Terry McNew Archives | University of Central Florida News Central Florida Research, Arts, Technology, Student Life and College News, Stories and More Fri, 09 Feb 2024 16:55:31 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 /wp-content/blogs.dir/20/files/2019/05/cropped-logo-150x150.png Terry McNew Archives | University of Central Florida News 32 32 College of Business Honors Dr. Hitt, Alumni, Partners, Executives at Hall of Fame /news/college-of-business-celebrates-dr-hitt-top-alumni-partners-executives-at-hall-of-fame/ Tue, 27 Feb 2018 14:14:06 +0000 /news/?p=81051 From an opening torch lighting to a final call of 鶹Ʒ SDo you believe in miracles?, 鶹Ʒ S the UCF College of Business 2018 Hall of Fame: Knights on Ice paid homage to the Winter Olympics while feting its own gold-medal-caliber alumni, partners and leaders at Rosen Shingle Creek.

More than 800 students, alumni, faculty, corporate partners and community members gathered Feb. 20 to honor UCF President John C. Hitt with a Lifetime Achievement Award, celebrate the induction of three Hall of Famers and recognize several of the college 鶹Ʒ Ss distinguished alumni.

Before presenting the special award to Dr. Hitt, who will retire as president later this year, business Dean Paul Jarley thanked him for making UCF the partnership university, and then asked everyone in the audience who had graduated or worked for UCF during Dr. Hitt 鶹Ʒ Ss presidency to stand, spurring a majority of the audience to its feet.

鶹Ʒ SOn behalf of everyone standing here tonight, 鶹Ʒ S Jarley said, 鶹Ʒ Sit is my great pleasure to present you with our Lifetime Achievement Award. We are and forever will be part of the 鶹Ʒ SHitt Squad. 鶹Ʒ S 鶹Ʒ S

On the stage set to look like an Olympic news studio and with vice president of UCF Communications & Marketing Grant Heston serving as host, the college interviewed and inducted Sheila Jordan 鶹Ʒ S86, senior vice president and chief information officer of Symantec; Terry McNew 鶹Ʒ S86, president and CEO of MasterCraft Boat Company; and Dawn Olivardia 鶹Ʒ S89, 鶹Ʒ S90, tax partner, Grant Thornton LLP, into its Hall of Fame.

Ravago Holdings America and Verizon received Partnership Awards. In addition, the college presented Entrepreneurial Alumni Awards to Jorge Amaro 鶹Ʒ S13, founder and CEO of A3i Inc.; Ken Herndon 鶹Ʒ S87, founder and CEO of KC Curb Inc.; and Carey Sobel 鶹Ʒ S09, partner and chief strategy officer of Three21 Creative. Peter Laurinaitis 鶹Ʒ S93, 鶹Ʒ S95, partner of PJT Partners; Jason M. Reilly 鶹Ʒ S95, 鶹Ʒ S98, CFA, managing director and market investment executive of U.S. Trust; and Woody Walker 鶹Ʒ S92, 鶹Ʒ S94, senior vice president of alliances and client engagement of Convergence Consulting Group, received the Honorable Knights Award. Daniel Conn 鶹Ʒ S09, 鶹Ʒ S10, CPA, director of finance of Demetree Global; and Blaire Martin 鶹Ʒ S11, 鶹Ʒ S13, co-founder and executive director of Florida Angel Nexus, took home the Notable Knights Awards.

This was the 19th year for the Hall of Fame, which was presented by perennial platinum sponsor and partner BB&T. This year BB&T increased its sponsorship to allow for more students to attend and participate in the student-engagement session at which students network with alumni and the college 鶹Ʒ Ss corporate partners before the awards. Scott Keith, BB&T regional president of North and Central Florida, joined Knightro onstage to light the ceremonial torch to start the event.

The night 鶹Ʒ Ss closing ceremony saw Heston, a 2013 alumnus of the college 鶹Ʒ Ss executive MBA program, congratulate and thank all of the honorees before setting up the final video with sportscaster Al Michaels 鶹Ʒ S iconic line, 鶹Ʒ SDo you believe in miracles? 鶹Ʒ S Onscreen, Jarley delivered a Herb Brooks-inspired speech to fire up the crowd. As the video ended, Knightro and the UCF men 鶹Ʒ Ss ice hockey team appeared in full uniform, to the delight of the audience, and marched through the ballroom prompting chants of 鶹Ʒ SU-C-F! U-C-F! 鶹Ʒ S

]]> UCF Alumni Association and Colleges Present 2015 Professional Achievement Awards /news/ucf-alumni-association-and-colleges-present-2015-professional-achievement-awards/ Tue, 03 Nov 2015 17:48:50 +0000 /news/?p=69082 UCF’s alumni association and colleges honored 11 Knights with Professional Achievement Awards at the Black & Gold Gala on Oct. 22. This year’s celebration was the 35th year the alumni association has recognized alumni who “Reach for the Stars.”

Professional Achievement Award winners are selected by each individual college and are given to alumni who are standouts in their respective fields.

The 2015 awardees included:
The Burnett Honors College
Susan D. Rozelle, ’94| Associate Dean for Faculty and Professor of Law, Stetson University College of Law
College of Arts and Humanities
Juliann Nicole Hickey, ’95 | Senior Vice President and Eastern Regional Manager, Title Resources
College of Business Administration
Terry D. McNew, ’86 | President/CEO, MasterCraft Boat Company LLC
College of Education and Human Performance
Gonzalo S. La Cava, ’97, ’01, ’09 | Area Superintendent, Central Learning Community, Fulton County Schools
College of Engineering and Computer Science
Benjamin J. Patz, ’85 | Managing Director, The FAN Fund
College of Health and Public Affairs
Bernard Rousseau, ’98, ’00, Ph.D., CCC-SLP, ASHA Fellow | Associate Vice Chair for Research/Chancellor Faculty Fellow/Associate Professor of Otolaryngology, Hearing and Speech Sciences, and Mechanical Engineering, Vanderbilt University Medical Center
College of Medicine
Dr. Michael Makowski, ’80 | Eye Physician/Surgeon, Tomoka Eye Associates
College of Nursing
Thomas Weichart, ’04, ’14 | Clinical Nursing Director, ONI Medical Associates
College of Optics and Photonics
Frank J. Effenberger, ’95 | VP, Access Lab, Futurewei Technologies
College of Sciences
James Rosengren, ’81 | Founder/Chairman/CEO, Heritage Health Solutions Inc.
Rosen College of Hospitality Management
Christopher Iaciofoli, ’03 | Director of Operations, Red Lobster Seafood Co.

鶹Ʒ SĔĔ

The evening’s other recipients included:
Distinguished Student Award
Yudeysis Cores
Service to UCF Award
The Honorable Olga M. Calvet, ’71 | Senior Vice President/CFO, Palmas Services LLC
Distinguished Alumnus Award
Alex Martins, ’01 | CEO, Orlando Magic
Michelle Akers Award
Limbitless Solutions
Champions Award
J. Charles Gray

Congratulations to all of this year’s winners!

Read more stories about alumni at ucfalumni.com.

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