When it comes to evaluating user experience programs, there are a lot of factors to consider. Value Colleges takes some of the guess work out of the process for students by running programs through an extensive formula that ranks them based on a combination of quality and affordability. In its latest rankings for 2016, Value Colleges ranks the Master of Science in Human Factors in Information Design (MHFID) program at Bentley University #14, citing the strength of its curriculum and emphasis on helping students with career planning.

With the user experience (UX) market exploding, Value Colleges notes that “many forward-thinking colleges and universities are taking up the task of preparing students for work in user design.” As a leader in the area of UX, the MSHFID program at Bentley focuses on how understanding human behavior and perception can inform product design and lead to increased ease of use and long-term profitability for innovative organizations. In addition to being recognized by Value Colleges, the program was named the top academic user experience program in the world in 2014 by UX Magazine. Graduates of the program are highly sought after by some of the world’s leading companies, including YouTube, eBay, ESPN and Google.

See what Value Colleges had to say about Bentley’s MSHFID Program:

“A private university in Waltham, MA, Bentley University was founded as a business and accounting school and retains that focus today, with an emphasis on technology in business and industry. Bentley promises students the latest and most up-to-date knowledge in business technology, a promise backed up by its innovative degree programs, such as the Master’s in Human Factors in Information Design. Bentley’s program focuses on UX Design even more specifically than many other programs, giving students a clear direction into the future of their career, and Bentley carries an average ROI on par with the Ivy Leagues at $650,000.”

Written by Melissa Massello.

America runs on Dunkin', but the strategies that drive such successful campaigns run on data analytics—like the team helmed by Lindsay Starner, Bentley MBA '13.

As VP/Director of Analytics for famed Boston agency Hill-Holliday, Starner is acutely aware of the quantifiable difference analytics now has on our personal and professional lives. Though most of us probably still can't define it, "Big Data" has become pervasive in our everyday lives.

"I go to SoulCycle with my future mother- and sisters-in-law twice a week," Starner says. "We show up at class, put our shoes on and sync our heart rate monitors to our watches (Polar, Garmin, Apple). After class, we walk out and almost immediately compare key stats on performance. That doesn’t happen in a world where analytics isn’t increasingly important."

She is a part of the team at Hill-Holliday’s much-hyped new Trilia Media division that was created to combine analytics and technology with innovative ideas and traditional marketing

Knowing the importance that data analytics now has in the everyday lives of mainstream consumers comes in very handy for Starner and her team, especially when representing major consumer brands like Dunkin' Donuts, Chili's, Major League Baseball and John Hancock.

"I love that analysis is happening everywhere – even with those who don’t consider themselves analysts or statisticians," Starner says. "All of the dashboards and interfaces for these devices make math and analysis accessible to all. It’s really fun to watch."

Not surprisingly, the professional demand for workers with analytics skills has jumped 82 percent in the past five years, according to market research commissioned by Bentley.

(Check out this article from the Bentley Magazine about how data analytics and big data are impacting all careers and industries.)

"For me professionally, I have many more options than 5-10 years ago," says Starner. "I can work at a big-name brand, nearly any agency or startup – jobs in analytics are now much broader and among the first to be staffed, whereas a few years ago they were mainly outsourced and only a few options existed. Everyone wants data and analytics to be a core competency, which happens to help drive opportunity for all of us."

Learn more about the career choices Lindsay Starner has made:

Why did you choose Bentley?

I knew I didn't want to go back to school full time. I love what I do, and I love where I work. So I used my employee education credits to pursue a part-time MBA while staying at my job full-time. It was an easy decision. My parents have always focused on education, so it was a given that my sister and I were both going to go back to graduate school at some point.

First, I thought about a masters in marketing analytics (MSMA). Then my father (Bentley management professor William Starner) suggested an MBA might be a better fit for me. And he was right. The program is just that good.

Not sure if you need an MBA? Check out these 5 Ways Your Job Will Tell You It’s Time For Your MBA.

What does a "day in the life" of your role at Hill-Holliday look like?

I love that no two days are ever the same and no two meetings are, either.

One of the things that brought me to an agency is the diversity of thought housed under one roof. A business analytics MBA can spend an hour with a Creative Director, Copywriter and Brand Planner to discuss a client’s business and what we can do to help. These meetings create a clash of perspectives that produce really thoughtful and awesome work for our clients–and also help us to learn. I'm not the only voice driving an outcome, but instead there are voices from people who are like and unlike me, so we’re able to approach a problem from multiple directions at a given time.

I learn something new every time I sit in a brainstorm or strategy session, so I’d say that a day in my life looks a lot like learning.

You've spent your career at three local powerhouses: Racepoint, Digitas and now Hill Holiday. Why is Boston such a hotbed for data analytics expertise?

At the risk of being unoriginal, Boston and its tremendous list of schools is the perfect setting for an analytics hotbed. As a native New Englander, I’ve seen the level of innovation increase steadily over time, with companies making a concerted effort to conduct cutting edge research and help area startups grow.

At HH, we have something called Beacon, which builds on Boston's entrepreneurial energy by providing partnerships to start-ups in marketing and technology.

Virtually every Boston neighborhood has organized events or organizations to support idea-sharing and innovation. With entrepreneurism, research and innovation, Boston also had to be an analytics incubator, a discipline that's growing and at the heart of innovation.

Besides analytics, are there any other business trends you’re passionate about?

The idea that Millennials are more interested in experiences than owning things. Uber, Zipcar, AirBnB, streaming content–these are the most obvious examples of a massive cultural shift. I’m looking forward to seeing where this goes for businesses that have the opportunity to embrace the trend of selling authentic experiences to an audience that appreciates them and isn’t overly focused on material goods.

Interested in analytics? Read Startner's take on the hottest big data trends right now.

Written by Melissa Massello.

The term "Big Data" gets thrown around a lot these days—in fact, the entire Winter 2016 issue of the Bentley Magazine was devoted to the subject. But what does it actually mean? Why should we care?

To find out, we interviewed two Bentley alumni doing exciting things in the world of data analytics for their take on big data and upcoming trends they see from inside this fascinating yet foggy-to-most emerging area of business.
 

