Thiel Happenings

Accomplished business alumna serving first term as Thiel College trustee

Margaret (Boose) Norris ’78 was recently appointed to serve a three-year term as a member of the Thiel College Board of Trustees.

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Thiel College a sponsor of business education organization’s entrepreneurship week program

Thiel College is a supporting organization for the Americans for the Competitive Enterprise System, which sponsors the Pennsylvania Business Week programs that promote an understanding of entrepreneurship and free-market economics primarily among high school students.

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Phi Theta Phi raises more than $30,000 during Walk-a-thon

The tally is not complete yet with some checks expected to be arriving by mail this week, but Phi Theta Phi alumnus John Hauser ’71, H’20 reported Sunday evening that the organization had collected $30,436 in cash.

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Hauser said in his email, “The Brothers did a phenomenal job under the leadership of Jamir Mitchell ’22 and his assistant chair (who will be chair next year) Jeremy Meyer ’23.”

Student News

Strategic management class presents to alumnus funeral director

Professor Angelo Giannini’s fall 2021 strategic management class developed a strategic business plan for Black and Rose Funeral Home and Crematory. Owner and funeral director Casey Rose ’14, G’21 is a Thiel College alumnus and a graduate of Thiel’s first M.B.A. class.

This is the 15th year that Professor Giannini’s strategic management class has made a strategic business plan for a Greenville-area business. The purpose of the class is to give the students the practical application of strategic planning which is a skill needed in today’s business world, along with classroom instruction of the concepts. 

After meeting with Casey, the plan evolved into a four-part approach covering accounting/finance, human resources, marketing and funeral services. The overall goal was to have his business as the pre-eminent funeral provider for western Pennsylvania from Meadville to Cranberry. 

The class was divided into these four teams with an overall project manager, who is responsible for the completion of the project. The project manager was Evan Gerber ’23, who maintained team meeting schedules, ensured completion of team milestones, and led the weekly class operating meeting. 

The team leader for the accounting/finance team was Travis Harvey ’23 with Grace Csiky ’23, Destiny Merriwether ’23 and Jeremy Meyer ’23. The team developed a financial business plan for the long-term expansion of the business. The plan included expense budget, sales forecast, income projection, ratio calculations and the breakeven analysis. 

The human resource team was led by Maddison Neely ’22 along with Selom Kalin-samlin ’23, Jesse Richards ’22 and Jacob Zylka ’22. The team made an employee handbook, wrote job descriptions for current and projected jobs, developed a hiring plan in a three- to five-year timeline, and specified an organizational chart. 

The marketing team was led by Austin Dillon ’23 with Daniel Myers ’22, Andre Williams ’22, Brycen Dorfmeister ’23 and Abigail Cico ’22. The team wrote out a marketing plan for the Mercer crematorium and analyzed the current marketing plan with updates using Facebook and Geofence. The team reviewed a traditional approach using print advertising, TV and radio ads, and pamphlets for the 45 and over demographic. 

The funeral services team leader was Devin Weisbarth ’22 with John Allsop ’23, Dylan Proper ’22, and Hollie Barna ’22. Their directive was to complete the Mercer property by 2022, with considerations being an affordable provider to customers based on a package of options. Develop and complete another affordable provider in the Franklin area in a three- to five-year timeline. Look at the completion of a second crematorium to be placed at his Sandy Lake operations in the short term, along with opening up affordable models in Meadville, New Castle and Cranberry. 

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