August 09 Issue - Employee Monthly Magazine
MBA students provide business expertise to
local entrepreneurs
MBA interns Aaron Sauers (far left), Jacqueline Shen (near left), and Brandon McGirr (far right) help local entrepreneur Jolene Jessie display one of the items sold through her business, Sportartist.com. Photo by LeRoy N. Sanchez
Running a business and looking for advice? Look no further than the Master of Business Administration summer internship
program in the Technology Transfer Division.
This innovative program is designed to match scientists and high-tech entrepreneurs with some of the nation’s future
business leaders from colleges and universities across the country.
MBA interns work with businesses in Northern New Mexico to help the businesses address issues that may affect their ability to succeed. This year, one team of interns didn’t choose a business that had to do with a state-of-the-art technology, but rather one that focuses on the area of sports art.
The interns took on the one-woman enterprise of Sportartist.com, based in Chama and operated by Jolene Jessie, a renowned artist who specializes in art dedicated to capturing the sporting world’s greatest moments. Jessie got involved with Technology Transfer Division and the Community Programs Office through Northern New Mexico Connect, a program sponsored by Los Alamos National
Security, LLC dedicated to helping local businesses grow and strengthening the Northern New Mexico economy.
“I became interested in the Sportartist.com project because it isn’t what most people think of as a technology transfer endeavor,” said MBA intern Aaron Sauers. “I think many would be surprised to learn that TT’s activities go beyond moving technologies from the
Lab to the marketplace — we also support Northern New Mexico’s business community through solid business know-how.”
“Our goal is to work with Jolene to increase the profitability of her business while allowing her to focus on painting as well,” said
MBA intern Jacqueline Shen. “After evaluating the current status of the business, we will benchmark it against competitors,
identify best practices, and present Jolene with a number of recommendations to achieve that goal.”
Fellow intern Brandon McGirr said the MBA summer program is unique and helpful to both Northern New Mexico’s economic development and the Laboratory. “Not only does the program provide business expertise and help individuals jump-start their businesses, it creates a positive image of the Laboratory in the community because it demonstrates the Lab’s support of small businesses,” McGirr said.
While the MBA interns are in the beginning stages of their project with Jessie, they have prepared preliminary plans for how she can improve her business. Most notably, they propose that she improve her marketing strategy by first upgrading her Web site to attract more customers.
Other regional technology businesses receiving assistance from the TT MBA program include Adaptive Radio Technologies,
Los Alamos Visualization Associates, and Energy Related Devices.
For more information about Technology Transfer’s MBA internship program, contact Belinda Padilla in TT at 667-9896 or bee@lanl.gov.
— Erika L. Martinez
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