Bearcats Mean Business podcast

Grant Freking: (00:00)
Welcome back to Bearcats Mean Business. Today's episode is all about project management and the upcoming Project Management Institute Summit at the Lindner College of Business. On November 8th, the Lindner College of Business is hosting the annual summit, the Institute's Southwest Ohio and Dayton Miami Valley Chapters. Lindner assistant professor educator Steven Jones and Lindner Senior Ryan Baillie are here to discuss their passion for project management, the project management opportunities afforded by Lindner and uc, and how students and professionals can each benefit from attending the summit. Welcome, Steven and Ryan.

Steven Jones: (00:35)
Thank you.

Ryan Baillie: (00:35)
Thank you

Grant Freking: (00:37)
Guys. Let's start with your project management. Why, Ryan? What's your why for your interest in the project management field?

Ryan Baillie: (00:44)
For me, it's the applicability to all industries. Project management isn't just a hard skill, like, say, Python or R. Project Management goes far beyond that. It's a mindset of thinking that you can apply to almost anything.

Grant Freking: (00:57)
Alright. Steven, you enjoyed a distinguished career as a project management professional prior to joining Lindner. Why did you decide to enter the field in the first place? And then why did you then decide to make the decision to become a professor?

Steven Jones: (01:08)
Yeah, I think, uh, I don't know that I found project management. I think it's more applicable to say project management found me, uh, early in my career. I, I started in sales, uh, before I moved into sales management. Um, and, and what I found was there was an opportunity to improve the efficiency of my teams. And as I improved the efficiency of my teams, ultimately we were more successful. So this is kind of how I got into project management and I, I really stuck with it because I saw the, uh, ability for its, uh, uh, value in continuing my career across multiple industries. So to, to go from, uh, telecommunications to IT services, to contact management, to consulting, uh, and, and now in higher ed. You know, what I realized in hindsight is that project management is one of those skills that will allow you to maintain your value and your value proposition as a professional throughout all the unforeseen changes that will happen in our economy.

Steven Jones: (02:15)
Uh, I think back over, you know, over the last 35 years, I've, I've traversed the, uh, economic disruptions of the internet, uh, the advancement of, uh, cell phones. Uh, and, and my project management skills have enabled me to continue to frankly make a living through all those, uh, changes. So that's ultimately what brought me into higher ed. I think after, I won't say after my career, but I got to a point where, um, I think I had achieved a, a frankly, more than what I had expected. Uh, and I had the opportunity to return here to my alma mater and I, and I'm really passionate about being able to help our students develop the skills necessary to be successful and maintain a long-term career. Um, I, I don't know if we are always intentional about that, you know, as, uh, higher educators, but for me personally, I, I recognize the importance of being able to have, uh, an adaptable skillset that's gonna enable you to, to, uh, maintain a, a career, uh, throughout all the unforeseen changes that are gonna come through your, uh, professional lifespan.

Grant Freking: (03:22)
Alright. And I think your response leads into my next question, Steven. So you're also the academic director for Lindner's undergraduate operations management program. What's the essence of that program and what careers are you striving to prepare students for?

Steven Jones: (03:35)
Yeah, that's a good question. Um, fundamentally what I'm trying to do is help the, you know, help the students develop the skills necessary to maintain a career over 30 or even 40 years without knowing what that's going to bring. Uh, and so as the academic director, my focus is identifying ways we can make our major of operations management more valuable. In, in that, uh, we are helping the students become more valuable in the marketplace. So when they graduate, they're able to consistently earn higher starting salaries, uh, be more desirable by candidates, uh, and, uh, give them the, the mentality and the understanding of how you create value. Because one thing that will not change in our economic, uh, landscape or any business landscape is the necessity of being able to create value. And if you know how to do that, regardless of what, uh, changes may come, you're going to, uh, continue to be able to, to maintain a position, uh, uh, and, and, and frankly maintain, uh, a value position in the marketplace.

Grant Freking: (04:40)
Ryan, operations management is not one of your, one, not two, but three majors. Can you provide some examples of in-class and sort of out of classroom experiences that have positively impacted your academic journey?

Ryan Baillie: (04:52)
Yeah, absolutely. I mean, he is sitting right next to me, professor Jones, in his Lean Kaizen class, OM 5086. We had an in-class project where we got to identify a process at a company that would say, you know, needing improvement. And through my class time, I got to work on that project, analyze that process, and actually make recommendations for them to improve that. For me, that was a really great experience in the classroom because I got to take what I was learning in class and apply it to the real world. At the same time, I also think our faculty and operations are phenomenal. You know, we're learning what they've done in the real world. We have Professor Jones right here, a lot of, uh, experience outside of the classroom with his own professional career. And we're seeing how those concepts in the classroom actually come to life.

Ryan Baillie: (05:37)
And for me, that really helps with the learning journey and making that connection to the real world. And outside of the classroom, it has to be my student clubs. Of course, we have Project Management Club, but I'm also involved with the Association for Supply Chain Management. Through those orgs, I've had the opportunity to meet so many incredible students who are in my major, um, you know, build those close relationships, but also network with professionals getting those skills, how to have professional conversations and really learn from them. One of my favorite questions to ask is, you know, what's, what's something you learned later in your career that you wish you knew on day one? Mm-hmm. And for me, I love asking that question, you know, because you get that advice. If they learned it 20 years down the line, they wish they knew at day one, they're more than happy to share that knowledge with students. So out outside of the classroom, it's getting involved with those student orgs, learning from professionals who are doing the work every single day.

