Owl Have You Know
158 episodes - English - Latest episode: 14 days ago - ★★★★★ - 22 ratingsOwl Have You Know is Rice Business’ podcast created to share the experiences of alumni, faculty, students and other members of our business community – real stories of belonging, failing, rebounding and, ultimately, succeeding. During meaningful conversations, we dive deep into how each guest has built success through troubles and triumphs before, during and after they set foot in McNair Hall.
The Owl Have You Know Podcast is a production of Rice University Jones Graduate School of Business and is produced by University FM.
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Episodes
Swapping Lab Coats for Lip Gloss feat. Ashley Henry ’22
April 17, 2024 14:05 - 34 minutes - 64 MBFrom an early age, Ashley Henry was interested in beauty. Despite getting her bachelor’s degree in chemistry and working for the CDC in epidemiology, her childhood dreams never faded. After her stint in public health, Ashley went on to work as a hairstylist before getting her MBA and fully committing to beauty and luxury goods. Ashley is now the global product development manager at Fresh (an LVMH brand) in New York City. She accomplished her goal post-graduation from Rice in 202...
I Learned the Most at My Lowest feat. Brian Jackson ’21
April 03, 2024 09:00 - 27 minutes - 51.2 MBBrian Jackson is an expert when it comes to challenging himself in unchartered waters. Brian is the manager of renewables origination at TransAlta Corporation, where he oversees the company's renewable energy power purchase agreement origination activities in the United States. Brian has a well-rounded roster of degrees from Texas institutions, beginning with a BS in political science from Texas A&M University, a JD from South Texas College of Law Houston, and an MBA from Rice Uni...
The Fundamental Principles of Disruption feat. T. Canady Barton ’10
March 20, 2024 09:00 - 30 minutes - 56.5 MBLooking at T. Canady Barton’s resume, she has some of the biggest company names on the list. After a few years doing chemical engineering, oil and gas, T. pivoted to consulting, tech and entrepreneurship for the bulk of her career. In 2014, she moved to the U.K., where she was the vice president of portfolio management, digital strategy and transformation for Garner. From 2006-2018, she was a founding member and CEO of ThinkPower, Inc., a boutique consultancy focused on driving po...
The Pancake Princess Talks Building Authenticity Online feat. Erika Kwee ’16
March 06, 2024 10:00 - 26 minutes - 48.8 MBRice Business is known for producing top industry leaders and 2016 full-time MBA graduate, Erika Kwee is no exception. Erika Kwee is the creator, photographer and writer behind The Pancake Princess, where her colorful, mouthwatering “bake-off” blog compares popular baking recipes side-by-side to help readers and aspiring bakers find recipes that are just right for their tastes and skill levels. Erika spent years building her blog at night while working a tech job by day. As a self...
Navigating the Energy Transition feat. Diana Khandilyan ’20
February 21, 2024 10:00 - 28 minutes - 52.9 MBDiana Khandilyan is an energy industry expert who dedicated more than 20 years to the international oil and gas exploration industry, focusing on emerging technologies, process optimization and corporate sustainability. The energy transition motivated her to pursue an MBA degree from Rice Business to explore the business viability of emerging trends, followed by immersion in clean-energy technologies. The geophysicist and energy transition advocate joins host Maya Pomroy ’22 to d...
The Misconception of Constructive Conflict feat. Professor Daan van Knippenberg
February 07, 2024 10:00 - 54 minutes - 49.8 MBConventional wisdom says that conflict and dissent among an organization’s top leaders can improve strategy and performance. But new research indicates the opposite is true. In fact, dissent at the top often damages working relationships, communication and decision quality. In this episode of Owl Have You Know, Daan van Knippenberg joins host Scott Gale ’19 to talk about his research on conflict in leadership. It turns out there is little evidence to support the idea that outcomes...
