Claire Hall

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Finance student Vibeke Iyer '27 asks a question during the Finance Society's trip to Wall Street last week.

Student-Run Finance Society’s NYC Conference Delivers Exceptional Returns

“Events like these highlight what makes UConn alumni stand out in the finance world—a strong sense of community, intellectual curiosity, and a genuine willingness to support the next generation’’—Alumnus Chris Walker ’19 of Morgan Stanley

March 11, 2026 | Claire Hall

Two teams of UConn MBA candidates are among an elite group of students advancing in the highly competitive National Ethics Case Competition. The teams—that tackled ethics in the pharmaceutical industry and in artificial intelligence—are among the 10 percent of entrants to move to Round 2 in the competition. Only 37 teams in total were selected from the more than 300 who entered. “This project was very ambitious for them. They all have important jobs with big responsibilities in defense, hospital tech, administration and more,’’ said business law professor Stephen Hudspeth, who encouraged his graduate students to participate. “The UConn School of Business is heavily committed to ethics. As a school we care about it enormously. We think our students should be well prepared to address a competition like this,’’ he said. In Round One, the teams had to create a trade association focused on ethical principles, define its scope and objectives, and compare how their guidance would relate to a profit-maximization strategy. Subhead: Turning Ethical Ideas Into Executive Decision-Making in Pharmaceuticals “This experience has reinforced for me that the hardest ethical decisions are rarely ‘right vs. wrong.’ They are tradeoffs between competing duties that all matter, made under real constraints like patient access, evidence integrity, and long-term viability,’’ said Kwenyerechi “Promise’’ Onuorah. Her teammates included Ryan Emerson, Josie-Ryan-Small and Willian Tellini. “What challenged me most was translating ethical ideals into an executive-level decision process that a board could actually use,’’ she said. “Building the four-stage approval funnel and the viability gate in the Round One submission forced me to be explicit about who benefits, who bears the costs, and what safeguards and accountability are needed so an initiative is both ethically defensible and sustainable over time.’’ The team’s submission presented an ethical decision framework for U.S. pharmaceutical companies to evaluate ethical initiatives that may reduce short-term profits while protecting long-term legitimacy and innovation capacity, she said. Using a four-stage approval funnel, the guide addresses five recurring industry dilemmas and issues clear recommendations, including requiring full clinical transparency and results reporting, encouraging tiered pricing and green manufacturing, and limiting neglected disease R&D and emergency IP sharing to structured safeguards or compensation. The competition judges deemed the paper among the Top Four and it will be published in a national journey after the competition ends. The other three top teams hailed from Cornell, Notre Dame and Utah. The four papers were selected based on “the depth of reasoning, clarity, and a strong engagement with complex ethical questions.’’ Subhead: Another Team Addressed Ethics of Artificial Intelligence Another UConn team also impressed the judges and is moving on to the next level of competition. “Our group selected AI as our industry because it is becoming the defining technology of our generation,’’ said Navdeep Singh. “The gap between the speed of AI development and lack of regulatory guardrails is where the consequential decisions, or lack thereof, are being made right now. We wanted to be in that space and try to create a framework that could be applied to real-world companies.’’ Singh’s teammates included Zayne Olsen, Brandon Kramp and Vanna Patel. “In Round One, our team created an Industry Guide to Ethical Business Practice. We focused on two of the industry's pressing concerns: the environmental impact of AI data centers, which are projected to cost the U.S. more than $20 billion annually, and the displacement of workers whose jobs are being automated away faster than retraining programs can keep up,’’ Singh said. Like their peers on the pharmaceuticals team, they discovered that ethical decision-making in business is rarely a straightforward and simple choice between right and wrong. “The framework we created gave AI companies a structured, principled way to evaluate social initiatives and business decisions using the values of integrity, trust, accountability, transparency, fairness, respect, rule of law, and viability,’’ he said. Subhead: Top Team Will Be Awarded $120,000 The National Ethics Case Competition is led by Texas A&M University in partnership with the Daniels Fund. Bill Daniels was a pioneer of cable TV and a visionary who believed in the power and responsibility of individuals to improve the world. The competition, open to undergraduate and graduate students, awards substantial prizes, including a first-place award of $120,000 divided between the team, the university, and the advisor. In Round 2, the teams are required to create a hypothetical situation for a company and its senior leadership that raises serious ethical concerns with intense ambiguity as to its resolution, building on their original paper. The two UConn teams have already submitted their proposal for Round 2 and are awaiting the results. If they move forward, they will compete in Rounds 3 and 4 in-person in Washington D.C. This is only the second time the competition was open to teams nationwide. A third team, composed of Jessica Ulbrich, Danielle Churchill, Lylliam Sekkat and Thomas Thorndike, addressed ethics in the food and beverage industry. Although they didn’t move on to the next round, their presentation was very strong, said Hudspeth, who described all 12 student participants as exceptional. “They’re really sophisticated and able students,’’ he said. “I loved the cohesiveness of the teams. They all worked exceptionally well together. The students across the MBA program are bright, wonderful, and such a pleasure to teach. You’ll never have a better group of students. They are the cream of the crop!’’

