Students Selected for John D. Beeghly Fellows Program

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – Rebecca Catlos, Steven Boschert and Zachary Clark, students from the Youngstown State University Williamson College of Business Administration, were selected as the John D. Beeghly Fellows for the 2024 spring semester.

Boschert, a finance major graduating this fall, is from Cincinnati, Ohio. He wants to establish a career in finance and hopes to work as a luminary in the aerospace and defense industry.

Catlos is a double major in marketing and supply chain management with a minor in entrepreneurship, who will graduate this spring. From New Middletown, Ohio, Catlos will work for JLC Services as its marketing director as well as attend Officer Training School for the Air National Guard.

Clark is a senior and will graduate in May 2024 with a bachelor’s degree in general studies with a focus in management and marketing, an associate’s degree in business administration and a minor in sales. A Youngstown native, Clark will pursue a career in procurement.

The John D. Beeghly Fellows program provides students with a paid fellowship working with the Ohio Small Business Development Center, Export Assistance Network and the APEX Accelerator at YSU. 

Projects include domestic and international market research, financial modeling, export readiness studies, business viability analysis, cash flow projections, sales forecasting, marketing and social media strategies, research on government contracting opportunities, marketing capability statements and outreach for government contracting efforts. Students gain career-related work experience to competitively position themselves in the job market upon graduation.

The Ohio Small Business Development Center at YSU received a best practice for its service delivery model that integrates the Beeghly Fellows into SBDC services. The ASBDC Accreditation team visiting Ohio stated that the model should be an example to other university-based SBDCs for integrating educational, community and economic development services.

The John D. Beeghly Fellows Program is made possible by an endowment established at the YSU Foundation by John D. Beeghly’s wife and children.

Beeghly was a lifelong resident and businessman in Youngstown, and son of area industrialist and philanthropist Leon A. Beeghly. From 1967 until his death, Beeghly served as vice president and director of Standard Slag Co. and Stancorp Inc., a holding company for industrial businesses.

“The generous gift made by the John D. Beeghly Family is an important investment in our business students,” said WCBA Dean Kelly L. Wilkinson. “The gift provides our students with career-related experiences in regional businesses, so it is a collaborative ‘win-win’ for both the WCBA students and the Mahoning Valley.”

Published by The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.