Half of the World Population Does Not Have Access to Clean Cooking feat. Dymphna van der Lans ’02
January 24, 2024 10:00 - 32 minutes - 60.3 MBRice grads end up all over the world, and Dymphna van der Lans is no exception. Dymphna has worked and lived in China, India, and Kenya and engaged with island nations in the Caribbean and the Indian and Pacific Oceans to support their transition away from polluting diesel fuels to renewable sources of energy. Dymphna brings more than 25 years of experience managing and leading global development, energy, and climate initiatives in the nonprofit and private sectors. She is current...
Understanding Healthcare Through a Different Lens feat. Keri Sprung ’22
January 10, 2024 10:00 - 36 minutes - 83.6 MBKeri Sprung ’22 is the vice president for education and director of the Women’s Center at the Texas Heart Institute. She provides strategic direction to the physicians and scientists leading innovative research, education, and clinical programs at the Institute in partnership with regional, national, and international collaborators. During her studies at Rice, she served as the class representative, co-chair of the Rice Business Association for Executives, and a Rice Business Board...
I Started My Business Because I Made a Huge Mistake feat. Wendy Fong EMBA ’13
December 20, 2023 10:00 - 31 minutes - 72.9 MBMany of us have probably had that moment – where you quit one job because you found your “dream” job. But that second place wasn’t everything you thought it would be. So what comes after that? Wendy Fong decided to start her own company to fulfill her search, and to help others with theirs. Wendy is a business coach and talent optimizer, with a passion for building dream teams and developing their leaders. She is the founder and principal of Chief Gigs, which offers leadership and ...
A Commitment to Community Brought Our Provost to Rice feat. Amy Dittmar
December 06, 2023 10:00 - 42 minutes - 38.5 MBFrom the president to the provost, a lot of people are working behind the scenes to make sure our university runs smoothly. As the Howard R. Hughes Provost of Rice University, Amy Dittmar oversees Rice’s academic enterprise, including direct reporting relationships for the deans of eight schools, the dean of undergraduates, the dean of graduate and postdoctoral studies and other key leaders. With a focus on expanding opportunities for a growing student body and increasing faculty,...
The Intersection of Art and Business feat. Alison Weaver and Dean Peter Rodriguez
November 22, 2023 10:00 - 39 minutes - 35.7 MBMcNair Hall is home to an impressive collection of public art. With 19 installations that have been an intentional element of the building renovations since 2018, Rice is proud of the diverse permanent collection, which represents artists of a number of different ages, countries, genders and backgrounds. The new art helps communicate our philosophy that a good piece of art forces you to think, engage and have an opinion. So today, we sit down with Alison Weaver and Dean Peter Rodr...
You Get Out What You Put In feat. Jan Goetgeluk ‘10 and Jesús Patiño ‘10
November 08, 2023 10:00 - 39 minutes - 36.2 MBThe Rice Energy Finance Summit (REFS) is an annual student-led conference promoting forward-looking discussions on the most relevant energy finance, investment and strategy topics affecting the global energy industry. And founders Jan Goetgeluk and Jesús Patiño say it's just another example of what you can do with the support and resources found within the Rice community & network. Jan is originally from Belgium, where he earned a bachelor’s and master’s in mechanical engineering ...
Wealth Management Is All About Relationships feat. Crystal Maxwell '03
October 25, 2023 09:00 - 24 minutes - 44.3 MBCrystal Maxwell was born in Texas but raised in Saudi Arabia as an "oil brat." Both her parents worked for Aramco. Exploring different cultures developed her global perspective that helps shape her investment recommendations even today. She moved back to the U.S. for college and earned her bachelor’s degree in hotel restaurant management from the University of Houston but pivoted to wealth management with the help of an MBA from Rice. Crystal sits down with host Scott Gale ’19, a...
The Sky Is Not the Limit feat. Rawand Rasheed
October 11, 2023 09:00 - 27 minutes - 63.3 MBRawand grew up watching his father's passion for engineering. Despite avoiding the field at first, Rawand developed a similar passion for the craft. Rawand is a Ph.D. candidate at the Rice University George R. Brown School of Engineering and has more than five years of experience at NASA, first as a graduate research fellow, then as a life support systems engineer. He shares his journey and the technology he helped create that puts fires out in space and will reduce air conditionin...
