Speakers

Robert A. “Bob” McDonald was nominated by President Obama to serve as the eighth Secretary of Veterans Affairs (VA), and he was confirmed unanimously by the United States Senate on July 29, 2014. Secretary McDonald led VA in its ambitious transformational journey to be a world-class service provider and the No. 1 customer-service agency in the Federal government to give Veterans consistent, high-quality experiences. The Harvard Business School judged that, thanks to Secretary McDonald’s leadership, the MyVA “team had made impressive progress.”

Before joining VA, Bob McDonald was Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer of The Procter & Gamble Company (P&G). Under his leadership, P&G significantly recalibrated its product portfolio, added nearly one billion people to its global customer base, and grew organic sales by an average of three percent per year. This growth was reflected in P&G’s stock price that rose from $51.10 the day he became CEO to $81.64 the day his last quarterly results were announced—a 60 percent increase from 2009 to 2013. During his tenure, P&G was widely recognized for its leader development prowess. Chief Executive Magazine named P&G the best company for developing leader talent. The Hay Group consistently cited P&G in its top-tier listing of Best Companies for Leadership.

Bob McDonald is personally and professionally committed to values-based leadership and to improving the lives of others. Bob and his wife, Diane, are the founders of The McDonald Conference for Leaders of Character at West Point. Bob is Chairman of the Board of the West Point Association of Graduates and Quotient Technology. He served as April and Jay Graham Fellow at the George W. Bush Institute, advocating for post-9/11 Veterans. In 2020 Bob was appointed to President Biden’s Transition Advisory Board. He currently serves on the Audia Group and Miraki Innovation.

Bob McDonald graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1975. He earned his MBA from the University of Utah in 1978. In 2010 the University of Utah Alumni Association named Bob a Distinguished Graduate. The West Point Association of Graduates named McDonald for its admired Distinguished Graduate Award in 2017. In 2014, The President of the Republic of Singapore awarded Bob the Public Service Star for his work helping shape Singapore’s development as an international hub connecting global companies with Asian firms and enterprises. In 2021 the American Chamber of Commerce Foundation gave Bob its President’s Award for Lifetime Achievement.

An Army Veteran, Bob served with the 82nd Airborne Division. He completed Jungle, Arctic, and Desert Warfare Training. And he earned the Ranger tab, Expert Infantryman Badge, and Senior Parachutist Wings. He received the Meritorious Service Medal upon leaving military service. Bob McDonald and his wife are the parents of two grown children and the proud grandparents of three grandsons and three granddaughters.

Michael Berghoff was appointed to the Board of Trustees on July 1, 2009 and is currently chairman of the board. He is founder and president of the Lenex Steel Corporation, the largest steel fabricator in the region, which is headquartered in Indianapolis. He is a 1985 graduate of Purdue with a bachelor's degree in industrial management.

Before starting Lenex, Berghoff worked in management positions at Haden Construction in Detroit; Broad, Vogt & Conant, a steel fabrication company in Detroit; and Ferguson Steel in Indianapolis. As a student, Berghoff served as chairman of the Purdue Student Publishing Foundation and president of Theta Chi fraternity.

Berghoff has held many leadership positions in community and professional organizations, having served as president of the Purdue Theta Chi alumni corporation, president of the St. Simon the Apostle Parish, a member of the Cathedral High School Board of Directors, and chairman of the board of directors for Young President's Organization. He is currently a member of the board of directors for the Indiana Chamber of Commerce, a member of the Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) Board of Advisors, and chair of the Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne (IPFW) Community Advisory Council.

Michael Klipsch was appointed to the Purdue Board of Trustees by Governor Mike Pence on May 11, 2015. A Purdue alumnus, he earned a Bachelor's degree in industrial management in 1985. He also holds a JD with honors from Indiana University.

