Students from West Virginia University’s MBA and Executive MBA classes learned about the energy market from the experts recently at a seminar sponsored by Allegheny Energy.
This was WVU’s first time at the seminar, which was held at Allegheny’s corporate headquarters in Greensburg, Pa. Seventeen WVU students joined others from Duquesne University, University of Pittsburgh, Carnegie Mellon University, Robert Morris University and Pennsylvania State University.
“This is the third year we’ve held the seminar, and each year student participation has increased. We had a total of 33 students attend this year,” said Mary Lou Sekeras of Allegheny Energy. “Our presenters were impressed with the excellent questions asked by the students during each presentation.”
Allegheny’s senior management team, including Paul J. Evanson, chairman, president and CEO, spoke to the students. The students explored valuation techniques, pricing strategies, commodity and credit market risks and fuel procurement. They also took a tour of the energy trading floor at Allegheny’s headquarters.
“This was an excellent opportunity for our graduate students to learn more about a large, successful corporation in the area,” said Gary Insch, director of Graduate Programs. “The experience also provided exposure to various career paths within the increasingly important energy industry.”
Patrick Geiger, who recently graduated from the EMBA program, said the event was “outstanding.”
“It was one of the best seminars I have ever attended, and any MBA student seeking a dynamic career would be well served to attend,” he said.
Dale W. Keplinger II, an EMBA student who also works for Allegheny Energy as a manager at the Sistersville Service Center, said the event was a “very good experience.”
“There were many things that I learned about my own company even after more than 17 years service. For example, the corporate risk and corporate development presenters spent a bit of time explaining how they build forecast models and analyze historical information with statistics?. All of this was very familiar to me and has been covered in my study in the EMBA program at WVU,” he said,. “So I am certain West Virginia University is definitely on the right track in preparing the leaders of tomorrow.”

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CONTACT: Gary Insch
Interim director of graduate programs,
(304) 293-7937