3rd Annual Women’s Career Achievement Dinner
celebrating the accomplishments of our alumnae and inspiring our current students.
When: Monday, April 28, 6-8:30pm
Where: SAU (Student Alumni Union) Al Davis Dining Room
Sponsored by: The RIT Women’s Center, RIT Leadership Institute, and Alumni Relations Office.
This event honors invited alumnae from RIT’s eight colleges and women students at RIT. Faculty and staff
will be selecting women students from their college to attend.
The purpose of the dinner is for successful alumnae to share their stories
and network with our students. Alumnae will have the opportunity to share the highlights and challenges
they have experienced as women in their career paths and will offer tips and strategies for our students to
be successful. Students will have the opportunity to network with the invited Alumnae as well as with other
RIT faculty, staff and students during dinner and the dessert reception.
The program will be as follows:
- Welcome and introductions
- Opening address by Sasha Malinchoc, SG Vice-President 2007-2008
- Dinner
- Keynote Speaker
- Networking dessert reception
- Closing remarks
This special dinner has become a much anticipated event at RIT to honor and inspire women as well as to celebrate their accomplishments! It will be a night to remember!
2008 Presenters:
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| Keynote Speaker |
| Name: | Kathleen C. Anderson |
| Program(s): | '94 Professional/Technical Communications (COLA) |
| Employer: | Media Director
Travers Collins & Company |
| Bio: | A media strategist with more than a decade of brand management experience, Kathleen Anderson currently serves as Media Director for Travers Collins & Company (TCC), a Western New York based advertising agency. Overseeing media planning, negotiations and placement for TCC's diverse client base, Kathleen's expertise includes trade, consumer and emerging media. She is directly responsible for the development and execution of the international media strategy of both Weight Watchers Sweet Goods and Corning Display Technologies.
Prior to joining Travers Collins & Company, Kathleen served as Marketing Director for the Blue Cross Arena and Ogden Entertainment, working with artists such as Elton John, Phish, Bill Gaither, and World Wrestling Entertainment. While serving as Community Affairs Director for WKBW-TV/ Granite Broadcasting Kathleen produced a number of award-winning programs for Hospice Buffalo, Compass House and the Variety Club and was honored for her work on a series of public service announcements benefitting the American Heart Association.
A graduate of Rochester Institute of Technology’s College of Liberal Arts, Kathleen is proud to serve as Vice-Chair of RIT's Alumni Association. She also serves on Delta Phi Epsilon Sorority's International Governing Board as Governance Officer and the National Panhellenic Conference as an Alternate Delegate. Kathleen is a passionate advocate for homeless and runaway teens across New York State.
Kathleen resides in Buffalo, New York with her husband John.
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| College: | CAST |
| Name: | Michelle Schleher |
| Program(s): | '97 Civil Engineering Technology |
| Employer: | Project Manager
LeChase Construction Services |
| Bio: | Michelle is a Project Manager for LeChase Construction Services, based out of Rochester, NY. She has been with LeChase for nearly 10 years, working her way up from Project Engineer to the management position she currently holds. Michelle has in-depth experience and expertise in managing interior renovations needing extensive phasing and scheduling while maintaining client operations. The most notable construction projects that she has managed are the RIT; Bldg 12; Saunders School of Business Renovations – Summer of 2006 and the RIT; Bldg 7B; CIAS Renovations – Summer of 2007. Michelle also oversees all recruitment efforts at LeChase which amounts to searching local colleges for the best and the brightest candidates to join the company. She is also a committee member on the Rick Management Group and the Editorial Board for the company.
Michelle has an Associates Degree in Architectural Engineering Technology from Alfred State College and a Bachelors Degree in Civil Engineering Technology from RIT.
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| College: | CIAS |
| Name: | Becky Brubaker |
| Program(s): | '93 Newspaper Operations (CIAS) |
| Employer: | Vice President/Operations
Chicago Tribune |
| Bio: | Rebecca (Becky) Brubaker is vice president/Operations, overseeing production operations. She was named to the post in March 2007. Previously, she was the vice president/Operations & Circulation for the Daily Press in Newport News, VA.
Prior to her post at the Daily Press, Brubaker was director of circulation operations and planning for the Chicago Tribune, responsible for planning and analysis, transportation and customer relationship management departments. She also held numerous operations positions including production director, prepress director and process improvement director, and shared joint responsibility for a major plant expansion and greenfield project.
Brubaker began her career with the Tribune Company in 1993 when she joined the South Florida Sun-Sentinel in Ft. Lauderdale, FL. At that paper, she held numerous production management positions including press operations.
Brubaker is the vice president of International Newspaper Group (ING) leading their effort to transform from scholarships to internship support. She is also vice chair for the Newspaper Association of America (NAA) Packaging & Distribution Technical Committee. Recently, she was elected to serve as a director on the SPPI/NP&RC Board, a non-profit organization devoted to training apprentices, journeymen and managers, giving them the printing techniques necessary to stay abreast of the rapidly evolving technology in the newspaper industry. She is also a board member for Family Focus, an organization that offers innovative, community-based programs that help parents gain confidence and competence as the primary educators of their children. Becky is also a board member for Reading in Motion, an organization that provide at-risk Kindergarten through 3rd grade children in the Chicago area with the key tools required to achieve grade-level reading through music and drama.
