1958
Frank Birkhead, BBA, has been named by the McAllen (Texas) Chamber of Commerce as its 2006 Volunteer of the Year. A McAllen resident for 45 years, he is a retired city official and longtime industrial developer for the Rio Grand Valley community.
1971
Bill Carlton, BBA, founded a business-consulting firm last fall, The Carlton Group. Carlton had previously worked in his family business for 35 years, and served as the chief executive officer for 21 years. Carlton sold the family business, Carlton-Bates Co., last September to Fortune 500 Company Wesco International Inc. of Pittsburgh.
1978
Nancy Shemwell, BBA, has joined Call Genie Inc.’s board of directors. Call Genie is a voice enhanced directory service in the greater Toronto area. Shemwell serves as executive vice president, global sales and services for Symmetricom Inc. in Dallas.
1981
Jerry Elliot, BBA, was elected to the board of directors and audit committee chairman for Spine Wave, Inc. Spine Wave, Inc. is a medical device company headquartered in Shelton, Conn. Currently, Elliot serves as the CEO, president and a member of the board of directors of Global Signal. Inc., which provides towers and communication sites to wireless communication companies.
1983
Gabriel L. Lugo, BBA, was honored as the 2006 Distinguished Associate for the Dallas – Fort Worth Chapter of the Risk and Insurance Management Society (RIMS). The award was created to honor those associates who go above and beyond in their dedication to DFW RIMS. The Risk and Insurance Management Society is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to advancing the practice of risk management, a professional discipline that protects physical, financial and human resources. Founded in 1950, RIMS represents nearly 3,900 industrial, service, nonprofit, charitable, and governmental entities and serves 9,600 risk management professionals around the world. Lugo is senior vice president of Taylor Risk Consulting in Dallas.
1984
Brian Erickson, BBA and MBA, was named managing vice president of Hitachi Consulting’s strategic technology solutions. Erickson has worked for more than 20 years in management and technology consulting. Prior to joining Hitachi Consulting, he worked for Booz Allen & Hamilton, IBM and Accenture. He regularly speaks at conferences and is a regular contributor of articles to industry trade media.
Michael T. Neeb, BBA, was named president of Hospital Corporation of America’s international division based in London. Neeb, who previously served as chief financial officer of HCA’s International Division, is responsible for HCA’s international operations, which includes six hospitals in London and two in Geneva, Switzerland. HCA is a Fortune 500 company.
1986
Jerry Smith, BBA, played on the PGA Tour for his fourth time in 2006. Smith started playing golf when he was 3-years-old. Smith has toured internationally including five years in Asia. He and wife, Jennifer, live in Scottsdale, Ariz. with daughters Olivia and Giavanna.
1990
David W. Lancelot, BBA, was named chief financial officer for Spirit Airlines. Spirit Airlines is based in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Lancelot has been in the airline and finance industry for over 18 years.
1992
Soren Bjorn, BBA, has been named senior vice president of international business for Driscoll’s berry company. Prior to Driscoll’s, Bjorn held a number of leadership positions, most recently as vice president of co-pack and operations transformation at Del Monte Foods in San Francisco. He was president and CEO of Unimark Foods until that company was acquired by Del Monte.
Eric Turzak, BBA, has joined Hay Group’s Executive Compensation Consulting Practice as a senior consultant in its New York area office. Most recently, Turzak was a vice president at Pearl Meyer & Partners. Prior to that, he was Head of Compensation and Benefits at Eyetech Pharmaceuticals, and has also held positions as a senior consultant at two “Big 4” accounting and tax firms, where he focused on a variety of compensation and benefit issues.
1994
Laura Lyon Irvine, BBA, received the Outstanding Young Alumni Award from the Baylor University Alumni Association. Irvine serves as the executive vice president of Methodist Health Systems and president of Methodist Mansfield Medical Center. She is the recipient of the inaugural Young Healthcare Executive of the Year award by the Dallas Fort Worth Hospital Council, the “Up and Comers” award by Modern Healthcare magazine, and the Early Career Healthcare Executive Regent’s Award from the American College of Healthcare Executives. She also received the “40 Under 40” award from both the Dallas Business Journal and the Fort Worth Business Press.
Scott James, BBA, and his wife, Susan, BA ’93, have launched a new company, Fair Trade Sports, which donates all after-tax profits to children’s charities. The company is the first in the U.S. with a full line of Fair Trade sports balls (soccer, volleyball, rugby and more). You can learn more at their blog: www.fairtradesports.com.
Baylor Business Review, Spring 2007