What Is Big Data?

"Big data is the amount of data that puts pressure and stress on the technology available at that point in time—it's the amount of data that's going to break the way we're currently used to handling it," says Joe Dery, MSMA '11 and current doctoral candidate.

"Big data is nothing new. My first computer had 64GB of memory, which my father told me I'd never be able to fill up in my lifetime. Now my phone has more storage than that."

Need a big data refresher? Read this overview on the topic from the Bentley Magazine.

What makes data "big" is relative to the time period and relative to the user. "Big data" to digital behemoths like Amazon, Google, Twitter and Facebook is very different than what "big data" would mean to a mom-and-pop small business or to the average family.
 

When you stop to consider that 90 percent of the world's data has been created in the last two years alone, according to IBM, it's no wonder that demand for hiring workers able to analyze all that data has risen 82 percent in the past five years, with more than 270,000 jobs currently available that involve "data analysis".

As a VP/Director of Analytics for Hill Holliday, one of the top advertising and marketing agencies in the world, Lindsay Starner, MBA '13 spends a lot of time convincing clients and colleagues that more data isn't always better—that just because you have access to all of the data all of the time and everything can be counted, doesn’t mean that it should.

"Measurement has to be strategic," Starner says. "Just because data is available in real time doesn't mean that you should be looking at hour-over-hour data… or that after you've already decided on certain KPIs (key performance indicators) you can throw them out because oh, look over here, this click-through rate is bad." Read this profile of Starner and her data analytics career.

Now that "big data" has become such big business, here are six big trends Dery and Starner anticipate seeing in the workplace in the near future:

In this article, Michael Page, provost and vice president for Academic Affairs, and Professor Roy (Chip) Wiggins III, dean of business and the Graduate School of Business, describe the history, goals and successes of Bentley’s MBA program. It originally appeared in Global Focus, the business magazine of the European Foundation for Management Development (EFMD).

In the book Rethinking the MBA: Business Education at a Crossroads authors Srikant Datar, David Garvin and Patrick Cullen argue that the MBA required to develop the leaders and entrepreneurs our societies need, involves a far stronger focus on knowing, doing and being.

These are components fully embedded in Bentley University’s 11-month MBA launched in 2010.

The program was designed to develop three crucial characteristics of leadership articulated in a Forbes article on why mba programs don't produce leaders: the ability to understand people; the ability to see the big picture; and the ability to execute.

It does this through a curriculum, learning environment and international experiences that ensure:

• analytical components do not swamp time required to examine behavioral dimensions
• integrative methodologies rather than silo approaches are used to develop knowledge elements
• experiential elements develop execution capabilities rather than just strategic formulation ability

In 2007 Gloria Larson, Bentley’s seventh president, continued Bentley’s long-standing reputation for curricula innovation when she asked the university to establish a transformative MBA that would achieve three key goals:

• it should address the criticisms being expressed increasingly about the relevance of the degree and its culpability for lapses of ethics apparent across businesses globally
• it should capitalize on Bentley’s positioning in accounting and finance, business ethics, information technology, and the fusion of business with arts and sciences
• consideration should be given to designing a program with significant appeal for a wider range of talented individuals, including those with all the capabilities needed to succeed as leaders but for whom the traditional MBA may have limited appeal

The highly competitive management education landscape and Bentley’s location among some of the most recognized and envied MBA programs in the world made this a demanding call to action.

However, the call was answered by bringing together faculty from across the university – business and arts and sciences – and through seeking counsel from corporate connections and management education industry experts.

The eclectic group that developed the program remains fully involved. Today’s students still find themselves engaging with faculty and executives from diverse fields and backgrounds.

Program Design
The MBA program was constructed around four integrating themes– innovation, value, environments and leadership – and three field-based immersion experiences – one in the United States and two outside.

Each theme was designed to ensure that connections are made between self, others, context, thought and action.

Finally, the mandate given to the program design team emphasized that the learning environment should be collaborative, highly interactive and built on the business experiences of a class of students averaging over seven years of post-tertiary education experience.

The design team determined the program’s core learning objective to be preparing leaders capable of functioning effectively in times of rapid change, accelerated innovation, intense globalization and profound demographic shifts.

By the end of the program, graduates should have the capacity to identify and evaluate trends relatively quickly, adapt to different cultures, and craft creative approaches to stakeholders, products, services and social contexts.

The learning environment was also built from scratch.

Unlike traditional classrooms or horseshoe-shaped case-teaching classrooms, Bentley’s MBA Studio mirrors the layout historically employed by architecture and design students.

Students sit at technology-enabled team tables that are all connected to broader smart boards to maximize the interaction within small teams and among the entire class cohort. This ensures that faculty operate as facilitators rather than instructors.

Each student becomes a dynamic contributor to the discussion – standing up to debate with classmates, illustrating points on multimedia boards and continually engaging their smaller team to share perspectives based on collective experiences.

A comfortable lounge seating area and a kitchenette within the studio dedicated for the class 24 hours a day makes it the perfect location for delving deeper into the relevant issues and ideas after the more formal sessions.

Students also work informally with faculty in the studio – as colleagues and mentors – and use the space to prepare for the two-week field-based collaborations that follow the innovation, value and environments themes.

Thematic Structure of the Program
The Bentley MBA is totally thematic in its design. Traditional core material is embedded within each of the four themes that span the entire degree. These subjects are strengthened and debated at the points where the material – whether accounting, finance, marketing or whatever – is most relevant to the thematic element under investigation.

Furthermore, the glue that binds the themes and the foundation/discipline material is connections. As stated above, all four themes are examined and developed in the minds of the students with reference to self, others, context, thought and action.
 

The functional disciplines that constitute the core of most MBA programs are embedded in the value theme in a manner that achieves the interdisciplinary appreciation often said to be lacking in traditional MBA programs that rely on a capstone strategy course to achieve this level of multi-lens thinking.

1. The Innovation Theme
   During the first quarter of the program, students develop an appreciation of the value of innovation and creativity and devise new models for the role of business in society. They gain insight into how leaders must understand the environments in which they operate and how they need to act if they wish to build organizations where creativity can thrive and innovation follows.
   
