Penn State Smeal College of Business Alumni Award recipients are selected by the executive team of the Smeal Alumni Society Board in recognition of their exceptional career, leadership, and volunteer achievements, as well as the prestige their accomplishments bring to the college.


Distinguished Achievement Award

  • Brian S. Dreibelbis ’85 OpMgt, senior director of supply chain human resources/labor and employee relations, Land O’ Lakes
  • Claudia A. Steeb ’81 Fin, senior managing director, JLL
  • Farnoosh Torabi ’02 Fin & IB, financial expert, author, host
  • LTG (ret) Darrell K. Williams ‘91 MBA, president, Hampton University

Diversity Leadership Award

  • Christine Ramsay ’05 Mktg, chief empowerment officer and founder of Ignite Inclusion, LLC

Gerald I. Susman Sustainability Leadership Award

  • William E. Flederbach Jr. ’05 EMBA, president and chief executive officer, ClimeCo

Outstanding Young Professional Award

  • Jordan J. Zezza ’18 MOL, senior manager of data science portfolio management, Neuroscience, The Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson

Service to Smeal Award

  • Timmy Garde ’78 Acctg, chief growth officer, Ardelis Health
  • Chris Thomas ’03 Mgmt & IB, ’08 MBA, principal team leader, Chick-Fil-A Inc.

To learn more or nominate someone for a Smeal Award, visit smeal.psu.edu/alumni/honoring-alumni.