UConn MBA Students Among the Elite in National Ethics Case Competition

‘They Are the Cream of the Crop!’

March 6, 2026 | Claire Hall

A team of finance students from the Stamford campus took first place in the CFA Research Challenge last week. Pictured from left are: Dylan Haig, Philip Ochocinski, Hunter Baillargeon, Richard Opper, and Rushit Chauhan, all members of the Class of 2026.

Stamford Finance Students Wow Judges, Take Home Trophy in Regional CFA Competition

The first round of competition featured 24 college teams from the Stamford-Hartford-Providence region.

March 4, 2026 | Claire Hall

Flagbearers parade during the closing ceremony of the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games at the Verona Arena.

Olympic Internship Yielded Career Insight, New Friendships, Opportunities to Boast about UConn

'When the professors saw my passion, they were excited for me to be able to do this'

March 3, 2026 | Claire Hall

Ashley Silva '25 celebrated the completion of her master's degree in Human Resource Management last spring with her husband, Alex Silva, and 2-year-old son, Aiden. Today she is a vice president at Oak Hill Advisors, a prominent investment firm in New York City.

Alumna Ashley Silva ’25 MS Becomes VP at Prominent Investment Firm

“You won’t be successful without understanding what’s important to the business,’’ said Silva, who earned her master’s degree in Human Resource Management at UConn last May. “It is critical to understand the bigger picture, beyond your own role and that of your department.’’

March 2, 2026 | Claire Hall

A young woman poses for a portrait photo with two large buildings in the background.

UConn Business Student is Intern at 2026 Winter Olympics

'That’s the best thing about sports, it unites people'

February 10, 2026 | Claire Hall

Emeka Okafor stands on a ladder and cuts down a basketball net.

Five Outstanding Alumni to Be Inducted into UConn Business Hall of Fame

Basketball legend Emeka Okafor will be part of another acclaimed 'starting five' at the April 24 ceremony

February 4, 2026 | Claire Hall

Alumni
A man points to an oyster in his left hand while he stands at the counter of a food truck.

Innovation Quest Turns Ambitious UConn Students into Entrepreneurs

Kickoff workshops begin Feb. 4; no previous experience required

February 2, 2026 | Claire Hall

Alumni Entrepreneurship
OPIM Professor Jing Peng, in his office in Storrs, CT (Nathan Oldham / UConn School of Business)

For Second Consecutive Year, UConn OPIM Professor Wins Prestigious Early Career Award

“As a researcher I want to explore ideas that satisfy my curiosity, push the boundaries of my field forward, and make a difference in my discipline.’’

January 23, 2026 | Claire Hall

A man in a suit standing before a red background addresses a large audience.

School of Business Professor Robert Bird Has Transformational Fulbright Scholar Experience in Finland

Finland represents a unique way of life that Americans can learn and benefit from

January 21, 2026 | Claire Hall