   Topics covered include: the psychology of innovation and how humans process information and generate creative ideas; theories of creativity and the conditions needed to sustain creative environments; design lifecycle; and how to develop and renew innovation through action that capitalizes its necessary relationship to strategy.
   
    

2. The Value Theme
   Students develop a fuller understanding of value and its impact on business. Although value is at the heart of every business strategy, its meaning is both complex and subjective.
   
   Appreciating how different interpretations and assessments of value can influence decisions, the theme is designed to ensure delegates:

   • reflect on what value means and appreciate how meanings vary among different stakeholders
   • understand how organizations derive value and align processes and resources to help build it
   • learn about different ways value is generated.
   • develop measurement tools and analytical skills necessary to derive sources of value as well as sustain them.
3. The Environments Theme
   Recognizing that organizations and managers do not operate in isolation, students are exposed sequentially to the wider setting of the firm, community, country and world when making decisions.
   
   Environments examined include:
   • social contexts and how they are formed and sustained within and across organizations, countries and world
   • economic, including how to gauge the stability of the overall macroeconomic environment, and how market structures prevalent in an industry can affect the likelihood of innovation and adoption of new technologies
   • the radical impact of technology and networks on organizations and how they control themselves and their value chains.
      
4. The Leadership Theme
   During the culminating theme of the program, students further integrate what they have learned and turn inwards to reflect upon their own leadership styles and to track their personal development. Their capabilities for communicating credibly with different groups to earn their trust are further enhanced during the theme.
   
   The nature of leadership, the extent to which it can be taught, the role of emotional intelligence, and the range of challenges leaders confront are explored.
   
   Faculty members and leadership experts serve as guides and mentors while students reflect on their preferred leadership styles, skills and capabilities as well as strengths and weaknesses. Regular reflection on their experiences is designed to facilitate their development as ethical and strategic leaders.
   
   The theme also challenges them to examine the technical aspects of decision making amid uncertainty and when stakeholder engagement is present. Emphasis is placed on understanding agency theory and the dynamics of considering asymmetrical information, IT and strategy, and creating an effective control environment.
   
   Field-Based Collaborative Experiences
   Twelve-day field experiences follow each of the first three themes. Students join faculty and members of organizations at host sites to explore complex business topics that are designed to evolve out of the completed theme and introduce topics that are then covered in the subsequent theme.
   
   The experiences provide an essential component of the “real-world” immersion built into the overall program design and Bentley faculty members’ roles are oriented to ensuring students apply key lessons and concepts gleaned from previous themes.
   
   Each field-based collaborative experience involves multiple stakeholder groups or organizations and focuses on issues relevant to all business sectors. Students are not working to solve a problem, but to address an issue—generally one for which an actionable solution does not readily exist.
   
   Last year, for example, students learned how a variety of consumer-oriented Greek businesses have adapted their strategies for survival in a post-financial crisis world, departing Athens on the eve of the recent elections that brought the Syriza party into power.
   
   The goals of each immersion experience are to emphasize the proper approach for evaluating persistent issues and to illuminate the skills and limitations experienced by competent leaders in such circumstances.
   
   International immersion experiences over the first four iterations of the program have involved visits to Chile, France, Ghana, Greece, South Africa and Turkey.

Conclusion
Thus far, Bentley has recruited four cohorts and 90 students into the program. While the intakes have yet to grow to the desired capacity (the dedicated MBA Studio has been designed deliberately for a maximum of 36 students sitting around six technology-enabled team tables), successes have been significant.

73 percent of the students come onto the program directly from overseas, 42 percent are women and the average work experience of each class is around 10 years. The diversity of backgrounds is also significant – on entry into the program over half already have one or more advanced degrees with, 10 percent having PhDs. Several have been Fulbright scholars.

Read about the current MBA class.

Career paths of entering students include academia, consulting, entrepreneurship, family business, financial markets, military, religion and theatre. Feedback from the students and employers has been extremely positive, with one graduate making a five-figure gift to the university within four months of graduating.

Learn more about how Bentley’s MBA program works and how it’s preparing graduates for career success. 

The big trends in information technology (IT) influence cultures and careers. If you’re preparing to enter the IT industry, you have to keep up.

And you need an IT program that will make sure you do.

“We know that keeping curriculum on track is a continual process,” says Wendy Lucas, professor of Computer Information Systems at Bentley University and director of the Master of Information Technology (MSIT) degree program.

Bentley’s MSIT faculty periodically invite executives, including alumni and other hiring managers, to share what they look for in an IT program and its graduates, says Professor Lucas. Their recent perspective was key in guiding a one-year review process of the program, during which the curriculum was measured against trends in the industry.

What was the takeaway?

The MSIT program is successfully producing “true IT professionals” who have the requisite knowledge and skills for meeting the challenges of a continually evolving digital economy. The program integrates information systems knowledge with a strong understanding of the global business environment. To maintain its relevancy, the program is frequently updated in light of the ever-changing IT landscape.

If you want to succeed as an IT professional, you need to keep up as well! Here are four IT trends to keep in mind:

1. Trade Tech Talk for Real Communication

“One of the major takeaways from the recent focus group was the importance of developing strong communication skills in our students,” shared Professor Lucas. “We heard this time and again. The industry is looking for people who can translate technical content into something the target audience, including people from all levels within the organization, can understand.”

IT professionals must be able to explain what they are doing and why it matters. Being persuasive counts. Critical to your success will be the ability to explain complex concepts to people with non-technical backgrounds. You need to make them understand how you will be able to address their business problems with IT solutions.

How the MSIT Program Is Responding: Many of our core and elective courses now have group projects. Students learn how to work in teams by taking on different roles (leader, team player, etc.). They must “sell” their solutions in presentations to the faculty and other students.

2. Emphasize Security at Every Turn

Security is huge. It must be a core concept in the study of technology, infrastructure and information systems.

