Economics & Strategy Podcast

Joe Christie is a Business Strategy & Decision Making alumnus, manager at the building materials giant Owens Corning, and a history buff. He joins us this month to discuss the value of a history degree in business, the opportunities his MBA provided him, and how B2B sales is a bit like a repeated game, where credibility is central to each party receiving their best outcome. Joe innately understands that being transactional in business relationships has a way of following you around and leads to credibility issues that are often hard to outrun. His answer is investing in these relationships and gaining the kind of reputation necessary to build long-term mutual success. History can teach us many things, if we chose to listen in.

In this episode we're gonna talk about data science! Lots of data science. To help, we welcome double demon and professional in the field, Ian Burke. Ian works in consulting and has a front row seat helping a wide range of clients solve complex business problems using data science as his tool. Consultants often engage with clients across a variety of industries. In doing so, they can play an important role through their learned understanding of industry standards & best practices and by helping apply technological advancements and innovative strategies that elevate industries. Ian is certainly moving the needle on both those fronts.  Listen in to hear how he does it.

Say Hello to Winny Lucas. Winny is a long-time member of the DePaul community as a student, teacher, and staff member and works at Stanford University. She joins us this month for a conversation on immigration, curiosity, creativity in a technical world, and education; lots of education! As a young woman, Winny left Shanghai for a full-ride scholarship at DePaul and ended up being part of an important transformation of this university. Along the way she accumulated three graduate degrees and a lot of experience in the digital cinematic arts, where she still works today. She is a prime example of luck being a matter of preparation meeting opportunity, and that gratitude is a choice. I'm a fan!  Listen in!

This month we have 2020 MBA alumnus Anthony Wojtal, Budget Manager at Chicago Public Schools (CPS). Anthony leads the budget team for the country's third largest school district and after 12 years has a veteran's perspective to offer. CPS delivers a public good and, as such, must serve everyone in its district equally, without exclusion. For this reason, it's a fool's errand to compare them to private firms that make such choices to maximize profit. So, how does CPS focus its organization when they cannot choose the services they offer, or customers they serve? The answer, an endless pursuit of operational efficiency with the guidance of a strong mission. Listen in to hear how, year after year, CPS delivers more with less using the most common approach there is, efficiency.

Our February edition of the Economics & Strategy Podcast hosts 2020 strategy alumna Julia Weigard, Director of Network Transformation for NewGround International. NewGround is a design and build firm with a strong focus on retail financial institutions. One of the most tried and true strategies in business is to build strength in one space – whether geographic or product space – and expand slowly into adjacent and related opportunities. If done well, this can compound your initial strength and, potentially, create economies of scope for your firm; a rare but significant competitive advantage. Listen in to hear Julia discuss her work and how she's been doing her part to achieve that.   A great listen for sure!

It's a cold January in Chicago but we're happy to have MBA alumnus Matt Robins on for a conversation on technology sales.  Matt works with NetApp's AWS Alliance team and has spent his entire career in technical sales. He tells us why "sales is hard" but also how his  business strategy & decision making concentration focused his efforts. Time is a finite resource, so using it more efficiently is a sure path to better outcomes. He also shares how getting his MBA was so valuable in helping him distinguish good opportunities from bad, see internal management decisions through a different lens, and understand how changes in pricing models, like software subscriptions, can be a rare win-win.   Have a listen!

For the holiday season we are joined by MBA alumnus Michael Kremer, Vice President of Marketing for the American Concrete Pipe Association. In this wide-ranging discussion, Michael shares knowledge gained over a 20+ year career in marketing, and how luck played a part in his story. The role of luck in life and business is often overlooked or underweighted. Many fall victim to this fallacy - myself included. However, luck rarely arrives for those not prepared to see it or capitalize on it. That's the role of strategy; to prepare for and navigate towards the range of opportunities most likely to present themselves. So, how do you prepare to meet luck with gratitude? Listen in.  

This month, Marty Friel joins us for our second Check In episode in this podcast series. Marty is a MS-EPA graduate and veteran financial advisor with Ameriprise Financial and his original episode aired on 3/9/21. In that episode, Aaron Pagel hosted Marty for a great conversation on how and why he pursued this career and what strategy is responsible for his success. Here we take the chance to review Marty's progress and focus in on how growth, and the challenges that come with it, have impacted his work. Marty gives us some sage perspective on how he manages growth and updates on what advice he might give others seeking to join him in his chosen field.  It's full of great knowledge and wisdom from someone who has been in the arena for quite some time.   Give it a listen.

