During this year’s University of Delaware Alumni Weekend, the Alfred Lerner College of Business and Economics hosted its 28th Annual Alumni Awards of Excellence. The event, which celebrates the over 34,000 alumni of the Lerner College, allowed UD leadership and Lerner faculty, staff and alumni to help kick off the Alumni Weekend activities.
“This is an event every year where we recognize and honor the accomplishments of Lerner grads,” Lerner College Dean Bruce Weber (far left) said. “There are always so many students who finish with us and go on and do incredible things in their careers and their professions and their progress in business.
“It’s always very impressive to us here to see that progress, but we really shouldn’t be surprised,” he continued. “We do wonderful things in our programs and we prepare our students for success in some very distinctive ways and it all shows up tonight when we recognize these accomplishments.”
This year’s honorees included:
- Steven W. Dempsey, partner at Greyrock Capital Group, Class of ’90, B.S. in business administration
- Nicole Jeter West, general manager for Legends’ relationship with U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Properties, Class of ’99, B.S. in business administration
- Chris Mauthe, chief clients and markets officer for Deloitte’s U.S. Tax Practice, Class of ’91, B.S. in accounting
- C. Taylor Pickett, Esq., chief executive officer of Omega Healthcare Investors, Inc., Class of ’84, B.S. in accounting
This year, Amanda Bullough (second from right), associate professor of management and co-director of the Lerner Women’s Leadership Initiative, presented the inaugural Women’s Leadership Initiative Catalyst Award to Mary Ellen Payne (center right), Class of ’78, B.S. in business administration and Class of ’80 MBA.
“This university changed the complete course of my life and had I not had the experiences here I would not have had the great opportunities that I did,” Payne said. “I feel very passionate that as graduates of this university and the experiences that we had here that we can really bring great value, not just to women, but to all students as [Lerner Executive] mentors.”
Additionally, the Rising Star Award was presented to Joseph Staab (center left), who graduated with a B.S. in accounting in 2008. Staab is a senior manager in the assurance practice at Ernst & Young (EY) in Philadelphia and is an active UD alumnus. Alyson Filippone (second from left), partner at EY, Class of ’01, B.S. in accounting and David Etue (far right), vice president of managed services at Rapid 7, Class of ’96, B.S. in finance, from the Lerner Alumni Board presented the award.
“These [accounting] professors invested their time in pushing me to succeed in class and in developing my network for future employers, and it was this network that led me to a full-time position,” Staab said. “It’s been about 10 years so far and so I’m extremely grateful for my education here at the Lerner College. The lessons that I learned on campus provided me with a solid foundation that I needed to succeed throughout my career.”
“I am impressed by the significant contributions and the real asset that is the alumni of the Lerner College,” Weber said. “There are 34,000 living alums of the Lerner College and their contributions back into the college continue to distinguish us and enable us to do things for our students that wouldn’t be possible if those 34,000 living alums didn’t stay engaged with us and be involved with us, and you see the exemplars of that tonight.”