How the MSIT Program Is Responding: “We’re emphasizing security across the curriculum,” shared Professor Lucas. We’ve introduced an experimental elective called Network and Systems Security that provides a technical focus on information, computer and network security. We’ve also enhanced the technical and managerial security components in courses on enterprise architecture, cloud computing infrastructure, business intelligence, mobile and web app development, etc.

3. Master the Latest Forms of Project Management

Everyone wants to do agile project management, but few are doing it well. Companies need people who understand how to work in and lead agile project teams.

This popular practice focuses on aligning a project and team vision, delivering results in increments, and working in small and integrated teams that reflect, learn and adapt to change.

How the MSIT Program Is Responding: Our IT project management and systems analysis and design courses, both part of our core curriculum, teach the agile approach. Students in these courses and in an upper-level development elective work in agile teams (or scrums) and learn how to effectively manage agile development.

4. Gain Hands-On Experience with Leading Tools and Technologies

The IT industry needs managers who “get it.” Businesses want solution-providers who understand what goes into the development process.  

“To truly gain that deep understanding, you need hands-on experience with current tools and technologies,” said Professor Lucas. “Our alumni agree that this enhances their credibility in the field and makes them better managers.”

How the MSIT Program Is Responding: This degree offers a continued commitment to combining the knowledge of IT with a clear understanding of current business needs.

“We’re not a computer science program,” shared Professor Lucas. “We’re a bridge between the pure technologist/computer science side and the management side. We ensure that our students understand the demands of the business and the technologies that are available for addressing them.”

All students get hands-on experience with application development in Java and data management using SQL with Oracle. Both the IT project management and the systems analysis and design courses have implementation and integration components. Elective course offerings include hands-on experience with mobile and web app development, cloud computing, and business intelligence methods and technologies.  

“When you graduate from the MSIT program,” said Professor Lucas, “you will be prepared to contribute to your employer from day one. Our goal is to produce graduates who can walk into any organization and tackle its business problems with IT solutions. We teach students how to discover what the issues are and provide them with the knowledge and skills needed for addressing them with IT.” 

For Neeta Goplani, experience design is a puzzle combining creativity and business.

“In today’s world, having business acumen along with design and creative chops makes you a force,” the vice president/director of experience design at DigitasLbi says. “You can’t solve a design problem without understanding the business implications at stake.”

Goplani credits Bentley’s master’s program in Human Factors in Information Design with giving her the well-rounded skill set to succeed. Bentley’s integrated curriculum, state-of-the-art learning labs, and world-class faculty put her in a position to become a leader in her field.

“My experiences at Bentley taught me a valuable lesson,” she says, “from Bill Gribbons’s class on Human Factors that really built my strong foundation in this discipline, to Chauncey Wilson’s prototyping class that gave me the tools to get started in this position. And the Experience Design lab at Bentley was instrumental in my career. It gave me client-management, project-management and research skills that have helped me immensely.”

As she did with her Bentley professors, Goplani says making strong connections with mentors — whether in school or on the job — is crucial for young professionals in such an emerging field.

“Look for mentors in this field to help you understand what you are really interested in and the type of jobs out there,” she explains. “Experience design has a lot of facets and while an overall understanding of the discipline is very important, certain jobs focus on some aspects over others. Some might lean toward user research, some toward visual design, IA, or content strategy. Working with a mentor will help you identify your strengths and help you find a job that fits your interests and skills.” 

The close-knit nature of Bentley’s graduate programs, where classmates are colleagues, not competition, was key in helping Goplani hit the ground running in a leadership position where she is responsible for managing a team of experience designers from project conception through execution and presentation to the client.

“I feel the team working environment that Bentley cultivates has been really helpful in being successful in this highly collaborative environment that most workplaces require,” says Goplani. “One of my favorite classes was Negotiating and my favorite memory is of the group negotiations that kept the team up until 5:00 a.m.! We were really tired but the final result was so gratifying that it was totally worth it. And yes, the skills that class teaches you will help you a lot in your career.”

Putting that sometimes complicated experience design puzzle can be a challenge, but it’s one that Goplani loves.

“I get to solve puzzles, work with really smart people and have loads of fun doing it,” she says. “There is definitely more than one thing I love about this job!”

Thinking about possible jobs in finance? There are lots of great and varied opportunities in this industry.   

And if you’re serious about a finance career, you may also want to consider an MBA or master’s degree in finance. These programs can help get you on the right path. An MBA will give you a solid business background, while a finance degree will go more in-depth on financial theory.

Here are some interesting jobs in finance to consider, including job descriptions and average salaries:

1. Investment Banker
   An investment bank works with individuals and organizations to help raise capital by selling bonds or equity. You could have a specialized role or advise many different clients on a variety of opportunities -- it depends on the firm you’re with.
   
   Average investment banker salary: $100,675

2. Financial Analyst
   Working for a company or non-profit rather than a bank, financial analysts help decision-makers determine investment strategies for the organization.
   
   Financial analysis is a skill that offers lots of potential for job opportunities. In a recent analysis of labor market data from Bentley University, this skill had the second highest number of job openings in the finance industry.
   
   Average financial analyst salary: $92,250
    
3. Chief Financial Officer (CFO)
   CFOs lead and manage the overall financial dealings of companies. Tracking profit and loss, then strategizing how to make the company more profitable are the main tasks of CFOs. Management experience is needed to direct staff on how to maximize the finances of the company, which may include various departments or divisions.
   
   Average chief financial officer salary: $158,553
   
   Check out this list of well-known CFOs with MBA degrees.

4. Finance Director
   Companies that don't have CFO as a title separate from Chief Executive Officer (CEO) may instead have a finance director to help the CEO manage financial operations of the company. Strategic planning, mergers and acquisitions, forecasting, budgeting and financial modeling are expected skills for this job. You could also work for a bank or the government.
   
   Finance directors and controllers (below) are sometimes combined into one role, but they have different responsibilities.
   
   Average finance director salary: $147,405
    
5. Controller
   
   A controller (or Chief Accounting Officer) is responsible for directing a company’s accounting practices. Controllers have many responsibilities, including the development of profit and loss statements, balance sheets and financial prospectuses. They also prepare reports that predict the financial performance of the organization.
   