Grant Freking: (06:24)
Right. Lindner is hosting the Project Management Institute's 2025 Summit for the organization's Southwest Ohio and Dayton Miami Valley chapters. The Summit features two keynote addresses, breakout sessions with three tracks, networking opportunities, and a welcome address from Lindner Dean Marianne Lewis, purchase your ticket by visiting pmi sw ohio.org. Ryan, what are you most looking forward to about the event and why should students attend? For

Ryan Baillie: (06:50)
For me, I'm looking forward to the opportunity at getting in front of project management professionals. You know, as the president of the student org, we're constantly looking for the next set of speakers or what skills that we can, uh, provide to our students through different events. We love doing those hands-on events. Is there a workshop a professional wants to run or we can give those students those real skills outside of the classroom? And for students, it's absolutely, it's the networking, learning what professionals are doing. One of the key highlights of this year's summit is AI. We hear all about AI all the time. This is an opportunity to learn from those professionals how they're actually utilizing these tools.

Grant Freking: (07:25)
All right. And Steven, what are you most looking forward to and why should project management professionals attend?

Steven Jones: (07:30)
Yeah, I, well, I'm probably looking most forward to one. I reconnect with some, uh, professionals, folks that I've worked with for years, some folks I trained in, uh, other companies that I was a part of. Uh, I also look forward to the opportunity for my students to meet some of these professionals, to help them build out their professional network, um, and for, you know, the professionals to be able to identify their next wave of talent. You know, as Ryan mentioned, you know, as he is the president of our project management, uh, student led project management club, they're constantly looking for the next wave of leaders, so are business professionals. And I think this is a great opportunity for those, uh, two worlds to connect. I'm also really excited to see and learn from other professionals who are really, um, you know, on the bleeding edge of how AI is changing project management to understand what they're doing. And, and these are things that I need to learn in order to incorporate in my classes, so that what we're teaching our students is always currently valuable and applicable to give them a strategic advantage when they, uh, begin to launch their career and go out into the marketplace and look for their first job.

Grant Freking: (08:37)
And Steven, you're also, um, overseeing a session which is entitled, Leveraging Generative AI for Enhanced Project Efficiency. Tell us more about that.

Steven Jones: (08:45)
Yeah, so I'm also not just a professor, I'm also a student. Mm-hmm . I've currently enrolled in our AI certificate program, which eventually will be a master's in AI. Uh, and what I've learned in these classes is how to build, uh, artificial intelligent agents. Uh, basically an AI agent can do anything, uh, task wise, um, software wise that a person could do. And so what I'll be demonstrating is how I built an AI agent that actually will conduct and do all of my project reporting, and it does it just as efficiently, uh, at, at the same, uh, or better level of accuracy without any human involvement. Uh, and for a project manager, you spend approximately about a third of your time doing project reporting and communicating. And so to be able to automate that level of work, uh, gives you a competitive advantage because now you're able to be that much more efficient and do that much more work.

Grant Freking: (09:41)
Alright. And Ryan, as we mentioned, you're the president of the uc Project Management Club. How is your organization getting involved with this?

Ryan Baillie: (09:47)
Yeah, so we'll be providing volunteers for the summit. We have a lot of professionals coming in who it's their first time at Lindner, so we'll help them navigate the building. We're also gonna have a booth set up, so any listeners out there, if you wanna learn more about the uc project management club, feel free to stop by. We'll be set up in the atrium. And my favorite part about getting involved, we are doing a lot of marketing for the, uh, PMI Southwest Ohio chapter. So on Instagram, we're making reels, uh, other promotional materials, just helping them get more of those marketing materials out to students.

Grant Freking: (10:18)
Right. And as a general overview, and maybe it's advice from our student listeners, Ryan, what's one piece of advice you would give to learn students interested in project management that are maybe not sure where to start?

Ryan Baillie: (10:29)
Yeah. I, I'd say getting involved early. Mm. Uh, if there's one thing, I look back on my academic career, it's felt like I got involved a little too late. I wish my first or second year I would've made the jump join the clubs. You know, I've met so many incredible people through that. But I'd say for project management specifically, check us out on Instagram at uc_pmc we post all of our events there. And then if you have the opportunity, I highly recommend any, uh, professor Jones's project management courses. It's a phenomenal educator, and I've learned so much from those, those classroom experiences with him.

Grant Freking: (11:02)
Steven, you, you're also involved, um, with our student organizations. I was wondering if you could touch on the importance of getting involved, um, from day one, as Ryan said, just said he wished he kind of would have.

