Costello College of Business News

It’s 9 am. Do you know where your team members are? Before Covid, the answer was simple: They were – or were expected to be – in the office. The pandemic erased that certainty and accelerated the pace toward work-place flexibility. As we move forward in our post-covid work environment, employees are strongly indicating their preference for flexibility and self-determination regarding their working environment. A portion of the workforce will desire to stay at home with high flexibility, whereas others will return to the office by choice.

Despite living and working in the Atlanta metropolitan area, Michael VanPatten, MBA ’90, never lost touch with Mason. Immediately receptive to post-graduation calls from the alumni relations team, he was eager to connect with alumni and assist students in attaining an MBA. The positive experience he had at Mason, with instructors who had working knowledge in the areas they were teaching, encouraged his continued engagement.

Reflecting on his career path in the three decades following his graduation from George Mason University, George Cabalu, BA Economics ’92, is grateful that he chose the green and gold. In fact, with the university rapidly climbing ranks across the board, his degree has never been more valuable. Cabalu, who is now a Managing Director at Wells Fargo Advisors, is extending a helping hand to students by establishing the Cabalu Scholarship Endowment, geared toward School of Business students of Asian descent and from socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds.

In her quest to gain a better understanding of people, the mechanisms of the world around her, and advances in science and technology, Prachi Vakharia has taken on many roles simultaneously. Presently, she is a transportation and innovation specialist at Amazon, associate partner at European boutique investment bank ImprovedCF, and co-founder of Womanium. She does all this while also serving on several advisory boards, including as chairperson of the Business for a Better World Center (B4BW) Advisory Board at George Mason University’s School of Business. 

Data-based decisions drive businesses, and those who know how to analyze data help make their organizations more successful. George Mason University’s Costello College of Business, conveniently located in the Washington, D.C. metro area, offers two programs to help individuals effectively analyze big data through the hands-on use of modeling and other techniques with popular software tools.

With the daytime dedicated to her nine-to-five job and evenings occupied with coursework, the financial support that Kaylene Green, BS Accounting & Legal Studies ’87, received from her employer was integral to her success. Now the president and CEO of Flagship Government Relations, Inc., she makes sure to return the favor, supporting the business students of her alma mater.

For most drivers in the U.S., obeying a stop sign upon approaching an intersection is an unavoidable annoyance. But for Mason finance professor Jiasun Li, it’s a problem waiting to be solved. His recent working paper proposes a simple and economical improvement: removing one stop sign from every four-way intersection. According to his calculations, this would boost not only driver safety, but environmental sustainability as well. 

To overcome the challenges of running a business during the pandemic, Craftsman Auto Care’s Matt and Judy Curry demonstrated exceptional skill as innovators and entrepreneurs, taking extensive measures to make the vehicle maintenance process as safe and easy as possible for their customers. Following COVID restrictions, the couple has parlayed their company’s successes into a sixth location. Their significant presence and established business expertise in the Northern Virginia community has made them valued partners of the School of Business at George Mason University, most specifically the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CIE).  

Graduating this past May, Doug Chapman MBA’22 was honored as the 2022 MBA Outstanding Student of the Year; a recognition by faculty of his demonstrated overall excellence in academic performance. Chapman was recently featured in a video spotlight where he shared memories of his experiences at Mason and offered advice to both current and future Mason graduate students. 

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has been on the business leadership agenda for more than 50 years, yet executives and corporate boards still demand to see the "business case" for CSR. Clearly, CSR’s familiarity as a concept has not translated into coherent ideas of where it fits into the cost-benefit calculations that motivate business strategy. A forthcoming article in the Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis by Lei Gao, associate professor of finance at George Mason University School of Business, Jie (Jack) He (of University of Georgia) and Juan (Julie) Wu (of University of Nebraska – Lincoln) goes beyond the business case to form cause-and-effect connections involving companies’ CSR efforts.