   Average controller salary: $93,829
    
6. Accountant
   Accountants are charged with managing and interpreting financial statements. Depending on your specific career interest and skills, you may want to focus on one of the following specialties: forensic accounting, managerial accounting, public accounting, internal auditing or government accounting.
   
   Accounting is actually a great skill for anyone to have -- no matter your job title. In the previously mentioned market analysis, accounting abilities offered some of the highest salaries in finance -- and the most number of job openings.
   
   Average accountant salary: $73,670
    
7. Financial Examiner
   If you’re interested in the ethical component of business, a financial examiner could be a good fit. They are tasked with checking a company is compliant with laws and regulations governing financial and securities institutions and financial and real estate transactions.
   
   Average financial examiner salary: $76,310

8. Securities, Commodities and Financial Services Sales Agents
   
   This type of role combines a job in sales with a finance background. These agents work with buyers and sellers in the financial markets to sell securities, counsel companies and handle trades.
   
   Average financial services sales agent salary: $72,070

9. Portfolio Manager
   By far, the most common career path for people with a CFA is portfolio manager, according to the CFA Institute. 22 percent of people who pass the exam end up in this field. Portfolio managers often work at investment management firms and oversee a fund or group of funds, making investment decisions and tracking trends.
   
   Average portfolio manager salary: $118,752
    
10. Trader
    Traders work closely with portfolio managers, buying and selling securities based on their requests.
    
    Average trader salary: $89,496
     
11. Stockbroker
    Like traders, brokers buy and sell securities. Rather than working with a portfolio manager, however, most brokers operate on behalf of a client. 
    
    Average stockbroker salary: $59,380

12. Personal Financial Advisor
    Prefer working with individuals rather than companies? This role requires a thorough knowledge of taxes, investments, how to plan financial goals, etc.
    
    Average personal financial advisor salary:  $108,090 (If you’re self-employed, the more clients you have, the more money you make.)

Many of these jobs have a lot of flexibility in terms of industry. Yes, finance students can run right to Wall Street and have a great career. But they can also have great careers at nonprofits, startups, the government, etc. Take the time to figure out what makes the most sense for you and your goals.
 

Learn more about career outcomes for students who go through Bentley's Master's in Finance program.
 

Did you know that many CFOs have MBAs? Here are some CFO names you may recognize, all of whom have MBAs. You will certainly recognize the well-known companies they now lead.

1. Kenneth A. Goldman, Yahoo!
   Mr. Goldman received his MBA from Harvard in 1974, and operates out of Tokyo to oversee the global financial dealings of Yahoo!
    
2. Anthony Noto, Twitter
   Mr. Noto was the highest paid CFO in 2014, earning over $72 million in salary and stock. He earned his MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, and formerly served as CFO of the NFL. 
    
3. Harvey M. Schwartz, Goldman Sachs
   Mr. Schwartz earned his MBA from Columbia University in 1996. He has worked for Goldman Sachs for the past 18 years and was promoted to CFO in 2013.
    
4. Ruth Porat, Google
   This former CFO of Morgan Stanley recently moved to take over as CFO of Google after Patrick Pichette retired at age 52. She received her CFO from the Wharton School and is currently listed at #32 on Forbes’ list of the 100 Most Powerful Women.
    
5. David M. Denton, CVS Health
   Mr. Denton has worked for CVS since 1999 and has been CFO since 2010. He received his MBA from the Babcock Graduate School of Management at Wake Forest University.
    
6. Bruce L. Tanner, Lockheed Martin
   Mr. Tanner has worked for Lockheed Martin for over 30 years, even before he received his MBA in finance from the University of Texas at Arlington in 1990. He has been CFO since 2007.
    
7. Robert M. Knight, Jr, Union Pacific
   Mr. Knight Jr. has been CFO of the Union Pacific Railroad since 2004 after starting work there in 1980. He received his MBA from Southern Illinois University.

Why CFOS Get MBAs
An MBA degree is the most common degree among CFOs -- 54 percent of CFOs have one, according to executive search and assessment firm Russell Reynolds Associates. With an MBA, CFOs get the background in corporate finance that they need to understand how to run a company's finances.

While CFO base salaries are typically in the low six figures, they often have access to stock options that can increase their salaries to seven figures a year. They’re not as highly paid as CEOs, who have the even greater responsibility of managing all aspects of the company and making it function well as a whole.

Most CFOs are promoted to that position from within the company, and some even obtained their MBA degree while employed in a lower position at the same company where they are now CFO.

Bentley University offers MBA programs that will prepare students to become CFOs, and for other job opportunities in the financial world. Interested in learning more? Take a virtual tour of the Bentley campus or read more about our MBA programs.

Jennifer Krausz writes on topics including business and education for a variety of websites and publications.

History loves a ceremony: ribbons are cut, hands shaken, cornerstones laid, oversized checks presented. There were many such occasions in Greg Adamian’s 60-year association with Bentley. But the official record only goes so far in recalling a person, a place or a point in time. The fuller account is in the stories.

Personal reflections are front and center in our tribute to the late Bentley chancellor and president emeritus (page 11). Asked about Greg, his former students, colleagues and friends held forth with enthusiasm, affection, humor and a deep respect that, at times, approached awe. We are especially grateful to Debbie Adamian. A deft storyteller in her own right, she shared a handful of memorable Bentley moments from their 37 years together.

The story owes much to people you won’t see quoted. Over many hours in the Bentley Library, designer Carol Dirga made a fast friend in project archivist Jaimie Fritz. She led the way to photographs, annual reports, yearbooks and other markers of the Adamian years. Professor of History Cliff Putney answered questions and sent notes from interviews with Greg for his upcoming history of the school. Director of Foundation Relations Paul Carberry, who served as secretary of the college corporation for many years and worked closely with Greg (and his successors), was unfailingly generous with insights and information.

History gets personal elsewhere inside. Scores of alumni, parents, faculty, students and friends have stepped up to “share your Bentley story” in advance of the centennial celebration. Their contributions capture a range of years, subjects and experiences — all underwritten by heartfelt pride. After you check out their accounts on pages 24 and 25, head to bentley.edu/100 and add your story to the historical record. I know for a fact that future editors of Bentley Magazine will thank you.

