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Grand Canyon University offers opportunities for you to grow within the classroom and beyond. Our business college hosts exciting events throughout the year, and our students, alumni and faculty have been recognized for their outstanding achievements in the fields of business.
GCU’s new Colangelo College of Business makes a statement as one of the biggest colleges in the country.
Under the leadership of Professor Mindy Weinstein, six GCU business students worked with Tough Apparel founders Kevin Shoemaker and Skylar Bennett as they prepared for their pitch on Shark Tank. Together the team devised an advertising strategy and slogan. Bennett and Shoemaker pitched their company to the “sharks” and settled on a $100,000 investment for a 35 percent stake in the company.
GCU’s startup business accelerator, Canyon Ventures, housed 13 companies and employed 56 GCU students and 16 GCU alumni as of June 2024. Canyon Ventures, an “incubator” space for startups can enable new businesses to develop while providing GCU business students the ability to learn first-hand.
Grand Canyon University’s Delta Mu Delta Honors Society received the Jablonsky Outstanding Chapter of the Year award in 2020. GCU was awarded based on exceeding Society standards and developing outstanding programs to provide additional services to members. GCU’s Eta Chi chapter, Delta Mu Delta, received Star Chapter status as one of the top 20 chapters of Eta Chi. Additionally in 2019, Delta Mu Delta was honored as one of the top 10 chapters.
Grand Canyon University’s Delta Mu Delta Honors Society received the Jablonsky Outstanding Chapter of the Year award in 2020. GCU was awarded based on exceeding Society standards and developing outstanding programs to provide additional services to members.
Heather Talamante, a student in GCU’s Business Management program, won “Top Women in Business – Business Women in Recruiting” from the Albuquerque Journal. Talamante has worked in Human Resources since 2003, becoming a leader in recruitment. Yet her love for all things HR has grown through outreach to her community in the form of resume and interviewing workshops, as well as assisting middle schoolers as they develop career related skills.
Ivan Nechunaev, a graduate from GCU’s BS in Finance and Economics and a Master’s in Accounting programs, decided to use his education to make a positive social impact in less fortunate countries. In order to pursue his passion, Nechunaev left JP Morgan to work at LeapFrog Investments and has since become a Senior Investor at Tera Nova Capital and has been highlighted by Forbes magazine.
Noah Schultz won first place in the Financial Accounting competition within the international DECA competition. DECA is known as the premier business leadership organization. Schultz is a finance and economics major in the Colangelo College of Business.
GCU’s Eta Chi chapter, Delta Mu Delta, received Star Chapter status as one of the top 20 chapters of Eta Chi. Additionally in 2019, Delta Mu Delta was honored as one of the top 10 chapters.
Storage Together, a small business created by Colangelo College of Business students, was named champion and declared the "Best Solution" at the Smart City App Hack international finals competition in Barcelona. Storage Together is the creation of alumnus Luke Amargo, along with current students Josh McGuire, Jedidiah Woods and Braeden Scheer. One of the group's top advisors, Colangelo College of Business Assistant Professor Tim Kelley, said of the students: "Kids that engage like this is why we're here. That's what we do."
Three GCU teams of student entrepreneurs were awarded with prizes during the Arizona Collegiate Venture Competition (ACVC). This is GCU’s first time participating in ACVC – and the results were a big success. Storage Together was a Silver Level Winner and earned $3,500. Two other GCU teams, Near and TailSpace, were Copper Level Winners, earning $1,500. During this entrepreneurial event, participants give a four-minute oral presentation among more than 100 angel investors, influencers, community leaders and students in attendance.
Proud of our GCU alumni, we praise three alums who launched entrepreneurial businesses. Daniel Black, who graduated in entrepreneurial studies, and his wife, Tiffany, created Prayer Packages, which delivers keepsake Christian gifts and services to fill hearts of friends and family with God's love. Shica Little, EdD, who earned her teaching doctoral degree in 2013, developed Dr. Shica's Incredi-Whip, a healthy dessert topper, fruit dip and coffee creamer. Kyle Dubay, a graphic design graduate, launched Woodward Throwbacks. This social entrepreneurship collects discarded wood and crafts it into collectibles.
DECA, an international student association, sponsored the 55th annual International Career Development Conference (ICDC). At this event, 1,500 students had 30 – 60 minutes to prepare a response to a case study before presenting it to judges. Maya Hinojos won first place in professional sales and third in the International Sales Challenge. Jacky Briseno placed third in Sales Management Meeting. Briseno, Erika Navarrete and Sabrina Cross advanced as a finalist team in the Entrepreneurship Challenge. Chase Broz and Craig Langille, a finalist team in the Entrepreneurship Challenge, placed second and earned a $1,000 scholarship.
The new Pegasystems software class, a 300-level undergraduate course, introduces students to Pegasystems Inc. software, increasingly used by organizations for business-process and customer-relationship management. This adaptable system manages workflow and interacts with customers for businesses. In partnership with Pegasystems, GCU offers hands-on learning and troubleshooting experiences to prepare students. Colangelo College of Business instructor Elissa Torres, PhD, teaches this course to help students position themselves to become systems or solutions architects.
As host of the DECA State Conference competition, the GCU DECA club had eight of its 14 entrants finish in the top three in their respective categories. The top GCU finishers were Whitney Rossi (first) and Judith St. Hilaire (second) for hotel and lodging, Maya Hinojos (second) for professional sales, Sarah Johnson (second) and Sabrina Cross (third) for fashion merchandising and marketing, Chase Broz and Craig Langille (team of two) for sports entertainment and marketing, and Erika Hernandez for restaurant and food services. These eight students (plus four others) qualified to compete in the DECA Collegiate Championship at the International Career Development Conference in Washington, D.C.
Katalina Inzunza, psychology alumna and former president of the Psychology Club, won the 2016 Canyon Challenge entrepreneurial competition sponsored by the Colangelo College of Business IDEA Club. Alongside her business partner Erick Roman, Inzunza designed Raffle Boss to help raffles become more profitable and accessible for philanthropic organizations and nonprofits. Chosen by an esteemed panel of judges including GCU President Brian Mueller, Raffle Boss won the $7,000 first prize and possibility of partnering with GCU. The first place win provides the new startup with opportunities for networking, investment, more capital and filling a need within the philanthropic market.
