Mr. Michael L. Scudder has been the Chief Executive Officer and President of First Midwest BanCorp. Inc. since September 14, 2008. Mr. Scudder has been the Chief Executive Officer of First Midwest Bank since January 1, 2011. He served as the Group Executive Vice President of First Midwest Bank, a subsidiary of First Midwest BanCorp. Inc. since September 14, 2008. He served as the Chief Operating Officer of First Midwest BanCorp Inc. from May 2007 to September 2008. Mr. Scudder has over 26 years of experience in the banking and financial institution industry. He served as the Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice President of First Midwest BanCorp. Inc. from 2002 to May 17, 2007. Mr. Scudder served as the Chief Financial Officer and Group Executive Vice President of First Midwest Bank until May 17, 2007. He served as the Principal Accounting Officer of First Midwest BanCorp. Inc. from 2002 to August 25, 2006 and First Midwest Bank until August 25, 2006. He has been the Chairman of First Midwest Bank a subsidiary of First Midwest BanCorp. Inc. since 2011. He served as Vice Chairman at First Midwest Bank. He holds a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Illinois Wesleyan University in 1982 and an MBA from DePaul University in 1993.

Congratulations on your accomplishments, Mike!

For the second straight year, Ron Rose was chosen as conference “Coach of the Year” for men’s basketball.

As he took the Titans to the Final Four, Ron Rose said it’s “extra special” to coach the students at his alma mater.

Read more about it here

Starla Hibler-Raley ’81  performed a solo piano recital as part of the Ocean Classical Keyboard Series at Saddleback College in Mission Viejo, CA, Sunday, March 16^th at 2:30 p.m. in the McKinney Theatre.

Pianist Starla Hibler-Raley holds D.M.A. and M.M. Degrees in piano
performance from the University of North Texas where she was a pupil of
Joseph Banowetz, and a B.M. degree from Illinois Wesleyan University. Dr.
Raley also studied at the Vienna Conservatory of Music in Vienna, Austria.

Last May, the Illinois native was named Professor of Music Emerita honoring
tenure of teaching at East Central University in Ada, Oklahoma from 1991
until 2013. She has been the recipient of numerous awards, including first
prize in the Ernst Krenek Competition of the Joanna Hodges International
Piano Competition, the “Oklahoma Music Teacher of the Year” award by the
Oklahoma Federation of Music Clubs, and the first East Central University
Dean’s Travel Award, awarded in support of her solo performance of Aaron
Copland’s *Piano Sonata* in Toronto, Canada.

Dr. Raley actively champions new music written for piano and, in 2012, gave
the world premiere performance of a set of six piano pieces, entitled
*Hermititos*, written by Texas composer Ken Metz.  She has also premiered
several teaching pieces composed by Oklahoma composer, W.T. Skye Garcia,
published by The F.J.H. and Alfred Publishing Companies.

Read the article here

Kris Condon  successfully defended her doctoral dissertation on March 11 at National Louis University in Chicago. Her topic is entitled “The Community College as Entrepreneur: Developing and Sustaining Effective Noncredit Workforce Training Partnerships.” Her degree will be awarded at NLU’s summer commencement in June in Chicago.

Rhys Lovell stars in “Old Hoss,” written and directe

by Emeritus Professor of Theatre Arts Jared Brown.

Congratulations, Rhys!

Click here

Bonnie Tria-Roy is the new Director of Outside Sales for Carts of Chicago Catering, Inc., responsible for all outside sales for the company in the Chicago Metropolitan area. Here at IWU, Bonnie earned a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration.

From their release:

Bonnie brings with her a unique edge in client development with her experience as a Senior Business Development Manager for a food manufacturer. Jennifer James, Vice President of Sales, said, “Bonnie is perfect for this position. Her energetic and outgoing personality is just what Carts of Chicago needs in this unique business model that we have. Our sales are more personable and very detail oriented. I am excited to work with Bonnie.”

Carts of Chicago Catering, Inc. is a full-service catering and event planning firm that specializes in outdoor parties and fun food carts.

Tye Elliott has been in the insurance industry for nearly 20 years. Tye started his Aflac career in 1995 as a general agent and worked his way up to an Aflac Regional Sales Coordinator in 1996. In this role he led two regions to the Top Ten sales positions within Aflac. In 2007 he was promoted to an Aflac State Sales Coordinator and in 2010 he was promoted to a Territory Director for the North. Holding various sales roles within the Aflac organization Tye’s current role is now Vice President, Core Broker Sales. As VP, Core Broker Sales, Tye is responsible for managing and implementing strategic sales initiatives for the Core broker sales division across the United States. Tye Elliott holds a B.S degree in Business Administration from Illinois Wesleyan.

Click here to read more about him

THANK YOU for continuing to make Illinois Wesleyan one of your giving priorities.  It is YOUR support that makes IWU a truly transformative place for young people.  

John Horton along with  Tom Burmeister ’66  and Ed Clemmings ’66 were three former General Electric executives and IWU alumni who spoke to IWU students during the 2013 IWU Homecoming Celebration and the 90th anniversary of IWU’s Business Administration Department.  Clemmings and Horton shared insights with students on corporate life and its demands to be adaptable to change.

from left are Tom Burmeister ’66, Jon Horton ’81 and Ed Clemmings ’66

Our congratulations to Quyen Ngo-Metzger, MD, MPH,Commonwealth Fund/Harvard University Fellow in Minority Health Policy (1998-1999), who has been recently appointed as the Scientific Director for the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) at the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ).  In this capacity, Dr. Ngo-Metzger will be the main government lead to provide guidance to the USPSTF and interact with the public and other agencies regarding the work of the Task Force.

Find it here

Congratulations and best wishes, Quyen!