Rundown

Commencement

In May, more than 500 MBA students walked the stage at Tudor Fieldhouse, representing the breadth of our six MBA programs — including the Hybrid MBA, which welcomed its first graduating class this year. We also celebrated the undergraduates who became alumni of the newly named Virani Undergraduate School of Business, now home to 178 undergraduate alumni.

Our MAcc program launched skilled accountants into global firms, and our Ph.D. program continues to produce groundbreaking research scholars every year.

Here’s to the graduates of 2025 — and to the faculty who led them. 

Words of Wisdom

The Rice Business students selected as the 2025 M.A. Wright Scholars include a digital marketing strategist and founder of an AI-powered women’s health platform. The business school’s highest leadership honor carries the name of M. A. Wright, former Cameron Iron Works Chairman, founding chair of the Rice Business Board of Advisors, and a devoted supporter of Rice Business. Each year, students put forward peers from all of the school’s tracks who have distinguished themselves through exceptional service and leadership.

Full-Time MBA: Husein Lokhandwala

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Husein Lokhandwala worked for six years as a digital marketing strategist, launching his own consulting company while in India. He successfully grew his business, and enrolled at Rice Business to deepen his expertise in running it. At Rice, he led Out and Allied, the business school’s LGBTQ+ student organization, where he launched a project that connected members with local LGBTQ+ owned businesses. The initiative provided the businesses with pro bono advice while helping students expand their professional network. He was vice president of the Arts Club, treasurer for the Tech Association, and external affairs chair in Rice Business Student Association. During his time at Rice, he also wrote and produced the Rice Business Follies. After graduation, he accepted a role as senior advisor in product management at Dell Technologies in Austin.

Leadership tips:

1. Listen to diverse perspectives that differ from your own to inform your decisions — it’s fundamental to lead effectively.
2. Find levity and excitement in the things you do. Having that attitude drives the energy you bring to the people around you and can help set the tone for the work ahead.
3. Take stock of your successes. Recognize your efforts and those of your teams who help bring you there. Celebrating efforts is a fundamental part of the process and should be built in.

Hybrid MBA: Kyle Neff

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For the last decade, Kyle Neff has worked in a variety of roles across production, resource development, business development and corporate strategy for oil and gas company Continental Resources in Oklahoma City. He joined the company as an associate engineer and was most recently promoted to the Williston Basin resource development manager for Continental Resources. Neff is also the continuing education chair for the Oklahoma City Chapter of the Society of Petroleum Engineers. He came to Rice to deepen his understanding of economic fundamentals and further develop his leadership skills. He served as marketing co-chair for the Rice Energy Finance Summit and vice chair and sponsorship co-chair for the Rice Cleantech Innovation Competition. During his final semester, he and his wife, Victoria, welcomed their son, James.

Leadership tips:

1. Start with why. Focus on what matters, and make “not-to-do” lists. This helps prevent low-value initiatives from consuming too much of frontline employees’ time.
2. Be a truth teller and assume positive intent in others.
3. Be a servant leader. Abandon self-interest, and demonstrate self-sacrifice.

Professional MBA - Weekend: Lucas Spangler

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For more than 14 years, Lucas Spangler has helped design, build and maintain power generation equipment. He’s overseen utility capital projects and introduced sustainable products for commercial and industrial clients. He’s currently a management consultant at Alvarez & Marsal’s energy and chemicals practice in Dallas, where he specializes in helping clients design data-driven strategies to roll out new products and run their operations more efficiently. He came to Rice to enhance his business skillset, develop a larger network of energy sector professionals and strengthen his executive presence. He served on the executive committee of the Rice Business Professional Students Association.

Leadership tips:

1. You will never feel ready. Take action anyway.
2. Most problems can be solved by listening.
3. You can’t have people over for dinner when your house is on fire. Take the time to take care of yourself. 

