Aiden Silverstein, Nikhil Gandhi, founders of Cracked Up, Soran Mechale, of goTeff and John D. (J.D.) Thomerson, of Pet Health Innovations pose with novelty checks at the Truist Pitch Deck.

Sports snack fueled by ancient grain wins Collegiate Great Brands grand prize 

Teff — an ancient grain that forms the foundation of Ethiopian cuisine — has fueled human achievement for at least 4,000 years. Now, University of Michigan MBA student Saron Mechale wants to turn it into a go-to fuel for sports performance. Her sports snack creation, goTeff, took home the $15,000 top prize at the University of Georgia Collegiate Great Brands Competition.

Elena headshot

UGA’s newest Regents’ Professors to deliver 2026 Charter Lecture

Elena Karahanna and J. Marshall Shepherd, two recently named Regents’ Professors at the University of Georgia, will share insights from their groundbreaking research at the 2026 Charter Lecture on March 25. The lecture begins at 11 a.m. in the Chapel and is open to the public.

Stephanie Stuckey: A Coming Back Story

Since the day she used her own money to buy Stuckey’s from investors in 2019, Stephanie Stuckey has worked ceaselessly to revive it

Allison O’Kelly: A Workplace Pioneer

When Allison O’Kelly BBA ’94 had her first child, she was working at Toys “R” Us and struggling to balance the demands of motherhood and working full time. Aiming to reduce her stress while remaining professionally competitive, she started an accounting firm, offering part-time and freelance work to local clients.

ILA students Emily Moseley and Hazel McQueen conduct a professional skills workshop at ESP.

ILA offers Joyristas key lessons in professional confidence

Whether your interviewing for a role at investment bank or a coffee shop, it’s important to know your strengths and how to talk about them with an employer. That’s the lesson ILA students recently shared with clients at Extra Special People during a student-led professional skills workshop.

Landmark chairman and CEO launches Real Estate Fund for UGA students

The Terry College will launch a new student-managed real estate investment fund in fall 2026, offering undergraduate students in the nation’s No. 2 publicly ranked Real Estate Program an opportunity to gain hands-on experience managing real capital.

Katherine Ireland guides two students through an analytics project.

Terry College’s analytics lab director helps students build analytics literacy

A former English major who transitioned into the world of linguistics and data science, Ireland joined the Terry College of Business in 2025 as the assistant director of the M. Douglas and V. Kay Ivester Institute for Business Analytics and Insights. Now, as the college’s director for the Terry Analytics Lab, she is proving that analytics tools are for people who work with words and numbers alike.

Trucking Profitability Strategies

Trucking Profitability Strategies conference to deliver effective knowledge for industry challenges

The Trucking Profitability Strategies (TPS) conference, hosted annually by UGA’s Executive Education and the Terry College of Business, has delivered three decades’ worth of trucking knowledge for companies big and small. TPS attendance is limited to asset-based carriers and executive-level decision-makers, creating an environment where leaders speak openly about their challenges and share strategies to survive and grow.

SMIF competition continues to attract record interest

The University of Georgia Stock Pitch Competition, organized by the Student Managed Investment Fund (SMIF) and the Terry College Department of Finance, continues to grow its reputation as an essential bridge between top-tier students and their future employers. This year’s contest took in applications from a record 131 stock pitch teams and organizers invited 20 teams from 18 schools to compete in Athens.

Skylar Ventura, center, poses with a prize check and runners up Dylan DiSimone and Panavi Gogieneni.

Peer-to-peer clothing swap platform takes home top prize at Idea Accelerator

Rotation, a fashion rental startup envisioned by accounting and finance student Skyler Ventura, aims to monetize that practice and exponentially expand the number of closets available.
The concept took home the $2,500 first prize at UGA Entrepreneurship’s first Spring 2026 Idea Accelerator Demo Day pitch contest.

Two lines ILA students sitting on CocaCola Plaza, facing each other and doing a leadership exercise.

Leadership Matters

Values based. Impact driven. Leadership focused. These are the core tenets of UGA’s Institute of Leadership Advancement. Georgia Magazine takes a look at how ILA is helping UGA turn out effective and enlightened leaders.

Natalia Gonzalez teachers a workshop of AI film making at Studio 225

AI filmmaking takes center stage in creative economy course

As artificial intelligence redefines the global art market, students in Terry’s Business in the Creative Economy class are getting a front-row seat to the revolution. In a recent deep dive into AI filmmaking, students engaged with industry leaders to explore how generative tools are shifting the business of art.

KBH Industrial repeats as No. 1 on Bulldog 100

For the second straight year, KBH Industrial, a company providing construction and procurement services to the power, industrial and oil/gas markets, topped the Bulldog 100 ranking of the fastest-growing businesses owned or operated by University of Georgia alumni.

Randy Groomes

Randy Groomes connects business and public service

From an early age, Randy Groomes found a connection between education and community. Now, as director of professional and community engagement at UGA’s Terry College of Business, he’s teaching students how to blend business and public service.