Economics & Strategy Podcast
by DePaul University's Business Strategy & Decision Making Program
DePaul University's Economics & Strategy Podcast is a monthly conversation with individuals who use frameworks discussed in Economics and Business Strategy & Decision Making. The interviewees will represent multiple industries and institutions, and hold various roles within their organizations. The premise of the podcast is to examine how economics and other related strategy frameworks are practically applied in real-world situations.
Episodes
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Episode 080: Steve Raetzman, Alliant Credit Union
For a lucky few, purpose and work can come together. Steve Raetzman is one of those lucky few and he earned that privilege through a healthy mix of hard knocks and education. Steve is a 2020 DePaul MBA graduate with a Business Strategy and Decision Making program concentration. He currently…
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Episode 079: Madelyn Hawkins, FTI Consulting
Meet Madelyn Hawkins, a Double Demon working at the global consulting firm FTI handling cybersecurity crisis communications. This role requires competency and coordination amongst a wide group of internal teams at a time when their client may be navigating the most difficult period ever. Madelyn...
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Episode 078: Dan Clark, DePaul University
Dan Clark is a rare triple demon and the very embodiment of DePaul's values. With his Doctorate in Education, he now serves as both Director of Career Services at Driehaus College of Business and faculty member in the Economics Department. Dan is intelligent and curious, kind and considerate,...
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Episode 077: Betsy Paraszczak, Silverman Consulting
Betsy Paraszczak has an impressive range of abilities, experience, and interests. She currently serves as a Director at Silverman Consulting where she uses every ounce of her DePaul MBA to help distressed companies rediscover their strengths and thrive. Betsy has worked in healthcare &…
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Episode 076: Hussain Kazmi, Eightfold AI
Hussain Kazmi is a 2025 DePaul MBA graduate and is as humble as he is determined. He currently serves as Principal Solutions Consultant at Eightfold AI where he has a front row seat at seeing the impact AI is having in today's business operations. He joins us this month to discuss how he got here...
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Episode 075: Yvonne Renard, Anthesis Group
Yvonne Renard is an environmental economist with a gift for empirical research and a graduate of DePaul's MS‑EPA program. She specializes in climate risk and resilience at the global environmental services firm Anthesis Group. Yvonne helps clients identify and quantify their material exposure to...
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Episode 074: Pablo Martin, Packsize
Pablo Martin is an engineer through and through who, after a few career years, decided he needed an MBA to know more about the business side of his work. A well-worn path for career advancement. After a short search, he found DePaul and the Business Strategy & Decision Making Program and hasn't...
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Episode 073: Alicia Hickey, Uniper
Alicia Hickey is an unapologetically smart, confident, and skilled women from DePaul's Department of Economics MS-EPA program. She joins us this month to talk about how she built a successful career and to give thanks to those who helped her fully embrace her abilities and intelligence. Alicia is...
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Episode 072: Dr Brian Thompson, DePaul University
This month we welcome Dr Brian Thompson, Clinical Professor of Economics at DePaul, and faculty member in the business strategy and decision making program. As the son of educators, he takes his role seriously and is very focused and intentional in his preparation and classroom goals. In this...
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Episode 071: Dhruv Kavi, Quantum Rise
What can a business strategy education do for your career? Dhruv Kavi is Manager of Client Delivery at the AI consulting firm Quantum Rise and he joins us on the Economics & Strategy Podcast to tell us what it's done for him. He tells us how he went from a task-oriented mindset to thinking three...
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Episode 070: Heidi Pearson, Family Focus
Women can rule the world! Heidi Pearson is a great example of this truth. She is a mother, entrepreneur, creative writer, marketing expert, and DePaul MBA alumna from the Business Strategy and Decision-Making program. She shares wisdom from her business career and how her education in strategy...
