Posted on: August 21, 2024; Updated on: August 14, 2024
Catch up with the Moore School's news in 2023-24
Academic Rankings
No. 1 Undergraduate International Business Degree for 25 consecutive years (U.S. News & World Report 2024)
No. 3 Undergraduate Supply Chain in North America (Gartner2024)
No. 11 five-year return on investment (ROI) (Poets&Quants2022)
No. 1 Best International MBA Program and in the top 3 overall for 35 consecutive years
(U.S. News 2025)
No. 1 Professional MBA Program in the Carolinas and No. 19 best Professional MBA Program
(U.S. News 2025)
No. 1 Average MIB Salary 3 years after Completion and in the U.S and No. 27 in the
world (Financial Times 2023)
No. 5 Graduate Supply Chain Program in North America (Gartner 2024)
No. 20 Supply Chain Management MBA Program (U.S. News 2025)
No. 22 Best Production-Operations MBA Program (U.S. News 2025)
Office of Access, Opportunity and Community Engagement Updates
The office increased collaboration with South Carolina HBCUs and expanded the Power
Forward pipeline program to Florence School District 3, which includes Darla Moore’s
hometown of Lake City. The team also won the Insight into Diversity magazine 2024
Inspiring Programs in Business Award for its Rising Scholars and Business Success
Academy programs. Additionally, 16 students in the Rising Scholars program graduated
from USC. Learn more about the Office of Access, Opportunity and Community Engagement. »
The Darla Moore School of Business won the Insight into Diversity Magazine2024 Inspiring Programs in Business Award for the Rising Scholars and Business Success
Academy programs. The Inspiring Programs award honors business schools that encourage,
support and give opportunities to underrepresented students interested in pursuing
a business career through specific programs.
Moore School associate dean for access, opportunity and community engagement Deborah Hazzard said that the school’s focus on data gathering and analysis of opportunities at the
Moore School informed the creation of impactful initiatives for South Carolina students
from underrepresented groups to thrive in college.
IRS Citizen Academy
Held in spring 2023,the IRS Citizen Academy gave undergraduate accounting and Master
of Accountancy students the rare opportunity to run a simulated fraud investigation
that included mock interviews, real investigation techniques and an “arrest” of the
suspected culprit. Former IRS criminal investigator and current Moore School accounting
assistant professor Jason Rasso worked for five years to bring the criminal investigation simulation to USC students.
CIBER Welcomes New Director
The Center for International Business Education and Research (CIBER) welcomed its
new CIBER director, Marki Jones, Ed.D., in spring 2024 to serve as a clinical faculty member for the Sonoco International
Business Department. Jones is the former program director for Loyola Marymount CIBER
in Los Angeles.
The Proving Ground Entrepreneurial Competition
The Moore School hosted its Proving Ground Entrepreneurial Competition in April 2023 and April 2024. This multi-month, three-stage competition culminates
with a live-pitch event in which teams of USC undergraduate students, graduate students,
and recent alumni compete for more than $20,000 in seed money and the chance to turn
their ideas into reality.
The 2023 winners of the competition were judged by seasoned entrepreneurs, past applicants
and winners of The Proving Ground, Moore School faculty and the USC student live audience.
Sean Powers and Brett Nilsen won first place and $8,000 with their idea for Copyt, an automation tool for the
$700 billion e-commerce market. Jake Birkmaier won second place and $6,000 with Rising Stairways, a company he plans to start after
apprenticing at a New York staircase manufacturer. Rori Pumphrey and Sowmya Raghu won third place and $4,000 with CO2Watch. Lastly, husband-and-wife duo Kiera and Cruiz Emery won fourth place and $2,000 with their health supplement company, Emery Solutions.
