Yanhui  Zhao ’18 PhD  successfully defended her dissertation titled, “Option Market, Return Predictability and Term Structure.” Dr. Zhao will begin as Assistant Professor at University of Wisconsin, Whitewater in Fall 2018.  Best wishes Yanhui!

Nian Wang ’18 PhD successfully defended her dissertation titled, ” Product Returns and Bad Debts in Direct Marketing: Implications for the Targeting Dilemma and Return Policies.”   Dr. Wang is the 207^th student in the PhD Program to defend her dissertation.

Bryan K. Larson ’17 EMBA has been appointed Senior Vice President, Finance & Administration at the Kaman Distribution Group, the distribution segment of Kaman Corporation. In this role, Mr. Larson will lead all finance activities for the segment. Mr. Larson joined Kaman in 2005 and most recently served as Executive Director, Corporate Development. Kaman Corporation was founded in 1945 by aviation pioneer Charles H. Kaman and is headquartered in Bloomfield, Connecticut. Kaman conducts business in the aerospace and industrial distribution markets.

Amanda N. Balboni ’08, ’10 MSA has been named Assistant Vice President at Kaman.  Last July, Kaman commemorated the first deliveries of the new K_MAX helicopters.  The company also established Women Advocating Leadership at Kaman to hire, retain and promote more women. The program also seeks to change Kaman’s culture “to be more accepting of women in leadership roles,” give women equal access to development opportunities and create a family-friendly workplace.

John Y. Kim ’86 MBA, ’16 HON, CFA is the President at New York Life Insurance Company.  Mr. Kim is now serving in a new Board position at Eversource Energy.  He will serve on the audit and compensation committees.

Karina J. Alvarez ’10 is an entrepreneur who moved with her family from Peru when she was 14, traveled to Spain for her MBA, and is now located in New London, Connecticut.  Last year she founded EZ-Occasions, an event design and rentals company.  While her family has helped keep her in southeastern Connecticut, and while she likes the “peace of mind” and lack of big-city traffic, she sees much that needs to be done to attract and retain young people.

Ricardo A. “Ricky” Hernandez ’12 has joined Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP in Nashville, Tennessee.  Mr. Hernandez joins the firm as an associate in the Corporate and Securities Practice Group and will counsel clients on a variety of business formation, transactional, and operational matters. He also has experience in intellectual property matters such as trademarks and copyrights.