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Episode 069: Pat Petersen, Avanade
Pat Petersen is a double demon, business strategy & decision making alum, and a Manager at the global consulting firm Avanade; a position he has worked hard for. He joins us to talk about his journey in defining what he wanted as a career, and how he pursued that. His path has not always been…
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Episode 068: Elliott Bulling, Hudl
Elliott Bulling has a dream job and an MS-EPA graduate degree from DePaul University. He currently works at the sports technology firm Hudl, as a product manager and joins us this month to discuss his work, his path, and how economics helps him in life and business. Economics, as a discipline…
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Episode 067: Jen Asplund, Asplund Leadership Consulting
We are privileged to welcome back MBA alumna Jen Asplund for a Check In. Since our last visit Jen left a successful at career AT&T, to start her own leadership coaching business, Asplund Leadership Consulting. With significant leadership experience informed by two graduate programs, she is truly…
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Episode 066: Lauren Coartney, Uber
Double Demon and Business Strategy & Decision Making alumna Lauren Coartney, has experienced wildly different organizational types in her career. Currently Program Lead – Global Digital Experience at the tech giant Uber, she started her career in the traditional healthcare space. We discuss how...
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Episode 065: Joe Christie, Owens Corning
Joe Christie is a Business Strategy & Decision Making alumnus, manager at the building materials giant Owens Corning, and a history buff. He joins us this month to discuss the value of a history degree in business, the opportunities his MBA provided him, and how B2B sales is a bit like a repeated...
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Episode 064: Ian Burke, Lotis Blue Consulting
In this episode we're gonna talk about data science! Lots of data science. To help, we welcome double demon and professional in the field, Ian Burke. Ian works in consulting and has a front row seat helping a wide range of clients solve complex business problems using data science as his tool....
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Episode 063: Winny Lucas, Stanford University
Say Hello to Winny Lucas. Winny is a long-time member of the DePaul community as a student, teacher, and staff member and works at Stanford University. She joins us this month for a conversation on immigration, curiosity, creativity in a technical world, and education; lots of education! As a…
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Episode 062: Anthony Wojtal, Chicago Public Schools
This month we have 2020 MBA alumnus Anthony Wojtal, Budget Manager at Chicago Public Schools (CPS). Anthony leads the budget team for the country's third largest school district and after 12 years has a veteran's perspective to offer. CPS delivers a public good and, as such, must serve everyone…
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Episode 061: Julia Weigard, NewGround
Our February edition of the Economics & Strategy Podcast hosts 2020 strategy alumna Julia Weigard, Director of Network Transformation for NewGround International. NewGround is a design and build firm with a strong focus on retail financial institutions. One of the most tried and true strategies…
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Episode 060: Matthew Robins, NetApp
It's a cold January in Chicago but we're happy to have MBA alumnus Matt Robins on for a conversation on technology sales. Matt works with NetApp's AWS Alliance team and has spent his entire career in technical sales. He tells us why "sales is hard" but also how his business strategy & decision...
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Episode 059: Michael Kremer, American Concrete Pipe Association
For the holiday season we are joined by MBA alumnus Michael Kremer, Vice President of Marketing for the American Concrete Pipe Association. In this wide-ranging discussion, Michael shares knowledge gained over a 20+ year career in marketing, and how luck played a part in his story. The role of…
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Episode 058: Marty Friel, Ameriprise Financial
This month, Marty Friel joins us for our second Check In episode in this podcast series. Marty is a MS-EPA graduate and veteran financial advisor with Ameriprise Financial and his original episode aired on 3/9/21. In that episode, Aaron Pagel hosted Marty for a great conversation on how and why…
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Episode 057: Edith Freeze, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine
Edith Freeze is a Community Scientist at Northwestern University's Fienberg School of Medicine and a fierce champion of environmental rights. Her career is the product of endless curiosity, a thirst for education, and hustle. Her passion for environmental issues comes directly from her…
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Episode 056: Josh Dickey, Hyzon Motors
Josh Dickey is an experienced finance professional, DePaul MS-EPA alumnus, veteran of the Federal Reserve in Washington DC and our guest this month. Josh has great stories to tell about his career, time at the Fed, and current work at the fuel cell manufacturer Hyzon Motors. Hyzon focuses on...
