The rise of generative AI in the workplace has led to a puzzling disconnect. Even as organizations increasingly embrace tools like ChatGPT, there’s been little evidence that they enhance employee creativity. For example, a recent nationally representative Gallup survey found that only 26% of employees who use AI say they’ve seen a creative boost.

This mismatch raises a key question: Can generative AI tools that create text, images and other content truly enhance employee creativity?

A new study from Rice Business suggests they can — but only when paired with the right cognitive approach.

Published in the Journal of Applied Psychology and co-authored by Jing Zhou, the Mary Gibbs Jones Professor of Management, the paper finds that generative AI doesn’t enhance creativity equally for everyone. Instead, its impact depends on how well people manage their own thinking while using it.

To unlock generative AI’s creative potential, employees must pair it with “metacognitive strategies” — mental habits like planning tasks, tracking progress and adjusting tactics.

To test how metacognition affects the creative benefits of generative AI, the authors ran a field experiment with employees at an actual organization — one of the first studies to do so. Using one of the most rigorous methods in organizational research, the study offers rare causal evidence of AI’s impact on workplace creativity.

A Real-World Test

The field experiment took place at a Chinese technology consulting firm — an industry that puts a premium on innovation. Because employees in this field are expected to develop custom solutions for diverse clients, it made for an ideal research environment.

The team worked with 250 nonmanagerial employees at the firm who were randomly assigned to either a treatment group or a control group.

Treatment group participants received access to ChatGPT accounts, along with usage examples, while those in the control group continued working without help from AI.

“What we found is that AI tools aren’t a creativity machine on their own,” Zhou says. “They can be a powerful partner. But for workers to truly benefit, they need to reflect on their thinking and adjust their approach in real time.”

Both groups completed creative problem-solving tasks during the work week. At the end, participants in the treatment group took a survey measuring their use of metacognitive strategies — including how well they planned, monitored and adapted their methods. For example, they would rate themselves on statements like: “While working toward my goal, I kept track of how effective my approach was.”

Employee supervisors, who were unaware of the study’s design or purpose, later rated the creativity of participant outputs. To supplement these evaluations, external reviewers independently assessed employee responses to a specific written prompt about protecting privacy in the digital workplace. Responses were scored on novelty and usefulness.

What the Study Found

So, what were the results?

The experiment showed that employees who worked with generative AI produced more creative ideas than those who did not — but only when they applied metacognitive strategies.

In other words, the value of AI depends less on what it can do and more on how people use it. “Tools like ChatGPT have real potential to expand what we call ‘cognitive job resources,’” Zhou explains. “That is, things like access to relevant information, the ability to switch between tasks and moments of mental rest. But this potential is only unlocked when people use it strategically.”

Mind Over Model

The study has major implications for both employees and companies who are eager to integrate AI into their workflows. If AI-driven creativity depends on how people think, then companies must invest not just in new tools — but in the mental habits that make those tools work. And for employees: Using AI effectively isn’t just about mastering the technology — it’s about sharpening how you plan, adapt and reflect as you work. The good news is that these strategies are teachable. Firms can boost creativity by investing in metacognitive skills training.

What form that training should take is a fertile avenue for future study. Perhaps it looks like more reflective onboarding, structured support for planning or dedicated time to build and assess problem-solving strategies.

Looking Ahead

The study raises other important questions, such as the role of employee motivation. Employees who are more motivated to explore and solve problems may be more likely to engage metacognitively with AI. Team dynamics and organizational culture might also play a role in shaping how AI tools are used day to day.

The Rice Business study is promising, but its authors acknowledge limitations. For example, the long-term effects of using generative AI are unclear. Over time, employees who rely heavily on these tools may risk becoming too dependent, potentially weakening the very skills that nourish creativity, like autonomy and learning.

Still, the takeaway is clear: Generative AI isn’t a shortcut to more novel and useful ideas. To successfully use these tools, organizations need to do more than just install new software. They should provide training and support to help employees reflect on their processes and think strategically.

_{Sun, Li, Foo, Zhou and Lu. “How and for Whom Using Generative AI Affects Creativity: A Field Experiment.” Journal of Applied Psychology (2025).}

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All my life, I’ve joked with my family about how I lived in the shadow of my older brother. He earned a Ph.D. in biology, became renowned in his field, and — at least in my mind — won our mother’s approval in ways I never quite did. I built a very successful career in banking, but I always wondered if she saw me as the son who stopped short, the one who never went on for a master’s degree.

That quiet sense of unfinished business lingered for nearly 50 years.

When I graduated from Baylor University in 1973 with a degree in math, the economy was reeling — Watergate, inflation, oil shocks, hostages in Iran. I had been accepted into a master’s program in mathematics at Texas A&M University, planning to move toward engineering. But graduate school felt like a luxury when jobs were scarce and bills had to be paid. So I set aside my dream of an advanced degree and went to work.