The 2024 winners of Proving Ground were also judged by a similar panel but also included
the International Business 50th Celebration audience. Andrew Nye won first place and $14,000 for Qatalyst, a business plan integrated directly into
the electronic medical record (EMR) system. Trevor Corsello and his team won second place and $5,000 for Charolina Carbon, a business using carbon
dioxide reuse and recycle pollution. Peyton Meredith won third place and $2,500 for Drift, an elegant hangable and attachable garment
bag. Taylor Gripentog won one of two semifinalist slots and $1,750 for Vitality Way, a quantum wellness
app with AI-based diagnostic capabilities. Sydney Todd won the other semifinalist slot and $1,750 for ThriftU, XXXX. At the end of the event,
an anonymous alum attending the event donated $3,000 for the semi-finalists.
BPS Shareholder And Carolina Alum Receives The 2023 Lifetime Achievement Award
Tom Pietras,’79 accounting, received the Bubba Fennell Lifetime Achievement Award, USC School of Accounting’s Annual Advisory Board’s highest honor. After launching his career in public accounting
with Ernst & Young, Pietras joined BPS in 1992 as a shareholder who would help lead
the firm’s audit practice. Today, the BPS team of nearly 100 audit and tax professionals
serves a stellar international, national and local client portfolio.
The Folks Center Provides Pathway Speaker Series For Students
The Folks Center for International Business is the hub for global business education,
research and leadership at the Moore School. The center hosts a pathway speaker series
in which industry professionals engage in an interactive lecture session with students
to give their expertise around key issues impacting international strategy, risk,
innovation, and leadership development.
Young Jin Bae, CEO and President of SE Green Energy, discussed with students his role in leading
corporations and startups in the global energy industry. Sonoco Visiting Fellow Executive
in Residence, Philip Chritton, shared his practical guidance from the front lines of international law and business
based on his career as an international attorney at UPS. Over three decades, Chritton
led corporate counsel roles in New York, Beijing, Hong Kong, Singapore and Atlanta.
Catherine Jubin, ’82 IMBA, spoke to students about her career with international luxury brands and
how she navigated a male-dominated industry. After tenures with Parfums Guy Laroche
International, then L’Oréal’s second largest fragrance brand, and the Yves Rocher
Brand, Jubin founded The International Luxury Business Association, which worked on
business and communication strategies for luxury brands.
Leadership Legacy Award Presented To Boeing President And Chief Executive
The Center for Executive Succession’s 2023 Leadership Legacy Award was presented to David Calhoun, outgoing president and CEO of The Boeing Company, an international leader in the
aerospace industry. The Leadership Legacy Award recognizes a CEO who has personally
invested their time and effort in building a legacy of leadership talent in their
organization while simultaneously charting a long, successful track record of delivering
financial, reputational and social performance.
Pozen Fellowship Boosts IMB Candidate
Caleb Simmons, ‘18 USC mathematics, ‘25 IMBA, was named the 2023-2024 Pozen Scholar. The Pozen
Fellowship was introduced in 2022 by Robert "Bob” Pozen, a former president and vice
chairman of Fidelity Investments. The award aims to enhance the Moore School’s access
and opportunity efforts within the two-year full-time international MBA program.
Simmons, a native South Carolinian, said he is learning how to conduct business on
an international scale and hopes to use his new enhanced skillset to contribute to
the economy and community of South Carolina.
Seventh Annual Chief Marketing Officer Summit
The Center for Marketing Solutions hosted its 7th annual Chief Marketing Officer Summit
in November 2023. The two-day multipart event featured B2B roundtable discussions,
a professional and young alumni panel, fireside chats and networking opportunities
for students to connect with industry professionals and successful returning university
alumni. The 2023 summit’s focus was on helping marketers explore approaches to customer-centricity,
ways to build brand loyalty, how a company can creatively distinguish itself in a
saturated market, and how to leverage AI and other new technologies to enhance and
accelerate research and creative efforts. Companies represented at the CMO Summit
included Blanchard Machinery, Breakthru/Jack Daniels, Coca-Cola Consolidated, IBM,
Johnson & Johnson, L‘Oreal, McDonalds and Temper-Sealy.
Challenge the conventional. Create the exceptional. No Limits.