Steven Jones: (11:13)
Yeah, I, I can't echo that point enough. You know, I was an undergraduate student here at uc. I graduated in 1991, and, uh, during my time here, I was a part of a lot of different student organizations. And I also interned, uh, throughout my last two years. And one of the things I wrote in a, in a paper, my undergraduate, was that, you know, a degree, uh, I'm sorry, an education is not a degree, you know, my education is beyond just the bachelor's degree that I earned, but it also is what I learned about interpersonal skills, communication skills, conflict management that I had to develop through my undergrad organization as well as my professional skills that I learned in my internship. So I would encourage any and every student to approach their college experience, not only in the classroom. I mean, that is important, but also to ensure that they have the opportunity to develop their interpersonal skills and leadership skills as well as their professional skills through co-oping in order to be the most well-rounded candidate possible, and really position themselves to be successful long-term in their professional career.

Grant Freking: (12:23)
Cool. Alright. And Steven, what's a common mistake young professionals make in project management and how can they avoid it?

Steven Jones: (12:30)
I would say there's fundamentally, the, the biggest common mistake is just the fear of making a mistake. Mm-hmm . Um, I, you know, I try to adopt a, a philosophy that, you know, you can make a mistake, just don't repeat a mistake because you learn from the mistake. And so either we, we can't lose. We either win or we learn. Uh, and I think that's one, and the second one, I guess to almost go along with that is not adding to their network or, or not really connecting with professionals and assuming that more seasoned professionals don't want to be, uh, have a business relationship with you. When I, I believe it's quite the opposite. And so I think that, you know, that's, that's kind of two, but they go hand in hand. And, uh, I would encourage any young professional, simply don't be a don't be afraid to make a mistake. You know, just learn from them and, and move forward. Because nothing great happens when people, uh, don't step outside of the, the norm of their comfort zone.

Grant Freking: (13:24)
All right, gentlemen, let's close with three rapid fire questions. Ryan, I'll start with you. Number one, what's your favorite project management tool or software?

Ryan Baillie: (13:33)
I love the Vertex 42 Gantt chart templates through Excel.

Grant Freking: (13:36)
Steven?

Steven Jones: (13:37)
That's funny. Actually. Mine is, it's not so much a tool, it's the, um, the ability to ask the right question, right? In order to really be effective in, in, in managing a project, you've gotta ask the questions that sometimes other people won't ask. And while there are many tools out there that you can use, and honestly, right now chat, GPT is one of my favorites, but knowing the right question to ask, even with a AI tool, you still have to know the right question to ask.

Grant Freking: (14:05)
Sure. I'll jump back to you on question two. Steven, what's one word to describe project management at Lindner?

Steven Jones: (14:11)
I think it's an evolving practice. You know, I think the, the organization is still coming to understand just how ubiquitous the skills are, how applicable it is across any and all majors, not just within Lindner, but across the university as a whole. So I really see it as evolving.

Grant Freking: (14:28)
Okay. Ryan?

Ryan Baillie: (14:30)
So for me, interactive, looking at it from the student club perspective, where we have professionals come in, we have hands on workshops, and then the classroom getting to take those concepts and applying them to a real project.

Grant Freking: (14:41)
All right. We'll close with this one. Tough question, Ryan. Last one dream project that you'd love to manage?

Ryan Baillie: (14:49)
That's a tough one. I'd say anything at an airport. Okay. And I've been an aviation nerd most of my life. I think airports are super fascinating. Anything to do with how, you know, if you look at the cargo perspective, anything that has to do with cargo flow, incoming traffic, anything like that in an airport would be super fascinating.

Grant Freking: (15:08)
I like that. Steven?

Steven Jones: (15:10)
Well, Ryan will get a kick out of this one because he knows I'm a Peloton addict. . So pretty much anything Peloton related, if it was in the studio, uh, a new product, oh, that would be my dream. Managing product development for a new Peloton piece of equipment, that would be my dream project.

Grant Freking: (15:29)
Okay. I like those two great answers to close. Well, that's a wrap on today's episode of Bearcats Mean Business. My thanks to Steven Jones and Ryan Baillie for joining me today to talk all things project management and the Project Management Institute's 2025 summit to the organization Southwest Ohio and Dayton Miami Valley chapters. Be sure to subscribe, leave a review and share this episode with someone who's ready to take the leap at Lindner. Your feedback helps more Bearcats discover the show. Until next time, keep showing the world how Bearcats Mean business.

Mirsayah Wasnuk: (00:00)
Hey, Bearcats, it's Mirsayah Wasnuk, and I'm a student at Lindner College of Business and the president for Net Impact UC Consulting. I'm super excited to bring you Sustainability in Business, a Bearcats Mean Business Student Series. This will be a four episode series exploring key topics in sustainability and how you can apply them to your future career goals in business. Today. My guest is founding president of Net Impact UC, Ben Booker. Ben is here to discuss his journey into the sustainability industry and how his role within Net Impact uc and overall campus involvement has shaped his career post-graduation. Ben, thanks so much for being here,

Ben Booker: (00:37)
Marcia. Thanks for having me. Excited to be back on campus and then inside the Lindner College of Business where I called home.

Mirsayah Wasnuk: (00:43)
Yes, we are super pumped to have you here. So my first question, can you tell us about what you studied at uc and how it influenced your decision to pursue a career in sustainability?