Banking wasn’t what I’d planned, but it turned into a lifelong calling. I spent decades working my way up, eventually buying my own bank and running it successfully for 25 years. By the time I sold it, I had weathered every kind of economic storm. On paper, I had everything — a long career, financial security and the satisfaction of building something from the ground up. But the small ache remained: I had never gone back to school.

The decision to finally pursue an MBA didn’t come from careful planning. It came from a phone call I almost didn’t answer.

I had just sold my bank and was stuck in a three-year non-compete — what I called my “timeout box.” Restless, bored and a little lost, I happened to be home when the phone rang. A recruiter from Rice Business asked if I had ever considered an MBA. My first thought was that it was a scam. My second thought was: at my age?

So I asked him, “Do you have any idea how old I am?”

He paused, then said, “Does it matter?”

That was the moment I was hooked.

Rice’s Online MBA was demanding — accelerated courses, international projects, on-campus residencies — but it was exactly the kind of challenge I needed. I was back in a classroom, decades older than most of my peers, learning alongside professionals who weren’t even born when I started my banking career.

The hardest part wasn’t finance or strategy. It was technology. I had lived much of my career in what I call “life B.C. — Before Computers.” My classmates were miles ahead in tools and shortcuts, while I scrambled to catch up. One day, during a group presentation, I froze when it was my turn to share my screen. I tried to delegate it away, but my professor cut me off: “Mr. Kroll, you’re not going to CEO your way through my class.”

She made me sit there until I figured it out. And I did. That lesson, as humbling as it was, reminded me that growth only happens when you stop hiding behind your experience and allow yourself to be a beginner again.

The MBA opened more doors than I could have imagined. I expanded into new businesses, built friendships across the country and even found myself back in the classroom — but this time as the teacher. Today I’m in my third year teaching banking and financial analysis at Baylor. Standing in front of students, encouraging them to “think big,” I sometimes remember that moment of panic at Rice, learning to share my screen.

At graduation, one of the proudest moments of my life, my family was there — including my wife, Judy, who supported me every step of the way, and my Ph.D. brother. For years I’d carried the feeling that he was the scholar and I was just the businessman. But as I walked across that stage, hooded in my Rice MBA regalia, I realized something had shifted.

It wasn’t about proving myself to him — or even to my mother. It was about finally finishing a dream I had set aside 50 years earlier.

And in that moment, for the first time, I no longer felt like the brother who had fallen short.

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Rice Business alumni continue to play an active role in shaping the next generation of entrepreneurs.

This fall, Executive and Professional MBA students in Al Danto’s Entrepreneurial Pathways class heard directly from graduates who have built and led successful companies: Jacky Fischer ’11 (3 Men Movers); Omair Tariq ’16 (Cart.com); Kelly Ginn ’07 and Mark Daves ’07 (Green Span Profiles); and Ope Amosu ’14 (ChòpnBlok).

Alongside case studies written by Alaina Schuhsler ’25, these alumni described how they launched their ventures and the obstacles they had to overcome — from lawsuits with former employers to the challenges of acquiring and managing family businesses.
 

Hear from Ope Amosu ’14 on “Owl Have You Know:”

At press time, the class was preparing for the visit from Ope Amosu ’14, chef and owner behind the modern West African restaurant concept ChòpnBlok, heralded by The New York Times as one of 2025’s Best Restaurants.

Here are a few of the lessons visiting alumni have left with students. 

Jacky Fischer ’11 
CEO, 3 Men Movers

When Jacky Fischer’s father experienced a health dilemma in 2002, she acquired his company, 3 Men Movers, at his request. Familiar with the business and its employees, she transformed the small, family-owned operation into a multi-million dollar enterprise as its CEO — prioritizing value creation for both drivers and external clients. “When we were only prioritizing the big numbers, I realized we weren’t being true to ourselves,” Fischer says. “Focus on the individual customer and then you’ll find financial success.” By 2024, 3 Men Movers had become one of the top independent movers in the U.S., with over 100 trucks and 400 employees.

Omair Tariq ’16
Founder and CEO, Cart.com

When Omair Tariq ’16 founded Cart.com in 2020, he left a career spanning strategy, finance and C-suite roles. Seeing an opportunity in the mid-market segment and recalling entrepreneurial inspirations from his younger years, Tariq launched Cart.com — which is now valued at $1.68 billion and works with more than 6,000 brands around the world. “As an entrepreneur, you need to be upfront about what you’re willing to compromise on with your partners and investors,” he says. “Value alignment is crucial from the start.” 

Kelly Ginn ’07 and Mark Daves ’07
CEO and CFO, Green Span Profiles

For Kelly Ginn and Mark Daves, building Green Span Profiles into a leader in insulated metal panels has been as much about trust and timing as it has about strategy. Launching during a recession, they leaned on faith, family and a people-first philosophy — putting employees before customers — to navigate crises and grow in a highly competitive niche. “The biggest word for us is ‘trust.’ We built that at Rice and carried it every step of the way. The other word is ‘timing.’ You can’t force things. When the right opportunity comes, you have to take it.” By 2024, the company had surpassed $98 million in revenue and $21 million in EBITDA, establishing itself as one of the country’s leading IMP manufacturers.