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Episode 055: Nuna Becic, Logitech
Our guest this month is Nuna Becic. Nuna is the embodiment of resilience, effort, and passion! Qualities earned from life experience as an immigrant, mother, MBA, and marketing professional. She currently handles strategic alliances at Logitech and has an interesting story of getting there. This...
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Episode 054: Ryan Polak, Bell Flavors & Fragrances
2024 summer break brings our first guest with a B.A. in Economics Ryan Polak. Ryan is Associate Director for Purchasing at Bell Flavors & Fragrances; a developer and manufacturer of ingredients in many consumer products who sits in the upstream market of the consumer product makers. Clients rely…
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Episode 053: Part 2 Luke Balderson, Arc3 Gases
June is part 2 with Luke Balderson and a great discussion on leadership and organizational culture. We explore how Luke made the connection between these two interdependent concepts and how they create sustainable business success. The servant-based leadership model discussed here begins at the…
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Episode 052: Luke Balderson, Arc3 Gases
For May, we begin a two-part interview with Business Strategy & Decision Making alumnus Luke Balderson. This part 1, dives deep into Luke's multidecade career in the far reaching and fascinating industrial gases industry. Luke is a composed, experienced, and highly capable executive in a sector...
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Episode 051: Roxy Kozyckyj, AdvaMed
For Episode 51, MS-EPA graduate Roxy Kozyckyj joins us. Roxy is Senior Director, State Government & Regional Affairs for the advanced medical technology association AdvaMed and has spent most of her career in healthcare policy, from advocacy, to intern, to analyst, capitol hill fellow, and…
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Episode 050: Andrew Zarkowsky, The Hartford
It's the end of winter term, and we're talking insurance; you'll be surprised by what you hear. Andrew Zarkowsky, MBA 2018, is Technology Industry Practice Leader for the insurance giant The Hartford and specializes in underwriting technology firms. In this episode, Andrew explains what's unique...
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Episode 049: Mollie Markham, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago
For February, we host yet another successful woman from the economics department's graduate program, Mollie Markham. After a brief learning experience pursuing politics at the front lines in DC, she discovered what she doesn't want in a career. Fully embracing that lesson and, with some great...
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Episode 048: Check In with Dave Ziegelski, National Material L.P.
To kick off 2024, we begin a new, and perhaps recurring version of this podcast called Check Ins. Here, we're going to welcome back previous guests to update the topics we discussed in our original interview. For our inaugural episode, we welcome back Dave Ziegelski. Dave is Vice President of...
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Episode 047: Part 2 Marcin Taraszkiewicz, HDR, Inc.
For December we offer part 2 with MBA alumnus, and rail industry veteran Marcin Taraszkiewicz. In this episode we talk about trains, trains, and more trains. Yes, Marcin plays with big toys on big projects, but his work really exists at the nexus of rail technology and client goals. His industry...
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Episode 046: Marcin Taraszkiewicz, HDR, Inc. (Part 1)
November begins a 2-part podcast with MBA alumnus Marcin Taraszkiewicz from the global design & engineering firm HDR. In this part 1, Marcin explains how he went from a design focused engineer to senior leader for large, multidisciplinary transportation projects. A transformation that took time,...
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Episode 045: Alla Antonov, Rio Tinto
October brings in MBA alumna Alla Antonov, to discuss her role as Principal Advisor, Commercial Strategy at the mining giant Rio Tinto. Alla specializes in Rio's borates market. Rio, though, is a global, diversified firm with many products and an interesting business structure of four distinct...
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Episode 044: Howard Gilman, LinkedIn
Let's welcome strategy alumnus Howard Gilman to the podcast. Howard currently serves as Lead Deal Desk Strategist for LinkedIn's Sales Solutions group. LinkedIn, as a firm, is many things though; software company, social media platform, hiring & recruiting services, and more. So, what's the...
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Episode 043: Jason Knoespel, Evolent
For August, MS-EPA alumnus Jason Knoespel joins us to discuss his work as Managing Director, Client Analytics at Evolent; a provider of technology, reporting, and intelligence services designed to increase efficiency & patient outcomes for its healthcare partners. Jason talks about his current...