Mr. Klipsch had a 20-year career with Klipsch Group, a family owned and operated holding company for a wide variety of consumer electronic brands; including most notably the Klipsch brand. Mr. Klipsch was a 3rd generation family member of the internationally renowned audio manufacturer of loudspeakers and headphones founded in 1946 by Paul Klipsch.

Klipsch held a wide variety of executive positions including president, chief operating officer and chief counsel. Beyond his role of managing all legal affairs, strategic partnerships and manufacturing during his entire tenure at the company, Klipsch’s major contributions included creating a global supply chain capability to manage sourcing and sales to over 40 countries. Further launching the Klipsch brand into the headphone market in 2007, he helped position the company as one of today’s leading headphone manufacturers, building on the Indianapolis-based company’s legacy of excellence.

After selling Klipsch Group in 2011 to a public company, Mr. Klipsch retired from the company in late 2015. Since then, he has pursued a variety of new entrepreneurial opportunities including the development of state-of-the-art athletic facilities; involvement in many multi-family housing communities; and other strategic private equity investments. The athletic facilities include Grand Park Fieldhouse (aka Pacers Athletic Center) in Westfield, Indiana, Finch Creek Fieldhouse in Noblesville, Indiana and Community Hospital Sports & Wellness Center in Pendleton, Indiana.

He began his career at the law firm of Bingham Summers Welsh and Spilman (now Dentons Bingham Greenebaum) achieving partnership. His nine years of law practice focused on complex business transactions, debt/equity offerings, business reorganizations, and international law. After his time at Bingham Summers, he worked at Klipsch Lanham & Associates which managed a wide variety of portfolio companies including Shane Co. Jewelers, Overhead Door Company franchises in Indianapolis and Cincinnati, National Guest Homes, and Hospital Affiliates Development Corporation. Mr. Klipsch was chief counsel and held a variety of other executive positions at Klipsch Lanham and each of its portfolio companies.

Mr. Klipsch has remained deeply involved with Purdue since graduating including serving on the Purdue Board of Trustees, Purdue Research Foundation Board of Directors, Purdue Global Board of Trustees, IUPUI Board of Advisors, Old Masters, John Purdue Club Brees Leadership Circle and was awarded, along with his wife Paula, the 2019 Diamond P award. In addition to his involvement Purdue University, Klipsch has been actively involved in the community, volunteering in organizations such as the American Cancer Society, Make-A-Wish Foundation, Boy Scouts of America, and Carmel Dad’s Club in Carmel, Indiana.

As a strategic and innovative HR executive with extensive experience in business environments undergoing rapid-growth, turnaround, mergers and acquisitions, culture change, market diversification, and domestic/international expansion, Sabrina Wilson’s is in the right role leading Human Resources for dormakaba Americas. For nearly 30 years, Ms. Wilson has established trust at all levels of the organization, moved fluidly between strategic and hands-on roles, and build/lead HR teams and programs aligned with overarching business goals that optimize a company’s most valuable assets — People.

Ms. Wilson is best known for developing and challenging people through coaching, mentoring and “stretch” assignments. She has a track record for establishing talent development programs, such as dormakaba’s Rising Talent Program, comprised of internships, rotational assignments, multi-year development, and a women’s network. In 2022, Ms. Wilson was recognized by the Security Industry Association as Women in Security Power 100 for advancing DEI in the Industry. In her personal life, she enjoys spending time with her husband and cat, gardening, and trail running. Ms. Wilson earned her BA from Purdue University and MBA from Indiana Wesleyan University.

As a fourth-generation garbage man, Aaron Johnson has not only made waste management a life-long priority, but a meaningful and impactful career. Johnson obtained his start early-on while being immersed in the various responsibilities of a family business started by his great-grandfather in Northwest Indiana. There he worked on the front lines - greasing rear-load trucks, changing tires, assisting drivers, and eventually became a driver himself. In addition to working those facets of the family business, Johnson also worked in sales. In 2003, WM acquired Johnson’s family business, marking the beginning of his journey alongside the Waste Management family, just a few months after graduating from Purdue University.