With greatest hits from artists like Al Green, Metallica, Drake and SZA. Follow along to hear aspirations, recommendations and inspiration from current students in our Full-Time, Executive and Professional MBA programs. You can also check out our spring 2025 issue to hear from students in the undergraduate, MAcc, Hybrid MBA, MBA@Rice and Ph.D. programs.

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Weston’s office reflects an energetic and wide-ranging life shaped by conversation, curiosity and community. It has a kind of studio apartment vibe: a tea kettle within arm’s reach of a ring light and microphone setup. Original paintings on the walls, made by his wife, an artist. Lots of greenery, some given to him by colleagues who are traveling or have moved on. A framed photo of Sean Connery — a leftover from a “shrine” at the Kelvin Arms, a Scottish-style bar Weston once co-owned. And in the ceiling above his desk, three #2 pencils stuck in a tile. (“Each pencil took about 100 attempts,” he says.)

There are a few traces of Weston’s academic pedigree — a framed image of the University of Virginia’s iconic academic quad, where he earned his Ph.D. — but the bookshelves are notably bare. “I was an early adopter of e-books,” he says. “I read everything on my Kindle or iPad now.”

Weston has taught finance for years, but his lessons extend far beyond textbook theory. In addition to his bar, he’s led real estate ventures with Rice alumni. And more recently, he finds himself in business pressing limited-edition vinyl for Snoop Dogg, Wu-Tang Clan and Stevie Wonder. 

To learn more about the vinyl-pressing venture, check out Weston’s interview on the Rice Business podcast, “Owl Have You Know:”

Now serving as senior associate dean for degree programs, Weston finds himself managing less vinyl and more email. But his office reflects an accessible and grounded approach to this new position. Faculty drop in regularly. Students know they can linger. 

“It’s like a dinner party,” he says. “At a party, everybody winds up in the kitchen. In McNair, they wind up in my office.”

This is the office where Weston works. But also, it’s where he talks, plans, jokes and reflects. Put simply: “I live here,” he says.

Learn more about Professor Weston

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1. Our MBAs didn’t just consult in Colombia — they soaked up Medellín’s history and arts scene at the striking Rafael Uribe Uribe Palace of Culture, a reminder that business is always rooted in people and place.
2. Business is booming: Undergraduate enrollments keep climbing, the Virani Undergraduate School of Business rests on decades of graduate-school excellence, and a new 112,000-square-foot building for undergrads and grad students is rising to match the momentum.
3. Peek inside Professor James Weston’s office: ring light, tea kettle, a photo of Sean Connery — and #2 pencils lodged in the ceiling tiles. Also, we have to mention his side hustle pressing limited-edition vinyl for Snoop Dogg, Wu-Tang Clan and Stevie Wonder.
4. Generative AI can boost workplace creativity — if you pair it with metacognitive habits like planning, monitoring and adapting. Tools matter; how you think while using them matters more.
5. Behind the curtain of the Rice Business Plan Competition: 550 applicants, 42 teams, 400 judges — and one team walking away with more than $900,000, the second-largest amount awarded to a single team in competition history.
6. Business minds in medicine: How our MD/MBAs are applying their business skills — and AI — to help solve healthcare challenges.
7. Turns out it’s never too late to get your MBA. Rodney Kroll ’22 shares his story on getting his degree after an already-successful career.
8. Missing your daily dose of Professor Stephen Zeff? Check out his great photos on the last page. 

Have a story idea to share? Write to me at maureen.harmon@rice.edu.

Happy reading!  

— Maureen  

Contributors

We asked, “What do you do when you're not working?”

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Dan Morrell

I coach my two children’s youth sports teams and play fundamentally sound — though not aesthetically pleasing — pick-up basketball.

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Weezie Mackey

In between assignments, I‘m getting my hands dirty in the garden, tackling house renovation projects and training two puppies.

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Helen Huneycutt

Outside of work, I love to bake (everything but cookies, which are my nemeses), spend time outdoors and act as mediator between our two cats and the houseplants.

When I talk with our students today about preparing for the future of business, one topic rises to the top again and again: artificial intelligence. AI is no longer a futuristic tool waiting on the horizon — it is here, transforming industries, reshaping job functions and changing the way leaders make decisions. As a business school, it’s our responsibility to not only keep pace with these changes but to help lead them.

I recently served on a panel of deans discussing the future of AI. I was able to talk a bit about what we can offer students at Rice Business. For our students, AI is more than a skill set to list on a resume; it is fast becoming a foundational competency. AI certainly has ethical concerns, but our goal is to show students how to use it as a supplementary tool, one that can enhance the way they think about an issue or one that can serve as a tireless tutor for their work, continually making them better thinkers, doers and leaders.

