UT Dallas, Jindal School Featured Prominently on List of Young Innovators

by Jimmie Markham - October 25th, 2019 - Academics, Corporate, Students

NTX Inno, a digital media platform devoted to innovation and entrepreneurship, has released a list of the best and brightest of the North Texas region’s young leaders and entrepreneurs that includes three honorees with ties to the Naveen Jindal School of Management. Owned by American City Business Journals, a publisher that includes the Dallas Business Journal, NTX Inno named 14 people to the 2019 NTX Inno Under 25 list. Of them, nine are students, alumni or attendees of The University of Texas at Dallas. Jindal School marketing juniors Karianna Barreto and Lindsay Caudill, and finance graduate student Ngan Ngyuen, BS’17, MS’19, were chosen based on nominations and Inno’s editorial-selection process. Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science alums James Griffin, BS’18; Brian Hoang, BS’19; computer science seniors Michael Lewellen and Pablo Peillard; and attendee Luke Escudé also made the list. The School of Natural Sciences and Mathematics was represented by honoree Mohammad Badar. Karianna Barreto was recognized for her involvement in JSOM’s Professional Sales Concentration. As president of the Center for Professional Sales’ student board of directors, she oversees board operations. She advanced to the semifinals of the 2019 National Collegiate Sales Competition and finished in the top 10. She took first-place honors in several Center for Professional Sales competitions, including the Pro Sales Challenge, Quota Attainment and Speed Sell. She is currently the center’s student intern account manager. “JSOM has taught me how to take control of my passions, and the faculty constantly push me to take advantage of new opportunities,” she said. “The school has countless resources and programs that allow me to talk directly with faculty who encourage me to pursue my ideas and think outside the box.” Caudill is an intern at professional esports franchise Team Envy, promotional model at modeling agency Select Promotions and analyst for the Overwatch esports team at UT Dallas. She credits UTD’s collegiate sports program and JSOM for helping her achieve her goals. “JSOM is my steering wheel,” she said. “As a marketing student who works three jobs, I believe I earned my place on the list due to resilience. It’s a breakthrough for females in the esports industry.” Nguyen made the list for her work as founder and creative director of Code Blue Jewelry, a company that she said improves the lives of people with chronic health conditions by creating custom medical IDs that are both beautiful and affordable. “My personal experience as a patient has motivated me to tirelessly raise awareness for medical IDs,” she said. “Code Blue turns sickness into a strength by creating products that transform the patient experience.” Nguyen also recently earned a $15,000 scholarship from the Texas Business Hall of Fame Foundation. Although a computer engineering graduate, Hoang was heavily involved with the Jindal School’s Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship as a student. He had a string of competition wins and awards from the Jindal School, including the grand prize at the 2018 UT Dallas Big Idea Competition. His winning streak continues. He most recently took home a first-place, $4,000 prize from the Global Student Entrepreneur Awards (GSEA) Dallas competition. BS FinanceBS MarketingInnovation & EntrepreneurshipMS FinanceMS Innovation and Entrepreneurship