Frequently Asked Questions and Answers

1. Why are big data and business analytics so frequently mentioned together?
2. What kind of job opportunities exists for students with business analytics skills?
3. Why is the MSBA at Bentley the right program for someone interested in the field?
4. Who should consider getting a degree in business analytics?
5. What math/statistics courses are pre-requisites for MSBA program applicants?
6. What are the course requirements for the MSBA program?
7. Can I choose elective classes from different clusters/tracks?
8. If I got admitted in to the MSBA program as a full time student, can I change my status to a part-time later, if I find a full-time job?
9. Is the MSBA program a STEM program?
10. What software will students learn to use in this program?
11. What support do students get at Bentley for learning SAS?
12. Does Bentley only accept GMAT? Can I use my GRE score? Is there any preference between GMAT and GRE?
13. Is there any opportunity for students to participate research projects with professors?
14. How long does this program take for a full time student?
15. Does this program connect with outside companies?

1. Why are big data and business analytics so frequently mentioned together?
Huge amounts of data are generated every day, and keep accumulating. However, only a small portion of these data sets has have been analyzed and utilized. The vast opportunities and challenges in this area continue to attract considerable public attention.

2. What kind of job opportunities exists for students with business analytics skills?
In the business world, there is a high demand for business analysts or data analysts in many business areas. Employers concur that a good knowledge of general business areas coupled with strong exposure to analytic techniques and database management tools are key to success in rewarding analytics careers. Typical employers include financial institutions such as Bank of America and Fidelity Investments, health-care organizations such as Partners Healthcare, database marketing and market research firms such as Digitas, Epsilon, Calexus and Predilytics, analytics groups in leading corporations such as Deloitte, consulting firms such as the Boston Consulting Group, D50 Media, Chadwick, Martin and Bailey, retailers such as Staples, major supermarkets chains, and more. 

3. Why is the MSBA at Bentley the right program for someone interested in the field?
With over 20 years' experience in business analytics education, Bentley now offers the MS in Business Analytics (MSBA).  Our curriculum allows students to gain an in-depth understanding of state-of-the-art data analytics techniques that are in demand in business practice and to become proficient at the use of leading statistical packages and database management tools. Students will be prepared to be well-rounded business professionals with a specialty in business analytics, and have learning opportunities that reinforce theories, practices and principles through internships and projects.

4. Who should consider getting a degree in business analytics?
The MSBA program welcomes the applicants who wish to develop and use analytics expertise in many business fields, as well as in public policy (such as health care) and social science disciplines (such as economics).
Potential students may be entry-level candidates who have recently completed a four-year undergraduate degree with some quantitative analysis background or computer science experience and who wish to delve more deeply in their field of study by learning advanced analytical techniques and the creative mindset necessary to apply these techniques in complex situations. Other candidates may have been in the workforce for several years following completion of an undergraduate degree and wish to enhance their professional success by applying advanced analytics techniques and a creative mindset to complex problems typical in their work environment.

5. What math/statistics courses are pre-requisites for MSBA program applicants?
We require all MSBA students to have completed statistics level-1 in the past 5 years. However, students who have never taken statistics before, or took it a long time ago and need a refresher, can take this foundations course at Bentley.

6. What are the course requirements for the MSBA program?
The program is a 10-course program, 6 core courses and 4 elective courses. Among the core courses, there are 5 applied quantitative analysis courses and 1 database management course. Students can choose 4 elective courses from different tracks: Data Science, Economics, Finance, Management, and Marketing.

7. Can I choose elective classes from different clusters/tracks?
Yes. For example, one can choose two classes from the Data Science cluster, one class from Finance, and one from Marketing. In our program, students choose courses based on their own background and interests.

8. If I got admitted in to the MSBA program as a full time student, can I change my status to a part-time later, if I find a full-time job?
Yes. Full time students can change their status to part time, and vice versa, except international students with an F1 visa. Due to the visa requirement, international students have to be full-time students to keep their F1 visa status.

9. Is the MSBA program a STEM program?
Yes, therefore international students can have a longer OPT period.

10. What software will students learn to use in this program?
In our core courses, students will learn how to use professional packages like SAS, SPSS, R, JMP to do data analysis, and SQL to manage/process information in a database. In the Data Science cluster, more cutting-edge data management software tools will be introduced through our elective classes.

11. What support do students get at Bentley for learning SAS?
Bentley has a site license for SAS, so SAS is free for current Bentley students. We have many SAS and R learning materials in our library, including SAS certificate exam material. For more details, please check the SAS learning guide and SAS installation guide on our website.  

12.  Does Bentley only accept GMAT? Can I use my GRE score? Is there any preference between GMAT and GRE?
We accept both GMAT and GRE scores, and there is no preference. If you took the GRE, we will compute the equivalent GMAT score for the review.

13. Is there any opportunity for students to participate research projects with professors?
Yes. We have a very active analytics research group here. Students can connect to the professors in person.

14. How long does this program take for a full time student?
In general, this program will take 1.5 to 2 years for full time students.

15.  Does this program connect with outside companies?
Yes. We have corporate partners and a corporate advisory board. With their support and feedback, we continuously improve our program. We also host the Bentley Virtual Analytics Symposium, sponsored by Bentley University, INFORMS, and the American Statistics Association’s Boston Chapter. In this symposium, we regularly invite analysts from corporations to talk about their analytics practice.

We all know the rush of a conversation that leads you to make unexpected connections between different subjects — a fluidity of mind all too rare but always exciting.

Four first-of-their-kind “fusion” courses at Bentley University aim to make that synergy happen a lot. And according to early participants: mission accomplished.

“Students have been very engaged and responded very well to the course,” says Jeff Gulati, a political science professor who joined Economics Department colleague Bryan Snyder to teach Faction and Friction: The Politics of Economic Policymaking. The six-credit course is one of two that launched in the spring semester; two more start in fall 2014.

Teaching in Tandem

Gulati notes that many of the great controversies in American politics are about economic issues. Accordingly, students examined the feasibility of economic policies in tandem with the political rationale that favors one approach over another.

He cites the example of supply-side economics, which might prove problematic as an economic policy, but remains attractive to politicians seeking to rally American sentiment around individual freedom. 

Gulati and Snyder taught from separate course outlines, but regularly attended each other’s back-to-back class sessions and adapted material to incorporate freshly gleaned context. The courses also shared some assignments and exam questions.

“If you look at the syllabi side by side, the topics don’t jibe completely,” says Snyder. “But the courses do come together — especially with fiscal policy.”  

He cites a final exam question about the North American Free Trade Agreement that required mastery from both disciplines: knowledge of trade theory and a handle on the political benefits of a trilateral pact.

Class discussions challenged students in new ways.

“There’s an interesting tension in this course,” Snyder notes. “In economics we require a different long-term burden of proof, while political science focuses more on the influence of the election cycle.”

Familiar Topics, New Eyes

The other fusion course to debut this spring pairs a Management Department course (Interpersonal Relations in Management) with one from English and Media Studies (Women in Film).

The subjects intersect more than you might expect, says Professor of Management and Psychology Aaron Nurick. He and Mike Frank, a professor of cinema studies, designed their respective course outlines with fusion in mind. Says Nurick: “We asked ourselves: Where are the points we connect?”

One place is psychoanalytic theory. Frank notes that interpersonal relations teaches students to be effective in the business world based on understanding how people work. It studies the use of space, language or nonverbal communication. Film studies does the same, but in a more subversive way, he says. It unpacks hidden meaning and asks: “Oh, do you see what is happening to us? Look at what’s going on.”

“Film studies really filters into what I teach about relationships in my class,” says Nurick. “I’m teaching the same material, but with a new set of eyes.”

Course participant Bernadette Hopen ’16 shares his enthusiasm.

“I really enjoyed how close I became to my fellow classmates and professors,” says Hopen, who majors in Management and the Liberal Studies concentration Ethics and Social Responsibility. “While the two topics are very different, they are taught cohesively. It felt like one big class.”

A firm handshake can help you get a grip on the job market. Basic but useful lessons like this come from corporate recruiters taking part in a groundbreaking career development seminar for incoming freshmen and transfer students.

“Participants learn to write an effective résumé and cover letter, network online and in person, prepare for an interview, and find an internship,” explains Alyssa Hammond, senior associate director of undergraduate career services. It’s a very early education that “many students at other colleges don’t get in all four years from their career services.”

The first-of-its-kind Career Development Introduction (CDI 101) seminar provides a comprehensive career toolkit and the opportunity to practice interviews and elevator pitches in front of employers. Seminar graduates can then apply for an internship that earns a single non-academic credit (CDI 102). The experience is valuable preparation, as more than 90 percent of Bentley students will pursue at least one internship before graduation.  

“Internships are typically the largest source of full-time employment for each graduating class,” notes Melissa Sawyer of Bentley’s Office of Undergraduate Career Services.

Perfect Pitch

The program’s authenticity comes from Bentley career advisers and business professionals who teach the classes. The 15 corporate partners participating this spring included Boston Scientific, eBay, the Big Four public accounting firms, and Vistaprint.  

Stephanie Perkins of Epsilon is among the campus recruiters who say an elevator pitch is one of the tallest challenges for students. “People often say either too little or way too much. In addition to basics like name, class year and major, I want to know something interesting about you personally.”

That should take no more than 60 seconds, she advises. “Keep it short. During an interview you will have the chance to go into greater detail about your experience.”

For Diana Kil ’16, learning about eye contact and potential interview questions was inspiration to sharpen her skills.

“I listened to feedback from my mock interview and then practiced in front of friends,” says the Marketing major. “It pushed me out of my comfort zone, but also helped me gain confidence about meeting with recruiters.”

In February, Kil signed on for her second internship since completing CDI 101: working as a social media intern at Boston-based Spreadshirt, a custom T-shirt design company.

Two other CDI seminar participants — sophomores Nicholas Gardner and Sean Hannigan — landed internships at The Kraft Group. Earlier, the two had attended an information session at Gillette Stadium, coordinated by Career Services and the Bentley Marketing Association. 

“I kept in contact with the company and applied for the internship,” says Hannigan. “The interview practice and elevator pitch exercises prepared me well for my Kraft interview, especially since I had to make a presentation to the marketing team.”

Gardner credits the seminar for putting him ahead of junior- and senior-year applicants. “The advice given in CDI 101 opened doors that I most likely would’ve struggled to open on my own. I do not feel that my sophomore application would have been considered without an effective résumé and cover letter.”

In addition to staffing corporate relations at events such as the New England Revolution soccer matches and NFL draft-day party for the New England Patriots, Gardner and Hannigan assist with corporate sales, including website management and marketing campaigns.

Skilled for Life

The CDI seminar reflects Bentley’s distinctive day-one focus on career planning. Over four years, students hone skills to call on long after graduation.

“You can’t control the economy or what the hot jobs are, but you can control what you do to prepare for the unknown,” Hammond observes, noting the highly competitive job market that millennials face. “This is not just a class. It is the beginning of a lifetime of career management.”

A team of undergraduates from Bentley and Northeastern universities took first place in a faceoff with seriously tech-savvy contenders at the Supercomputing Conference, held in Colorado last November. The win clinched a coveted seat at the 2014 International Supercomputing Conference.   

There was little time to savor victory, though, as team members set to training for the overseas challenge, which takes place this June in Leipzig, Germany. Task No. 1 was identifying what they did right in Denver. That competition involved a 48-hour marathon to build a cluster computer: a set of connected computers that work together in so many respects they can be viewed as a single system.