How Two Years at Rice Alliance Became 22 feat. Brad Burke
September 27, 2023 09:00 - 29 minutes - 41.2 MBFor our final episode of season 3, we wanted to bring you one last conversation from this year’s Alumni Reunion. Brad Burke is the managing director of Rice Alliance, Rice Business’ flagship entrepreneurship initiative launched in 2000. Brad has led Rice Alliance since 2001, helping the Rice Business Plan Competition become the world’s largest and richest student startup competition. Since Rice Alliance’s inception, more than 2,950 tech startups have participated in its programs. ...
Cooperation in the U.S. - Mexico Border Region feat. Daniel Gutierrez ‘14
September 13, 2023 09:00 - 24 minutes - 22.9 MBBorn and raised in Mexico, Daniel Gutierrez knew from an early age he wanted to build a career in economics. In 2009, Daniel and his wife moved to San Antonio to join the North American Development Bank as a senior analysis and structuring specialist. North American Development Bank is a binational financial institution, established by the governments of the U.S. and Mexico, that supports the development of infrastructure in the areas of potable water, wastewater treatment and sol...
Clean Tech, Climate Change, and the Future of Energy feat. Phoebe Wang ’13
August 30, 2023 09:00 - 14 minutes - 19.4 MBClimate change is on the news and in our faces every day, from wildfires to record-breaking heat waves. And today, we are talking to a Rice grad who’s working to combat these developments, through clean energy, carbon management and venture capital investments. Phoebe Wang is a cleantech venture capitalist who serves as an investment partner at the Amazon Climate Pledge Fund. Previously, she was an investment director at Shell Ventures where she led investments in early- and late-...
Clean Tech, Climate Change, and the Future of Energy feat. Phoebe Wang FTMBA ’13
August 30, 2023 09:00 - 14 minutes - 19.4 MBClimate change is on the news and in our faces every day, from wildfires to record-breaking heat waves. And today, we are talking to a Rice grad who’s working to combat these developments, through clean energy, carbon management and venture capital investments. Phoebe Wang is a cleantech venture capitalist who serves as an investment partner at the Amazon Climate Pledge Fund. Previously, she was an investment director at Shell Ventures where she led investments in early- and late-...
Everything Is a Business, Including Journalism feat. Kalyn Norwood '22
August 16, 2023 09:00 - 29 minutes - 27.4 MBIt’s not everyday you talk to a reporter with an MBA. Kalyn Norwood is Hearst Television’s White House Correspondent. She joined the company’s Washington Bureau in July 2022, right after earning her MBA at Rice Business. An Emmy award-winning journalist, Kalyn landed in Washington D.C. after a stint in Albuquerque, where she worked as an anchor/reporter at KOAT, covering the state of New Mexico. She helped lead the station’s election coverage, as well as President Biden’s visit to ...
I See The Benefits of my MBA in Everything I Do feat. Tracy and John Dennis, FTMBA ’00 and ’93
August 02, 2023 09:00 - 16 minutes - 15.4 MBWe’re so excited to bring you another conversation from this year’s alumni reunion! Tracy Dennis `00 and John Dennis `93 met the first week of freshman year as undergrads at Harvard and have been together ever since, even both eventually coming to Rice Business for their MBAs! Tracy is a lecturer of management at Rice Business, teaching Principles of Survey Design. She started two research and insight agencies and is currently a lead UX researcher for Globalization Partners. Joh...
Everybody’s Got To Eat feat. Turner Hoff ‘13
July 19, 2023 09:00 - 28 minutes - 25.9 MBTurner Hoff grew up in a family of real estate entrepreneurs. When he was young, his goal was to work in construction like his father. After undergrad, he spent two years working with his father, redeveloping and flipping single-family homes in Houston, and joined Rice Business’ Full-Time MBA program in 2011, seeking a deeper understanding of real estate finance and professional experience in the field. Shortly after leaving Rice and moving to D.C., Turner met Ariane Valle – his g...
