The 7th annual College of Business and Information Technology Alumni Week is scheduled this year from March 18 - 22, 2019.

Keynote Speaker

terry onicaTerry Onica, BSBA ‘90 
Director of Automotive, QAD

Wednesday, March 20th, 11:30-12:30 p.m.
Buell Building, M336

"Supply Chain Best Practices"

Supply chains in the automotive industry are critical in an industry where quality parts delivered on-time to the assembly plant are crucial. Terry will provide an overview of how global industry best practices combined with today's technologies help to reduce inventory, skill gaps, costs, and risk. This combination will help supply chains transform their business in the coming years from the internal combustion engine to electric and autonomous vehicles.  

As Director of Automotive at QAD, Terry is responsible for global marketing activities which include strategy and positioning, offering people knowledge, and field and sales marketing support for the automotive vertical. Terry works closely with customers to drive best practices and earn preferred supplier status. She is an industry leader in the development and global adoption of supply chain industry standards and best practices. Prior to joining QAD, Terry had worked at GM, Ford, and Johnson Controls. Throughout her 30 year career, she has been immersed in the automotive supply chain and technology space. 

Onica earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from Lawrence Technological University.

Terry has been awarded for her global work in supply chain 
    • 2005 "Practitioner Pro to Know" by Supply & Demand Chain Executive
    • 2018 "Bronze Stevie Winner" by Stevie Awards for Women inBusiness
    • 2018 "Notable Women in Technology" by Crain's Detroit Business

Lunch will be provided starting 11:15 a.m.

Our alumni who volunteered to be guest speakers are: 

Monday, March 18:

  1. MGT 4213 Strategic Management & Business Policy (Professor Carl Belczynski) – Constance Bell, Planning for your Future. 2:00 p.m. - 2:30 p.m.
  2. MBA 6043 Global Leadership (Professor Patty Castelli) – Aleksandar Velkoski, Data-Driven Leadership. 5:45 p.m. - 6:15 p.m.
  3. MBA 6063 Operations & Supply Chain Management (Professor Sree Raghavan) – Jon Schnellbacher, Chemical Management Supply Chain. 5:45 p.m. - 6:15 p.m.
  4. MKT 3060 Integrated Marketing Communication (Professor Derine McCrory) – Sheri Hunter, Integrated Marketing Communication. 5:45 p.m.- 6:15 p.m.

Tuesday, March 19:

  1. MKT 2013 Principles of Marketing (Professor Don Manfredi) – Chuck Knight, General Management & Marketing: My Story. 9:30 a.m. - 10:00 a.m.
  2. ACC 2013 Intro to Financial Accounting (Professor Tony Zhang) – David Campbell, My Journey through LTU to a Career. 2:00 p.m. - 2:30 a.m.
  3. MGT 3033 International Trade (Professor Eric Schneider) – Craig Rasche, My LTU & Journey - Lessons Learned. 11:00 a.m. - 11:30 a.m.
  4. HRM 3023 Human Resource Management (Professor Matt Cole) – John Cox, Emotionally Intelligent Teams. 4:20 p.m. - 5:50 p.m.
  5. MGT 3113 Operations Management  (Professor Sree Raghavan) – Tony Kelso, Lean Concepts (Japanese Way of Thiking). 5:45 p.m. - 6:15 p.m.
  6. INT 2103 Information Technology Management (Professor Steven Hsiao) – Vladimir Rozovski, Scrum & Architecture IS. 5:45 - 6:15 p.m.

Wednesday, March 20:

  1. INT 6113 Database Modeling and Administration (Professor Justin Ku) – Anirudh Mamidipaka, What feels like the end is often the begining. 5:45 p.m. – 6:15 p.m.
  2. MBA 7063 Project Management (Professor Kioumars Paryani) – Sanad Affara, TBD. 5:45 p.m. – 6:15 p.m.
  3. INT 7623 Data Science for Business (Professor Steven Hsiao) – Varun Vikram, Data Analysis. 5:45 p.m. – 6:15 p.m.

