This past Alumni Weekend, the University of Delaware’s Alfred Lerner College of Business and Economics honored exceptional graduates at the 2016 Alumni Awards of Excellence.

“We have, after last weekend’s graduation, 28,000 living alumni of the Lerner College,” said Lerner College Dean Bruce Weber. “As I’ve gotten to know more and more of these 28,000 people, I’ve come to realize the strength and power of this alumni network.”

“The impact that alumni have, and the connections and bonds that students graduating from the Lerner College have with this institution are really the secret sauce of Lerner College,” he said.

Weber added that the awardees might notice a number of differences between the Lerner of today and the Lerner of their eras, as the college has continued to grow and change in response to the needs of industry and developments in technology.

“But let me tell you one constant at this college: its mission, which is unchanged,” Weber said. “And that mission is to inspire and transform our students.”

Given the awardees’ remarks at the ceremony, it seems that Lerner has certainly accomplished this goal in their lives.

This year’s honorees included:

• Ron Bruehlman, senior vice president and chief financial officer of IMS Health;
• Tanya Bakalov, co-founder of SevOne;
• Tom Horne, managing director with JPMorgan Chase;
• Natalie Ramsey, chair of the bankruptcy and corporate restructuring section, vice-chair of corporate litigation and partner in the corporate and litigation departments at Montgomery McCracken Walker and Rhoads LLP; and
• Rebecca Reed, social studies supervisor for Red Clay Consolidated School District, who was unable to attend the ceremony.

During the ceremony, each honoree shared how their experiences at the Lerner College helped them to achieve both professional success and personal fulfillment.

Tanya Bakalov

Bakalov said that Lerner helped her to develop one characteristic that she believes is crucial to “who makes it and who doesn’t.” That characteristic? Grit.

Bakalov defines grit as “passion and perseverance over a long period of time.” She said, “I want to thank the University for making me so passionate about accounting and business,” and for pushing her to persevere through challenging courses.

After graduation, Bakalov quickly passed her CPA exam on the first try. “I really attribute that to the wonderful professors here at Lerner,” she said.

She then co-founded SevOne, helping the company to grow from initially small beginnings to a successful business with over 600 employees.

Ron Bruehlman

Bruehlman said that he enjoyed reaching back into his memories to contemplate “how Lerner changed my life.” Initially, he said, he had entered UD without being sure of what path he wanted to take.

“Finally I took a couple of economics courses at Lerner, and that’s when the light really went off in my head. I said, ‘I really love this.’”

Economics, Bruehlman continued, “gave me a road map for how you can make life better for everyone. By helping me discover what I really love doing, that is, my love for economics, Lerner really had a dramatic impact in shaping who I am.”

“So it’s not an exaggeration to say that my time here at the University of Delaware and Lerner changed the way I view the world, and set me off in a positive direction that I haven’t regretted since.”

Tom Horne

During his acceptance speech, Horne discussed a vivid memory from his time at UD: sitting in a Lerner classroom on Oct. 20, 1987, the day after a historic stock market crash.

Horne said that his professor entered the classroom excited to discuss the importance of this event with his class, to explain how the crash happened and its serious significance. This conversation left Horne inspired.

“It’s an example to me of what one small seed can do,” Horne said, a class that “in some way led to my 28-year career in banking.”

“I’m very grateful for that,” Horne said. “One of the things I loved about the University of Delaware, and still do, is that it can be as big or as small as you want it to be. Both of those things create wonderful opportunities.”

“When you hear about Lerner, you’re going to hear about opportunity,” he continued.

And Horne added this opportunity doesn’t stop with him: He has one nephew who just graduated from UD and two who just completed their freshman year at Lerner. In fact, Horne counts at least a dozen extended family members who are Blue Hens.

This is why, he continued, Weber’s remarks from earlier in the evening – about inspiring and transforming students – rang particularly true.

“It’s all about how to inspire and transform students by opening their hearts and minds so they can see the opportunities that are in front of them,” Horne said. “That’s what this University did for me. And for that I’m very grateful.”

Natalie Ramsey

During Ramsey’s speech, she agreed with Horne that Weber’s earlier remarks were particularly accurate.

“Dean Weber talked about ‘transform’ and ‘inspire,’ and that’s exactly what happened for me here,” Ramsey said. “I came in with a mindset of following in a particular straight line path, and I found that the teaching here opened my eyes to ideas I had never considered before … and started me thinking in a much broader spectrum.”

Her professors, Ramsey said, were, “so far ahead of the accounting world at the time, already talking about issues like responsible accounting and ethics in reporting … Those were concepts now that we’re more accustomed to, but at the time that was brand new.”

“It really opened the world to me,” she continued. This ahead-of-its-time education, she said, helped her to succeed in the world of corporate restructuring.

Ramsey also said that she met numerous lifelong friends and colleagues here: “The community here is just terrific. That speaks to the quality of the students that the University attracts, and the way that the University has always offered so many opportunities to find your niche.”

“I truly believe I could not have gained a better education anywhere.”