noteworthy
For Boston Globe Media executive Anthony Hightower, the proof was in the pudding—or, more accurately, a PowerPoint presentation developed by Sawyer Business School students Charlotte Guziejka, Alfonso Kurtis de Alzaga, Madison Hamilton, and Gefen Shapiro.
Hightower, BS ’04, MBA ’22, was particularly surprised by one slide, which showed all 26 different accounts the Globe maintains on Instagram and TikTok (plus at least nine on X). “The presentation held up a mirror,” he said. “You don’t realize how spread thin you are until someone tells you. Those 26 accounts just keep ringing in my head.”
Social media strategy was one of four challenges that Boston Globe Media asked the Business School’s Gen Z students to explore. The goal of the semester-long project? Find ways to increase the appeal of the Globe and its publications to Gen Z, only 12% of whom have actually paid for news in the past year, according to the Pew Research Center. Similar numbers freely admit they get their information (for free) from nonlegacy sources like TikTok and YouTube.
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spring 2026
Anthony Hightower, BS ’04, MBA ’22, The Boston Globe’s director of culture strategy and marketing as well as a double Ram, talks strategy with students in Suffolk’s Business Foundations course.
Photographs: Michael J. Clarke
The presentations were the final assignment of the Business Foundations course, which all Business School undergraduates are required to take. More than 480 students worked on one of the four challenges, which also included determining how best to reach Gen Z in the digital age; developing a comprehensive marketing strategy for Boston Magazine; and deciding how to navigate strategic partnerships.
At the end of the semester, 117 teams presented their findings to 20 different judges, many of them C-suite executives. The final four teams—one for each challenge—then presented to Hightower, who’s director of culture strategy and marketing (as well a double Ram), and fellow Globe executive Michelle Micone, chief marketing and strategic initiatives officer.
The students on the social media team began simply by looking at their own social media feeds and then doing a systematic audit of the the Globe’s social presence. “We pretty much saw the problem immediately and started brainstorming solutions,” said Shapiro, Class of 2027.
With the help of Professor Sarah Mellen, they used artificial intelligence as a “thought partner” for their case analysis, crafting prompts for AI and then submitting the full chat to Mellen, who advised them on how to create more robust prompts. They used their research to develop an in-depth, comprehensive presentation that earned them top honors in the case competition.
The students credited Mellen with helping them refine not only their presentation content but also their delivery. “She gave us a whole lesson just on presenting skills and how to seem more confident,” said Guziejka, Class of 2028. Knowing how to present your slides effectively, Mellen stressed, greatly increases their impact.
Several of the group’s solutions included having the Globe collaborate with popular Boston-based social media influencers like @everydaymaggie and @bucketlistboston to increase follower engagement, as well as diverse influencers like @citylifekev and the Boston-based Colombian influencer @ana.velez89. “This captivated Hightower and Micone, the fact that we accounted for all Bostonians,” said Kurtis de Alzaga, who pointed out that Spanish is the most common language in Boston’s immigrant communities.
Followers could take part in influencer challenges, like who can order Dunkin’ Donuts coffee with the best Boston accent—which could easily translate into Globe articles on the history of Beantown’s distinctive twang. The team suggested going “Behind the Byline” with Globe reporters doing live feeds on TikTok to appeal to the 64% of TikTok users who like live content. And they recommended posting more Gen Z–relevant content across many fewer social media channels.
Both Hightower and Micone came away impressed by the teams’ presentations. “The social media team’s problem-solution connection was really strong,” said Micone.
They also surprised all the Business Foundations students with a special invitation to join the Globe’s new Gen Z Advisory Board to help analyze content, complete surveys, and continue the Globe’s quest to connect with their generation. “Gen Z is the one voice we haven’t had access to,” said Hightower.
“The panel will be an amazing opportunity to be a part of,” said Guziejka. “And having the winning pitch was a feel-good moment for me personally. We literally just made an impact on this huge company.” —Ben Hall
Spanning the Globe