School of Business

Following clothing trends has been a lifelong passion for UCR Business alumna Jordie Katcher — one that led to her becoming vice president of Women’s Global Sport Apparel at Nike.

For Akshay Are ’24 MBA, coaching budding badminton players has been a way to share his love for the sport while helping others reach their hidden potential—on and off the court.

Arun Surendra ’99, ’01 MBA arrived at the UCR School of Business to complete a four-year undergraduate degree, he soon found himself in an educational environment starkly different from what he had experienced in India.

Zaid Assi had already set the foundation for his own accounting firm when he finished his Master of Professional Accountancy degree at the A. Gary Anderson Graduate School of Management in December 2023.

During an episode of HGTV’s “House Hunters” reality show, Michael Saldana ’09 led a newly engaged couple through three properties in the Los Angeles area. The groom-to-be wanted a condo, and the bride-to-be wanted a house; they both wanted a 1,000 square-foot home close to public transportation with inside washer and dryer and no stucco. On “House Hunters,” buyers see three properties alongside a real estate agent and then pick one to purchase. Real Estate Agent Saldana showed them a fixer-upper condo well within their budget, a remodeled condo with no inside laundry, and a more expensive

Mickey McGuire ’97, ’99 MBA has always had an entrepreneurial mindset. The first business he launched was a lawn-mowing service in his hometown of Modesto, Calif., at the age of 12.

Currently the voice of Mazda and NASCAR, Kabir Singh ’08 is also the voice that callers hear when contacting T-Mobile’s customer service. Football fans heard him a few years back as the voice of the Kansas City Chiefs during their Super Bowl run. “I’ve worked with Nike, and I did Nintendo Switch when it first came out,” says Singh, a voice actor, street poet, and spoken-word artist. His work in the sound booth and on camera began more than 10 years ago when he realized his job in the law department of a health-care company was not where he wanted to be professionally. “I picked up a book to

nspired by a capstone course during her undergraduate studies, Ndeye Thiaw ’99, ’04 MBA decided to earn an MBA with an emphasis in finance and entrepreneurship. “I wanted to know more about organizational strategy, how American companies and brands were able to dominate global finance,” says Thiaw. “And, how one day, I could be part of that crowd that would move the needle in finance in their home countries.”