“As business students, we had an advantage in the planning and building phase of the competition, because we were able to think critically about what we were willing to give up and what we needed to hold on to, in terms of hardware,” says Conner Charlebois ’14, who joined fellow CIS major Nicholas Hentschel ’14 and Dmitry Veber ’15 (Actuarial Sciences) as Bentley members of the team. “It was really a cost–benefit analysis design exercise.”

Northeastern juniors Neel Shah and Tushar Swamy rounded out the team. Advisers were Irv Englander, professor emeritus (Bentley), David Yates, associate professor of computer information systems (Bentley); David Kaeli, professor of electrical and computer engineering (Northeastern), and PhD candidate Yash Ukidave (Northeastern).

The combination of technical skills and business acumen proved critical for a team that was likely considered the underdog among schools like Arizona State University and the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

The Bentley–NEU cluster computer was assembled for under $2,500, and ran four applications while consuming less than 15 amps of current — besting several teams that had an unlimited budget.

“The team differentiated themselves by infusing an open-compute design philosophy with state-of-the art technology developed for the gaming market,” explains Yates.

Business Download

While high-level technical skills are obviously critical to building supercomputers, Yates and Englander also credit the team’s project management, time management and communication skills.

“An entrepreneurial spirit that drove our team to determine what they needed, reach out, and go beyond traditional channels to get help,” Englander adds. “The business mindset is that when you need to solve a problem, you work as a team to find a solution.”

Performance Power

The team competing in Germany includes two additional students, representing MIT and Northeastern, as well as another adviser, who is a research scientist at MIT. The challenge involves maximizing the system’s performance per watt (unit of electrical power), with clusters staying below a ceiling of 3,000 watts of power at all times.

“This is very different from the competition in Colorado,” says Yates. “There, the constraint that mattered ended up being the dollar budget rather than the power budget.”

Contenders also face unknown variables, adds Charlebois. “There are two mystery applications that won’t be revealed until the time of competition. So our team’s ability to think on its feet and strategize quickly will be even more valuable here.”

When faculty, students and corporate partners come together, great things can happen on campus — and off. A case in point is a $250,000 grant to the Honors Program from United Technologies Corporation. Through a UTC-supported honors fellowship, research is underway to help local communities save the environment and developing countries create economic stability.

The funding takes Honors Program capstone projects to a new level, according to inaugural UTC Fellows Olivia Locke ’14 and Gerard Fischetti ’14.

“A lot of students don’t see that their ideas could have larger implications, and they don’t have the financial support to carry it further,” says Fischetti, who is exploring reasons for disparity in the distribution of microfinance dollars among different countries.  “The fellowship is allowing me to do more than just research and discover a topic,” adds Locke. “It is giving me what I need to create something tangible.”

Price vs. Payoff

Locke is referring to designing and producing a sample compost bin that will support the case for bringing curbside composting to Belmont, Mass. She is working with the town’s recycling coordinator to develop and implement a pilot program at public schools. Initial steps involve determining the price tag and payoff for the Greater Boston town.

“The cost–benefit analysis incorporates the environmental and economic factors of implementing a town-wide composting system,” she explains. One example is evaluating the environmental benefit to determine the potential reduction in methane emissions that will result from composting food scraps. Economic aspects weigh costs associated with implementing and maintaining the system against cost savings such as landfill reduction and tax benefits.

Locke’s faculty adviser, David Szymanski, credits her work for blending natural and social sciences with the business aspects of implementing a program whose effects are often difficult to quantify. Bringing business and science together is natural for Locke, an Accountancy major whose interest in environmental issues was sparked by a composting initiative in her hometown of Portland, Maine.

No Easy Answer

Fischetti’s research examines reasons behind the uneven distribution of microfinance institutions across developing nations.

“The Philippines, for example, has more than 100 different banks or microfinance organizations lending money, whereas Sudan has only a handful,” he says. “These kinds of gaps made me want to understand why, when there’s clearly a need in all of those places.”

His research aims to change such scenarios. Data analysis of different indicators — such as democracy, trust and civil liberties — will help determine what kind of business environment needs to be in place for investors and banks to start microfinance funding programs. The project digs deeper than most published studies, which focus only on the outcomes of microfinance programs.

“Economists point to microfinance as the easy answer to issues of disparity and empowerment, but I’m not convinced we are there yet,” says the Managerial Economics major. “We need to study political, social and economic aspects that help make a country attractive to invest in, and develop a business model that will set the stage for more even distribution.”

Uncharted Territory

Fischetti’s adviser, Associate Professor of Economics Dhaval Dave, calls the project “an innovative and policy-relevant research question, and one that has been largely overlooked by prior studies. Gerard identified that gap in the literature and formulated the research question on his own.”

A rigorous research design, Dave adds, promises to produce a high-caliber, publishable research report. “He determined the key variables necessary to carry out this research and identified the multiple sources from which he would draw data.”

Indeed, the work is already getting noticed. Fischetti was tapped to present at the Northeast Regional Honors Council conference, held in April. This fall he enters the PhD program in economics at UNC Chapel Hill.  

Practical Value

Locke’s research showed its potential by capturing the interest of Belmont town administrators, says Szymanski, assistant professor of natural and applied sciences.

“The town recycling coordinator is not only willing to work with her, but sees the value in this practical research. The final analysis may even yield a research article on finding that sweet spot between economics and the environment at the local level.”  

Locke envisions the program as a much-needed model for U.S. cities and town. “Composting is in full swing in Europe, and we need explore this as an option to address overflowing landfills,” she says. “My ultimate goal is for Belmont to implement the program and be recognized as a pioneer in the industry.” 

“It will take more than women talking to women to close the gender gap in corporate America,” says Betsy Myers, director of the three-year-old Center for Women and Business (CWB) at Bentley University. “Engaging men in the advancement of women is the new frontier for every company in America that wants to compete and grow in the 21st century.”

She and CWB colleagues take square aim at a persistent paradox. Women comprise 58 percent of college graduates and occupy 50 percent of middle-management positions. But they hold a scant 10 to 15 percent of senior leadership posts in business today.

“The good news is that the vast majority of CEOs no longer ask ‘why’ they should include, retain and advance women in the organization,” observes Myers. “But there is a giant hole in the ‘how.’”

A recent Best Practices Forum at the CWB gathered experts of both sexes to discuss the relevant issues. Here, in edited excerpts, some forum participants and other leading thinkers share their philosophies and strategies for managing talent and ensuring gender diversity at every level of an organization. Download the full thought-leadership gallery on the topic at bentley.edu/cwb/thought-leadership.

Beware Blind Spots
We all have “blind spots” and people make unconscious assumptions that may lead to missed opportunities for advancing women as leaders. PwC hosts interactive sessions for our leaders about how to identify potential blind spots and better understand how they influence decision-making. ... Breaking the cycle of people sponsoring [only] those who are similar to themselves requires this type of intentional effort.

Chris Brassell, National Director, Office of Diversity, PricewaterhouseCoopers

Give Pull-No-Punches Feedback
A term that resonates for me is “fearless reciprocity.” This is the mix of personal responsibility, demonstrated respect and courageous candor that fuels every healthy human relationship.

A lot of male executives I talk to right now know that they aren’t giving women the same corrective feedback they give men. The reason they are abdicating — much to women’s disadvantage — is the worry that gender issues will enter the feedback conversation. We need to work on this. Women can’t successfully advance as leaders in companies if there isn’t corrective feedback equality from their male managers. And, for their part, men can’t lead if they’re busy deflecting, fearing or fabricating gender issues.

Chuck Shelton, Managing Director, Greatheart Leader Labs

Establish Accountability
I have two ideas that could help C-level executives if they want to — and they should — get the best and right women positioned for future leadership roles in their organization.

First, give the up-and-coming women managerial and operational roles in independent business units. Give them something to run, set expectations and measure results. Just do it. Within five years, you’ll have a strong group of female leaders who are ready for even bigger things. Second, if a senior executive fills a job with a man, ask the executive to explain why a woman considered for the post wasn’t selected. We’re talking mindfulness and accountability here. Just ask why.

Tom Peters, Author and Business Management and Leadership Consultant

Plan Deliberately
CEOs have plans designed to move revenues, profits and stock price. So why not a plan that quantifies how many female leaders are going to be in the C-suite? Put in achievable objectives requiring managers to develop and fill the pipeline with qualified female candidates. If the CEO demands this, we will see more female candidates for promotion when opportunities arise.

Steven Manfredi, Chairman of the Bentley University Board of Trustees and Retired President and COO, Learning Express Inc.

Assume Difference 
Recent research by Korn/Ferry found that women rated higher than their male counterparts in 17 critical leadership skills, including operating, interpersonal, courage and drive — competencies that enable women to connect with customers, engage employees and build talent. Despite this, women may still be penalized for not exhibiting leadership in the way that men may favor.

Saying one is “gender blind” is delusional. Rather, let’s get more comfortable assuming difference [exists] and then, together, constructively surface what those differences may be. A good place to start is with appreciative inquiry: What is right and working in how women and men are leading today?

Andrés Tapia, Senior Partner, Korn/Ferry Leadership and Talent

Build New Networks
[One hard task to be done is] building informal networks and relationships between men and women outside work, where so much socializing and bonding goes on. Most of the guys have traditionally done this at a golf club or ballgame. We have to come up with new ways to do this, new approaches that include women in comfortable ways.

Stephen DelVecchio, Partner, PricewaterhouseCoopers

Get Comfortable with Discomfort
It’s essential for us to understand that women can generate powerful results without mirroring male expectations and male style. Men should have confidence in giving a talented woman a tough or complex assignment — even if she doesn’t approach the work or drive results in the same way as her male counterpart. To male leaders, this may feel uncomfortable at times. But the best leaders recognize the immense and inherent value of varying perspectives, strengths and temperaments.

Michael Simonds, President and CEO, Unum US

During the biotech IPO boom in 2000, a lot of people made money; but very few products ever made it into the hands of consumers. Bentley’s Laura McNamee, PhD, and Fred Ledley, MD, trace the problem to business models with a glaring gap between science and commerce.

Scientists and investors, they point out, have very different value systems.

“Investors want to return money to shareholders, and scientists get excited about cutting-edge research,” explains McNamee, a research associate in Bentley’s Center for Integration of Science and Industry. “To bring potentially life-saving drugs to the public these two communities need to come together.”

The message is timely, as FactSet and other sources mark 2013 as the busiest year since 2000 for life sciences IPOs.

A High Price

Their study made a special effort to reflect the eight-year average required for a drug to earn FDA approval, by analyzing performance of 46 therapeutic biotech companies during a 10-year span, rather than looking at short-term investor returns. They classified companies based on maturity of their core technologies at the time of the IPO.

·      Established: Mature technology with products that are FDA approved or near approval

·      Growing: Technology with clinical proof of concept, but no products approved or near approval

·      Nascent: Technology without clinical proof

The study also looked at company valuation, market valuation and clinical pipelines.

“Nascent technology companies had a significantly higher value at the time of public offering, partly because companies were touting technologies of the new genomics era,” says McNamee, who also teaches in the Natural and Applied Sciences Department. “Even though they had no products in clinical development, the market valued them high because of their potential and media hype.”

The hype proved unwarranted. A decade later, nascent technologies had almost no products in clinical development and were barely worth the money investors had put into them.

Growing and established companies were a different story. Most had doubled in value, brought products to the market, and continued to build a product pipeline.

“It’s not that these nascent technologies weren’t good, they just weren’t ready for primetime,” says McNamee. “While they had enormous potential, they weren’t a likely candidate for the business models associated with a public company.”

