Alumni

2023

Donnie D. Haye

Donnie D. Haye has a fond appreciation of what she learned from her Engineering curriculum at Michigan State. The analytical, critical thinking, scientific and teamwork-approach have been instrumental throughout her career.

She is a global business leader with multiple IBM executive positions in operations, finance, service delivery, and transformation. She is a recognized leader in enhancing client services and business operations through the development and implementation of innovative analytics, AI solutions, and automation, with the accompanying process transformation. Highlights of her teams’ work are featured in the books Analytics Across the Enterprise and Supply Chain Metrics That Matter. She and colleagues were awarded a patent for Real-Time Analytics for Streaming Data.

She began her career with IBM as a product manager in Princeton, New Jersey. She held various marketing research positions before becoming a financial analyst. She was the first-ever woman manufacturing and development site controller for IBM. Later, she became the world-wide manufacturing controller for the entire global PC business.

She then was named the CFO for IBM’s $4B+ PC business in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, headquartered in Paris, France. Donnie was the global controller for the Server division followed by the position of vice president of operations for one of the server brands. Other vice president positions followed.

She was recruited by Supply Chain GM to form a new team focused on creating, deploying, and showcasing advanced analytics models through the operations processes of IBM. She later served as the vice president, Delivery - Financial Services, managing a portfolio of 50 financial services clients and a $200M P&L. Her skills led to the role of vice president, Process Transformation and Cognitive Solutions, Global Business Services.

At MSU, she was president of Alpha Phi sorority, named to the MSU Senior Class Council and Mortar Board National Honor Society, and selected for the 1980 Homecoming Court. She was a member of Tau Beta Pi, Phi Kappa Phi, and Golden Key International Honor Society.

She is a member of the Michigan State University Foundation Advisory Board, and she spent 10 years on the College of Engineering Advisory Board, including two as chair.

2022

Michael W. Lamach Sr.

Receiving this year’s Claud R. Erickson Distinguished Alumni Award was Michael W. Lamach Sr., retired Executive Chair and Chief Executive Officer at Trane Technologies and the former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer at Ingersoll Rand. The Erickson Award is the highest honor presented to an alumnus by the college. It recognizes professional accomplishment, volunteer service, and distinguished service to the college and the engineering profession.
Lamach led Trane Technologies, a global climate innovator, for 12 years. As CEO, he transformed Trane Technologies from a diversified industrial manufacturing company, formerly Ingersoll Rand, to an industry-leading climate company with consistent top tier financial and ESG performance. He led the creation of the company’s purpose-driven sustainability strategy, its proprietary business operating system, and its widely recognized culture of engagement and inclusion.
He was named one of Harvard Business Review’s top performing CEOs and listed by Forbes among America’s 100 Most Innovative Leaders. He is active in the Charlotte, N.C., community and co-chairs the Charlotte Mayor’s Racial Equity Initiative.
As part of the Erickson Award honor, Lamach presented the keynote address to 825 engineering undergraduates during the 2022 Spring Commencement in the Breslin Center on Sunday, May 8.
Lamach received a bachelor’s degree from MSU in 1985 in applied engineering sciences.

2013

Philip L. Fioravante

B.S. ’84, Engineering Arts / Applied Engineering Sciences

Philip L. Fioravante, Ph.D., is currently president, North America – Commercial, Global Quality,Procurement, and Program Management, with the Woodbridge Group, a $1.4 billion privately held Canadian company with 63 global facilities in 19 countries with a focus on developing and manufacturing urethane foam products for a wide range of end markets including transportation, healthcare,consumer products, and construction/ building.

Recipients of the Applied Engineering Sciences Distinguished Alumni Award, established in 2004, must have a distinguished career, evidenced by significant accomplishments; possess high standards of integrity that positively reflect on the prestige of the college and the university; be recognized for leadership in the community; and demonstrate support of the Applied Engineering Sciences program, the College of Engineering, and/or MSU

2024

Chad B. Steiner

Steiner is president of North America Packaging and Graphics at Sun Chemical Corp. in Midland, Michigan. He was recently promoted from his position as vice president of U.S. sales and customer technical services at Sun Chemical. He was previously global commercial director for Dow Chemical Company in Midland, Michigan.

Steiner served on the Flexible Packaging Association’s Emerging Leaders Board for two years and has been involved in several civic activities supporting the United Way of Midland County. He served as chair of Dow employees’ United Way campaign and also served on Shelterhouse’s Board of Directors. Shelterhouse is an agency providing emergency shelter, counseling, and advocacy to survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault in Midland and Gladwin counties.

Steiner met his wife, Deborah A. Steiner, during his sophomore year at MSU when they both lived in Holmes Hall on the east side of campus.

Deborah Steiner earned a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering at MSU and graduated in 1992. The couple married at MSU’s Alumni Memorial Chapel in 1995. Following Chad Steiner’s time in the College of Engineering studying AES, he earned a master’s degree from MSU’s Eli Broad Graduate School of Management in 1995.

Chad Steiner served on MSU’s Applied Engineering Sciences Alumni Advisory Board for two years.

Steiner and his wife live in Midland, Michigan, and are avid hikers and have logged countless miles in the Red Rock Wilderness Area in Sedona, Arizona, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Grand Teton National Park and several other outdoor recreation treasures. The Steiners have three children – Alexandria, Nicklaus and Kaley.

2023

Geoff G. Gavrila

Geoff G. Gavrila is a retired independent consultant. He is the CEO at Strategic Planning International and has applied his technical and business expertise to the defense support industry. Prior to becoming self-employed, he had senior positions with Jacobs Technology in Fort Walton Beach, Florida, MacAulay-Brown, Inc. and MTC Technologies, Inc., both in Dayton, Ohio.

Mr. Gavrila completed a 20-year U.S. Air Force career with his final assignment to Headquarters Air Combat Command as an action officer for reconnaissance programs requirements. Specifically, he worked on the development and acquisition of manned and unmanned platforms, sensors, data links, and ground processing and exploitation systems.

His previous operational experience had been almost exclusively in the reconnaissance field, a Command Pilot with over 2,500 flight hours as an aircraft commander and instructor pilot in the RF-4C, reconnaissance variant of the venerable F-4 Phantom. A highlight of his career was being a Civil Engineering squadron commander, base commander, and civil authority for the United States Trust Territory of Wake Island.

He earned a bachelor’s degree in Engineering Arts (now Applied Engineering Sciences) from MSU in 1974. He holds an extra class amateur radio certificate (WH9AAF) and is a life member of the Air Force Association. He also holds memberships in the American Radio Relay League, the American Legion/Legion Riders, and National Rifle Association. In addition, he is currently an active member and certified range safety officer of the Lafayette Gun Club, Yorktown, Virginia, and enjoys pistol and rifle target shooting.

2022

Jason Napolitano

Jason Napolitano has been with Altair Engineering for nearly 27 years in various positions in management, sales, and technical support. He started as a software support engineer in 1995, the same year he graduated from the MSU with a bachelor’s degree in Engineering Arts (applied engineering sciences). In 1997, he moved into the Altair sales organization as an account manager and in 2001, he took on a sales management role. Today he is responsible for overseeing sales, support, and operations for Altair’s business throughout the Americas as senior vice president – Americas. Napolitano and his wife, Janelle, have three sons, Nicholas, Andrew, and Jacob, and live in Rochester, Michigan.

2021

Holly D. Aikens

B.S. '93, Applied Engineering Sciences

Holly D. Aikens came to MSU as a student in the Fall of 1989 and in many ways - she has never left. While on campus, she lived in Bailey and South Wonders halls and became a member of the Applied Engineering Sciences Society and Zeta Tau Alpha sorority, where she served as treasurer and helped manage household expenses of around $500,000 annually. She graduated with an Applied Engineering Sciences degree in 1993 and has been supporting and/or recruiting Spartan Engineers for jobs in industry ever since. First, she was a recruiter at Detroit Diesel (1994-1999) and since 2000, she has been a recruiter for Ford Motor Company Purchasing. She particularly focuses on AES students in the supply chain cognate.

2020

Joseph Podulka

B.S. '94, Applied Engineering Sciences

Joseph Podulka has built a career around his broad finance and analytic experience from strategic, financial, and operational roles – in the United States and abroad. He has created global teams and functions from the ground up, consolidated operations and refocused failing businesses, acquired companies, and provided strategic insight to both large and small organizations.

2019

David Foulke

B.S. '88, Applied Engineering Sciences

David Foulke is the Health, Environmental and Safety (HES) and Training manager for Marathon Petroleum Corporation (MPC) in Findlay, Ohio. Marathon is a leading, integrated, downstream energy company.

2018

Mitzi Montoya

B.S. '90, Applied Engineering Sciences

Mitzi M. Montoya became the Sara Hart Kimball Dean of the College of Business at Oregon State University in August 2015. In this role, she is responsible for providing leadership of the college, which is focused on innovation and entrepreneurship and serves more than 5,800 students, including 3,900 business majors and pre-majors, nearly 850 business and entrepreneurship minors, 250 graduate students, and more than 800 design students.

2017

Renee Collins

B.S. '81, Applied Engineering Sciences

Renee Collins began her career in 1981 with Johnson Controls, Inc. Since her start she has worked in the Saginaw MI, Cleveland OH, and Detroit MI locations. Renee has held many positions from sales, sales management and region general management within the Building Efficiency group. In her current role, she develops service strategies to achieve desired business outcomes for JCI customers.