Stay well and stay in touch.

In Memoriam

The Bentley community is saddened to have lost the alumni, trustees, students, staff and others noted here

1938 | 1939 | 1940 | 1942 | 1943 | 1944 | 1947 | 1948 | 1950 | 1951 | 1952 | 1953 | 1954 | 1955 | 1958 | 1959 | 1961 | 1963 | 1965 | 1966 | 1969 | 1971 | 1972 | 1973 | 1975 | 1976 | 1977 | 1978 | 1979 | 1981 | 1982 | 1983 | 1987 | 1997 | 2001 | 2013 | Friends of Bentley | Of Special Note

1938
Laurence K. Gustafson
Ernest R. Taft

1939
Raymond Huck

1940
Myer A. Shockett
Harold J. Wusterbarth

1942
Constantine R. Egounis
Carlton L. Turner

1943
Paul Horansky

1944
Mary Jean Wheeler

1947
Frank H. Dinneen
Arthur George Eckart

1948
Dorothy Latsey
Gerald T. Reilly

1950
Early Austin Jr.
Leslie J. Hann Sr.

1951
William J. Collins
William B. Lynch
Joseph P. Martin Sr.
John G. McGuire

1952
Maynard L. Farren
Joseph P. Greene

1953
Charles R. Barton
Robert L. Bernstein

1954
William C. O’Brien

1955
Frederic L. LeBlond
Marilyn (Beatty) Thornton

1958
James N. Connolly Jr.

1959
William Gibbons
William G. Kinahan
William H. Parsons Jr.
Barbara A. Snow

1961
Roger J. Bullock
Paul E. Johnson Sr.

1963
Peter A. Stilphen
Thomas P. Sullivan Jr.

1965
Brooks Herrick, MST ’79

1966
Raymond Leonard Goodwin

1969
James R. “Goose” Gilligan

1971
Frank R. DiPietro
Philip Levine

1972
James K. Mitchell Jr.

1973
David H. Barbour
Carol G. Caron
David J. Norton

1975
Robert J. Carolan, P ’97

1976
Anthony J. Debenedetto
Bruce Finan

1977
George F. Riley, MST

1978
Bruce L. Myers

1979
Marcel R. Bergeron, MST
Donald P. Chisholm

1981
Daniel J. Looney Jr., MST

1982
Nicholas D. Mercadante, MST
Jeffrey A. Smith

1983
Monica A. (Streitenberger) Dannenfelser, MST

1987
Brian J. Maloney
John L. Powers

2001
Jill Connolly, MBA

2013
Amy Siracusa

Friends of Bentley

Amir D. Aczel
Former Professor of Mathematical Sciences

Donald R. Neal
Former Staff Member

Marc L. Resnick
Professor of Human Factors in Information Design

Of Special Note
Gregory H. Adamian, Bentley chancellor and president emeritus, passed away on November 21, 2015. A full tribute will appear in the spring issue.

What's new and notable in your life? Share your breaking news — wedding, promotion, award, new job, and the like — with classmates and other members of the Bentley community. Go to the form at bentley.edu/classnotes.

1979 | 1980 | 1981 | 1982 | 1983 | 1986 | 1987 | 1988 | 1989 | 1990 | 1991 | 1992 | 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015

1979
Bernard “Buzz” TraversIII, P ’12, Longmeadow, Mass., has become managing director of Aaron Smith PC.
 

1980
Stella Citrano, Falmouth, Mass., is pleased to announce the relocation of Affordable Tax Service’s Cape office to 13 Falmouth Heights Road in her hometown.
 

1981
35th Reunion:June 3 to 5, 2016
Michael Krenesky, P ’00,’01, Beacon Falls, Conn., won his campaign for town selectman there, after completing two terms as town treasurer of Beacon Falls; this will be his third term as a selectman.
 

1982
Thomas Vitro, Westfield, Mass., has been appointed vice president, chief financial officer and chief accounting officer for STR Holdings Inc.
 

Jeffrey Wheeler, Bow, N.H., was named director of audit for Baker Newman Noyes.
 

1983
Baker Newman Noys has tapped Carl Chatto, Portland, Maine, to serve as managing principal.
 

James Fuller, MST, Atlanta, Ga., has joined the Municipal Electric Power Authority of Georgia as president and CEO.
 

1986
30th Reunion:June 3 to 5, 2016
Deborah Ricci, Vienna, Va., has been named chief financial officer of Centerra Group.
 

1987
An exhibit at the Wenham (Mass.) Museum featured photos of the Cog Railway by Donna Atkins, Intervale, N.H.

Steward Health Care System has appointed DeborahBitsoli, Framingham, Mass., as the new president of Morton Hospital in Taunton.

1988
Robert Driscoll Jr., MST successfully ran for town council president of his hometown, Winthrop, Mass.

A top home-industry awards program gave International Retailer of the Year honors to Aaron Stewart Home, co-founded by FernandoRodriguez ’88, San Juan, P.R.

1989
William Checkosky, Manchester, Conn., has signed on with Chelsea Groton Bank as vice president, commercial lending, and Greater Hartford market manager.
 

Cherry Bekaert LLP has welcomed Brian Dill, MSA, Atlanta, Ga., as a tax principal and the leader of the firm’s international tax practice.
 

Antoinette (Leonardi)Follett, Fayetteville, N.Y., is the new director of marketing and communications for Liberty Resources.

Thomaston Savings Bank has appointed Robert Nocera, Middlebury, Conn., as a corporator.
 

1990
Stephanie L. Burke, MST,P ’10 has been elected mayor in her hometown of Medford, Mass.
 

1991
25th Reunion:June 3 to 5, 2016
Clarus Ventures LLC named Robert DeBenedetto,MST, P ’10, Pleasanton,Calif., a venture partner.
 

Reynolds & Rowella has hired Linda Malarkey, MST, New Milford, Conn., as a senior associate.
 

