Marianne (Hedin) Agnoli, C86, MPH'92
Agnoli participated in the Scholars Program while at Benedictine University and spent a semester in Ireland as an InterFuture Scholar doing research. In addition, she had an internship with the Community Clinic of the Peoples Resource Center in Wheaton. Agnoli is a Foods and Nutrition Instructor at Scott Community College in Davenport, Iowa. She has held previous positions with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and Catholic Diocese of St. Cloud. Together with her husband, Frank Agnoli, also a Benedictine University Scholar student and a medical doctor, she has dedicated her life to helping less fortunate people including doing mission work at the Hospital and Medical Training Facility in Tanzania. For nine years they served the people of two small rural Catholic mission churches, and worked for the local community health centers in southeastern Kentucky.
Quote:
"Spanish has come in handy, especially when I was home schooling our children for eight years. I have always found myself attempting to internationalize, or at least expand the global thinking, of those with whom I work. (I guess you just carry that IBE major wherever you go)."

William "Bill" Atkiels, C95, German minor
Atkiels has enrolled in the WebFlex M.B.A. program at Benedictine University with a concentration in International Business. He is a senior manager international tax consultant for Ernst and Young in Frankfurt, Germany, where he is responsible for 25 consultants working with major German banks and real estate companies on tax related issues of investing in the U.S. and with U.S. private equity companies investing in German real estate. He previously was an international tax consultant for Arthur Andersen in Chicago and Frankfurt. During that time he traveled to client locations all over Europe, Mexico and the U.S. He and his German born wife raise their children bilingually. Atkiels is fluent in German.
Quote:
"I am happy with just about every aspect and achievement in my career. Benedictine University is a place where learning is of the highest quality. I saw this in my undergraduate studies and see it now in the M.B.A. program"

Hemanshu Bahl, C00
Bahl studied Mandarin Chinese while at Benedictine University. As a manager (executive) at Accenture he has responsibilities for projects and project teams made up of client and partner/alliance resources; and for the management of intermediate
projects throughout the infrastructure and software development project lifecycles. He has worked in the U.S., Canada, Argentina, United Kingdom, Geneva, Dubai and India. Bahl was previously an international logistics analyst at Allied International. He speaks Hindi, Spanish and some Chinese.
Quote:
"Don't wait for opportunities to fall in your lap, go out and seek them.
When you are doing business or having any meeting with someone, be it a friend, colleague or client, look not only at what you want out of that meeting, but put yourself in the other person's shoes and look at what they are looking for also, so you have a win-win outcome. And don't burn your bridges."

Louise (Damgaard Pedersen) Bochlas, C99
Bochlas was an exchange student at Copenhagen Business School in Denmark and earned her M.A. in English and International Relations at Aalborg University, Denmark. As the sales coordinator, TV 2 (the largest Danish TV station), she manages business-to- business sales of the station's pay channels. Bochlas was previously a market coordinator for Nykredit - one of the largest financial companies in Denmark; an international customer coordinator for ISS - one of the largest Facility Services companies in the world; and a reporter for the United Nations Information Centre at Capitol Hill covering the conflict in Iraq. Bochlas speaks English, French and Danish.

Brian Butler, Scholar C90, Spanish minor
Butler participated in the Scholars Program at Benedictine University and the study/internship program in Costa Rica and Bolivia. He continued his education by earning his M.B.A. at Thunderbird. As Latin America sales manager for the Chamberlain Group, he is responsible for all sales into Latin America and the Caribbean, also interfacing with the Latin America marketing manager on a daily basis. He helped establish the Latin America department in 1995. "This has taken me to 20 different countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. In that time, our business in the region has more than tripled. We now sell our product in 24 different countries in the area. I use my Spanish every single day and my Portuguese occasionally for work."
Butler previously was the marketing manager for Micro Loan Development Organization in Central and South America and the Caribbean. "I wrote and presented grant proposals to international organizations, guided 'insight tours' for people interested in making donations to the organization, and wrote and presented before and after stories of how our programs improved the businesses and lives of our micro loan clients - an experience of a lifetime because I lived with local families." He also was previously the sales manager at United States Gypsum covering Latin America. He has been a guest speaker at IBE seminars. He is fluent in Spanish, Portuguese and French. He and his Colombian born wife raise their children bilingually because they want to instill in their children the Spanish language and Latin American culture. Their oldest daughter is attending a dual language school with about a 50/50 split between English-speaking and Spanish-speaking kids.
Quote:
"Every day at work I am challenged to tie everything from my academic, cultural, language and personal background together in order to respond to our customers' needs and continue to grow our business."

Ginger (Hiter) Butz, C92, Spanish; M.B.A.'01
Butz is a product manager at Tellabs managing all aspects in the lifecycle of the products, as well as interface to customers - issues and requests. She started at Tellabs 14 years ago, beginning in finance, then in sales and customer service, and now in product management.
Quote:
"It has been great to have the opportunity to build a strong foundation of knowledge and work in so many different aspects and functional areas of the business. All of my products are sold in the U.S., but my International Business background has been very beneficial working with customers in the States, each region in the U.S. has different cultural aspects, and it is helpful to understand that."

