To help close out 2024 on a high note, several Koppelman School of Business students joined faculty for a pair of high-level business functions. On Dec. 31, Koppelman’s Interim Dean James Lynch and Assistant Professor Ngoc Cindy Pham, along with students and the founders of the KSB Business and Investment Club, Damir Shavkatov and Allen Mardakhayev, were invited by Ryan Ban Tran, CEO of Trans International Group, Inc., and Amber Creighton, Cathay Securities, Inc., to participate in the NASDAQ closing bell ceremony with Pheton Holdings Ltd. in Times Square. (Left to right) Thomas Poudyal, Product Manager; Valeria Arrieta, Analyst for Freddie Mac; Allen Mardakhayev, Brooklyn College Business Management/Marketing student; Ryan Ban Tran, CEO of Trans International Group; Jianfei Zhang, CEO of Phethon Holdings Ltd.; Professor Ngoc Cindy Pham, Department of Management, Marketing, and Entrepreneurship; Depinder Grewal, Managing Partner, Tiger Alternative Investments; Damir Shavkatov, Brooklyn College Psychology/Marketing student; Interim Dean James Lynch of Koppelman School of Business. During the event, Lynch engaged with leaders from the financial industry in New York City and global markets, fostering collaborations to strengthen ties between the Koppelman School and key members of the finance community. He also extended invitations to industry professionals to visit the Brooklyn College campus in 2025 for seminars, networking events, and collaborative projects aimed at bridging academia to the financial sector. Prior to that, on Dec. 9, Tran invited Pham—a CUNY Career Success Fellow and the Tow Senior Faculty Mentor at the college—and the KSB Business and Investment Club members to a private board meeting with officials from Vietnam’s Ministry of Industry and Trade to discuss sustainable energy and water development. The events helped pave the way for future student participation in high-level case studies through Pham’s strategy of applied learning and the KSB Business and Investment Club.
