Money Matters Update I DIG MONEY Tyler Graeve (TJ, 15’) came back to campus to talk to students about buying a house as an investment. Tyler is the CEO of Cedrus Capital and he focused on Cap Rates, free cash flow, and how to decide where to buy a rental. The next I Dig Money event will be on 4/20 at noon and will have Natalie Brunell discussing Bitcoin. Natalie is the host of the Coin Stories podcast and has interviewed the top names in the Crypto space.
Mike Gathers ETM '01
NEws and updates
A word from the economics & business Department head
ETM alumni outreach announcement
Product Management and Business Analytics
Economic analysis is essential for understanding how the world works and how it can work better in the future. Economics majors learn to harness economic models and data to make effective business decisions and design better public policy.
The Engineering Technology Management Program is hosting Mr. Jim Franklin as this years Executive in Residence. Jim Franklin is an experienced executive with C-level leadership positions in several technology companies. He was most recently the CEO of SendGrid, which went public and was acquired by Twilio. Prior to his tenure with SendGrid, Franklin was CEO of Decisioneering, maker of Crystal Ball software and then upon Decisionseering's aquisition by Oracle; General Manager of Oracle’s Crystal Ball Global Business Unit. He was also the founder of webfamilies.com and the CFO of Vericept Corporation and has served on several venture-backed company boards as well been a mentor for TechStars, Mergelane and the Founder Institute. Franklin is an active limited partner in venture capital funds and advisor to the startup community. Franklin has passed the CPA exam, is licensed to practice law in Pennsylvania and Colorado and holds a JD/MBA and BBA-Accounting all from the College of William and Mary.
Pat Leach Professor of Practice
The Economics and Business department is developing an ETM Alumni Outreach Program so that ETM alumni can communicate and network with each other. In the fall of 2021, a program discovery phase was conducted to get feedback on possible ETM alumni activities for the new program. Thirty-nine alumni completed an on-line survey to express interest in several suggested activities. Here are the top three areas that alumni are interested in: 1) networking with other alumni, 2) providing feedback on the value of the ETM program and 3) acting as a mentor to current ETM students. Since networking with other ETM alumni was such a strong interest area, the Economics and Business Department is announcing the formation of an ETM Alumni Community Network. This will be a community networking website where Mines ETM alumni can go to network, discuss job opportunities, reconnect with classmates by graduation year and learn about the latest activities in the ETM program. The first step is to create a pilot community networking website and ask for ETM alumni volunteers to review and provide thoughts for creating an excellent community center website.
Professor of Practice
If you are interested in being part of the pilot website review team, please contact Professor David Culbreth and Alumni Outreach Program Leader (dculbreth@mines.edu)
https://www.linkedin.com/in/mgathers23/
Economics
Alumni UPDATE
Executive in Residence: Mr. Jim Franklin
Take the first step and learn more about the offerings by visiting econbus.mines.edu/eb-graduate-certificates
A new Mines degree is focused on data-driven decision making
The Mines Department of Economics and Business Online graduate certificates offers two graduate certificates, each consisting of three eight-week courses that prepare students to make influential business decisions, prepare for executive positions and sharpen analytic skills. Students can start at any time, and the certificates can be completed in one year if started at the beginning of the rotation. In order to Accommodate working professionals, the certificates can also be spread out over three semesters. Product Management: Rotation starts Spring Session II Business Analytics: Rotation starts Fall Session I Space is limited.
Building leaders with the quantitative skills to make informed business decisions. The Business Engineering and Management Science degree lies at the intersection of business, data science, and operations research to provide students with a modern toolkit for business decision making in complex and uncertain environments. Business Engineering and Management Science majors develop a strong foundation in business principles, data management , and optimization and statistical modeling tools. Students enhance their skills by selecting two focus areas from: Business Analytics, Technology Management, Advanced Manufacturing and Machine Learning & Artificial Intelligence. Upon graduation, Business Engineering and Management Science majors will be well-equipped to join organizations in many industries that are seeking to improve processes, harness the power of data, and make critical decisions.
Economics and Business professor Pat Leach is co-facilitating a workshop (done virtually) on April 21st as part of the Society of Decision Professionals Annual Conference. If anyone is interested in the conference, details can be found at Home - 2022 SDP Annual Conference & Workshops (cvent.com). The Society of Decision Professionals (SDP) is an organization comprised of individuals dedicated to helping business leaders, government officials, and society in general make better decisions in complex situations. Its members have a strong grounding in Decision Science (originally called Decision Analysis), a discipline that originated in the 1960s at Harvard and Stanford. Pat Leach is a past President of the SDP. The workshop he is co-facilitating at the SDP Annual Conference this year is an introduction to Decision Science for those who are fairly new to the subject and/or those in a decision-making role who would like to learn more about how to structure complex problems and avoid various psychological traps.