Thursday, March 21:

  1. MGT 3103 Project Management (Professor Hassan Taleb) – Bill Moylan, New Trends & Direction in Project Management. 5:45 p.m. - 6:15 p.m.

Monday, April 9:

  1. INT 2103 Information Technology Management (Professor Steven Hsiao) – Jim Chasse, TBD. 5:45 p.m. – 6:15 p.m.

Past Alumni Weeks

Participating in the College of Business and Information Technology's Alumni Week presents many exciting activities and opportunities to meet with our alumni. Our alumni volunteer to be guest speaker at one of our classes, where our current students have the opportunity to get to know them, and learn from the experience and wisdom that our alumni have gained since successfully making their way out into the business community.

Alumni Week 2018 Recap

Keynote Speaker

Photo-Ron-Muccioli.jpgRonald Muccioli, BSIM ‘69

Executive Director, Roush Industries
Senior Advisor to Dean for Transportation Design, Lawrence Technological University

“International Business Customs: Europe, South America, and Asia”

Ronald Muccioli is Executive Director of Business Development at Roush Industries and a Senior Advisor and Adjunct Professor for LTU’s Department of Transportation Design. Ron has a wealth of international experience in the automotive industry. He began his career as an engineer with Ford Motor Company, where he worked on the first energy absorbing bumper system for which he has a co-patent.

After receiving his MBA he was promoted to Product Planning where he held various vehicle line positions, including Manager of Product Development in Brazil. Back in the U.S., he was involved in various sports car and motor sports functions, including Business Manager of the Ford Formula One team. Ron was also Chief Engineer for Mustang. He then moved to Fiat as Executive Director in Italy and the U.S. for 7 years, and at the same time was Managing Director for International Automotive Consultants, working with the CEOs/Presidents of several automotive suppliers on management organization, business development, and marketing. While at Fiat, Ron sold complete body shops to Ford Brazil, Ford Russia, Ford Turkey, and GM China. He joined Roush in 2003 and is responsible for the Global Ford account and all Roush business in China.

Ron received his Bachelor of Science in Industrial Management from Lawrence Technological University and his Master of Business Administration with minors in Finance and Marketing from the University of Detroit. He is a member and past president of the Alumni Board at Lawrence Technological University.

Watch Ronald M. Muccioli's presentation here: “International Business Customs: Europe, South America, and Asia”

Our alumni who volunteered to be guest speakers are: 

Monday, March 12:

  1. INT 2103 Information Technology Management (Professor Caushaj) – Josue Diaz, What is Dimension Data? 11:00 a.m. - 12:15 p.m.
  2. INT 2143 Database Systems I (Dr. Ku) – Chuck Hill, Databases and What to Expect in the Real World. 11 a.m. - 1:40 p.m.
  3. MGT 3113 Operations Management (Dr. Raghavan) – Tony Kelso, Lean Operations. 4:20 p.m. - 5:35 p.m.
  4. INT 7253 Visual Analytics (Dr. Ku) – Chaitalii Desai, Importance of Visual Analytics in IT. 5:45 - 8:25 p.m.
  5. MBA 6043 Global Leadership (Dr. Castelli) – Martin Monte, Creating Ethical Culture. 5:45 - 8:25 p.m.

Tuesday, March 13:

  1. MKT 2013 Principles of Marketing (Dr. Verma) – Chuck knight, General Management & Marketing: My Story. 9:30 a.m. - 10:45 a.m.
  2. HRM 3023 Human Resource Management (Dr. Cole) – John Cox, Emotionally Intelligent Teams. 4:20 p.m. - 5:35 p.m.
  3. MGT 4213 Strategic Management and Business Policy (Dr. Zhu) – Craig Rasche, My Ticket to Business from LTU – My Story. 4:20 p.m. - 5:35 p.m.
  4. MBA 7053 Managing a Global Workforce (Dr. Castelli) – Deborah Dicesare, Paradox and Leading Others. 5:45 - 8:25 p.m.

