UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Nine young Penn State alumni will be honored for outstanding professional accomplishment and presented with the Penn State Alumni Association's Alumni Achievement Award at a dinner ceremony April 25 at the Nittany Lion Inn on the University Park campus.
This year’s honorees work for organizations such as Integrated Business Consulting in Washington, D.C., the Lehigh Valley Health Network and ESPN Radio; some have started their own companies; and one alumna stars on Broadway. These bright, young alumni stars will receive the 2014 Alumni Achievement Award for reaching an extraordinary level of professional accomplishment by the age of 35 or younger.Academic colleges or campuses nominate alumni who are then selected by a University-wide committee. President Rodney Erickson invites them to return to campus for several days to share their expertise with students and the University community. The Alumni Achievement Award began in 2005 and since then has honored more than 100 outstanding alumni.This year’s Alumni Achievement Award recipients, along with their year of graduation, current title, place of employment and city of residence are:— Erin K. Antosh, 2006, manager, Integrated Business Consulting, Washington, D.C.;— Emily R. Bear, 2010, staff nurse, Lehigh Valley Health Network, Breinigsville, Pa.;— Mohit S. Bhende, 2001, co-founder, CoTrain, Seattle;— Caroline Bowman, 2010, actress, New York City;— Brian R. Geary, 2001, director of business development, OnDeck Inc., New York City;— Kirk S. Hinkley IV, 2004, medical director and chairman, Emergency Department at Moses Taylor Hospital, Great Bend Township, Pa.;— Chad Lindell, 2005, founder and CEO, IntelliMetrics Inc., Arlington, Va.;— Amanda Gifford Lockwood, 2004, program director, ESPN Radio, Southington, Conn.;— Brad Hoffman, 1999, founder and CEO, My Learning Springboard, New York City;
Erickson will present each Alumni Achievement Award recipient with a commemorative medal. The medal was commissioned by the Alumni Association and designed by internationally recognized artist Jeanne Stevens-Sollman, a 1972 graduate of Penn State’s master of fine arts program and a 2007 Alumni Fellow Award recipient.
Following is a bio of each awardee. Find bios of past award recipients on the Alumni Association's website at alumni.psu.edu/awards/AAA.
— Erin K. Antosh, 2006, is a manager at Integrated Business Consulting in the Washington, D.C., area. A serial entrepreneur, Antosh is also in the early stages of launching a tech startup with a fellow Smeal College of Business alumnus. Antosh owned and operated four businesses and served as an independent consultant for various innovative startups and small businesses. As a senior consultant with Booz Allen Hamilton’s organization and strategy team, she developed expertise in various management consulting areas, while serving various commercial and federal clients.
— Emily R. Bear, 2010, is a staff nurse at Lehigh Valley Health Network on the Transitional Trauma Unit. She earned a bachelor’s degree in nursing from Penn State World Campus and completed pre-medical requisites at Penn State Schuylkill and Penn State Berks. Bear has been a trauma nurse for more than seven years as well as an active member on the unit’s Performance Improvement and Practice Committee. She recently joined the Nightshift Nurse Council, representing medical-surgical nurses, and has spent numerous hours as a nurse preceptor to senior nursing students and nursing graduates.
— Mohit S. Bhende, 2001, is co-founder of CoTrain, a talent evaluation platform that helps companies to expedite and improve their interviewing process. CoTrain connects clients to a network of highly skilled technical interviewers who evaluate skills on demand. With an initial focus on software jobs, the network of interviewers includes chief technology officers, freelancers and industry professionals who identify and hire great talent. Bhende cultivated his passion for the talent industry and entrepreneurship while studying economics at Penn State. He previously served on the Schreyer Honors College Alumni Society Board.
— Caroline Bowman, 2010, is currently performing the lead role of Eva Peron in the national tour of the musical "Evita." She previously performed on Broadway in "Wicked" and the new musical "Kinky Boots," which won six Tony Awards, including Best Musical, when she was part of the cast. Before earning her degree, Bowman completed a tour of "Fame" in China and was contracted to play Rizzo in "Grease" in Turkey. After "Grease," she returned to the United States to play Lady of the Lake in the national tour of "Spamalot." Upon completion of the tour, she was offered her first Broadway contract, in "Wicked."
— Brian R. Geary, 2001, is director of business development for OnDeck Inc., a technology-enabled financial firm that provides financing to small and medium-sized businesses. OnDeck was named to Forbes Most Promising Companies in America and to the Inc. 500 List of Fastest Growing Companies in America for the last two years. During a five-year tenure at Citigroup, Geary developed cutting-edge products for both consumer and small business finance. At Penn State, Geary was a naval reserve officer and was elected to company commander, overseeing 200 students.
— Kirk S. Hinkley IV, 2004, graduate degree, is the medical director and chairman of the Emergency Department at Moses Taylor Hospital in Scranton, Pa., and the medical director of Lackawanna and Wayne Ambulance companies. He has achieved success as a military flight surgeon, emergency medicine physician and administrator. Hinkley is a Fellow of the American College of Emergency Physicians. His military service — both humanitarian and combat aeromedical evacuation missions — has led to numerous commendations and awards, including Flight Surgeon of the Year in 2011.
— Chad A. Lindell, 2005, is founder and chief executive officer of IntelliMetrics Inc., a Washington, D.C.-based business intelligence and geospatial intelligence consulting firm created in 2010. Lindell currently contracts to the director’s office at FBI Headquarters and is responsible for delivering a variety of the FBI’s internal operational and budget information to executives throughout the government. While a student, Lindell was a sergeant in the Army Reserves and was stationed from May 2004 to August 2005 in Fallujah, Iraq. He was awarded a combat action badge and a meritorious service medal.
— Amanda Gifford Lockwood, 2004, is a program director with ESPN Radio, overseeing sports talk programming to millions of sports fans nationwide. Under her purview are the nationally syndicated "Mike & Mike in the Morning" on ESPN2 and ESPN Radio, and "The Dan LeBatard Show" on ESPN Radio. "Mike & Mike" is heard on more than 350 affiliates. For nearly a decade at ESPN, Lockwood has produced national radio shows such as "College GameDay" and "The Herd with Colin Cowherd."
— Brad Hoffman, 1999, is the founder and chief executive officer of My Learning Springboard, a multidisciplinary educational consulting company and “learning concierge” service. My Learning Springboard helps families and schools construct and manage private teams of experts focused on educational consultation, which includes academic tutoring, enrichment teaching, test preparation, special education advocacy, professional development, teacher mentorship and curriculum development. The company is growing rapidly, with more than 350 educational and related service professionals.