsible, she explained.

She advised audience members to be a constant sponge. “Ask questions, be aware and beware, and be the change,” Zaroff said. “Work is love made visible.”

The conference also included panel discussions and roundtable conversations. Panelists for the professional panel titled “Beyond Profitability: Entrepreneurship and the Double Bottom Line” were Lisbeth Arias, Dee McDougal, Carol Pulley and Kristine Sloan. Katy Bellotte, Sarah Glova, Katelin Kennedy, Olivia Murray and Cecelia Thompson served as panelists for the student panel titled “Through the Eyes of Rising Entrepreneurs.”

Keynote speaker Gabrielle Raymond McGee ’06, vice president of digital, marketing and special projects at the Tory Burch Foundation, concluded the conference sharing her professional entrepreneurial story. McGee graduated from Elon with a degree in sport and event management and has since helped numerous causes, foundations and brands, including Major League Baseball and the Tory Burch Foundation. In her talk, she emphasized the value women bring to the workforce, citing statistics such as:

• An estimated 340,000 jobs were created by women-owned businesses between 2007 and 2015.
• Women reinvest 90 percent of their income into family and community.
• If women and men stood on identical footing in terms of participation in the economy through paid work and entrepreneurship, the world could see as much as $28 trillion in global growth by 2025, equivalent to the GDP of the U.S. and China combined.

The reality is, just 3 percent of women startups receive venture capital funding, $1 out of $23 loan dollars go to women-owned businesses, and only 17 percent of startups in 2017 had a female founder, a number that has not changed in five years, McGee explained.

“Are entrepreneurs born or made?” McGee asked the audience. “To me, entrepreneurship is a state of mind.”

She shared her “secret sauce” to being entrepreneurial, which included not striving for perfection, being scrappy, learning the art of negotiation, and embracing ambitions with confidence. “When it comes to embracing ambition, the key is confidence,” McGee said. She prompted audience members to identify their ambitions and to ignore the naysayers. She referred to Tory Burch’s common advice to “think of negativity as noise” and fearlessly pursue dreams.

McGee concluded her presentation with a heartwarming story about the relationships she established during her time as a student at Elon. “The greatest resource is the people in your life,” McGee said. “These friendships are the ones that will help you achieve your dreams.”

WE Do! was organized by:

Professional Women’s Committee

• Gizmo Citgen (Co-Chair)
• Nina Martinez (Co-Chair)
• Eleanor Reid (Co-Chair)
• Erin Cockman
• Chelsea Dickey
• Awamary Lowe-Khan
• Daisy Magnus-Aryitey
• Heather McDougall
• Betsy Polk
• Jen Riedel
• Cindy Thompson
• Melissa Wallace
• Margaret Winslow

Student Committee

• Hannah Clifford (Co-Chair)
• Gabby Vance (Co-Chair)
• Alyx Bean
• Erin Donnelly
• Maddie Reynolds
• Megan Weintraub
• Alyssa Xouris
• Amy Zheng
• Zaria Zinn

Staff Support

• Alyssa Martina
• Michael Spencer
• Nicole Filippo
• Kim Phipps

Live Tweet Team Hive Digital

• Tripp Hamilton
• Callie Nasholds

The Doherty Center for Creativity, Innovation and Entrepreneurship focuses on experiential education that encourages creative and design thinking, opportunity recognition, and plan formulation and implementation. Throughout the year, the center sponsors entrepreneurship-themed co-curricular activities open to all majors interested in developing their entrepreneurial mindset and skillset.

Anderson was recognized for her commitment to Beta Alpha Psi and the local community. In the nomination, Beta Alpha Psi president, Kristen Bellini, describes Anderson’s strong commitment to the community through service learning as well as her passion for inspiring curiosity in her classroom. “She serves not only as the site coordinator for the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program, dedicating every Saturday to prepping tax returns for the Burlington area, but is also the faculty coordinator for the newly implemented M.S. in Accounting program,” Bellini said.