Ben Booker: (00:53)
Yeah, totally. So I came to uc knowing exactly what I wanted to study. Um, within Lindner, I double majored in finance and real estate, and then at DAAP I pursued an urban agriculture certificate. Um, that was really inspired by a vision that I had for the built environment and what the future of sustainability looked like in the world around us. Um, I believed in the power, um, that urban agriculture could have on the communities that that participated in it, um, by really kind of changing the systems, um, our food systems really of sourcing locally, um, and producing sustainably using more energy efficient methods, both, uh, whether that's vertical farming as well as, um, you know, market gardening and, and high density environments.

Mirsayah Wasnuk: (01:41)
That's amazing. Um, what motivated you to co-found Net Impact, you see? And what were some of the initial challenges that you faced?

Ben Booker: (01:50)
So I was really inspired to be a part of the founding team of Net Impact here at uc, um, through my previous involvements, and then also the intersection of, um, my academic path. So I, um, got really involved in a variety of other student organizations, whether that was BearCast Media or UC Real Estate Association. And through those experiences, I mostly served as treasurer, but I had the opportunity to see the impact of student leadership, both on the students themselves and those student leaders, and how it really shaped them as, as, um, community members, but also the influence that they had on and off campus, um, using the student voice to, to enact change. And for, for Net Impact, I really was inspired to have an outlet that that brought together all of these principles that I truly believed in. Um, and that really was the power of business as a force for good. Um, and not only did we have this incredible mission that our other co-founders and members believed in, but it was an opportunity to work together with our friends to do cool projects and actually have this experiential learning and, and leadership training while going to school.

Mirsayah Wasnuk: (03:09)
How did Net Impact UC shape your understanding of sustainability and your own personal career aspirations?

Ben Booker: (03:17)
Wow. I mean, it, it shaped my entire understanding of sustainability. Um, so much of what I knew around sustainability was through self-education and kind of extracurricular opportunities prior to Net Impact. Um, within the Lindner College of Business, there weren't any direct opportunities to kind of dive into sustainability. There wasn't any curriculum, um, and there wasn't any co-curricular extracurricular opportunities. Um, so I was learning what sustainability really was on the go alongside my members, building that impact, where as we were building our programs across education, career development, consulting and innovation, we were bringing in speakers and, um, workshops and all other types of engagements that while here I was creating and, and developing these programs. It was at that same time I was taking in a lot of this new information, um, that was teaching me about sustainability. So it was really learning on the go, but it, it accelerated that learning experience by being on the front lines of figuring it out. Um, but doing that alongside some of the top in industry professionals in our region that were working across sustainability industries and sectors.

Mirsayah Wasnuk: (04:36)
That's awesome. So a lot of us have heard the word sustainability, but what is your personal definition of sustainability? What does it mean to you?

Ben Booker: (04:45)
I gotta think on that one. Um, sustainability does mean a lot of different things to different people. And for me, sustainability is, is a way of life. Um, it's less so about, um, one set of practices or one set of frameworks developed by the UN and it's more about our, our natural systems and, and humans being in alignment with those natural systems. We are just, you know, the species that happens to be conscious. Um, but so much of our, of our natural world and other species have developed these evolutionary, um, uh, solutions that exist for millions of years. And to me, that's sustainability and for applied to humans and, and the work that we get to do, it's how do we design our systems, our businesses, our organizations, our communities, around those realities where we can create these, these, these movements and, and energies that align with that and, and uplift and regenerate the natural ecosystem while also creating, um, immense wealth for, for humans and, and opportunity.

Mirsayah Wasnuk: (06:12)
So as you know, there are plenty of majors within Lindner College of Business studying all different things, and all of us have our own career aspirations. What advice would you give students that might not have direct careers in line with sustainability? How does developing green skills or learning about topics and sustainability, how will that help them pursue their careers?

Ben Booker: (06:35)
Absolutely. So, um, our resources are finite, uh, on this planet. And that kind of comes back to my, my definition of sustainability and what it means to me. Um, green skills are going to continue to be in demand because we're gonna continue to have to think about a a a there, there's a scarcity problem as far as the resources go. So how do we think more efficiently? How do we, how do we minimize waste? How do we maximize output holistically within those realities? And I think that's where green skill development is so critical. Um, and there's kind of two sides to it. It, it comes back to that, that thinking pattern and that that way of thinking sustainably, but then there's actually some of those technical skills that apply to the systems that we have now, whether that is carbon emission, um, or greenhouse gas accounting and, uh, emissions reporting or on the other side of things is that a lifecycle analysis and understanding, um, the product development journey and, and where sustainability comes into those decisions.

Ben Booker: (07:43)
So there's so many different applications to green skills, and I, I really think it's, it's, there's so many opportunities for students to provide value to their organizations, um, at any level in an organization through green skills. And it really, um, where we're going with this is, it's, it's a strategic positioning. It is, it is not just a small initiative of a green team. It's, you know, the future of our organization's, sustainability is going to be near the top, whether not it happens in this decade, we're we're going towards that. So I think that is the long term value proposition of developing green skills.

Mirsayah Wasnuk: (08:25)
So on a holistic level, geared specifically towards business students, what would be the three top green skills to develop for future business leaders?