Professional MBA - Evening: Zunaira Zaki Desai

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For five years prior to Rice Business, Zunaira Zaki Desai worked in real estate sales and development in Houston, helping builders manage on-site projects, raise capital and oversee fund allocation for construction initiatives. She was looking for opportunities to grow as a leader, and her Rice Business graduate sister, Rimsha Zaki ’24, inspired her to apply to Rice for her MBA. At Rice, she served as president of the Rice Business Student Association for Professionals, and her team took first place in the Adam Smith Society’s annual case competition. Now, she’s a senior strategy consultant at Accenture, after interning with the consulting firm’s operating model & organization design (OMOD) practice over the summer.

Leadership tips:

1. Surround yourself with leaders who are driven, have a proven track record of success, and get things done.
2. Successful leaders actively listen to stakeholders, synthesize diverse perspectives and unify them under a shared mission.
3. Bet on yourself. Always believe in your capabilities and strengths as a leader. 

Executive MBA: Sharbel Haddad

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Sharbel Haddad’s more than 15 years of global experience in the energy industry spans strategic planning, subsurface exploration, development and production, energy transition, M&A and technology ventures. His Rice MBA helped him to cultivate a more expansive network of energy professionals and deepen his link to Houston’s energy and business ecosystems. While at Rice, he served as co-treasurer for the class of 2025 cohort, was a member of the leadership team for Rice Energy Finance Summit (REFS) 2024, and served as co-director of the Valhalla Investment Network. He currently works as a planning and strategy advisor at ExxonMobil, having worked his way up from exploration geoscientist when he first joined the company in 2012.

Leadership tips:

1. Lead with empathy. Take time to understand the perspectives and needs of those you work with, embodying the principles of servant leadership.
2. Communicate with clarity. Clear, consistent messaging helps avoid confusion, builds trust and aligns teams around shared goals.
3. Empower others. Great leaders create space for others to grow, contribute and shine, ensuring success is both shared and sustainable.

Online MBA: Monique Pourkarimi

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Andria Monique Pourkarimi worked for insurance company Aflac and then as a supervisor at Costco in Houston before starting her own financial consulting agency, Pourkarimi & Associates, and co-founding an AI-powered women’s health platform. Her start-up, Dr. Clara, LLC began in a Rice MBA classroom as Pourkarimi set out to transform how women connect with their healthcare providers after facing challenges in the system herself, following an endometriosis diagnosis. At Rice Business, she took on multiple leadership roles, including president of the Online MBA Student Association, PR chair of the Entrepreneurship Association, first-year representative for the 24th annual Women in Leadership Conference (WILC) and fundraising chair for the 20th Annual Believers in Business conference.

Leadership tips:

1. Lead with service. The most impactful leaders elevate others first, creating space for people to thrive.
2. Take the leap. Embrace your entrepreneurial journey and surround yourself with people who are in your corner. Know entrepreneurship comes in many forms, and approach challenges with curiosity, creativity and courage.
3. Seek to understand and be understood. Leadership isn’t only about casting vision; it’s about listening deeply, building trust and making others feel seen and heard.

Jones Scholar Award

The Jones Scholar Award is an academic honor conferred by the faculty on students whose cumulative GPA at the time of graduation is in the top 10% of their graduating class. Each graduate of Rice Business completes a rigorous set of courses, develops a robust complement of skills and knowledge, and refines their capabilities in leadership, critical thinking and problem solving. The Jones Scholars comprise a group of students who have performed exceedingly well – with high distinction – in completing a challenging curriculum.

Congratulations to those from the Class of 2025 listed below.

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Dean’s Distinguished Visiting Fellow

Rice Business welcomed Semyon Malamud, associate professor of finance at École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, as the 2025 Dean’s Distinguished Visiting Fellow. During his week on campus, Malamud shared insights from his research on complex rational expectations equilibria, exploring how machine learning (ML) reshapes information acquisition, price informativeness and return predictability in financial markets.

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This spring, we crossed a remarkable milestone: our 10,000th graduate.

