On Monday, March 4, 2024, business experts from Arkansas Blue Cross Blue Shield visited the College of Business for a “Take Over” Day! They spoke to students in every area of business to share their expertise and career opportunities available to students. In fact, Arkansas BCBS was recently named for the third consecutive year by Forbes magazine among America’s Best Employers for mid-sized organizations, which makes COB eve more thrilled to welcome this company to “Take Over” our college.

Several BCBS experts shared with our students about a wide range of business fields including accounting, marketing, human resources, finance, information systems, and more.

• Mr. David Martin, VP of Infrastructure & Operations, spoke to Introduction to a Computer Architecture and Programming class.
• Ms. Emily Shadell, Staff Accountant, spoke to three classes: Accounting Information Systems, Cost Accounting, and Auditing.
• Mr. Jason Carter, Manager of Talent Acquisition, spoke to Strategic Human Resource Management and to a large class of freshmen in “Introduction to Business.”
• Talent Acquisition Partner Ms. Maria Silva brought donuts and cookies to engage students passing through the COB Lobby and tell them about BCBS careers.
• Teaming up to speak to an Advertising class: Mr. Trey Hankins, Director Customer & Digital Experience & Design, and Mr. Ben McVay, Manager Group Marketing/Member Engagement & Digital Strategy.
• Mr. Henry (Buddy) Vogler, Director Treasury and Financial Operations, shared his experience with two Personal Finance classes.
• Social Media Strategist Colton Faull joined behind the scenes and shared his experience with students.

At our drop-in lunch from 11am-1pm, students engaged with COB faculty and BCBS professionals, while some faculty spoke with fellow specialists about current events in their fields of expertise.

Arkansas Blue Cross Blue Shield partners with our college year-round by sponsoring our Imagine Lab. This is a special room designed for classes and collaboration. The room has tools to help students innovate and think creatively.

Thank you, Arkansas Blue Cross Blue Shield! We want to thank the BCBS team who took time from their offices to spend a day with us here in the College of Business. They shared valuable experience that gave our students the opportunity to build networking and leadership skills as well as practical experience. Thank you for partnering with us for BCBS “Take Over” Day.

Emily Shadell, Jason Carter, David Martin, Trey Hankins, Ben McVay, Maria Silva, Colton Faull; not pictured: Henry (Buddy) Vogler