His Passion for ALS Research Starts at Home feat. Daniel Barvin '18
July 05, 2023 09:00 - 30 minutes - 27.9 MBDuring this year's alumni reunion Partio, we caught up with some alums right on campus. One of those alumni was Daniel Barvin ‘18. Daniel has held many different roles, in both financial advising and oil and gas sectors, and eventually earned an MBA from Rice Business in 2018. But in December of that same year that he tested positive for the C9orf72 gene expansion, which means may develop ALS later in life. Daniel’s father, aunt, and uncle all have ALS. In 2020, he began voluntee...
Giving Entrepreneurs the Tools to Change the World feat. Hesam Panahi, Taylor Anne Adams ‘23, and Delaney Berman ‘22
June 21, 2023 09:41 - 47 minutes - 43.5 MBIn another installment of Owl Have You Know’s Flight Path Series, where guests share their career journeys and Rice insights, we speak to three innovators connected to the Liu Idea Lab for Innovation and Entrepreneurship. The Liu Idea Lab is a hub for entrepreneurship and innovation at Rice University. Its director of strategic innovations is Hesam Panahi, who has a Ph.D. in management information systems but found a passion for startups and making entrepreneurship more accessible...
Failing Forward feat. Ben Clemenceau ‘21
June 07, 2023 09:00 - 42 minutes - 38.8 MBIn another installment of our live Owl Have You Know recording series, we invited Ben Clemenceau ‘21 back to McNair Hall to discuss his career in market research, and how earning his MBA at Rice catapulted his pivot into consulting. In December of 2022, Ben received an accelerated promotion from senior strategy consultant to business strategy manager at Accenture. When he reflects on his time at Rice, the standout classes for him were Professor Haiyang Li’s strategy courses. Thos...
When War Broke Out, This Alum Flew Straight to Ukraine feat. Radu Filip ‘08
May 24, 2023 09:00 - 40 minutes - 36.7 MBMany of us watch developments in the war in Ukraine on TV, and we get updates on Twitter. But for Radu Filip, who grew up behind the iron curtain in Romania, the conflict resonates deeper. So much so that he boarded a plane in late December 2022 to head into the war zone and help with relief efforts near Kharkiv with the nonprofit Elevate Ukraine. Radu immigrated to the U.S. in 2005, and soon after attended Rice Business for his MBA, graduating in 2008. During his time at Rice, he ...
A Former Fourth-Grade Teacher Is Working To Ease Your Migraines feat. Jillian Levovitz Fink ‘17
May 10, 2023 09:00 - 31 minutes - 29.1 MBWhen she joined Rice Business in 2017, Jillian Fink was in the process of founding OcciGuide, the first device used in the emergency care setting to treat migraines, a neurological condition that disproportionately impacts women. In her role as CEO, Jillian navigated the complexities of the healthcare system to get her medical device approved by the FDA, including designing clinical trials using real-world data, navigating U.S. healthcare treatment paradigms, and developing creati...
The Tools For Strong Leadership Are Right In Front of You. feat. Ruth Oh Reitmeier and Brent Smith
April 26, 2023 09:00 - 55 minutes - 102 MBWe’re back with another live edition of Owl Have You Know! And this time, we welcomed two leadership experts to the show, Ruth Reitmeier, director of coaching at Rice Business, and Brent Smith, the senior associate dean for executive education and associate professor of management and psychology at Rice Business. Certain topics, like cryptocurrency, AI, political polarization, and Jennifer Coolidge's comeback, speak to the cultural zeitgeist. They characterize moments in time. But ...
Human Moments Are Not Always Pretty feat. Dan Purvis ‘05
April 12, 2023 09:00 - 44 minutes - 40.4 MBDan Purvis says his passion for working for himself started in junior high when he began selling pieces of gum to classmates. Six companies later, it is safe to say Dan is a certified serial entrepreneur. Dan graduated with honors in electrical engineering and an undergraduate fellowship from Texas A&M and was a Jones Scholar at Rice Business, where he earned an EMBA in 2005. His career began at National Instruments in the upper Midwest. After returning to his hometown Houston, he...