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The Jones Graduate School of Business was established in 1974 with a gift from Houston Endowment, and by 1975, we could count eight graduates among the business alumni body. Over the next 50 years, every diploma from the Jones School — and today, the Virani Undergraduate School of Business — symbolizes both individual achievement and the strength of a community that continues to grow in numbers, vision and ambition.

Here’s to lifelong mentorship, a strong alumni network and paving the way for the next 10,000.

Faculty Events

In September, Rice Business hosted the Conference on the Role of Accounting and Information Frictions in Microenterprises, bringing together leading scholars from around the world to explore how gaps in accounting and information shape entrepreneurship. The conference was co-organized by accounting professor K. Ramesh and doctoral student Marcela Aguilar, along with Regina Wittenberg Moerman (Northwestern University) and Rimmy Tomy (University of Chicago). Keynote addresses by Dean Karlan (Northwestern) and Jonathan Morduch (NYU) framed a series of wide-ranging discussions. Topics included the unintended exclusionary effects of global accounting standards in informal credit markets, the role of accountants in helping small- and medium-sized enterprises navigate macroeconomic shocks, and the influence of local content rules on taxation and development outcomes in resource-rich economies.

The conference highlighted cutting-edge research and fostered new collaborations across disciplines. Deputy Dean Jing Zhou delivered closing remarks, underscoring Rice Business’ leadership in advancing scholarship on entrepreneurship and economic development.

Congratulations to the Rice Business faculty members who were honored with teaching and research awards this past spring.

Building for the Future

The countdown is on: The new building next to McNair Hall is on track for completion in summer 2026. Designed to address our unprecedented growth in both undergrad and graduate programs, the new building has larger classrooms, faculty offices and event spaces. Recent construction milestones include completed electrical, plumbing and concrete work, with windows now framing the atrium — an airy, light-filled space enclosing Woodson Courtyard. We look forward to welcoming you there soon.

Watch the building’s progress and learn more about giving opportunities at futureofbusiness.rice.edu.

The Virani Undergraduate School of Business Celebrates One-Year Anniversary

Associate Dean Named

Rice Business is pleased to announce that Bob Dittmar, the Houston Endowment Professor of Finance, has been appointed associate dean of the Virani Undergraduate School of Business, effective July 1.

Dittmar, who joined Rice Business in 2023, brings a distinguished record of research, teaching and academic leadership to the new role. His work in asset pricing, financial market frictions and macrofinancial linkages has been widely published in top academic journals. Prior to Rice, he served on the faculty at the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business.

Undergraduate Leadership

• Natalia Piqueira —­ Assistant Dean of Undergraduate Programs at the Virani Undergraduate School of Business, Assistant Clinical Professor of Finance
• John Wisneski ­— Executive Director of Student Experience and Career Develop- ment at the Virani Undergraduate School of Business, Assistant Clinical Professor of Organizational Behavior
• Jeffrey Russell — Lecturer in Communication, Undergraduate Business Co-Advisor at the Virani Undergraduate School of Business
• Jonathan Miles — Assistant Clinical Professor of Management — Organizational Behavior, Undergraduate Business Co-Advisor at the Virani Undergraduate School of Business, Undergraduate Business Minor Advisor
• Danielle Riley — Director, Specialty Programs
• Kelly Keyes — Associate Director of Specialty Programs

Current Majors and Minors by Class

^{Data as of 8/28/2025}

Throughout the year, Rice Business has celebrated the Virani family (pictured below from left: Faraz ’21, Zoya, Asha ’89 and Farid Virani) and the newly named Virani Undergraduate School of Business with students, faculty, staff, school leaders and community members.

"Our undergraduate business program stands on the shoulders of a graduate school with decades of distinction. The same faculty who’ve shaped leaders in our MBA classrooms bring that same rigor, insight and real-world relevance to students in the Virani Undergraduate School of Business. This program may be young, but it’s built on a legacy of excellence.” 
— Peter Rodriguez, Dean