At just 22 years old, Johnson became a District Manager for WM, managing sites such as LaPorte, Kokomo, and San Jose, California before coming back to the Midwest in 2006 as Waste Management’s Senior District Manager in Illinois. After seven years in the Chicago area, he became the Area Director of Collection Operations and later the Corporate Director of Operations for the Michigan/Ohio/Indiana area and Corporate Director of Operations for the Northern United States and all of Canada. Most recently, he spent the last three years as the Area Vice President of Eastern Canada before becoming the Area Vice President in the Great Lakes.

Aaron is married to his wife Megan, and has two children, Theodore and Louise.

Rapheal Davis is an analyst for the B1G Ten Network and a former Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year.  A resident of Fort Wayne, Indiana, he spent four great years as a Purdue Boilermaker where he was captain for three of those years.

Outside of Crew Life Foundation, Davis works for The Purdue For Life Foundation as a Director of Development and also for Optimum Performance Sports as a Community Outreach Coordinator. He and his wife Asja have three children.

As a former Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year, Davis brings many skill sets to the table when teaching and conducting camps.  Throughout the years, Davis always had a passion for two things: giving back to my community and others, and youth sports.  Hence, this is the reason for starting Crew Life Basketball Foundation.  Through camps and clinics, Crew Life Foundation focuses on basic basketball skills to advanced skills and provides opportunities to kids who may not be able to afford basketball training.

Gayle Johnston is the President of CuraScript Specialty Distribution, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Express Scripts. CuraScript SD offers the benefits of Express Scripts' sister company, Accredo^®, a specialty pharmacy, while giving healthcare practitioners seamless access to essential therapies and customized business solutions. Prior to CuraScript, Ms. Johnston was the General Manager for Marketing and Operations at Baxter Healthcare and the President of Thin Film Technology at Bausch & Lomb, Inc.

Ms. Johnston has a Bachelor of Science in Biology/Microbiology and an MBA, both from Purdue University.

Matthew (Matt) J. Aguiar retired as senior vice president, ExxonMobil Chemical Company, in Houston, Texas in 2019 after 38 ½ years of service.

Matt received a bachelor of science degree in chemical engineering from Rensselear Polytechnic Institute and a master’s degree in Industrial Administration from the Krannert School of Management at Purdue University. He joined Exxon Chemical Company in 1980 at the Baytown Chemical Plant in Texas in the Controllers organization as a financial analyst.

He advanced through business, operations and technical roles in various chemical affiliates in the United States and Singapore. Matt served as Managing Director of the Singapore Aromatics Company, a joint venture with British Petroleum, prior to the merger between Exxon and Mobil in 1999.

In 2000, Matt became vice president of the basic chemicals business in Asia Pacific based in Singapore. In 2002, he was named site manager of the Baton Rouge Chemical Plant. While in Baton Rouge, Matt served on the board of the Baton Rouge United Way. Matt became vice president of global aromatics in 2004 and, in 2006, was named vice president of the global basic chemicals business based in Houston.

Beginning in 2009, and based in Singapore, Matt became Asia Pacific refining director for ExxonMobil Refining and Supply and concurrently served as director and chairman of Tonen General Sekiyu K.K. (Japan). He then served as chairman and managing director of ExxonMobil Asia Pacific Pte Ltd. as well as Singapore lead country manager, and as the Asia Pacific manufacturing director for ExxonMobil Chemical.

In 2014, Matt returned to Houston as senior vice president of the company’s global basic chemicals, intermediates, synthetics, catalysts & licensing businesses and global marketing. In addition, he served as the chairman of Infineum, a joint venture between ExxonMobil and Shell.

In 2017, he became senior vice president of ExxonMobil Chemical global operations responsible for global operations, manufacturing support, safety & security / health / environmental and global supply chain. Matt also served on the board of the American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers.