Yu-chen Chi, C90, China
As an international accounting manager for Juno Logistics, an international logistics company, Chi handles international financial matters and helps with business expansion. Her previous company assignments have included extensive business dealings with international firms. Chi is fluent in Chinese.
Quote:
"Work experiences and education enabled me to learn many skills, which helped prepare me to become CFO, international accounting manager and operations manager for different companies. Girls born in China face an uncertain future. Exposure to business opportunities led me to study business in the United States at Benedictine University. I feel fortunate to have had the opportunity to learn and live in a culture so dramatically different from my origins. The freedom available here has allowed my life to expand beyond my expectations. I am very grateful for the opportunity to live and work in American society."

Antonello Concas, C97, M.B.A.'02 (Concentration IBE), Italy
The last five-and-a-half years Concas has worked for Transora/1SYNC in the global technical support department, providing services that are meant to improve the supply chain management of consumer product companies, supervising different software tools used by the customers worldwide and supervising online auctions between suppliers and retailers. Since many of the company's clients are in Italy, he uses his Italian daily, and also when he travels to his home country every year.

Julia Cronin, C01, International Studies minor
Cronin continued her education earning her J.D. and Master's in Dispute Resolution at Pepperdine University. She participated in undergraduate study abroad one semester each at Copenhagen Business School in Denmark, Chuo University in Japan and at University of Pittsburgh's Semester at Sea. In addition she participated in summer programs in Mexico and Brazil; graduate study abroad at the University of Copenhagen and Pepperdine University's School of Law in London. Cronin interned at Wilmer, Cutler, Pickering, Hale & Door's London office. She is an associate at Jones Day Law offices in Washington doing large-scale commercial litigation.

Debra Dalton, C89
Dalton is vice president, assistant audit manager, Wachovia Capital Finance performing field examinations; training junior auditors and managing complex audit process with outsourced contractors. She previously was an account administrator for Bank America Business Credit; a senior loan analyst, field examiner and work out specialist at LaSalle Business Credit; in the Bank of America commercial finance department monitoring operations of 20 retail stores to maximize the bank's return on its liquidation and managed personnel payroll and tax issues.

Don Davis, Scholar C95, French minor
Davis participated in the Scholars program at Benedictine University and went on to DePaul University to earn his M.B.A. He is an automotive account and sales support manager at Hapag Lloyd where he is responsible for 15 employees who perform marketing functions, vessel allocation and inside support for customers in the largest area in the world - the Midwest. He is also commercially responsible for DaimlerChrysler and other Detroit based customers. In 2006 he was assigned to an overseas project in Mumbai, India implementing data input/processing from U.S. to India. He is currently a member of the global expert team on their internal rating system that participates in working group meetings with the team in Hamburg, and visits Japan, Germany and Austria. He started to work for the company while still in college and has held the following capacities: customer service representative; account executive; sales manager responsible for Ford, General Motors and DaimlerChrysler as well as the sales staff. He started an internship program with Benedictine University in February 2006. So far he has had four interns and hired one intern for full time employment.
Quote:
"The roles of these interns are in the following areas: customer pricing, vessel allocation and customer audit. The contributions from the students thus far have been excellent and I expect this program to be a permanent part of the company."

Jeremy Dobrowolski, C86, German minor
Dobrowolski participated in an internship at Kellogg's in Bremen, Germany. He is vice president of international sales and marketing, Taylor Company, and responsible for all international sales outside North America with 12 foreign based team members and more than 120 distributors in 119 countries. Previously he was with Franke Gmbh, Bad Saeckingen, Germany for seven years. In his job he has traveled to at least 73 countries on all continents. In 1990 he worked with a world wide team to build and open the first Russian McDonalds in Moscow. Dobrowolski is fluent in German.
Quote:
"It was an amazing experience and all of us who were involved are still very attached to the story and the success. Now McDonald's in Russia has more than 100 restaurants and more than 15,000 people employed in their extended organization (suppliers, developers, etc). Beyond that I have had an incredible 19 years in the foods service industry. I can take some pride in having helped people around the world start a business, save a business or just get through the day."

Virginia Duran, C98, Spanish major
Duran went on to earn her Master's in Adult Education at National Louis University. She is an ESL/ELL Specialist Electronic Learning Environment in Naperville, specializing in technology to schools (K-12) and an ESL instructor at College of DuPage. She previously was the manager, international sales accounts for Elkay where she traveled to many Central and South American countries. She also volunteers at the Sharing Connection. Duran is fluent in Spanish.