Taking DEI Into the Future feat. Amanda Stewart ‘08
March 29, 2023 09:00 - 35 minutes - 32.2 MBThese days, you don't often find someone who's been with their job for maybe 5 or 10 years. Well, Amanda Stewart has been at Constellation for 15 years now and is still committed to helping the company grow. Amanda earned a BBA from UT Austin in 2002, with a concentration in marketing, and an MBA from Rice Business in 2008. She is the vice president of retail operations for Constellation, the nation’s largest producer of carbon-free energy and a leading competitive retail supplier ...
Encore Episode of The Index - Unmarketing: A Guide To Not Buying Anything
March 22, 2023 10:54 - 28 minutes - 26.1 MBEvery March, South By Southwest brings together innovators, changemakers, and leaders from all over the world to Texas. To celebrate, this month we are revisiting episodes from The Index, a podcast collaboration between Texas Monthly and Rice Business at the 2019 South by Southwest festival, where the two entities co-hosted a pop-up experience in an Austin storefront. We sat down with Professor Utpal Dholakia in episode 5 of our series. He is a marketing expert who encourages peop...
The Value of a Kind and Collaborative Community feat. Joanna Nathan ‘19
March 15, 2023 09:00 - 33 minutes - 30.7 MBJoanna Nathan has been pretty busy since earning her MBA 2019. A biomedical engineer by trade, visionary, and serial entrepreneur, Joanna most recently became the CEO of Prana Thoracic, a Houston-based medical device startup dedicated to developing solutions for the detection and intervention of early-stage lung cancer. She was formerly the manager of new ventures at the Johnson & Johnson Center for Device Innovation at Texas Medical Center (CDI @ TMC). And before joining J&J, Joa...
Encore Episode of The Index - The Strangely Immovable Economics Of Live Performance
March 10, 2023 16:00 - 24 minutes - 22.5 MBEvery March, South By Southwest brings together innovators, changemakers, and leaders from all over the world to Texas. To celebrate, this month we are revisiting episodes from The Index, a podcast collaboration between Texas Monthly and Rice Business at the 2019 South by Southwest festival, where the two entities co-hosted a pop-up experience in an Austin storefront. In the first episode of this series, we’ll hear a conversation with Dean Peter Rodriguez on his research into what...
Your Biggest Competitive Advantage Is Your Authentic Self feat. Takeya Green ‘22
March 01, 2023 10:00 - 39 minutes - 36.2 MBFrom the moment Takeya Green stepped off the plane to visit Rice, she knew Houston was the city for her. The Chicago native earned a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. After getting her undergraduate degree in 2014, she joined Dow, in Freeport, TX, as a lead production engineer. She then joined Olin as a site logistics engineer in 2017, where she led an operations team of 40+ people. After graduating in 2022, Takeya joined C...
A Scholar of Scandal feat. Professor Anastasiya Zavyalova
February 15, 2023 10:00 - 46 minutes - 42.2 MBThey say all you have in business is your reputation. But in today's rapidly evolving world with social media lending everyone a microphone, who truly controls it? On Monday, October 24th, 2022, we hosted our first live podcast taping at Rice Business with host Maya Pomroy ‘22, and Rice Business Associate Professor of Strategic Management, Anastasiya Zavyalova. Anastasiya is an associate professor of strategic management at Rice Business and an International Research Fellow at th...
Banking in the Bay Area feat. Danielle Conkling ‘09
February 01, 2023 10:00 - 43 minutes - 39.7 MBWhile most high school graduates spend the summer hanging out with friends or working at local amusement parks, Danielle Conkling was interning in downtown San Francisco with the PR and events team at Robertson Stephens. And she’s been working in the banking industry ever since. Danielle is the director of corporate social responsibility and ESG (environmental, social, and governance) and serves as the ESG program lead for Silicon Valley Bank (SVB). Her unique role at SVB combines ...