Matt is married with 3 children, who are currently working in Chicago, Denver and Houston. He resides near Asheville, North Carolina.

Bailey Moore is the Co-founder & Managing Director of Wintrust Ventures, a division of Wintrust Financial Corporation. Wintrust Ventures is a venture fund focused on emerging growth businesses in the Wintrust footprint. She is responsible for investment strategy, fund operations, and portfolio company relations.

Since building the venture practice in 2015, Bailey has been responsible for investments in 53 companies representing approximately $100MM in AUM. Wintrust Ventures portfolio companies exceed a combined $2B in enterprise value. She’s led WTFC’s investments in The Mom Project, Array Behavioral Care, Foxtrot Marketplace & One Cause among many others. Her investment thesis has allowed the organization to maintain a lower risk tolerance than an average early stage fund with replicable returns.

Previously, Bailey held various roles in commercial lending, credit and bankruptcy consulting. In these roles she was able to evaluate hundreds of middle market companies across the country ranging from high growth technology to distressed manufacturing and everything in between.

Bailey holds a BS in Business Management and Finance from Purdue University. She has received various awards including Crain’s Chicago Business’ 20 top professionals in their 20’s and Purdue University’s Young Alumni award. She is also a Kauffman Fellow and serves on the boards of Fresh Lens Chicago and Illinois Tech’s Kaplan Institute.

Outside the office you can find her trying a new recipe, reading biographies, Soul Cycling, or lounging with her dog Maddie.

As Vice President of Operations at OBXtek, Jennifer Liu has been able to help the company grow from a small business doing manual tasking to a mid-tier, competitive government contracting firm with an agile mindset. Her focus is always on continuous improvement and scaling towards process automation for continual growth. Jennifer firmly believes that you should learn about all the job functions and as much of the work environment that surrounds you - you never know when that information is going to be useful. She takes pride in building high performing teams and making sure that everything she and her team deliver is adding value to the company, the business, and the future.

Throughout her IT career as a Project Manager, Jennifer was able to learn and be involved in every stage of the software development lifecycle, from requirements gathering all the way to post-production helpdesk. This made her an ideal candidate to be one of the first four certified scrum masters at Verizon. She went on to receive her Scaled Agile Framework certification and helped lead the agile transformation in the Program Management Office at Verizon Enterprise.

After leaving Verizon, Jennifer became the Program Management Office (PMO) Director at OBXtek and established the company's first Program Management Office (PMO), standardized the strategic goals process by migrating it to Microsoft Power BI providing leadership a centralized location to monitor progress, and built an in-house capture and planning management tool for business development to streamline their processes and create efficiencies. She has expanded operational planning to establish the foundation for the company’s outyear projections, developed and established the company’s first transition process that has been marked as a company strength by multiple government clients, and developed and implemented operation strategies and objectives ensuring achievement of organization’s goals and objectives.

When Jennifer is not busy with her teenage twins or pampering her dog, Mackey, she finds time to volunteer for worthy causes such as Boulder Crest, a nonprofit organization committed to improving the physical, economic, spiritual and emotional well-being of veterans and their families post-trauma, and Cake4Kids, an organization that bakes and delivers homemade birthday cakes and other treats to at-risk and underserved youth in the Northern Virginia area.

As Tritium's Global Head of Marketing, Jack Ulrich leads all aspects of marketing and communications for Tritium (Nasdaq: DCFC), a pioneering company in electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure solutions.

Jack's professional journey has been marked by numerous marketing achievements. Notably, he orchestrated a significant press announcement featuring President Biden to unveil Tritium's highly anticipated US factory. This collaboration with the President not only showcased Tritium's commitment to advancing sustainable transportation but also positioned the company as a prominent player in the EV charging industry on a global scale.

Additionally, Jack played a crucial role in Tritium's Nasdaq listing, overseeing the development of the communications strategy. Through his diligent efforts, he ensured a seamless transition to the public markets, contributing to Tritium's enhanced visibility and solidifying its position as an industry leader.

