Story ID: 
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University Means Business
By: Martha Jercinovich
Caption: Focusing on business education, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University creates opportunities for those who want to launch careers or upgrade their skills.
Word Count: 1345
When it comes to the complex world of international business, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University has emerged as one of the leading educators of tomorrow’s workforce, training new professionals in skills that range from supply chain management and finance to commercial space operations and international consulting.

In addition to innovative programs that provide a solid academic base for those looking to elevate their careers, Embry-Riddle is renowned for leading-edge partnerships that allow students to build their professional networks and enhance their practical experience while they earn their degrees.

“In order for students to be competitive in the job market, they need to have a curriculum that pushes them beyond a textbook and case studies to real-world work,” said Dr. Janet Tinoco, professor of Management and Marketing at the David B. O’Maley College of Business on Embry-Riddle’s campus in Daytona Beach, Fla.

Students also need the support they get from a college where all business programs feature an industry focus and new and longstanding professional partnerships pioneer new avenues for student success.

Recently, the Embry-Riddle Worldwide College of Business collaborated with Boeing on an internship that is designed to help military students make an easier transition to a civilian career. The new pathway is already paying dividends for Worldwide graduate student Blake Evans (’22).

Evans accepted a position as a finance intern at the aerospace giant through the program, which created five virtual internships that will morph into full-time jobs when students graduate. 

“I just want to make the most of the opportunity,” said Evans, who recently transitioned from the Air Force and is pursuing his MBA in Aviation with a concentration in Business Analytics and Intelligence.

“I would love to end up at Boeing,” he said.

This latest partnership between Embry-Riddle and Boeing began in 2021, said Arnold James, Career Services Director for the Embry-Riddle Worldwide Campus.

“We’re really excited to partner with Boeing to offer this excellent career opportunity directly benefitting our military veteran students,” he said. “This demonstrates the value of the industry partnerships we’re committed to, which help us ensure student career success.”

Open to full-time residential and online students who are serving or have served, the Boeing internship promises an above entry-level full-time job, including a signing bonus and benefits.

With the flexible online learning options offered by the Worldwide Campus, students such as Evans can complete master’s degrees as they continue working to build their careers.

Building solid career foundations through real-world experience is also the aim of a unique business development consulting program that began more than 20 years ago on the university’s Prescott Campus in Arizona and continues growing today.

Initially, it focused on small, local businesses. Now, it has expanded to multinational companies and foreign firms, with nine of 12 recent consulting projects conducted with companies in Europe. Two of the program’s developers, business faculty members Richard Gibson and William Paulin, have worked as consultants to companies all over the world. 

“These projects provide good things for the clients and great things for the students, who learn how to be professional and effective in working with clients,” said Paulin. “To see the students grow and gain confidence is just amazing.”

After leading a team that researched the U.S. market for Tripod House, a Norwegian firm that makes eco-friendly modular houses, Sabrina Meiklejohn (’21) was hired for a paid internship by Aeromobil, a Slovakian company that has made a prototype of a flying car with retractable wings. She said her Embry-Riddle consulting experience made her Aeromobil’s choice. 

“They saw my resume and said, ‘Oh, that’s exactly what we want you to do,’” Meiklejohn said, referring to the U.S. market research she did. 

In 2021, students from Embry-Riddle’s Prescott and Daytona Beach campuses collaborated on several consulting projects, with nine teams and 31 students working with Norwegian, Finnish and Swedish companies, among other clients.

The interaction with foreign companies and the collaboration between campuses, all of which occurred remotely, fit seamlessly with the restrictions imposed during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

“The projects hit on key themes for Embry-Riddle, including sustainability, electric mobility, next-gen technology and innovation,” added Thomas Drape, dean of the College of Business, Security and Intelligence on the Prescott Campus. “These really are world-class projects.” 

Mary Catherine Kreider (’21), who earned her degree in Business Administration, said she has had real-world work experiences in two internships, but the international consulting program called on all of the skills she learned at Embry-Riddle. 

“I’ve had to use something from every class I’ve taken,” Kreider said. 

Having completed two projects in the program, Sierra Fennell (’21), who obtained her bachelor’s degree in Global Business Supply Chain Management at the Prescott Campus, said she is hooked on marketing and consulting and seeking a career focused “on helping businesses to succeed by bringing their mission and product to the audience they seek.” 

Ensuring success is also the motivation for some out-of-this-world opportunities being explored by graduate students in business at Embry-Riddle’s campus in Daytona Beach, Fla.

The students are taking a hands-on role in the exciting but complicated process of transforming the Cape Canaveral Spaceport into a hub for the emerging commercial space industry.

“This is a new world that we’re entering,” said Dr. Tinoco, who has led two graduate projects in which students conducted strategic analyses for Space Florida, the state’s spaceport development authority. “The commercial space industry is very dynamic.”

Space Florida aims to expand and modernize the state’s space facilities, which include several thousand acres of land, a multi-building office and manufacturing complex, a 15,000-foot-long runway and vertical launch facilities at Cape Canaveral. Primarily, the task requires identifying sources of revenue.

In their fall 2019 analysis of Space Florida's horizontal launch and landing facility (formerly known as the Shuttle Landing Facility) at Cape Canaveral Spaceport, eight Eagles from the Master of Business Administration (MBA) and Master of Business Administration in Aviation Management programs conducted an underlying analysis, researching and assessing a wide range of relevant factors.

Those factors included national support for commercial space development, the anticipated doubling of the $360 billion space industry by 2030, local tax incentives and environmental benefits, risks and safeguards — among other considerations.

Following this comprehensive review was a comparison of rents charged by other spaceports across the nation. Securing more tenants is one way that Space Florida can finance development and modernization of the facilities, many of which were built in the 1960s or earlier. 

This semester’s analysis focused on select vertical launch facilities at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station that are operated and managed by Space Florida.

The collaboration between Space Florida and Embry-Riddle came about when Tinoco met two Embry-Riddle College of Business alumni — Space Florida Airfield Manager Jimmy Moffitt and Space Florida Director of Spaceport Operations Pat McCarthy — at industry meetings.

MBA alumna Mckenzee Quinn added that working on last fall’s spaceport analysis gave her a fluency in the language of the space industry that boosts her confidence in her current job with an aerospace defense contractor.

“It gave me a better understanding of industry jargon, the acronyms, terms, different concepts,” Quinn said. “It gives me a sense of knowing what they’re talking about, and if I know enough about something, I’m able to interject and give input.”

Meanwhile, Space Florida officials say collaboration with Embry-Riddle has served as a valuable resource.

“The students have come up with some intriguing, innovative ideas we didn’t think about before,” McCarthy said. “It has saved Space Florida substantial hours of effort and provided us with a product of great value.”

Learn more about our Embry-Riddle’s business programs today.