Taking Classes in 12 Different Cities feat. Mike Narvaez ‘20
January 18, 2023 10:00 - 35 minutes - 33 MBMike Narvaez describes himself as a “husband, father, manager, student and volunteer trying to make more right decisions than wrong.” Right out of undergrad, Mike was a system safety engineer at the GHG Corporation, identifying hazards affecting the International Space Station (ISS) and astronauts by providing real-time support at Mission Control. He spent time as a manager of safety and risk at Sysco in 1999 after that, and eventually joined BP where he is currently a workplace s...
Generations of Rice Grads feat. Chuck Yates ‘94
January 04, 2023 10:00 - 42 minutes - 38.6 MBFrom grandparents to parents, brothers and uncles, it seems like almost everyone in the Yates family has attended Rice, some even multiple times! That includes our guest today Chuck Yates, who earned a B.A. in political science from Rice in 1991, graduating magna cum laude, and later returned to earn his MBA from Rice in 1994. Chuck Yates is an investor and former managing partner at Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors, as well as the host of the Chuck Yates Needs a Job podcast. He i...
What Is My Purpose Here? feat. Mike Dey ‘20
December 14, 2022 10:00 - 35 minutes - 32.8 MBGrowing up, Mike Dey had a passion for planes. So it was only fitting that when he got older, he would pursue a career doing what he was good at (mechanics) in the field he loved (aerospace engineering). Mike is a Houston native and Rice Business Class of 2020 online MBA graduate. He received a BS in aerospace engineering from the University of Colorado Boulder and began his career as an engineer for flight crew operations integration at Boeing in 1996. Mike initially wanted to g...
Hard Work and Flexibility Lead To Success feat. Natalie Smith ‘17
November 30, 2022 10:00 - 29 minutes - 26.7 MBWhen Natalie Smith first came to Rice as a full-time MBA student, she was under the impression that she would end up being an investment banker. But through her time in the program, and learning from different perspectives, she found a new calling in mergers & acquisitions. After graduating in 2017, Natalie joined EY as a senior consultant for transaction advisory services, progressing to director, before becoming the senior director of mergers and acquisitions strategy and operat...
Transforming Tragedy Into Something Remarkable feat. Jackie Pham ‘21
November 16, 2022 10:00 - 34 minutes - 31.6 MBIt was Jackie’s kids who finally got her to pursue her MBA. She realized she was at a loss for how to explain what she did for a living to her kids, when their friends could easily describe how their parents were teachers, or worked at Target. It was time for her to pursue something different in her career. Jackie earned her MBA from Rice Business, graduating in 2021. But tragically, during her time in the program, she lost her three children and mother in a house fire during the H...
Pushing Boundaries feat. Jeffrey Moseley ‘21
November 02, 2022 09:00 - 41 minutes - 38.2 MBDuring the pandemic, the hybrid MBA model wasn’t considered hybrid anymore, it became the normal way to work and learn. While Jeffrey Moseley ‘21 was in Rice Business’ online MBA program, he was also living in Santiago, Chile, balancing a full-time job, two kids with cabin fever and coursework. Jeff took on his current role of strategy and operations manager for the U.S. Department of Defense in Santiago, Chile in March of 2020. Jeffrey obtained his MBA from Rice Business in 202...
A Self-Proclaimed Sustainability Nerd feat. Lauren Miller ‘14
October 19, 2022 09:00 - 32 minutes - 30.2 MBLauren Miller started her first business as a student at Rice, and she hasn't slown down since! While getting her MBA at Rice Business, Lauren started and led a venture-funded company named A-76 Technologies (later relaunched as Aidant Brands) with a teammate (Tim Aramil) from a Technology Entrepreneurship course. After developing a business and commercialization plan for A-76, the company came in second at the Rice Business Plan Competition in 2014 and traveled to top competitions ...
At the Forefront of Female Health feat. Caroline Goodner ’92
October 05, 2022 09:00 - 37 minutes - 34 MBCaroline Goodner is truly the intersection of her parents. Growing up, her father was a geneticist and her mother was an entrepreneur. Now, Caroline is a serial entrepreneur who has founded and led multiple companies in the healthcare space. She is the co-founder and CEO of OrganiCare, a startup company that provides highly effective, all-natural, over-the-counter healthcare products to consumers, including a range of first aid, oral care and feminine care products. Before found...