Anthony (A.J.) Espinosa, C96, German minor
Espinosa went on to DePaul to earn his M.B.A. with an International Business and Finance concentration. He is assistant vice president/product manager at JPMorgan Chase Bank, which includes design, development and on-going management of Internet- based information reporting tools for treasury clients worldwide. He started his career at the bank 10 years ago, surviving three mergers, by starting out reviewing export letters of credit, working in sales, providing technical support to external customers utilizing bank applications, and finally being promoted to project manager. He extensively travels in Europe and uses his German when visiting there.

Christina Ezell, C99, Austria
Ezell went on to DePaul to earn her M.B.A. with a marketing concentration. As senior product planner for Motorola's Branded Audio Accessories, she is responsible for managing, developing and implementing product marketing activities; and developing marketing requirements and envisioning program solutions that will ensure continued growth within the portfolio. While in school she helped with her husband's construction company for commercial and residential constructions. Ezell is fluent in German.
Quote:
"I recently completed a six month program, "Women Unlimited," which I really enjoyed. It is a program for emerging and aspiring managers and focuses on women working for Fortune 500 companies."

Peter Foyo, C88, Military Science
Foyo also earned an engineering degree at Wheaton College. Foyo has been the president and general director of Nextel Mexico, a subsidiary company of Nextel Communications Inc. since 1998. He is responsible for the complete functioning of the company's operations in Mexico. He was previously the director of AT&T Argentina and responsible for the company's administration and operations in Argentina, Chile and Uruguay, as well as on the Board of Directors of the Compañía de Teléfonos del Interior, representing AT&T. In Argentina, he was in charge of the multinational technical and mobile personnel who established a national cellular network. He also held the position of strategic corporate director at Alestra, and director of wireless planning and implementation-PCS/WLL. Foyo is fluent in Spanish. He is a guest speaker at Benedictine University courses and seminars, and co-founder of the Foyo-Linardakis Scholarship Fund for the IBE department. He regularly places IBE students in internships with Nextel in Mexico.

Sheila (Berkes) Freund, C89, Spanish major
Freund earned her M.B.A. with an International Business and Marketing concentration at DePaul. Currently she is an economics assistant-consumer price index, Department of Labor/Bureau of Labor Statistics in Chicago. She uses Spanish at work. Her previous positions include: market research manager, Sampling Corporation of America, where she ran the market research department and was in charge of market research projects for Procter & Gamble and other consumer product clients; market research manager, Spiegel, Inc., where she designed, implemented and managed market research projects for Spiegel Catalog, Eddie Bauer and Newport News clothing companies.
Quote:
"I work about 24 hours a week, and thereby balance my professional and mom duties. I have visited Greece, Mexico and Slovenia. I volunteer for Heartland Blood Center and Sunset Hills Home Association, Wisconsin in the summer."

Francine (Gadzala) Gordon, C86, Political Science
Gordon participated in the Scholars Program while at Benedictine University. She studied Japanese and was our first exchange student in Japan at Kansai Gadai. She went on to earn her M.A. in International Relations at the University of Chicago and her Master's of Management at Northwestern University. As manager, new business development, global medical products at Abbott Laboratories, she is responsible for mergers, acquisitions, licensing and divestitures for the vascular and spine divisions. Her previous positions include: Chicago Council on Foreign Relations where she combined her knowledge of international political and business management topics and was chosen to represent Chicago on a diplomatic visit to the Philippines and Taiwan; at TAP Pharmaceuticals, Abbott's joint venture with Takeda Chemical Industries of Japan, Gordon was chosen as the first employee to work overseas assisting Takeda with marketing strategy with the South East Asian affiliates. She traveled to the Philippines, Taiwan, Thailand, Indonesia and Hong Kong to assist the affiliates.
Quote:
"My Japanese assisted me in numerous trips to Japan and in my every day discussions with my Japanese colleagues at TAP."

Rose (Stevenson) Humiston, C83, M.B.A.'85
As a senior sales manager - wireless sales, she is responsible for wireless switching sales to Motorola for the global market. Humiston started her career with Nortel and has worked for them for 21 years in the departments of proposal and order management, technical marketing and finally in sales where she has worked the last 15 years. During her time at Nortel she received many years in the Honor Circle and Circle of Excellence award, which always came with a wonderful trip to Hawaii, Spain or Mexico, for being in the top 10 percent of the sales team exceeding quota. In addition to full time work and raising two children, she volunteers as the director of the DuPage Rail Safety Council since 1994. The DuPage Rail Safety Council prevents tragedies on the tracks by passing trespassing laws, working with the municipalities for awareness of rail safety in the schools, production of videos for driver's education programs. These activities have led to a dramatic reduction in rail safety incidents. Humiston has also participated in the two day Avon Walk for Breast Cancer for the past three years, having raised more than $6,500.
Quote:
"Having a child with special needs has taught me many new ways to
approach life. I cherish the things I have, change the situations/hurdles I can and learned how to accept what I cannot change. I believe the flexibility of my dreams is what keeps me happy with life, family and work. Sometimes dreams turn out better than expected, just different!"