Model Results

Findings call for a business model that either evaluates the stage of the technology and attaches an appropriate value, or filters nascent technologies until they have matured sufficiently for an IPO. More broadly, the research points to the growing need for business people informed in the sciences. Investors must speak both languages to understand the biotech industry and the regulatory process, then make the right decisions that move technology forward.

McNamee is already schooling Bentley students in these skills. Her research assistant on the biotech IPO study, Katie DiTomaso ’13, used software to apply both business metrics and clinical metrics in determining the market capitalization of clinical trials over time.

“The project really opened my eyes to the gap between science and business,” recalls DiTomaso, who joined Fresenius Medical Care as a corporate clinical trial study coordinator. “Now that I’m working in the industry, I see the challenges that companies face in moving through the clinical trial process.

Results-oriented initiatives are at the core of Bentley’s Center for Integration of Science and Industry. The center director, Fred Ledley, holds appointments in both the Management and the Natural and Applied Sciences departments.

“The hardest thing for students to learn is how to incorporate all the ‘right answers’ from four years of classes into an integrated understanding of complex, often chaotic business systems,” says Ledley. “Our center teaches students to draw on what they have learned in in different disciplines, and come up with new ways of thinking about how businesses create value from scientific discoveries and technological innovations.”

McNamee shares the philosophy. “There are so many exciting, cutting-edge results on the table, but that doesn’t always translate into products for tomorrow,” she says. “Part of getting these products to people is by making smarter investment decisions.”

Bring on your innovative concepts, early-stage business models, and creative entrepreneurs! Venture capital investor Paul Flanagan ’86 thrives on unleashing the value in a good idea and helping to build a great company around it. And his track record speaks for itself.

As a managing director of Boston-based Sigma Prime Ventures, Flanagan currently serves as a board director of six emerging companies that his firm has invested in. His other focus is seeking out the Next Big Thing(s).

“Finding the early-stage ideas and figuring out how we can create a plan to harness the value in what the technologies do — that’s the fun of it for me,” says Flanagan, whose guidance over the past two decades has swayed to the tune of billions of dollars in private financing. He also has overseen multiple public offerings and management turnarounds that have helped numerous budding businesses expand and prosper.

Perpetual Prowl

Starting with a pre-dawn commute to his downtown office from the coastal South Shore of Massachusetts, Flanagan typically spends his days reviewing financial results, advising CEOs, and otherwise supporting the companies in the Sigma Prime portfolio.  

Meanwhile, on perpetual prowl for new investments, the alumnus scours scores of unsolicited emails that come his way and acts on referrals from his Boston-area business network. He plows through news articles and business research, and keeps tabs on the many incubator and accelerator programs for startups in and around the city.

Unlike an angel investor who makes many small bets investing in new and untested companies, Flanagan’s firm is a Series A/B investor that usually puts $1.5 million to $4 million into companies with a proven market. He and his colleagues commit to taking an active board seat for four to six years — a collaboration over time that adds special intensity to Sigma’s due diligence.  

“In five years, that process has led to six investments,” Flanagan notes. “It is very hard work to find the right combination of people, product, market and business model to get behind.”

Building a Better Balance Sheet

What does it take for a startup to fly? More than a great idea, according to Flanagan. “The entrepreneur behind an emerging company has to be smart, ambitious and highly dedicated to the quality of his or her work.”

And of course the numbers need to work. Here Flanagan plays to his strength: expertise in finance and accounting that started at Bentley.

“The technology piece, I know enough to be dangerous, but trust my partners to understand and figure out,” he says of the emerging tech companies that are Sigma’s focus. “The numbers are the parts of the puzzle that I love — drilling down to figure out how we can bring a business to market successfully. We review every investment opportunity as a team.”

That ability to look at company financials and mine greater value from the business is a Flanagan hallmark. One of his biggest successes was at Vistaprint, an online printing business that had just finished a $24 million year in 2003, when Flanagan was tapped to become CFO.

His first major move — bringing print production in-house — involved a significant capital investment to buy equipment and establish production facilities. But the bold action expanded profit margins from 40 percent to 70 percent, as the company moved more work through its system at a lower cost.

Bold Beginnings

The starting line for Flanagan’s career was the Entrepreneurial Services division of Ernst & Young. In 1992, assigned to work on the accounting side of an initial public offering by Boston Scientific, he followed the numbers and saw how an early-stage company manages explosive growth.

“I loved that entrepreneurial environment and learned a tremendous amount from the perspective I had access to in that deal,” says Flanagan, who left EY to try his hand working inside the industries he had been advising.

Before Vistaprint, the group included Lasertron (VP of finance) and Storage Networks (CEO), which he helped bring public in 2000.  In every case, Flanagan has found that having a good management team in place is critical for business success.

“I have been fortunate enough to work with great people,” he says. “My successes have all been team related.”

Flanagan left Vistaprint in 2005 after leading the company through a $1.2 million IPO. The move returned him to the early-stage companies that are his passion. As he puts it: “I would always rather be building the company versus just pedaling the bike.”

How does a global company build brand loyalty? Which new product has the greatest chance of success? Where should advertising dollars be allocated, in times when potential customers may no longer be watching TV?

While once a CEO’s hunch might have driven business decision-making, today’s companies seek answers from digital analytics — and from experts in the field like Terri Kochersperger ’83.

“It’s about listening to the consumer, finding out what the consumer really wants and needs and is asking for, and trying to address that,” explains Kochersperger, director of digital analytics for the consumer sector at Johnson & Johnson. “Instead of brands saying, ‘I think this is going to work,’ we can really determine if a move is the right one.”

An approach that looks at online communications, website traffic, social media and other data, digital analytics allows companies to track trends and base decisions on hard evidence. The Bentley alumna, who went on to earn an MBA at Pace University, arrived at Johnson & Johnson three years ago. Today, she and her five-person team are working to build a strong foundation in digital analytics for the global company, which is home to iconic brands including Neutrogena, Band-Aid and Tylenol.

“We shape the digital analytics strategy,” Kochersperger says. “We’re also trying to elevate awareness of the practice within the company, showing what the benefits will be if we look at these measures.”

Tuning in to the Customer

Before taking her current position, Kochersperger spent nearly a decade running the web analytics department at Time Inc., publisher of magazines and websites including Sports Illustrated, Time and Entertainment Weekly. Companies like Time Inc. were leaders in digital analytics, she explains. 

“Ten years ago the media companies really started ramping up,” she says, noting that consumer packaged-goods companies like Johnson & Johnson began building their operations more recently. “It wasn’t a huge focus five years ago.”

As new as it is, the field is rapidly evolving. While once a company might have focused its resources on brand websites, digital analytics goes far beyond that, into the mercurial world of social media.

“The scope of it can be challenging,” Kochersperger admits.  “Everyone is on different platforms and different apps, Facebook or Twitter. But whether we want them to talk or not, consumers are talking. We’d better start listening.”

Made to Measure

The huge amounts of data involved raise the stakes for choosing the right technology. Johnson & Johnson relies on sophisticated software tools to measure Web and mobile traffic, track performance on social networks, and create data visualizations and reports. 

Equally important is assembling a team of people who can look at the data strategically and use it to create a clear picture of the market that will guide company decision-making. As Kochersperger puts it: “A lot of my day is making sure we have the right people in place to leverage this information.”

Much of Kochersperger’s strategy-centric work is proprietary. But she offers a hypothetical example of how digital analytics could help a company make decisions.

Say a brand publishes an email newsletter, regularly sending out coupons and product updates, Kochersperger suggests. The goal is to build consumer loyalty, but how does the company know if it’s working? A digital analytics team could examine the proportion of recipients who open the email, along with the proportion who click through to the brand’s website.

“We can really say, ‘Is this email strategy working for us?’” Kochersperger says. If it isn’t, she goes on to note, perhaps the emails should be retooled — or maybe reaching consumers through Facebook would be more effective.

Growing Demand

The job entails long hours and regular international travel from her Connecticut home, where Kochersperger lives with husband John and children Kelly, Ally and Karl. Earlier this year, she hosted a group of current Bentley students at her Manhattan office as part of the university’s Success in the City program. This collaborative venture by Career Services and the Center for Alumni, Parents and Friends takes students to New York to meet with alumni and learn about various industries.

It was, Kochersperger says, an opportunity to urge young people to pursue careers in digital analytics.

“Right now, we’re hiring and we’re trying to find qualified people,” she says, noting a shortage of candidates for the growing number of jobs. Some universities are starting undergraduate majors to meet the demand, and Kochersperger hopes Bentley will one day be among them.

“The talk is all about ‘big data’ and ‘leading with data.’ You can see this wave coming where everyone will use data, across the company,” observes Kochersperger, who, with some amusement, finds herself at the top of a field that did not exist when she was a Management major at Bentley.

“It was so long ago,” she says of days when computers resided mainly in a dedicated campus lab. “For our papers, it was all typewriters.” 

For Museum of Fine Arts Boston CIO Tom Catalini ’90, art appreciation doesn’t necessarily begin in the exhibition halls and galleries of the storied institution where he works. It often starts even closer at hand for someone with a penchant for all things tech: on his iPad.

The museum has an online catalogue, Paintings of the Americas, which the former Computer Information Systems major often consults before visiting the pieces in person.

“Interacting with the art before or even after I see it enhances the experience of seeing it,” says Catalini, noting that the MFA was among the first such institutions to put its collection on the Web. “You might think of museums as static types of environments, but these old institutions have had to think through a lot of technological evolutions. I see them as inherently innovative. You have to be creative and adaptable to survive and thrive for more than 140 years.”

Down to Business
The mandate to innovate falls squarely in Catalini’s corner. He joined the MFA leadership team two years ago — its first-ever chief information officer, charged with making more strategic use of information technology across the organization.

“Technology allows us to serve the mission of the museum in ways that would otherwise be difficult or impossible,” Catalini explains. “The Internet and IT resources can help make our collection accessible, educate the public and give global reach, as well as enhance a person’s visit.

“We’re always considering what’s the right balance of technologies in the galleries,” he adds. “There’s a fine line between where technology intrudes and where it enhances.”

Though the arts is new professional territory, Catalini arrived with IT leadership skills forged in several industries, most recently, financial services.

“There is a real need to understand technology in the context of running a business,” he says, noting that Bentley CIS majors were well-served by “studying technology in a business school environment where topics of business operations, management and finance permeated the curriculum.”

And make no mistake: An art museum is a business. Nonprofit status and $554 million endowment notwithstanding, the MFA supports its mission through several revenue streams besides philanthropy, as it receives no government funding. IT figures into virtually every aspect of museum operations: membership programs, ticket sales, associated restaurants and retail shops, and more.

Portrait of Innovation
Catalini and his team oversaw implementing two recent ventures that marry art and technology. The MFA for Educators website, launched last summer, enables teachers to work with their classes to organize and plan a visit to the museum. Teachers can also use the fully mobile site (educators.mfa.org) to work with pieces from the MFA collection, creating their own programs and multimedia assignments that students can pursue online.

“This represents the future for the museum’s platforms on the Web,” Catalini says of features such as access to the main collection database and a slideshow viewer, which let users interact with artwork in a new and different way. 

Early 2014 brought the museum’s first crowd-sourced exhibit. Instead of putting art into storage while renovating its Impressionism gallery, the MFA invited the public to vote on favorite paintings for display in a temporary space. A total of 41,497 votes came in across Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest and other social media sites for the Boston Loves Impressionism campaign. The resulting exhibition of 30 pieces ran from February 14 to May 26.

