The Fisher community recently celebrated six individuals whose dedication to the college as alumni and friends is helping to advance and elevate the college’s educational mission.

Recipients of 2016 Fisher College of Business Alumni Awards included Clayton Daley III, Cindy Hilsheimer, Roman Khlupin, Summer Smith and Melinda Whittington. Longtime supporter of the college and chair of Fisher’s But for Ohio State Campaign Committee, Ed Overmyer, received a special award for his contributions to the success of the campaign.

“The alumni and friends of the college that we have honored are shining examples of the unique characteristics that—for 100 years—have distinguished Ohio State business graduates as among the most successful—and generous—alumni groups in the world,” said Anil K. Makhija, dean and John W. Berry, Sr. Chair in Business.

“As we celebrate 100 years of excellence in business education at The Ohio State University, I’ve often been asked to identify the college’s greatest legacy. For me, I look no further than our alumni—more than 76,000 living and working around the world—and our college’s closest friends. The six individuals we’ve honored this year have made incredible impacts in business and in the community that are worthy of celebration.”

View photos from the 2016 Alumni Awards.

Alumni Award Profiles

Clayton Daley III (MBA ’06)
Innovation and Entrepreneurship Award

Clayton possesses deep experience in business consulting with high-growth and early-stage companies across many industries. He is currently the co-founder and vice president of Ambassador Software Works, a health care IT company built around technology licensed from The Ohio State University's Wexner Medical Center.

Clayton has a unique skill set with both a strong technical background and an understanding of business, sales and marketing execution. Clayton’s primary focus includes business planning, marketing analysis and process development. He graduated from the Tepper School of Business at Carnegie Mellon University in 2004 and received his MBA from Fisher in 2006.

Cindy Hilsheimer (BSBA '79)
Distinguished Alumni Award

Cindy Hilsheimer is managing principal of BeecherHill, a retained executive search firm, serving a portfolio of clientele that represents some of the best-led companies in the region.

After a start at a Big Four accounting firm and serving in a variety of financial leadership roles for 15 years, Cindy combined her passion for people, business, information and technology with her entrepreneurial spirit to form an executive search firm with the goal of helping organizations achieve their goals by recruiting blue-chip leaders.

Cindy is ardently service-minded and maintains an ongoing commitment to community. She serves the boards of The Ohio State University Foundation, Pelotonia, the James Cancer Hospital Foundation, the Columbus Metropolitan Library and its Foundation, the Columbus Symphony, A Kid Again and The Ohio State Sports Medicine Institute. Cindy serves on the advisory boards of Copper Run Capital, Central Ohio Leadership Academy and Ohio State’s Women & Philanthropy Initiative, and compliments a host of other community committees. In 2011, she was appointed as a director of OCLC (Online Computer Library Center) and chairs the Finance and Investment Committee.

Cindy has been the recipient of a variety of service awards including the John B. Gerlach Volunteer Award, YWCA Women of Achievement Award and the Fisher College of Business Alumni Community Service Award as well as United Way’s Robert S. Crane, Jr. Young Philanthropist Award. In addition to presenting on executive search and nonprofit board service, Cindy is co-author of The Search Book: A Guide to Executive Selection.

Roman Khlupin (MBA ’98)
Professional Achievement Award

Roman Khlupin is chief investment officer at Strenta Investment Management, Inc., an SEC-registered investment advisor. Prior to joining SIM, Roman was director at Rockefeller & Co. in New York where he was a member of the firm’s asset allocation committee and worked with high net-worth families and private foundations. Roman’s work also focused on investments in private equity funds, real estate funds, hedge funds, and long only strategies, as well as quantitative modeling of asset classes.

Prior to joining Rockefeller, Roman was a vice president at JPMorgan Chase Private Bank, where he advised clients on portfolio structuring, manager selection, derivatives and estate planning strategies. Roman has a Bachelor of Science degree from Tomsk Polytechnic University in Siberia, an MBA from The Ohio State University, and a Masters in Space Studies from University of North Dakota.

Summer Smith (MLHR ’07)
Professional Achievement Award

Summer is vice president for Human Resources for the Americas at Rolls-Royce. She earned her Master of Human Resource Management degree from Fisher and was accepted into the HR Leadership Development Program at Rolls-Royce.

Summer joined Rolls-Royce in 2006, and has since held a number of titles across the company, including vice president for human resources—Americas; HR director—HR Integration. She has also held previous roles within Canada, the Naval business, energy operations, quality and business improvement functions and in employee relations. She has worked in Montreal and spent almost five years working in England.

Summer is an alumna of Arizona State University, and she most recently started a Global Executive Education program at Dartmouth.

Melinda Whittington (BSBA ’89)
Global Business Award

As chief financial officer at Allscripts Healthcare Solutions, Inc., Melinda has more than 25 years of financial expertise. Her responsibilities include accounting and external reporting, financial planning and analysis, investor relations, internal controls, treasury and tax.

Prior to Allscripts, Melinda served as senior vice president, corporate controller and chief accounting officer at Kraft Foods Group, Inc. (now The Kraft Heinz Company). She also worked at P&G for more than 20 years in a variety of finance leadership roles, including finance director, global home products; finance director, North America home care and global surface care brand franchise; finance director, corporate accounting; and associate finance director for global business services. These roles included international experiences in Belgium and Costa Rica.

Early in her career, Melinda worked on the audit staff of KPMG Peat Marwick, and held a post graduate internship at the Financial Accounting Standards Board.

Ed Overmyer (BS Engineering ’61)
But for Ohio State Campaign Award

Ed is retired chairman of Willis, Ohio, the third-largest insurance brokerage firm in the U.S. He was previously the chairman of Hilb Rogal Hobbs of Ohio and Berwanger Overmyer Associates.

After graduating from the Ohio State University in 1961, Ed began his professional career working for an insurance company. In 1965, he entered the insurance agency business and subsequently was co-founder and president of Berwanger Overmyer Associates in 1973, which became the largest commercial insurance agency in Columbus.

Community and industry involvement have been an important part of Ed’s life. He has served on many boards including The Council of Insurance Agents and Brokers, Opera Columbus, Columbus Zoo and The Wilds. He has served as chairman of the Upper Arlington Community Foundation, president of Upper Arlington Lutheran Church and the Columbus Insurance Agents Association. He is a member of the Columbus Hall of Fame. He serves on Fisher’s Dean’s Advisory Council and the Corporate Advisory Board at Capital University.