Leigh Janko, C91, German minor
Janko was a participant in the Scholars Program at Benedictine University and had an internship in Munich, Germany. As vice president of sales, JDT International, Inc., she is in charge of market research resulting in the growth of the worldwide market. The company develops international specifications for hotel textiles and provides support and project management inclusive of product design and development, strategic sourcing, and importing. She has visited textile manufacturing facilities in the major textile producing cities of India. Janko has held several other positions including: senior commodity manager at Avendra L.L.C., a holding company established by several leading hotel companies to leverage purchasing power and negotiate contracts for products and services; owner of a business in Hong Kong, supplying specialty table top and banquet linens as well as guest room linens to all major hotel brands in South East Asia and China from 1998-2002 and also manufacturer's agent for several European and American manufacturers in the upholstery and drapery industry; sales manager for a consulting firm, and partner in a part-time business acting as a manufacturer's agent for three U.S. manufacturers of upholstery and drapery in Hong Kong. She has been a guest speaker in IBE courses. She has a good working knowledge of German.

Debbie (Kruk) Joyce, C93, Finance & Spanish minors
Joyce participated in the Scholars Program and studied abroad in Spain while at Benedictine University. She went on to earn her M.B.A. from Northern Illinois University and has her C.P.A. license. She is the finance manager for McDonald's Corporation. She previously held the position of controller for Wolters Kluwer U.S., a Dutch publishing company; was an independent consultant for Wolters Kluwer U.S. Joyce has also served as library trustee in Lemont for three years. She teaches Economics courses at Benedictine University in the adult program. She has a good working knowledge of Spanish.

Holly Juday, C89, French minor
Juday earned her M.S.M. with an International Business concentration at the University of Wisconsin. As the director, international human resources at Fidelity Strategic Investments in Paris, she is on a cross-functional, cross-cultural "SWAT team" that establishes operations in new countries, is responsible for site selection, benchmarking local compensation and benefits, designing and implementing compensation and benefits, ensuring compliance with local employment law, integrating local and corporate HR processes and procedures. She is also the HR lead on an integration team working on the acquisition of a company in northern Africa. She previously held the following positions: member of international executives services HR group for expatriates at Arthur Andersen for two years in Berlin, focusing on international HR and expatriate policy design and management; consultant, Runzheimer International, assisting clients with domestic and international mobility and compensation programs. Her job has taken her to many European countries, North Africa and India. She uses French daily as it is the language of her workplace as well as speaking to her children in French. Her son's French/American school has classmates from 12 nations. "He plays on the playground with Sammy from Lebanon. Sophia from Greece teases him about his messy handwriting, and he gets in trouble for passing notes in French class with Sumil from India," she said. Juday is also quite proficient in German.
Quote:
"The IBE program at Benedictine University gave me a solid foundation on which to build an international career. Aside from business and economics coursework fundamentals, the program helped me develop a certain level of self-confidence and flexibility which has served me well over the past 17 years."

Dorota ( Bartosic ) Katzman C02, Spanish minor
Katzman is in her fifth year working for Midtronics, in an international sales and marketing and product management role. She is in charge of Latin American sales as well as main channel for Europe and Asia Pacific. She put together distributor conferences in China and Latin America. She travels widely in many countries in East Asia and Latin America to contact distributors and customers.

Dan Knapik, C92
Knapik earned his M.B.A. with a concentration in Finance at DePaul and is a licensed C.P.A. He is senior manager of revenue assurance at Neutral Tandem, Inc. (a telecommunications company). He has been playing in bands and recording music since being in school. Together with his wife, he has started a new band, and also sings in a Descendents tribute band called Liveage!
Quote:
"I have been playing shows about once a month in Chicago and throughout the Midwest. My latest hobby is recording music at home. With today's technology, it is amazing what you can do with a laptop, some software and a few good microphones."

Steven Kocher, C96, German minor
As an international executive recruiter with J.R. Bechtle & Company, he recruits 'C' level executives who lead and manage U.S. subsidiaries of German, Austrian and Swiss parent companies. He gained his expertise for this job in different sales, marketing and business development positions he has held within the software and consulting industry, including a year long assignment in Germany. Kocher continues to pursue his voice training in classical and operatic voice and performs with several professional singing groups and symphonies in Chicago and the suburbs, most recently recording with the Irish composer Liam Lawton on his new release "Sacred Land." He also is a soloist at Old St. Patrick's Catholic Church in Chicago and Sts. Peter and Paul in Naperville.
Quote:
"Most recently I was selected as an extra in the movie, "Ocean's Twelve" which was filmed in Chicago. I had the chance to meet and speak with actor George Clooney but what truly impressed me was how complicated and labor intensive it is to produce just one short scene in a film. (I am but a mere shadow in the 15 second train scene that took two days to film.) I make annual trips to Germany in order to maintain my foreign language ability as well as the professional and personal contacts I made in Europe. The German language is a skill I learned at Benedictine University, and am fortunate to be able to use it every day in my work. I have a deep sense of gratitude for my education and overall experience I received at Benedictine University. Had I not chosen its International Business & Economics program, I certainly would never have had the many professional opportunities and experiences that I enjoy today."