Our undergraduates have BUSI 233 (“GenAI For Business: Tools and Implementation”) to help students on an introductory level, but we are also offering graduate-level elective courses like “AI Tools for Business Decision Making,” with Piyush Anand, assistant professor of marketing, or “Introduction to Generative AI for Business Applications,” with Kathleen Perley, an instructor in management who is also serving as an adviser on AI initiatives at Rice Business. Whether you’re an aspiring marketer using machine learning to understand customer behavior, a finance professional applying predictive analytics or an entrepreneur leveraging generative AI to prototype new ideas, fluency in these technologies is no longer optional. We must prepare our graduates to work with AI — critically, ethically and creatively — rather than fear being replaced by it.

For our faculty, AI is both a challenge and an opportunity. It challenges us to rethink teaching methods in a world where students may come to class having already asked ChatGPT to analyze case studies. But it also opens new avenues for research — from modeling global supply chains more accurately to exploring how algorithms shape consumer trust. Importantly, it forces us to engage with pressing questions: How do we ensure AI is used responsibly? How do we guard against bias? How can technology serve human ingenuity rather than diminish it?

At Rice Business, we see AI as a catalyst for innovation in the classroom and the workplace. Our graduates won’t just be proficient in AI — they’ll be leaders in shaping how it is deployed across industries.

Business education has always been about preparing students to lead in uncertain times. Today, uncertainty often takes the form of rapid technological change.

But these shifts are less a threat than an invitation: an invitation to think bigger, move faster and lead more thoughtfully. 

— Peter

There is a broad trend in healthcare leadership — the growing recognition that clinical excellence alone isn’t enough to navigate modern medicine’s complex challenges. Artificial intelligence, physician burnout and financial sustainability aren‘t abstract policy debates for the doctors on the front lines. They’re daily realities shaping how care is delivered — and how patients experience medicine.

Rice Business has emerged as a natural hub for this evolution, positioned in the heart of the world’s largest medical center. The school’s dual-degree program, pairing the Rice MBA with a medical degree from Baylor College of Medicine, prepares future physician-leaders to tackle healthcare’s multifaceted problems from day one. Meanwhile, the proximity to the Texas Medical Center draws established physicians to Rice’s Executive MBA program, where they gain the business acumen to drive systemic change in their organizations. “Our alumni with MDs are uniquely positioned to help shape the future of healthcare,” says Shiva Sivaramakrishnan, academic director of healthcare programming and the Henry Gardiner Symonds professor in accounting at Rice Business. “They combine firsthand clinical experience with the big-picture strategic thinking needed to tackle systemic challenges facing healthcare — from financial sustainability to technological innovation and workforce well-being.”

Whether earned alongside medical training or years into practice, the MBA becomes a powerful lens for seeing healthcare not just as a calling, but as a complex system that can be redesigned, optimized and ultimately healed.

The AI Revolution: From Burden to Benefit

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When electronic medical records (EMRs) first rolled out, many physicians saw them as one more bureaucratic hurdle. “Despite physicians complaining about electronic medical records adding time and cognitive burdens, no doctor would choose to work without them,” says Dr. Anita Ying, EMBA ’13, vice president of ambulatory and revenue cycle medical operations at MD Anderson Cancer Center. 

Now, artificial intelligence is beginning to smooth out the rough edges. At MD Anderson, ambient listening technology automatically generates clinical notes from patient visits. “I can focus entirely on my patients,” Ying explains. “I still review and edit the draft, but the cognitive load is dramatically reduced.” Those notes simultaneously serve colleagues coordinating care, meet billing requirements and update patients through their online portal. 

Ying sees even broader potential: AI-powered tools could analyze events during a patient’s hospital stay to identify potential safety gaps for clinicians, while large language models could streamline back-office tasks like billing. Telemedicine, too, has reshaped care since COVID. Before the pandemic, virtual visits were rare. Today, 20% of MD Anderson’s outpatient appointments are remote, saving patients travel costs and time away from work. Still, Ying warns that without interstate licensure reform and more comprehensive reimbursement models, the promise of telemedicine will remain incomplete.

Burnout at a Breaking Point

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If AI offers hope, the human toll of modern healthcare remains sobering. Dr. Aparajitha K. Verma, EMBA ’18, medical director of quality and patient experience at UTHealth Houston Neurosciences, describes physician burnout as “a persistent, progressive crisis.” Causes range from endless administrative tasks to rigid schedules that leave no space for work-life balance.

Some solutions are technological — AI scribes that take notes, tools that triage inboxes. But Verma insists that technology alone isn’t enough. “There needs to be fundamental cultural and policy changes led by healthcare organizations,” she says. She argues for aligning incentives with physician values, shifting compensation from volume to value, investing in leadership pathways and offering mental health support without stigma. “The goal is to reconnect physicians with their original purpose,” she adds, “while providing the flexibility and support they need to thrive.”

