A sixteen-person delegation from the College was a prominent force at the 16th Annual National Society of Hispanic MBAs (NSHBMA) Conference and Career Expo, held recently at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, CA. NSHMBA’s mission is to foster Hispanic leadership through graduate management education and professional development to improve society.
Executive Dean Joyce J. Elam emceed a Bank of America (BOA)/ College of Business Administration pre-conference executive reception and dinner at which Liberato Martinez III, BOA senior vice president, Los Angeles Mid Cities Market, and Elam both spoke.
“It is interesting that Liberato has many of the same characteristics as our students,” Elam said. “He was the first of his generation to attend college; his parents immigrated to California from Mexico. Also, he worked his way through school like many of our students do. Today, he is a senior executive at Bank of America. He is an excellent role model for aspiring Hispanic students.”
Named to NSHMBA’s Corporate Advisory Board in 2002, Elam’s presence greatly benefits the College’s students.
“Because of our special position among business schools serving a largely Hispanic student body, we take our role of preparing the next generation of Hispanic business leaders very seriously,” she said. “As a member of NHSMBA’s Fortune 500 Corporate Advisory Board, my administrative team and I have been able to educate many large, multinational corporations about the quality of our students. Consequently, we’ve been able to expand considerably the career opportunities that are now available to them.”
Four staff members of the Chapman Graduate School of Business—Barry Shiflett, director, graduate career management services; Lourdes Herrero-Matus, manager of the Downtown MBA program and the Downtown Center; Ellie Browner, Chapman School director of admissions; and Natalia Echeverría, Chapman corporate relations manager—also raised awareness about what the School has to offer.
“The Chapman School is first in the United States in the number of Hispanics earning graduate degrees in business,” Echeverría said. “We wanted companies—such as Bank of America, American Express, Target, and Coors—to know about our programs and about the quality of our students. We also wanted to entice recruiters to come to campus.”
Eleven students, all of whom received all-expense paid scholarships based on criteria set out by Shiflett, were there to market themselves, to practice interviewing, and to meet with recruiters from Fortune 500 companies.
“One of the advantages of the conference is that recruiters who can make the hiring decisions attend,” Echeverría said. “Chapman staff members helped match our students to appropriate recruiters.”
Unlike many of the universities present, the College was front and center on the Expo floor, sharing a spectacular booth with Bank of America.