Anderson joined Elon’s faculty in 2014 and teaches income tax and financial accounting courses. Prior to Elon, she taught at Appalachian State University and the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. She received a Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Arlington and bachelors and masters degrees from the University of North Texas. She is a Certified Public Accountant in North Carolina, as well as a Certified Financial Planner and has published a wealth of articles in journals including the Journal for Accountancy, CPA Journal, Journal of Business Issues and Tax Advisor.

The panel featured Bassam Alqassar, vice president of information systems & technology at Princess House, and Yemi Mateola, director of solution delivery & architecture at ACN NA. The panel was moderated by Matthew Jegier ’18, a finance and management double major.

The panelists first discussed how data-driven sales are defined and operated in their respective companies, with both highlighting the growing importance of machine learning. “We look at how we can build information between devices and networks to best understand behavior,” Mateola said.

Alqassar referenced the ability to recognize patterns and prepare for the future with data-driven sales. “It’s not just looking at the data and reporting what happens,” said Alqassar, “but also recognizing patterns to determine what could happen.” 

In regards to social media analytics, Alqassar referred to the data as a mega microphone. “It’s great to collect information, but it’s a double-edged sword because there is information out there that’s not true,” he said.

When asked how the panelists integrate analytics into company culture, Mateola said, “It’s no secret data drives everything nowadays. Culturally, everyone has to find ways to take data more seriously, because using it produces better results and longevity as the business moves forward.”

Princess House’s culture shift to lean more on data models was not simple. “The biggest lesson we learned at Princess House was that people have to first change their mindset of how they think about business,” said Alqassar.

He identified three key aspects of embracing a data-driven culture: spend time analyzing not only what happened, but also what will happen; ensure data quality because without that, data can be misleading; and know your focus as a business, so you can accomplish what you set out to do and not become lost in the analytical process.

The panelists then identified the greatest trends they predict will be of most importance in the next five years. Mateola proposed deep learning as a complement to machine learning and noted the importance of the Internet of Things. Alqassar agreed with Mateola, pointing to machine learning as a promising trend as well. “There is so much information we cannot comprehend,” said Alqassar, “and with computer power we are able to input information, make a correlation and establish a cause and effect.”

Finally, Jeiger asked the panelists to provide advice to students about the skillsets needed to succeed in the industry. Mateola presented two domains: the technical and managerial. While programming knowledge is essential, he said, a firm understanding of micro- and macroeconomic factors and influences and how these result in business outcomes are of equal importance. Alqassar echoed Mateola, urging that hard and soft skills go hand-in-hand when it comes to succeeding in his role. “You could have the greatest idea,” said Alqassar, “but if you don’t know how to present it you will not be able to move forward and deliver your message effectively.”

Mateola and Alqassar also left students with the idea that every company today is a technology company, so it is key to look at the business first and then see how technology can enable the company to deliver the business goal. “There is a clear line of sight between technology introduction and business outcomes,” Mateola said.

As vice president of information systems & technology at Princess House Inc., Alqassar provides leadership for the continued development and management of an innovative, robust, and secure information technology environment throughout the company. Alqassar brings 30 years of experience in all phases of information technology, including infrastructure services, cybersecurity, cloud, data analytics and application development. His forte is the ability to provide strategic alignments between business and technology.

Prior to his tenure at Princess House, Alqassar was the operating vice president of system design and programming at the Robert Allen Group. Alqassar received a graduate certificate in information assurance and cybersecurity from Florida Institute of Technology, a master’s in computer science from the University of Massachusetts and a bachelor’s degree in computer system management from Johnson and Wales University. 

His research papers have been published in the Intelligent Manufacturing Systems Journal and the Journal of Intelligent Manufacturing.

Mateola is an accomplished technology executive, with demonstrable success driving organizational efficiencies and leading business technology platform transformations in alignment with business strategies and outcomes.

