Kranz keynotes annual speakers series

Alumni honored for leadership, service

Spring 2015 Purdue Marketing & Media

Gene Kranz never went into space or set foot on the moon, but as NASA flight director from the early Gemini and Apollo programs to his role as mission control director of the Shuttle program through his retirement in 1994, it was his hand that rocked Purdue’s historic “Cradle of Astronauts.”

In his biography, Failure Is Not An Option, as well as in his keynote address at the 2014 Krannert Leadership Speakers Series, Kranz shared the stories behind that history, and why the quote so famously but incorrectly attributed to him is actually an imperative for success.

The event also recognized several alumni, including Jane Brock-Wilson, who received the Krannert Business Leadership Award, the school's highest honor. Brock holds a bachelor’s degree in industrial management from the Krannert School and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

She joined Berkshire Partners in 1991 and became a managing director in 1994. She has been a director of several of Berkshire's business services, consumer products and industrial companies. Brock-Wilson was formerly a partner at Bain & Co., where she worked with clients on strategic, operational and marketing issues in a variety of industries.

Other alumni awards presented at the event were: