Rice Business Board Fellow Edward Coles
Rice Business Board Fellow Ky Cooksey
Musiqa has recently welcomed Edward Coles and Ky Cooksey, both class of 2018 Rice MBA candidates, to the board of directors as Rice Business board fellows. The Rice Business board fellows will be mentored by board president, Barbara Ostdiek, Senior Associate Dean of Degree Programs and Associate Professor of Finance and Statistics at Rice Jones School of Business.
Founded by Rice MBA students and staff in 2008, Rice Business Board Fellows is a year-long experiential learning program that that matches talented, energetic, and committed Rice MBA students as fellows on local nonprofit boards to serve as non-voting board members. The fellows support nonprofits as socially responsible leaders who apply their professional experiences and backgrounds to solve strategic, organizational and operational issues that contribute to the goals of the board and the partner organization.
“Musiqa is fortunate to be accepted into the Rice Business Board Fellows program,” said Musiqa executive director, Brian Hodge. “We are continually looking to broaden and deepen the professional skill set of our board. The program really did a great job in matching their backgrounds to our needs. I look forward to working with Ky and Edward.”
Edward Coles, a full-time MBA program candidate, has professional experience in the performing arts and finance. After graduating from Southwestern University with a Bachelors in Theatre, Coles worked as business and general manager assistant at the McCarter Theatre in Princeton, New Jersey and the Rhodopi International Theatre Laboratory in Austin and Budapest, Hungary. Coles earned a Masters in Accountancy at UT San Antonio, after which he worked in auditing roles at Deloitte before joining the 2018 class of Rice Jones School of Business. On what he can offer Musiqa Coles said, “Technical accounting help can be at a premium in smaller non-profit organizations. I hope to combine those skills with great enthusiasm and belief that non-profits are a vital part of our economy, community, and world.”
Ky Cooksey, a professional MBA program candidate, is a 2006 graduate of UT Austin with a major in Finance. Since graduation Cooksey has worked on the financial gas desk at Calpine Corporation, where he now serves as director of natural gas trading. In his many roles, Cooksey has performed risk assessment and technical analysis as well as developed hedging strategies and managed trading portfolios. “As a long-time resident here, I have grown to cherish quality of life that Houston offers,” stated Cooksey. “I know that in order to preserve Houston’s rich culture, it takes effort from every resident to steward and cultivate growth amongst local non-profit organizations.”