Wednesday, March 14:

  1. MBA 6053 Strategic Marketing Management (Dr. Zhu) – Wadeeah Alshawi, Overview of Project Management Process and its Phases. 5:45 p.m. – 8:25 p.m.
  2. MBA 7063 Project Management (Dr. Johnson) – Michelle Baker, Digital Project & Program Management Applications. 5:45 - 8:25 p.m.

Thursday, March 15:

  1. INT 4423 Data Science for Business (Dr. Hsiao) – Aleksander Velkoski, Introduction to Artificial Intelligence. 11:00 a.m. - 1:40 p.m.

Thursday, March 22:

  1. MGT 3103 Project Management (Dr. Omrani) – Wadeeah Alshawi, Overview of Project Management Process and its Phases. 5:45 p.m. – 8:25 p.m.

Alumni Week 2017 Recap

Keynote Speaker

dr. sheryl mitchellDr. Sheryl Mitchell, DBA '14

City Manager of the City of Albion

“Learning to SOAR™: Changing Your Mindset to Change Your Position”

Mitchell is the city manager for the City of Albion and chief administrative officer of the city, including management of a $14 million annual budget. She coordinates all city departments to implement the programs and policies of the City Council. Mitchell is focused on building a more vibrant community. Key components are economic vitality through job creation, and stabilizing and revitalizing the businesses and neighborhoods. Sheryl currently serves on the boards of the Greater Albion Chamber of Commerce, Summit Pointe, Calhoun County Health Commission, Regional Health Alliance, Albion Branch NAACP, and Ismon House.

She began her municipal career working with the City of Detroit City Council for 13 years and then as Senior Analyst for the Oakland County Board of Commissioners for 17 years.

Sheryl Warren Mitchell received her Doctorate in Business Administration from Lawrence Technological University. She successfully defended her dissertation, An Exploratory Study of Priority Based Budgeting: Identification of Public Values and Public Priorities through Citizen Engagement in Government Budgeting Decisions, in 2014. She was also honored as one of two recipients of the 2014 Edward Donley Distinguished Graduate Award for excellence in academic, community, and campus leadership.

Watch Dr. Sheryl Mitchell's presentation here: “Learning to SOAR™: Changing Your Mindset to Change Your Position”

Our alumni who volunteered to be guest speakers are: 

Monday, March 13:

  1. ACC 2023 Intro to Managerial Accounting (Dr. Tuo) – DeLonda Courtland, Transitioning from Classroom to the Workplace. 9:30 - 10:45 a.m.
  2. INT2143 Database Systems I (Dr. Kohnke) – Tim Balogh, Ford’s College Graduate Program. 11 a.m. - 1:40 p.m.
  3. MGT 3113 Operations Management (Dr. Raghavan) – Rose-Ellen Filthaut, Administration of Business Practices that Contribute to Efficiency. 4:20 - 5:35 p.m.
  4. MGT 3103 Project Management (Dr. Omrani) – Cedric Clark, Communication. 5:45 - 8:25 p.m.
  5. MBA 6043 Global Leadership (Dr. Castelli) – Martin Monte, Leadership Challenges with a Global Workforce. 5:45 - 8:25 p.m.

Tuesday, March 14:

  1. MKT 2013 Principles of Marketing (Dr. Verma) – Ted Bott. Being Special. 9:30 - 10:45 a.m.
  2. MGT 3033 International Trade (Professor Deska) – Shannon Dare Wayne, Middle East & Africa Automotive Overview. 9:30 - 10:45 a.m.
  3. MKT 4013 Consumer Behavior (Dr. Verma) – Ivan Garcia, Hotel Management/Consumer Needs. 2 - 3:15 p.m.
  4. HRM 3023 Human Resource Management (Dr. Cole) – John Cox, Working in Teams. 4:20 - 5:35 p.m.
  5. MGT 4213 Strategic Management & Business Policy (Dr. Zhu) – Tim McAra, Casting Vision/Leading Change. 4:20 - 5:35 p.m.
  6. INT 7253 Visual Analytics (Dr. Ku) – Megan Brunner, The importance of an open mind and effective communication when researching an existing function and effectively implementing change. 5:45 - 8:25 p.m.
  7. INT 6043 Enterprise Information Technology (Dr. Hsiao) – Rod Davenport, The Nature of Strategy in Enterprise IT. 5:45 - 8:25 p.m.
  8. ACC 3053 Individual Income Tax (Dr. Tuo) – Julie Gregory, Socio-Economic Status and Taxes. 5:45 - 8:25 p.m.
  9. MBA 6073 Global Strategic Management (Dr. Marx) – Michael Sage, DTE’s Strategic Management. 5:45 - 8:25 p.m.