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Dr. R. Jason Yong, MD/MBA ’08, chief of the Division of Pain Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and assistant professor at Harvard Medical School, echoes those concerns. He sees burnout as a form of “moral injury” — a widening gap between why physicians entered medicine and what their days actually look like. 

Here too, AI offers a counterweight. Machine learning can uncover treatment insights from vast datasets. More transparent approaches, such as relevance-based prediction models, show physicians how conclusions are reached — preserving both accuracy and trust. Chatbots and AI-driven intake systems can also streamline visits, allowing doctors to spend more meaningful time with patients. “If designed thoughtfully,” Yong stresses, “AI can help restore what drew many of us to medicine in the first place: caring for patients face-to-face.”

Access and Equity: The Upstream Challenge

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While technology and burnout capture headlines, Dr. Omar Matuk-Villazon, EMBA ’18, chief medical officer at Suvida Healthcare, sees a more fundamental crisis brewing. Physician shortages aren't just numbers on a spreadsheet — they’re reshaping who gets care and how. At Suvida, a value-based primary care organization serving Latino seniors, those shortages translate directly into health disparities.

“For these patients, a shortage doesn’t just mean waiting longer for an appointment,” Matuk- Villazon explains. “It can mean worsening chronic disease and unnecessary ER visits.” Language barriers, cultural mistrust and geographic isolation compound the problem. Rural hospital closures leave entire communities stranded, while emergency department overcrowding becomes “simply the downstream signal of upstream failure.” 

His Rice MBA training taught him to see these challenges structurally, not just clinically. “We cannot solve shortages with numbers alone,” he says. “We must redesign delivery — building team-based models where physicians, nurse practitioners and community health workers extend one another’s reach, supported by technology.” The vision goes beyond traditional brick-and-mortar thinking. 

“Access is no longer just about hospitals; it’s about continuity, cultural trust and the right care at the right time.”

For Matuk-Villazon, the business challenge is clear: aligning incentives so that equity becomes financially sustainable. “When we succeed, we create not just access, but equity — and that is the foundation for healthier communities.”

Dollars and Diagnosis: The Economic Tension

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Beyond technology and workforce well-being, the economics of healthcare threaten its foundation. “The biggest challenge in healthcare today is financial sustainability,” says Dr. Rupesh Nigam, EMBA ’23. Costs continue to rise faster than wages, leaving families vulnerable to debt and health systems under pressure. Even insured patients face medical bankruptcy. 

Nigam points to a deeper problem: healthcare is trapped between fee-for-service, which rewards volume, and value-based care, which rewards outcomes. The result is an unstable middle ground. “This tension makes it harder to plan, invest and deliver care efficiently,” he explains. The ripple effects are visible at the bedside: delayed discharges, fragmented coordination and avoidable readmissions — all costly, all corrosive to trust. 

For Nigam, sustainability depends on treating healthcare both as a service and as a business. “We need to simplify processes without sacrificing quality, use technology to reduce waste, and build stronger alignment among payers, providers and patients,” he says. Only then can financial reality and clinical mission converge.

Where Medicine Meets Management

Across these perspectives, one theme stands out: Technology alone won’t heal healthcare, but it can be a catalyst for change. AI can lighten documentation burdens, extend the reach of specialists through telemedicine and make visits more human. But unless health systems also reform outdated structures, invest in their people and reconcile competing payment models, progress will remain piecemeal. 

For physicians like Ying, Verma, Yong, Matuk-Villazon and Nigam, the vision is clear. Healthcare must evolve into a system where innovation, sustainability and humanity reinforce — rather than undermine — one another. That, they argue, is the prescription for a healthier future.

Hear more from Dr. Omar Matuk-Villazon ’18 on the “Owl Have You Know” podcast:
 

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Ramon Marquez '25 has been predicting what customers want since he was 5. His grandfather had a general store in the small border town of Zaragoza, Chihuahua, Mexico — the kind where customers would approach the counter and ask for items, which his grandfather would dutifully go and track down for them. Marquez would visit his grandfather’s store on weekends, helping work the register and grabbing items for customers. “One of the things that I loved the most was to guess what they were going to ask for,” he recalls. “It became this kind of game for me.”

It was a fortuitous first experience with retail; Marquez has since led a more than 30-year career at some of the world’s most famous retail brands. “If you look at what my role has been throughout my professional life, it has been to predict what people are going to buy,” he says.

After graduating from the University of Texas at El Paso — where he briefly ran a side business selling sweaters to his fellow students — he joined JCPenney to help open their Mexican division in the wake of NAFTA. Over the next 20 years, he would hold senior roles at Old Navy, Abercrombie & Fitch, American Eagle and New York & Company — each one selected strategically. “I’ve always been very careful about picking who I work for,” he says. “At the beginning, it was JCPenney … but when I went to Old Navy, the idea was that I wanted to go into a fast-paced younger company that was in growth mode.” He joined when the brand had just 200 stores and left when it had ballooned to over 1,000.

