Since 1973, the Alumni Fellow Award, the highest award given by the Penn State Alumni Association, has been presented to alumni who are considered leaders in their professional fields.
Penn State Smeal graduates Jean Oelwang, Larry Raiman, and George Strickler were among the most recent class of awardees.
Jean Oelwang
Jean Oelwang believes in “disruptive detours.”
Her personal detours, while working on six continents over 18 years to help start up mobile phone companies, have included working as a VISTA Volunteer with homeless teens in Chicago and with the Foundation for National Parks and Wildlife in Sydney, Australia.
“These detours grounded me in humility so I could better understand other sectors and the importance of bridging divides for the greater collective good,” Oelwang says.
They also helped prepare the 1987 Smeal marketing graduate for her current role as founding CEO and president of Virgin Unite, an entrepreneurial foundation that builds leadership collectives, incubates ideas, and re-invents systems for a better world — a position she’s held for nearly 20 years.
Oelwang sits on several advisory boards, has been a TED and TEDx host and speaker, and is the recipient of several awards that recognize her leadership and commitment to sustainability.
–Anne Louise Cropp
Larry Raiman
Larry Raiman has more than 30 years of experience in the real estate industry, beginning as a research analyst covering real estate investment trusts and culminating as managing principal, chief investment officer, and portfolio manager of LDR Capital Management, the investment advisory firm he helped found in 2011.
Raiman previously spent more than 15 years at Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette/Credit Suisse Group, where he ran the firm’s Global Real Estate Securities business, and was an adjunct professor at Columbia Business School.
Raiman graduated from Penn State with a degree in accounting in 1982 and earned an MBA from Columbia Business School in 1989.
“I feel such loyalty, passion, and appreciation for the University,” Raiman says. “It is where I learned to be a positive community member, a charitable individual, and to pay it forward through mentoring and other volunteer opportunities.”
–Anne Louise Cropp
George Strickler
A second-generation Penn Stater, George Strickler earned a degree in accounting in 1969 and began his career with Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co. He spent 30 years in a variety of finance and treasury positions, culminating as vice president of finance and chief accounting officer.
Strickler then joined BorgWarner as its executive vice president and CFO in 1999 and later served as executive vice president and chief financial officer with Republic Engineered Products. In 2006, he joined Stoneridge Inc. as executive vice president and chief financial officer and retired in 2018 as executive vice president of strategic growth.
Strickler is currently chairman of the board of directors of Summa Health, a $1.8 billion nonprofit health care organization in Akron, Ohio.
“My Penn State education pushed me to challenge myself and to find success in my career. To be honored by such a special place is one of life’s greatest honors,” Strickler says.
–Anne Louise Cropp