Brubaker is a graduate of the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) with a BS degree in Newspaper Operations Management. She received her MBA at Northwestern University's J.L. Kellogg's Executive Master's program in December 2000.
Brubaker and her husband Todd and their two year old twin boys live in Glenview, IL.
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| College: | COLA |
| Name: | Terri Standish-Kuon Ph.D. |
| Program(s): | '86 Biomedical Photo Communication (CIAS)
'88 Profess./Tech Communications (COLA) |
| Employer: | Vice President, Communications
Commission on Independent Colleges and Universities (cIcu)
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| Bio: | Terri Standish-Kuon is vice president of an Albany, New York-based not-for-profit public policy organization, the Commission on Independent Colleges and Universities (cIcu). Terri coordinates federal relations; oversees print and electronic communications, media relations, and special events; and supervises the finance and human resources operations for the association, which represents the chief executive officers of more than 100 private, not-for-profit colleges and universities in New York State.
Before joining cIcu, Terri was a graduate teaching assistant at the University at Albany. Previously, she served as assistant director of admissions at Russell Sage College. She holds a Ph.D. from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and master’s degrees from The Sage Colleges and the University at Albany. Her research interests are in the areas of entrepreneurship and organizational behavior and, most recently, focusing on the decisions academic researchers make about commercializing their ideas and discoveries.
Terri grew up in a Navy family and came to RIT from Virginia. She and her husband, Charles P. Kuon (’88, Business Administration), have one daughter.
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| College: | COS |
| Name: | Donna Marcera |
| Program(s): | 87 BS Chemistry, '90 MS Chemistry |
| Employer: | Regulatory Analyst
Dakota Software Corp. |
| Bio: | Donna M. Marcera has over five years of health and safety consulting experience in pharmaceutical, aerospace and other high-tech industries along with 10 years of lab safety / chemical hygiene experience with the pharmaceutical industry. Ms. Marcera has experience with all aspects of Health and Safety program development and implementation and is an experienced OSHA HazWOPER trainer. In her work, she promotes health and safety culture change at all levels of the work force. She is an experienced, effective and motivating trainer. Ms. Marcera has co-authored five chemical process patents and two publications/presentations.
Currently, Ms. Marcera is a Regulatory Analyst with Dakota Software Corp. Dakota produces software to aid environmental, health and safety groups/companies. She is responsible for the technical information contained in the products, including Federal, State, and International regulations. She also helps with custom projects, incorporate client policies, procedures, and other documents into the product.
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| College: | GCCIS |
| Name: | Debra Hogan |
| Program(s): | '79 Computer Science |
| Employer: | General Manager and Vice President
Professional Output, Paper and Output Systems
Eastman Kodak Company (retired)
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| Bio: | Debra Hogan began her career with Eastman Kodak in 1981 as a software engineer. Following many assignments, Ms. Hogan joined the Graphics Division in 1986 as a marketing specialist. In 1989, she was appointed as the Manager, Newspaper Marketing and Sales group.
In 1991, Ms. Hogan was named the Manager, Information Systems, Graphics Division. This assignment preceded her appointment in 1993, as Manager, Logistics and Vice President for Professional and Printing Imaging.
In 1996, Ms. Hogan was promoted to General Manager and Vice President, Graphics Division. She was responsible for all marketing, sales and support operations for all graphics products in the U.S. region.
In 1998, Ms. Hogan left Kodak to come the Vice President, Logistics for Kodak Polychrome Graphics (a Kodak affiliate). She was responsible for establishing a state of the art logistics network for this $2.0B startup company.
In February 2000, Ms. Hogan returned to Eastman Kodak. After a year of a various management assignments to get reacquainted with the Professional Imaging marketplace she was named General Manager and Vice President, Lab Sales and National Accounts for Kodak Professional’s U.S. business.
In August 2003, Ms. Hogan became the General Manager for the Kodak Professional world wide business, which she continued in until her retirement in December of 2006.
Ms. Hogan is currently pursuing a small business acquisition, which she hopes to complete by April of 2007. She looks forward to using her vast skills acquired during her stay at Kodak and RIT to grow an internet based business.
A graduate of Rochester Institute of Technology, Ms. Hogan holds a B.S. degree in Computer Science. She also holds an M.S. degree from Georgia Institute of Technology and M.B.A. from the Simon School of Management at the University of Rochester.
Ms. Hogan resides in Victor, New York. She has twin daughters who are currently enrolled at Syracuse University and the University of Rochester. She is an active volunteer within the Victor School system as well as Victor sports programs and her local church. Her recreational interests include travel, hiking and quilting.