to be featured in the next newsletter email us at econbus@mines.edu
ETM outreach program
American Endowment Foundation Raymond J. Battalora Jerome Broussard Jason Brucker Jonathan & Greta Bloomfield Sharon Barker, Gilbert Barker Tony Church Nicholas. D. Darschewski Carol Dahl Paul E. Dorr Roderick Eggert Mariah Fort-Connor Dr. Lorna A. Greening Michael Heeley Sam Hewitt Scott Houser Drew Johnson Ian Lange Patrick & Deborah Lineberry Brian D. McNeillie Andrew H. Pederson Donald B. Ratcliff & Mary O'Neill Kyle & Evan Rowland James Russell Benjamin D. Smith David S. Schramm Mary Snyders Dr. Wilmer Sweetser & Kim Robson Jared R. Thompson John Tilton Jennifer A. Van Dinter Rick Winters William M. Zisch S&P Global
PROGRAM UPDATES
EIR brings tech and VC experience to Mines
Mike Gathers graduated in 1994 from Mines with a B.S. Chemical Engineering and a minor in Management. He worked as a facilities manager for Texas Instruments in Dallas, Texas from 1995 to 2000 in the high purity process chemical facilities of the semiconductor manufacturing fabs. Later, he returned to Denver to work for Level Three Communications where he built data centers and conducted business process re-engineering. Then inl 2001 he returned to Mines and enrolled in the ETM program. He was in the first cohort to go through the new ETM program at that time. Gathers interest was in studying with Professor Gene Woolsey and the Organization Research (OR) / Management track in the ETM program. Woolsey was a strong influence for Mike as he exposed the grey areas of company politics where managers are protective of their domains. Dr. Woolsey’s Industrial Psychology course helped Gathers shift from the engineering mentality where there was an absolute answer to understand the nuances of corporate dynamics. Woolsey helped students realize the problem and what data was important, and taught him to immerse himself in the business problem to figure out how it works. Gathers favorite quote from Woolsey is: “A manager would rather live with a problem he can’t solve than approve a solution he can’t understand” After graduating from the ETM program Gathers worked as an engineer in the Oil and Gas industry for 6 years. After that, Gathers took a new direction when he decided to study transpersonal counseling psychology at Buddhist inspired Naropa University in Boulder. Whereas Mines emphasized a practical, applied engeering curriculum, Naropa's graduate psychology program emphasized a practical approach to psychotherapy involving mindfulness, embodiment, and relationship. Gathers earned his counseling degree and worked as a psychotherapist for 10 years, which has progressing into his current position as an independent consultant-coach. MikeGathers.com Now he coaches STEM professionals and small business owners in a relational approach to leadership, management, and living up to their full potential. Gathers expressed the value of the ETM program as he worked his way through his career. In his first job out of the graduate program he did risk assessment and portfolio management as a corporate planning engineer where the ETM program helped provide him with the skills to be successful. He is able to communicate with executives and present business proposals in a way that is understandable for management decision making. In addition, his strong grounding in business operations is an area that he has become very proficient in his career – designing and solving business operations. Gathers always felt that he was an operations guy versus a financial guy. Thus running his own business mikegathers.com “What I appreciate about Mines in general is that we're not MIT or Caltech, pushing the frontiers of theory, but rather that Mines produces graduates with a practical orientation that can hit the ground running in industry." - Mike Gathers '01
Contributions from our alumni and friends truly make a difference. These gifts fund student recognition events, scholarships, faculty research efforts, outreach activities, computer software and the opportunity for students to attend professional conference. We sincerely appreciate your continued commitment to the Department of Economics and Business.
Spring 2022 newsletter
Professor Leach to deliver virtual workshop for Society of Decision Professionals
Dear EB alumni, supporters, and friends – We’re so glad to have this chance to update you about Economics and Business at Mines. As you can see in this newsletter, we have been busy! Our new BS in Business Engineering and Management Science already has 25 students, and we’re expecting about 30 more in the fall. We rolled out online Product Management and Business Analytics certificates. We’ve expanded personal finance education on campus. Our faculty have been at the center of Mines research and education on critical minerals and materials, adaptations to climate change, the energy transition, water, supply chains, methane emissions, and innovation. The best part of being the EB Department Head is sharing the amazing things that our students, faculty, and alumni are doing. I hope the stories in this newsletter will remind you of the vital role that EB plays at Mines and beyond and that these stories will inspire you to get more involved with our work. Thanks to all of you who have visited a class, joined us for an alumni chat, hired a graduate or an intern, mentored a student, or supported EB with your financial gifts. We can’t do our work without you! I look forward to talking with many more of you or finding a way to get you to campus in the next year. Email me at shouser@mines.edu if you want to connect.Thank you! Sincerely, Scott Houser Department Head & Teaching Professor For more information on Mines Economics & Business, visit econbus.mines.edu.
DEPARTMENT of Economics and Business
Thank you to supporters and friends of Economics and Business July 1, 2021 - March 31, 2022
Celebrating Economics and Business accomplishments as summer nears
Support Economics and Business at Mines
Econ & Business Certificates
First cohort student finds value in ETM degree
CAMPAIGN.MINES.EDU | WEARE.MINES.EDU OR 303-273-3275
Tyler Graeve '15 with Professor Andrew Pederson
The following donors made a gift of $20 or more:
Business Engineering Management Science: Why study Economics at Mines?
A gift to the Department of Economics and Business is an investment in our future. Gifts support scholarships, fellowships, professorships, academic programs, faculty research and other initiatives that are not typically supported through state appropriations. Private philanthropy empowers the department to achieve greater excellence in research and education. Your gift helps fulfill our mission of facilitating student success, faculty scholarship and patron research by providing access to information and knowledge, which helps strengthen the quality of the University. To learn more about supporting the Department of Economics and Business Contact the Mines Foundation.
ECONOMICS & BUSINESS FACULTY