Coffee Topic of Business & Economic Student Conference

“The World of Coffee: From Production to Consumption” was the topic of a student conference hosted Feb. 5 for both of Thayer’s business and economics classes. 

Christopher Mejía Argueta, founder and director of the MIT Emerging Market Economies Logistics Lab (EMel), served as keynote speaker for the conference, which was under the supervision of Upper School Business Faculty Jamie Johnston and Upper School History Faculty Andrew Forte, who also teaches economics. Mejía discussed supply and pricing, as well as demand and branding, in the coffee industry. 

The conference also held breakout sessions, one of which was led by Thayer Chief Financial & Operations Officer Stephen Sanford, who explored the challenges and rewards of working at a start-up; Sanford drew from his experience in a leadership position at Keurig. 

Another breakout session was led by Tamar Kotelchuck, vice president in the Regional & Community Outreach Department of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. A leader in that organization’s Working Places Initiatives, Kotelchuck used her time at Thayer to explore the ways in which the Fed worked with local officials in Holyoke to improve economic outcomes for small businesses. 

Johnston and Forte thanked the Thayer community for working to make the inaugural event such a success. 

“The students asked really thoughtful questions of our expert speakers and seemed to get quite some inspiration from the event,” said Forte.