Seven years ago, Marquez became the head of retail at Transformco — which manages Sears and Kmart, two of America’s iconic-but-struggling legacy retailers — taking on a job many industry insiders viewed as impossible: not just reviving the brands, but reimagining their future.

The jump to Sears and Kmart was not an obvious move for Marquez. “I went to the Kmart store on 34th Street [in New York City] in Penn Station … and I said, ‘There’s no one — no one — who can clean this up,’” he remembers. “And then I walked away.” But something pulled him back. “What if I am that person?” he asked himself. He joined the company just weeks before Kmart’s bankruptcy filing.

What followed was a crash course in chaos management. “I didn’t know if, in the wake of the bankruptcy, I was going to have to lay off 200 people or if we were even going to continue to operate,” he says. But what Marquez soon came to realize was that this role was no longer limited to being the guy who can correctly guess what the customer wants. His role was also to redefine the culture of the organization. “They hired me to be the leader of these people — and to pick up the pieces and push the company forward,” he says.

That required a mental pivot. “There’s an ego behind it, right? Because I refused to be the person that got left behind, just shutting things down.” 

Instead, he reframed the situation: “A turnaround,” he says, “is just a startup in disguise.”

That entrepreneurial mindset has defined Marquez’s approach.

The first thing he had to do was take an inventory. “We needed to understand what we are really good at, what our assets are and what our liabilities are,” he says. “Obviously you want to get rid of your liabilities as soon as possible. And then we needed to stay very clear on who the customer is and what opportunity we have with that customer. Because chasing a customer who has left and is not coming back is just not the right thing to do.”

He also had to learn to operate without the kind of available assets he had at his previous positions. “Scarcity breeds innovation,” he says. “I worked for companies that had it all … here, you have to think through it. But as long as you understand who your customer is … you’ll figure it out.”

In the early days there wasn’t much to work with — except, that is, for the stores’ existing real estate. “There are brands and partners that want to get into their real estate, but they don’t want to lease the entire store,” says Marquez. “So I partnered with them, and they would bring their product into my stores," Marquez says. “I didn’t have to spend the money on the inventory … and then we would split the commissions.”

He also introduced ready-to-assemble furniture in Sears locations. His team was skeptical at first. “They said, ‘This could not sell here,’” he says. “But it worked so well there that we actually brought it to the Kmart stores.”

As a manager, Marquez leaned into a leadership style that focused on building trust. “We’re a smaller team, more dynamic. We pick up the phone, and we have open communication,” he says. “I’m also in the stores all the time. I talk to sales associates, they pick up the phone, they email me.” When the pandemic hit, the company embraced remote work and created a more flexible team culture. “There’s a lot of trust among us,” he says.

Those open lines of communication have been critical to fostering innovation, says Marquez. 

“A lot of companies, when things are tough, the first thing that goes is the creativity. So a lot of the innovation just gets cut and everybody goes for the safe option — but is it the safe option that got you to where you are? It kind of works against you.”

Marquez also credits a new humility in helping him lead innovation at the stores, which includes keeping an open ear for ideas. “I love talking to people that are not in retail or that are not in my business about things I’m going through, because they have a completely different perspective — that is not emotional, that is not brand-driven, that just comes from a different place,” he says.

Marquez wrapped up an MBA at Rice in May 2025, an experience he says allowed him to reflect and shape his leadership style and his definition of success. “It’s the people I work with — and how people feel at the end of the day and how I feel at the end of the day — that’s what matters,” says Marquez. He’s more patient these days, too. “I don’t react to things the way I used to,” he said. “I was more impulsive before. It was all about how fast I could get to an answer. And now it’s more about: Let’s think about it, see what our options are, and then make the best decision.”

But even with all that’s changed for him, the earliest lessons remain relevant. “Customer satisfaction is still paramount,” says Marquez. That 5-year-old kid at his grandfather’s store, eager to make a sale, is still alive and well. “If you come to the store and you stop me, and you tell me how much you love what we have, you make my day.”

Hear more from Marquez on the “Owl Have You Know” podcast:
 

On a pleasant April day in Houston’s Innovation District, Amelia Martin stands before a panel of hundreds of judges with a respirator dangling around her neck. In just 60 seconds, she lays out the danger of Styrofoam surfboards: In the workshop, the material sheds toxic dust and fumes; in the landfill, it lingers, leaching harm into the environment. From there she pivots, introducing her team’s solution: a nontoxic mushroom-based substitute to Styrofoam.

Pitching for a share of more than $1 million in prizes, Martin takes a steadying breath and lifts a surfboard prototype above her head. This moment is part of the “elevator pitch” at the Ion — stage one of the Rice Business Plan Competition (RBPC), the world’s largest and richest intercollegiate graduate student startup competition, hosted by the Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship.

