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Judy Shoulak, EVP, President of North America Buffalo Wild Wings, leads the North American Business Unit (United States and Canada) for this rapidly growing and highly successful restaurant chain.

Shoulak is highly qualified for this role with 13 years of Buffalo Wild Wings experience and an extensive background in Operations and Human Resources, including nine years in Operations at JCPenney, eight years in Operations, Training and Human Resources at The Original Cookie Company, and eight years with OfficeMax, Inc. as Vice President of Human Resources, Retail Stores. At OfficeMax, she was responsible for providing strategic direction and support to nearly 1,000 stores, 19 delivery centers, two call centers, and three distribution centers, as well as Human Resources support to joint venture partners in Mexico, Japan and Brazil.

This event is co-sponsored by the WVU Reed College of Media.

Ahrens is the author of “SEOUL MAN: A Memoir of Cars, Culture, Crisis, and Unexpected Hilarity Inside a Korean Corporate Titan” (HarperCollins), the story of his three-plus years running the Global Public Relations operation of Hyundai Motor in Seoul as the only American at headquarters.At Hyundai, Ahrens promoted the brand to media members around the world, traveling to every continent except Africa and Antarctica. His travels took him to Sao Paulo, Paris, Frankfurt, Muscat, Singapore, Beijing, Monaco, Dubai, and Delhi. At Hyundai HQ, he created the company’s first English-language corporate media site, hired the company’s first English editor, helped establish the company’s first PR operation in the Middle East in Dubai, and won numerous positive newspaper front-page and magazine-cover articles.Ahrens returned to the United States in 2014 and is currently a Vice President at BGR Public Relations in Washington, D.C. He is a member of the West Virginia University Reed College of Media’s Visiting Committee.Ahrens previously worked for 18 years as an editor and reporter at The Washington Post. He covered the global financial crisis of 2008-2010 as well as the media and entertainment industries, interviewing heads of television networks and movie studios and even William Shatner (twice). Ahrens appeared frequently as a media industry expert on CNBC, MSNBC, PBS and other networks.He earned his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from West Virginia University and was editor of The Daily Athenaeum.

Today he is a retired coal executive who lives in Naples, Fla., and McMurray, Pa. He earned his bachelor’s degree in mining engineering from WVU in 1973. Statler began his career with Consolidation Coal in 1969, retiring as senior vice president of mining for CONSOL Energy in 1999. He then formed his own mining consulting company. 

At Consolidation Coal Company he held many positions, beginning as a laborer and advancing from section foreman to assistant superintendent, superintendent, and technical assistant to vice president of Morgantown operations before becoming vice president of Moundsville and Ohio operations. In 1994 Statler was named senior vice president of mining, eastern region, and in 1996 became senior vice president of mining for CONSOL.

Chairman and CEO, Arch Coal, Inc .

Steven F. Leer is chairman and chief executive officer of Arch Coal, Inc.  

The  West Virginia University Foundation recently elected three alumni to its  board of directors, two of whom are graduates of the College of Business and Economics.

The two  West Virginia University B&E alumni include Dee Ann Remo, chief executive officer and managing director of Heritage Wealth Advisors in Richmond, Virginia, and William “Bill” Sheedy, Global Executive, Corporate Strategy, M&A, and Government Relations for Visa, Inc.

Two faculty members of the economics department in the West Virginia University College of Business and Economics are continuing to make a lasting impact in their areas of expertise and help certain populations through collaboration with other Big 12 institutions.

Assistant professors of economics Drs. Gregory DeAngelo and Daniel Grossman were both named 2016-2017 Big 12 Faculty Fellows and offered research grants from the WVU Office of Provost as part of the 2016-2017 Big 12 Faculty Fellowship Program.

Forensic science is known as the application of science to criminal and civil laws, but most people do not realize there is a large business component to it all – the business of forensics. In fact, West Virginia University has the world’s leading experts in this particular area of the field. This includes Dr. Paul Speaker, an associate professor of finance at the College of Business and Economics.

There’s nothing more the supply chain management competition team from West Virginia University wanted on October 15 than to keep the Race to the Case crown in Morgantown.

What are management information systems (MIS) students doing on a sleepless Friday night into the wee hours of Saturday morning? Well, coding of course.