“It’s unusual for a museum to engage the public so directly in shaping an exhibition,” says Catalini, whose own vote went to Boulevard Saint-Denis, Argenteuil, in Winter by Claude Monet. [The winners are posted at pinterest.com/mfaboston/boston-loves-impressionismwinning-works.]

Bridging Platforms
Marvels of technology notwithstanding, Catalini’s favorite parts of the job involve strategic problem solving and, above all, working with people. “I love getting down to the nitty-gritty of strategic decisions and figuring out how to move things forward.”

Lately, that focus on strategy and human connections is helping his team navigate the early stages of an ambitious initiative: developing the design and architecture of a digital experience that is cohesive across mobile, Web and in-gallery platforms — and maximizes the unique characteristics of each.

“It’s a big challenge,” Catalini says of the project, “but one that is fun to define, refine and figure out how to bring forth strategically over time.”

Back in 2003, Bill Kavanagh was a co-captain of the first-ever Bentley football team to earn a berth in the Division II national playoffs. This season, the Class of 2004 Falcon returns to roost as the squad’s head coach – the first alumnus ever to occupy the post.

“Bentley is special to me,” he says. “I always followed the team and the school because they did great things for me and my friends. This is a really good chance to give back to a place that gave a lot to me.”

Though just 10 years removed from his own gridiron days, Kavanagh is confidently taking the handoff from Thom Boerman, who retired as head coach at the end of last season.

“In coaching, you can’t anticipate your next step,” says the 31-year-old. “You just need to prepare for it.”

Career Takeoff
Kavanagh’s training began soon after he graduated, management degree in hand. A native of Dartmouth, Mass., he spent three years on the UMass–Dartmouth sidelines (where his dad, Bill Sr., is the long-standing coach) followed by a year at Stonehill College. During a short stint as an assistant at Bentley, Kanavagh was recruited by one of the most elite football programs in the country: Penn State.

“I hustled down there pretty quickly for an interview and was offered the job within three days,” he recalls.

Hired as a graduate assistant, Kanavagh worked with the team while completing a master’s degree in education leadership. He earned his way up to director of player personnel, managing a staff of 14 coaches and 30 interns, the personnel office, and a roster of 115 players. Overseeing the administrative side of the operation provided an invaluable understanding of a football program’s big picture.
“A lot of coaching is what goes on during the other 12 hours of the day, not just the two hours of practice or the four hours of a game,” he explains. “That job [at Penn State] prepared me to be a head coach. It takes a lot more than being the guy on the sidelines at game time.”

Flying Straight and Narrow
His time with the Nittany Lions included harsh lessons borne from the Joe Paterno–Jerry Sandusky child abuse scandal.

“It greatly affected my job because I was involved in recruiting. We were trying to field a team with 75 percent of the scholarship roster of our competitors,” says Kavanagh, who was in charge of managing penalties levied on the program by the NCAA (including a reduction in scholarships, four-year ban on postseason bowl game appearances, and $60 million fine).

“I had to be creative in order to get good players and good kids to come to Penn State,” he continues. “It all just drove home the point of being honest and forthright in everything you do.”

Between January and the start of spring practice in March, Kavanagh stayed busy directing his seven coaches (including former teammate Adam Griggs ’06), wrapping up recruiting, and getting to know his returning players. He was also house hunting with wife Kristen and daughter Anna; the couple is expecting a second child this summer.

Kavanagh is impressed by his squad’s work ethic and commitment thus far.

“If the effort and dedication that the team has put in over the last three months is any indication of the future,” he says, “I’m confident we will a field a competitive, tough football team this fall.” 

Falcon football ended last season at 6-5. The team’s preseason schedule starts August 14; its first game is September 6 at home against Mercyhurst.

Frozen Falcons
Alumni, students and friends flocked to Fenway Park on December 28, 2013, to catch the men’s hockey team in their Frozen Fenway debut. The Bentley Falcons took on the College of the Holy Cross Crusaders and skated their way to a 3-2 victory. Alumni connected before the game at Fenway’s Royal Rooters Club, fortified with cocktails and appetizers before heading out into the cold.

Lauding Leadership
More than 125 of Bentley’s most loyal and generous donors gathered on February 27, 2014, at the InterContinental Boston, feted for all they do in support of the university. Hosted by President Gloria Cordes Larson, Chairman of the Board Steve Manfredi ’73, and fellow trustees, the reception gave guests an opportunity to meet each other and enjoy a winter’s evening at the beautiful waterfront location.

Getting Results at Bloomberg 
The New York City headquarters of Bloomberg Media was the stunning backdrop for sharing results of Bentley’s PreparedU project on January 29, 2014. The research involved a groundbreaking survey on millennials’ preparedness for the modern workplace. The event featured a panel discussion among experts on the topic, followed by a reception for alumni and students. 

Peak Experience
Over the weekend of February 21 to 23, 2014, approximately 100 alumni trekked to Vermont to enjoy snow and slopes. The 14th Annual Young Alumni Killington Ski Trip featured plenty of outdoor fun on the mountain as well as après ski and social festivities.

1930 | 1933 | 1939 | 1940 | 1941 | 1942 | 1943 | 1944 | 1945 | 1947 | 1948 | 1949 | 1950 | 1951 | 1952 | 1953 | 1954 | 1955 | 1956 | 1957 | 1958 | 1959 | 1960 | 1961 | 1962 | 1963 | 1964 | 1965 | 1966 | 1967 | 1968 | 1969 | 1970 | 1972 | 1974 | 1976 | 1980 | 1981 | 1982 | 1983 | 1985 | 1988 | 1991 | 1992 | 1993 | 1996 | 2013 | Friends

1930
Orrell E. Linnell

1933
Fred Hunt

1939
Sidney Lipsky
Donald Sessions

1940
Daniel McBride
Edmund F. Sheehy Jr.

1941
John D. Ball
The Rev. Cortland R. Bryant
Kenneth G. Michelmore
Anthony  Sakowich

1942
Lt. Col. Thomas J. Bardon, USMC (ret.)
George F. Bickford
George Rosenberg
Harding C. Sortevik

1943
A. Edward Schmidt

1944
Harry Zack

1945
Phyllis M. Meek
Eleanora A. Paszko

1947
Henry Bogosian
Murray Raben

1948
John J. Coleman
Wayne G. Jones
H. Theresa Mulligan
Richard F. Peterson
James I. Talbot
Richard York

1949
Maurice J. Battista
Rose M. Casey
Donald R. Dupre
Alvan S. Ingraham
Edward F. Lindeman
Leonard A. Neistat
Kenneth M. Perry
Herbert A. Thulen
James E. Tweedy

1950
Charles Bickford Jr.
Katherine A. Crehan
Frederick W. Grabau
Howard R. Lurier
Lawrence Moreau
John Noyes Sr.
Joseph Snow

1951
W. Earl Braswell
Francis E. Guiney
James G. MacKeen
Donald E. Sweeney

1952
Ernest G. Dixon Jr.
George Freedland
Charles Tranter

1953
A. Dana Fletcher
Richard C. MacGowan
Arthur O’Brien
Martin F. Sullivan
Arthur Terlemezian

1954
Warren Hanscom
Thomas E. McDermott
Frank A. Robinson Jr.

1955
Ernest R. Camara
James E. Cronan Sr.
Paul M. Weitzler

1956
Paul I. Cook
Col. Arthur V. Gailius, USA (ret.)
Carl R. Lauretti
Richard Lemay
Robert G. Trumbour

1957
Harold N. Durgin Jr.
Raymond P. Gerrior
John W. Howland
Leo L. LaBonte
Orlando P. Luiz
Edward F. McCarthy
Linwood Norton
Frederick W. Shaw Jr.
Richard A. Southworth

1958
George Doherty
William E. Forrester
Marion L. Pothier
Daniel Rich
Ralph Souza
John Veo

1959
Robert C. Bergstrom
Joseph Bianchi Sr.
Edward J. Burke
Edward M. Burke
Neil C. Carmichael
Stephen J. Kostoulakos
Joseph E. Mahoney
John March
William H. Safford Jr.
Bernard R. Wedge

1960
Armando R. Carli
Frank L. Cormack
Carol (Brochu) McCarthy
Charles J. Pattavina

1961
William A. White Jr.

1962
Clifford J. Abbott

1963
Henry J. Rogers Jr.

1964
George D. MacDonald

1965
Thomas J. Noonan
John G. Stamas

1966
Leo Pinard

1967
Frederick T. Murphy Jr.

1968
Jerome Baron

1969
Raymond G. Demers
David H. McDonald
Robert X. McGilvray

1970
Jon R. Rucker

1972
James B. Alexander
Michael P. Budney

1974
Kevin F. McCormick

1976
Lewis J. Dittelman

1980
Emil R. Adams Jr.

1981
Carl D. Chiasson
Jay Jerahian
John H. Kinner
Marc R. Laflamme

1982
Charles R. Kaliris Jr.

1983
Deborah (Griffin) Jackson
Ronald G. Loubier
Janice M. Sweeney

1985
Paula (Nowak) Connors MST ’96
David Veinot

1988
James Cokorogianis

1991
Patrick S. Flynn
Sarah Moore

1992
Philip Broyhill

1993
Beatrice L. Davis
Patricia Taylor MBA ’95

1996
Marjorie LeBlanc

2013
Sally White

Friends of Bentley
Tony Bonaparte, Former Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost
Barbara Feury, Staff Member, Center for Health and Wellness
Lillian Hunt, wife of the late Robert Hunt ’49
John Mara, Staff Member, Facilities Management Department
Diane Moul, Senior Lecturer, English and Media Studies Department
Jeremiah Schneiderman, Lecturer, History Department

Bryan Parsons '97 is working to redefine equality in corporate America. As associate director of risk management at Ernst & Young and an activist for LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning) equality, he understands the benefits of an inclusive workplace for companies and individuals.

Parsons’ advocacy has personal roots. He kept his own sexuality under wraps for the first three years of professional life.

“When talking with my co-workers, I felt like I was running on a 15-second delay,” he says of the pressure to censor a core element of his identity. Over time, he concluded that hiding part of himself had a professional downside. He needed to build trust with fellow staff and with clients to be more effective in his work.

Parsons came out to co-workers and, soon thereafter, resolved to help others do likewise.

“For the firm to function at its best, I knew that other people needed to feel comfortable bringing their whole self to work,” says Parsons, who joined the San Francisco office of EY in 2012.   

His LGBTQ activism began like that of many employees in workplaces around the country. Parsons joined a small, informal group of EY colleagues who were personally connected to the cause. They organized meetings after normal work hours and reached out to other companies that had robust LGBTQ efforts underway. 

As a first initiative, the group sought to add LGBTQ to the diversity platform at EY. The company already offered formally structured programs for gender and ethnic diversity, and the LGBTQ group recognized a need for similar focus. 

The EY group went on to align with the Human Rights Campaign, the largest LGBTQ activist organization in the country. In addition to providing advice and counsel to LGBTQ people in the workplace, the organization compiles an annual Corporate Equality Index (CEI), whose criteria include demonstrating an inclusive environment for LGBTQ employees. EY earned a perfect score on the index for 2013 and 2014.

“Corporate America loves awards, so we thought the CEI would be a productive initiative,” Parsons says with a smile.  

With a current focus on promoting LGBTQ diversity as a business driver, he sees positive signs among leading employers. For example, 278 companies filed a “friend of the court brief” on behalf of United States v. Windsor, as non-litigants in the case with a strong interest in the issues being considered. The case precipitated the landmark Supreme Court ruling on the Defense of Marriage Act.