Martin’s pitch for her company, Mud Rat, is one of 42 presentations on the first day of the competition. Contestants range from chemical recycling for textiles to an automatic music transcription tool, an AI-powered sports watch, and firefighter gear made without carcinogenic PFAS (i.e., “forever chemicals”). There are many innovative ideas in this room, but only a few will make it through to the final rounds. Tonight is just the beginning.

After the preliminary round of pitches comes to an end, attendees step out of the Ion into the Gulf air — a warm welcome to competitors who have come from as far away as Canada and Germany. Tomorrow, the audience will gather in McNair Hall to see which of the 42 teams will pitch their way into the next round.

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By the second day of the competition, student teams have been divided into “flights” by industry, depending on whether their product addresses a concern in consumer products, digital enterprise, energy/cleantech, hard tech or life sciences.

It’s 9:15 a.m. when New Jersey natives Harrison Nastasi and Justin Iannelli step up to the podium in the consumer products room as their team, representing Bobica Bars, passes around samples. The clock ticking, Nastasi dives into his journey as a young founder: Motivated by his mother’s lifelong battle with arthritis and his father’s diagnosis of celiac disease, Nastasi began a search for dietary alternatives to support those with health challenges. Combining the benefits of smoothie bowls with on-the-go convenience, Nastasi created and began selling Bobica Bars, high-antioxidant glazed granola bars, as a freshman in college. On stage, the team endures a series of hard-hitting questions from their judges — some about quality control and others about financial projections.

What the audience is watching today has evolved considerably since the contest debuted in 2001 as the Southwest Business Plan Competition, when it welcomed just nine competing teams and about 45 judges to campus. It was Dennis Murphree, a Rice Business lecturer of more than 25 years and a successful venture capital investor, who introduced the idea to leadership. The inaugural event succeeded through the efforts of business school student volunteers led by MBA student coordinator Tom Stein and the team at Rice Alliance under the direction of Brad Burke, who remains executive director of Rice Alliance to this day.

Much can happen in 25 years. This year’s competition attracted 550 applicants, the most competitive pool of applicants to date. Representing 34 universities and four countries, each of the 42 teams have spent months, and in some cases years, preparing to pitch their product, service or technology.

One floor below the Bobica Bars group, the Mud Rat team is passing around a block of what looks like hay and packing peanuts melted together. But when Martin (UConn) joins Patricio Acevedo Zarraga (Florida International University) to begin their 10-minute pitch, judges learn that the mysterious brick is actually dried mushroom mycelium — an environmentally safe and biodegradable alternative to Styrofoam intended for surfboard production.

Martin, who spent her childhood on the ocean and began making her own boards in high school, uses her expertise in plant sciences to field questions from the judges about the harvesting, longevity and biology of the source of their board. At the end of an otherwise captivating pitch, one judge asks a pertinent question: “Why are you limiting your product to just surfboards?”

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Downstairs, a group of students from the University of Houston huddles in deep conversation with investors, trading tips on the perfect pitch — and where they fell short. “You’re asking for money, so there has to be this confidence and trust that you could be a good steward of it,” says one adviser. “Investors are going to grill you on the figures. They’re going to grill you on the tech. They’re going to grill you on the business.”

Since its first year, the competition’s prize pool has grown from a modest $10,000 to $200,000 just five years later — crossing the million-dollar threshold in 2010. The money certainly helps teams get off the ground, but the sound advice and tough questions that come from judges and investors are equally helpful.

Though it was renamed from the Southwest Business Plan Competition early on, the RBPC has picked up many nicknames over the years — like “April Madness” (Fortune magazine) and the “World Series of biz school contests” (CNN Business, then CNNMoney).

With this claim to fame, the RBPC continues to draw judges from around the world. This year celebrates its largest ever crowd of judges, more than 350 actively participating judges in total, comprising dedicated annual participants and first-time investors alike. Some come from globally recognized corporations; others, from organizations dedicated to local impact in the Houston area.

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On the morning of day three, 15 semifinalists add new elements and finishing touches to their presentations based on the feedback they received in Round 1, while the remaining 27 teams make their way into the wild-card round and a shot at redemption.

In the semifinalist pitch room, Madeline Eiken, a bioengineering Ph.D. student from the University of Michigan, steps up. She shares how preclinical drug testing models are failing at the expense of patients around the country. Eiken, alongside Don Sobell, Charlie Childs and their team at Intero Biosystems, are at the brink of revolutionizing personalized medicine.

What began as Childs’ and Eiken’s Ph.D. research in Michigan’s Spence Lab led to the discovery of a functioning human intestine contained in a petri dish. Guided by Jason Spence, a professor who made the foundational discovery of an adult stem-cell-derived human intestinal organoid in 2011, the two Ph.D. students realized these miniature organs could function as preclinical tools to predict patient response while reducing costs and minimizing animal testing. Marketed as GastroScreen, the innovation out of Intero Biosystems allows for efficacy testing, disease modeling and a precise reflection of drug safety and toxicity.