Edith Freeze is a Community Scientist at Northwestern University's Fienberg School of Medicine and a fierce champion of environmental rights. Her career is the product of endless curiosity, a thirst for education, and hustle. Her passion for environmental issues comes directly from her experiences growing up in Ecuador and a reverence for her Andean Indigenous roots. This double demon joins to explain how she balances her work as an empirical researcher in healthcare with her long-standing advocacy for environmental rights. These two parts both complement and overlap each other and allow her to make contributions is ways that may not be possible without traveling her unique journey.    Give it a listen.

Josh Dickey is an experienced finance professional, DePaul MS-EPA alumnus, veteran of the Federal Reserve in Washington DC and our guest this month. Josh has great stories to tell about his career, time at the Fed, and current work at the fuel cell manufacturer Hyzon Motors. Hyzon focuses on producing zero-emission heavy duty trucks; a nascent market with huge potential. Like many new markets, though, the path ahead isn't always crystal clear. How do you get where you want to go, when the destination doesn't exist yet? Hyzon has a solid strategic plan to build around its core fuel cell technology & expertise that maintains flexibility, leverages strong IP, and fixed costs, and can provide significant scale economies if or when this market blooms. Listen in to hear how they're doing it. 

Our guest this month is Nuna Becic. Nuna is the embodiment of resilience, effort, and passion! Qualities earned from life experience as an immigrant, mother, MBA, and marketing professional. She currently handles strategic alliances at Logitech and has an interesting story of getting there. This story includes terrific role models, some luck, and a lot of hard work. A LOT! Her current role uses her business strategy concentration to help Logitech create mutually beneficial strategic alliances that open new markets, leverage firm advantages, and efficiently fill market gaps. Any business alliance brings risk, but Nuna serves as a point of continuity to maximize the benefits while minimizing any risk. Listen in to hear how?

2024 summer break brings our first guest with a B.A. in Economics Ryan Polak. Ryan is Associate Director for Purchasing at Bell Flavors & Fragrances; a developer and manufacturer of ingredients in many consumer products who sits in the upstream market of the consumer product makers. Clients rely on Bell's scientific expertise to be successful, and their food scientists rely on Ryan to deliver raw materials at scale and on budget. That requires him to constantly gather market intelligence on who has what, where, how much of it and at what price. Unfortunately, there isn't just one answer to that question and that keeps him very busy. Listen in to hear how.

June is part 2 with Luke Balderson and a great discussion on leadership and organizational culture. We explore how Luke made the connection between these two interdependent concepts and how they create sustainable business success. The servant-based leadership model discussed here begins at the top and requires discipline to scale and maintain. However, done well, this model, of selflessly developing and enabling talent, creates a self-sustaining culture in its likeness and the benefits are significant. These human and organizational benefits become assets that, from a resource-based view, provide a competitive advantage hard for others to overcome. Treat your people well, I think I've heard that before?

For May, we begin a two-part interview with Business Strategy & Decision Making alumnus Luke Balderson. This part 1, dives deep into Luke's multidecade career in the far reaching and fascinating industrial gases industry. Luke is a composed, experienced, and highly capable executive in a sector that demands clear thinking and strategic insight. These skills were honed by a remarkable father, a natural inclination to listen and learn, and an education that enables him to synthesize information into a strategic framework. Success in business necessitates understanding the value proposition for your customers, employees, and suppliers, and this can only be accomplished through curiosity and active listening! Interested? Give it a listen.

For Episode 51, MS-EPA graduate Roxy Kozyckyj joins us. Roxy is Senior Director, State Government & Regional Affairs for the advanced medical technology association AdvaMed and has spent most of her career in healthcare policy, from advocacy, to intern, to analyst, capitol hill fellow, and finally lobbyist. This experience gives her the ability to see how policy goals that serve everyone, require working, step-by-step through the interested parties. Roxy openly admits game theory plays a role in her work and backward induction seems to fit well. Think of it this way, start with a policy goal, navigate backwards solving each preceding step, the resulting path theoretically achieves the desired outcome. Sounds strategic to me. Give it a listen.