“Never before have so many respected companies publicly used their collective voice on the courthouse steps in the name of equality,” he says. “They understand both the power of inclusion and the real cost of inequality.”

Share experiences and professional advice with Bryan Parsons and other members of the Pride affinity group, a subgroup of the Bentley University Community on LinkedIn. To learn more, contact Joseph Dreeszen, senior assistant director, Center for Alumni, Parents and Friends, by phone (781.891.2109) or email (jdreeszen@bentley.edu). 

Running two companies in tandem isn’t easy, but Adam Brazg ’10 has developed a knack for balancing his time. It helps that one of the ventures is an online collaboration tool that Brazg and his business partner created to manage their own workflow.

Sister companies Trackolade and Bilberrry had their roots in Brazg’s first job post-graduation: auditing companies such as Microsoft for PwC Seattle. That introduction to the technology industry led Brazg to join a startup, which after a year could not close its final round of funding.

“Even though the startup failed, I learned what was needed to build sustainable software and saw how to manage a business,” says the former Finance major. “I was interested in the startup world, but there is a lot of uncertainty.”

To help determine his next career move, Brazg found contract work and collaborated on several projects with Ross Dzikovskyy. The two worked well together, and Brazg suggested starting their own business – a web development and design company they would name Bilberrry. The only problem: Dzikovskyy lives in Ukraine.

“We knew we could do it, but we needed a method to easily track our work together. We thought we could create a better product than some of the existing project management tools,” explains Brazg, noting the ease of adoption he believes sets Trackolade apart.

“We designed it to work for every user — developers, designers and clients — without being cumbersome. Trackolade was built out of self-interest, but even as we were creating it, we knew it could become a valuable asset to others as well.”

And it has. Both Trackolade and Bilberrry have taken off, with offices in Seattle and Kiev. Services include a multitude of design and development projects, but their specialty is custom-built tools to help clients streamline workflows.

“One of the best things about building and using Trackolade is that we can test out new features ourselves before offering them to clients.”

With 10 full-time employees and plans to hire several more, Brazg is ready to grow the company thanks to a foundation of forward-thinking, technology-infused business education from Bentley. A more surprising takeaway from his undergraduate studies was learning about international finance.

“As a student, you don’t really think any of that will apply to you early on in your career,” he notes. “But the global economy is applicable to so many different jobs that it’s a critical piece of a rounded business education.”

As the lead recruiter for PwC at Bentley, you’re on campus frequently to interview students. What motivates you in the search for new talent?

Being the firm relationship partner for PwC at Bentley University is truly an honor. I want to leave a legacy of hiring a diverse group of top talent from campus, and help make sure both PwC and Bentley alumni are positioned for future growth and success.

PwC is the lead corporate sponsor of the Center for Women and Business. Why is women’s leadership important to you?

I want to do everything I can to ensure other women benefit from the same level of support I received while working to reach my potential as a female business leader. For me, this includes joining my fellow female partners who lead a group called AWARE [Advancing Women by Attracting, Retaining and Empowering]. AWARE is focused on helping PwC retain female talent at all levels, and breaking the glass ceiling by strengthening the pipeline and pathway to leadership.

On a more personal level, PwC has supported me throughout my career — during my transition to motherhood and as I worked to identify a proper work–life balance. In fact, I made partner the same year that I had my fourth child. I want other women to know that you can do it all. There’s a lot of juggling and coordination involved, but anything is possible.     

Why is giving back to Bentley important to you?

I am eternally grateful for the outstanding professors who helped shape my mind and business acumen years ago, and I give back because I want others to receive those same benefits. Staying connected to the network of individuals within the alumni community is also something I greatly value.  

1959 | 1969 | 1970 | 1971 | 1973 | 1975 | 1977 | 1979 | 1981 | 1982 | 1983 | 1984 | 1985 | 1986 | 1988 | 1989 | 1990 | 1991 | 1992 | 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1998 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013

1959

The Stoughton (Mass.) Chamber of Commerce installed Roger Kahan, Randolph, Mass., as chairman of the Board of Directors in January 2014.

1969

John Collins, Osterville, Mass., joined the Board of Trustees for Federated Enhanced Treasury Income Fund, Federated Premier Municipal Income Fund, and Federated Premier Intermediate Municipal Income Fund in January 2014. He serves as chairman and chief executive officer of The Collins Group Inc., which manages a private investment portfolio and holds minority interests in several privately held companies.

1970

Lawrence Shuman MST ’78, Peabody, Mass., merged his accounting practice with Costantino Richards Rizzo LLP, a public accounting and consulting firm located in Wakefield.

1971

Apologies are due to Dewey Martin MST ’77, whose name was inverted in a class note for the winter 2014 Observer (page 22). We regret the error.

1973

William Caputo, Estero, Fla., joined NorthCape Industrial LLC as director of marketing and sales. He recently passed the Series 7 General Securities Representative exam and the Series 66 Uniform Combined State Law exam for financial advising.

Parmenter Realty Partners announced in February 2014 that Henry Delicata, Newtonville, Mass., was appointed to the company’s advisory committee. The alumnus is senior adviser to JTP Capital of New York.

1975

Georges Roy, Windham, N.H., was appointed to the supervisory committee for New Hampshire Federal Credit Union. He has 36 years of experience in accounting, more than 24 of which are with the Granite State.

1977

Peter Muise MSF ’88, Hanson, Mass., was named SouthCoast Man of the Year for 2013 by The Standard-Times of New Bedford, Mass. The accolade recognizes his leadership in the area, where Muise serves on several boards and committees that are concerned with education, economic development, homelessness and other issues. He is president and CEO of First Citizens’ Federal Credit Union.

1979

Robert Allen, Bangor, Maine, is included in Barron’s Top 1200 Financial Advisors list for 2014. This marks the third consecutive year that he has received the honor. The alumnus is senior vice president, Wealth Management, at UBS Financial Services

Sheila (McGowan) Blanchette, Boynton Beach, Fla., published her second novel, Take Me Home, in January 2014. She is the author of The Reverse Commute.

1981

Daniel Bourquard, Bow, N.H., has taken the reins as vice president of information technology at Granite State Independent Living. Prior to this, he was vice president, director of IT, at St. Mary’s Bank.

Evelyn Eickmeyer-Quinones, Rock Hill, Md., has joined Certacare Home Care LLC as life enrichment/marketing coordinator. Certacare specializes in person-centered home care for seniors.

Leonard Romaniello Jr., Middlebury, Conn., was named managing partner of Lenkowski Lonergan & Co. LLP in February 2014.

Jeff Sheehan ’MSF, Marietta, Ga., is a co-author of HIRED! Paths to Employment in the Social Media Era, published in March 2014.

1982

Karen Lee (McDonnell) Drakos, North Myrtle Beach, S.C., is a senior consultant at Transition Solutions. She joins the company from Grantham, Mayo, Van Otterloo & Co. LLC. Magnusson Balfour Commercial & Business Brokers has hired Dennis Wheelock, Gardiner, Maine, to join its team of sales agents. The alumnus has owned Dennis’ Pizza for the last 30 years

Research Results, founded by John Zarrella, Fitchburg, Mass., was tapped by longtime client NBCUniversal to provide critical data collection during the Winter Olympic Games in Sochi.  As part of NBC’s “Billion Dollar Olympics Lab,” Research Results fielded a variety of studies, some pre-planned and others as topics emerged, throughout the games. Zarrella’s firm supplied timely and industry-relevant insights to help NBCU measure and respond to viewing patterns.  

1983

Baker Newman Noyes, one of New England’s largest accounting and advisory firms, promoted Carl Chatto, South Portland, Maine, to director of the firm’s audit practice in January 2014. Chatto, who has been on staff since the company’s 1995 founding, will oversee audit practice across its four offices.

The NFC Forum, a nonprofit industry association that advances the use of near field communication (NFC) technology, announced in September 2013 that Paula Hunter, Francestown, N.H., is the organization’s new executive director.

Lance Lemoine, Fair Oaks Ranch, Texas, is the new president of mortgage lending operations for Sonora Mortgage and executive vice president of Sonora Bank.

PricewaterhouseCoopers partner Mitch Roschelle, Armonk, N.Y., was elected to the Board of Directors for PENCIL. The New York City-based nonprofit pairs business and education expertise to advance school and student achievement. Over the last year, Roschelle has dedicated 600-plus hours to PwC’s Earn Your Future initiative.

In December 2013, Joseph Ternullo ’MST, Lynnfield, Mass., was appointed president of the U.S. subsidiary of Kinematix, a health care and fitness company. The alumnus, formerly with the Partners HealthCare Center for Connected Health, recently joined the Kinematix Board of Directors.

1984

James Kerr, Cromwell, Conn., wrote his fourth book, The Executive Checklist, to help C-level executives improve the way they drive change in their organization. He is a partner at the accounting, tax and business consulting firm BlumShapiro.

Linda (Minka) Krasnoo, Westfield, N.J., was promoted to marketing manager at Parker Ibrahim & Berg LLC.

1985

John Colucci, Wenham, Mass., has been named to the board of the North Shore Chamber of Commerce. He is managing director with McLane Law Firm and a member of its Corporate and Tax Law practice groups. 

Elizabeth D’Amato, Milford, Conn., was appointed vice president, commercial loan officer at Dime Bank, a mutual bank headquartered in Norwich.

Heidi Lamay, Hillsborough, N.C., was chosen as the town’s finance director in September 2013.

Maureen (Igo) Sullivan, Northborough, Mass., and her business partner, Linda Smith ’86, celebrated the 20th anniversary of their accounting firm in September 2013. The company has changed its name from Smith, Sullivan and Company PC to Smith, Sullivan and Brown PC.

1986

Stephanie Kovalick, Middle River, Md., was hired as vice president of portfolio operations for health information networking company Availity.

September 2013 marked 20 years for the accounting firm founded by Linda Smith, Marlborough, Mass., and her business partner, Maureen (Igo) Sullivan ’85. They have renamed the company: Smith, Sullivan and Brown PC. Smith was named among six Outstanding Women in Business for 2013. Accorded by the Worcester Business Journal, the honor recognizes a handful of female business leaders in central Massachusetts.

Adams Community Bank promoted Elena (McGregor) Tucker, Pittsfield, Mass., to human resource and payroll officer in December 2013. She joined the bank in 2012 as a human resource manager.

1988

Laura (Shanley) Bommarito, Plymouth, Mich., was promoted to vice president, International Operations, at Jackson Dawson Communications, where she has been employed since 1993.

Timothy Tschirhart ’MSF, North Andover, Mass., was appointed to the Finance Committee of North Andover in August 2013. He is a certified public accountant and works for Jameson & Co.

The August 30, 2013, edition of the Boston Business Journal includes an article by Cheryl Tully Stoll ’MBA, Framingham, Mass., titled “Small Business’ Meaningful Differences.” The alumna is the managing partner of Link Marketing Services LLC.

1989

Stephen Cianci, Wauconda, Ill., has been appointed vice president, sales and marketing, for UniCarriers Americas. He has been with the company since 2006.

Antoinette (Leonardi) Follett, Fayetteville, N.Y., was featured on The Today Show in January 2014. The editor-in-chief of Making Music magazine introduced new, easy-to-learn musical instruments.

The Massachusetts Governor’s Council voted 8-0 to approve the appointment of Christopher LoConto, Worcester, Mass., as an associate judge of the Fitchburg District Court. Nominated by Gov. Deval Patrick, the alumnus is a partner at LoConto & Madaio and a former assistant district attorney in Worcester. 