Throughout his tenure, Jack's marketing strategies have consistently yielded exceptional results, delivering exponential growth across all channels. Drawing from his diverse background across brand, agency, and startup environments, Jack possesses a deep understanding of maximizing resources, budgets, and timeframes to raise awareness, drive conversions, and attract interest from top-tier stakeholders.

Before joining Tritium, Jack held management positions at the Center for Sustainable Energy (CSE), where he led marketing initiatives for electric vehicle charging and energy efficiency contracts. This experience equipped him with invaluable insights into the intersection of sustainable energy, transportation, buildings, and communities.

Prior to his foray into the cleantech industry, Jack established himself as a skilled marketer while working in the entertainment industry. There, he successfully designed and executed product campaigns for renowned personalities such as Brad Pitt, Jennifer Aniston, Mila Kunis, and Matthew McConaughey.

Jack Ulrich's unwavering dedication to innovation, strategic planning, and market disruption continues to make a significant impact in his field. His leadership and expertise contribute to the success of the organizations he serves, positioning them at the forefront of their industries. With his humble demeanor and relentless pursuit of excellence, Jack inspires those around him to reach new heights in their endeavors.

Rochelle Dorn-Hayes has held various roles in her 25+ years at Ford Motor Company, most recently Director, Talent and Organizational Development and Chief of Staff, Talent. In these roles, her team manages the US budget for Human Resources and works with the various HR Centers of Excellence and the HR Business Office on strategies and projects to implement process improvements and find efficiencies. Before transitioning to HR, Rochelle spent the majority of her career in finance, primarily in compliance roles with the General Auditor’s Office, Corporate Staffs, and Purchasing organizations, as well as Treasury roles in Risk/Contract Review, Project Management, Global Banking, and Pension Asset Management.

Her love of volunteering, both within and outside of Ford, was instrumental in the ease of her career move from finance to HR. Throughout the years, she has devoted a great deal of her spare time within Ford to recruiting, Dealer Development, DEI, mentoring, and teaching. In addition, she has held various leadership roles and participated in numerous local and global community service projects with her sorority, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. She is the mom of a beautiful 11-year-old daughter, Joslyn. In the remaining free time that she has, she loves to read and explore 80’s and 90’s rides / walks on her Peloton app.

Rochelle attained her MBA from Purdue University’s Business School in 1997 after earning her Bachelor’s in Business Administration from Prairie View A&M University, Benjamin Banneker Honors College, and her Juris Doctor from Tulane University School of Law. During the second year of her MBA, Rochelle was the TA for the Executive Forum, making this a full-circle moment for her.

Ford is a Fortune 25 family company, one that spans the globe and has shared ideals. We value service to each other and the world as much as to our customers. Generations have made their memories with us and included us in their hopes and dreams. After 117 years, we’re used to adapting to and leading change. That’s why we’re evolving to focus on services, experiences, and software as well as vehicles.

As an Associate on the Investment Team, Jordan Williams focuses on researching, sourcing, and supporting M&A transactions for Erie Street and its portfolio partners, in addition to supporting operational initiatives.

Through a passion for learning and development, Jordan brings an intellectual curiosity to his work. Jordan joined Erie Street in 2021 from Ernst & Young, where he was a Senior Associate on the Strategy and Transactions team. Previously, he was a M&A Business Analyst at Deloitte Consulting. Jordan started his career in General Electric’s intern program, where he developed a supply chain model for the Aviation division’s $1 billion in annual spend.

Jordan is a CPA candidate and graduated from Purdue University’s Krannert School of Management with Distinction, earning a Bachelor of Science degree in Finance and Accounting. He has received numerous academic honors and awards, including the Dr. Cornell A. Bell Award of Excellence, AICPA Legacy Award, and the Emanuel Thornton Weiler Outstanding Student Award.