Meet The Tepper School Alumni Board

If you attended the Tepper School of Business for one year or more, you are a member of the Tepper School alumni community—over 10,000 strong—making an impact around the world. Whether you graduated 30 years ago or just this May, there is a group of 19 of your fellow alums advocating for your needs and providing invaluable insights to not just the Alumni Relations Team, but to each of the school’s deans.

Meet the Tepper School Alumni Board—formed in 2008, with the mission of strengthening the lifelong relationship between alumni and the school. John Sengenberger, executive director, alumni relations, said the Alumni Board was a “critical” need to his team’s service to the community.

“Not only has (the Board) provided a committed group of passionate alumni leaders to serve as ambassadors for the school, it has also served as a vital source of feedback to the leadership of the school of the needs of alumni,” Sengenberger said.

The board meets twice a year, and all of the Board members belong to the W.L. Mellon Society, which recognizes annual donors of $1,000 or more to the Tepper School. In addition to their counsel, they serve as a contact to Tepper School regional alumni chapter leaders in their regions, and serve as advocates and ambassadors of the school on various issues.

“The (Board) understands how critical it is for us to attract the strongest students to the school and to inspire them to become active alumni. They are playing a vital role in creating a culture of alumni engagement from the first day students accept admission to the school,” Sengenberger said.

Paul Wellener (MSIA ’86), has a long history with CMU and Tepper. A dozen – yes, 12—of his family members are CMU alums. Wellener, a consulting principal with Deloitte, also leads the firm’s relationship with CMU. For him, the decision to join the board three years ago was an easy one.

As of July, Wellener now serves as the Board’s president, and is eager to continue the work the board has been doing to strengthen the alumni community.

“The Alumni Board is very interested in growing the connections between and across alumni within geography and graduating class,” Wellener explained. “The more connective tissue we can build in the alumni community, the more effective our board and alumni community will become.”

Sengenberger said the strength of the Tepper alumni community rests on the passion and active engagement of all of Tepper School alumni.

“Although we as staff play an important role in supporting our alumni, it is our Alumni Board who can speak with authority on the needs of our alumni and give the deans the honest feedback they need from alumni who are vital stakeholders in the school,” Sengenberger said.

The Alumni Board currently consists of 19 talented and accomplished business leaders from various industries representing active alumni from around the world. As of July 2012, the Alumni Board consists of the following members:

Laurie Barkman (MSIA ’99), marketing director, The Resumator
Eric Butler (BS/CIT ’81, MSIA ’86), executive vice president/marketing & sales, Union Pacific Railroad Company
Lee Diamond (MBA ’05), founder, StartupAgents
Ashish Jain (BS ’03), head of securitised product sales, North America, Deutsche Bank Securities Inc.
Rimmo Jolly (MSIA ’95), managing director, Citi Prime Finance Asia Pacific Markets
PJ Juvekar (MSIA ’96), managing director, equity research, chemicals & agriculture, Citigroup Investment Research
Katherine Kohatsu (BS/CIT ’97, MBA ’05), director, PricewaterhouseCoopers
Lauren McCullough (BS/CIT ’82, MSIA ’86), director, global HR finance, Alcoa, Inc.
Jeffrey A. Meckler (BS ’89, MSIA ’86), managing director, The Andra Group (Immediate Past Board President)
Bart O’Brien (MSIA ’81), owner, O’Brien Estate Winery
Brian Olsavsky (MSIA ’89), CFO, consumer business, Amazon.com
Jim Ostry (MSIA ’94), managing director, HOLT strategy and branding, Credit Suisse, Inc.
Paul Wellener (MSIA ’86), principal, Deloitte Consulting, LLP (Board President)
Larry White (BS/CIT ’72, MSIA ’76), retired, senior vice president, finance & CFO, CBRL Group, Inc.
Jill Yellock (MBA ’07), bank examiner/market risk specialist, Federal Reserve Bank of New York

Newest Alumni Board Members (July 1, 2012)

Kevin G. Kindall, PhD (MSCF '98) director, quantitative analysis, ConocoPhillips, Inc.
Tammy (Manski) Loucks (BS/TPR '00; MBA '05; Past Staff), product manager, Progressive Insurance
John J. O'Neill (MSIA '80), vice-chairman and chief administrative officer president, Higher Education &  Academic Medical Centers, Attain Consulting
Michael Smith (BS/H&SS '89, MSIA '95), director of market management, Cisco Systems

Completed terms on June 30, 2012

E. Melanie Kittrell (MSIA ’90), retired, executive director, knowledge management and innovation, global customer strategy & channels, Merck & Co., Inc.
Patrick Macedo (MBA ’03), marketing manager, Quero at Heinz Brazil

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