Eccles Business Buzz

The tenth season of the Eccles Business Buzz podcast continues with a conversation between host Frances Johnson and Becky Kearns, Director of Community and Business Development at Zions Bank. Becky and Frances talk about mentoring as a way to share knowledge, help students find direction and passion, and expand access to professional networks. Becky highlights student adaptability but notes they o...

The tenth season of the Eccles Business Buzz podcast continues as host Frances Johnson sits with Ginger Avitt, a VP Regional Coaching Consultant at Fidelity Investments. She also earned her MBA from the David Eccles School of Business in 2020. Ginger and Frances talk about the framing of what makes for fortunate or unfortunate circumstances, and how to go about overcoming challenges and not succum...

Welcome back to the tenth season of the Eccles Business Buzz podcast. Today, guest-host Annesley Womble returns for a conversation with Colin Wright, Owner of Cole West Group, a real estate development group focused on developing master-planned communities, residential lots, urban infill communities and mixed-use properties throughout Utah.  Wright traces his path from studying finance at the Univ...

As we continue our hallmark tenth season of the Eccles Business Buzz podcast, host Frances Johnson sits down with Cameron Smith, Founder & CEO of Kindling Snacks, and Co-Founder of Kodiak Cakes. Cameron is also a graduate of the David Eccles School of Business with a BS in Business Administration. Cameron talks to Frances about his time at Kodiak Cakes, where he served as president (2019–2023)...

Continuing the excitement of the Eccles Business Buzz podcast’s tenth season , host Frances Johnson talks with Clark Ivory, CEO of Ivory Homes, Utah’s Number One Homebuilder since 1988. Clark will also be inducted into the David Eccles School of Business Hall of Fame this spring. The Ivory companies have built more than 25,000 homes and 4,000 apartments. Clark has also held civic leadership roles...

In this episode of our hallmark tenth season of the Eccles Business Buzz podcast, host Frances Johnson sits down with Nicole and Peter Mouskondis, the CEO and Owner, respectively, of Nicholas and Company, a third-generation, family-owned-and-operated broadline foodservice distribution company in the Intermountain West. Nicole and Peter are also being recognized with the Distinguished Entrepreneur...

As we continue our hallmark tenth season of the Eccles Business Buzz podcast, we will bring you conversations with notable alumni from the David Eccles School of Business and their stories about the impact the school has had on their lives and careers. In this episode, host Frances Johnson talks with Jhareil Hutchinson, a marketing professional and junior project manager for the NBA’s Utah Jazz. J...

Welcome to the kickoff for the tenth season of the Eccles Business Buzz podcast! This season we will bring you conversations with notable alumni from the David Eccles School of Business and their stories of the impact the school has made on their lives and careers. For our first episode, host Frances Johnson talks with Elaina Pappas, head of marketing for the Utah Jazz and the Utah Mammoth profess...

Grab your headphones and mark your calendars. The Eccles Business Buzz podcast will be back on March 26th. I'm your host, Frances Johnson, and I hope you'll join me for our 10th season of Eccles Business Buzz. We have some great conversations and some exciting celebrations in store for you. This season, you'll hear from Eccles alums who are shaping the future of professional sports in...

We’re back for more stories about the impact the David Eccles School of Business has on the lives and careers of our alumni, and today, host Frances Johnson is joined by Steve Johnson and his sons Mitchell Johnson and Alex Johnson, multi-generational alums of the David Eccles School of Business, for an “All Johnson” episode on our season finale. Steve Johnson is CFO at Parker-Migliorini Internatio...

As we approach the end of our season highlighting alumni from the University and the impact that the David Eccles School of Business has had on their lives and careers, we welcome back guest-host Annesley Womble, who talks with Dalton Wright, General Partner at Kickstart, a seed-stage venture capital firm with offices in Salt Lake City and Denver. Dalton shares his unique career journey, which beg...

We’re back for more stories about the impact the David Eccles School of Business has on the lives and careers of our alumni, and today we are sharing another success story of connections made through the David Eccles Alumni Network with Ben Holley. Frances talks to Ben about how he went from earning a music degree at the University of Utah  and an MBA from Harvard Business School to now the VP of...

