The School of Business hosted the 12^th annual Spring Recognition Dinner on Saturday, April 21, 2012.  Approximately 300 students, parents, faculty, staff, donors, and guests attended the event that recognized outstanding students, student leaders, scholarship recipients, and the School’s Outstanding Alumnus and Outstanding Young Alumnus.

Outstanding Student Awards were presented to the following:

Mickaela Gerler, Business Administration – Finance

Amy Lehnhoff, Business Administration – International Business

Erin Mayes, Business Administration – Marketing

Elizabeth Pulley, Business Administration – Management

Bridget Han, Undergraduate Accounting

Laura Hill, Graduate Accounting

That evening many of the recipients of Truman endowed scholarships were recognized. For the 2012-13 academic year 43 foundation scholarship totaling over $88,000 will be awarded to 75 individual School of Business students.

Deb Kerby, Dean of the School of Business, recognized Chuck Woods as the Alumnus of the Year.  Mr. Woods is Vice President and Chief Financial Officer for Engineering, Operations & Technology (EO&T) at the Boeing Company.  Dean Kerby also recognized Mircea Negrea as the Young Alumnus of the Year.  Mr. Negrea is Vice President of Corporate Operations for Pinnacle Technical Resources, Inc., located in Dallas, Texas.

Many other students were recognized for leadership roles in the School of Business, business competition successes, and selection to honor societies and special academies.

The Truman State University chapter of Beta Gamma Sigma inducted 23 new members on Saturday, April 21, 2012.  The new members heard a challenge from 2003 alumnus, Mircea Negrea, Vice President of Corporate Operations for Pinnacle Technical Resources, Inc., located in Dallas, Texas. 

Negrea encouraged students to establish priorities, learn how to work with large sets of data, and to take calculated risks.

Beta Gamma Sigma is the international honor society serving business programs accredited by AACSB International – The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business. Membership in Beta Gamma Sigma is the highest recognition a business student anywhere in the world can receive in a business program accredited by AACSB International.  Membership is extended to the upper 7% of the junior class, the upper 10% of the senior class, and the upper 20% of graduate class. 

The School of Business recognized Mircea Negrea as the 2012 Young Alumnus of the Year at the 12^th annual Spring Recognition Dinner.

Mircea Negrea is the Vice President of Corporate Operations for Pinnacle Technical Resources, Inc., located in Dallas, Texas.  Pinnacle delivers vendor management solutions, IT staffing, and payroll services to Fortune 500 clientele.

In his current position, Mr. Negrea provides leadership for recruiting, information technology, infrastructure, human resources, and performance evaluation of recruiters.  Mr. Negrea has also served as Executive Director of Accounting, Finance, and Operations, Corporate Controller, and Financial Analyst for Pinnacle.  Since joining Pinnacle Technical Resources, Inc., Mr. Negrea focused recruitment efforts at Truman that has resulted in the hiring of more than thirty Truman graduates.

Mr. Negrea earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration – finance from Truman State University in 2003, a master’s degree in accounting and information systems from the University of Texas at Dallas, and an MBA degree from the Yale School of Management, London School of Economics.  While a student at Truman, Mr. Negrea was selected as the Outstanding Student in Finance and was selected for membership in Beta Gamma Sigma.  Mr. Negrea’s current affiliations include the Dallas Committee on Foreign Relations, Leadership Arts Dallas, and Theatre 3 Dallas Board.  He has received numerous professional awards.  Mircea Negrea is truly a global citizen and business professional who is fluent or conversational in nine languages!

The School of Business recognized Chuck Woods as the 2012 Alumnus of the Year at the 12^th annual Spring Recognition Dinner.

Chuck Woods is vice president and chief financial officer for Engineering, Operations & Technology (EO&T), one of the five major business units of The Boeing Company.  Mr. Woods is responsible for managing EO&T’s financial business plans and leads a team of finance professionals specializing in areas including accounting, contracts and pricing and rate forecasting. He joined McDonnell Douglas in 1990 and was appointed to his current position in March of 2011. Woods previously was vice president of Supplier Management for the Boeing Military Aircraft Division, where he managed $6 billion in annual supply base expenditures with more than 3,000 global suppliers.

Mr. Woods earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Truman State University and a master’s of business administration from Southern Illinois University. He is the Boeing executive focal for Truman State University, where he is on the President’s Advisory Board. He has held positions on the Truman Foundation Board including president. In 2006, he received the Truman State Distinguished Alumni service award and was executive in residence for the school of Business and Accountancy.  He has also been a commencement speaker.

Chuck and his wife Sherri are members of the John R. Kirk Society and the Pershing Circle. They established the Chuck and Sherri Woods Endowment for Business Excellence with a gift of $25,000 that was matched by Boeing. In 2011, they received the President’s Leadership award.

Mr. Woods is also active in the Boy Scouts of America and has held a variety of leadership roles in his church.

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“There’s a great American hero, we all look up to

The 53^rd Annual Missouri Phi Beta Lambda State Leadership Conference was held in Osage Beach on March 23, 2012.  Truman State University members and their adviser participated in the conference.  The conference featured competitive events for individuals and teams, leadership training, and election of officers for the next year.

The Truman State chapter received the award for the largest chapter in the state.  The chapter received the Gold Seal Chapter Award of Merit and 2^nd place in the Local Chapter Annual Business Report.

The following Truman students/teams  were recognized at the Awards Program:

Accounting for Professionals – 2nd Caroline Forsythe, 3rd Tommy Ng
Business Communication – 4th Parker Leatherman
Business Decision Making (Team) 1st Ryan Gordon, Brandon Medina
Business Presentation (Team) 4th Joanne Chong, Rachel Zhang
Client Services – 2nd Victoria Bynum
Computer Concepts – 5th Brandon Medina
Contemporary Sports Issues – 1st Laura Heien
Financial Concepts – 2nd Ryan Hashemi
Human Resource Management (Team) 1st Parker Leatherman, Megan Recklein, Kadie Webster

Impromptu Speaking – 3rd Ryan Gordon
International Business – 1st Caroline Forsythe, 3rd Astha Manandhar
Job Interview – 4th Laura Stucky
Macroeconomics – 2nd Brian Cheah
Management Concepts – 2nd Kadie Webster
Microeconomics – 2nd Brian Cheah
Project Management – 1st Laura Heien
Public Speaking – 3rd Megan Recklein
Retail Management – 2nd Jacob Caughron, 5th Shelby Morton
Sales Presentation – 1st Sarah Taylor
Sports Management and Marketing – 1st Daniel Althoff
Statistical Analysis – 1st Linda Zhang, 2nd Tommy Ng

Many of the students are eligible to represent Truman State University at the National Leadership Conference in San Antonio Texas this coming June.

Phi Beta Lambda is an educational association of postsecondary student members preparing for careers in business.  There are over 11,000 active members in the US.  Missouri has over 400 members in 22 chapters.

Phi Beta Lambda is a professional business organization open to all majors.  For more information click here.

2012 Executive-in-Residence, Harlan Steinbaum was well received by his Truman audience as he gave excerpts from his book, Tough Calls from the Corner Office.  His stories reflected on the pivotal decisions which were turning points in the careers of successful business leaders.  Steinbaum left the attendees with a deeper understanding of the lessons of business and seizing opportunity.  Mr. Steinbaum met with attendees and signed copies of his book after his presentation.

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Author and retired executive Harlan Steinbaum will serve as the Bentele-Mallinckrodt Executive in Residence at Truman State University on March 20, 2012. As president and CEO of Medicare-Glaser Corporation, Steinbaum guided the company as it expanded its chain of retail pharmacies, added product lines, and opened eyewear and hearing aid stores. Later the corporation was sold to Pet, Inc., where Steinbaum served as group president for six of Pet’s 17 operating divisions. Dissatisfied with the corporate management of the retail pharmacy unit, Medicare-Glaser’s management team made the unusual move of buying the company back from Pet. Medicare-Glaser continued to grow and was listed on the NASDAQ in 1982. In partnership with an HMO, Sanus, and the New York Life Insurance Company, the management team launched an innovative mail-order prescription service. This mail-order service became Express Scripts, a leading pharmacy benefits management company, now ranked 55th among Fortune 500 companies. Steinbaum was the founding chairman of the Express Scripts board.

Steinbaum is the author of Tough Calls from the Corner Office. The book shares the defining moments and compelling experiences of 39 top business, not-for-profit, and government leaders. These are the stories of each individual’s most important business decision—some good, some not so good. The book provides insight into the events, stakes, and pressures surrounding the decision-making process.

Steinbaum will speak at 3:00 p.m. on Tuesday, March 20, 2012 in Violette Hall 1000 on the Truman campus. Copies of Tough Calls from the Corner Office will be available for sale at that time, and Mr. Steinbaum will sign books immediately following his talk.

This program is sponsored by the I.M.C.E.R.A. Group which endowed the Raymond F. Bentele/Mallinckrodt Executive-in-Residence Program.

The Truman State University SIFE team was recently named the third place winner at the ConocoPhillips Ethics Case Competition held in Manhattan, Kansas February 2 – 4. The event was developed and hosted by Kansas State University SIFE Team.

Cody Hagan, Truman SIFE President, said, “The competition was an extremely rewarding experience; it allowed Truman State SIFE to compete against much larger, Division I schools and show just how successful we are. We are very proud to have placed third at this competition and cannot wait to return next year to improve upon this success.”

Along with a third place plaque, the team also received a check for $1000. The Truman State SIFE team plans to use this money towards projects that they are planning. Every year the team organizes and puts on numerous projects that benefit the University, local community, and surrounding area.

In this competition, participating students had 36 hours to utilize their business skills for analyzing, researching, and developing a solution to a case about an ethical dilemma.   After developing a solution, they created a professional presentation which included a verbal script, visual slides, and a written executive summary.   The presentations were evaluated by business leaders and university faculty serving as judges for the event.

The culmination of university coursework and extracurricular events such as this case competition, provide a forum for college students to utilize their educational knowledge and skills about ethics in a structured and formal environment.

Gov. Jay Nixon nominated three Democrats to the Truman State Board of  Governors, the school’s highest decision-making body, on Friday.  The nominees — Sarah Burkemper, James O’Donnell and Susan Plassmeyer — need approval from the Missouri Senate before they officially take their seats.

Read more about the nominations in the February 16, 2012  issue of the Truman State University Index.  Index is the University’s student-produced newspaper.

http://index.truman.edu/