The Barnett Business Update - April 2021

Faculty Updates

Recent Presentations

Dr. Falcon and Dr. Krause served as panelists for a round table discussion on the “Ethics of and During COVID-19”, hosted by HOSA FSC, on April 1, 2021, via Zoom.

Dr. Gedik was the featured speaker at the CSCMP Central Florida Member Event (March 11). His topic was on Integrating Supply Chain via Analytics, AI, and Machine Learning.

Community Impact

Professor Tracy is currently serving as topical speaker/consultant for Catapult’s Consumer Packaged Goods Accelerator Program. The program is weekly with 8 sessions (kickoff was 3/23) to assist CPG oriented entrepreneurs in building their brand. He is helping out on Marketing and Management issues.

Student Impact

Dr. Falcon had numerous industry professionals visit her classes during the last month. Linda Munday, ARNP visited Dr. Falcon’s Healthcare Quality class via zoom. She is a Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner with MedOptions and cares for patients at various nursing homes and assisted living facilities in our community. She shared with students about her work and how COVID-19 impacted her ability to treat patients. Kara Bailey, MSN also visited the Healthcare Quality class via zoom. She is currently a Clinical Nurse Specialist, Chest Pain Coordinator and in charge of the COVID-19 Unit at LRHS. She kindly agreed to come and talk about specific JCAHO quality indicators. Joey Arteaga, FSC’17, visited Dr. Falcon’s Principles of Management class via zoom. He is currently the Restaurant Guest Experience Manager at Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge. He shared with students his experience as a manager pre, during, and post COVID-19.

Dr. Falcon facilitated an intercollegiate collaboration by inviting Florida Polytech students to visit her Dynamics of Business and Free Enterprise course to help determine the technical feasibility of their business ideas. It was a great way to help students collaborate and develop an appreciation for a multidisciplinary perspective.

Student Stories

Colby Firestone

Colby Firestone is a Senior Business Administration major with a minor in Graphic Design from Hershey, PA. She is in the 4+1 MBA program. During her time at Florida Southern, she has been involved in the Dean’s Advisory

Ainsley Hart

Ainsley is a Business Administration major and our first sponsored undergrad Co-working member of Catapult. She was introduced to Catapult during her New Venture class visit and seized the opportunity for a Barnett School Sponsorship. Ainsley is building her brand, Ruby Rae Collection, with a focus on serving wedding and design clientele. We continue to look for other students with entrepreneurial passion and plans to sponsor in the coming months. If you are interested in the possibilities, please contact Professor Tracy at jtracy@flsouthern.edu. A few examples of the Ruby Rae Collection are featured here.

William Kelly

My undergraduate studies have been a process of empirical experiences, including resiliency, self-discovery, and flexibility. Beyond the classroom, I have also had extensive educational and personal growth as a result of accessibility to Florida Southern College leadership. I am confident that those interactions helped to shape, define, and prepare me for the next steps of my educational and professional journey. I did not enter my undergraduate studies with a concentration to finish with three majors and a minor. As a Freshman, I was hyper-focused on having success within the original major I chose. It wasn’t until my Sophomore year when I recognized the opportunity that change could bring when a professor pulled me aside after class and spoke to me. The educational leadership at Florida Southern encouraged me to recognize opportunities by challenging me to evaluate where I was, where I was going, and where I wanted to be. It caused me to re-define and set new goals resulting in me carving a path to differentiate myself from other students, where I would compete to get into a top-tier graduate program. As I near the end of my undergraduate education, I have found that the journey has consistently put me in front of like-minded individuals: students and professors. Whether it be study groups or special projects where I learn from other students or contribute to their learning, the lesson is transparent to me in that the academic environment matters.  I am eternally grateful to all the leaders at Florida Southern College for the direct and indirect lessons they have taught me. They will last a lifetime, and I will remember them as I begin my graduate studies at Cornell University.

Antoinette Warren

Antoinette is a junior accounting major at Florida Southern. From Gadsden, Alabama, Antoinette came to FSC as a business administration major and changed to accounting in the spring of 2019. She took her first accounting class that semester and found it to be a better fit. With the encouragement of a former faculty member, Antoinette feels it was the best decision she has made in her college career. She made a 94 in that entry level accounting class and has continued to excel.  This summer, Antoinette will begin a paid internship at Raymond James. She will serve as a Financial Reporting and Accounting Intern. Antoinette will work on various projects and assignments that relate to financial reporting. Specifically she will use accounting software to prepare financial statements and reports for internal purposes. Raymond James is a financial investment firm in St. Petersburg, Florida. Their financial advisors are known for helping their customers’ turn their dreams into reality. “This internship is a great opportunity for me to discover my niche in the accounting field,” Antoinette remarked. Antoinette will enter the Early MAcc program at Florida Southern and obtain both her Bachelor of Science and Master of Accountancy degrees by the end of next year. Shortly after, she will begin preparing for the CPA exam. Antoinette would like to continue employment with Raymond James following her internship. “I really like the idea of working at a corporate firm and I like the culture at Raymond James,” Antoinette added.

