Cupid’s arrow struck while passing notes during club meetings

Briana (Davis) Warner (BS Accountancy ’95) and Danny Warner (BS Marketing ’96) first met through ASU’s American Marketing Association (AMA) chapter.

Sometimes, students leave the W. P. Carey School of Business with more than a top-rated education — they find a life partner, too. We call them W. P. Carey Cupids — couples who met at W. P. Carey and are now making lives together.

Briana (Davis) Warner (BS Accountancy ’95) and Danny Warner (BS Marketing ’96) first met through ASU’s American Marketing Association (AMA) chapter, where Briana served as vice president of finance, and Danny was vice president of social. The couple reflects on building a life together, cheering on ASU sports, and the university's role in their relationship.

“ASU has played a critical role in our life, and we’re thankful for it,” says Danny. “Without ASU, I never would have found the love of my life and the success I achieved in my career.”

Question: Tell us more about your W. P. Carey experience and how you met while pursuing different majors.

Answer: In the era before texting, Danny asked Briana to get coffee and pastries with him by passing notes during AMA meetings. Briana recalls sitting across from him in a large circle during a meeting where everyone passed Danny’s notes back and forth to her. It was both ridiculous and incredibly charming!

We both studied abroad: Briana in Granada, Spain, for a semester during her sophomore year, and Danny toured several large European company headquarters during a six-week W. P. Carey summer program before his senior year. We recommend students take some kind of educational trip abroad through the university. Often, it doesn’t cost much more than a typical semester, and many scholarships are available to offset the costs. It was an experience of a lifetime, and one students will never forget — we promise!

Also, the ASU Career Services doesn’t get the recognition it deserves. We both used the center for internship and career counseling and were rewarded with satisfying internships that turned into our first jobs out of college, followed by prosperous careers. We remember it being an easy, welcoming process in which so many local and global companies of all sizes and industries participated.

Q: Where are you two today?

A: We live in Orange County, California, and love traveling and learning new things about what the world has to offer. We enjoy water skiing in Havasu, snow skiing in Utah, and a myriad of other outdoor activities. We have two daughters, aged 21 and 19. Our eldest has a disorder called Rett Syndrome and is graduating from our local special education school in May. Our youngest is a sophomore at the University of Utah business school. We’ve been avid Sun Devil fans for over 25 years, but it’s amazing how quickly that changes when your child (and money) go elsewhere. Go ASUtes!

Q: How have you stayed connected to ASU and W. P. Carey?

A: Danny was president of the Orange County ASU Alumni Association for several years, so we were actively engaged in game-watching parties, Newport Beach boat parades, and incoming student meet-and-greets. We try to attend at least one ASU football game each year, which may be more difficult now that we’re part of the Big 12. We typically attend the Territorial Cup when it’s a home game and visit our many family and friends living there. We have a memorial brick by Old Main that we visit whenever we’re on campus, and we can’t forget to stop for a meal at The Chuckbox.

Q: What’s your advice for couples meeting at W. P. Carey and dating during college?

A: Get involved — you never know where you might meet your soulmate.

Q: What is your favorite place to spend on campus together?

A: The football stadium, the Sun Devil Fitness Complex, and the ASU Bookstore. We also enjoyed performances at ASU Gammage while dating.

Q: What are you looking forward to?

A: We look forward to seeing how ASU competes in the Big 12.

Q: When did you last visit campus, and what did you do?

A: We attended the Territorial Cup in the fall of 2021, but our main reason for visiting was to take a campus tour with our daughter and her then-boyfriend, both high school seniors. Our daughter was interested in pursuing nursing, so we visited the downtown campus. Her boyfriend was interested in business, so we toured W. P. Carey. The school has changed so much — we had trouble wrapping our minds around it. We also toured the Polytechnic campus and look forward to watching how it develops. While our daughter decided not to become a full-blown Sun Devil (although she will always have a crush on Sparky), her boyfriend did and is enjoying his sophomore year at W. P. Carey.