Wednesday, March 15:

  1. MBA 7063 Project Management (Dr. Johnson) – Rajiv Shah, Project Management. 5:45  - 8:25 p.m.
  2. MBA 6053 Strategic Marketing Management (Dr. Zhu) – Michelle Baker, Non-traditional ways of delivering a marketing message. 5:45  - 8:25 p.m.
  3. INT 7593 Information Technology Integration (Professor Caushaj) – Joshua Olvera, Ford’s College Graduate Program. 5:45  - 8:25 p.m.

Thursday, March 16:

  1. ECN 6023 Global Business Economics (Dr. Marx) – Jeffery Creighton, Always Under Construction! 5:45  - 8:25 p.m.
  2. INT 6123 System Analysis & Design (Dr. Kohnke) – Greg Rourk, Enterprise Architecture. 5:45  - 8:25 p.m.


Thank you for your participation.

Dean Bahman Mirshab
Faculty and Staff of the College of Management

Alumni Week 2016 Recap

Keynote Speaker

mr. david johnsonMr. David Johnson B.S.B.A '92
Vice President of Customer Service & Marketing at DTE

“Leveraging Relationships in Business:
Attributes that Leaders look for in Employees”

David L. Johnson, is the vice president of Customer Service & Marketing for DTE Electric,an electric utility serving 2.1 million customers in Southeastern Michigan, and DTE Gas, a natural gas utility which provides service to 1.2 million homes and businesses in Michigan.

Both are operating units of DTE Energy (NYSE:DTE), a diversified energy company involved in the development and management of energy-related businesses and services nationwide. The DTE Energy portfolio also includes non-utility energy businesses focused on power and industrial projects, natural gas pipelines, gathering and storage, and energy marketing and trading.

Johnson is responsible for leading day to day customer service operations which includes call centers, business offices, billing and meter reading services, credit and collections, and theft. He is also responsible for customer marketing, major account services and customer research.

Johnson joined DTE Energy in 1999, and has served in a variety of progressively more responsible roles. He previously served as director of revenue management and protection. He has over 20 years of leadership experience in customer service, working previously as vice president of customer service for San Antonio Water System and as senior manager at AT&T.

Johnson earned a Bachelor of Science degree in accounting from Lawrence Technological University.

Watch our Keynote Speaker, Mr. David Johnson present his topic:“Leveraging Relationships in Business: Attributes that Leaders look for in Employees”

Our alumni who volunteered to be guest speakers:

Monday, March 14:
   1. ACC 2023 Intro to Managerial Accounting (Dr. Tuo) - John Edwards, Innovation and the role of finance. 9:30 - 10:45 a.m.
   2. INT 3803 Database Design (Dr. Ku) - Chuck Hill, Over 20 years of database experience. 11 a.m. - 12:15 p.m.
   3. MGT 3113 Operations Management (Dr. Raghavan) - Shannon Dare, Operations Management – Automotive. 4:20 - 5:35 p.m.
   4. INT 4013 Telecommunications and Networks (Dr. Dillard) - Mark Noble, Wireless Communications. 5:45 - 8:25 p.m.
   5. MGT 4213 Strategic Management and Business Policy (Dr. Omrani) - Nicholas Elliott, Corporate Governance. 5:45 - 8:25 p.m.
   6. MBA 6013 Human Resource Management (Dr. Castelli) - Patrice Banks, Staffing, Performance Management, Training and Development. 5:45 - 8:25 p.m.
   7. MBA 6073 Global Strategic Management (Dr. Taj) - Thomas Namovich, Defining one's self with new skills, and applying this to successful global opportunities. 5:45 - 8:25 p.m.

