Future Business Leaders of America Earn Top Awards

 
For a second consecutive year, students in the Future Business Leaders of America Collegiate program earned top awards, and qualified at state and national levels to represent the University of Scranton. 

Twelve students competed at the 2022 Pennsylvania State Leadership Conference, hosted virtually in April. Eleven qualified for the 2022 National Leadership Conference, and four attended June 24-27 in Chicago, Illinois. 
 
“Though only a few years old, the Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) program at the University of Scranton is growing in membership and becoming quite successful on both the state and national levels. FBLA provides students with many opportunities that will help them transition into successful professionals,” said Dr. David Mahalak, Faculty Specialist, Operations & Analytics, who received the Advisor of the Year Award for Pennsylvania.

This is the third year of the Future Business Leaders of America college chapter at Scranton 
 
On the state level, 11 national qualifiers earned five 1st place, five 2nd place and two 3rd place awards as individuals, teams and chapters. 
 
Matthew Kronenberg,’22, Succasunna, New York, took 1st place for Financial Services, Kayla Abcede, '23, Garwood, New Jersey, took1st place for Insurance Concepts, and Peter Amicucci, ’22, Poughquag, New York, won in Retail Management. At the 2022 Pennsylvania State Leadership Conference, the Scranton chapter earned top ranking for Local Chapter Annual Business Report and Community Service Project. 
 
“Last semester, we had several students qualify for the National Competition in Chicago. I was overwhelmed when the Kania School of Management Dean's Office said that they would cover the expenses to attend. The students and I were extremely thankful for the support,” Mahalak said. 
 
At the 2022 Pennsylvania State Leadership Conference, Qualifiers Thomas Yager, ’23, Randolph, New Jersey, and Justin Galli, 23, Wayne, New Jersey, came in 2nd place for Accounting Analysis and Decision Making. 
 
Galli serves as Vice President, and Yager serves as Parliamentarian/Historian/Reporter for 2022-2023 Officer Term.  
 
Lamar Bishop, ‘25, McDonough, Georgia, won 2nd place in Information Management. Bishop is Secretary for 2022-2023 Officer Term. 
 
Hirali Patel, ’23, East Stroudsburg, earned 2nd place in Networking Concepts. 
 
As a team, Kevin Scanlon, ’22, Verona, New Jersey and Joseph DeFeo, ’23, Berkeley Heights, New Jersey, earned 2nd place in Social Media Marketing. DeFeo is President for the 2022-2023 Officer Term. 
 
Amicucci and Abcede earned 2nd place in Strategic Analysis & Decision Making. 
 
William Fauerbach, ‘23, Verona, New Jersey, and Jeffrey Kobasa, ‘25, Lansdale, Pennsylvania, earned 3rd place in Networking Concepts and Sports Management and Marketing, respectively. 

“Dr. Nabil Tamimi and the University have enabled us to create some amazing opportunities and experiences. I look forward to building upon the foundation that we created last year.” Program Moderator Dr. David Mahalak, Faculty Specialist, Operations & Analytics.

The national Future Business Leaders of America conference is for collegiate business students from across the United States, in addition to a few other countries, who have successfully competed at the state level and qualified for the highest level of competition. 

At the 2022 Pennsylvania State Leadership Conference, Abcede and Amicucci competed as a team, earning 5th place for Strategic Analysis & Decision Making. Amicucci also earned 10th place for Retail Management. The Chapter came in 10th place for Local Chapter Annual Business Report. 

“As Moderator, I fully encourage our students to participate in programs like FBLA because it provides unparalleled opportunities to network with professionals in various fields, network with peers who have similar interests, participate in presentations, panels, workshops, competition, and much more.” 
 
Mahalak noted that this summer members built a new website for the program. View the complete slate of officers and competition results by year HERE.