Shailey Doherty Represents Manning School at IMA Student Leadership Experience
Image by Courtesy
03/06/2019
By Ed Brennen
Manning School of Business senior Shailey Doherty got a unique inside look at how a global board of directors operates when she was chosen to participate in the recent Institute of Management Accountants (IMA) Student Leadership Experience in Orlando, Fla.
Doherty is an Honors College student from Pelham, N.H., majoring in business administration with concentrations in finance and management and a minor in economics. She was one of five students chosen for the annual three-day program, which is open to undergraduates from more than 70 IMA-endorsed colleges and universities around the world. UMass Lowell became the first public institution in New England to receive IMA endorsement last year.
“It was a great experience,” says Doherty, who was the first Manning School student to participate in the program, which is designed to expose top finance and accounting students to governance and leadership skills. Fellow student attendees hailed from Switzerland, Vietnam, Indonesia and Washington state.
“It allowed me to network with successful individuals and learn more about the accounting and finance professions,” she says. “I also learned more about the CMA certification and how valuable this may be to me in my future.”
IMA is a global association of more than 100,000 accountants and financial professionals. It has over 300 professional and student chapters in more than 140 countries around the world.
“I never knew what a board did until 15 years into my career. For her to get that perspective now, as she’s preparing to launch her career, is tremendous.” -Dean Sandra Richtermeyer
In addition to sitting in on the IMA Global Board Meeting, Doherty took part in several committee meetings. With the Committee on Ethics, she and her fellow students helped select the winner of an ethics case writing competition open to accounting and finance academics and practitioners. The students also participated in a panel discussion on how the IMA can benefit students and better promote management accounting on campuses.
“I was so excited to be accepted,” says Doherty, who learned about the opportunity from Laura Christianson, an assistant teaching professor of accounting.
Doherty says the experience has inspired her to help revive the IMA student chapter on campus – a project that will also serve as her Honors thesis.
“Shailey did an outstanding job representing the Manning School. It made me really proud to have her there,” says Manning School Dean Sandra Richtermeyer, former Global Chair of the IMA.
“I never knew what a board did until 15 years into my career,” Richtermeyer adds. “For her to get that perspective now, as she’s preparing to launch her career, is tremendous. I hope that it inspires her to get involved with professional organizations.”