Ellen A. Moloney, MBA, Beverly, Mass., has been named interim president of Newton-Wellesley Hospital.
1992
 

Alison Perrella, MST, Bedford, N.H., has been named a managing partner at Howe, Riley & Howe in Manchester.
 

1993
Kristen Galfetti, MBA, Belmont, Mass., has joined Cynapsus Therapeutics Inc. as vice president for investor relations and corporate communications.
 

Astrid (Simon) Zajdband,MSF, Frankfurt, Germany, is now an assistant professor at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.
 

1994
Heather (Sturtevant)Clark, Gorham, Maine, received her Certified Financial Marketing Professional certificate from the American Bankers Association.
 

1995
The IRS named Brenda(Johnson) Bianculli, MST, Charlton, Mass., to its Internal Revenue Service Advisory Council.
 

1996
20th Reunion:June 3 to 5, 2016
The Araca Group has tapped Michael Barra, New York, N.Y., to lead the new branch of the entertainment media company.
 

Simon Yu, Andover, Mass., has opened Nine Bar Espresso in Somerville.
 

1997
Mark T. Batiste, Somers, Conn., has joined Access To Media in new business development.
 

1998
Kearny Financial Corp. has appointed Raymond E.Chandonnet, MSF, Summit, N.J., to director of the company and the bank.
 

1999
Fabio Di Giammarco, MBA, Key Biscayne, Fla., was named global vice president for Bacardi rum.
 

2000
Jennifer (Bunce)Hogencamp, Mansfield, Mass., has been made partner at BlumShapiro in Providence, R.I.
 

Walmart has picked up Casa Mia bedding collection, created by Orguyo Inc., a company founded by Santiago Lopez, MBA, Wellesley, Mass.
 

Nancy McKenna, West Newton, Mass., has joined the Siegfried Group LLP as an associate director.
 

2001
15th Reunion:June 3 to 5, 2016
Jeffrey Hudson, MBA ’10; Kristy (Petron) ’03, MBA ’10; and son, Jack, of Sterling, Mass., welcomed Cadence Adrienne on March 2, 2015.
 

2002
William Crooker, Framingham, Mass., has been promoted to chief financial officer, executive vice president and treasurer of STAG Industrial Inc.
 

BDO Puerto Rico announces the appointment of DenisseFlores, MST, Gauynabo, P.R., as a shareholder of the tax division.

2003
Kristy (Petron) Hudson,MBA ’10; Jeffrey ’01, MBA ’10; and son, Jack, of Sterling, Mass., welcomed Cadence Adrienne on March 2, 2015.
 

2004
Maureen Fedorchuk married Jason Cuddy on June 27, 2015, at Highfield Hall in Falmouth, Mass. The couple lives in Foxboro.
 

Matthew Gorham, South Easton, Mass., and wife Deann welcomed their second child, Trent Sebastian, on July 23, 2015. He joins sister Vida Mirabelle.
 

Howard Jean-Denis, MBA’08, Stratford, Conn., writes of “experiencing great success as the first black male studying business strategy in my PhD program at UConn in strategy/entrepreneurship!” He hopes to encourage other aspiring professors and has traveled to Chile and Israel to speak about his research. “I am proud to have begun my education at Bentley. All the best.”
 

2005
Kristyn (Marasca) and Daniel Cohen, Wilmington, Mass., welcomed Alexis Elaine on December 11, 2015.
 

Latonia (Burke)Francois ’05, Brockton, Mass., has launched Let’s Write Life, a venture that encourages people to cope with feelings through journaling.

Erika Goldstein and Allan Smith were married at Pinehills Golf Club in Plymouth, Mass., on September 12, 2015. AmyCrotty, Erin Jordan, JennKelly and Danielle Parsons,MST ’06 were in the bridal party. Other Falcons attending: Brett Bell,Holly (Auclair) Fagan,Brett Fagan and Mollie(O’Keefe) Newton.
 

2006
10th Reunion:June 3 to 5, 2016
Christian Haitian Entrepreneurial Society, a nonprofit founded by Rebecca Roseme Obounou, Chelsea, Mass., hosted a three-day workshop in Haiti for local entrepreneurs. The alumna is program manager at MIT Sloan Executive Education.

Chandra Pixley and Ted Kanluen were married on October 3, 2015, at the Mid-America Club in Chicago, Ill.
 

Alissa Rogers moved to London in July 2015 to manage hiring for YouTube across Europe, the Middle East and Africa. In December, her role expanded to include hiring for Asia Pacific.
 

2007
Manuel Carneiro, MST ’08, Abilene, Texas, and wife Barbara are in the process of adopting two sets of twin boys, whom they have fostered since November 2014. The family also includes big sister Maeleigh Cate.
 

David Castine, MSA ’09 married Raquela Susman on October 24, 2015, in Baltimore, Md. Falcons and friends joining the occasion were Jason Danheiser, Graham Gottlieb ’08, Richard Heller, and Mark ’85 and Vicki (Vassalotti) ’86 Semanie.
 

Adam Evans, MBA ’09 and Samantha Robbins ’08, both of Somerville, Mass., were married on November 7, 2015, at the Charles River Museum of Industry and Innovation in Waltham. Chris Leonard ’06 was the officiant, Jason Evans ’05 stood as the best man, and Meaghan (Munroe) Gravina ’08 was a bridesmaid.
 

Blake Reynolds, Marlborough, Mass., has been promoted to real estate and facilities manager for The Brattle Group in Cambridge.
 

2008
Brian Ballute, MSA ’09, Saco, Maine, was promoted to vice president of Saco & Biddeford Savings Institution.
 

Katie Casey, MSA ’09 and Sal Falzone, MSA ’09 were married on June 6, 2015, in Groton, Mass.
 

Samantha Robbins and Adam Evans ’07, MBA ’09, both of Somerville, Mass., were married on November 7, 2015, at the Charles River Museum of Industry and Innovation in Waltham. Chris Leonard ’06 was the officiant, Jason Evans ’05 stood as the best man, and Meaghan(Munroe) Gravina was a bridesmaid.
 

