Across the fall 2025 semester, several IUP alumni and industry experts engaged with current students through the Accounting and Finance Career Fair and Department of Finance and Economics classroom guest speaking opportunities. We wish to thank these individuals for giving of their time and talents to provide our current students with first-hand insights about working in different areas of finance and economics. Each one graciously shared suggestions for how students can take advantage of numerous opportunities IUP offers to better prepare themselves for competitive labor market and/or graduate program opportunities.
- Alumni Kaitlin Albright (’20) and Ethan Black (’25) returned to campus on September 24 to recruit for their certified public accounting firm, Zelenkofske Axelrod LLC. Albright, who graduated with dual degrees of BA in economics/honors and BS in accounting, presently works as an audit senior. Black works as an audit associate, having recently graduated with a BS in finance degree that included a minor in accounting and a minor in economics. Several other alumni were also present for this career fair, primarily recruiting out of the other business disciplines.
From left: James Jozefowicz, Kaitlin Albright ‘20, Ethan Black ‘25, and Stephanie Jozefowicz - New IUP finance faculty member Yiqin Chen hosted IUP MBA alumnus Sabareesh (Sab) Kornipalli (’09) as a guest speaker in her Fundamentals of Finance class on October 1. Kornipalli, founder of FinAlance and chief finance officer of the Airawat Research Foundation, shared insights from his more than 15 years working as a financial analyst, financial manager, and/or director of finance for several multi-billion-dollar Fortune 500 companies, as well as his current entrepreneurial pursuits in the US and India. He also offered industry perspectives and career advice to students.
- While on campus to receive the Young Alumni Achievement Award, Ray Edwards (‘11) met with James Jozefowicz’s Introduction to Econometrics class on November 3. Edwards has built a distinguished career leading high-impact analytics teams at major brands, including Spanx and Tombras. During his extensive tenure at BBDO Worldwide, he held multiple leadership roles, culminating as vice president of data. Among his many achievements, he led the creation of “Gracie,” an anti–sex trafficking chatbot that earned a Cannes Gold Lion Award—one of the industry’s highest honors for creativity, effectiveness, and impact. Today, Ray serves as director of retail media data engineering at The Home Depot, where he leads data strategy and engineering for Orange Apron Media, The Home Depot’s retail media business.
Attendees at the 2025 Young Alumni Achievement Awards Dinner. From left: Micaela Jebitsch, Emily Schumacher, Nate Kociela, Isaiah Perdue, Ray Edwards ’11, Jackson White, Stephanie Jozefowicz, Stephen Mihalacki ’01 - On November 14, Yaya Sissoko hosted economics alumnus Caleb Moore (’07, M’18) in his Financial Institutions and Markets course. Moore is a seasoned finance professional with a diverse background, spanning over 18 years in the banking industry. Presently a senior vice president at Carter Bank & Trust in Virginia, Moore’s career path includes roles in derivatives, credit, and risk management, where he has consistently excelled in building and leading exceptional teams.
FINA 410 Financial Institutions and Markets students gathered with guest alumni speaker, Caleb Moore ’07, MBA ’18. - In her Fundamentals of Finance course, Debbie Kane (PhD ’24) hosted Jared Lowry, a local financial advisor, on December 2. Lowry has an Edward Jones office located close to the IUP main campus in Indiana. He shared insights from his experiences working in the financial planning field. Since the Fundamentals of Finance course is taken by business students as part of the Eberly Business Core set of classes, Lowry’s presentation gave students the opportunity to consider financial planning as one of several different possible career paths within the broader finance industry.
Additionally, by course design, Christine Schmidt (’06, MBA ’07) hosted several guest speakers across the semester in her Seminar in Finance course.
- October 6: Jeffrey Gladstone currently serves as a senior anti-money laundering compliance manager at Amazon. Gladstone has worked in corporate and securities law as an associate at prestigious firms, including Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP and Chadbourne & Parke LLP. He then transitioned into compliance roles at PNC Bank, Google, and currently at Amazon. He is licensed to practice law in Pennsylvania, New York, and the District of Columbia and holds multiple professional certifications.
- November 3: Todd Brice is currently vice president of business development at the Reschini Group. Prior to the Reschini Group, Brice had a career in banking spanning over three decades and leaving a significant impact on the financial industry. He has held various leadership roles at S&T Bancorp, Inc., including chief executive officer and director, and has been a member of the board of directors for several organizations. His extensive experience and dedication to the community have made him a respected figure in the banking sector.
- November 17: Emily Elliot (’23) currently serves as a mergers and acquisitions analyst at KeyBanc Capital Markets. Prior to joining KeyBanc Capital Markets, Elliott held multiple internships, including an operations-servicing intern with Union Home Mortgage Corp and a merger and acquisitions intern at KeyBanc Capital Markets. While attending IUP, Elliott served as the social media chair for the Student Finance Association and was a member, the Consumer Staples section leader, and the chief economist for the Student Managed Investment Portfolio group.
- November 24: Aaron Remorenko is currently the chief executive officer at CoachFirst. CoachFirst aspires to help great coaches thrive and impact as many lives as they can by providing software to make the administrative tasks of running a training or coaching business (booking, payments, client communications) easy, giving coaches more time in their day to help more clients achieve their goals. Before becoming CEO, Remorenko led the commercialization of Deep Labs’ AI-driven fraud detection technology in the payments and financial services market. He also held various director positions: strategy and analytics director at Lincoln Financial Group/Liberty Mutual Insurance, director of risk management at PNC, and director of corporate governance and compliance at PNC Global Investment Servicing. Remorenko holds various licenses and certifications, including a chartered property casualty underwriter.
- December 1: Stephanie Smiley (’06) currently serves as a sales and operations planning manager at Curtiss-Wright Corporation. With over three years of experience in this role, Smiley has developed and conducted the sales and operations planning process, providing visibility and communication on sales, demand, and supply. In addition to her current role, Smiley has a strong background in demand planning and analysis, having worked as a demand planning analyst at CertainTeed for two years. There, she was accountable for developing the total demand plan through each S&OP cycle, formulating and recommending the best forecast for regional markets, and driving the Demand Review step of the S&OP process. Smiley also obtained an APICS CPIM Part 1 certification in 2022.