Ben Booker: (08:35)
Yeah, for business students, when I think about the top three skills that'd be useful, um, they're probably gonna be Lean Six Sigma. Um, understanding the circular loop and circular economy and performing waste audits. Um, while those are the three technical skills that I think are really important, I do wanna highlight two other ones. One being stakeholder engagement. Uh, sustainability is a very collaborative effort and understanding how to navigate, um, each individual stakeholder and then the collective is really important. And then kind of at the top and pinnacle of that is the communication of all of those things. Um, and the ability to really tailor to those stakeholders what you're trying to communicate and, and why it's important to each of them.

Mirsayah Wasnuk: (09:22)
For those of you who don't know what the circular loop economy is, we currently live in a system when products do get developed, where we take the materials from the ground, we make the product with those materials, we use the product, and then we dispose of it. Looking at it through the circular loop economy theory is that we would do the same process. So we'd take the resources from the ground, make something out of the resources with the ground, use the resources, use the product, and then we would reuse it and it would be broken apart maybe, and sold to other businesses to then make other things. So instead of creating so much waste, we would reuse things. From your experience, what are some key opportunities for students to make an impact during their time at uc?

Ben Booker: (10:18)
Wow. I think there's so many opportunities for students to have an impact while at the university. Um, it ranges from mentorship and menteeship. I I think connecting with your professors is profoundly important as a student. Um, I, I was that kid that talked to my teachers. I, I raised my hands, I stayed after I asked questions, and I built those relationships and I, I maintained those today. Um, whether I see them around campus when I'm, I'm back for certain engagements or out in the community, these are really smart people that are putting out publications and have a lot of interesting information that help move projects forward. And I've really valued that. Um, I'd also say extracurricular involvement, student involvement in, in organizations is so profound. Um, for me now as, as an entrepreneur and CEO, um, being a student leader, that was my first time being a CEO.

Ben Booker: (11:19)
I thought of all of the clubs that I was a part of and that I led. Uh, that was, that was me being a CEO. Um, I made decisions like an executive would. I built my teams and my systems like an executive would. And through that experience, it's really a, a testing ground, um, for yourself as a leader, as a manager, as an operator. And that is invaluable because you can't mess up. You are literally paying to play those games. Um, and then the third aspect is kind of bringing all of the student experience together around your passions. Um, when you do that and you kind of create this vision for the change that you wanna make, whether that's on campus or off campus, the student voice is so important to our stakeholders here at the university. Um, you know, we pay the bills as students. Our tuition is what pays, uh, all of us to be here. And, and through that we have leverage in, in this institution to, to share our ideas, to have a voice. And I, I would advise any student, um, that, that wants to see something change, to go for it, ask questions, build genuine relationships that are, are not transactional, but transformational. And through that, um, you can really have a profound student experience.

Mirsayah Wasnuk: (12:45)
So Ben, could you tell us a little bit about what you're doing now and how your experience at uc led you there?

Ben Booker: (12:51)
Totally. So post-graduation, I had the opportunity to co-found the urban farming initiative, and I worked on that organization full-time for about 10 months, um, prior to exiting. And then kind of around that same time, I had the opportunity to rejoin the uc team as the small business coordinator at the 1819 Innovation Hub, as well as serve as the entrepreneur in residence here at the Lindner College of Business through the Center for Entrepreneurship. And in those roles, I'm building opportunities, programs and pathways for both students, alumni, and the greater Cincinnati ecosystem to really develop small businesses, um, whether that's just starting, but also scaling. Um, what that looks like right now is starting with students, um, building programs in food and beverage, e-commerce and product entrepreneurship. Um, kind of what that looks like and how students can get involved in those programs is if you wanna start a food or a beverage company, we have a partnership with Findlay Market and Findlay Kitchen through their Findlay Learn program, where students have access to some of the world class educational entrepreneurial opportunities to learn from their network of hundreds of years of institutional knowledge on running food businesses.

Ben Booker: (14:14)
And from an e-commerce standpoint, if you're a student that wants to start, whether that's digital marketing services, drop shipping, or something else online, we have a network of alumni and professionals that are looking to help those students get started. And then we have a world class design school where we are building out some of the most innovative, cool projects and products. And tapping into that and partnering across campus to create those pipelines of products is really, really exciting. And really, you know, my, my relationships here at uc is kind of what led me to this role. Um, so when I was on campus, I, I was a student worker for the Center for Entrepreneurship, and I did that for over two and a half years. And it kind of comes back to those transformational relationships and not transactional, um, really investing into a shared mission and building trust amongst, um, leaders, uh, in your institution and in your organization that allow you to go out and, and do innovative new things is really what led me to this role.

Ben Booker: (15:22)
Um, and outside of my time at, at uc and outside of my current role, um, I'm still an entrepreneur. Um, what that looks like is building, uh, my own ventures, um, but also being a consultant. So I have, um, a variety of, of consulting clients that I provide small business management services to strategic advice, um, and, and other services. And then I, um, I'm building a, a men's apparel studio and showroom down in Findlay Market, that's a brick and mortar storefront, and then also building my own, uh, real estate investment portfolio. So, um, I'm definitely staying business, staying busy, um, post graduation, but it's been a blast.

Mirsayah Wasnuk: (16:05)
Can you share a specific challenge or roadblock you encountered in your career journey and how you managed to overcome it?