Jiri Konvicka, C03, Czech Republic
Konvicka has enrolled in the M.B.A. at Benedictine University. He interned at and then was offered a job as customs compliance analyst at Molex, updating the Harmonized Tariff Schedule database; checking shipments inbound for HTS classification for improvement of delivery; updating SAP with HTS numbers; and audits customs programs. His previous positions have included: a waiter in Germany; manager of a German grocery store in Prague; au pair in England; waiter on an American cruise line where he met his host family who brought him to Chicago and introduced him to Benedictine University. He is fluent in Czech and German.

Kevin Krause, C92, Marketing and French Concentrations
Krause earned his Master of Aeronautical Science at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach. He is the director, ocean services for AIT Ocean Systems, a world logistics firm, in charge of their entire global ocean program. He previously has worked for two large German transportation companies: Hapag Lloyd and Hamburg Sud which included global travel to Brazil, Germany and all over the U.S. where his knowledge of French, German and Portuguese came in handy. At all three shipping companies, Krause has hired many Benedictine University graduates either as full-time employees or as interns, including a 2006 graduate.
Quote:
"I was exposed to so many facets of international trade there; especially the nuts and bolts of moving freight around the world. I was on the front line of providing top notch service in the supply chain. I started as a trainee and in that short time, made it up to manager of marketing business systems; and I was selected twice to the product management team in charge of company acquisitions. Hapag was a great place for me to prove my Benedictine University education connection was alive and strong. The management at Hapag, at Hamburg Sud and now at AIT called upon me to seek qualified candidates with international backgrounds to join us. It was and is fun meeting and working with those grads just behind me; many of them have gone on in successful international carriers both inside and outside the transportation industry."

Elisabeth (Kirkland) Kucharz, C84, M.B.A.'86 (Marketing)
Kucharz is an internet marketing specialist at Spraying Systems Co., a manufacturer of industrial spray nozzles, with primary responsibility for the content and maintenance of four corporate web sites. In addition, she markets the testing and consulting services group, and is responsible for the marketing and updating of an e-commerce site of which she initially coordinated the multi-departmental team that designed the site.
Kucharz has been a participant in the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer the last three years having raised more than $6,000.
Quote:
"This is a 2-day event where we walk a marathon (26.2 miles) on Saturday and a half-marathon (13.1) miles on Sunday. It's a great experience and a lot of fun!"

Claire Landberg, C06, Spanish and IBE
Landberg studied abroad at Forester Instituto Nacional in Costa Rica and at Eurocentres in Spain. She had an internship with Nextel in Guadalajara, Mexico. She is now a trainee at AIT WorldWide Logistics, rotating to all departments, to eventually work in the international department, either air or ocean services. She is fluent in Spanish.

Christos Linardakis, C88
Linardakis earned his J.D. and two Master's of Law (LL.M.) degrees in International Corporate Law and International Trade Law. He is vice-president and general counsel for IPI, Inc. and two subsidiaries, Chicago-Express International and Intercontinental Supply Corporation, where he is responsible for all customs/trade/legal/TSA/FAA and other activities. He has held other positions including: global trade compliance manager for Compaq Direct, a $4 billion U.S.D. subsidiary of Compaq Computers; and global compliance officer for Tellabs. Linardakis is an expert panel speaker on import/export compliance. His travels include most countries in West and Central Europe and Mexico. He is the co-founder of the Foyo-Linardakis Scholarship Fund for the IBE department. He has published the update of New York Practitioners Guide for International Trade Law in 99/00 for LL.M. and is the owner of Law Office of Linardakis, a professional corporation handling import/export legal issues for medium size companies.
Linardakis is a former board member of Benedictine University President's Club. He is fluent in Greek, Spanish and French.

Ann (Wojceck) Longino, C85
Longino was a member of the first Scholar's class in 1985. Her career is in banking and she is a certified corporate trust specialist. She is the vice president and manager of corporate trust at Cole Taylor Bank in Chicago. "Corporate trust is involved in public finance. My position is responsible for all facets of corporate trust. Our corporate trust product line includes a $4 billion portfolio of accounts including indenture trustee, bond registrar and paying agent, refunding escrow agent and escrow agent accounts." Positions that Longino has previously held include: corporate trust administration with First Chicago NBD, acquiring knowledge of municipal and corporate debt, escrows, specifically medium-term notes; manager of corporate trust operations at American National Bank and Trust Company of Chicago where she was responsible for all bearer and registered principal and interest payments, coupon collections and the securities teller window. She has been a member of the Corporate Fiduciary Association of Illinois Education Committee since 1995, in addition to initiating multiple corporate trust employee training programs and systems training programs at various employers.
Though her husband, who is self-employed, is the main caregiver for their children, she adjusted her work schedule to allow her to help her dyslexic daughter with homework. She is writing an illustrated homonym dictionary for dyslexics, primarily for her daughter, but also to benefit other dyslexics. She helps with her husband's business as editor and bookkeeper.

