ISE Inducts Distinguished Alumni Class of 2009
Posted October 18, 2009
On October 15, 2009 the Edward P. Fitts Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering inducted its fourth class of Distinguished Alumni. The Distinguished Alumnus Award is the highest honor that the department can bestow upon any alumnus. It’s given to department alumni whose contributions to their profession, community, and the department, college and/or university are notable and merit special recognition. This year’s recipients include:
John L. Colley is the Almand R. Coleman Professor of Business Administration in the Darden
School of Business at the University of Virginia (UVA). He received his B.S.I.E. from NC State in 1957 and his DBA in quantitative analysis from the University of Southern California in 1964. John has significant experience in corporate governance and strategy, and operations planning and control. He is the author or co-author of 15 books and more than 330 Darden case studies. He serves as a director of Avid Medical, Inc. and is a former long-time director and chairman of the board of Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Virginia (now Trigon, Inc). Prior to joining UVA in 1967, he served as chief of operations and systems analysis for the Hughes Aircraft Company.
William M. “Buck” Deal is former senior vice president of Bernhardt Industries, one of the
oldest and largest family owned and operated marketers of fine wood and upholstered furniture in the United States. His 41-year career with Bernhardt included leadership positions as director of engineering operations and vice president of manufacturing. He received his B.S.I.E. degree as valedictorian from NC State in 1963, and completed his MBA degree from the Harvard School of Business in 1968. Throughout his career, he was active in the American Furniture Manufacturers Association and served as co-chair of the Furniture Industry Task Force, working with the Environmental Protection Agency to establish air quality standards for the furniture industry.
David F. Parker is senior advisor of Triangle Capital Corporation, having co-founded Triangle’s predecessor companies, Triangle Capital Partners, LLC and Triangle Mezzanine Fund LLLP in 2002 and 2003 respectively. David received his B.S.I.E. from NC State in 1968 and his MBA from the Harvard Business School in 1971. Prior to attending Harvard, David worked for the College of Engineering’s Industrial Extension Service. His other work experience includes responsibility for venture capital investments, divestitures, investor communications and management buyouts of numerous and varied middle market companies. He has served as the founding chairman of the NC State Graduate School Board of Advisors, vice chairman of the Board of Visitors and currently serves on the Board of the NC State Investment Fund.
John S. Usher received his Ph.D. in industrial engineering from NC State in 1987 and immediately began his academic career at the University of Louisville as an assistant professor, becoming professor and then department head in 2005, the position he currently holds. He was named the 2001 Distinguished Teaching Professor at the University of Louisville, and a 2005 Fellow of the Institute of Industrial Engineers (IIE). The author of over 30 refereed journal articles, numerous conference proceedings and presentations, author or chapter contributor of 12 books, instructor of 10 different undergraduate and graduate courses, he has directed over 80 theses and dissertations.