Ben Booker: (16:13)
I would say being an entrepreneur is hard. Um, you have to wear a lot of hats and, um, you have to be accountable, and that accountability is lonely and there's no one else to tell you to do it. And one thing that I've, I've learned through that experience is, yeah, you gotta work hard. And, and accepting that from a, from an ego standpoint, knowing that we all have the same 24 hours, and it's, okay, what are you gonna do if you have a challenge? You can't run from it. You just have to get in front of it sooner rather than later. Um, but within that same vein, you have to give yourself grace. Um, you have to give your employees grace. You have to give your partners grace, um, because we're on this journey together and, um, it, it's, that journey continues and it never ends. Learning is one of the most permanent things in life, and if you forget to learn, then, um, you know, you're not having that much fun anymore. So those would be some of the, the, the biggest challenges that I've been facing. But, you know, really looking forward to, to overcoming and continuing to overcome.

Mirsayah Wasnuk: (17:29)
My thanks to Ben Booker for joining me today and sharing his journey into the intersection of sustainability and business. The next episode of Sustainability in Business, a Bearcat Mean Business Student series episode will be focused on sustainability at uc. Be sure to subscribe, leave a review and share this episode with someone who's ready to take the leap at Lindner. Your feedback helps more Bearcats discover the show. Until next time, keep showing the world how Bearcats mean business.

Grant Freking: (00:01)
Welcome back to Bearcats Mean Business. Today's guest is Matt Booher, vice President of Data Solutions at EW Scripps Company. Matt is one of two keynote speakers for the Center for Business Analytics upcoming Data Science Symposium, which is slated for Thursday, October 9th at Lindner Hall. The symposium's theme is AI and analytics in action. Matt's career path has taken him deep into the world of AI and analytics at Scripps, from navigating the fast changing media landscape to positioning his teams for the future, Matt has seen firsthand how data and technology are rewriting the rules of business. In today's episode, Matt and Center for Business Analytics executive director Georgette Angulo-Ramirez will explore Matt's journey into ai, his perspective on where data and analytics are taking the industry next, and preview his data science symposium keynote data goes live, how scripps is evolving, AI and analytics. Georgette and Matt will also dig into practical advice for students, including the skills to sharpen now the value of co-op experiences and how to turn opportunities into career momentum. Without further ado, here's Matt and Georgette.

Georgette Angulo-Ramirez: (01:05)
Thank you very much. Grant, can you tell us a little bit about your role at Scripps and how you got into AI and analytics?

Matt Booher: (01:13)
Okay. Yeah. So my role at Scripps is VP of Data Solutions, and what that really means is just managing the data for the company and then managing the people and the processes where people interact with that data. Uh, that includes data governance, that includes data engineering, that includes data analytics, that includes, um, program management for the data initiatives. And then that requires deep collaboration with our infrastructure team, our cybersecurity team, our research team, and then just business leaders in general. So a lot coming at me on a daily basis.

Georgette Angulo-Ramirez: (01:46)
Yes. So even, even more so grateful for you spending time with us. No problem. Um, as you were saying, you are basically in charge of every part of the business that needs to lead the journey of analytics and ai. And my question to you now is how has that journey evolved for Scripps and what have been some of the challenges that you faced?

Matt Booher: (02:09)
Yeah, so I've been with Scripps for 10 years. I began as director of digital analytics, which was really focused on the analytics needs of the business as it related to our digital products. So for us, digital products means mobile applications, connected TV applications, websites, and then relationships with our streaming distributors. So those partners that we work with, say Roku, Hulu, whomever, uh, managing the data that's being generated by our presence on those platforms, and then delivering that back to data leadership. Over time, that evolved into some first party data management work, uh, where we're working with our, um, sales organization to identify core audiences that are using our products and then work with them to develop targeted advertising strategies. And then subsequently, now just sort of in my evolution at the organization, I'm now responsible for not only that business facing aspect of the analytics operation, but also dealing with the backend management of all of that data.

Georgette Angulo-Ramirez: (03:11)
So you just walked us through the journey as it entails, the data ingestion and how that has been just accumulating in terms of the challenges, as you said, the the backend, uh, the structure, the administration of that. What would you say has been the hardest part about that process and the order in which you guys have taken on?

Matt Booher: (03:39)
Yeah, so I think most people might answer the volume of data. I think in our industry, that's not necessarily the case being a broadcaster, what we're dealing with is the fragmentation of the data. And so what I mean by that is all of the different sources that we need to acquire data from to be able to pull all that together to either give, um, you know, the research team, the ability to provide a unified view of our audiences across all those different platforms. Uh, it might be dealing with the fragmentation of what we refer to as currency providers. So the ratings data that's associated with what we're doing on our linear business where we're actually broadcasting over the air through our local markets. We have 63, um, stations in about 45 markets. Don't quote me on that because it's , it's always changing. Um, and then our national network, so ion, ion plus, court tv, all of the fragmentation of that data and all of the different places where that programming is available. So we're dealing with just a large number of data providers. The data sets themselves may not be large or they may not be complex, but the complexities and the scale at which we're trying to operate and acquire that data, then transform it into something useful for the business. So for us, it's not necessarily, Hey, we have 10 billion records. It's more we have 80 or 90 data sources that we're trying to bring into a unified view, into a master data model, so that we can then easily distribute that data to our business partners as needed.