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Episode 042: Amy Wilson, AWS
In our July episode MBA alumna Amy Wilson joins us to discuss her work at the market leading cloud services provider Amazon Web Services (AWS). Amy sells AWS offerings to state and local governments that operate in Windows environments. In this increasingly competitive industry, there are reasons...
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Episode 041: Dain Rideau, Torc Robotics
This episode welcome's strategy alumnus Dain Rideau. As a Product Manager for autonomous vehicle developer Torc Robotics, he works on connecting vehicles to information. Torc, a subsidiary of industry leading OEM Daimler Truck, focuses on self-driving trucks and while this space is filled with...
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Episode 040: Liam Bruno, Walgreens Boots Alliance
This month we meet Liam Bruno, a Double Demon currently serving as Senior Manager for Procurement at Walgreens. Liam's focus is on integrating ESG into day-to-day operations. ESG is, of course, well established and proven to create value when executed well, but there are many obstacles. Still,...
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Episode 039: Philip Costa Hibberd, Automation Boutique
In this episode we meet entrepreneur Philip Costa Hibberd. Philip designs and builds robotic process automation, or RPA, for clients in the finance industry. He solves a productivity problem by automating rote computer tasks often done by highly paid analysts. This is a great example of…
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Episode 038: Aaron Pagel, University of Oregon (PART 2)
In this Part 2 with Aaron Pagel, we learn more about his practice of wandering, and how ultimately that inspired him to ask an interesting question; what is hype? Turns out, isolating hype as a function itself, apart from its context, is relatively uncharted territory with little precedent or...
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Episode 037: Aaron Pagel, University of Oregon (PART 1)
This month, I'm delighted to welcome my friend and creator & original host of this podcast Aaron Pagel. Aaron is currently pursuing a PHD at University of Oregon in Management Strategy with emphasis on Hype. However, his path getting there was anything but a straight line. He joins us for part…
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Episode 036: Paulina Costa, Kalsec
To start the year, I spoke with DePaul MBA Alumna Paulina Costa, Sales Director – Americas at Kalsec. Paulina has always been a natural in sales but completing her MBA positioned her to become sales lead for Kalsec's entire Latin American territory. Kalsec is a global provider of taste and…
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Episode 035: Rachel Burke, Uptake
For December's episode, I was honored to speak with US Military Veteran, Double-Demon, and MBA Strategy Alumna Rachel Burke. Rachel's impressive combination of career experiences landed her at the seemingly perfect spot as Director of implementation at the Industrial AI firm Uptake. Here we…
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Episode 034: Dan Jungels, Panduit
This month DePaul MBA alumnus Dan Jungels and I discussed how to successfully enter new markets. A topic Dan knows well as he was fortunate enough to go straight from the Business Strategy & Decision Making classrooms into the exact challenge he'd been training for. In his current role as Manager...
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Episode 033: Dave Ziegelski, National Material LP
In this episode I hosted DePaul MBA alumnus Dave Ziegelski, Vice President of Information Technology at National Material LP, to discuss his career in IT and the increasingly important role it plays in strategic planning. It IS a digital world and IT touches everything in it, connecting resources…
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Episode 032: Alison Tinnon, StudioNorth
To welcome a new academic year, I was joined by MBA alumna Alison Tinnon, Senior Campaign Manager at StudioNorth. As an agency-based marketing professional Alison helps other firms navigate their own strategic goals. This puts her right at the nexus of markets and firms and economists love that!…
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Episode 031: Carsten Raaum, CBRE
In this late summer edition, DePaul MSEPA Alumni Carsten Raaum and I discuss his research work at the real estate giant CBRE. In his role as Associate Research Director, Global Research he studies macroeconomic issues, and analyzes their potential impact on global markets and industry sectors; a...
About this show
DePaul University's Economics & Strategy Podcast is a monthly conversation with individuals who use frameworks discussed in Economics and Business Strategy & Decision Making. The interviewees will represent multiple industries and institutions, and hold various roles within their organizations. The premise of the podcast is to examine how economics and other related strategy frameworks are practically applied in real-world situations.
Hosted by
DePaul University's Business Strategy & Decision Making Program
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