Mark Longo, Pasadena, Calif., has joined California Institute of Technology as director of strategic initiatives.

William McCorkle, Carlsbad, Calif., is the new chief financial officer at Genelux Corporation, a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company.

Certified holistic life coach and meditation master Jane Morales, Key Biscayne, Fla., has established EmpowerYourChildren.com. She previously worked in the television industry and as communications director for Cartier Jewelers International, in charge of Latin American markets.

The shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School moved Kate (Thibodeau) Sullivan, Park City, Utah, to create the nonprofit PC Newtown Respite Effort, which provides an opportunity for the 26 families who lost a loved one to enjoy a stay in Park City.

1990

Tina (Radwanski) Gagnon, Goffstown, N.H., was tapped as consulting director of finance for Boston Therapeutics Inc. Prior to joining the company, which develops drugs to address diabetes, the alumna was controller at Amherst Technologies LLC.

1991

David Janelle, Henniker, N.H., has joined People’s United Bank as vice president, commercial lending officer.

Place Trade earned the highest rating (4.5 stars) on Barron’s 2013 list of the best online brokers. Sarah Place, Raleigh, N.C., is CEO, founder and namesake of the online discount brokerage, one of only three firms to earn the top rating.

Veronica (White) Rosa, Brookline, N.H., has been named vice president of institutional advancement at Becker College. The role includes overseeing  advancement initiatives such as major gifts, annual giving, foundation and corporate giving, grants, stewardship and signature events.

Cheryl (Czarnaty) Shirley, Old Lyme, Conn., is now chief financial officer at the Mary Wade Home, a senior-care facility.

1992

Having retired from the Hewlett-Packard Corporation after a 31-year career, Peter D’Olimpio ’MSF, Leominster, Mass., has joined EMD Millipore as SAP senior program manager.

David Puleo, Norton, Mass., has been named vice president of operations at ETM Manufacturing. Based in Littleton, the company provides sheet-metal fabrication, machining and assembly with customized solutions.

1993

Ruth E. Barry, Lexington, Mass., received a juris doctor degree from New England Law|Boston in May 2013.

Marcelo Claure, Miami Beach, Fla., joined the board of directors of Sprint in January 2014. The alumnus is founder, chairman, president and CEO of Brightstar Corp., a wireless distributor and a leading provider of diversified services to the wireless industry.

David Hill MBA ’97 and his wife, Jennifer, Mansfield, Mass., welcomed a daughter, Catherine Josephine, on May 8, 2013. She joins big brother Laurence, age 3.

The Massachusetts Society of Certified Public Accountants conferred its Leadership Award on Kristin (Crowley) Kelley MST ’94, Chestnut Hill, Mass., in November 2013. Judges select recipients based on their distinctive leadership qualities and contributions to both the public accounting profession and their community. The alumna is a director at Abrams Little-Gill Loberfeld PC.

Allyson (Haynes) Myers, Shelburne, Vt., has joined the Board of Directors of the Charlotte Children’s Center. She is director of sales and marketing at Lake Champlain Chocolates and a corporator of the Northfield Savings Bank.

Jonathan Podell, San Francisco, Calif., has been promoted to area vice president at SuccessFactors Inc., a provider of cloud-based business execution software.

William Rivers ’MBA, Reading, Mass., was appointed vice president, enterprise risk management, at GFA Federal Credit Union. Most recently, at Members Plus Credit Union, he served as vice president of retail and IT operations, as well as Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) officer.

Eileen Wynne ’MSA, Scituate, Mass., has been promoted to vice president, corporate controller and chief accounting officer for electronic equipment company Analog Devices Inc.

1994

The Board of Directors of Odyssey Marine Exploration Inc. appointed Philip Devine ’MSA, Naples, Fla., to the position of chief financial officer, effective September 16, 2013.

In November 2013, Joanne Eckert, Stamford, Conn., joined digital media management company YANGAROO. She is vice president of sales and business development for the company’s Advertising Division in New York. The alumna has held executive positions with several major media organizations. Most recently, at LodgeNet Interactive Corporation, she was vice president — ad sales and partnerships.

Cheryl Kramer wed Dr. Andrew Salem on May 5, 2013, in Albany, N.Y.

Christopher Wheeler, Hollis, N.H., has launched Dedicating Dollars, a crowdfunding website whose initial focus is health-related campaigns.

Tom Wirzburger MBA ’95, Gilbert, S.C., has been promoted to training administrator at JTEKT North America Corporation. The global company provides technology-driven products to leading automakers.

1995

The Women’s Executive Network has named Jacqui Allard ’MBA, Toronto, Ontario, as one of Canada’s 100 most powerful women in the Scotiabank Corporate Executives Division. The alumna is an executive at Manulife Financial Corp., serving as senior vice president, head of operations and chief investment officer, Investment Division.

Annmarie (Montgomery) Cullen, West Roxbury, Mass., is now a middle-school math teacher in the Quincy Public Schools.

Harvard Bioscience Inc. hired Robert Gagnon, Natick, Mass., as chief financial officer. He served as executive vice president, chief financial officer and treasurer at Clean Harbors Inc.

Barry Jensen ’MBA, Kingston, Mass., was named chief information officer of Rockland Trust. He has worked for the company for 15 years.

Mike Laird, Upton, Mass., published a book, Jesus and Red Sox Nation, in December 2013. He is a pastor at New England Chapel in Franklin, Mass.

Gina (Silvestri) Lynch MBA ’98, Saint Augustine, Fla., has accepted a position as director of project management, IT, at Step Up for Students. The nonprofit organization provides scholarships for low-income school-aged children.

Jeffrey Warfield MST ’96, Grafton, Mass., joined Paresky Flitt & Company LLP as director of tax. His previous employer is Alexander, Aronson, Finning & Co PC.

1996

C.C. Chapman, Milford, Mass., has joined YSN as chief marketing officer. He is the author of two best-selling books.

Merlyn Griffiths ’MBA, Greensboro, N.C., has been promoted to associate professor with tenure at University of North Carolina–Greensboro. She is believed to be the first African American female to receive tenure in the 44-year history of the Bryan School of Business and Economics.

The Builders and Remodelers Association of Greater Boston recognized Wayne Lopez ’MBA, Charlestown, Mass., at the association’s PRISM Awards gala in October 2013. Lopez, a principal of Real Estate Sales Integration Solutions, earned silver in the “Sales Person of the Year: Builder
or Associate” category. 

Dimensional Funds II PLC announced the appointment of John Romiza, London, England, as a fund director in December 2013. He has headed international trading at Dimensional Fund Advisors Ltd. since March 2008. In that role, Romiza is responsible for all non-U.S. trading, managing a team of 15 individuals. He is a member of the firm’s London Management Committee and chairman of the London Investment Committee.

Jennifer (Valentino) Vernazza, Wellesley, Mass., began a job at Genzyme Corporation as principal, medical affairs, in October 2013.

1998

Robert Adinolfi, Manalapan, N.J., has been promoted to chief operating officer at Renaissance Properties. He has been with the company since 2002.

Stephen Ahern MST ’98, Stoneham, Mass., of Wealth Management Advisors LLC, earned the Accredited Estate Planner® certification.

Carolyn (Sears) Morgan, Boxford, Mass., has been promoted to president at LehmanMillet. She and her husband, Garrett ’00, welcomed a second set of twins on July 29, 2012: Owen Patrick and Josephine Devon. Big sisters Alexandria and Evelyn turned 4 years old in May 2014.

Jake Oates, Leesburg, Va., has been named to the “40 Under 40” list compiled by Professional Builder magazine for 2014. The annual accolade honors young leaders in home building. Oates is chief financial officer at Miller and Smith.

1999

Christopher Conti, Bonita Springs, Fla., has joined Stroemer & Company as audit manager. He was previously employed at Fiske & Company.

Yana Kondakova ’MBA married Ari Orenstein on November 16, 2013, in a ceremony at The Valley of Fire, followed by a reception at The Palazzo, both in Las Vegas, Nev. The couple honeymooned at Conrad Rangali Island Resort in the Maldives.

Gregory McLaughlin, Marblehead, Mass., was named a 2014 Five Star Wealth Manager, based on an independent survey by Five Star Professional — his third consecutive year receiving the honor. The alumnus is a financial consultant with Centinel Financial Group LLC. 

Steven Roach ’MBA, Littleton, Mass., became president and CEO at Marlborough Hospital in November 2013. Most recently, he was CEO at Nashoba Valley Medical Center in Ayer.

Kathleen (Callahan) Shields, Milton, Mass., has accepted a position in the travel program of Harvard Museums of Science & Culture. 

2000

Jason Burke, Georgetown, Mass., accepted a position as account executive at GE Healthcare—Clarient. His previous employer was Masimo Corporation.

The Scituate Board of Selectmen voted unanimously on September 17, 2013, to hire Nancy Holt ’MBA as the town’s finance director/town accountant.

Amy (Tarbox) Johnson, Warwick, R.I., has joined the Brown University Center for Careers and Life After Brown as coordinator for career fields in business, finance and consulting. Her previous post at the university was manager of the Industrial Partners Program, within the Computer Science Department.

Garrett Morgan and his wife, Carolyn (Sears) ’98, Boxford, Mass., welcomed a second set of twins on July 29, 2012. Owen Patrick and Josephine Devon join sisters Alexandria and Evelyn, who turned 4 in May 2014.

Robert Smith ’MST, North Grafton, Mass., has joined the Boston office of CBIZ Tofias as a director in the tax group. He has more than 20 years of public and private accounting experience at national firms, including two of the Big Four.

The Cape Cod Canal Region Chamber of Commerce presented James Snyder, Brewster, Mass., with its Mentor of the Year Award in January 2014. The alumnus has been employed by Cape Cod Five Cents Savings Bank since 2005.

Stan Thouveny ’MBA was promoted to finance director—France at CareerBuilder. He and wife Beatrice welcomed a son, Valentin, in August 2013; the family also includes big brother Timothee.

Masaru Uchinaga ’MBA was married in Japan on June 9, 2013. He and wife Miho live in Tokyo.

2001

Kellie Ahern MSAIS ’02 married David Watts on December 20, 2013, in Richmond, Va.

Allan Creel, Las Vegas, Nev., joined the 2013 Executive Committee for the annual Shriners Hospitals for Children Open. He is CEO of Digital Lizard and president of Creel Printing Company.

Chad Edgar, Washington, D.C., received the 2013 Attorney General’s Award for Fraud Prevention, recognizing his work to prosecute tax refund fraud and identity theft at the Department of Justice, Tax Division. Recipients demonstrate exceptional dedication and effort to prevent, investigate and prosecute fraud, white-collar crimes and official corruption.

Jill Grabowski married James Collins on January 27, 2013. The couple settled in Watertown, Mass., after a wedding trip to Athens and the islands of Greece.

Jessica (Eaton-Bruce) Kansas and husband George, South Hadley, Mass., are proud parents of Sophia Madeline, born June 9, 2013. She joins 4-year-old Helen Elyse.

Kate McCullough, Alexandria, Va., married Todd Spitler on August 17, 2013. The ceremony took place at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md. Attendants included matron of honor Kristen Raffetto and bridesmaids Jillia (Lamoureux) Nowlan ’01, Heather (Rysdyke) Cheney ’01 and Vivian (Cheng) Fest ’01.

Kyla (Kenney) Ruane, Sudbury, Mass., welcomed a son, Declan Michael, on November 14, 2013.