Georgette Angulo-Ramirez: (05:20)
That sounds, uh, very tricky. And also it brings me back to times where I've had to work on different division data and having to make sense of how something as simple as how people decide to, uh, title their columns in a data set and how, you know, we, we've talked about this before, how somebody might spell out the company's name and somebody might use an abbreviation. And the amount of time that it takes for somebody to just go through that.

Matt Booher: (05:50)
We are in the middle of that right now. Uh, we deal that with programming data and we deal with that on advertising naming conventions. And I would would say that is one place where AI has presented an opportunity. Uh, we're doing string matching in a lot of instances. Uh, some, in some cases we're doing manual mapping of those names. And so we're looking at that as one of the, the key areas where we can apply some, some AI intelligence and some automation techniques to be able to clean up that data and get that into our master data model.

Georgette Angulo-Ramirez: (06:19)
So aside from the, this issue of fragmentation, which is not, like you said, it's, it's the biggest that you see for your industry, but it's actually common for almost every single industry because not only are they taking data from different places, they're taking new sets of data constantly. How else do you see AI and analytics shaping or impacting the media industry?

Matt Booher: (06:43)
I don't even know where to start . Um, you know, I think that's a big challenge within our organization today. I think for us, it started with ethics. So being a broadcast company, being a journalism company, I think the first thing that we needed to do was understand what are the guardrails going to be? What, what are we going to maintain, um, how are we going to maintain our journalistic integrity on that side of the business from sort of the news gathering and journalism operation? And then how do we instruct or guide the employees of the organization to take advantage of the opportunity that AI presents maybe in their individual role or across their team, and help them understand what responsibilities they have, uh, to the company and to the company's data before they just start going out and spinning up, you know, firing up a chat GPT or firing up a clo and, you know, loading up , loading up a spreadsheet with our information in it, and then just sort of, you know, trying to get insight.

Matt Booher: (07:41)
It's all well intended. It's not being done in a malicious way, but having people understand what those governance principles are. So you have the journalism ethics piece, and then you sort of have the data governance piece that you really have to be thinking about. Um, and the way that we solved that at Scripps is we developed a, a tool called Engine Room. And so our AI group led by Christina Hartman and Carrie Oslan, they really sort of began this push to say, Hey, we want you to use this. We are encouraging you to use this. We don't know what the opportunities are, but those of you that are working with the data on a day-to-day basis, you could probably be very instructive in what, what we could do. So the first thing we did was just, uh, spin up an environment that was firewalled within our environment, leveraging the API capabilities of those AI modeling companies and say, play, just see what you can do, see what you can figure out. Uh, and you know, that's been, that's been very useful, that's been very useful. And it's allowed us to identify a number of different use cases, one that we can identify, um, low effort, high productivity opportunities with ai. And then the second thing is using all of that different activity to inform what might be able to be done at scale that we're not currently able to do today.

Georgette Angulo-Ramirez: (08:56)
Really appreciate you bringing up the points of ethics, because I have a daughter in college right now and she's taking an ethics class, and the first thing she said is, I did not know this was going to be so hard. Um, so, which I think it's, it's so true. Uh, so much reading and so much thinking deep. Would you say, uh, for students who are preparing to enter fields where, and I don't know any field that will not be impacted by ai, what would you be their recom your recommendation for how they prepare themselves to enter the workforce?

Matt Booher: (09:30)
Uh, I would start with the ethics piece. I would, I would understand that if you're entering into the workforce, there are certain responsibilities and obligations you have to the, to your employer, particularly if they're a publicly traded company that you need to be aware of and be thinking about when you do your job on a daily basis. You know, there's the, there's the foundational piece, which are the skills, and that's, that's why you go to school. That's why you get the education so that you have that foundation. I think a lot of students make the mistake of coming into the workplace with those skills and not recognize that that's just the beginning. That that's the foundation.

Georgette Angulo-Ramirez: (10:06)
Table stakes.

Matt Booher: (10:07)
It's, it's gonna get you through the door mm-hmm . But then how you conduct yourself when you're in the building is really going to be the differentiator for you in terms of whether or not you're going to be able to grow your career or move your career in a certain direction. Uh, the skills themselves just facilitate that, and it's how you apply them, and it's how you conduct yourself in the workplace. It's going to make a significant difference in, in where your career ends up going.

Georgette Angulo-Ramirez: (10:30)
That is so true. We, we even, um, had a conversation just recently with one of our members of the CBA and uh, asking them, what do they, what are you looking for in students that are going to be, uh, in a co-op or interim, uh, program? And they said, in addition to the basics, uh, which are being able to do the job, um, I want students with, uh, strong emotional intelligence. And so there goes something that, again, we, we don't, perhaps don't give enough credit, but it does make a difference in the workplace. Experiential learning and co-op is a big piece of how Lindner prepares students for their, their lifelong journey. How, how would you recommend students turn those experiences into learning for their professional careers?

Matt Booher: (11:16)
I know that when I was in college, the number one assignment that I hated the most was a group project . I hated them. There's so much chaos, there's so much confusion. Where are you gonna meet? When are you gonna meet? What are we agreeing on to deliver for our final project? All those types of things are exactly what the business and workplace is all about.