Tuesday, March 15:
   1. HRM 3023 Human Resource Management (Professor Swiantek) - Patrice Banks, The importance of training and development and how mentoring and coaching strengthens a good team. 11 a.m. - 12:15 p.m.
   2. HRM 4023 Organization Development and Change Management (Dr. Cole) - Patrice Banks, Organizational Structures, Performance and Productivity, Quality Improvement, Organizational culture. 4:20 - 5:35 p.m.
   3. MBA 6043 Global Leadership (Dr. Marx) - Jeffery Creighton, "Always Under Construction". 5:45 - 8:25 p.m.
   4. MBA 6063-01 Operations and Supply Chain Management (Dr. Raghavan) - Cedric Clark, Introduction of a quality used for complex root cause analysis. 5:45 - 8:25 p.m.
   5. MGT 3103 Project Management (Professor Drommi) - Rajiv Shah, Project Management. 5:45 - 8:25 p.m.

Wednesday, March 16:
   1. MBA 7063 Project Management (Professor Drommi) - Meghan Brunner, Project Management in Health Care. 5:45 - 8:25 p.m.

Alumni Week 2015 Recap

Keynote Speaker

fred vandervoord
Fred VanderVoord, MSIO '99

Where we were - Where we are - Where we are going:
Attempting to bring awareness to how the framework of our present and past influences our future characteristics.

Fred VanderVoord has spent the last 20 years of his career at the Chrysler Tech Center in Auburn Hills, now owned by FCA (Fiat Chrysler Automobiles).
Fred was hired into the Product Design Office and has spent his entire time in that branch of the company. Fred spent 19 years fulfilling roles in operations within the Design Office and most recently moved to Planner for Dodge and Ram Studio.
In this new role he has become responsible for workforce engineering, projecting future product budgets for the Product Design Office, and arranging development activities that support the design and styling of future vehicles for Dodge and Ram design studios.
Previously he was the Manager of the Milling, Digitizing, Rapid Prototype department which accomplished all
industrial operations necessary in the world of automotive design and styling for Chrysler.
Before joining Chrysler, Fred served 4 years in the United States Marine Corps, honorably discharged as a
sergeant, and spent 10 years as the Photogrammetric Mapping Manager of Air-Land Surveys in Clarkston, MI.

Mr. VanderVoord holds a B.S. in Applied Mathematics from Ferris State University.

He is a 1999 graduate of Lawrence Technological University with a M.S. in Industrial Operations.

Our alumni guest speakers:

Mon, March 16:

1. MKT 4013 Consumer Behavior (Kiani) - Carrie Devone, Market Trends 11 -11:30 a.m.
2. INT 3803 Database Design (Ku) - Timothy Balogh, Jon Bezak, Ford's College Graduate Program 11 - 11:30 a.m.
3. MBA 7063 Project Mgt (Phillips) - Gene Gutt, Visibility vs Meetings 5:45 - 6:15 p.m.
4. INT 4013 Telecom & Networks (Martella) - Paul Benvenuti, Ford's College Graduate Program 5:45 - 6:15 p.m.
5. MBA 6073 Global Strategic Mgt (Marx) - Tracey Boltik, Opportunities After Graduation 5:45 - 6:15 p.m.
6. MGT 4213 Strategic Mgt (Omrani) - Gene Gutt, Organization Structure 6:15 - 6:45 p.m.
7. MBA 7063 Project Mgt (Droomi) - Gene Gutt, Visibility vs Meetings 6:45 - 7:15 p.m.

