Owl Have You Know

Mikki Hebl, an industrial organizational psychologist and the Martha and Henry Malcolm Lovett Chair of Psychology – Professor of Management at Rice University, has been studying workplace discrimination and diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) for 30 years, well before DEI became the widely discussed topic it is today. In March of this year, Mikki and Eden King, the Lynette S. Autrey Professor of...

In this episode of Owl Have You Know, we explore the journey of Suman Khatiwada, from his roots in Nepal to becoming a trailblazing force in the chemical manufacturing industry. Suman is the co-founder, chief technology officer (CTO), and board director at Syzygy Plasmonics, focusing on using light-driven chemistry instead of combustion to power a cleaner, safer world.  As CTO, he leads the techno...

We have plenty of Rice families in our history. But it's rare to see a mother and daughter earn their Professional MBAs at the same time. Misty and Alexis graduated in May and co-founded La Mer Macaron, offering an assortment of homemade macarons for home delivery. Misty is the CEO of La Mer Macaron. She spent most of her career as an independent petroleum landman for various companies in Texas, b...

Eager to learn how organizations can innovate their way out of a crisis? You may be surprised that the key to this comes from an arts organization. Tune into a special live recording of our podcast, with John Mangum, the executive director/CEO of the Houston Symphony, and Scott Sonenshein, the Henry Gardiner Symonds Professor of Management – Organizational Behavior at Rice Business.  During the pa...

For Adrian and Klaus Trömel, getting an MBA from Rice Business was a family affair.  Klaus Trömel served as the secretary general of the European Investment Bank (EIB) until his retirement in March 2018. He began his career as an analyst at Hewlett-Packard’s European headquarters in Geneva before working as a trade and pre-export finance officer. Adrian was named the assistant vice president for s...

From an early age, Ashley Henry was interested in beauty. Despite getting her bachelor’s degree in chemistry and working for the CDC in epidemiology, her childhood dreams never faded. After her stint in public health, Ashley went on to work as a hairstylist before getting her MBA and fully committing to beauty and luxury goods.  Ashley is now the global product development manager at Fresh (an LVM...

Brian Jackson is an expert when it comes to challenging himself in unchartered waters. Brian is the manager of renewables origination at TransAlta Corporation, where he oversees the company's renewable energy power purchase agreement origination activities in the United States. Brian has a well-rounded roster of degrees from Texas institutions, beginning with a  BS in political science from Texas...

Looking at T. Canady Barton’s resume, she has some of the biggest company names on the list. After a few years doing chemical engineering, oil and gas, T. pivoted to consulting, tech and entrepreneurship for the bulk of her career.  In 2014, she moved to the U.K., where she was the vice president of portfolio management, digital strategy and transformation for Garner. From 2006-2018, she was a fou...

Rice Business is known for producing top industry leaders and 2016 full-time MBA graduate, Erika Kwee is no exception. Erika Kwee is the creator, photographer and writer behind The Pancake Princess, where her colorful, mouthwatering “bake-off” blog compares popular baking recipes side-by-side to help readers and aspiring bakers find recipes that are just right for their tastes and skill levels.  E...

Diana Khandilyan is an energy industry expert who dedicated more than 20 years to the international oil and gas exploration industry, focusing on emerging technologies, process optimization and corporate sustainability.  The energy transition motivated her to pursue an MBA degree from Rice Business to explore the business viability of emerging trends, followed by immersion in clean-energy technolo...

Conventional wisdom says that conflict and dissent among an organization’s top leaders can improve strategy and performance. But new research indicates the opposite is true. In fact, dissent at the top often damages working relationships, communication and decision quality.  In this episode of Owl Have You Know, Daan van Knippenberg joins host Scott Gale ’19 to talk about his research on conflict...

Rice grads end up all over the world, and Dymphna van der Lans is no exception. Dymphna has worked and lived in China, India, and Kenya and engaged with island nations in the Caribbean and the Indian and Pacific Oceans to support their transition away from polluting diesel fuels to renewable sources of energy.  Dymphna brings more than 25 years of experience managing and leading global development...

