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Owl Have You Know

Owl Have You Know

Written by: Rice Business
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 Owl Have You Know is Rice Business’ podcast created to share the experiences of alumni, faculty, students and other members of our business community – real stories of belonging, failing, rebounding and, ultimately, succeeding. During meaningful conversations, we dive deep into how each guest has built success through troubles and triumphs before, during and after they set foot in McNair Hall. The Owl Have You Know Podcast is a production of the business school at Rice University (Rice Business) and is produced by University FM.© 2025 Rice Business Economics Social Sciences
Episodes
  • Pressure Makes Diamonds feat. Rzan Yunus ’17

    Pressure Makes Diamonds feat. Rzan Yunus ’17
    Jan 7 2026

    As a first-generation American from Saudi Arabia, Rzan Yunus ’17 learned from an early age what ambition and perseverance can lead to.


    She credits her immigrant father’s determination to build a successful career and life for his family in the U.S. as inspiration for her own strong work ethic and drive. It was that drive that led her first to a career in insurance at American International Group (AIG), and eventually all the way to Rice Business. Since pivoting from insurance into consulting, Rzan has put her Rice MBA to use as a senior director at Alvarez & Marsal, where she’s helping companies solve tough problems.


    Rzan chats with co-host Brian Jackson ’21 about how her father’s pursuit of the American dream inspired her, the critical skills she picked up at AIG, why she was drawn to the Professional MBA program and how her experience at Rice has left a mark on her forever.


    Episode Guide:

    00:00 Introduction to Rzan Yunus

    01:00 Early Life and Family Influence

    05:39 Career Beginnings at AIG

    09:40 Pursuing an MBA at Rice

    18:28 Transition to Consulting

    23:07 Current Role and Consulting Insights

    35:40 Balancing Career and Personal Life

    39:46 Conclusion and Final Thoughts


    The Owl Have You Know Podcast is a production of Rice Business and is produced by University FM.



    Episode Quotes:


    Finding community, support, and belonging at Rice

    [12:32] When you learn entrepreneurship, you learn to hustle. You learn to think like an owner, or take accountability to be resourceful, to drive results. I really appreciated Rice's pathways with other organizations and other companies, particularly consulting. I knew I wanted to explore that eventually and knew that they recruit based on certain programs. And then my favorite thing about Rice, and when I went and visited, is the team and peer atmosphere. You know, you spend so much time at work, but you also spend so much time in this program. And the people that I met and the camaraderie and the collaboration and the fact that you rarely ever achieve anything alone in life. I really wanted to be surrounded with people that were smart and hardworking and capable and collaborative and supportive. Very similar to the support system that I think everybody needs in life to be successful.


    Why the MBA program was an important investment in Rzan’s future.

    [16:17] My two years in the program, and I think I said this earlier, it really changed my life. I am becoming and am the person now that I never thought I could have been 10 years ago, 15 years ago. I mean, the program is hard. It's a top MBA program for a reason. Balancing school and your personal life is difficult. Working full-time while earning an MBA is not a casual commitment, but it's the most important step that you can take to invest in yourself. Surround yourself with people that reflect the ambition and the dedication that is contagious.

    Why she chose to pivot to consulting

    [19:11] I chose consulting because I loved the variety of work that they got to do, you know, in every year, and this was something that really attracted me to it when I was meeting with people from Alvarez & Marsal. You know, you work in different industries and different projects. One year you might be doing a transformation for a media company. The next, working on a financial services operational improvement. The following year on a manufacturing cost reduction. And I think that continuous learning really appealed to me.



    Show Links:

    • Transcript

    Guest Profile:

    • Rzan Yunus | LinkedIn
    • Rzan Yunus | Rice Business
    Show More Show Less
    40 mins
  • Building a Career One Flight at a Time feat. Liam Morris ’23

    Building a Career One Flight at a Time feat. Liam Morris ’23
    Dec 10 2025

    Liam Morris ’23 manages one of the most complex corners of United Airlines — airport operations quality control across more than 80 stations spanning Latin America, Central America and the Southwest U.S. In this conversation, he shares how early travel experiences opened the door to a career in aviation, the path that led him from loading bags in El Paso to overseeing global safety audits, and what it takes to lead with precision, clarity and calm under pressure.


    Liam also reflects on United’s customer-centric transformation, the moments that shaped his commitment to the industry, and how the Rice Online MBA gave him the flexibility and confidence to grow as a leader while navigating an ever-moving, always-on operational world.


    Episode Guide:

    00:00 Introduction to Aviation and Role at United Airlines

    00:29 Ensuring Safety and Compliance in Airport Operations

    02:56 Passion for Aviation and Early Influences

    06:08 Managing Multiple Stations and Time Zones

    08:00 Why United Airlines Stands Out

    12:16 Best Flight Experience and Customer Insights

    13:54 Decision to Pursue an MBA at Rice

    19:58 Mutual Learning and Decision Making

    22:27 Leadership Growth and Student Association

    26:47 Career Journey and Future Goals

    30:02 Travel Tips and Flying Etiquette

    37:19 Conclusion and Farewell


    The Owl Have You Know Podcast is a production of Rice Business and is produced by University FM.



