UMN Carlson School of Management

Earning a degree was just the beginning! 💛

Here are 7 ways to stay engaged with Minnesota Carlson, whether you're a fresh graduate or a decades-long alum. View the article in the comments to hear from alumni who participate in each of these options.

How can students learn if their basic needs aren't being met? The Take What You Need Closet seeks to address this challenge, and last semester, students worked to improve the closet's efforts.

The closet acts as a walk-in pantry for all Carlson students, providing free access to shelf-stable food, household goods, and hygiene products. The closet is restocked 14 times a week and serves 100 students daily during the school year. Through the undergraduate Impact Lab, in which students examine real-world business challenges, teams of students evaluated different ways to enhance the closet. Their suggestions included boosting awareness among students, improving the inventory supply chain, and engaging with alumni for support.

“It just makes me feel like the work that I'm doing actually matters,” said Brooke Helmeke, '28 BSB. “The group projects that we do in other classes, we're just doing them to get a grade. But in Impact Lab, this matters to not only Carlson, in our case, but to real people, and that feels so great.”

Veronika Paprocka, wellbeing coordinator for the Undergraduate Program, oversees the closet. This spring, they earned their PhD through the College of Education and Human Development UMN. Their dissertation explored how people who hold marginalized identities based on race, gender, sexuality and/or disability experience spatial belonging in the workplace. This academic lens guides the ethos behind the closet.

“All that work has informed how I understand the closet, how I approach that, how I make decisions about it,” said Paprocka. “Reading all that literature has really shaped what that looks like and how we make decisions in that space.”

If any alums have recent wedding or baby news, DM us your info and some photos by June 26 to be featured in the Fall 2026 issue of the Carlson Alumni Magazine. 💍🍼

Here are the updates we received for Spring 2026:

1. Kendra Wanke-Eull, ’21 BSB, and her husband, Tyler Eull, got married in September 2025, with help from their little golden retriever, Ember.
2. Petra and Michael Jacqmein, both ’18 BSB, welcomed their daughter, Haven, in July 2025.
3. Julie Bedingfield, ’17 BSB, and her husband, Ryan, welcomed their son, Henry, in September 2025.
4. Matthew Connors, ’17 BSB, and his wife, Emma, welcomed their daughter, Harper, in April 2025.
5. Lindsey Mangan, ’15 BSB, and her husband, Paul, welcomed their son, Henry, in April 2025.
6. David Leibman, ’08 BSB, and his partner, Nicole Fuerst, welcomed their son, Noah, in May 2025.
7. Chelsea Taylor, ’11 BSB, ’19 MBA, and her husband, Mark, welcomed their daughter, Olivia, in February 2025.

Caribou Coffee customers may soon see ads informed by work from Marketing grad students who spent this spring researching Gen Z consumer strategy. ☕️

For their capstone, Master of Marketing students examined ways Caribou could connect more with Gen Z customers. To round out their research and competitive analysis, the team conducted a survey, a focus group and in-depth interviews to create a complete picture of the target market.

Keegan Clark, '26 MMKTG, who will be joining Ovative Group following graduation, said the project provided essential hands-on experience: “We spent a lot of time cleaning up the data from the surveys and finding those recommendations that outline how they can improve their business operations. That's almost directly what I'm going to be doing in my next job, so it's really been nice to be able to practice and touch up on my skills.”

The students worked closely with Caribou Marketing Coordinator Annalee Friedman, ’24 BSB, who enjoyed the opportunity to reconnect with Carlson as a recent alum.

“It was a bit surreal to make the shift from being a student to working on the corporate side of a project like this,” said Friedman. “It really highlighted how much you’re expected to show up and think like a professional while a student, and was a great reminder of how much hands‑on experience Carlson provides."

Two years into her first corporate job with Land O'Lakes, Inc., Corey Scott, ’23 MBA, decided she wanted an MBA. She believed it would help her shift from supply chain to marketing, expand her grasp of business, and prime her for leadership roles.

But when opportunity knocked to enroll in the Executive MBA program, Scott froze. She had recently switched jobs within the company, and the new position came with a steep learning curve. “I remember telling my executive coach, ‘It’s a terrible time right now. I have too many things going on. I don’t even know how I’d use the degree,’” she recalls. “He looked at me and said, ‘Are you crazy? You’re going to use this for the rest of your life.’”

Scott concedes that earning her MBA while working full-time was stressful. But she says she would do it again in a heartbeat. “No time is a good time to do an MBA,” she notes. “If you wait for the perfect time, it will never ever come. Now is the best time to do it.”

In 2024, Scott was named CEO of Midwest Dairy, a Twin Cities-based nonprofit organization that represents and promotes the interests of 3,600 dairy farms across 10 states. Since taking the reins of the association, Scott has slowly been updating its operations, replacing outdated technologies and introducing new processes and practices. Her chief priority, she says, has been on building a healthy culture where people want to work.

Lessons learned at Carlson have helped inform and shape that effort, she says: “I credit Carlson with making me brave enough to make change. And our success has been really gratifying.”

The spring came and went so quickly — let's take a moment to remember it! 💐

Before the commencement craziness, the Graduation Celebration wished farewell to our undergraduate students! Graduating seniors gathered with family and friends at ' The View last Sunday. Students got to celebrate together one final time before walking across the stage the next day and becoming graduates.

Would you honor Memorial Day with a run? What if that run was 400 miles? That's what Mai Richards, '27 MBA, has been doing for the past few weeks.

"This is my sixth Memorial Day tribute run, but the first year it has expanded into a statewide run across South Dakota," Richards explains. "This year, I'm covering over 400 miles on foot from Sioux Falls to Sturgis, over the course of 25 days, while carrying the U.S. flag. I grew up in the Black Hills of Spearfish, on a cattle ranch, so running in my home state feels right."

Running 18–22 miles each day, Richards visited American Legion posts and connected with local veterans across the state. As a Vietnamese adoptee raised in Spearfish, SD, Richards continues the tradition to honor service members who made the ultimate sacrifice.

Being a parent is already a full-time job, so we'd like to acknowledge being especially of our graduates who earned their degrees while supporting their families!

That job can be extremely difficult, but also wildly rewarding. To our parent graduates: the strength and dedication you demonstrated in earning your degree will serve your family well! And who knows — a few of you may even be raising a future of your own.

Pictured:
Lizzy Adams, '26 MMKTG
Erin Harryman, '26 MBA
Hank Glover, '26 MBA
Marguerite Ohrtman, '26 MBA
Hankyul Bae, '26 PhD
Arashk Motiei, '26 MBA
Serena Harris, '26 MBA
Muyhuoy Houth, '26 MBA
Yehan Wang, '26 MSBA and '25 MSF

Our commencement speakers shared inspiring stories and wise words. 📣

• Sofiia Oprishko, '26 BSB, who shared her struggles with living and attending school far from home before emerging triumphantly, thanks to the power of perseverance.

• Allison Gettings, '17 MBA and CEO of Red Wing Shoe Co., who taught some of the professional and personal lessons she learned when earning her degree and taking on her new role.

• Katelynn Riviere, '26 MMKTG, who explained how she views personal branding and its influence on her experience at Minnesota Carlson.

• Dean Jamie Prenkert and President Rebecca Cunningham, who offered their hopes and dreams for the graduates as they move into a different role within the University of Minnesota community.

Thank you to each of them for sharing such moving messages!