UB School of Management honors organizations, alumni for career development impact

By Kevin Manne

BUFFALO, N.Y.—The University at Buffalo School of Management honored individuals and organizations that made a significant impact on students’ career development over the past year during a reception on May 1 at Templeton Landing.

The school’s Career Resource Center (CRC) recognized Bharat Jain, MBA ’02, partner at EY, as CRC Alumnus of the Year. Throughout his career, Jain has continued to give back to the school through his dedicated support of School of Management students and his role in building a strong recruiting relationship between UB and EY.

Delaware North was named Recruiting Organization of the Year in recognition of their engagement and collaboration, which has made a broad impact on the school and its students. Representatives from Delaware North frequently speak in classes and at networking events, and serve on panels at MBA Advantage, in addition to recruiting on campus, hosting students on site, sponsoring career events and more. With the launch of its NEXT program, the company is a top employer of UB MBAs, building a talent pipeline across multiple divisions.

For Recruiting Partners of the Year, the CRC honored three recipients—Brad Eckstein, Mike Hurwitz and Andy Kubrick—all partners with Marks Paneth who demonstrate strong collaboration to support UB School of Management students, through such events as Network NY Week, Meet the Professionals Career Fair, class speaking engagements, on-campus recruitment, employer-in-residence, and the Beta Alpha Psi and UB Accounting Association clubs. The Marks Paneth partnership follows an ideal model for recruiting relationships, broadly engaging across programs, classes and events.

Nicholas Everest, clinical assistant professor of organization and human resources, was named the CRC Faculty Member of the Year for his significant contributions to students’ career success. Everest is the faculty director of the school’s award-winning LeaderCORE™ program, which develops key competencies MBA students need to be career ready. Additionally, he is recognized for serving as the faculty liaison to the CRC, for serving on the Internship and Experiential Learning faculty committee, and for his collaboration in developing opportunities among employer partners.

During the internship portion of the program, the CRC recognized three organizations: API Heat Transfer, a designer and manufacturer of heat exchangers and heat transfer solutions, Excellus BlueCross BlueShield, a health care coverage provider, and GlobalSecurityIQ, a cybersecurity firm.

API Heat Transfer received the Outstanding Internship Partner award in recognition of their consistent commitment to providing high-quality internship opportunities to School of Management students. API has hosted credit-bearing interns in their accounting and finance department, and have been consistently rated in the highest range by students for mentoring. Recently, API made major modifications to their program, creating paid internships that have extended over multiple semesters.

As the Most Active Company honoree, Excellus BlueCross BlueShield was acknowledged for their wide-ranging involvement in experiential learning initiatives and their outstanding level of engagement with students. This included posting dozens of paid internship opportunities, presenting in undergraduate classes, participating in networking events and career fairs, hosting on-campus information sessions, and serving as a Corporate Champions site.

As the New Internship Partner honoree, cybersecurity firm GlobalSecurityIQ was recognized for its new internship program. In just 16 months, the company has hosted 10 student interns, a number of whom have been offered part- and full-time employment. GlobalSecurityIQ provides strategic, challenging projects that align with the students’ interests and academic programs.

Finally, the CRC recognized the Intern and Supervisor of the Year. Interns nominate their supervisors for their outstanding mentorship and commitment; on the flip side, supervisors nominate their interns for exhibiting professionalism and initiative, and making a significant impact on the organization.

The intern and supervisor honorees were Prateek Sollapur, MBA ’19, and his supervisor, Roger Duryea, MBA ’94, vice president of planning and business development at Catholic Health. During his remarks, Duryea spoke about the importance of giving back as an alumnus. He credited much of his professional success—and ability to succeed in his career path—on the education he received at UB.