Valerie (Fleming) Louthan, C96
Louthan is a part-time aquatics manager at the Joliet Park District while awaiting the birth of her second child. She previously held positions include marketing coordinator at Kirk Tyson International; and Spiegel Catalog. The company relocated to New York the same time when she expected her first child. So she accepted the severance pay package and became a full time mom.

Vincent Mancini, C93, Spanish minor
Mancini was the senior class president at Benedictine University 1992/93. He earned his J.D. at IIT-Chicago Kent College of Law. He is an attorney with Ekl Williams, P.L.L.C. in Clarendon Hills, a group of attorneys with a general practice, but specializing in both criminal and civil litigation. He is also a planning commissioner for the Village of North Aurora. His previous positions include: law clerk for the Illinois Appellate Court, Fourth District, in Springfield, working directly with the Appellate Justices in reviewing appeals, attending oral arguments, and preparing the written rulings of the judges; Assistant State's Attorney in DuPage County working for Joe Birkett, trying many cases and becoming a felony prosecutor.
Quote:
"I credit Benedictine University with providing me a solid academic foundation to pursue all of my interests, both professionally and personally. Through my experience, I have found that educators and employers respect the education I received at Benedictine University."

Kim (Hincks) Mendes, C96
Since the birth of her first daughter, she has been the owner of an interior design business, M.D. Interiors, specializing in kitchen design. Previous positions include: inside sales representative at Molex; and kitchen designer for Expo Design Center in Naperville.
Quote:
"I am extremely happy with my time at home with my two girls while having my interior design business."

Maureen (Corrigan) Milano, C87, French and Accounting minors
Milano is the manager of their family business, selling packaging. She previously was with Arthur Andersen in internal auditing, traveling to Europe, Asia, Mexico and all over the United States; also in financial reporting and budgeting at Van Kampen Merritt, reporting to the assistant controller; and part-time at Van Kampen while helping her husband to build up his business by doing the accounting work. After the birth of her second daughter, she left her job at Van Kampen and added customer service to her workload at their family business.
Quote:
"The job at Arthur Andersen was in internal auditing, but the interesting part was that they wanted people with accounting and international business backgrounds. I didn't know how I would compete with graduates from University of Illinois, Notre Dame and Thunderbird School of International Management who were also seeking employment? I was hired for my major and two minors."
In 2004 she was diagnosed with breast cancer. "One of the hardest parts was making sure I was staying on top of the business end of things. I may have been bald and sick, but people still needed their paychecks and I still had deadlines to make. Through seven surgeries and chemotherapy, we were able to stay on top of things. Today I am feeling great and my husband is setting sales records every month. I really credit Benedictine for helping me get such a great start. If I hadn't gotten that job at Arthur Anderson, we never would have had the financial ability to start our own business. Hopefully the business will continue to thrive because it sure is expensive raising three daughters!"

Francis Mulligan, C01, Spanish minor
While at Benedictine University he pursued study abroad/internship for a semester at Universidad de Monterrey, Mexico and at Nextel in Monterrey. Mulligan continued his education by earning an M.B.A. at National Louis University. He is currently a credit analyst at DaimlerChrysler Truck Financial, recently specializing in vocational equipment financing. He is fluent in Spanish and Portuguese. His Brazilian born wife, whom he met while doing the internship in Mexico, and he raise their children trilingual. She talks to them in Portuguese, he in English and they converse in Spanish.

Desmond O'Dowd, C99, Ireland
O'Dowd earned his M.Sc. in Work & Organizational Psychology in 2005 at Dublin City University. His international background includes high school in Ireland and in Zambia, and right after graduation he worked a few years in Denmark while learning the language. He is the manager of Irish Business and Employers Confederation (IBEC) and lecturer in the National College of Ireland, (Dublin) in business degree courses as well as organizing occupational psychology conferences in Ireland and London. His previous positions include: acting director of Irish Profit Sharing Association (IPSA); project manager of National Partnership Training Skillnet (NPTS); trainer and researcher with IBEC's Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) Skillnet, a project designed to promote ADR in member organisations; resident occupational psychologist with the ADR project. O'Dowd volunteers as a member and editor of Irish-Scandinavian Club Newsletter and of the Irish Haemochromatosis Association, and as Advisor to the 'Students and Lifestart Zambia' (SALZ) project, working with early childhood learning based in Mazabuka, Zambia. He is fluent in Danish.