We’re back for more stories about the impact the David Eccles School of Business has on their lives and careers, and for this episode, host Frances Johnson is joined by Ashley Atkinson Williamson, Founder and Principal at Williamson Development.  In this episode, Frances talks to Ashley about her journey from med school to finance and then real estate, and what valuable lessons she learned from ea...

This season we are exploring all the different ways the David Eccles School of Business has impacted our alums, and today we are exploring the benefit of generational engagement with the Eccles School and the U, for businesses, communities, and families. We’re back for more stories about the impact the David Eccles School of Business has on their lives and careers, and for this episode, host Franc...

We’re back for more stories about the impact the David Eccles School of Business has on the lives and careers of our alums, and today we are sharing another success story of connections made through the David Eccles Alumni Network with Jeff Lewis and Alexandra Floor. Continuing our focus on mentorship and networking, Frances talks to Jeff and Alexandra about how they connected through the Eccles S...

We’re back for more stories about the impact the David Eccles School of Business has on the lives and careers of our alums. In this episode, host Frances Johnson is joined by Justin Spangler and Diego Alvarez for a conversation about the power of making connections through the David Eccles Alumni Network.  Frances talks to Justin and Diego about the start of their mentor/mentee relationship, as we...

This season of the Eccles Business Buzz podcast continues by highlighting alums from the David Eccles School of Business and the meaningful impact their degrees have had on their lives and careers . In this episode, we welcome guest-host Annesley Womble, who talks with Nikita Siddamsettiwar, a 2020 Finance graduate of the Eccles School of Business and a Senior Business Architect, Compete for AI Bu...

The season continues as we talk with alumni about the impact the David Eccles School of Business has on their lives and careers. In this episode host Frances Johnson talks with Carnell (Nelly) Griffin, an MBA graduate who is now an Indirect Buyer with NVIDIA, and has also established a scholarship at the Eccles School for first generation students in the Opportunity Scholars Program. Nelly shares...

We’re back with season 9 of the Eccles Business Buzz podcast. This season, we will be talking with alumni for more stories of the impact the David Eccles School of Business has on their lives and careers. In this episode, host Frances Johnson talks with Jonathan Campbell, a third-generation alumnus of the Eccles School, Eccles Advisory Board member, and generous donor. Jonathan shares the rich leg...

Season 9 of the Eccles Business Buzz podcast will be launching in just a few short weeks. I'm your host, Frances Johnson, and I hope you'll join me this season as we spend some time diving into the inspiring stories of our Eccles Alumni Network. We'll hear from alums who have launched successful careers thanks to their Eccles education, as well as from alums who use their Eccles experi...

As we prepare for a brand-new season of Eccles Business Buzz launching this fall, we’re bringing back some of your favorite episodes from our archive .  This episode from Season 8 continues with our conversations about the new strategic direction at the David Eccles School of Business with a particular focus on the second pillar of the strategic plan: societal impact.  Zach England is  Chief Opera...

As we prepare for a brand new season of Eccles Business Buzz launching this fall, we’re bringing back some of your favorite episodes from our archive .  Today, we revisit a timely conversation from Season 8 about the new strategic direction at the David Eccles School of Business with a particular focus on student success.  Greg Goff is  founder of the University of Utah’s Goff Strategic Leadership...

As we prepare for a brand new season of Eccles Business Buzz launching this fall, we’re bringing back some of your favorite episodes from our archive.  In this series of conversations from Season 7 about Artificial Intelligence and how it's changing the world around us, Frances talks to an AI engineer at Google about the ins and outs of the newest crop of AI models and agents. Joining the show...

Season 8 concludes with our final conversation about the new strategic direction at the David Eccles School of Business. In this episode we go straight to the top for another discussion with Dean Kurt Dirks.  Dean Dirks reflects on his first year on the job, and shares his thoughts about the strategic priorities of student success, societal impact, and what a strong legacy for the Eccles School re...

Season 8 continues with our conversations about the new strategic direction at the David Eccles School of Business with a particular focus on the third pillar of the strategic plan: reputation and legacy.  Paige Erickson is the chair of the Eccles Advisory Board. She works as a strategic consultant, board member, and board leader. Nick Marsh is the chair of the David Eccles Alumni Network Board. H...