Pace Setters Awards celebrate excellence and leadership

The Robert E. Georges Senior Award is presented to a graduating senior in the college in recognition of both academic excellence and outstanding leadership.

Aya Dushnitzky

A fourth-year operations management and economics student, Aya serves as a Fisher Ambassador, a recruitment host for the Ohio State football team and a Peer Advisor providing resources and opportunities available at Fisher and Ohio State for incoming first-year students.

In addition, Aya is a member of Fisher’s Honors Cohort, the Purchasing and Supply Management Association and the professional business fraternity Phi Chi Theta.

She has served as a supply chain intern at Marathon Petroleum and participated in the American Airlines College Mentorship Program which resulted in a revenue management internship with American Airlines the following summer. Following graduation, she will return to American Airlines to start her professional career in revenue management.

The Katherine Porter Allen Prize is presented annually to the outstanding female graduate in business.

Brianna Harris

Brianna is a fourth-year accounting and economics major.

When she’s not excelling in the classroom as a member of the Honors Accounting program at Fisher, Brianna is involved with a number of other student-facing organizations, including as an associate consultant with Students Consulting for Nonprofit Organizations and as an advocate for the Morrill Scholars program.

At Fisher, Brianna is passionate about the programs that helped her succeed including: Accounting Honors; Phi Chi Theta Professional Business Fraternity; Students Consulting for Nonprofit Organizations; Fisher FIRST; and Project Thrive.

She is especially proud to represent the Morrill Scholarship Program as a member ― one of just 300 students campus-wide selected for the prestigious scholarship.

During her time at Fisher, Brianna has completed two internships at PwC, most recently as an enterprise risk and controls solutions intern.

The Walter M. Rudin Junior Award is presented each year to the most outstanding junior undergraduate student in the college.

Kavya Jayanthi

Kavya Jayanthi, a third-year marketing student with a minor in education, is a member of the Dean’s Leadership Academy.

Driven by a passion for adopting a global perspective to bring innovation to marketing and sales, she has a deep commitment to advancing educational equity and contributing to public affairs.

She has honed her leadership, professional, and personal skills through a wide range of involvements, including as chief learning officer at Youth for STEM Equity, a startup that was among six selected to receive $50K in President’s Buckeye Accelerator funding, vice president of diversity, equity and inclusion at the professional business fraternity Delta Sigma Pi and a Peer Impact consultant at Fisher.

Kavya has also served as a research assistant for the Digital Civic Learning Project at Ohio State, a teacher's assistant and math tutor at Riverside Elementary School, a consumer loan servicing operations intern at Huntington National Bank and a technical sales and data analysis intern at Eaton. 

The Jack W. Stephenson Award is presented each year to students with outstanding scholastic leadership and athletic accomplishments.

Benjamin Putnam

Benjamin Putnam is a third-year entrepreneurship and innovation scholar who is studying finance and economics.

He has been a member of the Ohio State Men’s Volleyball team and has a lifelong passion for athletics. Ben began his volleyball career at Ohio State having been named the Maine Player of the Year in 2021 and also served as a member of the 2023 USA Volleyball U21 Men's National Team.

Ben combined his love for sports and an interest in entrepreneurship by creating Student-Athletes in Business at Ohio State. The student organization provides student-athletes with the skills to compete for selective jobs and internships, learn professional development skills on an athlete's schedule and find and excel in academic and extracurricular opportunities at Fisher. The organization’s goal is to build future leaders and prepare them for careers after collegiate athletics.

In addition to his athletic endeavors, Ben serves as director of new member engagement and associate consultant for Ohio State’s chapter of Students Consulting for Nonprofit Organizations. He participates in Fisher Emerging Consultants, a program for second- and third-year students interested in the field of consulting, and Lead Like a Buckeye, a program designed to help team leaders and captains of Ohio State’s sports develop the skills necessary to lead elite teams and be effective leaders of character.

The S. Maurice Bostic and Birch S.M. Bostic Memorial Award is presented to the outstanding male member of the baccalaureate graduating class based on recognition of both academic excellence and outstanding leadership.

Eric Rodriguez

A fourth-year marketing and international business student Eric Rodriguez is interested in opportunities that entrepreneurship presents. He is an entrepreneurship and innovation minor, which has helped him develop a growth mindset and a creative approach to problem-solving.

Whether at Fisher, across the university or off campus, Eric has made it a point to get involved and give back to other students in whatever way he is able. He is a student ambassador, a member of the Honors Cohort at Fisher, and co-president of the Association of Latino Professionals for America. Eric is also involved with the Morrill Scholarship Program, the Second-year Transformational Experience Program (STEP), Ohio State’s Club Tennis Team and Formula Buckeyes.

In addition, he has completed two internships with Rev1 Ventures and Deloitte and three global learning projects as a Fisher student in Germany, Portugal and South Africa.

The Pace Setters Executive Award is given annually to a “pace setter” in the business community, recognizing the ideals Fisher strives to instill in its students.

Michael J. Gade (BSBA ’74, MBA ’75)

Senior Advisor to the Global Consumer Group
Boston Consulting Group 
 

Mike is an accomplished senior executive, advisor and educator in a career that spans international consulting, executive board membership and leadership at three Fortune 100 companies. Most recently, he has served as senior advisor to the Global Consumer Group at Boston Consulting Group (BCG), guiding its convenience and fuels sector and U.S. retail team.

A marketing, franchising and finance expert in the retail and fuel industries, Mike previously was a senior partner and chairman of Coopers & Lybrand’s retail and consumer practice (now PwC) and the chief marketing officer and senior vice president of merchandising at 7-Eleven, Inc. He spent more than 15 years on the board of directors at the Crane Group and currently sits on the boards of ARKO Corp., a Fortune 500 company, Imagine and Safe Security.

Mike’s dedication to mentoring and educating the next generation of business leaders is evident in his many years as a guest lecturer at institutions such as The Ohio State University Max M. Fisher College of Business and the University of North Texas. In retirement, he and his wife, Regina, volunteer their time with the U.S. Olympic Team. Mike teaches athletes about personal financial management, while Regina provides medical training.

Mike earned his bachelor’s degree in business and his MBA from Fisher.

Pace Setters Awards celebrate those students who excel both in and out of the classroom and who exemplify the purpose and passion that define Fisher students. They are juniors and seniors who rank among the top of their class and demonstrate exemplary scholarship, leadership and service to Fisher and the community.