Keri Sprung ’22 is the vice president for education and director of the Women’s Center at the Texas Heart Institute. She provides strategic direction to the physicians and scientists leading innovative research, education, and clinical programs at the Institute in partnership with regional, national, and international collaborators. During her studies at Rice, she served as the class representativ...

Many of us have probably had that moment – where you quit one job because you found your “dream” job. But that second place wasn’t everything you thought it would be. So what comes after that? Wendy Fong decided to start her own company to fulfill her search, and to help others with theirs. Wendy is a business coach and talent optimizer, with a passion for building dream teams and developing their...

From the president to the provost, a lot of people are working behind the scenes to make sure our university runs smoothly. As the Howard R. Hughes Provost of Rice University, Amy Dittmar oversees Rice’s academic enterprise, including direct reporting relationships for the deans of eight schools, the dean of undergraduates, the dean of graduate and postdoctoral studies and other key leaders.  With...

McNair Hall is home to an impressive collection of public art. With 19 installations that have been an intentional element of the building renovations since 2018, Rice is proud of the diverse permanent collection, which represents artists of a number of different ages, countries, genders and backgrounds.  The new art helps communicate our philosophy that a good piece of art forces you to think, en...

The Rice Energy Finance Summit (REFS) is an annual student-led conference promoting forward-looking discussions on the most relevant energy finance, investment and strategy topics affecting the global energy industry. And founders Jan Goetgeluk and Jesús Patiño say it's just another example of what you can do with the support and resources found within the Rice community & network.  Jan is ori...

Crystal Maxwell was born in Texas but raised in Saudi Arabia as an "oil brat." Both her parents worked for Aramco. Exploring different cultures developed her global perspective that helps shape her investment recommendations even today.  She moved back to the U.S. for college and earned her bachelor’s degree in hotel restaurant management from the University of Houston but pivoted to wealth manage...

Rawand grew up watching his father's passion for engineering. Despite avoiding the field at first, Rawand developed a similar passion for the craft. Rawand is a Ph. D. candidate at the Rice University George R. Brown School of Engineering and has more than five years of experience at NASA, first as a graduate research fellow, then as a life support systems engineer. He shares his journey and the t...

For our final episode of season 3, we wanted to bring you one last conversation from this year’s Alumni Reunion. Brad Burke is the managing director of Rice Alliance, Rice Business’ flagship entrepreneurship initiative launched in 2000. Brad has led Rice Alliance since 2001, helping the Rice Business Plan Competition become the world’s largest and richest student startup competition. Since Rice Al...

Born and raised in Mexico, Daniel Gutierrez knew from an early age he wanted to build a career in economics.  In 2009, Daniel and his wife moved to San Antonio to join the North American Development Bank as a senior analysis and structuring specialist. North American Development Bank is a binational financial institution, established by the governments of the U.S. and Mexico, that supports the dev...

Climate change is on the news and in our faces every day, from wildfires to record-breaking heat waves. And today, we are talking to a Rice grad who’s working to combat these developments, through clean energy, carbon management and venture capital investments.  Phoebe Wang is a cleantech venture capitalist who serves as an investment partner at the Amazon Climate Pledge Fund. Previously, she was...

It’s not everyday you talk to a reporter with an MBA. Kalyn Norwood is Hearst Television’s White House Correspondent. She joined the company’s Washington Bureau in July 2022, right after earning her MBA at Rice Business. An Emmy award-winning journalist, Kalyn landed in Washington D.C. after a stint in Albuquerque, where she worked as an anchor/reporter at KOAT, covering the state of New Mexico. S...

We’re so excited to bring you another conversation from this year’s alumni reunion!  Tracy Dennis `00 and John Dennis `93 met the first week of freshman year as undergrads at Harvard and have been together ever since, even both eventually coming to Rice Business for their MBAs!  Tracy is a lecturer of management at Rice Business, teaching Principles of Survey Design. She started two research and i...

Turner Hoff grew up in a family of real estate entrepreneurs. When he was young, his goal was to work in construction like his father. After undergrad, he spent two years working with his father, redeveloping and flipping single-family homes in Houston, and joined Rice Business’ Full-Time MBA program in 2011, seeking a deeper understanding of real estate finance and professional experience in the...