Tomer Sharon, MSHFID, Cresskill, N.J., head of user experience at WeWork in New York City, was named by Usability Tools blog as a “UX Director That Will Make You A Better Designer.”
 

Ryan Teekasingh, Ozone Park, N.Y., of the nonprofit Working in Support of Education (W!SE), has volunteered to offer an eight-week seminar titled “Careers in Business and the Finance Field.”
 

2009
Robert O. Eggleston, MSF, Pelham, N.H., and wife Heather are proud to announce the adoption of a daughter, Vivienne Alison Byeol Eggleston; she arrived from South Korea in October 2015.
 

Andrea Haskell and Christopher Liptrot were married on December 27, 2014, in Newport, R.I.
 

2010
Courtney Charest, MST ’13 and Zach Ripps tied the knot on August 15, 2015, in Amherst, N.H., surrounded by Bentley friends.
 

Bill Connolly, Brooklyn, N.Y., has published his second book: The Success Disconnect:Why the Smartest PeopleChoose Meaning Over Money.
 

Shahzad Malik, MBA ’11, Lahore, Pakistan, was interviewed by Pakistan Today about the challenges of being one of the youngest CEOs in the country; Malik heads Master Group of Industries.
 

Tyler McNamara and Analida Cuevas ’11 were married on September 12, 2015, in Panama. Analida writes, “More than 50 alumni celebrated with us, including international students and Bentley football alumni!”
 

Frank Reiman, MBA ’11, Boston, Mass., has joined the Siegfried Group’s Boston Market as an associate manager.
 

2011
5th Reunion:June 3 to 5, 2016
Analida Cuevas and Tyler McNamara ’10 were married on September 12, 2015, in Panama. She writes, “More than 50 alumni celebrated with us, including international students and Bentley football alumni!”
 

Thompson Island Outward Bound Education Center has named George Lewis IV,MBA ’12, Chestnut Hill, Mass., to its Board of Trustees. Lewis’s family has been involved with the island since the 1880s.
 

Kevin G. McConnell, MST, Leominster, Mass., has been named tax manager of Robert C. Alario CPA PC.
 

2013
Paul Sleiman, Jacksonville, Fla., is co-owner of two acres at Butler Boulevard and Interstate 95 in Florida. The site will be home to his first retail center, the Galleria Marketplace, expected to open by early fall.
 

2014
Now living in San Francisco, Calif., Erica Normandeau has joined ride-sharing company Lyft as a recruiting coordinator.
 

2015
Cresa Boston has welcomed Raymond Hayes, Waltham, Mass., to the post of assistant project manager

Written by Kristen L. Walsh.

Heikki Topi, a professor of Computer Information Systems (CIS) at Bentley, has received the 2015 Outstanding Contribution to IS Education Award from The Association for Information Systems (AIS). Often described as a lifetime achievement award in IS education, it recognizes contributions to the field, curriculum development, an ability to inspire students, new teaching tools and methods, and publication. 

Professor Topi’s involvement in IS education includes leadership in the development of model curricula for the field, leadership roles in broader computing education and accreditation through both the AIS and the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), and textbook authorship. He teaches Bentley courses in the Master of Science in Information Technology (MSIT) and undergraduate programs.

According to Professor Topi, “My teaching is focused on helping students learn two core types of competencies: first, how to be effective contributors to and leaders in processes that identify how information technology can best be used to help organizations achieve their goals, and second, how to design and implement systems that positively transform organizations.”

Read this Q&A with Professor Topi to learn more about his work:
 

Q: What are your top goals as an educator?
A: For me, the most important goal is to help my own students develop competencies that allow them to thrive throughout their careers as information systems professionals.

I also want to contribute to the information systems community’s continuous improvement efforts; our field changes so rapidly that IS education has to evolve constantly.

It’s also important to help my own students and the whole IS community understand better the implications and potential consequences of our actions; as IS professionals, we have very important ethical responsibilities.

Q: What do you enjoy most about IS education on a broad level, and also teaching?
A: In my work, I enjoy most the moments when I feel that I have been able to help a student discover something new, something that has allowed the student to gain important new capabilities and see the world from a different perspective.

I also enjoy the opportunity to be involved in the very rapid and fundamental transformation of organizations and individual work that information technology is currently enabling.

Finally, both within the Bentley community and the broader information systems community, I have wonderful colleagues without whom the work would be impossible, but with whom it is enjoyable!

Q: What is the most challenging aspect of teaching?
A: The challenges are related to the rapid, transformational change of the underlying technologies—staying competent as an IS educator requires constant and intensive learning.

Fortunately, this is also one of the most fun parts of what I do. If only there was more time.

For us as educators, it is important to identify those competences that are most likely to stay valuable throughout a 40-year career. This is where education excels compared to training of short-term technical skills.
 

Q: What is your current research focused on?
A: I’ve recently studied the nature and identity of the information systems discipline and its relationship with other computing disciplines. This is a topic directly linked to my work within IS education, because in the education work one of the key questions is to figure out what is in the core of our field.

I’ve also had an opportunity to be part of a long-term project with my CIS colleagues that studies how the user’s experience and interaction with large-scale enterprise systems can be improved. This is an area that links directly to my systems analysis and design courses.

Q: What are the top skills that technology professionals need?
A: There are many that are essential, but at this point in time, the following four competencies are fundamental to IS professionals:

1. Understanding how to structure and model data and processes in a way that transforms overwhelming details to a clear and understandable set of well designed concepts in a way that serves organizational goals.
2. Knowing how to discover and retrieve data from various types of internal and external sources to enable effective analytics (often using SQL and its derivative languages).
3. Determining if and how technology can help achieve organizational goals before investing money and time—don’t get Hadoop to manage distributed data just because everyone else has it.
4. Understanding the ethical implications and potential consequences of technology.

Kristen Walsh is a freelance writer and editor in the Boston area with a niche in higher education, health care and small business. She enjoys the behind-the-scenes information gathering and personal interviews that bring stories to life and strike a chord with readers. Online content and magazine writing includes blogs, opinion pieces, features and health care reporting. Her work has been published by The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The Huffington Post, The Hechinger Report and The MetroWest Daily News.