Following the 10-minute pitch, applause gives way to a flurry of questions. Judges, impressed with their groundbreaking progress in the lab, ask about scientific limitations, financial restraints and exit strategies. Afterward, Eiken, Sobell and Childs collapse into chairs in the Anderson Family Commons and begin debriefing.

“It was a very reactive room of judges, and we got some amazing questions,” says Sobell, an MBA student at Michigan. “I was impressed by one of the judges who asked about how much we expected to raise before we could exit, which challenged us to think really far into the future.”

In the wild-card room, four students from Louisiana State University take the podium to share how FarmSmarter.ai, one of multiple AI teams at the competition, is on a mission to help farmers and agricultural consultants. With the help of a virtual assistant called FarmerAI, farmers can optimize their yield with access to agricultural and regulatory information, crop management strategies, geospatial data, weather impacts and all their field notes with ease. Users can also identify plants, insects, fungi and diseases by simply uploading a photo to the app.

“I grew up farming,” says Cole Lacombe, an agricultural consultant and business developer at FarmSmarter.ai. “One wrong decision can be detrimental to your crops and livelihood. Our goal is to bring better insights and faster recommendations to farmers across the country.”

After all teams present, the crowd convenes in Shell Auditorium to hear which seven teams move forward in the last round. Intero Biosystems and FarmSmarter.ai are announced as finalists, along with re.Solution, MabLab, Mito Robotics, Xatoms and Rice University’s own team, Pattern Materials.

At awards night, the company showcase is abuzz with anticipation. Hundreds of judges mingle with the members of the 42 teams, congratulating them, sharing tips and encouraging next steps as attendees weave through the lobby to cast votes for their favorite startups.

After dinner, Rice Alliance executive director Brad Burke takes the stage alongside RBPC director Catherine Santamaria to announce winners of this year’s competition. Before the top teams are announced, an array of prizes is awarded — from industry-specific honors to those celebrating women and first-time entrepreneurs — ensuring all startups leave with recognition for their work.

One by one, final winners take the stage to accept their prizes, beginning with FarmSmarter.ai in seventh place. Six teams are called forward and then the room becomes quiet, just in time for the grand prize to be awarded to Intero Biosystems from the University of Michigan.

Founders Childs, Eiken and Sobell don’t just take first place at this year’s competition — they walk away with more than $900,000 in funding, the second-largest amount of prizes ever awarded to a single team in RBPC history.

“We’ve made so many wonderful connections at this year’s Rice Business Plan Competition. And it’s truly launching us into a whole new realm of support — from investors, connections and everything in between,” says Childs. “We’re so thankful.”

“Winning first place at the world’s largest graduate student pitch competition is a remarkable achievement. I’m excited to see how Intero Biosystems and their people-focused mission continues to grow and make an impact in medicine,” says Peter Rodriguez, dean of Rice Business.

“It’s been an honor to see the passion and innovation each team has brought to this year’s Rice Business Plan Competition, and we’re tremendously proud to support them in their journey.”

2025 RBPC Finalists

1. Intero Biosystems, University of Michigan
2. MabLab, Harvard University
3. Re.solution, RWTH Aachen University
4. Pattern Materials, Rice University
5. Xatoms, Western University and University of Toronto
6. Mito Robotics, Carnegie Mellon University
7. FarmSmarter.ai, Louisiana State University

Hear more from the 2025 RBPC winning team, Intero Biosystems, on the “Owl Have You Know” podcast below:  

Five Questions for Pattern Materials, The Rice University Team

Get to know Lucas Eddy and Alexander Lathem, Ph.D. students studying applied physics and two of the brilliant minds behind the Rice team. Their journey began in the James Tour Lab and has gained momentum through entrepreneurial support like the Liu Idea Lab for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (Lilie), where Lathem is currently an Innovation Fellow.

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1. What does Pattern Materials do? We make graphene patterns using a laser scribing method, which can then be easily integrated into technologies like strain and pressure sensors, memory devices, and other advanced electronic devices.
2. What is one helpful critique you have received at RBPC? The most helpful feedback has been to better translate the tangible value added by our technology, which is very technical at first glance.
3. Where will your fourth-place prize money be going? Our prize money will allow us to purchase prototyping equipment and set up our workspace so we can focus on product development and customer acquisition.
4. What advice would you give someone entering RBPC next year? Run your pitch by people who are not interested in the scientific field that your idea comes from — and focus on the value you add to your chosen market.
5. If you had $1M to invest in one other team at this year’s RBPC, who would it go to? There were many great competitors at the 2025 RBPC, but it would probably be Motmot, which had a very neat robot designed to analyze water infrastructure without having to shut off service.

Learn More About the 2025 RBPC