The College of Business congratulates the sevent Graduate Business Distinguished Achievement honorees for 2016.
The College of Business congratulates the Graduate Business Distinguished Achievement honorees for 2016. These students receive special recognition from the university during commencement week. In addition, one student is selected as the college’s Graduate Hood Recipient, to be recognized at the Graduate Recognition Ceremony.
The 2016 Graduate Business Distinguished Achievement recipients and descriptions of their work:
Amie Lewis, 2016 Graduate Hood Recipient
MBA with a Concentration in Sustainable Business
Amie Lewis graduated at the conclusion of the Fall 2015 semester, though she remains connected to the College of Business through her participation on a task force to redesign the MBA curriculum. While helping to raise her son, who is now four years old, Amie excelled in completing her Master of Business Administration degree with a concentration in Sustainable Business. During her time as a student, she completed a Research Assistantship under Assistant Professor of Management, Jennifer Tosti-Kharas. Her involvement in this project included content-coding survey responses having to do with employee resilience during times of financial crisis. Additionally, Amie completed an internship with MoolaHoop, under the supervision of MoolaHoop co-founder and former College of Business Dean, Nancy Hayes. This internship allowed her the opportunity to help support the national launch of a crowd-funding platform serving women-owned small businesses. Amie’s background is in green building consulting, LEEDTM certification, and energy commissioning, with 5+ years of international experience working in this area. She co-founded and ran a green building consulting firm with projects in California, New York and Turkey, and delivered green building trainings in London, Turkey, and China. Moving forward, she is interested in working in the cleantech movement, particularly in clean energy. Currently, she serves as a committee member for Women in Cleantech and Sustainability, a nonprofit network of about 1,000 professional women and men working to build the green economy. Amie serves on the organization’s Career Development Committee, helping to organize events, and mentor women who are in the beginning stages of their career.
Anton Li
Master of Arts in Economics
Anton Li hails from Elizabeth, Kentucky, the US born son of Chinese immigrant parents. Like many SF State University students, he is among the first generation of his family members to receive a graduate degree. Anton graduated with high honors from Washington University in St. Louis before pursuing his Master of Arts in Economics from SF State. Anton is an active member of the Economics Student Association, participating in the College of Business Ethics Week debates, holding workshops on the use of LaTeX software, and in increasing economics literacy in the national, online, “Up to US” campaign. In addition to being a graduate assistant for several economics courses, the department employs Anton as a lecturer in introductory economics, based on his outstanding grasp of economics. In the future, he is considering pursuing a doctorate in economics to become a university professor. His research interests in economics are in inequality and income and wealth distribution.
Ryana Barbosa
MBA with an Emphasis in Nonprofit and Social Enterprise Leadership
After earning her Bachelor of Science in Management, Global Business and International Studies from Manhattan College, Ryana Barbosa spent her first few years out of college working in banking operations and sales. After life changing, volunteer experiences working with youth development programs in Boston, Ryana moved out to the Bay Area to start a new chapter in her life working in urban public education. She currently works with a small team in the Community Partnerships Office of the Oakland Unified School District. Ryana is seeking a Master of Business Administration degree with an emphasis in Nonprofit and Social Enterprise Leadership. This summer, Ryana will finish her MBA degree through completion of courses in international business at Lappeenranta University of Technology in Finland. During her time in the Graduate Business Program, she joined the College of Business Fellows Program; she served as the Vice President of Social Media Marketing for Net Impact; and she helped to successfully re-launch the Women in Business (WIB) graduate student organization. Her role as Co-President of WIB involved jointly overseeing the planning and execution of several events aimed at promoting gender equality in the workplace.
Elizabeth Hamm
MBA with a Concentration in Sustainable Business
After graduating Cum Laude and serving as the distinguished Management Department Honoree at the undergraduate level in Spring 2014, Elizabeth Hamm remained one of the College of Business’ top students at the graduate level. In Fall 2015, she completed her Master of Business Administration degree with a concentration in Sustainable Business. She is a member of the graduate chapter of Beta Gamma Sigma and former winner of the PG&E Net Impact Energy Ideation Lab. After a successful 2015 graduate student internship, Elizabeth began working with the Enterprise Change Department at Pacific Gas & Electric. She works closely with the Enterprise Change leadership team to influence and establish strategies that drive integrated organizational change methodologies and practices while simultaneously supporting operational excellence, structure development, and transformational change initiatives. Her current initiative is focused on implementing an enterprise-wide capacity heat-map tool, process and governance structure that will enable effective measurement and decision-making regarding the capacity of employees to adopt change impacts associated with continuous improvements across the company.
Conlan Shiono
Master of Science in Accountancy
Conlan Shiono graduated from SF State in Fall 2015 with a Master of Science degree in Accountancy. As President of the Graduate Students in Accounting Association (GSAA), Conlan was instrumental in helping his classmates find jobs and promoting a supportive and welcoming atmosphere. In addition to being President of the GSAA, Conlan was the recipient of a Chevron Accounting Scholarship and member of CalCPA – an organization focused on providing resources and information to California-based and aspiring Certified Public Accountants. Conlan’s final project analyzed the ongoing convergence of international accounting standards (IFRS) with standards currently used in the United States, also known as generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP). His review discussed the historical use of both IFRS and GAAP and determined potential barriers, both political and economic, for complete convergence between the two. Later this year, Conlan will begin working as an Assurance Associate at the public accounting firm, Burr Pilger Mayer, Inc. He will be working on client engagements in various fields, including but not limited to, technology, financial services, publicly-traded companies, and non-profits.
Karolina Zosicz
Master of Science in Accountancy
Karolina Zosicz completed her undergraduate studies from one of the top business schools in Poland. It was during her studies at Kozminski University in Warsaw that she discovered her passion for business and management. After placing her career on hold for several years to raise her family, she began attending SF State in Fall 2014 and will complete her Master of Business Administration degree at the conclusion of the Spring 2016 semester. The emphasis of Karolina’s studies lies in the area of Decision Sciences. Her nomination for a Graduate Student Distinguished Achievement Award from faculty in the Decision Sciences Department came in part as a result of being a top student in several of her Decision Science classes and her demonstrated critical thinking, communication and inter-personal skills. Previous instructors have described her as a “bright, hard-working, and dedicated student”. She has a genuine passion for learning and complete appreciation of her education. Outside of school and her family, Karolina has been a volunteer with the San Francisco Architectural Heritage since 2013. This non-profit organization operates the Haas-Lilienthal House, the only Victorian house open for the public in San Francisco. Karolina serves as a docent helping to educate and share San Francisco cultural heritage with locals and tourists, as well as promote the ideas of preservation.
Yuan Feng
Master of Business Administration
Yuan Feng, (a.k.a. Frank), a Chinese dreamer, self-actualizer, and former graduate of SF State with an undergraduate degree in Business, will be completing his Master of Business Administration at the conclusion of the Spring 2016 semester. In Fall 2015, Yuan, along with three other students, participated in a national student market study competition sponsored by the research company, Smith Travel Research. Under the supervision of Assistant Professors of Hospitality and Tourism Management, Andrew Walls and Brian Aday, their team traveled to New York to present their work and came in 2nd place in this national competition. During his tenure as a graduate student, Yuan has been actively involved in two student organizations. He currently serves as the Marketing Director for the International Business Graduate Association and as the Vice President, Treasurer, and Marketing Director for the Gay Business Graduate Association. He is currently working as a Social Media Specialist and Marketing Intern for McRoskey Mattress Company and recently completed another internship with the Ramada Plaza Shaoguan City Center Hotel. Yuan enjoys music and periodically participates in singing competitions throughout the Bay Area