Nicole Pavisic, C96
Pavisic earned her M.B.A. (MIS) at De Paul. She is director of business development Europe for American Invsco, one of the largest residential developers in the U.S., building a brand and presence for American Invsco worldwide, working with international clients from around the globe, and setting up an office in London. She previously had an assignment in the Netherlands for three years with a Naperville based software company, helping banking and financial institutions across Northern Europe and Scandinavia. She is fluent in French, Spanish, Croatian and conversational Dutch.
Quote:
"This position had enabled me to do very high profile presentations and meetings with executives in the highest positions within the organizations I worked with. My job has taken me everywhere from Europe to South Africa. One of my goals is to travel to all the continents. In the last few years I have visited South America and studied in a language school in Buenos Aires on my own. Then with a fellow IBE'r...I went to Hong Kong, Beijing and Tokyo, and with another fellow IBE'r traveled all over Europe. I would like to thank the University as it was an excellent foundation in the pursuit of fulfilling my many dreams...many of which involve International!"

Diana Pignato, C94 Spanish major, French minor
Pignato earned her M.B.A. with a concentration in Global Strategic (HR/OD) and coursework in Chile, Peru and Cuba, Thunderbird. She participated in graduate internships with GE Capital HR Leadership Program; GM University College of Leadership; and GM Enterprise Activities Group. Pignato is an HR consultant at Cure International, initiating and implementing a comprehensive HR in Kabul, Afghanistan - Rabia Balkhi Women's Hospital Project. Her previous positions included: regional learning and development manager for Latin American e-consulting company in Mexico, Argentina and Brazil; Peace Corps, Microenterprise Development, Dominican Republic. Price Waterhouse, Change Integration Group, Chicago 4 started her work for nonprofit agencies in 2002 including: Food for the Hungry: Hunger Corps in Arizona; Democratic Republic of the Congo HR Manager; Organizational Development Director for Food for the Hungry International in Phoenix; Asia Tsunami Relief HR - Thailand and Indonesia; American Red Cross: After Katrina, Rita and Wilma volunteered and then was hired as a disaster services HR contractor in Phoenix, Arizona
Quote:
"I never thought I'd go into nonprofit, let alone relief and development! It has been the most enriching experience and the most touching was the Tsunami Relief work. It's a blessing to be single and able to go at a moment's notice - for Thailand I had less than 24 hours to pack and I had no idea when I was coming back. Deploying volunteers, searching for loved ones, communications…the team didn't sleep much, but it didn't matter. Talking with families who had loved ones that were swept away and doing whatever was needed was priceless. Spanish has been quite helpful throughout my career, particularly because it's the second language in the U.S. Applying French in Congo was rewarding. Both languages are a true blessing when meeting other expats and having the opportunity to communicate in their language … especially as an American, which is not common. Picking up Thai, Bahasa, Swahili, Dari along the way is never quick enough!"

Hema Sathia, C02, Spanish minor
Sathia participated in the study abroad/internship at Universidad de Monterrey Mexico and with Nextel and summer study abroad in Spain. Sathia is a small business credit analyst at Daimler Chrysler. Sathia recently visited a friend from her Mexican study abroad in Finland, Sweden and Estonia. She pursues her artistic career by appearing in theater productions (West Side Story; Miss Saigon) and singing and dancing (Indian) at weddings. She is fluent in Spanish and Gujarati.

Don St. Germaine, C86
St. Germaine is the owner of three companies: American Universal Realty, American Universal Appraisals and American Universal Construction, a homebuilding and renovating company. He holds licenses in Illinois for appraisal, real estate, insurance, private sewage construction and contracting. He was previously at Bank of Bourbonnais for 10 years where he worked himself up to Chief Operating Officer. He is involved in politics, serving his second term as chairman of the Kankakee County Democratic Central Committee, and has served on the Kankakee County Board of Review.
Quote:
"I really enjoy politics and the many congressmen and legislators I have met and deal with. My trips to Springfield are extensive, not international, but dealing with the concerns of many people in this country."

Todd Stukenberg, C95, Spanish minor, M.B.A.'02
Stukenberg joined Midtronics in 1999 in a product manager role working up to director of marketing and now as global business director of a division that markets backup battery system analyzers to the telecommunications and other power-dependent industries, managing personnel in the U.S., Europe and China. He has combined his professional life with his hobby of body-building and recreational fitness by working for a health care products distributor, initially in an international sales coordination role and ultimately in product management.
Quote:
"I have conducted business on four continents, drafted strategic plans for a $50 million business, and managed staffs as large as 17 people in multiple global locations."

Ajlin Tabakovic, C06, Bosnia
Tabakovic attended high school in Germany. He interned and then was offered a job as sales support global accounts at Hapag Lloyd, in charge of VIP/Global Accounts (John Deere, Caterpillar, etc.) responsible for growing and supporting their VIP customers. He is fluent in Bosnian, Croatian, Serbian and German.