Marcelo Sa, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, joined that city’s office of 2SV Sports Management as chief executive officer.

Michelle (Gentile) Taylor MBA ’07 and husband Ben ’02, Medfield, Mass., welcomed a baby boy, Luke Benjamin, on January 14, 2013.

Marshall-Ben Tisdale, Groton, Mass., celebrated his 10th anniversary as an Edward Jones financial adviser in Westford in September 2013.

2002

Shant Banosian, Belmont, Mass., was recognized by Mortgage Executive magazine as the 18th-ranked loan originator in the United States, as measured by total closed volume for 2013. He is a senior vice president at Guaranteed Rate.

Bryan Brown wed Kristen Godfrey ’04 on September 1, 2013. The former Bentley football player remains involved in the Alumni Association, most recently leading a First-Time Home Buying seminar for young alumni.

MJ DiBerardino, Newington, Conn., was promoted to chief technology officer of Cloudnexa, a cloud management solutions provider. A founding member of the management team, DiBerardino played a role in securing Series A venture funding for Cloudnexa in the fourth quarter of 2013.

Monica (Erwin) Fracht and husband Adam, Houston, Texas, said hello to son Henry Edward on August 22, 2013.

Kimberly (Souza) Kaiser ’MBA, Clovis, Calif., was appointed board president of Susan G. Komen Central Valley.  She is the managing director for Amici Communications LLC, a boutique public relations and digital marketing agency that specializes in building online business communities and developing a brand-loyal customer base.

Mackenzie Nurse MBA ’11 and Adam Giuffre MBA ’11 tied the knot on September 14, 2013. The two met on a short-term trip while studying at Bentley’s Graduate School. Nearly 20 Bentley alumni were on hand to celebrate the special day.

Ben Taylor and his wife, Michelle (Gentile) ’01, MBA ’07, Medfield, Mass., greeted a son, Luke Benjamin, born on January 14, 2013.

2003

Lindsay (Interland) Crawford, Yarmouth, Maine, has launched Herbal Grace Creations, a natural beauty and skin care company.

Jennifer Gentile married James Martin on October 10, 2013, in Bucine, Italy. She studied abroad in Italy and returned to celebrate her wedding with family and friends, including Angela (Ciacera) Gusso ’03 and Janet (Pulvermiller) Beebe ’03.

Maetrics LLC welcomed R.J. Lemieux ’MBA, Duxbury, Mass., as vice president of sales and general manager for the global company’s northeastern U.S. region. Lemieux joins the company from Boston consulting firm RM Nephew & Associates LLC.

Erin (Daly) Pappo, Pittsfield, Mass., joined Camden Consulting Group as client services director.

Erik Potts, Stratham, N.H., has received the New Hampshire 2013 Five Star Wealth Manager Award. A registered representative and financial planner with New England Securities, Potts is now a three-time winner of the accolade. He has worked with Baystate Financial since 2003.

Michael Serrao, Fairfield, Conn., has been promoted to vice president of Seligson Properties, a real estate development and management company. He joined the company in 2003 with a focus on property management and construction operations.

Janine Shaghalian ’MSIT wed Bart Donlan on September 13, 2013, at the Saints Sahag and Mesrob Armenian Church in Providence. A reception followed at the Providence Public Library

2004

Jennifer Bethke MBA ’07, Cockeysville, Md., is now associate director of graduate admissions at Towson University.

Eva Biedak MBA ’06 married Gregory Connors on September 2, 2012. She has been promoted to a position in Frankfurt, Germany, with her company, State Street.

The accounting and consulting firm Baker Newman Noyes welcomed Robert Croak MST ’04, Wilmington, Mass., as a principal in its growing Tax Advisory Services practice.

Kristen Godfrey wed Bryan Brown ’02 on September 1, 2013, at The Villa in East Bridgewater, Mass. The couple shared their day with many, many close friends from Bentley.

Matthew Gorham and wife Deann, Canton, Mass., welcomed a baby girl, Vida Mirabelle, on August 15, 2013.

Howard Jeandenis MBA ’08, Bridgeport, Conn., has joined Merrill Lynch in wealth management. He welcomed a son, Hayden Howard, in November 2013. The alumnus won an award from Innocentive Inc. for a sustainability education program called Green Competitive Advantage, which he created in October 2012.

Jared Katz proposed to Jacquelyn Mascetti MBA ‘07 on August 5, 2011, on Bentley’s campus. They married a year later, on August 25, 2012, at the Tappan Hill Mansion in Tarrytown, N.Y.

Cesar Morales Aguirre wed Jeffrey Stewart on January 12, 2013. The Stewart-Moraleses make their home in Framingham, Mass.

Eric Olson, Chicago, Ill., has joined early-stage venture capital firm Origin Ventures. The 15-year-old firm has backed companies such as GrubHub. The move reunites Olson with fellow FeedBurner alumnus Brent Hill and early sponsors of his TECH Cocktail event series, Bruce Barron and Steve Miller.

Emily (Bokar) Walker, Anchorage, Alaska, joined Rasmuson Foundation, a private foundation that supports Alaskan nonprofit organizations, as a communications associate. She worked for President Barack Obama for five years, as his senior scheduler in the U.S. Senate and an early member of the web team during Obama’s first presidential election.

Christopher Wetmore MBA ’11 and wife Rebecca, Reading, Mass., announce the birth of a son, Michael Anthony, on January 29, 2014.

2005

Karen (Suydam) Bair MBA ’09, Burlington, Conn., welcomed a baby girl, Isabella Marie, on August 12, 2013.

Adam Barney married Paula Jean Yanosy on May 11, 2013, at Southport Congregational Church in Southport, Conn., followed by a reception at Great River Golf Club in Milford. The couple honeymooned in the Cook Islands and New Zealand.

Jessica Gioglio, Boston, Mass., wrote The Power of Visual Storytelling: How to Use Visuals, Videos, and Social Media to Market Your Brand, published in February 2014. The alumna is social media manager for Dunkin’ Brands.

Kathleen (Crary) Lindberg, Canton, Mass., is now competitive intelligence analyst at Dunkin’ Brands.

Kevin Rowley, West Roxbury, Mass., graduated from the Boston Police Academy (Class 52-13) on July 9, 2013, and was sworn in as a member of the Boston Police Department. Appointed to the department in January 2013, he is a patrolman assigned to one of the 11 police districts within the city of Boston. Rowley tells of another member of the class employed as a law enforcement professional and first responder: Michael Shanahan ’05 graduated from the Boston Police Academy (Class 46-07) on December 7, 2007, and was sworn in as a member of the Andover (Mass.) Police Department. Shanahan was appointed to the department in June 2007 and serves as a patrolman.

Michele Scotto MBA ’06 and his wife, Stephanie (Pencz) ’06, Summit, N.J., welcomed a daughter in August 2013. The future Falcon is named Alessia.

2006

Stephen Costa and Quentara Johnson ’07, MSPFP ’08 were married on September 1, 2013, at St. Michael’s Church in North Andover, Mass. The reception site was Bradford Country Club.

Mary (Pietrocarlo) and husband Nic Korba, Vineyard Haven, Mass., welcomed baby daughter Ivy Lynne on December 2, 2013. Nic joined RE/MAX on Island as a real estate agent in 2013.

Jens Kullmann ’MBA, MSA ’12, Medford, Mass., welcomed baby girl Eleanor on January 9, 2014.

Paul McIntyre ’06 and Laura Pike ’07, MSA ’08 were married August 10, 2013, at the Merrimack Valley Golf Club in Methuen, Mass. The couple honeymooned in Hawaii.

Alissa Rogers, San Francisco, Calif., accepted a job as a recruiter at Google/YouTube. She was previously employed by BloomReach.

Stephanie (Pencz) Scotto and her husband, Michele ’05, MBA ’06, Summit, N.J., welcomed their first child in August 2013: daughter Alessia.

In November 2013, Brian Shaw, Needham Heights, Mass., opened a Craft Beer Cellar franchise in Newton Centre.

Jaclyn (Lathrop) and her husband, Peter Smith, Leesport, Pa., welcomed a second daughter, Campbell Clair, on November 5, 2013. She joins big sister Harper, age 2.

Aakar Vachhani wed Monika Gondha on September 7, 2013. The alumnus was promoted to senior associate at Fairview Capital Partners.

2007

Lekisha Benjamin married Emmanuel Limage on August 10, 2013. Bentley alumnae in the wedding party included Cassandre Petit-Frere ’07, MSA ’08; Pam Nankati ’06; and Christina (Dennis) Nash ’06.

Lisa Buesking MST ’08 and David Cawley MSA ’08 exchanged vows on June 22, 2013, in Groton, Mass. Stephen Kennedy ’07 served as best man; David Milkes ’07, MSA ’08 and Kevin Daniels ’07 as groomsmen; and Elise Noel ’07 as a bridesmaid.

Aileen Capili and Andrew Lee ’08 said “I do” on September 8, 2013, in Plymouth, Mass. Attendants included matron of honor Stephanie (Gagnon) Goldberg ’09, MSA ’11; best man Andrew Tewksbury ’08; bridesmaid Kristen McMullen ’10; and groomsmen Andrew Pierce ’08, David Tubis ’08 and Robert Rizzi ’08.

Aubree Deane MST ’08 married Anthony Novak on December 1, 2012, in Orange, Mass. Bridesmaids included Diya Sukh ’07, Bijal Patel ’07 and Sita (Mehta) Merchea ’07. The couple welcomed a son, Jensen Alexander, on December 16, 2013.

Jessica Kacmar, Woodstock, Ill., has been promoted to marketing coordinator in the Chicago office of Thornton Tomasetti, an international engineering firm.

Quentara Johnson MSFP ’08 and Stephen Costa ‘06 tied the knot on September 1, 2013, at St. Michael’s Church in North Andover, Mass. The reception took place at Bradford Country Club.

Garrett Langdon wed Lara El Sherif on September 1, 2013. The couple celebrated with dozens of Bentley friends from Tau Kappa Epsilon, including best man John LaMontagne ’07 and groomsman Ted Blake ’07. The groom is now employed as a financial analyst at Bipartisan Policy Center in Washington, D.C. 

Shannon Leary MBA ’10 and Joe Nardi ’08 said “I do” at the Blithewold Mansion, Gardens and Arboretum in Bristol, R.I., on September 13, 2013. After the wedding, the couple skied at Valle Nevado Resort in Chile then flew to Aruba to relax on the beach. Bentley alumni in the wedding party included maid of honor Krista Harrington ’07, bridesmaid Bethany (Howell) Freedman ‘07, best man Owen Barrett ’08 and groomsman Mike Brown ’08.

Jonathan Lopes, Chicago, Ill., was promoted to director, strategy and analysis, at Digitas.

Laura Pike MSA ’08 and Paul McIntyre ’06 were married August 10, 2013, at the Merrimack Valley Golf Club in Methuen, Mass. The couple honeymooned in Hawaii.

Craig Provencher MBA ’09 and Beth Savage ’08, MBA ’09 were married on September 29, 2012, in Sarasota, Fla. They celebrated with many fellow grads, including Jennifer Donoghue ’08; Lauren Keller ’08; Amber (Gracey) Lynch ’06; James Lynch ’07; Christina Sadowski ’08, MST ’11; and Joe Tiano ’07.

Blake Reynolds, Dorchester, Mass., is the founder and principal consultant at Blake Reynolds Consulting. He is currently employed with The Brattle Group.

Anish Shah, London, England, has been promoted to senior vice president, group internal audit, at Barclays Bank PLC. He oversees quantitative modeling and market risk for the 325-year-old global bank.

