85 THE SCHOOL OF BUSINESS Kristen Currens Sharona Shnayder KRISTEN CURRENS, Master of Business Administration, is a mother, wife, and wetland scientist who, two years ago, saw a gap in the business acumen in the local consulting community. She used The Portland MBA program to help fill this gap and with the goal of balancing the natural and built environments using business as the catalyst. She’s now starting an environmental group at a local civil engineering firm, MacKay Sposito. Kristen grew up in southern Illinois and attended Truman State University in northeast Missouri, where she received a Bachelor of Science in Biology. She moved west in 2001 for fascinating internships with the National Park Service and has called Portland her home since 2006. She has been supported through her career and the MBA program by her husband, Chris, and children, Linnea and Spencer. SHARONA SHNAYDER, Bachelor of Science in Accounting, chose her concentration in order to pursue a position as an auditor so she can recommend ways for businesses to improve their sustainability practices and consider the moral/ethical implications of their actions within society and on the planet. Sharona’s family comes from a diverse background both experientially and culturally. She is half Nigerian and half Israeli, and spent most of her childhood growing up in Africa before moving to Oregon at the age of eight. During her time at PSU, Sharona has received many scholarships, including the Prof. Raymond and Marilyn L. Johnson Scholarship and the Thrasher Family Scholarship. After graduation, she will prepare to sit for the CPA exam while learning Hebrew, and packing up to move to Israel in the spring of 2021 where she will pursue an internship offer with PW&C in Tel Aviv. Sharona would like to thank her faculty, friends and mentors for their support. STUDENT SPEAKERS
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