Georgette Angulo-Ramirez: (11:40)
Yeah. What part of your day isn't a group project?

Matt Booher: (11:43)
Correct. Right. And so that, that's the biggest challenge with young people coming into the workplace, is explaining to them and helping, helping them understand that that is the work, your expertise. I'm already assuming that to be true. Your expertise, what you know, what you know technically, uh, what you might know statistically, what you might know, um, from a, from a industry standpoint or what, what, what works and what doesn't work. I'm already assuming that to be true. And then it's really about how are you collaborating with your peers. I always tell, I always tell folks, if you don't comment your code or you don't leave something behind for someone to be able to follow up on and finish it's science fair project, it doesn't create value for the company. You did it. That's great. I'm not gonna give you a grade. What I wanna know is, can we pick up where you left off and move it forward?

Matt Booher: (12:36)
Or if I have to shift work in the department, can someone else pick up where you left off? Did you leave enough behind for them to understand how they can move this forward? So those types of things, that's, I think that's where I see students struggle the most when they enter the workplace, is understanding those dynamics and how to navigate those appropriately and not just say like, Hey, look what I did. Isn't this fantastic? Yes. Now if I handed it off to, uh, someone else on the team, or I handed it off to a business partner, do they know what's going on? So that, that I think is, is absolutely essential that students need to take away from this conversation, is that those skills and that technological expertise and that talent that they do have is just the beginning. Is just the beginning.

Georgette Angulo-Ramirez: (13:24)
That's a great perspective and something that I'm going to share. I'm gonna share this podcast episode with my kids because they need to hear it not just from me , but also from somebody that's been

Matt Booher: (13:34)
Somebody that's hiring

Georgette Angulo-Ramirez: (13:35)
That has been really successful in this field and hiring. Yes. Um, let's move on to the big event that we are all working to put together on October 9th, which is our data science symposium. You have been kind enough to agree to be one of our keynote speakers. We're super excited. You're gonna bring some real talk, is how I, I like to describe it to people based on our interactions. Um, what, how could you, how would you describe what they can expect from your keynote?

Matt Booher: (14:05)
So I think the keynote is gonna focus on a couple of things. I think the first thing it's gonna focus on is the evolution of the data space kind of began as a centralized BI operation. And then we got into data science and we developed all these capabilities where you could have full stack developers. Then it became an operational thing where you wanted to scale those activities of those data science through like machine learning ops and, and things like that. And now we're faced with this AI challenge, and if you skipped any of those steps along the way, you're gonna have a hard time with ai. You just need to know that you're continually building your foundation and while the thing that comes out the other side might be sexy and really appealing and gets get, gets the business folks excited or the leadership excited, uh, it's going to be really flimsy if you're not laying down that foundation.

Matt Booher: (14:53)
And then thinking really, really hard about what the employees are doing and what they need to do their jobs. Uh, look, there's a lot of talk out there about how a AI is gonna take jobs that like, it's going to gut entry level positions. I don't necessarily, my personal perspective is I don't necessarily see that happening because everything that we do in our organization has a human in the loop. Uh, that might mean your job changes, that might mean your job evolves. Uh, and that that's what the keynote's gonna talk about is like what are those practical things you need to think about? Look, there's the theory, there's the technology, there's all the cool things we can do, but really at the end of the day, it's how do you make that work, and in an organization.

Georgette Angulo-Ramirez: (15:32)
I think everyone will really be, um, he ready to hear that. And especially from folks in the field, folks who are not only experiencing being part of the journey, but leading it. Mm-hmm . So really appreciate you saying that. And, uh, just to, to wrap up, if people can take one thing away from this episode, what would that be?

Matt Booher: (15:54)
Well, I think I touched on it. I think, um, the foundations are just the beginning. Mm-hmm . Everything you learn. Look, you can be a great coder, you can be a great technician. You can understand infrastructure, you can optimize your infrastructure. You can do all these really cool things with the technologies that are available to us today. Uh, but you have to consider the people part of what you're doing. And then you have to consider the fact that you're doing that in an organization that is looking to you to create value for that organization. And so those two other things that I'm talking about from the people collaboration standpoint and the value creation standpoint are, are basically the three legs of the stool to borrow, you know, a worn out business analogy. Mm-hmm . Right? You got the technical piece, you have the people piece, uh, but then you have to be thinking about what value you're creating.

Georgette Angulo-Ramirez: (16:43)
Absolutely. And, uh, value is influence. And I think that's what most people are looking to achieve in their lifetime, is to be able to influence those who work around them. Mm-hmm .

Grant Freking: (16:53)
That's a wrap on today's episode of Bearcats Mean Business. Thank you to Georgette for hosting and to Matt Booher for coming on to share his expertise. A friendly reminder to register for the upcoming Data Science Symposium on October 9th at the Carl H. Lindner College of Business. Visit business.uc.edu/data-science to register. That's business.uc.edu/data-science to register. Be sure to subscribe. Leave a review and share this episode with someone who's ready to take the leap at Lindner. Your feedback helps more Bearcats discover the show. Until next time, keep showing the world how Bearcats mean business.