Alumni Notes 2003-04

David York (1970) Since I was one of the first graduates of the program, I wanted to give you an update on my present position.  I am Director of Leadership and Organizational Development for Insituform Technologies, Inc. , a New York stock exchange listed company.

Don Pearson (1974) I worked for Phillips Petroleum Company (now ConocoPhillips) for about 29 years. I still do special projects for them. For the past four years, I've worked at Oklahoma Wesleyan University as an Admissions Counselor and Adjunct Professor. I taught a Labor Relations course last year, and have taught guitar courses for five years. My wife, Barbara, and I live in Bartlesville, OK, and have lived in numerous places around the world. Harold Davey and Cliff Smith we my mentors at ISU.

Roger Gallentine (1976) After all this time, I still occasionally run into to former graduates of the program. It has opened doors for me. I am currently the HR Director for an engineering/architecture firm in Chicago, Raymond Professional Group. There is one familiar name on the web-site, Dr. Matilla, from my years at ISU. It would be interesting to know also of the whereabouts of the former faculty.

Editor’s note: Peter Matilla retired this past year after 31 years at ISU. He still consults on labor law cases. He and his wife Mary Jo live in Ames.

Bruce M. Boyce (1976) I've been settled in Waseca, MN, now for some 25 years, and am married with 2 teenage sons. During the course of my career with Waseca County, I've negotiated some 35+ labor contracts and been involved in hiring hundreds of new employees, for wide-ranging positions such as Attorneys, Social Workers, Deputy Sheriffs and Planning/Zoning Administrators.  Waseca County is a small organization (about 135 FTE), but the diversity of functions and people never ceases to amaze me and keeps life interesting. Mine is a "generalist" position and I've had to learn things (such as public sector budgeting) which didn't fall into the scope of my IR curriculum.  Nonetheless, I have to say that IR at ISU prepared me very well for many of my career responsibilities.

Debra Engel (1976) I had the good fortune to time Silicon Valley right and was able to retire from 3Com about five years ago.  I now occupy my time with child rearing, angel investing and serving on a variety of boards. I do visit Iowa at least once a year as parents (retired ISU professors) and brothers are still in the area.

Ched Miller (1976) I recently started doing business with a company which has a site in Des Moines and had the opportunity to ride through Ames, it has really changed I couldn't even find the student union. I have responsibility for the retirement programs at Raytheon Company. This includes our 23 pension plans (211,000 participants), the 401k (143,000 participants), and Deferred Compensation and Retiree Health and Welfare Plans (60,000 participants).

Ann Feyerham (1977) My path has led to the academic life after an 11 year career with Procter & Gamble and receiving my doctorate in Business Administration at USC.  I now serve as Chair of the Management Department at the Graziadio School of Business and Management at Pepperdine University.

Craig Rowley (1979) I am a Vice President of the Hay Group.  My primary role is to lead our consulting practice for the service sector.  In this role, I am concerned that we understand the business issues faced by this industry and that our consulting solutions address these issues. Another role is to serve as part of my firm's leadership in the design of reward programs including executive compensation, total remuneration, international compensation, and all employee compensation. The work is fascinating.  I describe my job as being in graduate school for the rest of your life - only getting paid for it.  However, if you don't do well, you can't drop the class - you get fired by a client.

Renée Rathbun (1981) My current position is Associate Director HR/Midwest for Thomson Media.  I've been here for about 6.5 years in a constantly changing roll.  We have a great HR team both in our immediate office as well as in our corporate office located NY.  I have wonderful memories of my time at ISU and know that it gave me a terrific foundation in which to become successful in my field.  Please continue to maintain the IR site as it will be fun keep up with our ISU grads.

Jo Menta (1982) My current position is Director of Staffing at Janssen Pharmaceutica, a Johnson & Johnson company. I am most grateful to Iowa State and the IR program for the quality education I received and the opportunities that have followed as a result.  I have met or worked with HR professionals with MSIR degrees from the "famous" IR schools and continue to find that the IR education I received from Iowa State is of the same high caliber.

Deborah Borgen (1983) I have recently retired from Marsh, Inc.  My last position was Senior Vice President. I was responsible for National Business Development working with employers who had more than 10,000 employees.  I developed administrative solutions for their employee benefit plans. I spend my time in Arizona and at a lake home in NW Arkansas, depending on the time of year.

Melinda (Foster) Sellers (1986) I have worked at Mary Kay Inc. for the past 10 years in Human Resources.  For the past few years my title has been Vice President, Human Resources with broad HR responsibility.  Our sales are in the neighborhood of $1.7 billion (wholesale).