    Episode Quotes

    From cleaning planes to leading global operations

    25:34: I never, ever envisioned that I would be where I’m at now, and I can honestly say from when I was a business partner with United — cleaning aircraft and loading bags for another company, right — but working the United product, I never had a plan to get to where I was. My internship with United came up out of nowhere, and I moved to Jersey. Then, midsummer, I got a full-time offer to stay, and I transferred schools. You know, at the very last minute, I went up to Rutgers from UT El Paso. And then, you know, an opportunity came to transfer to Dallas, and there I ended up. You know, our CEO lives there. Ended up meeting him and a lot of executives all the time, and my name got out there really great. And then I came down to Houston to go to Rice as an assistant manager here in the airport. Then I finished my B.A. and went into the current role that I’m at, which is safety and regulatory. I can honestly say I never really had a plan to get where I was, but I’m thankful that I was always willing to walk through the door, because every single opportunity that I’ve had — both promotion and a lateral — was a great move, and it was such an instrumental, pivotal move.


    On being part of something bigger than yourself

    04:06: I wanted the ability to be in an industry where I am a part of something bigger, right? And being a part of an airline is really cool because even though, you know, my work now may not directly affect a flight leaving on time out of here, it does affect the customer experience some way. So I just wanted to be a part of a really, really big machine that gets people where they need to go.



    Show Links:

    • Transcript

    Guest Profile:

    • Liam Morris | LinkedIn
    Show More Show Less
    34 mins
  • Bringing AI to All feat. Allison Knight ’10

    Bringing AI to All feat. Allison Knight ’10
    Nov 26 2025

    As the youngest founder in her Rice MBA cohort, Allison Knight ’10 knows a thing or two about blazing a trail.


    At just 24 years old, she co-founded Rebellion Photonics, which used cutting-edge technology to identify and quantify gas leaks on oil rigs, preventing catastrophic explosions. Knight went on to sell Rebellion Photonics to Honeywell in 2019, and is now codifying blue collar genius through Alaris AI.


    In this episode, Knight joins host Brian Jackson ’21 to discuss how Rebellion Photonics used early AI technology to improve hyperspectral imaging and revolutionize gas leak detection. She also opens up about her experience as a young woman founder in a predominantly male industry, her role as an adjunct professor at Rice Business and why she believes blue collar work is the next frontier for AI exploration.

    Episode Guide:

    00:00 Introduction to Allison Knight

    01:09 Founding Rebellion Photonics

    02:25 Challenges and Innovations in Gas Leak Detection

    03:48 The Role of AI in Rebellion Photonics

    04:26 Reflections on Being a Young Founder

    12:44 Lessons From Startup Life

    16:25 Introducing Alaris AI: AI for Blue Collar Workers

    23:35 Teaching AI at Rice Business

    27:52 The Future of AI in the Workforce

    32:44 Final Thoughts and Reflections


    The Owl Have You Know Podcast is a production of Rice Business and is produced by University FM.



    Episode Quotes:


    On being a young entrepreneur

    12:17: I was 24. I was the youngest student in the Rice MBA program, and I had gotten a prestigious, semi-prestigious investment banking job that I had accepted. And then I did the thing you’re not supposed to do under any circumstances, which is renege on a job. They do not like that. But I am a physicist more than I am an MBA. Science and tech still make me the happiest. So, I ended up, even at Rice, just hanging out with Rice techies, like other applied physicists. Yeah. And it was just too tempting. I knew I should do the investment banking job, but I just could not do it. I had to go for this crazy methane emissions monitoring company. And I loved it.


    Allison’s first AI moment

    08:31: I think everyone will experience this, and I just happen to experience this 15, 16 years ago. It is your, like, AI moment—that first time where you run some code with AI. We had been trying to do real-time video detecting and imaging gas leaks in real time and kind of making do with it, and they were ugly. But then we brought in AI and started doing very, very, very, very basic machine learning, and it was just like magic, Brian. It was magic.


    On AI’s next frontier

    17:20: Pretty much across the board, AI really sucks for blue-collar work. With white-collar work, we can just boop, boop, boop—take the generic ChatGPT, and it works beautifully. And that’s because we, white-collar workers, have been typing for a long time. We’ve got all their documents in different folders, new ones, and so it’s all been trained on that for the most part. So it’s really trained on white-collar documentation and meant for it. Blue-collar documentation—basically, manuals and SOPs—has inherently always been stinky. But more importantly, none of the documentation has been done on what’s in their head, what’s in the foreman’s head, the supervisor’s head, or the individual’s head. And so, when you don’t have that data documented, structured, codified, the AI will be useless.

    Show Links:

    • Alaris AI
    • Transcript

    Guest Profile:

    • Allison Knight | Rice Business
    • LinkedIn Profile
    Show More Show Less
    31 mins
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