University at Buffalo School of Management

Autumn 2019 Buffalo Business 11 BETTERWITHBUSINESS Lindsay Macaluso's to-do list is full. As a commercial mortgage analyst at Largo Capital, she works on everything from small local hotels to a $150 mil- lion condo conversion in Vancouver involving complex, cross- border financing. Right now, her portfolio includes projects in California, New York, Detroit, downtown Chicago and several beachfront cities in Florida. On top of that, she's also helping the firm open three new offices, simultaneously managing the nuances of individual deals and working with the C-Suite to ad- vance the company's growth strategy. "Real estate can be a vehicle to do great things, shaping how we engage with the world and one another," says Macaluso, who was the first graduate of the School of Management's col- laborative MBA and MS in Real Estate Development program. "My mission is to create opportunity and drive economic devel- opment through real estate. Ultimately, I would love the free- dom to own my own property, so I can pursue other creative projects." One such project is MemoryFox, the startup she devel- oped as a student with Chris Miano, MBA '17. After taking advantage of UB's entrepreneurial ecosystem—including Black- stone LaunchPad and the Panasci Technology Entrepreneurship Competition—they launched the platform to collect and share family history and were recognized at the 2016 Forbes Under 30 Summit. Since then, MemoryFox has pivoted to become a marketing platform that helps nonprofits tell their stories, and Macaluso stays involved in business development. "At its core, this was a passion project, something I saw a need for even in my own family as stories were lost over time," she says. "MemoryFox keeps that spirit of storytelling alive and gives us the opportunity to engage with some really cool orga- nizations." Whether she's closing multimillion-dollar deals or pitching investors, Macaluso says she constantly combines the skills she gained at UB. "Understanding capital markets from both the MBA and real estate sides was critical," she says. "Above all, my dual de- grees grant agility: I can deploy the technical skills and indus- try expertise gleaned from the real estate program alongside the strategic orientation and global mindset I cultivated in the MBA program." The Upstart Developer LINDSAY MACALUSO, MSRED/MBA '18 STAND APART— AND ABOVE Driven by industry demand, the School of Management has increased its array of dual, collaborative and com- bined MBA programs to 19. Combined Graduate and MBA Programs • Accelerated MBA for Medical Residents/Fellows • MD/MBA • PharmD/MBA • DDS/MBA • Doctor of Audiology/MBA • JD/MBA • Master of Public Health/MBA • Master of Social Work/MBA • Master of Education/MBA • Master of Architecture/MBA • MS Real Estate Development/MBA Combined Undergraduate and MBA Programs • BS Business Administration/MBA • BS Biomedical Engineering/MBA • BS Chemical Engineering/MBA • BS Civil Engineering/MBA • BS Computer Science/MBA • BS Electrical Engineering/MBA • BS Industrial Engineering/MBA • BS Mechanical Engineering/MBA Photo: Nancy J. Parisi

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