Andrew Sierra MBA ’09 and Shireen Rahjou ’08 tied the knot on May 4, 2013, in Miami Beach, Fla. They celebrated with many Bentley alumni, including groomsman Christian Lam ’07, and bridesmaids Tiffany Lee ’08 and Martine Keating ’08.

Samantha Smith and Charles Calcagni were married on May 12, 2012, at the Elm Court Estate in Lenox, Mass. The impressive Bentley guest list included Kristin DeSousa ’00; Kaitie Faria ’07; Mike Fioretti ’06, MSA ’07; Justin Govonlu ’06; Tamar Kooy ’07; Chad Mastin ’06; Nicole (Smith) Mastin ’07; Kaitlin Morley ’07; Kyle Radley ’07; Jackie Petrone ’07; Gino Servello ’07; Ryan Stewart ’07; Dave Sutton ’06; Kristen (Dudley) Wasynczuk ’07; and Nick Wasynczuk ’07. The couple honeymooned in Bora Bora and currently reside in New York, N.Y.

Jonathan Spencer wed Erin Lahey on January 4, 2014, at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla. Other alumni in attendance included Elise Noel ’07. The couple reside in Charlestown, Mass.

Ryan Stewart and wife Melissa, New York, N.Y., welcomed their future Falcon, Hudson, on February 14, 2014.

Andrew Wiedenhofer married Evangeline Vickery on September 28, 2013, in Burlington, Mass.

2008

Christopher Campbell and Katelyn D’Eramo married on December 28, 2013, in the company of 50 Bentley alumni. Members of the bridal party were maid of honor Kristina Aufiero ’08, MBA ’10; Jessica (Durfee) Bender ’08; Joey Calvetti ’08, MST ’09; Michael Crowley ’08; Justin Hagert ’07; Marissa Noe ’08; Cat Porfert ’08; Bernadette Trenholm ’08; and Jon Wright ’08. The couple met on the first day of their freshman year, started dating as juniors, and got engaged in 2012. Chris earned a master’s degree in moderate special education K-8 from Lesley University in May 2012. He is the seventh-grade integrated and inclusion facilitator in Newton Public Schools. The couple reside in Quincy, Mass.

Elizabeth Connolly and Tyler Heishman tied the knot on December 31, 2013, in Tucson, Ariz., surrounded by many friends and family members.

Michael Crowley married Katherine Hudson at the Bald Head Island Chapel in North Carolina on September 28, 2013. Groomsmen included Joey Calvetti ’08, Christopher Campbell ’08, Nick Prendergast ’08 and Jon Wright ’08.

Lauren Mary Gotimer, Monroe, Conn., accepted a job as internal logistics coordinator at PHARMCO-AAPER in March 2013. She was previously employed at Rose Containerline Inc.

Andrew Lee and Aileen Capili ’07 said “I do” on September 8, 2013, in Plymouth, Mass. The couple were attended by matron of honor Stephanie (Gagnon) Goldberg ’09, MSA ’11; best man Andrew Tewksbury ’08; bridesmaid Kristen McMullen ’10; and groomsmen Andrew Pierce ’08, David Tubis ’08 and Robert Rizzi ’08.

Joe Nardi and Shannon Leary ’07, MBA ’10 married at the Blithewold Mansion, Gardens and Arboretum in Bristol, R.I., on September 13, 2013. The honeymooners skied at Valle Nevado Resort in Chile and enjoyed beach time in Aruba. Alumni in the wedding party were maid of honor Krista Harrington ’07, bridesmaid Bethany (Howell) Freedman ‘07, best man Owen Barrett ’08 and groomsman Mike Brown ’08.

Mitch Orkis, Fulton, N.Y., was named to the Forbes “30 Under 30” list in the Marketing and Advertising category. He works at media agency Vizeum, a part of Dentsu Aegis that launched in the U.S. in 2011. Orkis is charged with spurring new business, which increased approximately 30 percent in 18 months.

Shireen Rahjou and Andrew Sierra ’07, MBA ‘09 tied the knot on May 4, 2013, in Miami Beach, Fla. The many alumni on hand included groomsman Christian Lam ’07 and bridesmaids Tiffany Lee ’08 and Martine Keating ’08.

Beth Savage MBA ’09 and Craig Provencher ’07, MBA ’09 were married on September 29, 2012, in Sarasota, Fla. Guests included Jennifer Donoghue ’08; Lynch ’06; James Lynch ’07; Christina Sadowski ’08, MST ’11; and Joe Tiano ’07.

Erica Streun and Ryan Lavigne said “I do” on April 1, 2013.

After almost six years at Deloitte Consulting, Kimiko Tanaka, Wakefield, Mass., has joined Velir as solutions architect. The agency specializes in content management websites.

2009

Bérengère Cases ’MBA wed Baptiste Godard on November 16, 2013, in Lire, France. Son Arthur Alexandre rounds out the family.

Lauren Colby and Brendan Ross exchanged wedding vows on August 23, 2013, at Blithewold Mansion in Bristol, R.I.

After dating all four years of college, Megan Fairbank and Michael Credit MST ’11 married on June 9, 2012, at the Maryvale Castle in Baltimore, Md., with a reception at the Pier 5 Hotel. Brian Malconian ’09 was a groomsman. Michael works at Social Solutions in Baltimore as a senior staff accountant, having passed the CPA exam in September 2013.

LaShika Laboriel, Framingham, Mass., joined Virgin Pulse as an account manager. She was previously employed at Epsilon.

Lauren Langell, Charlotte, N.C., was named human resources manager at Adams Beverages of NC LLC.

2010

Jeffrey Aron ’MSPFP, Sharon, Mass., accepted a position as wealth manager at Wealth Management Advisors LLC in October 2013.

Julie Czerepak MBA ’11, Bow, N.H., joined ’47 Brand, a sports lifestyle apparel and headwear brand, as its first-ever retail marketing manager. She will oversee expanding the brand’s retail presence.

Abigail DeMusis, New York, N.Y., graduated from Quinnipiac University School of Law in May 2013. She passed the bar exam in July 2013 and has joined the New York Bar. The alumna is an associate attorney at Sullivan & Cromwell LLP.

Paloma Ferreira and Thomas Standley MBA ’11 were married on November 23, 2013, at Notre Dame Church in Southbridge, Mass. A reception followed at the Publick House Historic Inn in Sturbridge.

Michael Fischer wed Tiffany Angeloni on July 6, 2013, in Newburyport. Groomsmen included Kevin Kearns ’10 and Dan Killay ’10.

Justin Girolimon, Torrington, Conn., was promoted to senior vice president and chief financial officer at Village Mortgage.

Travelers has hired Thomas Lawson, Denver, Colo., as associate account executive.

Lauren Pettiglio, Waltham, Mass., was promoted to marketing campaign manager at Brainshark Inc. She has been with the company since January 2012.

Allison St. Jean, Stratham, N.H., has joined Fidelity Investments as a private client specialist.

2011

Tyler Farrell, Brighton, Mass., is now bookkeeper at Rothstein Kass. His previous post was staff accountant at Stran & Company.

Taylor Fisher, Merrimac, Mass., has been hired as general manager of the Old Orchard Beach Raging Tide, a collegiate summer baseball team playing in the Futures League.

Matt Gillen, Weatogue, Conn., joined Building Engines Inc. as a client support specialist in February 2014. Previously, he was a customer experience manager and technical writer for iDevices in Avon.

Adam Giuffre ’MBA and Mackenzie Nurse ’02, MBA ’11 tied the knot on September 14, 2013, at the Hyannis Yacht Club. The pair met on a short-term trip while pursuing graduate degrees at Bentley. Close to 20 fellow alumni gathered to celebrate their special day.

Alessandra Gordon MBA ’12, Bolton, Mass., joined The DAVIS Companies in March 2013 as a recruiting professional and, two months later, moved into a new role as corporate relations manager. She earned the Professional in Human Resources (PHR) certification in May 2010.

Jhonnari Jimenez MSA ’13, Brooklyn, N.Y., is an assurance associate at Ernst & Young.

Lisa Kolakowski married Vincent Buonocore Jr. on September 1, 2013. She has been promoted to lead training consultant at Colonial Life and received the Aspire Award at an employee recognition conference for Unum Group.

Monica Mohan, Boston, Mass., has joined Bain & Company as senior legal coordinator. Her previous employer was Boston Consulting Group.

Kelly Peterson, San Francisco, Calif., became an analyst at DigitasLBi in Januay 2014. She previously worked at Rakuten Loyalty.

Gail Regan ’MSIT, Quincy, Mass., was honored at the annual Massachusetts Golf Association Salute to Champions awards dinner, held at Wellesley Country Club on January 9, 2014. She won the Women’s Golf Association of Massachusetts Senior Women’s Amateur title by shooting 75 to tie for the lead, then prevailed in a four-hole, sudden-death playoff to take home the trophy. Her win was featured in GolfWorld magazine’s December issue. Regan hasn’t quit her day job just yet: She is a senior software engineer with URS Corp., designing aerospace aviation modeling software for NASA and the FAA.

BlumShapiro, a New England-based accounting, tax and business consulting firm, promoted Shirley Yung, Westerly, R.I., from staff accountant to senior accountant. She will continue to provide accounting support services to the firm’s audit teams, while taking on a leadership role.

2012

Rose Barsumian, Waltham, Mass., has been promoted to human resources associate at PARAXEL International.

Cesar Campillo, North Bay Village, Fla., is now junior financial adviser/CSA with Morgan Stanley Wealth Management.

Hartford Funds has tapped Taylor Grant, Philadelphia, Pa., as fixed income and alternative investment analyst.

Joelle Janigian, Auburn, N.H., was featured in The Boston Globe in February 2014 for her blog My Sunday Dress, in which she writes about faith and fashion.

Melissa (Rivers) Magoon, Manchester, N.H., joined BerryDunn as a tax specialist. She was previously employed at Elliott Hospital.

Lily Ann Montemayor, Basking Ridge, N.J., has joined Virgin Mobile USA as web designer II.

Katie Shill, New York, N.Y., accepted a position as account executive at VaynerMedia.

2013

Lindsey Albert, Leominster, Mass., is now a market research associate at Decision Resources.

Robert Dextradeur, Boston, Mass., joined Deloitte Consulting as business technology analyst.

Katie DiTomaso, Peabody, Mass., accepted a position as corporate study coordinator at Fresenius Medical Care.

Kelsey Gay, North Dighton, Mass., is now education coordinator at Massachusetts General Hospital.

Boston-based staffing firm American Personnel has brought aboard Kristina Gravellese, Revere, Mass., as a recruiter.

Rachel Gross ’MSA married Ben Lawent on May 26, 2013, at the Schlitz Audubon Nature Center in Milwaukee, Wis.

Matthew Kelliher-Gibson ’MBA, Greenville, S.C., accepted a marketing analyst position at Sourcelink, a data-driven communication company.

Christopher Lucia, Walpole, Mass., has taken up associate auditor duties at State Street.

Junzhi Ma, Westborough, Mass., is now a financial analyst at Global Atlantic Financial Group.

Dunkin’ Brands has welcomed Alyssa Mooney, Hudson, N.H., as a staff accountant.

Mark Wagoner, Shrewsbury, Mass., joined Centinel Financial Group LLC as a financial representative. The wealth management firm helps individuals, families and businesses build and protect their assets.  

Yizhong (Ethan) Yu ’MSIT, Natick, Mass., is now a quality assurance analyst with customer relationship marketing agency Merkle Inc.