Mika (Nishimura) Teodori, Japan, exchange student in 1989/90
Teodori attended Chuo University in Tokyo, 1991; earned an M.B.A. at the University of Chicago; and passed C.F.A. levels 1 and 2. She is a global fixed income analyst at ABN AMRO, covering North America and Europe. Her previous positions included: equity analyst at UBS Global Asset Management where she was on assignment in Tokyo for one year; credit analyst at Fitch Ratings. She has also been asked to be a board member and CFO of a not-for-profit organization. She is fluent in Japanese.
Quote:
"I am proud that I got a position at Fitch without using my international/Japanese background, essentially competing against native English speaker who had been educated in this country."

Mark Thomas, C97, Finance and German minors
Thomas is enrolled in the M.B.A. program at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. He is the product manager at MatcoTools. His previous positions included: buyer moving up to product manager for Lucent Technologies, one of the few product managers without an Engineering degree; Robert Bosch managing the commercial launch of the largest aftermarket product line in the German company's U.S. history.
Quote:
"The part of your education that will differentiate you is the study of other cultures that the IBE program provides. Most of the people I work with are engineers who got M.B.A.s and switched to 'businesses.' The knowledge of the business fundamentals are required to get the job and everyone else will have them too, but your understanding of other people, particularly from other cultures, is what will differentiate you. My poor 'Deutsch Sprechen' has been enough to impress many Germans at my former employer, Bosch, that I was not a stereotypical American unaware of the cultures and languages of the rest of the world. My wife Julie (Wysocki), Scholars Program, Science C98, and I have three children. Our hobbies include kids, kids and more kids."

Olena (Lotoska) Thompson, C00, Ukraine
Thompson earned her M.B.A. at Northwestern University. She is the marketing manager at Motorola, managing global agency relationships for Web/Interactive marketing groups to ensure effectiveness and efficiency of marketing; helping to identify the best agency partners for Web/Interactive marketing function. She started working for Motorola right after graduation with six sigma projects to improve processes within Motorola's global marketing organization. She is using her language knowledge to teach her American husband Ukrainian:" I have an advantage here since I choose what I want him to learn."
Quote:
"This has been an especially exciting year for us. My husband and I both graduated from Kellogg and got married here and with a reception in the Ukraine. The Ukrainian reception was especially fun since we had my husband's family with us - it was their first trip to Ukraine. Also, my family visited the United States for the first time in their lives. It was so inspiring to see the U.S.A through their eyes and once more realize how lucky we are to live in this great country!"

Edna (Manteca) Uribe, C99, Spanish major, Mexico
Uribe participated in study abroad for a semester in Seville. She is an account supervisor for Azucar Enterprises where she develops and implements advertising, marketing and public relations campaigns tailored to each client's needs and budget. She has also started her own business, a flamenco group called "Flamenquísimo Dance Company", which performs professionally, while being the director of the Spanish and Flamenco Dance program at Harper Community College. Her previous positions included: account executive at Telemundo 44/NBC 5; two years in Madrid to study Flamenco and to teach English in different Spanish corporations. She is fluent in Spanish.
Quote:
"To me, life is full of challenging puzzles, as soon as you are done putting the pieces of one together thinking you have everything figured out, the next one begins! The journey of life truly begins right after college; my present has nothing to do with what I thought my future would be when I graduated. And I'm happy about it!"

Michelle (Hable) Whalen, C82, French minor
Whalen was the first IBE graduate at Benedictine University and is a certified employee benefit specialist (CEBS). "Self-employed for the last three years, providing benefit support to insurers, 401 K providers, and other vendors. I love the variety of products and the ability to develop ongoing relationships with the Account Executives at my client organizations. I also love the flexibility and the opportunity to still volunteer at my son's school." Her previous positions include 13 years with John Hancock in capacities from insurance representative to regional director of account management where she was responsible for key clients like Compaq, ComEd, Abbott etc, until she and her husband adopted their son; seven years as home-based consultant for John Hancock where she worked with states and cities.
Quote:
"I feel that Benedictine University offered me a great education, but most of all, a very supportive, hands on environment where the faculty was extremely involved in our development. It truly was like a family and I am hopeful that my son will someday experience the benefits of a small, Catholic university, such as Benedictine."
Quote on language: "My French really helped me in Barcelona, Spain."

Susan Wilson, C99
Wilson is a senior compensation analyst at PepsiAmericas, working on salary structures, short and long term incentives, and Board of Director materials. "Currently I am working on a new compensation structure for our Caribbean unit. I've been fortunate to go to Budapest to finish work on our expatriate compensation structure. I am also working on further expanding our use of technology for merit and stock administration to our Central European group and the Caribbean unit." Her previous positions included: HR representative with PepsiAmericas; and compensation analyst at Wallace (now RR Donnelley). Wilson is involved with a group of Benedictine Alumni who host an 'Adopt a Family' holiday party. "Instead of buying gifts for each other, we take the funds and 'shop' for the wants of needy families in the area. We also have a small food/personal hygiene drive. We have donated to the Salvation Army, Toys for Tots, Metropolitan Family Services and our local church. I'm proud to say that each year our giving level goes up and we are able to raise more money for these families."