Tuesday, March 17:

1. HRM 3023 HR Mgt (Egleston) - Althea Hale, Training & Development 11 -11:30 a.m.
2. MGT 4113 Applied Decision Analysis (Paryani) - Gene Gutt, Assumptions 11 - 11:30 a.m.
3. MGT 3103 Project Mgt (Phillips) - Gene Gutt, What vs How 5:45 - 6:15 p.m.

Wednesday, March 18:

1. INT 3103 Info Tech Mgt (Alexandris) - Jon Bezak, Alex Zarembo, Ford's College Graduate Program 5:45 - 6:15 p.m.
2. MBA 6053 Strategic Marketing Mgt (Mathur) - Gene Gutt, Critical Focus 5:45 - 6:15 p.m.
3. INT 3603 eBusiness Strategy (Montgomery) - Gene Gutt, Defined for Use 6:15 - 6:45 p.m.
4. MBA 6043 Global Leadership (Marx) - Michelle Baker, Global Project Leadership 5:45 - 6:15 p.m.
5. INT 6113 Database Modeling and Administration (Ku) - Aleksandar Velkoski, Big Data & NoSQL Databases5:45 - 6:15 p.m.

Thursday, March 19:

1. MGT 4113 (Paryani) - Aleksandar Velkoski, Decisions Under Uncertainty in the Real World 11a.m. - 1:40 p.m.
2. INT 3203 Technical Infrastructure (Sanford) - Josh Olivera, Ford's College Graduate Program 5:45 - 6:15 p.m.
3. INT 4303 IT Business Strategy (Neary) - Craig Rasche, From LIT through 35 Years in IT 5:45 - 6:15 p.m.

Alumni Week 2014 Recap

Keynote Speaker

bayer.jpgRosemary Bayer is Chief Inspiration Officer of ardentCause L3C, a nationally-recognized technology company serving the nonprofit and education industries with software solutions that achieve better outcomes through data collection, mining, analysis, visualization and communication of results. The company provides unique capabilities for improving organizational performance and enabling effective collaboration and community impact through cross-organizational information sharing.

At ardentCause, Rosemary is CEO and leads product development. Before ardentCause, Rosemary spent 25 years in information technology at Sun Microsystems, Amdahl and Control Data Corporation; as systems engineer/inventor; engineering management; and General Management of a large global division.

Since August, 2012, Rosemary is also the lead instructor for the Michigan Inforum ACTiVATE® program, a 10 month educational program originally created with the support of the National Science Foundation, designed to help women start technology companies and leverage technology transfer from research universities in the U.S

Rosemary co-founded the Michigan Council of Women in Technology and its Foundation, providing support for girls and women pursuing technology careers and interests.

Watch our Keynote Speaker, Rosemary K. Bayer, CIMBA '03 present her topic: "Be a Master Builder (don't follow the instructions)".

Our alumni guest speakers:

Craig Rasche, BSBA'79 - Visiting INT 6043 Enterprise Information Technology on Monday, March 17
Terry Hall, MSIS'09 - Visiting INT 7233 Network Security on Monday, March 17
Martin Monte, MBA'11, BSET '98 - Visiting MBA 6073 Global Strategic Management on Monday, March 17
Patrice Banks, MBA'12 - Visiting MGT 3113 Operations Management on Tuesday, March 18
James Ureel, MSIS'05, MSCS'05 - Visiting INT 5024 Business Application Programming on Tuesday, March 18
David Broome, MSIS'96 - Visiting MBA 6073 Global Strategic Management on Tuesday, March 18
James Baumgartner, MGLM'13 - Visiting MGT 3103 Project Management on Wednesday, March 19
Aleksandar Velkoski, DBA'12, MBA'08, BSBA'06 - Visiting INT 7513 Business Analytics and Data Mining and MBA 5013 Business Application of Statistics on Wednesday, March 19
Jeffery Creighton, MBA '12 - Visiting MBA 6043 Global Leadership on Wednesday, March 19
Robert Stempien, MGLM '13 - Visiting MBA 6053 Strategic Marketing Management on Tuesday, March 25
Keith Schweizer, MGLM '13- Visiting HRM 3023 Human Resource Management on Thursday, March 27