2016

Anthony Messina

B.S. '87, Engineering Arts/ Applied Engineering Sciences

Anthony A. Messina has held executive leadership positions in manufacturing, product engineering, sales, and mergers/ acquisitions, and has been responsible for profit and loss, top line growth, operational effectiveness, product development, and commercial management. He is currently vice president of Global Engineering for Borg Warner, a leading supplier of automotive powertrain technologies.

2015

Maura Frances McDonald

B.S. ’87, Engineering Arts/Applied Engineering Sciences

Maura Frances McDonald is a supply chain professional with expertise in compliance, distribution, planning,customer service improvement, and purchasing.

2014

Eric Seger

CFP, MBA B.S. ’94, Engineering Arts/Applied Engineering Sciences

Eric Seger is a principal at Integrated Capital Management. Prior to working in the financial and investment arenas, Eric worked his way up in the engineering field. He started a technical support engineer, was quickly promoted to sales engineer, and ultimately ascended to the role of program manager.

2013

Randy Shacka

B.S. ’04, Applied Engineering Sciences

Randy Shacka is president of TWO MEN AND A TRUCK INTERNATIONAL, Inc., a franchised moving company based in Lansing, Michigan, which generated more than $260 million in 2012.

2012

Michael W. Lamach, Sr.

B.S. ’85, Engineering Arts / Applied Engineering Sciences

Michael W. Lamach is chairman, president, and chief executive officer of Ingersoll Rand, a $14 billion global diversified industrial company that advances the quality of life in creating and sustaining safe, comfortable, and efficient environments.

2011

Daniel McNulty

B.S. ‘82, Engineering Arts / Applied Engineering Sciences

Daniel McNulty is president of Rockwood Real Estate Advisors, a division of CW Financial Services (CW). A subsidiary of Fortress Investment Group, CW is a commercial real estate finance and investment management company focused on multifamily and healthcare lending, primary servicing, special servicing, investment management, and research and consulting services.

2010

Donnie D. Haye

B.S. ’81, Engineering Arts / Applied Engineering Sciences

Ms. Donnie D. Haye began her career with IBM as a product manager in Princeton, New Jersey. She held various marketing research positions before becoming a financial analyst for the high end server and storage businesses of IBM’s Asia Pacific Group,headquartered in Tokyo, Japan.

2009

Les L. Leone

B.A. ‘68, Political Science, Public Administration
M.A. ‘70, College Student Personnel Administration
Ph.D. ‘74, Higher EducationAdministration

Les L. Leone held almost every student service position in the College of Engineering over a 37-year span, bringing innovation and excellence to each.Les assisted more than 10,000 Spartan Engineers in the pursuit of their degrees and careers, mentored many staff members, and became known as a “walking encyclopedia of engineering academic history and university policies.”

2008

Monte L. Falcoff

B.S. ’86,Engineering Arts / Applied Engineering Sciences Monte Falcoff’s illustrious career in engineering and law, along with his leadership and service to the College of Engineering, are the basis for his selection for the AES Distinguished Alumni Award. A principal and registered patent attorney at Harness Dickey and Pierce, PLC in Troy, Michigan.

2007

Steven J. Trecha

B.S. ’80, Engineering Arts / Applied Engineering Sciences Steven J. Trecha is president and CEO of Integrated Strategies, Inc., a strategic sourcing, supply chain, and logistics consulting firm. Co-founded by Steve in 1990, the firm is the only operations consultancy that holds the state of Michigan’s Quality Leadership Award.

2006

Daniel Brouse

B.S. ’84, Engineering Arts/Applied Engineering Science. Daniel Brouse grew up in Haslett, Michigan, and graduated with honors from Michigan State University in 1984 with a B.S. in engineering arts/applied engineering sciences. He earned his way through school as an orthopedic technician at Lansing General Hospital and received academic merit scholarships to assist with tuition.

2005

Jane E. Sydlowski

B.S. ’86, Engineering Arts / Applied Engineering Sciences Jane Sydlowski has more than eighteen years’ experience in the telecommunications industry. She began as an engineer in the trunk engineering switched access department at Ameritech (formerly Michigan Bell) in Southfield, Michigan.

2004

Philip L. Fioravante

B.S. ’84, Engineering Arts / Applied Engineering Sciences Philip L. Fioravante, Ph.D., is currently president, North America – Commercial, Global Quality, Procurement, and Program Management, with the Woodbridge Group, a $1.4 billion privately held Canadian company with 63 global facilities in 19 countries with a focus on developing and manufacturing urethane foam products for a wide range of end markets including transportation, healthcare, consumer products, and construction/ building.