Breanne Mead

Breanne is a digital marketing intern with X-IFBO in Miami, Florida this semester. She works remotely and assists in researching prospective clients, retargeting previous clients, and providing industry-specific research and engagement analysis. Bre also brainstorms headline ideas, plans and posts relevant social media features, researches hashtags, and reviews the social media planner. Bre will graduate in May with a major in Business Administration and a minor in Spanish.  She is also involved with the Florida Southern College women’s lacrosse team. X-1FBO is a complete management system for everyone in general aviation. Bre is enjoying learning about the industry and gaining experience in this unique field. “I am inspired by my supervisor Monica Sarduy and grateful for her support and encouragement,” Bre remarked. Ms. Sarduy is Vice President of Sales Marketing at X-1FBO. She is also President of the Miami-Dade County Women’s Chamber of Commerce. X-1FBO is a platform built for all general aviation fixed-base operators (FBO) including aircraft operators, fuel contract providers, fuel suppliers, and vendors. X-1FBO provides access to data in real time and state-of-the-art analytics to drive more proactive performance-based operations. To learn more, visit their website at https://www.x1fbo.com. Bre’s philosophy is to be authentic, curious, and enthusiastic. She has been intentional in her internship planning and experiences. To diversify her experiences and expand her creativity, design, and organizational skills, Bre has also worked with Ashton Events in Lakeland. In this experience, Bre has assisted with event planning and implementation, general studio and office tasks, bi-monthly projects and meetings. The experience involves Ashton Events, Haus 820, and Bloom Shakalaka. The company provides innovative and intentional event planning and design services, tailoring each celebration to tell the story of your past, present & future. To learn more about Ashton Events, visit https://ashtonevents.com/about/.

Dean’s Office Updates

Beta Alpha Psi

Our chapter placed third in the Regional “Best Practices” competition, in the “Invest in Yourself” category! Their submission video is excellent: https://youtu.be/wAvctrUmmlc

Enactus

The National Enactus Competition will take place virtually the week of April 12th. The FSC Enactus team members are hard at work producing an annual report and the competition video highlighting some of their initiatives.

Moc Interview Days

The recent Moc Interview Days were a huge success!! The School of Business participated in Moc Interview Days recently hosted by Career Services. Employers from a variety of industries interviewed students in person and virtually as part of the campus-wide event. Each interview lasted approximately 30 minutes and utilized a series of informative and behavioral questions to explore student responses in preparation for internship and employment opportunities. Companies including Bernie Little Distributors, CPS Investors, Ensure Financial, Florida Tropics, Lakeland Volunteers in Medicine, Auto Owners, Geico, Northwestern Mutual, CONMED, The Florida Grid League, and more participated in the two-day event. In addition to participating in simulated interviews, students had the opportunity to learn more about their respective industries and possible future employers. Students met alumni and interacted with Presidents and CEOs of local corporations. Companies provided on-site feedback and follow up evaluations. Employers commented that the School of Business students participated with professionalism and confidence. They were well prepared and engaged throughout the sessions.

Featured Alumni

Mary L. Baltimore (’13)

Mary graduated in 2013 with a degree in Business Administration and a minor in Spanish. Now, Mary is an Industrial Development Program Manager who brings an entrepreneurial mindset to her work. During her tenure with Lockheed Martin, Mary has successfully managed and executed programs and projects across a multitude of technology platforms resulting in growth in internal operations, strategic defense innovation alignment with international customers, and generating multi-faceted cross-business-area technology solutions through singular investment strategies. She serves as a catalyst who pushes the boundaries of current thinking to align international priorities, investments, and industrial development activities across global sectors. As a minority female who has overcome many obstacles, Mary understands what it means to be overlooked and underestimated. This understanding strengthens her capability to discern potential for upskilling and in-country, local industry capability to support international defense programs. Mary is also an advocate for internal innovation and entrepreneurship, regularly championing engineers in international efforts which can facilitate international growth, generate new platforms, and provide entry to new markets. She truly enjoys driving innovation, crowd-sourcing new voices, and championing collaboration to accelerate progress. In addition to her duties in her current role, Mary serves as WIN co-site lead for the RMS Washington DC (300M) site.