He began his technology career in the UK in the mid-80s as a programmer and quickly progressed over the years through project leadership and development consulting into a senior architect/development position in the U.S. He gained architect-level expertise on Microsoft and Java-based platforms and developed hands-on implementation skills in business, application, data, technology and solution architecture domain areas.

Prior to ACN NA, he held senior leadership roles in major U.S. companies, including J.C. Penney, Southwest Airlines and Walt Disney Parks and Resorts. 

Mateola received a bachelor’s degree in computer science from the University of Lagos.

Since joining ADP, Farabow has achieved five President’s Clubs, while both selling and managing a team of sales professionals. She began her presentation attributing her success to her Elon education and experiences, which have shaped who she is today. While at Elon, Farabow was a Business Fellow and a standout member of the Elon Sales Team.

Emphasizing the importance of establishing one’s brand, Farabow quoted Warren Buffet’s famous line, “It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it.” She advised students to invest in themselves and outwork everyone around them to demonstrate a commitment to success.

She also prompted students to define their non-negotiables when it comes to finding the right company fit. Farabow referenced her non-negotiable value is integrity above all else. “In sales, there’s always an easy way and a right way to do things,” Farabow said, “so do the right thing always and start creating those habits today.”

Building partnerships is also an integral part of sales, Farabow explained. She noted the importance of identifying mutual goals and outcomes when working with clients. “Set expectations in the beginning, so throughout the partnership you know what to go back to,” said Farabow.

Another important aspect Farabow mentioned was communication. “Consistent communication is also key to a good relationship,” she said. “I make sure every single week we are at our banks at the same time, same day, so they know where we stand on the leads they send us.”

After describing a typical day in the life of a sales representative, Farabow shared some of the highlights of working with ADP. Among these highlights were the competitive environment, career advancement opportunities, variety of tasks and travel.

“The beauty of sales is the freedom and flexibility,” Farabow said. “Every day is different.”

Farabow also provided students with interview tips, especially regarding presence in the interview room. “Be confident,” said Farabow. “If you can’t sell yourself in an interview, it’s hard to imagine you selling to a client.”

She also mentioned the importance of showing your personality, bringing notetaking materials, coming prepared with questions, articulating experience with specific examples and finally, closing the sale.

“You’re not getting the job if you can’t tell me why I should hire you,” Farabow said.

The Chandler Family Professional Sales Center was endowed in 2008 by Thomas E. Chandler, owner of Chandler Concrete Company, and his family. The Chandler Family Center’s goals are to provide experiences that are relevant, practical and engaging, offer firms the latest sales knowledge and skills, connect students with local and national employers and conduct research that advances the field of sales.

The Student Professional Development Center partnered with the Chandler Family Professional Sales Center to host an event connecting students with employers eager to share more about their organization and career opportunities for ����app�ٷ���վ�� sales talent.

“The Sales Meet and Greet was a fantastic opportunity to speak with many employers in our field of interest,” said Sam Fisch ’18, a marketing and management double major. “It allowed students to really learn more about companies that we may or may not know about and develop a future network.”

Students also valued the professional development aspects of the event. “The meet and greet was a very beneficial experience, as I had the chance to network with sales professionals, practice my elevator speech and learn about a few of the many different sales paths that I can pursue after graduation,” said Ashley Follenweider ’19, a strategic communications major with a professional sales minor.

The following employers attended the event:

• Amica Mutual Insurance
• Apex
• Barnum Financial Group
• Call Box
• CHG Healthcare
• Dell EMC
• EF Education First
• Gartner
• John Galt Staffing, Inc.
• NetApp
• Omnicell
• Paycom
• Red Ventures
• Relias Learning
• SAS Institute Inc.
• Staples Business Advantage
• Volvo Group

The Chandler Family Professional Sales Center, established in 2008 by an endowment gift from Elon Trustee Thomas E. Chandler, owner of Chandler Concrete Company, and his family, promotes professional selling and sales management, provides high-quality instruction to both students and sales executives, and conducts research that advances the field of sales.