Creating Resources for Resiliency feat. Pierre Aristide ‘22
September 21, 2022 14:00 - 30 minutes - 27.8 MBStarting an MBA program in the middle of a global pandemic is difficult already. But when Pierre Aristide was diagnosed with cancer during his program, the flexibility and remote options offered to him made it possible to graduate on time with the rest of his cohort and beat the disease. In fact, Pierre says if it weren't for his cohort, he may have had a totally different health outcome. Pierre earned his Executive MBA from Rice Business in 2022, concentrating in entrepreneurship...
Seizing the Opportunity feat. Brandy Hays Morrison ‘05
September 07, 2022 09:00 - 29 minutes - 26.8 MBGrowing up in New York City, Brandy Hays Morrison (‘05) had never heard of Rice Business School. But in the mid 90s, when there was a push for more women and minorities to enter the field of engineering, someone told Brandy she should check it out, and it was off to Houston she went. In her words, Brandy says she “took a leap of faith, and it all worked out.” Brandy is actually a two-time Owl, earning her undergraduate degree from Rice in 2000, double majoring in computer engineeri...
Doing Business in 70+ Countries feat. Robert Lesnick ‘00
August 24, 2022 09:00 - 30 minutes - 28.4 MBRobert Lesnick got his MBA from Rice Business in 2000, where he was part of the school’s first Executive MBA cohort and was honored as a Jones Scholar. At this point in time, the program was mostly from the energy sector but from roles all over the industry. Robert is now an executive advisor to the highest levels of governments and businesses seeking to develop policy and projects in the energy sector. His resume also includes a successful 30-year career in the private sector befo...
Whatever You’re Doing, Do It For The Right Reasons feat. Ruy Lozano '20
August 10, 2022 09:00 - 33 minutes - 30.9 MBA Houston native, Ruy Lozano worked for 25 years in the Houston Fire Department, the third-largest municipal fire department in the country, where he was an assistant fire chief and managed a multi-million dollar budget for transportation, logistics, procurement and infrastructure. After speaking with the Houston Fire Department’s fire chief and realizing the chief’s progressive and innovative mindset was a result of his MBA journey, Ruy decided to pursue an MBA himself. In March o...
The Erin Brockovich of Food feat. Robyn O’Brien ‘98
July 27, 2022 19:00 - 29 minutes - 26.7 MBRobyn O’Brien never called herself a foodie. That’s until her son had an allergic reaction one morning, and it sent her down a rabbit hole of uncovering what goes into the food we get off the shelves. With a 20-year career in food and finance, Robyn has been called “The Erin Brockovich of Food” by the New York Times and Bloomberg. She is recognized as one of the most visionary voices in the food industry. She’s the co-founder and managing director of rePlant Capital, a financial ...
A Dope Platform for Everyday Women feat. Raisha Smith ‘22
July 13, 2022 09:00 - 29 minutes - 27 MBAt the time of this interview, Raisha Smith was set to graduate from the full-time MBA program in less than a month and was celebrating four years as founder and chief visionary of EveryDopeGirl, a platform that highlights the achievements of everyday women. She’s passionate about helping women of color reach their full potential professionally. And she’s on the brink of seeing her hard work pay off. Raisha joins host David Droogleever to talk about life in the corporate space, h...
Family, Commitment and Fosters feat. Casey Sherrod ‘21
June 29, 2022 09:00 - 30 minutes - 27.8 MBA Texas native, Casey Sherrod joined the Army ROTC at the University of Houston, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in human development and family studies. A year after graduating, she deployed to Afghanistan as a platoon leader, later becoming an executive officer, then a commander of the largest U.S. Army recruiting company on the West Coast. But she felt a strong desire to return to Houston and decided to pursue her MBA at Rice Business while on active duty. During the pandem...