Cheryl Delk-Le Good ’90, co-coordinated a Certified Trade Mission with the Department of Commerce to Mexico and Colombia. In her role as Executive Director of EnglishUSA, she led a delegation of 24 university, college, and private English language program administrators from 18 states to Merida, Mexico City, Medellin, Barranquilla, and Bogota. EnglishUSA and its member programs promote English language study in the U.S. Congratulations Cheryl!
Debbie Stroud ’90 has been named Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer for Whataburger after serving five years as Senior Vice President for Starbucks. Read the full QSR article here. Congrats, Debbie!
Keith Grochowski ’90 has recently been promoted to lead accountant at First American Financial Corp. Congratulations, Keith!
Ric Underhile ’90 was inducted as organization director for Artworks, a nonprofit serving the creative community in Mecosta County, Michigan.
Robert Donalson died Dec. 22, 2021. He was 87. Bob was a professor in Illinois Wesleyan’s School of Music for 30 years; he retired in 1994 with emeritus status. Bob felt the call to become an educator while serving in the U.S. Army in a mobile army surgical hospital during the Korean War. He obtained a master’s degree at San Jose State University and a doctorate at the University of Colorado Boulder. He began his teaching career at Pepperdine University before landing at IWU. Bob loved beauty in all its forms — nature, art and poetry among them — but music was his emotional home. He was active in religious life and often shared his gift of music in the church. Bob was always learning and educated himself on subjects ranging from theology and philosophy, to computer science and financial investing, to home repair and carpentry. He enjoyed traveling, sports, his cats and, most of all, his family. He is survived by his wife, five children, eight grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.
Bob’s Celebration of Life will be held on February 12 at 1 p.m. CST and will be live-streamed at christlutheranchurchffg.org.
Jeff Baur ’90 has joined the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Department of Aerospace Engineering. Baur has a Ph.D. in materials science & engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and more than 25 years of experience working in the Air Force, teaching and leading teams in aerospace-related research.
Democratic candidate Karla Bailey-Smith wants to represent Bloomington-Normal in the new Illinois House 91st District. The announcement came at an event at McLean County Democrats Headquarters at 6 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 5. The newly-drawn 91st District currently has no incumbents. In addition to Bloomington-Normal, the district would include areas like Carlock, Goodfield, East Peoria, and Washington.
centralillinoisproud.com
Neela Paykel was recently promoted to General Counsel at Hyperfine Inc. Find more information here.
Scott Swayne ’90 was named chief people officer for Potbelly Corporation, effective April 26, 2021, where he will lead the Human Resources and People Team in developing and advancing strategic initiatives that strengthen Potbelly’s culture and drive talent acquisition solutions. Prior to his role at Potbelly, Scott served as senior global talent acquisition director at McCormick & Company, where he led the global recruiting team that sourced and hired talent in support of McCormick’s performance and growth agenda. He previously held human resources roles at General Mills, Genesis Systems Group and Abbott.
Assistant Professor of Nursing Monica Hall ’90 has been named a Nurse Educator Fellow by the Illinois Board of Higher Education, supporting her research on type 2 diabetes in the African American community.
Presented by the Illinois Board of Higher Education (IBHE), each fellow is awarded $10,000 in an effort to ensure the retention of well-qualified nursing faculty at institutions of higher learning.
“This award is a wonderful gift and will allow me to further my dissertation research,” said Hall. “Without this award, I would not be able to expand my research to include interviews of people outside of Illinois. The pandemic of course makes things a little more difficult, but I think people are adapting well and there are now resources to use that allow us to meet without being physically in the same space.”
See the full article here.