UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The Penn State Smeal College of Business has released the first episode of Season 2 of the “Better Business” podcast. 

Hosted by award-winning financial journalist and Smeal alum Farnoosh Torabi, “Better Business” will feature Smeal alumni and faculty members as well as other high-achieving thought leaders in the world of finance, accounting, supply chain, marketing, management, real estate and international business. The second season is expected to feature nine episodes. 

The first episode, titled “Purposeful Brands,” features Tom Buday, former head of marketing and consumer communication for Nestle and a member of Smeal’s Board of Visitors. 

Buday is a passionate proponent of the concept of purposeful brands. He walks listeners through the concept and then provides concrete examples in the business world as a reinforcement of its value to businesses and their brands. 

Upcoming episodes will include: 

• “Uncovering Racial Disparities in Mortgage Markets” with Brent Ambrose, the Jason and Julie Borrelli Faculty Chair in Real Estate and director of the Penn State Smeal Borrelli Institute for Real Estate Studies. 

• “The Journey to Becoming CEO” with Vilmos Misangyi, professor of strategic management and chair of the Department of Management and Organization, and Smeal alumnus John Geller, CEO and president of Marriott Vacations Worldwide. 

• “Commercial Real Estate Loans and the Economy” with Jiro Yoshida, the Jeffery L. and Cindy M. King Faculty Fellow in Business and professor of Business in Smeal’s Department of Risk Management, and Smeal alumna Claudia Steeb, vice chair and managing director with JLL Capital. 

• “The Economics of Social Media” with Wael Jabr, assistant professor of supply chain and information systems. 

• “The Road to Entrepreneurship for Underrepresented Groups,” a discussion that extends over two episodes. The guests include Jeanette Miller, assistant clinical professor entrepreneurship and associate director of Smeal’s Farrell Center for Corporate Innovation and Entrepreneurship; Smeal alumnus Ryan K. Brown, DEI program manager at Johnson and Johnson and COO of We Are Wonderfully Made LLC; and Smeal alumna Dana Wilson, CEO and founder of CHIP and speaker at Dana Disrupts LLC. 

• “Artificial Intelligence and What it Means for Business” with Akhil Kumar, professor of supply chain and information systems, and Joe Atkinson, U.S. chief products and technology officer at PwC. 

• “Driving the Future: The Promises and Challenges of Smart Transportation,” with Sergey Naumov, assistant professor of supply chain management, and Suvrat Dhanorkar, the Michael H. and Laura L. Rothkopf Early Career Professor, associate professor of supply chain management and director of Smeal’s Center for the Business of Sustainability. 

Listeners can subscribe to or download and share episodes of “Better Business” from most podcast streaming services and at smeal.psu.edu/podcast.