Meg Anderson Farabow ’11, sales executive at ADP, will discuss how to build a partnership network, her career path and what sales at ADP looks like.

Farabow has been with Automatic Data Processing since graduating from ����app�ٷ���վ��. While at ADP, she has achieved five President’s Clubs, while both selling and managing a team of sales professionals. Farabow is most passionate about helping her people win and achieve their personal and professional goals. She believes that giving her people the tools that they needs to succeed, empowering them to be their best and providing a positive supportive environment are the keys to becoming an effective corporate leader.

Farabow says her education and experiences at Elon helped shape who she is today. She attributes her success to her time spent at the Martha and Spencer Love School of Business and the Chandler Family Professional Sales Center. 

Farabow lives with her husband in Charlotte, North Carolina, and their two precious lab pups, Scout and Lilly. 

This presentation is part of the Chandler Family Professional Sales Center Speaker Series.

Tolmie and co-authors Yung-Hwal Park, assistant professor of business administration at Truman State University, and Kevin Lehnert, associate professor of marketing at Grand Valley State University, explored the role ethnocentrism plays in the relationship between a foreign firm’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) and consumers’ purchase intention.

The authors discovered that a socially proactive image of a foreign company increases local consumers’ identification with the firm, which in turn, increases purchase intention. This finding indicates that identification with the foreign firm is an important development in the relationship between CSR and purchase intention.

The paper’s abstract reads:

“Previous literature has explored how ethnocentrism influences consumers’ attitudes and behaviour toward foreign products; however, few studies have explored whether ethnocentrism diminishes the effect of a foreign firm’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) on consumers’ purchase intention and the role of consumer-foreign company identification in the CSR-purchase intention relationship. Motivated by this gap in the research, the current study explores these relationships using survey data from American consumers. The results reveal that consumer ethnocentrism moderates the effect of CSR on purchase intention. The results also demonstrate that consumers’ identification with the foreign company mediates the effect of CSR and purchase intention. Implications for managers of multinational enterprises are discussed, as are avenues for future research.”

Tolmie joined the Love School of Business faculty in 2013 after completing her doctorate in international business and marketing at Saint Louis University. She teaches courses in international business, both at the undergraduate and graduate level, as well as global marketing and business strategy. Her primary research interest is in corporate social responsibility, sustainability and ethics, specifically how these concepts are influenced by culture, consumer perceptions and identification.

addresses managerial issues in the social, political, economic, competitive, and technological environments of business. The journal publishes original and practical contributions.

Singh and co-authors Margaret A. Shaffer, Michael F. Price Chair of International Business and professor of management at the University of Oklahoma-Norman, and T.T. Selvarajan, associate professor of management at California State University-East Bay, studied the influence of contextual social support resources on both organizational and community forms of embeddedness. The authors define embeddedness as a psychological construct that influences individuals to stay.

The research highlights the important role of instrumental and personal resources in the embeddedness of employees within organizations and communities. The authors conclude the social support that individuals receive from their organizations and communities cultivates psychological safety. This in turn helps individuals become embedded within their organizational and community domains.

The article’s summary reads:

“Defining embeddedness as a psychological construct that influences individuals to stay, we draw on conservation of resources theory to develop and test a model of the influence of contextual social support resources on both organizational and community forms of embeddedness. In addition to the direct relationship between support and embeddedness, we also assess the mediating influence of organizational and community psychological safety and the moderating impact of need to belong. Using a multisource sample of employees and coworkers (N = 165), we found support for most of the hypotheses. Social support resources emanating from the organization and the community were positively associated with embeddedness in each domain, and psychological safety mediated these relationships. We also found that need to belong was an important boundary condition in the determination of organizational embeddedness. We discuss the theoretical contributions and practical implications of our findings.”

The aims to publish empirical reports and theoretical reviews of research in the field of organizational behavior, wherever in the world that work is conducted. The journal focuses on research and theory in all topics associated with organizational behavior within and across individual, group and organizational levels of analysis.