Maggie Cashman (1989) After 12 years in generalist and HR leadership positions at The Pillsbury Company, Frontier Communications, and Global Crossing, I now serve as a consultant in the area of leadership development, team building, and HR practices for Cassara Management in Rochester New York. 

Ernie Stark (1989) After ISU, I finished my Ph.D. In Community and Human Resources at the University of Nebraska.  I am currently a professor in the College of Professional Studies at Bellevue University and just finished a two-year term as Faculty Senate President. I have authored over 55 refereed journal and conferences publications on topics of human resource management, organizational behavior, and organization development. I was lead author on a paper that won the Award of Excellence at the 1999 International Conference of the Academy of Business and Administrative Sciences in

Barcelona, Spain.  I still keep in touch, but certainly with not the level of frequency I desire, with my friend and mentor, Jim McElroy.

Kyle Stephens (1990) I have been constantly on the go for the last couple of years.  I work for a Workforce Management company that provides automated HR systems to the federal government called Avue Technologies.  I spend my days on the road providing training, implementation, and consulting services to our clients.  I am in Washington DC right now working on a project to review and rewrite the Position Descriptions for an agency within USDA.  After all these years I'm finally using my IR degree.

Troy Stevermer (1990) I spent 8 years at the Mayo Clinic, then 2 years with FedEx, and am currently in my 3rd year with Northwest Airlines Cargo.  I am the HR Manager for Domestic and Int'l Cargo Sales and Operations. I still see a lot of names and faces that I remember from class, it is good to see you have been able to retain many of the talented professors. I have often wondered about Dr. Paul Muchinsky - he was a major influence in my decision to pursue the IR program and an excellent professor.  Can you let me know if he is still around.

Editor’s Note: Paul Muchinsky left ISU in 1993 to be the Joseph M. Bryan Distinguished Professor of Business at the University of North Carolina-Greensboro. He was recently named a fellow of the American Psychological Association.

Jim Fenton (1992) Since 1994, I have been Senior Employee Relations Specialist at Minnesota Life, St. Paul, MN.   I worked with Paula Morrow and Jim McElroy as an RA while at ISU, and I continued to conduct some research with them since graduating (most recently a publication in 1999 re: absenteeism and turnover). 

Zafar Iqbal (1993) I have since completed by Ph.D. in Business Administration (Marketing emphasis) and am an Assistant Professor of Marketing at DePaul University in Chicago. 

Catherine Phillips (1993) In the Fall of '94 I started a PhD in psychology at ISU and currently am a licensed psychologist in private practice in Iowa City. I work part-time on an ADHD research project at the University.  After finishing the degree and internship, I spent 2 years in a pediatric neuropsych postdoc at the UIHC.

Rachele (Hertz) Kugel (1993) After graduating in 1993, my husband accepted a job in Bloomington, IL. After two babies, I was offered a wonderful job opportunity with a Fortune 500 company in Omaha as a technical recruiter. After the large, publicly traded company, I worked part time for about three years at a small privately owned construction products distributor in Des Moines.  Now, I am full time again as the only HR employee at the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa.  My two passions are raising my family and training for marathons.  I hope to return to school some day (probably about the time my kids go to college)--possibly to study law.

Cha Ron Sattler (1995) I am Assistant Director of Residence Life at Rochester Institute of Technology.  I find my IR training very useful, particularly in TQM and now as I am beginning to explore assessment in anticipating of our accreditation review. I'm also starting coursework at SUNY Buffalo. Who knows, I may have a PhD someday in Higher Ed (sounds redundant!) - Hope alls well back in Iowa - I bike through there on occasion with RAGBRAI!

Brian Wendry (1996) I am running a rowing program in Hartford, CT

Timothy Sullivan (1997) I work for the Center for Industrial Research and Service (CIRAS), which is part of Iowa State University Extension and the outreach branch for the College of Engineering. I am not an IR practitioner, but my education has served me well in many of the projects we do with Iowa manufacturers.

Shan Ince (1997) I left my position as VP of HR, at Holmes Murphy, in November, to take a new position.   I am now working at Community State Bank, in Ankeny, as the Director of Human Resources.   As part of the management team, I am actively involved in the strategic planning and growth of our bank, a very challenging and rewarding assignment.   I have continued my education by working toward my CCP and completed the law modules at Drake. The website is a great idea.  I enjoyed looking up my college friends!  

Jennifer (Paisly) Bryant (1998) I worked for Wells Fargo Home Mortgage (Norwest Mortgage originally) in West Des Moines in progressive roles from HR Associate to Employee Relations Consultant to Human Resources Consultant. I'm currently in an HR Generalist role supporting a number of groups (Marketing, E-Business, Cross-sell; Business Information) and exciting initiatives.