Tepper School Alumni Awards

The Tepper School Alumni Awards recognize excellence in our alumni community for outstanding career accomplishments or achievements and for impressive service to the school and alumni community.

Eric Butler BS/CIT (1981), MSIA (1986)
Tepper Alumni Lifetime Achievement Award

For his incredible career accomplishments as well as for his volunteer service to the Tepper School, Eric is being honored as the recipient of our highest alumni honor. Eric had a stellar 32-year career with Union Pacific Railroad, one of the largest freight rail providers in North America, retiring in 2017 as the Executive Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer. Currently, he is the President and CEO of Aswani-Butler Investment Associates, a private equity firm based in Omaha, and serves on the Board of Directors for several organizations. He is also president of the Omaha Airport Authority Board and serves on the Board of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City – Omaha Branch, including as Board Chair. A man of the highest integrity and faith, Eric has volunteered his time, talent, and resources to support a host of funds and fellowships and has served on the Tepper Business Board of Advisors and Tepper School Alumni Board, and served as a W.L. Mellon Speaker, and on his class reunion committee. 

Ted Fetterman MSIA (1974)
Tepper Alumni Service Award 

For his lifelong service and philanthropic support to his alma mater, Ted is receiving the 2024 Tepper Alumni Lifetime Service Award. An undergraduate engineering graduate at Carnegie Mellon in 1968, Ted went on to earn his Master of Science degree in business from GSIA in 1974. He has been an exemplary alumni advocate for the business school and Carnegie Mellon University over his impressive career as a senior finance executive with United Technologies serving as vice president and worldwide CFO of Otis Elevator and Vice President of Acquisition Integration at Carrier Corporate. He was instrumental in the corporate sponsorship at UTC of the innovative and highly successful Flex-Mode MBA program launched in 1996 which laid the groundwork for the current top-ranked Online Hybrid MBA Program. In addition to his corporate leadership, Ted has been actively engaged as a passionate reunion volunteer serving as a leader on his class reunion committees, participating in alumni events and panels, and generously supporting the mission of the school. 

Mark Zacur MSIA (1997)
Tepper Alumni Achievement Award

For his impressive career achievements and leadership in the healthcare industry as well as for his volunteer service to the Tepper School it is our pleasure to honor Mark. He currently serves as CEO of Avantik, an integrated medical product and services company serving laboratories. Mark joined Avantik in 2023 after holding senior leadership roles in healthcare distribution and manufacturing as executive vice president and chief commercial officer at Owens & Minor and at Thermo Fisher Scientific as vice president and general manager at Fisher Healthcare. He has also served as a Board Member of The Health Industry Distributors Association (HIDA) as well as HIDA’s Board Chairman. Prior to Fisher Scientific, Mark held various roles at Bayer Material Science, Reichhold Chemicals, Monsanto Company, and Raytheon. An active alumnus and generous donor, Mark has been a speaker, Management Game board member, recruiting volunteer, and Reunion Giving Committee Chair.

Laurie Barkman (MSIA 1999)
Tepper Alumni Service Award

It’s an honor to award Laurie a Tepper Alumni Service Award for her outstanding volunteer leadership and passionate service to the Tepper School alumni community. Laurie has served Tepper as a class reunion volunteer, an admissions volunteer, speaker, and member of the Tepper School Alumni Board from 2010 to 2016, where she also served as President. Laurie was the inaugural recipient of the Tepper Women in Business “Alumna of the Year” award. A consistent philanthropic supporter of the university, Laurie serves as an adjunct professor at the Tepper School teaching a course titled, “The Corporate Startup Lab.” She is also an advisor, author, award-winning podcaster, and keynote speaker through her firm, the Business Transition Sherpa where she provides C-Level strategy, go to market expertise, and exit planning services.

Bruce Gebhardt (MSIA 1984) Posthumously
Tepper Alumni Service Award

We are deeply honored to award Bruce a Tepper Alumni Service Award for his outstanding volunteer leadership and service to the Tepper School and the Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship. Bruce was a passionate alumnus, attending alumni events in NYC, championing his class reunions, generously supporting the school, including donor challenges for Tepper’s giving campaigns, and serving on the Tepper School Alumni Board. He loved investing his time and energy in numerous startups coming out of the Swartz Center. He was our most active alumni angel investors in CMU Swartz startups and a leader in 99 Tartans. He was active as a board member for CMU Swartz startups and always opened his vast network to startup founders. Bruce left us with a legacy of service that has inspired countless students and alumni.

Michelle Crottier (MBA 2014)
Tepper Recent Masters Alumni Award

We are delighted to recognize Michelle Crottier for her dedicated service to the Tepper School community. As an alumna, Michelle has been active volunteer and leader impacting potential students, current alumni, and future alumni. Whether it be volunteering with admissions, corporate recruiting, reunion, or alumni philanthropy Michelle’s dedicated service in supporting the growth and success of students and alumni is deeply appreciated by all. She has been a member of both the New York and San Francisco Bay Area Alumni chapters and served on the Tepper Alumni Board. She regularly supports the Tepper School Annual Fund. Michelle currently is the Regulatory Affairs Senior Manager for Google where she is also an active leader of the Tepper Alumni Group, arranging student treks to and connecting alumni at Google.

Todd Medema (BS 2014)
Tepper Recent Undergraduate Alumni Award

Todd is being recognized for his career success and his ongoing support of his alma mater. As a winner of the prestigious 5th Year Scholarship while at Carnegie Mellon, Todd can be described with words such as founder, entrepreneur, and innovator as he pursues his many endeavors such as co-authoring a bestselling book, co-founding Fabricate.IO or pursuing his interest in clean energy. Todd has stayed connected with the Tepper School through volunteering for Tartan Talks, Take a Tartan to Work Day and the Student Giving Committee. Since graduation, he has held product management and software roles at Uber and Tesla as well in startups. He is currently a Fellow at Climatebase where upon completion he plans to continue pursuing his passion in clean energy.