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| College: | KGCOE |
| Name: | Emily M. Cole |
| Program(s): | '03 B.S. and M.S. in Industrial Engineering |
| Employer: | Delphi |
| Bio: | Emily Cole graduated from RIT in 2003 with her Bachelors of Science & Masters of Science in Industrial Engineering. Emily has been with Delphi since 1999 when she started co-oping. She did 6 co-op blocks with Delphi throughout her 5 years of college and had a variety of assignments. Since graduating, Emily has been with Delphi full time. Her major assignments thus far have included Lean Implementation throughout the plant, being the area IE for the Fuel Rails and Regulators programs, and most recently, becoming the area IE for the Injectors program being moved into the plant
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| College: | NTID |
| Name: | Katie Schmitz |
| Program(s): | '95 M.S. Career & Human Res. Dev. |
| Employer: | Assistant Professor, Department of English
RIT/NTID |
| Bio: | Dr. Kathryn Schmitz is a sought-after speaker and educator in the areas of literacy, writing, and grammar among deaf students. Currently an assistant professor in the Department of English at NTID, she began her career at RIT in 1989 as a senior marketing communications specialist and later served as director of NTID’s Marketing Communications Department before beginning her teaching career in 2000.
Schmitz has authored several publications on teaching English to deaf students and has presented her findings at nearly two dozen conferences nationwide. She is a member of the Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf, the National Council of Teachers of English, the Council of American Instructors of the Deaf, the National Association of the Deaf, and Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages.
Schmitz received her Ph.D. in English Education from the State University of New York at Buffalo in 2008 and has her master’s degree in Career and Human Resource Development from RIT and her bachelor of arts degree in English from Duke University.
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| College: | SCB |
| Name: | Lynn (Siverd) Sullivan |
| Program(s): | ’88 Business Administration - Finance |
| Employer: | Association for the Blind and Goodwill of Greater Rochester, Inc.
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| Bio: | Lynn (Siverd) Sullivan is the Chief Financial Officer of the Association for the Blind and Goodwill of Greater Rochester, Inc., a Rochester, New York-based not-for-profit agency focused on providing programs and services to empower individuals that are blind and visually impaired to be self-sufficient and contribute to their families and communities. At ABVI-Goodwill, Lynn oversees the Finance and Information Technology operations, and is a member of the executive management team. Prior to joining ABVI-Goodwill, Lynn was President of LAS Advisors, a business consulting services firm.
Lynn began her career at Eastman Kodak Company, and in 1995 became the Worldwide Finance Director for the Graphic Imaging division. She was part of the management team that formed Kodak Polychrome Graphics, a $1.6Billion joint venture. In 1999, she joined Harris Interactive, Inc. as their Vice President of Mergers and Acquisitions. She later became the company’s Vice President and Chief Privacy Officer responsible for contract development and negotiations, privacy compliance, real estate, insurance and high risk credit collection.
Lynn received her BS in Finance from Rochester Institute of Technology’s Saunders College of Business, and her MBA in finance, corporate accounting, and entrepreneurship from the William E. Simon Graduate School of Business Administration at the University of Rochester, and is a member of the alumni advisory boards at both institutions. She is a Certified Information Privacy Professional with U.S., Canadian and Government designations (CIPP/C/G), and a member of the Rochester Rotary organization. Lynn enjoys participating in marathons and sprint triathlons, and has completed more than 30 marathons since 1998. She resides in Rochester, NY with her husband Greg, and has three children. Her daughter, Kathleen, received her BA in Fine Arts and her Masters in Teaching from Rochester Institute of Technology’s College of Imaging Arts and Sciences.
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2007 Presenters:
Keynote speaker – Susan Holliday MBA ‘85
CAST – Rachel McGinnis ’05 (Multidisciplinary Studies)
CIAS – Kelly Growney ’84 (Design)
COLA – Kelli O’Connor ’98 (Professional/Technical Communications)
COS – Karen Warren MS ’79 (Chemistry) and Annemarie Ross ’05 (Chemistry)
GCCIS – Kelly Mullaney MS ’03 (Information Technology)
KGCOE – Holly Hillberg MS ’92 (Electrical Engineering)
NTID – Elissa Olsen MS ’99 (Software Development Management, CAST), ’78 (Applied Computer Technology, NTID), ’80 (Computer Information Systems, CAST)
SCOB – Lynette Loomis MBA ‘79
2006 Presenters:
CAST – Sharon Napier '04, President of Partners & Napier
CIAS – Amelia Hugill-Fontinel '02, University Press Editor of RIT
COLA – Kathleen Anderson '94, Media Director of Travers Collins & Company
COS – Kim Vangelder '86, CIO of Eastman Kodak Company
GCCIS – Julianne Klie '89, President of Veritor
KGCOE – Heidi Grenek, DflSS Program Manager and TTM Process Manager of Xerox Engineering Center
NTID – Jessica Cuculick '98, '02, Visiting Instructor/Support Faculty of NTID Liberal Studies
SCOB – Dawn McWilliams '00, Executive Director of Marketing of Simons School of Business at UofR
